Tang riddles

On May [-]th, in the middle of the night, Shen Sui was awakened by a knock on the door. She opened her eyes suddenly, was stunned for a moment, then turned her head to look outside, and found that several people were photocopied on the window screen.She glanced at the clepsydra again, the ugly first moment had just passed.

"Chishi? What happened?" Zhang Ruohan beside her was also woken up, and asked in a daze.

"I'll go and have a look." She carefully got out of bed, Huang'er was fast asleep between them and hadn't been woken up yet.

Shen Sui walked to the door, opened it, and saw Hutuo standing at the door with several servants who were obviously from the palace.Seeing her open the door, Hutuo hurriedly said:

"Da Lang, something happened in the palace, and several internal officials came to invite you into the palace."

"The sage ordered Shen Si to direct you into the palace. Time is running out, please leave immediately." The head servant added, and then took out the badge of Gao Lishi, the director of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and showed it to Shen Sui.

"May I ask you, what exactly happened?"

"I'll explain it on the way." The servant obviously didn't intend to say anything here.

"The lower official understands, let the lower official change clothes, it will be ready soon." Shen Sui closed the door again, turned back into the room, went to the hanger to take his official robe.

"Chishi?" Zhang Ruohan looked at her suspiciously.

"Something happened in the palace, I have to enter the palace." Shen Sui explained in a hurry.

Zhang Ruohan's heart tightened when she heard the words, and said: "Be careful." She still remembered the last time Shen Sui was poisoned by the red-tailed lizard in the Luoyang Palace and almost died.

"Don't worry, I guess it's Concubine Wu Hui's business. You take care of it at home, and if you have anything to discuss with the qin slave and the mother-in-law." Shen Sui seemed very calm, and urged.

"Well, I can save it." Zhang Ruohan nodded.

Shen Sui put on his robe, tied his belt, and put on his official hat.He leaned over to the side of the bed, kissed Zhang Ruohan's lips, leaned over and kissed Huang'er's forehead, and then opened the door and went out.

The servants spoke little, and led the way directly with lanterns in hand. Shen Sui and Hutuo hurriedly followed behind. The two exchanged glances, and Hutuo obviously didn't know anything.Shen Sui motioned him to keep a low profile, don't ask what shouldn't be asked, Hutuo nodded.

They got into the carriage sent by the palace, and the servant who drove the carriage whipped and went straight to Daming Palace.

It wasn't until entering the palace and passing the second palace ban that the chief servant spoke to Shen Sui and Hutuo:

"The servant (referring to Hutuo) can only wait outside the third palace for a while, and Shen Sizhi enters alone. About an hour ago, Concubine Hui passed away, and there were some doubts at the scene. The saint ordered Shen Sizhi to go and investigate. Shen Sizhi , Be careful what you say, be careful, what you say may become a very serious accusation."

Shen Sui bowed his hands to show that he understood.

In the blink of an eye, the third palace ban had arrived, the carriage stopped, and Shen Sui got out of the carriage.The head servant hooked his hands, signaling Shen Sui to follow him.Shen Sui glanced at Hutuo before leaving, and Hutuo understood what she meant, if something happened to her, he had to report to Li Jinyue.

Shen Sui followed the servant into the palace and went straight to the Pearl Mirror Hall where Concubine Wu Hui lived.Because horse racing is not allowed in the palace, the two can only walk fast on their legs all the way.At this speed almost running, it took a full two quarters of an hour to go all the way before finally arriving at the Pearl Mirror Hall.It is located on the east bank of Taiye Pool, which is relatively deep in the Daming Palace.When he reached the entrance of the Pearl Mirror Hall, Shen Sui was fine, but the servant who led the way was already covered in sweat.He handed over Shen Sui to another servant who was guarding outside the Pearl Mirror Hall, and then left.

Shen Sui followed the servants outside the hall into the hall again, without any notification, all the way straight into the sleeping hall.As soon as Shen Sui crossed the threshold of the sleeping hall, she suddenly felt something was wrong, because a familiar fragrance rushed into her nostrils. She had only smelled this fragrance not long ago, so she remembered it deeply.

This fragrance is the body fragrance of Yang Yuhuan's body.But Shen Sui quickly looked around the hall, but did not see Yang Yuhuan.In fact, she knew very well that with Yang Yuhuan's identity, it was impossible to appear in the palace at this time.But what's with the aroma?Shen Sui felt a little uncertain.

