Brocade tears

In the evening of the fourth day of September in the 11th year of Wanli.This is the second day that Sui Er came to Meng's house. Meng Yi, who had been away for a whole day, came back with a sudden news that he could not send Sui Er away for the time being, and Sui Er needed to stay at home.As for how long to stay, he didn't know, he just said to wait.

After dinner was finished in silence, Meng Yi asked the whole family to stay in the kitchen. He had something to say.So the whole family, including Sui'er, sat around the Eight Immortals table.Meng Yi sat on the main seat, took a deep breath, and said:

"I haven't explained to you what happened yesterday. I thought I would send Sui'er away soon, so you don't need to know. But now the situation has changed. Sui'er may stay at home for a long time. You also need to know what happened, so I will tell you about it." He glanced at Sui'er who was sitting beside Meng Qing, and said:

"As you all know, Sui'er is from Zhang Taiyue's family. She is a maid in Zhang Taiyue's study. In fact, she should be called a book boy who serves pen and ink. Because of her outstanding memory and talent, she is deeply trusted and loved by Zhang Taiyue. More than a year ago, Sui'er was sent back to his hometown Jingzhou by Zhang Taiyue, and has been embroidering in the old house of Zhang's mansion since then. The former Chief Assistant has lost power, his family has been arrested and jailed, and his home has been confiscated. Sui'er was escorted to Beijing by me. On the way, the prisoner in Zhang’s house told me about her life experience, saying that she was from Jiashan County, had no father and no mother, and was adopted by a embroiderer. Later, the embroiderer died, and she lived on the street. By chance, she was taken by the governor of Zhejiang. After entering the capital, I entered Zhang's residence. The prisoners in Zhang's residence begged me to save her, and let her live no matter what. I don't know the reason, and naturally I never agreed, but to be honest, I was always worried.

After returning to Beijing for delivery, I went to look for Li Laosan in the Imperial Prison yesterday, hoping to meet Sui'er, and by the way, find out what is so important about this girl, and ask someone to help and protect her like this.But I never thought that Li Laosan suggested that I should assist him in rescuing Sui'er.I asked him why, but he didn't answer.I never answered him, but he begged hard and refused to give up.During the entanglement, unexpected guests suddenly broke into the prison, trying to rob the prison.At that time, it was almost dusk, it was the shifting time, and the guards inside and outside the prison were lax. I never expected that someone would break in at this time.Coupled with the fact that the opponent's methods are vicious and clever, good at blowing poisonous arrows, with light hands and feet, he sneaked in silently, and hardly disturbed the people inside. When he came in, we knew that the people outside were gone.

At that time, Li Laosan and I were some distance away from the cell where Sui Er was imprisoned, and we ate wine in the guard room on the right side outside the cell.Suddenly hearing the sound of prisoners shouting from inside the cell, he hurriedly sent out a signal for help, and then rushed in with a knife.Seeing that the three men in black had already pried open the cell door, they were just knocking Sui'er out and pulling her out.They probably didn't know that there were guards in the prison, so they didn't deliberately hide their whereabouts in the prison, and directly robbed people roughly.And the woman who was detained with Sui'er yelled so loudly, dragging Sui'er and refusing to let go, which was beyond their expectation.

The edict prison is not built on the ground like ordinary prisons, but a hole is dug below, which is a semi-underground structure.The room is low and very damp.The walls are several feet thick, there are no windows around, and there are only two doors at the front and back for entry and exit.The front door opened on the ground, it was the entrance we used to enter and exit, and it was also the entrance through which the three men in black sneaked in.And the back door opened under the wall, so narrow that only one person could crawl out.That hole was not left by a living person, but by a dead person.If someone died of torture, they were dragged out through the back door.The backyard outside the wall is a muddy swamp, surrounded by a high wall, and the corpses are thrown into the mud when thrown out.Every now and then, a corpse dragger would come to remove the corpses, but over the years, an unknown number of dead corpses had rotted there, and the mud was full of bones, which was horrible and stinky.

The three men in black saw me and Li Laosan breaking in, and there were follow-up officers and soldiers coming from behind. Knowing that the front door was impossible to get out, they forcibly broke open the back door and threw Sui'er out through the back door. Climb out the back door and flee outside with Sui'er on his shoulders.

