Chapter two

Ice Pool Torture

The coldness of the world's people is teaching you to live bravely even if you are humble.

The words of the female officer are deep in my mind, and I can't forget it. I still remember that night my aunt taught me how to endure all this, but now, even my aunt herself can hardly stand the torment.

At first, I chose to explain with Emperor Guangxu, but later in the cage, my heart was very humble and I was afraid. But fear made me step by step to embark on a difficult path of compromise.

The winter air is biting, and the harem is also cold. The swish cold wind pierced my back spine and cut my cheeks with a knife back and forth. My hands and feet were as cold as the ice in the lake.

There are many people sitting in the main hall, but they are usually some high-ranking officials, and there are other families, but there is no other zui family, and the only one is me. I saw Emperor Guangxu and Empress Dowager Cixi, and the expressions on their faces were very strange. Of course there are several cunning old eunuchs.

My two legs curled up very unnaturally, and a burly man held me up and made me kneel.

I knocked my head several times, and the sound of the knocked head was clearly audible all around.

"Are you Zui Changsheng?" A sharp female voice sounded.

"Changsheng, raise your head and let Yuzhu Gege take a look," the Empress Dowager Cixi cleared her throat, "Aijia hopes that you will be mature after the last murder."

Emperor Guangxu coughed softly: "Changsheng, now make your cross, and kowtow in front of the princess to admit your mistake."

I paid my respects again and said in a panic: "Forgive Changsheng to speak frankly, Changsheng really doesn‘t understand what the emperor and the empress dowager said. Please, the emperor..." I lowered my head slightly.

The Yuzhu Gege sneered: "Zui Changsheng, do you know that your aunt has offended me. She dared to speak out in the back garden and accuse me of the Huo family. She was bold. And you, you killed my retinue,Chun‘an. Do you think if I should spare you this little scourge today?"

Her eyes flashed with hatred, the kind of anger that would blaze even in the cold and in the snow, and it rushed to the sky, indescribable.

"Hurry up and kowtow to the princess to apologize and make your cross."

I clenched my fist tightly and shook my head severely.

"Sorry, reply to the emperor's words, Changsheng really does not know where to offend Gege. If Changsheng has any trouble doing it badly, please tell me; as long as you don't harm my aunt and grandpa, just make me all right. The mistake I made has nothing to do with the zui family."

"Changsheng, come here." The emperor snapped.

My scalp was numb, I knelt and moved over quickly, enduring the whole body hurt and knocked my head three times. Shocked all over, he hurriedly said: "Pray for the emperor's forgiveness, Chang Sheng, Chang Sheng really didn't kill anyone."

Emperor Guangxu didn't speak. Being silent, but holding a face, seemed to be very dissatisfied with me.

"Why is the child so unrepentant?"

"Come on! Drag him out and penalize this young boy with the methods of our Huo family." Yuzhu Gege gave me an arrogant look.

Immediately afterwards, I was forcibly pulled out of the temple. There was a small pool on the right side of the temple. A strong man broke the ice on the water with an iron rod. I saw bursts of white smoke rising from the bone. Gone, the water is still.

Unexpectedly, the burly man stretched out his fat feet and kicked me into the water, and I staggered into the ice-like world with a "puff" sound. From the chest to the heels, like being nailed to the whole body, the icy cold rushes into the brain, the hands and feet are stiff and numb, and the body is weak and unable to move. Before long, the strong man bound me with a large iron chain and immersed me in the pool.

In the twelfth lunar month in winter, The cold in this palace is beyond the reach of ordinary people.The water was like a torture instrument with no temperature at all. It ecstasized my body and froze. I started to gasp, breathing ceaselessly. I tried to get rid of it, but I didn't move, my hands and feet were numb and weak.

The collapsed body was not buried in the soil, but it was frozen by the ice and water this winter.

"This is too much！He is just a kid... I don't know what Grid cares about?" a civil official asked softly.

Yuzhu Gege coquettishly ran to the Empress Dowager and said, "If you do something wrong, you have to take responsibility. Besides, if he is asked to admit his mistake and bet, he will not accept it. That's all."

It hurts and I hate it. I hate such an unfair world, hate such a cruel place like the palace.

