Chapter 13 On the thirteenth round

The train finally moved forward along the Beijing-Fengfeng Line. We, the eight female officers, together with Zhang De, and his group of eunuchs, stood on the left and right of the Queen Mother like puppets molded in the temple.Everyone was very excited, ready to appreciate all kinds of fun in this long-distance trip; but no one dared to show a trace of excitement on their faces, and they didn't even dare to look out of the car. Nothing like this.Our car set off around four o'clock in the afternoon, and the first stop was Fengtai, which is only eleven kilometers away from Beijing, which is like the flag station of Beijing Railway Station.Within this short distance, our train is squirming forward with big strides like a cow's pace; we still can't believe that the Queen Mother will be satisfied with the speed of the train. If the rolling is a little unnatural, Yi will feel uncomfortable.

According to our scheduled itinerary, the Empress Dowager will have her first dinner in the car after arriving in Fengtai.After dinner, after a short rest, I drove straight to Tianjin, hoping to reach Tianjin before the Queen Mother was ready to go to bed.Because according to Qing Shan, Minister of Internal Affairs, it is not suitable for a noble person like the Queen Mother to lodge in any village or town. There is no difference, but Qingshan always thinks this is very inappropriate. No matter how slow our train was, Fengtai finally arrived!And our dinner was also prepared at the same time.Usually, the train from Beijing to Fengtai takes no more than 30 to 40 minutes at most, but we traveled for more than two hours, which can be said to have broken the lowest speed of trains in the world.But for the Empress Dowager, it doesn't matter if she walks for two hours or two days, anyway, there is plenty of time, after today, there will be tomorrow, after tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, the day after tomorrow..., Yi simply never thought that there is time. How much is it worth? Moreover, when Yi himself got into the car, the entire government was brought along, and all military plans could also be decided and implemented. Therefore, Yi paid less attention to time!

Because Yi doesn't know how valuable Yi's own time is, Yi is also very indifferent to the relationship between other people and time.Just talking about our trip to Fengtian this time, the slow speed of the train seems to have only affected the Queen Mother herself or us, but in fact it has affected countless people.For example, if you happen to want to go from Tianjin to Peiping, or from Tianjin to Jinzhou at this time, in ordinary times, as long as you have money to buy a ticket, you can get there in no time; You're out of luck when you're walking on the tracks, no matter how much money you have, or what serious emergency you have, you don't even have to think about taking a train!Fortunately, you have plenty of time, just wait!One day, two days, three days... If you keep waiting like this, one day you will be let go.Perhaps your patience is too shallow, and you are already dying of anxiety before the Empress Dowager's special car arrives at Fengtian, isn't that just asking for trouble?I dare say that the queen mother will never think of the impact that Yi's "cut off traffic" ban will have on others; or feeling uneasy.

The train stopped at Fengtai Station, and I looked out the window, but there was no one idle.As far as I know.This place used to be very lively, but now it has become as quiet as a desert, and I can't even hear some voices. I can't help but admire the talent and courage of these local officials. In order to cater to the Queen Mother, no matter how harsh they are, will be displayed.But those people who were strictly prohibited from approaching the station, and even not allowed to casually glance at our royal train, how would they feel about the fact that the Queen Mother passed by here this time?I'm afraid no one will notice.According to my guess, they must have a special nervous mood, thinking that they really thought that the Lord who cared for them passed by here.Originally, the emperor was originally called the "son of heaven", so of course the empress dowager and Lord Tian also have a considerable relationship; even if Yi represents Lord Tian, ​​it's all right, anyway, Yi's authority is not inferior to Lord Tian!

Because it is still in the spring, Baihe's famous product - crucian carp, happens to be the most seasonal gift.So when our car was leaving Beijing, the officials in the area around here were spending a lot of money to buy crucian carp just out of the water for the Queen Mother's meal.When the car arrived in Fengtai, several large crucian carp that had just come out of the water were served in very delicate things, and after some extremely corrupt etiquette, they were solemnly presented.However, although these officials have been so careful to serve, but the Queen Mother did not seem to know.The reason is that the officials in the vicinity of Fengtai are all low-promise, unknown characters, and they can't catch up with the Queen Mother at all!