It's a pity that they didn't escape in the end. They carried Sui'er and got stuck in the mud. They were covered in dirty and smelly mud. They finally climbed over the high wall, but were directly surrounded by the Jin Yiwei who came after them in the back alley.They had no choice but to leave Sui'er behind, biting poison one after another and committing suicide. "

When he said this, he saw that Zhao Shi, Meng Kuang and Meng Qing all turned pale, and Meng Ai curled up in his mother's arms sobbing in fear, so he stopped talking and didn't continue.Sui'er, the person involved, couldn't help shaking all over.Meng Qing finally knew why Sui'er was so dirty and smelled so bad, it was all corpse mud!She covered her mouth and nose, about to vomit.But seeing Sui'er trembling beside her, she suddenly felt a surge of strength from the bottom of her heart, endured the nausea in her heart, and held her hand.Sui'er's cold hand was grasped forcefully by her warm hand, and she diverted her attention for a moment, and her sense of fear instantly faded a lot.She glanced at Meng Qing who was beside her without any trace, and her nose felt a little sore for a moment.

After being silent for a while, Meng Yi continued: "There is chaos in the prison, so many officers and soldiers have died, and the door of the cell is wide open, and there is no one to guard it for a while. Li Laosan made a decisive decision and took this opportunity to take Sui'er with him." She went out of the imperial prison and hid, and blamed this group of men in black. It was only said that two other men in black escaped and took her away. Anyway, the only witnesses at that time were me and Li Laosan, and Sui'er was covered in mud. I don’t know the appearance. I thought this was feasible, and felt that Sui’er would be in greater danger if she continued in prison, so I followed what he said and hid the unconscious Sui’er in a nearby cart , and then found a donkey and brought her back home."

"Does only father and Li Sanbo know about this?" Meng Kuang asked, feeling that something was wrong, and the two of them really couldn't hide this matter.

"No, there is also Li Laosan's apprentice, the second in charge of the prison, all of them know about this matter. He brought people to help, and we can't hide it from him. Moreover, because such a big event happened, Li Laosan wanted to send spikes with me. It is really unreasonable for my son to leave his post when he came to Lingji Palace. There must be someone to stay and continue to take care of the imperial prison to welcome the Shangguan who came down to inspect. The third Li took such a big risk to send Sui'er home with me, just to After confirming that I had indeed hidden Sui'er at home, he hurried back to Fusi, Beizhen, with a time difference.

I thought it was a secret, but I never thought about it. I went to meet Li Laosan today, but I didn't wait for him for a long time.His family lived in the east of the city, I walked through the city to his house, but saw that the officers and soldiers had sealed off his house, and after inquiring, I found out that Li Laosan hanged himself before dawn today.The superiors now suspect that he has something to do with the prison robbery.I was also at the scene of the prison robbery, so I will definitely be suspected. Someone may come to investigate the house soon, and I must not leave without authorization right now.The outside of our house may already be covered with eyeliner, from now on you must be careful and never expose Sui'er's whereabouts. "

"Do you want to check the house? What should I do?" Zhao asked in panic.

"I'll send Sui'er to Chief Luo Dao in Lingji Palace to take refuge temporarily. I have a plan in mind, and I will act according to the plan." Meng Yi said calmly.

……

The next morning, the door of Meng's small courtyard opened, and Meng Yi came out with two people.These two people are a man and a woman. The man wears a bamboo hat with the brim of his hat pulled down very low.He was carrying a woman on his back. The woman's face and hair were all wrapped in a thick kerchief, making it impossible to see her face clearly.Meng Yi led them out of the west alley of Lingji Palace, and deliberately walked onto the pavement at the east end of the alley.Liu Laosi, who sells oil cakes at the cross street, passed by, and the inquisitive Liu Laosi really greeted them and stopped them:

"Hey, Father Meng? Where are you going this early in the morning?"

"The third sister in the family caught wind and cold and had a fever all night, and asked her second brother to carry it on his back, so he went to Lingji Palace to see a doctor." Meng Yi replied.

"That's not good, let Daoist Luo show you."

After a brief greeting, Meng Yi led the "Brothers and Sisters Kuang Qing" away and entered the Lingji Palace in the distance.A medical clinic was opened outside the Lingji Palace, and Daoist Luo in the palace sat there all year round for consultations. His skillful hands and benevolent heart were deeply loved and respected by the neighbors in all directions.Whenever there is a little incomprehension, I like to ask him to have a look, to ensure that the medicine will cure the disease.

Meng Yi brought Kuang Qing and his siblings into the hospital, and soon came out with only Meng Kuang, bypassing Liu Lao Si's door and returning home.Liu Laosi greeted again:

"Where is the third sister?"

"Stayed in Luo Daochang's place. She had a severe fever. The Daoist chief asked her to take medicine to reduce the fever."

"That's the reason. Daoist Luo has seen it, and a patch of medicine is ready." Liu Laosi replied.

