A group of them walked along the corridor, quite eye-catching along the way, attracting the attention of many servants and maids.
After walking for a while, Feng Ying asked a maid passing by: "Hey, do you know where Manager Wen is?"
The maid looked at several people and asked, "Who are you?"
Fengying said: "We are the prince's personal guards!"
The maid nodded and said: "At this time, Manager Wen should go back to the small courtyard where he lives to rest."
"It's quite early to rest!" Feng Ying snorted and said, "Where does he live?"
The maid said: "Go west along this corridor. When you reach the fork, turn left, pass through a corridor and two courtyards, turn right again, pass through the Nuan Pavilion, then go straight north, and then..."
Feng Ying's head was pounding when she heard this, and she said, "Are you busy? If not, can you take us there?"
The maid glanced ahead and sighed: "Well, I was originally going to help Sister Qinghe give Mao Gu a bath. But if I don't help you, I'm afraid you can't find Manager Wen even if you search all night, so I'll just
Let me lead the way for you!"
Fengying thanked her, but murmured in her heart: "This woman is so verbose."
The maid seemed to have a hard time keeping her mouth shut, and while leading the way, she asked: "You are obviously the prince's personal guards, how come you don't know the way?"
Fengying said: "We were promoted to personal guards today!"
The maid nodded and said with a smile: "I heard that the prince was assassinated today. He must have been frightened, so he increased the number of personal guards?"
Although Feng Ying talks more than other bad people, she acts neatly and neatly. She hates talking to others, so she only nodded without replying.
The maid didn't feel Feng Ying's impatience at all, and continued to talk non-stop, talking about trivial and boring things.
Finally arriving at a small courtyard, Feng Ying hurriedly said: "This is it, right? Thank you very much. Go and do your work!"
The maid was very enthusiastic and said, "Would you like me to wait for you here, in case you can't find your way back?"
"No, no! I've already memorized the route!" Feng Ying said anxiously.
The maid finally left. Feng Ying knocked on the courtyard door. The person who opened the door was a young servant.
Fengying asked: "Is Manager Wen here?"
The servant replied: "He went out to socialize."
Feng Ying was greatly disappointed and stared: "It's so late and he's still going out to socialize?"
The servant curled his lips and said: "Don't all the gentlemen in Chang'an City socialize at night? Who are you? Why haven't I seen you before?"
"We are the prince's personal guards!"
The servant became more respectful and asked, "Does the prince have any orders?"
Fengying hesitated for a moment and said, "No, we have something to ask him about."
The servant nodded, stepped aside, and invited a few people in.
This is a small, square courtyard, with a main room on the north and a side room on the left and right.
The servant led a few people into the wing room on the left, which was decorated as a study room. In addition to the bookshelves filled with books, there were also many calligraphy and paintings hanging in the room, which was quite elegant.
"Uncle Wen will be back soon. Just sit here and wait for a while." After the young servant finished speaking, he left the house.
The fat woman glanced around and sighed: "This room is so beautifully decorated. The literary manager must be very knowledgeable!"
The tall and thin man said: "Of course, if you don't have knowledge, how can you be the general manager of the palace?"
Long Yang slowly walked to a book sticker, clasped his hands behind his hands, and looked at the words on it.
Fengying sneered and said: "Brother Yang, you don't know anything about calligraphy and painting, how come you read it with so much interest?"
Long Yang snorted and said, "Who said I don't understand calligraphy and painting?"
The tall and thin man said: "Fengying, don't underestimate Brother Yang. Every time he sneaks out in the past few months, he sneaks into the Imperial College and eavesdrops on the lectures of those old masters!"
Several people nearby exclaimed, looking at Long Yang with admiration in their eyes.
People like them have been forced to practice martial arts since they were young, and what they admire most are knowledgeable scholars!
Long Yang puffed up his chest and said calmly: "I have only attended dozens of lectures, which is nothing. If I want to pass the Jinshi exam, I'm still far away!"
Fengying hummed and said: "Brother Yang, since you are so capable, then you can comment on this calligraphy and painting for us to hear!"
Long Yang smiled slightly, put his right fist to his mouth, coughed twice, and said slowly: "This should be a very valuable book sticker. Judging from the font style, it comes from the Jin Dynasty!"
The tall and thin man admired: "Brother Yang, you are so awesome!"
Just then, a young servant came in carrying a teapot on a tray.
