[Red Mansions] The Road to Empress Dowager

Xing Xiuyan also sympathized with Jia Yuanchun. After the banquet, she and Tu Yuanyi returned to the Ganlu Hall of Taiji Palace. She couldn't wait to sigh: "Jia Yuanchun is so pitiful."

Tu Yuanyi looked at her complicatedly, and said, "You pity the fragrance and jade, and now you even pity Jia Yuanchun?"

Xing Xiuyan said: "She was your former concubine, a husband and wife for a day, a hundred days of kindness."

Tu Yuanyi sneered with disdain: "You want me to take pity on her?"

"It's not my wish, I thought you would always miss some old love." Xing Xiuyan paused, and said, "It's enough for a sage to treat me well. There are too many things for a sage in the world."

Tu Yuanyi was slightly annoyed, although he knew that she was a weirdo, and she was very jealous, but he didn't like it very much when a man took action against a woman in the back house, even though this woman was her enemy.

Tu Yuanyi was bored, so he sat down on the bed without saying a word, took the memorial to read, and ignored her.And Xing Xiuyan sat in a daze for a while, leaning on the imperial concubine's couch and reading "History of Ming Dynasty".

This "History of the Ming Dynasty" was compiled by the Great Zhou. Although there are prejudices from the dynasty and the words of Confucian scholars, the historical facts are more prepared.

Because she wrote "The Wind and Cloud at the End of Ming Dynasty", she had to read more history and collect enough materials.

Tu Yuanyi peeked at her, she was leaning lazily, holding a scroll in one hand and resting her chin in the other, she was very focused on the book, and only gave him a cold sideways look.

But Tu Yuanyi cared about her indifference at this time, thinking to himself that I will protect you as a heart, why are you so heartless now?He couldn't help being depressed, but his face was definitely mature and handsome.

I don't know what it is, I have always had the biggest world in my mind, even if the woman I like is the domineering side, Yuan Yi doesn't understand his state of wanting to be recognized by his lover, and wanting to be responded to by his lover—or He had no idea he was in this state.

Xing Xiuyan had already read some books on "History of the Ming Dynasty", and he studied with Miaoyu when he was young, so it is not difficult to read the ancient classical Chinese without punctuation.And her soul cultivated in that world, and she is better than ordinary people. Not only does she never forget her words, but she can remember ordinary words and sentences in her heart after reading them twice.

In the living room, there was only the sound of her concentrating on flipping through the books and his sound of reviewing the memorial.

He approved several memorials on the transfer of official posts by the Ministry of Officials. Those with "relationships" at work and who knew that the officials were incompetent were finally rejected, and those with fair promotions that could balance the court were accepted.

Others are memorials on water conservancy, canal repair and river management. There are such things every year, so Tu Yuanyi put down the memorials.

Tu Yuanyi frowned slightly, but looked at the woman who was focused on reading, and felt resentment in his heart.

I played tricks on Jia Yuanchun for you, and even took over the job of finding a husband’s family for your sister. You are not gentle or kind to thank me. You said that kind of thing just now, and you are still reading a book by yourself. up.

Tu Yuanyi cleared his throat: "Concubine Chen, "History of Ming Dynasty" is very exciting?"

Xing Xiuyan raised her head, her face was gentle, and she said, "It's not bad, the "History of Ming Dynasty" written by you is more conscientious than that written by Man Qing."

Tu Yuanyi asked, "Where did you see it?"

"The Hongwu Benji and the family biographies of the Hongwu Dynasty."

"Don't look at the year of Chongzhen?"

"It still needs to be coherent, take your time."

Tu Yuanyi squinted his eyes and said, "If you look again, I will set it on fire."

Xing Xiuyan said in shock: "Such a good book, why burn it? This is the painstaking effort of the Imperial Academy of the Great Zhou Dynasty!"

Tu Yuanyi said: "Women are virtuous without talent."

Xing Xiuyan twitched the corner of his mouth and said, "I'm actually not talented. I'm just average in piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and I don't know how to dance."

