Li Huang

Summer is tough. The hot weather is fine, after all, there are tall trees all around, so there can be half the shade of the courtyard. But those women mostly lie in the shade of trees, catch lice, or look at a certain place with a vain smile, muttering words that they don't understand.

The most intolerable thing is the mosquitoes. Because they can't take a bath, everyone will have a sour smell, mosquitoes and flies buzzing around, but those women seem to be used to it and don't care at all. But I can't stand it. I can only simply wipe my body with a little water every day.

But in the end, it was the snake that broke me almost.

The first time, it was early in the morning, I took a meal and walked back to the room. As soon as I walked in, I saw a large colorful snake hanging from the eaves, spitting scarlet letters at me, as if it would pounce on me in the next moment. I almost subconsciously screamed "Ah", the bowl in my hand was broken to the ground, and I ran out.

The second time, in the middle of the night, I woke up from my dream. Outside the window was a tree swaying under the summer storm, casting a moving shadow on the mottled wall, like a swarm of demons dancing. Suddenly, I felt cold and greasy on my calves. I pressed the heart that was about to jump out of my chest and carefully lifted the thin sheet away. I saw a small green snake wrapped around my leg. I should be asleep at this time. At that moment, I felt my hairs stand up, but my whole body was stiff and unable to move. I could only be careful and prepared to be poisoned to death. I gently and slowly pinched the snake by seven inches and removed the snake from my leg. My hands trembled like dead leaves in the autumn wind, and then quickly He threw the snake out of the window.

From now on I dare not stay alone in that dark and damp room, for fear that a snake will appear in front of me if I don't pay attention.

And in the courtyard, although the people in the old palace are crazy and stupid, at least there are people not far away, with sunshine and sound, so that the fear in my heart will dissipate a little bit.

I thought, this is summer, fading and shady, and there are many mice. Naturally, snakes often come. As long as the autumn breeze starts, those annoying mosquitoes, flies, snakes and mice will be less.

The guards, naturally, would not care about any animals here. As if they had been ordered, they were not allowed to enter this place except for the time for less than a cup of tea to bring in food. In fact, who wants to come in? Look at those half-old women who are no longer beautiful, but have filthy bodies and demented eyes?

But the night is hard, since the snake entangled my feet, I hardly dared to close my eyes at night. Often I can only sit in front of the moonlight outside the window, and it will be dawn. Because I couldn't sleep well and didn't have enough food, I gradually lost weight, and my spirit gradually became weak. Later, I learned to sleep in the dilapidated corridor near the entrance in the daytime, with sunlight on my body, without being disturbed, and to grab food at the first time, so that my spirits would gradually improve and I would be able to live. Go down.

Until that time, I finally couldn't stand it. It was the first time I had the idea of ​​either dying or leaving.

That was the third time I saw a snake. The sun was surprisingly good that day. The discarded concubines were all sitting under the shade of the trees and the corner. I was still half leaning against the corridor. As far as I could see, the figures of the discarded concubines were all in my eyes.

Sitting at the root of the wall was Liu Xiurong of the first emperor. She poisoned the ginseng soup for the postpartum concubine Quan Gui concubine after giving birth, causing Quan Gui concubine blood collapse and was deposed here. Next to her is Zhang Jieyu, who was with her back then, catching lice on her body with all her concentration.

Lying under the tree was Shen Xiyao's Li Meiren. She was mad because of the loss of a child in her abdomen, but she was beaten into the cold palace for some reason. I vaguely remember it as if it was related to Concubine Liu. The others were also concubines of the first emperor. Their identities, I also only figured out their occasional sober words.

Because I hadn't slept the night before, I was drowsy under the cover of my eyes, and my eyes could not be opened. At this moment, only a scream was heard, which cut through the long silence.

Zhang Jieyu’s eyes widened, but her complexion gradually turned black, a wisp of black and red blood dripped from her mouth, first a wisp, and then she shook suddenly, and a large mouthful of dirty blood spurted out of her mouth. A red flower scorched by the sun suddenly fell to the ground.

She slowly fell down, leaning on Liu Xiurong who was next to her, still keeping her previous posture of catching lice. Liu Xiurong didn't look at her at all, his eyes were hollow and his expression was like a wooden sculpture. I saw Zhang Jieyu's head fell on Liu Xiurong's shoulders, her mouth opened as if to say something, but only more blood poured out. Then, he slowly stopped moving, but his eyes remained open. Liu Xiurong seemed to be dissatisfied that she had leaned on her for so long, and she swiped her head casually, Zhang Jieyu was like a ruined puppet, and she fell on the ground with a "poof".

"Oh, are you tired? You can't sleep. We will have to do something when there is news from Zhaoyang Palace!"

"Oh, what's the matter with you? Get up quickly, and finally get the trust of the empress to do this. If you want to sleep, wait until the empress is restored to life before going to sleep!"

"Get up, get up!" Liu Xiurong shook Zhang Jieyu, mentally, but it seemed that he still stayed in the distant past.