Seeing everyone gathered around a painting and calligraphy, he smiled and said, "Do you also know about calligraphy and painting? This two-volume set of Handan Chun's "Laughing Forest" is Uncle Rong's most precious collection!"
After everyone heard what he said, they admired Long Yang even more.
Fengying suddenly asked: "Who is Handan Chun?"
The young master Ding Qi said: "He is the famous calligrapher from the Eastern Han Dynasty. Don't you know him?"
Long Yang's cheeks turned red and he walked over to another calligraphy and painting to prevent everyone from seeing his expression. Feng Ying and the other girls covered their mouths and snickered, while several men wanted to laugh but held back.
The young servant put down the tea and left.
After half an hour, Wen Rong finally entered the study, cupped his hands and said, "I've kept you all waiting."
He had seen all the personal guards around Wu Chengsi. Seeing how many of them were unfamiliar, he felt secretly suspicious in his heart.
Feng Ying hummed: "It's been a long time indeed!"
Wen Rong was even more surprised when he saw that this woman was so ignorant of etiquette, and asked: "Are you all the prince's personal guards?"
Feng Ying puffed up her chest and said, "Exactly!"
Wen Rong smiled and said: "Then why haven't I seen you?"
Fengying said confidently: "We just became personal guards today, of course you have never seen us!"
Wen Rong frowned, and suddenly his heart moved, and he said, "Are you Captain Feng's subordinates?"
Fengying said loudly: "Not a subordinate, but a colleague!"
Wen Rong gradually became convinced when he saw that she knew Feng Wu. Although the two had different personalities, they generally did not understand the ways of the world. They must have come from the same place.
He didn't know Feng Wu's origin, but he knew that Wu Chengsi valued her very much. He immediately smiled and said, "What's the matter with you guys coming to see me?"
Fengying said: "Where do we live?"
"Ah?" Wen Rong was stunned.
Feng Ying said loudly: "As His Highness's bodyguards, we must have a place to live!"
Wen Rong asked strangely: "Didn't Captain Feng make arrangements for you?"
Feng Ying hummed: "She always doesn't care about others, how could she arrange it for us?"
Wen Rong thought of Feng Wu's character, shook his head and laughed: "In that case, you can follow me."
The front house and the back house of the palace are separated by a hanging flower door. Only the chief and deputy housekeepers and the most senior servants and maids can enter the back house.
In addition, the palace guards and Wu Chengsi's personal guards lived in the left and right courtyards connected to the back house respectively.
The guards' courtyard is located in the west, and the bodyguards live in the east courtyard.
Fengying and her party followed Wen Rong and took them to the east courtyard.
This courtyard occupies a large area, with four large rooms in the north, ten wing rooms in the east and west, and four warehouse rooms, a kitchen and two halls, one large and one small, in the south.
Wen Rong looked to the north and then to the west, with a look of hesitation on his face.
Currently only the North House and West House have vacancies.
Except for one room occupied by Feng Wu in the north house, the other three rooms are all vacant. They are usually occupied by high-level guards, while the west side is occupied by ordinary guards.
He didn't know the status of Feng Ying and others, and was afraid that improper arrangements would offend them.
Feng Ying and others looked around, all very excited. Feng Ying urged: "Where are we staying?"
Wen Rong thought for a while and said: "There are three empty houses in the north, one can accommodate four people, and there are five empty houses in the east, and one can accommodate ten people. You can choose on your own, and I will leave now."
As soon as Wen Rong left, Long Yang's tightly closed mouth immediately became active and blamed him: "Feng Ying, why did you just let him go like this?"
Fengying said: "What?"
Long Yang hummed: "Why don't you ask, what is our salary?"
The tall and thin man exclaimed: "Salary? Do we still have salary?"
Long Yang raised his head and said: "Of course, we are personal guards now, how can we not have a salary?"
A woman with an oval face timidly said: "Brother Yang, the deputy commander said that we only need to practice martial arts every day and obey orders. Everything else has nothing to do with us."
Long Yang raised his head and said, "That was before. Now that the deputy commander is gone, we don't have to live like that anymore."
Feng Ying echoed: "You're right! The deputy commander only allows Feng Wu to live a good life, but we can only hide in the abandoned courtyard and practice martial arts. It's so unfair!"
The oval-faced woman was shocked and looked around, as if she was afraid that Yang Xuan was nearby and heard these bold words.
