The terrain pattern of Hejing was greatly changed in the Guisi year. The spacious land in front of the imperial city gate extended out to seven imperial streets. The main street was in the center, and the left and right sides were named with numbers.
The second one, the third one, and the fourth one are in the east.
Yu five, Yu six, Yu seven are in the west.
If you come here for the first time, you will feel that the order is chaotic.
The Fourth Street of Imperial Street is at the east end, and there are newly built mansions along the street, so the two heavy rains were safely withstood.
There is an inconspicuous musical instrument shop on the street called Shuangyanque. Most of the instruments in the shop are made of bamboo. The business is very cold. The shopkeeper is usually kind and low-key, making him as inconspicuous as the musical instrument shop.
In a room upstairs in Shuangyanque's backyard, Gao Zhou was looking at two maps spread out on the table.
One is the Imperial City and the other is Hejing.
The door of the room was suddenly pushed open, and Shi Guoxin came back quickly and said: "I searched several places, but there is still no whereabouts of the second lady. Also, the palace suddenly summoned all the Jingzhao Suwei generals into the palace. It was very sudden, and there were rumors in the market.
, it’s most likely about Queen Nangong.”
"Second Miss's matter is not urgent," Gao Zhou said, "She has already come back."
"Huh?" Shi Guoxin was stunned for a moment and looked around.
"The second young lady is changing her clothes."
As soon as he finished speaking, a girl's clear and sweet voice came from behind: "It's ready."
Several people in the room looked at it, all dumbfounded.
A father-in-law in his early fifties stood outside the door, wearing a dark black chamberlain uniform with gorgeous embroidery on the back and bodice. His back was stooped and his waist was bent.
Wearing a black gauze flat hat, a flattering smile on his face, his eyes are greedy and bright, and his expression is full of utilitarianism.
The room suddenly fell into silence. After a while, Gao Zhou said, "Second, Miss Second?"
Xia Zhaoyi smiled: "It's me."
The same smile, this smile, the charm of the eyebrows and eyes are all hers, completely different from the flattering attitude just now.
But for the moment, everyone still didn't dare to recognize him.
"Second Miss's art of disguise...is superb." Zhan Ning almost stuttered.
Xia Zhaoyi stepped in and looked at the map of the palace city on the table.
"Wende Palace," she tapped lightly with her finger, "I want to go here."
In Tiansheng Palace in Yong'an Imperial Capital, Queen Nangong's bedroom was called Wende Palace, and it continued to be used after she came to Hejing.
Seeing from the corner of his eye that everyone was still looking at her face, Xia Zhaoyi smiled: "The old man is easy to dress up, just add more wrinkles and look more old."
Gao Zhou gave a thumbs up and said in admiration: "Second Miss has magical powers."
Shi Guoxin said: "Second Miss, the palace suddenly summoned all the Jingzhao Suwei generals into the palace."
"I heard it just now. I happened to be going there, so I went to take a look." Xia Zhaoyi said with a smile.
Although the Imperial City was renovated from the Jinping Palace and was more than half smaller than the Tiansheng Palace, the majesty of the royal family was not only a palace, but also a summer resort. There were many guard posts and the protection was airtight.
Gao Zhou and the others felt uneasy and asked Shuang Yanque's shopkeeper Guan to buy several sets of laborers' clothes. They all carried large sacks and pretended to be passing by and went to the main road of Yu Street to stare at them from a distance.
The generals guarding the Jingzhao patrol were entering the palace one after another.
I thought that the girl would go around the west palace wall where there were the least people, and wait for the opportunity. Unexpectedly, she was wearing a maid's uniform, trying hard to straighten her rickety back, nostrils pointing to the sky, looking down on others, walking with a proud and uneasy pace, step by step towards the palace
Go to the door.
"Wow." Gao Zhou said.
"Second Miss is so amazing." Zhan Ning also said.
Her back has always been slender and straight, but now it is extremely difficult to pretend to be hunchbacked while also pretending to be trying to straighten it!
"I'm very worried." Shi Guoxin said with a frown.
"I'm worried too," Zhan Ning said. "I'm worried about the guard. It's okay if he doesn't recognize him, but if he does... ugh."
"Hey." Gao Zhou sighed in agreement.
The palace gate is busy every day. Many people were sent out today, and even more people came back.
Xia Zhaoyi did not take a carriage, a sedan, or go to other palace gates, but walked straight to the Jianwu Gate of Jinping Palace.
The guard stepped forward, but before he could say anything, Xia Zhaoyi took out a token with a sad and helpless expression.
The guard looked at the front and back of the token carefully and said, "My father-in-law is a bit shy."
"That's not true," Xia Zhaoyi said with a sarcastic expression, "Everyone who looks familiar is dead."
The guard frowned. Although he knew that the eunuchs in the palace had not been able to live peacefully in recent years, he could not sympathize with these eunuchs.
Xia Zhaoyi took the token back and said, "Let's go."
Seeing Xia Zhaoyi's back walking into the palace gate, Gao Zhou and the others opened their mouths wide.
Zhan Ning said: "It's so simple. What did the second lady say to him?"
Gao Zhou said: "It looks simple, but it is not simple in reality. First of all, we must have the magnanimity and courage of the second lady."
Shi Guoxin said: "Yes, it's not that the guards are not tight, but it's just that they are not expected at all."
Zhan Ning nodded: "Yes, this is an ordinary old eunuch."
An older woman walked out of the alley behind them. She looked around, turned her eyes, and when she saw them, she immediately shouted: "Hey, loaders! Come here quickly after delivering the goods. We, Mr. Li, have a job!"
Gao Zhou and the others immediately looked back, paused, shouted "Hey", "Okay" and "Come on" repeatedly, and immediately applied oil on the soles of their feet.
Royal Street is a long main road. Not everyone can buy a house here, and it is definitely not a place to open fancy restaurants or ordinary shops. Everyone here is either rich or noble. Once they get involved, it will only cause a lot of trouble.
run!
The guards inside the palace gate are not only stricter than outside the palace gate, they are also stricter than those in Tiansheng Palace back then.
Wherever Xia Zhaoyi went, he could see patrols by the imperial guards, as well as many colleagues and palace maids.
The expression on everyone's face is very serious, or in other words, solemn.
Xia Zhaoyi also put on the same facial expression mask and walked in the palace city indifferently.
Half an hour later, she finally arrived at Queen Nangong's Wende Palace.
Using a stone to attract the attention of all the guards inside, she flipped over deftly and landed lightly.
The guards inside were not as strict as outside. Xia Zhaoyi bypassed the two people in front of the door and walked to the north of the palace.
After confirming that there were no guards under the verandah, she rolled to the ground under a window and prepared to enter through the window.
Just then, a strong stench came.
Xia Zhaoyi was stunned.
This stench was familiar to her.
Corpse stink!
Xia Zhaoyi looked up at the window sash above his head and his face turned pale.
After a while, she pulled out the dagger and stood up, silently tearing a long crack on the window lattice.
The stench became stronger and stronger, gushing out from the broken opening, and several black flying insects came out of the window.
Xia Zhaoyi reached in with a dagger in hand and quickly pushed the bolt inside with the dagger.
When the window sash finally opened in front of her, she raised her head. What faced her was a woman who had hanged herself to death. Her whole body was highly decomposed and covered with corpse insects.
