Shen Wuchou opened his eyes wide and made a sound of "Ahhh" in his throat, but could not speak.
Qin Xiao stared at Gengzi who was kneeling in front of him. His body was shaking and his jaw was shaking up and down. A strange smile suddenly appeared on his face and he said with a smile: "No, no, no, Shopkeeper Fan, let's talk carefully, you... ....You can't talk nonsense. I...you are just...just talking nonsense. Get up and talk...well, what is that baby... "Who?" Although he was smiling, his smile was very ugly and his voice was trembling.
Gengzi lowered his head, prostrated on the ground, and said: "This servant dare not say a word of nonsense about such a big matter."
"You are talking nonsense, what do you mean?" Qin Xiao's smiling face immediately turned cold and stern, the muscles on his face were still twitching, and his voice trembled: "What does the prince have to do with me?"
Gengzi raised his head and said slowly: "The man in gray robe told me the identity of the baby. Lao Zhong and I were shocked. He also told us that Empress Yuhua had been poisoned when she was pregnant. Empress Yuhua The poison accumulated on her body over time, and by the time it was discovered, it had spread all over her body, and there was no cure for it. If nothing happened, Empress Jiehua would die from the poison before she gave birth to her child. So it can be I am sure that the person who poisoned me calculated the date precisely so that Empress Jiehua would not be able to give birth to a child."
Qin Xiao looked strange at this time, and his eyes were even a little straight.
"Since the poison developed before giving birth to the child, why can I still give birth to a prince?" Shen Wuchou asked in a deep voice.
"Because of God's blessing." Gengzi said: "The embroidered messenger was killed, which alarmed some experts. They noticed that something was wrong in the palace, and quickly found out that the empress was poisoned, and her life was in danger. There was no cure for the poison, so they came up with a way to fight poison with poison. In order to save the prince, the empress accepted their suggestion and took another poison. With the two poisons in the empress' body, the empress was destined not to live long. But this kind of This method can allow the empress's life to be extended for a period of time until the prince is born."
Shen Wuchou nodded slightly and said, "This method of fighting poison with poison has been seen in the world before."
"The empress finally gave birth to the prince." Gengzi said: "But she also reached the end of her life. After giving birth to the prince, the empress knew that she would soon pass away. She also knew that the late emperor himself could not save himself. If the prince stayed in the palace, He will undoubtedly die. So she begged the master to take the prince out of the palace. She only hoped that the prince could stay away from the disputes and live a good life even if he became an ordinary commoner." At this point, her voice choked up: "Then the man in gray robe will The prince was brought out of the palace and handed over to our hands."
Qin Xiao's hands couldn't stop shaking and he asked: "The master you are talking about is the man in gray robe?"
"I don't know," Gengzi said, "The man in gray robe only said that the master helped the empress to continue her life, and that it was the master who took His Highness out of the palace, but he did not say that the master was himself."
Shen Wuchou asked: "So you learned about the things about Empress Jiehua from the person in gray robe, not from seeing them in person?"
"yes."
Shen Wuchou frowned and said, "In that case, how can you be sure that what he said is true?" He glanced at Qin Xiao and said, "How can you be sure that Qin Xiao is the prince?"
"Because he has His Highness' birth date and a jade plaque given by the emperor." Gengzi said: "The etiquette in the palace is that if a concubine is pregnant with a dragon seed, the emperor will order the supervisor to make a jade plaque. Jade plaque It will be clearly engraved on it, to whom it was given, and the time when the concubine was pregnant with the dragon seed. The man in gray robe took out the jade plaque, which only belonged to Empress Yuhua, and it clearly stated the day when she was pregnant with His Highness. It is a palace imperial system and cannot be faked, so we can easily identify it."
Shen Wuchou nodded slightly and said: "In that case, why did he entrust the baby to you? Since the man in gray robe can bring the prince out of the palace, he must be an extremely powerful person. If he wants to hide the prince, There are many solutions, so why should I come to you?"
Gengzi raised his head, with a strange smile on his lips, and said: "The reason is very simple, because people like us have no family. The palace is our home, and the late emperor is our master. After the late emperor passed away, both in public and in private, His Highness is Our master. If we want to go home, we can only protect His Highness and be loyal to His Highness to the death."
Shen Wuchou's lips moved but no sound came out.
He naturally understood the meaning of Gengzi's words.
Under the circumstances, any
When people learn about the prince's whereabouts, they may betray the prince for profit, inform Xiahou, and exchange for glory and wealth for themselves and their clansmen.
