The sixteenth day of the first lunar month in the ninth year of the Xuanli reign.
The sky is low and dark clouds are pressing down on the city.
This morning, Fu Xiaoguan did not get up for morning exercises for the first time. He slept until he woke up naturally.
Although I didn't get drunk last night, the roosters were already crowing when I sent Dong Shulan back to Fu's house.
After taking a bath, he quickly drank a bowl of red date and lotus seed porridge and thought for a moment. He thought that his father should arrive in Jinling today, and that the assassins were detained in the Jinling government office last night. He also thought that Yan Xiaolou was injured because of him and he should go and see her.
There is no way to split myself into two!
I have to go pick up my father first. After all, proposing marriage is the most important thing at the moment.
Just as he made up his mind and was about to go out, he almost bumped into Yu Wendao.
Yu Wendao came hurriedly, bringing with him a smell of blood. Fu Xiaoguan looked closely and saw that the bloodstains on this guy's white clothes were like plum blossoms.
"What did you do?"
"Don't ask. I'll tell you later. Bring me some of your clothes. I'll bathe you."
"No, I still have to go out."
Yu Wendao stared at Fu Xiaoguan, his eyes stern, "Why are you leaving? Hurry up and follow me into the palace. Something big has happened!"
Fu Xiaoguan's heart sank. He turned around and took Yu Wendao inside. He arranged for Yu Wendao to take a bath, and then he called Chunxiu.
"Xiu'er, the young master is busy today. The master has come to the capital. You should take a dozen servants with you and leave the city. Go to the dock to wait for the master and bring him to the mansion."
"Okay, I'll go right away."
"Wait..." Fu Xiaoguan thought for a moment. He had never seen Yu Wendao so serious before, so he thought it must be something extremely serious. "If I don't come back today, tell the master that I'm on duty in the court."
Chunxiu was also stunned. The young master hadn't been so serious for a long time. Could something big have happened?
She didn't ask, but nodded seriously and turned to leave. Su Su, who was sitting next to her, heard it and said, "I'll go with Chunxiu."
"good!"
Fu Xiaoguan and Su Jue sat opposite each other, and Su Jue talked about what happened last night.
"I didn't gain anything from Shuiyue Temple either. Last night, many places in Jinling City caught fire. I went to check it out and killed a few people, all bandits. Because the Fifth Prince had already made arrangements, the losses weren't great."
The outcome of Shuiyue Temple was within Fu Xiaoguan's expectations.
He didn't know who the person was in Shuiyue Temple a few days ago. His guess was that the person was probably looking for something in Shuiyue Temple. Because the place had been exposed, Yuhuatai could no longer use it as an intelligence transit point.
What exactly are they looking for?
Fu Xiaoguan was thinking about the secrets of Yuhuatai, or a list of names, or even the records of intelligence exchanges.
Since Master Bunian was able to escape by using the trick of the golden cicada shedding its shell, I think she was worried about being hunted down by Yuhuatai.
With the strength of Yuhuatai, she has no confidence in escaping, so those secrets should be hidden in Shuiyue Temple... It seems that I have to find time to go there. It's not that I don't trust Su Jue, but it involves the arrangement of the mechanism. He has some experience in this, so I might as well try my luck.
"Also, I want to tell you that the vast majority of those who entered Shangjing City and set fire last night were members of Liu Jiumei's gang when she was wandering around the martial arts world."
Fu Xiaoguan frowned. Then were those people who assassinated him in Lantingji also Liu Jiumei's subordinates?
"Their purpose in setting the fire was to break into the prison and rescue Liu Sanbian. I wonder if they succeeded?"
"I was just about to tell you..." Yu Wendao walked out wearing Fu Xiaoguan's green robe, "They succeeded!"
Fu Xiaoguan was startled. Yu Wendao continued, "Not only did they successfully rescue Liu Sanbian and the two King Kongs, they also killed those Wulin bandits that you had set up outside Prince Hui's mansion."
What the hell!
That group of people were escorted to the Jinling government office by the imperial guards sent by Huo Huaijin. They were first locked up in the government office's jail, and then taken to the Ministry of Justice's jail - which means that those people broke into the Ministry of Justice's jail!
Do they have such ability?
Seeing Fu Xiaoguan's confusion, Yu Wendao raised his eyebrows. "They have an insider, but I haven't caught them. In my opinion... this matter is definitely related to the Fourth Prince!"
"Why do you say that?"
"Think about it. You let two of the people you captured outside Prince Hui's mansion escape, and they went to Yuhuatai. These bandits fled to Prince Hui's mansion from Shuiyue Temple, which is a contact point for Yuhuatai. So they must be from Yuhuatai."
"Liu Jiumei's men are a mob, their strength lies in numbers. They have no chance of breaking through the defenses of the Ministry of Justice Prison, but Yuhuatai has the strength to do so."
"Think about it again. Since they rescued Liu Sanbian and the other two, why did they kill the twenty already disabled people? Because their lives are meaningless to Yuhuatai. In addition, the Ministry of Justice did not try these twenty people, which means there is no evidence to prove that they are the Fourth Prince's men, so they must die as well."
Fu Xiaoguan suddenly looked up at the sky and asked, "When did those bandits take Liu Sanbian and the other two out of the capital?"
"It's about the hour of Yin."
It’s already Si time...it’s too late!
