Within the palace walls, there was an unspoken rule that everyone abided by. It didn't matter what kind of atrocities they committed in private, but they could never do it in public.
When Xia He and Qiu Sui rushed in with two clumps of bloody clothes, they caused a commotion, causing everyone in the courtyard to get up. Deng Shanggong and Li Siyi were instantly enraged. They had already thought of how to cover up this matter from the start, but now, even if they wanted to, they couldn't.
Without waiting for them to speak, Li Siyi shouted angrily, "Impudent! Is this a place where you can just barge in? Take them down and flog them 30 times! "
Li Siyi's plan was to beat these two girls to death before anyone else could react. Deng Shanggong wanted to personally strangle these two brainless girls. She had only taken over the Shangfu Bureau for a few days, and such a huge incident had already happened. It seemed like she wouldn't be able to stay as an imperial concubine for long.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs had six bureaus, and each bureau was divided into four divisions. Each division had two imperial concubines, and the two imperial concubines were each in charge of two divisions. On the surface, it looked like a balance, but how could people's hearts be controlled by such rules? All the imperial concubines wanted to seize the opportunity to step on each other.
Qiu Sui and Xia He trembled as they knelt together. After being beaten, they woke up and understood that they were too impatient. However, they couldn't back out now, and could only grit their teeth and endure to the end.
Xia He was even more straightforward. She dragged Mother Cui and Li Siyi into this. Qian Sizhang and the previous Li Sibao were originally Wang Shanggong's people. Now that Wang Shanggong had fallen and Deng Shanggong had taken over, she immediately arranged her own people. Qian Sizhang's situation immediately became awkward.
Qian Sizhang coldly snorted, "Li Siyi, such a huge incident happened in your bureau, and you actually didn't think of reporting it to the higher-ups to resolve it. Instead, you spent your energy on covering it up. Is the life of a palace maid not worth her life?"
Li Siyi suppressed her anger and said, "I already reported to the imperial concubine early in the morning. Mother Cui has already been locked up and will be transferred to the bureau tomorrow. What are you trying to do by sowing discord here?"
Qian Sizhang didn't want to be outdone. "I'm afraid there's more to this than meets the eye."
Li Siyi said, "Qian Sizhang, I think you're just gloating. You can't wait for this matter to get bigger and bigger. If you were here, wouldn't you add fuel to the fire and let everyone in the palace know?"
"Done! Why are you quarreling? It's just a small matter. Do we have to make a big deal out of it and let outsiders see our Shangfu Bureau as a joke? " Deng Shanggong had a headache from their quarreling. She could only ask Lady Wen Yu and Consort Yan to be lenient on account of her taking over the Shangfu Bureau.
Lu Sibao, who had just taken up the position, saw You Shang Gong and Shen Sizheng coming over personally. He hurriedly greeted them loudly, "You Shang Gong, Shen Sizheng, why are you here?"
You Shang Gong quickly walked forward and explained, "Just now, Mother Cui from the bureau came over to surrender herself. She originally wanted to explain the situation to Deng Shanggong, but when she reached the door, she found out that something had happened to Deng Shanggong."
Deng Shanggong didn't want to ask who released Mother Cui. He directly fell back into his seat and waved his hand. "It's my fault for not being strict enough. Leave everything to You Shang Gong to handle. Just follow the palace rules. I don't want to meddle in this anymore."
Li Siyi looked at Qian Sizhang's smug expression and was certain that she was the one behind it. Deng Shanggong looked at her. Mother Cui couldn't be saved. Moreover, Mother Cui's sudden madness couldn't be blamed on them. As for the two palace maids, they would leave them for now. There would be plenty of time to deal with them in the future.
Shen Sizheng bowed. "I've already arranged for people to go to the bureau to retrieve the body."
Li Siyi pretended to be calm and said, "Then I'll have to trouble Shen Sizheng."
Before one wave had subsided, another wave had arisen. The eunuchs who had been sent to the Siyi Department to retrieve the bodies had forgotten to ask which well it was. Without thinking too much, they had people search all three wells. In the end, they found a corpse in two of the wells. One of the corpses had been soaked in the well water until it was deformed.
"Quick, quickly go inform Shang Gong and Sizheng."
"Gonggong, there's more in the well!"
You Shang Gong and Shen Si Zheng actually hoped that the palace would be calm and peaceful. They were the easiest to offend. If they were serious, other people would band together to make things difficult for them. If they were lax, the people above them would punish them for their crimes. It was truly a dilemma.
