The whole city knows we are locked

Not long after Yan Chuyin was proud, she saw a guard of her own family running from a distance.

Riding a horse is prohibited in the area where the Prime Minister's Mansion is located, and one must dismount and be led along.The carriage should also move slowly.The guard apparently tied the horse down a street and came running from there.It can be seen that the guard must be in a hurry.

Yan Chuyin immediately forgot about joking with Shen Yu.

The guard quickly ran up to him: "Tell Lord Hou that Du Ming is back and said he has news to report."

Du Ming was the one who was sent by Yan Chuyin to investigate the incident between the orphanage and Mou Xiaomei.Yan Chuyin mentioned before that as soon as there is news, she should report to him immediately.So as soon as Du Ming returned to the mansion, someone came looking for Yan Chuyin on his back. They couldn't wait for Yan Chuyin to return to the mansion by himself.From this detail, it can be seen that the Guogong Mansion is rigorous in running the family.

On the other hand, it also showed that Du Ming had indeed found something.Otherwise, the guard would tell Yan Chuyin directly that Du Ming came back and found nothing.Yan Chuyin was required to return to the mansion precisely because she couldn't explain a few sentences clearly.

Yan Chuyin hurriedly stuffed the copybook of "He Feng Ya Ji" into Shen Yu's arms, said goodbye in a hurry, turned the carriage and went home.Seeing Yan Chuyin's stuffing so casually, Shen Yu originally thought that the copybook would be the third prince's calligraphy practice, but when he opened it at home, he realized that it was the work of Master Yu, who is hard to find, and was almost dumbfounded.

"This... this is really..." Shen Yu was a little at a loss.

If Shen Yu accepts this copybook calmly, he can't do it!Such an authentic work, if he wanted to return a gift of equal value, he couldn't afford it given his current situation.But according to Shen Yu's understanding of Yan Chuyin, if the copybook was returned, Yan Chuyin would definitely lose face.Young Master Hou has a simple mind, and in his heart, the value of a friend is far greater than a copybook.Only when I treat you as a friend will I give you the copybook. If you return it to me, do you not treat me as a friend?

"If you can't pay it back, pay it back slowly." Shen Yu said to herself, "A lifetime is so long, and this is just the beginning." As long as you seriously remember the kindness of the little lord in your heart, a lifetime is so long, and you can always give back slowly His goodness.

Shen Yu is now very curious about what the young master's subordinate named Du Ming found out. If the Orphanage really arranges for the orphan girl to fake her death, there must be a lot of problems behind it. I don't know if he can help the young master. busy.

When Yan Chuyin returned to Pingguo Duke's Mansion, Du Ming had not had time to rest, and his whole body showed a sense of exhaustion from running around for a long time.The first sentence he replied was: "This matter is quite involved, I'm afraid I need to inform the Duke."

Yan Chuyin is still very persuasive in some respects.But his father happened to be not in the mansion at this time, so Yan Chuyin asked someone to call his princess mother over.He explained to Du Ming: "Telling my father is the same as telling my mother."

Du Ming hurriedly said, "I'm afraid it would be more appropriate to talk about it with the eldest princess."

The eldest princess will come soon.Yan Chuyin helped her mother to sit up, and then the mother and son looked at Du Ming together.Yan Chuyin was curious, and the eldest princess seemed expressionless, but there was a solemn look in her eyes.They all knew what Du Ming was doing there. Now that Du Ming had a serious face, the Eldest Princess could vaguely smell a conspiracy.

Du Ming talked about his investigation experience in detail.

He didn't travel alone, and he brought Du Yue and Du Xing as his assistants.Du Yue happened to be Du Ming's niece, and Du Xing was his son.The three of them didn't need to pretend to be deliberately. When others asked, they would say that the old father took a pair of children to find relatives.Going into more detail, it is said that the old father was lost when he was young, but fortunately he was adopted by a kind person. Now that he has a son and a daughter, he still can't forget his biological parents and wants to take the child to find him.

Because he was lost when he was young, he didn't remember the situation at home very clearly. Even if he went to a place and made various inquiries, this behavior didn't seem abrupt.And because he wanted to find his biological parents, he put the word "filial piety" in his conduct. People at the time always looked up to filial sons, so it was easier for him to inquire about the news.

Earlier, Yan Chuyin started with Mou Xiaomei's husband's family and identified two suspicious candidates.Du Ming was lucky, he found the right one when he checked the first one.Naturally, it is impossible for Miss Mou to be named Mou now, her maiden name is Wen, and her husband's family name is Zhou, known as Zhou Wen's family.Her husband's name is Zhou Anwei. After being a Jinshi, he was transferred to a county magistrate who was not high or low. Because many policies beneficial to the people were implemented during his tenure, the population and tax revenue of the county increased steadily.After one term ends, he stays for another term.Until the two terms of office expired this year, the Ministry of Officials called him back to Beijing to report on his work, and he answered all the questions about the development of the county fluently.The Ministry of Officials rated him as the best.He is now promoted to prefect.

Following Zhou Anwei to investigate, nothing wrong was found.He is a Jinshi who has passed the formal examination. In order to prevent cheating, he has been checked for three generations of his ancestors during the examination.

So the focus of the investigation fell on Zhou Wenshi.

When Du Ming left Beijing, he had heard Mou Yang's description of his mother, and he brought a portrait of Mou Yang with him, and then he managed to meet the eldest son of Zhou Wenshi and Zhou Anwei, who indeed looked a bit like Mou Yang .Zhou Wenshi resembles Mouyang's mother, and her eldest son resembles Mouyang. Although there is no evidence, it is very likely that Zhou Wenshi is Mouyang's younger sister.

