Sima Xiu took two steps forward, his lips squirmed, and his voice was very soft: "Yesterday, the Zhenyuan Marquis Mansion was dismissed, and Cai Juan didn't dare to go home, so he sneaked out to find me." She looked very scared at the time, and kept asking if I did it to get red from the county lord, and asked me how to end it, she said that she didn't dare to go back to the house, for fear of being killed by Mrs. Yongchenghou, and even more afraid that the eldest princess's mansion would arrest her and torture her. cried again, she just wanted to make a meritorious contribution and sell a good child in front of the master, who would have thought that she had really offended the lord of Xiangshan County, and complained that I promised her too little silver. ”

"I know that this girl has a lot of thoughts, and sure enough, she thinks really well." Guo Wan seemed to be admiring, with a smile on her gorgeous face, but her eyes were cold.

Sima Xiu was indifferent and continued: "All this was already calculated by Madame, so I gave her a silver ingot as Madame instructed, and then comforted her with kind words, and then put the medicine in honey water to lure her to drink, and she soon fell asleep. During this time, I did not lift a finger of her, and there would be no scars on her body, as I can assure Madame. ”

Guo Wan listened carefully and did not speak.

Sima Xiu said again: "Then, I waited until late at night, changed into a prepared dress for her, and lurked in the house of the Duke of Yongguo." As soon as the three quarters passed, the princess's mansion made the last call, patrolled the night and the guards left, and no one else patrolled the next, so I hung the colored silk on the plaque. ”

She hesitated, as if considering whether to continue.

"Say, I have to listen to my own bureau." Guo Wan looked out of the pavilion, and her charming face reflected the autumn water of the lake.

"At that time, the effect of the medicine was about to pass, Caijuan was half-awake, because she was strangled, she began to struggle, and she died after a while." Sima Xiu said briefly, his voice as soft as a whisper: "When she doesn't move, I wiped some of the mud on the soles of her shoes on the stone beast and left." ”

Guo Wan sighed, her gaze retracted from the reeds, and fell on her hand.

The fingertips are as white as jade, and the dankou is rippling, and the red is like dripping blood.

She exhaled softly.

Things were done, and she heard the first-hand reply, but she didn't really feel it.

She remembered how many times she had been a child, and she had woken up from a long, deep dream, a dark room, with a thin beaded curtain hooking, and a golden and white moon passing through, sometimes winding, sometimes down. Outside the window, there was a clear sound of bamboo dust, a "click", lonely, and quiet, as if to tell her that the world was awake.

She was also awake.

Even many times, she would rather fall asleep.

She let out a long sigh of relief.

The rain line dotted into the lake, one by one circles, unfolded and closed, the air was moist, the autumn was wet by the rain, hanging its head in the wind, slightly purple and white, like a string of old snow.

"What about the others, what did you do with them?" Guo Wan asked a little lazily.

Sima Xiu replied: "Mrs. Hui, it doesn't matter if you leave a few of them, you can find Mingxin from them, and the rest will be sent according to Madame's orders." ”

"Good." Guo Wan smiled and nodded, as if she had completed a big event: "You have to remember, don't force her to death, leave a crack for her, she will definitely get in." ”

Sima Xiu raised his head.

From the beginning of her appearance, this was the first time she faced Guo Wan squarely.

"Why don't you kill Mingxin?" She asked, her cold face, her eyebrows and eyes were flat: "Leaving her should be very bad for Madame." ”

"That's exactly what I wanted." Guo Wan didn't look at her, she reached out and touched the vermilion penny, and her eyebrows curved in a beautiful arc: "I have to give her a vote, otherwise, how can she win the trust of her future master?" ”

"Madame, if you must put yourself in danger, I may have to leave." Sima Xiu said bluntly, his face was very light: "After all, you only gave seven hundred taels of silver, and what you asked for is far from worth so much." ”

Guo Wan laughed, because she laughed too hard, Zhu Qizi went to the side.

"Sima, I really like you, your temperament is very much to my taste. But I know you're probably not going to want to stay. She smiled and took out a silver ticket from her sleeve: "This is three thousand taels, you take it and leave as soon as possible." ”

Sima Xiu stepped forward to take it, put it in his sleeve, and when he spoke again, there was a turn in his words: "If I add these, I think I can stay a little longer and help Madame do a few more things." ”

She touched the sleeve of her silver ticket, as if she were estimating, and then gave the answer: "I can kill two more people for you, or do four or five more difficult things." What you give, it's worth so much. ”

"No need." Guo Wan shook her head, turned her back to her, and looked at the lake, with red clothes and white sleeves, and a few lines of gold hairpins in her hair: "The next thing I have to do is just wait, and if I make any more moves, I will die." Of course, I know that you are not small, but what you need to do has been done, and if there is a fate in the future, I will look for you again. ”

Sima Xiu narrowed her eyes and looked at her back, as if speculating on the truth of her words, and nodded again: "Madame is generous, then I will bear it." There is a stall selling mutton soup in Tonggui Hutong, if Mrs. wants to find me, on the fifteenth day of the first month of each month, you can go there to find a person named Hu Bajin, he will understand. ”

"I made a note of it." Guo Wan chuckled and waved her hand with her back: "I have already arranged it, you are going to Jiangnan to check the accounts for me this time, and when the time comes, you can find an opportunity for yourself and leave reasonably." ”

Sima Xiu bowed, but left before he could leave, stood for a moment, and said hesitantly: "Madam, there is one more thing I have to remind you." That friend of yours is the girl from the Chen family, so you need to be careful. I've heard a lot of people say that she is like a god in judging cases. ”

Guo Wan was silent for a few moments, and asked rhetorically: "Have you done all the things I told you?" ”

"Yes." Sima Xiu replied quickly and firmly.

Guo Wan chuckled: "Isn't that enough?" ”

She leisurely fiddled with the penny, and her red fingertips slid over and over in a slender pole, and then slid over: "Before I made a move, I had repeatedly figured out and analyzed every case she had handled, and I already knew her habits and methods of investigating cases. And when it comes to making a move, I also put myself in her place, filling in every possible loophole, so as to be foolproof. ”

She paused, and her tone was a little careless: "If she can still get evidence in this way, then I have to admit defeat." ”

"I see." Sima Xiu's face was expressionless, and he only nodded: "Madame is smart, and her subordinates are stupid, so they do this too much." ”

She arched her hand very solemnly: "Farewell, take care, madam." ”

Guo Wan didn't speak, just looked at the lake and nodded.

The sound of light and steady footsteps faded away, and quietly moved around.

Guo Wan frowned slowly.

Raindrops are like threads, dripping down the clear lake, and sassy like the wind sweeping away the residual leaves.

Little by little, her face became desolate, her eyebrows lowered, she looked at her fingers for a long time, and then, with a shallow smile.

"Someone, wash this dankou for me, it's too beautiful." She looked at her nails, and the smile faded.

Outside the water pavilion, the autumn is sorrowful, like crying, lonely and lonely.