Whether it is in the palace or the powerful and wealthy families in the capital, the food made by the chef is carefully selected and polished. Just like the famous dish in the Dream of Red Mansions, only one eggplant needs to be hung in chicken soup for a whole day, and then the oil is removed, and then stewed in clear soup.

In fact, in her previous life, when she heard the people around her lament the luxurious life of the ancient high-ranking families, she was also surprised, wondering about those nobles, but they really know the taste of cabbage and cucumbers? Or is it that no matter what food is delivered to their table, it has lost its original taste.

She only pondered about this when she was young, but now she is no longer curious. For one, she just wanted to live a simple life. Second, it is probably past a certain age group and has experienced too much impermanence in the world, and the curiosity of the once young age has also been wiped out.

It's funny to think about some things in my head, and it's funny to think about it, as if the past life I once lived in was like a dream. However, when she held the autopsy knife and saw the rows of tools, she could only smile bitterly.

She took a shallow sip of the soup from the pear flesh, and it was sweet in her mouth. Although the freshness of the fresh pears is lost, it makes people feel happy and warm. She hung her head, looking at the yellowish soft pears in the tea cup in a little daze, and the steaming heat hit her face, making people drowsy.

Xiao Qinglang's eyes swept over Xu Chu, who was slightly stunned, and saw that she had a little sadness on her face and couldn't explain it, so that she couldn't see the illusion clearly, as if she was going to disappear with the fragrance of tea across her own in the next moment. Suddenly, his heart tightened, and for no reason, he remembered what he had investigated.

Xu Chengzuo, Xu Chu's father, had no achievements in the autopsy in the first half of his life. However, just as he began to take his daughter in and out of the coroner's room, he gradually emerged, and even became quite famous in the Yunzhou generation.

He never believed in sudden enlightenment, nor did he believe in ghosts, gods, fairies and demons. However, after meeting Xu Chu, he became more and more confused, as if many things had subverted what he had learned.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but withdraw his hands and secretly groped for the strange book in his sleeve that he hadn't finished reading. This book was written by a scholar in the previous dynasty, and because it is all a charming story of ghosts and spirits, it is not accepted by orthodoxy.

He also disdained this book for a while, and only occasionally used it to relieve boredom. But now, he is in a trance......

If so, what then?

In his heart, Xiao Qinglang is not afraid that Xu Chu is a ghost in the mountains, but he is afraid that she will leave without knowing when, or change her skin, so where should he go to find such an interesting and exciting soul?

His handsome eyebrows furrowed slightly, staring at Xu Chu's gaze, with a little unspeakable worry. After a while, he sighed and said softly: "Although pears moisten the lungs, don't be greedy, beware of eating too sweet, and lose your appetite for a while." ”

Hearing this, Xu Chu glanced up at him, nodded blankly and absentmindedly, and replied in a low voice, "Oh." ”

If it were usual, in the face of Xiao Qinglang's concerned eyes and gentle words, even if she didn't dodge, she would probably show some restraint and crampedness that were different from usual. But at this time, she responded casually with a blank look in her eyes.

This made Xiao Qinglang, who had always cared about her, more and more anxious. However, no matter what his mood was, his face was still full of expression, and his breath was as usual, only the pursed lip line showed his emotions.

Xiao Mingzhu took two more bites, and felt a little sweet in his throat, and pushed things aside with a lack of interest. At this moment, she saw that the roasted pears in her third uncle's hand had not moved at all, and she couldn't help but raise her eyebrows. As soon as she wanted to make a few jokes, she saw her third uncle look at her with a cold look, almost instinctively, and she sat directly with her sleeves upright.

was probably stunned, and his brain rested for a while, which actually made Xu Chu sober up a little. She took a few bites of the sweet pears in her hand, then took out the codex and wrote it down.

"Now that I have investigated the Liu family, there are more and more suspicions." She bit the barrel of her pen and said with a frown, "It is very strange that the carriage that had an accident was made of red teak, and it could be easily trampled on and the whole piece broken. Second, I asked Liu Wengui if the Liu family had encountered similar robberies before, and his answer was evasive and concealed. Moreover, it is very strange that the mother died, and as a son, he has not returned for half a month. Third, although there are not one hundred and eight Nanzhu in Liu Zhen's hands, there are dozens of them. Where did she come from, and why did she place them on the dresser. And if Pink had absconded by stealing the owner's property, why did she leave behind such valuable jewelry? What's more, she obviously has gold beads on her body that can rival all the belongings of the Liu family, so why take the risk to make such a decision. What's more, according to the housekeeper's mother-in-law, when the pink clothes were burned at that time, there were four or five burdens, and generally speaking, women's clothes in spring, summer, autumn and winter were nothing more than that. In addition, jewelry and other dry items, that is, the disappearance of Peach only carried away the valuables that Liu Zhen said, but his own things were not touched. ”

As she spoke, she looked at Xiao Qinglang, who didn't say a word.

