Chapter 321, Second Update
The young eunuch quickly went to the Shanggong Bureau and soon returned with Steward Zhang.
Xiao Liulang was waiting for her outside Renshou Palace.
Manager Zhang is an old nanny in the palace. In the Zhao Kingdom's palace, there is a rule that palace maids can be released from the palace when they reach the age of twenty-five. If they do not leave, they can be made into aunts.
Manager Zhang is the latter.
From palace maid to aunt, and then to head matron, she dedicated most of her life to the palace.
The messenger eunuch didn't explain the specifics, so Steward Zhang thought it was the Empress Dowager summoning her. When she arrived at the entrance of Renshou Palace, she was shocked for a moment upon seeing Xiao Liulang, and then took several steps back in fright!
Because of his face, more than one person has thought they've seen a ghost, and Manager Zhang, being older, is inevitably even more afraid.
Xiao Liulang didn't take it to heart. He said, "My surname is Xiao, my given name is Liulang, and I am a Hanlin Compiler."
“Xiao, Xiao Liulang? Not Xiao…” Manager Zhang was about to pronounce the name when he suddenly remembered his lowly status and that he was not worthy to pronounce the name of the young Marquis of Zhaodu.
She composed herself, wiped the cold sweat from her forehead, and said, "I'm sorry, I mistook you for someone else."
Xiao Liulang didn't care much. He took out the token that the old chief priest had given him—an inkstone with a piece missing.
When Steward Zhang saw the inkstone, her expression changed again: "You..." She hesitated, then asked, "Did Chief Instructor Huo send you to find me?"
Xiao Liulang nodded and handed the inkstone to her.
Steward Zhang took the inkstone, his gaze becoming complicated as if recalling something: "I never thought he would come looking for me now. Is he alright? I heard he's returned to the capital and resumed his position as Chancellor of the Imperial Academy..."
Xiao Liulang said to her, "He is perfectly fine, Manager Zhang, please rest assured."
Manager Zhang gave a bitter smile: "What do I have to worry about? Even when he was exiled to a harsh, desolate place, he didn't die far from home. Of course, he'll take good care of himself..."
I always felt that the relationship between the two was not simple, but Xiao Liulang didn't want to pry into other people's privacy.
Manager Zhang looked down at the inkstone in his hand, both amused and annoyed: "After all these years, he still keeps this rubbish. I thought he would have thrown it away long ago. Come to think of it, it's not anything valuable, so why keep it? The fact that he let you bring this to me shows how much he trusts you. So, what do you want from me? No, what do you want from me? He will never come to me again in his life."
Xiao Liulang was deeply moved by her poignant expression, but he was not good at comforting people.
A tear welled up in Manager Zhang's eyes, but she smiled and said nonchalantly, "I'm sorry you had to see this. Tell me, what is it?"
Xiao Liulang didn't beat around the bush and said directly, "I've come to ask Steward Zhang about someone."
"Who is it?" Manager Zhang asked.
Xiao Liulang truthfully replied, "A person with a mole on their left wrist has been in the palace for over ten years. I don't know if they were a palace maid or a concubine." It couldn't be Empress Xiao. Empress Xiao was his own aunt and wouldn't harm him. Besides, Empress Xiao often hugged him, so he knew what her wrist looked like.
Manager Zhang frowned, lost in thought: "I don't recall much... but I can help you find her. As long as she hasn't been released from the palace all these years, I can help you find her. But..."
Xiao Liulang understood. After all, more than ten years had passed, and every year the palace would release palace maids. If she was one of them, then she would be lost forever.
But soon, Xiao Liulang shook his head again: "No, she should not have been released from the palace."
Poisoning the eldest son of the Marquis of Xuanping is a serious crime, punishable by death if discovered. If she was a concubine, she was not allowed to leave the palace; if she was a maid, she must have been acting under someone else's orders.
Having done such an important thing for her master, how could he possibly let her leave the palace? He would either kill her to silence her or keep her by his side to continue serving him.
But after he was poisoned, he didn't hear of any palace maids who died unjustly.
That person is still alive.
Living in the palace.
Manager Zhang asked, "Specifically, more than ten years ago?"
Xiao Liulang said, "Fourteen years ago."
"Ah..." Manager Zhang seemed to have thought of something, gave Xiao Liulang a deep look, and nodded, "Then we need to find the person who entered the palace fourteen years ago. Okay, leave this to me."
Manager Zhang took the inkstone and left.
As Xiao Liulang watched her figure gradually disappear into the night, he inexplicably felt that her back looked somewhat unsteady and lonely.
It's getting late, and the palace is about to close.
Xiao Jingkong bids farewell to Empress Dowager Zhuang.
