"Looking at my little brother, he seems to have something on his mind."
In the past, Zhou Xi often went to Eunuch Li's place. When he was bored, Dezhong would come to Guibo's place to sit. Now that Zhou Xi was transferred, he came more frequently. It is said that Guibo attracts yin energy and Dezhong is the original one.
If you don’t believe it, let alone the scriptures and Buddha statues in this room, just say that Gui Bo is a person. After being in contact with him for a long time, Dezhong feels that he is just an ordinary and kind old man.
"Hey...it's nothing. Even if I tell you, you can't help me." Dezhong fiddled with the small gourd ornaments on the table dully, "Otherwise, you can tell me the emperor's story again.
"
"When do you want to hear about it?"
"Anytime is good."
"Well..." Uncle Ghost slowly walked to the small cabinet next to the window, opened one of the drawers, took out a handful of herbs, carefully put them into the medicine jar, twisted the powder on his fingers, and then
Taking the medicine jar, he walked to the low wicker chair and sat down. "Then let's talk about what happened when we succeeded to the throne."
"During Tianqi years, most political affairs were controlled by Wei Zhongxian, especially in the last years. At that time, the emperor was still King Xin. In order to avoid suspicion, he kept a low profile and often claimed to be ill and did not go to court. When Xizong was critically ill, he summoned King Xin to his bedside.
He said: "Come, my brother will be Yao and Shun". King Xin was very frightened and kept silent for a long time. Then he knelt down on the ground and said in reply: "I will be punished by death! Your Majesty said for this, I will die ten thousand times." This is because he is afraid of being killed.
The Wei family was afraid that it was Wei's plan to harm him, so he declined politely."
"Hey...then what?" Dezhong listened with great concentration.
"While King Xin was declining, Queen Zhang walked out from behind the screen and said to King Xin: 'Uncle, the emperor has a duty to refuse, and the matter is urgent. If he refuses again, something might happen.' With a sincere expression, King Xin accepted the decree."
"From the day he was appointed, King Xin was careful every day, walking on thin ice. When he entered the palace, he remembered Queen Zhang's warning, 'Don't eat palace food', so he hid his own dry food in his sleeves. On the night before he ascended the throne, King Xin stayed up all night.
He left the guard's sword beside him, and invited the guard to spend the night in the house with him, just in case something unexpected happened. God bless him. In the end, the emperor ascended the throne safely, and the scourge of Wei Zhongxian was eliminated."
"There is such a story..." Dezhong couldn't help but sigh, and then smiled, "Uncle Ghost knows so much."
"Haha." Uncle Ghost smiled hoarsely, lowering his head and twisting the herbs in the jar with a pestle. "I seem to be particularly interested in the emperor's affairs."
"Well... I guess." Every time I come to Guibo's place, the word "Emperor" will be mentioned more or less, and even the dullest person can detect it.
"Brother...do you want to work with the emperor?"
"Huh?" Dezhong was stunned.
"Accompanying the emperor is like accompanying a tiger. Things around the emperor are not easy to do." Uncle Gui said without raising his head.
Dezhong was lying on the table, looking at the round little gourd in his hand. He was thoughtful. "I haven't thought about going to the emperor. I just want to... know more about the emperor's story."
"Yeah."
"Do you think the current emperor is a good emperor?"
"Well... he is probably a wise man."
"Oh..." Dezhong's eyes were full of longing, "He is indeed a good emperor."
Uncle Ghost still lowered his head, but his hands stopped.
"The current emperor is a wise king. It's a pity that he was born at the wrong time."
"Hey? How do you say this?" Dezhong sat upright and looked at Uncle Gui.
The sound of pounding medicine sounded again. Dezhong waited for a long time but could not get Uncle Gui's answer.
Recently, Zhou Xi's life has been prosperous and prosperous. He had only been following Eunuch Li, the Supervisor and Supervisor of Zhidian, for more than three months, and he received an order from above. In the blink of an eye, he became a person under Eunuch Li, the Supervisor of Li Dian. I don't know.
Zhou Xi has a poisonous eye, but he is lucky. Eunuch Li is indeed unique in his skills and has a deep palace, which is beyond the comparison of ordinary people. Otherwise, how could he easily enter the top of the twenty-four yamen that the eunuchs are trying to get into. In the past two days
, Zhou Xi also seemed to be in a dream. Good things happened so suddenly that he couldn't adapt to them. But he was clever, and it didn't take long before he became acquainted with an eldest brother of Wang Cheng'en, the eunuch of Bingbi.
"Alas..." At noon, the two of them were sitting together eating, and they suddenly sighed.
"What's bothering Brother Feng?" Zhou Xi asked.
"Well, to tell you the truth, there is a famine in my hometown, and I can no longer survive. But my eldest brother has rebelled with the village militia. How can we do this anti-imperial thing? I'm afraid there will be no good results in the future. I feel sad just thinking about it, okay.
