Gu Chen and Bao Cheng rushed to the Anchang Hou Mansion near noon for a free lunch.
Upon hearing this, the two looked at each other calmly, saw the smiles in each other's eyes, and immediately followed Anchang Hou to the side hall.
The lunch at Anchang Hou Mansion was indeed as Gu Chen said, extremely sumptuous, with many dishes that Bao Cheng had never seen before.
Seeing the table full of food, Bao Cheng's eyes were very bright. At first, he was a little embarrassed and couldn't let go. Later, when he saw Anchang Hou and Gu Chen pushing cups and changing cups, they talked very warmly. No one looked at him twice, so he felt no shame and started eating and drinking freely.
Face, how much is a pound of face worth? Is it worth having this good meal?
The guests and hosts enjoyed the whole meal, and Bao Cheng almost vomited out the food. He could see the roasted meat when he opened his mouth.
Marquis Anchang also brushed away the clouds just now, rinsed his mouth, and asked Gu Chen with a smile on his face: "Master Gu, how is your lunch?"
Gu Chen had a serious smile on his face, and he nodded as if he were an expert: "Master Marquis, please let the servants go to the front hall for questioning."
Marquis Anchang looked solemn. He felt bad when he thought about the troubles in the house, and quickly asked the housekeeper to call someone.
There were not many servants in Anchanghou's mansion. After a moment, all the servants gathered in the front hall. They glanced at the people sitting uneasily, then lowered their heads and whispered a few words.
Marquis Anchang coughed slightly, and the people in the front hall suddenly became quiet. You could hear the needle drop in the quiet. He nodded with satisfaction at his power of intimidation, and turned to ask Gu Chen: "Master Gu, look How to check this?"
Gu Chen glanced over and saw that there were less than a hundred people standing in the front hall. There were men and women. They didn't look very old. They probably hadn't been in the mansion for a long time. His heart sank, thinking of ten years. He said quietly: "First call out the servants who have worked in the mansion for more than ten years."
Anchang Hou was very convinced by Gu Chen, and he responded to what he said. He quickly glanced at the housekeeper.
The butler hurriedly nodded to the roster.
The servants in this mansion were as expected by Gu Chen. There were not many who were older, and even fewer who had worked for more than ten years. When the housekeeper called the names, only nine people stood up out of less than a hundred people.
Gu Chen nodded towards Bao Cheng.
Bao Cheng understood and took the nine people to the side hall next door for questioning.
As soon as the nine people left, the remaining people were shocked and frightened. They didn't know what they were doing, couldn't figure out why they were doing this, and were even more afraid that the fire would burn them.
Gu Chen didn't give these people a chance to breathe and think. Taking advantage of Bao Cheng's questioning, he picked out the remaining people according to different errands. After Bao Cheng asked the nine people, he quickly led another A group of people went to the side hall for questioning.
Although Bao Cheng had just entered the Internal Security Department and was not familiar with the torture industry, when he first arrived at Bao Mansion, he was unfamiliar with everything. He was afraid of showing his flaws, so he spent two years cautiously. In these two years, he had developed a good ability to observe people's emotions. , the calm formula is too simple for him.
In addition, these servants were already worried. Without being frightened, they would pour beans out of a bamboo tube without being intimidated. Even sesame seeds and millet could be poured out completely.
Bao Cheng basically didn't put any effort into it. He just put a little more thought into it. He coaxed, lied, and threatened. It took him more than two hours to interview nearly a hundred people in the mansion, from as far away as I have memorized a lot of things from ten years ago to this morning, but I don’t know if these things are of any use.
He walked out with a thick stack of paper and nodded slightly towards Gu Chen.
The Marquis of Anchang was restless while waiting. After drinking two pots of tea, he could not calm down. He looked up and saw Bao Cheng coming out. As if he had received an amnesty, he stood up from the bed in a flash. He stood up too hard and his body shook. He stared at Bao Cheng and said, "Master Bao, what's going on? Have you found someone?"
Bao Cheng nodded: "I found it, but it's still a bit troublesome."
Anchang Hou shook his body violently as if he was frightened. He relied on the housekeeper to stand still. He asked Bao Cheng with a pale face: "Master Bao, why is it so, so difficult?" He swallowed hard. : "Also, is there any hope?"
