Chapter 58: Zuo Chengtian Xiangfu Gate
February 15th
Shi Quanbin heaved a sigh of relief when he saw the group of exorcists had gone away. He looked at Shen Kuo, who still looked confused, and shook his head.
"Mr. Shen, if I hadn't called you just now, you would have almost bumped into this 'Fang Xiangshi'."
"Clash with Fang Xiangshi?"
"This Nuo ritual is also called exorcism. It is to exorcise all evil spirits. When the Nuo master starts dancing, the four gates of the palace will be closed tightly, and all evil spirits will be driven to the 'Fang Xiangshi'. In the afternoon, the city gates will be opened to leave the palace, and then go out of the south gate of Tokyo City. You must 'bury the evil spirits' in an undisclosed place outside the south of the city, and then burn paper and worship. Only then can the exorcism be considered complete."
Shen Kuo continued to look confused, not understanding what this had to do with his conflict with "Fang Xiangshi".
Seeing Shen Kuo's confused face, Shi Quanbin continued, "So, this leader, 'Fang Xiang', has the most evil energy. Everyone should stay away from him. Not to mention touching him, even if you stand in the downwind direction and get blown by the wind, you will be considered to have been contaminated by evil spirits, and you will inevitably suffer bad luck for several months."
"Thank you for saving me." Shen Kuo decided to acknowledge this favor first, even though he didn't believe that being contaminated by evil spirits would bring bad luck.
"This Nuo dance magician from Kuizhou is quite powerful. Can you see how hideous her mask looks? It is said that she is the second concubine of Emperor Huang. Her name is...what is it? The emperor mentioned her yesterday. Look at my memory..."
"But call her Mo Mu?" Shen Kuo asked.
"Yes, she is called Mu Mu. Master Shen is indeed a scholar."
"This 'Xiangfang' from Kuizhou also has some history. Her magic lies in the mask she wears. It is said that if she takes it off and shows it to others, her magic will be reduced. So in order to prevent the magic from dissipating, no one has seen her true appearance for several years."
Shi Quanbin said with saliva flying, not knowing where he heard it.
"My dear, if I don't take off this veil, how can I eat?" Xu Chong thought of a difficult problem.
"Of course you have to take it off when you eat, but you can't let outsiders see it. This morning, the great Nuo master came to see the emperor without taking off her mask, which was originally very disrespectful. However, the emperor knew the details and naturally didn't get angry. Instead, he was looking forward to her being able to eliminate all the bad luck in the new year."
"This Nuo master is indeed magical. Judging from her figure, she looks like a delicate woman."
"Many Nuo masters in the south have women with great magic skills. They can communicate with yin and yang and have the ability to subdue evil spirits. Did you see that she has a finger missing on her right hand? It was because she was injured by the evil spirit when she was subduing the demon in Shaanxi. The magic bell was also injured that day, leaving a mark. It is said that the demon that was subdued that day was sealed in this bell."
"It's so... magical..."
"So the sound of this bell is more effective. Once it rings, nearby evil spirits will follow."
Shen Kuo could no longer continue with this conversation. Fortunately, Shi Yaban did not dare to say more about those things, as if saying too much would cause some bad luck.
The group continued to move forward and arrived at a palace gate in front. Shen Kuo had roughly understood that the palace was symmetrical from east to west, and the main palaces were all on the central axis of Bianjing. For example, the palace gate they were at now was exactly the same as the "Youchengtian Gate" they had just seen, and it was located in the east, so it should obviously be called the "Zuochengtian Gate".
"Master Shen, Xu Jieji, this gate is the 'Zuo Chengtian Xiangfu Gate'. From here we go north, pass the Yanhe Hall and the Jingfu Hall, and we will reach the back garden."
"Noble, I remember that when I met the Nuo Master in the west just now, the palace gate was called 'Youchengtian Gate'. Why is it not called 'Zuochengtian Gate' here, but Zuochengtian Xiangfu Gate?"