However, although the Queen Mother did not receive them, or they themselves knew that the Queen Mother would never let them in, no matter how brave they were, they did not dare to be lazy this time; everyone caught up with the station before the train arrived.Their only goal is to hope that the Empress Dowager is satisfied with the layout of the station, and that there are no people around, so that they can feel at ease.But they were still very timid, and they were all in a place far away from the train, busy and chaotic, and no one dared to approach without authorization.I watched from a distance from the car window, and saw many people in colorful official uniforms lined up about half a kilometer long, wriggling;Desperately Zhang Luo.But as a matter of fact, what they are busy with is insignificant things. It will never be of any benefit to the Queen Mother or this train. The so-called "nothing is good", only this crucian carp, which is not satisfactory at all.

When it comes to crucian carp, probably everyone can't help but move their index fingers, right?Crucian carp is originally a delicious fish, especially when it is cooked when it is just out of the water, the taste is extraordinarily delicious.We can often see this delicacy at the banquets of ordinary rich and noble families.Some people who like to be particular about food, in order to show off their own wealth and be particular about food, often teach the servants to use a large wooden basin to hold a few lively crucian carp Come to the guests and ask them to pick out a carp at random, take it in, wash it, peel it and cook it; some people even teach their cooks to wash a crucian carp they pick out immediately in front of the guests. Peel it up to show that you will never change it again.

I have also inspected the crucian carps that the Queen Mother accepted at Fengtai Station, because the Queen Mother herself did not want to meet those officials, so she sent me to act as a representative. I was very satisfied with the inspection results, and there was no fish. Not briskly swimming.But we did not teach our cooks to kill it on the spot.Probably although the Queen Mother's personality is particularly resolute and decisive, she still couldn't bear to watch a fish die in front of Yi herself. But these few crucian carp can't live on because of this, because whether the queen mother agrees or not to wash and strip these few crucian carp in front of Yi is one issue, and whether Yi likes to eat or not is another issue.What's more, the fresh crucian carp caught in the nearby river is known to be a rare delicacy, how could the Empress Dowager miss it?So once those few crucian carp were brought into the "Imperial Dining Room", it didn't take much effort to cook the cooked vegetables and bring them up to the Queen Mother to taste new ones.The queen mother raised her chopsticks, only took a piece of meat and ate it, and praised it incessantly.Then, Yi ordered the eunuchs to send the bowl of crucian carp back to the imperial dining room. This does not mean not to eat it, but to cook it in a different way.This method was specified by Yi himself: the first step is to remove all the fish bones, leaving only the fish meat, not even the skin; Seasonings such as sugar, soy sauce, salt, etc., are mixed with it and boiled; in this way, it becomes a very delicious fish soup.

In the past, people used crucian carp as a tool to predict their own guilt.It was a short bone under the gills of the fish, and there were two of them in a fish, which happened to be on either side of the head.Their shape resembles a fan somewhat, but is softer than the rest of the fish's bones, and it is flat on one side so that it stands as far as possible.When it stands upright, it really looks like a small sailboat.It has an alias, called Little Immortal, of course because it can be used for divination.So how to divination?It's funny to say, and the procedures are very simple: as long as you hold the fishbone with chopsticks, throw it down about half a foot from the table, and throw it three times in a row. Once this fishbone is thrown upright, it is considered a very auspicious omen.And the person who throws will undoubtedly get a kind of gratifying happiness.I know that there are similar superstitious practices in foreign countries. The only difference is that we use the gill bones of crucian carp, and they use the breast bones of chickens or pigeons.

The empress dowager's thinking was very old, and she was superstitious about gods and Buddhas. When Yi saw this fishbone called "Little Immortal", of course she had to give it a try!Unexpectedly, even after throwing it twice, the fishbone didn't stand up straight, which would be dangerous.Yi's face showed a very obvious look of annoyance, although Yi was not completely convinced that a small fish bone would really affect the fate of people; but Yi still felt that if three throws But the fish bones still do not stand upright, after all, it is a very disappointing thing.Fortunately, things were not as bad as Yi himself expected, and the fishbone stood upright when he threw it for the third time.Of course Yi is also very happy, but I think that if the third throw still fails, Yi will never let it go, and will definitely throw it four times, five times, six times... and countless times; anyway, Yi She is an invaluable empress dowager, who can limit Yi to only throwing it three times?If you keep throwing it like this, the fishbone must stand upright once in a while; and Yi will definitely be satisfied once in a while!I pay attention to the Empress Dowager and her actions on a daily basis, not only for such small things, but also for all major military plans, Yi is often very tolerant, and will never change her own strategy just because of some setbacks or obstacles. This spirit is of course worthy of our admiration.

