Empress True Colors

Guessing and guessing, I never thought that I offended the people of the Meng family before going to the Meng family for a wedding.

The Duke's daughter-in-law should be Menghu's cousin, but the Duke's mansion should be in Mengcheng, the capital of Mongolia, who would have thought that his daughter-in-law would appear in Puyang.

Jing Hengbo recalled it for a while, and then remembered that Meng Hu seemed to have said that when his grandmother sought employment for Miss Zheng, it was through his sister-in-law's natal family. It is estimated that Mrs. Meng's natal family is also in Puyang, and she went back to her natal home for her uncle's marriage. , look at that posture, this woman's family is also a big family.

She sighed softly, and felt her head hurting again. She didn't plan to come to Mongolia to make troubles, wouldn't she get into trouble again after doing well?

Seeing the sky full of fire that had already ignited in front of her eyes, she took a step forward helplessly.

Outside the house, the female shopkeeper was full of anxiety, and she was desperately carrying water with her neighbors to put out the fire. This time, the bucket was filled with water, and the bucket full of kerosene had been thrown into the sea of ​​flames to destroy the corpses.

"Quick! Quick!" the female shopkeeper kept urging the servant, "This girl kindly helped our Hall of Beauty, how can she be killed here because of a fire! We must save her! Don't worry about those goods, save people first! "

Sweat mixed with dust dripped down her face, and she didn't even bother to wipe it off. The neighbors praised her, and said: "Miss Liu San is really kind-hearted, so kind and righteous, this girl is really unfortunate." , presumably under Nine Springs, is also grateful to San Niangzi."

The smile on Miss Liu San's lips hadn't spread yet, when she heard a lazy female voice say with a smile, "Yes, we are indeed very, very grateful to Miss San."

Mrs. Liu San suddenly froze, her face turned ashen for a moment, and she hardly dared to turn around.

How can it be?

Surprised greetings from the neighbors have already rang in her ears like thunder, "Oh, someone has come out!"

"How did it come out, why didn't we see it? Are you two okay? What a fate!"

"Third lady, good intentions are rewarded, look, she's fine!"

Mrs. Liu San bit her white lower lip hard, and when she turned around slowly, she had already changed her smiling face, and said with a "surprised" face: "Ah! The girl escaped from the fire? Thank God, I was scared to death! "

Jing Hengbo looked at her face with a half smile but not a smile, it was really embarrassing for this one, the smile was so rigid, like a dead person.

"Thank you for your help, folks and folks. I'm fine now. Please go back, everyone. The Hall of Beauty will send you a small gift to calm everyone down. If your neighbors have lost property, just tell me, and the Hall of Beauty will compensate you." Liu The third lady hurriedly urged the helpers to disperse them quickly, lest Jing Hengbo say anything terrible.

"This fire can still be rescued, maybe some goods can be snatched..." The neighbors were a little surprised, Mrs. Liu San couldn't help but push people to go out, Jing Hengbo suddenly smiled and said: "What's so good about those goods? is fake!"

Mrs. Liu San suddenly turned around, eyes angry, Jing Hengbo didn't even look at her, and raised a fragment of a wooden barrel in her hand, which she picked up just now after the kerosene barrel smashed in. He weighed a piece of silver in his right hand, and said with a smile: "I'm bothering you, whoever informs the government for me will say that the shopkeeper of the Beauty Hall killed people, set fire to hurt people, and got all the stolen goods. Please, the lord, uphold justice."

There was silence on all sides, and everyone's eyes widened.

Mrs. Liu San trembled all over, her face turned pale, and hersed, "You... spout blood!"

With a gesture of Jing Hengbo's hand, the bucket at Mrs. Liu's feet was in front of her. She kicked the bucket, pointed to the fragments of the oil bucket in her hand, and said, "Look, everyone, this is the bucket from her Hall of Beauty, right?"

Everyone nodded. The bucket was covered with tung oil varnish and black wire hoop. It could be seen that it came from a shop. Someone said: "This is the bucket of Chengnanwang Tietong's family. His bucket is the best in the city, so naturally it is the best. The most expensive, none of us can afford this.”

At this time, the soldiers patrolling the nearby city had also arrived, and were about to help put out the fire, when they saw the fire suddenly extinguished, and heard the dispute here, they came over one after another, folded their arms and watched, and Miss Liu San's face became even more ugly.

"Smell." Jing Hengbo handed the fragments of the barrel in his hand to an old man, "This barrel was smashed into the burning house just now."

When the old man heard it, his face changed, and he said in shock: "Fire oil!"

"This is the barrel you brought yourself! You are framing me! How could I burn myself!" Miss Liu San's voice was sharp.

