"Tell me, what the hell is going on? The more detailed the better, don't hide anything, this is related to your life, but also related to the future of transcendence, you should understand in your heart. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo”

When he was still returning to Shanghai County with Zhou Xiuying's mother and son, Wu Lao comprador found an opportunity to ask Zhou Xiuying about the specific incident. And when things came to this point, Zhou Xiuying had no choice but to tell the truth about how she was tainted by Wu Chaoyue and accidentally got pregnant when the knife society revolted, and said that after she withdrew to Suzhou with the Taiping Army, she was ordered by Yang Xiuqing to be called to Nanjing, but on the way she found that she was unfortunately pregnant with Wu Chaoyue's species, afraid of exposure and punishment, and even more afraid that the Taiping Army would take the opportunity to use the child in her belly to blackmail Wu Chaoyue, and was forced to flee halfway, first giving birth to Wu Nianyue in Changshu, who was still relatively peaceful at the time, In order to escape the war, he came to Shanghai to make a living.

In the end, Zhou Xiuying admitted that after she came to Shanghai, she planned to take the risk of asking Wu Lao Comprador to explain the truth, so that Wu Lao Comprador and Wu Nianyue would recognize each other, but at that time, it happened to be just in time for Wu Lao Comprador to be imprisoned for embezzling the military salary of the Jiangbei battalion, and Zhou Xiuying was afraid of further implicating Wu Lao Comprador and was forced to give up. Later, when Wu Lao comprador was released from prison safely and made meritorious contributions, several Liangjiang officials had already lived in Shanghai, so Zhou Xiuying still didn't dare to let Wu Nianyue and Wu Lao comprador recognize each other, the reason was also that he was afraid of leaking the news and bringing disaster to Wu Lao comprador and Wu Chaoyue. and Xu Yao met him on the dock a few months ago, Zhou Xiuying also told him honestly, and analyzed that the identity of himself and Wu Nianyue was exposed, probably because of that chance encounter.

After listening to Zhou Xiuying's introduction, Wu Lao comprador was silent, and he was somewhat moved and grateful for his granddaughter-in-law's meticulous care-with the background at that time, if the Manchu court knew that he had a granddaughter-in-law who was born as a female general of the Taiping Army, he would indeed make himself more guilty, and he would never be able to make a comeback so soon.

Moved to be moved, but the paper can no longer contain the fire, and there is such a big movement in the concession, He Guiqing, the governor of Liangjiang, Xue Huan, the governor of Jiangsu, and Gil Hang'a, the political envoy of Jiangsu, who are currently living in Shanghai, must know that the old comprador Wu suddenly has a great-grandson, and for this great-grandson in the concession and the Taiping Army's meticulous work, a big fight, even if the old comprador Wu can control the Wu family army left by the precious grandson, he must give these Manchu officials an explanation anyway.

"It's not easy to do, huh? It's easy to forge an identity for Xiuying, but why didn't she dare to recognize her husband, and why was she hunted down by Long Hair, how to explain this? Also, Xiuying is a wanted criminal again, or a native of Qingpu, and has many local acquaintances, what if she is suddenly recognized by an acquaintance? ”

"To be honest, honestly tell Xiuying's true identity? What if the court investigates? Although Xiuying's status in Changmao is not high, she is also a genuine long-haired female general, and she has participated in the Qingpu Thief Rebellion, and has a double criminal record, but now she has an affair with Chaoyue and has a child, and the court will inevitably pursue Chaoyue when she hears it, which is that the old man can't do it if he wants to carry the black pot for Chaoyue, and he can't find any scapegoats. Troublesome, indeed troublesome. ”

Years of dangerous life have made Zhou Xiuying grow a lot, seeing the embarrassed expression of the old comprador Wu, Zhou Xiuying also had a bottom in her heart, and took the initiative to say: "Grandpa, I have already thought about it just now, if it really doesn't work, you just let me stay in the concession, the government has no right to arrest me in the concession, and you have a good relationship with foreigners, so you won't extradite me to the government in the future." ”

"No, you can't stay in the concession."

Old comprador Wu shook his head and said very self-awarely: "Not to mention that foreigners and old men are just gathering for profit, and they may not completely tear their faces for you and the court." Even if the foreigners look at the face of the old man and transcendence, and insist on not extraditing you to the Qing court, Chaoyue and the old man have no way to explain to the court. ”

"So, what should I do?" Zhou Xiuying asked in a low voice, and she was a little afraid that the old comprador Wu, who was known for being ruthless, would kill herself.

