Chapter 5 Chapter 5 - Five-day tour of Ye Ting
I felt wronged too. When Xia Fugui said that, tears almost came to my eyes.
"I understand the reason, but I can't help it."
Xia Fugui said, "Isn't the lesson from last time enough? You should learn your lesson."
"This jerk is so moody, one moment he's smiling, the next he's pinching people. How am I supposed to know what I said to irritate him?"
Xia Fugui poured me a cup of tea, lifted his clothes and sat down, saying, "You are also stupid. There are only two things that His Majesty cannot mention. One is the incident of pouring night fragrance in the palace, and the other is his biological mother. But you are so good, stepping on these two things and jumping around as hard as you can. If he doesn't punish you, who will he punish?"
I said sternly, "We historians are honest and always speak our mind, unlike outsiders who always like to hide things."
Xia Fugui shuddered: "This occupational disease is too terrible, it must be changed.
He began to boast about himself again: "Look at me, brother. It was because I kept my mouth shut and behaved well that I was able to live safely in the palace for so long."
Curious, I asked him, "You're tight-lipped? From what you've said, you already knew that the kid who poured out the night incense was the emperor's son?"
Xia Fugui shook his head and said, "Of course I don't know. This matter is not only secretive, but also very bizarre and complicated. I was just a lowly eunuch at the time. How could I have the right to get involved in the feud between the ladies?"
I made a gesture to show that I wanted to hear more details. Xia Fugui looked around with a sly look in his eyes and whispered to me about Li Siyan's life experience.
Li Siyan's mother was originally a lady from an official family in Chang'an, but later her house was raided due to a corruption case, and she was sent to the palace as a slave along with other female relatives.
At that time, the situation in the harem was very strange. The imperial concubine was the emperor's favorite and had a firm hold on him, making the concubines in the six palaces angry but dare not speak out, and even the queen had to avoid her. But one day, when the emperor went to Longshouyuan to climb alone, he fell in love with the mother of Li Siyan who was accompanying him. He was so obsessed with her that he had sex with her, but he did not dare to tell the imperial concubine about it afterwards.
But things in the world are so coincidental. It was just a night of rain and dew, and Li Siyan's mother found out that she was pregnant with a dragon seed. She was terrified and wanted to abort the child, but was afraid of the serious crime of murdering the dragon seed. In panic, the woman in the same room suggested that she seek help from the queen. She obeyed and went to the queen's palace to cry all night. The next day, the queen transferred her to her own palace and gave her shelter during her pregnancy.
As Xia Fugui said, this matter was a palace secret. Until Li Siyan was born, only two or three trusted palace maids in the Queen's palace knew about it.
Li Siyan lived in the cellar of the Queen's Palace for the first two years of his life. After the Queen's death, his mother followed her will and moved back to the Yunting with her young son, making him an ordinary night incense boy to escape the imperial concubine's ubiquitous eyes.
It was not until Li Siyan was ten years old and the imperial concubine passed away that the old palace maid left by the queen informed the emperor of this matter. Only then did Li Siyan jump from a lowly eunuch in the palace to the fourth prince of the dynasty.
But it is difficult for a person to betray his childhood. Even after he turned ten, he was dressed in fine clothes and fed with delicious food, and was surrounded by great scholars, which did not change his temperament. Perhaps the dark shadow of the Yunting Palace was forever embedded in his personality, which was manifested in the fact that he was simpler and more brutal than his two brothers, more cruel and ruthless, and lacked the bottom line of restraint.
Xia Fugui sighed, "Ye Ting is such a weird place. The more immoral one is, the better off one can be. No wonder it can raise a dragon seed astray."
I said, "You can't blame the environment entirely. The royal family is born with bad morals..."
Life in the palace must have been difficult. Even Xia Fugui couldn't explain what Li Siyan had been through. Was he cold? Was he hungry? Did his mother care for him? No one knew except him.
