At the fourth watch, the drums sounded, and the dull sound of the windlass echoed in the Qingxing Street where there were few people.
The new prime minister, Mr. Lu, who has been in office for less than half a year, has to rush from his old residence in the west city to the east of the city to attend court. As I get older, if I want to go out late and sleep more, I have to take a shortcut - Qingxing Street, where Fengzi, Longsun and Sun live.
Although it is a community, there are actually very few houses here that have owners living there.
Elderly people in Beijing all know that the luxurious and luxurious Qingxing Street paved with bluestones and the beautiful mansions that were once bustling with people now mostly have only a few gatekeepers and servants to look after them.
"Faster, more steady!"
Prime Minister Lu's entourage gave instructions to the coachman and closed his eyes to fall asleep again while there were no stars or moon.
The entire Qingxing Street is deserted during the day, let alone when ordinary people are sleeping with their heads covered.
Therefore, there is nothing to worry about when you get here, just let your horse go straight for about two moments and you will reach your destination - Jinshui Bridge where hundreds of officials go to court.
How could I be worthy of myself if I didn't take a nap during this last moment of rest?
But when the person leaned against the side wall, a gust of cold wind suddenly blew down from above.
The attendant was agitated and instinctively shrank his neck, not even bothering to open his eyes. The next moment, the carriage seemed to be joining in the fun, swaying back and forth unsteadily.
"Tsk, be more careful! It's not the cold winter, why are you slipping? If you wake up the master or alert the guards behind the car, you won't be able to walk around."
After lazily complaining and scolding, another gust of cold wind suddenly struck down with a white light. As soon as the servant woke up, before he could open his mouth or open his eyes, his head was missing and blood was splattered three feet away.
————
Urgent knocks on the door, shouts, chaotic footsteps and the sound of burning torches came from afar.
Even if you are in the inner room of a deep house, the sound and the uneasiness that permeates it can still easily wake people up from their dreams.
Not to mention, in a place with few people like Qingxing Street, it is so quiet at night.
"What's going on? The three shifts in the middle of the night don't stop."
Princess Danyang's maid Zizhu rubbed her sleepy eyes and stood up to breathe, wrapped her clothes around the screen and went to the bed.
She was on duty today, and the princess was probably too sleepy to wake up, but she needed to see it with her own eyes before she could rest assured.
Who could tell the master to be timid? Even though he was about to have hairpins, he was still pampered like a child by the eldest princess. What if he was really frightened...
Just as Zizhu was thinking about it, he raised his hand and gently lifted the Sichuan embroidered gold silk bed curtain.
Clang——
For a moment, what he saw in front of him made Zizhu's eyes widen in shock. His hands shook and he fell off the candlestick, almost touching the bed.
The bed where Princess Danyang was supposed to be sleeping is now empty, and there is still a stain of blood scattered on it!
If the other hand that lifted the bed curtain had not been withdrawn in time and tightly covered his mouth, the screams would have lifted the roof.
County, has the princess been killed? !
"Yes, yes..."
Thinking of the noise he heard in his sleep just now, Zizhu intuitively felt that there was an assassin.
This thought just passed through her mind. Not only was her mouth unable to move, but her legs were so weak that they turned into two noodles.
In a hurry, he could only get down on all fours and use his hands and feet to roll and crawl towards the door.
Call someone quickly!
Maybe the princess hasn't been kidnapped too far yet!
But who would have thought that before she even got around the screen, someone grabbed her by the collar.
Zizhu was so frightened that her internal organs clenched together, and she felt that the assassin was coming back to kill people and silence them.
While he was stiff and thinking wildly, the sound of nature suddenly reached his ears.
"Zizhu? Why are you crawling on the ground at night?"
"County, county, princess?"
Zizhu turned around in surprise and saw Princess Danyang's pink and pretty face with a slight frown on her eyebrows. At this moment, tears burst out of her eyes.
"Great, woo, okay! Woo hoo... Nothing happened to you! Woo hoo..."
Danyang looked at the ground quietly, and fell down in an instant. From crying with joy to being incoherent, the little maid's eye sockets began to heat up.
But in just one breath, she calmed down.
Pulling up Zizhu, he handed the Supa over and said hurriedly:
"I fell asleep. Now under the rule of Emperor Xuande, on the eighth day of April in the ninth year of Yongcheng's reign?"