The sage was sitting obliquely on the edge of the large dragon couch, and on the couch lay a motionless person.This person is Concubine Wu Hui.But because of the distance, the curtains on the couch also fell down, Shen Sui didn't see it clearly.Gao Lishi stood beside the saint, lowered his eyebrows, still humble and cautious.Just under the dragon couch, there were three people standing, and Shen Sui recognized them all.

These three people are Li Hao, the king of longevity, Xiao Song, the first assistant prime minister, and Li Linfu, the servant of Huangmen.

Li Linfu had just been promoted to be the servant of the Huangmen, and he was still the imperial censor Zhongcheng before.But because he was in favor of Han Xiu who had just paid his respects in advance, he was deeply grateful to Han Xiu, recommended him many times, and got promoted.The servant of the Huangmen is a close servant of the imperial court, who can convey edicts and is responsible for assisting the saint in handling government affairs.Throughout the dynasties, the servant of the Huangmen was the starting point for worshiping the prime minister. Generally, sitting in this position is not far from the position of prime minister.

The three people had different expressions, Xiao Song closed his eyes and rested his mind, it seemed that his mind was not here at all.Li Linfu made a gesture of grief, with a very dignified expression.Li Mao, on the other hand, was the only one who was grieving from the bottom of his heart, weeping silently.

Shen Sui raised her spirits, thinking that the situation might be complicated, and she had to be more careful.

She lifted the hem of her robe and knelt down and said, "My humble minister, Shen Sui, pays homage to the sage Jin An."

"Ah, Shen Si is here." The saint's slightly hoarse voice came from inside the curtain, and Shen Sui could hear that the death of Concubine Wu Hui was indeed a great blow to him, and he seemed extremely sad.

"Come here and take a look, Concubine Hui, she is not walking safely." The saint's tone was light, revealing a strange emotion, which made Shen Sui's spine shiver.She kowtowed again, slowly got up and stepped forward, moving cautiously, as if she was afraid of waking up something.

"Weichen is rude." She said, carefully lifted the curtain with her hands, and looked inside.

The skinny Concubine Wu Hui was lying quietly on the couch, her appearance seemed to be fine, except that her lips were purple, which made Shen Sui a little concerned.

"The imperial doctor has seen it and said it was food poisoning. The dinner was served with a soup mixed with orange juice and shrimp just caught from the seaside. The two conflicted." The saint said slowly.

"Arsenic/Frost..." Shen Sui said softly.

The sage raised his eyebrows and glanced at her, and said, "Yes, it's comparable to arsenic."

"Has there been such a diet arrangement in the palace before?"

"Yes, but no one has ever been poisoned. According to the imperial physician, such an amount would never cause poisoning. However, Concubine Hui's body is too weak, unlike ordinary people, so she can't bear it. Even so, she still has difficulty breathing. , I was panting until the middle of the night, and it took a long time to catch my breath, and it just passed away. It shows that the toxicity is not strong."

"Does the Palace Food Bureau know that such a diet will pose a threat to Concubine Hui?"

"They don't know that Concubine Hui's diet is not provided by them, but has always been prepared by the Pearl Mirror Palace. Concubine Hui had eaten this kind of diet the day before yesterday, and nothing happened, because she felt that she had an appetite, and she still wants to eat today , I did it again, but never thought about what happened this time." The sage answered Shen Sui's questions patiently one by one, almost answering every question, which is very rare.

"Then, I dare to ask, does the sage think there is something strange about it?" Shen Sui asked.When she asked this question, she bowed her head and lowered her eyebrows, her eyes were not on the other side, and her expression was completely invisible.

"Aiqing, after you entered the palace, can you smell any strange smell in this room?" The saint asked her back, his eyes suddenly sharpened.

"Yes, I smelled a fragrance." Shen Sui replied.

"Yes, this fragrance did not exist before. The incense in Concubine Hui's hall has never smelled like this. Moreover, because she has been unwell recently and doesn't like incense, the incense in the hall has long been cut off. There shouldn't be any fragrance in the house. Any fragrance. But it just appeared today, I think there is something strange about it." The saint said.

"Weichen understands, let Weichen look around." Shen Sui cupped his hands.

"My love, please."

Shen Sui turned around and left the bed, and checked in the hall.The first thing she noticed was the aroma burner placed in the hall, and after she went to check it, she found that there was no residual fragrance left in it, and it was cleaned cleanly.Then she checked the surrounding candlesticks again. She carefully observed each candle and found nothing special.

