After attending Miss Sima Luo's banquet a few days ago, Luo Yanyi had no energy to plot against Qi Surong because her face was suddenly covered with red beans. Good news also came from Gu Jinyun. Qu Niang has agreed to join the Gu family's textile workshop. The use and operation of the new textile machine will begin soon. It is believed that initial results will be achieved in the second half of the year.
Qi Surong was enjoying her leisure time, concentrating on embroidery and playing the piano at home, while quietly waiting for the arrival of Tongsheng.
The Tongsheng examination lasts for two days, and mainly tests students' basic knowledge. As long as they are familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics and have some knowledge of poetry and parallel sentences, it should not be difficult to obtain the Tongsheng qualification.
On the day of the childbirth examination, Qi Surong personally sent Subao to Youxian Home.
The children's examination in the capital is located in Youxianyuan, while the general examination is in Gongyuan. The general examination takes place half a month later than the children's examination. All students of Xu Chen (except Qi Surong) will participate. When talented people from all over the country gather, it will definitely be a lively scene. Relatively speaking, the Tongsheng Examination is much more low-key. After all, it is only the lowest threshold for students to enter the official career. Most of the candidates are teenagers between the ages of seven and fifteen.
Outside Youxian Courtyard, carriages flowed like a stream. Qi Surong parked the carriage next to an inn and said to Subao, "Are everything ready? Check again."
Su Bao opened his box and counted the items inside one by one, including pens, inks, paper and inkstones, pastries, tea, pills, etc. The children's examination lasted for two days, and they were not allowed to leave the hospital until the next day.
"I'll ask Xiao Li to stay outside and pick you up tomorrow." Qi Surong arranged Su Bao's things.
"Well, sister, don't worry, Subao will be fine." Subao encouraged himself and said with a smile.
"Well, sister, I'm waiting for your good news."
Su Bao took Xiao Li off the carriage, and Qi Su Rong watched them walking towards Youxianyuan through the car window.
When he walked to the door, Su Bao took out his nameplate and Xu Chen's letter of recommendation. The doorkeeper looked at it and let him in with a cold expression.
Qi Surong finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Su Bao enter the venue smoothly from a distance.
The carriage was driving slowly on the street. When it passed a secluded side road, the carriage stopped suddenly, making Qi Surong feel dizzy.
"What's wrong?" Ping'er asked nervously.
After her last experience, she was really afraid of another accident this time.
"Sorry, miss, a beggar suddenly rushed into the road just now and was almost hit by the carriage." The coachman's voice came from outside the car.
Qi Surong opened the car curtain and saw a beggar falling to the ground not far away. His figure looked familiar. Her heart moved and she said, "Mr. Lu, call him over. I want to ask him if he is injured?"
"Isn't this not good?" Lu Xian hesitated.
"Nothing, just ask him to come over."
Lu Xian then accepted the order and stared at the beggar warily, fearing that he would suddenly become violent.
When he got closer, Qi Surong confirmed through the gap in the car curtain that the beggar in front of him was indeed Duya, the leader of the number group. Qi Surong was not surprised that Duya knew that Zhuo Fan was the lady of the Qi family. He might have checked her identity when she asked those beggars to do something for her.
She asked: "Are you injured?"
Du Ya covered his shoulder and said as if in pain: "The collarbone seems to be broken."
"Then I'll take you to see the doctor."
"No need to trouble Miss, just give me some money and I will go and see it myself."
"Okay, Ping'er, give him five taels of silver."
"Miss, this beggar is obviously a liar!" Ping'er whispered.
"Nothing, it's just a matter of five taels." Qi Surong smiled nonchalantly.
Ping'er pouted, lifted the car curtain, and handed him five taels of silver.
Du Ya took the silver, showed his white teeth, and bowed: "Thank you, Miss. Miss is so compassionate."
"Okay, let's go quickly!" Lu Xian shouted coldly.
"Yes, the villain will leave immediately." Duya bowed and backed away, then turned around and ran away.
"Miss, you see, he is indeed a liar." Ping'er said angrily.
Qi Surong did not speak, but looked straight at Ping'er's sleeves, where a flat cloth bag appeared.
Back at Qi's house, Qi Surong immediately opened the cloth bag, which contained a sealed letter. There was also a note on the letter, which read: Yesterday, Lu Pei returned home with his family and met gangsters on the road. He threw the package away before he died. Down the cliff, this letter was obtained from the package. It has not been sealed. It may be useful to you.
Lupe was killed? Qi Surong felt her heart tighten.
The Digital Corps has been secretly monitoring the people on Qi Surong's list, that is, those who have been demoted by the emperor and may have secret messages. Therefore, it is not surprising that Duya was able to obtain the package when Lu Pei was killed.
So, could this letter be the secret message she has been looking for
Qi Surong's pupils shrank and her breathing became a little uneasy. She picked up the envelope and looked carefully at the seal. After a while, she took out a hairpin and carefully cut open the sealing mud.