Even the good food is tasteless in your mouth..." Eunuch Feng frowned and put down the bowl and chopsticks.
"Brother Feng, don't worry. It's not my fault that things are like this. It's just that the world is not peaceful. Brother Feng, just relax and it's important to eat your food." Zhou Xi comforted him at the side.
"It's not peaceful... It's really not peaceful." After listening to Zhou Xi's words, Eunuch Feng had a gloomy look on his face, but he picked up the bowls and chopsticks again, "You said in this world, there is famine here.
If we rebel, the Jinlu Tatars may also start a riot."
"Hmm...Brother Feng is right." Zhou Xi nodded in realization, "Then according to Brother Feng's opinion, the Jin Army will come over?"
"Then I can't guess. I heard this from Eunuch Wang." Eunuch Feng smiled honestly, a little embarrassed, "But Wu Sangui is guarding Liaodong and the defense line is strong. It is estimated that the battle will be fought on the border of Liaodong.
If we fight, we won’t reach the capital.”
"Hmm... Well, fighting everywhere is a waste of people and money. When will the wars end and the world be at peace?" Zhou Xi sighed.
"Oh, that's true." Eunuch Feng curled his lips and shook his head, picked up another chopstick and put it into his mouth.
Dezhong, who was sweeping the floor in the southeast library, was unaware of these changes. What worried him the most was still his own major incident.
In the middle of the night, Dezhong sat by the wall, rubbing his sore arm, looking at the high red wall depressedly. He was too anxious at the time, and really didn't think too much. He thought about it after he came in and thought about it later.
How to get out, who would have thought that this palace can be entered. Getting out is not easy. Several months have passed, and I am still stuck here and can't do anything. Dezhong stood up, picked up the rope, rolled it into a ball, and put it away, and kicked something on the ground.
Broken tiles. Since I can't get out, I have no choice but to go back angrily tonight.
After failing to climb the wall, he had no choice but to find an opportunity to go out openly through the gate. In the past few days, Dezhong's thoughts turned to Eunuch Ma - maybe he could get some errand from him and go straight out of the palace gate.
?You never know until you try. So one afternoon when the sun was turning westward, Dezhong secretly came to the small gray-walled courtyard where he had been on the day of registration, and tiptoed under the outer window of the courtyard wall. He raised his hand
Use your ears to hear what's going on inside.
Sure enough, someone was talking inside, and Dezhong listened carefully... Yes, the voice that made the person angry must be Eunuch Ma.
"It's really a good trick for Li Quan. He sneaked into the ceremonial office before the Za family did." Eunuch Ma's words sounded sour. "If you want to do something in the future, I'd better ask him to be with you."
"Brother Li is one of our own. He was promoted by my father-in-law. You don't have to ask for him to do things. How can he not obey when your father-in-law says something?" This voice sounded strange. I thought he must have filled Eunuch Li's vacancy, and then
Here to flatter you.
"Hey~" Eunuch Ma didn't seem to agree. "We who have become eunuchs have long been no longer afraid of annihilating our children and grandchildren. There is nothing we can't do if we are ungrateful and burn down bridges. We can sit and say whatever we want. We can think about old friendships and won't pick on you behind your back.
It’s good to do bad things.”
"Eunuch Ma is too worried. Brother Li is not that person."
"Hey, you haven't grown up yet, can you tell who he is?"
"Well......"
"Do you know Wang Cheng'en, the Supervisor of Ceremonies?"
"My lord, that is the famous person in front of the emperor."
"Humph, a red man? Bah! When we were on errands together, he was called "Ma Ge" before "Ma Ge", for fear that he would not be called upon for some good things. Now that he has become more powerful and has become more powerful, he is no longer pleased with the miscellaneous family.
, he kept putting a shit basin on the head of the Zajia family, and pushed all the messy things here! I won’t mention those trivial things like killing chickens and kicking dogs, but just talked about the Zajia family, when did the Zajia family receive money from Zhou Shilang! He made such a false accusation
, I wonder how the Za family lives so long!"
The little flatterer inside quickly comforted Eunuch Ma with kind words. Dezhong, who was outside the window, curled his lips and stuck out his tongue. He was angry enough, and it seemed that today was not a good day for eavesdropping. So he looked around and saw no one around, and then tiptoed away.
A small courtyard with gray walls.
From then on, Dezhong always sneaked to Ma Gonggong's house every now and then to listen to the news and find out the news, but he got nothing every time. Seeing that summer was over and autumn was over, he stayed in the palace for a long time.
It has been almost a year, and every day he can only stare at the ocean and sigh in front of the red palace wall. But the helpless Dezhong would not have thought that the accident caused by Governor Yuan, thousands of miles away, made him leave the palace.
The opportunity is coming soon.
