That night, the night lights were as dim as beans.
Yun Xiu tied her long hair up loosely and casually put on a warm coat. She picked up a thick stack of papers beside her and took a look at it. The corners of her mouth twitched and she was speechless for a while, as if she was meeting her son for the first time.
The desk was spread out with letter paper. She took up the pen, dipped it in ink, and slowly wrote the first stroke. The two characters "臣妾" appeared on the paper.
Just when he was about to continue writing, he suddenly stopped, and the last stroke was extremely long. Yun Xiu finally put down the pen, leaned back gently, and stared at the candlelight not far away in a daze.
The Emperor has been away on the expedition for a month.
There was no shortage of reply letters from outside the Great Wall. Every time they were delivered to the harem by the crown prince, her writing went from smooth to halting, even with the words carefully provided by Yinzhen.
Yunxiu was not good at embroidery or letter writing. She was never a talented woman. She was good at riding and shooting when she was young, but after so many years in the palace, she had almost forgotten all her skills and accuracy.
She was afraid that her writing would be dry and boring, so she racked her brains to weave words, but she could not show any emotion at all. The emperor would be able to see through her fakeness at a glance, and her years of planning would go to waste.
So she told Yinzhen: "Mother needs the letter to show a natural and sincere heart." After thinking for a moment, she added: "Sweet words are also fine."
Xiaojiu was bewildered upon hearing this and could only mutter, "Son, don't you know? Mother is already deeply involved in this, why does she need me to write about it?" His tone was sour.
At that time she just laughed it off, thinking that she had even kept it a secret from Xiaojiu.
The emperor's favor could not last forever, only power and status were eternal and unchanging. She was not obsessed with any power, but was only eyeing the position of Imperial Concubine Dowager, hoping to survive the harem struggles and die of old age.
…
This was the third time she wrote a letter, and Yunxiu's wrists were shaking. Perhaps it was because it was late at night and the grass was sprouting like spring thunder, and the violent storm could not suppress the hidden vitality, and a rare look of melancholy appeared in her eyes.
sincere.
After wearing the mask for so many years, she has long lost her sense of reality and falsehood.
A few days ago, she thought about packing the emperor's luggage. This thought lasted only a short moment and was quickly rejected. She couldn't figure out whether it was intentional to avoid him.
… Who knew that the emperor still took away a lot of good things.
After being absent-minded for a moment, she called out, "Ruizhu, get an unused wooden box with a larger capacity."
Ruizhu responded softly, and after a moment she brought a jewelry box. She saw the empress fold the stack of letter papers in front of her and put them neatly into the box.
Yunxiu closed the box, and her face was slightly smiling under the candlelight: "I will keep it well for Yinzhen, and give it all to his wife in the future."
After saying this, he put the wooden box aside, crumpled up the piece of letter paper he had just written on, and replaced it with a brand new one.
Yunxiu did not mention the obvious longing in the first two letters.
After paying a little attention to the dragon's body, she paused with her eyes half-closed, her brows calm, and she wrote without stopping:
"It rained in the capital... I got up late today. I ate a lot of breakfast as usual. I leaned on the couch and asked someone to read a storybook to me. The storybook was really nothing new."
"Court Judge Chen checked the patient's pulse and said, 'Everything is fine. When it's not slippery outside, you should go out for a walk to relax.' Fulu is not here. Yinqi doesn't say it on the surface, but I know he still thinks about it. Even though he won the first place in the horse riding and archery class, he didn't feel proud and complacent."
"The prince is very busy. Jingchu often comes to talk to me. The first wife and the sisters-in-law get along very well. Little Eleven is acting like a spoiled child to me, saying that I don't want any chili peppers in the food anymore, not even green peppers. Her mouth is pouting so much that you can hang a bottle of oil on it."
"Xiaojiu's writing skills have made great progress..."
Having written this, Yun Xiu added with a smile: "Your Majesty, why don't you come back and check? He has memorized all those love poems. If he has such enthusiasm when doing homework, what can't he accomplish?"
******
Flags fluttered, the west wind howled outside the Great Wall, and blew up clouds of dust. In the camp where the soldiers were stationed, the military tents connected one by one surrounded the central imperial tent, like a group of stars surrounding the moon.
Kangxi put down the letter, pinched his nose, and a hint of tenderness flashed across his face. The smile in his eyes lasted only a moment, then disappeared without a trace, and deep wrinkles appeared between his eyebrows again.
Recently, he didn't know what was wrong, but his appetite was not as good as before. He asked the imperial physician to feel his pulse but he could not find anything. Occasionally, he would feel a flash of soreness in his limbs, but he thought it was an illusion and did not take it seriously.
"How is the wound on Yinzhi's face?" After carefully putting away the letter, Kangxi recalled the bloody scene just now. He frowned and looked at Liang Jiugong who was waiting beside him. "What did the imperial physician say? Will it leave a scar?"
Liang Jiugong sighed secretly and answered carefully: "Your Majesty, the arrow wound of the Third Prince is not deep, and it can be healed after a period of rest, but it is a close scratch after all. The imperial physician said that the area around the eye is fragile, and it may leave, leave..."
