"Xiao Qing and Xiao Hong, why are you two yelling so loudly? Don't you know that the young lady and the son-in-law are having dinner? Ah... Wait, what did you just say? Did the official document come down?!"
When the little maid Baozi heard the shouting of the two maids outside, she did not react at first. Her first reaction was that she could not let them disturb the young lady and the son-in-law from eating, so she lifted the door curtain and acted like a personal maid to educate the two shouting little maids.
But he only said half of the sentence, and then he realized it belatedly, wait, they just said that the Ministry of Justice has sent a document? !
"Miss, son-in-law, the official document from the Ministry of Justice has arrived."
After the little maid Baozi reacted, her little hand that was lifting the door curtain trembled, and then she immediately turned around and reported to Li Shu and Zhu Pingan excitedly. Her little face was flushed with excitement, as if she had picked up several hundred taels of silver.
Zhu Ping'an had already heard the two girls shouting outside.
"Give it to me, let me have a look."
Zhu Ping'an put down the chopsticks in his hand, wiped his hands with a handkerchief, and said to the little maid named Baozi at the door.
"no."
Li Shu pursed her cherry lips, looked at Zhu Ping'an with a smile and shook her head, her beautiful eyes moving around, so bright and beautiful that it was beyond description.
"Why?"
Zhu Pingan was surprised, and out of habit, blurted out a word that no one was bound to understand, but he quickly reacted and added, "I mean, why?"
"What nonsense are you talking about?"
Li Shu rolled her eyes cutely, her nose was high and straight, her charming cherry lips parted slightly, and she continued, "This is not an ordinary official document, it concerns your career. You must 'bathe, change clothes, burn incense and wash your hands' first. You must always respect the official document, so that it will not turn against you. Don't hit a smiling person. Some scholars have to bathe and burn incense when reading Zhuangzi, Laozi, Confucius and Mencius, not to mention the official document about you, so you don't have to waste this little time."
Take a bath, change clothes, burn incense and wash hands? !
Upon hearing this, Zhu Ping'an pursed his lips speechlessly. The official documents from the Ministry of Justice had already been issued. No matter whether you took a bath or were sloppy, the official documents were there, and the content of the documents would not change just because you "bathed, changed clothes, burned incense and washed your hands".
In Zhu Ping'an's view, this is somewhat formalistic.
Of course, Zhu Ping'an knew that Li Shu meant well, and it was because of her concern that he cared about these formalities.
Respect is one aspect, and the other aspect is probably psychological comfort.
Isn't it just taking a bath, changing clothes, burning incense and washing hands? Just as Li Shu said, it won't take much time.
Therefore, there is no need to fail to meet Li Shu's request.
So Zhu Ping'an smiled, shook his head, got up and went to the bathroom.
When Zhu Ping'an went to the bathroom to take a bath, Zhaohui Jinggongfang, which was located in the west city together with Linhuai Marquis Mansion, became noisy. Beibingmasi Hutong in Zhaohui Jinggongfang was the source of the noise.
Many officers with swords and whistles appeared in Beibingmasi Hutong, as well as Jinyiwei with embroidered spring swords on their waists. Led by the captain of the police and the captain of the Jinyiwei, they trotted all the way to the "General Jianwei's Mansion". When they were almost at the door, the officers and Jinyiwei split into two teams, one team went to the main gate, and the other went around to the back door.
Such a big show naturally attracted a lot of curious people. The brave ones followed closely behind the police and Jinyiwei, while the timid ones watched from a distance.
Most of the residents in Beibingmasi Hutong are military families. Both the masters and servants are quite brave. Most of them leave their doors open and stop at the door to watch, guessing the whereabouts and purposes of the Jinyiwei and the runners.
"When the government investigates a case, people who are not involved should stay away."
The police officers and the Embroidered Uniform Guards shouted loudly at the gate of General Jianwei's Mansion, stood apart, and separated the onlookers with expressionless faces. They cordoned off an open space at the gate of General Jianwei's Mansion to prevent the crowd from affecting the investigation.
"What are you doing? This is the residence of Captain Zhao, the commander of the West City Military Department. You must have come to the wrong place."
The two armored guards at the gate of General Jianwei's mansion saw this scene, brought up Zhao Daying's identity, and stepped forward to ask, "They are just a centurion and a captain, and they dare to mess with our Lord Zhao."
"Get it!"
The captain of the Imperial Guards glanced at them, without even turning his head, waved to the officers and the Imperial Guards behind him, and uttered two words coldly.
As soon as the captain of the Jinyiwei finished speaking, two Jinyiwei came forward and pounced on the two armored guards with expressionless faces.
Seeing this, the two armored guards subconsciously tried to draw their swords and put their hands on the hilts. However, the next second, they saw a flash of cold light in front of them and the Embroidered Spring Sword of the Jinyiwei was already on their necks, with the tip of the sword tightly pressed against their necks, not an inch more or less.
The gap is huge.
The man on guard in armor had cold sweat on his forehead and dared not move.
Soon, an officer came forward and tied up the armored guard's hands with a rope.
"What are you doing, my lords? We can talk it out, why bother to hurt the relationship? Our Lord Zhao has admired you, the commander, for a long time, and was fortunate enough to have shared a table with Lord Lu at Lord Yan's residence. You have come at the right time, as the farm below has just sent us a deer, and we have a few jars of good wine, which is perfect for us to enjoy together. Our Lord Zhao is the most hospitable, and he would be overjoyed if he knew that you, the lords, were here."
The door of General Jianwei's mansion opened, and a middle-aged man who looked like a butler walked out. He was well dressed and spoke to the captain of the Jinyiwei and the captain of the police outside the door with a smile on his face.
"Haha, what a coincidence! We, the Jinyiwei, are also the most hospitable." The captain of the Jinyiwei narrowed his eyes and said with a fake smile, "Today, we invite Lord Zhao to visit our prison. The weather is hot, and our prison is the coolest, haha..."
"ah?"
Hearing this, the smile on the Zhao family's housekeeper's face turned into a crying face. Damn it, who in the world doesn't know what the Jinyiwei prison is? It's a place where people are eaten without leaving any bones. Few people who go in can come out intact. It's notorious.
"Please... take us to see Lord Zhao so that I can hand the 'invitation' to him personally."
The captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard looked at the manager of the Zhao Mansion with a forced smile, took out an official document with several large crimson seals on it from his bosom, and displayed it in front of him.
The document was very long, and some of the contents at the beginning were unclear, but the contents at the end were clearly seen by the manager of the Zhao residence:
"Qian Hu Zhao Daying has received the emperor's favor for generations, but he did not think about repaying the country and protecting the people. Instead, he killed innocent people and took credit for it in order to seek promotion and reward. After the crime was discovered, he tried every means to cover it up and replaced the heads in an attempt to deceive the emperor. His crime is hard to redeem, so he will be demoted to a commoner, his property will be confiscated, he will be arrested and imprisoned today, and he will be executed immediately to set an example."
The manager of the Zhao residence felt as if he had been struck by lightning. His face turned pale and cold sweat streamed down his back.