The song is not endless, and the green smoke spit out by the golden beasts on both sides lingers in the hall. The princess danced as if no one was around, with wide sleeves fluttering, and her slender figure was like a weeping poplar wind. And the people around seemed to have been immobilized by these two red faces and dry bones, and they all remained in a state of immobility, listening to her cold and euphemistic words like Gu, seeing that she was glamorous and light, and the spring mountains were far away, turning around and looking back, any wisp of rui brain smoke flew over her plain white pear flower face.

The emperor on the throne covered his face several times, and once called the princess in a trembling voice: "Hui Rou ......" but the princess didn't hear it, and danced down, and then interrupted her by an exclamation from the left and right attendants of Jinshang: "Official!" ”

The princess danced sluggishly, hung down her sleeves, and looked in the direction of her father. Now his upper body was turned to the side, and his head hung limply, as if he had fainted.

As soon as the princess's hand loosened, the skeleton puppet withered to the ground, and she hurried up to the present, holding his hand and calling "Daddy".

And I don't see an answer from today. I stepped forward quickly and lifted him up with the rest of the chamberlain. But I saw that his eyes were closed, his brows were tightly locked, and there were traces of tears sliding through the corners of his eyes.

When he returned to the forbidden school, the imperial doctor diagnosed and said that this was caused by days of sorrow and too much thought. He has not been very healthy in the past few years, and the princess's unhappy marriage is the same as the matter of Lichu, which are two heart diseases that give him a heavy burden, and recently the princess has had frequent accidents, and the stones that pressed on his heart accumulated little by little, and finally made him on the verge of collapse.

The princess insisted on staying by her father's side, though she herself was weak. Then I woke up and saw her and the first thing I said was, "Why are you here?" Go back and rest. ”

He still treated her with a pleasant expression, and did not say a word about the situation in the main hall, but repeatedly urged her to go back to rest and recuperate. At last the princess left in tears, and I went out with her, and when I reached the door, I could not help looking back, and saw that Imagami had been watching her daughter, and the smile he had shown to her had not yet faded, but there was inexplicable sadness in his eyes.

Two days later is the death day of the first emperor Zhenzong, although the holy bow is not safe, but still strong to preside over the ceremony and accept the consolation of the ministers. After all the ceremonies in the evening, he went to the Tianzhang Pavilion where the Zhenzong Imperial Book was stored alone, and ordered the attendants in the pavilion to go out, locking himself alone in the Tianzhang Pavilion Shadow Hall where the Zhenzong Imperial Appearance was enshrined.

Suddenly, there was a cry in the shadow hall, the grief was incomparable, everyone who heard it was moved, several attendants rushed into the harem to report the news, Concubine Miao Xian and the princess heard it, and immediately rushed to Tianzhang Pavilion.

I have seen me cry many times in the past 20 years, but I have never heard of such a loud cry. If it weren't for the fact that his words of sorrow and suffering had reached the extreme, he would never have been so out of shape as the supreme of a country.

When the princess heard her father's cry, she became more and more anxious, and she personally stepped forward and patted the door of the temple with both hands, and called her father, but there was no echo inside, and the sound of mourning was still coming out.

"Daddy, is it your daughter's business that makes you sad? Are you angry with your daughter? The princess asked.

Still no one answered.

The princess knelt down in front of the door of the Shadow Hall in a panic, tears welling up. The father and daughter are one inside and the other outside, each with their own hearts, but they are both the same sadness. Concubine Miao Xian's consolation did not play its due role, but made the princess even more uncomfortable, sobbing while kowtowing to the palace, she repeatedly called in a pleading tone: "Daddy, daddy......"

"Let him be alone for a while." The queen walked slowly to the princess and said to her, "Your father has been depressed for a long time, and it is good that he can cry now." ”

The princess looked at the queen with tears in her eyes, turned around and wanted to salute, but the queen stopped her movements, leaned over to wipe away the tears on her face with a silk scarf, and then asked her: "Huirou, can I talk to you?" ”

The princess bowed her head and whimpered, "What do you teach?" ”

The queen took her by the hand and pulled her up, and said to Concubine Miao Xian to take the princess to the attic to talk, and the attendants did not have to follow, Concubine Xian promised to let the princess's attendants stay, and I also stopped, but the queen looked back at me and said, "Huaiji, you come too." ”

The princess went upstairs with the queen, still worried about her father's condition, and went to the side of the trunk again, and looked down worriedly. Seeing this, the queen followed her and said to her, "Don't worry, your father will be fine." He is a competent emperor, and he knows the responsibility he bears, and he will take care of himself. ”

The princess bowed her head. The queen took her by the hand again, led her to sit down in the pavilion, looked at her for a moment, and then asked her softly, "Huirou, do you know the meaning of your name?" ”

The princess nodded and said, "Daddy told me that Yuan De is beautiful and Hui, and Zhishun Fa Kun is said to be soft, and there is also a cloud in "Shangshu Wuyi": 'Hui Rou is respectful, and Huai Bao Xiaomin'. ”

I was also there when I explained the meaning of Hui Rou to the princess, and the explanation of "soft" also said another meaning - Shunde Lizhen. It seems that the princess did not mention this in order to avoid the word "chastity".

"That's right." The queen asked, "Do you know why your father gave you this name?" ”

The princess said: "These two words have a good meaning, and daddy is used to express his blessings to his daughter." ”

The queen gave her a soft smile: "Not only that. It's a blessing to you, but it also includes expectations for you. ”

"Expectations?" The princess frowned, a little confused.

