The autumn wind blows, and the imperial flowers behind the Penglai Palace are filled with colorful fallen leaves.
Concubine Yin De stood in front of a garden of withered peonies, her clothes fluttering and her hair as white as snow.
"Spring passes and autumn comes, the sun and the moon fly by... Time flies so fast!" She murmured, picking up a withered petal and putting it to her nose to smell it, the lingering fragrance lingered.
Everyone in the world has feelings of sadness for autumn, not to mention Concubine Yin De, who had a troubled life.
In the past two days, autumn has arrived and the weather has turned cooler. She felt depressed for no reason. Years of past events also came to mind, making her feel a little depressed.
"Your Highness, Princess Gaoyang is here." The maid behind her reported.
Concubine Yin De looked back and saw Princess Gao Yang walking quickly from the end of the corridor, her steps light and happy.
"Why is Ling'er so happy?" Concubine Yin De asked.
"Step back, all step back!" Princess Gaoyang dismissed the maids on the left and right, and happily grabbed Concubine Yin De's hand and whispered, "Mother! Third brother lets me go back to Lanzhou and reunite with Mu Bai!"
"Really?" Concubine Yin De also suddenly became happy, "Is there such a good thing?"
"My father asked him to be a lobbyist and wanted me to go to Lanzhou to persuade Mu Bai to return to the court. Third brother let me go back!" Princess Gaoyang said, "Mom, third brother still loves me!"
"Silly boy..." Concubine Yin De caressed Princess Gao Yang's face lovingly and said, "Can't you see that this is exactly what your father meant?"
"Uh... this..." Princess Gaoyang was startled, "Is there any? My former father also wanted to persuade me, but I refused. He was still very angry at the time, saying that I was an extroverted girl."
Concubine Yin De smiled and said: "After so many years, don't you still understand your father? He is the king of a country. In order to take into account the dignity of the emperor, he always speaks hard and is soft-hearted. Think about it, knowing a son is better than a father. You and How could your third brother's little tricks be hidden from him? Without his acquiescence, King Wu would not have dared to act so arbitrarily even if he had great courage."
"That's right..." Princess Gao Yang finally understood and nodded, "So, my father is also willing to let me go back?"
"He has never detained you, so how can he say anything about it?" Concubine Yin De smiled and said, "You have been married a long time ago, and you are a member of his Qin family. Keeping you in Chang'an will prevent your husband, wife, and daughter from being reunited. It doesn't make sense. Although your father is strict, he has always been sensible and will never do anything that violates human ethics. Besides, what's the benefit of detaining you in Chang'an? Bai, let him come back? Even if he loves you deeply, if he comes back, this method will be too disgraceful and unreasonable. Your father is determined to be a wise king. Doesn't this give the world a handle? , causing future generations to criticize?”
Princess Gao Yang nodded, "I understand..."
Concubine Yin De smiled, raised her hand, gently caressed Princess Gaoyang's face, and said softly: "Ling'er, the more you grow up, the more you look like your mother. When I see you, my mother seems to I saw my younger self. However, your life is much better than that of your mother..."
"Mom, I have something to say!" Princess Gao Yang suddenly said.
"Say it!" Concubine Yin De smiled.
"It's better... you!..." Princess Gao Yang gritted her teeth and mustered up her courage, "You come with me!"
"What?!" Concubine Yin De was slightly surprised, "Why did you say that?"
Princess Gaoyang held Concubine Yin De's hand tightly and said: "Mother, after this farewell, I don't know if I can come back to serve you. From now on, you have no relatives in Chang'an! I can't bear to have you stay alone in the palace like this." , stay in the cold every day for the rest of your life. Mother, come with me! Chang'an and the palace are like a cage, they have imprisoned you for half your life! Let your daughter accompany you to spend the rest of your life without worries. Spend your time happily and without worries, okay?”
"Confused!" Concubine Yin De's face changed and she scolded, "As one of the four concubines and the mother of a country, how can I leave privately with you?"
"What one of the four concubines! Mother, can't you put aside this false title?" Princess Gaoyang was anxious, holding Concubine Yin De's hand firmly and said, "Didn't my father always dote on Xu Hui in recent years? Go and tell your father that you are willing to give up your position as the Virtuous Concubine and comply with his wishes and let him make Xu Hui the Virtuous Concubine!"