You Shang Gong glared at the pale faced Deng Shang Gong and Li Siyi and said, "This matter isn't something that my Shang Gong Bureau can resolve. It's already late. Tomorrow we'll report to Lady Wen Yu and Consort Yan and ask them to personally investigate. Shen Sizheng, arrange for people to surround the bureau. Don't let anyone come close."
Shen Sizheng agreed and went to make the arrangements. Qian Sizheng was very happy. She was dreaming about how she could pull Deng Shang Gong and the others down from their high horse and become the Shang Gong of the Shangfu Bureau. She would use this opportunity to insert her own people into the Shangfu Bureau. She would be able to take control of the Shangfu Bureau.
Deng Shang Gong and the others hated the idiot Qian Sizheng to the core. The three of them came to a consensus. Since things had already reached this point, she, Qian Sizheng, would definitely not be able to escape unscathed!
The next day, a scream woke up the bureau chief and the palace maids who had been on tenterhooks the entire night. Some of them had even laid on the table to take a nap. They were all startled. They secretly opened the door and saw Yan 'er screaming in the courtyard, "Huang Ying hung herself — — Huang Ying hung herself — —"
Someone murmured, "Another one died."
Liuse Palace Hall of Resting Rain Palace.
Ever since Lady Wen Yu became the master of Resting Rain Palace, she restrained her previous arrogance and cultivated her character. She usually stayed in her own palace. Other than the daily greetings and banquets, she was rarely seen.
Heye held a list of names and entered to report, "Your Highness, Consort Yan has finished organizing the list of palace maids who will be released from the palace in half a month. She sent a message to ask Your Highness to look over it and see if it is appropriate."
At this time, Lady Wen Yu was sitting in front of the dressing table. She was extremely bored and started fiddling with her long hair. She didn't let the palace maids help her and used her own mirror spirit snake hairstyle. It wasn't easy for her to form it, but it was coarse and messy. She then clumsily took it apart and casually said, "Put it there."
Heye had just put down the list when Bilu ran in anxiously, "Your Highness, it's not good. Five corpses were pulled up from the bureau chief's well."
Lady Wen Yu didn't hear clearly at first. She didn't even turn her head and said, "What's so strange about that? There are many palace maids who jump into the well every year."
Bilu finally managed to catch her breath and said, "Your Highness, this isn't a small matter. Five corpses were pulled up from the bureau chief's well. Immediately after, a palace maid named Huang Ying was discovered to have an affair with someone and committed suicide out of fear of punishment. Right now, the news has spread throughout the palace. It has already caused panic."
Madam Wen Yu slammed a carved sandalwood comb on the dressing table. "Has it been spread? Are the six bureaus all dead in the palace? They can't even suppress this? When did this happen? "
Bilu bowed her head and said, "Last night."
"Ben gong is asking you, why did the news spread?"
"Cui mama of the bureau chief killed a palace maid. As a result, the bureau chief's people went to retrieve the corpse and found five corpses in two wells. This morning, another palace maid named Huang Ying committed suicide out of fear of punishment. Then, for some reason, everyone is talking about the deaths in the bureau chief."
Lady Wen Yu narrowed her eyes and said with a cold smile, "Even though I don't want to admit it, but Steward Wang Pin is really skilled. At least when she's here, the underlings don't dare to make such a big ruckus."
"Niang, niang niang," Heye carefully came forward, "Do you need nubi to help niang niang dress and dress?" Receiving her nod, the palace maids quickly got to work.
There were seven or eight corpses neatly arranged in the bureau chief's yard. Two of them were the most recent, the other five or six were already skeletons. They could have been from the time of xiandi, or they could have been from a long time ago. After all, this palace city had thousands of years of history.
Lady Wen Yu and Bai Suyan came in hand in hand. Seeing the row of corpses on the ground, Lady Wen Yu used her sleeve to cover her mouth and nose. She frowned and said, "Shen Si Zheng, your subordinates are too honest. Who knows how old these corpses are? How did you investigate? "
Shen Si Zheng didn't know what was wrong with his head, but he obediently said, "Nubi asked Supervisor Tong to help investigate the palace maids and eunuchs of the various palaces and courtyards. It looks like … …"
"Ah, ben gong was wondering why there was such a ruckus. It was you guys who didn't know how to hide it at all and openly talked about it in the various palaces and courtyards."
