Chapter 81
"Creak" -
there is another sound, this is the sound of dead wood being stepped on.
Rong Shu put down the lantern in his hand, held Gu Changjin's hand, and wrote on his palm: "Who? Let's go?"
The little lady's fingertips were soft and delicate, as if she were scratching his palm with her wings, it was numb and itchy. .
Gu Changjin pressed down on the strangeness lingering in his heart, held her hand with his backhand, and nodded gently.
He only brought two people from the warrior camp with him this time. It was still unclear whether the people outside the secret passage were friends or foes, so he couldn't let her be in danger.
Without any hesitation, Gu Changjin turned around and took her out of the secret passage.
The two of them had only taken two steps when suddenly there was a "bang" and the wooden door was pushed open from the outside. The moonlight poured in like a tide, stretching a figure on the ground to an extremely long length.
This wooden door uses a machine lock, and only he and Xuance know how to open it.
The moment the door opened, Gu Changjin stepped forward to block behind Rong Shu, looking straight at the person standing outside the door, and then raised his eyebrows slightly.
"Xuance?"
The man in front of him was still wearing gray Zen clothes, with his shoulder-length hair sticking up high in cloth, revealing a sharp-lined face.
"Should I call you His Highness the Crown Prince or Lord Gu?"
Xuance raised his eyes, loosened his hand, and walked slowly towards the secret passage. The door closed behind him with a clang.
"Master, it's up to you." Gu Changjin looked at his face and said, "You are injured." Xuance
's Zen clothes were stained with blood, and his face had lost color. It was obvious at a glance that he had suffered internal injuries.
Xuance glanced behind Gu Changjin lightly and said, "The poor monk with the scar on his face that Mr. Gu was looking for has been found. However, on the way back to Beijing, a group of people came out and kidnapped him. As for the girl from Wenxi whom you are talking about, when the poor monk left Suzhou, he happened to meet the people who went to Suzhou to pick her up. If the poor monk guessed correctly, those people should be from the government. "
Gu Changjin. He frowned slightly: "Who is that person with the scar on her face? And who abducted her?"
"The woman's surname is Ding, from Taiyuan. She was originally a fire-burning woman in a Taoist temple on Baiping Mountain in Datong Prefecture. "Xuan Ce said quietly: "A month ago, she left Baiping Mountain and went to Suzhou. It happened that the head of Danzhu County was arresting the Tatar agents who had sneaked into Suzhou during those days. Those agents kidnapped Ding in order to escape. The poor monk rescued her. Ding was afraid that people would see her face, so she left in a hurry. She didn't expect that the next day, Ding came to ask the poor monk to protect her and go to Beijing
. Coming to Beijing?"
"She is here to inquire about a husband-murder case that occurred in Suzhou," Xuance raised his eyes and looked at Gu Changjin, "I also know Mr. Gu, the county magistrate who handled the case."
Gu Changjin raised his eyebrows. "You mean Mr. Guan?"
The "Master Guan" he was talking about was Guan Shaowei, the Tanhua Lang who sued the imperial court with him in the 18th year of Jiayou's reign. Speaking of Guan Shaowei, Gu Changjin remembered a case that the palace people talked about a few days ago.
That case was probably what Xuance called the "husband-murder case".
The defendant in this case is Chen Mei, a young woman from Suzhou, and the plaintiff is her nominal husband Qian Da. Qian Da is a well-known old bachelor in the local area. He is idle all day long and does not do his job. Chen Mei's uncle forcibly betrothed Chen Mei to Qian Da for a gift of dozens of taels of silver, regardless of Chen Mei's wishes.
On the day they went to the church to get married, Chen Mei stabbed Qian Da with scissors, and then went to the Yamen to surrender.
"It's him. In this case of husband-murder, the county magistrate originally ruled that the marriage contract between Chen and Qian Da was invalid, and the case could not be concluded as 'husband-murder'. However, when the case was submitted to the prefect, the prefect dismissed it as murder. Chen Mei was sentenced to beheading for her husband's crime. The county magistrate refused and submitted the case to the Ministry of Punishment. "
Gu Changjin said thoughtfully, "What does Ding have to do with this case?
