After Being Kidnapped by the Crown Prince - Chapter 66

During this period of time, Song Huaiqing hardly heard Zhao Shi take the initiative to mention his dead concubine, most of the men were fortunate, and it was only a burst of sadness, and it passed and passed.

He seldom saw Zhao Shi also behave in such a gaffe. He didn’t know what to say for a while, and he didn’t know how to persuade him.

Zhao Shixiang clenched the purse in his palm like a life-saving straw, tightened his jaw, with a forbearing expression, he explained in a dumb voice, “This is her purse.”

Song Huaiqing was silent for a while, raised his eyes and looked at him deeply, and said euphemistically: “Your Highness, it’s just a purse.”

Aren’t all the wallets in the world the same? Or he admitted wrong.

Zhao Zhi’s face was pale, with a thin body. Just after the breeze, the flap of the light shirt swayed, his hands began to tremble, and then slowly calmed down. He silently put his purse into his sleeves and lifted it up carefully. Eyelid, said: “It can’t be wrong.”

She must have escaped.

…

Mingzhu returned home with soft legs.

She was so frightened that her thin jacket was wet with cold sweat on her back. She changed her clothes and drank a cup of hot tea before gradually regaining her look.

Hong Ling’s eyes were complicated, “Zhuzhu, are you so afraid of him?”

Mingzhu held the cup in both hands and nodded.

Hong Ling felt that the man today does not seem to be a good thing, and his words are really bad, “It’s okay, he won’t find you.”

Mingzhu was still frowning, her fingernails squeezed her palms hard, and only recovered when she tasted the pain, she smiled reluctantly, “Well, I haven’t been out for a few months.”

Lest I meet him again.

Counting the days, it has been more than half a month since Zhao Shi appeared in Yangzhou.

“It’s really unlucky, I still have to avoid him when I arrive in Yangzhou.” Hong Ling said angrily.

“It is impossible for him to stay in Yangzhou all his life.”

“Do you think he just came to you?”

Mingzhu shook her head, lowered her eyelids silently, her expression unclear, her voice sounded soft, “No,”

Hong Ling wailed a few times and did not continue to ask. Suddenly there was a knock on the door outside in the yard. Hong Ling blackened her face when she heard the sound. She cursed: “It’s those little bunnies again! I must smoke them today. .”

There are several families living in this alley, and there are a few ignorant children who often come to knock on their courtyard doors and ask for food.

Mingzhu would give it most of the time. Hongling couldn’t see that these rascals deliberately disturbed people and cleaned up. She rushed out with the broom and opened the gate of the courtyard fiercely.

The rascals ran away when they saw her.

Hongling closed the door triumphantly, and when he returned to the house, he said to Mingzhu: “You are so used to those children, they have to keep an inch and come to trouble you every day.”

Mingzhu smiled, “Children love to make noises, and I did that too when I was a kid.”

Hong Ling didn’t believe her words, Mingzhu’s gentle temperament was not like a kid who could jump up and down.

It was already dark, Hongling lit a few lamps, and the transparent and bright candlelight illuminated the whole room. Mingzhu sat quietly by the window and cut the wick of the candlestick on the side. The fire was like a cluster of seedlings, swaying. She just bowed her head to sort out the fabrics she brought back from the shop today. Her fingers were thin and white and beautiful. She whispered, “Why don’t you use this soft smoke to make your clothes?”

There are only a handful of new clothes in Hongling’s closet, and she doesn’t know how to dress herself. She has a very good foundation, fair complexion, big eyes, bright facial features, and she is also a little beauty when she dresses up seriously.

Everyone has a love for beauty. She blushed after hearing what Mingzhu said. Although she was twisted, she couldn’t help saying: “You should keep it for your children.”

Mingzhu cut the thin thread in her hand and raised her head, her delicate Yurun face reflected in the candlelight, “This cloth was originally bought for you.”

Hong Ling vaguely said, “Oh, then don’t tire your eyes, I’m not in a hurry to wear them.”

She didn’t say anything, she was still very happy.

