Chapter 15 Chapter 15 Duanhui

Because the imperial physician continued to take heavy medicine and took turns to accompany him carefully, the second elder brother's illness improved slightly.The pure concubine also came back after going to elder brother's office and said: "I changed the quilt secretly while the palace people were drying the quilt. It is said that no one saw it. It's just that the weather has warmed up a little these days. Could it be that the quilt is too thick? Is it useless?" Hailan smiled steadily, and persuaded: "Your Majesty, don't worry about everything, there will always be a time when the weather turns cold."

The pure concubine had done her best, so she had no choice but to wait and see what happened, and said bitterly: "The empress must suffer a little bit to get rid of the bad breath in my heart!" The emperor stayed in the Hailan Palace that night. After the lingering body, only the strength of mutual dependence was left.The cloud brocade tents are fringed with colorful tassels, sporadically embroidered with auspicious patterns of dark red and silver threads, winding quietly on the ground, and even the bright red candles outside the tent can only reflect a little reddish and hazy light.

The emperor closed his eyes wearily and comfortably, and took a light breath: "Hailan, I always feel that you have a unique fragrance even in the pillowcase, which can't be found anywhere else." Hailan curled her jet-black silk into a gentle and graceful arc between the emperor's arms, and said with a light smile, "Where did the emperor find it? Empress? Concubine Hui? Or Concubine Mei?" The emperor sighed silently: "The queen is devoted to Yong Lian, and she is restless day and night. Because of this, I haven't stayed with the queen for a long time."

Hai Lan said: "Didn't the empress always beg the emperor to move the second elder brother to the Changchun Palace for treatment? The emperor might as well agree, it will be more convenient if you do it twice." The emperor was a little embarrassed: "The empress begged me so much. I thought that although Yong Lian's illness was better, he would catch a cold easily while moving, and the imperial doctor thought it was inappropriate, so I just let it go. Besides, the empress has such a strong temper. Yong Lian was raised in the Changchun Palace, and when his illness improved a bit, the empress urged him to read and write, a good child, but he was forced to be like that." The emperor couldn't help feeling a little emotional when talking about the princes: "My three sons , the second elder brother is too strict in discipline, the third elder brother is too indulgent, only the eldest elder brother is diligent and studious, it is a pity that my mother passed away early, and I have not been able to take it into consideration."

Hailan lay on the emperor's arm, she was not used to the sticky flesh and sweat, she moved quietly, but her lips were still smiling like a little daughter coquettishly: "Isn't the elder brother raised by a adoptive mother?" Is it?" The emperor sighed silently: "Although the pure concubine is good, it's still not as good as..." He stopped subconsciously, took a deep breath, and said with a light smile: "It smells so good. It seems to be on you, and it seems to be in the curtain again." , What is the aroma?" Hailan's heart trembled slightly, as if she was being gently scratched by someone's little finger, she faintly understood.She smiled softly, pressed the soft pillow under the emperor's neck, and said, "It's the tea collected just after the spring, put it together with the calamus leaves, crushed it and rolled it into the silk floss. Although the fragrance of this flower pillow is light, But it stays long and long, so that the quilt and even the bed curtain are filled with the afterglow fragrance of tea, people will be soaked in the scent of flowers in their sleep, and even the concubines dream that they are transformed into butterflies among the flowers in their dreams. "

The emperor scratched her nose, and said: "The embroidered quilt is fragrant and fragrant in the pillow, and the pillow is very fragrant tonight. You are so delicate in your thoughts, you are clearly an old person, but you always make me feel like a new love, full of surprises and strangeness, It's like you're not the same as you used to be." Hailan twisted a strand of black hair, smiled idiotically, and said faintly: "I hope Xinhuan will become an old man again, and be forgotten by the emperor." "It's been a long time, and it's also an old love. How can I forget it." The emperor smiled and hugged her, leaning his face on the rose-colored soft pillow, sniffing lightly, "Tell me, who taught you this? It's clearly like Jiangnan. Only a daughter has a clever mind."

