In February, the vernal equinox arrives, with flowers blooming and falling according to the seasons. Before all the flowers face the sky, let's borrow skillful hands to plant the soul of spring. Where is this meaning of spring, this soul of spring planted? It is planted on people's clothes, in those fluttering petals and the lush, layered gold-edged embroidery.

On the first day, the Western embroidery cloth specifically requested by the Empress of the Eastern Palace finally arrived. No one knew how many bolts there were, but it troubled many eunuchs in the palace. Hong Zhu was the one who coordinated the cloth from outside the palace, but he was too lazy to do small matters like distributing them today, tasks that required physical strength.

He stayed in the main hall of the Eastern Palace, noticing that the Crown Prince was not there. He carefully fiddled with the brass pieces in the incense burner, preventing the incense from burning too quickly, while quietly instructing the palace maids to work diligently and quickly spread out the three layers of cotton padding, as the Empress would be reading soon.

Before long, a fragrant breeze swept through, and the inner curtain was lifted. The Empress, with eyebrows like dark ink, lips like vermilion, and a pair of flowing, phoenix-like eyes, walked out wearily. She leaned against the low couch, sipping her steeped tea leaves and looking at the book in her hand.

The book was a collection of short stories published by Danbo Book Bureau. Although the Empress deeply hated and feared Fan Xian, in her daily leisure, this mother of the nation was unwilling to lower her quality of life.

After reading a few pages, the Empress frowned, seemingly lost in thought.

At this moment, Hong Zhu was behind the Empress, massaging her back. His unusually clean small fists gently and rhythmically pounded on the Empress's slender frame. The Empress had always liked Hong Zhu's ability to amuse and serve attentively, especially his back-massaging skills. However, today she did not close her eyes and enjoy it as usual, but instead stared at the book in front of her, lost in thought.

"What is Your Majesty thinking about?" Hong Zhu said with a smile.

Compared to these noble people, the eunuchs and palace maids in the palace were like ants in the mud. Therefore, ordinary people always dared not breathe loudly when they saw nobles like the Empress, only showing fear and respect, wishing they could shrink back their hands and feet.

But Hong Zhu had received teachings from Fan Xian and realized that these noble people, seemingly holding high positions, living in luxury, and lacking nothing, were… precisely those who easily felt bored and lonely in the palace, and liked someone to talk to them.

Hong Zhu was different from ordinary eunuchs when he served in the imperial study. He would not always lower his eyes and always remember to put on a servile appearance… Instead, in addition to being respectful, he acted and responded with a bit more frankness.

In fact, the principle was very simple. The noble people in the palace also needed to talk, but their status meant that they had no confidants to communicate with. If the little eunuch who always accompanied them was not so hideous and acted awkwardly, their mood would be much better.

That's why Hong Zhu gained the love of so many noble people, including the Empress.

The Empress seemed to have become accustomed to talking to Hong Zhu. She sighed and said, "I'm just thinking… being in the palace all the time is also annoying. My aunt has been eating vegetarian food and chanting scriptures these days, and I don't have many opportunities to see her."

Hong Zhu said with a smile, "It's good for this servant to accompany Your Majesty for a while."

He had to say "this servant" in his speech, but he couldn't put on a lowly servant's appearance, otherwise the master would only have the desire to slap him in the face when they saw a lowly servant, and would have no intention of communicating with him.

"What can you say? Or should I have you tell me about your days wandering outside the palace when you were young, like you did the other day?" the Empress said with interest.

After Hong Zhu's family was ruined by corrupt officials, he and his brother fled to Jiaozhou. During those years, they didn't know how much hardship they suffered and how much human suffering they witnessed. In terms of experience, it was really much richer than these noble people who grew up in aristocratic families since childhood.

Especially the beggar secrets he often told, the small rumors on the Jianghu, and the folk food and entertainment, sounded so fresh and interesting in the Empress's ears.

Today, Hong Zhu told a true joke he heard on the road while wandering, which was related to the girls in the brothel. But after all, he was in the palace, and the person listening to the story was the mother of a nation, so Hong Zhu was especially careful when telling it, and did not dare to say too many explicit words.

However, as the Empress listened to the story, her eyes sparkled slightly, and she smiled slightly, feeling a bit amused in her heart. She quickly yawned to cover it up. She was in front of Hong Zhu, so Hong Zhu naturally couldn't see it. He just felt that the Empress didn't stop him from continuing, which was a bit surprising.

