The four of them walked out of the palace gate and soon walked to the alley where they were yesterday. The old man with bean curd is still here, but he is no longer alive like he was yesterday.
"Boss, where was the fortune teller yesterday?" Dai Er asked.
The boss looked up and said nothing.
"Boss, four bowls of bean curd." Chen Yuan said with a smile.
"Okay, sir, take a seat first, I'll be here soon," the boss said with a smile.
"That fortune teller always walks around the streets. Who knows where he will set up a stall today." The boss mixed the ingredients in the bowl and chatted with a few people.
"It stands to reason that your alley is full of people, so fortune tellers should like to go here." Chen Yuan said.
"No, it happens often." The boss said with a smile.
"You guys sit a little longer, maybe it will come." The boss said again.
"Do you often see the fortune teller yesterday?" Chen Yuan asked.
"That one! That one looks very unfamiliar. I looked twice at it yesterday, but I haven't seen it before," the boss said.
"How old is your stall?" Dai Er asked.
"I have been running this stall for twenty years. In these twenty years, I have seen fortune tellers ranging from 100 to 80. I have never seen the fortune teller yesterday," the boss said.
"So sure?" Dai Er was surprised.
"What do I do? You only need to come to my place once. Next time you come, do you want chopped green onions, more or less marinade, and a few spoons of red oil? You don't have to say anything. I will mix it for you." The Lord was quite proud.
"Just like the four of you, guest, you should have seven bowls. This guest has four bowls, with more red oil and chopped green onions. The others each have one bowl, with normal ingredients." The stall owner looked at Dai Erdao with a smile.
"Ah, my memory is really good." Dai Er said.
"That's right, the little guy has no other skills but recognizes people." The stall owner said.
"Guys, sit inside, no red oil, okay!" The stall owner shouted again to greet other customers. Chen Yuan and the others ate and waited, and also stared at the alleys opposite.
"What's going on? Are you still waiting?" Dai Er felt that he had never eaten so slowly. The bowl was frozen, and the empty bowl was warm in his hands.
"Eat two more bowls." Chen Yuan just said without answering. Then he touched Tai Mo's head and said with a smile: "You eat too much, let me see how many bowls you can eat."
"Okay, great uncle, boss, two more bowls of beancurd." Taimo shouted happily.
"You eat alone, don't ask for anything from me." Dai Er said.
"I just want two bowls for my second uncle." Tai Mo said with big eyes.
"..." Dai Er was so sentimental that Chen Yuan and Gu Ming laughed.
After finally paying seven more bowls of money, the four of them stopped waiting and decided to look around the city to see if they could find the fortune teller from yesterday. Taimo burped contentedly, stroking his stomach and walking in front.
"This kid is really good at eating. He even ate four bowls." Gu Ming said.
"Why is he eating so much? He has nowhere to put his energy." Dai Er sneered.
"Children eat more and grow taller." Gu Ming said.
"It's just a hammer, but it's just a belly. Look, it's round! This baby looks two or three layers thicker than before!" Dai Er said with a smile.
Tai Mo suddenly stopped, turned around, looked at Dai Er blankly, and said, "Second Senior Uncle, what did you just say?"
"Oh! You kid, you still dare to question me." Dai Er went up to Tai Mo and slapped Tai Mo's little head lightly, saying, "Grandpa said you have a few thick layers, what! You're not happy!"
Taimo frowned when he heard this, then smiled happily in the blink of an eye, and shouted: "That's right! That's right! Master! Master! I just feel weird and inappropriate here!"
"What are you talking about, little brat!" Dai Er slapped Taimo on the head again, and the fight started.
"The princess's sedan, uncle! Oh, it's the lifting chair! It's thick! It's much thicker than ordinary chairs!" Taimo shouted excitedly.
When Chen Yuan heard this, he immediately opened his eyes wide and looked at Tai Mo. Tai Mo was also staring at his uncle at this moment, knowing that he understood, and nodded heavily to Chen Yuan. Without saying a word, Chen Yuan quickly walked over and rubbed Tai Mo's head hard, then jumped back towards the palace. Gu Ming and Dai Er followed closely behind, shouting to Tai Mo: "Slowly swing back."
