"You are looking for an old palace servant from the former Wei Dynasty? How old do you need to be?" Qiu Baoniang asked in surprise, "The seniority in the palace is determined by who you compare with. Even if you have been in the palace for one year, you are still considered an old person compared to someone who has just entered the palace." ”
Wei Changying said in a deep voice: "The older the better... It would be best if my aunt came to serve in the palace when she was still alive and had some status at that time."
"Your biological aunt?" Qiu Baoniang thought for a moment and said, "Oh, you mean the former Mrs. Sikong? She passed away about twenty years ago, right? She was a palace official of some status when she was alive - you know the palace is In terms of qualifications, even if the people of that generation are still there, they are too old to serve in the palace. It is difficult to find them all over the world. "
"You have some skills after all, right? How could there not be a few old people in the East Palace to serve you?" Wei Changying said as he turned the bracelet on his wrist.
Qiu Baoniang muttered: "It has been so long, how can I still remember it? If those people are still there, even if my appearance is different now, I am afraid I will be recognized, right?"
After a moment of silence, she said, "But if you really hurry up and find someone to inquire about something, there is a person who is very likely to know."
Wei Changying hurriedly asked: "Who?!"
"Qing Xin... I should say Mrs. Hu, the maid of Miss Shen Bao under the Jiaofang Division." Qiu Baoniang said lightly, "That is, the former Palace Maid Hu from Furui Palace."
Wei Changying thought about it for a moment - she had actually never met this palace lady Hu, but she had heard that she was in her thirties, so when Wei Chanying passed away, she should have been about ten years old. The palace usually accepts young maids at the age of twelve or thirteen. At that time, you don’t even know if she has entered the palace
"You can't look at her age, you have to look at her origins." Qiu Baoniang reminded, "She is the person left to his daughter by the deposed Gu family of Emperor Wei Ai! You still don't know the methods of the deposed Gu family? There are people in this palace. How many secrets can be hidden from her? Even if it is a secret that has nothing to do with her, she will definitely try her best to figure it out for future use! After she lost power, she only thought about her children. How could she not tell these things? , what if her children can survive?"
He added, "When Shen Bao was demoted to the teaching workshop, the concubines in the harem were attracted by the concubines in the harem for her neatness and ability. They wanted her to continue to serve the concubines, which would be considered a decent job. But she asked to go with Shen Bao. Entering the Jiaofang, I would rather fall into a lowly position, which shows that I am a confidant of the Gu family. Otherwise, how could I be so loyal to Shen Bao? So I want to find out the secrets of the former Wei palace. In my opinion, find those old palaces. It’s better for everyone to find this Hu!”
Wei Changying pondered for a long time, nodded and said: "Thank you very much!"
"This is a trivial matter." Qiu Baoniang shook her head and said calmly, "You are very good to Jing'er and Shu Ming. I will always accept your love for the seventh sister. And I can go to Queen Qiu with your help. It’s time to remind you.”
After thinking about it, Qiu Baoniang said again, "If you go to Mrs. Hu, you'd better be careful. Although His Majesty is on an expedition now and will not summon Shen Bao privately, but you also know Shen Bao's beauty - His Majesty's interest in her has not diminished. , worried that she would be murdered by the concubine during the expedition, so in name she was in the temple, but in fact she lived in a very remote place. I can tell you that place, but the people guarding it are all His Majesty's confidants, so I can't help you with this. "
Guard Chief Ying asked casually: "That place was entrusted to Queen Qiu by Your Majesty?"
"Not really, I found it out when I was planning for the Queen." Qiu Baoniang said with a faint smile, "I was about to secretly reveal it to Shan Guifei and the others to see if anyone would do it... so that Queen Qiu would have someone behind her. Opportunity. If you want to go find her now, I’ll put this aside first.”
"If you need help with matters related to the village outside the city, just ask." Wei Changying nodded - Qiu Baoniang never asked her what she was doing with the old palace people of the former Wei Dynasty, and she didn't want to ask more about Qiu Baoniang's plans in the palace. He said, "That person and I also have some issues. Even though times have changed and many things have been taken lightly, there is still no reason to take action."
Qiu Baoniang smiled: "I would risk my life for this matter. Why wouldn't I tell you if I need help from you?"
He looked at the sky and said, "I have to go. Nowadays, the Queen rarely lets me go. I have been thinking about this for a long time."
"Thank you." Wei Changying handed over the banknote. Seeing that Qiu Baoniang didn't want to accept it, he explained, "Since you are on the side of Queen Qiu, and the Queen's family has no background, just relying on the small salary from the middle palace, compared with Duanmu Concubine Shan and others supported by my family... this amount of money is nothing to me. "
After hearing this, Qiu Baoniang pondered for a moment and finally accepted it.
After finding the place where Shen Bao currently lives based on the address given by Qiu Baoniang, trouble came - people were sent to keep an eye on her for five consecutive days, but Hu was not seen leaving the house. Because of Shen Bao's special status, strangers were not allowed to enter the courtyard at all - this problem was finally solved by Duanmu Xinmiao. She first drugged the food she sent in, but after several doctors over there couldn't solve it, Shen was worried that Something happened to Bao, and he couldn't explain it to Wen Yaozi, so he had to blame Duanmu Xinmiao.
Duanmu Xinmiao took this opportunity to make an appointment with Hu on behalf of the Chief of Guard Ying.
"Mrs. Wei?" Mrs. Hu blurted out after being slightly startled as she walked into what was clearly a temporary house deep in the alley.
