Chapter 7 Chapter Five: A Man and a Woman, Two Gods and Men

The sky is clear and the white clouds are not happy.Looking at the past, the country is very good, and the universe is bright and bright.It was during the reign of King Xuan of the Zhou Dynasty, and it has been thirty-nine years since King Ji Jing of Zhou ascended the throne. Since the Western Zhou Dynasty was conquered hundreds of years ago by King Wu and military advisor Jiang Ziya, the country’s power has reached the peak of its prosperity. Famous ministers have appeared in the dynasty for generations, assisting the famous leaders of the Zhou Dynasty and shaking the world. , whose national power is far surpassed, was one of the greatest dynasties in ancient China.

However, such a great dynasty was passed down to the generation of King Li, the father of King Xuan, because King Li acted perversely, which aroused the resentment of the nobles of the family, and he was deposed from the throne, and the Western Zhou Dynasty almost collapsed. Fortunately, Zhou Gongzhao among the nobles stepped forward to stabilize the whole situation, and a few years later, he was succeeded by Ji Jing, the son of King Li, who was the famous King Xuan of the Western Zhou Dynasty. ". However, the country has just encountered a catastrophe. Although it has been revived for more than 30 years, its vitality has been severely damaged after all, and it is no longer the prosperity of the past.

However, under the hard work of King Xuan of Zhou, although there was no prosperity and happiness in the era of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors thousands of years ago, the people of the Zhou Dynasty could live and work in peace and contentment, and everyone had something to eat. The day was sunny and bright and cheerful. But in the royal palace of the Zhou Dynasty, there is a strange atmosphere shrouded in it at this moment. Strange, referring to the recent unrest in the palace.It was originally in the deep palace, because the place was spacious and dark, and there were not many court ladies, eunuchs and eunuchs, so there were always legends about gods and ghosts. (Eunuch is another name for eunuch in Zhou Dynasty.)

However, there have been too many strange incidents in the palaces of the Zhou Dynasty recently, so many timid maids are discouraged. Except for the work that they usually have to do, there is no need for anyone to step out of their room. Among the strange events, the most vivid one is the legend that two ghosts, a man and a woman, appeared in the palace recently. It is said that there are no less than dozens of people in the palace who saw these two ghosts. Usually, these two ghosts appear together, and the places where they appear are elusive. traces. The Taimiao is a sacred place dedicated to the ancestors of the Zhou Dynasty. Since King Wen, the tablets of King Wu, King Chengkang, King Zhao, King Mu, King Gong, King Yi, King Xiao, King Yi, and King Li are all enshrined in it. Majestic and inviolable place.This kind of place is so heavily guarded that it is unbelievable that a fly flies past.

However, there is a ritual officer cleaning the Taimiao, watching the two ghosts, a man and a woman, sitting in front of the god table of the Taimiao, talking and laughing in a low voice, seeing the cleaning ritual officer, smiling at him, and then disappearing out of thin air . Also, on the corridor of the palace where the concubines lived, people often heard loud footsteps, and those who dared to walk over to take a closer look, but could only see the backs of the two ghosts. "Speaking of those two ghosts... Huh!" The eunuch who had seen the ghosts described it exaggeratedly and shrillly: "If you tell them what they look like, you will be frightened!"

Although the curious court ladies were afraid, they were reluctant to listen. "They... look scary?" "It is said that they look terrible...not necessarily." The eunuch who told the story shook his head and said mysteriously: "To be honest, the man and the woman are quite handsome, and the man is tall and strong. Yes, the most frightening thing is that he has a hand that is not a hand, but a terrifyingly large dragon claw, and someone has seen a pair of vicious fleshy wings growing on his back!" "Meat wings?" A chubby little maid asked shyly, "Then he is Wuguiluo?"

"Then I don't know. There is also that female ghost with a white face and a very beautiful appearance, but her body is glowing with blue light. She walks lightly, and I don't know if her footsteps are touching the ground." After listening to the eunuch's narration, several young maids chattered and whispered to each other. Seeing their reaction, the eunuch was even more proud, raised his head, and almost hummed his words. "Heh heh heh... This is not unusual! Those two male ghosts and female ghosts have even been to the concubine's cage..." I don't know if it was a coincidence, but when the eunuch said "Concubine Jiao", a cold wind suddenly blew from the long dark corridor, making everyone shiver.