"Speak! What are you doing all this way? Lost your soul?" Dai Er followed Chen Yuan like a follower and murmured. Ever since Chen Yuan entered the yard, he had lowered his head and walked slowly as if he was looking for something. They have almost reached the princess's residence. Finally, Chen Yuan squatted down and touched here and there. It rained yesterday and it hadn't dried out yet this morning. Chen Yuan couldn't help but have mud on his hands, but he laughed.
"What are you enjoying here? Can you say something, ancestor!" Dai Er was anxious.
"Haha... I am happy that this ghost has quite a lot of weight." Chen Yuan said.
"Is it difficult to explain clearly?" Dai Er asked.
"This road is the only way for the young prince's son to get to the princess's yard." Chen Yuan said.
"Yeah!" Dai Er nodded.
"Fortunately, there is only such a small section of dirt road. If it were all slate and blue bricks like elsewhere, there would really be nowhere to see." Chen Yuan added.
"What are you looking at!" Dai Er said.
"It rained yesterday, look at these two lines of footprints." Chen Yuan pointed at the dirt and said.
"The one that came here is half a point lighter than the one that came back." Gu Ming saw the problem at a glance.
"Good eyesight." Chen Yuan praised with a smile.
"What if it's shallow?" Dai Er asked.
"Shallow, it means that the sedan chair that the princess used when she went to the young prince's place, that is, the chair, is lighter than the one when she came back." Chen Yuan said.
"Oh! In other words..." Dai Er suddenly realized.
"When I came back, the princess was not the only one carrying the chair." Gu Ming continued.
"That's not right! It's just a sedan chair without a curtain or cover. Who can't see how many people there are?" Dai Er said.
"Haha..." Chen Yuan smiled and did not answer.
"Princess held him under her body. Her clothes were loose and it was night. You can't see him unless you cover him carefully." Dai Er said, snapping his fingers.
"Are you really a wild boar? Even if the young prince is drunk and is pressed down by a living person, how can he not react? The princess must get down on the chair after she goes back, right? The servants can't see it?" Gu Ming said.
"Then where is my brother?" Dai Er asked loudly.
"Our Mo Mo is still smart, and he always feels that something is wrong here." Chen Yuan said with a smile.
"Chair? Thick?" Dai Er said.
Chen Yuan nodded and said: "The princess's chair is so thick, if it were hollow..."
"That's just a box! It's a chair box!" Dai Er finally understood.
"In other words, it is equivalent to a double-layered chair. The young prince sits on the bottom, closes the cover, and the princess sits on top. Outsiders can't tell at all," Gu Ming also said.
"That's right, so the footprints of the four bearers when they come back will be deeper than before." Chen Yuan said.
"It's so clever! Tell me what you think!" Dai Er clicked his tongue in surprise.
"As long as the princess has a chance to be alone with the young prince, she can stuff this big living person into this chair box and take him out without anyone noticing," Gu Ming said.
"According to the maid, when she was wiping the young prince's face and talking, she blocked everyone away. Only the two of them were alone." Chen Yuan said.
"Then he drew the curtains on the bed and asked the bearers to come in and carry him out. As soon as he went out, he immediately asked the maid to close the door. He said he was afraid that his son would be exposed to the wind, but in fact he was afraid that someone would go in and find that the young prince was gone." Gu Mingdao.
"Yes! Didn't she hurt her leg? How could she stuff her son in without help?" Dai Er said.
"Do you still think that the princess's leg is injured at this point?" Chen Yuan said with a smile.
"She fell down in full view of the public, but she was not injured at all. It was just so that the chair box could legitimately come to the young prince's house and bedside. Otherwise, who would carry the sedan into the house? Isn't it all in the courtyard? Did you get out of the sedan chair? It was precisely because the princess was 'injured' and 'unable to walk' that the box came to the young prince. No one found it strange." Chen Yuan added.
"Scheming! Really scheming!" Dai Er praised.
"But this chair is as heavy as one person, and the footprints of the bearers are half a minute deeper. Don't the four bearers feel it?" Dai Er asked again.
"The weight of one person is distributed on the shoulders of four people. For people like them who do strenuous work all year round, it is not much. If it is a little heavier, they will only feel that the person on the other end of the bar is slipping. He jumped two inches in front of the chair." Chen Yuan said with a smile.
"That's right, let alone a little bit heavier. Even if the sedan feels obviously heavier, no one dares to complain at the moment. Anyway, it's just a few steps, just bear with it." Gu Mingdao.