He placed his thumb and index finger at the corner of his right eye, measuring a peanut-sized distance, and said with an apologetic smile, "It left such a long, thin scar."
After saying that, he glanced at the emperor's face. Although the scar was small, it was still there.
"…" Kangxi's heart suddenly calmed down, and he kicked him, "You little slave, are you trying to scare me? Can this scar prevent him from getting married?"
Liang Jiugong quickly cried out, "I dare not, I dare not."
It's just that I'm afraid that His Majesty will be upset and vent his anger on others. The Third Prince is not the crown prince, so it doesn't matter if he has a scar. But after all, hurting the Crown Prince is hurting the face of the Emperor and the Qing Dynasty. The traitor is so bold!
Seeing that the wrinkles between the emperor's brows had finally loosened a lot, Liang Jiugong felt relieved.
But thinking of the chaotic scene after the Third Prince was injured, he was still frightened. He swallowed and said, "I just went to deliver medicine, but I didn't expect that the Third Prince was still holding on to Master Fulu..." as if he was holding on to a life-saving straw.
It's enough to make people angry.
The Third Prince is fourteen years old and Master Fulu is twelve years old. The Emperor was reluctant to let them charge into the battle and risk their lives, so he transferred them to the command of Prince Jian on the right wing. They were mainly stationed there and would rarely encounter the enemy.
But it just so happened that when they were setting up camp by the river, they passed by a safe area, which was the place that the vanguard had explored in the morning. Who knew that there was an ambush there, and they saw the unusual armor of the Third Prince and the tightly surrounded entourage, shouting to capture the prince of the Qing Dynasty alive, and they turned back and killed them by surprise!
Swords, spears, swords and halberds were all aimed at the Third Prince. Arrows flew one after another. The attendant was unable to react and immediately fell off his horse. Fortunately, Master Fulu risked his life to save him, otherwise...
Liang Jiugong didn't dare to think about it any further.
He sighed again in his heart. This time Master Fulu had done a great deed. His natural strength was indeed brave. Master Fulu's arms and legs were slightly injured, but he was still energetic and did not show any pain.
Just now, he was ordered by the Emperor to deliver medicine for the wound. Young Master Fulu was guarding the Third Prince's bed. He smiled and said, "This was prepared by Auntie, right? It's my Guo Luoluo family's secret recipe passed down from generation to generation."
The young man's eyes were shining, his words were full of joy, and he was likable no matter how you looked at him.
Liang Jiugong described in detail what he had seen and heard, and Kangxi's face was visibly moved as he listened.
"Good boy." He said in a deep voice, "Yinzhi can never thank him enough."
If it weren't for Fulu, the Third Prince would have almost died. Thinking of this, Kangxi felt terrified, his eyes filled with anger, he slammed his palm on the table, and said angrily: "I will not stop until the Dzungar Khanate is destroyed!"
"Pass the order down..." Perhaps because he was too angry, Kangxi staggered as he spoke. Suddenly, his hands and feet became weak and waves of pain came over his head.
The pain was so sharp that he lost the strength to stand, and he fell straight back.
Liang Jiugong was listening with his head bent. When he heard the noise, he looked up and was shocked: "Your Highness? Your Highness?!"
Prince Yu and the eldest prince were fighting on the front line. Upon hearing the news, they anxiously instructed their generals and then rushed to the central army camp at full speed.
The imperial tent was deathly silent, and everyone was as if they were facing a great enemy. Kangxi slowly woke up and saw the accompanying doctor An sitting in front of the couch, carefully examining his pulse, his brows relaxed and then frowned, and the servants held their breath when they saw this.
"I... what's wrong with me?" The headache suddenly disappeared, but his limbs felt weak and cold. Kangxi closed his eyes and asked in a hoarse voice, "Is it a cold or heat disease?"
The pulse feeling taken by Doctor An was exactly the same as the symptoms of cold and heat. But he was not sure. After all, it was still a short time and nothing could be seen. If there were any changes, he could not be sure.
Just as Doctor An was about to speak, Doctor Yang, who was kneeling behind him, bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I took his pulse earlier and it was indeed a case of cold and heat."
Doctor Yang is much younger than Doctor An, but their medical skills are comparable. Seeing that Doctor An was just stunned for a moment and did not refute, everyone was convinced.
The eldest prince's tone was the most urgent: "In this case, please trouble the two imperial doctors to prepare medicine for the emperor. The emperor's health cannot be delayed!"
"Yes, yes."
The imperial tent suddenly became busy. After Kangxi took the bitter medicine, sweat broke out on his forehead and he fell into a deep sleep. Doctor Yang breathed a sigh of relief and whispered to Liang Jiugong, who looked worried, "The emperor will get better tomorrow, so don't worry, eunuch."
Unexpectedly, that night, the emperor's symptoms suddenly worsened.
His forehead was burning, his hands and feet were cold, and he even vomited blood!
Doctor Yang, who had been waiting by his side all night, looked pale, his mind was blank, with only two blood-red characters remaining:
Finished.