Chapter 17 The Seventeenth Chapter of the Palace of Shengjing

On this day, although we have arrived in Fengtian, after several days of long-distance travel, people are too tired to know what to say; everyone is hoping to rest quickly, no matter how magnificent and moving these palaces in Shengjing are, I didn't have the energy to examine it carefully, at most I could only browse briefly like a horse on a horse, even if I had a good understanding of this new environment.Fortunately, we are here today, and we don't intend to leave tomorrow. According to the budget of the Queen Mother who has not set off, we are going to stay here for seven days. With seven days, it is enough to spend a lot of time.But after tonight, everyone's energy has been fully restored, and tomorrow we will have a big shopping!I like to go shopping the most, and I can't wait to go shopping today, but we who have a ministry, how can we move freely?So I can only endure it and go shopping again tomorrow.

But I can never be satisfied just wandering around in these empty great palaces, knowing its surface; I must try to know its history, and the history of all people connected with it. That's the real fun!But these histories must be known to very few people. Among the many of us who came east with us, perhaps only one or two people can tell a few words; and these two people—of course Li Lianying and Qingshan— ——It is also a character that I am inconvenient or unwilling to get close to. Even if I forcefully ask them, I may not be able to give me a detailed answer.I think my father nineteen is very clear, but he is not here at the moment.Then who should I ask?Don't worry about him, I'm determined to give it a try to the Queen Mother tomorrow, if it happens to happen when Elder Yi is happy, the result will be very satisfactory!

I can see that these palace courtyards, which have been closed for a long time, have almost been tidied up very neatly, and all the decorations and displays are also well placed. The Empress Dowager will undoubtedly be satisfied when she sees them. These achievements It was created by the group of eunuchs who were dispatched in advance; their number is not large, and their life is very cramped, so I am amazed that they can achieve such outstanding results. After the Empress Dowager watched it in the palace for a while, Yi's first request was to take a nap. The nap was originally a daily homework for the Empress Dowager. When we got off the car today, it was about twelve o'clock. After the pick-up ceremony was over, it was almost three o'clock, and Yi's usual nap time had already arrived; even if Yi didn't express herself, we would definitely go to prepare for her automatically.

The palace courtyard in Shengjing has been tidied up and furnished like this, and of course there is also a very suitable bedroom, which was reorganized by the Empress Dowager; therefore, Yi expressed that she would hurry to the new bedroom to solve Yi's first problem after arriving in Fengtian. A nap.After Yi said so, the group of us had to change a set of actions immediately.The colors that were originally crowded together in piles have gradually dispersed, and the eunuchs who accounted for the largest number returned to their original posts, buried their heads, and went to work separately; the Emperor Guangxu, who was a political prisoner, was originally He didn't need to serve the queen mother, in fact he didn't want to serve the queen mother, and the queen mother didn't want him to serve her, so when the queen mother expressed that she wanted to take a nap, he took a few eunuchs and went to his own bedroom.His bedroom is next to the queen mother's bedroom, very close to each other, and a little further on is the bedroom of his wife Longyu and Concubine Jin.

Every kind of building always has a special atmosphere, and this is true of ordinary houses, as well as palaces; the sleeping palace in Shengjing is of course different from the sleeping palace in Beijing.When we first came to see it, we couldn't help but feel a little strange.Fortunately, the group of eunuchs sent in advance were really capable. After their hard work and rectification, many peculiarities here have been corrected as much as possible. Even if they have not been corrected, they are not very obvious. The main body of this sleeping palace is a main hall, a very tall and large main hall; although its area is not as large as the sleeping palace in Peking University, it is much larger than the one in the Summer Palace.On both sides of the main hall, there are two side halls lined up like two wings, forming an upside-down concave shape.There is a very long corridor between the side hall and the main hall. Its construction is also very particular, and the roof is usually covered with glazed tiles. To walk from the hall to the main hall, or from the main hall to the side hall, you have to go out of the hall door first, and then walk through the corridor, and you cannot go through the inside of the room.In this way, we can understand: in fact, the Queen Mother's bedroom includes three separate buildings, not a whole series of connected buildings.

