Chapter 260: Die If You Say Die
But the next day, which was March 15th, Siqi got up early in the morning, washed up simply, and then sat in front of the dressing table in a daze.
Because she was Yingchun's maid and had a hot temper, no one dared to criticize her. No matter whether they were happy or not, they had to share her work.
This went on until noon, when dinner was about to start. Xiu Ju was just about to go into the house to ask her something when she saw a woman running in from outside. It was Qiu Tong, the head maid in Mrs. Xing's room.
"Is Siqi in the room?!"
Qiu Tong asked Xiu Ju while barging in. Seeing Si Qi staring blankly at the dressing table, she asked suspiciously, "What? Do you know about your cousin Pan Youan?!"
Siqi had originally ignored Qiutong, but when she heard the words "Pan Youan", she suddenly jumped up, raised her arms, glared, and said with a posture that looked like she was going to eat someone: "Don't mention him to me, he is him and I am me, from now on we have nothing to do with each other, even if he suddenly died one day, you don't have to tell me!"
Qiu Tong was choked by her and stared blankly. They were old friends and would not get angry over just a few words. But Qiu Tong's temper had worsened a lot since she climbed into Jia She's bed.
So when she saw Siqi making such a fuss, she stomped her feet, turned around and left angrily.
Siqi had no intention of stopping her, but Xiuju didn't want Qiutong to leave like that, so she smiled and said, "Sister Qiutong, why are you leaving right after you got here?"
"Huh~Didn't I just say that?"
Qiu Tong stamped her feet, apparently talking to Xiu Ju, but actually shouting to Si Qi: "Even if Pan Youan is dead, there's no need to come and tell her - I'm here to announce the death, so there's no need to waste my breath..."
“You…what did you say?!”
Before Qiu Tong could finish her words, Si Qi stumbled out and held onto the door frame, saying in a trembling voice, "You said...you were coming...you were coming..."
Seeing her like this, Qiu Tong felt a little more sympathetic, so she slowed down her tone and advised, "You should also be patient and accept the change. There are always unexpected events in life, and people are subject to misfortunes at any time. Who would have thought that Pan Youan would be killed for no reason?"
Plop~
Before she finished her words, Siqi's eyes turned black and she fell to the ground!
"Siqi?!"
"Sister Siqi!"
Xiu Ju and Qiu Tong hurried forward and helped her up, caressing her chest and pinching her philtrum. After a lot of effort, they finally helped Si Qi to come to her senses.
"you……"
As soon as Siqi woke up, she desperately pinched Qiutong's wrist and forced a smile, "You were joking with me just now, right? How could this happen out of the blue... out of the blue..."
Although Qiu Tong was not smart, she had some experience in matters between men and women. Seeing this situation, she immediately guessed that in addition to the relationship between brother and sister, there might be some other involvement between the two.
Originally, after discovering such a secret, she would have gossiped about it, but now that Pan Youan had already lost his life, it was not a good idea to ask anything right away.
So she just shook her head and smiled bitterly: "I wanted to joke with you, but this matter... I heard that the Second Master just sent Butler Zhou to deal with it."
Pan Youan was a servant working for Jia Lian. His parents were both managers at a farm in another place, so when he suddenly encountered an accident, it was natural for Jia Lian to send someone to deal with it.
"Murderer? So he...was he murdered by someone?"
Seeing that Siqi seemed to have lost her soul and was mumbling to herself, Xiu Ju was about to comfort her, but she was suddenly helped by Siqi to stand up and ran out without saying a word.
Xiu Ju suddenly became anxious and hurriedly chased after her, shouting, "Sister Siqi, what are you doing?!"
"I'll go find Butler Zhou and go with him to collect You'an's body!"
Siqi said this without even turning her head, and walked away at great speed. Xiu Ju followed her a few steps behind, but seeing that she could no longer catch up, she had to stamp her feet and go back to find Jia Yingchun to report what had happened.
Let’s not talk about how Xiu Ju explained it to Jia Yingchun.
But Siqi asked along the way and rushed to the front, where she stopped Zhou Rui outside the east gate.
Originally, when Zhou Rui heard her say that he would go with her to collect Pan Youan's body, he shook his head like a rattle.
