Yuanmingyuan
Qiuhuayuan - the residence of the Fourth Prince
Compared with other places in the Yuanmingyuan, Qiuhuayuan is the most remote. The servants who receive food every day have to go from the furthest north to the westernmost kitchen. When they return to Qiuhuayuan, the food is already cold. Fortunately, the empress dowager is still concerned with the emperor. The second prince attached great importance to it and allowed a small kitchen to be set up in the courtyard.
Mammy Xu carried the Eight Treasures Porridge, sighed in her heart, and entered the study.
"Fourth brother, it's past the time to eat, and you haven't eaten yet. Come and taste this eight-treasure porridge."
The fourth elder brother was dressed in plain clothes and was half a big boy. Hearing this, he didn't raise his eyelids, stared at the content of the book in his hand, and said:
"Mammy, I'm not hungry yet."
Mammy Xu frowned slightly and continued to persuade:
"Fourth brother likes to study, but if he doesn't even eat, then he has the energy to study. Although I don't understand the big truth, I also know that fourth brother is a human being, and a human always needs to eat."
The fourth elder brother put down the books in his hand. He was really not hungry, but Mammy Xu couldn't bear to brush away his kindness. He was not loved by his father since he was a child.
"Since Mammy said so, then I'll have a taste."
Sitting on a nanmu chair, a bowl of hot porridge braved the fragrance of lotus seeds, arousing appetite.
The fourth elder brother tasted it lightly, the taste was mellow, sweet and waxy, and he took two bites... Suddenly, a tingling pain came from his lower abdomen, an inexplicable heat surged in his chest, and his heartbeat intensified. His trembling limbs affected his voice, and he said weakly:
"Mammy, I'm in so much pain, why?"
Mammy Xu's cloudy eyes were full of horror, she was both scared and flustered:
"Fourth elder brother, fourth elder brother, what's wrong with you? I don't know either, I will go and find the imperial doctor for you, find the imperial doctor..."
"Come on, little Pei, little Pei..."
Mammy Xu's figure disappeared, leaving only the anxious and flustered voices of the palace people in his ears.
"Mammy..."
Obviously the sky is not bright, but the eyes are dark, no matter how unwilling or resentful, it is useless.
Because death is irresistible.
Cining Palace
--Little Buddhist Hall
The Buddha has a thousand bodies, so there are a thousand temples, and the Maitreya Buddha enshrined is the most kind.
The old woman kneeling on the bright yellow cushion was chanting words.
"Empress Dowager..."
The voice of a little eunuch came from outside the door.
Fang Ruo knew that the Empress Dowager did not like people to disturb her when she recited sutras, unless it was something important, the people of the lower palace did not dare to disturb her, and asked:
"What's the matter?"
The little eunuch said solemnly:
"Empress Dowager, news came from the Yuanmingyuan just now that the fourth brother was killed -"
The Empress Dowager, who was chanting sutras, fell off the string of beads in her hand, the silk broke, and the round beads collapsed and scattered.
"What! The fourth elder brother of the Ai family -"
The Empress Dowager got up absentmindedly. It was clear that the emperor had praised the child yesterday, and the child came to greet her, why?
She got up, stepped on the scattered beads unsteadily, and was about to fall. Fortunately, Fang Ruo was quick to support her from behind, not caring about the pain caused by the foot pain, she asked:
"Tell the Ai family what happened to the fourth brother. He was happy to come to greet the Ai family yesterday."
Across a door, knowing that the Empress Dowager was angry, the little eunuch knelt in fright and said boldly:
"Minions, minions don't know!"
Fang Ruo snapped:
"What are you still doing, the empress dowager fell, go and ask the imperial doctor."
The two little palace maids guarding the door hurriedly ran away.
'Squeak '
The golden Buddha with a kind smile moved.
'Bang " boom - '
The golden Buddha rolled down without warning.
"... Empress Dowager"
Fang Ruo shouted, and held the empress dowager firmly under her body, while she was under the pressure of more than a hundred catties of Buddha statues.
The Queen Mother gasped, her face pale:
"Fang Ruo, come on - come on..."
Cining Palace was in a hurry.
Yangxin Hall
As always, the emperor reviewed the memorial, and finally after writing the last word about the approval of today, he put down the cinnabar pen in his hand, raised his head, and the familiar silence of the Hall of Yangxin, but he couldn't feel his inner peace, and his eyebrows suddenly beat.
Outside the hall, Su Peisheng was carrying the Gu soup ordered by Concubine Xihua. If it was an ordinary concubine, he would not have started it.
"Your Majesty, the Imperial Concubine just sent someone to bring a Gu soup."
The emperor raised his hand and pinched his eyebrows, staring at the purple orchid porcelain cup held by Hui Su Peisheng.
"Well, I'll try it."
Su Peisheng endured some soreness from maintaining the salute posture, raised his feet, and placed the cup of soup lightly in front of the emperor's table.
Lifting the lid of the orchid porcelain seal, a fresh and mellow smell overshadowed the ambergris smell in the hall and filled the mouth and nose.
Stewed is winter melon soup.
Su Peisheng served the emperor a bowl of soup with his own spoon.
It stands to reason that someone should try it, but Su Peisheng did not dare, for fear that Concubine Xiehua would attack him.
The emperor took a sip, his appetite was full, and he took a few more bites.
Just after drinking half a bowl, a hurried footsteps approached.
There was a pause outside the door of the hall, and then the little eunuch who guarded the door came in.
"The slave greets the emperor, long live the emperor, the emperor, the empress dowager was smashed by the Buddha statue..."
Buddha statue?
The emperor was startled and had no intention of tasting the food in his mouth. He got up and frowned and asked:
"How did the Empress Dowager get smashed by the Buddha statue?"
Could it be that he annoyed the Buddha? The emperor felt in his heart. Over the years, he has become less and less patient with the empress dowager, and those egotistical empress dowagers have never stopped.
If he thought about it in his heart, the emperor still looked anxious and concerned on the surface. After all, no matter what, he was also his own mother, and he was willing to maintain the image of a filial son.
The womb people in a room did not dare to answer, and they all thought that the Buddha had always been kind and blessed the good people. I am afraid that the empress dowager has violated the prohibition and stained the bad luck? No one would say this, because it was the empress dowager, who arranged in front of the emperor that the empress dowager lost her life.
"Prepare to drive to Cining Palace."
The emperor gently frowned, and a worried expression flashed across his indifferent face.
"Yes."
Su Peisheng responded.
At this time, another little eunuch ran over, knelt outside the hall, and trembled:
"Your Majesty, there is news from the Yuanmingyuan that the fourth elder brother died this morning."
Killed?!
Shock and anger appeared on the emperor's always indifferent face.
Su Peisheng, who had been bowing his head, saw with sharp eyes that the green mountain string polished with imperial green jade presented by the former Ministry of Internal Affairs was being held tightly by the emperor's left hand.