After all, he was young, how could he know that even the most sacred and inviolable noble people actually thought about things in their minds that were no different from the women in the market.

After the story was finished, the Empress sighed and said, "The children in the folk are indeed living quite hard, but they can also see some different things."

Hong Zhu stammered and smiled: "It's hard, Your Majesty is of what status, since childhood..."

This naturally led the topic to the Empress's childhood life. The Empress was lost in thought for a moment, thinking of the current Emperor. When she was young, he was still the unsmiling cousin. It seemed that there were occasional happy times together, but later… how did he become like this?

She immediately thought of the price her family paid in that bloody night in the capital, and her emotions began to become unstable, gradually adding a few hints of sadness.

Hong Zhu carefully controlled the measure of his words, using the corner of his eye to pay attention to the frequency of the Empress's eyelashes fluttering, and then delved into the Queen's childhood toys in the content of the speech.

At this time, the Empress was warning herself in her heart, and it was impossible to tell a servant too much about her own affairs. Hearing him change the subject, she also relaxed a little, and began to count them as if she knew them like the back of her hand.

In short, after turning many corners, Hong Zhu finally successfully and imperceptibly reminded the Empress of a jade pendant, a jade pendant that was brought into the palace from her maiden family.

……

……

The Empress gestured the size of the jade pendant, smiling and said, "The quality and color of that jade is good, of course, it can't compare to the tribute stored in Da Dong Mountain, but it can be considered a rare quality in the house of ordinary princes… By the way, that was given to my maiden family by the late Emperor, so the carving on it is in the imperial style, and it's impossible to wear it outside, so it's always been kept in my clothes."

The Empress pointed to her chest intentionally or unintentionally. Although she was wearing thick winter clothes, her fingers still sank into her fullness.

Hong Zhu swallowed lightly and said with a small smile, "It seems that this servant has never seen Your Majesty wear it in the palace."

"Although that jade pendant is quite warm and smooth, the aqua color is too light… I used to wear it often when I was a girl, but now it's not suitable for me."

Hong Zhu flattered and said: "Your Majesty is naturally beautiful, and her radiance has not diminished over the years. What difference is there with a girl… Even the lightest of aqua colors is suitable."

A flash of sternness flashed in the Empress's eyes, and she lowered her voice and shouted: "You're getting more and more presumptuous in your words!"

Hong Zhu's face was greatly shocked, and he quickly slapped his mouth heavily, but he still didn't notice the trace of satisfied smile on the Empress's lips, and the increasingly strong meaning in her eyes.

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The Empress already knew about the arrival of the embroidery cloth in the palace yesterday. She naturally didn't care much about this kind of small matter. Naturally, there was a palace precedent for sending it to various palaces. The Empress Dowager's side was naturally the first, and some of the concubines with titles in the palace were sent some, and finally it was the turn of the Guangxin Palace where the Eldest Princess was located. Although the Empress had never liked this sister-in-law, she had to work hard to tie her down for the sake of her son.

At this time, the back compartment of the Eastern Palace was busy distributing the embroidery cloth. After Hong Zhu finished serving the Empress, there was nothing specific to do. He had nothing to do, so he stood outside the door and stared at the slender palace maids working, his eyes only sweeping over the plump, slightly upturned buttocks of those palace maids.

Suddenly, he felt a pain in his waist. He turned his head and saw a palace maid with charming eyes looking at him hatefully.

He couldn't help but whisper: "Xiu'er, you're crazy! There are so many people, this is in the palace!"

This little palace maid who was so bold as to dare to pinch the chief eunuch of the Eastern Palace was the Xiu'er that Fan Xian had heard of, and also a companion that Hong Zhu found in the loneliness of the deep palace.

Xiu'er bit her lower lip and muttered: "Where are your eyes looking? Do you know that this is in the palace?"

Hong Zhu chuckled twice and coaxed her a few words, thinking that he was a eunuch, and he could only satisfy his addiction with his eyes and fingers. Was it worth being jealous? He didn't take it seriously, but suddenly thought of something and asked curiously, "What are you doing here?"

He suddenly felt a shock in his heart and lowered his voice and said, "Don't tell me you're going to send embroidery cloth to the various palaces?"

Xiu'er looked at his nervous expression curiously, and said slightly in astonishment: "No… I don't know what's going on today, the Empress suddenly remembered a small object that hasn't been used for a long time, and wants me to go to the厢房 to find it."

