Shanglin Night Snow

The night is dark.

The door curtain moved, and a black shadow suddenly flashed from the corner of his eyes.Guo Kai was startled, but when he turned around, he saw that the black dog Xifu had already rushed towards the bed.

"Xifu!" Chased up and caught up, but it was still too late, the dog had already jumped onto the bed, and the person lying flat with his head bowed, his nose tipped and his eyes closed, seeing no response, he simply stuck out his tongue and looked at the face. One lick.

"Hmm..." The man seemed to snort.

"Xifu, come down!" Guo Kai picked up the dog and threw it out the door: something unexpected happened tonight, but he forgot to put this animal in place, and it entered the room without paying attention!Thinking that it had gnawed a mouthful of mud in the flower bed at night, it couldn't help but feel guilty and pity for the person on the bed.

Turning around and listening carefully, there was no more movement on the couch, so I went back to the bed with a wet handkerchief, carefully wiped the dog's saliva off the face of the still drowsy person, and then touched his forehead with the back of his hand, but it didn't feel hot, and his heart sank. Be safe.Pulling a chair against the bed and sitting quietly, sleepiness hit me for a moment, and I felt a little dizzy.

After a while, I heard rustling in my ears, forced to open my eyes, and saw the person on the couch slowly getting up.The four eyes met, and after the initial confusion, the man suddenly became angry: "Don't you not believe me? What are you still doing here, just let me fend for myself!"

Guo Kai calmly lifted him up and leaned against the pillow: "Are you hungry? I'll teach someone to bring you a hot supper."

"Hungry??" The man laughed angrily: "A dying person will still feel hungry?!" Then he showed a look of distress, "Why don't you tell the truth, this poison will take a long time to kill me?"

Guo Kai said indifferently: "The doctor said, you are not poisoned, but fainted due to anger and fright."

"It's not—poisoning??" The man seemed to have struggled to comprehend the words: "You mean, that tea is not poisonous?" Concentrating on thinking for a moment, he shook his head again and again: "This is wrong, absolutely impossible! I Obviously seeing him sprinkle those powders in the tea..."

"The light in the room is dim, you must have misread it." Guo Xie said without any waves.

"No, I won't—" After saying that, Xun Miao frowned, and grabbed the sleeve of the person next to the bed: "I know, this is his setup! When he opened the window, he saw me standing on the eaves. He pretended not to notice, deliberately left a gap in the window for me to peep, and then acted on his own, pretending to poison the tea to lure me into the game! The purpose is to make you alienate me, so that he can continue to act unscrupulously conspiracy!"

Guo Kai sighed: "What conspiracy does he want to do?"

"He..." Xun Miao hesitated for a while, and after thinking about the matter, he had to tell the truth: "Qin Liuzhi often came to look for you, but deliberately avoided me. I thought that he might be wary of me, so... ..." His eyes lowered, "I went to the west courtyard two days ago to wait for an opportunity to test him again, but he happened to be out, so I... I went to his room to have a look, or I told him to find out..." Listening to Guo Kai snorted, sweating slightly on his forehead for a while, but still raised his eyes vigorously: "It's so cold, I just go to his room to warm up and wait for a while!"

Guo Kai listened lazily to his argument: "What did you find?"

Seeing him, his eyes lit up: "I flipped through the manuscripts of poems and books on his case, and found that he seems to have written a lot of poems and articles recently. Although those articles are not outstanding, their insights are refreshing. , and the style of speech and writing is also remarkable, which I have never appreciated when talking with him before."

Guo Kai understood what he meant, but he didn't take it seriously: "Qin Liuzhi has only talked with you a few times about poems, books and articles, so why make rash assertions?"

Xun Miao complained: "It's just a talk. How one person's literary skills may not be complete, but the depth of his insights is clear. Besides, he kept asking me to give him pointers on articles, but so far he has not sent one, and deliberately Isn’t it strange to alienate me?” Seeing that the man was still noncommittal, he became anxious: “This is definitely not something I made out of nothing! I discovered a strange thing that day—he was copying those articles one by one! I didn’t know what his intention was until He was in your room just now, and he asked you to have a look..."