The "Jiao Concubine" in the royal palace of the Zhou Dynasty is actually one of the most frightening legends. In one of the darkest corners of the other palace, experienced palace people know that a half-human, half-monster palace lady is locked there in a big iron cage. The appearance of this court lady is very scary, sometimes she is a normal woman, and sometimes she turns into a monster like a dragon or a dragon. Therefore, people in the palace called her "Jiao Concubine". Regarding the origin of the jiao concubine, everyone's opinions are also inconsistent.Some old palace people said that Concubine Jiao was a concubine who entered the palace at the same time as them, but they didn't know what went wrong, but they turned into this terrifying half-human, half-monster appearance.

There are also people who tell even more absurd legends, saying that concubines appeared as early as thousands of years ago in the era of King Jie of the Xia Dynasty. , but being able to serve King Xia Jie is also extremely favored by him. However, the most reliable statement should be the truth obtained by a certain eunuch from the ritual officer. It turned out that the origin of this "Jiao concubine" was indeed related to the Xia Dynasty.It is said that during the Xia Dynasty, two divine dragons once appeared in the other courtyard of the palace. , refused to leave for a long time.

Finally, a historian suggested to King Xia that the dragon's saliva was the essence of the dragon, and it might be beneficial to take it. After listening to the historian's opinion, King Xia took a gold plate to collect the dragon's saliva and put it in a wooden box. Sure enough, they flew away, not to mention their traces. For unknown reasons, the wooden box containing the dragon saliva has never been opened.With the rise and fall of dynasties, it spread to the Shang Dynasty, and from the Shang Dynasty to the Western Zhou Palace. For thousands of years, the palace has long forgotten that there was such a miracle.

