Chapter 6 I'm Not Cruel to You 3
He knew that this was Lin Yuxiao's way of provoking him, but he still fell into his trap.
How did he get into Liuyeju? His memory had become blurred due to drunkenness. Meng Fan shook his head and drank another glass of wine with great enthusiasm. After drinking the strong wine, his dizziness became worse and his whole body became limp. Lin Yuxiao kindly helped him up and sighed deeply: "I heard that the Dali Temple is full of bold and real men, but Brother Meng is so soft... It seems that the rumors really can't be believed."
"Who said I can't believe it!" Meng Fan slammed the table. Fortunately, the shouting in Liuyeju was loud enough and few people noticed that he was going crazy.
Meng Fan stuck out his tongue and said stubbornly, "You said I can do it, but you said we adults can't tolerate it?"
Lin Yuxiao took a sip of wine slowly and asked with a smile: "You adults are not supernatural beings, why can't you bear it?"
"Our Lord Cheng is the youngest but most accomplished of all the Dali Temple officials in history. From the time he officially took over the Dali Temple after the case of Qingzhou Governor Lu Fang to now, if we count the major and important cases he has solved, it would take three days and three nights to finish!" Meng Fan was so excited that he burped.
Drunk and drunk, Lin Yuxiao squinted his eyes, leaned against the wall, and listened to the drunk Meng Fan praising his own Mr. Cheng.
It's quite interesting.
The next day at 2:15 AM, the Detective Department of the Dali Temple.
Zhou Zhenzhen slept on a narrow couch all night, and her back and waist were stiff. Lin Yuxiao and Meng Fan were hungover, and they both got up, but one looked worse than the day before, and the other went to vomit again and again, and came back to groan while holding a bowl of hot soup.
Cheng Jue's face was very ugly, and he stared at the door with cold eyes. Fortunately, Huo Chi, who was on the verge of death, entered the door normally. Otherwise, Cheng Jue would probably throw them all out of the Dali Temple.
Of course, Zhou Zhenzhen is not included in these.
"If it happens again, I won't tell you to pack your things and get out of the Dali Temple!"
Several people were silent. Cheng Jue took a breath, picked a chair and sat down, and said coldly: "Meng Fan, tell me about the Ruan family."
Meng Fan nearly burned his tongue when he took a mouthful of hot soup. Lin Yuxiao smirked unkindly, and Meng Fan glared at him viciously.
"The Ruan family is a true family of scholars. They have been passed down from generation to generation, and this generation has only one son, Ruan Wenqing. Ruan Wenqing's great-grandfather was a famous scholar like Wang Weian. The Ruan family was also famous for a time. Although it gradually declined later, it still has a considerable influence among the literati in the capital. Ruan Wenqing's painting skills are similar to his great-grandfather. In addition to the reputation of the Ruan family, many princes and officials in Chang'an City have collected Ruan Wenqing's paintings. As soon as Ruan Wenqing came to Liuyeju, he took the lead and won several painting competitions..." Meng Fan paused, gritted his teeth and said, "Until this person appeared."
Lin Yuxiao cupped his hands and said, "Thank you for the compliment."
Zhou Zhenzhen put her hands behind her back, secretly rubbed her waist, and asked, "Why did Lord Lin go to Liuyeju to compete in painting?"
"Oh, because I slept late and never went to the government office, the head of the Hanlin Academy, Mr. Chen, fined me three months' salary. The three things in life are nothing more than eating, drinking and playing, but all three require money. That day I happened to be on duty, so I wanted to earn some money. I thought it would be a fierce battle, but who knew it would be so easy."
Zhou Zhenzhen: …
Meng Fan: …
Cheng Jue knocked on the table: "Continue."
"Ruan Wenqing's paintings have majestic brushstrokes and fine materials. The stones he uses for grinding are all selected by him personally. He goes to Qingzhou every spring to select them."
Cheng Jue's fingertips paused for a moment, and Zhou Zhenzhen blurted out, "Qingzhou again?"
Zhao Ji, whose ancestral home is Qingzhou, Ruan Wenqing who goes to Qingzhou once a year to pick grinding stones, and the large bunch of lacquer flowers in the Ruan family garden that come from the Red Leaf Mountain in Qingzhou... All the people involved in the Ruan family massacre and the Liuyeju case are actually related to Qingzhou City.
"Qingzhou doesn't produce much food crops, but it is rich in other things. It is also known as the source of calligraphy and painting in Dayu. It's normal for Ruan Wenqing to go to Qingzhou!" Lin Yuxiao put his hand on the back of the chair where Meng Fan sat, "Don't you think so, Lord Meng?"
