Chapter 4 Chapter 4 Love

Ruyi's days of confinement began on this sunny afternoon.The large vermilion palace door closed tightly behind him with a "squeak", which was the sound of chains being locked heavily.Even she herself doesn't know when it will be opened again.The palace people of Yanxi Palace panicked to the point of tears, they hurriedly knelt down on the ground, but they didn't know who to kneel to.Hailan was also alarmed in the apse, and ran over in a panic and said, "Sister, what happened? Why did you lock the gate of Yanxi Palace?" Ruyi stood in the courtyard and walked up the steps slowly, the sunlight filtered through the bright and clean branches that had lost all the green leaves and dappled the ground.Such cold sunlight poured down from the sky, and when you looked up, you could see the glazed green tiles of the Jiuzhong Palace shining as white as ice and snow under the sunlight.

That kind of light is really far away from her. Ruyi said softly: "Don't be afraid, I'm just being grounded. The corner gate of Yanxi Palace is still available for you." With thin tears in Hai Lan's eyes, she said anxiously, "Sister, have we been quiet these days, is our life so difficult?" Ruyi looked at the many palaces and palaces in the distance, and the glazed tiles were full of light, her expression was as calm as the ice and snow under the sun: "Sometimes a quiet life does not mean sad. You just need to be at ease." The time of confinement is lonely and unbearable, and the entrance and exit are cut off. What you can see every day is nothing but a small blue sky in a square shape.What Ruyi used to pass the time was to let Xin and A Ruo sort out all the silk threads in the warehouse one by one.

This is a very labor-intensive task. Each silk thread is divided into different categories and boiled in boiling water squeezed with the juice of various flowers.Rose juice with rose red, rhododendron juice with rhododendron red, hibiscus flower juice with hibiscus powder, larkspur juice with light blue color after cooking for a long time, gardenia juice with light apricot white, lemon balm Mint with blue purple, one by one is exhausted.Even the yellow silk threads to be embroidered as stamens are boiled with lemongrass juice and saffron juice one by one, bringing a fresh air.And green is even more troublesome, with herbs such as Huoxiang, Duheng, Xueli, Jungui, rosemary, thyme, mountain peach, etc., boiled into a fragrant green emerald.

When Hailan came to see her, she couldn't help sighing: "My sister still has the heart to do these things. My sister went out these days and saw Wang Qin chasing down those minions who spread rumors all day long. She spit out one by one, saying that it was from Yanxi Palace. I heard it from the palace. If this continues, the emperor will not only ground his feet, but will torture and interrogate everyone in Yanxi Palace." Ruyi smiled and handed her a handful of turquoise silk thread: "Smell this carefully, I put three kinds of herbs, Fangzhi, Mugen, and Orchid, does it have a kind of grassy fragrance, as if spring has come? "

Hailan reluctantly took it, but she didn't sniff it lightly as Ruyi said, and said with a sad face: "My sister is looking forward to spring, but my sister looks like this winter will never end." She was worried: "Once it is confirmed that the rumor was spread by my sister and damaged the reputation of the royal family, what should I do?" Ruyi raised her head and said, "How many people did Wang Qin find?" "There must be a dozen or so." Ruyi smiled faintly like Yunying: "Ten people are enough to put me to death. But guess what, if you want to put Wang Qin to death, how many people are enough?"

Deep doubts floated in Hai Lan's eyes: "Sister means..." Ruyi looked at the dark sky outside the window: "What can I mean? By the way, who is with the emperor these days?" Hailan said: "There are rumors in the palace, and the emperor rarely summons the queen. It must be Mrs. Jia and Concubine Hui accompanying you. Now Mrs. Yi is pregnant, and the concubines in the palace often go to visit Mrs. Yi. I heard that Concubine Hui also goes very diligently." Ruyi said: "The nuns in the palace often say that if you drink the birth control medicine, you have to be pregnant. Concubine Hui is eager for a child, and she will definitely go."

Hailan looked at the tangle of silk threads in front of her eyes, and said worryingly: "That's all. Every time Concubine Hui deliberately passed Jingyang Palace and passed our Yanxi Palace, she would stand there for a long time, feeling that her sister was in a miserable situation. In my opinion, she It's just a matter of luck." Ruyi smiled slightly, and didn't take it seriously at all: "If she likes it, let her go. It's just that she is sighing outside, and I can't hear it inside. Even if I hear it, just let the wind blow." Seeing her like this, Hai Lan could only remain silent.The two faced each other in silence, listening to the rustling wind outside the window, and the sound of laughter coming from afar, Hai Lan sighed: "The Palace of Yanxi Palace has been grounded, and the people of the Yonghe Palace have gone to the empty building, only the Jingyang Palace is constantly favored. The wind blows The concubine's smile is peaceful, probably only when our place is so quiet can I hear it clearly."

