The tablet reads "The spiritual throne of the Prince of Tang Dynasty, Grand Master of Ruyang County". The handwriting is vigorous, but there is a hint of sadness in the strokes. It was written by Chu Tingjie, a famous calligrapher and painter at the time.
Xue Bai looked solemn, holding three incense sticks and inserting them into the incense burner. He looked around calmly and saw that all the guests in the mourning hall were crying.
Du Fu poured a pot of turbid wine on the ground and murmured to himself: "Ruyang Rang, the emperor's son, has truly heavenly eyebrows. His long beard is like Taizong's, and his color reflects the spring outside the Great Wall..."
He was saddened by the death of his old friend, and he couldn't help but chant a poem.
Looking back from afar, he was drinking with He Zhizhang at the gate of King Ruyang. In the blink of an eye, many years had passed, but only a few of the Eight Immortals were left in the drinking room.
Xue Bai listened to this poem and thought that Li Jing had a beautiful appearance and radiant skin. When did he become "whiskered like Taizong"? In other words, as a close friend, Du Fu saw Li Jing differently from ordinary people?
After offering incense, he turned around and walked towards the back courtyard of Ruyang Prince's Mansion. If he encountered any obstruction on the way, he would take out the documents from the Right Prime Minister's Mansion.
"The Prime Minister ordered me to supervise the ceremony for the funeral of King Ruyang. Where did King Ruyang die? I'll go and see."
"In Xihuayuan, over here..."
Walking on the path, you can hear the sound of bells from time to time. It turns out that there are golden bells tied to the treetops of the flowers and trees in the garden. Whenever birds come to peck, the golden bells will ring to drive them away. This is an elegant thing for loving flowers.
Xue Bai walked to a flower hall and saw a row of maids through the screen, holding candles in their hands. After walking around and taking a look, I realized that it was a short wooden maidservant, and the carving was extremely exquisite.
There was a low couch in the hall, and various musical instruments were placed in front of the couch. At this time, a woman was packing the musical instruments. She turned back to look at Xue Bai, was stunned for a moment, and stopped what she was doing.
"Who are you?" Xue Bai asked first, with a majestic look and a magnanimous tone, as if he was the master of this place.
This woman was over forty years old, with a respectful demeanor and a sad expression. She still retains her charm now, but it can be seen that she was obviously a stunning beauty when she was young. She was blessed and said: "I am the concubine of King Ning, Xi Liu Niang. After the king left, King Ruyang ordered the slave family to take care of the Xihuayuan."
"It can be seen from this incident that King Ruyang had a good heart, but it was a pity that he died young." Xue Bai sighed and asked, "It is said that he died of illness?"
"yes."
"It's sad, but I just saw him at An Shaoqing's banquet a few days ago, and I didn't see anything sick about him."
"On that day, Wang should have put on powder, so he couldn't tell his face."
Xue Bai asked: "Does he look bad?"
Xi Liuniang whispered: "He has been fond of taking 'Yurong Powder' since he was young. Although his skin is fair and smooth, the poison is deep."
"Yurong San?" Xue Bai asked, "What is that?"
Xi Liu Niang did not answer immediately, but looked at him again doubtfully.
Xue Bai then took out the documents from the Right Prime Minister's Palace and said: "I am the imperial censor in the palace, and I have been ordered to find out whether there are any doubts about the death of King Ruyang. You'd better tell me everything you know to avoid leaving any doubts."
"The censor will wait a moment."
Xi Liu Niang obeyed the order and turned around to open a cabinet. There were several porcelain bottles in it. She picked up one of them and handed it to Xue Bai.
Pulling off the vermilion cork and smelling it, Xue Bai couldn't help but frown, because he didn't smell any herbal smell, but instead smelled a light, mineral sourness.
"This is?"
"As far as the slave family knows, it must contain arsenic, lead powder and other substances."
"poisonous?"
"Yes." Xi Liu Niang said: "Wang would often pour a little Yurong Powder mixed with wine and drink it, usually at night, to whiten his skin and make his black hair thicker. The Nu family advised him many times, but he refused to listen because these things last a long time. Once you stop using it, your complexion will become very bad.”
"He took arsenic, lead powder and other poisons all year round, and finally died of poisoning?"
"The doctors have looked at it and they all said so."