Hailan glanced at the emperor quietly, seeing the intoxicated smile on his brows and eyes, she boldly said tentatively: "It's sister Ruyi..." She seemed to have slipped her tongue, stopped speaking, and said with a panicked expression. Peeping at the slight change in the emperor's expression, the emperor just turned around and said quietly: "Many things are not going well... Hailan, I'm tired." Hailan reached out and stroked the emperor's shoulder blades, and said softly, "I know, I know." The emperor's voice was heavy and tired: "The concubine Jia only thinks about giving birth to a prince, and she doesn't like the princess; Concubine Hui also wholeheartedly wants to have a child from me; Concubine Chun only thinks about children and rarely thinks about me; empress Well, her mind is all on Yong Lian. Only when I see you, I feel a little more relaxed. Because you don't ask for anything. "

Hailan hugged his shoulder from behind, her lips pressed against the silk pajamas, that kind of smooth, like a woman's skin, soft and tender.Unlike a man, no matter how plump his body is, there is always a taste of lust. Hailan's voice seemed to be whispering: "How does the emperor know that Hailan doesn't ask for anything?" The emperor was already sleepy, and he still replied: "I want to take your position, but you always refuse; I reward you with exquisite jewelry, but you just smile; I often come, you are certainly happy, but You come less frequently, and you never complain. I always feel that you are different from the women in the palace. You don’t ask for anything, or what you ask for, I can’t give it, and I don’t even know..."

When it came to the last few sentences, the emperor was already vague.Hailan reached out and stroked his arm, trying to get used to leaning on him, but still felt unfamiliar and hesitated. Even at the moment of skin-to-skin contact, she felt that her soul was far, far away from her body, as if she could only be safe if she watched coldly and kept a distance.Just as the emperor said, she has a different indifference from other women. This kind of indifference is as she knows from years of falling out of favor. The love of emperors and men is never reliable.Because when we are by your side, we naturally enjoy each other; leaving is also a matter of moments.This kind of intimacy is neither long-term nor irreplaceable.

Because of all these joys, different women always have different requirements and satisfactions. But all the favors she has today are not as good as the person who has always been by her side, those hands.Only that person made her feel that she could rely on, breathe with peace of mind, and not have to deal with it with a hard smile. The dream of this night was long and trivial. She dreamed about many things in the past, the self who worked in the embroidery room of the hidden mansion, the self who was favored for the first time, the self who was neglected and ignored, and the self who was envied by others at the moment.