Bao Cheng wanted to laugh, but almost couldn't hold back his laughter. Gu Chen glared at him and quickly suppressed his smile. He said with a serious look on his face: "Yes, it's just." He turned to look at Gu Chen. He calmed down and said, "We still have to go to the eldest girl's yard to take a look."
Anchang Hou obviously didn't trust the hairless Bao Cheng. When he heard this, he turned to look at Gu Chen.
Gu Chen said seriously: "Girl, that's the most important thing."
"Go, go, let's go now." As soon as he said this, Anchang Hou didn't hesitate for a moment. He stood up and walked straight out: "Master Gu, as long as we can drive away this evil, I will definitely do it." Nothing to say."
Gu Chen nodded: "Master Hou, don't worry, this evil is not difficult to drive away, but it will take a little longer."
It doesn’t matter how long it takes, Anchang Hou spends a lot of money and doesn’t feel any distress at all!
The Anchang Hou Mansion is said to be in such a state of decline that it has started to sell its houses, but it is still much better than ordinary mansions.
An Jinyue is a female family member who lives in the inner courtyard. A normal female family member will not go out of the second door. And An Jinyue, a sick young man, can't even go downstairs all year round.
Anchang Hou took Gu Chen and Bao Cheng into the second gate, and walked for a full moment before arriving outside An Jinyue's boudoir.
The dark plaque was stained with gray. It must have been that no one had taken care of it for a long time. The black paint on it cracked and fell off piece by piece.
The two red-painted doors were ajar, and the red paint on the doors was dull. Dark green and light green moss covered half of the white wall, and wild grass was luxuriant at the base of the wall.
This place is desolate and desolate, with nothing like what a women's boudoir should look like.
The position of An Jinyue in Anchang Hou's heart is evident.
Anchanghou didn't feel anything was wrong at all. He looked at the ajar door and said, "This is the big girl's yard."
Gu Chen nodded and glanced at Bao Cheng: "The eldest lady's boudoir, I don't know if it is inconvenient for a poor man to enter."
Anchang Hou was stunned for a moment and said quickly: "It's convenient, of course it's convenient, there's nothing inconvenient about it."
After saying that, without waiting for Gu Chen and Bao Cheng to say anything else, he opened the door and politely led Gu Chen and Bao Cheng in.
What you see is a small courtyard, and you can vaguely see its former appearance. It was built in a very orderly manner. However, this courtyard has not been repaired for many years, and it is dilapidated and depressed everywhere.
Most of the Taihu stones standing on one side of the yard collapsed, and the rubble was piled in the pool without being cleared out.
The water in the four large and half-person-high tanks at the four corners of the yard has long since dried up, leaving only half of the tank filled with mud.
Hearing the door knock, the little girls who were playing with the rope in the yard raised their heads and saw Anchang Hou, who would never come to the yard this time in the Year of the Monkey, walking in. With a "plop", the two little girls fell to the ground from their cubs, trembling. Shivering, he knelt down to say hello.
Anchang Hou was a little angry. This anger was not because these two girls were slacking off, but because these two girls had humiliated themselves in front of Gu Chen. His expression became more and more serious: "Where is the eldest girl?"
These two little girls had just arrived. They had never seen Anchang Hou, let alone talked to him. When they heard this cold voice, the two little girls were so frightened that their voices trembled so much that they could not even form a sentence. : "Go back to the Marquis, girl, here, in the inner room."
Marquis Anchang glanced deeply at the two of them, turned to Gu Chen and said, "Master Gu, please come inside."
These three main rooms are not big, with nothing on the snow walls and no decoration at all.
There is a bed and dining table in the house, and two four-fold screens on the left and right separate two inner rooms, one is the bedroom and the other is the study.
Bao Cheng stood at the door. A few rays of sunlight fell inside the door, revealing every detail of the cracks in the old blue bricks.
The guest room in the middle was not very bright, and everything was darkly stained with a layer of gray, as if no one had touched anything here for a long time.
From the outside of the yard, it doesn't look like a girl's boudoir, but from inside the house, it doesn't even look like a girl's boudoir.