Xue Bai put the porcelain bottle in his sleeve and said, "Did you find anything unusual or suspicious when King Ruyang died?"
"No. I am the concubine of King Ning. I don't serve King Ruyang. I only take care of this courtyard." Xi Liu Niang said, "He was already drunk when he came home yesterday. I thought he would not come over so early. Then he rested, and never thought that he would come over at night and drink some cold wine mixed with Yurong Powder."
Xue Bai asked a few more questions, but without asking any more details, he looked around the hall and still found nothing.
Just as he was about to look elsewhere, he suddenly remembered something and started chatting: "By the way, I heard from Li Bai that there is a singer in Prince Ning's palace named 'Sister Chong', but is it true?"
Xi Liu Niang was escorting him out of Xihuayuan, and as she walked, she responded, "Yes."
"Where is she?"
"After King Ning died, he got married."
"Is that so?" Xue Bai was slightly surprised.
At that time, Li Bai talked about the scenery of Chang'an and the beauties. He said that every time King Ning visited a guest, he would not let his beloved sister come out to meet the guests. Once Li Bai was drunk and asked King Ning why he would not let this girl be seen in public, so Li Xian ordered someone to set up a trap. In the Qibao Flower Barrier, Sister Zhao Chong was singing in the background. Although Li Bai never saw Sister Chong, he only heard her voice but never forgot it.
Unexpectedly, such a beautiful woman got married after King Ning's death.
"Sister Chong has a great singing voice, and King Ruyang is also a lover of music. Will you let her go?"
"The king is the most kind-hearted. When Sister Chong has a sweetheart, he will fulfill her wish."
Xue Bai then stopped and left in no hurry, and asked, "What about you?"
"The Nujia...had married someone before." Xi Liuniang said, "Before entering the palace, the Nujia's husband was a cake seller. King Ning met the Nujia and rewarded him with a lot of money, so he sold the Nujia to King Ning. "
"Then what?"
"From then on, the slave family has lived in the palace."
"After Prince Ning passed away, you never found your original husband."
Xi Liu Niang said: "When Prince Ning was alive, he sent me back to him once, but he only wanted money, not me."
"Why are you being sent back?"
"One time, at a banquet hosted by the royal palace, Prince Ning suddenly asked me if I was the master of cake making. I didn't answer in silence, but an official present composed a poem."
Xue Bai suddenly thought of an anecdote Yang Guozhong once said about Wang Wei.
"That poem should be 'Don't be favored by the present, rather forget the kindness of the past. Looking at the flowers will bring tears to the eyes, and I will not share the words of the King of Chu.'"
"yes."
This poem is called "Mrs. Xi". Mrs. Xi was the princess of the Xi Kingdom in the Spring and Autumn Period. After the destruction of Chu, the King of Chu took her as his own. She remained silent in the Chu Palace. The King of Chu asked her why she didn't speak. She replied, "I am a woman who cares for two husbands. Even if I cannot die, how can I make fun of her?"
At that time, Yang Guozhong said that Wang Wei used this poem to express his ambition, saying that although he became Princess Yuzhen's guest, he could not forget his childhood sweetheart wife.
Xi Liu Niang's eyes were sad, she shook her head and said: "Although this poem is beautiful, whether it is 'favor of the present' or 'favor of the past', they are just passing clouds, and they will disappear as soon as they are said to be gone."
"yes."
~~
Xue Bai failed to find out more that day, and he was quickly called back by Li Linfu.
In Yanyue Hall, Li Linfu sat in a dim corner and looked at Xue Bai who walked in.
This time, Li Tengkong was also there, with concern in his eyes, but he didn't know who he was concerned about.
"Do you know why I recruited you back?"
"The right minister is doing it for my own good." Xue Bai said: "Another important member of the clan has died, and the kings can attend the funeral to interact with the ministers. It's better for me not to get involved."
"Cough cough cough cough."
Li Linfu started coughing again.
After finally stopping coughing, he followed Xue Bai's words and reprimanded: "You also know that every time something happens in the court, you are always there. Do you think your life is too long?"
"I want to be promoted so much. If I encounter trouble, I'll take it upon myself. Only then will I have more opportunities to make meritorious deeds."
"Then have you found out the cause of King Ruyang's death?" Li Linfu asked.
Although he was ill, he was still very sharp and got the news so quickly.
