Aoyama

Chapter 303 Cat General

Wuyun lay on the woman's warm knees, looking around with his dark eyes, looking for an opportunity to leave.

But Aunt Yuan Jin never left its side, so it could only put its head in the woman's hand dejectedly, waiting for Aunt Yuan Jin to go to the toilet or change clothes.

Aunt Yuan Jin said at the side: "My queen, please go back to the bedroom and rest. It's cold outside."

The woman smiled and said, "It's rare that the moonlight is so beautiful tonight. If you can't see the beautiful mountains and rivers outside, it's better to look at the moon. Aunt Yuan Jin, please don't rush me... I heard from Yuan Yang that Princess Yongchun made a scene in Jingyang Palace this afternoon and almost bumped into the Crown Prince?"

Aunt Yuan Jin replied, "The young eunuch who delivered the imperial edict was ignorant and ran to the gate of Jingyang Palace and shouted the three words 'Yulin Army'. Fortunately, Taoist Xuanzhen stopped her and no disaster happened."

The woman touched the dark cloud's head, stared at the moon and said, "I was very young when Princess Yongchun eloped with Zhou Zhuoyuan. When I heard about their affair, I thought she was really bold. But later, when I grew up, I realized that the late emperor was unkind. He knew that Princess Yongchun liked Zhou Zhuoyuan, so why did he still arrange another marriage? At that time, I thought it was great that she could step on that ship heading south. At least she was free."

Aunt Yuan Jin whispered, "But she was still sent back by the Cao Gang."

The woman smiled and said, "That's right. This cage is not that simple. You can't break free."

Aunt Yuan Jin kept silent.

The woman asked casually, "I also heard that Prince Jing's two daughters were also under house arrest in Jingyang Palace?"

The dark clouds immediately pricked up their ears!

Aunt Yuan Jin lowered her voice and said, "The Queen Mother has been making a fuss these past few days because she wanted to go to Jingyang Palace to see Zhu Lingyun, but she couldn't even leave Cining Palace."

The woman sighed softly, "Zhu Lingyun... The Liu family has no male descendants left, only this little girl, who is imprisoned in a place like Jingyang Palace. Find a chance to secretly send some clothes and food to Baili and Lingyun."

"Your Highness," Aunt Yuan Jin reminded solemnly, "If someone finds out, you will be implicated."

The woman said gently, "That's why I told you to find a chance to send it quietly."

Aunt Yuan Jin shook her head: "No, the master has been enduring for the Hu family for these years, and has been struggling to support it. If the young prince had been designated as the crown prince, the master would not be needed now... You must not have anything to do with Prince Jing again. If His Majesty finds out, it will cause trouble again."

The woman stared at the moonlight in silence for a long time: "What's there to be afraid of when the people are gone... Forget it, it's boring."

After that, she stood up and hugged Wuyun and walked towards the bedroom: "Then make some new clothes for Princess Yongchun, and send her some snacks."

Yuan Jin was stunned for a moment: "Why do you care about her?"

The woman whispered, "Have pity on her."

She stepped over the high threshold and walked into Kunning Palace. Candles were burning in the palace, and she saw more than ten female officials in the palace saluting together: "Your Majesty the Queen."

Wuyun widened his eyes, Queen!

Kunning Palace is so large that it still seems empty and lonely even with more than ten people standing there.

But the Queen ordered, "Go and get me the snack box, and the small quilt with nine raccoons embroidered on it from the East Warm Pavilion."

The female officials took small steps to the side hall, then carried more than ten vermilion lacquered food boxes, lined them up on the long table, and opened the lids.

The Queen walked past the food boxes holding Wuyun in her arms and said gently, "Look and see what you want to eat."

Wuyun stretched his neck to look at the boxes of snacks: date paste cakes, lotus seed paste cakes, hawthorn pot cakes, apricot paste cakes, green tea cakes, champion cakes, pea cakes... more than a hundred kinds of snacks. Are they all edible?

The queen placed it on the table and said, "Go ahead and eat whatever you want."

Aunt Yuan Jin said hurriedly, "My lady, please don't let it mess up anything. If it gets dirty, we won't be able to eat anything."

The queen said calmly, "It's no problem."

Wuyun hovered back and forth in front of the food box, and finally picked up a piece of date paste cake.

The queen smiled and said, "So you like to eat this?"

The next moment, Wuyun came to her with a date paste cake in his mouth, lowered his head and put the date paste cake into her hand.

