Harem Daily Life

Chapter 419: Fight at Miaoyinfang

Hearing the word "Canglong", Tao Yanyan couldn't help but frowned: "Why didn't you tell me when your brother died? Is it because you can't remember, or are these two lines of poetry made up by you to fool me?"

After she asked the question, she stared into Li Cairen's eyes, trying to discern the truth in her words.

Li Cairen rolled her eyes at her. "My family was in trouble and my brother passed away. I was too sad to think about these things. Later, I entered the palace and was favored by His Majesty. I thought it was better to have less trouble than more, so I never told His Majesty about it. The reason I want to tell you now is just to ask for grace and let me go."

Tao Yanyan thought for a moment and asked, "Besides these, did you say anything else?"

Li Cairen shook her head: "I've told you everything I know." She looked at Tao Yanyan: "Will you help me?" Her eyes were full of expectation.

Tao Yanyan said, "I promised to give you supplies. I will send them today. As for whether I can go out, I have to ask His Majesty for permission."

After saying that, Tao Yanyan stood up and said, "No matter where you live, I hope you will take care of yourself in the future and not do anything weird again." She handed the hot water bottle in her hand to Qingfeng who handed it to Li Cairen, then turned around and took Xianglan out.

Li Cairen looked at the hot tea left behind and the warm water bottle in her hand. Somehow, her nose suddenly felt sore and tears started to fall uncontrollably.

After leaving the cold palace, Tao Yanyan instructed Xianglan: "Go back first and find some thick clothes and thick bedding to bring over, and bring some food. I think she hasn't eaten for several days. Ask Chang Tai to find Li Zongguan and ask him to supervise and send two hot meals to the cold palace on time every day. Also, ask Li Zongguan to find someone to repair the cold palace a little bit, so that at least people can live in it."

Xianglan accepted the order and left, while Tao Yanyan took Qingfeng to the Qinzheng Hall.

Although he had not yet resumed attending court, He Linzhang had been handling government affairs in the Qinzheng Hall these days. Occasionally, the various departments would have things to report, and it would be troublesome to send them to the harem, so he stayed in the imperial study during the day and returned to Changle Palace at night.

When Eunuch Zhang saw Concubine Tao arriving, he invited her in without even announcing her arrival.

"Your Majesty, I have something to ask you. Are you free?" Tao Yanyan bowed and looked at the emperor with a smile.

He Linzhang stretched out his hand: "Come here." When the person came closer, he hugged the person and sat her on his lap: "You come to see me at this time, do you miss me?" As he said this, he kissed her cheek.

Tao Yanyan avoided the question slightly and said, "Your Majesty, you didn't shave today, so it's a little stinging. Okay, let's talk about business. I really have something to do." Then, she told He Linzhang everything about her meeting with Li Cairen and what Li Cairen said.

"I knew at the time that there were traitors around me, so I purged them several times. But..." He Linzhang pondered: "The blue dragon was born in the Western Regions, and the wonderful sound spread to the four countries. What does this mean? Could it be related to the Blue Dragon Sect?"

Tao Yanyan was at a loss. She put her arms around He Linzhang's neck and said, "It's really strange that the last words were actually a poem. Guard Lu should know something, but it's too late to tell. Your Majesty, this is really hard to investigate without a beginning or an end. But I think Li Cairen chose to speak out at this time, which is a good thing. How about, Your Majesty, just because she told the secret, move her out of the cold palace and send her to Jingci Temple."

He Linzhang saw that she was kind-hearted, so he hugged her tighter and said, "You are magnanimous, so I will agree. Just let Li Zongguan arrange it."

As soon as he finished speaking, Eunuch Zhang came in hurriedly, and Tao Yanyan hurriedly stood up and stood aside.

"Your Majesty, there was a fight in Miaoyinfang in the capital. The sons of several masters injured little Master Tao. Master Tao sent someone to ask for an audience, saying that he wanted to ask an imperial physician to take a look and report to the Imperial Concubine at the same time."

When Tao Yanyan heard that his brother was beaten and had to seek medical attention, he became a little anxious.

"Have the Imperial Hospital staff go immediately!" He Linzhang ordered, "And have Qi Yizheng investigate what happened. Have the Jingzhao Yin arrest the perpetrators and interrogate them thoroughly."

He Linzhang knew Tao Zhixing, he was not a troublemaker, the Tao family had a good family tradition, they would not raise a playboy. However, many sons of high-ranking officials in the capital were very naughty, so today's fight was mostly a case of the majority bullying the minority.

Qi Yizheng was happily lying at home on vacation, but suddenly he received an order from the emperor and had to resign himself to going to Miaoyinfang.

After he arrived, he looked at the mess on the ground and the sighing Miaoyinfang shopkeeper, and walked up to him and asked, "Has Shopkeeper Li been attacked by some bandits and bullies? The whole place has been smashed like this?"

Shopkeeper Li was just worried about having no place to complain about his grievances. When General Qi asked about it, he started to complain, "That's right. You said that the fifteenth day of the first lunar month hasn't even passed yet, and it's still the New Year's Day, but they are so angry that they started fighting in my little temple over a disagreement. The sons of those masters are too outrageous. Little Master Tao is just a low-ranking official, but they dared to attack him. Why don't they see that Little Master Tao's sister is the current favored Concubine Tao!"

Qi Yizheng pulled him aside and asked carefully: "Then why did they disagree?"

Shopkeeper Li looked at the mess on the floor and recalled while asking his staff to clean it up: "I was not there at the time. I was busy in the back. It seems that Miss Chuchu is there. How about I call Chuchu down?"

Qi Yizheng nodded. He came here today just to investigate, so of course he had to get to the bottom of it before returning to report.

Chuchu was obviously frightened, and her face was a little pale when she came in front of Qi Yizheng.

She bowed to Qi Yizheng, and when she heard that he was asking about the fight, she said, "It was actually fine at the beginning. Everyone was listening to music and drinking, and there was no unpleasantness. But it seems that later on, when they talked about the mute eldest daughter of the Ningyuan Marquis's Mansion, both sides started arguing."

Qi Yizheng knew the background of Concubine Tao. She had no blood relationship with the Tao family, but was related to the Ningyuan Marquisate. He asked, "Were the sons of those rich families the first to take action?"

Chuchu shook her head: "Those young masters laughed at Miss Gu, and Lord Tao started to fight. Later, several people beat one person, and Lord Tao was no match for four hands with his two fists, so he was beaten quite badly. Fortunately, the shop assistants went up to separate the fight, otherwise, someone would have died today!" Chuchu said with lingering fear.

Officials of the imperial court were not allowed to hang out in places of entertainment, but Miaoyinfang was a music place, and there were not so many shady things going on, so officials would sometimes come to hang out and listen to music. If an official was beaten to death here, not only would the attacker be guilty of a serious crime, but Miaoyinfang would also be implicated.

Qi Yizheng understood what had happened, and thought that perhaps because of Concubine Tao's relationship, the Tao family was closer to the Ningyuan Marquis' Mansion, and it was normal for Lord Tao to stand up for the young lady of the Marquis' Mansion. So after leaving Miaoyinfang, he went to the Tao Mansion to inquire about her condition so that he could report to the palace together.