Chapter 1 Miscellaneous Little Eunuchs

As soon as the sky was bright, Xiao Shanzi took Wang Qiang out to work. Xiao Shanzi pulled a frame car and walked in front, Wang Qiang held the wheel, turned his neck to look around, he was full of curiosity and inexplicable fear about this new world.

The two walked along the long road, while walking, Xiao Shanzi told Wang Qiang about the rules and conditions in the palace: "Xiao Duozi, in the future, we will be in a class, although our work is dirty, but it is relatively leisurely, every morning, push this car, go to each father-in-law's room for a walk, load the dung bucket into the car, send it to the west dung field, and then send the clean dung bucket to the father-in-law to the house at night, even if it is a work, there is basically nothing to do during the day." And we generally don't get into any trouble in this work, as long as the rules are in order, and the father-in-law is respectful, even if there is a little mistake, no one cares about us, unlike those who serve in the inner palace and the emperor's side, on the surface, it looks very beautiful, but in fact, they are worried all day long, and if they are not careful, they will cramp and peel the skin, and the service of the soldering iron clamp and stick, and it is common to lose the head. The day before yesterday, Gonggong Liu, who was serving in the south study, was still a deputy manager, just because he farted when the emperor approved the excerpts and smoked the emperor, what happened? Forty canes! Now he is paralyzed and sent to the temple in the west of the city to die. ”

Wang Qiang was shocked when he heard this, and couldn't help but ask: "If you fart, you will be crippled, isn't it too ------! ”

"Hey! This is all Wei Gonggong and their eunuchs in the first few years to make trouble, the emperor hates the eunuchs the most for forming gangs and controlling the government, you think, Chongzhen Ye is just long live, he dares to call it nine thousand years old, and he also cultivates shrines everywhere, so it is not a taboo for the emperor. At that time, the people who were killed, the sea went to the sea, and the father-in-law with a head and face in the palace killed more than half of them, but mainly those who were officials in the inner palace and the east and west factories, and those who did chores in our outer palace were basically fine. In order to prevent the resurgence of the eunuchs, Chongzhen Ye set rules for the eunuchs in the palace, and the eunuchs were one word 'ruthless', as long as they made mistakes, they would be punished severely, and the eunuchs in the inner palace were all illiterate except for individual positions, for fear that these people would peek at the emperor's folds and spread the news to the outside. ”

Wang Qiang listened attentively and thought to himself: "Oh, it seems that I have returned to the late Ming Dynasty, this is when Emperor Chongzhen was in power." According to history, this should be Li Zicheng's invasion of Beijing, Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself on the coal mountain, Wu Sangui surrendered to the Qing army for Chen Yuanyuan, and the Qing army defeated Li Zicheng, occupied Beijing, and established the Great Qing State. I don't know how many years are left before Chongzhen hangs himself? ”

Wang Qiang was pondering blindly, and Xiao Shanzi shouted: "Hey, don't be stunned, it's time to work." It turned out that the two had walked out of the road, turned a corner, stopped in front of a big house, and saw a eunuch in his thirties standing at the door of the house, with a dung bucket at his feet. ”

Xiao Shanzi hurriedly stepped forward and bowed, and said with a smile on his face: "Alas, Grandpa Zhang, I got up in the morning and had diarrhea, and I came out a little late, so I kept you waiting for a long time, you have always been magnanimous, don't adults remember villains, hehe." ”

"Little rabbit, it's just a sweet mouth, don't talk so much nonsense, hurry up, take it away, ho! This tastes good. The father-in-law said as he frowned and covered his nose as if he were hiding from the plague.

Xiao Shanzi hurriedly stepped forward, lifted the dung bucket at Zhang's father-in-law's feet, put it in the car, and gave Zhang's father-in-law a smile, turned around and took Wang Qiang's cart away.

