Seeing the left gate of Cining Palace, Xianying was supported by the palace maid from the phoenix sedan chair. In front of Cining Palace was a long and narrow square facing east and west. There were the left and right gates of Cining Palace, and the other gate on the south side was called Changxin Gate.
Cining Gate was located on the north side of the square. There was a high platform and a corridor connected to the main hall, Cining Palace. Xianying was also quite familiar with Cining Palace. She did not give the prince waiting outside the Cining Palace a chance to speak. At this time, Xiaozhuang thought that he should be in the east and west corridors of the courtyard, which led directly to the Great Buddha Hall in the north.
She didn't want to waste too much time. Although she had the support of Xianying's warm spring water in the past two years, her original intention was to let Xiaozhuang live a little longer so that she could hide for a little longer. However, being controlled by others made Xianying unable to do anything. Although there was still some risk in carrying out that plan now, there would always be risks no matter how long she waited. She might as well take advantage of this opportunity to give it a try.
She raised her eyebrows and looked at Azurite, who was trying to stop her. When Xianying saw the gatekeeper eunuch who stopped her from bringing more palace talents, she knew that the power of Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang was about to be put on display today. However, Xianying, who had thought it through, wanted to fight her head-on. She looked down at Azurite, who was standing in front of her. Xianying frowned slightly and reprimanded,"Liu Li, you should know why this Queen has come. You're stopping me now because you want to get something from this Queen, right?”
It was not that Liu Li had not heard the Imperial Empress Dowager's decree to stop the noble in the palace, but she had never seen someone like Xianying, who saw that she was obviously obeying someone's orders, and still used these words to choke people. It was not that Liu Li did not have the courage to accept it now, so she could only kneel and kowtow fiercely, hoping that Xianying would soften her heart and wait outside the hall for a while.
This Xianying was making things difficult for the palace maids and eunuchs outside the Palace of Compassion and Peace. She hid in a corner of the corridor and watched the Baozhu in the front hall. When she saw Liu Li and the others kowtow to Xianying and beg for mercy for some unknown reason, she quickly turned around and walked quickly to the back bedroom.
Although the back bedroom was a large Buddhist hall, it was not very big inside. Su Ma helped to kneel in front of the Buddha's golden body and recite the scriptures clearly. Xiaozhuang, who was leaning on the precious chair at the side, supported his head with one hand as if he was asleep. He had long known how to let his master know that he had something to report. He walked in with slightly hurried steps and bowed to the Empress Dowager on the precious chair. He did not hear the reprimand and quickly raised his head and lowered his eyes."Reporting to the Grand Empress Dowager, Liu Li and the others have somehow offended the Imperial Noble Consort and are now kowtowing in front of the front hall to beg for mercy.
As soon as Bao Zhu finished speaking, she felt a cold and gloomy air brush past her in the temple hall. Her body trembled uncontrollably, and she threw a pleading look at Granny Su Ma, who had stopped reading Buddhist scriptures. Seeing that Bao Zhu was scared out of her wits, Su Ma Lagu stood up and waved at her to order people to leave. When she saw people leave the temple hall, Su Ma stood beside the treasured chair and heard her master laugh,"Tong Jia shi really thought that this widow had her in her eyes.”
Su Ma heard that his master was not as cautious as before, but after serving Xiaozhuang for a long time, he knew her character very well. He knew that this was not the time to rely on his status to advise. However, Su Ma had a high opinion of Xianying because no one else in the palace could understand Xiaozhuang's thoughts. Even she had only vaguely seen through it because she had served him for many years.
However, Su Ma was already used to expressing his feelings to Xiaozhuang. He turned around and said to Xiaozhuang,""Grand Empress Dowager, this servant feels that the Imperial Noble Consort's actions this time are clearly not like her usual behavior.”
"It is because she is different from before that people do not believe that this matter is her fault. Presumably, even if the emperor comes, he will think that Liu Li and the others are deliberately making things difficult because they are serving in Ci Ning Palace. This widow still wants her to endure for a few more days, but Tong Jia shi's actions now can still make this widow think highly of her. At the very least, she still has some courage and blood. If she can admit her mistake early on, this widow can give her another chance.”Su Ma raised his head and looked at Xiaozhuang's confident smile. From his words, he knew that his master also knew Xianying's thoughts, but he had nothing else to say. Seeing Xiaozhuang stand up, he quickly went forward to help him.
When Xiaozhuang arrived at the main hall with the four palace maids behind Su Matong, other than the traces of blood on their foreheads, nothing seemed to have happened outside the hall. He turned his head to look at Xianying, who was bowing and greeting him. He saw that there was nothing unusual on her face, as if nothing had happened outside the main hall.
Seeing the people in his palace like this, how could Xiaozhuang not be angry? But because he had something to talk to Xianying, he could only snort at Xianying to order her to get up. He turned around and let Su Ma hold his arm and enter the main hall of Cining Palace.
Xianying heard the angry snort and knew that even if she had guessed something, her anger was still aroused by her obvious slap in the face. She gave a look to Nanny Cui, who followed her into the Cining Palace. Seeing her nod and retreat to the side of the six palace maids who followed her, Xianying stood up and gently smoothed the folds on her clothes. She followed Xiao Zhuang into the main hall alone.
Seeing the Empress Dowager's angry expression, Xianying did not make things too difficult for herself and bowed,"ChenQie greets Grand Empress Dowager.”
