The bear child of the Red Chamber, Jia Cong

The words show that by the way, I can't deny it, but I admit the portrait of selling the prince.Everyone was stunned for a moment and laughed in unison.The son asked who came up with the idea, Ming Shun immediately said: "The villain is the mastermind."

The prince nodded: "Got it, your wife's idea." Ming Shun was stunned.

Ming Duan looked at his younger brother and said: "Shizi will know you are an honest bastard when he meets you, how could he come up with such an idea."

The prince said: "Your daughter-in-law is still injured, you can't draw, who painted that portrait?" Ming Shun closed his mouth tightly and bowed his head in silence.The prince smiled and said, "It doesn't matter if you don't want to say it, I will know it in a while."

Sure enough, the guard named Xiao Wu came back soon, and whispered something to the prince in a low voice.Shizi waved his hand: "Go, go and have a look."

Everyone was giggling and full of interest, hugging Mingshun and walking together.Ming Duan also asked his servants to tell Second Mistress that the men had gone to drink.The servant woman didn't understand Mingshun's gesture of killing a chicken and wiping his neck, and said with a smile: "You two just eat as much as you like, we are at home."

Xiao Wu led the way, walked three streets, and approached an alley. At the entrance of the alley stood a big locust tree, and an old woman was sitting under the tree, mending clothes.Xiao Wu suddenly turned around, pulled Ming Shun from behind, hooked his shoulders and went forward together.

Mingshun bit the bullet and called, "Aunt Liu." His eyes were fixed on the branches on the ground.

The old woman looked up at him: "Shunzi is here?" Nai glanced at the person behind him, frowned and said, "Are these officials your friends?"

"That's right." Shi Zi said loudly, and walked forward with a smile, "Hello, Aunt Liu."

A flash of panic flashed in the old woman's eyes, she didn't show anything, she nodded with a smile: "My little brother is very polite, my wife likes it."

Xiao Wu said: "Aunt Liu, is Miss Tong there?"

"Not here." The old woman said, "I went out for a walk."

The prince said: "No problem, let's go inside and wait for them."

The old woman said, "It's inconvenient for you to have so many men."

Xiao Wu said: "Isn't it inconvenient? The temple is originally a place outside the square, there are no men and women, and all who come are benefactors." Nai pointed out.Everyone looked intently, and saw a small nunnery in the alley, named Qingyue nunnery.

The son said: "We are here to burn incense. Buddhas and Bodhisattvas do not drive out sincere people." Pick up your feet and leave.The old woman slapped her thigh anxiously.

The door of the nunnery was opened, Shizi walked in with big strides, the crowd followed behind while holding back their laughter, and immediately stopped in unison.It happened to be a slightly cloudy day today, with light clouds as thin as gauze curtains, which vaguely covered the sun, but it was still bright.There is a large portrait of the prince in the middle of the courtyard, which is exactly the same as Miss Ruan San's, only enlarged by about three times.There are more than 20 women sitting in front of the portrait, each with a picture table in front of them, and they are taking pictures of the painting in the middle.There is also a shelf beside them, on which hangs the portrait of the prince that has been painted.More than one pair is evident on each shelf.

Ming Duan couldn't support himself, clapped his hands and laughed.All the women turned their heads after hearing this, and saw the prince standing at the door.They looked at Shizi, turned back to look at the big portrait, then looked at Shizi, and then looked at themselves as described by cats and tigers, and they were stunned for a moment.The group who followed Shizi laughed together.

The prince couldn't help laughing, nodded and said: "It's a small scale, it's just that it didn't turn into an assembly line. Mingshun, your wife is a character."

Ming Shun lowered his head and said: "My wife originally suggested to make an assembly line, but Tong Niang refused, saying that a painting must be different if many people handle it." back.

The laughter could not help disturbing the room, and someone immediately asked: "Who is making noise outside?" He walked out while talking.