We followed the Queen Mother and went to the main hall together.Because there is a large courtyard in front of the main hall, the light is very abundant; the side halls on both sides are far apart, and some of them will not block the sunlight of the main hall, and they themselves can also get sufficient light.This construction method can be regarded as very suitable for hygiene!After a brief look, the queen mother expressed her satisfaction; especially for the achievements of the eunuchs sent earlier, she was very happy.There are three rooms in the main hall; the middle one is the Queen Mother’s private hall, where the elderly Yi works and rests; the right one is dedicated to the Queen Mother as a private Buddhist hall. There is a magnetic Avalokitesvara statue, which has been worshiped devoutly almost all year round, and people have already been sent here at this moment.Sometimes Yi also likes to chant scriptures, so there must be such a quiet room.The one on the left of the side hall is the queen mother's bedroom.

In the middle of the pantry, the first room we entered as soon as we entered, stood a small round table; On the top, there is a pair of dominoes that the Queen Mother loves to use every day.This pair of dominoes was originally hidden in a side hall in the Summer Palace before the Empress Dowager set off; the day before the departure, we saw it well placed there and hid it, and we never heard the Empress Dowager order to put it away Bring Fengtian.But Li Lianying and Zhang De, the eunuchs, had the most ingenious minds. They thought that when the Queen Mother arrived in Fengtian, there might be a possibility that this set of dominoes would be raised suddenly, so they secretly sent someone to bring them to us. But never knew.So as soon as everyone walked in, they all focused their eyes on the deck of cards; the queen mother seemed to be surprised, but Yi also knew that this was the kindness of Yi's servants who wanted to flatter her.

Next to the door of Nalian's bedroom, there is another very large table, which is the Queen Mother's official desk.A pair of pens and inkstones and other stationery, such as ink pads, water bowls, etc., and many papers of different styles are neatly placed on it. In the small imperial court on the train, the queen mother's throne was specially customized; but in the palace courtyard in Shengjing, there are several existing ones in reserve, so there is no need to make another one.Although their carvings and decorations are far less exquisite and rich than those in Beijing palaces due to their age and seldom used, the one now placed on the side hall is not very old, its materials are It is usually made of rosewood, and there is also a rosewood screen behind it, inlaid with very precious marble.

On the walls on all four sides, there are also large-scale patterns painted on the walls of train cars. The authors of these murals are of course those master painters.They like to use very strong and bright colors for the characters or flowers and plants in their paintings, which can't help but feel a bit too vulgar. As far as this main hall is concerned, or it can be said that this main hall represents all the palaces in Shengjing, they are indeed very splendid; however, if you compare the palaces in Rehe, it will inevitably pale in comparison everywhere. !I might as well cite a few points as illustrations.For example, on the walls, there are only many murals painted here. The bright colors are very bright, but how can they be called precious and unique?Among the palaces in Rehe, there are several palaces frequented by Shengjia. The walls are covered with various kinds of satin; these satins are usually woven with beautiful patterns and paintings.Their value is at least ten or twenty times higher than paint.Also, in the Rehe palace, in the main halls where the Empress Dowager went to stay every time, there were many lifelike flying dragons coiled from head to toe on all the thick and embracing courtyard pillars; The carvings were not made of clay, it turned out that they were all cast in gold.On the ceiling, there are also many decorations such as flying dragons and phoenixes, which are also made of pure gold.And these courtyard columns and the ceiling itself, needless to say, are of course the most expensive wood used.Here, only ordinary wood can be used, not to mention real gold decorations!In Rehe's palace, most of the door keys and the hooks that fasten the windows are made of silver, and if it is not silver, it must be high-quality copper or cupronickel.But here, there are only ordinary brass and white iron.In short, from a material point of view, no matter which point is used to compare, the palace in Rehe is much more magnificent than the ancient palace in Shengjing!

The reason why Shengjing's palaces could not be decorated as much as possible is because of the super-simple, in a word, lack of financial resources.Although the commercial markets in the three northeastern provinces are not very depressed, and the people have never experienced any famine; but the people here have always been used to a very poor life, and no one pays much attention to extravagance, and the money and food collected by the government are not There are relatively few, so these palaces, in the eyes of the local people, are already very luxurious and exquisite, and they don't realize that there is a need for renovation.As far as the government is concerned, and limited by economic power, it has no choice but to have the same mentality as the people, and let these old buildings remain in their original state forever.In fact, in all fairness, a house like this is indeed very suitable for the occasional residence of the emperor or empress dowager. We people have lived a comfortable life in the customs for several generations. It completely wiped out our spirit of patience, and also made us develop a very extravagant habit. We can't help but look down on ordinary objects, so we put these old things that still have a three-pointed sense of antiquity. In the palace courtyard, there are no wonderful things to see everywhere.

