Chapter 31 The 31st round of Asahi Greeting the Sun

One day when the queen mother decided how to punish the evil governor of Guangdong, although Yi had already disregarded her feelings and abandoned her benevolence, she resolutely announced her proposition; but this proposition was only temporarily driven by a sense of justice. It was not out of Yi's original intention. Afterwards, Yi thought of the achievements made by the grandfather and father of the punished person in this court, as well as the few achievements he had shown in the past, which made Yi Dun feel infinitely uneasy.All the smiles on his face were restrained, and he was always livid, as if he was full of worry and anger.I couldn't help being surprised when I saw it, although I knew it was because of the traitor, but at that time, I didn't know the nature of the punishment was so severe and the impact was so long, so I was very surprised After having been punished, why should there be any uneasiness?

For the empress dowager's displeasure, the whole palace fell into a gray atmosphere as usual; all the eunuchs, court maids, and even female officials dared not even walk casually, standing on tiptoe, He tried his best not to let it make a sound; his speech was particularly reduced, and even if he had something to say, he only dared to whisper it.In fact, the queen mother was not angry at all, but felt very sad in her heart, as if something was stuck; I saw that Yi opened her lips many times, wanting to say something to me, but she held back every time, which shows that Yi I was really depressed.

Until that night, Yi's mind has not been untied, and her spirit is very restless. No matter how small, Yi is struggling with it; At this time, it has fully manifested itself.But when it was almost time for dinner, Yi's depression suddenly relaxed automatically, because Yi had already started talking, and what she said was a verse that Yi had just kept in her stomach.I was the one who spoke to Yi first.Yi's first sentence is a question, but this question is very strange, I never expected it.Yi asked me: "Have you ever called someone?" This question simply stunned me, and I couldn't find the answer for a while.Have I ever called someone?For a pampered person like me, there is no need to ask this question, and it is absolutely impossible! The punishment of "beating" was originally only for other people's servants, eunuchs and slaves.I myself admit that when I was young, because of my violent temper, whenever the servants or maidservants did something wrong and offended me, I had to beat some of them.After being beaten, Yimen had to kneel down and kowtow to me, thank me for the beating, and vowed never to do it again.This kind of thing seems to us that it should be done; but who should I myself be beaten?Or is it my father and mother?But my mother is the most gentle and soft, and the servants don't beat me, how can they beat me?Although my father was stricter, he never raised his hand to beat me, even scolding me loudly, it can be said to be unprecedented!

So I replied: "It's nothing! Queen Mother, so far, the servant has never been beaten." Although I have said the words, I am still very suspicious, I don't know that the Queen Mother got this After the answer, what will be said again. "Circumstances have forced me so much that I have no choice but to punish one of our courtiers," I replied without seeming to pay attention, as long as I said it, and then she said it directly. Come on with your own thoughts. "It is a very unpleasant thing to reprimand a man who has been in power for a long time and has done a lot of work in the past! But he has done wrong If the matter has been thoroughly investigated, then he must be punished; if we let him go lightly and do not give him some punishment, the result will be that all the governors of the provinces will take this governor of Guangdong as an example. He also corrupted the law by taking bribes, what kind of dignity is this? Therefore, according to the law, the punishment he received was really just; but there are still some regrets, although he should be punished, but we who only A person who can barely abide by the law punishes him, and finally feels a little uneasy! Have you heard people say that a father has to beat his son with his palm or a stick when he has done something wrong? Sometimes, there is always a very painful feeling in his heart."

what does it feel likeI've never heard anyone say that! "Ah! What is it? Can Lafayette tell the servants?" I asked sincerely. "Fathers often wave their old tears and say to their children: 'Now I have no choice but to hit you once, but it hurts me more than ten times; if I hit you ten times, it is the same as hitting me. One hundred blows to myself. Your pain is on your body, but mine is in your heart!' Now that I have punished this minister who has been in court for a long time, the pain I feel in my heart is really no less than what he said I feel it!" "However, this is the case, and we must quickly find something else to do, so that we can drive away these troubles; otherwise, we will automatically forget this matter? It forgets the necessity, because we have too many courtiers, how can no one commit crimes in the future; if someone commits a crime, of course he must be punished, if the troubles pile up again and again, don’t they accumulate too much? How can we, who are in poor health, be able to bear it? If it’s not done well, it might not be enough to piss them off! But what’s the use?”

Judging from the above two conversations of the queen mother, the old man Yi still has the heart to distinguish right from wrong; Yi also confirmed what the governor of Guangdong did as wrong, which shows that Yi Shang is not a person who is completely ignorant of right from wrong. .According to my daily observations, Yi not only sees clearly the mistakes of others, but also is very vigilant when she makes mistakes, and never deliberately embellishes, and can always admit it very frankly; of course, the old man Yi I will never be punished for doing something wrong, or I will apologize to others.It goes roughly like this: For example, one day, Yi asked me to do something. Although I felt it was wrong at the time, I still did it according to Yi's idea because I didn't dare to disobey Yi's order casually. After it was made, of course everyone knew it was wrong, but no one dared to criticize it. The Queen Mother herself acted as if she had never seen it, and didn't say a word. This matter has been completely forgotten, but Elder Yi still confessed to himself.

