Bai Ge originally said that she wanted to follow, but Princess Rongshou had to let her, because she had been asked to wait for a long time, and I was really a little reluctant to go, so I had to respond to her. The two of them came out together and walked for most of the day, Princess Rongshou pulled me straight to the bottom of the Duixiu Mountain in the Imperial Garden, there are stone dragon fountains on both sides, and the mountainside is secretly set up with a water tank to store water, which is connected by a pipe, and the water is led to the mouth of the dragon to spray out, the surrounding grass and trees are particularly lush, the leaves of the holly tree are shiny and shiny, and the old elm tree is also luxuriant, supporting a thick green shade, I laughed, "This is really a rare shade place in the Forbidden City in summer." ”

Princess Rongshou grabbed my sleeve and walked up the rockery together, "But isn't it, I don't believe I can't find mint here." ”

I sighed, muttered, and said, "I really can't find the eldest princess here." ”

Princess Rongshou's footsteps froze, and she raised her eyebrows and asked, "Why?" Isn't it cool enough to be wet here? ”

I laughed, "The so-called mountains, wetlands, and rivers don't just mean that they are humid and cool enough. ”

Princess Rongshou asked, "Isn't it?" ”

I smiled and shook my head, "Apart from that, there's one more important thing that isn't available here. ”

"What is it?" she asked. ”

I smiled and said, "Earth Qi," looked around, and said, "Duixiu Mountain Yujing Pavilion is a man-made rockery flower viewing pavilion, and there are often palace people cleaning and moving around, even if there is a little bit of earth qi must be destroyed, where can the essence of the sun and the moon give birth to medicinal materials like mint?" ”

She asked, "What is earthly qi?" ”

I thought for a while and said: "The earth qi is the qi in the earth, and it is also the aura endowed by the land and mountains. 'Only when there is earth's qi can grass and trees grow. ”

Princess Rongshou was lightly deflated, "Then where can the Forbidden City be there?" ”

I spread my hands, "I don't know," smiled, and said, "Look at fate!" ”

Princess Rongshou pondered for a while, hooked her hand at me in a serious way, and said in a low voice: "I know a place where there are many varieties of exotic flowers and plants, and spring and summer are the seasons," she said, staring at me and asking, "Do you dare?" ”

I asked, "What do you dare?" ”

She said, "Come with me and see." ”

I smiled slowly and hooked the corners of my mouth, "What's not to dare to do, where?" ”

Princess Rongshou said with a smile: "Zhong Cui Palace." ”

I was shocked, "Zhong Cui Palace! ”

Longyu's dormitory, it's easy for her to come to me these days to make noise, she can get rid of cynicism, and now I'm rushing to find the door by myself, isn't it a cheap bone?!

Princess Rongshou smiled, "Don't you dare?" ”

I thought about it again, what am I afraid of, Longyu can't eat me, and besides, it shouldn't happen anything excessive if I go with Princess Rongshou, so I said: "Go and go, what don't you dare!" ”

Princess Rongshou looked at me with her arms crossed her arms and nodded, "I didn't expect you to be really bold!" ”

After going down Duixiu Mountain, turning around the Qianqiu Pavilion, and walking in the direction of Zhongcui Palace, I asked, "The Forbidden City is so big, why do you want to go to Zhongcui Palace?" Seeing Princess Rongshou looking at me with a smile, I hurriedly added: "Don't get me wrong, I don't regret it!" ”

Princess Rongshou smiled softly, half jokingly: "You don't have to rush to explain, I know!" ”

I muttered, "I didn't explain!" ”

After a while, she sighed and said: "Many strange flowers and plants in the Zhongcui Palace were planted by the Empress Dowager herself, and the whole courtyard in spring, summer and autumn is full of purple and red, flowers, butterflies and bees dance, very intoxicating, but it is a pity that no one treated those flowers and plants so carefully after the Empress Dowager died violently, and there was a lot of brilliance in a few years. ”

I thought in my heart that the Empress Dowager Dong in Princess Rongshou's mouth should be Ci'an, sighed, and smiled: "In fact, raising flowers and grass can also see people's hearts," After a pause, I continued, "The Empress Dowager Dong must be a patient and gentle, kind and affectionate woman." ”

Princess Rongshou chuckled, "Yes, I was only five years old when I first entered the palace, I didn't understand anything when I first entered the palace, I was very homesick, or the Empress Dowager took care of it slowly, I still remember playing with the first emperor in the Zhongcui Palace when I was a child, the flower that attacked people, with the soft wind spraying on the body will dye the sleeves and skirts of the enduring fragrance, which is incomparable to any spice, very good, the first emperor always likes to come to the Zhongcui Palace, so the first emperor will always have a strong taste, and then I grew up, the first emperor died suddenly, Follow the emperor into the palace, the same was taken care of by the Empress Dowager before, it is funny to say, the emperor also likes to come and go to Zhongcui Palace from time to time, the emperor entered the palace when he was one year younger than me, he was quietly carried into the palace in his sleep and inexplicably became the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, the whole world was subverted when he opened his eyes, and the life that he once thought he should have was completely torn apart, you can imagine how much hesitation and fear the emperor hid in his heart at that time, if there was no Empress Dowager, whether it was me or the emperor or the first emperor, I am afraid I can't survive. ”

