Chapter 21 Chapter 21 Jade Bracelet

When the queen mother gave an order, Cheng Han pouted his mouth, and several young eunuchs took the barbed wire, and held down Ruyi and Xinxin one by one. Ruyi's head was covered with cold sweat, like countless bugs came out of the crevices of the skin bit by bit, slowly crawling, painful and itchy.The little eunuchs pressed her so hard that she couldn't move. The queen mother sat on the red sandalwood chair brought by Cheng Han, and said slowly: "The Ai family doesn't want to use torture. But now the emperor and the empress are not in the palace, and only the Ai family is left in charge of the huge palace. You don’t care about such a big thing, so many people stare at it, thinking that the old lady Aijia is useless. You have to take care of the things you have done by yourself.”

Cheng Han raised his chin, dragged the eunuch's characteristic high-pitched voice, and said: "There are priorities, starting with Ulanara, and beating until the skin and flesh are gone." There are dozens of inch-long iron thorns on the barbed thorns, and the rusty black luster shines on the thorn tips, which makes people shudder.The little eunuch was about to go down, when Ruyi hurriedly fell on the ground and said, "Queen Mother! The Queen Mother has learned a lesson! What this servant burns is not paper money, it's not paper money!" The Queen Mother raised her face, and Fu Jia turned sideways, picked up a piece of paper that hadn't been burned in the future, and unfolded it. On the round piece of paper, there were endless patterns drawn on it, and in the middle was a six-character mantra of Tibetan Buddhism.

Fu Jia hurriedly held both hands and showed it to the Queen Mother, and sure enough, each sheet contained only six-character mantras.The queen mother frowned slightly, then smiled: "Why is this thing?" Ruyi hurriedly kowtowed, and said respectfully and sincerely: "The Queen Mother, please listen to the servant girl. The round paper is perfect, and it matches the pattern with ten thousand characters that do not end. It is the same reason. The six-character mantra is the master lama of Miaoying Temple back then." The master said that the six-character mantra is the most respected mantra in Tibetan Buddhism. When it was first taught, the servants and maidservants had to recite it repeatedly, so that the merits and virtues can be completed, the karma can be eliminated, and the great liberation can be achieved."

Cheng Han snorted softly and said, "But today is Ghost Festival, and it's your first seven in Amanapur. Even the girl who serves you says it's your filial piety." Ruyi was not in a hurry, her eyes were as clear as a mirror: "This slave is full of filial piety, but this filial piety is not for the dead Ama, but a sincere prayer to the Empress Dowager. The slave knows that today is the Hungry Ghost Festival. The lama master who went to the Lama Temple opened the altar to pray, thinking that the master would definitely recite the six-character mantra to pray for the queen mother. The servants are incompetent, locked in the cold palace, and cannot greet the queen mother day and night, so they had to take advantage of the master to enter the palace today to pray, and the servants followed The merit of the master is to recite the mantra. After the master opens the altar, he will send the magic tools, scriptures and sutras to the Dharma boat to burn. Burned on the submarine, with all my heart."

Fu Jia pondered and said: "When you go back to the Queen Mother, the slaves also feel that if you burn paper money, it should look like paper money, otherwise it will be useless to burn it to Lord Boer. As for the Ghost Festival on the 15th of July, it is appropriate to burn this , it’s nothing more than that they didn’t follow the queen mother and other concubines and concubines to burn on the French boat.” She gave Ruyi a tactful look: “It’s not a violation of the palace rules.” A cold smile floated on the corner of the Queen Mother's lips, she looked at Cheng Han and said, "You rushed to tell Aijia that someone in the Leng Palace secretly burned paper money in violation of the palace rules, now you can take a look, what is this?" The Empress Dowager's smile froze on her face like an ice flower: "If you still work hard to come to this kind of place, you will become more and more good at working."

The Empress Dowager's tone was not harsh, just like gossip.Cheng Han seemed unable to bear it, his knees softened, and he immediately knelt down and said: "Slaves are useless, and slaves listen to people's words." The Queen Mother smiled at Fu Jia with a calm expression: "You are listening to others, but who did you listen to? Surprisingly, there are people around the Ai family who do not regard the Ai family as their masters, but are devoted to spying on others' wishes, wanting to To please both sides. Aijia thinks he is wrong." Fu Jia lowered her eyebrows and said calmly: "In the Palace of Compassion and Ning, there are only people who wholeheartedly serve the Empress Dowager, and there is no one who dares to play tricks with the Empress Dowager. Eunuch Cheng, you are clever but you were mistaken by your cleverness."

