Because of the trouble in the Peiren Pavilion, Xue Rui delayed until the next day, and then had time to visit the Xianghe Yi Pavilion, the young lady of the Taishi Book Garden is not often seen, it is rare to come once, the Yi Ke and the guys in the Yi Pavilion have an impression, Xue Rui is not difficult to inquire, just a few days before Xia Jiangying's accident, he did come here to look for books.

On the surface, this matter has nothing to do with Xia Jiangying's death, but Xue Rui smelled a hint of cattiness, and when he came back at noon that day, he went to Taishi Shuyuan again, this time to find Ji Xingxuan.

Xue Rui sat in the flower hall and waited, asking the servant woman to enter the women's hall to summon him, and after a while, Ji Xingxuan appeared.

"Lord Xue."

Xue Rui looked at Ji Xingxuan, who stopped at the door and saluted him, paused his gaze on her veiled face, put down the teacup and got up:

"Xue is visiting at this time and disturbing Miss Ji's lunch break."

Ji Xingxuan shook his head, picked the tea chair diagonally opposite Xue Rui and sat down, folded his skirt, and then looked up and asked Xue Rui: "Lord Xue is looking for me for Sister Ying's case, if there is anything to ask, I will know everything." ”

Xue Rui smiled slightly, and his expression was bright: "I'm not here for business today, I'm just visiting Miss." ”

"Huh?" Ji Xingxuan had an accident written in her eyes, she and Xue Rui almost made a marriage contract three months ago, and then the man regretted it, they were not a mutual visit relationship no matter what.

"After Miss Xia Jiang's accident, the original house was inconvenient, you are still in the women's hall, have you changed rooms to live?"

Xue Rui cared just right, and it didn't make people feel abrupt, Ji Xingxuan pressed his suspicion and replied:

"I rest in the hall during the day, and I go back to the mansion in the evening, and I don't stay in the women's hall now."

Xue Rui said: "That's fine, after all, if something happens, it's safer to go back to the house to live." But Dayan will try, if I'm not mistaken. You will be admitted to the astrological subject, and you don't have to go to the astrological platform at night to watch, will it make a difference? ”

mentioned the subject in which he specialised. Ji Xingxuan's eyes obviously changed, and he smiled at him, with confidence in his tone:

"I recite a lot of scriptures on weekdays. There is no need to cram. ”

Xue Rui is a good talker and well-informed. Intentionally or unintentionally, picking out topics that Ji Xingxuan was interested in, the two of them chatted like this, until the servant came in to change the tea, only to find that most of the two had passed unknowingly.

Xue Rui stopped the topic, stood up, and said goodbye to her: "It's not early, I have to go back to Dali Temple." I'm bothering you today, I hope you don't think that Xue is a good person who talks. ”

Ji Xingxuan also stood up, and while sending him out of the door, he said, "Why do you say that when you meet today, you feel that the rumors are not credible." ”

Xue Rui stopped at the door, turned his head and asked, "Oh, what is the rumor?" ”

Ji Xingxuan's eyes flashed, he half-hung his head, and said embarrassedly: "They all say that the son is a gentleman." Good wine and joy, and love to play outside, not thinking about business. ”

"Ha Luha," Xue Rui laughed loudly. did not comment on these rumors, waved his hand at Ji Xingxuan, and strode away.

Ji Xingxuan leaned against the door, watched his back leave, and whispered to himself:

"This person's face is very inconsistent with his temperament, and he is a handsome talent, so he doesn't know whether he is good or evil with me."

***

As soon as Xue Rui left the women's hall, he restrained his expression, if he said that he was suspicious before, then he was eighty percent sure now that there was something wrong with Ji Xingxuan.

He had asked the students of Taishi Shuyuan to inquire about her before, and believed that the news had reached her ears, but this woman met him today, not only did she not mention anything, but she also coped with him freely in her conversation with him, and she did not have the slightest weakness.

It is precisely this kind of calmness, too much, and the fear that the friends who get along day and night should have when they die, revealing a different kind of heart emptiness.

Maybe before Xia Jiangying's accident, she had already found out that someone was going to be unfavorable to her, so I don't know if she changed rooms with Xia Jiangying, whether she did it deliberately by pushing the boat down the river, or it was an accident.

This headless public case has finally made a breakthrough here, and Xue Rui believes that if he follows Ji Xingxuan's clue and finds it along the vine, he will definitely gain something.

Out of the gate of the Taishi Library, Xue Rui planned to go to Qiu Guifang in the south of the city to see if he could find Xia Mingming to talk through Yu Shu, but he was stopped outside the door.

"Eldest son, the master asked the little one to find you back."

Xue Rui glanced at the early sky, his face hesitated, and asked the family who led the horse to find him, "What's going on at home?" ”

His grandfather was a strict person, and he was even more meticulous as an official, and at this time, the old man should be on the board of directors of the Shang Study.

"There is nothing at home, the master only said that he asked the eldest son to return home as soon as possible."

Xue Rui had to suppress the matter of finding Yu Shu, got into the carriage, and asked the coachman to turn around and go home.

Xue Mansion is located in the north of the city on Ningle Street, only half a mile away from the imperial city of Yugou, the front and back two streets are the mansions of the princes and nobles, enough to see the power.

Xue Rui returned home and heard that Xue Laoshangshu was in the study, so he looked for it.