But Zhou Wen's apparent background has nothing to do with Mou Yang!

On the surface, she was born in the south, her father was a landlord with a little money, and her mother was the daughter of a down-and-out scholar.Her mother had high hopes for her, raised her in a deep boudoir, taught her to read and write, and hired someone to teach her female red and piano skills.When she was raised to about ten years old, it was time to think about marriage in advance. Her mother felt that no one in the surrounding towns was worthy of her, so she wrote to her sister, who was Zhou Wenshi's aunt.This aunt married his father's student back then. Although after all these years, my uncle is just a small bookkeeper, but it's better than a landlord, right?The chief secretary's wife can get in touch with the county magistrate and other officials' wives, and has a wider network of contacts.

It was also a coincidence that my aunt happened to have a Qingyun road in her hand.Zhou Wenshi went to his aunt.

Later, the Qingyun road that my aunt was looking for was broken, and the matter failed.Just at this time, Zhou Wen's parents and younger brother had an accident, and they all disappeared.Zhou Wenshi can only live with his aunt's family.Later, she met a poor scholar from the local county school, and the two became close.This poor scholar is Zhou Anwei.

At first glance, this life experience is not a problem.If Mou Yang hadn't discovered that Zhou Wenshi looked a lot like his mother, and Zhou Wenshi's son looked like Mou Yang again, no one would have doubted that there was something wrong with Zhou Wenshi's background.

But following Zhou Wenshi's problems to infer, then there are problems everywhere in her life experience.

First, Zhou Wenshi was raised in a deep boudoir when she was young. Apart from her parents and family servants, not many people had seen her appearance. However, all her close family members died in an accident, and the servants naturally dispersed; Second, because Zhou Wenshi's uncle liked a certain county magistrate very much, when the county magistrate was transferred, her uncle followed him, so that when Zhou Wenshi was born, her family was far away from her uncle's house , although her mother and aunt have not stopped the correspondence, but to be honest, before Zhou Wenshi went to join her aunt, her aunt did not really see her.

Thirdly, the "Qingyun Road" that my aunt planned to help Zhou Wenshi find at the beginning was nothing but——

"Enter the palace?" The eldest princess finally understood why Du Ming was so cautious.

This matter may involve the palace!

After Jinshang ascended the throne, he basically didn't expand the harem much.Women outside the palace have only one way to go if they want to enter the palace - to participate in the selection of palace maids.Some court ladies, for example, want to be arranged to serve as female officials next to princesses and queen mothers, and they need to pass the test in appearance, character and IQ.Character and IQ cannot be seen in a short period of time, so the first one is good looks, at least the facial features are handsome, which must make the nobles feel comfortable, so you have to go to the folks for selection.

The treatment of female officials in this dynasty is better than that of ordinary court ladies.

As long as she becomes a female official, the maid will basically have a stable life. Even if she leaves the palace at an old age, the master will make some arrangements.Princess Jingfu had several female officials around her. Among them, the two most representative ones, one who wanted to follow the princess for the rest of her life, voluntarily groomed herself. Now she is in charge of many properties for the princess, and she has won the trust of the princess.One is more willing to go out of the palace to marry when she is old. The eldest princess not only helped her find a marriage, but also gave her a dowry. Now her man has been promoted from an ordinary guard to a fifth-rank military officer, and he has granted her a royal order.

But in any case, female officials are still a kind of court ladies, and they all serve people.For any family that loves their daughter, who is willing to let their daughter kneel in the palace?Only those whose families are extremely poor have plans to sell their daughters. Compared with selling them to a brothel, sending them to the palace is a better way.

Of course, there is also the kind of careerist who hopes that his daughter can jump on the branch and become the master.

Du Ming said with a serious face: "In Jingshun's 11th year, the palace selected maids, and Zhou Wenshi voluntarily signed up. With her aptitude, she would definitely be selected. All the palace masters will serve as female officials. But the Queen Mother suddenly ordered that the minimum age for selecting a palace maid should not be less than 12 years old."

And Zhou Wenshi was only ten years old at the time, so he was quickly dismissed.

In the past, when selecting court ladies, more girls around ten years old were selected. Those younger than this were not yet fully sensible, and those older than this were too old after several years of training/teaching.It is best to be around ten years old, teach for two or three years, come to the master's side around the age of thirteen or fourteen, and be able to be a female official on her own around the age of sixteen or seventeen, and then she will be released from the palace around the age of 24.But in that year, the queen mother suddenly issued a decree, and from then on the selection of palace ladies must be over 12 years old.

Not only that, the queen mother also lowered the age at which maids leave the palace to 22.

They all said it was because of the empress dowager's mercy.

Zhou Wenshi couldn't enter the palace, so he should have returned home.As a result, the parents and family had an accident.Her uncle's family accompanied her back to handle the funeral.From then on, she lived in her uncle's house until she married her current husband, Zhou Anwei.

Later, Zhou An went to Beijing to rush for the exam, and Zhou Wenshi went to Beijing with him.Zhou An was released, and she followed suit.The relationship between the husband and wife has always been good.There has never been a concubine in the backyard of the Zhou family. Zhou Anwei loves his wife very much.

"In other words, Zhou Wenshi can influence Zhou Anwei to a large extent, right?" the eldest princess asked.

Du Ming pursed his lips: "It is said that Zhou Anwei praised his wife in private as Zhuge Zhuge."

If the Empress Dowager hadn't issued the temporary edict, this "female middle school Zhuge" would now be in the court in eight out of ten.