Chapter 38 Chapter Twenty

The next day, just after dawn, Di Gong and Hong Liang rode out of the south gate and galloped towards Baiyu Bridge.After a night of heavy rain, the air was particularly clear, and the horseshoes clattered, and the journey was very brisk. Di Gong stayed up late into the night to draft the application documents for the four murder cases, and had to listen patiently to Yang Kangnian and Bian Jia's boring confessions in the courtroom in the morning.He woke up early in the morning and woke up Hong Liang. The two hurriedly took the horse and walked to the mandala forest to see if it was possible to cut down the forest to avoid future troubles.Di Gong pointed out in the testimonial that the forest had become a hotspot for the city's treacherous and adulterous people.

They followed the shortcut that Yang Kangnian said and went with confidence.Sure enough, in a short while the tall trees of Datura Forest came into view.They soon found three white elm trees - from there a trail tangled in vines and weeds led to the Temple of the White Lady. The storm raged all night, and the uprooted trees fell on the path, entangled with dense layers of wild thorns, wild hazel and vines, strictly blocking the way of Di Gong and Hong Liang. The two of them almost turned around the forest, but there was no gap for people to enter.There are dense, dense, lush mandala trees everywhere, quiet and quiet, and chills.

Finally, they went around to the back of Dong's mansion, and rode their horses along the wall of the Emerald Villa back to the dilapidated gatehouse on the eaves of the resting mountain.They dismounted.Di Gongdao: "Let's go to the garden pavilion to have a look. That's where Jin Lianben escaped from the dense forest that night four years ago. Maybe we can find a path through the forest there. .” They walked through the dark passage and turned into the garden from the right side of the courtyard, facing the pavilion where Amber was killed. Mr. Dee climbed up the low wall behind the garden, and looked carefully at the fierce forest outside the wall, it was still dark and there was no way to pass through.

In the early morning, the surrounding area is as desolate as a cemetery, the rustling of leaves has stopped, only the chirping birds are flying in and out from under the eaves of the pavilion.But they didn't dare to fly into the forest, for fear that they wouldn't be able to fly out, so they just flapped their wings and flew around the edge of the forest blindly, flying up and down. Di Gong looked at it for a while, and couldn't help sighing up to the sky, his heart suddenly realized.He bowed his head and said to Hong Liang: "No! I don't want to destroy the forest and demolish the temple, and I don't want to disturb the tranquility of Bai Niangniang. Let this forest stay here! Let Bai Niangniang carefully guard this incredible sacred forest! This god The temple and the forest will be turned into a historic site for future generations to pay homage to. Today we cannot go into this forest, I have to believe that it is protected by gods. Hong Liang, let’s go back to the city quickly! I'm about to ascend."

He jumped off the fence, shook the dust off his robe, and was about to turn around and walk out of the garden, when he saw a young bird whimpering among the grass on the ground, flapping its delicate and delicate wings weakly. struggling.Di Gong couldn't bear it, so he couldn't help but bent down and carefully held the chick in his hands, saying: "This poor chick accidentally fell into the mud nest, but fortunately he didn't get hurt. Look, Hong Liang, the mud nest Isn't it under the eaves of the pavilion? The mother sparrow is flying around the mud nest in search of it. Come, I will put it into the mud nest!"

Duke Di jumped up on the wall again, stepped on the window pane of the pavilion with one foot, and put the chick in his hand into the mud nest.He stood on tiptoe and looked curiously into the mud nest, while the mother bird fluttered anxiously around his head and sang. In the mud nest, three young sparrows were tightly huddled together, chirping and screaming with their wide waxy beaks open.The three egg shells beside it have been broken, and there is still one egg. ——Di Gong took a closer look, and couldn't help gasping, his eyelids trembled like a spasm, and the hot blood all over his body rushed to the tip of his eyes.The whole body of the egg is crystal clear and radiant, although some dung, mud and grass are stuck to it, but it does not conceal its aggressive light.

"Royal Bead?!——It's that magical Royal Bead!" Duke Di couldn't stop yelling, and hurriedly reached into the nest to carefully take out the imperial bead, then slowly drew his foot back, stepped firmly on the low wall, and jumped off the ground. He gently wiped off the dirt sticking to the imperial beads with a handkerchief, and the imperial beads shone brightly, dazzling.Duke Di stared at the imperial bead in astonishment, and remained silent for a long while. Hong Liang hurriedly moved his eyes to take a look, and was suddenly taken aback, and immediately understood what was going on.Holding his breath, he bent down, leaned close to Duke Di's palm and carefully looked at it for a long time, couldn't help but gasp in amazement, and couldn't help asking in a low voice: "Master, could it be a fake?"

Di Gong shook his head and smiled with satisfaction. "No, Hong Liang, this will never be a fake. Who can make it so exquisitely? Look at the translucent light and warm color, it is really a rare treasure. Dong Mei is telling the truth, Yu The story of the bead is not a hoax, this is exactly the royal bead that the Persian king paid tribute to the late emperor! Dong Mei is indeed a cunning master. He really hid the royal bead in the pavilion, but it was hidden in a place where no one could A place that may come to mind. Xia Guang undoubtedly saw this mud nest when he searched the pavilion, but it did not arouse his deep thinking. If it were not for this chance, we would have missed it too. Otherwise, this unparalleled rare treasure will lie in this mud nest forever, but people in the world always think that the legend of the Royal Pearl is just a myth, a bizarre case, and a criminal deception.—— No one would believe that this imperial bead really exists in the world, even the Holy One has already forgotten about this imperial bead."