Turning around the big house, Wang Qiang asked, "What kind of head is this Gonggong Zhang?" ”

Xiao Shanzi pouted and said, "What kind of head is he, he is just a eunuch in the room of the chief steward of Shangyi Supervisor Li." However, they are the people in the inner palace, one level higher than us, we are the last class, and no one can offend. So, I have to remind you that here, you have to be accompanied by a smile on everyone, and don't offend anyone, otherwise there will be no good fruit to eat. You actually dared to scold Grandpa Gao this morning, it's really hanging, Grandpa Gao, this person, looks very fierce on the surface, but in fact, he is kind in his heart, besides, you were rescued by him, so I won't do anything to you, we are in his room, we are with the right person. I look at you, go back at night and accompany Grandpa Gao, and it's over, do you hear? ”

"Hey." Wang Qiang replied incorrectly, and when he heard Xiao Shanzi say that he was rescued by Gao Gonggong, he was puzzled, and couldn't help but say: "I'm dizzy, I forgot everything, and I don't know what happened to this Gao Gonggong to save me." ”

Xiao Shanzi said: "Blind, of course you can't remember, you were picked up by Gao Gonggong from the mass grave, he had a fever at the time, and his mouth was full of nonsense, and he only recovered last night, and I have been taking care of you for the past two days." ”

Wang Qiang knew a little about his entry into the palace, and thought that Xiao Shanzi had been taking care of himself, and he had interceded for himself in the morning, and he was also grateful and close, so he said: "Xiao Shanzi, then I thank you very much." ”

"Hey! It's okay, it's all chewed in a trough, so what's the matter? Xiao Shanzi said very righteously.

"By the way, how old are you this year, you are so familiar with the situation in the palace, have you been in for a few years?" Wang Qiang asked.

"It's been a long time, I came in when I was eight years old, I'm nineteen this year, you can do the math, it's been eleven years." Xiao Shanzi said a little smugly. Then he asked, "Hey, I said Xiao Duozi, what did you do before?" How old is this year? ”

How does Wang Qiang know what he did before! He hesitated, sighed and said, "Alas! It's hard to say in a word, anyway, it's a mess and there is no serious business. Oh, I'm eighteen. ”

Xiao Shanzi saw that Wang Qiang didn't want to speak, so he didn't ask deeply, and a deep image that didn't match his age appeared on his face, and said: "Yes, those who come here are hard-working people. However, this person has to take one step at a time, no matter what happened before, when he arrives here, he has to recite the scriptures here, he has to endure everything, and it is serious to save his life first. ”

These words were half enlightening, half sighing, Wang Qiang also sighed from his heart, and said in his heart: ", let's save my life first, I think I'm a dignified modern person, I won't just nest here, sooner or later, I have to find a way to get out, and then slowly try to develop." Thinking of this, Wang Qiang's heart was a little lighter, and he talked more.

Wang Qiang asked, "You have been doing this for so many years?" ”

"No, at the beginning, I was a follower to Grandpa Gao, and then when I got older, I did this, in fact, I was very popular in the palace, and the inner palace wanted to transfer me in several times, but I never agreed." Xiao Shanzi said.

"Why? Just because the inner palace is dangerous? Wang Qiang asked.

"That's one thing, the main thing is that I followed Gao Gonggong when I was a child, and I was reluctant to leave him, and besides, this work is also idle and down-to-earth. Of course, there is a bad thing about this job. Xiao Shanzi said.

"What's bad?" Wang Qiang asked.

"Hehe, I just can't find a good match, because we've been working for a long time, and there is always a smell on our bodies, and people cover their noses and hide far away when they see them." Xiao Shanzi said, his face was still red.

Wang Qiang has seen from the book that in ancient times, the eunuchs and palace maids in the palace couldn't bear the loneliness, and in order to make up for each other's psychological emptiness, they often formed fake couples in pairs, also known as 'vegetable households', although there was no husband and wife, but they could also comfort each other.

The two of them walked all the way and chatted, turning dozens of big houses back and forth, and the shelf car was also full of a cart of dung buckets, stacked high enough to be tall, Wang Qiang was embarrassed to ask Xiao Shanzi to do all the work alone, so he took a handle and helped push the cart together.

When I came back from work, it was only seven o'clock in the morning, and during the whole day, there was nothing to do, so Xiao Shanzi took Wang Qiang to the various rooms in the outer palace to go around, what little plums, small spoons, Xiao Anzi, and Xiao Lizi introduced a lot, Wang Qiang couldn't remember the names of so many people, so he just mixed a half-familiar face first. At seven o'clock in the evening, Xiao Shanzi took Wang Qiang and pushed the cart again, and sent the empty buckets to each room, and the day's work was over.

