The Soul of a Foreign Land

Author: Chu Qianmo

It has been seventeen days since I left the capital.

Chu Chengye and his men dragged their families, carriages and horses, but they had only traveled six hundred miles.

It's not that they are delaying on purpose, it's because they are used to living in the capital. Once they are tired of traveling and traveling, they will feel a lot of discomfort, and they are not used to food and accommodation.

What's more, Princess Jiang Xintong is still pregnant, so she is even more precious. If she feels a little uncomfortable, she stops to rest. It's strange that she can do it quickly.

Thinking that it was still thousands of miles away from Canghuai County in Jinzhou, even Chu Chengye felt that it would not be possible to get there in a day or two anyway, so why would he have to spend the night and sleep in the open air?

Now we are in Jiazhou, and we can reach Jinzhou in another seven or eight days. Jiang Xintong's fetal movements were frequent, and Chu Chengye was also a little nervous. He immediately ordered to rest on the spot, called the accompanying doctors, and asked them to quickly diagnose Jiang Xintong's pulse.

.

Jiang Xintong had a miscarriage. After all, she had never been so tired before. Now she was pregnant and traveling long distances. Even if she was riding in a carriage, how could she be as superior as sitting in a high hall and pampering herself?

Fortunately, the medicinal materials were fully prepared and the doctors were careful. They quickly prepared the anti-fetal medicine and waited for Jiang Xintong to drink it.

It was impossible to walk today. This was a small market. They booked the only inn and stayed there.

The owner of the inn was both happy and worried about the sudden arrival of such a large number of customers.

They are just a small place, simple and ordinary. These people are either rich or noble. Can they live well here?

Chu Chengye and his party not only have doctors but also cooks. They don't need the people in this small inn to do anything. All they want is a venue.

Two large ingots of silver were thrown into the hands of the innkeeper, telling him to vacate the place quickly.

With the heavy amount of money in his hand, the innkeeper was very happy.

Within half an hour, the entire inn was left to Chu Chengye and his friends. The innkeeper also enthusiastically told them where to buy fresh vegetables.

Of course, his good intentions were not adopted. Once the door of the entire inn was closed, he was no longer allowed to enter even though he was the owner of the inn.

After that, Chu Chengye's entourage and the accompanying maids and women cleaned and cleaned the entire inn. The original bedding on the bed was thrown away and covered with expensive brocade, and the floor was also covered with soft brocade carpet.

The entire inn has been completely renovated. Of course, for the nobles in the capital, it is still barely enough to stay in.

The innkeeper was locked out. Those who were familiar with him were envious and amused. Some people joked: "Wang Laosan, you have made a lot of money by renting your inn, right?"

The inn owner Hehe Zhile, with his small business, he usually gets three melons and two dates, which is an unexpected surprise. This time, two large ingots of silver were enough to buy his inn.

He said: "Luck, luck!"

Isn't it just luck? In this small place, they rarely have any customers, and these customers are simply the God of Wealth.

Amid everyone's envious looks and jokes, the innkeeper happily took his family to live in the old house.

No matter how many days these noble people want to stay, he will make money.

After clearing away the irrelevant people, there are only people from Prince Jing's Mansion in this inn.

The best room is naturally for the master.

Chu Chengye accompanied Jiang Xintong and said in a gentle tone: "Let's just stay here for one night. When we get to the place, we can settle down properly!"

Jiang Xintong smiled softly, but there was no smile in her eyes. She knew that Chu Chengye was comforting her.

They hurriedly invited themselves to become a vassal. The vassal territory was temporarily granted by the emperor. There was no palace for the king and no palace for the king was prepared in advance.

Settling in is easier said than done?

However, when they finally arrived, the sky was high and the emperor was far away, and there were ten thousand households in the city. At least for the time being, they didn't have to live in fear.

A maid came over to help Jiang Xintong sleep, and Chu Chengye went to the next room.

They also need to discuss some related matters after arriving in the feudal territory.

For example, the first group of people from Prince Jing's Mansion have already rushed to Canghuai County, Jinzhou.

Those people will build temporary palaces first so that the masters will have a place to settle down once they arrive.

Even the second group of people has already followed and is about to arrive.

