Chapter 322

In Renshou palace, Empress Dowager Zhuang is dealing with the backlog of official business in recent days.

It was only at this time that she finally realized how difficult it was to recuperate in the countryside.

Leprosy is not an ordinary cold. It's infectious alone that makes everyone afraid. I don't know how those two Hanshan dare to take her in.

What's more, Mingming's family conditions are already very poor, and he has eaten the last meal but not the next, and he still has to raise a patient.

The Empress Dowager sighed.

"Empress dowager, do you think of your days in the countryside again?" Mr. Qin asked with a smile.

"Well." Empress Dowager Zhuang didn't deny it. "At that time, they cheated AI's family that they had tuberculosis. They told AI's family not to go out, so as not to pass the disease on to the villagers."

Duke Qin was surprised: "do you really believe it?"

Empress Dowager Zhuang sighed, "can you not believe me? I don't remember anything at that time

Qin Gonggong thought: "then... What happened later?"

"After about ten days and a half, they ate at the same table with AI's family," Empress Dowager Zhuang recalled

"Ah..." Qin Gonggong was surprised, "half a month cured?"

"No Empress Dowager Zhuang shook her head. "It's just that it's not contagious. She continued to take the medicine for half a year."

Most people don't do that. Even if leprosy is cured, it will be avoided.

"Miss Gu and Xiao Xiu treat you sincerely. I'm happy for you." Duke Qin's words are from the bottom of his heart. He met the Empress Dowager when she was put into the cold palace.

He is a little Eunuch in Lenggong. He is favored by the virtuous empress and wants to serve him.

Later, virtuous empress went out of the cold palace, and he was also taken out. In the blink of an eye, he had been accompanying the Empress Dowager for decades.

There are many people who flatter the empress dowager, but few of them really love the Empress Dowager and do not ask for return.

If the Empress Dowager is not the empress dowager, then they will not be what the Empress Dowager saw.

Miss Zhuang always complains that the Empress Dowager loves Miss Gu more than her family. But miss Zhuang doesn't think about it. Does she really have half the sincerity of Miss Gu to the Empress Dowager?

Most of my life I walk alone, high and cold. Who ever thought I would meet such a few intimate people in my twilight years?

"It's Xiao Xiuzhuan..." Duke Qin also saw that there was something wrong between empress dowager Zhuang and Xiao Xiuzhuan. Although he was a confidant of the empress dowager, she didn't tell him everything.

He guessed half of the Empress Dowager's mind, but he couldn't guess the other half in any case.

"Is it because he looks like the dead Marquis?"

He asked cautiously.

The Empress Dowager didn't poison Marquis Xiao, but the Emperor didn't believe it, Xuanping didn't believe it, and people all over the world didn't believe it. I'm afraid even the Zhuang family thought it was the work of Empress Dowager Zhuang.

The difference is that the Zhuang family does not blame the Empress Dowager.

But the Empress Dowager was always wronged. When she saw someone who was so similar to Lord Xiao, she was afraid that she had a knot in her heart.

Of course, this is the thought of Duke Qin. Whether the Empress Dowager thinks so is unknown.

"Ai Jia..." Empress Dowager Zhuang was about to say something when the voice of the maid in waiting came from outside the study, "your majesty! Your majesty, you can't go in! "

"I am the son of heaven! The whole world is mine! It's just a Renshou palace, but it's blocked out twice at a time. Do you want to rebel? "

It's the emperor's rage.

Empress Dowager Zhuang frowned impatiently and winked at Duke Qin.

Duke Qin went out persistently and said to the maid of honor, "you step down." He saluted the emperor again, "Your Majesty, please come inside."

"Hum!"

The emperor glared coldly at the crowd and threw his sleeve into empress dowager Zhuang's study: "Empress Dowager is really a good means! I'm not idle in Renshou palace. I have to be ugly! Is it true that the Empress Dowager can't see me? I'll be clean one day! "

Qin Gonggong, who came after him, looked at the Empress Dowager and the white faced palace people in the room. His face became very ugly.

Empress Dowager Zhuang said, "you all step down."

"Yes." Qin Gonggong and a group of palace people retired.

After that, Mrs. Zhuang gave the emperor a blank look and threw the fold on the table: "what are you crazy about?"

The emperor sneered: "I should ask the Empress Dowager about this. What's the madness of the Empress Dowager? Is it not enough for you to listen to the government behind the curtain? Is it not enough to control half of the country? Isn't it fun to force my mother's concubine to the temple? How vicious are you? Do you have to kill all the people around me one by one! "

Empress Dowager Zhuang frowned and said, "who did the AI family kill again?"

