[Qing Chuan] Five elder brothers intermittent salted fish

Nalanzhu pushed the washed jujube in front of Yinqi, leaned forward and asked anxiously: "Then what happened later? Did she really sneak into Chen Cang? Did you say how the little maid sent the letter? Is it for Is Master Mingzhu sending a message?"

Yin Qi puffed up his face, his eyes had been staring at the fresh jujubes on the celadon porcelain dish for a long time, and he didn't care what his mother-in-law was saying.Yinqiao stood aside holding Eleven Elder Brother Yinhu who was still sleeping soundly in her infancy, but she didn't forget to laugh and say a few words against her master.

"Ma'am, you are really, fifth elder brother is so young, how can you know how to sneak through the old warehouse? You... You are so full of endless curiosity, you just take this matter as a joke, as a drama!" Yinqiao is Nalan Zhu. The dowry maid, who grew up with Nalan Zhu since she was a child, is not so polite when she speaks.

Nalanzhu snorted, but didn't care what Yinqiao said, instead Yinqi stood up and stretched out his hand to Yinqiao: "Aunt Yinqiao, I want to hug my brother!"

Yinqiao responded, "Fifth elder brother, sit down first, the eleventh elder brother is asleep! Let's keep your voice down!" After speaking, Yinqiao leaned on the soft couch and carefully put the eleventh elder brother in her arms. Into Yinqi's arms.

Yin Qi touched the soft and tender little face of his eleventh brother, and said with a smile: "My brother is so funny, his little face is so soft! There is also a sweet fragrance on his body! Children are cute!" He couldn't help but leaned forward and kissed her.

Obviously he was still a child, but he sighed how cute the child was, which made everyone in the hall find it funny.But only Nalan Zhu, the mother-in-law, didn't respond. She just held her cheeks and lamented: "It seems that I can't count on you. I don't know what to ask. A few days ago, you just went to your Khan Ama." There, did you cheat for food and drink?"

Unexpectedly, Yinqi, who pretended not to hear what he was talking to just now, now his ears became more sensitive. As soon as Nalanzhu finished speaking, he immediately raised his head and said, "Who says I don't know, um... Although I can't hear you very well." I understand, but Master Li has already said that if he wants to catch the murderer, he has to go all over the palace to check who has scars on his hands."

"Didn't you just say that? Er Niang is asking you, that little maid... Hey! Forget it, it's useless to ask you." Nalanzhu sighed softly, left the soft couch and went out go.

The late autumn ginkgo in the courtyard is in full bloom, and the autumn leaves swept by the autumn wind pave the stone brick road to prove that they have been here in autumn. They make the vermilion wall more vivid, and they render the warm sunshine more radiant.

Even though they are in the same boxy Forbidden City, not everyone can feel the comfort that is about to disappear.

The elder brother is still kneeling in the hall of Nansan Institute. Because of the emperor's will, he has to kneel for two hours every day as a punishment, and the grounding is even more inevitable.Kneeling like this now is too lazy to steal, the emperor specially ordered Liang Jiugong's apprentice Xia Sandong to come and watch him kneel every day.

If the back is slightly bent, use the ruler to beat; if the legs are slightly bent, use the ruler to beat; if the knees are slightly bent, use the ruler to beat.You have to kneel upright like a rubber telephone pole before you give up.

Xia Sandong is also the most upright character, he really didn't discount at all, seeing the elder brother lowered his head, he walked forward slowly, and the ruler landed on the elder brother's back without a sound.

"Ah..." Eldest brother cried out instantly after being hit by the sudden pain, "Xia Sandong! Why do you..." Eldest brother subconsciously wanted to curse, but the current form doesn't allow him As usual, he didn't care what he wanted to say, and just swallowed the words back into his stomach.

He panted heavily, lowered his voice and said honestly: "I know that Eunuch Xia is also acting impartially, but there is no need to use such great strength every time? I am also the eldest son of Khan Ama, although this time I was negligent. , but in the final analysis, it is just a humble life of a eunuch, is it possible that Khan Ama will be angry with me for the rest of his life? If Mr. Xia can take care of me a little more now, Yinti will never forget this friendship in the future! "

Xia Sandong chuckled imperceptibly at first, put away the ruler and stood back to his original position, and said just now: "The slave is just a eunuch, and he is just a lowly life, how can he have the courage to lie to him?" Your Majesty, Eldest Brother has many eyes and ears here, and I don’t know how many slaves are there to send letters to all parties. If someone sues Long Live Lord for selfishness, wouldn’t it be a capital offense?