Feng Ying said: "Okay, I will ask the housekeeper about the salary tomorrow. Let's choose the best house to live in first!"
The rest of the people responded in unison.
The fat woman looked around and said, "Which one should we choose?"
Long Yang touched his chin, thought for a while, and said decisively: "Choose the vacant room on the east side!"
The fat woman asked: "Why?"
Long Yang said: "If you think about it, the house on the east side can accommodate ten people, and the house on the west side can only house four people, so naturally the house on the east side is bigger and better!"
Everyone agreed in unison and praised Long Yang for his insight.
Long Yang was so elated by the praise that he came to a room on the east side and opened the door.
"who is it?"
"What?"
"The west room is on duty today, we shouldn't be on duty, get out of here!"
Angry scoldings were heard one after another in the room, and Long Yang was startled. He did a backflip and landed firmly behind Feng Ying, with an extremely cool posture.
At this moment, there was a bang and the door was closed!
Several people looked at each other for a while, then the fat woman covered her mouth and smiled and said: "Brother Yang, didn't the housekeeper say that there are only five vacant rooms on the east side, so the other five are naturally occupied. Didn't you know to knock before you pushed the door open?
?”
Long Yang's lips turned white from fright.
He is naturally afraid of strangers. Although he can kill without hesitation and without changing his expression, it is because he is carrying out a mission.
When I really get along with strangers, I feel trembling and timid, just like a lady who has never been out of the house.
After this incident, Long Yang no longer dared to open the door, or even push it open. Several other people had no idea, and in the end it was Feng Ying who took action.
Feng Ying came to the door just now, knocked at the door and said, "Is there anyone inside?"
As soon as Gu She fell, there was a banging sound inside, followed by various noises. Feng Ying was startled and took a few steps back.
After a while, the room was pushed open, and ten men dressed in black clothes with white trim filed out.
The leader glanced around, and then his eyes fell on Feng Ying and the others. He was shocked when he saw that they were dressed strangely and all looked unfamiliar.
It was their night watch tonight. They had started sleeping during the day, so when they heard a knock on the door, they subconsciously thought it was time for the night watch and hurried out.
Unexpectedly, I didn't see anyone changing shifts, but I saw a few strangers.
Fengying explained: "We are His Highness's new personal guards. Chief Wen asked us to pick an empty room here, so we knocked on the door and asked if anyone was inside."
The leader of the team saw Feng Ying's petite and cute appearance, and felt good in his heart. He pointed to a room in the distance and said, "That room and the one in front are both vacant. You can share those two rooms."
Fengying said: "I know." Without thanking her, she came to the door of the vacant room, opened the door and went in. Several other people followed her in.
The team leader also followed behind, and was about to go in to instruct the newcomers on the placement of daily utensils, when Long Yang closed the door with a bang.
Several bad people have been living with darkness for a long time. They can see clearly in a dark room without lighting a lamp. They each look at the environment inside the room.
This room is very large, with five wooden beds on each side, a table and a large wooden cabinet beside each bed, carpets on the floor, and several vases placed in the corners.
In the east corner, there is a large utility cabinet with copper basins, cloth towels and other daily necessities. In the west corner, there is a desk with a bookcase behind it, which contains the Four Treasures of the Study.
Although the house cannot be called gorgeous, several people are satisfied with it.
Feng Ying said loudly: "Brother Yang, this room belongs to the four of us. You can go live in the room next door."
Long Yang and others didn't have any objections. They went to the next door and saw that the layout of the two rooms was exactly the same, so they all settled in peacefully.
The next day, when Mao Shi arrived, Feng Wu, who was lying on the bed, suddenly opened her eyes, sat up, and then lay back down again, closing her eyes and continuing to sleep.
Almost at the same moment, Feng Ying, Long Yang and other nine people also opened their eyes and sat up straight.
This is the rule set by Yang Xuan. Every morning at Mao, everyone has to get up and practice martial arts. It is not until Chen that they rest for half an hour and have breakfast.
Long Yang remembered that Yang Xuan was no longer here, so he lay down and continued to sleep like Feng Wu. Seeing him like this, the other four men also fell asleep.
Feng Ying on the other end also fell down and continued sleeping.
However, except for the fat woman, the other two women got up silently, put on the black clothes in the cupboard, washed their faces, and went to the big yard outside to fight with each other.
The two practiced for half an hour, and Feng Ying, Long Yang and the others finally got up.
