The palace concubine hulala knelt on the ground, Qianlong stepped in from outside the hall, walked up to the queen mother proudly, saluted and said: "Son to the queen mother, please be safe!" ”

The Empress Dowager, who was still angry, said: "The emperor sits, I just have something to show you!" ”

A eunuch had already brought an engraved rosewood chair and put it down under the Queen Mother, Qianlong sat down, glanced at Cai He who was kneeling on the ground, and asked: "Cai He, but the Buddha Xiang Pavilion is not good enough to make the queen mother angry?" ”

The Queen Mother said: "That's not it. The mourning family heard that the Internal Affairs Office had a lot of deficits, so they asked Cai He to come and ask. No, Cai He gave the mourning family an account book and let the mourning family read it for themselves. The mourning family will not look at this thing, the emperor will see it himself. ”

Qianlong's eyebrows raised slightly, and he sighed, and said, "Take it to me!" This sentence was addressed to the eunuch king.

The king bowed down and promised, took the account book and raised it in front of him with both hands, and presented it to the emperor. Qianlong took the account book, raised his eyebrows and turned two pages, and was silent for a while.

Cai He knew that if he didn't speak at this time, he would only wait for death, his forehead touched the ground, and he kowtowed three more times, and said in a cry: "The old slave was promoted by the emperor and has been in the position of head of the Internal Affairs Office for more than ten years. In the past ten years, the old slave has been respectful in everything, trembling, and not daring to slack off. The internal affairs office is as small as a stitch and a thread every day, and as large as 100,000 silver and material matters, the old slaves are all written down in the account one by one, how dare they deceive the emperor and the queen mother. The emperor, the old slave entered the palace at a young age, and was fortunate to enter the imperial study to serve the emperor, and he did it for 20 years. The Queen Mother is gracious! ”

Qianlong closed the account book, looked up at him and said, "There is no mistake in the account book, since this is the case." What sin are thou? ”

Listening to the emperor's meaning, it was seen that the queen mother was too careful, and the queen mother had to give him a step and said: "The emperor said so, but the mourning family blames you, you get up!" ”

A stone in Cai He's heart finally fell to the ground, and he wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. was about to get up, but heard Qianlong say: "Slow! ”

It doesn't sound heavy, but it looks like a sharp blade. Hanging on Cai He's neck, his heart sank, and he knelt down again with a pop.

Qianlong pushed the account book on the table aside, and ordered the king to say, "I still have an account book here." Come on. Bring it to me. ”

The king replied yes with a bowed head, and then took out another account book from his bosom and presented it with both hands.

But Qianlong did not take the account book, and ordered the king to say: "From the first page, you can listen to me." ”

The king promised. Walked to the front of the hall, opened the account book, and read in a male duck voice: "On the Chinese New Year's Eve of the third year of Qianlong, the study of Cai Mansion." handed over to Cai He two thousand taels of silver tickets; On the New Year's Day of the fourth year of Qianlong, Caifu Tea House. handed over to Cai He three thousand taels of silver tickets; During the Qingming Festival in the fourth year of Qianlong, Cai Ren was seen at the gate of Cai's Mansion and handed over Cai He a thousand taels of silver tickets; Qianlong Dragon Boat Festival in the fourth year~~~"

This shouted as soon as he stopped, Cai He's face was pale, sweating profusely, and he couldn't even say the strength to beg for mercy.

"Stop!" Qianlong's face changed, like a lead cloud pressed down, and the gloomy air was filled with the silence before the storm.

Qianlong did not speak immediately, and only heavy wheezing was left in the hall. Finally, Cai He kowtowed like pounding garlic, knowing that the knife on his neck was about to fall off, but he only had one life, so he knew that he couldn't do it, so he cried and cried and forgiveness: "For the sake of the old slave who has been diligent and filial piety for decades, I beg the Queen Mother to spare her life!" Ask the emperor to spare his life! ”

"Are you really?" Qianlong's voice was soft, but there was an indescribable deterrent power, which frightened Cai He all over.

