The Golden Hairpin

Chen Nianniang didn't notice it, she just said, "Yes, Xue Se. The husband of Mei Wanzhi is a painter surnamed Cheng. He looks very good and paints very well, but his heart is always different from the rest of the world. Generally we choose names. , Always Hua'er Yan'er and the like, but he named his daughter Xue Se. Many people heard it as "blood," and secretly could only cause Mei to make that beautiful daughter a wry smile."

Huang Zixia felt that some of the mist in front of her eyes was gradually dissipating, so she could not help but grabbed Chen Nianniang's hand and said eagerly: "Chen Niang, then Mei Wan, that daughter Xue Lu, how is it now?"

Chen Nianniang looked at her in amazement. She obviously didn't know why when she was talking about Jin Nu, suddenly she wanted to know about Xue Se again. But she only followed her questioning and whispered: "This daughter of Mei Bangzhi can be said to be ill-fated. Her mother died before she was five years old, and her father took her with her. She returned to her hometown in Liuzhou, but she didn’t have the ability to make a living. After all, painting couldn’t make a living. She died of poverty and sickness when she was a teenager. Those relatives in the family who were staring at him immediately seized his real estate, leaving only the rest. Xue Se had no place in the family and was bullied. Later, it was the other members of Yunshao Six Girls who learned of her experience and asked her to come to Yangzhou to seek refuge. When she came, I was already in Yunshaoyuan and only saw A 13-year-old child, filthy and thin, could actually travel all the way to Yangzhou. At that time, everyone was in tears. It was said that the plum blossoms were beautiful and magnificent, but he did not expect to have a daughter left. But this is what happened..."

"Where is the snow now?"

"Lander took her to Puzhou, and Yi Niang and I have only met that side."

"Um... can she play the piano?"

"I don't know. Her mother used to be a wonderful Pipa, but when the snow came over, she was already old and the best time had passed. Everyone sighed and said that the beauty of Mei Wanzhi back then could not be passed down."

"Mei Wanzhi is a great beauty, isn't it?" Huang Zixia asked again.

"I have never seen it before, but I heard that it is a stunning beauty!" Chen Nianniang said in an undoubted tone, "Even after so many years, Yunshaoyuan is indispensable for outstanding beauties in China and Japan. Xue Lu is also a rare beauty, but Yi Niang always said that the color of snow is far inferior to that of her mother. When it comes to beauty, only Mei Banzhi is brilliant and radiant—the so-called only true national beauty of peony, and only she can afford it."

"Well, I also heard Jin Nu say that she said her master is a beauty in the world."

"When Mei Bangzhi passed away, Jin Nu was only a teenager, but I always listened to her reading about Master. It was not only Mei Bangzhi who picked up the five-year-old from the road and saved her life. Jin Nu treated Mei. Banzhi really worshipped. I heard that when she left Yunshaoyuan to go to Beijing, she deliberately held Pipa and bowed down in front of the portrait of Mei Banzhi, and knelt for half an hour."

"Then, does Xue Se or Mei Banzhi have a portrait?" Huang Zixia asked.

"There is Mei Wanzhi. Her husband is a painter. It is said that he came from a poor background, but he is extremely talented. He painted a picture of a spring tour for Yunshao's six daughters. There were six people on it, and it was kept in Lauder's house. ."

Huang Zixia nodded silently, and asked, "The portrait, can I take a look at it?"

Chen Nianniang said: "It's not difficult. Lauder has already left Yangzhou. She left us an address in Puzhou when she left. I wrote to ask Xue Se to send the picture scroll. It only took a day or two."

Huang Zixia was pleasantly surprised: "Really? That's great. If Xue Se can personally send the painting over, I think maybe this matter will make a lot of progress."

"Well, I will write to Lauder today."

"Thank you Niang Chen!"

"Yangzhou, Kabuki theater..."

Back at the palace, Li Shubai frowned slightly after listening to her recount: "How could it involve things from so long ago and so far away?"

"I didn't expect it either." Huang Zixia had no choice but to say, "but judging from all the signs, it seems that there is really a connection."

They talked about the case and slowly walked towards Jingyutang along the curved water bridge. Li Shubai had always disliked that many people followed him carefully, so the eunuchs of the guards only followed far behind, and only Huang Zixia walked on the bridge with him.

Looking back in the forest on the shore, the palace lanterns have been lit, and the lights are shining on the slowly fluctuating water surface along with the moon and the Milky Way. The two are like a planetary moon.

The two of them stood on the bridge involuntarily, watching the vast light on the water. The night breeze has gradually warmed, and the late spring and early summer are the most pleasant and cozy.

Li Shubai turned his head to look at Huang Zixia, who was standing a step away behind him, and saw her eyes gleaming brightly in the stars and moon waves at this time, and his eyes stopped for a moment involuntarily.

At this moment, a jumble of footsteps on the shore suddenly disrupted the silence at this time. Someone rushed to the bridge and shouted: "Master Kui! Lord Kui!"

Li Shubai turned his gaze to the incoming person, and saw that the guards had stopped the person on the shore, he turned around and walked towards the shore. Seeing the light, the person standing on the bridge head anxiously was Zhou Ziqin.

