Guo Song and Zhang Lei returned to the wine shop, Zhang Lei went back to the backyard to get a letter and handed it to Guo Song, "It's this letter, take a look!" ”

Guo Song opened the letter, only to see that only a few sentences were written in the letter, 'My life is as humble as an ant, Gongzi will not tolerate me, Yuan Er will not allow me, only one death, with the heart of the two, the things that Gongzi is worried about, you can go to my house in Yuanfu, there is a brick on the stove has been loosened, take it out to get a box, there are things that Gongzi needs, in order to thank Gongzi for the grace of not killing!" ’

At the back of the letter is a sketch of Steward Wu's residence in the Yuan family's mansion.

After Guo Song read the letter, he didn't know if there was any need to find the handle of Lantern Xiao again, it stands to reason that Xue Tao followed his father to Jianzhou, and Lantern Xiao should also be dead, but Guo Song pondered for a moment, he felt that it was still necessary to pinch Yuan Xiao's handle in his hands, and it was another matter whether to use it or not.

.........

At the time of the third watch, outside the mansion of the Yuan Mansion in Wubenfang, a black shadow silently climbed over the wall and entered, and the black shadow was Guo Song, who sneaked directly into the West Outer Courtyard according to the sketch left by Wu Guanshi.

The Yuan Mansion covers an area of 100 acres, there are hundreds of servants in the house, they live in the outer house, the outer house is divided into the east outer courtyard and the west outer courtyard, and the steward Wu used to live in the west outer courtyard.

The samurai of the Yuan Mansion also mainly guarded the atrium and the inner house, and the places where the people living in the outer house were not guarded, and not even a dog keeping vigil could be seen.

At this time, everything in the Yuan Mansion was silent, everyone was asleep, with the sketch drawn by Steward Wu, the room he lived in was easy to find, Guo Song found it in a moment, only to see a lock hanging outside the wooden door, indicating that no one lived in this room.

Guo Song took out a dagger from his boots, pried open the back window, and went in with a light dip.

There are two rooms, the inside is the bedroom, the outside is the kitchen, and it is also a place to eat.

The moonlight poured in through the window, and a thin layer of dust had accumulated on the table, and no one had been here for months, but all the items in the room had been collected, not even the quilts, mats, and mosquito nets were gone, only the bare beds remained, and the cupboards and boxes were empty, and even the dishes and chopsticks and iron pots in the kitchen were gone.

Guo Song estimated that after Steward Wu disappeared, Yuan Xiao took away all his belongings, but this Steward Wu was very scheming and actually kept a piece of evidence.

Guo Song's eyes fell on the stove, he stepped forward to touch the edge of the stove, and 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 felt out a small iron box from inside.

He opened the iron box, and inside was a folded piece of paper, and when he opened the paper, it turned out to be a prescription, and the money below was Jirentang Li Jiren, one of the medicines drew a circle, and next to it was written 'replace with cinnabar', which was another person's handwriting, Guo Song's heart jumped, and he faintly understood.

Steward Wu said that Yuan Xiao's sick wife died of chronic poisoning, and it was likely that she died of poisoning after taking cinnabar for a period of time.

It is very likely that this handwriting is written by Lantern Xiao's own handwriting, which is a piece of evidence, although it is not very sufficient, but it can also explain some problems.

Guo Song put the prescription back into the box, put it in his arms, and carefully restored the brick to its original state, and then quietly left the Yuan Mansion.

........

The next morning, Guo Song came to Chongyefang and found Jirentang, which was a pharmacy and clinic opened by Li Jiren, the former imperial physician of the imperial court.

A guy pointed to an old man who took the pulse and said: "That is the proprietor of my family, speaking of the imperial doctor Li Jiren, everyone in Chang'an knows that the poor will have free clinics, but ordinary people go to the clinic, at least twenty taels of silver, and there must be a carriage to pick them up." ”

Guo Song mainly wanted to know if Yuan Xiao had killed this Li Jiren, and since he was still alive, he didn't ask any more, and arched his hand to the guy, "Thank you!" ”

Guo Song turned around and walked away quickly.

Not long after, Guo Song came to Chongwenfang again, there is a large Wenyuan bookstore next to Taixue, which is also the location of the Chunjiang Huayue Society, Xue Tao told him that on the fifth day of the first month of every month, there will be a poetry club gathering here, and Yuan Xiao is also a member of the poetry club.

As the saying goes, money can make ghosts grind, Guo Song spent five taels of silver, and the guy found a masterpiece of the Lantern Festival from a pile of poems in the poetry club and quietly stuffed it to Guo Song.

Guo Song read the poem, and immediately understood in his heart that the five words 'replace with cinnabar' were written by Lantern Festival, and the handwriting was exactly the same, and the suspicion of Yuan Er's killing of his wife was confirmed.

..........

Yuan Mansion, Yuan Xiao hurriedly returned to the mansion, came to the back house, walked to a courtyard and asked, "My grandfather is here?" ”

A maid leaned over and said, "The old lady just got up from a nap." ”

"Report to my grandfather for me, and say that I have something urgent to see."