When they came to the courtyard, they all put on the same black clothes with white borders as the bodyguards. Some found their companions to challenge them, while others practiced alone.
At this moment, the door to the north room was pushed open, and Feng Wu stretched out and walked out.
Seeing so many companions appearing in the yard, she was not surprised, and without asking any questions, she bypassed them and entered the kitchen.
When she came out, she had two more steamed buns in her hands. She sat on a big rock, eating the steamed buns leisurely while watching everyone fight.
Several people around her were already starving, so they stopped when they saw how delicious she was eating.
The fat woman ran to Feng Wu and said with a smile: "Feng Wu, can you have one for me too?"
Feng Wu had a good relationship with the fat girl. She stretched out her hand and handed the other one to her, and said: "There are many delicious food in the kitchen. You can go in and eat."
Feng Ying snorted and said, "You are always the fiercest at grabbing food, why are you so generous today?"
Feng Wu said: "Whether you want to eat or not is up to you." After saying that, he patted his butt and turned around to leave the courtyard.
Feng Ying was hesitating when suddenly, she saw a group of personal guards coming in from outside. The leader was the team leader who pointed out the location of Feng Ying's vacant room yesterday.
They had been on duty all night and were very exhausted. However, after seeing Feng Ying, the squad leader's eyes suddenly lit up and he trotted over and said with a smile: "Good morning."
Feng Ying glanced at the kitchen and said, "I'm hungry. Is there anything to eat?"
The team leader smiled like a flower and said, "Let's go to the canteen. Dinner will be served in a while."
Fengying agreed and followed them to the south hall.
The team leader kept talking to Feng Ying. Although Feng Ying was impatient, she remembered that they had helped her yesterday and she answered them one by one.
When the captain learned Feng Ying's name, he was surprised and said, "Miss Feng, are you related to Captain Feng?"
Feng Ying said unhappily, "No." She glanced at the door and said, "How long will it take for dinner to begin?"
A guard behind the team leader smiled and said: "The cooks will come over at five quarters to cook, and we will be able to eat it in the morning."
Long Yang had been standing at the door. Hearing this, he shouted: "Hey! I saw several servants entering the kitchen."
The guard smiled and said, "That's it. Dinner will be served soon."
Just as he said, it didn't take long before several servants came over carrying several large buckets, two buckets of rice and three buckets of vegetables.
At this time, many more guards came to the hall.
Feng Ying, Long Yang and others followed the example of the personal guards, prepared meals, and then sat around, their eyes suddenly became serious.
The captain of the night watch team came to Feng Ying with a bowl and sat down. Seeing them looking at each other with wary eyes, he asked strangely: "Miss Feng Ying, what's wrong with you?"
As soon as he finished speaking, all of a sudden, the shadows of chopsticks were seen flying on the dining table, and the "click" sound of wooden chopsticks colliding with each other was heard continuously.
In just a short moment, the shadow of the chopsticks disappeared. When the team leader came back to his senses, he found that only rice was left in his bowl, and all the meat and vegetable dishes were gone.
Then he looked up at the other people and saw that Feng Ying and Long Yang's bowls were full of vegetables, and both of them looked pleased.
The dishes in other people's bowls are also different.
One of the tall and thin men was only slightly better than him. Apart from the rice, there was only one carrot left in the bowl.
The team leader stayed for a long time, picked up the bowl, and silently left their table.
When he returned to his team's table, the team leader heard the sound of "Puff, Puff, Puff" again, and couldn't help but look back.
I saw the petite and cute Feng Ying picking up the food in the bowl with an extremely ugly eating look.
The other guards also looked at the nine people in surprise. After a while, they swept away the food in the bowl with lightning speed.
Feng Ying stood up and came to the squad leader. While wiping her mouth, she asked: "We have eaten, are we going to protect His Highness?"
The team leader hurriedly covered the rice in the bowl with his hands and said, "No, the shifts have been scheduled for this month. When the shifts are rescheduled next month, you can just protect His Highness according to the schedule."
Feng Ying was stunned for a moment and said: "Then we have nothing to do?"
The team leader smiled and said: "Because His Royal Highness King Zhou doesn't like to have too many people around, so we have more free time. You can practice martial arts in the yard, or go patrolling the house."
Several people left the dining hall and came to the courtyard. They looked at each other and I looked at each other.
In the past, Yang Xuan had to arrange what he wanted to do. This was the first time that he didn't know what to do like now.
