Jia Xu and others arrived at Zhen Zangzhu's home and saw his mother. They were shocked to see that this person was unfilial. Li Cuihua let Fenxiang help her and sat down on the wooden bench. She was stunned for a long time and burst into tears. Wiping the sleeves of his shirt, he said after a long while: "What a cruel person! He has been gone for more than thirty years without even a single letter."
"If there is a letter, I will die anyway." Jia Xu looked at her and said, "When I came back, I never heard that your son was Mr. Zhen's son."
Li Cuihua wiped her tears again: "After all, I am a widow."
Seeing that he didn't believe it, Jia Xuxian stared at her for a while and said, "It's okay for Mrs. Li to believe me. I heard that you have a painting left by Mr. Zhen Deren here. Could you please take it out and let me take a look."
Li Cuihua said hurriedly: "That old guy only gave me ten taels of silver, and nothing else! Really! If I coax you, I'll be struck by lightning!"
Zhen Zangzhu said impatiently: "I told you all earlier, so you don't have to hide it."
Li Cuihua was startled; Jia Xu looked at her with a smile but not a smile. Li Cuihua hesitated and said: "Yes... there is a painting... but..." Before she finished speaking, Liu Er pinched Zhen Zangzhu. Zhen Zangzhu shouted like a pig, Liu Er's sword was clearly placed on his neck. Li Cuihua jumped up: "What are you doing!"
Jia Xu smiled and said, "I am very busy."
Zhen Zangzhu shouted: "Give him, give him! Give him the painting! Give him the old man's letter! Give him everything else!"
Li Cuihua was still a little confused, and Zhen Zangzhu screamed again - Liu Er had already handed the knife forward, and a line of blood from Zhen Zangzhu's neck dripped along the blade. Li Cuihua was so frightened that she hurriedly shouted: " Master, have mercy on me! I'm going to get something right now!" He rolled and climbed inside.
Hearing the sound of rummaging through boxes and cabinets, Li Cuihua ran out with a small bundle and untied it herself. There were two papers folded inside, one of which was the painting Zhen Zangzhu mentioned just now, which was of the lake in the mountain col; The other one looked like a letter. Fenxiang took the letter and handed it to Jia Xu. Jia Xu opened it, looked at it, and said with a smile, "Is this really yours?"
Li Cuihua said in a trembling voice: "My best friend gave it to me back then."
Jia Xu then showed the letter to Fenxiang: "Is it your grandfather's handwriting?"
Fenxiang took the letter and said, "I have never seen his old man's handwriting." After a few glances, she knew something was wrong. She didn't recognize the handwriting on the letter, but she now recognized a lot of the handwriting and could read it. I understand this letter. It is true that Zhen Deren said that Zhen Zangzhu is his own son, but the mother of the child written on it is "Taoniang Li of Xiaoci County", not Li Cuihua.
Jia Xulang said: "There are many families here with the surname Li. Zhen Deren's other concubine was also named Li, named Li Taoniang. She also adopted a son from a relative. This Li Taoniang later married and gave birth to a son and a daughter. Because the adopted eldest son was originally from her natal family, and his surname was still Li, and he was very popular with her. The eldest son fell to his death more than 20 years ago."
Fenxiang took a sharp breath: "You slipped and fell to your death?"
Jia Xu nodded and said: "It has been so long that no one in the village can remember the specific year. Li Tao Niang was heartbroken." While he was talking, he stared at Li Cuihua with his eyes. Li Cuihua trembled slightly with fright. Jia Xu coughed. Then he said, "Now it seems that the dead one is the real Zhen Zangzhu, and he was secretly killed by people from the court, pretending to have made a mistake."
Li Cuihua screamed: "What?!"
Jia Xupi said with a smile: "Don't you know that Zhen Deren was an imperial convict? He was the one who was executed all over the family. Of course, the roots must be eradicated, and even the illegitimate son he and Li Tao's mother had raised could not be spared. I don't know how it was leaked back then. Passed this one." Then he turned to look at Zhen Zangzhu.
Li Cuihua was stunned. After a long while, she trembled all over and shouted in a hissing voice: "My son is not his son!"
Zhen Zangzhu was also confused, but he still fell into Liu's hands and shouted: "Mother! What's going on!"
Li Cuihua shouted loudly: "That's not true! I heard that Tao Niang taught her son to pretend to be Mr. Zhen's son, and that's when I got the idea! I stole these two things from their house."
Jia Xu frowned: "Please explain more clearly."
Seeing that Liu Erban had no intention of letting her son go, Li Cuihua wept pitifully. If a woman in her teens or twenties had dressed up like this, she would have been really charming; but she was already over 150 years old, Jia Xu Liu Er didn't move at all. Li Cuihua had no choice but to say something.
