Nanqi Capital is a square city built on the basis of the palace city of the Dayi Dynasty. The layout of the city is rigorous and beautiful, and it consists of three parts: the palace city, the imperial city, and the outer city. The magnificent Qishui River runs from west to east.
Passing through the city, it gave birth to the prosperity of the city.
The outer city guards the imperial city where the royal family lives and the palace city lined with government offices from the east, west and south. It is the residential area for common people and officials and the location of the commercial district of the capital. The outer city has three gates on each side, one main and two auxiliary.
There are twelve gates in total. The streets in the city are arranged in the east-west and north-south directions, perpendicular to each other, in a chessboard shape. There are 14 east-west streets, 11 north-south streets, and countless alleys and alleys. Among them, the four widest streets are in the shape of a chessboard.
The four main gates of the outer city are connected in a glyph shape, and they are called Qinglong Street, Baihu Street, Xuanwu Street, and Zhuque Street in the east, west, and south directions. These crisscrossing streets divide the capital into more than a hundred squares, each of which has
There are various large and small residences, temples, academies and markets with different names, among which the three largest markets are the East Market, the West Market and the South Market.
Canglanzhai is located in a deep and quiet alley in the south of the city near Nanshi.
Xia Houshu seldom walked around the south of the city and was not familiar with the layout of the south of the city. However, since Canglan Zhai had no white people coming and going, it was quite famous in the city, so she only had to ask around and found it.
Canglanzhai's shop is not big, and it is inconspicuous among the old houses, even a little deserted. Even the plaque with the three words "Canglanzhai" on the door has been damaged by the wind and sun all year round.
Some of the paint is peeling off, and everything has a sense of simplicity and disrepair.
Xia Houshu entered Canglan Zhai with a piece of jade, but found that it was surprisingly quiet inside. No one even came up to say hello, and it didn't look like they were open for business at all.
She scanned briefly and found that there were only five or six antique shelves in the small shop. There were not many top-quality antiques as far as the eye could see, but each item seemed to have its own history and history.
Stories. There were some scattered books on the shelves against the wall. After walking a few steps inside, she discovered that there was a thin but tall man sitting behind the rosewood screen that had a sense of age.
An old man with good spirits.
The sunlight shines in through the papered carved windows, and is particularly gentle after being filtered by the window paper. At this moment, the old man is drinking tea leisurely, looking at the yellowing book in his hand from time to time, not knowing what is going on.
Doing business or just having fun. It's not even clear whether he is the owner of Canglan Zhai or a guest.
Xia Houshu often interacted with the staff in the government, and he knew that people who seemed to be knowledgeable and uncontested probably had some weird tempers, or were self-righteous and unwilling to associate with ordinary people in their eyes, or even talk to them.
She is willing to say more; or she is enjoying herself and hates others suddenly disrupting her rhythm of life; or she is old-fashioned and likes to go her own way and doesn't talk much. Now that she wants something from others, she naturally doesn't want to give it to him.
Leave a vulgar and rude impression.
Seeing that the old man was holding the scroll and looking fascinated, Xiahou Shu did not dare to interrupt him, so he took a book with obvious signs of repair from the ancient shelf. It was a book by travelers from the previous dynasty who recorded the mountains, rivers and customs of various places.
, it looked like it was copied. She looked through it and waited patiently.
The old man lived a leisurely life and read slowly. He thought while reading, and read about four or five pages. When he lowered his head to drink tea, he realized that the tea in the cup was empty, so he picked up the teapot that was warm on the small stove and added a cup.
He took a pleasant sip.
After drinking tea, the old man put down his tea cup, picked up the book and turned a page. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a bright red color, which looked very bright in his dim and old shop. He couldn't help but look up.
Towards the door, the girl in red who was reading quietly fell into his sight.
Like a painting.
With this thought in mind, the old man simply stopped reading. He stood up slowly and asked, "Girl, what do you mean when you come to the shop?"
Most of the people who came in and out of Canglan Zhai were elderly literati and elegant people, but there were very few young and inexperienced women like Xia Houshu.
Xia Houshu heard the sound and quickly moved her eyes from the book to the old man. Realizing that the other person might be the person she was looking for, she bowed slightly and said respectfully: "My little girl has something I want to ask the master of Canglanzhai. I wonder if I can introduce it to you?"
"
The old man was very satisfied when he saw that she was a little girl and she was polite, so he smiled heartily and said, "I am just an old man. Girl, please come in and talk."
The owner of Cang Lan Zhai has an unknown name, and people respectfully call him "Chang Weng". He is indeed as gentle, elegant, indifferent and quiet as the rumors say, and he is quite like an old man and a villager.
Xia Houshu didn't expect that he could fall into Chang Weng's eyes. He was so happy that he quickly closed the travel diary in his hand and put it back to its original place. Then he followed Chang Weng's invitation and sat down opposite him.
Chang Weng personally poured tea for Xia Houshu and then asked her in detail about her purpose of coming.
Xia Houshu didn't show off, so he took out the imitation white jade plaque and showed it to Chang Weng, saying: "I picked this up a few days ago, and no one has come to find it yet. I heard that you have a good memory and a unique discernment.
I came here to ask for advice. I wonder if you know anything about it."
Chang Weng took the jade plaque and looked at it carefully for a long time, and then touched the pattern carved on it. He frowned more and more. He didn't know whether it was because the imitation was not realistic enough or because the origin of the jade plaque was unusual.
After a while, he raised his head and asked, "Did you really pick up this jade plaque?"
Xia Houshu was afraid that he would see the flaw, so he could only smile and say: "I think this jade plaque is exquisite and clear, and the color is like agar. It doesn't look like an ordinary thing. I think the person who lost the jade plaque must be troubled and anxious, but I don't know
He must have lost it somewhere and couldn't find it back. If you know his origin, please tell me so that this jade plaque can be returned to its original owner as soon as possible."