"Hahaha, Mr. Shen doesn't know. Originally, this gate was indeed called 'Zuo Chengtian Gate', but thirty years ago, the late emperor was so virtuous and conquered the world, so he sensed the heaven and sent down a volume of 'The Book of Heaven'." Shi Yaban turned and pointed at the palace gate, "It's hanging on this palace gate, on the dragon horn of the left ridgepole. So it was renamed by the emperor. From then on, it was called 'Zuo Chengtian Xiangfu Gate', which means accepting the mandate of heaven and auspiciousness, hahaha. Our Song Dynasty was blessed by heaven back then... hahaha..." The laughter suddenly stopped. Perhaps Shi Yaban suddenly thought of the current situation. It seemed that the blessing of the Song Dynasty was gone.
As Shen Kuo walked by, he carefully looked at the Chiwen on the east side of the roof. It was indeed majestic. Looking east, he saw a bright yellow silk tied to the dragon's head, but the same Chiwen on the west side did not have the yellow silk. It is said that a dragon has nine sons, and one of them is the Chiwen that can avoid disasters and fire, so it is often placed on the ridges of palaces. It was the first time he had seen such a big Chiwen, which was more than two meters long, just like a little dragon.
"Mr. Zhong, I noticed that the ridge on the east side of the ridge seems to be different from the one on the west side."
"Is it the piece of silk gifted by the late emperor ? The part of the neck where this piece of silk is tied is where the Heavenly Book is received, so it is only here. The Chiwen on the west is gone."
"I see. However, the scales of the Chiwen dragon in the west were not as distinct as this one. The scales of the Chiwen in front of me are layered and bright, as if they are about to open. The dragon's eyes are also shining brightly."
"Haha, because this Chiwen received the Heavenly Book, every two years since the last emperor, a scaffold would be erected and people would be sent up to repair and clean it. The other dragon over there didn't have this blessing, and even if it was cleaned, it was rather sloppy, so when you look closely, the two dragons are indeed somewhat different."
"There is indeed some connection."
As they were about to move forward, they saw a group of people coming in front of them. They were clearly not monks or Taoist priests, but the eunuchs and palace maids on both sides also gave way.
This time Shen Kuo became smarter, and without waiting for Shi Quanbin to remind him, he quickly stepped aside. In front of the people who came over were ceremonial guards, eight palace maids holding yellow flags, embroidered banners, brocade banners, and flags. Behind them was an eight-person sedan chair without a canopy. Sitting on the sedan chair was a woman wearing a phoenix crown and a red robe. Shen Kuo realized that this was the queen, and quickly lowered his head.
However, I had already seen the queen's appearance from afar. There were rumors outside that Queen Cao was not very pretty. Seeing her today, it turned out to be true. Although she was not ugly, she was a little short and had an ordinary face.
On both sides of the sedan chair there were eunuchs and palace maids, some holding golden clubs, carrying pheasant-tail fans, and some holding incense burners. There were at least thirty or forty people in the front and back.
Fortunately, the road in front of Gyeongbokgung Palace was wide, so the empress's procession passed calmly in front of the crowd. I imagine that if the emperor was traveling, wouldn't the procession be even more grand?
The Queen's procession passed in front of Xu Chong and Shen Kuo in a hurry, heading towards the main hall in front, and no one knew where they were going.
Shen Kuo raised his eyes and took a peek, and saw that the maid holding the incense burner beside the queen was wearing a red dress, which was different from the blue cloth dresses of the other maids. At another glance, this maid looked familiar, it was Jin'er.
"Why is she here?" A thought came to his mind, and he saw that the group of people had already passed by.
Looking at Xu Chong next to him, he also had a confused look on his face. Apparently, he had also noticed Jin'er.
"Your Highness, you are going to the Imperial Ancestral Temple. Every day at 9:00 PM, the Heavenly Officials leave the palace to go to the Imperial Ancestral Temple to pay respects to their ancestors. Let's go, we have business to attend to."
