On this day, Ding Mei was sitting in the cell reading a book. The footsteps came closer and closer, and she said casually without raising her head: "Please help me sell two more books, Mrs. Zhao, and a box of Osmanthus Crispy Candy from Shijintang. Thank you very much."
.”
The female cell leader hesitated for a moment and said, "Oh... yes."
"Excuse me." Ding Mei said and raised her head, and saw several men standing next to the head of the women's cell. The leader was an old man in brocade robes, followed by several servants. She smiled and said, "What did I say, you
The old man's tone of voice is so weird." He stood up and bowed, "Hello, sir. May I ask your name?"
The old man in brocade robes outside the cell coughed twice and signaled the female cell leader to open the door. The female cell leader quickly opened the cell door without saying a word. The old man slowly walked into the cell and looked around. He saw that the cell was larger than other cells and had a fan.
There is a table and two chairs in the window. The table is not small, and there are glass oil lamps, books, four treasures of the study and snack boxes on it. There are cushions on the chairs. There are also a bunch of snack boxes beside the table, which are different from the snack shops.
Come out, they are all sweet-scented osmanthus candy.
The old man said: "Do you only eat sweet-scented osmanthus candy?"
"That's not true." Ding Mei said, "I have only been eating sweet-scented osmanthus candy while I was in jail."
"Why?"
"I came in because I was coaxed by a little girl with sweet-scented osmanthus candy. As the saying goes, one learns from one's mistakes. I have to remind myself not to make such mistakes in the future."
The old man nodded: "Can you blame her?"
"I don't blame her. It's me who underestimated her. Besides, she looks so beautiful. I can't blame a beauty."
The old man was a little amused and looked at the female cell leader outside. "I heard you are living a good life."
"Not bad for a prisoner."
"Did you just hear the jumble of footsteps?"
"I was reading a book and didn't pay attention."
"Then how do you know it's 'Aunt Zhao' who is here and not the jailer next to you?"
"Aunt Zhao is the cell leader. I gave her the most whips. Who dares to steal my business from her?"
The old man raised his eyebrows. "Isn't it a loss to give him such a high tap?"
"It's not a loss. Labor costs are already expensive, not to mention that they have a monopoly. It's a win-win deal for me to increase labor costs to get the best service. After all, money doesn't matter to me, and Aunt Zhao can rely on money.
to improve the quality of life.”
The old man frowned slightly. Many of the words Ding Mei said were unfamiliar to him. He sat down and said, "Are you willing to be the crown prince's concubine?"
Ding Mei thought for a moment and said: "If the prince orders me to pretend to be the prince's concubine for a while, I will do it."
"Don't you want to be a real princess?"
"The harem is not allowed to interfere in politics."
The old man laughed dumbly, nodded and said: "Okay. Then you can become an official." After saying this, he stood up and left.
After half an hour, the Supreme King issued an order to release Ding Mei from prison, and appointed her as the counselor of political affairs, and presided over state affairs together with three other veterans.
A few days later, there was indeed a rush of horses into Shu, and there was a rebellion in the colony. The prince led the troops to put down the rebellion and could not return for the time being. Fortunately, he also received a letter from the capital, and Situ Cen led the elite soldiers of the Yan State's special battalion to go to Dacheng for negotiations.
The Supreme King did not only have two sons, King Shu and Situ Cen. When they heard that the prince had not yet returned to the country, they immediately jumped up and down, wooing generals and befriending ministers. The Supreme King calmly expressed his gratitude to Ding.
They were given the official title of cabinet bachelor. However, this move did not make them calm down for a moment. Instead, they jumped up and down even more, and they had already offended several generals.
One day, the Supreme King suddenly learned that his sixth son had divorced his legitimate wife and was going to marry the granddaughter of General Feng, the commander of the Chengdu Guards, before the end of the year. He sneered and ordered: "Find out the date of the wedding."
