Chapter 44 Chapter 44: Snow Garden’s Dark Fragrance

On the ninth day of September, the Double Ninth Festival, in order to improve the efficiency of work, the emperor specially allowed the Yuan clan's relatives who had reached the age of 20 and had military merits to open the Tiance Mansion, and they could openly recruit servants and advisers on their own. Therefore, the King of Nanjia , Ningkang County King, and Northern Jin King all opened Tiance Mansion.The Prince's Mansion of the Northern Jin Dynasty then recruited eighteen bachelors, and there were many people with various supernatural abilities.Historians of later generations speculated that it is very likely that Emperor Taizu also wanted to exercise the political abilities of the princes and county kings, and to observe which one was better to succeed the emperor of Dayuan.

In addition, the crown prince has been empty for a long time, and there are many people in the court who have sacred intentions. The imperial concubine and Dongxian king secretly sent all the officials under his feathers to propose in the court to establish a crown prince as soon as possible, so as to avoid future troubles. Qian Yi, a minister of Dou Zhou, was enfeoffed as the censor of Ducha, and secretly voted for Princess Annian. He wanted to say that his colleague Zhu Yingjiu, who had already worshiped the imperial concubine Jin, was granted the title of Minister of Dali Temple. On the tenth day of the ninth lunar month, Qian Yijin suddenly proposed in the court hall to invite his eldest son, King Dongxian, to step down silently, noncommittal.

On September 20th, Qian Yijin asked Mount Tai to enshrine Zen, and he was approved.Qian Yijin also asked about King Dongxian walking with the Lord, and he began to test the Sacred Heart, but the Lord said nothing.Zhu Yingjiu also expressed that he should invite the King of Hanzhong to go with him. When he got up suddenly, he was very displeased: "I know it well. You and the master behind you have wanted to see the crown prince for a long time. I have a legacy hidden in the golden gui of the original clan. Among them, I refuse to reveal the clues, so as not to make the public look around, this is the heart of my love."

All the ministers were so frightened that they knelt down in the court hall. The emperor stepped down from the throne very seriously, and loudly educated all his ministers: "Gai Yili, the prince, everyone saw that the artifact belonged, and there were all kinds of fantasies. Brothers have many suspicions, and they speculate because of it. The cowards are flattering and falling into trouble. The strong set up evil mediators to slander their faults, which often lead to catastrophe, and then lead to the loss of both kindness and filial piety between father and son. The foundation of Chengguo is well established, a hundred wastes are waiting to be rejuvenated, the people are tired, the soldiers are out of breath, and it is absolutely impossible to establish a prince." The emperor severely reprimanded Zhu Yingjiu and Qian Yijin, "Separate father and son, and confuse the country. If troubles continue, we will The crime must be punished, and the loan will never be lenient." And the two were demoted by half a level, and their salary was fined for half a year.

For this reason, the emperor estranged Jinxiu for a while, and then asked the king of Nanjia County to represent him on a mission to Liao, another powerful and terrifying neighbor of the young Dayuan Dynasty.As a result, the sound of banquets and music in Shuanghui Dongguilou died down for a while, and Chang'an fell into a peaceful busy work, which lasted until the twelfth lunar month. In a blink of an eye, Chang'an ushered in the snow season covered with snow again, and the entire Purple Habitat Palace seemed to have turned into a world of glazed glass. On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the king of Nanjia County sent an envoy to the Liao Kingdom and returned to the court. The Liao Kingdom was competing with the Turks for the position in the Western Regions. Song Minglei used his excellent eloquence to persuade the Liao Kingdom Emperor to agree not to harass Shanhaiguan. The two sides traded at the pass and brought back A bunch of "Three Treasures of Northeast China" sent by the emperor of Liao Kingdom.

The Yellow River was frozen, and it happened to stop work. All the workers went home to celebrate the New Year. Fei and I returned to Xifengyuan from the construction site in Yibin on the Yellow River to greet the emperor. Han Xiuzhu, who was wearing a ferret hat, had already led everyone from Xifeng Garden to welcome them by the shore of Mochou Lake. The golden dragon broke through the ice and writhed, the divine crane danced in front of the snow, and Xifeng Garden was full of joy.Han Xiuzhu still followed the old rules and held a banquet in the Shangxin Pavilion to clean up the dust for us.