But only the embroidered messengers who were loyal to the late emperor could protect the prince.
Because they have no other escape route, compared to others, after leaving the palace, they only have as deep interests as others.
Although it cannot be said that all the messengers of embroidered clothes are necessarily loyal to the late emperor, compared with other people, the messengers of embroidered clothes are actually the best ones to entrust.
"Where is that jade plaque?" Qin Xiao finally asked.
Gengzi said: "Reporting to Your Highness, the man in gray robe gave the jade plaque to us for inspection, but he did not let us keep it. He said that the jade plaque was the proof of the prince's identity. If it is kept with the prince, it will only attract trouble to the prince. Disaster. So he kept the jade tablet himself. The slave remembered it clearly. He told us that His Highness’s birthday was the third day of October. When it was handed over to us, His Highness had been born for two months, and it had been two months since the Embroidered Clothes Messenger was executed. Four months have passed."
"You never knew the identity of the man in gray robe?"
"I don't know." Gengzi said, "That was the last time I saw the man in gray robe. From then on, he has never appeared again."
Qin Xiao leaned forward, stared into Gengzi's eyes and asked: "Since you said that the man in gray robe handed over the prince to you two, why didn't you get together with Zhong Chengan later? How could you collude with Li Chengqing?"
"We promised to take care of the prince, and we swore to the man in gray robe that we would never reveal a word about this matter to anyone." Gengzi said, "Hui robe." The robe man also told us not to let anyone know the existence of the prince, nor to inform the prince of his identity. He said that if one day he really needs to let His Highness know his identity, he will tell him personally. "
Shen Wuchou sneered: "So, you have violated your oath."
"Yes!" Gengzi sighed: "Back then, Lao Zhong and I discussed that if the world remains unchanged and Xiahou's status cannot be shaken, then His Highness should be allowed to live his life in peace as an ordinary person without letting His Highness know his identity. .But everything did not develop as we predicted. His Highness did not become an ordinary citizen, but was involved in the world's disputes. In the current situation, if you continue to conceal His Highness's life experience, it will be greatly detrimental to His Highness. And Twenty years have passed, and the voice of the man in gray robe was a bit old. Twenty years have passed, and he may not still be alive."
Shen Wuchou said: "This is not false. Twenty years have passed, and the man in gray robe is probably dead long ago."
"Originally, the servants were supposed to take care of His Highness together with Lao Zhong, but we suddenly thought that unless we were hiding in the mountains and forests, as long as we had contact with people, two men taking care of a baby would inevitably arouse suspicion from others." Gengzi said solemnly. : "We cannot let His Highness hide from the sun and have no contact with anyone. This will not be beneficial to His Highness's growth. Your Highness wants to see the love, hatred, sorrow, joy and separation in the world, and how people live, so even if you are hiding Being in a hidden village is far better than being hidden in the mountains and forests without seeing the light of day."
Qin Xiao understood and said: "So you and Old Man Zhong parted ways?"
"Old Zhong is more careful than the servant, and his temperament is much calmer." Gengzi said: "After discussing with him, we decided that he would take His Highness away and take good care of him. The servant continued to join other embroidered clothes messengers and looked for opportunities to take revenge. .”
"So, have you had any contact with Mr. Zhong in the past twenty years?"
Gengzi shook his head and said: "When we parted, we made a decision not to tell me your whereabouts. One more person who knows His Highness's whereabouts will only do harm to His Highness. He will take you as far away from Kyoto as possible. From now on, We also don’t want to have any contact with each other. When we were leaving, he and I had a drink and said goodbye. We have been apart for more than 20 years.” At this point, Gengzi was already in tears and knelt on the ground. , looked up at Qin Xiao and said: "Your Highness, could you let this servant see your right hand?"
Qin Xiao raised his right hand and frowned: "Why?"
"I remember very clearly that there was a very small birth mark on the index finger of the baby's right hand." Gengzi smiled through his tears. "At that time, my servant thought it was stained with dust, so I helped His Highness wipe it. After wiping it twice, , only to discover that it was a mark brought from the mother’s womb. The mark is on the inner left side of the index finger of His Highness’s right hand, you can find it if you look carefully!”
Qin Xiao's body was even more shocked. He didn't even need to raise his hand to know that what Gengzi said was true.
His right index finger
There is indeed a small mark on the inside. At first glance, it looks like it was lightly touched by ink. If you don't look closely, it is difficult to find.
