Chongzhen Sunset Song

?one

"here is……?"

In Baozhu Hutong, two men dressed as eunuchs turned into a narrow alley.In front of a small door covered with moss in the gap, one person looked at his companion who was squatting on the ground picking up stone bricks, and asked puzzledly.

The two were naturally Chongzhen who was out of the palace to relax, and Xizhao who accompanied them.

"This is the place where the villain lived before entering the palace." Xi Zhao took out the key from under the stone brick, patted the mud on his hand, and opened the old door lock covered with copper rust.

"Your Majesty, please."

It stopped raining last night, and the sky was clear and the sun was shining brightly this morning.In the small courtyard, the weeds were lush and green, and the stone floor was spotless, as if it had been carefully groomed to welcome the two handsome men. The green bricks and green tiles exuded the fresh dew fragrance everywhere.

"Is this your family's house?" Chongzhen looked around, appreciating this elegant but dilapidated house after all.

"Uh..." Xi Zhao paused, "Going back to the emperor, this is not the house of a villain. The villain just saw that this place has been abandoned for many years, so he moved to the backyard to borrow for a while."

Since Zhang Dexiu's identity is fake, it's better to leave it to the end.Xizhao thought.

Chongzhen sat down on the stone bench in the courtyard and looked around carefully.I saw that most of the rooms in the small courtyard were locked tightly, the wooden door strips were dry and cracked, the door locks were stained with rust, and traces of crossed seals on the doors and windows were faintly visible.The large and spacious room behind it should be the main room, with two small doors beside it, which seem to lead to the main courtyard.A pair of couplets is carved on the two pillars in the middle of the porch of the big house. The first couplet reads: the sound of wind and rain, the sound of reading, and the sound enters the ears;The handwriting is dignified and thick, quite like everyone's style, but it has been left unattended for a long time, and the depressions of the inscribed words are already full of dust.

Chongzhen looked at this couplet silently, as if recalling something from the past, he sighed lightly and shook his head.

Xizhao cleaned up the wing room where she lived, then came to the courtyard, and invited Chongzhen who was waiting into the house.

"This is the clothes that villains buy when they go out to buy ginseng. It is inconvenient for eunuchs to wear clothes when walking in the market. It is better for the emperor to change into casual clothes." Xi Zhao opened the suitcase and took out a set of plain dark clothes.

"Well, that's fine." Chongzhen nodded.Xizhao helped Chongzhen change into clothes, and she also changed into the water-colored robe.Well dressed, the two were about to go out when Chongzhen was suddenly attracted by the enshrined tablet in the corner of the room.

"This is……?"

"Oh," Xizhao thought for a while and replied, "Going back to the emperor, this should be the spiritual seat of the owner of the house. Since I borrowed the house without authorization, the villain wants to offer incense for the owner. .”

"Oh..." Chongzhen responded, so he took a few steps forward, straightened his clothes, and bowed before the memorial tablet.

"Passing by this time, hastily disturbing, please forgive me, master."

Seeing this, Xi Zhao couldn't help smiling. "The emperor condescends to come here, and the house is full of splendor. If the house owner knows, he will be flattered, so why bother?"

Chongzhen smiled slightly when he heard the words, but did not answer.Xizhao saw that the emperor was smiling and seemed to be in a better mood, so he was a little relieved.

"Where does the emperor want to go?"

"Lead the way as you please, anywhere is fine."

two

Probably because of the fine weather, today's market seems to be more lively than usual.Chongzhen Xizhao, two people dressed in plain and elegant clothes, one has handsome eyebrows and a thin face; look.I don't know whose son this is?Pedestrians in the past looked back and stared frequently, and the young woman on the side of the road blushed after only a slight glance, smiling coquettishly and talking intimately with her companion.But Chongzhen didn't pay much attention to the people around him, he didn't go shopping or look at the stalls, he just walked straight in the middle of the road, his expression was gloomy and thoughtful.

"Huang, uh... look, my lord, this is Jin Ruixiang, and the clothes on my lord's body are made here." Xi Zhao said, pointing to a magnificent storefront on the street.

"Really." Chongzhen raised his head and glanced absently.

After walking a few steps, Xi Zhao blinked and said again: "Over there is Xingde Building. I heard that his Sixi meatballs are delicious. If you are interested, you can try his family's handicrafts during lunch."

"Ah, good." Chongzhen replied, but he was still not very interested.

