Cloud of the Qing Dynasty

He had already asked several people about their hometowns, and the cook was prepared, and answered without hesitation: "The little Huaiyin native."

Zhang Chi asked again: "Who did you learn the sword technique from?"

The cook was taken aback, and his answer immediately lost its previous fluency: "Young one... I haven't learned knife skills specifically. I learned a little while learning cooking from my master. I'm not particularly good at carving."

"Did I ask you about the carving? Just talk about it." Zhang Chi said, "Stretch out your hand."

The cook stretched out his hands hesitantly, Zhang Chi pinched the hard calluses on his palms, and said lightly: "It's him, caught it."

The guards on both sides stepped forward and tried to restrain the cook. The cook really had a ghost in his heart. Although he didn't know why his deeds were exposed, but since he had been discovered, he must be doomed today, so he simply put his heart down and took advantage of it. Before the guard touched him, he bent his fingers and grabbed Zhang Chi, making up his mind that even if he was going to die today, he would drag this bad guy on his back.

However, Zhang Chi is not the kind of person who is defenseless. Just seeing him move a little bit, he immediately stepped back on his toes, and exclaimed at the same time: "Protect the emperor!"

Needless to say, besides the ordinary bodyguards, the emperor also had other experts beside him. When he saw this man, he jumped over the wall and stood in front of an invisible father-in-law bully behind the emperor on weekdays. Zhang Dan was about to catch Zhang Chi's face and stopped him.

The cook was originally good at knife skills, but now he is unarmed, and he is no match for the siege of the big insiders and a large group of wolf-like guards. Seeing that he can't reach the emperor, even if he wants to kill Zhang Chi, he has no hope. With a sigh, he slapped his own Tianling Gai with his backhand.

From the moment when the cook violently wounded others to suddenly committing suicide was a matter of time. Others were completely unresponsive. The people lined up for interrogation had just started to run away screaming, and the cook had already killed himself on the spot.

Relying on his vigilance, Zhang Chi, who had a low level of martial arts, once again saved his life at a critical moment. He secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and moved a few steps in a polite way to block the emperor's sight, so that the emperor would not see the cook's seven orifices. Bleeding death: "The emperor was frightened, please move to another place temporarily, and wait for others to clean up the scene."

The emperor, who was still in shock, got up and left according to what he said, and asked curiously before he went out: "What is wrong with this man? Why did you see through it after a few glances and a few words of questioning?" His identity?"

Zhang Chi said: "If you go back to the emperor, the cook's hands will be in contact with all kinds of ingredients and water all year round. Although the skin on the hands will become rough, it will be softer and whiter than ordinary people, and the more high-end the cook, the more delicate it will be." There is no need to do rough work, he has already reached the level of the imperial dining room, and it is really impossible to explain the reason for the thick frame and rough fingers. With the experience of contacting people in the Jianghu, it is more like a pair of people who have practiced martial arts for many years. And he is also a hand who specializes in sword skills. So I tried to test it out, but this person was firm, and even in the face of sudden questioning, he did not reveal any obvious flaws. I pinched the hard callus on his palm, the distribution of the callus Let me be sure that he is a master of martial arts."

"Unexpectedly, the defense of the palace is so negligent that it allows the bandits with evil intentions to come under my nose. Who recommended this person to enter the palace, and what hidden secret transactions are involved behind it. We must thoroughly investigate !"

"Yes." Zhang Chi replied hesitantly after he came down, "Your Majesty, I'm still a little confused. How does a cook in the imperial kitchen put poison into the wine the Emperor drinks?"

"... I can't figure it out either. They can only cook in the imperial dining room. They have no way of knowing where this dish is delivered and who will eat it in the end, let alone the concubines in the harem. An imperial dining room No matter how you look at it, these two things are completely unrelated." The emperor said, "It's a pity that the man is dead. We can't get the truth from him. Got it."

"Later, I will check his body and residence to see if we can find any clues." Zhang Chi pondered for a moment and said, "Qin Wuqi is far-sighted, and he will definitely reserve a backup for any major arrangements. There is more than one internal agent in the palace, could it be that this person is only used to disturb the line of sight, or has other tasks, and there is someone else who is planning to use this hairpin to poison?"

The emperor said: "It's not impossible, but now I have no clue, how do you plan to find this person?"

"Since the poison was brought in specially in the concubine's hairpin, the insider is likely to be someone close to the empress. I suggest that it is better to be in vain than to let it go."

The emperor hesitated a little: "Yun'er is surrounded by servants who have been with her for many years. If you deal with them without any reason, I'm afraid it will hurt her heart."

"The strategy of poisoning has been seen through, and the insider may jump over the wall in a hurry. Now the emperor's safety is the most important thing. Since it is not possible to determine who it is, it is better to send everyone around her back to their hometown. After the matter is thoroughly investigated, if The empress still wants the service of those people, so she just needs to call them back."

