"This father-in-law, you look for the next official."

"Yes, Lord Lan, I am looking for you, the emperor asked Chief Manager Chen to send down to inform you, tomorrow morning, but at noon 'gate', it was originally notified by various ya' 'gates', but the emperor was afraid that the household department would not notify you, so he asked me to inform you alone."

"Father-in-law, isn't this early dynasty the Golden Palace, how did you go to the noon 'gate', can your father-in-law tell the official what the hell is going on."

"Lord Lan, I really don't know about this, Manager Chen just told me to notify you, and Manager Chen has a letter for me to 'handover' to you." As he spoke, the little eunuch took out a letter from his bosom and handed it to me.

I took the letter and looked at it, the letter was sealed in an envelope, and I didn't know why Chen Jiu wrote to me, so I put it in my pocket, and 'touched' a piece of broken silver from my pocket, and gave it to the little eunuch, who thanked him and left.

Back in the study, I took out the letter, opened the envelope and looked at it, stunned, it was blank inside, there was nothing. Is this Chen Jiu pretending to be wrong or what's going on, I can't figure it out, I don't write anything about this letter, what kind of letter comes, I came outside, I just saw Lao Liu coming back, so I called Lao Liu to the study, Lao Liu took the letter and looked puzzled and asked: "What does this mean, young master, why is there nothing, are you going to send a letter?" ”

"No, Brother Liu, this was sent to me by a little eunuch just now, Chen Jiu wrote it to me, what do you mean, is Chen Jiu pretending to be wrong or does it mean something else, Brother Liu, you give me a detailed reference." Compared with the Chen brothers, this Lao Liu is more expert in these things, after all, he has been a brocade guard, unlike the Chen brothers, who walk the rivers and lakes, and are laymen in this kind of word game.

Lao Liu took the blank paper and looked at it for a long time before he said: "Young master, there is nothing on it, I guess Chen Jiu already knows your identity, but he kept it secret for you and did not report it to the emperor." ”

"Ao, Brother Liu, tell me why Chen Jiu kept it a secret for me, and what he meant by this letter."

"Young master, the relationship between you and Chen Jiu is not an ordinary relationship, he went to the East Factory to be the supervisor of this factory is also the credit of your operation behind the scenes, and you rescued the driver twice, although Chen Jiu knew your identity, he didn't say it, he also felt that you didn't have any bad intentions for the emperor, if you had other thoughts, you didn't need to save the emperor, don't you need to bother with this thought? It is also because of this that Chen Jiucai kept it secret for you, so as not to let the emperor know, and the meaning of this letter, I guess it is like this, just say that you are innocent, young master, there is nothing, and there is also a meaning that you should start from scratch and don't get involved again, young master, I don't know if what you said is right, or you still have to make your own mind. ”

I have to say that what Lao Liu said makes sense, Chen Jiu's manager is indeed the factory supervisor because of me, if it weren't for me, it would be his turn there, and he would have come to me as soon as he came to power, and I didn't feel sorry for it. But according to Chen Jiu's loyalty to the emperor, if I really did something sorry for the emperor, Chen Jiu would also tell the emperor my identity regardless of my 'private' feelings, that is, I saved the emperor a few times. The meaning of this letter is probably what Lao Liu said, it seems that Chen Jiu is not bad. Thinking of this, I am also relieved, the East Factory is completely in Chen Jiu's hands, if others know, according to the ruthlessness of the eunuch, they will also block the news for me, Chen Jiu has no friends among the ministers, and I am also his only friend.

Since I wanted to open it, Chen Jiu was secretly helping me again, I don't have the worries just now, and I feel relaxed if I am not nervous, I asked Lao Liu again: "Brother Liu, how did you go to the old mansion to investigate, do you have any eyebrows?" ”

"Young master, it's still like that, it's blocked there, and I can't get in, and many officers and soldiers are searching the ruins that have been blown up by explosives. But young master, I listened to the lively saying that the master was taken away at the ya'men', and it is estimated that he did not escape, but they heard it, and I don't know if it is true. ”

"Really, according to yesterday's time, the master should be in the ya'men', but why did Nalan Guangyong say that the lord went out of the city, and asked me to withdraw, and said that it was the master's order, if the lord was taken away in the ya'men', there would be a chance to give him an order, Brother Liu, didn't you hear that the ya'men took the lord away."

"No, I don't dare to ask, I think it should be Dongchang, because only Dongchang will not go 'dew' rumors, but we have no place to inquire, it seems that this matter has to be done by yourself Young Master, and only you and Chen Jiu are familiar with it."

"Okay, Brother Liu, I'll inquire about this matter myself, do you know that Languang use?"

"Young master, I haven't seen him in this Languang, and I just heard you talk about it, Chen Lao Er should know, or I'll call him in for you to ask."

"Forget it, he probably doesn't know either, but I've only met twice, how can I understand, I just think it's very strange, why did he want me to go out of the city, why didn't they want to rescue the master, but were busy evacuating, is there a problem here."