Hong Zhu's mood relaxed slightly and asked carefully: "What is it?"

"A light aqua jade pendant." Xiu'er pouted and said: "I don't know who was so talkative that reminded the Empress of this thing… This is something that hasn't been used for many years, how can I find it in a short time? If I can't find it, how can I explain it to the Empress?"

Hong Zhu was overjoyed, knowing that what he had said earlier had finally worked, and the Empress had finally remembered to find that jade pendant.

At this moment, a palace maid covered her mouth and smiled as she walked past the two of them.

Xiu'er said angrily: "What are you laughing at?"

The palace maid stuck out her tongue and said: "You are allowed to laugh, but I'm not allowed to laugh?"

The royal palace of Qing was actually not as bright and majestic as the people imagined, but it was not as dark and terrifying as the novelists had fictionalized. Especially in the Eastern Palace, the Empress knew her weakness and helplessness, so she deliberately put effort into these small details. She was relatively gentle to the palace maids and eunuchs, and her rule was not very strict, with the intention of forming good relationships.

And Hong Zhu was also a person who was used to being attentive and cautious. Even though he had now become the chief eunuch, he didn't boss around these people below him, so that palace maid dared to joke with the two of them.

"Where are you going?" Hong Zhu looked at the palace maid with a smile, as well as the little eunuch behind the palace maid who was holding two rolls of good embroidery cloth.

The palace maid bowed with a smile and said, "This is going to Guangxin Palace."

Hong Zhu nodded with a smile and let her go.

……

……

The palace maid's name was Wang Zhui'er. Being able to have a surname meant that she was a relatively favored person in the Eastern Palace. She brought two little eunuchs to the outside of Guangxin Palace, knowing the habits of Her Royal Highness the Eldest Princess, she waved her hand and asked the two little eunuchs to wait outside, while she carried the embroidery cloth in with great effort.

Naturally, there were palace maids of the Eldest Princess to take it over. Since it was someone who represented the Empress, the Eldest Princess naturally said a few words to the palace maid casually, asked how the Empress was, and sent her out.

When there was no one quiet in Guangxin Palace, the Eldest Princess turned to the back of the screen, looked at the Crown Prince of Qing Kingdom who was full of happiness, and said with a gentle smile: "Have you memorized the three policies for governing the country?"

The Crown Prince looked at her obsessively, nodded, gently held the Eldest Princess's soft and boneless hand, and held it to his face as if he was holding a fragile and fragile piece of jade, rubbed it, and said softly: "Qian'er has memorized it."

The Eldest Princess gently tapped the space between his eyebrows with her finger, looked at the familiar mark between the Crown Prince's eyebrows, and for some reason, after a pain in her heart, she softened again, and held his face in both hands, her eyes sparkling, and said softly: "Good boy, read it to your aunt."

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In the Eastern Palace, the Empress was losing her temper, because the palace maids had searched for a long time, but still couldn't find the light aqua jade pendant, which made the Empress feel very bad.

Xiu'er stood tremblingly beside the Empress, thinking in her heart, why did this master have to work hard on that jade pendant today? How could she know that the Empress was moved by Hong Zhu's words, and wanted to find some traces of the old days.

"Search carefully for this palace!" The Empress was very angry, but she just wanted to find something by chance, but she couldn't find it. She was tolerant to her subordinates, but these servants had turned the world upside down! She had also vaguely heard that there were some unscrupulous guys in the palace, but she didn't expect that someone would dare to be so bold as to reach out in the Eastern Palace.

Thinking that she was isolated and helpless in the palace, and now she was actually being bullied by these dog servants, the Empress's lips trembled with anger, and she said coldly to the eunuchs and palace maids kneeling in a row in front of her: "If you can't find it in the storage room, search in each room!"

The faces of the row of people kneeling below were extremely ugly, and they were all thinking in their hearts, was this going to search the palace. The three little eunuchs in the lower right were even more pale with fright, and they were extremely horrified in their hearts, because those old and unused small objects in the Eastern Palace were basically stolen out of the palace by them to sell, and the jade pendant that the Empress said earlier was also among them.

Fortunately, at this time, everyone was extremely frightened by the Empress's sharp and gloomy scolding, and their faces were not very good, so the little drum in the hearts of these three little eunuchs was not noticed by others.

