Chapter 8 between mother and child

I entered the palace and adopted Tongzhi and Guangxu as sons, and both Tongzhi's and Guangxu's wives became my mother.I inherited Tongzhi and also promoted Guangxu. It is said that the orthodoxy is on Tongzhi's side, but Guangxu's queen, Empress Dowager Longyu, doesn't care about this.She used the authority of the queen mother to put the three concubines Yu, Xun, and Yan of Tongzhi who dared to argue with her on this issue into the cold palace, and she did not count them as my mother at all.Guangxu's Concubine Jin also did not get the treatment of a concubine.When a family sat down for dinner, Longyu and I were sitting, but she had to stand.It wasn't until the day of Longyu's death that the three concubines of Tongzhi and Concubine Jin joined forces to reason with the princes, and only then did they clarify the identity of the concubine.From that day on, I called them all Queen Mothers.

Although I have had so many mothers, I have never had real maternal love.Looking back today, the greatest concern they showed for me was the delivery of food for each meal and listening to the eunuchs report on my success and so on. In fact, when I was a child, I couldn't get into the incense.I have had stomach problems since I was a child, and the reason for my illness may be related to maternal love.When I was six years old, I once ate too much chestnuts and I couldn't bear it. For more than a month, Queen Mother Longyu only allowed me to eat rice porridge, even though I complained every day that I was hungry, no one cared.I remember one day when I was swimming in Zhongnanhai, the Queen Mother asked someone to bring dry steamed buns for me to feed the fish.I couldn't help it for a while, so I stuffed the steamed buns into my mouth.Not only did my starving look not make Longyu come to his senses, but it made her put on stricter precautions.The more vigilant they are, the more it stimulates my desire to grab food and drink.One day, the royal palaces sent tributes to the Queen Mother [1], and they stopped on Xichang Street, and I saw them.Relying on an instinct, I went straight to one of the food boxes, opened the lid and saw that the food box was full of sauced elbows, I grabbed one and bit it.The eunuch who followed was shocked and hurried to grab it.Although I tried my best to resist, because I was small and weak, my delicious elbow was snatched away as soon as it reached my mouth.

After I resumed my normal diet, I was often unavoidable.Once I ate six spring pancakes in a row, and a eunuch in charge found out.He was afraid that I would be supported by spring pancakes, so he invented a way to digest food in a whimsical way, and asked two eunuchs to lift my arms from side to side, and trampled me on the brick floor for a while.Afterwards, they were very satisfied, saying that I didn't ask the spring pancakes to support me, and it was all thanks to the treatment method. This may be considered an unreasonable thing, but there are more unreasonable things than this.Before I was eight or nine years old, whenever I was irritable and tormented by losing my temper, my chief eunuch Zhang Qianhe or Ruan Jinshou would make the diagnosis and treatment like this: Lord Long Live has fire in his heart, let’s sing and sing to defeat the fire. .As he said that, he pushed me into a small room, most of which was the room with fur stools in Yuqing Palace, and then locked the door behind him.I was locked in solitary confinement, no matter how much I yelled, kicked the door, begged, and cried, no one paid any attention to me. They didn't release me until I had cried enough.This kind of strange diagnosis and treatment is not arbitrarily arbitrary by the eunuchs, nor is it the personal invention of the Queen Mother Longyu, but a tradition of the royal family. My younger brothers and sisters have all received such treatment in the palace.

Empress Dowager Longyu died when I was eight years old.That is all I can recall from my kindness to her. The four concubines have been with me for a long time.The four concubines and I rarely see each other.Sit together and talk, and make out for a while like ordinary people, never before.Every morning, I have to pay my respects in front of every concubine.Everywhere I went, the eunuch put down the yellow satin kneeling mat for me, and I knelt down, then stood aside, waiting for the concubine's routine words.At this time, the concubine was asking the eunuch to comb her hair, and while combing, she asked: How is the emperor resting?It's cold, so put on more clothes.Where did the book go?It was all the same boring words, and sometimes I was given some clay figurines and the like, and at the end there was always a sentence: "Let's play, the emperor!"The day's meeting is over, and this day will never meet again.

The empress dowagers and concubines call me emperor, as do my own parents and grandmother.Everyone else calls me the emperor.Although I also have a name and a baby name, I have never called it by any mother.I've heard it said that when everyone thinks of their baby name, they think of childhood and motherly love.I have no such association.Someone told me that when he was away from home to study, whenever he fell ill, he would miss his mother and think of the caress he received in his mother's arms during his childhood illness.It is not uncommon for me to get sick as an adult, and I also remembered that when I was young, I would always be visited by the concubine, but it didn't arouse any nostalgia for me at all.

When I was young, I often caught a cold when it was cold.At this time, the toffees appeared in batches.Everyone came with those few words: Is the emperor better?Are you sweating?After two or three minutes, he left.What impressed me the most was the group of eunuchs who followed me, which would always fill my small bedroom.Within a few minutes, every exit and entry must cause a change in the air flow in the room.As soon as the concubine left, the second lady came and filled the room again.Four in and four out in one day, and the airflow changes four times.Fortunately, my illness is always cured the next day, and the bedroom is peaceful.

