I don’t know how long it took, but the dazed Sang Qian suddenly woke up. She felt her head was dizzy, and she broke out in a cold sweat. She actually fell asleep in the coffin. You must know that the coffin is airtight.
It would be an unjust death if he accidentally suffocated to death.
She hurriedly went to check on Zu An, but when she looked up, she found that he was staring at her with a half-smile.
Sang Qian's face turned red and she asked quietly: "When did you wake up?"
Zu An replied: "I've been awake for a while."
Sang Qian glanced at him angrily: "Why didn't you wake me up?"
Zu An smiled: "Looking at you sleeping soundly, you don't want to let go."
Hearing the words "not parting", Sang Qian felt panicked. She thought a lot at that moment. In order to cover up her embarrassment, she hurriedly changed the subject: "You are also big-hearted. We are not afraid of suffocating to death even if we sleep in a coffin."
"Don't worry, I have already removed a crack." Zu An pointed to the top of his head, and sure enough, there was a glimmer of light there. Although it was not obvious, it was definitely enough for ventilation.
Then didn't he wake up a long time ago and keep looking at me?
Sang Qian was a little dizzy and didn't dare to think about it: "What's going on outside?"
Zu An also put away his joking smile: "The guards outside have also withdrawn, and the remaining ones are also dozing off. There are only a few maids left in the room, and the other maids are all asleep.
Only the personal maid named Qiuyue is still burning paper in front of the coffin."
Sang Qian was shocked. Wouldn't it be easy to hear the two people talking right in front of the coffin?
As if he saw her worry, Zu An comforted her: "Don't worry, she is not a practitioner."
Sang Qian breathed a sigh of relief, and then she felt that she was still nestled in each other's arms, and their skin could even feel the other's breath when they spoke.
Although she has dabbled in knowledge from all walks of life in order to make more comprehensive decisions over the years, and she even knows a thing or two about unpopular jobs such as marriage, but she is really a blank slate with no experience at all when it comes to men and women.
Feeling the masculine aura of the men around her, she felt a little weak all over, and she even couldn't think normally.
Fortunately, the voice of the maid named Qiuyue came from outside at this time: "Madam, the matter is over, you can go with peace of mind. You really can't blame me for what happened that day, and I didn't know that something like that would happen later..."
The other party deliberately lowered his voice. If the two were not close and they were practitioners, they would not be able to hear clearly.
Sang Qian looked shocked and looked at Zu An hurriedly: "It seems that there is indeed a secret behind the death of King Qi's concubine, and this maid is also an insider."
Zu An nodded, he already knew this.
When he asked various maids before, he noticed that Qiuyue was really peaceful.
You must know that the concubine is her master, and it can be said that there is a relationship of prosperity and loss. After the death of the concubine, she did not show much sadness. When she heard that she asked King Qi whether the concubine might have been a homicide.
, she also immediately denied it.
According to common sense, if something like this happens to the master, shouldn't a close servant immediately suspect that there is a problem and report it to others, or even ask someone to investigate the truth?
Worried about misunderstanding the other party, he also deliberately asked how King Qi's concubine treated her on weekdays. In the end, she was treated like a sister, which was even more unreasonable. So at that time, he knew that there was something wrong with this maid, but he just didn't make it public.
Zu An listened to the maid talking for a long time, but did not say any useful information. He couldn't wait any longer and pushed the coffin away.
Sensing the sound of the coffin, Qiuyue raised her head in confusion, and when she saw the lid of the coffin opened, her whole body suddenly felt like a ghost. Just when she was about to scream, a black shadow flashed out of the coffin, and then she didn't know anything else.
Zu An didn't stop after he came out. His body turned into a bolt of lightning and instantly hit the sleeping maids not far away, causing them to fall asleep completely.
At this time, Sang Qian climbed out of the coffin, with a worried look on her face: "You made such a big noise, how will it end later?"
But Zu An held her shoulders: "Don't come out in a hurry."
Sang Qian: "???"
Why don't I come out and lie down in the coffin?
As if he saw her doubts, Zu An nodded and said: "Yes, you can continue to lie in the coffin."
After speaking, he threw a piece of clothing to her: "You put this dress on in the coffin."
Sang Qian originally wanted to ask about what was lying in the coffin, but she was attracted by the dress in her hand. The material was smooth and silky, and it looked like very expensive silk. The style was also very elegant and luxurious. It was indeed a very beautiful dress.
skirt.
But that’s not the point!
She immediately reacted: "What kind of skirt is this? Why should I change it?"
