At the Zhongshan Palace, the two saw from a distance a red, strange flower blooming under the black night sky. It was actually a burning house.
Mu Chun looked at it, his eyes filled with murderous intent, and he galloped away. Mao Xiang followed closely behind him, shouting, "Don't be impulsive! Everything is just speculation. Before finding out the truth, don't disrespect the princess!"
Mu Chun felt as if his heart had been ripped out of his body and merged into the winter world of ice and snow. He could not hear what Mao Xiang said at all. Everything in the world disappeared, leaving only the burning house in front of him. He did not know how he broke into the palace, nor did he hear any sound, and he could not even feel the burning fire in the house in front of him. He jumped off his horse and rushed into the fire.
Mao Xiang watched helplessly as Mu Chun suddenly became possessed by a ghost, ignoring his roars and the obstruction of the guards from the princess's palace in front of him.
The guards at the palace gate raised their spears and said, "How dare you! The princess is here! Civil officials, get off your sedan chairs, military officials, get off your horses! Put down your weapons immediately!"
Mao Xiang felt bad and tried to excuse Mu Chun: "Mu Chun, your elder sister is getting married today. She drank a few more sips of yellow wine and got drunk like this. Open your dog eyes and see who is the procession ahead!"
With a bang, Mu Chun drew his sword and rushed in on his horse.
This guy actually attacked the guards of the princess's mansion and broke into the palace!
Mu Chun was a man who had charged into the battlefield. He shot forward like a sharp arrow. The guards were unable to stop him and retreated one after another. Mu Chun just broke into the palace.
It was useless to stop them. The guards began to bend their bows and shoot arrows. Seeing that Mu Chun was about to turn into a hedgehog, Mao Xiang ordered the Jinyiwei to stop the princess's guards. "Mu Chun is drunk and crazy. He thinks this is a hunting ground. Don't move. Xiping Hou is on a southern expedition, and you are here to shoot his eldest son? How can this be absurd!"
After hearing this, the guards did not shoot arrows for the time being and said, "Even so, trespassing into the princess's palace cannot be forgiven lightly. The princess is the monarch, how can she be rude to a minister? Besides, the princess is here, and you Jinyiwei cannot just enter without permission."
Ji Gang suddenly had an idea and said, "We saw the palace was on fire, so we came to help put it out. What are you all standing there for? Go put out the fire and save the princess!"
Ji Gang raised his arm and called out, and the Jinyiwei rushed in.
Mao Xiang thought to himself that Ji Gang's limited wisdom had actually improved.
When Mao Xiang and others arrived, they saw that the prince consort Wang Ning, ignoring the dissuasion of the princess and the servants, poured a bucket of water over his head and rushed into the burning house.
Mu Chun jumped off his horse and rushed into the fire without even pouring a bucket of water.
Mao Xiang hurriedly ordered the Jinyiwei to fetch water to put out the fire, and asked the pregnant Princess Huaiqing, "What happened? Where is Hu Siyan? What did the princess do to her?"
Princess Huaiqing ignored him and pushed Mao Xiang into the fire, "Save the prince consort! Go and save the prince consort!"
The princess pushed and winked wildly at the same time. Mao Xiang, who could be said to have watched the princess grow up, could sense the meaningful meaning of her words: That's not right, what's going on
Ji Gang didn't understand what Princess Huaiqing meant. He thought the princess really wanted Mao Xiang to risk his life to save her husband, so he volunteered to pour a bucket of cold water on himself and said, "The wind is strong in the mountains, and the house may burn down at any time. Lord Mao, please quickly protect the princess and leave the dangerous place, and go down to save her husband!"
"Ah!" Ji Gang screamed and rushed towards the burning house.
Mu Chun rushed into the house regardless of everything, and everything he saw was a sea of red, which seemed to blind his eyes.
"Sister Shanwei! Hu Shanwei!" Mu Chun shouted.
There was no response, only the crackling sound of burning.
In the winter, there were several pots of daffodils in the room. Muchun tore off a piece of his clothes, soaked it in the pot of daffodils, covered his mouth and nose, and continued to rush in. He had only run a few steps when he heard someone shouting, "Be careful!"
Someone rushed up from behind and knocked him down from the left.
Fortunately, a burned-down Duobao Pavilion fell down and blocked the middle, almost crushing Mu Chun underneath. The ready-made grill was about to cook Mu Chun, this piece of fresh meat.
After the man knocked Mu Chun to the ground, he used his soaked sleeves to put out the flames on his clothes.
Mu Chun was overjoyed, and hurriedly sat up, hugging the person tightly, "Sister Shanwei! I'm glad you're okay!"