"What happened that day was my fault!" Yi always said like this. We heard what Yi said, and we really wished we could answer: "It was your fault!" But I never dared to be so presumptuous, I could only think so in my heart. Now let’s talk about the fact that the Empress Dowager did not want to worry about the exile of the governor of Guangdong, which made Yi Shi feel unhappy, so Yi hurriedly wanted to do something happier, so as to forget all the troubles; Yi thought After a long time, I finally figured it out. "In the past few days, the lotus must be blooming very vigorously; tomorrow morning, hundreds of them will inevitably bloom!" Yi said to us: "So tomorrow morning, we must all get up early and go to the garden together. Go to Kunming Lake, drive that yacht, and enjoy it as much as possible. Everyone remember: you must set off before breakfast!"

Because such an interesting pastime was scheduled for tomorrow morning, all the troubles of the Queen Mother were immediately swept away, until she went to bed to rest, she never showed any signs of irritability; even after she went to bed, she seemed to be more sleepy It ripens earlier, and snores frequently, and sleeps very sweetly.It was my turn to be on duty this night. Although Elder Yi’s troubles have been removed, I don’t need to worry anymore, but first, it’s not easy to sleep soundly when I sit on the floor, and second, I’m thinking about going out early tomorrow morning. I couldn't close my eyes even more when I was swimming in the lake; so I continued to support it in a hazy way until the early morning of the next day.The early morning mentioned here is really unambiguous. Around three or four o'clock, the queen mother and the rest of the people all got up; When floating on Kunming Lake, there is still a long time before the sun rises!Today, the throne used by the Empress Dowager is relatively high, and it is placed in the center of the bow; at the back, there are many small low stools for us female officials to sit on.Our boat was still supported by bamboo poles, and without leaning to one side, we slowly swung towards the northern part of Kunming Lake; there, the most densely planted part of the lotus, the fields of lotus leaves, seemed to be a pavement on the water. Like a green carpet.Then the Queen Mother said very gently:

"Stop this boat! Everyone wait quietly, watch, and listen!" The scene at this time can be said to be quite mysterious; in the distance to the east, although a part of the sky has already been dyed with a heavy red color, the head of the sun is still hidden below and never poked out. .The gray-black night is gradually moving westward, giving away the positions it occupied bit by bit; there are a few wisps of black smoke curling up in the air, like the belts tied by the god of night.Many kingfishers flew on both sides of us, but they didn't sing, they seemed to be quietly enjoying the early morning music, they all flew very low, and some of them almost wanted to sweep their wings over the water. pass.In front of us, countless lotus leaves fluctuated from left to right with the gusts of morning wind; the waves stirred up by the lake water would sometimes submerge them together, but soon they would reappear by themselves. Struggled up and swayed for a while, the water on the leaves turned into dots and fell down. In the dim morning light, they really looked like shining pearls.

Everyone was silent, there was no sound anywhere, it was as quiet as in a great desert; the entire Summer Palace was not lit, as if it was still asleep there.Our group made an exception and left early today, as if we were doing some secret work. It's really funny to think about it.In fact, the queen mother taught us to get up early today and follow Yi to the lake. I really didn't understand what it meant. I didn't dare to ask whether others had understood it.But the Empress Dowager's expression was very calm and calm. —Because Yi herself already knew what adventures to discover.I saw that there were some mysterious expressions on Yi's face, and she seemed to be still thinking about something.Yi's pair of pupils were either looking at the pile of lotus leaves, or looking up at the eastern sky.

