On the fifth day of October in the 14th year of Guangxu, the eunuch in the palace came to the house to announce the decree, and the grandmother specially came to the house, and led Zhijun, Zhirui, Zhiqi, Ziyu and me to the living room early in the morning to receive the decree. The thirteen-year-old daughter of the former squire Changxu, he was a member of the Tala clan, and was named a concubine. ”

The time has come or come, and although I am deeply worried and afraid of my future, I still have to follow behind and quietly receive the word of thanksgiving.

Then he introduced an older woman dressed in palace maid clothes, with a proper smile, gentle eyes, and a very kind face. I guessed that she should be teaching me and Ziyu the rules before entering the palace, so I took it lightly, as if shouting: "Mama." ”

She was stunned, probably not expecting me to treat her so politely, so she hurriedly knelt down and greeted me: "Slave Xuanji, see the two little masters." "Because Ziyu and I were elected to the palace together, the two of us are both Xuanji.

Grandma had already prepared money and gifts for the eunuch who announced the decree, and the eunuch accepted the gift, and invited Xuanji Mama and the eunuch to drink tea together, and prepared a good room for Xuanji Mama, and the delicacies of the mountains and seas were treated.

Outside the mansion are guards sent by the palace to stand guard, and inside are eunuchs and palace maids to serve.

Ziyu and I are still living in Uncle Changshan's mansion, but the Xianting Pavilion and Daoqi Pavilion where we live on weekdays have been tightly sealed, and the rules to be followed are strict, and we only teach Mama to accompany us to learn etiquette every day, and idle men are forbidden to enter.

In addition to the close maids who want to be brought to the palace to serve closely, even Zhijun, Zhiqi and Zhirui have to kneel on the cushion outside the door through the curtain to talk if they want to meet me seriously.

Grandma needs to stay in my uncle's Changshan Mansion until the day when Ziyu and I enter the palace, because it is a female dependent, you can still see you once a day, but when you meet, you must also greet me according to the etiquette.

Ziyu and I are both palace concubines, but we can often walk back and forth, and also learn etiquette together.

That is-

Unmarried to the father, married to the husband, and the husband to the son.

The king is the minister, the father is the son, and the husband is the wife.

And the monarch and the minister, the father and the son. The title of this concubine symbolizes that I am already a royal person, although my position is not high, but my mother and brother also have to kneel down to me to say goodbye.

I couldn't bear to see my grandmother kneeling outside the curtain and leaning over to talk to me.

"The little lord is blessed and auspicious, and I wish the little lord a long life and good health."

The reverence between the words made me very uncomfortable, but I had no choice but to force the unspeakable awkwardness and sadness in my heart.

After that, I tried my best to avoid my grandmother, let Bai Ge take the words out every day, and then Zhijun, Zhirui and Zhiqi told my grandmother about my recent situation and often told my grandmother between the lines to take good care of herself.

I get up early every day and listen to Xuanji explain the rules of the palace, and after taking a nap in the afternoon, I have to get up and practice the system and etiquette in the palace repeatedly, how to stand, how to walk, how to say goodbye, how to eat and even how to pay tribute and other complicated and small actions.

Fortunately, Ziyu and I are both people who are thorough at every point, and we quickly learn skillfully. When I have free time, I will listen to Xuanji talk about the gossip in the palace for a while.

Xuanjiyuan was an errand boy at the side of the Empress Dowager Cixi, with a humble and docile temperament, and she served extremely thoroughly. She rarely mentioned the internal affairs of the palace, but as the days passed, day and night, although it was only an occasional word, it also gave me a general understanding of the real situation in the palace, plus some historical knowledge in my own head, it was estimated that it should be enough.

Emperor Guangxu, that is, my future husband, from the age of three, he lost the joy of his childhood and the sincere love of his parents. Emperor Guangxu's daily life was completely taken care of by the Empress Dowager Ci'an at first.

Empress Dowager Ci'an has a gentle and kind personality, and used to take care of Emperor Tongzhi, and Emperor Tongzhi's affection for her was better than that of her own mother, Empress Dowager Cixi. At this time, the Empress Dowager Ci'an took care of Emperor Guangxu in every detail.

Although the Empress Dowager Ci'an was a person who was not interested in politics, she was also arranged by the Empress Dowager Cixi during her lifetime. However, the Empress Dowager Cixi was still not at ease with her.

On the tenth day of the third month of the seventh year of Guangxu, when the Guangxu Emperor was eleven years old, the Empress Dowager Ci'an died violently at the beginning of the night after eating the pastries sent by the Empress Dowager Cixi, which is a mystery that has not been solved until a hundred years later.

And the Empress Dowager Cixi, the "Lafayette" that everyone is now in awe of. She neither cared about Emperor Guangxu, nor did she take care of him, and even never gave Emperor Guangxu a good look, so Emperor Guangxu had a fear of this "father" since he was a child.