Seeing the emperor's preoccupied side face, Xi Zhao couldn't help feeling a little depressed.The emperor was depressed, he naturally knew it, and he also knew that this depression could not be relieved by just strolling around the market.Accompanying the emperor every day, the emperor's suffering, bit by bit, can be seen in the sunset, but a eunuch is powerless to deal with the emperor's suffering.It would be great if the emperor could forget some troubles, even if it was only temporarily.So he thought for a while, and took a few steps to catch up.

"Huh? What's the matter?" Chongzhen withdrew his mind, and said to Xizhao who was half in front of him suddenly.

"Dexiu, let me do a trick for you." Xi Zhao tried to smile cheerfully.

"Oh?" Chongzhen stopped, and seemed to be a little interested.

Seeing that Chongzhen finally responded, Xizhao settled down, stopped, and stretched out his empty palm with a mysterious expression on his face.

Chongzhen frowned suspiciously, Xizhao smiled slyly, flashed his hands, and when he opened them again, a crystal clear jade pendant appeared in Xizhao's hands.

"Hey?!" Chongzhen raised his brows and opened his eyes wide, "Isn't...my jade pendant?" He quickly touched his body, and sure enough, there was nothing around his waist, and the jade pendant was already quietly lying in Xizhao's hands.Xi Zhao smiled and offered the jade pendant with both hands.

"The villain is sorry."

"Ah... good." Chongzhen took the jade pendant and hung it on his waist again.Inadvertently, Xizhao noticed that the corners of Chongzhen's mouth were slightly raised, as if he was smiling slightly.

Is the emperor relieved?To be able to use the skills of earning a living in the past can be regarded as exhausted to the extreme.Xi Zhao thought to herself, while watching the emperor's expression was much more relaxed than before, and she gradually settled down in her heart.

three

Along the way, he kept talking like a bird, just trying to make himself feel better.Of course Chongzhen understood Xizhao's thoughts.But Chongzhen didn't know how to respond to the intentions of the young man beside him with such a mood like falling into hell.The national treasury was empty, the army was repeatedly defeated, internal and external troubles ebbed and flowed, and there was no peace for a day. For four years, the emperor had been working from dawn to dusk, and exhausted his energy. In the end, Daming was still like this.But even so, the officials of the Manchu Dynasty were still so keen on forming cliques, fighting each other, and every time an incident happened, the memorials were all about exposing and impeachment, full of partisan hatred, but no concern for the country at all.

How can it not be hopeless.

"My lord, look over there, there is a pretty big antique shop." Xi Zhao said, pointing to an antique shop in front.

"Oh." Chongzhen looked in the direction of Xizhao's finger, and when he looked back, the owner of the arm was smiling warmly at him.

"Go and have a look." Chongzhen said.

"Hey? Oh! Okay, okay, my lord, please first." Unexpectedly, the emperor became interested in the antique shop he had just pointed at. Xizhao was both surprised and happy, and quickly stretched out her hand to block the flow of people to open the way for Chongzhen.Originally, he wanted to live up to the wishes of others for the time being, but seeing Xi Zhao's overjoyed appearance, Chongzhen's heart really became a little brighter, like a few rays of sunshine accidentally leaked in, and the dark clouds were dispelled a bit.

"What would you like to see?"

As soon as he entered the antique shop, the shopkeeper greeted him with a smile on his face, while rubbing his hands back and forth, while looking at Chongzhen and Xizhao.Chongzhen didn't answer, but just looked around the store.Knowing that the emperor likes calligraphy, Xizhao said:

"Do you have calligraphy and painting?"

"Of course, you two come with me." After speaking, he led the two of them to the east side of the hall.I saw that this place is full of calligraphy treasures, including Wen Zhengming's orchid and bamboo pictures, Zhu Yunming's wild grass stickers, and many unknown calligraphy and paintings, all hung neatly on the wall. A burst of ink scented his nostrils.Chongzhen looked around the room for half a circle, and was suddenly attracted by a couplet.

"Flowers bloom in Nanzhi Xindongyu, Tingsheng Ruigui Zhuang Feihui..."

Chongzhen murmured, and Xizhao followed suit.This couplet is so familiar, isn't it the emperor's imperial brush hanging in the South Study Room?But if you look closely, although the handwriting has a nine-point resemblance, the red seal of Fang Chongzhen's imperial pen is missing from the couplet.

