When Fan Gongzheng heard the urgent message from his subordinates, he had already removed his makeup, taken a shower, changed into pajamas, and lay on the bed. He took out a half-read copy of "Fan Deji's Poems" and, as usual, read a few pages of poetry before going to bed.
Fan Z, courtesy name Deji, was born in Qingjiang, Jiangxi Province. He was one of the four great poets of the Yuan Dynasty, a famous writer, poet, filial son, and politician. He was good at writing poems and had good political achievements. He was also known for his integrity.
He is simply a perfect person.
And Fan Gongzheng is Fan Z's granddaughter, her biological granddaughter.
Therefore, Fan Gongzheng was born into a noble family and was a real lady from a famous family. Compared with her, the new nobles and even the royal family of the Ming Dynasty were just nouveau riche.
Because of his background and talent, Fan Gongzheng was able to secure his position as Gongzhengsi.
As the Palace Administrator, she is in charge of the punishments in the harem and the Forbidden City. The greater the power, the greater the responsibility. Palace Administrator Fan is busy almost every day. Her grandfather's poems can calm her mind and help her fall asleep.
Tonight I was reading a poem called "Grave Digging Song" from my grandfather's collection of poems:
"Yesterday the old tomb was dug, today the new one was built. Two statues are standing in front of the tomb, bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new. The old soul has not yet left, the new soul has entered, and the old soul is still crying to the new soul. The old soul is telling the new soul earnestly that a good land does not need many descendants. If the descendants are endless, the great-grandson will not dig, but the great-great-grandson will. I am digging now, which is really sad. I wonder when you will dig?"
It means that people all take a fancy to the Feng Shui treasure land, dig up old graves to build new cemeteries, and the old ghosts cry to the new ghosts that have just been buried. Everyone says that the Feng Shui treasure land is good and will bless their descendants. However, so many descendants want to be buried in this Feng Shui treasure land that the blood relationship gradually fades. Even if the great-grandson does not come to dig this cemetery, the great-great-grandson will come to dig up the ancestor's grave and build a good tomb for himself.
So what is the point of continuing your bloodline? In the future, if your great-grandson doesn’t dig your grave, your great-great-grandson will. Your descendants will be your gravediggers!
It's so sad that my grave is being dug today, but have you ever thought about who will dig your grave tomorrow
Almost every time I read this poem, Fan Gongzheng has a new experience. This poem subverts the traditional view of filial sons and virtuous grandsons, blood inheritance, and monarch-minister-minister, father-father, and son-son. To put it in a higher context, it can also be understood as the replacement of dynasties in power or history. The old dynasty falls and the new dynasty is established. Power will not change, but the people who hold power are always changing...
Just as he was thinking, the bedroom door rang, and the little palace maid said through the door: "Fan Gongzheng, Zang Da... a fight has started!"
Fan Gongzheng frowned and calmly put the old poetry collection on the bedside table, "Got it, come in and help me change my clothes."
The little palace maids came in one after another, some holding hot water, some holding rouge, some combing hair, and some holding official robes, without any disorder.
Fan Gongzheng stood motionless in front of a dressing mirror that was as tall as a person, with her eyes slightly closed and her arms stretched out, allowing the palace maids to help her put on her official robes, tie her hair up, put on a black gauze hat with a flower pin, and even put on very light makeup, drew her eyebrows, and applied lip balm.
In addition, a steady female official recounted the story of how Concubine Hu went to Zanglajiang tonight and went to the Yanxi Palace to visit the Tibetan books and borrow books. The eunuch in charge refused to sign the book list, and Hu Shanwei stepped forward to stop her.
Fan Gongzheng was like a blooming flower, and the young palace maids were like a group of hardworking little bees, flying around her. She had a calm face, as if she had been pampered since childhood, with fine clothes and delicious food, and was used to being served by a group of people.
"Okay, Fan Gongzheng." said the little palace maid.
Fan Gongzheng opened her eyes. Through the description of the female official, she roughly understood what had happened. Concubine Hu was of prominent family. She was the daughter of a marquis. Her father, Hu Mei, the Marquis of Linchuan, was a founding general. She gave birth to a prince and was very beautiful, so she was made a concubine. In the harem, besides Empress Ma, there was only Concubine Hu.