But no matter what, the Queen Mother never expressed dissatisfaction, and Yi was obviously very satisfied. The queen mother decided to take a nap after sitting on the toilet for a while; every time Yi took a nap, it was always about two or three hours. Today, Yiyou worked harder than usual, so the sleep time might be extra long up.After she fell asleep, as usual, we kept only one person who happened to be on duty to call her when she woke up; the other seven people all withdrew to rest together.The two side halls I mentioned just now are the official residences of our eight female officials.Because everyone was very tired and exhausted, they hurried into the official house to rest without thinking about it.Of course, I am also very tired, but this new environment has given me a very strong stimulation, which makes my nerves very excited. I definitely don’t need to close my eyes and go to sleep. Therefore, I simply dropped the idea of ​​taking a nap, A person lingered in the corridor outside, intending to get a better understanding of the scene around here.However, I dare not go too far, maybe the Queen Mother will suddenly wake up, or think of me as soon as she wakes up, and ask me to do something for her by name. I was always wandering down this corridor, looking everywhere as far as my eyes could see.Although what I can see is only a part of the palace, I have got a general idea here, and I can use a few simple words to explain the construction method of these palaces.First, it has many courtyards, and each courtyard must be surrounded by many palaces on three or four sides; second, outside these palaces, there must be a long corridor connected with each other, so that they can go around each other; In this way, they are merged together to form a small maze.Of course, this way of building no longer attracts any special attention to me, because the buildings of the imperial palaces in Beijing are almost exactly the same as it, and they are more tortuous and complicated. We only need to look at the entrance to it. The scene can already be known. In the middle of the two side halls where we rest and the main hall where the Queen Mother lives, there is also a huge courtyard; in this courtyard, there are many lilacs, white and purple. Also, they bloomed very lushly.But the smell they gave off was really uncomfortable; it was neither fragrant nor stinky, it was just indescribably unpleasant.I immediately felt very headache when I smelled it. Fortunately, its color is very elegant and beautiful, as lovely as a beauty with light makeup; according to my personal preference, this flower is really more lovely than peony, peony, etc. many.So I think that after a day or two, I will gradually feel less unpleasant for the smell it emits because I like its color tone.Really, I got used to it later, otherwise, during the few days we stayed in Fengtian, this stench would invade my nostrils day and night, would I still not fall ill? I lingered under the corridor for about half an hour, and gradually felt tired; because of the first reason, I was indeed very tired today, and in fact I really needed to rest for a while; the second reason It would be too boring to stand coldly on the porch alone like this; so I went into my own bedroom, lay down on the bed, and planned to have a short sweet dream.But when I closed my eyes, I couldn't sleep soundly, so I could only doze in a hazy way; when I was about to fall asleep, a palace maid suddenly came to wake me up and told me that the Queen Mother was turning over. It won't take a few minutes for Yi to wake up, so the lady-in-waiting hastily came to inform me, so that I can immediately get dressed and get ready, and when Yi wakes up, she will immediately go in and serve her. Sure enough, the Queen Mother woke up ten minutes later, and Elder Yi had to wash and dress again, so it was getting late.I couldn't bear to gossip with us for a while, and it was time for dinner, so the daily red tape began again; The end will come out, as if some kind of exhibition is being held, it will be spread in front of the Queen Mother.I'm almost scared when I see it, but I'm used to it. Regardless of the location in Beijing's imperial palace, the Summer Palace, or on the imperial train, these hundred bowls of dishes are always a must-have for every meal; now in Fengtian, of course Nor can it be exempted alone. After dinner, everyone was still gathering in the empress dowager's toilet. Yi didn't seem to pay much attention to this new environment. Not only did she not want to go out at night with candles, but she didn't even talk about it, as if the old man had never been to Fengtian. Same.Those of us who serve Yi, of course, can only follow the trend, and no one dares to take the initiative.Yi chatted with us casually, and felt a little bored, so he asked someone to find a pair of dice, and we played "Hundred Birds Facing the Phoenix" for fun; this is a game invented by Yi himself. It's not so simple, and it's a long story, so I can only ignore it.After playing for a while, Yi's interest gradually disappeared, and then Yi said that she needed to go to bed. Most elderly people are used to going to bed early, and the Queen Mother was no exception. This night, it was the turn of two other female officers to serve Lafayette, so I withdrew after Yi entered the bedroom.But I didn't just go to sleep, I still stayed alone in the corridor and looked around.What I see at the moment is an incomplete night view of the palace; although it is not complete, it is not difficult to imagine the night view of the entire Shengjing