Chapter 10 10. Desperation
There were three people when they went up the mountain, and now the two of them walked down Mingyue Mountain.
The mountain wind howls, and the bird path twists and turns.Huang Zixia and Li Shubai were silent all the way.
They walked to the edge of the cliff with no barrier in front of them, and they looked back at the boundless mountains together.Birds crossed between the green hills in front of them, and the sky was slanted with mist.
Seeing that there was no one around and everyone was silent, Li Shubai said, "This mage Mu Shan seems to know Tianzhu's soul-stirring method."
"The method of soul-stirring?" Huang Zixia frowned thoughtfully, remembering the feeling of falling into a dream when he just looked at him.
"I have seen a Hu monk from the Western Regions before, who can control others with his eyes, making people mesmerized and obedient to his words - it seems that Master Mu Shan has learned this kind of method, but he is not as brilliant as that Hu monk."
"Well, it is said that he is an eminent monk who has traveled to the Western Regions. I don't know if the Agashne that came from the Western Regions has anything to do with him." Huang Zixia suddenly realized, nodded and said, "I have been in Chengdu for three years. The legend of the boundless Dharma, I also heard the rumor that Fan Yuanlong, the son of Fan Jiedushi, was obsessed with kabuki, but he never cared about the two together. Now it seems that it may be the mentality of Fan Yuanlong changed by Master Mu Shan No wonder no one suspects his so-obviously false spring, and those so-called unfilial sons who turn their heads, and shrews who change their sex, are probably the same. If he uses this method for justice, it will be good after all."
"But what if he did something in the palace that we don't know about?" Li Shubai looked up at the bird crossing the Guanshan Mountain in front of him, and heaved a sigh of relief, "If he and the late emperor's imperial brush, and Chen Taifei's madness, Is it related to the little red fish in the mouth of the late emperor when he passed away?"
These secrets enough to overthrow the world, whispered from his mouth, were blown away in the mountain wind, and no one knew about them.
Huang Zixia looked at his profile, this curve is more distant and beautiful than thousands of miles of rivers and mountains, which made her silent for a moment.After a long time, she said softly: "In any case, Mingyue Mountain is here, and Guangdu Temple is here. Next time, when we come to see Master Mu Shan, we will be ready."
They headed north all the way to the envoy's mansion. When he came to a fork in the road, Li Shubai suddenly turned to the other side. Huang Zixia stood behind him and said, "Wrong way." "No," Li Shubai said, "This place is only a hundred steps away from Qingyuan, let's go find Yuxuan." Yu Xuan.Huang Zixia was taken aback for a moment, he didn't expect Li Shubai to want to find him.She took a few steps to catch up with him, and asked, "How do you know that Qingyuan is here?" "Isn't there a complete map of Chengdu Mansion hanging in the yamen? I glanced at it." Huang Zixia was speechless - just glanced at it, I am afraid that she is more familiar with Chengdu Mansion than she who has lived for three years. There are many plum blossoms, peaches and plums in the sunny garden. It is the end of summer now, and these flowers are not in flowering period.Only clusters of Ophiopogon japonicus under the rockery are blooming with strings of small purple flowers, and the trees and hollyhocks beside the bamboo fence are in full bloom. Yu Xuan was among the flower beds, carrying a bucket to water them.Seeing them coming, he nodded to them and said, "Wait a minute, there are still a few flower beds." Huang Zixia looked around and asked, "Where's Uncle Li who guards the garden?" "His grandson is sick and needs to be taken care of at home. I promised to water these flowers for him sooner or later," he said, pointing to the one in front, and said, "Those will be fine after watering." Huang Zixia went to the well without making a sound, fetched a bucket of water, and wanted to water him. Li Shubai then took her bucket and helped her carry it as a matter of course, and only handed her a ladle.Huang Zixia was flattered, turned to look at him, but found that his expression was calm and casual, as if he didn't care at all, so he could only pretend to be calm, took the ladle he handed over, scooped up the water in his bucket, and scooped it up Watering towards the flowers and plants. Seeing them carrying water one by one and watering the other so naturally, Yuxuan himself didn't realize it, his hand stopped unconsciously, and he stared at them for a long time without returning to his senses. Until Huang Zixia turned around and asked him, "How much water is better?" He turned his eyes away, lowered his head, and said, "A little more, the weather is hot recently, if there is no big ladle of water to pour it down, it may be bad at noon." While watering the flowers, Huang Zixia asked, "You take care of such a large garden by yourself now? Why don't you invite some people to help you?" He whispered: "I'm at home now, and I don't have much to do. I'm here to pass the time." "At the beginning, the Qing Garden in Chengdu was the best, and there were many crowns and capes in the mansion, and there were gatherings almost every day." Huang Zixia looked at the flowers and plants in the garden, a little regretful, "but now the weather is so hot, probably not many people come to enjoy it. .” Yuxuan nodded and said: "The lotus is in bloom now, the sweet-scented osmanthus hasn't bloomed yet, and the weather is so hot, so there is no one there. But there was a Qushui Liucup meeting last night. Everyone held candles for a night tour and wrote some poems." "The water is flowing? Who is coming?" "It's our poetry club, many people have come... Only Wen Yang is missing." Huang Zixia asked: "So, Qi Teng is also here?" Yuxuan nodded and said, "Yes, he also caught a small fish in the water and brought it back, saying he wanted to raise another one." "Little fish?" Huang Zixia and Li Shubai immediately grasped the important word, and looked at each other calmly. "Well, Qi Teng likes to raise small fish. He also raised a small red fish before, and bought a porcelain vase to keep it in it, and took it around to show off to others, saying that it is Agashne, which is rare and rare. It’s the same as Prince Kui’s.” Li Shubai said lightly: "Agashine is very rare, is his one real?" Yuxuan watered the flowers, bowed his head and said, "I don't know, but Master Mu Shan said yes." Huang Zixia suddenly remembered that when he met Qi Teng in the morning, Qi Teng had asked him, do you still remember, where did my little red fish go? At that time, Yu Xuan's expression was so shocked that it was distorted, almost terrifying. So, Huang Zixia poured a ladle of water on the hollyhock, and asked slowly: "So, you know that little fish of Qi Teng... where is it now?" Yu Xuan was suddenly silent, and after a pause, he looked at Huang Zixia. Seeing her calm face and looking directly at him, he forced a deep breath and said in a low voice, "I don't know... Anyway, it's been a long time since I saw her." "When did you disappear?" Huang Zixia asked again. Yu Xuan thought for a long time, his face turned slightly pale: "It was probably after... the accident in Shijun's mansion." Huang Zixia let out a "hmm", thoughtfully.Seeing that she was holding the water ladle still, Li Shubai took it from her hand and went to water it. Huang Zixia and Yu Xuan were left standing among the shadows of the hollyhock flowers. The sunlight reflected the shadows of the flowers mottled on their bodies. Huang Zixia felt a slight pain in her heart, so she turned her head away and walked towards Li Shubai. And Yu Xuan seemed to want to relieve that embarrassment, and said in a low voice: "Because I remember, before that, everyone joked that Qi Teng's nickname should not be called Mr. Hanyue, but Mr. Yangyu... But after that , that fish never appeared again, so no one made that joke anymore." Huang Zixia stopped in her tracks, feeling something was wrong in her heart, so she turned around and asked, "Qi Teng's nickname is Master Hanyue?" "Yes, Qi Teng's character is Hanyue, and its homonym is like 'Hanyue'. After Wenyang came, the good-for-nothings booed and said, Wenyang and Hanyue are a perfect match, so when everyone jokes, they often call him Mr. Hanyue." Huang Zixia thought about it, and said slowly: "Speaking of which, Qi Teng's luck is really good. I checked the file, he was depressed last year, and he was the last envoy under General Fan, but he got it from this year. General Fan has blue eyes, and now he has been promoted to Jiedu Envoy Judge in just a few months!" Yu Xuan nodded and said, "Yes, who would have thought of that." "He has been promoted so fast, I wonder if he has relatives to help him?" "Maybe, but I don't know." Yu Xuan said. The last flower garden is a large area of rose flowers.The rose flowers that have been wilted by the hot summer sun have sparse branches and leaves, and only a few flowers of pale color hang listlessly on one or two branches. "The varieties of this rose are very good. I still remember that in the spring of this year, the roses bloomed as big as the mouth of a bowl, and they were beautiful in shape, color and fragrance." Yuxuan said while watering, "I remember that Qi Teng likes this flower the most. .” Huang Zixia asked casually: "Qi Teng likes roses?" "He likes all bright and beautiful flowers. And Wen Yang hates roses, peonies, hydrangeas, and hollyhocks the most." Huang Zixia immediately remembered the hydrangea butterfly in Wen Yang's study. She nodded slowly, and then asked: "I don't know what is the relationship between Wen Yang and Qi Teng?" Yu Xuan thought for a long time before slowly saying, "No relationship." "What about you?" Huang Zixia hesitated for a long time, before finally asking, "Of these two people, which one do you associate with more?" Yuxuan turned his face away and said, "Qi Teng saved me, and Wen Yang and I studied calligraphy, but the two of them... To me, they are just passers-by. Whether I have them or not, nothing has changed. .” Huang Zixia then asked: "Qi Teng saved you, what happened?" "After the death of my adoptive parents, I couldn't think about it. Qi Teng just passed by and saved me." He didn't want to mention it, but only mentioned it briefly. These cold and alienated words made Huang Zixia stunned, her whole body seemed to be drained of strength, and she didn't know how to react for a long time. After a long time, she asked dryly, "You...why?" "I...can't bear it, I just want to escape..." He turned his head to the side and said in a low voice, "In this life, I have already tasted the grief of losing a family member once, and I don't want to bear it...for the second time." Huang Zixia only felt burning pain in her eyes, and a kind of intense pain in her heart, which was slowly boiling and flowing, making her almost unable to hold back her tears, which were about to burst out of her eyes. Li Shubai looked at her uncontrollable tears, fearing that she would cry out, so he said in a low voice: "It's late, Ziqin is still waiting for us at the Yamen." Huang Zixia nodded, raised her head and took a long breath to let her tears disappear. Seeing that she was about to leave, Yuxuan asked in a low voice, "Is Wen Yang's case... related to the death of his adoptive parents?" "In the Chengdu mansion, there are definitely not many people who can get the poisonous poison. And those who have the poison and can get close to the Shijun's mansion are even rarer," Huang Zixia said, shaking his head again, and said, "But it's only the same It’s just poison, I don’t know if I’m overthinking.” In fact, there is another connection, which is the bracelet he gave himself.But Huang Zixia thought about it, and chose to ignore this sentence. Yu Xuan said slowly: "Speaking of this, I suddenly remembered something." "what?" "I know a person who may be able to get involved with the court and get the poison." Huang Zixia immediately asked, "Who is it?" "Qi Teng." Not to mention Huang Zixia, even Li Shubai was immediately alert and asked, "Has Qi Teng had contact with people in the palace?" "I don't know about this, but a few days ago that Wang Yun from Langxie Wang's family came..." When he mentioned this name, he couldn't help but look at Huang Zixia. And Huang Zixia was feeling depressed, so his expression flickered slightly, and then he waited quietly for him to say the following words. Yuxuan hesitated for a moment, and then said: "The day before yesterday, Qi Teng brought him to visit me. I just found out that Qi Teng's mother's surname is