Not long after, he lowered his head and said, "It's the twenty-sixth day of the twelfth lunar month." The Supreme King nodded.
On the twenty-sixth day of the twelfth lunar month, the sedan chair had just been carried away from the Feng family in less than a stick of incense. The old eunuch and the young eunuch arrived in great force. "According to the handwriting of the Supreme King, the twenty-sixth day of the twelfth lunar month is an auspicious day for Yi to marry.
If you marry, you will be promoted to an official position. If you are specially promoted to be brave, you will be promoted to a high official from the second rank."
The Feng family was immediately confused. Dr. Zhongfeng was a civilian official with a false title and had no actual duties. The Feng family was full of military generals. This promotion was actually a dismissal. Uncle Feng immediately asked: "May I ask who the commander of the Chengdu Guard has been replaced?"
"I don't know." The old eunuch who delivered the edict said with a smile, "The Supreme King hasn't thought about it yet. Anyway, we are not the family we are getting married to today." After saying this, he dropped the edict and turned around to leave. The Feng family was in a state of chaos.
It wasn't until the next day that another news came out. The commander of the Chengdu Guard was directly replaced by Wang Wei, the hero of the rescue. Both the government and the public were shocked.
Three days later it was New Year's Eve, and the King of Shu hosted a banquet for civil and military officials as usual. Since there were no men from the King of Shu and Situ Cen's families, the atmosphere at the banquet was a bit strange. For a while, Lao Liu had eaten too much wine and was banging on the table and hoarse.
As the opera began, the Supreme King ordered, "Take him down!"
The sixth child laughed and slapped the case hard: "Who dares to touch me!" Nai drunkenly pointed at the Supreme King and said, "Only the second and third children are your sons, and none of us are your sons! They are legitimate sons, haha! My father-in-law, you
He is not his legitimate son! Your father only had one legitimate son, and he was killed by you! Now the third child rebelled and got out. The second child, hehehehe, fell into the hands of the enemy. What a pity, he only had one son, and he was killed by himself
Exiled! If you go to fight now, there is a 10% chance that you will never come back~~ No one else is nobler than anyone else."
The Supreme King sneered: "That's what you think? Do you think it will be your turn then?"
Lao Liu said casually: "Father, you are Lao Liu, and I am Lao Liu. You can be the King of Shu, why can't I!" He waved his hand, "Not just me, but all the brothers here don't think so? The Kingdom of Shu thinks so.
Big, how about we each get a piece?"
The Supreme King Duan yelled: "How outrageous!"
Lao Liu laughed and said: "Be bold, I will be bold! What's wrong? You are about to be buried, how long can you live? Once you die, can you control what we do?"
As soon as he finished speaking, someone said loudly: "If the Supreme King is so angry right now, the Kingdom of Shu will be under the jurisdiction of the federation within half a year." Everyone was stunned. Only Ding Mei, the political minister, stood up.
He glanced at all the Phoenix sons and grandsons calmly. "Which of you has the ability to protect Shu under the power of the Federation? Or do you think that if Shu is divided, the foreign minister in the capital will help you?"
Lao Liu stroked his palms and smiled: "It's just a big piece of it."
Ding Mei smiled and said: "He has a good relationship with Jia Cong. He wants the whole Shu Kingdom to talk about big things and small things. They just think that the prince and the prince are more suitable to be the king of Shu than him. Now Minister Situ has already
I rushed to Dacheng to rescue the prince and brought the best special battalion in the Yan Kingdom. Can you think about it, can we beat him or not?"
The whole table was silent. After a while, the Supreme King walked away with a puff of his sleeves.
On the early morning of the first day of the first lunar month, all the ministers came to the palace to congratulate him, but the sixth son did not come. The Supreme King thought he was embarrassed or annoyed, but the Queen Mother sent someone to complain, and his newly married daughter-in-law did not come either.
The king was pointing at the mulberry trees and cursing the sophora trees when he suddenly heard the urgent report: Lao Liu died suddenly. The Supreme King was so shocked that he broke the tea bowl in his hand.