"The damage to the carriage must be man-made. But where you are willing should be investigated. And the young master of the Liu family has not returned for a long time, there are two situations, either Liu Wengui concealed the news and did not notify him. The second is that the young master of the Liu family can't receive the news of his mother's death at all. If it is the former, then Liu Wengui is very likely to know that the headless female corpse is not Liu Zhen's. But if the latter ......," Xiao Qinglang replied lightly with a teacup, "Don't think about the long journey for the time being, even if you are in southern Xinjiang, you can travel quickly and under the stars and nights, first by water, and then by land, half a month is enough time to go back and forth." What's more, according to the dossier, Liu Wengui was only in the suburbs of Beijing. ”

The Great Zhou Dynasty rules the world with filial piety, unless Liu Qingyun can endure the white eyes of the world and the suppression of the government, it is impossible to get the news of the accident of his mother at home, but he is still focused on business.

Xiao Qinglang saw that Xu Chu was thoughtful, and then added: "There is also Zhu'er, who had an accident with Liu Zhen's family, why were all the clothes and accessories in her room taken away?" And who will take those things and for what purpose. ”

"Could it be someone from the Liu family who did it?" Xiao Mingzhu saw that the two of them were talking about business, so she quickly straightened her attitude and pondered.

"I've asked the next person, because Zhu'er has a lonely temperament and a bad and rough temperament, so no one dares to touch her things. Moreover, from Liu Wengui's report to the time when Lord Zhang sent someone to come, it was only a quarter of an hour, and it was too late to clean up that room. What's more, there are many people in the Liu family, and there are also rough servants in the courtyard of the Liu Zhen family, and it is not easy to destroy or hide Zhu'er's belongings in front of everyone. This is also something that Xu Chu can't understand. Where did Pearl's go, was she really kidnapped by the bandits, or did she collude with those people in the first place?

But how did she know the bandits, and why did she behave the way she did?

There are also Liu Zhen and Liu Wengui, what role did these two people play in it. And the missing pink, what's going on?

"Sister Chu, didn't you say that Taohong escaped a month ago, she shouldn't have anything to do with this case." Xiao Mingzhu saw that Xu Chu was not only entangled in Zhu'er, but even involved in Peach. Although she has been here for a short time, she has already dragged Wei Guang to ask about the ins and outs of this case, thinking about showing herself in front of Xu Chu.

But now that she said it, she realized that her own brain always seemed to be unable to keep up with her third uncle and Sister Chu......

Xu Chu shook his head thoughtfully, pondered for a moment, and then turned his head to look at Xiao Mingzhu and asked, "If Mingzhu pushes the case at this time, how would you guess this case without knowing the conclusion of my autopsy?" ”

As soon as Xiao Mingzhu heard that this was to listen to her opinion, she immediately became elated again, she cleared her throat and said, "This is too obvious. How did the bandits know that Liu Zhen's family was carrying gold, and the only possibility was that someone in the Liu family colluded with the bandits. After the accident, among the three people who went with him, only Liu Zhen was murdered, and Zhu'er's whereabouts are unknown. I guess there are only two possibilities, one is that Zhu'er colluded with the bandits, and then rebelled to seize the wealth, and after having the gold, he was pretended to be robbed by the bandits and escaped. There is also a possibility that the groom was the real murderer, that he had lied, or that he had done something evil with the bandits...... However, there is another possibility, that is, the escaped Pink is behind the scenes. After all, she has also served Liu Zhen closely, and it is very likely that she knows about Liu Zhen's wish. ”

Xu Chu nodded in approval. Probably, this is also the reason why the murderer is suspicious. It's just that I want them to think that it is Liu Zhen who died, and Peach and Zhu'er have become the most suspicious people in the government to a large extent.

Both are from the same background, and both are trusted by Liu Zhen. If the two conspired, it was not impossible.

