Eight-year-old Princess: Phoenix Reborn

There was a secret signal from the dark guard outside, and Qianzhuo went out, and returned to the inner hall after a while, and said softly to Yunshang: "Your Majesty, the dark guard is here to report that a person died in Xiangyi Palace today. That court lady is the one who was found secretly passing letters to the guards in the Imperial Guard a few days ago."

"Oh?" Yunshang paused, staring at the lines on the table for a while, then raised his eyes to look at Qianzhuo: "Is the guard who sent the letter with the little palace lady following her?"

Qian Zhuo nodded lightly: "It is inconvenient for the dark guards to follow the guards in the Imperial Guard, but they have passed on their caution to the hidden stakes in the Imperial Guard, so that the hidden stakes in the Imperial Guard should pay more attention. If there is any movement, It can be reported in time."

"That's it..." Yun Chang murmured softly, frowned for a moment, and then hurriedly said: "Go and bring the guard over, and let the hidden guard interrogate him quietly."

Qian Zhuo quickly responded, and retreated.

Yun Shang read a book in the palace for a while, and Qi Ruihai came to return. Yun Shang put the book aside, and Fang ordered Peilan to bring Qi Ruihai in.

"Your Majesty, the servant also found a small piece of broken paper in the palace maid's room. It is the same piece of paper as the one brought back by the servant earlier. Looking at the pattern and material of the paper, it seems to be the same piece of paper." Qi Ruihai held it in both hands. The small piece of paper was presented in front of Yun Chang: "On this piece of paper, there is half of the empress's private seal."

Yun Shang was a little surprised when he heard the words, and quickly reached out to take the piece of paper, held it in his hand and looked at it carefully for a while, it was indeed half of Yun Chang's private seal, although it was only half, Yun Shang could still see it .

Yun Chang held her hand, and the piece of paper was so small that it was almost hard to notice.

"The identity of the palace lady can be found out? Have the other palace people who lived in the same room with her been interrogated?" Yun Shang narrowed her eyes slightly, with a bit of depth in her eyes.

Qi Ruihai hurriedly bent down and reported: "The maid is next to Concubine Li. There are four maids beside Concubine Li. The one who died is Mingqian, who is the least noticeable among the four maids. Taciturn, not very talkative. But it seems that he entered the palace young, less than twenty years old, but has been in the palace for seven or eight years. The other maids in the house were interrogated, but when the incident happened, the other three happened to be None of them are in the house..."

Before Qi Ruihai finished speaking, Yunshang quickly interrupted: "Wait, when the incident happened, the other three people were not in the house? If I remember correctly, the time when the palace lady died should be at night, this midnight , where did those three go?"

"I found out that the palace lady died at the end of the Yin period and the beginning of the Mao period. The other three court ladies said that at that time, the empress dowager Li had already got up, so the three of them were busy preparing the things that the empress dowager needed. Went to the imperial dining room to get breakfast, one was preparing things for washing, and the other was arranging for the palace servants to clean up because of the wind last night, so many leaves and petals fell in the courtyard. I'm going to the Laundry Bureau to pick up the clothes that were sent to be laundered before, but Mingqian said that her head hurts, so she slept in the house for a while." Qi Ruihai reported one by one.

"At the end of Yin time and the beginning of Mao time?" Yun Shang was a little strange: "Does Concubine Li get up at this time on weekdays? There is no need for her to get up early to greet anyone now."

Qi Ruihai was slightly taken aback, pondered for a moment, and then said: "Slave, I'll go inquire later."

Yun Shang nodded, "In this way, the other three people in the room are not present. So, did they find anything wrong with Mingqian?"

"It's not that there is something wrong, because Mingqian is a taciturn person, she doesn't show her emotions or anger, and others can't see anything." Qi Ruihai said softly.

Yunshang's hand tapped lightly on the armrest, and after a long while, he said, "Let's talk to Eunuch Qi about a clue. Before that, Mrs. Cao told me that Concubine Li used to sneak away when Ben was not in the palace. I printed the private seal of my palace on other blank papers, so I sent secret guards to watch Concubine Li. A palace guard in the Janissary secretly delivered letters."

Hearing what Yun Shang said, Qi Ruihai also had a bit of surprise in his eyes. After thinking for a while, he asked softly: "In this case, Madam, I have two things that I need Madam to help answer."

"explain."

Qi Ruihai bent over, with doubts in his voice: "The first is, who is the guard who passed the letter to Mingqian privately? The servant wants to interrogate. The second is that since the empress sent someone to watch the Xiang Yigong, did the dark guards notice about getting up early today?"

After listening to his questioning, Yunshang came to talk one by one: "As for the guards, I sent dark guards to interrogate them. The imperial guards in the palace are all strictly trained. There is nothing wrong with them in ordinary interrogations. Let them be handed over to the dark guards." Right. The guards I sent to keep an eye on Xiangyi Palace mainly focus on two places, one is around Xiangyi Palace, to see if someone is secretly sending messages, and the other is Concubine Li’s bedroom. The palace ladies live in the apse, so they don’t usually pay much attention to it.”

Qi Ruihai nodded lightly and replied, "I understand."

"I told you this, but I just found it a little strange. There were three people living with Mingqian. It can be said that they were not in the house because Concubine Li got up early today. But in the middle of the night, except for at most one On duty at night, the others should be there, right? Mingqian got up and went out in the middle of the night, and no one noticed at all? And I feel that this is not the first time Mingqian has done this." Yun Chang raised her eyes lightly and looked at A bamboo screen embroidered in the distance.

