I'm watching the gate in the jail

In the Zhaode Palace of the Forbidden City, Concubine Wan Gui, who was holding a child, had a pair of beautiful eyes that were about to cry.

She looked at the panic-stricken palace servants and imperial physicians coming in and out, lowered her head, and handed the child to the eunuch Qin Chang who was standing aside.

Tan Chang watched as the empress took out a handkerchief, wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, then slowly stood up, almost subconsciously, staggered, and walked towards the bedside where the Longquan sword was hung.

"Miss!"

Seeing Wan Zhen'er raised her hand to grab the hilt of the sword, Tan Chang yelled loudly.

Wan Zhen'er retracted her finger that had already touched the ruby-studded hilt as if she had just woken up from a dream, but she raised her head unwillingly, looking at the sword that had not been sheathed for a long time.

"That year, His Majesty was deprived of the crown prince and kicked out of the Forbidden City. I used this sword to guard him day and night in the dilapidated King's Mansion. He succeeded..."

Wan Zhen'er gritted her silver teeth, her eyes were full of reconciliation.

"Who happened? What happened?"

Zhu Jianshen's footsteps were flustered, and he brought Huai En, Zhang Min and other palace officials to Zhaode Palace.

Just now he was working in the Hall of Martial Ying, when suddenly the eunuch of Zhaode Palace came to report, saying that something big happened to the Empress, and Zhaode Palace was in chaos.

Thinking that something might happen to Minister Wan or the eldest son of the emperor, Zhu Jianshen was so frightened that his hands and feet became cold, and he hurried back to Zhaode Palace with Wynn and others.

Seeing that Chief Attendant Wan is well and Qin Chang is not crying while hugging the eldest son of the emperor, Zhu Jianshen is relieved first, and then looks at the Bisha cabinet outside Zhaode Palace, only to see the maids and imperial physicians kneeling All over the place, there was a child sleeping on the couch, who else could it be if it wasn't Wang Zhi?

"What happened to Ah Zhi?"

It was only then that Zhu Jianshen realized that it was not someone else who had the accident in Zhaode Palace, but the child forced in by uncle Lang.

He walked two steps forward and saw that Wang Zhi's face was like gold paper, sweating profusely, short of breath, and his small chest covered by the brocade quilt was violently heaving up and down, and hurriedly asked the imperial doctor who was still kneeling on the ground to get up first .

"When I went to court early this morning, didn't Ah Zhi already go to the inner school to study? After all, it's only been a long time since class, why is it like this? Did he suffer from some kind of emergency?"

Zhu Jianshen walked back to Wan Zhen'er and sat down, waved back the tea served by the maid, and asked in a hurry.

Even though this little guy was forced into the palace by that bastard uncle Xiao Lang, he is still the son of a sinner.But soon, Zhu Jianshen fell in love with this lively and lovely child just like Wan Zhen'er.

Minister Wan once told him that he never took care of his two younger brothers when he was a child, and felt guilty towards his natal family for many years.

Now that she saw Ah Zhi, it was like seeing her younger brother when she was a child.

He is also the nephew that Wanda's child recognized from outside, and let him stay with him in Zhaode Palace, as if he was playing with his own nephew.This allowed Chief Wan, who was pregnant at the time, to relieve a lot of the pain of missing his loved ones.

Zhu Jianshen also got along with this child for a few months, and found that this child was heroic by nature, often smiling, and snow-white and cute, didn't he look like a little brother-in-law? Besides, what about the son of a sinner?

At least [-]-[-]% of the maids in the palace were filled into the harem because of the crimes committed by their family members.

Others don't say it, Wynn's companion, Qin Chang's companion, it's the same.And their loyalty is beyond doubt.

This child Wang Zhi is not a real eunuch, he will leave the palace sooner or later to find another way.

But before that, he promised Uncle Lang that he would take good care of the child.

If you can't even look down on a doll, doesn't that mean that you are not as good as that "little bastard" uncle Xiaolang?

The emperor who is only in his early twenties this year, although he is already a father, is the most noble person in the world.But in his shaky childhood, apart from Minister Wan and the Empress Dowager Sun who occasionally appeared a few times to protect his safety, there was almost no other warm existence around him.

