Heshen came out of Donghua Gate and got into the sedan chair, took Liu Yin and a group of guards straight to Agui's mansion. The group followed Dong'anmen Street eastward through Dengshikou, and soon arrived at the destination.

Agui's mansion is located in Dengcao Hutong, located in the southeast corner of the East Forty Crossing. The history of this street can be traced back to the Yuan Dynasty. It was within the scope of Yinbinfang and Jurenfang in the Yuan Dynasty. It was renamed Sichengfang and Nanjuxianfang in the Ming Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, it was transferred to the jurisdiction of Zhengbai Banner. Many mansions of the powerful Manchus and nobles settled here. For example, to the north of Agui's family is the Dumao Hutong where the Liu Yong family is located; two miles south along the street is the Erzhao Hutong in the North of Dongsi Pailou where the Fukang'an mansion is located.

Heshen had been here many times, and the most recent time was on behalf of Qianlong to visit him more than ten days ago. However, when he lifted up the curtains of the sedan chair at the entrance of the alley and looked out, he found that he could hardly recognize the place.

The entire Dengcao Hutong starts from the entrance of the alley, and the entire wall on the north side is surrounded by a white curtain. A row of spiritual sheds are set up along the base of the wall from west to east. The various warm sedans parked beside them are lined up densely, dragging them a mile away. Even the road on the east side of Dongdan Street has been stepped into muddy pulp.

Seeing Heshen's sedan chair coming, everyone hurriedly avoided it, with a complicated look in their eyes, looking at the sedan chair of the powerful minister who was known as the "Two Emperors" among the people.

At this time, Agui's family was wearing mourning clothes. Some were carrying the flat bars and entering through the side door. Some set up "deacons" outside the wall, putting soul-sucking sedan chairs, and inserting "Qulu flags" into the deacon stands, and they were busy. The sound of monks and Taoists chanting in the spirit sheds on both sides of the ritual gate made people's hearts burst into tears.

"I went on a trip in the desert yesterday and suddenly saw a big skeleton. The grass was in the bushes, the cold swishing, the wind blew the lotus leaves, the ghosts cried and the gods were sad. Skeleton! Skeleton! Skeleton! Smile that the master was waiting for the prime minister and what he said to learn articles. Look at the pile of gold and jade, which one did not throw white bones on the hills. Skeleton! Skeleton! The moon is a lamp, the rain is oil, and the stars are watching and watching the spring and autumn. The lonely soul wanderer makes friends for friends. Skeleton! Skeleton! Tonight, we are lucky to have the establishment of the Nether Yang Association. The Nine Heavens candles light up, recite the secret mantras, sprinkle nectar, and burn the fragrance of precepts, concentration and wisdom. I hope that the lonely soul wanderer will go to the west quickly."

Heshen got off the sedan chair in front of the eight-character wall. Because he took the emperor's order, Liu Yin went to inform the deacon at the door to welcome guests.

He looked up and saw a tulu banner more than four meters high standing in front of the mansion, dancing desolately in the wind. Because Agui is a white flag, the entire banner is pure white, blending with the snow all over the sky, like a rippling white smoke.

The "Dulu Banner" is a unique funeral and ceremonial guard of the Manchus. Its appearance is like the big banner raised on the stage, with a width of one meter long. It is named because it is decorated with drooping colorful balls on the edge. The top of this banner of Agui is a lotus leaf cover, with a satin embroidered soft piece hanging in the middle, with the official title of "First Class Duke, Prince Taibao, Wuying Palace Grand Secretary" written on it. Further down is the large and wide streamer of a white python, which is also inlaid with velvet waist tassels. In addition to the white color balls, there are also several streamers on both sides.

In another time and space joke, the one who fought with Heshen was either Liu Yong or Ji Xiaolan. But in fact, the only opponent who could be considered Heshen in his later years was A Gui, and Heshen was afraid of wherever he was.

Now that the only political opponent is dead, Heshen feels proud.

After a while, Agui's three grandsons, Na Yangui, Na Yanbao and Na Yancheng, came to the door of the mansion wearing mourning clothes. When they saw Heshen in front of them, they felt so tired of it. Especially for Atis's son Na Yangui, in front of them was the enemy who had framed his father, which was irreconcilable.

Among the onlookers, there were also people who were worried about being sympathetic. A Zhongtang, who thought to be a country and the people, left. Such corrupt and powerful officials were living, but there were five or six people. God really didn't have any eyes!

However, Heshen came with the emperor's order today, the imperial envoy. No matter how dissatisfied the three of them were, they could not reveal a trace of it. So they shook their sleeves and knelt in the snow.

"I respectfully invite the Holy One!"

"Sage Bow!"

Heshen bowed to Qianlong to answer, and then hurriedly stepped forward to help the three brothers up, and said with a sad look: "Three old nephews are still asking for grief. He came today because he was the emperor's edict. The emperor had rejected the posthumous title previously proposed by the Ministry of Rites and changed "Wenxiang" to "Wenzhong". He was given a Dharani Sutra. The officials of the Ministry of Rites will come with the will tomorrow morning."

