Records of the King of Xin'an County

While Wang Sheren was busy spreading his reputation thousands of miles away, the Prince's Mansion of Xin'an County in Chang'an City was very comfortable sending out posts to relatives and friends, inviting them to go out of Beijing and go to the hot spring village to rest together.Prince Pu Li Tai, Princess Sipu Zhou, Princess Changning and sisters, the head of Xin'an County, brothers and sisters of the Qin family all responded one after another, preparing for the trip with great interest.

At this time, it is the second month of Yangchun. Although there are still occasional heavy snows, the weather has gradually warmed up.The hot spring Zhuangzi is warmer than other places, and the peach blossoms planted are beginning to bloom, as bright as clouds, especially gorgeous and moving.The king of Xin'an lingered under the tree slowly, looking at the little ladies not far away holding flowers and sniffing lightly, the corners of his lips slightly raised.Even if it's not for anything else, just for this peach forest with brilliant flowers, this trip is not in vain.

"Uncle!" Nephew Li Qiao rushed up from behind and hugged his leg tightly.

Li Hui picked him up and led him back to Li Tai who was panting after him.Poor, chubby Prince Pu was full of thoughts at first to take his grandchildren and niece wandering in the peach blossom forest, enjoying some fun with his grandchildren, but in a blink of an eye, all three children ran away happily.He was far less sensitive than his grandsons and granddaughters. He spent a long time moving around before he found his grandson, but he was cut off by his son halfway.

His Royal Highness Prince Pu wiped the sweat from his forehead, feeling a little sad.Yan Shi and Li Xin are both busy these days, and Zhou Shi is also a little unwell, so he is alone in raising his grandchildren.Unexpectedly, when the granddaughter saw her little niece, she left hand in hand, and the nephew even talked about his uncle in front of him every day.It was clear that it was his grandfather who worked hard, but the two little guys didn't remember the old grandfather at all when they got interested.

"Grandfather, I ordered people to light a fire in the warm pavilion ahead, why don't you take Dalang to rest for a while?" Li Hui held his nephew in one hand and supported his father in the other, "You are all sweating, but Don't catch the cold because of the beauty. Although Zhuangzi is warm, it is still snowing, so you can't ignore it."

"That's good." Li Tai replied, without mentioning that he was too tired to move now, and reluctantly followed his son forward, "Speaking of which, why have we never thought about buying a house near Mount Li? How about a hot spring village? Even if the sage doesn’t come to the Lishan Palace, we can come here to rest for a while at any time. In this kind of weather, we should soak in the hot soup for more time to drive away the cold and get rid of the disease. You can inquire about it some other day , who else is willing to sell Zhuangzi. It doesn’t make sense that even the Du family can get a bargain, but our Prince Pu’s mansion can’t buy it.”

It's not that His Royal Highness Prince Pu looks down on his own family, it's that the Du family is indeed living in a bit of a shabby state.

Not to mention that the vacancies of their family's lords were filled by relying on the face of Prince Pu's Mansion and Xin'an County Prince's Mansion. Li Hui personally picked a good real vacancy for them and entered the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of Shangshu Province.Even if the Ministry of Industry is unremarkable among the six ministries, it is much better than the low-level officials they served before.Not to mention that even after their family moved to the capital, the mansion they lived in was given by Li Hui.

If the Du family's current industrial prospects are added up, it may only be three to five hundred per year.It seems that three to five hundred strings is not a lot, but the whole family of a dozen or so and a hundred or so servants can only live a simple and simple life.Even if they wanted to, they couldn't show off the ostentation of the Xin'an County Princess's natal family.

But it is such a Du family who can squeeze out two hundred yuan to buy this hot spring village worth more than five or six hundred yuan. It has to be said that their luck is so good that it is a bit weird.His Royal Highness Prince Pu is not stupid, he always felt that there seemed to be something wrong, so he pointed out earnestly: "Maybe someone wants to follow your path, and wants to bribe your wife and family first. You can't be easily deceived by the wind around your bed. , do something you shouldn’t do.”

