dragon pen

At the same time, there was chaos in the palace.

Although the palaces of emperors and ladies are different from those of civil buildings, there are more or less broken and crumbling places—it’s just that even if there is a slight potential danger, no one dares to take the risk and let the masters make do with it. , so before the repairs were completed, they had no choice but to invite the masters to the summer resort in the summer.

The imperial doctor was invited into the palace overnight. In front of the main house of the villa, the palace people came and went, some were carrying water basins, some were holding quilts, each with their heads bowed in a hurry, no one even dared to talk casually—— It's all because of a sudden natural disaster during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Even the most talkative people dare not say that this is a good omen...

At this moment, the master in the room inside had a big anger, and was worried that no one could find someone to vent the anger, so of course no one wanted to hit the muzzle of the gun at this juncture, and each of them put up 12 energies to wait for him. Get out of the basket.

——This sudden earthquake really threw everyone into disarray.

At this moment, it was very difficult to settle the emperor, and the chief eunuch was yelling to arrange manpower to settle the concubines in the harem—this is not a big project, those in the harem who can be counted and have their own names There are women in the bedroom who have seven or eight if they don’t have a hundred. Now, they didn’t even have time to tie up their loose hair, fearing another aftershock, they just packed up some important things and prepared to get on the sedan chair waiting outside...

In the harem, Yingyingyanyan was chattering, and the concubines were discussing how much they were frightened by the earthquake just now—under the excitement, only the Anning Palace was silent.

"……Hey?"

Xianglian stood on tiptoe, looked at the sedan chair that had been waiting outside, and then looked at the quiet inner room, a trace of anxiety finally appeared in the maidservant's eyes... Closed the window, she was silent for a while in the darkness, and then seemed As if she had made up her mind, she turned around and walked towards the inner room, calling softly, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty? The sedan chairs outside are waiting—"

No candles were lit in the back room.

Xianglian accidentally kicked something, and the sound it made when it flew out startled her. After taking a closer look in the moonlight, she realized that what she kicked was a hairpin—the hairpin was simple in shape, A blooming peony is layered on top of each other, but the center of the flower is inlaid with a thumb-sized imperial green jadeite, making it very valuable...

Xianglian knew this hairpin. On the day the empress married into the palace, the emperor personally put this hairpin on her. Since then, it has become her favorite headgear. Every night, she would sit in front of the dressing table and fiddle with it before she would put it down... …

This hairpin is received very well on weekdays, and the empress also said that she would wear it at the post-sealing ceremony, and she also specially wore it at the Mid-Autumn Festival dinner yesterday——

How could such an important thing be thrown on the ground at will?

Xianglian was puzzled, and wanted to bend down to pick it up, but just as her fingertips touched the hairpin, a cold voice sounded from a dark corner not far away: "Don't pick it up."

The sudden sound made Xianglian's heart skip a beat again, her fingertips trembled and she subconsciously withdrew her hand!

She straightened up and looked towards the direction of the sound, and was surprised to find that her master who said after the earthquake that he would go back to the house to tidy up his clothes was sitting on a chair, still wearing a thin underwear. At his feet, there was a pile of clean clothes that had just been pulled out of the closet...

At this moment, Princess Deshu herself was sitting on a chair with her back straight, with the weird wooden box on her knees, her face was expressionless, her eyes were dull, and she was staring straight at Xianglian.

Caught off guard and looking at those empty eyes, at that moment Karen's hairs stood on end, her scalp was numb, as if her heart had stopped beating——

She took a big step back, her lips trembling slightly, and it took her a while to realize who was sitting in the corner, and then she forced a smile: "Mother? You scared the slaves to death, why not when the room is so dark Hold the lamp..."

Xianglian turned around and lit the candlestick, and placed it on the table. The orange light illuminated the room, and she let out a long sigh of relief, with a drop of cold sweat dripping down her forehead. The sedan chair to go to the Summer Resort is waiting. I don’t know if there are any aftershocks. You’d better move to another place as soon as possible... The servant just saw that although there is no major collapse in our Anning Palace, there are cracks in the beams -"

As she spoke, she wanted to bend down to pick up the valuable peony hairpin——

"Bengong said, don't pick that hairpin, don't you understand what I said?"

The clear and cold voice sounded again.

Xianglian was stunned.Straightening up her waist: "But this is not your favorite hairpin, Niangniang? Niangniang also said before that she would wear it to attend the ceremony'——"

"Empress?" The candlelight flickered.The woman seemed to sneer, "Do you think, after tonight's shock, there will be a queen conferring ceremony?...Wu Calamity Empress, Wu Disaster Empress, Your Majesty conferred this palace as Empress, just for these four words -"

The smile gradually widened.

at last.Under the surprised gaze of the maidservant, the woman sitting in the corner bent over with a smile and trembled slightly: "Without these four words, I, Huang Shuzhen, are nothing to him, nothing! I I know, I already knew, what about marrying a wife, if it wasn't for the so-called 'world without disaster', he wouldn't even leave my name tag, he wouldn't even look me in the eye!!!"

