Exclusive golden branch

Chapter 538 Why
There was nothing scary or expensive hidden in the box, only a yellowed, unframed painting folded into a square.

Although I haven't seen the full picture of the painting, it can be vaguely seen that it is a figure painting, and... there must be more than one person in the painting.

An Guogong took out the drawing paper, but the moment he opened it, he glanced at Ji Chongyan who was beside him.

The eldest grandson looked calm, as usual.

The eldest grandson can be so calm, so what is there to be afraid of?An Guogong took a deep breath, and unfolded the drawing paper along the creases.

This drawing paper is not some exquisite drawing paper, and it has nothing to do with luxury. It is just drawing paper that can be seen everywhere in paper shops on the street.

The paint materials used in the paintings are even more ordinary, so they have never been carefully collected by anyone.

The color on the drawing paper has turned yellow, which is far from the original color of the painting, and the brush and ink outline of the painting is rusty, which is enough to show that the person who made the painting is not a master of painting, but a novice.

But these... are not important.The reason why Ji Chongyan, who has many paintings by famous artists in the courtyard, treats it so seriously is because of the people in the paintings.

Even if the painter is mediocre, it is enough for him to recognize a man and a woman in the painting at a glance.

The woman was none other than the Miss Jiang whom he had mentioned to Brother Yan earlier.Although his appearance was not completely outlined, Duke An recognized that Miss Jiang at a glance.

Such a face, as long as you have seen it, you will not forget it easily.

And the man next to Miss Jiang... An Guogong was startled the moment he saw that man, and subconsciously glanced at the calm-looking eldest grandson.After a long while, he looked at the man on the painting with some doubts, then at the eldest grandson beside him, and said, "The one on this painting...is the little general Zhao back then!"

After saying this, before he could open his mouth, An Guogong kept nodding his head, as if affirming his guess and convincing himself: "Yes, it must be him! It is him! This painting is quite old, You weren't even born then!"

Of course, it was not because of the two people in the painting that made Mr. An so suspicious and repeatedly denied. After all, there were rumors about Miss Jiang and General Zhao back then, even to the point of being engaged.

It's okay for these two people to appear in the same painting at the same time.After all, ordinary people at that time also felt that the two were a good match, and everyone obviously preferred a pair of Bi people who were right compared to those who were not right.Back then, there was a storybook writer who edited the story of the two of them meeting!
But the problem is not that these two people appear in the same painting at the same time, but that the two are dressed in the painting.

Men wear dragon robes, while women wear phoenix crowns.

This... is clearly drawing a pair of emperors and empresses!
Looking at the attires of the men and women in the painting, An Guogong was terrified.

What does it mean?Does it mean that Miss Jiang is the queen?General Zhao is the emperor?

How can such a painting fall into the eyes of the emperor?
Ms. Jiang is better off in the end, at worst, she just wants to grab it back.The problem lies in the man in the dragon robe. If he is an emperor, then what is the one sitting on the dragon chair?
An Guogong felt that his mood was really ups and downs at this time, sometimes he rose to the sky, and sometimes fell to the abyss.There was chaos in his mind, and the past that had been covered up by 20 years of prosperity and peace was unceremoniously lifted up by the painting in front of him, revealing the true face inside.

"Who drew this?"

An Guogong only felt that his mind and soul had been separated at this moment, and he heard himself talking.

"How can you draw such a rebellious painting?"

"Great Eunuch Quan Hai." The eldest grandson's voice was calm with an indescribable coolness, as if he was afraid that An Guogong would not remember who this Quan Hai was for a while, and Ji Chongyan specially explained, "It is in front of that tyrant. The former celebrity, not long after Miss Jiang's death, he also had an accident. His eyes were found gouged out, his limbs were broken, and he became the great eunuch Quan Hai."

An Guogong remembered such a person.

This great eunuch Quan Hai was once the most popular person in front of the tyrant, and what he said in front of the tyrant was even more effective than many important officials and veterans.

You must know that for a crazy person like the tyrant, no matter how smart a person is, it is difficult to ensure that a single sentence will not inexplicably offend the tyrant.However, this great eunuch Quan Hai "understands" the tyrant the most. At one time, the important ministers of the former court, even the dignified and noble family like the Langya Wang family, had to promise Quan Hai's favor to talk to the tyrant.

But it was such a big celebrity who suddenly disappeared one day.With Quanhai gone, the tyrant yelled and mobilized the palace and courtiers to search for it together.

Just when everyone thought that Quan Hai escaped from the palace in fear of the tyrant, the great eunuch Quan Hai appeared.

