Since being summoned by Li Zicheng for the first time, Fei Zhen'e has secretly practiced the grip of her right hand. When no one is noticing, she often clenches her right hand firmly, then releases it, repeating the same action. Now in the sedan chair, listening to the sound of waist drums, the noisy sound of horses' hooves in front of and behind the sedan chair, and the sound of drums walking in the front, she is still repeatedly exercising the strength of her right hand.

She sighed in her heart: "Just tonight, success is death, and failure is death." If I fail to avenge my deceased monarch and give my life in vain, I will not regret it, I will leave a martyr's name in the world, go to the underworld to meet the martyred emperor and empress with a piece of loyalty, and return to Wei Qinghui and Wu Wanrong among the sisters who threw themselves into the water outside the Xihua Gate without shame. ”

The sedan chair came to the east of the goldfish alley, sitting north to the south, and there was a pair of stone lions in the lively drum music, the deafening firecrackers, and the cheerful voices. But the sedan chair did not fall to the ground, carried into the main gate, carried into the second door, carried through the hall, and then landed. Two women immediately came up, tore off the red thread of the sedan door from both sides, lifted the sedan door, and helped the bride out. Two flamboyant maids arrived, took the place of the two women and supported the bride, and went to a door leading to the third main courtyard, on which was placed a saddle with red felt.

A woman next to her said, "Saddle the bride!"

Another woman continued: "Peace of mind!"

Fei Zhen'e was supported from side to side and stepped over the saddle. Her heart was calm, and she said to herself, "I've stepped into the ghost gate and closed it!"

In the main entrance of this inner house, less than a zhang away, a delicate and transparent Taihu Lake stone is erected to replace the shadow wall. Fei Zhen'e was helped around the Taihu Lake Stone and walked north from the rainy road paved with red felt. Although it is an inner house, it is an earl's palace after all, and the courtyard courtyard is particularly spacious. After passing the rockery, Fei Zhen'e walked along the red felt for a while before stopping in front of the table of heaven and earth.

She had a red satin turban over her head, and she couldn't see the courtyard, but she heard that when she entered, the patio was full of people, and many people were coming in from behind, and there was a group of drums playing in the courtyard. When she stopped at the earth table, the drumming stopped. Then she bowed to heaven and earth with the bridegroom, and bowed to each other. What else she bowed, she mechanically saluted to the sound of praise, but her heart was completely numb, and then she couldn't remember clearly.

The main courtyard of the Earl's Court is the Sanjin Courtyard, and there are other attached courtyards and houses such as the left and right side courtyards, the backyards of the group houses, and the garden, which occupy half of the alley on the north side of the Goldfish Alley. The north room of the second courtyard is a magnificent building with a roll shed, and there are two suites on the left and right sides of the hall house, and the inner suite on the left hand is the newlywed cave room of Fei Zhen'e and Luo Hu.

After worshipping the earth, Fei Zhen'e left the earth table and entered the hall in the crowd of guests, supported by two palace maids who accompanied her to marry, and immediately two or three women who had prepared threw bran and red dates on her red satin headscarf, meaning to wish her good fortune and early birth of a precious son. She did not stop at the hall, but was helped forward into the cave.

In the cave room, although there were comfortable chairs, according to folk custom, she was supported on the footrest and sat on the edge of the bed. Then Luo Hu walked over, took off her red satin headscarf, and according to the ancient customs, a pair of newlyweds performed a joint ceremony. Fei Zhen'e's face was as cold as ice, with hatred, but no one could think of it, nor did he realize it. Her face was covered by fat powder, and people were in a hurry to catch a glimpse of her face, and then they were quickly pushed to the side, so that no one noticed that her face was pale.

Luo Hu was shy and flustered, so he didn't take a second look at the bride's face when he drank a glass of wine, and he didn't see anything clearly. Then Luo Hu exited the inner house and went to the front yard to take care of the guests. Fei Zhen'e got off the edge of the bed and sat down on a sandalwood chair covered with red satin embroidered cushions, next to a desk with the four treasures of the study. Her heart moved, thinking of the groom Luo Hu. Just now, she saw Luo Hu for the second time. From her sincerity, she also thinks that Luo Hu is very handsome, but unfortunately her own life is not good, unfortunately she met the country, and it is even more unfortunate that the groom is the leader of the thieves.

The four palace maids who married were originally palace maids in Shouning Palace, but now they have become Fei Zhen'e's personal maids. But they are happy to serve Zhen'e and dedicate their loyalty to her. First of all, they are glad that they can go out of the deep palace with Zhen'e, and of course, they will be reunited with their parents and family members, or they will choose a good marriage match, and reward them with more money and goods when they get married.

They discussed with the two older, more sensible maids who had been transferred to the Earl's Court by Wu Ruyi that no one should come to the cave room to see the bride, so that Fei Zhen'e could rest quietly. Fortunately, this is the new emperor's marriage match, and the bride is a countess, everything is different from civil marriages.

