Chapter 544: Jade in the Furnace
Zhou family backyard.
Opposite the fire scene, there was a throne brought from somewhere, and Qiu Yunfei sat on it with a sullen face. Behind him, four retainers stood in a row with their hands on their swords, looking extremely solemn and stern.
Under the pressure of this overwhelming momentum, the yamen runners investigating the scene were all terrified. Not only did they not dare to shout and yell like usual, they even dared not breathe, and they were very careful when searching for clues.
This strange investigation lasted from morning until noon, and all the places in the fire scene where clues might be hidden had been basically turned over - even a few burnt music scores were carefully looked through by the musicians themselves to ensure that there were no hidden secrets.
But even with such meticulous investigation, after more than two hours of continuous investigation, nothing was found.
By two quarter past noon, even with the four Vajras in charge, the officers' patience had been completely worn out - some were slacking off, some were whispering, and two squad leaders even went to Zhao Wuwei to intercede.
Zhao Wuwei couldn't refuse the favor, so he had to bite the bullet and leave the fire scene. He kowtowed in front of Qiu Yunfei and said, "Young Master, you see, all the things that need to be investigated are..."
"Keep checking."
Before Zhao Wuwei could finish his words, Qiu Yunfei retorted forcefully. However, considering that Zhao Wuwei had been serving him at his beck and call in recent days, it would be difficult for him to show no mercy to him.
Therefore, Qiu Yunfei added: "You can see the location of this study room. It is in the most remote corner of the yard. Whether it is close to the front door or the back door, it is not as close as the main room. If there is no special reason, why did the thief choose to set fire here instead of going far away?"
"Perhaps it's the two maids who are cleaning the study..."
"impossible."
Qiu Yunfei shook his head and said, "I followed Lord Sun to investigate yesterday, and there were signs of half-cleaned rooms in the main hall and living room - and according to Lord Sun's judgment, two people were cleaning with different tools at the time."
"So there must be something in this study that the murderer wants to destroy!"
Even so, that thing has probably been burned!
Unfortunately, Zhao Wuwei only dared to say this in his heart and did not dare to argue with Qiu Yunfei.
He was just about to go back to the scene of the fire to ask his brothers to encourage each other and deal with the young master's sudden anger first.
Who knew that just as he was about to turn around, he heard Qiu Yunfei order: "Qiu Yi, go to the nearby restaurant to buy some wine and food, so that everyone can fill their stomachs first."
As he spoke, Qiu Yunfei raised his voice and promised everyone, "As long as you guys are willing to work hard today, no matter whether you can find any clues in the end, I will treat you all to a good time at Baihua Tower tonight!"
This promise is much more effective than Zhao Wuwei's empty words.
Before he finished speaking, everyone responded in unison.
But amidst the cheers, there was a discordant voice - Qiu Yi cupped his hands and said expressionlessly, "The Grand Commandant has ordered me to stay by the side of the lord for a moment."
The reason why Qiu Yunfei was in a bad mood today was that he had a disagreement with his father. Now, when he heard Qiu Yi using his father's orders to pressure others, he immediately became annoyed.
He stood up straight, with some ferocious wrinkles on his round face, and asked word by word: "Did my father ever tell you to embarrass me in public?!"
Without saying a word, Qiu Yi knelt down on one knee in front of Qiu Yunfei. He heard the rustling sound of armor plates, and it turned out that these four family generals were wearing soft armor under their wide outer robes.
"Qiu Yi is a rude man, I am willing to accept the punishment from the yamen - but it is my duty, I dare not retreat even a single step even if I die."
Qiu Yi said this calmly, and the three retainers who came with him didn't even show any expression.
If it were in the past, facing these dead faces, Qiu Yunfei would have kicked them a long time ago. However, after more than half a year of experience, he had improved a lot. He glared at Qiu Yi with gritted teeth, but resisted the urge to take action.
