Si Tian Guan

Chapter 53 Accountability

She shuddered.

They were far away before, and when they were furious, they didn't pay attention that much. Now that the two of them are so close, they realized that something was wrong.

"Where is the smell on you! What is the smell!" She pushed her son to the ground, covered her nose with a handkerchief, and asked angrily.

Min Yue beside her hurriedly took out the peppermint scent from her sleeve, put it under her nose and sniffed it.

When Mu Jingzhao saw her like this, he immediately reacted, grabbed his sleeve and smelled it, and hurriedly took out the box of lip balm from his bosom.

In the carriage, he changed into the court clothes for entering the palace, but he didn't take it out even though he was carrying it in his arms. Although he knew that his mother had asthma, it didn't smell like gardenias, so he didn't think about it. so many.

The maid at the side hurriedly came up to play the fan, and a nanny took the lip balm from Mu Jingzhao's hand, sniffed it on the back of her hand, and said with certainty: "There are gardenias in this thing, but the smell of ground lotus is stronger. , covered the gardenia fragrance."

Mu Jingzhao was so frightened that he was out of his wits, and hurriedly said: "Queen Mother, calm down! I didn't mean it! This is... this is..."

He couldn't tell that it was something he took from his girlfriend as a memory, so he could only change his mouth and say, "I'll take it out and throw it away!"

"Wait," the empress frowned tightly, panting slightly with the suffocation in her chest, and ordered softly after a while: "Find someone smart and reliable, and throw this thing to Chaoyang Palace."

"Xiao Xianggong really wants to engrave the characters in the middle?" The old man put down the carving knife, held the wooden hairpin in his hand and gestured: "If you carve it in the middle, the words will be blocked when the hairpin is on the hair, and you can't see it."

"You don't need to see it, just engrave it in the middle." Qu Chenzhou replied softly.

What he was going to do came to an end for the time being, and today he didn't make himself smelly and choking anymore, only pasted a piece of coral red flower tinsel under the corners of his eyes.

There are many ways to identify a slave like him who is raised by nobles for pleasure, and the position where the flower tin is pasted is one of them.

Walking outside like this, outsiders can know his identity at a glance. Even if he is a slave, many people will see it for the sake of the master's family, so there is no embarrassment.

The old man wrote down his request on a piece of paper, and then asked: "One side is engraved with the character 'Ming', and the other side is engraved with what? Peach blossoms are good? Many young husbands like it."

Qu Chenzhou had the word "zhou" between his lips and teeth. After thinking for a long time, he still said: "There is no need to engrave anything, just leave it blank."

The old man responded, wrapped his hairpin with paper, put it in a drawer at the side, and said, "Come and pick it up tomorrow."

Qu Chenzhou bowed to thank him, and went out, where Steward Lin was waiting for him.It's not far from the other courtyard, they can walk back.

After walking a few steps, they heard the rapid sound of horseshoes, Jin Wuwei cleared the way, pedestrians gave way, and the two hurriedly retreated, finding a safe place by the wall.

Soon, several riders galloped past and disappeared at the other end of the street.

"Shen Zhou," Steward Lin was surprised, but lowered his voice and asked softly, "The one who just passed... Isn't that the eldest son?"

"En." Qu Chenzhou replied softly, standing still, only looking at the direction where Liu Chongming disappeared.

The end of that road was naturally the place he was most familiar with.

Last night, he had already greeted Liu Chongming in advance. When he entered the palace this time, if he was asked a question, he should answer it truthfully. If he was blamed, he should just admit his mistake appropriately.

Just have to... admit your mistake, eh?

Liu Chongming knelt down on the ground, quietly waiting for the person above to speak, but his heart seemed to be tightly held by someone, not understanding what happened.

Apart from him and his sister, the ones kneeling here are Concubine Yu from Chaoyang Palace, the biological mother of Prince Huai Mu Jingyan.

Thinking of Qu Chenzhou's reaction the day he met King Huai, he felt a little uneasy, he couldn't let go of his brother's death, could Qu Chenzhou be calm when facing King Huai?

Even a little regretful.

