Chapter 2 Chance Encounter with Zhu'er

Three months have passed in a blink of an eye, Wang Qiang has gradually become familiar with the environment in the palace, he is evacuated by nature, he was originally a casual encounter, does not like to provoke trouble, although he encountered such a huge change, he still quickly adapted, every day and Xiaoshanzi pushed the cart around twice, after doing the errand, when he was okay during the day, he went to the rooms to chat, and soon became familiar with the eunuchs in the outer palace rooms and the guards guarding the palace gates, and also knew a lot about things outside the palace.

This year, is the eleventh year of Chongzhen, Emperor Chongzhen is only twenty-eight years old, at this time the Ming Dynasty is full of smoke, the territory is Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong led by the peasant rebel army everywhere to attack the city and plunder the land, kill officials and grab grain, abroad, Houjin (Manchu) Chen Bingshan Customs, the Ming Dynasty is eyeing the Ming Dynasty, the Liaojin border war continues, every day there is news of the official army war to the palace. However, Wang Qiang felt that these things were still far away from him, and he was more concerned about his situation and future.

In the Ming Dynasty, there were a large number of eunuchs, and the institutions were large and complex, and the hierarchy was strict. The largest official position among the eunuchs is the chief of the inner palace and the eunuch of the six palaces, who are directly responsible to the emperor and have great power; The next level is the chief eunuch, responsible for special affairs, the queen mother, the queen, the concubine Niangniang each palace has one, the palace has a celebrant supervisor, Shang Shan supervisor, imperial horse supervisor and other institutions, the leader is also the chief eunuch level. Outside the palace, there are East Factory, West Factory, and Inner Factory, which are special agents and criminal investigation agencies that specialize in doing things for the emperor, responsible for monitoring hundreds of officials and probing the news of all parties. Below the chief eunuch is the chief eunuch, and below is the steward eunuch, like Gao Gonggong. And miscellaneous eunuchs like Wang Qiang are the lowest in the palace, and the ordinary eunuchs in the inner palace are also one level higher than them.

It is extremely difficult for eunuchs to be promoted, and if they are lucky, they can only survive for decades to become a chief eunuch, and if they want to mix into the level of chief eunuch, they need to have a special opportunity, and it is possible to be favored by the emperor, queen mother or empress. Ordinary eunuchs can only work in obscurity until they are old, until they can no longer do it, they are allowed to leave the palace and give a few money to go back to their hometown, and those who have no home are arranged to retire in some temples in Xishan. But more eunuchs didn't survive that time, and died in the palace due to illness, mistakes, offending the powerful and other reasons, and were buried in the mass graves in the western suburbs, without even a monument. Wang Qiang came from the modern society, so he naturally would not be willing to spend it like this, and he was trying to find an opportunity to escape from the palace and seek another development.

At noon on this day, the weather was unusually hot, Wang Qiang had nothing to do, and he couldn't stay in the house in the heat, thinking that the woods in the west of the palace were a good place to enjoy the coolness, so he said hello to Xiaoshanzi and came to the forest alone. This forest is next to the Imperial Garden, and it is full of tall and thick pine trees, which cover the sky and the sun, blocking the summer heat from the forest, and there is a small stream in the middle of the forest, which meanders to Kunming Lake. It was noon, the masters and slaves in the palace were taking a nap or hiding in the house to escape the heat, there was no one in this forest, it was very quiet, Wang Qiang sat down on a stone by the stream, thinking silently, suddenly he saw two sika deer not far away playing and playing, it was a doe with its fawn, the fawn squeezed under the doe, the doe teased the fawn, deliberately turned around to prevent it from succeeding. This scene touched Wang Qiang's liver and intestines, thinking of his parents and relatives, thinking of his tragic experience, he couldn't help crying, and the more he cried, the more he felt wronged, and the more aggrieved he was, the more miserable he cried. He was crying profusely when suddenly a girl flashed from behind a big tree, the girl was fifteen or sixteen years old, not tall, baby-faced, dressed in a lotus-colored maid's dress, and carrying a basket in her hand. The girl shouted at Wang Qiang from a distance of more than ten meters: "Hey, that little eunuch, I said that you are such an adult, and you are not ashamed to cry here alone!" ”