Chang Weng stroked his beard and handed the mutton-fat jade tablet back to Xia Houshu. He said slowly: "It is indeed an unusual thing, but yours is a fake."
"Fake?" Even though he knew it was fake, Xia Houshu still looked surprised, and even murmured a bit disappointedly, "No wonder no one is looking for it, so that's what it is."
Chang Weng stroked his beard and said with a smile as if to comfort her: "Although it is a fake, this piece of jade is indeed a good piece of jade. You don't have to feel sorry for it, girl."
"Sir, what do you mean by this?" Xia Houshu raised his head and looked at Chang Weng, continuing to pretend to be dumbfounded.
In order to make the imitation of the jade plaque more realistic, she had indeed chosen a good jade from her own warehouse. Unexpectedly, the well-informed Chang Weng noticed it.
Chang Wen slowly explained: "In terms of the quality of this piece of jade, it is considered top-grade among mutton-fat jade, but it is not worth mentioning compared to the pattern engraved on the jade."
There is indeed a mystery!
Xia Houshu was secretly happy in his heart, but deliberately pretended not to care, and said with a smile: "It's just a peony flower, it looks like a thing from his daughter's house, what special meaning can it have? But I am also a woman, and I know this kind of thing very well.
If your personal belongings accidentally fall into the hands of someone with intentions, your reputation may be damaged in the future, so you have to be careful."
The woman was worried about her reputation being damaged. This reason seemed perfect. However, Chang Weng obviously didn't believe it completely. However, he had a good impression of Xia Houshu so far, and he didn't intend to hide it, so he said: "If we want to find out its origin,
, I’m afraid it has something to do with Prince Ling’s Mansion.”
"Prince Ling's Mansion?" Xia Houshu expressed surprise at this result, but it seemed to be expected.
At that time, Emperor Taizong granted ten vassal kings with different surnames. The Kong family of Jingwang and the Situ family of Shunwang were executed by three clans for rebelling. The Luo family of Su Wang had their homes confiscated for treason and collaborating with the enemy.
The Zhang family was deprived of their titles and demoted to commoners because a woman in their clan murdered the emperor's heir. The Zheng family of King Jing and the Xue family of King Yi had their grandchildren too mediocre and were exhausted in years of fighting and internal strife. Only the Changsun family of King Xiang, Ling
The three families of Wang Yuwen and Gong Wang Zhong were hereditary. Among the only three remaining vassal kings with different surnames, King Ling was the most popular. The current King Ling is named Yu Wensheng. He has a large number of soldiers and has made great military achievements.
He was so powerful in the court that even the emperor respected him.
When Emperor Qi Hui, Dugu Cheng, was on the throne, in order to win over Yu Wensheng, he married his daughter Princess Zhaoyun to him. However, Princess Zhaoyun was unlucky. She was married to Prince Ling for more than ten years and only gave birth to one daughter.
, and unfortunately died in infancy. Princess Zhaoyun, who was physically and mentally frustrated, saw Yuwensheng's other concubines giving birth to children one after another. She felt deeply that she was unworthy of the ancestors of the Yuwen family, so she asked her brother Qi Jing, Duguji, who had ascended the throne at that time, to marry him.
After obeying the decree, he voluntarily gave up his position as Princess Ling, and then became a monk.
In a time of great peace and prosperity, with no national mourning, a princess of a royal country was ordained and became a monk. This was an unprecedented event in Nanqi. Not only would it bring trouble to the royal family, but it would also make the palace of Prince Ling look bad, and it might even offend Long Yan and get him implicated. However,
I don’t know what happened next, but the late emperor actually agreed to Princess Zhaoyun’s request to become a monk, but retained her titles of “Princess” and “Princess Ling”, and continued to enjoy enshrinement and protection. He even ordered her to concentrate on her spiritual practice.
A nunnery was built specifically for her on the outskirts of Lingdu, named Shuiyue nunnery.
After Princess Zhaoyun became a monk, Prince Ling suddenly changed his temperament. In the past, he was brave, good at fighting, and full of energy. He was addicted to wine and sex all day long. He stayed in the fiefdom for many years and almost ignored the government affairs.
Everyone said that King Ling had a deep love for Princess Yun, but he couldn't leave the people of his fiefdom, and he was depressed, so he behaved so wildly. However, according to the information Xia Houyi found, it was known that King Ling not only had no intention of retiring,
In recent years, he has also taken frequent actions, not only recruiting strangers from the world out of concern for his own safety, but also openly recruiting government soldiers. His thoughts are well known to everyone.
Prime Minister Wang is a Beijing official and the head of the civil service. He is deeply favored by the emperor. He should protect himself wisely and keep a distance from the various vassal kings. How could he be related to Prince Ling?
Maybe this is why today's emperor is concerned about the death of a beloved concubine in the prime minister's palace.
I think the intention of Prince Lai Ling would have been very obvious, otherwise it would not have attracted Ouchi's attention.
This was a big clue. Xia Houshu thought that he would exchange information with Xia Houyi later.
Chang Weng didn't seem to notice that Xia Houshu was distracted, and said: "It is certainly worthy of praise that the girl did not pick up the gold, but I advise the girl not to get too involved with this jade token, so as not to get into trouble."
Although Chang Weng's tone was normal, he carried good-natured advice and warning.
Of course Xia Houshu understands the stakes, but her current identity is just an ordinary woman who picked up a jade token with special meaning, and it is not convenient to get to the bottom of it. However, since she can find out the origin of this jade token, it is also a good thing.
There will be a clearer direction on what to do next. This chapter has been completed!