Chapter 6
The carriage stopped in front of the red gate, and the maids and attendants gathered around, supported the sedan chair down the stairs, and helped a noble lady get off the carriage.
Perhaps she was born too delicate and delicate to even sit on the ground. Someone called for a sedan chair, and several maids carried her down to her seat.
Only after the palace maids set up the sedan chair could they catch a glimpse of her features.
Gu Luoyan stood at this end, bowing slightly to her along with the others who greeted her through the red door. All the heads of the various departments of the Red Hall had arrived, many with fawning smiles on their faces, but they were not allowed to speak much, fearing that it would disturb the imperial concubine. Looking at the person sitting upright, her expression was indifferent, neither joy nor sorrow evident on her face.
Until a strange scream came from the back, the people welcoming the guests automatically made way for each other, and a tall woman with her hair tied up and her face covered came from the back, twisting her body and frowning.
When she had laughed enough, she coquettishly threw away the embroidered silk that covered her face, revealing a frighteningly pale face with two lumps of blush hanging high on her cheeks. Coupled with a very strange smile, the beauty mole on the tip of her forehead looked like the eye of the King of Hell.
She was so tall she stood out from the crowd of women, and with her exaggerated expression and red dress, Gu Luoyan knew everyone was afraid of her. The stewards around her hunched their backs, their earlier smiles gone, and they all hid themselves as best they could, silently retreating away.
The woman spoke, but unlike the others who bowed their heads, she said to the empress in the sedan chair, "Oh, look at whose family this girl is from! She has no conscience at all. She has been in the palace for three years and is only willing to return to her mother's home." Then she glanced at the head official beside her who was almost bowing to the ground, and said with a smile, "These dogs really know how to show their courtesy."
The imperial concubine smiled and bowed to the woman in the sedan chair, "Mother."
She straightened up, waved her hand, and had the servants bring up dozens of boxes. Once they were opened, they revealed everything from jewels to gold. Then she added, "I am an unfilial daughter. These little things are my apology to you, mother. I hope you will forgive me."
The woman laughed so hard that her body shook. She waved her hands and said, "Forget it, today is a happy occasion." She waved her sleeves and bent down, her eyes narrowed into slits as she stared at the person in the sedan chair and said, "Welcome, Your Majesty."
So after she finished speaking, everyone behind her leaned forward and said in unison: "Welcome, Your Majesty."
The sedan chair lifted up, and the drums on the red gate sounded in unison. String music welcomed the distinguished guest, who was personally greeted by the little-known owner of the Red Pavilion.
Gu Luoyan glanced at the imperial concubine as the sedan passed. She had returned to her expressionless expression, her supreme dignity and elegance like a layer of skin inlaid on her body. Her eyes, soaked with autumn frost, were impenetrable and chilling, concealing countless unknown past events.
·
Gu Luoyan stopped, not following the crowd. Suddenly, she saw someone desperately pushing through the crowd, his face visible from a corner. It was Li Shisan, waving and shedding tears. But the person in the sedan chair passed by him in a flash, perhaps not seeing him. The doorway of the Red Hall, where distinguished guests had been sent off, was hung with red lanterns, like a row of teeth. It swallowed up the newcomer, engulfing him in the complex corridors of a deep palace.
Gu Luoyan turned around to prepare for the evening's dance to welcome distinguished guests. Her memory of Li Shisan flashed before her eyes. He was one of the few "normal" people she had met in the Red Pavilion. He was unpretentious, smiling with sincerity, his emotions clearly expressed, and being around him made her feel more at ease.
I heard that he came to the Hong Kong Coliseum voluntarily.
For what?
But it's just the trivial thoughts of human sentimentality.
People are hard to understand and hard to distinguish.
The empty building prepared here is specially for the imperial concubine to sleep in.
The sedan chair landed, and a maid came over and carried Concubine Jue to the upper floor. Everyone followed her, but Concubine Jue stopped them before entering: "I have always loved quiet and peaceful life. It's fine in the palace, but even when I return to my mother's home, I can't find peace and quiet?"
Everyone held their breath and dared not speak.
"Go ask the housekeeper who was assigned to you by the madam, and you can move into another room."
"This..." A nanny in elegant attire at the bottom of the stairs was in a dilemma and could only bow and say, "Then dismiss the servants and leave a few old slaves to serve the queen personally." She waved her hand and asked the servant to go down to obey the order.
The person on his back was furious. "Who asked you to make the decision for me? You're so bold!"
The maid knelt on the ground and said in a pretentious tone, "I dare not."
"I am just following the emperor's order. I cannot do anything that goes against the emperor's order." She stood up and raised her hand to pass on the decision she had just made.
Concubine Jue sneered, but she plucked the golden hairpin from her bun. The next moment, she stabbed the woman below her in the shoulder blade. With a scream, the woman's grip loosened, and Concubine Jue fell from her back, hitting the wooden board hard. Everyone around her was terrified.
She raised herself up, the bloodstained hairpin still clutched in her hand. "You treat me like a caged bird. Even after I'm out of the cage, you'll still treat me like this!"
