Chapter 3: Risking Death and Surviving 2. Solar Eclipse
February 29th, the 17th year of Jianwu, was the day I was out of my period, so at dawn I asked the wet nurse to hold my little daughter, who was still sleeping, and follow me to Changqiu Palace to pay my morning respects to the empress.
Guo Shengtong is only three years younger than me, but she has always maintained herself well. I am not as plump as I am now, with a round face and a double chin. After all, time is unforgiving, and I have nothing to complain about. However, people who can maintain a slim figure like Guo Shengtong in middle age, like a girl, can't help but envy.
I said a few routine polite words, and she asked the nurse to hold the child, looked at her carefully, praised her a few times, and rewarded her with two gold ornaments. I stayed in Changqiu Palace for almost half an hour, and Guo Shengtong invited me to have breakfast, and I thanked her for the favor. Halfway through the meal, my daughter woke up from hunger and cried loudly. Although she was only a one-month-old baby girl, her cry was very loud. Guo Shengtong frowned slightly, and the nurse hurriedly apologized and hurriedly took the little princess to the dressing room.
I couldn't follow him, but Guo Shengtong seemed to have lost his appetite, so he put down his chopsticks, rinsed his mouth and wiped his hands. Although I was not even half full, I had to stop eating and finish my meal.
Before my little daughter was fed, a woman hurriedly came up to the hall holding the crying fourth princess Liu Liliu. Liu Liliu was just over one year old, with a chubby face and white skin. She kept rubbing her eyes with her hands and sobbing.
Guo Shengtong hurriedly stood up from the table and went to meet her. She held her daughter in her arms, kissed her little face, and asked softly, "What's wrong? Don't cry... What do you want? Oh, okay... Don't cry, your mother is here..."
Guo Shengtong was coaxing the child softly when another maid reported: "Marquis Mianman is outside the palace asking to see you!"
At the right time, the wet nurse came out after feeding the little princess. I couldn't stay any longer, so I asked to leave. This time, Guo Shengtong didn't try to keep me. After saying something like "take good care of me", he asked the eunuch to take me back. I hurriedly left with my daughter. The eunuch who led the way was also a smart man. He walked around me in a long circle from Changqiu Palace. When I walked out of the palace and walked a long way, I looked back and saw Guo Kuang walking into Changqiu Palace from a distance. In addition to him, there were two strange men following him.
Because the distance was too far, I couldn't see clearly who they were, but there was no need to worry, because I would naturally know the identities of these two people by evening.
It was a rare sunny day today. The clear sunshine shone on my body, and I felt lazy and comfortable. Back in the West Palace, I asked Shannan to change me into a lavender skirt with a tight waist and wide sleeves. The long skirt dragged on the blue bricks. When I walked, my waist twisted slightly, and I looked particularly charming and seductive. I put on some powder and the simplest makeup, and then went to Yuntai Guangde Hall to wait for Liu Xiu to come down from court. I wanted to give him a surprise to make up for the pain of being apart for a month.
The layout of Guangde Hall had not been moved, and the bedroom was spotless, just as it was when I left. I walked to the bed where Liu Xiu usually sat and slept, and saw a desk on the bed, with piles of bamboo slips on it, at least 20 or 30 volumes. Not only the desk, but even the bed was also piled with bamboo slips in bundles.
Seeing this, I guessed that Liu Xiu must not have had a good rest at night and stayed up late to read. I muttered to myself, picked up one of the half-open bamboo slips, and glanced at it instinctively.
It was a very ordinary bamboo slip, the color of the bamboo slip was old, one centimeter wide and twenty-three centimeters long, a standard length of bamboo slip - this was not an imperial edict, the bamboo slips drafted by the emperor had to be one foot plus one inch, the so-called "edict of one foot". Since it was not an imperial edict, I felt relieved to drag the bamboo slip in front of me and read it carefully.