Oh, right!Brother, you don't know yet!That little palace maid who served you, that Chun'er... This morning, she took care of everything between you and Lord Mingzhu, how did she help you bring the news outside the palace to Lord Mingzhu, and how did she help Lord Mingzhu bring the news to you? The things I came back to you... all recruited one-fifth ten-ten! "

"What? Chun'er? She..." The elder brother suddenly turned his head and looked at Xia Sandong with horror on his face. He really didn't expect that Khan Ama would find out about his contact with his uncle so quickly. .

When my uncle picked Chun'er back then, he objected that Chun'er was too timid to accomplish anything, but my uncle just said that it was her cowardly and fearful appearance that didn't attract attention.But in the end!Isn't it what it is now?

Xia Sandong saw the elder brother's brows were tightly furrowed, and he looked flustered, but there was no sneer on his face, but his mouth was unforgiving, and he only used words to forge the sharpest knife, and every time he uttered a sentence, he would The eldest brother stabbed a knife in the heart.

"Actually, big brother, don't need to panic too much. To put it bluntly, it's not that Long Live Lord doesn't know about the fact that you sent a message privately to ask for help from Master Mingzhu. It's something that Long Live Master knew well before pressing it down. It's a pity that it's a pity... this little palace lady bumped into the cusp of the storm with such a blind eye."

Xia Sandong rolled up his sleeves, chuckled and said lightly: "But after all, the Lord Long Live is kind-hearted. If he doesn't want this little maid's life, he will just send him to the Department of Punishment to do hard work, but that's it..."

"What is it?" Big Brother asked hastily.

Xia Sandong said calmly: "Even with her small body, I'm afraid she won't be able to survive for a few days. When the time comes, I don't know who to turn to for revenge?" Although his words were interrogative , but those pair of triangular eyes stared at the elder brother firmly, the meaning in the words was so obvious.

Hearing this, the eldest elder brother only felt a chill on the back of his neck, and he still insisted on saying: "She can find whomever she likes, what does it have to do with this elder brother? I didn't kill her, and I didn't commit crimes." She, why is she looking for me? What's the use of looking for me? "

"Haha~ Yes! The slave thinks so too, but I don't know if Chun'er... and Xiaosi'er think the same way!"

It’s okay not to say this, but as soon as the elder brother heard the name of the dead little eunuch Xiao Si’er, his whole body suddenly softened and sat down on the cold stone slab.

He widened his eyes and repeatedly denied: "I didn't kill Xiao Sier, he hanged himself? He was fine when I left. I just beat him up in a fit of anger. I never thought about it. I'm going to kill him! Didn't Chun'er recruit me? Chun'er knows it too! Little Si'er was still angry when I left!"

Xia Sandong just smiled slightly, and didn't answer whether Chun'er had testified for him, he just walked up to Yinzhen and said: "Brother, don't sit still! Continue Kneel down! You won’t feel pain when the servant’s ruler hits you later!”

Trembling, Yinti was lifted up by Xia Sandong, his wide-open eyes were completely at a loss, even the eyes he looked at Xia Sandong were full of anticipation, expecting him to give him a hand, anticipating He could tell himself that Khan Amah believed him.

It's just that Xia Sandong didn't respond for a long time, and didn't even look at him.Xia Sandong saw the fire in his eyes and heart go out before he walked to the door.The little eunuch who had been watching at the door saw Xia Sandong coming, so he went up to greet him, and asked anxiously, "Eunuch Xia, how is it? What did the elder brother say?"

"Go back and tell my master, I believe that Big Brother and Chun'er are not lying, Big Brother indeed punched and kicked Little Si'er with a whip and a stick, but killing people...has never happened!" Xia Sandong resolutely The look in his eyes is very firm. He has been testing this big brother just now, inside and outside the words. Before that, he felt that although big brother is used to being presumptuous, he is not ignorant of the seriousness. The test just now is another proof. out of his mind.

