Chapter 21 Chapter Seventeen
Zi Qian took the oars, and the sampan cut the waves silently, leaving the forbidden area, and Duke Di ordered to dock.
There is a dense pine forest on the shore, and it is pitch black at midnight, with the sounds of various insects and the howling of animals, as if it is a world of ghosts and ghosts.Di Gong and Ziqian went ashore, and hurriedly took out the flint to light up the lantern.The ground in the pine forest is thick with rotting branches and leaves, and it is wet and squeaky. It is soft and unstable when people walk on it.Duke Dee paid attention to every step, looking carefully, trying to find a hole or two or a rotting twig.However, the shape of the pine trees here is very neat, and there is no disease, and they grow almost the same height and thickness.If Dai Ning had hidden the jade beads here, he might not be able to find them himself in the future.Because it is difficult to distinguish the east, west, and north here, once you get in, it is not easy to get out.Moreover, rotten branches and leaves are thickly accumulated on the ground, which have been hidden today to make a sign, but will change their shape tomorrow.Not easy to identify. ——Di Gong pondered, Dai Ning must have brought the jade bead string back to the Blue Bird Inn for the time being, and put it in a hidden corner.Thinking of this, Di Gong decided to go back to the Blue Bird Inn immediately.
They found out the pine forest, turned back to the shore, jumped into the sampan, and returned to the river beach pier.
Ziqian asked: "I saw you coming and going all the way, lost in your mind, as if you were looking for something, I'm afraid it's not some precious herbal medicine."
Di Gong laughed: "Little glib, elf, what do you think I am looking for?"
"My family guesses that it must be a very valuable item, a gold bracelet, a jade pendant, or emerald, agate, or cat's eye."
"Do you think I found it again?" Mr. Di admired Ziqian's intelligence very much, and was very grateful for Ziqian's help, but he still didn't dare to tell the whole truth.
"I guess I didn't find it. Seeing your face is happy again, this treasure is likely to be found." Ziqian is really very sensible.
"Miss Ziqian, hurry up, let's hurry to the inn. I will tell you the details when I find the treasure tomorrow."
Zi Qian smiled sweetly and pulled the oar vigorously.At this time, the moon came out of the clouds, and the surrounding area was bright. The clear water was as transparent as glass, and there was a dazzling white light from time to time.The boat quickly returned to the river beach pier.
Back at the Blue Bird Inn, the Qiao drum has already played four watches.Di Gong went straight upstairs to the guest room, while Zi Qian went to the kitchen to light up the fire and prepare for cooking.Di Gong brewed a new pot of tea and sipped slowly, while thinking hard about where Dai Ning hid the pearl.Without a cup of tea, Zi Qian pushed the door open and came in, holding a wooden tray in her hand, inside the wooden box were hot rice and a corner of rice wine.
"Not much hospitality, just have a glass of water and wine to drive away the cold."
Di Gonggong felt thunder in his belly, couldn't help being overjoyed, thanked him and started to gobble it up.Ziqian sat and giggled, talking for a long time. "From my family's point of view, you are not a doctor who walks the rivers and lakes, but a public servant in a yamen."
Di Gong feigned surprise: "How do you say that?"
Ziqian smiled and didn't answer, but changed her mouth and said: "Eat quickly, I have put away the cups and plates, and I have to make breakfast. ——Call me when you want some soup sooner or later."
Di Gong swallowed the last mouthful of food, and continued the previous conversation: "It's good to know, don't make any noise." He went to his sleeve to take out four taels of silver and Ziqian.
"Miss has the right to accept it, it's tea money."
Ziqian was taken aback: "Why did you spend so much? It wasn't already paid on the cash register."
"How much you just keep it, sooner or later there will be troubles, I just hope that the lady knows me and is grateful."
Ziqian pursed her lips and smiled, took the money, put away the cups, chopsticks and wooden trays, swayed out of the guest room, and said verbally: "Master, don't forget about me, Ziqian."
