Guo Song and Zhang Lei returned to the liquor store. Zhang Lei went back to the backyard to get a letter and handed it to Guo Song, "This is the letter, please read it!"
Guo Song opened the letter and saw only a few words written in the letter, "My life is as humble as an ant. The master will not tolerate me, and Yuan Er will not tolerate me. I can only die to calm the two of them. The master is worried about it."
You can go to my house in Yuan Mansion. There is a brick on the stove that has been loosened. Take it out and you will get a box. There are things that the young master needs in the box to thank you for not killing anyone in Songlin!'
There is a sketch at the back of the letter, which marks Butler Wu's residence in the Yuan family mansion.
After Guo Song read the letter, he didn't know if there was any need to find evidence against Yuan Xiao again. Logically speaking, Xue Tao followed his father to Jianzhou, and Yuan Xiao should have given up. However, Guo Song thought for a moment, and he felt that it was still necessary to find evidence against Yuan Xiao.
Yuan Xiao's handle is in his own hands, whether he uses it or not is another matter.
.........
At the third watch, outside the Yuanfu mansion in Wubenfang, a dark shadow climbed over the wall silently. The dark shadow was none other than Guo Song. He sneaked directly into the west outer courtyard according to the sketch left by Manager Wu.
The Yuan Mansion covers an area of 100 acres, and there are hundreds of servants and women living in the outer house. The outer house is divided into the east outer courtyard and the west outer courtyard. Manager Wu used to live in the west outer courtyard.
The Yuanfu warriors also mainly guarded the atrium and the inner house, while the areas where the servants lived in the outer house had no defense, not even a vigilant dog could be seen.
At this time, everything in the Yuan Mansion was silent, and everyone was sleeping soundly. With the sketch drawn by Manager Wu, the room he lived in was easy to find. Guo Song found it in a short time, and saw a lock hanging outside the wooden door, indicating that this
No one lives in any of the houses yet.
Guo Song took out the dagger from his boot, pried open the back window, and jumped in with a slight jump.
The room has two rooms, inside and outside. The inside is the bedroom, and the outside is the kitchen, which is also a place for eating.
The moonlight shines in from the window, and there is a thin layer of dust on the table. No one has been here for several months, but all the items in the room have been collected, including the quilt, mat and mosquito net.
The bare plank bed, cupboards and boxes were all empty, and even the dishes, chopsticks and iron pots in the kitchen were missing.
Guo Song estimated that after Butler Wu disappeared, Yuan Xiao took away all his belongings, but Butler Wu was very scheming and even kept a piece of evidence.
Guo Song's eyes fell on the stove. He stepped forward and touched the edge of the stove. After a while, he found a relatively loose brick. He used a dagger to pick out the brick. There was a small space inside. Guo Song took it out.
A small iron box.
He opened the iron box, and inside was a piece of folded paper. When he opened the paper, it turned out to be a prescription. The name below was Jirentang Li Jiren. One of the medicines was circled with the words "replace with cinnabar" next to it.
The other person's handwriting made Guo Song's heart skip a beat, and he vaguely understood it.
Butler Wu said that Yuan Xiao's sick wife died of chronic poisoning, probably due to poisoning after taking cinnabar for a period of time.
This handwriting is most likely written by Yuanxiao himself. This is a piece of evidence. Although it is not very sufficient, it can also explain some problems.
Guo Song put the prescription back into the box, put it in his arms, carefully restored the brick to its original shape, and then quietly left Yuan Mansion.
........
The next morning, Guo Song came to Chongyefang and found Jirentang, a pharmacy and clinic opened by the former palace physician Li Jiren. It was very famous in Chang'an. Officials and wealthy families came to him for treatment when they were sick.
A waiter pointed to an old man who felt the pulse and said: "That is my boss. Speaking of the imperial doctor Li Jiren, everyone in Chang'an knows that there are free clinics for the poor, but generally people pay at least twenty taels of silver for a visit, and they must have a carriage.
Pick up and drop off.”
Guo Song mainly wanted to know whether Yuan Xiao had silenced this Li Jiren. Since he was still alive, he stopped asking more and bowed his hand to the clerk, "Thank you very much!"
Guo Song turned around and left quickly.
Not long after, Guo Song came to Chongwenfang again. There was a large Wenyuan bookstore next to Taixue. It was also the location of Chunjiang Huayue Society. Xue Tao told him that on the fifth day of every month, there would be a bookstore here.
There was a gathering of the poetry club, and Yuan Xiao was also a member of the poetry club.
As the saying goes, money can make the devil grind, so Guo Song spent five taels of silver, and the clerk found a masterpiece by Yuanxiao from a pile of poetry manuscripts in the poetry club, and quietly gave it to Guo Song.
Guo Song read the poem and immediately understood in his mind that the five words "replace with cinnabar" were written by Yuan Xiao. The handwriting was exactly the same. Yuan Er's suspicion of killing his wife was confirmed.
...........
In Yuan Mansion, Yuan Xiao hurried back to the mansion and went to the back house. He walked to a courtyard and asked, "Is my grandfather here?"
A maid leaned over and said, "The old man just got up from his nap."
"Report to my grandfather that I have something urgent to ask for."