" "Xuan Ce said with an indifferent expression: "What relationship Ding has with this case has to be investigated by Mr. Gu himself. When Poor Monk and Ding were surrounded by men in black, Ding seemed to know the identities of these people and urged Poor Monk. Monk, hurry up and say these people won't kill her."
Xuance didn't leave, but he was outnumbered, and those men in black finally kidnapped Ding from his hands.
Their target was only the Ding family, and they quickly retreated as soon as they got hold of them. Xuance followed the traces all the way to Shangjing.
"Ding is in Beijing now," Xuance's cold eyes burst out with a trace of murderous intent, "The poor monk will dig three feet into the ground and find her." When
Xuance said this, he didn't know what he thought of, and suddenly said : "When things happen here, the poor monk will leave Daci'en Temple and go to Datong. The poor monk owes Master Gu the promise. In the future, Master Gu can come to Datong to find the poor monk to fulfill his promise."
Gu Changjin's eyes moved slightly, listening to Xuan Ce's intention seemed to be that he wanted to completely put aside his grudges with Master Fanqing and leave Daci'en Temple.
After Xuance said this, he turned around and left regardless of whether Hui Changjin should respond.
Rong Shu was always protected by Gu Changjin, and the conversation between the two of them in the secret passage caught her ears word for word.
When she heard Xuance talking about the "husband-killing case" in Suzhou, she subconsciously pursed her lips. She was probably so shocked that she didn't even notice that her hand was being held tightly by Gu Changjin.
As soon as Xuance's figure disappeared from the secret passage, Gu Changjin naturally took her hand and walked out.
"Let's go out first."
After a cup of tea, the two of them returned to the courtyard. The night was getting deeper and deeper, and the water vapor in the air condensed in the leaves above the head. When the wind blew it, it fell on Rong Shu's wrist.
The coolness on her wrist finally made her realize something was wrong, and with a slight effort, her hand broke free from his palm.
Gu Changjin glanced at her.
"I may know what Lady Ding has to do with the 'husband murder case'." Rong Shu raised his eyes, his clear eyes as if they had been dipped in spring water, "The reason why Mr. Guan ruled that the engagement between Chen Mei and Qian Da was invalid, It's because Chen Mei's uncle has no right to arrange a marriage for Chen Mei. According to Dayin's laws, only if her father has died and her mother has died, Chen Mei's uncle can arrange a marriage for her. "
Gu Changjin said: "You mean, Mrs. Ding is. "Chen Mei's mother?"
Rong Shu nodded and said: "Chen Mei's parents are indeed deceased in her household registration, but she insists that her mother is not dead, and she also said that her mother has been secretly coming to see her. Therefore, Mrs. Ding is very good. Maybe she is Chen Mei's mother. "
"Sir, this case should not have happened in the 21st year of Jiayou's life." Rong Shuding looked at Gu Changjin with a solemn expression, "This was in March of the 23rd year of Jiayou's life. , the case came up after you went to Qingzhou. Chen Mei should have married Qian Da and stabbed Qian Da in October of the 22nd year of Jiayou. Why did this case happen in advance?
" The law is particularly harsh on women. As long as there is an act of murdering her husband, regardless of whether the husband is dead or whether he is slightly injured or seriously injured, and regardless of whether the wife has any motives for murdering her husband, as long as there is murder, the government will definitely sentence the wife to death. death penalty.
The key to this case is whether the marriage between Chen Mei and Qian Da is valid. To make the marriage invalid, it is necessary to prove that Chen Mei's mother is still alive.
"Do you suspect that someone wants to use this case to force Chen Mei's mother, Mrs. Ding, out?"
