Daming's Bizarre Story: Painted Skin

Sheping walked in front of her body slightly stiffened: "What do you mean by Miss Ru?"

Zhao Ran said: "The sky in Wudeng Alley is so dark, even if Lu Jia is close in front of you, it is impossible for you to see him getting wet, let alone he is so far away..."

Sheping said: "He committed suicide in fear of crime, didn't he?"

"So there is only one answer, there are two people who assassinated me, you and Lu Jia!" Zhao Ran pointed with a pointed finger, "The one who called to protect the son-in-law to attract the guards was you, and the one who did it was Lu Jia. "

The two were still walking in tandem, and it was cloudy for several days, and finally light snow fell tonight, and the wind blew on people's cheeks, causing knife-like pain.

"It's just that I can't figure out why you want to kill me?" Zhao Ran frowned, "You know I'm a fake princess..."

Sheping half turned her face and said: "So Miss Ru is overwhelmed, the person who assassinated you should naturally be Lu Jia who didn't know that Miss Ru was the one who replaced the princess."

"The person who assassinated you should be Lu Jia who didn't know that Miss Ru was the one who replaced the princess..." Zhao Ran repeated her words in a flat tone.

"What do you mean, girl?"

Zhao Ran stroked his chin and said, "Normal sayings should usually be arranged like this: Lu Jia didn't know that there was Miss Ru in the sedan chair who replaced the princess."

"What's the difference then?"

"The order is wrong."

No matter how good Sheping's concentration is, he couldn't help but feel uneasy: "What's wrong?"

"The focus of my question is Lu Jia, so the order of your answers should be Lu Jia, the princess, and then me, the victim such as the girl, but the order of your answers is: the assassin, such as the girl, the princess, and finally Lujia."

"What does that mean?" Sheping couldn't help turning around halfway and asked.

Zhao Ran said: "This proves that the key points in your heart are in order, first is the assassin, such as the girl, the princess, and then Lu Jia. When people deny something, they often like to say that I did not steal, I did not kill, I did not do bad things... ...If this sentence is replaced, it means that I did not kill you!"

Sheping breathed a sigh of relief: "It's okay if the girl says so."

"You admitted it!"

"I, what did I admit?"

Clearly said: "You just admitted that the "assassin" is equal to "I", that is, the assassin is equal to you, right? The reason why a lie is a lie is because the first person it can't deceive is yourself .”

Sheping's complexion changed drastically, and she couldn't help touching the saber, but Zhaoran raised her head and said, "Hey, isn't this the princess's yard?"

Sheping quietly withdrew her hand, bowed her head and said, "Miss Ru, please come in, the son-in-law and the princess have been waiting for you for a long time."

Zhao Ran frowned and said: "I'm telling the princess now, is it too late for the son-in-law to take me as a concubine?"

Sheping lowered her head and said, "Miss Ru, you are joking."

"Then I'll tell the princess that I'll ask you to be my first-class maid later." Zhao Ran said with a grin, "If Sheping serves you well, I'll guarantee you to be my son-in-law and housekeeper."

Sheping couldn't help raising her head, and smiled at her clearly: "This is a joke."

----

He strode into the hall door, and saw that the decoration inside was still the same as when he first arrived, but the sandalwood burned in the room was replaced by styrax, and the princess was sitting on the front seat in a bright red long skirt, with Lihua Shengxue standing beside her. common forsythia.

Zhao Ran bowed towards them: "I have seen the princess, I have seen the son-in-law."

"You can't even salute!" Sitting on the side seat, Wang Zeng turned his head slightly restrained and said to the princess, "I need you to train me a lot in the future. She is very smart, but she lacks some rules."

The princess said in a straight voice: "I'll ask the nuns in the palace to give her some pointers when I turn around."

Lian Qiao said: "No matter how many wealthy families' young ladies can ask for the princess's nanny."

Wang Zeng said to Zhao Ran, "Thank you, princess."

Zhao Ran hesitated for a long time and said: "The son-in-law doesn't have to make a little contribution for the little girl to want to reward the little girl. In fact, this is what the little girl should do. The so-called cannibalism and loyalty. If the son-in-law really wants to reward the little girl What, it’s better to break all the gold.”

Lian Qiao was furious when she heard his words, the grace of the princess and the horse can be turned into gold, so why did the son-in-law take a fancy to this woman?