The ferocious laughter gradually died down, but the body of the woman shrunk in the corner trembled more and more—her voice was choked with sobs, and a moment later, a soft "pop" sounded in the almost dead room. ring……

A bean-sized tear fell on the wooden box in the hands of Princess Deshu.

"Since that's the case, why do you force me? Why do you have to look at the contents of the box? She said that the box can't be opened, it can't be bumped and damaged, otherwise, otherwise..."

Princess Deshu sobbed louder——

"If he hadn't insisted on watching..."

Box?Can't be broken?

What's in the box?Can't show it to others?

Xianglian was in the fog, completely unaware of what was going on, and also couldn't understand how a small antique box could have so many rules... He raised the candlestick and approached the master, trying to comfort her, but before she had time to speak, Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse that a large piece was missing from the corner of the box that the imperial concubine held tightly in her hand, exposing the dark interior of the box...

Xianglian let out an "ah".

This treasure box was brought out today, it was still in good condition, why is it missing a piece now? !

Xianglian thought about it carefully, and only after a while did she remember that on the way back from the lake tour today, the empress had a dispute with the emperor. The reason seemed to be that the emperor blamed the empress for protecting the box from others on the cruise ship. She was too neurotic and lost etiquette , it would be embarrassing to call him in front of so many ministers...

At that time, the empress didn't talk to him, but she just explained a few words carefully. Who knew that the emperor would get more and more angry, so he insisted on seeing what was in the box—unexpectedly, she, who had always been obedient to him, refused very firmly this time. , so naturally drew Long Yan's fury...

Immediately afterwards, the carriage shook violently, and there was a brief scream from Princess Deshu in the carriage, and the sound of heavy objects hitting the carriage - this sound scared all the attendants at that time Jump, I'm afraid that there will be some mistakes among the two of them, but none of them can afford it...

And then the emperor growled to keep them away.

Lianxiang was startled and frightened, she waited until the carriage entered the imperial city, and she was relieved to see her master get off the carriage unharmed...

At that time, the empress was pale and said little, but she took it for granted that she was in a bad mood and didn't want to talk because she had a dispute with the emperor.

—So it was because of the box?

The eyeballs rolled around in the sockets, and now Karen was also a little curious about what was in the box.

...It's just that it's not easy for her to ask at this time, she just comforts Princess Deshu, and urges her to get on the sedan chair early and go to the summer resort, but the former refuses without hesitation, with a look of lovelessness on her face— —In the middle of the night, I don’t know where to send someone to contact Master Guoshi to persuade her, knowing that her master is a character who will not change after she has made up her mind—just like when everyone was not optimistic about her, she still insisted on it Marrying into the palace—Xianglian gave up on persuasion, just turned around and went out to fetch water to wipe her off, and sent away the little eunuchs who seemed to be waiting impatiently.

Well, not to mention why there is only Xianglian in the womb of a lord who is about to become the lord of the harem, and even the little eunuch who carries the sedan chair can be impatient with the imperial concubine—there is probably no one in this huge palace. I don't know the emperor's attitude towards Concubine Deshu, right?

Xianglian fetched water, and couldn't help feeling in her heart that entering the Hou Men was as deep as the sea.

There was more pity in his eyes, he returned to the room, carefully waited for Princess Deshu to wash up and went back to sleep, blew out the light in the room, and after a while, the person on the bed fell asleep with tears in his eyes...

The little box was just outside her pillow.

Xianglian stood by the bed for a while, and after confirming that the master was asleep, she stepped lightly and wanted to leave—but before she could take a few steps, the steps stopped again, she fixed her body and lowered her eyes, thinking Thinking, in the end, as if he still couldn't let go of something, he turned his body back again——

Her eyes fell on the box next to the sleeping woman's pillow.

moment.

She was in a daze, her feet seemed uncontrollable, and she walked towards the wooden box step by step...

She stretched out her trembling hand, grabbed the wooden box, and shook it lightly. She heard the soft sound of "咵咵" and "咵咵" inside, as if the claws of some small animal accompanied her shaking, and the box was shaking. slippery inside...

"What? Live?"

Suddenly, Lianxiang aimed her eyes at the gap——

Then she saw it.

She saw a golden eye in the dark box...

This was also the last scene Lianxiang saw before she was alive, because at the same moment she saw the golden eye, a beam in the house suddenly broke, and the sharp break was like a sword piercing through the back of her head took her head off!

With a puff, the wood stained with blood and brains came out of her mouth——

a drop.

two drops.