Ever since he was named the crown prince, he had to face this malicious palace independently when he was young.

All his brothers, cousins, are his potential competitors.

In particular, he was taken away from the crown prince by his uncle's eldest son Zhu Jianji.And Zhu Jianze, another brother of his same mother and father, almost made him lose the title of prince for the second time.

It is said that the Tian family is ruthless, and the blood brothers of ordinary people's families are all "siblings".The blood brothers of the royal family are all "rivals".

What is "Lonely"?

This is Lonely!

Although Zhu Jianshen often talked about Wanda's unreliability and frivolous behavior, he complained about this brother-in-law to Minister Wan from time to time.

But in his heart, he actually regards this uncle who is two years younger than him as a brother, a peer who allows him to laugh and curse, and temporarily forget his status as emperor.

"This child has always been in good health. He has been in the palace for more than a year and has never even had a cold. What is going on today?"

The emperor asked Tan Chang to take the eldest son of the emperor down to the care of the nanny, and asked everyone except Wynn to withdraw. He and the imperial concubine had something to say.

Zhu Jianshen had an intuition that the next conversation between him and Wan Zhen'er would be full of blood and tricks.Although the eldest son of the emperor is just an ignorant baby now, as a qualified father, he still doesn't want him to hear it.

"Ah Zhi, he had a good time with the eldest son of the emperor, and for some reason, he became like this..."

It may be because the child was carried away, the redness in Wan Zhen'er's eyes faded little by little, her face sank like water, and she calmed down at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Zhu Jianshen took her hand and patted her twice to show comfort.

Yes, this is the "Master Wan" he is familiar with.

She wasn't the kind of woman who would cry helplessly or lose her mind when she got into a rage.Otherwise, it wouldn't be so many times, leading myself out of danger.

"Who was looking after the eldest son of the emperor at that time? Let her come in and answer."

Zhu Jianshen gave instructions to Wynn.

"Let me tell you that from now on, no one is allowed to enter or leave Zhaode Palace... No matter who comes to inquire about the news, they will all be driven away. If there is any entanglement or talkativeness, all of them will be temporarily detained and you will take care of them."

"Yes."

With a sullen face, Wynn took the order and walked outside quickly.

Zhu Jianshen, who has lived in conspiracy since he was a child, his first reaction was what happened here, and he must not let outsiders know the specific situation.

After a while, Yinger, the court lady next to Wan Zhener, walked in with a pale face.

"Tell me, what happened to Ah Zhi? Was he playing with the eldest son of the emperor, and suddenly fell ill?"

"Yes... yes... woo woo woo..."

Yinger was so frightened that she couldn't even speak, she just kept crying.

"Ying'er, tell me quickly."

When Wang Zhi's accident happened, Wan Zhen'er was leading other female officials and maids in the room to sort things out. She really didn't know anything about what happened outside.

When she heard the screams of the maids and ran out, Wang Zhi was already lying on the ground.

"At that time, Ah Zhi played with the little prince for a long time, and the little prince was sweating. I took off his coat and wiped the sweat for the little prince."

After a while, Ying'er started to recall intermittently, "The lotus root powder on the table was also cold, and I thought the prince would be hungry after playing, so I brought it and wanted to feed him."

"lotus root starch?"

Zhu Jian frowned deeply, "Chen Sishan did it?"

Since Wan Zhen'er became pregnant, Chen Sishan and her daughter Xiaohui were responsible for her daily diet, including the fact that the little prince is getting older and can start eating some rice cereal and fruit soup.

"It wasn't made by Chen Sishan, it was sent by Empress Dowager Qian."

Wan Zhen'er knew about this.

"Ah Zhi left school from the inner study. As usual, he came to my place to say hello. It happened that the eldest son of the emperor woke up, had milk again, and was in good spirits. Ah Zhi went over to play with the child..."

Wan Zhen'er rested her forehead with her red-painted Danko fingers, carefully recalling what happened at noon today.