I asked, "What about later?" ”

She smiled at me, "Later? He smiled lightly, his eyes gloomy, "It didn't take long for me to get married, and when I came back in the future, everything was already wrong, and Zhong Cui Palace gradually became empty." ”

When I heard this, I felt desolate, and I turned my head and asked, "Have you ever heard of the Flower Death?" ”

She wondered, "Flower Death?" ”

I smiled lightly, "Some people say that flowers and plants are also aura, and those who raise them with their own hands go, these flowers and plants will also give birth to sadness, and finally they will slowly decline with people's lives, gradually die, irretrievable, snow in June, fluttering in October, this is the death of flowers." ”

Unconsciously, I have walked to the front of Zhongcui Palace, the apricot blossoms have been fully bloomed, crystal-like petals, silently blooming on the branches, suddenly a warm breeze blows, many petals have fluttered down, like transparent jade chips, and like silver frost flowers, more like washed rouge.

Princess Rongshou stretched out her hand to catch a weak petal, her eyes were lightly fixed as if she was looking at some treasure, "I still remember this apricot blossom, at that time, the apricot trees in Zhongcui Palace were all pale pink flowers, and they were the same color as peach blossoms and roses, why is there only a miserable white color left now," the more she spoke, the more her voice trembled, and she slowly raised her eyes to stare at me and asked, "Is this what you said about flowers?" ”

I gently put my hand over her palm and smiled, "Yes, you see even the apricot blossoms are sad!" ”

Princess Rongshou sighed, "Laymen don't care about it, I'd rather Zhongcui Palace be empty all the time." ”

Before I could answer, I heard a person turn out of the small door not far away, wearing a yellow five-branch butterfly flower makeup and gauze robe, while walking in small steps, while looking around, all the way into the apricot tree, peach tree jasper makeup Chengdu is disgusted gaze, "This palace hates these flowers the most, no wonder there are so many flying insects and reptiles in Zhong Cui Palace, and quickly find a carpenter to move all these flowers and plants one day, and I feel upset when I look at it." In the silence, Longyu's voice was as thin as a faint elegant note.

When the sky is beautiful, the high place of the bushes is the blooming white flowers, Princess Rongshou's face became a little stupid, her eyes were closely glancing at Longyu who was approaching step by step, I pulled her sleeve, she was stunned, bowed her head slightly, turned to smile, and met Longyu's pace, "The heat is scorching, how did the queen mother come out of Zhongcui Palace?" ”

I bowed and said with a smile: "The queen mother is shining here, it is really full of flowers, colorful flowers, and it is very beautiful." ”

Longyu ignored me, and looked at Princess Rongshou with a smile, "This palace has just come back from Ningshou Palace, Lafayette is in a good mood today, so he stayed in this palace to chat for a while," said, his eyes looked upward, slightly discolored, and his eyebrows frowned, "I really don't know if this palace wants to go out today, there are so many flowers blooming outside Zhongcui Palace, no wonder there are mosquitoes that can't be caught all day long in the Ming room, it's really annoying, Ming'er this palace will call someone to remove all these flowers and trees," took a deep breath and glanced at me with a smile," The palace seems to like it very much when it hears the meaning of the concubine, but if the palace asks someone to move all these flowers and trees to the Jingren Palace of the concubine? ”

Princess Rongshou looked at me sideways, her eyes were full of expectation, I actually didn't want to, after all, mosquitoes were really terrifying in ancient summers, but in order to carry the river, I could only smile lightly and said something against my will, "If the queen is willing to reward, the slave will naturally not ask for it." ”

Princess Rongshou smiled, "Queen Mother, these flowers and trees in Zhongcui Palace can't regret rewarding the concubines." ”

The corners of Longyu's eyes flickered, and the bright sun shadow cast on both sides of her bun and the crystal tassels hanging from the golden hairpin became more and more transparent, "That's nature," and then asked Princess Rongshou again, "Is there something wrong with the eldest princess coming to the Zhongcui Palace in this palace today?" But what is missing in the Chengqian Palace? Then he scolded: "The palace usually says that the villain of the Internal Affairs Office is useless, and he can't do anything well!" ”

Princess Rongshou hurriedly said: "No, no, no," she glanced at me lightly, and said to Longyu slowly, "I heard that the queen's Zhongcui Palace has the most exotic flowers and plants, and two days ago in the book "Compendium of Materia Medica", I saw that mint and medicinal herbs can be used to cool off the summer in tea, and I was curious, so I wanted to come to Zhongcui Palace to see if there was any, and I happened to meet Concubine Zhen on the road to ask the queen mother. ”

Longyu snorted lightly and looked at me disdainfully, "Would she have the heart to come to the palace to say goodbye?" ”

I was quiet, bowed my head quietly, and said: "After the Dragon Boat Festival, I haven't seen the queen for a long time, and I asked the queen to say goodbye, and the slave felt quite uneasy, so I came." ”

Longyu smiled slightly, "You came by yourself?" ”

I nodded, "Yes." ”

Longyu thought for a moment, and waved his hand to the palace maid beside him, "Go knock on the door." ”

The palace maid saluted and said, "Yes." Then, he stepped forward and knocked on the doorknob like a wind, and after only half a cup of tea, the vermilion door of Zhongcui Palace was slowly opened.