Jinghong Tower

When Yuan Xiaodong came back from the palace, he didn't go back to his residence. He first went to Laomofang Hutong to do business.

In addition to the can of worms, there was also the news that Lao Hu brought him.

He Ran asked Xiaoli to bring him the newly made snacks in the kitchen to eat. Seeing Yuan Xiaodong leave happily, He Ran was in a good mood.

It is a good thing to be self-reliant in the palace, to protect vegetables from insect bites, and to have a full stomach filled with gold-returning Gu.

There are also people who have been silent for many years but have not forgotten their original intentions.

Three days later, King Zhao wrote an article and asked Chunwang to send it to her for review.

King Zhao has been practicing calligraphy seriously. When he was first found, he couldn't even write his own name. Now he can write beautiful calligraphy.

He Ran carefully read the article written by King Zhao. The article was as exquisite as his handwriting.

The words and sentences are extremely gorgeous, and the scriptures are quoted, but they can't hide their naivety and paleness.

He Ran knew that King Zhao asked Chunwang to send this article over, and it must be something he thought he had written well.

He Ran smiled and said to Chunwang: "King Zhao has made progress. Xiaoli, please bring my newly obtained square pure mud inkstone and give it to King Zhao."

King Zhao was very happy to receive the Chengni Inkstone brought back by Chunwang. Although he had not yet ascended the throne, many people tried their best to impress him. He often received gifts, including expensive inkstones, but those inkstones and other gifts All the same, they were all put aside by him.

He still used the one He Ran gave him when he was in Jinyang.

On the way to the capital, a corner of the square inkstone was knocked off and it was already broken, but he still used it.

King Zhao said happily: "My sister guessed that my inkstone was old, so she gave me a new one. I must use this square inkstone to write better words and articles, and write them to my sister. She will definitely know how to write them." happy."

Chunwang smiled and agreed: "Yes, the master praised the prince for his good calligraphy and good articles. With this square inkstone, the prince will definitely be able to write better calligraphy and articles."

"Chunwang, let me give my sister a gift too, okay?" King Zhao said.

Chunwang: "Okay, has the prince chosen a gift?"

King Zhao thought for a while and selected a box of incense sticks from the gifts he received.

"This fragrance must be very expensive. Only my sister is worthy of such expensive spices."

Chunwang sent the box of incense to Laomofang Hutong. He Ran was not there and Xiaoba received him.

In the evening, He Ran came back and saw the incense sticks sent by Chunwang.

Xiao Ba hurriedly said to He Ran: "I know how to fan myself when I lie. I fan myself several times a day. As the boss, Xiao Ba will not lie."

He Ran stroked the dull hair on its head and said, "Yes, Xiaoba is the best behaved."

Xiao Ba immediately became excited, flapped his wings and flew out, flew to the backyard, and saw Winter Melon gnawing on chicken legs. Xiao Ba shouted: "Catch the bad guy, Winter Melon is going to kill me, catch the bad guy, Winter Melon is going to kill me!"

Then he flew to the front yard, found He Ran, and made an output.

Xiaoba is the most well-behaved. Xiaoba doesn’t lie. If Xiaoba lies, it must be Donggua’s fault.

A few days later, King Zhao asked Chunwang to deliver something to He Ran again. This time he delivered pills newly made by Taiyuan Hospital, which were most suitable for women.

From this time on, every few days, King Zhao would ask Chunwang to come to Laomofang Hutong to deliver things.

Sometimes it's a knife of paper, sometimes it's a newly made snack in the palace, sometimes it's a few freshly picked flowers, sometimes it's a new poem he wrote.

In short, if Chunwang didn't come to deliver anything for several days in a row, even the disciples would worry about whether King Zhao was sick or whether Chunwang's brother was injured.

The days passed like water, and in a blink of an eye it was the happy day when Feng Zan returned to Beijing in triumph.

The last time Feng Zan visited Beijing was more than ten years ago.

At that time, he was just a bandit who had just arrived in Zhao'an. Although he won the battle, in the hearts of everyone, he was still an unknown bandit, a mud-legged man who came from the ravines.

He and his brothers, wearing all kinds of clothes, carrying all kinds of weapons, rode skinny horses through the streets of the capital.

The common people pointed at them, the officials looked down upon them with disdain, and the servants spoke in long tones without even looking at them, as if they would be stained with dirt if they looked at them more.

