Because of the insistence of the sisters Xiao Zhi and Xiao Lan, and the three brothers of the Xiao family waiting outside, Qing Shu was not good at disagreeing, so he retreated from the room of the inn and lived in the Xiao Mansion with his entourage. To tell the truth, the enthusiasm of Xiao Mansion made Qing Shu a little flattered. That night, when she went to bed to rest, she still thought about how she could be so popular with the Xiao family?

In a blink of an eye, the next day, after Qing Shu washed up, she followed the sisters Xiao Zhi and Xiao Lan to greet Xiao Zhixian and Mrs. Xiao, and then had breakfast. After that, she was invited by Xiao Zhi to the room to speak. There are many topics that two young ladies of the same age can talk about when they meet together. But the two of them only met yesterday, they don't know each other, they don't know each other's preferences, so they can only talk about a relatively safe topic: female celebrities.

When it was almost time, Xiaojuan entered the door and whispered something to Qingshu.

Qing Shu looked at Xiao Zhi apologetically, "Sister Zhi, my sister has to go home." ”

Xiao Zhi raised her head when she heard this, and put down the half-embroidered purse in her hand, "My sister is not an unreasonable person, and my sister's situation is different from my sister." My sister has the protection of her elders, so she doesn't have to worry about food and clothing, and she only needs to embroider, raise grass, and tinker with calligraphy and painting every day. My sister can't do this, my sister has a heavy burden on her shoulders, and my sister needs to run around for the livelihood of the whole house, and it's very hard. So, my sister doesn't have to feel sorry, just go and get busy. ”

Qing Shuwan didn't expect Xiao Zhi to say such a thing. She thought to herself: Xiao Zhiding must be a smart and sensible girl. In other words, the young lady of a wealthy family would not look down on her Gu Qingshu so highly, and would only despise her behavior of showing up and running around for a living. At this moment, the smile in her eyes became a little more sincere, and she made an appointment with Xiao Zhi to come back and continue to be a female celebrity together, so she came out of Xiao Zhi's residence and took her entourage out of the door of Xiao's mansion.

The carriage stopped in front of the vermilion lacquer gate engraved with the word "Li Zhai" on the door plaque on the west street of the county seat.

Dressed in dark cyan silk, the ancient butler stood respectfully on the side of the carriage and announced, "Miss, it's here." ”

Qing Shu, who was sitting in the car, hummed loudly, indicating that he understood.

The ancient butler made a gesture to the person next to him, and a housekeeper immediately stepped forward to knock on the door.

A man's impatient voice came from inside the door, "Knock on what?" Knock what knock? The host's house is gone, so hurry up. ”

At this time, the ancient housekeeper made a gesture of invitation to the middle-aged official next to him. This official errand was temporarily borrowed by Qingshu from Xiao Zhi County.

The middle-aged official understood, and stepped forward to slam the door, "Yamen is handling the case, hurry up and open the door, open the door, do you hear?" If you don't open the door again, just smash it open. ”

At this time, a gap appeared between the left and right halves of the vermilion lacquer door. The housekeeper inside looked out through the crack in the door and saw the official errand at once. Immediately, the housekeeper shouted from one errand to the other, opened the door of the house to the width where a person could enter and exit, and then squeezed out himself, nodded and asked what case the official was working on, what was the relationship between the case and his master's family, and so on.

The middle-aged official didn't look at him, and pushed his left and right hands hard, and the vermilion door was opened. He saw the exquisite scenery in the courtyard that was different from the county seat, and asked loudly with a surprised face, "When did Master Li's mansion become like this?" ”

The family Ding had a smile on his face, "Master Hui, what has been repaired recently is what has been repaired recently." ”

The middle-aged official looked this family up and down, "Why hasn't this poor master seen you?" ”

The family hurriedly explained, "The little ones are new, the newcomers. ”

"Tell your master to come out, and say that he invited Bencha Ye to drink at the end of last month, but now it's almost mid-May in early May, and he dares to fart and let Bencha Ye wait, how can this be reasonable!" As he spoke, he stepped inside.

The family hurriedly ran to the front of the official to stop him, "Bad master, bad master, it's not that the old man doesn't keep his promises, it's really that the old man is sick, so he came to bed." The master will definitely not forget the matter of the messenger, and when the master's body is better, this wine will naturally be invited. As he spoke, he shoved a piece of silver into the officer's hand.

The official put the broken silver in his hand into his sleeve and looked left and right inside the door of Li's house. Suddenly, he snorted, pointed to a rockery on the left-hand side and asked, "What are you doing here?" ”

The family saw sweat on his head, "Back to the master, the master said that this feng shui is good." Out of the corner of his eye he answered, he saw someone silently put down the other two housekeepers swaggering inside. He was startled, and hurriedly left the official errand to stop him, "Go out, go out, what do you want to do?" Get out of here. He then shouted inside, "Come on, come on, someone, someone unknown has broken in...... The cave was opened, and before he could figure out what was going on, the whole person fell to the ground.

The Eagle Guard, who stretched out his legs and swept people to the ground, continued to open the way for Qingshu without any different colors. Behind him, there was the ancient butler and another eagle guard, then Qing Shu with Xiao Juan, and finally an ancient mansion family and an eagle guard. A group of seven of them walked around the Li Mansion as if they were in their own homes. When a housekeeper or maid tries to stop them on the road, the Eagle Guard will cleanly bring people down, but they won't kill them.

