Chapter 28 The twenty-eighth round of floating palace on the lake

On this day, the weather is particularly good, neither too cold nor too warm, it is really the best late spring weather.What's even better is that on this day, everyone in our palace knows that the queen mother is happy. We can see from Yi's eyes: usually it is always gloomy and dull, but today it is particularly bright. And it's flashing all the time.And on the corner of Yi's mouth, there is often a silent smile revealed.This is a rare good phenomenon in a year.Because of such a change, the Empress Dowager's complexion was also greatly affected. It seemed that Yi had suddenly lost her age by ten or twenty years, and she seemed to have returned to her youth repeatedly.Yi's spirit is more lively than those of us young people, and his every move is so light that it is almost indescribable.What is the reason for this?In fact, there is no special reason, just because in the past few days, all the political affairs in the DPRK have been going smoothly, and there is nothing that can make Yi angry or sad, and today is a special free time, so I have to bother the elderly Yi The big thing that he went to take care of was nothing, so Yi was overjoyed.Really, with Yi's good complexion like today, the pair of jade earrings and the pair of white jade bracelets presented by Zhang Zhidong must be suitable for wearing. Maybe it was because Yi couldn't think of it in time.

"Today, we have to think of a more interesting way to play....Ah! Let's go to Kunming Lake!" Yi's lively interest could no longer make Yi sit quietly, so she made up her mind to go out and have fun. First of all, she expressed this to us. : "In such fine weather, we have to play happily for a long time, all on the water, isn't it very interesting? Even our lunch, we have to ask them to send it to the boat, otherwise we can't Have fun!" Of course we were very happy when we heard it, and we eagerly obeyed the order before we had time; and before we set off, the eight female officials specially gathered together quietly and held a five-minute meeting.

"Remember! We all must be extremely careful today." The eight people advised each other: "No matter what, don't offend the Queen Mother, as long as we can always smile and obey orders respectfully, then today will definitely be able to last forever. Be happy, maybe the old man Yi's face can extend it for a few more days." Naturally, everyone liked these words, so they returned to the appointed deacons cautiously. Kunming Lake is a famous scenic spot in the Summer Palace. Although it was man-made, it is quite wide enough for the Empress Dowager to float on it in her yacht.The author has already mentioned the Queen Mother’s yacht in Chapter 13; but for the sake of preserving the old system in the palace, we might as well call it “Royal Boat”.Yu Zhou also doesn't often appear on Kunming Lake, the reason is that after all, the Empress Dowager can't have as much leisure as Jia's mother in the Dream of the Red Chamber. Traveling, indeed, can be regarded as an occasional blessing.

The style of the "royal boat" is very ordinary, it is just a big boat with a canopy, and it also uses oars and pennies as tools for sailing; as usual, there is also a cabin in the middle, but it is very tall and exquisitely carved. The vermilion lacquer is brilliant, similar to those palaces on the shore.So I call it "Floating Palace on the Lake" is something nice!On the top of it, the best wood is carved and painted into rows of glazed tiles. From a distance, it looks exactly like the real thing, and it can be seen that it is exquisitely built!The Empress Dowager herself is sitting on this royal boat, and four of us eight female officials are selected,--I am also one of them--to go on the same boat, and to keep her company, which can also be regarded as a kind of full aristocratic outings.

The Empress Dowager's idea was certain, and the people in the palace immediately got busy getting ready. First, everyone surrounded Yi and went to the dock where the imperial boat was moored. When they got to the places where they were supposed to stand, we, the four female officers, carefully helped the Empress Dowager onto the boat, so that Elder Yi could sit comfortably on the special throne; then someone went to open the two double high double doors Let the imperial boat slowly and steadily float out of the big dock gate. The eunuchs who sail the boat are well-trained, and they can minimize all the swaying during normal sailing.

After leaving the dock, there was a short tributary at first. After walking for about four or five minutes, the imperial boat appeared on the mirror-like Kunming Lake.The smile on the Queen Mother's mouth,—although it was still a smile,—had never disappeared.Seeing the vivid lake scene in front of her, Yi became even happier, and her two pupils were full of vitality.The red sun in the sky turned the lake water into a pool of golden paste, which made Yi feel happy, and we also felt happy because of Yi's happiness alone. How beautiful the scenery on the lake is!The water is as clear as jasper, and we can see the bottom of the lake from the boat. It is not difficult to count the lotus stalks that protrude from the surface along the water.People stare at the lake water for a while, and their eyes feel brighter several times in an instant.What is particularly touching is the five-color goldfish kept in the lake, which sometimes drift past in the green waves, like a thread of red thread, and some of the larger ones will jump out of the water, making crisp micro-sounds and circles. Halo ripple.