During the dinner, Feibai chatted with the Eighteenth Scholars again, talking about important court affairs when we were away.Feibai always likes me to sit next to me, so I sit in the green gauze cupboard with a sewing box, and work together with Xiaoyu, Weiwei, and Yanhua to clean the soles of their shoes. A scholar said that the Holy Majesty was displeased with the imperial concubine's interference in court affairs recently, and the imperial concubine was far away. He always took the king of Nanjia County, Princess Annian, King Dongxian and his new concubine Qiao to visit Taiye Lake at night, reciting poems and paintings, listening to music and enjoying operas. It seems that they want to personally avoid suspicion between Dongxian King and Nanjia County King, and they also want to cultivate the relationship between son and daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law respectively.

It's a pity that King Dongxian didn't appreciate it very much, and he was very indifferent to Qiao in front of the emperor's father. It also happened that the famous Chang'an Dong Geer often went to the palace to sing operas, pretending to be a handsome and beautiful girl, and he admired King Dongxian very much. I don't know why In order to anger Nanjia County King, he really fell in love with this Dong Geer, or he hated the Qiao family. Every day when he went to court, Dong Xian Wang and this Dong Geer had no romantic place every day, and the city was full of storms. It's a broken jar.

Qiao often ran back to Qiao Wan to cry, and Qiao Wan went to the emperor and concubine to cry. The emperor reprimanded King Dongxian in private in Chongyuan Hall, but King Dongxian still went his own way.Later, the emperor couldn't bear it anymore, and declared that King Dongxian would save his life in the morning and evening, and he didn't even want to see him. Recently, King Dongxian seemed to be regretting again, and there was a pause between him and Brother Dong, but now he didn't know where to find a good ruby ​​fan pendant, and he wanted to give it to King Nanjia. Everyone laughed for a while, and they all laughed and said that Fengyue's love affairs are superfluous.

When it seemed that they were about to leave, Han Xiuzhu remembered something.News came from the inner curtain that today the emperor met a slightly older beauty under the plum blossom forest when he was walking in the Meiyuan Xiaozhu. It happened that she was Xuan Guifei, whom Dou Yinghua loved so much back then.According to Shi Qingpei, the woman's expression was somewhat similar to Empress Xiaoxian's, the emperor made an exception that night and favored her, and on the second day made an exception to confer honor on Xuangui, the imperial concubine was very displeased. Feibai froze his hand holding the teacup, and glanced into the green gauze cabinet. We all stopped, only to hear Feibai say indifferently: "This matter is a bit strange, and people need to inquire more about it."

