box of hearts

Chapter 199: Ji Xianbin (7)
6.
The rain continued back and forth in Yanjiao, and heavy clouds of lead also fell in the middle of Beijing.

At dawn, little by little lights appeared in the Forbidden City, and the doors of the Six Palaces opened.In the still dark sky, the Compassion Ning Palace passed through a hurried figure, and was walking forward from the head, and suddenly said—"Master, you are back!"

Zhao Sheng raised his face and nodded to Quan Fu.

Quanfu went down the steps to greet him, and greeted him: "Master, are you sick? You were not here yesterday, and the empress dowager was unhappy all day. She lost her temper several times. She hasn't gotten up yet today. I think she committed another crime. I’m angry. Master, what’s wrong with you, are you recovering? Yo, what is this on your head, Master?” As soon as he got closer, he saw a large piece of white skin plaster exposed under the brim of the other party’s low hat.

Zhao Sheng dismissed his apprentice, reached out his hand to touch the plaster, and sighed: "It's so dark! The night before yesterday, when I returned home after eating at Yingtian Guild Hall, I was at the entrance of an alley, and I was knocked over by a few drunks passing by." I got into the sedan chair. I couldn't hold back the fire for a while and started a fight, and I got hit by a brick."

"What, have you suffered a disadvantage from Master?" Quan Fu's face was suddenly surprised, "Where is the master?"

"Bastard masters, they are all three-legged cats. Because of this, I didn't take precautions and let someone give me a little shit."

"What about those people? Just arrest and go to prison."

"It's quieter at night, I don't even have a good look at it, and there's no one passing by, so I can't identify it, where can I arrest it?"

"It's so exasperating!" Quan Fu shook his head and waved his fists, "So how is the injury? Is it serious?"

Several small supervisors came over and greeted Zhao Sheng together. Zhao Sheng waved his hand casually to them, "It's strange to say that I don't have face. Although I saw blood on the spot, my mind is still clear. I happened to meet our crane. A Dr. Zhuang from the Nian Medical Center lived next door to the Medical Center, so I let him take care of the wound. How did I know that after entering the door and drinking two sips of tea, the headache was so unbearable that I passed out at someone’s house and woke up. It was already the morning of the second day. I was about to enter the palace, but I was still dizzy. Doctor Zhuang asked Da Liu to take sick leave from the palace for me, and made me drink another dose of medicine to sleep. It was another whole day. I was finally able to get up last night, and my headache and nausea were much better. Dr. Zhuang ordered someone to make a table of nourishing meals for me to eat, and let me observe for an hour , After confirming that there was no recurrence of hidden symptoms, he personally sent me home, and it was already midnight when I got home."

"There is no danger, there is no danger. After all, master, you are a lucky person. Even if you recite words, you will have noble people to help you. If it weren't for Dr. Zhuang, it would be hard to say if the injury was delayed for a while. I am not alarmist In the past, my fourth aunt's only son got into a dispute with a city man, but he was beaten on the forehead with the handle of a knife, and he was beaten into a fool."

"Your words are not false. I must prepare all my money and money to thank this doctor Zhuang when I go back sometime. People's brains are precious. It was when I was a boxer when I was young, Master—"

"Eunuch Zhao, Eunuch Zhao!" An eunuch catching up from behind said anxiously from a distance, "A lord from the Zhenfu Department came outside, please go out and have a look."

Zhao Sheng is the steward of the Compassionate Ning Palace, so he should come forward in case of trouble.This cut off the conversation, turned around and walked out.

Outside the palace gate, I saw a black-clothed soldier standing with his hands down, "Eunuch Zhao is very polite. I will be ordered by the commander of the Fusidu of the town to arrest the important criminal, but he must enter the palace to search."

When Zhao Sheng heard this, his face changed suddenly, "Presumptuous! Do you know what this place is? The Queen Mother is inside, how dare you keep talking about 'criminal' and 'search'?"

The guard in black became more respectful, "My father-in-law misunderstood, because a Jiangyang thief sneaked into the palace, the situation was dangerous, and he might endanger the women in the harem, so we urgently searched the palace. It was not that the governor dared to break into the palace of compassion." , this move is also to protect the safety of the queen dowagers of the two palaces, and the Ciqing Palace is currently undergoing inspection."

Zhao Sheng "tsk tsk" twice, "Then you wait and see, wait until I go in and report."

When the Zhenfusi's request to search the palace was sent to the inner hall, the Empress Dowager Xihe hadn't got up yet, and it was inconvenient for the eunuchs to enter, so Yuming opened the curtain and came out to ask questions.When he saw Zhao Sheng, he said "Huh" first, "What's wrong with you?"

Zhao Sheng made an insignificant gesture with a little embarrassment, "I'll talk about it when I have time. You tell the master, I guess, there is something in the east that the third prince has caught, and he has to enter the palace to collect evidence, but it's not good. It's too obvious, so I can only make up such a story, and pass it on to us?

Yu Tea poked a finger on his forehead, "Did you fight someone?"

"Hush," Zhao Sheng stomped his feet, "Don't let the master know."

Yuming laughed, twisted around and went in.

The brocade curtain in the hall was half-drawn, and Xihe sat crookedly under the quilt, leaning against the bed table and looking down at a few dominoes.

