Mountains and rivers pray for peace

Chapter 148 The Corpse in the Well
Huo Qi'e raised her eyebrows lightly, feeling helpless in her heart, she could only pat Luo Rou's hand lightly.

Luo Rou's words have no heart, but the people standing here are all those who know the elegant meaning after listening to string songs.What she said to Luo Rou before was just to encourage her.It's just that this word fell into the ears of other people, fearing that the two of them would join forces and deliberately run Liu Yiyi away.

After all, Luo Rou was also disqualified because of Liu Yiyi's framing, and she happened to leave a vacancy, so she was lucky enough to fill in.

The scene was suddenly awkward, and Luo Rou also noticed the freezing of the air, so she scratched her head in a cover-up manner, and felt relieved when she saw Huo Qi's normal expression.Fortunately, this atmosphere did not last long, and Huang Dongying, the eunuch of the Supervisor of Rituals, quickly came out from the palace gate.

Huang Dongying has a square face and a blunt nose. He should have a tolerant and kind face, but his falcon-like eyes make people feel unreasonably frightened.

He counted the number of people, and when he saw that everyone had arrived, he asked the little eunuch behind him to look at the portrait to check his waist badges and the luggage he brought with him one by one, and then he gave an innocent smile: "Everything has been done. The verification is correct, ladies, please go with the Za family, there is still a long way to go."

Now, although Huo Qi and the other five have entered the palace, they have not yet received official positions. They must wait until they learn the rules one by one before proceeding.Therefore, Huang Dongying followed the rules and still called them miss.

The five of them were cautious along the way and did not speak.Huo Qi kept his eyes straight, Wang Rong kept staring at his toes while walking, and the remaining three looked at the surrounding environment curiously.

Emperor Xiaowen paid great attention to the selection of female officials this time. Empress Zhou personally paid close attention to the selection of women to enter the palace, and she was very hands-on in everything.On the one hand, these five people are all the proud daughters of heaven selected from the major families in Daqi. Each of them represents a force in the previous dynasty, so naturally they cannot be dismissed casually.On the other hand, one of these five people will fill the vacancy of Cao Zhongen in Shoukang Palace. Empress Dowager Pei has never been easy to fool, so there can be no mistakes this time.

Huang Dongying was an old man, and when he thought about the twists and turns of the world, his attitude was naturally very warm. He kept introducing the palace buildings and old anecdotes to them along the way.

When the group of people walked near the imperial garden, the continuous palace in the southwest corner was already floating above everyone's heads.

Huang Dongying said with a smile: "These days, you ladies will live in the Yupeng Hall in front of you and learn the rules of the palace together. The Queen has ordered people to clean the Yupeng Hall again, and also added a lot of furnishings for all the ladies. It's funny. When the rules are learned, the queen mother and queen will decide the official positions of the ladies, and then move the residence when it is time."

He paused for a moment, pointed to the top of the verandah in the north and said: "That's where the empresses are now. It's okay for you ladies to accidentally bump into any of the empresses on weekdays. They are all compassionate and tolerant. only……"

"Just what?" Seeing Huang Dongying's hesitation, Luo Rou got curious and had the courage to ask.

Huang Dongying smiled meaningfully: "Actually, it's nothing strange, except that Jing'an Palace, where His Highness the Seventh Prince lives, is also nearby. This master never likes to be disturbed. If he bumps into him, it will be troublesome. Please be careful, ladies." .”

The protection between men and women in Daqi is not stricter than that in the previous dynasty, but the rules in the palace are strict. If the men and women in the palace give and receive privately, it will inevitably delay the master's errands, and it will be a loss of morality if word is spread.Huang Dongying's words fell into Luo Rou's ears, and they were indeed true.

Li Jiayin knew more, so she wondered: "The married princes all leave the palace to open their own palaces, and the palaces where unmarried princes live are generally far away from the residences of concubines, but His Highness the Seventh Prince lives in the southwest where concubines gather." Horn. Why is this?"