She scolded: "Bold, how can you bargain for the grace of the princess and the son-in-law?"

Zhao Ran was surprised and said: "The princess and the son-in-law are here, where is there a place for you, a maid, to intervene? Could it be that your face is bigger than the princess and the son-in-law?"

Forsythia is deeply trusted by the princess, but anyone who knows a little about Princess Jiashan knows her status as Forsythia, and now being pointed at by a humble woman in front of her face, she can't help but turn red with anger.

Just as she was about to open her mouth, Jiashan had already said: "Okay, go and give her what I prepared for Miss Ru."

Lianqiao saw that Jiashan not only did not reprimand Mingran, but spoke with some displeasure, she was slightly startled, afraid that Jiashan would also think that she was overstepping, so her anger suddenly became a little less, she bowed her head and took a box and handed it to Obviously.

Jiashan seemed a little tired, so he said: "If there is nothing else to do, then step back."

Zhao Ran saluted and asked: "Princess, can my little girl come to listen to the princess' advice in the future?"

Jiashan was slightly stunned and then said: "Of course."

----

Zhao Ran went out and found Wang Zeng following, so he turned around and said, "It's so cold, does the son-in-law want to go back to sleep?"

Wang Zeng glared at him: "Talky." He stretched out his hand and dragged Zhaoran all the way to the outside of the corridor before asking angrily, "What do you mean?"

Zhao Ran looked confused: "What does the son-in-law mean?"

Wang Zeng stretched out his hand and pressed him against the wall, "It's still pretending."

The distance between the two was a bit close, Wang Zeng's lips looked like they were about to kiss, and he yelled loudly: "Godfather!"

"What godfather?!" Wang Zeng frowned.

Zhao Ran said: "My son-in-law told Mr. Wen that my daughter is your ten thousand gold, so he must have recognized me as your daughter-in-law. Of course my son-in-law is my godfather."

As he spoke, he shamelessly and crisply called out: "Godfather!"

Wang Zeng was angry and funny: "I want to take you as a concubine, but you are not happy."

Zhao Ran made a startled expression: "My lord, you want to take a little girl as a concubine. Of course, the little girl is very willing, but I see that Mr. Wen's mouth is not very reliable. This person is a mad dog, and everyone wants to marry him." Take two bites, just in case it gets out, the godfather takes the daughter as a concubine... the little girl is afraid that the godfather's reputation will be bad."

He still hasn't forgotten to make up for Wen Zhigeng.

Wang Zeng knew that Zhao Ran was talking nonsense, but when he heard his godfather, no matter how good his interest was, he turned his head and saw that he was frightened and shy at times, with an inexplicable feeling in his heart, and hummed: "You If you don’t want to now, I will make you willing sooner or later.”

He paused and added: "If the words you said Wen Zhigeng just got out, there will be no place for you in the world."

"I'm not afraid of him." He said with a toothy smile. He originally had only a handsome appearance, and he can be said to be ordinary, but this smile, like a flower growing on the ground, squeezed into people's eyes.

"Sit down!" Wang Zeng suddenly patted the railing beside the corridor.

At this time, it was snowing lightly in the sky, and the cold wind in the corridor was a bit chilly, but Zhao Ran replied straightforwardly: "Okay!" As soon as he sat down, he hurriedly checked the newly acquired things.

Wang Zeng was touched at first, but seeing Zhaoran's appearance, he suddenly understood that even without his own invitation, Zhaoran would probably sit down and see what good things he got first.

Everyone is greedy for money, and everyone likes delicious food, but Zhao Ran's frankness is not annoying.

After two or three thoughts, Wang Zeng had already opened the box. He was a little disappointed to see that it was empty and there was no gold, silver or jewelry hidden in it as he imagined.

"This is a good thing." Seeing that he didn't know the goods, Wang Zeng pointed to the top of the box and said, "This is a night pearl from a foreign country, also called peacock warm stone, but it is worth a thousand gold, and it is a tribute from the palace. "

Zhao Ran put his hands around and buried his head in for a look, and sure enough, he saw that the beads embedded in the jewelry box were shining softly, he couldn't help being in a good mood, after thinking about it carefully, he said with some regret: "Look at this box. It’s famous and expensive, but it’s not very useful, even a ham elbow can’t fit in it.”

The implication is that ham and elbow can be exchanged no better than gold and silver.

Wang Zeng glared at him: "Such a box naturally needs to be matched with something that can be matched."

