The streets of the imperial capital no longer looked prosperous. The war had turned the whole place into a hell.
Millions of refugees from the West,
More and more refugees are coming,
displaced refugees,
Hungry and homeless refugees.
Heavy snow.
When you walk across the bridge, you can see the bones of freshly frozen corpses under the bridge.
Noon.
There is no more noise from vendors and vendors, only silence and low wailing.
Xia Xiaosu opened the palace granary and put on ordinary palace maid clothes. When pushing the porridge cart through the street, she raised her arms, wiped her eyes, and then sighed softly.
Wait until the porridge truck settles down.
Many refugees came in droves.
The guards rushed to maintain order, shouting "line up, line up, there's something for everyone".
The people who had been tortured by the war lined up listlessly.
"Girl, can you scoop me an extra bowl? I have a five-year-old girl at home, who is my granddaughter. Her parents are both dead, and she is also seriously ill..."
"Yeah." Xia Xiaosu didn't say much and directly served two bowls of porridge to an old woman in front of her.
"Thank you girl..."
After the old woman left, another man came forward in line. The man took out a bowl and said pitifully: "Girl, I was full from the river soil I ate yesterday. I am almost dying now. Can you please give me more?" ?"
"Yeah!" Xia Xiaosu filled another large bowl and handed it to him.
After the man left, there was another woman in rags holding the hands of two children and looking up at her pitifully.
Looking at their expressions, Xia Xiaosu felt uncomfortable in her heart, and her nose couldn't help but feel sore, but she didn't cry after all. Instead, she served them porridge, and then squeezed out a gentle smile: "Every day, Come back tomorrow… come back tomorrow.”
"Thank you girl."
Xia Xiaosu's eyes suddenly turned red as she looked at the long gray line. Seeing her like this, another palace maid hurriedly came over to replace her, and then whispered: "Princess, you go and have a rest first."
Xia Xiaosu shook her head. She insisted on spreading rice porridge to the people with the spoon. When she saw that there was not enough rice porridge, she did not say, "There is only so much porridge for today. Come back tomorrow." Instead, she comforted the refugees. Let the palace maid go back and cook porridge.
Hungry with no food to eat, no one to treat illnesses, homeless people with no place to live, sudden death on the streets with no one to care about...
The princess turned around and couldn't help but raise her sleeves and wipe her tears again.
…
That night.
In the palace.
The brother and sister sat opposite each other at the long table, with only simple rice porridge placed on the table.
Xia Ji asked: "Why did you cry during the day?"
Xia Xiaosu: "I pity them..."
She put down her chopsticks, only in front of her brother would she show her emotions unscrupulously, her eyes turned red, she covered her face with her hands, and said softly: "The war destroyed everything for them, their relatives were separated, and they were separated by life and death.
When I walk on the streets of the imperial capital, I can see many corpses and withered bones, and I can hear many people choking in pain. Even the sound of the wind sounds like countless resentful spirits crying...
I pity them. I feel that they obviously did not make any mistakes. They are obviously working hard and diligently in their hometowns. Why... why should they be treated like this? "
Xia Ji said: "This is fate."
"Life… "
The princess was stunned for a long time while holding her chopsticks. She wanted to say something, but in the end she sighed deeply and lowered her head.
If it weren't for her brother, she would have been taken to the south, waiting to be married to the Turks in the spring.
If it weren't for her brother, she would have pulled out the dagger at the top of the city and stabbed it into the heart.
This is life.
She was not qualified to ask why.
Because she was also ordered to suppress it.
Therefore, Xia Xiaosu sighed heavily, but when she looked up, she saw her brother smiling. Xia Ji touched her head and told her, "Good will be rewarded with good, and evil will be rewarded with evil. If you are so kind, you will definitely have a good life." of."
Xia Xiaosu said dejectedly: "Really?"
Xia Ji smiled and said, "Otherwise, how could you meet my brother?"
Xia Xiaosu burst into tears and smiled. She nodded heavily: "Well, the crown prince, the third prince, and the fifth prince combined are not as good as a hair of yours."
Xia Ji hurriedly waved his hand, "No."
Xia Xiaosu was very self-aware and pouted and said: "You are saying that my milk is poisonous again. Where did I poison it?"
Xia Ji: "Hurry up and praise the third prince. Look at the third prince and Concubine Wan. Their mother is kind and her son is filial..."
Xia Xiaosu looked at him with empty eyes, "To be honest, I really think that the third prince is personable, talks and laughs like a great scholar, has no white men in his dealings, is good at dancing, and is appreciated by many great scholars, and Concubine Wan is also very aura, Better than the queen."
Xia Ji looked sincere and said seriously: "Thank you."
…
…
Xia Ji opened the wooden box, took out the wooden beads, and continued to carve them into rosary beads that contained spiritual power.