It's okay for Zhou Xiuying, thinking of her sacrifice of her life to save herself, and holding Zhou Xiuying's baby great-grandson in her arms, Wu Lao comprador no longer has the slightest intention of killing people - besides, making such a big move, it is not so easy to kill people again. At the same time, fortunately, many years of business officialdom have also allowed Wu Lao comprador to accumulate a lot of similar experience, and soon came up with a reluctant and reliable method, saying: "Xiuying, there is no other way to do it now, in order to surpass and Nianyue, and at the same time for you, you must suffer some grievances." ”

"As long as I can not be implicated in transcendence, I can be wronged no matter how much." Zhou Xiuying replied solemnly.

"Good boy, so sensible, no wonder Transcendence misses you so much." Wu Lao comprador praised it, and then said: "In this way, you declare to the outside world, just say that when the knife will be a thief, you and Chaoyue met in the concession, at that time, Chaoyue persuaded you to abandon the darkness and turn to the light, rein in the precipice, and act as an internal line for the court to help the officials and soldiers suppress the bandits and quell the rebellion, because you have always secretly liked Chaoyue, you agreed to the solicitation of Chaoyue, and also formed a personal relationship with Chaoyue, and became pregnant with Nian Yue." ”

"Then, you were ordered by Chaoyue to return to the long-haired army to lurk, preparing to help Chaoyue fight Suzhou City and assassinate the long-haired thief general Zeng Lichang at that time, but because you just left when Chaoyue sent troops to Suzhou, you failed to take the opportunity to make meritorious contributions. Later, Chaoyue secretly ordered you to assassinate Zeng Lichang to help him break the thief, but you didn't dare to do it because you were afraid, disobeyed Chaoyue's order, and took the initiative to cut off the secret contact with Chaoyue. ”

"Then, anything makes sense. Because you have not been exposed, you have been serving in the long-haired army, and you were ordered by Zeng Lichang to go to Jiangning to meet the puppet king of the east, but you found out that you were pregnant on the way, you were afraid of being dealt with by the long-haired military law, and you were also afraid that the long-haired would take the opportunity to threaten to surpass the child in your belly, so you quietly escaped halfway. Then you told the truth, saying that you were afraid of surpassing you, and second, you were afraid of surpassing and prosecuting you for disobeying orders, so you never dared to recognize the old man. ”

Not to mention, Wu Lao comprador's nonsense at least logically makes sense, Zhou Xiuying was very happy to hear it, and immediately agreed, remembering Wu Lao comprador with his heart. Old comprador Wu told again: "Remember, you can't change your mouth no matter what, why does Changmao know Nian Yue's identity, you just said that you accidentally said it when you met Xu Yao." Although you have to bear some sins in this confession, you don't need to be implicated and transcendent, in order to transcend and the old man's current status in the court, it is easy to clear your identity and ask for forgiveness for you, and it will not make you suffer any hardships and suffer any major crimes. ”

After nodding again, Zhou Xiuying said softly in her heart: "Fake foreign devil, as long as you don't have to be implicated, I will carry some infamy, who told me to insist on not listening to your persuasion before?" Didn't follow you earlier? ”

As expected by Wu Lao's compradors, when the carriage returned to Shanghai, He Guiqing, Xue Huan, Gil Hang'a and other Liangjiang bigwigs really all came to Shanghai outside the north gate to greet them, and as soon as they met, they congratulated Wu Lao comprador again and again, congratulating Wu Lao comprador on his four generations and successors. Although the old comprador Wu knew that these people were just going through the motions and saying some polite words, he still thanked him happily, and while ordering people to hold a banquet in his own house to celebrate the recognition of his great-grandson, he asked Wu Nianyue, who was almost carved out of the same mold, to give these bigwigs a gift, and let Wu Nianyue know Zhou Tenghu and Meng Yu and others from Wu Chaoyue's old department who stayed in Shanghai, and he kept laughing so much that he couldn't even close his mouth during the period.

It was night, Wu Lao compradors' mansion was full of lights, singing and dancing, full of laughter and laughter, the number of Wu Lao compradors who had been promoted to nine people were vying to hug the little great-grandson, needless to say, all the officials and gentry in Shanghai who had a little face also came to the hall, and there were also quite a lot of foreigners in the concession, rushing to congratulate Wu Lao comprador at the same time, but also brought Wu Nianyue precious gifts enough to bury him alive, among which there are quite a lot of high-ranking officials and wealthy businessmen have begun to fight Wu Nianyue's idea of marriage, pondering that he wanted to marry his granddaughter and great-granddaughter to Wu Nianyue as his wife, and climb the tall branch of the old Wu family, which was becoming more and more conspicuous and thick.

