Empress Jinghua: The eunuch is nine thousand years old

Chapter 167 The Prince's Calculation

Hui'er's body was found in the afternoon of the second day. When the palace servants who salvaged Huafeng Pond found her, her body was swollen with soaking water, and there was a smell of corpse.And the fatal wound between her neck was also swollen and hard to see because of the soaking in the pool water.

When the corpse was carried to Liluo Palace, Xia Zijin was stunned for a moment, and the bloody smell in Xia Shengqing's room last night flashed through his mind, and his tightly clenched hands felt cool.

"How did Hui'er die?" Xia Zijin squatted down and lifted the white cloth covering Hui'er's face. The face that was still so delicate and lively yesterday was now glowing with lifelessness, as pale as withered.

The palace man who carried the corpse shook his head, pointed to Huier's corpse and said, "The slaves don't know that when they found Miss Huier, she was already in the lake. There was no external injury, the criminal officer said that it was dark last night, Miss Hui'er walked to Huafeng Pool and accidentally fell into the lake, and died when no one heard her calling for help."

It is true that Huafeng Pond is between Liluo Palace and Xia Shengqing's residence, but the location is remote, and ordinary people would not go that way, so how could Huier take a long detour to get there and then fall into the water.

"My princess knows, please tell the criminal officer and look into it carefully. If you have any clues, you must tell this princess."

Xia Zijin waved his hand and asked Xiaokui to give them some hard-earned money, and they bowed and resigned.

There were drops of water on Hui'er's pale face, and Xia Zijin stared at her dead body, frowning deeply.

"how so!"

Xia Qin stood in front of the subordinates who were kneeling to report, his fine eyes were bulging, and he looked down at the people kneeling on the ground with his sleeves flapped.

"Didn't the prince ask you to act in secret? How could you act like this!"

The subordinate who reported the report cowardly said: "Go back to the crown prince. You guys don't know what's going on. It is obviously according to your order to spread the virtuous king's love for the people among the people so that they can sing more. I don't know why those people have become In order to praise you, Prince!"

Xia Tian gritted his teeth. He originally wanted people to spread Xia Bin's notoriety in places like brothels and gambling houses, but after thinking about it, he came up with a clever plan to stab people in the back. Then the common people would naturally sing praises, and based on Ming Shengdi's suspicious nature, seeing that Xia Bin's voice was about to overwhelm him, how could he not suspect that Xia Bin had deep thoughts and wanted to get his hands on the throne?
But now the person being praised has been replaced by Xia Qin, which means that the object of the Holy Emperor's suspicion will naturally be replaced by Xia Qin.

"Xia Bin, you treacherous villain, how dare you plot against the Crown Prince!"

Xia Tian let out an angry cry, and was so angry that he slapped the hundred-gold glazed cup in the room to the ground, smashing it to pieces.

"Calm down, the prince, I'll go and deal with the aftermath, and let them all stop talking." The subordinate who reported was lying on the ground, terrified by Xia Qin's fury.

"Then hurry up! Do you want to see the prince being suspected by the emperor!"

Xia Qin roared again, and kicked the subordinate's shoe with his foot, and the curses in his mouth rolled down like broken beads.

"Damn Xia Bin, the Crown Prince wants you to look good!"

The palace people all stood aside with their heads bowed in silence, not daring to say more, for fear that the anger of His Highness the Crown Prince would burn on their own heads.

"Why is it so noisy in there?"

As soon as the subordinate supported the sore spot that Xia Qin kicked hard, he walked out of the palace door bitterly, when Concubine De stepped in.

Concubine De is also fifty-two, and she is not as good at maintenance as Shui Yanran. There are already fine lines around her eyes, and her skin is yellow and loose. That old-fashioned attitude still cannot be concealed.

Xia Qin was still losing his temper. Seeing Concubine De came, it was not easy to continue. He greeted Concubine De with a dark face, then sat down at the table with his sleeves down and waved his hands, asking the palace servants to bring Huadiao wine for a while. Pot, holding back the anger in my heart, I drank the boring wine.

"Emperor, what are you doing!" Concubine De shook her head, stepped forward and snatched the Yuye cup that Xia Qin brought to her mouth, and sighed, "Spirited wine hurts your health, what can you tell your concubine mother?" Say it."

Although the strong wine was spicy and choked the throat, it could relieve worries. When Xia Qin was robbed of his cup, he simply drank it with the jug. The Huadiao wine was so hot that Xia Qin coughed.

"Mother Concubine, don't worry about it, you can't help with this matter, the child doesn't believe that Xia Bin can always be so lucky, and one day he will fall into my hands!"

It turned out that it was for Xia Bin, Concubine De frowned when she heard this name, sat down beside Xia Qin, pulled out the flagon in his hand and put it aside, bowed her head and said: "This palace is here today. It was because of this matter that I went to the Queen's room to pay my respects when I got up in the morning. The concubine Yue was very arrogant, she had clearly been demoted from the position of noble concubine, and now her position is still under the palace, but she still looks arrogant , isn’t it because of the dead daughter and an adopted son!”