When Tu Yuanyi heard the dancing, his phoenix eyes flashed slightly, and he said with a smile: "Speaking of dancing, Feng Wanyi's graceful dancing poses are memorable!"

"It's really a good dance. If you don't have ten years of kung fu, you will never have such a beautiful appearance... It's a pity that you entered the palace." Xing Xiuyan sighed.

Tu Yuanyi smiled and said: "What's the pity? The beauties in the world must hold on to me first."

Xing Xiuyan couldn't help being taken aback, with a reluctant expression on his face, he said: "The beauties in the world naturally belong to His Majesty."

Tu Yuanyi said: "Beauties in the world, I want them to go east, but they will never go west. Everyone wants to win the favor, and they will do whatever it takes."

Xing Xiuyan frowned, and said, "What exactly does Your Majesty want to say?"

If you are jealous, just say it out, what are you doing in your heart?You are always jealous of Jia Yuanchun the most, always mentioning her, don't say that I have never met her in this life, and now I have expelled her from the palace, are you not happy?

But Tu Yuanyi asked her to come over, and Xing Xiuyan went up the cave as he said.

Tu Yuanyi looked at her loose black hair at home, picked it up and smelled it, but asked, "Aren't you happy today?"

"No!"

"Are you happy?"

"Be happy."

"Why are you happy?"

"Sister Daiyu has reached the age of Ji, she used to be so bitter, she always grows up, and there is an unforgettable gift of Ji."

"Only this?"

"Which one is there?"

"...Are you unhappy that Jia Yuanchun left the palace?"

"It's hard for her to have a good future when she goes out. What can I be happy about?"

"Aren't you happy that she has no future?"

Xing Xiuyan was stunned: "Jia Yuanchun has nothing against me. Why should I be happy if she is not good?" For the sake.She also doesn't want her husband to get involved in such things as "house fighting" and "gong fighting", because Xing Xiuyan has a strange personality, and what she admires is a world-class hero who roams the world freely, not a man who competes with short-sighted ancient women in the back house little man.

Tu Yuanyi sneered: "Who said she has no enmity with you? Mrs. Jia went to the Royal Garden to collect frost and snow from the flowers on the first day of the Lunar New Year."

Xing Xiuyan raised her eyebrows slightly, and smiled lightly: "So elegant? Is she good at tea ceremony?"

Tu Yuanyi gave her a blank look. Xing Xiuyan is not a fool, and suddenly realized: "To collect snow and frost water, you need to bring a kettle? On the first day of the Lunar New Year... that road is next to the Taiji Palace and the Imperial Garden, and it is to go to Shangyang The only way to the palace. How did you find out?"

On New Year's Eve, disciple Yuanyi had to stay with the queen as a national ritual, so she was the only one to pass that road on the first day of the first lunar month in a phoenix chariot. The eldest son and second son of the emperor had another way to go to Shangyang Palace from Dongwusuo.They can first go to the Queen's Qifeng Palace to pay their respects, and then go to Shangyang Palace together after the Empress, then she will be the only master who passes there.It's just that the two princes didn't go to Qifeng Palace to pay their respects first, so they met her, and they even exposed the picturesque incident of her falling off the phoenix chariot.

Tu Yuanyi snorted coldly, and said: "There are two factories in the east and the west, and there is a little trouble in the palace, where can't we find out? I sent people to the dark hall of the East factory for interrogation one by one. I don't want to be the one whose confession is different. It's his turn to die. As long as the court ladies and eunuchs who have not confessed before will answer the truth. Not to mention who has been out of the house in the middle of the night, and who has seen who got up early in the early morning and what did they do. "

Xing Xiuyan said: "So, Jia Yuanchun thought that he would always collect frost and snow for making tea. On the first day of the Lunar New Year, he also wanted to pick the residual snow on the plums. tools of water, and only she has them."

