in spring

Chapter 75 Is it an imperial envoy or an underworld envoy?
Chunying, Ziteng and the others squeezed together at the corner door, and they could only see a few soldiers escorting the angels and two teenagers who seemed to be eunuchs, and they were quite depressed.Compared with the imaginative situation of the imposing sedan chairs or tall horses escorted by a large group of sergeants, the few people in front of the main courtyard are too low-key. Isn’t the emperor sent someone to read the imperial edict?
The people in the courtyard started to move, and even the soldier at the gate of the courtyard signaled to his subordinates, could it be that someone wants to come out? !Chunying immediately cheered up and wanted to see more clearly, but a man in his 40s and [-]s wearing a dark blue crepe robe ran out of nowhere, and shouted at a group of teenagers and girls: "Go, go! It’s time to leave soon?! Look at what it looks like?!” All the servants and maids screamed in fright, and Chunying was still wondering who it was, and was dragged away by the wisteria.

Wisteria ran and said, "It's so dangerous! That's Hei Lao Qi in front of Master Hou, who is in charge of chariots and horses. He loves to kill us the most, but he ran fast!"

Chunying turned her head while running, and saw from a distance at the gate of the main courtyard, Lord Hou, the third young master and others standing beside a fat man in dark green clothes.The fat man was a little hunched, but his expression was a little cold, Chunying guessed in his heart, could he be the angel from the palace?

The third young master, Li You, didn't return to Huanhuaxuan until almost one o'clock, his face was full of tiredness, and he weakly ordered to prepare meals and prepare for a bath, then threw himself on the couch and dozed off.Mei Xiang calmly asked everyone to carry the bath water that had been boiled several times into the house, and went to the small kitchen to watch the food.

Manru and Luer lightly helped Li You take off his clothes. He woke up suddenly, let them play with him in a daze, then stepped into the bathtub unsteadily, and immediately exhaled, feeling so comfortable that he was about to groan. .

Lu'er snickered and pulled his shoulder: "Third young master, you haven't taken off your little coat yet, stretch your arms." Only then did Li You realize that he was still wearing a tight-fitting apron, which was soaked in water, so he cooperated with Lu'er. He took it off and leaned against the edge of the barrel to rest again with his eyes closed.

Lu'er whispered to Manru: "I'll go get the dry clothes, you can add water while you watch, don't let him catch a cold." Manru nodded, and she went.After a while, Mei Xiang lifted the curtain from the outside and came in, and said to Li You: "The pomegranate in Madam's room has just arrived, and she said Madam ordered that everyone is tired today, so the third young master doesn't have to get up early to say hello tomorrow, but sleep a little longer. "

Li You closed his eyes and nodded his understanding, then suddenly remembered something, he opened his eyes and motioned for Mei Xiang to come over, whispered a few words, Mei Xiang went knowingly.Manru vaguely heard the word "Chun'er" beside her, and suddenly felt a little uncomfortable, gritted her teeth, picked up a soft towel with a smile, walked to the tub, and gently wiped Li You's back.

While wiping, she asked softly, "What dish does the third young master want to eat tonight? The small kitchen made smoked chicken. I was afraid you would get tired of it, so I asked them to stew a vegetable core. Is it okay?"

"What's so troublesome? Just make a stewed egg..." Li You didn't even roll his eyelids, and seemed a little dazed.

"The eggs... seem to be used up." Manru glanced at him secretly, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "It is said in the small kitchen... Chun'er seems to often use eggs to make snacks, but I don't see her delivering them to the regular table. Come inside..."

"It's so annoying!" Li You suddenly opened his eyes, "What does this kind of trivial matter have to do with me?! Don't even look at what time it is?!" He snatched the soft towel from her hand and rubbed it indiscriminately .

Manru turned pale with fright, and hurriedly knelt down on the ground.Lu'er heard the sound and ran in from outside the tent, and didn't know what happened, so she gave the former a wink and asked her to go out first, then coaxed Li You softly, handed her the soft towel, and continued to serve him in the bath .

Manru walked out in a daze, and saw Lan Xiang passing in front of her with a mocking smile on her face, and Chen'er even spat at herself.She bit her lip, tried her best to walk back to her room, threw herself on the bed, curled up, and stared at the opposite wall in a daze.

Maybe...she was too impatient, what was Chun'er?She has more important things to do...

After Chun Ying received Mei Xiang's instructions, she went to Zhumeng Villa early the next morning and brought Zhou Nian the news that the Hou Mansion was safe.The latter was naturally relieved.But Chunying still hasn't figured it out, what happened to Hou Fu?How is it all right?How is Princess Jing doing now?And what is the truth of the matter?

These answers were not heard by chance until the third young master Li You came to visit Zhou Nian around noon.

"The queen was in a moment of interest, so she asked her eldest sister to accompany her to the imperial garden for a walk to enjoy the flowers. It happened that Ma Xuan came out of the queen mother's palace. He seemed to have a bad face and tears. The queen asked her a few words of concern, and she The queen refused to say anything, so the queen had to invite her to enjoy the flowers together. Later, the queen got up to change clothes, and only the elder sister accompanied Ma Xuanshi. For some reason, Ma Xuanshi was knocked down the steps. It was half a zhang away, but some of the queen's maids were standing beside her, and they were immediately taken down by the people in the queen mother's palace and brought before the queen mother. My eldest sister was also invited to be a witness."

Zhou Nian frowned: "So...Princess Jing was not detained as a suspect?"

"Of course not!" Li You said, "But the Queen Mother's people tried her like a prisoner, insisting that she admit that she was the queen's maid and pushed Ma Xuanshi! Hmph, who knew that Ma Xuanshi was pregnant with a dragon fetus? She But nothing was said!"

Zhou Nian pondered for a moment before asking: "What happened next?"

