Chapter 18 Chapter Eighteen

In March, the weather gradually warms up.It is as if the spring breeze turned into rain in one night, full of green willows, glowing peach red, moistened by rain and dew, and blooming the spring of the palace garden full of flowers. The weather is improving, and the queen's illness has gradually improved. Although she still can't get off the ground, she can at least sit up with support.In order to widen the Queen's heart, Concubine Hui brought the three princesses in front of the Queen every day to amuse her as a filial piety.Although the queen lost her beloved son, she still had a daughter after all, considering she was still young.The emperor was relieved from time to time, and ordered the imperial physician to take good care of him, hoping to give birth to the next son.

With this in mind, the queen had to struggle to recover herself.After waiting for her energy to gradually improve, one day Concubine Hui sent out all the servants, took out the doll that had been hidden for several months and was burned to half a piece, and explained the whole story clearly, and the three princesses The circumstantial evidence of the Queen's own daughter, the Queen couldn't help but not believe it. The queen is still on the hospital bed, but she is wearing a homely silk satin palace dress with lake water blue embroidered lotus, purple patterns and dark silver threads, and the Baohua bun on her head is embellished with a few dark patterns of pearl flowers, her face is pale but livid , trembling lips said: "What you said is true?"

Concubine Hui immediately knelt down and swore: "It happened a few days after the death of my lord's Prince Duanhui, and I saw this thing near Lenggong. If it is not a curse, I will definitely not believe it!" The queen sat up straight unconsciously, as if facing a formidable enemy: "Are you suspicious of her?" Concubine Hui said: "Where is anyone going to the cold palace? This thing can only be blown out of the cold palace by the wind. She can worship Prince Duanhui so kindly, she must have heard the sound of the death knell, and knew that Prince Duanhui has long since heard the sound of the death bell. I don't know how happy that poisonous woman is, she won't let the prince go, and she will curse him when she is on the road." Her expression was serious, and a bit of hostility was added to her pretty face: "Concubine Thinking about it, this kind of curse probably didn't come out on that day. I'm afraid we have already secretly cursed it before we knew it. No wonder Prince Duanhui's illness has fluctuated from good to bad since she entered the cold palace. There will never be a perfect time, I'm afraid it's the trick of that crazy woman."

The empress has lost her beloved son, hearing these words, she felt as if her heart was crying, how could she hear someone cursing her beloved son like that.She thought about it carefully, although her son was not well before Ruyi entered the cold palace, but after Ruyi entered the cold palace, the child's condition kept recurring, and even died suddenly, which made her, as a mother, almost broken. The hope of a lifetime, now that I think about it, with this reason in it, my eyes almost bleed with hatred, and my hands are tightly clutching the brocade quilt, the veins on the back of my hands are bulging, as if I want to swallow someone.

Concubine Hui was the queen's attendant almost immediately after entering the mansion. After many years of relatives, she had never seen the queen's expression so frightening, and she didn't feel afraid in her heart. Don't get mad at the phoenix body." The queen was cold for a while, before she took a breath, and said slowly: "I am so angry that my body is broken. My sister clearly sent a good medicine, urging me to force myself to get better. Lying here like a living dead, let my child go in vain." Concubine Hui heard her speak slowly, but she bit each word fiercely and grinded out, knowing that the empress really hated her to the core, she said: "The empress empress means..."

"Now she is in the cold palace, we are outside. Don't worry about anything, just come here in a steady manner." The queen waved her hand, flicked her nails slowly, and said, "The food is still brought in for her, right?" Concubine Hui said: "Where can she eat rotten food, she can spend a little money to accommodate it. Then we will make it a matter of course and send those things in for her to eat. Don't worry, empress, it won't be obvious at all." Su Xin came in with a bowl of medicine, the Queen nodded and said, "Let's put it aside."

Su Xin put it down and resigned. Although Concubine Hui was arrogant and reckless towards the concubines, the queen was meticulous, so she personally brought soup and medicine for the queen to eat, and took sour plums to relieve the bitterness of the queen. The queen sighed: "Now you are the only one who is really doing your best in front of this palace. By the way, your health is often bad. Remember to eat more warm and nourishing things, so don't delay." Concubine Hui thanked her with all her might, but she heard the voice outside: "Shen Chang is here to pay her respects to the empress."