Guo Kai interrupted him: "Since copying my own articles became a strange thing? Most likely because his writing was sloppy before, and he had to write it neatly before sending it to me for reading."

Xun Miao shook his head: "That's definitely not the reason! Those articles are neatly written, and what's even more strange is that the handwriting is completely different from his!"

After a moment of silence, Guo Kai got up and walked a few steps away, and suddenly said something, but it was like a basin of cold water pouring on the plausible person: "This matter is not what you think. Those articles were written by a friend of mine, and now I want to compile them into Then he ordered Qin Liu to copy it directly. And tonight he brought the articles I read, which are not from the same ones." Turning around: "So you are really superstitious, let's stop this matter."

"This...you asked him to copy it?" Xun Miao was surprised and found it even more difficult to accept. He stared for a long time, gritted his teeth and clenched his fists: "No, it still doesn't make sense! If he is really open-minded, why is he afraid of being alone with me?" Yes, you dare not ask me to judge the article? Why do you need to hide the fact that you went out of the city to meet friends that day? And the meeting is still..."

"You read it wrong!" Guo Kai took a step back, looking confident, "I have ordered someone to investigate, Qin Liu went straight out that day to a nearby study, not out of the city, let alone to meet Shao Jingheng, Because at that time Shao Jingheng was accompanying Concubine Jing and Mrs. Jinyang County to pay respects to the Buddha at Fuquan Temple dozens of miles away, because unless he has the ability to separate himself, there is no way he could show up there at that time."

"This... how could it be like this?" Dazed for a moment, Xun Miao still held on to the last sliver of hope: "However, Fuquan Temple is also outside the city, so maybe he is using this as an excuse to return to the city at dusk, so he took advantage of people's unpreparedness to go around. After a while, I went to see Qin Liuzhi, and then quietly went back to accompany Concubine Jing and her daughter into the city."

"Nonsense!" Guo Kai couldn't bear it anymore: "A mere Qin Liuzhi, why should Shao Jingheng bother to see him? Besides, when he left the palace that day, how could he leave quietly and come back again when he was among so many people?"

"This..." Xun Miao was speechless in answering.

At this point, Guo Kai has no intention to continue.Then he told him to have a good rest, don't think about it any more, and go back to the house.Then just went out, there was a bang inside, like a heavy object falling to the ground, and then he yelled: "Get out!" A moment later, the black dog Xifu jumped out from the crack of the door with its tail between its legs, staring at him pitifully.

"Idiot, I teach you to mess with him now!" Guo Kai scolded, but couldn't bear to just sit back and ignore him, so he had to let the beast go with him.

After a few days, Xun Miao and Qin Liuzhi finally lived in peace, and the days were uneventful, but this was due to a cold wind: Xun Miao did not say that he was unable to find a gap at the moment, but in fact he was struggling to get up, so he had to ask for leave In the province, the compilation of tabloids has also been suspended.Guo Kai was worried that this might displease his superiors, and he wanted to go to the palace to report the inside story, but he heard that the emperor had also been ill for a few days and did not see his foreign ministers, so he had to entrust Zhao Yude to report on his behalf.

It has been warm and sunny for several days, and a wintersweet tree in the back garden is just blooming.Mu Yunqi sat quietly in the pavilion, sipping tea and enjoying the flowers, feeling refreshed and not at all sick.

Recently, the two factions in the court and the middle school each held their own words because of the matter of establishing a successor, and they couldn't compete with each other, which was annoying. Ning Qi leisure, leisurely and happy!It's a pity that "Fengchi" will recover one day. After thinking about it, the only savior is the tabloid: if one or two shocking news such as the Tu Yinzhu case are exposed in due course, it will definitely attract the attention of the court, and the current situation is difficult. The game is solved by itself!After making up his mind, he called Zhao Yude to come and inquire to see if there were any agreeable questions that could be exploited.

