On the ninth day of the ninth month of September, An Ying dressed neatly in the morning, and followed Mrs. Shen to the Wailang's mansion. Mrs. Shen wore a smoky blue crewneck shirt with a dark green long skirt, a set of white jade rings tied around the skirt, and a fan of flowers and birds with gold in her hand. All the ladies were very interested in Mrs. Shen bringing the little girl, so they all came to inquire, and Mrs. Shen simply replied that this was the daughter of the family's old friend, and she didn't say anything else. An Ying obediently followed behind Mrs. Shen and didn't say a word.

The banquet was held at the Lin Shui Pavilion on the Yuanwailang Mansion, and after sitting down for a while, it didn't take long for the Yuanwailang Lady to come out. Mrs. Yuanwailang is Mrs. Shen's own sister, but An Ying looks like her at all. During the banquet, Mrs. Shen sat down with Mrs. Wailang, and the two chatted intimately, and after a while, Mrs. Shen beckoned An Ying to come over.

"This is the girl I told you about the An family, she is smart, this tea cake thing, the An family is also running for this girl, the last time she came to me, she sorted things out clearly, I saw that we really don't have the right people to arrange. I see that Xiaoying's identity is just right. ”

Mrs. Yuanwailang nodded, took An Ying's hand, and said with a smile: "Don't panic, the girl of the An family will follow me to meet a few people later." Mrs. Yuanwailang called the woman in green who was sitting in the banquet and said, "Ah Xia, you will be at the banquet later, and I will take the two of them to Tingtao Pavilion." ”

The woman nodded, turned around slightly, saluted Mrs. Shen, and said, "I've seen my aunt." Then he walked down from the banquet and greeted the ladies.

Mrs. Wailang took Mrs. Shen and An Ying out from behind the water pavilion, and it didn't take long to arrive in front of a small courtyard, where the ancient trees are towering, the green shade is rich, and there is a small building looming in the depths of the shade, quite the wind of an ancient temple, An Ying thought in her heart, this Wailang Mansion looks ordinary from the outside, but I didn't expect there to be such a scenery inside, but it seems to have a hundred years of precipitation.

When he walked into the small building, An Ying found that this was a library building, with more than ten rows of bookshelves neatly arranged on the first floor, and all kinds of books neatly rested. The three of them entered the side room, where the three men were chatting, and they all turned around when they heard the voice.

Mrs. Yuanwailang Fu said: "Husband, this is Miss An Jia. ”

The middle-aged man in a green shirt next to him said with a smile: "This is Miss An Jia, Master Su wants to find someone who understands tea cakes, Miss An Jia is just right." ”

An Ying was startled, and immediately bent down to salute. Mrs. Yuanwailang smiled and said, "Let me introduce you." This is Master Su, this is Guo Langzhong, and I just happened to come over to meet the people in the tea shop today. Although Miss An is young, she has been a director for a few years, and now Miss An is taking care of the affairs of the An family's shop. ”

Dai Chang, a member of the staff, nodded and said: "Because now the tea shops in the entire capital are staring at us, if you ask the tea shops at will, I am afraid that we will startle the snakes." I especially heard that Miss An had entered the government prison, and I also carefully asked about the situation of many tea shops. ”

An Ying saluted and said, "If you adults have anything to ask, the little girl will tell you the truth." ”

After a few people took their seats, Guo Langzhong asked, "Miss An, do you want to tell me what you know first?" Listen to Dai Yuanwailang said, you are running by yourself during this time. Originally, the government released a rumor that it was not right, but now Huzhou Tea House Mindi Tea House still thinks so, and it has changed back to its original style. But Miss An figured out the way so quickly. ”

An Ying looked at that Guo Langzhong and Dai Yuan Wai Lang were about the same age, they were both about forty years old, Dai Yuan Wai Lang had a white face and long beard, and he was well-dressed, but Guo Langzhong was black-faced and bearded, a little murderous, and he was wearing an ordinary cloth robe, and even the cloth shoes on his feet were a little stained, which is that ordinary people would not be so unsophisticated.

An Ying listened to Guo Langzhong's question, so he sorted things out a little and said slowly.

"Every year, the time for collecting tea in Huzhou Gongcha starts around May 20, and it usually takes five or six days. Our tea households first focus on the tribute tea and make the best tea leaves into tribute tea before they start to sell them in the shop. This year, the weather was warm, and the tea was picked three days earlier than usual, and the day of mining was the second day of the fifth month. Our shop is small, there are not many people, and the tribute tea is made by my father himself, and it took five days. On the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, my father and the old servants of the family sent tea cakes to the Huzhou tea field, and the transfer envoy, Zhizhou and my father ordered the tea cakes. According to the custom, the adult of the transporter randomly selected a cake and ate it on the spot to judge the high and low. This evaluation was recorded in the file, and my father remembered that it was fragrant and high-flavored, and it was rated as the top grade, and there was no poisoning. ”

An Ying paused for a moment and said: "Originally, I didn't understand, there was a problem with the tea cake, in fact, it was very easy to check the source, why did the government first release the news of the shortage of catties and shoddy, and detained several owners of the tea shop for so long." It wasn't until I heard Master Shen say that all the tea cakes in the capital had been checked to be poisonous, and I understood. But I still think it's strange, if all the tea cakes sent to the palace are poisonous, then it must be from behind, why are the people in the tea shop still imprisoned. ”