Rong Shu nodded lightly: "This is just my guess. When I was sent to Sishiyuan in my previous life, this case had already been The marriage contract between Chen Mei and Qian Da was invalid, and Chen Mei was finally convicted of wounding. "
Qian Da was not dead. As long as the marriage was invalid, Chen Mei did not kill her husband and did not need to be beheaded. Since the engagement was invalid, it could only be that Chen Mei's mother was indeed not dead as she said.
Gu Changjin pondered for a long time.
The case that was supposed to happen in Jiayou's 23rd year happened earlier than now, which shows that the case was man-made.
Xiao Fu sent Wen Xi to Suzhou to find someone, definitely to find this Lady Ding. Probably because they couldn't find her anywhere, and they happened to know that Madam Ding had a daughter, they wanted to use this method to force Madam Ding to show up.
Otherwise, how could a poor old bachelor spend dozens of taels of silver to marry Chen Mei?
Who is this Lady Ding? Why must Xiao Fu find her?
There is also Wenxi. Xuance said someone from the government picked her up. Who could it be?
"I'll take you back first." Gu Changjin looked at Rong Shu, "The Rong family's matter..."
He originally wanted to ask if he would handle it, but when he met the girl's eyes, his words suddenly changed to - -
"You can do whatever you want. I will hand over a team of Jinwu Guards to Chang Ji."
Letting her let go and deal with the affairs of the Cheng'an Marquis Mansion is to support her to settle with the Rong family and hand over the Jinwu Guards to Chang Ji. , to protect her.
Rong Shu looked down at the dimly lit lantern and thanked him softly.
The carriage traveled on the official road in the dark night, and when it returned to the inn in Wanping County, it was already past midnight.
Yingque and Yingyue were busy dressing her up. After cleaning up, Rong Shu came to the window, opened the curtain, and saw that the carriage outside had disappeared. Fang quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
On the bed at night, she couldn't fall asleep for a long time.
After finally falling asleep, fragmented dreams came one after another.
Early the next morning, Chang Ji came over to report Qiu Shiyang's matter to her. Seeing her black eyes, he thought about it and said, "Miss, do you want to rest for a while? After all, I am not in a hurry to talk to you about these things."
"It's okay." Rong Shu glanced at Chang Ji's wrinkled clothes and the blood stains on his body, and asked, "Did Qiu Shiyang do it?"
"That guy is a tough guy. It took some effort for me to come up with some words." Come." Chang Ji handed a piece of paper full of words to Rong Shu and said, "It will take a few more days and he will probably be able to tell all the secrets."
Rong Shu read it carefully and nodded: "It will take ten days for the Imperial College. On the tenth day of the holiday, we will return to Chenganhou Mansion. "
The first snowfall in Beijing this year came very early, and there were already two snowfalls on November 10th.
The maids of Kunning Palace got up early in the morning to sweep away the snow, and someone else brought a chair and used a bamboo clasp tied with cotton cloth to knock on the ice that was about to form a ball under the eaves.
Xu Li'er came from Si Lesi and saw the palace people busy. He smiled and greeted them and waited quietly in the corridor.
Everyone in Kunning Palace knew that the Empress liked Xu Nushi, so they were not surprised when they saw Xu Li'er coming early in the morning. They smiled and asked someone to bring her a hand stove.
Xu Li'er waited for a while, and then Aunt Gui came out and said to her: "You are interested. Today the Queen is going out of the palace to pray for blessings. You can go back to Si Lesi. You have been tired these days."
Queen Qi has been tired these days . Still unable to sleep peacefully, Nanny Zhu sent Xu Li'er over to sing Buddhist songs and recite Buddhist scriptures to Queen Qi. Her voice is pleasant, even when she reads boring scriptures, it sounds much more pleasant than others.
Empress Qi fell asleep to the sound of her chanting many times, and because of this, Aunt Gui became more and more fond of Xu Li'er day by day.
Hearing this, Xu Li'er closed the hand stove and said softly: "Li'er is not tired at all. It's a blessing for Li'er to serve the Queen. If it weren't for the Queen, Li'er would have become a handful of dirt by now. "
Everyone in the palace knew about her," Nanny Gui said with a smile, "You must be a good girl, then the queen will be gracious enough to admit you to the palace as a female history queen."