At that time, Xia Fugui was just a lowly eunuch. Seeing that Li Siyan was always bullied by other children, he felt a little sympathy and gave him a few steamed buns. However, this small favor expanded into a huge hat of the chief eunuch of the palace more than ten years later, which hit Xia Fugui's sparse hairy head.
Xia Fugui started to complain to me again, "Why do you say Yingying is stupid? You were right there when the steamed buns were given to you. If you tell this to His Majesty, maybe he will show some leniency to you."
I replied, "I think you have a bad memory. I didn't leave my name at the time. How could he believe me if I told him now that the kind little girl was me?"
"Look at you, you just missed out on such a great achievement." Xia Fugui lamented, "If he knew that Shen Bianzhuan was the father of the girl who gave him the steamed buns, he would definitely not kill your father."
"Just for a steamed bun? How could I have such a big face?" I shook my head. "You don't know, he took me to the Censorate Prison in the middle of the night yesterday and tortured Mr. Guo in front of me."
"Mr. Guo?"
"Guo Xin, the Imperial Household Officer, was the old gentleman who delivered the late emperor's imperial edicts." I said, "He was kind-hearted and had looked after Li Siyan, but to no avail. Just because he refused to reveal the whereabouts of the two young masters, Li Siyan murdered him anyway."
Xia Fugui showed an expression of extreme surprise.
I stroked the top of his sparse head and said, "Fugui'er, you were able to become the chief steward of the palace not because you were indebted to him, but because you are insignificant. But our Shen family is different. Our family has been historians for generations. We are strong-willed but have no ability to protect ourselves. We are the most suitable for establishing our authority. But, how could he let us go?"
Xia Fugui fell silent.
Although he did not understand the court, his many years of experience in the palace had made him well versed in the logic of power operation. He could only sigh and say, "This is my fate."
I lowered my head again and said, "Yes, if you think about it carefully, it was my fault. If I hadn't sneaked into the palace that day and saved that bastard Li Siyan... and let him be beaten to death by those eunuchs, maybe none of this would have happened. My father, second uncle, and brother would all be fine. On our days off, our family would go to the East Market to play and go for an outing in the suburbs..."
At the end of his speech, his voice became softer and softer, almost choking.
Xia Fugui consoled her, "Why are you still blaming yourself? It's pointless. Who can truly explain the cause and effect of things in this world? We have a saying in the palace: Look only to the future, not the ifs. Remember that the past is the past, and the future is what matters most."
After dinner, Xia Fugui led me to a secluded little door and pointed inside, saying, "I've had someone clean up a room for you. You can stay here for a few days. After a couple of days, when the emperor's anger has mostly subsided, you can go back. Be careful in the future and don't get sent to the palace again. This is not a good place..."
"Ah! A mouse! Oh my God! Fugui'er, look, there's a mouse over there! Ah!"
My screams interrupted Xia Fugui's chatter.
"What? Where is it?" Xia Fugui was caught by me and cried out: "Auntie, be gentle. If you don't let me go, how can I help you chase away the rats?"
I climbed onto the bed with trembling hands and feet.
Xia Fugui opened the back door, picked up a broom, and drove the fat rodent out in a few strokes. Looking back, he saw me squatting on the bed, shivering, as if I had suffered a huge shock.
Xia Fugui said in disbelief, "Yingying, are you afraid of mice?"
I nodded with difficulty.
"Chen Ying, you even dare to scold the emperor, and you are actually afraid of mice?" He was completely crazy.
"Comparing the dog emperor to the rat, of course the rat is scarier!" I cried out in a tearful voice, "There's another one over there! Help me kill it!"
Human beings have different joys and sorrows, likes and dislikes. Because our origins and experiences have shaped our different ways of thinking, we will also make different choices at critical moments: I was born into a noble family, I am afraid of the long tails of mice, but I dared to point at the newly appointed emperor and curse him in the Xuanzheng Hall; Fuguier was born in the dust, he is not afraid of mice, but he is afraid of the thunder and rain from those in power.
"...No one has lived in this house for a long time, so there are more rats." Xia Fugui muttered, "I didn't know you were afraid of these things. I didn't clean it up properly, so you'll have to make do with it."
