Yangyue

What is Huangwei?

The late emperor taught the princes since they were young that the first thing that the emperor of the country, the Ninth Five-Year Supreme, inherits the great unification is to establish the emperor's prestige, so that all the officials of the Manchu Dynasty and the people of the world should respect the emperor's prestige , Intimidated by the imperial prestige, only in this way can the world be peaceful.

However, the current emperor deeply remembers the words of the former emperor in his heart, and he firmly established the emperor's prestige. If the previous emperors all aimed to make the world "respect", then he will make the world not only "respect", but also make the world "respect". "Deterrence".

After hearing Qi Zhu's words, the emperor didn't say a word.

However, in this silence, Qi Zhu felt that the emperor was angry, it was a kind of anger full of the emperor's killing, it was the majesty that would make all the officials tremble and crawl.

Xiao Yangyue frowned slightly, he did know that Ding Feiyun's mansion had hidden the forbidden book, but the crimes were never under the jurisdiction of the duckweed pavilion, so the evidence was directly handed over to Dali Temple.

If what Qi Zhu said is true, and there is a hidden mystery in that forbidden book, then it is indeed necessary to conduct a thorough investigation.

The emperor's face was full of clouds, he was able to sit in this position, he had already been on guard against many things.He stared down at Qi Zhu, who was kneeling on the ground, with deep eyes, as if trying to discern the truth of his words.

The emperor said in a deep voice: "Qi Aiqing, what do you think of this matter?"

Qi Zhu nodded, and said with a normal expression: "I believe that the assassination was not done by Ding Feiyun alone. As a dry guard, he knows that there are accomplices who cooperate with him. Ding Feiyun may have passed on this to his accomplices through this dictionary of the former dynasty. Assassination secret order, presumably this assassination has been planned for many days, the emperor's name appeared in the secret order many times, Ding Feiyun left his fingerprints in the dictionary."

The imperial study room fell into silence. The emperor stood up from the chair, turned his back to the two of them, and carefully looked at the picture on the wall behind him, which was a painting of the prosperity of the country and mountains by the court painter of the former emperor's period.

The emperor: "Qi Aiqing."

Qi Zhu: "The minister is here."

"I order you to investigate this case together with the duckweed pavilion from today, and the forces behind Ding Feiyun are bound to be thoroughly investigated and rooted out." The emperor said, "There is no need to mention this matter to anyone else. Naturally, Qi Aiqing's every move will be I will know it myself. After the matter is completed, there will be a big reward."

Qi Zhu's heart moved, he kowtowed and said: "Minister, obey the order."

After the emperor said something, Qi Zhu understood that this imperial decree was not placed in the court, but in the imperial study, which meant that this was the emperor's secret order, not the duty of the Dali Temple Chancellor.

The emperor looked at Henry Zhang who was guarding the door, and obviously the next words were to Henry Zhang: "You send someone to protect Qi Aiqing comprehensively."

Henry Zhang: "Yes."

After leaving the imperial study room, Qi Zhu silently walked in front of Henry Zhang, keeping a distance of two steps from him.

"Master Hou." Henry Zhang behind him suddenly spoke, and his cold voice brought back some of Qi Zhu's thoughts, "From tomorrow onwards, I will set up five duckweed pavilion shadow guards beside Lord Hou."

Qi Zhu turned around, with a half-smile: "Five? Is it too many?"

"Master Hou is extremely intelligent, but he doesn't practice martial arts, so naturally he needs protection." Henry Zhang said lightly, "This is also the order of the emperor, Lord Hou just wait for my arrangement."

What a "wait for my arrangement", Qi Zhu slightly squinted his eyes, Henry Zhang really has no dignity.As for so many shadow guards, whether to protect him or monitor him, there are opinions.

"Then I'd rather be respectful than obedient." Qi Zhu closed his fan in the palm of his hand, and there was nothing wrong with the smile on his handsome face, "Please trouble the master of the pavilion."

After Qi Zhu left the palace, Xiao Yangyue returned to the duckweed pavilion mansion. He had an imperial mansion in the capital, and all the servants and servants were taught by the palace, but he was too lazy to spend more on those on weekdays. When I go back, I basically stay in the official residence of the duckweed pavilion.

Henry Zhang walked into the side hall, raised his hand and blew a melodious whistle, and the two shadow guards landed outside the courtyard, bowing their heads to wait for instructions.

