Chapter 26: Remove the eyeliner!

On the way back to the East Palace, Li Yiqi asked without looking back: "Lord Zhang, how much money have you lost recently?"

Li Yiqi asked this question because there was such a news mentioned in the intelligence collected by the Li family, that is, there are many gambling stalls opened by underground money banks in Shangjing, and some things that are not allowed on the surface can be seen everywhere there, as for the counselor of the East Palace, Lord Zhang Ran, is a frequent visitor to an underground gambling stall, and often loses all the money there, and even leaves a lot of debts.

“...... This. ”

Hearing this, Zhang Ran looked embarrassed, looked at the figure of the young man in front of him, the light in his eyes flickered, and said with a sneer: "Xia Guan doesn't understand, why did Master Li suddenly ask about this......

"It's not a big deal, it's just that in the past few days, I have checked the accounts of the East Palace over the years, and I found a few suspicious points, and I want to ask Master Zhang for advice. Suddenly, Li Yiqi paused and looked back at the other party, his eyes narrowed slightly, the corners of his mouth raised a strange arc, and said with a smile.

"Accounts?!"

Hearing Li Yiqi's words, Zhang Ran's face began to turn slightly pale, and his expression was also a little trance.

Seeing this, Li Yiqi's face instantly turned cold, his eyes were like knives, and he slammed into Zhang Ran's heart at once, and shouted: "Lord Zhang!"

Zhang Ran was sweating profusely, and his face was extremely pale.

He felt that he really couldn't run away now, and there were people outside the East Palace collecting debts. In the East Palace, the newly powerful 'governor' is going to trouble him again.

"I knew that I should have been respectful to this kid in the first place......" Zhang Ran was nervous in his heart, sweat on his face was like rain, and he was quite nervous.

I couldn't hide, and the light in Zhang Ran's eyes flickered.

Suddenly, he raised his head suddenly, boldly, hard-headed, gritted his teeth and said, "Lord Li, Xiaguan...... Xia Guan did owe six thousand taels of silver in a gambling stall......"

"It's just, this, this seems to be a private matter of the lower officials......" Zhang Ran whispered in a deep voice.

"Six thousand taels ......"

Li Yiqi's face was expressionless, but he sneered twice in his heart, and said quietly: "My six-grade official is one hundred and twenty taels a year, and Lord Zhang, you have a debt for fifty years......

"Hehe, Master Li laughed. Zhang Ran lowered his head, his face extremely ugly.

"I'm not joking, Lord Zhang, you should know what I mean. ”

Li Yiqi was expressionless, stared at Zhang Ran with deep eyes, and said coldly: "Lord Zhang, you can be regarded as the old man of the East Palace, right......?"

"What is this...... Yes. Zhang Ran nodded and responded with a smile.

It stands to reason that he is less than forty years old, and the word 'old man' is a bit excessive, but if it is counted from the time the prince entered the East Palace at the age of ten, he has served the prince for six years, so he can naturally be regarded as the 'old man' of the East Palace.

Li Yiqi smiled slightly, a glint flashed in his eyes, and he said coldly: "In this case, Lord Zhang, I want to ask you, do you know what the crime of stealing the property of the East Palace is?"

As soon as Li Yiqi's words fell, Zhang Ran's body shook suddenly, his face changed suddenly, his eyes were like seeing a ghost, and he said while trembling: "Master Li, I'm ...... I really don't understand what you're talking about......"

"Don't you understand, do you?"

Li Yiqi's face sank, he snorted coldly, reached into his arms, took out an envelope from his pocket, threw it in front of Zhang Ran, and said coldly: "Lord Zhang, please tell me, what is this?"

Zhang Ran picked up the envelope, took out the letter paper inside, looked at it intently, and was so frightened that he almost fainted.

"Li, Master Li, I, I ......" Zhang Ran grinned, the blood on his face faded, paler than a dead man, and he was almost speechless.

"I really don't shed tears when I don't see the coffin. ”

Li Yiqi squinted his eyes, the corners of his mouth raised slightly, and said with a smile: "It seems that Master Zhang, you are going to go to the Zongren Mansion with me." ”

Hearing the words 'Zongren Mansion', Zhang Ran's frightened spirit shivered, dense cold sweat oozed from his forehead, his knees weakened, he knelt on the ground with a plop, and said in a trembling voice: "Master Li...... Lord Li spares his life!"

