Chapter 6 — Holy Order of Dowry

When we arrived, the shopkeeper was preparing to close the shop. As soon as Cam Quan showed him the command card, the door panel in his hand almost fell straight to his feet. The great eunuch stepped down from the car and announced the decree. When the treasurer heard the four words "Princess Regent", he immediately felt weak on his knees and knelt down. I held out the pawning receipt. "Bring this ruby earring here." The shopkeeper trembled as he took the receipt, clearly saw the serial number, his expression suddenly changed. "Your Highness, this item is no longer in the shop." The chief eunuch asked shrilly: "Where did it go?" The treasurer gulped. "Someone ransomed it yesterday." I asked: "Who ransomed it?" The treasurer of hamlet a hesitated. The commander of the forbidden army took a step forward, the hilt of his sword lightly tapped the counter. The treasurer immediately knelt down. "It's the chief historian of the royal palace." My eyelids didn't blink. "Where do we go after the redemption?" The treasurer's voice trembled. "I only heard what the second lady said, it seems like I brought it to Vinh An alley next to the palace." Mother Qin whispered: "Vinh An alley is where the brothers of the mother's mother live." The chief eunuch's face became even more unsightly. "Bring out the pawn shop's books." The cashier did not dare to delay, crawling all over and running into the inner room. Very quickly, two thick notebooks were placed in front of me. I flipped open the first book, only looked at a few pages, and immediately saw a dozen familiar items. Ruby earrings. The white jade chess piece. Jade bracelet. Gold hair brooch inlaid with South Sea pearls. There is also a silver-plated French tea set in my mother's wedding set. After each item, the words "detained, not redeemed" are written. Turn to the second book, which is the redemption notebook. The redeemer has the head of the royal palace. There is a grandson of the Thai Concubine. There is also a manager of the Lieu family. The most dazzling thing is a line of text. On the twenty-sixth of July, 50,000 taels of silver dowry checks from Tham Thi were converted into silver taels and put into the royal palace's common fund, used as an offering to bring the royal concubine through the door. I suddenly burst out laughing. The treasurer was even more scared to the point of shaking. The great eunuch asked softly: "Your Majesty?" I closed the book. "It turns out the red silk draped all over the house today was me spending my own money to buy humiliation for myself." Mother Tan sobbed and turned away. I gave the pawn book to the big eunuch. "Seal the book." The big eunuch immediately ordered the little eunuch to copy it. The shopkeeper kept bowing his head. "Your Majesty, please forgive me. I'm just doing business, I don't know the origin." I looked at him. "You don't know the origin, but you recognize the chief historian of the royal palace." The shopkeeper's lips turned white, not daring to argue further. Outside the door came the sound of horse hooves. Tieu Thua Canh chased after him. When he got off the horse, the hem of his shirt brought with it a cold wind. "Tham Van Chi." "Have you messed around enough?" I pushed the pawn book in front of him. "Your Majesty came very cleverly." "Let's look at this book again." He glanced at it, his expression stunned. The great eunuch spoke from the side. "Your Majesty, the chief historian of the royal palace has repeatedly pawned the royal concubine's dowry, this must be recorded in the records." Tieu Thua Canh gritted his teeth. "Where is the chief historian?" The guard following him bowed his head. "Your Majesty, the chief historian is not in the palace." I asked: "Where have you gone?" The guard hesitated. Tieu Thua Canh said solemnly: "Speak." The guard knelt down. "Today at noon, the chief secretary left the city, saying he was on orders from the Princess to go to Chuang Tu to get the books." I looked at Tieu Thua Canh. "Zhuang Tu?" Mother Qin immediately turned over the dowry book. "In the royal concubine's dowry, there are three hot spring estates outside the city, eight hundred acres of good fields." I said softly: "Go to Trang Tu." Tieu Thua Canh stopped me. "It's already dark." I looked at him. "So what?" His voice lowered. "You're not in good health, you won't be able to stand traveling all night." My smile was very light. "Your Majesty still misses me."

"I'm not in good health." A trace of difficulty flashed in his eyes. I took out the clipped paper from my sleeve and brought it before his eyes. "On the seventh day of the December month, I added it to my food." "If you can tell me, my lord, why am I not in good health?" Tieu Thua Canh's pupils suddenly shrank. At this moment, a dull sound suddenly rang out in the back yard of the pawn shop. The army rushed in. A moment later, someone announced loudly. "Your Highness, there's a dead person at the back door." "It seems to be the royal palace's chief." 07 The back yard of the pawn shop was very narrow. A wind lamp hung on the porch, swaying back and forth in the night wind. The royal palace's chief collapsed next to a pile of firewood, his face pale, with black stains on the corner of his mouth. I stood outside the door, not entering. Mother Qin shielded herself in front of him, her voice hoarse. "Wang, don't look." I lowered my eyes. "What's on him?" The military commander squatted down and quickly took out a package of oil paper from the historian's sleeve. Inside was a ruby earring that was mine. The layer of oil paper inside was burned. The edges were black, with only a few words left December, lotus seed sweet soup. On the ninth day of December, nutritious soup.