Chongzhen Sunset Song

?one

Since the Jin army captured Zunhua and the capital was in danger of falling, it was the first time in the past 20 days that Xizhao slept so soundly and soundly.When he opened his eyes in a daze, it was already dawn.

It seems that something good happened yesterday... That's right!The Jin army has retreated, and the capital has been relieved!Thinking of this, Xizhao was full of energy all of a sudden, got up, took a deep breath, swallowed the bitter air mixed with the smell of thin frost and snow, and stretched contentedly.

Xi Zhao, who was in a good mood and refreshed, never thought that another thing he had been looking forward to for a long time would soon come true.

"Hey! You!" While sweeping the ground at the corner of the southeast warehouse, Xi Zhao suddenly heard someone greet him, and when he turned around, a big eunuch was waving to him.

"calls me?"

"Yes! You, Zhang Dexiu, the supervisor of Zhidian?"

"Yes, it's me."

"Hurry up and go to Mr. Ma's place, if you need anything."

Xi Zhao put down the broom and hurried to the gray-walled courtyard that was so familiar to her, but this time she didn't go to the back of the house to eavesdrop, but walked into the gate openly.

The yard was already full of people.Through the gaps in the crowd, Xi Zhao saw Eunuch Ma sitting in front of the main room, and a tall and thin eunuch standing next to him. He wondered if he was the successor of Eunuch Li.

"All here?"

"Two, four, six, eight, ten... 32, 34... 68, they are all here, Eunuch Ma." The tall and thin eunuch nodded and replied.

"Yeah." Eunuch Ma cleared his throat and said in his usual upbeat tone: "Yesterday, everyone must have been terrified. Anyway, this catastrophe is finally over. Although the Jin army is still stationed outside the city, But I heard that there are not many people left after being beaten by us, it is all thanks to the emperor's wisdom and martial arts, and the blessings are as good as the sky."

"Ahem... um... I called everyone here today, not for anything else, but because the opportunity to serve the emperor has come. Yesterday, there was a battle report saying that during the battle with the Jin army, Yuan Dushi's troops took advantage of the chaos to attack Mangui. The general opened fire, and with the weak resistance before, this Governor Yuan may be suspected of collaborating with the enemy. The prince of the Li Supervisor gave me a chance to make meritorious deeds. I need to find a smart person to go out of the palace and go to the city gate. The garrison is inquiring to see if what is said in the battle report is true. Are any of you willing to go there?"

Everyone looked at each other, but no one responded.The Jin army is still facing off against the defenders outside the city. After yesterday's incident, this army is in chaos and undecided. Who wants to leave the protection of the high wall and go to the front line?Thinking about it, no one should answer.But it was this errand that no one would answer, but it suddenly stirred up the thoughts of the young man in the corner.Xizhao's heart was pounding, her palms were wet with sweat—holding a token, leaving the palace openly?Isn't this the opportunity I've been dreaming of for months?I missed it this time, and I don’t know what year or month I will be able to encounter this kind of thing again.But if the war breaks out again, how can the palace be safe outside?The long-awaited opportunity appeared at this time, should it or not?The contradiction in Xi Zhao's heart became extremely entangled, she couldn't help clenching her fists, and even her body trembled slightly.

"No one wants to go? This is the errand of the prince's bus agent. If you find out the news, it will be regarded as a road to Qingyun. You want to spend the rest of your life sweeping the floor and cleaning windows here? It seems that you..."

Xizhao heart a horizontal.

"The villain is willing to go!" A loud shout came from the corner behind the crowd, and everyone looked back together, only to see the thin and small Xi Zhao raised his arms high, with a generous expression on his face.

"Oh?" Eunuch Ma narrowed his eyes and smiled slightly, "What's your name? Where do you work?"

"Young Zhang Dexiu works in the Southeast Library."

"Well, courage is commendable. If you do well, you will have a chance to rise to the top in the future. Gao Hu, tell him the specifics later. That's enough, the rest of you should leave."

two

Eunuch Ma went back to the house, the tall and thin eunuch Gao Hu probably explained to Xi Zhao, and then entered the house.Xi Zhao turned around and walked out of the small courtyard door. He had just taken two steps when he inadvertently glanced at the gap behind the house that he often entered and exited.Xi Zhao's thoughts moved, she thought for a while, then quickly walked towards the gap, and then rubbed towards the back of Ma Gong's house.

