Little Zhu Qizhen was holding his knees in a daze, holding a wooden box in one hand and a letter in the other. The child, who was not yet eight years old, became sentimental.
Although he was young, he also understood some things. He knew that his father was about to die.
Then he will ascend the throne and become emperor.
But he was not happy because he was still too young and could not fully understand the concept of the Nine-Five Lord.
On the contrary, the death of his father and the concepts instilled by his father made him deeply understand the difficulty of being a good emperor. He was very hesitant and at a loss.
He couldn't describe how he felt, he was very unhappy, not happy at all.
At this age, he has fully understood the concept of death. He knows that there will be no father in the future.
As I thought about it, the little guy started crying.
I wouldn't call it heartbroken, but it's sad.
"Zhen'er."
Taking advantage of Yu Qian's absence, Queen Sun slipped in, hugged her son and cried sadly, "Zhen'er, how are we going to live in the future?"
The little guy was already sad, but when his mother said this, he cried even louder, "Mother, has your father passed away?"
Queen Sun didn't dare to talk nonsense and avoided the topic: "Zhen'er, the queen mother may have to leave too."
"Where are you going?"
"With your father." Empress Sun said in tears.
"Ah?" Everyone in Xiao Zhuqi Town was dumbfounded and said tremblingly: "Queen mother, are you sick too?"
"The Queen is not sick, but your father wants the Queen to accompany him." Empress Sun cried and said, "The Queen is not afraid of death, but the Queen cannot bear to leave you!"
Little Zhu Qizhen suddenly stopped crying, wiped his tears, and said seriously: "The queen will not die."
Empress Sun stopped crying immediately and said, "My dear son, go to Qianqing Palace to beg your father."
"Why are you begging your father?" Xiao Zhu Qizhen asked strangely.
"You..." Queen Sun said angrily, "The queen mother is going to be buried. Do you know that she will be buried?"
"Well, there is no queen mother in the burial!"
"Your father lied to you. Go quickly. If it's too late, your mother will really leave you." Empress Sun urged.
"What I said is true." Xiao Zhu Qizhen showed the list of Yang's burials. "Look, Queen Mother, there is no one named Sun on it."
He doesn't know all the characters yet, but he knows all the characters in the Hundred Family Surnames and can write them. What's more, Sun ranks very high among the Hundred Family Surnames.
Queen Sun took it and took a look. Sure enough, there were only the names of four concubines on it.
One of them was even crossed out.
It is not difficult to understand. All dynasties attach great importance to filial piety, and the Ming Dynasty ruled the world with filial piety. The burial standard of a son can never be higher than that of his father.
Zhu Yuanzhang's Xiaoling Mausoleum is the largest. Thirty to fifty concubines were buried during the burial. Zhu Di dared to appease Nan, but he did not dare to surpass Lao Tzu in this. His Changling Mausoleum was one size smaller than the Xiaoling Mausoleum, and only 30 or 50 concubines were buried there.
Sixteen people.
Of course, the number of Zhu Di's concubines is not as many as that of his father.
When we arrived at Renzong, the mausoleum was much smaller than that of his father, and the same was true for the burial. Only five concubines were buried. It was Zhu Zhanji's decision to bury the concubines.
Zhu Zhanji's mausoleum is smaller than that of Renzong, so naturally he could not be buried more than his father Renzong.
However, considering that his son was young, Zhu Zhanji made his own decision. In order to comply with etiquette, he gave the list to his son.
"Mother, do you believe it now?" Xiao Zhu Qizhen wiped away his tears and went to get the list.
Empress Sun raised the list high and said seriously: "Zhen'er, only by holding this list can the queen avoid being buried."
"But the emperor said that on the day of his burial, the list will be handed over to the imperial concubine personally by my son."
"You child..." Queen Sun said angrily: "The mother's life is more important, or is the promise more important?"
The little guy struggled for a while, "It's all important."
