Chapter 3 Chapter 3 Cold Moon

After a frost, there is a hint of cold in the air, especially when you get up in the morning and set in the evening, you can wear a thin cotton brocade jacket.One layer of autumn rain and one layer of coolness, it is really late autumn. Such a bleak autumn, combined with intermittent rain, the days slipped by quietly in this long rainy day. This day, the rain was over and the sun was clear, and the sun was just an ignorant light, like withered yellow leaves, falling on people one by one.Seeing me avoiding the world like this, Mei Zhuang tried to persuade me from time to time, but all I could respond was silence.One day Meizhuang came to my palace, without saying a word, he got up and grabbed my hand and left.Her steps were fast, and she dragged me along the stone path of Yongxiang. The wind flapped the corners of the cloak, like a child's naughty hands moving there.

I don't know where she is going to take me, the road is very long, and I haven't reached where she is going after walking for a long time.I paid attention to the surrounding scenery, as if I had seen it somewhere before, and when I thought about it, I took a deep breath.This road is the road leading to Jin Leng Palace.A few years ago, I ordered the killing of the first woman in the palace who threatened my life in the cold palace.It was my first intentional killing, so many nights later I would often dream of the dead Mrs. Yu being strangled, which made me feel lingering fear. After walking for a long time, I arrived at the cold palace.Pushing open the door, there are countless fine dust rushing towards the face, flying with teeth and claws under the light golden sunlight.In my eyes, they are more like the grievances accumulated by countless women for a long time, accumulating too much pain and curse, like a dark bottomless abyss, which makes people shudder.The sunlight is stagnant here, the residual rainwater drips under the dilapidated eaves, and there is a faint but lingering smell of rot and damp mustiness in the air.

Those women who used to be beautiful were crying and shouting, or curled up on the ground half asleep and half awake, or jumped and laughed like crazy, but most of them were greedy for the long-lost sunshine, and chose places close to the sun to enjoy this rare moment of warmth . They were so indifferent to me and Meizhuang's arrival that they almost turned a blind eye.The old maids and eunuchs who looked after the cold palace had no intention of taking care of these women abandoned by the emperors. They just distributed some rotten food to them regularly so that they could continue to live, or waved sticks and whips when they were too noisy Rebuke them for being quiet.And what they did the most was to drag the bodies of these women who committed suicide because they couldn't bear the torture to the mass graves outside the city for incineration.

Everyone is basking in the sun.I turned my head inadvertently, and there were only two women sitting and lying on a pile of moldy and damp straw in the dark corner without sunlight. It had been rainy for days, and the straw was black and rotten.The two women were ragged and unkempt.The woman sitting had a plate of fish bones that hadn't been licked off the soup, and flies were buzzing around.A mirror with a broken corner was erected in front of her, and she carefully applied sporadic flour to her face and neck, not daring to neglect it at all, as if it was the best rouge powder.After applying the flour, her hands groped in the straw for a while, and as if she had found a treasure, she took out a thin wooden stick that had been burned with fire. One end was burnt into black charcoal, which was the magic weapon she used to draw eyebrows.

Mei Zhuang whispered in my ear: "Guess who she is?" Her filthy side face looked eerie because of the heavy snow-white powder makeup and particularly prominent black long eyebrows. I shook my head, but I couldn't recognize her. who is it. While carefully drawing her eyebrows, the woman muttered, "Ben Gong was the most beautiful one in the draft that year. The emperor saw Ben Gong at a glance, and kept the sign of Ben Gong without even thinking about it." In the entire palace, I was only slightly inferior to Concubine Hua in appearance. At that time, the emperor liked me..." She giggled, "The emperor pampered me three times in one night. And the word '丽' was given to Bengong as a title, doesn't it mean that Bengong is good-looking?" Her tone was happy and proud, immersed in memories, and she completely forgot about the unbearable situation at the moment.After she finished painting her eyebrows, she excitedly pushed the woman lying beside her, and asked repeatedly: "Is this Gong's makeup good?"