"When I entered the door of the Hall of Beauty, everyone was watching, and everyone knew whether I was carrying a bucket." Jing Hengbo laughed, "I was invited into the back hall by you, but within a short time, the fire ignited, and it was me. It must be a short distance from here to the south of the city, and I didn't have time to buy barrels of kerosene to burn this house. Besides, there are so many barrels sold on this street, I really want to set fire to it, why bother to go to the south of the city to buy barrels? To put it another way, do I have to use a barrel of kerosene to set it on fire? A big living man with a barrel of kerosene on his body in broad daylight ran around and set fire to your Hall of Fame? Hey, am I sick?"

There was laughter from all around, and someone laughed and said: "When the girl entered the store, she brought a lot of snacks, clothing, jewelry, but there are some. As for the kerosene, we really didn't see it."

Everyone laughed and moved away from Mrs. Liu San. Everyone despises such a thing as revenge.

"You...you...you have someone to meet you, and throw the barrel of kerosene over the wall to you..." Mrs. Liu San pointed at her tremblingly.

Jing Hengbo shook his head, he was so stupid, he still refused to give up.

"You told all the elders before that the fire was accidentally caused by dry things. Why are you so sure that I set the fire?" She smiled and said, "I arranged for someone to deliver the kerosene? It's broad daylight, Hall of Beauty It’s a place for business, and everyone who comes and goes is yours, and a big living man carries a few barrels of kerosene from the wall, you are blind and can’t see?”

Too lazy to argue with this cornered woman, she turned around and pointed to the extinguished fire, "If you don't believe me, there should be unburned barrels of kerosene here, go in and have a look, there is no fire The oil definitely can't burn so fast, and the two of us couldn't have brought so many barrels of fire oil into here in broad daylight and under the watchful eyes of everyone."

The soldiers patrolling the city nodded, went in and looked, and found a lot of unburned barrel fragments, with kerosene remaining in them. While picking out the barrels, those people muttered: "Strange, there are so many barrels of kerosene. It can burn down the whole house in the blink of an eye, but it doesn't look like it's burning up?"

Jing Hengbo smiled and said nothing—with such a body of ice and snow, is it easy to burn it?

Mrs. Liu San's face was ashen. She threw the oil barrels into the house at first to fuel the fire, but the fire was so big that it just burned the barrels clean. The most thorough method of destroying evidence, who knows if the fire is too big or not. But if he said to extinguish it, he extinguished it, and the most important thing was not burned, which means that he sent the evidence to the other party.

"The personal evidence is convincing." A leader-like guy collected the oil barrels and waved his hand, "Take it away!"

A group of soldiers escorted away Miss Liu San, who was struggling and denying endlessly, and the leader said again: "Please follow me to the yamen, this girl, and you need a personal certificate."

This is also what the question should mean, and Jing Hengbo naturally agreed. She patrolled the entire territory of the Great Wilderness all the way, entered and exited the royal family, and disrupted the court, but she rarely set foot in the low-level government. She was also very curious about how the officials of the Great Wilderness judged cases.

At this time, a woman's shrill voice was ringing in the back office of Puyang Mansion.

"Brother! You must help my sister out of this anger today! In this city of Puyang, under your rule, my sister, I will be insulted like this! That Hall of Beauty, which sells shoddy fakes, dares to mark Using a high price to deceive the common people, I can't see my sister going to teach me a lesson, but being bullied by those vulgar women, how can I swallow this tone!"

The middle-aged man who was reading after the book case did not put down the book, frowned slightly and said: "The government office is not run by our mansion, we must be fair in everything, so don't cause trouble again."

"Brother!"

"I don't care about your trivial matters right now." The man put the book down heavily, "You should quickly think of a way, how to make the Meng family or the Zheng family resign. It's really troublesome, who made you so attentive Make a bridge, and tell Miss Zheng Jiaqi to the Menghu of the Meng family?"

As soon as this matter was mentioned, the woman became discouraged, sat heavily on the chair, and said angrily: "How do I know that His Royal Highness Li also likes Miss Zheng's family? In Puyang, I was helping to tie the knot. The old lady sent a message. Can my granddaughter-in-law ignore it? You can only blame the elder brother for being too thoughtful. You have entered the Li Wang camp, and you don’t communicate with your family. The matter is over. Blame me instead." As he spoke, his eyes lit up suddenly, and he said, "Miss Zheng's family has promised her marriage and is getting married soon, let me see about it. It's enough to compensate His Highness Li Wang with another beauty. The woman Tang met was really beautiful, or find a reason to take her down and give her to His Highness?"

