Ji said: "That's natural. In fact, the pair of jade pendants of our shopkeeper is exactly the same, they are both dragon and phoenix pendants, the only difference is that your pair is white jade, and the pair of our shopkeeper is topaz. ”

Meng Tianchu and Zhu Hao looked at each other for a moment, and then said to the guy, "Oh, so that's the case. Then I would like to ask, do you have a kind of jade pendant in your store that has half of the face of Guanyin and half of the face of the Buddha? ”

The man replied: "No, I have seen our shopkeeper bring it back to us before, because the price is really expensive, our place is small after all, probably no one wants to buy it, so our shopkeeper only collects it, and has not taken it out to sell." ”

Meng Tianchu was very excited when he heard this, and then asked, "Are you sure you've seen it?" ”

"Naturally, I've seen it."

"Then do you have the shopkeeper to wear it if you like?"

"Then I don't know, anyway, it must not have been sold. All the incoming and outgoing goods are handled by me, so I know very well. ”

"Well, okay. You keep this jade pendant for me, and I'll go back and discuss it with my mother. ”

The fellow happily agreed.

Meng Tianchu returned home and came to Xi Ruo's room where she was resting, sure enough, the eldest lady had woken up, Zuo Jiayin and Xia Fengyi were doing needlework on the side, chatting with her, it seemed that everyone was getting along well, Meng Tianchu knew Xi Ruo's young lady's temper, so he was worried that she would be embarrassed for her family after she woke up, but she didn't expect it to be okay.

Xi Ruo's complexion was much better, and when Zuo Jiayin saw Meng Tianchu standing at the door, he stood up and stepped forward to greet him. Meng Tianchu found that Xi Ruo actually gave him a smile. He thought to himself, it was not easy.

Meng Tianchu stepped forward and asked, "How does Miss Xi feel?" ”

Xi Ruo wanted to struggle to get up but was stopped by Xia Fengyi, and Meng Tianchu also motioned for her to lie down and talk. So she had no choice but to lie down and said, "Thank you, Master Meng." I am a body of sin, why should you save me? ”

"Girl, don't think about it, your body is your own, you must take care of yourself when you are young." Meng Tianchu sat beside Xia Fengyi, and then said.

Xi Ruo smiled sadly, "Originally, the son saved me." I should thank you, but I didn't want to live. ”

"For Lian'er?" Meng Tianchu asked very bluntly, there were some things he had to figure out.

Xi Ruo was stunned for a moment, and nodded with difficulty.

Meng Tianchu motioned for his two ladies to go out, he thought that there were some things that Xi Ruo didn't want more people to know. After they went out, Meng Tianchu handed a glass of water to Xi Ruo, who took it and took a small sip, and then finally spoke: "Since she has already gone." I'll take care of the rest of the suffering for her alone. I always think about the happiest time we had together these two days, I thought it would be forever, but, I didn't expect it...."

"What didn't you think of?"

"She and Su Yan got along."

"I think you're also very good to Su Yan, don't you?"

Xi Ruo smiled. Then he said: "He and I grew up together, and he was three years older than me. Always treat me very well, maybe in your eyes I am a very unreasonable lady, in fact, I am very good to the underground people around me, especially Su Yan. I've always treated him like my own brother. ”

"Do you know what he thinks of you?"

"Since I had Lian'er, the relationship between us has become more and more bad, some things are not something that the three of us can control, and then they still fell in love, yes, this, I have to admit this, I don't want Lian'er to leave me at all, when I have no idea, I didn't think of Su Yan's father, there is our Xi family's housekeeper who came out to intervene, he doesn't want his son to find a maid, he even has the heart to match me and Su Yan."

"You're a golden leaf, how could he have such an idea?"

"It's not surprising that he thinks so, because my father treats him like a brother, and our two families are more like family."

"I want to ask, did something happen between the three of you the day before Lian'er left?"

Xi Ruo hesitated for a moment, but still answered Meng Tianchu's question: "Yes." Lian'er has always been a straightforward person, say whatever you want, that day, she and Su Yan came back from outside, and told me that they were angry, at that time I was secretly happy in my heart, so I asked her why she was angry, she said, they went to the market together to play, there was a man who looked very rich, and kept staring at her, I didn't think it was strange at the time, Lian'er was very beautiful, it was normal for someone to stare at her, I thought Su Yan's reaction was too aggressive, so I comforted Lian'er, I didn't expect it, our words were not finished yet, The man actually found the inn, I think he probably followed him all the way. ”

"Oh, what about later?"

"Later, that man shamelessly said that he wanted to propose marriage to me and wanted to marry Lian'er as a concubine, I was very angry at the time, and scolded that person together with Su Yan. Unexpectedly, after that person left, Lian'er actually blamed us, saying that we shouldn't have driven people away. ”

When Meng Tianchu heard this, he was also very surprised, and said, "That person is a tourist? ”

"No, it's the people in your county, what is the name of Fan Cheng."

"Ahh Meng Tianchu cried out, thinking that it wouldn't be such a coincidence, so he showed Xi Ruo the jade pendant in his arms, and then asked, "Miss Xi, have you passed?" ”

Xi Ruo looked at it and shook his head.

"Then did you ask Lian'er what she thought later?"

She actually said that people are a rich family at first glance, anyway, she is just a maid's life, and it is also a blessing to be able to find such a family to be a concubine for others. At the time, her words really broke my heart. ”

"Then was Su Yan present when she said these words?"

"Yes, at that time, Su Yan left angrily when she heard it, and she didn't care about Su Yan, she just sat there alone and thought about her affairs."

"Did that man come to her again?"