He walked up to the Golden Palace. The Golden Palace was so big, the emperor sat so high, and the road to the audience was so long.

When he knelt down, he even heard someone snickering.

At that moment, he suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.

It turned out that those people not only despised him, but also despised the emperor.

Just like every time he climbed out of the dead, he suddenly gained confidence.

So when the emperor asked the princess to marry him, he agreed without hesitation.

The princess was old enough to be his mother, and she was already a grandmother.

But he still has no regrets. That princess and that condescending marriage were the only straw he could grasp at that time.

He became the laughing stock of the capital. Even if he later took over military power and led an army to attack the King of Jin, he was still the laughing stock.

At this moment, Feng Zan stood outside the capital. Behind him were thousands of troops, and in front of him were countless officials and people who came out of the city to greet him.

The owners of several major restaurants in the capital came in person to offer their best wines.

Feng Zan laughed loudly, took the wine and drank it in one gulp.

A scholar read loudly "Ode to General Feng", which was a poem written for him by students in the capital.

A child in the crowd said loudly: "I know him, he is General Feng from the comic strip!"

Feng Zan's eyes were filled with hot flashes. He was already General Feng, no longer the ridiculed bandit.

There was a sound of sobbing in the team. Without looking, Feng Zan knew that these were the soldiers who were summoned along with him.

After many years, they can finally walk into the capital with their heads held high.

"All officers and men, follow me into the city and pay homage to the master!"

With Feng Zan's return, it heralds the complete disintegration of the new emperor's base camp.

The land of Lu, which King Qi had managed for many years, was now filled with the banners of the Ran army.

When the new emperor came to Beijing to serve the king, he only brought troops and horses, but not his family members.

Later, when the capital was moved, the new emperor's family members left Qingzhou. Although they took away many treasures, not all of them were taken away.

At that time, the people in Prince Qi's Mansion thought that after arriving in Jinling, they could send people back to move things.

Even the new emperor himself thought so.

None of them thought that once they left, they would never come back.

Feng Zan did not go to Beijing empty-handed. He brought back ten carts of gold, silver and jewelry, all of which were seized from Lu, mostly from the Prince of Qi's palace.

There are spies from the Ran Army in Jinling, and of course there will be spies from Jinling in the capital.

The news that Feng Zan had returned to the capital with a cart full of gold, silver and jewelry soon spread to Jinling and the new emperor's harem. The queen and several concubines who came out of Prince Qi's Mansion were very sad. Those things were all theirs.

They cried to the new emperor: "I left in a hurry back then, and I didn't even take my dowry with me. Now it's all taken advantage of by that bandit He Ran and Feng Zan."

The new emperor was in a irritated mood. These women were so ignorant. When did they still care about that little thing?

Women think differently than he does.

They came to Jinling, thinking that they could enjoy all the glory and wealth after entering the palace.

However, although they were noble queens and concubines, they were not able to enter the palace.

There is still no real palace in Jinling, and they still live in a temporary palace converted from the old palace.

The current palace is not half as big as Prince Qi's Mansion, but there are several times more people living there than Prince Qi's Mansion.

Their yard was small and cramped, and they had no decent place to receive the ladies.

In the past, when they were in Prince Qi's Mansion, they would go on outings, hang out in shops, have tea parties, and entertain ladies and daughters.

The ladies would be envious of their clothes and jewellery, and they would receive countless exclamations.

But now all this is gone.

The new emperor advocated diligence and frugality. Although the King of Jin and the King of Kaizhou were gone, there were still big bandits like He Ran, and there were endless Zhou Cangyue and Wang Hao.

Someone proposed to build a palace in court, but it immediately attracted countless rebuke. The national treasury was empty and the military expenditure was insufficient. How could the king of a country build a large-scale building at this time?
The new emperor took the lead in saving money. After dinner, there were no lights in the harem. The queen and concubines did not sew new clothes. The jewelry they wore was brought from Qingzhou back then.

The more the women thought about it, the more aggrieved they felt, and there was a lot of crying in the harem.

The new emperor walked away in disgust.

He returned to his bedroom, and a moment later, a chamberlain walked in carrying a bag.

The pocket is not big, and when it is placed on the ground, it is only a small ball inside.

Not long after, childish cries resounded in the dormitory, followed by screams.

Two hours later, the chamberlain walked out of the bedroom carrying the bag. Something seeped out of the bag and dripped on the ground.

