"Hey, it's almost time. If we don't send the jade seal to the sacrifice platform, it will be too late."
Xiao Shunzi raised his head and glanced at the dark clouds in the sky, jumped up and screamed.
Rong Fei couldn't understand how Xiao Shunzi could see through the dark clouds and judge the exact time, but this was not the time to pursue this issue. He quickly got up, so he could not clean up the mud on his body, and headed towards the Dongsheng Gate, which is closest to the sacrifice rooftop.
Run in the direction.
"Something's wrong, there's something wrong."
After running a certain distance, Rong Fei suddenly grabbed Xiao Shunzi and muttered something.
Xiao Shunzi was confused and was about to ask what happened, but Rong Fei asked first.
"Does everyone in the palace have to go to the ceremony?"
"Your Majesty, the Crown Prince, Prince Qi and the two godfathers are definitely going, as well as some of the Feiyu Guards. The female relatives of the harem are not allowed, and women are not allowed to enter the sacrifice platform."
"Let's go, take me to find someone."
Rong Fei thought for a moment, then pulled Xiao Shunzi and ran towards the harem.
…
"Stop the car. Commander Fan has an order. No one is allowed to leave the palace before noon."
On the west side of the palace, under the Xifu Gate, Feiyuwei Baihu stopped in front of the beautifully decorated carriage and shouted loudly.
The driver of the car was a plump, middle-aged palace maid. Seeing that someone dared to block the car, her thick eyebrows were raised. She swung her riding whip and passed Feiyu Wei Baihu's ear. Then she flicked her wrist and whipped the tip of the whip.
It quickly rebounded into the air and made a loud crisp sound.
"You blind bitch dares to block the driver even if you don't see clearly whose car it is. But if you live too long, your life will be too long."
The whistling sound of the riding whip made hundreds of households buzz in their ears. They glared at the fat woman coachman with hatred, and then they had time to carefully look at the decorations on the driver.
It's a pity that he was transferred to the palace from elsewhere a few days ago, but he didn't recognize the carriage in front of him.
A commander-in-chief came over and whispered in his ear.
"Sir, this is Princess Yinguang's car."
Except for the chamberlains, maids, and bodyguards, all the others in the palace can be regarded as nobles, and the nobles are also divided into three, six, and nine grades. To put it into perspective, the only people who cannot and dare not offend are only those ten or so people.
Although this Baihu had just come to serve in the palace, he had already heard of Princess Yinguang's name. She was one of the noble people who could not be offended.
But this morning, before Commander Fan left the palace, he gave a death order, and all the families could do was to clasp their fists and cup their hands towards the carriage with the curtain hanging on it.
"I'm responsible for this, so I dare not let him go. Please forgive me, princess."
The fat coachman was about to yell and curse after hearing this, but the curtain of the carriage behind him was opened.
Zhu Yueyao was helped out of the carriage by the palace maid, walked to the front of the hundred households, and asked coldly with a gloomy face.
"This palace is His Majesty's home. I am His Majesty's biological sister, so I am half the owner of this family. You are the guardians who guard this home, and Fan Li is just the head guardian. When will the chief guardian speak?
Is it more effective than the master?"
"this…"
That's the truth, but the palace is not a landlord's house. There are rules for coming and going here, but there is no need for the master to be the master.
Baihu looked a little flustered under Zhu Yueyao's gaze and didn't know how to answer for a while.
At the same time, Fei Yuwei who was stationed at Dongsheng Gate saw two figures who looked like clay sticks running towards this side in a hurry. He quickly set up a gun formation, and at the same time, he cocked his crossbow and aimed at the two people, and then shouted sharply.
"Stop, anyone who breaks into the palace gate will die!"
"Hey, don't shoot the arrow, don't shoot the arrow, it's one of our own."
The two clay figurines stopped and Xiao Shunzi raised his hand and wiped his face randomly a few times. After revealing part of his true appearance, he shouted to Feiyu Wei Zongqi who was leading the team.