"At that time, someone from Ningqing Palace brought dim sum, which was a bowl of thinly blended lotus root starch. It was said that the weather was getting hotter, and the little prince would get angry if he only drank milk, so he could use lotus root flour to make it better. I was thinking of the little prince. I just had milk, so I might not be able to eat it. Let Yinger put the lotus root powder on the table, and eat it when the little prince is tired from playing with Ah Zhi."

At that time, she never imagined that such a thing would happen later.

"Ningqing Palace? Empress Dowager Qian?"

Zhu Jian frowned deeply.

"Yes, the person who came to deliver the lotus root powder was the aunt who delivered clothes, shoes and socks for the child on behalf of Mrs. Qian when the concubine gave birth last time."

This is also the reason why Wan Zhen'er was not suspicious at the time.

Empress Dowager Qian doesn't care about worldly affairs, and pays homage to Buddha in Ningqing Palace all the year round.In order to wait for the return of the late emperor, she cried and blinded one eye.And because of crying on the ground all the year round, one leg is crippled, and it is very inconvenient to move.

Ever since she knew that Wan Zhen'er was pregnant, in order to welcome this rare child, the Queen Mother insisted on making small clothes and shoes with the maids in her palace.

Although the finished product is not as delicate as when she was young and her eyes were intact, Wan Zhen'er also knows how heavy this gift is.

Empress Dowager Qian was not allowed to leave the palace, Wan Zhen'er often carried the little prince to Ningqing Palace to greet her when the child was a little older, and let the empress dowager hug her.The two mothers were talking and laughing together, making Empress Dowager Qian who had been lonely since she lost her husband burst into rare joy.

After all, although the Empress Dowager Zhou also asked her to take the child to have a look at her, compared to the Empress Dowager Qian, her real grandmother treated her grandson less affectionately.

Wan Zhen'er thought, maybe seeing herself at the same age as herself, the Queen Mother Zhou was not very happy, and she didn't even want to see her child very much.

This is a helpless thing, even if Wan Zhen'er wants to be filial to the Queen Mother, she can't change the fact that she is 17 years older than the emperor.

Hearing that the snacks were sent by the Empress Dowager Qian, Wan Zhen'er hardly had any doubts, and even skipped the daily drug test, and let people accept them directly.

Then Wan Zhen'er turned around and greeted the maids in the palace, sorting out some silk and satin cloth given by the emperor before, and wanted to sew new summer clothes for the queen mothers of the two palaces.

She hadn't picked out the clothes here yet, there was a court lady crying over there to report that they were about to feed the emperor's eldest son a snack just now, and Xiao Azhi suddenly snatched it up and drank it.Before they could stop them and reprimand him, Ah Zhi spat, fell to the ground and convulsed.

"Although Ah Zhi is not a real servant, he has always been well-behaved and sensible, and never does anything beyond the norm... What's going on here?"

Zhu Jian frowned deeply.

He glanced at the child just now, and it was more like a symptom of poisoning than a sudden onset.

Yinger withdrew, someone would send her to the Punishment Division.Regardless of whether what she just said is true or not, as the person closest to Wang Zhi and the little prince at the scene of the incident, she must be interrogated.

Seeing that Wang Zhi kept rolling, Wan Zhener hurriedly asked someone to go to the imperial physician to save him.

Who knew that the little eunuch arrived at the imperial hospital, but heard that because the Queen Mother Zhou had a sudden headache today, Renshou Palace had recruited all the imperial physicians to see a doctor, and it was unknown when she would be back.

In desperation, it was the Queen Wang and Queen at Kunning Palace who heard the news and sent an imperial doctor over.

It turns out that today is the day when Queen Wang asks for peace pulses every day. This Imperial Physician Hu went straight to Kunning Palace as soon as he entered the palace, so he didn't go to Renshou Palace to see the Empress Dowager Zhou, so he rushed over.

"How can there be something wrong with Queen Mother Sun's stuff?"

It can be heard that the entire noon harem was spent in panic.

Two empress dowagers, one queen, one noble concubine, almost all the most noble women in the palace were involved.

But what Zhu Jianshen couldn't figure out the most was that it was Empress Dowager Qian who started this incident.

