Summer in the Jin Dynasty has always been hot, with unbearable heat and scorching sun. However, recently, the people always felt that there was a dark cloud hanging over the capital.
It was said that the emperor's favorite concubine fell off a cliff and died after being abducted by the nobles of Beiliang. The emperor coughed up blood and fell into a coma on the spot. When he woke up, his first order was to have Concubine Shen's body fished out along the Huai River.
Just because of the emperor's words, "You must see people when you are alive, you must see corpses when you die", the four major cities and counties of Jiangzhou, Hanzhou, Chengzhou and Yuzhou that the Huaihe River runs through were all put on the imperial list. The emperor has ordered that the people Anyone who can salvage Concubine Shen's body will be granted the title of Marquis and Prime Minister, and his title will be preserved for three generations.
For a time, the water of the Huaijiang River was crowded with fishing boats, and the bandits gradually disappeared. Fish were caught in large numbers, and several dilapidated corpses were found many times, but none of them were Shen Dingzhu.
When no one was found in the water, Xiao Langyan sent troops to search in Jiuzhou. He saw Shen Dingzhu's imperial army, and they all led several skilled and powerful teams to search everywhere with portraits.
The end result, of course, is nothing.
Xiao Langyan became more and more crazy and obsessed. He was even afraid that Shen Dingzhu would really survive but avoid him, so every imperial list posted in the city and county had "The Story of a Loving Mother" practiced by their daughter Xiao Xincheng. , and the small handprint of his son Xiao Xingche.
He longed for Shen Dingzhu to come back, but if anyone tried to dissuade him, he would end up being killed without mercy.
For a time, the court was in turmoil, and the emperor was desperate to find a noble concubine who fell off a cliff and died.
Three months later, the Shen family begged to no avail. Father Shen could only ask his two sons to carry the coffin, kneel with him in front of the palace gate, and beg Xiao Langyan to allow them to mourn their daughter.
"Your Majesty, it's been three months. I'm afraid Zhuzhu has been destroyed in the water and died like a lamp extinguished. The common people beg Your Majesty to take pity on us two elders and allow us to let her grave be laid to rest."
Father Shen and his two sons knelt for a long time before Xu Shou's figure slowly appeared at the palace gate. He unfolded the imperial edict and sighed repeatedly: "The emperor approved it and issued the decree. Concubine Shen is gentle and gentle, and she is posthumously named. Empress Zhaoyuan is allowed to be buried in the imperial mausoleum, and she will be coffed with the emperor a hundred years later. Mr. Shen bestows Jue Ren as Duke of the State, and Mrs. Shen adds a title of imperial edict. Duke of Guo, please also pack up some of your empress’s clothes and hand them over to your slaves. Let this servant return the fragrant soul of the empress to the Emperor!"
Father Shen was stunned for a moment. He was old and haggard with a full head of white hair. Hearing this, he could only nod lightly: "Okay, okay..."
We were separated from Shen Dingzhu in the hot summer, and we searched for many months to no avail. On the day of mourning for her, it was already the late autumn when the earth was full of decay.
Xiao Langyan banned singing, dancing and music in the city for three days. Officials of the second rank and below had to express their condolences and mourn. Shen Dingzhu's tomb was erected in the courtyard of Shen Mansion. The officials who were forced to come to mourn all covered their faces in grief. Cry, come in one by one, kowtow, and shout "Queen".
If anyone cries loudly, he will be praised by Xiao Langyan in court the next day. There are also those who are unwilling to cry. Xiao Langyan was furious and Long Ting angrily scolded the other person: "Heartless!"
A historian even left a concise description of what happened at this time in history: "...the mourning in the capital continued for a long time. The Holy Sage summoned all the alchemists from all over the country to gather in the capital to try to summon the soul of Empress Zhaoyuan, but they failed. …”
On the day when Shen Dingzhu's spirit was revealed, it was raining at dusk, which was the auspicious time for the burial that Xiao Langyan had asked Qin Tian to supervise. The sky was getting dark and the emperor was dressed in a white dragon robe, facing the fluttering raindrops in the rain. Like a silent mountain.
