Just as Lu Bai was about to agree, there were hurried footsteps outside.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty... something bad is going to happen."
Without waiting for the announcement, a young eunuch ran in from outside the Taiqing Palace and knelt on the ground, "Your Majesty, something serious has happened."
Eunuch Bai scolded: "Look at how panicked you are."
Then he asked: "What happened?"
As for the emperor, although the little eunuch was sweating from running and was still out of breath and trembling after kneeling down, the emperor was not anxious at all. Except for the rise of the Northern Barbarians many years ago, which challenged the throne, their country was forever strong, so
The emperor was not in a hurry at all, which made Lu Bai experience for himself what it means that the emperor is not in a hurry and the eunuch is.
The little eunuch took a deep breath and said, "Go back to the emperor. The inner treasury has been stolen."
"What!" The emperor became anxious now. He stood up instantly with a look of panic on his face, "Say it again."
The little eunuch lay down on the ground, not daring to look at the emperor, "The inner treasury has been stolen."
"Hiss!" Lu Bai gasped, "Have your underwear been stolen?"
This is a big case. This thief is so arrogant that he actually reached out to the palace, that's all. He even stole the emperor's underwear. What kind of hobby is this?
The emperor didn't bother to ask how it was stolen, "Quick, let me go and take a look."
He staggered off the dragon chair. When he was going down the steps, he staggered and almost fell down. The eunuch Bai next to him took a step across to hold him up.
Lu Bai glanced at Eunuch Bai.
Eunuch Bai was by his side just now, but in this moment he was by the emperor's side.
Shrink into an inch!
This is a spell from the semi-immortal realm. It can be seen that the realm of the white eunuch is also in the semi-immortal realm.
This is a bit interesting.
It turned out that the eunuch Bai who was hooking up with him turned out to be a hidden practitioner.
As for the emperor, he was a little less interesting. Seeing that he was light-footed, not to mention practicing, his kung fu didn't seem to be very good, which was a bit strange.
As the true sons of heaven, the emperor has his own way of practice.
Although this cultivation method is never exposed to the public, everyone knows that this cultivation method of the royal family was left by the Son of Heaven. The technique is superb and easy to practice. It is even more rare that you can ascend to the semi-immortal realm, and it is the immortal himself.
Go out to greet you instead of knocking on the fairy door like ordinary people.
Lu Bai felt that the emperor shouldn't be incompetent with such a brilliant cultivation method.
But the emperor's stagger just now made Lu Bai see at a glance that he really didn't know how.
Strange and strange.
Lu Bai kept it in mind and waited to find out later.
The emperor ignored Lu Bai and hurried out with the help of eunuch Bai. Fortunately, eunuch Bai was still calm. He asked the young eunuch to lead Lu Bai to investigate the case, and then left without looking back.
Lu Bai is incompetent.
He just asked the little eunuch doubtfully, "Didn't you just steal a pair of underwear? Why are you so anxious?"
The little eunuch looked at Lu Bai in surprise, "All the money in the inner treasury is gone. That is what the Emperor has saved so hard. He is the Emperor's sweetheart."
Not to mention that everything was stolen, even if a piece of silver was lost, the emperor would be heartbroken.
"Silver?" Lu Bai suddenly realized, "It's the inner treasury."
If it were an internal treasury, it would be really great. Lu Bai felt that given the emperor's greedy appearance and methods of amassing money, there would be a lot of money in it.
"This thief can do it." Lu Bai said.
He originally thought that stealing the emperor's underwear would be a big deal, but he didn't expect that what he was stealing was the emperor's inner treasury.
For the emperor, this was more worrying than losing his inner treasury.
Lu Bai was thinking, should he find out the thief and take away half of the money?
He had this idea in mind, and then led by the young eunuch to the palace that caught fire last night. This palace was not far from Fengqi Palace, and the fire almost reached Fengqi Palace. Fortunately, it rained last night and the fire was not that big.
But because of the rain last night, almost all traces have disappeared.
The little eunuch held an oil-paper umbrella and stood beside the ruins with Lu Bai in the drizzle.
Lu Bai looked at the ruins in front of him, as well as the burnt and blackened pillars, beams, and tiles, and asked the young eunuch: "What kind of palace is this? Who lives in this palace?"
"Go back to your lord, this is Qingxin Palace." said the young eunuch.
Lu Bai was waiting for him to continue to reply. After waiting for a long time without saying anything, he turned back and looked at him, "Is this the end?"
The young eunuch was stunned for a moment, then hurriedly continued: "Qingxin Hall was burned down last year and was rebuilt. During this period, some craftsmen escaped, so the construction period was delayed. The construction was just completed half a month ago."
Lu Bai waited for a moment, saw the young eunuch stopped talking again, and asked helplessly: "What did Qingxin Temple do before?"