Xue Bai said: "I did some research, and it seems that he took Yurong Powder all year round, which led to his death from too much poisoning. There should be no other reasons."
"real?"
"If you don't believe it, you can open the coffin and conduct an autopsy."
"This matter will end here. If the truth finds out that you are still investigating..."
When Li Linfu said this, he didn't say anything harsh, but said in a sighing tone: "Then don't come to Youxiang's Mansion again."
"good."
"Seventeen, look at him and go ahead."
Li Tengkong was reluctant, but he couldn't disobey his father's orders, so he followed Xue Bai out of Yanyue Hall, and the two of them walked out to the study.
The road was quiet until Xue Bai spoke.
"Your grandfather has been warning me. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, what he revealed to me is that the water behind these palace struggles is very deep. Once it crosses the thunder pool, it is against the power of heaven. In short, he is teaching me how to do things. .”
"Since you understand everything," Li Tengkong said, "I guess you don't need me to watch you."
"Although I understand, I don't want to be like your grandfather." Xue Bai said, "The saint got rid of Li Ying, Zhang Jiuling, Wu Huifei, and even Li Jing... Your grandfather seems to be bold to say this, but he What I want to do is not to change the Sacred Heart, but to shock me. Unfortunately, I don’t want to be a sycophant who relies on the Sacred Heart for everything.”
"Then don't come to Youxiang's Mansion again, because Youxiang's Mansion is afraid of being implicated by you."
"Do you think so too?"
Li Tengkong shook his head and said, "I don't know."
"I think your grandpa is wrong. He is old, and so is the saint. No matter who inherits the throne in the future, the three common people will definitely overturn the verdict. Why don't the Right Prime Minister's Office make a bet as soon as possible?"
Li Tengkong took a step back.
She felt that her pure Taoist heart was splashed with the dirty water of Xue Bai's machinations.
But this is what she chose.
Closing her eyes, she dismissed the distracting thoughts in her mind, thought about it calmly, and asked, "You tell me what you want to do, and I'll think about it later."
"I want to check some files from the Prime Minister's Office..."
~~
The palace of Prince Ruyang was still filled with mournful music. Prince Li Heng had arrived and expressed his sorrow on behalf of the saint.
In his life, the saint respected his eldest brother Li Xian the most, and loved his nephew Li Jing the most. It is said that when he heard the news of Li Jing's untimely death, he was so sad that he burst into tears in the palace.
Prince Qing Li Cong also arrived. Li Cong and Li Jing have always had a good relationship, but they were most sad. Although they didn't say much, the tears couldn't be acted out.
In this atmosphere, a carriage quietly arrived at Ruyang Prince's Mansion. The accompanying attendants arranged the carriage and boarded it, and then a fair-faced and beardless middle-aged man came down and entered Xihuayuan.
Xi Liu Niang greeted him respectfully and saluted, "I've seen the general."
"Let me ask you, why did he suddenly investigate old events from back then? Was there anyone who instigated this?"
"The Nu family doesn't know. They only know that he came back from a banquet held by Anqing Sect and started to pay attention to this matter."
"Anqing Zong? Is that the order from the Crown Prince or the Prince of Qing?"
Xi Liu Niang said: "The Nu family doesn't know who gave the order. I only know that this morning, someone came to investigate the sudden death of King Ruyang."
"Who will check?"
"A royal servant in the palace."
"Are you handsome, young and young, less than 20 years old?"
"Yes." Xi Liu Niang nodded immediately and said, "She is very similar to Wang Wei when he was young."
"Xue Bai? It's him again? Is he meddling in this matter again? He is really everywhere."
At this age, the only person in the court who could serve as an official or censor in the palace was Xue Bai. And if you think about the several conspiracy cases, large and small, in recent years, Xue Bai is involved in them every time.
"Where's the stuff?"
"Hold on."
Xi Liu Niang then went to bring out a box and placed it on the case.
The middle-aged man with a white face and no beard opened it, took a look at it, nodded, picked it up, and put it under his arm.
"I have arranged the carriages and horses. You can go to Luoyang. Otherwise, if you stay in Chang'an, you can still serve King Sining, King Sishen and King Tong'an? You are also getting old."
"Thank you General."
"gone."
Xi Liu Niang was blessed again and sent the other party away.