It was also at this time that Wu Lao comprador called Zhou Xiuying out to meet with everyone, and frankly admitted that Zhou Xiuying's true identity was the daughter of the anti-thief Zhou Lichun, and Zhou Xiuying herself was still wanted by the Manchu court, and was a double criminal who participated in the Qingpu anti-grain riot and the Taiping Army.

After the uproar, Wu Lao comprador smiled and introduced what he had fabricated for Zhou Xiuying anyway, and first forcibly whitewashed Zhou Xiuying's identity, but others had the opportunity to question and spread rumors, and finally Wu Lao comprador led Zhou Xiuying to He Guiqing and others to ask for guilt, and said respectfully: "He Zhitai, because Miss Zhou is still guilty, although she is half of the granddaughter-in-law of Xia Guan, but Xia Guan is an official of the imperial court, and she does not dare to have the slightest protection and protection, so I will hand her over to you now, Please take her down and ask for the crime, and punish her as she should be, and the lower officials will never dare to complain. ”

After that, Wu Lao comprador added: "Of course, I also ask He Zhitai and all of you to look at the little noodles of the lower officials, do not abuse her, and detain her alone, and please read it for the sake of Zhou Xiuying's repentance, give Zhou Xiuying a chance to atone for her sins, show her extrajudicial mercy, and forgive her a little, and the lower officials and the dog grandson will be grateful." ”

After listening to the statement of Wu Lao comprador Wu Lao , of course he did not make it difficult to question it, and he also begged He Guiqing and others to be merciful for Wu Lao comprador and not to pursue Zhou Xiuying's cowardice and escape too much. And although He Guiqing had doubts about Wu Lao's comprador statement, he didn't want to offend Wu Lao's comprador and Wu Chaoyue, who was about to be promoted to the governor of Huguang, for such a thing, and after a little discussion with Xue Huan and others, he made a lenient treatment in public, and decided to put Zhou Xiuying under house arrest in Wu Lao's comprador mansion under the care of the official media mother-in-law, but allowed Zhou Xiuying and Wu Nianyue to meet freely, waiting for the truth of the case to be found out before dealing with it. Old comprador Wu was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly pulled Zhou Xiuying to thank He Guiqing and the others again and again.

The Han people were reluctant to get to the bottom of this matter, and they all wanted to make the big things small and the small things small, but the Manchu officials who were responsible for monitoring the Han people naturally refused. Hui Zheng, who was good friends with the Wu family, had died of illness more than a year ago, and after listening to the introduction of the old comprador Wu, none of the Manchu officials headed by Gil Hang'a were not suspicious in their hearts, and all of them doubted whether the truth was really the case? Are there any other stories in it?

In particular, Gil Hang'a, the political envoy of Jiangsu, who had acted as the commander of the Jiangbei camp for a few days, actually had a cadre relationship with Gil Hang'a last time he was imprisoned for embezzling military salaries, and Gil Hang'a, who happened to be the envoy of Jiangsu at that time, was now able to stay in Shanghai for refuge, and he fled to Shanghai from the Jiangbei camp in the name of investigating and prosecuting the case of Wu Lao's comprador embezzlement of military salaries. After receiving the news that Wu Lao comprador made a big fuss in the concession today, Gilhanga also sent someone to infiltrate the concession to investigate the truth as soon as possible, although for the time being, Zhou Xiuying's true identity has not been directly investigated, but after listening to Wu Lao's comprador's statement, Gil Hanga not only did not believe it, but on the contrary, he was more suspicious.

"Is that really the case? This female thief was rebelled by Wu Chaoyue, and had an affair with Wu Chaoyue to have a child, and she didn't dare to execute Wu Chaoyue's order to escape halfway? If this is the case, this female thief is not guilty, but these words and these experiences are all testified by the family surnamed Wu, without any circumstantial evidence, and it is very easy and possible to collude ....... No, this matter has to be reported to the master no matter what, and the master is asked to pay attention to this matter. ”

Just do it, Gil Hang'a, who has the right to perform the secret fold, sent a secret fold to the Emperor Xianfeng that night to report the matter, and sent someone to Beijing by sea to send it directly to the Yangxin Palace, but the Emperor Xianfeng saw that he was really full of suspicion, and while ordering Liangjiang to strictly investigate the matter, he asked Su Shun and Zaiyuan and others how to view the matter.

are Wu Chaoyue's backers, Su Shun and Zaiyuan of course helped the old Wu family try their best to exonerate this matter, and they all said that the long hair that died in Wu Chaoyue's hands over the years has not 100,000 but also 80,000, and Wu Chaoyue is only possible to secretly collude with the Taiping Army unless he is crazy! Therefore, Zhou Xiuying and Wu Chaoyue's fornication is likely to be just an ordinary private affair, at most, Wu Chaoyue's overlord is hard to bow, ** a female prisoner of war, in hindsight, for the sake of sleeping together, he took the initiative to let the female prisoner of war go, or accidentally let the female prisoner of war escape, even if there is a mistake, it is not important at all compared to Wu Chaoyue's merits, and it cannot be investigated.