"The Palace of Pure Heart, as the name suggests, purifies the heart and desires, and concentrates on cultivating the mind." The young eunuch told Lu Bai that the palace was built in imitation of the palace in Shangjing, and the layout was almost the same as the main hall.
The Qingxin Hall was originally the place where the emperor of the Southern Dynasty practiced cultivation. It was very important to the royal family, so it was burned down and was constantly being rebuilt. "This is almost the seventh or eighth time that the Qingxin Hall has been burned down," said the young eunuch.
Lu Bai was surprised, "So many?"
He asked the young eunuch if the Qingxin Hall in the Shangjing Palace had also been burned down?
The young eunuch shook his head, "The fire in Qingxin Palace only started in recent years."
Seeing his hesitation, Lu Bai knew that he still had something to say, so Lu Bai stopped asking and just asked him the time when the Qingxin Palace was on fire.
"The fire first broke out more than 20 years ago," the young eunuch said.
Lu Bai asked him to be more careful, "This is very important for handling the case. Don't hide the truth, otherwise I will take the blame on you if the case cannot be solved... Hey, you reminded me."
Lu Bai looked back at him, "You're so hesitant, you didn't start this fire, did you?"
The little eunuch was startled, "Master Lu, you are wronged. This has nothing to do with me."
"Then you tell the truth." Lu Bai said.
The little eunuch was helpless. He looked around and saw that no one was paying attention, even the guards were more than ten steps away, so he lowered his voice and said, "The first fire was caused when the palace maid murdered the emperor."
Twenty years ago, today's Supreme Emperor and the former Emperor practiced cultivation in this Qingxin Hall.
At that time, a group of palace maids tried to kill the emperor. They first drugged the emperor, and after making the emperor unable to use his strength, they swarmed into the Qingxin Palace and tried to stab the emperor to death. They took advantage of the chaos and set a fire, preparing to die together with the emperor.
Fengqi Palace is not far away.
Queen Mo saw it at that time and led people to put out the fire and save the people. The emperor survived, but the Qingxin Palace was not saved. It was burned down by a fire. Many of the palace maids who were assassinated were burned to death in the fire.
middle.
Lu Bai suddenly realized that there was such a secret behind the first fire in the Qingxin Palace.
"What about the second time?" Lu Bai asked again.
The little eunuch knew very well that not long after the second reconstruction of Qingxin Palace, Fengqi Palace caught fire. It was winter and the weather was dry. The wind blew the fire and burned Qingxin Palace.
.
Lu Bai led the little eunuch into the ruins, trying to find some clues. At the same time, he asked the little eunuch, "I have heard about this fire. Did Queen Mo burn to death in Fengqi Palace? There are also rumors that the eunuch in the inner study hall
I wanted to save you, but the emperor stopped me?"
"Ahem." The little eunuch stopped him quickly, and then said: "This, I don't know this."
Lu Bai felt that he wanted to know, "How old are you."
However, looking at the way the young eunuch avoided the taboo, Lu Bai felt that although he didn't know about it, he had probably heard this rumor in the palace.
"How many times did the fire break out?" Lu Bai asked again.
"Then there was another fire seven or eight years later," the little eunuch said.
The cause of the fire is unknown, because after the assassination of the palace maid, the Supreme Emperor no longer practiced in Qingxin Palace, but went to Yuxi Palace to practice. The hall was empty, with only one or two eunuchs cleaning the hall on weekdays.
There was no problem this time, so Lu Bai continued to ask about subsequent fires.
The little eunuch told Lu Bai that except for one fire eight years ago, the remaining fire incidents were all in the last three years. There was one fire every year. The causes of the fire were different. Some were caused by the fire in the Qingxin Palace, and there were also fires from other places that came to Qingxin.
The temple was burned down.
"This is really strange." Lu Bai felt that it was very famous.
It caught fire three times in three years. If it wasn't arson, even if Lu Bai was killed, he wouldn't believe it.
However, the people of the royal family are also very perseverant. They even burn down and rebuild again and again. "Isn't this a waste of money?"
Seeing Lu Bai's outspoken words, the young eunuch lowered his head and did not dare to speak. After a while, he said: "This Qingxin Hall is the place where Grandpa Taizu practiced cultivation. His portrait and other things are enshrined in it. Its status is very important, so naturally it must be preserved.
.”
Lu Bai didn't pay attention, he just complained.
He lifted up the rubble and kept looking at the burn marks and charcoal marks on the ground.
These are all wet.
The rain since last night has washed away many traces.
"Why did the Qingxin Palace catch fire yesterday?" Lu Bai asked.
The little eunuch thought it was an internal fire.
"There was an open fire in Qingxin Hall yesterday?" Lu Bai asked.
The little eunuch shook his head.
Because Qingxin Hall has a tradition of starting fires, the people who clean up the temple pay great attention to fire prevention. They light candles all night long, and only light incense and candles during New Years and holidays.