Concubine Hui felt a little disdainful when she heard Shen Changzai's name, she sat upright and slightly adjusted the broken jade tassels hanging from the emerald magnolia flower pendant on the collar button. Seeing that Concubine Hui's expression was not very good, the queen said, "What? You really don't like her?" Concubine Hui was only in front of the empress alone, and said angrily: "Hu Meizi is a lowly man, and the empress has not known that she is ill these days. The emperor summons her for ten days in a month. I will reward her today and tomorrow." Reward that one again, even Hai Guiren and Concubine Mei, who were favored first, can't keep up with her limelight."

The empress leaned on the soft pillow of flowers with a faint smile, "What about you? Does the emperor still take care of you?" Concubine Hui's face flushed slightly: "It's just that I stay with my concubine five or six times in a month." The queen gave a faint "oh" and said: "That's not too little. You are an old man in the palace, and your status is high. You are only under this palace, so you don't have to go with the concubine who has a low status. Care about, you don't lose your status. You have to remember, what they are fighting for is a momentary favor, but you are fighting for a lifetime. Look farther away."

Concubine Hui learned the queen's lesson, so she didn't dare to speak out for a while.Hearing the queen summon Shen Chang to come in, I saw a gorgeously dressed beauty come in at the place where the brocade curtain was lifted, wearing a five-color satin robe embroidered with lotus, red, orchid, osmanthus, Qifang, and silver leaf agate on her head. Sifeng's pearl and red tassels trembled to her ears, and with the light movement of lotus steps, it was like a ball of colorful colors gradually approaching. Concubine Hui finally couldn't hold back, she snorted softly, and pressed the powder on her nose with a silk to resist the oppressive fragrance from the beautiful woman.