The prince beckoned: "Hello, Tong Niangzi." It was Tong Niangzi who had just left the Ming family who came out, and seeing the prince, it was as if she had been hit by a spell.Shizi said, "I just asked you to wait for a while, who knows that your footsteps are so lively and vigorous, you disappeared before I finished speaking." He pointed to Xiao Wu and said, "Didn't you notice that someone was following?"

Tong Niangzi had come back to her senses, and went forward to give a blessing, saying: "Your Majesty's subordinates are really full of talents."

The prince smiled and said: "You don't need to explain to me. Ming Duan——"

"Wei Chen is here."

"The accounts are yours to settle."

"My minister obeys the order." Ming Duan smiled and glanced at Tong Niangzi, then at the big portrait, "Your Majesty, the painting is really good."

Shizi walked to the big portrait and looked at Huizi: "It's not bad. Who painted it?"

Tong Niangzi bit her lower lip: "It was drawn by the little girl."

The prince looked back at her: "When did I see you?"

"The prince has never seen the little girl." Tong Niangzi lowered her eyelids, "The little girl is peeping at the prince at the gate of the palace."

"Oh?" Shizi laughed, "Do you have a crush on me?"

Tong Niangzi rolled her eyes: "All the ladies in the city are secretly in love with the prince. The prince has never seen a female family member since he returned to China, and they don't know what the prince looks like. The little girl is just doing good deeds every day."

"Hahahaha..." Ming Duan raised his head and laughed, and everyone laughed along with him.Tong Niangzi gritted her teeth and glared at Mingduan.

"Wait." A tall classmate came out from behind Shizi, "Shizi has never driven out, how do you know which one is him?"

There was a trace of teasing in Tong Niangzi's eyes: "My little girl recognizes Master Ming."

Mingduan thought for a while, opened his mouth and closed it again to hold back a smile.Another classmate said: "Even though Lord Ming was with Shizi..." Before he finished speaking, the tall man stabbed him just now.

Tong Niangzi said with a sullen face: "Among all the adults, the shortest one is naturally the son." Everyone burst into laughter again, even the painting girls who filled the yard also laughed.

Shizi clapped his hands lazily and said: "Ming Duan, I will leave these difficult women to you." He turned around and left.Ming Duan agreed behind him.The others followed with a smile on their faces.

In an instant, only the two brothers of the Ming family were left.Ming Duan was about to speak with a smile, but Tong Niangzi hurriedly said: "Tell Lord Ming first, we really have no money."

Ming Shun also said: "The few money they sold the paintings were all given to the doctor."

It turns out that the Jiaofang has a large population and many patients.There are several eunuchs in charge of the correctional workshop, how can they be willing to see a doctor for them?And there are quite a few who are injured and need to take good medicine to take care of them slowly.In the past, they were begging for alms from a few guests, but now they are at a loss.Tong Niangzi thought, she can't let her aunts and sisters wait to die.Patients can't wait to find ways to make money slowly.Coincidentally, someone heard that the Queen Mother sent eunuchs to the photo studio to ask the master to take pictures of the young ladies, so they guessed that the prince was about to choose a concubine, so he came up with the idea of ​​selling a portrait of the prince to admirers.I don't want the business to be booming, and the supply is still in short supply after repeated price increases.These women who are painting in this yard are all suffering from illnesses, and none of them are healthy.

After hearing this, Ming Duan pondered: "Therefore, the eunuch in charge of the Jiaofang Division is greedy for ink?"

Tong Niangzi smiled and said: "How can the head of the Jiaofang Division not be greedy for ink? And no one is watching. Even if we know, we can't sue the officials. Wealth and life are in his hands."

Ming Shun said: "Brother, isn't it the same as we were in prison at first?"

Ming Duan nodded and said: "It's really inconvenient to monitor." Seeing how panicked the women were, he said, "Don't be afraid, the prince is a wise master." After thinking for a moment, he said, "I just heard that the prince said a few days ago that wool may not be It can appear on the sheep, or on the cattle, as long as the dog is slaughtered."

Everyone else was dumbfounded, but the girl's eyes lit up: "Can you?"

