"Xining!"

Xu Gong's exclamation was drowned in the rumbling spring thunder. Zhu Qiming raised his eyes and looked around, and saw that the vast smoke and rain were shrouding the Forbidden City, and there was no one around, only a few guards faintly appeared near the Xuanwu Gate more than ten zhang away.

It was almost dinner time, Zhu Qiming and Xu Gong were on the road at the northern end of the Forbidden City, each holding an oil-paper umbrella.

"Your Highness, don't worry, the people guarding the Xuanwu Gate are all the people who are the right guards of the Yulin Forest, and they have been carefully selected by Youxia, and they are all worthy of trust."

Zhu Qiming raised the umbrella high so that he could see Xu Gong's expression clearly. The rain line is like a tassel, obscuring some of the vision.

"On the day of the Shangyuan Festival in the first year of orthodoxy, the king went to the Xianxi Palace to meet the queen mother, when the queen mother wanted to reward the king with the treasure qin 'waterfall beads', and it happened that the qin was borrowed by the royal superintendent. This king secretly investigated this matter yesterday, and at that time, Xining personally accompanied Meizi, the palace maid of Xianxi Palace, to Fengtian Hall to get the qin, which was extremely unusual. ”

Xu Gong withdrew his gaze towards Xuanwumen and looked at Zhu Qiming in surprise, "Baoqin? Fengtian Temple? ”

"Not bad. At that time, the Empress Dowager was meeting with her late father Wang Shanghui in the Fengtian Palace, and the agreed meeting place was in Dong'anmen Lamp City! ”

Xu Gong was shocked, the umbrella in his hand tilted to the side, and fine raindrops fell on his face, drenching his eyebrows and short beard after a while. "This is amazing news! Back then, I didn't expect the whereabouts of the Empress Dowager to be discovered, but unfortunately, I didn't think about it carefully, so that a shocking case became a headless unsolved case! ”

"Commander Xu doesn't have to blame himself, now it seems that even the Empress Dowager didn't think of this layer at that time."

Xu Gong set up his umbrella to cover the raindrops, "All stories start in Fengtian Temple!" ”

"What can be confirmed is that from the time the Empress Dowager entered the Fengtian Hall to the time she left after the event, there was about an hour before and after, and during this period, only Xining and Meizi entered the side hall of the Fengtian Palace. Commander Xu might as well think about it, what a confidential thing it is to meet the Warat envoys in the color building of the Lamp City! It is expected that only the Empress Dowager and the first father know about this, and even the king only knew a little about it after entering the lamp market. If Xining and Meizi overheard something, then such a secret would be known to the Assassins, and this question would be justified. ”

"This is the only source of leaks!" At this time, there was an inquiry from the guards outside the Xuanwu Gate, there must be someone who went out on an errand to return to the palace, so Xu Gong invited Zhu Qiming to hide behind the two trees by the palace wall. "Your Highness, the eavesdropping that day was no coincidence, but someone carefully set up a situation!"

Two figures suspected of being grandmothers in the palace entered the Xuanwu Gate and walked away along the palace road towards the south.

Zhu Qiming's thoughts unconsciously returned to six years ago. At that time, the first emperor was newly mourned, and Zhang Le could not be opened in the palace at all! The royal prison set up musical instruments in the Fengtian Palace, and naturally could not escape the suspicion of deliberately doing the game! "The misplaced musical instrument in the Fengtian Palace, this incident started with the intention of the imperial supervisor, and the suspicion of Meizi can be ruled out!"

"Xining!" Xu Gong gritted his teeth and said: "First leaked the secret to the assassin, and then saw that the situation outside the Donghua Gate was not good, and the assassin was in danger of being captured. ”

Zhu Qiming's gaze moved eastward along the road, and then slowly moved south, the outline of the palace covered the palace wall at the far end, and the boundless smoke and rain blocked the eyes. "Didn't one of the attendants of the direct palace also see the man? Wang Qing inadvertently saw Xining and was not noticed by Xining, so Wang Qing was able to survive, but the inner servant of the palace eunuch was unlucky, and just happened to meet the suspect, so his fate was nowhere to be found! ”

The rain became heavier and heavier, and the thunder gradually subsided, so the two of them took refuge under the palace wall, so that they only needed to open an umbrella to cover half of the rain curtain.

Xu Gong avoided the water under his feet and approached Zhu Qiming's side, "Wang Qing just inadvertently glanced at it from a distance, his testimony is not credible, the inner attendant of the direct palace supervisor can be a witness, but I am afraid that it will be difficult to find out his whereabouts for a while." Alas, what if someone sees it? It's a pity that the palace wall can't speak, if the palace wall can't speak, all the evidence of the crime can be revealed to the world! ”

Zhu Qiming looked over and saw that the rain was flowing down the palace wall, and occasionally the wall ash peeled off when it was water. "Commander Xu, the color of the palace wall is gray, could it be that it has never been repaired in all these years?"

"Oh, I remembered that on the third or fourth day of His Highness's captivity, the royal eunuch ordered the walls of the palace to be repainted, and since then, the walls of the palace seem to have not changed at all. However, like His Royal Highness, Zai Xia has been away from Beijing for several years, and whether anyone has renovated the palace wall during this period has to ask those in the know to understand. ”

Zhu Qiming's eyes lit up, "Someone killed the mouth back then, and afterwards Jinyiwei carefully explored the scene, but did not see any traces on the ground, if the person who killed the mouth was really Xining, then he must have martial arts and escaped to the Xuanwu Gate on the palace wall, so he did not leave footprints on the snow." Afterwards, he ordered someone to paint the palace wall, which shows that he still left some marks, but the mark is not on the ground, but on the palace wall! ”

Xu Gong's eyes also lit up, "At that time, I saw someone painting the palace wall in Xia, and I had doubts, but this incident happened after Jinyi Wei investigated and had to evacuate the scene, so I didn't take it seriously." Alas, I'm afraid that it was still said by His Highness, and some traces have long been blown away by the rain and wind. ”

Zhu Qiming pondered for a moment, and seemed to have an understanding, "Now that we have identified the suspect, it is enough!" If you want to figure out the ins and outs of the matter, you have to follow the vine. The first thing we have to do is to start from the source and find out whether Xining and Meizi really overheard something on the day of the Shangyuan Festival in the first year of orthodoxy! ”

"Does Your Highness want to set the words of the plum?"

