Chapter 1: Confrontation 1
A murder occurred in Chang'an City recently.
The courtesan Yuechu, a girl from Yanliufang at the end of Qingdong Lane, died unexpectedly. The case was reported to the Dali Temple, and Cheng Jue, the chief minister of the Dali Temple, personally investigated it.
Originally, this case was not serious enough for Lord Cheng to investigate personally, but after listening to the report on the investigation overview of the case from his subordinate, Cheng Jue immediately took over because the case was very suspicious.
Everyone knows that Dali Temple Minister Cheng Juecheng is meticulous and is best at unraveling mysterious cases. Anyone who has reached a certain level of fame and ability likes to challenge new things, and Cheng Jue is no exception.
That day, at dawn, Cheng Jue led his men to Yanliufang with full confidence, but he returned to the Dali Temple with a gloomy face. The next morning, a notice from the Dali Temple was posted in front of Caishikou in Chang'an.
——On the 2nd hour of the 3rd month of the 32nd year of the Great Yu Yuanqi period, the courtesan of Yanliufang died at the beginning of the month. This yamen has too many cases and is short of manpower. We are now recruiting people who are good at investigating and solving cases to serve as officials in this yamen. Announcement from the Dali Temple.
I don’t know who wrote this notice, but it’s so suffocating.
There are not so many major and important cases to investigate in this place where the emperor lives. Why is the Dali Temple short-staffed?
It is obvious that Dali Temple Chief Justice Cheng Jue could not find out the truth of the matter, but was embarrassed to say it out loud. He was also afraid that it would take too long to report to his superiors, so he made up this excuse to recruit people to help solve the case. After all, there are many experts among the people.
At this moment, many people in Chang'an City seemed to see the touching scene of Lord Cheng Jue, who was the most aloof and serious, standing at the vegetable market entrance, swinging his arm and slapping himself in the face.
You know what, it's quite pleasing to think about it. After all, good-looking people look good even when they get slapped in the face.
Every year, the Dali Temple would select only five new candidates from among the hundreds of candidates selected in the imperial examination. This time, the conditions for the Dali Temple to directly select candidates to join the yamen were very tempting, but the Dali Temple was open all day, and only a handful of people went to sign up .
In the Full Moon Teahouse in Chang'an City, groups of people were gossiping about this matter.
"The Dali Temple is so good. It's leisurely and not tiring. You can go out often. You can rest for two days every ten days. The salary is also high. If I had this ability, I would have gone there long ago."
The person who was speaking spat out a mouthful of melon seed shells, and another person immediately joined in: "I thought it would be a bit lively, after all, my Chang'an is full of talented people. I didn't expect that no one would go."
"Alas... it would be embarrassing if this gets out."
"It would be embarrassing if I really went there!"
A crisp, oriole-like female voice rang out, and that voice sounded extremely charming among the hoarse voices of the masters. A few people turned around and saw a girl standing there with a tray in her hands. She looked about fifteen or sixteen years old, petite, with a round face and a pointed chin. Against the backdrop of her aqua-green linen shirt, she looked as fresh as a newly opened daffodil.
"Hey, what did you say, little girl?"
The young man who was eating melon seeds took the teapot from the little girl and asked her a question. The little girl tilted her head and said innocently, "Although I have not been in Chang'an for long, I have heard of the wisdom of Master Chengjuecheng. Even he has no solution to the case, who would dare to take it rashly? It would be embarrassing for anyone to go!"
Everyone suddenly understood, and the young master looked at her with amusement and said, "So according to what you said, no one dares to handle this case?"
"Of course someone did it, but..."
"Zhou Zhenzhen, why don't you come over and have some snacks?!" The shopkeeper yelled. Zhou Zhenzhen stuck out her tongue, picked up the tray and quickly turned around and left, leaving the young man's dissatisfied voice behind. "Hey, little girl, you haven't finished your words yet!"
Zhou Zhenzhen trotted into the kitchen, picked up the hot white cake from the pot, and muttered, "There's nothing to say. Anyway, you'll all know everything when I enter the Dali Temple."
"What are you dreaming about!" The shopkeeper flicked her head with his fingers, making her grimace. "You little girl want to go to the Dali Temple? If you can go to the Dali Temple, I, Wang Da, will write my name backwards!"