Before he got to the window, he only heard Ma Gonggong's resentful scolding, which burst out from behind the window paper.

"This kind of nonsense, there are Jinyiwei in the East Factory and the West Factory. If there are not as many people as the Supervisor of Rituals, when will it be our turn to sweep the floor! This bastard Wang Chengen is really afraid that I will live long with Grandpa! Your Majesty recommending our family by name in front of the emperor, isn't that clearly killing our family!"

"Eunuch Ma, calm down, calm down, isn't someone sending you to your death? After the matter is settled, it won't be worth it if you get angry again." That Gao Hu comforted.

"Don't let that bastard fall into our hands next time, our family will make him die!"

"Drink some tea first to calm down. Hey, how much enmity does this prince have with you, and he is so cruel?"

"Hmph, when we worked together back then, our family... didn't treat him too well. Our family just saw that this kid was a villain! You see, it was just as it should be! Relying on the emperor's liking for him, he didn't do business, except for harming others. It’s harming people! If I knew this, why didn’t I throw him out of the palace back then..."

It turned out to be the case.Sunset pouted.You want to find a scapegoat, but I won't die for you, my lord.At that time, as long as I leave the palace, I will leave, and you can finish the rest yourself!

After returning, Xizhao took out the 40 taels of silver that had been hidden under the bed, stuffed it in her bosom, took a good look at the room she had lived in for a year, and then went to Uncle Gui to talk about leaving the palace. , and chatted a few more words.Although it is impossible to say clearly, in Xizhao's heart, Quan should have said goodbye.

When leaving Uncle Gui's small room, Xi Zhao couldn't help feeling a bit of sour reluctance.In fact, life in the palace is indeed pretty good, delicious food and drink, leisurely and leisurely, and Uncle Gui treats me well.If you are not a fake eunuch and don't want to become a real eunuch, it seems that there is nothing wrong with living like this.Xizhao looked up at the brick and tile houses in the southeast library, thinking about it.Hey, forget it, I shouldn't have stayed here, and this is not a place I should be reluctant to part with.If you continue pretending like this, I'm afraid that sooner or later you will be out of control, so let's go as soon as we can.

three

In the evening, according to Gao Hu's instructions, Xizhao went to Eunuch Ma's gray-walled courtyard to get a token.When he came to Ma Gong's house, he was about to call the door, when he heard someone talking in the house.

"Sending tokens and other trivial matters, I'd like to trouble Wang Gonggong to go there personally, and just hand it over to Gao Hu."

The speaker is Ma Gonggong.

"Hey~ Don't say that the token is an important thing and must not be lost. Eunuch Ma is going to do such an important event. How can the younger generation of our family not come to see him off?"

A strange voice sounded.Is this person the prince?

"Nowadays, Wang Gong is a very busy person in charge of ceremonies. He took time out of his busy schedule to see us off. How can he afford it?"

Eunuch Ma's tone was neither yin nor yang, it seems that the other party is the legendary Wang Cheng'en.

"Hehe, after all, our family and Eunuch Ma have a working relationship. We were taken care of by Eunuch Ma back then, so we should see him off. However, our family does have official business, so it is inconvenient to stay for a long time. Feng Dachuan, send Eunuch Ma out of the palace for our family, remember Now, it must be sent to the gate of the palace, don't let Ma Gong feel lonely on the highway."

puff!It sounded like someone was about to spit out a sip of water, and then there was a violent coughing sound from inside.

"Eunuch Ma! Eunuch Ma, are you okay!" This was Gao Hu's voice, "Eunuch Wang, Eunuch Ma is not feeling well, can someone else go on this errand?"

"Oh... this is not easy to handle. The person was hand-picked by the emperor. How can he violate the emperor's will? Hey, Mr. Ma, it's not that our family is inconsiderate. If you don't go, the emperor can't explain it. Besides, you go After completing this errand, the Emperor Qi will not be happy, and the reward is indispensable. Our family is thinking of you. Come, Feng Dachuan, take good care of him, and don’t let Eunuch Ma make any mistakes.”