"Oh The emperor stood in front of his desk, looking at the dignified empress dowager Zhuang, and said, "which one is the Empress Dowager singing? Do you dare not recognize what you have done? "

Empress Dowager Zhuang's eyes were cold, but her expression was still fresh: "I've done too much for my family. I don't know what you mean."

The emperor laughed angrily: "I finally admit that you are a crazy poisonous woman! If you have anything, just come to me! Why did you kill manager Zhang! What's wrong with her! "

"Manager Zhang?" Empress Dowager Zhuang frowned strangely.

The emperor pointed to empress dowager Zhuang angrily: "don't pretend to be a fool! Last night, headmaster Zhang was called to Renshou Palace by the Empress Dowager. When he went back, he hanged the beam and killed himself! How dare the Empress Dowager say that you didn't kill people

Empress Dowager Zhuang gave a sneer and raised her eyes lightly. She drew the corner of her lips like a sneer and a sneer: "so what if it was the sad family who killed her?"

She stood up slowly, came out from behind her desk, and walked to the emperor step by step, "can you abolish AI Jia, or can you kill AI Jia? Even if you kill all the people around you, what can you do about it? "

"You wicked woman!" The emperor raises his hand!

"Your majesty

Xiao LIULANG quickly walked in, threw away his crutch, held the emperor's hand, and blocked the Empress Dowager Zhuang behind him.

Seeing the young man standing in front of her, Empress Dowager Zhuang was stunned.

The boy was thin and had bad legs. He did not hesitate to stop the emperor.

The emperor was furious: "Xiao LIULANG, get out of the way!"

"Not the Empress Dowager." Xiao LIULANG said solemnly that he didn't let go or let go. "It's not the empress dowager, it's the minister. Last night, it was Chen who called over Zhang Zhangzhang. It had nothing to do with the Empress Dowager. "

The emperor was so angry that he said, "even you speak for her! One or two of you... All to her! Xiao LIULANG! You are the new number one in science and technology chosen by me

Xiao LIULANG said: "I'm your Majesty's minister and your Majesty's champion. Because of this, I don't want to see your majesty make mistakes. What your majesty has done today will be recorded by historians in the future. Your majesty is the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. When he has made great contributions, his reputation will last forever, and he should not be destroyed by impulse. "

The emperor asked sadly and humbly, "am I wrong? Am I wrong? "

Xiao LIULANG said: "Your Majesty is not wrong, and the Empress Dowager is right. It is the minister who is wrong. I shouldn't have come to head Zhang. If your majesty wants to blame me, blame me. I killed her. "

"You... You..." the emperor was so angry that his eyes were red and his whole body trembled.

"Your Majesty, your majesty, always listen to what happened." Duke Wei came into the house to admonish him.

His majesty could not help but nodded: "well, you say, what do you want to do with manager Zhang? How can you kill her?"

Xiao LIULANG can't say that he is investigating the case 14 years ago. The timing is not right and the evidence is not enough.

Xiao LIULANG thought about it and said, "I give her something on behalf of others. When I give it back to her, I find that her mood is not right."

This is the truth. Zhang's mood was not right when he got the broken inkstone, but Xiao didn't think deeply at that time.

Now, I'm afraid there is a deeper fetter and relationship between Zhang Zhangshi and Lao Jijiu than I imagined.

"For whom do you deliver?" Asked the emperor.

"I can't say that." Xiao LIULANG said.

Can't he guess without saying the emperor?

How many people in the world can labor him to preach in the palace? Since it's the end of Zhang's career, he must be about the same age as Zhang's career.

A name is about to come out.

"Pass on the Huo sacrifice wine!"

"Let go! Do you want me to send Huo Jijiu to the Empress Dowager's bedroom? Follow me to the imperial study

"Yes." Xiao LIULANG let go.

The old sacrificial wine was called into the palace.

The Emperor didn't give him the chance to confess to Xiao LIULANG, so he directly asked people to take him down, and then began to cross examine the relationship between Zhang Zhangshi and Lao Jijiu.

The emperor also didn't tell the old sacrificial wine that headmaster Zhang was dead.

But what kind of human spirit is old wine?

You can guess what happened.

Most people try their best to get rid of the relationship between them when they are cross examined. After all, it's a felony to blaspheme a female official, but Lao Jijiu thinks it's not easy.