Wei Changying was a little surprised: "Do you know me?" Ordinarily, she had never met Mrs. Hu, and Duanmu Xinmiao did not tell Mrs. Hu in advance who she would meet when she came to this house... How could Mrs. Hu know? Woolen cloth? Wei Changying thought.
Sure enough, a bitter smile appeared on Mrs. Hu's lips: "During the former Wei Dynasty, when you entered the palace, your maidservant swept the palace path, and I saw you several times when the wind blew the curtains of the carriage - you were of noble status and had the beauty of the country. , Your servant remembers it very firmly.”
The captain of the guard nodded and said nothing nonsense: "I asked Xinmiao to invite you here because I want to ask you about something." After a pause, she said, "Of course I won't ask in vain. Within my ability, you want Any reward is acceptable.”
Mrs. Hu pursed her lips and said, "You tell me!"
"I want to know about my uncle and aunt." Wei Changying said, "Former Wei Sikong and Mrs. Sikong—you don't know about it, right?"
"Song Sikong and Mrs. Wei?" Mrs. Hu was startled, and then her expression became complicated!
After a moment, Mrs. Hu seemed to tremble, and then said, "Originally, my maid thought that what Mrs. Wei wanted to ask about were things that had passed by Jingqian. Many of the secrets of the palace in the past were irrelevant now. But Wei If Madam wants to ask about this, she can't rely on her power to frustrate the servant."
"What do you want?" Wei Changying asked with a frown.
Mrs. Hu didn't even think about it: "Of course it's me... Miss, she can escape from the sea of suffering!"
"I can't do this." Guard Chief Ying said calmly, "If you don't say that your master was demoted to the classroom by His Majesty himself, just say that Your Majesty is still keeping an eye on her. How could you let her go?!"
"...Miss Duanmuba's medical skills are so good, why can't she do anything? Let her fake her death and escape, or... there must be some other way?" Mrs. Hu's eyes dimmed, and then she asked without giving up.
Wei Changying shook his head and said: "You take it for granted. How can it be so easy to fake death and escape from the world? The master and apprentice Xinmiao's medical skills are well known to the world. Do you think that no one will notice their every move? Once it is leaked, how can it be a trivial matter?! Again Sir, what I'm asking you about today is my private matter. I won't even take it from the Shen family, but will only take it from my own dowry. How could I take Xin Miao for this matter? Also dragging her down? She just asked me to go out with you. I don’t want to disturb her anymore, and I won’t tell her what I asked you.”
Mrs. Hu was silent for a while and said quietly: "That maid is so sorry!" She raised her eyes and looked at Wei Changying, "Because what you want to hear is not just secrets!"
Wei Changying frowned: "What?"
"It's also my life!" Mrs. Hu said word by word, "If my maid told you this, you would definitely kill me to silence me! Now my young lady has only my maid to keep her company so she doesn't go crazy - my maid told you this. My life has been given to you, what will she do? If you cannot agree to your request, I will have no choice but to let you do whatever you want without saying a word!"
"Shut up?!" Wei Changying's face was calm, but a chill gradually entered her heart. She thought for a moment and said, "You have kept this secret until now. It can be seen that it is of no use in changing your master's situation. Now Since I have found you, if you don't tell me, you will make me an enemy of your master. If you tell me, even if I can't save your master from suffering, I will always help him if I can in the future. "
Mrs. Hu shook her head and said, "Your words are too false."
"Actually, you haven't said anything yet, but you just said that I will silence you. Isn't this too vain?" Wei Changying said in a deep voice, "How do I know if you are deliberately blocking me and forcing me to make a promise? I I haven’t even told you what I want to know about my uncle and aunt!”
Mrs. Hu smiled and said: "You have already found my maid here, and you still want to deceive me like this. Wouldn't you degrade yourself? There are indeed a lot of things between Song Sikong and Mrs. Sikong, but if you come here to ask... you should still find her. If the servant asks, there must be only one."
She said slowly, "My maid, let me tell you something. Please don't say that I am cheating you. The thing you want to ask must be about Song Sikong's past insistence on forcing the eldest lady of the Song family to become the crown prince, even if the old lady of the Song family , your mother, Mrs. Song, many people interceded together, but Song Sikong refused to change his words, right? "
Wei Changying pursed his lips and didn't speak for a long time. Under his sleeves, his hands firmly grasped the fabric of the clothes. When he spoke again, he couldn't suppress the slight trembling in his voice: "You... mean?"
"The love between Song Sikong and Mrs. Sikong was known to both the government and the public during the last years of the previous dynasty." Hu said lightly, "The so-called love for the house and the bird, the two sons of Song Sikong were also doted on by Sikong. As the only direct descendants, Miss Song not only returned to the south of the Yangtze River to live permanently after the death of Mrs. Sikong, and was rarely raised alone in Sikong's lap, but she also suffered from Sikong's understanding and sympathy in life-long matters... Even if the Song family relied on their family status and could not regret their marriage, But Song Sikong never gave Miss Song a word of comfort - don't you think that Song Sikong treated this child very differently at that time, as if... Miss Song was not Song Sikong's daughter at all?"
Although he had vague speculations in his heart, when Hu actually said it, Wei Changying still felt like a bolt from the blue!
She was confused as if she had fallen into an ice cellar for a long time. Then she came to her senses, stood up, pointed at Mrs. Hu and yelled: "Speak clearly to me! Otherwise - I can't save Shen Bao, but I can make her unable to survive." I can’t die! Do you believe it?” (To be continued)