The queen mother looked at the sky, and stood up gracefully: "The crows have returned to their nests, let's go back too. Cheng Han, you don't have to go." Cheng Han was so frightened that he turned pale with fright, and kowtowed repeatedly: "Queen Mother, Queen Mother, please spare me!" The queen mother smiled and said: "Today is the Ghost Festival, the Ai family will not want anyone's life. It's just that you like to make wedding clothes for others so much and work hard, then the Ai family will reward you with the penalty of red lotus every step of the way, so that you If you break your feet, you can't break your heart to be loyal to others."

As soon as the Empress Dowager finished speaking, a person suddenly rushed out of the oblique stab, raised a dagger and stabbed the Empress Dowager's heart.The place in the courtyard is narrow, and the eunuchs and maids accompanying the Empress Dowager are guarding the door. Cheng Han was so frightened that he collapsed on the ground. There was only one Fu Jia beside him, so he couldn't guard against it at all. The queen mother was startled, and instinctively turned sideways, just in time to avoid the knife that was stabbed at the heart.After all, the queen mother is a pampered woman, and she is also of age, so she dodged this knife, and the next knife came towards her face with a strong wind, which was completely unstoppable.Ruyi was flustered at this moment, if something happened to the queen mother in front of her eyes, it would be really... She subconsciously rushed forward, pushed away the almost crazy figure, and protected herself in front of the queen mother.

The man seemed to be crazy, and he didn't shy away from Ruyi, swung a knife and rushed forward again.Ruyi stubbornly stood in front of the queen mother, not giving in even a single bit, seeing that the point of the knife had reached her jaw, and was about to stab her throat.The Empress Dowager held her shoulders tightly, Ruyi felt that she was about to be unable to hold on, and the ground was slippery after the rain, her feet slipped, the whole person bumped into each other and leaned back, avoiding it a bit . Taking advantage of this gap, both Fu Jia and Ji Xin rushed up, grabbed the man with all their strength, and only then dragged him away by a few feet.The Empress Dowager was wearing high shoes with flowerpot bottoms, and she couldn't stand still. Ruyi supported her tightly, and quickly asked, "Empress Dowager, are you alright?"

The queen mother was still in shock, she supported her hand with one hand, pressed her heart tightly with the other, and said with a clear face, "Ruyi, the point of the knife was just under your throat." Ruyi panted heavily, trying to calm down the tension and panic in her chest, and hurriedly leaned over and said, "The Queen Mother... as long as the Queen Mother is well." Taking advantage of the time when Fu Jia and Sing Xin were holding the man, the guards outside rushed up and immediately held the man firmly.The queen mother has calmed down, sat down with the chair, and shouted: "If you dare to plot to assassinate Aijia, Aijia wants to see, which old friend from the Leng Palace is it, who has such a good ability!"