On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the heavy snow had stopped, and under the golden wheel, the blue sky was as clear as a jewel. The Xifeng Garden had long been a dazzling world of glass, pure white and quiet, reflecting the red plums in full bloom, like dyed rouge. Dazzling and colorful. It was the holiday, and everyone in Xifeng Garden was free, so they swept snow in Meiyuan. Seeing that this year's heavy snow was crystal clear, everyone proposed to build a snowman for fun.It happened that Qinzhong Hou Suhui and his wife also came to Wen'an, so they joined us.We divided into two teams, Feibai and I each led a team, Qingmei, Wu Rutu, Yinben, Jin Canzi, Wei Hu, Luzhu, Suhui belonged to Feibai, our team had Qifang, Xiaoyu, Yanhua, Wei Wei, Fazhou, Minqing, Yuliuyun, and new daughter-in-law Yuan Danzhu also joined our team. Fei Bai suggested with a smile that since it is a competition, it is interesting to have some bets.After all, he was a scholar who was born as a snow walker, and he very elegantly suggested that the losing team write a poem.Most of the people present were warriors. When they heard the poem, their faces were darkened. Even Qing Mei stared blankly at the sky for a while.I said loyally that if those who can’t write poems, each person will pay two slings, no matter whether they win or lose, they will take it out to drink around the fire at night, and I will add what is not enough.Feibai's phoenix eyes glanced at me with a half-smile, and I grinned at him and shrugged. We took Meilin Road as the boundary, Mr. Han served as the referee team, non-white belts were on the left, and I was on the right. After an hour, we were the first to finish the work, clapped our hands, and took the lead to visit Baifang's side triumphantly.But I saw a bunch of flying apsaras piled up by people with non-white belts, all of which were fine snow sculptures, graceful and graceful, with windy clothes and my smiling face, so vivid and moving, everyone was so moved that they couldn't speak.Just when I was moved to tears, Feibai was very romantically yearning to see my pile of "Feibai portraits", but the result was a pile of Tuzki, with tiny arms and legs supporting a huge head, Using two small branches as eyes, the shapes are different, exaggerated and humorous, which completely breaks the romantic and touching atmosphere. Mu Fang naturally knows what theme is piled up, and they are all laughing, embarrassed to say it.Everyone in Bai Fang guessed back and forth in astonishment. For some reason, some guessed it was a naughty cat, while others guessed it was a god-man in golden armor. It was Mr. Han who was smart enough to see that it was a rabbit, and he helped us out. He sighed: "Jin Wang's pile is the nine-day fairy Chang'e who descended to earth, and what I piled up must be the jade rabbit who often accompanies Chang'e. It can be seen Wang and his wife have a good understanding.Everyone applauded with emotion.Suhui said emotionally: This jade rabbit has no nose or mouth, why is it so provocative? " Feibai seemed to believe it was true, his phoenix eyes were shining, and he kept staring at me affectionately, but I blushed embarrassingly. However, Mr. Han decided that Feibai had won. Therefore, Qi Fang, the representative of the wooden party and known for his literary talents, represented us first, and took up a sentence of five words: The secluded tree fell for years, and the ice wave came out of the Bitan. Huarong is slim and thin, Gu Wangwang pity. Outside the lonely and clear sky, it is cold near the water. Everyone applauded, and of course those who didn't understand also applauded. Feibai nodded in praise and said: "Zhongshu's poems are so unique, the sentence 'the tree has fallen through the years', although there is a bit of bleak artistic conception, the feeling of no ambition, but it is just to set off the last sentence all the way down, once." Outside the lonely and beautiful clear sky', I suddenly feel remorseful." Xiao Fang thanked King Jin with a smile. I was very pleased, and Feibai added, "No wonder Father always said that it's a pity that Zhong Shu fell to merchants." Oh, Yuan Feibai is clearly trying to poach someone.I coughed heavily, everyone laughed, and Feibai also heard it, so he smiled and encouraged me to compose a song too. I looked around and saw Feibai's lips with a peerless smile, standing opposite me with his hands behind his back and staring at me. He was dressed in a sable collar robe with a moon-white homely wishful cloud pattern, which made him look taller, chic and upright. I couldn't help but With a move in my heart, the matter of just now has long since vanished, and then Xiao Fang took up a sentence of seven words: Branches monopolize light clouds, so why be afraid of cliffs with hundreds of feet of ice? Thousands of miles of rouge is dyed green in spring, and the east wind is not sentimental. Qi Fang and Mr. Han just smiled and said nothing; Yu Liuyun's eyes were a little obsessed after hearing this; Yin Ben's eyes were a little ambiguous.Many people did not understand the poems and books, but they also heard some meanings. Everyone looked at Feibai. As expected, Feibai's eyes lit up. He looked at me with phoenix eyes, smiled at me, and said softly: A trickle of spring water points at dusk, and a few wisps of fragrance and coldness disperse jade