Deep Palace past events

After Gao and Peng entered the room, they sat on Yang Fan's and Zhang Xiaomao's beds respectively. Peng Xiaowan saw that the expressions of the two were very unnatural. He knew the reason, but pretended to be confused. Wang Gu talked about him.After asking each other about the situation in their respective places with the two, I explained the purpose of my visit:

"As the saying goes, after ten years of cultivation, we can cross the same boat. We all came to Jinling on the same boat, which can be regarded as a kind of fate, so let's stop keeping our words in our stomachs, and let's open the skylight and speak out. I know you Both of them looked down on Gao Zhaohui a bit, thinking he was disrespectful."

Zhang Xiaomao glanced at Gao Zhaohui and said, "It's nothing, I've heard a common saying: Husband and wife are like birds in the same forest, and when disaster strikes, they fly separately. Even a couple, when disaster strikes, just take care of themselves, let alone us We were all just in the same boat.”

Gao Zhaohui blushed slightly when he heard this, "I'm sorry, I really didn't know at the time that you two caused trouble. When the old man came to ask me, he didn't say why, he only asked me, yesterday Did anyone come to see me at night? When I heard this, naturally Monk Zhang Er couldn’t figure it out. I asked him why he asked such a question, but the old man didn’t say anything, and only asked me to answer his question. I don’t know the depth, so naturally I can only To be honest, I found out later that this matter was related to you.”

Yang Fan smiled wryly and thought to himself: "Well, he doesn't know our situation, so it's no wonder he didn't dare to answer casually." Yin said: "Forget it, I really can't blame you for this matter. In fact, we are not angry with you."

Zhang Xiaomao said with a smile: "Don't talk about it anymore. This is my fault. I shouldn't be talking nonsense. Fortunately, you didn't answer indiscriminately, otherwise you will be implicated!"

Gao Zhaohui said apologetically, "It's also my fault for being too timid, I almost hurt you."

After the four and a half-year-old children joked with each other politely, they immediately let go of their previous suspicions.

The old eunuch Ma Shuishu, who was sitting on the lower bunk at the entrance, had been listening to them silently. Seeing that the children valued friendship very much, he couldn't help thinking of some past events in his youth, and suddenly felt a little sad and warm in his heart, and sighed softly. With a sound, he suddenly interjected: "The two of you entered the palace with the two of them?"

Peng Xiaowan said: "Yes, we all entered the palace last night."

Ma shuddered, and then asked, "Where have you been assigned?"

Peng Xiaowan said: "I was assigned to the cooked fire place, and he was assigned to the imperial dining room. We also have a good friend named Wei Zhi. He is the most fortunate. He was spotted by the queen as soon as he entered the palace, so he made a special trip to go!"

When Ma Shushu heard that Gao Zhaohui was the new eunuch assigned to the imperial dining room, he was slightly startled, walked over and sat on the bed next to Zhang Xiaomao, and asked in a low voice, "Are you from the imperial dining room? Then you went into the icehouse to see Eunuch An?"

Gao Zhaohui shook his head and said, "We couldn't go in. Someone died inside. How could those people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs let idlers in to watch the fun? Not to mention the iron gate of the icehouse, even the gate outside was guarded, and no one was allowed to approach. "

Ma Shushu hummed repeatedly, obviously believing it completely, and then asked after listening: "You didn't see it, you must have heard something? Who was the first to find the dead person?"

"The first person who discovered that there was a dead person in the freezer was the high level of our imperial dining room. Do you know him, father-in-law?"

"Oh, it turned out to be him. I know you. I know all the eunuchs and maids in your imperial dining room, except you newcomers to the palace."

The fat young man on the opposite bed overheard this and joined in: "Master Ma is not bragging, I'm telling you: Master Ma was working in the imperial dining room three years ago!"

Another eunuch also echoed: "Yes, Master Ma has not only worked as a pyrotechnician in the imperial dining room, but also his cooking skills are among the best in the imperial dining room! If it weren't for offending some people, he would be excluded. come out……"

Ma Shushu coughed dryly, lowered his eyes and said: "The hero doesn't mention what happened in the past, but what it does."

Seeing his indifferent expression, the two eunuchs felt as if they were flattering the horse's legs, and their faces felt a little hot.

Gao Zhaohui heard that Ma Shushu was still an expert, his eyes lit up suddenly, and he said excitedly: "Ah, Mr. Ma is an expert who came out of our imperial dining room, so I will ask you for advice in the future." Eunuch Ma, Zhang Xiaomao and Yang Fan are all good friends of mine. Not only did we enter the palace in the same group this time, but we also came to the capital on the same boat. Now you live with them... You are a senior , you are an expert, not only to help them, but also to teach me—by the way, I heard from Master Tian who taught us that the new eunuchs must first pay homage to their masters after entering the palace. However, now I live with two good friends of mine, and I happened to come here to meet you today, which can be regarded as fate! Please accept me and let us be apprentices, okay?"