After Yuming finished speaking, the cards in her hand happened to be a long three on the left, a three-six in the middle, and three longs on the right, forming a pair of "Lonely Boat Locked with Chains"[3].She looked at the concealed sign, with doubts on her face, "Search the palace?"

"Yes, I didn't dare to disturb the Queen Mother, so I just asked a few small dogs to search and sniff the halls, for fear that there might be thieves lurking." Yu Tea leaned close to her face, lowered her voice, and elaborated on Zhao Sheng's conjecture just now .

Xi He sighed: "Since they are the third master's people, let them come in. Zhao Sheng is back, isn't he? Tell him to keep an eye on it." She shuffled a few cards again, with a gesture of no joy or sorrow. Pointing to the Qinghe top furnace in the corner of the hall, "sprinkle more 'Ningyuan incense' in, I can't stand the noise, tell them to leave quickly after searching."

At this time, the door of Ciqing Palace was already wide open.Several town Fusi Fan servants led the hounds. After the dogs sniffed around, Shan quietly drooped his tongue and wheezed.One of the servants came forward and nodded to Wu Ran, the eunuch in charge, "I didn't find anything unusual. If you disturbed me, please ask the father-in-law to make an apology to the empress dowager on our behalf."

"It's easy to say, everyone is also dedicated to their duties, you have worked hard." Wu Ran saw off the guests with a smile, entered the bedroom, and whispered into the ear of the Eastern Queen Mother Wang, "Master, I'm leaving outside."

Mrs. Wang was wearing a phoenix robe embroidered with gold, and her eyes were shining brightly, "Okay, it's good to go. You can go out of the palace after you finish your duties today. I will reward you with a day off. It should be comforting." A few words of condolence, this time I did a good job, I will try in March, tell him to wait and see the Jinshi list."

The worry on Wu Ran's brow was swept away, and she bowed with joy, "Yes, my slave, thank you for your kindness!"

In the misty sky, there is a bit of coldness on the face and hands, it is the rain stars falling.

On this side, Zhao Sheng was also ordered to let a group of Zhen Fusi fan servants enter the gate of the Compassionate Ning Palace, "Please, please hurry up, so as not to alarm the Queen Mother."

The black-clothed leader nodded, "Thank you, father-in-law, we are also on business, so I have to ask you to explain to the queen mother." Behind him, four followers stepped forward, each holding a blood-red Shandong fine dog.The leader took out a broken corner of his clothes from his hand, put it in front of several dog noses one by one, then got up and stepped aside.

Zhao Shengzheng stood by the door and made a hissing gesture, "You can take it easy—"

At the same time, several dogs barked suddenly, leaped over the high threshold, and swarmed towards Zhao Sheng and a group of eunuchs behind him.The eunuchs jumped and screamed in fright, Zhao Sheng is a martial arts practitioner, he is not afraid of vicious dogs, but he was unavoidably startled, "What's going on?"

The dogs were imprisoned in an instant, and the leader hurriedly yelled again: "Don't you still gag the mouths of these beasts?"

The dog handlers immediately untied a bamboo cage from their waists, and put the dog's kiss into the cage.Although the dog could no longer make a sound, it still stared at its jade-colored eyes, scratching its paws to pounce on Zhao Sheng.The four people who pulled the dog tried their best to drink milk, and they were so tired that they were sweating.

The leader hurriedly apologized: "Did you scare Eunuch? I'm really sorry, this royal hound has a strong temper, and it's like that of strangers at first sight. Why don't Eunuch avoid it? Don't accidentally get hurt."

Zhao Sheng also felt that the boss didn't want to use it, so he pulled his face extremely long, "How did such wild and unruly things get into the palace? You just search outside, I have nothing to do, I want to make the queen mother unhappy You can't eat and walk around."

"Yes, yes, let's go right away, thank you for your trouble, father-in-law." The leader even apologized, and only asked a few people to drag the dog leash and slip through the courtyard, and then said goodbye to Zhao Sheng, "There is no one in the palace." What kind of idler, please tell the queen mother, don't worry."

Zhao Sheng had already brushed off his clothes and left, his back was like a flower and a sand, disappearing in an instant.

At this time, in the Yaowangmiao Hutong of Dongzhimen, a group of black-clothed soldiers roared in and smashed down the door of a family.

"Your surname is Zhuang? Are you a doctor from the Henian Medical Center next door?" The fan servant who spoke had slightly buck teeth, as if he would open his mouth to bite someone at any time.

"Yes, yes, master, I am." Dr. Zhuang stood shyly in a corner of his living room, completely different from his calm expression the night before.

Baoya held his hands behind his back, and walked forward, "Did you see Zhao Sheng, the steward of the Compassionate Ning Palace the night before yesterday?"

"Yes, yes," Dr. Zhuang kept bowing, "I ran into Eunuch Zhao on the road the night before yesterday when I came back from a doctor's visit. He got into an argument with a few hooligans and suffered a small injury on his head. I took him away." He came back to my place for treatment, and he didn’t leave until Haichu last night, and he was always here, yes, here.”

Baoya immediately exchanged glances with several of his companions, "You said that you met Zhao Sheng when you came back from a doctor's visit. May I ask who was the name of the patient you treated before, and where did he live?"

"This—" Dr. Zhuang wiped his face with his sleeves, as if invisible sweat was dripping from somewhere.

(End of this chapter)