Detective in the Red Chamber

Seeing this scene, the depression in Hong Jiu's heart quietly weakened by three points.

It's also time to make a cut with the past!

After all, my future is not in Shanxi Lane, but behind this high wall and in the mansion!

The carriage quickly circled to the east corner gate of Dali Temple, but did not stop. Instead, it continued to run towards the side gate in the northeast corner. It's near the side entrance in the northeast corner.

It is said to be a side door, but it is actually wider than the east corner door. This is because the stables of the officials are also nearby—yes, only high-ranking officials are eligible to use the stables in the yamen for free.

As for officials like Hong Jiu, even if they brought their own carriages, they could only be placed in the privately run parking lot around Dali Temple.

Less gossip.

But Hong Jiu got out of the carriage, nodded to the gatekeeper with neither humility nor overbearing, and walked towards the southwest corner under the complicated eyes of the two.

When he was about to reach the gate, he bumped into two scribes from Yousi, both of them greeted each other with smiles, Hong Jiu turned sideways to avoid, and the two scribes followed suit.

After retreating for a long time, the two scribes finally took the lead.

This scene seems to be very harmonious.

But the sense of alienation contained in it is beyond words.

After all, Hong Jiu's background as a beggar was no secret in Dali Temple. Not to mention the shame of the officials, even the government servants were discriminated against.

However, Hong Jiu was specially recruited by Sun Shaozong.

No matter how much he repelled him in his heart, there were only a handful of people in Dali Temple who dared to show Hong Jiu's face.

So every time he faced Hong Jiu, he always had such a polite and alienated attitude.

Fortunately, Hong Jiu didn't care too much.

Think back when he was begging, he received more than a hundred times the cold treatment?

And he believes that one day, those contempt hidden in his heart will turn into awe of him, Hong!

With ambition in mind, Hong Jiu opened the door and walked into Dianmao, casually swept the room, and a clear-cut scene came into view.

Four or five scribes were scattered on both sides, and there was one person standing alone in front of the roster in the middle.

Seeing this, Hong Jiu walked up to the isolated person without hesitation, bowed and jokingly said, "Deputy Zhao, you're showing a lot of evil spirit again today."

Deputy Zhao returned the salute with a bitter face, took advantage of the situation and gave up the roster, pointed to the outside, and walked out in silence.

As soon as he left, the scribes who were originally scattered on both sides stepped forward and greeted Hong Jiu.

Hong Jiu returned the salute with a smile, but his mind had already gone to Deputy Zhao just now.

Speaking of the identity of Deputy Zhao, there are some similarities with him - although Deputy Zhao is not a beggar, he is from a barbarian in Wuxi Prefecture.

Mr. Sun transferred this Zhao Nan shortly after he took office last month, but at that time he was only a slave of the Sun family. It was not until the beginning of this month that he was transferred to be an official of Dali Temple together with Hong Jiu.

To be honest, Hong Jiu's status is actually higher than Deputy Zhao's. After all, although he is not popular, he can barely be considered an official.

But Hong Jiu didn't dare to trust Zhao Nan in the slightest—although the identity of a house slave is more shackles, in a sense, it also means a closer relationship.

What's more, now that Zhao Nan is working with the new Master Qin to check the morals of the Zuo Temple, he has punished a group of lazy officials in the past few days - it is also because of this that others will avoid Zhao Nan when they see him.

I heard that Master Sun still intends to extend the rectification to the entire Dali Temple, and by then, Zhao Nan's deterrent power will probably increase a lot.

However, Hong Jiu and Zhao Nan felt a little sympathetic to each other.

Just now, Zhao Nan seemed to be signaling to himself that he would wait outside, so Hong Jiu evaded the scribes a few words, and then hurriedly chased out of Dianmao.

Sure enough, after going out, I saw Zhao Nan copying his hands, Zheng Hou was in the shadow of the gate tower.

Hong Jiu hurried over in two steps at a time, cupped his hands and apologized, "I'm sorry Zhao's assistant has been waiting for a long time."

After a pause, he probed again: "But Mr. Sun, what do you want to entrust?"

When Hong Jiu said this, he was both excited and terrified.

What is exciting is that if Sun Shaozong specially asked Zhao Nan to come over and arrange tasks for him, it shows how much he attaches importance to himself.

What is terrified is that Zuo Temple is currently carrying out the picket and rectification movement, which has offended many people. He doesn't want to get involved, and he will be as embarrassed as Zhao Nan.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Nan shook her head and said, "It's not that the master has any orders, it's that Mr. Zhao has some private matters and wants to ask Assistant Hong for help."

Private matter?

Hong Jiu was taken aback for a moment, and asked more cautiously, "But I don't know what it is?"

"I wonder if Assistant Manager Hong knows Lord Wang Zhenwang?"

