At night, Qing Lan went to the study to light up the candles several times. When she glanced over, she saw Xue Bai sitting there deep in thought, while Da Xi Yingying moved the stool in front of him, leaned over and murmured quietly.
"The man died just after Lang Jun returned to Chang'an. The Nu family doesn't believe it was a coincidence. It must have been arranged by someone..."
Qinglan didn't pay attention to these, but her mind was taken away by Da Xi Yingying. When she fell asleep, she hugged Xue Bai and sighed softly.
"Mr. Lang."
"Um?"
"Ms. Daxi is so plump."
Xue Bai found it funny, held Qinglan's slender hand, and said: "Don't compare, the exquisite ones are cute."
Therefore, Xue Bai got up late again the next day. He was not in a hurry to go to the Chang'an County government office for some snacks, and planned to play chess and have snacks with Qing Lan in the room. The little girl can't play Go, but she can play backgammon.
Unfortunately, the chessboard hasn't even been set up yet, and someone has been summoned from the palace.
There is no way, Guo Jingcheng is obviously not as comfortable as he was in charge of Yanshi County.
…
The fifth-rank officials who were supposed to go to court did not have to go to court. Xue Bai arrived at Xingqing Palace early in the morning wearing a blue official robe. After being led to the Nanxun Hall, I could already smell the aroma of wine mixed with the fragrance of powder.
The one who led the dance last night was Fan Nu. She wore a long silk dress and an exquisite bun. She looked more elegant than a year ago.
She finished dancing, gathered her skirt and sat down next to Li Longji, ready to help read the cards. When she saw Xue Bai coming in, she was stunned for a moment, smoothed the non-existent strands of hair beside her ears, and nodded slightly.
Xue Bai stood still and found that there were chicken feathers dropped by the fighting cock on the carpet under his feet. Looking at this situation, Li Longji probably had a great time drinking again last night.
"Sage, Xue Bai is here."
Li Longji leisurely played his cards, stood up, walked to the royal couch and sat down, his expression gradually became serious, and he returned from the romantic emperor to a majestic king.
"I wish the saint good health."
"You were there the night Wei Hui died. Tell me, what did you see?"
Xue Bai then told the truth in every detail, including the process of going to Ying Niang's house to ask questions. In short, it was impossible to make any mistakes.
Li Longji said impatiently: "Say your opinion."
Xue Bai didn't seem to expect that he would be asked for his opinion so soon, and said hesitantly: "I have just taken office. I am afraid that County Magistrate Jia and Wang Jingyin know more about this case."
"After serving as an official for one year, have you learned to take the blame?" Li Longji asked lightly: "Are you still the upright and loyal minister who only told the truth as you used to boast?"
"I don't dare." Xue Bai said: "To be honest, I haven't found out the truth yet, so I neither dare to assert that Wei Hui committed suicide, nor dare to order the king's consort to keep quiet. I do have the intention of observing the changes in the situation."
"I don't want to hear vague words."
"I must find out this case."
A burden fell on me for no reason.
But this is exactly the result of what Xue Bai has been doing. If he wants to be promoted and trusted by the emperor, then when something happens, the emperor will come to him. If someone pushed behind this deliberately, it would be a matter of course.
Before Xue Bai left, he noticed that Wang Zhun was in the palace, standing on one side with Jia Chang, looking quite relaxed.
He was then thinking about how much harm Wang Yao's flattery could cause to Wang Zhun?
If he were Wang Zhun and had the opportunity to accompany the saint to fight cocks all night, he would be able to resolve his suspicions. He would have thought of it no matter what.
"Wang Yao deliberately harmed me! My grandpa's official reputation is not good. I am just a cockfighting boy. I was lucky enough to be favored by a saint. However, when I fell in front of their noble family, I committed a serious crime. I beat Wei Hui, and Wei Hui molested the pear garden. The disciple committed suicide out of shame, but Wang Yao blamed me for his reputation and designed to frame me."
In the final analysis, you still have to follow the saint's will and decide what the saint likes and dislikes...
~~
That day, at Princess Yongmu's Mansion, Wang Yao received an oral instruction from the palace.
