The lake is full of blue waves, passing through the stone bridge and disappearing under the shade of trees and green tapestry.
This place is in the back garden of Yaxianju. It is clean and elegant, with lotus leaves emerging from the water, and occasionally birds skimming the water, causing a splash of water. In summer, there are fields of lotus leaves and flowers blooming, and the scenery is extremely elegant.
But now a group of people suddenly broke in, destroying this elegance all of a sudden, just like a quiet landscape painting, suddenly splashed with flying ink, completely damaging it.
The most eye-catching thing on the ground was a corpse, placed on the shore of the lake, mixed with the mud drawn from the bottom of the lake, giving off a stench.
There were already people who couldn't hold it in and were vomiting wildly next to them, and there were also some who were more courageous and trembling with white faces.
Lu Jianyu leaned half of her body on Xi Bi. Her legs were weak and her breath was stuffy. She had more air coming out and less air coming in. Her eyesight turned black.
When she came over, she heard that Mr. Liu had been rescued and taken to the wing. She was relieved. Then she saw the body by the lake, and she almost collapsed and fainted.
After all, she was a teenage girl. She had never encountered such a situation. She was so desperate that she didn’t know what to do.
Fortunately, Nangong Zhi arrived at the last step and said without saying a word: "Go to Jingzhao Mansion immediately to report the case."
Lu Jianyu was anxious and angry, her eyes flashed with water, and she pressed the handkerchief on the corner of her eyes. Then she looked at Nangong Zhi, as if he had come from the sky specifically to rescue her.
"Prince Nangong..."
Nangong Zhi raised his hand to stop her. He walked to the corpse and took a look. He frowned and asked the maid in the village, "What happened when Mr. Liu fell into the water? Why is there an extra corpse? Where is the steward in the village?"
The maidservant's voice was a little trembling. Because she was usually smart, she could finally answer normally at this time. "Master Liu and Huamei were playing in the lake and fell into the lake for some reason. Someone in the village heard it and called everyone to come and save him. . Who knows, Mr. Liu’s clothes got caught, and he couldn’t pull them off after a long time.”
Thinking of the scene at that time, the maidservant trembled all over and said with a pale face: "The water is good and you can go directly to the bottom of the lake. It turns out that what grabbed Mr. Liu was a dead man's hand bone."
Liu Changhe was still sober after drinking a few sips of water. When he turned around and saw the body leaning closely against him, his head tilted and he fainted.
The dead man's head was facing the direction of the lake, and the areas exposed outside his clothes had rotted away, exposing sections of white bones. However, they were not completely rotten, and the remaining carrion remained on top, making it especially smelly.
Only the fingers were completely turned into white bones, so after Liu Changhe fell into the water, the sharp finger bones just hooked his belt and got mixed together during his struggle, so that he could not pull it apart no matter how hard he tried.
Nangong Zhi's eyes moved and landed on a piece of hemp rope at the waist and abdomen of the deceased, "He was tied up and sunk at the bottom of the lake after his death?"
"Yes, Awu went into the water and saw a big stone tied to his body." The servant girl's face turned from white to blue. She didn't know what she thought of, so she covered her mouth and couldn't help retching.
There are lotuses in the lake. Every summer, people in Zhuangzi go on boats to pick lotus pods and dig lotus roots. Now when I think about what I eat, some of them may have been irrigated by corpses...
'Ugh -' everyone thought of it in unison.
So when Lu Anran and others came, there was a lot of retching by the lake.
The second prince was in front, the eldest princess and Princess Ding'an were side by side, followed by a group of young ladies from aristocratic families, with Lu Anran and Yun Qi walking at the end.
Princess Ding'an was in a bad mood before she came. If you were to ask her who she hated the most before Lu Anran appeared, it would be a no-brainer. Of course it was Su Xiangxiang.
However, she comes from a small family of fourth-grade officials. She puts on airs all day long, pretending to be aloof and pretending to be a talented girl. She is basically a bitch trying to attract bees and butterflies.
But Su Xiangxiang did not let Princess Ding'an humiliate her in person, so Lu Anran's hatefulness suddenly increased, causing her to ignore Su Xiangxiang for the time being.
Today, she originally wanted Su Xiangxiang to play chess with the second prince and Nangong Zhi successively. If she loses, it will destroy her arrogance and humiliate her in person. It won't matter if she wins. From today on, she will definitely become the object of jealousy among the noble ladies of the capital city.
It was a good plan, but Nangong Zhi went directly to invite Lu Anran.
It's Lu Anran again!
While Princess Ding'an was angry, she also felt a strange sense of joy.
Lu Anran's face was abominable, shaped like a grimace, so wonderful.
Princess Ding'an felt regretful again. It would have been even better if she had appreciated it in front of everyone.
Therefore, after standing still, Princess Ding'an didn't even look at the disgusting corpse, and said sarcastically: "Will Lu's spring banquet be served here?"
Lu Jianyu leaned back and rolled her eyes. When she saw Lu Anran in desperation, she quickly ran over, grabbed her clothes, and said with sobs: "Sister, you are the eldest daughter, and the banquet has reached this stage. , what do you think we should do?"
Chunmiao raised her brows and understood instantly. Lu Jianyu was trying to shirk responsibility and immediately quit, "Second Miss, you shouldn't ask my lady this question. Second Miss, you are familiar with the people in Zhuangzi, so why don't you go and ask Zhuangzi is in charge, what’s going on?”
The implication is that you, Lu Jianyu's guest at the banquet, are looking for Zhuangzi, so you have nothing to do with her young lady.
