Chapter 29 Invest in what the owner likes and win the favor

Li Lianying received grace and rewards for combing Concubine Yi's hair, he was very proud of himself, he couldn't help feeling a little arrogant and contemptuous of others, thinking that he was better than anyone else.Although he didn't dare to put on airs with An Dehai and other chief eunuchs and masters, he looked down on the little eunuchs and maids of Chuxiu Palace, thinking that he could do it himself and no one else could. Originally, these people were not convinced by Li Lianying's success, but now Li Lianying actually bullied them instead, so they always wanted to find an opportunity to teach Li Lianying a lesson.As the saying goes, if you often walk by the river, you will inevitably get your shoes wet.This day finally let the little eunuchs wait.

One morning, Li Lianying came out after combing Concubine Yi's hair. Two young eunuchs were playing with Prince Zaichun (that is, Tongzhi).At this time, Zai Chun had just turned two years old and was learning to speak, but he could not express himself clearly.At the moment, he is running around in the yard having a good time.Li Lianying also often plays funny faces with him to make him laugh.Cixi didn't know it, and thought that her son was destined to be with Li Lianying, and often praised Li Lianying for being able to coax children. Seeing Zai Chun today, Li Lianying wanted to make Zai Chun like her, so she bent down and made a face at Zai Chun.His action happened to be discovered by a young eunuch named Shun Cheng, who was taking care of Zai Chun.Li Lianying made a funny face, and Shuncheng wanted to frame Li Lianying.So, taking advantage of his unpreparedness, he gave Zai Chun a hard twist on the back.How could Zai Chun, who was usually spoiled and pampered, suffer such grievances? He immediately groaned, fell to the ground and burst into tears.

When the emperor's son cries, does this kill Cixi?She also didn't care about being graceful and graceful, and rushed over in three steps at a time, quickly helped her with her hands, and asked anxiously: "What's wrong?"what happened? When such an accident happened suddenly, the maids and eunuchs were all terrified, and ran over to help and coax them, making a mess.Don't blame these people for panicking. Needless to say, Concubine Yi, her son is the flesh that fell from her body, and it is the only thing she can rely on now and in the future.As for the maids and eunuchs, the young master Zai Chun was playing and crying in Chuxiu Palace, if there were some mistakes, it would be terrible.Zaichun is the emperor's only son, the only seedling.In the event of a mistake, Long Yan, the Long Live Lord, would be furious, and no one would be able to live.

Although Li Lianying had seen the big scene, she was quite frightened. She thought it was her making a face that made Zai Chun, the concubine's baby, cry. Chun was frightened and cried.He never dreamed that everyone was playing with him, so he became a scapegoat in a daze. Li Lianying thought that she could easily overcome this hurdle based on the trust relationship she had built up by combing Cixi's hair over the past few months.In fact, he was wrong. This incident made him understand that a slave will always be a slave. The difference is that he is a slave who can make his master happy.

When Cixi heard that it was Li Lianying who had frightened the child, she immediately scolded him and mercilessly gave Li Lianying two mouths.Sure enough, Li Lianying acted according to the wind, he was hit in the mouth, neither cried nor kowtowed for mercy.After Cixi finished beating, she also thanked Cixi for teaching her a lesson, and advised her to be careful to flash her hands, which would tire her body. Just in time, Zai Chun saw that it was fun for Cixi to beat Li Lianying, so he finally grinned.Seeing that her son laughed, and that Li Lianying hadn't made any serious mistakes, Cixi's anger was mostly relieved, but she still warned Li Lianying not to play casually with Zaichun in the future.

Don't look at how many times Li Lianying got slapped, she thought she was lucky, it was only because the imperial concubine didn't pass the stick to be beaten, she just slapped her a few times with her own hands. An Dehai hurriedly pleaded guilty to his master, because An Dehai was Li Lianying's teacher and was guilty of lax education, so he came to plead guilty.For An Dehai's sake, Cixi did not take deep responsibility.But An Dehai convened a meeting of the eunuchs, reemphasizing the seriousness of the matter and asking everyone not to take it lightly. Although the incident of Zai Chun being frightened and crying was not a big deal, it taught Li Lianying a deep lesson.From then on, he served Cixi and the young master more carefully.Not only that, but he also tried to figure out Cixi's diet, daily life and various interests and hobbies more carefully, trying to grasp her points of interest, so that he could keep pace in front of Cixi.

Li Lianying saw that An Dehai often presented Cixi with strange and rare things to win Cixi's favor, so she felt that she could not give Cixi such precious things to make Cixi pay attention to herself.Only by serving Cixi more diligently can he ensure that his position will not be replaced. Not only that, he also actively sought various opportunities to show his loyalty to Cixi.On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival in the ninth year of Xianfeng (1859), Cixi was in a good mood, so she summoned the eunuchs and maids on duty to accompany her to enjoy the moon in the courtyard, and gave each of them a few mooncakes for everyone to eat.

All the other court ladies and eunuchs ate the mooncakes gratefully, but Li Lianying remained silent and refused to eat the mooncakes.His behavior made Cixi very puzzled, so she asked him why he didn't eat.Li Lianying actually wanted to go home. He said tearfully that he had been in the palace for so many years, had never been home to see his parents, and hadn't tasted the corn grits made by his mother for a long time. Parents ate, begging Cixi to allow him to go home.Cixi was very moved after hearing this, but did not agree to let him go back.In fact, Li Lianying didn't really want to go home, but tested Cixi through this confession.He knew that Cixi had a habit of always drinking half a bowl of corn grits after meals.Li Lianying failed to achieve his goal in name. In fact, he already knew that Cixi had no objection to his offer of corn grits, and that was enough.

Li Lianying sent a letter to his family, asking them to bring him some corn grits. Li Lianying's family also knew that he was appreciated by Empress Dowager Cixi in the palace. At this time, although the court was troubled both internally and externally, Cixi's four-year-old son Zaichun could already speak. Therefore, Cixi often pushed aside those annoying political affairs and played with his youngest son in a refreshing mood.Seeing that Cixi was in a good mood recently, Li Lianying took the opportunity of brushing her hair and said that his parents had brought some corn grits from the countryside to honor their master, but he wondered if they would be willing to show respect and bring them into the palace.

Firstly, Cixi was happy, and secondly, she liked this thing at first, so she nodded in agreement and praised Li Lianying a few words.In this way, Li Lianying's carefully planned move was finally realized.