Little Cardamom

"...The concubine said that if the subordinate did not take her up, he would have to swim there by himself, so the subordinate had no choice but to take the concubine onto the boat. Of course, the subordinate could knock the concubine unconscious directly, but it is true that the subordinate saw the concubine. Some of them are very worried about the master, and some can't bear to do this... It's the subordinate's dereliction of duty, and the subordinate is willing to accept the punishment."

Back at the magistrate's office, Yun Yi explained everything that happened tonight.

"Can't bear it?" Jiang Xu glanced at her indifferently.

Yun Yi knelt on the ground, but her back was very straight: "This subordinate is from Jinyunwei, so I really shouldn't bear it, but after being with the princess for a long time, the first time this subordinate sees the princess, he loses his composure like today. The princess doesn't know what the lord wants to do. What to do, I am just afraid that something will happen to the Lord, and I just want to be the savior, and please don't blame the princess."

"Are you blaming the king?"

"Subordinates dare not." Yun Yi lowered her head.

Jiang Xu didn't know what he was thinking, he was silent for a long time, and suddenly said: "You have found the person this king is looking for, let's forget this time, if you indulge the princess in danger again, you don't have to appear in front of this king again, go down. "

"yes."

After Yunyi retreated, Jiang Xu stood quietly in the bright room for a while, the night was dark outside, and there were sporadic birds and cicadas, he suddenly stepped up and walked to the inner room.

The inner room is quiet, and it is full of magnificence that she usually finds vulgar, but fortunately she brought the mattress and soothing incense herself, perhaps it is because of this that she sleeps so soundly at this moment.

Sitting by the couch, Jiang Xu glanced at the slight burns on her hands, then picked up the wet handkerchief placed by the basin, and wiped off the remaining dirt on her face.

In fact, the reason why he agreed to the magistrate's invitation to go to Xianquanfang tonight was because of the evidence left by Zhou Baoping, there were clues.

A few days earlier, he had sent his secret guards into Lingzhou to investigate the case of Zhou Baoping's sudden death, and the result had already been obtained.

Undoubtedly, Zhou Baoping was silenced because of the evidence that the Lingzhou Shipping Department had manipulated Bobuy, concealed reports, etc., and was given an ugly cause of death by prostitution, tyranny, and excessive indulgence.

However, Zhou Baoping was able to become a person trusted by the emperor, and he was also very sharp and intelligent. Knowing that he was in danger, he hid the evidence in advance.

During his tenure as a prison officer in the shipping department of Lingzhou City, he often walked alone and seldom made friends with others. In the territory of Su's house, obviously no one dared to make friends with him.

The dark guard went to Lingzhou to search for a few days and found that the only thing he could call a hobby was going to the 180th Boat to listen to music for fun. He had been to many houses, and the one he visited the most was the one that was as famous as Xianquanfang. Muchunfang.

And the few girls in Muchunfang that he favored a lot are the evidence and foil for his absurd death of prostitution, tyrannical prostitution, and excessive indulgence.

According to the investigation by the hidden guards, the Shibo Secretary should have controlled Zhou Baoping as soon as he got the evidence. I don't know what happened. Anyway, Zhou Baoping never let go. The Shibo Secretary saw that he couldn't pry anything from his mouth. , simply solved him, and then followed his usual relationship to find the girls in Muchunfang.

The girls didn't know anything about the evidence, and claimed that Master Zhou usually only listened to twists and turns to make fun of them, and never talked about their own affairs.

However, as a person who has relatively more contact with Zhou Baoping, Shi Bosi will not let them go easily. After the torture failed, he directly killed a few of them, and then made a group with Zhou Baoping to make a prostitute. The illusion of sudden death.

So far, there are no clues of the evidence hidden by Zhou Baoping. The secret guards searched for several days but failed, and the Su family also made no progress.

Until they entered Lingzhou, someone secretly contacted the secret guard, claiming that Master Zhou had given the things to her for safekeeping, but she was entrusted by Master Zhou, so she had to hand over the things to someone sent by the Holy Majesty herself.

The person who secretly contacted the dark guard was an inconspicuous little girl in Muchunfang, Qiuyue.

During the famine year, Zhou Baoping kindly saved her life, and she has been serving Zhou Baoping faithfully.

As early as three months before Zhou Baoping was transferred to the Shipping Department of Lingzhou City, she came to Lingzhou alone and found a job as a fire girl in Muchunfang in advance.

Qiuyue has a bland and forgettable face. She usually concentrates on doing things and keeps silent, with no sense of presence.

When Zhou Baoping went to Muchunfang to order people to sing, she brought tea to the house several times, but she was so insignificant that no matter whether it was the host or the secret guard, she ignored it during the investigation.

However, because of Zhou Baoping's incident, several leading girls were lost in a row, and the company came to check people every now and then, Mu Chunfang's business has been sluggish in recent days, so it had to send all the girls including Qiuyue away. out.

Qiuyue has always kept in mind her master's instructions, and she will not hand over the evidence until the person sent by the Holy Lord appears. In order to avoid being found to be suspicious, she did not act rashly. Like most other girls, she found a job in Xianquanfang nearby manual labor.

Jiang Xu was invited to Xianquanfang tonight just to meet this Qiuyue girl in person.

It's just that Qiuyue took the initiative to contact the dark guard to show her flaws. After Jiang Xu entered Xianquanfang tonight, before meeting her, Su's family sensed something was wrong and sent someone to rob her.

However, there were many hidden guards on the ship, but the people who came robbed Qiuyue but couldn't take it away smoothly. In desperation, they simply threw it into the cabin, spread oil, and set fires everywhere.

