In the secret room of the Jinxiang Palace, the room covered with notes was filled with only Guo Shao and the eunuch Cao Tai.

Cao Tai bowed down and stood in front of the chair, on which sat Guo Shao. Guo Shao was talking: "It's not appropriate for me to come to handle the affairs of the harem, and Empress Duanci has to come forward in this matter." I thought that I couldn't condone the palace people to spread rumors in the palace, just to let everyone understand the rules, otherwise the palace people would dare to slander the reputation of Queen Duanci's mother......"

Cao Tai hurriedly said: "What Your Majesty said is extremely true. ”

Guo Shao felt that he had understood, in the past, because of the Yellow River, he scolded the marigold, and some people in the palace talked about the marigold behind his back, but this matter is not good to be punished on the surface, otherwise he will want to cover it up.

Guo Shao pondered for a moment, slapped the general Cao Bin in his hand just submitted the strategy of governing the army, and said in a deep voice: "I still have to protect Concubine Zhang, she is Cao Bin's aunt." Cao Bin, I have a lot of use, and now I can't find a more suitable person than him. Since we want to reuse Cao Bin, we have ruined his aunt in the palace, what does this mean? ”

"Yes, yes." Cao Tai nodded earnestly.

After a while, he carefully reminded again: "Your Majesty, if you want to protect Concubine Zhang...... I'm afraid it's really not clear in the future. ”

Guo Shaodao: "Even if it is an ancient emperor, from Qin Shi Huang to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, who is not scolded?" It's really hard for a person to have no scolding at all. It's good to look down, let others say it, anyway, I'm not afraid of scolding, and I can't do anything about scolding two sentences. ”

Cao Tai hurriedly said, "Your Majesty Shengming." ”

Guo Shao suddenly sighed. He really wants to make this world fair, black and white, good and evil; But I'm also doing something for the sake of something, completely ignoring right and wrong.

……

At the gate of Wanfu Palace, a group of eunuchs walked quickly.

The thin eunuch with gray sideburns stepped forward and looked up at the people in front of the palace gate. One of the eunuchs who was guarding the upper floor looked down, and with an "ouch" sound, he jumped up from his chair and rushed downstairs, and he accidentally fell on the wall ladder, and while screaming in pain, he didn't care about the pain, and crawled to the door.

"Grandpa Cao!" The eunuch bent down and smiled, and the corners of his mouth cracked because of the pain, and his expression was very strange, "Gonggong Cao is here, what kind of wind blew your old man here......"

The eunuch Cao Tai looked at the heavens and said, "Empress Duanci Yizhi." ”

The crowd fell to their knees in a hurry.

Cao Tai immediately claimed that he had come to inquire about the rumors by holy order. Then he called the eunuch guarding the Wanfu Palace to go in and arrest the little palace maid who had rushed back from the Sanqing Palace for questioning.

After the palace maid was dragged out, although Cao Tai claimed to be verified, he convicted her when he opened his mouth: "Someone sued you, fabricated incidents, and spread rumors to slander the reputation of the official family and the concubine Taizu, are you guilty?" ”

The little palace maid was so frightened that she couldn't speak, she only knew that she was wronged.

When Cao Tai heard the wrong, he thought for a while, and said coldly: "You said, who can confirm that you saw that Concubine Zhang's clothes were wet with sesame oil?" ”

The little palace maid hurriedly said: "Wang Shanggong also knows about this......

Cao Tai immediately sent someone to the Sanqing Palace to call Wang Shanggong. Wang Shanggong was asked, and he said, "The concubine doesn't know anything."

Cao Tai listened to it, and said in a fierce voice: "What else do you have to say!" ”

The little palace maid was so frightened that she fell to her knees.

Cao Tai said loudly: "The royal family waits for you a lot, but you like to spread rumors and ruin people's reputation. Sins are unforgivable! Come on, beat the miscellaneous family to death! ”

After hearing this, several strong eunuchs who had already prepared thick wooden sticks with thick arms rushed up without saying a word, grabbed the palace maid's hair and dragged them away. Not long after, a "crackling" heavy hitting sound was heard in the distance, and the palace maid screamed miserably, and the sound could be heard almost throughout the imperial city. The faces of the people did not change color, and their mouths were like cicadas.

Cao Tai's face did not change. It didn't take long for the maid's shouting to cease, but the sound of sticks hitting flesh continued.

After a long while, Cao Tai walked towards the place of execution, he smelled a smell mixed with various smells, frowned, and stretched his finger to the palace maid's nose to probe. Then he withdrew his fingers, turned his head and said, "Where are these people, tell them to collect the corpses." It's all good! Spreading rumors without evidence is a felony! ”

……

The screams outside the Wanfu Palace, Concubine Li and the others could clearly hear every sound. They stayed inside, and they didn't dare to make a sound.

By the time it was silent outside, everyone was silent for a long time.

At this time, someone came in and reported: "The people from the Inner Servant Province have asked us to collect the corpses." ”

Only then did Concubine Li come back to her senses and said, "Tell the eunuchs of Wanfu Palace to carry them out and burn them." ”

After a long time, a palace maid finally spoke: "This matter should be the meaning of the official family, and it is obviously biased towards Zhang Niangniang...... We've been worried about it for so long, and we've thought of everything, and we don't say a word to the people above......"

