The road to the Empress Dowager's palace is not too far, Ruyi thought faintly, this is about the last time to go to Cining Palace. In this life, she will probably stay in the cold palace, looking at the night of the Forbidden City.

Just thinking about it, Cheng's father-in-law had already opened the curtain and let her in. It is about to avoid others, and there are only the Queen Mother and Aunt Fu in the palace.

The Queen Mother is wearing a crimson gold narcissus tuanshou single robe, with a color of dotted emerald beads on her head and ears with jade jewelry, and the brilliant royal blue is flowing with a dull and uncertain luster under the jump of the lights, as if the Queen Mother is like this, making people feel dull and unpredictable. The Queen Mother knelt in front of the Buddha shrine, sincerely recited the Buddhist scriptures, and lit three sticks of sandalwood to worship. The three dark red sparks on the incense were like the unknown fear looming in her heart.

The Queen Mother took Aunt Fu's hand and got up, turned her face and looked at her slowly. Ruyi was blessed according to the rules, and asked Andao: "The Queen Mother is blessed with Jin'an." ”

The Queen Mother said lightly: "In the end, it is the daughter of the Wulanala clan, in this situation, she didn't cry and beg for forgiveness as soon as she came in." ”

Ruyi stood aside with her hands down, just like the posture that a palace maid should have: "The queen mother's personal decree cannot be changed, and it is useless to ask for it." ”

The Queen Mother smiled slightly: "The mourning family is thinking, if the person who was demoted to a concubine and put in the cold palace today is your aunt, what will happen to her?" ”

Ruyi's heart twitched, as if she had been whipped coldly: "Ruyi is useless, she can't be compared with her aunt." ”

The red gold jade beaded armor in the queen mother's hand was like a golden blade, and she shook it slightly: "Your aunt and nephew are really pitiful, they both ended up in seclusion for life, do you want to blame the mourning family for being ruthless." ”

Ruyi's eyes were sour, and she forced tears in her eyes and didn't allow it to fall: "Ruyi wants to blame, only blame yourself for not being careful, and you will fall into the trap of others." ”

The Queen Mother and Yi smiled lightly and stroked the agate beaded bracelet on her wrist: "As long as you are a person living in the palace, if you are not a god, everyone will have a time when you are not careful, and everyone will have a time when you are speechless." But the important thing is that people know how to protect themselves when they are at a low point. If you don't protect anything else, you only save your own life. ”

Ruyi's eyebrows moved, and she thought thoughtfully: "But the cold palace is like a dead place, and life is better than death." ”

"Really?" The Queen Mother smiled noncommittally, took a piece of untouched pastry from the table, carefully held it in her hand with a silk, raised her eyes and asked, "Fujia, what about the cat that the mourning family wants you to carry?" ”

Fujia hugged an ordinary gray cat and stepped forward, and the Queen Mother casually threw the pastry on the ground and said, "Give it food." ”

Fujia fed the pastry to the gray cat's mouth, and Ruyi watched suspiciously, until the gray cat who ate the pastry bled to death after struggling, and her fear could no longer be hidden, and she knelt down and said, "The Queen Mother ......"

The Queen Mother raised her face and motioned to Fujia to wrap the dead gray cat in a cloth and throw it out, before she said slowly: "This is the pastry that the imperial dining room will send to you this morning, once you eat it, you will commit suicide in fear of sin, and you will never be able to return to the sky." If it weren't for Fujia looking suspicious and stopping you to come to the mourning house, you're afraid you wouldn't even know how you died. This incident also reminded the mourning family that instead of letting you wait in the Yanxi Palace so that anyone can stretch out their hands and strangle you, it is better to throw you into the cold palace and cut everyone's mind, and you can save this life. ”

Ruyi will be suspicious: "Ruyi's aunt offended the Queen Mother before her death, why did the Queen Mother save Ruyi's life?" ”