"It's gone? Is it really gone?"
Xia Fugui pondered: "On the surface, it's gone."
Tears welled up in my eyes as I slid down from the couch and said to Xia Fugui, "Do you think there will come a day when I'm so used to life in the palace that I won't even be afraid of mice?"
Xia Fugui didn't understand for a moment and asked in confusion: "Why are you asking this?"
I said, "I'm thinking, when Li Siyan captured me and brought me to the palace to write his daily notes, wasn't it like a cat servant teasing a mouse, teasing it when he's happy, and then giving it some pain when it bites, until he tortures his prey to death from exhaustion? He wants to wear down my spirit, right?"
"If one day I am tortured to the point where even my edges and corners are gone, and I allow myself to be squeezed and flattened without a word, and watch a mouse run by my bed without even raising an eyelid, will I still be myself? At that time, what else can I do besides living?"
Xia Fugui said confusedly, "Isn't it enough to be alive?"
"I mean..."
"Sister, things will work out when the time comes. There's no point in overthinking it." Xia Fugui interrupted me, shaking a finger at me and said, "But sister, you reminded me, and I've come up with a perfect way to chase away the rats."
My attention was immediately drawn to him, and I immediately threw aside the question I was thinking about and asked eagerly, "What method?"
Xia Fugui excitedly told me that the old cat raised by the Shanggong Bureau gave birth to a litter of kittens the day before yesterday. It happened that Xia Fugui was promoted, and the Shanggong gave him a little cat as a gift.
This cat has shown an amazing talent for catching mice at such a young age. Wherever he goes, no mice live. Since I am so afraid of mice, I will lend him my beloved cat as a protection for my home.
Xia Fugui was very quick and in just a cup of tea, a cute little cat appeared in my room.
I introduced myself to it, saying my name is Chen Ying and I am its temporary owner. It meowed at me in a reserved and steady manner.
"It's called Xiaomi," Xia Fugui said, "...Don't laugh, this name is not so rustic at all, it's so cute."
Along with the little raccoon slave was a shoulder pole. Xia Fugui said casually that the pole was used to carry manure. He also told me that it was the emperor's wish to let me experience the night incense. He was a low-level executor and it was not convenient for him to reduce my sentence.
But as wise working people, there are always more solutions than problems. He cleverly decided to send a little servant who has many years of experience in pouring night-time incense to assist me, so that I don’t have to carry the bucket myself.
Xia Fugui said that it was not that he took good care of me, but that he thought I didn't look like I could work, so he told me not to spill the manure all over the floor, otherwise my house would be full of shit tomorrow.
I felt like I was being looked down upon. I stroked Xiao Mi's furry head and said bitterly, "Am I such a loser in your eyes?"
Xia Fugui: ...What do you think?
It was not until I saw with my own eyes the helper Xia Fugui found for me that I realized that Xia Fugui was really not polite to me. In his heart, I was indeed a big waste.
I looked at the little servant boy in front of me, who was only eight years old and had a humble look on his face, and a sense of guilt arose in my heart.
What was I doing when I was eight? Homework in the mornings, playing with Meng Xu in the afternoons, and lying on my aunt's lap at night listening to my second uncle tell stories. My fingers had never touched water, let alone manure. Yet, by the time I was eight, this child was already the most skilled collector of night incense in the entire palace. There was something pitiful about this, yet also a subtle hint of inspiration...
He looked at me, told me his name was Yide, and then tentatively called me sister.
The word "sister" broke me down. I couldn't bear the condemnation of my conscience, so I took the initiative to help him carry the burden.
When I took up the burden, I couldn't help but think of Li Siyan.
Things in the world are so unpredictable. Even though he has become a cold-blooded and violent dog emperor now, when he was eight years old, he was just a little kid who smoked night-blooming incense.
Unfortunately, not every child will grow up as happily and upright as Chen Ying. Many children will grow up crooked in a shitty environment and become a crooked tree with no empathy. They have never been loved well and do not know how to love others. They only know how to rob and steal and use any means to get what they want.