He gradually blindfolded himself voluntarily, and let Qu Chenzhou lead him away, just like the situation was reversed under the moonlight that day, would Qu Chenzhou really lead him to walk this way safely?

But maybe it's because his brother has been away for too long. For him, whether it is being trusted or trusting others, it is a luxury that he can't stop.

A shadow was cast overhead, and someone knelt down on one knee in front of him, holding a porcelain box on a tray in his hand.

"My lord," Yu Dexi called him: "Your lord, can you recognize this thing?"

Liu Chongming didn't dare to peek at his sister who was kneeling beside the emperor, he tried to open the porcelain box, and a strong fragrance came over his face.

"I know." Liu Chongming hurriedly replied, the misty doubts in his heart seemed to be drawn up by this box of lip balm, but they were still intermittent, and he couldn't figure it out: "This is what Qinxiang Garden under my name started selling a few months ago. Fat."

Yu Dexi got the answer, and covered the porcelain box: "Your Majesty, may I know what material this box of lip balm is made of?"

This made Liu Chongming have a hard time. He has many and complicated shops, and he can recognize the source of the lip balm and the selling time by relying on the logo of Qinxiangyuan on the box.

Although there will be a summary report from the steward before things go on the market, but he is not a woman, and if he doesn't need this, how can he remember such trivial details.

"I'm ashamed, I'm not good at this, but all the items sold are recorded, and I hold a copy in my study and the steward of Qinxiang Garden."

"Then I'll trouble you, Your Majesty." Yu Dexi signaled someone beside him to bring a pen and ink, watched Liu Chongming write the handwriting, and immediately sent them out of the palace.

Liu Chongming hadn't been awakened yet, and it took a long time before he heard Emperor Yu slowly ask: "Chongming, do you know why you are announced into the palace today?"

"The minister is dull."

"The empress has suffered from asthma for a long time. Gardenias have never been planted in the palace. Before today, she hadn't had an attack for more than ten years."

Liu Chongming's heart tightened, and he slowly got a clue, knowing where this matter had something to do with him, and the tension just now finally dissipated.

What Qu Chenzhou said is right, just admit your mistakes properly.

"How is the empress now?" He asked cautiously.

Emperor Yu let out a casual hum, then closed his eyes and regained his composure.

The people who left the palace acted quickly, and it didn't take long before they handed in the brochure from outside the palace and passed it all the way to Yu Dexi. Yu Dexi flipped through it, bowed to Emperor Yu and said softly, "Your Majesty, the main two flavors are ground lotus and gardenia."

With grievances on Liu Chongming's face, he pinched himself secretly, his eyes turned red immediately, he hesitated before kowtowing his head.

Emperor Yu looked away from the booklet and looked down at him: "Chongming, why did the things in your shop enter the palace?"

His train of thought gradually became clear. The reason why my sister knelt here was because of his involvement, and when Concubine Yu knelt here, there was only one possibility—the opportunity for the discovery of the fat was related to Concubine Yu.

On his side, Qinfangyuan sold hundreds if not thousands of lip balms in the past few months. The emperor couldn't blame him for this.

"Your Majesty, I'm going to ask someone to check the accounts of the past few months. Who has bought lip balm?" He thought about it for a while, and said with certainty: "This lip balm is already thin, but it hasn't bottomed out yet. , I must have bought it soon, and I will definitely find this person."

Emperor Yu looked at him quietly for a moment, then smiled: "Chongming, I heard that you are recruiting refugees to work, and you have been busy outside the city recently, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"I'm busy losing weight, and I'm getting dark," Emperor Yu sized him up: "Did Jing Yan also lose weight? I haven't seen him for a few days."

"Return to the emperor," Liu Chongming replied truthfully: "There are a lot of refugees. I have been living at the foot of the mountain in the north outside the city for the past few days. The princes got together once, and the two princes are all well, so the emperor doesn't need to worry about it."

Yu Dexi nodded slightly to Emperor Yu—it was indeed Liu Shizi who was recalled from the northern suburbs of Beijing just now.

Emperor Yu's expression was a little slow, and he asked slowly: "The queen is ill, what do you say?"