When the Yangui brothers and three others heard this, they were all excited and burst into tears. Then they knelt down in the direction of the Forbidden City and kowtowed repeatedly. When the three of them got up, Heshen said again: "The emperor said, don't rush to hand over the sign to thank you, and then talk about it after the funeral."

After hearing this, the three of them knelt down and kowtowed again. After Heshen explained the matter, he showed a sad look on his face and bowed: "I would like to ask the three nephews to lead the way. He is going to bring incense sticks to Wen Zhong to express his condolences."

It was already the end of Shen that Heshen came out of Agui's mansion and returned to He's mansion in Shichahai. At that time, the snow in the sky was much smaller. Liu Quan and his family were busy slapping the snow and brushing the mud, and he stood up to the second gate. The ground in the inner courtyard was swept cleanly. His wife Feng, the second wife and second aunt, concubine Su Qinglian and cardamom, Nalan and others were already waiting in the courtyard with a group of old wives and girls. Seeing him in, Feng took the lead in performing a blessing ceremony.

(In the Shichahai in the 1870s, there was the Bell and Drum Tower in the distance. At that time, there were not so many houses on the Houhai side, and naturally there were not so many alleys.)

Heshen helped his wife up, held the other party's jade-like hand, and said with concern: "It's so cold, why are you still coming out? Go back to the room and talk."

Feng frowned and smiled, "It's okay. Don't look at the heavy snow today, it's not too cold."

The couple has been married for more than 20 years. Although Heshen is romantic, they are very respectful to this wife. They have a daughter and two sons. The eldest daughter married Beile Yongyan, and the eldest son Fengshen Yinde married Qianlong's tenth princess and opened a house to live together. The youngest son died very early.

Heshen went into the house to change his clothes, and then the family went into the house to eat around the table. Needless to say, the hot soup, hot porridge and delicious food, Heshen first drank a bowl of yellow rice porridge and drank a few cups of hot yellow wine. It was so warm that he was drunk for a moment and was in a good mood. After dinner, he talked with Feng, then put on a cloak, took Liu Yin, and walked north along the corridor on the right side of Jialetang, and arrived at the back cover building.

In an ordinary courtyard, a row of houses located behind the main house and parallel to the main house are called back-cover rooms, usually servants' rooms or warehouses. For example, Zhao Xin put a lot of miscellaneous items in the back-cover room of the "King's Mansion" in Beihai Town, and many things he exchanged for from Nanfangtao are placed there.

However, let alone Zhao Xin, the back cover building in Hefu, even Prince Heshuo of the Qing Dynasty is not comparable to that of Prince Heshuo. The whole building is more than 183 meters long and has 111 houses, commonly known as "ninety-nine and a half". In traditional culture, it is important to "fill if you have a full house". Even if there are 1,000 rooms, you can only get nine, and you must never say integers.

Heshen walked along the corridor of the back cover to the end of the west side and came to a separate ten-room two-story building. However, strangely, the building had no door at all, but a one-person-high hole was opened on the wall. There were many Taihu stones of different sizes inlaid around the entrance of the cave, which looked like a cave. Just from the two exquisitely shaped glass lamps hanging on the walls inside the cave, the inside was winding and a trace of wet water vapor faintly came out. I don’t know where it was.

Don't get me wrong. This is not Heshen's treasure house, but an indoor landscape garden, specially designed for viewing and enjoying the scenery in winter. It is unique in Beijing and even the world. If Qianlong knew about it, he would probably be envious of it.

Just as Heshen was about to enter the cave, he suddenly heard a man's voice coming from behind him: "Hezhongtang."

Heshen was startled at first, but he instantly realized that this was in his own home. Which bastard slave had the courage to play tricks on him like this!

"Who?! Dog slave, get out!"

Liu Yin at the door was also frightened and shuddered. He quickly turned around, picked up the lantern and looked around. He saw a tall figure standing under the wall more than twenty steps away.

Suddenly, a light that was much brighter than a horse lantern lit up from where the man was, which immediately made Liu Yin and Heshen unable to open their eyes and hurriedly covered it with their hands.

Liu Yin was about to shout "Come here", but he heard the black shadow fucking fluently in the Beijing film: "I've been separated from Chaoyin Temple for many years. You are so noble that you have forgotten so much."

Heshen was stunned. Chaoyin Temple? This voice...

Immediately afterwards, the two saw the light that was originally shooting towards them suddenly turned upwards, and then a half-black and half-white, thin and beardless face revealed in the light and shadow.

"Mom! Ghost!"

Liu Yin's legs became weak, and his butt fell to the ground, and he fell to his feet. Although Heshen was frightened, his two-way battles were like sieves, but his aura of being in high positions for many years made him quickly calm down.

"Who is yourselves? I pretended to be a ghost in the middle of the night. Don't you know that the vast sky net is so thin that it won't leak it!"

