At half past five in the morning, the female official beside Cixi gently called: "Ancestor, it's half past five!" If he had slept well last night, Cixi would have gotten up immediately, and if he had not slept well, he would have loudly scolded the female official: "Go away, let me rest for a while, I didn't let you call me at half past five, I said six." ”
Asking the Empress Dowager to get up is the most feared thing for female officials, and when they encounter the Empress Dowager's anger, they will scold a few words at light and be beaten at worst.
The palace maids and queens in the palace all have to get up before five o'clock or five, and modern people still don't think about it after eight or nine o'clock.
After the Queen Mother got up, she simply dressed, that is, she dressed up. At this time, there will be a special female official to make the bed for the Empress Dowager, and the female official will use a small brush to brush the exquisite carved wooden bed, then put on a layer of felt, spread three thick layers of yellow satin, and finally lay a sheet embroidered with exquisite patterns. The mattresses were taken to the courtyard by eunuchs every day to dry.
The Empress Dowager generally combed her hair first and then washed her face, and when combing her hair, the eunuch could not get rid of a single hair, otherwise he would be punished. Young people losing their hair seems to be a normal thing today, not to mention the old man, the eunuch who combs his hair is very powerful.
After washing her face, the Queen Mother will dry her face with a soft towel, spray it with flower dew made of honey and petals, and pour some fragrant powder. After a long grooming process, it's time to choose jewelry.
Cixi has a room dedicated to her favorite jewelry, and there are 3,000 boxes of jewelry in the room, which are just some of her favorites, and some are stored in other rooms. In the face of favorite jewelry, the Queen Mother generally remembers the storage location, and the female official who keeps these must remember the location of the jewelry clearly, in fact, it is generally indicated outside the box.
It is also very particular about the wearing of jewelry, and jewelry is generally matched with clothes. After choosing the jewelry, the imperial lady will bring a few clothes for her to choose, and if she is not satisfied, let her take more to choose. Every piece of the Queen Mother's dress is very gorgeous and valuable, and it is embellished with pearls and gemstones.
If there is any special festival in the palace, you need to wear clothes of the corresponding color of the festival, and all the female relatives in the palace are the same.
In his later years, Cixi generally lived in the Summer Palace and only lived in the Forbidden City during festivals or events. During the four or five days of staying, her palace maid had to prepare more than fifty clothes, and it took two hours just to fill the box.
After dressing, the emperor came over at this time to ask for peace. Almost every day, the emperor and the concubines of the harem asked the empress dowager for peace.
Cixi sat on the imperial throne, and the little eunuch handed the yellow sealed bags to the Empress Dowager one by one, and the Empress Dowager used a knife made of ivory to open the bags and take them out and slowly browsed them.
After browsing, the eunuch handed it to the emperor, and after the emperor read it, he put the fold back into the special box, and the whole process was extremely silent.
Just after watching the performance, the chief manager Li Lianying knelt on the ground and reported: The palanquin is ready, please ask the Queen Mother to get up.
The emperor, empress, and palace maids came out in turn according to their rank, and the eunuchs and palace ladies each performed their duties and followed closely with various things.
The early dynasty began, the empress and her female dependents waited with bated breath behind the screen, the empress dowager and the emperor and ministers discussed state affairs, the emperor generally did not speak, sometimes the empress dowager would ask the emperor: "Does the emperor think this is okay?" The emperor said, "Good! "During the Guangxu Emperor, it was always Empress Dowager Cixi who was in power.
After the end of the early dynasty, the Empress Dowager would walk around the garden or lake, at which time several well-trained palace maids would bring the Empress Dowager mirror, and the Empress Dowager would remove the heavy headdress, leaving only an ordinary bun, and insert simple beaded flowers, of course, the eunuch carried the Empress Dowager's jewelry box.
When walking, there will be special eunuchs carrying stools wrapped in yellow satin by the Empress Dowager, eunuchs with cloaks, eunuchs with stoves, water and tea, so that they can rest and drink tea at any time when they are tired of walking.
At a small pavilion, someone served exquisite snacks and fruits, amounting to about 18 plates, and after the Empress Dowager ate a few bites, she would give the remaining snacks and fruits to the female official or palace eunuch.
After eating fruit for a while, lunch is more hearty than dim sum.