The person who went to the vassal territory was a prince, not an ordinary court official, and the pomp and pomp he should have should be indispensable. At least the local people must know that they are no longer controlled by the court, but are the households that respect the king.

Chu Chengye could not be said to be satisfied with the current situation, but when he thought of Chu Yuncheng, he had nothing to be unwilling to do.

After all, he is the cook of Prince Jing's Mansion, and the food he cooks is delicious even across the room.

The surrounding residents smelled the aroma of the food and imagined the life of the nobles. They were curious and envious. Some people wanted to poke their heads in to have a look, but they were driven away by the guards guarding the door.

That day, people in the market were talking about the noble people from the capital.

The small market became much more lively because of this.

The next day, no one came out of the inn.

Is it possible that these noble people think this small market is not bad and want to stay for a few more days?

But even the purchasers didn’t come out, so don’t they need to eat?

On the third day, no one came out of the inn.

Now, the surrounding residents felt something was wrong.

Didn't the noble people leave at night? There is no curfew in a small place, so no one will stop you from coming and going.

Someone called the innkeeper: "Why don't you go check out your inn?"

The innkeeper thought of the two big ingots of silver and said, "What are you looking at? The noble man has booked the inn, not to mention three days, but even ten or eight days, it doesn't matter."

"That being said, aren't they from out of town? If there is anything you want to know, why don't you ask?"

When the innkeeper heard this, he thought, "Yeah, maybe he went here to ask." The noble man was very happy and rewarded him with some money.

He was a noble man in the capital, and if he had just a little bit left between his fingers, it would be enough for him to live on for a lifetime.

At the instigation of the neighbors, the innkeeper went to open the door.

The door was gently pushed open a crack.

Under the gaze of many pairs of eyes, the innkeeper said cautiously: "Guest? Guest?"

Waiting for him to walk in, there was no movement inside.

The neighbors looked at each other. The nobles were quite easy to talk to. They were driven away when they approached, but when the innkeeper approached, there was no obstruction.

This time, the innkeeper will definitely get a lot of reward money.

"Ah..." Suddenly, a shrill scream came from the inn. Then, there was the figure of the inn owner rolling around with a pale face.

His pupils tightened, and his whole figure seemed to be greatly frightened. He screamed shrilly and horrified, and was incoherent: "Dead people, dead people, dead people, so many dead people..."

The neighbors were shocked. The information revealed in these words was too shocking.

Someone boldly asked: "What's wrong?"

"Dead, dead, all dead..." the innkeeper murmured with his eyes straight, unfocused, obviously very frightened.

The neighbors looked at each other, why is this happening?

There are many of those noble people. I'm afraid there are only thirty or forty people. Will so many people die? How did they die? How could a good person die?

That's a noble person in the capital.

Those who are brave enough to go together to have a look inside.

In the courtyard, there were people lying in various places, and they recognized them as the nobleman's guards.

There were also maids and women, some fell on the ground, some fell by the door, and some fell inside the house.

They didn't dare to watch anymore and ran out quickly. Someone shouted: "Report the official, report the official quickly!"

With so many people dead, it must be reported to the government, who will make a decision.

Such a big thing happened in the small market, and the whole market exploded.

The people from the government arrived very quickly. They were shocked when they heard that a nobleman from the capital died in a small market while passing through Beijing.

The county magistrate came in person and brought with him a full squad of government officials.

When he learned that this noble person from the capital was actually the emperor's eldest son, His Royal Highness Prince Jing, and his family retinue, the county magistrate was almost paralyzed with fear.

Such a thing happened under his rule, the prince died here, and his life could not be saved!

Wu Zuo examined the bodies and found that everyone died of poisoning. In the kitchen, there was still food. When the silver needle was inserted into the food, it was all black when it was pulled out.

Who poisoned him?

The symptoms of everyone dying from poisoning seemed obvious at a glance, but they were also unusual.

The surrounding neighbors and innkeepers were all arrested together.

If the murderer cannot be found, they are the ones closest to the murderer because they are close.

The innkeeper probably never dreamed that he would get rich, and two ingots of silver would allow him to double the size of the inn.

But in the blink of an eye, he became a prisoner.

It is true that you are noble when you succeed, and you are noble when you fail.
To be continued...