Wang. Speaking of which, he is Wang Yun's distant cousin." Huang Zixia nodded, and said to herself: "The Wang family..." Queen Wang is in the palace, and if she has the heart, she can naturally get in touch with her. Li Shubai pondered for a moment, and only looked at her thoughtfully, but there was a more complicated look in his eyes. Huang Zixia knew what he meant, Wang Yun went to Chengdu Mansion to find Yuxuan, of course it couldn't be for the imperial court or the Wang family, there was only one reason. The situation at that time must have been very embarrassing. Huang Zixia didn't know what was going on in her mind, she just felt so confused that she couldn't figure it out, so she could only look up at the unattainable blue sky, let out a long breath, and said to Yu Xuan: "Thank you for telling me this It's a matter of great importance, I'll go to the yamen to discuss it with Zhou Ziqin." "Wait a minute." Yu Xuan took the bucket and ladle to the hut by the gate of the garden, put them away and came out with them, saying, "I want to go too, and hear about the progress of this case. After all, You said that this case may be related to the case of my adoptive parents." Huang Zixia nodded, and Li Shubai had no intention of objecting, and the three of them left Qingyuan together. Huang Zixia thought about what happened to Master Mu Shan today, hesitated, and finally asked: "Yu Xuan, let me ask you, do you know that Master Mu Shan may be able to... the matter of soul-stirring?" Yu Xuan frowned, and asked in astonishment, "What?" "Maybe you don't believe it, but just now in his meditation room, he really wanted to find out something from me," Huang Zixia looked at him quietly, studied the expression on his face, and said, "People in Chengdu say Mu Master Shan's Dharma is boundless, and he saves all living beings—but in fact, these so-called miracles may be just the power of his soul-stirring technique." "Spiritualization..." Yu Xuan opened his mouth to say something, but stopped there again, motionless, quietly, only his breathing gradually became heavy. Li Shubai saw that he was stunned on the spot, so he said: "Instigmatism is a kind of magic technique from the Western Regions. It is said that there were monsters who came to Beijing during the Empress Wu period, and they could make a person involuntarily go crazy when they just glanced at them. The palace people were fascinated by him, and sneaked into Empress Wu's bedroom in the dark night, trying to assassinate. Fortunately, Shangguan Wan'er next to Empress Wu grabbed a dagger, threw it and killed the assassin, and then protected Empress Wu's safety. Later, Di Gong Di Renjie solved many mysteries , exposed the demon man's soul-absorbing technique, and after the incident was exposed, the Western Region demon man tried to resist and was shot to death by random arrows. Since then, it seems that no one in the world has heard of the soul-absorbing technique." Huang Zixia nodded, and said to Yu Xuan: "Yes, and Master Mu Shan seems to be a master of the art. Therefore, although Master Mu Shan has no bad deeds, you can pay more attention to him when you interact with him in the future, so as not to be controlled by him." Yu Xuan nodded silently, but did not speak.His face was pale, and the sunlight shone on his face at this time, his skin seemed to be a little transparent white, which was extraordinarily vivid. He followed them silently for a long time, and finally called her: "A Xia..." Huang Zixia looked back at him. He hesitated to speak, his pale face was full of hesitation and fear.After a long time, he said, "I told you before that I have something that I would like to ask you to take a look at." Huang Zixia nodded and asked, "What is it?" He pointed out that it was not far to the south, and said, "It's in my study, if you are free now, you can come with me." Huang Zixia looked at Li Shubai and saw him nod his head, while Yu Xuan saw Li Shubai agreeing, turned around without saying anything, and walked towards his house.
Chengdu has always been rich in talents. In order to encourage scholars to make progress, all counties and towns have rewards.After the students of the Chengdu government passed the exam, the government would allocate a mansion and provide money every month to encourage them to study. Yuxuan became Chengdu Jieyuan before he was nineteen years old, and he was in the limelight for a while.Although Huang Zixia's father was very reluctant to part with him, he still let him live in the mansion he was assigned to him—maybe because the father felt that his daughter had a fiancé after all, and that she was still close to Yu Xuan when she was fifteen or sixteen years old, so she always didn't like her. it is good. The residence built by the government for Yuxuan is next to Hanyuan Bridge in the east of the city.Weeping willows and small peaches are planted on the bank in front of the door. If it comes in spring, it will be a very beautiful scene. Huang Zixia couldn't remember how many times he came here and knocked on the door lightly.But she knows that she is the person in the world who is most familiar with the layout of the interior besides Yuxuan. Entering through the gate, there is a whitewashed wall and a narrow courtyard behind. , It should be the best time for flowers to bloom.Behind the pool is the main room.The left and right wing rooms and the hand corridor.Behind it is the backyard. The three rooms are connected, and the study and the bedroom are connected together, separated only by bookshelves. The room is open and open. She once laughed at him and said, such a small house, why not sneak back to live in the Shijun's mansion, only the Suli Courtyard where he lived is more spacious and exquisite than this one.But he was lying on the couch, covering his face with a book to block the sunlight, and said in a deep voice: "With my background, it is a great fortune to have a tile in this life. How much space does sleeping take up?" Now that I think about it, they really started to become estranged after he moved out.She is busy with various cases, and he is busy with gatherings and giving lectures, so they often don't see each other for ten and a half months. Even if they write letters from time to time, it can only make them feel that alienation even more. At that time he said to her, A Xia, it would be great if you don't know how to investigate cases. She was very angry, as if her meaning in this world had been overthrown, and she had no basis for pride anymore.The first time the two had such a heated argument, she ran back and swore to never see him again.However, the next morning, he gently knocked on her window, and handed her a sprig of sweet-scented osmanthus, and a box underneath. The sweet scent of sweet-scented osmanthus made her entire boudoir fragrant, and the bracelet in the box made her depressed and wronged all night invisible—— What was placed there was exactly the style they settled on after discussing for a long time.Two small fish with their tails in their mouths, just like them, cling to each other and never separate.
Huang Zixia silently thought about the past, followed Yu Xuan to walk inside. Bypassing the pink and white screen wall and passing through the courtyard with water lilies, the back hall is his study and bedroom. There is no barrier between the three big rooms. After opening, they are only separated by bookshelves and antique shelves. Yu Xuan walked to the desk, reached out and opened the drawer, took out a letter from the bottom of everything, and handed it to Huang Zixia. Huang Zixia saw that there was no addressee on the letter, nor was it signed, it was completely blank.She raised her hand to take it, and looked up at him questioningly. He said slowly: "One day, after I came back from Qi Teng's house, I found that there was... an extra letter on my several cases." Huang Zixia opened the unsealed envelope and found that there was only a thin sheet of snow-white plain paper inside. She pulled out the plain paper, spread it out and carefully read the familiar handwriting on it—— Huang Zixia looked at the dripping ink on the plain paper, the slightly scattered handwriting made her back faintly sweat, she seemed to be in a daze, she stood there, not daring to move. Because the handwriting is so familiar, she feels that each word is almost like a terrifying monster, showing the most ferocious face to her, trying to swallow all her soul consciousness—— This is her own word. In this world, no one is more familiar with her own words than her. She only felt that every inch of skin and hair on her body stood up; every pore on her body was covered with cold sweat like needlepoint; It is gray and white. Yu Xuan looked at her, and said slowly: "I can recognize this handwriting... I think you must know it too." Huang Zixia breathed hard, trying to calm down the surge of blood in his chest.But it was useless, endless fear enveloped her whole body in an instant, making her unable to restrain herself, she almost turned around and fled, to escape from this huge dark wave rushing towards her face, and escape from this terrifying abyss that was about to swallow her. There was a buzzing in her head, she threw away the letter, covered her ears with her hands, desperately trying to regain some sanity. She raised her head, stared at Yu Xuan in front of her, and asked each word with a pause: "What is this? You mean..." He stared at her, his eyes unblinking, and his voice was low and hoarse: "I mean, when you reminded me to pay attention to Master Mu Shan... Maybe, you yourself have met Master Mu Shan before?" Who knows? What they are facing may be true, may be false, or may be half-truth. At least, she really didn't know when she wrote such a letter, how it was delivered to his desk, and how she could forget this letter in the end. When she reminded Yuxuan, she didn't know that she also had some things that didn't exist in her memory, and unconsciously left traces that she hadn't even noticed. Huang Zixia pressed her temples hard, but couldn't restrain her panting. But Yu Xuan looked at her and called her in a low voice: "You... don't you remember?" Huang Zixia gritted her teeth and shook her head, but couldn't say anything. The piece of plain paper floated to the ground, as light as cotton wool, without a sound. Li Shubai, who had been watching coldly, picked up the piece of plain paper, looked at the few lines on it that were neither signed nor signed, read it silently, and asked slowly, "Is this written by Zi Xia to you?" Yu Xuan avoided answering, just stood there, looking at Huang Zixia. Huang Zixia nodded, and said slowly, "This handwriting...is mine." Yu Xuan closed his eyes silently and nodded his head heavily. Li Shubai looked at the font on it, and said slowly: "There are so many people in the world who learn Madam Wei's regular script, why do you think this letter is yours?" Huang Zixia said in a low voice: "Because... I have written less of the two lines in the middle of each word 'page' (page). Although I know it, I can't change it every time I write, so I can only add another line, so , there are always signs of adding more..." The three "page" characters on it, one "Gu" (Gu), and two "wish" (wish), are all like this. "But, my handwriting, my deeds, but myself, I don't know anything..." Huang Zixia felt as if all the strength in his body had been drained.She supported the chair next to her, sat down slowly, and said blankly. "This is the second letter you sent me after the incident," Yu Xuan said quietly, "After the adoptive parents passed away and you escaped from Chengdu, I came back from Qi Teng's house one day and found It was placed on the desk in the study. I don’t know where it came from, and I don’t know how you gave it to me, but I think this is the meaning of your confession of crimes and your farewell to the world.” Li Shubai carefully deliberated on the content of the letter, and said lightly: "Looking at the wording of this letter, there is a meaning of saying goodbye to the world, but I didn't realize that I confessed my crime." Yu Xuan was silent, while Huang Zixia asked in a hoarse voice: "Blood dripping from your hands, doesn't that count?" "There are a lot of doubts about this letter. Let us deliberate it before drawing conclusions." Li Shubai calmly folded the letter paper as it was, and put it back into the envelope, his voice more calm than his expression. Yu Xuan kept silent, only looked at Huang Zixia in front of him, and said in a hoarse voice: "I have hidden this letter here for more than half a year, and I have not shown it to anyone. I will hand it over to you today. If you really believe that you... think that Huang Zixia is innocent, Please continue to investigate and give me and yourself an explanation."