Ding Mei immediately asked: "What does sudden death mean?"
The chief steward of Laoliu Mansion who reported the news cried and said, "He died suddenly."
Ding Mei said: "Death can be caused by illness, injury, poison, etc. Which one does Your Highness have?"
The chief steward cried: "I don't know why. He was fine last night, but when I saw it this morning, he was already hard."
Ding Mei hurriedly went to see his old minister Qiu Liang. Qiu Liang stood up and said, "Old minister, go take a look."
Ding Mei said: "Wei Chen is going too. Wei Chen knows many ways to kill people secretly." Qiu Liang knew that she had been the chief of the Qin State and nodded.
The old eunuch Wu Fang flashed out from behind the crowd and begged the Supreme King: "I also want to see it."
The Supreme King glanced at the ministers. "Is there anyone else who wants to see the fun?" Everyone lowered their heads and said nothing. The Supreme King looked at the three of them with a serious face, "I've found out."
"I obey your orders." "Old slave, I obey your orders."
The three of them then left the palace together and rushed to Lao Liu's mansion.
It turned out that on the day of the wedding, Lao Liu learned that the bride's grandfather had lost his official position. He was so angry that he didn't even enter the bridal chamber. The next day, he sent Miss Feng to a secluded courtyard. She came back drunk last night and was served by her personal eunuch to sleep on the kang.
This morning, people around him called him several times and he didn't get up. Seeing that the time of greetings was coming, a confidant eunuch who always had a good reputation boldly opened the curtain and called him, only to find that he had died.
Qiu Liang has been working on cases all his life and has seen countless dead bodies. He saw that His Highness Sixth Prince died of suffocation on the spot, so he guessed that he was suffocated to death with quilts, pillows and other objects while he was drunk. There were six eunuchs and maids keeping watch at night.
Testify to each other. Since he fell asleep last night, no one has opened the curtain.
Wu Fang sneered: "Is it possible that there is a ghost?"
Ding Mei thought: "If you are a person with strong martial arts skills, it will be easy to get past these people. But His Highness the Sixth is not worth killing, unless it is for revenge."
Wu Fang frowned: "Is His Highness the Sixth Prince not worth killing?"
Ding Mei said: "Assassinating a member of the Tian family is no better than killing a local ruffian. The court will not stop until it is found out. Your Highness the Sixth Prince doesn't even have a casual position, he is just a rich idler, what's the benefit of killing him?" Wu Fang was silent.
Qiu Liang coughed twice and said, "Let's cross-examine first and then talk."
Then Qiu Liang presided over the trial and called the people in the mansion to interrogate. The original eldest son of His Highness the Sixth Highness was the most domineering, his eyes rolled up, and Qiu Liang was troubled from the beginning. Ding Mei listened for a while and then
Let's go back and recover first.
Returning to the Prince of Shu's Mansion, Dingmei asked to see the Supreme King. The Supreme King looked at her for a few times and stepped back. "Tell me."
Ding Mei went back and passed by one after another, and finally said: "Your Majesty, your grandson is really disrespectful to Lord Qiu. As a young man, I couldn't stand it anymore, so I came back."
The Supreme King hummed: "Is it the same as you guessed?" Ding Mei's expression moved slightly. The Supreme King said, "You are Yan'er's confidant. It's too late to hide when something like this happens, so how can you go up and join in the fun?"
Ding Mei sighed softly: "Almost."
"explain."
"It is so important to go to the palace to congratulate you on the first day of the new year, but no one rushes the master until it is almost too late. It is obviously wrong. If the Crown Prince has not gotten up at Mao Shi, we can say that twenty people dare to break into her bedroom. Not to mention His Highness the Sixth Prince
He is still ambitious, so it is impossible for him to have no staff in his house."
"Hiss..." The Supreme King nodded unconsciously, "The Lone King didn't think about this part."