How could it be Empress Dowager Qian?

To say something disrespectful, even if it was someone from the Queen Mother Zhou who brought the snacks today, he would not be so surprised.

"Your Majesty, the servant has been rescued."

At this moment, Imperial Physician Hu stood outside the door and reported.

After getting the emperor's permission, Wynn brought in the imperial physician and asked him to explain in detail what was going on with the child.

"If my guess is correct, this little servant should have been poisoned."

When Queen Wang sent him to Zhaode Palace today, the doctor Hu thought that something had happened to the crown prince, and suddenly felt that his head was hanging on the waistband of his trousers, and he was afraid that something serious would happen.

Unexpectedly, it was only a small servant who had the accident.

But judging by the concerned expressions of His Majesty and Empress, it seems that this little servant is also very favored.People like them who walk in the palace are the most eye-catching.Seeing the extraordinary status of this little servant, Imperial Physician Hu made up his mind to use all his skills to treat him.

Sure enough, what Imperial Physician Hu said confirmed Zhu Jianshen's guess.

The anger was ignited all of a sudden. In this Zhaode Palace, in this palace that he personally arranged for the woman he loved most in this life, someone was actually poisoned? !

Zhu Jianshen and Wan Zhen'er looked at each other, and they both saw the anger and fear in each other's eyes.

"Do you know what poisoned him?"

Although the answer was ready to come out, the couple absolutely did not believe that Empress Dowager Qian was the one who murdered Wang Zhi... No, to be precise, she was the one who wanted to murder the prince.

If Ah Zhi hadn't suddenly gone to snatch the food, and now he was lying there unable to move, he might have been the eldest son of the emperor, His Majesty.Ah Zhi was already seven years old, and he was white and fat. If the same poison entered the body of the eldest son of the emperor, there would be no reason for him to survive.

"Well, I have to take back all the things that can be entered in Zhaode Palace for inspection before we can come to the final result."

Imperial Physician Hu replied rigorously, "In addition to food, all spices, even potted plants and flowers must be checked one by one."

"You don't have to go back to the Imperial Hospital, you can have an examination at Zhaode Palace. If you need anything, just send someone to the Imperial Hospital to get it."

"From now on, the imperial hospital will be closed, and all imperial physicians will not be allowed to leave the palace. All the medicinal material warehouses in the palace will be sealed up for investigation. Go to Beizhen Fusi and ask Commander Yuan to come in. In addition, all palaces will be closed, everyone, Whether you have something to do or not, you are not allowed to go out, and you are not allowed to connect with each other. Wynn is with you... "

"The slave is here."

"The details of what happened in Zhaode Palace today will never be allowed to be known to anyone in other palaces."

Absolutely no one should know that it was Ah Zhi who was killed today, not the prince.

"The slave obeys the order."

The orange-red sunset shines on the dark red palace wall, and the narrow road leads to the Yingcui Hall on the west coast of the North Sea.

A young and beautiful woman with a slightly crazy expression stood in the Chengbo Pavilion of Taiye Pond, raised the corners of her mouth, and looked in the direction of the Longxi Palace in the inner palace.

She clearly remembered that two years ago, after she was selected as one of the candidates for the crown princess, she was welcomed into the Longxi Palace, where she was taught by the nanny and performed palace etiquette.

At that time, there were three girls who were selected as the future princess.

Mrs. Wang is dull, Mrs. Bai is boring, only she has the advantages of being young, lively and beautiful.

She firmly believes that she will be the crown princess, then the empress, and even become the empress dowager...

Until that day, that hateful woman and her even worse brother ruined everything about her, ruined her future, and caused her entire family to fall...

The hatred made Wu's expression distorted and crazy.

Fortunately, here is a cage made only for her, and no one can see the hatred in her eyes except for her own reflection in the Taiye Lake.

"Hmph... little prince, right..."

Wu lowered her head, looked at the lush Guanyin lotus with its wide leaves stretched out at her feet, kicked it in disgust, and walked to the side of the sheep house.