The maid went into the house to report, and came out after a while and said, "Second son, the old lady let you in." ”

Yuan Xiao walked into the room quickly, the room was very warm, an old man with white hair was sitting on the couch reading a book, this person was Yuan Xuanhu, the head of the Yuan family, he worshiped General Jin Wuwei and Cai Guogong, but he basically didn't care about military affairs now, and spent most of his time in the mansion leisurely, but his eldest son Yuan Jin served as the general of Zuotunwei, and held a certain military power in the court, and was quite respected by the Son of Heaven.

The Yuan family is the descendant of the Tuoba clan of the Northern Wei Dynasty, in the Guanlong Eight Pillars, the Yuan family ranks first, in the Sui and Tang dynasties, the Yuan family is extremely favored, has always had a lofty status, but after Wu Zetian came to power, with various measures including moving the capital, the Guanlong aristocracy was dealt a heavy blow, the Yuan family began to go downhill, the Anshi Rebellion, the Yuan family was also greatly impacted, the talent withered, and the power declined.

There was even a joke that Yuan Zai was pulled into the Yuan clan genealogy, but after Yuan Zai fell, he was removed from the family tree, which became an enduring topic in Chang'an.

However, the starving camel was bigger than the horse, and although the Yuan family declined, it still had great influence in the court and the military.

Yunxiao walked into the room, knelt down and bowed, "Grandson greets grandfather!" ”

"Get up!"

Yuan Xuanhu put down the book, with a knowing smile on his face, this second grandson who was called the Jade Sword Son by Chang'an City was very favored by him, and his appearance was good, and he was not like the third child who caused trouble everywhere and bad the reputation of the Yuan family.

"What do you have to do with me?"

"Grandfather Qiqi, 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 long time and asked, "Why do you think he did it?" ”

Yuan Xuanhu refers to the disappearance of the third grandson Yuan Ju'er, it has been a few months, there is no trace, basically it can be determined that he is dead, although Yuan Ju'er's death in addition to his parents are sad, in the Yuan family did not cause much repercussions, after all, the reputation of the Yuan Demon King is too stinky, even the head of the family Yuan Xuanhu does not like him, but this matter is related to the dignity of the Yuan family, Yuan Xuanhu has to ask, and asked the government to investigate strictly.

There has been no progress in this case for several months, but Lantern Xiao insisted that his brother Yuan Ju'er was killed by Guo Song, but he couldn't produce evidence, which made Yuan Xuanhu very difficult.

"Grandfather, two days before the second brother disappeared, he and Guo Song had a conflict, the warrior of the Yuan family, Chu Mad was killed by Guo Song, although that time it was Guo Song who took advantage, but Sun Er knew the second brother very well, he would not swallow this breath, he would definitely find trouble with Guo Song, and then Steward Wu disappeared, Sun Er felt that something must have happened here, and it had something to do with Guo Song, and the government should strictly investigate from this direction."

I have to say that Lantern Xiao's analysis basically hit the truth, but it was not because he was cautious and inferred like a cocoon, but because his motives were impure, and he made up this set of rhetoric in order to plant the death of his brother on Song's head, but it just happened to be right, once Guo Song was arrested and imprisoned, then his biggest rival in love was eliminated.

Yuan Xuanhu knew that Guo Song was not easy to mess with, and even Yuan Zai was planted in his hands, he pondered for a moment and said: "The government said that the third child has offended too many people, and there are at least eighteen people who want to kill him, but there is no Guo Song among them, he and Guo Song have no hatred for killing his wife, nor for taking his son, and he doesn't even have money and wealth, and the government thinks that Guo Song has no motive to kill him." ”

"Grandfather, it was the third brother who had a strong urge to kill Guo Song, Guo Song made him taste a big loss that he had never suffered, he personally told me that he would not let Guo Song go, he would definitely send someone to kill Guo Song, but it didn't work, so Guo Song would turn around and take revenge on him, isn't this a motive?"

Yuan Xuanhu also felt that his grandson was reasonable, and he thought that the two grandsons were brothers, and Lantern Xiao wanted to avenge his brother.

He nodded, "Okay! You take my brand to Jingzhao Mansion and urge them to investigate Guo Song. ”

"Grandfather, what my grandson means is that we can't rely on Jingzhao Mansion alone, but also rely on our Yuan family's own strength to investigate Guo Song, and my grandson is willing to accept the heavy responsibility."

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 that you must be in a sense of proportion, although Guo Song has resigned, the title is still there, don't go too far and let the Yuan family get into trouble." ”

Lantern Xiao was secretly happy in her heart, and hurriedly said: "Grandson must be cautious!" ”

Yuan Xuanhu took out one side and two pieces of cards and handed them to him, "The square card is my token, hand it over to Jingzhao Mansion, and ask them to track down Guo Song, the round card is the second card of the head of the family, with which it can mobilize the warriors of the Yuan family, and return it to me in a month." ”

"Grandson obeys!"

Yuan Xuanhu didn't know his grandson's selfishness, and he gave the brand to his grandson, which eventually plunged the Yuan family into endless trouble.