Biography of Concubine De of Emperor Kangxi

Surrounded by countless guards, the large army slowly moved up the mountain.

Among the team, the accompanying military generals jolted off their horses every day, training their muscles and bones, and all of them walked like flying. The emperor also attached great importance to riding and shooting martial arts on weekdays. To climb Mount Tai, I have never neglected to exercise my legs and feet since summer and autumn, and climbing today is like walking on flat ground.

In contrast, the civil servants are much weaker, not to mention the concubines and princesses. Among the princes, the elder brother and the prince can still keep up with the pace of his father. .

Each person below the third elder brother is accompanied by seven or eight guards. The fifth elder brother and sixth elder brother are completely carried up the mountain by them in bamboo sedan chairs. Like lead, the women's relatives gradually lost their strength, Duan Concubine and Bu Guiren had already decided to give up.

In fact, not only many sentry posts were arranged in advance along the way, but also bamboo sedan chairs were arranged for the female family members to be carried up the mountain.But the children were very excited, and they didn’t feel tired sitting in the sedan chair, and they refused to go back with them. After walking for half an hour, they met many civil servants on the side of the road, resting or struggling whether to give up. After all, the emperor was still walking, and they These ministers can't sit in sedan chairs like elder princesses.

As the time went on, there were fewer and fewer people traveling together. Concubine Rong finally couldn't bear it when she was approaching Zhongtian Gate. It would be useless for Lan Qi to persuade her to go down now. It wasn't too much of a hassle for the people on shift to carry the sedan chair, so they advised her to come up on the sedan chair with the children.Afterwards, among the concubines, she was the only one still walking on foot, and Huanchun and the others around her were all gone, and only the guards and good-legged eunuchs followed Lan Qi.

When they arrived at Zhongtian Gate, Lan Qi saw the emperor waiting there. In fact, Xuan Ye couldn't believe it when he saw Lan Qi's head popping out of his sight. Kung Fu saluted, I really thought it was her, and said with great surprise: "They told me that many people have gone down the mountain. I thought you would not be able to climb up. Can you still walk? Why don't you take a sedan chair?"

Lan Qi took a breath, took a drink of water from the guard's hands, calmed down before smiling and said, "It's just walking step by step, and then I came up. Concubine Duan and the others have already gone down the mountain, Sister Rong is behind, and the children Let’s sit together in a bamboo sedan chair, and it will probably take some time before we arrive.”

While talking, Lan Qi saw that the elder brother and the prince were sitting on the side exhaustedly, Xuan Ye saw it and said: "I just want to wait and see if there is anyone following behind, Yinfeng, Yinti and the others If you don’t go up with me, if the fourth brother and the others come, let the brothers go up in the sedan chair, and they won’t be able to walk anymore, they are still children after all.”

As Xuan Ye said, this section of the road has been hard to climb, but it only reaches the Zhongtian Gate, and there are eighteen plates after that. Going here is the real hard and difficult road. The elder brother and the prince followed the pace of their father to get here, which is the limit.

But the crown prince and eldest elder brother were obviously not convinced, with stubborn expressions on their faces. Lan Qi didn't know if there was anything said between father and son before she arrived. They continued to follow up.

"Can you still go?" Xuan Ye asked Lan Qi, his tone was concerned, as if he was worried that she was working too hard, but the look of hope in his eyes made her laugh.

In fact, Lan Qi is very tired, her legs are getting heavier and heavier, but she can walk again if she is asked to, but she doesn't know when she will be unable to move, and now looking at Xuan Ye's expectant eyes, she is even more uncomfortable. Wish to stop, and said with a smile: "The concubine has missed you so much, how long has the emperor been waiting? So even after eighteen games in a while, the concubine will not be able to keep up with you. Please just go ahead. The concubines just keep up slowly."

Xuan Ye was overjoyed, but didn't speak, and nodded with deep meaning in his eyes, told the guards to prepare to leave again, and walked over to talk to the eldest brother of the prince.

Back in front of Lan Qi again, the guard presented a pair of ebony walking sticks with dragon and phoenix. Ebony wood is also known as gloomy wood, which is a rare treasure. Such a pair of walking sticks is priceless, and the dragons and phoenixes are carved so that they are so lifelike.

Lan Qi followed the Empress Dowager all these years and saw many so-called treasures in the world, and also knew what a gloomy tree is. When Xuan Ye picked up the phoenix staff and stuffed it in her hand, instead of pushing back the dragon and phoenix's taboo, she actually said: "Your Majesty Aren't you afraid that such a good thing will be worn out all the way? Chenqie is not willing to support it on the ground, you ask the guards to pick up a cane or branch, and Chenqie can use it more easily."

Xuan Ye glared at her, and reproached softly: "You are still so petty when you go out, I am rich in the world, can I use a pair of walking sticks? Hold it in your hand and use it properly. Is the walking stick more valuable, or your body? As long as you are safe, Even if you hold my hand as a walking stick?"

The latter sentence was heart-warming, and Lan Qi couldn't help but smile shyly. She had forgotten about the taboos of dragon and phoenix during this commotion, and just waited to follow the emperor slowly up to the eighteenth plate.

