With the help of his wife Zhanxiao, Qin Tai baked the letter paper on the fire one by one in order, and the ciphered handwriting appeared. Zhan's small movements are not fast, because if it is too fast, her husband Qin Tai will not have time to read the content inside. This kind of ciphered letter shows handwriting when it is heated, but it may disappear when it cools down from the fire. And every time I read the letter, the handwriting on it will fade more and more, until finally I can no longer read it. Therefore, Zhan Xiaoxiao didn't dare to bake too fast, and decided the speed of baking according to her husband Qin Tai's letter reading speed.

Qin Tai's face became more and more solemn from the first time he read the letter. Zhan Xiaoxiao also guessed that the content in this was not only amazing, but also had a great connection with the case that Qin Tai was dealing with now. If you can solve the mystery as soon as possible, you can not only solve the problem as soon as possible, but also go back early. Zhan Xiaoxiao was actually very anxious, she was very worried about her mother's condition. When he was young, Zhan Xiaoxiao always felt that his mother was very annoying and unwilling to stay with his mother. Now that Zhan Xiaoxiao is a mother and has her own children, she realizes why her mother is like this. After fully understanding the feelings of being a mother, Zhan Xiaoxiao agreed with her mother's actions very much and hoped to be by her mother's side all day long. Especially these days, Zhan Xiaoxiao's mother is very uncomfortable, if it weren't for taking care of her husband Qin Tai's safety, Zhan Xiaoxiao really didn't want to leave her mother. Zhan Xiaoxiao didn't dare to tell Qin Tai, she was worried that her mother would not be able to wait for them to go back, so she hoped to finish the case as soon as possible and go back early, lest she catch up with her mother's funeral and regret her life in the future.

Ma Guilan told a story in the letter, a very regrettable story. About thirty-seven years ago, when Zhumadian was still a small village, there was no Zhumadian at the intersection, only a teahouse for passing caravans and caravans to stop. There is only one person in the teahouse, the boss is her partner and him, and there are only a few things sold, no meat and no wine. Therefore, some caravans were only willing to rest and did not buy anything to eat, and caravans only bought water and not food. It's not that the boss doesn't want to sell wine and meat, but he's worried that it's a pity to buy it and waste it. Ma Guilan was only seven or eight years old at the time, and she often played near the teahouse, along with several other children in the village.

In ancient times, there was no spare money in the countryside to teach children to read, and almost all children grew up like this. Except for children who are too young to walk around, children are raised in this way. By the age of eleven or twelve, the children are not free, either working at home or being kicked out by their parents to work as apprentices or gangsters. Seven or eight-year-old children are the freest and happiest time, adults don't care about them, younger siblings envy them, the only drawback is that there are no snacks to eat. In order to solve this problem, the children looked everywhere for food, wild fruits in the mountains, mushrooms in the grass, and they ate everything they could. Later, they came up with the idea of waiting near the teahouse, and some of the caravan had leftovers after eating, so they rushed to eat before the boss had time to clean up. The boss couldn't help it, and second, he was reluctant to talk about them, so he had to let them do it. Sometimes the boss will leave some for them to eat, so they stay near the teahouse almost every day, playing while waiting for food.

The boss is a foreigner, and he hasn't been here to open a teahouse for a long time, but he is a good person, so adults and children are polite to him. The children have been with him for a long time, and they begin to tell him about their own family. When he learned that there were many children in the village who could not afford to raise them at home, he had his own plans.

On this day, the boss found Ma Guilan's mother, and when she was chatting, she talked about the people in the city who wanted to find a child daughter-in-law. In ancient times, the daughter-in-law was the mother-in-law's family when she entered the door, and the mother-in-law was of course worried that the daughter-in-law would not be able to discipline and not be able to do things. Therefore, some middle-sized families like to buy child daughters-in-law, which is not only cheap, but also can be trained from a young age, and the daughter-in-law will also listen to her mother-in-law. However, this kind of thing must be approved by the woman's parents, otherwise it is illegal. The boss told Ma Guilan's mother that he was originally a person, that is, he bought people for large families and child daughters-in-law for medium families, and earned intermediary fees. Later, my wife died, and I couldn't enter the backyard of a big family alone, so I switched to this business.

Ma Guilan's mother was very happy after hearing this, and asked what price a child bride-in-law could sell. The boss knew that Ma Guilan's mother couldn't afford to buy a child daughter-in-law, so he knew that she wanted to sell Ma Guilan. The boss said that the public price is 8 taels of silver for an 8 or 9-year-old girl to be sold to a large family as a maid, and 10 taels of silver to be sold to a medium-sized family as a child bride, but the intermediary fee must be deducted. It is five taels of silver to sell it to other people's families as maids, and it is eight taels of silver to sell it to other people's families as child daughters-in-law. The boss hinted that he could charge less as long as it went through him.

