When Eunuch Xia returned to the imperial study, Xiao Feng put the letter paper into the drawer and asked, "Is the imperial censor of the Song Dynasty back?"
"yes."
Xiao Feng asked again: "How is the situation at Mei Qing Palace?"
Eunuch Xia went through the situation reported below in detail from beginning to end, and talked about a lot in bits and pieces. He concluded that there was only one central idea... Concubine Su's mental state has been very bad recently, and she has trouble sleeping and eating.
Everyone has become a little thinner.
Xiao Feng said slowly: "It's almost time. You go take her to the prison and let her understand the consequences of deceiving me."
"Old slave, I understand," Eunuch Xia bowed and exited the imperial study. He put on two strong young eunuchs and went straight to Mei Qing Palace.
When Concubine Su walked out, Eunuch Xia's eyebrows twitched. She was not "a little thinner", but "a lot thinner". She was now so thin that she only had a skeleton and a large palace dress.
She looked hollow when wearing it, her eye sockets were sunken, and her eyes were blue and black. She looked really weak, and one couldn't help but worry that she would be blown away by the wind later.
With the support of the palace maids, she slowly sat down on the chair and asked calmly: "How come Manager Xia has time to come to my Mei Qing Palace today? But what are your orders?"
Eunuch Xia smiled and said kindly: "Your Majesty learned that the concubine has been in a bad mood recently, so he sent an old slave here to take the concubine to a place to relax. Maybe the concubine's mood will be much better."
Concubine Su glanced at him indifferently: "I wonder what kind of a good place it is? I can actually go to it in person, Manager Xia."
"When the concubine gets there, she will naturally know about this." Eunuch Xia looked at her with a smile, and he looked so kind. "It is a blessing for the concubine to get your majesty's concern. The concubine should be a person who understands."
Cherish your blessings. It's getting late now, so the concubine should pack up quickly so that she can go out for a walk with the old slave."
No matter how uneasy she felt, as long as she was in the palace, Su Taifei did not have the courage to openly defy the decree and show disrespect. She suppressed the fear in her heart and stood up slowly: "I have nothing to deal with, since Manager Xia
As for leaving, I will go with you now. I just hope that I can go early and come back early. By the way, A Jing has not been sleeping well recently, and I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Cai Die, what are you doing now?
I sent Ah Jing to Biquan Palace and begged the Empress Dowager to take care of it, and when I came back, I immediately went to confess to the Empress Dowager."
The palace maid Cai Die bowed her head in agreement, turned around the screen and led Xiao Jing out. Concubine Su bent down and hugged him, and gave him a few gentle instructions. Suppressing the feeling of reluctance in her heart, Concubine Su said to
Cai Die said: "Take him with you, and be careful on the road."
It wasn't until Cai Die walked away with Xiao Jing that Concubine Su reluctantly looked back. Eunuch Xia had been watching quietly, and now he said, "Concubine, can you leave?"
"Let's go," Su Taifei raised her chin and sold the door with steady steps.
No matter how much Concubine Su listened on the way, she could not get the destination of their trip from Eunuch Xia. Until they came to the prison door, Concubine Su immediately stopped, frowned and asked: "Bring me here."
What do you do in a place like this?”
"Don't worry, Princess Su. I just want to invite you here to see someone. I don't mean to harm the Princess." Eunuch Xia motioned to the two young eunuchs to push the maids around Princess Su away, pinching them one on the left and one on the right.
Princess Susu walks into the prison.
Concubine Su felt uneasy, nervous, and a little unhappy. She was taken to a torture chamber with a livid face.
Inside, she unexpectedly saw the pearl!
Pearl was hung in the air by both hands. Her body was covered with scars and stains of blood, and her body was so thin that only skin and bones were left. Concubine Su's heart tightened, and when she was about to step forward, Eunuch Xia reached out to stop her. Eunuch Xia said: "Your Majesty, please read this
You master and servant have a deep love. Let me come and see her, but you must not make it difficult for me."
Concubine Su could only stand there, staring at the pearl, and called out in a trembling voice: "Pearl, pearl..."
Pearl slowly opened her eyes. She raised her head with difficulty. When she saw it was Princess Su, she immediately opened her mouth and screamed.
Concubine Su immediately turned to look at Eunuch Xia: "What happened to her tongue?"
"When I asked her something, she refused to tell me. Since it was useless to keep her tongue, I simply cut it off."
He spoke in an understatement, but Princess Su was so angry that she trembled: "You... you are too cruel!"
Eunuch Xia was helpless: "It's not that we are too cruel, but that you are too cruel. If you are willing to tell the truth, then she won't have to suffer like this. The old slave has already heard what the jailer said, and this girl is already suffering.
I can’t stand it any longer, I’m afraid I won’t be able to survive for a few more days. Let’s see, what should we do about this?”
"Let her go."
Eunuch Xia looked embarrassed: "I'm afraid this won't work."
"Let her go!" Princess Su gritted her teeth, "Let her go! If something happens to me, I will do it for myself!"
"You are the concubine. I don't dare to attack you. Besides, you still have the twenty-one prince. You have to think about him," Eunuch Xia suddenly changed his expression when he saw her and said with a smile.