"Zui daren, why don't you see our grandpa who loves you the most, come to see you?" The eunuch laughed from ear to ear.

I am afraid that when the zui family came, I would have frozen into a piece of ice and died in this harem.

Emperor Guangxu's eyes were somewhat forbearing: "Chang Sheng, don't try to be too aggressive as a child. You paint, kowtow, and admit a mistake. I thought you would be lost and know how to return. If you know your mistakes, you will correct it. You are too disappointed. Now, you are really obsessed and do not know how to repent!"

"Really?" I asked coldly.

Emperor Guangxu, who usually looks weak and can't help but reprimanded me today, was extremely powerful.

I gritted my teeth: "Why does Changsheng admit what I didn't do? I don't, I really don't. I beg you to let the zui family go..."

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Yuzhu Gege sneered: "You mean, the empress dowager deliberately took Chun'an for your harm to you? Are you too dear to yourself? It's really ridiculous. The empress dowager is highly respected, and Chun'an is again. It's very likable, and no one is willing to call it."

Empress Dowager Cixi squeezed her eyebrows, her face changing drastically.

I snorted coldly: "If the next moment, I die, you must send me out of the palace. I don't want to stay in such a world without morality and humanity. Ask yourself, if the next moment, you will never hear me anymore. , Then please don’t forget the blood of Changsheng on your hands, the emperor."

"Presumptuous!" The Empress Dowager slapped the table with anger.

"Catch up this bastard who knows nothing about life and death!" Yu Zhuge shouted.

I was picked up abruptly from this icy pool, crawling on the ground, lying on my stomach, moving all over, with a chilling air.

My eyebrows and lips were trembling, until a person, a very familiar person, stood straight in front of me.

Before I fully raised my head, he slapped me in the face.

"Grandpa..." I cried.

The slap my grandpa gave me woke me up.

"Niezhang! You speak crazy words, how did our zui family teach you to speak? You have never changed, such a rebellious son...Come on! Tie him up!"

"I am screwed..."

I whimpered with tears, gritted my teeth, held back, slapped, then slapped again, and slapped my face fiercely.

My cheeks went from cold to warm, but my heart was getting colder. I never thought that Grandpa would treat me like this for the sake of the overall situation and the benefit of the zui family. Instead of caring, he hated me. Because he was afraid that the zui family would not be able to sit still one day.

At that time, I thought that the Qing Dynasty was about to perish. I calmly analyzed it. Empress Dowager Cixi thought that Emperor Guangxu was already the abandoned emperor. She wanted to help Puyi go to the top. She knew that she would be blocked by various gate sects, so she wanted to overthrow the zui gate sect and satisfy her desires. From the beginning of the Opium War, the Qing Dynasty is no longer the Qing Dynasty that it used to be.

Li Xun taught me not to cry, he said before, to be strong, but he has nothing to do. What he can do is to see me off, and to bring those enthusiastic friends to watch me quietly pass away.

I squatted in the corner, looking at the ground flatly, and wiping away my tears with the corner of my clothes from time to time.

Only one woman coughed continuously.

I carefully opened the bead curtain and saw that it was my aunt who was lying on the bed.

"Aunt!"

The former zui concubine is now tortured so much that it is worse than a servant, lying sickly on the bed, crying silently. Her face was haggard, her pale face was without a trace of luster, her hands and feet were as thin as branches, and the quilt was tightly covered. She touched the messy hair and called my name slightly.

I kept rushing to the bed, and I cried, "Auntie, didn't you say that you will be fine? The zui concubine, the only woman who can fight the queen of the dynasty..."

She stretched out her tender and warm palms, slowly held my hands, and said with difficulty, "No, it’s not like this. Shenger, you have to know, even if we didn’t make any mistakes, we are in the Qing Dynasty. It's just a chess piece, my life and death are not important. So, behave, admit a mistake, kowtow, and the Queen Mother will let you do what you do. Don't compete with Gege."

"But, I don't understand why, our zui family has always been magnanimous, why do we want to stay in this palace in such a humiliating manner?" My voice trembled slightly.

She shook her head frequently: "No, you are still too young. You don't understand the mission of a family, and the survival of a family is the most important thing. I would rather sacrifice all honor and life to protect such a glorious family. You know why the zui family is the most glorious?"