The Empress slammed her right hand heavily on the table, and the emerald green finger ring on the middle finger of her right hand shattered with a snap, and she said angrily: "Find out who is not clean, and don't come back to me, just beat them to death!"

Hong Zhu looked down at the emerald green fragments on the table and on the ground, and thought with a wry smile, this finger ring is much more valuable than that jade pendant, but he knew that the Empress wanted to have a sudden thought, and was annoyed in her heart, and took this opportunity to establish her authority and clean the palace, and didn't say much, bowed slightly, took the order, and took some of the best palace maids and eunuchs to search the palace.

For a time, there were waves of footsteps in the back courtyard of the Eastern Palace, and the sound of overturning boxes and cabinets rose sharply, just like searching a house, which was unspeakably palpitating.

Those palace maids and eunuchs who were honestly waiting outside for the fate to be ordered were not worried, even the three little eunuchs who handled the matter were not afraid, because they had done too much of this kind of thing, and no one would be stupid enough to hide those taboo stolen goods in their room.

However.

It seems that someone is really so stupid.

……

……

The three little supervisors were dumbfounded, and the face of the palace maid who was originally looking at the crowd with a look of arrogance suddenly turned pale, and she said sharply: "This is not mine! This is not mine!"

In order to avoid suspicion, Hong Zhu did not go in to search in person, but when he saw an eunuch search out the jade pendant from under the palace maid's bed, he couldn't help but sigh, and shook his head looking at the palace maid.

This palace maid was the one who had sent the embroidery cloth to Guangxin Palace earlier. Her face was pale, and her eyes were in a state of confusion. She knelt down in front of Hong Zhu with a snap, and said in a trembling voice: "Little Hong Gonggong... it's not my business, it's not my business... it's not my business..."

The three eunuchs who really stole the jade pendant looked at each other in dismay, thinking that the jade pendant had already been sold out of the palace, how could it suddenly appear in the Eastern Palace again, in the hands of that palace maid? The three eunuchs were so frightened that their backs were covered in sweat, because the stolen goods had appeared, who knew what questions would be asked in a while.

Hong Zhu frowned and looked at the palace maid kneeling in front of him, sighed, and said: "Tie her up, and wait for the Empress to send her down."

Several strong eunuchs stepped forward and knocked the palace maid to the ground, and tied her up tightly with hemp rope. The palace maid was already frightened and unconscious, and could only keep shouting grievances, saying that she had never seen this jade pendant.

Hong Zhu shook his head and went to the front palace to report back. The three eunuchs looked at each other, and one of them, who was bolder, followed up and lowered his voice behind Hong Zhu and said: "Gonggong, the Empress meant earlier to directly beat that cheap woman to death after finding the thing... At this time, telling the Empress, I'm afraid the Empress will be unhappy, and it will affect Gonggong badly."

Hong Zhu stopped and thought for a while, and said: "This matter is too big, it's better to let the masters speak first, we servants, don't do too much."

A look of disappointment flashed in the eunuch's eyes. He originally thought of using Hong Zhu's hand to directly beat the palace maid to death with a staff. Then, no matter how the jade pendant re-entered the palace, as long as the person was dead and the jade pendant had returned, he would never be found out. He did not expect that Hong Zhu was still going to ask the Empress's order.

"Things are not that simple." Hong Zhu sneered, looked at him coldly, and said: "Where does she have the courage to steal things from the palace alone, there must be other helpers to help her cover up, even if there are no helpers... but where did this thing come from, let the people in the inner court carefully interrogate it in a while, and we will definitely be able to find out the source."

The eunuch's heart was cold, thinking that this source... if it is really interrogated, wouldn't he have to pull out the three of them, but he couldn't confess this matter to Hong Zhu no matter what, he just tentatively asked: "I don't know how the Empress will deal with it."

"It's good to beat the real scourge in this palace to death with a random staff... I'm afraid of being thrown into the heavenly prison and tortured by those perverts in the Overwatch Council." Hong Zhu sighed.

The eunuch turned his eyes, swallowed a mouthful of fearful saliva, and said: "After all, it is a matter of the palace, if the people from the inner court and the Overwatch Council are allowed to investigate, I'm afraid... the Empress will also lose face, why don't... we investigate it ourselves first?"

Hong Zhu seemed to be a little moved by these words, glanced out of the corner of his eye, and just happened to see a flash of killing intent in the eunuch's eyes, smiled, and nodded, and ordered: "Interrogate carefully."