After every new eunuch enters the palace, he must first recognize his master, who is also his righteous father.This rule started in the Tang Dynasty. Not only did the disciples have to regard the master as their adoptive father, some even had to use the adoptive father's surname.

For example, Gao Lishi, the great eunuch of the Tang Dynasty, originally surnamed Feng, changed his surname to Gao because he worshiped Gao Yanfu as his teacher after entering the palace.

Almost all eunuchs in the Song Dynasty took the surname of their adoptive father.

In the Ming Dynasty, after every eunuch entered the palace, he had to vote for a chief eunuch under the name of XX.

Those who can be masters are all high-status and elderly eunuchs, and it is difficult to count the number of apprentices such as chief eunuchs and chief eunuchs in their lifetime.

Disciples learn palace rules and etiquette from their masters, while the master regards the disciples as his servants. Therefore, there is actually a master-slave relationship between the master and the disciples. The master is a slave in front of the master, but he is the master in front of the disciples.

Therefore, new eunuchs entering the palace have to start as slaves of slaves.

Among them, except for a few people who may become prosperous in the future, the vast majority of them can only be slaves of slaves throughout their lives.

Ma Shushu didn't expect Gao Zhaohui to make such a request, he was slightly taken aback, looked at the other party from head to toe, and thought to himself: "Unexpectedly, this child is so scheming at such a young age, I'm afraid he will become a character in the future! "

Seeing that Ma was writing a book without making a sound, Gao Zhaohui only said that he didn't want to, and said: "Eunuch Ma, you can accept me? Although I am stupid, I love to learn, and I also like cooking..."

Ma Shushu wryly smiled and said: "Stop joking, we low-level eunuchs, where are we assigned disciples? There are many masters in the imperial dining room, and anyone you learn from is better than me. I don't have any skills worth learning from others, so I can only mislead people." My son, delay your future."

Gao Zhaohui was slightly startled, he didn't know whether his words were modest or the truth, he didn't know what to say, but he heard the fat young eunuch say: "Master Ma, I think this little brother is very smart and clever, he is a good seed, you If we accept him, we may still be able to enjoy his blessings in the future."

Ma Shushu's heart moved when he heard this, but he said: "Let's talk about this in a few days."

Gao Zhaohui heard that the tone of Ma's writing was a little loose, and thought to himself: "I have nothing now, and I want to be a teacher. It's too wishful thinking. Why don't you wait until the first month's monthly money is paid, buy some gifts, and then beg him to accept me as an apprentice. .” So he said, “That’s fine, then I’ll come to ask my father-in-law again in a few days.”

Ma Shushu smiled dumbly, noncommittal.

Although Yang Fan, Peng Xiaowan, and Zhang Xiaomao had found that Gao Zhaohui was cautious and a bit of an adult, they had never seen him so clever and flattering others. When they suddenly saw this scene, they all felt at a loss.

Ma Shushu coughed dryly, and brought the topic back to Mr. An's affairs: "You just said that the first person who found Mr. An's body was a high-level person in the imperial dining room?"

"Yes, Mr. Ma."

Because Gao Zhaohui had something in his heart, Gao Zhaohui's attitude towards Ma's writing was no longer as casual as before, and his expression was obviously respectful and ingratiating.

Gao Zhaohui said: "This morning, the Dim Sum Bureau sent an eunuch to the Queen's order to bring some exquisite dim sum and a bottle of chilled Persian red wine to the East Palace to reward the prince. The leader is too listening and hurriedly called Gao Level took the key to the icehouse to get the wine. After Gao Level entered the icehouse, because the inside of the icehouse was huge, there were piles of 'icebergs' as high as hills everywhere, so at first he didn't notice anything unusual inside.

"But for some reason, when he was picking out wine, he felt a pair of eyes staring at him inexplicably several times. In the innermost corner, behind two blocks of ice, lay a headless corpse!"

Although everyone already knew about the discovery of Eunuch An's body in the ice storage, they did not know the specific circumstances. After listening to Gao Zhaohui's narration, they all felt a creepy sense of terror.

Ma Shushu breathed a sigh of relief, calmed down his heartbeat and asked again: "Did Eunuch Tao and the others find any clues?"

Gao Zhaohui said: "Then I don't know. But I heard a few ladies and sisters in our imperial dining room discussing, as if they said that Eunuch An was not injured, maybe he was drugged or poisoned by someone. It was killed in the freezer."

Ma Shushu hummed and remained silent for a while.

The room was quiet for a while, and the chubby young eunuch asked just now: "Master Ma, I think it's strange, Eunuch An is the eunuch of the Huagai Palace, which is far away from the icehouse, and there is a large road outside the icehouse. Iron gate, no key to get in at all. How could he die in there?"

Ma Shushu murmured: "Yes, I am also very puzzled."