It was still dark when I woke up.She quietly got up and put on her coat, wanting to drink a cup of tea to relieve the thirst caused by excessive fatigue before going to bed last night.The red candle in front of the bed was flickering with twilight, and the candle's tears were pouring down, filling the copper flower candlestick, really like tears stained with a woman's rouge. She drank a cup of slightly cold tea slowly, looked back at the man sleeping soundly on the bed, and thought to herself, probably she would never shed carmine tears of sadness for this handsome man in front of her in her entire life.She was thinking intently, and couldn't help reaching out to touch the emperor's face. In all fairness, he is indeed a clear and bright man, ascending like a jade mountain, shining radiantly. The same is true for sister Ruyi in the cold palace.It's just that she didn't even think about it. She thought that she would spend her whole life in the deep palace as an unfavorable concubine, and she would have such a time to learn to be tactful and pleasing to him. While he was concentrating, suddenly there was a violent cry.Hailan was in a trance, thinking it was some kind of night owl or wild cat's desolate roar, which could almost tear people's ears. But that cry seemed to forcibly tore through the tranquility of the Forbidden City in the dead of night, and more tragic cries came from afar. The emperor woke up a little confused and asked her, "What's the sound?" Hailan was also confused, but it was Li Yu who knocked on the door hastily outside.Li Yu had always been a steady person, if it wasn't for an urgent matter, he would never have knocked on the door of a concubine's bedroom where the emperor stayed overnight with such a panic and inappropriate gesture at such a third watch. Hai Lan hurriedly put on her cloak and opened the palace door. Li Yu's feet softened, and she almost crawled up to the emperor, crying, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty...something has happened..." The emperor sat up alertly: "What's the matter with the crying outside?" Li Yufu wailed on the ground, "It's my brother's place...it's my brother's place..." The emperor stood up in fear, and after a pause, he subconsciously rushed to the window, opened the window and looked in the direction of elder brother.A cold wind pierced through the window, and the emperor shivered unconsciously.Hai Lan hurriedly hugged the cloak and put it on for him: "Take care, Your Majesty, don't catch the cold." The emperor shook his shoulders as if crying, and his voice was full of doubts and lack of confidence: "Could it be... something happened to the third elder brother? Li Yu, it's the third elder brother, right?" Li Yu knelt on the ground, weeping bitterly: "Your majesty, your condolences. It's the second elder brother, the second elder brother is dead." The emperor turned his face in disbelief, stumbled step by step, sat down on the edge of the bed almost exhausted, and murmured, "How could it be the second elder brother? How could it be?" The beast looked up to the sky and said: "Yong Lian is my son, my son! I am the son of heaven, and heaven will not take my son away! He is only nine years old, and he will inherit my descendant in the future. He..." The emperor was choked by the choking in his throat, gasping for breath and unable to speak. Hailan hurriedly poured water and handed it to the emperor's lips, stroking his back for him.Li Yu wept and kowtowed repeatedly: "Your Majesty, your condolences, your condolences. The Empress has already rushed over from Changchun Palace, you..." Before the emperor had time to wipe away the tears from the corners of his eyes, he roared angrily: "Change clothes for me! I don't believe it, I don't believe it!" Hailan stood aside, listening to the grief in the crying, and accompanied the emperor with a mournful look on her face, and even the tears in her eyes fell with her heart. But only she knows, only she knows.At that moment, secret joy and gratification spread to her heart at the same time, tightly grasping her trembling soul. In the third year of Qianlong's reign, on the twelfth day of the tenth month, the second elder brother Yonglian died at the age of nine.The emperor lost her beloved son and was heartbroken, so she was posthumously named the crown prince, and her posthumous title was Duanhui. When he heard the news, Hailan had just changed into plain clothes and silver jewelry, and was sitting in the warm pavilion, slowly stacking gold and silver ingots and ghost papers, and said leisurely: "What's the use of mourning after death, but to live It’s just for consolation. But I don’t believe that Meibi and Yibi’s dead children will still call Second Elder Brother ‘Prince’ after seeing him in the ground?” Ye Xin stood by to help, and whispered: "The little master has folded so many ghost papers, where are we going to burn them? You are not allowed to see such unlucky things in the palace." Hailan tilted her silver-inlaid broken jade armor slightly, and said slowly: "Didn't you tell Master Ruyi that I will send the paper to melt with her?" Ye Xin worried: "The young master is going to the cold palace again?" Hailan glanced at her: "What's wrong?" Ye Xin was a little worried: "It's an eventful time in the palace now... and he is doing things for Prince Duanhui, so it's better not to go." Hailan snorted lightly, and said calmly, "I'm not afraid, what are you afraid of?" Just as she was talking, she heard the door of the Nuan Pavilion suddenly being pushed open, and a pure green concubine flashed in like a shadow. There was obvious confusion on her usually peaceful face, as if she was lost.Hailan raised her face to signal Ye Xin to go out, and didn't get up to greet her, but was busy with the work in her hand and said: "There are many things in the palace now, the fear and panic on the face of the pure concubine, it's fine in the concubine palace, if If someone saw you outside, they thought it was the second elder brother's ghost chasing your heels to scare you?" Concubine Chun sat down in front of her, poured a cup of tea and drank it hastily, and said from the bottom of her heart: "You still say such things! Do you know how the