In the entire Great Xia Palace, the Zongren Mansion is a special place for punishment, and is in charge of the punishment of princes, princesses, mothers, concubines, eunuchs, and palace maids in the summer palace. Zhang Ran, as a person from the East Palace, if he made a mistake, he would naturally go to the Zongren Mansion to be punished.

For the people in the palace, the Zongren Mansion is an eerie and terrifying forbidden place, and if there is one word to describe it, it is - there is no entry and no exit.

"Lord Zhang, if you haven't done anything about theft, the Zongren Mansion can pay you back, what are you afraid of?" Li Yiqi smiled coldly, squatted down, stretched out his hand and pointed in one direction, and laughed softly: "No, Lord Zhang, you see, the Zongren Mansion is in that direction, and I haven't been there yet......"

Hearing Li Yiqi's chuckle in his ears, Zhang Ran didn't dare to raise his head, his body trembled even more, and his heart was terrified to the extreme.

When Li Yiqi saw this scene, a smile flashed from his eyes, and his tone became extremely cold, and he said: "Zhang Ran, you have to think clearly, confess your guilt, and go to the Zongren Mansion to be punished! If you don't admit it, the prince can't let you go because of the fact that you stole the money of the East Palace! However, there is still a way in front of you, it depends on whether you choose or not, Lord Zhang......

Zhang Ran was shocked, and when he heard the last sentence, he raised his head suddenly, and his face showed the joy of being in a desperate situation.

"What kind of road, Lord Li, please say!"

He seemed to think that Li Yiqi was going to let him go.

"Let's get up first, there are a lot of people here, let's talk about it when we go back. Li Yiqi stood up expressionlessly, glanced around, and said.

Although the vicinity of the Imperial City is not as crowded and busy as the streets of the upper capital, there are still forbidden army patrols from time to time, and it is really not a suitable place for conversation.

"Yes, yes, yes. ”

Zhang Ran nodded like a chicken pecking rice, and after getting up, the two continued to walk towards the East Palace.

Along the way, Zhang Ran followed behind Li Yiqi with a respectful and flattering face, his eyes kept rolling: "That, Master Li, what do you want to do with the small one, just ...... order"

Hearing that Zhang Ran even used the word 'small' in his own claim, Li Yiqi, who was walking in front, raised his eyebrows, glanced back at Zhang Ran, and had a trace of admiration for this counselor of the East Palace Prince's Mansion in his heart.

After all, we still can't despise some little people, little people also have a way of living for little people, and being able to bend and stretch is also a manifestation of ability, and it is also a way to survive.

"Lord Zhang, there is only one thing I want to ask you for - in the future, you don't go to the queen to report to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. A strange light flashed in Li Yiqi's eyes, but his face remained the same as usual, and he said.

"What...... Small report?" Zhang Ran's face was a little confused.

"Ahh

Li Yiqi sighed in his heart, with a hint of helplessness in his flat tone, walked forward, and whispered to Zhang Ran: "It's ......"

After listening to Li Yiqi's words, Zhang Ran's face was as pale as earth, and there was a hint of hesitation on his face, but in the end he nodded heavily and said, "Small, small, understand......"

"What's the matter?, does it make you embarrassed?" Li Yiqi glanced at him, his face was a little displeased, his brows furrowed, and he asked indifferently.

"No...... Can't. ”

Zhang Ran looked embarrassed, quickly shook his head, bowed down and hugged his fists and said, "What Master Li said, the little one will definitely do it." ”

"Good. ”

Li Yiqi nodded with satisfaction, his eyes moved slightly, a special smile rose at the corner of his mouth, and then whispered: "Lord Zhang, in fact, I have always believed in a truth - when the water is clear, there are no fish. ”

"For His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, a few thousand taels of silver is nothing. As long as you don't go too far, presumably His Royal Highness the Crown Prince won't care, you say. ”

"This ......"

Zhang Ran's body shook, his eyes kept turning, he bowed to Li Yiqi deeply, and said respectfully: "Thank you, little one, Lord Li." ”

"Well, you go, I have other things to do. ”

"The little one quits. ”

After waving Zhang Ran away, Li Yiqi took out a piece of paper from his arms, on which in addition to Zhang Ran, there were twelve names......

Looking at these names, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but twitch.