So the most suspected eldest brother has been ruled out, who could be the murderer?

Xia Sandong looked at the little eunuch and asked worriedly: "How is the investigation on the master's side? In the past two days, I have checked the inner, third and outer floors, and found no suspicious ones?"

"Really, I have checked all the hands of the eunuchs and maids, even the old mothers' hands. There are wounds and broken ones, but none of them are wounds from strangulation." The little eunuch respectfully Talk respectfully.

Xia Sandong just sighed and said: "If this person can't be found out, this matter will probably be dealt with as Xiaosier's suicide. Although the elder brother and the prince have lost their hearts this time, it is the prince who should be crowned king in the future. The king who should inherit the great rule should inherit the great rule.

It's a pity that Xiaosi'er's life... just disappeared! "

"That's not true! What is the value of our lives? How much more than a little four has died in these years? Speaking of which, a drowned man was found in the garden yesterday, and it was so swollen that people couldn't recognize who it was. It's gone." The little eunuch said with admiration as he saw the elder brother who was still kneeling in the courtyard.

Xia Sandong turned his head, and asked with vigilance in his eyes: "Did someone drown yesterday? Why didn't I know?"

"Yeah! It's not like the whole palace was busy looking for Elder Brother two days ago, and these two days were all very busy because of the locust plague in the capital and the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet! The little eunuch just drowned in an ordinary way." He is from the Imperial Dining Room. I met him two or three times when I was on errand, and I said that it was confirmed that he could not swim. This drowning also made sense. It was a troubled time, and more things are worse than less things.

This Long Live Lord and Mr. Liang are not in a good mood recently, how could there not be so few ignorant people who dare to bring things up?It's fine to just fool around! "

This drowning incident, which was not taken seriously by everyone, made Xia Sandong's brain quickly smell something wrong.In fact, he couldn't say how wrong it was, he just thought it was a coincidence, first Xiao Si'er and now this little eunuch.

It's not that he committed the Tai Sui by fate, why one or two of them died so strangely, I don't know the reason.

When Xia Sandong rushed there, the corpse was already wrapped in cloth and was about to be sent to the mass grave outside the palace to be thrown to the dogs.Before he got close, the stench of soaked water and corpses made him sick.

Suppressing the discomfort in his heart, he tore off a corner of the white cloth, only to see that the whole body of the corpse had been swollen with blisters, and the five fingers on one hand would look as thick as a bear's paw if one didn't look carefully. The corpse was even more ossified, and the little eunuch he called to accompany him had to struggle to separate the fingers that were holding his fists.

The palm of the hand, which was soaked and white like dead pork, clearly had a few red marks.

"It's him!" Xia Sandong was stunned on the spot, and he immediately understood that all this was not accidental, not a coincidence.

The death of Xiao Si'er was carefully planned by someone to blame the elder brother, and the murderer who killed Xiao Si'er - the dead body lying here now, seems to have met the king of Hades just like Xiao Si'er.

Xia Sandong didn't expect that he would become the only one who discovered this secret due to his unintentional overthinking, so no matter who the murderer behind this incident was, he would not be pleasing to his eyes.

"How is Mr. Xia?" The little eunuch who was standing far away was disgusted but still asked Xia Sandong with concern, Xia Sandong used the handkerchief to hold the corpse's fingers and stuffed them back into the white cloth before turning back: "No! His hands are soaked and nothing can be seen, it looks like he was probably drowned, how pitiful he is at such a young age!"

After saying that, he got up and lamented that the matter ended without a problem, while chatting and laughing with the accompanying eunuch, he went back to the South study.

In the autumn of the 24th year of Kangxi, the eldest elder brother Yinti was banned for a whole year for disregarding the patriarchal clan for making sexual anger, and the monthly payment was completely deducted.

It's the year, back to normal.

As for the eunuch Xiao Si'er who was not recorded in the unofficial and official history, only the old people in the palace knew that he hanged himself because he couldn't stand the beating and humiliation.

However, there are also rumors that he... was killed by someone.