After checking the items that need to be burned, she began to check the bed. On the bed, she did not find any sachets or incense balls tied to it, and the fragrance did not seem to come from the bed.

She thought for a while, and finally came to the side of King Shou, Xiao Song and Li Linfu, and said:

"I'm taking the liberty to see the sachets you carry on your body."

When the three of them heard the words, their expressions changed immediately.King Shou and Xiao Song were obviously angry, but Li Linfu behaved very normally, and took out his sachet first to show Shen Sui.King Shou and Xiao Song probably felt uncomfortable in front of saints, and Concubine Wu Hui had just passed away, so they couldn't be rude in front of the dead, so they reluctantly took out the sachet for Shen Sui to check.Shen Sui's expression remained the same, but the way the three of them looked at her showed a layer of hostility.

As a result, without exception, none of the three people's sachets were the source of the fragrance.

From this point of view, it seems that someone carried the source of fragrance, searched around the temple, waited for a while, and finally left.The fragrance then lingered in the hall and never dissipated for a long time.

"Sage, I have some questions and would like to ask the maids and servants on duty in the palace tonight." Shen Sui said.

"They are all waiting in the side hall, you go." The saint's voice was exhausted, and his words were weak.

Shen Sui kowtowed again, then exited the sleeping hall and went to the side hall.It wasn't until this moment that her expression became dignified.She had already noticed that Concubine Hui's death was indeed unusual, it was planned by someone, and most of the incident was aimed at Li Jinyue.

King Shou and Li Jinyue had just prepared to form an alliance, and this kind of incident happened. If the suspect falls on Li Jinyue, the situation may be difficult to deal with.I don't know if among the few people present, they have seen the way.The key lies in the fragrance. If someone finds out that this fragrance has something to do with Yang Yuhuan, things will be really troublesome.

Although Shen Sui didn't know how the fragrance came from, she believed that it was absolutely impossible to have something to do with Yang Yuhuan.She is a 15-year-old girl who has never had a relationship with this court. How could she have the skills to enter the palace and assassinate Concubine Wu Hui.However, the fragrance on Yang Yuhuan's body does not mean that it cannot appear on other people.For example, Li Jinyue, if she had close contact with Yang Yuhuan beyond the normal relationship, she might be stained with fragrance, and it happened that Li Jinyue just entered the palace yesterday to see Concubine Wu Hui.This is too much of a coincidence, the double scandal of assassinating Concubine Hui and having an affair with the unmarried girl Mo Jing favored by King Shou, even if there are thousands of mouths, it is still unclear.

Who did this?Could it be King Zhong?This is his biggest suspicion.Not only can it break the alliance between Li Jinyue and Shou Wang, but it can also directly kill Li Jinyue.

But Shen Sui thought about it carefully, but felt that it was too early to draw a conclusion.It would be unwise for King Zhong to do this.He had just been appointed Marshal of Hebei Road some time ago, and he had fought against the Khitans who invaded the Tang Dynasty.At that time, most of the soldiers under him were provided by Li Jinyue, and it was Li Jinyue's deployment that won the battle for him.His relationship with the army was entirely Li Jinyue's. If he blamed Li Jinyue at this time, he would actually be unable to control the army.

Her face was as heavy as water, and she walked in a hurry, and soon entered the side hall, and at a glance she saw five servants and five maids waiting in it, and the servant who guided her into the hall just now was also among them, but he didn't seem to be the same person that night. The servant on duty, whose rank is obviously higher than those ten people, should be the person who was sent to watch over these servants.

As for the ten servants and Gong'e, almost all of them knelt down on the ground with pale faces at this moment, their bodies trembling like chaff, sweat dripping on the ground, the ground was already wet, they were obviously frightened.

Shen Sui stepped forward, saluted the guard in charge, and said:

"The next official is ordered to ask them some questions."

The servant replied: "Shen Sizhi, please go ahead." After finishing speaking, he stood motionless at the side, apparently not intending to leave.

Shen Sui took a deep breath, his eyes fell on the ten people kneeling on the ground, after thinking for a moment, he asked the first question:

"Did you leave your post without authorization tonight?"

The author has something to say: Let me emphasize that this article is not about be. After a little abuse in the last chapter, some people said that I wrote be. Is it too early to draw a conclusion?Tang Mi sees now, don't you understand my writing routine?