Behind Zhang Jieyu, there was an emerald-green snake, "sizzling" with scarlet letters. As soon as the triangular head turned, her sharp fangs bit on Liu Xiurong’s calf. She didn’t even scream. He fell on Zhang Jieyu's body. Before she died, Liu Xiurong's mind seemed to be clear, her eyes only turned, and there was a sad smile on most of her face covered with stains. She shouted, her voice full of resentment and despair.

"It's the queen, the emperor, it's the queen who instructed us to give the crown of the crane to the concubine..." Before she finished her words, she couldn't say it again...

I covered my heart, this was the first time I learned the secrets of the year from the concubine of the first emperor. But such secrets are something I cannot accept.

According to legend, the relationship between the first emperor and queen Min and Quan Guifei Xu is as good as a pair of sisters. The queen could not complain or be jealous when the emperor treats the concubine Quan Gui concubine, and take care of the concubine Quan Gui concubine when she is pregnant. So that when the concubine Quan Gui died of blood and died after giving birth, she specially asked the first emperor to hand over the emperor’s fourth son to the queen to raise her. She only said that she only believed in the deep love between her and the queen’s sisters... and the queen also regarded the emperor’s fourth son If you are oneself, in many cases, it is better to treat the fourth son of the emperor than to the third son of the emperor. Such a move also moved the first emperor to admire, and finally handed over the world to the third emperor.

All this has been talked about and praised by the palace people for many years.

But now, the truth seems to be another matter entirely.

But what can I do if I know the truth?

The world today is the world of Shen Xiyao, the third son of the emperor. The fourth son of the emperor, Shen Xihe, had been imprisoned in the imperial tomb, and regretted his life in front of the ancestors for his fault.

This time the snake disaster finally attracted the attention of the inner court. On the same day, guards came to send the two corpses out, sprinkled realgar powder around every day, and checked the houses where people lived.

I was still sleeping under the porch that day. At noon, the door of the fading creak was pushed open, causing the women in the corner under the shade of the tree to look up, thinking that another newcomer was being sent in.

Entering is a team of guards, looking at the guards in the palace, one by one holding a pole, or holding a snake clip, or catching a wooden stick, or touching powder, with a slightly nervous expression.

"Hey, you guys come out, go, and stand at the root of the wall." Fan Shi's guard yelled and drove a few women out of the room.

I gathered my messy hair and stood aside. It seems that these guards are going to catch snakes. That's good, the province lives in fear every day.

The guards were divided into several groups. Most of them searched in the house where we lived. There was also a group in the courtyard. The bamboo poles hit the wormwood-grown ground, especially where the grass grew most, and they were more careful.

About an hour later, three or four snakes were actually killed. I watched the guards throw the dead snakes in the middle of the courtyard, and watched the soft snake corpses. Although my heart was sick, I finally still A big rock fell down.

With a sudden exclamation, a team of guards retreated from a room, with obvious fear on their faces.

"What's the matter?" The other team heard.

"In this room, there is a big one." The guard who answered the question was a little pale, and whispered something to the other team. I couldn't hear it, but the face of the latter team also changed.

"Anyway, there are some abandoned people. Why do we spend so much work? Why don't we just take the ones?" The voice of one of them came into my ears.

"Yes, I think that one seems to be poisonous."

"For these old women, if we hurt our brother's life, it's not worth it."

"Yes, yes, the women here are either crazy or stupid. It's better to live than to die."

"Anyway, they are all dead people. We have to guard the palace."

I saw that most of the guards had the idea of ​​an immediate messenger, and then thinking about the changes in their faces and words before, there was a frightening thought in their heart.

"Well, although they are all from the old palace, but this time it is said that Director Zhang personally ordered it." Finally there was another voice.

"Manager Zhang doesn't know this is a silver ring." A person's voice was slightly elevated: "I don't want to die."

I was shocked, Yinhuan. Although this kind of snake does not actively attack humans, it is also a very venomous snake.

I took another look at the snakes that had been killed in the courtyard. Most of them were not poisonous, and they were all small snakes. If there is a silver ring in this continual passing, then there is no room for people here.

"Or, let's go?" Someone quietly suggested, "Snakes are hiding deep, and there are open spaces around here. We just said that we didn't have this one when we came to arrest."

"Well, it makes sense, you go and clean up those few, wait a moment, we'll leave."

My heart trembled, do they want to return to life like this? Knowing that there is still a venomous snake in this multiplication. Compared with the silver ring, the snake they killed before is not scary at all.

"Brothers, please stay." Seeing that the guards were going to leave, I gritted my teeth and finally stood up.

"Are you?" The leader of the guard frowned and looked at me.

I bowed to my knees and bowed: "This big brother, I just overheard your conversation. I want to come. There is one more thing in that room." I asked, looking straight at him.

He was startled, looked at me carefully, and wondered: "Who are you? Why haven't I seen you in the cold palace before?"

I lowered my eyebrows: "I am just an abandoned palace man, and I have been secretly demoted to this point. What is the meaning of my former identity?"