There was silence in the room. Lan Qi looked at the Empress Dowager uneasily. She closed her eyes so peacefully. She couldn't help but feel hesitant in her heart. She felt that her body was getting stiffer and stiffer. Finally, she saw the Empress Dowager's chest rising and falling.
Hearing her slight gasp, her whole body suddenly relaxed. She was so afraid that the Queen Mother would leave her after saying what she just said.
"My grandson obeys the order." Xuan Ye solemnly promised his grandmother, "My grandson will make appropriate arrangements and will never disturb Taizong."
The father and son left not long after. When Lan Qi arrived at the door, the baby in her belly was throbbing. Xuan Ye could no longer tolerate her showing off. Even if she did not want to return to Yonghe Palace, he arranged to rest in a side hall of Cining Palace.
, warned her that if something happened to her, the royal grandmother would not be able to feel at ease.
Lan Qi saw that Xuan Ye was serious and did not dare to resist the order. An An Shengsheng was sent to rest. She was really tired. She leaned on the kang for a while and fell asleep. However, she fell asleep for only a moment, and the world was disturbed.
She fell into a dream and woke up suddenly to see Grandma Sumala putting up a blanket for her.
"Mommy, I'm not cold, I'm even sweating." Lan Qi smiled, moved her body slightly, and asked her to sit next to her.
There was a fire burning in the house, and it was as warm as spring. Aunt Sumala was only wearing a single piece of clothing. She brought a handkerchief to wipe Lan Qi, who was sweating from sleeping, and brought her tea to drink, as kindly as her biological grandmother.
Mammy leaned on the edge of the kang for a while and did not sit side by side with Lan Qi. Firstly, it was against the rules. Secondly, the Empress Dowager asked her to come and see Concubine De, and she was about to go back. She asked with a smile.
: "Won't you sleep a little longer? It's rare that I can sleep, and it will be even more unsettling in the next few days. You really should not walk around. The child will suddenly come out when you turn around, and you will be frightened and overwhelmed."
Lan Qi looked down at her belly and patted the child gently: "Can you come out quickly? My mother wants to see you."
Grandma Sumala felt sad when she heard this. She knew that Concubine De hoped that the Empress Dowager could see the child earlier, and Concubine De smiled with her and said, "Mammy, go back and talk to the emperor. He
A grown man doesn't understand childbirth. You tell her that the further you go, the more you need to move to have a baby. Don't let the emperor lock me up here. The way he spoke just now was so scary that I didn't dare to say more.
sentence."
"Just obey the Emperor. How many things does the Emperor have to do these days?" Mammy smiled and advised Lan Qi, "The Emperor has always entrusted your grandmother to take care of you and asked you to take his place.
Be filial to me. If anything happens to you, the Emperor will feel that he has made you tired. How should you let go in the future? You should be more relaxed in everything. You have been with the Empress Dowager for more than ten years, and you still have only half an hour left."
Lan Qi smiled on her face, but as soon as she spoke, tears fell down. She was fine just now, but suddenly she burst into tears, "Mommy, I'm afraid that I will miss you by one day, and I'm afraid that it will be too late..."
Only then did Mammy sit further inside and put her arms around Lan Qi to calm her down. Lan Qi talked about what happened just now, saying that the Empress Dowager did not want the emperor to touch Taizong's mausoleum, and wanted Xuan Ye to choose a place near the late emperor's mausoleum.
She was buried, saying that she wanted to be closer to Xuan Ye and the children, and that she couldn't bear to leave Xuan Ye.
Aunt Sumala sighed softly: "This is something that has been decided a long time ago. Master, she has never thought that after she is posthumously named queen, she will share the same acupoint with Taizong. Who will she do this to after her death?"
What? Since it is just a vision, and since it is a promise to be husband and wife again in the next life, then in the master's heart, I can avoid it if possible."
"Mammy?" Lan Qi couldn't understand what she meant. How could she think that the Empress Dowager could not leave the imperial family in life, but she longed to leave here after death?
There were tears in the corners of Aunt Sumala's eyes. She was also old and understood that young children wanted to retain their hearts, but at such an old age, their body and spirit were not good enough, and life was actually very hard. The happiness of the Queen Mother in her later years,
After the San Francisco was established, the country was peaceful and the people were peaceful for more than ten years. Except for the disputes between the women in the harem that were not on the stage, she had almost no worries. Now that she is leaving, she has no regrets.
But the Empress Dowager was also young, and she also had her youthful years. During those years, she had vigorous love, self-righteousness, impulsiveness, and recklessness. She had all the problems of young people. She just walked into this place all the way from the grassland.
In the huge Forbidden City, all the edges and corners have been polished away, but what she gained in exchange for the sharp edges and corners was the majestic glory of the world.
"From the carefree princess of the prairie to the profusely sweating Fujin, the Queen Mother also hid many secrets in her heart that could not be told to others." Grandma Sumala recalled the past years with deep regret in her eyes.
She sighed softly and said, "Master knows that the emperor will not disobey her wish and will definitely withstand the pressure from all parties to fulfill her wish. She does not want to share the same cave with Taizong. Even if she cannot be sent back to the grassland after death, she will
I hope I can be free after death."
