In the winter, Kangxi was so anxious that he broke out in sweat.
After he ran all the way into Cining Gate, he stepped on the bluestone floor tiles and ran straight towards the main hall of Cining Palace.
The two eunuchs guarding the entrance to the main hall saw from a distance the emperor, who was wearing black uniform and carrying a small box in his hand, looking anxious and panting slightly, running towards them. The eyes of the eunuch guarding the door widened.
, thinking that the two brothers have not received the news that the emperor has returned to the palace, why did the emperor come to Cining Palace?
The two brothers didn't have time to think about it. They bent their legs and fell to their knees on the ground. Before they could finish shouting the words "Slave, please give your regards to the Emperor", they felt Kangxi passing by them like a gust of wind, lifting his head.
He opened the thick cotton curtain with his hand, crossed the threshold and rushed in.
The two eunuchs who came back to their senses couldn't help but look at each other, and just as they were about to get up from the ground, they saw the empress dowager again. The empress dowager and the crown prince were also panting and running over in a hurry.
The two eunuchs had no choice but to bury their heads down again. Two pairs of golden tiger-head boots with intricate patterns embroidered with silver threads and exquisite workmanship flashed past their eyes. Following them, the corners of their clothes fluttered and several dusty servants in the room flew.
The noble masters who rushed back to the Forbidden City could no longer see their shadows.
As soon as the empress dowager and others ran into the hall, they could not see Kangxi's figure. Instead, they smelled a strong smell of bitter medicine soup. Qiqige couldn't help but feel a tremble in her heart and hurriedly raised her feet to the inner room.
As he walked, he shouted:
"Empress Huang!"
Yinreng was worried that his Queen Mother would fall down accidentally, and he didn't bother to look at the palace people in the hall. He quickly held Qiqige's arm firmly with his hands, and the grandfather and grandson carried each other to the emperor's house.
He hurriedly walked to the Queen Mother's bedroom.
The imperial concubine who followed them held the twins tightly in her arms and quickly scanned the scene in the hall.
When I saw the palace maids standing beside the soft couch and the big red-painted pillars, after seeing a few of them, although there was surprise in their eyes, there was no deep fear, and they knew it in their hearts.
It turns out that the Queen Mother's injury was not as serious as they expected when they were on the chariot, and it was far from the time when the oil was exhausted.
As for the emperor, the empress dowager and Yin Reng are all concerned and confused, because their hearts and eyes are full of thinking about the empress dowager, so they can't find any extra eyes to pay attention to others.
Knowing that the situation was not that bad, Qingyan breathed a sigh of relief in her heart, calmed down her slightly chaotic breathing, and with a worried look on her face, she followed the footsteps of the prince and the queen mother into the inner room.
“Mama Ukuma!”
After Yinreng helped Qiqige go around a green emerald screen, he saw the Empress Dowager leaning on the head of the mahogany canopy bed, while their Khan Ama was sitting sideways on the bed, breathing heavily.
, and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeves.
Seeing the Queen Mother's conscious appearance, the grandfather and grandson felt relieved and hurriedly walked to the bed.
Aunt Sumala and Aunt Gui, who were standing at the end of the bed, followed the sound and looked towards the screen, and saw the Empress Dowager.
, the Crown Prince, the Imperial Concubine and the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Princes came in one after another. They hurriedly leaned over and retreated to the round rosewood table in the center of the inner room, leaving the space beside the bed free.
"Empress Huang, please let me see your knees."
As soon as Qiqige stepped on the pedal, she stretched her neck and looked inside the bed, asking anxiously.
The Empress Dowager, who was leaning on the bed, felt warm in her heart when she saw the flustered and worried look on Qiqige, who was both her niece and daughter-in-law.
Seeing that she didn't speak, Qiqige was about to bend down and lift the brocade quilt covering her body.
The Queen Mother had no choice but to open a corner of the brocade quilt first. In the next moment, several people clearly saw that the Queen Mother's right knee had been firmly fixed by four small bamboo splints, and there were thick tapes wrapped around the splints.
There are several thick layers of white gauze. The gauze is very new and you can faintly see the dark ointment inside. It has obviously been replaced not long ago.
"Aijia is getting older. Sometimes, the blood supply to the brain is no longer available. It's normal to feel dizzy. Moreover, the palace staff also ran up to help him in time. He just accidentally knocked his knee, but it's nothing serious. Aijia still has
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it, look, I’m scaring you guys.”
The Empress Dowager patted the bed board with her hand and laughed out loud.
