The beauty of the Hou family and the king's plan

After dinner in the evening, Shen Baozhao ordered Qingkong to take out all the silver and money she had available for inventory.

After counting the monthly allowances over the years and the rewards from elders during the New Year and other festivals, there was only one thousand taels of silver left, but most of it was gold and silver ingots and various jewelry.

There was a stack of silver notes, which amounted to several thousand taels.

Shen Baozhao divided the cash into three parts, and put one third of the cash and ingots into a very ordinary small box with passionflower branches.

There were also some outdated and inconspicuous jewelry and one thousand taels of silver notes.

He also allocated 50 taels of silver and asked Luoxia to deliver it to Li Dashan's home in Maoer Hutong tomorrow. He also asked Aunt Li to make new clothes for the children, and the rest would be the children's food expenses for one month.

It is easy to solve the problem of food, but accommodation is a big problem.

Although Princess Nanhua had several houses as a dowry, they were all rented out and the deeds were still with the Ministry of Households, which could only be returned after three years.

Shen Baozhao wanted to set up a charity and send all the ragged and hungry children in Maoer Hutong there.

Let them have food to eat, clothes to wear and education to go to.

She held her chin with one hand and idly fiddled with the jewellery with the other, thinking that she still had to find a way to earn money.

The next day was March 15th, the day Shen Jing entered the palace.

Early in the morning, a small sedan chair with a green curtain from the palace stopped at the door of the Bo's house. The visitors were a maid and two young eunuchs.

Shen Jing bid farewell to the master. Although she entered the palace voluntarily, she couldn't help but burst into tears when she thought that she would never see her family again.

Aunt Lan couldn't stop sobbing when she saw this, and couldn't speak.

Young Master Shen Jie Zhang seemed calm and composed. But he handed the bundle to Shen Jing with trembling hands, and his slightly red eyes showed that he was not at peace at the moment.

Just as Shen Jing was about to get into the sedan, she heard a voice: "Wait."

It turned out that Shen Baozhao came in a hurry. When Shen Jing saw Baozhao coming to see her off, her eyes sparkled, as if she had seen her backbone.

Shen Baozhao pulled Shen Jing aside, took the passion fruit wenge box from Qingkong, and handed it to Shen Jing.

When Shen Jing opened it, she saw that it was filled with ordinary and substantial jewelry, which made her nose even more sour.

The palace was no different from other places, without money you couldn't move an inch. In addition to the banknotes, Shen Baozhao gave people very convenient objects for rewarding them.

Shen Jing's face was filled with gratitude: "Fourth sister, I won't be polite to you."

"I don't need you to be polite. I can't help you with anything else." Shen Baozhao also added fuel to the fire when Shen Jing entered the palace.

She knew that the Ning'an Marquis' Mansion would probably not give Shen Jing even one or two taels of silver now, so she could only take away some of Aunt Lan's private property.

Shen Baozhao was afraid that she would not have a good life in the palace, and she would feel guilty about that.

The two looked at each other, and both saw respect in each other's eyes. Shen Baozhao said: "Third sister, the palace is different from other places, you must be careful and cautious in your actions."

The nanny at the side was getting impatient and urged: "Lady Shen, it's time to set off."

Shen Jing got on the sedan chair without looking back, and did not return home until the sedan chair turned the corner and could no longer be seen.

Shen Baozhao took Qingkong on a carriage and went to the Wu'an Earl's Mansion.

The Wu'an Marquis' Mansion is not far from Chang'an Street. Although it looks plain at the entrance, it is actually a very interesting place inside.

Shen Baozhao followed the maidservant beside Lady Wu'an and entered. Behind the screen wall of the hanging flower gate were pavilions, terraces, and lush flowers and trees. Every five steps there was a painting, and every ten steps there was a scene.

The bright hall where guests are received is even more decorated with carved beams and painted buildings.

On both sides of the verandas, there are parrots, thrushes and other birds hanging in cages made of gold and jade.