"Noble Lady, I just saw a woman next to the Empress. She was wearing red and she definitely didn't look like a palace maid." Xu Chong finally couldn't help asking.
"That girl is called Jin'er, she is a close friend of the Empress outside the palace. She used to learn to sing in the Jiaofang Bureau. At that time, seeing that she was smart, she was selected to accompany the emperor in the Kunning Palace. Later, in order to deal with the three redundancies, the emperor set an example by first dismissing the newly-recruited palace maids. All those who entered the palace that year were dismissed without leaving a single one. Unfortunately, the maids who had just entered that year were all sent out to make a living on their own. I heard that this poor child can only hang around in the brothels and serve those prostitutes. However, when the Empress missed her, she would ask her to come to the palace to talk, talk about things outside, and give her some rewards. She is indeed a likable girl. She came in a hurry this morning. It seems that a distant relative who sells calligraphy and paintings on the street secretly bought things from the palace and was caught by the Imperial City Bureau. The emperor wanted to smooth things over. Hey, it's not a big deal." Shi Quanbin's words revealed his ability to grasp first-hand intelligence in the palace.
Shen Kuo thought to himself that Jin'er was not a simple person. He remembered that a few days ago in the Jicui Painting Pavilion, he heard the shopkeeper Pei flattering her and mentioned that he would need Jin'er's help in the future. It seemed that he was attracted by her connections in the palace. It was said that it was a distant relative who bought things in the palace. It must be the shopkeeper Pei, right? Speaking of him being put in jail, the prince consort was probably the happiest.
After they passed Linhua Gate, they arrived at the back garden, which was the imperial garden. There were still seven or eight guards guarding the place, and ordinary people from the palace were not allowed to enter.
There are rockeries and ponds in this garden, as well as all kinds of exotic flowers and plants, but it is lifeless. Since the Hat Monster appeared here, it has been blocked and no one dares to come. We can only find some imperial guards to guard the four entrances. Now, there are two people guarding each entrance in the east, west, south and north during the day and four people guarding at night. However, there has been nothing unusual for more than a month.
When Shi Quanbin reached the west gate, he hesitated and retreated. He suddenly remembered something.
"Today is the Three Religions Dharma Assembly, and there are still some things to take care of, so I'll leave first."
"Mr. Shi, I would like to inquire about what happened that day. Who should I contact?"
"Let Xu Jieji find it. Goodbye."
Shi Quanbin was probably really afraid of this place, so he didn't dare to accompany them in and left in a hurry.
Shen Kuo and Xu Chong walked into the imperial garden to find the place where the little skeleton was dug up. Xu Chong was still a little absent-minded, probably wondering why Jin'er was by the queen's side. He was worried whether this meant that this girl was out of his reach.
Shen Kuo walked into the imperial garden with his hands behind his back and strolled around. From the scene, there was nothing unusual. Shen Kuo had read several eyewitness testimonies on that day. They all said that the palace was in chaos since the night of the eighth day of the first lunar month, because the emperor's favorite lady Zhang was critically ill. At about the hour of Xu, Lady Zhang died. At this time, most of the palace people were busy in the front, and even those who were not busy were unlikely to come to the back garden.
At about 3:30 pm, a hat monster and a human-sized skeleton were found at the Shan Xiongxin stone tablet on Yulin Street in the northwest of the city. At the same time, the ten prophecies were left behind.
The time is indeed tight. Although Lady Zhang has been on futile medical treatment since the end of last year, everyone in the palace knows that she may not live long. But the time of death and the first appearance of the hat monster outside are so close, which is really suspicious. In fact, the two events are only a moment apart. Even if he flew out of the palace, he could only get to Yulin Street in this time. However, the neighbors of Yulin Street saw the Zoroastrian monk in a cloak sitting in the snow half an hour earlier. There were no footprints in the snow around him, which shows that no one reported the news. In addition, the palace was also holding a ceremony to invite gods that day. According to the rules, the four gates of the palace were closed. Even if there were fast horses, they could not get out, so naturally they could not report the news. However, this news is indeed very important. "Shuowen Jiezi" says: "Prophecy means verification." In other words, the prophecy predicting the death of the imperial concubine must be earlier than the time of the imperial concubine's death to be inflammatory. So, how to spread the news that the imperial concubine is dying and not fast enough may be the key to solving the case.
