The old lady quickly said: "I asked the grain store owners about it, and they said that the recent business has been very good, the supply exceeds the demand, and there is not much food in Jincheng, so I have to raise the price."
Yun Shang narrowed her eyes. Business was very good. In each city, the number of people was basically relatively fixed. The consumption of things like rice, flour, grain and oil was also relatively fixed. And there had been no major events recently, so it was impossible to suddenly
If there is a sudden increase, it is abnormal. If it were in other cities, Yun Shang would be suspected of having a large number of soldiers hidden here first, but Jincheng is different. Because Jincheng is an imperial city, Jincheng
Within a radius of dozens of miles, the guards patrolled very strictly. Unless Xia Huanyu allowed it, he would not be able to hide.
But why is this happening?
Yun Shang was silent for a while, then raised his eyes and said, "Just now you said that many people have disappeared in Jincheng recently, what's going on?"
Another woman said quickly: "It is true that many people have disappeared. My family lives in the west of the city, which is considered a poor area. Recently, many of my neighbors have disappeared for no apparent reason. They are both men and women, and they are all relatively young. In their home
Everyone doesn't know where they have gone, and they all suspect that they were kidnapped. But they don't know that they don't belong to a wealthy family, so what's the use of kidnapping them."
"Have you reported to the official?" Yun Shang asked softly.
"I reported it. This situation has been going on for almost a month, and I reported it to the official for almost a month, but I still have no clue, and the official can't find anything. I reported it again and again, and reported it to the Ministry of Household Affairs, who then ordered the closure
After entering the city gate, you can only go out but not enter." The old lady responded softly.
Yun Shang frowned and shook his head. No, if a large number of people disappeared in the city and the yamen reported it, in addition to the household department, there should also be the punishment department. However, Yun Shang did not receive a message from Li Qianmo. And after the people disappeared,
According to common sense, when a city gate is closed, one should allow entry but not exit, rather than allow exit but not entry, so as to prevent missing people from leaving the city.
Yun Shang turned her head and looked at Qin Yi, "Who is the Minister of Household Affairs?"
Qinyi responded quickly: "The minister of household affairs is named Qian, and his name is Qian Rujun."
Yun Shang nodded and then remembered that during the Chinese New Year today, the Minister of Household Affairs came to visit her to pay her respects. However, at that time, because the Seventh Prince brought people to investigate Liu Chuchu, she did not pay too much attention to it.
Pay attention to that Mr. Qian. Now that I think about it, even his face is blurry.
Yun Shang nodded lightly. It was not her turn to worry about this matter yet. After Luo Qingyan returned home later, she could inquire about him.
Yun Shang thought, not wanting to waste too much energy on this matter in front of the housekeeper, so she changed the subject, "Since the prices of rice, flour, grains, oils and vegetables have increased, as you said, let people follow Zhuangzi
Just send it over, it won't take much trouble. It's just that people outside the city can't enter the city recently, so you can send someone to the city gate every day to meet you, and I will send someone to greet the city gate guard."
The woman hurriedly responded and stepped aside. The next one quickly said: "The princess's yard was burned down before. The prince ordered it to be rebuilt. Now it is almost completed. I think the things in the house should be replenished."
, I drew up a list of items that need to be added, and the princess will take a look and see if there is anything that needs to be added or subtracted."
Yun Shang took it, turned it over carefully, picked up the pen on the side and crossed out some at random, and said: "The double-eared vase doesn't look very good at the door. Let's replace it with a blue and white porcelain one. The bedroom is not big, eight
If the screen doesn't look good, just put six of them. The pattern on it is of thousands of galloping horses. Your Majesty likes dragon birth incense, so buy some and put them first. I also deleted some of the others..."
As he spoke, he already deleted what should be deleted from the list and changed what should be changed before handing it back to the woman.
The housekeepers in the house reported the news one by one, and it was getting dark.
Yun Shang let everyone disperse, and then ordered Qin Yi to prepare dinner. After the dinner was ready for a while, Luo Qingyan returned to the house. Yun Shang saw that he looked tired again, and hurriedly poured it for him.
A cup of tea was handed over.
"The meal has been prepared. The prince's favorite mandarin fish has been cooked. The prince has worked so hard these days, so he will eat more later." Yun Shang said with a smile.
Luo Qingyan nodded gently, looking at Yun Shang with a bit of tenderness in his eyes.
"What did Shang'er do today?" Luo Qingyan took a sip of tea, put the cup down, and turned to look at Yun Shang with a smile.
Yun Shang smiled and said: "We have been away from the mansion for three months, and there are a lot of things to deal with in the mansion. I just finished reading the account books in the mansion this afternoon and dealt with some trivial things. There is also a shop.
All of them, Zhuangzi’s, have to be dealt with one by one.”
"Thank you for your hard work." Luo Qingyan said with a smile.
The food had been laid out, and Luo Qingyan and Yun Shang got up and had dinner together. After dinner, Luo Qingyan accompanied Yun Shang for a walk in the courtyard. The eaves were covered with lanterns, which illuminated the courtyard.
It was as bright as day. Yun Shang looked at the blooming lotus in the lake, then turned to look at Luo Qing and said: "I heard from the ladies in the mansion that the price of food in Jincheng has increased a lot recently, and there are some in Jincheng."