If the two hadn't been together for a while, she would have suspected that the other party had taken this opportunity to ask her to take off her clothes with ulterior motives.
Zu An replied: "Those are the clothes of King Qi's concubine."
Sang Qian: "..."
Although I'm not afraid of dead bodies, you would make me sleep in her coffin and change her clothes. No matter how you think about it, I'd be horrified.
"The main thing is that you need to pretend to be the concubine of King Qi and trick this maid." Zu An explained. In fact, it is not impossible for Daji to do this, but firstly, he does not want to expose his trump card to too many people. Secondly, this Qi
The palace is heavily guarded, and if Daji uses her skills to generate any energy fluctuations that alert the people in Prince Qi's palace, she will be in trouble.
"Why do you have the clothes of Prince Qi's concubine?" Sang Qian's eyes widened and she looked at him suspiciously.
"I hid it conveniently during the daytime inspection." Zu An looked at the "Pinru's Wardrobe" on the side, and when he came out of the coffin, he conveniently placed the wardrobe next to the corner.
"Qiuyue is the personal maid of the concubine. She is very familiar with the master. Can she really be deceived like this?" Sang Qian was skeptical. Is the other party really just wanting to see her change clothes?
"She already has a guilty conscience, and today is the first night of the first seven days. She is so suspicious that if she sees you coming out of the coffin, she will definitely be frightened out of her soul. How can she dare to look at you carefully to distinguish." Zu An did not tell the story.
Ru told her the function of the wardrobe, but explained it in a way that she could understand.
Sang Qian nodded, this was indeed promising.
"Then turn around and stop peeking!" Sang Qian was also very depressed. She was really on his pirate ship tonight. He brought me here specially. He probably had this idea in mind from the beginning.
After she was ready, Zu An hid in a corner and opened Qiu Yue's acupuncture points with a flick of his fingers.
When she woke up slowly, she felt the inexplicable coldness around her, a cold wind blew by, and the candlelight in the mourning hall swayed. She couldn't help but fold her arms and rub them vigorously, trying to add some warmth to herself.
"Qiuyue~"
At this moment, a disembodied voice suddenly came from the mourning hall.
Qiuyue's eyes suddenly widened: "???"
She looked around, but couldn't see anything. She hurriedly pushed her companion not far away: "Did you hear anything?"
It's a pity that those companions slept like dead pigs and couldn't wake up no matter how hard they pushed.
"Qiuyue~"
The gloomy shout came again, Qiu Yue became even more hairy, and hurriedly kowtowed to the surrounding air: "Is it you, my dear? Today is the night of soul rebirth. Eat well, drink well, and have a good trip."
That was a woman's voice. Even though it didn't look like the concubine's, she was suffering from a broken liver and gallbladder at this time and had no time to distinguish it. What's more, the empress had become a ghost, so it was normal for her voice to change.
Just then, a rattling sound came from the coffin, and her heart skipped a beat. She raised her head in horror and saw the lid of the coffin in the center slowly being pushed outward.
"Concubine..." Qiuyue felt that her scalp was about to explode. She wanted to call someone, but it was difficult to make a loud sound when she opened her mouth. She wanted to run out, but she became limp and crawled.
He didn't move much for half a day.
Zu An, who was hiding in the dark, smiled. He didn't expect her to be so frightened. It seemed like there was no need for me to take action.
The coffin lid was pushed halfway and finally stopped. Qiuyue looked up fearfully and saw a woman slowly sitting up from the coffin.
The other party was wearing the princess's favorite clothes. Although her hair was disheveled and her face could not be seen clearly, as the concubine's personal maid, how could she not recognize her.
"I died so miserably..." The woman slowly crawled out of the coffin and approached Qiuyue step by step.
Zu An almost laughed out loud. Sang Qian's acting skills are really good. I didn't teach her how to act, but she turned out to be self-taught. She even deliberately spread her hair to cover her face. Such a reliable teammate.
Who can not love it?
In fact, she didn't need to cover her face, because now, under the influence of Pinru's wardrobe, she was the concubine in Qiuyue's eyes.
"Mother, it has nothing to do with me. It has nothing to do with me." Qiuyue tried desperately to move back, but unfortunately she was so frightened that she could only move a few feet after a long time. She could only kowtow continuously and shed tears.
land.
Sang Qian was also a little surprised, why was this guy so scared? Could it be that my acting skills are so good?
However, she reacted quickly and immediately took the opportunity to say: "You were the one who killed me."
