Arriving at the border of Shangyuan County, dozens of miles away from the capital, the ugly pregnant woman Cao got off the boat late at night and stayed overnight in a small shop on the pier. Behind the thin boards in the room, people seemed to be coming and going in the small shop.
The whispers are low and the chirps are endless.
She knew that the official roads and alleys outside the store were full of people walking at night, and that countless horseshoes were walking at night. This was the world of spies at this time.
She didn't sleep all night,
She was crying alone on the bed.
The old aunt was sick. She didn't go home to take care of her for several days. She spent an unknown amount of money on medicines and doctors. The old aunt just looked like she was dying. The owner didn't care about her. They asked her to give up the house.
Her husband just asked her to ask her aunt for money, but she couldn't bear to ask for it. Her husband thought that she was stealing people in the capital to support the people, and she was not allowed to go home.
She was helpless.
She lived alone in a shabby shop at the dock in Shangyuan County for four or five days. During the day, she was looking for work in the county town and preparing to rent a house. For no other reason, renting a house in the county was far cheaper than in the capital or suburbs of Beijing.
She knew that the pier was adjacent to the river and the transportation was convenient, so there were too many spies. Every night, spies came to the shop to spy on her.
It wasn't until the number of people monitoring her dwindled and gradually disappeared that she took a boat at the Shangyuan County Pier.
A sail touches the water and goes down the river.
Within half an hour, she took a boat to Jiangning County Wharf, another neighboring county in Jinling.
In Jiangning County, there is a government office for hundreds of households in Jinyi.
It was still dark and dark, so she would hold her belly and walk to the Yamen, looking at the direction of the lantern hanging on the door. She turned into a back alley and found a door. It was a narrow and shabby old door.
She knocked on the door and slipped a few pieces of paper into the crack to report.
With a creak, the door opened a crack, and a pair of old eyes flashed inside.
The old man opened the door and looked at her, as if he recognized her. He picked up the secret message and closed the door. After a while, he threw out a bunch of loose coins.
She thought, there seemed to be no change. She recognized this fan's surname Wu. She picked up these copper coins. This was the reward for the neighbor's spy to report the news to Jinyi Yamen.
Her current identity is that of Lao Wu's most inconspicuous informant. She has been using this false identity on and off for more than ten years.
She kept her composure and took a boat here every day to deliver secret reports. Old Wu also paid her a few copper coins every day.
Lou Xiliu was in the palace and saw that besides eating and sleeping during the day, she was also lying on the table, thinking hard and writing a small secret report.
The secret report was all about King Zhao's spy so-and-so buying off so-and-so, a slave in Duke Mei's palace. She didn't write a word about Duke Mei himself, but every sentence said that it was speculated that Duke Mei was going to rebel. Of course she had a reason to write this.
Sister-in-law Qu's aunt lives in the same neighborhood as her cousin, the third steward of Mei Guogong's family.
Lou Xiliu glanced at her little secret report and asked, "What are you doing?"
"I'm framing good people."
"..." You also know it's a frame-up?
"You don't understand. Such a big thing will definitely be reported. Everything I wrote seems to be supported by evidence. At least check it out."
But if Liancheng didn't have this news at all, it was because the story below concealed her loyal and false secret.
An urgent report on the military situation of King Zhao's army crossing the Yellow River was rushed 800 miles to the capital. The government and the public were shocked.
Fortunately, Duke Mei Guo defended the isolated city at the mouth of the Yellow River.
King Zhao's army has been unable to capture it.
Cao Xi went to Jinyi Yamen to drink tea with Liancheng, invited Qin Meng out for dinner, and asked several disciples from Qianhu family to gossip. There was no news in the Yamen that Duke Mei Guo was planning to rebel.
She thought, there was indeed a spy. And he was a very shrewd one.
With Mei Guogong guarding the isolated city, the spies of the Zhao Palace did not take the opportunity to use her false secret report to frame Mei Guogong.
Because her false report seems to have evidence, but it can be found out with just one investigation. The spy may find out that it is a trap.