"What do you know! Can any messy woman be given to His Highness?" The middle-aged man raised his brows as if to scold him, but after a while he sighed bitterly, and said, "His Royal Highness Li wants Miss Zheng, but It's not for beauty, there are so many beauties in Mengcheng, His Highness Li Wang is a prince, what kind of woman can't he want? It's just that the king has not established a prince's son, and several princes are fighting fiercely. His Royal Highness Li Wang is the most favored among the princes One, with one hundred thousand elite soldiers in the hands of the Mongolian Kingdom, but rumors came out in the palace that the king was indecisive between King Li and King Pingping, and that although the king loved Li Wang's bravery, he felt that he was violent, and he was not suitable for my Mongolian literati. Xin, when he ascends to the throne in the future, he is afraid that he will act arrogantly, cruelly and unkindly, and if the heart of a warrior cannot be cultivated, there will be great disasters for the family and the country. Suitable to be the Lord of Mongolia."

"That's right," the woman nodded and said, "Your Highness is very powerful, but his temperament is really not flattering. When I was in Mengcheng, I went to his palace once, and there were many evil beasts and tigers in the mansion." There are leopards, bears and jackals, and the majestic palace is full of shame. I saw His Highness practicing martial arts, tearing up tigers and leopards, and devouring wolves' hearts. It was really disgusting. What's even more bizarre is that it is said that he doesn't like red makeup or rabbits. , there are countless concubines in the mansion, all of them complain about their empty boudoirs, but many of his so-called clean-ups and counselors are all handsome and handsome, and they are by his side day and night, what a mess, Miss Zheng If you marry into the palace, you will really fall into the fire pit..."

"That's enough! Your Highness's privacy is not something you and I can discuss." The man interrupted her and said heavily, "In short, when the palace said this, His Highness Li Wang's counselor gave him an idea. His princess is the closest After passing away, a new concubine should be followed, and she should be found in the family of the Qing noble civil servants, so as to gain the support of the civil servants, and then win the heart of the world's scholars. This kind of civil servants can't be ordinary civil servants, they must be the kind of famous Confucian scholars, The leader of the Qingliu, a family that everyone in the Mongolian scholars worships and returns to their hearts. Line up and down, the court and the scholars have great influence, naturally it is the Zheng family who runs the academy, the head of the Qingliu, and the Zheng family's age-appropriate Miss, Miss Zheng Qi is the only one at the moment, why don't you tell His Highness that it is inevitable?" He frowned, and said in distress, "Your Highness has come to Puyang secretly, and he is furious about the marriage between the Zheng family and the Meng family. If I have to make amends and marry Miss Zheng back, I can't offend the Zheng family and the Meng family, otherwise I will be held accountable. I'm worried, His Highness can't offend, the Zheng family and the Meng family are easy to provoke? If you are not careful, you will be ruined and ruined, and even our whole family will suffer, such a big matter is enough for me to worry about! Don't bother me with those things that you have and don't have!"

The woman listened, seeing her brother's embarrassed face, pondered for a while, then suddenly smiled and said: "I said brother, you are usually conceited and smart, but now such a simple and trivial matter, how can you do it so hard?"

"Oh?" The man stared at his sister suspiciously, "What can you do?"

"Women, after all, have the greatest reputation. If the reputation is in the hands of others, she can't help but not follow anyone." The woman raised one corner of her mouth, her eyes were secretive, and said, "Brother, come here with your ears."

The man leaned his head, and the sunlight penetrated through the window lattice, reflecting the two figures on the wall for a long time. Amid the noisy whispers, the two shadows twisted slightly, like two black strange snakes exuding yin energy. …

After a while, the man's voice was low and authentic: "Is it possible?"

"It's better than you being helpless." The woman's smile was cool.

Suddenly there was a report from outside the house, "Report to the Master, now the people are suing the shopkeeper of the Beauty Hall for private burning of the shop and murdering others. Please go and deal with it."

The man stood up, and the woman also stood up, muttering: "The Hall of Beauty?"

Seeing the man went to the front hall, she also followed quietly. When she saw the ashen-faced Mrs. Liu San of the Beauty Hall kneeling in the hall, and Jing Hengbo Gong Yin standing there, her eyes lit up, and she couldn't help laughing quietly Come on, and said to the yamen servant beside you: "Please call the mansion out for a while, and say that because of the matter just now, I have urgent matters to discuss with him."

After a while, the man turned into the back hall and said impatiently, "What's the matter?"

"Brother, can you see the two complainants in front?"

"See." The man thought for a while, and said, "Could it be that these two are the two who conflicted with you earlier?"

"Of course." The woman said with a smile, "Brother, you asked me not to cause trouble earlier, and I agreed to you and gave you a good idea. But now that people are coming to your door, don't you just give me a hand?" ? Don’t you forget that the plan that my sister gave you just now is just about to replace the dead ghost. "

The man pondered slightly, turned his head and glanced at the hall, his eyes fell on Gong Yin, then he nodded and said: "Okay, it's up to you. You also go back and prepare, this matter must be done properly Don't leak any news." He looked at the sky and murmured, "Your Highness will secretly stay in my residence tonight, so hurry up."