After that, she packed her belongings and left Ruyang Prince's Mansion. Sure enough, there was a small car waiting outside the side door. She got on the car and the carriage set off immediately.
Although it was bumpy, she breathed a sigh of relief. After serving the princes and ministers in Chang'an for more than ten years, she was finally free.
As the carriage left Chunming Gate, Xi Liu Niang gradually fell asleep.
…
When she woke up again, she looked around in a daze and saw that she was in a house.
"Is this an inn?"
Xi Liu Niang asked, and when she was about to get up, she realized that her whole body was tied up.
Looking up again, I saw a young man sitting on a bench, dressed as a coachman.
"What are you doing? The general asked you to take me to Luoyang."
The young man smiled, shook his head, and said, "Since you have done these things, you still want to leave safely?"
Xi Liu Niang was stunned and asked: "You want to kill me to silence me?"
"What if?"
"You promised me that after serving King Ning, you would let me go free. Now that I have even served King Ruyang, you still won't let me go?"
"You killed King Ruyang."
Xi Liu Niang said: "It's your order. It's you who want me to poison him all year round..."
At this point, she suddenly realized something and said in surprise: "No, you are not the driver just now, who are you?!"
With a "squeak", the door opened, and a beautiful woman in her twenties walked in. With a look of pride on her face, she said calmly: "Go down."
"Here."
The young man dressed as a coachman retreated.
Xi Liu Niang became more and more frightened. She looked at the woman who had just come in and felt vaguely familiar.
"We...have met before?"
"Perhaps we have met before. King Ruyang likes to entertain and travel. It is not surprising that we have met before."
"You are," Xi Liuniang finally remembered and murmured, "It's the Crown Prince Liangdi..."
"No, I'm not Prince Liangdi. You can call me Du Erniang."
"Er Niang, what are you doing?"
"Don't be afraid, I'm just asking you something." Du Jin said, "Who ordered you to poison King Ruyang to death."
"Second mother is joking, the slave family would never dare to do this."
"Do you know? When Xue Bai saw you, he suspected that you were an informant sent by the Ministry of Internal Affairs to be around Prince Ning and his son."
Du Jin patiently adjusted his sleeves and said slowly: "I, Fengwei Lou, are the best at inquiring about information, so I know many old things. Why did Prince Ning give up the throne to the saint? There was no choice. The saint and Princess Taiping teamed up to launch the Tang Long coup. , strong and popular, King Ning knew that he could not compete with him, and in view of the changes in the Xuanwu Gate, he gave up the throne. But if you have to say "brotherly love", the saint killed his wife, killed his favorite concubine, killed his son, and took away his daughter-in-law, you Do you want me to believe that they have a deep brotherhood? Sorry, I really can’t believe it.”
Hearing these words, Xi Liu Niang was so frightened that her legs trembled.
She knew very well that since Du Jin dared to say so many rebellious things in front of her, it would be impossible to let her go.
"So, the saint must have sent people to monitor Prince Ning and his son. There may even be more than one of these people. It would have been difficult to find them, but you are the most obvious one. Maybe you didn't want to hide it at all? After all, who would dare to spy on the people sent by the saint? People take action?"
"I……"
"How could you, a fair and beautiful person like you, be the wife of a cake seller? Because of Wang Wei's poem, Prince Ning wanted to send you back to the cake seller? But the cake seller didn't want you because of money? Pampering My sister has a melodious singing voice. Even if the King of Ruyang lets her get married, but you still stay in the palace, you must have resorted to some tricks."
Xi Liu Niang knew that she really couldn't hide it anymore, and said: "Since Er Niang knows, how dare you do this to me?"
Du Jin did not answer, but asked: "Did you know? Xue Bai is my lover."
Xi Liu Niang was stunned, not knowing why she was talking to her.
"Also, did you know that Xue Bai is actually the son of the deposed prince Li Ying?"
"What?" Xi Liu Niang's eyes widened in disbelief.
Du Jin saw her expression in his eyes and said with a smile, "Do you know about this?"
"If I tell you, can Er Niang spare my life?"
"Of course we are short of people, especially witnesses."
Xi Liu Niang was a little hesitant, but she knew that if she didn't say it, the words she heard today would definitely kill her, so she said, "I don't know much, but I am willing to say it."
"Don't be in a hurry. Let's talk slowly from the beginning."
