Act like a spoiled child

When Mingshen left this time, he didn't know where to go, but he asked around, and through the connections of many people he knew in Yunlong, he found a person who was said to teach the art of disguise, and his next goal was to go to Jiangling.

He thought for a long time, recalling and referring to the conversation of the young man surnamed Sang over and over again, and finally realized that the key point of the other party was about the sentence he said when he first met him.He said: "Shen is not good, you might as well change it."

He changed the name Huo Yi, and after thinking about it later, he realized that he might have missed the point—people only asked him to change his name, but he also changed his surname.

But if you just change the name, what is the meaning?

This question has never occurred to him.Or two months before he left Yunlong, he happened to go to a dock party with Ouyang, which made him feel that he had some clues.

When unloading goods at the wharf and inspecting silver, they found a weak and thin cargo clerk who looked suspicious because he was reticent and had some reasons for his appearance.

Mingshen asked this person to ask, but when the other party saw him, he knelt down without saying a word, and it turned out to be a woman's voice: "My lord, please keep Minnv a secret, Minnv's husband is already in the hands of Haikou. A pair of legs were broken in the house, and there are sick mothers and three children at home... If the women and girls don't dress up as men and come out to work, our family really doesn't know what to do..."

Mingshen asked again, and learned that this woman had to go to another place to change her clothes after carrying the goods with the men at the pier every day, and often couldn't straighten her waist.

Mingshen kept the secret for her, and arranged for her to go to the weaving bureau to be an embroiderer. The embroiderer could get a five-cent commission for embroidering a calligraphy and painting. Although the current prices are inflated, it is not a particularly good job, but It is still more pay for more work, at least you can rely on your own efforts to solve the urgent needs.

Afterwards, this woman even came to thank him, but he had helped too many people in this long disaster and recovery, and they became friends with each other, without asking for anything in return, so easy It passed easily.Thinking about it later, what impressed him the most was not only the fierce tenacity and courage of the woman, but her appearance when she disguised herself as a man, without any flaws, as long as she kept silent, even the most experienced captain would not be able to see it.

He suddenly thought, if he could pretend to be a girl, would he be able to justifiably marry Yumin?

Seems like a way.But at the same time, he knew that this method would treat the symptoms rather than the root cause. Bu Yu, Huo Bing and others must have thought about it before him.

The issue of heirs is always a big worry. According to Yumin's awkward and competitive personality, it is absolutely impossible to agree to marry another woman and come back as a concubine. As far as he knows, Bu Yu and he have tried to ask many times before. But Yumin's reaction is always the same: no.

What should he do?

Mingshen thought about it again, and felt that the problem was going back to the original point, because this was the last point he hadn't figured out, and he took it as a matter of course as his last hope: the man asked him to change his name, and he understood what he said. The meaning is to let him change his identity, but why must he emphasize not to change his surname?

His little brain really couldn't figure it out, so he simply let it go and went to Jiangling to find the master who was said to be a superb disguiser, and first learn how to pretend to be a woman.

However, he found a goldsmith's shop according to the map, but was told by the apprentice guarding the shop there: The bosses have gone on a trip, and they don't know when they will come back.

Mingshen thought for a while, and decided to stay and work as an apprentice helper.He already had the ability to repair gold jade pearl flowers, and he did it quite smoothly.

After the initial bewilderment, the little apprentice gradually felt relieved of him. In just two months, the two of them managed the business of the shop, which was particularly indifferent due to the absence of the boss, into a prosperous business.

Mingshen also said honestly that he wanted to learn Yi Rong, and finally learned from his apprentices that the owner of this gold shop was originally surnamed Su, and he was an actor who sang operas back and forth between Hubei and Guangdong. The proprietress got married after getting acquainted, so she opened this gold shop and settled down.The couple will go out to play every once in a while, and after a few months, they come back without any heirs, so they feel relaxed.

In the second month when he mended pearl flowers, the couple came back.They are a bit older, both in their forties, but both of them are quite charming, and at first sight they seem to be people who live a comfortable life and are calm and at ease.

After seeing more people in the shop, they didn't look very strange-according to the little apprentice, he often recruited some odd jobs, so they were not surprised.

After hearing Mingshen's reason for coming, Mr. Su spoke first: "It's not a problem to teach you, but young people, disguise art is really crooked, if you don't tell us what you want to learn, how dare I teach you at ease. Woolen cloth?"