"Presumptuous!" Concubine Yin De became angry and shouted in a low voice, "This is a national matter, how can I allow you to point fingers and talk nonsense?"
"Mom, please stop pretending!" Princess Gaoyang begged, "Do you want to spend your whole life like this and eventually die alone in this palace?"
Concubine Yin De turned around, narrowed her eyes slightly and looked at the fallen flowers and leaves in the pond, and sighed softly, "This is my mother's fate!"
Princess Gaoyang hurriedly turned to Concubine Yin De and said, "Mom, don't you want to live with your daughter? Don't you want to see Xiao Dier?"
"Of course I do..." Concubine Yin De frowned slightly and said softly, "If there is anyone in this world who worries about my mother, who else can it be besides you mother and daughter?"
"Don't you want to... take a look at Mu Bai?" Princess Gao Yang said sharply.
Concubine Yin De's eyebrows flicked in fear, but she instantly regained her composure, "What should I expect him to do?"
Princess Gao Yang was startled for a moment, knowing that she had said something wrong, so she hurriedly said: "Aren't you close friends? Don't you like to hear him play the pipa?"
"Such a trivial matter is not worth mentioning. It can make my mother risk the world's disapproval and elope with you?" Concubine Yin De turned her face and continued to look ahead, "Ling'er, let's go! Go to Lanzhou and have a good time. Live with Mu Bai. He is the man in your life. You are destined to be happy and fulfilled in this life. For a woman, meeting the man in her life is a hundred times more precious than any princess."
Princess Gaoyang suddenly felt extremely depressed, biting her lips to hold back a sentence - "How about being more honorable than Concubine De?"
"What did you say?!" Concubine Yin De became angry immediately, turning her head and glaring at Princess Gao Yang, "When did you kid become so unreasonable and talk nonsense?"
The innate rebelliousness in Princess Gaoyang's bones was inexplicably aroused, and she blurted out: "Mom, do you think I don't know that you have always liked Mubai?"
"Snapped-"
A hard slap fell on Princess Gao Yang's face.
Princess Gaoyang was immediately stunned!
"Go away and don't come back again!"
After living as gentle as water for half her life, today, Concubine Yin De became angry for the first time and hit Princess Gaoyang for the first time!
After saying this, she fluttered her sleeves and walked away, walking fast and urgently, as if she was running away.
Princess Gaoyang covered her burning face and stood in front of the flower garden. Looking at Concubine Yin De's back, she murmured to herself: "Mother, why are you doing this?... In fact, what does it matter? Although due to the ethics, you and Mu Bai and Bai can't really be together, but if they can escape the suffering of the palace, wouldn't it be a blessing? Being able to live with the person you like, even if you can't get married, is better than being trapped in this cage anyway! In the eyes of the emperor, you are no longer dispensable. My brother is dead and I am gone. Even Mu Bai, who was the only person in the harem to worry about in the past, has resigned. How can you stay in this palace in the future? ?…Mother!”
A few days later, Chu Suiliang and the officials of Zongzheng Temple, who were sent to Lanzhou by the emperor's order, were well prepared and came to the palace to welcome Princess Gaoyang and set off for Lanzhou together.
Princess Gaoyang was slapped by her mother that day, and Princess Gaoyang did not dare to see her mother again in the past few days. She was leaving today, and she didn't know when we would see each other again. She was very worried, so she ran to Concubine Yinde's palace to say goodbye. But Concubine Yinde was not in the palace, and after careful inquiry, I found out that she had been living in the Protectorate Tenwang Temple these days.
So Princess Gaoyang came to Huguo Tianwang Temple and asked to see Concubine Yinde.
Concubine Yin De refused to see the door, and said to Princess Gaoyang outside through a door: "Let's go! Take care of yourself along the way, so you can take care of yourself!"
"Mother..." Tears burst out of Princess Gaoyang's eyes, and she knelt down outside the door and cried, "You have raised me for so many years, and we have always been dependent on each other. Now that my daughter is leaving, are you unwilling to show up to meet her?"