The queen was stunned for a moment: "You want to feed me first?"

Aunt Yuan Jin was anxious: "My Lady, please don't eat it. It's been touched by animals and is dirty."

But the queen ignored it and actually ate the date paste cake.

She swallowed a mouthful of date paste cake and teased, "Aunt Yuanjin, be careful with your words. His Majesty used to keep more than ten raccoons. Among them, 'Shuangmei' was buried in Wansui Mountain after his death. He also gave her the posthumous title of 'Zhongxiao Zhaolong Guangji Yousheng Zhenjun'. He really loved his raccoons."

Aunt Yuan Jin stopped talking immediately.

The queen held Wuyun in front of her and touched his nose with hers. "When Your Majesty comes to Kunning Palace again, I will ask you to be a general who catches rats, okay?"

Wuyun suddenly gave up the idea of ​​escaping.

……

……

Fuyou Street, Chen Mansion.

Chen Ji helped Zaozao take off the saddle and bit, and let him step on the clean blue bricks of Suzhou official kiln.

Xiaoman moved a small stool and sat in the yard, supporting her chin with both hands: "Sir, why don't you send Zaozao to the stable? There are special grooms to take care of him, and the food there is good."

Chen Ji smiled and said, "Zao Zao is also a member of our family. It doesn't feel good to let him live under someone else's roof. Besides, it's boring to be tied up in the stable all the time. After returning home, he can take off the saddle and relax."

Zaozao nudged Chenji with his head.

"Home," Xiaoman looked at the scene and didn't know what he was thinking.

Chen Ji asked curiously, "How much does a two-story house in Dongcheng cost?"

Xiaoman calculated, "If it's the area between Zhengyang Gate and Gulou, there are many merchants there, so it would cost about 800 taels of silver per room; if it's Qipan Street, it would cost 1,200 taels; as for Fuyou Street and Xuanwumen Street, they are symbols of status, and few people sell them."

Chen Ji said "oh".

After buying ginseng in Guyuan, he had only more than 200 taels of silver left on him. Including Zhang Xia’s sworn brotherhood gift, the total was more than 800 taels.

Xiaoman rolled her eyes and said, "Master, we are back in the capital now. Should we go to the Liang family to get back my aunt's property?"

Chen Ji nodded and said, "I will go to her to get the house and land deeds tomorrow when I return from my duty at the Yulin Army Governor's Office."

Xiaoman's eyes lit up: "Master, did you promise to let me be the shopkeeper of Gufulou?"

Chen Ji smiled and said, "Yes." He took a brush to comb Zaozao's hair. He stood under the ginkgo tree, brushing while waiting for the dark clouds to come back.

But he waited under the ginkgo tree in the yard all night until the roosters crowed, but no dark clouds appeared.

Chen Ji frowned.

Did he meet with an accident? No, if Wu Yun had met with an accident, he, the tiger king, would have lost half his life, but he is still fine now.

Did he encounter some other accident? But what kind of accident could prevent Wu Yun from returning home? Strange.

The big rooster in the Chen Mansion crowed three times, and the mansion suddenly became lively.

Chen Ji opened the door a crack and looked in, only to see servants and maids running back and forth, making the scene as lively as a temple fair.

The servants were wearing green fur jackets and green scarves on their heads. Some were sweeping the floor, some were watering the plants, and some were carrying water and firewood.

The maids wore light green padded jackets and skirts, with silver hairpins in their hair. Some of them carried copper basins to bring hot water to their masters, while others carried trays to deliver food.

Chen Ji whispered, "So many people."

Xiaoman smiled and said, "Young Master, why do you look so surprised? The Chen family is one of the most prestigious families in Beijing. There are more than 200 people in the kitchen alone."

Chen Ji hesitated for a moment and asked, "Should I go and pay my respects?"

Xiaoman explained, "No, you are not in the family tree yet. According to the rules of the Chen family, a bastard can only be promoted to the sixth rank, and then the first, second, and third wives will come together to discuss and confirm that the bastard has good conduct and has not made any major mistakes in the past. Only then can they open a clan temple and be included in the family tree."

Chen Ji sighed: "So strict."

Xiaoman said happily: "If you make a big mistake after entering the family tree, the whole family will be implicated."

Chen Ji smiled and said, "It's just right that they didn't write me into the family tree. I'm going out now, you can take a rest at home."

