Zhang Xutang mingled in the crowd, followed the carriage, and listened to a lot of gossip.
After returning home, he met Zhan Shizhao first.
Zhan Shizhao reported: "Second Master, the people below Tianxing Pavilion were not found. Those who asked you all said they disappeared as soon as they turned their backs."
"Forget it," Zhang Xutang took a sip of tea, "Tomorrow you can inquire carefully about the Song family. Mrs. Song has been playing in the palace since she was a child. Compared with Xie Chuan, the weight should not be much different. There is one named Huang Wenqiu.
If you are guilty of private tea, it is the prince who the Song family went to ask for."
"yes."
Zhan Shizhao sent him away and inquired for two days. He came back and said to Zhang Xutang: "When I first came to Tanzhou, Mrs. Song and Prince Jin were still very close. Later, Mrs. Song grew up and Mrs. Song was a widow.
We don’t have much contact with each other. Madam Song also went to Xie Chuan for the private tea you mentioned."
Zhang Xutang nodded.
Orphans and widowed mothers, relying on grass and trees, can only tighten the fence to prevent others from taking advantage of it.
It's just that he always felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't remember it for a while.
Zhan Shizhao continued: "Xie Chuan's wife takes great care of the Song family's mother and daughter outside."
Zhang Xutang held the folding fan upside down, tapped the center of his eyebrows with the fan bone, and asked carefully: "Is there any reaction over there about Mrs. Song's marriage?"
"No action was seen from the palace."
Zhang Xutang closed his eyes and thought about it, but he still couldn't figure out where the thorn in his heart came from.
Maybe I have forgotten the most crucial sentence, a paragraph of text, or a person. As long as I can think of it, the clouds will clear up.
After thinking to no avail, he opened his eyes and put this aside in advance.
Things in the world are often like this, it just requires a little more clarity. If it doesn't happen now, it will come naturally when the time comes.
"Where does the Song family live? I'll go and meet you for a while."
Zhan Shizhao said: "Hengyu Street, but they are not in the city right now. They said they went to Meishan County on the second day after we came to Tanzhou."
Zhang Xutang opened his fan and shook it: "We have already decided to get married and yet we are running out. Could it be that we are going to pay homage to the deceased in Meishan County during the Mid-Autumn Festival? Go and ask where they celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival in previous years."
Zhan Shizhao had already found out clearly: "This is the first time this year."
Zhang Xutang sneered: "They all avoid me like a snake or a scorpion."
It's really annoying to have people who don't matter flock to you, but no one who matters is to be found.
Zhan Shizhao said: "Mrs. Song should have kept Song Qi's death in mind. Not only did she stay away from King Jin, but she also avoided us when she saw us entering the city. I think the Song family can be excluded."
Although Zhang Xutang nodded, his expression remained solemn. He flipped through a few tabloids at hand, stood up and said, "Find someone to go to Meishan County and keep an eye on them. If they intend to leave Tanzhou, kill them directly."
"yes."
"I'm going to wake up." Zhang Xutang left the study and went straight to the backyard.
The backyard was brightly lit, full of colorful embroidery, and flowers planted everywhere. Those friends had already returned home, and the sound of silk and bamboo orchestras was making a lot of noise.
Zhang Xutang casually picked off a yellow chrysanthemum with intricate threads and inserted it next to the fu head, and walked in laughing.
The night went on until five o'clock, and many people in the counties outside the city were admiring the moon at home, and they also rested early.
As soon as it dawned the next day, Yinxiao got up, packed two baskets of bamboo baskets, and went to the intersection with a high shoulder load to sell them.
Meishan County is full of steep mountains and difficult mountain roads. Many people visiting relatives stayed in the county town last night and had to leave the city today. He just sat down at the intersection under Zhuangzi and could do business.
He has been selling for three days in a row, and if he sells for one more day today, and sells the rest in two or three days, he will be able to sell out all the recreational items Song Huiyue bought.
There was only one family outside Zhuangzi, and Zhuangzi from the Song family usually asked them to sweep the house, and gave them all the grain provided by Zhuangzi.
Yin Xiao found a stone and sat down, holding a hatchet and slowly sharpening a piece of thick bamboo.
A seven or eight-year-old child appeared in that family's house, ran to Yin Xiao, looked at him for a moment, and asked, "Brother Yin Xiao, what are you doing?"
"slingshot."
The child said "Oh", looked at it for a moment, and then said: "It looks like the big bow from the father-in-law's family."
The slingshot made by Yinxiao is also a bamboo recurve, but it is equipped with double strings. There is a silk slot in the middle of the strings, which can hold three clay balls.
The child looked at it very seriously and suddenly said as if he was remembering something: "Are you going in for tea?"
"Not going."
"oh."
The child simply squatted beside him and watched with interest, completely forgetting that there was someone at home who was looking at him.
The young lady in the house was wearing new clothes and flowers. She was sitting in front of the window, but her eyes and soul were piercing out, all the way to Yin Xiao's body.
Gradually, she became obsessed with watching it.
She was only fourteen years old, and she was busy running around on her legs all day long, feeding pigs, chickens, farming and weeding. She was born with a wild spirit. Now that Yin Xiao was here, she served Yin Xiao delicately.
After having tea twice, I was filled with endless emotions.
She touched her face, but it was not fair, and then touched her hands, which were not tender either. She sensed something was wrong, so she began to imitate the lady in the boudoir, never leaving the door without taking a step forward.
She couldn't hide her little thoughts from her mother.
The woman saw her daughter acting erratically and wanted to discipline her, but she didn't know where to start - Yin Xiao never said a word to her daughter from beginning to end.
You can't blame him for being born too well.
He sat down on the stone. He was tall and strong, with sword-shaped eyebrows and phoenix eyes. All the grass and leaves on the ground turned into swords, surrounding him fiercely in the middle.
The heavier and more majestic the mountain becomes, the calmer his face becomes, and the woman herself is almost fascinated by it.
Obviously it's not his daughter's fault, who wouldn't like to see this - and it doesn't cost any money.
Yinxiao sold bamboo here for a long time, two cents a piece, from sunrise to noon.
In just half a day, the young lady inside had already shyly invited him to drink tea twice.
Yinxiao returned to Zhuangzi thoughtfully, and on the next day, carrying a heavy load, he walked to the county town in one go and put it all out for sale.
After selling it, he also walked around the road, walking quickly up the mountain from the mountainside path, and returned to the village.
Song Huiyue saw him and asked: "Where did you sell it?"
Yinxiao lowered his head and fiddled with the pole: "The county."
"Why are you traveling so far?"
"Sold quickly."
Song Huiyue couldn't see his face and said with a smile: "Don't be shy, I already know. Aunt Li came to see Auntie today, and Auntia asked me to ask what you mean."
Yin Xiao raised his head, his eyes were clean and his expression was very magnanimous: "What do you think?"
Song Huiyue said: "I don't think it's appropriate."
A hint of joy flashed in Yinxiao's eyes, and Song Huiyue added: "You are two years younger than me, and the same age as Qinghui, but if you like it, you can make a decision first."
The light in Yinxiao's eyes quickly dimmed, and he turned into an unmoving appearance again. He grew a few years older out of thin air.
He replied coldly to Song Huiyue: "I don't like it."