After Mingshen hesitated for a long time, he stammered and told the truth: "To tell you the truth, my surname is Ming, and my family was originally in the capital city. Then something happened, and I was the only one left in the family. I... love He fell in love with a man and wanted to marry him, and he vowed not to be nice to others again, but he was high-ranking and powerful, so he couldn't just marry one man, he had to have children... plus the eyes of outsiders, if he only married one man If my wife goes back, people will criticize me. I have nothing to do with it, but I can't resist him, and I don't want to see him go his own way for me, so..."

"So you came here and wanted to change your appearance into a girl, so you can make a compromise, right?" Mrs. Su smiled and comforted him, "Don't be afraid, there's nothing to be embarrassed about. If that's the case, you should follow Learn it. It's just your voice..."

Ming Shen looked at her nervously: "I heard that Yi Rong still needs to learn false voice, opening and closing of the epiglottis, my voice is like this now, can I still learn?"

Mr. Su interjected: "You can learn, but you have to ask Madam to prescribe some medicines for you. Take care of yourself first. False voice hurts your throat very much, but I used to sing and Madam is a medical girl. Thanks to her, I have been raised by her for so many years." , it didn’t make much trouble.”

Mingshen stayed in the gold shop just like that.When Mr. Su was free, he taught him to repair gold and jade during the day, and taught him to change his appearance and adjust his voice in the evening. Mrs. Su made soup for their voices every day.Later, Mr. Su saw that he was able to mend pearls and flowers smoothly, so he asked him casually, and when he learned that Ming Shen's father taught Ming Yi, he slapped his wrist: "Ming Yi! Younger generation, don't tell me earlier that he is me. Brother from the same sect!"

Mingshen was puzzled by Monk Zhang Er, when he saw Mr. Su happily returning to his room with a few playbooks—these playbooks are old and hand-copied, and some places are already blurred, but he read them through old books. The husband pointed out that his father's handwriting was found on it.

Mr. Su said: "This is a playbook compiled by our senior brothers when we were young. Everyone wrote a paragraph when they had time. Later, everyone left their own teachers, and I don't know where they went. I was the only one who stayed in Guangzhou. , These things will be preserved by me.”

Mingshen chose some things that he still remembered to tell the old gentleman, omitting the tragedy of house raids that year, and tried to pick up the easy things to tell him.Mr. Su sighed again and again: "Brother Ming has the best talent and skills, and he is also talented. No wonder you said that General Huo's daughter would marry him regardless... It's a pity, I didn't expect him to go like that morning."

He also told Mingshen many things about his father's youth that he didn't know about.When Mingshen was in Beijing, because of the fame of the Huo family, he had heard a lot about Huo Ruzhuo's past, but he knew nothing about the father who gave him his surname.

Mr. Su said: "Your father has a gentle temper and a gentle conversation. He is the best-looking, but he doesn't have a forceful bearing. He looks delicate from a distance. He is always the best in everything he does. The fast one is also the most responsible. Speaking of the flood in the theater building, he rushed in one by one to call others out. He almost left scars on his hands, and was scolded by the master later. He is such a person , It’s great, but I’m quite stubborn, and when something happens, once I make a decision, nine cows can’t pull it back.”

Mingshen always finds it strange.He looks like his mother, but according to Mr. Su's description, his temperament and temperament are completely followed by his father, while Huo Bing is the opposite. He doesn't look like Huo Ruzhuo, but his temperament has inherited the fierceness of the Huo family. .

The more he knew, Mingshen became more and more homesick.

He wants to go back to the capital, to the small courtyard where he grew up. Although his parents are gone, he still has an older brother. Walking three hundred steps to the west is outside the gate of the Taimiao. There is his lover in the palace, and The people who raised him.

Mr. Su also asked him: "When will you go back? Young man, if you have suffered in love in the future, you can come back to us in the future. You are the child of Junior Brother Ming, just like our child. Distressed."

He could see that this child was actually smart, he had learned a lot about Yi Rongshu, and he was also good at mending gold and repairing jade. Such a clean and beautiful child might be more suitable to be a craftsman with peace of mind and live an ordinary life.

Mingshen smiled and said, "It's not in a hurry."

After a while, he seemed to remember something again, and mumbled, "I will pay the tuition fee..."

