Emperor Hongwu summoned Hu Shanwei for the first time and she was rewarded. Fan Gongzheng was happy for her. He secretly observed the expression of Cao Shanggong, who seemed to be a little stiff after being exposed to the cold wind for a long time. He thought, "What if you are unhappy?" Hu Shanwei stood up in front of the emperor, so you can't step on her as easily as you did.
In fact, Fan Gongzheng was overthinking. Cao Shanggong's sullen face was deliberately for outsiders to see. Hu Shanwei stepped forward and left her name in front of the emperor. This unstoppable momentum was unique among the palace ladies. Even she could not catch up with it back then. This girl might really fulfill the oath she made under the old plum tree and avenge Liu Siyan...
The imperial family feast on the winter solstice was attended by all the royal family members. At the table of the princes' wives, the fourth prince's wife, Princess Xu of the Prince of Yan, sat at the head of the table. The crown princess' wife, Princess Chang, had passed away. There was only one concubine, Lu, in the East Palace, so naturally she could not sit at the same table with the princes' wives. The second prince's wife, Princess Qin, had already become a nun and became a pure immortal master. The third prince's wife had already followed the Prince of Jin to Taiyuan to be enfeoffed.
Therefore, at the end of the year when there are many festivals and various sacrificial occasions, the fourth-ranked Princess Yan always takes on the role of the eldest daughter-in-law. Princess Yan is in good health and is still able to walk like the wind even though she is pregnant with her fourth child.
Seeing Princess Yan with a big belly at the banquet, Hu Shanwei realized that when he took her on horseback to the suburbs to catch gamblers and teach his brother Xu Zengshou to quit gambling that day, Princess Yan was actually pregnant!
What a strong woman this is!
Hu Shanwei still remembers that when his stepmother Chen was pregnant, she was like a hen incubating eggs. She rarely moved from her nest and was very timid. If something fell on the ground, she would not bend down or squat to pick it up, and would ask Hu Shanwei to do it all for her.
At the most pretentious moment, Chen was using the toilet to relieve herself and said that her fingers could not reach her buttocks, so she asked Hu Shanwei to wipe her with toilet paper.
Hu Shanwei was furious at the time, and went out to throw the toilet paper to his father, asking his father to fulfill his responsibilities as a husband.
However, when the Princess of Yan was pregnant, she dared to ride a horse across the fields, and even tied up her younger brother and dragged him behind the horse's butt.
The gap between women is so huge. Hu Shanwei was very impressed and wanted to ask Princess Yan what health-preserving methods she had. However, she was a court lady and it was inconvenient for her to make friends with the princess who lived outside the palace. She just looked down at Princess Yan's big belly and hurriedly left the royal family banquet.
Judging from her rather large belly, the Princess of Yan is expected to give birth in the twelfth month. She is only 18 years old, two years younger than me, and will be the mother of four children, one per year.
Just as I was thinking, a boy's clear voice sounded from behind me, "Hu Dianzheng."
Hu Shanwei turned around and saw a little eunuch holding a lantern under the plum tree. It turned out to be Ma Sanbao, the eunuch who served Immortal Master Qingjing.
Hu Shanwei hurried over and asked, "Does Immortal Qingjing want to see me for something?"
Ma Sanbao nodded, hung the lantern on the plum branch, and handed her a book with both hands. It was the collection of poems "Du'an Collection" by Zen Master Daoyan.
Hu Shanwei was a little confused, so Ma Sanbao opened the title page, which had a few words on it: "The highest good is like water. Water benefits all things without contending, and stays where people hate, so it is close to the Tao."
This is the content of Lao Tzu's "Tao Te Ching", which says that good character is like water, which nourishes all things and accommodates all things, and does not compete with others for fame or fortune.
At the end, there is a signature: "Daoyan."
"This..." Hu Shanwei suddenly realized what this was, holding the book in disbelief: "Is this the autograph of Zen Master Daoyan?"
Seeing her happy, Ma Sanbao smiled innocently, "Yes, I heard that Hu Dian is worshipping Zen Master Daoyan and is familiar with Du'an Collection. It happened that Zen Master Daoyan went to explain Buddhist scriptures to Immortal Master Qingjing. I dared to ask the Immortal Master to ask for the writing brush from Zen Master Daoyan. The Zen Master asked who he was giving it to. He would not give his writing brush to anyone casually."
"I told the Zen Master about Hu Dianzheng's battle of wits and courage with the bad guys in Qin/Wangfu in Xi'an. The Zen Master was very impressed. When he learned that your name was Hu Shanwei, he said it was a good name and wrote down the words 'The highest virtue is like water' and gave it to Hu Dianzheng."