He stammered and said: "Slave, slave doesn't know where the emperor got this account book, or if someone framed the slave~~~"

Qianlong slapped the table and said sharply: "Fart!" By this time, you still dare to quibble! Do you want to call someone here and give a testimony? What you do on your own, you know in your own heart. I probably calculated, you are greedy for 1.3 million taels of silver in this book alone. You are a eunuch, but you are richer than me? ”

Cai He didn't dare to speak, but kept kowtowing, hoping to get the mercy of the Queen Mother. When I looked up again, my forehead was already covered with blood, gurgling down from my eyebrows and the corners of my eyes, and my face was full of blood, which was thrilling to see.

No one dared to speak, just watched coldly like a puppet, only glad in his heart that this matter had nothing to do with him.

Qianlong turned around and asked the Queen Mother: "Queen Mother, you also saw it, what do you say about what to do with this slave who is full of private pockets?" ”

Before, the Queen Mother was still blaming herself for blaming Cai He, but in a blink of an eye, things turned out like this. She hated it so much, tried to suppress the anger in her heart, and said with the usual indifference on her face: "The mourning family never imagined that there would be so many white-eyed wolves in the palace. There is an emperor, and the emperor will do whatever he says. ”

Qianlong was furious: "Come on, drag Cai He out of Cining Palace, Shen Xing Si will be killed, and the family property will be confiscated!" ”

Three or five imperial guards came in from outside the hall and dragged Cai He out. On the floor where he was kneeling before, there was a large patch of blood. Following this bloodstain, a line of dripping blood droplets spread straight out of the hall~~~

The hall was quiet again, but the mournful voice of Cai He begging for mercy came from far away from outside the courtyard, which made people tremble. After a long moment, Qianlong ordered: "Come on, clean the inside and outside of the palace, if you let the blood of the dog slave stain a little of my ground, you will never be spared!" ”

A few little eunuchs answered yes outside the hall, and then carried water and a cloth to scrub it.

Qianlong's anger subsided slightly. The palace maid poured a cup of tea, Qianlong took two sips, and said to Gege: "I have to take care of this palace." If it weren't for you, I don't know how many years I would have been deceived by him. ”

Gege knelt on the ground, kowtowed to the Queen Mother and said, "The Queen Mother forgives her sins!" Ruoqing has been working in Foxiang Pavilion for half a month, and she knows that Cai He secretly withheld and embezzled silver. The account book that the emperor just looked at was originally given to Ruoqing by Cai and the merchants he had been with for many years, and Ruoqing saw that the matter was important, so he dedicated it to the emperor. did not tell the Queen Mother in advance, and hoped that the Queen Mother would forgive her sins! With that, he kowtowed deeply again. She knew that she and the emperor staged such a play, only the queen mother did not know in advance, even if the emperor did not blame, but she was afraid that the queen mother would be suspicious of herself, so she knelt down and kowtowed and begged for mercy.

After this drastic change, the Queen Mother was a little tired. She is old and weak, and most of the time she only recites Buddha and prays in the palace, and she is lazy to take care of these things. Raising her hand, the Queen Mother said indifferently: "Thanks to you, otherwise the royal bank will be greedy by him somehow, you have great merit, how can you be guilty?" Get up! ”

Gege didn't get up, and said politely: "Although Cai He is in addition, he also has an adopted son, Cai Ren, who is now serving in the Internal Affairs Office. Cai He's affair, Cai Ren has a lot of pouting, Ruoqing begged the queen mother and the emperor to deal with Cai Ren together, otherwise raising a tiger will be a problem, and there will eventually be a bite back. ”

The emperor groaned and said, "You are right! I have almost forgotten that. Spread my order, the internal affairs office Cai Ren cane five hundred, out of the palace, never hired! (To be continued......)