It was windy in the morning, and the fallen leaves were red everywhere.
In the Forbidden City in autumn, those red walls and golden tiles have restrained the sharpness of summer and appear restrained and calm, giving it a unique sense of beauty.
"Cough! Cough! Cough!"
Incessant coughing sounds could be heard from time to time from the Yong'an Palace where the old man lived. The palace eunuchs and eunuchs standing outside with their hands down couldn't help but tremble every time they heard such sounds.
"Cough! Cough!"
The old man leaned on the edge of the bed with one hand, put his other hand on Pu Bucheng's hand, lowered his head and coughed violently.
With a sudden movement, a mouthful of blood-streaked yellow phlegm was spat into the spittoon, which was particularly shocking.
"Huh!" The old man let out a long breath, turned over and half leaned on the folded quilt, his chest rose and fell slightly, his eyes were closed tightly, and there was a thin layer of sweat on his forehead.
It took him a lot of effort to spit out the phlegm, which made his throat hoarse.
After spitting it out, the feeling of being unable to breathe that was weighing on my heart gradually faded away.
"Old man!" Pu Bucheng looked at the blood-streaked yellow phlegm in the spittoon, and his voice was panicked. He knelt down and said, "Let's call the imperial doctor!" He kowtowed, "Master, call the imperial doctor!"
"If it could be cured, they would have cured us long ago." The old man's voice was calm, and he slowly opened his eyes, "Human life is destined to be a disease. If it can be cured, we don't want to suffer this!
"As he spoke, he suddenly gritted his teeth and cursed, "Damn it, this phlegm kept us from sleeping well all night!"
"But........"
Before Pu Bucheng could finish speaking, the old man interrupted, "But what? Throughout the ages, I have been the emperor of these emperors, and I am the one who has a long life." As he said that, he suddenly laughed, "Haha,
Among the founding monarchs of the past dynasties, who has suffered more injuries than me? Who has had more hardships than us, and who has worked harder than us?"
At this point, he sighed again, "Who is like us, who has experienced all the sufferings that a person deserves and shouldn't suffer, and all the sorrows that should be suffered in this life?"
"Be content with your life till now!"
Pu Bucheng brought a glass of water to the old man, "What I'm saying is that you have to take the medicine when it's time to take it! You can't hold on hard!"
"Disease is something that everyone must get." The old man drank some water and said, "When you are young, it is a disease, but when you grow old, it is your destiny!"
"You see, some people are extremely afraid of death when they get old. When they were young, they didn't believe in anything. When they get old, they start to believe in gods and Buddhas and start begging for this and that in order to live a few more days."
"Let me tell you, the more people are afraid of death, the faster they will die. When I was a child in the countryside, there was an old man in the village who coughed up blood. He said he could not live more than three months. He carried a hoe all over the world, and surprisingly he lived for three more months.
Year."
"There was a rich man in the village next door. He was sick and stayed in bed all day long. He took bitter medicine soup and took expensive tonics. But what happened? First he was paralyzed and couldn't move. Then he couldn't say anything and could only stare and drip.
Tears.”
"Sickness is an evil thing. The more you take it seriously, the more it will torture you. If you don't blame him, haha, he will stop!"
Pu Bucheng listened to the old man's words, squatted down and helped the old man put on his shoes with his own hands, and said softly, "I know that Master, you are not afraid of anything, but after all, you are old and need to take care of yourself!"
"We know what you mean!" The old man smiled and wiped his face carefully with a towel, "You don't understand what I mean!"
Pu Bucheng had served him all his life, but he didn't understand what he meant.
The old man is not afraid of death. What he is afraid of is being too sick to move. What he is afraid of is being pitied by others. What he is afraid of is having to wait for death in a muddle-headed manner.
The old man has said more than once that if God favors him, let him die suddenly without knowing anything while sleeping.
That way, it's good for him and good for everyone.
"Come out with us for a walk, have breakfast and go to the village to see our treasures!" The old man squeezed Pu Bucheng's shoulder, "Move while you can!"
"Hey!" Pu Bucheng lowered his head and wiped away his tears.
The old man could see his tears and knew his loyalty.
A few years ago, if I had seen this eggless coward in such bad luck, I would have jumped on it. But now, there is only warmth in my heart.