When I first saw it, I didn't react. I was just a little stunned and felt a little suspicious and surprised. I even wondered in my heart, why is the font so sloppy, so ugly, so... familiar?
After reading it from top to bottom, I finally exclaimed "Ah!" and suddenly realized what was going on. I quickly opened the remaining volumes on the case to check. Sure enough, the answers were consistent and confirmed to be correct.
"Your Excellency! His Majesty has retired from court." Shanan's sudden reminder woke me up from my trance. I was startled and my hands trembled. I subconsciously put away the bamboo slips and hurriedly stuffed them into the silk case.
"He...where are the others?"
"He went to Changqiu Palace."
"Oh." My mind was still wandering, and I didn't come back to my senses in time. After a long while, I stupidly asked, "Aren't these things usually placed in the side hall of the West Palace?"
"Are you talking about these prophecies? His Majesty has been studying hard during this period. He was afraid that the prophecies would be disturbed by the side hall, so he ordered people to carry them to the Yuntai Hall."
"Picture...prophecy?" My jaw nearly dropped. When did my "A Search for the Han Dynasty" become a reference book on prophecies?
"Your Majesty said it was a prophecy, isn't it?" The shrewd Shanan immediately became alert, his eyes flashing with the sharp light of a beast, "Did the noble discover anything?"
"No." I said coldly. Just as I was at a loss for words, the bright sky suddenly darkened. There was no light in the hall, so the sudden change of light and dark was even more abrupt.
"What's going on?" Hearing a commotion outside the hall, I walked out in confusion.
Just as he reached the door, Dai Ang came hurriedly with a eunuch: "So Yin Noble has arrived here a long time ago! Please prepare to receive him."
I asked puzzledly, "Didn't His Majesty go to Changqiu Palace?"
Dai Ang pointed to the sky and said with a smile, "It is a solar eclipse today, and the emperor needs to avoid the main hall, so he cannot go to Changqiu Palace. Your Majesty is just taking a detour to Guangde Hall and has asked me to summon Concubine Yin to Guangde Hall to serve as an attendant. Fortunately, Concubine Yin has arrived first."
"Solar eclipse?" As he spoke, the sky was getting darker.
Dai Ang was busy lighting the lamps, so I took the opportunity to walk out of the hall alone and looked up to find the current position of the sun. The sunlight was obviously no longer as dazzling as before, and most of it was blocked by the shadow of the stars. The remaining crescent halo also hid in the clouds, like a shy girl.
I was watching with great interest, with my hands on the awning, when suddenly a childish voice asked from below me: "Why is the sun missing half its size?"
I smiled but didn't lower my head. I repeated in a surprised tone: "Yes, why?"
"No...it wasn't me." The voice was anxious and quickly defended itself, "I just thought that the sun was as golden as a cake...I just thought about it, I didn't eat it, I didn't eat it." A small hand climbed up my arm and shook it hard, "Mom, you have to believe Heng'er, I really didn't eat it secretly..."
I couldn't help laughing, I bent down and picked up the little guy: "Wow, you've gained weight again, and you still said you didn't eat anything secretly?"
"No! No!" He spread out his hands with five fingers open to prove that there was nothing in his hands, "Heng'er didn't steal the sun cake!"
The white and tender little hands, with a kind of baby fat, seemed to have a faint milky fragrance, and there were five small dimples on the back of each hand, like a glass of fine wine, very tempting. I couldn't help but pout and kiss it, and asked with a smile: "What is this?"
"Heng'er's hand." He answered honestly.
"What's the use of hands?"
"You can tear the cake and eat the meat."
I kissed him hard on the face: "Do you miss your mother?"
He stretched out his hands and hugged my neck, using all his strength to hold me tightly, with such force that he almost strangled me to death: "Mom..." He said in a coquettish voice, "Mom, I love you!"
I have taught him to say these three words since he was a child, more times than I taught him to call his parents . He really lived up to my expectations, and he pronounced these three words more accurately and clearly than any other single word.