Empress Sun was so angry that she had no choice but to do the next best thing, "The Queen Mother will take it first, and when it is time to hand in the list, you will hand it over to Grandma Huang. This will not only protect the Queen Mother, but you will also fulfill your promise to the Emperor. In this way Is the head office ready?"
When Xiao Zhu Qizhen heard this, he immediately stopped worrying: "Well, okay."
At this time, Xiaohuangmen rushed over in a hurry. He didn't even have time to greet you, and cried in a tearful voice: "Your Highness, the Queen, go to Qianqing Palace quickly."
Queen Sun was shocked, "Your Majesty...?"
Xiao Huangmen cried and nodded.
"Zhen'er, hurry up and follow your mother to the Qianqing Palace." Queen Sun hurriedly picked up her son and ran out.
~
Qianqing Palace.
When mother and son arrived, the whole place was wailing. There was a white silk ribbon placed on the table in front of the palace. Empress Sun quickly picked up one and wrapped it around her son, and then wrapped one around herself.
Only then did he realize that his son was still holding the wooden box, and he couldn't help but feel a little annoyed, "Zhen'er, how long have you been holding it? It's almost lost."
Xiao Zhu Qizhen shook his head.
"You kid..." Queen Sun was extremely angry, but there was no time to waste now. She reached out to grab it, but the little guy held on tightly and wouldn't let go.
This was the last gift left to him by his father, and he was not willing to throw it away.
Queen Sun was about to explode with anger, gritted her teeth and said, "You're going to cry loudly when you enter the hall, you know?"
"I know." Xiao Zhu Qizhen nodded.
As the mother and son walked into the hall, they cried even louder, surrounded by 360°, which was both noisy and sad.
Xiao Zhu Qizhen looked on blankly, unable to cry even though he had promised to cry loudly. Although he felt very uncomfortable, he just couldn't cry.
Empress Sun was angry and anxious. The anger she had been accumulating finally exploded, and she slapped her hand away.
"Pah——!"
This palm was particularly loud, and the wooden box flew out with it.
The crying in the main hall suddenly fell silent, and everyone looked at Queen Sun with different expressions of disbelief, shock, anger...
Although I am talking about your mother, how can the prince slap you on the spot or slap her in the face in public?
Legally speaking, the current prince is the emperor.
The late emperor has just passed away, and you dare to be so presumptuous. It is simply... unreasonable!
Sanyang had the intention of trying to please her, but when he saw this scene, he immediately gave up the idea and sprayed fire with his eyes.
As the saying goes: The Lord is worried about the humiliation of his subjects, and the Lord is concerned about the humiliation of his subjects.
The young prince who has just ascended the throne has not yet held the enthronement ceremony. You dare to slap him in the face in front of us, and you will not be able to go to heaven in the future?
"Pah——!"
Another slap came, this time from Empress Dowager Zhang, and the one who received the slap was Empress Sun.
"Mother...son, concubine..."
"Kneel down!" Zhang's voice was cold as her tears were still wet.
Sun's face was burning. She wanted to face her too. In front of so many people...she knelt down.
There's nothing you can do about it, being a senior official is overwhelming. What's more, Mrs. Zhang is not simply one level above her.
"Your Majesty..." Mrs. Sun covered her shame with sadness and began to cry, tears falling from her eyes.
"Is Qi Zhen in severe pain?"
The little guy nodded, shook his head, and quickly picked up the wooden box and held it in his arms.
Seeing this, Ms. Zhang was a little annoyed and said, "Throw it away."
"Grandma Huang, this is a gift given to your grandson by your father before he left." The little guy hugged her tightly.
When Queen Mother Zhang heard this, she couldn't help but feel sad. She stopped blaming her grandson and burst into tears.
The little guy also cried loudly.
The queen mother, empress, and prince all cried. How could the ministers not cry? They all cried like a competition.
…
As dusk fell, the officials left the palace and went back to prepare mourning clothes. Tomorrow they would mourn in a serious manner.
