Xiling Yue, the lord of Xichuan County, stood beside the two. Pei Yan and Bai Juyi were specially invited by her, because they are both good at calligraphy. Originally, she was worried that Pei Yan would have a grudge against her because of Master Mo Yan's affairs, but when Pei Yan saw her, she first thanked her, thanked her for pulling out the tumor of the Pei family, and then made a special trip to mention Pei Xingli, and her words were full of praise......

When Pei Yan said this, his eyes revealed a little love and scrutiny, as if he was looking at ...... Looking at the daughter-in-law?

Xilingyue was excited, forced herself to come back to her senses, pointed to a big character hanging on the wall, and said to the four palace people who entered the hall: "You don't have to panic, today is just a word test, no matter whether you are literate or not, just copy this poem once, and you can go." ”

The four palace people looked in the direction she pointed, and saw a huge character hanging on the wall in front of them, which was a fake love poem copied by Xiling Yue herself:

Climb the Qinzheng Building at night, and the bright moon enters my arms.

The shadow on the steps is like jade, just waiting for the beautiful woman to come.

Literate palace people have begun to read and copy silently; Those who were illiterate had to scratch their ears and cheeks and copy the glyphs again.

After the four of them finished writing, Xiling Yue signaled them to step back and replace the next group of people in.

After tossing like this for a whole day, all the palace people in the four halls were tested. Qin Se closed the roster and walked into the hall, just in time to see Xiling Yuezheng discussing something with Pei Yan and Bai Juyi, and the candle flame in the evening was extremely soft, sprinkled on the table in front of the three of them.

There were two piles of paper on the case: one was extremely thick, the other was relatively thin, and the thin one circled the names of the palace people with a red pen, apparently the suspicious person who had been found.

Qin Se casually picked up a word and looked at it, puzzled: "Strange, this word is not similar to the words of fake love poems, why do you want to pick it out?" ”

"Who says we read words?" Xiling Yue showed a sly smile, "We are looking at people." ”

Qin Se suddenly realized: "So, Pei Sheren and Bai Bachelor are just your tricks?" ”

"Yes!" Xi Lingyue smiled even more proudly, "These two are good at calligraphy, and I invited them here to confuse the public and make everyone think that I was trying to identify handwriting." ”

"But in fact, the handwriting can't be found at all, if the person wants to cover it up, just change the glyph." Xi Lingyue pointed to the thin pile of paper in front of her, "These people are all suspicious of me, Pei Sheren, and Bai Bachelor." ”

"How suspicious?" Qin Se asked curiously.

Xiling Yue didn't answer and asked: "County Lord Qin, what was your reaction when you first saw this poem?" ”

Qin Se thought for a moment: "I can't remember. ”

"Then let me tell you, I read this poem with Pei Sheren and Bai Bachelor when I first saw it, I think it's very good, Bai Bachelor sneered, Pei Sheren didn't make an evaluation." Xilingyue explained, "This is the reaction of normal people. Those who are illiterate will also struggle to recognize the glyphs and transcribe them. But the reaction of these people to the poem was strange. Isn't it suspicious that some are indifferent, some are suspicious, and some even deliberately hide their brushwork? ”

"It's suspicious, but that's not a good conviction on that basis." Qin Se thought it was too hasty.

"That's natural," Xiling Yue winked at her, "This is only the ten people who have been preliminarily selected, and five of them are suspicious. ”

"Which five? How does the county lord confirm? This time, even Pei Yan couldn't help it, and opened his mouth to ask.

Xiling Yue smiled silently.

The next day, Xiling Yue was ordered by the Son of Heaven to arrest five palace people: Fang Fei and A Li, the palace maids of the Lizheng Palace, Zhang Yi of the small yellow door, Ah Kui, the palace maid of the bathhouse, and the palace maid of the greenhouse Palace, a total of five people.

The palace bureau is specially responsible for the precept and punishment of the harem, and the chief official Ma Gongzheng has already heard about the inside story of the Xichuan County lord entering the palace, and he did not dare to slack off, and quickly arrested these five people into the palace bureau prison.

Xilingyue went to see these five people in prison accompanied by Ma Gongzheng, and the sudden change made them all panic, and they all shouted grievances, not knowing why they were arrested.

Xilingyue explained their confusion: "First, you can get hard yellow paper and Wenfu ink in the palace you serve at the same time, these two things are important physical evidence of Ji Meiren's misstep and fall from the building; Second, yesterday, when the county was taking the word test, your performance was unusual; Third, and the most important point, since the news of the county lord's entry into the palace spread, Fang Fei, A Li, and Zhang Yi of the Lizheng Hall ignored the palace rules and ran to find Ah Kui and Painted Color to communicate with each other. ”

There are strict laws and regulations in the harem, prohibiting private teaching and receiving between the palaces, so the palace where each concubine lives is a country of its own, and the palace people will not easily contact outsiders. In particular, the palace people who also served the concubines were forbidden to move around each other, so as to prevent the concubines from secretly inquiring about each other or revealing the internal affairs of the Son of Heaven.

And three days ago, Xilingyue deliberately let Zheng Wanniang go to the Lizheng Palace, and revealed to Du Qiuniang that her purpose for entering the palace was to let the matter spread in the Lizheng Palace, so that Nei Ying, who killed Ji Meiren, felt panicked and went to discuss countermeasures with the mastermind behind the scenes.

At the same time, she sent people to keep an eye on the movements of the Li Zheng Palace, and sure enough, after Zheng Wanniang left, someone from the Li Zheng Hall quietly slipped out for two consecutive nights, looking sneaky. They are Fang Fei, Ah Li, and Zhang Yi who were arrested.

Among them, Fang Fei went to the Inner Servant Province to find someone in vain, Ah left to find the palace maid Ah Kui in the bathhouse hall, and Zhang Yi went to the greenhouse hall to find the palace maid to paint. All three of them were suspected of ventilating the news.

What's more coincidental is that the five people who were targeted all showed abnormalities during the word test: they were either extremely calm, or panicked, or deliberately concealed their handwriting, or pretended not to read.

"Now tell me why you meet quietly at night, and if you can tell a convincing reason, the lord of this county can spare me." Xiling Yue spoke to the five palace people.

Ah Li was the first to come to his senses, and hurriedly knelt down and confessed: "The county lord, the maid and Ah Kui are sisters, and the maid went to find her sister that night, just to persuade her to come to the Li Zheng Hall and serve Du Niangniang with the maid. ”

The fact that Ah Li and Ah Kui are sisters has been found out by Xiling Yue as early as when the two were arrested, but this does not clear the suspicion of the two sisters, so she asked: "Your sister serves Concubine Zhang Hua in the bathhouse hall, in terms of rank, Concubine Hua is a first-class lady, much higher than the nameless and nameless Du Qiuniang." Your sister is a first-class palace maid, why did you persuade her to go to the Lizheng Palace? ”

"Because ......" Ah Li bit his lower lip, "because Concubine Zhang Hua has long fallen out of favor, but Du Niangniang is the new favorite of the saint, and she is still ...... is a little similar to Ji Meiren, and the maid feels that it is better to follow Du Niangniang's side, so she persuaded her sister to come over. ”

Xi Lingyue didn't say anything about this explanation, and looked at Fang Fei, the palace maid who was also in the Lizheng Palace, and Zhang Yi, the little yellow door, and asked, "What about the two of you?" What is the explanation for leaving the Li Zheng Hall late at night? ”

(End of chapter)