dust. I once promised my heart to each other deeply, and the spring breeze has not seen my soul. As if someone had poured hot honey into my heart, Feibai and I stared deeply, and laughed for a long time, only feeling that the glazed world was sweet and warm, only me and him, no one else. When Feibai and I woke up, everyone was laughing, saying that Qi Zhongshu's ambition poems attracted the lingering love poems of King Jin and Princess Wang, and they went all the way to ask for rewards.Both Feibai and I had red ears, so I had to honestly tell everyone to give it a go. After laughing, the children wanted to play snowball fights again. This time they got bolder and said that they would win a game of ten taels of silver. When I saw the formation at that time, I swallowed a mouthful of saliva and shouted that the white squares were all masters, and the wooden squares were all masters. The old, the weak, women and children, it's not fair.Feibai gave me three rounds very loyally, but in the end it was a fight, and our side was still losing. Weiwei said it would be better for the five beauties from Mu Fang to try their tricks, but in the end they only won one game, and it was still Yuan Danzhu. Let Suhui make countermeasures. Then Feibai seemed to have made up his mind, with a smile on his face all the time, leading the white team to win two games in a row without letting go.I was getting short of breath, no matter how hard Fei Bai made me, I couldn't move anymore, sitting in the snow and couldn't get up, my team lost thirty taels of silver like this.I felt sorry for my money, and Feibai felt sorry for my old illness, so I held back a smile and dragged me to the warm pavilion on the second floor of the Shangxin Pavilion, watching the children play.As a result, Feibai's subordinates were led by Qing Mei, the deputy captain Wei Hu, and my people were led by the big shopkeeper Qi Fang, most of whom were girls. We implemented a democratic lottery system, and the vice captain was drawn by Wei Wei, and Xiao Yu I was a little unhappy, because Feibai and I withdrew, and it happened that Yanhua followed us on duty, and there was one less person in my team.Suhui jumped over with a grin, happily joined my team, stood behind Xiaoyu, and happily took the little hand of the new daughter-in-law Yuan Danzhu to comfort her. Yuan Danzhu lowered her head and blushed. But he didn't let go of Suhui's hand.I took a closer look at the appearance of Yuan Danzhu, with slender eyebrows and long eyes, delicate and dignified, slightly dark complexion, although not stunningly beautiful, under the rain and dew of love, she is very youthful and charming. It seems that this young couple is living in harmony .The crowd laughed and teased them loudly, as if they were having a bridal chamber, the two blushed even more, and before laughing enough, Qingmei squinted her eyes and grabbed a huge snowball, throwing it at the traitor Suhui, declaring war. At the beginning, everyone was excited and engaged in snowball fights. After fighting, everyone stopped and formed two rows from a distance, smiling to see that the leaders of the two teams were not playing snowball fights as usual.Qing Mei and Qi Fang are both top young masters of martial arts. They kept performing peerless light kung fu, dodging left and right, with serious faces, the bigger the more fierce, a snowball fight is like fighting a life-and-death enemy, Xue Hua Splash, many "comrades in arms" or "teammates" have suffered, the farther away they are, the more they help out. Qing Mei laughed arrogantly while beating: "You are ready to pay the money, and you will be fined for serving my dinner later." Everyone laughed, they all knew that Qi Fang's culinary skills were unique in Xifengyuan, and even the aggressive Qing Mei was rarely gentle when eating Qi Fang's dishes. You have to get ready to sleep!" Qi Fang had a serious face, his ears turned red suspiciously, but he hummed loudly: "You prodigal bitch." Everyone laughed even louder, and then there was a snowball in Qi Fang that must have exerted four layers of internal force, and it hit me in the auditorium on the second floor. Fortunately, Fei Bai pulled me aside in time, and the snowball brushed my temple. It fell to the ground and scattered into a pile of snow.I opened my mouth wide and froze in front of the window.Feibai smiled and pulled me to the back, closed the window, and looked at me through the glass window. He brought two white agate plates, one filled with my favorite sweet-scented osmanthus cake, the other filled with new chestnut flour cake steamed with lotus flower sugar, and a few dishes of appetizers such as pig ears in sauce, goose feet and duck letters. Another bottle of phoenix-bird-patterned silver youcha was served, which contained ten servings of Yuanzheng wine that had been warmed. As soon as Yan Hua poured a cup for Fei Bai, I felt a clear and sweet scent filling the room.She looked at my expectant gaze, and then at Feibai, who really waved at her. I squinted at him, but obediently drank Huamijin to accompany him for a drink, watching the fierce battle outside the window. In the end, he couldn't hold it back, and took a sip of his silver cup. He acquiesced dotingly, just kept looking at me and smiling.Well, it's really good. After all, it's a ten-year-old wine. The wine is really full of strength, and