When he hugged her, he found something wrong - this man's back was at least twice as long as Sister Shanwei's, with a broad back and chest. Mu Chun stretched out his arms hard before he could barely hug him.
"Have you hugged enough, Young Master Mu?" the man said.
When Mu Chun heard a familiar voice, he quickly let go. It turned out to be the prince consort Wang Ning who was soaked all over.
"Bah! Handsome men are a disaster! Sister Shanwei wants you to be killed!" Mu Chun pushed Wang Ning away and tried to rush in again.
Wang Ning held him back, "Shanwei is not here, she is safe. This is all just a show that the princess and I put on for others to see. Everything was going well, but now you barged in rashly and created complications. How can we continue this show? You idiot! Idiot!"
Mu Chun was stunned: What's going on
Just as Wang Ning was about to explain, another soaking wet person rushed in, "Prince Consort! Mu Chun! Where are you?"
When the man saw the dazzling fire, he exclaimed that he was blinded in an instant. He could not see the road clearly. He ran around like a blind man groping in the dark, and bumped into the wall and fell down.
It was Ji Gang, who had fair skin, beautiful looks and long legs.
Wang Ning looked at Ji Gang and came up with an idea to turn the situation around. For now, he had no choice but to make the best of it...
On the other side of the palace, Mao Xiang forcibly invited Princess Huaiqing, who was calling for help from her husband, to the bedroom. The quarrel between the two in the study broke through the door and spread outside.
Mao Xiang: "Your Highness! Hu Siyan was a court lady and a close confidant of the Queen. How could you burn her to death? You are taking her life lightly!"
Princess Huaiqing: "I am a princess of the Ming Dynasty, but I actually picked up a man that no one wants! How can I tolerate such an insult when someone abandons me?"
In addition, there were also noises of clanging and smashing of objects in the house.
Princess Huaiqing smashed a vase and used the sound of the vase breaking to open the secret room in the wall. Hu Shanwei was lying on a Luohan bed, covered with a thick quilt, with rosy cheeks and sleeping soundly.
On the other side, the Jinyiwei were busy putting out the fire, pouring buckets of water on it, but the fire was too big and it was almost useless. Fortunately, when the house was about to collapse, Ji Gang and Mu Chun forcibly carried out the son-in-law Wang Ning, who had disheveled hair and was covered in black and gray.
Wang Ning screamed frantically: "Let me go! She's still in there! Waiting for me to save her! Let me go now!"
Wang Ning's expression can be described as ferocious, with veins bulging on his forehead and a bloody mouth wide open, looking very similar to Master Ma who five hundred years later played the entire TV series with a roaring expression.
Mu Chun hugged the upper body of the roarer Wang Ning and said, "No, it's all burned down inside. You can't save others even if you risk your life."
Ji Gang hugged Wang Ning's legs and said, "Don't be like this, Prince Consort. You are going to be a father soon. Do you want your child to be a posthumous child?"
The two men dragged Wang Ning out of the fire. In order to prevent Wang Ning from breaking free, Mu Chun simply tied Wang Ning up like a dumpling and carried him into the bedroom with Ji Gang.
The fire in the palace was not put out until midnight by soldiers from the North City Military Division who rushed to the scene after hearing the news. However, it was too late and everything inside was basically burned to ashes. Jinyiwei commander Mao Xiang picked up several pieces of carbonized human bones from inside.
According to the official explanation of the Beicheng Bingmasi, a young palace maid in the Zhongshan Palace accidentally knocked over a charcoal basin, causing a fire that burned the young palace maid to death.
The next day, Mao Xiang dragged his tired steps back to the palace and said to Palace Master Fan and Palace Lady Cao who had been waiting for news all night: "Hu Siyan went to Xiping Marquis' Mansion to deliver gifts yesterday. Since it was still early, she went to Jiming Temple in Zhongshan to burn incense for her deceased mother. However, the mountain road was slippery and the carriage overturned. Hu Siyan was thrown out of the carriage and broke a rib. She is recuperating outside the palace. When she recovers, she will return to the palace to work."
Before Fan Gongzheng could speak, Cao Shanggong asked, "Where is she recuperating now?"
Mao Xiang said: "She was seriously injured in the palace at Zhongshan. The doctor said she couldn't be moved at will, otherwise she would be disabled for life."
Cao Shang Gong obviously didn't believe it and asked, "Master Mao, let's be frank, is this really an accident? This girl has been causing trouble everywhere since she entered the palace. She is a troublemaker. Whoever gets involved with her will be unlucky."