Ruyi smiled faintly, with thousands of threads going back and forth in her hands, she only slowly explained to her heart: "These silk threads are all boiled and dyed with fragrance, you should take them to the sun to dry tomorrow, be sure to turn them over and over again." After the sun goes down, take it in and cook it, and I have to cook it many times before I can embroider the fragrant "Spring Intentions of Hundred Flowers." Tong Xin agreed, and came up to add a few more candles, and they were facing each other quietly, when suddenly there was a loud commotion outside, mixed with the voices of women screaming, palace servants scolding, and eunuchs' vague words.

Hailan immediately became alert: "Sister, what sound are you listening to?" Song Xin listened carefully for a moment, then smiled suddenly: "It seems to be the voice of Concubine Hui." Hai Lan was stunned, and immediately stood up, but didn't know whether she should go and have a look. Ruyi smiled lightly and said, "I have been grounded, but you haven't. Hailan, go outside and have a look, if something happens to Concubine Hui in front of our palace gate, it will be bad." Hailan hurried out and ordered the guards to open the gate.Ruyi put on the plain squirrel cloak sent by Xin, and followed closely behind.The guard in front of the door saw her coming out, and hurriedly blocked her and said, "Concubine Xian, the emperor has ordered that you are not allowed to leave the gate of Yanxi Palace."

Ruyi said lightly: "Don't worry! I won't make things difficult for you. I'll just watch from here, and I will never step out of this palace gate." The guards were obviously relieved, and bowed to the side.The chaos outside was abnormal, and the footsteps of palace guards hurried over, obviously startled by the sound just now.Dozens of palace lanterns illuminate the gate of Yanxi Palace at night as brightly as day. Concubine Hui is surrounded by court ladies, her beautiful face like lotus petals is full of shock and anger, and she loses her former beauty. , was obviously greatly frightened.