With the letter in her arms, Huang Zixia followed Li Shubai back to the Chengdu government office. As soon as he arrived at the yamen, Zhou Ziqin was already sitting inside, pinching the steamed stuffed bun with one hand and looking at the Pisces bracelet with the other, his face glowing brightly. Huang Zixia felt that the corner of the letter seemed to be pricking her skin, which made her feel embarrassed and helpless. Li Shubai glanced at Huang Zixia with a half-smile, Huang Zixia was in a trance, he suddenly leaned into her ear, and asked softly: "You think, when is it better to tell him the truth?" Huang Zixia could hear the teasing meaning in his words, the boulder on her chest seemed to relax a little in front of his teasing, making her involuntarily retort: "Next life!" "What next life?" Zhou Ziqin had already heard it with sharp ears.He stood up and walked towards them, "Hey, you are too slow, I have been waiting for you for a long time." Li Shubai glanced at the bracelet in his hand and asked, "What are you waiting for us?" "Fu Xinruan's servant Tang Zhuniang, her body has been found, and several acquaintances have also come from Longzhou, let's go and investigate it!" Zhou Ziqin, with a jade bracelet in one hand and a steamed stuffed bun in one hand, walked out while eating.The cook saw it with his head, and hurriedly called him: "Catcher, catcher! There are still rice cakes here, can you take another one?" "Oh, I like rice cakes!" Zhou Ziqin was in full bloom, and quickly stuffed the bracelet into his arms, took the rice cake and took it. "Ziqin, it's so early." Someone beside him laughed. Zhou Ziqin turned his head and saw that it was Qi Teng, with a stack of documents in his hand, obviously he came to discuss matters in the mansion.He hurriedly stuffed the remaining steamed stuffed bun into his mouth, cupped his hands and said, "Brother Qi!" "What habit do you have? You still eat rice cakes with such dirty hands." Qi Teng sneered, raised his hand and took the rice cakes from Zhou Ziqin's hands, but didn't eat them, just looked at Zhou Ziqin's hands, and said, " It's all rice paste, so you go to investigate the case like this?" "Oh..." Zhou Ziqin blinked, still looking at the rice cake in his hand, but Qi Teng casually threw the rice cake into the nearby sewage ditch, then went to the side to scoop up a spoonful of water, and said, "Come on, wash your hands. " Zhou Ziqin felt extremely ashamed, and hurriedly said, "I... I will do it myself..." "Okay, you are almost my brother-in-law." As he said, he couldn't help but pour two or three spoonfuls of water down until Zhou Ziqin's hands were washed clean before letting him go. He threw the ladle away and said, "Ziqin, do you know how dirty women's things are? They are full of hair grease that you can't see! I have a friend who often holds a good bracelet to look at things and think about others, but he didn't wash his hands once. I just ate fruit, and I almost died from vomiting and diarrhea. It was only later that I found out that this bracelet was collected by a good friend at a pawnshop, and it was taken off from floating corpses by those unscrupulous people who should be killed. Still holding it while watching and eating, can something happen?" Zhou Ziqin smiled dryly, and touched the bracelet through his clothes: "Brother Qi, my bracelet...it's new, I guarantee it didn't come from a floating corpse..." "Anyway, be more careful! I'm free this afternoon, so I'll take you to Master Mushan of Mingyue Mountain to get a bucket of clean water, and purify this bracelet for you!" As he spoke, he picked up the stack of documents again and went into the yamen. Zhou Ziqin stuck out his tongue towards his back, and muttered in a low voice: "Why didn't I find out before, this is another cleanliness..." Huang Zixia's eyes fell on the rice cake that was thrown into the sewage ditch, and she raised her head thoughtfully, meeting Li Shubai's eyes. Huang Zixia knew that it was absolutely impossible for him to do such a thing, so he nodded with a bitter face. When the three of them were walking out, Huang Zixia suddenly shook his foot with an "oops" and said depressingly, "I stepped on shit." Zhou Ziqin asked with concern: "Are you all right?" "It's okay. Fortunately, it was done. I'll go to the ditch to rub it." With that said, she ran to the sewer.Zhou Ziqin shouted from behind: "Hurry up, I'll wait for you." "Don't wait, let's go to the stable first." Li Shubai walked forward. Zhou Ziqin looked back and had no choice but to follow him away. Huang Zixia walked to the sewage ditch, stood there pretending to rub the soles of his shoes, and when no one was looking around, he grabbed a branch on the ground, tied the rice cake, and lifted it up.Fortunately, the rice cake fell on a rock and was not melted by the water. She went to the side and tore a piece of cabbage leaf, wrapped the rice cake, held it in her hand and shook it to the stable, where she joined Li Shubai and Zhou Ziqin. Si E is still fattening, eating beans proudly and bullying other horses.Na Fusha was recuperating beside it, lying in the haystack, looking around with a pair of big eyes. Although Li Shubai and Huang Zixia had already changed their appearances, they were afraid of being smelled by evil, so they deliberately went to the opposite stable and picked out two bad horses. As they rode through the street, a thin, vicious dog rushed out of the alley and barked at them.It's really "someone gives you a pillow when you want to sleep", Huang Zixia immediately threw the rice cake and cabbage leaves out.The dog sniffed it, and ate it together with the cabbage outside after a few mouthfuls. Zhou Ziqin said: "I won't feed this vicious dog!" Huang Zixia said: "I'm short of a dog, and I'm going to catch it to be useful." "What's the use?" "The dog's sense of smell is very sensitive, and it can help investigate cases after training. I think this dog looks like the best poodle." Zhou Ziqin immediately turned his head and told the people behind him: "A Zhuo, quickly catch it!"
So, when they came to Yizhuang, they had already turned into four people and one dog. The old man guarding Yizhuang saw this dirty and thin dog, and immediately smiled: "Stop arresting the head, tell me if you want to raise a dog! I just got a few dogs at home, and they are more beautiful than this one." too much!" "You don't understand, do you? Just look at the appearance of this dog, it is the best puppy!" Zhou Ziqin tugged on the leash and tied it to the door. The old man couldn't believe his eyes. He squatted at the door and stared at the dog for a long time before muttering to himself, "This thing is still a small dog? It's definitely an earthen dog!" Zhou Ziqin stepped into Yizhuang, and saw a dead body covered in a white cloth parked inside the house. Several policemen were chatting, and there were a few middle-aged men and women standing beside them with unlucky faces. They should be Tang Zhuniang's relatives and friends. . "Come on, hurry up and meet Mr. Zhou's arrester!" The arresters yelled, and introduced Zhou Ziqin one by one, who is the neighbor and who is the nephew. Zhou Ziqin first opened his own toolbox, put on thin leather gloves, and checked Tang Zhuniang's injuries.She did fall to her death, her limbs were broken and her head was bloody.That face was also rotten, only the mole behind the ear accurately revealed her identity. "This is what she carried on her body after she fell off the cliff." The policemen handed over another package. Zhou Ziqin flipped through it casually, and saw that there were only a few changes of clothes in the package, a pile of loose money, and nothing else.He threw the things away and said, "It seems that he was indeed accidentally walking on the road, fell off the cliff and died." Huang Zixia suddenly remembered something, and asked, "When did you die?" "Yesterday morning, it was around... around 9 o'clock." Maoshi.Huang Zixia immediately thought of Zhang Xingying who was knocked off the cliff by that fast horse on the side of the road at Maoshi yesterday. "By the way, Ziqin, I heard that because King Kui was assassinated recently, the mountain road from Chengdu Mansion to Hanzhou is guarded by the Xichuan Army. It is very troublesome for the common people to get in and out?" "That's right, there are many business travelers on that road, and now the Xichuan army prohibits anyone from riding horses or carriages, and people who walk in and out have to be searched, and the people are complaining." Zhou Ziqin said, thinking of another thing, Said, "I don't know if Second Brother Zhang has arrived in Hanzhou. Alas, Second Brother Zhang is so pitiful. The world is so big and there are so many people. How difficult it is to find Dicui!" Huang Zixia squatted down to check Tang Zhuniang's wound, seeing that even the back of her head was broken, it was really horrible.She stood up and turned around to ask Zhou Ziqin: "Do you want to know where Brother Zhang is now? Shall I tell you?" "I don't believe it!" Zhou Ziqin didn't believe it, and snorted: "Could it be that you have clairvoyance and ears, and can know every move of Brother Zhang who is far away in Hanzhou?" Huang Zixia smiled at him and said, "Believe it or not. Not only do I know where he is now, but I also know that his right hand is dislocated and he is brewing medicine at the inn..." Zhou Ziqin jumped up immediately: "What did you say? Brother Zhang was injured and still brewing medicine at the inn?" "Don't worry, I'm not making medicine for myself, it's not that serious." She said, looking at Tang Zhuniang's package again, carefully checking the pattern of the clothes. Zhou Ziqin was so anxious that he could only grab Li Shubai's sleeve and plead, "Brother Wang, brother Wang, just tell me, what's going on?" Li Shubai glanced at Huang Zixia and said, "You will know if you follow us at noon." "You, you... you are really anxious to death!" Seeing Zhou Ziqin circling around like ants on a hot pot, Huang Zixia couldn't help but smile at Li Shubai and gave him a "good job" look.