"Young master, if you want to know the situation here, you can only find the housekeeper, and the housekeeper follows the master every day, and you can understand more."

"But Brother Liu, let's go to that place to find this housekeeper, if he doesn't come to us, it's very difficult to find someone in such a big capital, and I don't know where he is hiding in that corner." I said helplessly.

"Young master, now there is a search everywhere in the capital, and there are only two places where he is most likely to go now, one is a restaurant, where there are many people, and there are many floating populations, it is easy to hide, the bad thing is that you can't always be there, you have to change places one by one, and you can't stay overnight at night, he doesn't dare to go to the inn, and the inventory is stricter. The second is the Qinglou, the Qinglou has a background, and the officers and soldiers don't dare to really go in to investigate, that is, to deal with it, do you say that it is possible for the housekeeper to go to the Qinglou, which is also the best hiding place. ”

Lao Liu's analysis is very reasonable, the Qinglou is not something that ordinary people can open, there must be a certain force behind the opening of the Qinglou, and the relationship with the government is also very good, or those 'mixes' and 'mixes' will make you unable to open every day, thinking of this, I decided to go out in person and go to the Qinglou to see.

"Brother Liu, you go and inform Brother Chen, we will go to the Qinglou in a while, and the sedan chair will be free, we will walk or find a carriage, we can't find this housekeeper, we still can't solve this mystery."

Lao Liu promised to go out to find Boss Chen, I also changed into Confucian clothes, in the Ming Dynasty scholars went to the Qinglou, that is an elegant thing, the prostitute 'girl' at that time not only sold her body, but also to learn the piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, so as to attract people to live, many famous prostitutes 'women' are from the Ming Dynasty, which is also related to the social atmosphere at that time, laughing at the poor do not laugh at the prostitute This sentence is also from the Ming Dynasty.

After I packed up and walked out of the study to the hall, Lao Liu and Boss Chen were also ready to stop, but they were not dressed well, Lao Liu was still wearing the clothes of a housekeeper, and Boss Chen was even simpler, dressed in a nursing home, I smiled and said to them: "Two big brothers, we are going out to play, put on a good dress, don't wear such a dress, people will know my identity at a glance." ”

Lao Liu and the two of them went in to change their clothes again, and only 'Chun' Lan herself was in the living room, and when she saw me dressing, she asked, "Young Master, are you going to the street?"

"It's me, I haven't been out for a walk for a long time, take them to the street to have a look, you can eat dinner, don't wait for us, let's find a place outside to solve it."

"Young master, why don't I go with you, I haven't been out for a long time." 'Spring' Lan looked at me with blank eyes.

"'Chun' Lan, when Sui Jian comes back from an errand another day, let him go out with you, I'll give you a holiday, and you'll be at home today." We went out to Daoqinglou to take a 'girl' what it looked like, and we had to reject him.

Fortunately, I didn't wait for 'Chun' Lan to say anything, the two of them dressed up and came out, this time the dress was okay, one was dressed as a businessman, the other was dressed as a person from the rivers and lakes, and Boss Chen still had a single knife tied to his waist, which looked like the kind of person who came out to break into the rivers and lakes.

Greeting them just came out of the living room, but seeing that Liu An, who was carrying a sedan chair, was really in the yard, seeing that we were going out, he came over and asked An to ask: "My lord, you want to go out, do you want a sedan chair." "I know that this Liu An is here to spy on me, and this dedication is also to follow us out to spy on me.

I leaned into his ear and whispered, "We're going to the Qinglou, do you want to go and have fun." ”

Liu An replied with a red face: "My lord, let's still be at home, we are all incomplete people, and we are ashamed." ”

I didn't pay attention to him anymore, and took the two of them to the street, Lao Liu and I have never been to the Qinglou, only Boss Chen often went to the Qinglou when he ran the rivers and lakes, so he knew more about this industry, so I asked him: "Brother Chen, let's go to the Qinglou to find a housekeeper, do you know anything about the Qinglou in the capital?" ”

"The young master wants to ask this, but it's the right person, the Qinglou in the capital is mainly on the side of Goolan Hutong, I don't know if the young master wants to go to the Chang'chun Garden, or the Palace that never sleeps."

"Brother Chen, this Qinglou is Qinglou, why is there so many famous halls, you tell me what is the Changchun' Garden and what is the Palace that never sleeps." I don't know anything about this, so I have to learn a little bit from Boss Chen, otherwise it wouldn't be a shame to go there.

"Young master, this Chang'chun' garden is where the male prostitutes are, that is, the place where the Han is raised, and this palace is where the 'female' prostitutes are located, and they are all concentrated near the Goolan Courtyard, and they are all called Qinglou, I don't know if the young master wants to go there."

"There are so many famous halls here, what do male prostitutes do, they are serving 'women', we are not going anywhere, let's go to the Palace of Nights."