"What's the painting?" The gray-robed woman took the painting and looked at it with a weirder expression: "Who would use a painting like this to impersonate Jiuzhu? Is he stupid?"
"Where's the letter?"
"I haven't read it yet." The green-robed woman found the letter and handed it to her directly: "Senior Sister, this."
The two of them sat together, read the letter, and fell silent.
"The brain of the mastermind behind this is not very good." The green-robed woman, Jiuzhu's second master, threw the envelope on the stone table: "How could our Jiuzhu be bullied by palace maids and eunuchs, and even shed tears to the moon..."
"Yes." The master turned his head and looked at the dilapidated Taoist temple: "The roof of our Taoist temple should be renovated. It's a rare scammer. We can't let him get away."
"This..." The second master hesitated: "Will it scare him away?"
"Now that you're here, how can you just leave?"
The messenger waited at the foot of the mountain for two days. When he arrived at the Taoist temple again, he saw the woman he had seen two days ago from afar. She was standing at the end of the road waiting for him with a worried look on her face. When she saw him appear, she seemed relieved.
"Master, you have read the princess' letter. What are your plans?"
"We raised Miss Ming with our own hands. How can I bear to see her suffer in the capital?" The woman looked anxious: "Is the prince not treating her well?"
"Alas, the Prince of Chen has always been arrogant and domineering, and his relationship with civil officials is bad. The princess is a daughter of the Ming family, so how can the prince treat her sincerely?" The messenger saw that the woman was so flustered that she didn't know what to do, and felt a little proud in his heart. She was indeed easy to deal with.
"I want to go to the capital to see her as soon as possible."
The messenger's eyes lit up.
"But……"
"But what?" The messenger was worried. His Highness had specifically instructed that the Taoist priest who adopted Ming Jiuzhu must be brought to the capital, so that Ming Jiuzhu could be turned into a chess piece in His Highness' hands.
"But my sister is weak. If I take her to Beijing, I'm afraid she won't survive. But leaving her here alone, there's a lack of food and oil in the mountains, and even the roof is leaking. I can't rest assured."
"These are all trivial matters. Leave the food, oil, rice, and flour, as well as the renovation of the Taoist temple to me." The messenger thought that as long as he could coax people to go to the capital, renovating the Taoist temple would be a trivial matter.
"How can I let you spend money..."
"Master, please don't say that. The princess is my great benefactor. I am renovating the Taoist temple for her master, so what's the big deal?" The messenger clasped his fists and said, "Master, please wait a moment. I will go down the mountain to prepare."
"Good believer, good believer..."
The messenger kept running, fearing that he would run too slowly, and the female Taoist priest regretted it.
Two hours later, the messenger brought a group of workers up the mountain and started hammering and pounding. They even cut the weeds on the mountain path cleanly.
"Master, please rest assured that within five days, your temple will be completely renovated."
"Thank you, believer." The woman smiled and said, "Since the believer has come to the Taoist temple, why don't you follow the poor Taoist to worship in the temple?"
"Master, please."
Entering the main hall, the messenger discovered that the shabby main hall actually enshrined the Three Pure Ones. Apart from the Three Pure Ones, there were no other statues, and it looked very simple and shabby.
"I'm sorry to bother you, my benefactor. The Taoist temple is poor and we don't have the money to paint a golden statue for the Heavenly Lord." The woman handed him the incense sticks and said, "Please, benefactor."
The three statues looked very old, but not broken. When the messenger knelt on the mat, he felt that the three statues were looking at him.
He hastily lit incense, not daring to look directly into the eyes of the deity: "Master, I am willing to paint gold for the deity."
Before leaving, Shang Feng gave him two hundred taels of silver. If he continued to spend it like this, he would have to beg for food before he even reached the capital.
But in order to gain the trust of the female Taoist priest, the money must be paid.
That night, he sent a letter by pigeon, asking Shang Feng to let his men stationed in Lingzhou send him silver.
This shabby Taoist temple spends too much money.
Four days later, the messenger held his empty purse, looked at the golden statues of the Three Pure Ones, the food, oil, rice and flour in the house, the newly replaced furniture, and the newly painted walls, and squeezed out a smile: "The longer you delay, the more uncomfortable the princess will be. Taoist priest, please return to the capital with me today."