Concubine Yin De did not respond inside.
Princess Gaoyang burst into tears and knelt down.
After a long time, the door of the room opened, and Master Qingshan came out. He said a Buddha's name and said to Princess Gaoyang: "Your Highness, please rise. There are thousand-year-old trees in the mountains, and there are few hundred-year-old people in the world. Isn't there tears of longing for each other from afar? Not as good as Gaotang Nianzixin."
Princess Gaoyang was stunned for a moment, "Master, what do you mean by this?"
"The flesh and blood are separated, and the heart of the empress is broken. She can't bear to say goodbye to the princess again, which will hurt her feelings." Master Qingshan said, "The princess should not mourn and cry here, otherwise, the empress will feel even more uncomfortable!"
Princess Gao Yang nodded and stopped crying, but her tears still fell like broken beads. She choked and said, "Mom, I'm leaving. I will live a good life with Mu Bai, and you should take care of yourself too!"
"Let's go... let's go..." Master Qingshan waved his hands gently, then clasped his hands together, "Amitabha!"
"Mother!—" Princess Gao Yang yelled hoarsely, "I'm leaving!!"
Then, he turned around and ran away without looking back.
Master Qingshan shook his head and sighed.
In the room, Concubine Yin De knelt in front of the Buddha, closed her eyes and cried silently, her tears soaking the futon in front of her.
Master Qingshan returned to the room, closed the door, walked to Concubine Yinde and sat down next to her, and said, "Empress, Her Royal Highness is gone."
"Well...thank you, master."
"The princess is leaving, and I don't know when she will return. Mother and son are close to each other, and the poor nun understands the pain in the heart of the empress." Master Qingshan said, "And I am afraid that the empress will never meet him again in this life."
Concubine Yin De, who closed her eyes and folded her hands, trembled slightly and said, "This disciple is already heartbroken."
"If you are really heartbroken, your Majesty may really go away with Her Royal Highness the Princess." Master Qingshan said, "Although I am a foreigner, living in this palace, I know that there are many things going on in the world recently. Chao Gang There is chaos in the harem. Who knows what will happen in a few years? It would not be a bad thing if the empress escapes from this vortex. "
"I am a majestic emperor's concubine, how can I just walk away? Except for the palace maids who were expelled from the palace walls, have you ever seen any emperor's concubine who can go back to the people or remarry another woman? We are like this Even if a woman falls out of favor or makes a mistake and is abandoned by the emperor, she will be thrown into the cold palace and never see the light of day for the rest of her life." Concubine Yin De opened her eyes and smiled bitterly, "Actually, why don't I want to escape from this place? Who really wants to make a fool of myself? However, if a common man is angry when his wife is taken away from him, what about the king of a country? If I really go with Ling'er, I will offend not only the face of His Majesty, but also the dignity and dignity of the entire Tang Empire. The bottom line of secular morality! Not only will I not be able to enjoy any peace and freedom, but it will also harm Ling'er and Mu Bai!"
"Hey, that's right." Master Qingshan also sighed, "The world is like a shackle, and ethics are like a cage. My dear, this is your destiny in the previous life. In this life, you can't get rid of it or escape."
"Previous lives...Master, do people really have past and present lives?" Concubine Yin De looked up at the statue of Buddha above her head, clasped her hands together and stared, "Will people like me have another life?"
"Amitabha..." Master Qingshan chanted with her hands folded, and her voice revealed a lot of bitterness and helplessness.
"I thought about a story in the Buddhist scriptures that the master once told me... If there was a previous life, it was probably my corpse in the wilderness. When he passed by me, he put a corpse shroud on me."
"In this life, our fate is destined to be extinguished and we will never see each other again..."
"Then, if there is an afterlife, I sincerely pray for you -"
"This disciple is willing to transform into a stone bridge and be blown by the wind and exposed to the sun for five hundred years. I only hope that he will look back once!"
"Disciple is willing to look back five hundred times in exchange for one encounter!"
"Even if the disciple is killed in the wilderness again when he meets him, the disciple will still be willing, willing, and willing!"
"Just ask him... to bury me!"