Blood dripped on the box in her hand, and the servant girl's eyes widened in horror, and her life was taken away before she even had time to utter a cry!

The box in the maid's hand fell to the ground with a loud "snap", startling Huang Shuzhen who was sleeping soundly, and the moment she opened her eyes, she saw the tragic death body of her close servant girl falling towards her ——

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

The shrill and terrified screams pierced the hard-won tranquility after the noise caused by the earthquake and turmoil.

At the same time, the eastern sky is pale...

Its daybreak.

Crowds of guards poured into the Peace Palace and surrounded it with three floors and three floors outside. The eunuchs and maidservants rushed in, helped the woman who had collapsed from fright, stuffed her into a sedan chair, and quickly carried her away. After a while Only a few young eunuchs slowly moved out the body of the maidservant who was covered with a white sheet and was still dripping blood——

People around whispered and discussed.

Seeing this, many maidservants in other palaces showed gloating expressions, as if they were looking forward to seeing the expression of their masters when they heard so many things happened in the Anning Palace one night——

Among the crowded crowd, no one noticed that a piece of gravel fell unnaturally on the courtyard wall of the Peace Palace...

——At this time, no one could see a black-haired boy standing on the courtyard wall.

The young man was dressed in a simple outer lining, with only a gorgeous gilt pen hanging on his waist. He watched everything that happened in the palace and the different expressions of the people under his feet expressionlessly. From the beginning to the end, his expression was not superfluous. Change, only when seeing the ancient wooden box that Huang Shuzhen was still holding in his arms when he was brought out, he frowned slightly...

On his shoulder, sat a golden-eyed fat cat, holding a yellow umbrella in its paws that was big enough to cover both it and the boy——when Lian Xiang's body was taken out, the fat cat trembled Next, stretch out the fat paw on the other side to cover the boy's eyes: "Oh meow! It's bloody meow! Don't look at meow, don't look at meow! If this frightens Master Zhu Jiuyin, it's time for the little god to take the knife again!"

Zhang Ziyao pushed away Fat Cat's claws waving wildly in front of his eyes with one finger, thought for a while, turned around and jumped off the fence—under the cushion of the yellow umbrella, he landed lightly, and then said in a voice without much emotion: "First Let's go back."

Tai Lianqing was stunned for a moment: "The box, won't you take it back, meow?"

Wouldn't that be a waste of time?

Didn't sleep all night last night!

"..." Zhang Ziyao glanced at the fat cat sitting on his shoulder, and said calmly, "The maid just glanced at the contents of the box, and you can see what has become of it now. Under this situation, I can still grab it. Box? I don't want to end up with her."

"..." Sha Mao thought of the corpse that had almost stained the bed sheet red, and slapped his thigh tremblingly, "It's meow!"

"This dirty work is tiring, I'd better bring Jiujiu and let him do it." Zhang Ziyao patted the dust that didn't exist on his clothes, thought for a while and then frowned. "It's just that the action should be faster. I'm worried that as time goes on, more people will see the person in the box intentionally or unintentionally, and it will be troublesome if innocent people are hurt."

"It's meow! It's meow! It's indeed meow that Master Zhu Jiuyin likes!"

In Tai Lianqing's broken thoughts, Zhang Ziyao looked towards the direction where Xianglian was being carried away, as if thoughtful, his eyebrows frowned even tighter.

……

When Zhang Ziyao returned to the summer resort that Prince Rui insisted on bringing him, the sun had already fully risen.

Back in the small courtyard, the fat cat who was originally sitting on his shoulder looked left and right and saw no one around, so he put away the little yellow umbrella with a "snap", and the boy's figure appeared in the small courtyard out of thin air. A big fat cat jumped off his shoulder and landed lightly, stretched its waist, and turned its head to "meow" at him.

Zhang Ziyao waved to the big fat cat, and the big fat cat ran away without looking back. When he ran to the shadow of the rockery, he heard a soft "poof", and the fat cat who was still under the rockery just now disappeared without a trace No trace!

Zhang Ziyao stood on the spot basking in the warm sun for a while, squinting his eyes slightly and waited for a burst of uncontrollable tiredness, then he lifted his feet and walked towards the small, tightly closed door in front of him—the door was not locked, Zhang Ziyao made a soft "squeak" when he pushed it away, and the outside sun poured in. Zhang Ziyao stepped over the threshold, and after a while, he heard sleep talking from the inner room...

In the back room is a picture scroll hanging high on the wall. A tall man is leaning against a pine tree branch with his sleeves rolled up, his head raised up to the sky, his nostrils pointing towards the direction outside the painting, and a halazi is flowing out from the corner of his wide-open mouth. ...

Zhang Ziyao: "..."

Zhang Ziyao: "Sleeping like a loach."