"Haha." The man sneered: "It is a good saying that you never do bad things in your life, and you are not afraid of ghosts calling in the middle of the night. But you and the Zhongtang have done so much, so why are you pretending to be big cloves of garlic in front of me!"

In the flash of lightning, Heshen suddenly remembered who the other party was. His forehead immediately buzzed, his ears were tinnitus, his heart was pounding, and his white-haired sweat came out.

At this moment, Heshen's mind was full of words: God!!! Why is it him?

The dazzling light went out, and the other party slowly walked out of the night, stood five steps away from Heshen, and smiled and said, "Hezhongtang, it's a cold day, let me stand like this? I heard that your water law building is the only one in Beijing, not even Qianlong. Tsk tsk, don't be polite, I'll go in and take a look, I can't come here for nothing, right?"

With the light of the horse light falling to the ground, Heshen finally saw the other person's appearance clearly. His eyes were straight in horror and his mouth wide open. His whole body stood as stiff as a stone man, and he couldn't even speak. After a while, he said hard: "Zhao, Zhao, Mr. Zhao."

The person who came was none other than Zhao Xin.

He smiled and said, "Hey~~ That's right, old friend! I asked someone to give you the medicine at the beginning. How about it? It's so neat?"

Medicine? What medicine? Together with this person, I know him and my master. You can’t even go to the back house in the middle of the night!

Liu Yingang, who was standing beside him, stood up with the wall, blocked Heshen, stared at the tall man opposite him, and said softly without turning his head: "Master, do you want to call someone?"

"No need." Heshen shook his head slightly and said in a cold tone: "You go to the corridor to watch, no one is allowed to come. If someone asks, I'm thinking about something."

Everyone has arrived. Taking away his life is like killing a bed bug, and calling anyone will not work! Besides, this person who dares to come to Beijing City may be followed by many people! Needless to say, the guards in the mansion must have been cleaned up quietly. Now, there are a few quick guns on the roof that are aiming at his head!

Thinking of this, Heshen felt calm. A smile appeared on his face, swept away his previous panic, and bowed to Zhao Xin and said, "Mr. Zhao came from afar. Although he was uninvited, he felt very honored. The small water Dharma building could enter the eyes of the teacher, so that the whole house would be full of glory. Please!"

Zhao Xin followed Heshen and walked into the narrow cave with a rough stone surface. After walking carefully for more than ten steps, he suddenly felt a bright light in front of him. He saw bamboo forests everywhere, with blue sky above his head and white clouds floating.

However, Zhao Xin quickly realized that the sky above his head was painted on the roof. Because there were several pillars painted in vermilion on both sides of the room, and above the pillars, there was a circle of observation decks that allowed only one person to pass through, surrounding two-thirds of the room.

Seven or eight steps away from him, there was a small pavilion that accommodated only one person. At the end of the opposite side of the pavilion, a waterfall gurgled down from the rocks several meters high, falling on the water surface like an echo of the empty valley; the trickle finally flowed into a small pond in front of the pavilion, and a golden carp jumped out of the water surface, fell back "splashed", splashing a few drops of water.

I'll do it! Artificial landscape!

"Mr. Zhao, this place is where you can enjoy it in a winter. There are many lonely places and I laughed at it." Although Heshen was kind and had a very proud tone.

"It's too cramped. And sir, your roof is too fake! If I want to see, it should be replaced with glass."

Heshen felt a thrill. When he looked at Zhao Xin with a depressed look on his face, he found that the other party didn't look like he was talking big, and he couldn't help but feel curious. He thought to himself, could he build a bigger house in Beihai Town than his? Then he smiled and said, "I can't compare with Mr. Zhao."

What he didn't know was that if his water law building was suffocated, it would cover an area of ​​1,000 square meters, while the largest indoor garden the other party had visited was 60,000 square meters, which was incomparable to the two.

Zhao Xin smiled, and he stood behind his back, looking at Heshen a few steps, jokingly said, "Sir He, I really admire you. Do you have 200 million yuan or 300 million yuan now? With so many greedy people's fat and ointment, you can still eat well and sleep and play every day. It's really...tsk tsk!"

Heshen's face turned pale. He didn't expect that Zhao Xin came up and went straight to his property without saying a few words. It seemed that there must be something. He glared at Zhao Xin nervously and said, "What is your intention? Do you want to win over He? I advise Mr. Zhao not to have a delusion!"

"Don't worry, sir. You said that you are Nanmutang and an indoor garden, not to mention that there are tens of thousands of hectares of land and hundreds of shops. I'm very curious. How many can you take away when the 100,000 Northern Navy enters the pass?"

Heshen was so angry that he almost cursed, thinking that it would be better for you if I burned it!

"You are running over from a distance from the gates, is it just to make fun of He? It's better not to talk about it like this!"

"Don't interfere! You're angry after I said a few words. It's true that the Prime Minister is just so greedy?"
Chapter completed!