"Attention everyone!" Yi suddenly whispered to us again: "There will be a miracle that is not easy to see before you! When the sun is prosperous and prosperous, you should pay attention to it, those lotus flowers that are not in bud It's open in no time!" Then I knew that Her Majesty wanted us to see a wonder of nature, which no one would be uninterested in, so I fixed my eyes on those lotus buds; of course there are many of them , can be seen everywhere, lying in the middle of the green leaves like many small birds that have not yet emerged from the nest.A few days ago, I also saw a lot of buds. I saw them yesterday. I almost watched them grow from small to large. Now they are very fat and full of vigorous energy. angry. The gray sky has gradually been lifted, and Xiaofeng and Microwave no longer move unconsciously; it seems that even the two of them are quietly waiting for the revealing of the spectacle.The morning light slowly penetrated and shone everywhere, even the clothes on our bodies gradually became brighter. I couldn't help thinking of the morning court a few days ago and the edict promulgated yesterday morning. I couldn't help but sneak a glance at the Queen Mother. Judging from Yi's expression at the moment, it is obvious that Yi The exiled governor of Guangdong has long been forgotten; the influence of this incident has completely disappeared, and Yi is now engrossed in looking forward to the rising sun and the buds that are about to bloom. Finally, we could see the top of the sun that was as red as blood and as round as a disk. Everyone could not help but stare at it with special solemnity. Even the Queen Mother herself dared to use a whisper-like voice to say quietly: " Just watch!" At this time, everyone's eyes were firmly fixed on the lotus bushes like a green carpet; I was even more excited, my two pupils swelled up desperately, swollen and swollen,—— It is growing at the same time as those fat buds.Indeed, they also rose there!Hundreds of branches, thousands of branches, wherever our sight can reach, there are all their shadows, and they are all rising, shaking, and standing. The sun is getting higher and higher, and half of it has been hung up. The thousands of buds are getting bigger and bigger. As soon as the sun rises and the lotus blossoms bloom, the air immediately adds a fresh and tangy scent, blowing on our heads and dancing on both sides of us, it seems that even human breath is fragrant.This is the most lovely lotus fragrance!At that time, half of the red clouds in the east had covered the sky, and they were about to invade the west.Those lotus buds attracted every audience, everyone thought it was the cutest sight, each bud was like a child's little fist, and those petals were more like fat white pink little fingers; When opening, the scene of a child slowly opening his little fist after waking up from sleep is generally the same, which is indeed worthy of appreciation. I just heard the Queen Mother say that we should "listen", so I turned my ears and listened attentively; in fact, I couldn't hear any sound, but because of the influence of psychological effects, I seemed to be really listening. Already heard the rustling of those lotus blossoms. The bigger the lotus blooms, the stronger the fragrance. The birds also smelled the fragrance, and they all flew over from all directions, flying low over the pile of lotus bushes; their wings kept beating in the air, and produced an incredible function.It was the scent of lotus that was blown over with their help, making it easy for us to smell it. The higher the sun rose, the more intense the light became. Everything on the lake was exposed by the sunlight. Now we can see the pink stamens in those lotus flowers! ——But at this time, they have not yet fully opened, and still retain the true colors of buds. They seem to be expecting something, and they only try their best to reveal the fragrance, but still do not want to show their appearance. "Ah! What an interesting spectacle!" Lafayette spoke alone again. "And it's a wonderful scene full of vitality! Only at this time can people appreciate the beauty and loveliness of nature, and know that all living things have a considerable relationship with us human beings..." Yi's voice was low and soft, and the following words were almost vague like this; it turned out that Yi herself had already realized that those few words just said were too uneasy and unreasonable, so she intentionally blurted them out. vague past.In fact, none of us paid attention to what she said. We were all deceived by our eyes, thinking that with so many lotus flowers blooming at the same time, there must be a wonderful sound that could be heard. One of them is already listening to the "sound of lotus" with his ears sideways like this. At that time, those half-opened lotus flowers were no longer open. They were all quietly waiting, and the pink stamens still did not show their whole body. The rays of the sun jumped over countless roof ridges in the capital, and shot straight to the northwest, and the Summer Palace also passed by in its journey; finally, the rising speed of the sun suddenly increased surprisingly, almost at an inch by inch. He jumped up and went down to illuminate the whole lake, completely coating the lake water with a layer of silver. Now, the sun is completely exposed in the sky without any cover! The spectacle that the Empress Dowager mentioned has really appeared! Almost at the same time, the sun was fully revealed in the sky, and the several liters and hundreds of belei on the lake surface all opened up, with their petals stretched flat and evenly attached to the green leaves.What amazed me the most was why those half-opened buds were looking forward to it before the sun fully emerged, and opened again in an instant after the sun fully hung out.Could it be said that sunshine can have the magic power of urging flowers to open!What a miracle of nature! The lotus flowers are usually mostly pink, and there are quite a few white ones, but in Kunming Lake, there are quite a few strange species that the outside world has never seen.On this day, the Queen Mother was the first to find two slightly green lotus flowers, and Yi hurriedly pointed them out to me, and quietly told me that these are extremely valuable species; Yi's voice was very low, and A little trembling, presumably because Yi has been too happy to see it at this moment.When people are too happy, their hearts tend to tremble. "Let's hurry up and pick those light green flowers," said the Queen Mother, "before we have breakfast, put them in a clean bottle and offer them to the seat of Guanyin Bodhisattva. Like this Rare and exotic flowers should be offered to Bodhisattvas first!" The Empress Dowager was originally a very devout worshiper of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, and I myself have quite a lot of faith, but at this moment, in my brain, I still miss the governor who was sent to Heilongjiang, so I never noticed this, but Later, I decided to put aside this troublesome thing, and watched with all my heart those eunuchs who were ordered by the Queen Mother to pick lotus, driving a small boat, going back and forth among the lotus bushes to pick them.From time to time, the queen mother called people to send a loud message, giving them instructions in this way and that.Before we returned to the palace, all our efforts were wasted, and the place where the green lotus was offered to the Bodhisattva was removed, and there were more than a dozen baskets full of ordinary pink lotus flowers. The Queen Mother is really proud of herself today!