Meng Fan: “…I don’t know.”
Cheng Jue's slightly frowned brows relaxed and he began to laugh softly, making several people feel a little scared.
Zhou Zhenzhen was more worried than scared: "Master Cheng...are you okay?"
"nothing."
All the clues found in this case so far are vague.
Cheng Jue moved his right hand and whispered, "The murderer is suspected to be a palace guard, but there are more than thousands of palace guards, who work in shifts and change shifts. Even if we only investigate the guards who were not in the palace on the night of the Ruan family's murder, there are thousands of them. The person who provided Zhao Ji with the poison recipe was a child selling flowers in the city. Chang'an City is so big that there are countless children. Qingzhou... Qingzhou is far away, Zhao Ji's family has been deserted for many years, and countless people have picked the lacquer flowers on Hongye Mountain... Now all these clues are like finding a needle in a haystack. If we continue to investigate, it will be time-consuming and laborious, and we may not be able to finish the investigation in a few months. If we don't investigate, this case will become a headless case, and we can only wait for the murderer's next move. It's really a clever move."
The Detective Department was in complete silence. Cheng Jue glanced at a few people, all of whom looked as if they were facing a formidable enemy. Even the carefree Lin Yuxiao frowned. Cheng Jue glanced at Zhou Zhenzhen with his peripheral vision, and his expression relaxed a little: "Zhou Zhenzhen, what do you think, should we investigate or not?"
Zhou Zhenzhen raised her eyes and spoke loudly: "Investigate. Even if there is only a one in ten thousand chance of finding it, we must investigate."
Cheng Jue seemed to be waiting for her to say this, and stood up and gave an order: "Tomorrow Huo Chi and Meng Fan will take people to Qingzhou, and they will be back in half a month, regardless of whether they can find the truth or not. Zhou Zhenzhen will follow me into the palace to check the guards, and Lin Yuxiao will check all the places in Chang'an City where there are lacquer flowers."
Cheng Jue hadn't felt this way for a long time. He vaguely felt that someone was watching him struggle in the dark, laughing at his useless efforts.
But the more this happened, the more stimulating it was, and the more excited he became.
He couldn't wait to unmask the man and compete with him.
Before the second day, Meng Fan felt a little better, so he went to Qingzhou with Huo Chi. Cheng Jue knew that he had been holding his breath before, and this time he wanted to find out something to avenge his previous shame.
Among the many people in the Dali Temple, Meng Fan was not considered to have the best qualifications, and he did not even intend to come to the Dali Temple at the beginning. However, after pushing and shoving his way here, he never let down the three words "Dali Temple" on his head.
There was a high probability that they would return empty-handed this time, but Cheng Jue didn't say anything and let them go.
Lin Yuxiao sighed regretfully: "Stay one more day so I can drink some wine for you guys to see you off!"
When Meng Fan heard his words, he shuddered all over and ran away in panic.
Zhou Zhenzhen looked at Lin Yuxiao, speechless.
Lin Yuxiao said "It's hard to be a good person" twice, then turned around and walked out.
"This Lin Tanhua really lives up to Chang'an's reputation, doesn't he?"
Zhou Zhenzhen didn't notice the deep meaning in Cheng Jue's words. She nodded honestly and said, "Besides, it's even more special than the rumors say."
"Special..." Cheng Jue repeated these two words and had already made up his mind.
From now on, Lin Yuxiao should stay away from Zhou Zhenzhen "especially".
Although Cheng Jue had the golden order, it was still too difficult to summon the palace guards to investigate. After lunch, he took Zhou Zhenzhen straight to Prince Min's mansion. Song Huaishi had taken over the imperial palace guards after returning to Chang'an. If he was willing to contribute, the investigation would be much easier.
Song Huaishi heard from his servants that the Dali Temple Minister was coming to visit, so he personally went out to welcome Cheng Jue into the palace. He wanted to meet Cheng Jue after the reunion , but he learned that a big case had happened in the Ruan family, and Cheng Jue, as the Dali Temple Minister, must be very busy, so it would be difficult for him to go.
Cheng Jue didn't bother to be polite with him and stated his purpose straight away.
"How do you want to investigate, Wei Qing? Should we call in all the guards who were not on duty the night before?"
" There's no need to make such a big fuss. Your Majesty, just bring me the badges of the guards who were not on duty or on leave on the night of the incident."
Song Huaishi didn't understand the key: "Is that all?"
"When the heavy incense meets the zero-lacquer flower, its medicinal effect will take effect, and then its own fragrance will be reduced by half. Even if you search the entire Chang'an City, you may not be able to find many of these flowers. As long as you find out whose waist badge has an unusual fragrance, you can identify the murderer. The murderer may not have discovered this yet, so Your Majesty, you must hurry up."
