"I should be honest, I should be peaceful, I shouldn't study at all, why do people like us have delusions..."
Huailin's eyes were red and her expression was dazed.
But what’s wrong with reading?
Jiuji suddenly opened her mouth.
"There is nothing wrong with reading, the old gentleman is right, you are right, Quan Lang is even more right, and the person who put Quan Lang to death is wrong."
Huailin looked up at her and saw that her eyes were as deep as the abyss and her voice was as cold as a deep stream.
"If anyone deserves to die, it shouldn't be you and Quan Lang, but the real murderer."
... ...
Jiuji asked Huailin to carefully recall the situation at that time.
She said that her husband never cared about their unknown origins and treated them no differently than ordinary students. He even took great care of her because she was a woman.
She once made a bone whistle for her husband. She said that if he was in danger, he would just blow the whistle and she would arrive immediately.
That day, the whistle suddenly sounded.
At that time, she had just delivered spiritual drinks to the hotel. Because it was late at night, Quan Lang was afraid that there would be drunkards in the restaurant, so he followed her.
When the bone whistle sounded, both of them were startled, but when Xun Sheng arrived, it was already too late.
She said that it was indeed she who used vines to sweep away Quan Lang who was seen by others. "I didn't show up at that time because the bone whistle and Mr. were not in the same place, but fell in another place. Mr. was covered in There was blood, but there was no blood on the whistle.”
Huailin explained all her doubts and related situations.
Jiu Ji pondered for a while.
"It's best to discuss these matters with Dali Temple."
After all, what they know is not as comprehensive as Dali Temple.
She thought for a while and said, "I think Zhong Shaoqing from Dali Temple is still clear and trustworthy."
But An Sanniang shook her head.
"Zhong Shaoqing seems to be a sensible person, but after all, Dali Temple is the government office of the imperial court. If Huailin enters Dali Temple, the mortal court will think that both of them are murderers, and will inevitably kill them..."
This possibility mentioned by An Sanniang obviously exists. The censor who entered Dali Temple this morning was not Zhong Heqing's style.
An Sanniang said, "They are both my children. I can't let both of my children be in danger."
She asked Jiu Ji, "Can you think of a way for Arlene to talk to Zhong Shaoqing in private?"
In private.
Jiuji glanced far away and crossed her arms.
"let me try."
"But..." she said, raising her eyebrows, "you have to keep some things secret from me."
*
In the evening, Zhong Heqing returned home from the office.
Stargazing came back an hour early. Now Zhong Heqing saw him peeping his head, as if he had something strange to say.
"Just say what you want to say," the man said.
Stargazing quickly whispered.
"Mr. Lang, please stay at home tonight."
"what for?"
"The villain means," he became more and more mysterious and sneaky, "What if you are not at home and my wife does not come back?"
The lady won’t come back?
Zhong Heqing was slightly surprised. He had no time to guess riddles with this boy.
"What's wrong, madam? What's going on?"
With a straight face, Guanxing spoke quickly.
"Mr. Lang didn't know that a Taoist priest came outside the door at noon. He said he was the senior fellow apprentice of the old Taoist nun who was with my wife before, and the person my wife called my uncle.
"This man came to look for my wife, and he brought a young husband with him. The young man looked through the crack in the door. The Taoist priest kept introducing the young man to my wife, and not long after that, my wife said that she wanted to go out. I left with the young man and the Taoist priest. I haven't come back yet."
Tang Yirao used to be with the old Taoist nun all year round. The old Taoist nun had some Taoist skills and was from a serious Taoist school. Zhong Heqing knew that.
But who is the young man brought by the Taoist uncle?
He thought to himself and listened to the stargazing guide again.
"The young man is very handsome. He is exactly like the handsome young man in the play. To be honest, you are much more handsome than you. My wife seems to like this kind of delicate appearance very much, and she has the same feelings as the young man. Speak. Mr. Lang, just..."
These words made the man's eyes darken a bit, and his voice lowered.
"Where did the lady go?"
Guan Xing shook his head, "I don't know, little one."
The man frowned completely, and just as he was about to send someone to ask the Jin lady and her daughter beside Jiu Ji, he saw an errand boy running towards the house.
"Your wife invites your young master, Shaoqing, to have a drink at Lengyue Tower. We are going now. Please report him quickly!"
The boy reported the letter, took the coins from the porter and ran away.
Zhong Heqing didn't need to ask Mrs. Jin.
He turned around and walked out of the door, heading straight for Lengyue Tower.
... ...
The sun is about to set now, and there are crowds of people on the streets.
Guanxing was used to talking nonsense all day long, and Zhong Heqing couldn't believe him in some matters.
But when he walked to the street below Lengyue, when he looked up, he happened to see his wife's figure from the window.
She was sitting at the table by the window in the private room on the second floor of Lengyue Building, and on the other side of the table, there was indeed a young-looking husband sitting.
At this moment, the man stood up and poured water for her.
She was not polite to the man, so she naturally picked up the tea cup and started drinking.
The gibberish of Stargazing that had just been suppressed would pop up again when the cover was lifted.
The man pursed his lips and strode upstairs.
*
Leng Yue upstairs.
