I am aging gracefully in the world of famous books

The inner supervisor Dai Quan's words startled Jia Zheng, and in desperation, he blurted out some words:

"To be honest, it's not that I, the Jia family, deceived the emperor and failed to live up to the holy grace, but that there are other stories about the origin of this elixir. Zheng never dared to offer it without authorization, lest he might lose sight of it in a moment. The damage delayed the old sage's condition, and I hope my nephew will forgive me."

The corner of Dai Quan's mouth curled up, and he squinted at Jia Zheng coldly:

"Old Zheng's words are not true! Just now he told me that he wanted to present this panacea to Shi Taijun for consumption, and now he said that there is something wrong with its origin. Heh, Mr. Zheng, Dai has not yet reached the age of deafness and blindness. , Turning around, I completely forgot what I just heard."

Jia Zheng wanted to defend himself, but Dai Quan didn't want to stay near the Lvliu Hutong any longer.Since Jia Zheng encountered today's secret itinerary, no matter whether he did it on purpose or not, he had to secure him first.

It just so happened that, taking advantage of the panacea, we should keep this person by his side first, and then decide how to deal with it after he sent someone to investigate the real reason why Jia Zheng appeared here.

"Elder Zheng, since you have something good, you should present it. After explaining the ins and outs of this panacea, the imperial physicians in the palace will naturally judge how effective it is. Is this something that nobles can drink? It's prudent and cautious, how dare you be abrupt and reckless? You are worrying unnecessarily."

Having said so much, Jia Zheng didn't understand what Dai Quan meant. He glanced at the pill in the jade box hesitantly, and said through gritted teeth:

"What Nei Xiang said is very true. Cun Zhou's thinking was wrong before. If that's the case, please ask Nei Xiang to replace Cun Zhou and present this elixir to the Supreme Emperor."

Dai Quan shook his head: "Master Jia's words are wrong again. This elixir belongs to Jia's family, so it should be presented by him himself. I am an inner supervisor in charge of the palace, how dare I act on behalf of Master Jia."

The two talked and talked, but Jia Zheng was clumsy and clumsy, and was always restrained by Dai Quan.When it came to the end, Jia Zheng's head got hot, and he agreed to go to the palace with Dai Quan to meet the Supreme Emperor, present the panacea himself, and explain the source and efficacy of the pill.

In the Daming Palace, the Supreme Emperor listened to the reply from the servants around him, and there was a slight interest in his eyes.

"It might be interesting to make Dai Quan praise the panacea. Is it Jia Zheng? If I remember correctly, he is Jia Daishan's second son?"

"Hui Shengren is none other than Master Jia Cunzhou and Master Jia. He is the second son of the late Rong Guogong Jia Daishan, and he is currently a member of the Ministry of Industry, Wailang."

"Since you are a descendant of a meritorious veteran, let's meet up, Xuan."

"According to the order."

The servants beside the Supreme Emperor got the order and quickly walked to the bottom of the corridor outside the hall.He sent two young eunuchs to call outside Jinglinmen, and ordered Dai Quan, the inner eunuch, to lead Jia Zheng to meet the Supreme Emperor himself.

When Jia Zheng knelt on the white marble floor tiles in front of the main hall, kowtowed to pay homage to Sheng An, the Supreme Emperor, who had just recovered from a serious illness, suddenly lost his interest in leading the way.

His current energy is very low, and his body is also very easy to feel tired. He often needs to take a nap and take a light sleep for a while. This is also an important reason why he chose to abdicate.

Otherwise, the Supreme Emperor is absolutely unwilling to give up part of the power in his hands.

"Saint, Lord Jia is waiting outside the hall." The servant reminded in a low voice.

The Supreme Emperor closed his eyes, raised his hand slightly, and motioned for Jia Zheng to come in.

Jia Zheng got up and straightened his appearance, but Dai Quan walked into the hall before him.

As he walked, he opened the jade box that sealed the pills, so when he approached, the drowsy Taishanghuang smelled a wonderful fragrance of medicine.

The fragrance of this medicine is very light, but it is very refreshing. It quickly dispelled the sleepiness of the Supreme Emperor, making him feel less tired.