Xiaoman picked up the saddle and wanted to put it on Zaozao, but Chen Ji stopped her: "No need, I want to walk."

Chen Ji went out and looked deep into the Chen Mansion. He saw that the huge house extended from the blue brick road to the distance, like a jungle with no bottom. Where they were now was just the edge of the Chen Mansion.

Chen Liqin, the third branch of the Chen family, does not seem to be well received.

……

……

When Xiaoman was the only one left in the yard, she looked at the clean yard and walked around in circles holding up her skirt.

Suddenly someone knocked on the door.

She opened the door a little and looked out cautiously. Standing outside the door was an older maid.

Xiaoman was immediately surprised and said, "Sister Duanwu."

Duanwu pretended to be angry and said, "You finally came back to the capital, why didn't you come to find me?"

Xiaoman hurriedly said, "It was already very late when the young master left the palace last night. I was afraid of disturbing your rest."

Duanwu tapped her forehead with his finger and said, "Okay, okay, I know your son has entered the palace to meet the emperor. You don't have to show off in front of your sister."

Xiaoman was exposed and changed the subject awkwardly: "Which garden is Sister Duanwu working in now? The Humble Administrator's Garden or the Diligent Administrator's Garden?"

Duanwu smiled and said, "I am still spending my days in the Humble Administrator's Garden. Maybe I will leave the house and get married in a while... Here is some money. Do you want to earn it?"

Xiaoman asked casually: "How much silver?"

Duanwu squeezed in and lowered his voice: "This time the silver is more, twenty taels, just write down what your son saw and heard in Guyuan, the key point is who he met."

Xiaoman was wondering who was tracking the whereabouts of the young master. The other party had been following the young master as soon as he returned to Chen Mansion in Luocheng. Now that he had just returned to the capital, they immediately sent someone over.

She looked at Duanwu, wondering whether she should tie him up and interrogate him.
No.

Xiao Man thought for a moment and said, "Now that the young master is an official who will go to the palace to see the emperor, I won't do the twenty taels. Sister Duanwu, you should go back. I will visit you in the Humble Administrator's Garden in a few days."

After saying that, she pushed Duanwu out.

Duanwu hurriedly said, "If you think it's too little, we can negotiate. Thirty taels? Fifty taels?"

Xiaoman was unmoved.

When Duanwu was about to be pushed out of the door, he gritted his teeth and said, "One hundred taels!"

Xiaoman was shocked: "Who is willing to buy information about my young master?"

Duanwu straightened his messy clothes in annoyance: "This is not the first time you have done this kind of thing, why are you asking so many questions? Maybe it is the Qi family, the Hu family, or the Xu family who came to inquire about the news, and it is hard to say whether it is the eunuch party or some prince's people. Anyway, no matter which family it is, we are servants and get paid."

Xiaoman stretched out her hand: "Silver."

Duanwu took out a string of Buddhist Tongbao from his bosom and slapped it on her palm: "Hurry up, don't miss anything, otherwise you won't be able to make this kind of extra money in the future."

Xiao Man said perfunctorily: "I know, I know."

After Duanwu left with a gust of fragrant wind, she returned to the east wing to grind ink. After pondering for a long time, she wrote down everything about Guyuan, but she did not write about Chen Ji's dealings with Mr. Hu Sanye and the innkeeper.

She folded the rice paper and left the yard, keeping her head down all the way, walking through the Qinzheng Garden along the winding path.

The Chen Mansion consists of two gardens. To the north is the Humble Administrator's Garden where the eldest branch of the Chen family is located, and to the south is the Diligent Administration Garden where the second and third branches of the Chen family are located. In the middle is a garden called "Xiaoyingzhou" that connects the mountains and waters, and both gardens can be entered.

There are many "Taihu stones" transported from Suzhou in Xiaoyingzhou. The most majestic one is called "Guanyun Peak", which is more than three meters high. I wonder how much manpower and material resources it took to transport it to the capital.

Xiaoman sneaked into Xiaoyingzhou, stuffed the paper into the third hole on the south side of Guanyun Peak, and then squatted in the flowers in the distance and watched silently to see who would come to take the message away.

She squatted there for two hours, her legs were numb, but no one took the message away.

It was already noon when Xiaoman couldn't help but go to the toilet and change clothes.

It only took half an incense stick of time from leaving to coming back.

But when she couldn't help but go to Guanyun Peak to check, she found that the rice paper with the message written on it was gone.

(End of this chapter)