Thinking of Shui Yanran's frivolous and frivolous Concubine De, she covered her veil in disgust. If she hadn't been known as a virtuous and virtuous woman, and she was a perfect lady of every family, it would be a pleasure to stab Shui Yanran face to face.

"Na Shui Yanran said in front of all the concubines that when the emperor invited her last night, he mentioned that he intended to let the virtuous king handle the matter of going to the royal silk factory in the capital to negotiate business with foreign countries. You should handle Zifei's errands properly, Xia Bin, a bastard son who is neither the prince of the East Palace nor the queen's son, why should he have such a good job!"

Xia Tian raised his head frequently, with a strong jealousy in his eyes. He had spent a long time discussing business deals between the Royal Silk Factory in the capital and foreign countries, but Ming Shengdi had always been ambiguous and refused to let him go. Now he just gave it to Xia Bin casually. , and did not know half a sentence
"Father didn't explain this matter in the early court, it seems that he planned to keep it a secret for a while." Xia Tian snorted and said, feeling more and more restless in his heart.

"The emperor didn't explain it, so could it be said that Shui Yanran's cheap hoof made up nonsense?"

Concubine De leaned on the table and made a point.

Xia Tianqin shook his head, Ming Shengdi would announce this matter sooner or later, since Shui Yanran dared to say it in front of the empress and all the concubines, there would be no falsehood, otherwise she would boast indiscriminately and spread it to Ming Shengdi's ears Wouldn't it be a sin?

"Xia Bin is very skillful. He casually broke the trap that the prince set for him among the people. Now he quietly robbed the royal silk factory in the capital to negotiate business with foreign countries. It seems that the prince used to be underestimate him"

As the prince of the East Palace, Xia Qin undoubtedly valued the symbol of power and status very much, but now that Xia Bin is walking forward step by step, if he doesn't catch up, I'm afraid he will be replaced by Xia Bin sooner or later according to the posture in front of him.

Concubine De is a woman, she is not like Yue Jing'an who secretly plots, and she can't use the means to blow the pillow wind to Ming Shengdi, seeing Xia Qindu say this, she also feels anxious.

"What should I do? Huang'er, think of a way, otherwise let Xia Bin steal the limelight, and in the future, the big fortune will be his!"

"He's dreaming!"

Xia Qin gritted his teeth viciously and said, as long as he is in power, he will never allow Xia Bin to ride on his head.

De Fei could not stop sighing next to his ears, Xia Tianqin became more and more bored when he heard it, took another sip from the hip flask, the acrid taste choked his throat, but suddenly he became enlightened.

"Why didn't the prince think that Xia Bin can rely on Concubine Yue to play tricks on his father's pillow, and the prince can still find someone to work twice as hard!"

Thinking of this, Xia Tianqin held the jug, his delicate eyes began to roll, looking in the harem, apart from Kaishui Yanran, only Concubine Lian is the most favored, but he has no intersection with Concubine Lian, it is not easy to climb up to her It's not solid either.

Well, compared to concubine, there is another position that has stayed with Emperor Ming Sheng for the longest time.
The most suitable candidate came to mind, Xia Qin suddenly smiled, turned to look at Concubine De who was full of confusion, raised his lips and said: "There is a way, please trouble Concubine Mother to go with the child."

It was another moonlit night, and the cicadas all around became louder and louder. Coupled with the humidity of the night in the Ci'en Villa, it made people feel very uncomfortable.

In the remote small courtyard densely planted with pines and cypresses, two people walked in with night dew, looked at the dim yellow candle light in the closed room, looked at each other, and then raised their hands and knocked on the door.

Xia Shengqing was standing in front of the table, rubbing the medicine bottle taken out of Huier's corpse, feeling a little annoyed. He had no intention of killing Huier or cheating Xia Zijin, but now he had to do something. Many concealments.

The door was knocked lightly three times, Xia Shengqing regained consciousness, stuffed the things back into her bosom, and took two steps forward to open the door.

Following the creaking sound of the door opening, the two people outside also raised their faces from their long black cloaks, their sharp and deep eyes like falcons looked at Xia Shengqing with a smile, and nodded slightly He said: "Visit late at night, I hope the prince will not be abrupt, Manager Xia."

The person in front of him was undoubtedly Xia Qin, and Concubine De smiled kindly at Xia Shengqing standing aside, her graceful posture was indelible with the traces of age.

Looking at the two uninvited people, Xia Shengqing was puzzled for a moment, then calmed down very quickly, and invited the two into the room.

The wooden door was closed again, and Xia Shengqing gave up the top position to Xia Qin and Concubine De, and personally poured tea for the two of them. The clear light yellow tea soup wafted out a refreshing aroma, wafting around, and a sip was sweet. The fragrance enters the throat.

"I don't know what orders the crown prince and concubine de concubine have when they visit the servant's shabby room in the middle of the night? It's good to ask the servant to come and hear about it, but how dare the two masters come here in person." Xia Shengqing said politely as she poured tea for the two.

(End of this chapter)