At that time, it was an old civil servant who found Quan Hai.He was also old, and his strength was exhausted, and he couldn't carry it after searching for a day and a night.When passing Yechi in the palace, I wanted to be lazy, but saw a large piece of strange things floating on the lake.

The old civil servant subconsciously raised his foot and took a look. The civil servant who saw it immediately screamed and passed out.Not long after being carried out of the palace, he became seriously ill. It was said that it was caused by excessive fright and he lost his mind and soul, and he died not long after.

It was rumored that the civil servants were "frightened to death" when this incident spread. Of course, in terms of the results of the doctor's diagnosis and treatment, it is not wrong: it was indeed caused by excessive fright.

The one floating on the Yechi Lake is the great eunuch Quan Hai, who was made into a pig and floated on the lake.

Quan Hai, who frightened the civil servants to death, also frightened all the courtiers and courtiers. An Guogong was also in the queue to search Quan Hai at that time. I can't even eat.

Most people reacted the same as An Guogong, except for the tyrant.

The tyrant hugged Quan Hai and wept bitterly. In his anger, he beheaded all the palace servants around Quan Hai and Quan Hai's "godson", and asked people to find the murderer quickly and want to avenge Quan Hai!

Of course, the murderer was not found in the end, and the tyrant... forgot to ask.

However, there are many speculations about the death of the great eunuch Quan Hai. Most people privately think that the great eunuch Quan Hai was killed by a tyrant.After all, it is rare for ordinary people to do such a brutal killing method.But the tyrant is different, he often does this kind of thing, and even kills people the night before, and wakes up the next day to search for people all over the imperial city.

Killing people and forgetting about this kind of thing, the tyrant has done too much.

When the former tyrant was in power, there were not a few celebrities who died for no reason.Being a popular person beside a tyrant is like holding your head in your hands.

An Guogong recalled the great eunuch Quan Hai, and looked at the painting in his hand again: So, this painting is actually painted by Quan Hai?

An Guogong looked at the painting in his hand with a solemn expression.

Ji Chongyan said: "Quan Hai is not proficient in physiognomy and Taoism at all. It's just that as a celebrity around the tyrant, he did know a lot of things when he was around the tyrant. This painting is Quan Hai's death, from a It seems that it has nothing to do with Quan Hai, but it was obtained in the hands of a fellow eunuch."

As for how it was obtained, Ji Chongyan did not mention how difficult the process was, but only said: "The little eunuch sent this painting out before he died, saying it is extremely important."

The painting changed hands several times before it ended up in his hands.

However, thinking of the tragic situation when the person who handed him the painting appeared: Come to think of it, everyone who got this painting was hunted down and assassinated countless times.

The person who gave him the painting was already a handful of loess when he saw him again.

However, the person who pursued and killed also disappeared after the death of that person. It can be seen that that person has deceived the person who pursued and killed for the time being.

"This painting..." In fact, there are some things that need not be said, but can be guessed. This painting is definitely not easy to come by.

As for the answer, in fact, I know the general idea from the costumes of the people in the painting.

"The tyrant wanted Miss Jiang most likely because someone told him that if he got Miss Jiang, he would be able to live forever," An Guogong said. It’s no surprise that it’s inevitable.”

So, was that confidante Miss Jiang forced to die by her clansmen because of this reason?

An Guogong sighed a little: "Every man is innocent, but pregnant is guilty!"

"If Miss Jiang is being robbed because of this, then the fate of the other person in the painting will be far more tragic than Miss Jiang." An Guogong closed his eyes and couldn't help shaking his head, "He... must die !"

There was turmoil at that time, and the throne was in turmoil. Whether it was the tyrant in his seat or the leader of the rebel army who wanted the throne, these people would not let him live.

Everyone will try their best to make him die.

"Mandate of Heaven is bestowed by God, and they would rather believe in what they have than in what they don't have." Ji Chongyan said, looking at the painting in An Guogong's hand, the corners of his lips slightly curled up, as if mocking, "The great eunuch Quan Hai has never read it. What a book, but this picture really doesn’t need a single word, it can explain many things.”

Everyone wants General Zhao to die, and His Majesty, who is interested in the throne, may not have such thoughts in his heart.

What he cared about was what His Majesty did in it.

After a trip to Jiangnan Road, he got the answer.But the answer...it's actually worse and more serious than he imagined!

"Grandfather, when you went to Jiangnan Road, Miss Jiang Si took you to buy that silver gun, do you still remember?" Ji Chongyan asked An Guogong.