Many people are missing?"
Luo Qingyan stood next to Yun Shang, nodded slightly, and frowned slightly, "It's a bit tricky. I always feel that it was the Su family who did it, but there is no evidence at all."
Yun Shang turned her eyes and looked at Luo Qingyan, which coincided with what she thought. She also had doubts about Su Qi.
"What are you going to do, Your Majesty?" Yun Shang blinked and looked at Luo Qingyan.
Luo Qingyan pondered for a long time before saying softly: "Let people pretend to be common people..."
Yun Shang said with a smile: "I can help the prince with this matter. When I first arrived in Xia Kingdom, one of the things I started to do was to keep plugging hidden piles into Jincheng. Although the poor areas in the west of the city are relatively
Few, but not entirely absent.”
Luo Qingyan turned around and looked at Yun Shang with a smile, cupped her hands towards Yun Shang and said, "In that case, thank you madam. But don't work too hard, madam..."
Yun Shang glared at Luo Qingyan and discovered that since he came back from Lingxi, he no longer calls her "Madam" but "Ms."
Speaking of the increase in food prices, Yunshang thought of the strange things in the palace. Qianyin said that the palace purchased a large number of jewelry, regardless of material, and almost all jewelry stores in the city were wiped out.
I don’t know who gave the order and what they wanted to do...
Apart from being worn by women, does jewelry have any other uses?
But Yun Shang really didn't have time to investigate these things. For two days in a row, Yun Shang was trapped by the account books and some trivial matters.
It wasn't until the fourth day that Yun Shang finally had some free time. After having lunch, she walked slowly to the palace. When Yun Shang went to Shuya Palace, Concubine Shen Shu was taking a nap, so Yun Shang went to Xiangzhu Palace.
.
Although Ning Qian is no longer in the palace, Lin Youran still lives in Xiangzhu Palace.
Lin Youran was about to give birth and her body was a bit swollen. She could only lie on the bed and rest. When she saw Yun Shang, she quickly sat up and wanted to get out of bed to salute Yun Shang.
Seeing this, Yun Shang quickly waved her hands and said, "You're feeling unwell, so you'd better lie down."
Yun Shang sat down by the bed and took Lin Youran's pulse. The fetus in her belly was fine.
Lin Youran smiled and said: "This child really torments me, but it's the princess who is so cute."
Yun Shang smiled lightly, shook her head and said: "I'm afraid, this child has the same temperament as his father. If he is also a cold master, it will be troublesome."
Lin Youran couldn't help laughing when she heard this, "The prince is a dragon among men, and the child must be very smart and outstanding. Princess, there is no need to worry."
"Who can say for sure about this?" Yun Shang said softly, "I see that there seem to be a lot of people missing in the palace?"
Lin Youran nodded gently: "Some time ago, His Majesty suddenly issued an order to send the concubines who had not slept in the palace out of the palace. Due to my physical inconvenience, I rarely went out. I only heard that Queen Hua seemed to be missing. I
I have been in the palace for nearly a year, and I have heard people talk about the affairs between Queen Hua and Your Majesty. It is said that Your Majesty is very affectionate towards Queen Hua. Previously, when Queen Hua was here, she was the only one in the harem..."
Yun Shang knew all this. Yun Shang was silent for a moment, and then asked: "Have you noticed anything unusual in the palace recently?"
Seeing Yun Shang's serious expression, Lin Youran thought about it carefully and then said softly: "An unusual place... I have been recuperating in the palace recently, but I have never heard of anything unusual. It's just that some time ago, in the Xiangzhu Palace,
Three palace attendants suddenly disappeared..."
"Have you sent anyone to look for him?" Yun Shang asked quickly.
"I've searched, I've searched almost everywhere, but it's indeed missing." Lin Youran responded softly.
Missing again?
Yun Shang frowned, and a strange color flashed in her eyes. It was quite unusual for someone to go missing outside the palace, but inside the palace...
The palace has always been heavily guarded, but it is not easy to attack in the palace.
"Have you ever heard of such a situation in other palaces?" Yun Shang asked quickly.
"I don't know about other palaces, but I heard from palace people that people in Zhenbao Pavilion and Shangyi Bureau have disappeared. However, His Majesty is not in the palace now. Although Concubine Shen Shu is assisting in managing the harem, she actually doesn't take care of much. And she is afraid of making people in the palace panic.
, so he suppressed it and asked people to report the missing person to the inner chamber supervisor first, and the chamberlain supervisor would investigate. However, the investigation has been carried out for a while, and there has been no result." Lin Youran said softly.
Yun Shang nodded slightly, "Have you heard that the palace recently bought a lot of jewelry from outside the palace?"
"Jewelry?" Lin Youran shook her head, "Because there has been a war at the border recently? Concubine Shen Shu issued an order, saying that the soldiers at the border needed food and grass, and the treasury was empty, so that the harem could save money and had not purchased any jewelry for several months. Almost everyone
The palace is like this, and when I heard that Queen Hua was returning to the palace, no one wanted to stir up trouble at this juncture."
Yun Shang frowned. There was something strange about this matter, and she couldn't understand it. (To be continued)
