Chapter 7 Chapter Four: The Deep Palace is Dangerous

The Empress Dowager, who has always been the most sensitive to power and valued the most, was alerted by the scene she saw just now. In an instant, her face turned livid... The sky is warm and the flowers are in full bloom, and the sun is shining brightly. The flowers and trees in Zhongcuiguan’s courtyard are in full bloom, especially the roses of various colors compete for beauty, red, yellow, and white, as if blooming one by one. Pairs of butterflies were dancing happily, chasing after... A pair of beautiful butterflies just landed on the grass, but were trampled down by a noble wooden shoe, one flew away, and the other was trampled to death...

The person who trampled the butterfly to death was the empress who wore bright yellow satin, cheongsam embroidered with a phoenix, and a phoenix crown. Her unbeautiful eyes were slightly swollen, and she looked even more gloomy. . Another pair of butterflies flew over, and the queen turned around annoyed and went back to the palace room. Empress Longyu sat alone on the phoenix chair in the Zhongcui Palace, staring blankly at the wedding bed where the dragon and the phoenix were married together, the pattern of dragon and phoenix embroidered on the red satin quilt, and the hundred sons of double happiness embroidered with dragon and phoenix hanging on the bedside. The bed curtain in the picture... I thought in my heart that she is the queen, the real phoenix, and the emperor is the real dragon. The union between her and the emperor is the real union of dragon and phoenix.But from the painful night of the big wedding to the present, she has been alone in the vacant room, lying on the wedding bed alone every night, like a lone goose falling into the wilderness... Her heart was sad, and tears flowed down her cheeks Afterwards, she hated Emperor Guangxu and his indifference, and she hated Concubine Zhen even more, hated this seductive seductress for stealing the emperor's soul.

She also thought of the sadness on the day when the concubine was chosen, the resentful look of the emperor when he gave her Jin Ruyi, the Ruyi was thrown to her instead of handing it to her, she was so panicked that she almost didn't catch it... But the queen didn't cry, she knew that the emperor didn't love her, this marriage was forced... Do you think I am not beautiful?Yes, I was not born as beautiful as Concubine Zhen, but I am not ugly either!Besides, royal elections of all dynasties are not won by beauty. I am the empress dowager's niece, and my father is the empress dowager Cixi's younger brother. From the official to the deputy commander of the imperial guards, there is no one who can compare with me, the emperor. Why do you hate me so much?

It must be Concubine Zhen, a vixen... The Queen's complexion is getting uglier... "Niang Niang." Ju'er came in and knelt down and said. "Say it." "The servant found out that Concubine Zhen still didn't go back to Jingren Palace last night, she has been guarding the Hall of Mental Cultivation." Queen Longyu was furious when she heard this. "Okay, the concubine stays in the Hall of Mental Cultivation day and night, should the emperor still deal with the affairs of the court? Should I take care of it as an empress or not!" "Prepare the sedan chair and go to Chuxiu Palace."

"yes." Chuxiu Palace is the sleeping official of Empress Dowager Cixi, and it is also the richest sleeping palace in the Forbidden City. The main hall is magnificent, with a throne and sapphire evergreen bonsai in the hall to show that the Qing Dynasty ruled the world for thousands of years. A large round mirror plaque hangs above it, which is the living room of the Queen Mother.Dongnuange houses all kinds of rare treasures, such as ivory, agate, coral, and sculptures. There is a kang table inside, which is the place for the Queen Mother to rest, drink tea and eat.Xinuange is the noble dormitory of Empress Dowager Cixi, and the bed setting is of course the most luxurious in the Qing Dynasty.

At this time, the Empress Dowager Cixi was sitting cross-legged on the couch in the East Nuan Pavilion, counting Buddhist beads with her eyes closed. "The emperor's father is auspicious." Empress Longyu greeted the queen mother. "I love my nephew without courtesy." Empress Longyu lowered her head after paying her respects, her eyes were full of tears, and said nothing. Seeing this, Cixi understood her reason for coming. She had heard that Emperor Guangxu favored Concubine Zhen for a long time, but at the moment the Empress Dowager did not have much dislike for Concubine Zhen. She herself started as a concubine, so not only did she not blame Concubine Zhen On the contrary, she felt a little sympathetic, she only blamed herself as a niece for her incompetence, so she asked, "What's the matter with the queen, what wronged you?"

