The queen, who was leaning on the couch and reading a book, was a little surprised.
If Xiaochenzi found out, he would usually choose to send a message, and it was extremely rare for him to find him in person.
I guess there must be something that I can't explain clearly in the letter, or something important...
The queen stroked the tabby cat on her lap and said softly: "Tianfu, let's go for a walk."
The cat seemed to understand what she said, and jumped down with a "meow" sound. It walked to the back of the outer hall with light and lazy steps, and suddenly started running.
"Ah, what a blessing!"
Gong'e, who was guarding the outer hall, saw the flower shadow disappearing quickly and was about to chase after it when she saw the empress walking out immediately after her. In order to salute, she said, "Empress, my maid just saw Tianfu going out and was about to follow her."
Woolen cloth."
"No need." The queen said with a smile: "It must have gone to the lotus pond in the garden to steal fish again. It just so happens that I also want to go out for a walk."
Her Jade Kun Palace is not airtight.
For so many years, she acted like she knew nothing about it, but she had already figured out exactly where the leaks were.
When the palace lady heard the words, she said "yes".
As the queen led the two maids out of the palace, she sighed: "The moonlight tonight is really great. If I hadn't followed Tianfu out, I would have missed such a beautiful scenery."
The palace maid following her smiled and agreed: "It must be Tianfu who wants the queen to come out and enjoy the scenery..."
The voices faded away.
The flowers and trees in the garden are lush and the moon is full of shadows.
Accompanied by two personal maids, the queen walked slowly into the depths of the garden.
On the way, I really saw Tianfu. The tabby cat caught a cicada under the shadow of the moon, but did not eat it. It only played with it under its paws. Sometimes it slapped it with its paw, and sometimes it was frightened by the angry and struggling cicada.
It had to make a big bounce to one side, and after a while it came closer again, stretching out its claws to try to pull at the person.
The queen estimated that if the cicada could speak, she would be scolding constantly.
In the deepest part of the garden in the Jade Kun Palace, close to the back wall of the palace, an internal eunuch had been waiting there. When he saw the queen, he quickly lowered his voice and saluted: "Please see the queen.
"
He came in through the back door of Yukun Palace. The gatekeeper was a trusted person under the Queen and knew his identity.
"No need to be polite." The Queen asked him, "But what's important?"
"It's not that important..." Xiao Chenzi said with some uncertainty, "Maybe it's not a serious matter, but I felt something fishy and couldn't explain it in a few words, so I boldly came over to look for the empress."
"It doesn't matter." The queen said gently, "Let's talk and listen."
Since she used Xiao Chenzi, she trusted the other person's ability and judgment, and had a more tolerant attitude so that the person doing things would not be timid at all times, not knowing whether to say something when something happened, and invisibly missing out.
Opportunities and keys.
"Yes." Xiaochenzi told the story in detail: "After Miss Xu left the Yangxin Hall today, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince came to visit His Majesty, and then several adults asked to see him. It seemed that he had encountered many difficulties. Several
After your Excellency and His Highness the Crown Prince left, the Emperor became furious and smashed many things..."
The queen listened quietly and just "tsk" in her heart.
It's true that he is going further and further down the road of incompetence and rage.
"The emperor had a seizure and his headache seemed to be getting worse. When I went in to clean up, I saw with my own eyes that the emperor had been helped to lie down on the couch." Xiao Chenzi said: "But the strange thing is that no imperial doctor came after that.
…”
The queen's eyes moved slightly.
This is indeed a bit strange.
The emperor was always very afraid of death. He would ask the imperial doctor to see him again and again for every trivial matter. Even if everything was fine, he would ask the imperial doctor to see him every few days. He had a severe headache. How could he bear not to ask the imperial doctor?
"Later, someone from the Shangwu Supervisor came to replace the broken jade tea set and carried two lacquered wooden boxes." Xiao Chenzi continued: "When the boxes were carried out, I saw that one of them seemed to be heavy.
Yes, it should be carrying something..."
The queen thought about these words.
Heavy?
The Shangwu Supervisor Xu brought many ornaments here, but only a few were selected in the end. It was normal for the rest to be carried back.
However, Xiao Chenzi lowered his voice at this time: "Qi Nu faintly heard some slight movement in the box... It was not like the sound of porcelain and jade, but rather like the sound of living things...
"
"Living animal?" The queen's eyes moved slightly: "How big is that box?"
Xiao Chenzi opened his arms and gestured: "It's enough to accommodate a half-year-old child. It might be a bit difficult for someone as big as a slave."
The queen nodded knowingly.
Xiaochenzi has just turned fourteen this year and is of medium height.
If the so-called living creature inside is really a human being, it can indeed only accommodate one child.
But I still have a headache here. What's the point of carrying a child in?
By the way...
She had heard Xu Yun say before that some of the folk remedies used to treat diseases were very weird, including methods that used some rare living creatures or even blood from living people to use as medicine...
If this happened to others, she would still hesitate and think about it, but in the case of the Dog Emperor, she only thinks it is very possible - apart from things done by humans, is there anything in this world that the Dog Emperor cannot do?
The queen made many guesses in an instant, and there were many bloody scenes in her mind.
But Xiao Chenzi hasn't finished speaking yet.
"At that time, the slaves were changing their values. I really felt that there was something fishy in the box, so I took advantage of the darkness to quietly follow the people from the Shangwu Prison. But who would have thought that halfway through, they actually went their separate ways...
... I noticed the strange box with a strange mouth and followed it, only to see that they were going to the dark court..."
Dark court?
The queen frowned.
Yongxiang, where the female relatives of the convicts who were sent to the palace as slaves lived, was only separated by a wall in the dark court. Most of the eunuchs in it were those who had made mistakes, or those who were old but could not be released from the palace due to various reasons.
Eunuchs who entered the dark court had no chance of coming out alive. They could only slowly die of old age, illness, or madness within that high wall.
"Can you see clearly?" the queen confirmed to Xiao Chenzi.
"Although I didn't dare to follow him too closely at the time, I was absolutely right. Those people had indeed entered the dark court."
The queen nodded.
She always knew how cautious Xiao Chenzi was in handling things.
But why was the box quietly carried into the dark court after leaving the Yangxin Hall?
Or should I say...
The 'things' inside came from the dark court?
"I originally wanted to sneak in and take a look, but after thinking about it, I still think it's too risky." Xiao Chenzi scratched the back of his head, "I don't know if this will be of any use to the queen..."
But the empress had told him before that he should pay more attention to any abnormal things, no matter how big or small.
