The Empress Dowager refers to the four Qianxi institutes located in the corner of the west side of the imperial garden.

Like an old man in his last years, the four Qianxi Institutes curled up in the splendid Forbidden City with their backbones on their backs are extremely dilapidated, even the locked wooden door is mottled and mottled, and an iron lock is rusty, revealing the vicissitudes and heaviness of the years. A few dry dogtail plants on the top of the wall swayed from side to side in the cold wind, undulating and undulating. The walls were exposed to wind and rain, ants and insects, and the original square green bricks were stripped of their original edges and corners, becoming smooth.

The little eunuch said to ask Yuehua to point out the arrangement of the lanterns, but led her all the way here.

Yuehua frowned slightly. Turning his head suspiciously: "What is this, why is it so desolate, and there is no repair?" ”

Such an abrupt desolation, like a dead tree among thousands of flowers, lying in thousands of purples and thousands of reds, how can it not attract attention?

The little eunuch paused: "Queen Qiyu, this is the fourth place in Qianxi, there is no need to repair, we don't need to decorate, there is no need to hang red colors here, no matter how big the joy is, it can't spread here." ”

"It turns out that this is the Qianxi Fourth Institute."

As soon as Yuehua entered the palace, she heard the people in the palace talk about this place, and she felt very far away from herself. Unexpectedly, it was only two teas away from his Qingqiu Palace, but he never liked to walk around the palace, so he didn't know that it was close at hand.

The little eunuch nodded: "There is some bad luck here, no one has always cared about it, and it is better for the queen to stay away." ”

Yuehua raised her finger and pointed to the big lock on the door: "Seeing that the lock doesn't seem to have been opened for a long time, could it be that there is no one inside?" ”

The little eunuch shook his head and sneered: "When has there been a shortage of people here?" Now there are a few old goblins in here, who are crazy on weekdays, and no one wants to deal with them. The mother-in-law and the guards who guarded the place just stuffed some food and water into this dog hole every day. Speaking of which, now that the emperor's grace is vast, it is true that no newcomer has entered for a long time, and the main entrance should have been locked. ”

"Old goblin?" Yuehua didn't understand what it was called.

The little eunuch knew that he was a little speechless: "There are only a few concubines of the first emperor locked up here, and there is a concubine during the reign of Emperor Ren, who has survived for many years, and she is a little old. ”

Yuehua secretly thought to herself, if it is a concubine, it is about forty or fifty years old in total, not much old, if it is a concubine during the reign of Emperor Ren, it is the palace person canonized by the Empress Dowager at that time, it is estimated that it will take at least more than 30 years to be beaten into this cold palace, and to survive in such a bleak environment, not to be killed by disease, not to be destroyed by loneliness and suffering to survive, is indeed to live as an "old goblin".

Thinking about it, they should all be the masters who were favored at the beginning and had unlimited scenery for a while, but the waves washed the sand, and there was only one person in this palace who could survive in the end. Fortunately, after giving birth to a prince, he can have a support for the rest of his life and get the title of concubine. Others followed the death of the first emperor, or guarded the imperial mausoleum, or entered the cold palace, all of which were just lingering.

I just don't know, where is my final destination?

Yuehua sighed lowly, and her eyes inevitably revealed desolate feelings.

The little eunuch added to the situation, and added: "By the way, the virtuous concubine who pretended to be pregnant with a dragon seed and wanted to steal the dragon and turn the phoenix was also imprisoned here, but she was already crazy and didn't know herself." ”

Yuehua turned her head to look at the mottled door, which was shining brightly, as if it had been decayed and weakened, and it could be shattered with a slight push. There is a palm-sized hole in the door, which is half a person high, and the courtyard behind the door, the colonnade, and the cobwebbed windows are faintly visible.

She couldn't help but be a little curious, and slowly walked two steps closer, wanting to explore the scene inside.

Yuehua narrowed one eye slightly, leaned forward, and peeked inside. I saw a flicker in front of me, a cloudy pupil, round like a copper bell, also picking up the gap inside, looking outside, two faces, separated by a layer of door panels, seemed to be breathing audible.

Yuehua took two steps back behind her in horror, and almost fell to the ground, she was frightened.

There was a strange laugh from inside, as terrible as a night owl, and winked at her playfully, and the wrinkles at the end of her eyes were full of black sludge: "Do you want to come in?" Hongu let you in. ”

Yuehua shook her head involuntarily, her face full of horror.

