late Qing Dynasty

Chapter 84
"Hey, it's a long story." Qin Huaiyuan sighed, and sat on the stone bench in the prison, "According to the time, I have been imprisoned here for about three years."

It's been so long, I looked at him in surprise, "Brother Qin, who locked you here?"

"It's what the emperor meant." Qin Huaiyuan deliberately lowered his voice, as if he was still very scared.

"You mean Emperor Xianfeng?" I asked suspiciously.

"En." Qin Huaiyuan nodded, and then became silent. He didn't speak, and I didn't dare to ask him, for fear of exposing myself.

What's more, I don't know what his silence means.

"Zhongzheng, do you know why the emperor put me under house arrest?" Qin Huaiyuan asked me suddenly.

He looked like I should know.

I shook my head uncertainly and replied, "I don't know."

"You and I are both historians. Your luck is much better than mine. Why did that incident happen to me?" Qin Huaiyuan continued to sigh.

His words were all specious and ambiguous, as if he was deliberately trying to lose my appetite. People who listened were very anxious, but I didn't want to ask him rashly.

"Brother Qin, what you said is..." I opened my mouth tentatively.

I deliberately did not go on, just waiting for him to continue.

"Three years ago, I accompanied the emperor on a private visit and saw things that I shouldn't have seen, that's why I was locked up here." Qin Huaiyuan sighed several times.

However, as for the specific matter, he just didn't mention it.

"Did you see something you shouldn't?" I pretended to be puzzled, and continued to ask him, "Accompanying the emperor on a private visit, is there anything you shouldn't see?"

"Zhongzheng, you better stop asking, the more you know, the sooner you will die, just like me." Qin Huaiyuan persuaded me earnestly.

This guy is really funny, he successfully aroused my curiosity, and now he pretends to be mysterious and say he doesn't know, no wonder he was locked up, he just owes it!
"Brother Qin, Emperor Xianfeng is already dead. Tell me what's going on, maybe I can save you." I first threw an olive branch at him.

"What, the emperor is already dead!" Qin Huaiyuan exclaimed, knelt down on the ground with a 'plop', and shouted, "Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Ah!"

I saw him crying so much that I couldn't help admiring him in my heart. With his acting skills alone, he would be sorry for the dead Emperor Xianfeng if he wasn't awarded by the actor.

"Brother Qin, well, tell me first, what exactly did you watch that shouldn't be seen." I stopped him from crying in time.

Qin Huaiyuan wiped the tears off his face fiercely with his dirty sleeves, and then asked me, "Zhongzheng, how did you get in? Could it be that you also saw something you shouldn't have seen."

I go!This guy started to interrogate me first, well, I won't ask him yet, what he likes to see has nothing to do with me.

"Brother Qin, my ears are tired, let's take a rest first."

I deliberately walked in the opposite direction to him, keeping away from him, so as not to listen to his "bewitching words to confuse the public" again.

"Brother Qin, don't you know that this is a secret cell, where prisoners are generally not held." Qin Huaiyuan looked at me suspiciously.

"What do you mean by that!" I stood up hastily.

If there are no prisoners here, then what does Zhu Yuanhong mean by locking me here? There must be tricks hidden in it.

"This is a secret cell. Only people like me are held here. Ordinary prisoners will not be held here..."

"No, isn't this the prison for officials? Wasn't Sushun also imprisoned here?" I asked hastily.

Could it be that I made a mistake!It shouldn't be!

"I said Zhongzheng, are you confused? The cell where the officials are detained is on the other side, not far from here, and Sushun is also detained on the other side." Qin Huaiyuan explained.

"Then what about here? Who is being held here? What is it for?" I really don't understand the situation.

"This is the secret prison set up by the late emperor. Those who clearly cannot be killed, but those who want to be executed in secret, are locked up. Only the late emperor and his cronies know about it. However, you should know why you are locked up here. Alright."

Qin Huaiyuan looked at me sympathetically, as if I would be secretly killed in the next second.

It turns out that the imperial court still has such a special place. It seems that Zhu Yuanhong wanted to kill me here, so he could do it without anyone noticing. But, isn't he afraid of the Queen Mother's censure?

Who is the person behind him, and what kind of support does he have that can make him so unscrupulous.

"Zhongzheng, since we are both officials in the same dynasty and historians, and we came here together, I will tell you the secret, so as to save me from being carried into the coffin." Qin Huaiyuan said with a sigh.

Obviously, he thought I was going to die today.

"What's the secret?" I asked disinterestedly.

I am almost at the point where I can't protect myself now, so why am I in the mood to listen to his secrets.

"Three years ago, I accompanied the late emperor on a private visit. The late emperor left the palace secretly, and brought five or six people with him. At that time, only Concubine Yi was left to circle around in the palace. We traveled south from the capital all the way to Zhili..."

"Get straight to the point!"

I impatiently emphasized that this Qin Huaiyuan really thought he was here to tell a story.

"When we arrived in the Zhili area, we were on our way, but suddenly it rained heavily. In a hurry, someone found a cave in front of us. We were forced by the rain, so we had to go into the cave to hide from the rain."

"That day, there was lightning and thunder, and strong winds. After we entered the cave, guess what we saw!" Qin Huaiyuan asked me in surprise.

I was bored and sat on the stone pier, and I was really not in the mood to listen to him talk about storytelling, so I lazily replied, "It can't be because I met a ghost!"

"How do you know!" Qin Huaiyuan exclaimed, and looked at me in shock, "You must have heard something?"

"Ah?" I looked at Qin Huaiyuan speechlessly, and talked for a long time, he just wanted to tell me such an absurd secret, "Brother Qin, don't entertain me anymore, I'm just getting bored right now."

"I'm not entertaining you, I'm telling the truth! There really is a ghost in that cave! Besides, it's a pretty female ghost! At that time, the emperor was so fascinated that three souls lost seven souls. I saw it with my own eyes. !"

"The emperor is so fascinated that three souls and seven souls are missing, what about you?" I asked him boringly.

"Of course I'm not messing around. It's strange to say that the woman can talk and laugh, but we can't touch it. The cave is also strange. The rocks inside are all black, and they reflect light under the lightning... ..."

"Where is the cave you mentioned!" I suddenly became excited.

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(End of this chapter)