“

When the trustee brought her a few sets of clothes and silk, she saw it very much

"Didn't the man himself come? Did he have anything to say to that Lian'er at that time? ”

"It seems that there is not, the person who delivered the thing gave it and left."

"What is it like to be a person who delivers things? Do you remember? ”

"A man in his fifties. Like a housekeeper. ”

—

After Meng Tianchu asked, he asked Xi Ruo to have a good rest, he thought about it. decided to go to meet that Fan Cheng with Zhu Hao.

The two of them inquired all the way, and found the big mansion of Fan Chengdi at the east end of the city, two big lions of white marble at the door, very powerful, the courtyard was very big at a glance, and I thought that this person's business was really big.

Zhu Hao stepped forward and knocked on the door. Soon a man who looked like a family member opened the door, looked at them, and asked angrily, "Is there something wrong?" ”

Meng Tianchu stepped forward with a smile and said, "Please let me know, I am the master of the Yamen, and I want to see your master." ”

"Our lord has gone to the capital, not here."

Meng Tianchu thought about it for a while, he didn't see him the day before, it shouldn't be. So he said in a good voice: "I saw your master yesterday, when did he leave?" ”

The man looked very impatient, and waved his hand: "You guys go, I don't know." Anyway, our lord is not here, so if you have something to do, you can wait until three months' time. "The door is about to close. Zhu Hao stretched out his hand and put his palm on the door, and the family suddenly felt that the door weighed a thousand catties and couldn't be pushed at all.

Jia Ding said sharply: "What do you want to do?" Do you still want to fight? ”

Zhu Hao smiled, reached out and grabbed his collar like lightning and lifted it into the air, and said coldly: "Fight? Can you? My son-in-law asks you, and you answer. Otherwise, please go up to the roof and sit for a while. ”

When the family saw that Zhu Hao was so powerful, he was scared and hurriedly begged for mercy, and Zhu Hao put him down.

The family said tremblingly: "My lord is really not here, he went to the capital, and he walked this morning, really." ”

Meng Tianchu thought for a while, and then asked, "Then is your housekeeper here?" ”

"No, they go together, and every time they go to the place together."

Meng Tianchu knew that he couldn't ask anything, so he had to leave with Zhu Hao.

Back at the Yamen, Murong Yuxue said that he had found something in Xiaoqing's mouth and asked him to take a look, and he was originally scheduled to bury Xiaoqing the next day, thinking that he found a problem when he was changing clothes, Meng Tianchu hurriedly went.

Xiaoqing had already asked someone to change his clothes, which was almost the same as the appearance before his death, but his eyes were still open and unwilling to close, Meng Tianchu walked in front of Xiaoqing, and under the guidance of Murong Zhenxue, he really found that there was something under Xiaoqing's tongue, he asked Murong Zhenxue to bring one, he carefully pulled out the thing gently, it turned out to be a piece of silk thread, not long, and there was a very small half copper coin on it, Meng Tianchu thought that Xiaoqing's tongue was sticking out when he died, and it probably resisted the things inside, so he didn't find it before.

Murong Yuxue took the silk thread and looked at it, I don't know what the silk thread is, but the old women who were cleaning Xiaoqing's body on the side saw it, but their faces changed, and several people were talking in a whisper on the side.

Murong Yuxue saw what they were whispering, so she asked them, thinking that they must know something.

One of the old women said tremblingly: "They all say that it is suicide, how can there be such a thing?" ”

Meng Tianchu felt that this old woman had something to say, so he hurriedly asked her to go on.

"I don't dare to talk nonsense, but I just heard others say that this copper coin is prepared by people who have not completed their longevity, because when he dies, he is too resentful, and he is afraid that he will become a powerful ghost after death, so he uses copper coins to suppress him, so that he will never be able to be reborn, so that he can not come out to harm the people who are alive. It's just that I've never seen myself do this to myself, and who would want to never be reborn? ”

Meng Tianchu had also heard such a statement before, and he also felt that no one would use such a decisive way to treat himself, isn't this the most vicious curse?

He then stepped forward and looked at Xiaoqing's wound carefully, because he had thought that Xiaoqing was committing suicide from the beginning, so he did not examine and dissect the whole body, and after looking at the wound, he didn't find anything, it was the same as what he had thought before.

He turned around and asked the few people who had washed Xiaoqing's body and changed her clothes before, "Did you find anything wrong when you washed the girl's body?" Like a wound or a scar? ”

The people shook their heads, he felt that he was careless, so he ordered Murong Yuxue to bring his tools over and conduct a detailed autopsy on Xiaoqing's body.

After the autopsy, Meng Tianchu finally figured out the reason, what he had been looking for actually made Xiaoqing swallow it in his stomach, he really couldn't imagine how she swallowed such a large piece of jade pendant.

Murong Yuxue was also stunned, she carefully put the jade pendant on the plate, and then asked, "Do you need me to clean it now?" ”

Meng Tianchu shook his head solemnly and said, "Don't worry, I'm confused now, did she specifically leave this jade pendant to me so that I could help her avenge her?" Or is it deliberately hiding this thing for the murderer? ”

"You mean, she didn't kill herself?" Murong Zhenxue was very surprised.

Meng Tianchu nodded and said: "It was that copper coin that inspired me, and then judging from the remaining residues in Xiaoqing's stomach, she drank alcohol before she died, and she drank a lot, when we went to Xiaoqing's house before, we didn't find any food and wine on her table, that is, she drank it during the period when she went out, maybe I can help her find the murderer who killed her from the only thing she left me." ”

"But there's no one to hang her?"

Meng Tianchu replied: "Wrong, there is a person who can make her die willingly."