Qi Tai returned to the government office in a very bad mood. He retreated to the signing room and drank tea to recuperate.

Chen Chen, the right attendant of the military department, was implanted in the interior and played military affairs. After finishing his business, Chen Zhi took the official document that had been signed and sealed, and was about to leave, when he suddenly turned around again and asked, "What are you worried about?" ”

Qi Tai glanced at Chen Zhi and felt that this person was usually loyal, meticulous, and didn't talk much and had a strict mouth, so he beckoned him to come back and sit down again.

After pondering for a moment, Qi Tai sighed and said, "Huang Zicheng has to recommend Li Jinglong, I am very worried, I am worried that the Holy Lord will really listen to him." ”

Chen Zhi was not surprised at all, nodded and said, "The Holy Lord will definitely listen to Huang Siqing." During the Hongwu period, Emperor Xiaokang (Zhu Biao, the eldest son of Taizu) was still there, and Huang Siqing was the companion and a confidant of the East Palace.

Emperor Xiaokang collapsed, and Taizu became the crown prince. Huang Siqing has become Jinshang's teacher again, and he has won the respect and trust of Jinshang. This person is the head of the old ministers of the East Palace, and now he is treated like a father and a teacher, and it is not surprising that he believes in everything. ”

"Exactly." Qi Tai nodded, frowned again and whispered, "Huang Zicheng is on the rise of the East Palace, I think he has tasted the sweetness, so he uses cronyism, and is convinced of the way to form a gang and a relationship, so he has today's predicament!" ”

Chen Zhi thought for a while and said: "The ministry is reasonable, most of the people who go through the relationship think that they are doing a good job, and they are not as good as the relationship!" That ingenuity is used to form a party and run a private business, how can it take care of the state affairs itself? ”

Qi Tai muttered: "At the beginning, the national policy was decided, and those who advocated cutting the feudal domain, pushing the law of grace, and other political opinions, each had their own opinions. Most of the nobles did not support the policy of cutting the domain, but Li Jinglonggui was the prince of the country, but he supported the cutting of the domain, and Huang Zicheng had the heart to win over him at that time......

Later, in the temple, Li Jinglong supported Huang Zicheng in all things, and he also had the heart to get closer. The eyebrows of the two sides are eyebrows, Huang Zicheng is afraid that he has already regarded Li Jinglong as a party, no wonder he will strongly recommend it! ”

Chen Zhi said: "What the ministry said is that the Shengshang, Huang Zicheng, and Li Jinglong are interlocked, and it is very difficult to prevent the Shengshang from using Li Jinglong as the commander. ”

Qi Tai raised his head and sighed for a long time, his expression suddenly straightened, "The sage said, you know that you can't do it!" The stakes are high, and they must be done! ”

Chen Zhi was also awe-inspiring and very moved, and he said: "Since the ministry is decided, the lower officials have some ideas. This matter has to start from the relationship between the two rings, if the saint is not so fond of Huang Siqing, or Huang Siqing begins to be suspicious of Cao Guogong, there is hope for big things......"

Chen Zhi thought for a while and said, "I'm afraid that starting from Huang Siqing and Cao Guogong, I hope it should be bigger." ”

"It's hard to say." Qi Tai groaned. Since ancient times, the sacred heart is unpredictable, and the trust of the heavenly family is really so reliable?

At this moment, Chen Zhi was just about to speak, when Qi Tai raised his head and looked at the door. Chen Zhi stopped his mouth very interestingly.

When someone came to find Qi Tai on business, Chen Zhi got up and said, "Ministry, these things will be done immediately." ”

Qi Tai nodded and returned the salute.

…… Two days later, Qi Tai met the eunuch Wu Zhong outside the imperial gate. This Wu Zhong is always by the side of the saint and knows all the ministers. Qi Tai greeted him and exchanged a few casual greetings.

Qi Tai asked, "Has the Holy Dragon been in good health recently, and is he sleeping well?" ”

Wu Zhong said: "The emperor is not very happy every day, but the meal is acceptable. ”

"Fortunately, Gonggong Wu served wholeheartedly." Qi Tai Dao.

He doesn't look down on eunuchs very much in his heart, and the Ming ancestral system even prohibits eunuchs from interfering in politics, and eunuchs have little power. However, Wu Zhong is a person close to the saint, and he is different from other eunuchs; Qi Tai came from a humble background and developed a habit of being humble...... So he still said good things.

At this time, Wu Zhong whispered a little mysteriously: "The emperor is worried about state affairs, and when he returned to the harem, he encountered something unpleasant. The emperor fell in love with a palace maid, but he couldn't fulfill his wish, and was immediately sent to Jiming Temple by the queen's mother, shaved her hair and became a nun......"

"Oh!" Qi Tai suddenly perked up, and he suddenly smelled something interesting! Although he didn't figure out what was interesting for a while, his intuition in officialdom for many years made him think: Maybe this matter is more than that!

Wu Zhong continued with great interest: "That palace maid has already been sent to clean the toilet, and she usually doesn't see the emperor at all. But that day, the emperor passed by, only saw her, and immediately fell in love. ”

Qi Tai was not interested in these contents, and after a few words, he said goodbye to Wu Zhong.

For almost a whole day, Qi Tai had no intention of working and pondered for a long time. Before the end of the afternoon, he estimated that there was nothing important today, so he left the government office early. He hurried home to change his clothes, asked the house slave to buy a few sticks of incense on the way, and then took the carriage straight to Jiming Temple.

Jiming Temple is a famous nunnery in Beijing, Qi Tai has been a Beijing official for many years, so he naturally knows that even the coachman who drives the car is also familiar with the road.

