Chapter 272 Infernal Affairs in the Palace.

Hong Zhu's original surname was Chen. He was the youngest son of a wealthy family named Chen in Yingshang County, Yingzhou Prefecture. Although his family was not as wealthy as a country, it was also quite wealthy in the area.

Why did he enter the palace to become a eunuch?
He had spent ten carefree years. According to the established plan and his father's love, he would inherit part of the family business and then marry and have children, until his family would have a wealthy branch or a prodigal son who would squander his wealth.

But then things went against our wishes.

Just being the magistrate of Yingshang County was enough to destroy his family!

The reason was simply because he had his eyes on his family's wealth, even though he had already shown filial respect in many ways before, but human greed is not so easily satisfied.
The Chen family had no power but was still wealthy. They had a lot of luck to get to where they are today, but it was just that the crisis came to an end in his generation.

The county magistrate, Mr. Wu, not only found an excuse to confiscate all of the Chen family's properties, he also secretly colluded with bandits to wipe out the entire Chen family, in order to prevent the news from leaking out. From this point of view, Mr. Wu is a more competent villain than Fan Xian and Li Ang.

People are not as good as the sky.

If nothing unexpected happens, this is going to be an accident.

Hong Zhu and his brother were playing hide-and-seek outside. They only remembered to go home in the evening. Fearing that they would be punished, they deliberately delayed for a while. Fortunately, they escaped.

He no longer has to worry about punishment from his parents.

From this day on, he understood the importance of power!
This kind of deep hatred is something that no one can forget. Even though he and his brother were still young at the time and could not bear such a heavy burden, this was the only motivation they had to live.

After that, the two of them hid their identities. For the safety of himself and his brother, Hong Zhu was ruthless and decided to go all out and castrate himself and enter the imperial court.

Once a person has motivation, he will learn all the skills needed to achieve this goal in order to take revenge, and the ability to read people's expressions is the most important thing in the palace! It is more important than any talent or martial arts.

After spending three years in a low-key manner, he successfully got close to the eunuch chief, Hong Sixiang. Not only was he taught martial arts and raised like an adopted son, he was also given the surname Hong. From then on, he became a person in the palace that no one dared to provoke except the nobles.

After several years of operation, although he had won the praise of the nobles in the harem and the attention of His Majesty, he did not dare to abuse his power, let alone reveal his true identity.

The power of eunuchs is already very limited, and their status outside the palace is questionable. Unless there is a trustworthy court official who knows their ins and outs and cooperates with them, this advantage cannot be expanded indefinitely - according to the laws of the Qing Kingdom, eunuchs and the harem are not allowed to interfere in government affairs.

This is the apparent reason, but more importantly, Hong Zhu has not found a truly smart person.

Looking around, all I see are dead ghosts with short-lived looks!
His brother now lives in Jiaozhou, and lives in peace and stability.

There is still a long way to go, and Hong Zhu still has a lot of time to wait for the opportunity to come.

All this happened until Fan Xian appeared before him. It was not him who took the initiative to contact Fan Xian, although he had observed Fan Xian for a long time.

Fan Xian used the power of the Supervisory Council and after screening, he set his sights on him. Not only did he thoroughly investigate his identity, he also sent people to poison the entire family of Mr. Wu, the magistrate of Yingshang County, and then took advantage of the night to kill the gang of bandits, causing a river of blood to flow, and he got things done in advance.

Now, Hong Zhu had no choice but to cooperate.

His blood feud was avenged, his brother was well arranged, and he completely became Fan Xian's man.

As smart as he is, he knows what it means to use both kindness and force. He tacitly did not mention that he wanted to see his brother, because he knew that there was a hostage involved.

There was no need to do anything extra like writing letters. With the ability of the Supervisory Council, it was easy to imitate a note. The end of a matter also brought with it a new goal.

In the past year, he has passed a lot of information about the harem to Fan Xian through the backdoor he left behind. Behind the scenes, Hong Zhu is also carrying out all the tasks assigned by Fan Xian, even though Fan Xian and Hong Zhu had a public quarrel in front of everyone, giving everyone the illusion that Fan Xian wanted to kill Hong Zhu and Hong Zhu also wanted to trap Fan Xian.

In fact, if you really think about it, between him and Fan Xian, it is hard to tell who was the first to notice the abnormality between the prince and the eldest princess.

Fan Xian learned about it from the letter sent by Haitang Duoduo sent by Li An, while Hong Zhu really relied on his sense of smell to figure it out. He was hesitating whether to tell Fan Xian about this matter. After all, Fan Xian had not returned to Kyoto yet, so even if he told him, it would be useless and would increase the risk of being exposed.

But as another letter came in front of him, his expression changed and he decided to give this information to Fan Xian.

"You should go to the Imperial Study again and take a look at what is bothering His Majesty recently, so that I can comfort him accordingly." The Queen looked worried about her husband, and she sighed and said, "Pay attention to your response. If you can find out, then do so. If you can't, it's okay. Don't put your life at risk."

By this time, Hong Zhu had been in the Eastern Palace for more than two months.

Upon hearing this, Hong Zhu's face was filled with gratitude and he went towards the imperial study.

Along the way, whether it was the eunuchs and maids in the palace or the officials who had just come out of the court, they were all very polite to the eunuch chief who had become popular recently, and there were even people who flattered him madly.

No matter who praised him, Hong Zhu would humbly bow his head in return and dare not accept it.

In the imperial study, he first reported to Emperor Qing about the various situations in the Eastern Palace over the past two months, and then he told him exactly what the Queen had said.

Without waiting for Emperor Qing's response, he stood aside, like a statue, and said nothing more.

After Emperor Qing finished his official duties for the day, he returned to the East Palace with the answer and whispered something in the Queen's ear.

"You mean to say that Your Majesty is worried about the empty treasury?" The Queen frowned, and the noble air she had deliberately created had long since disappeared. "What's the point of Your Majesty worrying about these alone? Don't all the ministers in the court know how to share your worries? It will take a long time to repair the river embankment, and the people are waiting for food with their mouths open. If I had money, it would be great. It would also save Your Majesty from worrying!"

"Don't bother me, Madam. I heard that Master Fan has been in Jiangnan for a long time. I believe he will be able to sort out the inner treasury soon. Won't the silver flow into Kyoto like water?" Hong Zhu laughed and said, "Besides, isn't Master Fan Jianfan still in charge of the inner treasury?"

“This is what’s worrying!”

The Queen's expression changed for a moment, then returned to normal. She asked calmly, "I heard that you and Fan Xian don't get along well?"

"Rumors are just nonsense spread by people who can't stand seeing my success!"

"Whether it's a rumor or not, Fan Xian is now in power, so you shouldn't be too tough."

After pretending to be concerned, the Queen turned the topic to Emperor Qing again.

"I am not in a position to ask about state affairs, but when Your Majesty is not dealing with state affairs, where do you go to hang out and relax? How do you feel?"

Hong Zhu was filled with anxiety and fear, knowing clearly what was taboo in the palace. However, seeing that the queen was getting impatient, he could only grit his teeth and said in a low voice, "Xiaolou."

(End of this chapter)