"It's been delayed for so long. It's just that their government is arranging how to lie, how to train witnesses to make perjury, and how to forge scenes." Ding Mei said, "The only person who has this ability is the new owner of the government."
The Supreme King shuddered: "Bold!"
"However, Mr. Qiu said that His Highness the Sixth Prince returned to the west last night. If it was done by the uncle, he could have started the layout last night, and there is no need to be so hasty this morning. Therefore, it was not him. His mother has been abandoned.
She returned to her parents' home, but she still has two biological brothers." Ding Mei said in a daze, "Children are like small beasts. Before they grow up, they rely most on their mothers. To have their mother taken away from them is no less than the world falling apart for a child.
Once a person is desperate, there is nothing he cannot do.”
The Supreme King took a deep breath for a long time and said in a trembling voice: "Call Qiu Liang and Wu Fang back."
The case was closed on the third day of the first lunar month. His Highness the Sixth Prince died suddenly of excessive drinking.
A few days later, the Supreme King fell ill. The doctor said that he must rest for at least a year and a half. Ding Mei hurried to find Qiu Liang and said, "This master must not make any mistakes! No matter what, we must give in."
He is going to rest for a long time."
Qiu Liang sighed: "I don't know. Even though one person just died, those others refused to stop."
Ding Mei said: "Let them jump around and see what they can come up with."
Qiu Liang then invited several old ministers to persuade the Supreme King. After much thought, the Supreme King decided to move to a village in the suburbs to live temporarily. Before leaving, he evacuated a dozen generals who were flirting with his sons.
At the end of the first month, Chengdu Guard Commander Wang Wei sent Wang Wei to visit the Supreme King with some fresh fruits brought by vendors from the south. He heard that the Supreme King summoned him to discuss secretly in Nuan Pavilion for more than three hours. When he came out, Wang Wei was very satisfied.
The Supreme King asked him to bring out a pile of oracles.
Starting from the next day, the military squad was in great turmoil. I don’t know where the Supreme King summoned so many officers. Almost all the military generals in the Shu Kingdom were replaced. Although the general who lost his official position was dissatisfied, Wang Wei had a tiger talisman in his hand.
There was nothing they could do. The officers and soldiers of the Shu Kingdom immediately began to reorganize and hired teachers to teach the soldiers, which was somewhat similar to the federal army.
After learning that the Supreme King of Shu had almost abolished all the generals in the country, Zheng, Chen, Cai Zhou and other countries immediately sent people to seek talents. It didn't take long for many of them to leave. Wu Fang, a history lecturer at Shu University, suddenly disappeared.
On the other side, Situ Cen had been fighting with Shui Rong in Dacheng for more than half a month, and finally discovered the traces of the Fang family guerrillas, and led his troops to chase them. After finally catching up, they took a boat into the sea again, saying that they were going to Java to seek refuge.
friend.
Situ Cen chased him to Java again. Zhou Xiaolan said that this matter was completely false, and her sister was neither short of money nor leaving Java. Situ Cen naturally refused to agree. After several quarrels, when he returned to the inn that night, he suddenly received a
The post was signed by Situ Pan. Situ Cen was shocked, why did King Yan come here? Please come in.
Not long after he saw the person coming, Situ Cen was stunned for a long time. His appearance was undoubtedly that of his Ninth Uncle, but his body was very strong and strong, not at all like the sickly one in Beijing. "Uncle Ninth, are you... recovered from your illness?"
Situ Pan said: "I have never been sick."
"That……"
"The one in Beijing was the substitute I was looking for in the early years." Situ Pan sneered, "Now Li Gui has become Li Kui." Situ Cen didn't come back to his senses for a long time. Situ Pan sat down and said, "Are you looking for
Your brother?"
Situ Cen was overjoyed: "Uncle Jiu knows?"
"I don't know." Situ Pan said pitifully, "But I know it's not that easy for you to find him."