Li Yan, who had not slept well, got up. Cao An, who had not slept all night but was already used to it, immediately brought toiletries.
In this era, toothbrushes already existed, but toothpaste had not yet come out, and green salt was used.
When Li Yan was in Liangzhou, he used willow branches to brush his teeth. He soaked the willow branches in water beforehand. When he used them, he bit them open and the willow fibers inside came out and put them in his mouth for brushing.
At this time, the toothbrush Cao An took was made of cow bones. It was processed and polished first, and then fumigated with sulfur to remove odor and disinfect it. As for the bristles, most of them were made of pig bristles, which looked weird when scraped in the mouth.
But it is indeed much cleaner to clean than willow branches.
After washing and tidying up, Li Yan came to the dining hall, greeted the prince and started eating.
The royal family has always been particular about eating. Not only the dishes, but also the order of seats and the courtiers invited all represent political signals.
At this time, the prince was in the chief seat, and only Li Yan was invited to the banquet. Even the ordinary officials in the prince's palace were not summoned, and he paid full attention to it.
Any other minister would have been flattered, but Li Yan was more concerned about the sumptuous breakfast.
During Li Shimin's period, palace expenses were relatively simple, but in the generation of Li Zhi and Empress Wu, they became extravagant.
Especially after moving into my new home, Daming Palace, my enjoyment suddenly went to a whole new level.
At this time, a simple breakfast meal contains many precious ingredients, is full of color, fragrance and extremely tempting.
In comparison, the prince only had a bowl of clear porridge and a few stacks of vegetarian dishes in front of him, which made Li Yan not able to eat too much.
But the prince smiled and said: "Rokuro, don't be restrained. If you eat well, I can eat more."
When Li Yan heard that he changed the familiar title, he knew that the princess must have blown the pillow wind, and started to work: "Then I'm not welcome!"
"Ha ha!"
The prince laughed when he saw him free and easy, and indeed ate half a bowl of porridge more than usual.
After the delicious meal was finished, the melodious morning bells echoed in the Daming Palace. The prince said: "I am going to pay my respects to my father soon. Can Liulang help me worry about the ghosts?"
Li Yan stood up and said: "There must be something fishy behind the haunting in the palace. I will do my best to find out the truth for Your Highness!"
"Then there's Rōrokuro!"
The prince nodded slightly and then smiled bitterly: "If not, my father will find a curse doctor from the Taishi Bureau to kill ghosts and ask the ghosts. He will also ask the Imperial Medical Office to prepare ghost-killing pills and put them into the palace. The empress will ask for help.
Dharma master, eminent monk, a commotion is indispensable..."
Li Yan was speechless after hearing this.
The name "Dr. Curse" sounds like the folk Dr. Tea, Dr. Wine, Dr. Watts, Dr. Axe, Dr. Cooking Pot, etc.
But in fact, he was a serious court official with an official rank ranging from the ninth to the lowest. He was mainly responsible for explaining the methods of prayer and the means of making charms.
I won’t go into details about how useful it is.
Sesukimaru is also very interesting.
It is said that someone in Luozhou suffers from a kind of dyslexia. Whatever other people say, the ghost in that person's throat will also follow them and they can't control themselves.
Ancient doctors didn't know about repeaters and had never seen such a strange disease. They thought about it for a long time and figured out a way to take a copy of "Shen Nong's Materia Medica" and read the name of the medicine in front of the patient.
Every time a drug name is read, the ghost in the patient's throat repeats it. But when he reads a drug that ghosts are afraid of, the ghost in the throat stops repeating it. So the doctor takes this medicine and asks the patient to take it. As a result, the disease is cured by the medicine.
.
Ghost: What the hell are you trying to do to me...
Using a similar principle, the Imperial Medical Office made ghost-killing pills using herbs that ghosts were afraid of. Just like mothballs in later generations, they were placed in the palace to drive away ghosts.
As for the Taoist immortal masters and eminent monks, they are obviously Taoist monks. They usually keep magic sticks, but it is time for them to show off.
There is no doubt that the effects of the above three methods are close to zero, maybe even negative.
Considering that the prince's body is poor and weak, he may suffer from a serious illness after being put through all kinds of torture.
In view of this, the prince went to meet the saint, and Li Yan immediately came to the mourning hall in the West Garden to collect clues.
However, after checking carefully for half an hour, I found nothing new compared to what I got last night.
Li Yan ordered: "Bring all the palace servants who have seen the ghost in white and the headless maid here."
Not long after, four people were brought over.
Cao An, two other chamberlains, and a palace maid.
Li Yan asked separately: "Tell me all the causes and consequences of seeing those ghosts. Don't omit any details."