After a cup of tea, Zhao Yude has arrived.He is 35 to [-] years old, of medium stature, and calm.

Mu Yun prayed to get rid of the rest of the crowd, so he asked about what the Imperial City Secretary had found out recently, and Zhao Yude answered them all, but they were all nonsense and insignificant scandals and anecdotes, such as the servant of the Ministry of Punishment and a businessman vying for a daughter, fabricating crimes The businessman was fined Qian Wanmin, and the latter had no financial resources, so he had to give up his daughter; another example was that the secretary’s young supervisor touched his wife and sister. Hand in hand; or Shao Chenye, deputy envoy of the Privy Council, accepts bribes to gain power...

These are either insignificant compared with Lihou, or they are too involved, and it is not the right time to deal with them, which is really frustrating.Mu Yunqi had no choice but to ask him to continue to investigate.

Zhao Yude received the decree and reported two things.

One, regarding the Guiyungu assassination case, after several months, it was finally found out that there is indeed a family of hundreds of people who have lived in seclusion in the mountains for generations, isolated from the world, but their family is not aggressive, and it is not easy to make enemies with others. Not to mention stabbing for no reason.But about half a year ago, the leader of this clan made friends with outsiders, and the clan only knew that the purpose of this move was for foreign transactions, such as exchanging furs and treasures for cloth and other things. As for the identity of the other party, whether it was an official or a businessman, only the leader knew. Unfortunately, the leader passed away two months ago, and the new leader was very wary, unwilling to communicate with outsiders, nor allowed the clansmen to make friends with outsiders, so he wanted to inquire deeply, but he had to dispel his worries first.

"Half a year ago..." Mu Yun prayed for a while and thought: "One or two months before the assassination case? So, if you know the identity of the outsider that the former leader of this clan made friends with at that time, may there be a clue to this case?"

Zhao Yude said yes, and said that this matter was under investigation, and then reported another matter.

Because Mu Yunqi had doubts about Gu E's identity, Zhao Yude sent someone to visit Gu E's hometown, and learned that her age and experience were the same as her self-reported. It's hard to say that there are all unlikes.There is only one strange thing here: at the beginning, Shao Jingheng also ordered someone to go there, and brought a portrait to make Aunt Gu E identify (her uncle has passed away). It is not surprising that Aunt Gu E was old and chaotic, and she didn't seem to recognize her, but after a short time, The old woman died of a sudden illness, and then her two daughters moved away with her husband's family, whereabouts are unknown.

Zhao Yude thought that her uncle's family was the closest to her, and he was the most likely to recognize her. However, she either died violently or disappeared, which was obviously unusual, and thinking that this woman was also involved in the assassination of Qi Fu Zheli earlier, he thought Feeling more and more strange, I am now trying to find the missing pair of sisters and their family members, hoping to find out the truth from the identity of the woman.

Mu Yun prayed for his approval.

After reporting the two matters, Zhao Yude made another careful request: "Recently, the minister heard a report that Concubine Jing went to Fuquan Temple to worship Buddha, and was accompanied by Shao Dianshuai all the way. I saw Shao Dianshuai on a desolate river bank outside, and there was another person beside him at that time, and this person was very likely to be involved in an impostor case..." The conversation changed, "Of course, this may be the witness's misreading, After all, it was very windy that day, and there was a river between him and others, but now I want to find out the truth, I don’t want to ask the palace marshal rashly, so I can only ask His Majesty for permission to ask the palace servants who went to Fuquan Temple together that day for inside information."

Even though the person had tried his best to whitewash the peace, Mu Yunqi knew that this matter was unusual, after thinking about it, he asked: "If it turns out that it was indeed Jing Heng who was with the impostor that day, how about it?" ?”