second elder brother died? He stopped breathing in the middle of the night. He was suffocated to death. The reason for his suffocation was that some reed flowers and cotton wool were found in his nose." Hailan shook her head and sighed pityingly: "It was really careless. The second elder brother's lung fever is easy to be overwhelmed, and this season is prone to reed flowers. Where elder brother is near the imperial garden, what gust of wind blows? I don’t know about the reeds by the pond. There are also those cotton wools. There are so many palace officials and doctors coming in and out. In winter, who doesn’t have cotton wool on their clothes to keep warm. These palace servants are so careless, they should all be sent away Go out of the palace." Concubine Chun caressed her heart, slowly calmed down, stared at Hailan and said, "You should know better than anyone else where the reed flowers and cotton wool closest to Er elder brother's lips and nose come from." Hailan sneered and said, "Of course it's the Fushou pillow that the empress stole the sky for the day with her own hands." Concubine Chun was startled, put down the teacup in her hand heavily, and said angrily: "You have left everything behind now, the bed pillow was clearly made by you, you can tell it by the stitches, how dare you deny it! " Hailan lightly pressed the powder on her cheeks, and said softly: "Your Majesty, don't worry, are you here for the empress to question my concubine Xingshi? Can stitches speak? Can you recognize people? After all, apart from the last time I went to Elder Brother’s house with my mother, the concubine has never set foot in half a step.” The pure concubine was angry, anxious and frightened, pointed at her with trembling fingers and said, "You..." Hailan stretched out her hand gently, took her cold fingers and gently folded back her palm, and said with a smile: "The concubine and the empress are just joking. The most urgent thing is that the empress has not figured out what it is?" The pure concubine was taken aback: "What?" Hailan put away her smile, and said in a steady tone: "The empress's most urgent task is to tell the emperor that the elder brother's nuns and palace people didn't take good care of her, which caused the second elder brother to die early, so I request that the third elder brother stay with me." You have to raise him by your side. Madam, you should know that if someone came to his senses first and started thinking about the third elder brother, you would be hard to guard against." The pure concubine understood, and immediately said: "Yes, yes, yes! I also want to tell the emperor and the empress to severely punish those slaves who do not serve well, and hope that the emperor will not pay attention to this palace." Hailan smiled resolutely and said: "Of course the emperor won't notice the empress. The second elder brother's belongings were burned at noon today. The pillow was covered by the second elder brother day and night. With the cremation, not everything will be quiet. And the third elder brother is personally raising the mother by her side, and the third elder brother will definitely be grateful to the empress for all the painstaking efforts she has put in for him today." Concubine Chun was greatly comforted, smiled relaxedly, and immediately looked at her hesitantly and vigilantly: "Then you..." Hailan respectfully said: "The concubine's hands are naturally no cleaner than the empress's. So the empress really doesn't have to worry about what the concubine will say, because the concubine told the empress that anyone who loves the third elder brother will be counted as a concubine. The concubine also hopes to be able to be honored by the third elder brother, so that she can enjoy peace and happiness in the future." The pure concubine smiled and said: "If that day really comes, I will definitely live up to my sister." When night comes, dark clouds cover the bright moon and clear light, and even the dim starlight cannot be seen.Due to the death of Prince Duanhui, white palace lanterns were all hung in the palace, and even the number was reduced by half compared to usual.In the Forbidden City, apart from the gloom and darkness, there is the weeping like wind and rain, and even the usual splendor has become a rusty and blunt color.The empress had already cried and passed out several times, and could not take care of everything. Fortunately, the empress dowager presided over everything in person, and she was considerate and decent in everything.In this way, the empress dowager's prestige in the harem was much higher. This night the concubines took turns to observe the mourning in the palace, because of all the chaos, the third elder brother did not stay alone in the elder brother's place, but moved to the pure concubine to be with the eldest elder brother.The third princess also lived with Concubine Hui for the time being.The concubine Jia was pregnant and it was not suitable for mourning here, so after paying the ceremony, she also went back to the palace to rest. Hailan was guarding outside the corner gate of the cold palace. Ling Yunche had already coaxed Zhao Jiuxiao to drink with an excuse, and let Hailan and Ruyi talk properly.Hailan found a leeward corner, slowly burned the ghost paper, and said, "Sister, have you heard the crying in the palace? Is it good? I've never heard such a good sound." Ruyi slowly melted ingots inside, and the firelight illuminated her slightly swollen face, making her face flushed red: "You did it so neatly, of course the sound of crying is nice." Hailan sneered and smiled: "Good boy, don't blame the aunts for being cruel, who made your mother-in-law bully people like this? With such a mother-in-law, if you want to keep your life long, the king of hell will not Ah. Come on, Yong Lian, good boy, go down and look for your two younger brothers who have never met. They have been waiting for you, they have been waiting for too long, they are very lonely." She burned some papers in her hand Make dolls: "Come on, Auntie will burn you a few more companions, so that you won't be too lonely underground." Ruyi's pale face was illuminated by the flames, and she said, "Is that set of pillows burned? Did no one