Hearing the words of the Empress Dowager, Kangxi had not yet done anything. The Empress Dowager, who was supported by Yinreng, could not hold back any longer. She raised her hand and touched the moist corners of her eyes with crow's feet, and complained angrily:
"'I accidentally knocked my knee!' You don't even look at how old you are. You are over seventy years old, and all the bones in your body are brittle. Do you dare to fall?"
"I have advised you many times on weekdays not to sit in the small Buddhist hall and recite those broken Buddhist scriptures all day long, but you just don't listen to me. Now look at this fall, you can sit wherever you want to recite scriptures.
You can’t even sit in an armchair!”
"Chang Ning and Long Xi are also fools. How dare they hide such a big thing from us for so long!"
Deep love, deep responsibility.
Qiqige was like firing a barrage of cannons, the content of her sentences was direct and sharp, but she couldn't hide the deep fear and worry in her tone.
Kangxi stood up and made room for the Empress Dowager to sit under his buttocks. He stood beside the bed with the imperial concubine Yinreng who was holding the twins.
He also had nothing to do with his stubborn old lady who had been stubborn all her life and could not listen to the advice of others. Now that he heard the words of his empress, he wished that Qiqige could say more, so that the empress dowager's
Stop being so stubborn.
He knew in his heart that the Empress Dowager fell in the Cining Palace on the second day after leaving the palace. The convoy had probably just left the capital at that time. If a guard chased her, it would only take two or three hours for him to receive the news.
But this news was actually kept secret for almost a month. You can guess with your toes that it must have been your own Queen Mother who kept the news secret.
Remembering how Chang Ning and Long Xi looked red-faced and ashamed when they picked up the driver in the suburbs of Beijing, Kangxi knew in his heart that he couldn't blame the two stupid brothers for this incident, but he still couldn't help but express his anger.
When he thought that when he was living in the inn, Chang Ning and Long Xi sent him more than a dozen letters. These two idiots didn't even mention a word about Mama Huang's fall. Kangxi was still so angry that he wanted to call them out.
In front of him, he pointed at the noses of his two younger brothers and cursed loudly.
If he had known about this in advance, he would have let the convoy return in the snow even if it was snowing heavily in Shanxi Province!
Qingyan, who was holding the twins in her arms, looked at the Empress Dowager who was sitting sideways on the bed. Although she was reciting one by one about the Empress Dowager's disobedient past, the movements of her hands were light and careful in arranging the clothes on the bed.
The quilt on the Empress Dowager's body couldn't help but sigh in her heart. The relationship between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law of the Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager is really like that of their biological mother and daughter. If the relationship between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is more distant, the Empress Dowager must be full of contentment in her tone at this moment.
Very polite.
The grey-haired Empress Dowager also knew that the Empress Dowager was feeling sorry for the injury on her knee. Seeing that Qiqige, who had always been big-hearted and did not take things seriously, was so angry that her hands were trembling, and she felt a rare guilty conscience.
Not daring to look at her, she glanced at Kangxi who was standing beside the bed. She saw that her grandson also had a long face and his slender eyes were filled with disapproval of her concealing the news. She moved to the side again.
On his three most beloved great-grandchildren.
As juniors, Kangxi and the imperial concubine did not dare to "teach" the empress dowager like the empress dowager who refused to obey the old age. They wished they could use the small Buddhist hall as a bedroom day and night, but Yinreng and the twins looked at the empress dowager when they saw it.
Behind their gazes, the three younger children spoke boldly one by one.
"Mom Ukuma, I think you should strictly limit the time you spend in the small Buddhist hall reciting sutras in the future. At your age, it is enough to stay there for half an hour a day. The rest of the time you can sit in the front yard.
You can bask in the sun, or let the opera troupe from Changyin Pavilion come to Cining Palace to sing a few plays for you, and live your life leisurely. This kind of thing really cannot happen again, it is too scary.
, and from now on you will not be able to leave anyone within one meter of you, so if something happens, the palace officials can help you to avoid any accidents."
Yinreng put his hands behind his back, sighed deeply, and looked at the Empress Dowager with slightly furrowed brows to persuade him.
When the Empress Dowager heard this, before she could say anything, Little Thirteen kicked up her two short legs in the arms of the Imperial Concubine, imitating the appearance of the Prince's brother next to her, with a serious look on her plump, white and tender face.
With a small round face and two short hands, he gestured in the air and said with a purring voice:
"Cheche, here, Wuwu, take a seat."
Little Fourteen next to him also tried his best to suck the saliva that was flowing out, and added in a milky voice:
"Yes, Cheche, no, I want it."