The opponent should not be underestimated, and she had to keep her composure. On this day, she leaned lazily in front of the long painted red window, looking at her green rose flowers. She was basking in the sun in the room of the Wenhua Hall of the East Palace.
She leaned over the table and bit her pen again, thinking hard about how to write a false secret report.
——Should we say that King Zhao has sneaked into the capital? Or should we say that Li Guogong has rebelled?
Or maybe the Empress secretly wrote a letter to King Zhao?
"……are you sick?"
Suddenly, a child's soft voice sounded, speaking quietly behind her. She was horrified, "Oh no, it's the little grandson here." She suddenly remembered something big: By the way, it's almost winter, why is she using her brain to frame people like this?
You will get sick!
She jumped up, crumpled up the piece of paper and swallowed it in her mouth. She had to take a medicinal bath or a hot spring.
In particular, she must not take care of children. Taking care of children is truly the hardest and most painful thing.
The little grandson saw the monster lady jump up and jump out of the window like a monkey. In the blink of an eye, she disappeared in the green autumn sunshine. He was stunned and cried: "Monster, monster-"
Aunt Bai was also very angry and quickly comforted her little great-grandson. Thanks to the fact that the palace servants and eunuchs in front of her were all outside the room, they did not notice that Cao Xiwan was so rude.
Cao Xiwan escaped from the Wenhua Palace. Hearing the crying, he thought that the little grandson was Ye Gong Haolong.
She was curious about monsters and was so frightened that she cried when she saw one. Of course, she was not a real monster. But she just wanted to make her little grandson happy.
Sure enough, children are really troublesome. However, she began to miss Xiao Shuang and Xiao Qiao.
Children who are brought up by themselves only feel pain themselves.
Will Su Jintian abuse his junior brothers and junior sisters? As for Xiao Shuang, Yan Shuangliu has been too naughty since she was a child, and it doesn’t matter how she abuses her.
She was worried, but her face was dignified and solemn. Following the palace rules and etiquette, she walked along the palace road to the North Palace Gate and walked around in the North Group Room.
An old prisoner met her and asked, "Isn't that rare?"
She said confidently: "I am Xiao Zheng's counterpart. I go home to eat. He likes to cook the most." She gave a thumbs up, "What a skill!"
Xiao Zheng doesn't like cooking at all.
But since he had a romantic relationship with a seventh-grade female official, he was also a high-ranking official. According to the rules of a romantic relationship, he could not expect his beloved female official to cook for him under any circumstances.
——This is Cao Xiwan’s idea. Xiao Zheng still doesn’t know that he has an extra partner.
Cao Xiwan sneaked into Xiao Zheng's yard at night and saw the smoke rising from the kitchen stove. The yard was clean and fresh. She sat comfortably under the melon stand and watched Xiao Zheng busy with his food.
"It's ready to eat."
"Here we are." She ran into the house and ate four dishes and one soup with satisfaction. It tasted like home cooking.
Anyway, she doesn’t have to cook it herself, it’s just delicious.
At the dinner table, she even muttered to Xiao Zheng that Su Jintian was not good enough. Xiao Zheng kept echoing her words and excitedly took the last round of antidote from her hand, with tears in his eyes.
"I'll come to eat again tomorrow."
"..." If she comes to eat again, can he ignore it? Xiao Zheng thought to himself. In order to please her, he paid to have these dishes secretly cooked in the small kitchen of Cai Guifei's palace. It was said that they were made by himself.
I did it. She must not take it seriously!
Little Zheng still doesn't know that now the news has spread all over Beiqunfang that he and the female official in the East Palace are very close and they are rivals.
She patted her belly and walked into the palace garden via the North Palace Road. After walking for two miles among the big trees and small slopes, she saw the Lumo Pavilion of the East Palace.
When she arrived at the Lumo Pavilion, she met Aunt Qi, the receptionist from the Women's Bureau. She didn't know what to do. The receptionist came to inspect and actually asked her to run into her.
She saluted and lowered her eyebrows.
"It's late," Ms. Qi scolded. She thought to herself, how could she make her so angry that she was not kicked out of the palace?