Mingzhu said yes, she lowered her head and continued to arrange her needlework. The side face in the candlelight was poetic and picturesque. Her long black hair fell on her knees and her expression was soft. She frittered: “The extra fabric can make a few purses.”

“But you already have a lot of wallets!”

Mingzhu’s hand moved for a while, as if suddenly remembering something, she slowly lifted her face, her eyes were dark, and the moist light under her eyes was like a clear spring. She said: “Hongling, you just replaced it for me. Bring the clothes.”

Hongling was unclear, so, “The clothes will be washed tomorrow.”

Mingzhu shook her head with a pale face, “No.”

Although Hong Ling didn’t understand what she wanted to do, she turned around and went to the cubicle to help her get her clothes and hand them to her.

Mingzhu flipped through the pile of clothes, her face looked getting worse and worse, she murmured, “My purse is gone.”

Hong Ling looked terrified when she saw her, only that she had a lot of money in her purse, and felt distressed. She said a few nice words to comfort her, but Mingzhu didn’t seem to be relieved, sitting by the window stupidly, with a pale face that made people feel distressed.

Mingzhu tried hard to think about it, but she really couldn’t remember when her purse dropped. Most likely it was when she fled in a panic in order to hide from Zhao Zhi.

Now only pray that the purse will not be seen by Zhao Shi, the man is delicate, and as long as he finds something wrong, he can follow the clues to find out the truth.

Mingzhu sighed, she began to comfort herself secretly, how could there be such a coincidence in this world.

Hongling asked her, “Zhuzhu, are you okay?”

Mingzhu cheered up and smiled with her, “It’s okay.”

As a person who wants money but not life, Hongling understands her mood very much at this time. There is nothing in her purse, and it hurts everyone if she loses it! She said with relief: “If you lose money and eliminate disasters, you will never be able to make money.”

Mingzhu nodded: “You’re right, you’ll lose money and eliminate calamity.”

On the other side, the prefect of Suzhou City, Xiu Mu, was called by His Highness the Prince. He had no choice but to climb out of the gentle village, put on his clothes and hurried to the courtyard where the Prince had fallen, and was extremely flattering.

He smiled and waited outside the study, he kept beating the drums in his heart, thinking about why he didn’t do a good job and was seen by the prince? When he was unable to do anything, he was called in.

The prince didn’t even look at him, so he threw him a portrait and asked him to search for people.

The prefect hurriedly caught the portrait, Xuanxin was finally able to let go of half, he raised his sleeve and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and hurried to do it.

It is not easy to find someone in Yangzhou City. It’s easy to manage in the city, but if this person hides in the rural farmland, it will be difficult.

When he left the other courtyard, he ran into Master Song again, and he hurriedly said hello.

Song Huaiqing glanced at the picture scroll he was holding, and asked, “What is this?”

According to the facts, the prefect said, “His Royal Highness asked the minister to investigate a person.”

Song Huaiqing had a plan in his heart, he glanced at the people in the picture scroll, and couldn’t help frowning. The prince was really crazy and asked to search for a dead person.

When the prefect saw them, he felt guilty and hurriedly said a few words and found an excuse to say goodbye. Back to the government office, I immediately found a painter, copied a few portraits, and then let the hunters conduct house-to-house searches.

The head-catcher on the patrol didn’t take this matter to heart. The girl in the portrait didn’t look like a heinous treacherous person. Moreover, this beauty is really in Yangzhou, and she should have been famous long ago.

Hongling came out to buy vegetables, and when she saw the head catcher holding the portrait and looking for people around, she straightened her eyes, pricked her ears, and listened to all directions. She held the vegetable basket and walked forward and asked: Who are you looking for?”

The head catcher swept her all over, “It’s none of your business, hurry up.”

Hong Ling cursed his mother-in-law in his heart and smiled, “Maybe I can help, or I have seen it.”

With a horizontal knife pinned to the waist of the head-catcher, his eyes were murderous when he stared at him. He asked: “What are you asking about so much?”