After Xu Chu closed the codex, he looked up and saw Xiao Mingzhu's smug appearance, and couldn't help but add with a smile: "There is another possibility, although Liu Zhen has not mentioned the matter of making a wish to outsiders, she must ask Liu Wengui to prepare this property before she wants to repay the wish." It is inevitable that this news was spread by Liu Wengui. ”

"In addition, now it is only the Liu family that says that Liu Zhen went to repay his vows and carried 100 gold on him. And there are only a few simple notes on the file, and the specific ones have not yet been verified, so we can't make any conclusions at this time. Specifically, I have to go back to the yamen and listen to the official who went to inquire about the news. ”

Xiao Mingzhu pondered it carefully and felt that Xu Chu's words were really reasonable. So, a pair of eyes opened more round, and his expression was as if you were awesome and what you said was right, which made Xu Chu look helpless.

She sighed in her heart and said, "Besides, the headless female corpse is not Liu Zhen's, I guess it is very likely that the dead is the long-missing Taohong." Half a month was enough for her to starve and then malnourish......"

"Then why did the murderer replace Liu Zhen with Peach's body? And if Peach and Zhu'er colluded with bandits to rob, why did she also die? ”

This is also what Xu Chu can't figure out now, what about the motive? But when a case happens, especially one that is obviously a long-planned and premeditated case like the present, it can never be an impulsive act of the murderer.

On the side, the corners of Xiao Qinglang's mouth were almost invisible and slightly raised, and sure enough, he still liked to see Xu Chu, who was full of seriousness. Whether it is the autopsy or the case, only the meticulousness and calmness that a woman rarely has make him admire.

When they arrived at the Yamen, the sky was getting more and more gloomy, and as soon as a few people got off the carriage, scattered snow slowly fell. It struck everyone's clothes, and it rattled, as if mixed with the sound of the wind. At this time, the street was already silent, and most of them could see that it was not good, so they closed their stalls and returned home early.

The dishes are made by the Yamen kitchen, except for a roast duck, the rest is the chili stir-fry that ordinary people often eat. The only hard dish is the sauce-flavored elbow and pork rib soup, which is said to be made by Zhang Youwei for the New Year's goods.

In fact, during the day, I was busy running around, and I had eaten roasted pears on the road, and now Xu Chu and Xiao Mingzhu are not evil. But with the case in mind, they still sat down together.

"My lord, I wonder if you have found out today?" Xu Chu took a sip of pork rib soup, and his dull taste buds tasted the taste of pepper, but he didn't taste it at all. She took a few sips and felt no hunger in her stomach before she looked up at Zhang Youwei.

In fact, Zhang Youwei had always wanted to talk about the case just now, but the three great gods didn't speak, so he, the host, was embarrassed to say anything. He had heard that rich families often had a rule of not saying a word, although he had been like that when he was studying, how could he actually have so much time for him to chew slowly and savor the dishes?

Now that Xu Chu gave him the next step, he was busy talking, "Early this morning, Gongzi instructed me to send someone to investigate in detail the birthmark on the hundred gold and corpse carried by Liu Zhen, and now there is an echo. ”

Liu Wengui did take out a hundred gold worth of silver from the counter on the 14th, and exchanged it for a gold ingot at the bank. Moreover, the official asked Shun Teng to check the guys in the money village at that time, the shopkeeper and the people who withdrew money in the money bank at that time, but they didn't find any clues. So there should be no problem with his gold. Zhang Youwei looked solemn and worried. But when he looked at the pair of eyes that had no emotional fluctuations handed over by Gongzi last week, his heart was still tight, and then he frowned and said, "There is also the birthmark on Liu Zhen's body." If it is as Childe said, except for the midwife, the rest of the people are hearsay, but in fact, no one has seen it. I have seen the maid Peach Red and Zhu'er who are serving by Liu Zhen's side, but now they are nowhere to be found. After the official of the yamen carefully interrogated the midwife, she said that the years had passed too long, and she could not remember the location clearly, so she just said that there seemed to be such a thing. In addition, the people who went to Liu's house today also replied that there was a maid in the daytime who said that she had unintentionally bumped into Peach taking a bath, and had seen a dark red strange mark on her body, and Peach Hong smiled at that time and said that it was a birthmark. ”

In addition, Gongzi asked to track down Taohong's escape from the theft, because the Liu family did not report to the government at that time, so the government did not have any records. According to Childe's orders, the official asked everyone who had heard about it, and none of them had seen Peach flee with their own eyes. The housekeeper, who had some needlework with Pink, had seen her a night before she fled."