Force a good concubine

He changed his name for no reason, and it was easy for outsiders to hide it, but it was hard for these little palace ladies who were selected together in the Shangyi Bureau to hide it.Fortunately, there are many unwritten old practices in the palace. After discussing with the aunts of the Shangyi Bureau, they simply changed the names of several candidate palace ladies under the pretext of avoiding taboo.

"This taboo is also an old practice passed down from the previous dynasty, both inside and outside the palace, and I don't need to explain the reason." Xu Sanniang held the roster in her hand, and looked at the rows of little palace ladies standing in front of her, " Your Majesty's grace, the royal name only avoids ligatures, and single-character writing is enough for the convenience of the ministers and the people. It's okay for the ministers to write it like this, and it's okay for the leaders outside the palace to talk nonsense, but we slaves In front of the emperor, if the name is the same as the above, what does it sound like?"

She said, pointing to Gu Yan, and said: "Take her as an example. Your Majesty's clan is all in Yuan characters, but her name also sounds like this. If it's outside, this name doesn't matter; in the palace One day, one day you meet someone who deliberately makes people misunderstand, not to say that you have violated the name of the royal family, but you have violated the name of the princes. If you are heard by those who are interested, you will be beaten fifty times in the Department of Punishment. , you can die!"

"However, the name given by parents cannot be deleted or changed indiscriminately. It is not allowed to change casually in the palace. It is fine to choose a similar sound and add a word after it. The usual practice of our palace maids is to add more than half of the words." The word "Mother" is easy to remember and easy to address." She said and pointed to Wei Anniang, "It doesn't matter what you call a name like her. Just think about it for yourself, if you want to change it, how do you want to change it? If you don’t want to change it, it’s up to you. If the re-election is rejected by the superior because of this, don’t blame your aunt for not teaching you. Tomorrow is the re-election. I won’t teach you the rules this afternoon, so you can be loose , Tomorrow each depends on his ability, let's go!"

All the little maids bowed low to Xu Sanniang, and broke up in groups of three or five.Wei Anniang followed Gu Yan back to the dormitory. She was packing her things in her hands, and her mouth was not idle, comforting Gu Yan: "What aunt said is that your name has to be changed. Don't be embarrassed, listen Mother said, there are many people who change their names in the palace, and some people change their names to auspicious words just to please the first person! You have no choice but to, and your parents outside the palace will not blame you. Come back!"

"I've already made up my mind." Gu Yan said, "From now on, I will be called Ruan Niang, and I will use my godmother's surname, Hu, even if it's a different name, just change it back after leaving the palace."

"Changing both the name and the surname?" Wei Anniang's eyes widened, but she found an explanation by herself in the next moment, "That's fine, if you have to change the left and right, you can simply change them all. Otherwise, if you change the name but not the surname, what if?" One day, when the superior gave her a name, she had to change her name to that of the head of the family, but she had to change it, and she couldn’t bear it anymore. I was sick to death! I heard from my mother that she had a sister whose name was the same as the master’s. The master changed her name to the same name as her niece outside the palace, but she is a picky master who dared not resign, although she didn't say anything, she was depressed for half a year!"

Gu Yan's hand stopped: "People in the palace often have to avoid taboos and change their names?"

"Not really." Seeing that Gu Yan was interested, Wei Anniang was even more proud to show off, "I heard from my mother that these rules are always the same, sometimes loose and sometimes tight, it all depends on the top. The first emperor valued the rules, and the words also It’s a taboo, your majesty is different today. I heard that when your majesty took the throne, Enke had a son whose name was the same as your majesty’s, and the ministers quoted the former emperor’s old practice and asked him to change his name, but your majesty refused!”

"It's Zhang Shiyuan, the son of Haizhou." Gu Yuan said quietly, "As usual, the name should be changed and the next subject should be retaken, but His Majesty said that the name and surname are given by the parents, and they have deep meanings. Many taboo old practices and taboo words have also been abolished."

"You know it clearly!" Wei Anniang was surprised, but there was a wry smile on Gu Yuan's lips: These are the allusions that the gentlemen of the academy like to talk about, but all the scholars who study are familiar with it, but now it seems to her. Through a layer of veil, it seems to be close at hand, but it can no longer be touched.

"Everyone says that Your Majesty is kind and kind, and like the late emperor, he is also a wise king." The wry smile only stayed on Gu Yuan's lips for a moment, Wei Anniang didn't pay attention, and while ironing the palace clothes with Gu Yuan, she followed her own train of thought He continued vigorously, "I heard that His Majesty will be present in person for the imperial examination. If we re-elect, we can do the same. It is said by the older generation that when the late emperor was on a tour, someone secretly looked at the royal face He said that even though he was old, he could tell that he was born well when he was young. When His Majesty ascended the throne and went to the suburbs to worship heaven, some people saw it, and heard that His Majesty was born better than the late emperor, so I don’t know what it is like?"

Gu Yan's hand stopped again: "Your Majesty also often goes out of the palace?"

"I heard that the first emperor often went out of the palace, but His Majesty has never heard of it." Wei Anniang thought for a while, "Mum said that His Majesty was enlightened at the age of three, and studied and practiced martial arts with his masters every day. He worked harder than the scholars outside. I am so silly and playful, even if I am in front of the imperial court, His Majesty will not look down on me, if I want me not to think about climbing up in the future, I just need to find a place to work." She laughed again, "Gu—— ——Sister Hu, you are also not idle from morning to night. You are a good-looking person and have a good manner. If you come to the imperial court, His Majesty will definitely look up to you. If you are promoted to be an aunt in charge, don’t forget me—— I don’t want to pick anything, just let me go to the imperial tea room and burn a fire for a lifetime, it’s stable, light, and I have some snacks, okay?”

From this point of view, it seems to be different from what I guessed.Gu Yan thought for a while, and then asked the question: "Your Majesty likes articles, presumably all the clans in Beijing also like articles?"

"That's natural." Wei Anniang didn't doubt him, and poured out everything she knew, "The first one to write well is His Highness King Sui, who is of the same generation as His Majesty, and is not very old. Wang is the same, he is good at writing, and he is kind, and when he meets a young lady who is good at writing, he likes to get close to him and promote him, that is, that is," she blushed, "I heard that it is a bit informal. The other is His Royal Highness Duan, who is old and The seniority is high, and I heard that there is a group of people who compile books in the mansion. The bearers in the mansion of Prince Duan often go to my shop to have wine, saying that the princesses and His Royal Highness Sui get along well, and His Royal Highness Sui is so good at writing. A princess should not be bad either."

King Duan is the first emperor's cousin, and now he is in charge of the clan order. If the eleven mothers were born in Prince Duan's mansion, it would make some sense.Gu Yan wrote down one by one in his mind, he folded several pieces of ironed palace clothes neatly, wrapped them up, and just stepped out of the room with the bundles in his arms, when he saw the courtyard door opened, and a young man was led in by two servants , hurriedly stopped in the corridor.

The man's appearance was not bad, with cheerful eyes and a smile on his lips, but he was only 25 or [-] years old, and he already had a short beard, which looked a bit out of place. He was wearing a coral hat with a red tassel and a gold brim hat, and a sapphire blue cloud bag. Taoist robe, holding a sprinkler Jinchuan fan in his hand, stepping on the double-cloud head shoes, looked at the aunts of the Shangyi Bureau who came out, closed the fan in his hand, and pointed at Gu Yan: "I heard that this time I will enter Is there someone from King Sui in the palace? I think she looks good, so it must be her, right?"