"What did you think of?" Yu Wendao asked.
"Liu Sanbian and his group are also dead."
Yu Wendao was stunned for a moment, then understood what Fu Xiaoguan meant and felt a little annoyed.
There is no way the Fourth Prince would let Liu Jiumei's people leave Shangjing!
Since those people were in collusion with Yuhuatai, there must be contacts among them. The Fourth Prince used these people to create chaos in Shangjing City and also used them as cannon fodder to attack the Ministry of Justice prison.
The fourth prince has only one goal - to silence people!
First, he killed the twenty men in the Ministry of Justice jail, and then killed the green forest bandits involved in this incident. From then on, there was no clue that could implicate him.
"No wonder the people from Qingfeng Tower didn't find the people from Yuhuatai that night. They had actually dispersed, and some of them must have left the city and were hiding... What a good trick!" Yu Wendao sighed, and it was a mistake after all.
Fu Xiaoguan thought about the assassins from last night again. He said to Su Jue, "Big Brother, there were seven assassins imprisoned in the Jinling government jail last night. Please keep an eye on them for me."
Su Jue nodded. He understood what this focus meant. If these seven people were also related to Yuhuatai and Liu Jiumei, then this would be the only clue.
He said goodbye and left. Su Rou, who was embroidering a mandarin duck, opened her small eyes and looked at Fu Xiaoguan.
This kid is very thoughtful and really amazing, but it's a pity that he just can't develop internal strength - he probably thinks it's difficult to develop it, with so many trivial things to do all day long, how can he have time to practice quietly!
"Something happened in the palace. You follow me into the palace now."
"What is it?"
"The Queen Mother has passed away!"
Fu Xiaoguan's heart skipped a beat. He stood up and followed Yu Wendao out of the Fu Mansion and headed straight for the palace.
…
…
A snowflake floated down and landed right on the tip of Fu Xiaoguan's nose. He looked up at the sky, and the lead-gray clouds stopped floating. This was a sign that another heavy snow was about to fall.
The gate of the palace has been opened, but the red lanterns and flower trees in the palace last night are gone, with only a few traces left in the corners.
The two walked in the palace without saying a word, but their mood was extremely heavy.
Fu Xiaoguan remembered that Eunuch Wei flew over Weiyang Lake last night and asked him to write a poem. He thought this was one of the old empress dowager's wishes. He didn't know whether the old empress dowager saw it.
Fu Xiaoguan found it difficult to describe his understanding of the Empress Dowager.
Because of the incident with Prince Hui, things were not pleasant in the Cining Palace.
Yu Wenjun said that even if the incident with Prince Hui had not happened, the Queen Mother would still want to meet him, but it was because of the ending of Lin Daiyu in A Dream of Red Mansions.
She didn't like the ending. She thought that even in the book, it should be more beautiful.
But on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, she asked the actors to sing about the imperial concubine's visit to her parents, and said those extremely serious words to warn all officials, especially the six major clans.
She hoped that the Yu Dynasty would be better, and she seemed to know that the current Yu Dynasty was not very good.
A few days ago, Yu Wendao had told him that if he wanted to please the Queen Mother, he should talk to her more about farming. He hadn't even mentioned farming, and on the Queen Mother's birthday, he had simply given her a handful of grain and a note, and before he knew whether she was pleased, they had gone their separate ways.
She looked pretty good that day, and it had only been two days... Fu Xiaoguan sighed inwardly, fortune and misfortune are indeed unpredictable!
As we got closer to the Cining Palace, the atmosphere became more and more solemn.
There were many palace maids and eunuchs running around busily, and there were also ministers in the court coming and going in a hurry. Especially when Fu Xiaoguan saw the director of the Imperial Observatory, he realized that something had indeed happened.
Then the person in charge of state affairs at this moment must be Yan Beixi. But regarding the Queen Mother's death, why hasn't His Majesty issued an edict yet?
Yu Wendao took Fu Xiaoguan to a side room, changed into plain clothes, and came to the main gate of the Cining Palace.
There were sounds of crying and the smell of fireworks inside. As soon as I stepped through the door, I saw a group of people kneeling on the ground. Yu Wendao pulled Fu Xiaoguan, and the two of them also knelt behind him.
Fu Xiaoguan looked up quietly and saw Concubine Shang leading several concubines in mourning and burning paper money one by one. Dozens of Taoists were sitting cross-legged on the platform, chanting something and occasionally beating small chimes, gongs and drums. An elderly Taoist holding a whisk led dozens of Taoists and walked slowly around a large bed covered with white gauze. Yellow paper fell from their hands and they bowed to all directions from time to time. They must be performing a Taoist ceremony.
Two of the windows were opened, and wind blew in; the white silk prayer flags inside fluttered in the wind, and the white gauze on the big bed was lifted a little, and Fu Xiaoguan vaguely saw the old man lying on the bed.
He searched the crowd and saw Yu Wenyun's back.
She was also dressed in mourning and kneeling among a group of princes and grandchildren. Her shoulders twitched slightly, and it seemed that she was in unstoppable grief.
Just as Fu Xiaoguan was looking at Yu Wenyun's back, a young man there suddenly turned around and looked at him.
Their eyes met, but there was no friction, just a glance.
The fourth prince Yu Wenshu!
Fu Xiaoguan and the Fourth Prince had never met each other, but they recognized each other after just one glance!
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