In front of Cao Shuo's mansion, three brothers, Cao Pi, Cao Zhang, and Cao Zhi, walked out in Qixian mourning robes.
The three of them carried out Cao Cao's order and kept vigil for Cao Shuo for three days.
For the past three days, they had followed the rules of mourning at the beginning of the period of Qi Shai Bu Zhan. They had not eaten water or rice, nor had they slept. They were all exhausted by this time.
As soon as Cao Pi walked out, Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu, who had been waiting outside, quickly came to greet him.
"Zihuan, thank you for your hard work." Cao Zhen handed over the water bag in his hand.
Cao Pi took the water bag and was about to drink it, but then he remembered something, turned around and handed the water bag to Cao Zhang behind him: "Ziwen, drink water."
Cao Zhang looked at the water bag in Cao Pi's hand, but smiled and shook his head: "How can I drink first before my brother drinks? My brother drinks first."
Cao Pi smiled awkwardly: "It seems that Ziwen has been bitten by a snake once and has been afraid of well ropes for ten years. Okay, I'll drink first."
After speaking, he deliberately raised the water bag high, letting Cao Zhang and Cao Zhi watch the water pour from the water bag into their mouths, and took several sips.
"Are you relieved now?" Cao Pi handed the water bag to Cao Zhang again.
Cao Zhang then took a few sips of the water bag and said with a smile: "Brother, you are joking. I am just following etiquette and have no other intentions."
"The culprit who poisoned my second brother hasn't been found yet. It's always right for us to be careful." Seeing that both of them had drank water, Cao Zhi couldn't bear the hunger and thirst, so he stepped forward and picked up the water bag and took a few sips.
"What Zijian said is that after we go back, we need to be careful about our diet and daily life." Cao Pi reminded the two of them with a concerned look.
"Okay, you three don't worry here anymore. This morning, Military Advisor Guo of Sikong Mansion reported that the School Affairs Office has found out the truth." Cao Zhen said.
"Oh, who is the real murderer?" Cao Zhi asked quickly.
"There is no real culprit. It's just that the servants in the second brother's house found that he was bitten to death by a poisonous snake. They also found a snake hole in the corner of the room. They were afraid of being held responsible for poor supervision."
"I put poison in the remaining wine and poured it into my second brother's mouth, hoping to cover up the truth and avoid punishment."
"It's disgusting that these servants are so vicious." Cao Zhi was simple-minded and had no doubts.
Of course, Cao Zhang would not believe this explanation and sneered: "Then who sent me to the princess's courtyard?"
"You can only blame yourself for this, Ziwen." Cao Zhen replied deliberately with a bit of complaint.
"Blame myself?"
"Yes, Ziwen, you have a bad temper. You often beat, scold and punish your servants, which makes them resentful and always looking for opportunities to retaliate against you."
"The brother of one of them was the captain of the guard team of another courtyard, so they bribed the eunuchs and palace maids."
"They colluded and took advantage of your drunkenness to stun the princess and send you to her bed. Then they captured you and framed you for trying to rape the princess." Cao Zhen explained to Cao Zhang.
After hearing this, Cao Zhang couldn't help but sneer in his heart: How can anyone believe such an answer full of loopholes?
"Brother Zidan, how did you investigate this?" Cao Zhi couldn't help but ask.
"Hey, who is Zhao Dana from the school affairs office? When these people were in his hands, they all confessed after being tortured." Cao Zhen responded disapprovingly.
"Now the guards, eunuchs, palace maids, and servants who framed Ziwen have all been beheaded. Sikong has also ordered that this matter be ended, and no one should mention it again in the future." Cao Xiu added.
Cao Zhi praised: "I didn't expect that the truth turned out to be like this. Fortunately, we have found out everything now and punished these evildoers. My second brother is alive in heaven and can rest in peace."
"Yes, this matter is finally over, and we don't have to worry anymore." Cao Pi followed Cao Zhi's words and continued.
When he heard that the matter was over, the big stone in his heart completely fell.
In order to prevent the plan from going wrong, he had arranged backup plans at the beginning.
These two relatively poor reasons actually deceived Zhao Da and fooled Cao Cao, and even ordered the matter to be settled. Everything went so smoothly, which made Cao Pi very surprised and pleasantly surprised.
Although Cao Zhang was full of doubts, after hearing what the two said, he naturally did not want to reveal his inner thoughts, and deliberately vented according to the previous state of the original owner: "These bastards actually joined forces to frame me, so killing them like this will be an advantage for them." .”
"Okay, the matter is over. We have worked hard for three days. Let's go back and rest first." Cao Pi proposed to leave.
After three days of not sleeping, and being in the mourning hall guarding Cao Shuo's body, Cao Pi was always on tenterhooks. He was exhausted both mentally and physically and didn't want to stay here anymore.
Cao Zhi immediately agreed, and they saluted each other and said goodbye.
Cao Pi got on the carriage prepared by Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu and left. Cao Zhi was also picked up by his servants.
The servant who had just been exchanged from Xiahou Ba led Cao Zhang's horse. After Cao Zhang mounted the horse, he moved forward slowly.
Although he was very tired, he still tried hard to use his brain and think about why things turned out like this.
It is obviously impossible to deceive Cao Cao with such a poor reason.
So there is only one reason: Cao Cao himself does not want to pursue it any further.
Why did Cao Cao do this? Did he not want to find out the truth, or did he have some deep meaning?
Cao Zhang just thought silently and rode his horse forward slowly.
…
The study room where Guo Jia lives.
Standing in front of him was a school official who secretly observed the conversation between Cao Pi and several people at the entrance of Cao Shuo's residence and reported to Guo Jia.
After hearing all the details, Guo Jia nodded slightly and waved his hand to signal the school administrator to leave.
After he dealt with the guards and servants according to Cao Cao's instructions, he began to secretly monitor Cao Pi and others to find out who was the murderer of Cao Shuo.
Guo Jia picked up a pen and recorded it on the bamboo slips so that he could report to Cao Cao at any time.
A servant walked in: "Military advisor, is there anyone outside the house who wants to see you?"
Guo Jia was slightly startled. Because of his special status, he didn't usually interact much with the officials of the DPRK and the Sikong Mansion. Who could come to find him?
"Who is he?" Guo Jia asked.
"It's Mr. Cao Zhang," the servant replied.
"It's him?!"
Guo Jia was very shocked. Cao Zhangping had never had any contact with him. How could he come at this time?
Guo Jia thought calmly and realized: Cao Cao's order to announce that he would not pursue the matter was conveyed through him.
Cao Zhang was framed and almost died, so he was definitely not willing to let things go.
He had a fiery and reckless personality. Although he did not dare to disobey Cao Cao's orders, it was still entirely possible for him to come here to raise an army and hold him accountable.
"Go and reply to the young master for me, saying that I am not feeling well and can't see guests. Please ask him to go back." Guo Jia ordered his subordinates. It would be better not to offend Cao Zhang at this time.
The servant followed the order and went out, and came back after a while, holding a bamboo stick in his hand.
"Military advisor, Mr. Zhang asked me to show you this bamboo stick. He said that you will definitely meet him after you see it."
Guo Jia took the bamboo stick from the servant's hand and looked at it doubtfully. His expression changed drastically because there were four words clearly written on the bamboo stick: Play hard to get!