The Supreme Emperor quickly opened his eyes, and his gaze was fixed on the jade box in Dai Quan's hand.

"This is it?"

"Reporting to the saint, after the servant knocked down Mr. Jia, he picked up the jade box for him, and happened to discover the beauty of this pill. Just smelling it, he felt refreshed. At that time, the servant suddenly thought that the saint had recently I often feel tired and sleepy, and have a poor appetite. Don’t you need such a refreshing medicine? It just so happens that Mr. Jia is also worried about the safety of your holy body day and night. "

Taishanghuang beckoned to Dai Quan, let him approach, and put the jade box containing pills in front of him.

As Dai Quan approached, the Supreme Emperor gradually felt more sanity, and it seemed that every breath of the medicinal fragrance would give him more strength.

After a while, the Taishanghuang stopped leaning on the soft collapse, but slowly sat up straight, and his complexion improved a lot.

When a chronically ill person encounters good medicine, it is like encountering nectar during a severe drought. How can one not feel ecstasy.

The Supreme Emperor slowly squeezed his fist, although he was still weak, but he felt much better than the previous stiffness.

"Jia Aiqing, get up and answer."

Jia Zheng thanked him, and stood breathlessly with his hands down.

Ever since he fell ill, the Supreme Emperor has rarely had the patience to talk to people around corners, so at this moment, he directly pointed to the elixir in the jade box and asked Jia Zheng to talk about the process of obtaining the medicine.

How could Jia Zheng dare to tell the truth about his mother Shi Taijun's Tibetan medicine? He had already thought up his speech on the way here.Therefore, when asked by the old sage at this time, he took a half step forward without haste, and half-truthfully talked about the process of obtaining the medicine.

He first said that when he was young, he accidentally rescued a red fox, but he never thought that the red fox turned out to be a spiritual monster who had achieved success in cultivation, and also understood some human etiquette and shame, and knew how to repay a favor.

So, when the fox demon learned that Jia Zheng was worried about his father's illness, he gave Jia Zheng an elixir, saying that it could cure the disease.

After Jia Zheng got the elixir, he was very pleasantly surprised, and immediately sent his servants to the capital overnight.Unexpectedly, the servant was so greedy that he dropped the elixir, secretly hid the real one, and sent the fake one to the patient's bedside, which caused Rong Guogong Jia Daishan's condition to not improve.

Later, when Duke Rong passed away, Jia Zheng and his mother Shi Taijun talked about the elixir, and suddenly discovered that the pill that the servant sent to the mansion was not the original one.Jia Zheng was naturally furious, and wanted to press the daring servant for interrogation. Unexpectedly, when the man knew the incident was revealed, he was afraid of sin and cowardly, and even threw himself into the lake.

"Later, I found the elixir again, but what made me sad was that my father had passed away, and even ten more elixir would not be able to save his life.

"And Jia Ci was even more sad. Every time she saw this pill, she would recall her father, and she often cried secretly. She blamed herself, complaining that she didn't see through the vicious heart of the servant, and made the Duke miss the life-saving medicine. .

"Because of the elixir, Jia Ci washed his face with tears. After thinking about it again and again, I finally couldn't bear to destroy the elixir, but he didn't want to put the elixir in the mansion, causing Jia Ci to hurt others. So he suggested that the elixir should be put away." Store it outside the residence."

Immediately afterwards, Jia Zheng talked about Shi Taijun's recent illness and how he went to Lvliu Hutong to get medicine.

Jia Zheng did not hide his original intention, and told the Supreme Emperor very sincerely, saying that he was actually not completely sure about the effect of this panacea, after all, it was something sent by a monster.

As the saying goes, people who are not of our race must have different hearts.

Jia Zheng said that he always had some doubts about the red fox who took the initiative to repay his kindness. However, facing the patients at home and the helpless imperial physician, he could only choose to take risks and use this seemingly extraordinary medicine to treat patients.

At the same time, because of the doubts in his heart, he did not dare to rush the medicine into the offering palace, for fear of delaying the old sage's condition.