Qin Xiao nodded and said, "You are right, there is a mark on the inside of the index finger." He opened his palm and showed it in front of Gengzi.
When Gengzi saw the mark, his eyes sparkled, and he actually smiled and said: "Yes, it's right here, haha, it can't be wrong. I didn't expect that after twenty years, the slave could still see the master, and see that the master is healthy and safe, slave."
Even if I die now, I will die without regrets."
Qin Xiao heard that his tone was indeed from the bottom of his heart, but he couldn't believe it for a moment.
He has been pursuing the mystery of his life experience, but he never expected that he would learn it from the owner of an underground pawn shop. What's more, it came so suddenly, and the truth was so shocking.
At this time, he finally understood why Gengzi's attitude changed drastically tonight.
Gengzi learned that his body had been planted with cold poison since he was a child. He immediately asked about his life experience and asked if he knew Zhong Chengan. At that time, Gengzi had obviously determined that he was the prince of the Tang Dynasty who had escaped from death in the palace.
Because of this, Gengzi immediately changed his stance and tried his best to help.
Because in Gengzi's heart, he, the prince of the Tang Dynasty, was his real master.
"Wait a minute." Qin Xiao thought of this and immediately asked: "Shopkeeper Fan, you previously learned that I was planted with Qianyemanluo poison when I was born, and you suspected that I was the baby back then. But in the past twenty years, you have
I have no contact with Old Man Zhong. Did you know that I was planted with poison when we parted ways? Who planted the poison in me?"
Gengzi shook his head and said: "Your Highness has misunderstood. No one has ever planted poison on you. The cold poison in your body was brought out from your mother's womb. The man in gray robe did not hide your life experience from us. He told it in detail, so
Only then did we know how the imperial concubine was killed. The slave just said that the imperial concubine was dosed with chronic poison in the palace. After being found out by the master, another kind of poison was used to fight poison with poison, which prolonged the imperial concubine's life. Another kind
The poison is Qianye Manluo poison. Back then, the master used Qianye Manluo poison to save the empress, but as a result, His Highness, who was still a fetus, was also infected."
Qin Xiao was shocked, Gengzi continued: "The fetus in the belly is connected by blood with the mother, so this is unavoidable. The man in gray robe had no way to detoxify His Highness, he just taught Lao Zhong a set of silver needle guides
The poison method is to give His Highness acupuncture every once in a while, which may help relieve His Highness' pain. At that time, the slave knew that His Highness was infected with Qianye Manluo Cold Poison when he was born. Although Qianye Manluo Poison is insidious, it is
It is not easy to obtain. Except for His Highness, no one in the world would plant this kind of poison on a newborn baby." At this point, he sighed: "So tonight I learned that Your Highness was planted with this kind of poison when he was born.
Poison, I just thought that you might be the prince who was taken away by Lao Zhong back then. It just so happens that you know Lao Zhong again, so I am sure of it!"
Qin Xiao nodded slightly.
He had just learned that he was the prince of the Tang Dynasty, and his mother was the Empress Xiuhua whom he had heard of many times before. Naturally, he was extremely shocked, but now his mood had calmed down a lot.
Many things came to mind before, but two people emerged from the depths of his memory.
One is Song Hui, the maid who served Empress Jiehua to the end, and the other is Su Baoping, an old monk in black.
He vaguely remembered that when Sister Hui was almost killed by her husband who was pretending to be a ghost, Qin Xiao exposed the truth, rescued Sister Hui, and personally beheaded Wei Bi, who had a human face and a beast heart. After that incident, Sister Hui was sent back to her hometown, and Qin Xiao
Qiuniang and I even went out of the city together to see each other off.
But when parting, Sister Hui's reaction was very strange.
The scene at that time also appeared in Qin Xiao's mind. He remembered that when he handed the package in through the window, Sister Hui stared at his hand for a long time. Her mood was clearly wrong, and then she said some very strange words. At that time, he
I didn't pay much attention to it, I just thought it was what I said to Qiuniang, but now that I think about it, there is a big problem.
Could it be that Sister Hui discovered the mark on her index finger and doubted her identity, so she felt wrong?
Qiuniang said that almost all the personal maids around Empress Yuhua were transferred away, and only Sister Hui served her until the end. From this, it seems that Sister Hui must have known some secrets.
Qin Xiao also remembered that Sister Hui's hometown seemed to be in Xuzhou, and her father seemed to be the governor of Guangling County in Xuzhou.
Besides Song Hui, the other person Qin Xiao thought of was Su Baoping.