Sunset dusk.
The imperial city's lanterns are on at first, and the night is brightly lit.
Every household lit a pair of red lanterns in front of the door and pasted red couplets, beaming with joy.
After Zheng Xiu alarmed the ravens in the city with his behavior, the three princes returned to the palace with different thoughts.
But when they returned to their respective dormitories, there was a small piece of paper stuck in the crack of the door.
The letterhead is in red, like an invitation.
On the letterheads of the three princes, the same line of words was written on the cover - "Invitation to the Zheng Family Reunion Banquet".
Signed by: Zhonglie Hou Zhengxiu.
…
The sky is reflecting the clouds, with only a glimmer of light remaining.
Night fell in a blink of an eye.
The lanterns and bright flames cast a golden light on the imperial city. Looking down from a high place, it looks like a prosperous scene of singing and dancing.
A shabby-dressed wanderer, holding a thin horse with his bamboo hat lowered and a cane in his hand, was tapping the ground, coming from the south, along the official road, and approached the city gate.
On the back of the thin horse were two bags of luggage and a birdcage. In the birdcage was a bird with dull hair, which seemed to be dying and motionless.
boom! boom! boom!
Colorful fireworks shot up into the sky, and people cheered from the city.
From time to time, some people can't help but set off fireworks in the sky to warm up the "fireworks show" at Zishi.
The sound of gongs and drums.
The music is melodious.
The fireworks are banging, the snow is falling, the crowds are clattering, the children are babbling, the wind is whistling, and different sounds are noisy in the city, like a lively happy song.
"It's so lively!"
The wanderer held his bamboo hat, raised his head, and followed the sound to "look" towards the place where the fireworks were flourishing.
The bird in the cage weakly raised its head and looked at the fireworks in the sky, its dark eyes brightening slightly.
"What beautiful fireworks."
The young man seemed to see the fireworks blooming.
In front of the north gate, the gatekeeper was wearing armor and noticed this down-and-out man holding a skinny horse.
Two soldiers came to investigate, and the young man raised his head, revealing his face covered with burn scars.
The young man's eyes were white and his pupils were dark. He was clearly blind.
The scars on his face spread from his forehead to his face and neck, and there was not much intact skin. But when the two soldiers looked at the straight nose and lips, they could vaguely see that the blind young man must have been a handsome man with delicate features before he was injured.
"Another poor man."
"What are you doing in the city?"
The bird in the cage became dying again, lowered its head and breathed weakly.
The young man bowed his hands to the gatekeeper, turned to the two of them following the sound, and said loudly: "Are you two officials in the city?"
"Sergeant Shenwu, Xiang Wanbing, will be on duty tonight."
The two stretched out their hands to wave in front of the young man. After confirming that the other party could not see him, one of the soldiers said in a deep voice.
"It turns out to be the famous Shenwu Army! I come from the south, my surname is Chen, my name is Chen Wei. Unfortunately, my family suffered a fire, and now I am helpless. I have a skill, I can speak three or two books, and I know a few things. I want to beg for food at the feet of the emperor by using the magic of touching bones. I hope you will show me a way out."
"Haha, what do you think, do you think we will stop you? This is the emperor's feet, a prosperous age." The two soldiers were amused by the young man's words, and briefly checked the luggage behind the young man, which contained some scattered items and food. The old clothes were no different, so the young man was released into the city.
Only merchants need to pay goods tax when passing through, ordinary people do not.
"Thank you, sir! Thank you, sir!"
The young man bent over and thanked him solemnly, then led the thin horse into the city with a stick.
On the city wall, there were fewer ravens today than in the past, and the Zheng family had frightened a lot of them during the day. The two soldiers glanced at the wall. Seeing that the raven had no strange reaction, they nodded secretly and returned to their posts.
The gatekeeper told the young man in a friendly manner that if you sleep on the street on a winter night, you will never survive until dawn. If you have no place to stay, you can stay overnight at Dali Temple three miles outside the city.
"The Dali Temple was renovated at the expense of the Zheng family. When you are hungry, you will have rice porridge to drink and a kang to warm yourself by the fire. You will not starve to death or freeze to death. However, you must not stay there for more than ten days, lest other homeless beggars will not be able to live there."
