one step closer to the end

The salt transport envoy walked into the yamen hall and sat down, folded his arms and said in confusion: "I have been an official for twenty years, and this is the first time I have seen such a strange thing. Song Chizhu has already been transferred to the Ministry of Rites. The right servant of the third rank, Even the people in the official department are like hell, they can't say a word!"

"..."

A group of officials were completely stupefied, and the colleagues who were gloating just now stammered: "The right and right ministers are fat vacancies, and they have been promoted from the fifth rank to the third rank in one go, and they can stand in the main hall at the upper court. Who is this?" Did the gods help him use his strength?"

"Song Chizhu took a few carts to the east of the city, and took his family with him..."

The Salt Envoy frowned and said, "I thought he bought a new house, but who knows he went to the Zhao Mansion. The Zhao Mansion's six vermilion gates, with two bronze unicorns in front of the gate, are even more magnificent than Prince Duan's Mansion. Guess what?" What's the matter, Concubine Bai Shu went in with the child in her arms, and the servants are all maids and eunuchs!"

"It can't be Yongshi County Prince's Mansion..."

The officials widened their eyes in shock, and the Salt Transport Envoy also nodded and said: "There is only one prince named Zhao in Quan Dashun, but there is something even more damned evil. Taking pictures on the ground in the apse, Eunuch Tian squatting next to him eating melon seeds!"

"Taking pictures? Why does the Grand Commander also play with this thing..."

An official subconsciously took out a few pictures, and the rest of the people also took out a few pictures. There are various styles, and it seems that they have already become popular in the capital.

"The commander-in-chief never associates with princes and ministers, and Eunuch Tian is even someone close to the emperor..."

The Salt Envoy shook his head and said: "The three of them are squatting together to play now. Some people speculate that Bai Shangshu has stumbled, and Zhao Wangye is just a rhetoric. It is estimated that the emperor sees his hard work all his life and wants to make him decent. It’s just returning home!”

"So that's it! Song Chizhu really has foresight, those thighs are so thick..."

A group of officials finally came to their senses and began to discuss in a hurry.

……

There is no fixed place in the Leng Palace, just the most remote old houses in the palace, but once locked here, it is very difficult to turn over again, and it won’t last long and you will either go crazy or die. There are not many people.

"Ms. Wang! Do you still remember who lived in this house..."

Zhao Guanren was sitting on a broken chair in the main room. The once invincible queen was kneeling on the ground with disheveled hair and white clothes. The prince, who was in his 40s, was also haggard and crouched beside him in grief, supporting his old mother.

"My concubine remembers it! The queen of the previous dynasty just slumped on your chair..."

The queen tilted her head weakly, Zhao Guanren smiled indifferently, and said: "You know it very well, but it doesn't matter now, Concubine Bai Shu has been taken out of the palace by the king, and several other concubines have also confessed Now, do you have anything else to say?"

"Have!"

The queen straightened up suddenly, and said loudly: "It's all done by me. The prince doesn't know about it, and the prince has never thought of rebelling. I designed to frame those sluts, just to deal with Prince Duan. Please, my lord... the prince." See the details!"

"Of course I know the details, otherwise how could I find you..."

Zhao Guanren said: "I tried my best to protect the prince, otherwise the prince would have been abolished, but the prince has only a chance to survive, one is that you resist all the crimes, and the other is that the headless body was found on the head of Prince Duan. It's much more serious!"

"Conspiracy? How did Lao Jiu conspire against..."

The crown prince looked at him anxiously, Zhao Guanren shook his head and said: "The yin and yang headless corpse is a kind of sorcery, it is not clear who did it, but I guarantee that you will not know before the emperor, if it is not for Prince Duan Because, he will definitely become the crown prince!"

"Brothers!"

The prince begged urgently: "Brother, help me. Once Lao Jiu becomes the prince, I will die. As long as you can keep my position as the prince, I will promise you everything after I go out. Let me take the crown prince." I can send you off, you must help me!"

"Prince! If you didn't go down three ways all day long, you wouldn't be like this. Let's have a good chat..."

After Zhao Guanren finished speaking, he walked out. The empress mother and son cried in their arms, but fighting for the throne was bloody and cruel, not to mention their mother and son's methods. Not only did Zhao Guanren not sympathize with them, but he felt that they deserved it.

"Brother! My mother has a few words to say to you. I, I will go back to the East Palace first..."