Lu Bai understood.
The weirdness here is even worse.
He stopped asking questions and walked around the ruins of the hall, not missing any place.
To the northwest of the center of Qingxin Hall, there was a pillar that was not burned, but a section remained. After it collapsed on the ground, it still supported the pillar with a few tiles.
Lu Bai asked the young eunuch to lean back, and he kicked down the pillar, causing the dangerous eaves on top to completely fall down, causing a cloud of dust to rise.
Lu Bai waved his hand and said to himself that it was a pity.
This pillar is so big that it would take three people to hold it with open arms.
He lowered his head and looked at the pillar. The fire burned the bottom of the pillar and then it fell down. The large part left behind was probably exposed to the rain, and because the earth and tiles were on top, it was not completely burned.
Just as Lu Bai was about to pass this pillar, he suddenly noticed that the wet marks not far from the pillar were different. This Qingxin Hall was built on a foundation stone, and the ground was paved with long stones. Now the long stones were covered with dust and rubble.
The dust and rubble nearby were slowly washed away by the wet rain, but the traces in this place were particularly different.
"What's wrong?" Seeing Lu Bai in a daze, the little eunuch asked curiously.
Lu Bai shook his head, "No, it's nothing."
He straightened up and couldn't find out the cause of the fire in Qingxin Hall for a while. However, looking at the pillar, it should have caught fire from the ground. Otherwise, the top of the pillar should have been burned.
But what about the source of fire?
Lu Bai frowned and scanned every place he had checked on the ruins, but still found nothing.
At this moment, a palace maid came over and said, "Mr. Lu, it's time for the luncheon. The Queen Mother is waiting behind."
Lu Bai woke up and responded.
He didn't expect that so much time had passed and it was already lunch time.
Lu Bai was led by the palace maid to the Imperial Garden.
The Imperial Garden is full of Jiangnan style.
Waterside pavilions, pavilions, pavilions, and ponds are connected together under the series of verandas. Walking along, you can see each scene step by step. It is really beautiful. Lu Bai decided to wait for him to build such a manor in the future.
Soon we arrived at the pavilion in the middle of the lake.
It stopped at a large place, the banquet had been set, and Lu Qinghuan was already sitting on the seats with the two women.
After Lu Bai approached, Gu Qinghuan stood up and said, "Bai'er, come quickly and pay homage to the Queen Mother." She greeted Lu Bai.
Lu Bai agreed and walked over, offering his hand to the woman sitting at the top, "I have met the Queen Mother."
It can be seen that this woman has taken good care of herself. Although she is not as good as Gu Qinghuan, she is very good at looking good-looking among women of the same age. She is also fatally attractive to Cao Cao or those who like to be more mature.
Lu Bai didn't like this, so he quickly looked away.
However, even though he only glanced a few times, Lu Bai still found that the Queen Mother looked very similar to Gu Qinghuan, except that the Queen Mother's face had an extra layer of majesty.
The Queen Mother nodded, "He is indeed the legendary Qilinzi. When I saw him today, Mr. Lu is indeed a handsome man among men."
Kirinzi?
Lu Bai was confused, but he was too embarrassed to ask, so he could only accept the compliment silently.
Gu Qinghuan asked him to identify the woman next to him, "This is the queen."
Lu Bai saluted.
The queen stood up with the support of the palace maid, and saluted Lu Bai respectfully, "I have received all the things Mr. Lu sent me, so I asked Mr. Lu to worry about it."
"It should be." Lu Bai nodded.
Then, he sat down in his seat and waited for a while. He saw a eunuch coming over and reported back: "The Queen Mother, the Emperor has something urgent to deal with, so he will not come over. Let the Queen Mother eat first."
The queen is now frightened.
She subconsciously asked: "What's the emergency with the Emperor?"
The eunuch stopped and replied: "I heard that there was a theft in the inner treasury, and a lot of money was gone."
The Queen Mother was also attracted, "Missing?"
The eunuch nodded, "When the guards of the inner treasury were changing shifts this morning, I saw water flowing out of the treasury door. I thought the roof was leaking, so I opened the door to check, but I found that the roof had broken several big holes at some time. As for those silver boxes...
…The seal was not broken, but all the money inside was gone.”
The emperor was so worried about this that he was torturing the guards and didn't even bother to eat.
"This is really strange. How could the money disappear?" The queen didn't understand.
The Queen Mother thought for a while, waved her hand and said: "Okay, I don't want to think about this anymore, we won't wait for the emperor to come."
She waved to the palace maid to serve the food and said to Gu Qinghuan: "I specially asked the imperial chef to make a few dishes that you like to eat. You can try them later."
Gu Qinghuan agreed, and then pulled Lu Bai next to him.
Lu Bai looked at the eunuch's leaving figure and said something, then he regained his composure and looked away.