A low voice came from behind the fan on the east side.
"Girl, if you eat more, you will get better quickly."
After the words fell, no one answered, only rustling sounds were heard.
The three people had been in the door for a long time, and they didn't deliberately slow down their steps. However, the people in the room seemed to have heard nothing, and no one came out to greet them.
Marquis Anchang felt that he had lost all his face in this life and that all the rules had been lost to dogs!
He stood in the sun with his face as black as the bottom of a pot and coughed heavily.
There was a loud "clang-clang-clang" sound from behind the fan, as if something heavy had fallen to the ground.
A figure flashed behind the fan, and a maid in a purple dress hurriedly walked out. It was not accurate to say she was a maid. She looked no longer young, almost forty years old, and there was no decoration on her bun. , dressed extremely plainly, when he saw the two Marquis Anchang, his expression changed, and he hurriedly saluted: "My maid has met the Marquis."
Marquis Anchang was originally going to be furious, but when he saw this maid, he felt as if a basin of cold water had been poured down on him. The anger in his heart suddenly turned into a wisp of embarrassing smoke, and he asked impatiently: "Where is the eldest girl? "
The maid, neither humble nor arrogant, said: "Replying to the Marquis, the girl drank the medicine and just lay down."
Hearing this, Marquis Anchang became even more impatient, but he couldn't ignore it in front of outsiders, so he bluntly said caring words: "Have you invited the doctor to take a look?"
The maid's eyes flickered, a little surprised and a little wary: "Have a look, I made a new recipe to cook the medicine."
Marquis Anchang muttered: "I keep taking medicine all year round, and I spend countless money on it, but I'm still unlucky!"
Hearing this, the maid gave Anchang Hou a deep look. After all, she was concerned about her dignity, so she only pursed her lips and did not say anything unpleasant.
Bao Cheng had just checked the servants in the mansion and recognized the maid in front of him at a glance. This maid's name was Chu Shi. She was one of the few servants who had worked in the mansion for more than ten years.
He remembered very clearly that on the tenth day of the lunar month, he was the dowry maid of the eldest princess Rongzhen. At that time, the eldest princess Rongzhen brought a total of eight dowry maids. Later, she got married one after another and died of illness. When the eldest princess Rongzhen passed away, there were There were only two dowry maids left, one was Chu Shi, who was given to An Jinyue. According to Chu Shi, the other one was called Chu Ba, and she married into the An Ninghou Mansion with An Jinyu.
Bao Cheng glanced at Anchanghou calmly, he came from the palace on the tenth day of the lunar month and was the dowry of the eldest princess Rongzhen. No wonder he dared to look at Anchanghou's face. No wonder Anchanghou was obviously very angry, but he I didn’t dare to have an attack.
Yes, for such a heterosexual and inhumane father, someone should take good care of him.
After being scolded a few times by a maid, Anchang Hou's face was dull and he was anxious to make up for it. He didn't care whether he was embarrassed or not. He kept complaining to Bao Cheng: "Master Bao doesn't know something. Ever since the eldest girl’s marriage failed, her mother left at a young age due to the consequences, and her own body is not in good condition. She just lies like this day after day. It’s really, really bad luck and a waste of money!”
Bao Cheng's heart moved. This Anchanghou deliberately turned things upside down and blamed all the bad luck on his daughter. How much he disliked this daughter. I'm afraid it wasn't just bad luck and a waste of money.
He narrowed his eyes slightly, pinched his fingers, and followed Anchang Hou's wishes and said, "It's a little inappropriate."
Anchanghou suddenly showed an expression that was indeed the case, and treated Bao Cheng more cautiously, even being too polite: "Then, real person, if you look at it in real life, can it be resolved?"
Before Bao Cheng could say anything, a heavy coughing sound came from the fan. The coughing was so severe that he almost lost his breath.
The girl named Chu Shi hurriedly ran into the bedroom and exclaimed: "Big girl! Big girl!" Her voice suddenly broke sharply: "Big girl has lost her breath!"
Marquis Anchang did not move, a fleeting look of panic flashed across his face, and he turned to look at Bao Cheng.