These are some of the clues he found in the past few days by checking the roster of people under the East Palace. As expected, the remaining twelve people in this group are also the same as Zhang Ran, all of whom are the eyes of the queen who placed the prince's side, and are responsible for transmitting all the information of the East Palace Prince's Mansion to Kunning Palace.

Li Yiqi knew that if he wanted the prince to abide by the three chapters of his covenant, he must make the prince have a certain sense of trust in him, which naturally included beating all the people who were placed in the East Palace by the queen.

As for what the queen would think when she found out, Li Yiqi had already thought of another rhetoric in his heart......

"I really didn't expect that this kind of thing would be really troublesome to do, and I couldn't just let these people disappear, and I couldn't drive them out of the East Palace......"

Li Yiqi sighed in his heart, his brows furrowed slightly. If it was someone who was inserted into the East Palace by other forces, he would have disposed of it by thunder, but these people were the eyeliner planted by the queen in order to supervise the crown prince, which was equivalent to the queen's people. The so-called dog beating also depends on the owner, even if he knows the identity of these people, he is not good.

"It's so dangerous, these people don't have sore feet, otherwise, they will really be in trouble......"

Li Yiqi smiled slightly, glanced at the other name on the paper, raised his eyes to look around, and after confirming the direction, he walked in one direction, and muttered softly:

"As for the people who have been planted by other forces, hehe......"

......

Daxia Palace City, Harem, Kunning Palace.

The main hall is resplendent and beautiful, and in the red palace tent, on the bed made of gold and jade, the queen is stretching her body in a comfortable posture, indescribably graceful and luxurious.

"Today, there is some news from the prince's side. ”

The queen pinched a small grape casually, gently peeled off the purple-red skin of the grape with her jade hand, put it in her mouth in an elegant and noble posture, and chewed it slowly and swallowed it slowly.

"This ......"

On the side, the little palace maids serving the queen lowered their heads and glanced at each other, their faces a little embarrassed.

In the end, it was an old woman in the palace whose wrinkles on her face were comparable to the peel of an old orange and took a step forward, and said cautiously in a rough voice: "Niangniang, there is no news from the East Palace......

"What do you mean?"

The queen straightened up suddenly, a cold gaze flashed in her phoenix eyes, and the old lady and a group of little palace maids trembled, and hurriedly lowered their heads.

At this time, a sword-wielding Jin Wuwei held a letter in his hand, strode to the gate of Kunning Palace, knelt on one knee, and said loudly: "Niangniang, a letter from the East Palace——"

"Bring it!" came the queen's cold voice from inside the hall.

After a while, the letterhead was passed from Jin Wuwei's hand to the queen's hand, and the letterhead was opened at will, and there was only a thin piece of paper inside, with a few small words written on it: "The queen's mother is on it, and the micro-minister Li Yiqi respects ......"

After reading the first few paragraphs, the queen's face turned iron blue in an instant, her willow eyebrows almost stood up, she clenched her silver teeth, and said angrily:

"Presumptuous, bastard boy!"

Seeing this scene, the palace maids and grandmothers in the hall were silent, and they didn't dare to come out.

However, as she read all the words, the anger on the queen's face gradually faded, and her expression became much more relaxed, although she still looked cold, but an extremely strange light flashed in the depths of her phoenix eyes.

"Alas...... That's it—"

After a long time, the queen sighed, stared at the void with phoenix eyes, and looked in the direction of the East Palace, feeling quite stunned.

In the letter, Li Yiqi did not explain much, nor did he make any excuses. It's just a simple description that he has controlled all the people who the queen has placed next to the prince, and I hope the queen won't think about it.

At the same time, Li Yiqi also reminded the queen with very humble words, the fledgling needs to be trained to fly high, the prince is now at the age of longing for independence, too much surveillance and protection may not be conducive to the growth of the prince, if the queen really trusts him, please entrust the prince to him.

In the end, Li Yiqi also expressed very vaguely that in addition to the people placed by the queen, he was also secretly dealing with another group of people......

There is no doubt that this is Li Yiqi showing the queen that he wants to help the prince clean up the East Palace, and all the eyeliner planted by foreign forces will be uprooted by him from now on.

"Hehe, let this palace see how capable you are......"

A shallow smile drew into the queen's delicate lips, and the letterhead slipped from between her white jade fingers and fell to the ground. A clear, indifferent voice echoed in the main hall:

"Go ahead and burn this letter. ”

......