After Hai Dafu died, Xiang Yan no longer went to the big kitchen to eat, but ate in the room with Wei Xiaobao. After the two returned to the room, Xiang Yan found that the teapot on the table was missing.
Xiang Yan thought to himself: "I clearly remember that the old eunuch did not die at this time. The old eunuch did not die so early. But today when we were gambling, Wei Xiaobao said he wanted to go to the toilet and left for a while. Wei Xiaobao must have taken advantage of this period. When he returned to his room, he put poison in the teapot and poisoned the old eunuch to death. However, the guards, eunuchs, and imperial doctors did not want to take any responsibility, so they took away the teapot containing the poisoned tea as evidence and poisoned the old eunuch to death. The news was concealed and not reported. But how did Wei Xiaobao know that the old eunuch was not in the room during this time? Wouldn't it be very bad if Wei Xiaobao had just met the old eunuch when he returned to the room to poison? "
Then he thought again: "That's right. This palace is not run by the old eunuch. How can the old eunuch sit in the room all day long and do nothing? Since the old eunuch teaches us kung fu in the room in the afternoon, I rested in my room at night, and I guess I went out to do things in the morning. Wei Xiaobao’s mind was spinning so fast, I didn’t even expect this.”
He was amazed at Wei Xiaobao in his heart: "This Wei Xiaobao is also a ruthless person. I just told him yesterday that the old eunuch had ill intentions towards him, and he poisoned the old eunuch to death today. It's not like I always wanted the old eunuch to die. But I haven't come up with a solution for several days." Xiang Yan secretly despised himself and became more determined that he must not provoke Wei Xiaobao and must hug Wei Xiaobao's thigh tightly.
The two of them didn't bother to eat, so they went to look for the antidote in the old eunuch's medicine box. I saw that there were many bottles and packages of pills in the medicine box, and there were writings on the bottles and paper packages. It's just that Xiang Yan doesn't know traditional Chinese characters at all, and Wei Xiaobao is even semi-literate. You look at me and I look at you. I really don't know which one is medicine for wounding and which one is poison.
Wei Xiaobao asked Xiang Yan, "Xiao Yan, which one of these medicines do you think is the antidote?" Xiang Yan had an idea and said, "How about we tell the emperor that we want to study medicine and ask him to send an imperial doctor to teach us medical skills. Wait. After we learn it, we will naturally know which one can detoxify it." Wei Xiaobao sighed: "That's all we have to do." Xiang Yan said happily: "After we escape from the palace, we can't be beggars and beg on the streets! We might as well take this opportunity. You must first learn medical skills in the palace, which can be regarded as a craft. After leaving the palace, you can become a doctor to support yourself." Wei Xiaobao also smiled and said: "That's right."
Xiang Yan still doesn't give up. I looked through other boxes and found some old clothes and books. In addition, there are nine ingots of silver, each of which weighs twenty-five taels.
When the two of them were dejected, someone outside the door shouted: "Eunuch Gui, I'm so happy, so happy! Open the door quickly." After Wei Xiaobao opened the door, he asked: "What happy event?" Three eunuchs stood outside the door, and they all bowed to Wei Xiaobao. They all said in unison: "Congratulations, Eunuch Gui!"
Wei Xiaobao asked: "Why are you so polite?" A eunuch in his forties laughed and said: "Just now the emperor issued an imperial edict to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Because the rich father-in-law Hai fell ill and died, the position of the deputy chief eunuch of Shangshan Supervisor was taken. Eunuch Gui has been promoted." Another eunuch smiled and said: "We rushed over to congratulate you before the Minister of Internal Affairs conveyed the order. From now on, Eunuch Gui will be in charge of the catering department. That's great." Wei Xiaobao returned. In the inner room, three ingots of silver were taken, and each person was given one ingot of silver as a messenger fee.
Another eunuch said: "We have never had a deputy chief eunuch as young as Eunuch Gui in our palace. There are fourteen chief eunuchs in the palace and eight deputy chief eunuchs. There are only two top people in the palace." Twelve. Eunuch Gui is promoted today, and tomorrow he will be on an equal footing with Manager Zhang and Manager Wang. It’s really amazing.” Wei Xiaobao laughed loudly and said: “That’s the emperor’s grace, old...old...I, Gui Xiaobao What's so great about it?" He added: "Come on, come on, let's sit in the house and have a cup of tea."
The middle-aged eunuch said: "Your Majesty's decree comes from the Ministry of Internal Affairs only at night. Let's invite Eunuch Gui to have a drink to celebrate his great success. Eunuch Gui, you are now a fifth-rank official, that's not a small thing!" The others started making noises and insisted that Wei Xiaobao go drink. Wei Xiaobao called Xiang Yan, locked the door, and left with a smile.
The three of them invited Wei Xiaobao to the royal room and respectfully asked him to sit at the head table. Among the three people, two were from Shangshan Supervisor and one was sent by Liang Jiugong to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to convey the imperial edict. Wei Xiaobao didn't know how to drink, so he talked nonsense to them smoothly.
As they talked, those people brought the topic to Hai Dafu, patting Wei Xiaobao's butt while belittling Hai Dafu without showing any trace. After drinking for a while, the two eunuchs from Shangshan Supervisor gradually mentioned that the life of eunuchs was hard and they all depended on making some money. Please Wei Xiaobao not be as stubborn as Hai Laogong and handle everything more diplomatically. Wei Xiaobao was only obedient and did not agree.
After finishing the wine, two eunuchs thrust a small package into Wei Xiaobao's hands. When I went back to the house and opened it, I saw that there were two banknotes, each worth one thousand taels. Wei Xiaobao handed a banknote to Xiang Yan and said with a smile: "If you see someone, I'll give you one." Xiang Yan hesitated, took the banknote, and said with a smile: "Thank you very much." Then he said: "I just gave it to you. We were worried that we would be unable to live after leaving the palace and would become beggars, but we didn't expect to have so much money now. It seems that we can live a good life even if we leave the palace now." Wei Xiaobao smiled and nodded.