To the west of the Yingcui Palace where she lives is a small road called "The Sheep House" by the palace people, which leads to the "Nei'an Le Hall" in the imperial city.

It was the residence of the old maids of honor.

When female officials in the Ming Dynasty reached their age, they could resign from the palace.

But ladies of the palace, as long as they step into the palace gate, they cannot leave the imperial city for the rest of their lives.

That is, last year, at the suggestion of elder Li Xian, His Majesty the Emperor released a batch of court ladies who had been imprisoned in the Clothes Bureau to show the greatness of the Emperor's grace and His Majesty's benevolence.

Otherwise, this is the final destination of their lives.

Place a young girl like herself with those old women who are dying.The emperor's mind, that could not be more clear.

It is because she once angrily called Wan Shi an "old woman" that His Majesty punished herself like this.

Before the old nanny who had raised her walked through the sheep house to find her.Wu's drama that she originally thought belonged to her has completely ended in the Forbidden City.

But who knows, the curtain was opened again, and she found her place once again.

"When Qiujiang looked at it, weeping, I was afraid to look at the solitary tent."

Wu raised her sleeve to cover half of her face, and sang weepingly, "There is a kind of suffering in this parting. The hatred is broken up in an instant. It's just for the blood in the heart, around the eyes, Lose my fragrant muscles. Hate to kill his wild water river, cut off the Milky Way water, and ruin my old age."

Under the imperial bridge is the water of the Taiye Pond, which is reflected by the setting sun, with little golden dots, as if carrying the resentment of this woman, it flows slowly towards the depths of the inner palace not far away.

Qiu Zijin became seriously ill and had a high fever for three days. Although the high fever subsided, he still didn't wake up.Counting now, it has been five or six days.

In the past few days, he was half asleep and half awake, raving again and again, and could only drink some broth and rice porridge every day, and then three meals a day of bitter medicine.He vomited out half of the medicine he drank.

Wanda and the others were so anxious that they invited all the descendants of the old imperial doctor from the Nanjing Palace to see Xiaoqiu.

The doctor repeatedly assured that Lord Yushi was only suffering from the wind and cold, and he was in poor health when he was a child. As long as he takes the medicine and eats on time, he will wake up soon.

Said it was "soon" but dragged on for so many days, if it weren't for his age, Wanda would have wanted Gao Hui to beat him up.

"Xiaoqiu, did you smell it? This is mille-feuille, I made it for you specially. And this, cream cake. Last year on Ah Zhi's birthday, didn't you just say you wanted to eat it? Now I'll give it to you It's done, you should get up and eat."

Wanda put two plates of pastries in front of Qiu Zijin's bed, and looked helplessly at the indifferent Xiaoqiu who was still sleeping.

"What should I do? Food can't impress you anymore. My classmate Xiaoqiu, how long do you plan to sleep with pay?"

After sitting by the bed for a while, Wanda stood up helplessly, put the snacks on the table, and walked to Yang Xiuxian's room next door.

"How is it? Did Ah Zhi write a letter today?"

As soon as he entered the door, he saw Yang Xiuxian flipping through the residence newspaper presented by Jin Yiwei, which just reminded Wanda that it was more than ten days ago that he received A Zhi's letter.

This little guy won't be so busy playing with his nephew that he almost forgets that he is "Susu", right?

"There is no letter from Ah Zhi, but Eunuch Tan has sent a letter. He said that everything in the palace is fine, and that the empress misses you very much. I want you to see something interesting to eat and play in the south of the Yangtze River, and send someone to the palace. .”

Hearing that the palace was fine, Wanda nodded in relief.Sit down and look at the residence newspaper in Yang Xiuxian's hand.

"What happened in Beijing?"

"The champion of the new department who is on the same list as Qiu Zijin, and Luo Lun who was selected as an editor by the Imperial Academy before. I participated in the old book of Li Xian and Li Ge."

Wanda blinked, thought for a while, and finally remembered who this person was.

This editor Luo should have been ranked second, and the number one should have been Qiu Zijin.

But because Qiu Zijin was so good-looking, the emperor's brother-in-law from the Appearance Association took him to be the "No. [-] Prospector of the Chenghua Dynasty".

