He withdrew his gaze, looked at the dark lines on the table, and said, "You mean, you're just trying to protect yourself?" ”

"Naturally." Xie Wan nodded, "The ants are still stealing, and the Ming people don't say secret words, so in front of the third uncle, I don't have to hide it."

"Actually, I didn't live in the house very happily, I don't understand why the old lady wants to hurt me so much.

"Confucius said, young and young, even other people's children can be treated as their own children, not to mention that I am the granddaughter of the old lady, although the old lady is not my own grandmother, without that family affection, but she can't do this to me?

"Now we can finally get out of the house, but I didn't expect to go out in such a way."

Speaking of this, a look of sadness rose on her face, as if she was immersed in the memories of Xie Qigong still alive.

Xie Rong was silent.

After a long time, Xie Wan remembered to ask, "The third uncle hasn't answered my question yet." Since you know that we are not short of money, you can justifiably divide more of the family property, why do you want to divide my family property in 40%? ”

Xie Rong looked at her and slowly raised his lips, "Naturally, it's to compensate you." ”

After speaking, without waiting for her to speak, he continued: "The old lady has a year of filial piety. I will also worry about it in Qinghe for three months. You can move out of the house on a certain day, but the rules can't be messed up during this time, I know that Brother Lang is preparing to play a big competition in August next year, and this time is just in the filial piety period, you tell him that he can't go this time. ”

The imperial examination is held every three years, and if you can't go this time, you will have to wait for three years! Her scheming third uncle. He's waiting for her here!

She looked at him as gentle as water behind the bookcase, and her chest was stabbed twice as if by a mallet.

If you go back after three years. She had to postpone another three years before she could attack him, and she had already prepared the next step after Xie Langzhongju. If he doesn't end up, then the whole plan will have to be reversed! And the point is, in three years' time, who knows what will happen?!

No wonder he relied on her for everything, agreed not to let Changfang Lingqian perform the ceremony, and readily agreed to divide her forty percent of the family property, but what he didn't agree with was that Xie Lang would end up next year!

He probably couldn't guess how ambitious she was, but he did see what they were doing under the Wangs. How much Xie Wan already hated them, if Xie Lang was in high school, then he would not necessarily become an opponent for him in the future, at least he would not be an ally. But with his current ability, he can't control the selection of the imperial examination, he can only stop the second room from advancing in this way, and it makes Xie Wan irresistible.

He ordered it as the head of the Xie family, can Xie Wan not listen? What's more, he wanted to stop Xie Lang from entering the examination room. There should be many options.

Xie Wan saw his intentions and couldn't help but take a deep breath. At this time, she didn't have time to pay attention to why he had only been worried for three months.

"Is it possible to change the third uncle's decision? After all, my brother is the pillar of the second room. If he doesn't take a reputation or something, he is afraid that he will drag down the reputation of the third uncle in the future. ”

Xie Rong said: "It's only three years. ”

It's only been three years!

Xie Wan paused and looked up at him: "Third uncle." Do you know who the real murderer of the old lady is? ”

Xie Rong raised his eyebrows. "You know?"

Xie Wan laughed, and his expression cooled down for a moment: "I want my brother to end smoothly next year." I also want to thank the family for fifty percent of the property. ”

Xie Rong paused and raised his eyes to look over.

The night gets deeper. The colder the wind, the stronger.

Even after the snow clears, the first quarter moon above the snow looks like it is frozen in ice, lacking life and light.

The lanterns under the porch have changed back to a pale yellow, and the walls seem to have an old dim color. Aunt Deng walked alone under the quiet corridor, looking at the two begonias covered by snow in the yard, reaching out to grab a ball of snow and gently kneading it in her hand.

The snow was icy, but her heart was hot. The snow melted by her body temperature ran down her fingers, and she didn't feel anything.

"Because the hatred in my heart is too great, and my heart is too hot, I have to take snow to the town, right?"

Suddenly, a clear and gentle voice came from the empty and dark courtyard.

She looked up suddenly, and looked away. There was an undersized girl standing on the snow in the middle of the courtyard, her white clothes were connected with the snow on the ground, making her look like a heavenly girl falling from the sky, and the solemnity on her face, as well as the coldness of her eyebrows, made people feel that she was actually an elf transformed by this heavy snow.

"Is that you?"

She frowned slightly, the snow on her hands spilled down, and she fell back into the snow.

"Every winter when it snows, your favorite thing to do is to touch the snow, you are not afraid of the cold, because these cold snow will make your heart more forbearing, more undisturbed, so that people can not see the slightest trace of your heart from the face, and you can't see the hatred you have hidden in your heart for decades."

Xie Wan stood in place, his voice drifting in the courtyard like the sound of the wind.