"If you are only obsessed with the former love-hate entanglement, the queen mother of the mourning family is too short-sighted." The Queen Mother took the Buddha beads and slowly twisted them, with a faint smile, "You naturally hate the mourning family, it is the mourning family who wants to imprison you, but you will not be allowed to come out for life." It's not just you, everyone thinks that the mourning family hates your aunt very much, so they are angry with you. But if you hadn't been grounded in the cold palace, how many times would you have been able to afford them? If you are in the cold palace, there may be a glimmer of life. ”

Ruyi lowered her head and was silent for a moment: "The Queen Mother is right." Even though the queen mother is worried about her concubines, she cherishes the lives of her concubines. But there are hardships and hardships in the cold palace, and there are endless things about plotting. The concubine could only pray for the protection of the queen mother and allow the concubine to live until the day when she was wronged. ”

The queen mother's smile was like a streamer on the bottom of the sea: "The mourning family also wants to, but there are eyes in the six palaces, why should the mourning family favor you a little." So the mourning family only cares about you until now, and when you enter the cold palace, whether you have the ability to dodge open guns and arrows, and learn to survive depends on yourself. ”

Ruyi was shocked in her heart, and said, "Yes." ”

"If you don't even have the ability to protect your own good fortune and great life, there are hundreds of women buried in the harem, all of whom have accumulated blood for the red wall of the Forbidden City, and there is not one more of you." The Queen Mother twisted a string of red sandalwood jade Buddha beads and said leisurely, "But in the cold palace, it is much better than the wind sword and frost sword outside." You should weigh the truth yourself. ”

Ruyi thought for a moment, and suddenly bowed: "The meaning of the Queen Mother, Ruyi understands." Only when everyone is a useless person can Ruyi be truly safe. ”

The Queen Mother smiled: "Do nothing to rule, no desire is rigid, do you understand?" The more you reveal what you care about and what you want, the more you expose your biggest weaknesses to others. Therefore, if you have no desires and no desires, others will think that you are harmless. ”

Ruyi was convinced, but also a little surprised: "What the Queen Mother said and even reasoned about, but to reach such a state, Ruyi is really ......"

The Queen Mother closed her eyes for a moment, and quickly smiled: "All cultivation is through experience. You'll have time to come, so think about it slowly. ”

Ruyi's heart settled down a little, and she said goodbye and left. The scarlet Luo skirt flashed behind the twelve Nanmu carved and inlaid longevity mirror heart screens, rippling bright and bright as clouds, but it was the Mei nobleman Yingying who turned out, half-knelt in front of the queen mother's bed and beat her legs and said: "The queen mother protects the Wulanala clan so much, and also carefully adjusts it, but I really feel sorry for her." ”

The Queen Mother picked up a little mint paste in the enamel jar with her armor and sniffed it gently, then handed the jar into the hands of Mei Guiren, and said with a smile: "It's not that the mourning family feels sorry for her, it's that the more others value her and try their best to deal with her, the more they let the mourning family know that she has the weight to fight against those people." The most important thing in the harem is the way of balance, if anyone is too powerful, get all the grace and power, the queen mother of the mourning family will have no place to beak. ”

Mei Guiren took the mint paste and rubbed the temples for the Queen Mother little by little: "Then the Queen Mother should leave the Wulanala clan, so that she can share the spring with those people." ”

The Queen Mother raised her eyes and looked at her: "What?" Don't you think it's the Ulanala clan that harmed your child? ”

Mei Guiren lowered his eyelids, hid his sadness in his eyes without a trace, and said: "The combination of stolen goods and stolen goods is seamless, and it is indeed blameless." However, the more this is the case, the more suspicious it is. ”

The Queen Mother bowed slightly, sighed and said, "I have finally made some progress." So who do you think it is? ”

Mei Guidao: "It doesn't matter who it is. The sky net is magnificent, negligent but not leaky, the concubines don't have to check carefully, if there is a chance, the Wulanala clan will definitely be more concerned than the concubines. As long as the concubine is single-minded, it is enough. ”

The Queen Mother said: "Eat a trench and grow wise, you can be regarded as knowing." It's useless in the harem to be in a hurry to divide the spring equally, and the most important thing is to keep your life and learn to gain a foothold. ”

Mei Guiren said awe-inspiringly: "Yes, the concubine understands." ”