"It's not me. When I informed King Qi, I didn't know he would kill you. Please forgive me, please forgive me!" Qiuyue cried and defended hurriedly.
Zu An and Sang Qian were both shocked. They never expected that the murderer turned out to be King Qi!
No need to be reminded by Zu An, Sang Qian immediately sought out why King Qi killed her.
As Qiuyue stammered, the two finally understood what happened that day. It turned out that on the day of the incident, King Qi's concubine dressed up carefully. It seemed that she had not seen King Qi for a long time and wanted to go find him. When she went, she didn't
Didn't bring anyone with me.
As a result, the maid accidentally met King Qi in the yard, and happily told her mother-in-law that she was looking for him. At that time, King Qi's face looked a little strange, and he left in a hurry after hearing this.
Unexpectedly, something happened to the concubine that night. She was frightened. However, growing up in an environment like the palace, she also had a delicate heart. She did not dare to disclose the matter. No matter who asked, she acted as if she had no idea.
With such love, I have lived till now.
What she is most worried about now, apart from the concubine coming back to claim her life, is that King Qi will silence her. However, King Qi has not taken any action these days, which makes her feel at ease a lot.
Zu An knocked Qiu Yue unconscious and said in a deep voice: "A concubine just died. If her personal maid died soon, everyone would be suspicious, so King Qi probably plans to silence her after the limelight is over."
Sang Qian also nodded: "But from her words, we can't judge why King Qi killed the concubine. As far as I know, the concubine was young and beautiful. Since she entered the palace a few years ago, she has always been very good.
If she was favored by King Qi, why would she kill her for no reason?"
Zu An recalled that the appearance of the woman in the coffin just now was indeed very beautiful, at least much prettier than the Princess of Qi, and she was even younger.
His expression was extremely strange: "Could it be that the concubine is stealing someone secretly?"
After thinking about it, I'm afraid this is the only reason that can make a man who loves her so cruelly murder her.
"This is indeed the greatest possibility," Sang Qian's face turned red, "but who dares to touch King Qi's woman after being overly ambitious?"
Zu An's expression was also a little unnatural, thinking that I had touched the emperor's woman, so what does it mean?
He looked up and looked outside: "It's almost dawn, let's go out first."
Sang Qian nodded, knowing that this was definitely not a place where she could stay for a long time. When she saw Zu An carrying Qiu Yue on his shoulders, she couldn't help but be stunned: "What are you doing?"
Zu An replied: "This is the most critical witness. If you stay here, you will be silenced by King Qi at any time. It is better to take it away."
Sang Qian hesitated: "But just having a witness may not be useful."
She looked at the coffin beside her: "It's best to take away the body of the concubine, so that we can be convicted."
Zu An shook his head: "It doesn't matter if it's just a maid. Stealing the princess's body is a serious crime. If the conviction fails, I can't bear the blame from King Qi. It's just a case investigation, there is no need to involve myself."
Sang Qian was a little suspicious: "Why do I think it's more like you don't want to convict King Qi?"
"You're thinking too much. Let's go." Zu An smiled, but his heart was filled with fear. This woman was really too smart. He really didn't want to turn this case into a solid case. In that case, the emperor would have no one to check and balance him.
It will be more troublesome for you.
Of course, these thoughts cannot be made known to the Sang family. Although they keep saying they are in alliance with him, after all, they were famous royalists in the past. Who knows what they think.
With the experience they just had, and the fact that it was the deepest time for people to sleep now, they left Prince Qi's Mansion smoothly.
"Where are you going to put her?" Sang Qian glanced at Qiu Yue on Zu An's shoulder and asked curiously.
Zu An didn't answer, just looked at her with a smile.
Sang Qian's face changed: "You want to let our family go, no, absolutely not!"
Zu An said: "You also know that many people are watching my mansion right now. If you take it back, you will be discovered soon. I have no other place. After thinking about it, I can only ask you for help. Aren't we allies?"
"
Sang Qian refused: "There are many people watching around our house."
Zu An said with a smile: "That was before. Now that the emperor has asked your father-in-law to make meritorious deeds and appointed him as the Minister of Duzhi, the people watching around have already withdrawn. Sister Qian'er, please do me a favor. Next time, my brother will give you a stick."
lollipop."
Duzhi Shangshu manages the country's financial statistics and branch regulations. Together with the officials, Sangong, Kecao, Jiabu and Tuntian, they are also called the Five Cao Shangshu.
The functions of these five ministers of the Great Zhou Dynasty are very similar to those of the six ministers in the previous history, but their authority is much smaller. They are the busiest and most trivial departments in the ministerial province, and they are located under the ministerial order and the left and right servants.