As soon as these words came out, even Mrs. Su laughed and scolded: "Who asked you for money! You child."

Later, they tacitly stopped mentioning this matter.

Mingshen came to Jiangling in early June, but in October, which is the hottest time of the year, he started to suffer from moderate illnesses.

He knew that he was not in good health. He had been suffering from body aches and fevers for a long time, but he didn't take it seriously. He learned from Yirong and Bu Jinyu. In October, he began to pay attention to his own condition——he has been getting more and more serious lately. Lethargy, often sleeping so long that it was past lunch time, and the little apprentice would come to the room and call him every now and then.

Mrs. Su teased him: "Everyone says that spring is sleepy and autumn is exhausting. It's not autumn yet, and our little Mr. Ming has already fallen asleep."

Mingshen was very embarrassed, but the next day he still couldn't control himself, he fell asleep and couldn't get up.The Su family understands that he often rushes to work, thinking that he is too tired during this time, and doesn't care about him. Instead, Mrs. Su will deliberately cook again after he gets up.

But later, he couldn't eat anymore, to the point where he was about to throw up when he smelled the food.Originally, under Mrs. Su's treatment, his voice has improved a lot, except that it is still hoarse when he speaks hard, but it has recovered to almost the same level as before.Now, he vomited and vomited every day, and couldn't even drink water. The stomach acid poured back and burned the esophagus and throat, and he became hoarse again.

It seemed that the illness came like a mountain, Madam Su was startled, and found out what she did when she went out to go to the doctor, then Mingshen lay down on the bed and took his pulse.

Mingshen was about to fall asleep at that time, he was really sleepy, and his mind was not very clear. He only remembered that Mrs. Su came in to check his pulse, checked it several times, and didn't say anything to him, but her expression seemed to suddenly become tense. After a while, I heard Mrs. Su talking to her husband outside again, and not long after, another stranger came in, accompanied by Mrs. Su, to check his pulse.

Mrs. Su comforted him: "My technique is not good, so I specially invited an old friend to give you a diagnosis."

Mingshen was so exhausted that he didn't have the strength to speak, and only had one vague thought - did he suffer from some serious illness that couldn't be cured?

If yes, then you can't stay here and cause trouble.He was going back to the capital, so he didn't care what he said now, and he wanted to go home early while there was still time.

After sleeping until night, he finally gained some strength, got out of bed, tidied himself up, and prepared to go out and cut a bowl of noodles for himself to cook.Although he knew that most of them would not be able to eat, he had to eat a little bit, otherwise his body would not be able to hold on.

As soon as he went out, he saw Mrs. Su and Mr. Su sitting in the hall, waving at him with a very serious expression: "Ah Shen, come here."

Ming Shen passed by, sat down obediently, tilted his head after a while and asked them, "Am... am I sick?"

Mr. Su said softly: "No."

Madam Su looked into his eyes tenderly, carefully considered her tone, and told him: "You are pregnant."

A month later, with the help of the Su family, Mingshen returned to Wanling safely.

He wasn't plump in the first place, he could only be described as well-proportioned, just right.In the past one and a half years, I have lost a lot of weight, so I don't show much. After four months, I still can't see anything, but the original slender and white legs are swollen, and even the whole person can't eat. And it looks a little swollen, and the complexion is not very good.

Mingshen had never conceived a child before, let alone seen anyone else give birth, so he didn't know what to do.His only impression of pregnant women was that when he was still in the cold palace, he glimpsed a potbellied imperial concubine walking past them with a terribly big belly.

He is a man, but there is a little life in his stomach. He still can't believe it, and even thinks that he has a tumor in his stomach, and they are coaxing him.Mrs. Su and several other famous doctors came to see him, and gave him a long time of ideological work before he accepted it slowly.

Mrs. Su comforted him repeatedly, telling him not to worry: "Don't be afraid, Shen, I haven't seen anything in my 20 years of practicing medicine. My wife has seen even intersex people. There is Aunt Li in the next village. Later, she married and gave birth to children, and she was safe as usual. One year, a huge piece of broken copper was dug out in the mine. I don’t know what it was. Among the miners who entered the mountain that year, many children were born like this Yes, it’s nothing different. There are all kinds of wonders in the world, so don’t be afraid, right?”