notice?" "No. Even if someone really finds out that my sister is in the cold palace, I have never stepped into my elder brother's house, and no one will suspect us. It can be regarded as a pure concubine. I thought about it at the time, and I did a good job. , it fulfilled the future of the pure concubine and the third elder brother; if it fails, it is the pure concubine who is a mother-in-law who is not up to date, and there is nothing we can do." Ruyi smiled lightly: "Every Erniang will do her best for her son." Hailan threw a large handful of ghost paper into the fire, licked the dark red flames, devoured it greedily, and smiled lazily: "Fortunately, my sister reminded me, telling me that the gap between the silk and the silk is smaller than that of ordinary silk." The satin is big, and I also told me that the reed flowers will slowly fly out when mixed with the silk, and Yonglian's illness is the most unbearable." Ruyi smiled softly through the door: "If you didn't tell me about Yong Lian's illness, how could I have thought of this." She threw down the last handful of gold and silver ingots, and laughed at herself as she watched the paper ashes flying like black butterflies. Xiao Xiao smiled: "I am a person in the cold palace. I can only wait for death if I sit in a well. But Hailan, I will never let you become my second." Hailan calmed down, and a flash of determination flashed in her eyes: "Sister, as long as I think of a way, I will definitely let you out. I will never let you be trapped here for the rest of your life, and you will never come out .” "I never dared to have such a dream in my life. Hailan, I just hope you live better." Ruyi smiled in a trance, knocked on the door lightly, and moved closer, "Come on, let me tell you, What the emperor likes and what he doesn't like." Hailan was slightly distracted, a little sad: "My sister told me this, is she trying to use another way to accompany the emperor, so that the emperor can live comfortably?" Ruyi shook her head blankly: "No. He doesn't believe me anymore...he..." She didn't go on, because she heard the sound of hurried footsteps, it was Ling Yunche who rushed over and said: "My lord should not stay for a long time, it seems that some palace family members are coming from Shufangzhai." Hailan hurriedly got up: "Sister, I will come to see you next time. Your rheumatism... I will keep it in my heart. It's just that none of the imperial doctors in the imperial hospital dare to come to the cold palace, and my sister is also helpless." Ruyi nodded and said, "It's very rare that you can often send some warm clothes and rheumatism medicine." Xing Xinben stood silently by the side, and when he heard this verse, he couldn't help but sighed sadly: "Master Hai, there is a very low-ranking imperial doctor named Jiang Yubin in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. If others refuse to come, you can ask... ...Ask him if he will?" Hailan said happily, "Is this person reliable?" Ji Xin hesitated and said: "If he is willing to come, he is reliable, otherwise the servants will not be able to say anything." Hailan left in a hurry, Ruyi said to Ling Yunche through the door: "Clean up the paper money burned by Mr. Hai, and don't show any traces." Hailan ran out of the corridor and heard voices gradually approaching from outside, so she blew out the lantern in her hand in a panic, and walked around to a hidden place.But I heard a few young maids looking around and calling out in a low voice: "Third Princess, Third Princess, where are you?" A female voice said angrily: "I told you to take a good look at the third princess, but there are so many of you, but you can't even look down on a little girl, you are just useless." A maid said: "Concubine Hui, please calm down. Just now the third princess said that she was tired from mourning and wanted to come to the Imperial Garden to play, but she turned around and disappeared. The slaves should die." Concubine Hui's high-pitched tone contained repressed anger: "The empress entrusted the three princesses to me because she trusted me. If something goes wrong, the empress has already lost Prince Duanhui. How can she bear it? Not too soon Go find the princess and come back!" Taking advantage of the people going east, Hailan quickly turned around and disappeared into the vast night. The palace people were looking around, and suddenly they became happy, as if they had won a phoenix: "Princess, why are you here?" The third princess was wearing a silver robe for the crown prince's funeral, and a green embroidered silver silk peony waistcoat, and she was playing with a piece of something in her hand.Concubine Hui followed the sound and said happily, "Princess, why are you staying there, come quickly to Empress Hui." The third princess lowered her head for a moment, and handed the things in her hands to Concubine Hui: "Mistress Hui, take a quick look, what a fun thing this is." Concubine Hui took it, and looked at it by the light of the horn lantern, but it was a half-burned paper doll, painted with colorful patterns, it seemed that it was blown over before it was finished burning, no wonder the third princess couldn't help but look at it.Concubine Hui was puzzled for a while, knowing that this thing was burned for people underground, she asked Shuangxi beside her, "Shuangxi, did the palace arrange for someone to burn the paper of the underworld here?" Monk Shuangxi Zhanger couldn't figure it out: "No wow. This place is almost in limbo, who would arrange for people to burn it here. It's taboo!" Concubine Hui thought for a while, took the silk and carefully wrapped the half doll, and coaxed the three princesses to smile: "Come on, princess, there is a new shadow puppet at Empress Hui's place, which is much more fun than this, hurry up and follow Hui Madam, go back." After all, the third princess has a child's heart, so she was happy to hear it and followed. Concubine Hui touched and touched the silk in her sleeve, and she had some calculations in her heart, she only hoped that the queen's health would be better, and then she would discuss it one by one.It's just that the queen lost her beloved son, but this disease has been lingering for a long time.