"Because he has made great contributions to the country. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info" The Empress Dowager sighed, "He can be regarded as one of the great heroes of the Great Qian......"

"No matter how much credit he had in the past, he has now committed a serious crime and should be punished by the law." Carol said firmly, "I heard that there is a proverb in the Qianguo, which is called 'The prince breaks the law, and he is guilty of the same crime as the common people', and everyone is the same before the law, and it is not because he has made great contributions that he can be relieved of his current serious crimes, nor can he be disposed of at will because he is a commoner, and if he commits a minor crime, he can be dealt with at will." At this point, I think there is no difference between the East and the West. Her Majesty the Queen Mother. ”

"But dear Carol, there is no such thing as absolute equality. It's like you can see me, and most of the people of Daqian have never seen me once in their lives, this is inequality. The Queen Mother said, "If he were an ordinary murderer, I would not hesitate to kill him." But he is in a high position and has a lot of old things, and if I kill him rashly, it will cause a series of serious consequences that you can't imagine, my dear, this is Daqian. ”

"That is to say, if a prince breaks the law, he cannot be guilty of the same crime as the common people?" Carol asked.

"A prince is a prince, and a commoner is a commoner, and it is impossible to treat them the same. Because all human beings are inherently unequal. ”

"Yes! At this point, there is no difference between the East and the West in the treatment of big people and small people. Mrs. Hurd also said, "People have different statuses and different roles. ”

"But if you leave it alone, I think it's going to be a big mess." Carol said.

"I understand this, okay, let's not talk about it." The Queen Mother ended the conversation with a smile, and although she didn't say what she was going to do with the man, Carol noticed that the Queen Mother seemed to be much more relaxed.

After saying goodbye to the Queen Mother, they walked along the lakeside in a sedan chair, crossed the Baishi Bridge, and came to the location of the famous Nine Dragon Wall. Most of the Qianguo people have a kind of stone screen outside the door of the house, called "Zhaobi", on which a dragon is often painted or carved, which is said to ward off evil spirits. But this superstition seemed to be impossible to open to the Emperor of Qianguo, because Carol had never seen a dragon wall erected in front of the gates of any house in the inner courtyard of the palace. Maybe the evil ghost doesn't dare to approach the body of the Son of Heaven? Maybe the twin dragons with teeth and claws on everything in the royal family are enough to protect the palace? The Nine Dragon Walls of Sanhai must have been part of the outer palace temple, but when Emperor Xianfeng decided to build Sanhai into a place to live and expand it, it was incorporated into the inner garden of the imperial palace. Many foreigners in Beijing still remember the beautiful white stone bridge that is now in the palace with its proportions and shapes, and on which everyone used to be able to walk. Regardless of the origin of the Nine Dragon Wall, it is now inside the Imperial Palace, but in a place where no one is there - not before any residence, so it does not serve as a "shining wall" to ward off evil spirits. The nine dragon walls of this white marble are very beautiful, the details are very exquisitely carved, and the lines and overall ideas are very good.

When they reached the other side, they were led to the green sedan chair waiting for them outside the palace gate. They got into a sedan chair and soon returned to the embassy.

The next day Carol spent the next day at the U.S. Legation and had a very pleasant time. But she was still happy to think that she would go to the palace again the next day. The study of the Queen Mother is now like a thrilling novel for her, and she can't bear to put it down, even if she has to put it down, she looks forward to picking it up again as soon as possible. Because she was too unexpected for Carol.

Before arriving at the palace, Carol had read and heard a lot of books and newspapers about her, but none of them matched the actual situation. Her personality is so powerful, so unusual. Her strength doesn't come out of whims, but it always does. She is so thoughtful, empathetic, and seems to be genuinely nice to the people around her. Carol has been in daily contact with her for nearly a month. Carol didn't just see her in her portraits, but spent most of the day with her, and began to let herself fall in love with her. If Carol hadn't seen her, she would have felt that the day had been dull and boring—she was so funny and charming. She is inexhaustible, there is always something new in her body to study, and she is truly the embodiment of eternal femininity. She is both a child and a strong woman. She entered the main hall of the court, spent three hours dealing with state affairs, and then walked near and far, with a childlike interest in the simplest of entertainments. She sat in the throne room and talked to her ladies about trivial matters, and when the official document in the yellow satin box arrived, the eunuch curtsied it, and her face immediately became serious and focused, and she frowned and became a statesman. After a while, after some consideration, she made a corresponding will on this official document, and became a woman again, and turned her attention to her flowers, her clothes, and her jewelry.