The queen bowed her head and said: "Yuan De is full of beauty, and he wants you to have the appearance of a great man, but also the indispensable beauty of Wang Ji Bangyuan, and most importantly, you must have a kind and benevolent heart, treat the people of the world with a gentle and humble attitude, be kind and favorable, and be surrounded by the Quartet." Speaking of this, she looked at the silent princess attentively, and then said, "This is also the requirement of the subjects of the Great Song Dynasty for the wife and daughter of the Son of Heaven." ”

The princess shook her head and said, "I will never learn the beauty of Su Yong in my life." I don't want to be Wang Ji Bangyuan, it's good to live ordinarily like the daughter of an ordinary eunuch, or or, it's not bad to be a peasant girl, no one stares at you all day long, observe whether your every move is in line with the beauty of Su Yong, then life will be much easier? ”

"Their lives may not be as simple as you think." The queen sighed, "Everyone who wants to survive in this world must bear a certain responsibility. Since she was a child, peasant girls had to follow her mother to collect mulberry and raise silkworms, raise livestock, and even follow her father and brother to farm; Ordinary girls may have to learn how to weave and tailor, and the skill of housekeeping is indispensable; In addition to the female red needle, the daughter of the eunuch family also has to learn poetry and etiquette, filial piety and female rules, in order to be the mistress of the scholar's family in the future, and manage the affairs of a family in addition to her husband and children...... No matter who they are, from the moment they are born, they are faced with different responsibilities brought about by different identities, and there is no one in the world who does not have to bear any responsibilities but can live without constraints. ”

The princess began to understand: "I want to say that it is my responsibility to put on a posture of being full of virtue and beauty, and to be a Wang Ji Bangyuan with the beauty of Suyong." ”

The queen smiled faintly: "Those poor scholars, who study hard in the cold window, often encourage themselves when they look forward to the golden house in the book: there is no tribulation and pain experienced in vain; And for those of us who are already in the Golden House, we need to remind ourselves that there is no glory and joy that we have received in vain. ”

"Then my price is to separate from Huaiji and continue to live with Li Wei as the ministers said?" The princess's breathing became more and more rapid, and the tears that had been hidden by Shi Cai came out again, "But is all that glory and wealth that I want?" I was born to be a princess, I don't have a choice! If I had a choice, I wouldn't want to be born royal. ”

"No one has a choice." The queen replied immediately, in a gentle tone, but the eyes that gazed at the princess revealed her usual sense and calmness. "Origin is something we can't decide and change, all we can do is accept the status quo, adapt to our identity, and fulfill our responsibilities. A woman from the heavenly family, who eats all her life, is extremely nourished by the world, and is worshiped by all the people. And what our subjects require of us is that we possess all the virtues expected of a woman, that we should be filial daughters when we are not married, that we should be virtuous wives when we are married, that we give birth to children, and that we become loving mothers...... We are not ordinary women to them, but the beauties in paintings, the virtuous women in books, the bodhisattvas in temples, and some idols for their wives and daughters to emulate. Maintaining a perfect image and being a model for women in the country is how we are surrounded by the world. Therefore, you must not reveal the truth of your flesh and blood and fall into the mortal dust, otherwise they will be surprised, worried, and even angry, and they will surely ask you to retreat to the shrine. ”

The princess just bowed her head: "I don't want to be their clay statue Bodhisattva, I don't want their offerings, I don't want anything, I can eat and drink and live in the alleys, as long as they don't interfere in my life......"

The queen's eyes fluttered, and she raised her voice slightly: "But you have been supported by them for more than twenty years!" ”

The princess was stunned, her eyebrows and tears, speechless.

The queen softened her countenance, and said gently: "It is shameful for a person in a high position to only enjoy honor and wealth without regard to the responsibilities given to him by his position, and he will be spurned by the world. Your status is noble, you enjoy unique blessings, and you should know how to cherish it. Your father is a man who cherishes his own identity, and he understands his responsibilities better. He would restrain his desires, bow down to the demands of his subjects, be lenient and frugal, and be courteous and virtuous, and have been on the throne for decades, and the people have never heard the voice of the soldiers...... Hui Rou Yigong, Huai Bao Xiaomin, he did it. What about you? Can you understand his fatherly heart and make a modest sacrifice in order to live up to his expectations and those of the world? ”

When I said the last sentence, the queen's gaze swept over my face, intentionally or unintentionally, and the princess was suddenly very uneasy: "Do you want me to be separated from Huaiji?" ”

"If you insist, your father will protect you." The queen said. In fact, she was just stating the facts, but it sounded more powerful than the admonition of any speaker in the court, "He wants to protect you, and resist the words and swords of the speakers for you, and the offensive they set off with the weapon of morality and righteousness and ancestral family law." But it is conceivable that as long as you and Huaiji are still together, the official will not die down, but whenever you have any trouble, this time the court will reappear, and your father will face their reproaches and attacks again and again. It would be painful for him, just like it is today. But he will still protect you because you are his most cherished daughter, and he loves you even more than his life. ”

The princess burst into tears, and to avoid the queen's gaze, she covered her mouth and turned sideways, but her shoulders were still shaking, and her efforts to hide her grief had little effect.

The queen sighed, and said to the princess: "When you were named the princess of Yanguo, your father personally helped you write and added a sentence to the book prepared by the bachelor: 'The posture of wisdom is not a foreign prize; The softness of Hui is based on nature. ’……”

She didn't seem to be able to finish her sentence, but she didn't continue, just turned to me and instructed, "Huaiji, take care of the princess." Then he got up and left first, and walked towards the shadow hall where he was downstairs.

I moved closer to the princess and whispered to her. She turned abruptly, put her arms around my waist, and buried her tear-stained face in my arms.

"Waiji, what should I do?" Her muffled cry sounded so desperate, "We're all trapped here!" ”