The eunuch's guards hurriedly escorted a brightly dressed eunuch, pressing his entire face into the dust. Concubine Hui's temple hair was disheveled, her bun was loose, and a few white jade and red Ruyi pearl hairpins slanted down by her ears, as if she was about to fall.There was unconcealable anger and panic beneath her stern reprimand, and she shouted: "Drag this lifeless thing to the emperor immediately, and give this palace a clear account!" Ruyi whispered to the guard guarding the gate, "What happened to this mess?" The guard said: "Returning to Concubine Xian, that person is the emperor and the former deputy chief eunuch Wang Qin. I don't know if he was drunk or what. Just now when Concubine Hui and the palace people passed by, he rushed up like a madman. , words and deeds reckless, disturbed the imperial concubine empress." Hai Lan wondered: "It's not that Wang Qin doesn't know Concubine Hui, how could he offend Concubine Hui?" The guard said: "The slaves are ordered to guard the Yanxi Palace, so they can't take a step away, so they can only watch. But the prince is indeed like a madman. When he sees the imperial concubine, he jumps on it without thinking." Ruyi saw that Concubine Hui had calmed down a bit, so she said loudly: "Concubine Xianxi of Yanxi Palace sees the imperial concubine, may the imperial concubine be blessed and safe." Seeing Ruyi saluting, Hai Lan hurriedly followed suit. Concubine Hui covered her chest with one hand, and said bitterly, "It's you? Why did you come out?" Ruyi smiled and said: "My sister didn't come out, but I just heard the commotion outside. I didn't expect the imperial concubine to be here, so I came here specially to see, is the lady okay?" Concubine Hui said angrily, "I don't need you to care if there is nothing wrong with this palace." Ruyi smiled humbly, and said softly, "My sister doesn't want to care too much, but this happened in front of my sister's palace, so I don't want to take a second look." Concubine Hui was stupefied with anger, showing a dark smile: "Okay! Okay! I actually came to see this excitement in this palace! I also really want to know if Wang Qin suddenly offended me outside the Palace of Yanxi Palace, is there someone deliberately instigating it!" The two were in a stalemate, but they saw a bright yellow imperial chariot approaching not far away, Shuangxi hurriedly invited An to come forward and said: "Reporting to your noble concubine, the emperor is in the Jingyang Palace, and the servant has already invited the emperor over." Before the imperial chariot came to a complete stop, Concubine Hui poured tears all over her face and fell down on the ground, saying, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, you have to be the master of my concubine. Since I served the Emperor, my concubine has never been humiliated like this. Your Majesty!" The emperor's imperial chariot barely stopped, seeing her like this, he felt pity and anxiety at the same time, and said, "Li Yu, hurry up and help Concubine Hui get up." Concubine Hui was still crying unceasingly, like a branch of pear blossom with spring rain, the emperor slightly frowned and said, "Okay. There are so many people here, what do you look like crying and crying. If you have something to say, just talk about it." Ruyi led Hailan to ask the emperor for a double peace, and then said: "Your Majesty, the imperial concubine is sad, and Wang Qin is still muttering nonsense. According to my concubine, no matter what, it is not appropriate to publicize it. Splash Wang Qin awake with water, let's question him again." The emperor hadn't seen Ruyi for a few days, and now he saw her wearing a plain cloak, standing gracefully in the wind, as if she couldn't hold her hand, she spoke well, and her sentences made sense. He relieved his grievance a little bit, and said: "The wind on the long street is strong, don't stand on the wind." Ruyi Yingying said: "The concubine thanked the emperor for his concern. It's just that this happened suddenly, and it happened outside the gate of Yanxi Palace. It's too public. If the emperor and the concubine want to ask something, they should move to the palace of Yanxi Palace first. The concubine retreated everyone The emperor and the noble concubine will deal with it slowly." Seeing that Wang Qin was pressed to the ground, his face was flushed, he seemed to be drunk, and it was inconvenient to drag him to another place, so he said, "Then I will borrow your Yanxi Palace for use." Ruyi answered "yes", and let the emperor and Concubine Hui enter the room sideways, and Xin, A Ruo, and San Bao hurriedly cleaned up and served tea. The emperor sat in the main hall, took a few sniffs and said, "It's still in the winter moon, why is there a scent of flowers and plants in your hall, it smells very comfortable." Ruyi smiled lightly and said: "The concubine has nothing to do, so I prepared some flower and herbal juice, which made the emperor laugh." The emperor was quite surprised, raised his eyebrows and said: "I have restrained you, but you are still in a leisurely state." Ruyi smiled lightly: "The concubine was grounded because the emperor wants to return the concubine's innocence, and the concubine just needs to wait in peace, naturally her mind must be leisurely." The emperor's eyes were so clear, he took a deep look at her and said, "Forget it. You can sit next to me and listen to it together." Ruyi thanked him with a smile, and told Three Treasures: "Wang Qin looks like he is drunk, you wake him up with ice water, bring him in immediately to answer." Due to the sudden incident, the noble concubine was disturbed again, and the emperor didn't want to keep more people in the palace, so he only allowed the noble concubine's maid, Mo Xin, and his personal eunuch Li Yu to serve inside. When the noble concubine saw that there were few people, she couldn't help but burst into tears, sobbing and refusing to say another word.The emperor quickly said: "When you saw me, you said that you had been humiliated by the sky, but now you refuse to say what the grievance is, how can you ask me to help you?" Seeing that Concubine Hui was just weeping, Mo Xin couldn't help but walked forward on her knees and said: "Just now, the concubine concubine saw