After the crucian carp meat with its bones and scales stripped off was cooked together with soft tofu, it was held in front of the Queen Mother for the second time; Yi used a silver spoon to drink several spoonfuls one after another, and at the same time He also praised loudly and loudly, making those of us standing next to him salivate.Later, Yi suddenly gave me the half of the leftovers as a reward.This really overjoyed me!Because if the Empress Dowager gave someone a reward for the leftovers or leftover tea, the value of this person would immediately increase a lot; not only others would envy him, but he would also consider it a great honor things.So it is very gratifying that the queen mother gave me half of this fresh fish soup at this moment; what's more, the taste of the fish soup cooked with soft tofu is indeed very good! Although the Empress Dowager's appetite did not decrease like that of the general elderly, but because there were too many things presented by the imperial dining room, no matter a bowl of vegetables or a bowl of soup, she couldn't eat and drink to the full; Yi Ai has developed the habit of giving the leftovers to those who serve Yi to eat and drink.However, I have always dealt with this kind of kindness very carefully: if she had not told me to eat or drink the rest of the food, no matter how much I love eating and drinking in my heart, I will try my best to endure it and put it away immediately. Pass the original bowl or cup to the little eunuchs to clean up; if Qiyi has already ordered me to eat or drink the rest of the food, then I can no longer be polite, and I must first knock on it respectfully. A head, to show that I am 120% satisfied and grateful for Yi's reward, and then eat and drink what is left in the bowl or cup without hesitation, no matter how full my stomach is, You have to obey it willingly, otherwise you will violate the imperial decree and your crime will be unforgivable. I remember one time, another female official was serving the queen mother with me. The queen mother had just had a few sips of tea and wanted to put down the tea book, so the female official went over to take it for Yi; There was half a cup of tea reserved, perhaps because Yi Dai was too thirsty, she never noticed that the queen mother did not explain that she wanted to teach Yi Dai how to drink it, so she kowtowed to the queen mother without thinking, and finished the half cup of tea.I stole a look at the queen mother through Yi's shoulder, and saw the queen mother was smiling at her, and I couldn't help but smile too.To the Empress Dowager, it meant that this mistake was too small to be punished severely, so I didn't say anything, and only laughed to surprise her.Later, the lady officer of course came to her senses, and of course Yi was extremely grateful to the Queen Mother, but she refused to let me go easily.Yi thought my snickering was a kind of intentional provocation, so she was very angry. Although she didn't get angry on the spot, a day later, Yi finally took a certain opportunity and directly reprimanded me.Yi said: "You are so clever! No one can match you. It's a pity that you think people are so worthless! You often take pleasure in playing people and embarrassing people, which is an interesting thing; If you can't stand it, you will never ask. But you have to understand: the qualifications of the round, people are several years ahead of you in the palace!" I didn't put forward any resistance to the scolding that Yi gave me, nor did I explain Yi's misunderstanding about me. I just laughed it off and threw it away immediately. The dinner we had at Fengtai Station was also very serious. The first reason, of course, was that it was the first meal after getting on the train, and the dinner was taken twice a day. It was one of the "big meals"; so the one hundred bowls of main dishes were brought up like in the palace.These dishes are all packed in a large wooden box. On an ordinary train, the doors must be too small to allow these huge food boxes to pass through; fortunately, the doors on our imperial train , have all been remodeled and are almost twice their usual size.So whenever meals were being eaten, dozens of eunuchs lined up on the platform outside in a long line, starting from the car representing the Imperial Dining Room and going all the way to the car of the Empress Dowager. All those food boxes filled with famous delicacies from the mountains and seas were taught successively from the first eunuch like a game of handing sticks played by elementary school students. It took about four or five minutes before they were handed over to Zande and the Queen Mother. The eunuch closest to the dining table—the nineteenth person is Zhang De—he took out the dishes from the box and placed them on the table.The outside of these boxes are all painted with gold-like bright yellow paint, and the bowls in the boxes are all beautiful porcelain; at the same time, the eunuchs who pass the food boxes are also wearing colorful official uniforms. ; Therefore, the scene of serving food alone is already very beautiful and moving!It's a pity that except for those officials who are disgustingly stupid, others don't want to see such a good show. After our first dinner was over, the eunuch ordered someone to go out and ordered the car to drive; so we continued to load the yellow train and slowly headed towards Tianjin.Unexpectedly, although Qingshan's proposition wanted to make the queen mother rest in Tianjin, the queen mother could not accept his kindness, and when the car was halfway, Yi declared that she would rest.At that time, of course Qingshan