Chapter 61: The Eunuch's Fox Pet
Pei Duo did not handle government affairs in the side hall, but in a special residence with heavy guards called Yuxuan Hall.
Lin Zhi looked at the surrounding scenery in Pei Duo's arms, wrinkled her wet nose and said, "The smell of the palace is so strange."
Lin Zhi was not referring to the obvious smell, but the mixed smell of the palace.
The smell of dragon energy, Buddhist Zen energy, Taoist pure energy, the fierce energy of the Demon Suppression Bureau, resentment, and strong desire intertwined under the scorching sun.
Although everything seems peaceful and gives people a sense of majesty and inviolability, one always feels that there is something dangerous and bad lurking underneath.
Pei Duo listened to the little fox's whispered statement and touched his nose with his fingertips.
"You have a very good nose. There is indeed something hidden underground."
As for what it was, Pei Duo did not say clearly.
A guard saw Pei Duo approaching and saluted with his sword in his arms, without looking away.
Lin Zhi acted quietly as a fox and did not ask any further questions.
Lin Zhi knew without Pei Duo's telling that the prison of the Demon Suppression Bureau was located in the basement of the imperial palace. There were some vicious demons and monsters that could not be killed immediately and they definitely needed to be suppressed.
There is a dragon vein flowing under the palace, which is the best place to suppress and consume them.
Lin Zhi wasn't very curious about what was imprisoned inside, because it probably had nothing to do with his mission.
Lin Zhi closed his eyes. Being a fox is more comfortable than being a human. He doesn’t have to walk and can just sleep when he has nothing to do.
Pei Sheng stood at the door of Yuxuan Hall, welcoming Pei Duo in, and was not surprised at all to see the purple fox in Pei Duo's arms.
The news that Chief Eunuch Pei Duo was holding Zihu while attending court soon spread throughout the palace. Even Pei Sheng, who knew about the distance from the Imperial Study to the Yuxuan Palace, learned about it.
"Is this the little fox my cousin raised? It's really pretty."
Pei Sheng's words were full of envy, but it wasn't entirely a compliment.
Foxes are rare nowadays, and good quality ones are even rarer. He knows white foxes, red foxes, and green foxes, but this is the first time he has seen a purple fox.
The little fox opened its eyes when it heard him speak, and its purple eyes looked straight at him. Not to mention how smart and cute it was, if the fox wasn't in his cousin's arms, Pei Sheng would have wanted to touch it.
No wonder my cousin laughed yesterday when he saw the note reporting the little fox's movements. It's so lovable that it's normal that even my cousin pampers it and carries it with him all the time in the palace.
Pei Duo nodded, seeing his cousin's desire, but having no intention of letting anyone touch it, he placed the little fox on the table, touched his head, and rubbed the tips of his ears.
The memorial was opened, and the young eunuch who was grinding ink immediately came forward to work, and the tip of the thin goat-hair brush was dyed vermilion.
Lin Zhi acted as a mascot, standing next to Pei Duo and reading the memorials for a while. Pei Duo's handwriting was clear and elegant, with a smooth and restrained stroke, occasionally showing a sharp edge.
After looking at it for a while, Lin Zhi stopped staring at it, so as not to expose the fact that he was not an ordinary fox. He lay down in front of the memorial, curled up and took a nap. In his mind, he quickly sorted out the things he had heard and seen today and classified them into categories, trying to quickly figure out the intricate relationships in the court.
This matter was not a problem for Lin Zhi. He was used to doing such things. Instead, he felt bored doing nothing like a fox.
To outsiders, it seemed that the little fox was bored, so he lay down and fell asleep.
Pei Sheng's work efficiency was a little low today because his attention was frequently drawn away by the ball of purple fur, and he tried hard to restrain his desire to touch it.
It feels really nice to touch, and the fur looks very soft.
Pei Sheng looked at his cousin with some longing, hoping that he would take the initiative.