Xiaozhuang, who had wanted to suppress her, had not yet held back his strength. The corners of his lips curled up slightly as he stood up and stood to the side. This angered Xiaozhuang, who had never been treated so rudely. It was Su Ma who saw this and reached out to stop her from dodging. However, he was so angry that he could not speak for a long time.
Su Ma, who had her head lowered and was carefully persuading Xiao Zhuang, was dressed in a light green palace dress. Although her face did not show much traces of time, her slightly plump face and body still made her ordinary appearance lose some points. Fortunately, she had a gentle temperament that made people who approached her feel relaxed and warm.
Xiao Zhuang had just calmed down a little when Su Ma turned his body and quickly glanced at Xianying. Seeing that she was standing at the side without any reaction, he lowered his head and looked at his master. This time, Su Ma truly felt that the Empress Dowager could not stop the Emperor from listening to Xianying and changing the money-like tail of the Manchu people into a half-moon head.
Looking up at the main hall of Cining Palace, which had not changed much from two years ago, Xiaozhuang suppressed the anger in his heart and said to Xianying in a deep voice,""Imperial noble consort, raise your head and look at this room. Have you completely forgotten the oath you made to this widow and the empress dowager in just two years?”
No matter how well Xiaozhuang concealed it, Xianying could still hear the anger in his words. She had never forgotten the oath she had made that day. After all, it involved the lives of Little Yinzhen and Little Tangxin. This time, Xianying did not perfunctory. She shook her hand and reported,"Reporting to the Empress Dowager, I dare not forget the oath I made here that day. This concubine has helped the Emperor manage the harem for the past two years and arranged for the concubines and noble people in the palace that he likes or is useful to serve. Now that Consort Yi and Noble Consort Xiao Niu Gulu are pregnant, this concubine has specially begged the Emperor to treat them once every two or three days so that they can give birth to the dragon heir safely.”
Xiaozhuang did not make things difficult for her because he saw that Xianying had done well in the past two years. However, interfering in the affairs of the harem was Xiaozhuang's bottom line, and Xianying should not touch it. Xiaozhuang waved his hand and did not want to listen anymore. He turned his face away from Xianying and said,"This widow does not want to listen to your biased words. The money rat tail is something passed down from our ancestors, yet you actually want to be a demon for half a month. How much strength did the late emperor use to do this, even at the cost of carrying a brutal reputation? As long as this widow is alive, I will not let you, this witch, confuse the emperor to do such unfilial and disloyal things.”
In ancient times, the name of the witch could drive people to death. When Xianying heard Xiaozhuang say this, she looked up in disbelief. However, when she heard Xiaozhuang mention Shunzhi, Xianying finally found a topic to talk about. She stood up and wanted to refute the Empress Dowager's words, but because of her status and rules, she could only clench the brocade handkerchief in her hand tightly. She bit her lips until blood seeped out. She looked at Xiaozhuang with a painful and sad expression and said,"Grand Empress Dowager, Xianying never thought that what the late Emperor did was cruel. If he didn't have such a method to enter and exit the pass, how could he have intimidated the Han people who outnumbered us by dozens of times? Although the world is now at peace, since a mere head of black hair can kill 100,000 people, it shows that the Han people value hair more than life. Although shaving now is more to remind the Han people who is in charge of the world now, the half-moon hairstyle can preserve the ancestral rule of shaving our heads. It can also satisfy the Han people's desire to grow hair. ChenQie is really sincere for the Qing Dynasty and for the Emperor.”
Hearing Xianying's words, Xiaozhuang seemed to have seen the second year of Shunzhi. The regent, Dorgon, presided over an edict ordering the officials and people in Jiangnan to shave their heads. Hundreds of thousands of lives were lost because of hair that was not worth human lives in the eyes of Manchu people. When he saw the bloody memorial that was not covered at all, Shunzhi, who was only eight years old, could not sleep alone for many days. At that time, Xiaozhuang was worried, but in order not to let Shunzhi continue to be weak, he could only hide in the dark all night and watch with good eyes.
When he came back to his senses, he saw the blood on Xianying's lips. Xiaozhuang was also touched. Xianying had sworn that she would never fall in love with the Emperor again, but how could her heart be controlled by others? However, he thought that no matter how smart Xianying was, as long as she was sincere to the Emperor, she would never understand bad intentions. Thinking of this, Xiaozhuang softened his tone and said,"Imperial noble consort, since you clearly understand the necessity of shaving your head, why must you encourage the emperor to keep his hair in half a month? Since this head has to be cut, why bother with this?”
Xianying saw that Xiaozhuang's attitude was not as tough as it was at the beginning. Although she did not know why she was let off so easily, she thought that it should not be just listening to his nonsense. However, no matter what, as long as the money rat tail that hurt people's eyes disappeared in front of her eyes, Xianying would not care about it. She collected her chaotic thoughts and reported again,"Replying to the Grand Empress Dowager, you know a lot about Chinese studies. You should have heard that the body, hair, and skin are affected by parents. We can't let them be free for many reasons, but these years, they have gotten used to it a little, but they still feel that they miss it. If you give them such a favor, I think that even half of my hair can make them go through fire and water without hesitation.”
After hearing Xianying's words, Emperor Xiaozhuang pondered for a moment. On the other side, Kangxi, who was in the Palace of Heavenly Purity, listened to the narration and made up his mind. No one knew about the evil desires of the Ming Dynasty. He raised the banner to recruit Han people with lofty aspirations, and this matter was mentioned in it. Thinking of this, Kangxi could not sit still. He threw away the idea of watching Xianying's excitement and got up to order Li Dequan to prepare the carriage and rush to Cining Palace.
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