The young man tore off a corner of the rice paper placed on the table with a blank expression, and flicked it lightly at the opened mouth of the person in the painting with a big "ah" in a ball - only to see that the ball of paper did not rebound when it hit the scroll, but It fell directly, and a paper-like ink dot appeared on the painting at the same time, and fell accurately into the mouth of the sleeping man.

The great chill stopped abruptly.

The pine branches tremble violently—

"What? Who? Bold, put—ah? Ah—bah!"

Zhu Jiuyin, who was forcibly awakened from her dream, spat out balls of paper, staggered and nearly fell under a tree!

After finally stabilizing his figure, he woke up vigilantly, craned his neck and looked around like a fox, but he didn’t find anyone who dared to disturb his dream—until he raised his eyebrows and lowered his head as if suddenly remembering something .as expected.They looked at each other with a pair of calm black eyes from outside the painting.

"..." Zhu Jiuyin said in a bad tone, "What are you doing? I was busy last night and was sleeping soundly. Why did you come here to make trouble, you little idiot? Do you deserve a beating? ——Eh, by the way, didn't you go Did you take the jewelry box and why did you come back? Wait..."

Zhu Jiuyin paused while speaking, suddenly sniffled, and then his face changed: "Where is the smell of blood coming from? Did you kill someone?!"

"Are you a dog?" Zhang Ziyao also raised his eyebrows and asked calmly, "The nose is so good?"

He obviously stood far enough away to smell this?

However, Zhang Ziyao's rhetorical question was not the same as what Zhu Jiuyin heard in his ears. The man sitting on the tree bent down, stared at Zhang Ziyao with a strange expression for a while, and then sighed: "I can't tell, my little one." Idiot, I really can't see that you are still such a ruthless character? I thought that you secretly took the box and came back, and at most you just educated that woman with your mouth, but I didn't expect you to kill and rob—"

"Damn it, you don't have a rich imagination," Zhang Ziyao frowned, "I didn't get the box back."

Zhu Jiuyin paused: "What?"

Zhang Ziyao said lightly, "I dare not take it."

Zhu Jiuyin looked puzzled, and after racking his brains for a while, he asked, "Did that woman murder you?"

The teenager who was about to turn around and take off his hairband to wash up turned around and gave the person in the painting a look of "You are mentally retarded".

"What is that? I'm not in the mood to play guessing games with you," Zhu Jiuyin said capriciously, "I have the spirit to get up."

"The box was knocked off a corner, and now it has become a murder weapon." Zhang Ziyao frowned and said, "Huang Shu's personal maid leaned over and took a look inside the box, and died without knowing what she saw."

"Dead? Frightened to death?" Zhu Jiuyin asked in surprise. Although the beast looks ugly, it doesn't make people ugly, right?

"No." Zhang Ziyao touched the back of his head with lingering fear, "The moment I saw it, a broken beam fell and pierced her head—"

Zhu Jiuyin's face was dull.

"Put it out of the mouth," Zhang Ziyao gestured to his mouth, "and died."

Zhu Jiuyin also raised his hand uncontrollably to touch the back of his head, his face fluctuated for a while, Zhang Ziyao smiled when he saw this: "Do you think that the person who imprisoned the beast for hundreds of years is still alive?" Is it a miracle at all?"

"..." Zhu Jiuyin came back to his senses, showing a disdainful expression that was not very confident, "Presumptuous! How could I be afraid of that little beast... Hey, but that little beast really has a bad temper. Locked in the flat peach tree hole without eating, drinking or moving for a while, I almost thought I raised it to death, but now it’s even worse when it’s locked in a jewelry box, killing people directly at the slightest disagreement--it’s really hard to see it just by looking at it Die, let's see who dies suddenly, tsk tsk tsk!"

"Oh," Zhang Ziyao squinted at a certain dragon in the picture scroll with its neck stuck and talking coquettishly, "Aren't you afraid?"

Zhu Jiuyin pursed her lips, raised her chin proudly, and exhaled two puffs of air from her nostrils: "What are you afraid of!"

"It's fine not to be afraid."

"what?"

"I'm sure we mortals can't afford to provoke that beast, so admit it." Zhang Ziyao stepped on his shoes and walked back to the scroll, "Anyway, you did similar things back then and survived gracefully. I leave it to you—find a way to get that box back, close it or put it out, in short, find a place where no one is around, and throw it... as far as you can .”

"What did you say?"

"I said, I admit it."

"Next sentence."

"I trouble the Twelve Witches, Master Zhu Jiuyin, to go and uphold the justice, bring back the box containing the monsters, keep it under strict supervision, and benefit the mortal world—Xiaosheng is here to represent all mortals, thank you in advance!"

"..."

Originally, Zhu Jiuyin was not fully awake just after waking up from sleep.

Now, that handsome face has become even more dazed than when he just woke up.