Ma Guilan's mother went back to discuss with her husband and decided to ask the boss to go to her daughter Ma Guilan's in-law's house. The people in the village also asked the boss to inquire about the news. The boss went out for a few days and came back to tell everyone that girls sold to big families as maids were all seven taels of silver, sold to other people's families as child daughters for nine taels of silver, and boys were sold to large families as long-term workers for ten years and five taels of silver. Ma Guilan's mother was moved, and so were the other villagers. In the end, a total of seven girls were sold to other people's families as child brides through their bosses, and the four boys formed a ten-year labor relationship with a large family in the city. After the boss paid the money in one lump sum, he took eleven children with him, but he didn't expect to never go back.

Ma Guilan and other children thought that they were going to be city people, but they didn't expect their future to go to a point of no return. This boss is not a human being, but a bad guy who specializes in tricking children from good families into entering the palace. After he deceived the children, he let them eat the cake mixed with drugs, and when the children woke up, they were already thousands of miles away in the capital. The boss sent four boys to the eunuch castration room, and seven girls to the palace maids' house. According to the rules of the palace, they belong to the palace maids and eunuchs who have no background, and they will never be able to get out of the harem for the rest of their lives.

These children are helpless in the palace and are bullied everywhere by others, the reason is that they have no identity certificates, and they are not even an official palace maid. They had no choice but to unite themselves and secretly form a so-called villager gang, taking care of each other when there was something to do, and everyone shared the benefits together. Ma Guilan is the youngest of the villagers, so everyone helps the most, and Ma Guilan is also the most obedient.

Ma Guilan and others passed the most difficult period of the little palace maid, although they could not officially become a high-grade palace maid, but they were also assigned to the palace they were going to. Ma Guilan was assigned to Anyuan, a place that was deliberately ignored by the palace people. An Yuan is nominally called An Yuan, but in fact, it is similar to an ordinary cold palace, and there is a concubine who was deliberately snubbed by Emperor Jiajing. Even if it is such a concubine, Ma Guilan is still not qualified to serve her. Ma Guilan was assigned to clean up the second gate of Anyuan, Ma Guilan was very satisfied with this job, no one tortured her or framed her here, Ma Guilan was already very content.

Ma Guilan and others have been in the palace for a few years, and they have learned to be patient and take care of themselves. The only hope is to buy a few identity certificates through some people with means, and with this thing, they are palace maids with status. As long as you don't commit crimes and don't be favored by your master, you can leave the palace and reunite with your family at the age of twenty-five. Ma Guilan and others are desperately trying to make money and save money, so that they will have money to buy such an identity certificate in the future.

Ma Guilan accidentally met a palace maid who was a few years younger than her, at least she thought she was also a palace maid at the time. This palace maid was thin and weak, as if she couldn't eat enough, which made Ma Guilan feel compassion. Ma Guilan often gave her some leftover food to eat, and told her some stories, this girl also seemed to like being with Ma Guilan. Ma Guilan took care of this girl for nearly a month, and only knew that this girl's name was Ning'er. Ma Guilan always felt that this Ning'er had a bit of a problem with her brain, and she only had the IQ of a child.

The reason why she didn't take care of it later was because Ma Guilan knew the identity and origin of this Ning Er. Ma Guilan almost scared herself to death after she found out. It turned out that this Ning Er was the daughter of Concubine An Yuan, that is to say, she was the daughter of Emperor Jiajing and the princess of the imperial court. After Ma Guilan knew this identity, she didn't dare to get too close to Ning'er anymore, because it was a taboo thing, and she didn't dare to do it.

Ning'er really didn't understand this, thinking that Ma Guilan didn't like her, so she cried and made a fuss. Unexpectedly, such a cry attracted the attention of others, and Ning Er was taken away by several eunuchs. Although Ma Guilan was not taken away, her life was not easy. Although the concubine has been refrigerated, the concubine is still the master, and the palace maid next to her will handle Ma Guilan on her behalf without her opening. On the same day, Ma Guilan was beaten by a large group of palace maids and couldn't get out of bed, so she could only lie in bed to rest for half a month. If it weren't for the palace maids who helped the villagers to take turns to send her something to eat every day, she would have starved to death even if she didn't die of illness.

Ning'er came back soon after, and Ma Guilan didn't dare to get close to her, but Ning'er always liked to be with her. The concubine had no choice but to agree to Ning'er and Ma Guilan to play together, but Ma Guilan was not allowed to take Ning'er out of Anyuan to play. Ma Guilan discovered a secret when she bathed Ning'er, and Ning'er was no longer a complete body. Ning'er is a princess, and even if she is not officially titled, she is also the daughter of an emperor. Ning'er didn't go out of the harem, and she didn't have any contact with men outside the palace, so who was the person who attacked Ning'er? Ma Guilan also knew that Ning'er had a bad brain, so she couldn't ask Ning'er these questions directly, and she couldn't tell her concubine about it directly. Ma Guilan had no choice but to patiently ask Ning'er, and Ning'er could only say a rough idea. It turned out that Ning'er's crying attracted the attention of a person, and this person sent someone to arrest Ning'er, and when Ning'er saw him, this person was already delirious.