"I was assigned to Prince Ning's Mansion in the eighteenth year of Kaiyuan, when Concubine Wu Hui intended to compete for the crown prince for Prince Shou. Because Prince Shou had been adopted by Prince Ning and was raised by Prince Ning. At that time, the Ministry of Internal Affairs was already in Beware of Prince Ning and Prince Shou..."
Du Jin listened with a sneer on his face, not only laughing at Concubine Wu Hui and her son, but also at herself.
Over the years, everyone has been keeping an eye on the reserve, but little did they know that the aloof saint was also wary of everyone who tried to get close to the reserve.
All lost unjustly.
"In the twenty-fifth year of Kaiyuan, the case of three common people occurred. The saint was not satisfied with the performance of King Ruyang, so the Ministry of Internal Affairs made people keep an eye on King Ruyang. In the twenty-ninth year of Kaiyuan, King Ning passed away, but when Tianbaoyuan arrived, In 2006, King Ruyang gave King Shou advice and asked King Shou to ask for filial piety for King Ning, so that the saint could not make Yang Taizhen his concubine. From then on, the Ministry of Internal Affairs ordered me to poison King Ruyang..."
When Xi Liu Niang said this, she also felt a little scared and added: "I have no choice. My life is in the hands of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. I have no choice."
"go on."
"Originally, the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not ask when King Ruyang would be poisoned. They all knew that he was addicted to alcohol and had been taking poison all year round, so he would die early. But a few days ago, General Wu asked me why King Ruyang started investigating the three people again. As for the details of the common people’s case, I replied that I didn’t know, so he asked me to kill King Ruyang.”
"Wu Huaishi?"
"yes."
"anything else?"
"This matter is related to a copper paperweight. King Ruyang wanted to find a way to kill the emperor's grandson's copper paperweight. I didn't know why, but when Er Niang said it today, I understood... It must be that King Ruyang has seen it. The emperor’s grandson?”
Du Jin nodded and said, "Did he find the copper paperweight?"
"Found it." Xi Liuniang looked sad and whispered: "He was the one who found it. I had to poison him."
"Where's the stuff?"
"General Wu took it."
~~
The file was spread out, and the paper on it was yellowed.
Xue Bai's fingers slid over the columns of words, looking for the information he wanted.
Even in the Youxiang Mansion, there is no special file recording the case of the three common people, and with Li Tengkong's power, he cannot retrieve the most confidential files. Therefore, what Xue Bai did was to retrieve all the documents related to it before and after the 25th year of Kaiyuan.
Most of it is useless content to him.
After searching for countless hours, Li Tengkong suddenly said: "Look at this!"
Xue Bai looked around and saw that the page she was looking at recorded the content of Concubine Wu Hui's funeral. One sentence in it was "The internal servant Wu Huaishi stayed on the right side and led the carriage."
"Wu Huaishi? Were you close to Concubine Wu Hui back then?"
Then thinking that Wu Huaishi was actually Gao Lishi's adopted son, Xue Bai understood something...
~~
It's night, Du's house.
Xue Bai rarely came to see Du Youlin.
However, Du Youlin came back late today. He rushed to the flower hall and saw that Xue Bai was already talking to Du Mei and Du Jin, and half of the refreshments on the table had been used.
"Xue Lang is here. Unfortunately, there were robbers outside the city today. I rushed to investigate the case."
"Robber?" Du Jin asked curiously, "Who dares to rob at the feet of the emperor?"
Du Youlin shook his head and said: "Who knew that it was a carriage that was robbed? The two drivers had their necks wiped and left on the roadside. Judging from the ruts left on the ground, the carriage must have been robbed and returned to Chang'an."
"Two lives?"
"The most strange thing about this case is not just this." Du Youlin whispered in Xue Bai's ear: "But, the two rickshaw drivers who died were..."
Xue Bai couldn't help being surprised and said: "Uncle, are you saying that they might be people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs?"
"Yes. So this case is difficult. Why did the eunuchs from the Ministry of Internal Affairs disguise themselves and leave the city? And who killed them?"
Du Jin asked, "Does Master have any clues?"
"My father really has a guess." Du Youlin said, "They probably wanted to escape, but were robbed and killed by people sent by the Ministry of Internal Affairs."