Shen Chang asked Da'an respectfully and said in his mouth: "May the empress be blessed and safe. The concubine heard that the empress is recovering, so I came here to visit the empress." As he spoke, he greeted Concubine Hui endlessly. The queen ordered "get up" with a smile, and then "give a seat".Ah Ruo dared to sit down. Concubine Hui slowly turned the pigeon's blood ruby ​​ring on her hand, smiled and said, "Sister Shen's complexion is really good, she looks white and rosy, like the peach blossoms on the porch outside, the powder is full of spring. Look at my sister With such a happy face, I think the emperor rested at your place yesterday." Shen Chang heard her sour tone, so he smiled embarrassingly: "My sister was joking." "You're joking?" Concubine Hui snorted softly, "My sister sees the emperor every day, and her kindness lasts forever, so she naturally takes this favor as a joke. Unlike us, we only see the emperor once every three or four days, and it's too late to be happy, so how dare we joke about it?" .” Shen Chang's face turned red and white, but he lowered his face and refused to answer her words. Concubine Hui saw it in her eyes, and felt that she was blindly favored so she didn't take herself seriously, and she was even more unhappy.Concubine Hui's father, Gao Bin, has been the most capable courtier of the previous dynasty since the emperor ascended the throne, and he assisted the three dynasties veteran Zhang Tingyu, like the emperor's right-hand man.She was favored again in the harem, how could she bear such anger, she looked at Shen Changzai and said: "Shen Chang is well dressed today, the color is so gorgeous, those who don't know may think that Chang Zai came to visit the empress' condition and comfort her for her funeral The pain of the child, it seems to come to watch the fun and make a joke." Shen Chang shuddered suddenly, and hurriedly said cautiously: "The empress's phoenix body is good, and the concubine dressed up like this to respond to her good looks. Another thing..." She turned her face to Concubine Hui and smiled sweetly : "The empress is in good health in her prime, and she has won the favor of the emperor. It is very easy to win another ten or eight princes. Does the empress think so?" Concubine Hui was told so by her, so she knew that she was very eloquent, and she really had something the emperor liked.It's hard to say anything in front of the queen right now. The queen smiled happily and said, "I know your thoughts. You have done so many things, don't I and the imperial concubine still know your thoughts? The imperial concubine is just joking with you, and she also treats you as a fool." It's just to get close to people. Come on, sit closer, the imperial concubine wants to talk to you a lot." Concubine Hui's lips curled into a little smile: "That's right, my sister is now the emperor's favorite person, and I heard that she will be promoted soon. If we don't count on my sister, who else can I count on?" After leaving the Changchun Palace, A Ruo walked quickly and anxiously, holding the hand of the palace maid Xinyan, like a gust of wind.Xinyan knew that she was annoyed, so she dared not speak any more, so she could only persuade her in a low voice: "Master, walk slowly, walk slowly, and carefully step." Ah Ruo was walking fast, and suddenly stopped, the pearl and red strings hanging from her temples rustled her cheeks, as if someone was slapping her across the face.She grabbed it fiercely, tore off the tired silk phoenix steps on the bun and threw it in Xinyan's hands, saying bitterly: "What's the matter, come and bully me!" Xinyan was so frightened that her face turned pale, she held the tired silk phoenix and shook her hand and said: "My lord, this was rewarded by the emperor. Look at all the little lords in the palace, where can you wear a red treasure below the concubine? It's all because of the emperor's love." Your heart." Ah Ruo was sweating slightly as he walked, and stood under the red wall, waving the silk angrily: "The emperor rewarded me? The emperor rewarded me too much!" Xinyan quickly apologized and said with a smile: "That's not true. One day the emperor won't reward us here, even if the concubine Jia gave birth to a prince, the emperor seems to have got a phoenix, but it's just such a reward. The slaves look at many things and are not as good as us Yes, the concubine Jia is jealous. After all, the emperor still dotes on you, young master!" A Ruo flicked a string of pearls on her wrist in a trance, and said slowly: "Do you also think that the emperor dotes on me?" Xinyan said happily: "That's right, isn't everyone in the palace saying that although the young master's status is lower, in terms of favor, no one can compare to you." Ah Ruo was stunned, and suddenly made a face, and slapped her backhand: "Is it up to you to discuss whether the emperor loves me or not? Be careful, I will pull out your tongue." Xinyan didn't know why she was angry, she was so frightened that tears rolled in her eyes, she didn't dare to cry, she just covered her face and said in a low voice: "My lord, it's been a while since we came out, let's go back, or the concubine Jia will come back again Some are out." Ah Ruo snorted softly, and said disapprovingly, "Repulsive? If I tell her some good stories, she will be more repulsive." Hailan was leaning against the corner door, a dark bombshell brocade cloak concealed her figure without any trace.She whispered: "Since Physician Jiang came, is my sister's rheumatism better?" Ruyi stroked her knee and said, "It's much better." Hailan said in a low voice: "My sister is much better, and the queen's illness is getting better day by day. It's strange to say that she was so sick when she was sick, and she recovered so quickly after she got well. She was able to get out of bed yesterday." "She has a heart disease. If you want to get better, you can always get better." Hailan gave