"Mom loves you, too! My little baby!" I kissed his forehead, then his nose, then his cheeks, then his mouth... Looking at this similar yet childish face, my heart was moved, and I couldn't help asking a very silly question, "Do you think mom has grown old?"
Liu Heng leaned back, stared at me for a while, reached out and held my face and touched it randomly, and finally said happily: "No! Mom is not old!" I felt sweet in my heart. This little guy's flattery skills are really amazing, a hundred times better than his father. Just when I was feeling proud, I didn't expect him to add, "Mom doesn't even have a beard..."
The corners of my mouth twitched, and I looked at myself in a state of confusion. In the dim light, I could only hear someone on the other side laughing, a sound that was all too familiar. I walked over with Liu Heng in my arms, pretending not to see him and ignoring him as if he were invisible. We passed each other by, and within ten seconds, he had indeed caught up with me. At this time, a group of eunuchs turned on their lights, completely blocking out the sunlight, and it was as dark as a silent night.
Liu Xiu ordered people to bring felt mats and spread them under the veranda. The soft breeze blew on his body, but it was not as cold as a real winter night.
"You looked at my things without my permission!" I didn't intend to beat around the bush, so I expressed my dissatisfaction directly.
"hehe."
"Stop playing dumb. You won't be able to get away with it if you pretend to be dumb." I deliberately squeezed my knuckles, making a crackling sound.
"I was wrong." He said sincerely.
Silence, like the sudden darkness of day.
My heart was in my throat: "Well... actually I..."
“This set of prophecies is very interesting.”
"ah?"
"I spent more than half a year, and besides understanding a few hundred words, I couldn't string together a complete sentence." He sighed, "It seems that my understanding is still not enough. Lihua, why don't you explain it to me?"
"Ah?" I exaggeratedly made a fainting gesture. The "Records of the Han Dynasty" written in a mixture of simplified and traditional Chinese characters currently contains about 500,000 to 600,000 characters. If they were turned into bamboo slips, they would fill up several rooms. I didn't expect Liu Xiu to be so absurd as to believe that these words recorded prophecies.
I really wanted to tell the truth, but the words rolled over my lips three times and in the end I couldn't utter a single word.
"Heng'er!" I suddenly had an idea. I took my son's hand and interrupted him, "Do you remember the song that your mother taught you before your little sister was born? Sing it for your father."
Liu Heng grinned and scratched his head foolishly: "Will you hit me if I don't sing well?"
"Won't."
"Well, then." He accepted his mother 's test very happily, so he stood up, and while gesturing, he hummed and sang: "A... pug, sitting on... pug, eyes... pug, wanting to eat... pug; a pug, eating... pug, tail... pug, looking at me... pug..."
After listening to it once, I was completely dumbfounded, until he clapped his hands and announced loudly: "It's over!" I woke up from the countless "lapdogs" and then - burst into laughter.
I laughed so hard that my stomach hurt. Liu Xiu, who was standing next to me, didn't quite understand what his son was singing, but after listening to seven or eight pugs in a row, he was already confused and couldn't help but ask with a smile: "What song are you teaching? Why are there so many dogs?"
I couldn't breathe and lay on the mat twitching. I tried to breathe smoothly but couldn't help bursting out laughing.
Liu Heng knew I was laughing at him, no matter how dumb he was. He twisted his body, took two steps back, and his mouth curved downward. He took a deep breath, his nostrils flared, and he looked like he was on the verge of collapse. I realized the seriousness of the consequences and stopped laughing immediately. It was so hard to hold back that my face turned red. I had to pretend to be friendly and amiable, and stood up and opened my arms to him: "Come on, baby, come here..."
"Woo..." A cat-like sound came from his throat.
