The silence was so long that I could almost hear each other's breathing. It seems that even time has frozen, turning into layers of invisible gel, forcing Ruyi's forehead to dripping with cold sweat. She lay on the ground and didn't dare to move, and after a long time, a drop of cold sweat fell from her forehead and landed on the thick red brocade lychee red carpet, and disappeared in an instant.

After a long time, the emperor finally said, "Get up." He looked at Ruyi lightly and struggled to get up, "Today is your birthday, rest early." I went to the apse to see Hyland. With that, he did not look back, but went out the door.

Ruyi only felt physically and mentally weak, and the whole person was in decline to the end, looking at the emperor's departing long back, she couldn't help but call: "Your Majesty ......"

The Emperor's feet suddenly stopped the moment he stepped out of the threshold, and he asked without looking back, "Why did you make such a wish to me?" ”

Ruyi said sadly: "The concubine's aunt is a great rebel sinner, and she is not allowed to be allowed to have any status in the first emperor. Therefore, the concubine does not want another relative to be like her aunt, who will be silent all her life, and she will not even get what she deserves. ”

The Emperor paused for a moment and walked straight out. The moment he walked outside the door, he suddenly felt a slight chill in the corners of his eyes, like something that could not be seen in the corners of his eyes, and refused to reveal any more. He stretched out his hand, only to find that there was a tear condensed in his fingertips, and under the soft white moonlight, it seemed to be silent.

Seeing the emperor go out, he came in in a panic and said, "Little master, little master, why did the emperor leave?" ”

Ah Zhen also opened the curtain, ran in as if he had lost his soul, and said: "Little master, today is your birthday, why did the emperor go to the apse?" The emperor ......"

Ruyi waved her hand in disappointment: "Don't say it." You don't have to clean up here, let's go down. ”

Seeing that Ruyi only had a heart, but sent herself away, Ah Zhen was a little angry, and withdrew the curtain.

He said anxiously: "Little master, did you still say it?" ”

Ruyi nodded, and Qi Qi said: "I have said everything that should be said and what should not be said." ”

"You're ......," he didn't dare to say any more.

"I know you're going to call me a mistake. But as a son of man, although the emperor doesn't say many things, he always thinks about his biological mother and wants to fulfill the filial piety of a son of man. Today, I am trying to get the emperor to punish, and I also want to say this intention, if the emperor can fulfill it, it will also fulfill himself. ”

He said anxiously: "But today is your birthday, and the emperor left without even finishing the banquet, obviously angry." You're not worth it! ”

The pairs of red candles that had just been lit went out one after another, swaying, as if they would be extinguished at any time. The gap between the opening and closing of the window lattice, the wind poured in, bringing in the cold and damp night outside the hall, and easily extinguished the blazing candle flame on the copper candlestick.

The darkness was as cool as the night, silently spreading. Ruyi opened her mouth to make a sound, but the endless loneliness and darkness blocked her mouth, making her unable to make any sound except for warm tears.

He hurriedly said: "The little master is waiting, and the slave maid will go to light the candles." ”

Ruyi let the tears slide silently, and said quietly: "No need. Go out and I'll be quiet. ”

The night's mutation soon became a laughing stock in the palace. When Jin Yuyan saw Hailan, she couldn't help but whisper to her: "When the emperor came to you last night, was he very angry?" ”

Hailan hurriedly smiled: "Jiagui has always known me, I didn't even dare to raise my head when I saw the emperor, where did I dare to see what the emperor's face was." ”

Yuyan smiled mysteriously: "Did the emperor talk to you to relieve your boredom?" You are not bad, since you lived in Yanxi Palace, the emperor went to see Concubine Xian, and he always went to see you a few times by the way. ”

Hailan's expression was humble and cautious, with a timid and uneasy nervousness after being humiliated last time: "Sister still doesn't know me? is clumsy, and the emperor doesn't talk to me much. It's just the same as usual. ”

Yuyan seemed to have no disbelief, and her charming and clear phoenix eyes provoked her desire to fly: "It's really the same as usual?" ”

Hyland's expression seemed honest and credible: "Really. ”

Yuyan seemed to be a little discouraged, and took Yi Guiren's hand and left boringly.