That day, Jia Xu came to see her with Zhen Deren's portrait. After asking about some events from the past, he casually made a casual conversation: "I wonder which one is more beautiful, you or that Li Taoniang." People in the mountains were separated, and Li Cuihua and Li Taoniang didn't know each other at first. When I was going to the market, I accidentally heard someone say that Mr. Zhen, who came to the city to paint, had hooked up with a young widow somewhere. He was a little angry and secretly went to see the other one. The two of them actually recognized each other because they were both pretty. , both wanted to get attached to Zhen Deren, so they became enemies and had numerous quarrels. In the end, Zhen Deren did not marry anyone and left on his own. The two felt boring and did not live close to each other, so they rarely met each other in the next thirty years. Many years later Suddenly someone came to ask about Zhen Deren and talked about Li Taoniang, which brought back Li Cui's old thoughts and wanted to know if Li Taoniang was as good-looking as him now.
She then chose a day to secretly go to the village where Li Taoniang lived to take a peek, not wanting to hear what Li Taoniang said to her second son behind the haystacks. The adopted eldest son who fell to death that year was Zhen Deren's son. Li Taoniang herself Zhen Deren found out about the pregnancy without even realizing it, and deliberately told Li Cuihua about Li Taoniang, so that she could find out what was wrong with Li Taoniang, so that Li Taoniang could take the opportunity to avoid going to a distant relative's house and secretly gave birth to her son. He also gave her a son. He left letters and paintings, took her to the mountain pass with the lake, and told her that their son would become a high official in the future.
Because the child died long ago, many years later, someone with high official authority actually came to her door with a portrait of Zhen Deren. Li Taoniang thought that Zhen Deren's son was almost the same age as her second son, so she might as well let the second son. He pretended to be the eldest son so that he could become an official in the future. Li Cuihua was so angry that she wanted to call Li Taoniang a bitch, but she didn't dare to do anything wrong when her son was around. So she carefully concealed her whereabouts until she heard that Li Taoniang was bringing her second son to Zhen Deren to take her. That mountain pass we went to.
The child who died in infancy was Zhen Zangzhu. His name in the village in his early years was Li Zangzhu, and he was about the same age as the son adopted by Li Cuihua. She then thought, after all, he was not Mr. Zhen’s son. Instead of giving her a son, she might as well give her my son. So one day, when there was no one at Li Tao Niang's house, she sneaked into their house and rummaged around secretly. After a while, she found a letter and a painting from Li Tao Niang's pillowcase. She hurriedly hid the things in her arms and sneaked home. There, she told her son all the stories about Li Taoniang and her eldest son as her own. Her son believed it as soon as he heard it. He really thought that he could become a high official. He was so happy that he ran to the mountain col to build a shed and wait for the rabbit. Arrive at Jia Xu.
Jia Xu was dumbfounded when he heard this: "It turns out you are fake."
Li Cuihua nodded like a chicken pecking at rice: "My son is really the one I brought from a relative's house, not Mr. Zhen's."
Her son shouted: "It turned out to be a lie! You old woman, you coaxed me to stay here all these days in vain."
Jia Xu snorted: "It's not a shame, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to save your life."
Li Cuihua hurriedly said: "Master! Please let my son go, he is not Mr. Zhen's!"
"That's alright." Jia Xu put away the letter and the painting, and looked at the mother and son coldly, "You don't even know what's going on, so you dare to rely on others." He ordered Liu Er to let him go. Zhen Zangzhu.
Li Cuihua rushed over to help her son; Zhen Zangzhu cried out in pain, so Li Cuihua hurriedly tore open her clothes and bandaged him. Jia Xu was too lazy to care about these things, turned around and left; Liu Erfenxiang followed behind.
After going out, Jia Xu asked Fenxiang, "What do you think?"
Fenxiang thought for a while: "I believe it."
Jia Xu said: "What Li Cuihua said is probably true."
Fenxiang hurriedly asked: "Are there any fake ones?"
Jia Xu said: "Her son is indeed the son of your grandfather." Fenxiang was startled. Jia Xu took out a portrait from his arms and said, "This is your grandfather. Do you think he looks like the fake Zhen Zangzhu?"
When Fenxiang took a look, he looked exactly like his grandfather in his memory, only much younger, and his facial features were somewhat similar to those of the fake Zhen Zangzhu. She couldn't help but sigh: "It turns out that this is the son that my grandfather hid."
Jia Xu nodded and said: "Zhen Deren knew that what he was doing was a secret of the Tian family, and he would be silenced if he didn't protect it. The three sons in the family might not be able to escape the emperor's murderous hands, so he deliberately hooked up with the two young widows. Both women were pregnant. He managed to coax the two of them to give birth quietly; coincidentally, both of them were sons. This Li Cuihua was a very romantic woman, and she had hooked up with many men, but she was quite tight-lipped; that Li Taoniang seemed to have to be honest. There are many, but he likes to talk. Your grandfather therefore chose this son of Li Cuihua as the real 'hidden pearl'; the one of Li Tao Niang, with both paintings and letters, was a pearl thrown outside. If the late emperor had carefully investigated him Li Tao Niang's son took care of Li Cui Hua's romantic debt. If not, when the new king comes to power, the good thing of becoming an official will naturally fall on Li Tao Niang's son. Although Li Cui Hua's son has no status, he can live a good life. You... My grandfather worked very hard to calculate, but it’s a pity that he always calculated the lives of his own children and grandchildren.”