"The sage ordered the prince to stay in peace and not to make unreasonable troubles over Wei Hui's death."
"What?" Wang Yao suddenly turned pale, "I didn't..."
The eunuch who delivered the order rolled his eyelids and rolled his eyes at him with some warning.
"I accept the order and thank you."
Wang Yao had no choice but to hurriedly lean over to receive it, and sent the eunuch off in person. He returned to the house and fell on the couch, lost in thought.
Princess Yongmu then came over and held his hand, saying: "Why must the prince-in-law be like this? This result should have been expected a long time ago. We must not get rid of Wang Zhun at once, but if we take our time, the saint will always alienate him."
"Don't you understand? The Saint hates me."
Wang Yao felt bitter in his heart. Of course he knew that dealing with Wang Zhun would take a long time. What he was disappointed with was the saint's attitude.
This was the case when he asked his parents to be buried together. His father, Wang Tongjiao, was executed by Wu Sansi for treason. After Emperor Ruizong succeeded to the throne, he rehabilitated his father and gave him the posthumous title of Zhongzhuang to Prince Shaobao and Duke Wenlie of Langya. .
But his father gave up his life for Sheji surnamed Li, and after his death he had to watch his wife buried with others?
When he got married to Princess Yongmu, he should have used higher etiquette standards to show the merits of the Wang family, but he was rejected by the example of Princess Taiping. What does their marriage have to do with Princess Taiping?
It was just because the saint had personally killed his mother's second husband and never liked his mother. In addition, they have many children, few contacts, alienated relationships, and even all kinds of suspicions... In short, they never take his nephew and son-in-law seriously.
"In the eyes of saints, we are really worse than a cockfighter."
Disappointment turned into disappointment. That afternoon, Wang Yao and his wife received a piece of news - the sage ordered Xue Bai to continue investigating the Wei Hui case.
Wang Yao thought about it and went to see Xue Bai, completely forgetting the sage's instructions to keep him safe.
~~
In Changshoufang, a mutton noodle stall not far from the county government office is steaming hot.
"Lao Chong, here are three bowls of noodle soup, each with a portion of mutton and nine pancakes."
Brothers Diao Bing and Diao Geng looked at each other with joy on their faces. They thought it was great to be a guard. The life was easy and they had meat to eat every day.
Xue Bai was wrapped in a simple cloak and official robe, sitting on a small stool, staring at the steam in a daze.
In fact, what he was looking at was the pottery cauldron on the stove, thinking that he could cast the iron stone into an iron pot and transport it to Chang'an.
"A bowl of mutton noodle soup."
Suddenly there was a voice behind him. Wang Yao sat down opposite Xue Bai and said, "What is Xue Lang thinking?"
"The prince-in-law is here for Wei Hui's case?"
Wang Yao wiped the table with a handkerchief, then put his hand on it and said, "The county captain also knows that Ah Hui was killed by Wang Xian and his son in collusion with Jia Jilin."
"What's the reason?"
"They have a grudge."
"I also have a grudge against Wang Zhun."
"Ah Hui got evidence of their crimes." Wang Yao said, "He said that he would get rid of Wang Zhun sooner or later."
"The king is corrupt, perverts the law, and is full of evildoers. I also have a lot of evidence of his crimes."
"What do Xue Lang think?"
"The clue is broken." Xue Bai said, "So I need time."
"Okay, I believe Xue Lang."
At this time, the mutton soup noodles were served. Wang Yao didn't move his chopsticks, sat there and watched Xue Bai eat, and suddenly said: "My grandfather was killed by brother Song Zhiwen."
"Song Zhiwen?"
"Although the Song brothers are talented, their characters are extremely despicable and shameless. They were attached to Zhang Yizhi and were flown to Lingnan after the Shenlong Coup. It was my grandfather who secretly protected and took them in for the sake of their past friendship. I didn't want to, but they did He was ungrateful and tipped off my grandpa's plan to get rid of Wu Sansi. So, on the seventh day of March in the second year of Shenlong, my grandpa was executed at the Duting post for treason. Song Zhiwen's brothers put on their scarlet robes again. The official robe is dyed with my grandpa’s blood!”
