I don't know how long it took, but she was about to drift off to sleep. She vaguely heard a burst of crying and sobbing coming from the house. It was vague and gradually became clear. The sad voice frightened her and she couldn't help but shudder. When she woke up, , there was no one around, and a gauzy silver mist rose up in the desolate night court.
"My son..., my concubine and the king's flesh and blood... the chariot... the chariot..., the king..."
That was the heart-rending experience of Concubine Yong Guo.
The more she wanted to go in and take a look from a distance, even just one look would be comforting, but at this time her limbs moved behind the thin screen and stopped obeying her orders. She stood for a long time in front of the plain fabric embroidered with gerbera flowers.
Seven or eight steps away from Suzhili, Mingxuan, fully clothed, was leaning in Wanyanyong's arms and sobbing. When she looked at him again, he hugged his wife so tightly, and soft words of comfort slowly came out from the cold pagoda armor. There is also some sincere sadness. You don't need to think too much to know that the tears he shed like a daughter contain a lot of helplessness and sadness.
When she saw it, she saw it. Without making too many moves, she put away the remaining makeup that was still messy, returned to the corridor, and fell asleep leaning against the solid Zhu Heng.
——Badly murmuring: "Okay, she has calmed down. Your Majesty must have taken good care of her."
Li Hongyuan suddenly heard about the change in the mansion and came early the next day. As soon as he entered Biluoyuan, he looked at her sleeping soundly on the corridor. A lock of black hair that had fallen down lightly covered her dusty face. Her gorgeous clothes were already in tatters.
How does this look like Mrs. Gaoming? There is no other family in Liaoyang City whose life is so haggard and downcast.
Hong Yuan's nose felt sore and she scolded all the slaves in Biluoyuan. Then she ordered the waiter to bring a fleece blanket and she covered her body herself.
"Qingya, Qingya... why did this child fall asleep on the porch..."
She opened her tired eyes and answered the salute lightly, still respectful as before.
Hong Yuan burst into tears, tucked her loose hair behind her ears, put away her kindness and said, "Qingya, go to the front hall."
Then she said to the waiting people: "Go and invite the two ladies!" When she said this, her face was frozen and slightly serious.
Qingya saw her aunt enter the bedroom with her own eyes and came out after a long time. She wiped the tears from her eyes with one hand and staggered towards her with her son supporting her with the other.
Wan Yanyong's eyes had long since lost their aura, replaced by a blanket of red silk, and the corners of his eyes were filled with vicissitudes of life.
She knew that this was an inevitable punishment, so when the two of them came to the front hall and sat down, she knelt down in the cold court, worshiped and kowtowed, showing no arrogance, but the two of them just sat quietly. Looking at her, he kept ordering people to urge the two ladies, without paying any attention to her.
When Wanyanyong saw her like this, he wanted to help her up, but his mother stopped her and he had no choice but to sit down.
Mrs. Xu Guo and Mrs. Liang Guo came at Hong Yuan's repeated urging. They took off their old splendid clothes, took off their hairpins without makeup, and bowed their heads in front of the hall.
Seeing this, Hong Yuan put down the Buddhist beads he was twirling in his hand, and sat upright, with a look of respect from an elder, which attracted people's respect.
"You three, do you know you are wrong?" This was the question from Hong Yuan.
The three of them lowered their heads another inch.
"I lost two grandchildren in one night. The imperial concubine was heartbroken because of this. I want to ask you three how you acted as servants during the time of trouble last night. Yun Nian is so well-behaved and sensible, so I called you three I have no one to guard me, but I let my grandson suffer in this hell!"
As she spoke, she choked up and couldn't speak any more. The son beside her quickly comforted her mother and handed her a silk hand to her. After feeling sad, she looked at the three of them again, her face even colder than before.
"Qinli, you ran out to find Yunzhong even though you knew the situation was urgent, but you didn't take the overall situation into consideration. If you had sent a few more waiters to go there, wouldn't you have found Yunzhong? You took care of Yunzhong, but there were six or seven brothers in the mansion. Sister and son, they are all your husband’s children, and the imperial concubine can treat them as her own children, why can’t you?”
"Have you made it clear to me, this old lady? Huh?"
Qinli flinched and clasped her hands tightly, frowning slightly, not daring to raise her head and said: "Mother-in-law, I know my mistake!"
"You are my favorite daughter-in-law, so you are called the King."
You were brought into the house, and you and the imperial concubine are the old people in the house. You have been helping her take care of the housework for many years, but you don't even have the slightest bit of concentration. In times of panic, you get confused! "
She was only respectful and did not dare to argue or contradict with words. Seeing this, Li Hongyuan swallowed his words and turned to Xiang Ling. But looking at it, before she could say a few words to Xiang Ling, her eyes started to turn red, and her desolate look made people pity her.
"I started crying before I even said a few words. Someone who didn't know better thought that I, an old woman, had bullied my daughter-in-law. So you thought that because you were crying, I wouldn't reprimand you?"
After hearing Hong Yuan's words, Xiang Ling cried even more, and her tears fell directly to the ground without sticking to her face.
Seeing this, Hong Yuan became even more angry. He even stood up and reprimanded: "You have been serving the king for four or five years. How can you safely let a child as young as Wu Lang be alone in such a chaotic time? I don't know. Why are you acting like a child?"