a soft "hmm": "There are not many people in the harem at the moment. The empress dowager originally planned to draft a talent show, but the prince Duanhui just passed away, and the emperor has no intention of doing it. Today I heard that the empress dowager chose a few princes to raise in the palace. The side, on the surface, is said to be a young lady raised by Ju, and the joy of being with her when she grows old is supposed to be prepared for the emperor to enrich the harem in the future." Ruyi sneered lightly: "Now the queen is not doing well. A lot of things in the harem have been handed over to the queen mother. Naturally, the queen mother must do her best. Who have you chosen?" Hailan snapped her fingers and said, "There are always three or four, and the most outstanding ones are Lu Shi, the daughter of Taichang Temple Shaoqing Lu Shilong, and Yehenara, the daughter of Minister Yongshou. I heard that the Queen Mother likes it very much. Bring it by your side and train it yourself." Ruyi said with concern: "Don't always think about others. How are you doing now?" Hailan said silently: "What else can I do? It's just the same as before. I can only hold the emperor's heart." Ruyi frowned and said, "Is it so difficult?" Hailan hesitated for a moment, and said: "The emperor likes Ah Ruo very much. I heard that after the Dragon Boat Festival, he will be named a nobleman. If there is a man and a woman, it is not difficult to become the master." When Ruyi thought of the time when Ah Ruo wronged her with her red lips and white teeth, she felt extremely heart-piercing, and said with hatred, "Is she so proud?" Hailan said: "It's natural to be proud. The emperor loves you so much, it's both a reward and a blessing, and her Ama is also proud outside. Every year when it comes to water control, he is always needed. But she is still not enough. The Japanese family beat chickens and scolded dogs in the palace, and I don't know what's wrong. Thinking about it, people like her are always greedy." Ruyi thought for a while, and said patiently, "I can't be in a hurry now. It's important that you protect yourself, and you don't need to plan for me." Hailan was about to say something, but she saw Ling Yunche walking over, and said impatiently: "It's almost time, Mr. Haigui, hurry up and go. You are always dawdling here, and your good time is wasted." Hailan has been favored for many days, and she is used to being flattered by others. Although she can't enter the Lenggong, she can come and go freely. She has never heard such words before, and she immediately turned cold.It was Ruyi who knocked on the door inside to imply that she should not pay attention to it. Hai Lan thought that there would be a time to come again in the future, and she would always rely on Ling Yunche's accommodating ability, so she had to hold back her anger and leave. Seeing Ling Yunche's tone, Ruyi wasn't annoyed at all, she just said indifferently: "After all these days, can't you let go of the past and open your eyes to see the way forward?" After she finished speaking, she turned and went into her room.Yun Che sat slumped by the corner door of the cold palace, opened his eyes and looked at the pitch-black sky, a beautiful and soft face floated in front of his eyes, his heart twitched violently, as if being slashed by a blunt knife full of rust It seems to be cutting back and forth.He subconsciously touched the buckskin wine pouch in his arms. It contained his favorite liquor mixed with realgar. The smell was sweet and strong, and it did not have an offensive smell.He unscrewed the cap and was about to drink it, when he suddenly remembered what Ruyi said in the past, thinking about it was boring, so he opened his eyes and planned to finish the first half of the night alone, and then went to sleep with Jiuxiao. He was thinking vaguely, feeling sleepy slowly coming over him.There is no one else here in the left and right Lenggong, and it is normal to take a nap.He simply closed his eyes and let himself fall asleep. Ling Yunche was woken up in the middle of the night. He guessed that he had only slept for an hour or two, and his head was still groggy, but he heard low, suppressed and fearful cries coming from the room closest to the corner door. .After staying in the cold palace for so long, he recognized that voice as the master and servant of Ruyi and Song Xin.He also realized that such a terrified low cry must be in great danger. His dazed head suddenly woke up, and almost instinctively untied the key from his belt, opened the corner door and rushed in. What he saw almost stunned him.In all his life's experience, he has never seen dozens of snakes wriggling and wriggling underground at the same time, slowly approaching the bed.Not to mention the greasy and gloomy body, the sinister hissing voice, and the fishy smell alone, the two women in only single clothes on the bed were so frightened that their faces turned pale and their souls flew out of their minds. Seeing him coming in, Ying Xin almost wept with joy as if seeing a divine soldier: "Brother Ling! Come and save us." Yun Che was brought back to his senses by the words "Brother Ling", almost instinctively driving him to turn his back and run for his life.Yes, years of living in the country had taught him to distinguish between poisonous and non-venomous snakes.And these snakes are clearly poisonous.Now that the snakes didn't notice him at all, how could he run without running away. The emotions of fear and pity for life almost seized his heart at once. The moment he turned around, he suddenly heard a low voice: "Ling Yunche!" He turned his face and saw Ruyi who was huddled in a corner of the bed. He clearly had a look of fear on his face, but he was still holding on to protect him in front of Shou Xin, with a calm expression on his face, and covered himself tightly with the quilt. . How can two weak women and two thin quilts resist the