At this point, Wang Yao's hands trembled slightly, and he leaned forward a little, and said: "I wanted to express my gratitude to Xue Lang when I saw him last time. I heard... Lu Hun Villa was destroyed, which is very satisfying."
"Who told you that?"
"Ah will tell."
"Wei Hui? How did he learn about it?"
"I don't know about that." Wang Yao said: "Xue Lang avenged me, but if you are asked to do something, just ask, I will never refuse."
After Wang Yao left, Xue Bai looked at his back for a long time, and in the eyes of an interested person, he could prove that there was collusion between them.
Just after returning to Chang'an, it seemed that he was trapped in the whirlpool of power struggles and could not extricate himself. In other words, the Tang Dynasty during the Tianbao period had been submerged in the flood of power struggles, and no one could survive alone.
"Alang."
Diao Bing pointed to the bowl of mutton noodle soup left on the table and asked, "He won't eat it, can we eat it?"
~~
The incident at Lu Hun Villa had nothing to do with Xue Bai. The Henan government concluded that it was Song Mian and Gao Shang who colluded to massacre the Song family.
So, for Wei Hui to know about this, it must have been told to him by a well-informed person who also guessed the inside story.
There are not many such people.
Xue Bai then began to investigate Wei Hui's whereabouts during his lifetime.
In the name of Captain Chang'an, he went to Wei Hui's home and asked about Wei Hui's wife and attendants. Da Xi Yingying secretly sent an associate to inquire, and finally found out a general clue.
To Xue Bai's surprise, he found no trace of contact between Wei Hui and Li Linfu... He thought that the matter must be related to Li Linfu.
At night, Da Xi Yingying wrote down Wei Hui's whereabouts and handed it to Xue Bai.
"Wei would either go to Nanqu or go to the Jiaofang, or hang out with his gang of friends. Would anyone really kill such a drunkard on purpose?"
"Zhen Zhen Guan?"
Xue Bai looked at Wei Hui's whereabouts repeatedly and found nothing unusual. However, thinking that Wei Hui's wife said that he went to the Taoist temple to burn incense every day, he asked, "Where is the Chongzhen Temple?"
"Anshanfang."
"That's in the south of Chang'an City. Wei Hui mostly works in the north of the city. How could he go to the south of the city to burn incense?"
"Unless it's a female crown?" Da Xi Yingying joked.
…
Chongzhen Temple is not a female crown temple, but a Taoist temple with very strong incense.
When Xue Bai arrived, there was already a long queue in front of the Taoist temple, and all the people waiting to pray were very pious.
He and the Diao brothers went to understand the situation separately.
"May I ask Madam, why are everyone waiting here instead of going to Jiuhua Temple on West Street?"
"Master Ren's magic spirit, if you can give me a pill, all diseases can be eliminated and you can live a long life."
Diao Geng went to ask a few people when he came back, scratched his head, and whispered: "Lang Jun, they said that the Taoist priest here is called Ren Haichuan, but God has given him a sachet to hang on his crotch, which can make even weak men... Regain your glory.”
"Then Wei Hui must be here for this."
Xue Bai walked past the queue of people, took out his command talisman, and said: "Chang'an County Government is handling the case, and I want your Taoist priest to come see me."
The two Taoist boys standing by the door looked frightened when they heard this.
"Master...he has gone away."
Xue Bai knew something was wrong at the first sight of this situation. He ordered the people to retreat, escorted the Taoist boy, and went to the Taoist temple to search. As expected, the Taoist priest Ren Haichuan was gone, leaving only a few disciples.
"Say, where are the people?"
"Master, he escaped..."
Diao Geng took out a few sachets from the alchemy room, smelled them, and asked, "Is this really useful?"
"It... is actually some nourishing medicinal materials. The master paid people to be trusted by him to tout its effects. But he took the money and ran away a few days ago. We want to take advantage of the master's reputation to earn some traveling expenses." of."
"Liar." Diao Geng threw the sachet away.
"When did you escape?"
"Four days ago."
That was the same day that Wei Hui was arrested.
Xue Bai asked them again if they recognized Wei Hui. He originally planned to take them to identify the body, but they quickly remembered after describing Wei Hui's appearance.