Di Gong put the Royal Pearl in his palm and rolled it slowly, sighed frequently, and said with infinite emotion: "After such a long time, how many personnel changes have been experienced, and how much innocent blood has been shed, this Royal Pearl will now be restored again. Return to the Holy Majesty's palace - its first and final destination. It's really the so-called 'Skynet is fully restored, and it's not leaking'!" He carefully wrapped the imperial bead in a kerchief and put it in the chest of the robe, and said: "I will hand this imperial bead to Ke Yuanliang, and attach a paper of official approval signed by me, saying that it is only because of the birth around this imperial bead. There was a murder case, so I couldn't tell the emperor about the imperial pearl in time. Now that the murder case has been solved, Ke Yuanliang made a special trip to Beijing to present the treasure. The emperor will award him a lofty honor and a huge reward. Jinlian's recovery Will compensate him for the pain of losing Amber and restore his spirit.

"As for her—Lady Amber—I have to say that I have made a painful misjudgment of her and wronged her dead soul. She has never had any affair with Dong Mei, let alone any A plan to go far away. She just wanted to buy that rare treasure for Ke Yuanliang as a token of her gratitude to her husband for his kindness, and she was about to give birth to a child for her husband whom she admired! He just regarded Dong Mei as a Being the son of his old master—that’s all. Dong Mei occasionally bought antiques for Ke Yuanliang. She had no idea that Dong Mei had a dirty relationship with Yang Kang. My inference on this point was completely wrong, I My heart is very disturbed, but I can't correct it. The only thing I can do is to express my apology to Mrs. Amber's unfortunate soul, and sincerely pray for her, and hope that her spirit in heaven will forgive me for my recklessness and rashness."

Duke Dee stood there silent for a long time, his eyes gazing thoughtfully at the dark mandala grove beyond the garden wall. He turned around suddenly, without making a sound, hurriedly went downstairs to the gate of Jade Villa, grabbed his mount and jumped on it.The horse also knew what Di Gong meant, so it spread its hooves and galloped towards Baiyuqiao Town. The shops and shops in Baiyu Town had just opened one after another, and there were no pedestrians on the streets of Shangpai. A light layer of morning mist is suspended in the calm canal, and the turbid waves beat against the embankment with a gurgling sound.The sails are faint in the distance, the sound of the flute echoes one after another, and the sparkling waves reflect the sun so brightly that people can hardly open their eyes. A few big trees on the embankment covered the small Temple of the Goddess of the River, and the old temple, Zhu Zheng, was sweeping the fallen leaves on the steps with a bamboo broom.He looked indifferently at Di Gong who came from afar - the first pilgrim of the day, feeling very surprised. Duke Di got off his horse and walked up a few steps to the temple. There is a strange fragrance in the hall, and light blue cigarettes are curling up from a kui pattern incense burner on the altar.Di Gong stood in front of the altar, with his hands wrapped in his wide sleeves, raised his head and silently looked at the peaceful face of the white lady.Through the curling cigarette, he vaguely saw the lips of the white lady curved slightly, revealing a slight smile. The events of the past two days flashed by in front of my eyes, and I couldn't help feeling dizzy after being thrilled.He thought, how crude and superficial his understanding of people is, and the self-confidence accumulated over the years has teased himself like this.Thinking of this, I felt ashamed, and couldn't help but smiled wryly. Di Gong turned around and was about to leave, but saw the old Miao Zhu standing silently behind him.Di Gong understood, and hurriedly reached into his sleeve to take out a few copper coins for charity.Suddenly his fingers touched something hard, and he took it out hastily, and it turned out to be a piece of silver cake.His face suddenly became gloomy, that piece of silver cake was the reward that Amber paid him the night before yesterday! Di Gong was silent for a while, feeling a dull pain in his heart.He handed the piece of silver cake to Lao Miaozhu, and said, "Every fifth day of May, you burn a stick of incense here for me and recite sutras once, Chao Duke's wife Amber, and may her unfortunate soul ascend to heaven as soon as possible." Lao Miaozhu nodded and took the silver cake, overjoyed, Natou bowed, staggered to the table on the side of the hall, opened a thick merit book, dipped a bald pen into the ink, and wrote crookedly on the book. A number is drawn on it.His gray head was lowered, almost touching the yellowed pages of the merit book. Di Gong went out of the temple, went down the stone steps, untied the reins of his horse, turned over and jumped up to be whipped, when the old Miaozhu suddenly chased him out to the steps of the temple entrance, still holding the stick dipped in black ink in his withered hand. bald pen.With a trembling voice, he called out: "Your Majesty, please bless the officials who are charitable and generous, please leave the treasure number of Xianxiang—" Di Gong turned his face from his horseback and replied: "Taiyuan Mingjing——Di Renjie."