Tang Zhuniang lost her husband in her early years, and now only her nephew and two or three neighbors are found here. One of the neighbors is a neatly tidied thin monkey with a gold ring on his hand, with an ugly smile on his face: "The villain is Lizheng from Songhuali. Tang Zhuniang was originally from Chengdu, she was seventeen years old. Married to Hanzhou. My mother-in-law grew up with her. She said that her husband died early, and life was very difficult. Every now and then, she helped others to do part-time jobs to earn some money. Later, Mrs. Fu let out a voice and said If I want to find someone to take care of me, I told my mother-in-law, she looks nice, she should be easy to take care of, with a lot of monthly money and few things, you can ask Tang Zhuniang, if you want to go, I will introduce you." "So, you introduced Tang Zhuniang to Fu Xinruan?" "That's right. But I never imagined that something happened in the new year... Alas, because of this, my mother-in-law and I regretted it too much. Everyone said that there was a problem with that house, not even mentioning the death of two people. Now even Tang Zhuniang has died outside, this is not evil!" Huang Zixia looked at the person behind him again. The woman was short and fat, she was pulling her handkerchief with her head drooping. "Is this from your family?" The thin man nodded quickly: "My mother-in-law, Tang Zhuniang is her former neighbor." Huang Zixia then asked her: "Tang Zhuniang works as a servant over there, did she mention anything to you?" The woman was obviously frightened by Tang Zhuniang's body just now, she wiped her eyes with a handkerchief, and her voice was not smooth: "No, she often comes to see us with things during the New Year and holidays, saying that she is thankful for introducing us so It's a good place. It's said... It's said that Mrs. Fu has a very gentle temper, and she counts all food and clothing expenses for Tang Zhuniang, and she never skimps on money. There is nothing to do at home, just cleaning and three meals a day. " "Did she mention that Mrs. Fu's family has guests?" “没有……当时傅娘子托我们找人，就说必得嘴巴严实的，想必珠娘也是她训诫过的，所以从来不说这些。再说……再说她一个乐籍女子，家里来往什么人，我们又怎么好打听呢？” 黄梓瑕将这夫妻二人打发走，又问下一个。 这是个面色蜡黄的中年女子，系着青布围裙，头上绾了个髻，插着一支蒙尘的银簪子。她显然十分少见这样的场面，局促得手都不知放哪儿：“我……我是汉州田家巷的，住珠娘斜对门。她十七岁嫁到那边，我们年纪差不多，住得又近，算起来，我得叫珠娘嫂子。” “珠娘最近有回田家巷吗？对你说过什么？” “她前月回来过，一派喜气洋洋，说她伺候的那个娘子要成亲了。我随口说那种人能嫁什么正经人，结果她却说是顶好的婚姻，对方虽然结过一次婚，但没儿没女的，人又年轻，家世又好，娘子能嫁给他真是前世修来的福分了。” “她提到过对方的情况吗？” “没有……珠娘伺候的什么人，我，我又管她做什么？而且我们也没说几句，珠娘的娘家侄子就过来了，我赶着回家烧饭，没承想……这就是珠娘我和最后一面了……” 见她慌里慌张话都说不顺畅，周子秦便示意她先下去，让汤珠娘的那个侄子过来。 汤珠娘的侄子名叫汤升，年约二十出头，一副吊儿郎当的模样，脸上那笑容跟颜面抽筋似的，怎么看怎么讨厌。 “我那姑姑啊？没错儿，前月我是见过她，跟她说了我要成亲了，让她多给点钱。结果她就只给我摸了两千钱，啧……”汤升甩着手中荷包，一脸鄙夷，“去正经人家做仆妇尚且说起来不好听呢，现如今她还伺候个扬州的妓女，脸都丢大了！要不是看在她说要给我未过门的媳妇打一对银簪的分上，我都不想跟她见面。” 黄梓瑕问：“打一对银簪是怎么回事？” “就昨天的事，她跟的那个妓女不是死了吗？她收拾好东西出门时，我正回家呢，刚好在巷子口遇见了——我家就在旁边双喜巷。” 黄梓瑕点点头，知道就是汤珠娘的娘家。 “她看见了我，就把我叫住了，在自己的包裹里掏东西，说是有东西要给我。我还以为什么好东西呢，就站住了等着。结果她掏了半天，我都看见她拿出半个荷包了，又塞了回去，说，还是我先带到汉州去，给你未过门的媳妇打一对银簪吧。我还以为是真的，等回过头一想，这可不是诓我吗？成都府的银匠铺子成百上千，她有钱干吗到汉州去打，摆明了舍不得，哄我呢。” 黄梓瑕停下笔，将自己记下的又看了一遍，问：“你姑姑汤珠娘当时说的是，'还是我带到汉州去，给你未过门的媳妇打一对银簪'？” “对，没错，”汤升点头，“我回来后翻来覆去想了几百遍，一个字都没错！越嚼巴越觉得假。” 黄梓瑕点头，又问：“你姑姑平时，和你们说过什么吗？比如傅娘子交往的人、她日常的生活之类的？” “没有，她嫁出去都几十年了，回娘家也就是看看我祖母。如今我祖母老了，跟个泥塑木雕似的，说什么都听不见，她也就每月给祖母塞点小钱，除此之外，回家干啥？” 汤珠娘看起来过得不怎么样，其他亲戚连尸体都不来认，侄子就马马虎虎看了几下尸体，然后说：“估计是了。哎，她夫家没人了吗？怎么要我们娘家收尸啊？” “她夫家要是有人，别的不说，房子早被收走了，还等得到现在？”周子秦说。 汤升眼睛一亮，问：“房产没人收？” 黄梓瑕面无表情地说：“无子无女者，子侄若替她办妥丧事，可继承房产。” 汤升立即说道：“她是我姑母，我身为她的侄子，为她办一场丧事那是义不容辞！” “那好，你备齐棺椁，择好坟地。出殡下葬之后，到衙门来拿房契地契。” 把汤升送出门之后，周子秦问黄梓瑕：“我朝有这样的律令？” “没有，”黄梓瑕摇头道，“但是你看到没有，一听说还有房产，'我那姑姑'就变成'姑母'了。” 周子秦郁闷道：“想个法子让他鸡飞蛋打最好。” “得了，汉州小巷一间破房，去掉丧事花费之后，大约也就抵得过一对银簪子。”黄梓瑕说着，又将今日众人说的话看了一遍。 周子秦已经急不可耐了，问：“这下你有空了吧？赶紧给我说说，张二哥怎么样了啊？” “别急，直接带你去看你不就知道了？”黄梓瑕说着，将自己手中写好的档案收拾好，合上。 李舒白却在此时伸手将它拿了过去，翻开来仔细看着她的字。 是他熟悉的字，簪花小楷，清秀娟丽，却因为总是急于速度，在下笔行文时，有一种仓促的落笔与收笔。 李舒白微微皱眉，目光扫过那些笔迹时，不由自主显露出一种冰冷的意味。 黄梓瑕低声问：“怎么？” 他将那档案册交给她，低声说：“关心则乱，牵扯到你的亲人，果然你就无法保持冷静了。” 黄梓瑕皱眉，翻开自己的本子又看了看。 而周子秦已经在那里问：“什么？这个案子牵扯到谁的亲人？不是那个汤升的吗？” 李舒白点了一下头，随口说：“正是。” 黄梓瑕则还在翻看着自己所写下的东西，强自压抑着自己的震惊，可目光中的不敢置信，终究还是泄露了出来。 她脚步慢了下来。 李舒白回头看她，停了一下，终究还是走到她的身边，轻轻拍了拍她的肩，低声说：“到使君府的时候，再对一对。” 她勉强点点头，仿佛逃避般，将手中的册子合上了。
几个人走出义庄，门口那只又脏又瘦的丑狗精神一振，跳起来就冲他们狂吠。 黄梓瑕看了看天色，又看看狗，有点诧异。 李舒白在她耳边低声说：“真没想到，你也有预料出错的时候。” 黄梓瑕白了他一眼，说：“我说过了，我就是养条狗替我做帮手查案，仅此而已！” 几个捕快骑着马，牵着一条丑狗招摇过市，令人侧目而视，有人看着那条狗，暗地窃笑，还有人对着周子秦大笑：“周少捕头，这条狗犯了什么错啦，要被你们一群捕快押着游街示众？” “切，捕头我养条细犬帮助破案，你们什么眼色？” “原来捕头的细犬长得跟土狗一模一样？” “哈哈哈……看这泥巴裹满全身的样子，你看得出真面目吗？说不定洗干净后真的是条细犬呢？” “这要是细犬，我把那整条狗给活吞了！” 等到了街角处，那个二姑娘正在卖羊肉，一看见这条狗，就给丢了块小肋骨。那条丑狗乐不可支，直接狂奔过去，牵着它的周子秦差点没给它拉倒了，几个踉跄被它拖到羊肉案前，收脚不及，顿时咚的一声狠狠撞在肉案上，整个人跪了下去。 二姑娘手提着大砍骨刀，好笑地看着他：“周少捕头，何须行此大礼呀？” 周子秦捂着酸痛的鼻子，眼泪都差点掉下来了：“二姑娘，不是早跟你说过了，不要当街卖羊肉吗？好歹……好歹别离路中心这么近啊！” 二姑娘面不改色，拉起独轮车往路边挪了两三尺，然后讥嘲地问：“就算我避到这边，难道你就不会拜倒在我面前吗？” 周子秦苦着一张脸，说：“至少……不会在你的石榴裙下跪得这么情真意切。” 二姑娘扯扯自己的破旧裙角，翻他一个白眼，抓起一块更大的骨头往前面一丢：“去！” 丑狗顿时乐不可支，疯狂地往前急窜，原本就趴在地上的周子秦被它拖着，在街上直接脸朝下滑行了足有两丈远，才终于抱住了一棵树，将它狂奔的步伐给止住了。 在满街人的嘲笑声中，周子秦气愤地把手中的狗绳解开，摸着自己磨破的手肘和膝盖，冲到二姑娘的面前，狠狠一拍肉案：“你！” 二姑娘抄着砍骨刀，不咸不淡地看着他：“我？” 周子秦看看刀子，再看看二姑娘白净的肌肤、清秀的面容，嘴巴张了张，然后讷讷地举起手，往后退了一步：“我……我就是想说，以后你卖羊肉，就摆在这里很好，不会挡住行人车马。”
They headed north all the way to the envoy's mansion. When he came to a fork in the road, Li Shubai suddenly turned to the other side. Huang Zixia stood behind him and said, "Wrong way." "No," Li Shubai said, "This place is only a hundred steps away from Qingyuan, let's go find Yuxuan." Yu Xuan.Huang Zixia was taken aback for a moment, he didn't expect Li Shubai to want to find him.She took a few steps to catch up with him, and asked, "How do you know that Qingyuan is here?" "Isn't there a complete map of Chengdu Mansion hanging in the yamen? I glanced at it." Huang Zixia was speechless - just glanced at it, I am afraid that she is more familiar with Chengdu Mansion than she who has lived for three years. There are many plum blossoms, peaches and plums in the sunny garden. It is the end of summer now, and these flowers are not in flowering period.Only clusters of Ophiopogon japonicus under the rockery are blooming with strings of small purple flowers, and the trees and hollyhocks beside the bamboo fence are in full bloom. Yu Xuan was among the flower beds, carrying a bucket to water them.Seeing them coming, he nodded to them and said, "Wait a minute, there are still a few flower beds." Huang Zixia looked around and asked, "Where's Uncle Li who guards the garden?" "His grandson is sick and needs to be taken care of at home. I promised to water these flowers for him sooner or later," he said, pointing to the one in front, and said, "Those will be fine after watering." Huang Zixia went to the well without making a sound, fetched a bucket of water, and wanted to water him. Li Shubai then took her bucket and helped her carry it as a matter of course, and only handed her a ladle.Huang Zixia was flattered, turned to look at him, but found that his expression was calm and casual, as if he didn't care at all, so he could only pretend to be calm, took the ladle he handed over, scooped up the water in his bucket, and scooped it up Watering towards the flowers and plants. Seeing them carrying water one by one and watering the other so naturally, Yuxuan himself didn't realize it, his hand stopped unconsciously, and he stared at them for a long time without returning to his senses. Until Huang Zixia turned around and asked him, "How much water is better?" He turned his eyes away, lowered his head, and said, "A little more, the weather is hot recently, if there is no big ladle of water to pour it down, it may be bad at noon." While watering the flowers, Huang Zixia asked, "You take care of such a large garden by yourself now? Why don't you invite some people to help you?" He whispered: "I'm at home now, and I don't have much to do. I'm here to pass the time." "At the beginning, the Qing Garden in Chengdu was the best, and there were many crowns and capes in the mansion, and there were gatherings almost every day." Huang Zixia looked at the flowers and plants in the garden, a little regretful, "but now the weather is so hot, probably not many people come to enjoy it. .” Yuxuan nodded and said: "The lotus is in bloom now, the sweet-scented osmanthus hasn't bloomed yet, and the weather is so hot, so there is no one there. But there was a Qushui Liucup meeting last night. Everyone held candles for a night tour and wrote some poems." "The water is flowing? Who is coming?" "It's our poetry club, many people have come... Only Wen Yang is missing." Huang Zixia asked: "So, Qi Teng is also here?" Yuxuan nodded and said, "Yes, he also caught a small fish in the water and brought it back, saying he wanted to raise another one." "Little fish?" Huang Zixia and Li Shubai immediately grasped the important word, and looked at each other calmly. "Well, Qi Teng likes to raise small fish. He also raised a small red fish before, and bought a porcelain vase to keep it in it, and took it around to show off to others, saying that it is Agashne, which is rare and rare. It’s the same as Prince Kui’s.” Li Shubai said lightly: "Agashine is very rare, is his one real?" Yuxuan watered the flowers, bowed his head and said, "I don't know, but Master Mu Shan said yes." Huang Zixia suddenly remembered that when he met Qi Teng in the morning, Qi Teng had asked him, do you still remember, where did my little red fish go? At that time, Yu Xuan's expression was so shocked that it was distorted, almost terrifying. So, Huang Zixia poured a ladle of water on the