Concubine Hu loves to be the best in everything and always wants the best. She doesn't care about anyone except Empress Ma. She is used to bullying others and is becoming more and more domineering. Now Empress Ma can't tolerate it anymore and wants to use a letter to suppress Concubine Hu. How can Concubine Hu bear this
She had to find some excuse to make some noise to show off her power.
While Fan Gongzheng was thinking about countermeasures, he looked at himself in the mirror and confirmed that there was nothing wrong with his clothes. Then he said, "Let's go."
When the harem travels, the queen uses an An carriage, the imperial concubine has a Fengjiao, the imperial concubine has a Jianc, and the rest of the people can only rely on their two legs.
Hidden in the center of the garden lake, the garden is deep and secluded, with many winding stone paths. Palace maids are holding lanterns and incense boxes to drive away mosquitoes, surrounding Fan Gongzheng in the middle.
Suddenly, in a bamboo forest, the palace maid who was leading the way with a lantern in front screamed, backed away frequently, and almost knocked down the palace maid who was carrying the perfume box.
Several strong palace servants hurriedly protected Fan Gongzheng in the middle, "What's the matter?"
"Toads! So many toads!" The palace maid was so scared that her voice trembled.
Fan Gongzheng stood on tiptoe to take a look, and the scene in front of him almost made him vomit his dinner!
But I saw a huge bamboo fallen on the bamboo path ahead, and many fat white bamboo worms crawled out of the bamboo tube, which looked like the maggots wriggling in the toilet. These bamboo worms attracted a large number of toads and frogs in the garden, and they jumped here to eat this rare delicacy!
Bamboo worms are parasites in bamboo tubes. They are edible. Just wash them and there is no need to coat them with flour or egg batter. Just fry them in a frying pan until crispy. Sprinkle them with pepper and salt after removing them from the pan. The taste is like countless fairies dancing on the tip of your tongue!
But it is another matter to see a slimy toad sticking out its long tongue at night, rolling up a wriggling bamboo worm like a tape measure and swallowing it alive.
What's more, the number of toads ahead is enough to exceed a hundred, and this does not include the places where the lanterns cannot reach, there may be even more!
Everyone's scalps were tingling as they watched. At this time, other toads kept coming over, smelling the scent and jumping around to join in the carnival.
A toad jumped onto the instep of the palace maid, and she screamed in fear and became a mess.
There are toads blocking the road ahead and we can't pass.
Fan Gongzheng said decisively: "Retreat, take another route."
In order to save time, Fan Gongzheng deliberately took the shortcut through the bamboo forest. Now he can only take the main road instead. The roadside of the main road is clean and there are corner lights on both sides, but it is quite far away.
At the same time, the confrontation had become intense. Hu Shanwei hugged the door sill, claiming that whoever wanted to take the books would have to step over her body. Under the orders of the eunuch in charge, the palace servants of the Yanx Palace rushed forward and started another round of pulling and forcing.
Hu Shanwei's black official hat was squeezed off and stepped on, and even the white jade hairpin in his hair fell off, leaving his hair disheveled for a moment.
Just as his fingers were about to be forced open again, Hu Shanwei caught a glimpse of a long stick standing behind the door, which was the bolt used to lock the door.
She let go, used all her strength to push through the crowd, rushed to the door, picked up the bolt, and waved it in her hand!
Hu Shanwei stood steadily, holding a long stick with both hands, one in front and one behind, and swinging the stick vigorously.
Everyone was stunned. How could a seemingly weak female official have practiced stick fighting
Hu Shanwei actually practiced it.
She was engaged to her fiancé when she was twelve years old, completely at the behest of her parents and the matchmaker. Common people in the market did not have so many rules, and after the engagement, the two met and were very satisfied with each other, and fell in love.