Long Yang suddenly smiled and said: "Look at your virtues, isn't what we most looked forward to before, is to be able to do what we want freely like now!"
The tall and thin man said: "Brother Yang, have you decided what you want to do?"
Long Yang said: "I want to go out for a walk. Which of you wants to go with me?"
A man with yellow eyes stammered: "Yang, Brother Yang, do you want to go to the Imperial College to eavesdrop on the lectures?"
Long Yang raised his head and said: "Not bad!"
"Then I'll go with you!" Huang Douyan said.
Long Yang said with a smile: "You have such a big head, it goes in the left ear and out the right ear. It's all in vain. I'm leaving!"
Seeing Long Yang striding away, Feng Ying said: "I'll go out for a walk. If Your Highness asks, just tell me I'll be back at noon."
The two people with the most ideas left, and the others immediately looked at each other. The oval-faced woman whispered: "I'll stay in the yard and practice martial arts."
The tall, thin man didn't like practicing martial arts the most, so he said, "I'm going to patrol the house."
Four of the seven people stayed in the courtyard, and the remaining three left the Dongkua Courtyard and patrolled the palace.
There is a tall and thin man named Ping Qi. His martial arts is the worst among everyone and he is often scolded by Yang Xuan. Therefore, he is more serious than others in everything he does in order to make up for his lack of martial arts.
After leaving the courtyard, he inspected the mansion meticulously, sometimes even jumping on the trunk of a tree to look around.
However, no matter how bold a thief is, he would never dare to steal from Prince Zhou's Mansion. Although he patrolled very hard, he could not find any suspicious persons.
There were even several times when he was treated as a suspicious person and questioned by the guards. Later, he learned wisely and tried to avoid strangers.
At noon, he went back to Dongkua Courtyard to have a meal, and then visited the palace in the afternoon. At about dusk, he sat on a big tree to rest.
This big tree grows beside the wall of the mansion. Sitting on the tree, you can clearly see the inside and outside of the mansion. And not far from the big tree, there is a side door connecting the inside and outside of the mansion.
At this moment, Ping Qi discovered something strange. He saw three men walking with a famous woman in the narrow alley outside the palace wall.
They walked straight to the side door. The three men looked extremely cold. One of them, the scarred man, said coldly: "Please call your cousin out quickly."
The woman was trembling slightly and seemed extremely frightened.
Another one-eyed man said sternly: "Why don't you knock on the door?"
The woman trembled all over and finally knocked on the door. However, her knock was too weak and did not attract the attention of the servants in the house.
The man with the scar was quite impatient and banged on the door several times. The sound was finally heard by a servant in the house, who came to the door and opened it.
The moment he opened the door, three men darted aside and clung to the left and right walls, so the servant who opened the door only saw the woman.
"Who are you? Do you know where this place is?" the servant glared.
The woman said: "I, I'm looking for Hong Ming, I'm her cousin." Her voice trembled slightly.
The servant was surprised, and his expression suddenly became more respectful.
Just as he was about to go into the house to deliver a message, he suddenly thought: "I have never heard that Miss Hong has a cousin, but don't make a mistake and be blamed by her." Then he asked: "Do you have a token to prove your identity?"
The woman took off a hairpin, handed it over, and said, "Show her this and she will know."
The servant took it and said, "Please wait a moment." He closed the door, took the hairpin and ran towards the back house.
At this time, the three men who were sticking to the wall came to the woman again. The man with the scar said coldly: "You know what to do next?"
The woman gritted her teeth and nodded.
The scarred man said sternly: "Who told you to nod? Say it with your mouth!"
The woman shuddered again and said tremblingly: "I... I'll just take my cousin... to the alley just now... that's all."
The scarred man said solemnly: "Well, just remember."
The woman said in fear: "You...you really won't hurt us?"
The one-eyed man snorted and said, "Don't worry, we only want money. Your cousin is a celebrity around Princess Zhou, and she must have a lot of jewelry. We only want those."
The scarred man followed: "If we really kill her, the Zhou Palace will not spare us. Don't worry, we are not that stupid."
The woman nodded and calmed down.
On the tree trunk, Ping Qi thought to himself: "The eyes of these three people are flashing fiercely, they are just telling lies! It's just that they want to kill this woman, that's irrelevant. But they want to kill people from the palace, they are simply looking for death!"
The thought of being able to kill someone soon made me feel a little excited.