Chapter 3: A Turning Point of Fate (Revised)
In February, the snow melts, spring warms up, and the flowers begin to bloom.
The rustic gray cloth donkey cart, accompanied by the dull donkey bells, drove slowly in the suburbs where the green shoots were newly drawn, and the two 28 Chunhua women sat next to each other in the middle of the cart full of wheat bags, but they both bowed their heads and pondered with their little faces.
"Li'er, my mother remarried the second uncle Wang in the east of the village, and now I have a new brother, and Uncle Wang entrusted someone to tell me a family matter, which is the son of the grandson who has never met in the south of the village......" Hua Xihuan looked at the apricot blossoms that bloomed sporadically on the side of the road sadly, and said lowly.
In the early years, he set up a simple stall on the side of the road to provide drinks and dishes to passers-by, and he could also survive, and his life was more than that of ordinary farmers, but unfortunately the good times did not last long.
On the occasion of Xihuan's birth, Hua's father died of a vicious disease, Xihuan lost his father at a young age, and Hua Niang relied on her own strength to pull Da Xihuan, because of her beautiful appearance, there were many people in the village who made up her mind to take Hua Niang, and Hua Niang resolutely refused to say that the coal man said that she was close many times, but in the end, her daughter remarried two years after entering the palace.
This time, because of the inconvenience of confinement, the Wang family was busy planting in the field and couldn't leave, so she asked the same village to enter the imperial capital to transport the goods to the old man, and took Xihuan back to her hometown.
"Ah Huan, in order to get rid of you, is Aunt Hua willing to marry you to the bookkeeper son who has never met?" Mo Xiangli raised his eyes when he heard this, frowned at Hua Xihuan's delicate side face, and asked with a hint of anger in his tone.
"Mother? She's not easy to ...... either."
Hua Xihuan's always bright brown eyes silently slid down clear tears and said.
"Ah Huan......" Mo Xiangli heard the meaning of her words, his heart hurt, he suddenly clenched her wrist, squirmed his thin lips that had lost his blood, and finally said nothing with his eyes, and silently let go of her.
She wanted to say: "What about me......" Mo Xiangli thought of parting with Xihuan, and her heart throbbed, her parents left early, her brother's life and death were uncertain, and finally met Xihuan and the two were like sisters, and they wanted to go out of the palace and rely on Xihuan, but she got married and started a family after she went back...... She is alone, and now she has lost her virgin body, where should she go.
"Li'er, Kong County Order accepts you as a righteous daughter, you enter the palace for his daughter for three years, help them a lot, Kong County Order should not treat you badly, I asked someone to help you inquire, Kong County Order intends to give you a hut, two acres of land, to repay you, and as long as you want, he can also find a good family for you." The corners of Hua Xihuan's mouth were barely pulled out, and she said with a smile.
Hehe, a cottage, two acres of land, a family business......
Mo Xiangli did not have the slightest expression on his cold and beautiful face, and his slender fingers tightly pinched the bag beside him, and his fingers turned white.
"Li'er, I'm sorry, I ......"
"Uh......" Mo Xiangli suddenly leaned out of the sedan chair, lying on the window in embarrassment and vomiting, Hua Xihuan patted her thin back nervously, and said worriedly: "Li'er, are you okay......"
The donkey cart stopped, and Uncle Fu heard the car in front and turned around and asked, "Flower girl, what's wrong with your friend?"
"Li'er, she has been unwell recently, the road is too bumpy, uncle, you should drive slower." Hua Xihuan fed the water she was carrying into Mo Xiangli's mouth and said.
"Oh, my donkey cart is not as good as other people's carriages, if it is slower, I am afraid that I will have to sleep in the wild tonight." The old man glanced at the vomit on the ground, took a puff of dry tobacco with his mouth, and said.
"This ......" Hua Xihuan held the kettle and looked at Uncle Fu and said embarrassedly.
"It doesn't matter, you let him go." Mo Xiangli leaned on the bag full of wheat, closed his eyes and said haggardly.