Pei Duo raised his eyes: "But what's the confusion?"
Pei Sheng shook his head and continued to look down at the memorial.
Pei Duo did not ask any more questions. He just looked at the sleeping little fox, and played with the fox's fluffy tail while reading the memorials.
He could do whatever he wanted with ordinary foxes, but he couldn't do whatever he wanted with the little demon fox.
Lin Zhiben didn't really fall asleep, but under Pei Duo's occasional kneading, she really fell asleep.
I don’t know how long I slept. When Lin Zhi opened his eyes, Pei Duo was drafting an edict.
Lin Zhi leaned over to take a look and found that he was writing about the severe drought in Yizhou.
Pei Duo did not intend to deal with the matter in a hasty manner like the emperor did. He personally appointed people to inspect Yizhou and be responsible for disaster relief matters. He also appointed people from the Water Conservancy Bureau and the Agricultural Affairs Bureau to accompany him. There were also specific regulations for each state to accommodate refugees.
The servant Lin Zhi compared the names mentioned by those people today and found that Pei Duo seemed to be in a position to give them all fifty lashes.
Pei Duo was already very skilled in the art of maneuvering, and Lin Zhi didn't understand it in too deep a way, but could make some guesses.
Sometimes, if you want to discipline someone, blindly suppressing him is not a good idea. Pushing him to a profitable place will make it easier to find fault with him.
"Do you understand?"
Pei Duo rubbed the fox's head and asked with a chuckle.
Seeing that there was still someone there, Lin Zhi did not react, but just blinked and looked at Pei Duo.
Pei Sheng tried to hold back his laughter. He didn't expect that his cousin could still be so childish and even talk to a fox. How could a fox understand him?
Perhaps it was because his cousin was so close to the fox that Pei Sheng felt that his cousin had become more gentle and kind.
Afterwards, he saw the imperial edict drafted by Pei Duo, stopped his lips that were about to rise, studied the ins and outs of it with some fear, and then fell silent.
Looking at his cousin caressing the little fox, Pei Shengke didn't think he was amiable at all. He was still so unfathomable.
If my cousin were 10 or 20 years older, he would probably be called an old fox behind his back.
The drafted imperial edict was not issued immediately, but was left on the desk for a long time. It was not until sunset that the paper was delivered to the imperial study by a young eunuch.
Some people were waiting for this news anxiously. The emperor wrote down the order with mixed feelings and stamped the jade seal forcefully.
After leaving the Qinzheng Hall, the eunuch Fulai, who served personally, bowed and said that the Empress Shufei invited him to dinner.
The emperor showed some annoyance in his eyes and brows. He went to Concubine Shu's house for dinner, but deliberately did not stay overnight. Instead, he stayed in the Queen's palace.
He felt relieved when he heard from his confidant that Concubine Shu was so angry that she smashed a vase in the palace.
In Yingyue Palace, Concubine Shu looked coldly at the palace maids carefully picking up the broken pieces of the vase. She looked at her nails dyed with nail polish and hid the sneer in her eyes.
Thinking of what her mother said, she tried hard to suppress the joy in her heart and prevent herself from laughing out loud.
In terms of seniority, although she is two years younger than Pei Duo, Pei Duo still has to call her cousin. But she dares not to do that. Not only does she not dare to mention it, her mother doesn't dare to mention it either.
Her mother was the concubine sister of Pei Duo's grandfather and married her father as a concubine. According to her life trajectory, she should have been able to marry into a royal family as a concubine, or become a mistress of a lower-class family.
But during the turbulent times of the previous dynasty, her father did something wrong and was demoted. Because her mother's surname was Pei, the Fifth Prince did it on purpose. She remembered that period as being particularly difficult. Her father blamed her mother, the mistress gave her mother a cold shoulder, and other concubines even dared to add insult to injury.
Fortunately, Pei Duo was the final winner. In the end, no one dared not to address him as Lord Pei. As a result, his mother regained her favor, and his father was promoted to a higher position. No one in the backyard dared to look at his mother. She even thought that she could marry a son of a noble family and become the mistress.