Mingduan said with a smile: "It should be possible." Tong Niangzi recited "Amitabha".Although everyone didn't understand why, seeing the expressions on the faces of the two of them, they felt relieved.

Mingduan asked about the situation in the nunnery.Mingshun and Tong Niangzi led him for a walk inside, but they saw the old and weak, women and children lying in front of the Buddha, some of them were really sick, and felt sympathetic.

For a while, Mingduan returned to the Shu Palace and reported the truth about Qingyue nunnery.The prince said: "It's good to be a prince, and you can check whoever you want." So he ordered someone to send an order to track down the eunuch in charge of Xianjiaofang.He asked Ming Duan again, "Is the account settled?"

"Forget it." Ming Duan took out a list. "They have set up three sales outlets in Chengdu, one for eleven days, one for four days, and one for two days. The first one is in the painting shop we found, and there is no After the sale, I found two other places. In the first two days, I only tried to sell ten pieces..."

"Stop!" Shizi waved his hand, "You don't need to tell me the total amount of money."

"Six thousand and one hundred taels."

The prince was stunned: "How much?"

"Six thousand, 730 taels." Ming Duan repeated.

The prince patted the table and said: "They only sold for more than ten days, and they only cost more than 6000 silver?"

Ming Duan said solemnly: "The eldest son is handsome."

The prince pondered for a long time, and said: "Do you think, if the idea is raised again, someone will buy it?"

Ming Duan said: "If it goes up again, there should be imitations. In the last two days, the price was [-]. According to Weichen, this price is almost okay."

The prince nodded: "Forget it, let's go for thirty. Three or three see nine times. It's not bad to have a daily gross profit of 900 taels. Now my grandmother is making a fuss about choosing a concubine for me. I'm afraid I won't be able to wait until this time passes. It's a good sell."

"Your Majesty underestimated me." Ming Duan said, "I also underestimated the young ladies of the Shu Kingdom."

One of the aides realized that the prince wanted to sell his portrait, and his face was full of black lines: "The prince...this...isn't it good."

The prince said confidently: "Then you come up with a profitable idea?" The staff were dumbfounded.The son asked the girl's origin again.It turned out that she was the granddaughter of Tong Gui, the first envoy, and she was 23 years old this year.Master Tong himself is innocent, but because of protecting his disciples, he commits a crime and implicates the whole family.The prince shook his head and said, "This case is a bit serious."

The case of the head of the Jiaofang Division is extremely cheap to investigate.The eunuchs thought that no one would question the Secretary of Jiaofang, so they were defenseless.Because the investigator is under the crown prince, the accounts are sent to the crown prince first.Ming Duan withheld 730 taels of silver first, which was considered to be the private house of the eldest son confiscated from Qingyue Temple.

After reading the scriptures, the king of Shu naturally approved the word "cut".The property seized was more than 400 million taels, all of which were poured into the treasury.Situ Cen reminded: "Second brother, these people still have predecessors." The King of Shu heard that he was reasonable, so he ordered all the previous directors of the Jiaofang Division to be tracked down.After a thorough investigation, it turned out that the treasury of the Shu Kingdom had been filled with tens of millions of silver.This is for later.

Qingyue nunnery has been incorporated by the son of the eldest son, and is under the care of Mingshun.The Shizi Mansion has been roughly repaired and will be moved in a few days.On this day, Shizi went to the mansion with a few confidantes to check. At the door, he met Mingshun leading Tong Niangzi and two painting girls out of the house.The prince asked the reason, but it was the queen who said that the new house must be hung with door gods, and Ming Duanzhi handed over the business to his younger brother.The prince looked at him and said: "You are so rich that you don't flow into other people's fields." Ming Duan smiled and cupped his hands.

After only saying a few words, I suddenly saw a fast horse galloping towards the prince, and shouted to the prince: "Senior, it's not good!"

This person got off the saddle and kowtowed, the son saw that he was the long follower of Erye Ruan. "What happened to the second cousin?"

The long follower said anxiously: "Our three girls are gone."

The prince was shocked: "Why not!"