Hongling was afraid that he would be suspicious, and the smile on the corner of her mouth suddenly became more dogleg, “For the reward of Yamen.” She babbled, “The last time my cousin caught a wanted man, the Yamen rewarded him a full fifty-two. silver.”

The head catcher reluctantly believed her nonsense, spread the portrait in front of her, raised his eyebrows, and asked, “Have you seen it?”

Hongling pinched her palms hard, her acting skills were very superb. She raised her head with a regretful and angry expression, shook her head and said, “No.”

“Get out if you don’t have it.”

Hongling slumped away from their sight, and walked into an empty alley around the corner, leaning against the wall and took two deep breaths. They were really looking for Mingzhu.

She gradually recovered her strength in her hands and feet, and ran in the direction of home.

He ran home in one breath, and he didn’t even drink his saliva in a hurry, panting as if he was about to die.

Mingzhu gently stroked her back to help her smoothly, “What’s the matter?”

Hong Ling was breathing and panting. He sat on the ground and rested for a while. His voice was hoarse and dry, “The officials are looking for you.”

Mingzhu’s face changed, her thin and thin body shook twice, her white fingers fastened the edge of the table, she didn’t speak yet, Hongling got up from the ground in a hurry, “Zhuzhu, let’s run away!!”

This Suzhou City really can’t stay!

Hongling never expected that the dog man was so powerful that he could evoke the prefect of Suzhou City with one hand covering the sky. According to their posture of searching people all over the street today, they may come to check their household registration soon!

Mingzhu lowered her head, her abdomen blocked her sight, and now she could not see her feet.

Hong Ling obviously also realized the problem. She stomped around in a hurry and stomped her feet, “Or else you write a letter to Master Wei and ask him to find a way to help you?”

Wei Chiyu still has official duties, and only returned to Changzhou a few days ago.

Mingzhu shook his head, “This will only harm him.”

“What should I do?!” She can only fight, not very good, and she is not sure if she can beat a few strong men.

“Hidden.” Mingzhu raised her eyes and looked at her seriously, “You told them these days that I went back to my husband’s house to raise a baby.”

Hong Ling nodded: “Okay.”

Less than two days after the peaceful days, the inspectors began to check the household registration, one by one. Still knocking on the door in the middle of the night.

Their actions are not so elegant. The sound of knocking on the door at night can wake people from their sleep. Mingzhu hides behind the haystack of the wood house and hides herself tightly.

Hongling put on his clothes and went to the front yard with a lantern in his hand to open the door.

The head catcher was deeply impressed by this beautiful and cunning woman, and because of the lack of light at night, he also recognized that she was the one who stopped them on the street that day.

He caught his head and looked in, with an arrogant attitude, “Just you?”

Hongling pretended to yawn, “Yes, official.”

The yard was dark and there was nothing to see. The head catcher pushed her away and broke in rudely. The lights in the west wing and east wing were not lit, and it was impossible to see whether there were people living.

“You are not the only one on the roster.”

“Oh, you are talking about my sister.”

“Where is your sister?”

Suddenly, Hongling pretended to be very angry, and gritted her teeth and said: “My sister followed my sad brother-in-law home. Don’t you know that my brother-in-law is not only stealing people outside, but it’s me who steals people and flowers. I can’t wait to kill him with the money that my sister’s dowry sold. Poor sour ghost, cheap stuff, death…”

The head-catching brows were knotted, and she waved her hand impatiently, interrupting her, “It’s okay, no one wants to listen to this.”

Hong Ling’s eyes were dripping dribbling, like a long-tongued woman in the village finally caught a confidant. She was bold enough to get the knife at his waist, “Guardian, can you lend me this one? Two days? I’ll go back and hack to death that heartless animal stuff.”

The head catcher pushed her away with a serious expression, “Fuck.”

Hongling sat down on the ground, the tears in his eyes burst out, and he cried and cried.

Head catching was upset, his ears were buzzing and painful, and he didn’t bother to pester the pungent little girl anymore, and walked around the yard perfunctorily, and then left with someone.