It was rare to hear such a reasonable teaching from his grandpa, and Li Hui couldn't help but smile: "Don't worry, grandpa. I have sent someone to check the source of this Zhuangzi, and I haven't found any problems for the time being. When I was in my natal family, the trustworthy steward was sent here. Since the princess personally appointed me, I would not easily use this Zhuangzi to do illegal things if I came to the Du family." Of course, the fact that no problems have been found now does not mean that there will be no problems in the future. .

"It's good that you understand." His Highness Pu raised his chin, "Don't forget about your own hot spring village, let's go."

Li Hui put his nephew down, stroked his little head, and then watched the grandparent and grandson enter the warm pavilion to rest.

Immediately afterwards, he turned around, and Yang Shen's small face appeared under the peach tree next to him: "Sir, I found five secret passages, which are very secretive. There are two secret passages that can only be accessed by children or women. With such a stature, Mr. Men should not be able to get in." The little guy knows the secrets of Xin'an County Prince's Mansion and Changning Princess' Mansion like the back of his hand, and he seems to be born with exceptionally keen perception, and he can easily find many clues.Therefore, after arriving at Hot Spring Zhuangzi, he was given the task of "finding the secret path".

Li Hui frowned slightly: "Take me to have a look."

The master and the apprentice walked through the secret path once.The three secret passages that can be walked are empty, and they are only passing through the hot spring village: from the main room of the main house, it leads to the vicinity of the hot spring pool, which is convenient for the host to take a bath at any time; from the bottom of the inner hall, it leads to the other side. A hot spring pool is probably prepared for the hostess; there is also a hot spring pool leading from the kitchen, which is most likely to be used for delivering food or drinks at any time.

If people in Hot Spring Zhuangzi accidentally discovered these three secret passages, they would probably just laugh. It is very likely that they will naturally ignore the other two secret passages that men cannot pass through.The entrance of the cave is so narrow that even children and women have to bow their waists to enter—to say the least, in the eyes of careless people, they are just two rockery caves.

Li Hui looked at the narrow entrance of the secret passage, and Yang Shen got in and poked his head out.He squinted his eyes, thought for a moment, and suddenly said: "If a thin man like a woman or a young man can enter the secret passage, right? The Jiangxia County King's fief is located in the south, so maybe he deliberately recruited short men to train as his troops. Qu. A Tao, go find out where the secret road leads to? Is it inside Lishan Mountain or outside it?"

Yang Shen responded with a torch and walked away. It took nearly two hours before he walked through the two secret passages: "Sir, there are a lot of armor and weapons inside, there are a hundred or so!"

"..." It should be said, as expected?Li Hui curled his lips and smiled.The trick of planting and framing has been used too many times, but Duke Jiangxia still doesn't shy away from using it again, maybe there will be a follow-up? "Where does that lead?"

"It should be in the forest of the nearby manor. I was worried that I would scare the snake, so I didn't go out to check it. Sir, what should we do now?" Yang Shen's eyes were shining, as if he had developed a strong interest in this matter.

"First of all, you draw a map and mark the places where the armored weapons are hidden. Then, call all the parts and ask them to open up another secret road, so that these armored weapons can be transported away silently at any time. Thirdly, they must install suitable mechanisms in these two secret passages. Even if they cannot kill all these thieves, they can completely block them in and never let them escape." Li Hui laughed, "If you find it interesting, You can take a closer look at the side, and you can also be careful not to accidentally injure yourself in the future."

The part of Xin'an County Prince's Mansion is very familiar with the construction and reconstruction of secret passages - after all, they have dug out the secret passages under the Princess Mansion and the County Prince's Mansion.In just a few days, they can change the underground of this hot spring village without anyone noticing.

Yang Shen nodded, and left immediately, even his footsteps seemed light.Not long after he left, Princess Yong'an and the head of Shouyang County came to play with him hand in hand. After hearing that he was not there, the two young ladies were quite disappointed.Li Hui comforted them for a moment, picked flowers for them himself, and put the hairpins on the double buns, and they turned their boredom into joy.