A well-known Frenchman once commented on the Empress Dowager Renxi: "When it comes to superior intelligence and determination, she is not inferior to a man." But Carol's greatest opportunity to study was not her politician's side, but her as a woman in her private life. Carol had a unique opportunity to study her, and the more she saw her, the more she felt she was compelling. She treated the ladies of the court equally. She has her favorites, but she will never allow them to climb on top of her, nor will she allow them to interfere with her own judgment. Although her entourage never expressed an opinion contrary to her in front of her, and although she always took their opinions very openly, it was evident that no one could impose them on her, and that she knew their true views and that she had a strong natural insight. Like the conversation she had with Carol and Mrs. Hurd that day, she knew what they would say to her. She has a deep understanding of the similarities and differences between the East and the West, and is able to find and draw useful inspiration from them.

Carol was also surprised to find out how much the Queen Mother was revered by the court ladies and her retinue. Her favorite title, and the one she has been most known to her courtiers for the longest time, is "Galeries Lafayette", which shows that they infused her with divinity. The queens and princesses of the palace called her that, and she allowed Carol to call her that.

On the day of Carol's second visit to Sanhai, as soon as they arrived, after saluting the Queen Mother, they got on a sedan chair and went to the palace of the Mongolian king. This is a grand hall in the northeastern part of the Three Seas, separated from the respective palaces of the Queen Mother and the Emperor. It has only one story like a normal palace, but it is almost 40 feet high. The inside is very spacious, with only a few carved dragon bookcases and chairs, and no furnishings or other furniture. Behind is the raised Dan Majesty, and there are several steps to walk up. His Majesty Dan has a beautiful old throne, and above the throne are two huge black marble plaques with Chinese characters and Manchu scripts. This hall was only used as a reception place when the Mongol king came to Beijing with hundreds of entourages to pay tribute once a year. Out of the main hall at the back door is a courtyard, surrounded by smaller houses, which served as the court room of the entourage of the Mongol king.

When they arrived, the Queen Mother had already retired from the dynasty and was dealing with daily chores. The eunuch showed her a basket of good fruits, which were sent to the palace every day. Among them was a basket of sparkling grapes, and she liked it very much, so she picked up a bunch of them to the light, and said, "If the color is good, the fruit will be more flavorful", and she took a few and tasted them.

Then she had lunch, and Carol and the others went to the porch to join the queen and princesses. After that, they had lunch in this beautiful throne room. Dining with the queen and the ladies of the court turned into a joyous reunion. The Queen Mother asked them to have lunch or dinner at her table every day, and she rarely ate in her room. Carol ditched her knife and fork to learn how to use chopsticks.

Carol thought they were so beautiful when they were turned over the beautiful hands of the female officials of the Qianguo. Although she has never used it to the point of being handy, she finds this beautiful tableware to be perfect for eating dry food. They were pinched in pairs in the palm of her hand like two wands, far more graceful than a knife and fork in her eyes. The female officials laughed when they saw her struggling to learn how to use chopsticks, and she wanted to taste every new dish. Each of them gave Carol a taste of their favorite food and tried to teach her the Chinese names for these delicacies. Carol struggled to pronounce these sounds, sometimes by putting the name of the dish on the line, which sometimes caused the whole table to burst into laughter. This laughter was often heard by the Queen Mother, who would ask them what they were laughing at when they entered her chamber after dinner.

On the day of Carol's second trip to the three seas, lunch was almost not over, and the will to prepare a sedan car for a ride was made. It started to rain, and the climate was cool and swishing. But the Queen Mother had decided to take a walk at this time, and as long as she could put it into practice, nothing would ever interfere with her plans. No matter how bad the weather, her planned outdoor activities never stopped.

The sedan chair prepared by the entourage was an open sedan chair, as if it were a sunny day. The queen mother and the queen sat in a yellow sedan chair, and their attendant eunuchs opened the huge yellow umbrella for the emperor and queen; The imperial concubine sat in an orange palanquin; The princesses and Carol sat in red sedan chairs, and their eunuchs held red umbrellas above their heads. The queen mother, the queen and the princesses all wore their daily brightly colored clothes, the eunuchs had not yet changed into flower-embroidered festive costumes, and the palanquins were still dressed in bright red.

The Queen Mother loved every time of nature and every kind of weather, but Carol felt as if she was particularly fond of rain. Carol remembers once saying that the rain made the scenery become like poetry, making it hazy and washing away all imperfections. Beijing's preference for drought and lack of rain is likely to have something to do with it. The Empress Dowager was very interested, but her preference for the rain was not recognized by the other female officials in the palace, so they never showed any euphoria when they went for a ride in the rain. The Queen Mother likes to move quickly, as long as she leads the sedan chair and always runs all the way. They walked at a sprint for about 15 minutes when the sedan chair suddenly stopped. Carol's eyes looked around, wondering why, for they were in the open air, with no shelter nearby, and the rain was still falling. As a result, I unexpectedly found that the queen mother had already left the sedan chair and was walking towards a gourd stand next to the stone road.