When people walked away, Hong Ling got up from the ground, shook his hands to lock the courtyard door tightly, and then sneaked into the wood house, whispering Mingzhu’s name.

Mingzhu slowly moved out of her body, “Anyone gone?”

Hongling nodded.

Mingzhu was strong and relieved. However, she was still weak and unable to stand up. She simply sat in the haystack. She did not completely relax for the rest of her life. She grasped the straw under her body and asked: “Hongling, that painting How do you guys look like me?”

Hong Ling didn’t want to tell the truth to her, because she was afraid that she would be worried and hesitate to cover up. But there was no way to fool Mingzhu over, she stared at her, chasing after her, “What kind of look?”

Hongling had no choice but to say: “Seven or eight points.”

It’s the same, almost exactly the same, and even Shen Yun has been portrayed.

Mingzhu’s heart has been cold for a while, and her legs have softened. Now, the only thing she can be thankful for is that she has rarely seen her face, and wears a veil when she goes out. Not many people have seen her face.

The head-catchers worked all night, but found nothing. The overwhelming search lasted for three or four days, and the person on the portrait of His Royal Highness was not found, but a drunk who was drunk from the flower house said he had seen him.

When I asked more carefully, he heard drunkenly saying that he had seen it in a dream.

The head catcher smelled the man’s alcohol, cursed bad luck, and threw the man back home.

The magistrate’s worries about this incident are about to fall out, and the person will definitely be missing for a while, and he can’t restore the prince to life, so he has to go to Master Song and tactfully inquire about the day when they return to Beijing.

Song Huaiqing was also a little bit angry. Zhao Shi’s work was too general, it was nothing like what he could do.

After the death of an insignificant concubine of the Ming family, why did she go so far as to cause trouble in Yangzhou City.

Song Huaiqing just wanted to sneer when he thought of Mingzhu’s beautiful face. She did many things when she was still alive. She was still lingering when she died, which was still a scourge.

What Zhao Shi identified could not be easily changed. When the prefect learned that His Royal Highness only had a lotus-patterned purse, he believed that his escaped concubine was in Yangzhou, and he was in a complicated mood.

He bit his head and poured cold water on His Royal Highness, “Your Highness, this style of purse is everywhere in the street.”

After saying this, he raised his eyes to look at the man standing under the porch. His long body is jade, his long black hair is close to his thin back, and the misty mist in the morning is a bit wet. The eyebrows and eyes are calm and gentle, but in fact With a cold air, his eyes were cold and indifferent, and he looked forward. He said, “No.”

The prefect actually saw a little sadness from the prince’s face, and the dumb voice sounded extremely bitter.

“My wife and little daughter also use this kind of purse, with a brocade lotus pattern. If you don’t believe it, the minister can show it to you.”

The lotus pattern is a common pattern in the south of the Yangtze River, and a purse made of brocade is also a feature here.

Mingzhu’s mother is from Yangzhou, and Mingzhu’s female red was also learned from her mother, so the style is naturally related to the blind date here.

The prefect was not as careful as Zhao Shi, and in his opinion, there was really no difference between these pouches placed together.

“I won’t watch.” After a long time, Zhao Shi whispered again: “You go back.”

“Yes.”

Three days later, Zhao Shi still found nothing in Yangzhou City. At this point, Song Huaiqing couldn’t stand outside and watch with cold eyes. He was a bit poisonous, and he spoke with anger in his heart without leaving any affection. He called this cousin by his first name and last name, and then said: “You Didn’t you take all the urns of that woman? Why do you still think she is alive?”

This is not like a needle, more like a freshly sharpened knife. Pierced his heart and plunged heavily in.

The fingers in Zhao Zhi’s sleeve twitched twice, and he lost the strength to curl up. The three words “She’s not dead” stuck in his throat and couldn’t make a sound.

He pursed his lips and pressed down the corners of his mouth without making a sound.