Shen Si Zheng and Supervisor Tong immediately knelt and begged for forgiveness, "Nubi doesn't dare. There were two little palace maids who were screaming all the way there last night. Everyone heard them."
Bai Suyan walked directly to the two corpses and bent over to examine, "Then you caused such a ruckus. There should be some results, right? This corpse has been soaked to the point that the skin has cracked and fallen off. It's been dead for at least two days. You have been washing around this well every day and no one noticed? "
This sentence was directed at Li Siyi, so Li Siyi naturally had to think of a way to avoid it, "Niangniang, please allow me to report. Normally, this servant is so busy washing clothes that we don't even have time to carefully look at the situation in the well. Moreover, this well is so deep that it's not easy to see what's going on."
Bai Suyan rolled her eyes, "Then you won't tell me that you didn't know that you had one less subordinate?"
Li Siyi's face was red as she cried, "Niangniang is wrongly accusing this servant. This servant naturally knows how many subordinates I have. Every day, there's a roll call, and the rest are all recorded. This dead … … this one definitely isn't from our Siyi department. It's probably someone who couldn't stand being oppressed by their superiors and came here to commit suicide." After saying this, she deliberately glanced at Qian Sizhang who was watching the show.
Lady Wen Yu clicked her tongue, "When ben gong thinks that ben gong's clothes are being washed with this kind of water, ben gong can't wait to go back and throw away all of my clothes and burn them. How unlucky!"
Li Siyi kowtowed twice, "Niangniang, please have mercy. It's this servant who didn't manage Siyi department well. This servant promises that there definitely won't be a next time!"
Bai Suyan was afraid that they would go too far and interrupted them, "So, Secretary Tong, which palace and which courtyard does this nameless person belong to?"
Secretary Tong said, "Replying to Consort Yan, she's in charge of taking care of the spring palace's Xun Fang. Because Xun Fang emptied it, she suddenly disappeared without anyone noticing."
Bai Suyan said, "Even if Xun Fang emptied it, this person still needs to eat, right? You didn't notice this?"
Secretary Tong said, "Consort Yan, please forgive me. However, there are at least eight hundred people in the palace, even if there aren't a thousand. This servant can't compare them one by one."
Bai Suyan saw that they were trying to shift the blame and coldly snorted, saying, "The palace didn't set you up as a bureau for decoration. You can't even take care of so few palace eunuchs. Ben gong thinks that you don't want to be a secretary anymore. That's fine too. Ben gong will use this matter to properly investigate your six bureaus and twenty-four divisions. Let's see how many of you only know how to talk and not do anything!"
"Consort Yan, please calm down."
Lady Wen Yu really couldn't stand this and waved her sleeves, saying, "Then I'll leave this to meimei. Ben gong will go take a look at the one who hanged herself."
"Then I'll have to trouble Lady Wen Yu."
In the courtyard of the servants' quarters.
Huang Ying's body had already been carried out by Si Zhengsi's eunuchs and placed in the courtyard. Lady Wen Yu originally thought that the one who hanged herself would be more pleasing to the eye than the one who drowned. Who would have thought that Huang Ying died with her eyes wide open. Her eyes were so wide that they were about to pop out of their sockets. Just one look at her eyes would cause one to be unable to sleep at night.
"Did ben gong bump into a villain today?" Lady Wen Yu raised her sleeves to cover her eyes and turned her face away.
Heye, who was next to her, gathered her courage and shouted, "Are you all idiots? You actually didn't use something to cover your eyes. Are you deliberately trying to scare niangniang?"
The eunuch in charge of Si Zhengsi's corpse said yes three times in a row. He hurriedly went to an unknown maidservant's room and casually grabbed a blanket to cover Huang Ying's body.
Only then did Lady Wen Yu put down her hands and swept her eyes over the people kneeling in the courtyard, "Is everyone in this courtyard here?"
"Replying niangniang, they are all here. This servant has already asked. Other than the three palace maids who lived with Huang Ying, everyone else said that they weren't sure."
Lady Wen Yu said, "Ben gong is very clear about how many people lived in each room and how many palace maids lived in each courtyard. Ben gong will ask you again, is everyone here?"
"Yes, yes, yes, no, no, no, in this courtyard, one was beaten to death by Cui momo. Qiu Sui and Xia He were the ones who caused the commotion last night and have already been detained by Si Zhengsi. The rest are all here."
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