Wang Zhen?

After pondering for a while, Hong Jiulue suddenly asked: "But one of the personal guard commanders when Mr. Sun went south to suppress the rebellion?"

"Exactly."

Zhao Nan nodded: "Yesterday, Mr. Wang's errands have been finalized, and he has been promoted to the [-] households of Beizhen Fusi Supervision Office—Mr. Wang is going to have a banquet at home to celebrate today, and Mr. Zhao is also invited. only……"

"Just how?"

"It's just that Zhao spent a lot of money on weekdays. He was really shy and couldn't even afford a worthy gift."

Zhao Nan spread her hands, and at the same time looked at Hong Jiu with burning eyes, as if she was expecting Hong Jiu to give generously.

However, others may not have inquired clearly, but Hong Jiu knew that Zhao Nanan used to be a businessman, and he was the most economical person. If he said that he spent all his savings in a big way, Hong Jiu would never believe it.

So Zhao Nan put on such a face, obviously trying to blackmail himself!

Damn savage!

If you are really successful, you will be rampant!

Fortunately, I still had some good feelings for him at the beginning.

Hong Jiuxin slandered, but he laughed: "What am I supposed to do? It's just a little money, and it's worth asking for help from Deputy Zhao? Before noon, I asked someone to offer a hundred taels of silver. I don't know if it's enough." not enough?"

Zhao Nan also laughed: "Assistant Hong really speaks quickly!"

But in an instant, he restrained his smile again, and said calmly: "But the money will be free. Assistant Hong only needs to buy a good gift, and go to Mr. Wang with me to add congratulations at night."

Go to Wang Zhen's mansion to congratulate?

Hong Jiu's heart suddenly turned from anger to joy.

It turns out that this barbarian is not trying to blackmail you, but to help Lao Tzu expand his contacts!

Although the hundred households of the Supervision Office are in charge of internal supervision, they can be regarded as the real power faction in Beizhen Fusi, and even the entire Dazhou officialdom.

To be able to get in touch with him, not to mention a new official like Hong Jiu, even a Beijing official of the fifth or sixth rank would flock to him.

Of course, this is even more thanks to Sun Shaozong.

If not for each other's backs to his big tree, with Hong Jiu's identity, even if someone introduces him, he might not be able to get into Wang Baihu's eyes.

But Hong Jiu was too busy to deal with it, and after carefully inquiring about Wang Zhen's preferences, he wished he could rush out immediately and tidy up the two gifts—in addition to buying for Zhao Nan, he also gave one for himself.

Who would have thought that before he left, a yamen servant rushed over and shouted from a long distance: "Sun Shaoqing was ordered to enter the palace for an audience, and he is about to take the support and come out!"

With just this one sentence, Hong Jiu and Zhao Nan couldn't care less about anything else. They looked at each other in surprise and doubt. They were both well-informed masters. Naturally, they knew that Sun Shaozong accompanied the prince to watch a play in Wangjiang Tower last night.

The emperor sent someone to summon him early in the morning, could it be last night...

Chapter 881 The farce in front of Jingren Palace

Outside Jingren Palace.

Sun Shaozong clasped his hands, bent his body slightly, and huddled in the lee of the palace wall, as if he couldn't stand the cold without sunlight.

But in fact, he just wanted to make himself less conspicuous, so as not to be involved in the farce not far away.

"Let go of me, don't stop me! I want to see the emperor, I want to see the emperor!"

This heart-piercing sound, barking like a dog-blood drama at eight o'clock, is precisely Concubine Rong who had a relationship with Sun Shaozong.

As the saying goes, a down-and-out phoenix is ​​not as good as a chicken, but in terms of appearance alone, Concubine Rong has not deteriorated significantly compared to before, and even because of her deliberate dressing before coming here, she may not have a small improvement compared to when she met by chance.

But her current treatment has plummeted.

When Dai Quan faced her back then, he had to be courteous, but now he was stopped by a few eunuchs at the door, unable to move an inch for a quarter of an hour.

Moreover, this has been going on for a long time, and no eunuch in charge came to talk to him, which shows that he avoided it.

Of course, this is not to say that Concubine Rong's quarrel for so long has no effect at all—she still rushed to the palace gate after all.

So Sun Shaozong stepped back again, took advantage of the opportunity to glance at Concubine Rong from the corner of his eyes, and then quickly lowered his head.

Originally, this woman's clothes were a bit flimsy, but after playing "the eagle catches the chicken" for a quarter of an hour, the swelling that was about to come out was even more difficult to notice.

It was so easy to suppress the rippling picture in his heart, in order to avoid Junqian Junqian losing his appearance later, Sun Shaozong felt that it was necessary to think of some serious things to distract himself from restless attention.