Speaking of the two gatekeepers of the Zheng family, they had to secretly give a thumbs up to the richest man, Zheng. If the Zheng family had not contributed money to do good deeds, how many people would freeze to death on the streets every winter.
"The Zheng family... Zheng."
The young man whispered. What the two sergeants did not notice was that when the blind young man led the horse into the city, the back of the desolate figure became straighter and straighter.
At the alley where no one was paying attention, the young man opened the birdcage. The bird in the cage that was supposed to be dying suddenly flapped its wings and flew high into the sky. I saw the bird in mid-air, its hair gradually turning black, and in an instant it looked exactly like the raven in the sky, blending into the raven and becoming indistinguishable from each other.
"Go ahead and be careful."
The blind young man kept the thin horse at the inn next to the city gate. After waiting for a while, a seemingly ordinary carriage stopped in front of the young man.
"The disabled building supports disabled people."
The driver drove up to the blind young man, lowered his voice, and spoke in a voice that only the two of them could hear.
"Hemoptysis and weeping until dawn."
"Please get in the car. My master will be waiting for you."
"Thank you."
"The city is full of informants, so it's not a good time to talk about things."
"I understand."
The blind wanderer smiled and got on the carriage. In a blink of an eye, the carriage left the city again, passed by the two soldiers on duty, and disappeared into the vast night.
…
Deep inside the palace.
The Imperial Study Room.
Wei Yangzun was lowering his head to review the memorial.
The candlelight on the table swayed calmly, and Wei Yangzun said without raising his head, "Come in."
A masked man in black pushed open the imperial study and knelt in front of the emperor.
Low-ranking officials only knew that Daqian's government was divided into six departments, each under the jurisdiction of the left and right prime ministers.
The higher the rank is, to Jiang Gaoyi's level, or someone within the family will know about Ye Weiyang's existence.
In addition to the Liubu and Ye Weiyang, there was also a "Secret Department", which only a few people, including the prince and the prime minister, knew about.
The so-called secret tribes run around at night and do secret things.
The men in black from the Secret Service knelt before the emperor and truthfully reported the commotion that occurred during the day and the three princes' outings.
The Emperor paused with his pen, and quickly replaced it with another memorial.
"I tell you, Your Majesty, there is something else."
Members of the Secret Service told the truth about the fact that the Zheng family sent people to deliver reunion banquet invitations to the desks of the three princes.
"oh?"
Wei Yangzun, who had been looking down while reviewing the memorial, finally stopped what he was doing and became interested.
"But the legendary 'Brotherhood' of the Zheng family?"
"My subordinates have never seen the 'Brotherhood' with their own eyes, but according to the Secret Service documents, it must be 'them'."
"You actually let them in?"
The man in black shook his head. Behind the mask, the man had a strange expression and told the truth about the situation.
"My subordinate was on duty outside the Qianming Palace at that time. Someone..." The Secret Service's eyes became a little angry: "I patted my shoulder from behind."
When Wei Yangzun heard this, he frowned and straightened his back.
"He said that he sent a message to the three princes on behalf of Marquis Zhonglie. He also said that Mr. Zheng abides by the law and will never exceed it. Those three invitations to the reunion banquet were sent by his subordinates in person."
"Hahahaha - a good person who abides by the law will never exceed it!"
Wei Yangzun's slightly frowned brows suddenly relaxed, he laughed loudly, and slapped the desk hard with a loud bang.
The man in black was still kneeling, motionless.
After laughing for a while, Wei Yangzun nodded slightly, put away his smile, and asked: "In your opinion, what does Marquis Zhonglie's brotherhood look like?"
The man in black was silent for a moment and said, "He appears and appears everywhere."
"Haha, he's such an elusive person...step back."
"yes."
He didn't know why Wei Yangzun was laughing, and he didn't know what Wei Yangzun thought of Zheng. But the work of their secret department is like this. They are only responsible for working in secret and never ask any questions. The more you know, the less useful it is.
After the Secret Service left, the flickering candlelight returned to calm.
The lonely smoke of sandalwood burns straight up.
Wei Yangzun faced the wall. On the wall was a piece of calligraphy written in his own handwriting, with four words written on it - "Benevolence governs the world."
Thanks to the leader "Oriental Fantasy Demon Spirit" for the reward! Messi is awesome!
(End of chapter)