Mingshen was in a daze, and still had self-doubt from time to time.After a little over four months, one thing completely dispelled his doubts——

He's moving.

That small movement seemed to have kicked him in the heart. For the first time, he felt the pulsation of a small life in his stomach. He was at a loss. The feeling of shock and fear almost made him cry.

He will have a child with Yumin.

This feeling is so strange, just like his first wet dream, the fear of the unknown and death surged up together, and he suppressed it desperately, but he still couldn't suppress it. He dreamed of his mother, who was lingering after giving birth to him. He was sick, and dreamed that one day his stomach would suddenly be empty, and he would curl up into a pale and thin ball, and he would return to the rickety boat, with cold arrows pointing at him.

He hid himself and cried for a while, and then he remembered one thing:

...So, can he be with Yumin now?

After he figured this out, he suddenly burst into laughter, laughed and cried again, hiccupping from crying, even the Mrs. Su next door was startled.

When he ran over to ask him, the little guy wiped his tears and said, "I really want to go home."

"I really miss, I really miss Brother Min..."

At the beginning of October, news began to circulate in the streets and alleys, saying that the emperor was going to Jiangnan to escape the summer heat, and the place was in Wanling.

Previously, Yumin also spent Chinese New Year in Wanling.After Mingshen was caught by him, he ran away again, and since then changed to sending a letter to the palace every half a month to report his safety, but Yumin didn't seem to give up looking for him, and ran to Jiangnan at every turn, as if thinking that he would hide. Like in Wanling.

Seeing that there is still half a year left in the two-year national funeral, the hearts of the people are gradually unable to restrain their gossip.A rumor spread like wildfire: after the national funeral, Yumin will immediately become the empress and concubine.Regarding the candidate for the future empress, the priest made a prediction at the Sheji Altar, saying that the empress was appointed by the gods, and she was from the Wanling Ming clan, which was unshakable.

This legend caused a commotion on a large scale. Everyone turned their attention to Wanling, and all the people with the surname Ming were excited—this surname is rare in the first place. Great thing for the family to ascend.

But then, the palace said that the queen must be of noble birth, at least one of her parents and grandparents must have a title of title, and the official rank should be above the third rank.

This clears everyone up.A group of people wentssip and gossip, and find that no matter what, the only one who meets this condition is the one who is in-law with the Huo family and the Ming family whose ancestors sang operas.

Huo Ruzhuo is a female official of the third rank, and Ming Yi is a third-rank earl under the influence of the official residence of the second rank.The Ming family is not prominent, but everyone knows what kind of family the Huo family is.

Huo Bing, who changed his surname from Ming Jin to Huo, inherited the Huo family, and is currently the most popular person in the court.

In terms of origin, there is no one better than the Ming family... However, everyone has discovered a problem:

Throwing away Huo Bing, who took the surname Huo, there is actually only one person left in the Ming family.

This person's name is Mingshen, he is of suitable age, and his appearance is said to be quite good, but... he is a man.

Under Mingshen, it seems that there are no younger brothers and sisters.

Combined with some rumors from two years ago, many people expressed the guess that they dare not even think about: "Could it be that Your Majesty... wants to establish a male queen?!"

Naturally, there is nothing wrong with the male queen, the key is that His Majesty is not young now, and he still has no heirs under his knees. It seems that there is a possibility that he was delayed by Long Yang's obsession.

Mingshen naturally listened to these rumors.

He knew in his heart that these rumors were specially released by Yumin for him to hear. He didn't say anything, but told him over and over again that he only wanted to be his queen.

On the eve of Yumin's arrival in Jiangnan, Mingshen had another dream.He had had horrible, weird dreams since he was pregnant, but tonight this one was peaceful.

He dreamed that when he had just returned to the palace, when he woke up on the wedding night, Yumin clasped his shoulders and told him lightly: "His heart is a stone, and he can't change it. How do you know that my heart can't be changed either. "

He dreamed that the priest and Yumin conspired with him: "Where the Big Dipper falls, Qiqi points to Wanling, asks the gods in Qingci, and divination a clear character."

"You don't have to be nervous. In other words, if your lord has a younger sister named Ming, then we will give priority to your younger sister."

……

I also dreamed that the young man surnamed Sang told him: "Careful, cautious, the Lord is worried, Yishun, this name is not good for adults, it can't always be stretched, why don't you change it."