Jiu Ji counted the time and estimated that he should have gone home from the office. He should also be on his way here after hearing her message.
She deliberately put on a show in front of Stargazing all afternoon, thinking that with Stargazing's eloquence, she might not be able to disappoint her.
As she was counting the time, there were footsteps outside the door that made her ears twitch.
The waiter opened the door with a warning, and Jiuji saw her "mortal husband" at a glance.
He seemed to have just left the office and had not even changed his clothes. Now he strode to the table.
Jiu Ji quickly motioned for him to sit down, but to his surprise, he just stood still, with his straight lip line slightly curved, and an expression on his face that Jiu Ji couldn't quite understand.
She could only stand up. Seeing that he was silent and just looking at her, she couldn't help but gently pull his cuffs underneath.
"Sit down." She whispered.
Unexpectedly, before he finished speaking, his fingertips were suddenly grasped by the man's slightly cold palm.
Under the wide sleeves of the crimson official uniform, Jiu Ji was startled for a moment when her two hands touched each other and their skin touched each other.
The man didn't seem to expect that he would have such a subconscious reaction, just like when he held up her broken hair that day, he was also momentarily stunned.
But he didn't let go, and even held it a little tighter.
Coolness and warmth, coldness and heat are all exchanged carefully along the place where the two hands are close together.
Then he looked at the young man beside him and saw that the young man was indeed handsome and handsome, with an extraordinary appearance.
He held the hand of the person next to him tighter.
"Who is this?"
The person beside him who was still in a daze had not yet recovered, but the person he asked bowed and spoke.
"Huailin, a folk girl, has met the Lord."
With this opening, Zhong Heqing suddenly saw that although this person was dressed as a man, her delicate face looked like a girl.
It's a pity that he was misled by Stargazing before he came, and he only thought he was a handsome young man with a jade face.
Zhong Heqing was slightly embarrassed.
Jiu Ji came back to her senses and tried to twitch her hand. As soon as she moved, he turned his head and looked over, but still did not let go.
Jiuji didn't know what he was doing, so she had to ignore it for now, clearing her throat and saying something to him.
"Miss Huai was introduced by a Taoist uncle. She didn't come to see me, but she wanted to talk to you through me."
The so-called uncle is just pretending to be An Sanniang. She whispered, "It's related to Mr. Du's case."
She said, looking at Zhong Heqing's face, and seeing that there was nothing unusual about his expression, she added in a lower voice.
"My uncle left because of something urgent, but he told me that the pregnant girl came from the demon shop and is a demon..."
Before she finished speaking, she suddenly noticed that the man held her hand tighter and actually pulled her behind him.
Jiu Ji was pulled by him and staggered, blinking in confusion.
The two people's eyes were fixed on one place, and they spoke in unison almost at the same time.
"Don't be afraid..."
"Don't be afraid."
Both of them thought the other was afraid.
The strange moment of speaking in unison made the atmosphere inexplicably tense.
Zhong Heqing looked down at the person in front of him and heard her add in embarrassment.
"Miss Huai has no ill intentions. Uncle Master told me that she just wanted to tell you something."
After Jiuji finished speaking, the weird atmosphere at that moment relaxed.
The man nodded slightly, looked at her again, then let go of her hand, and while signaling to Huailin, he sat down.
The meeting finally got down to business.
Jiuji breathed a sigh of relief.
Huailin didn't have the same emotions as the two people just now. She opened her mouth and told Zhong Heqing that everything that happened that night was experienced by her and Quan Lang together.
She told everything about the situation, which was almost the same as what Quan Lang said.
Now, she took out the bone whistle and put it on the table.
"...There is no blood on the whistle. Later I asked Alang to smell the scent on it. There was a scent on it that did not belong to Mr., but we don't know who it belonged to."
This proves that someone other than Mr. Du blew the whistle at that time, attracting Quan Lang and Huailin.
The man looked at the bone whistle and tapped the table twice with his slender fingertips. Jiuji didn't know what he was thinking at the moment.
But he did not continue to ask about the matter. Instead, he asked about Huailin.
"Before the incident, how long had it been since you had seen Mr. Du?"
Huailin said that she had not gone to study with Mr. Du for half a month.
"My husband said that there has been some fraud in the imperial examination recently, and the Yamen may come to inquire about it at some time. He is also busy because of this, so he asked me not to come over for the time being. It will not be too late to resume my previous studies after this matter is over."
Zhong Heqing had heard about the recent cases of fraud in imperial examinations in various provinces, and now he listened to Huailin again.
"I haven't gone to see you for half a month, but Alang has some errands, so I haven't been there for a month."
"Is it a detective's job?"
Huailin nodded, "It's a detective. Only if the demon who serves as a detective finds a new half-demon, and then goes to the demon shop to help register, can he receive a sum of money from the Yamen."
She said that Quan Lang had discovered traces of a half-demon spirit rabbit six months ago, but had yet to find the specific location of the spirit rabbit. Until last month, he felt that the spirit rabbit's condition might be a little abnormal, so he took a leave of absence from his husband. , almost all the time in January, I was looking for spiritual rabbits in the mountains and fields.
"I haven't even seen him a few times this month."
