Liu's Mansion has a separate courtyard in the south of the city, across two streets from Dongshi, which is quiet and elegant in the middle of the bustle.
At this moment, a sedan chair settled on the wide bluestone road in front of the mansion, and the housekeeper carefully helped Old Mrs. Liu out. Liu Tingjing, who was wheezing and panting, was upset.
"I can't hold my breath, what big thing could happen to my grandson, Liu Tingjing."
The housekeeper was hunched over, washing his inner clothes layer by layer with sweat. He did not dare to say anything nonsense, but the tone and expression of the nurse who came to Liu Mansion to report made the housekeeper somewhat guess, but such speculation must not be easily dismissed. Mrs. Liu said it.
The housekeeper secretly stamped his feet, and his wife ordered the old man to go to the ancestral hall. Now there is no one in charge in the mansion. He just hoped that the nurse would go to Liu Xiang's Mansion quickly, just in case...
The guards in the outer courtyard knelt on the ground. Liu Tingjing paused and scolded with narrowed eyes: "Why are you kneeling here when you are not performing your duties? Where are the filial piety?"
The housekeeper and the leader of the nursing home looked at each other, their hearts skipped a beat, and they fell straight to the bottom, and their hands and feet suddenly became cold.
Suppressing his racing heart, he shook his head at the other party and successfully stopped the leader's words. Then he pretended to be angry and said: "I told you not to make a fuss. Has the young master been feeling unwell? He has already called a doctor. The doctor didn't say anything. Look. Looking at you like this, who do you really want to scare? Old man, it has a strong medicinal smell, how about you go sit in the hall first and wait for the doctor to come out?"
The head of the nursing home moved his lips and tongue, and opened his mouth dryly: "Yes...yes..."
Liu Tingjing stroked his chest with his palm and said calmly: "Let you calm down and calm down. None of you have the slightest bit of character of the Liu family. Call Xiaoli to come out. A good child has been ruined by the Yang family!"
After thinking about it, Liu Tingjing concluded that all this news was caused by Liu Changhe's dissatisfaction with being imprisoned.
The butler didn't dare to say anything. He kept staring at the door, his eyes almost burning the threshold with sparks. Instead of glaring at Mr. Liu, the people from the Criminal Division were waiting.
Su Ji and others had just entered the door and bumped into Yun Qi, "Aren't you going to the Liu Mansion..." Looking at it again, it turned out that the old man of the Liu family was also here.
"It's unlikely that the people who died in this courtyard just happened to be..." They were the Liu family, right?
"What are the people from the Criminal Division doing without trespassing into the Liu family's courtyard?" Liu Tingjing just showed his dissatisfaction and took a slow shot to catch a certain word, "Dead person? Where is the dead person?"
The butler spread his hands and shouted in his heart: It's over, it's completely over.
Su Ji cupped his fists and saluted: "You must be the head of the Liu Mansion. I am Su Ji, the chief minister of the Criminal Division. Your nursing home went to the Criminal Division to report the case, saying that someone in your other courtyard died in the room. I brought someone here. Come check it out.”
Liu Tingjing was not confused after all. After thinking about it, he realized that the head of the nursing home looked wrong. There was an explosion in his mind, and his body swayed back and forth, like a candle in the wind or an autumn leaf without roots.
"...It's filial piety, filial piety, filial piety..." These two simple words were stuck on the mouthpiece and couldn't come out. His eyes turned white and he fell back.
The people in the Liu Mansion were in chaos. Yun Qi pointed at Su Ji with his jade bone fan and said, "You, you, you."
Su Ji didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Master, please speak some truth, please?"
—
In the wing room, everyone looked at the body lying in front of the desk and said nothing for a long time.
Xu Wuzuo broke the silence, "Miss Lu, would you like to go first?"
Since that day when the bones were boiled, Xu Zuozuo had a deep admiration for Lu Anran, and at the same time they also had similar feelings, which in turn fostered a sense of camaraderie.
Lu Anran nodded slightly: "You're welcome."
The two people's calm and calm attitude made the others retract their jaws in shock. Except for Yun Qi and Su Ji, who stayed behind, everyone else closed the door.
Su Zhi was so frightened that he almost tripped over the threshold. He grabbed his hand to the side and said in fear: "This death situation is too scary. My legs are weak. My legs are weak. Guanyue, please let me lean on you...fuck!"
Wu Fang threw Su Zhi to the ground without mercy, gave him a sneer, and walked away.
Su Zhi grinned, "It's just that I relied on the wrong person. What's the matter? Hiss——"
Guan Yue picked up one of his arms and pulled him up, "Wufang doesn't like others to get close to him, so I've settled on not taking your head directly."
"Ah? Is this woman so cruel? Is there something strange wrong with her?"
The farce outside the door did not affect the room. Lu Anran walked around the body and stopped right in front. He lowered his head and could look into the dead man's distracted but lifeless eyes.
"The deceased was lying prone, the pen and ink on the table were clean, the books were neatly placed, and the pen holder was overturned." Looking at the corpse again, "the corpse had open eyes, a messy bun, untidy clothes, and clenched fists with both hands."
She nodded to Xu Zuo, who laid the body flat on the ground. The others stepped forward and saw pools of blood on the ground covered by the desk, and dozens of pen holders were inserted into the deceased's chest.
"Killing with a pen," Su Ji shook his head and said, "The murderer's method is really unpredictable."
Yun Qi held his chin and thought: "A blunt pen is not as good as a sharp instrument. It cannot kill people quickly. Moreover, it is easy to attract outside attention because the deceased calls for help. It is really difficult to understand without deep hatred."
"Yes, where is the nursing home? Why can't anyone hear it?"