For another—for another?

Going forward, how did he answer at the very beginning?

——"I have a younger sister, and I will have it tomorrow."

—— "Ah Shen, you don't want your head?"

He suddenly woke up from the dream, jumped up and rushed out.

The next day, Shengjia came to visit and went to Wanling to escape the summer heat.

The emperor said it was strange and strange that instead of going to the summer resort in central Beijing, he wanted to come to Wanling.Thousands of people opened the way and swept half of the city in a mighty manner. The dragon chariot stopped halfway, but suddenly stopped.

"Urgent report! Urgent report! Your Majesty—"

Cheng Yiduo stopped the guard who rushed over to report the news, stood in front of the curtained door of the carriage, and ordered him to speak slowly.

The man was out of breath, and it took him a long time to speak clearly: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, there is a woman who claims to be named Mingyi. She is the younger sister of Lord Huo Bing and Lord Mingshen, and she says she is pregnant with your child—"

Yumin's voice came from inside: "Fart, let her go."

Cheng Yiduo also sighed: "I don't know how many people come to touch porcelain like this, and the reason will not be changed. After all, you are also an imperial guard, why do you still bother the emperor with such things?"

"No...no!" The guard was so startled that his face turned liver-colored. He gestured for a long time before he said in shock, "But that woman... that woman really looks exactly like Master Ming! Even her temperament , the temperament is also..."

Cheng Yiduo's expression changed upon hearing this.

They had already reached the Mingjia Lane, and saw a thin silhouette in the distance, kneeling obediently on the ground.

Yumin listened to the conversation completely, opened the curtain and took a look outside.Before the sedan chair stopped, Yumin had already jumped off the sedan chair, and for a while, nothing outside the world could be heard.

Only the beating of my heart was left.

He asked softly, "Ah...Shen?"

That's him.Yumin had made up her mind the first moment she saw him.

Ming Shen was still kneeling on the ground, so he half-kneeled down and hugged him into his arms.Mingshen raised his head in his arms, because he seriously put on makeup, his eyebrows and eyes were bright, almost dazzling.

He said: "I'm back, Your Majesty, now you're going to marry me twice, I'm going to be your queen, and I'm going to be your imperial concubine."

Half a month later, news came from the palace: Because Huo Bing, Bu Yu and many other important ministers wrote a letter, they believed that Yumin's mourning for one and a half years was already an expression of extreme filial piety, and hoped that His Majesty would end the mourning period early and come back to govern, and that he would be established as soon as possible. Concubine Feng.

Yumin agrees.

The next day, the news that His Majesty will establish a male empress shocked the entire government and the public—although some people raised their beaks, there were not many people who opposed it.Because when Yumin married the male queen, he also made a lost girl from the Ming family a noble concubine.

According to gossip, this girl named Mingyi is a young lady of the Ming family who was hidden. Because of the change in the family at the beginning, it is unknown to the world.

And this Ming girl is said to have spoiled His Majesty's child, that's why Yumin hastily conferred the concubine in such a hurry. It is estimated that after the child is born, she will immediately become a royal concubine. The position of the master is at stake.

However, it didn't take long before Yumin's edict surprised everyone——

There is nothing else in this edict, it is for that Ming girl to choose a title.It's just that His Majesty specially ordered the historian who edited the history to add a sentence in the record: "Queen is cool, the queen advises her son to rest, so she is allowed to enter the palace."

I still have to add another sentence in the history books-Jun Yan: "No one in the world is as good as the queen alone."

And the title given to the noble concubine is said to have only one word "Xiao".

Because this girl looks like a queen, and because the queen considers the issue of children, this majesty reluctantly named her the second concubine. Looking at the posture, if the male queen is not virtuous, he can not be a concubine and have no children... He is really a foolish son.

"No one in the world is as good as the queen alone... Isn't Your Majesty afraid of being scolded for being licentious?"

Beijing, Chang'an Street.

Huo Bing slowly carved a radish with a knife: "Forget it, His Majesty is scolded every day, it's probably not a problem, I think he would like to tell the world that he is fascinated by his queen... But what am I? It's time for one more... dear, younger sister, younger sister."

"Ah Shen, why don't you let me see her?" He stared at his shivering younger brother who was wrapped in fur at the beginning of autumn, and showed a kind smile.