She paused for a moment, and then said: "Aunt Ah Xiu once heard her grandfather, who was a housekeeper, recall, that is, my great-grandfather, had seven wives, but it is said that they get along well, and they are not as intriguing and competing for favor as they are in house fighting dramas. Especially the eldest lady is from a famous family, up and down the house, including several aunts and wives, all respect her, even the lord has to go to her room every afternoon to say goodbye, and call her 'Miss', in today's words, he is afraid of his wife. ”

"That's right, sister." Qiao Ran interjected, "I almost forgot, you asked me to make an appointment with Hong Bingwei, an expert in literature and history, I have already made an appointment to visit him at home at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning." ”

"Can I go along?" Qiao Yan hadn't responded yet, so Wei Chihong asked first.

Qiao Yan's gaze flashed from Yu Chihong's face. "Yes. But in exchange, I have one condition. ”

Yu Chihong was stunned, and looked at her with his head slightly sideways. "On what terms?"

"I want to see you draw." Qiao Yan's gaze confessed, "You didn't say that you wanted to paint a picture of me taking a picture of me at the beach." I want to appreciate the process of painting. ”

Yu Chihong lowered his head, there was no fire in the fireplace. Qiao Ran is afraid of fire, and the fireplace is naturally just a decoration. But the blue flame on the kitchen gas stove flickered in front of him, and a depressed, unpredictable flame burned in his heart. "Okay." He seems to have made up his mind suddenly, and you can see it at night. ”

An inexplicable sense of joy surged into Qiao Yan's heart, and I don't know when she became eager to get close to him and enter his world.

For dinner, the mutton hot pot is placed, and the pot is placed on the induction cooker, which has an automatic power adjustment function. The two sisters didn't eat much, and they didn't have many dishes to prepare. Aunt Ah Xiu was worried that Yu Chihong would not be able to eat enough, so she made a few cooked dishes for him, steamed pork ribs with soy sauce, braised pork and the like, a big table full of them.

Qiao Ran suggested a drink, and the accident in the kitchen had dissipated without a trace.

Seeing that her sister was interested, Qiao Yan got up and took out a bottle of treasured red wine and a few red wine glasses from the wine cabinet. She poured a glass of red wine for Yu Chihong first.

Yu Chihong took the goblet, raised it to eye height, and observed the color of the wine. Then he moved the wine glass to his nose and smelled the wine, and then took a big sip, not in a hurry to swallow it, but rolled twice on his tongue to fully experience the red wine, and finally swallowed it all, and a faint fragrance immediately lingered in it.

"How?" As soon as Qiao Yan saw that posture, he knew that he was a person who knew how to taste wine.

"Ruby red, clear, almost transparent, also very bright. The aroma is rich, the mouth is round, and the wine flavor and astringency are harmoniously balanced, making it a good sake. Wei Chihong praised.

Qiao Yan's eyebrows were crooked, it was a smile from the heart.

Qiao Ran's eyes went back and forth on the faces of his sister and Wei Chihong, pursing his lips and stealing fun.

During the banquet, Qiao Ran was curious to inquire about how the previous serial murder case was solved, and Wei Chihong said that it involved technical investigation secrets, and he could not disclose the details of the case in detail, but only gave a general introduction. Later, the topic turned to Aunt Axiu, and Qiao Yan asked her to tell Yu Chihong the story of Qiao's mansion.

Aunt Ah Xiu is nearly half a hundred years old, and everything she knows is from her mother and grandfather. Her maternal grandfather, Chen Guanghui, worked in Qiao's Mansion for more than 60 years, but actually only received 14 years' salary. It's not that the owner is stingy, but that the situation is turbulent. In October 1937, the Japanese army occupied Kinmen, and Haidu, which was separated from Kinmen by a river, was in an emergency. Qiao Yan's great-grandfather Qiao Zhi was unwilling to submit to the Japanese invaders, so he took his family to live in Hong Kong. In 1945, Taiwan was recovered, and Qiao Zhi returned to Taiwan to spend his old age in peace, and died of illness on the other side of the strait in 1951. During this period, Qiao Zhi never proposed to dismiss Chen Guanghui, and this loyal, honest, and contented old housekeeper guarded the door of this mansion for a long time without cost until his death in April 1980. Aunt Xiu's mother and her were born and raised in this old mansion.

Regarding the story of the sixth aunt that Yu Chihong was most interested in, Aunt Ah Xiu sighed that it was a long story, if Yu Chihong wanted to hear it, he could make an appointment to tell him about it at another time.

After dinner, Qiao Yan and Yu Chihong left together. In the bright night sky, the moon and stars were scarce, and they stepped on the moonlight and walked in the direction of the houseboat.

"Do you think there's something wrong with Hai Haoyi?" Only then did Wei Chihong ask about the task assigned to Qiao Yan at noon.

"I don't see anything wrong." Qiao Yan's impression of Hai Haoyi is not bad, a gentle and elegant man, "If he really approached Mo Yuqing with a purpose, I think the biggest possibility is that he fell in love with Mo Yuqing." ”

Wei Chihong was noncommittal and did not go into any further information related to this.

The location of the houseboat is the quietest and most natural place on Zhulang Island, and it is also one of the streets and alleys with the most taste of Zhulang Island. The two of them walked through the shadowy garden, the building in front of them towering majestically, all dark all around, except for the dim light cast through the corner window on the first floor.