Mrs. Yi coming from Jingyang Palace, and she couldn't bear to think that concubine Xian was restraining her feet, so she came over to have a look. The best of sisterly love. Today, the imperial concubine came from Zhaohua Gate and entered the corridor in front of Yanxi Palace, but Wang Qin rushed over from Cangzhen Gate from behind, and threw herself on the imperial concubine without thinking. He also said nasty things." The imperial concubine stretched out her sleeves and cried: "Wang Qin is like a madman. He tore the clothes of the concubines as soon as he came up. The emperor saw that the cuffs of the concubines were torn by him." Ruyi asked in surprise, "Isn't Wang Qin on duty today? Why did you come from Cangzhen Gate?" Li Yu quickly bowed and said: "Yes. The prince is not on duty tonight, so he went back to rest early in the morning." Just as they were talking, Sanbao and Xiaofuzi dragged the half-awake and half-drunk Wang Qin in.Wang Qin's body was completely soaked, obviously he had been splashed with ice water, and he looked much more awake than before, but his face was flushed the color of a pig's liver. Ruyi covered her nose and said, "It's not that Wang Qin doesn't know Concubine Hui, he has always been respectful, is there some misunderstanding?" The emperor glanced at him in disgust and said: "Look at him like this, he seems to be full of yellow soup, drunk and crazy!" Li Yu hurriedly stepped forward to smell it and said, "Your Majesty, this smell does not smell like wine, but rather sweet, like honey!" Wang Qin struggled to get up, just kowtowed to the emperor, turned his face and saw Mo Xin kneeling not far from him, a trace of saliva trickled down from the corner of his mouth, he leaned towards Mo Xin, and stretched out his hand to touch her. Face. Mo Xin turned pale with shock, and didn't care about the rules, she shrank behind Concubine Hui and screamed desperately: "My lord, save my servant, my little lord, save my servant!" The emperor couldn't bear it anymore and shouted angrily: "Wang Qin, why are you crazy!" As soon as the emperor said this, Li Yu grabbed Wang Qin, but Wang Qin was quite strong, humming and struggling, looking at Mo Xin's eyes like red flames, greedily refusing to move an inch. move away. Ruyi said anxiously: "Sambo, little Fuzi, quickly drag him to the porch and hold him down, don't come in." The imperial concubine was startled and ashamed, and felt sad: "Your Majesty, just now that dog servant Wang Qin just watched my concubine rush over like this, he...he..." The concubine choked up and couldn't speak.The emperor's eyes were full of gloomy anger, which could start a prairie fire.Li Yu hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, with Wang Qin's appearance, I'm afraid he won't be able to ask anything. He is not on duty today, even if he is in his own room, I remember that he is not on duty for Shi Lianxin, so it is estimated that Lianxin will be sent to ask. As soon as you ask, you will know why Wang Qin has gone crazy." The emperor's nostrils were slightly open, and the blue veins on his forehead were throbbing rapidly. He tried his best to suppress his anger and said, "Go pass on the lotus heart, and then have someone pass it on to the imperial physician. Let's see what kind of hysteria that dog slave has to act so boldly!" Li Yu bowed and stepped back.Ruyi saw that Concubine Hui's silk was wet from crying, so she untied her own and handed it to her, saying, "Sister Guifei, don't be upset, the veranda where Lian Xin and Li Yu live is nearby, and they will be there in a while. Sister, wipe it off first." Wipe your tears." The emperor was right in front of her eyes, and Concubine Hui saw Ruyi's half-smile, and it was not easy to get angry, so she had to take the silk and put it aside. After waiting silently for a while, Ruyi signaled Ah Ruo to bring some tea, and the noble concubine took a sip, then frowned and said, "It's cold, what's the strange smell?" Ruyi's smile is gentle and gentle: "Returning to the words of the imperial concubine, it is mint honey tea. I just boiled some mint juice in my palace. I mixed it with honey and made it with green tea. Drink it to calm your mind and relieve depression. The most suitable." A Ruo's tea was just handed to the emperor, he hesitated for a moment: "Do you want to taste it, if you don't like it, I will change it to something else." The emperor was so upright, he took it casually and said: "Don't bother, I'll drink this for Concubine Xian's kindness." His hand brushed the back of A Ruo's hand inadvertently, A Ruo blushed, and hurriedly bowed her knees to leave up.Ruyi was looking at Concubine Hui, but didn't notice it for a moment.After half a cup of tea, only the sound of the door being pushed approaching, Li Yu has brought Lian Xin over. As soon as Lian Xin came in, she panicked, knelt down in a panic and said, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Concubine Xian, has Wang Qin gone crazy and bumped into someone? But please don't be offended, Your Majesty and all the young masters, please forgive me." What happened to him." Concubine Hui frowned: "If you ask this, you know why Wang Qin is so crazy, don't you?" Lian Xin's face turned red and white, but she was so ashamed that she lowered her head and cried.Li Yu said quickly: "Your Majesty, the imperial physician has also come and is checking on Wang Qin, and this slave immediately invited him in." The emperor nodded slightly, Li Yu had already opened the door and called the imperial physician in, the imperial physician also turned pale with shock, kowtowed his head and said: "Your Majesty, I have already given the pulse of the prince, he is not drunk, but has taken food. It's caused by too many Ajisu pills!" Concubine Hui frowned slightly, wondering: "What is Ajisu Wan?" The imperial doctor was full of panic, not knowing whether to answer, but seeing the doubts on the faces of the emperor and Concubine Hui, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and say: "This is a secret medicine outside the shop, made of cnidium, chuanxiong, and epimedium... ..." The emperor immediately understood, his face was livid, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Bold!" Although Concubine Hui didn't wake up as