Chapter 914 Reappearance
But it is said that as soon as Sun Shaozong returned home that night, he received three pieces of news.
First, Jia Zheng had already loosened his grip and allowed Shuntian Prefecture to deal with Qiu Wen impartially - by saying this, he had actually spared Qiu Wen's life.
Of course, even if the death penalty can be avoided, exile to a thousand miles away is still inevitable.
And now the war in southern Xinjiang is raging...
If I were really sent to the Yunnan-Guizhou Army to "serve", I'd rather die than be humiliated.
However, this was already the biggest concession Jia Zheng could make, and as an irrelevant outsider, there was no reason for Sun Shaozong to continue to interfere.
The second piece of news was that the hundreds of thousands of taels of silver that accompanied the army northward had been officially transported to the Sun Mansion and were now being counted and settled in the warehouse.
Also sent over at the same time were a number of local gifts from officials and gentry in Huguang. The treasures among them had been listed, waiting for Sun Shaozong to review them when he had free time.
The last piece of news was that Princess Beijing was finally confirmed to be pregnant. Shui Rong, who was nearly middle-aged, was overjoyed, so he decided to hold a banquet three days later to entertain relatives and friends, and Sun Shaozong was also among the invited guests.
this……
He should go and take a look.
…
After entering his own courtyard, Sun Shaozong felt it was unusually quiet. He looked around inside and outside, and as expected, except for a few maids who stayed behind, no one with a name was at home.
Ruan Rong and Xiangling went to Jia Yingchun's room to discuss the date for marrying Xing Xiuyan; You Erjie heard that the treasury had stored more than 100,000 taels of silver and many rare antiques, so she took her two children to see the curiosities.
After being surrounded by beautiful girls all day long, I feel a little uncomfortable when I suddenly feel quiet.
Since he had nothing to do anyway, Sun Shaozong took Frostmourne and practiced some moves in the yard, just to loosen up his muscles.
Just when they were having fun, they suddenly heard that the butler Zhao Zhongji was outside asking to see him.
Sun Shaozong put his sword on the weapon rack in frustration, took the towel from the maid, wiped the sweat off his face while going outside.
Just as she was about to ask Zhao Zhongji what urgent matter he had to disturb her, she suddenly saw that he was holding something very familiar in his hand: a piece of paper that was dark, stiff and shiny.
Black post?!
Sun Shaozong hurriedly snatched it away, looked at it over and over again, then turned around and ran straight to the small kitchen, took out some charcoal, and threw the post on it.
Sure enough, after the post burned, a palm-sized word "injustice" was left behind.
It’s really a black post!
But why did a black post suddenly appear out of nowhere?
"Reply to Second Master's question."
Zhao Zhongji saw Sun Shaozong's gloomy face, so he naturally did not dare to neglect him, and hurriedly explained: "I found this note in the sealed box when I was counting the silver just now. I felt that something was wrong, so I brought it to you for your review."
Found it in a box of silver?
"Let's go and take a look in the treasury."
Sun Shaozong acted decisively and rushed to the Sun family's warehouse with Zhao Zhongji.
This warehouse is located on the west side of the backyard and is usually guarded by eight people and nine dogs in shifts.
At present, the guards and the dogs were waiting outside the door, while Yuanyang, Siqi, Shiliu and others were inside, leading people to take inventory.
It turned out that this group of women soldiers were leading the way. No wonder You Erjie did not hesitate to bring her children over to join in the fun.
Seeing Sun Shaozong coming in from outside, all the women and several male servants came up to greet him.
Sun Shaozong immediately asked directly: "Where was the post found? And who was the first to find it?"
After hearing this, the girls looked at each other in bewilderment. Finally, Shi Liu asked cautiously, "Second Master, could this be the black note?"
It turned out that they had also made such a guess, so they asked someone to pass it on to Sun Shaozong.
"It's hard to say yet."
Sun Shaozong did not admit it directly. After all, this time was different from the last time and was not directly linked to the murder case, so it could not be confirmed 100% whether it was a black post.
After a pause, he repeated the question.
This time someone finally answered:
"To answer your question, it is this box."
One of the male servants pointed to a large wooden box and said, "We tore off the seal and opened the box, and saw a black note lying on the white silver. We thought it was strange, so we took it to Miss Yuanyang to have a look."
"So you discovered it together?"
Seeing several male servants nodding in unison, Sun Shaozong turned his gaze to the box containing silver.
At this time, the lid of the wooden box was wide open, and it was filled with silver ingots. It seemed that the formal inventory had not yet begun.
I walked up to take a closer look and found that some of the silver ingots on the top were stained with some shiny ink, and even the edge of the box was no exception.
Judging from the size, the black post had been stored there for at least some time, and had also experienced some bumpy transportation.
This basically eliminates the suspicion of his own servants.
After looking at it carefully for a while, Sun Shaozong closed the lid of the box again and checked the condition of the seal.
And he didn't just check this one. He checked over a dozen boxes in total, both opened and unopened.
"Sir, have you seen anything?"
At this time, You Erjie couldn't help but come forward out of curiosity. Perhaps she was afraid of being scolded by Sun Shaozong, so she specially brought her daughter with pigtails over as well.
Sun Shaozong gently stroked his daughter's head and said thoughtfully, "Among the dozen boxes, there are only three that can be sealed without leaving any traces. This box is one of them."
You Erjie nodded first , then asked doubtfully: "How do I know if these are useful?"
"At least it proves that there is a high probability that it was stuffed in through the gap after the box was sealed."
Sun Shaozong said, and suddenly ordered: "You continue to count, I have something to go out for."
Before he finished speaking, he strode out.
"Second Master, Second Master!"
You Erjie hurried a few steps while holding the child, but Sun Shaozong turned a deaf ear to her. Seeing the majestic figure disappear outside the storehouse door, she couldn't help but pout and stamp her feet: "He said he was going to use the money to entertain us in the evening, why did he just leave!"
…
A quarter of an hour later.
Zhang Cheng drove the carriage out of the corner gate and headed straight for the east gate without stopping.
Needless to say, the destination was the temporary camp where Lu Jianxing and others were stationed.
Ever since the boxes were sealed and the ship set sail north, the hundreds of thousands of taels of silver had been under heavy guard, and most of the time they were piled up in the cabin.
The easiest opportunity for someone to take advantage of the situation was probably last night - at that time, more than half of the soldiers were invited to Wangjiang Tower by Sun Shaozong, and only a few dozen people were left to guard the huge camp.
In addition, the black post incident has only occurred within the capital.
If Sun Shaozong's speculation is correct, he might be able to find some clues in the camp.
but……
What he was most eager to know right now was the murderer behind the black note and where he was!