Seeing this, the girl approached Wang Qiang, squatted beside him, shook Wang Qiang's arm and said softly: "Okay, okay, don't cry, what's the matter?" So sad, crying in my heart, was I beaten by that big eunuch, cough, isn't this a common thing! ”

Wang Qiang threw the girl's arm away and said with a crying voice: "Do you care!" I miss my mom and dad. ”

This girl's name is Zhu'er, she is the palace maid in front of Concubine Li of Zhongcui Palace, only fifteen years old, she went to the forest at noon today to collect grass seeds to feed the birds, and when she heard the cry, she followed the sound. Zhu'er was sold to the palace by traffickers when she was a child, and she had no impression of her parents at all, and when she heard Wang Qiang say this, she was sympathetic and envious, and pouted and said: "It's strange and pitiful, but I'm more pitiful than you, I don't know who my parents are at all." ”

Wang Qiang cried for a while, the sadness in his heart decreased slightly, he stopped crying, turned his smile and said: "Okay, I won't cry anymore, it's useless to cry anyway, hey, by the way, what's your name?" ”

"My name is Zhu'er, and I work as an errand in Concubine Li's palace. What's your name? ”

"My name is Xiao Duozi, I just entered the palace, and I was on an errand under Gao Gonggong." Wang Qiang was embarrassed to say that he was a handyman who collected dung buckets in front of the little girl.

"Oh, no wonder I saw you in person. Hey, can you tell me about your parents? "Zhu'er has always regarded not having parents as her biggest regret in her heart, so she wants to listen to others talk about her parents, and then graft herself into it, all as if she was talking about her own affairs, and rely on this to experience the affection of her parents.

Wang Qiang has a good impression of this innocent and kind-hearted little girl in front of him, and he misses his parents, so he opened the conversation box and talked about the things between himself and his parents, what was he very naughty when he was a child, his father beat him angrily, his mother protected him hard, what parents told him stories, took him to the park-------, and talked about the eyebrows flying, and from time to time he painted with his hands.

Zhu'er's eyes straightened when she heard this, as if she understood or not, and when Wang Qiang finished speaking, Zhu'er said with a yearning look: "It's good to have a father and mother, even if you beat me or scold me, I'm willing." She came back to her senses and said to Wang Qiang: "Xiao Duozi, you tell so well, like a storyteller, are you good at telling stories?" ”

"Of course! I'll have more stories. Wang Qiang said boastfully.

"Then tell me a paragraph, it's funny, it's funny, okay!" Zhu'er shook Wang Qiang's arm and begged.

"Okay!" These days, Wang Qiang has been accompanying smiling faces everywhere, flattering others, and now seeing this little girl pleading with herself, she is very proud, and then tell the story, naturally it is difficult for him, after reading so many novels, movies, and TV series, it is enough to take out a paragraph casually to deal with this unworldly little girl in front of him. Wang Qiang pondered for a while, and decided to tell Zhu'er the story of "Journey to the West", Wang Qiang did not read this book seriously, but he had seen a lot of cartoons, comic books, movies, and TV series adapted from "Journey to the West" as a child, and he had a lot of memories of the characters in it, and this story was especially suitable for children to listen to, he made up his mind and said: "I'll tell you the story of Journey to the West." ”

"Who is Journey to the West?" Zhu'er asked curiously.

"This "Journey to the West" is a book, it is a special story, but it is fun, I can't finish it in a few days and nights, I will tell you a paragraph today." Wang Qiang said.

"Okay, let's talk about it." Zhu'er said, she sat sideways beside Wang Qiang, with her hands on her cheeks, and looked at Wang Qiang expectantly with a pair of big eyes.

