One sound after another, echoing continuously over the capital.
Ninety-nine and eighty-one bells signaled the death of the Emperor of Qi.
The civil and military officials put on mourning clothes and cried all the way into the palace. The common people also knelt down and cried bitterly.
Everyone in the palace changed into mourning clothes and plain clothes as quickly as possible, replaced the red palace lanterns, and hung white lanterns instead. White flags were hung everywhere.
The Crown Princess looked heavy and held Yuan Min's hand, speaking in a very low voice: "Min'er, you are pregnant. You must take care of yourself and don't work too hard. Don't inflate the fetal energy in vain and hurt the baby in your belly."
Yuan Min is nearly five months pregnant, and her belly is bulging, as if there is a ball in her belly.
Yuan Min's body at this time could not withstand the forty-nine days of kneeling.
"Show your face more in the past few days. After the first seven days, don't show your face." The princess whispered: "There are so many people kneeling down, and you are missing, so you won't attract attention."
Yuan Min did not show off and agreed softly.
Over the past month, her belly has gotten bigger and bigger, but her cheeks have lost a lot of weight.
The fact that the grandson brought the beauty back to the East Palace still hurt her in the end. She acted as if nothing had happened during the day, and how many times she cried secretly in private, only she knew how sad and sad she was.
When the emperor passed away, all officials and high-ranking officials and their female relatives would go to the palace and kneel in mourning. Fortunately, the Ministry of Internal Affairs was secretly prepared, and a mourning hall was erected in a hurry.
The Jiaofang Hall, which had been vacant for many years, also had a mourning hall. All the concubines knelt here.
Concubine Cao Guifei and Concubine Tian Shu knelt at the front, followed closely by the Crown Princess and Grand Concubine. There were also Princess Qin, Princess Zhao, Princess Han and others.
The young palace concubines cried their hearts out.
Concubine Cao Guifei and Concubine Tian Shu still have sons to rely on. These young and childless concubines have only the life of old age and death in the palace.
In Cining Palace.
Empress Dowager Cao was lying on the bed with her eyes closed, and faintly heard crying in her ears. Empress Dowager Cao was panicking, and she struggled to open her old and cloudy eyes: "Who is crying? What happened?"
Two months ago, Queen Mother Cao's hearing deteriorated and she could hardly hear sounds.
The palace attendants in Cining Palace were strictly ordered to hide the bad news of the emperor's death from Empress Dowager Cao. Therefore, they did not change into mourning clothes.
Empress Dowager Cao opened her mouth to ask, and the people in the palace were frightened. One of them replied tremblingly: "Back to the Empress Dowager, the palace is very peaceful, nothing happened."
In order for Empress Dowager Cao to hear her, the palace attendants who replied had to get very close and their voices were extremely loud, almost screaming.
Empress Dowager Cao said oh, and after a while, asked again: "Why doesn't anyone come to pay regards to the Ai family?"
In the past, Concubine Cao and the Crown Princess would always come to pay their respects.
The palace servant bravely responded loudly: "I will send someone to take a look right now."
Finally got over it.
After three days of coaxing, I finally couldn't hide it anymore.
Empress Dowager Cao felt uneasy and insisted on going to the Hall of Supreme Harmony to "visit" Emperor Long'an, but no one could persuade her.
The palace people knelt on the ground. No one dared to help Empress Dowager Cao to the Hall of Supreme Harmony, and no one dared to tell the truth.
Queen Mother Cao sat in silence for a long time, then suddenly her whole body twitched, her vision went dark, and she fainted.
When I opened my eyes again, it was already half a day later.
The prince, who was wearing white mourning clothes, knelt beside the couch and said in a hoarse voice: "Grandma, the grandson is unfilial and concealed the bad news of his father's death. Grandma wants to mourn and must hold on. The grandson has lost his father, so he can't."
No grandmother."
Empress Dowager Cao did not speak, and two lines of turbid old tears fell down. Her trembling hands slowly groped, and soon found the prince's hand.
The prince held Queen Mother Cao's hand and burst into tears.
Empress Dowager Cao was in tears.
The most tragic thing in a woman's life is losing her husband when she was young, losing her husband when she was middle-aged, or losing her son when she was old. She encountered these three things without fail.
…
it's dark.
The kneeling female relatives left the palace and returned home one after another. At five o'clock the next day, they entered the palace separately.
The female relatives in the palace did not have the luxury of leaving the palace to rest, and had to stay in the mourning hall.
Concubine Tian Shu was nearly sixty years old. She knelt for three days, her voice was hoarse from crying, and her whole body was weak. Towards evening, she became exhausted. She fainted and was carried to an empty room in Jiaofang Hall to rest.
Concubine Cao was a little stronger than Concubine Tian Shu, and she only fainted when it was dark.
The Crown Princess stayed up for three days and three nights, looking ugly. She could barely hold on and urged in a low voice: "Min'er, you go back to the East Palace first."
Yuan Min's stomach was bloated and she felt a little uncomfortable, so she nodded in agreement.
The two palace servants supported the master and slowly walked out of the Jiaofang Palace and returned to the East Palace.
As soon as I returned to the dormitory and before I lay down, a palace attendant came in a hurry, looking a little uneasy.
Yuan Min frowned slightly: "What happened?"
This palace servant was sent by her to "serve" that beauty.
After the beauty named Man'er was brought into the East Palace by Taisun, she was placed in a secluded small courtyard. For more than a month, she had never been seen in front of anyone. Taisun had never seen her either.
.Everyone in the East Palace almost forgot that there was such a beauty.
Yuan Min sent two palace servants to "serve" Man'er. If Man'er had any unusual behavior, he would report it immediately.
For more than a month, the palace officials came back and forth twice to report the matter. Man'er stayed in the small courtyard all day long, behaved honestly and never left the courtyard.
This was the third time I looked at the palace man's face, and it was obvious that something was wrong.
The palace attendant knelt down and reported in a low voice: "To the great concubine Qi, Miss Man has not had her period since she entered the East Palace."
Yuan Min's pupils trembled sharply, and she subconsciously stretched out her hand to hold the chair handle to steady herself.
The palace servant continued tremblingly: "I don't dare to hide this from the empress. Miss Man took the initiative to tell the slave girl. Miss Man also said that she would ask the empress to send a doctor to diagnose her pulse. If she is really... really pregnant, she will
Quietly prescribe a pill for abortion. As long as you are careful, no one will know."
Yuan Min's grip on the handle tightened and then loosened, and then tightened again.
Everyone in the palace is kneeling in mourning, and no one will pay attention to a beauty with no name or status in the East Palace. By handling it this way, future troubles can be eliminated forever. She is also a wise grandson concubine in the eyes of everyone.
If she were more ruthless, she could simply ask the imperial doctor to prescribe a strong medicine that would completely damage the baby's body when she was born, making it difficult for her to become pregnant again, or killing two people...
Cold sweat broke out on Yuan Min's forehead, and his eyes were changing. Suddenly, he felt a twinge of pain in his stomach?
not good!
Yuan Min's face turned pale and her breathing became rapid.
The expressions of the palace attendants around him changed, and they rushed over to support Yuan Min: "Your Majesty!"
Yuan Min clutched her stomach with pain on her face and lay down with the help of the palace attendants.
There was an imperial physician on duty in the East Palace. The imperial physician hurried over and performed acupuncture on the concubine. Half an hour later, the pain in Yuan Min's stomach subsided and her clothes were soaked with sweat.
Yuan Min called the palace attendants over and ordered in a low voice: "I'm not allowed to tell anyone about my fetus."
After a pause, he said again: "Bring Man'er to see me."
