Placid Chang'an

Naturally, Su Cen would not be so stupid as to go directly to the palace to ask for someone.

Internal servants, that is, eunuchs, also known as servants of the emperor, are in charge of many chores within the palace, such as conveying edicts, guarding the palace gates, sweeping the inner court, taking care of the daily life and food of the palace people, etc.Just like their civil servants and military generals are divided into systems, the servants also have their own set of rules, which are all under the Ministry of Internal Affairs. They also have ranks, and the ranks are strict, but they have no real power in their hands.

At the beginning of his accession to the throne, Emperor Taizu learned the lessons of the previous dynasty, and clearly stipulated that eunuchs were not allowed to interfere in politics, which meant that their little rights were limited to playing prestige in the inner court, and they had no right to interfere with the affairs of the court.

Similarly, the servants belonged to the Tian family. As the saying goes, it depends on the owner to beat a dog. Officials like them outside the court have no right to intervene in the family affairs of the emperor.

Since there have been rules for a long time, foreign ministers and eunuchs are not allowed to have too much contact with each other, and most of the noble literati can't understand the way these eunuchs flaunt their power with chicken feathers as arrows, and the eunuchs can't understand them. A sour Confucian who suffers alive, so he never communicates with each other, and the well water does not violate the river water.

And now Su Cen is going to offend the river.

But before going, Su Cen went to find someone first.

Speaking of which, this person had only met Su Cen a few times, but as an eunuch, he treated Su Cen with great respect.After all, Su Cen saved his life.

Back then when the two parties were fighting, the eunuch violated Li Shi's taboo by saying a few words in court, so he was almost dragged out and executed with a stick.Because Su Cen had no intention of getting involved between the two parties at the time, he saved his life by helping to say a few words. Since then, the eunuch has treated Su Cen with courtesy. Cen once.

Now that I think about it, the reason why Li Shi didn't pursue this eunuch in the first place was because of Su Cen's face.

There was another reason why Su Cen approached him - this person was not a low rank in the inner court.

In those open and secret battles within the palace walls, a person's rank determines everything.The eunuch was the emperor's close servant, and even the little emperor wanted to protect him if something happened, so his rank could not be lowered.

When Su Cen found the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the man was lying on the eunuch's chair for a nap, with his legs hanging on the back of a young eunuch with no place to rest.The little eunuch knelt on the ground, his brow was covered with sweat in the deep autumn, but he didn't even dare to wipe it off, for fear of disturbing the sleeping people.

Seeing Su Cen approaching, another little eunuch holding a fan signaled Su Cen to wait a while, lying next to the person's ear and calling "Master" a few times before waking him up.

The eunuch opened his eyes after a while, and asked with a weary look, "Why, Your Majesty called me?"

The little eunuch hurriedly said no, and motioned forward.

As soon as the eunuch saw the person coming, he immediately stood up from the chair of the grand teacher, went forward with a smile all over his face, and shouted enthusiastically: "Hey, Mr. Su has time to come over," while complaining backwards: "What should I do?" Yes, Mr. Su doesn't even look at the seats when he comes," the rapid changes in his face even shocked Su Cen.

Su Cen wanted something from others, so naturally it was not easy to show anything, so he was politely led to the chief seat, and after some pleasantries, he finally explained the purpose of his visit - he was looking for someone.

"Oh? Who?" The eunuch raised his eyebrows, "My lord, I'm not bragging. If you want to find someone, I've found the right one. In this palace, it's up to the masters and servants of the palaces and courtyards, down to the horns. There is no cat or dog in the corner that our family doesn’t know about.”

Su Cen: "Little Six, do you know?"

The eunuch was stunned: "Who?"

Su Cen had a faint guess in his heart, but he repeated it calmly: "Little Six, I heard that he got his name because he had six fingers on his hands."

The eunuch frowned and thought for a while, feeling a little embarrassed, then turned around and asked the two young eunuchs on the left and right: "Have you heard of this person?"

The two young eunuchs immediately shook their heads: "Master, you don't even know about it, let alone the younger ones."

The eunuch withdrew his gaze and rubbed his chin in thought for a moment, then raised his head and said: "Lord Su, don't worry, this matter is on our family's shoulders. As long as there is such a person in the palace, our family will definitely find it for you."