For example, the emperor summoned himself here, and then left himself outside, what was the reason?

Is it because of the memorial of "Puting the Law to the Countryside", or because of the secret meeting between the crown prince and the Taoist priest at Wangjiang Tower yesterday?

uh~

I've thought about this for a long time before, but I still can't figure it out. Before the emperor reveals the answer, let's think about other things first.

For example, what happened to Wang Zhen.

Before receiving the imperial edict, Sun Shaozong was meeting Wang Zhen in the official office.

Contrary to what Zhao Nan and Hong Jiu thought, Wang Zhen did not express much joy about this extraordinary promotion, but was very apprehensive about it.

This is because the Beizhen Fusi Supervision Office does not currently have a full-time leader of the Qianhu, so Yang Licai, the Qianhu, became Wang Zhen's direct subordinate and the only boss.

Considering that Wang Zhen had jumped from Yang Licai's job at the beginning, and Yang Licai's performance a few days ago, it's no wonder that Yang Licai didn't wear small shoes when he returned to Beizhen Fusi this time.

Even though Sun Shaozong and the current town governor still have some kind of friendship, Wang Zhen still feels that he is not careful enough.

After all, the current governor is a well-known "Taoist" middle-aged man-almost all his energy has been devoted to searching for strange people and treasures for the emperor, and he has let everything else go. artesian.

In this regard, Sun Shaozong actually couldn't come up with a reliable countermeasure for a while. After all, the status of Beizhen Fusi is relatively independent, and it is not something outsiders can intervene at will.

Even if Sun Shaozong and Beizhen Fusi, and even the current Zhenfu envoy, still have a bit of love, they can't stand the consumption of these three times.

What's more, it is only an inference at the moment, and it has not formed an established fact.

perhaps……

Wang Zhen should be allowed to hide his strengths and bide his time for a while, and it will be safer to settle the matter once and for all when Yang Licai has gone too far.

However, with Yang Licai's cautious personality, and his prestige has just been thwarted by him, he might not dare to do anything out of the ordinary.

If he only made things difficult for Wang Zhen within the framework, it would be really difficult for Sun Shaozong to intervene.

"what!!!"

A high-pitched and sharp voice suddenly awakened Sun Shaozong from his contemplation, and subconsciously raised his eyes to see that Concubine Rong slapped a young eunuch hard on the face, sternly yelling: "You Despicable things! No matter how unfavorable I am, you can still touch me?!"

The little eunuch was obviously stunned by the beating, he covered his face and was dumbfounded, and even forgot to defend himself.

Seeing this, the young eunuchs at the side were all silent as well, not daring to distinguish half a sentence for him.

After all, Concubine Rong had already barged in front of the door just now, and they were afraid that she would startle the holy car by going in like this, so naturally they would be less scruples to block her.

During all this turmoil, who can say for sure whether the eunuch touched Concubine Rong's chest?

Seeing that the eunuchs around seemed to have been immobilized, Concubine Rong gritted her silver teeth and suddenly fell to her knees, sobbing at Jingren Palace: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty! If you I'm really tired of my concubine, I just give you a three-foot white silk, this concubine would rather die than suffer such humiliation!"

The little eunuch who 'caused the trouble' finally came to his senses at this time. Seeing Concubine Rong knelt in front of him and kept crying, he hurriedly took half a step back, knelt down in front of Concubine Rong, and kept grabbing his head. He said he was wronged.

Whether he was wronged or not, Sun Shaozong couldn't tell for a while, but the scene of Concubine Rong holding her chest with one hand just now was really amazing. To paraphrase the lines from later anti-Japanese dramas: There is a big conscience!

"What are you arguing about, what are you arguing about?!"

When this farce was reaching its climax, Jingren Palace finally reacted.

Seeing the chief eunuch Qiu Shi'an come out from the inside, he yelled loudly, straightened his sleeves, but as if he didn't see Concubine Rong, he smiled at Sun Shaozong: "Master Sun, are you in a hurry? Ladies and gentlemen The boss is discussing military affairs with Lord Long Live inside, and I'm afraid it won't be your turn for a while—or..."

As he said, he moved his hand inward: "Will you come in first to keep warm?"

"Thank you, father-in-law, for your kindness."

Sun Shaozong hurriedly bowed and said, "I really don't dare to break the rules, besides, I was born as a Wu Jinshi, so what's so cold about it?"

At the same time, he was relieved.

The fact that Qiu Shi'an was able to take the initiative to show his favor to him at this time proved that it shouldn't be a bad thing for the emperor to come to him today.

But Qiu Shi'an nodded repeatedly when he heard his words, turned around but sullenly, and scolded: "Look, look, the courtiers outside know that they can't break the rules, you dog slaves, why can't you remember what happened in the palace?" the rules?!"