"There is such a noble gentleman who often comes to see the Master, but unlike other pilgrims, the Master always goes to the guest room alone to talk with him."
"What were you talking about?"
"I don't know, but others are giving Master money to ask for medicine, but Master is giving him money."
Xue Bai thought about Ren Haichuan's so-called abilities to make people live longer and regain their glory, and asked: "Your master, have you ever wanted to enter the palace to meet the saint?"
"It seems...it seems to have been said."
After asking a few more questions, it became clear that what these disciples knew was limited, and Xue Bai began to observe carefully in the Taoist temple.
He had an intuition that Ren Haichuan and Wei Hui escaped and died, and the two events must be related. Even the incident at Luhun Villa was also told by Ren Haichuan to Wei Hui.
If so, then there must be an instigator behind this Taoist priest Ren Haichuan, such as Li Linfu.
Maybe they were talking about how to get close to the saint, and at the same time they got news from Luoyang that something happened at Luhun Villa, and then Li Linfu said "it must be Xue Bai's murderous hand"... These scenes are all guesswork.
Thinking of these, Xue Bai turned over the scriptures in the library, but unexpectedly found nothing, so Xue Bai transferred to Xiangtang.
There are many prayer cards in the hall, engraved with various wishes.
"The three-star tablet of good fortune, wealth and longevity is dedicated to praying for my mother's health and longevity. Yang Hangong, a native of Chang'an, erected it with respect."
Looking further back, a man named Jiang Qingchu hopes to marry a good wife, and a man named Liu An hopes to have a son.
Xue Bai walked around and looked at a few rows of flowers. Suddenly his eyes focused. He picked up the candle on the table and leaned over it. He glanced under the blessing card and saw that the traces of dust were wrong.
These tablets have been placed for a long time, and there is thick dust around them, but several of them have obviously been rearranged in recent days.
So, he reached out and put the blessing cards back to their original positions, and found that one was missing in the middle.
"What's the content of the blessing plaque originally placed here?"
"Back to the county captain, we really don't remember this."
"Is there a record?"
"No, no."
Xue Bai took another look at the vacant position, but there was no way to get it back.
He was just wondering, why was it necessary to take away a blessing card?
~~
Chang'an County Government.
When Jia Jilin heard that Xue Bai had captured several Taoist priests and returned, he shook his head and said, "Ask him to come see me."
He had no intention of dealing with other official duties, so he got up and walked around, finally standing in front of the window and watching Xue Bai coming.
"The county magistrate is looking for me?"
"I heard that you are still on the Chavezhui case?"
"Yes, this case has alarmed even the saints and they have to investigate."
Jia Jilin said: "I asked you to stop Wang Yao's mouth a long time ago. Why are you in such a dilemma?"
Xue Bai watched the officials retreat and closed the door, leaving no one else in the room, so he slowly said: "Part of the truth has always been obvious, that is, the county magistrate, you deliberately captured Wei Hui, and then ordered Wei Chang to strangle him to death. , isn’t it?”
Jia Jilin did not deny it, but sighed.
"When the sage asked, I didn't say that because there was no evidence." Xue Bai said, "But it is impossible to have no trace at all. The evidence will be there sooner or later. How is the county magistrate going to deal with it?"
"You didn't say anything, which was the smart thing to do. Do you think the saint wants the truth? The saint summoned you for questioning just to give the Wang family an explanation. Just like Princess Ding'an cannot be buried with Wang Tongjiao, the Xiahou who concluded the case He was demoted to give an account to the Wang family, do you understand? The saint doesn't care if Wei Hui dies, even if he knows someone killed him."
"The saint's nephew died, and the county magistrate said that the saint didn't care?"
"Wei Zhuo was killed by a saint himself, so what if Wei Hui dies? Why should we pursue such a simple case?"
As Jia Jilin spoke, he approached Xue Bai and said seriously: "You are a disciple of the Qing ministers, and now you are under my subordinates. I am not teaching you to investigate cases, but to teach you to be an official. If you can be the best in the capital, It is difficult to be an official, but your career will be smooth in the future."
Xue Bai said: "What the magistrate said makes sense. But this matter may not be as easy to resolve as the magistrate hopes."
