Located in the northwest of Longshengfang, Baorunzhai is mainly based on jade and stone, and also does all kinds of wood carving business.

Passing through the ebony door, there are two long cases of pear marble, on which there are more than 10 jade wood carving samples, the material may not be very valuable, but it is extremely exquisitely carved, or carefully carved to the depths of the grain, or ingenious to line the sky......

Of course, this is just for ordinary people, Sun Shaozong is now rich and rich, and he has just come out of Rongguo Mansion and other places that cover luxury, and then look at these objects and feel mediocre.

Everyone was scanning the jade, and the shopkeeper had already greeted him with his men, and bowed down and said, "The little one has seen a thousand households, I don't know if you come to the shop, do you want to buy some ready-made things, or are you going to order some utensils?" ”

Sun Shaozong was originally going to work in Beizhen Fusi today, and he was naturally wearing a Mojiao swallowing cloud robe, a dignified five-grade system, coupled with the famous reputation of the dragon guard, so the shopkeeper was not cautious.

Seeing his sincere and frightened appearance, Sun Shaozong smiled kindly, and reported to his family: "This official is Sun Shaozong in the governance of Shuntian Mansion, because there is a jade involved in the case, I hope to let your account help palm your eyes, but I don't know that your account is inconvenient under your eyes?" ”

Hearing the word 'Sun Shaozong', the shopkeeper's backbone suddenly softened a little, how dare there be anything inconvenient?

He nodded his head and replied, and invited an old craftsman who was over half a hundred years old from the backyard, and introduced him to Sun Shaozong and others: "This is Master Hu of the small shop, and his ancestors have been working in the jade craftsman shop for three generations, known as the eight-armed Arhat, but there is no master Hu who doesn't know about the jade shop in the capital!" ”

That Master Hu is a wooden one, listening to the shopkeeper boasting about himself, his old face turned blood-red, and he squeezed out a sentence of 'dare not be' in a long time, but the words next to him were not half a sentence.

It wasn't until Sun Shaozong handed over the piece of jade to him that Master Hu suddenly burst into spirits.

I took out the glasses from the sleeve and put them on, holding the jade and turning it over and over, I don't know how long I looked at it intently, and then I took the glasses off again and replied with a wooden face.

"How?"

Sun Shaozong couldn't wait to ask, "Can Master Hu see anything from this piece of jade?" ”

"Back to your lordship."

Master Hu held the jade flat in his hand, lowered his head and said: "The little old man is clumsy, and he can't see too many things, but he can only see that this piece of jade should have passed through the hands of three people." ”

"The first one is a southern carver, who should be a good hand in the industry, the moire carving is extremely fine, and the front and back sides are also cut extremely smooth, but unfortunately it is also a lot of good materials."

"The second place should not be in our industry, and the calligraphy foundation is good, but unfortunately there is no pen power, but he lost on the carving knife."

"The third is the northern school carver, the most particular about the material, so after the jade was taken off the utensils, only along the moire to do some repairs - it's a pity that this person's craftsmanship is poor, the imitation of the moire has its shape, but it has lost its charm, as long as the discerning person looks carefully, he can detect the traces of repair."

This old man really has a way to go!

He was a little stumbling at first, but the more he spoke, the smoother it became, and his rhetoric was roughly consistent with Sun Shaozong's inference, and even added a lot of details.

Qiu Yunfei didn't have much hope, but at this time, when he heard him familiar with the 'mysterious' of the southern and northern factions, he couldn't help but ask: "Then can you see that this thing is the hand of that family?" ”

"This ......"

Master Hu looked embarrassed and said: "In the end, most carvers in the capital can do this repair; As for the Southern Master in front of him, he is not an unknown person-but with this circle of cloud patterns alone, it is impossible to recognize whose handwriting it is. ”

"Besides, look at the pulp on this jade, I'm afraid there have been more than ten or twenty years, these years, the southern carving workers in the capital have also changed several stubbles, plus the inner government often recruits people from the south, and it will be released back to the ...... in three or five years."

"Wait!"

Sun Shaozong suddenly interrupted him and asked, "Can you judge the specific year of this piece of jade more carefully?" Is it more than ten years, or more than twenty years? ”

"This ......"

The sadness on Master Hu's face was even stronger, and he said: "Just those who often play with it, and those who don't play often, can be a lot different from the pulp - the little second child can only judge from experience that this piece of jade has been formed for at least ten years, but it should not be more than thirty years." ”

"As for this repair, it was about three or five years, and the pulp was obviously much thinner."

It was only demolished in the last three or five years......

Sun Shaozong compared this time period with his own speculation, and suddenly felt a little more sure in his heart.

Qiu Yunfei was a little disappointed, so he pulled Master Hu to ask if there was any.

During the period, it can't be said that he found nothing, at least he asked that in the capital, he wanted to ask the master of the southern faction to carve such a jade blank, I am afraid that there will be at least a dozen taels of silver.

However, this makes Qiu Yunfei even more confused - since he spent a lot of money to invite a famous person to make a move, why is it so different?

You must know that Rongguo Mansion has never been hidden, and has always spared no effort to promote the story of 'born with jade', but if you inquire carefully, you can imitate the shape of that jade by seven or eight points.

But he said that he couldn't ask anything else, and Sun Shaozong told the store not to leak today's things to the outside world, so he took everyone to leave Baorunzhai.

When he got out, Qiu Yunfei asked again.

