"I know." Mao Gui looked at Xiang Ju who was walking towards them, a hint of sympathy flashed in his eyes, but...that was all.
In the days that followed, the number of crows gathered in the Yongshou Palace continued to increase. Ten days later, the situation was even better than Zhou Quan had previously estimated. There were at least twenty crows perching near the Yongshou Palace.
As for Zheng Jiu, he had already gone to Prince He's Mansion. Fortunately, there was still some lily of the valley incense left in the palace's warehouse. Hong Zhou brought all of it back to Zheng Jiu, along with Mongolian sweat medicine and arsenic.
.
"General manager, do you want to use it tonight?" Faced with Zheng Jiu's inquiry, Zhou Quan hesitated and said: "Wait a moment, and I will go and report to the empress first. You must keep that thing carefully and don't let anyone find it.
, even Xiao Chengzi is avoiding it."
After Zheng Jiu agreed, Zhou Quan hurried to Kunning Palace. Xianyue was about to have a meal. After learning his intention, she said in a solemn voice: "How sure are you about this matter...?"
"I dare not say 100%, but there is still 70% to 80%." After answering like this, Zhou Quan added: "And even if this matter fails, the master has reason to punish Wei Yaosheng."
His words made Xia Yueluo Zidai's long eyebrows raised in detail, and she asked in surprise: "Where do you start with these words?"
"Crows are sacred objects in the palace. The ancestors and emperors have taught that no one can hurt crows. Otherwise, they will be sent to the punishment department, and at worst, they will be killed on the spot. Once the crows go crazy, Wei promised to drive them away in panic.
, but the mad crow will not retreat for any reason. In the chaos, death and injury are inevitable."
Qi Kuan interjected: "I understand. The reason you mentioned is to hurt the crow?"
"Not bad." Zhou Quan responded, looking up at Xianyue, "Master, what do you think?"
Xianyue thought carefully for a moment and said in a deep voice: "It's indeed good. Whatever, just do it your way and grasp the timing. I believe you don't need to remind me that the most important thing about this plan is timing. If you grasp it, you can
You get twice the result with half the effort, but if you don’t master it well, you will do useless work.”
Zhou Quan nodded and said: "I have been calculating with Zheng Jiu these days, so I should be able to grasp the opportunity."
Xianyue nodded and said: "Then go ahead and be careful in everything. I... am waiting for your good news."
"This time, I will never let my master down again." After saying this, Zhou Quan exited Kunning Palace and returned to the House of Internal Affairs. Zheng Jiu was still waiting at the original place. When he saw him coming in, he hurriedly asked
: "How is it? What does the master say?"
"Master agrees with my plan, let us seize the opportunity and act carefully." Zhou Quan replied briefly and said: "Without further delay, I will call Xiao Chengzi here now."
"Wait a minute." Zheng Jiu pulled him and said suspiciously: "Can Xiao Chengzi really be trusted? Although he has been with the manager for a few years, that's all. In this palace, he wears a mask for a few years.
There are even many people with more than ten years of age, and...I think he is quite quick-thinking, I'm afraid..."
Zhou Quan interrupted him and said: "I know what you are worried about. Although Xiao Chengzi is quick-thinking, he is definitely not a treacherous villain. If I had not seen this, I would not have told him that before."
Zheng Jiu said in a deep voice: "I hope you are right. Okay, I'll call Xiao Chengzi over."
After a while, Zheng Jiu came over with Xiao Chengzi, who was holding a few pastries in his hand. He came closer and said with a smile: "General Manager, Manager Zhou, I just went to the imperial kitchen to get some pastries. They are quite delicious."
, do you two want to try it?"
Zhou Quan waved his hand and said solemnly: "Xiao Chengzi, I know that someone will feed the crows later. I want you to feed the crows on his behalf without arousing suspicion. Manager Zheng and I will be in the Yongshou Palace.
Waiting for you nearby."
Seeing that he was speaking seriously, Xiao Chengzi stopped eating cakes and frowned: "Manager, why is this?"
Zheng Jiu handed over a yellow paper bag and said, "This contains Mongolian sweat medicine. I want you to mix it with the food and let the crows eat it."
"Sweating medicine?" Xiao Chengzi accidentally choked on his own saliva. He coughed for a long time before he recovered. While wiping the tears he coughed up, he said: "Manager, why do you feed the crows the medicine for sweating? In the palace, there are
There are rules, no one is allowed to hurt these crows."
"Didn't you ask me before why I asked you to lead the crows to Yongshou Palace? Now it's time to tell you, because I want to use them to take the life that Wei promised."
"A crow...kills someone? This...how is this possible?" Xiao Chengzi shook his head in horror, not because he was panicked when he knew that Zhou Quan wanted to kill Wei Jingxuan, but because he couldn't understand how this crow could kill someone even though it liked to peck at carrion.
"As long as it is used properly, anything can kill people." After saying this, Zhou Quan urged: "It's getting late, hurry up and wait until we get to the Yongshou Palace to talk about other things. Remember, think of a better excuse.
, don’t arouse suspicion.”
"Yes." Seeing his eagerness, Xiao Chengzi responded and left in a hurry. After Zhou Quan and Zheng Jiuzai discussed a few more words, they also went out to Yongshou Palace. No one knew how long the Mongolian sweat medicine would last.
So it was safest to go over and wait. However, before leaving the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he met Zhang Quan, who smiled falsely and said: "It's so late, where are the General Manager and Manager Zheng going?"
Zhou Quan smiled and said, "I heard that the lion dog that Manager Lin sent to Concubine Shen a few days ago was a little noisy, disturbing Shen Concubine's sleep, so I planned to go and have a look; Manager Zheng happened to be here to take care of me, so we went there together.
"
Hearing this, Zhang Quan said: "I have asked Lin Changshou to look at this matter before. He said that it was the first time he changed places and the lion dog is not familiar with it. It will be fine in a few days. Don't worry, sir."
Zhou Quan's eyes flashed slightly, and he pretended to be surprised: "Really? I didn't expect Manager Zhang to move so quickly. I heard before that you were sick and had difficulty managing things. Are you all right now?"
Zhang Quan smiled hypocritically and said: "Thank you for your concern, manager. I'm fine now." Before, he was not convinced by Zhou Quan and took over as manager, so he left the matter at hand and wanted to make things difficult for Zhou Quan. Unexpectedly, Zhou Quan, with the help of Zheng Jiu and the others,
The Ministry of Internal Affairs was still managed in an orderly manner, which made him very disappointed.
Although Zhang Quan felt aggrieved, he was afraid that if he kept pretending to be sick, Zhou Quan would be given the opportunity to resign from his position as deputy general manager, which would be even worse, so he could only hold back his anger and start working again.
Zhou Quan said with a smile: "As long as it's okay, I hope Mr. Zhang will assist me in the future and jointly manage the internal affairs office and run errands for the emperor and all the masters and queens."
Hearing the word "assistant", Zhang Quan almost vomited to death. He had been working as a deputy general manager for so many years, and he had been working so hard just to take over as general manager, but he ended up making clothes for others. It was really annoying!