Zhan Xueyuan is dead.

On the day of Halloween on July 15, the servants who cleaned the courtyard found her body in a well behind the library.

This is the third female student who died inexplicably and tragically in Taishi Shuyuan in the past year.

The first one is Xia Jiangying, who was killed in the women's house in October last year, before the Dayan test, the fourth lady of the Xia Jiang family in Jiangnan.

The second is Cao Youling, who was strangled to death on the stargazing platform in April this year, the young lady of the Cao family in the Twelve Mansions.

The third is Zhan Xueyuan, the daughter of the Jiangxi Zhan family

Yu Shu followed Jingchen to the Taishi Library, and met Xue Rui, who was in charge of investigating the case, on the Zaidao Building, one of the four library buildings.

Xue Rui was not surprised to see the two of them coming together, but told them with a calm face:

"Taishi Shuyuan found a female corpse at noon today, and the deceased was Taicheng Si Zhanji, Zhan Xueyuan, who had just been dismissed not long ago."

When Yu Shu heard the news of Zhan Xueyuan's death, he was stunned all of a sudden.

Dead, dead?

She subconsciously turned her head to look at Jing Chen-if Zhan Xueyuan had any inevitable cause of death, it must have something to do with Jing Chen.

Jingchen was stunned for a moment, and then he realized who Xue Rui said was the dead person.

There are many lit candlesticks in the hall on the first floor of the road building, and there is a passage between the bookshelves, and the three people stand in the corridor and talk.

"The body of the deceased was probably killed between midnight and midnight this morning, as in the case three months ago, when he was strangled with a rope. There is a well behind the building. After the murderer strangled the deceased to death, he threw it into the well, and at noon, the body surfaced, and was found by the servants who carried the water, and found the yamen to report to the official. ”

Taishi Shuyuan has made people die one after another, and the dead are all young ladies from a small family, Anling Mansion Yin is very self-aware, as soon as he understands the case, he reported it to Dali Temple. Throw this hot potato out of the water.

Guo Huaian received the report. Seeing that Taishi Shuyuan is dead, come on, let's leave it to Xue Rui to do it.

As a result, Xue Rui was originally among the officials who entertained the envoys of Fanbang at the water and land conference. I didn't make it.

"Lord Xue came to me so late. Perhaps some evidence was found in the deceased. Does it have anything to do with me? Jing Chen calmed down his astonishment and asked in a low voice.

Cao Youling was killed earlier, and Jing Chen's handwritten note was found in her bedroom. asked her to meet at the stargazing platform at night, when Jing Chen was the suspect, and Xue Rui was also responsible for investigating the case, and he was supervised as soon as possible.

After this case, Xue Rui found him again, making it clear that he was suspected again.

Xue Rui looked at Jing Chen meaningfully, took out a slender earthy yellow brand from his sleeve, and handed it to him: "Do you recognize this thing?" ”

Before Jing Chen received it in his hand, he recognized it, his face changed slightly, and he said, "It's my academician signature." ”

There are a total of eighteen academicians in the Taishi Library, in addition to distributing seals, each person has an academician signature, and ordinary students can enter and exit some places in the library that idlers are not allowed to enter, such as the room on the top floor of a library building to collect treasures.

Only the academicians' favorite students are fortunate enough to hold one or two times.

Yu Shu also recognized the academician signature, she had seen it in Situ Qinglan's hand, which was given to her by her grandfather Fang Zijing, with this academician signature, the room with the Longma River map on the Tenghuang Building, Situ Qinglan could be unimpeded.

"Master Jing, do you remember when you signed this academician and which student you gave it to?" Xue Rui asked impartially.

Jingchen shook his head and said: "Last month, I was transferred to Si Tianjian, and I was relieved of my position as Taishi Shuyuan. ”

It is said that after Jingchen resigned, the academician signature should be handed over, but he has a special status, Si Tianjian did not take it back, and no one reminded him on the Shuyuan side.

Xue Rui said: "That's weird, I asked the gatekeeper of this road building, and I heard him say that a few days ago, the deceased had taken your academician sign and entered and exited the third floor, and just yesterday during the day, someone saw her come here." ”

Hearing this, Jing Chen didn't panic, looked at the wooden stick in his hand, and said, "This academician sign shouldn't have been found on her." ”

Zhan Xueyuan was thrown into the capital, the body was wet, if the wooden sign sank into the water with her and was salvaged, the lacquer on it should be decolorized.

Sure enough, I heard Xue Rui say: "I found it by the well." ”

Jingchen nodded, thought for a while, and pointed to the right way:

"You said that Zhan Xueyuan was killed this morning, and I didn't go out of the princess's mansion all night yesterday. I got up in the morning to practice, and when I went out to my boss Tianjian, it was not a good way, and I didn't have time to run to the Taishi Academy to commit murder, and there were many people who could testify. As for this academician sign, it should have been picked up by Zhan Xueyuan after I accidentally left it. ”

This time, Jingchen learned to be smart, and cleared himself of suspicion in a few words, but there was no lightness on his face, but some inexplicable heaviness.

Yu Shu would think of the cause of Zhan Xueyuan's death, of course he also wanted to know that even if the person was not killed by him, he must have died because of him.

Thinking of this, he glanced back at Yu Shu, although he was very guilty about Zhan Xueyuan's death, he was glad to think that it was fortunately not her.

Yu Shu happened to see his look, her lips slowly pursed into a straight line, her mood was very complicated, she could guess that Zhan Xueyuan, the target, was still a substitute for her, a lifebreaker.