"Later when the emperor came, he sent the queen back to Kunning Palace, and arranged for the elder sister to live in another palace. He only said that he would stay in the palace temporarily until the truth was found out. The attendant Ma Xuan also sent The maid beside her was taken away together with the empress's maid, and she was told to order the clan to investigate." Li You suddenly smiled, approached Zhou Nian and whispered, "There is something strange Yes. The imperial physician reported to the emperor that when he checked Ma Xuanshi's pulse, it was confirmed that she was deficient in both qi and blood. It seems that because she hadn't found pregnancy before, she was negligent in her diet. This pregnancy may be difficult to save. Even if she saved it, The princes and daughters born will also be congenitally deficient. I heard that the queen mother changed her face at that time, and immediately called Grand Master Liang into the palace to discuss. Unfortunately, the imperial physician was dismissed, so I don’t know what they discussed. But Ma Xuanshi came to the palace after Grand Master Liang left. Walked into the imperial garden with a pale face."

Zhou Nian was a little surprised: "How do you know this? The envoy in the palace said it?!"

Li You shook his head triumphantly: "One of the four people who came with the messenger once served my eldest brother-in-law, and slipped my eldest sister's letter to me while no one was around. This is what the letter said." He thought about it. Think about it, the more you think about it, the more funny it is: "I heard that when Ma Xuan served the first month, he sent someone to Kunning Palace to invite the emperor, saying that she was very ill, and the emperor stayed with her for two days when he saw her pity. The root cause of the disease. Do you think this is called lifting a rock and shooting yourself in the foot?"

Zhou Nian said angrily: "How do you know these things? Be careful that the Marquis knows you!"

Li You curled his lips disapprovingly, and continued: "Eldest sister may be back in two days. Although this time is just a false alarm, those people are really hateful! Both father and elder brother said that they must not be easily spared!"

Zhou Nian's heart moved, and he smiled slightly: "The stack of files I gave to Lord Hou earlier may be useful..."

Chunying turned her head to look at them from the window, feeling a little confused, why Zhou Nian's expression looks so different from usual now?He seemed to be a different person.What was the stack of files he was talking about?

As expected, Concubine Jing returned to Prince Jing's mansion the next day, and Prince Jing almost immediately announced that his wife was ill and would not see any outsiders. He cut off contact with the outside world after sending a letter to the Marquis of Qing Dynasty to report his safety.

The Hou Mansion also sent people to see Concubine Jing, and the news came back that there was nothing serious other than physical fatigue, so everyone in the Hou Mansion breathed a sigh of relief.But Lord Hou did not intend to stop there, and his revenge had just begun.

Within three days, many officials were exposed for corruption.According to the laws established by Emperor Taizu and the laws revised by Emperor Taizong, these officials were immediately dismissed and investigated.Since the Ministry of Punishment had enough evidence to prove their crimes, no matter how hard some people in the court tried, they still failed to escape the guilt.

Among them, when the Ministry of Criminal Affairs questioned one of the officials who worked in Dali Temple, it was found that he had bought several so-called witnesses, accusing the former deputy capital censor Ye Wanshan of insulting the late emperor, embezzling public funds, and deceiving the emperor.This happens to be connected with the Ye family's injustice case that the Qing Guohou's Mansion is seeking to rehabilitate.When the emperor learned about it, he immediately ordered the Ministry of Punishment, Dali Temple and the Metropolitan Procuratorate to jointly retry the case.

For a time, the situation in Beijing was changing.

When Zhou Nian heard the news, his face was expressionless, but there was a coldness in his eyes.

Ye Wanshan was his own uncle. Back then, it was because the Ye family was convicted and his father spoke out for his wife and uncle that he was hated by King Ke and the Liang party.He was the only one left in the Zhou family, but because of the help of his aunt and natal family, the Ye family was exiled to Yazhou except for the unjust death of his uncle Ye Wanshan.According to the news heard by Li Houye, aunt Fang and eldest cousin Xiuying both died of illness in Yazhou, but cousin Bincheng and cousin Xiuzhen were safe and sound.

When he redressed the grievances between the two families, he would bring them back to reunite.Perhaps, that is the only family member he has left...

The fact that the officials in the faction were dropped one after another did not seem to have caused Taishi Liang to panic.On the contrary, he drank tea and chatted with some old friends very leisurely, and went fishing outside the city while he was resting.Many people secretly laughed at him for being old and confused, and even his own cronies were anxious.But after hearing the news, Marquis Qing Li Zhang not only didn't follow the joke, but instead ordered his friends and subordinates to act cautiously as if he was facing a big enemy.Grand Master Liang is an old fox after all, he must be confident in his calm performance.

Just when Li Zhang was worried about what kind of tricks Taishi Liang was planning, the latter came to Qingguohou's mansion in person with the emperor's reward intention.

Li Zhang of the Hou's Mansion immediately went out to greet him, only to see Liang Taishi smiling and kindly saying to him: "Nephew, I haven't seen you for a long time, how are you doing? I brought good news today, and the emperor has a great reward!" Then He approached and patted his hand lightly: "A few days ago, the old lady in the house was shocked, right? It was all a misunderstanding! In order to explain clearly, I used my old bones! You won't ...you still blame me?"

Li Zhang paused, and said with a smile: "How could it be? It's so glorious for the grand master to come to the humble house! Please come in!" He welcomed the old man who was also smiling into the gate with a smile, and swept the door again. Glancing at the entourage behind him, he was secretly startled.

Come to read the imperial decree of reward, why did Grand Master Liang bring so many soldiers in full armor?He wouldn't... want to do something to the Hou Mansion, right?But after all, he came by imperial decree, so he shouldn't be so bold.

So... is it the imperial envoy... or the underworld?
(End of this chapter)