Jiajing was a little surprised that Xiao Feng came back to see him so soon.
"You have a clue so soon?"
Xiao Feng paid homage with a Taoist ceremony and couldn't help but bow his head. Jiajing's heart sank.
"If you have anything to say, just say it. I said, I want to hear the truth this time."
"Senior brother, I have a merciless request. Please don't blame me, and please keep it a secret for me."
Jiajing felt a little more relaxed. It turned out that he was here to support him, and he thought there was a result.
"But it doesn't matter, I promise you."
"I want to check the list of the last time my senior brother recruited show girls, which was three years ago, as well as the list of officials who selected the show girls."
"this……"
This is not a difficult matter, but it is indeed a topic that Jiajing does not want to talk about with others. No wonder Xiao Feng wanted to plead guilty first.
Other emperors recruited beautiful girls who were sixteen or seventeen years old, and the function was plug-and-play.
But those recruited by Jiajing, even at that time, were still at the level of young girls, not to mention the usage was different.
Jiajing knew that his behavior was a bit perverted, so others had always been busy doing things and did not dare to mention the Zheng Xiu Nu's behavior.
Jiajing's calm face turned slightly red and he looked at Huang Jin beside him. Huang Jin's expression remained unchanged, with a "what's the point" attitude.
"The roster is with Huang Ban. Let Huang Ban find it for you. Huang Ban, he said he wanted to keep it a secret, so just keep it a secret for him."
Huang Jin said yes again and again, thinking that even if he didn't say that he wanted to keep it a secret, I must keep this matter a secret.
This list could not be taken out of the palace, so Xiao Feng borrowed Huang Jin's room and read it page by page, thinking about it from time to time.
It is said that they are selecting beautiful girls from all over the world. In fact, most of the dozens of girls in this batch are from the south of the Yangtze River. There are also some from the north, but very few.
This is not discrimination. In fact, throughout the dynasties, as long as it was not for the purpose of political marriage, the emperors were willing to choose more beautiful girls from Jiangnan.
This group of beautiful women is mainly concentrated in several places, such as Ningbo, Jiaxing, Wuxi, Hangzhou and Huainan.
It's not that beauties don't come from other places, just look at the elected officials - they are all members of the strict party.
Since Yan Song came to power, the work of selecting and sending beautiful girls has basically been controlled by the Yan Party.
Officials who are not strict party officials are not willing to wade into such muddy waters.
Anyone who does a good job or not will be despised by scholars, so there is no need to take the initiative to scold him; secondly, there is no protection from above, and there is no benefit, and he may be held responsible if he kills someone.
What Xiao Feng mainly looks at is not the selected women, but the women who have been selected but were eliminated for some reason.
Selecting women is a very rigorous job. Even if it is controlled by officials below, the original records must be available. This is directly participated by the Ministry of Rites, so it is difficult to fake it.
For example, this job starts with an audition. First, a large list of all qualified girls must be drawn up, which is equivalent to an audition.
Then they will be eliminated based on various reasons, and the reasons will be stated, and finally a final reporting list will be formed.
Xiao Feng was looking at the girls who were not selected from the audition list.
The corpse of the female corpse in Kujing looked to be sixteen or seventeen years old. So three years ago, she should have been thirteen or fourteen years old. Depending on the person's appearance, there are differences in size, plus or minus one year.
It happened to be Jiajing's requirement for selecting beautiful girls between the ages of eleven and fifteen. So as soon as Xiao Feng finished measuring the words, he immediately thought of the girl's identity.
But if it is a beautiful girl from Jiajing, whether it is in Xiyuan or the palace, it will be registered. No matter who is missing, it must be reported to Jiajing.
So this girl should be the show girl who failed to be selected.
There are explanations for each girl on the list who failed to be selected, but there is definitely no mention of poor appearance, because good looks are the first condition for entering the audition.
The most common reasons are as follows.
First: She is the only daughter in the family, and her parents are reluctant to leave her.
Don't think this is ridiculous. Does the emperor still care about this?
Yes, I care a lot. Even in Jiajing, his decree for recruiting beautiful women clearly stipulates that if there is only one daughter in the family, she must volunteer from her family.
The emperor cannot be unreasonable or unreasonable, and he cannot let the people of the world stab him in the spine. Even if he does the most perverted things, the public decree must be able to withstand being read aloud.
Of course, it's up to the officials how they implement it. Anyway, the emperor didn't let them do that.
Second: If you have a hidden illness, you should not enter the palace.
This is easy to explain. During the audition, I only looked at her appearance. Later, after investigation, I found that this woman was sick. How could she enter the palace?
Many people paid to bribe the government, but in the end they used this reason to lose the election.
It was impossible for the emperor to send an imperial doctor to examine the unsuccessful draft girls one by one. All he had to do was find a local doctor and issue a diagnosis.
Third: The person has a suspicious origin and is not suitable for entering the palace.
Note that origin is questionable, not lowly. Being from a lowly background does not prevent you from being a beautiful girl, as long as you are beautiful, the emperor will not disapprove of it.