The chamberlain didn't pay attention, there were no lights outside the bedroom, and the chamberlain and the bag quickly disappeared into the darkness.

A black shadow flashed out from behind the holly tree, and he lay on the ground and smelled it.

It's the smell of blood.

There is a street near the water in Jinling City, with gray tiles and white walls, built along the water.

There is a snack shop here that has been open for many years. It was owned by an old couple. The old couple couldn't work anymore, so they handed over the shop to their son and daughter-in-law. Although the people have changed, the taste has not changed. Everyone who eats here is Is a regular diner.

But today, the regular diners' trip was in vain because the snack shop was not open.

"Oh, what's going on? Could it be that my boss is sick?"

"No way, my boss is so young, how could he get sick?"

The waiter at the wine shop next door quietly told the diners: "The owner of this restaurant is not sick, but his daughter has an accident."

"Are they those sisters? Such cute little girls, what happened?" the diners asked.

"I lost it. I went out to buy sugar cakes and didn't come back. You should go back. They have no intention of opening a shop if they don't find their daughter."

The diners talked a lot, some said that a little girl was lost in an alley, and some said that the daughter of a relative's relative also went out and never came back.

Soon, people's talk changed from losing the child to a group of flower-shooting gangs coming to Jinling City. These flower-shooting gangs are daring villains. People with children must take good care of their children and do not let them go out to play by themselves. .

He Hua was sitting in the shop chatting with a few aunties, talking about the loss of the child.

"Have you heard? These are little girls, seven or eight years old. Ouch, what a crime. In my opinion, most likely they were sold on flower boats."

"That is definitely not our Jinling flower boat. Jinling's flower boat still follows the rules and will not accept such a good family."

"No longer in Jinling? Wouldn't that be even more terrifying? I heard that those barbarians would use children's hands and feet to make medicinal wine."

"There are also internal organs. Barbarians will eat children's internal organs."

He Hua occasionally interjected: "Really?"

or “Oh my god, this is still happening?”

Or: "How sad my parents must be!"

One group of aunties left, and another group came, all telling the same thing.

The biggest news in Jinling City now is not where Ran's army is attacking, nor whether Huazi's army will attack, but the missing child.

After all, many families have children. In this world, there are always more parents who love their children than those who don't.

Then more sad news soon came. The couple in the snack shop lost a pair of twins. The wife went crazy, ran to the street in thin clothes, and asked everyone they met if they had seen her daughter.

He Hua sighed: "Really?" "Oh my god, is there such a thing?" "How sad my parents must be!"

After seeing off a group of aunties, He Hua was just about to drink a cup of tea to calm down, when suddenly her eyes blurred and there was another person in front of her.

An old woman, thin and straight, like an old tree.

"Do you know who stole the child?" the old woman asked coldly.

He Hua was startled and quickly put on a smile: "Grandma Xiu, you are here. Are you thirsty? I will pour you some tea."

"Stop talking nonsense, let me ask you who stole the child." Xiu Gu looked like she wanted to eat someone, which made He Hua shrink back in fear.

"I don't know. I've also heard people talk about it. Now the rumors are getting worse and worse. Two days ago, I just lost the little girl. Today, I also lost the older girl. I just don't know which of these things is real. Fake."

He Huabu is under Xiugu's charge, but she knows that she can't afford to offend this old lady with a bad temper.

"I don't know whether it's true or not? Then you still have the time to talk nonsense here and don't go to investigate? If you don't go, I will send someone to go." Xiugu said sternly.

He Hua was startled. Grandma Li said that she could not let this old lady make her own decisions. You must know that this woman does what she says. Who knows if she is not happy, she will cut off someone's head the next moment? Whose family will be wiped out?

"Please help me look after the store. I will go out and check it out."

He Hua's fake smile is as sweet as honey.

Xiugu rolled her eyelids and said angrily: "Stop talking nonsense and get out of here."

After saying that, Xiu Gu sat down in front of the counter, her back straight. She no longer looked like an old tree. She looked like a sword, unsheathed.

He Hua did not dare to delay and hurried out of the shop. She first went to a pawn shop and chatted with the pawn shop clerk for a few words. Then she went to a teahouse and drank a bowl of tea. Then she went to Mihang and asked After asking about the price of rice, I went to buy vegetables. I bargained and argued with the vegetable vendor for a while. I didn't even buy the vegetables, so I left angrily.

This time she went to the Flower House, entering through the back door and exiting through the back door. (End of chapter)