didn't dare to give any further advice, so the train stopped immediately.Here, not only is it not the metropolis that Qingshan had dreamed of, but it is also not located in any small town, it is simply in a vast and uninhabited wilderness; but the queen mother never paid attention to this, and only urged the eunuchs and maids to be busy. After putting Yi's quilt pillow properly, she fell asleep quietly. Our train actually has electric light equipment.The Empress Dowager did not have a good opinion of other new ideas or new appliances, but she was particularly pleased with electric lamps.In the palace and in the Summer Palace, there is a generator installed respectively; therefore, Yi regards the electric lighting equipment as a necessary condition for daily life. The news that the Empress Dowager had rested immediately caused the sudden stop of our train to alert the accompanying military train; so their cars also stopped, about thirty or thirty feet apart, It stopped without a sound.Hundreds of armored and well-armed Royal Forest Army quietly climbed out of the car and began to assume the responsibility of their guards.The surrounding area of ​​this yellow train was instantly filled with passing black shadows and flashing lights of knives.Especially on the left and right sides of the car Guangxu was riding in, the guards were extremely strict; rather than saying that such special security was for protecting Guangxu, it would be more appropriate to say that it was for defending him.The suffering of Guangxu is really worse than that of any commoner, so I have to point it out again and again. It is not easy to be an errand in the Imperial Forest Army!Although their tasks are to protect, patrol, and guard, they must be very careful in their actions. First, they must not talk and laugh loudly, and second, they must not make their walking noises too loud, otherwise they will inevitably be in danger of getting their heads chopped off at any time.So after the queen mother rested, the four strikes were as silent as death.Although we looked out of the car window, we could still vaguely see the lights of rural houses in the distance, flickering on the horizon, but the human voice was absolutely inaudible, not even the barking of dogs or the chirping of insects; there was no air. There is a solemn and solemn atmosphere, as cold as ice.Under this kind of rare atmosphere, our queen mother spent the whole night very comfortably. In the early morning of the third day, the queen mother got up: Yi usually got up very early, but now that she was in the car, she was more excited, so she woke up very early.After getting up, Yi hurriedly washed and washed, and then hurriedly ordered to drive, so this yellow train was dispatched in the twilight of morning.Not long after we were driving, it suddenly rained, but it was not heavy, just a very thin drizzle; if we walked in this rain, even if we didn't use an umbrella, our clothes would never be soaked, at most we would feel slightly damp.The drizzle here is the most in spring, and it often falls several times a day, probably because of the season? This season is "Qingming"; the so-called "rains fall heavily during Qingming".It is the most accurate realistic poem.Every Ching Ming Festival, our children and grandchildren have to bring sprinkled vegetables, paper money, etc., and respectfully go to the graves of our ancestors to sweep the graves. This is a custom everywhere in China.Therefore, when our train was passing through the wilderness, we saw so many people, braving the rain, worshiping their ancestral graves along the way.They are all far away from the railway. If someone’s ancestral grave happens to be near the railway, then in the past few days, because they know that the Queen Mother will pass by here soon, they will not dare to come to visit the grave. But we We could see clearly from the car window, but they all turned their backs, not daring to look us in the eye, because this was also the reason that the local officials had generally warned them.However, I can say categorically: they did not keep this commandment!Originally, curiosity is a must for everyone. The common people only hear people say, the emperor, the empress dowager, but what kind of god and Buddha is the emperor or the empress dowager? Personally, they have never seen it, and it is rare to meet us. A royal train, carrying the empress dowager and the emperor passed in front of them. Of course, they were unwilling or missed this opportunity again and again.So they bowed their heads in the posture of bowing to the ancestral tomb, opened their eyes wide, and tried their best to peek from under their sides, but at most they could only see this yellow train and the wriggling train on it. Many figures in action, including the truth about the empress dowager and the emperor, are still invisible. Regarding the custom of sweeping graves during the Qingming Festival, I also had a very memorable discussion with the Queen Mother, and we both had the same feelings; if we wanted to record it, it would be a very long article. During the distance we traveled, there were almost all graves on both sides of the track, so on this day, there was an endless stream of grave-sweepers.The Empress Dowager looked at them intently from the window of the car; at the same time, Yi's face was pale gray in thought, and her eyebrows were drawn together.Whenever Yi was thinking about something, her attitude was always very melancholy. At this time, no matter what interesting things happened, Yi would never laugh.Then, just let Yi think about it alone, it won't do!Or maybe Yi will become