"Young master has good eyesight," the shopkeeper said courteously at the side, "although this couplet is an imitation, it is a copy of the current emperor's personal writing. It is said that such a couplet hangs in the study of the emperor in Qianqing Palace." Taking two steps forward, he compared the couplet with his hands and said, "It's not that we are selling and boasting. There are more than one store in the capital, but this one in this store is from the hands of a famous artist. It can be said to be the most authentic. You might as well buy it and hang it up." In the study room, to add extravagance?"

"The resemblance is very similar..." Chongzhen looked at the couplet and said with interest.

"Oh! Listen to what you said, have you seen the real one?" The shopkeeper's eyes widened, his eyebrows raised, and he smiled more humbly, "It's really a distinguished guest, disrespectful and disrespectful. If you like calligraphy and painting, there are more precious ones inside." Is your calligraphy interested in taking a look at it?"

Xizhao looked at the emperor, and saw Chongzhen smiling slightly at the shopkeeper, shaking his head, glanced at the calligraphy and paintings on the wall, and walked out the door with his hands behind his back.Xi Zhao hurriedly followed, raised her hand to the shopkeeper, said "Come again sometime", and the two left the antique shop one after another.

Flowers grow in Nanzhi Xindongyu, and Tingsheng Ruigui Zhuang Feihui.

Thinking back to the ambition when I wrote this couplet back then, it seems like a joke now.The moment he stepped out of the antique shop, Chongzhen only had a wry smile in his heart.

three

After lunch in Xingde Building and watching a small play in the theater building, when we returned to Baozhu Hu, the sun was already setting.

After a day of sightseeing, Chongzhen seems to be in a better mood, he no longer walks alone, and from time to time, he also chats with Xizhao.Xi Zhao was naturally happy, and she kept talking, fearing that if she quieted down, the emperor would fall into the previous gloom again.The two walked and talked like this until they turned into an alley and met that strange bearded old man——

The golden sunlight carried a long shadow and spread to the end of the alley.The old man was sitting safely by the wall, with a table and a stool in front of him, and a cloth cover, he looked like a fortune teller.The afterglow of the setting sun reflected on his side, and then scattered away, making half of his old face bright like gold, and half dark like ink.But the bright ones are too bright, and the dark ones are too dark, no matter which side it is, it is still impossible to distinguish the old man's eyebrows and expressions.

First, Chongzhen stopped, and his eyes were attracted by the old man.Xi Zhao followed the emperor's gaze, feeling a little surprised in her heart.I have lived here for a long time, and I have never seen a fortune teller come to this sparsely populated alley, and I have never seen this person when I went out of the palace to sell ginseng.Sitting alone in this empty alley, the atmosphere is indeed so indescribably weird.

The two just stood there blankly five steps away, but the old man turned his head first and greeted:

"You two young masters, can you tell your fortune?"

Xizhao was startled, and looked at Chongzhen in bewilderment.

"It doesn't matter if you do the math." Chongzhen smiled, then walked up to the old man and sat down: "Excuse me, sir, how do you do the math?"

The old man also smiled slightly.

"What do you want, son?"

"Hmm..." Chongzhen pondered for a while, "Let's just let it be what I think."

"Okay. Let me take a look at the palm of your hand."

Chongzhen spread out his palms and stretched them out in front of the old man.The old man narrowed his eyes and looked up and down carefully.Xizhao stood beside Chongzhen, looking curiously, only felt that the emperor's fingers were thin and fair, but couldn't see why.

"Hmm..." The old man raised his eyebrows and said unhurriedly, "Young Master...seems to be full of worries. This worry is like a cloud of rain, entangled in layers in the heart, and it can't be resolved. .Looking at the appearance of gold and jade, the appearance of dragon and phoenix, you are not an ordinary person. What you worry about must be a major event in the world. Have you ever said it right?"

The fortune teller twitched his lips and stared straight at Chongzhen.Chongzhen just smiled but didn't answer, paused for a moment, and asked again.

"In my opinion, sir, if you worry about things in the lower mind, will you be worried or happy in the future?"

"Hehe." The old man put down Chongzhen's palm, with a gleam of clarity in his eyes, "Everything in the world has its own destiny, and it is impossible for human beings to contend. Whether it is worry or joy, it depends on the heart of the young master. However, when the rain finally stops, At the end of the day, there will be a good day, young master, please relax your mind, the things you worry about will turn around sooner or later."

"Oh?" Chongzhen's eyes lit up, "Dare to ask, sir, when is the date?"

The old man stroked his beard, thought for a while, and then smiled leisurely.

"According to the old man's opinion... within a year."?