Xiao Jingkong said in a serious tone, "Grandma, you can steal candy, but you can't steal sugar water, and you can't steal fried shortbread. I will tell Jiaojiao."
Empress Dowager Zhuang said with a look of disgust, "I know, I know, you talk too much. Now get out of here!"
Little Jingkong put her hands behind her back, tilted her head, and raised an eyebrow: "Then don't miss me too much."
Empress Dowager Zhuang: "I only think of you when I'm full!"
It's so noisy!
Xiao Liulang walked over unhurriedly, took Xiao Jingkong's hand, and also bid farewell to Empress Dowager Zhuang.
He and Empress Dowager Zhuang didn't have much to say to each other. They stared at each other for a moment, then quickly looked away.
Look, even glancing at him is superfluous.
"Take the things," Mrs. Zhuang said expressionlessly.
"Oh, I almost forgot!" Little Jingkong broke free from his bad brother-in-law's hand, ran over, picked up a brocade box from the table, and ran back over, "Let's go!"
Xiao Liulang looked at the brocade box in his arms, then at his own empty hands, and felt as if a thousand arrows had pierced his heart!
He glanced at Empress Dowager Zhuang.
Empress Dowager Zhuang lowered her eyes and turned her face away.
He looked at the table where the brocade box had been placed, and saw a large pile of boxes on it, but none of them were his.
He took a deep breath, pressed his chest where his hair was throbbing, and went out with a dark expression.
Empress Dowager Zhuang watched the departing figures of the two, one adult and one child, and snorted.
On the way home, Xiao Jingkong fell asleep in Xiao Liulang's arms. He loosened his grip on the brocade box, and Xiao Liulang held him with one arm and supported the brocade box with the other.
I had an urge to open the brocade box and take a peek, wanting to see what Empress Dowager Zhuang had given the little guy.
Why does he get it while I don't?
What am I thinking?
Xiao Liulang felt ashamed of his naiveté. He shook his head and suppressed the urge to peek into the brocade box.
He forgot that he was only eighteen years old, a boy who had not yet come of age.
He doesn't need to be so mature for his age, nor does he need to be so composed.
Back in Bishui Hutong, it was already late at night.
Both Madam Yao and Gu Yan rested, and Granny Fang and Yu Ya'er also returned to the next room to rest. Gu Jiao was tinkering with gunpowder in the main room.
The proportions of the medicine powder have been roughly determined, but medicine powder alone is not enough; it also needs to be made into powerful weapons or hidden weapons.
Hearing the noise at the door, she put down what she was doing, went out and said, "You're back?"
"Yes." Xiao Liulang nodded.
Gu Jiao walked over and took the fast-sleeping Xiao Jingkong, placing him on the bed in the west room.
"What is this?" Xiao Liulang asked, looking at the pile of small, dark things on the table.
Gu Jiao came out, thought for a moment, and said, "I don't know what it is either, um... black firecrackers?"
Xiao Liulang: "..."
What does this mean?
Gu Jiao made the gunpowder into the size of a bullet, put it in a modified small bamboo tube, and added phosphorus powder to the device in the bamboo tube. Phosphorus has a low ignition point and will spontaneously combust when heated by friction, igniting the gunpowder in the bamboo tube and creating a small explosion.
The explosives are not very powerful; their primary purpose is deterrence.
However, there is a hidden danger: what if the phosphorus powder spontaneously combusts even without friction when the weather is too hot?
So it still needs some improvements.
Gu Jiao said, "I've boiled the water. You go wash up and go to bed first. I'll be done in a little while."
Xiao Liulang assumed she was making pills and said nothing.
Gu Jiao continued fiddling with the gunpowder, and seeing that he seemed to have something to say, she asked, "Is there anything else?"
Xiao Liulang opened his mouth: "...No."
Forget it, let's find out who it is first.
The next day was the day Xiao Liulang was to enter the palace to teach the Crown Prince. As soon as he entered the Imperial Study, he heard that a major incident had occurred in the inner palace—a head of the Shanggong Bureau had died in his own room. The Emperor was furious and rushed to the inner palace immediately after the morning court session.
"Which one is in charge?" Xiao Liulang asked an old eunuch in the study.
The old eunuch whispered, "Steward Zhang, she makes all of His Majesty's clothes. He was just talking about her a few days ago..."
Xiao Liulang was unaware that Zhang, the head of the palace, was actually a female official favored by the emperor. The old chief minister hadn't mentioned it, though it was also possible that the old chief minister himself was unaware, since it was a matter of the inner palace, and it wasn't surprising that he, as a former minister of the court, was unaware.
But I just contacted her last night, and she got into trouble today. That's really strange.
(End of this chapter)
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