hollyhock, and asked slowly: "So, you know that little fish of Qi Teng... where is it now?" Yu Xuan was suddenly silent, and after a pause, he looked at Huang Zixia. Seeing her calm face and looking directly at him, he forced a deep breath and said in a low voice, "I don't know... Anyway, it's been a long time since I saw her." "When did you disappear?" Huang Zixia asked again. Yu Xuan thought for a long time, his face turned slightly pale: "It was probably after... the accident in Shijun's mansion." Huang Zixia let out a "hmm", thoughtfully.Seeing that she was holding the water ladle still, Li Shubai took it from her hand and went to water it. Huang Zixia and Yu Xuan were left standing among the shadows of the hollyhock flowers. The sunlight reflected the shadows of the flowers mottled on their bodies. Huang Zixia felt a slight pain in her heart, so she turned her head away and walked towards Li Shubai. And Yu Xuan seemed to want to relieve that embarrassment, and said in a low voice: "Because I remember, before that, everyone joked that Qi Teng's nickname should not be called Mr. Hanyue, but Mr. Yangyu... But after that , that fish never appeared again, so no one made that joke anymore." Huang Zixia stopped in her tracks, feeling something was wrong in her heart, so she turned around and asked, "Qi Teng's nickname is Master Hanyue?" "Yes, Qi Teng's character is Hanyue, and its homonym is like 'Hanyue'. After Wenyang came, the good-for-nothings booed and said, Wenyang and Hanyue are a perfect match, so when everyone jokes, they often call him Mr. Hanyue." Huang Zixia thought about it, and said slowly: "Speaking of which, Qi Teng's luck is really good. I checked the file, he was depressed last year, and he was the last envoy under General Fan, but he got it from this year. General Fan has blue eyes, and now he has been promoted to Jiedu Envoy Judge in just a few months!" Yu Xuan nodded and said, "Yes, who would have thought of that." "He has been promoted so fast, I wonder if he has relatives to help him?" "Maybe, but I don't know." Yu Xuan said. The last flower garden is a large area of rose flowers.The rose flowers that have been wilted by the hot summer sun have sparse branches and leaves, and only a few flowers of pale color hang listlessly on one or two branches. "The varieties of this rose are very good. I still remember that in the spring of this year, the roses bloomed as big as the mouth of a bowl, and they were beautiful in shape, color and fragrance." Yuxuan said while watering, "I remember that Qi Teng likes this flower the most. .” Huang Zixia asked casually: "Qi Teng likes roses?" "He likes all bright and beautiful flowers. And Wen Yang hates roses, peonies, hydrangeas, and hollyhocks the most." Huang Zixia immediately remembered the hydrangea butterfly in Wen Yang's study. She nodded slowly, and then asked: "I don't know what is the relationship between Wen Yang and Qi Teng?" Yu Xuan thought for a long time before slowly saying, "No relationship." "What about you?" Huang Zixia hesitated for a long time, before finally asking, "Of these two people, which one do you associate with more?" Yuxuan turned his face away and said, "Qi Teng saved me, and Wen Yang and I studied calligraphy, but the two of them... To me, they are just passers-by. Whether I have them or not, nothing has changed. .” Huang Zixia then asked: "Qi Teng saved you, what happened?" "After the death of my adoptive parents, I couldn't think about it. Qi Teng just passed by and saved me." He didn't want to mention it, but only mentioned it briefly. These cold and alienated words made Huang Zixia stunned, her whole body seemed to be drained of strength, and she didn't know how to react for a long time. After a long time, she asked dryly, "You...why?" "I...can't bear it, I just want to escape..." He turned his head to the side and said in a low voice, "In this life, I have already tasted the grief of losing a family member once, and I don't want to bear it...for the second time." Huang Zixia only felt burning pain in her eyes, and a kind of intense pain in her heart, which was slowly boiling and flowing, making her almost unable to hold back her tears, which were about to burst out of her eyes. Li Shubai looked at her uncontrollable tears, fearing that she would cry out, so he said in a low voice: "It's late, Ziqin is still waiting for us at the Yamen." Huang Zixia nodded, raised her head and took a long breath to let her tears disappear. Seeing that she was about to leave, Yuxuan asked in a low voice, "Is Wen Yang's case... related to the death of his adoptive parents?" "In the Chengdu mansion, there are definitely not many people who can get the poisonous poison. And those who have the poison and can get close to the Shijun's mansion are even rarer," Huang Zixia said, shaking his head again, and said, "But it's only the same It’s just poison, I don’t know if I’m overthinking.” In fact, there is another connection, which is the bracelet he gave himself.But Huang Zixia thought about it, and chose to ignore this sentence. Yu Xuan said slowly: "Speaking of this, I suddenly remembered something." "what?" "I know a person who may be able to get involved with the court and get the poison." Huang Zixia immediately asked, "Who is it?" "Qi Teng." Not to mention Huang Zixia, even Li Shubai was immediately alert and asked, "Has Qi Teng had contact with people in the palace?" "I don't know about this, but a few days ago that Wang Yun from Langxie Wang's family came..." When he mentioned this name, he couldn't help but look at Huang Zixia. And Huang Zixia was feeling depressed, so his expression flickered slightly, and then he waited quietly for him to say the following words. Yuxuan hesitated for a moment, and then said: "The day before yesterday, Qi Teng brought him to visit me. I just found out that Qi Teng's mother's surname is Wang. Speaking of which, he is Wang Yun's distant cousin." Huang Zixia nodded, and said to herself: "The Wang family..." Queen Wang is in the palace, and if she has the heart, she can naturally get in touch with her. Li Shubai pondered for a moment, and only looked at her thoughtfully, but there was a more complicated look in his eyes. Huang Zixia knew what he meant, Wang Yun went to Chengdu Mansion to find Yuxuan, of course it couldn't be for the imperial court or the Wang family, there was only one reason. The situation at that time must have been very embarrassing. Huang Zixia didn't know what was going on in her mind, she just felt so confused that she couldn't figure it out, so she could only look up at the unattainable blue sky, let out a long breath, and said to Yu Xuan: "Thank you for telling me this It's a matter of great importance, I'll go to the yamen to discuss it with Zhou Ziqin." "Wait a minute." Yu Xuan took the bucket and ladle to the hut by the gate of the garden, put them away and came out with them, saying, "I want to go too, and hear about the progress of this case. After all, You said that this case may be related to the case of my adoptive parents." Huang Zixia nodded, and Li Shubai had no intention of objecting, and the three of them left Qingyuan together. Huang Zixia thought about what happened to Master Mu Shan today, hesitated, and finally asked: "Yu Xuan, let me ask you, do you know that Master Mu Shan may be able to... the matter of soul-stirring?" Yu Xuan frowned, and asked in astonishment, "What?" "Maybe you don't believe it, but just now in his meditation room, he really wanted to find out something from me," Huang Zixia looked at him quietly, studied the expression on his face, and said, "People in Chengdu say Mu Master Shan's Dharma is boundless, and he saves all living beings—but in fact, these so-called miracles may be just the power of his soul-stirring technique." "Spiritualization..." Yu Xuan opened his mouth to say something, but stopped there again, motionless, quietly, only his breathing gradually became heavy. Li Shubai saw that he was stunned on the spot, so he said: "Instigmatism is a kind of magic technique from the Western Regions. It is said that there were monsters who came to Beijing during the Empress Wu period, and they could make a person involuntarily go crazy when they just glanced at them. The palace people were fascinated by him, and sneaked into Empress Wu's bedroom in the dark night, trying to assassinate. Fortunately, Shangguan Wan'er next to Empress Wu grabbed a dagger, threw it and killed the assassin, and then protected Empress Wu's safety. Later, Di Gong Di Renjie solved many mysteries , exposed the demon man's soul-absorbing technique, and after the incident was exposed, the Western Region demon man tried to resist and was shot to death by random arrows. Since then, it seems that no one in the world has heard of the soul-absorbing technique." Huang Zixia nodded, and said to Yu Xuan: "Yes, and Master Mu Shan seems to be a master of the art. Therefore, although Master Mu Shan has no bad deeds, you can pay more attention to him when you interact with him in the future, so as not to be controlled by him." Yu Xuan nodded silently, but did not speak.His face was pale, and the sunlight shone on his face at this time, his skin seemed to be a little transparent white, which was extraordinarily vivid. He followed them silently for a long time, and finally called her: "A Xia..." Huang Zixia looked back at him. He hesitated to speak, his pale face was full of hesitation and fear.After a long time, he said, "I told you before that I have something that I would like to ask you to take a look at." Huang Zixia nodded and asked, "What is it?" He pointed out that it was not far to the south, and said, "It's in my study, if you are free now, you can come with me." Huang Zixia looked at Li Shubai and saw him nod his head, while Yu Xuan saw Li Shubai agreeing, turned around without saying anything, and walked towards his house.
