Chapter 59 Chapter 1 The Old Woman

I am a soldier in the Xinjiang Corps, but just half a year after joining the Corps, I was sent to the Huoyan Mountain in Turpan to perform a mission. During this period, I encountered many strange things.In the six months after that, I came to Meili Snow Mountain in Yunnan due to the arrangement of the Ministry of State Security. Of course, there were many strange and strange things.And in these two places, portraits and statues left over from ancient times were found, and the appearance of these portraits was exactly the same as mine.Gradually, I found that what happened in this year, even what happened from my birth to the present, are inextricably linked.

As mentioned last time, when we returned to Deqin County from Meili Snow Mountain, several of us parted ways. Yuan Yuanyuan returned to Beijing. Fan Li only said that he had something to do in Guizhou, while Xu Shaode and I continued to stay in Deqin County.Because, in the Huoyan Mountain, I found a luminous pearl. There is a mysterious micro-carving in that bead, and many characters and patterns are carved into the inside of the bead. All this, in the back of my mind, there is always a feeling that it will be related to me.Well, briefly recalling the previous story, let us continue with the place we talked about last time - Deqin County, Yubeng Photo Gallery.

I first told Old Man Liu how Ye Mingzhu was discovered, he was silent for a while, and then asked the children in the Yubeng photo studio to close the shop door, and made a cup of tea for each of us, but there was no immediate response. Say what you know. "You have to promise first that what I said must be kept secret." Old man Liu said solemnly, and sent the child out to buy soy sauce. To me, swearing is as common as eating, so I immediately swore an oath to cut off my descendants.The other two found it strange that I was so swearing, but they had no choice but to follow through.Although Old Man Liu is old and unscrupulous, he is the most stubborn of people. If he doesn't follow his advice, he may really take what he knows into the coffin.

"Hey, this happened a long, long time ago. You may not believe it when you say it, but I don't believe it myself either." Old man Liu sighed. I have experienced so many things in the past year, and there is nothing I can't believe, so I replied: "You always tell me quickly, don't be like a storyteller, trying to catch people's appetite." "Okay, okay, but you just have to remember the promise." Old man Liu took a sip of tea and began to tell a story, a story that was actually related to my experience. Old man Liu said that this story is closely related to the Xichang that appeared in the Ming Dynasty.Here, let me say a few words, because many people now have an incorrect understanding of Xichang.

When it comes to the Ming Dynasty, what everyone remembers most is its terror politics, and as the spokespersons of terror politics-Jinyiwei and Dongxichang, they are even more famous.But for a long time, people have not been very clear about the history and functions of these three agencies, and they are often moved around casually as behind-the-scenes black hands and secret service organizations in many novels and TV dramas.In fact, there is a big difference between the East Factory and Jinyiwei, and the West Factory has only existed for less than ten years. During the Ming Dynasty, Xichang only existed for a short period of time in the history of the Ming Dynasty. During the Chenghua period of Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty, there was a mysterious case of "demon foxes coming out at night" in the capital first, and then another demon Li Zilong used heresy to confuse people. He even recruited many eunuchs with bad intentions.Although Li Zilong and his party members were finally wiped out by Jin Yiwei, Xianzong deeply felt the lack of detection and assassination power.So the clever little eunuch Wang Zhi beside him was selected and sent outside the palace to inquire about news.Wang Zhi seized this opportunity, hunted around, collected a lot of so-called "secret news" and reported it to Xianzong.Xianzong thought the news was very valuable, and was very satisfied with Wang Zhi's performance, and asked him to continue.

A few months later, Emperor Xianzong of the Ming Dynasty established a new inner court institution, Xichang, headed by Wang Zhi.The site of Xichang is located in front of Lingji Palace, with the old ash factory as the headquarters of the factory.The officers of the West Factory are mainly selected from the imperial guards, and these people then choose their own subordinates. In just a few months, the number of personnel in the West Factory has greatly expanded, and its power has even surpassed that of the old predecessor, the East Factory. The establishment of the West Factory was originally just to spy on the emperor, but in order to get promoted and make a fortune, Wang Zhi tried his best to construct big and important cases. Jin Yiwei.Xichang has set up a detective network across the country. The main targets are officials inside and outside Beijing. Once someone is suspected, he will be arrested immediately, without the emperor's consent in advance.For ordinary people, as long as their words and deeds are a little careless, they will be severely punished by Xichang for the crime of lying.

However, due to his violence, he was dismissed and investigated in the end, and died in frustration.After the great eunuch Liu Jin came to power, the West Factory only lasted for five years before Wu Zong ordered the cancellation of the West Factory and the expert factory created by Liu Jin.As a temporary product, Xichang disappeared forever in history. During Wang Zhi's tenure, he discovered a miniature sculpture master named Cheng Yu in the capital.Although Wang Zhi was an eunuch, he raised a woman outside the palace. In order to please that woman, he recruited Cheng Yu into the mansion and carved some trinkets for the woman.What happened later can be imagined, the woman couldn't bear the loneliness, and finally had a relationship with Cheng Yu.

They were very flustered, for fear of being discovered by Wang Zhi. If they were discovered by this eunuch, they would be arrested if they fled to the ends of the world.However, one day, the careful Cheng Yu discovered an ulterior secret about Wang Zhi. In addition to asking Cheng Yu to carve some gadgets to make his women happy, Wang Zhi also gave some particularly delicate miniature carvings to the emperor at that time.One day, Cheng Yu carved a palace out of walnuts, and he was about to give this thing to Wang Zhi, so that Wang Zhi could enter the palace to please the emperor.However, when he was about to enter Wang Zhi's study, he heard a terrifying conversation.