"However, since she is from the Shanggong Bureau, I have to be responsible for her safety. She is seriously injured and it is not going to be easy for her to return to the palace, so I will ask the Queen for permission to go out of the palace to see whether it is a natural disaster or a man-made disaster! Is Si Yan's position poisonous? In the past, Liu Si Yan was in trouble and his body was not found. Now even the tough Hu Shanwei is in trouble!"
Cao Shang Gong left to find Empress Ma. Mao Xiang was about to catch up to explain, but Fan Gongzheng stopped him, "Sir Mao, there was a fire in the palace last night, and it is said that a little maid was burned to death. Is Hu Shanwei's car accident related to this? Or... the person who was burned to death was Hu Shanwei?"
Female officials are not easy to mess with. Especially Fan Gongzheng. Mao Xiang fought with her several times but never got the upper hand. This woman saw things clearly and was not as easy to deceive as Cao Shanggong.
However, Fan Gongzheng was not as impulsive and irritable as Cao Shanggong, so she could keep things to herself. So Mao Xiang told Fan Gongzheng the truth: "Hu Shanwei is fine, this is what happened..."
Princess Huaiqing likes to listen to operas, especially the most popular "Pipa Ji". Since she became pregnant, she has gone out less often, and people from the Music Bureau go to the princess's mansion to perform operas almost every day.
The actress who played Zhao Wuniang caught the eye of Princess Huaiqing and became a frequent visitor to the princess's mansion. She often went in and out of the palace and performed in front of the emperor. Taking this opportunity, she met her sister, who was also a government slave. This sister was Haitang, a little maidservant beside Hu Shanwei.
The sisters were all official slaves and came from eunuch families. Their family was implicated in Hu Weiyong's rebellion and became ruined. Almost all of their family members died, and they were separated from their brother who was exiled to the northwest to guard the border.
However, one day, when this popular actress was singing "The Lute Story" in a brothel near Huitong Bridge where the Jiaofangsi was performing for the general public, she suddenly saw a man among the guests who looked like her brother who was guarding the border in the northwest.
Her brother shook his head at her, and an old man sitting next to him winked at him, as if he was being controlled.
After a play was over, the old man found Zhengdan with his puppet-like brother and made a request that she could not refuse: find an opportunity to tell Princess Huaiqing a secret and incite the princess to kill her love rival.
The secret is that the prince consort Wang Ning and the palace maid Hu Siyan had an engagement, and they were once a young couple in love. Moreover, the two seemed to be strangers on the surface, but in fact they were having an affair, and the prince consort was reluctant to let go of his old lover.
In the past two years, my brother has been digging coal in the Northwest Mine (now the coal mine). He became hunchbacked when he was less than seventeen years old, and his soul was numb. He was like a skinny puppet being controlled by an old man.
After the task is completed, the old man will set his brother free. He will create a mining accident to make his brother "die", and use his death to eliminate his official slave household registration, and then give his brother a civilian household registration and be reborn.
If Zhengdan didn't agree, the old man would kill his brother and trap him in the mine, where he would starve to death.
Zhengdan couldn't bear the tragic death of her brother, so she agreed to the old man's request. However, since it involved the princess and the court, Zhengdan didn't dare to act rashly, so she consulted with her sister Haitang.
Unexpectedly, Haitang tried hard to persuade her sister not to believe the old man's words. On the one hand, Haitang felt that Hu Shanwei had always been very good to her and was easy-going and kind. She could not betray Hu Shanwei and watch him die.
Secondly, Haitang thought that an old man with unknown origins would make the princess and her husband turn against each other and kill Hu Shanwei? Haitang served Hu Shanwei and had never seen Hu Shanwei and Wang Ning have an affair. This kind of insult to the innocence was too unjust.
It is better to confess to the prince consort and the princess and ask for forgiveness, rather than hurting innocent lives. It is better to use the prince consort and the princess to save my brother's life than to trust a stranger who hides his head and shows his tail.
Haitang persuaded Zhengdan, and the sisters went to Wang Ning to confess first. Wang Ning knew that if he kept this matter secret from the princess, it would eventually be a hidden danger, so he confessed to Princess Huaiqing.
Half a year after getting married, Wang Ning had some understanding of Princess Huaiqing. The princess was a sensible person. She had moments of tenderness and girlishness, but most of the time, she was a noble and proud Princess of the Ming Dynasty. She would not do something impulsive like killing the female official Si Yan beside the Queen just for the sake of old jealousy.
What's more, her biological mother, Concubine Chengmu Sun, has passed away. If she loses the Queen's favor again, Princess Huaiqing's future will be worrying.