Walking in "eighteen steps slowly", the two of them only separated by a dozen or so steps. Lan Qi knew that Xuan Ye was deliberately slowing down to wait for her, and she didn't want to rush after her. It was safest to walk slowly and step by step. , Unknowingly, he walked into the "Eighteen Plates of No Hurry and No Hurry", and a guard chased after him, saying that the sedan chairs of Concubine Rong and several elder princesses had arrived at the Zhongtian Gate, and they wanted to go up the mountain with the prince and elder brother.

Only then did Lan Qi think of the exquisitely carved and elegant phoenix on the cane, her heart tightened, she quickly took a few steps to catch up with the emperor, and only after catching up did she call out "Your Majesty", not wanting to walk in a hurry, her feet became weak, and she kicked Stepping on the empty steps, he fell straight down. Fortunately, the guards and eunuchs on the left and right followed closely and were supported by them with sharp eyesight and quick hands, so no catastrophe occurred.

At that time Xuan Ye was stopping to give instructions to the prince and his party behind him, and seeing this scene, fortunately Lan Qi was safe and sound, she still managed to smile and tell the people around her that she was fine, but he was already annoyed, waiting for Lan Qi to come back again When he came up to him, he yelled at him in a low voice: "What are you in a hurry for? Go slowly, do you hear me? I'll settle the score with you when I go down the mountain."

Lan Qi knew that she felt sorry for her, so she wouldn't feel wronged, but she immediately held up her cane to show Xuan Ye, and said solemnly: "Your Majesty, I'm afraid the concubine won't do it."

Xuan Ye cast a disdainful glance: "Why can't you do it?"

"This is a pair of dragon and phoenix..."

"Is it a peacock?" Xuan Ye suddenly interrupted Lan Qi, knocked on Lan Qi's cane with his dragon stick and said, "This is a peacock, why not? You rest for a while, and then follow slowly." Come up, don't be brave if you really can't walk, I just hope you are all safe."

"Peacock?" But Lan Qi carefully looked at the wood carving on the cane, and didn't hear what the emperor said at all. She just waited for Xuan Ye to say to her angrily, "If you look at it again, you will go down the mountain immediately. The things I let you use are What do you care about her?"

"But..." Lan Qi still wanted to explain, but when she saw Xuan Ye staring at her, she immediately shut up, the emperor frowned, angry and funny, turned around and went up the stairs, ignoring her any more.

"Mistress, let's go too." The guards at the side came to remind, Lan Qi smiled and nodded, and continued to climb the stone steps together. It's not easy, I thought that the empresses and princesses would not be able to climb up the mountain because they were traveling in chariots in the deep palace, so my lord arranged countless guard posts along the way, preparing for the empresses to take sedan chairs up the mountain."

Lan Qi herself also found it strange, so she thought about what she had been doing in the past few months, and then remembered that from the end of spring to the beginning of summer, the Empress Dowager would not let her take a sedan chair, and the journey to and from the Yonghe Palace and the Compassion Palace every day was very difficult. She walked on her feet, and it was the same in the hot summer. At that time, the Empress Dowager only said that she looked bad and wanted to move around. I wonder if she was thinking of climbing a mountain in the future, but after walking for a few months, she was in the Forbidden City every day Shuttle back and forth, really walked a lot of road.

Thinking of this, Lan Qi felt warm in her heart, and thanked the Empress Dowager for everything she had favored her.

She knew that concubines Rong and concubines would not be reconciled behind them, not to mention the dizzy and ill imperial concubine, who didn't want to be by the emperor's side, who didn't want to accompany him to the top of Mount Tai, but they had enough heart but not enough energy, Even Lan Qi herself didn't know which step would make her unable to walk anymore, and now she just gritted her teeth and followed closely step by step, and what supported her was the belief that she wanted to be with Xuan Ye.

The mountain climbed higher and higher, and the road became steeper and steeper. After walking through the "eighteen rounds of neither rush nor slow", the last "eighteen rounds of tightness" was even more dangerous. A guard followed up and said that it was too dangerous to get on the sedan chair. The eldest brother and the prince decided to climb up on foot, and the rest retreated to a gentle place to wait for the emperor's order.

While speaking, Lan Qi slowly caught up with Xuan Ye, she was already sitting on the stone steps and couldn't move, but listening to the emperor's breathing gradually became heavy, and she was telling the guards to make sure that all elder brothers and princesses If you can't climb, you don't have to force yourself, and you don't have to obey Princess Elder Brother. As long as the guards think it's too dangerous, they will send them back down the mountain immediately. If they don't climb to the top, they must go down the mountain before dark.

"Can I still go?" Lan Qi was panting for water, when she suddenly heard a voice behind her, but she didn't dare to turn her head, and said stiffly, "Seeing the way we came, I dare not move, for fear of falling."

The mountain road is too steep, and the line of sight is almost vertical at first glance. It is no wonder that Lan Qi is afraid. Xuan Ye asked her to stretch out her hand, held her firmly, made her stand up and turned around, and laughed at her: "It is natural to look up when climbing a mountain. What are you looking down for? What are you afraid of? That’s the way you walked step by step.”

But Lan Qi sighed: "Chenqie followed all over, leaving the children behind. Chenqie is really a bitch, for the sake of gaining popularity, the children even ignored her."

Xuan Ye smiled and said: "Everyone has countless guards and eunuchs, and the locals have selected the best mountain climbers, isn't it more reliable than you?"

Lan Qi was already tired, and she said weakly: "Your Majesty, I really can't walk anymore."