The sun shone on us impartially, filling us with a lively vigor, and everyone forgot all worries and sorrows, and was ready to have fun.At that time, the palaces built along the Longevity Hill happened to be facing us. Looking from a distance from the boat, they really looked like the fairy mountains and pavilions depicted in novels. There are a lot of flowers and trees in the Summer Palace, especially in the lakeside area. There are tall ones, short ones, woody ones, and herbaceous ones. I don’t know how many there are.We can also vaguely see them rising and falling in the bright sunlight with the wind on the boat, and at the same time, the bursts of floral fragrance are continuously vented because of their rising and falling, blowing into our nostrils by chance Come on, it's really refreshing.

Another spectacle is that the yellow glazed tiles on the roofs of those big palaces reflect a dazzling golden light because they are shrouded in sunlight. Normally, you would not see any spectacle from a close distance, but now on the boat Looking across the lake, it seemed like a golden glow was shining in midair. Doesn't the Queen Mother keep two yachts?This one is the so-called "Royal Ship" that Yi herself will always ride on, and the other ship may as well be called the "Second Ship of the Royal Boat"; its size and style are about the same as the Royal Boat, but it is not as gorgeous.And the color of the false tiles on its cabin roof is green, which also means to distinguish it from the imperial boat.Every time when you go to the lake, all the female officials who can't take the turn to serve the queen mother, as well as people with lower status in the palace, let them carry it together, and follow the royal boat, about five or six feet away, and guard them.I don't know whether its internal layout and the stability of the boat are inferior to those of the imperial boat, because I have been on the imperial boat every time and have never been on it.

In addition to this "Yu Zhou's Deputy", there are four small yachts, which also have to go down the lake with the Queen Mother every time.The two boats were in front, separated to the left and right, and followed far behind the imperial boat, which was for the band in the palace. ——This class is fine music, not the disgusting rough music that is used every time when some ceremony is held. ——There are about 20 of them together, they are loaded on two small boats, and they take turns to play.This kind of fine music is already very pleasant to hear, but now on the surface of the water, there is the soft sound of the wind mixed in with the sound of water like broken jade, and it feels very quiet and pleasant.Although the syllables are not very high, the more subtle and soft they are, the more soul-stirring and comfortable they are.And what are those two boats doing?That is equal to two dining rooms on the water.There were several small stoves and a group of cooking eunuchs on it, so as to prepare the queen mother's lunch, which was ordered by Yi Zao.

Li Lianying was still the same as before, no matter what the Empress Dowager did, whether it was a formal court ceremony or an ordinary banquet, he was always in charge of commanding everything.Touring the lake is naturally indispensable to him.And that Zhang De, the chief eunuch who was in charge of taking care of tea and food, also took his two young eunuchs on duty on the imperial boat.The Empress Dowager herself still sat alone on Yi's throne with great dignity, and we stood guard on both sides. "Ah! It's really pleasing to be here!" Lafayette praised in a very gentle voice, as if he was talking to himself, and as if he was talking to us: "So, a person can Don't just be busy doing business, you must set aside a considerable amount of time for leisure."