A suspicious origin means that the woman's ancestors may have rebelled, or the woman may have martial arts skills, or the woman's family relationship is complicated, such as an aunt receiving rice from the White Lotus Sect...
In short, this woman may pose a certain potential threat to the emperor, so not only cannot she enter the palace, but she must continue to investigate and handle another case.
Among these three reasons, Xiao Feng only focused on the second reason.
The reason is very simple. The first reason is that it is necessary to modify the household registration. Although it is not impossible, it is too troublesome. How can the second reason be easily implemented?
The third reason is that the matter is too big, and the Ministry of Punishment or Jinyiwei may ask for follow-up investigation results, and the possibility of fraud is very small.
Therefore, if this girl is a show girl who was eliminated, but was taken to the capital to be raised or even imprisoned, then the most likely reason can only be the second reason.
The show girls eliminated for the second reason involved a total of about fifty people from four places. Xiao Feng wrote it down on a piece of paper one by one, and then returned the file to Huang Jin.
Huang Jin always looks kind and humble. If you don't talk to him, he won't talk to you. He just looks at Xiao Feng with a smile.
"Huang Neixiang, thank you for helping me look for Yiluanwei's clothes and belt tags overnight. This matter is really troublesome for you."
"Master Xiao, you're welcome. The Yiluan Guards have been restructured for a long time, and their clothes and badges have been sealed in the inner treasury.
Those little brats don’t recognize them at all, so where can they find them? This is a great kindness from Long Live. How dare I neglect it? "
"Huang Neixiang, I always feel awkward when you call me Master Xiao. It feels like you are teasing me. Can you call me Xiao Feng, or Xiao Sheren?"
Huang Jin smiled slightly. He knew what Xiao Feng was thinking, and he was willing to show his closeness to Xiao Feng. He knew best about Jiajing's trust and preference for Xiao Feng.
"Young Master Xiao, you are talking about Huang Neixiang, how can you blame me for talking about Master Xiao?
The title is actually not important, but the loyalty to Long Live is important. "
Xiao Feng also smiled and nodded, he understood what Huang Jin meant.
"Eunuch Huang, I have learned my lesson and take my leave."
Xiao Feng returned to Shuntian Mansion and took another look at the female corpse. The female body was buried in ice, and the weather was cold, so there were no signs of decay.
Xiao Feng took out the notice that Shuntian Mansion had painted before and compared it. It seemed that the painter of Shuntian Mansion had two brushes and the paintings were quite similar.
This notice was posted outside the city gate for several days, but there was no movement at all. It was obvious that this woman was not a local and no one knew her.
Xiao Feng asked the yamen servant to call the painter. Since there were no cases in the past two days, the painter went out to work part-time to paint a portrait for the mother of a wealthy businessman.
This was the habit of wealthy people back then. They would draw a picture for their parents every year. When their parents passed away, they would choose the most solemn and kindest one so that it could be posted in the ancestral hall for worship, which is equivalent to today's posthumous photo.
When the painter heard that it was Xiao Feng's call, he didn't dare to neglect it. After finishing three strokes and two strokes, he didn't even have time to collect the money, so he ran back with the yamen servant.
As soon as he entered the lobby, he saw Xiao Feng admiring the portrait he had painted, and couldn't help but feel anxious.
"Sir, but the painting of the villain doesn't look like it? This dead corpse is no better than a living person. It can only be painted realistically, but it is difficult to express its charm.
If an adult has a family member who needs to be painted by a villain, the villain will do his best to ensure that the adults are satisfied. "
Xiao Feng raised the painting in his hand and spoke in a gentle tone.
"Your painting is very good, but as you said, this is a corpse. Although it is not decomposed, there are scars on the face, and the eyes are lifeless.
Can you draw her as she was alive? "
The painter hesitated. No one had ever made this request before.
"Sir, it should be possible. It's just that a person's demeanor has nothing to do with his appearance. Some people are cute, some are cold, and some are sad, but it's not easy to imagine them out of thin air.
The appearance is only the skin of a person, but the expression is the flesh.
Many people are not good at painting real people because they cannot grasp the physical appearance of the expressions, so even though they are as detailed as possible, they still look completely different from each other. "
A picture flashed in Xiao Feng's mind.
A grieving couple from a poor family held their daughter's little hand tightly, crying and asking the officials to take away their child.
They thought their daughter was being taken into the palace and were already so sad. Little did they know that their daughter had actually been quietly eliminated.
Not because he is unqualified, but because he is too good and too beautiful.
The common people at the bottom thought that the best treasures and the most beautiful women would be enjoyed first by the emperor. Even the emperor himself thought so.
But in fact, the best treasure and the most beautiful woman will never appear in the palace, and the emperor may not see the top three.
The girl was taken away by the officer, her hands still stretched out in the direction of her parents, her face...
"Draw sad expressions, the saddest and most heartbreaking kind when a girl is forced to leave home."