"what for?"
"We all know that it was Wang Fei who asked you to hunt and kill Wei Hui. Generally speaking, saints don't care about Wei Hui, so you have nothing to fear. So you asked me several times not to investigate, thinking that if I stopped, the matter would end there. But... the county magistrate did not Did you find out? There are still people adding fuel to the fire."
Jia Jilin had an obvious stunned expression.
"Cai'an Wei will be imprisoned. How could his family guess that he would die in prison and make a fuss about this? It just happened to be when I, the captain of Chang'an County, had just taken office."
"You mean?"
"Wang Zhun dared to threaten Wang Yao, because he was sure that the consort would not be favored by the Holy Family, so he would shut up after just scaring him. But the fact was exactly the opposite. Wang Yao brought the matter to the ears of the saint, and the saint had to call me to ask questions again. If so, give the Wang family an explanation."
Xue Bai unknowingly took the initiative in the conversation and asked: "Obviously, someone has given Wang Yao confidence. Why do you still think that Wei Hui's death is a minor case? At least I don't dare No more perfunctory treatment.”
Jia Jilin stroked his long beard and slowly sat down in his seat, thinking to himself and rolling his eyes.
Xue Bai continued: "What I'm wondering now is, why did Wang Zhi kill Wei Hui, and why did Ren Haichuan escape? What kind of thing could be worth doing? If this matter is used by Wang Zhi's political opponents, the case will come to an end. To what extent? Will it involve me and the county magistrate?"
"I don't know either." Jia Jilin said, "I just think it's Wang Zhun who doesn't like Wei Hui. Jing Yin has fate, so I have to do it."
"Is it Wang Zhun or Wang Zhi who asked the county magistrate to take the person?"
"Yes..." Jia Jilin hesitated, then raised his hand and pointed upward, saying again: "I thought it was Wang Zhun who asked Jing Yin."
"The county magistrate really doesn't know the reason?"
"I really don't know."
"Let's make an assumption. If the right prime minister secretly promotes this case and the case is finally committed, can we afford it?"
"I..." Jia Jilin said, "I really don't know."
"If you don't know, how can the county magistrate dare to help suppress it?"
"Don't be alarmist. This county and Jingyin have their own rules on this matter. No matter what, let's not investigate further for the time being." Jia Jilin said, "Go ahead."
Xue Bai held the ceremony and was about to leave. When he walked outside the door, he suddenly stopped.
He turned around and looked at the Guanyin Guanyin enshrined by Jia Jilin in the palace, and said in a deep voice: "The county magistrate is still hiding it from me."
"Stop talking nonsense."
"Does the county magistrate recognize Ren Haichuan?"
"This county...does not recognize it."
"But the county magistrate enshrined a prayer plaque for a son in his Taoist temple, didn't he?"
Jia Jilin's face immediately turned bitter, and seeing that he was exposed in front of his face, he spoke.
"Initially, Wang Jingyin's brother Wang Jingyin was stupid...Wang Jingyin was very gullible and was deceived by Ren Haichuan. Ren Haichuan claimed to know the magic of gods, which can make people live longer, especially improve... the method of improving the magic of the room, Wang Wen intended to recommend him to the saints. Fortunately, we were cautious and did not trust him because of his initial effectiveness. We wanted to wait for a while, but we did not expect that he was actually sent by Wei Hui. He planned to present the medicine to the saints after , took the reward and ran away."
"If Wei Hui's plan was followed, after Ren Haichuan escaped, the blame would be on Wang Weld. Therefore, Wang Jingyin was furious when he learned about this and ordered me to hunt and kill these two people. I then asked Wei Chang to capture Wei Hui. Unexpectedly, Ren Haichuan was very alert and ran away immediately when he saw something was going wrong..."
~~
At the same time, Wannian County, Xinchangfang.
Cui Youfu strode forward, his expression extremely solemn.
"County Lieutenant, right in front."
In front is a Taoist temple in Xinchangfang, which is called Xinchang Temple. Many people have gathered around, pointing and talking about something.
"Is that the Immortal Ren?"
"How could a god die..."
"Everyone, give way! Get out of the way, the county captain is coming!"