Suddenly, three cannon shots rang out from the rear. Immediately, Qing Shu was escorted by his subordinates and went straight to the back door of Li's house. At this time, the back door of Li's house was wide open, and when Qing Shu came out with people, there were two beggars squatting against the wall in the back alley. There were debris from the cracks of the artillery battle on the ground, and one of the beggars was clutching flint and steel in his hand.

Steward Gu asked, "Which way did you go?" ”

The two beggars pointed east in unison. The exit of the alley is only a hundred meters to the east of the back alley, and it is obvious that the person Qing Shu is looking for has escaped from the alley.

Qing Shu said to chase, and the two eagle guards quickly chased in the direction pointed by the beggar. Qing Shu took the rest of the people back the same way, picked up the carriage and waited for the news.

More than a quarter of an hour later, a beggar came running and knocked on the broken bowl in his hand, and then turned and ran east.

The ancient butler said and followed, and the coachman hurriedly chased after the beggar. The beggar ran and stopped, and finally stopped in front of a house with a single courtyard, then looked back, knocked on the broken bowl in his hand, and then found a corner to nest.

Steward Gu looked left and right, "Where is this?" ”

At this time, one of the Eagle Guards who had been sent out to track the person appeared and walked over from the opposite side, "The person the young lady is looking for is hiding inside. ”

Qing Shu ordered from inside the car, "Knock on the door." ”

The housekeeper stepped forward and slammed the ordinary wooden door, "Open the door, open the door quickly, don't hide, don't think about escaping, you have nowhere to escape, hurry up and open the door." ”

There was no movement in there. But the family didn't stop and continued to bang on the door. The residents on the left and right opened the doors one after another to look, and when they saw the swords carried by the eagle guards, they immediately hid back in the courtyard, and did not dare to show their faces again.

At that moment, the sound of the deadbolt being opened, followed by the wooden door being opened from the inside. In the small courtyard with high walls, from the gate of the courtyard to the entrance of the hall, there are more than a dozen housekeepers with sticks on the left and right. These family members looked at the people of the ancient mansion outside the courtyard gate in unison. At the door of the hall, there was a mother-in-law on the left, and a maid on the right.

A middle-aged man who looked like a steward walked to the gate of the courtyard and stood still, "Who are you?" What are you doing here? ”

The ancient steward stepped forward, "My master is here for Sun Shengsheng and for settling old accounts." ”

The middle-aged steward seemed taken aback, glanced at the ancient character markings on the carriage that Qing Shu was riding, walked over and whispered to the mother-in-law who was guarding the door of the hall, "Sue Mrs. Sù, the ancient mansion has been found." ”

The mother-in-law entered the hall, came out in a moment, and told the middle-aged steward, "Madame wants to see Gu Qingshu." If it weren't for her, Madame would want you to blow it away. ”

The middle-aged steward returned to the gate of the courtyard to convey his master's words. The ancient steward didn't speak to him, but he personally took the stool and put it under the carriage.

Xiao Juan, who was standing under the carriage, picked up the door curtain with one hand and helped Qingshu get out of the car with the other.

Qing Shu glanced at the dozen or so family members who were listed on the left and right of the other party, but they didn't pay attention to it at all, and walked into the courtyard. The ancient butler and the eagle guard quickly stepped forward to protect them. The middle-aged steward on the other side stretched out his hand to stop, "Miss Gu can go in, and the others will stay." ”

Qing Shu didn't speak, and walked straight inside.

Steward Gu and the others understood, and followed Qing Shu into it with great momentum. The middle-aged steward stopped them, and they pushed them away; The men on the right and left sides of the house will swing their sticks, and they will draw their swords to cut them. Not only that, but the eagle guard who stayed outside bent his bow and drew arrows to depict the other party's people, looking like he was about to shoot people with arrows at any time.

Qing Shu was guarded by three eagle guards and family members, standing in the middle of the small courtyard, "Mrs. Li, we might as well change places to speak, some things are not convenient to say here." If you agree, come out immediately. ”

As soon as Qing Shu's words fell, a petite and thin woman walked out of the hall. The woman looked to be forty-five or sixteen years old, her hair was half-white, her forehead and the corners of her eyes were wrinkled, and her complexion was a little dull yellow, and she did not look very healthy. Her half-white hair was meticulously combed into the woman's bun and fastened with a silver hairpin, and there were no other ornaments on her head.

With a dark yellow face, a thin body, and the plain white silk she was wearing, she seemed lifeless, lacking the vitality that a living person should have.

This is Mrs. Li who keeps troubleshooting her? Qing Shu couldn't believe his eyes. Or, Mrs. Li has someone else, this is just Mrs. Li's mother-in-law who works beside her?

The woman met Qing Shu's puzzled eyes, and asked in an empty voice, "You are Gu Qingshu?" ”

Qingshu, "I am." ”

The woman's godless eyes immediately shot hatred, and she stared at Qing Shu fiercely, "You are Gu Qingshu who killed my daughter, you are the damned Gu Qingshu." Why aren't you the one who died? Why my daughter? Why? At the last sound, she shouted hoarsely, and then the whole person trembled, and she looked like she was about to fall if she couldn't stand on her feet.

The mother-in-law and maid beside her shouted "madam" and supported her from left to right.

"My daughter, return my daughter, return my daughter......" The woman leaned on the maid's body, and cried as she cried.