The embers of prosperity gradually faded into the thick darkness of night, most of the street shops were locked, the streets were deserted and there was little joy.
A carriage was driving on the empty street, running without any distractions.
After turning around a sparse and ordinary intersection, the people in the car couldn't sit still.
Gao Zhishui lifted the bamboo curtain on the side window of the carriage and looked outside. The interrogation by the Metropolitan Procuratorate had exhausted her mentally and physically. Even her exquisite makeup could not cover up the tiredness that filled her brows. The slightest disturbance would make her
Grass and trees are all at war, and it is hard to be at ease with a guilty conscience.
"Gaofu should turn left, what's going on? Stop the car!" She frowned and shouted sternly to stop, but the driver driving outside the car didn't seem to hear it and continued to drive forward.
Gao Zhishui was anxious. He bent over the carriage and was about to lift the curtain and lean out to take a look. However, he was stopped by the "carriage driver" outside: "Miss Gao, why don't you just sit quietly? I'll let you go home safely after seeing me."
.”
The "carriage driver" shouted again and pulled the reins on the horse. The carriage jolted forward. Gao Zhishui fell backwards without any weight and was thrown back to his seat.
Her heart was beating fast and stuck in her throat. Her chest was tight and it was difficult to breathe. She opened the bamboo curtain on the side window again, trying to figure out where she was at this time, but the surroundings were dark. She checked for a long time and then put it down in despair.
After a while, the carriage stopped in an unknown alley. Gao Zhishui huddled in the corner of the carriage, her face pale. Listening to the footsteps of the "carriage driver" gradually approaching the window, she involuntarily tightened her grip.
robe.
The car curtain was opened from the outside by a big hand, and his black robe was visible along the hand, but the man did not shy away and showed his face.
Gao Zhishui used the moonlight to see clearly the man's face. His eyebrows were long and slender, and he was unruly. He had just sent away a Bodhisattva, and another plague god came.
"Lu...Master Lu?"
Lu Xiaonian responded casually, gestured for her to get out of the car, and said coldly: "Come down."
Gao Zhishui slowly got out of the car, and before she landed, she saw a carriage on the opposite side. There was a person sitting in the driving seat outside the carriage, with his legs dangling in the air. He was obviously smiling, but it made her shudder.
"They brought it to you. If you want to ask anything, ask right away."
Chu Shou nodded to Lu Xiaonian, and he stepped aside and stood quietly aside.
Gao Zhishui was thinking, Chu Shou came here, maybe...it was also for that earring.
She swallowed nervously and walked forward slowly.
Chu Shou smiled and watched her walking step by step with her head bowed, bowing in obeisance, and then timidly asked: "My little girl has seen the princess, I don't know...the princess..."
Before she finished speaking, Chu Shou spoke first. The corners of her mouth were curved. She was covered in green clothes in the night. She was gentle and mysterious. She chuckled, then put away her smile and said coldly: "Miss Gao seemed to have
I also saw the disaster with my own eyes at the banquet, and today I showed up with the assassin's earrings struttingly. Do you want to provoke this princess?"
Gao Zhishui hurriedly defended: "No... I dare not."
"Don't you dare? Why do I think you are so bold, Miss Gao?"
Chu Shou turned his eyes and saw the blood stains on Gao Zhishui's ears, and sneered, "I wonder how Song Yanqing came to such an occasion. Miss Gao is really willing to go out of her way to make a splash in the gathering."
Gao Zhishui noticed Chu Shou's gaze and was aroused by her words, but he became a little tougher: "Back to the princess, this is just...just a transaction between me and Mr. Song, one thing for one thing, about the assassin
The news has been truthfully reported to...the Imperial Censor. If the princess wants to know, she can ask the Imperial Censor."
"ah--"
Chu Shou raised his eyebrows and shouted softly, then continued: "It's unfortunate. A few days ago, my princess led troops to surround the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Miss Gao is so sensible, why not go and help me to mediate?"
"Miss Gao, the night dew is heavy. I advise you to speak quickly while this person can still talk to you." Lu Xiaonian leaned against the wall with his arms folded and closed his eyes to rest. He persuaded Chu Shou sincerely.
After leaving the school, he went to the Dali Temple under the name of Wei Zhao, but he also learned a lot of things, and some of them were good at making people talk.
Gao Zhishui gritted his teeth and pursed his lips to reveal everything: "That day when I left the palace, my uncle's carriage blocked the road at the intersection of Long Street. He said he had lost something. This earring belongs to me... I and I
Xue Ying found it on the big box behind his carriage. I saw a dark figure in a small alley on that street. Maybe the assassin found it and came back to look for the earrings."
"I swear, that's all I know!"