Hu Shanwei was overjoyed. He hugged the collection of poems signed by Zen Master Daoyan tightly, as if he was afraid that someone would snatch it away. He said excitedly, "When Suzhou was massacred, my father carried me on his back and fled to the Reclining Buddha Temple. We were knocked down by the crowd and fell out of the basket. It was Zen Master Daoyan who helped me up. From then on, I worshipped the Zen master. The Zen master is an enlightened monk. I never imagined that I would receive a calligraphy work from the Zen master. Thank you and the immortal master for getting me a gift that I never dreamed of."
Ma Sanbao was surprised and said, "I didn't expect that you and the Zen master had such a causal connection. It seems that we made the right gift."
Hu Shanwei was overjoyed. This was more precious than any reward from the Hongwu Emperor. He asked Ma Sanbao, "Master, are you doing well these days? How are you feeling? I am working in the harem and cannot leave the palace without a valid reason. I want to visit you, but I cannot."
Ma Sanbao said: "The Immortal Master is recovering and can drink some milk in the near future. The Immortal Master recites scriptures day and night, and has great monks like Daoyan answering his questions and solving his doubts, which has calmed him down a lot. The Immortal Master also often teaches me not to harbor resentment towards the world because of past sufferings. Resentment will destroy a person's character. We should be kind. Good deeds will bring good results, and evil deeds will bring bad results."
Ma Sanbao was a castrated boy captured by the King of Qin during his conquest of the Western Regions. He was smart and handsome, but unfortunately his future was ruined. Now the Hongwu Emperor was afraid of eunuchs, and the eunuchs in the palace wanted to behave themselves. Ma Sanbao became a little eunuch beside the Immortal Master Qingjing, and in fact, he felt more comfortable than being in the palace.
Moreover, the Hongwu Emperor prohibited eunuchs from reading and learning to read, and those found guilty would be beheaded. It was a good thing that Ma Sanbao had the opportunity to receive instruction from a great monk like Daoyan outside the palace.
As the saying goes, cause and effect goes round and round. Hu Shanwei believed that she was just on an official errand and had done what she was supposed to do. However, to Immortal Qingjing and Ma Sanbao, she was the savior who helped them escape from the devil's den.
Just like Zen Master Daoyan who stepped forward to protect the fleeing people in the temple during the massacre in Suzhou, for him, it was just out of compassion and sympathy as a practitioner, as natural as breathing, but Hu Shanwei survived because of it.
The highest good is like water. We should maintain good thoughts. No one knows when the seeds of good will blossom and bear fruit. The same is true for evil. There are consequences, but the time has not come yet.
Under the old plum tree, Hu Shanwei thought of the oath she made in front of Lady Cao. To be honest, she had no confidence at all. But today she unexpectedly received the calligraphy from Zen Master Daoyan. In the future, with all the good deeds accumulated together, the seemingly impossible goal might still have a chance to be achieved.
On the day after the winter solstice, people from the palace's "Combing Room" went to Changchun Palace in the West Six Palaces to shave the head of the little princess who had just learned to sit.
According to the custom of the Ming Dynasty, children, both boys and girls, had to shave their heads before the age of eight, "not leaving a single hair, like a Buddhist child". After the age of eight, the hair on the top of the head would be left, and the sides would still be shaved. That is, the "center" would have hair left, while the rest would have "not a single hair left".
When they reach their teens and become young boys and girls, they no longer shave their heads. The long hair in the middle is combed into a bun, and the scalp on the sides cannot be combed into a bun because they have just started to grow hair, so it hangs down naturally, which is called "loose hair" in short form. It is a sign of unmarried men and women.
Once married, both men and women must wear their hair in a bun or a net scarf, not messy at all, to show solemnity. The Ming imperial family and the common people also followed this rule of shaving their heads and keeping their hair.
The "Combing Room" is affiliated to the Etiquette Room, which is commonly known as the Wet/Wan House. It has about ten steady old eunuchs and old palace maids, who are specifically responsible for shaving the heads of princes and princesses.
Shaving one's head doesn't sound nice, it was called "please send hair" in the palace. Children's hair grows fast, so the people in the hair combing room would come back to "please send hair" about every twenty days.
In the past, the little princess was very sleepy, so the comber would start shaving her head immediately after her wet nurse had put her to sleep, shaving her head cleanly and neatly.
But the little princess is now six months old and sleeps less and less during the day, so the comb room waits until noon for her nap and then goes to Changchun Palace.
Every time a request was made, Concubine Li Xian of Changchun Palace would look after him personally, for fear that something might go wrong and she would be held responsible for failing to take good care of him.
Emperor Hongwu attached great importance to his offspring. Because Concubine Li adopted a little princess, the emperor often came to visit. As she was close to the water tower, Concubine Li was exposed to more "rain and dew". She was over 30 years old and was pregnant! Now it has been only three months, and her belly is not even showing.
"She's already asleep, hurry up." Li Xianfei ordered, rubbing her temples tiredly and yawning. Xianfei was pregnant at an advanced age, and her pregnancy was not very good. She had frequent nausea and vomiting, and pregnancy spots began to appear on her face, making her look a little old.