Bao Cheng was also a little panicked. He had never encountered such a thing before, and hesitated for a while.
Gu Chen reacted quickly, lifted up the half-worn blue cotton curtain hanging next to the fan, and walked in quickly.
The bedroom was filled with a strong smell of medicine. This strong smell seemed to have been accumulated over time. It penetrated into the heated kang, bedding, and desks in the room. When the strong wind blew, it penetrated everywhere. Penetrating everywhere.
Bao Cheng finally came to his senses, secretly blaming himself for being useless, and followed Gu Chen's footsteps and walked in, but he didn't go in. He just stood in the corner, fanned himself, opened the cotton curtain, and looked at Chu with cold eyes. He took the wide-mouthed white porcelain medicine bowl and took out a long-necked white porcelain bottle from the drawer. He poured a pill into the bowl and dissolved it in boiling water.
The strong medicinal smell suddenly spread out.
Bao Cheng didn't understand medical science, didn't understand pulse conditions, and couldn't distinguish the properties of medicine, but there were others who understood what he didn't understand. He raised his eyes and looked at Gu Chen, only to see Gu Chen frowning slightly, as if he was trying to distinguish something.
Some people were worried about medicine, so Bao Cheng began to pay attention to other things.
The beddings on the heated ondol are all half-old, light-colored, and without any patterns.
There were thin ripples in the quilt, and a handful of dry, dull hair hung down on the edge of the kang.
Bao Cheng lowered his gaze and saw the face between the quilts.
The face that had not seen the sun all year round was pale and bloodless, the lips were dark, and the thin veins on the forehead showed through the thin skin, which looked a bit shocking.
An Jinyue is only twenty-five or six years old, but she already looks like she has gone through many vicissitudes of life.
Gu Chen also saw An Jinyue's condition and couldn't help but pause in his steps. He was involved in a lot of miscellaneous knowledge and knew rudimentary medical skills. He also knew the pulse. Although he was not proficient in everything, whether a person was really sick or pretending to be sick, he was still You'll know it as soon as you touch it.
He walked over slowly, put his hand on An Jinyue's wrist, narrowed his eyes slightly, and took a pulse.
When Chu Shi saw this scene, his expression changed. He turned his head and glanced at Anchang Hou gloomily, then moved his eyes to stare at Gu Chen's movements.
The look in his eyes was fierce, as if if Gu Chen hurt An Jinyue even a little bit, she would pounce on him and bite him.
Gu Chen turned a deaf ear to the maid's needle-like gaze and just continued to take his pulse.
An Jinyue, who was on the hot kang, moved her eyelids and slowly opened her eyes. Her dark eyes rolled around, and when she met Gu Chen's face, she suddenly became wet with water. She pulled her arms back, On the other hand, she cried timidly: "You, who are you? Let go, let me go."
Gu Chen raised his head and smiled slowly: "I am not a libertine, I will not be frivolous towards a big girl."
An Jinyue choked, her face turned pale, she glared at Chu Shi, and said weakly: "Chu Shi, medicine, where's my medicine!"
Chu Shi sighed imperceptibly, and steadily brought the bowl of medicine closer to her. Seeing that Gu Chen had no intention of moving it aside, she calmly held the medicine bowl further away.
Gu Chen looked at the bowl of medicine, his eyes flashed, he turned his head with a cold expression, glanced at An Jinyue, and walked out.
As soon as he saw Gu Chen and Bao Cheng coming out, Anchang Hou hurriedly greeted him: "Master Gu, how are you?"
Gu Chen narrowed his eyes slightly, pinched his fingers and said: "Master Hou, it's not good. I need to discuss this with my junior brother. This time I brought my junior brother here because I expected that the situation would be difficult and I need help."
As soon as he heard this, Anchang Hou's legs became weak and he almost fell to the ground. He held on to the door frame to stand still and kept wiping his sweat: "Okay, okay, everything, listen to the real person, what?" There are many ways to help me survive this calamity as long as I can."
Hearing this, Bao Cheng raised his eyelids and glanced at Marquis Anchang, suddenly suspicious of his haste.