"I ran into Director Dai today, and after listening to his teachings, I realized that I was wrong. Whether this pill is usable or not, and whether there is anything wrong with it, you can ask the royal doctors in the palace to give it a try. Judgment, rather than relying on a little useless worry of the minister."

Even though Jia Zheng spoke sincerely and was extremely terrified, the Supreme Emperor knew very well that Jia Zheng's subsequent rhetoric was actually an excuse.This elixir should be the treasure treasured by Jia's family, and it is a good thing to save the family's life.

Today, if Dai Quan hadn't bumped into him, he would have missed this panacea.

The Supreme Emperor was speechless for a while, but Jia Zheng was worried.

The lies he just made up, in fact, after careful investigation, there are still many loopholes.

For example, since Li Xiaoshan committed suicide in fear of crime after committing a big mistake, how could his family still live well in Jinling, not only not being implicated and punished, but also living a fairly prosperous life?

Then there is Nanny Lai, Shi Taijun's confidant, she should know all the secrets, if she is brought in for interrogation, some things cannot be concealed.

However, when Jia Zheng thought about what he had heard before, Nanny Lai suddenly fell seriously ill, and now she was already furious, so he felt relieved a little.

As for Li Xiaoshan's family, he was not particularly worried.Because those people are far away in Jinling, the old sage may not think of investigating them.

Even if they really went to ask, in the old family land, if they want to hide the real situation of a few servants, their Jia family can still do it.

Jia Zheng thought about all the loopholes he could think of, his expression became more stable, and he stood by with his hands down, waiting for the old sage to speak.

After a while, the Supreme Emperor ordered Dai Quan:

"Go and call all the imperial physicians and ask them to find out how the elixir is. Then, you personally take the people to Jia's mansion to deliver some high-quality medicinal materials to Mrs. Guogong, so that her old man can recover from her illness with peace of mind. The inside knows the loyalty of the Jia family."

Dai Quan took the order to leave, the Supreme Emperor glanced at Jia Zheng, and asked a little about the situation in his house.

Hearing that he had a daughter in the palace, he ordered his servants to take Jia Zheng to the east side hall, and summon Jia Yuanchun, so that the father and daughter who hadn't seen each other for many years had a reunion for a while.

Jia Zheng was naturally grateful, and after prostrating again and again, he left the main hall with his servants.

After Jia Zheng left, the Supreme Emperor asked an unremarkable white servant to approach him and ordered him to take someone to investigate Jia Zheng's remarks.

After everyone had left, the Supreme Emperor stared deeply at the spirit pill in the jade box, his nose moved slightly.Rao was used to seeing storms and storms, and he had already practiced calmly, but at this moment he couldn't help feeling anxious and longing, he knew too well what such a panacea meant.

——If it really makes me healthy again...

The Daming Palace moved up and down, and the new Emperor Mingzhao in the Imperial Study Room also received vague news.

He put down the memorial in his hand and was also thinking about a question.If the panacea really had miraculous effects, then a sick and weak Taishanghuang would be absolutely different from a hale and hearty Taishanghuang.

While the imperial physicians were discussing the elixir, the servant who went out of the palace to investigate Jia Zhengzhi's words came back.

"Saint, the house that Jia Zheng explained is indeed owned by the Lai family. However, unlike what he said, the Jia family stored the elixir there more than ten years ago. Because the slaves checked carefully However, it was three years ago that the Lai family got the private house in Luliu Hutong."

The Supreme Emperor raised his eyebrows: "Who was the previous owner?"

"Before, there was an old scholar surnamed Zhang. Because he offended the Lai family, they relied on the power of the Jia family to deal with it quite miserable. In the end, the Zhang family begged for mercy and gave the main house to the Lai family, and then the whole family moved away. I left the capital and never came back.”

"That is to say, more than ten years ago, it was impossible for Jia Zheng to store this medicine in Luliu Hutong?"

"Yes, and what makes this servant feel strange is that although the Lai family got the house in Luliu Hutong, they didn't pay much attention to it, and they didn't hear from the neighbors that any distant relatives of the Lai family lived there. Slave During the investigation, I went there personally, had someone pry open the door and went in to check, and found that the vegetation inside was withered and dusty, and it really didn’t look like people used to live there.”