Fu Jia went up to her voice, and she received two slaps across the face, forcibly lifted her chin, carefully discerned for a moment, and said: "If you go back to the Queen Mother, you are really an old friend." The queen mother narrowed her eyes slightly, and said with a sneer, "Concubine Ji? It's you!" Ji Taipin's face was grim, and she said hoarsely: "I can't kill you! I still can't kill you!" The Empress Dowager smiled brightly, pointing to the sky and said: "Not only you, but many people who have already gone to hell want to kill Aijia. What a pity!" The Empress Dowager caressed the carefully embroidered Kuilong peony pattern on her body, and said with a loud smile: " It is always a dragon who becomes a dragon, no matter how hard he jumps and wants to climb over the dragon gate, he is still a carp, trapped in the water for the rest of his life! You used to be outmatched by Aijia when you were outside, and the cold palace that was sent down by Aijia, Do you think you can beat Aijia after entering here?" A flash of panic flashed in Ji Taipin's eyes, but her attitude was still tough: "Really? If someone hadn't saved you just now, you would have died by my knife a long time ago." The queen mother looked up to the sky with a smile, stroked a red golden lotus flower on her temples, and said contemptuously: "When you were young and beautiful outside the cold palace, you couldn't beat Aijia. Is there any hope after being locked up here for so many years? With your little ability, it's just It’s all just hurting people with brute force. It seems that no matter how old you are, your brain hasn’t grown at all! If your Aijia is compromised by your trivial tricks, then it’s called Heaven’s Aijia!” Ji Taipin was so angry that her face turned black, and she stretched out her hand to scratch in vain, but it only made a few scratches on the mud floor.The queen mother smiled brightly: "Fu Jia, we have placed her outside. Don't forget that Cheng Han is still waiting there." Fu Jia agreed.The Empress Dowager got up and supported the little maid's hand, took two steps and turned around and said: "Take care of your life and save it for tomorrow." Ruyi's body was tightly supported by Shuangxin, she was almost crying with joy, her hand was holding Shouxin's hand tightly in her sleeve, both hands were covered with cold sweat, even she couldn't tell the difference, it was joy The surprise afterward is still the joy of the rest of my life after a catastrophe.She only knew that only when she held the hand of the heart, a real person's hand, did she feel that she was also alive.It's not a piece of wall covering or moss in the cold palace. The Empress Dowager Shi Shiran left, as if all the life-and-death dangers just now were just a cloud of smoke and chatter.Ruyi secretly felt a little envious, when and when will the empress dowager have such determination?Before she could think about it, Fu Jia raised her face, and a few guards dragged Ji Taipin into a side hall. Ruyi hurriedly grabbed Fu Jia and said, "Aunt Fu, Concubine Ji has gone crazy to offend the Queen Mother. She just went crazy and didn't do it on purpose." Fu Jia patted her hand and said: "My lord, don't blame this servant for talking too much. The queen mother's temperament is like this. If she is spared once, she will surely die if she dares to do it a second time. I'm afraid the queen mother is thinking right now. I regret that I left her a way out back then. You, take a good look at it, and I will be the queen mother to guide you personally." After she finished speaking, she walked into the side hall without saying a word, and watched as the queen mother's bodyguards hung Taipin Ji on the beam with a thick hemp rope, letting her feet struggle frantically, her throat There was a whimpering beast-like hiss in the middle, and soon there was no sound. Ruyi leaned against the window sill, feeling cold sweat soaked through layer after layer of clothes, vaguely in a daze, it was the unknown woman who was hanged on the hanging beam when she first arrived in the Leng Palace.It turned out that staying here was nothing more than dying in such a panic, by his own hands, or by the hands of others. She didn't know how she walked back, returned to the empty room, and poured it into her mouth regardless of whether the water in the pot was hot or cold, as if this was the only way to soothe her flustered heart.The voices of the little eunuchs outside punishing Eunuch Cheng gradually decreased. At first, they were crying out in pain, begging their father and mother, but in the end, they only breathed out but did not breathe in, and there was no movement at all. After a long time, the sound of the two bodies being dragged out completely disappeared.With tears all over her face, Xin Xin looked at Ruyi and said, "My lord, we're fine, we're fine!" She got up and found a large bag of paper money and ghost paper from under the bed, "Fortunately, it's useless, my lord. What came in, otherwise the half-dead people who are tortured there today would not be Cheng Han, but us." Ruyi turned her face away, and under the dim light and shadow of the lantern, the bloodstains left by Cheng Han's feet became more and more like blossoming red lotuses on the muddy ground, with every step of the blood, every step was shocking.Ruyi struggled to grab the door frame, and because she was deprived of armor, her long fingernails dug into the cracks in the wooden door, making a slight hissing sound.She said softly: "Yes. I almost fell into someone else's trap, so the disabled person is us." Song Xin said quietly: "Young Master is still alert." Ruyi knelt down, took the package of paper money and burned them all, the flames blazingly reddened her pale cheeks: "Xinxin, if