This allowed Luo Lun, the original No.2, to pick up a huge bargain and become the "No. [-] Scholar in the Chenghua Dynasty".

This Luo Zhuangyuan's good luck is enviable, but maybe this "Zhuangyuan" hat was picked up, and he always felt that it was not very safe to wear. , especially in the past year, he watched Qiu Zijin prosper all the way, gain the trust of His Majesty, and enjoy himself all over the world.And I can only sit in the Qingshui yamen, and a group of old scholars from the former dynasty, compiling the anthology of the late emperor and various anthologies every day, with no hope of promotion, I inevitably feel a little anxious.

In the middle of the month, Mr. Li Ge finished his funeral and returned to Beijing to resume his post.

This Luo Zhuangyuan didn't know that Mr. Li Ge's hasty return to Beijing was the result of the emperor's repeated urging and four invitations.There was actually a memorial, bluntly saying that Li Xian, as a veteran minister and the chief assistant of the Ming Dynasty, did not guard his father and lived in mourning for three years.This is a great disloyalty, how can he be qualified to continue to set an example for the officials.

Originally, Mr. Li felt guilty towards his father because he was "robbed of love" by the emperor.In addition, after being read by this young scholar, he fell ill as soon as he returned to Beijing, and did not go to court for several days.After the imperial doctor went to see him, he actually said that the illness was really serious and unpredictable.

"Is there something wrong with Luo Zhuangyuan? Randomly guessing the holy will, is this courting death?"

Wanda shook her head, thinking what kind of person my brother-in-law is, he was already suspicious.Above the court, there may not be more than three or four people who he can trust completely.

As the old man Li Ge who once tried to protect his crown prince, he is a veritable "minister of the arm" of the emperor. His status in Zhu Jianshen's heart is no less than that of the empress dowager Sun.

Luo Lun, an editor and editor of the Imperial Academy who has just emerged, has nothing to do to pinch the dragon's scales, he really wants to die.

Sure enough, Zhu Jianshen, in front of the civil and military officials of the Manchu court, scolded Luo Lun for "discussing courtiers in vain and in vain. His heart is evil and sycophantic, and it is difficult to be a close servant", and then he was relegated to Fujian.

They are far away in Nanjing, and they can only judge the situation in Beijing from a few words in the mansion newspaper.

From this alone, it can be seen that Beijing is now afraid of heavy wind and rain.If Mr. Li Ge is really sick, it means that there will be a vacancy in the position of chief assistant.

This year is only the second year of Chenghua, is it going to usher in such a huge personnel change?

"No matter how lucky you are, what if you get a title of 'No.

With no one around, Yang Xiuxian put down the newspaper, walked to Wanda's side, and put his arms around his shoulders.

From this point of view, it is easier for them to be Jinyiwei.

As long as you serve the king and empress well, and be loyal to His Majesty, even if you bear a bad name, so what?

In the next room, Qiu Zijin faintly woke up.

Because he slept for too long, his body was inevitably a little numb. He frowned bitterly, and habitually reached under the pillow to pick out candied fruit to eat.

"What kind of medicine did Lord Wan give me, so bitter?"

After digging for a while, Qiu Zijin's face suddenly changed, and he threw off the pillow.

How long did he sleep for? Why was the box of candied fruit that was so full a few days ago suddenly emptied?

"There's a thief...it's unreasonable."

Just as Qiu Zijin wanted to yell, he suddenly remembered that just now, in a daze, he seemed to have seen a half-familiar, half-unfamiliar figure...

Qiu Zijin covered his mouth in disbelief.

"No way……"

Isn't "that person" already dead?

The author has something to say: Qiujiang burst into tears when he looked at it, and he was afraid to look at the lonely canopy.There is a kind of misery in this parting.Hate dismantled in an instant.It's all just for the heart, the eyes, the blood to flow, and reduce my fragrant muscles.Hate to kill his wild river, cut off the Milky Way, and ruin my spring old cuckoo!

The libretto of this section is selected from the Kunqu opera "Jade Hairpin Jiqin Tiao"