After coming back, Hailan truthfully told Ruyi about what she had seen today, and Ruyi just bowed her head compared to Li Zhaodao's "Spring Mountain Travel Map" in the Tang Dynasty, embroidering an identical embroidery on the taut white silk of the sandalwood embroidery frame.

Hailan said: "It's all like this outside, everyone can't wait to see my sister's jokes, why is my sister still so calm that she is embroidering this?" ”

Ruyi smiled faintly: "It's easy for the people of Ruyi Pavilion (1) to find this picture, and if you don't calm down and embroider it, do you still go outside to let people see right and wrong?" ”

Hailan looked at the scroll carefully and said, "This color painting is a cliff and a stone curved plate. The vines linger among the trees, and pedestrians ride up the mountain. Walking among the majestic mountains, the trees and vines cover people's eyes, and there is always a feeling that there is no way out of the mountains and rivers. ”

Ruyi stretched out her hand and stroked her falling sideburns: "It's okay to paint, my favorite is the poem under the picture scroll." Ruyi chanted softly, "The cliffs are stacked with overhanging mysteries, and the trees are thick and gloomy. There is no trace of clouds and shadows, so why not take a break from your shoulders. Looking up and thirsty to drink and talk about Lunyi, Ju Poping is also at ease in the palm of his hand. ”

Hailan's eyes were clear, and she already smiled a little knowingly: "Jupoping's palm is also safe." Could it be that my sister already has a solution? ”

Ruyi embroidered a few stitches, then stopped and took the silk thread and compared the dark green and deep green color on the picture scroll, and selected one color and one color. Hailan said with a smile: "To embroider a tree on this mountain peak, you have to use dozens of shades of green, and my sister is not afraid to pick and choose?" ”

Ruyi pointed to the budding peach blossoms in the courtyard: "Look at the flower bones and pink flowers, reflecting the lake-green bead curtain, isn't it like a random flower that is gradually charming?" In this case, as long as we calm down and guard ourselves, we won't get lost. ”

Hailan didn't say much, cleaned her hands in the copper basin, took a silver needle and said: "In this case, my sister is also afraid of the flowers outside, so I will accompany my sister to embroider." ”

The days of indulging in the flying silk threads are quiet and fast. It seems to be a variety of silk threads that cannot be sorted out on the embroidery frame, bright green, emerald green, deep blue, goose yellow, vermilion, Fu powder, shrimp green, hibiscus red...... Slowly, I chose to pass through the holes of the silver needles, and embroidered them on the snow-white silk ground one by one, as if this identity was clear, and gradually settled down in my mind.

Since Ruyi's birthday, the emperor has not set foot in Yanxi Palace for a month. The green head license plate of the six palaces fell between the fingers, Xianfu Palace, Yonghe Palace, Qixiang Palace, Changchun Palace, Zhongcui Palace, Jingyang Palace, as if where the emperor went, he brought spring wherever he went. Only Yanxi Palace, even if the peach blossoms in the courtyard bloom a few, they are also thin and timid, cold carmine, the flowers are not numerous, bright and discolored, and they are lonely and thin in the spring breeze and bright sun.