The gourd is very valued by the Qianguo people. It symbolizes abundance and prosperity, and is something that is especially dear to the Queen Mother. Those planted in the palace have long been famous, and the whole country calls them "Great Inner Gourds", but during the reign of the Empress Dowager Renxi, they were carefully cultivated and cared for to achieve greater perfection than before. There is only one type of gourd, which is the same size at the top and bottom ends, and is connected by a thin neck. But they come in a variety of sizes, from 1 inch to 12 inches, and the 1-inch ones are just as perfect as the larger ones. The gourd grows on a trellis about 7 feet high, and the vine is pruned with the utmost care so that the fruit, which is considered a treasure, develops as well as grows as well as receives enough light and sun.

The Queen Mother walked through the mud to the gourd stand, the soles of her 6-inch-tall little white goatskin soles sinking deep into the soft mud soaked in rainwater. The eunuchs sheltered her from the rain, and she walked on without any other thoughts, and soon came under the gourd stand. She tried a few gourds to see if they were ripe. Because this thing can only be picked at a certain time, otherwise it will not dry out. After looking at some things and trying them, she asked someone to pick a few, and then returned to the sedan chair. Of course, when the Queen Mother stopped, the Queen and other female officials also walked out of the sedan chair. Fortunately she didn't call Carol, and they went down with her under the gourd stand, but they had to stand on the stone pavement out of etiquette. It wasn't as muddy and uncomfortable as the road to the gourd rack, but it was also a wet mess. After the Queen Mother got into the sedan chair, we breathed a sigh of relief and sat back in our sedan chair. Although the sedan chair is also unconcealed, they realize that the oriental proverb "sitting is better than standing" and so on is really very reasonable.

After another quarter of an hour, the palanquin man stopped again. They came to a gourd stand again. The Queen Mother stepped out of the sedan chair and observed the gourd under the holder with the same care and attention as when she stopped last time. At this time, the rain was pouring down, but the Queen Mother's interest seemed to be proportional to the size of the rain. The female officials had to step out of the palanquin once more, and stood in two rows with their heads bowed, and the eunuchs held up red umbrellas above them, and tried their best to make a look of interest on their faces.

The eunuchs could not hold an umbrella for themselves while serving others, and now their bright clothes were glued into strips and clinging weakly to their bodies, and the pleasant feathers on their hats were drenched. The ladies of the Qianguo had 2-inch-high, small goatskin cork soles under their feet, so that their feet did not get wet, but Carol wore thin small goatskin loafers, which were completely soaked in water. But the picture of a depressed female official and a eunuch drenched in soup was so interesting that Carol forgot about her discomfort and was greatly amused by it. After a few more minutes of rapid travel, the rain did not stop, so the Queen Mother ordered the Queen Mother to turn around and go to the main hall to receive the Mongol king. The palace doors were wide open, and we finally came to a sheltered place from the wind and rain.

A yellow satin chair was lowered in front of His Majesty, and the Queen Mother sat down and asked someone to bring some of the gourds she had picked. She picked one for herself, gave one to her first attendant, and gave another to the chief eunuch—both of them were good at scraping gourds. A piece of bamboo with a quick mouth was struck, and the Queen Mother began to scrape off the skin of the gourd she had picked, and she asked Carol to stand close and watch her scrape, because it was not easy to do it well. She must have shaved well, and it was very interesting to watch her pretty little hand hold a piece of bamboo and move it back and forth gracefully, removing the skin clean and neat. Although her attention was clearly entirely on scraping the gourd, she asked Carol if she was happy the day before, and asked Carol what she thought of Sankai. She told Carol to look at the inscription on the plaque behind the throne, saying that it was Bowen and Zhongyuan, pointing out the differences in their forms, and talking about the differences between the two languages. She said that she found it easier for foreigners to learn Bowen than to learn Zhongyuan, because Bowen has an alphabet and is constructed in a way that is more similar to European languages. After a while, the Queen Mother turned her face back to talk to the others, and Carol hurriedly retreated according to the custom of the palace. They stepped out and joined the queen and princesses, who had previously exited the throne room and were sitting crooked on the couch in the back room, drinking tea and smoking. After an hour's rest in the Mongol Hall, the rain stopped, and they continued the ride with much more joy than at the beginning. The Queen Mother kept her promise and led Carol for a walk in the gardens of the Three Seas.

After dinner, they crossed the lake by boat and came to the palace gate. Some archers are practicing their bows here. Archery is still very popular in Qianguo, and if the archer is good at archery, he will quickly be promoted in the army. Archery was also used as a physical exercise by the Bohai aristocratic youth. It is said to exercise the eyesight and is also good for the strong development of the chest and arms. The Qianguo people attach great importance to the posture when archery. They stood upright, their chests held high, their heads up, and the angles and positions of their bows and arrows were strictly in accordance with the rules. If the posture is not right, no matter how well the arrow is fired, it is useless. Carol watched them practice in a palanquin, excited.

During the break, Carol remembered the question that the Queen Mother had asked her, and became curious, so she secretly asked how the minister was doing.

"Don't you know?" Ge Quinoa whispered to her in English, "The next day, the Queen Mother ordered him to be arrested and thrown into prison. (To be continued.) )