As the saying goes, "Three hundred and sixty years of practice will lead to the top spot." No matter which industry you are in, as long as you work hard and make progress and love your job, you will definitely be rewarded. Now we have basically achieved equality for everyone, and there is no distinction between high and low professions. But in ancient times, eunuchs were the most humble profession. The vast majority of eunuchs were despised and looked down upon by others!
But even though it is such a humble profession, there are people who work hard and create a world through their unremitting efforts, just like Zhao Gao of the Qin Dynasty, who was able to reach the position of prime minister, and the last generation of the Qing Dynasty Although Li Lianying was not good-looking, with her clever mouth, she was deeply loved by the Empress Dowager Cixi, and she also achieved the position of chief eunuch, and she was very famous for a while!
When Li Lianying’s mother passed away, he held the funeral for her. It could be said to be very grand. He even held a banquet for thirty-five days in a row. The villagers also ate and drank freely for thirty-five days, even going to the funeral. The scene was very spectacular. But why did Li Lianying, who was born in poverty, have such a rich family?
In 1848, Li Lianying was born in an ordinary peasant family in Dacheng County. There were four brothers in the family, and he was the second. Although the family was not rich at first, it could still solve the problem of food and clothing, but as time went by The four brothers are getting older and eating more and more, but the family income has not improved. The food at home is becoming less and less edible, and Li Lianying's parents are also worried about this.
Just when the whole family didn’t know what to do, Li Lianying stood up and proposed that she would enter the palace to find a job. However, in those days, how could anyone in the court have the means to work in the palace? Woolen cloth? Unless, Li Lianying's father strongly opposed being a eunuch: "Why should a good man become a eunuch?" Of course, as long as they can survive, no one would want to be a eunuch!
Li Lianying replied: "The four of us brothers can't even have enough to eat now. We will have to marry and have children in the future, and we won't be able to live anymore! Someone must stand up and find a job. The eldest brother is The eldest son has to marry a wife and have children to establish a family. The third and fourth brothers are still young, so I can only go out to find errands!" Father Li felt distressed and helpless when he heard that Li Lianying, who was only seven years old, was so sensible, so he had to agree to him.
So, under the watch of her family, Li Lianying embarked on a new life journey. At the age of thirteen, Li Lianying underwent painful purification and was sent to the palace as a pawn by Prince Zheng. eunuch. At first, he was assigned to serve in the Memorial Office and Jingren Palace. Two years later, by chance, Li Lianying was transferred to serve the Empress Dowager Cixi.
For Li Lianying, this is a great opportunity given by God to change his life and the living conditions of his family. I heard that serving the Empress Dowager Cixi is the most difficult job in the palace. If you make a mistake, you will be punished and even beheaded. But at this time, in order to improve the conditions at home and to be able to break out, Li Lianying couldn't worry so much!
Li Lianying, who had just arrived at the Empress Dowager Cixi’s side, had always been cautious, fearing that she would make the Empress Dowager unhappy and lose her head, which would affect her family. But gradually, Li Lianying discovered that if she wanted to be successful, she had to walk on a knife’s edge. Blind caution would not succeed at all, so he racked his brains to make the Queen Mother see him among the many eunuchs.
Li Lianying was very smart. In order to gain the appreciation of the Queen Mother, when Li Lianying learned that the Queen Mother was troubled by her hairstyle, he went to the brothel in person and learned about the most popular hairstyles at the time. After mastering it, through the introduction of the eunuch Shen Lanyu, he successfully became a The Queen Mother was deeply impressed! Li Lianying also had a good talk and was very eloquent, which made the Empress Dowager Cixi very happy, so she was favored by the Empress Dowager!
Once, the Queen Mother wanted to reward Yang Xiaolou, a Peking Opera actor, with the character "福". However, because she had not written for a long time, she accidentally wrote the character "福" next to "SHOW". The scene was so embarrassing that the servants did not dare to remind the Queen Mother for fear of being blamed. The Queen Mother wanted to rewrite it but was afraid of losing her face. At this time, the atmosphere solidified instantly!
So, Li Lianying quickly explained, "The words given by the Queen Mother are different. They are more blessed than others. We would never dare to accept them!" The Queen Mother was very happy after hearing this, and she also found the steps. As expected, he wrote another one and gave it to Yang Xiaolou. Through Li Lianying's wit, the Empress Dowager's embarrassment was resolved, and the Empress Dowager loved him even more!
After that, the Empress Dowager trusted Li Lianying more and more and often brought him to serve him. In fact, most of the time the Empress Dowager Cixi did not regard him as a servant, but as a close friend, drinking tea together and playing with the birds. , chatting about interesting things inside and outside the palace, and sometimes making the Empress Dowager Cixi laugh. This makes the life of the Empress Dowager Cixi, who has lived in the palace for a long time, no longer boring, but more interesting!
One year, Li Lianying's mother unfortunately passed away due to illness. Li Lianying was very sad when she heard the news, so she asked the Queen Mother for leave and planned to leave the palace to handle her mother's funeral. Because she was on duty in the palace, Li Lianying basically I couldn't go home to take care of my parents and visit my brothers, so I left a lot of regrets.
The Queen Mother also knew that Li Lianying was a filial person, so she asked Li Lianying to leave the palace and gave him hundreds of thousands of taels of silver to use for funeral arrangements. After returning home, Li Lianying discussed with her brothers The brothers, who had always been diligent and thrifty, didn't want to make a fuss about how to handle the funeral, but Li Lianying disagreed. He was now a second-grade eunuch in charge, and he must let his mother go in glory!
In the end, she decided to spend all the rewards from the Queen Mother, so she set up running water mats on the long street in front of her house for thirty-five days. There were hundreds of tables, which were set up from morning to night, with various kinds of banquets. In addition to neighbors, many people eat and drink delicacies like strangers. Some people even pack them up and take them home to eat, but Li Lianying doesn't care!
To talk about how grand the banquet was, in addition to these hundreds of tables of flowing banquets, Li Lianying also placed several deep vats at the door of his home, filled with meat and mountains of steamed buns. Li Lianying spent a lot of money to find them. After burying his mother in a geomantic treasure land, he also found someone to design a mausoleum for his mother, which looked noble and grand.
During the thirty-five days of the banquet, although Li Lianying squandered all the rewards from the Empress Dowager Cixi, she also lost her glorious reputation. Li Lianying was very content. Many people thought it was unnecessary, but from a certain In a sense, Li Lianying also used this to erase the regret of not being able to take care of her mother and make herself feel better.
Li Lianying spent 550,000 taels of silver on her mother’s funeral, even 50,000 taels more than Emperor Guangxu. In an era when food was a problem, this amount of money might last an ordinary family several lifetimes. It is impossible to earn money, which is enough to prove how much Empress Dowager Cixi likes Li Lianying.
And Li Lianying was not lucky enough to soar in her career. It was through her unremitting efforts that she achieved such a high status at the time. Therefore, we must know that no matter how high or low the profession is, as long as it is If we work hard and work hard, we will definitely be rewarded!