There is an old woman in the study, she is not ordinary old, she is so old that her skin has lost moisture, like a corpse.Wang Zhi was kneeling on the ground, listening to the old woman. "Find her quickly, otherwise, I will make your life worse than death. Remember who gave you today." The old woman said fiercely. "I know, I know, I have already sent people to look for it very hard." Wang Zhi lost his usual prestige and lay on the ground like a dog. "What about that bead, has anyone who made miniature sculptures for you seen it?" the old woman asked. "No, I'm worried that he will reveal the secret of Ye Mingzhu, so..." Wang Zhi said.

"Hurry up, I'm impatient. If he still can't do it, just like the previous ones, kill him directly." After finishing speaking, the old woman walked towards a wall, twisted the candle by the wall, and a secret room appeared . "Madam Zheng, go slowly." Wang Zhi whispered. "Well, remember, if the sculptor sees what's inside, kill him immediately after he speaks!" The old woman walked into the secret room after she finished speaking. When Cheng Yu heard this, he was so panicked that his feet went limp, but he still quietly ran to another place.He was frightened, because the old woman was like a monster, and he had never seen such an old person.According to Wang Zhi's words, this old woman should be surnamed Zheng, could it be Wang Zhi's mother, if not how could she be so in awe.However, before entering Wang's mansion, Cheng Yu heard that Wang Zhi's maiden name was Lin, and she died a long time ago.

What the old woman said clearly, Wang Zhi had already hired several miniature carving masters, and all the people in front of him were killed.That luminous pearl seemed to be a very important thing, but the old woman said that whether he could see through the mystery or not, he would die.Thinking of this, Cheng Yu couldn't help becoming more flustered. It seemed that he would die no matter what. That night, Wang Zhi's woman sneaked into Cheng Yu's room and said something that scared Cheng Yu almost to the point of peeing his pants, but it also gave him courage. "Brother Cheng, let's elope together, I don't want to spend the rest of my life with this eunuch!" the woman begged, he was snatched from a poor man's house by Wang Zhi, and he didn't want to be loyal to this eunuch at all. "But..." Cheng Yu wanted to refuse, but he felt that he had been useless all his life. If he couldn't even protect his beloved woman, would he be considered a man?Therefore, he made up his mind and decided to flee from Wang's mansion immediately.Anyway, if you stay, you will die, so you might as well go all out and take a gamble. "Brother Cheng, don't worry, I stole some of Wang Zhi's jewelry, which is enough for us to live on." The woman said. "You..." Cheng Yu was speechless, he thought, this woman is really capable, she won't forget to peel off another piece of Wang Zhi's skin after eloping. "Although Wang Zhi is not here, there are many guards here, how can we escape?" Cheng Yu wondered. "Don't be afraid, I have lived with this eunuch for so long, I know there is a secret way here!" the woman said with confidence. "Secret way?" Cheng Yu was surprised, he didn't expect this woman to have so many secrets. "Well, in his study, I saw him go in many times, and after he went in, he came back from outside the house." The woman said. When Cheng Yu heard it, the secret passage in the study was not the secret room that the old woman walked into. It turned out that there was a secret passage.It seems that the old lady is from outside the house.The woman wanted Cheng Yu to run out of the house with her immediately, but in fact Cheng Yu had to do the same, otherwise there would be only a dead end.It's just that he was worried that he would bump into that old woman in the secret passage.Although an old man was no match for a young and strong man like him, he always felt that the old woman was scary. But there is no way, the jewelry and luggage have been packed by the woman, and there is no way out.The two of them sneaked into the study, and after the woman opened the secret passage, they slipped in.The secret passage is very dry, but pitch-black, and they don't know how long the secret passage is.Fortunately, with lanterns, so walking will not fall three times. There are not many corners in the secret passage, but not far away, there is a hall in the secret passage, and the old woman sits cross-legged in the middle.When Cheng Yu and the woman saw it, they were so scared that they wanted to run back, but Cheng Yu held the woman back because the old woman was motionless and did not jump up to chase them. Although Cheng Yu is cowardly, he is a man after all, and he still has a curiosity-seeking nature in his heart.He walked over on tiptoe, took the old woman's pulse, and was startled because the old woman was not breathing.Cheng Yu thought, at such an old age, he should die, otherwise he would really be immortal. In the hall, there are no decorations, only two paintings, one male and one female.The woman was a little greedy, she could see that the portrait was an ancient relic, and the painting was superb, so she also looted the scroll. The woman knew that the old woman was out of breath, so she immediately grabbed Cheng Yu's hand and walked out of the hall slowly.However, as soon as they left the hall, they heard the old woman let out a long sigh of relief.Is it a scam?The old woman was obviously dead just now, how could she come back to life!But even though Cheng Yu and the woman were curious, it was impossible for them to look back to find out what happened. Their purpose was to elope, and one more thing is worse than one less thing. When I heard this, I thought to myself, how could the physiological reaction of this old woman surnamed Zheng be so similar to Fan Li's, or in other words, be the same at all!The old man said, the woman stole two scrolls of paintings from the hall. Could it be that the portrait of the man looks like me again? I couldn't help being interested in the story of Old Man Liu, what happened to Cheng Yu and the woman afterwards, and how could Old Man Liu know so much about it.Listen carefully to what old man Liu said. When I knew the story behind, I couldn't help but take a deep breath. I really didn't expect such a thing to exist in the world!