To the old man, Pu Bucheng was already a family member. A family member who had been with him all his life. In some ways, Pu Bucheng even understood him better than Zhu Yunxi and other people in the palace.
The old man just got up and walked to the outer hall.
I saw a young eunuch come in. He knelt down and kowtowed first, and then said, "Old man, the emperor is here!"
The old man sat down on the cushioned throne and said with a smile, "Let the emperor come in!"
~~~
Zhu Yunxi stepped into the hall. Today he was wearing a dark red uniform with a round collar and a gold thread with five claws and a dragon. He had a black gauze crown on his head and a warm jade belt around his waist.
When he came in, a ray of sunlight happened to fall from the caisson and hit him. It made him even more upright and heroic.
The thin and naughty grandson at the beginning has grown into a man, with stronger shoulders and a light beard on his lips that represents the majesty of a man. The whole person is like an unsheathed sword, full of edge.
The young emperor, facing the morning light.
Old emperor, look at this morning light.
For a moment, the old man seemed a little dazed.
Because the emperor in front of him overlapped with the softest place in his memory.
The young emperor in front of him looked exactly like his most beloved son, Zhu Biao, when he was a boy.
"My grandson would like to say hello to Grandpa Huang!" Zhu Yunxi lifted up the skirt of his dragon robe, knelt down and kowtowed, "Good morning, Grandpa Huang!"
"Get up! Why are our grandsons doing all this?" The old man laughed, "Didn't I tell you that the state affairs are busy, so you don't have to come over and kowtow to me every day." Then he said to the person next to him, "Still doing it in a daze.
What, hurry up and move a stool for the Emperor."
Zhu Yunxi was sitting opposite the old man. Seeing that the old man's face was a little dark, he asked with concern, "Grandpa Huang, my grandson sees that you don't look good, but are you feeling ill?" He said, turning his eyes to Pu Bucheng, "Grandpa Huang went to bed last night.
How did you sleep? Has the imperial doctor seen you?"
The old man didn't wait for Pu Bucheng to speak, and already said with a smile, "It doesn't matter. At this age, a cat is like a dog every day. If you sleep late, you will lose energy the next day!" After saying that, he reached out and touched the dragon robe on Zhu Yunxi's body, "What?
Wearing clothes of this color? You look old-fashioned!"
"My grandson is too young to wear those Shaoxing clothes!" Zhu Yunxi smiled and took the old man's hand, "Grandpa Huang, it's not your grandson who is nagging you. Your grandson knows that you always want to be strong, but you still try to be strong when it comes to your body.
No way!"
"If you feel uncomfortable, see an imperial doctor immediately, or send an old doctor to the palace. Treat minor illnesses as soon as possible, and don't let them turn into serious illnesses."
"You are the backbone of my grandson and Daming. Didn't you say that you would live for more than ten years to watch Xiao Fu'er get married and Jin get married?"
The old man leaned lazily, his big hand held by his grandson's, with a peaceful smile on his face.
The sun came in quietly, shining on their bodies and also on their black and white hair.
Pu Bucheng felt his nose was sore and couldn't help but turn his head away.
Such parents are short-lived, so if you see them once, you will miss them!
"Don't be stubborn, be obedient!" Zhu Yunxi said as if coaxing a child, "Your body is not just yours!"
"Whose is it if it's not ours?" the old man said with a smile.
"It belongs to the grandson, the catty, and the entire Ming Dynasty!" Zhu Yunxi shook the old man's palm slightly, "You have to be tough!"
"Haha!" The old man laughed happily and turned to look at Pu Bucheng, "Look, look at our eldest grandson's mouth. None of our Zhu family has been able to give birth to such a clever mouth for several lifetimes. He has known it since he was a child.
You can scare people with your talk! You are so foolish and so good at coaxing people, if we don’t let you become emperor, even our ancestors won’t agree!”
"Look at us, our mother-in-law took care of us when we were young, but when we are old, our children and grandchildren still care about us. It seems heartwarming. In fact, this brat treats us like an old child and fools us." Then, the old man slapped his forehead and said, "
Why are we talking about this? You have no eggs, you can’t understand it!"
As he said that, the old man waved his hand and said, "Old Pu, hurry up and pass the meal so that the emperor can eat it here!"