After thoroughly checking the entire hot spring village over and over again, after placing enough people, Wang Fang of Xin'an County had the leisure to enjoy the hot spring.It was already late at night, and he leaned on the white marble and looked up at the sky.There were bursts of silver bell-like laughter from a distance, presumably the female relatives were still laughing in the hot spring, which made him feel lonely and lonely alone.

Perhaps because of this situation, he suddenly missed Wang Zixian who was thousands of miles away.Because of the need to avoid suspicion, they did not communicate frequently.After arriving at the Taiyuan Mansion Palace, Wang Zixian only sent a letter of safety to his family, with a thin piece of paper for him.

Now, I don't know what he is doing?Have you already slept peacefully, or are you still thinking about how to take this opportunity to get some credit so that you can continue to be promoted in the future?Could it be that he took the one-piece dress that he joked that day seriously?

-

At the same moment, two special guests came to the Hanliang Hall where Concubine Zhou De lived.

The lights are like beans, which seem to be extinguished but not extinguished.Concubine Zhou De gathered the fur coat, asked the palace servants to cut a length of wick, and looked at the two who wrapped themselves tightly in black cloaks by the light that was slowly turning on.If Empress Du hadn't mentioned it to her earlier, there would be such an incident very likely recently, I'm afraid she would have regarded these two people as people with evil intentions, and ordered the palace people to beat them out.

"My concubine pays homage to His Highness Concubine De." After confirming that it was safe, the two took off their cloaks and saluted gracefully.If any concubine or maidservant in the palace saw them, they would be extremely surprised——since when did Pei Jieyu and Beauty Yuan become friends?

In the beginning, Yuan Meiren and Xiao Yang's rivalry, as a cousin Pei Jieyu should be a member of Xiao Yang's, and the two can be regarded as enemies.After the young and the young Yang family were demoted to common people, Pei Jieyu was wise to protect her life, and Yuan Meiren attached herself to her aunt, Concubine Yuan Shu, and never showed any intention of making friends.Even if one of them gave birth to the third princess and the other gave birth to the fifth princess, and they got closer because of the sympathy of raising their daughters, there should be rumors.

Concubine Zhou De looked at them indifferently: "You are really surprising. After all, come to see me quietly in the middle of the night, but what's the important thing? But let's talk about it first - I'm heavy now, and I can't stay up too long at night. If you don't say it clearly, then go back earlier."

Neither Pei Jieyu nor Yuan Meiren expected that Concubine Zhou De, who had read a lot of poetry and books, would be so "blunt".The two looked at each other, and Yuan Meiren said in a low voice: "I would like to ask Your Highness Concubine De to arrange a suitable time to take this concubine to meet Her Majesty the Queen. I have recently discovered something very important and I want to report it to Her Majesty the Queen. Concubine dare not delay the safety of the dragon's heir, it may lead to a catastrophe."

Hearing this, Concubine Zhou De was not nervous, she just smiled slightly: "The right time? Your Highness the Empress has not prohibited concubines from greeting each other in the morning and evening, and you can go to Penglai Palace to have an audience early tomorrow morning."

Meiren Yuan was stunned: "But..." What if Empress Du mistakenly thinks that she has another heart and doesn't let her into the palace?

"As long as you stand upright and your heart is as clear as a mirror, Her Majesty the Empress will naturally meet you. You just need to remember that there is nothing in Daming Palace that Her Majesty the Empress does not know, and that's enough." Concubine Zhou De replied.

Yuan Meiren couldn't help but shuddered, feeling nervous and frightened, and even more awed.Then she continued to say in a slow voice: "Pei Jieyu can also take Wuniang with her. Yueniang and Wanniang are not here these two days, and Her Highness is lonely by her side. If there are children's laughter in the Penglai Palace, I want to come to her You'll be happy too."

"I understand." Pei Jieyu replied knowingly.