……

……

But when he arrived at the bedroom of the front palace, Hong Zhu changed his face, first told the Empress the news he had found, but sincerely persuaded the Empress to deal with it leniently, after all, the Empress Dowager was eating vegetarian food these days, if there was a death, I'm afraid the old man would not like it.

The Empress was originally very angry, but was persuaded by Hong Zhu, and gradually calmed down. She held the light aqua jade pendant in her hand and stroked it slowly, frowning and said: "There is a reason, but the death penalty can be forgiven, and the living crime is inevitable, order it to be given down, and beat her severely!"

Hong Zhu took the order and was about to go to the back, but the Empress stopped him again and said, "What are you doing? Just explain it... You stay here with this palace, and I always hear you boast that you are skillful, weave a golden thread net to tie this jade block."

The Empress's expression was calm, and she couldn't hear any emotion. Hong Zhu was secretly happy in his heart, thinking that if he was allowed to preside over the interrogation, who knew if he would be implicated.

……

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I don't know how long it took, an eunuch knelt down outside the palace with a troubled face, Hong Zhu frowned and went over to listen to him for two words, and his face also turned ugly.

He leaned to the Empress's ear and said two words softly.

The Empress's eyebrows frowned, and she said in disgust: "It's really unlucky... it's okay to not be able to withstand the beating, at least there is some sense of shame, knowing to commit suicide to seek cleanliness..." The mother of this country said casually: "Let Jingletang drag her to burn."

Hong Zhu's heart trembled, but he knew that in the eyes of these nobles, his servants were just objects to be ordered and played with, and human life was inferior to ants. He silently bowed and then went to arrange the aftermath of the palace maid.

He knew that the palace maid's death was definitely not as simple as suicide, it must be the eunuch who he had arranged to interrogate her earlier... in order to silence her, in order to protect his own wealth and glory, life and property, he secretly poisoned her.

But this was originally Hong Zhu's arrangement, so he was not very surprised, but he felt a trace of guilt towards the innocent palace maid.

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The Qing Kingdom Imperial Palace was extremely large, occupying a quarter of the area of Kyoto, and it was home to the most distinguished men and women in the world, as well as the most humble women and hermaphrodites in the world. In this cold palace, I don't know how many stories happen every day, and I don't know how many humble people will mysteriously or silently disappear and die, and no one remembers that they once existed in the imperial palace.

Although the Qing Kingdom royal family was not known for its harshness, this strict barrier between classes destined the imperial palace to always be a place where people eat people.

Therefore, the death of an ordinary palace maid in the Eastern Palace did not attract anyone's attention. It was just that there was one more corpse in the burning field of Jingletang, and a girl in the Embroidery Bureau was very lucky to get the opportunity to enter the Eastern Palace to serve the Empress. The Empress still listened to Hong Zhu telling jokes every day, the Empress Dowager still ate vegetarian food every day, and the Crown Prince still studied the way of governing the country every day, and went to Guangxin Palace to ask the Eldest Princess for advice.

Everything is as usual.

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"Whenever a large family or household is attacked from the outside, it will not be destroyed for a while, because its foundation is thick enough... However, if problems occur within the family, and its own people start to act, suspicion, and infighting become the norm, then the day of death is not far away."

On the newly built earthen and stone dike in Yingzhou, Fan Xian looked at the rolling river below the dike going east, and said thoughtfully: "A thousand-mile dike is destroyed by an ant nest, and a thousand-year family is destroyed by a thought."

He turned his head and said to Yang Wanli, who was dark-skinned: "What I am talking about is not only the river dike you built, nor is it just referring to the Ming family, but also including this world."

Fan Xian did not make it clear, he calculated the time, today should be the time when that palace maid died, and after a few days, when the rumors spread, the emperor noticed the strange death of the Eastern Palace palace maid, with his suspicion, he will definitely notice many problems.

The superficial peace and harmony of the royal family may be due to the death of that palace maid, and unexpected turmoil will occur.

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(Here, I sincerely ask everyone for monthly tickets. In a few hours, the double monthly tickets will end, and the friends behind have narrowed the gap by 600 votes in this night, and I feel a little tight... I want to enter the top three this month, and these few hours will play a very important role... So please throw the tickets you have in your hands over, and compact the soil and stone more firmly, thank you, thank you!)