The Queen Mother did not have a fixed place to eat, but ate wherever she liked. Of course, these were all prepared for her by the eunuchs, and there were one hundred and fifty dishes for lunch.
The tableware is generally silver, and the dishes are served in yellow cutlery that shows their identity. There are many dishes on the table, pork alone is made in more than a dozen different ways, as well as lamb, other poultry, game, vegetables, various soups, pasta, etc.
After the Empress Dowager finished eating, the Empress, female officials, and palace maids came in to eat the rest. According to court etiquette, they could only eat standing up, and the queen was no exception. I have to say that there are so many rules in the palace, and the meals eaten by the palace maids are almost cold.
After the meal, the Empress Dowager would have a special eunuch bring tea on a tray for her, and the eunuch knelt down to lift the tray to ensure that the Empress Dowager could reach the teacup.
After lunch is the Empress Dowager's lunch break, and there are still palace maids waiting by the side during the nap, or pinching their legs or fanning.
When the Queen Mother slept at night, there were 6 eunuchs standing on the cold floor outside the hall, and they would not be able to sleep all night. In the bedroom, there were two eunuchs, two palace maidens, two concubines, and sometimes two female officials, who also could not sleep all night.
In the palace, the first and fifteenth festivals of the first year of the first year of the first year and the fifteenth festival will sing on the stage, the members of the opera team are usually eunuchs, and the drama repertoire is also rehearsed by the eunuchs, and sometimes the empress dowager will also participate in the eunuchs' drama rehearsals and put forward their own opinions.
The theater has five floors, and there are three large houses in the middle of the theater, which are the places where the Empress Dowager watches the play, and on both sides are low small houses, which are the places where the princes and ministers received special gifts to accompany the Empress Dowager to watch the play.
Two of the three large houses served as the living room of the Queen Mother, and the Queen Mother had her dressing room anywhere in the palace, and one was a bedroom with a large bed in the bedroom, and the Queen Mother could sit or lie down according to her preferences.
There are many sacrifices and festivals in the palace, the birthdays of the Empress Dowager and the Emperor will be celebrated for several days, and the Empress's birthday will also be celebrated for a few days, but it is a little less than the Empress Dowager.
On the birthday of the Empress Dowager or the Emperor, she first went to visit the ancestors and the Emperor, then the ministers or palace people accompanied by music to pay tribute to the birthday, and finally watched the play. The festival process in the palace is mostly like this.
Whether it is the birthday of the Empress Dowager or the Emperor, the queen concubines, palace female eunuchs, etc. in the palace must prepare birthday gifts for the birthday person.
The birthday gift will indicate who gave what, and the Queen Mother will check the gifts given to her by others one by one and write them down one by one. Whoever takes it seriously and who is perfunctory, the Queen Mother will give rewards in the same perfunctory or serious way.
If it did not rain for several months, the Queen Mother would be worried, worried that the crops in the field would die of drought, and many people would starve to death. At this time, the Empress Dowager would ask the emperor to lead the empress and other palace people to eat vegetarian food and pray for rain, which lasted until the day of the rain.
This is a bit surprising that Empress Dowager Cixi, who suppressed the Boxers, controlled the emperor, and lived a luxurious life, would worry about the people.
Lantern Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Qiqiao Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, La Ba Festival, Spring Festival plus the birthday of the Empress Dowager Emperor, the death day of the first emperor and other festivals in the palace must decorate the palace, prepare sacrifices, prepare gifts, etc., now it seems that harem life is not boring at all, but very busy.
When there were no festivals, the Empress Dowager would lead the Empress and others to climb the mountains and lakes, plant flowers and vegetables, and occasionally receive foreign envoys.
Empress Dowager Cixi paid great attention to etiquette and gave people a sense of kindness and gentleness out of courtesy. She was very concerned about what others thought of her, and whenever she received a foreign envoy to reward others, she would ask the palace eunuchs what others thought of her and whether they were happy when they accepted the reward.
In the past, I always felt that the concubines of the palace did not have a mobile phone network and had nothing to do all day, so they would try their best to fight for favors in the palace, but now it seems that they are actually quite busy, and the palace eunuchs who take care of them are even busier.
A woman who has been in charge of the Qing Dynasty for nearly half a century, as a ruler, she may care about the lives of the people, hope that the country will strengthen itself, and pay attention to the image of the country. But it's true that the general's money is used for his birthday, and it's also true that the loser is.