Di Gong was in a daze for a long time before he came back to think about the jade bead string. ——At this moment, he doesn't care who the villain who framed the third princess in the palace is, he just wants to find the beads as soon as possible and present them before the third princess sets off.After finding the jade bead string, the conspiracy to frame the three princesses is self-defeating, and the villain is bound to come to light and show his face. It is no doubt that the jade bead string was stolen by Dai Ning, Lang Liu died suddenly, and the tooth dealer surnamed Huo has not yet succeeded.If the beads in Dai Ning's hand were stolen by minions surnamed Huo or paid a lot of money on the road in Kouqingchuan Town, he would not say anything under Lang Liu's torture.It was Dai Ning's vain attempt to survive the torture with the ambition to monopolize the beads.He hid the beads, and he dedicated himself to offering them to the Wei Huang family after the turmoil subsided.It can also be explained that Wei Huangshi did not go to Shilipu. She never took Dai Ning's young infatuation seriously, and she may have played tricks on the occasion, but she already had her own concubine, and she ran away with that concubine. It was agreed in secret, and it was only because Dai Ning was so entangled that he coaxed him for a while.Now she and her concubine have fled to the ends of the earth to be happy, leaving only Dai Ning, a demented young man, dreaming of sex, and ruining her life because of the string of beads.
This wild thinking is far away again, more importantly, where did Dai Ning hide the jade beads?Di Gong repeatedly explored Dai Ning's daily life and thoughts.He sat high on the ledger all day long to accompany the boring money and bank accounts, and all he could see were books, ledgers, abacus, stamps, ink pens and other things. ——By the way, Zhu Bi!Didn't Dai Ning officially draw the mountain road to Shilipu on the map with banknotes?Maps are usually placed on the tent, and there is no ink pen in his room. Mr. Di thought, why not take advantage of the fact that the inn has not yet opened, and quietly go to Dai Ning's tent to search for it, and also get a taste of Dai Ning's livelihood activities. , thinking about where he might hide the pearl.
Having made up his mind, Mr. Di went out of the room and tiptoed down the stairs to the shop.A dim kerosene lamp was lit in the store, and a small oil lamp above the tent was not lit, so the top and bottom of the tent were so dark that it was impossible to see clearly.The soldiers on duty all went to sleep in the empty guest room in the west hall, snoring faintly.Di Gong took out the flint and lit the small oil lamp on the tent, and carefully searched up and down the tent.
There is a thick personal registration book under the cover of the first stack of letterheads on the left of the ledger.On the right is a celadon pen stand, with three purple tube brushes arranged in a row.On one side of the pen holder, a four-inch-long ingot of gold-painted pine smoke ink is leaning against the inkstone.There is a drawer under each of the large desks in the accounting desk, and in the left drawer are money account books, ink pads and a woodcut "cash received" seal.In the right drawer are an abacus, a porcelain bottle of cinnabar juice, a tube of vermilion pen and a tin silver box.The box was empty, and there was no copper coin.
Di Gong searched for half a day, but did he see the shadow of the jade bead string?Feeling depressed, he suddenly saw that the suitcase that Wei Cheng searched for last night was placed under the water sign behind the tent.Di Gong bent down to open the box, but it was empty. All the dresses and jackets he saw at that time had been put away.He frowned for a long time, suddenly realized something, but when he thought of the beads, he felt sad again.
Di Gong sat in front of the tent in a daze, feeling very troubled in his heart.He calmed down and imitated Dai Ning's behavior again: first handed over the registration booklet for the guests to fill out, and then signed the water sign with a pen dipped in ink, indicating the name of the guest and the room.When the guests who left the store came to check out and pay the rent, he moved the abacus, signed the money on the account book, put the money into the tin silver plate, and then stamped the "cash received" seal.After resuming the account at night, the amount of money and silver was approved with a Chinese ink pen.Submit to Wei Cheng.Wei Cheng inspected it, received the cash in the silver box, and left the empty box.
Di Gong performed it again silently, looking at these props carefully, a light suddenly penetrated into his heart, and he suddenly realized. ——So it turned out to be such a mechanism!It took me a lot of running around to look far away.Ninety-nine returned to Yuan, but the person who untied the bell was still the one who tied it.
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