Of course, it is absolutely impossible to ask him to forgive Qiu Yi on his own initiative.
Fortunately, there was Zhao Wuwei nearby. Seeing Qiu Yunfei standing there in a stalemate, not knowing how to end the situation, he hurried forward to smooth things over: "Don't be upset, young master. Why bother the general with such a small matter? I'll ask someone to buy some food."
As he said that, he turned around and called out, "Big Li, bad Zhang!"
The officers at the fire scene were also paying attention to the situation here. When they heard Captain Zhao's order, they hurriedly dropped their work and ran over.
But Zhang Ernao ran out only two steps before he stopped suspiciously, looked back at the incense burner he had just thrown into the corner, and turned back.
"Zhang Ernao!"
Zhao Wuwei shouted again, but seeing that Zhang Ernao ignored him and just held the incense burner and examined it carefully, his heart couldn't help but move.
Just as he was about to go over to see what was going on, Qiu Yunfei, who was standing next to him, had already rushed over and asked, "What's going on? Is there any mechanism in this incense burner?"
"Reply to Yanei's words."
Zhang Ernao saw that it was Qiu Yunfei who came in person, and he bowed hurriedly and said, "I just threw it casually, and I heard a crisp sound coming from inside, as if something was hidden."
Qiu Yunfei was even more excited after hearing this. He took the copper incense burner and looked at it from below. He saw that all the ashes inside had been cleared out. There was nothing inside.
But if you look closely, you will find that the bottom of the incense burner is unusually thick.
Qiu Yunfei held it to his ear and shook it vigorously a few times, and found that there was indeed something hidden inside.
I just don't know if it is cast inside or if there is some mechanism to open it.
As he was looking back and forth, Qiu Yi took the initiative to step forward and said, "Young Master, why don't you hand this thing over to me to dispose of it."
"Do you know how to open it?"
Qiu Yunfei handed the incense burner to Qiu Yi suspiciously, but saw Qiu Yi turned around and walked out of the fire scene, without stopping for a moment, and continued to walk out of the yard.
"What do you want to do?!"
Although Qiu Yunfei didn't think that there would be any problems with the family sent by his father , he still couldn't help but want to chase after them.
However, the remaining guards all blocked Qiu Yunfei's way, and the leader advised: "I don't know if there is any mechanism in this incense burner that can hurt people. You should be patient and leave it to Qiu Yi to deal with it."
Qiu Yunfei was relieved at this. He watched Qiu Yi disappear outside the courtyard wall, and then he looked around for a long time before he saw him holding out the incense burner that was broken into two parts.
"What's in it?!"
Qiu Yunfei hurriedly went forward to take a closer look, but he saw that the incense burner was filled with a lot of fine powder, which looked similar to incense ash, but the color was darker.
Qiu Yunfei subconsciously reached out his hand, wanting to pick up some powder to find out what it was, but his fingertips touched something hard.
"Huh?"
Qiu Yunfei pinched the thing out of the incense burner and shook off the black powder on it, only to find that it was actually a piece of jade the size of a bird's egg. There seemed to be some words engraved on it, but most of them were covered with black ash and could not be seen clearly for a while.
"Go get some water!"
As soon as Qiu Yunfei gave an order, a yamen runner immediately fetched a bucket of well water.
He then scrubbed the jade clean himself, held it in his hand and recited it word by word: "One, to remove evil spirits; two, to cure diseases ; three, to predict good and bad fortune... Strange, why do I feel like I've seen this thing before?"
After reading these twelve words, Qiu Yunfei frowned unconsciously and pondered for a long time, but he couldn't remember where he had seen it before. Then he remembered that there were some words engraved on the back of the jade, so he turned it over to have a look.
But what was engraved on the back was: The magical jade, never lose it, never forget it, and may you live forever.
The spiritual jade?
When Qiu Yunfei saw these four words, his mind flashed and a baby face immediately popped up in his mind!