When Xu Wuzuo was taking notes on the scene, Lu Anran raised his head and replied: "Because he probably never called for help from beginning to end."
Su Ji didn't understand, "It's instinct to ask for help, unless he is physically restricted and unable to open his mouth."
Lu Anran did not refute immediately, but said: "The dead will give you the answer."
Then, Xu Zuozuo took off the pens inserted into the dead body one by one, and paused for a moment while undressing the corpse. The corpse of the man last time was so rotten that not even a piece of intact flesh could be found. It was no better than this one who had just died. Soon, the physical characteristics of the man became apparent.
Lu Anran seemed to know his concerns and said, "No need to worry."
Xu Wu made quick movements. After pulling off his coat, he unbuttoned his inner coat. The two of them squatted next to the corpse and watched. If they felt like it, they would go into battle themselves.
Su Ji felt it for the first time and couldn't bear the scene of a woman rummaging through a man's body. He wanted to communicate with Yun Qi about his feelings, but he saw him holding a fan and tapping on the door and window.
"Your Majesty..." Su Ji couldn't finish his words.
Yun Qi turned back and said clearly: "Su Ji, you are also someone who has seen big events with me, so you are so promising."
Doesn't Su Ji understand very well that he is lagging behind in his thinking? Why did the eldest son of his family adapt so well?
After getting rid of the image of Lu Anran looking at a certain part of the man with an expressionless face in his mind, he came to Yun Qi and asked, "This door and window?"
"There are no signs of intrusion."
"There is nothing on earth, but all the money is there."
Yun Qi raised his head slightly and half-squinted his peach blossom eyes, "If a murderer breaks in, it's even more impossible for the nursing home to not know about it."
"The murderer was one of the guards?" Su Ji raised his head to check the roof tiles, "A murder in a secret room?"
"There is another possibility." A clear voice sounded behind the two of them. Lu Anran stood up slowly, her quiet eyes bright in the dim dusk, "Liu Changhe committed suicide."
—
"Impossible!" Butler Liu Mansion waved his hand and said firmly: "My eldest young master is open-minded by nature and will never commit suicide."
Xu Wuzuo explained on his behalf: "The trajectory of the pen entering the chest and the direction of the gesture were all done by Master Liu himself. There were no signs of struggle on his body, nor was he suffocated. There was no second person in the room, so he committed suicide." "
Old Mrs. Liu was still unconscious, so the housekeeper did not dare to be careless and gritted his teeth and refused to let go, "Is this how the Criminal Division handles cases? Our eldest young master is a man of his own. If he says no, he will be gone. Whoever commits suicide will not choose to jump into the river and hang himself. You see?" Ever stabbed yourself to death with dozens of pens?"
Just as they couldn't hold on any longer, someone came from outside the door and said, "Is Xiaoli committing suicide?"
This voice was calm, without any pressure, but it made people feel unspeakably oppressive for no reason.
The butler's eyes lit up, and he hurried forward to greet him, kneeling down and saying, "I'd like to pay my respects to Prime Minister Liu. You have to make the decision for the eldest young master."
When Lu Anran heard the name Liu Xiang, she immediately turned her eyes to the door. She first saw a pair of black brocade boots stepping into the threshold, and then a green jade belt with simple and exquisite patterns. Just like others, it did not show nobility in any way, but made it look more attractive. People feel noble.
He looked at everyone present and sat down at the top. His face was calm, his eyes were ordinary, and he could not see any emotion.
Lu Anran thought to himself: This person is either kind-hearted or very deep.
Liu Xiangzhi looked at Yun Qi first, "Prince Yun, I heard that since you received the errand of the Criminal Division, you have reorganized the yamen, reopened old cases, and solved many cases."
Yun Qi changed his tone and said seriously: "It is my duty to share the worries of the Holy One."
Liu Xiangzhi smiled, then shifted his gaze, and looked at Su Ji for a long time before he turned his attention to Lu Anran, "Are you Lu Xun's daughter?"
Lu Anran lowered his eyes, "Yes, my father is Lu Xun, the Lu family of Mengdu."
"I personally approved the letter, why did you join the Medical Discipline Sect?"
"Your Excellency's letter is only for the assessment of Jixia Palace. It does not state that non-medical people are not allowed to enter."
"Well, you're right."
Lu Anran didn't expect Liu Xiangzhi to be so easy to talk to. Instead, he was unsure and said hesitantly: "Why did your Excellency specifically approve the letter to me?"
Liu Xiangzhi's eyes were warm, and he even had a smile like a spring breeze on his face, "It was good that you dropped the teapot."
Lu Anran suddenly tightened her fingers, "Could it be..."
She originally thought that the capital would send people to various places to make secret visits, and all she had in her hands were letters that had been stamped in advance. But hearing Liu Xiangzhi's words, it seemed that was not the case. It seemed that she was very aware of what she had done, and Liu Xiangzhi specially sent it separately.
Thinking of Pang Jing's obvious kindness without knowing it, she said, "Pang Pang?"
"Lu Xun has great literary talent, but I didn't expect that his daughter has the ability to study medicine." Liu Xiang knew: "Now she is still deviating from the orthodox and leaving the profession."
Lu Anran's heart was filled with mixed feelings, and the thoughts that were going back and forth were -
"My father was mediocre and incompetent in the eyes of others, and the Lu family gradually declined in his hands. Why did Liu Xiangzhi say that he had great literary talent?"
"Since Liu Xiangzhi knows her situation so well, he really caught the old man, right?"
Afterwards, she struggled with whether she should be tempted or not. When she came to her senses, she happened to see the housekeeper of the Liu Mansion kowtow to the ground. The sound was so loud that she woke up.
"The old lady's life or death is uncertain, and the eldest young master's body is still lying in the compartment. Please let Mr. Liu make the decision."