Maybe it was because he was slapped in the face before, and the eunuch worked even harder to find someone, but within a cup of tea, someone came to spread the word. Today, all the eunuchs who are inappropriate and worthy have been summoned, waiting for someone to go over and inspect.

The eunuch smiled at Su Cen proudly, "Lord Su, let's go."

Su Cen put down his teacup and followed the eunuch out, only to see that the courtyard of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was already full of people, and just now he was drinking tea inside through a door, but he didn't hear any movement.

The eunuch said to Su Cen braggingly: "All those who are not on duty are here. If there are still none, we can only wait a little longer and call them over after they are off duty."

Su Cen said thank you, and said, "Can you ask them to stretch out their hands?"

The eunuch gave an order, and the little eunuch behind him immediately squeezed his throat and shouted: "Stretch out your hands!"

Su Cen started from the head of the line and looked at them one by one. A pair of hands, some were rough, some were delicate, and some had slender knuckles, obviously not long enough for stature.These little eunuchs were all sent to the palace since they were young. Some of them were poor enough to support them, and some came here voluntarily. They were bullied outside, and if they wanted to get ahead, entering the palace was also a means.

They looked over row by row, but they never saw the six fingers in Liu Yu's mouth. Just when Su Cen was disappointed, he stopped abruptly.

Taking a few steps back while concentrating, he stopped in front of a timid young eunuch, "Where's your other hand?"

I saw that the little eunuch only stretched out one hand, but the other hand was behind his back.

"The small... the small hand..." The little eunuch looked up at Su Cen, then hurriedly lowered his head, and stammered, "The small hand is hurt."

Su Cen narrowed his eyes slightly, and then slowly stepped forward, pulling out the man's hand bit by bit.

That hand was wrapped in heavy gauze, and it was impossible to see how many fingers there were.

"Tear it down." Su Cen said coldly.

"The little one's hand is injured, it hasn't healed yet, it's bloody and bloody, I'm afraid it will scare the adults."

"It's demolished." Su Cen repeated without doubt.

The little eunuch hesitated, but never made a move.Seeing this, the big eunuch who was following behind him was about to order someone to come forward to do something, but the little eunuch saw that the gauze had to be removed, so he hesitated to do it.

Layers of gauze hung down, and Su Cen stared at the hand without blinking. Seeing that the hand under the layers of wrapping was about to show its clues, a communication sounded outside the courtyard door: "The Empress Dowager is here!"

A phoenix boot stepped in immediately, the little eunuch immediately stopped his hands when he saw this, and knelt down facing his head. Suddenly, there was a crowd of people kneeling in the yard, only Su Cen frowned and stared at the faint spot on the last gauze cloth. Silhouette, it seems that he has not noticed what happened around him.

Until the eunuch who was following the Empress Dowager yelled: "Bold Su Cen, don't kneel down when you see the Empress Dowager!"

It was only then that Su Cen reluctantly looked away, turned around and knelt down, "Minister Su Cen, I have seen the Queen Mother."

Empress Dowager Chu looked a little angry, but she still raised her head and said, "Get up."

As soon as Su Cen stood up, she heard the Empress Dowager Chu say again: "What are you doing here if you're not doing business in broad daylight?"

The great eunuch was originally arranged by the Queen Mother Chu to be next to the little emperor. When he saw the old master, he immediately turned to the person with a shy face and replied: "Reporting to the Queen Mother, Mr. Su from Dali Temple came to investigate the case. This slave is helping Mr. Su." To catch the murderer."

The Empress Dowager Chu ignored the flattery on the eunuch's face, looked at Su Cen and asked, "Are you investigating a case? What case are you investigating?"

Su Cen cupped his hands in an unassuming manner, "It is the case of Tian Ping that the Queen Mother ordered the officials to thoroughly investigate."

The Empress Dowager Chu frowned, "Isn't that case closed? Didn't Liu Zhen plead guilty?"

Su Cen: "Liu Xiang did go to Dali Temple to surrender yesterday, but there are still doubts about the case. I suspect that there is someone behind Liu Xiang who is manipulating it."

The Empress Dowager Chu pursed her lower lip, gritted her teeth after a while and asked, "Did Liu Zhen tell you?"

