Chapter 93 Throw yourself into the pool

The person who came was a trusted staff member of Zhao Zhilong's subordinates.According to him, the current situation is progressing very urgently. According to reports from people sent outside the city to negotiate and contact the Qing army, the Qing army means that it is scheduled to enter the city tomorrow, and no further delay is allowed.Zhao Zhilong had already agreed, so he came here to inform Qian Qianyi that he would go outside Zhengyangmen early tomorrow morning, gather with all civil and military officials, and go to the suburbs to meet the Qing army entering the city.The staff member also said that the current commander-in-chief of the Qing army is King Yu Duoduo.When our envoys arrived there, they were treated very politely and were given python clothes and hats.After hearing this, Qian Qianyi felt more at ease.After seeing off the guests, he returned to the inner house, discussed with Liu Rushi, and carefully selected a batch of gifts from the playthings in his collection, preparing to send them to the new master if needed.

After all this work, it was almost evening.After the couple had eaten, they returned to the dormitory.Perhaps because she finally figured it out, and because she wanted to make up for her neglect of her husband in recent days, Liu Rushi changed her old attitude and acted gentle and obedient, even considerate.As for Qian Qianyi, because he finally let go of a major event that had exhausted him for the past ten days, he felt more relieved.Therefore, when the two spent a rare moment of sweet and harmonious joy with a deeper love for each other, Qian Qianyi quickly fell asleep... This sleep was rarely peaceful.When Qian Qianyi woke up, the window paper had turned slightly white.He habitually stretched out his hand to touch his side, but found nothing. He couldn't help being a little strange, thinking that the concubine had already got up and washed her hands behind the screen, so he called softly:

"Ma'am, ma'am!" Called several times, no response.Qian Qianyi was even more puzzled, turned over and sat up, looked around, and saw that the bedroom was empty, except for a long burning lamp, emitting a dim yellow light on the table.Using the light, he found that the pair of red embroidered shoes that Liu Rushi had placed in front of the bed had disappeared. Qian Qianyi began to feel that something was wrong, so he called out loudly: "Hongqing, Hongqing!" This time there was a commotion, Hongqing agreed outside, then with her hair loose and her skirt covered, she turned out from behind the screen door, opened her sleepy eyes and asked:

"Yes, is the master calling the servant girl?" "Where is the lady? Where have you been?" Perhaps the master's voice was extremely sharp, and Hongqing trembled all over in fright. While turning her head and looking into the room blankly, she said tremblingly: "Maid, maid, asleep, asleep, no, I don't know." "Look for it right away! Call a few more people and look for them separately!" After giving such stern instructions, Qian Qianyi threw off the quilt, grabbed a robe, put it on his body, put on his shoes, and hurried outside. "Hey, where did she go? What is she doing so early in the morning? What does she want to do?"

Qian Qianyi looked around and walked along the corridor, while thinking in a trance.At the same time, my doubts are growing.If he was very pleased with the gentleness and consideration shown by Liu Rushi yesterday, then when he thought about it now, he felt a little changed.He felt that the unusual behavior of the concubine clearly contained something decisive and terrifying. "Ah, will she..." As soon as this thought flashed, Qian Qianyi felt as if someone had punched his heart hard, and the blood all over his body suddenly rushed wildly. "Oh, no, she can't be made to do that!" he exclaimed angrily, stamping his foot vigorously, and bellowing:

"Come on! Come on, come on!" With the sound of door opening, seven or eight maids with fluffy hair in buns rushed out from all directions, and asked with wide-eyed frightened eyes in the early morning gloom: "Master, yes, what's your call?" "Ma'am is gone, hurry and find her!" The maids obviously didn't understand, and they still stood there blankly.Qian Qianyi suddenly became angry.He waved his hand, "slapped" the nearest servant, and yelled again: "You bastard, tell me to find my wife immediately, madam! Do you understand?"

"Ah, yes, yes, looking for Madam, looking for Madam!" The maids quickly agreed and turned around hesitantly.At this moment, Hongqing's figure appeared in the corridor. "Master, sir, husband, madam, I found it!" "Ah, I found it! Where is it?" Qian Qianyi hurriedly asked. "At, beside the water in the back garden." "Why didn't you bring her back?" "Ma'am, like, like, like..." Before Hong Qing "wanted" to find out why, Qian Qianyi had already understood: things were really as he expected!He suddenly panicked.Although Hongqing then added that she had told Luyi to watch Liu Rushi there in case of accidents, but Qian Qianyi had no idea, and immediately took big strides to rush to the place Hongqing said.

At this moment, only a twilight appeared in Dongtian.The flowers, plants, trees and rocks in the back garden are still hidden in the heavy Cebu.The rain had stopped, and even the birds, which had been silent for many days, began to sing briskly.When Qian Qianyi turned around a section of the corridor and came to the "Sixia Pavilion", he saw at a glance a familiar and pretty figure standing beside the pool in front of the pavilion.She was wearing a snow-white dress, and she was leaning on the railing, with her head slightly lowered, as if she was contemplating, or looking at the depth of the pool.The morning breeze blew her clothes, and her whole body was about to lift up.From the looks of it, she would leap forward at any time, and she would die from death...

