Chapter 22 I see, twenty-two

There are two things in the belly pocket, one is a yellowed piece of paper, and the other is a small wooden waist card. The yellowed piece of paper registers Ma Guilan's name and the year she entered the palace, which is the voucher for Ma Guilan to receive money and food in the palace. Ma Guilan is not an official palace maid, so she has no salary, but she also has the right to apply for rations on a monthly basis and receive some clothes from time to time. Although the celebrant has Ma Guilan's relevant information, Ma Guilan needs to show her own voucher when receiving things, and this thing is the only voucher for Ma Guilan to apply for things. Now this thing has become a proof for Ma Guilan to prove that she was once a palace maid, and Ma Guilan has always hidden this thing, at least it is still intact. The wooden waist card is not the identity certificate of Ma Guilan's palace maid, and Ma Guilan, a palace maid who "confesses", is not qualified to have a waist card. In the palace, everyone has a variety of materials to prove their identity according to their different identities. The emperor doesn't need a waist card, who dares to ask the emperor to check his identity? The emperor's concubines and princes used jade waist plates with information about them and their status. Members of the royal family use jade, and the "jade" is an identification document that members of the royal family carry with them from birth. If there is no "jade", even if it is royal blood, it is not considered a member of the royal family, this "jade" is a proof of identity, but also a proof of entering and leaving the palace. In addition to these masters, eunuchs and palace maids use various waist cards according to their status. The eunuchs with the palm seal of the master of ceremonies and the eunuchs with the pen of the celebrant use the highest level of gold waist cards, the first-class palace maids and some high-ranking eunuchs use silver waist cards, the second-class palace maids and the general steward eunuchs use bronze waist cards, the general formal eunuchs and palace maids use iron waist cards, and the new little palace maids and small eunuchs use temporary wooden waist cards. Eunuchs and palace maids like Ma Guilan who "confessed" didn't even have wooden cards, so they would never have a chance to come out.

This wooden waist card is a voucher for entering and exiting the Danhuo Room, which is a place dedicated to making pills for Emperor Jiajing, so ordinary people can't enter. These so-called "elixirs" made according to the recipes of Taoist priests were exclusively for Emperor Jiajing. Since Emperor Jiajing believed in Taoist priests, he gradually took the pill as a meal, until he simply stopped eating later, and ate the pill as a meal every day, and finally ate some dishes with the pill. Since it is an elixir for the master to refine, and it is the main food of the master every day, the Danhuo room is of course listed as a forbidden place. The reason why Ma Guilan chose this place to hide is because it is almost isolated from the outside world, so she doesn't have to worry about someone disturbing her and Ning Er. The wooden sign is the voucher for entering and exiting the Danhuo room, and there is a special person guarding the door of the Danhuo room, and you can't enter without a wooden sign. This wooden plaque is not Ma Guilan's wooden plaque, but the wooden plaque that Ning'er once used. This proves that Ning'er once stayed in the Danhuo Room with Ma Guilan, at least this Ning'er's person once existed.

Just from this small package, Qin Tai and Zhan Xiaoxiao knew some of Ma Guilan's secrets. First, Ma Guilan not only used to be a palace maid who "confessed", but also worked in the Danhuo room. Second, Ma Guilan knew a palace maid named Ning'er, who was a colleague of Danhuofang. Third, Ma Guilan or Ning Er came into contact with some secrets, otherwise Ma Guilan would not have risked leaving the palace. Fourth, the secret may involve a master or an identity person. Because it is impossible for a palace maid like Ma Guilan to come into contact with the precious cloth of "Yun Jin", these "Yun Jin" can only be owned by the nobles in the palace. This secret must involve the concubines or princesses in the palace, and Ma Guilan must be an insider.