Xiao Yangyue: "Let five people be stationed in Xiankunhou's mansion from tonight, pay close attention to every move of Lord Hou, protect his safety, and report to me in time if there is any abnormality."

"Yes!"

The shadow guards then set off and left separately.

After Qi Zhu left the palace, he didn't go back to the mansion directly, but went to a restaurant first to meet a friend.

That friend is the second son of Guo Shangshu's family in the household department. He is about the same age as Qi Zhuan, and the Shangshu family can be regarded as a family that has stood in the court for many years.

Qi Zhu and his friends drank until Xushi before leaving the tavern.

He was surrounded by a few servants who had picked him up according to the old housekeeper's instructions. He returned home slowly in a sedan chair, gently opened the curtain of the sedan chair, and glanced at the bustling night market.

Henry Zhang's shadow guard is here?Didn't you say that you will protect him from tomorrow?

Qi Zhu put down the car curtain, sighed softly, it was not easy to pretend to be like this all the time, maybe it would show flaws when he was not careful.These shadow guards are nothing more than that, he just fooled around at will, but Henry Zhang probably isn't such an easy-to-fool person.

Qi Zhu returned to the mansion, changed his clothes, took a bath, and went to bed with his clothes as usual, just as if those shadow guards watching around his bedroom did not exist.

In the morning of the second day, the maids were waiting for Qi Zhu to get up, when one of the maids suddenly shouted outside the inner room, her voice tinged with unease: "Master Hou, a man from the government has come and said he has something important to discuss with Master Hou. Don't come in, just wait for Lord Hou outside the gate of the mansion."

The adults of the government?

After Qi Zhu changed his clothes, he went to the gate of the Hou's Mansion, and saw two guards standing outside the door, wearing black and purple cloud-pattern robes of duckweed pavilions. Besides, there was also a sedan chair parked outside the Hou's Mansion.

The person in the sedan chair lifted the curtain of the sedan chair, and it was Xiao Yangyue who came.

Qi Zhu was a little surprised, and after ordering the servants not to disturb, he opened the car curtain and walked into the car.

Henry Zhang is wearing a silver-blue long dress and tulle sleeves today. There is no jewelry decoration, but his hair is tied with gemstone hostas.

Qi Zhu: "What is the Pavilion Master looking for me for?"

Henry Zhang didn't say much, but pulled out an envelope from his sleeve.

Qi Zhu: "This is?"

Xiao Yangyue: "Master Hou will know when he sees it."

Qi Zhu opened the envelope and scanned the contents of the letter paper line by line, his brows became more and more furrowed.

Inside the letterhead were a few brief case files, stamped with the official seal of Dali Temple, which recorded several old suspicious cases that had not yet been cracked.

These cases were all kidnappings of boys and girls that took place in broad daylight. The common point is that the witnesses of the cases all said that they saw the thieves' arms tied with red cloths.

That day, in the tavern, all the assassins wore red cloth on their arms.

It was also thanks to Xiao Yangyue that he was able to dig out the ashes of the files in Dali Temple, Qi Zhu put down the letter paper, and asked: "Lord Pavilion Master, you have not told me that the assassination of the emperor has anything to do with the assassin in the tavern in the city that day?" What is involved?"

"On the day of the assassination, Ding Feiyun's arm was also tied with a red cloth." Henry Zhangyue said, "Master Hou thinks this is a coincidence?"

Qi Zhu pondered for a moment, then slowly shook his head: "Assassinated you the day before, and assassinated the emperor the day after, the assassins still have the same characteristics... There are not so many coincidences in this world. And, if I remember correctly, the tavern that day The assassin said something about the lackey of the court, and Ding Feiyun is a guard in the court... This is not a personal grudge, but a grudge against the court."

Xiao Yangyue's eyes had dark waves, and he said in a deep voice: "Master Hou, three days later, you will go south with me at the duckweed pavilion, and head to the southwest to re-investigate these cases."

Qi Zhu looked up in surprise, Ganqing had already arranged for him?

"This..." Qi Zhu looked a little hesitant, "My lord, although the emperor asked me to assist you in investigating this matter, I also have an important position in Dali Temple. Is it appropriate to go south with you?"

Henry Zhang: "Everything I said was reported to the emperor."