Palace using this part as the standard.I usually like to appreciate the scenery at night. In such a quiet and quiet environment, it should be more interesting. Unfortunately, the scent of lilacs outside the corridor makes me almost unable to breathe. The interest has been reduced by more than half. In the palace courtyard of Shengjing, there was no electric lighting equipment at that time!But at night, the lights can't be without!This question was already planned by Qingshan and the others before the Queen Mother set off.Originally, there was no need to plan, as long as kerosene lamps were used; however, the Queen Mother hated kerosene lamps the most in her life. Yi once said that the smell of kerosene is the most unpleasant smell in the world, so if they give kerosene lamps to If the Queen Mother uses it, it is simply to make it boring, or it can be said that she deliberately does not want to live.As a result, kerosene lamps have become a forbidden item, and all of them have been hidden in advance, and all of them are replaced by candles. The candles used here are all very big, maybe specially made, but for those of us who are used to electric lights, the light is still very dim.Under this long curved-foot-like corridor, there are ten hanging on each of the three sides, but their hanging method is very special, which I have never seen before.Because I used to see candlesticks that were either placed on the table or hung on the wall, but here they are all lanterns.Lanterns are not a rare thing. They are made of paper or glass. I have seen thousands and hundreds of kinds of them, but I have never seen a lantern made of ox horns. They are all made very thin, almost as transparent as glass.The products of Chinese handicraft industry often have miracles that are far beyond the reach of machinery. This corner lamp is an example. All the candles are bright red—other colors are considered unlucky, and of course they must not be used. ——Each one is about a foot and a half long, which is not too small. However, the lantern itself is not that big, just enough to accommodate this candle.So I think it must be very laborious and dangerous at the beginning of the point, and the lantern may be burned; but the eunuchs here have already practiced a very good technique, not only at the beginning of the point, Some people don't find it difficult, even if they burn lanterns, they will never happen.At least, during the few days I stayed in Fengtian, it never happened.At the top of this corner lamp were tied three copper chains at three point angles; thus, the lamp was stabilized.And on the end where the three copper names are combined, there is also a copper hook. After the lamps and candles are burning, this hook is used to hang the calendar on the beam under the corridor and let it hang high. I don't know why, but when I saw the light from these corner lamps, I felt a little strange; probably it was because it was too dim.Looking elsewhere, in every palace and under every long corridor, there are similarly this kind of horn lanterns hanging with a deep yellow light.It all looks very special, and it feels very uneasy, and it will make people feel scary when they see it.And the entire palace courtyard in Shengjing is shrouded in this terrible light every night!I don't admit that I'm a coward, but after seeing this gloomy scene, I couldn't help but have a silly fantasy: I thought that the people who had died for hundreds of years in these palaces were almost like deep mountains. Like ghosts in the poor valley, one by one got up; I seemed to have seen many strange-shaped black shadows shaking in front of me, so that I trembled involuntarily, and I doubted my own sense of instability. , or a harbinger of bad luck tomorrow. In the main hall where the empress dowager lives, although this kind of candles are generally used, and horn lanterns are also generally used; but these lanterns are not hung above, but installed on more than a dozen lamp stands.The style of these lamp stands is very special. The material is red sandalwood, and there are many patterns on it, but it is unusual and different. All kinds of bright paints are painted, but they are directly carved on the wood with a knife, so their color is as black as the lamp stand itself, and it doesn’t look very obvious. If you want to appreciate it carefully, you must Only by moving your eyes close can you see clearly; it is best to touch with your fingers, so that you can especially appreciate the fine workmanship and delicacy of these carvings. I was secretly guessing: So far, has the Queen Mother felt the discomfort of the gloomy and desolate scene here?Or maybe Yi felt it too, but Yi was still patient and didn't want to express anything; or maybe this feeling hadn't been imprinted on Yi's nerves at all!Because no matter how healthy Yi is, she is already old after all, and the senses of elderly people are not very sensitive as usual; Kay is very tired today, so naturally she should be extra dull, but I am still very sensitive. A young man, and a young man who is especially good at fantasy. Just because I am too good at fantasizing, my emotions are easily impulsive.Seeing this gloomy and desolate night scene now, I felt a little regretful that I shouldn't have come east with me, and I had a great desire to go back to Beijing immediately.But I am also very aware of my own temperament. Although this desire has occurred, it is only a flicker after being stimulated temporarily in my nerves.It will never turn into an ardent request, maybe after a night's sleep, it will no longer be like this