Hailan sent something, wouldn't it be through Ling Quche's hand to stuff it like this?" Come in? And after giving away so much, I seem to have completely forgotten that there is still a lot of paper money that was burned to Prince Duanhui last time. Hai Lan will not be so careless." There was still lingering surprise in his heart: "Then how did the young master know that the queen mother will come?" "Someone set up this game to lead to major events. Only the queen mother is left in the palace as the head of the family. If something like this violates the palace rules in the cold palace, even if she doesn't come by herself, she will let the person who is closest to her come. Then as long as someone comes, we will not be afraid of this matter, we must let people know that there are people who work for other masters around the queen mother. How can the queen mother tolerate such eyes and ears around me, so we can get away. " Ji Xin patted his chest lightly: "It's so dangerous, so dangerous! I'm afraid that something might go wrong." Ruyi lowered her face, watched as the fading fire finally turned into dark ashes and spread thinly, and said: "If you don't walk on the tip of the knife, how can you walk out a bloody road. It is also Ji Taipin who is planning to take revenge, This opportunity was conveniently given to us. The Empress Dowager knew our loyalty, and she was able to get rid of the dirty people for her. She would think of us when it came time to employ people. As long as the Empress Dowager cared about us, she would go out with extra points. hope." She stood up and sprinkled the ashes of the burned paper money all the way on the blood stains left by Cheng Han's feet, and murmured: "Ama, my daughter is not filial, so I can only burn some paper money for you after taking care of these things. You are here Under the Nine Springs, you must protect your daughter, bless the Ulanara family, don’t be humiliated again, and don’t have a bright future.” She looked back at the side hall where Concubine Ji was hanged, and closed her eyes: “Concubine Ji, I will definitely not take revenge indiscriminately like you, and die at the hands of others in vain." She raised her head, the black clouds in the sky were still there, only a few faint crows patted their shoulders and flew away. During this period of peace and silence, at the end of the summer of the fifth year of Qianlong, Chu, Yue, Miao, and Yao colluded to cause trouble. The emperor thought that the matter of Miao and Yao was very important and involved a lot. middle.And just as the emperor and the empress dowager wished for a child, when the royal family returned to Luan, Hailan was already more than three months pregnant. After the birth of the fourth elder brother Yongxuan in the fourth year of Qianlong, the emperor heard that he was happy again a year later, and the one who was pregnant was Hai Lan, whom he had loved for the past two years. How could he not be happy.In addition, the imperial physician said that Hailan's body was not strong enough, and it would take four months to withstand the fatigue of the boat, so the emperor arranged for the Yanxi Palace to take a good rest before letting Hailan move in.With this delay, it will take another half a month to return to Luan. Hailan was pregnant, so she kept her face and she didn't tell the emperor until her fetal gas was stable for three months.So naturally He Gong's heart is moving, Mei Concubine and Shen Gui are still acceptable, the celebration of the emperor's new favorite is only a momentary interest, it has long been left out in the cold, and there is nothing to say.The saddest thing is Concubine Hui. In the past year in Yuanmingyuan, she has been favored the most, but there is no sign of pregnancy at all. I only see other people with flesh and blood in their wombs. How can I not feel sad.Although the emperor also hoped that this concubine who had been favored for more than ten years would be pregnant, but he was helpless. On the other side, Ruyi only hoped that she could help a little with the Empress Dowager's affairs last time, but there was no movement for a whole year, but the food brought in has improved slightly, often with meat and vegetables, and no longer cold and damp things. up.Ruyi gradually lost weight because of worrying and thinking, and because she didn't think about eating and drinking.This kind of thinness is ignorant and unconscious, but the skin and flesh are getting thinner one by one, and the flow of tendons can be faintly seen when the skin is thinned.At the end of summer and the beginning of autumn, the prickly heat on my body faded due to the heat of the house, but my wrists were much thinner than in previous years. The emerald beads wrapped in silk and red nasturtium lotus bracelets were worn on my hands, and they could already roll onto my arms .After thinking about it, she took it off and put it on the dressing table: "After all, it was rewarded by the queen, so don't break it." Singing heart slightly saddened: "Back then, the empress and empress each rewarded a string, and the other person who wore it was favored outside, and the young master was trapped to death here." Just as he was talking, Jiang Yubin came in, bowed and saluted, and said, "All blessings, my lord, I have come here to ask for a pulse of peace for my lord." Ruyi smiled and stretched out her wrist: "I thought that imperial physicians were there to cure illnesses and save lives, but every time you come to ask for peace pulse, others will know that I am safe, won't it be a problem for you?" Jiang Yubin smiled calmly, and put two fingers on Ruyi's wrist through the gauze, feeling her pulse beating: "The responsibility of this humble minister is only to take care