The maid went into the room to report, and came out a moment later: "Second Young Master, the old lady wants you to come in."
Yuan Xiao quickly walked into the room. The room was very warm. An old man with white hair and beard was sitting on the couch reading a book. This man was Yuan Xuanhu, the head of the Yuan family. He was worshiped by General Jinwuwei and Cai Guogong. However,
He basically no longer cares about military affairs and spends most of his time leisurely in the palace. However, his eldest son Yuan Jin has been appointed as the general of Zuotunwei. He holds certain military power in the court and is highly regarded by the emperor.
The Yuan family is the descendant of the Tuoba family of the Northern Wei Dynasty. Among the eight pillars of Guanlong, the Yuan family ranked first. In the Sui and Tang dynasties, the Yuan family was extremely favored and always had a high status. However, after Wu Zetian came to power, he used
Various measures, including moving the capital, dealt a heavy blow to the Guanlong nobles, and the Yuan family began to decline. The Anshi Rebellion also severely impacted the Yuan family, with their talents declining and their power declining.
There was even a joke about dragging Yuan Zai into the Yuan family tree, but expelling him from the family tree after Yuan Zai's fall, which became an enduring topic in Chang'an.
However, a starved camel is bigger than a horse. Although the Yuan family declined, it still had great influence in the court and the military.
Yunxiao walked into the room, knelt down and saluted, "My grandson, please pay your respects to your grandfather!"
"Get up!"
Yuan Xuanhu put down the book with a knowing smile on his face. This second grandson, who was called Mr. Yujian in Chang'an City, was very favored by him. He had good looks and was not like the third son who went around causing trouble and ruining the Yuan family's reputation.
"What urgent matter do you need to see me for?"
"Grandpa, my grandson just got the news that Guo Song is back."
The smile on Yuan Xuanhu's face disappeared, and he was silent for a while and asked: "Why do you think it was him?"
Yuan Xuanhu is referring to the disappearance of his third grandson Yuan Ju'er. It has been several months and there is no trace. It can basically be concluded that he is dead. Although Yuan Ju'er's death has not caused much concern in the Yuan family except for the sadness of his parents.
After all, Yuan Demon King's reputation was so bad that even the head of the family, Yuan Xuanhu, didn't like him. However, this matter related to the dignity of the Yuan family, so Yuan Xuanhu had to intervene and asked the government to investigate strictly.
There has been no progress in this case for several months, but Yuan Xiao insists that his brother Yuan Ju'er was killed by Guo Song, but he cannot provide any evidence, which puts Yuan Xuanhu in a difficult position.
"Grandfather, two days before his second brother disappeared, he and Guo Song had a conflict. Chu Kuang, a warrior of the Yuan family, was killed by Guo Song. Although Guo Song took advantage that time, my grandson knew his second brother very well.
He will not swallow this breath and will definitely cause trouble for Guo Song. Then Butler Wu went missing. My grandson felt that something must have happened here and it was related to Guo Song. The government should investigate strictly from this direction."
It has to be said that Yuan Xiao's analysis is basically correct, but it is not because of his careful thinking and abstract inferences, but because of his impure motives. In order to blame Song for his brother's death, he made up this scheme.
The rhetoric was just a matter of chance. Once Guo Song was arrested and imprisoned, his biggest love rival would be eliminated.
But Yuan Xuanhu knew that Guo Song was not easy to mess with, and even Yuan Zai fell into his hands. He pondered for a moment and said: "The government said that the third son had offended too many people, and there were at least eighteen people who wanted to kill him, but there was no one among them.
Guo Song, he and Guo Song have no hatred for killing his wife, nor for stealing their son, nor even for money. The government believes that Guo Song has no motive to kill him."
"Grandpa, it was the third brother who had the strong urge to kill Guo Song. Guo Song made him suffer the biggest loss he had ever suffered. He told me personally that he would not let Guo Song go. He would definitely send someone to kill Guo Song, but he didn't.
Success, so Guo Song would turn around to retaliate against him, isn’t this a motive?"
Yuan Xuanhu also felt that what his grandson said was reasonable. He thought that the two grandsons had a deep brotherhood, and it was Yuanxiao who wanted to avenge his brother.
He nodded, "Okay! Take my sign to Jingzhao Mansion and urge them to investigate Guo Song."
"Grandpa, my grandson means that we can't just rely on the Jingzhao Mansion, but also rely on our Yuan family's own strength to investigate Guo Song. My grandson is willing to accept the important task."
Yuan Xuanhu looked at his grandson for a long time, and finally nodded and said: "I can agree to your request, but I want to remind you to exercise caution. Although Guo Song has resigned, his title is still there. Don't go too far and let Yuan
The family is in trouble.”
Yuanxiao was secretly happy and said quickly: "My grandson must be careful!"
Yuan Xuanhu took out two tiles, one square and one round, and handed them to him, "The square tile is my token. Give it to Jingzhao Mansion to ask them to track down Guo Song. The round tile is the family leader's secondary tile. It can mobilize the Yuan family's warriors.
Return it to me in one month."
"My grandson obeys the order!"
Yuan Xuanhu didn't know his grandson's selfish motives, so he gave the sign to his grandson, which ultimately caused the Yuan family to fall into endless trouble.