At dinner, Fei Zhen'e didn't want to eat anything, always thinking about dying tonight. In order to increase her strength, she ate a small bowl of white fungus soup and two pieces of dim sum under the service of her female companions. After rinsing her mouth, she sat down again, but secretly clenched her right hand, released it, clenched it again, and released it again......

She noticed that on the table by the window there were the four treasures of the study, which were quite elaborate. In particular, she noticed that there were more than a dozen medium, small and large block pens inserted in a carved bamboo pen holder. One of them has been used, washed, and inserted upside down in the pen holder. She remembered that Wang Ruifen had revealed the news to her, saying that this General Luo Hu had not only made great contributions to Emperor Dashun on the battlefield, but also was good at military training, and he also liked to read and practice calligraphy in addition to military training. Looking at the four treasures of the study on the table of the Eight Immortals, she believed that what Wang Ruifen said to her was true.

She remembered Luo Hu's handsome face again, and her determination to assassinate Luo Hu tonight was a little shaken, and she unconsciously asked in her heart: "Is it a husband or an enemy?"

Her eyes fell on the quaint carved bamboo old pen holder, and she saw clearly that the carving was exquisite, but it did not lose the wind of the mountains, which was obviously from the hands of a famous artist. Because the princess likes to write, there are also various pen holders in Shouning Palace, including ivory, Yixing cinnabar ceramics, pastel grass insect figure official kiln porcelain, blue and white figure official kiln porcelain, and famous carved bamboo.

At this moment, looking at the carved bamboo pen holder used by Luo Hu, she remembered that the carved bamboo pen holder given to the princess by Emperor Chongzhen three months ago was originally an old thing used by Emperor Chenggan Miyatian's concubine, engraved with a hermit cane to listen to the waterfall, and a boy behind him held the piano and accompanied him. She carefully looked at the pen holder on Luo Hu's table, which made her feel very fresh. It turned out that the cylinder was carved with a relief knife on a walking buffalo, and there was a shepherd boy on the back of the cow, and suddenly a gust of wind blew the hat away, and the shepherd boy leaned over to grab the hat, but did not catch it.

On the other side of the pen holder are engraved two lines of poetry: "Occasionally, when the wind blows, the shepherd boy also has his head." ”

Fei Zhen'e knew in her heart that this carved bamboo must be an old thing from a wealthy family, and it was robbed by Luo Hu's subordinates and dedicated to Luo Hu. Suddenly, I thought about it again, Luo Hu is an important leader under the thief leader Li Zicheng, who robs a lot of things, and he only values this quaint carved bamboo old pen holder, probably he is a shepherd boy. She couldn't help but think of her brother, who was also a shepherd boy, and now he didn't know whether he was alive or dead. Luo Hu will never have a day to be a shepherd boy, and he has become a thief with Li Zicheng, so he has today. Thinking of this, her idea of assassinating Luo Hu suddenly wavered, and her secretly clenched right hand was released.

But after a while, she thought of the truth of being loyal to the country, the emperor and empress Chongzhen who were martyred, and the dozens of sisters in the palace who were thrown into the water such as Wei Qinghui, clenched her teeth, and said in her heart: "No! If I live in the world, how can I be worthy of the emperor, the queen, and many sisters who threw themselves into the water outside the Xihua Gate?"

She also thought that she had heard news in the palace recently, about how Li Zicheng's military discipline was corrupted after entering Beijing, and how he tortured and plundered big officials and wealthy businessmen to extort money, all of which were transmitted to the palace by the eunuchs who missed their old master. Although Fei Zhen'e is not very old, she has a good and deep character. She kept silent about the news she heard, but gritted her teeth in her heart and said, "Sure enough, it's a group of thieves!"

In the past day or two, she heard that Wu Sangui had become hostages despite the fact that his family living in Beijing had become hostages, and his life could not be guaranteed, but he was in Shanhaiguan to raise a division to fight for thieves and restore the Ming Dynasty, so frightened that Li Zicheng did not dare to hold the throne and was about to send troops to deal with Wu Bing. Now thinking about all the news she heard recently, she is determined to assassinate Luo Hu and cut off one of Li Zicheng's wings.

Although Fei Zhen'e was sitting in the cave room as cold as ice and snow, she knew that there were many guests who came to the banquet, even Prime Minister Niu, Song Junshi, and the ministers of the six governments came. Wu will have more in the future. There were constantly two elderly maids who told Fei Zhen'e's dowry maids about the situation ahead, and they relayed it to Fei Zhen'e.

Fei Zhen'e was always silent and indifferent, but when it came to the second watch, she knew that the wine feast in front of her would be dispersed, and she was suddenly worried that she was going to assassinate a tiger general who was only twenty-one years old tonight, and she herself was a weak woman who was powerless, and if the assassination failed, her life would be in vain. How can the assassination be successful?, she muttered to herself.