My scalp tightened, and I quickly stood up and stroked his little face in a flattering way. He didn't appreciate it and threw my hand away, pouting his little mouth, staring at me with tears in his eyes, very aggrieved: "I don't like you anymore, wuu ...
"Oh, don't do this!" I hugged him tightly and tickled him with my breath.
He hid back from being tickled, screaming for help, laughing and shouting. I didn't dare to go too far, so I stopped at the right time. By then, the total solar eclipse had passed, and the sky was gradually clearing up.
I hugged Liu Heng's constantly twisting body, put my lips against his ear, and hummed softly: "A pug, sitting at the gate..." I sang it over and over again four or five times. Liu Heng stopped making noises and listened to me humming quietly, and occasionally sang a few lines with me.
I taught him to sing it several times, and then whispered something in his ear. He immediately ran to Liu Xiu excitedly and said, "Daddy, listen to me sing!"
Without waiting for Liu Xiu's answer, he started to perform by himself, raising his head, squatting, and twisting his buttocks. Although his articulation was not fluent enough, it had improved rapidly compared to the previous time.
"A pug, sitting at the gate, with black eyes, wanting to eat meat bones..." Liu Heng stretched out his two little hands, and imitated a puppy, sticking out his tongue and barking three times. Then he continued to sing very hard, "A pug, after eating meat bones, wagged its tail and nodded to me..." He first twisted his buttocks desperately, and then nodded violently. This uncoordinated movement made him dizzy. He was still barking "woof woof woof" in his mouth, but he stumbled forward and fell onto the mat.
My heart tightened. It was obvious that Liu Heng's fall was not serious. Before I could go forward to help him, he climbed up nimbly. Still barking like a crazy dog, he used all four limbs to crawl towards Liu Xiu.
I smiled and calmly looked at the father and son who looked very similar.
"Woof woof woof! Woof woof--" Liu Heng used his head to butt his father, but Liu Xiu sat upright without moving.
I was surprised, walked over and sat opposite him, and whispered, "Don't be petty, it's not that I don't want to say it, I just really don't know what to say..."
He looked at his son playing in his arms with an expressionless face. I stopped talking abruptly and was horrified to find that blood was dripping from one side of his nostril.
"Xiu'er!" I screamed and was about to reach out to support his chin, but the muscles on his face trembled slightly, his eyes closed, and his sitting body suddenly collapsed forward, falling heavily on Liu Heng's back.
"Wow--" The young and ignorant child didn't know why and thought his father was playing a joke on him. Even though he was gasping for breath under his father's heavy body, he still kept giggling.
My heartbeat seemed to stop, and the next second, I screamed, "Xiu'er——" I picked him up in a hurry. His head rested weakly on my legs. His face was gray and half of it was stained with blood. The color was so shocking that it was creepy.
"Xiu'er..." She stroked his face with trembling hands, which were cold to the touch. "Xiu'er, what's wrong with you? Don't... scare me..."
The palace servants guarding the Yuntai were in chaos, screams rang out one after another, my head was buzzing, and I felt dizzy.
"Get up, stop playing, get up..." My palms were wet with blood, and with a residual warmth, I used my sleeves to wipe the blood stains on his face, tears falling, "Get up, don't joke! This... is not funny..."
The more I wiped the blood stains, the more I felt dizzy. The scenery around me seemed to be spinning. But Liu Xiu's hands were hanging on the mat, his fingers were shaking, and his limbs were twitching slightly. All this was so real, it didn't seem like a prank at all!
"Daddy! Let's play again!" The ignorant child sat at his feet, clapping his hands and smiling innocently, "Daddy, play again! Play again..."
The colder his body temperature was, the more numb my heart became. The sky was gradually getting brighter, and the sun was shining on the earth again, but I couldn't feel any light at all.
"Xiu'er..." I lowered my head and kissed his cold forehead with trembling hands, tears welling up in my eyes, "Don't leave me..."
The only remaining light in his heart was cruelly swallowed up the moment he fell heavily.