After dinner, Wang Qiang and Xiao Shanzi were chatting in the house, Gao Gonggong walked in with his hands behind his back, and listened to Xiao Shanzi's introduction to the situation of the day, Wang Qiang's impression of Gao Gonggong has been much better, plus the idea of seeking self-protection first, he will not remember the beating and scolding in the morning, he saw Gao Gonggong come in, according to Xiao Shanzi's repeated instructions in advance, he quickly stepped forward and bowed down and said: "Gao Gonggong, you are here, please sit down, I will make you a pot of tea." ”

"That's it, you little rabbit cub is good at school this time, it seems that those sticks in the morning were not in vain, hehe!" Grandpa Gao sat on the chair, stilted his feet, and said with a smile.

Wang Qiang saw that Gonggong Gao was in a good mood, and hurriedly said: "In the morning, I don't know the rules, I am obsessed with phlegm, and I make you angry. ”

"Well, that's like a word." Gao Gonggong nodded with satisfaction and said: "I think if I hadn't brought you back from the mass grave, you would have let the wild dogs tear it apart by now, so you have to repay me well." Do a good job here, be smart, and I won't treat you badly. ”

"Hey, hey!" Wang Qiang hurriedly nodded in response, with a grateful face, but he thought uneasily in his heart: The fact that he was not castrated is clear to his father-in-law, if this old guy thinks about it later, and gives himself such a knife, it is not a joke, if that is the case, Lao Tzu will fight with them.

In fact, it is clear that Wang Qiang did not purify his body, and he deliberately wanted to leave Wang Qiang's roots. It turned out that this Gao Gonggong had been in the palace for decades, he was kind and kind, never fought for power, nor fought for power and profit, and has been unknown and peaceful. The afternoon before yesterday, he took two little eunuchs to the west of the city to run errands, and when he came back and passed by the mass grave, he was just in time for someone to throw a corpse from a big car to the side of the road, he went up to inquire, and the handlebar told him that this was a young man from a hotel, an orphan without a father and a mother, because he was infected with the epidemic, and he saw that he was not working, and the innkeeper was afraid that this illness would be given to others, so he asked him to throw the child here in a car, whether he was dead or alive, and he could only resign himself to fate. Gao Gonggong walked to the 'corpse', and saw that the guy was only seventeen or eighteen years old, medium height, long and handsome, and he couldn't help but be kind, and he spent money to hire the cart and send the child to a restaurant, and poured a bowl of warm beef soup down, and the child was relieved, but he was feverish, unconscious, and full of toad nonsense, and his life was fine. Seeing that the child was an orphan, Father-in-law Gao had the heart to adopt him as an adopted son, so he quietly took him back to his residence, asked the doctor in the palace for medicine for the child to take, and asked Xiaoshanzi to help take care of it. He deliberately did not cleanse the child, thinking that it should be no big problem to be a miscellaneous servant in the outer palace, and planned to take him out of the palace and live his own small life when he was going to rest in a few days. He reported the name of Wang Qiang's manager in the palace, and named a small eunuch who died of illness a few days ago, and received a monthly payment of money and grain. The Ming Dynasty was the dynasty with the most eunuchs in all dynasties, the number of eunuchs in and outside the palace added up to seventy or eighty thousand, and the management was also very chaotic.

The three of them gossiped for a while, and Grandpa Gao specially told Wang Qiang before getting up and leaving, Wang Qiang and Xiaoshanzi kept sending Grandpa Gao to the door before returning to the house. It was getting dark outside, and Xiao Shanzi pulled Wang Qiang and said, "Xiao Duozi, you have passed this level, it seems that Gonggong Gao is not bad to you." Okay, let's go to bed, I'll have to get up early tomorrow to work. After speaking, Xiao Shanzi got into the bed on the kang and fell asleep after a while.

Wang Qiang also got into the bed, staring at the ceiling, recalling the bizarre experience of this day, one moment was the Old Summer Palace, the Eight-Nation Alliance, one moment was Wang Lihong and Xiao San'er, one moment was Xiao Shanzi and Gao Gonggong, and the car and the dung buckets stacked high on the car, the mess of people and things shook in front of him like a marquee, until late at night, he fell asleep in a daze.

In this way, Wang Qiang began his career as a eunuch.