"Returning to the emperor, the minister is not talented, and the doctor in the shop has nothing to offer, but if the mother needs any medicinal materials, the minister will try his best to find it."

Liu Chongming paused for a moment, then kowtowed again: "Although I don't know if someone likes this thing and accidentally brought it into the palace, I will teach the shop not to sell this lip balm when I go back today!"

"What did you say?" Emperor Yu laughed at his seriousness: "If there is any medicine in the palace, I will take it from you."

Liu Chongming said dully: "I made a mistake, I know I was wrong..."

"That little thing of yours, you can sell it whenever you want, why?" Of course, Emperor Yu also knew that gardenia fragrance is a common ingredient in cosmetics, if it is banned for this reason, there will be few left in the market.

After saying this, he half-closed his eyes like a doze, no one dared to move below, even though the soreness and pain burrowed from every bone in the knee, the three kneeling people still remained motionless.

I don't know how long it took before Emperor Yu came back to his senses from the fugue, as if taken aback: "Why is Chongming still here?"

Liu Chongming bowed: "The emperor orders."

"Go," Emperor Yu looked at Liu Qingru who was kneeling next to his legs, "You have been busy for so long, and Ah Ru misses you even in the palace, so go and have a chat."

"Yes." Liu Qingru responded softly, as if it was just a normal meeting right now.

Enduring the soreness in his knees, Liu Chongming got up on the ground and helped his sister up. The two of them walked out of the palace gate under the guidance of the little eunuch, and Emperor Yu's voice came from behind.

"Yu Dexi, go and invite Chen Sitian here."

When the palace gate was about to be locked, Liu Chongming was sent out of the palace, seeing that he couldn't get out before the gate was closed, he turned his horse and went back to the other courtyard.

He also just wanted to discuss today's matter with Qu Shenzhou.

Although he thought that those strange eyes were extraordinary, he never dared to think that Qu Shenzhou who was in another courtyard could reach out his hand silently into the palace.

Regardless of the cause of today's incident, at least he did not believe that it had nothing to do with Qu Shenzhou.

When he was not at home, Qu Chenzhou moved to the east wing, and the servants naturally would not light the lamps in the bedroom.What was different from usual was that someone was sitting and waiting for him on the steps in front of the bedroom, as if he knew he would be back today.

He is also not surprised that there are people, as if they have been working with each other tacitly for many years.

The two entered the bedroom step by step, and the servants brought tea in. After closing the door, they became alone again.

"You know everything about the palace today?" Liu Chongming asked straight to the point.

"I'm not very clear," Qu Chenzhou asked sincerely, "Please enlighten me, Your Majesty."

"Don't dare to teach."

Liu Chongming answered calmly, but he was shocked in his heart. The other party did not avoid the fact that he was involved in it. Even if he didn't know the specific reason, this ability was enough to shock people.

If this is the case, even if he restrains the urge to ask the other party to divination, he has underestimated the degree of dependence on Qu Chenzhou that he expected.

He gathered himself together, and truthfully explained his itinerary for the past few days and his entry into the palace.

Qu Chenzhou held the teacup and listened silently until Liu Chongming stopped speaking and asked him "what do you think?" Then he slowly said: "The queen is allergic to gardenia, and today because of the Lipstick is sick, and that box of liposuction was found on a young lady in Chaoyang Palace."

"The distance between the two palaces is the closest, and the maids and eunuchs have contacts with each other. The emperor is suspecting that people from Chaoyang Palace intentionally brought Gardenia Fragrance into Kunning Palace, causing the Queen to fall ill."

"Yes," Liu Chongming affirmed, "The emperor came to me and accused me of selling lip balm in my shop. He wanted to know whether it is true that I have a close relationship with King Huai."

Speaking of this, he himself couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.

King Huai kept a low-key benevolence, and he and Shi Yan secretly praised him. They even thought about discussing with his father in a few years if his sister had nothing to do, and how King Huai's accession to the throne would affect the Bailiu family.

If it wasn't for the sudden appearance of Qu Shenzhou...

Even though he walked and interacted with the three princes as usual, the emperor was still keenly aware of his intentions.

The emperor was on a high seat... always looking down on them.