While these people were describing the process, he activated his talent and looked at it four times.
The results are much the same.
"Emotional feedback - fear!"
"The reasoning begins!"
"Fear of ghosts."
"Correct reasoning!"
…
After the boring reasoning, Li Yan fell into deep thought.
There is no pretense among these people, and there is nothing wrong with their testimony.
To sum up, three chamberlains, including Cao An, discovered a ghost in white clothes, leaving traces of water every time they passed by. Another palace maid discovered a headless palace maid, seen through the window.
When they bump into ghosts, it's always at night, which is consistent with the hours when ghosts go to work.
"but……"
"very strange!"
"Whether it's the shock or the panic it may cause, the headless palace maid is much stronger than the ghost in white, right?"
Li Yan frowned.
Yuwen Chengdu in the original plot of "The Bleeding Eagle" was the confused headless general. If not, Li Yuanfang would not have been so frightened that he could not move.
It's not that ghosts are involved, but since the other party can pretend to be a more terrifying headless ghost, why take the easy route?
After all, it is not difficult to be a headless ghost. How many people can see through a short but strong person in dim light?
So, Li Yan went to the place where the headless ghost appeared.
"It was outside here that you saw the headless palace maid?"
"yes……"
The palace maid who was almost frightened said tremblingly.
Li Yan first looked outside through the window paper, then entered the house and searched carefully.
Nothing was found.
This room is very ordinary. It is located at the south end of the West Garden, exactly diagonal from the corner where the mourning hall was found.
Li Yan turned around again and found that behind it was the inner palace.
In other words, if you pretend to be a headless palace maid here, you can definitely sneak into the inner palace.
Li Yan looked solemnly: "Could it be that the murderer is planning to proceed step by step, first using the female ghost in white to create panic, and after the atmosphere is brewing, he will enter the inner palace as a headless maid to scare Li Hong?"
At present, it seems that this is the most likely possibility. He turned to ask the palace maid: "When you saw the headless palace maid that day, were you cleaning here normally, or did you happen to pass by by chance?"
The palace maid recalled it and licked her lips: "I was passing by. The area I was cleaning was not here. It was late that day and I wanted to go to the dining room to find some food. In order to go faster, I took this road."
"Emotional feedback - hungry!"
"The reasoning begins!"
"Want to eat?"
"Correct reasoning!"
…
Li Yan looked at the palace maid who was almost crying just now, but now wanted to cook, and laughed: "Call me Yun Niang, are you hungry now? Go and eat!"
"Thank you Li Wuwei!"
The palace maid Yunniang cheered and trotted away.
Li Yan shrugged.
Although a small detail was determined, it didn't help much.
How could he dare to play tricks in the prince's womb without being familiar with the internal environment?
It can basically be concluded that the murderer is someone from the palace.
Chamberlains and palace maids are the most likely, and guards on duty may also have the opportunity to commit crimes.
He looked at Zhang Huan and Xu Hong, who had been following behind him, and asked: "When the guards are patrolling, is there any chance to leave secretly?"
The two looked at each other, neither wanting to answer.
Li Yan added: "If this matter is not investigated to the bottom of the matter, and when the saint comes to investigate, all the guards of Shaoyang Academy will be involved!"
The two of them had no choice but to whisper: "Yes, we rarely check everyone in detail except when changing shifts."
Li Yan snorted, and the two quickly lowered their heads.
Don't think that the imperial guards are all capable elites. Many of them come from nobles, good and bad.
If Li Yan did not join the internal guard in Liangzhou and came directly to Chang'an to return to the palace, his next destination would be to join the palace as a guard.
After all, he was not the eldest son and could not ascend to the nobility. If he did not take the imperial examination, he would be a guard or a follower in a certain prince's palace.
Most of the people who work as guards are just messing around. The children of these powerful families are full of playboy style and like to be lazy at work. In addition, management is not strict and their practical ability is very poor.
Of course, there are also powerful troops in the Sixteen Guards. If Li Yan joins the Imperial Guard, he will obviously strive to fall into that category, gain recognition in front of Li Zhi, and then be released, so he does not need to start from the grassroots general level.
But it's not easy, after all, there are too many distinguished disciples.
Judging from the performance of these people last night, it is obvious that the guards in Shaoyang Palace are not elite.
Not surprising, Shaoyang Courtyard is located deep in the Daming Palace. Under normal circumstances, the role of the guards here is the same as that of the concierge.
Arranging special forces here is completely overqualified. They might as well be guarding those important palace gates.
"There are people in the imperial guards of Shaoyang Yuan who have evil intentions. They can definitely find opportunities to avoid others and pretend to be ghosts."
"So, the guards, eunuchs, and maids are all suspects!"