"Grandfather." Xue Rui stopped outside the study and knocked on the door, and after two sounds, a steady voice came from inside:

"Come in."

Closing the door with his backhand, he entered the inner hall through the curtain, Xue Rui saw at a glance the old man who was standing under the pineapple bookshelf with his back to him, looking for it, a court dress that had not faded, and the purple was a symbol of the dynasty.

"Grandfather, are you looking for your grandson?"

"The case in Taishi Shuyuan, are you investigating?"

Xue Rui replied smoothly: "Yes, Sun Er and Master Chu Yu Fang Chu handled this case. ”

"How's it going?"

"As far as my grandson knows, there is something strange about this case, does my grandfather remember the Ji family who proposed marriage with his grandson before, the dead Miss Xia Jiang may have been wronged for the fourth miss of the Ji family, I don't know what enemy the Ji family had." Xue Rui didn't hide anything in front of the old man.

There was silence in the room, and the old man stacked the scrolls in his hand back to the bookshelf, and said lightly:

"At this point, you don't have to pay attention to this case, I have already informed Zhou He, the secretary of Dali Temple, and I will send you another matter."

Xue Rui was stunned and raised his head, "Grandfather, this-"

"Let's go out of the hall, go to your mother in the ancestral hall, and listen to the report that she was ill yesterday, I should want to see you."

Xue Rui's face was in a trance for a moment, he swallowed back the doubts that came to his mouth, glanced at the old man's back, and retreated to leave.

***

October 19, ten days after Xia Jiangying was killed, just as Xia Mingming was anxiously waiting, the case was finally settled, this morning Yu Shu pushed the stall as usual and prepared to go out, and met two officials sent by the government at the mouth of the alley, followed them home, opened the door and shouted Xia Mingming to come out.

"But Miss Xia Jiang?" The official asked impartially.

"It's me," Xia Mingming was still wearing men's clothes, and when he saw the official messenger coming to the door, the whole person cheered up.

"Please Miss Xia Jiang and us go to Dali Temple to hear the trial, the murderer of Sister Ling has been put on the case."

Faced with this sudden "good news", Xia Mingming grabbed the other party excitedly and asked repeatedly:

"Caught? Who is it?! ”

The two officials glanced at each other, and the one who was dragged by Xia Mingming said: "It is a murderer who committed evil in the south of the city not long ago, this person killed four people in a row in half a year, and he was mad, and he was arrested for committing a crime in the north of the city the night before." ”

Xia Mingming gritted his teeth: "Why is this villain trying to harm my fourth sister?" ”

The official shook his head and said, "We don't know this in detail, please Miss Xia Jiang come to the court to hear the trial herself." ”

Xia Mingming clenched his fists, turned his head to Yu Shu and said, "Ah Shu, are you going with me?" ”

Yu Shu nodded, she also wanted to see what was going on.

Xia Mingming was in a hurry, he didn't even change his clothes, so he followed the official errand, Yu Shu instructed Yu Xiaoxiu to take care of his home, and went to Dali Temple with her.

When they rushed to the court, the case had just begun, Yu Shu stood at the door of the yamen and did not go in, originally thought that he would see Xue Rui here, who would have thought that the adult who asked the case in the hall was a middle-aged man surnamed Chu, but he didn't see Xue Rui.

Because it was a public case, there was no need for a complaint, and as soon as the trial began, the criminal was brought to court, Yu Shu thought that he would see some fierce and vicious bandits, who wanted to be a man who was beaten to a human shape and only had one breath left.

This case was tried more than her drumming and climbing the hall, and Lord Chu, who was sitting in the court, took the confession of the criminal who interrogated the criminal in the torture room yesterday, as well as a shoe left by the prisoner under the east wall of the library, and asked in the court, the murderer was half unconscious, but he didn't respond, and admitted that he sneaked into the Taishi Academy on the ninth night of the first month of October to kill Xia Jiangying.

As for why he wanted to kill Xia Jiangying, the official statement is a coincidence, this person has a murderous nature, because he had worked in the Taishi Book Garden before, so he understood the terrain of the inner courtyard, and sneaked into the women's hall that night to commit murder and evil, and happened to jump out of Xia Jiangying's back window, and was discovered by her, and killed people without doing anything.

At that time, Yu Shu was suspicious, and always felt that something was wrong, how could this look a little bent into a trick? But the evidence of the crime is conclusive, and it is impossible to question it.

Lord Chu decided to execute the criminal on the spot, and beheaded him on Liujiao Street at noon tomorrow to show the public.

Xia Mingming was accompanied by a maid, and stood on the side of the court with a stiff expression from beginning to end to listen to the trial.

Yu Shu stood outside the public hall, watching the murderer being dragged down by the official errand, her expression was a little elusive, she turned her head to look in the crowd at the entrance of the yamen to hear the trial, and unexpectedly saw several students wearing the uniform of Taishi Academy, as well as among them, Ji Xingxuan, whose face was covered with green veils and did not show off his appearance, but was very eye-catching.

"Strange," Yu Shu muttered to himself.

"What's weird?"

Suddenly, hearing the response behind her, Yu Shu turned her head and saw Xue Rui standing behind her at some point, probably because he was used to him popping up beside her from time to time, and he was not surprised like the previous few times, but asked in a low voice:

"Why are you here?"

Isn't he trying this case?

Xue Rui glanced at the scene in the public hall again through the crowd, and patted Yu Shu on the shoulder:

"Come with me." (