Cigarette smoke lingered in the Yuanling Palace in the South Garden of Jingshi, and the Empress Dowager Gongci climbed the stone steps of the Yuanyou Gate with the support of a group of palace maids, and entered the front of the Ningshi Hall dedicated to the Three Qing Dynasty and the Four Emperors.

Bypassing the incense burning Dading furnace, I saw the plaque of the imperial book on the towering and heavy eaves of the Ningshi Palace: "Shangqing Treasure Realm", and then looked down, the couplets on both sides read:

"The qi is tight, and the development of one yuan is generated; The magic is overturned, and ten thousand lotus are generated. ”

Empress Dowager Gongci silently recited it in her heart, and then entered the hall with the Taoist priests in front of the temple, prayed for incense, and bowed her head.

According to the royal rules, a set of sacrificial etiquette is extremely cumbersome, the Empress Dowager Gongci is a full seventy years old this year, she hopes to take advantage of her physical condition can still move freely, the Buddha Hall in the West Garden, the Taoist Temple in the South Garden, and the places for the Buddha and worship in the Old Summer Palace can be personally sacrificed, in order to ask the gods to bless the Sheji, so that the country and the country are eternal, and the country and the people are safe.

Incense came out from the Ningshi Palace, and from east to west, respectively, the nine heavenly true women enshrined in the Yizhen Hall in the East Chamber, and the three officials worshiped in the Giyuan Hall in the West Chamber, after this set of etiquette, the Empress Dowager Gongci was already a little physically exhausted, but fortunately, the Taoist priests who greeted the car had prepared a place to rest in the east wing room north of the Yizhen Palace, so a group of palace maids helped the Queen Mother into the east wing.

As soon as they sat down, one of the palace maids served the hot tea that had been prepared, and then the two palace maids bent down and squatted down to beat the legs of the Empress Dowager Gongci.

"Old, no!" Empress Dowager Gongci sighed with a smile, "When I was young, I followed the first emperor to go to Xiyuan, to the Old Summer Palace, and to the temples and temples of Rehe to drop incense, which was the most proud thing. At that time, I wish I could come out every day to drop incense, with the blessing of the gods, I can go out of the palace to relax, but now people are idle, but this leg and foot can't walk anymore! ”

"Where did the ancestor say," Xiuyin, the palace maid who served tea, was a celebrity next to the Empress Dowager Gongci, and she was the most pleasing to the Empress Dowager on weekdays, she smiled and praised, "Today, the ancestor came in from the Chaoyuan Gate and incense all the way, if we didn't follow closely behind, according to the legs and feet of the ancestor, we wouldn't be able to keep up with you!" ”

"Hehe, you little hooves can talk!" Empress Dowager Gongci was praised by her and laughed, the silver threads on her head and the crow's feet at the corners of her eyes made her a little kind and serene at this time, "Nanyuan here, I haven't come often these years, I remember that I came once when I burned opium cigarettes, how many years have I been?" ”

Xiuyin thought for a while and replied: "The year when Humen sold cigarettes was the nineteenth year of Daoguang, and it has been seven years. ”

"yes, it's been seven years!" The Empress Dowager Gongci sighed, and her face suddenly turned resentful, "In those years, the British were able to afford to fight with the British because of trade, and finally were forced to sign the "Jiangning Treaty", ceding land and paying compensation, and trading with five mouths, which is really a great shame since the founding of the Qing Dynasty!" Alas, my body is not good day by day, only in this lifetime, worship God and pray a lot, looking forward to the Jiangshan Sheji can be eternal for ten thousand years, too peaceful and happy, I have the face to see the first emperor after ten thousand years! ”

"The old ancestor is worried about the country, but the slaves and maids are not good at saying anything," Xiuyin was afraid that the queen mother would be sad, so she hurriedly persuaded her, "However, the major affairs of the court are all handled by the Lord Banzai and the ministers, and the wind and rain have been smooth over the years, and there has been no major chaos, why should the ancestor be so worried?" Since you have come to the Immortal Palace, you naturally have to have the carefree heart of the old gentleman of the three Qing Dynasty! ”

"Well, that's a good point!" The Empress Dowager Gongci praised, "Taoism emphasizes inaction, and being at ease is the right reason, and you little girl has also understood it!" As he spoke, he burst out laughing, and the palace maids around him also laughed in agreement.

"By the way," the Empress Dowager Gongci suddenly remembered something, "Didn't the fifth and sixth Gege always follow?" Why did you enter the Yuanling Palace and disappear without seeing anyone? ”

"Old Ancestor, it's not six grids now," Xiuyin corrected, "Long live the Lord has already given the title, and now it's the sixth princess, Princess Shouen Gulun!" ”

"Ah, princess, it's a princess!" Empress Dowager Gongci remembered the naughty appearance of the sixth princess Yueling, and couldn't help laughing, "The princess who is about to marry is talking, but she still has a childish face, these days when the emperor is not in the capital, she has to go out of the palace to play with the fifth princess." I see, this girl must have caused a lot of trouble outside, the five foreheads are the Mudu Lu family, a family of honest people, one of the five princesses is enough to make a fuss, and there is another six princesses, and their forehead mansion must not be turned upside down? As he spoke, he and the palace maids laughed.