of the little master's well-being, and the rest of the humble servants don't care." Ruyi snapped her fingers and counted, jokingly said, "You are more diligent than usual, but who in the cold palace is leading you here?" Jiang Yubin took a look at Song Xin, and there was a coral color on his face.Feeling embarrassed, he turned around to refill his tea. Jiang and Bin have always had a gentle expression: "The queen mother's instructions, I know that I know that I am in charge of the affairs of the cold palace, and I tell you not to let the young master suffer from all kinds of disasters." He smiled slightly at Xin Xin who was boiling water on the porch : "Miss Xin Xin can take some time off, except for the old illness, everything is fine, my lord." Qiao Xin's face flushed, and she said calmly: "But this servant feels that the young master has lost a lot of weight." "Thinness is a blessing, but if it is too fat, it will cause all kinds of diseases." He smiled lightly, "Recently there is a happy event in the harem, I think the young master will be happy when he hears it." Ruyi smiled and said, "What?" "Mr. Hai was pregnant in the Old Summer Palace." Ruyi was overjoyed, but overwhelmed by more worries: "You want her to be careful about everything." There was a determined smile on the corner of Jiang Yubin's lips: "Mr. Hai's womb fell on Weichen. It is almost four months now, and the womb image is already stable. I'm afraid it will be difficult for others to do anything." Ruyi pressed her heart, showing a more gratified smile: "That's good." After thinking about it, she took the emerald bead-wrapped red gold lotus bracelet on the dressing table: "There is nothing more precious than this around me." , This was rewarded by the queen back then, give it to her for me, keep it by my side, as a thought." Xin Xin persuaded: "Young master will go out someday, if the queen finds out and gave this away, I'm afraid it will be bad." Ruyi concentrated for a moment, then smiled and said, "This string of things is the one that has been with me for the longest time. Just don't let people see it." Jiang Yubin stretched out his hand to pick it up, but when he lost his hand, the red gold lotus bracelet fell to the ground.The bracelet was originally strung with large jadeite beads, because jadeite was fragile, both ends of each bead were protected with red gold pieces shaped like lotus flowers, and twisted gold wires in the shape of vines were wrapped around the jadeite beads.Unexpectedly, when Kankan fell on the brick floor, two of them fell into pieces. Xin was so distressed that he kept reciting Buddha's name, and quickly knelt down to pick it up and said, "It's a pity, it's a pity, these two broken pieces will feel tight when worn on the wrist." Ruyi said: "Forget it. Anyway, we can't get out, and no one will blame us if it's broken." Just as he was talking, Yi Xin let out a soft "Huh", and opened the place where the bead was broken, and a black bead the size of a small fingernail fell out of it.Sing Xin looked at the light and wondered: "There is a very faint fragrance, but I don't know what it is?" Ruyi took a look, and she didn't know it at all. Ping Xin just curled her lips and said: "The empress is too frugal, she said she gave the jadeite bead bracelet as a reward, but most of it is not jadeite, but something else, it's useless for us to wear it like a treasure all the time." Ruyi said: "It's really hard to say what the reason for this kind of tribute from a foreign country is." Jiang and Bin saw that both master and servant were groaning in a daze, so they said, "If you don't worry, my little master, please show me." Ruyi handed it to him, and said with a smile, "Does Doctor Jiang know everything about my daughter's house?" Jiang Yubin took a closer look, put it on his nose and sniffed for a while, then took a look at the broken jadeite beads in the palm of his hand, and said calmly, "I don't necessarily know everything about my daughter's house, but I don't know everything about it. This kind of medical stuff can be understood at a glance." Ruyi's heart sank when he heard these words, and he said, "Physician Jiang is not an outsider, so if you have anything to say, you might as well speak up." Jiang Yubin took the broken jadeite bead and put it together into a complete shape, saying: "My lord can see that this emerald bead is hollowed out in advance, and then the things you want to stuff in are stuffed and air-dried, and then pressed If the perforated line is left in the eyes, it is just an emerald bead from the outside, and it is nothing." Pin Xin said: "What you said is unclear. What is this thing?" Jiang Yubin's expression was a bit ugly: "There is a kind of plant called Linglingxiang. "Jiayou Materia Medica" says that Lingling has a spicy, warm, and slightly poisonous scent. If you use it more often, it will block the joints, astringe the body, and cause blood vessels to fail. Qi is blood. The handsome man, blood is the mother of qi. Especially for women, if qi and blood are sluggish, it is difficult to conceive. Linglingxiang has a strong aroma, which can be calcined and ground into powder to remove the smell, and then made into a thick dark brown ointment. It can be squeezed into objects at will, and when it is air-dried and hardened, it will become a seamless thing. Outside the two holes of this emerald bead, there are pieces of nasturtium flowers with smaller holes sealed, and the beads are wrapped with gold threads. On the surface, it seems to increase its beauty, but in fact it is to protect the emerald beads from being broken and to prevent the contents inside from being exposed. This kind of thought is indeed hundreds of times more powerful than a skilled craftsman."