While collecting the night incense, the air was filled with the strong smell of feces and urine, which almost drove me away.
After finally getting through the work, I returned to the house and vomited violently into the washbasin, greeting Li Siyan's ancestors in my heart as I vomited.
Xiao Mi came over and sniffed it, then jumped onto the cabinet in disgust, looking down at its new roommate with contempt.
The next day, Xia Fugui came to visit me, brought me a pair of homemade nose plugs, and told me that we would continue tonight.
He sighed and said, "A rich young lady like you can't imagine the suffering of us in the palace. This is just the beginning. I think you should submit to His Majesty as soon as possible and suffer less."
I replied, "You wish! Didn't Li Siyan throw me here just to see me in such a state of embarrassment? He wouldn't let me go to the Purple Palace until he's had enough of my misfortune. It's useless to beg him."
Xia Fugui sighed, "What a sin..."
In this way, the second day, the third day, the fourth day, the fifth day... five days, I collected night incense for five days.
I even felt that I had been marinated, otherwise why did everyone avoid me, except for the yellow dog raised by Xia Fugui, who looked at me with increasingly passionate eyes.
Xia Fugui explained, "Da Huang used to love eating human excrement. Maybe he smelled you and recalled the glorious past..."
Me: Please shut up bro.
In fact, to be honest, the days in the Yunting were not difficult. Away from that mad dog Li Siyan, my emotions have become much calmer. The sadness that permeated my body seemed to be collected bit by bit, grabbed into a handful, and then placed in a corner of my heart.
I often sleep until noon, but the strange thing is that I haven't had any dreams in these few days. I think it is probably because my father and brother blame me for not being obedient, so they are unwilling to send me dreams. My second uncle went to my aunt's dream and had no time to come to me.
I miss them so much.
On the third day, after I collected the night incense, I lifted my clothes and knelt on the ground under the cold moonlight in Chang'an, and kowtowed three times towards the southeast.
Yide watched me quietly as I finished my kowtow and stood up, then asked softly, "Who are you kneeling to, sister?"
"Today is the seventh day after the death of my father, brother, and uncle," I replied dejectedly.
After a long pause, I added, "...I am an unfilial daughter. I haven't fulfilled any of their wishes, and I've ended up like this."
"I'm also an unfilial son," Yide said. "Before my mother passed away, she asked me to take care of my younger brother, but I didn't. He died, and I could only bury him under a small tree at the village entrance. Then I came to Chang'an alone."
I comforted him, "It's not your fault. It's good enough that you survived."
He looked me in the eyes and said, "Yes, it's good to be alive."
"Sister and I get along well. Is she working in the Purple Palace? I'd like to work for His Majesty in the future." He said seriously, "I'll try my best."
I didn't know what to say, so I could only sigh, touch his head and say, "Okay."
On the morning of the sixth day, I was dozing off with my quilt in my arms when I suddenly heard a hurried knock on the door.
I hurriedly put on my clothes and stood up, opening the door a crack, revealing Xia Fugui's happy little fat face.
He squeezed in through the crack in the door with an exaggerated smile of joy on his face. When the little cat suddenly saw its owner, it jumped to him and meowed coquettishly. Xia Fugui's mouth grinned even wider.
I asked curiously, "Fugui'er, do you have any good news? Did the dog emperor give you a bounty? Or did Aunt Wan'er agree to be your wife?"
"Go, go!" Xia Fugui rolled his eyes at me. "I'm happy for you, aunt! The emperor has summoned you back to the Purple Palace to serve. You don't have to pour the night incense tonight!"
I was startled and blurted out, "So fast?"
I thought the dog emperor would ignore me for at least a month. It’s too hasty to call me back now. Does he need an attendant so badly?
Xia Fugui said happily, "Anyway, I don't have to serve you any longer. Go change into your palace clothes and don't keep the guard brother waiting too long."
"Oh." I muttered, "If Li Siyan goes crazy again one day, I will have to come to you for refuge."