Almost without much thinking, he said that he had an unknown past with Zhang Zhangshi, and there was a token of love between them. Last night, he asked the trustee to return the token to her, which was an understanding of each other's relationship.

The emperor's eyes were cold: "why is it over? Is it because of the Empress Dowager? "

"I dare not! Because... I'm dying soon... "The old sacrificial wine began to pretend to be ill and sell miserably, and all kinds of tears and white lotus means,"... If your majesty doesn't believe it, you can call the little miracle doctor, who diagnosed the incurable disease for me. "

……

When he came out of the imperial study, Lao Jijiu met Xiao LIULANG, who had been waiting for a long time.

"I'm sorry to trouble the teacher." Xiao LIULANG felt guilty.

The old man sighed, "it's not your fault, it's my thoughtlessness."

"Teacher's reputation..."

The old toaster waved his hand: "I don't have a clear reputation. Although she and I are not what I said to your majesty, in the end... I have failed her. She... Is my wife and sister. "

His wife's concubine sister was adopted to another village since childhood, and they didn't recognize each other until they grew up.

Before his death, his wife took his hand and asked him to take good care of his only Sister Zhang Xiu.

Zhang Xiu wants to marry him, but he doesn't want to marry her. As a result, she enters the palace in a rage.

He fights fiercely with Zhuang Jinse. In order not to implicate Zhang Xiu, he doesn't let people know their relationship. Otherwise, he was exiled not only by himself, but also by his wife and Sister Zhang Xiu.

After all, the emperor ordered his family to be exiled.

"When she was 25 years old, she came to me and asked me again if I would marry her? I said, I will take care of her all my life, take her as my own sister, and then she broke my inkstone. After that, she regretted it and gave me a new one, the one I asked you to return. When she gave it to me, I didn't hold it firmly and accidentally broke a piece... She said with a smile that it was even. "

The old toaster sighed, "forget it. I'll forget the old story. She didn't commit suicide for love. There's something wrong with her death. I asked your grace to send her for the last journey. Please follow me."

Xiao LIULANG: "good."

Lao Jijiu and Xiao LIULANG went to Shanggong Bureau in the company of Duke Wei.

In the former dynasty, people in the palace hanged themselves, which would bring harm to their families. In this dynasty, this law was abolished, but the dead were not allowed to live in peace, they could only be thrown into the wilderness.

The old sacrificial wine gave Duke Wei a bag of silver.

Duke Wei refused for a long time, but he didn't refuse: "I've taken care of it. Later, the body will be sent to the mass grave outside the west gate. Just send someone to wait there."

"Thank you, Mr. Wei." The old man offered his thanks.

Xiao LIULANG examined Zhang Xiu's corpse. He hanged himself. There was no sign of fighting or struggling.

Then Xiao LIULANG found a situation, he stopped.

"What's the matter?" The old sacrificial wine came and asked.

Xiao LIULANG didn't speak. Instead, he raised Zhang Xiu's left wrist. There was a mole on it.

The old man was shocked: "how could..."

Yeah?

How can it be Zhang Xiu?

Many details ignored last night flashed through Xiao LIULANG's mind one by one.

Zhang Xiu saw him at the first sight, scared almost fell, he thought she Qin Gonggong and others think he saw a ghost, but think carefully, he and Zhang Xiu do not seem to have met.

She shouldn't have known him.

Even if I knew her, her reaction was a little too big.

When he told her that he was investigating a palace man with a mole on his wrist, she knew that the incident had been exposed.

But she didn't know it was Xiao LIULANG who was investigating. She thought it was her brother-in-law who was investigating the truth.

Xiao Heng is the teacher of the old sacrifice wine. It's reasonable for him to investigate Xiao Heng's death.

The reason why she was so desolate and lonely was that she had decided to die at that moment.

He used his death to make atonement for his brother-in-law and his apprentice, and he also used his death to escape and report the incident to the master behind the scenes.

What kind of mood was she in to frame Zhuang Jinse? With what kind of mood is it that Xiao Heng, who has been poisoned by himself, becomes his brother-in-law's disciple one day?

Old wine throat pain: "it's all for me..."

Zhang Xiu's fault with Zhuang Jinse must be because Zhuang Jinse didn't agree with him, so he was exiled and almost lost his life.

But who can expect that he and Zhuang Jinse didn't become enemies in the end, instead, Zhang Xiu took his own life in vain.

Duke Wei has done it. They can take Zhang Xiu's relics with them.