Understanding that the twins meant to give their double-decker stroller to the Empress Dowager, the furious Empress Dowager could no longer keep her dark face, and she laughed with a "Puch" sound, and she used her hands to watch the fun.
He patted his thigh and said cheerfully:
"Oh, Thirteen and Fourteen are so filial. When the palace attendants bring your stroller over, Madam Huang will hold your Mama Ukuma's arms and carry her in, and we will push her.
Can you two agree to go outside for a walk along the palace road?"
At this age, the twins do not yet have a clear concept of big and small.
In their eyes, the double-decker stroller is not enough for them to sit in the space door, so as long as someone else sits in, it will definitely be okay.
Seeing the Empress Dowager finish her words, the two brothers nodded their furry little heads stupidly in agreement. The Empress Dowager was also amused. It had been almost a month since she saw the two little guys. The Empress Dowager stretched out her hand in a rare way.
The two arms said affectionately in an old voice:
"Come on, Aunt Ukuma, give me a hug."
Kangxi saw his younger sons making the two elders laugh. He turned around and took off the tiger-head boots worn by the twins. Qingyan saw the Queen Mother's right leg on the inside of the bed and leaned down.
He gently placed the two babies in his arms on the outside of the bed.
Little Fourteen leaned on Mother Ukuma's body and moved her fat feet wearing white socks a few times. Then she leaned forward and stretched out her short hand with a curious look on her face to touch the Queen Mother.
Bandaged right knee.
Qingyan's eyelids jumped when she saw her little son's dishonest paws. She rushed forward quickly and took her little son's chubby right hand into her right hand. At the same time, she quietly activated a trace of supernatural power in her left heart.
It covered the injured leg of the Empress Dowager.
The Queen Mother instantly felt that her right knee, which was originally painful and numb, became warm and felt a lot lighter. She didn't think much about it, thinking that it was Doctor Zhang's new plaster that was taking effect.
Xiao Yinzhen was held down by her mother in the middle. She tried to touch the wound but couldn't find it, so she had to shrink back and sit with Brother Thirteen with his short legs crossed, raising his head and blinking his big clear eyes.
, looked at the Queen Mother and asked softly:
"Wuwu, it hurts, no, it hurts, duck?"
"It doesn't hurt anymore. When Aijia holds you two, it won't hurt anywhere."
The little milk babies look the same almost every day. During this tour of Wutai Mountain, Kangxi was out of the palace for almost a whole month.
When the Empress Dowager saw the two little brothers who could only say "um um um" and "嘤嘤嘤" before leaving the palace, they were jumping out of their mouths one by one. She remembered that Fulin was also so smart when he was a child.
He can speak when he is less than one year old. A faint glimmer of water can't help appearing in his muddy presbyopia eyes. He touches the smooth and chubby faces of the two brothers with his old and wrinkled hands and speaks in an amiable manner.
The Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager and Prince Yinreng all thought that the old lady was happy to see the twin great-grandsons, so she said "the legs don't hurt". Just think about it, the kneecaps were broken.
The month has not passed yet, how can it not hurt?
Qingyan knew in her heart that the Empress Dowager's words were not entirely meant to comfort the adults. Her mutant powers were already effective, and the twins also had powers in their bodies.
A healthy person might just feel comfortable hugging the two brothers because they are covered in soft breasts. However, the Queen Mother is old and her body's immunity and resistance are extremely poor. She is still injured at the moment.
, it can be said that most of the energy in the body is lost.
Now the twins are lying on her body, just like sitting under the bright sun to warm up on a cold winter day. The body of the Empress Dowager is nourished by external energy, so it is naturally comfortable.
Kangxi saw that his royal mama was in good spirits. After hesitating for a while, he turned around and walked to the round rosewood table not far away. He carried him in and opened the small mahogany box that he placed on the table.
Opening it, he saw that inside the box was not only the Buddhist sutra box, but also his younger sons' sepak takraw balls, peace charms, and sandalwood bracelets. His hand paused slightly, and then he took out the sepak takraw balls and peace charms one by one and handed them over.
After giving it to La Gu Suma and Aunt Gui who were standing by the round table, he reached in again, grabbed two strings of bracelets, turned around and walked to the bedside holding the Buddhist scripture box.
Aunt Sumala and Aunt Gui could tell at a glance that the things the emperor took out from the box were Buddhist items. They guessed that most of them were obtained from Wutai Mountain. They didn't understand what the emperor wanted.
What to do, after looking at each other, they each took the things in their hands, raised their feet and followed.
"Mother Huang, you don't know, right? These two little brothers have been loved by the monks since they arrived at Wutai Mountain. Baocheng and I didn't receive any gifts, but they did get three gifts."