Zizhu was still in confusion. Hearing this, he nodded blankly and replied with sobs:
"Everything you said is correct. But when the time comes, I will go right now..."
While talking, he was going to the outer room to put the leak.
Danyang waved his hand, turned around and said:
"Forget it, it doesn't matter. Go put on some clothes and hold a lamp for me. I'm going to see my mother."
As she spoke, she wrapped her robe around her body and walked around the screen.
Only then did Zizhu belatedly realize that Princess Danyang was fully dressed, even her hair was simply tied up, and she even put on a thick cloak!
But when she was stunned, there was a "squeak" sound from the door, and someone had already walked out of the house in a few steps.
"...Hey? County, Princess! Wait for me, slave!"
The master and servant braved the cold wind before dawn. They had not walked long before their faces were already flushed and frozen.
"Princess, are you okay? The late spring cold this year has been too long."
Zizhu, who was walking in front holding the lantern, held up the glazed palace lantern with one hand in his sleeve, and rubbed his left and right cheeks back and forth with his other hand to complain.
In fact, what she really wanted to ask about was the blood stains that appeared inexplicably on the bed.
But seeing the master's brows furrowed slightly along the way, and his imposing manner, and whether he was in a hurry or walking quickly, and the glistening beads of sweat on his forehead, she knew intuitively that she shouldn't talk too much at the moment.
But I was so panicked before that I didn't think about it. Now that I remember it, how can I not ask?
After struggling for a while, Zizhu finally forced out such a vague sentence.
It's a pity that Danyang didn't hear it at all. She only looked forward and kept walking. Even the blush on her face didn't look like she was cold, but more like she was walking too fast.
At this time, the master and servant had entered the corridor connecting each courtyard. After walking around the small garden and walking less than half a cup of tea, you can reach the courtyard of Princess Danyang's biological mother, Princess Qinghe.
Zizhu was completely focused on Princess Danyang and didn't pay attention to her surroundings at all.
It wasn't until she turned a corner that Danyang suddenly reached out and grabbed her arm and pulled her behind her, that she realized that she had almost collided with someone.
Zizhu just stood firm when the old woman opposite, who was startled and scolded in a low voice, suddenly shouted.
"Princess?! Why are you out here! How do you behave at this late night!"
"Is the princess shocked? My wife said that you will definitely be frightened by the noise, and asked me to come and take a look. This is really the right time, but it's a little late. Come on, let's go back quickly."
The ones who spoke almost at the same time were the leaders of the group that met Danyang's master and servant, the board member Aunt Feng sent by the grandmother of Danyang Princess, and the wet nurse of Princess Qinghe, Aunt Zhou.
Behind the two of them, there were five or six maids and wives with hands full of things.
Except for Aunt Feng and Aunt Zhou, the others were holding lacquer boxes with snacks or dolls to entertain their children.
Danyang glanced at it, his heart was instantly filled with sweetness and sourness, and his eyes were instantly sparkling.
But in the next moment, she pursed her lips tightly, stretched out her Qianqiansu hand wrapped in her cloak, and stabbed it under the eyes of Aunt Feng and Aunt Zhou, and at the same time spread her palm upwards.
"I accidentally cut my hand and I have to go see my mother right now!"
"Ah! Your hand! Go quickly, take the princess's post and ride a fast horse to ask for the doctor!"
The moment Grandma Zhou saw it clearly, her distressed expression changed drastically. He wanted to hold Danyang's hand, but was afraid of hurting her, so he could only tie his hand and turn his head to give hurried instructions.
"Tsk, tsk, this hand injury..." Nanny Feng saw it at the same time, but she only pursed her lips and murmured, then leaned back without leaving a trace, turned her head and ordered:
"The servants in the princess's courtyard are too careless in their care. Come here! Lock up the princess's attendants and the maids on duty tonight in the woodshed, and wait until they are punished. You two, and you..."
After hearing Nanny Zhou's instructions, before Nanny Feng could finish counting the people, Danyang picked up Zizhu, who was already stunned, and quickly rushed down the corridor, straight through the small garden and towards his mother's courtyard.
When everyone noticed, they saw the shadows of trees swaying in the small garden in the dark night, with a light like a bean, but they couldn't even find the blurry backs of the two people.
