box of hearts

Chapter 76
1.
The rain fell on the small pavilion in the mountains bit by bit.The mountain is made of wrinkled, leaky, thin, and transparent Taihu stones. The pavilions fly with hexagons, and the brackets hang down. It is called "Yuhu".In the Yuhu Pavilion sits a beautiful woman, but the beautiful woman has no ice heart [1], only a good ups and downs.

Xiangshou stares at the rain obsessively, watching every drop of raindrops go and never return, just like life.Her life began with four words: Yangzhou Shouma.Yangzhou is a prosperous land of flowers and willows, gentle and rich in ancient times. Shouma refers to thin and slender young women, all of whom come from poor families. , and sold to a wealthy businessman as a concubine in the future.

Xiangshou is a steed among thin horses.She is a posthumous child, originally from Huainan, and her mother remarried, so she was given to a "godmother" who "raised horses" for a living.The godmother saw that her mother was unusually beautiful, so she regarded Xiangshouju as a rare commodity, and pampered her as the young lady of a rich family.Xiangshou grew up to be 13 years old, and lived up to her expectations. She was like a fish and a wild goose, and the moon was ashamed. The first time she went to the Xiulou, she saw an old man with a bare chin.The godmother forced her to take off her clothes in front of the old man. She was like a horse, and he dryly inspected her hands, feet, mouth, breasts, armpits, private parts between her legs...everything.After the old man left, Xiangshou was crying and fussing in shame, but the godmother clapped her hands and bent down happily, "Cry, cry, just cry enough, you will be the only one who will laugh for the rest of your life. You know the godmother found it for you." What kind of family? Tell you, apart from the emperor, he is the only one in the world!"

After going on the road, Xiangshou learned that the old man's name was Ying Xi, and he was a confidant of the chief eunuch in charge of the imperial court. He was ordered by his superior to find a "gift" to please the new regent.In this way, Xiangshou traveled thousands of miles with Ying Xi, and the only one who followed her was a nanny surnamed Yao in her hometown.On the seventh night in Beijing, Nanny Yao, who had been with her since she was a child, was taken away, and she was placed alone on a huge bed with mother-of-pearl carvings and colorful lacquer. Wearing a thin mandarin duck quilt, every rustle caused by nervous slight movement makes Xiangshou feel that he is a gift wrapped in a brocade box and wrapped in a silk bag, waiting to be unwrapped.Then, there was a very special sound of footsteps, and a pair of hands unwrapping presents.

The next day, Xiangshou was carried into the Regent's Palace by a small sedan chair.For half of the summer, she was the most favored among the concubines in the Mansion.When autumn came, she was pregnant, but Xiangshou was not half happy, because the regent had a very weird rule: every time after intercourse, a godly woman would massage the woman's rear acupoint and feed the decoction, so as not to make her feel sick. Fetal formation.It was Nanny Yao who tried her best to bribe the eunuch in charge, so that Xiangshou could occasionally escape.However, there is a widely circulated saying that a former concubine who was "accidentally" pregnant and refused to take abortion pills was kicked out of her abdomen.Therefore, Xiangshou wept and kowtowed with the tragedy of sacrifice.There was a long silence behind the high table and chairs in front of him. After the silence, there was a sigh, and then came the news: Shouma Xiangshou was allowed to keep the fetus and will be promoted to be the world concubine.

However, Xiangshou is so young, too young, ignorant and fearless.Nanny Yao kept fanning the flames day and night in her ear, which finally made her irrationally covet something she should never covet: the position of the concubine.The seat has been vacant since the regent lost his wife at the age of 17.Nanny Yao told Xiangshou that in terms of background, she was no match for other concubines, but she was the only one "supported" by someone!Nanny Yao caressed Xiangshou's growing belly lovingly, stroking a wish that was getting fuller and fuller. Anyone who threatened this wish, she said, should be regarded as a thorn in Xiangshou's side.One nail is Wang Concubine Duan'er, who is second only to Xiangshou in terms of favor, and the other nail is the family's most distinguished side concubine Feng Shi.So, taking the opportunity of the Prince Regent leaving Beijing, Nanny Yao acted for Xiangshou.When the former came back, Xiangshouxin's eyes were still red and swollen from the nails he pulled out, and he looked heartbroken: Duan'er slipped on the stone steps on the rockery and fell down, falling to his death. She suddenly fell ill and died. It turned out that it was Feng who sent someone to push Duan'er down the mountain out of jealousy, but he couldn't survive the condemnation of his conscience, and died in horror.In the process of listening to the servant's report, the regent's eyes were fixed on Xiangshou's face.

At night, he came to her room and sat down opposite, "Shou'er, I used to like you so much that I could pamper your cleverness, but now it seems that it was my pampering that hurt you. One of the biggest mistakes I have ever made. But you know, people are very forgetful about their own mistakes. You are so smart, you must know what I mean." He left without looking at it any more She glanced.On the second day, Xiangshou, who was too preoccupied, didn't notice the different taste of the routine anti-abortion medicine. Four hours later, she lost her nearly five-month-old male fetus. Never got another chance to conceive.

