After going out for a spin and returning to the banquet, Xiao Yiran's mood was a little better. Not long after, after the wedding banquet ended, I accompanied my mother Sun and all the female relatives to the new house again, and looked at the bride, as well as the layout and furnishings of the new house. The guests took their leave.

Since Xiao Guoliang is now the head of a county, it is impossible to stay in Jiangning Mansion for too long due to his busy official duties, so he hurriedly returned to Taicang County with Sun's mother and daughter on the third day of marriage.

After Xiao Yiran returned to Taicang, he never went to the county school again. For Jiangning Mansion and his party, the only gain was to get to know Lin Chen. Although he felt that Lin Chen's origin was a little suspicious, in the end, Xiao Yiran could not confirm whether Lin Chen was the same as himself, a person with memories of his previous life. However, Xiao Yiran thought to himself that his father Xiao Guoliang was a subordinate of the Wang Governor's Mansion, and there would always be opportunities to meet again in the future, and then he would continue to observe Lin Chen to see if he had the memory of his previous life.

Xiao Yiran didn't expect that at the end of this year, that is, at the end of the sixth year of Kaibao, the prefect Wang was transferred to Cangzhou Mansion as the prefect, and Lin Chen's mother and son naturally arrived in Cangzhou together. This time from Lin Chen, there has been no news about Lin Chen for more than ten years.

Two years later, Xiao Yiran was already familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics, because it was impossible for girls to participate in the imperial examination, Xiao Yiran no longer learned to do standard articles. Instead, focus on poetry and poetry. Whenever in the dead of night, Xiao Yiran would always write down the words in his memory, such as Su Shi, Xin Qiji, Li Qingzhao and others. Occasionally, I wonder if these people will write more famous words in the future if these words are published. Thinking about it, in the end, Xiao Yiran still carefully collected the dictated words. Xiao Yiran gradually became a little suspicious, why would God let him be reborn in the Northern Song Dynasty from the ancient era. Could it be because I was in the Paleolithic Age and leaked too much technology from the future? In view of this, Xiao Yiran did not dare to bring the articles of later generations or the technology to his eyes.

"God, don't let me be born again."

Xiao Yiran prayed silently in his heart several times almost every day.

The days passed, Xiao Yiran gradually grew up, and when he was five years old, that is, in October of the ninth year of Kaibao, Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin suddenly died violently, and was succeeded by his first Zhao Kuangyi, that is, Song Taizong. Because the new emperor had just ascended the throne, the imperial court did not let local officials who had reached the age of three years go to Beijing to report on their work, as in previous years, but took their own positions, and all local officials were not adjusted for the time being. Xiao Guoliang had no choice but to continue to stay in Taicang and be the magistrate of Taicang. This is another three years.

At noon on August 24 in the second year of Taiping Xingguo, Xiao Yiran, who was already more than seven years old, was talking with his mother Sun in the room, and his father Xiao Guoliang suddenly returned.

"Husband, why are you so idle today, and you quit before lunch?"

"Alas, good wife, it's not that I'm idle today, but I encountered a headless public case today, and it was difficult to make a decision for a while, so I temporarily withdrew from the court."

"Daddy, is it a case with the public, so that Daddy is so difficult?"

Xiao Guoliang and his wife, since Xiao Yiran was two years old, they have never treated their daughter as a child anymore, and they will discuss almost everything with Xiao Yiran. Immediately, Xiao Guoliang told the mother and daughter what happened in the lobby in front of him.

"Do you still remember that two years ago, the imperial court set up a chastity archway for the widow of Li Yuanwai in Linjiang Village, Wei's chastity archway?"

Sun nodded.

Xiao Yiran also probably remembered the outline of the matter. Since the founding of the Song Dynasty, Song Taizu was worried about the repetition of the history of the division of feudal towns in the last years of the Tang Dynasty. He paid special attention to etiquette, not only vigorously commending filial sons and grandchildren, but also highly praising women who adhered to chastity. Li Yuanwai of Linjiang Village is a wealthy family within a radius of several hundred miles nearby, at the age of eighteen, he married the sixteen-year-old daughter Wei of Wei Yuanren, a wealthy family in Taicang County, as his wife, no one thought that it would not be three years, Wei Yuanren died a whimper, because the two did not give birth to a son and a half daughter, so only the age of nineteen, the beauty of Wei and the great family business. Although the Li family persuaded the Wei family to remarry, the Wei family insisted on being a widow for Li. This was reported to the county government in advance, and Xiao Guoliang reported to the government office again, reporting level by level, knowing the Ministry of Rites. Therefore, the imperial court ordered that Taicang County and Jiangning Mansion should fund the construction of the chastity archway for the Wei family.

"Husband, is there something wrong?"

"It's not just an accident, today Li Sancai, the head of Linjiang Village, and Zhao Xiong, Xia Jiang Lizheng, came to report the case together, saying that Wei's and his personal maid Xiao Tao both hanged themselves at home. In addition, a dead baby was found in the wilderness by the river, and the body should have just been born, but the strange thing is that the baby's body was buried in quicklime, so the body has not decomposed. ”

Sun didn't say anything for a while. Xiao Yiran asked:

"Daddy, who found out that Wei hanged himself at home?"

"It's a subordinate of the Li family, named Li Jiwei."

"Then why is Daddy worried?"

"First, Wei's determination to keep the festival was reported by his father. Second, this is a major case involving three lives. Why did Wei hang himself, where did the dead baby come from, he had no clue for a while, how could his father not worry? ”

"Daddy, this matter may not be so difficult to decide."

"Oh, Ran'er said to hear it."

Wei was determined to observe the festival, but after only two years, he hanged himself at home, fearing that it was related to adultery. In addition, the Li family has a big business and does not worry about food and clothing, why did the Wei family commit suicide? What's more, even the maids around him hang themselves together? It doesn't make sense.

