Deep Palace past events

One word awakened the dreamer, Yang Sanhe and the old lady listened to the word "that palace lady", and their bodies couldn't help shaking. Yang Sanhe said with a horrified expression: "Don't tell me, I still forgot about that palace lady!"

The fifty-year-old eunuch Nahan said, "But she has been dead for 11 years."

The new eunuchs were all confused, Zhang Xiaomao asked: "Eunuch Yang, what do you mean by 'vegetable household'? Is it someone who grows vegetables?"

The middle-aged man next to him who had been silent all the time was too listening and couldn't help laughing, and said half-jokingly and half-seriously: "Maybe you will be lucky enough to be someone else's dish one day!"

Zhang Xiaomao said: "I'm not going to do it. If I want to grow vegetables, where can I not grow them? Why go to the palace to grow vegetables!"

The middle-aged lady was listening and smiled again, explaining: "Caihu is a man who is a court lady. Do you think we can't have women after we become eunuchs? Hehe, eunuchs are also men, and they also like women."

The new eunuchs were all shocked when they heard this.

Zhang Xiaomao said: "What? We have become eunuchs, but we can also be husbands for others?"

"Forget it, you are still young and don't understand. You will understand when you grow up in the future. Maybe after you live in the palace for a while, you will find that almost every court lady has her own household."

What the eunuch said was not nonsense.It turned out that many court ladies were selected into the palace at a young age, but only a very small number of them had the chance to be blessed by the emperor, and most of the court ladies could only work as menial laborers for life.In order to fill the emptiness of youth, a kind of deformed love has arisen between court ladies, and between court ladies and eunuchs.This is the so-called "pair food" and "vegetable household".

"Double food" refers to the combination of court ladies into a "couple" (this is actually the meaning of homosexuality in modern times).

According to legend, when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Empress Chen lost the emperor's favor because she had no children.She couldn't bear the loneliness, so she asked a court lady to change into men's clothes and live in the same room with her.

When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty found out, Longyan was furious, and immediately decreed to abolish Empress Chen and demote her to live in Changle Palace.

However, although Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty severely punished this scandal of "eating food", he could not change the reality of the centuries-old loneliness of the court ladies, so it was impossible to prevent such incidents from happening.

The phenomenon of "anti-eating" occurred in the following dynasties, and the objects of "anti-eating" gradually changed from the same sex to the opposite sex. Countless court ladies and eunuchs have established "anti-eating" relationships.

In the Ming Dynasty, the custom of "pairing food" in the palace became more prosperous.And "Taishi" also has a new name, namely "Caihu"——

"Palace people who have no children, each chooses the inner eunuch as a partner, which is called a vegetable household. Their property is connected as a family, and they love each other like a couple."

This situation is also recorded in detail in "Wanli Ye Huo Bian" written by Shen Defu of the Ming Dynasty: "There are few people without spouses in the inner palace, and they have been prosperous for decades. Gai Xianchao was a private period. Let's not talk about it, but it's not the case today, singing and returning, just like couples outside."

It can be seen that the matter of "pairing food" has been fully disclosed in the Ming Dynasty.In fact, in the palace of the Ming Dynasty, if a court lady could not find the "caihu" for a long time, she would definitely be ridiculed by others.

Because there are too many court ladies and eunuchs, and most of the court ladies and eunuchs do not know each other, a kind of matchmaker appeared in the palace, and they specially matched the court ladies and eunuchs.

Once the court lady and the eunuch enter into an agreement, they will meet each other and make an oath of eternal love.If one party dies first, the other party should also be unworthy for the rest of his life, in order to protect Yi Festival.

In fact, most of the court ladies and eunuchs are very affectionate, and most of them can keep their promises.However, there are also a few people who are half-hearted, facing Qin Muchu, riding two boats or even four boats, five boats, ten boats, and a hundred boats.Therefore, court ladies and eunuchs will be trapped by love and jealousy just like ordinary people.