The woman turned around impatiently, and without looking at her, she said annoyedly: "It's so beautiful! I've been talking about those crap all day long, and my ears are covered with calluses." She didn't care if someone was there, Unashamedly, Li Lisi unbuttoned his dirty and shabby dress one by one, revealing a pair of beautiful but sweaty breasts.One of her leisurely hands moved around to scratch her body, while the other hand quickly and accurately searched for lice on the clothes, and threw them into her mouth steadily, with a soft chewing sound, showing a satisfied expression with relish .There was nausea in my chest, and a strong feeling of wanting to vomit.

The woman who painted the eyebrows was not angry at her perfunctory, and continued to put on her makeup, saying: "As long as I look good every day, the emperor will like me one day." Woman: "Why don't you go to bask in the sun, your body smells musty." The lying woman said rudely: "Bastard! The sun will burn my skin. Why don't you go by yourself?!" The woman who drew her eyebrows giggled: "I am the most beautiful 'Concubine Ligui' in the palace, how can I be exposed to the sun." She smiled secretly: "The emperor likes that Ben Gong is so white. "

I was shocked when I heard this, it turned out to be Concubine Li Gui!Looking at Mei Zhuang in a blink of an eye, there was no expression on her face, she just watched with cold eyes. Her smile was extremely happy, and the charcoal in her hand fell at my feet with a smile.She found that she had lost her favorite thing, turned around to look for it, and suddenly saw me, and stayed there for a while.The flour on her face was so thick that it was as white as a ghost, and I couldn't see the expression on her face.Her eyes were filled with fear, shock and confusion.I got up in a hurry, fell to my feet and cried incoherently: "Mistress Wanyi, it was my palace that day, no, I was confused... no, no, I don't know much, it's all concubine Hua who is the mastermind." Yes!" She begged desperately: "Wanyi please plead with the emperor for me, I would rather be a servant and a cow and a horse to serve the young master, and I don't want to stay in this ghostly place any longer."

She also called me "Wanyi", Wanyi, how long ago was that.She has been imprisoned in the cold palace and isolated from the world. She doesn't know that I am no longer Wanyi.It's like I don't know that she is so poor in the cold palace.Maybe the day she entered the palace in high spirits, she didn't know that she would be in such a mess in the future. The woman next to her was completely indifferent to her pleading and my existence, occasionally looked up at me, and then coldly lowered her head to chew on her delicious lice.Tears washed away the thick flour on Concubine Li Gui's face, like ditches, exposing her old and decayed face.In fact, she is only four or five years older than me. She is twenty-one or two years old, at the prime of her life.Once, she was the second most beautiful woman in the harem next to Concubine Hua, receiving the grace of the emperor's rain and dew.

Her pleading seemed to poke in my heart every word.I didn't want to listen to it any more, and I didn't want to watch it anymore, so I broke free from Concubine Li Gui's hand and ran out. The air outside the cold palace smelled rare and fresh at the moment, and I forcibly suppressed the nauseating feeling in my stomach, as if waking up from a nightmare.Here's another scene from a harem I've never seen before.This scene terrifies and disgusts me. Mei Zhuang chased me out and patted my back, and said gently, "Are you okay?" I nodded and said, "Sister brought me to the Leng Palace, didn't she make a special trip to see Concubine Li Gui?"