Of course, if you want to bring water to sprinkle on the road, you can't hold it with your back hand, only a pot, and who would carry a pot when it's okay?But people who are good at the tea ceremony are an exception to collecting frost and snow. If there is nothing to put it in, where should the snow water be put?Everything seems reasonable, but in fact, we just need to get up one step earlier and fill up the frost and snow pot first instead of bringing out the empty pot.Jia Yuanchun is a female historian, so naturally she has a separate room, but she is a female historian of Qifeng Palace, and when she leaves the gate of Qifeng Palace early in the morning, the eunuch who opens the gate will see her.What's more, Ting Xiang, the eldest maid of Qifeng Palace who returned to her room after changing shifts just now, also saw it from a distance, and Ting Xiang knew that she had such an elegant affair.Moreover, there was snow on the plum blossoms on the first day of the Lunar New Year, which is a good metaphor. Jia Yuanchun also picked snow on the first day of the Lunar New Year the year before last.

Tu Yuanyi said: "It seems that I am not stupid enough."

Xing Xiuyan couldn't help feeling a little annoyed, and said, "I have no grudge against her, why did she want to kill me?!"

Tu Yuanyi said: "I only had someone find out Jia Yuanchun, so I'm not sure if it's related to the queen."

But Xing Xiuyan said: "It's definitely irrelevant. The queen wants to harm me, and it would be too cheap for me to just cause me to fall. If I were the queen, of course, I would buy and sell eunuchs and maids around me by coercing me, and doing things in my daily life and clothes. Poisoning a well is better than letting me fall."

Tu Yuanyi said: "I eat and live with you, who has the chance to poison you? Besides, don't underestimate the ice, if you eat/shit slips down, your face will hit the ground first, and you will be knocked." What about the disfigured front teeth?"

What future is there for a disfigured concubine?After falling out of favor day by day, as long as the women in the harem think that she was once the most favored in the harem, everyone will step on her to vent their hatred.It looks like a trivial matter, but it is not.

Since ancient times, the real favorite concubines have never had a shield, and they have never died of the fall of the harem, such as Concubine Yang, Concubine Wan, and Concubine Zhen. Who can touch them by other women in the harem for decades?Xing Xiuyan, the imperial concubine Chen, fell down and fell to the point where everyone stepped on her foot, but it was very interesting. She fell out of favor in less than a year, really like a grasshopper in autumn.

Xing Xiuyan couldn't help being annoyed when he said "the dog eats/shit slides down", she pouted and said, "I'm a dog, what is Your Majesty? It's not a dragon anyway."

Tu Yuanyi was not angry either, and only said, "Fortunately, you are not seriously injured, but do you want to find out from Jia Yuanchun whether it has anything to do with the Yang family?"

Xing Xiuyan shook his head, Tu Yuanyi raised his eyebrows and said, "Why?"

Xing Xiuyan said: "Your ancient emperor's harem..."

"We." He corrected.

"Okay, us." Xing Xiuyan sighed, and said, "In this harem, is the truth of a little bit of insidious means so important? The women in the harem are very small, including the queen. Whether they live or die depends not on the truth, but on the truth." It depends on what is best for His Majesty."

Tu Yuanyi was surprised but admired her because she always looked at things from a wider perspective than ordinary women, so she could understand an emperor like him.

Tu Yuanyi sighed: "Another person may not be better than Yang, all women in the harem are like this. And you...you don't want to be a queen, unless there is no one else in the harem. Although Yang is a little cautious, in It is better for us to deal with children's affairs. You can't be short-sighted, you should have a long-term plan. If you can't be the empress, you are not as good as you are. I will protect you."

Having said that, Tu Yuanyi felt sorry for her at this time, he is really a wonderful man, he has been sorry for many women, but he never felt sorry, but for the sake of overall stability, he would stay with her Damn queen, he felt sorry for not marrying her.

Xing Xiuyan smiled and said: "I know this, I am very grateful to Your Majesty."