The prince came out wiping his tears, followed the guards in a daze, Zhao Guanren threw the cigarette butts and walked back into the house, the queen was staring at the chair of the old queen who had died, and said with a foolish smile: "Your mouth is so real!" Poison, I really want to go down to accompany you!"

"Wang Shi!"

Zhao Guanren squatted in front of the empress and said, "Don't plant it any more at this time. To be honest, I can help the prince. And the emperor wants to know how many wild species there are?"

"Except Concubine Tong, everyone under the age of six is ​​the son of the prince..."

The queen said with a limp face: "Don't look at the joy of Concubine Zhou. If she is really smart, she won't jump out. Only Prince Duan's family can hide my corpse from me. Don't look at Princess Yongning, that girl is a fool." Lord who eats people without spitting out bones!"

Zhao Guanren asked, "Where is Concubine Qin? She has a son from Prince Qin, but she is also a candidate for the crown prince!"

"Impossible! Concubine Qin Gui is a living dead person, and she has no connections inside or outside the palace..."

The queen shook her head firmly and said: "Don't be fooled by blindfolds. Although the harem looks like a mess, it is mostly under my control. I, the queen, am not just for nothing. There are only four people who are capable of burying corpses in the imperial garden." One, me, Princess Yongning, Commander-in-Chief, and Qianyexuan!"

"Grandmaster Qianyexuan doesn't even bother to do this..."

Zhao Guanren was puzzled and said: "The commander-in-chief has something in your hands, it is even more impossible for him to do such a thing, and why do you always insist on Yongning? Besides you, the most powerful person in the harem should be her grandmother Liu Huangfei, who is 15 years old. What can a young girl do?"

"My lord! You have ruled out three of the four..."

The queen sneered and said, "Concubine Liu is naturally capable of killing people and burying corpses, but she has no ability to hide it from me. Only the little princess is not under my control. She ran around the palace with a bunch of handles in her hands, except for that Who else is the goblin?"

"Let me ask you another question..."

Zhao Guanren asked with piercing eyes: "Do you really not know about the sorcery in the Qi Refining Pavilion and the secret way of the Mercy Palace?"

"How can there be sorcery in the Qi Refining Pavilion?"

The queen shook her head in surprise and said: "I really don't know about this matter, and where is the secret way. I have lived in the Palace of Mercy for more than ten years and have never found any secret way. I don't need to lie You, if you really want to have a secret way, I won't be like this!"

"Who sent the old queen to die? Is there anyone who visits her from time to time..."

Zhao Guanren pointed to the ground, and the queen thought for a while and said, "Except for the old women who serve on a daily basis, there should be no one to visit. Besides, who would dare to visit the former queen? Yongning was ignorant when he was young, and always liked to come here." Listen to her story!"

"Why Yongning again?"

"You really think of her as an ignorant girl, the emperor has to go through her hand to turn over the cards..."

The queen sneered and said: "The prince thought you were a talent before leaving Beijing. Yongning said that she would handle it, and she would be able to win you over with both soft and hard tactics. Later, you lured her into the casino and made love to her on the boat. The prince will never forget all these things." It's clear!"

"Little Kuizi! He is your internal agent..."

Zhao Guanren's expression changed suddenly, and he suddenly remembered that the little princess's personal eunuch had arrived, but he hadn't seen him when he entered the palace this time.

"My lord! You finally came to your senses, Little Kuizi was silenced by Yongning long ago..."

The queen smiled and said: "Yongning does like you somewhat, but she knows that it is impossible to marry you. You are a waste if you marry her. She needs you to seek the throne for her father. There is no way out in the battle for the throne. Old Jiuyi Once defeated, the whole family will die, and the little goblin can't afford the price!"

"Yongning! I really underestimated her..."

Zhao Guanren stood up with a gloomy expression. Thinking about it carefully, something was wrong. Almost everything had the shadow of Yongning. Even her grandma looked at her when she spoke, including the eunuch Tian Gonggong. The two of them were both allies and mentors.

"My lord! You may think that we are all lunatics, and we will do everything to fight for power..."

The queen said with a green face: "But if you have seen with your own eyes, after the live concubine is peeled off the skin, washed grass, stuffed into the steamer and steamed, you will understand what we are fighting for. Who is not in the harem while dripping urine? Gritting your teeth and crawling forward, the three-foot white silk is the best end!"