"It's me, Shunliu from Wei Gong's subordinate, you didn't recognize me, hehehehe."
Feiyuwei Zongqi heard that the voice sounded familiar. He took a few steps forward to take a closer look and recognized that it was Xiao Shunzi himself, so he asked doubtfully.
"It turns out to be Eunuch Shunyou, what are you doing?"
"Oh, it's a long story. I'll explain it to you later. I have urgent matters and I need to leave the palace immediately. Please let me go as soon as possible."
As he said this, Xiao Shunzi took Rong Fei's arm and was about to rush into the doorway, but was stopped by two spears.
"I'm sorry, Eunuch Shunyou. Mr. Fan specifically told me this morning that no one is allowed to leave the palace before noon. You'd better please come back."
Upon hearing this, Rong Fei felt a chill rising from the back of his head and couldn't help but shiver.
Feiyuwei commander Fan Liren!
Isn't it even more dangerous on your Majesty's side?
The two of them looked at each other and were trying to think of an excuse or some money to sneak out when they saw a Feiyu Guard from Baihu walking towards them.
The commander-in-chief whispered a few words into Baihu's ear, and Baihu's face suddenly darkened, and he pointed at the two of them and shouted.
"Sneaking around, he must have done something shady. Let's take them down and wait for the commander to make a decision after he returns."
"Sir, that person is the most favored servant in front of Duke Wei. We cannot afford to offend him."
After hearing this, the commander-in-chief quickly advised in a low voice.
"Hmph, I only obey the orders of the commander and His Majesty, and I don't take the cats and dogs next to me seriously. Why, if you haven't taken action yet, are you going to disobey the commander's orders and want to rebel?"
Baihu quickly pulled out the sword from his waist, put it on the commander's neck and shouted sternly.
"I don't dare! What are you doing in a daze? Why don't you hurry up and capture these two people?"
The situation was the same as at Xifumen. This Baihu was just transferred a few days ago. The Feiyu Guard sergeant here was not familiar with him, so he was a little hesitant when he first heard about the arrest.
But at this time, the commander-in-chief didn’t care whether it was forced or voluntary. Since he had already spoken, he would not be held responsible if Duke Wei pursued him afterwards.
"You bastards are so brave! I am Wei Gong, the grandson of Ma Gong, you guys..."
When Xiao Shunzi saw that Fei Yuwei was really trying to catch him, his face changed with anger. He pointed at them and was about to curse, but Rong Fei pulled him away and ran away.
"What nonsense are you talking about? It's important to escape."
"Chase! Don't let them escape, life or death is not a concern."
Xiao Shunzi didn't believe that Feiyuwei really dared to touch him, but when he heard the murderous shouts coming from behind him, he immediately shrank his head in fright, and actually ran a few minutes faster than Rong Fei.
There are many lanes and courtyards in the palace, and the terrain is complex, but with a local like Xiao Shunzi leading the way, you don't have to worry about getting lost or running into dead ends.
The two of them ran away as fast as they could, choosing alleys with many forks in the road or gardens with cloisters and rockeries as cover, so they didn't have to worry about being caught up for a while.
Seeing that the two men were about to escape, Baihu, who was leading the pursuit, quickly took out a bamboo whistle from his arms and put it into his mouth and blew it.
The beep-de-de-de sound of the bamboo whistle spread far away, and the surrounding Feiyu guards who heard the whistle came to surround him.
The hundreds of households stationed at Xifu Gate also heard the whistle. This was the order given by Commander Fan earlier. Whenever someone forced their way into the palace gate, they would sound the whistle to warn.
Hundreds of households were moved in their hearts, knowing that the real owner had been found there, so they had no intention of entangled with Zhu Yueyao anymore.
Just as he was about to give the order to let the carriage pass, he swallowed back the words he was about to say and pretended to ponder for a while before asking.
"The princess wants to leave the palace, but I don't dare to stop her. But please explain the purpose of leaving the palace. This way, when the commander asks, I can give you an explanation. Please understand, princess."