Chengdu has always been rich in talents. In order to encourage scholars to make progress, all counties and towns have rewards.After the students of the Chengdu government passed the exam, the government would allocate a mansion and provide money every month to encourage them to study. Yuxuan became Chengdu Jieyuan before he was nineteen years old, and he was in the limelight for a while.Although Huang Zixia's father was very reluctant to part with him, he still let him live in the mansion he was assigned to him—maybe because the father felt that his daughter had a fiancé after all, and that she was still close to Yu Xuan when she was fifteen or sixteen years old, so she always didn't like her. it is good. The residence built by the government for Yuxuan is next to Hanyuan Bridge in the east of the city.Weeping willows and small peaches are planted on the bank in front of the door. If it comes in spring, it will be a very beautiful scene. Huang Zixia couldn't remember how many times he came here and knocked on the door lightly.But she knows that she is the person in the world who is most familiar with the layout of the interior besides Yuxuan. Entering through the gate, there is a whitewashed wall and a narrow courtyard behind. , It should be the best time for flowers to bloom.Behind the pool is the main room.The left and right wing rooms and the hand corridor.Behind it is the backyard. The three rooms are connected, and the study and the bedroom are connected together, separated only by bookshelves. The room is open and open. She once laughed at him and said, such a small house, why not sneak back to live in the Shijun's mansion, only the Suli Courtyard where he lived is more spacious and exquisite than this one.But he was lying on the couch, covering his face with a book to block the sunlight, and said in a deep voice: "With my background, it is a great fortune to have a tile in this life. How much space does sleeping take up?" Now that I think about it, they really started to become estranged after he moved out.She is busy with various cases, and he is busy with gatherings and giving lectures, so they often don't see each other for ten and a half months. Even if they write letters from time to time, it can only make them feel that alienation even more. At that time he said to her, A Xia, it would be great if you don't know how to investigate cases. She was very angry, as if her meaning in this world had been overthrown, and she had no basis for pride anymore.The first time the two had such a heated argument, she ran back and swore to never see him again.However, the next morning, he gently knocked on her window, and handed her a sprig of sweet-scented osmanthus, and a box underneath. The sweet scent of sweet-scented osmanthus made her entire boudoir fragrant, and the bracelet in the box made her depressed and wronged all night invisible—— What was placed there was exactly the style they settled on after discussing for a long time.Two small fish with their tails in their mouths, just like them, cling to each other and never separate.
Huang Zixia silently thought about the past, followed Yu Xuan to walk inside. Bypassing the pink and white screen wall and passing through the courtyard with water lilies, the back hall is his study and bedroom. There is no barrier between the three big rooms. After opening, they are only separated by bookshelves and antique shelves. Yu Xuan walked to the desk, reached out and opened the drawer, took out a letter from the bottom of everything, and handed it to Huang Zixia. Huang Zixia saw that there was no addressee on the letter, nor was it signed, it was completely blank.She raised her hand to take it, and looked up at him questioningly. He said slowly: "One day, after I came back from Qi Teng's house, I found that there was... an extra letter on my several cases." Huang Zixia opened the unsealed envelope and found that there was only a thin sheet of snow-white plain paper inside. She pulled out the plain paper, spread it out and carefully read the familiar handwriting on it—— Huang Zixia looked at the dripping ink on the plain paper, the slightly scattered handwriting made her back faintly sweat, she seemed to be in a daze, she stood there, not daring to move. Because the handwriting is so familiar, she feels that each word is almost like a terrifying monster, showing the most ferocious face to her, trying to swallow all her soul consciousness—— This is her own word. In this world, no one is more familiar with her own words than her. She only felt that every inch of skin and hair on her body stood up; every pore on her body was covered with cold sweat like needlepoint; It is gray and white. Yu Xuan looked at her, and said slowly: "I can recognize this handwriting... I think you must know it too." Huang Zixia breathed hard, trying to calm down the surge of blood in his chest.But it was useless, endless fear enveloped her whole body in an instant, making her unable to restrain herself, she almost turned around and fled, to escape from this huge dark wave rushing towards her face, and escape from this terrifying abyss that was about to swallow her. There was a buzzing in her head, she threw away the letter, covered her ears with her hands, desperately trying to regain some sanity. She raised her head, stared at Yu Xuan in front of her, and asked each word with a pause: "What is this? You mean..." He stared at her, his eyes unblinking, and his voice was low and hoarse: "I mean, when you reminded me to pay attention to Master Mu Shan... Maybe, you yourself have met Master Mu Shan before?" Who knows? What they are facing may be true, may be false, or may be half-truth. At least, she really didn't know when she wrote such a letter, how it was delivered to his desk, and how she could forget this letter in the end. When she reminded Yuxuan, she didn't know that she also had some things that didn't exist in her memory, and unconsciously left traces that she hadn't even noticed. Huang Zixia pressed her temples hard, but couldn't restrain her panting. But Yu Xuan looked at her and called her in a low voice: "You... don't you remember?" Huang Zixia gritted her teeth and shook her head, but couldn't say anything. The piece of plain paper floated to the ground, as light as cotton wool, without a sound. Li Shubai, who had been watching coldly, picked up the piece of plain paper, looked at the few lines on it that were neither signed nor signed, read it silently, and asked slowly, "Is this written by Zi Xia to you?" Yu Xuan avoided answering, just stood there, looking at Huang Zixia. Huang Zixia nodded, and said slowly, "This handwriting...is mine." Yu Xuan closed his eyes silently and nodded his head heavily. Li Shubai looked at the font on it, and said slowly: "There are so many people in the world who learn Madam Wei's regular script, why do you think this letter is yours?" Huang Zixia said in a low voice: "Because... I have written less of the two lines in the middle of each word 'page' (page). Although I know it, I can't change it every time I write, so I can only add another line, so , there are always signs of adding more..." The three "page" characters on it, one "Gu" (Gu), and two "wish" (wish), are all like this. "But, my handwriting, my deeds, but myself, I don't know anything..." Huang Zixia felt as if all the strength in his body had been drained.She supported the chair next to her, sat down slowly, and said blankly. "This is the second letter you sent me after the incident," Yu Xuan said quietly, "After the adoptive parents passed away and you escaped from Chengdu, I came back from Qi Teng's house one day and found It was placed on the desk in the study. I don’t know where it came from, and I don’t know how you gave it to me, but I think this is the meaning of your confession of crimes and your farewell to the world.” Li Shubai carefully deliberated on the content of the letter, and said lightly: "Looking at the wording of this letter, there is a meaning of saying goodbye to the world, but I didn't realize that I confessed my crime." Yu Xuan was silent, while Huang Zixia asked in a hoarse voice: "Blood dripping from your hands, doesn't that count?" "There are a lot of doubts about this letter. Let us deliberate it before drawing conclusions." Li Shubai calmly folded the letter paper as it was, and put it back into the envelope, his voice more calm than his expression. Yu Xuan kept silent, only looked at Huang Zixia in front of him, and said in a hoarse voice: "I have hidden this letter here for more than half a year, and I have not shown it to anyone. I will hand it over to you today. If you really believe that you... think that Huang Zixia is innocent, Please continue to investigate and give me and yourself an explanation."