Su Cen hesitated for a while, then nodded modestly, "Yes."

The Empress Dowager Chu asked again: "What does that have to do with this eunuch?"

Su Cen said truthfully: "According to Liu Xiang and Zhang He's confession, before the exam that year, they both met a man with six fingers, who gave them an order to kill Tian Pingzhi."

"Six Fingers," the Empress Dowager Chu pondered, and then looked at the eunuch's hand behind Su Cen. The last layer of gauze hadn't been removed, she breathed a sigh of relief, and said, "This man is not Liu Zhi. He hurt his hands pruning flowers and plants." He raised his eyes to the little eunuch again, "You have nothing to do here, go down."

The little eunuch also heaved a sigh of relief as if he had received an amnesty, he cupped his hands and was about to step back, but was pulled back by one hand.

Little eunuch: "!"

Empress Dowager Chu also frowned: "Su Cen, what do you mean, don't you even believe Ai's words?!"

Su Cen's eyebrows were lowered, and she looked pure and peaceful, but she didn't withdraw her strength at all.

"Let me take a look myself."

He knew in his heart that if he let this person go today, he might never find him again.

"Bold!" The eunuch behind the Empress Dowager Chu raised his voice and shouted angrily, "Come on, come on quickly! Su Cen has disobeyed the Queen Mother and is going to rebel!"

The guards on duty nearby rushed over in no time, and the courtyard that was already full of people was even more crowded. The people in the courtyard looked at each other in blank dismay, and a trace of panic flashed in everyone's eyes. Only Su Cen stood where he was, motionless as a mountain.

The Empress Dowager Chu squinted her phoenix eyes and looked at Su Cen for a moment. She thought that with a little pressure, this person would know how to deal with current affairs, but she didn't expect Su Cen to be unmoved even with heavy troops.When the incident got to this point, it was her who was in a difficult situation. In this matter, she was indeed at fault. With so many eyes staring at her, if the incident continued, it would really appear that she was covering up the criminal.

I had to compromise: "You can look at it if you want," the voice changed, "But to be fair, the gauze needs to be removed by the mourners."

With the matter at this point, there was no other way, Su Cen held on for a moment before letting go.

The little eunuch withdrew his hands, rubbed his wrists and bared his teeth, only to see five finger marks clearly visible on his wrists, his fingertips were numb from pinching.

The eunuch following the Empress Dowager came forward, and said angrily to Su Cen, "Lord Su, give way."

Su Cen took a step back, but his eyes were still fixed on that hand. Seeing the veil lifted, Empress Dowager Chu suddenly said: "I heard that you have been very close to King Ning recently, does Mr. Wen know about this? "

Su Cen frowned and looked forward, then turned around and saw that the layer of gauze had been lifted, and there were five fingers in front of her.

And hands full of blood!

Everyone gasped, the little eunuch bit his lip, trembling all over, almost fainted.

Su Cen frowned fiercely, and before she could speak, she heard the Empress Dowager Chu chuckle, "Look, you still don't believe me when I say he has five fingers, Chen You, count them for Master Su, How many fingers are there?"

Regardless of the surging blood, the eunuch next to him pulled the trembling wrist with a smile, and counted to Su Cen one by one: "One, two, three, four, five, it's five. Master Su is optimistic about it."

The little eunuch beside him was pale, except for bleeding from biting his lips, his whole body was already on the verge of collapse.

Su Cen felt like throwing up seeing the blood in his eyes.

Su Cen closed his eyes and forcibly collected himself, digested the scarlet eyes, opened them after a while, and said to Empress Dowager Chu, "I still want to take this person away."

"Su Cen, what do you mean?" The Empress Dowager Chu's face froze and turned black in an instant, "You questioned Aijia, Aijia's magnanimity did not convict you, and Aijia will accompany you if you want to test it. What else do you want? Don't toast or eat or drink fine wine!"

"I have to take him away today. Please forgive me, the Queen Mother. When the case is concluded, the minister obeys and will not complain."

"I'm afraid you won't be able to wait until the trial is over," the Empress Dowager Chu stomped her feet angrily, "Come here, take him down!"

Before a group of guards could make a move, they only heard a mellow voice resounding outside the courtyard wall.

"Who dares?"