Because they knew that the bridegroom and the Earl were going back to the cave room, the close-fitting maids hurried to wait for the bride to remove her makeup, first took off the phoenix crown, and then removed the cloud shoulder and xia veil, and replaced the bow-soled phoenix shoes with embroidered loafers. Then he brought a basin of warm water, served her to clean her hands and face, and lightly applied the fat powder again.

At this time, the older palace maid, who had a close relationship with Fei Zhen'e in Shouning Palace, suddenly saw that her face was pale, and she was surprised in her heart, and whispered in her ear: "Don't be afraid, everyone in my daughter's family has this experience." After tonight, you'll be the Countess. ”

Fei Zhen'e's face flushed. She kept her chaste body in order to die, and according to the idea she had in mind, she whispered: "Sister Li, my Tianqi is here." ”

The girl who was called Sister Li was not surprised, and said with a red face: "Tonight is the first night in the cave room, it's really not a coincidence!"

After a pause, she whispered again, "Don't be afraid, when you go to bed, tell the groom yourself, and he will understand." ”

Fei Zhen'e shook her head: "It's hard for me to say it." ”

Sister Li was also embarrassed, and whispered: "The four of us are all girls who have not been out of the cabinet, and we can't say it...... Okay, I'll tell my sister-in-law Zhang and ask her to tell the groom. ”

Sister Li pulled the maid known as Sister-in-law Zhang outside the house and muttered a few words. Fei Zhen'e heard Sister-in-law Zhang whisper in a smiling tone: "It's really a coincidence that there is no book, but on a good day, the new aunt is a military general, he is in his early twenties, waiting to enter the cave room is hungry and thirsty, he sees the bride is beautiful like flowers and jade, dry firewood, can you imagine?"

I heard that there was such a coincidence in my hometown, and the bridegroom insisted on carrying the bride to bed, regardless of the three, seven, twenty-one, and so on...... Well, when the uncle came in, I was not afraid of him being annoyed, and boldly told him that he knew. ”

Sister Li's face was flushed, her heart was pounding, she returned to Zhen'e's side, and whispered: "Don't be afraid, Sister-in-law Zhang will tell the groom." ”

As soon as Sister Li finished speaking, she suddenly heard someone at the door of the inner mansion report loudly: "The earl is back in the inner house!"

The maids and maids who were waiting in the house rushed out to meet the earl. Some maids and maids also rushed out of the east and west wings, and they all went to the patio to serve respectfully. Fei Zhen'e was nervous and said secretly: "It's almost time for the end of the festival!"

She heard the sound of footsteps in the patio, and there was a man whose footsteps were heavy and chaotic. She didn't understand what was going on, and her heart was pounding, and she turned her head to the door. Immediately, many people stayed outside the hall, only two maids supported Luo Hu from the left and right, and the four dowry maids took care of Luo Hu on the left and right sides and behind the back, and sent Luo Hu into the cave room.

Fei Zhen'e suddenly understood that the heavy and scattered footsteps she heard just now turned out to be Luo Hu being helped back to the inner house in a drunken state. In the ten years she has lived in the palace, she has never heard such footsteps, never seen such a drunk person, such a situation, after all, the habits of a group of thieves have not changed.

Luo Hu didn't know how to drink, but there were too many guests who came to congratulate him today, mostly his elders and bosses, as well as many of his peers and generals. Because Luo Hu was promoted to the earl, and he became a parent, he was happy and kept persuading him to drink. Luo Hu tried his best to refuse, but because the amount of alcohol was too small, he was drunk. When he entered the cave room, he only felt that the world was spinning, and without looking at the bride, he was supported by two maids and staggered to the bed, and fell asleep on the bed.

The maid and the palace maid were in a hurry, took off the hat for Luo Hu, untied the silk thread tied around his waist, and took off the short sword from the silk silk, and put it on the high coffee table outside the mandarin tent with a sonorous sound. Then he took off his boots, and finally took off his blue satin official robe, and then put his burly body in underwear on the bed, and covered it with an embroidered red silk quilt. Luo Hu didn't know all this, and he was really drunk.

The two middle-aged maids were selected from the female pieces of the rich and wealthy families, and they were more sensible. After taking care of Luo Hu to rest in bed, they came to Fei Zhen'e and asked her to go to bed as well.

Fei Zhen'e said, "You," she looked at the palace maid again: "And you, it's been a busy day, go to sleep." I'll sit for a while longer, and I won't have to wait for you. ”

The maid surnamed Zhang said: "Mrs. Hui, we are all subordinates, Madame does not sleep, how can we as slaves sleep first." We have already agreed that we will take turns sitting in the hall tonight. When the Count wakes up, asks for tea or water, or vomits, we are always waiting. ”