She had already seen Song Yanqing in a hurry at the Qianqiu Banquet. She had always regarded herself as noble. Before Song Yanqing returned to the capital, she had not thought that there was a young master in the capital who was worthy of her, so when she discovered the assassin earrings
, when she saw the assassin, she hesitated and asked someone to catch the assassin and send him to the Metropolitan Procuratorate. It would be better to make herself the only witness and clue. It would be more dangerous when it was dangerous, but she could always get on the line.
Chu Shou lowered his eyes and thought, Zhao Qinghuai was dead. I guess Gao Zhishui didn't know about it. Song Yanqing and Shen Yiyan were able to compromise with Gao Zhishui for a dubious clue. I guess they had no clue about Zhao Qinghuai's death.
If she really escaped from Uncle Guo's car, along that road, her destination should be the Metropolitan Procuratorate. I am afraid that if someone appears on the road again and takes her away, those people will be
who?
One thing after another emerges one by one, and the way to find the truth is cut off one by one, leaving people without a clue.
Lu Xiaonian opened his eyes and stood up, glanced at Chu Shou, waved his hand towards Gao Zhishui and said, "Aren't you leaving yet?"
As he spoke, he kicked out a small pebble, sighed, squatted down, picked it up and clamped it between his index and middle fingers, threw it towards the dark place in front of him on the left, and said lightly: "How long are you ready to listen?
"
Gao Zhishui paused as he got on the bus, and saw a person walking out of the darkness. He was dressed as a Confucian scholar and said with smiling eyes: "I have met the princess."
"Wu Zhuo from the Criminal Department, um... I went to the banquet today and saw Miss Gao's strange earrings, so I came here to ask."
Saying that, Gao Zhishui bowed like a wind and got into the carriage. One after another, he came over and asked, "Does she regret it?" It seems not. After tonight, this matter will be the end of the story for her.
Lu Xiaonian raised his hand, and a man walked out from the side, took the carriage, and turned out.
Chu Shou held his knees with one hand, held his chin and asked, "Now that Mr. Wu has heard everything, what do you think?"
Wu Zhuo still narrowed his eyes and smiled gently, and said: "The assassin died mainly because of the poison. I thought it was the poison on the princess's arrow. Later, I asked Master Chen, princess, you don't have the habit of tempering poison.
There are no traces of poison on the wound, so the broken heart may have been buried long ago."
Chu Shou laughed out loud after hearing this: "Then I have to thank you two adults for helping me clear away the suspicion."
"However, Princess, you missed a few points when you shot the arrow. It's not like your style."
"This was also said by Chen Ji?"
"This sentence makes sense." Lu Xiaonian interrupted with a smile.
Chu Shou turned his head and rolled his eyes at him: You are the only one who talks too much...
"The most important thing is that a token for entering and exiting the palace was found at the discovery site, but I don't know whose hand it was." Wu Zhuo smiled and took it out of his arms, then scratched his head in embarrassment and said: "
I forgot, this kind of thing is considered as evidence and cannot be taken out."
When Lu Xiaonian heard the token, he turned to look at Chu Shou with a look of scrutiny.
Chu Shou smiled and said: "The banquet was in chaos at that time. I was able to shoot an arrow on her shoulder and save the imperial concubine. I have done my best. As for catching the assassin and solving the case, I naturally have to rely on the Third Division."
"
"I will naturally try my best." Wu Zhuo smiled and bowed again, "It's just that the clue is broken, and I want to hear the princess's thoughts."
Wu Zhuo's boss is the selfless and selfless Mr. Xu Chun. He often follows Mr. Xu to talk with Wei Zhao and Chen Ji. During the conversation, he heard that several unsolved cases in the Ministry of Punishment and Dali Temple were solved by Chu Shou under Wei Zhao.
When he came out, he was obsessed with solving cases, so he was naturally very curious about the princess.
"I believe that everything in this world happens for a reason. Whatever you sow, you will get what you want. Judging a case is nothing more than peeling off the cocoon and tracing the cause and effect. Mr. Wu has a lot of evidence. I wonder where to start investigating.
Knows better than me."
The dancer was selected by Luo Qi, the crown prince of Prince Xing. The Ministry of Justice went to ask about it early in the morning. Luo Qi only said: He is only responsible for selecting dancers and arranging dances. The selection criteria are mainly based on dance skills. No matter how stupid he is, he will not be able to do it.
You wouldn't do something like shoot yourself in the foot.
There is no evidence, so Wu Zhuo is dubious, and Luo Qi's special status makes it difficult to draw conclusions easily.
As for the highly poisonous heart-breaking poison that was buried early, it has a validity period of seven days. If there is no antidote, the poison will develop. From last night to the previous seven days, she must be connected with the person who planted the poison.
She often carries a soft sword around her waist and uses her main force to assassinate the imperial concubine. This shows that she is well-trained and must have made arrangements in advance.
After checking the deceased's information, we found that she was a dancer from Yanliu Lane in Kyoto. She was selected by Luo Qi to dance for the Qianqiu Banquet. During the dance rehearsal, she was always at the Crown Prince's residence. The other dancers were also temporarily found from all over Kyoto. They all said
I ate and lived with her, but there were no clues.