"Your Majesty! I wish you all the best, and don't want to be born in the emperor's house in your next life..."

Zhao Guanren patted her on the shoulder, and the queen kowtowed to him, and said with a miserable smile: "The damned emperor's family will never come again, it's just that we can't let go of the family relationship. The slave family begged the prince to give the prince justice. He never thought about it." Murder the emperor!"

"There is no justice in the palace, I just want to have a clear conscience..."

Zhao Guanren walked out with his hands behind his back, and an old eunuch stepped in with a three-foot white silk. Zhao Guanren went outside the courtyard door and lit a cigarette, just in time to see Princess Yaoyue standing alone in the corridor, with her hair loose like a girl's. Lost like a ghost.

"My mother...has she left..."

Yaoyue walked to the alley tremblingly, Zhao Guanren took two puffs of cigarettes and walked, said: "After all, the crown prince is his own son. If she doesn't bear all the crimes, the crown prince will never be able to recover. You can bury her here." Go outside the city, she said she will never come to the damn emperor's house again!"

"What do you want to do, the emperor's eagle dog..."

Yaoyue looked at him with ashen face, Zhao Guanren walked past her, and smiled without looking back: "Be an ordinary person! Greedy and lustful! Be upright! That's all! Hurry up and get married, leave this place It is your best choice, you are living like a zombie now, with no form but no soul!"

"It's God's day!"

Following the emotionless cry of the old eunuch, Yaoyue suddenly fell to her knees outside the small courtyard, and the empress who had been tossing her for most of her life went away just like that, drawing an incomplete end in the harem...

Chapter 0497

"How? My Yulongchi is not bad..."

Emperor Shun Yao walked into the imperial bathhouse with his cloth robes open, his long hair tied up casually on the top of his head, and the Yulongchi, which was completely piled up with precious stones, was steaming. There are bright glass mirrors, and all kinds of exquisite and expensive toilet things.

"It must be good. Who dares to catch prostitutes in this place to do big health care..."

Zhao Guanren also wore a gauze dress and looked around. After the two maids knelt and pushed open the door of the bath, there were three large baths inside, a pool of cold water, a pool of soup and medicine, and a pool of clear water. Inside, there were eight court ladies kneeling. Welcome by the pool.

"Your thinking is really dirty, what kind of whoring is it in my harem..."

Emperor Shun Yao walked in with a smile, and Zhao Guanren followed in with a smile: "The difference between the two is that one is retail for individual customers, and the other is annual exclusive enjoyment. They are both spending money for fun. There is no difference in essence. , can the emperor not give them money?"

"You! You always open your stomach when you talk, and you have to take out the feces in your intestines..."

Emperor Shun Yao stretched out his arms dumbfounded, and the maids hurried up to take off his robes for him, and handed him soft towels to help him step into the decoction pool, but Zhao Guanren's face turned red, and he said in embarrassment, "Take off your clothes!" , Is there too many people here?"

"Haha~ When you feel shy too, quickly strip him off..."

As if Emperor Shunyao had caught his weakness, his childlike innocence suddenly became apparent. Zhao Guanren hurriedly jumped into the pool with his bathrobe on his hands, and took off his bathrobe after shrinking into the water. The court ladies wanted to laugh but did not dare to laugh. Set out tea and pastries by the pool.

"You go down first, and I tell you to come in again..."

Emperor Shun Yao waved his hand lightly, Zhao Guanren took a cup of sour plum soup, lit a cigarette and leaned comfortably by the pool, while Emperor Shun Yao also lit a Gent cigar and asked, "Did the queen tell you anything? Will?"

"I don't want to be born in the emperor's house in my next life, I just want to be an ordinary woman..."

Zhao Guanren exhaled and said, "No one dies! This is a very scary rule. Six years ago, your imperial concubine injured his abdomen, and the women found that they could not reproduce. But most of them are in their 30s and [-]s, and the harem is fierce. It’s not surprising to borrow a seed to give birth to a child!”

"I seem to have become a tyrant, the biggest joke in the world..."

Emperor Shun Yao raised his head and let out a wry laugh, actually shedding two lines of tears, which shows that he and the empress also have some feelings, but the feelings are not stronger than the imperial power.

"Once I entered the Hou family, it was as deep as the sea, and from then on Xiao Lang was a passerby..."