He stood in front of the coffin, with Father Shen and Mother Shen beside him, holding Xiao Xincheng in their arms, crying and mourning. Their youngest son was too young and weak, so they did not carry him out this time.
The surrounding officials were all dressed in plain clothes, standing in the wind and rain with their heads bowed, listening to the eminent monk praying for Queen Zhaoyuan:
"...I hope that your soul will follow the flag to guide you, and we will be married to Your Majesty. We will have a good marriage and a happy death..."
When the eminent monk burned Shen Dingzhu and Xiao Langyan's eight characters in the spiritual basin, the other monks scattered paper money and beat the alms bowls incessantly. The quiet and quiet sounds echoed in the swaying rain curtain in the sky.
There was a coffin filled with clothes, and it was filled with funeral objects. The funeral was carried out from Shen's Mansion, and the imperial guards cleared the way until it was carried to the imperial mausoleum for burial.
The funeral procession stretched for hundreds of miles, with people kneeling on both sides, crying as they bid farewell to Shen Dingzhu.
They didn't know Shen Dingzhu, but the emperor brought his memory and love for her to everyone's eyes, so Shen Dingzhu was known to everyone in the world.
*
After everything had settled, it was another ordinary rainy autumn night, and Xiao Langyan was sitting alone in Yaoguang Palace.
The place is still as it is, and the wooden comb in front of the bronze mirror is still entangled with a few hairs left by Shen Dingzhu.
Xiao Langyan put the piece of pink silk in her makeup box. In the half-open box, there was also a pair of earrings that she had replaced before leaving the palace, as if she would leave for a moment and then open the door and come back.
"Dad?" Xiao Xincheng held a lantern and was sent to Yaoguang Palace by Xu Shou.
Xiao Langyan came back to his senses and raised his bloodshot and red eyes: "Chengcheng, it's late, why don't you rest?"
Xiao Xincheng obediently placed the lantern on the ground. She took a food box from Xu Shou's hand, held it in her two little hands, walked over and placed it in front of Xiao Langyan.
"I just went to see my brother. He is so good. The wet nurses said that he would smile happily after he ate and slept. He was very cute and he was getting better and better. His skin was white, his eyes were big and his eyelashes were big. It’s darker and denser than mine!”
Xiao Langyan couldn't help but feel warmth in his eyes as he listened to the girl's description of the childish voice.
Xiao Xincheng tilted his little head and blinked his big watery eyes: "However, I heard that daddy has not eaten all day, so I specially brought some cakes to comfort daddy."
The little guy said, opening the box, Xiao Langyan saw that it was a plate of Poria Cake.
The warm smile that had just appeared on Xiao Langyan's face turned to a faint frost color, and the dim light in his thin eyes flickered.
Shen Dingzhu knew that he liked Poria cake, and she would often prepare one for him.
Looking at his eyes, which seemed to be filled with nostalgia and endless sadness, Xiao Xincheng plucked up the courage to ask: "Dad, you don't blame mother, right?"
Xiao Langyan raised his eyebrows and his eyes were deep and dark. He reached out and pulled his daughter to sit next to him.
"I was never willing to really blame her. I never thought that one day, she would really leave me and you."
He admitted that he was really angry at the time. He had doted on her for so long. For the sake of his daughter, he just wanted to teach Shen Dingzhu a lesson, so he wanted to ignore her for a few days.
But she actually acted more decisively than he did.
With such a high cliff and such a fast river, isn't she a little timid? How dare she jump off a cliff? The moment she jumped, did she want to be free, or was she disgusted with him?
Xiao Xincheng blinked his long eyelashes and looked at his father.
After a while, she said with pink lips: "Dad, but I don't blame my mother for not choosing to save me right away, because my mother told me something before."