attack of snakes.As long as any snake bites lightly, there is no other way to live except death. But he couldn't refuse such an expression abruptly, which came from a woman.With a ruthless heart, he took out a buckskin wine bag from his bosom, and threw it vigorously towards the place surrounded by snakes.The wine contained a little realgar, which snakes are most afraid of.Sure enough, where it was splashed, the snakes retreated one after another, their movements became much slower, and even the hissing sound in their mouths became weaker.Taking advantage of this moment to find a place to stay, he pulled out his waist knife and swiped it with a burst of courage. The two people on the bed were so frightened that their faces turned pale. They just watched him swiping the knife left and right. Wherever the blade touched, the snakes were broken into two pieces, and their hearts felt a little more at ease.Unexpectedly, Ling Yunche's swing was careless, a snake only had its tail cut off, and most of its body flew over with the force of the knife.Ruyi stood in front of Sing Xin, and was caught off guard for a moment, but saw the snake's cold body land on her wrist.Ruyi was so disgusted that his whole body was hairy, and he was about to stretch out his hand to wave it away, but he felt a sudden chill on the back of his hand, as if something small and hard was embedded in it coldly and sharply, and before he felt the pain, it went numb . Ruyi only felt dizzy, her chest felt oppressed for a while, and her body went limp, and she fell into Shouxin's arms, and Shouxin exclaimed, "My lord, what's wrong with you, my lord?" Then she raised Ruyi in a panic. hand: "My lord, why is the back of your hand black?" On the other side, Ling Yunche dealt with the snake in a frenzy, and it looked like it was dead, but he panicked when he heard that his heart was dying, and hurriedly turned his head to look.He dealt with those poisonous snakes by himself, and he was already sweating profusely. Seeing Ruyi's face as golden as paper, he panicked. Although Ruyi gradually lost her strength, she still had a clear mind, so she lowered her head and sucked on the wound.She was originally a person who was exhausted from a toxic attack, so she couldn't inhale anything with this inhalation.But Sing Xin understood, and hurriedly probed to suck the venom off the back of her hand.Yun Che immediately stopped him, and was ahead of him, sucking out the venom with the back of Ruyi's hand. Ling Xin was dumbfounded. Although he said that men and women are very defensive, everything Yun Che did was to save Ruyi's life.She was stunned for a while, then quickly poured tea to rinse Yun Che's mouth.Yun Che inhaled for a long time, and saw that all the black air on the back of Ruyi's hands dissipated, and only paleness remained on his face, instead of the frightening golden color.He breathed a sigh of relief, his feet softened a little, and he sat on the ground to recover, and when he looked up, he saw Ruyi's face was slightly red, with a little shyness in his eyes, and he turned sideways. He knew that he had committed a major defense against men and women, but didn't he also save her life?As soon as I thought about it, for some reason, my face became hot.He concealed his mouth and rinsed his mouth desperately: "Fortunately, the snake was cut in half, the mouth is weak, and the bite is not deep, otherwise it will be useless if the Daluo Immortal is there. But girl, you still have to find it. Find some antidote and apply it to her." Xin rummaged through the box and found a box of Niuhuang pills left by Jiang Yubin last time, took some for Ruyi to chew, and said in a panic, "What else can I find for detoxification?" Yunche saw that Xinxin was confused about these things, and panicked, so he hurriedly said: "These snakes are vipers, you need to find some medicines to clear away heat and detoxify, cool blood and stop bleeding, such as Prunella vulgaris, Lobelia, Habitat , Chuanbei, Baizhi, etc.?” Those are all common medicines, and he said repeatedly, "Yes, yes." Yun Che ordered Xing Xin to chew the medicine and apply it on Ruyi's wound, chewed some of it himself, and took another portion to cook for Xing Xin to feed Ruyi to drink later, saying: "I'll tell you tomorrow. It should be all right if the imperial doctor asks him to take another look." Ying Xin thanked her with gratitude: "Fortunately, the guard Ling is here, otherwise the young master's safety would be in danger today. Originally, originally... This drug use should be a servant's business." Yun Che nodded and said: "It's your business, but you are a little girl, and your body is naturally not as good as our men. If you are also injured, who will take care of you little master." He smiled self-deprecatingly: "I am like this Bad life." Listening to his self-deprecation, Ruyi wanted to say something, but her lips were parted but she had no strength. After a while, she finally said: "Thank you. You have to see the imperial physician." Scattering grass ash on the side, carefully cleaned the poisonous snake's body, and said, "I want to thank Guard Ling, if you weren't here today..." Yun Che looked at the snake corpse on the ground, looked up at the tiles on the roof, stepped on the stool to get on the table, lifted the tiles to have a look, and asked, "Did you hear any movement when it was just getting dark?" ?” Ji Xin shook her head and said, "Young Master and I were washing clothes outside, and we didn't hear anything." Yun Che jumped down and said, "The tiles on the house are loose. Someone must have wound a snake around the beams inside. The blood on the snake's body was cold, and its movements were slow. When you turn off the lights at night, the heat from the person's body will condense on a piece of wood." If the place doesn't move, it will naturally attract these snakes slowly." He raised his head, his eyes sparkling: "Who did you offend?"