At dawn, a young eunuch ran over in a panic from a distance. He accidentally tripped over a protruding brick and fell to the ground. Dezhong, who was sweeping the floor, quickly threw down his broom to help him, but
Before Dezhong could reach him, the little eunuch quickly got up, without even looking at Dezhong, and hurriedly ran forward. As he passed by, Dezhong noticed that there seemed to be something in the little eunuch's eyes.
frightened.
Dezhong picked up the broom and looked at the back of the little eunuch. Maybe he saw it wrong. Dezhong frowned and continued to sweep the floor.
In less than a moment of burning the incense, two more palace maids came towards us. Their footsteps were so hurried that they almost kicked over the fallen leaves in the dustpan.
"Ah, I'm sorry." The palace maid who kicked the dustpan seemed frightened and apologized hurriedly.
"It doesn't matter."
The maid bowed her head to Dezhong as a salute, and then hurried away.
At noon, the work was almost done. While Dezhong was packing up the broom and dustpan, he was wondering. Usually, almost no one came to the Southeast Library, but today there were abnormally many people passing by in a hurry, and everyone looked nervous. Could it be that there was someone there?
What happened? Dezhong closed the door of the tool room, thought about it, and walked towards Ma Gonggong's gray-walled courtyard.
As usual, Dezhong went under Ma Gonggong's window, but he could not hear the familiar angry voice. Dezhong listened for a long time, but there seemed to be no one in the room. Dezhong became even more puzzled, as usual
At this time, Eunuch Ma was always there, either scolding the little eunuch or Eunuch Wang, but he was not here today? So Dezhong came out from outside the courtyard wall again and stood by the roadside in a daze, not knowing where to go.
I went to inquire about this news. Just as I was thinking about it, I happened to see a palace maid with a strange look passing by. Dezhong hurriedly ran forward.
"Sister, sister!"
The palace maid turned back and looked at Dezhong.
"Sister, I'm sorry to bother you, but did anything happen in the palace today?"
"you do not know?"
"You know what?"
"Huang Taiji has captured Zunhua. The Jin army is about to attack Beijing. Now the whole city is under martial law. Who knows when a war will break out!"
"What?!"
"Hey, that's what happened. I won't tell you anymore. The imperial concubine is still waiting for my reply." After that, the palace maid walked away quickly.
The Jin Army...is coming to Beijing!?
The instinctive sense of crisis came one after another, irresistibly, and suddenly occupied Dezhong's heart.
"Uncle Ghost, Uncle Ghost!"
Dezhong knocked on the door twice randomly, and without waiting for an answer, he hurriedly opened the door and went in. The ghost uncle sat on the wicker chair with the medicine jar and raised his head to look at Dezhong.
"Why are you so panicked?"
"Uncle Gui knows that the Jin army is about to attack the city!"
"Really?" Uncle Ghost nodded and continued to mix the medicine calmly, as if the matter had nothing to do with him at all.
"Uncle Gui, you don't believe it?" Dezhong's eyes widened, "It's true. People everywhere in the palace are in panic today. Everyone knows about this."
"Haha, I believe it."
"Hey, what will happen if Jinlu captures Beijing?" Dezhong sat down on the wicker chair. The wicker chair seemed to be unable to support it and made a harsh squeaking sound. "Will the capital be destroyed?"
It's a mess, burn it to the ground..."
Uncle Ghost smiled and shook his head.
"Then do you think we will die?"
"..."
"Hey, what should we do..." Dezhong stood up from the wicker chair again without waiting for Uncle Gui's answer, and walked around uneasily in the room.
"Brother, please relax."
"Huh?" Hearing Uncle Gui speak, Dezhong stopped.
"In this world, what is supposed to come will always come, and what is supposed to go will always go," Uncle Ghost said unhurriedly, "No one can go against the current, and it is useless to worry about it. Brother, please rest easy for now.
If you are impatient, just look at it with a little more perspective."
"Uh... look at it... how do you look at such a big thing?"
The ghost uncle smiled hoarsely and did not answer.
Dezhong frowned. His mind was in such a mess that Uncle Ghost couldn't hear what he said. But for the moment he didn't know what to say to relieve his anxiety, so he could only sigh, became silent, and sat back on the chair.
It was quiet for a while. In the incense burner, the three incense burnt out one after another, the incense ashes broke and fell down, and the room was filled with smoke. The sunlight came in from the small window, bypassed the smoke, and spread out into a small patch of light at the feet of the ghost uncle, reflecting him
The wrinkles on his face seemed to be clearer.
"Don't worry. The Ming Dynasty has not exhausted its energy. There will definitely be no danger this time."
After a long while, Uncle Ghost spoke slowly. His voice was still hoarse, but it seemed particularly peaceful at this moment.
"Uncle Ghost...how do you know?" Dezhong was a little surprised and asked tentatively.
The ghost uncle smiled and still lowered his head to pound the medicine.
"Brother, just relax and wait here." (You are welcome and your support is my biggest motivation.)