Even if An Jinyue was born on the Ghost Festival and her days were somewhat unlucky, even if she had been sick all year round and spent countless medicinal materials and money, Marquis Anchang should not be so panicked.
Faced with such a troublesome person, shouldn't he, a father with no sense of responsibility, express disgust? How could he be panic, but also faintly fearful and frightened.
Anchang Hou walked to the fan again and said coldly to Chu Shi inside: "Take good care of me, big girl."
Chu Shi responded calmly and turned to look at An Jinyue, who was lying on the warm bed and breathing weakly.
A gloomy look flashed across An Jinyue's face, and she shook her head towards Chu Shi.
After walking out of the courtyard, Gu Chen and Bao Cheng looked at each other and said to Marquis Anchang: "The elder girl's matter is a bit tricky. I need to discuss a charter with my junior brother."
Anchang Hou nodded like garlic: "It should be, it should be. I ordered people to clean up the yard next door. Don't be disgusted by the simplicity."
Gu Chen acted like a master who didn't stop at things: "It's just arranged by the Marquis."
Always give people some breathing room.
Gu Chen used Qing Xiu as an excuse to send the servants serving in the guest room, closed the doors and windows, and made a show of not letting strangers in.
Bao Cheng lost his temper. He took a sip of tea and asked, "Mr. Gu Qi, what's wrong with An Jinyue? I see you took her pulse."
Gu Chen held the cup, with heat on his face. He thought: "I cut An Jinyue's pulse. She is indeed weak and sick, but she is not going to die immediately. Although the smell of medicine in her room is It's very heavy, but I took a closer look and found that most of them are warming and tonic medicines. I just took a closer look at the pills that the maid prepared. They are not ordinary tonics. They smell like Wuyou Powder."
"Wuyousan?" Bao Cheng obviously had never heard of this medicine, and was stunned for a moment: "What does it treat?"
Gu Chen thought about An Jinyue's situation for a moment, and felt a little embarrassed to say it. He hesitated and said, "It's the disease that the girl has. Oh, you don't understand."
Bao Cheng's curiosity aroused, he grabbed Gu Chen, and showed a posture that he would not give up until he asked questions: "What disease does the girl have?" Seeing that Gu Chen turned his head and ignored him, he persisted and continued Question: "Yes, irregular menstruation, or what?"
Gu Chen choked up and couldn't look directly at Bao Cheng. He couldn't understand how Bao Cheng, as a young master from an aristocratic family, could even ask such a question.
He was ashamed of him.
Gu Chen sighed: "Hey, Old Bao, what do you want me to say about you?" He paused slightly and said, "This Wuyou Powder also has a name, called Baochan Wuyou."
With a "Puch" sound, Bao Cheng squirted out a sip of tea, and the tea splashed all over the floor.
His eyes widened and almost fell to the ground: "What did you say?"
Gu Chen nodded seriously: "Yes, you heard that right."
Bao Cheng's face was full of shock: "Are you sure?"
Gu Chen raised his eyebrows: "I'm not sure. I just said it casually, but you took it seriously."
"..." Bao Cheng was speechless. If he believed in Gu Chen again, he would be a big fool!
After resting for a moment, as the sun had just turned westward, there was a low knock on the door.
Gu Chen glanced at Bao Cheng and motioned for him to open the door.
Bao Cheng curled his lips, opened the door and took a look. He was stunned and turned to look at Gu Chen.
Gu Chen noticed something was wrong, stood up, looked at the door, and chuckled: "Is this, do you want to invite me?"
A look of embarrassment quickly flashed across Chu Shi's face, but thinking of An Jinyue's precarious situation, she lowered her posture and whispered: "Yes, the eldest lady would like to invite two real people to talk to each other."
Gu Chen turned around and looked at Bao Cheng, seeing surprise in each other's eyes. He didn't expect An Jinyue to take the initiative to invite him.
If they didn't agree, they would be stupid.
An Jinyue was half leaning on the heated kang. It was already early summer and the weather was getting hotter, but she was still covered with a thick brocade quilt, as if she was particularly afraid of the cold.
She raised her pale and bloodless face and saw that Gu Chen and Bao Cheng were invited. She was not surprised at all and smiled to herself: "It seems that I am really ominous."
