Just as Magistrate Hu and Taigong Zhao argued, whether it is a bandit or an enemy, the Zhao mansion is tightly guarded, and it is not an easy task to kidnap a living person in the deep courtyard.
.
Since neither of them can achieve this goal, Chu Nanzhi can completely rule out these two possibilities at this time, and lead the possibility to another suspicion of hers:
Murder in the house.
First, the young man of the Zhao family had never left the house before he disappeared. The file records that the young man went to greet his stepmother before going to bed, and the maids personally helped him sleep;
Furthermore, as he saw, the Zhao Mansion was surrounded by tall courtyard walls like iron bridges. It was true that outsiders could not enter and exit at will, not to mention that there were so many servants guarding the courtyard.
Moreover, what the Four Treasures said when they entered the mansion just now also gave her some inspiration:
Is there really no family conflicts in such a strict mansion?
The more wealthy the family, the deeper the entanglements hidden among them may be.
In order to cover up the contradictions, they would exaggerate to create an illusion of harmony and peace.
She quietly cast her eyes on Taigong Zhao, looked at the weather-beaten face, and asked softly:
"I heard that your son is the son of the Grand Duke's wife?"
Hey, would it be too gossipy to ask this?
This damn gossip mind.
"Not born of his first wife."
Zhao Taigong replied calmly.
But as soon as he said this, everyone was stunned. Only his step-sibling, Yu Shi, looked calm.
Looking at the surprised expressions on their faces, Zhao Taigong hesitated for a long time and finally said slowly:
"Speaking of this matter, apart from the young and old in the family, Lao Cao rarely mentions it to anyone, so the outside world unanimously believes that the eldest sister of the prefect of the county is Lao Cao's wife."
Then there was a long pause.
He squinted his eyes slightly, as if he didn't want to mention the past events, but thinking that his youngest son had not been heard from so far, what else should he be taboo about? After thinking about it, he slowly recounted the old events in his heart:
"Actually, before marrying Mrs. Wu, I had already married two wives."
Chu Nanzhi was slowly sipping tea. When she heard this, she couldn't hold back a mouthful of tea and spit it out. She choked and coughed several times, but it couldn't relieve the shock in her heart:
"How disrespectful. I didn't expect that the old lady is also a person with a long story."
Then he pretended to be calm again.
After this calculation, the prefect's sister is already his third wife.
Prefect Hu and Sun Xiancheng also seemed to have heard a shocking secret. They held teacups tightly in their hands and froze on the spot, unable to recover for a long time.
Zhao Taigong looked at everyone, but quietly showed a wry smile:
"My wife and I are both from our hometown of Tong County, and we are childhood sweethearts. In our early years, we traveled to the sea with our young son to do business. Later, we encountered pirates at sea. Unfortunately, my wife and young son died in the shipwreck. Later, in order to have children, we had to marry again.
I married a woman surnamed Jiang from Tong County for five years but did not have any blood. It happened that Wu Enrong, who was the magistrate of Tong County at the time, wanted to make friends with the old man, so he instigated his late mother to abandon the Jiang family and welcome his eldest sister into the family."
"I see."
Chu Nanzhi nodded in greeting.
I'm afraid he's an old scumbag too.
He was greedy for beauty and gave it up at first, and deliberately put the blame on his deceased mother, which was also clever.
It seems that Wu Enrong, the current governor of Pingning County, married his eldest sister to the old man for the sake of promotion.
"Wu and Lao Chan gave birth to a son, Zhao Yan, one year after they got married. However, he died of illness at home within two years. It was considered that he had a son again in his old age and had someone to rely on, so Lao Chan always doted on the child."
Having said that, Taigong Zhao turned his head, glanced at Mrs. Yu dotingly, and praised with joy:
"My current wife was married five years ago. She is now old. My wife is gentle and virtuous. She relies on her to take care of the household. She also loves her only son very much. I am very satisfied."
Seeing the two people's eyes intertwined, the look of love blending together, Chu Nanzhi felt some evil intentions in her heart.
The Jiang family and the Yu family had been married for five years without any trace of blood, but why did the Wu family give birth to a fat son within a year of their marriage?
Um?
It shouldn't be so complicated.
Chu Nanzhi tried hard to focus on the case.
But then I thought about it, Yu had been married for five years, and he and his old lady were so loving, so why didn’t he have any children of his own?
It seems that I still have to do some thinking on this aspect.
If there is no hidden secret, it means that there is something wrong with the old lady's health.
I looked around at Magistrate Hu and Magistrate Sun, and saw that they were just listening attentively, and they looked like they were just eating melons.
This made Chu Nanzhi feel a little distressed.
Could it be that I, a woman, should ask about such an intimate and heart-wrenching question?
She glanced at Magistrate Hu.
Hu Maoxi lowered his head, picked up the tea cup leisurely, and tasted the tea carefully: "Good tea, the tea in Taigong's Mansion is really the best among the best. I'm afraid the imperial tea in the palace is just like this."
She had no choice but to look at Sun County Cheng again.
But the old man turned his face directly and deliberately looked at the scenery outside the hall.
"Grandpa Zhao and your wife have been married for five years. Why didn't you think about having another baby? My father and mother gave birth to me and my four brothers and sisters in just one year after they got married."
Little Sibao is also very curious.
In her world, when you get married, you should have children.
"Children's words have no scruples. Children's words have no scruples. Don't be offended by Grandpa Gong."
Chu Nanzhi looked extremely embarrassed.
In case Zhao Taigong is ill, Xiao Sibao's words will really hurt his heart.
I don’t know if bringing this little guy here today is a good thing or a bad thing.
But someone raised this question, and she was still happy.
He couldn't be too obvious, so he had to pretend to be serious and said to Si Bao: "Children are not allowed to interrupt randomly."
Xiao Sibao lowered his head in grievance.
But the little guy's words really stung the old couple.
Mrs. Yu's face immediately fell, but it was not easy to scold a child in front of everyone.
Old Mrs. Zhao held the tea cup, unable to calm down the pain in her heart for a long time.
After thinking about it, he could only pretend to be nothing and replied: "It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. I am already satisfied with Yan'er and I don't dare to have any extravagant thoughts."
At this point, Chu Nanzhi had roughly come to some conclusions.
But if you want to support your inference, you must first find the body of the Zhao family's young master.
Before and after the incident, Mr. Zhao Xiaolang never left the mansion, which is a fact that everyone in the mansion can recognize.
If it was indeed murder, then it is very likely that Mr. Zhao Xiaolang's body is still in the house.
But before she found real evidence, she couldn't express her feelings at will, so she could only discuss it with Zhao Taigong:
"I wonder if it would be convenient for Grand Duke to call some servants from the prince's courtyard over so that the women can have a deeper understanding of some of the young prince's daily habits?"
After thinking for a while, she simply said bluntly: "A commoner woman wants to inspect the place where the prince lives."
"You are a womanizer."
Yu felt that it was against the rules and was about to stop him, but Zhao Taigong quickly waved his hand and said:
"Since it's to investigate the case, it's okay for Madam Chu to go, so I will order my servants to lead the way for Madam Chu."
He was actually resistant to this woman who had a child and was not rigorous in investigating the case, and she had no idea at all.
I just think that there is little news about my youngest son now, and this woman is a strange person who solved the tax bank case, so I feel a little hopeful.
Then he called two maids from the young son's courtyard and handed them over to Chu Nanzhi, preparing to let her go to the northwest courtyard to inspect.