"Okay." Zhao Ran took a step back, "In the future, if I want to think about what I want my son-in-law to do, I will write a note and put it in this box. If my son-in-law accepts this note at that time, we will settle the matter."

Wang Zeng was furious: "You are so arrogant because you dare to send me to do things, and you have paid the debts, how can you be clear?

Zhaoran thought to himself, how can there be any kind of favor, and up to now he has not rewarded a piece of gold, he flattered and said: "Of course it's not to send an envoy to work, isn't it to get something that can be worthy of such an expensive box?"

Wang Zeng sighed, and didn't care about Zhao Ran any more. Intuitively, he felt that if he didn't care about Zhao Ran in the end, he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to pinch the shortcoming of this cunning guy in the end, but he would be so angry that he would die instead.

He changed his mind a bit, turned his head and saw Zhaoran's mouth puffed out, with a bag of air in his mouth, he couldn't help frowning, before he could open his mouth, Zhaoran had already blown out all the air in his mouth.

In the cold night, the breath turns into fog, and a string of white mist fills the air, mixed with slowly dancing snowflakes, which is very beautiful under the corridor lamp.

When Wang Zeng looked at it like this, Zhao Ran's face was fogged up.

----

Early in the morning, Zhao Ran ordered the kitchen to make more ham elbows, and then slipped out again. Not long after he went out, he saw Sheping following behind.

He turned around, opened a curtain and went in, and Sheping hurriedly followed in, only to find that it was a men's bathhouse, even though she practiced martial arts since childhood, she had never seen a man naked, especially this one. Many of the men were naked and literally ran out screaming and covering their faces.

When she calmed down from the shock, she turned her head again, but there was no obvious shadow.

----

The sunset in winter is fast, and it is almost dusk just after dusk.

Lian Qiao hurried across the yard, and whispered a few words in Princess Jiashan's ear: "Princess, this person has a strange background. You said she disappeared suddenly for a day, what did she do? What if..."

Jiashan slowly put down the tea bowl in his hand and said, "Go get a cloak and call Zhuyue to come over."

"Now?" Lian Qiao hesitated for a while.

Jiashan said, "I can't wait any longer."

Lian Qiao responded, and then said: "Call a few more people."

Jiashan nodded and said, but after a while, she put on her cloak, got into the carriage, went to the door and lifted the curtain and said: "By the order of the princess, go to the Empress Temple to burn incense."

The guards at the gate stepped aside immediately. Who didn't know that Princess Jiashan would go to Rong'an Town as soon as the winter solstice came, and she would definitely put a few more incense sticks in the nearby Empress Temple to pray for a child.

The carriage stopped in front of an empty house, Lian Qiao lifted the curtain, glanced outside and said: "It's still pitch black here."

A guard at the front came to report in a low voice: "Princess, there is no suspicious person in the room."

Jiashan nodded slightly, walked to the door, she hesitated for a moment, then got up and got out of the carriage supported by Lianqiao.

"You all step back." Jiashan walked to the door of the back room and said.

Lianqiao answered "Yes", Jiashan walked into the room alone, lit the two oil lamps on the table, and then pushed open the bookshelf in the room, revealing a corridor inside.

Jiashan took away a lamp from the table, and then walked along the corridor. When she reached the end of the corridor, she pulled an iron ring, and the stone wall in front of the door turned away, revealing another door. Getting out of the door, it was the clock tower of Li Mansion.

Looking around the quiet environment, Jiashan's straight back relaxed a little. She looked up at the stairs and took a deep breath. She put the lamp down on the ground, lifted her skirt and touched the wall step by step until she reached the stairs. Only then did the tower let out a long sigh of relief.

As soon as she stepped onto the bell tower, she saw Zhaoran sitting on the edge of the wall and waving at her. Jiashan was startled, took a step back involuntarily, and said with a smile, "Be careful, if you fall from here, you will have to meet Master Li again." gone."

Jiashan supported the wall and said in a low voice, "What nonsense are you talking about?"

Zhaoran sat on the edge of the wall and said with a smile: "From the first time we met, you were looking for a scapegoat who resembled you somewhat, but when I saw Zhuyue, I felt very strange, because Zhuyue Far more princess-like than I am."

Jiashan said coldly: "Since it's for a dead ghost, then of course it's best to use someone who is useless."