"The Empress Dowager..." Lan Qi knew a little bit about some rumors about the palace, but she couldn't understand her mother's words. Where did the freedom that the Empress Dowager wanted come from?
Aunt Sumala smiled nonchalantly, wiped away Lan Qi's tears, and said kindly: "Why do you think about these things? Even if you know it, can you solve the problem of the Empress Dowager? Can you solve it in this world?"
The person she was obsessed with has long since passed away, and even her slaves can't do it. It is the responsibility of the emperor and you to let her realize her wish. I am afraid that after the emperor issues the decree, there will be objections from the courtiers. When the time comes, you
We must support and remind the emperor, never go against grandma’s wishes.”
Lan Qi nodded heavily and asked again: "Although I have been with the Queen Mother for a long time, apart from her longing for her hometown, I have never seen the Queen Mother have any other concerns in her heart. I wish I could fulfill all her wishes.
But if she doesn’t tell me, I really don’t know.”
Mammy smiled and said: "Not only does the empress not know, the emperor also doesn't know. Even the slaves can't see through her heart. The master is the one who has been hurt. From then on, she closed her heart. From then on, she understood
With your own status and status, you know what you should do, so for more than ten years, the master has taught you the same. She doesn't want you to hide too many things in your heart, just because she is afraid that one day you will be like her and understand that you can't say those things to anyone, only for the rest of your life.
It’s painful to hold it in my heart.”
"I remember." Lan Qi choked, thinking about the more than ten years of companionship. Although she relieved the boredom and fatigue of the Empress Dowager, the years in the palace were lonely. From a constant presence to the current position, others watched her.
The emperor's untiring devotion to her was actually just a small amount of time that the emperor spared from his busy schedule to give to her. What's more, there were other women whom she could not and did not bother to compete with.
The Queen Mother had people talking to her all the time, which prevented her from feeling that the days in the palace were endless and had no end in sight.
In the next two days, the Empress Dowager's spirit was much better than at the beginning of the month. No matter what people outside guessed, Lan Qi just stayed with her. And the people who came to take care of her fell one after another. The Empress Dowager just passed away a few days ago.
Even the maids and eunuchs of Cining Palace couldn't bear the illness. Aunt Sumala fell down and didn't recover. God knows where a pregnant woman who is about to give birth can find the energy to support her day by day.
Gradually, those women in the palace who were jealous of Concubine De's single-handed control of Cining Palace also secretly lamented Concubine De's sincerity and filial piety. If it were anyone else, I'm afraid not many would be able to do this.
In the Chengqian Palace, the imperial concubine has been feeling unwell since the winter. Although she has no serious illness, her face looks haggard every day. People really don't dare to expect her to go to Cining Palace to enjoy the scene. Okay.
When the emperor knew that she was weak, he not only did not force her to go to her grandmother to fulfill her filial duty, but he would occasionally come to see her.
In addition to sending Xiao Hezi to greet E Niang three or four times a day, the fourth elder brother stayed with his mother every day after school. He even memorized and wrote in her room, which often made the imperial concubine dumbfounded, but she refused to drive him away.
, her husband and son were so considerate, the imperial concubine felt warm in her heart, and her health was getting better day by day. She also hoped that she could help Xuan Ye share some things after the Queen Mother returned to the west.
That day, when Qinglian was serving the imperial concubine to take medicine, she said that the empress De Fei almost fainted in Cining Palace. The emperor sent someone to send the empress back to Yonghe Palace. The empress refused to leave, life or death, and the emperor had no choice.
Several imperial doctors, Wen Po, had moved to Cining Palace to stay on standby. They were afraid that Concubine De would give birth at any time. Qinglian sighed: "Even ordinary people can't support such day and night care, let alone pregnant women. Concubine De
To the Empress Dowager, she is truly incomparable to others."
The imperial concubine drank the medicine and picked a piece of plum and put it in her mouth. This was the most fashionable candied fruit in the capital that the fourth prince asked the eunuch to go out to buy for her. It was more delicious than the regular ones in the palace because she ate it every day.
There was more medicine than food. The son was afraid that he would be miserable all day long and was tired of the things in the palace, so he used his own money to buy these for her.
Thinking of Concubine De taking care of the Empress Dowager wholeheartedly, and thinking of Yinzhen's meticulous love for her, the imperial concubine suddenly felt that the children would indeed inherit the qualities of their parents. Concubine De had all the advantages of Yinzhen, and she could have one
The fact that her son loves her so much is all due to Concubine De's ten-month pregnancy, but in the past ten years, she has never said a word to her about it.
"Send someone to the study to tell Xiao Hezi that Brother Si doesn't have to rush back after school. Concubine De is in poor health at Cining Palace. Ask him to go and say hello and say it's my wish. He won't be disobedient."
The imperial concubine picked another piece of apricot preserved, tore it up and put it in her mouth. She calmly told Qinglian, "You can stew another cup of bird's nest and send it to Cining Palace. It doesn't matter whether she eats it or not, that's my wish."
Qinglian agreed repeatedly and quickly sent people to work separately. After school in the study in the evening, the fourth elder brother led the people around him to Cining Palace. When the palace maid announced to the inner palace, Lan Qi was sitting beside the Empress Dowager's couch turning flowers.