As soon as the words were finished, the warm curtain snapped up, making Xi Zhao, who was eavesdropping outside the door, stagger in fright.The big-eyed and flat-faced prince whom Zhou Xi had seen walked out of the house, cast a sidelong glance at Xi Zhao, ignored him, and walked straight out of the courtyard and left.

There was little coughing in the room, Xi Zhao cautiously opened the warm curtain and walked in, peeking at Eunuch Ma from a distance, and saluted tentatively.How could the eunuch Ma be in the mood for the sunset, he suppressed his cough, blushed, clenched his fists, and stared at the direction outside the door.Next to him, Gao Hu was busy helping Eunuch Ma wipe the water stains on his clothes. On the other side stood a tall, strong eunuch with a square face. This was probably Feng Dachuan who stayed behind to monitor Eunuch Ma.Normally, Eunuch Ma's roar would have smashed the paper on the windows, but now that Wang Chengen's confidants were present, he couldn't speak up or scold anyone, and the room fell into complete silence.But the silence was so terrifying that Xi Zhao was so nervous that he didn't dare to move at all. It seemed that if he moved, the hatred in Eunuch Ma's eyes would be like an arrow full of strings, ready to explode.

Seeing Xizhao coming, Gao Hu winked at him, and Xizhao hurriedly stood in the corner to wait.Feng Dachuan didn't speak, just poked like a pillar.After a while, Eunuch Ma finally took a breath, and murmured a sentence from the depths of his throat:

"Gao Hu, change your clothes."

Is Ma Gonggong really going? !Xizhao was startled.If they go together, how can they leave easily?Or do I not need to go out of the palace anymore?Just as Xizhao was about to ask, Eunuch Ma and Gao Hu had already entered the room, leaving only Xizhao and Feng Dachuan in the room.Xizhao smiled awkwardly at Feng Dachuan, stepped back a few steps, but her mind began to spin violently.Although things were not as smooth as I imagined, but this opportunity was once in a thousand years, it would be a pity to just give up like this, no matter if you leave the palace by yourself or with someone, you always have the chance to leave the palace.Just pretend to walk away, or go to the toilet, no matter what, without the high wall blocking it, it's not difficult to walk away, um, that's it!

"Hey, Eunuch Ma, Eunuch Ma," when the two came out of the back room, Xi Zhao rushed forward to meet them, "Look at the little one..."

Gao Hu grabbed Xi Zhao, squinted his eyes and said in a low voice, "You kid, why are you still messing with this, what should you do!"

"Oh no, I want to..." Xi Zhao said with a smile on his face, "The little one thinks that Eunuch Ma can't go alone for such a dangerous matter, in case something goes wrong... the little one will follow along, at least we can take care of it." Eunuch..."

Hearing this, Eunuch Ma glanced at Xi Zhao. "If you want to die, follow me."

"Yes." "Eunuch Xie." Gao Hu and Xi Zhao said together.

Eunuch Ma didn't respond either, he squinted at the table, let out a sharp breath, and viciously picked up the token placed on the table, and clenched it in his hand, the back of his black and red hand turned blue and white for a while.Feng Dachuan on one side bent slightly, stretched his hand towards the door, and said politely but coldly: "Please." Eunuch Ma snorted bitterly, flicked his sleeves, and strode out of the room.

Sure enough, Feng Dachuan followed Eunuch Wang's instructions and sent Eunuch Ma and Xizhao to the gate of the palace. He watched them leave the gate before leaving.The bright red palace gate was gradually closed, and only Xi Zhao and Eunuch Ma were left at the gate of the cold and bleak palace.But at this time, Xizhao didn't feel cold at all. After entering the palace for nearly a year, he finally breathed the air outside the palace again.The closed palace gate was getting farther and farther away, and Xizhao was jolting step by step, happily thinking about when to escape, when suddenly his arms were restrained from behind, a wet cloth covered Xizhao's mouth and nose, and the choking smell rushed straight to his head , Xizhao only felt that his eyes went dark, and he didn't even see the face of the attacker, so he didn't know anything.