The Supreme Emperor raised his eyebrows, feeling that the matter was interesting.

He thought to himself, Jia Zheng couldn't be so stupid as to dare to tell such an instant lie in this Daming Palace, then he must have been deceived.

"Did Grandpa Dai decide to go to that Lvliu Hutong temporarily when you went out to run errands?"

"Back to the saint, Director Dai has six secret private houses outside the palace, and the one in Luliu Hutong is just one of them. When he goes out of the palace to work for the saint, he always decides which private house to go to temporarily. However, this time he decided to go Lvliu Hutong was not the first choice of Manager Dai. He was going to the area of ​​Ping’an Square, but he never wanted to encounter a funeral. Lvliu Hutong, which is relatively close to Fangfang.”

The Supreme Emperor changed to a more comfortable sitting position, and said in a playful tone:

"The place where Jia Zheng went to get the medicine was actually deserted and uninhabited. Dai Quan went to Luliu Hutong and changed his way temporarily. According to Jia Zheng, this panacea was given by the fox demon. It sounds like this. How can it be reconciled?" Like those anecdotes among the people?"

The servant bowed his head, agreeing with the words of the Supreme Emperor in his heart.

He has been helping the Supreme Emperor deal with all kinds of dark matters, and after seeing a lot, he knows that the so-called strange stories really exist.

However, under normal circumstances, those spiritual monsters with cultivation always have a lot of fear and cannot act arbitrarily.He has been with the old saint for many years, and he has never seen any monsters dare to make trouble in front of the Supreme Emperor.

Of course, the Painted Skin Ghost who wanted to eat His Majesty's heart a few years ago was really an outlier among monsters, and somehow he had the guts to do so.When he received the report, he was really stunned for a while.

At this time, from the corner of the eye of the servant, he noticed that the little apprentice waiting outside the door gave him a wink, and he knew that there was another news.He pleaded guilty to the Supreme Emperor, bowed and withdrew.

After leaving the palace gate, the servant took a few notes.After quickly reading through the densely packed content above, he sighed inwardly, and was even more sure that someone was going to punish Jia's house.

He put the note into his arms, and walked quickly to the Supreme Emperor in small steps.

"Saint, the seriously ill old lady from the Lai family suddenly improved, she was able to get out of bed, walk around and talk. Our people went to interrogate her, and she seemed to have been frightened by something, and all of them were recruited immediately."

"What did you say?"

"Mr. Na Lai explained that after Jia Zheng sent Li Xiaoshan to deliver the elixir to Jia's family, Li Xiaoshan did not change the medicine. The reason why the medicine did not save Rong Guogong was because the medicine was taken away by the Duke's wife Shi Shi. She hid it. And Li Xiaoshan, who was said by Mrs. Jia to commit suicide in fear of crime, was also pushed into the lake by Mrs. Lai, Mrs. Lai said that she was ordered by Mrs. Shi."

"Shi Shi...if it's true," the Supreme Emperor slowly tapped on the armrest, and said slowly, "Oh, this is a serious crime of killing your husband. Is that Jia Zheng covering up the crime for Shi Shi?"

"Reporting to the saint, Mrs. Lai fell into a coma after explaining what happened, and she is still not awake. After the doctor's diagnosis, he said that there is little chance of waking up again, so let Lai's family prepare for the funeral in advance."

The Supreme Emperor rubbed his forehead: "Take these evidences and go to the side hall for the first trial of Mr. Jia, and ask him to tell the whole truth honestly, and then bring him up for a conversation."

"Follow the order." The servant left.

At this time, there was a sound of whips outside, and that day Zi Mingzhao rushed over by a dragon.

After the most distinguished father and son of the Tian family met, they took their seats respectively.

"Today, can the royal body be returned to Antai?"

"It's still the same as before, but after smelling a panacea, it's much more energetic."

Mingzhao's eyes fell on the direction of the west hall, where a group of imperial physicians were checking the properties of the panacea.