fast as the emperor, she gradually understood, her face flushed with shame, she got up and kicked Lian Xin, and said bitterly: "Wang Qin eats such a shameless thing, it must be the two of you." You are a gang. The empress kindly gave you food, how dare you be so shameless and promiscuous in the harem!" Lian Xin was ashamed and angry, but she didn't dare to speak.Ruyi hastily raised her eyes to signal the imperial physician and Mo Xin to go out, and said softly, "There is no one else here, so you can talk if you have something to say." Lian Xin looked at Li Yu, she was so embarrassed that she burst into tears, but she still refused to speak.The emperor said: "The Li Yu who stayed here has no words or ears. He has never heard of this matter after leaving the main hall of Yanxi Palace, and he will not tell anyone about it. You can rest assured that it is yours. " Only then did Lian Xin feel relieved, her whole body fell limp on the ground, sobbing and said: "Your Majesty, the empress is kind-hearted, and she hoped that the servants would be depended on for life, so she married the servants to Wang Qin as a counter-feeder. The servants only knew about it after they were married. It turns out that Wang Qin is a dog, even worse than an animal. He was a eunuch and eunuch, but he wanted to be a man, domineering over his slaves, beating and scolding wantonly, and secretly got these strange things. The obscene skills are applied to the slaves one by one, making the slaves' lives worse than death!" The emperor coughed lightly, and Li Yu immediately understood: "My servant immediately took someone to search Wang Qin's verandah." After saying that, he hurried away. The imperial concubine looked disgusted, she covered her face with a silk cloth and said: "Wang Qin doesn't know what is good or bad, why don't you tell the queen and ask the queen to make decisions for you?" Lian Xin mourned and said: "Although a maidservant is a palace servant, she still has face. How can she have the face to tell outsiders about such a thing, let alone live up to the empress's grace and pollute her hearing. And Wang Qin He also said that as long as the servant dares to utter a word, he will definitely make the servant's life worse than death." She took off her clothes and exposed her shoulders and vest sideways. In the depths, as if being scratched by a wild animal, there are many scars, which are horrible. Ruyi hurriedly took off her cloak and put it on for her, Lian Xin cried uncontrollably: "This servant is working for the empress during the day, and she has to be tortured by him at night. It's just beating and scolding like this, but later Wang Qin couldn't help it." Knowing where to find some dirty medicine, I firmly believe that after taking it for a long time, it will have the effect of a man, and every time he takes it himself, he will torture the servants endlessly." Lian Xin was heartbroken, and she simply married Wang Qinhou Suffering one by one. The more people listened, the more horrified they became, and they sighed endlessly.After an incense stick, Li Yu led the little eunuch in.Li Yu was waiting by the side with his hands down, while the little eunuch was standing beside Li Yu holding a boxwood box. The more the emperor heard it, the more angry he became, and there was a dark fire between his brows, and he said: "Then today, why?" Lian Xin almost choked up crying: "Wang Qin is not on duty today, and he started to drink this thing as soon as he returned to the room. The servant was about to go back to the room, and when he saw him like this outside the window, he was frightened. The servant did not dare to go back for a while, There was no need to go back to the Changchun Palace to be on duty, so he had to wander around. After Wang Qin took those dirty things, he could not find his servants anywhere, probably due to the effects of the medicine, he ran out like a madman, and the servants dared to sneak back to the verandah. " Concubine Hui was so angry that her face was purple, and she knelt down at the emperor's knees, she couldn't help crying like rain: "Your majesty, your majesty, you must be the master of your concubines. Wang Qin dared to eat this kind of lewd thing in the palace and offend his ministers." Concubine, it should be shredded into pieces!" Hearing this verse, Li Yu just pointed to the boxwood box in the little eunuch's hand and said: "Your Majesty, this servant was ordered to search Wang Qin's room, and found this big box of filthy things after a search. This servant has never heard of it before. I have never seen anything I have seen before. This servant dare not be good at it, so I immediately brought it to the emperor to have a look." After that, he personally took the box and walked to the emperor's side, and only opened it to the emperor. The emperor only glanced at it, and the muscles on his face twitched unconsciously, like the veins protruding from his temples, showing the anger from the bottom of his heart.Li Yu immediately closed the box and added a sentence in a timely manner: "Ever since Wang Qin was given the opposite food, he always boasted in front of the slaves that he is a man. It turns out that it is because of these filthy things!" The words between the emperor's lips and teeth were like sharp icicles: "Call all the internal prisons to the Punishment Department, watch Wang Qin cut off his tendons and tendons, and then 'attach officials', to see which lifeless thing dares to filthy Chaotic harem!" The so-called "posting and adding officials" means that the person who executes the punishment will lift a piece of mulberry paper and cover it on the face of the tortured person. Then, with a burning knife in his mouth, he will spray a fine mist vigorously. Put it softly on the face, and then cover it with the second one, and do the same.Until the seven sheets were stacked, the tortured person would suffocate to death.The seven sheets of paper were stacked together and peeled off, with distinct bumps and convexities, just like the mask of the "jumping official" on the stage, retaining the terrifying shape of the dying person. Ruyi maintained a reserved and calm expression, showing a little disgust and disgust, but when her eyes met Lian Xin, she showed a calm smile.