The envelope contained a neatly folded piece of yellow silk. Yellow is the special color of the royal family and ordinary people would never dare to use it. Unfolding the yellow silk, the content on it made Qi Surong's fingers tremble.
This is not a secret message, but a secret decree from the late Emperor! The two seals at the end (one is the imperial seal and the other is the imperial seal) are clearly visible.
It turned out that the late emperor intended to pass the throne to the Ninth Prince, but the Ninth Prince was still young at the time and his status was unstable. On the contrary, the Third Prince, who is now the Holy Emperor, was powerful, colluded with his relatives, and was aggressive. The late emperor was worried that if he was passed on to the Ninth Prince, he might be persecuted by the Third Prince, so he passed down a secret edict, hid it in a treasure, and gave it to several ministers, so that they could secretly assist and protect the Ninth Prince when he grew up. After he became an adult, he disclosed the secret decree to help him ascend to the throne.
The late emperor's move was quite secretive, but I don't know who leaked it. The current emperor knows the existence of the secret decree, but he doesn't know who the late emperor's preferred successor is. Therefore, he would rather kill by mistake than let go, and after he ascended the throne, he cleaned up the family one by one. More than a dozen princes were killed and expelled, and the suspected ministers did not escape the fate of being demoted.
His heart cannot be said to be ruthless. Currently, there are only four princes, seven princes, eight princes and nine princes left alive. Among the four princes, only the eighth prince remained in the capital because he and the emperor were born from the same mother, while the other three princes were sent to remote areas.
However, Qi Surong guessed that the emperor would soon call them back and find an opportunity to eradicate the problem. He may have dealt cruelly to them before, but in the borderland, where the sky is high and the emperor is far away, his actions probably failed.
Qi Surong stared at the secret edict for a long time, wondering what to do with the letter. When she learned that the Qi family might also have a secret decree, she didn't rush to get it because taking it back would only bring danger to the Qi family. At least until the Ninth Prince returns to the capital, having this secret edict in his hands will do a lot of harm but nothing good.
What a hot potato! Although it solved many of her doubts, it also caused her a lot of troubles. It cannot be destroyed and it cannot be hidden.
Now that the holder of this secret edict is dead, it would be great if he could entrust it to another person. The secret decree has no owner. Whoever holds it can become the helper of the Ninth Prince. Anyone on her list can be considered.
Wait, why did she have to give the secret decree to the person who assisted the Ninth Prince
"Maybe I can..." A bold plan suddenly took shape in Qi Surong's mind, "Do the opposite!"
Qi Surong touched the yellow piece of paper, ran his fingers across the writing, and finally landed on the word "nine".
If the word "nine" is changed to "eight"...
In the last life, half of the Gu family's disasters were caused by this eighth prince. He is the minion of the current Holy Emperor, working as a puppet and being arrogant and domineering. Relying on the favor of God, he acts unscrupulously, and his methods are vicious and leave no room for justice.
The emperor trusts him very much, but if he learns that the late emperor intends to pass the throne to him, how long can this trust be maintained? Everything the Eighth Prince did for him will become suspect, and the appearance of being loyal to him will become an illusion to hide himself.
Qi Surong's eyes lit up and he made up his mind.
However, it is not easy to distinguish the fake from the real. First of all, the yellow seal used to seal the edict cannot be replaced, and the seal on it is even more crucial.
The only thing she could change was words. Changing just one word "Nine" would easily reveal flaws. If she wanted to change it, she would have to replace all the writing on it.
It was not difficult for Qi Surong to imitate the late emperor's handwriting. What was really difficult was how to completely clean up the original handwriting.
Qi Surong picked up his pen and copied the text on the secret decree one stroke at a time. He copied hundreds of pictures in total and compared them word by word. He only stopped copying after making sure that every stroke was indistinguishable.
Before she knew it, it was already getting late, and Ping'er's voice came from outside the door calling her to have a meal.
Qi Surong packed up these copying papers and secret letters and hid them in a secret place.
After dinner, Qi Surong ordered: "Ping'er, ask someone to buy me some milk tomorrow."
"Milk?" Ping'er teased, "Miss, are you greedy?"
"Yes, Miss, I'm greedy." Qi Surong nodded her forehead, "Remember, the sooner you make an appointment, I'll remember to use it."
"Yes, I will definitely help the young lady get it done." Ping'er replied very forcefully.
In the last life, when Qi Surong was with the master, she was responsible for the laundry and cooking. Even if her fingers were not flexible, the master did not let her work less. Cooking was fine, but when washing, the clothes couldn't be washed clean because of her weak fingers. The master taught her several soaking methods. She soaked the clothes with some ordinary materials, which could quickly dissolve the stains. Finally, Just rub it gently to clean the clothes.
The master said: "Objects are dead, but people are alive. When manpower is insufficient, external objects can be used to supplement it."
Qi Surong had to thank her master again. What he once taught her has now become an important basis for her to settle down and reverse the current situation.