Zhang Xiu's relics are very simple. There are several sets of clothes and a box of dowry. In the box, there are several pieces of jewelry that can't be used any more. In the interlayer of the box, there are dozens of silver tickets, all of which are the names of the old sacrificial wine.

There is another inkstone Xiao LIULANG gave her yesterday.

His eyes were red.

"Teacher." Xiao LIULANG said softly.

"I'm fine." The old man wiped his tears and packed up Zhang Xiu's remains with a bundle. When he went out, he staggered.

Xiao LIULANG holds him.

Old wine voice trembles: "I... I'm really OK."

Clang!

The inkstone slipped out of the bag and hit the ground.

The old man bent over to pick up the wine.

Xiao LIULANG said, "I'll come."

He picked up the inkstone first, "I'll take it."

The old sacrificial wine didn't insist.

His mood is very complicated and his mind is in chaos. He feels that he has harmed Zhang Xiu and Xiao Heng.

He choked: "you... Don't blame her... You blame me... It's me... She is for me..."

Xiao LIULANG sighed: "it's not her that there will be others. What's really hateful is the master behind the scenes. The teacher should not blame himself. What happened in those years has nothing to do with you, and what happened last night has nothing to do with you."

Since he wants to check, he will find this step.

The relationship between Zhang Xiu and the old sacrificial wine only accelerated the process and did not change the result.

Zhang Xiu's ending is doomed when she reaches out her poisonous hand to an innocent four-year-old.

He can forgive, but heaven can't.

Lao Jijiu went to collect Zhang Xiu's corpse. Xiao LIULANG didn't follow him. Forgiveness is his greatest kindness. He won't prepare for her.

Xiao LIULANG went to Renshou palace.

In her study, Empress Dowager Zhuang continued to look at the fold presented by Zhuang Taifu. The fold was passed by her hand before it was returned to the minister and presented to the emperor in the court.

Duke Qin was waiting to see Xiao LIULANG. His eyes lit up and he said to empress dowager Zhuang, "the tea is cold. I'll make a pot of hot tea."

Empress Dowager Zhuang glanced at Xiao LIULANG: "hum."

Duke Qin stepped back with a smile and took the rest of the palace people down.

"What are you doing here?" Empress Dowager Zhuang looked at the memorial and asked coldly.

"Passing by." Xiao LIULANG said.

Both of them would die if they explained one more sentence. No one would open his mouth and break the ice first.

"I'm going."

It wasn't a big deal. Just come and have a look.

He always knew that the relationship between the emperor and the Empress Dowager was not good, but he didn't come to the end.

A little bit worried.

Looking at him, Empress Dowager Zhuang turned around, cleared her throat and asked, "why do you speak for the sad family?"

Xiao LIULANG said lightly: "there is no reason. It's the duty of a minister to eat the king's salary and bear the king's worries."

Duke Qin, who is eavesdropping outside, is dying of anxiety. He is a son of a bitch. Does it burn his mouth when he says a word?

I'm in a hurry! I'm in a hurry!

The emperor and the Empress Dowager were not in such a hurry. After all, the emperor's children were really annoying. But Xiao Xiu was so devoted to serving the Empress Dowager that they misunderstood him as such. Duke Qin really scratched his heart and lungs!

Clearly so care about each other, why do you have to be a stranger!

Bata.

The inkstone on Xiao LIULANG's hand slipped and fell on the ground. He stooped to pick it up, and his pocket fell out.

Seeing the purse, Empress Dowager Zhuang's eyes moved slightly.

It was a birthday gift given to Xiao LIULANG by Empress Dowager Zhuang on New Year's Eve. Xiao Jingkong also had one.

Empress Dowager Zhuang embroidered orchid grass by herself, which was so ugly that it looked like a weed. So she asked the old sacrificial wine to improve it and embroidered it into a piece of green bamboo, and some stitches were added at the seams.

But it's not so good-looking after all.

Empress Dowager Zhuang snorted: "Why are you still wearing such ugly things? Isn't it shameful? At least it's the man who has been an Imperial officer. "

Xiao LIULANG didn't say anything. He took his purse back in his arms and continued to walk out.

Come back!

Empress Dowager Zhuang opened her mouth, but she didn't say what she said.

If she is not so awkward, she will not carry so many black pots.

Although she did do a lot of bad things.

She impatiently threw the fold in her hand, and her mood was thrown through!

Suddenly, Xiao LIULANG, who had disappeared, turned back.

He came back so fast that the Empress Dowager Zhuang didn't even have time to stop the irritation in her eyes.