Empress Yang still can't move, Tu Yuanyi needs her to manage the palace affairs, but he has to balance the use of eunuchs.Moreover, abolishing the empress is a major national event, not just abolishing it, Yang and his sons are easy to use, and he is unwilling to give up, and Tu Yuanyi can also grasp the weakness of Empress Yang.If Empress Yang is really abolished for her, the reputation of Tu Yuanyi and her may not be good. At least now all the families involved in the harem will not stand by Xing Xiuyan. Now is definitely not a good time. Tu Yuanyi has more important things to do The most important thing is to unite and develop together, and to deal with rebels and foreign enemies.If you want to abolish the Yang family, it will affect the whole body. A good emperor spends a lot of energy on the rivalry in the harem family circle like a joke, which is not beneficial to the country. It is not the Mingjun.

Fortunately, Xing Xiuyan is fine, and Tu Yuanyi is even more protective, so Xing Xiuyan himself doesn't want to make a fuss about it.

Back then, Xin Xiuyan could let go of Hua and Zhao Zhiliu, even if it was really related to Queen Yang, she didn't take it too seriously at this time, at least she was the winner, and Xin Xiuyan was a "loser" back then.

Speaking of which, Xin Xiuyan also had some external reasons for choosing to suffer like that back then, but she never told anyone about it.

At that time, she had just received some souvenirs from his old father in Zhao Jiahuan's hometown, and Uncle Zhao didn't know about Zhao Jiahuan's falling out with her.

Zhao Jiahuan's father is a kind and simple old farmer, Zhao Jiahuan is the pride of their village, the only college student in the village, and a graduate of a prestigious school.Before Zhao Jiahuan cheated on her, he was still very kind to her, and Uncle Zhao was even more satisfied with her and cared about her very much.If she makes a big fuss, she doesn't know how to face the entanglement of good and evil in the future, and if she really dies with Zhao Jiahuan, what will she gain?

Winning, what everyone saw was Qin Xianglian's victory, and although Zhao Jiahuan's future was ruined, it also ruined the simple and kind old farmer's home.

She has a strange personality since she was a child, and she doesn't want to be Qin Xianglian.

Looking at some local products sent by Uncle Zhao from the countryside, and a pair of mille-soled cloth shoes made for her by Zhao Jiahuan's mother, layer by layer, stitch by stitch, all handmade, it is her size.She could imagine her calloused hands that had been doing farm work all her life, her gray hair, and her dark and rough skin, but the old mother's eyes were full of love, looking forward to her wearing the shoes she made.

At that time, Xin Xiuyan was full of emotions and mixed feelings. She curled up on the sofa with her knees in her arms and wept.

She experienced both sides of good and evil, the ups and downs of life, and the vicissitudes of day and night.But sometimes in life it is not possible to be so black and white, at least she could not do it at the time.

Combining internal and external reasons, she chose to forgive and forget once.She originally wanted to adjust and go to another company to start over after resigning, and regain her dignity with professional work ability.A woman's dignity is not obtained only by "abusing scum", but more importantly, her own independent character and professional talent, she firmly believes in this and is proud of it.

Napoleon once said: The greatest glory in life is not in never giving up, but in getting up again and again.

She's bound to get up, she told herself at the time.

What was unexpected was that she accidentally plunged into the cross-industry career of "Miao Pian", and wrote novels for more than three years. After all, she had the playfulness of ordinary people, and even wrote Zhao Jiahuan as an eunuch.These are all in the past, and do not expand.

But she said that she would never let Tu Yuanyi take care of the food and drink of his concubines, even though it looked so beautiful, so Empress Yang was a useful person to Tu Yuanyi.

Xing Xiuyan's feelings for Tu Yuanyi had nothing to do with his wives, and she never took the initiative to ask about his "family affairs".

Maybe it's because she doesn't have the pressure to survive in the harem, but she already has golden elephant legs, and she doesn't need to have golden elephant legs, and her thinking is still at the level of a miserable harem lady.

Just like people's origins are different, not absolute, but it has some influence on most people's vision and aspirations: for example, Li Ka-shing's son was born to want to inherit and develop the Li Group.Have they thought about how to plant one-third of an acre of land, how many days it takes to transplant rice seedlings, and how to harvest hundreds of catties of grain?If that's what they think, they have a problem.