Zhao Yude said frankly: "Well, it's really hard to tell at the moment, and the identity of the impostor must be verified first. However, even if Shao Dianshuai and the suspect knew each other, they probably didn't know the inside story, but were mostly deceived by him."

Mu Yunqi pondered for a moment, then stood up: "Then let's go to Ninghe Hall for a walk, the lady of Jinyang County is currently in the palace."

When Mu Yunqi brought Zhao Yude to Ninghe Hall, Concubine Jing was taking a nap inside, and his mother, Mrs. Lu of Jinyang County, greeted her on her behalf.After questioning, I learned that including Lu Shi, there were no more than five people who accompanied Concubine Jing to Fuquan Temple that day: because they returned that day, and in order to avoid publicity, the number of attendants should not be too many.

Zhao Yude took those few palace servants outside, and Mu Yunqi asked Lu Shi tactfully, but the results were similar: several people were in the car all the way back and forth that day, and they didn't know the outside world, but they were in the temple. To avoid suspicion, I have never met Shao Jingheng, because I saw him except when getting on and off the carriage, and no one can tell whether he is by his side at other times.And the imperial concubine who went to protect Jing that day were all from the Dianqian Division, so it seemed difficult to find out about this matter.

At a loss, Mu Yunqi was about to return to the palace when he suddenly heard a commotion in the inner hall - Concubine Jing ran out regardless of dissuasion.

"Since the official family is here, why don't you see the concubines?" Fu Fushen, the woman said with a smile, her eyes clear.

Zhao Yude subconsciously took two steps forward and stood in front of the emperor.

"Your Majesty, forgive me. Concubine Jing is feeling a little unwell today, and she has to go back to take her medicine." Mrs. Lu hurriedly confessed and persuaded her daughter to enter.

But the woman turned a deaf ear, still looking at Mu Yunqi, revealing a little daughter's frankness in her smile: "It's been a while since the concubine returned to the palace, I don't know when the book will be awarded?"

Hearing this, Lu's complexion changed in shock, and after repeatedly pleading guilty, he and the palace men forced Concubine Jing back to the inner room.

After leaving the Hall of Ninghe, Mu Yunqi was a little confused.From time to time, the woman's frank smile appeared in front of her eyes. After thinking about it, she turned to the Ninghe Palace standing behind her and raised Peng Xuliang: "Has Concubine Jing's condition improved recently?"

Peng Xuliang replied: "Concubine Jing's condition is getting better day by day, she only occasionally develops symptoms due to emotions or unsatisfactory things. The imperial doctor said that she needs to be comforted more, and it is better to follow her heart in everything and not to disobey."

Mu Yunqi squinted his eyes: "In your opinion, Concubine Jing just now, is she sober or chaotic?"

"This..." Peng Xuliang was stunned, hesitating and then showing embarrassment: "Concubine Jing's symptoms are not as frequent as before, and they are not very obvious for a long time, she only falls into chaos occasionally, and she recovers after a while, but if it is not an attack, it is really hard to say. "

Mu Yunqi pondered for a while, then turned the subject: "Is it normal for palace people to discuss outside affairs?"

This is because the officials suspected that some palace people had revealed the matter of the Empress Li to Concubine Jing!Peng Xuliang understood and denied it: "The imperial doctor said that Concubine Jing must rest in peace and not be disturbed by foreign affairs, so I have repeatedly warned you not to let outside news into the palace!" After a pause, he hesitated: "Indeed … These days, Mrs. Jinyang County is often by the side of Concubine Jing, and occasionally the mother and daughter talk privately, so I don’t know what to say…”

Mu Yunqi nodded: "Understood, you go."

Returning to the back garden, Mu Yunqi's mood is not as peaceful as before.

"It would be great if she had a child..." Another person said another word in my ear.

Staring at the plump flower buds protruding from the old man, Mu Yunqi sighed sadly: Jing Heng, do you really want Concubine Jing to stay in the palace out of pity for her?