At this time, every minute, even every second, is very precious and joyful to Mrs. Yi; Yi does not dare to slack off, and is ready to use all the time to enjoy it to the fullest.As long as you look at the expression revealed on Yi's face, you can see it clearly. There is also a special decoration on the royal boat, which is not seen outside. It turns out that it is on the central mast--in fact, it can't be called a mast, because it doesn't need any sails at all, but it is called a flagstaff. . ——In addition to a large and beautiful dragon flag, there are two long and narrow streamers, which are two azure ribbons, blowing to the stern of the ship with the wind; these two streamers It is really too long, they can float all the way to the surface of the water, skim in a water mark left by the boat when sailing, and turn into countless circular patterns.And because they themselves have been saturated with water, whenever the sun shines on them, they are really as beautiful as a rainbow. There used to be waves on the lake that sounded like broken jade, but now that several of our boats are moving on it, there is a sound of crashing water and the bottom of the boats, as well as the splashing of oars and poles; The lovely sounds of nature easily mingled with the music played on the two small boats, and other sounds were completely inaudible. The "Secondary of the Royal Boat" following behind seemed like an empty boat, No one dared to speak, even those of us who were waiting on the royal boat were silent, for fear of making some inappropriate noise and breaking up the joy of the day.Let only the Queen Mother speak alone: "Turn to the east!" Jian pointed and said, "Let's make a big circle around the lake, and take a look at how those lotus growers are working!" Gradually, we have arrived at the center of Kunming Lake; the boat is moving slowly, like a big bright flower, lying flat on a piece of brilliant silver waves, while the lake is surrounded by countless green trees. charge.Because the Queen Mother likes lotus very much, there are many lotus in the lake.Fortunately, the bottom of the lake is very deep. Although the lotus is already densely planted, it does not hinder the boating.The boat can be shaken directly on the clusters of lotus leaves at the bottom, so that there will be rustling sounds on the bottom of the boat.As soon as the boat passed by, those round and big lotus leaves spread out as much as possible.There are still drops of water on it, which are turning drop by drop, like the teardrops of ordinary happy girls when they are too happy. At this time, the colors of the whole scene are very bright: those big palaces built along Longevity Hill are obviously yellow and golden; below them, Kunming Lake is shining and silver; its four strokes are like a wall. A circle of oily green is those thick lotus leaves. ——And in the middle of the lake, our queen mother, sitting like a little heart, is beautiful all over her body, and no one can be more beautiful than Yi!At this time, Jiayi no longer just sat upright, and sometimes he would dance and dance with forgetfulness, just like a child having fun. Sure enough, following the queen mother's idea, we floated from the center to the east of the lake, and circled along the shore of the lake, so we could clearly see about a hundred or so little eunuchs, scattered around, hidden in the greenery Among the lotus, I am very diligently engaged in the work of transplanting new lotus.They all wore short jackets of blue cloth, and their trousers were rolled up to their waists; this was because they had to go down to the lake, and the water was so deep that it almost reached their hips. .We just looked at them from a distance, and saw them bending down suddenly, standing up straight again, bending down again, up and down, up and down, I don't know what they are doing; now they are approaching After taking a look, I realized that they first had to bend down, stretch their hands down to the bottom of the lake, touch the thick lotus stalks, and uproot them, and at the same time stand up straight. After the next year’s lotus stalks are pulled up, first pick off the new shoots on the roots, and discard the old stalks, then lean down and insert the new shoots into the soil at the bottom of the lake repeatedly, allowing it to grow slowly. into it. "Planting lotus is a very profitable business." The queen mother ordered the boat to stop, and asked Yi Hao to watch carefully how the people who planted the lotus worked. At the same time, Yi made a conversation with us: "Is there any It can be spoiled, its old roots, stems, and leaves are all very important things in Chinese medicinal materials; especially its leaves, when they are first picked, are almost cleaner than white paper, and people often use them to bind Cooked food. With its petals and tender roots, it is the lotus root, and it is the most refreshing food in summer." So Yi ordered Zhang De to instruct those lotus growers to pull out a few fresh and tender lotus root immediately, washed them on the spot, cut them into pieces and chewed them one by one; Blessing, to taste the tripod.Everyone was secretly pleased with themselves; in fact, although the taste of fresh lotus root is good, it is not a rare thing. The lotus root that I have never been full, but just ate today, is a gift from the Queen Mother, and it seems to be extraordinarily delicious up.We were eating fresh lotus root like this, while watching those little eunuchs in blue short coats jumping up and down on the Xinhe lotus, we felt that we had circled the whole lake, and the sun hadn’t even reached yet. Transit! "Now, it's about time!" The Empress Dowager taught Li Lianying to take out the timepiece to look at the time, and then ordered: "We don't need to go around in circles any more. Move the boat to the center of the lake and anchor it there securely. Let's make a fuss after we've had