"Okay." The woman nodded. "There is a flower field behind the Taoist temple. Miss Ming loved these flowers when she was young. Please pick some for me."
The messenger wanted to say that no matter how beautiful the flowers were, they would be ruined if they were sent back to the capital.
"Okay, please wait a moment, Taoist priest." It doesn't matter, as long as he can follow him back to Beijing, he can endure it.
"Thank you."
The woman watched him walk into the flowers behind the Taoist temple, and smiled as she watched him fall to the ground.
"Look at my bad memory. I forgot to remind you that these flowers... are poisonous. Breathing them can make people unconscious." She walked to the unconscious messenger, took out a hemp rope from her arms, tied him up tightly, and dragged him out of the flowers.
"According to the Dacheng Law, people like you who pretend to be a member of the royal family and commit fraud and evil deeds will serve in prison for at least ten years, and at most twenty years." The second master clapped his hands, kicked the unconscious messenger with his feet, and looked up to ask the first master who was sitting on the roof: "Senior sister, have the people from the government arrived?"
"We're almost there." She ate the snacks the messenger had brought up the mountain and said with emotion, "This kind of liar with a stupid mind and money is really useful."
"Yes." The second master nodded: "It would be nice if there were two more next time."
Such a good liar is hard to come by.
"Your Highness." The eunuch in blue hurried into the courtyard and saw the Fourth Prince's wife there. He bowed politely and said, "Greetings, Your Highness and the Princess."
“No need to be polite.” Yun Yanze turned his head to Sun Caiyao and said, “Caiyao, the peach blossoms outside are in full bloom. Ask Bai Shao to go and take a look.”
"Okay." Sun Caiyao remembered this eunuch. Half a month ago, it was he who told His Highness the address of the Taoist temple where Ming Jiuzhu was fostered.
"What happened?" After Sun Caiyao left, the smile on Yun Yanze's face disappeared.
"Eleven was thrown into jail."
"What?" Yun Yanze thought there was something wrong with his ears: "What's going on?"
"He...he was exposed." The blue-robed eunuch shrank his neck and said, "After discovering that he was a liar, Princess Chen's master reported him to the government and had him arrested."
“Even if two old Taoist priests in the deep mountains and old forests found out that something was wrong with him, he should have taken the opportunity to escape. How could he have given them a chance to report to the authorities?” Yun Yanze took a deep breath and said, “Make arrangements and tell him to shut up.”
"Please rest assured, Your Highness. We have already made all the arrangements."
"Rest assured?" Yun Yanze seemed to have heard a joke. He looked at the eunuch in blue with a mocking look: "How can I be assured?"
They were all well-trained secret guards, but they were brought into the government office by a female Taoist priest. It was simply a joke.
Sun Caiyao was sitting in the large courtyard outside. When she saw the eunuch in blue clothes walk out with his head down and a sad look on his face, she slowly lowered her eyelids and said, "Bai Shao, tell me, what's so good about Ming Jiuzhu?"
Bai Shao lowered her head: "I don't know."
"You are not a man, of course you don't know." Sun Caiyao stood up and walked towards the peach forest that was said to be planted by His Majesty specially for Empress Su.
Bai Shao followed behind her and said, "Princess Chen is with Prince Chen all day long. Even if she is really likable, it is only to please Prince Chen. You don't have to consider why she pleases men."
"Aunt Bai Shao." Sun Caiyao stopped and turned to look at her: "You seem to be trying to excuse Ming Jiuzhu with these words?"
"I dare not. I just don't want you to worry about someone who has nothing to do with you." Bai Shao knelt down and saluted: "Prince's wife, the married Princess Chen will never be a threat to you."
"Yes, she never was." Sun Caiyao seemed to be deflated suddenly. She stood outside the peach forest. She knew that all this had nothing to do with Ming Jiuzhu.
But who else can I blame except her?
Should I blame myself, or should I blame His Highness?
The man in white riding on the horse was so handsome. For the first time in her boring and tasteless life, she secretly chose to fall in love with him.
"The peach blossoms are about to fade."
"Are you reluctant to give up the flowers?"
"Flowers bloom and fade in a regular pattern. I'm just calculating how many months it will take before I can eat peaches."
"Come here."
"What are you doing here?"
"Jump up, I'll carry you."
"Will other people see it?"