This is Huaqing Lake. The night wind is cold, the lake is dark, and in the ice and snow, no distracting thoughts can enter his heart.
He concentrated on his fingers and carved golden swastika beads one by one. Each one was his trump card. After carving ten more beads, he rubbed his forehead and felt a little tired.
He breathed a sigh of relief.
Slept until morning.
Then take out the remaining beads, take advantage of the good condition in the morning, finish them all in one go, and then string them into one hundred and eight karma beads.
The number one hundred and eight represents the various troubles of living beings, and troubles can give rise to all kinds of bad karma. When praying beads, your mind will be clear, and you will naturally be able to observe the instantaneous birth and death of the five aggregates, which are vain and unreal, thus emptying your mind.
Of course, the most important thing is that the more beads there are, the stronger the magic weapon will be.
After doing this, he felt a little hungry in his belly. He looked out the window and saw that the snow had stopped and the sun had risen. It was noon.
He had a simple meal, and as soon as he went out, he saw a guard hurriedly coming from a distance, half-kneeling in the tunnel: "Your Highness, many people in the street porridge shops are gathering to make trouble. Now it is getting more and more chaotic. Patrolling soldiers It can no longer be stopped.”
"Trouble? Has anything happened to the Ninth Princess?"
"No, but the situation is urgent..."
"knew."
Xia Ji summoned a hundred dead men and Eunuch Mei, and then left the palace.
The streets were very chaotic, and many refugees could be heard yelling and cursing from a distance.
"Everyone, come and see, this is Xia Xiaosu, the Ninth Emperor's daughter. There are mountains of rice in the palace. As long as you release a tiny drop, everyone will be full and no one will starve to death in the city!"
"Yes, the people in the palace eat a lot of fish and meat, but we have no fixed place to live, and we are separated from our loved ones for life and death!"
A weak voice said: "But, I think the princess has always spoken very gently... and is also very kind to us."
"She is trying to win people's hearts!"
"If the emperor is still in the capital, how can he bear to see us in such trouble?"
"Hey! Don't be deceived by petty profits. Be grateful when you get a little charity from others!"
Xia Xiaosu stood by the porridge shop, protected by the guards. She didn't explain, because she was not stupid. She knew that these people were probably instigated by others. You can reason with anyone, but you can never be convinced. For a person who is bent on causing trouble, every explanation and every pain you give will only make them feel complacent.
Therefore, she looked a little sad, but the palace maid said loudly, "That's not the case, there is not much food in the palace. This is the time for everyone to work together to overcome the difficulties"...
"Liar! How could the royal family not have much food?"
"There is plenty of fish and meat every day. As long as we release a little food, we can be saved, and no one will die... Why are you doing this to us?"
"fraud!"
"Yes, you're right! Open the warehouse to stock up on food!"
This group of people raised their arms and waved, and many refugees who did not know the truth were also led to boo, and even stones were thrown from the crowd.
"Princess, be careful!"
A palace maid hurriedly stopped him.
But more and more stones and mud balls were thrown forward, and the remaining porridge pots were snatched away by the crowd. The stones were thrown far away, and the angry curses continued.
Xia Ji stood under the eaves and watched quietly, a stern look flashed in his eyes.
On the side, Eunuch Mei said softly: "Your Highness, it is not appropriate to kill at this time. Just drive away the few leaders. Now the people are excited. If you kill one person, it will be like throwing a spark into the oil pan. The consequences will be disastrous."
Xia Ji glanced at him, "Are you teaching me how to do things?"
Eunuch Mei hurriedly said: "I don't dare, old slave."
Xia Ji looked into the distance. The Ninth Princess was lowering her head uneasily. Her eyes were swollen from crying. She had shed countless tears in the past few days, and the shouts and insults came one after another. Each sound was like a sharp knife. In her heart.
Good will be rewarded with good, and evil will be rewarded with evil. The imperial sister is a kind person, weeping for suffering, secretly pretending to be a palace maid and distributing porridge, without any fame, but some people use it to make a fuss, why should she be repaid
hatred!
I hate the unfair fate!
Hate good and do not repay evil!
"I am too kind."
Xia Ji murmured softly, and he closed his eyes tightly. The temperament around him became darker, and the glimmer of light that existed before completely disappeared at this time.
Snap!
A stone passed through the crowd and hit Xia Xiaosu hard on the shoulder, causing her to cry out in pain.
Xia Ji opened his eyes, thinking of becoming a Buddha and becoming a devil. At this moment, he just wanted to laugh wildly. It turned out that he had been under house arrest for two years and suffered all kinds of suppression, but he actually still had ridiculous compassion in his heart.
He looked into the distance and said in the calmest tone: "Kill them all."