One day, Pei Duo stood in front of her and asked her if she wanted to be the most noble woman in the world except for the queen.
She agreed, and there was one more Zhaoyi in the palace, who gradually rose to the position of Shufei.
Concubine Shu always remembered who had brought her to this day, and always followed Pei Duo's orders, performing for the emperor what he wanted to see.
Shufei walked into the inner room, looked at the note handed to her by the maid, and burned it thoughtfully after reading it.
In Yuxuan Palace, Lin Zhi watched Pei Duo finish writing the note, and then was carried by him into the secret passage that he had walked through during the day.
Pei Duo changed out of his palace clothes and put on a black casual suit, then took Lin Zhi to the small gate of the courtyard.
"Are we going to find Hang Wan'er?"
Lin Zhi seemed to be expecting something, as this was the first time he had to face an inhuman force since coming to this world.
"Well, squat on my shoulder and I'll give you a blind spot."
Pei Duo looked at the little fox standing on his shoulder and walked into the night.
The streets were a bit deserted, but along the Neijiang River there was singing and dancing.
Ten people died in three months, and they were intermittent deaths. This is nothing for the capital city with its large population flow.
Moreover, since there are many flower boats and pleasure boats along the Neijiang River, people occasionally drown, but such incidents will not disturb the interest of those who are seeking pleasure.
Pei Duo boarded the flower boat which was heavily scented with cosmetics, but people passing by did not pay much attention to him, and even Hua Niang did not wave her handkerchief at him.
The feeling was so strange that it made people feel a little cold. Pei Duo walked among the crowd, but he was like a silent shadow.
At the corner of the third floor of the pleasure boat, there stood a beautiful woman wearing a robe embroidered with landscape patterns, bowing towards Pei Duo.
Lin Zhi was also certain that this was a spirit that had not yet fully formed. There was no breath of a living being on her, and everyone on the boat had ignored Pei Duo's existence. Only she smiled sweetly, so if she wasn't surprised, who would be?
"Sir, I have been waiting for you for a long time."
Hang Wan'er had beautiful eyes and exuded a kind of bewitching fragrance.
But Pei Duo is the Heavenly Master and Lin Zhi is the fox, so no one takes the bait.
Lin Zhi was sure that Pei Duo's ability to sleight of hand was extraordinary, because the spirit obviously did not notice that there was a fox squatting on the shoulder of the young master she was talking about, because she did not even glance at it.
Even the grown monsters didn't have the strength to escape from the chief of the Monster Suppression Bureau, let alone a monster like Hang Wan'er who hasn't even formed yet.
Pei Duo had no intention of talking about poetry with her. After entering the room with Hang Wan'er, a few leaves appeared between Pei Duo's fingers and flew towards Hang Wan'er.
Lin Zhi saw blood-red lines between the leaves. Pei Duo used the leaves as carriers of talismans to control Hang Wan'er.
In an instant, half of the beautiful woman's body disappeared, and finally turned into a ball of spiritual energy, which was caught in Pei Duo's hand.
The process was completed so quickly that Lin Zhi was unable to react.
Lin Zhi knew that Pei Duo had brought him out tonight on purpose, deliberately letting him see his strength so that he would be afraid and obedient.
Lin Zhi made a corresponding gesture of shock, and even sucked in his stomach to try to reduce the weight, lowering his head and not daring to look at Pei Duo.
Pei Duo watched the little fox realize belatedly that he was a demon and was afraid of the demon-suppressing master, and touched his tail.
It's too late to feel afraid now.
Even among monsters, he can be considered to have a big heart. But that's not quite right. His heart is not big at all, and he has not even half of it left.
"Little fox, how do you want to eat her?"
At this moment, he did not look like the righteous chief of the Demon Suppression Bureau, but rather like an evil ghost who tempted monsters to eat people.
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