"Father Emperor, Concubine Zhen has been pestering the Emperor day and night in the Hall of Mental Cultivation. Doesn't it mean that the Emperor's body doesn't have such rules?" Seeing this, Cixi thought that she really came here because of jealousy, so she said angrily: "Empress, don't forget your identity, is this worth crying? It's useless." When the Empress Dowager Cixi scolded her, Empress Longyu burst into tears when she heard her sobbing. Her shoulders went up and down as she sobbed, which made Cixi feel distressed. Being favored by the emperor again is a very rare thing. It was because of you that I canceled the selection of nobles for the emperor. That's why I made Dexin's two romantic beauties unable to enter the palace, otherwise you would be even more disturbed. Originally, the emperor It should be equipped with Sangong and Six Courtyards. In addition to the queen, there should also be imperial concubines, noble concubines, concubines, nobles, Chang Zai, and answering... At least tens of hundreds of them. Does my father even have two concubines? Can't even make arrangements for the emperor?"

The queen stopped crying. The queen mother comforted her again: "Actually, you don't have to worry about your queen's throne at all. You are my niece. As long as I am still alive, no one else will touch your hair." The queen raised her head, and a pair of tearful eyes cast a grateful look at the queen mother. Empress Longyu stopped crying and said, "Father Emperor, Concubine Zhen disguises herself as a man and rides a horse, takes pictures, and dances foreign dances for the emperor." The Empress Dowager Cixi had heard the report from her confidant eunuch long ago. She remembered that when she first entered the palace, she used Jiangnan minor tunes to attract the attention of Emperor Xianfeng in Yuanmingyuan. Instead of scolding Concubine Zhen, she sympathized with her and said, "You, You know how to be jealous, if you don’t know how to dance, it will work if you give birth to a son for the emperor, since ancient times, mothers value their sons most, you don’t know that.”

Empress Dowager Cixi, of course, remembered her experience of being quickly canonized as imperial concubine by a nobleman after giving birth to her son, so she looked at her niece expectantly, and said, "This is a major event related to my country and society in the Qing Dynasty!" As everyone knows, the Empress Dowager Cixi didn't mention the matter of the birth, but when she mentioned it, Empress Longyu's tears that had just stopped rolled down again, and she cried: "Father Emperor, it's not that the child doesn't know these truths, it's just that he has been born since childhood." After marriage, the emperor never summoned me again..."

"What?" The Empress Dowager Cixi was furious when she heard this, thinking how important the eldest son of the emperor is, if it comes from the empress, how much trouble and anxiety will be saved in the succession in the future. So he called out: "Lianying." "The slave is here." "You immediately go to the deacon's room and call the emperor's record of fortune, and I want to check it." "yes." The queen got up and left. After a while, Li Lianli went to the emperor's inheritance book, and the queen mother took it over and looked at it for a while, then her face sank. It was recorded in the book that Emperor Guangxu only stayed in the queen's Zhongcui Palace on the night of his wedding, and every day thereafter contained all the records. It was Concubine Cheng Xingzhen alone.