For example, the head of the Yu family, Yu Xuanchong, and Bi Linglong's father, Bi Qi, are their immediate superiors.
"Don't try to bribe me with a lollipop!" Sang Qian's face turned green and red, but she couldn't resist his insistence. "I'd like to state in advance that this is just this one time. I won't do it next time. I really fell into your trap today.
"
Zu An laughed and put his hand on her shoulder: "Thank you, sister Qian'er."
The two were so close to each other in the coffin, and she gradually got used to each other's contact. In addition, she had been thinking about how to deal with this maid, and she didn't realize anything for a while.
Back at Sang's house, the two of them did not dare to alert the servants, fearing that the secret would be revealed, so they sneaked in secretly from the backyard.
Who would have known that not long after we entered, a voice suddenly shouted from the side: "Who?"
Then a bright sword stabbed out from the side. At the critical moment, Zu An hurriedly stretched out his hand to clamp the tip of the sword.
"Azu?" The other party's voice turned into surprise.
The two of them looked back and saw that the beautiful woman in front of them was not Zheng Dan.
"Aren't you asleep yet?" Zu Anxin thought and almost capsized in the gutter. Before, he was fine in the heavily guarded Prince Qi's Mansion, but he was discovered here instead. After all, the two of them were returning to Sang's house, so they subconsciously relaxed their vigilance.
"I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't sleep. Suddenly I heard some noise outside and thought there was a thief." Zheng Dan put away her weapon and smiled shyly. As the leader of a gang, she was much more vigilant than ordinary people.
, plus some gadgets from the world were arranged around, so they were discovered when they passed by.
She was very happy after seeing Zu An. She thought he was here to find her, but she immediately saw Sang Qian beside him. Her eyes fell on Zu An's hand on her shoulder, and her expression was extremely strange for a moment: "You guys
…”
Sang Qian finally came to her senses and pushed Zu An's hand away: "We just went out to investigate the case and came back."
"When investigating the case, I found out that I had changed my clothes." Zheng Dan said with a half-smile.
Sang Qian suddenly felt particularly embarrassed. The two of them were obviously innocent, but why did it sound like she had something to do with Zu An?
She was usually very eloquent, but now she was a little confused when facing her sister-in-law. She hurriedly pushed Zu An: "Speak quickly."
Zu An then said: "We did go to Prince Qi's Mansion just now to investigate the case. This is the maid brought back from the Prince's Mansion."
Zheng Dan was startled: "Go into the house quickly, don't be seen."
After entering the house and smelling the faint fragrance of tea, Sang Qian had to admit that her sister-in-law was really a classic and elegant beauty, and this temperament often made her envious.
Zu An roughly recounted what had just happened, and Zheng Dan sighed repeatedly: "You are so courageous. Once people from Prince Qi's palace discover you, you will be in trouble."
"Don't worry, she only needs to stay here for one night, and I will take her away after tomorrow." Zu An replied.
Sang Qian suddenly became wary: "Do you want to stay here for the night?"
Zu An stood up and said goodbye: "Don't dare to disturb me, I'll come back tomorrow."
No wonder the other party is wary. There are no men in Sang Mansion now, so it is really inconvenient to have guests.
Sang Qian breathed a sigh of relief, but felt a little embarrassed: "Be careful on the way, I'll settle this maid first."
After Zu An left, she said goodbye to her beautiful sister-in-law, hid the maid and returned to the house.
Thinking that he had been lying in the coffin for so long and that he was wearing the clothes of a dead person, he hurriedly called the lady at home to prepare hot water so that he could take a bath and change clothes.
The old woman smiled and said, "What a coincidence today. Both the young lady and the young mistress have to take a bath in the middle of the night."
Sang Qian was startled: "Sister-in-law also wants to wash?"
She didn't stay with the dead in the coffin, so why did she need to wash it?
"Yes, she just asked me to prepare hot water not long ago." The woman replied and went to do her own thing.
Sang Qian's face changed a little. She suddenly remembered that her sister-in-law was only wearing pajamas just now, but they had been chatting about things together for so long, but she didn't look uncomfortable in front of Zu An, as if she was used to dressing like this in front of him.
Generally, she felt a little inexplicably irritable.
"Could it be..." Looking at the direction of Zheng Dan's room, Sang Qian grasped the sword in her hand and walked over with a serious face.
That bastard, do you think our Sang family has no one?
---
Two chapters combined
This chapter has been completed!