The Hakka family, the wet nurse of Emperor Zhu Youxiao of the Ming Dynasty, had such scandals:

The Ke family is very promiscuous, she originally had a "vegetable household", that is, Wang Guocheng, the eunuch in charge of the Bingzhan Bureau.But later Keshi empathized with other people and secretly had an affair with Wei Zhongxian.

One night, Keshi and Wei Zhongxian were having fun in the Qianqing Palace, when Wang Guocheng bumped into him and found out, so the two eunuchs fought for Keshi.

The sound of their fighting startled Zhu Youxiao, and the three shameless men and women were so frightened that they knelt down to accept the punishment.Unexpectedly, Zhu Youxiao asked Ke Shi with a smile: "Nurse, whoever you want to be with, just say it, and I will end it for you."

As a result, the Ke family chose Wei Zhongxian, so Wang Guocheng was beheaded.

It can be seen from this that the phenomenon of court ladies having "vegetable households" in the Ming Palace has been completely open and common.

Not only court ladies, but even some concubines.There are also some daring eunuchs who even try to become the queen's "vegetable household"——

After Zhu Youxiao died, the young Empress Yi'an lived in Ciqing Palace as a widow.Chen Derun, Wei Zhongxian's old party member and newly-appointed director of internal affairs, coveted Empress Yi'an's beauty, so he bribed a court lady next to the empress to help seduce Empress Yi'an, and called him into Ciqing Palace to be her "sister" Vegetable household".

Empress Yi'an has an elegant and dignified character, she was very ashamed and annoyed after hearing this, and immediately demoted the maid from the palace.

Chen Derun's heart was not dead, but later he forcibly broke into Empress Yi'an's bedroom, wanting to molest her.As a result, he was demoted to Xiaoling to grow vegetables, and became a veritable vegetable farmer.

In short, the phenomenon of "vegetable households" in the Ming Palace is very common, and there is no shyness about it.The emperor also adopted an attitude of acquiescence and even open permission.

Sometimes the emperor would ask the court ladies who the "caihu" was in public, and the court ladies who were asked did not hide it and told the truth.

Yang Sanhe thought about it for a while, before Shensi came back to reality, and said: "Maybe you think too much, it's just a coincidence that they have all been her cooks."

The fifty-year-old eunuch also said: "Yes, Kou Deqing disappeared more than ten years ago, and the fifth girl has also died for 11 years. How could Eunuch An have anything to do with her?"

The middle-aged eunuch looked very curious when he saw Yang Fan, Zhang Xiaomao and the other three eunuchs who had just entered the palace, and said in a low voice: "She was originally a good girl, but it's a pity that good people don't get rewarded..."

Before finishing his sentence, Yang Kaihe scolded: "You Bahuang, are you impatient? If this word reaches the emperor, you won't be afraid..."

You Bahuang's face turned pale when he heard this, and he defended in panic: "Eunuch Yang, I, I don't mean that what the emperor said was wrong, I mean... I originally meant that she turned out to be a good girl, but it's a pity Later... alas!"

Yang Kaihe glanced at the other two old eunuchs, and said in a low voice: "Of course we know that you don't mean that, but it's better not to say this, in case outsiders overhear and misunderstand what you mean, you can It will be a disaster!"

Ma Shushu also said: "Yes, it doesn't matter if we misunderstood you, as long as the emperor does not misunderstand, otherwise you will really jump into the Yellow River and you will not be able to wash yourself away!"

The more they comforted you, the more frightened You Bahuang felt, and even burst into tears. He knelt down on the spot, bowed to the old and new eunuchs, and said with a mournful face: "Everyone, please don't misunderstand me, what is my surname You?" , Dare to disrespect the holy majesty? Please believe me, I kowtow to everyone!" He said and kowtowed to everyone.

Yang Fan, Zhang Xiaomao and other new eunuchs are new to the palace, they don't know how deep the water is in the palace, seeing You Bahuang frightened the shit out of him, they are both funny and sympathetic.

Yang Kaihe said: "Okay, don't be like this, we all know that you have no disrespect to the emperor, if you beg us like this, it will easily cause others to misunderstand."