"It's become a special favorite at night. The queen and concubine Jin are left aside. Concubine Jin is still her sister, which is not bad!" Empress Dowager Cixi said angrily. "Li Lianying." "The slave is here." "Pass to the emperor." "yes." After a while, Emperor Xu came. "I send my respects to the emperor's father." The Empress Dowager Cixi pretended to be fine, fiddling with her long nails with lowered eyelids, while Emperor Guangxu had to stand aside. "Your Majesty..." Empress Dowager Cixi said slowly after a while. "Emperor, how about the queen?" "it is good." "Where is Concubine Jin?" "...Concubine Jin...that's fine too." The Empress Dowager Cixi finally raised her eyelids, stared at Emperor Guangxu and said, "Since this is the case, why did the emperor only go to Jingren Palace? Isn't the empress and concubine Jin your concubine? The empress is not as good as you like. Were you childhood sweethearts when you were young?" !" Empress Dowager Cixi spoke louder and faster as she spoke, then sighed, her voice lowered, and said, "Your Majesty, we still have heirs to inherit the Qing Dynasty!" "Father Emperor, my son and minister have just returned to the government, and there are many things. I read the memorial very late at night, so I didn't take care of it." "Can't take care of it? The emperor is too busy, so I will give you an assistant." When Emperor Guangxu heard this, he was very anxious. He was most afraid that the queen mother would install a cronies for him, so he hurriedly said: "My son is guilty, and my son will go to Zhongcui Palace tonight." "That's right, the emperor will have dinner with me tonight, and call the queen too." "Queen Xuan." Guangxu had no choice but to sit aside. After a while, the queen came.Empress Longyu knew that it was her aunt's arrangement, and thought that with the support of the Empress Dowager, she was not afraid that Emperor Guangxu would not give in, so she only went forward to greet the Empress Dowager and ignored Emperor Guangxu. Emperor Guangxu's face turned livid when he saw the empress's arrogance.The queen mother saw it but pretended not to care. At this time, the Empress Dowager Cixi really hoped that the emperor and the empress would love each other, and that the empress would give birth to dragon sons first, so that things would be much easier in the future, so she was patient and made good efforts to facilitate them.Then Li Lianying was ordered to prepare chess, and Li Lianying and the two eunuchs hurriedly brought the chess table, chessboard, and prepared the chess pieces. Empress Dowager Cixi said: "We play a game of chess, and today you and I are playing chess. The emperor's father wants to train you two to work together." Li Lianying set up the Go board. Empress Dowager Cixi said: "I use white stones, and you two use black stones. See if you two win, and the emperor's father wins." The Empress Dowager Cixi looked at the emperor and the empress gently and said: "Come, come, the emperor is the king of a country, and the empress is the mother of a country. The emperor sincerely hopes that you will respect and love each other. As the saying goes, everything is prosperous in family harmony!" "What the emperor said is very true. My minister is willing to reconcile with the queen and not let the emperor worry about it." After Guangxu said, he glanced at the queen, but unexpectedly, the queen turned her head and ignored the emperor at all.The queen thought, in front of the queen mother, you are acting deliberately. You are usually so indifferent to me, but you are so infatuated with Zhenfei. Anyway, you are the emperor and I am the queen. I don't ask you, as long as there is Lafayette, You can't help me. Guangxu felt that he had lost face in front of the queen mother, so his face darkened, and he thought bitterly: "Look at you like that, I don't want to talk to you at all, I just want to put on a show in front of Lafayette, and you still want to take it seriously?" Seeing this, the Empress Dowager Cixi sighed in her heart: Emperor Tongzhi and Empress Arut get along well, but that hateful empress is always against me. Although Emperor Tongzhi is my own son, he is of one mind with Empress Dowager Ci'an. The empress was chosen by them , of course not with me.Although Emperor Guangxu is not my own son, I have treated him as my own since I was four years old. Empress Longyu is my master. Of course she has no quarrel with me, but the two are incompatible .Oh God!What exactly happened here!Then he scolded the queen and said, "Queen, how can you do this, but you are rude now." Empress Longyu was scolded by the queen mother, she was so wronged that tears flowed down like pearls, and she burst into tears.Empress Dowager Cixi said angrily: "Why are you crying? As a queen, you can only cry. What's the use of you? You can't go down." At the chess table, only this pair of enemies were left sitting silently. The empress stood up and went back to Zhongcui Palace with an angry face. As soon as she entered the room, she said to her confidant maid Ju'er: "From now on, you should pay more attention to the movements of Concubine Zhen in the Hall of Mental Cultivation." "Yes, ma'am." Emperor Guangxu still went his own way and only favored the concubine Zhen.He didn't let Concubine Zhen go back to Jingren Palace, but let Concubine Zhen accompany him day and night in the Hall of Mental Cultivation.Concubine Zhen is also inseparable from the emperor. This morning, when Emperor Guangxu came back from the court, he didn't see Concubine Zhen. He was wondering, so he went into the Xinuan Pavilion, and saw Concubine Zhen dressed as a boy, sitting at the imperial table and sorting out the memorial for Emperor Guangxu. Emperor Guangxu's eyes rolled Liang then smiled and went forward to salute: "Report to the Holy Majesty, the humble minister has retreated to the palace." Seeing that it was the emperor, Concubine Zhen was so shocked that she hastily put down the notebook in her hand, stepped forward and knelt down to the emperor and said: "Concubine concubine didn't know that His Majesty was coming, please forgive me." "My beloved concubine is free from courtesy." Emperor Guangxu laughed and helped Concubine Zhen up, and said, "My beloved concubine, don't always kneel to me. Didn't you say that foreigners are equal? ​​You don't