"I thought so too, but when I found out Mrs. Li was Mrs. Li, I wondered, how did Mrs. Li get out of the princess sedan chair after taking off her skin?" Zhao Ran pointed his fingers, "Mrs. She has the ability to hide from the sky, and the second is that the princess helps her hide it. The second is simpler, I am simple, so I choose to believe in the second."

"What good does this do for the princess?"

Zhao Ran said: "This is what I have been unable to figure out, but when I went to the city, I met a woodcutter who liked to tell stories. Things fell from the sky, and in the middle of the night, there was a strange green light, which caused the spirits and monsters in the mountain to mobilize, and even a few brave mountain people were killed when they went to watch the excitement at night."

Jiashan pursed his lower lip and said nothing.

"I didn't know what it was at first, but thanks to the princess who gave me a wooden box yesterday, it reminded me of a line in the poem "The night light of hanging li, decorated with beads as candles." Beads, of course, are also called Peacock Warm Jade when they are offered by foreigners, but in fact, this object can attract mosquitoes, rats and ants in the middle of the night, so it often attracts poisonous snakes to entangle the four sides, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is a monster."

"What exactly are you trying to say?" Jiashan asked angrily.

"One mouthful of incense is picked before the early morning, and the tea pickers naturally go there in the middle of the night. The reason why Wudeng Lane is called Wudeng Lane is not because the people here are poor, but because the whole Wudeng Lane is full of tea. For the tea pickers of the Li Mansion, they worked at night and rested at sunrise, so the tea pickers of the Li Mansion found the stone and carried it back. Master Li is a Hanlin, knowledgeable and talented, and the tea pickers took the stone If you carry a stone back home and find it is just an ordinary stone at dawn, you must be very disappointed, but Master Li will not just pretend to be a fool."

Zhao Ran said: "Auspiciousness from the sky, such a large piece of night pearl stone, if Mr. Li can dedicate this stone to the current emperor, he will definitely be able to restore his position as an official, but firstly, he does not have such connections, and secondly, he may not be able to trust it." Those who dealt with it, three times his plot was not that small, it just so happened that at this time, princess, you came to Rong'an Town following Buddha, Master Li immediately thought of the princess."

"Master Li is inconvenient to get to know the princess, but Mrs. Li is good at dancing, funny and kind. It is not difficult to get to know the princess. The purpose of the Li family is very simple. To polish the night stone into several night pearls, some of them are given to the princess as a reward, and the other part One after another, I asked the princess to hand it over to the adults in Beijing, thinking that it would be a fund for the future. Therefore, the peacock warm jade box that the princess carried with her was actually used to hold the luminous pearl, so as to conceal the characteristics of the luminous pearl at night. It is only used later No more, so the princess casually took it and gave it to the little girl as a reward." Zhao Ran made two "tsk tsk" when he said this.

Zhaoran continued: "At first I thought the trader was a son-in-law, until I figured out how to use the clock tower. The clock tower was originally used to store and process luminous pearls. It will definitely not leak out. When I recall Mrs. Li struggling to climb the stone ladder, I understand the purpose of the other floor of the clock tower. This is a sliding cable, with the bell as the axis, put down the hanging basket, the princess I usually go up in a hanging basket, right? On the top of the tower, the words can’t be heard, and what the princess said must be kept secret. Therefore, the people who trade can’t be two women, but a man and a woman, so It's Lord Li and the princess!"

Jiashan said coldly: "Although the Ye Mingzhu is forbidden by the royal family, many people have hidden it. Even as you said, it is reasonable for the Li family to hand over the Ye Mingzhu to this palace. Why do I need to cover up like this?"

Zhao Ran said: "The luminous pearl is already forbidden in the palace, but it is not considered rare, but if it is a luminous pearl that can make people's corpses not rot, it is invaluable, precious enough to make the emperor's heart, precious enough to be bought for it. To start a war, the more powerful and powerful the more people will be moved by it."

Jiashan's tone became a little unsteady: "I don't know what you're talking about?"

"I don't know how I discovered it in the first place. Maybe Mr. Li felt that the ordinary Ye Mingzhu would not be able to get a big future, so he took someone out and tried it. I didn't expect that there would be a surprise..." Zhao Ran sighed, "It's a pity Not all the night pearls taken out of that big stone can protect the corpse from decay, so the transaction between the princess and Master Li has changed from trading pearls... to trading corpses."