Pet official

Xiao Pei hurriedly shook his head: "No. I am in charge of all the spices in the fragrance room, but this is locked in a box by the master. I came to say goodbye to the master last night, and he mentioned it to me, he said He has put all the important things in this life in that box, if something happens to him one day, let me open that box, and then the truth will be revealed to the world."

While talking, Xiao Pei walked to the bed, pushed the pedals, opened the partition under the bed, fumbled inside for a while, found a black lacquer box, and handed it to Ruan Yunqing, "It's the first time I've seen this box too. , but according to what the master said, the spices should be in this box."

Ruan Yunqing placed the box on the table. This black lacquer box was painted with gold and colors, and it was very delicately made. The four corners were wrapped with silver corners, and the lid was locked with a big copper lock.

"Where is... the key?"

Xiao Pei was taken aback, and hurriedly rummaged on Yuan Youjiang, "The master of this box always keeps the key with him."

After searching for a while, I found a key in the purse tied on the skirt of Yuan Youjiang's coat.

Ruan Yunqing took the key, opened the copper lock on the box, lifted the lid, and took a look inside.I saw that the box was divided into upper and lower layers, on which were five 1000 taels of silver notes and a letter.Looking down, open the lower interlayer, and there is a piece of ropa and a kit inside.

Ruan Yunqing looked carefully one by one, and found that the banknotes were all accepted nationwide, and the banks in all major state capitals could exchange them for cash. It was stamped with a large vermilion seal, and it was written as Baotong Company.

Ruan Yunqing was startled, this bank note was issued by the same bank as the bank note found at Xiao Changfu, and, most importantly, this bank is the capital of Feng Kui's family, the elder brother of Concubine De, if it is inferred from this , the origin of this bank note is very likely to be the same as Xiao Changfu's, that is, it is all obtained by Concubine De.

Mo Zheng opened the letter, glanced at it hastily, and handed it to Ruan Yunqing: "Huh, fortunately he still has the face to say something like 'knowing that he has committed a serious crime and dare not live in the world', he took 5000 taels of silver from him blatantly. What are you saying about being coerced and being forced to do nothing? It’s clearly because of money’s eyes that you’re doing such evil things!”

Ruan Yunqing took the letter and read it carefully, only to see that it clearly stated how Yuan Youjiang accepted bribes from Concubine De, and how he colluded with Xiao Changfu to poison and assassinate the crown prince.It was signed by Yuan Youjiang's name, and it was actually a confession.

Yuan Youjiang also said in the letter that since Xiao Changfu's death, he has been restless, for fear of being murdered by Concubine De, and his conscience is so sad that he often has trouble sleeping and eating, etc.Upon closer inspection, it really looks like the last confession made by a person who committed suicide in fear of sin.

Ruan Yunqing put away the letter and looked at the things in the interlayer.

There is a piece of ropa and a kit in the interlayer.

Unfold the Fang Luopa, embroidered with a young ginger plant, grass sprouts, goose yellow ginger fruit, very playful and cute, it looks like something for a girl in a boudoir.

Ruan Yunqing looked left and right, there was nothing on the Luopa except this young ginger.The material of this Ropa is not very good, it is just a piece of thinner cotton cloth.It looks a little old, and the embroidery thread on it is a little dark and faded.It can be seen that Yuan Youjiang cherishes this thing very much. He not only puts it in the box for collection, but also takes it out to look at it from time to time. Not willing to throw away.

"This handkerchief also belongs to your master?"

Xiao Pei glanced at it and nodded, "Yes. I often see Master holding it in his hand."

"It looks like it's for girls, how could your master have it?"

Little Pei paused, then shook his head and said, "I, I don't know either. Maybe who gave it to me may be."

It seems that this thing should be extremely important to Yuan Youjiang.However, since it is important, why not keep it close to your body, but put it together with these murder evidences?

Could it be that Fang Luopa is also one of the evidences?

Puzzled, Ruan Yunqing had no choice but to put Luo Pa aside, reached out and picked up the kit again.

As soon as he pulled the drawstring, there was a cold fragrance in the bag, and Mo Zheng didn't want Ruan Yunqing to smell it: "Be careful that even you are poisoned."

Xiao Pei waved his hands again and again, and quickly said no, "Spices have to be ignited to take effect, and it doesn't work if you smell them less often. Generally, you have to smell them for ten days in a row, each time for more than half an hour, or If the time is not enough, add a few more times, and over time, it will be effective. Just smelling like this is fine."

Ruan Yunqing poured out a piece of the spices in the kit, saw that the color of the thing was cyanotic, and after sniffing it lightly, it smelled like the fragrance of epiphyllum.

Finding a piece of clean letter paper and wrapping the spices, Ruan Yunqing handed the paper package to Mo Zheng, asking him to deliver the item to Song Ren first, and explain Yuan Youjiang's matter to him.

Mo Zheng took the paper package, couldn't help feeling disgusted in his heart, pinched the culprit, gave Xiao Pei a vicious look, and said cruelly: "How can this be a spice? I have seen many poisons in my life, and they can kill people like this one." Intangible, I'm afraid even those poisons will be willing to bow down, I'm ashamed of myself!"