tomorrow! But no matter what, I can't force my courage to grow up, just like a child who has a terrible nightmare in bed, even after waking up, he will cry in fright.Now that I have this hallucination involving the devil in my nerves, it seems that there are many ghosts before my eyes, moving back and forth in this vast and poorly lit tenth house.I still didn't believe it and explained to myself: "Really! There must be ghosts here! Just like the palace in Beijing, there must be ghosts. In these two palaces, for thousands or hundreds of years, there have been no ghosts. Do you know how many people died there? Although their corpses have been transported out for burial, their souls will remain forever. So, how many ghosts should there be in the palace? In terms of numbers, the Beijing Palace Of course, there are more palaces than in Shengjing, but the palaces in Beijing are inhabited all year round, and there are enough people, so ghosts dare not appear. Or it can be said that those ghosts are used to disturbing people all the year round. So people and ghosts live together, there is no disturbing phenomenon, but no one has lived here for hundreds of years! ——Although there are people left behind, but too few. ——These ghosts have lived peacefully for a long time, and suddenly There are so many people here, so how can we not disturb them? We regard this place as our hometown, but in their minds, we must be a group of hateful foreigners, so they will definitely fly into a rage , They came out one after another and threatened us quite a lot.” In fact, these are the effects of nervousness, what the hell could really be there?But I was unable to rule them out, I could only let them worship, and gradually surrounded my whole heart. Even when the eunuchs were walking in the courtyard outside, their figures were reflected in the dim light, and I They will also be regarded as the shadows of ghosts, and immediately add a sense of horror.These situations are very ridiculous to say, but at that time, when I experienced them, there were some difficulties that I knew were not worth fearing, but I wanted to fear them.The reason for this, although very complicated, but after careful analysis, most of it is because the scenery in these palace courtyards is too special and too unfamiliar.No matter on the surface how clean they have been cleaned up by the eunuchs sent earlier, and how they are arranged to resemble the palaces in Beijing, manpower is limited, and matter can be transformed, but spirit cannot be transformed; The ancient atmosphere, the tall and lush trees, and the lack of decorations of flowers and birds are almost all innate. How can manpower transform them?Unless all the furnishings, flowers, trees, fish and birds, etc. in the Beijing imperial palace are moved together, their original simplicity and empty true appearance cannot be concealed; The essence is that it can never be replaced. I finally couldn't stay on the porch for long because of the tremors, and hurried back to my own bedroom. There are four people lying together in our dormitory. Besides me and my sister, there are two female officials living with us.At that time, the three of Yimen had already fallen into a deep sleep, because the hallucinations of terror and restlessness never invaded Yimen's brain nerves, Yimen easily fell asleep peacefully.But what about me?But Wu was so worried that a catastrophe would come, that he didn't even have the courage to blow out the candle.Although I also understand very well that this is a ridiculously stupid idea, in such a strict and strict palace, will there really be any unfortunate incidents that happen to us?There is no doubt that this is absolutely impossible!I also know that the Empress Dowager is sleeping very comfortably in the bedroom of the main hall at this time. Since the Empress Dowager has no fear or anxiety in her heart, then I am Yi's attendant, so of course I should not be intimidated at all and try my best to learn. With Yi's calm attitude, why did he play tricks on himself with suspicion? In such a state of self-contradiction and ups and downs of thoughts, I quietly climbed into bed alone.When I first went to bed, I firmly believed that I would not have to sleep peacefully tonight, maybe I wouldn’t even be able to close my eyelids; but after tossing and turning in bed for a long time, I somehow made up my mind, He actually closed his eyelids, and still slept comfortably, without even knowing that it was dawn. "It's dawn!" I was suddenly woken up by a court lady, and Yi told me that it was getting late, and almost everyone else was up, even Lafayette was washing up.So I opened my sleepy eyes, jumped out of bed hurriedly, and followed the crowd, dressed and put on makeup together; because every morning, we eight female officials, as usual, had to go in together to say good morning to the Queen Mother before we could follow In the order of the rotation, the waiters are divided into shifts. The sun rose very early that day, and our courtyard was already shone with bright sunlight; all people and everything suddenly became much brighter.The many terrible hallucinations I had last night have melted away like the sun on the snow.Even I can hardly admit that I thought so idly last night.real!These hallucinations have been completely eliminated, and there is nothing left. There are only two facts in front of me, which are not easy to hide immediately, and I still feel somewhat uncomfortable.That is the many strange corner lamps hanging on the porch, and the strong fragrance from the lilacs planted in the courtyard.