An Guogong nodded.

Some things are more convincing than explaining them in person.

The silver gun was in An Guogong's study room. After the boy brought the silver gun, Ji Chongyan unfastened the mechanism of the gun head and the gun body, dipped some ink on the body of the gun connected to the gun head, and then put it on again. The gun head is connected with the gun body.

Then...

Duke An saw Ji Chongyan stab the wall with a spear in his hand.

This was a very common marksmanship. The moment the muzzle was about to hit the wall, the gun head and the gun body separated, and the gun body without the gun head hit the wall directly with a heavy blow.

On the wall, among the silhouettes drawn in the shape of Nanny Chai, there is a circular mark about the size of a copper coin in the center of the brain that is very conspicuous.

This trace...is too familiar.An Guogong's face was surprisingly pale.

No wonder even Dali Temple Qing Jifeng has always been worried about the murder weapon: If it is a stick, it should not go down vertically when hitting someone, but when it is hit with a stick, what will be left will not be this little boy. Small circular wounds.Ji Feng guessed it was a hammer, but felt that there was something wrong with the way the force was applied.

But it turned out to be the way of marksmanship to hurt people.

Such a gun... At the time of Nanny Chai's accident, there was only one person in the room who had it, not to mention that no one could snatch his silver gun from that person.

So, the answer is obvious.

Ji Chongyan wiped off the ink on the gun, put the gun away and returned it to Duke An.

This gun gave him the answer he wanted most, but... at the same time, it also added a problem for him.

How did Miss Jiang Si know about the existence of this gun?He lowered his eyelids, hiding the thoughts in his eyes.

Of course, you don't have to say this in front of your grandfather.

After a pause, he continued, "So... the face I was born with is a disaster."

He has a face very similar to that of my uncle.

Although Great Eunuch Quan Hai's painting was made 20 years ago, and the two people in the painting no longer exist, all of this seems to have nothing to do with him, but...he doesn't think the emperor will take such things lightly.

Such things are rather credible than non-existent.

"Although his appearance is not half as good, the Yang Xianzhi who entered the palace looks somewhat similar to that Miss Jiang," Ji Chongyan said, "Yang Yan deliberately sent Yang Xianzhi who was somewhat similar to Miss Jiang to me... ..."

Ji Chongyan didn't think it was a coincidence, but what made him even more suspicious was that Yang Xianzhi, who was about to enter the palace, dared to have anything to do with him so boldly.

A concubine who is going to be sent to the palace dares to have a relationship with a foreigner like this, Yang Xianzhi doesn't understand, and neither does Yang Yan?Since Yang Yan placed high hopes on him, aren't you afraid that His Majesty will react?
This is not something Yang Yan would do.

So he guessed...

"It is very likely that His Majesty ordered him to test, because such things are better to be killed by mistake than to be let go." Ji Chongyan said lightly.

I would rather kill by mistake than let it go!Hearing these words in An Guogong's ears, he was really startled into a cold sweat.

What was originally thought to be the love affair between the children could be the temptation and game of His Majesty?But... I have to say, this really looks like something His Majesty would do.

His Majesty doesn't place much value on women's sex, and he can indeed do it with a woman as a test.

"Actually, this conjecture is also very easy to confirm." Ji Chongyan said, "I heard from the doctor Zhang who is best at protecting the fetus that new concubines who enter the palace often hope that they will conceive in the most suitable few days in order to conceive a dragon heir as soon as possible. Waiting for the bed..."

Speaking of these women's affairs, Ji Chongyan looked calm, as if he didn't realize that there was something wrong.

On the contrary, Duke An coughed uncomfortably: The eldest grandson seems to know a lot about everything!
"After Yang Xianzhi entered the palace, because the concubines in the harem pushed her out, Yang Yan is not in Chang'an City now. Although she is the most beautiful in the harem, she is not favored. However, she has many opportunities to serve her bed. She has been in the palace three times. The arranged days are all within those few days." Ji Chongyan said here, and paused, "Of course, three times is too little, maybe it's a coincidence, and we'll have to wait and see."

The verification of this matter will take time.

An Guogong let out a "hmm", and did not continue to ask about Yang Xianzhi's matter.He just asked Ji Chongyan: "What do these things have to do with your marriage with Miss Jiang Si?"

Although Miss Jiang Si can't see her original appearance right now, but if you look closely at her facial features, there are differences between Yang Xianzhi and Miss Jiang.

In this way, it is not right for the person in the painting.

That being the case, why did the eldest grandson say that in front of His Majesty?

(End of this chapter)