Xiao Pei disagreed, he hid behind Ruan Yunqing, and argued in a low voice: "It's medicine and it's three-point poisonous, let alone these spices. The master made it in the first place, and he didn't intend to use it to harm people. Even now, as long as you master it well The amount, these spices are also good things that can please the mind, how can they compare with poison."

Mo Zheng glared angrily, and scared Xiao Pei to shrink behind Ruan Yunqing, never daring to show his face again.

With the criminal evidence and this confession, Yuan Youjiang's suicide became more and more logical.However, the abnormality in his room and the clothes on his body all carry an indescribable weirdness, which makes it difficult to dispel doubts.Yuan Youjiang didn't have any scars on his body, and he couldn't find any signs of struggle. If it was said that he was persecuted or murdered to silence him, on the surface, it seemed a bit too far-fetched.

Ruan Yunqing was disturbed by all kinds of doubts, he bowed his head and thought for a long time, and decided to keep his doubts in his heart first, and it would not be too late to tell others after he solved all these doubts.

Ruan Yunqing put all the things in the box back, arranged them one by one, and locked them tightly with a copper lock, asking Xiao Pei to put the black lacquer box back into the partition under the bed.

Xiao Pei was puzzled: "Since we found it, why didn't we just put it aside like this? Why put it back?"

"We didn't report it in time. It's already a taboo. If people know that we flipped the corpse and this room at will, it's inevitable that people won't say that we have bad intentions. If someone picks us up and says that we deliberately planted, then there will be I can’t even speak clearly. One more thing is worse than one less thing, anyway, the chief inspector will send someone to check these things later, it’s better to wait for them to find out.”

After Ruan Yunqing finished speaking, she put the key in her purse and tied it to Yuan Youjiang.After restoring everything to the original state, he thanked Mo Zheng and asked him to report to Song Ren first.

Mo Zheng agreed, bowed slightly to Ruan Yunqing, and followed him out of the room.

Ruan Yunqing was the only two left in the room. He discussed with Xiao Pei and asked him how he wanted to deal with Yuan Youjiang's funeral.

Xiao Pei replied with a blank face: "Since I called you here, I naturally listen to you."

Ruan Yunqing nodded and said: "In that case, I will trust you."

Xiao Pei wiped his tears again, "Your words are too outlandish, and you and I are also in adversity. There is nothing we can't trust between you and me."

Talking about this, Ruan Yunqing naturally couldn't shirk it, he let Xiao Pei guard Yuan Youjiang's body, and went to Zheng Changchun to report first.

Such a big event happened in the palace, and you can't hide it if you want to. After Zheng Changchun has read it, you have to report it layer by layer. After the inspection by the chief of ceremonies, you can send people to find the family members of the dead eunuch and inform them to take the body. Go home for burial.If there is no family member, the dead body will be dragged to Huichun Hall, and after being refined by fierce fire, the remains will be buried in the barren hills behind the capital.

When Zheng Changchun heard that Yuan Youjiang had died, he was so shocked that he was speechless for a while.He searched for it for a long time before he thought of bringing someone over to inspect it. First, he sealed off the room of the perfumery department, and then searched all the rooms carefully. He tossed and tossed until the evening before notifying the person in charge of the ceremony. Seen.

Regarding the abnormality in the room and the clothes on Yuan Youjiang's body, no one raised any doubts. After two inspections, everyone's eyes were focused on the partition under the bed in Yuan Youjiang's bedroom.With several bank notes and a confession letter from Yuan Youjiang, all the crimes were clearly revealed, and the eunuch's face turned pale with fright after receiving the report from the chief inspector of ceremonies.He panicked for a while, and then he felt happy again. The case of the prince's poisoning finally came to light. How could he let go of such a great contribution.

Sealed up all the evidence, held it up personally, and the palm print eunuch directly reported the matter to the emperor.

After Emperor Hongyou read these evidences, instead of commending them, he lost his temper. He scolded the eunuch, the chief inspector of ceremonies, for intentionally framing the concubine, and all the letters and bribes were fake.

Emperor Hongyou cursed and dropped a teacup and countless jade ornaments, so frightened that the servants in the room didn't even dare to breathe out, and the eunuch with the palm print even shook his clothes and stood up, wishing to slap himself twice so that he wouldn't dare Thinking of claiming credit alone, now I have to bear the emperor's scolding and anger alone.

This matter was suppressed by Emperor Hongyou in this way, and everyone didn't know what method Concubine De used to coax the emperor into a circle. framed.

The eunuch who was the chief inspector of ceremonies came here in high spirits, but he went back with bad luck. He was scolded bloody by the emperor, and was sent to the imperial mausoleum to guard the tomb of the late emperor. The post was also handed over to another eunuch, Bingbi, the supervisor of ceremonies.

The old eunuch's bowels are turning black, if he had known about this, he wouldn't have bothered the emperor and the premise if he was killed.

With the lesson learned from the palm print eunuch, no one dared to go to the emperor to sue Concubine De. Concubine De was banned for half a year. After she came out, Emperor Hongyou loved her even more than before. There was nowhere to vent the pent-up anger, and more people came to empress Wei to complain about their grievances.

These are all later things, so there is no need to go into details for the time being, and now I will only talk about Yuan Youjiang's funeral.