Then Su Shun and Zaiyuan said that Zhou Xiuying's crime was not big, not to mention that she had been recruited by Wu Chaoyue anyway, and she had the heart to repent, even if she didn't tell the truth, just because she gave birth to the only son for Wu Chaoyue, a loyal minister of the Qing Dynasty, it was enough to clear her previous sins, and they all urged Emperor Xianfeng to be extrajudicial and directly issued an amnesty for Zhou Xiuying to buy people's hearts.

Su Shun and Zaiyuan's kind words persuaded Emperor Xianfeng to have doubts in his heart, even if he promised to consider pardoning Zhou Xiuying after the Liangjiang side found out the truth, Emperor Xianfeng, who was very suspicious, was still full of doubts about this matter. At night, when spending the night in the palace of the favorite concubine, after excreting the evil gene with a speed that is difficult for ordinary people, the Xianfeng Emperor was still thinking about it on the white belly of the favorite concubine, and the favorite concubine quietly tried to make the little cigarette butt of the Xianfeng Emperor become small again, but the Xianfeng Emperor shook his head and refused.

"Your Majesty, is there anything on your mind?" The favorite concubine vaguely guessed the reason.

Emperor Xianfeng sighed, and then lay on his back beside the favorite concubine, sighing and probably said that Wu Chaoyue messed with the female general of the Taiping Army and gave birth to a son, but the favorite concubine was overjoyed when she heard it, and quickly sat up straight and said: "Your Majesty, this is a good thing!" ”

"The Wu family has been passed down for several generations, whether the female bandit surnamed Zhou was surpassed by Wu **, or who was willing to have an affair with Wu Chaoyue, the sons born are the eldest son of Wu Jianzhang's eldest grandson, the only seedling of the Wu family! Your Majesty, as long as you find an excuse to get this kid to the capital and detain it in your hands, can't you rest assured that you can boldly appoint Wu Chaoyue? When the time comes, Wu Chaoyue dares to have any different intentions, not to mention that other people don't agree, his family won't agree! ”

"Nonsense!" Emperor Xianfeng rarely scolded his beloved concubine, and snorted and said: "I am the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, the true dragon emperor, how can I use the method of hostage to make the courtiers return to their hearts?" In order to reassure Wu Chaoyue to appoint him, he has to bring his illegitimate son to the capital to be raised, so in order to reassure the appointment of other governors, don't I have to call all the children and grandchildren of the Qing Dynasty to the capital as hostages? Like what words? ”

"Your Majesty, Wu Chaoyue is different from other courtiers." The favorite concubine patiently explained: "Wu Chaoyue is the most capable courtier in my Qing Dynasty, and he is the biggest reliance on the Qing Dynasty to pacify Changmao, but it's a pity that he is not a Manchu Mongolian, the emperor, you can't be completely at ease with him, and the concubine also understands this." But if the emperor transfers Wu Chaoyue's grandfather and only son to the capital in the name of favoring the heroes, ....... ”

"Say no more! I don't want to hear that! ”

Emperor Xianfeng rudely interrupted the favored concubine's yin but very effective suggestion, and snorted: "Regardless of whether the female bandit surnamed Zhou has repented anyway, Wu Chaoyue and her fornicated and had a child but did not report it to me, it is enough to see that he has selfish intentions, and I must not be completely at ease with him!" ”

The favorite concubine rolled her eyes when she heard this, and said in her heart, Your Majesty, you can really say it, if you are a courtier and a woman fornicating and giving birth to a child, you have to report to you, so I can't have scandals flying all over the sky? Also, Wu Chaoyue probably doesn't know that he already has a son, right? If he knew, how could he let his son live on the streets, and the long-haired bandit almost took his son and lover by the chance?

Of course, Emperor Xianfeng didn't know in his heart that his beloved concubine despised him, and Emperor Xianfeng, who had never trusted the Han people, turned over and over in his heart, and it was full of such thoughts......

"Pardon that female bandit and give Wu Chaoyue a grace can be considered, but you must secretly order Hua Shana to strengthen the surveillance of Wu Chaoyue, and you have to install a few more Manchurian officials around Wu Chaoyue to keep an eye on!"

"Also, if Hua Aiqing really can't hold on, the matter of succeeding the governor of Huguang must be reconsidered! Huguang's forces are too strong, and only in the hands of the children of the Eight Banners can I feel at ease! Sleep at night to rest assured! (To be continued.) )