The people inside seemed to be very depressed, and muttered in annoyance: "It's been a long time since anyone came in to accompany the palace, did the old witch just throw them to the Anle Hall?" What about the emperor, where is the emperor, can he let that old witch harm people? ”

Yuehua was so lonely when she heard her speak, and she couldn't help but feel pity in her heart, and wanted to say a word of comfort.

The little eunuch behind him hurriedly stepped forward and comforted Yuehua: "The queen doesn't care about her, she is already crazy." ”

"Who do you say is crazy! Who do you say is crazy? The people inside suddenly became excited, hysterical, their faces shook, and a row of scorched teeth appeared in the round hole: "You are a madman, this palace is the emperor's favorite concubine Yao, you dare to talk nonsense, this palace will pull you all out and kill you, and you will be dismantled!" ”

The wooden door shook violently, crumbling, mixed with the "whoosh" sound of the chains being torn apart.

A mother-in-law in a gray cloth short cotton robe ran over panting, and scolded angrily: "Shut up, be honest!" Why don't you give you incense powder and flowers to wear! ”

The voices inside stopped abruptly.

The mother-in-law ran closer, and the little eunuch behind her squeezed her eyebrows and gestured, and she was able to distinguish Yuehua's identity from the gorse hairpin on Yuehua's head, and she knelt on the ground and kowtowed busily: "The old slave saw the queen's mother, and the mother was frightened, and she begged for forgiveness." ”

Yuehua tried to stabilize her mind and raised her hand: "Calm down, it's okay." ”

The person behind the door instantly became excited again: "What do you call her?" The Queen? Isn't the queen the old witch? Hey, no, the old witch should be the queen mother, no, I heard that she is already the queen mother. She covers the sky with one hand and is ruthless, no one will dare to disobey her anymore, no wonder there are fewer and fewer people here. ”

The mother-in-law turned her head and reprimanded again: "Shut up, be honest, and talk nonsense, the emperor won't come to see you." ”

The person behind the door excitedly and excitedly whispered: "The emperor is coming to see us soon?" Could it be that the old witch has finally been deposed and can no longer make waves? ”

As soon as her words fell, there were chaotic footsteps behind her, mixed with uncontrollable excitement and whispering: "Really? Is the emperor really coming? ”

Behind the door seemed to be boiling in an instant, and many women were chattering and shouting, excited and sharp. Someone looked out from the round hole, through the gap, with his head tilted. The two mottled wooden doors were full of excited pupils, which made people feel intimidating.

Another terrible howl sounded, like a lark soaring into the sky. Someone stumbled towards the wooden door, beating the woman who was holding on to the wooden door.

"Get out of here, don't crowd my kids."

Not to be outdone, someone turned around and fought back: "It's you again, a slut who uses a pillow to fill the dragon's fetus, you are guilty of bullying the king, and you are persuaded to die, and you still want the emperor to come to see you?" ”

While fighting desperately, the woman protected her stomach and shouted hysterically: "Your Majesty, the concubine is wronged." The concubines are really happy, they hurt me and bought the imperial doctor to kill our children. The concubine is afraid that the emperor will blame the concubine, so he has to hide it! ”

Yuehua heard her shout, and knew that this person must be the virtuous concubine mentioned by the young eunuch, but listening to her, it didn't seem to be crazy, as if there was something else hidden in the past. It's no wonder that she committed such a big sin at the beginning, and she even saved her life, but she was beaten into the cold palace.

In this way, there have been three concubines in the palace who were killed after they became pregnant, and it is no wonder that Mo Guhan was so cautious and wary of everyone after hearing that Jun Shuyuan was pregnant.

The mother-in-law was a little annoyed and angry, feeling that these people were not controlled, and she did not give herself face in front of the queen, so she took two steps and picked up a bamboo pole with a polished end in front of the door, stretched it out of the round hole, and stabbed it indiscriminately.

"Get out, all honestly get back! Disturbed the queen mother, you are good-looking! ”

The women behind the door jumped, dodged, and scolded indignantly: "Bold minions, when the emperor comes, he will definitely ask him to kill your head!" ”

The mother-in-law's subordinates made more strength: "Do your daydreams on sunny days, and don't look at what kind of place this is, since you have come in, why do you still dream out?" ”

The people inside scolded more and more sharply, and the mother-in-law lost the bamboo pole in her hand, grabbed a bag of things from the side of the door and threw it in: "Give you fragrant powder, hurry up and dress up." ”

The paper bag fell to the ground, and many people scrambled to grab it, tore it one after another, grabbed it and wiped it on their faces. From Yuehua, you can see ragged clothes and unkempt faces, and some people have open collars, revealing dirty breasts.

"Old beggar, you teased them with lime powder again, didn't you?"

After the chaotic pile, someone sneered.