The emperor suddenly chilled Yanxi Palace, and Ruyi and Hailan's life gradually became difficult. At first, the clothes that should have been in the spring were not delivered, so they had to pick up the old clothes to wear. Fortunately, the queen was still sympathetic, and she rewarded some of them, so she reluctantly helped to make up for it. It's just that she and Hailan have clothes, and the subordinates are not careful, so it is inevitable that there will be complaints. Gradually, the food delivered by the imperial dining room was not fresh. There are no new dishes, several main dishes are boiled and cooked, I didn't eat it today, and tomorrow it will be this dish, and the soup is thick and greasy, and the dishes are old and can't be eaten at all. Ruyi couldn't return to the queen for everything, which not only made people laugh, but also offended the imperial dining room, so she had to take out her own silver to supplement the meals in the kitchen, but everything was not complete. Gradually, even the moon silver sent was not complete. Ah Zhen counted the wrong number, so he shouted at Qin Li, the chief eunuch of the Internal Affairs Office: "Why is our silver wrong, and we are not allowed to shout?" ”

Qin Li is not very old, but he has been on an errand in the Internal Affairs Office for a long time, and he sneered at the moment and said: "There are two little masters living in Yanxi Palace, and the expenses are originally large. At the end of the year, I used this and that with that money, the Ministry of Internal Affairs paid for it out of its own pocket. Now that it's spring, won't you make up for the money? I've calculated everything, according to such a method of deducting the moon silver, the amount owed by Yanxi Palace should not be paid off until this time next year. ”

Ah Zhen was so angry that he trembled, pointed at his nose and scolded: "When did Yanxi Palace ask for the money owed to the Internal Affairs Office, what about the IOU?" What about the money? Take them out one by one and I'll see! ”

Qin Li shook his head and smiled: "How can a master not pay back the money he owes to his slaves?" It's a loss to be a little master's mother, so taking the minion's silver is not silver, and it's a joke to say it. ”

Ah Zhen saw him swaggering away, and he was so angry that he couldn't speak. When I entered the warm pavilion and saw that Ruyi only cared about embroidering the "Spring Mountain Travel Map", she became more and more angry, and said with red eyes: "Little master, listen, the people of the Internal Affairs Office are doing this to us!" ”

Ruyi calmly made a good silk thread and said, "I have wronged you." The silver is not enough, so I will send some of my old clothes out for some money, and if it is not good, we will work harder, do more embroidery work and ask Xiaofuzi to send them out for money. ”

Ah Zhen thought for a while and said, "Where don't you use silver in the palace?" The slave maid thought, instead of being so difficult and looking at people's faces, the little master should discuss it with his mother's family......"

Before she finished speaking, Ruyi's face had sunk: "I know the embarrassment in the palace, do you want to tell my mother's family to worry about them?" What's more, the Ulanala clan is not as good as before, and they are still counting on me, how can I still reassure them? ”

Ah Zhen was so choked that he couldn't say a word, so he had to sneer: "The slave thinks about it, what is the flesh and blood of the dear relatives......"

Ruyi waved her hand and said: "It's because of my dear relatives that I can't drag them down." ”

Ah Zhen was speechless, so he had to endure it. Ruyi's hand holding the silver needle was stained with cold sweat on her hand, and she was astringent for a while, so she simply threw away the embroidery frame and went to her hand.

At that time, it was dusk, and the courtyard was obliquely shining into the warm pavilion, and the light was covered by heavy embroidered curtains, which was a little dimmer. The afterglow of the sunset is a thin golden red, and after looking at it for a long time, it does not have the warmth brought by the warm color, but it seems to fall in the autumn coolness. Even the swallows flying in mid-air seemed to be wet with their wings by the night cold, and they couldn't fly high. She remembered a poem she had learned when she was a child for no reason, and she had forgotten all the words before, and only remembered one sentence clearly: the sunset is speechless and the swallow returns to sorrow, and the east wind is cold at night than autumn (2).