Ever since Wang Da recruited Zhou Zhenzhen to do odd jobs two months ago, this damn girl has been mumbling strange things all the time. If he hadn't seen that she was helpless and alone after failing to find her relatives in Chang'an City, he would not have taken her in.
Zhou Zhenzhen rubbed her head, stepped back, and looked at the shopkeeper with her round eyes, thinking: My lord, this name is quite domineering.
That night, Qingdong Lane, which was usually bustling with lights and wine, became much quieter than usual because of a murder. Yanliufang was temporarily blocked by the Dali Temple to prevent people from coming and going and destroying the crime scene.
Zhou Zhenzhen slipped out of the Manyue Teahouse and ran all the way to Qingdong Lane, her calves feeling a little weak.
The Dali Temple had searched the inside and outside of Yanliufang thoroughly, and now there were only two guards guarding the door. Usually, such places would have a few hidden small doors to allow guests to escape safely in case the wife of a man came to catch the adulterer.
After all, every time you help others, you will have one more regular customer.
There were several rows of acacia trees planted behind Yanliufang. Zhou Zhenzhen searched for a long time before she saw a small door hidden between the trees. She pushed it gently and the door creaked open.
With her head blocked by the tree branches, the moonlight had no choice but to leak to her feet through the ever-widening gap in the door.
"sixth."
In the silence, the male voice was even colder than the leaking moonlight. It suddenly sounded in the middle of the night, and Zhou Zhenzhen was stunned. The door was half open, and she could clearly see the man standing not far away.
The indigo-colored brocade robe and the belt of a slightly lighter color around his waist made him look elegant yet indifferent. Of all the facial features that were not a letdown, the most striking thing was his eyes, which were slightly upturned, with the corners of his eyes slightly wrinkled inwards, and the color of his eyes was dark. When he glanced at her so casually, Zhou Zhenzhen felt a little numb on her back, and even her breathing was choked.
After taking a deep breath, she clenched her hands behind her back nervously.
The man looked her up and down, then asked, "What are you doing here? Are you hiding here to play hide-and-seek?"
Zhou Zhenzhen realized that he was treating her like a child who hadn't grown up yet, so she subconsciously stood on tiptoe to make herself look taller: "I'm almost 20 years old, how can I still play those games? Don't look down on others as an adult."
Cheng Jue found this interesting: "How do you know I'm Cheng Jue, the Dali Temple official?"
Zhou Zhenzhen bit her lip and said, "Just now you said that I was the sixth person to come in. Now the only people who can count heads in Yanliufang are the people from Dali Temple. As everyone knows, Cheng Dali Temple has the best-looking man. I have also seen a lot of people, but I was amazed at the sight of you, so you must be Cheng Dali himself."
As a typical example of a guy who has been handsome since childhood, Cheng Jue has heard people praise his appearance countless times, either explicitly or implicitly, but this is the first time he has encountered such an organized praise from the girl in front of him. Needless to say, he felt quite comfortable with the praise.
Cheng Jue's expression remained unchanged, only the corner of his mouth slightly raised: "What you said is absolutely correct, and you are very eloquent. I just don't know if you can still be so eloquent later."
This first level has been passed.
Zhou Zhenzhen secretly breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, revealing two small pointed canine teeth: "My boss said that I can only close my mouth when I eat and sleep. If Master Cheng doesn't treat me to food, then I can perform 'telling jokes all night without drinking water' for you later."
As she spoke, she took a few steps forward, the moonlight shining on her pretty, smiling face, and her eyes looked like they were filled with stars.
Cheng Jue fixed his eyes, his voice still cold: "Say less, I won't have any water for you later."
Zhou Zhenzhen nodded and put her hand to her mouth to pretend to shut up.
Cheng Jue raised his hand, and then a tall man walked out from behind him, and took Zhou Zhenzhen to the east. Zhou Zhenzhen walked a few steps and turned around, and saw Cheng Jue still standing in the moonlight, his posture as straight as a pine tree, waiting for the next person who came to Yanliufang to investigate.