However, according to the etiquette officer, about forty years ago, the wooden box containing the gold plate of ambergris suddenly emitted a strange golden light.King Li of the previous dynasty ordered the ceremonial officer to open the wooden box to check, only to find that the dragon birthday on the golden plate was still shining brightly after thousands of years. Later, the waiter who was holding the gold plate accidentally knocked over the gold plate for some reason.The dragon's saliva flowed to the ground and turned into a living creature like a small lizard. After jumping nimbly in the palace for a while, it disappeared into the deep palace without a trace. Then, "Jiao Concubine" appeared in the palace. At that time, "Jiao Concubine" was only twelve years old. According to her own account, she once saw that little lizard-like creature passing by before her eyes. Stepping on the footprints of the little lizard with bare feet, I suddenly felt something, and turned into a "concubine" who was sometimes a human and sometimes a dragon-like monster overnight. In the palace of King Xuan of Zhou, at this moment, the little maids heard the name of "Jiao Concubine", and they were frightened again. what kind of involvement. "Speaking of it! This is what I saw with my own eyes," the eunuch who told the story said proudly: "On that day, I took turns delivering food to the concubine, walking in the long corridor of the deep palace. I was walking, but I heard the sound of weeping..." On that day, the eunuch really wanted to deliver food to the concubine's palace.In the palace, this is an errand that no one wants to do. On the one hand, it is because no matter what, the legend of concubines always makes people frightened. Relationship, the food given to concubines is often a disgusting feast of snakes and insects. The rank of the eunuch's job in the palace is handyman, which is considered the lowest rank. In addition, he is annoying and annoying, so the housekeeper's eunuch doesn't like him, and often pushes the errands that most people don't want to do. on him. Holding the food basket in his hand, the eunuch was thinking nonchalantly in his heart, wondering if the food Concubine Jiao ate was cooked, or did she like to eat it raw? Walking to the end of the corridor, you have to pass through a small rockery garden. Although the eunuch is quite courageous, when he came to such a place, he unconsciously felt a chill down his back. Because after bypassing this rockery, behind is the big iron cage where concubines are locked up. The eunuch held the food basket in his hand, but his steps slowed down.After taking a deep breath, he slowly stepped forward. At this moment, the voice of speaking came faintly from behind the rockery, and the voice was mixed with the sound of mournful crying. The eunuch was quite courageous, in such a weird situation, he still tiptoed to the side of the rockery and peeked in the direction of the iron cage. Looking at it, I saw that I almost peed my pants. Because, standing in front of the iron cage are a man and a woman, two ghosts that have been rumored in the palace in recent days. Although the voices of the two ghosts were low, they could hear clearly because the palace was extremely quiet. The weeping sound was the concubine Jiao who was locked in the cage. At this moment, she returned to her human form, her hair was disheveled, and she was sitting in the cage and weeping. Calculating, she should be in her fifties, but she looks at most in her thirties. As for the content of the conversation between the two "ghosts", although the words were clearly transmitted to the ears, to be honest, the eunuch only understood six out of ten.However, although this eunuch is very annoying, there is one thing that is better than ordinary people, that is, he has an excellent memory, even if he couldn't understand what the man and woman said, he could memorize 90% of what they said. Amidst the weeping, the "male ghost" with a pair of fleshy wings pondered for a while, then said in a deep voice, "You...what do you think?" The "female ghost" in white didn't think for as long as he did, she just glanced at the concubine Jiao in the cage, and said in an affirmative tone: "I think she is, and she is the one with dragon blood." "So if what she said is true, the people who appeared in the Xia Dynasty were of dragon blood?" "There should be nothing wrong." The female ghost in white nodded, "And those dragon saliva must have some other purpose, but they have been hidden by Xia Jie for a thousand years. This woman..." She pointed to the concubine in the cage, "Yes Inadvertently planted into the gene..." The eunuch was listening to their conversation, but the more he listened, the more confused he became. After a flash, he couldn't hear the next few words. When he came back to his senses, the male ghost with fleshy wings fell into deep thought again. After a while, I asked in doubt: "Then...why did she become like this? Logically speaking, it shouldn't be like this if there is a 'primordial spirit'. Isn't the primordial spirit invisible?" "In my opinion, this woman didn't have a 'primordial spirit' because her physique couldn't bear such a gene. Maybe you can help her..." Speaking of this, Concubine Jiao seemed to understand, she stopped crying, screaming "He He He", kowtowing her head unceasingly. It seems that the legend that she is half human and half demon may be true, because obviously she can't even speak, and her mind seems to be very simple. Seeing her like this, the female ghost in white seemed to be quite unbearable, and quickly said softly: "It doesn't matter, really, we will help you get out of this pain..." While talking, she turned her gaze back like lightning, looked at the rockery where the eunuch was hiding and said sharply: "However, if that guy hiding behind the rockery continues to sneak around, I will kill him first. Come help me again!" The "male ghost" was startled, followed her gaze, couldn't help laughing loudly, and strode towards the eunuch's hiding place. Of course, the eunuch was scared out of his wits by the female ghost's intimidation, and finally wet his pants after taking a piss. Seeing the male ghost approaching gradually, he fell to the ground as if his butt was on fire, rolling and crawling. Leaving the garden, "treading" up the promenade, and ran away desperately. And the story that the eunuch narrated to the little maids, gesticulating and gesticulating, also ended in the ending of running away. Originally, he thought that the little maids would quack him with admiration and ask thousands of questions.But the little maids in front of them all showed expressions of fear, and knelt down one after another in silence. The eunuch was stunned for a moment, but he vaguely heard the rubbing of the sleeves of many people behind him.Then, a majestic middle-aged female voice came from behind, her voice was cold and seemed to be a little angry. "Who's servant is here to confuse the crowd, drag me down and slap me!" The eunuch fell to his knees with a pale face, knowing that he had gotten into trouble for talking too much today.But, who would have thought that when you are bragging and bragging and you are happy, the empress will appear behind you quietly? Queen Jiang of King Xuan of the Zhou Dynasty had a cold dew on her face at this moment, and two guards with puffed chests and belly came out from the group of attendants behind her, and carried the eunuch to the corner, only to hear "papapapapa" The sound was mixed with a few muffled grunts from the eunuch. The Jiang Empress looked around coldly, and was sure of the fat little maid. "You!" Her voice was not high, but she revealed absolute majesty, "Are there really ghosts in the harem?" The little maid was so frightened that she didn't know how to answer for a while, but the tears rolled down her eyes. But Jiang Hou still didn't relax, and asked coldly: "The eunuch..." She pointed to the eunuch who was slapped and asked: "Is it true that the eunuch said that the ghost ran to see the concubine Jiao?" "I..." The little palace maid was still unable to utter a word, tears streaming down her cheeks, "I..." Seeing the frightened look of the little maid, Empress Jiang's face became even more gloomy. She took a deep breath and was about to speak when an old maid ran over from the other end of the corridor. While running, he shouted anxiously: "It's not good! It's not good!" Everyone couldn't help but turned their heads, only to see that it was an old palace lady respected by everyone as "Grandma Shen". "It's not good! Then...then..." Her breath was short and her voice was hoarse, "... Concubine Jiao..." Hearing the word "Jiao concubine", even Empress Jiang, who had a majestic aura, couldn't help being shocked. The old palace man ran over, but he saw Empress Jiang and all the attendants, they were running non-stop, but both feet knelt down and rolled in front of Empress Jiang. She gasped for breath, and wanted to salute, but Jiang Hou blocked her with her hand, "Stop being so polite, what happened to that concubine?" The heavy breathing of the old palace man was heard clearly in everyone's ears, and everyone stared at her, expecting her answer. Even the guard who was slapping the eunuch's mouth in pain stopped at this moment and listened attentively to what the palace man said. "Birth... gave birth..." the old palace man said with difficulty: "Jiao Concubine... gave birth to a baby!"