She questioned the palace maid. The maid who had just retorted turned pale for a moment, then shook her head and shouted, "The imperial concubine is crazy, crazy! Pin her down and ask someone to write back to the emperor!"
"Let's see who dares!" She threw the hairpin in her hand, frightening some of the palace maids and making them tremble. At this time, she had completely lost her elegant and graceful image. She just barked at everyone, and a hint of smile appeared in her terrifying expression.
But no one noticed. The nanny wanted to get closer to her, but in the end she could only scold her from a distance: "You don't want the position of imperial concubine anymore! You lunatic!"
"Oh, I, Li Puzi, have never coveted this position." Her eyes hardened, a long-lost expression that dispelled the title of "Jue" bestowed by the emperor. No longer like the Buddha Jueshu, who always showed compassion for all living beings, she became lively and calm. Watching the palace maids retreat, watching the old woman she had stabbed flee from her side in panic, Li Puzi finally said: "If you want to tell that rapist, go ahead. Now get out of here, and don't let me see you again."
She watched the noisy crowd fade away. A beam of sunlight broke through the daylight and landed under the eaves. It also landed in her palm. She closed her eyes and sniffed. It was an air different from the air in the deep palace.
Thinking back to the seven humiliating nights before her departure, it was all worth it that only the women were accompanying her into the Hong Kong Coliseum today.
Suddenly, the sun-washed tiles looked like fresh snow. Snow in my hometown is rare in this southern part of the country.
Li Puzi glanced at the door, expectant for a moment. Today she saw someone squeezed into a corner, looking very different from her impression.
His hair has turned white, and he seems to have grown shorter. But I can only pretend not to see it.
It’s good to be alive, live well.
How she wanted to wipe his tears.
Li Puzi turned around and crawled toward the door. Her legs were slightly exposed, their bones broken, leaving only a pair of seemingly normal legs. Countless bruises and purples alternated across her skin, telling of her unspoken pain.
He crossed the threshold, turned around, and closed the door. Li Puzi crawled towards the soft couch in the room.
She struggled to sit up, using the force of her hand to slump down onto a chair. The ripples of the courtyard pond reflected in the window lattice above the door, shimmering. She straightened her clothes, sat up straight, and smiled faintly at the door, her eyes glittering.
Li Puzi said, "Mother, thank you for your help."
In the blink of an eye, her heart turned red, there was blood at the corner of her mouth, she closed her eyes and fell on the soft couch, a tear stained with blood wet the cushion.
The snow in Xinxiang blows and drifts towards the south.
The door opened and someone burst into tears. She was already sleeping peacefully.
The tall woman guarding the wooden box looked at the suona, a piece of music mixed with gold and silver. The red string tied to it must have been coated with a volatile substance, fading from red to white. As the white string tied to the suona, she was determined to die.
A man came in and nodded to her. The woman closed the box, twisted her body and went back into the house, but she started singing:
"My little girl, you are so confused.
Yangguan does not see the Yinsi.
Don't look back, just move forward.
Mother, send the man home..."
·
Nian Qing was still not seeing Li Shisan. Everything in the kitchen came to a halt.
She simply sat on the roof, watching the sunset in the west and the stars all over the sky.
Suddenly, I saw two shadows looming in the afterglow.
The former was dressed in white, holding a lock in one hand, and leading the latter forward.
She stood up, trying to get a better look, but in an instant the two figures had vanished from the world.
It wasn't a living soul, much less the nanny whose soul she had called back to life. Another soul had found a home, and the moment the soul-binding lock was put on, the connection with the past in life ended.
I can only sigh that things and people have changed. Compared with the universe, all living beings are just a speck of dust.
Nianqing thought, the most absurd statement in the world is "live as long as the rocks of the Southern Mountains." If the day ever came for her to leave, she would definitely be calm.
It's just the cycle of reincarnation in the three realms, life and death are determined by fate. She won't have any regrets about this world.
·
Everyone knows that the current harem has no master.
Thirteen years had passed since Empress Yuan's passing, and the Emperor had yet to appoint a new concubine. Later, folk rumors spread that Your Majesty had made a secret visit to the Ming capital, favored Ji Zi at the Red Pavilion, and the following year, when she gave birth to a prince, the Emperor made an exception and married Ji Zi into the palace.
She was conferred the title of concubine and given the name Jue.
In the winter of the same year, the prince died young, and the whole country mourned.
In the spring of the following year, in order to ease the grief of losing her son, Jue was named a noble concubine and ranked first in the harem.
Just before ascending the throne, His Majesty indicated that he would bestow upon the imperial concubine a crown with a dragon and phoenix pattern, and everyone in the palace immediately and privately kowtowed to the imperial concubine as "Your Highness".
Everyone knows that the current harem has no master.
However, there was a noble concubine who exercised the power of the queen.
He was criticized by the world and despised by people.
People say he lives a thousand years, but in fact they know he is just an actor and they despise him.
Three thousand miles from my homeland, I have been in the palace for twenty years[1].
With a cry, two tears fell in front of you.
The stars are shining brightly tonight, and it is really rare to see snow in the capital city.
The body of the fallen one was freezing cold, and there was no more thousand-year-old in the capital.
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