Wanqingsi

Chapter 129 Private Call
I didn't go to King Jing's mansion with Yun Zheng to pay tribute to the recovery from the "death". King Jing lost his daughter, and there must be many ministers in the court going to pay condolences and greetings. I was afraid that I would meet that fake Prime Minister Wei and cause trouble.Although the opportunity to meet will definitely be unavoidable in the future, but if you can avoid it for a day, avoid it for a day, and make plans when it is unavoidable.

But the days of entering the palace for training cannot be avoided.Early this morning, Yun Zheng sent me into the palace. He is a foreign minister, and he is not allowed to enter the palace without an edict, so he only sent me to the palace gate.I held his hand, feeling terrified, even if I don't know much about inner court etiquette, at least I've watched TV dramas. Back then, Little Swallow was treated badly by Nanny Rong.If those nuns want to punish you, they can definitely make you suffer a big dumb loss within the scope of her authority, and you won't be able to tell if you suffer.Moreover, I don't know the emperor's real intention for me to enter the palace for half a month, so I feel more and more uneasy.

Yun Zheng held my hand and said softly: "Ye'er, I've taken care of the master of ceremonies, you don't have to worry too much, just be more cautious, half a month will pass soon."

"Yeah." I just nodded and smiled, and I didn't want to worry Yunzheng because of my anxiety, "You have to take care of yourself, this month's routine visit is coming soon."

Yun Zheng smiled and nodded, watching me follow the eunuch into the palace gate.Sitting in the sedan chair, I was sent to the master of ceremonies.There was a nanny who was waiting at the gate of the palace with two maids, and when she saw me getting off the sedan chair, she bowed to me and said, "I have seen Mrs. Ronghua, and the servant is the master of ceremonies, Nanny Qin, who is in charge of the etiquette training for the wife for half a month."

"You don't have to be polite, Mama." I quickly helped her, "Mama is an old man in the palace, so don't be so polite." Then, I took off a white jade bracelet from my hand and handed it to her, "Mama, I don't know the rules in the palace, so I will depend on my mother's painstaking guidance from now on."

Yun Zheng told me earlier that this Nanny Qin has been in charge of teaching court etiquette for wives, princesses, and concubines since the first emperor, and she is quite experienced in the palace.Although Yunzheng has paid a lot of money to the master of ceremonies, this mother Qin is mainly responsible for teaching me. I want her to treat me better, so naturally I have to be extra polite to her
Qin Nanny's face was very calm, she accepted the bracelet graciously, and smiled: "Madam is too polite, this is the job of a servant."

The etiquette training that follows is indeed cumbersome and strict. You must have a sitting posture when you sit, you must have a standing posture when you stand, and you must have a sleeping posture when you sleep. pay attention to.But it's not as strict as I imagined. It should be the money that Yun Zheng sent out. I want to suffer less and study hard. Usually, after doing it three or four times, Nanny Qin will let me pass.Even so, after the first day, I was still sore from exhaustion.

The master of ceremonies arranged for two maids to serve, and I bribed them with two small jewelry. The concentration of the two of them is obviously not comparable to that of Nanny Qin, with joy in their eyes, and they are extremely attentive in serving them.The first day passed without any danger, and the fear in my heart eased a little.The second day was no different from the first day. The training did not criticize me, but I was still sweating after completing the prescribed movements.After the training was over, I asked the maid to prepare hot water for me to take a bath. After taking a shower, I felt that the soreness all over my body was relieved.

Just after changing clothes, the maid brought in a eunuch: "I have seen Mrs. Ronghua."

"Eunuch, please get up." I hurriedly said, "What's the matter, Eunuch?"

"Madam, the Empress Dowager wants to see Madam, please go with the servant." The eunuch laughed.

"The Queen Mother wants to see me?" I was surprised, why did the Queen Mother want to see me?I quickly took the reward silver to him, and said with a smile: "Thank you, father-in-law, thank you, father-in-law, for leading the way."

He took me out, I hesitated all the way, and finally couldn't help asking softly: "Does my father-in-law know why the empress dowager wants to see me?"

He smiled respectfully: "Madam, we slaves don't dare to speculate on the master's intentions. Madam will know when she goes."

He took me to a courtyard. There were guards outside the courtyard. There were no extra people in the courtyard. It was very quiet. Not far inside, there was a palace, and there were no eunuchs and maids guarding the door.The eunuch leading the way led me to the door and said loudly, "My lord, Mrs. Ronghua will bring you here." Then he turned his head and smiled at me, "Mrs. Ronghua, go in by yourself."