As for the dead baby, I'm afraid it can't be separated from the Wei family's master and servant. ”

"Daddy, think about it, if the Wei family really has an adulterous affair with someone, after giving birth, he naturally won't dare to nurse him. Then there is a source for the dead baby. ”

"Ran'er is just an inference, but there is no evidence that the dead baby is related to Wei."

"Daddy, Ran'er is true in his inference, but if this inference is true, then the key to the matter lies in the person who buried the dead baby. This man was intent on preserving the body of the dead baby, and he wanted nothing more than to blackmail him. Other than that, there doesn't seem to be any other plausible explanation. ”

Xiao Guoliang pondered for a while, looked at Sun first, and saw that Sun was also looking at him, and both of them nodded with satisfaction.

"Husband, what Ran'er said is very reasonable. As long as the person who buried the dead baby is found, the case is estimated to be eyebrow-raising. Even if the dead baby has nothing to do with Wei's, knowing the origin of the dead baby, isn't the case partially resolved? ”

"In addition, Daddy, the descendants of the Li family, especially the men who can enter and leave the Li family at will and can meet with the Wei family from time to time, must be carefully interrogated, and they will be able to find the reason for the Wei family's self-hanging."

The reason why Xiao Yiran is so sure is because in her memory, she once saw a similar story in "Three Words and Two Beats" written by Feng Menglong in the Ming Dynasty.

In the afternoon of the same day, Xiao Guoliang took a group of officials to Linjiang Village under the leadership of Li Sancai and Zhao Xiong. First of all, all the subordinates of the Li family were gathered, especially the men between the ages of fifteen and forty-five, all of whom were confined to the Li family by the officials, waiting for Xiao Guoliang to interrogate them one by one. At the same time, officials were dispatched to inquire about who had buried the dead baby's body.

Three days later, the official brought Xiao Guoliang a man. According to Xiajiang Zhen Lizheng, this person's name is Liu Lichun, who is idle all day long, and single-mindedly relies on stirring up right and wrong in order to make a living. The official reported that this person had a good relationship with Li Jiwei, a subordinate of the Li family, and that he had often corresponded with Li Jiwei since Li Xiaoyuanwai's death.

It's just that Xiao Guoliang interrogated Liu Lichun for a long time and didn't get anything useful from Liu Lichun. Then he came up with a plan and called out Li Jiwei, a member of the Li family, alone. Li Jiwei is in his early twenties, and at first glance he is the kind of honest young man.

"Are you Li Jiwei?"

"If you go back to the master, the villain is Li Jiwei."

"Do you know why Wei and Xiao Tao hanged themselves?"

"Back to the master, the villain doesn't know."

Xiao Guoliang kept staring at Li Jiwei's eyes, and when he saw Li Jiwei being called out alone, his expression was a little nervous, especially when he asked about the cause of Wei's death, he was even more nervous, and his eyes kept dodging. Xiao Guoliang slapped the table and shouted:

"Bold slaves, seducing the master's mother, ruining the master's mother's name, not to mention, but also colluding with outsiders, using a dead baby to blackmail the master's mother, now Liu Lichun has confessed, you are still deceiving the official here. Someone comes, and the punishment is waiting. ”

Xiao Guoliang originally wanted to deceive Li Jiwei, but he didn't want Li Jiwei to hear that Liu Lichun had confessed, so he immediately knelt on the ground and said in a row:

"The big lord and slow execution, the villain confesses."

It turned out that Li Jiwei didn't know Liu Lichun, Li Jiwei was just a small man of the Li family, and he usually did some rough work in the house. When Li Xiaoyuan passed away, he was only fifteen years old, and he was relatively stupid. Therefore, Wei was determined to observe the festival, and when he sent the men in the house, he kept him. I can do some shopping and cleaning work for the house. came and went, and was targeted by Liu Lichun with ulterior motives. Under Liu Lichun's deliberate friendship, the two gradually got back and forth. The big and small affairs of the Li Mansion, Liu Lichun is known to Li Jiwei here, and there is almost nothing he doesn't know.

One day, Li Jiwei went out to buy vegetables, and was invited to a restaurant by Liu Lichun and drank a lot of wine. Liu Lichun asked Li Jiwei:

"Brother Li, I heard that your housewife is a famous beauty, isn't that so?"

"Brother Liu, the housewife is really good-looking."

"Brother, tell me the truth, brother, have you ever thought about your housewife?"

Li Jiwei is an honest man, how could he be tempted by his mother, after listening to Liu Lichun's words, he waved his hand again and again.

"Brother, beauty is now, do you really not want to?"

It was also a little higher in drinking, and Li Jiwei asked casually:

"What do you want?"

"As long as the brother wants to, the brother has a way to let the brother succeed."

Sixteen or seventeen-year-old boys, where would they not want women. Liu Lichun didn't mention it, Li Jiwei naturally wouldn't have thoughts about the housemother. At this time, listening to Liu Lichun say this, under the influence of alcohol, Li Jiwei's eyes suddenly appeared in front of his eyes. What kind of person Liu Lichun is, he doesn't need Li Jiwei to speak, just from his expression and eyes, he knows that Li Jiwei is tempted.

"Brother, I'll teach you a way."

"Brother Liu, isn't this okay?"

"What's wrong, there are beauties, there are family wealth, and in the future, my brother will be an outsider on the rich side. When the time comes, as long as you remember your brother, it will be. ”

Li Jiwei was moved by Liu Lichun's words, and nodded immediately.

"Remember my brother told me that every night your housewife would come to your room to have a look?"

Li Jiwei nodded again.

So Liu Lichun leaned down to Li Jiwei's ear and taught Li Jiwei a strategy like this.