At the Winter Solstice Banquet yesterday, Concubine Li saw that the Princess of Yan, who was already pregnant with her fourth child, was still eating, drinking, listening to operas and laughing, and was full of energy despite her big belly. She couldn't help but sigh that being young is a good thing. This child really doesn't know how to choose the time. Why didn't he come into her belly earlier
The room was covered with thick carpets, which made no sound when boots stepped on them. The people in the combing room were busy but not chaotic. They first moistened the broken hair that was as soft as grass with a warm wet towel, and then two old palace servants began to shave my head with sharp scrapers.
Starting from the forehead, scrape all the way down. The wet hair falls into the basin. All of them should be stored in a brocade bag.
The scraper felt numb on her head, and the half-year-old princess became more and more alert in her sleep. It was better at night, but during the day she would wake up easily at the slightest movement.
The little princess opened her eyes and saw two strangers. She was a little scared, and as she was a baby in a bad mood, she immediately punched and kicked in her nanny's arms, twisting her little body like a pretzel and crying loudly.
The old palace servant hurriedly put away the scraper and dared not continue.
A sour gas rushed to her throat, but she couldn't vomit it out. She dry-heaved twice and felt that the baby's crying was extremely noisy.
The wet nurse couldn't coax the baby with her nipple, so she had to say to the man in the combing room:
"Please come back tonight after the little princess falls asleep to shave the rest of her hair."
The old palace servant said, "It's not a big deal. All children are like this. Let's have dinner and then come to Changchun Palace."
Concubine Li frowned and held a sour plum in her mouth. Seeing the little princess' half-shaved "yin-yang head", she was very dissatisfied, "This is too ugly and indecent."
The grandmother quickly put a tiger-head hat on the little princess and said, "Just cover it up. It's snowing hard outside anyway, so there's no need to carry her out for others to see."
Concubine Li Xian's face turned cold, "Who is the master in Changchun Palace?"
The grandmother didn't dare to speak.
Concubine Li Xianfei said, "If she wakes up crying after getting her hair cut at night, how long will it take to comfort her? Let's shave her hair while it's still wet."
The man in the combing room said, "The razor is very sharp. The little princess has been crying and struggling. We are afraid that we might hurt her."
Concubine Li Xian said, "Then hold her down. How strong can a child of only six months old be? Even an adult can't hold her down."
The people in the combing room hurriedly said, "Princess, we dare not touch you."
It is better to do nothing than to make mistakes. This is the way of survival for the lower-level palace people. If something goes wrong, who will take the responsibility? The people in the combing room would rather run a few more times, and it is better to break a leg than to break a head.
The people in the hair-cutting room quickly packed up their tools and left, fearing that Concubine Li would force them to shave the little princess's head.
At night, when the hairdressers came back, they found that the other half of the little princess' hair had been shaved off. The nanny gave them the silk bag containing the hair and said, "After you left, the little princess cried herself to sleep, so we took the opportunity to shave the rest of her hair."
Everything went smoothly and the people in the combing shop took the hair away.
But that night, the little princess had repeated convulsions, woke up crying in her sleep, cried until she vomited, and at midnight she had a high fever and was shaking with convulsions.
Ru Siyao from the Imperial Food Bureau took care of the little princess herself. After acupuncture and massage, the little princess gradually calmed down. Ru Siyao checked the little princess's vomit, feces, urine, and even the food the wet nurse had used recently, and found no obvious abnormalities. So she asked the wet nurse: "Has the little princess been frightened or stimulated during the day?"
The grandmother's eyes flickered: "Because it was cold and the road was slippery, I didn't carry him out, so he didn't get scared."
Ru Siyao picked up a silver needle, "Really?"
The nanny said quickly, "The hairdresser came to the little princess today to ask for her hair cut. Maybe she got frightened when she was having her hair cut?"
Ru Siyao called the people from the combing room to come and ask, but they said that the beating stopped after the little princess woke up and did not scare the little princess.
The wet nurse and the people in the combing room blamed each other. Ru Siyao had been in the palace for ten years, so how could she not know that there was something fishy going on? She said, "I only treat illnesses. If you have any disputes, go to the Palace Administration Office to appeal for justice."
So, Hu Shanwei, the seventh-rank official of the Palace Administration Department, was woken up in the middle of the night and went to Changchun Palace to solve the case.
The author has something to say: There is a Hu Qingtian in the palace, who is impartial and just in distinguishing between loyalty and treachery~
100 red envelopes tonight.
Congratulations to reader Ying for winning a 100-point red envelope, which is the high school textbook Tengwang Pavilion Preface, and requires reciting the entire text~
№11 Netizen: Ying Comment: "Hu Shanwei" Score: 0 Published time: 2018-12-16 22:22:59 Reviewed chapter: 55