With the letter in her arms, Huang Zixia followed Li Shubai back to the Chengdu government office. As soon as he arrived at the yamen, Zhou Ziqin was already sitting inside, pinching the steamed stuffed bun with one hand and looking at the Pisces bracelet with the other, his face glowing brightly. Huang Zixia felt that the corner of the letter seemed to be pricking her skin, which made her feel embarrassed and helpless. Li Shubai glanced at Huang Zixia with a half-smile, Huang Zixia was in a trance, he suddenly leaned into her ear, and asked softly: "You think, when is it better to tell him the truth?" Huang Zixia could hear the teasing meaning in his words, the boulder on her chest seemed to relax a little in front of his teasing, making her involuntarily retort: "Next life!" "What next life?" Zhou Ziqin had already heard it with sharp ears.He stood up and walked towards them, "Hey, you are too slow, I have been waiting for you for a long time." Li Shubai glanced at the bracelet in his hand and asked, "What are you waiting for us?" "Fu Xinruan's servant Tang Zhuniang, her body has been found, and several acquaintances have also come from Longzhou, let's go and investigate it!" Zhou Ziqin, with a jade bracelet in one hand and a steamed stuffed bun in one hand, walked out while eating.The cook saw it with his head, and hurriedly called him: "Catcher, catcher! There are still rice cakes here, can you take another one?" "Oh, I like rice cakes!" Zhou Ziqin was in full bloom, and quickly stuffed the bracelet into his arms, took the rice cake and took it. "Ziqin, it's so early." Someone beside him laughed. Zhou Ziqin turned his head and saw that it was Qi Teng, with a stack of documents in his hand, obviously he came to discuss matters in the mansion.He hurriedly stuffed the remaining steamed stuffed bun into his mouth, cupped his hands and said, "Brother Qi!" "What habit do you have? You still eat rice cakes with such dirty hands." Qi Teng sneered, raised his hand and took the rice cakes from Zhou Ziqin's hands, but didn't eat them, just looked at Zhou Ziqin's hands, and said, " It's all rice paste, so you go to investigate the case like this?" "Oh..." Zhou Ziqin blinked, still looking at the rice cake in his hand, but Qi Teng casually threw the rice cake into the nearby sewage ditch, then went to the side to scoop up a spoonful of water, and said, "Come on, wash your hands. " Zhou Ziqin felt extremely ashamed, and hurriedly said, "I... I will do it myself..." "Okay, you are almost my brother-in-law." As he said, he couldn't help but pour two or three spoonfuls of water down until Zhou Ziqin's hands were washed clean before letting him go. He threw the ladle away and said, "Ziqin, do you know how dirty women's things are? They are full of hair grease that you can't see! I have a friend who often holds a good bracelet to look at things and think about others, but he didn't wash his hands once. I just ate fruit, and I almost died from vomiting and diarrhea. It was only later that I found out that this bracelet was collected by a good friend at a pawnshop, and it was taken off from floating corpses by those unscrupulous people who should be killed. Still holding it while watching and eating, can something happen?" Zhou Ziqin smiled dryly, and touched the bracelet through his clothes: "Brother Qi, my bracelet...it's new, I guarantee it didn't come from a floating corpse..." "Anyway, be more careful! I'm free this afternoon, so I'll take you to Master Mushan of Mingyue Mountain to get a bucket of clean water, and purify this bracelet for you!" As he spoke, he picked up the stack of documents again and went into the yamen. Zhou Ziqin stuck out his tongue towards his back, and muttered in a low voice: "Why didn't I find out before, this is another cleanliness..." Huang Zixia's eyes fell on the rice cake that was thrown into the sewage ditch, and she raised her head thoughtfully, meeting Li Shubai's eyes. Huang Zixia knew that it was absolutely impossible for him to do such a thing, so he nodded with a bitter face. When the three of them were walking out, Huang Zixia suddenly shook his foot with an "oops" and said depressingly, "I stepped on shit." Zhou Ziqin asked with concern: "Are you all right?" "It's okay. Fortunately, it was done. I'll go to the ditch to rub it." With that said, she ran to the sewer.Zhou Ziqin shouted from behind: "Hurry up, I'll wait for you." "Don't wait, let's go to the stable first." Li Shubai walked forward. Zhou Ziqin looked back and had no choice but to follow him away. Huang Zixia walked to the sewage ditch, stood there pretending to rub the soles of his shoes, and when no one was looking around, he grabbed a branch on the ground, tied the rice cake, and lifted it up.Fortunately, the rice cake fell on a rock and was not melted by the water. She went to the side and tore a piece of cabbage leaf, wrapped the rice cake, held it in her hand and shook it to the stable, where she joined Li Shubai and Zhou Ziqin. Si E is still fattening, eating beans proudly and bullying other horses.Na Fusha was recuperating beside it, lying in the haystack, looking around with a pair of big eyes. Although Li Shubai and Huang Zixia had already changed their appearances, they were afraid of being smelled by evil, so they deliberately went to the opposite stable and picked out two bad horses. As they rode through the street, a thin, vicious dog rushed out of the alley and barked at them.It's really "someone gives you a pillow when you want to sleep", Huang Zixia immediately threw the rice cake and cabbage leaves out.The dog sniffed it, and ate it together with the cabbage outside after a few mouthfuls. Zhou Ziqin said: "I won't feed this vicious dog!" Huang Zixia said: "I'm short of a dog, and I'm going to catch it to be useful." "What's the use?" "The dog's sense of smell is very sensitive, and it can help investigate cases after training. I think this dog looks like the best poodle." Zhou Ziqin immediately turned his head and told the people behind him: "A Zhuo, quickly catch it!"
So, when they came to Yizhuang, they had already turned into four people and one dog. The old man guarding Yizhuang saw this dirty and thin dog, and immediately smiled: "Stop arresting the head, tell me if you want to raise a dog! I just got a few dogs at home, and they are more beautiful than this one." too much!" "You don't understand, do you? Just look at the appearance of this dog, it is the best puppy!" Zhou Ziqin tugged on the leash and tied it to the door. The old man couldn't believe his eyes. He squatted at the door and stared at the dog for a long time before muttering to himself, "This thing is still a small dog? It's definitely an earthen dog!" Zhou Ziqin stepped into Yizhuang, and saw a dead body covered in a white cloth parked inside the house. Several policemen were chatting, and there were a few middle-aged men and women standing beside them with unlucky faces. They should be Tang Zhuniang's relatives and friends. . "Come on, hurry up and meet Mr. Zhou's arrester!" The arresters yelled, and introduced Zhou Ziqin one by one, who is the neighbor and who is the nephew. Zhou Ziqin first opened his own toolbox, put on thin leather gloves, and checked Tang Zhuniang's injuries.She did fall to her death, her limbs were broken and her head was bloody.That face was also rotten, only the mole behind the ear accurately revealed her identity. "This is what she carried on her body after she fell off the cliff." The policemen handed over another package. Zhou Ziqin flipped through it casually, and saw that there were only a few changes of clothes in the package, a pile of loose money, and nothing else.He threw the things away and said, "It seems that he was indeed accidentally walking on the road, fell off the cliff and died." Huang Zixia suddenly remembered something, and asked, "When did you die?" "Yesterday morning, it was around... around 9 o'clock." Maoshi.Huang Zixia immediately thought of Zhang Xingying who was knocked off the cliff by that fast horse on the side of the road at Maoshi yesterday. "By the way, Ziqin, I heard that because King Kui was assassinated recently, the mountain road from Chengdu Mansion to Hanzhou is guarded by the Xichuan Army. It is very troublesome for the common people to get in and out?" "That's right, there are many business travelers on that road, and now the Xichuan army prohibits anyone from riding horses or carriages, and people who walk in and out have to be searched, and the people are complaining." Zhou Ziqin said, thinking of another thing, Said, "I don't know if Second Brother Zhang has arrived in Hanzhou. Alas, Second Brother Zhang is so pitiful. The world is so big and there are so many people. How difficult it is to find Dicui!" Huang Zixia squatted down to check Tang Zhuniang's wound, seeing that even the back of her head was broken, it was really horrible.She stood up and turned around to ask Zhou Ziqin: "Do you want to know where Brother Zhang is now? Shall I tell you?" "I don't believe it!" Zhou Ziqin didn't believe it, and snorted: "Could it be that you have clairvoyance and ears, and can know every move of Brother Zhang who is far away in Hanzhou?" Huang Zixia smiled at him and said, "Believe it or not. Not only do I know where he is now, but I also know that his right hand is dislocated and he is brewing medicine at the inn..." Zhou Ziqin jumped up immediately: "What did you say? Brother Zhang was injured and still brewing medicine at the inn?" "Don't worry, I'm not making medicine for myself, it's not that serious." She said, looking at Tang Zhuniang's package again, carefully checking the pattern of the clothes. Zhou Ziqin was so anxious that he could only grab Li Shubai's sleeve and plead, "Brother Wang, brother Wang, just tell me, what's going on?" Li Shubai glanced at Huang Zixia and said, "You will know if you follow us at noon." "You, you... you are really anxious to death!" Seeing Zhou Ziqin circling around like ants on a hot pot, Huang Zixia couldn't help but smile at Li Shubai and gave him a "good job" look.