"Hmm." Hua Xihuan wiped off the dirt for her with a handkerchief and motioned for the old man to continue driving.
The donkey cart had just driven and walked a distance, when suddenly someone behind him was galloping with a long horse in his hand, and shouted angrily: "Stop-"
Uncle Fu looked back and saw that a team of men and horses in blue and black official uniforms were chasing after him, he was frightened, and hurriedly pulled the reins, craned his neck and watched him arrive cautiously.
"Whoever is coming down right now!" The horseback chief pointed his spear at the old man's neck and said in a sharp voice, at this exit, the old man couldn't help but look at him, hey, good guy, this person is not wearing an official uniform at all, but a eunuch uniform.
"Adult, the little one didn't do anything!"
"What's going on out there?" Xi Huan heard the noisy sound outside and opened the sedan curtain, and asked puzzledly, how did she know that as soon as she poked her head out, a cold sharp object immediately hit her neck, and Xi Huan was immediately frightened and didn't dare to move.
"What's it called?" The eunuch lifted the curtain of the sedan car and looked around the car, only to see a bag of cloth bags containing unknown objects and a woman in a light green shirt, interrogating Hua Xihuan viciously.
"Hua Xihuan ......," Xihuan said with a shrunken face.
"Mr. Gao, the people have stopped me." The leading eunuch said to Gao Sheng's father-in-law, who came up on horseback behind him.
Hua Xihuan saw that a gray-haired young man rode in slowly on a tall horse, his facial features were upright and resolute, and he was full of manly spirit, but the sharp tip in his voice revealed his special identity.
"It's not her, let's go." Gao Sheng rode on the horse, glanced condescendingly at Hua Xihuan, who was pale and delicate, his eyes lingered on her face for a while, and he drove the horse around and said coldly.
"Withdraw." The eunuch withdrew the silver spear that was pressed on Xihuan's neck, and immediately followed Gao Sheng's father-in-law, and the group of people came and went in a hurry.
"Inexplicably, dogs can't change their eating when they wear clothes." Uncle Fu looked at the eunuch who was far away, took the reins, spat and scolded.
"Hmm, what's going on?" Mo Xiangli opened his eyes uncomfortably, frowned from the pile of wheat bags, and asked half-propped up.
"Nothing, you continue to rest." Hua Xihuan let her lie down and rest again, reached out and touched her neck that was still cold, recalling the tall man with white hair who was tall just now, and somehow felt a little familiar.
Gao Sheng thought about the girl's appearance in his mind, and felt that it was very similar to someone in his impression, and he couldn't get rid of it in front of him for a while.
"What was that woman's name just checked?" Gao Sheng asked.
"Flowers and flowers." The guard replied puzzled.
"Flowers...... Cherish the ...... Cherish the ...... Ahh......h
I remember that cold and bleak moonlit night, when he was punished by the chief eunuch to kneel on the ground for making a mistake, he was cold and hungry, and fainted on the ground. Someone passed by, helped him up, secretly fed him a mouthful of hot water, stuffed some food with him, and saved his life, so that he could live to this day and climb to this position.
"Ah Huan, let's go......" In a blur, the woman was called away by her companion.
"Xihuan ......" That's right, those eyes are exactly the same as in his memory, how could he forget, Gao Sheng seemed to remember something, pursed his lips like a knife, and suddenly turned around and chased back without saying a word.
"My lord......" The guard looked puzzled as Gao Sheng's father-in-law suddenly turned around and went back, looked at the dust raised by the horse's hooves, and hurriedly followed.
"Stop ......" shouted to stop, and the mood sounded anxiously.
"Oh, Mom...... Why did this group of ancestors chase after them again......" Uncle Fu looked at the eunuch behind him, made a comeback, and quickly pulled the reins again to let the donkey stop.