lunch!" After Yi said this, the boat immediately turned its direction, and slowly and steadily swayed towards the center of the lake.When it was almost shaken, the Empress Dowager gave the order to stop the boat; usually there are two iron anchors prepared on this royal boat. At this moment, the water was lowered together, and the boat stopped. Swinging up and down, there was a sound of valley and valley; the queen mother didn't find it annoying, but she stopped saying nothing when she saw that she had stopped like this. At that time, it was Li Lianying's turn to dispatch again. He first took out a special horn, put it on his mouth and blew it three or four times; One rowed closer, one on the left and one on the right, and stood side by side on both sides of the imperial boat; so the people on the imperial boat took out two special springboards and placed them between the big boat and the small boat, and the eunuchs rushed Running back and forth on this springboard, ready to start serving out the Queen Mother's lunch. Today I think it’s because I’m afraid it’s easy to roll and break or sink into the lake on the boat. All the dishes are made of gold or silver. The jade chopsticks used were not replaced; and the eunuchs who served the dishes were inconvenient to move around due to the small space on board, so they had to imitate the method used on the train last time and lined up in two very neat rows, separated on the left and right. From the springboard to the two small boats on both sides, all the dishes are passed up one by one.However, the hands of these eunuchs were temporarily covered with a clean white cloth to prevent their fingers from coming into direct contact with the Empress Dowager's food.The number of dishes is still one hundred as usual, not reduced at all; but because the table on the ship is much smaller after all, and there is really no room for it, so I had to put a few dishes of cold basins and beets on the table first, and the rest For the time being, let the eunuchs hold them, but fortunately each dish is covered with a cover, so that the dishes inside can keep the original temperature as much as possible.The Empress Dowager talked to me while chewing the first few dishes, and I tried my best to perfunctory with Yi, hoping to keep Yi's joy forever. When Yi had tasted or looked at the dozens of dishes that were brought up first, Yi made a gesture to me, and I gave Zhang De a wink, and Zhang De bowed to the assistants he trained. He shouted loudly: "Change!" So these little eunuchs were as orderly and serious as an army, quickly removed the first batch of dishes, brought up the second batch of dishes, and then put those dishes at the same time. The hijabs were lifted together, and they immediately turned around and retreated to their original positions, standing stiffly.At this time, the nose-touching aroma from all kinds of hot dishes has filled the boat, making everyone almost salivate. During these times, the bands carried on the other two small boats were still playing softly.I didn't feel very touched, so I silently thought about it: "Although I am the daughter of a courtier, and my status is far inferior to Yi, I know what it is like to sail, because I have experienced those boundless oceans; I also know that people sit on large ships, The huge waves are bumping under it. These great and interesting water tours are really different from the small boats on Kunming Lake. However, the Queen Mother was restricted by her own status and various government regulations. However, some of them can't taste such a valuable experience; whenever Yi gets tired of playing on the flat ground and wants to get close to the water surface for a while, she can only float on this artificially dug small lake for half a day. In the eyes of my people who already have experience in crossing oceans and seas, the small boat is really too small, as if Mrs. Yi and I, as well as others, are like a group of naughty children sitting in a small pond. We squatted next to us to get water, and our nannies were not far away, watching carefully so that we would not wet our clothes or slip into the water.  …” I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I stopped for a long time. When I raised my head, what I saw was the row of big palaces built on Longevity Hill, so I remembered again!I thought: The analogy I just drew is really very reasonable. ——Because those big palaces covered with yellow tiles can be used to represent the Manchu Empire. In fact, the Emperor Manchu is indeed the nanny of the Empress Dowager, so Yi is really a child at the moment, playing on a boat. His nanny is on hand.But this little child is too precious. Besides this spiritually great nurse, there must be many teachers, teachers, and housekeepers to take care of her so that she will not suffer any harm. I waited to think again, the queen mother had already used up this special lunch, and said in an exclamation tone: "Today, we can be said to be extremely happy!" Ise said with a mouth, "So I suddenly thought of the words of our great sage Confucius, didn't he say 'to be extremely happy',' Is it the two sentences of extreme joy begets sorrow'? Other ancients also said that sorrow and joy are often more frequently dealt with by people; so I think: after the excessive joy we have today, immediately or after an hour, or later, Tomorrow, maybe the little good fortune will play tricks on us!" As soon as these few words from Yi were sent to my ears, they had a great impact, making my heart skip a beat, and I was worried that I would find myself troubled because of them; Don't just turn joy into sorrow.I think what Yi means is probably because although Yi thinks this kind of worry is credible, but Yi also knows that it is very difficult for Yi to get such a relaxed and happy time; The idea, let's wait until the good luck child makes some mystery tomorrow, and then pay attention to it.