"You see it, it's only natural for me to carry my wife on my back. Who dares to say anything?"
"Okay!" Jiuzhu happily threw herself on the Prince's back and rested her head on his shoulder. After taking two steps, she covered her head and said, "Your Highness, lower your head a little, quickly, quickly, my hair is caught on the peach branch."
Sun Caiyao looked at Ming Jiuzhu, who was grinning foolishly under the peach tree, with her hair messed up by the peach branches and then having sex with Prince Chen. She took a few steps back silently to avoid being discovered by them.
"It's my fault. I'm too tall." The King looked at the strand of hair sticking out from Jiuzhu's head, tried to hold back his laughter, and put his head in front of her: "How about I pull your hair for you?"
"No, it hurts." Jiuzhu blew on the messy hair and held the King's hand: "Forget it, you should just take me back."
The palace maids and eunuchs behind him were all laughing secretly.
The Prince of Chen glanced at the palace maids who were giggling, bent down, picked her up and said, "Let's go back to the palace and not let them laugh at us."
Jiuzhu leaned her head on his chest and laughed first.
Sun Caiyao saw the peach blossoms falling all over them, as if such beauty, such liveliness, and such happiness should belong to them.
Even to disturb this warmth is a sin.
"Bai Shao." Sun Caiyao looked at Bai Shao in a trance: "I..."
I'm jealous of her.
Realizing this, Sun Caiyao felt ashamed and embarrassed.
When did she become so ugly?
After returning to Qilin Palace, Jiuzhu woke up from her nap. Prince Chen was summoned to Taiyang Palace. She sat in front of the mirror and put on her makeup. A servant came to report that Concubine Zhang and Princess Roude had come to see her with gifts.
"Please let them in."
Outside the Qilin Palace, Concubine Zhang repeatedly warned her daughter not to provoke Princess Chen.
"He was a ruthless man who could remain calm and poke a doll with his birth date and horoscope on it with a needle." Whenever Zhang Concubine recalled this scene, her legs trembled.
She has always bullied the weak and feared the strong, and Ming Jiuju is the tough guy that scares her.
A woman who likes to say harsh words is not really cruel. Only someone like Ming Jiuju is truly cruel.
"Mother, you don't have to emphasize it again. I have already remembered it." Roude looked at the plaque of Qilin Palace. Compared with Ming Jiuzhu, she was more afraid of her younger brother Yun Duqing.
"Your Highness, Lady Zhang, our princess invites you."
Roude knew Ming Jiuzhu was unwilling to talk to her, so after they exchanged greetings, she got straight to the point: "I came here this time to thank my sister-in-law."
The matter of witches and dolls is the most taboo in the palace. If Ming Jiuzhu had not described the witch dolls as useless rag dolls in just a few words, countless palace maids would have been dragged into it, and she and her mother would not have been able to sit here peacefully today.
"Princess, you don't need to thank me. I'm just telling you the truth." Jiuzhu put down the teacup and said, "Princess, don't take it to heart."
"Actually, I came here today to tell you something else." Roude said, "There is a maid from my hometown who works in the Palace Department. She got a message not long ago that someone was asking about your handwriting and the location of the Taoist temple where you were raised in Lingzhou."
"I don't know the intentions of the person behind this. I told my sister-in-law about this just to make her more cautious." Princess Roude stood up and said, "I have already told you. I will take my leave now."
There are no secrets in the palace that will never be known, only people who are willing to keep the secrets or not.
"Thank you, Princess, for telling me." Jiuzhu stood up.
"You're welcome. You've helped my mother a lot. I'm giving you some information I found out by chance. I'm making a profit."
If you owe a favor to someone in the palace, you should pay it back as soon as possible, never too late.
After Concubine Zhang and Princess Roude left, Chunfen whispered to Jiuzhu, "Miss, Princess Roude may know who is investigating you."
"That's not important." Jiuzhu touched his chin: "I just find it strange. These things can be found by just looking in the Qintianjian. Why bother to check in the Palace?"
If someone with such a bad brain really wanted to plot against the two masters...
"Supreme Taiyi Deliverer of Evil." Jiuzhu recited a Taoist slogan.
If someone really finds Master, it is the cause and effect between them and Master.
They plant the seeds, and the masters produce the results.
There was no delay for each other.
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