the spirit will feel slightly refreshed. It's reasonable not to let me drink it for nothing. I was afraid that Qi Fang would hurt Qing Mei, after all, she is a girl, and I didn't want to hold the wine cup in vain, pulled me and said with a smile: "Do you know how a dog catches a mouse, what do you say later?" I put on my cloak and feather hat, and I was about to go downstairs, "After all, Xiao Fang's martial arts are superior to Qing Mei's. I'm afraid that Xiao Fang will be in a hurry. What should I do if I hurt Qing Mei? He has always hated Qing Mei in his heart." Go Xiangning." "How do you know that he hates Qingmei and forced Xiangning to leave? Don't you think that as long as Qingmei is around, your little Fang's eyes will follow her?" Fei Bai slowly returned to the couch with the wine cup in his hand. The eyes followed the figures of the two without moving, and said with a smile: "I always think that Qi Fang is hating himself." I squinted my eyes and stared at Feibai for three seconds, then quickly turned Twilight to the snowball field, only to see Qi put a big snowball right in Qing Mei's face, Qing Mei squatted down covering her eyes.Hitting people's eyes is the most taboo in snowball fights. Perhaps Xiao Fang was also worried that Qing Mei's eyes would not be hurt, so he walked over cautiously and asked her worriedly. On Xiao Fang's face, Qing Mei looked up to the sky and laughed loudly, "To capture the thief first, capture the king, quickly give me ten taels of silver." Her men also laughed loudly, saying that Qi Fang's team lost and asked for ten taels of silver.Upstairs looked at me with a smile and counted how much I lost by counting with his fingers.Qi Fang's team naturally put on a tiger face, but they couldn't help laughing out loud seeing Qi Fang in such a mess. Qi Fang wiped the blood from his face, and said something with a straight face, probably expressing his dissatisfaction with marrying her, scolding her for being jealous and disrespectful to her husband, anyway, the two of them usually come and go. As far as this sentence is concerned, we have been married for more than half a year, but we haven't seen anyone who has had a good marriage in a few days. Qing Mei immediately turned her eyebrows upside down, and replied again, and the two of them started to move their hands again while talking.I really admire Qingmei for this.Qi Fang's self-cultivation as a big shopkeeper has been getting better and better in the past two years, but when he meets Qing Mei, as long as he disagrees, he can draw a knife and fight like a brat again.It was neither persuasion nor help, so they could only hold back a smile and watch the two roll and wrestle on the snow.I was about to yell and stop, the two coaches suddenly twisted their fronts, Shi Qinggong took off, and ran to other places to compete, leaving everyone standing in the glazed world, you look at me, I looking at you.A few birds croaked and flew over, the branches of the big cypress tree flicked, and a pile of snow fell on the top of the crowd. While he was in a daze, Wei Wei, Qi Fang's deputy commander, yelled revenge, and threw a heavy snow ball at Wei Hu, the deputy leader of the youth team, and the battle started again.Everyone ignored the pair of enemies who had no sense of teamwork, and threw themselves into the fiery snow, having a great time. I had no choice but to pull down the snow cap again, took off the cloak, and put it away for Zhang Hua. The non-white hair looks like dark ink satin, scattered on the Xiangfei couch.He lowered his long eyelashes like a fan, and with a mocking chuckle at the corner of his mouth, he took a sip of alcohol, and his jade face was slightly flushed. I set up the awning with my hands, stared blankly at the direction where Qi Fang and Qing Meifei were leaving, and said angrily, "Xiao Fang must have lost." Feibai raised his head with one hand and looked at me lazily, like a big white tiger lying there gracefully, wagging its tail leisurely at me, and said with a smile: "Not necessarily." In other words, the Yuan family has never kept any secrets. The next day, news spread that there were several peerless ice sculptures made by the Northern Jin King and his wife in Xifeng Garden. The emperor brought the empress, Jinxiu and two other favorite concubines along with several close officials to visit Xifeng Garden.None of us expected that while everyone admired the non-white Chang'e, they were very interested in my Tuzki. It may be that its funny appearance is festive and tender, and people who have just returned to peace and order always hope that their exiled family members can return home as soon as possible. Rushing back to their hometown for a reunion, the Jade Rabbit has become people's expectation. In the third year of Yuanchang, the Xinyou phoenix came to the world, implying peace and auspiciousness. The emperor led his officials to enshrine the gods on Mount Tai. In addition to the auspicious pattern of the nine-day phoenix descending on the auspicious clothes, the Tuzki pattern also appeared on the sleeve robe, praying for good weather and family reunion.Gradually, Tuzki became a fashion pattern in Yuanchang's three-year clothing.

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Notes: ①Excerpt from "Records of Emperor Gaozong of the Qing Dynasty" on the establishment of the crown prince.