Shen Baozhao thought to himself that the Wu'an Marquis's Mansion was indeed extremely wealthy.

When Lady Wu'anbo saw that Shen Baozhao was a delicate girl, her heart began to beat fast, fearing that it was just another false alarm.

Shen Baozhao took a seat after greeting her. Mrs. Wu'anbo's wife was indeed not good at speaking, and after a few pleasantries she didn't know how to continue.

Wu Anbo, who was waiting outside, was so anxious that he jumped up and down.

He rushed in without caring about anything, bowed his hands and said to Shen Baozhao, "Fourth Miss Shen, please forgive me. I wonder why you concluded yesterday that my son was poisoned?"

Shen Baozhao nodded: "I have seen it in medical practice. The symptoms are consistent with what I saw yesterday when I saw the Third Young Master Qiao."

"As long as he doesn't get sick, he's only as smart as a three-year-old. Once he gets sick, he'll go crazy and hurt himself and others.

The most obvious point is that when a person is insane, purple-black meridians will appear on his neck. "

Seeing that what Shen Baozhao said was all right, Wu Anbo and his wife hurriedly asked, "Can this poison be cured?"

Shen Baozhao did not answer immediately, and said carefully: "We need to take his pulse first."

So he took Bao Zhao to the courtyard of Young Master Qiao San.

Unlike yesterday's embarrassment, today Third Young Master Qiao was clean and tidy. If you only looked at him from a distance, he looked like a normal person.

He was squatting on the ground fiddling with ants. When he saw Mrs. Wu Anbo, he shouted, "Mom, come and see! Little ants are fighting."

When the three of them approached, Young Master Qiao saw Shen Baozhao behind Mrs. Wu Anbo, and he grinned and called out again, "Wife."

Shen Baozhao: “!”

Wu Anbo and his wife were very embarrassed, so they explained: "My dear, this is not your wife."

The Third Young Master Qiao began to insist, waving his hands and feet as if he wanted to rush towards Shen Baozhao: "This is my daughter-in-law. Mother said that she is beautiful. This is the most beautiful one I have ever seen."

Wu Anbo was afraid that his son would offend Shen Baozhao, so he wanted to stop him.

Unexpectedly, Young Master Qiao went berserk again and punched Wu Anbo in the chest. Even a strong man like Wu Anbo was knocked back three steps.

Mrs. Wu Anbo could only cover her mouth and cry, and dared not step forward.

Shen Baozhao quickly pulled out the golden needle from his waist, dodged behind Young Master Qiao San, and inserted the needle into the back acupoint.

In an instant, Young Master Qiao stopped attacking and fainted.

"It's okay, he just fainted. This will make it easier for me to take his pulse." Shen Baozhao explained to Mr. and Mrs. Wu Anbo.

After moving the third young master Qiao into the inner room, Shen Baozhao held his breath and carefully felt his pulse.

After a while, he said, "If I'm not mistaken, the Third Young Master has been poisoned for more than ten years."

"Yes, it was when Baoer was six years old. I don't know how he became like this after waking up." Mrs. Wu Anbo wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief.

When she saw that Shen Baozhao could tell the approximate time of her son's poisoning just by taking his pulse, she felt more convinced.

"Later, we invited many famous doctors to treat him. We even invited almost all the doctors in the palace."

"Everyone said Bao'er was sick. He drank so much medicine, but it never worked."

"Some people also said that he was possessed by an evil spirit. The master of Fahua Temple and the Taoist priest of Qingxu Temple had come to see him.

We have tried everything, and we are at our wits’ end.”

Mrs. Wu'anbo talked about her son's illness and then she kept talking on and on. Shen Baozhao listened patiently.

Shen Baozhao was puzzled when he saw that the mansion was so big with many servants but only the Wu'an Earl and his wife were the master.

He asked casually, "Master Qiao is the third child. If I'm not mistaken, he should have two elder brothers?"

"Dead, his brothers are all dead." Mrs. Wu Anbo's face was numb and her tone was cold.