"That makes sense." Song Huaishi clapped his hands in approval and immediately asked Wei Youya to do it.
Zhou Zhenzhen watched Wei Youya leave the house. She tried to hold back but couldn't. She moved closer to Cheng Jue and whispered, "Sir..."
Cheng Jue shook her head almost invisibly, suppressed her doubts and said no more.
Wei Youya took the token of Prince Min and went directly to find Zeng Tai, the deputy commander of the Imperial Guards, at Qing'an Gate. Now that Prince Min was in charge of the Imperial Guards and Wei Youya was known to be Prince Min's confidant, Zeng Tai did not dare to neglect him and respectfully welcomed Wei Youya to the Imperial Guards and personally served him tea.
"If you have anything to say, just ask the Prince Consort. Why come here in person?"
"I didn't want to make this trip, but you have some friendship with Cheng Jue, and you don't feel comfortable with other people coming, so I had to come. General Zeng, please collect the badges of the guards who didn't work or take leave the night before."
"Hey, what does Master Cheng want this for?"
Wei Youya frowned and said vaguely, "It seems to be the case of the Ruan family. The murderer used a drug called aphrodisiac, and the drug lead is the incense in this waist badge... Anyway, just collect them all, and don't miss any. Cheng Jue is very powerful, we can't embarrass the prince."
Zeng Tai hurriedly said yes, waved his hand, and his men hurriedly retreated with their backs bent. Wei Youya took a large box back to Prince Min's mansion and was put on the night duty list of the imperial guards.
"There are seven hundred and sixty-three badges in total. They are all here."
Cheng Jue nodded and said to Song Huaishi, "Your Majesty, please send someone to help carry the box to the Dali Temple. I won't bother you any more."
After all, there were many people in the palace, so Song Huaishi nodded, and Wei Youya asked people to put the box back on the car and carefully send it to the Dali Temple.
Song Huaishi said: "After Weiqing has found out the truth of the case, I will host a party to celebrate for Weiqing."
Cheng Jue smiled gently and said, "Definitely."
On the way back, Cheng Jue was not in a hurry at all. He walked slowly on the street with Zhou Zhenzhen.
"Ask whatever you want!"
Zhou Zhenzhen finally realized that Cheng Jue had reserved time for her to answer her questions. She thought for a moment and said, "Wei Youya comes from a military family, is the eldest son of the Wei family, and is the consort of Princess Changping. Why would he be such a lapdog in front of Prince Min? It would be fine if they were good friends, but he..."
"The prince consort of Dayu cannot serve as an official in the court. This is a rule set by Emperor Gaozu. Regardless of whether he is a civil official or a military general, once he marries a princess, he can only resign and return home to become a wealthy and idle person. The Wei family... Although the Wei family is prestigious, since the death of General Wei, there is no one in the entire Wei family who can take charge. Princess Changping has no chance of promotion. In order to support the Wei family, Wei Youya chose to follow Prince Min, which is also a wise move. But..."
"Just what?" He stopped midway, curled the corners of his mouth at her, and smiled meaningfully, which made her heart numb slightly.
He seemed to be too much nicer to her and talk too much lately.
"It's just that Wei Youya is too concerned about the rights and interests of the Wei family, and has forgotten his most important identity. Since he married Princess Changping, his greatest support is her. Now he wants to throw the baby out with the bathwater. He was not even there on the princess' birthday, and was busy serving Prince Min. It's really despicable. If I marry a wife, I will hold her in the palm of my hand, love her, protect her, and cherish her."
Zhou Zhenzhen's ears felt hot when she heard him say the word "marry a wife". She didn't dare to look at him, but just stared at the road ahead, wondering who would be so lucky to be the one he held in his hands in the future.
If it was her...
Her cheeks flushed, her mind was distracted, and the straight road under her feet became crooked. A pair of hands pulled her hand to the side, and the slight pain on her wrist made her suddenly sober. A speeding carriage rolled past the place where she was standing just now.
"You were clearly looking at the road, so how could you go astray?" Cheng Jue let her go and gave her a mischievous smile.
Zhou Zhenzhen was too embarrassed to turn around, her eyes still fixed on the distance. There was a piece of yellow cloth hanging on the top of the carriage, which was only worn by royal family members when traveling: "That is..."
"It's Princess Changping's carriage."
This direction should lead to Prince Min’s Palace.
Cheng Jue frowned slightly.
The autumn sky is high and flocks of geese fly over the city.
A ray of setting sun, leaving behind many shadows.