"Then why did the princess try so hard to steal her son out of the house? Where is my brother now?" Dai Er wondered.
"No one knows the reason yet, but our little brother may have been sent out of the palace." Chen Yuan said.
"Let's go take a look." Dai Er said.
"What are you looking at?" Gu Ming asked.
"Look at the princess's yard and the section of road leading out of the mansion. If there is muddy ground, see how deep the footprints are." Dai Er learned and sold now.
"Fortunately, God gave you some rain. What will you do if you can't leave any footprints?" Gu Ming said with a smile.
"Then it all depends on this hermaphrodite!" Dai Er nodded Chen Yuan with his head.
"..." Chen Yuan was speechless for a while and followed Dai Er.
"Look! Sure enough! The footprints when you went out must be deeper than when you came back! Hahahaha!" Dai Er akimbo, pointing at the footprints on the dirt next to the garden and laughing.
"There are many more people coming in and out on this road than on that road. How do you know it's the bearer?" Gu Ming said.
"Nonsense, aren't they side by side?" Dai Er said.
"It seems that it has been sent out." Gu Ming said.
"Where do you think the princess unloaded the goods from?" Dai Er asked.
"Since she didn't want anyone to see her when she stole her son, she definitely didn't want to be seen when she was unloading the goods. But she pretended that her leg was injured, and the four bearers would definitely stay with her. She could unload her son on the Where?" Dai Er said.
"Only one place." Chen Yuan smiled.
"That fortune teller." Gu Ming said.
"Who can't see it on the street?" Dai Er said.
"Have you forgotten? The owner of the beancurd seller said that when my wife was eating bean curd, she covered her legs with the fortune-telling table apron." Chen Yuan said.
"It seems that he is afraid of spilling food on his clothes when eating, but he is indeed taking precautions." Gu Mingdao.
"Actually, the table surround also blocked the chair lift. Someone opened the chair box from under the table and took out my brother!" Dai Er reacted again and said.
"No wonder the stall owner said that he had never seen this fortune teller before. Everything was planned. The fortune teller and the princess were in the same group." Gu Mingdao.
"But why did she go to all the trouble to bring her son out and not let others know that it was her mother who brought him out?" Dai Er said.
"Of course it's something shady. Why don't you just bring it out openly? Why do you have to do it secretly?" Gu Ming said.
"You can talk nonsense as well as any state official." Dai Er teased.
"Now that we have found out the truth, can we ask the princess for help? We can also ask clearly." Gu Mingdao.
"After all, he is from a well-known and upright family. He does things openly and never minces words. He is a gentleman - Xiao Ming of the Gu family!" Chen Yuan said with a smile.
"Brother Yuan, I can tell that you are definitely not complimenting me." Gu Ming said awkwardly.
"Haha, Xiao Ming, everything is nothing now. In the final analysis, it is just our speculation. There is no evidence. Why are you going to confront the princess?" Chen Yuan said.
"The footprints are deep and shallow, don't they count as physical evidence?" Dai Er said.
"Is this considered physical evidence? I'm going out for a walk. I'm happy. Can't I walk harder?" Chen Yuan said.
"What about the chair box? Smash her chair in front of her and show everyone that it is hollow. Wouldn't the truth be revealed?" Dai Er said.
"Why don't you just grab the princess by the collar and throw her out, and let her run a few steps, and everyone will naturally find that her legs are not injured?" Chen Yuan rolled his eyes and asked.
"Better!" Dai Er said in surprise.
"What a fart! Let's go, we might as well find a witness!" Gu Ming slapped Dai Er on the back of the head and said.
"Who are you looking for?" Dai Er asked.
"Look for that fortune teller." Gu Ming said, and then said firmly: "The whole city!"
"You two go find the fortune teller, and I'll go do something else." Chen Yuan said.
"What are you doing?" Dai Er asked.
"I'll let that ghost make trouble during the day." Chen Yuan bared his teeth and said with a smile.
In the afternoon, the princess leaned on her heavy head and fell asleep. Suddenly, messy footsteps and shouts came from the courtyard.
"Madam! Madam!" Three or five maids shouted at the same time.
"What's wrong! You're so frizzy! Why are you so panicked?" the princess scolded.
"It's not good, ma'am! The deputy commander of the Northwest Battalion came to report that their soldiers were taking a nap and ghosts were lying on their beds!" said a maid.