Li Shubai signaled the guards to let Zhou Ziqin come over. He turned and walked to the pavilion on the long bridge, sat down in the pavilion, and signaled the anxious Zhou Ziqin to sit down and asked, "What happened?"

Zhou Ziqin sat down on the stone bench opposite him, clenched his fists in confusion, and stopped talking.

Li Shubai frowned slightly and asked, "What the **** is it?"

"I...I might..." Zhou Ziqin said, his pale and bloodless lips were trembling all the time. He raised his eyes to look at Li Shubai and then at Huang Zixian. After a long time, he squeezed out a few faintly discernible words. "Maybe... murdered."

Li Shubai raised his eyebrows slightly and asked, "Maybe?"

"It's just... even I didn't know clearly for a while, Chonggu knew about this, I really didn't want to kill them!"

Huang Zixian looked at Zhou Ziqin in surprise, and asked, "How can it be related to me?"

"Because the dead are the beggars who I gave them food last night!"

As soon as Zhou Ziqin spoke out, Huang Zixian let out an "ah", and couldn't help but blurt out: "Is it those last night?"

Li Shubai glanced at her and said in a deep voice, "Zi Qin, be careful about the ins and outs."

"Yeah." Zhou Ziqin recalled nervously, and said with a trembling, "Last night Master Cui said that we were invited to have a drink in Zhujinlou. I heard that the father-in-law who broke the fourth plan next to the prince was also here, so I thought it should be. Chonggu, so I went over to eat... and after eating, I saw some dishes on the table without moving my chopsticks, so I packed the rest of our meals for the beggars... Before, I It's often like this, and there has never been a problem."

Huang Zixia nodded, indicating that there was no problem with what he said.

"Then, after I got up this morning, I heard that someone from the Criminal Department was doing an autopsy, so I hurried over to look at it, and I found that... it was the beggars who had died last night!"

Huang Zixia asked: "That doesn't necessarily mean the food we sent is poisonous? After all, when we ate yesterday, we didn't find anything unusual."

Zhou Ziqin nervously grabbed her hand and said, "No, it's true! Those few people were indeed poisoned and died. I found the lotus leaf that was bagged last night on the ground and secretly brought it home after testing. I found a trace of highly poisonous...Moreover, it is still a rare poison on our side."

Li Shubai glanced at his hand, Huang Zixia had already taken out his palm calmly, and asked, "What kind of poison is it?"

"It's the sap of poison arrow wood. The Nanban is commonly known as seeing blood seals the throat. It is said that the poisoned person can't get out of ten steps. It is one of the most poisonous things in the world." Zhou Ziqin frowned, "It is rare in the capital. I have only seen this in books before. People with this poison have black skin and ulcers, their hair, eyebrows, nails, and teeth all fall out. They are indistinguishable and terrifying!"

"The same goes for those beggars?"

"Well, now the Ministry of Criminal Justice has ordered that this case is extremely horrible, and the murderer must be thoroughly investigated." Zhou Ziqin's lips were pale, and the trembling of his shoulders never stopped. "But you know Chonggu, I... …I really didn’t mean to hurt people!"

Huang Zixian frowned and said, "The question is, since we are fine, how did the things we sent over suddenly become poisoned?"

"Furthermore... and we wrapped it up in our own hands and delivered it directly..."

Li Shubai put in a sentence: "I think the main problem should be who poisoned the food you eat."

Huang Zixian nodded and said, "Cui Master, Wang Yun, us, and several officials from Dali Temple were present at the time...there was also Jin Nu."

Zhou Ziqin crossed these people with his fingers. Obviously he couldn't set them as murderers. In the end, he raised his head bitterly and asked, "Chonggu, if you say this, will we be investigated? "

"What do you mean?" Huang Zixia asked rhetorically.

"When we passed last night, there was a curfew on the street, and no one saw it, so I think maybe we should... as long as we don't say anything, there shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"I don't know how to deal with other head-catchers, but I will investigate the food left in the stomach of the deceased as soon as possible. It is very rare for a beggar to eat such good things, and the murderer will be locked as a child of a wealthy family. At the same time, the scene remains. The lotus leaves are fresh, and they are mostly purchased for restaurants. If ordinary people cook meals in their own kitchen, they are usually dried lotus leaves for stuffing. How can someone specially prepare fresh lotus leaves for the sake of making food? It’s important to know that the land in the capital is low-lying and damp. The lotus in the city has just been out of water, and the lotus leaves in the restaurant are specially designed to contact fishermen outside the city. They are picked together when the fish and shrimp are delivered in the morning. It is also a rare thing."

"That...that may also be to confuse the audience, deliberately get something with lotus leaf wraps..."

"It is possible. But before considering this possibility, the catchers should have visited the major restaurants, and then all of a sudden, they selected Zhou Ziqin, the son of Lord Zhou who never wasted food, and mastered the dishes you packed last night. The evidence is conclusive, and you can immediately ask if you want to invite you to the Yamen for tea."

Zhou Ziqin suddenly collapsed on the chair, his face turned pale and his eyes straightened.

Huang Zixian asked helplessly, "Don't you usually deal with corpses? Why do I not know that you are so afraid of death?"

Zhou Ziqin said weakly: "I just like to study corpses, but I definitely don't like turning people into corpses."