Xue Rui took the change in the expressions of the two into his eyes, his eyes flickered, and he stretched out his hand to ask for Jingchen's academician to sign, and said:

"I will send someone to the princess's mansion to bring someone for interrogation, Lord Jing rest assured, I will definitely investigate this case strictly, and I will not wrongfully accuse the innocent."

"There's Lord Rausha."

Only then did Xue Rui turn his head and talk to Yu Shu: "Ah Shu, you go outside first and wait, I still have some relevant facts to ask Master Jing, I will send you back later." ”

Yu Shu nodded absentmindedly and walked away, now her mind was full of Zhan Xueyuan's cause of death, and she didn't care about Xue Rui and asked Jingchen what was going on.

She waited outside for a short time. Xue Rui and Jing Chen walked out of the library building together, and the former arranged for officials to stay outside the library overnight to monitor suspicious movements.

The three of them walked together and went out of the Taishi Academy, each with their own concerns along the way, and there was almost no conversation

Xue Rui got into the carriage when Yu Shu came, and Jing Chen was picked up by the guards of the princess's mansion who came to inquire about it.

When there were only the two of them in the car, the seriousness on Xue Rui's face disappeared, and he pinched the bridge of his nose slightly tiredly and patted the position next to him. To Yu Shu, who was sitting on the other side:

"Sit down."

Yu Shu obediently moved to his side. As soon as she sat down, he grabbed her wrist, and his broad palm ran along the back of her hand, covering each of her fingers. Pinch hard.

That's it. Yu Shu easily understood his anxiety and uneasiness.

Zhan Xueyuan died suddenly. It was like a loud warning, warning her not to think that Emperor Zhaoqing didn't let people tie her up to marry Jingchen Baitang, and it was too peaceful.

What she's up against. is not only at the mercy of the imperial power, but also the unanimous force in the secret - the person they really want to kill is not Zhan Xueyuan, nor Cao Youling, but her, a real lifebreaker.

Xue Rui was afraid that something would happen to her, why didn't she worry that one day she would somehow turn into a dead corpse.

"The young lady of the Zhan family was pushed out by them to be your shield, the saint and the big mention must have sent someone to monitor her every move in secret, they wanted to lure the snake out of the hole, how could they think that the person died, but the snake did not lead out. It's not that the people sent from above are incompetent, but that the murderer's means are higher. I stayed in the Taishi Library for an afternoon, except for Jingchen's academician signature, there were no clues, and the murderer seemed to appear out of thin air, killed someone, and disappeared out of thin air. ”

This ghostly killing method is elusive and makes people's backs chill.

When Xue Rui closed his eyes, he could think of Zhan Xueyuan's miserable death, the swollen body blistered by the cold well water, the blue and black bruises on his neck, and his deformed face.

Hearing his words, Yu Shu sneered: "I asked Jingchen why he wanted to involve the innocent, and he also assured me that someone would protect Zhan Xueyuan's safety, but the person still died." ”

She was very unhappy in her heart, although it was not her who was looking for someone to be a shield, but it was a fact that Zhan Xueyuan was a substitute for her, a person who had a bad relationship with her in her life, because she was killed by mistake, she just had no heart and no lungs, and she would not be completely unresponsive.

"But what does the murderer mean, the note written to Cao Youling in Jing Chen's handwriting is quite well designed, but this time he wants to frame Jing Chen with an academician signature, which is funny."

Xue Rui shook his head: "There are two possibilities, one is that the murderer was in the process of carrying the body, and the academician signed out, not that he intended to frame him." If this is the case, it is better to say, but I am afraid that it is another possibility. ”

Yu Shu pricked up his ears: "What?" ”

Xue Rui said in a deep voice: "The murderer deliberately left that academician sign, pointing to Jing Chen, if Zhan Xueyuan is really the best lifebreaker, if not, then he has to let those in the know know that he is going to kill a lifebreaker." You say, what would be the reaction of the Holy Lord and the Great Mention if they heard the news? ”

"They should be afraid that something will happen to me, so they will strictly protect me, as long as I die, it will be all over."

"It's more than that."

"Huh?"

Xue Rui clenched her palm, her hand strength suddenly increased, staring at Yu Shu, her dark pupils flashed and disappeared, and she suffered from gains and losses:

"Zhan Xueyuan was only close to Jing Chen for a few days, and he was targeted, and you have a lot of relationship with Jing Chen, you can know the Tao with a little inquiry, I think you have long been suspected. Now that Zhan Xueyuan is dead, the trick of luring the snake out of the hole is not good, the saint should be in a hurry, afraid of it, they will ignore it, let you marry Jingchen first, and crack his life. ”

Yu Shu was suddenly startled, and said in a lost voice: "No." In this way, isn't it clear that he is telling the group of people in the secret that I am the real thing, and the other party's means of killing people are so powerful, the emperor is not afraid that I will be killed? ”

Xue Rui said coldly: "That's why I have to arrange for you to crack the so-called fate of Da'an Woe as soon as possible, after that, even if you die, they won't care." ”

Yu Shu's heart sank suddenly, and she bit her lip hard, only to feel that Ji Lu couldn't catch up with the changes, and she hadn't even started to look for the "Xuannu Liuren Book", and it was already imminent.

She was flustered for a while, and she couldn't calm down, so she could only raise her head, look at the only person who knew her details and would not turn her back, and said in a dumb voice:

"What do you think I'm going to do?"

Now it is not a question of whether she is willing to marry Jingchen and have children, but after she is used, she will inevitably die!

Xue Rui came up with a countermeasure in such a short period of time:

"After the land and water conference, you ask Jingchen to meet in private, and I want to talk to him."

It's time for the two of them to "communicate" face-to-face. (To be continued......)