"That's because the ancestors of the Zui Family have their feet on Qixing. The blood of each of our Zui Family is enough to open the door to the blood-stained city of Kyushu." I said with tears.

I wiped the remaining tears with my hand, and nodded seemingly.

In such a Qing Palace, I no longer want to continue living. Emperor Guangxu's health became worse. He often coughed constantly at night, and he did not have a son or heir to visit him. Concubine Zhen Zhen is dead. He was guarded by the queen mother, lonely and helpless.

I have been locked up in that small firewood room for three days. I thought about it a lot. I really can't stand the zui family being bullied but still bend over; I think I'm too useless, I can't get justice for myself, I can't save myself, and in the end I got into trouble.

Suddenly the door opened.

I knelt down in a hurry: "Changsheng pays homage to the emperor. I don't know if the emperor arrives, much welcome any errors."

Emperor Guangxu coughed a few times gently: "Don't bother." He motioned for the eunuch to close the door.

There were only two people in the room, me and the emperor.

"Since the wars came, I thought there was a problem with the ideological ruling committee in the palace. In fact, Concubine Zhen had also talked to me about this problem, but now she is no longer there. I don’t know who to talk to. Western thought is very advanced. Yes, but our clan system does not seem to keep up with the trend of historical development. If the reform is effective, it is estimated that it will not lead to tragedy."

I replied, "Is the emperor's visit to the shabby room just to say this? The reform and restoration failed long ago. Now the emperor's body is not as good as the day, and your have no power in his hands. I am afraid that the zui family is rendered powerless, and the reason for this situation that happens to me can be imagined."

"I know. But our committee really wants to help the Qing Dynasty. It is indispensable to change the law to become stronger. Changsheng, you have been following me for four years, and this year you are sixteen. If possible, I would like to sent you outside the palace to get married and live a life of an ordinary person."

I nodded.

I understand the meaning of Emperor Guangxu. I also thought about it at the time, but I can't abandon the zui family. The zui family raises me as an adult, but I leave them behind. This is unforgivable. If the zui family is gone, there is no need to stay any longer; this is right.

I was standing in the room, and through the window I saw the snow flakes, beautiful and colorful.

"Don't underestimate this little boy by his young age. He is very ambitious. He almost killed Queen Longyu last time; and he personally led Chun’an to the summer palace and killed him with tiles. This time his My aunt ran into the palace, and the palace must double the zui family's return."

The female officer relayed Yuzhu Gege's words to me. After listening to it, I didn't feel much surprised. I was about to lose my life in the ice pool yesterday, but my grandfather didn't know it. The zui family's grievances, and Gege's cruel heart had already put my destiny on an irremovable shackle.

The female officer said: "It is usually good for the Zuifei to be an official, and the Zuifei has also suffered these days. I am an honest official, and there is only this I can do. Master, on weekdays, you stay next to the emperor, with precious food and clothing, I thought that the Zui family had done enough for Daqing. It really shouldn't be such a crime."

I smiled and said: "Dongfeng, we are born in such a world, it is a last resort. If possible, try to save my aunt's life, and some good friends who told me are Li Xun and the others, take good care of her mother-in-law. ."

"I am clear, but what are you going to do next?"

"I'm going to do a very sacred thing. I can't stay in this palace for a long time. It is said that the zui family has its own mission since birth. However, my aunt told me that my mission is to open a door. ."

Wind and snow were blowing.

As spring goes and autumn comes, a spring breeze hits, the spring rain is precipitous, of course, it is scorching heat, the trees are shaded, and then, the wild geese returning from the north and the blood-red maple leaves alternately appear. Finally, there are a few arrogant winter plums, and zero. Scattered snowflakes.

I'm just lonely looking at the scenery outside the window. Occasionally, Linglong said a few words, and my mood was relaxed. Time flies, time flies, scenes of sadness are intertwined.

I have been under house arrest for six full years. In the past six years, I have thought about too many things, which made my heart sensitive and my thinking began to become complicated.

It was also the thirty-fourth year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty.

The autumn of that year was extremely bleak, and so did the palace. As if something is about to happen.

Accidents will happen. That day, there was no wind and no rain, and the sun never appeared on the top of the mountain.