Xu Lier smiled and said, "The queen must be a good girl." When I go out of the palace to pray for blessings, I would like to ask Li'er to accompany her. If the empress is bored on the way, I can still have Li'er sing a little song to relieve her boredom."
Aunt Gui's heart moved. This trip out of the palace will last for a long time. It would take about three hours. The queen didn't sleep all day last night. There was a lot of Oriole around, so she might be able to sleep for a while in the carriage.
Finally, we arrived at Da Ci'en Temple and left Xu Li'er in the carriage to wait.
When a queen travels, she must have something that she needs for her travels.
An hour later, several luxurious carriages hung with glazed ram's horn lanterns slowly drove out of the palace gate.
Xu Li'er knelt down and sat on the carpet in the carriage, serving Queen Qi with Aunt Gui.
The guards at the city gate had already heard from the palace and kept the city gate clean for fear of blocking the carriage of Queen Qi.
When the carriage passed the city gate, Queen Qi opened the bright yellow curtain and looked out, and saw a row of carriages about to enter the city waiting neatly and quietly on the other side.
The horses' hooves were clicking, and Queen Qi was about to lower the curtain of the carriage when a green-covered carriage opposite suddenly opened its doors, revealing a face as beautiful as a peach.
The girl looked over, and her pair of peach blossom eyes were as moist as spring tides, and like cold stars hiding their brilliance, which made Qi Zhen feel particularly familiar.
Fine snow fell, but within a moment, two carriages passed by each other.
Queen Qi let go of her hand. At that moment, for some unknown reason, her heart jumped suddenly.
"Mother, is it too windy outside? Why don't I add another charcoal basin?" Aunt Gui stepped forward, closed the car hatch, and asked.
Empress Qi waved her hands and said amusedly: "It's just a little bit of cold wind. How can I be so delicate?"
After receiving the fruit tea handed over by Xu Li'er, Empress Qi let out a long breath, thinking about the time she was about to see that person. The child was born, and the previous strangeness was quickly put aside.
After the carriages in the palace drove out of the city gate one by one, the carriages lined up outside the city to enter the city began to move slowly.
Rong Shu had been waiting for half an hour. At first, he didn't know why the guards at the city gate wouldn't let him go. Chang Ji went down to inquire and found out that there was a noble person in the palace who was going to travel.
Nobles...
Emperor Jiayou's harem was always deserted. Apart from Empress Qi and Concubine Xing, there were only two former members of the palace. Even after he ascended the throne for many years, he did not order a draft, so now there are only a few concubines in the harem.
Thinking of the face he had just seen through the falling snow, Rong Shu knew in his heart that the person traveling today must be a concubine from the palace. As for which one it is, it is unknown.
This incident was quickly forgotten by her.
Today, everyone from the Cheng'an Hou Mansion is in the mansion. Except for his second uncle, everyone else is here. Even Rong Juan is on his way to Qilin East Street.
Rong Shu lowered his eyes and looked at the wooden mailbox in his hand, and let out a long sigh of relief.
More than 20 years ago, the Cheng'an Marquis Mansion rose from a small military family in poverty to a noble family by virtue of Conglong's merits. What others saw was the shiny shell on the outside of Rong's house, but they didn't know that it was already falling apart inside.
Rong Shu didn't want to deal with the grievances between the eldest, second and third bedrooms of the Rong family. What she wanted was to take this opportunity to get out of this quagmire with her mother-in-law.
Half an hour later, Chang Ji stopped the carriage, put down the pedals, knocked on the door gently, and said respectfully: "Girl, we're here."
Rong Shu stepped on the pedals and got out of the car, then raised his eyes and read the letter "Marquis Cheng'an" A plaque with the four characters "Fu".
The glorious and majestic plaque in my memory, looking at it now, is just an extremely ordinary piece of wood, which can be smashed to pieces by a storm.
"Just go in." She said calmly.