I didn't say a word, and the cloisonné enamel table lamp with two white sarongs was placed next to the embroidery frame, and I waited quietly: "Little master, the slave maid just sorted out the clothes and found a few old materials, the tricks are not fashionable, but the materials are excellent, it is better to cut them first and make spring shirts for the people below, so as not to make trouble in the palace first." ”

Ruyi said: "It's okay." It's just that I told you something else, did you do it? ”

He said softly: "Big brother, the slave knows that those grandmothers are unreliable, so according to the instructions of the little master, they will quietly send some food every few days, and avoid people and give it to the big brother." ”

"That's good. That's all I can take care of. Ruyi took Qing Shuihuan's hand and said helplessly, "I was reckless, and the soldiers were in danger, which affected you." ”

Yi Xin smiled faintly: "In this palace, ups and downs are also common. Others look down on us because they don't have enough eyesight. ”

Ruyi shook her head and sighed with emotion: "It's okay for others, but Ah Ji can't hold his breath so much......"

While the two were talking, Sanbao opened the curtain and came in and said, "Little master, the slave just met Li Yu on the long street outside, and he was about to deliver the decree, which is a new thing." ”

Ruyi said: "What? ”

Sanbao said: "The emperor somehow had a whim, saying that he had made it clear to the queen mother that he wanted to reward the concubines left by the first emperor. ”

Ruyi almost didn't react, so she asked, "Tell me more carefully, what is it?" ”

Sanbao didn't want to be as interested as Yi, so he said carefully: "The emperor went to the Taimiao Temple to worship his ancestors a few days ago, and when he came back, he was very sad, and said to the queen mother that he had not done his filial piety. The queen mother comforted the emperor a few words, and the emperor said that the queen mother should be supported by the world, and the monthly silver share of the concubines and concubines of Shoukang Palace was increased. In addition, the emperor also wanted to posthumously seal the deceased concubines of the first emperor, move into the concubine mausoleum together, and be the companion of the first emperor. ”

The boulder that Ruyi had been pressing on her heart for dozens of days suddenly scattered like sand and loosened. She couldn't help but smile knowingly: "The first emperor died, and naturally there is no one to serve when he goes underground." There are too few people buried in the concubine's mausoleum, and it doesn't look good. With such filial piety on the emperor, the queen mother naturally did not agree. ”

San Bao said with a smile: "The little lord has a vision, and the Queen Mother also said so. Therefore, first the late Emperor Dunsu Emperor's concubine was buried in Tailing, and then several nobles who died in the Old Summer Palace and Rehe Palace, and officials and women who were always there, promised or served the first emperor, were all posthumously crowned concubines and moved to Tailing to accompany them. ”

Ruyi's heart was filled with silent joy, and her eyes gradually became lost, turning into thin tears under her eyes. He hurriedly handed over the silk and said when he saw the opportunity: "The little master is tired of embroidering his eyes, so let's rest." Sambo, you can go down too. ”

Sanbao agreed to retreat, and Ruyi couldn't help crying with joy: "The emperor did this, and he still did it." "Tears are hot, falling from the bottom of the eyes to the cheeks, and the warm wetness reminds the emperor of his care and filial piety. Her joy was mixed with sadness and relief. For so many years, the emperor has avoided his life experience, and why doesn't he remember his biological mother like ordinary people? She knew in her heart that at this point, even if her identity was unknown, with the posthumous seal, it was a matter of the emperor's mind in the end. After so many years, his heart has gradually become her heart. Even if she calculates her honor and favor, and calculates the way to settle down, she is very relieved at this moment.

With a smile on his face, he couldn't help but bring tears of relief: "Little master, the emperor has fulfilled your wishes." His Majesty...... He's coming soon. ”

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Exegesis:

(1) Ruyi Pavilion: A service institution in the Qing Dynasty that enshrined the royal family with paintings. It also brings together painting masters, calligraphers, and porcelain masters from all over the country, and entering the Ruyi Museum has also become an important expression of the art of painting.

(2) From Wu Wenying's "Huanxi Sha" in the Song Dynasty. The full words are: the door is separated by flowers and deep old sleepwalking, the sunset is speechless and the swallow returns to sorrow, and the jade fiber fragrance moves the small curtain hook. The fall is silent, the spring falls tears, the clouds have a shadow and the moon is ashamed, and the east wind is cold in autumn at night.