more and more annoyed, so that the anger will rise and become unstoppable. At this point, those of us who serve Yi will be unlucky, and will often be blamed for being innocent.Therefore, at the beginning of her deep thinking, we hurriedly disturb her with interesting words, so that she will not think too hard; and this difficult task, others are not willing to try it lightly, and I always take it on. .But at this moment, I really hope that Yi can think about it for a while, and then express some special opinions; so I didn't just disturb Yi. After a while, Yi really said to me in a very low and very sad language. : "How pitiful this is!" Yi said, pointing through the car window to those deserted graves that no one went to pay homage to. "The man who sleeps in these buns not only suffered all kinds of pain during his lifetime because he was too poor; even after he died, he had no inheritance to support his descendants, so that his descendants, He was also as poor as himself, and didn’t even have the power to sweep graves. We really have to show a lot of compassion! But think about it on the other hand, do people really feel what they feel after they die? Are all dead people the same! For example, how prominent we are now? But when the legs are straightened, everything is over! When they are buried in the earth, the flesh and blood gradually rot, who can tell whether these are the nobles? Remains, those are the dry bones of low-class commoners.... It is not difficult to think that the graves of these impoverished people, if it were not for the generosity of philanthropists in the surrounding places, I am afraid that they would not be heaped successfully! So even if these graves are because of They collapsed due to lack of care, and their descendants could only cry with their eyes wide open. They couldn’t be repaired unless some kind people came out to help them. From this, we can even imagine why their descendants did not come to sacrifice Sweeping, it must be because of the embarrassment of the economic situation; and the depression that the deceased was carrying in the ground is even more unbearable to imagine!" The deserted graves that Yi pointed out were actually cemeteries; cemeteries are run by local charitable organizations, and it is not something that an individual can undertake. Old man Yi has misunderstood this point. When it comes to tomb sweeping, although everyone has the same original intention, its form must be divided into the following types due to the different economic capabilities of each person. The first type is for wealthy families.They must first prepare a very rich banquet of food and wine, let the servants carry it, and display it respectfully in front of their ancestral tombs; while burning paper ingots, they kowtow to salute.After displaying it like this for tens of minutes, they took all the food and wine back, and put them into their stomachs in one go.The second type is the middle class.Although they were not powerless to clean up the food and drink, since their ancestors did not ask them explicitly, they decided to keep it simple; but the paper ingots must be taken to be incinerated, because it has been practiced since ancient times, although no one has ever cited it. It has been proven, but everyone firmly believes that after the paper ingots are incinerated, the dead can get real silver; fortunately, the living don't need to use paper ingots, and they can buy a lot of paper ingots for less money.If they really want them to incinerate the bills, silver bills, and foreign money that the living need to use for the dead, they will refuse to die!The third type is families below the middle level. The economic situation of these families can be described as "stretched", which must be very accurate.Because they have so little money, they still don’t think it’s enough to buy rice for the living every day. How can they handle the wine and food for the dead, and the paper ingots for the dead?So every Ching Ming Festival, although they usually go to visit the tombs, they absolutely don't bring any wine, vegetables or paper ingots; , and on the willow tree next to the road, pick a few new tender green willows and insert them in the center of the mud. Because willow is the first tree that grows leaves every spring, people can't help but look at it. Look at each other. — as an embellishment.Of course, this kind of embellishment is not for passers-by to appreciate. They mean to let their ancestors know that although they are poor and cannot afford to buy paper ingots, they are still thinking about their ancestors in their hearts. Lie!In this way, although the ancestors do not have delicious food and wine, and do not have paper ingots to use, they have finally obtained a kind of comfort in their hearts; as descendants, they can comfort the spirits of their ancestors in heaven. After all, they can be classified as "filial piety". Go in the category of "Thinking is not lacking"!The last kind of people can't even prepare soil and new willows; the saying here can't be prepared, of course, doesn't mean that they can't afford soil or new willows, because these two things don't cost money to buy.But maybe their ancestral tombs are too far away from their homes, and they can’t go there either because of lack of funds, or because they are busy with work to make ends meet.Now, it is the desolate and desolate phenomenon displayed by a pile of funeral tombs that no one will ever come to pay homage to, which has touched the heart of the Queen Mother, so that during the extremely exciting journey, Yi suddenly felt a burst of indescribable sadness .