"The servant understands."

Yun Shang nodded: "In addition, Mingqian's detailed information should be recorded in your inner warden, you can take it and send someone over to let me have a look."

Qi Ruihai quickly agreed, bowed to Yunshang, and then retreated.

Yun Chang opened her hand and looked at the piece of paper with half a private seal in her hand, but she was a little puzzled. Could it be that what Cao Taipin said was true, that Concubine Li did indeed hide some private seals secretly from the eyes of Qian Zhuo and Qin Yi.

Of course, there is another possibility, that is, Concubine Cao, or Concubine Li, quietly took the things with private seals and ordered someone to secretly engrave a fake seal.

Yun Chang narrowed her eyes slightly, and called Qian Liu.

Qian Liu hurried in from the outside, and Yun Shangfang ordered: "Go to the House of Internal Affairs and ask Qin Yi to order someone to check it out. Cao Taipin's palace is also in Xiangyi Palace. In recent months, But someone has been out of the palace."

The sky was getting dark, Luo Qingyan sent someone to pass the message, saying that he would return to Weiyang Palace later today, and told Yunshang to eat dinner by herself.

Yun Chang had her meal early, and just after dinner, Qin Yi came over.

"Your Majesty, the things Qianliu came to let the servants check earlier have already come to fruition. A few days ago, because the Empress was not in the palace, the servants were afraid that some palace servants would take the opportunity to make trouble, so they ordered all the palace servants from all palaces not to come out of the palace to visit relatives. .Only the palace servants of the First Prison, One Mansion, One Hospital and Six Bureaus can leave the palace when they have errands to do. Therefore, during this period of time, none of the palace servants from the two palaces that the empress inspected has ever left the palace." Qin Yi said softly should be.

This result was somewhat beyond Yun Shang's expectation, Yun Shang frowned and said, "This is really weird."

Just as he was saying this, Pei Lan's report came from outside again: "Your Majesty, the Internal Supervisor has sent a booklet."

Yun Chang nodded, presumably it should be the booklet that recorded Mingqian's detailed information. Yun Shang ordered Pei Lan to bring it in, and Fang took it and read it carefully.

That Mingqian is from Jincheng, and her parents are still there, but there are many older brothers and younger brothers, because the family is poor and cannot afford to support so many children, Mingqian, as a daughter, was naturally abandoned. Fortunately, her parents were kind, and couldn't bear Mingqian to be sold to other places to suffer, so they finally sent her to the palace, asking for nothing more than a full meal and warm clothes.

Yun Shang took the pen, ink, paper and inkstone, copied the relevant information from the booklet, handed it to Qin Yi and said, "Check."

Qin Yi took it, Yun Shang thought for a while and took another piece of paper, took out a private seal and stamped it, and gave it to Qin Yi: "Go to places in the city where seals can be engraved and ask. Some time ago, someone used this seal to engrave it. If so, we must find out who it is."

Qin Yi took it, her eyes fell on the seal, she pondered for a moment, and then said: "If someone wants to engrave the empress's private seal, I'm afraid they must find a place that can be trusted and will not reveal the news. Yin, but you will be sent to prison."

"Oh, then others have to know that this is my private seal. My name is engraved on my private seal, and it is written in the language of Ningguo. I am afraid that very few people will recognize it. And, if this seal It's true, the two most suspicious ones have no connections outside the palace, and it's impossible to find the place you mentioned." Yun Chang pursed her lips and said in a deep voice.

Qin Yi nodded, saluted Yun Shang, and then retreated. As soon as Qin Yi left, Qian Ju hurried in, her eyes were full of anxiety: "Ma'am, that guard is gone."

Yun Chang's hand paused slightly, and his brows frowned little by little, but his voice was very calm: "Can't you even keep an eye on someone?"

Qian Zhuo hurriedly knelt down and said: "It's the servant's fault, the servant ordered to watch secretly, it's just that the guard did a respectful effort, and the person disappeared."

"A living person will never disappear in the palace, check." Yun Shang said coldly.

On the second day, Yunshang sent people to investigate, but they responded one by one.

First of all, Qi Ruihai interrogated the other three people in Mingqian's house. Qi Ruihai had been in the guard for so many years, so he must be not weak in methods. The three of them were imprisoned overnight, and finally someone couldn't bear it and told the truth.

Someone confessed that Mingqian passed on the letter secretly, which was a secret known to everyone in their room. They never asked about it, just because Mingqian delivered the letter on behalf of Concubine Li.

Concubine Li was not born high, and her parents and family were far away from Jincheng. As a concubine, she was only a concubine before, with a low status, and her family members were not eligible to visit the palace. She was also unable to leave the palace, and she had not seen her family for a long time.

The guards in the imperial guards are from the same hometown as Concubine Li. Although the imperial guards are also strictly disciplined, the guards are much better than the concubines after all, and it is still possible to send letters back home. However, as a concubine, Grand Concubine Li couldn't interact with the guards too much, so Concubine Li always asked Mingqian to quietly send the family letter to the guard, asking him to help Grand Concubine Li deliver the family letter.

Since it was Taifei Li's order, the other three of them dared not say anything more and just pretended they didn't know.

The second news came from Mingqian's home. Mingqian hadn't been out of the palace to visit her family recently, but the secret guard found out something. One of Mingqian's elder brothers was lured into the gambling house two months ago, and he has been addicted to gambling since then. He lost a lot of money in the gambling house a month ago, but because he didn't pay the money, he was blocked by the people in the gambling shop. In the street, the fifteen princesses who came out of the palace to play rescued him.