As his cousin, Song Huaiqing was really not afraid of him, so he didn’t have the mood to care about him. “The lady I took care of the Gu family is better than her, gentle and lovely, young and beautiful, well-taught and obedient, what else do you have? Dissatisfied? Even if you pamper a new lover, you can forget the old one.”

It is the most stupid to pet a person alone. In the backyard, there are a hundred flowers competing for beauty. It is interesting to watch them fight to death and life.

“I don’t have your turn to tell me about my affairs.” Zhao Shi put down such a cold word and turned to leave.

Zhao Shi’s trip to Yangzhou was too long. Song Luan, who was far away in the capital, couldn’t sit still and sent him a letter, asking him when he would be back? There were also correspondences in the Prince’s Mansion. The letter only said that the flower tree in the backyard was infected with insects and asked him if he needed to move the book to a new branch.

Zhao Shi left Yangzhou and hurried back to the capital after reading the letter. It was almost early winter when I arrived in Beijing, and the weather got colder as I traveled north.

The people in the mansion are all looking forward to the return of His Royal Highness the Prince. The burnt-down courtyard of Mingzhu has been rebuilt, and even the furnishings inside have been restored to their previous appearance.

Zhao Shi made people carefully guard the flower tree in the backyard, and the people underneath took care of it. They looked at this tree more importantly than their children. Unfortunately, no matter how careful, the flower tree is still sluggish, with dry branches and roots. Also began to die. No one dared to tell His Royal Highness about this matter for a while.

Zhao Xin is still making trouble, and plays cat and mouse game with Wei Liu every day. She was a rat caught, and she could be caught by Wei Liu wherever she went, becoming more and more angry.

She and Zhao Zhi are worthy of being brothers and sisters, and both have the same stubborn temperament.

Zhao Xin was determined to give Mingzhu a place where the dust settled, and not to let her go to the temple to find a monk to supersede her.

The burial matter has not been written yet.

The treasured land of Feng Shui was sealed by the people Wei Liu brought.

Zhao Xin was again bursting with tears of anger, and he really couldn’t figure out how her brother was so vicious, he wanted to humiliate a dead person in this way, cold-blooded.

Zhao Xin made a fuss at the Prince’s Mansion, Zhao Shi watched her smash things coldly, “Let her smash things.”

Not only did Zhao Xin not vent her anger, the anger in her chest burned even more crackling. She destroyed all the rooms she could enter, and finally rushed into his study room, reluctant to smash the antique treasures on the shelf, and put it on the bookshelf. All of his books have been swept down.

In the small grid behind the desk was a box niche made of black sandalwood. Zhao Xin stared at the sandalwood box niche for a long time. She got up from the ground in a messy clothes, raised her hand and straightened her messy hair. Then he stretched out his hand when he first touched the box niche.

“Don’t move!” A cold voice shocked her.

Instead of stopping, Zhao Xin hugged this humble box. She turned around and saw her brother’s pale face. The tension in her eyes couldn’t be faked. She was proud that she finally grabbed the handle of her brother and raised her hand high. The box niche threatened: “You are not allowed to let Wei Liu follow me.”

“Put down the box.” Zhao Shi said with a dumb voice, bleeding in his eyes.

How could Zhao Xin listen to him at this time, “You promise me first.”

Zhao Shi closed his eyes, his voice felt weak, “Okay.”

“Don’t lie to me!”

“will not.”

Zhao Xin hesitated for a while, and for the time being believed that her elder brother would not go back, she was about to put the box niche back, but the box was too heavy, she held it for a while, her thin arms were already sour, and the box slipped from her palm by accident. Go out and land on the ground.

Zhao Shi’s pupils shrank sharply. He ran forward, still taking a step slower, watching the box niche full of her ashes fall heavily to the ground, and all the fine ashes inside were scattered.

The man ran too fast, knocked his knees to the ground, and knelt down.

Zhao Xin looked at him with a trace of fear in his eyes. She did not dare to help her brother up, and stammered: “Brother, what’s the matter with you?”

Zhao Shi knelt on his knees, bent his waist slightly, clinging to the ground with both hands, and a few shocking blood blisters grinded from his fingertips.