Xue Bai said: "If this is the case, he can be brought back openly and openly. How can he be lynched without permission?"
"There must be something scandalous."
"You guys talk first, I'll go change first, and then we'll talk about business."
"Uncle please."
After seeing Du Youlin off, the three people in the hall put their heads together and continued talking about business.
"In this way, Wu Huaishi was also an insider back then, and now he knows that Xue Lang was investigating the death of King Ruyang." Du Yu said, "Then he probably found out that Xue Lang had a secret conversation with King Ruyang."
Du Jin said: "Then the new accounts and the old accounts will be calculated together, except for him."
"He is in the palace, has the trust of the saint, and is the adopted son of General Gao. How can he be easily eliminated?" Du Mei said, "On the contrary, I think we have done too much recently and should hide our capabilities and bide our time."
Xue Bai said: "Li Linfu also meant this. Before Li Jing died, he had already noticed Li Longji's fear."
"Then you still haven't restrained yourself?"
"It's rare to have the power of the prime minister's house. It's time to take the opportunity to seek more benefits. It's worth taking some risks."
"In the past, I only considered saints to be open-minded and magnanimous. Now it seems that accompanying you is more like accompanying a tiger."
"..."
Over there, Du Youlin changed into plain clothes, ordered the kitchen to roast a leg of lamb, and then went to invite Xue Bai to have a meal at Du's house.
"Xue Lang should bring his wife here, so he stays at Du's house after the curfew at night. He should treat this place as his own home."
"Yes, I will bring Sanniang here next time."
"You and I haven't talked about the situation between North Korea and China for a long time. Let's analyze it carefully today..."
Just as he was talking about this, a servant came and announced that someone was looking for Xue Bai.
Du Jin knew as soon as she heard that it was Yang Yuyao who was looking for him, and couldn't help but worry about whether Xue Bai could handle it.
~~
Mrs. Guo's Mansion.
Yang Yuyao was eating peach meat in an elegant posture. Seeing Xue Bai come in, she said angrily: "Since you have free time to go to Du's house, why don't you come to my place? It's a shame that I still want to give you peaches to eat."
"Even if Yao Niang doesn't call me, I will still come."
"I don't want to hear you talking nonsense to fool people."
Xue Bai said seriously: "For the death of King Ruyang, I made some inquiries and found out that King Ruyang took arsenic and lead powder all year round and died of poisoning. Although this matter is simple, I am troubled."
"so what?"
"But I'm afraid that someone with ulterior motives will implicate me."
"Don't worry, it's time for the saint to trust you."
"I have offended Wu Huaishi before, and he wanted to deal with me during the Taichi Banquet. This time, I am nosy, and I am afraid that I will fall into his hands."
Yang Yuyao hooked her fingers, asked Xue Bai to come closer, fed him a piece of peach meat, and said: "Can I still ignore you? I will tell the noble concubine first for you."
"Thank you very much, sister-in-law."
This time, seeing Li Jing's death, Xue Bai already felt in danger.
He knew that the Yang sisters had indeed protected him many times before he could survive until now.
"My sister and brother, thank you very much." Yang Yuyao said: "I can't let your 'handle' fall into the hands of others."
Xue Bai did not speak, but expressed his gratitude with actions.
Yang Yuyao now prefers to talk to him more, leaning into his arms and saying: "You know? At the Taichi Banquet, I heard people say that you are a gentleman. I almost couldn't hold it in. Now some people are saying that between you and me It turned out to be innocent..."
As she said that, she suddenly glared at Xue Bai, patted him lightly, and said angrily: "I haven't finished speaking yet."
"How can I let others talk nonsense?"
"Is this how you stay calm?"
"Sister, if you want me to stay calm in my arms, that's fine."
"Okay, I just want to see how careless you are today." Yang Yuyao became interested and said, "Give me a chance to show off your skills."
It was said that she was using her skills. She already had her waist straight and was showing off her skills.
The two of them were having a good time when Mingzhu came over in a hurry and said something.
"Mother Yao, the noble concubine is here."
Yang Yuyao was stunned for a moment, thinking she heard wrongly, and asked in surprise: "Curfew is coming soon, why would she come here at this time?"
Mingzhu hesitated for a moment and replied: "It seems that the imperial concubine disobeyed the decree and was sent out of the palace..."
(End of chapter)