"Not bad! It's time for this king to go back to the other courtyard, and come here after dinner to meet with Commander Xu. ”

"Please beware, Your Highness, it is easy for a prince to frequently travel back and forth between the other courtyard and the Xuanwu Gate."

"It doesn't matter, the emperor is in a very good mood, and in the past few days, the Qianqing Palace or Yongsu Palace has been singing and dancing, and the queen mother's mind is all on the draft, so no one will pay attention to such trivial matters. What's more, the emperor has a word first, and the king will do whatever he wants. ”

Back in the courtyard, Zhu Qiming walked straight into the dining room and took a seat, and Yin'er entered to serve closely.

"This king asked you to pass the word to the plum of Xianxi Palace, have you passed it?" Zhu Qiming said with a smile.

Yin'er nodded, "Well, it just so happens that Sister Meizi doesn't have to serve the Queen Mother today." Your Highness, the slave maid always felt that Sister Meizi was a little afraid to see His Highness, why did His Highness ask her to deliver food by name? ”

Zhu Qiming smiled indifferently, "Don't ask." Oh, go get that piano. ”

Yin'er answered, turned around and walked out the door. A moment later, she and Qu Qing carried the waterfall into the dining room, to be precise, with the piano and the case.

Yin'er turned her face sideways, and a playful smile appeared at the corner of her mouth, "Your Highness, Miss Lu has instructed you not to put Baoqin in an unclean place." ”

"Got it, you guys go with Mama Cui and get busy with your own dinner."

Zhu Qiming walked away Yin'er and Quqing, and moved to the piano case to take a seat. Holding the strings with his left hand and stroking the piano with his right hand, he played the tune of "Guangling San".

For some reason, Lu Xiyu's demeanor when he was teaching the qin and Saihan's appearance of stroking the qin appeared in his mind at the same time.

Enchantress! Zhu Qiming secretly reprimanded, and immediately paused his hands. Just then, Umeko walked in.

Meizi put down the food box, a little raindrop fell on her bun, she hung her head, didn't dare to look directly at Zhu Qiming, and said carefully while distributing vegetables: "Please Your Highness eat." ”

Zhu Qiming cast a soft gaze at Meizi, "It's a rainy day, it's really troublesome for you to come to deliver food." ”

Seeing Zhu Qiming's kind gaze, Meizi's face softened, and the embarrassment in her eyes suddenly dissipated, "No trouble, no trouble!" Your Highness, the slave knows that her mouth is broken, and her words are always more than her brains, if there is any offense, please forgive your Highness. ”

What you want is that you can't talk but have a brain! Zhu Qiming stroked the piano with a smile, "When you are an errand by the side of the Queen Mother, you can't be too scheming, you can have something to say, don't hide it or hide it, it's also excellent, the Queen Mother must be quite at ease with you." ”

Meizi suddenly smiled and bowed, "Thank you, Your Highness, for the compliment!" ”

"This king remembers you well, as it was six years ago. Do you still know about the events of the first year of orthodoxy? On that day, when the king first entered the Xianxi Palace to greet him, you were ordered to fetch the Baoqin, and after going for a long time, you must have run a long way. ”

Meizi was overjoyed, "I know, I know!" That day, the slave and maid went to the royal prison to get the qin, and the people in the royal prison said that Baoqin was not in the royal prison, but in the Fengtian Temple, and the slave and maid let go of cruel words at that time. The palm print eunuch Xi Ning Xi was just going to take people to Fengtian Hall to remove all kinds of musical instruments, saying that he had misplaced them, and he was afraid that the emperor would blame him if he found out. Father-in-law Xi said a lot of good things, and took the slave and maid to Fengtian Hall together. Ouch, don't you know, the slave maid went from Xianxi Palace to the Imperial Prison, from the Imperial Prison to Fengtian Palace, and from Fengtian Palace back to Xianxi Palace, but they ran a long way! ”

People have a thief's heart, and when they meet you, a stupid person who rushes to join in the fun, they can pull you on their backs, why not!

Zhu Qiming calmly stroked the qin while scolding, "At that time, the Empress Dowager was in the Fengtian Palace, so it must be very inconvenient for you to go to get the qin." ”

"Let's enter the side hall, but it's convenient. However, catching up with the Empress Dowager just happened to be on the side of the main hall to give orders, but the slaves and maids were frightened! Oh, the slave maid still remembers that the Empress Dowager seems to be instructing Her Royal Highness's father to go to the lamp market to see someone, and even the time of the meeting has been decided, although it is some inconsequential trivialities, but where does the slave and maid know the severity? I was worried that the Empress Dowager would blame the slave and maid afterwards, so I was so frightened that the slave and maid's legs trembled. By the way, Your Royal Highness, the Empress Dowager seems to have specially instructed Her Highness to go to the lamp market to relax. ”

This is how the king's whereabouts were exposed? Zhu Qiming's heart was shocked, but his face was light and light, "Why are you afraid?" Isn't there anyone else there? ”

"Your Highness doesn't know, after all, that father-in-law is a character on a big scene, how can a slave and maid be compared with a dignified palm print eunuch? How calm he is, like a nobody! ”