The Queen Mother said softly: "Now Shen Chang is in the position of the new favorite, and he is coquettish and stupid." Jia Concubine is pregnant and has no fear. Seeing that she stayed in the Zhenxiang Pavilion of the Heart Cultivation Hall to raise the fetus, with the emperor by her side, this fetus must be fine. Lost your and Yi Concubine's two children, no matter whether Jia Concubine's birth is male or female, there is no doubt that her mother is expensive with her son. What about you? The mourning family worked so hard to get you out of Nanyuan, and tried their best to protect you. It's up to you to see what happens in the future. ”

Mei Guiren immediately became nervous: "Yes." The concubine will definitely live up to the expectations of the Queen Mother. ”

On the day Ruyi left Yanxi Palace, the spring light was like a huge and bright satin, spreading out the clear silk all over the sky, like a thread, and Shaoguang also despised the years.

The brilliant spring light, like a roll of fine fine fine brocade painting, spread out the flowering birds are gorgeous, embroidery and gold brilliance, people can hardly open their eyes.

The only ones who came to see each other off were Hailan and Chun Concubine, Hailan wept silently, and was stopped by Li Yu from taking half a step. Even the pure concubine stood far away, and could only nod slightly with tears in her eyes to say goodbye. Ruyi only pulled up her long hair in plain silver square, and wore a thin spring shirt without embroidery and flowers, only the thin dark lines on it flowed, indicating that she still couldn't leave the palace an inch.

When passing by Jingren Palace, Ruyi raised her head and looked at the floating light and dazzling gold. It turned out that her life was no different from her aunt's.

Different paths lead to the same end, is it the only way for harem women?

The so-called "cold palace" is a vacant courtyard behind the Cuiyun Pavilion. Because the concubines who fell out of favor and made mistakes in the past generations were all sent down and placed here for life, they were regarded as cold palaces by the palace and were very avoided.

Fortunately, over the ages, there have been many concubines who have been retired in the two palaces of Shoukang and Cining, and there are not too many women who have been claustrophobic and cold for life. Even though she had imagined it many times, Ruyi was still slightly surprised when she walked in front of the cold palace. When she entered the palace for a long time, she had never walked to such a deserted and deserted place, as if no one had mentioned it before, and she never knew that there was such a place in the palace. It was a ruined palace-like house, not very large, scattered with more than a dozen rooms, as if it had been uninhabited for a long time, the weeds overgrown on the palace tiles, and even the gate was covered with thick dust and devastation. As soon as she reached out and touched it, the brass nails on the door threw down a layer of rusty ash, almost blinding people's eyes. The carved railings were all peeled off, and thick dust and messy cobwebs were accumulated.

As soon as I entered, I felt that the bright sky light was cut off. Even in such a sunny weather, it is cloudy and dim, and if you live for a long time, it seems that dark cyan green mold will grow on your body.

Li Yu led Ruyi and Xinxin to a slightly neat empty room, and before they got close, there was already a choking smell of dust and dust, Li Yu was puzzled: "Little master, the slave has done his best." ”

Ruyi was clear and grateful: "It's not easy to find a house for me and Xin Xin to live in. If you want to do anything more, it's too eye-catching. Well, you don't have to stay here long to avoid attracting attention. ”

Li Yu nodded, looked at the room next to him and said, "The little master lives here, be careful of those people next to you, they are all monsters when they are old." ”

Looking gloomy inside and out, he stuck to Ruyi's side with some fear.

Outside, there was a joyful and melodious voice from Lile, and Ruyi whispered, "What is the matter?" ”

Li Yu hesitated for a moment, but still said: "Today is the day when Jia Concubine, Mei Concubine and Shen Chang are canonizing. I heard that in order to promote the title, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has to pick out many palace people to serve. ”

Ruyi pressed and pressed the emptiness in her heart, what can she do? No matter how lively and beautiful it is, it is a world that has nothing to do with her after all. Li Yu turned to leave, and Ruyi watched him leave and take away the only remaining light with him, leaving only endless dust and dark light and shadow, locked with her for the rest of his life.