Zhao Guanren lay on his back in the water and said: "There are two worlds inside the palace and outside the palace. People outside want to come in, and people inside want to go out. After all, the palace is like a prison, and being the emperor is not a kind of favor. I think it's more like one." Punishment is just the bitterness in it, no emperor dares to say it!"

"Ah~"

Emperor Shun Yao waved his hands and said: "I really don't like to hear you talk, you always poke into people's hearts, say something happy, if I listen to you, I will be a monk!"

"Let's talk about one last unhappy thing..."

Zhao Guanren said: "The clues indeed point to Prince Duan. If Master Xuanyang succeeds in evoking the soul tonight and confirms that the sorcery was done by Prince Duan, then there is a black hand in the harem that none of us expected. Nine are victims!"

Emperor Shun Yao straightened up and asked: "Why can't it be the sixth child, you are so sure that he is fine?"

"Lao Liu wants to make a fuss, but unfortunately he doesn't have the ability..."

Zhao Guanren shook his head and said: "However, I hope that the blame can be pointed at the sixth child. The most fearful thing is that it will fall on the head of Prince Duan. Then this person is too terrible. He may have personally participated in the murder of the Supreme Emperor!"

"You've confused me, who else but the three of them..."

Emperor Shun Yao looked at him in bewilderment, Zhao Guanren handed him a glass of iced rice wine, and said with a smile: "Everything is in the guessing stage, so you call all the princes and concubines out at night, and let them watch Xuanyang Celestial Master summon his soul." , maybe you can see some clues!"

"Okay! I will wait patiently for a few more hours..."

Emperor Shun Yao clapped his hands after drinking the rice wine, and the bathrooms were immediately pushed away. There were more than a dozen concubines wrapped in bath towels queuing up to enter. Seeing Zhao Guanren, everyone blushed with embarrassment.

"Besides me, you are the second man to enter this Yulongchi..."

Emperor Shun Yao smiled and beckoned, the ladies could only blushed and stepped into the pool, but they obviously had received the order, and four of them swam to Zhao Guanren's side, shyly rubbing his shoulders and feet, and Two knelt by the pool and fed him wine and fruit.

"emperor!"

Zhao Guanren leaned against the pool with open arms, looked at the beautiful court lady who was kneeling by the pool, and said with a smile: "I take back what I said before when I was young and ignorant. In fact, being an emperor is still very enjoyable most of the time. At this moment, give it to a god." Nor change!"

"Haha~"

Emperor Shun Yao raised his head and laughed loudly: "Are you all fools in the world? I don't like who will be the emperor, but you have to pay for the reward tonight. From now on, they will be your exclusive enjoyment!"

……

"Mother! It's the middle of the night that no one is allowed to sleep. What kind of evocation is it? It's frightening to death..."

The concubines gathered outside the Tianhe Hall full of complaints. Many kerosene lamps were hung on the square, which illuminated the big square in black and white. raised the altar.

"Why did you call us all out..."

The little princess and Princess Yaoyue also came out, and the guards stopped their slaves, but there were only a hundred or so concubines, plus a dozen princes and princesses, there were not many people, and they all gathered on the stairs A small leeward corner next to the plinth.

"The crown prince and Prince Duan are here..."

The concubines spread their legs and saluted, only to see the crown prince walking over with his head held high, and Prince Duan yawning as if he hadn't woken up, each leading his own family members.

"Yongning! What are you going to do, open the altar to catch ghosts in the middle of the night..."

Prince Duan was imprisoned for a few days without knowing anything. The little princess walked out of the crowd and said: "Calling the soul! Someone has set up a sorcery in the harem. Grandpa invited a celestial master to call the soul. He wants to find out who the real culprit is behind the scenes. Today Someone is going to be in bad luck tonight!"

"Hmph~ Lao Jiu! Don't be scared to pee your pants later..."

The prince rolled up his sleeves with a sneer on his face, and stood upright by the steps of the main hall, while Prince Duan curled his lips and said, "Whoever does a good deed knows in his heart, you are the prince of the East Palace. Do you think I am two hundred and five?"

"Hey! Have you heard..."

A lady suddenly said: "I heard that the prince of the county went to Yulongchi to take a bath, and the emperor asked more than a dozen noble concubines and ladies to serve him. The prince of the county asked for six at a time, and the concubine Li Gui and the concubine Qian were cleaning up. Already, leave the palace early tomorrow morning to go to Prince Zhao's Mansion!"

"What? King Zhao is going to Yulongchi, is the emperor here..."