Kangxi shook the wooden box in his hand, and the sandalwood strings hooked in his fingers collided together and made a crisp sound.
The Empress Dowager looked up with a smile, and couldn't help but stiffen when she saw the familiar sandalwood bracelet.
After the two brothers saw their sepak takraw balls and peace charms, they immediately began to speak baby talk that no one could understand.
Yinreng looked at the two little brothers dancing excitedly, touched their tiger hats, and said with a smile:
"Mom Ukuma, that sepak takraw ball was given to Little Thirteen by the presiding monk at Qingliang Temple in Mount Wutai.
The fourteenth’s is said to be woven from ancient vines grown in the back mountains for more than 400 years, and the peace charm was given to the twins by his uncle, Master Xingsen.”
The two little brothers had long forgotten the names of An Wu and Xing Sen, but they knew that there were two smooth-headed people in the temple giving them "toys". The two little babies listened to the words of the prince brother.
, while laughing so hard that his big eyes narrowed into slits, his little mouth grinned and his little head nodded.
Kangxi saw that his precious son was halfway through his words. He pursed his thin lips, opened the wooden box in his arms and revealed several handwritten Buddhist scriptures inside. He sent the wooden box forward and said warmly to the Empress Dowager:
"Huang Ma Ma, Khan, Master Xingchi also likes twins very much. Before Xuan Ye left, he specially gave Yinxiang and Yinzhen the bracelets he had coiled for many years as a Zhouzhou gift."
After swallowing the words "Twins are destined to be Buddhas", Kangxi rubbed the wooden box in his hand a few times with his fingers and continued:
"Master Xingchi also copied several Buddhist scriptures for you and asked me to bring them back to you. He said that he sincerely hopes that you will be healthy and live a long life."
As soon as Kangxi said these words, the entire inner room instantly became audible.
La Gu Suma and Aunt Gui, who were holding sepak takraw balls and peace charms in their hands, both opened their eyes in surprise, and the same thought came to their minds at the same time: Has the late emperor given in?
The twins felt sensitively that Mother Ukumar's body had become tense. The two brothers, who did not understand the old grudge between themselves and Mother Ukumar, raised their little heads and looked at the Queen Mother in confusion.
Yinreng also raised his eyelids and glanced at Aunt Ukuma, who was leaning on the bedside. Seeing that the smile on the face of the Queen Mother disappeared and turned into an expressionless look, he couldn't help but sip it.
Pursing her lips, she couldn't figure out what was going on in her mind.
Qingyan and Qiqige, one being the daughter-in-law and the other being the granddaughter-in-law, couldn't find a position to talk about the late emperor's mother and son. They both bit their lower lips lightly.
No one said anything, and the atmosphere enlivened by the twins suddenly became condensed.
Aunt Sumala sighed in her heart, walked forward with a smile, took the Buddhist scripture box from Kangxi's hand, and smiled at Kangxi and others:
"Your Majesty, the Queen Mother, the Imperial Concubine, and His Royal Highness the Prince, you four have come all the way back. Why don't you go back to your respective palaces to have some meals and freshen up? The master is being taken care of by the old slaves here. How about you?
Why don't you come over and say hello when you don't know where you are?"
Aunt Gui also stood beside Aunt Sumala, smiling kindly and saying:
"Yes, Your Majesty. It's time for the master to drink the medicine now. Doctor Zhang put a lot of soothing and hypnotic medicinal materials in the medicinal soup. Every time the master falls asleep soon after drinking the medicine, you guys can go back first.
Take a hot bath in the palace to feel comfortable, and come back tomorrow to say hello."
Kangxi took a look at the expressions of his Queen Mother and found that there was no sign of happiness or anger. He also knew that the three old people would definitely have something to say later.
He smiled and nodded, then reached out to take the sepak takraw ball and peace charm from Aunt Sumala, and put the twins' gifts back into the small mahogany box.
Qingyan also bent down and picked up the twins' tiger-head boots, and put the younger brother's boots on their feet one by one.
"Then Madam Huang, please have a good rest first. Xuan Ye will come to see you tomorrow."
Kangxi carried the small mahogany box, forced himself to smile, and said warmly to the Empress Dowager.
Qingyan also followed the Empress Dowager and leaned down slightly, then stretched out her arms to hug the twins who were sitting innocently and ignorantly by the bed, scratching their tiger hats with their little hands.
The Empress Dowager wanted to say something else, but seeing the way the Empress Dowager lowered her eyes, she swallowed the words before she reached her lips. She patted the back of the Empress Dowager's hand and said:
"Empress Huang, then I will go back to Shoukang Palace to have something to eat, and I will come see you tomorrow."