"Nonsense! It's noon and he's still a grown man, so why should he lie on the bed?" the princess shouted angrily.
"Madam, there are many soldiers outside, and every one of them said they were pressed into bed by ghosts!" Another maid said.
"What! How is that possible? It's full of nonsense! Where else can there be..." The princess stopped talking, stood up, and then tilted her body as if she remembered something, and said: "Help me out."
When the princess left the main room, the courtyard was already crowded with soldiers. The darkness could not hold down more than a hundred people, and they were whispering to each other. Everyone's voice was not loud, but so many strong men were buzzing together, as if they were popping a dozen hornet's nests at the same time.
"Quiet!" The princess's clear and majestic voice rang in everyone's ears, and the sound of a pindrop could be heard in the courtyard.
"What are you all doing here?" the princess asked.
"Going back to Madam, here are all the soldiers who were taking a nap just now. Everyone ran to me one after another and said they saw a ghost." asked the man who led the search for the young prince yesterday.
"It's nonsense. It's noon. You are still a group of grown men. You are all men who have been on the battlefield. Even if there are ghosts, how can they get close to you?" The princess smiled.
"It's the real lady! It's really a ghost! I was pressed into bed by a ghost!" A soldier said with a panic look on his face.
The princess's expression turned pale and she was about to reprimand when another soldier said: "Madam Zhenzhen, so am I. That ghost's face is pale, and there is nothing in his dark eye sockets!"
"That's right, madam! Her hair is so long! It's a female ghost, floating right in front of my eyes! Her face is only one foot away from me!" said another soldier.
"Me too! It's not floating above my head, but it's standing beside my bed, staring at me without moving!" someone else said.
"Mine is not in the house, but in front of the window. The window paper has been pierced. Such big eyes are staring at me through the holes. It scares me to death!" Another person said.
"That's right! The key is that I can't move yet. It took me a long time to regain my strength and be able to move." The first soldier to speak continued.
"Yeah yeah……"
"I saw it too..."
"me too……"
Everyone in the court said the same thing, echoing one after another.
Cold sweat broke out on the princess's head. She didn't know what to do. There were so many soldiers who were so vivid and swearing. Could it be that they really saw it.
"Everyone, please be patient for a moment. Lieutenant General Zhao, I already know the reaction of the soldiers. At this moment, let the soldiers return to the camp to rest. Your Majesty will return later today, and you will make your own decision then," the princess said.
The leading man cupped his hands and said, "Yes, madam." This man was the man who took the lead in searching for the young prince yesterday and rushed into Dai Er's room. He was also the man who facilitated Chen Yuan and the others on the city gate building last night. . It turns out that this person's surname is Zhao, and he is the prince's lieutenant. He has watched the young prince Ran Yun grow up since he was a child. Vice General Zhao spent his whole life in the army. After the country was stabilized, he got used to living alone. He had no wife and no children. He had long regarded Ran Yun as his own and loved him since childhood. If the little prince Ran Yun was lost inexplicably, Or if there is something wrong, then besides the prince himself, he is the one who is most worried.
The northwest camp was Vice General Zhao's camp. The soldiers in the camp naturally followed Vice General Zhao's orders and were well-trained on weekdays. In a few breaths, no one was left in the courtyard, and only the dust in the garden gradually dispersed.
"Madam, what should we do now?" the personal maid asked.
The princess has always strictly prohibited the servants in the palace from talking about ghosts. Ever since the Qiuhuai Courtyard was closed, no one has ever heard anyone say they saw ghosts. Anyone who talks about this matter again will be kicked out without mercy if the princess finds out. No matter how senior they are or how many years they have worked for the palace, there will be no exception. But this time it’s not a servant, it’s a hundred and ten soldiers. They all say they’ve seen a ghost. Isn’t this a ghost! Kick them all out? It's a joke, if people respect you and call you madam, it's because you are the prince's wife. Otherwise, who would care about you. The princess also knows herself. The princess is the princess, not the prince, not the former commander-in-chief of these soldiers. It's okay to show your identity a little bit at ordinary times. If you dare to order and punish soldiers, don't ask whether these men who have been on the battlefield will agree. Just ask the prince himself whether he will agree. If a woman interferes in the affairs of the barracks, if the soldiers listen to you It’s the same as listening to my own words, so what have I become?
"Call the bearer and follow me to invite the master." The princess said.