"Mother-in-law, my daughter-in-law was really afraid of danger, so she didn't dare to take Yunnan away, so she asked him to wait for me where she was. But... But as soon as my daughter-in-law came back, Wu Lang disappeared. I was very helpless at that time. , Cuimei said that she was going to help Mrs. Zhang find Yunzhong, and I didn’t know what to say, so I saw her draw her knife and leave... After that, I was about to arrive at Biluoyuan, but the thief was coming, and I was afraid that Wulang would be injured. !」
"That's why I put Yun Nian on the spot temporarily, and I stepped forward to inquire...mother-in-law," she cried deeper and deeper, her sobs meandering.
She glanced at Qingya beside her again with her peripheral vision, held the silk tightly and wiped away her tears and said: "I know, my daughter-in-law is wrong, my daughter-in-law is wrong, I shouldn't let Cuimei go, I should let her stay." Coming down, I didn’t know that Cuimei would be so chivalrous and courageous, but Mrs. Li’s style of general has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.”
Although the words were mentioned lightly, the underlying meaning was that Qingya's teachings were incompetent, which led to such a tragedy.
When Qingya saw her aunt walking towards her, she lowered her eyebrows in a respectful manner, but she didn't know why. The disaster last night had nothing to do with her, but Li Hongyuan seemed to be targeting her, and slapped her in the face. The slap on the face made her dizzy.
"If you don't tell me, I will ignore you!"
After a slap in the face, Wanyan Yong stood up gently and pulled her angry mother over. She looked at Qingya's red face and said, "Sister, why did you hit her? Qingya has never done anything since she came to the house. Even though Yun Nian... suffered from such things and the imperial concubines suffered miscarriages one after another, she did not do anything wrong!"
Hong Yuan pointed angrily and said, "What's wrong? This woman behaves as she pleases. She got married here and has nothing to do for three years. Something like this happened to her mistress's child. Now my grandson is gone. The imperial concubine has had a miscarriage, and I can’t say anything about it? The king wants to protect her?"
"I don't mean that, I just don't want innocent people to get involved. Besides, sister, please pass! I watched Qingya grow up, and I couldn't bear to hit her since she was a child."
Seeing this, Li Hongyuan calmed down and sat back on the chair, his eyebrows gradually calming down.
"Okay! In that case, the king is protecting you, so I won't say anything more. But rewards and punishments should be proportional, so I will punish all three of you from light to severe."
She looked at Qingya's still upright figure after being beaten, and then moved her eyes to her haggard son beside her, to detect the reluctance in his eyes, and she became even more certain of one thing.
——This girl has entered Wan Yanyong's heart.
With this emotion, Li Hongyuan said: "You three, go out and kneel! Madam Zhang and Madam Ling, kneel for three hours. Qingya, you kneel for three hours every day for a month."
"And Qingya, you made such a mistake and the punishment of kneeling was too light, so you copied the Diamond Sutra twice a day for a month and sent someone to Qing'an Temple every day."
"elder sister……"
Just as Wan Yanyong was about to speak, he was interrupted by Qing Ya. She smiled and said with a tear in her eyes: "My dear daughter-in-law, I honor your order!"
After bowing, she and the two of them walked out quietly and knelt on the cold ground. After the other two had knelt for three hours, they were helped back to the house.
In the evening, she lay quietly next to Mingxuan's bed, taking the decoction and medicine herself, and talking to her from time to time could make her feel a little relieved.
The days of being forced to kneel were long. Wanyanyong occasionally tried to dissuade his mother, but in the end she refused. new
In a flash, five days passed, and it was a rainy day. The autumn rain was bone-chilling, but she remained the same, kneeling straight in the rain with her back straight. In this empty courtyard where all things were withered, only one piece of silk clothing was seen hanging down in the rain. The rising dust painted some small dark flowers on the corners of her skirt like ink.
But she couldn't feel happy. After several days of tossing, she was exhausted both mentally and physically.
Wan Yanyong, who was in the room, couldn't bear to see her suffering like this, so he also started a dispute with Li Hongyuan.
——"Sister, it's raining heavily outside, please let Qingya come in! My body won't be able to bear it if this goes on."
"Why can't she bear it? She is the daughter of a general, what is Xiaoyu afraid of? Have you forgotten the suffering of your wife and children?"
Watching her willow posture swaying in the wind, Wan Yanyong finally couldn't bear it any longer, and suddenly changed his color. Without saying anything, he ran out and said as he walked: "It's not her fault, so why punish her. "
He knelt down in the rain and hugged her into his arms, saying softly: "Qingya, get up, you're going to be soaked in the rain soon!"
She shook her head and said, "Your Majesty, this is what I do willingly."
"Qingya, listen to King Gu. This matter is not your fault. It is King Gu's fault. King Gu does not want to see you being wronged. If you don't want to, get up!"
At that time, the autumn rain was falling non-stop. Seeing this deep affection, Li Hongyuan turned the Buddha beads in his hand faster, looked at the maid next to him, and walked out.
Standing under the green eaves, he still said with the same stern look: "That's it, Qingya, get up! Go change clothes and come to me in the evening. I have something to explain to you."
She nodded to show her understanding, stood up, paused, and walked away without making any unnecessary moves or even saying another word to her husband.
Xiyi helped her move forward. She staggered a few steps and her legs became weak. She bent down, and the cold autumn wind was desperately hitting her soaked plain clothes, trying to get into her internal organs. She just Can bear all this silently.
Looking out, the rustling autumn wind humiliates the red leaves, and the southern geese fly high. This coldness in the autumn festival is both bone-breaking and heart-piercing.
Fortunately, it was Wan Yanyong's generous arms and the long-lost warmth that supported her in the end.
