After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

The sun sank behind the distant mountains, casting a golden glow in front of the Qianqing Palace.

Colorless and odorless red charcoal was burning in the animal-shaped stoves at the four corners of the hall. The temperature was quite high, so Zhu Cuiwei did not wear a fox fur coat today.

Her neatly braided hair was adorned with only a simple sandalwood hairpin. The gold and jade hairpins she usually wore had been removed, and the wooden hairpin, devoid of any sharpness, served as a blessing for the child in her womb.

Today, the Queen's lips are a little pale, and her bright eyes also look somewhat uncomfortable.

Perhaps because I had reviewed too many memorials, my eyes were sore and stinging, and tears welled up from time to time.

Ever since the newspaper from Liu Zhi's side arrived in her hands the day before yesterday, Zhu Cuiwei has been feeling uneasy.

The newspaper came from the capital city in the north. It was wrinkled and yellowed, and the contents looked quite ordinary. The date was February 27th, which was about half a month ago.

The text contains some interesting anecdotes from the North, as well as a poem about Qingming Festival written by a poet named Leshantang Master.

There is also a very serious article about the Southern Dynasty delegation's visit to the capital.

The article is ornate and full of allusions. It says that this alliance between the North and the South, which has resolved past grievances, is an unprecedented event in history. "The sword has turned into jade, a testament to the mercy of nature. The alliance between Xing and Ma is forever engraved in stone. Even the friendship between Qin and Jin cannot fully express its significance."

In addition to these, the newspaper also published a story about the strange and supernatural.

This tale of the strange is short, yet it covers everything in one piece, and is divided into two parts.

The first half tells the story of how the Grand Prince Consort Shangguan devoted himself to the Southern Dynasty and, through a wise monk from India, left behind a treasure in the Dragon Palace at the bottom of the Yangtze River. If the Southern Dynasty were to face difficulties in the future, the royal family could use this treasure.

The key to finding the Dragon Palace treasure lies in the eighteen divine numbers left behind by the great Indian monk.

which is,

Eighteen numbers with no clear meaning.

The latter half tells the story of Wang Bing, a powerful eunuch in the Southern Dynasty, who, in order to seize this treasure, massacred a village near Nanjing that had been in charge of divination for generations, leaving only a young orphan.

The orphan escaped with great difficulty, crossed the river, went to Shandong, and died by the roadside in Shandong.

The author of the tale of the strange passed by that place and saw that the place was filled with resentment. He summoned the spirit and asked it, and only then did he learn about this mystery.

The wrongfully killed boy told the author about the Twelve Divine Numbers, which the author then wrote down and published in the Beijing Daily. As for the remaining six numbers, they were obtained by the eunuch Wang Bing.

This strange and fantastical tale, with its intricate plot and allure of the Dragon Palace treasure, is truly captivating.

If it stopped there, this tale of the strange would merely be a compilation of information about the officialdom of the Southern Dynasties, saying that even though the Southern Dynasties had figures like Grand Marshal Shangguan, there was no successor, the descendants favored eunuchs, treacherous officials were in power, and there were signs of the country's downfall.

But the bizarre events did not end there.

The day after it was published in the newspaper, it spread to Tongzhou and Tianjin.

Some antiques and calligraphy and paintings have inexplicably appeared in this area, and the people selling them say they came from the south.

When someone inquired, they learned that these things were bought at a low price from a eunuch named Wang Bing in the Southern Dynasty, and then sold in the Northern Dynasty for hundreds of times the price!

A stone stirred up a thousand waves.

In an instant, opinions varied widely.

Some say that the eunuch Wang Bing must have confiscated a wealthy merchant's property and seized a batch of treasures. He dared not leave them in the Southern Dynasty for fear of being exposed, so he secretly sold them to the Northern Dynasty.

This tale of the strange and supernatural was written by the orphaned son of a wealthy merchant, each word written with tears and blood.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk!"

Someone held a newspaper out to their hands, their tone heavy, shaking their head with a sigh.

"The Dragon Palace's treasure? Murder and robbery?!"

As the news spread, antique dealers in the Tianjin area were in an uproar overnight, and many of them headed south that very night.

The swift action was not to seek justice for the wrongfully killed, but to get ahead of the eunuch and snatch some treasures from him as well.

Even if he didn't go himself, he entrusted the news to some merchant groups that were about to head south, offering them high prices.

It was after receiving this news that Imperial Censor Liu Zhi came to confront Wang Bing with the newspaper.

Zhu Cuiwei didn't take it too seriously at first.

Wang Bing didn't have the guts, and the Chief Inspector didn't have the ability to cover things up completely. The Embroidered Uniform Guard was no pushover either.

But as she read that tale of the strange and supernatural, a strange and unusual feeling gradually rose in her heart.

"The Prince Consort... a treasure..."

The Queen pursed her lips slightly, silently reciting these terms, subconsciously sorting out the plot of the story.

"India...numerical numbers...Wang Bing...the Eighteen Divine Calculations..."

The imperial son-in-law...she also has an imperial son-in-law.

When this tale of the strange was published, her husband happened to be in Beijing.

A tale of the strange and supernatural?

Her husband wrote many strange tales... and more than one.

What are these stories about a beautiful woman and a fox spirit, or about the Du Kang ruler of Mount Hua? Every single one of them is just as convoluted and bizarre.

However, the former was to sell his Nancheng Daily, while the latter was to sell his Dukang ruler, which could be used to warm wine.

The Empress smiled slightly. This tale of the strange and supernatural felt somewhat familiar to her, and some things came to mind. Her mood changed from doubt to warmth and comfort.

India?

number?

Before her husband went north, he also did something related to India and numbers.

"These numbers should logically be called Arabic numerals. But since they seem to have been invented by the Indians, let's call them Indian numerals for now."

He taught her this kind of number.

0, 1, 2, 3...9, it's very simple, she learned it quickly.

Then, her husband taught her a way to write secret letters.

The two agreed to publish the same set of books. The letter was full of Indian numerals, in groups of three, such as 22, 14, and 6, which referred to the 22nd page, 14th column, and 6th character of the book.

She found this method of writing secret letters very novel.

Although writing and interpreting letters are extremely tedious, the two of them can manage as long as they don't tell anyone which book they agreed on.

Even if the secret letter is intercepted, you can rest assured that no one in the world will know what is written in it.

The other person reached out, rummaged through the desk, picked up a book, looked at it, and said:

"Then let's use this one."

The first edition of "Journey to the West" published by Nanjing Chengyuxia Bookstore in the year of Yihai.

"Such secret letters could also be used by the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the army."

Her eyes lit up, and she took the Journey to the West book with her delicate hands, nodding gently and saying in a clear voice:

"They can just change the book."

The other person nodded.

It was at the very moment that I remembered this matter.

Zhu Cuiwei's expression changed, and she suddenly stood up!

"There's no such coincidence in the world!"

On her way back to Qianqing Palace, her heart was pounding.

The ability to bring together the Grand Prince Consort, India, numbers, and Wang Bing, whom she and her brother both trusted, into a single book of supernatural tales is truly unique in the world.

"This is a tale of the strange..."

Her porcelain-white face became even whiter, and her delicate skin trembled slightly as she clenched her teeth.

"He wrote it."