Thousands of favors disappeared overnight.The second concubine Zhan, who was in charge of the mansion, ordered Xiangshou to "retreat and hide from the world". Xiangshou fell from the clouds to Yongxiang, and began to live in seclusion.In her courtyard where the flowers were fragrant, the birds were singing, and people were talking, the fallen leaves were piled several feet thick. When winter came, the flowers withered and the trees died, and the charcoal was icy and cold.The concubines who were as close as sisters and the attentive servants covered their noses when they passed the courtyard, as if they were avoiding lepers.Xiangshou once threw the precious silver fur on the charcoal fire and burned several holes. Now, she only hopes to have a jacket with thicker cotton.She used to think that the crab cakes were too oily and the poria cocos paste was too greasy, so she swept over the silver flower plate, but now she cried all night because of hunger, and asked the maid to go to the kitchen to beg for some cold food. The maid's face was worse than the food Want to be cold, "Master is shameless, he has already brought us a lot of slack, and he still wants us to make fun of others." Yao nurse was so angry that she rushed forward and gave the maid a slap, "I can't do it , old lady, could it be that the concubine and empress starved to death while living in this golden mansion?"

Regret not at the beginning, regret not at the beginning, at the beginning it was only ordinary.

Year after year, every time Xiangshou recalled the glory of the past, Xiangshou would secretly resent Nanny Yao and himself for listening to her stupid tricks.But year after year, it was only thanks to Nanny Yao's rough skin and thick skin that she was pulled and pulled repeatedly, so that she survived the trampling of countless people.Winning or losing does not matter.Xiangshou accepted his fate and got used to living like a bedbug; when he met someone, he was always slapped twice, and if he couldn't meet him, he hid in his own corner, or like today, he hid in the highest mountain pavilion and watched the rain obsessively. While mourning, squandering youth.

She sighed deeply, and wrapped her body in a half-faded tea-green gold bijia to resist the slight cold in the rain.Nanny Yao, who was standing behind her, still had the same fierce look, with a black headband of mane and hemp-mounted silk on her forehead. She patted here and touched there in a very boring way, and coughed with her mouth shut: "Your Majesty, it's raining, what are you waiting for in the garden? Go back to the house."

Xiangshou turned his face away, his brows were beautiful and his eyes were slightly sad, like a white pear flower in the rain, "It's only raining to come out for a walk, or if I bump into someone, I will cause another riot."

"Then don't sit in this pavilion. The prince is out hunting in Beijing, and the mansion is being painted and refurbished everywhere. If you look at it like this, the roof of the hall is covered by wooden frames. What's so interesting?"

"I just want to look at it from a high place, nurse, leave me alone."

"Oh, ma'am, you stay here for half a day, what if you catch cold? You forgot that the last few times when you were sick, you needed medicine and no medicine, and no one was there. Isn't it all because I begged grandpa to sue grandma? Madam, you Just be considerate and considerate of my old lady."

Hearing this, Xiangshou's face became more worried, but he stood up sadly, and was about to move, but suddenly stopped.The Yuhu Pavilion is the highest place in the entire Prince Regent's Mansion, with a panoramic view of the surrounding scenery.Looking to the east, there are sheds on the double eaves, nine ridges and glazed tile roofs of the halls. Due to the rain, there are no craftsmen, and only stone and wood are left empty.At this time, three figures appeared out of nowhere, all dressed in coir raincoats, one looked like a foreman, watching the two workers in front carrying a large box, and they went together to the bedroom behind the ancestral temple in the mansion.After a while, the two workers folded out with nothing in their hands, and seemed to obey the foreman's order again, stooping and turning over something in the trailer.The foreman took two steps back, held a shovel in his hand and swung it high.In just a moment, the two workers fell to the ground one after another.After the foreman breathed out his breath, he dragged his feet and arranged the corpses. He let go of his voice and shouted, "Come on, you fell to your death! A craftsman slipped down from the high shelf and fell to his death!"

From afar, Xiangshou and Nanny Yao overlooked the whole process.Nurse Yao opened her mouth and was about to yell, but was caught by Xiangshou. Xiangshou's other hand was firmly on her mouth. She didn't understand why, but she understood that she needed to take human life to cover it up. Yes, it must be a deadly secret.

Not long after, people came in twos and threes, asking about the situation and examining the corpse.Taking advantage of the chaos, Xiangshou dragged Nanny Yao out of the Yuhu Pavilion, and stepped on the mossy rocks going down the mountain in panic, slipping every step.

Waiting for Xiang to return to the courtyard, it was already dark, almost two hours earlier than the usual lighting time.Nanny Yao pushed and scolded a little girl, and the girl listlessly lit up a small silver ingot windshield lamp on the table.Xiangshou sat at the table and stared at the lamp for a moment, then grabbed it in his hand and blew, "Nurse, something is wrong, we have to take a look."

(End of this chapter)