The emperor thought that Zhang Chi wanted him to execute those people, but unexpectedly, he thought too much. Sending him back to his hometown is a way to ensure safety without harming the innocent. He discussed it with Concubine Li Gui that night. Concubine Li Gui She also felt that the emperor's safety was more important than her own comfort, so she distributed some silver taels to all the dozen or so people who served her and sent them home.

As soon as these people left the palace, Zhang Chi sent out his initially trained eyes and ears to stare at each of them, keeping a firm eye on them.

This is nothing more than just trying his luck based on his own speculation when he can't find a clue, but Zhang Chi's luck is actually good. Went to a secret stronghold of Jinghong Villa in the capital, trying to contact people from Jinghong Villa.

However, that secret stronghold had already been taken over by Zhang Chi when Qin Wuqi started to rebel, and replaced it with one of his own.

But in the end, the Yingmeng Guards were not cautious and experienced enough, and a woman without martial arts found an opportunity, and was bumped to death on the way back to the palace.

Zhang Chi had no choice but to temporarily report the news to the emperor.

Since it was related to the people around her, Concubine Li Gui came to inquire as soon as she got the news. When she entered the door, she heard Zhang Chi say: "...it is the nanny named Rou Niang next to the concubine. She was arrested and was about to be escorted back to the palace, but when she passed the Wuyang Gate, she suddenly broke free, bumped her head against the gate post, and died immediately. It is all because the minister is not strict with his orders, and his subordinates made such low-level mistakes. The emperor punishes."

He took the initiative to plead guilty, and the emperor of course had to follow the routine: "I don't blame you, it's already very rare for you to manage the original mess of Eagle Alliance guards in such a short period of time."

This news made Li Guifei unbelievable: "Nurse Rou...how could it be her? She has served the Li family for more than ten years before marrying me into the palace. Girl, how could she be the one who betrayed me!"

Zhang Chi said: "Your Majesty, don't be sad. This matter is justifiable. According to the report from the servants of the minister, the soft mother shouted a word before she wanted to die: "Ying'er, mother can't save you." Nanny Rou got married and entered the Li Mansion after the loss of her husband. 'Ying'er' is her only biological daughter. She used to live a peaceful life in her hometown, but now she is nowhere to be seen. Shanzhuang kidnapped her own daughter and forced her to submit, so she will betray."

The emperor embraced the distressed Concubine Li Gui into his arms, patted her on the back to comfort her, and said, "Yes, this is also human nature. Although the soft mother has the same love as mother and daughter with you, after all, she is still her own daughter. It's important. People's hearts are so close to each other, how can you expect this kind of thing."

Zhang Chi added: "Now in the harem, only the imperial concubine gives birth to a prince. If something happens to the emperor, the empress will naturally become the empress dowager. She may think that this is a good thing for the empress."

Li Guifei tearfully scolded: "Confused! My son is still babbling, how can he take on the important task of ruling the world! Now that the Marquis of Yongning is dead, the court is surrounded by wolves, and the emperor's wisdom is still difficult. Don’t we orphans and widows just let others slaughter us?”

Zhang Chi said: "I think this is exactly what Qin Wuqi wants to see. In this way, he will have enough time to disturb this unstable Dachen country."

The emperor took the handkerchief to wipe away Li Guifei's tears, and coaxed him distressedly: "Okay, don't be sad, it's all because of Qin Wuqi's vicious means of driving people's hearts apart, I will definitely deal with him... but I don't know what General Lu said. What happened to the border war?"

"General Lu has been on the battlefield for a long time. I think he will return victorious this time." Zhang Chi lowered his head and only dared to peek at the loving couple who seemed to be alone from the corner of his eye. one person.

I don't know where his precious heart Mu Liuyun is at the moment, is everything going well?

***

At this time, in the mountains near Miaojiang, Tingquan Villa, which has always been peaceful and peaceful, is filled with strange pressure.

The tense atmosphere came from between the big villa owner and the second villa owner. The servants retreated one after another, fearing that they would get into trouble and offend the eccentric second villa owner. However, the big villa owner who was able to plead for them in the past is now. It was the source of the anger of the second villa owner. Even the ignorant and fearless Xin Lanshan was driven away by Ye Guichen, and only the two villa owners were left in the huge backyard, confronting each other wordlessly.

It might not be appropriate to say confrontation, because Ye Hai, who was standing, looked at Ye Guichen helplessly, while Ye Guichen, who was sitting in a wheelchair, just ignored him with a straight face.

In the end, Ye Hai bowed his head first. He squatted down in front of the wheelchair, put one hand on Ye Guichen's knee, and persuaded him nicely, "I know you don't like me being nosy, but this time I don't want to Regardless of things that have nothing to do with us, even if Wu Qi is not your own, we have raised him as if it were our own for more than ten years, don't you have any feelings for him in your heart?"