"I don't know yet." Chang Sui said, "Second Master, please ask your son to come to our house."

The prince hastily asked someone to pull the horse.When he got on his horse, he looked back and said, "Madam Tong, let's go too."

Tong Niangzi was taken aback: "Me?"

The prince nodded: "You are very smart." Nai patted his horse and left.

Tong Niangzi didn't know how to ride a horse, so the Ming brothers rushed to get a carriage from the mansion.Because the son and others have left, and there is no coachman in this mansion, only Ming Duan drives the coach.Tong Niangzi wanted to laugh but was too embarrassed to laugh, so she had to hold back.

When they arrived at Ruan's house, Miss Ruan San was dead.Doctors and assistants all came, and they all died of poisoning, but they couldn't detect the poison. What kind of medicine was it.Miss Ruan San is taking tranquilizing medicine because she has been restless recently.And the dregs of the medicine disappeared inexplicably.

Tong Niangzi watched for a while, and said in a low voice: "Master Ming, can you let me see Miss Ruan's body." Mingduan hurriedly stepped forward to return to the son, who nodded his consent.Tong Niangzi went to the bedside to check for a while, and replied: "Six years ago, Master Li died in the same way as the Jiaofang Secretary. Wu Zuo said that he was poisoned, but he didn't know what it was. That day More than a dozen people at the table eat the same pot of wine and a table of food, and everyone else is fine, but he is gone."

Ruan Erye wiped his tears and said, "I vaguely remember where the county magistrate is."

"Yes." Tong Niangzi said, "It's a county magistrate."

Ming Duan said: "So far, Xue Jian of the guerrillas has killed people with weapons. There are swords and fire. Guns. There has never been any poison or medicine."

The prince thought to himself: "In this case, let's find out the dossier from six years ago."

Tong Niangzi said: "If it is convenient for you, why not find out all kinds of unsolved cases of poisoning in recent years. We have heard all kinds of rumors in Jiaofang. Although they are not very practical, there are quite a lot of calculations."

The crown prince frowned: "Have you heard the rumors of many unsolved cases of poisoning?"

Tong Niangzi nodded and said: "Yes. The case of Mr. Li is an unsolved case, which has never been solved. There was also a case around the Chinese New Year this year. The one who died was a son. He died in a restaurant for no reason. I heard that the case was never solved."

The prince frowned and said, "Aren't there so many unsolved cases of the same kind that have been merged?"

Ruan Erye said: "If these are all done by the guerrillas, it is not uncommon for them to kill people with poison."

The prince said: "No matter who it is, we must find out the truth." After thinking about it, he ordered someone to invite Mr. Qiu Liang to come and have a look.

Qiu Liang has retired in recent years and is not in charge of things at home, but he is still in good health.Since the son had issued the letter of invitation, he rushed to Ruan's mansion immediately.In his early years, he served as the commander of the Wucheng Army and Horse Division in the capital, and solved countless cases in his life.The old man asked a few maids around Miss Ruan San and the guards in the yard outside, and there was nothing suspicious about them.At this time, the steward of the Ruan Mansion had dug up the medicine dregs in the garden.Wu Zuo and the doctor brought it to match the prescription, and there is nothing wrong with the medicinal materials.Qiu Liang ordered to boil the dregs of the medicine and feed it to the cat with some water.After a while, people came and went: the cat died.It can be seen that the poison is in the medicine.The sedative medicine was originally fried in the kitchen, so the steward went to the kitchen to call for someone.

But at this moment, a woman in charge hurried back and forth: a woman who was on watch at the Xijiao Gate just hanged herself, and it was the mother of the little girl who was beaten to death by the third girl a few days ago.The big butler said "Oh": "This woman and the first person in the kitchen are godsisters, and the two sisters have broken mouths, and no one suspects them when they often run into the kitchen."

Qiu Liang nodded and said, "This case has already begun to take shape."

"No." Tong Niangzi said, "Where can an ordinary backyard night watchwoman get poison and medicine that no one can detect?"