Guo Langzhong nodded and said, "This news is true. As for why the people in the tea shop are still imprisoned, this is an order given by Lord Su, and it is also to stabilize people's hearts. This matter was so great that when it was discovered that all the tea cakes were poisonous, the saint was furious, and this method was going to put the entire royal family to death. At that time, the Holy Lord wanted to kill all those involved in the case, and the ministers of the court also agreed. Master Su wrote that if you simply kill all the people involved, the people behind it will get away with it. Only then did the saint agree to detain him first, and then make a decision after a thorough investigation. ”

An Ying's heart tightened, and his heart said that his father was almost dying, and he might not even be able to escape his doom, so he got up and saluted when he calmed down and said, "Lord Xie Su is benevolent." ”

Master Su, who had been silent, helped An Ying up and said, "Miss An doesn't have to be like this. ”

An Ying said softly: "If it is poisoned, and it is on such a large scale, it is unlikely to be possible after entering the palace, and it is most likely during the period between the Huzhou Tea Farm and the time before entering the palace." Listening to my father and Master Shen's description, this year's transfer made the adults change the packaging of the tea, used the best silk to make tea bags, and then put them into rattan boxes, wrapped them in oiled paper and sent them to the capital. That tea packaging is the most likely. So I wondered what kind of poison it was. ”

After hearing this, Dai Yuanwailang and the others nodded frequently, but did not answer. There was silence in the room for a while, and after a while, Master Su said: "This originally couldn't be spread outside, but now that you have pushed it to this point, if you don't talk about this poison, you can't push anything down." A total of fifty catties of poisonous tea cakes were found in the palace, all of which were in the style of the small phoenix group, and they were all tea cakes from Huzhou. Although there was also a rumor in Mindi in front of me, and some tea farmers were also arrested, which I specially arranged to muddy the water. At that time, the poison was identified by the Criminal Prison Department and confirmed as Manyin, and the Criminal Prison Department made this bureau. ”

Mrs. Shen and Mrs. Yuanwailang obviously just heard it, and both of them were shocked, and An Ying didn't know why.

Mrs. Shen answered and asked, "Can you allow the women to ask a few words?" ”

Master Su nodded and said, "Mrs. Shen doesn't have to be polite, just ask." ”

An Ying saw that Lord Nasu was only twenty years old, and he looked unusually young among these officials, with a tall posture, not in a hurry or slowly, with a calmness beyond his age, but with a kind of affinity that made people relax.

"As far as I know, Man Yin is extremely poisonous, and there is no antidote. But I heard that Concubine Su has gradually improved, what is the reason for this? Mrs. Shen asked.

"That's what's weird here. All the tea cakes were poisoned, but the amount of poison was very small. It is precisely because of the low toxicity of tea cakes that after Concubine Su ate a cake, she developed some symptoms, but sore throat and cough. At first, the imperial doctor did not conclude that it was poisoning, and prescribed a prescription according to the symptoms of the cold. Later, the illness did not improve, but he coughed up blood, and the hospital envoy realized that there was a problem, and checked all the daily things of the mother, but no problems were found. When the Holy God asked us to check, we didn't find any poison at first, but later it was the most experienced old prison temple in the Criminal Prison Department who tried all the things that Niangniang ate and wore before trying it out. ”

Mrs. Shen nodded and said, "This medicine is not easy to obtain, and it takes fifty catties to fill it, so the amount of each cake is so small." ”

Guo Langzhong touched his beard and said: "This is what our Criminal Prison Department means. It is said that this Manyin poison, as Mrs. Shen just said, is extremely strong, but the symptoms of poisoning are exactly the same as ordinary colds, but coughing, then fever, coughing up blood, so the symptoms will last for a month or two and consume people to death. The poison is extremely complex and has long since been lost. If it weren't for the old prison director who was in charge of poison, the tea cake would have emitted a faint almond flavor after heating it carefully, and then he would have understood. ”

Mrs. Shen said: "If this is the case, just like Xiaoru just said, then it is the most reasonable in the package." ”

Master Su shook his head and said, "At the beginning, we checked the silk and rattan boxes of the tea cakes, and they were not poisoned. Therefore, Zhao Jianping kept shouting injustice in prison and did not admit guilt. He looked at An Ying, who suddenly fell silent next to him, and said, "I think Miss An seems to have thought of something?" ”

An Ying said: "I thought of something, but I didn't think too much about it." ”

Master Su smiled and said, "Let's hear it, we usually talk about the case together, and we often talk about discovering some breakthroughs. ”

An Ying bowed his head and said, "I've always wondered why it's all Xiaofeng Tuan. Everyone said that in order to please Concubine Su, but no matter how favored Concubine Su was, she couldn't ask for all the little phoenixes. If it is just to poison Concubine Su, it is better to make the poison heavier and less tea cakes. ”

Guo Langzhong shook his head and said, "Little girl, you don't understand this." The perpetrator didn't know which small phoenix groups would be sent to Concubine Su's palace, so he ordered all the small phoenix groups. If there are only a few cakes, how can you guarantee that this poisonous tea cake will be eaten by Concubine Su. ”

"Not true. What other reasons do I always feel? An Ying shook his head and said, there was always something in his heart, but he couldn't think of anything.

For a while, the room fell silent, and when Mrs. Wailang saw this, she said, "It's a little late today, and the table in front of me has also dispersed." If you stay any longer, I'm afraid it will be inconvenient. ”

Master Su said to An Ying: "It's okay, you think slowly." I'll come back to you in a few days. ”