Gao Sheng dismounted and opened the sedan curtain, this time facing the pair of clear eyes with doubts, but suddenly couldn't speak, squeezed the knife tightly, looked at her with a flurry, and after a while, as if he had made up his mind, he took out a bag of bulging silver taels from his arms and stuffed it to the surprised Xihuan.
"Thank you, you saved my life three years ago, here is a hundred taels of silver."
Xihuan was at a loss to hold a heavy bag of purse, looked at Gao Sheng's sincere eyes in confusion, and said in wonder: "Help? Three years ago? ”
"Three years ago, on the night of the winter solstice, outside the worship room, after I made a mistake and was whipped, I was punished to kneel outside the hall, and I almost couldn't hold it when I was hungry. Gao Sheng's eyes have always been cold, and he remembered that night with warmth in his eyes.
"Ah, it turns out that you are a little high." Xi Huan looked at Gao Sheng, who was full of eyebrows and eyes in front of her, and it was a little difficult to connect with the little eunuch who was dying that night, but the white hair made her have an impression when it arrived.
When she was saving people, she thought it was a gray-haired old eunuch who fell to the ground, but she didn't expect to see that it was a young man when she got closer.
"The silver will be returned to you, I would go up to save anyone I met back then, and I am very happy to see that you are alive and well now." Seeing that he was leaving, Xi Huan hurriedly stuffed the silver back to Gao Sheng, and said with a smile.
"No, you take it, I've been looking for you for the past three years, and I want to repay you for saving your life."
Gao Sheng was in that night, after relying on those grains to survive, because of an opportunity two years ago, he killed the assassin in front of the saint and saved the fight, and climbed all the way to the position of the chief eunuch.
He was the youngest chief eunuch ever, and the emperor also ordered him to dispatch and train the little eunuchs under him, which was a treatment that no other eunuch had ever had. But he always remembered the little palace maid who saved him at the beginning, and he was always looking for her.
"After I saved you, I followed Xuan Niangniang, who was originally serving, into the cold palace, and a year later she fell ill and died.
We were sent to do rough work in many places, such as the Shangyi Bureau and the Huanyi Bureau. Half a year ago, the substitute maid who was abused to death by Concubine Ronggui was transferred to Ronghua Palace. ”
Xihuan simply told the life of exile in the palace, and did not complain and grieve too much about the past three years.
"Are you going back?" Gao Sheng looked at her and asked.
"Hmm." Xihuan nodded, and Gao Sheng felt a little lost in his heart.
"You accept it, I won't be able to meet you in the future, I will repay my kindness and revenge." Gao Sheng stuffed the silver two into Xihuan's arms again.
"I really don't want to ......"
"What's wrong with Xihuan......" When the two were talking, an uncomfortable voice suddenly came from the sedan chair, and with the sedan chair squirming a few times, a pale face appeared next to Hua Xihuan.
Gao Sheng suddenly remembered in his mind that Yan Zijin wrote a poem a few days ago to please the poem written by Feng Qingqiong, the flower of the Qinglou.
The red plum broke through the white snow at the beginning, the dust turned into exquisite bones on the ground, the mist covered the glass eyes, the nose was clever and lonely, the red lips did not taste a little red, the shoulders were cut and the waist was not provoked.
Gao Sheng looked at that familiar face, he simply stepped through the iron shoes and found nowhere to go, and it didn't take any effort to get there, and he looked back dangerously, and there were unfavorable subordinates not far away.
"Miss Mo, I am ordered by the emperor to take you into the palace at night and accept the grace of rain and dew." Gao Sheng said respectfully.
Hua Xihuan and Mo were separated, looking at each other, no one expected that after leaving the palace, Gao Sheng would bring this news that overturned the fate of several of them.
Overnight, he met the favor again, gave the plum palace, and sealed the beauty. From the palace maid under Concubine Rong Gui's mother, she turned into a phoenix on the tree, everything seemed to be heavenly, and she was a joke in front of Mo Xiangli.
After Mo Xiangli was favored by the emperor, he was also given a task.