This time, Sun Shaozong was determined to get rid of him, so he casually found a reason, and rode alone towards Beizhen Fusi.

Seeing that Beizhen Fusi was near, he turned his horse's head again, chose a small street shop at random, and filled his stomach without knowing the taste.

After eating and drinking, guarding the cups and plates of a table, looking at the Beizhen Fusi not far away through the window, Sun Shaozong was in a dilemma.

And what made him in a dilemma was the whimsical brain hole mentioned above:

When he was in Rongguo Mansion, Qiu Yunfei once believed that Jia Baoyu's piece was a counterfeit, and deduced that Zhou Xi was Jia Zheng's illegitimate son.

But with the complete overturning of the theory of 'illegitimate children', Rongguofu has no reason to counterfeit - after all, it is something used to make a name for the child, if there is no special reason, who will copy the same item indiscriminately?

Therefore, it can basically be concluded that Zhou Xi's Tongling Jade is a counterfeit.

So the mystery that needs to be solved most urgently at the moment is that Zhou Xi spent a lot of money to get the four dislikes, what is the purpose? Is there a direct relationship with his murder?

Sun Shaozong was also confused for a while, after all, based on common sense alone, he didn't even want to inquire, but he spent a lot of money to make a four-way dislike, and put it in the mezzanine, which was really unreasonable.

But when he was in Rongguo Mansion, he suddenly thought of another unreasonable possibility - maybe the owner of that piece of jade began to imitate it before the birth of Tongling Baoyu!

This may sound even more illogical at first glance, and what is a counterfeit without a reference?

Don't forget, there are traversers in this world, and Sun Shaozong is not the only one!

Although Sun Shaozong has not read "Dream of Red Mansions", he also judged from the name of Jia Baoyu that this piece of psychic treasure jade must be one of the important props in the book.

Imagine if there is a traveler who has read the Dream of Red Mansions, traveled to before Jia Baoyu was born, and learned that he was in the world of Dream of Red Mansions through the existence of Rongning Erfu, so it would be forgivable to make such a piece of the Four Differences in advance without seeing the Tongling Baoyu with his own eyes.

That's right, this is talking about the imprisoned Prince Yizhong!

And Sun Shaozong's speculation is not a utopian dream without evidence.

First of all, Prince Yizhong loved the white dragon fish costume when he was young, and he went in and out of the brothel of the Qinglou, and it was not until Emperor Guangde ascended the throne that he reined in this hobby.

And Zhou Xi's father, who was first an official in the Ministry of Rites, and later became a musician, went in and out of the brothel of the Qinglou, and had some intersections with each other, which can be regarded as a reasonable speculation.

Second, if Qiu Yunfei's 'illegitimate son' inference is applied to Prince Yizhong and Zhou Xi, it seems to make more sense.

Of course, there is no such thing as fornication during mourning.

The reason why Prince Yizhong didn't dare to recognize this illegitimate son was probably because Zhou Xi was indeed born to the Zhao family - and the Zhao family had already married Zhou's father at that time.

Other than that......

With the story of Zhao Ji and Lu Buwei in front, coupled with the fact that he has no children under his knees all these years, Prince Yizhong is probably not 100% sure that Zhou Xi is his biological son.

Third, Zhou Xi's parents both died in the autumn of the eighth year of Guangde, and it was at the turn of the summer and autumn of this year that Prince Yizhong was imprisoned for attempted rebellion, and most of his henchmen were also linked.

According to Master Hu's inference, it was during this time that the jade was removed from the ornament.

If you follow the previous line of thought, Zhou Xi's parents both passed away, I am afraid it may not be a good story of 'life is the same, death is the same hole', but the chain reaction of Prince Yizhong's bad deeds!

After the death of his parents, Zhou Xi removed the counterfeit treasure jade and hid it in the mezzanine of the incense burner, it is very likely that he already knew his 'true life experience'.

If it is inferred from this basis, the masked man will be afraid that Zhou Xi will fall into the hands of the government, shoot him to death, and then commit suicide, and ......

Wrong!

There seems to be something missing here!

Just because he was afraid that Zhou Xi would fall into the hands of the government, he should not be a direct killer.

You must know that it is the 'son' of your own master—even if it is only suspicious, it is not something that can be sacrificed casually!

And the masked person apologized for his crime with death later, obviously not afraid that he would be implicated by Zhou Xi.

Besides, since he had not until Zhou Xi was captured by the government, he promptly notified the comrades who had contact with Zhou Xi and asked him to transfer in advance, how could he be willing to shoot Zhou Xi with one arrow?

Unless......

There is also some earth-shattering secret behind this, either implicated in the battle for the throne or can endanger the life of Prince Yizhong - of course, it is very likely that it is both.

Therefore, the masked man will not hesitate to kill the killer, and then apologize for his sin with death.

Thinking of this, Sun Shaozong became more and more embarrassed.

Prince Yizhong has an old grudge against his family, once Prince Yizhong makes a comeback and even usurps the throne, even if the Sun family will not be turned over the old accounts, it will never be reused as it is now.

Therefore, from the perspective of his own interests, Sun Shaozong should expose it, or at least verify his inference first.

But the question is......

This inference is based on the premise that Prince Yizhong is a traverser, otherwise the whole thing would be difficult to justify.

However, Sun Shaozong didn't dare to say anything about the traverser.

So things fall into a dead knot, which makes people in a dilemma!