, "The concubine is a kind person, but she can be so affectionate to a humble palace maid, which really makes the old slave admire her. But there is a rule in everything. If you want to release the pearl, you have to tell the old slave, Concubine Le.
Otherwise, even if you can’t bear it anymore, the old slave will have no choice but to let the jailer feed Pearl’s body to the dogs.”
Pearl was still moaning and groaning. When the jailer saw her, he stepped forward and whipped her twice, which immediately ripped open her skin and flesh. The whip was stained with salt water, and the salt water seeped into the wound, causing her whole body to twitch in pain.
"Stop!" Concubine Su sternly scolded, glaring fiercely at the jailer.
The jailer didn't look at her. He nodded and bowed to Manager Xia with a flattering smile: "This girl has a very stubborn temper. I am afraid that she will scare you because of my humble position, so I will teach her a lesson. If she disturbs you, please tell me."
I can forgive you."
Eunuch Xia casually threw a piece of silver to him: "You brothers, let's take it to a bar. When this girl can't bear it any longer, we will buy a thin coffin to bury her. This can be considered as a way to accumulate some virtue for you."
"Hey! You don't need to pay for such a small thing. As long as you ask, your humble job will be done for you!" Even so, he still put the money into his sleeves.
Didn't take it out again.
Eunuch Xia said to Concubine Su, "It's very humid here. You'd better go back and take care of the twenty-first prince as soon as possible."
Concubine Su didn't want to leave just like that. She didn't have any money with her, so she could only take off the bracelets on her hands. She was afraid that these were not enough, so she took off all her earrings, necklaces, and gold hairpins, and stuffed them all at the jailer: "These things are all
Here you go, please take good care of the pearl. I will come again in the future and I will bring you some good wine and food. As long as you take care of this matter, I will not treat you badly!"
Seeing such a valuable object, the jailer immediately showed greedy eyes, but he still kept his sense and looked at Eunuch Xia, hehey and said with a smile: "What do you think we should do?"
Eunuch Xia was unhappy with these blood-sucking worms, but he still kept a kind smile on his face. He said: "I can't help you with this matter. How about... I'll ask it for you."
Your Majesty, let’s see what Your Majesty said?”
If you ask Your Majesty about this matter, all the jailers and servants will be ruined! The jailer quickly returned these hot gold and silver jewelry to Concubine Su, and ran away quickly before Concubine Su could say anything, so as not to endure it anymore.
The pain of “seeing but not being able to get”.
In the end, Su Taifei still failed to give away the gold and silver jewelry in her hand, and she was politely asked to leave the prison.
As she passed the gate, Eunuch Xia said to the officer in charge of guarding the gate in front of her: "Your Majesty said that the female prisoner named Pearl is unrepentant and must be strictly guarded and no one is allowed to visit.
"
The last sentence was bitten extremely hard by him, and the officials were convinced, and they quickly nodded and bowed and said they had remembered it.
Eunuch Xia nodded with satisfaction. He looked towards Concubine Su, smiled and turned sideways: "Concubine, please come back this way."
Although Su Taifei was deeply unwilling, she could only leave with a dark face at this moment.
After Su Taifei went to Biquan Palace to pick up Xiao Jing, and mother and son returned to Meiqing Palace, Eunuch Xia returned to the imperial study to report what had happened. Xiao Feng put down the memorial in his hand and said slowly: "Tell me, Su Taifei
What is the relationship with Le Fei? Why would she do this for a woman who has nothing to do with her? Does she really think that I dare not touch her and my twenty-third brother?"
Even if the Empress Dowager is watching, Xiao Jing is still so young and can easily suffer from fever and diarrhea. In this palace, there are countless children who died because of such minor problems. If Xiao Feng
If he really wants to take action, he only needs a gentle push, and there will naturally be people to help him handle the matter properly, ensuring that no one can find him. Even if Su Taifei suspects him, she has no evidence.
No one will believe her nonsense.
Eunuch Xia whispered: "Your Majesty, do you want to check the relationship between Concubine Su and Concubine Le?"
"Before I found Concubine Su and brought her into the palace, I sent people to secretly check her origins. The result was that she was bought by a brothel boss from a human trafficker. As for that human trafficker, it's early now.
I don’t know where she is going, but..." Xiao Feng paused, the corners of his mouth turned up slightly, and smiled strangely, "The more difficult it is to find out, the more it means that her origins are very strange."
He took out the piece of letter paper from the drawer, unfolded it gently, looked at the contents of the letter, and said slowly: "You can ask someone to check how many daughters the Qu family had in total back then."
Eunuch Xia immediately bowed his head and agreed.
Three days later, Eunuch Xia reported the results of the investigation to Xiao Feng. He said: "Qu Chengxiang had one son and two daughters. The eldest son followed Prime Minister Qu and was beheaded by the Meridian Gate. The old slave specially found the body collector of that year and asked to confirm that.
There is no doubt that the decapitated corpse was that of Qu's eldest son. The other two daughters were said to have been washed away in the chaos. The Ministry of Punishment had sent people to search for their whereabouts, and later it was said that the bodies of the two girls were found in a river.
The corpses, their corpses have been soaked in water and their facial features are completely destroyed. They can only be identified as two sisters of the Qu family based on their age and clothes." (To be continued)