Aunt Deng's expression finally calmed, and she tensed her face and said, "I don't know what the third girl is talking about." ”

"There's only one thing I have to say," Xie Wan looked at her and slowly walked up the corridor, "where did you get so much arsenic?" It's impossible for anyone to help you buy so much poison at once, you have accumulated it little by little over so many years, how many years has this arsenic been accumulated, you hate the old lady and the old lady too many teenagers, right? ”

Aunt Deng's face finally turned pale.

Xie Wan walked up to her, looked at her for a long time, and said: "Qian Zhuang, the small bottle of arsenic you hid on the roof, has been found, and the bottle has rouge marks, which is exactly the same as the old lady's daily use." It's exactly the same as the rouge you hide in the middle of the box. If this is not enough evidence to accuse you of murdering the old lady, then your embroidered shoes with broken porcelain under your feet can testify.

"Aunt Deng, what you can't deny is you, who poisoned the old lady with your own hands!"

She raised an embroidered shoe in her hand and threw it in front of Aunt Deng.

Aunt Deng looked at her for a long time, and suddenly smiled, "You are wrong." Since you are asking me, what am I denying? Yes, I killed him, and I not only wanted to kill him, but also wanted to kill the Wang family as well. It's a pity that Xie Rong seems to have a lot of ability, and he can easily close this case. If Wang was taken to Caishikou for execution, what a happy thing it would be! ”

She didn't look like she was stating the fact of murder at all, her tone was flat, even with a little joy, Xie Wan thought that she would deny it, but now seeing her like this, she was silent.

"Xie Wan, look at this courtyard," Aunt Deng raised her head, looked around, as if chatting with her, and said slowly: "I have lived in this courtyard for thirty-four years, and I was accepted by Xie Qigong half a year before the Wang family married, at that time I was still young and beautiful, your grandfather loved me, and this courtyard is still new."

"After the Wang family came in, I have been out of the house twice in the past 30 years, once to send Aunt Chen to Wutouzhuang for the elderly, and once to send your grandfather to the funeral. On weekdays, the Wang family didn't let me go out, but went to the room to ask for peace, and she also had to pick Xie Qigong to let me go when he was not there. She was a widow and feared that her husband's love would not last, so she did everything in her power to stir up trouble so that he would not come into my yard.

"You must think that she did something hurtful to me that made me hate her so much, right? No, I did conceive a child, but I accidentally lost it myself, and she didn't give me any infertility medicine that prevented me from giving birth to an heir, and in her eyes, I was not qualified to be her opponent at all.

"I hate her because I'm lonely.

"Loneliness, you know?" She looked at Xie Wan sideways, her eyes were deeper than this cold night, "I live here, I have food to eat, clothes to wear, I enjoy blessings that many people can't enjoy, and I have never been cruelly persecuted by my mother, how good my life looks." However, you know if you have tasted loneliness, when you want to speak, no one tells you, and when you want to go out, Wang won't let you go out.

"Your honor and disgrace and everything you have can only be installed in this courtyard, facing the white walls and gray tiles every day, this painted verandah, and the begonia trees that grow thick and tall every day, you have no happy things, no troubles, your seven emotions and six desires, all trapped in your heart and lungs, and you are trapped in this courtyard.

"Occasionally, when he comes, in front of him, I am just a little better than a maid to warm the bed, and he will not listen to you, and even, when he is done, he will go away, and will not look at you from beginning to end, nor will he say a word to you. Gradually, I became a rock that breathed and had body temperature, and he didn't care.

"Actually, I'm more like a prisoner, I feel that if I want to be free in this life, I can only wait for Xie Qigong and Wang to die. So I started to deploy, and ten years ago, I saved my first handful of arsenic, and over time, I finally raised two or three taels! Xie Qigong was pushed and injured in bed by Wang, Wang has a history of murdering her husband, she is guilty and sick, what a good opportunity.

"I squatted outside his house for three days, and finally that day I heard the sound of an argument in his house, and then Wang ran out crying again.

"There was no one in the house anymore. I walked in with the arsenic, re-poured the medicine for him with the medicine bowl I had brought over, and then transferred in the two taels of arsenic. Xie Qigong saw that it was me, but he didn't look at me at all. I made him drink the medicine, and I covered his mouth and nose to prevent him from making a sound, and within a few moments, he was dead. ”

She looked at the sky faintly, as if she was still proud of her actions, and the corners of her mouth were slightly upturned, and there was a mocking smile.

Xie Wan stood three steps away from her, looking at her like this, it was difficult to associate her with the dull and silent Aunt Deng in the past. She in front of her is charming and charming, but unfortunately, such charming, like an epiphany in full bloom, makes people think of her ruin not long after.

"Since you hate her so much, why did you plead with the old lady for Xie Hong when he wanted to steal the money for Xie Hong? It stands to reason that at that time, wouldn't it be better to let the old lady expel him from the house, and then make the old lady anxious and sad? (To be continued.) )