Nie Ying also became interested. Although her eyes were fixed forward, her ears were perked up.In fact, she had been curious about this matter for a long time. After all, she had been able to reach the entrance of Jing'an Palace before entering the palace because it was not far from where the concubines lived.If she was bumped into by someone, she could just say that she was here to pay her respects to Concubine Xian and that she was just passing by by accident.

When Huo Qi heard this, his heart skipped a beat.

Li Jiayin is indeed a little knower, but when things go wrong, there must be monsters. Some things are not suitable to be asked on the table.

As soon as this thought rolled over Huo Qi's heart, he saw Huang Dongying restrained his smile. After a moment, the tight corners of his mouth relaxed again: "Miss Li, master, we slaves can't do more. Inquiry. Although there is a fixed number of residences in the palace, sometimes there will inevitably be exceptions."

Li Jiayin was not stupid. As soon as she heard this, she knew that she had said something wrong, so she said obediently: "My father-in-law is right. My little girl just said something wrong. Please bear with me."

What he said was very embarrassing to Huang Dongying, so he waved his hand: "Where is the girl?" He waved the whisk with his hand, and led the five of them forward.

It is now the end of April, spring is in full swing, and the peach blossoms and lilacs in the Imperial Garden are in full bloom. The flowers are clustered together, carrying a rich fragrance.

Before walking a few steps, Wang Rong frowned slightly and couldn't help but cover her mouth and nose with a handkerchief: "Why does it smell weird?"

As soon as these words came out, the other people present immediately noticed that something was wrong.Sniffing carefully, there is a smell of rotten meat in the air. This smell is mixed with the spring scenery in the garden, making it even more weird and pungent.

Luo Rou looked around, and finally fixed her eyes on an octagonal well not far ahead: "This strange smell seems to be coming from that well."

Luo Rou has always been a bold person. When she saw that the well seemed to have a mystery, she glanced at the people around her proudly and stepped forward to take a look without saying a word.

Wang Rong also became curious and was slightly behind Luo Rou, two steps behind, and followed step by step.But before she could see clearly the mystery of the Bajiaojing, she was staggered by Luo Rou who turned around in front of her.Luo Rourou fell to the ground and immediately screamed: "Don't go, someone is dead!"

Suddenly, everyone had different expressions.

Although Li Jiayin and Nie Ying had heard about the scandal in the inner house, they had never seen anyone die in front of them. At this time, they were so frightened by Luo Rou's reaction that their faces turned pale and pale.

Wang Rong was also shocked and couldn't move.

On the contrary, Huo Qi at the back looked normal.She crawled out from the Palace of Hell, and she had long been indifferent to matters of life and death.The body is just a jar, and the difference between the dead and the living is nothing more than whether there is a soul in the jar.

She walked unhurriedly to the octagonal well eaves and leaned over to take a look. She only saw a female corpse floating in the well. Her lower body could not be seen clearly. Only her face was swollen and whitened by the well water. It was almost invisible under the sunlight. Nearly transparent.The hair floated on the mouth of the well like seaweed. Although the facial features could not be discerned, it looked like an eleven or twelve-year-old girl.

When the others saw Huo Qi's behavior, they sighed that this man was really desperate, and at the same time they felt a little calmer.

Huang Dongying also reacted and rushed forward. Seeing that there was really a dead person inside, he was not frightened. Instead, he secretly muttered "bad luck" in his heart.It is a common thing for someone to die in the palace, but if he bumps into you, you will inevitably get into trouble again.

Huo Qi saw Huang Dongying coming over with a rather impatient look on his face, so he suppressed the discomfort in his heart and said expressionlessly: "Eunuch, in my opinion, the deceased was a palace maid, and it should be a matter for the harem. Do we still have to inform the queen first, and ask the empress to make a decision?"

(End of this chapter)