"Hmph, if you dare to open a dyeing workshop after getting three points of color, Fan Liren is trying to turn Feiyuwei into Fan Jiajun. It doesn't matter, you are a small household, so I don't have to embarrass you. The chief assistant of the cabinet, Mr. Liu, is seriously ill, and I
Gong and Liu Yingrong, the eldest daughter of Liu Shoufu, are close friends and have since gone to visit and comfort her."
Zhu Yueyao snorted coldly.
"If we want to go to Lord Chief Assistant's house, wouldn't it be closer to Dongsheng Gate? Why would the princess choose to go this way instead of being close?"
Zhu Yueyao was a princess, so she could not be interrogated like a prisoner. She glared at Baihu coldly, turned around and stepped onto the carriage and entered the carriage without paying any attention to him. The accompanying maid stood up and explained.
"Miss Liu's family likes to eat the lotus-scented snacks from the Western Market, so the princess wanted to buy some and take them there, so she chose Xifumen to go out of the palace. If you have any other questions you want to ask, please just ask them. Don't ask any more.
Delaying the princess’s time.”
"I don't dare, I just said a few more words about my responsibilities. Even so, I will let you go. However, for the sake of the princess's safety, it is safer to send escorts to accompany her."
After that, without asking Zhu Yueyao what he meant, he stretched out his hand to summon the four Feiyu guards and whispered a few words, then they cleared the road to allow the carriage to pass out of the palace.
Bah! After today, it will be nothing more than a phoenix in distress that is not as good as a chicken.
Watching the carriage drive out of the door, Baihu snorted proudly in his heart, but he did not dare to say this out loud at this time.
Leaving a few confidants to continue to garrison Xifumen, Baihu rushed towards the direction of the whistle with a flying feather guard under the general banner. The most important thing was to capture the real owner.
Zhu Yueyao, who returned to the carriage, quickly covered her mouth, fearing that her rapid and heavy breathing would be discovered by the hundreds of households, which would expose her.
His slightly trembling body leaned against the wall of the carriage, and his heartbeat sounded like a drum in his ears.
Rong Fei was right, Fan Liren really wanted to rebel, otherwise how would a small Feiyu Guard Baihu dare to stop the princess from driving and ask where she was going.
When she just faced that Baihu, Zhu Yueyao was really afraid that the other party would suddenly draw a knife and chop her.
Fortunately, none of this really happened, and he still left the palace as he wished.
It’s just that there are four extra tails at the back of the carriage. What should we do?
The wheels of the carriage rolled over the bluestone road, making a gurgling sound. Zhu Yueyao tightly grasped the silk handkerchief with her nervous hands, her eyes flickering as she thought about her idea.
Estimating that there was not much time until noon, Zhu Yueyao gritted her teeth and made up her mind, and whispered to the palace maid beside her.
"He Ting, take off your clothes."
The carriage drove up West Changjiang Street and stopped in front of a pastry shop called Lianhuaxiang. The two palace maids opened the curtains and stepped out of the carriage and entered the pastry shop.
Fei Yuwei, who had been following behind, also walked to the door of the shop and stared at every move of the two palace ladies.
After chatting with the shopkeeper for a few words, a palace maid returned to the carriage and said.
"Princess, the lotus seed cake that Miss Liu likes to eat has just been sold out, and it will take half an hour to wait for the next one. Sister He Ting said she would stay here and wait, so we can go ahead."
"Um."
A somewhat lazy and tired response came from the carriage.
After the palace maid went to the shop and greeted the palace maid named He Ting, she returned to the carriage. The carriage moved forward again, heading in the direction of the chief minister's official residence.
The four Feiyu Guards looked at the maids waiting in the shop, then at the carriage that was driving away. After some discussion, they followed the carriage.
Zhu Yueyao, who had changed into the clothes of a palace maid, lay down by the door frame of the pastry shop and watched the carriage and Fei Yuwei go away. Then she picked up her skirt and hurried towards the east of the city.