Cui Youfu pushed aside the crowd and looked around, only to see that the land in the backyard of the Taoist temple had been dug up and a body was dug out.
The person who died was an old Taoist priest. Although his corpse was in a mess, his original spirit of immortality could still be seen.
Wu Zuo leaned down, pushed aside the clothes on the corpse, looked at the wound that had begun to rot and had worms growing in it, examined it carefully, and said: "There is water seeping on the skin, and it smells slightly. He has been dead for four or five days. The murder weapon should be a A small six-inch dagger, with no other wounds on the body, killed with one blow..."
Cui Youfu frowned, turned to look at the people watching, raised his hand to wave to a few people, and said, "Do you recognize him?"
"I recognize it, it's Taoist Master Ren from Chongzhen Temple in the south of the city..."
This was the first major case Cui Youfu encountered since he became the Wannian Lieutenant. He secretly made up his mind to investigate thoroughly.
However, just after he brought the body back to the county government office, he was summoned to Lingsha by Wannian County Magistrate Feng Yongzhi.
"May the county magistrate be well. There was a murder in the city today. I will..."
"This case should not be publicized. Let's end it by falling to death after drinking."
Cui Youfu was stunned and refused to respond for a long time.
Feng Yongzhi sighed, stood up and approached him, reminding him: "Wannian County is just a small county attached to Guo Jingcheng. There is Jingzhao Mansion above the county government. This case ends here, do you understand?"
"yes."
Cui Youfu was a little disappointed. After leaving the county government office and walking through the long street of Xuanyangfang, he suddenly stopped and looked at a person not far ahead.
"Why are Xue Lang here? You have always had good ears and eyes, but why are you doing this because of the murder case in Wannian County?"
"No." Xue Bai pointed to the northwest, "I live in Xuanyangfang."
Cui Youfu was stunned for a moment, then smiled bitterly and prepared to leave. The next moment, he realized that Xue Bai must have come for the murder case and was waiting for him here on purpose, otherwise it would be impossible not to be curious.
"By the way, what's going on with Wei Hui's case?"
"Jingzhao Mansion wants to suppress it." Xue Bai said: "I don't care, but obviously someone wants these cases to come out, and Jingzhao Mansion may not be able to suppress it."
"who?"
"I don't know."
"Then we are all involved." Cui Youfu thought about it again and realized that Ren Haichuan's body was suddenly found. This matter was very suspicious, so he calmed down and said, "If Mr. Xue is free, how about having a few drinks together?"
"Unfortunately, I really don't have time today, maybe next time?"
"Okay." Cui Youfu said, "There is always a chance."
~~
Xue Bai seemed to be very busy, but in fact he had no business at all. He returned to the house, changed his clothes, and went to Dunhuafang to meet Yan Yan.
He said he would bring her some fun things, so he asked a craftsman to make some props for board games in the past few days.
Several copies of this prop were made, and one can be presented to the palace later to make up for Li Longji's disappointment at the previous royal banquet at the Calyx Tower.
From dusk to nightfall, Xue Bai just played with Yan Yan and Yan Kai. They were so surprised that they had so much fun that they refused to let him go in the end.
"Want to play one more game?"
"The elders are waiting for me to leave."
"But there's a curfew." Yan Kai looks like a little nerd on weekdays, but he has a lot of excuses just for fun, "Brother can't go back after the curfew."
"How could the Chang'an County Lieutenant be stopped by the curfew?"
Xue Bai showed his authority in front of the children and rode away from Yan's house, thinking that Li Longji would like this little game of wits very much and could present it to him tomorrow.
He didn't seem to care about Wei Hui's case, nor was he curious about who was behind these things.
At night, he had a very strange dream.
He dreamed that he was playing Werewolf with Li Longji, Li Linfu, Yang Guozhong, Wang Xian, Zhang Quyi, Wang Yao, Jia Jilin, Cui Youfu, Wei Hui and others. Wei Hui died on the first night, and he had a bottle of poison. The poison of the werewolf was intended to kill Li Linfu, and he believed that it would not be the wrong poison.
But even in his dream, Xue Bai could realize that there was more than one werewolf...
(End of chapter)