"Pooh, pooh, pooh, that's unlucky. Don't make the emperor angry when you go back, okay? Think about your cousin before you lose your temper and be more patient..." Xia Fugui kept nagging and admonishing.
After saying this, he picked up his little cat slave, walked out of my room at a brisk pace, and started to flirt with the two imperial guards with a smile on his face.
Everyone in the palace noticed that Manager Xia seemed to be in a particularly good mood today. Look at that chubby little face, all wrinkled from smiling, making him look like a Shar-Pei dog.
An hour later, I was packed up and thrown out of the palace along with my clothes, and was forced to return to the dog emperor.
The Purple Palace looked exceptionally magnificent in the sunlight, and beneath the eaves stood guard, on high alert, alert to any unusual behavior.
I smiled at her. Su Xing probably thought my smile had ill intentions, so she took a step back cautiously.
After five days of absence, my mentality has calmed down a lot. I am no longer so aggressive and harsh. Fuguier, the level 10 palace survival expert, is right. Enraging the dog emperor is an act of hurting the enemy by a thousand and hurting yourself by eight hundred. It is not worth it. It is better to be hypocritical and perfunctory.
Maybe if I stay idle for a few months, Li Siyan will think I'm not fun anymore and let me go?
Fuguier imparts the following advice: Good acting skills are definitely the number one magic weapon for navigating the imperial palace.
Thinking of this, I calmed down and a hypocritical smile naturally appeared on my face.
After the guards sent me there, I fell into Su Xing's hands.
Su Xing originally wanted to take me to see Li Siyan, but when she smelled the scent on me, her nose wrinkled visibly.
In her eyes, I am not only a piece of garbage, but also a piece of garbage that smells like shit.
I thought to myself, hey, you dare to despise me? Hasn’t your master also been a night lover for many years? Do you dare to despise him?
The pug Su Xing stared at me and struggled for a long time, but finally gave in and ordered the palace maids to prepare water quickly so as not to pollute the emperor's noble nose.
The palace maids were quick and efficient and quickly prepared the scented soap and bathtub. Su Xing sent a little palace maid to wash me.
I vaguely remembered the maid's name as Xiao Jinlian, so while Su Xing was out answering, I whispered to her, "Xiao Jinlian, why did your emperor suddenly summon me back?"
Xiao Jinlian paused while rubbing my back and shook her head, saying, "Madam Shen, please don't ask me. I don't know anything."
Okay, these people in Zichen Palace are all useless and can't do anything.
After I finished getting dressed, I asked Su Xing the same question I had asked Xiao Jinlian. Su Xing didn't answer me directly, but instead sternly lectured me, "Mr. Shen, be careful with your words. How can we, as servants, presume to interpret the emperor's intentions? Let me be frank, the Purple Palace is not a place for you to go crazy. If you misbehave in front of His Majesty again, it won't be something you can just cover up by pouring incense for a few nights in the palace. I hope you'll be careful."
"Okay," I agreed readily. "Thank you for your hard work, Aunt Suxing. See you later."
Su Xing's pair of green eyes with fine lines on them widened noticeably, as if he had seen some extraordinary Western scene.
I smiled sweetly and said, "I was so sad a few days ago that I didn't think much of myself. I'm really sorry for causing trouble for Aunt. I wonder if Aunt's injuries are any better?"
Su Xing had an expression as if he was struck by lightning, as if he saw the sun rising up the mountain from the west, dancing a Hu Xuan dance, and then setting from the east.
Not only she, but the other maidens beside me were also stunned by me. How should I put it? They had probably already accepted my setting as the devil of chaos, but suddenly found that the devil of chaos had turned over a new leaf and turned into Red Boy, who was subdued by the Bodhisattva Guanyin.
I bowed to all four sides and said, "My dear sisters, I have come to my senses after living in the palace for a few days. I hope you will forgive me for any offense I may have caused you. I will not do this again in the future."
She smiled friendly again, and amidst the astonished and doubtful eyes of everyone, she took the small steps of a Chang'an lady and floated into Li Siyan's study.
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