Hu Shanwei had been hiding and copying books for a long time, and she was weak and cold. Her fiancé, a centurion of the Jinwu Guard, often sent her some supplements, and taught her horse riding, some fancy boxing and stick fighting, the Five Animals Exercises, etc., asking her to practice every day to strengthen her body and not always be at her desk copying books.
What Hu Shanwei learned seemed to be nothing but fancy moves with no killing power to insiders, but she persisted in practicing, and her health gradually improved. She was no longer afraid of colds as before, and the number of times she fell ill also decreased significantly.
Hu Shanwei's stick looks powerful, but in fact it is just a decoration and looks good only.
But it was enough to scare these ignorant palace servants.
They surrounded Hu Shanwei from a distance, pushing and shoving each other, and dared not move forward.
Concubine Hu became even more excited when she saw Hu Shanwei playing with the stick. It was becoming more and more interesting!
The eunuch in charge was anxious, "What's the point of keeping a bunch of you useless people? Ten people can't beat one person?"
The palace servant said, "The stick is scary, how about you try it, eunuch?"
The eunuch in charge shrank his neck like a shrimp, but he didn't want to lose face in front of the imperial concubine, so he would rather use his mouth than his fists. He shouted, "Hu Shanwei! How dare you use a weapon in front of the imperial concubine! Put it down now!"
It is true that more skills are better than less! Hu Shanwei sighed that the fancy postures she learned for fitness were not in vain, at least they were effective in bluffing people. She did a horse stance forward, half-squatted with the stick on her back, and said: "Who said this is a murder weapon? It is obviously a door bolt. Ladies who are editing books, did you see it?"
The ten female officials who edited the documents were trapped in their chairs. They could not move their hands, but they could speak. They said one after another: "It was a door bolt, not a murder weapon. We can testify."
"How can there be a murder weapon?"
"That's right. If what father-in-law said is true, then the bamboo swords we use to cut paper are also murder weapons, right?"
The eunuch in charge was speechless and pointed at Hu Shanwei, "Put it down quickly, don't hurt the imperial concubine."
Hu Shanwei said: "I am far away from the imperial concubine, not to mention that there are eunuchs and a dozen palace maids between us."
The eunuch in charge asked, "Why are you holding the bolt instead of closing the door at night?"
Hu Shanwei thought, I'm going all out today anyway, isn't it just making up a story? Whoever is more willing to go all out will win.
Hu Shanwei said: "I just saw a mouse and I was beating it."
The eunuch in charge asked, "You used the door bolt to kill the mouse?"
Hu Shanwei asked back: "What else? Should we use our hands?"
The female officials laughed.
The eunuch in charge had never seen such an arrogant low-ranking female official. If he lost to her today, the imperial concubine would be unhappy, but how could he survive in the harem in the future
The eunuch in charge made up his mind. He put down his whisk, picked up a chair, and threatened: "Will you move aside?"
Hu Shanwei said, "If you sign and seal the list, I will give way immediately."
The eunuch in charge looked gloomy and said, "If that's the case, don't blame me for being cruel."
The eunuch in charge held a chair as a shield and rushed towards Hu Shanwei.
Hu Shanwei followed the routine of the military stick. He turned on the spot from the posture of carrying the stick on his back, and pulled out the stick. The stick used the force of rotation to hit the chair with a bang. The force was not heavy, but definitely not light. It was enough to deal with the powerless eunuch in his hand.
The eunuch felt his hands go numb, and he let go, and the chair fell to the ground.
The female officials first exclaimed, and then cheered.
The eunuch was humiliated and made a desperate attempt. He pounced up like a wild dog, grabbed the stick and tried to take it back.
In terms of strength, Hu Shanwei was no match for the eunuch. Just as her stick was about to be taken away, a man suddenly came up from behind her. The man was tall and a full head taller than her.
The man stuck close behind her, his big hands wrapped around her hands holding the stick, and whispered in her ear: "Let me do it."
The voice is very familiar, it's Muchun.
Mu Chun took advantage of Hu Shanwei's hand, grasped the stick and exerted force to lift up the eunuch in charge who was holding on to the stick. Then he threw the stick backwards, and the eunuch "went back with the stick" and was thrown out of hiding!