After You Bahuang listened, he sat down again.He added: "Your life is all on everyone's shoulders. From now on, I just hope you don't talk nonsense to others."

Yang Kaihe and the other old eunuchs all hurriedly said "that's too serious", although they were all comforting him, but each of them had a strange pleasure in their hearts that they had caught the other's handle.

Although the other new eunuchs were puzzled and strange, Yang Fan asked, "May I ask that the fifth girl you mentioned...has committed some serious crime?"

Several old eunuchs looked at each other speechlessly, Yang Kaihe said: "The emperor said that she is not chaste, it is her own fault."

Ma Shushu let out a long sigh and said: "Of course what the emperor said is correct, but when the fifth girl first entered the palace, she was... very good, a good person. I remember that when she first entered the palace, she was assigned to do odd jobs in the imperial dining room. She was a very diligent little girl."

The fifty-year-old eunuch also said: "Yes, I can still remember her appearance at that time: everyone else went to play, but she was alone in the laundry room helping everyone wash clothes, bedding, even shoes and socks. It seems that I can never finish washing, and I see that she has a big basin of things to wash every day!"

Ma wrote a wry smile, "She's actually stupid enough, even if she wants to learn how to cook, she doesn't have to wash clothes for all the maids in the royal dining room!"

Ma wrote the book and said suddenly: "I analyzed that she suddenly lost her mind and became a lunatic, probably because of Kou Deqing's disappearance."

Yang Kaihe and the old lady felt the same way after listening, and they sighed for a moment.

Seeing that they stopped talking, Yang Fan couldn't help asking: "What does Kou Deqing do in the palace?"

Yang Kaihe sighed, and said: "Kou Deqing is also an eunuch doing odd jobs in the imperial dining room. Originally, he is very short, and he doesn't like to talk, so he is not good enough for Miss Wu. But maybe it's because he is near the water and gets the moon first." , so he became the fifth girl's vegetable household."

Zhang Xiaomao asked: "How did Kou Deqing disappear?"

Yang Kaihe smiled wryly: "Some people say that he escaped from the palace by himself, others said that he was killed, and some even said that he escaped from the palace with Miss Liao. Who knows the truth?"

Yang Fan and the other new wives were surprised when they listened, and asked in unison, "Who is Miss Liao?"

"It's also a court lady who works in the imperial dining room. She has a bad relationship with Miss Wu, and the two have had a few big fights. I heard that Kou Deqing, Miss Liao, Miss Wu, and An Datong are jealous of each other, and their relationship has been constant. I can't figure it out. A few days before Kou Deqing disappeared, he threatened people that one day he would let An Datong know how powerful he was. He even said that a gentleman's revenge is not too late in ten years, which is very strange. Within a few days , Miss Liao and Kou Deqing disappeared at the same time."

Ma Shushu coughed lightly, and suddenly interjected: "The night they disappeared, just like Mr. An's disappearance last night, there was thunder and rain."

"Ah, in this way, Eunuch An may not have disappeared, but was stolen into the palace by Kou Deqing or Miss Liao and assassinated!"

Everyone was wondering, when suddenly someone outside the door said loudly: "Have you heard that Eunuch An was killed!"

Everyone was shocked. When they looked at it, they saw that the person speaking was an unknown eunuch.

Yang Kaihe stood up in surprise and asked, "What did you say? Eunuch An was killed?"

"I also heard from others that a headless corpse was found in the innermost hidden place of the icehouse! Although there was no head, there was a large birthmark on the back of the corpse, which was the same as the birthmark on Eunuch An's back. That's why people recognized that corpse as Mr. An! The people in the imperial pharmacy all went to watch the excitement. Do you want to go and see it too?"

Yang Kaihe and Ma Shushu said in unison: "Let's go and have a look."

The old and new eunuchs hurriedly put on their bamboo hats like they were robbing for gold, and followed the eunuch from the imperial pharmacy towards the icehouse.

Yang Fan thought while running: "Eunuch An's body was hidden in the ice storage by the murderer, so who is buried behind the clean room?"