She smiled slightly and said, "Have you noticed the woman next to Concubine Li Gui?" I frowned, but remained silent.Mei Zhuang knew that I hated that kind of nausea, and said in a calm voice, "She is the emperor's former concubine." I'm not familiar with this name, Xuan Ling has had a lot of pets since the death of the first empress.And the concubine is not a very high status.Even now in the palace, there are four concubines Du Tian, ​​Concubine Liu Shen, Concubine Wang Mu and Concubine Zhao Yun.Concubine Fang, I really don't know. Mei Zhuang looked at me meaningfully, and slowly said: "Concubine Fang entered the palace three years earlier than us. She was a talented person for the first time, a nobleman, concubine Liang, and concubine Fang was conceived half a year after Cheng En. After a period of prosperity, it was a pity that she had a miscarriage, because she was too sad and frustrated with the emperor, and later she complained and slandered Concubine Hua for killing her son, so she was thrown into limbo." I stared at her and said softly, "Sister, are you afraid that I will follow in her footsteps?" Mei Zhuang said: "No one knows whether she really slandered Concubine Hua, but the emperor believed her to be slander. As the saying goes, 'meeting three-point love', Concubine Fang was blindly indulging in the pain of losing her son and ignored the emperor, even meeting her There is no chance to argue, I am afraid that even if it is wronged, it will only be wronged." After Mei Zhuang finished speaking, he pointed at Leng Gong with his right hand, and the gold bracelets on his wrists collided with each other, making a crisp "crash" sound, and the voice was serious. With a bit of sternness and distress, he said: "This is a lesson learned from the past! If you continue to be depressed, the status quo of the two of them will be your fate in the future!" I kept silent, the chilling wind howled away from my ears, and the dry and yellow leaves were rolled involuntarily by the wind in the dust.A few crows perched sporadically in the open space in front of the cold palace, silently pecking at their feathers, and occasionally making a hoarse chirping sound of "quack", it was really infinitely desolate. I said softly: "Why did my sister come to the Leng Palace to find Concubine Ligui and Concubine Fang?" Mei Zhuang's expression turned cold sharply, and a gleam of hatred flashed in his eyes: "I just happened to know about Concubine Fang. As for Concubine Ligui—she was also involved in pushing me into the water that day. As soon as I saw her , I will always remember how the Murong family entrapped me. I must let the bitch Murong come to taste the feeling that life is worse than death in the cold palace." Mei Zhuang's love and hate have always been clearer than me. I raised my hand and lightly brushed the thin dust off her shoulders, and said, "I've known what I want since I was young, and if I want it with all my heart, I will definitely get it." I paused, looked at Meizhuang and said, "Forgive me In other words, now that the emperor treats my sister like this is dispensable—it’s probably because my sister herself refuses to ask for this kind of favor, right?" Mei Zhuang turned his eyes sternly: "The only thing on my mind is how to kill the bitch. The emperor's favor is important, but it is not reliable. Can I rely on him to avenge me?" I was silent for a moment, stretched out my hand, and said, "It's getting cold, sister and I go back first." Xu Shi walked all the way slower and slower with alarming thoughts on his mind.This is the end of Mei Zhuang's words, and there is no more to say.It's just that she held my hand tightly all the way, and warmed my cold hand in meditation with the temperature of her palm. Walking to the side gate of Shanglin Garden, Mei Zhuang said: "I'm going back to the palace first, you - think about it carefully." I nodded and took a shortcut from Yongxiang to my palace.The endless draft of Yongxiang is especially harsh in autumn and winter, and the sides extend in all directions, and the wind blows from everywhere, blowing the wind feathers on the Jindou cloak softly on the face, vaguely covering the sight. A person came out of the slanting stab, I couldn't dodge it in time, and bumped into that person head-on.He only heard an "ouch", and looked up, it was Lu Zhaoyi, the empress of Tian Concubine's Palace. Lu Zhaoyi was originally the concubine who entered the palace when Xuan Ling succeeded to the throne. Although her status is only one level higher than mine, she is the head of the nine concubines, and her seniority in the palace is far above mine.Seeing that I bumped into her, I hurriedly stood up and begged Ann to apologize.Lu Zhaoyi has been out of favor for many years, and has always kept her own law and order in the palace. When things happen, she often avoids them and rarely causes trouble.When she saw that she had bumped into someone, her husband showed an air of avoidance and anxiety, and she didn't want to say much, but when she saw clearly that it was me, her expression suddenly changed, showing a bit of anger and majesty. I know it's not good, and I don't want to cause trouble at this time, so I look more humble and