Another sighed: "In this world, justice, etiquette, black and white right and wrong are all jokes, and the result is not up to what the powerful people want." ”

The man just now: "Favor is the king." As long as the emperor favors, it is not right to do anything; If someone the emperor doesn't care about offends someone, what if it's justified? ”

When Concubine Li heard this, she thought it was true, back then, the Zhang family always pressed herself and took advantage of all the benefits, just because that woman was more pleasing to the emperor!

Li swallowed a breath of evil breath, and said with palpitations: "Don't say it, the palace maid was killed above, and it was to kill the chicken to show the monkey, let's be interesting." ”

"Yes, fortunately, I didn't take Li Niangniang to get angry with Zhang's ......"

"A woman who is too hateful is worse than a!"

……

Wang Shanggong also hurried to the Sanqing Palace, and when he saw the Zhang family, he couldn't wait to say: "Congratulations to Niangniang!" ”

Zhang hurriedly asked, "What happened?" ”

Wang Shanggong said: "Empress Duanci sent Cao Tai, the eunuch of the Inner Servant Province, to come over and beat the palace maid to death, on the charge of fabricating an incident and framing her for no reason. There is such a sentence, and someone died on this, who will dare to say half a sentence about this in the future? ”

Zhang was stunned, "It's so simple to dispose of?" ”

Wang Shanggong said: "Yes." ”

Zhang took a long breath, her whole body was also soft, she thought very complicated and serious, but she didn't expect the result to be so simple. She said dejectedly: "That palace maid is also self-inflicted, just slander me, and involve the official family, I expected that she would not survive......"

"Yes, yes." Wang Shanggong said in a deep voice, "Today, Cao Tai asked the slave maid, and the slave and maid said that they didn't know anything. ”

Wang Shanggong said softly: "Empress Duanci has nothing to do with you, this matter should be the intention of the official family...... As long as the official family respects Niangniang, then it is useless for Li Niangniang to jump no matter how much she jumps! ”

Zhang said quietly: "The official family is like this...... I didn't expect that. Although no one was allowed to say it, he sent eunuchs to beat people to death, and outsiders seemed to be helping me; The official family is also on their own heads, and it is not clear to say......"

At this moment, suddenly a female Taoist priest called outside the door: "Niangniang, the slave maid has something important to see." ”

Zhang Shi said, "Come in and talk about it." ”

The Taoist priest opened the door and came in, and said hurriedly: "Your Majesty has come to the Sanqing Palace, and said that you want to come to ask Niangniang how she is doing!" ”

Zhang's face turned red, and he hurriedly calmed down, but he couldn't control the blush on his face. Her mind was blank, a little at a loss, and she muttered, "What do you mean by the official family coming to see me at this time......

However, she was still very grateful to Guo Shao for helping her get out, stood up and walked two steps, and then sat in front of the bronze mirror to look at her hair and face. After a while, she realized that this move was very inappropriate in front of people, so she immediately lowered her face and said, "Since the official family is coming, I can't be rude and untidy." ”

Sure enough, it didn't take long for Guo Shao to come. Zhang walked to the hall outside, so nervous that he didn't even dare to look at it.

Guo Shao saw that her face was flushed, and she was very nervous between her words and deeds. He pondered for a moment, and then said: "I and the concubine have always been polite, and they were fine, but when they were told about it, they were uncomfortable. ”

Zhang raised his head and pouted: "The official is right, the body is not afraid of shadows, why should I care about those gossips!" ”

Guo Shao was not polite, he sat down on the futon, there was still a game of chess on the case, and there were still remnants of chess on the chessboard. Guo Shao lowered his head to observe, he had just learned some tricks to play Go for a while, and the novelty was still there.

Zhang said in a panic: "It's rude, I forgot to ask Your Majesty to sit." ”

She hurriedly brought another futon over and said softly, "Your Majesty put on this, it's softer." ”

Guo Shao took it casually, and in order to behave naturally, he continued to watch the game of chess. After a while, Zhang said again: "Your Majesty is thirsty, I'll make you tea." ”

When drinking tea, she asked again, "Is it hot?" ”

Gradually, Guo Shao felt a little bit of enjoyment of such meticulous care. It was only when he finally remembered what he was doing today...... immediately said: "The concubine is a monk, and she doesn't have to be in the Sanqing Palace all the time." There is a Taoist temple outside the palace called 'Yuzhen Temple', which is also full of female Taoist priests, if the concubine wants to go for a walk, Queen Duanci allows it......"

Zhang bit her lip lightly after hearing this, her chest rose and fell, and her heart almost jumped out, as if she was doing something very bad, and she said softly: "Your Majesty...... Why? ”

Guo Shao said: "In the Taoist temple, you can meet Cao Bin. ”

Zhang suddenly exhaled and suddenly said, "Oh......" and then hurriedly said, "Your Majesty has taken good care of me in the palace, and I must tell Cao Bin not to forget the grace of God and serve the country well." ”

Guo Shao said kindly: "That's the case, I came to visit Qingxu, because the concubine lives here, just by the way, I didn't do anything for the concubine." Recently, it was Empress Duanci who gave the order; Empress Duanci privately respected the concubine. ”

"Oh?" Zhang was puzzled.

Guo Shao said: "There is a past, Qingxu Daogu saved Queen Duanci before, and Qingxu said in front of Queen Duanci that the concubine was very good. ”

Zhang nodded thoughtfully: "I see." ”

She said in her heart, that Qingxu is the master of the three Qing Palaces, but she has never taken care of things, and she doesn't have much contact with herself, why do you want to speak for herself in front of Queen Duanci?

Zhang observed Guo Shao's face from time to time, but felt that he was far and near, and it was difficult to guess his heart.