"Hey, it looks like you gave it to the doctor."

"Hi."

The two joked with each other, behind him Meng Kuang was still holding his hat down, not saying a word, and couldn't see his face clearly.

After saying hello, Meng Yi led Meng Kuang into the alleyway of his house, and immediately entered the house.

After about half a stick of incense, a tall and strong man came from the east, dressed in the green clothes of a brocade guard, carrying a bundle on his back, and carrying a sword wrapped in cloth strips, walked swiftly through the streets and alleys, and made the sign of the cross. Old Liu at the street crossed the door and walked towards the alleyway where Meng's small courtyard was located.Liu Laosi recognized him at a glance, smiled and shouted:

"Brother Xu? I haven't seen you for a while, and I'm back on duty."

The man looked back, showing a heroic and masculine face, and replied with a smile:

"Hey, Fourth Uncle Liu, you have really nice eyes."

"That's right! At this street corner, I can't see clearly." Fourth Liu boasted.

Meng Xu smiled, turned around and entered the alleyway, and entered the house.

As soon as he entered, he saw his father, mother, and second brother Meng Kuang all guarding the door.Father Meng Yi asked:

"How? Is it going well?"

"Don't worry, dad, no one suspects who was sent to Lingji Palace in the morning. When I came here, I looked carefully. A few eyeliners hidden nearby were still guarding our house, but no one was watching Lingji Palace. You This strategy of stealing the sky and changing the sun is very clever, and no one will understand it." Meng Xu laughed.

It turned out that everything that happened this morning was a cover-up trick arranged by Meng Yi to smuggle Sui'er into the Lingji Palace Medical Center.Thanks to Meng Qing, the eldest daughter of the Meng family, who made men's clothing in a small business, the neighbors misunderstood her as the second brother Meng Kuang, which gave Meng Yi a sudden inspiration and came up with this plan.This plan came to him after he learned about Li Laosan's accident yesterday. He made a quick decision, found a ghostwriter booth by the side of the road, borrowed a pen and ink to write down the plan and sealed it in his own hand, and then went to Jinyiwei Palace City to tour the camp. He took out a pair of new shoes that had just been bought, stuffed the letter in it, and entrusted someone to give it to Meng Xu who was on duty in the camp.It happened that tomorrow was the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, and Meng Xu had to return home early in the morning, so this plan was implemented.

First of all, Meng Qing wore men's clothes with her hair tied up, and she wore a bamboo hat, making people mistake her for her second brother Meng Kuang.Sui'er put on Meng Qing's dress, covered her head and face, and leaned on Meng Qing's back to pretend to be Meng Qing.Meng Yi led them out and passed in front of Liu Laosi at the cross street. The light was dim in the early morning, and they had just woken up, and they were confused, which was the time when they were easily confused.In this way, Liu Laosi could mistakenly think that Meng Kuang was carrying Meng Qing to see a doctor.

After arriving at the Lingji Palace Medical Center, Meng Qing exchanged clothes with her eldest brother Meng Xu who had been waiting there for a long time. Meng Xu put on Meng Qing's clothes and pretended to be Meng Kuang who had returned from the medical treatment with his third sister on his back. Liu Laosi saw it, and then entered the house.

Next door to Meng's house is the cloth warehouse of the weaving and dyeing workshop, where donkey carts for delivery are waiting to load goods every morning.Meng Xu quietly climbed out of the courtyard wall, hid under the delivery truck, and followed the truck all the way out of the vicinity of Lingji Palace, then quietly returned to the Lingji Palace Medical Center, and put on the brocade clothes guard that he had left at the Lingji Palace Medical Center Uniform, carrying a burden and a weapon on his back, all the way back to the small courtyard of the Meng family, and let Liu Lao Si witness again.

In this way, the strategy of stealing the sky and changing the sun was successful.It's just that these days, if Meng Qing suffers, she has to hide with Sui Er in the Lingji Palace Medical Center.Luo Daochang had a very good personal relationship with Meng Yi. When he was still in Zhejiang in the early years, Meng Yi saved his life.Later, Mrs. Zhao gave birth several times in Guimenguan, thanks to his nursing care.But hiding in the Lingji Palace Medical Center is not a long-term solution. If Jin Yiwei can't find Sui'er in Meng's house, he may search the whole city, and then the Lingji Palace Medical Center will not be safe.Meng Qing and Sui Er need to wait for their home to be investigated and cleared of suspicion, and then return home as soon as possible to hide.

Since this day, the Meng family has vaguely felt that the peaceful days are gone forever.