have to kneel in my house from now on." gone." "The concubine dare not, of course the concubine should kneel down to the emperor." Concubine Zhen knelt down again. "Okay, okay, Concubine Ai, get up quickly and let me take a good look." Concubine Zhen raised her face for Emperor Guangxu to see. Emperor Guangxu smiled and said, "It's beautiful for a concubine to pretend to be a woman or a man. Today, I just pretend to be the emperor and give me a memorial. How about I pretend to be a servant?" "The concubine dare not." "Hey, make a game to make me happy." "The concubine obeys the order." So Guangxu put the emperor's hat on Concubine Zhen, put on Concubine Zhen's hat himself, and exchanged the dragon robe and jacket with Concubine Zhen. After Concubine Zhen put on the emperor's clothes and hat, she appeared in front of Emperor Guangxu like a young hero. Emperor Guangxu was stunned: "Ah, dear concubine, with your talents and virtues, you are enough to become a hero, but it's a pity that you are not a hero." boy body." Concubine Zhen smiled and said, "Your Majesty, this concubine only wants to serve the Emperor well, and has never thought of anything else." "No, I want you to go into politics. Come on, sit down, and you can read two memorials for me. I like to hear your opinions very much. Today, you can pretend to be the emperor and sit down and watch. I will pretend to be a servant and stand aside. How about it, my concubine?" "No, Your Majesty, how can this be possible." "I want you to sit down, so you can sit down." Guangxu pushed Concubine Zhen to sit on the dragon chair, and he stood aside with a smile and listened to Concubine Zhen read the memorial. Originally, the two of them were concentrating on reading, but suddenly Wang Shang called out: "The Lafayette is here." Both Guangxu and Concubine Zhen opened their eyes wide at the same time. Empress Dowager Cixi and Empress Longyu were already standing at the door surrounded by several eunuchs including Li Lianying. "I send my respects to Father Huang, and Father Huang is auspicious." Both Guangxu and Concubine Zhen quickly knelt down to greet the Empress Dowager Cixi. "Get up." "Zhen'er kowtowed to the empress." Concubine Zhen saluted the queen. "Don't dare." The Queen replied angrily, and raised her head without even looking at Concubine Zhen. Emperor Guangxu said: "The queen is here too." Empress Longyu only twisted her neck and snorted softly: "Yes." Emperor Guangxu turned pale with anger. Li Lianying helped Empress Dowager Cixi to sit down.Empress Longyu, who followed, stood aside. Empress Dowager Cixi stared at Concubine Zhen's attire with sharp eyes, and then looked at the memorial that was open on the imperial table. A sinister smile flashed across her brows. She remembered how she helped Emperor Xianfeng in this way when she was in Chengde with Emperor Xianfeng. Xianfeng, who was reviewing the memorial, couldn't help being furious. Could it be that this little concubine wants to follow in my footsteps? It seems that this precious concubine cannot be underestimated. This official daughter who has seen the world since she was a child is not an ordinary boudoir daughter, nor is she an ordinary concubine now.The Queen Mother, who has always been the most sensitive and valued by power, was alerted to the scene she saw just now, and her face immediately turned livid... In the past, Empress Longyu slandered Concubine Zhen several times in her ears, but she thought it was a sea of ​​jealousy between the empress and concubine and ignored it. This time, she came to inspect it in person as soon as she heard the empress's report, which shows that the power is in the empress dowager's heart. portion. Yes, for the sake of power, in order to support a Emperor Lei who can be controlled by her, she paid all her life on Emperor Guangxu. She must not make any mistakes, and she must not let him be dominated by any woman except herself. Thinking of this, the empress dowager Cixi's face became darker and darker... Finally, she spoke: "Your Majesty, what were you doing just now?" "Papa Emperor, I am playing a game with Concubine Zhen." "Playing games? Your Majesty, reviewing memorials is not child's play!" Empress Dowager Cixi raised her voice. Emperor Guangxu and Concubine Zhen knelt down in fright. "Father Emperor, my son was convicted, but Concubine Zhen didn't review it, she just recited it for me." Emperor Guangxu explained. Concubine Zhen also said: "Father Emperor, Zhen'er is only doing things according to the order, and has absolutely no intention of participating in politics." The Empress Dowager Cixi scolded loudly: "Do things according to the order? It's not your share. Participate in politics! You don't dare to measure." "Father Huang, Zhen'er dare not." "The emperor remembers that the imperial concubine cannot read the memorial in the future." "My son obeys the order." Cixi looked back at the empress and said: "In the future, if such a thing happens again, let the empress deal with it." "Yes, Father Huang." Guangxu glanced at Empress Longyu, seeing her hastily averted her eyes, hum!It was you who told the secret again, to tell you, the more you don't let Concubine Zhen go, the more I will ignore you, let's see what you can do to me! Empress Longyu always squinted at Concubine Zhen, the rival in love who robbed her of her love and brought her infinite pain. Concubine Zhen keeps her head down. She knows that as long as the emperor loves her, Queen Longyu will hate her. This cannot be changed.She didn't want to deliberately interfere in politics, she was just helping the emperor, and the queen mother was so angry. In fact, the queen mother returned to power but still firmly held the power of the court. She was the one who really violated the laws of the ancestors and the country. It's real meddling.Although Concubine Zhen was thinking angrily in her heart, she didn't show any signs of expression, she just lowered her head and didn't move. Empress Dowager Cixi made a gesture to Li Lianying: "Get up and drive back to the palace." As soon as Empress Dowager Cixi and Empress Longyu left, Concubine Zhen threw herself into Dang Xu's arms. Guangxu raised her head, kissed her gently, and then hugged her tightly... "Your Majesty..." Concubine Zhen burst into tears. "Aifei, don't be sad, let's ignore her."