He didn't hide the fact that he had already received relevant news, and asked directly:

"Father, did Jia Cunzhou explain the source of the white elixir?"

"It is said to be a gift from the fox demon."

Ming Zhao nodded slightly: "It is expected that he would not dare to hide this matter. However, we still have to investigate carefully. The things that the father enters must be cautious, and there must be no sloppy."

The Supreme Emperor sneered: "This Jia Cunzhou is so courageous, he just told a big lie in front of me."

Mingzhao asked with eyes open.

The Supreme Emperor signaled the servants around him to report to Mingzhao.

After Mingzhao heard the ins and outs, his brows were tightly twisted:

"This Jia family is rotten from the root. The head of the family dared to withhold the life-saving medicine from the Duke of the country and ordered others to ignore human lives. The slaves around them were even more rampant. They dared to bully others, and even ignored people with fame. The Zhang family's ancestral property, driving people out of the imperial capital, is so majestic and prestige, there is no law in sight!"

"Okay, I know you hate these honorable families, you are complaining about being a father for pampering them."

Ming Zhao pursed his lips, but didn't say anything soft.His attitude towards the honorable and noble families has always been the same. Before he ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, he repeatedly gave admonitions.

The Supreme Emperor was not really annoyed, he put most of his thoughts on the Jia family's panacea, and wanted to know if the pill could restore him to health.

After the father and son sat quietly for a while, the servant led Jia Zheng and Jia Yuanchun, who looked gloomy, into the room.

As soon as they saw the Supreme Emperor and the current emperor, Jia's father and daughter immediately fell to the ground.That Jia Zheng was frightened by the interrogation in the side hall before, but now that His Majesty the Emperor is there, the two are fighting.

So, without waiting for the servant to report back, Jia Zheng stumbled and confessed all the truth.

From his love affair when he was studying in Jinling, to his misunderstanding and extermination of the fox monster after returning to the capital, and to Shi Taijun's serious illness, he met Li Xiaoshan in his dream and learned the secret of the year.All of this, he confessed completely, and he didn't dare to hide anything.

"Wanwang forgives the crime. It's not that I deliberately deceived the sage, but, it's all kinds of things here, involving my mother. I know Jiaci made a big mistake. I am ashamed of my father and the ancestors of the Jia family. However, as a son of man, I really can't bear to see my mother being tortured in prison when she is old and seriously ill. The minister, the minister was fascinated by ghosts for a while, so he lied to the saint. The saint, your majesty, all the crimes are on the humble minister I beg the heavenly family to have mercy and forgive my mother for her crimes, and I am willing to atone for my mother's sins, and I will bear all the punishments."

Just as Jia Zheng was tearfully repenting, there was an exclamation from the room on the west side, and the attention of Ming Zhao and the Supreme Emperor was attracted.

After a while, I saw the head of the Imperial Hospital hurrying over, holding something like a thin tissue in his hand.

"Saint, Your Majesty, when I checked the pill, I accidentally touched a small mechanism at the bottom of the jade box, and found this thin silk."

As he spoke, Yuanzheng handed over the thin silk in his hand to a servant, and the servant put the thin silk into the silver tray and knelt in the center of the hall.

"Open."

"promise."

The servant slowly unfolded the thin silk, and everyone followed his movements to observe carefully.

On the unfolded thin silk, there was a painting of an unusually beautiful young woman.

This woman has a slender waist and a beautiful smile, although it is only a picture of a lady, but the people in the hall seem to smell the fragrance of musk orchids and hear the dingdong of ring pei.

Looking closely, I feel that the person in this painting seems to have come to life.Daimei Chunshan, eyes with horizontal waves, lips like cherries, have the beauty of spring plums covered with snow, and the tranquility of pine trees and empty valleys, it is really forget the vulgarity.

As soon as the portrait came out, everyone in the hall had different expressions.

The Supreme Emperor felt that this was a beautiful little girl.Mingzhao's breath was stagnant, and he couldn't figure out how Pei Xiang's portrait appeared in the mechanism of the jade box.

But Jia Zheng was surprised, and blurted out: "How could it be her?"