Qian Qianyi's heart tightened.He didn't dare to shout, for fear of alarming her, an accident would happen immediately.He kicked off his shoes, and tiptoed forward, relying on the concealment of Cebu.It wasn't until he got close that he called softly: "Yes, yes!" Liu Rushi's shoulders trembled slightly, and she turned around quickly.When she saw her husband standing in front of her eyes, she lowered her face. "What else is Xianggong here for?" She asked coldly. "Madam please go back to the room. It's windy and cold here, you can't stand up, you'll get sick." Qian Qianyi pretended not to know the other party's intentions, and said with a considerate smile.

Liu Rushi shook his head: "The relationship between my concubine and my husband has come to an end, today is the day I should part forever." Qian Qianyi's smile froze.For a split second, his throat tightened and tears filled his eyes. "Ah, Yongjue? Why, why?" He asked in a crying voice. Liu Rushi smiled wryly: "Everyone has their own ambitions, and we can't force them. The husband wants to be a minister of the Qing Dynasty, but the concubine would rather be a ghost of the Ming Dynasty. We have gone the other way, so we have to break up." "This is impossible, madam can't abandon me!" Qian Qianyi pleaded loudly, before kneeling down involuntarily, "I, I can't live without madam!"

At this time, Hong Qing, Lu Yi and several other mothers had already gathered around.Seeing the master like this, they also knelt down together and begged: "Yes, madam can't go, madam must not go!" Liu Rushi looked at them, then at Qian Qianyi, without saying a word.Then, she turned around suddenly, put her hands on the railing, and jumped into the pool. In an instant, Qian Qianyi felt as if the world had turned upside down, "It's over!" He felt a chill in his heart, and closed his eyes in despair.At the same time, Hong Qing and another servant woman who had quick eyes and hands jumped forward exclaiming, hugging Liu Rushi's legs tightly from different directions. Liu Rushi struggled hard, screamed furiously, scratched and kicked, the gold hairpin fell off, and her bun fell down. "It's useless for you to do this." She said coldly, "If you don't succeed today, I still have tomorrow; if you don't succeed tomorrow, there will be the day after tomorrow." Seeing Hongqing and others hugging the concubine, Qian Qianyi's heart returned to his chest, and his heart was strongly shaken by the extreme panic.At the moment of life and death, honor and disgrace, Liu Rushi acted so resolutely and resolutely, which he never expected.Especially in terms of background, she is just a prostitute, even if she married herself, she is just a concubine.For the country and society, she could not talk about taking any responsibility, but she actually regarded integrity as so important.However, as a minister of the Ming Dynasty, Qian Qianyi felt very ashamed that he was so focused on looking after his face to survive.Also thinking that Gao Zhuo and Zhang Jie, who were regarded as "villains", were the first to commit suicide and die for their country, Qian Qianyi's inner shame became even stronger. "Ma'am," he stood up slowly, walked forward, and said with bowed head, "I already understand your intentions. In fact, when the country is ruined and the family is in ruins, why should I spare my life? It's just that One death is clean, but the affairs of the world still need someone to take care of them. According to my husband's prediction, although the southern capital is dead, the vassal kings from all over the world are still there. In the future, rebels will rise everywhere, and it is inevitable. Why don't we bear this short death and wait for it? Promising!" After speaking, he looked at Liu Rushi.Seeing that she didn't express anything, she said again in a solemn and excited tone: "If madam doesn't believe it, you can swear by the pond as a husband: if there is anyone who breaks his promise in the future, he should be like this water!" Although he said this, Liu Rushi still didn't make a sound.However, Qian Qianyi understood the concubine's temperament very well, and understood that she had actually acquiesced.He finally felt relieved, hissed secretly, and then remembered: The aide that Zhao Zhilong sent yesterday afternoon had informed all civil and military officials to gather outside Zhengyang Gate at Mao o'clock today in order to hold the surrender ceremony, so he should arrange things now go out.He hesitated for a moment, turned around to greet the servants, picked up the pair of shoes he had just run away, and put them on slowly; then he made a gesture to signal the maids to help Liu Rushi back to the upper room. This time, Liu Rushi did not resist.When Hongqing stretched out her hand to help her, she silently turned around and walked on the path leading to the inner house. Qian Qianyi watched intently.After the group of women turned around the corridor and disappeared, he lingered in the same place for a while, then regained his energy and followed silently. At this time, although it was dawn, the dense rain clouds still shrouded the sky and the earth in heavy shadows.Looking to the east, a morning glow is emerging slowly and stagnantly, piling up and expanding at the junction of heaven and earth. It looks like a pool of bright red blood. From January 1986 to May 1988, the first draft December 1988 second draft Completed in February 1989 Revised in October 1994 Revised in October 2011