"Once upon a time, there was a big mountain, and there was a big rock on the mountain, and one day, a strong wind blew, and then it rained heavily, and it was so dark that you couldn't see anyone a few steps away." Wang Qiang wantonly rendered the atmosphere, and Zhu'er frowned.

Suddenly, there was a lightning bolt in the sky, and there was a great thunderbolt in the sky. And guess what? ”

"What's wrong?" Zhu'er's eyes widened and she responded.

"That big stone on the mountain, with a loud bang, it was divided in half, and a stone monkey came out of it!" Wang Qiang said while drawing.

"You are talking nonsense, how can monkeys grow out of the stones?" Zhu'er asked curiously, opening her mouth wide.

"Don't worry, listen to me, it turns out that this stone monkey is a monkey spirit who has practiced for thousands of years, his name is Sun Wukong, this day is the end of his practice, so he jumped out of the stone."

"Oh." Zhu'er nodded in realization.

"This Monkey King has practiced for thousands of years, and his ability is great, he can fly 108,000 miles on his heels, he can walk on clouds, and he will have seventy-two changes, he plucks out his hair, blows like this, and says 'change', that hair can become a big apple, and can also become an old man or an old lady, anyway, he can become whatever he wants."

Listening to this, Zhu'er couldn't help but think to herself: "This stone monkey is so capable, how good it would be if he could conjure my parents!" ”

Wang Qiang continued: "This Monkey King came to a big mountain, this mountain is called Huaguo Mountain, the mountain is full of fruit trees, pears, peaches, apples, bananas, watermelons, everything, anyway, the fruits we have seen are there, there are many monkeys on this mountain, thousands of times more than the monkeys in our monkey mountain." Sun Wukong has great ability, as soon as he arrived on this mountain, he became the monkey king here, taking his little monkeys to play on the mountain every day, and picking fruits from the trees to eat when he was hungry. This Monkey King knows martial arts, and his martial arts are strong, the first in the world, but he has not taken advantage of the weapons in his hands, this day, he brought a few old monkeys to discuss where to find a suitable weapon,------- "Wang Qiang's eyebrows danced, and he talked about it manually for an hour, until Sun Wukong snatched the golden hoop stick of the Dragon King of the East China Sea, and as a result, he offended the Jade Emperor, and the Jade Emperor sent 100,000 heavenly soldiers to the lower realm to arrest Sun Wukong.

When she heard that the Jade Emperor was going to arrest Sun Wukong, she couldn't help but worry about him, and asked eagerly: "Later, did Sun Wukong catch it?" ”

Wang Qiang deliberately took it, shook his head and said: "I want to know what will happen next, and listen to the next decomposition." ”

How did Zhu'er agree, grabbed Wang Qiang's arm, shook and pleaded: "What a little man, what a little brother, do you continue to tell me, what happened later?" ”

Wang Qiang smiled proudly and said: "Let's talk about it here today, I have been out for a long time, and if I don't go back, Gonggong Gao will know that it will be another stinky beating, and I will continue to talk about it when I have time in the future." ”

Zhu'er thought about it, and was afraid that Wang Qiang would really be beaten when he went back, so he said: "Okay, then you go back first, and you can continue to talk about it at this time tomorrow, I'll bring you something delicious, good brother, please." ”

"Okay, let's meet here tomorrow at this hour, and I'll tell you about it, but you promised to bring me something delicious, don't forget." Wang Qiang said.

"Okay, definitely!" Zhu'er nodded vigorously and said.

The two got up and walked out of the woods together, just a few steps apart, Zhu'er still couldn't rest assured that Sun Wukong, and turned around to stop Wang Qiang and asked, "Hey, did Sun Wukong catch it?" ”

Wang Qiang smiled: "I was caught at first, but then I ran away again, don't worry!" ”

Hearing Wang Qiang say this, Zhu'er was a little relieved, turned around and left, and muttered in her heart: "This Monkey King was caught by the Jade Emperor, and I don't know if he was tortured." ”