"Ancestor!" At this time, Yue Ling's voice came from outside the palace gate, and then she pushed the door in with a gloomy face, "The old ancestor will arrange people behind his back, Yue Ling has only been out of the palace for a few days, and you just count me down like this?" ”

"Slave maid to Princess Shou'en please peace!" Xiuyin and other palace maids hurriedly got up and saluted Yue Ling.

"Get up," Yue Ling took Xiuyin's hand and helped her up, then scolded with a smile, "It must be you who speak ill of me behind your back, so that the old ancestor blames me for no reason!" ”

Xiuyin knew that the sixth princess liked to joke with herself, so she hurriedly smiled and saluted again: "Princess Mingjian, no matter how bold the slave is, she doesn't dare to speak ill of the princess in front of the old ancestor!" But ,......"

Yue Ling hurriedly asked, "But what?" ”

"However," Xiuyin held back a smile, "If the five-fronted mansion turns upside down, the Internal Affairs Office will definitely report it to the ancestors, and the slaves and maids can't stop it if they want to!" ”

"Good for you!" Yue Ling reached out and twisted her arm, "Flim tongue!" ”

Watching the two of them frolic, the Empress Dowager Gongci and the palace maids laughed.

"Okay, it's no better than in the palace, don't make any more trouble." Empress Dowager Gongci waved her hand and asked Yueling, "What about the fifth child?" ”

This refers to Emperor Daoguang's fifth son, Prince Yi, Yue Ling hurriedly replied: "The official on the side of the Yamen, the commander of the infantry army, is reporting to him, and he will come over in a while!" ”

"Yue Ling," Empress Dowager Gongci asked her solemnly, "Last night, I heard that you led someone to arrest the sixth child of Prince Zheng's mansion, what happened?" ”

"I'm about to report this matter to my ancestors," Yue Ling said thoughtfully, "Speaking of which, things are still a little strange!" ”

"Oh?" Empress Dowager Gongci said curiously, "What's wrong?" ”

Yueling then summoned Su Xiaoliu to talk about cross talk in the Wu's Mansion the night before, and then Su Xiaoliu arranged her with a poem about "Eight Good Fortunes", so she sent someone to track Su Xiaoliu to Hongye Ridge overnight and told the Empress Dowager Gongci about it one by one.

Speaking of that night in Hongye Ridge, when she instructed her subordinates to hold down Su Xiaoliu's head and keep soaking in the bucket, she said with some doubts: "I was also angry at that time, so I asked them to hold that Su Xiaoliu's head and let him wash his stinky mouth in the bucket, and then I don't know if they shot hard, or that Su Xiaoliu pretended to be dead, and in the second half of the night, that kid was lying there without breath!" ”

"Huh?" Xiuyin exclaimed, "Could it be that he ...... He's dead? ”

"Yes, I was also worried about whether he was dead at that time," Yue Ling said vividly, and all the palace maids listened with wide eyes and bated breath, "Later, I asked them to pinch people, pat their chests, and work for a long time, and finally they haven't been saved." They said that the drowning man wanted him to lie on the haystack and empty his stomach of water, so they carried him to the haystack, and guess what happened? ”

"How's it going?" Xiuyin hurriedly asked, "Are you alive?" ”

"Who would have thought that he would be put on the haystack," Yue Ling laughed, "that kid actually snored!" ”

"Giggles!" Xiuyin and the other palace maids all laughed.

"I see," the Empress Dowager Gongci also smiled, "This sixth child of Prince Zheng's Mansion will 'hold his qigong' and deceive you all!" ”

"Yes," Yue Ling said, "I was very angry at that time, so I locked him in the house with an iron chain, and the fifth brother told the queen mother about the rest of the matter." ”

"Speaking of which, this Su Xiaoliu is also a strange person," Empress Dowager Gongci said with a smile, "He was expelled from the palace since he was a child, and the mother and son depended on each other, and his mother died a few years ago. I heard that he said cross talk on the flyover is not bad, I thought that his kung fu was amazing, but I didn't expect his kung fu to hold his breath and pretend to be dead is also very powerful, and he actually deceived our six princesses! ”

"Who's to say it isn't! I thought he was dead! Yue Ling thought about Su Xiaoliu's appearance, and couldn't help but be happy and hateful in her heart, "The old ancestor didn't look at him, and he was so happy that he couldn't close his mouth when he saw it!" ”

"Oh? Then I'm going to see you," said the Empress Dowager Gongci, "and he should be here at the right time!" ”

"He's coming here?" Yue Ling was stunned, "The old ancestor wants him to come here?" ”

"Well," Empress Dowager Gongci said, "I asked Fu Ji, the official of the Imperial Procuratorate, to personally go and bring him, and he will come with Daoist Xue in a while!" ”