The steward was a fat but shrewd middle-aged man. After hearing the news, he ran over all the way and was sweating profusely, "This! This..." I didn't expect that a dead person could be fished out from the bottom of the lake. Looking at the noble people in the audience, my teeth trembled. "Zhuangzi is absolutely clean. This dead man has nothing to do with us, Zhuangzi!"
"Manager Liao, you can't say that. Should we bring the dead here? Go and see for yourself. It's rotten like this. You can't say how many years he has been dead. How dare you host a banquet with a dead person hidden in your village? Hello. How brave you are!" Lu Jianyu was frightened and angry. She couldn't find an outlet to vent her anger. When the manager bumped into her, she immediately complained.
"Are you in charge here?" The second prince stood up.
When the steward heard about the identity of the visitor, he knelt on the ground with soft feet, "I have seen the second prince before. The second prince Mingjian, this dead man really has nothing to do with our Zhuangzi. I don't know where he came from. Maybe... maybe he is a bandit." Running around, panicking and choosing a way out in the middle of the night..."
"Impossible." Nangong Zhi interrupted his imaginings, and the next sentence made the steward's heart sink, "He had rocks tied around him, so he was expected to commit suicide."
The second prince thought for a moment and said, "Since there is a murder case, it should be reported to the government first."
Nangong Zhi: "I have sent people to Jingzhao Mansion."
"Yes." The second prince nodded, "You are always thoughtful."
Because the dead person was found, the Spring Banquet could not be held, but everyone could not leave immediately. They could not leave until the government confirmed it.
However, there were many women present, and the second prince felt that they were not suitable to stay here, so he asked the villagers to arrange for them to go to the front garden, and several less timid young men from aristocratic families followed.
Yun Qi secretly whispered to Lu Anran: "Yuan Fang is coming, run away quickly."
Lu Anran couldn't help but was speechless. Even though they tricked you once, you did it on purpose. Do you want to do this?
"You don't understand. People named Yuan are used to singing operas, so it gives them a headache."
Lu Anran glanced at the lake a few more times, causing Yun Qi to chuckle and say: "You really do what you do and love what you do, and your eyes are more intense when you see a corpse than when you see your lover."
The two of them were planning to leave with the crowd, when the eldest princess over there whispered softly: "Shouldn't the murder case be referred to the Criminal Division?"
These words reminded the second prince, "Isn't our Prime Minister Sicheng who is in charge of punishment just here?" He raised his head and searched around, and landed on Yun Qi, "Prince Yun."
Yun Qi turned around helplessly, tapped the jade-bone fan on his forehead, sighed and said with a wry smile: "Your Highness, what grudge do we have?"
The eldest princess looked back, pursed her lips and showed a slight smile.
"What a coincidence. Not only is there someone in charge of the case, but there is also a co-author." Princess Ding'an raised her eyes and said coldly: "Isn't that right, Miss Lu?"
Everyone's eyes immediately focused on these two people, and even the family members who had walked a few steps stopped and looked over, unintentionally becoming a siege.
In the center of the crowd, men and women stood side by side. One of them was holding a fan and waving it gently. He was smiling, with a careless expression and crazy behavior. The other person was like a green bamboo, with a calm expression. Outside the mask, a pair of eyes were dark and clear, like still water running deep. .
It was obvious that others were looking at them as a joke, but when they were looked at like this, they themselves became the joke.
"Ah, isn't this good? That corpse... is a man." In the silence, a small exclamation came in a hesitant voice.
Meng Shizhao could tell without looking or listening to the voice that she was her concubine who wanted to make her presence felt everywhere.
Princess Ding'an snorted coldly: "Does Zuo still have to pick out the body before inspecting it?"
The second prince and Nangong Zhi also looked at Lu Anran. The former hesitated, as it would be out of character to force a woman to examine a man's corpse in public. The latter's eyes were calm, but he did not stop him, intent on supporting his speculation.
In addition to Princess Ding'an, there was another person who was feeling a little depressed.
Su Xiangxiang failed to amaze everyone again as she had hoped. She had already missed Jixia Palace. If she missed the opportunity again, she really wanted to be her fourth-rank wife.
Yu Guangxu raised his head, withdrew it from the second prince, and said in a voice: "My daughter thinks that it is really inappropriate to do this in front of me. It is better to have someone cover it a little, and then conduct an inspection, so as not to be exposed in front of the public, which is not decent." .”
"No."
"no."
The voices came from two different people at the same time.
Su Xiangxiang first glanced at Nangong Zhi and asked Lu Anran, "Why does Miss Lu object?"
Lu Anran looked at her and said in a calm tone without any emotion: "The autopsy is one of them. The scene is also very important. It cannot be destroyed unless it is necessary."
"But..." Su Xiangxiang frowned, "The deceased has been dead for many years." Even if this is the scene, it is not the original scene.
"After the autopsy, there is no final conclusion. Everything is still doubtful." Lu Anran said calmly.
Nangong Zhi agreed and said, "Yes, human life is at stake."
Princess Ding'an hid the resentment in her eyes and stood on Nangong Zhi's side, just blocking the possible exchange of sight between the two, "Since Miss Lu is so righteous, let's get started."
As Yun Qi said, Lu Anran was somewhat interested in the corpses by the lake, but she also had her own pride as the direct daughter of the Lu family, and she would not follow the wishes of Princess Ding'an and become a monkey watching the show.
When Lu Anran was about to speak, Yun Qi spoke up first: "Oh, the horse in Jingzhao Mansion is not good or Master Yuan is too old, why hasn't he come yet?"