Qi Zhu: "...In that case, let's wait for the arrangement of the Pavilion Master."

After watching the sedan chair of Duckweed Pavilion leave, the smile on Qi Zhu's lips gradually dropped, and his deep eyes were fixed somewhere, as if he was thinking about something.

In the afternoon of that day, Qi Zhu went out with his entourage, and this time he went directly to the house of the Minister of the Household Department to visit. The Shang Shu family kept Lord Hou for dinner, and after the meal, Qi Zhu and the second son drank and played chess on the pavilion.

Xiao Yangyue's four shadow guards secretly followed Qi Zhu to Hubu Shangshu's mansion, and the remaining one shadow guard stayed in Xian Kunhou's mansion, taking this opportunity to search Qi Zhu's bedroom.

The shadow guard leaped over the high wall like a ghost, and landed directly outside the main courtyard of Qi Zhu's Sleeping Hall.

The shadow guard quietly walked into Qi Zhu's bedroom. Master Hou's bedroom was decorated exquisitely and brightly. The furniture was made of high-quality pear rosewood.

The shadow guard opened Qi Zhu's closet, which contained official robes, and many white shirts and pants. He closed the door, and then searched carefully everywhere in the hall, including the side halls, warm pavilions and connected rooms. There is no slack in the small study in the bedroom.

In Qi Zhu's side hall study, there is a shelf of Baibaoge, on which are all precious ancient pieces from the former dynasty, mostly bottles, jars and the Four Treasures of the Study.

The shadow guard checked one by one and found nothing wrong. Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly noticed from the corner of his eye that one of the hundred treasure grids seemed to be a little narrower than the others.

The shadow guard took down the famille rose porcelain pot with dragon patterns on the shelf, and gently pushed the wooden board behind it with his hand, only heard a slight sound, and the wooden board moved back a few inches, revealing a A half-palm wide dark grid.

The shadow guard was startled, no wonder this space is narrower than the others, it turned out that the wooden board on the back was moved forward a few inches to free up such a hidden space for hiding things!

The shadow guard picked out the things in the dark compartment with his fingers, and through the dim moonlight, he could see clearly that it was a thin-mouthed white jade porcelain bottle, without any decorations on the bottle, and the bottle was plugged with a cork.

The shadow guard shook the bottle. Hearing the sound, the bottle seemed to contain some pill-shaped items. He unscrewed the cork of the porcelain bottle and sniffed it. The smell was a bit pungent.

The shadow guard frowned, thinking that these things were a bit strange, and it was necessary to report this matter to the Pavilion Master.

At this moment, the study door creaked behind him.

The shadow guard stood up abruptly, held his breath, grasped the blade at his waist for an instant, and looked back, only to see that the door seemed to be blown open by the wind, and there was only the silent moon shadow outside the corridor.

The shadow guard's frown slowly relaxed, and he was about to pour out a grain of its contents from the porcelain bottle so that he could take it back to the Lord Pavilion Master, when there was a sudden chuckle from the dark place in the room.

The shadow guard's hair stood on end, he stood up and shouted: "Who?!"

There was no one at the place where the voice came from, but there was a chill behind the shadow guard.Before he could turn around, a knife was across his neck, the blade pressed against his skin like a cold snake letter.

The shadow guard's eyes widened, and before the weapon in his hand could be released, he was knocked to the ground by the force behind him.The shadow guard already knew that he couldn't escape, the knife that seemed to be resting lightly on his neck was actually very delicate. He used a little bit of internal force, and the knife would vibrate, cut his throat, and let him eat what he wanted.

A person who can use his strength with such precision must have very strong martial arts.

The person behind said with a smile: "Traveling into other people's houses, and still being so unguarded, it seems that Henry Zhang's teaching still needs to be improved."

The shadow guard's eyes widened suddenly, this voice is, Qi Zhu? !

How can it be!His colleagues clearly followed him to Shangshu's mansion, how could he appear here? !

Qi Yiyi didn't move, his white clothes looked particularly ghostly in the quiet night: "Don't worry, your brothers are still at Guo Shangshu's mansion, they don't know that I slipped out through the back door a long time ago."

The shadow guard stared angrily: "Who are you?!"

"I won't tell you, and I won't kill you." Qi Zhu smiled slightly, "But I can't just let you go, if you report this to your master, then I can bear it. "