respectful.Lu Zhaoyi's anger didn't subside, she said: "Concubine Guan Gui has no rules when walking, she just hasn't seen the emperor for a few months, have you forgotten all the etiquette in the palace?!" I hurriedly said, "It's my fault, I offended Sister Lu." A coquettish and frivolous chuckle flashed beside her, and I knew Qin Fangyi was there without even thinking about it.Qin Fangyi is Lu Zhaoyi's distant cousin, and she is narrow-minded, so she must have regarded the last argument outside the Queen's Palace as a great festival.Now that she is here, she will definitely seize the opportunity to retaliate against me. Today's matter is troublesome. Sure enough, Qin Fangyi saluted halfway, covered her mouth and chuckled lightly, and said with a long ending: "Who is the concubine? It turns out that she was the emperor's favorite concubine in the past. No wonder, no wonder, the nobleman walks so rampantly." .” She deliberately said the word "before" with a full accent, satirizing my current fall from favor.This time I was the one who bumped into the front unintentionally, so I had to swallow my anger and say: "Sister Lu, please forgive me." Before Lu Zhaoyi opened her mouth, Qin Fangyi looked me up and down pretending to be strange, and said, "Oh! What kind of elder sister are you calling your concubine? Sister Zhaoyi is only a concubine. When will the empress come to join me?" Is it lively?" Anger sprouted in my heart, even though I am down and out today, why do you need to push me so hard, thinking that when I was proud in the past, I didn't step down on you half a bit, why did you fall out of favor when I fell out of favor? Come to provoke endlessly again and again.However, with Lu Zhaoyi here, I finally held back the anger in my heart. Seeing that I didn't speak, Qin Fangyi became more proud, and said: "Isn't your concubine the most respectful and respectful person, why don't you call your concubine cousin 'Niangniang' or call yourself 'concubine'?" I raised my eyes slightly, and was meeting her smiling face, Lu Zhaoyi just kept his face sullen and didn't say a word.In the final analysis, the three of us are already women without the emperor's favor. We are both in the end of the world, so why should we be so hard on each other. Naturally, Qin Fangyi would not have thought of this. With her cousin supporting her today, and I was the first to take the blame, she naturally regarded it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so how could she let it go lightly. So I bowed straightly, and only said to Lu Zhaoyi: "My concubine is rude, please forgive me, Madam Zhaoyi." Lu Zhaoyi nodded in understanding, and said, "Forget it, let's go." I was about to get up, Qin Fangyi hurriedly said: "Cousin, she was unreasonable first, why did you let her go like this?" Lu Zhaoyi was slightly surprised, looked at Qin Fangyi and said: "Forget it, I don't have the heart to stand in the cold air and toss with her. Just let her go." Qin Fangyi pursed her lips and said urgently: "Cousin is confused! Now Concubine Murong is not favored by the emperor, respecting concubine is mediocre, and concubine Duan concubine has a pot of medicine. Under the third concubine, you are respected. If cousin does not take out the head of the nine concubines now No one in the palace will remember you as Zhaoyi's empress." She smiled slightly, approached Lu Zhaoyi and said, "In the past, the emperor liked Concubine Murong's swift and resolute appearance the most. The emperor likes you again." She said bitterly: "Cousin, when she was favored, the emperor neglected us a lot!" Lu Zhaoyi was obviously moved by the persuasion, his face was slightly happy, and he was cold and angry in an instant, and said: "Cousin is really smart." I smiled wryly when I heard this, Xuan Ling likes Concubine Murong, not necessarily because of her decisive nature.Lu Zhaoyi does not have the background and appearance of Concubine Murong, but wants to imitate Concubine Murong's behavior, it is really stupid and ridiculous. Lu Zhaoyi straightened her expression, and said majesticly in an instant: "You should just kneel in this vent and think about it." She turned around and called a palace maid: "Yan'er, let Bengong stare at her for half an hour before getting up." .” Half an hour!Kneeling for another half an hour!My annoyance and hatred surged into my heart instantly, did she really regard herself as Mrs. Xi Hua back then? Lu Zhaoyi left Shi Shiran, and Qin Fangyi followed two steps, then turned her head and said: "Your concubine is not pregnant now, she won't break her body by kneeling, so it's okay if you think about it." Her words pierced my heart like a thorn, and I suddenly recalled The unspeakable pain in Mixiu Palace that day made her expression froze.Qin Fangyi smiled charmingly as she spoke, and made a behavior that shocked and hated me extremely. She gently opened her cherry red lips, and spit on my face with a "plop". What a shame!I closed my eyes tightly in an instant, and the face I turned away quickly couldn't avoid her deliberate spitting, and that mouthful of saliva fell on the side of my ear.She smiled happily, proudly and presumptuously, and said while laughing: "Your concubine, don't