The second package was opened, and inside was a piece of cloth, a piece of fabric that had been temporarily torn from a piece of clothing. This piece of fabric is not only bad, but also a little worn, it seems that the user's status is not high and life is not good. Some buildings and routes were simply drawn on the fabric, and Qin Tai knew at a glance that this was a sketch of the Xiyuan where Emperor Jiajing lived. When Qin Tai invited the spiritual positions and portraits of the emperors of previous dynasties to meet Emperor Jiajing, he once walked in Xiyuan and was very impressed there. The person who drew the picture did not have a high degree and did not know calligraphy and painting, and seemed to be an inconspicuous eunuch. This piece of cloth is the eunuch's middle clothes, which means that this person is not only a eunuch, but also a temporary decision to draw a road map. Ordinary eunuchs don't have to do this when they have the opportunity to go in and out, and the only explanation is that this eunuch rarely has the opportunity to see the whole picture of Xiyuan. In order to write down the route immediately, I had to tear off my middle coat and draw it on it. Why is it not an outer or underwear? This problem is actually very simple, if the coat is torn, people will immediately find out, and even be killed by the eunuch in charge on the spot, so this eunuch does not dare to tear the coat. Eunuchs are not ordinary men, whether the other party is a eunuch or a palace maid, they are unwilling to show their personal things to others. There was a smell of urine on the eunuch's body, and the eunuch was afraid of being laughed at by his own people, so he didn't dare to use his underwear. Paying so much attention to his reputation and face, it seems that what this eunuch does is willing, and the people he helps are also his own people. According to Ma Guilan's situation, Qin Tai boldly guessed that this eunuch was also Ma Guilan's fellow villager. Ma Guilan once said that some boys entered the palace with them, the women became palace maids, and the men became eunuchs. This eunuch may be a "confession" eunuch, because he has a low status so he is not qualified to walk around casually, but everyone wants to know the route, so he took advantage of a rare opportunity to enter and exit the West Garden. He was worried that he would not be able to remember, so he privately drew the route in his middle coat and tore off a pair and gave it to his sisters. Ma Guilan may have set up a route for Ning'er to fake her death according to this route, and hid Ning'er and the child. Their entry and exit from the palace gate was led by the eunuch of the Prudent Punishment Division, and the eunuch of the Prudential Punishment Division may be Ding Chong, the owner of Zhumadian.

Qin Tai finally decided to open the most critical package, Zhan Xiaoxiao opened the package and inside was a dozen letters and a large envelope without a seal. Zhan Xiaoxiao first opened the old envelopes that had turned yellow, and they were filled with some ordinary looking greetings. After checking them one by one, I realized that they were all letters written by the other party to Ma Guilan, which more or less mentioned some secrets, but they were all vague. The content of the letter is very funny, and there is some scare in the greeting, which not only means to persuade Ma Guilan to cooperate, but also seems to imply that Ma Guilan will persevere. This person is obviously a woman about the same age as Ma Guilan, and it is very likely that she was Ma Guilan's fellow palace maid back then. Her letter is very suspicious, is it on behalf of Ning'er to persuade Ma Guilan to hand over the evidence? Or are you secretly helping Ma Guilan survive? Why did Ma Guilan keep these letters? Could it be that Ma Guilan used these letters to threaten the other party? Or does Ma Guilan want to use these to provoke contradictions within them? If she wanted to do this, why didn't Ma Guilan hand it over and hide it as the most important evidence?

The envelope was finally opened, and Zhan Xiaoxiao read it to Qin Tai word by word, and Qin Tai was thinking about the problem while listening to his wife Zhan Xiaoxiao read the letter. Qin Tai hoped that the mystery in his heart would be answered, and he wanted to know more secret information about the Divine Sect. Zhan Xiaoxiao also knew her husband Qin Tai's temper, so she read it slowly word by word, so that Qin Tai gradually entered Ma Guilan's world, as if Ma Guilan was narrating this matter to Qin Tai in person.

In addition to talking about herself in it, Ma Guilan unexpectedly mentioned a palace maid named Xiaoqian many times. This Xiao Qian attracted Qin Tai's attention, she was the person who wrote the letter, that is, the insider who had remained in an important position within the Divine Sect to this day. This person has more and more important information, she is the interpreter of all secrets, and she is the person Qin Tai needs to know.

Xiaoqian, formerly known as Cai Xiaoqian, is the niece of a villager in the village, and is about the same age as Ma Guilan. Cai Xiaoqian's parents passed away, and her closest relatives were left with only one uncle, so she brought her uncle home. Cai Xiaoqian is not happy in the village, because the children in the village treat her as an outsider, and everyone doesn't like to play with her. Just when she was depressed, a girl who was a little younger than her extended a hand of friendship to her, she was Ma Guilan. Ma Guilan immediately became friends with Cai Xiaoqian, and the two girls often played together. When Ma Guilan was sold by her mother to someone else as a child daughter-in-law, Cai Xiaoqian also met the same fate. Ma Guilan's mother is going to sell her own daughter, not to mention that Cai Xiaoqian temporarily lives in her uncle's house and has a very fierce aunt. Ma Guilan and Cai Xiaoqian entered the palace together and became palace maids, and since then, the two have relied on each other to comfort each other, Cai Xiaoqian has helped more, and Ma Guilan has relied on Cai Xiaoqian more often.