Zhou Zhenzhen said in the Full Moon Teahouse that most people would not dare to take on a case that even the Supreme Court Justice could not solve. But she actually only said half of the sentence, and the hidden half was: I will take the lead after I understand the whole story, otherwise I will really get humiliated.
Zhou Zhenzhen came here tonight to find out the truth, and there were five people who had the same idea as her before, and there will be more in the future.
Cheng Jue had guessed what these people were thinking early on and was waiting here for them.
Therefore, the entrance examination to the Dali Temple this time started as soon as one entered the gate.
Zhou Zhenzhen untied her hands and followed Dali Temple Junior Secretary Meng Fan. She stepped on the heel of Meng Fan's shoe happily. Meng Fan turned around and she apologized quickly.
Meng Fan didn't mind his shoes being stepped on, since they didn't fall off anyway. But there was one thing he was very curious about, and he had been holding it in all the way without finding a chance to ask. Now he could take the opportunity to ask, "Girl, you're walking absent-mindedly, what are you thinking about?" He was so happy that he even hummed a song all the way.
Of course, I admire Mr. Cheng’s wisdom.
Zhou Zhenzhen thought so in her heart, but it was not easy to tell others about it, so she restrained her expression and put on a serious look: "I was wondering who killed Miss Yuechu. They didn't even let go of such a beautiful person. They are really crazy!"
Meng Fan: …
Yuechu originally lived alone in a corner building in the backyard of Yanliufang. Now that Yanliufang was closed down, it was vacant. There was only one lamp on in the inner room of the first floor. It was dim and you couldn't tell from the outside that there was light or people here.
After bringing Zhou Zhenzhen here, Meng Fan turned around and left.
In the dim light, several pairs of eyes looked at her, and they were all a little surprised to see her appearance. It was not their fault. Zhou Zhenzhen was not very old, and her round face and pointed chin made her look even younger. Her delicate appearance seemed particularly abrupt here.
Zhou Zhenzhen was already used to this kind of look. She tilted her head deliberately, smiled, and said, "Brothers and sisters, do you want some candy?" As soon as she finished speaking, her expression changed and she sighed in a condescending manner, "I know that in your imagination, I should have started it like this, but I was in a hurry to go out tonight and forgot to bring it. Although I didn't bring candy, I must have an opening remark."
The originally tense atmosphere suddenly relaxed because of her funny look.
When Meng Fan sent someone here again, he saw that the five people who had never spoken to each other were now sitting together whispering. Walking a little further in, he saw the little girl who stepped on his shoes sitting in the innermost part. Because she was too small, most of her body was blocked by the people next to her, so he didn't see her just now.
"Last time, I was asked to go to the home of a man with paralyzed legs in Chang'an City to handle a case. The police reported that a box of gold bars was missing from the house. I searched the entire mansion but couldn't find it. The people in his mansion said that I was useless and was just a money-swindler. They even picked up a weapon and wanted to beat me. I got anxious and hid behind the wheelchair where the man was sitting. Then guess what happened?"
"What?"
"I saw something shiny under the man's butt. It turned out that he was hiding his wife's private money. He put gold bars under his butt and wrapped his lower body with a big blanket all day. That's why the people in the mansion couldn't find it. You say, he sits on gold bars all day, isn't he afraid of getting corns?"
The man who spoke was in his early thirties. He rolled his eyes as he finished speaking, causing everyone in the group to laugh.
After one of them finished speaking, the other one took over and said, "The case I handled last time was also interesting. Let me tell you..."
The atmosphere changed so much that Meng Fan naturally guessed who was responsible. He glanced at Zhou Zhenzhen, who was listening with great interest, shook his head, and walked out.
That night, the moon had passed the mid-moon, and the number of people in the building was fixed at seven.
Cheng Jue stood by the door for most of the night, only letting the night coolness touch half of his body, without a trace of sleepiness on his face. Meng Fan yawned behind the tree, wiped his face and walked over: "Sir, it's almost time to go over. If you don't go over now, it's probably enough to open a storytelling hall inside."
Cheng Jue said "Hmm?" and as they walked, Meng Fan described the scene in the building to Cheng Jue with some exaggeration.
"It's actually possible to do this." Cheng Jue seemed very shocked, but there was no fluctuation in his tone when he said this.