be angry, my concubine was ordered by Zhaoyi to teach her a lesson, please accept this bit of saliva." I turned my face coldly and stared hard at her smiling face.Even at the beginning, I didn't hate Concubine Li Gui so much.Shocked by my gaze, she couldn't help being a little frightened. She hesitated for a moment, then quickly bent down with a sneer and said, "Young lady, don't stare at the concubine! Don't you think you are the former concubine?" She walked away with a smile, and her laughter was especially piercing in the empty, whimpering Yongxiang.The warmth of the saliva quickly becomes cold and dry in the cold wind, and the feeling of moisture slowly slipping off and being dried by the air makes the skin on the side of the ear stiff and numb.Occasionally, low-ranking palace people in twos and threes passed by and glanced at them with indifferent, curious and contemptuous eyes. Yan'er, the palace maid guarding me, felt uncomfortable and said in a low voice, "Your Majesty, why don't you get up? The slaves won't say anything." I shook my head, and didn't use my hands to wipe the saliva from my ears, but just knelt in the wind. , maintaining a straight waist, with an almost cruel calm in his mind. Yes, I am a woman who has no heirs and no husband to cherish.I am a woman in this deep palace, a woman who has lost the favor of the king.I have nothing, the only thing I have is this heat in my chest and my brain, there is nothing else to rely on, everyone is in danger, everyone is in danger, everyone worships the high and tramples the low. Because I don't have the king's favor, because I expect the love of a girl's dream in the king, because my heart is still weak and not defensive enough, because I am naive and naive.That's why I couldn't avenge my children and sisters; that's why I was suppressed and even humiliated by women who were lower than me; so my situation was only a few steps away from being in limbo. Enough is enough.I cannot be trampled to the bottom of the dust; the sight of the cold palace shocks me; and the desolation of Concubine Fang cannot be my future. My line of sight moved out slowly, and was fixed on the palace of Concubine Murong in the distance.She is still alive and well, maybe one day she will stand up again and be favored again.My child cannot die in vain like this.The cold palace can't be my home for Zhen Huan to die of old age.Even if I want to die, I still want to watch the people I hate die in front of me to sacrifice my innocent children and sisters who died prematurely. Half an hour has arrived, insisting on standing up with sore legs, tidying up the dress, and correcting the appearance.Yan'er supported me, and apologized in a low voice: "Your Majesty is suffering, our Majesty is not like this on weekdays." I looked calm, looked at this court lady who was actually about the same age as me, and smiled indifferently: "You will be rewarded for your kindness now." She couldn't understand, and there was only a simple uneasiness and embarrassment on her face. I leave alone. Enough of my heartbreak and depression.The reclusive Zhen Huan who knelt down to Lu Zhaoyi was dead, and it was another Zhen Huan who stood up. I will no longer cry for a man's misfortune, nor will I be saddened by the love in a girl's dream, nor will I be tolerant of the person she hates.Such a me would be more suitable to live in a cold and cruel harem. I didn't wipe the drool off my ears, I just left it there.Let me remember the humiliation of this moment, and they will pay dearly for the pleasure of humiliating me in the future. Back in the palace, I ordered Jinxi to move out of the main hall of Tangli Palace, and clean out the Yinlv Pavilion next to it to live temporarily. Huanbi persuaded me: "The place of Yinlvxuan is narrow and shady, and summer is the best time to enjoy the shade. I'm afraid it's not the right time to live in it at this time." I wiped every string of "Sauvignon Blanc" carefully with a soft cotton cloth, and said with a slight smile, "I was originally an out-of-date person." A few days later, I ordered Xiao Yunzi and Xiao Lianzi to help me catch butterflies, which are rare in this season. They were a little surprised and surprised by my weird decision, and said, "Butterflies are not something that comes in autumn." I leaned over the dressing table, carefully tracing Yuan Shandai's eyebrow shape.Today, I no longer need such an expensive thrush thing like Luo Zidai.Yuanshanmei, that was drawn by Xuan Ling for me last year, it is so affectionate.In fact, I don't like it very much. My eyebrows are also suitable for willow leaf eyebrows.But now, I draw extremely neatly and meticulously.You still have to rely on his favor, don't you?I laugh at myself.If there is no love, I would need lots and lots of favors, enough for me to survive in this harem. Lazy tossed the eyebrow pencil away, and said to them without looking back: "Butterfly, isn't it out of date? But I must, and must be beautiful enough." They will not oppose my thoughts, even though I The idea seems so whim, unreasonable. I smiled slightly, let me, an untimely person, play an untimely play. Looking back, Zhu Lanyu is outside.In the sky, a cold moon is like a hook.