"Don't worry, brother, I promise to take care of it properly for you." The woman smiled happily, and the brother and sister discussed a few more words before parting in a hurry.

Jing Hengbo stood under the hall, looking at the mansion of the state capital of Mengguo, and didn't care about today's lawsuit. The mansion just now seems to be a shrewd and capable official. There is really nothing to ask about this case where the witnesses are clear. She is already thinking about it. She heard that there is a house in the south of the city. Go back and buy some for everyone to try.

Before he could think about it, the mansion lord turned around again, his face turned a little pale, Jing Hengbo glanced over, and was startled suddenly, thinking that this man seemed familiar. It seems that I have seen it somewhere, but I am sure that I have never seen anyone in Mongolia except Menghu before.

She asked Gong Yin if he felt this way, Gong Yin shook his head, and Jing Hengbo also shook his head, the god's eyes were clean, and there was no one else in his eyes.

However, the judge of the mansion was refreshing in judging the case. He asked about the reasons, examined the physical evidence, questioned the plaintiff, and then asked the neighbors. How can such a wicked woman stay in the world? Come, I will temporarily be executed in prison, and put in the prison of the government office, and beheaded after reporting to His Majesty!"

Everyone clapped their hands for a while, Master Dao's mirror hung high, and Jing Hengbo also nodded, feeling that in the territory of Mongolia, among other things, this officialdom and aristocratic family are reasonable, unlike the past when walking all the way, all kinds of smoky atmosphere. It almost made her despair of this world.

The case was settled, and Mrs. Liu San was rushed in and dragged in. The people watching the fun also dispersed. Jing Hengbo was about to leave when he suddenly saw the mansion come down from the case and said, "Miss, please stay."

Jing Hengbo turned around, and the mansion lord gave a shallow bow and said, "This mansion takes the liberty of disturbing the girl. I really have something to ask. Listen to what I said just now, the lady is the steward of the Hall of Beauty?"

"Yes." Jing Hengbo responded with a smile.

"I have an unfeeling request from the government," the mansion said with a smile. "The daughter of the family is thirteen this year. According to the Mongolian practice, she should participate in this year's hairpin banquet in Puyang. The so-called hairpin banquet is Puyang. Women from famous families show off their talents and looks to the officials' families after reaching the age of marriage. The ladies in the city all pay attention to this, and strive for perfection in clothing, jewelry and make-up in order to conclude a good marriage. It's just that Zhuo Jing is from a family of generals, and he is not good at women's make-up Dressing up, I have always heard that the women in the Hall of Beauty are good at makeup, and I want to invite her to give some advice. Now that shopkeeper Liu is guilty of unforgivable crimes, naturally I can't invite her again. The girl is also the steward of the Hall of Beauty, so she must be proficient in this way. This matter is related to the life of the little girl, if the girl is willing to lend a helping hand, I will thank you with all my money."

Jing Hengbo listened, and his heart fell in love. After all, this is probably the coming-of-age ceremony dance of the modern wealthy family. When a famous woman reveals herself to the wealthy family for the first time, it is also a disguised blind date banquet of the wealthy family. In this era, the future happiness of a thirteen-year-old girl depends entirely on this, and it is indeed important. This father is in charge of a family, and for the sake of his daughter, Jing Hengbo is very envious of such a deep father's love for being able to personally invite her as a "businessman shopkeeper".

So he agreed very readily, "Your Majesty summoned you, how dare you refuse to obey?"

"It's so good." The mansion lord smiled joyfully, "Please invite your friend to drink tea in the front hall, how about the girl go to the backyard with my servants in my mansion?"

Jing Hengbo responded with a smile, and gestured to Gong Yin, "Drink tea and wait for me obediently", and followed Fu Zun's maid to the backyard. Fu Zun let Gong Yin to the front hall of the back house, and sent the steward of the mansion to accompany him. He said he wanted to go back to the study to deal with official duties, so he pleaded guilty and left.

He didn't go back to the study, but went directly to the back door of the government office, got on his horse, and drove out of the city with his servants. His master will arrive in Puyang secretly soon, and he needs to go to meet him and make arrangements for the matter here.

And in the backyard, after Jing Hengbo entered the backyard, Fu Zun's younger sister, who had been hiding in the dark, watched the maid take Jing Hengbo to the arranged place, and the corners of her lips gradually curved into a smug sneer.

Immediately, she hurried out the door, got into the carriage, and when she put down the curtain, she ordered in a loud voice: "Don't go back, go to Zheng's house!"

"yes."

…