He suddenly remembered that Xu Chong had recorded the testimonies of several children from Yulin Street, who seemed to have seen prayer lanterns rising from the palace walls.
He suddenly realized that this was a feasible way to pass on information. He wanted to ask Xu Chong, but he saw that Xu Chong had already found the little palace maid who discovered a strange cloud of smoke in the imperial garden that day. Shen Kuo felt that the cooperation between him and Xu Chong was indeed so subtle that they had a tacit understanding.
"Sir, this is the sister who discovered the smoke that day. She came out of Ruisi Palace that day and was the first to notice something was wrong here. You can ask her if you have any questions."
"May I ask this lady, was there anyone else walking around the back garden that night ?"
"Only some monks and Taoists pass by during the day. However, at night, few people come here." said the palace maid. She has said these words countless times to different people recently.
"Oh, does anyone release prayer lanterns at night?"
“Someone sets it off every night.”
"Where to put it?"
"Master Zhang built a ritual platform in front of the Purple Palace. Every day, people copied the ritual edicts to ask the gods to extend life, pasted them in lanterns, and released them around the ritual platform."
"It was the same that day?"
"That day..." The maid seemed lost in thought, "That day, not only in front of the Purple Palace, but also in the Queen's Kunning Palace."
"Oh, when was it released?"
"Later than the Purple Palace, right when the Imperial Concubine was dying. I remember that everyone in the palace said that the Imperial Concubine might not live long, and the Imperial Hospital could no longer prescribe medicine. So the Kunning Palace was also released. However, the Empress's painstaking efforts were in vain, as she announced the Imperial Concubine's death only a moment later. Alas..."
"Is there any difference between the prayer lanterns in Kunning Palace and those set off by Master Zhang?"
"No difference." replied the maid.
"Is there really no difference?"
"This... is just that there seems to be some green light in the prayer lanterns raised in Kunning Palace, unlike the prayer lanterns in front of Zichen Palace which only have white light."
"Oh, I see."
"Does this have any connection with the case?" Xu Chong asked hurriedly. He also found it strange that Shen Kuo did not ask about the discovery of the hat monster in the imperial garden, but asked about something completely unrelated.
"It's just a momentary curiosity, there is no connection."
Shen Kuo did not ask any more questions, and Xu Chong let the palace maid go.
When Xu Chong turned around, there was a hint of nervousness on his face.
"Sir, we dare not look for deviations when investigating a case. We must be extremely careful about the risks involved."
He spoke solemnly, obviously because he heard Shen Kuo asking about the Empress's case and was afraid that Shen Kuo would not know the seriousness of the matter and would randomly make connections. He now had great reservations about Shen Kuo's method of investigating cases by following the rules. Of course, not catching the bad guys was actually a small matter, as Shen Kuo would return to Qiantang and he would return to the Western Army. But if someone who shouldn't be involved was involved, the consequences would be unpredictable.
"Xu Jieji, I naturally know these things."
"That's good. I'm a little worried too."
"Where is the little human-shaped skeleton with the character 'Royal Concubine' written on it now?"
"It's also in the palace, in the armory of the imperial guards."
"Why is it there?"
"It was Master Zhang who said that this item is extremely dangerous and cannot be placed in Kaifeng Prefecture or other government offices. It can only be placed in the Imperial Army Armory, where the aura is the strongest."
"Since it is in the palace, I want to go and see it."
Shen Kuo just glanced at the place where the skull was dug out. He didn't seem to be very interested. He just wanted to look at the little skull first.
