Emperor Qianlong: the beginning of his glory

Chapter 40
With great difficulty, Hong Xi made it to the end of the day when the cards were dismissed from school, forced her way out of the Donghua Gate as calmly as she could while suppressing the palpitations in her heart, beckoned to the personal eunuch Wang Ying, and said in a low voice, "You go to Prince Heng's mansion and Prince Yi's mansion, ask Hong and Hongchang to come over here immediately, and they got a few rare books, please come and watch them." After saying that, they boarded the sedan chair and left.Along the way, Hongxi was just wondering: "I played tricks at Yang Mingshi's tea time. It was very secret at the time... How did this little devil say it in one bite?" He dully stroked his feverish forehead, The scene of the day before Yang Mingshi's "stroke" was immediately revealed clearly.

It was the afternoon of the second day after the winter solstice. Hong Xiyuan said that he would go to Lifanyuan and Guanglu Temple to inquire about the annual silver of the bannermen, and the distribution of ancestor worship rewards with titles for the children of meritorious officials should also be compiled and written. Report to Qianlong.When he passed Donghua Gate, he felt that the clothes on his body were thin, and he was chilling sitting in the sedan chair. Thinking about the black fox cloak he always kept in the study room of Yuqing Palace, other eunuchs couldn't get in, so he had to get off the sedan chair and enter by himself. Come and fetch.Entering the upper study room, but seeing that none of the students arrived, only Yang Mingshi frowned and sat beside the charcoal brazier meditating, Hong Xi took off the cloak on the hanger with one hand, and asked casually, "Master Yang, what are you thinking about?"

"Huh?" Yang Mingshi trembled all over, as if he had just woken up from contemplation, and when he turned his head to see Hong Xi, he said, "It's the prince who is here?—You came just in time, I'll show you something." Seeing his complexion, Hong Xi said With a gloomy tone, he walked towards the desk without paying any respect, and asked anxiously, "Master Yang, what happened?" Please take a look at the imitation characters written by Hong."

Hongxi took a look at Yang Mingshi, took the notebook and flipped through it. There was nothing unusual about it. Yang Mingshi said, "Take out the post and look at the back." It is not surprising that it is "Song of the Stone Drum" written by Zhang Zhao.When I turned it over to look at it, there were messy characters scribbled horizontally and vertically, the big ones were the size of walnuts, and the small ones were the size of mayflies.Yang Mingshi pointed at the lower left corner with his finger.When Hongxi took a closer look, he saw the tight-faced lowercase script:

Xinmao Gengwu Dingsi Bingchen how to restrain themselves!The reason is difficult to understand, you should ask Yang.Jia Shifang catches monsters, interesting and interesting...

There are also a few inexplicable talismans drawn in thick ink below.Hongxi suddenly felt his scalp explode, and a chill came from the bottom of his heart, and he said in a trembling voice: "This is just a child's scribbling, practicing calligraphy... I don't see what it means..."

"Of course it's interesting." Yang Mingshi said coldly, "These eight celestial stems and earthly branches are today's birthdays. Some people probably say that they are 'Xiang Ke'. Hong overheard them and wrote them down, and wanted to ask me. I don't understand the talismans drawn below. , go to Baiyun Temple, ask Zhang Zhengyi and I can figure it out, don’t read too many words, there’s a big article in it!” Yang Mingshi unceremoniously exposed this layer of paper, and Hongxi became more and more anxious to the point of confusion , Lei froze for a while as if shocked, and stammered, "Yes... did Hong come to ask you?" Yang Mingshi shook his head and said, "Hong didn't ask, I spilled tea on the book, these rebellious words clearly Come out. Instead, I called Hong Lai to ask, and I faltered and heard a lot of nonsense."

"He... what nonsense did he talk about?"

"What did you do yourself, do you want to ask me?" Yang Mingshi suddenly raised his voice, and "slapped" the case: "Don't forget, I have been a county magistrate for six years! I usually see you as gentle and elegant, why do you have such a thing in your heart?" Where did you invite Taoist priests, or what kind of cult did you believe in, dare to play this kind of mystery? The mistakes of the past are still there, and you can copy Yun’s old tricks! No king, no father, no loyalty, no filial piety, no brotherhood, What are you! Do you know what crime this is? Do it as soon as possible, take down the demon who practiced the nightmare technique, and put up a sinful book, which is your new way!"

Hearing this merciless questioning and reprimand, Hong Xi's heart was broken, his lips trembled violently, and his whole body almost went limp.Yang Mingshi also turned pale with anger.Hong Xi tentatively said timidly: "Master, what you have said so far shows your benevolence. A few days ago, some younger brothers did not know who they were, but they did invite a Taoist priest. They said that there were ghosts crying in the back house of the mansion at night. Please invite him Zhenxiong. I haven't seen this person, and I don't know what they did behind the scenes. Really, Master Yang, please forgive me for a few days, let me check the ins and outs... What should I do, I will definitely call you back ..."