After saying this, Qiqige pressed her hand on the edge of the bed and prepared to get up.
Yinreng hurriedly stretched out his arms and put his left foot on the footrest to help their Queen Mother up. After leaning over their Mother Ukuma, he and the Queen Mother followed Kangxi and walked out around the screen.
Inner room.
Several people rushed in and walked out one after another.
When the footsteps of Kangxi and others could no longer be heard, the Empress Dowager turned her face to the outside of the bed.
When Aunt Sumala and Aunt Gui saw their master crying, they also shed tears.
Aunt Gui wiped her tears with her hands, looked at the Empress Dowager with worry and said tremblingly:
"Gege, brother Fulin has realized his mistake. He understands your previous painstaking efforts and no longer resents you."
Aunt Sumala's eyes were also red. She lowered her head and saw that the paper sheets of several linear hand-written Buddhist scriptures in the wooden box had rough edges. It was obvious that they had been frequently read. She knew that the late emperor had done this very carefully.
To make up for the mistakes he made when he was young.
She leaned over slightly and put the wooden box next to the bed, and said warmly to the Empress Dowager:
"Gege, please take a good look at it. You can only feel comfortable if your heart knot is untied. The slaves will go out to see if the medicine is ready."
After saying this, she pressed the corners of her eyes with her hands, pulled Nanny Gui around the emerald screen and walked out gently.
When the Empress Dowager was the only one left in the inner room, she was silent for a long time, then she lowered her head and looked at the Buddhist scripture box beside her. She took out the top Buddhist scripture from it with her left hand tremblingly, and then took out the Buddhist scripture from the secret compartment at the head of the bed.
He took out her reading glasses and put them on the bridge of her nose.
The paper used for Buddhist scriptures is slightly yellowed, obviously not as good as the paper in the palace, but you can smell the strong aroma of incense, which means it was worshiped in front of the Buddha.
She opened the cover of the Buddhist scriptures and saw on the first page a nursery rhyme written in Mongolian with a gentle tone about a mother coaxing her children to sleep. In the lower right corner of the nursery rhyme, a young Mongolian woman was sketched with a brush under an oil lamp.
There is a gentle scene of holding the swaddling baby in her arms, humming nursery rhymes with the corners of her mouth slightly raised to put the crying baby to sleep.
When the Empress Dowager saw this, her tears flowed even more violently. She hummed a familiar nursery rhyme silently, and the tears on her cheeks flowed along the wrinkles into her mouth. The tears were obviously salty, but she was too old
I felt a touch of sweetness.
She rubbed the paper with her fingers and continued to flip through the pages below. She saw verses of prayer for her parents neatly written in familiar handwriting. In the spaces below the verses, there were drawings of a face and long earlobes.
They resemble twins with three heads and a body.
Paper tumble room door:
[The little man can crawl and walk, and can swing his two short legs upside down, grinning with a small mouth with a few deciduous teeth and shouting "Eniang"...]
[The little man fell down, studied, lived alone in his elder brother’s house and was trained by his master...]
[The little man put on a dragon robe and ascended the throne, got married, had a child and became an amma...]
[The little man and E Niang quarreled and made trouble again. They shook their sleeves and left with the five-finger fingerprints on their cheeks...]
[The little man’s beloved concubine is gone. Her face is covered with smallpox and acne, and she is lying on the dragon bed. After being tonsured, she became a monk...]
【……】
The Queen Mother read page after page, and the past years were replayed in her mind like a shadow play. The reading glasses on the bridge of her nose were stained with tears, and her hands were shaking. Tears fell on the Buddhist scriptures.
Go up and beat the three-headed little man above until it was wet and blurred.
When she turned to the last page of the last Buddhist scripture, she saw a bust of an old monk with a calm body and a peaceful smile on his face. She touched the portrait with her withered hands and transferred the impression to her.
The young face merged little by little. After the two faces merged, the Empress Dowager could no longer hold back her emotions. She pressed several Buddhist scriptures on her heart and whispered in a low voice with tears in her eyes:
"Bliss is upon you."
"The Ai family is blessed..."
Aunt Su Ma and Aunt Gui, who were standing behind the emerald screen holding medicine bowls, heard their master sobbing like a cuckoo weeping for blood. Tears also dripped "pat, pat" onto the medicine bowl.
Bowl on mahogany tray.
The round teardrops broke into several petals, and the two old people who had been loyal to their princess all their lives felt as if there was a heavy snowfall in their hearts. Although the snowfall was cold, the auspicious snow heralded a good year and the days would be better.