As expected, when Princess Huaiqing heard Wang Ning recounting the past, she was stunned for a long time, and then sighed: "I really admire Hu Shanwei. How much courage did she need to recommend The Lute Story to the emperor last year? Before my mother passed away, The Lute Story was performed almost every day in the palace. How did she stay calm when she saw the performances on the stage? This woman is so calm and strong that it's scary."
Wang Ning raised his head to the sky and swore: "Hu Siyan and I have always been innocent and have never had any affair. I didn't mention the previous engagement to the princess because the emperor didn't allow any complications and wanted to protect the princess so that she could get married with peace of mind."
Princess Huaiqing said: "I know, my father has always loved me. I will not hate Hu Siyan. Without her, there would be no publication of the "Record of Filial Piety and Kindness". Without the "Record of Filial Piety and Kindness", my mother..."
Princess Huaiqing's eyes became red when she mentioned Consort Chengmu Sun. "My mother won't be buried in a grand ceremony, and the King of Zhou will preside over her funeral. Humph, some people scold Hu Siyan as a traitor. Does it mean that my mother has devoted her whole life to the royal family and assisted the queen in suppressing the harem, so she deserves not to have anyone to preside over her funeral? Some people are unwilling to preside over the funeral, and don't want others to preside over my mother's funeral. What's the logic of this? It goes against human ethics. Shouldn't it be changed?"
Some of those people were the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace. Princess Huaiqing dared not discuss them in front of others, but she complained to her husband behind their backs.
Wang Ning knew that Hu Shanwei's life was saved when he saw the reaction of the Huaiqing Palace Master. As expected, the princess is a princess, and her vision is different from that of ordinary short-sighted women. The conspiracy behind this plot to kill someone with a borrowed knife really underestimated the princess. Compared with love, the princess cares more about interests.
Princess Huaiqing took advantage of the situation and pretended to be persuaded by Zhengdan. She was so jealous that she took action when Hu Shanwei left the palace to give gifts.
At the wedding banquet, Haitang was asked to put drugs in Hu Shanwei's wine again to make her drunk. After being sent to the carriage, Haitang said to the driver and the eight imperial guards: "Hu Siyan said that it was still early, so we should go to the Jiming Temple in the north city to burn incense for our deceased mother."
Hu Shanwei often went to Jiming Temple to pray for his deceased mother. The coachman and guards were used to it and didn't think it was strange, so they changed the route and headed towards Jiming Temple. On the way, they passed by Zhongshan Palace and happened to meet the princess' carriage.
Princess Huaiqing invited Hu Siyan to the temporary palace to appreciate plum blossoms. The carriage drove into the temporary palace. The people in the princess's mansion invited the coachman and guards to drink and warm up. What else could the princess do? Everyone was not on guard and got "drunk".
When I woke up, it was already the next day.
That night, the princess and her husband acted out a drama of husband and wife feuding, starting a fire and passing off fakes as real. Unexpectedly, two Cheng Yaojins, Mu Chun and Mao Xiang, showed up halfway and almost ruined their plan. Fortunately, these two were smart people and understood the trick quickly. They cooperated with each other to finish the drama, making the scene even more realistic.
"… This is what happened. To avoid any mistakes, even Hu Shanwei himself didn't know about it. The so-called bones of the little palace maid were just the lamb chops left over from last night's supper. I pretended to cover up the scandal of the princess killing the female official for the royal family and created a series of illusions in order to help the princess and her husband find the mastermind behind the murder." Mao Xiang explained to Fan Gongzheng, "Ji Gang has secretly followed the old man to the northwest. Once the mastermind is found, Hu Shanwei can show up and return to the palace first."
The author has something to say: Now that we have all been to the northwest, we should all be able to guess who is using such vicious and not very clever methods to harm others. It is difficult to change one's nature, even though it is easy to change the country.
100 red envelopes will be given out tonight ~ Congratulations to reader r=a(1-sinθ) for receiving a big red envelope of 100 points. He is an old reader who has been following the article since he was 18x. He leaves a message in almost every chapter, but this is the first time for him to be the first and answer correctly. He should keep up the good habit of commenting hahahahaha.
[-Collapse] Netizen: r=a(1-sinθ) Comment: "Hu Shanwei" Score: 2 Published: 2019-01-13 21:22:08 Reviewed chapter: 83
I failed history and I am waiting for the answer.
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[1st floor] Netizen: r=a(1-sinθ) Score: 0 Posted time: 2019-01-13 21:23:59
Blind guess d
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