This season is flammable and dry, and the wind on the river is the easiest way to disperse the fire, so Jiang Xu and his party can be temporarily forced to leave the boat.

The person who came probably thought that if Qiuyue hadn't been smoldered to death by the time the fire was extinguished, it would be best for them to kidnap him again. If he died, Jiang Xu and his party might find it difficult to find evidence for the time being.

This move was indeed a success, and the Xianquanfang leaked water for no reason, Jiang Xu and Shu Jing had no choice but to evacuate temporarily.

The dark guards intercepted the visitors when they wanted to escape from the boat, but the visitors were all dead men, and they killed themselves by biting poison before they could be questioned. The only thing that is certain at the moment is that they will not have time to take Qiuyue away in the future .

Seeing that the fire on the boat was completely extinguished and Qiuyue was not found, Jiang Xu didn't want to stay any longer, but unexpectedly, Mingtan's accident happened—his little princess was so stupid as to go to the boat to rescue him.

In fact, when he walked into the water, he thought for a moment that the river opera in Lingzhou is very famous, and the magistrate's wife might invite the princess to watch it tonight, and then she might see the boat catch fire.

But he only thought about it for a moment. How do you see it? so what? She has always been a bit clever, so she would never think that he would be troubled by this.

So much so that when he heard the dark guard coming to report, when the princess got on the boat to save him, he didn't recover. After regaining consciousness, I felt absurd for a while, and felt indescribably touched for a while.

…

Ming Tan felt that he was very tired, as if he had slept for a long time, when he slowly opened his eyes, he saw that the outside of the house was pitch black, and the lights inside were already on.

Jiang Xu was sitting on a couch not far away, reading a book.

Hearing movement on the bed, he raised his eyes, put down the scroll in his hand, got up and walked to the bed.

"Woke up."

Ming Tan nodded, wanting to sit up.

Jiang Xu helped her and set up the brocade pillow for her to lean on. He also lifted his hem and sat down on the edge of the couch.

"How does it feel?" he asked softly.

"No problem, how about you, husband, are you injured?"

"My lord is fine, but you, who slept all day and all night, do you need to ask the doctor to take a look?"

Ming Tan paused: "One day and one night?"

She thought she had just slept for a few hours.

So, it was already yesterday that the boat went into the water?

She hurriedly asked a few things about last night, remembering that Jiang Xu had boarded the boat to rescue her last night, and asked cautiously: "By the way, husband, I got on the boat last night, so I didn't cause you trouble? Qi rescued a girl from the bottom of the cabin, she was tied up, I don't know what happened, is she still alive?"

"Alive, she happens to be the person this king is looking for. The princess didn't cause trouble, but helped me instead."

Ming Tan was a little surprised: "Really, really? Why did your husband find her?"

In fact, she was just asking in passing, but after she finished asking, she felt awkward and hurriedly interrupted, trying to cover up the conversation.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Xu took the initiative to bring the conversation back, patiently, and told her everything, including what he and Shu Jingran did when they came to Lingzhou, and even included many court affairs. Things.

There was too much information in these words, Ming Tan was stunned for a while, unable to digest for a while.

After she suppressed the shock in her heart and slowly digested these things, she couldn't help but said in a low voice with some hesitation: "Husband, women in this dynasty are not allowed to interfere in politics...you tell me these..."

"It was the king who told you, and it wasn't you who took the initiative to inquire." Jiang Xu interrupted, "And women are not allowed to participate in politics. They have always restrained stupid people who have no opinions. You don't have to deliberately avoid it in the future. You are a princess, say The above few sentences are not important, if they are useful, I can listen to them, if they are slanderous, I will be swayed by them, it is because I have no ability to distinguish right from wrong, so it has nothing to do with you."

Ming Tan stared at him blankly.

Some of what he said today went beyond what she had been taught before, but it sounded quite reasonable.

"What are you thinking?"

Ming Tan shook his head: "Husband talks a lot today."

"..."

Ming Tan hastily explained: "I don't dislike my husband talking too much, it's because my husband talks less on weekdays, and my husband said more today than in a normal month."

It gets darker and darker.

When Ming Tan didn't know what to say to make up for it, Jiang Xu suddenly said, "I have something that I want to ask you."

"What's up?"

"Why do you want to board the boat?"

Thinking about today from last night, he barely understood why she felt that he could not escape safely. It's nothing more than thinking that Su's family occupies land in Lingzhou and is king, and their hands and eyes are open to the sky. This situation is deliberately framed by Su's family.

But in his perception, even if something happened to him, the princess should not be so impulsive.

If Su's family can kill him on the boat, she will die in vain if she goes up. She has always been smart, so she can't even understand this point, and she also cherishes her life. Why would she do this?

In fact, he vaguely had an answer in his heart, but for some reason, he still wanted to ask her personally. After asking, he just kept watching, his eyes calm and straight.

Ming Tan looked at him for a while, and suddenly looked away unnaturally.

She grabbed the corner of the quilt, and the roots of her ears began to feel hot for no reason.

Now that she is awake, she also feels that she was so stupid that she lost control last night, but now she did that, she just felt that if something happened to her husband, she would not want to live alone, so she didn't know what was wrong, maybe she was tricked into it. Maybe, why do you keep asking her!

"I, I seem to be a little dizzy, and I want to sleep for a while..."

As soon as she said that, as soon as she pulled up the brocade quilt, she got into it, even her little head was tightly covered, and she turned inside, step by step, approaching the corner of the bed.