When the five-story Medicine Stupa appeared in sight, Qi Tai knew that he had arrived at Jiming Temple. "Four hundred and eighty temples in the Southern Dynasty, how many buildings are in the smoke and rain", this medicine pagoda is nine stories high.

Qi Tai pretended to be a pilgrim and went to the Buddha Hall to burn pillar incense first. The incense in the nunnery is indeed not as strong as the monk's temple, but there are still pilgrims, including male pilgrims. Just as female pilgrims can go to monks' temples, male pilgrims can also come to nunnery.

After burning incense, Qi Tai found an old nun and said that he wanted to donate money for sesame oil.

The old nun glanced at the merit incense in front of the Buddha statue, folded her hands and said, "The donor accumulates good deeds, please come with the poor nun." ”

Qi Tai endured the pain in his flesh and took two treasure bills...... In fact, Huang Zicheng was right to tease at the dinner table, he was more picky. But now it's not easy to donate less, after all, the odd money can be put directly in the merit box.

So the old nun recorded the money he donated in the merit book, and Qi Tai casually made up a name.

At this time, Qi Tai took the opportunity to ask: "Recently, there is a palace maid in the palace, who has been shaved in your temple?" ”

The old nun asked without raising her head as she wrote, "What's the name?" ”

Qi Tai's face changed slightly, he was not meticulous enough before, and he forgot to ask the eunuch Wu Zhong and the palace maid whose surname was!

The old nun looked up at him and said, "But recently, only one palace maid came to this temple to shave as a nun." ”

Qi Tai suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, "Can I see her next?" ”

The old nun turned her head and said to the man who was sweeping the floor in the courtyard: "Go and call Huizhen over." ”

Qi Tai waited for a long time and didn't see anyone, so he walked around the deserted courtyard of the Buddhist hall. Suddenly, a voice came from behind him: "Who are you, and why are you looking for me?" ”

Qi Tai turned around, and his whole body was stunned.

He suddenly remembered what Wu Zhong had said: the emperor only saw her once, and he immediately fell in love...... It's no wonder that as soon as Qi Tai saw this woman, he immediately felt that Wu Zhong's words were not exaggerated.

The woman looked to be in her teens, her skin was white and smooth, like satin, and her skin glowed with a flowing glow in the orange afterglow of the setting sun. The eyes are as clear and bright as a pool of water, but there is a hidden resentment and resentment in the depths of the eyes. The bridge of the nose is small and straight, and the lips are small and vermilion; Her upper lip was slightly upturned, so even though she looked serious and cold, she had a little bit of playfulness.

Under the green lantern ancient Buddha, it was all gray color, and even the robe on her body was gray, but in such a gloomy place, her face with red lips and white teeth, and the color was so bright, it was simply incompatible with this place, and it was very eye-catching.

Such a glamorous color, not to mention the market, is the palace of the three palaces and six courtyards, which is full of beauties, is also very rare.

Although her face was childish, her figure was tall, and her figure had developed a silhouette, and the gray robe was propped up so that it could be seen, and her chest was propped up, so that the placket of her abdomen seemed empty.

Qi Tai said in his heart: If it weren't for the eunuch Wu Zhong who had told him that this person was a palace maid, Qi Tai would never have thought it was a palace maid when he saw it; But I will guess that the one who was sent here is a concubine!

Her upright posture has a faint sense of grace. How can a palace maid look like this?

"Donor, what's the matter?" The woman frowned, asked again, and then covered her ears with her palms slightly. Although she wore a hat, she seemed to have a great desire to see people after shaving her hair, so she covered her ears with her hands.

Qi Tai pondered for a moment, took out a round card from his arms, and handed it over: "Don't hide it, I am Qi Tai, the secretary of the military department of the dynasty." ”

"Huh?" The woman glanced at Qi Tai, her eyes full of doubt and vigilance, and then looked down at the royal medal.

Qi Tai said: "The country has an ancestral system, and the harem is not allowed to interfere in politics, of course, foreign ministers cannot have anything to do with the harem casually, otherwise it will be collusion inside and outside!" ”

The woman's mind was extremely fast, and she immediately asked: "Then is Qi Shangshu a foreign minister, and am I a member of the harem?" ”

Scold! This woman is not only beautiful, but also has a very good mouth.

It was not easy to answer her rhetorical question. Qi Tai was going to avoid answering, and was only anxious to confirm his inner speculation; If you guess wrong, Qi Tai's trip will be useless!

He thought about it: this woman is quite scheming, and it seems that it is difficult to ask anything, so it is better to deceive her!

Qi Tai said quietly: "The reason why you were brought here is because of the involvement of foreign ministers, do you know?" ”

"So what, what can I do?" The woman blurted out.

When Qi Tai heard this, he was overjoyed! I immediately admired myself very much, I was able to capture such a fleeting opportunity from the clues, and smell such a subtle possibility: maybe Huang Zicheng participated, and Queen Ma could win the love of the saint so easily!

After all, as Qi Tai knows, today's saint dares to act boldly, and he is not at all at the mercy of the queen.

Qi Tai said in a low voice: "The queen tortured you so much, and even communicated with the ministers, do you really plan to swallow your anger and accept it?" ”

Unexpectedly, the woman actually sneered.

Qi Tai was confused, what did this sneer mean? A teenage girl, it won't mean too much, right?

Qi Tai pondered for a moment, then changed his tone again, and sighed: "I don't want to disturb the girl's Qingxiu, and I won't let the girl do anything, let alone tell me about today's meeting......" He paused and said, "As Fang Cai said, it's not a good thing for the foreign minister to contact the harem girl, why should I tell the matter of the meeting?" ”

"What does Qi Shangshu want to ask?" The woman said.

Qi Tai said almost first: "What's the girl's name?" ”

The woman said, "Yao Ji." ”