"You really don't know?" Yang Mingshi breathed a sigh of relief, "Can they carry you behind such a big matter?" "Really!" Hongxi's eyes flashed, and he hurriedly lowered his eyelids and said sincerely: "I swear! To be honest, when you first mentioned this matter today, I was really struck by a thunderbolt. When my father was alive, my uncle, Prince Zhi Wang Yun, did this to him. Although I am a prince, I am also a scholar. Since ancient times I have never used Nightmare Charm to achieve great things, I am stupid, and I will not copy Uncle's technique. Now that this matter has come out, I can't tolerate it. Please allow a few days, Master, and will be strictly dealt with after investigation!" Yang Mingshi Hearing his tearful explanation, my heart softened, and I sighed pitifully, and said: "According to my early temperament, the impeachment memorial has already been handed in. But now I am your teacher. If you don't teach, you can learn from me." Laziness. In fact, the old Prince Li was kind to me when he was alive before, and I really can’t bear to see your generation suffer another catastrophe. What kind of crime is this? You are both a monarch and a brother, and you have the heart to deal with it to death?"

With a "plop", Hongxi knelt down in front of Yang Mingshi, kowtowed and said, "Mr. What's more, I can no longer stand such twists and turns..." After saying that, tears came down like rain.

"What's wrong with this, get up!" Yang Mingshi saw that Jin Ziming's clock was about to set, and quickly helped Hongxi up, "My brothers, come here later and see what's going on?" Hongxi raised his face and stared straight at it. Yang Mingshi, "I beg for your grace! Whoever commits the crime, I will definitely execute him. Just please don't alarm the court, there are too many people implicated in this crime... If you don't agree, I will kneel here. Anyway, the ending is the same, listen to the court Fair treatment..."

Hong Xi's eloquent tongue finally softened Yang Mingshi—while helping him up, he sighed: "Not only the Prince Li's mansion can't afford this catastrophe, but the imperial court shouldn't bother with such things any more. My lord, I won't play anymore, If you give me an answer within three days, the servant who did this will be executed, and if any elder brother conspires and wants to find another reason to ask for a decree to depose the noble, I will rot this matter in my heart... Yang Mingshi has never been against his will in his life. ..." He shook his head, as if swallowing a sip of extremely bitter wine, and kept his brows silent.

But Yang Mingshi never expected that he would be murdered the next day.What even Hongxi didn't expect was that Hongshang didn't come home from school at noon that day. After eating a snack, he curled up on the spring bench next to the smoker and fell asleep, and listened to their conversation verbatim.

The big sedan landed smoothly.Wang Ying lifted the curtain of the sedan chair and saw Hong Xi still leaning on the back of the sedan chair with his eyes closed, lost in thought, and said cautiously, "My lord, I'm home. My lord and Lord Chang are here first, waiting at the door!"

"Huh." Hong Xi slowly opened his eyes, looked through the window somewhat bewilderedly, came out hunched over, without even looking at Hong and Hong Chang, entered the Daoxia gate, and came towards the study.Hong and Hongchang looked at each other, and followed along the super mobile corridor zigzag.

Prince Li's Mansion is the grandest and largest mansion of all the royal mansions in Beijing.It started in the 12th year of Kangxi, and it took more than ten years to build the Prince's Mansion. Over the past 70 years, with the owner's ups and downs, the Prince's Mansion has been repaired and dilapidated several times. Now it is obsolete, but the structural regulations still remain the same as before. The look of the heyday.The area around Yin'an Hall in Zhengzhong has been closed since Yun was abolished for the second time. After Yun was released in the early years of Yongzheng, he also lived in the small courtyard behind Hongxi's study.But the study is still the same as before, looking east from the big glass window, you can see the tall and gloomy Yin'an Palace and the palace wall covered with dark red moss.The walls and the corners of the hall are covered with withered yellow weeds, shivering desolately in the wind, as if telling people something.Hong and Hongchang came in, seeing Hong Xi staring outside without saying a word, after a long time, he let out a heavy breath, then Hong asked, "Second brother, how many rare books did you get?"

"It's the same as the imitation post Master Yang saw last time." Hongxi turned around quickly, with his back to the light, his face was green and dark, "If it is not done well, it will be even more difficult to deal with than Yang Mingshi."

As soon as Hong and Hongchang's legs gave out, they sat on the carved porcelain pier, and the room was dead silent for a while!Hong's face was pale, and he kneaded his thin white fingers intertwined, gasping for breath, and said, "The medicine was prepared by the imperial doctor Ruan Anshun, and it was Annan's secret recipe, which was made by myself... At that time, I checked carefully inside and outside the house, and there was indeed no one." Idlers!" He said and looked at Hongchang.Hong Chang shrank back from his cold gaze, and hurriedly said: "What kind of thing is this, I dare to tell idlers. If you want to tell the truth, I won't go to see Neqin in person?"

"I don't doubt you either. If you changed your mind, something serious would have happened. What I'm afraid of is getting drunk and talking in your dreams and leaking out. It doesn't look like it now. There is no reason why it will reach Hongshang's ears all at once." He muttered to himself, and after thinking for a while, he returned to his normal state, and then slowly talked about today's fight for oranges among the elder brothers in Yuqing Palace, and said, "My head hurts from thinking about it, and I haven't thought of a clue yet. I don’t think it’s worth worrying about, the most important thing is what to do now.” Hong Yang thought about it, and said, “Second Brother, how did you comfort him in private? What did he say?” “I didn’t dare to speak out, and I didn’t dare Give him more money." Hong Xi said, "Give him a few golden melon seeds as compensation on behalf of Hong, and give him a golden grasshopper cage. After all, he is only eight years old, so he laughed out of tears. Saying that I don’t know the ups and downs of what I’m talking about, maybe I don’t. I dare not talk about anything else.”

(End of this chapter)