Mrs. Sun returned to her dormitory in despair. She knew that if she slapped her today, everyone would be offended, and she would be in trouble in the future.
Now that she doesn't have to die, of course she wants to live a better life.
After much thought, I decided to bribe my mother-in-law to ease the relationship.
Mrs. Sun took a few pieces of jewelry from the bottom of the jewelry box, and brought the cakes just delivered from the imperial kitchen. She smiled several times in front of the mirror, and finally chose the most sincere expression.
After practicing repeatedly and confirming that it was correct, we headed to Kunning Palace.
~
"I, my concubine, see my mother, who is a thousand years old." Mrs. Sun's attitude was very low, and her respect and humility towards her mother-in-law, as well as the sadness of her husband's death, were quite well grasped.
Although she is over thirty years old, she is well-maintained and gives people a feeling of pity for her.
Mrs. Zhang was unmoved. She was the one who brought Mrs. Sun out, so she naturally knew this woman's tricks.
If I had known this, I should not have brought her into the palace in the first place. Apart from giving birth to a son, there is nothing else that Xiao Hu can do... Zhang said calmly: "What do you want from me?"
"My concubine was very sad, but she was even more worried about her mother, so she came to visit her." Mrs. Sun was crying a little, but her mother-in-law refused to let her get up, so she knelt down, very well-behaved.
"Let's go after reading this!" The more pitiful and well-behaved Mrs. Sun behaved, the more disgusted Ms. Zhang became.
Mrs. Sun glanced behind her, and the accompanying maid handed over two wooden boxes. Mrs. Sun took them and said humbly:
"I have some extremely beautiful jewelry that I feel I don't deserve, so I came here to offer it to my mother. There are also some freshly baked pastries that I can't bear to eat. Please accept it with my mother's smile.
Day after day, I am still a queen with children and concubines..."
"Take it back!" Mrs. Zhang became angry when she heard this and interrupted, "Don't send any rags to me. I am not here to collect rags."
After a pause, he said, "You can keep the pastries, my Huahua loves them."
Mrs. Sun's face froze, no matter how much she could bear it, she couldn't help but tremble with anger.
Huahua is a pet dog.
She said she was reluctant to part with the food, but Mrs. Zhang actually said she would let the dog eat it. Wasn't this a blatant scolding that she was inferior to a dog?
Isn’t this too bullying?
"My concubine, please retire." Mrs. Sun was afraid that if she stayed any longer, she would be angry to death.
She left the cakes behind, stood up with the jewelry box in hand, bowed Yingying again, took two steps back, as if remembering something, turned around and asked:
"Mother, isn't Zhen'er here with you?"
"Why do you ask?"
Mrs. Sun's guard was a little broken, and her tone was a little harsh: "I am Zhen'er's mother. Is it reasonable to want to meet him?"
"A loving mother often loses her son." Ms. Zhang said, neither salty nor cool, "If it's for his own good, don't disturb him."
Mrs. Sun lowered her head, her cheeks puffed up, and her shoulders shrugged slightly. After a while, she raised her head and said loudly: "Zhen'er, Zhen'er..."
"Stop shouting, he is not here in this palace, he should be keeping vigil for his father." Mrs. Zhang muttered disdainfully: "You are so thick-skinned."
Her voice was not loud, but just enough for Sun Chu to hear.
Before Sun could get angry, Zhang suddenly shouted angrily: "Why are you running around blindly if you don't just keep vigil at the mourning hall?"
Sun's anger that had not yet risen immediately disappeared, and she hurriedly explained: "I just can't worry about my mother, so I came here to see you. I will go back to keep vigil at the funeral."
With that said, he hurriedly left Kunning Palace.
She has the means, but she is deeply afraid of this mother-in-law, because Mrs. Zhang is both her mother-in-law and her teacher.
When an apprentice faces a master, the chance of winning is almost zero.