Chu Shou and Wu Zhuo each had their own ulterior motives. What Chu Shou was thinking was: the token was not much evidence. It could be explained that she picked it up randomly, but Zhao Qinghuai clearly followed them to Beijing.
She has a close relationship with the Metropolitan Procuratorate. If she revealed it easily, wouldn't she put the Metropolitan Procuratorate in danger?
Moreover, she also knew Song Yanqing’s arrangements. The Metropolitan Procuratorate arranged for the men in black to cause trouble at the Qianqiu Banquet. As for Zhao Qinghuai, Chu Shou thought that she was also arranged by the Metropolitan Procuratorate at first, so at first she saw Zhao Qinghuai flying over with a soft sword.
At that time, she did not think that Zhao Qinghuai would kill her, but the soft sword she had originally agreed to act out was pointed directly at the concubine's throat, full of murderous intent.
What if it was all a fake show? That meant she had deviated from the mission given to her by the Metropolitan Procuratorate.
Maybe there was another group of people who used the poison in her body as a threat to force her to fake it. Then it would make sense that she escaped from the palace and was kidnapped by that group of people on the way to the Metropolitan Procuratorate.
.
The top priority is to find out the group of people behind her. They want to make the fake show come true and take the life of the concubine.
Among all the incidents, the only one who lied was the one who claimed that Zhao Qinghuai had been practicing dancing at the Crown Prince's residence...
So the final key to this matter... is today's Crown Prince, Luo Qi.
When Wu Zhuo saw that the clues had been cut off at Gao Zhishui's place, and that he had failed to win what he had planned to do, he bowed with a smile and said, "I have learned from you. In this case, I will resign."
After Wu Zhuo left, Lu Xiaonian drove the carriage again, and Chu Shou sat beside him. Su Tiying, Ah Shui and more than three thousand people in the carriage were already sound asleep.
"I want to work with you to investigate together, but you are better off. Why are you talking about cause and effect..." Lu Xiaonian teased.
Chu Shou waved his hands and shook his head, "This matter should be handled by the Third Division, but I don't have that much time."
"That's right." Lu Xiaonian nodded, remembering that he asked Chu Shou to investigate his elder brother's smuggling of jade, and said: "As for you, you only need to think about the jade that was smuggled into the Central Plains. The rest will be left to me later.
Just a moment!”
Chu Shou smiled and nodded, turned to look at Lu Xiaonian who was driving the car, and said, "Of course, I'll give you two, one price, how about it?"
Lu Xiaonian replied cheerfully: "After investigating the smuggling matter, I will sell it to you for free!"
@
Metropolitan procuratorate, study room.
"The princess asked Lu Xiaonian to find Miss Gao. After asking some questions, she also met Mr. Wu Zhuowu from the Criminal Department. We talked for a while and now he has returned home." Shen Yi stood beside Song Yanqing's desk, holding in his hand
He unfolded the small rolled-up note and relayed the contents on the paper to Song Yanqing.
After Song Yan listened, he nodded slightly.
Shen Yi said harshly: "It seems that no matter how angry the princess is, she will choose to side with us in the end."
He stared at the earrings placed on the table in trance. These earrings were not vulgar. They were made of warm jade and were transparent and clear. Then he said lightly: "It would be better if she could not get involved in these things. At least it proves what I said this morning.
It's not in vain." Song Yanqing sighed as she sat with her arms on the table, her forehead on her forehead and her eyes closed.
"You didn't say it in vain?" Shen Yi was surprised, "If the princess heard this, how could she ignore it and keep the Metropolitan Procuratorate? She clearly saw it with her own eyes that Zhao Qinghuai returned to Beijing with us."
Shen Yi looked at Song Yanqing's expression harshly and spoke softly.
"The Ministry of Punishment has determined that Zhao Qinghuai died from poison, and is starting the investigation from the beginning." Shen Yi said harshly, with a smile in his eyes. If he hadn't known that there was an organization leader behind Zhao Qinghuai who specialized in poisoning, I'm afraid he would have been blinded by the darkness now.
They are.
"Follow carefully. If you find anything unexpected... report it to me immediately."
Now we are waiting for the Ministry of Justice to discover that there is an organization behind Zhao Qinghuai and start to make progress. By then, the team investigating the culprit will not be the only one from the Metropolitan Procuratorate.
Today they easily handed people over to the Ministry of Punishments and pretended to be depressed, but in fact this was what they had in mind.
After all, even though they monitored Zhao Qinghuai all the way, they still couldn't catch the mastermind behind the scenes. If you investigate and I will investigate, we will be more powerful if we unite!
"Also...check for me what Lu Xiaonian has been up to recently." Song Yanqing's voice was muffled.
After hearing this harshly, Shen Yi smiled helplessly and shook his head, saying, "You might as well ask Princess Ruchuan yourself."