I stepped into the room apprehensively, and the door was closed.The layout of the room is like a study room. A person is sitting behind the desk on the right. When he sees me coming in, he raises his eyes lightly.When I saw him, I was slightly taken aback, sighed in my heart, knelt down on the ground and saluted: "My concubine sees the emperor."

There was no one else in the room, so I knelt on the ground.The emperor did not have a valid reason to summon his minister's wife, and it was not in accordance with the etiquette. No wonder he wanted to use the name of the queen mother. I don't know what his intentions are, but I was secretly vigilant in my heart.He didn't make a sound to ask me to get up, and I didn't dare to get up, so I had to follow the etiquette taught by Nanny Qin these two days, kneeling obediently, bowing my head and not saying a word.

After a long while, he heard his voice, which could not be heard in anger or anger: "You have learned etiquette well."

"The concubine does not dare to disappoint the emperor's kindness, so she should do her best." I answered him with a low eyebrow.

"Really?" He hummed softly, and fell silent again.The overly quiet atmosphere was disturbing, I clenched my lower lip nervously, and after a long while, I heard him say indifferently: "Get up."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." I stood up, my knees felt a little numb, and it was not easy to rub it in front of the emperor, so I had to endure it and let the soreness subside slowly.

Stand still, bow your head and say nothing.He didn't speak, and I didn't know what to say. Facing this deep and unpredictable man in front of me, silence is the best way to keep changing.

"Why keep your head down?" He said indifferently, "Don't you dare to look at me?"

"The emperor is mighty, and my concubines dare not face Long Yan directly." I answered the official question and answer carefully, "It violates the etiquette of the emperor and his ministers."

"Don't do that with me!" The emperor's tone was filled with forbearable anger, "Now you know the etiquette, lift your head up and speak for me."

I sighed helplessly and looked up at him.He had no expression on his face, only a trace of anger flashed in his eyes, which was fleeting.I said cautiously: "I don't know what is the matter with the emperor's ministers and concubines?"

He glanced at me, stood up, walked to the side of the soft couch and sat down: "Come here."

I hesitated for a moment, took two steps forward and stopped again, he looked up at me: "Sit down and play chess with me."

"Your Majesty, my concubine doesn't know how to play Go." Seeing his eyes sweeping over sharply, I hurriedly said, "You know that."

The look in his eyes slowed down, I recalled that in the General’s Mansion, under the Luoying tree, I used backgammon to solve the game of Go, which he couldn’t play, and it seemed that he also remembered, “Sit down, we don’t play Go. "

I walked up to him and sat across from him, my eyes fell on the short one, I was slightly startled, and my heart tightened suddenly.There is a set of chess on the short table. It is not Go, but the bead checkers I asked Grandpa Fu to make in Cangdu. Of course it is not the ones made by Grandpa Fu, but the style is the same. It seems that the old man is right. , The emperor is watching my every move in Cangdu.

He looked at my reaction and saw that I had a dazed expression, and the corners of his lips curled up: "I heard that you invented this thing."

I came back to my senses and saw the emperor was looking at me fixedly, and smiled: "The concubine can only make some little tricks to fool the children, and the emperor will laugh."

"A trick to fool children? Not necessarily. Don't Yongle Hou and Yun Shizi both praise it for expanding their minds?" The emperor narrowed his eyes, implying something.

I became more and more frightened, but relieved, the emperor was naturally not the only one staring at me.I looked at him and smiled faintly: "Those are just my family doting on me and making me happy, how can the emperor take it seriously."

"Really?" His eyes flashed, "It seems that the Yun family has treated you well."

"Yes." I nodded, "They gave me a home."

"Home?" He looked at me silently, "Is this what you want?"

For a moment, I felt that he was gentle. At this moment, he was no longer the emperor, but the old Mr. Yu who sat under the fallen elm tree, who made me open my heart.I looked at him quietly and smiled: "Yes, this is what I have always wanted." Seeing his stern eyes retracted, I whispered: "When I was young, my mother told me a story, She said that after marriage, a man and a woman sleep together, and their hair gets tangled together, so they have a married couple. So, I had a dream since I was a child, to keep this long hair, find the person who will help me tie it up, and stay together for a lifetime .”