But she couldn't help but bring up her grandmother "Wang Baoshan's" as an excuse - although this "Wang Baoshan's" did not have much real power in the mansion, she was Mrs. Xing's housekeeper after all, and she had to give face to the Buddha no matter what.
Then I thought of Siqi and Pan Youan. After all, they are cousins and siblings, so they can be considered a family.
Therefore, Zhou Rui finally relented and only told Siqi to follow him closely and not act rashly.
Siqi readily agreed, and asked for a carriage in the name of Jia Yingchun from the steward outside, and then she and Zhou Rui rushed to Wumiao Street in the southeast of the inner city.
The book does not elaborate.
When we arrived at the entrance of an alley at the east end of Wumiao Street, we saw a lot of people gathered inside and outside.
Zhou Rui had just gotten off the car and was about to tell someone to clear the way when he saw a tall and plump figure squeezing in regardless.
“This girl is really!”
Zhou Rui stamped his feet anxiously, not caring about pretending to be a wealthy family's butler anymore, and hurriedly led his men to chase after him.
As they reached the inner circle, they heard Siqi crying loudly inside, calling out Pan Youan's name with a tearful voice.
Zhou Rui was able to be the external manager, so he must be a shrewd person. He guessed 70% of what was going on just by listening to the noise, and he couldn't help but regret bringing Si Qi here.
But it was too late to regret now. He could only puff out his chest and act like a big shot and ask, "Who is in charge ?"
Several detectives were looking at something curiously - it was not uncommon for family members to cry for the deceased, but what was strange was that this woman was half a head taller than the man!
Just when he was wondering who could subdue a woman like this, he saw Zhou Rui with his hands behind his back, speaking in an official tone. He immediately knew that the real culprit had arrived.
So the Wanping County Constable Jiang Laoqi, who was leading the group, came up to them and said with a smile, "Excuse me, are you from the Rongguo Mansion?"
Zhou Rui nodded slightly, which was considered as an agreement. He did not even look at Jiang Laoqi. He searched the alley for a long time, and finally fixed his eyes on Pan Youan's body. He frowned and said, "What is going on? Has the murderer been caught?"
Being a constable in the capital, one cannot avoid dealing with such powerful slaves. Jiang Laoqi naturally knows that they care a lot about their reputation and may not care that much about the lives of their subordinates.
So he said respectfully: "My Lord, after a careful investigation of the scene, this should be a case of murder and robbery."
"That guy must have accidentally leaked something somewhere, and was followed all the way here, where he was smashed in the skull with a blunt object and died."
"After that, the murderer searched him and took away all the valuables."
At this point, he bowed again and said, "Excuse me, sir, are you going to take the body back, or let us transport it back to the government office for a thorough inspection?"
In fact, according to the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty, corpses of people who died of abnormal causes must generally be temporarily preserved in official uniforms - but rules are dead, and people are alive. This law is naturally meaningless in front of the rich and powerful.
Zhou Rui was diverted from the topic by him and temporarily forgot to ask about the real murderer and began to think about what to do with the corpse.
But Siqi on the side refused to give up and asked in a hoarse voice: "Where is your hand? When will you catch the murderer who killed Youan!"
"Don't worry, girl!"
Jiang Laoqi immediately patted his chest and said, "I will do my best to find the real culprit as soon as possible!"
He spoke with certainty, but how could Siqi not see that what he said was all false and that he had not really promised anything?
He immediately scolded her without caring about anything: "I don't want you to go all out, I just want you to tell me when we can find out the real murderer and avenge You'an?!"
“This…”
Jiang Laoqi showed some embarrassment on his face. If ordinary people asked him this question, he would probably have stumbled over it and tried to fool them first.
But facing these wealthy family slaves, Jiang Laoqi did not dare to act so recklessly.
After a slight hesitation, he bowed cautiously to Zhou Rui and said, "Excuse me, who is this girl..."
Zhou Rui said casually: "Our second young lady's personal maid is also Pan Youan's sister."
Because he didn't want people to know that Pan Youan and Siqi had an affair, he only said that she was his sister and did not specify that they were cousins.
"The second young lady of your house?!"
When Jiang Laoqi heard this, his eyes lit up and he put on a bitter face and said, "My dear girl, your second daughter is about to marry Master Sun, and you are her dearest friend. What's the point of making things difficult for us incompetent people when we can't even ask for the help of our Master Zhizhong, who is a god?"