Fenxiang said with emotion: "Fortunately, these two women believed him."
Jia Xu said: "Just look at these ordinary mountain people, how many of them can compare with your grandfather? He really wants to deceive, how can these women be his opponents?"
Fenxiang was silent for a long time, speechless. After a while, she asked: "What's the next step?"
"Of course I'm looking for Li Tao Niang." Jia Xu said, "Fortunately it's not that far away." He winked at Liu Er.
Liu Er cupped his fists at Fenxiang and said, "I'm sorry." He picked her up from behind and started running. Fenxiang was so frightened that she screamed. Jia Xu laughed and followed behind.
The two of them walked quickly, and soon they arrived outside Li Taoniang's village and heard an uproar in the village. Jia Xu frowned and ordered Liu Er to stop first, put down the fennel and go find out. Not long after Liu Er entered, he came out and replied. : "Li Taoniang and her son both died unexpectedly, and there is a commotion in the village."
Jia Xu's brows suddenly knitted into a knot, and he said after a while: "It's obvious that someone is investigating. He's not an important person, so why did he keep silent?"
Fenxiang thought for a while and said, "Didn't Mr. Jia say that someone is investigating this matter? He was also kidnapped. Could it be those people who did it?"
"There's no need to kill anyone," Jia Xu said. "Not to mention that Li Tao Niang married another woman, and her son is not Zhen Deren's."
Fenxiang said: "I'm afraid that Li Taoniang still knows some clues. They are afraid that Mr. Liu will ask her later and she will tell you. They killed and silenced her to prevent Mr. Liu from knowing too much."
Jia Xu touched his chin after hearing this, and then said after a long time: "It makes sense. They just hope we don't find out anything."
Liu Er asked: "Sir, do you want me to go to Haosheng to see how they died?"
Jia Xu shook his head and said, "No need. They are also looking for us, so it shows that they are also anxious. Let's hurry back to the mountain col. Although we don't know what the use is, the enemy is in the dark and we are clear. It is better to be clear than to be confused."
The three of them did not enter the village, and turned around and hurried back to the mountain col where they didn't know what was hidden. When they arrived at the lake, Fenxiang suddenly felt a little scared and couldn't help but look around to see if anyone was coming. Jia Xu just held the painting and faced the scenery. After thinking about it, he murmured: "What's the secret? Two rabbits."
Liu Erdao: "Mao Rabbit, Mao moves four among the earthly branches. Could it mean Mao hour and hour?"
Jia Xu raised his head and looked at the sky: "It's already past." He looked at the painting again, "Looking at the shadow of the tree, Zhen Deren painted it in the afternoon... around Shen hour? The two rabbits must not refer to the time. , it should be pointing to the direction.”
Fenxiang suddenly said: "Are things hidden in the water?"
Jia Xu asked: "Why are you in the water?"
Fenxiang said: "Otherwise, why choose a place with a lake? Water vapor is easy to rot, and a carpenter should hide things away from moisture. Dig a hole to bury important things, and look for a dry place. Why did you choose this place? ?”
Jia Xu pinched his beard and said, "It makes some sense." He ordered Liu Er, "Go down and find out."
Liu Er took the order, took off his outer clothes, exposed his strong tendons, and jumped into the water with a splash. Jia Xu was still holding the painting and thinking about it. After more than a quarter of an hour, Liu Er emerged from the lake and said : "Sir, don't guess."
Jia Xu sat on the rocks by the lake without raising his head: "What? What did you see?"
Liu Erdao: "There are twelve small stone animals sinking under the water, which are exactly the twelve zodiac signs."
Jia Xu was overjoyed: "It's so straightforward, we still guessed it for a long time! That stone rabbit must have hidden a secret."
Liu Er said: "I will bring up the stone rabbit."
Fenxiang's heart suddenly jumped and she shouted: "Master Liu, don't move around, what if there is a trap?"
Jia Xu hurriedly said: "Very true, I was about to remind you of this, please pay more attention, my second son." Fenxiang glanced at him, thinking that he was doing it as an afterthought, and curled her lips slightly.
Liu Er cupped his fists and said, "Take the order." He plunged down with a fierce thrust. After a while, he came up, "It's as if there was no mechanism at all."
"There is no mechanism?" Jia Xu said flatly, "How can there be no mechanism? It is absolutely impossible! These things must have mechanisms. You can just check and don't act rashly."
Liu Er raised a stone rabbit as big as four fists from the water: "I've got it."
Jia Xu was so surprised that he glared at the rabbit a few times, jumped back seven or eight times, and looked around in surprise - nothing happened. Liu Er couldn't help laughing, and Fenxiang also covered his mouth and laughed. .