He took a deep breath, as if gathering up some courage, and asked in a low voice, "why don't I?"

"Well?" Empress Dowager Zhuang was stunned.

Xiao LIULANG pinched his fingers, his face turned red, but he continued to summon up courage and asked, "why don't I have a token?"

Why didn't Renshou palace prepare anything for me?

... don't you want me?

His tone was as usual, but his eyes were full of grievances.

Empress Dowager Zhuang was worried.

The grievance pricked her heart.

She dropped her eyes and said in a low voice, "I think you don't want it."

"Why don't I want to..."

Before he finished, Xiao LIULANG stopped.

I thought you didn't want it.

The amount of information in this sentence is huge.

My aunt's Xiao LIULANG will not want it, but Xiao Heng will not.

Empress Dowager Zhuang knows who he is.

Also think of himself once to Xiao Heng "poison" thing, also know Xiao Heng has been afraid of her, hate her, hate can't leave her.

"Don't you think about it..." ask me?

"I've thought about it, but I'm afraid." It took empress dowager Zhuang almost all her life's courage and face to confess her emotions.

Because I cared too much, I was afraid of being rejected, so I rejected the possibility of being rejected first.

She would rather carry a thousand times the black pot than have a confession.

Her self-esteem is so strong, it's so twisted.

But Xiao LIULANG's grievance at the bottom of his eyes broke the self-esteem she had saved for decades.

"No, I don't want it." Xiao LIULANG turned his face and said in an aggrieved and awkward tone.

He's a jerk, too.

He's too shy to talk.

And he's a kid.

In front of the old people.

Empress Dowager Zhuang looked at him straightforwardly, her eyes shining: "what do you say?"

"Nothing!" Xiao LIULANG went out without expression.

Before he came out of Renshou palace, Duke Qin came up and said with a smile, "Xiao Xiuzhuan, please stay! You forgot something! "

"I didn't."

"Yes, yes! Please come and get it with me

Xiao LIULANG was taken to a side hall of Renshou Palace by Duke Qin.

Duke Qin opened the door and said with a smile, "please."

Xiao LIULANG stepped in.

The huge side hall is full of bookshelves with books on display.

On the sunny windowsill, there is a desk. The four treasures of the study on the desk send out a faint smell of ink. There is a brocade box in the middle of the desk.

Duke Qin took the brocade box and said, "here you are."

Xiao LIULANG opened it and found a token of Renshou palace lying inside.

Duke Qin sighed: "the Empress Dowager has already prepared it, but I don't know why she hasn't taken it out. And this side hall was also transformed by the Empress Dowager. At first, I didn't understand what the Empress Dowager was doing to transform such a large library. Today, I finally know the purpose. "

They just have a small room, or a small yard, but does he have such a large library?

Xiao LIULANG is unbelievable and inexplicable.

He stood there in a daze, like a little silly chicken.

It was at this moment that he faded the breath of youth and maturity, and had a bit of childlike innocence and green astringency.

Forced to grow up is helpless, being spoiled back to children is a kind of luck and happiness.

"Written by Xiao Xiu." Seeing his stupefied appearance, Duke Qin shook his hand in front of him, "don't be so happy."

"Not too happy, either." Xiao LIULANG said without changing his face and went out with the brocade box in his arms and feet.

Qin Gonggong with black lines on his face

With crutches in one hand and brocade boxes in the other, Xiao LIULANG walked most of Renshou palace with the same hands and feet, and confused all the eunuchs in Renshou palace.

Do you look like a dog and walk with such mental retardation?!

Xiao LIULANG had been out of Renshou palace, but after a pause, he came back.

He stood outside the study of Empress Dowager Zhuang.

I didn't go in.

Empress Dowager Zhuang said, "thank you. I'm sorry for my family."

Damn, just said so much already enough to let her regret, she is in the evil will be defeated in this boy's grievance.

Give her another chance, she stabbed him in the heart a hundred times, and never admitted that she was afraid of being rejected by him.

Xiao LIULANG pursed his lips, and a head came in from the door. He told me childishly: "aunt, Zhuang Taifu bullied me!"

Then he ran away!

Well, for the first time, I was so naive and shy that I forgot that I was still lame. When I ran, I tripped, rolled down the steps and fell on the grass!

All of you:

They just don't see it.

Empress Dowager Zhuang's lips were slightly scratched. The next second, she regained her indifferent look and said majestically: "Xuanzhuang Taifu!"