Xuanji said that once, when Emperor Guangxu was in the palace of the Empress Dowager Cixi, the Empress Dowager Cixi was bored with him, so she hated the eunuch and said, "Take this thing to the mourning family." ”

When Emperor Guangxu heard this, when he returned to his own dormitory, he lost his temper.

The eunuchs thought that the little emperor had a bad temper.

In fact, he was venting his frustration.

When Xuanji said this, I couldn't help but think in my heart: As the emperor, he is high, but who can he tell about the bitterness in his heart?

Emperor Guangxu was a hard-working scholar and a strong desire for knowledge. From the age of six, under the co-teaching of teachers Weng Tongyi and Xia Tongshan, he studied both Manchu and Chinese, and the courses he studied were mainly Chinese Confucian classics, with a total of more than 20 courses.

Weng Tongyi also gave practical education, often discussed with the Guangxu Emperor about the rapidly changing world situation and national conditions, and arranged for the Guangxu Emperor to take courses on Chinese and foreign history and the writings of Enlightenment thinkers, in which he read a large number of expeditions and travelogues written by the envoys of various countries.

Weng Tongyi would also select from the Military Aircraft Department and the cabinet archives about ships, machinery, mining, coastal defense, navy, etc., to explain to the Guangxu Emperor. Let the Guangxu Emperor master all aspects of knowledge and understand all aspects of the situation, so that he can become a good emperor who is knowledgeable and talented.

Weng Tongyi taught Emperor Guangxu for 20 years, and the two had a deep relationship.

The established Empress Longyu is the niece of the Empress Dowager Cixi, and I think the reason why Cixi chose her as the empress of the Guangxu Emperor is also to hope that her own niece will monitor the Guangxu Emperor's every move. I've also seen Empress Longyu, and her appearance is not outstanding. And history has shown that she has a soft and cowardly personality, and as a queen, she is neither favored by the emperor, nor is she very favored by the Empress Dowager Cixi in the palace.

But I knew that this was the person who would push me down the abyss one day ten years later.

In the Qing Dynasty, the concubines were divided into eight ranks, namely: queen, imperial concubine, concubine, concubine, concubine, nobleman, Changzai, promise, and official woman.

The concubine system was formulated by the Qing Shengzu Kangxi, and later re-formulated, gradually improved over time, and has been used to this day: the queen lives in the middle palace, and the following imperial concubine is one, and then the concubine is two, and the concubine is four, and then the concubine is six, and then the nobleman, always there, promised, the number is uncertain, and the concubines and concubines live in the east and west palaces.

The east palace has Jingren Palace, Chengqian Palace, Zhongcui Palace, Yanxi Palace, Yonghe Palace, Jingyang Palace, and the West Palace has Yongshou Palace, Yikun Palace, Qixiang Palace, Changchun Palace, Xianfu Palace, Chuxiu Palace.

Since Yi's decree was issued, my grandmother has been busy preparing jewelry and clothes for me and Ziyu to bring into the palace. The most important of these are the dowries who will enter the palace with us.

The general amount of dowry usually represents the woman's origin and status, showing whether the woman is a noble woman or a poor woman. The disparity between the rich and the poor in marriage is different, and it can not be brought too much to look petty, and it cannot be brought less to be looked down upon by people who can't hold up the scene, and they must also be delicate and generous.

In the dowry, in addition to the precious jewelry and gold ornaments, there are many things that symbolize good omen.

For example, using a spittoon as a bucket for children and grandchildren, hoping that the daughter will spread branches and leaves, and the children and grandchildren will be full; With the red ruler as the ruler of the descendants, there is the meaning of thousands of acres of fertile land; The vase represents the prosperity of the flower; The copper plate and shoes imply that they will grow old together.

The silver belt means that the waist is wrapped around the waist; Scissors have fingers, butterflies fly double; A pair of dragon and phoenix quilts, bed sheets and pillows bless the newlyweds with affection; Slice of sugar is a metaphor for sweet happiness; The dragon and phoenix bowls and chopsticks are used as food and clothing bowls, which have the meaning of abundant food and clothing.

It's a lot of work to be so picky and busy.

And the most precious thing is the jade cabbage that my uncle Changshan brought to me from Guangzhou, the cabbage symbolizes innocence, symbolizes the purity of the bride, and the insect symbolizes prolific birth, praying that the bride will have many children and grandchildren. The jade cabbage is carved from a piece of jade that is half gray and half green, and looks the same size as the real cabbage, moist and fresh.

In modern times, I have heard about this jade cabbage, which was stolen from the tomb of the Empress Dowager Cixi and stored in the National Palace Museum in Taipei. There are different opinions, and most people have always thought that it was Ziyu's dowry.

Unexpectedly, it turned out to be my dowry!

Although Zhijun, Zhirui, and Zhiqi can no longer meet at will as before, the relationship between me and Ziyu is becoming more and more determined, almost inseparable, and together with a hosta, the two of them take turns to wear it.

But after all, I am a modern person, and I have to go to the mall at the end of three days to be happy, and at this moment people are forcibly detained here, and the mood is as if they are suppressed by something, and they do not feel very happy.