Although Xing Xiuyan could not compare with Han Xin's ambition of "not sweeping a house but sweeping the world", he was unwilling to manage palace affairs.She would rather read and write every day than negotiating with a group of harem women how much cloth, ice, and carbon they get.Perhaps her works can be passed down through the ages, why is it not a job, and is it more meaningful than taking care of his concubine?

Since he is willing to protect her, why should she be abused?

Therefore, comparing her heart with her heart, despite her opposing positions, she still respected Empress Yang threefold—if she didn't make things difficult for her.

She thought for a while, and then said: "I didn't worry about this little thing. It may not really have anything to do with the queen. Jia Yuanchun has worked in this harem for more than ten years. From being innocent, romantic and talented, to now, the beauty is getting old. The future is unknown, even if she wants to do something, it is normal."

"She has to squeeze in her own election, or did I miss her?"

"It was her family and the distorted concept of honor and disgrace in ancient times that misunderstood her."

Tu Yuanyi disagreed again, and said, "You mean it's not honorable at all to serve me in the palace."

Every man has a dream of Tom Su, regardless of whether the man is the emperor or Diaosi.

Xing Xiuyan is helpless, just like Mary Su needs to be coaxed, her man also needs to be coaxed, she said with a smile: "It is not an honor to enter the palace to serve the emperor, I am happy to be with brother Yuanyi."

As expected, Tu Yuanyi was pleasing to her ears, took her hand, lowered her phoenix eyes and gave a charming smile "only for a male protagonist".

Xing Xiuyan suddenly thought of the education of the princesses. He wanted to praise him for his great detachment of "supporting the rise of women's rights", but he didn't expect him to say: "Princesses always want to marry. If you don't read more books, you won't understand it. The Four Books It is necessary to learn the Five Classics and history well. Otherwise, it will only cause trouble for me in the future, and I don't have that much time to take care of them."

Xing Xiuyan didn't give up, and asked, "Then why are there still courses on farming and calculation?"

Tu Yuanyi said: "If you don't understand these common senses, it will be difficult to be self-reliant in the future. If you don't understand farming, you will be cheated by the head of the village in the future. You won't be able to make clear calculations, and you won't even recognize the fake accounts in the accountant. In this way, you will be emptied by the cunning people below. Family wealth, in the end, will all run to me and cry poorly, do you still need me to pay for the princess after she gets married? I will just support you, well, at most you will give birth to my princess, and I will put more dowry on her."

Xing Xiuyan: ...

What about being tall?What about the living Lei Feng she was looking forward to, who would quietly cultivate the altar for women's rights?So, he is for his own money!

Emperor Suzong, Tu Yuanyi, everyone really did not wrong you, you are just a mean and ungrateful "stingy emperor".

Xing Xiuyan swallowed a mouthful of old blood, and then mentioned the matter of the second princess and the concubine De. After all, she still had a little humanitarian sympathy for the innocent girl, saying that the second princess was pitiful.

Tu Yuanyi was silent for a while, and said: "This matter has nothing to do with my concubine, if you don't like these things, it's better not to worry about them."

Xing Xiuyan squinted at him, Tu Yuanyi smiled lightly, and said, "Don't be ignorant of a good heart. If you take care of it, you will definitely cause trouble. Concubine De is gentle on the surface, but has a heart like a snake in her heart. She bites you before she dies. It's a waste of pain, can you still kill her daughter to take revenge?"

Tu Yuanyi was extremely disgusted with this concubine who had conspired against her in her previous life. She was named a concubine because the high position in the harem was empty and she was made to be seen by outsiders.Concubine De is after all a side concubine of Qiandi who is worthy of a high position, and the Cui family is also a rich family in Qinghe County.

Xing Xiuyan hooked the corners of her mouth, and reminded her in a cold tone: "Her daughter is also your daughter, your daughter..."

Seeing her expression, Tu Yuanyi had his own understanding: "Do you always hold on to these dried vinegar jars?"

Xing Xiuyan was speechless.She didn't mean that at all just now, did she?