There was a strange gleam in his eyes, with surprise, surprise, shock, and a trace of joy.I looked into his eyes and knew that he had understood the touch and surprise he brought me when he tied my hair for me.He opened his mouth to speak, but I didn't wait for him to say anything, and continued: "But later, I found out that this is actually a kind of paranoia of mine. Is the form of curly hair important, or the person who is more important? I shouldn't be through curly hair. To determine what, as long as I find someone who can stay with me for the rest of my life, he can curl my hair for me."

His eyes sank, he looked at me silently, and the soft atmosphere gradually became cold and hard.I sighed in my heart, Mr. Yu left, and the emperor came back again. "Since you are doing well now, you should cherish your blessings." The emperor's tone contained a trace of ambiguous emotion, "Shizi Yun has always been in poor health, and it's hard for him to come and go these days, you have to take good care of him. "I was startled, and then I realized that this was his warning to me and the Yun family, and he would not allow the Yun family to have second thoughts.These days, the situation of Yunfu's dealings with people is probably in the eyes of the emperor. The elder brother of the Wei family lives in Jiuye's mansion, so he naturally classifies him as a member of Jiuye. We have been to King Jing's mansion. Maybe he knew about the matter of getting warm again.In his eyes, he only felt that Yun Zheng would contact the forces in the capital as soon as he returned to Beijing. He is giving the warning now, is it because he wants me to convey his meaning to the Yun family?
"Your Majesty, my husband is weak and takes things lightly. I am a concubine and a woman, and I don't have any great rewards. I just want to live a safe and peaceful life, and my wish is fulfilled." I said calmly, met his eyes, and revealed firmly. A piece of information, worrying about the Yun family is unfounded, it is because you have too much heart.

He smiled faintly, apparently not believing me: "Ye Haihua, is that your real name?"

My heart trembled, is it finally coming?Ask about my life experience.In the general disc of the Yun Family Newspaper to the imperial court, my information is only a few figures, and the words are vague, "Yunmen Ye's Haihua, eighteen years old, a native of the capital, virtuous and intelligent, with a dignified character." No relatives, no reason, no past Everyone finds it strange that when they married Yun Zheng, the time was short, and it was reported after the fact. Probably the old man was afraid that the whole plan would not pass the emperor's test, so he cut it first and then played it. Not easy.

"You can say that." I looked up at him, and finally I was going to make up that nonsense to deceive people.

"Can you say that?" He gave me a dissatisfied look, "What do you mean?"

"The emperor knows about my past, and I will not hide it from the emperor. I don't know what happened to me in the past. All my memories start from leaning on the red building. I don't remember anything before." I said calmly I was telling lies, but my heart was pounding. Fortunately, there were no such things as lie detectors in ancient times, otherwise I would have shown up on the spot, "Carmen's name is a nickname for a brothel. Since I left the brothel, I have changed it to myself. The emperor said that this name is my real name, and there is nothing inappropriate, because I don’t know what I was called before.”

"Don't remember the past?" His expression didn't change, but he said this sentence very slowly, as if suppressing his anger, "How do I know if it's true or not?"

When I heard him get angry, I was shocked. I quickly got up and knelt down on the ground: "Your Majesty, what my concubine said is the truth, and there is absolutely no falsehood. If the Emperor doesn't believe me, I can ask someone to investigate. In fact, I want more than you." Know who I was before."

"Investigation?" The emperor flicked the bead checkers on the low table to the ground, there was a "crash", the beads bounced all over the ground, and he said angrily, "You really think I can't find out about you Details?"

"Your Majesty..." I raised my head, opened my eyes wide, and stared at him steadfastly. After a while, tears welled up in my eyes. I bit my lip, trying not to let the tears slip out of my eyes, and just looked at him sadly. his eyes.A few complex emotions flashed in the emperor's eyes, he turned his head and suppressed his anger: "Forget it, you can kneel down."

I saluted and came out, stepped out of the door, and then exhaled lightly.This calculation is finally over for the time being. I just gambled on luck, betting whether the emperor will be a little soft-hearted towards me. Fortunately, I won the bet.The tears in my eyes are gone, fortunately I know that if I keep my eyes wide open for a long time, tears will come out when my eyes are sore, otherwise the expression just now is really not convincing.Walking out of the courtyard silently, the autumn wind blew on my body, making it a little cold.In the corner of the wall, a lonely white chrysanthemum flinched and bloomed in the autumn wind.

——2007, September, 1
(End of this chapter)