Tang Zhuniang lost her husband in her early years, and now only her nephew and two or three neighbors are found here. One of the neighbors is a neatly tidied thin monkey with a gold ring on his hand, with an ugly smile on his face: "The villain is Lizheng from Songhuali. Tang Zhuniang was originally from Chengdu, she was seventeen years old. Married to Hanzhou. My mother-in-law grew up with her. She said that her husband died early, and life was very difficult. Every now and then, she helped others to do part-time jobs to earn some money. Later, Mrs. Fu let out a voice and said If I want to find someone to take care of me, I told my mother-in-law, she looks nice, she should be easy to take care of, with a lot of monthly money and few things, you can ask Tang Zhuniang, if you want to go, I will introduce you." "So, you introduced Tang Zhuniang to Fu Xinruan?" "That's right. But I never imagined that something happened in the new year... Alas, because of this, my mother-in-law and I regretted it too much. Everyone said that there was a problem with that house, not even mentioning the death of two people. Now even Tang Zhuniang has died outside, this is not evil!" Huang Zixia looked at the person behind him again. The woman was short and fat, she was pulling her handkerchief with her head drooping. "Is this from your family?" The thin man nodded quickly: "My mother-in-law, Tang Zhuniang is her former neighbor." Huang Zixia then asked her: "Tang Zhuniang works as a servant over there, did she mention anything to you?" The woman was obviously frightened by Tang Zhuniang's body just now, she wiped her eyes with a handkerchief, and her voice was not smooth: "No, she often comes to see us with things during the New Year and holidays, saying that she is thankful for introducing us so It's a good place. It's said... It's said that Mrs. Fu has a very gentle temper, and she counts all food and clothing expenses for Tang Zhuniang, and she never skimps on money. There is nothing to do at home, just cleaning and three meals a day. " "Did she mention that Mrs. Fu's family has guests?" “没有……当时傅娘子托我们找人，就说必得嘴巴严实的，想必珠娘也是她训诫过的，所以从来不说这些。再说……再说她一个乐籍女子，家里来往什么人，我们又怎么好打听呢？” 黄梓瑕将这夫妻二人打发走，又问下一个。 这是个面色蜡黄的中年女子，系着青布围裙，头上绾了个髻，插着一支蒙尘的银簪子。她显然十分少见这样的场面，局促得手都不知放哪儿：“我……我是汉州田家巷的，住珠娘斜对门。她十七岁嫁到那边，我们年纪差不多，住得又近，算起来，我得叫珠娘嫂子。” “珠娘最近有回田家巷吗？对你说过什么？” “她前月回来过，一派喜气洋洋，说她伺候的那个娘子要成亲了。我随口说那种人能嫁什么正经人，结果她却说是顶好的婚姻，对方虽然结过一次婚，但没儿没女的，人又年轻，家世又好，娘子能嫁给他真是前世修来的福分了。” “她提到过对方的情况吗？” “没有……珠娘伺候的什么人，我，我又管她做什么？而且我们也没说几句，珠娘的娘家侄子就过来了，我赶着回家烧饭，没承想……这就是珠娘我和最后一面了……” 见她慌里慌张话都说不顺畅，周子秦便示意她先下去，让汤珠娘的那个侄子过来。 汤珠娘的侄子名叫汤升，年约二十出头，一副吊儿郎当的模样，脸上那笑容跟颜面抽筋似的，怎么看怎么讨厌。 “我那姑姑啊？没错儿，前月我是见过她，跟她说了我要成亲了，让她多给点钱。结果她就只给我摸了两千钱，啧……”汤升甩着手中荷包，一脸鄙夷，“去正经人家做仆妇尚且说起来不好听呢，现如今她还伺候个扬州的妓女，脸都丢大了！要不是看在她说要给我未过门的媳妇打一对银簪的分上，我都不想跟她见面。” 黄梓瑕问：“打一对银簪是怎么回事？” “就昨天的事，她跟的那个妓女不是死了吗？她收拾好东西出门时，我正回家呢，刚好在巷子口遇见了——我家就在旁边双喜巷。” 黄梓瑕点点头，知道就是汤珠娘的娘家。 “她看见了我，就把我叫住了，在自己的包裹里掏东西，说是有东西要给我。我还以为什么好东西呢，就站住了等着。结果她掏了半天，我都看见她拿出半个荷包了，又塞了回去，说，还是我先带到汉州去，给你未过门的媳妇打一对银簪吧。我还以为是真的，等回过头一想，这可不是诓我吗？成都府的银匠铺子成百上千，她有钱干吗到汉州去打，摆明了舍不得，哄我呢。” 黄梓瑕停下笔，将自己记下的又看了一遍，问：“你姑姑汤珠娘当时说的是，'还是我带到汉州去，给你未过门的媳妇打一对银簪'？” “对，没错，”汤升点头，“我回来后翻来覆去想了几百遍，一个字都没错！越嚼巴越觉得假。” 黄梓瑕点头，又问：“你姑姑平时，和你们说过什么吗？比如傅娘子交往的人、她日常的生活之类的？” “没有，她嫁出去都几十年了，回娘家也就是看看我祖母。如今我祖母老了，跟个泥塑木雕似的，说什么都听不见，她也就每月给祖母塞点小钱，除此之外，回家干啥？” 汤珠娘看起来过得不怎么样，其他亲戚连尸体都不来认，侄子就马马虎虎看了几下尸体，然后说：“估计是了。哎，她夫家没人了吗？怎么要我们娘家收尸啊？” “她夫家要是有人，别的不说，房子早被收走了，还等得到现在？”周子秦说。 汤升眼睛一亮，问：“房产没人收？” 黄梓瑕面无表情地说：“无子无女者，子侄若替她办妥丧事，可继承房产。” 汤升立即说道：“她是我姑母，我身为她的侄子，为她办一场丧事那是义不容辞！” “那好，你备齐棺椁，择好坟地。出殡下葬之后，到衙门来拿房契地契。” 把汤升送出门之后，周子秦问黄梓瑕：“我朝有这样的律令？” “没有，”黄梓瑕摇头道，“但是你看到没有，一听说还有房产，'我那姑姑'就变成'姑母'了。” 周子秦郁闷道：“想个法子让他鸡飞蛋打最好。” “得了，汉州小巷一间破房，去掉丧事花费之后，大约也就抵得过一对银簪子。”黄梓瑕说着，又将今日众人说的话看了一遍。 周子秦已经急不可耐了，问：“这下你有空了吧？赶紧给我说说，张二哥怎么样了啊？” “别急，直接带你去看你不就知道了？”黄梓瑕说着，将自己手中写好的档案收拾好，合上。 李舒白却在此时伸手将它拿了过去，翻开来仔细看着她的字。 是他熟悉的字，簪花小楷，清秀娟丽，却因为总是急于速度，在下笔行文时，有一种仓促的落笔与收笔。 李舒白微微皱眉，目光扫过那些笔迹时，不由自主显露出一种冰冷的意味。 黄梓瑕低声问：“怎么？” 他将那档案册交给她，低声说：“关心则乱，牵扯到你的亲人，果然你就无法保持冷静了。” 黄梓瑕皱眉，翻开自己的本子又看了看。 而周子秦已经在那里问：“什么？这个案子牵扯到谁的亲人？不是那个汤升的吗？” 李舒白点了一下头，随口说：“正是。” 黄梓瑕则还在翻看着自己所写下的东西，强自压抑着自己的震惊，可目光中的不敢置信，终究还是泄露了出来。 她脚步慢了下来。 李舒白回头看她，停了一下，终究还是走到她的身边，轻轻拍了拍她的肩，低声说：“到使君府的时候，再对一对。” 她勉强点点头，仿佛逃避般，将手中的册子合上了。
几个人走出义庄，门口那只又脏又瘦的丑狗精神一振，跳起来就冲他们狂吠。 黄梓瑕看了看天色，又看看狗，有点诧异。 李舒白在她耳边低声说：“真没想到，你也有预料出错的时候。” 黄梓瑕白了他一眼，说：“我说过了，我就是养条狗替我做帮手查案，仅此而已！” 几个捕快骑着马，牵着一条丑狗招摇过市，令人侧目而视，有人看着那条狗，暗地窃笑，还有人对着周子秦大笑：“周少捕头，这条狗犯了什么错啦，要被你们一群捕快押着游街示众？” “切，捕头我养条细犬帮助破案，你们什么眼色？” “原来捕头的细犬长得跟土狗一模一样？” “哈哈哈……看这泥巴裹满全身的样子，你看得出真面目吗？说不定洗干净后真的是条细犬呢？” “这要是细犬，我把那整条狗给活吞了！” 等到了街角处，那个二姑娘正在卖羊肉，一看见这条狗，就给丢了块小肋骨。那条丑狗乐不可支，直接狂奔过去，牵着它的周子秦差点没给它拉倒了，几个踉跄被它拖到羊肉案前，收脚不及，顿时咚的一声狠狠撞在肉案上，整个人跪了下去。 二姑娘手提着大砍骨刀，好笑地看着他：“周少捕头，何须行此大礼呀？” 周子秦捂着酸痛的鼻子，眼泪都差点掉下来了：“二姑娘，不是早跟你说过了，不要当街卖羊肉吗？好歹……好歹别离路中心这么近啊！” 二姑娘面不改色，拉起独轮车往路边挪了两三尺，然后讥嘲地问：“就算我避到这边，难道你就不会拜倒在我面前吗？” 周子秦苦着一张脸，说：“至少……不会在你的石榴裙下跪得这么情真意切。” 二姑娘扯扯自己的破旧裙角，翻他一个白眼，抓起一块更大的骨头往前面一丢：“去！” 丑狗顿时乐不可支，疯狂地往前急窜，原本就趴在地上的周子秦被它拖着，在街上直接脸朝下滑行了足有两丈远，才终于抱住了一棵树，将它狂奔的步伐给止住了。 在满街人的嘲笑声中，周子秦气愤地把手中的狗绳解开，摸着自己磨破的手肘和膝盖，冲到二姑娘的面前，狠狠一拍肉案：“你！” 二姑娘抄着砍骨刀，不咸不淡地看着他：“我？” 周子秦看看刀子，再看看二姑娘白净的肌肤、清秀的面容，嘴巴张了张，然后讷讷地举起手，往后退了一步：“我……我就是想说，以后你卖羊肉，就摆在这里很好，不会挡住行人车马。”