Every time I get sick, the pharmacy in Yonghe Palace decocts medicine.Yonghe Palace is the place where Concubine Duankang lives. Her pharmacy is better equipped than those in other concubine palaces, and she inherited it from Empress Dowager Longyu.Concubine Duankang also controlled me a lot, as if she had replaced Longyu's original position.This phenomenon that does not conform to the precedent of Qing Dynasty is due to Yuan Shikai's intervention.After Longyu's death, Yuan Shikai proposed to the House of Internal Affairs of the Qing Dynasty that the four concubines of Tong and Guang should be given Jin titles and honorary titles, and he acknowledged that Concubine Jin was the first among the four concubines.Why Yuan Shikai meddled in such nosy business, I don't know.Some people say that this is due to the activities of Concubine Jin's natal brother Zhiqi, but I don't know if it is true.All I know is that my father Zaifeng and other princes accepted this intervention, and conferred honorary titles (Jingyi, Zhuanghe) on Yu and Concubine Xun (Jingyi, Zhuanghe). Ronghui, Duankang); Duankang became my chief mother, and from then on, she became more and more strict with me until a big conflict broke out.

I grew up to the age of thirteen or fourteen under the care of four mothers, and like other children, I like new things very much.In order to please me, some eunuchs bought me some interesting things from outside from time to time.Once, an eunuch made me a great suit worn by the generals of the Republic of China. There was a plume like a white chicken feather on the hat, as well as a saber and a belt.I dressed up and looked very pleased with myself.Unexpectedly, when Duan Kang found out, she was furious. After a while of inspection, she found out that I was still wearing foreign socks bought by the eunuch. Li Chang'an and Li Yannian called them to Yonghe Palace, beat them with 200 slabs each, and sent them to the cleaning office to serve as hard labor.The eunuch called me again after I was punished, and reprimanded me: The emperor of the Qing Dynasty wore the clothes of the Republic of China, and he also wore foreign socks. Is this still plausible?As a last resort, I packed up my beloved military uniform and foreign knife, took off my foreign socks, and changed into trousers and cotton socks embroidered with dragon patterns.

If Duankang's discipline on me was limited to military uniforms and foreign socks, I would not necessarily have the subsequent disrespectful behavior.Because this kind of discipline can only make me feel that I am different from ordinary people, and I can better match the education of Yuqing Palace.I believe it was for this educational purpose that she gave the eunuch a slap and reprimanded me.But this Concubine Jin, who wholeheartedly wanted to imitate Empress Dowager Cixi, even though her own sister Concubine Zhen died at the hands of Cixi, Cixi was still regarded by her as a role model.She not only learned how to beat eunuchs severely, but also learned how to send eunuchs to monitor the emperor.After she sent people like Li Changan and Li Yannian around me, she sent the eunuchs around her to my Hall of Mental Cultivation to serve me.This eunuch has to go to her every day to report my every move, just like the Empress Dowager treated Guangxu.No matter what her purpose was, this greatly hurt the emperor's self-esteem.My teacher Chen Baochen was outraged by this, and told me a set of theories about the distinction between concubine and concubine, which aroused the anger I was holding back even more.

Not long after, a doctor named Fan Yimei was dismissed by Duan Kang in the big hospital, which became the fuse of the outbreak.Dr. Fan is one of the doctors who treated Duankang. This matter has nothing to do with me, but at this time, there were many inspiring comments in my ears.Teacher Chen said: As a concubine, it is too much to be good at it.Zhang Qianhe, the chief eunuch who was originally an informer who bought military uniforms and foreign socks, also became an imperial party at this time, and made the same injustice: Hasn't Long live God become Guangxu again?Besides, the matter of the big hospital has to be decided by the Lord Long Live!Even slaves can't see it.After hearing these words, my excitement immediately rose to the peak, and I ran to the Yonghe Palace angrily, and when I saw Duankang, I shouted:

Why did you resign Fan Yimei?You are so good at it!Am I the emperor?Who keeps what they say?Really good at it! I yelled loudly, and ran out with a flick of my sleeves, regardless of what Duan Kang, who was turning pale with anger, said.Back at Yuqing Palace, the masters all praised me for a while. The distraught Concubine Duankang didn't look for me, but ordered my father and several other princes to be found, and cried out to them, asking them to make up their minds.None of these princes dared to make an idea.When I heard the news, I called them into the upper study [2] and said impassionedly: Who is she?But a concubine.In all the dynasties of this dynasty, no emperor has ever called his concubine Er Niang!Do you want the distinction between concubine and concubine?If not, why would Pu Jie not care about the prince's side Fujin and call out?Why do I have to call her and listen to her? These princes heard me yell for a while, but still didn't say anything. Concubine Jingyi is at odds with Duankang.At this moment, she specially came to tell me: I heard that the Yonghe Palace will invite wives and grandma [three], the emperor should pay attention! Sure enough, both my grandmother and mother were called by Duan Kang.She couldn't do anything to the princes, but it worked when she yelled at my grandmother and mother, especially my grandmother was terribly frightened, and finally knelt down with my mother and begged her to calm down, and agreed to persuade me to make amends.When I went to the side hall of Yonghe Palace, I saw my grandmother and mother. I heard Duankang was still yelling in the main hall. I wanted to argue, but my grandmother and mother wept and begged and begged. Finally, I softened and agreed to them. I went to Duankang to make amends. This doesn't bother me.I walked up to Duankang, greeted her without even looking at her, and said vaguely, "Ms. Huang Er, I was wrong, so I came out again."Duankang lost face and stopped crying.Two days later, I heard the news that my mother committed suicide. It is said that my mother has never been reprimanded by others since she was a child.She has a very strong personality and cannot stand this stimulation.When she returned from the palace, she swallowed opium.Later, Duankang was worried that I would pursue her, so he changed his attitude towards me from then on. Not only did he no longer control me, but he became very easy-going.As a result, the family in the Forbidden City returned to the tranquility of the past, and the mother-child relationship between me and the concubines was also restored.However, my biological mother was sacrificed. [1] Every royal residence will send food to the Queen Mother on the first and fifteenth day of each month.author [2] The upper study room is where the prince studies, on the left side of the Qianqing Palace. [3] Manchu people call their grandmothers their wives and their mothers their grandmothers.