Thinking of this, Gu Xu pondered for a moment and asked Steward Yang beside him, "Did you meet anyone before Shen Gongzi left today?" ”

Steward Yang replied, "Today, Shen Hua, the heir of the Jinling Shen clan, came here for a visit. The two brothers had a brief conversation. But I don't know exactly what we talked about. ”

Gu Xu nodded, turned around and walked towards the house.

In the courtyard behind the small building, there is a small lounge.

Although Shen Qiu's identity was a doorman in Gu Xu's mansion, and Gu Xu also left him a room in the mansion, its symbolic meaning was far greater than its practical significance.

Anyway, this kind of thing is not a rigid need for cultivators—like Gu Xu himself, he often cultivates all night, and the bed at home has almost become a pure decoration.

Recently, due to the initial opening of the pill workshop and the many affairs, Shen Qiu basically regarded this room as his temporary residence.

In Gu Xu's impression, Shen Qiu was a very organized person.

His clothes were always clean and tidy, and every word he said was very logical; No matter how busy things are, he always manages to plan them properly and handle them in an orderly manner.

However, the scene in the lounge at this time surprised Gu Xu.

I saw a lot of shredded waste paper on the ground, and a brush fell to the ground, leaving obvious ink marks on the ground; Several wooden chairs were also kicked over, and there were several silk pillows next to the chairs, with a few dirty footprints on the surface.

It's a mess.

However, fragile items in the house, such as porcelain tea sets and vases, are still unharmed.

In addition, Gu Xu also saw a few knitted shirts and gloves on the table.

Their workmanship is very rough, and the patterns on them are also a little childish and ridiculous, they are all some simple small flowers, grasses and small animals, but they are placed in the most conspicuous and accessible position by Shen Qiu.

"Someone used to be in this room earlier today, and he was furious." Shangguan Jin appeared beside Gu Xu at some point and whispered to him.

Shangguan Jin has the magic power of "heavenly calculation", and everything in the room can be presented in her field of vision in the form of data. With the help of this data, she can roughly guess what happened in the house.

Gu Xu nodded.

He thought of Shen Qiu leaving a list and leaving in a hurry today, and felt more and more that he might have encountered something really tricky.

At the same time, Gu Xu also remembered that on the day he met Shen Qiu in Longmen Academy, Shen Qiu's words clearly revealed his disgust towards the Shen family - it could be seen that the relationship between him and the clan was not harmonious, and he wanted to break away from the family and prove his talents on the broader stage of Luojing.

"Could it be that the Jinling Shen clan has made some arrogant demands and wants to force Shen Qiu to return to the family?" Gu Xu silently guessed in his heart.

Then he asked Shangguan Jin, who was beside him, "Shangguan Daoyou, how much do you know about the internal situation of the Jinling Shen Clan?" ”

Although Gu Xu is well-read and knowledgeable, his knowledge is mainly concentrated in areas related to spiritual practice.

As for the private matters inside the family gate, they are generally not recorded in books, and Gu Xu has no leisure to explore the gossip in them. And Shangguan Jin, as the personal entourage of the head of the Exorcism Division, has been dealing with all the bigwigs for a long time, and also has a lot of intelligence channels within the Exorcism Division, so he must know more information in this regard.

Shangguan Jin immediately guessed what he wanted to ask.

"Shen Qiu is the concubine of Shen Qianren, the head of the Shen family, and his mother is an ordinary maid of the Shen family," she thought for a moment and replied, "It is said that there is a deep contradiction between Mrs. Shen and the mother and son, and Shen Qiu's mother was kicked out of the house by her. If it weren't for the persuasion of the head of the family, she would have even thought about putting the mother and son to death - of course, these are just rumors, and you may sound a little exaggerated. But Shen Qiu's situation in the clan must be very bad. ”

"Mrs. Shen has such a high voice in the clan?" Gu Xu asked.

In his understanding, prominent figures like the head of the gate valve family are basically groups of wives and concubines. Whether it is the head of the Chen family in Xiangyang or Lu Huan, who died on the charge of treason, there are more than ten concubines.

As for the Zhao family in Youzhou, after the death of his wife Mrs. Qu, Zhao Changying, the Duke of Yanguo, although he had neither a need to continue the string nor a concubine, and only Zhao Yan had an only daughter under his knees, but there was never a shortage of beautiful singers and dancers in his house.

"The situation of the Shen family is different from the other two," Shangguan Jin explained, "The Zhao family in Youzhou has a sage in charge and holds military power; The Xiangyang Chen family has many protégés in the DPRK and China, and there are also outstanding geniuses among the younger generation.

"However, the Jinling Shen clan relied on operating workshops and trading to make their fortune rich, but wealth is such a thing, without strong strength as a foundation, without the escort of high-level cultivators, after all, it is just rootless duckweed.

"In the last few decades, in the Shen family, there are no particularly powerful monks, and the younger generation is basically mediocre in talent, which can be described as a lack of succession.

"If this situation continues, the Shen family will gradually lose its status as a gate valve and die a slow death in the torrent of history.

In order to save this situation, they chose to marry the famous Lin'an He clan in the Jiangnan region - the He family is a new upstart that has risen in recent years, although they lack roots and have not produced immortals like the Shen family, but today they are full of talents and have a huge industry in the Jiangnan area.

"Mrs. Shen's original name was 'He Ru', she was the concubine of the He clan in Lin'an, and she was not weaker than Shen Qianren, the head of the Shen family, in terms of cultivation, and even sometimes Shen Qianren needed to rely on her. Shen Qianren didn't dare not listen to her opinions. ”

"I see." Gu Xu nodded.

In the wealthy family, although there are many rules, deep routines, and all kinds of intrigues, the final competition is still hard power.

Like Mrs. Shen's mother's family, she can quarrel with her husband about her husband and her servant's birth of an heir; But if she is a wife from a humble background, she can only turn a blind eye to her husband's behavior, showing a virtuous and docile appearance.

"Born in such an environment, the things that can make Shen Qiu lose his temper, if nothing else, should be related to his mother." Gu Xu guessed.

Although Shen Qiu claimed that he had returned to Jinling City on this trip to deal with his own private affairs, he did not ask Gu Xu or anyone in the "Shouchangfang" for help, and he resolutely refused to disclose more information.

However, in Gu Xu's view, Shen Qiu left behind the powerful family, gave high recognition to himself, and resolutely defected to his command, and in just a few days, he managed "Shouchangfang" into such a thriving appearance.

This trust, this help, Gu Xu is very grateful in his heart.

He sincerely hoped that Shen Qiu would return smoothly, and that Shen Qiu and his mother would be safe and sound.

He was silent for a moment, then took out a copper coin from his coat pocket, recited the names of "Taishang Haotian" and "Emperor Ziwei", and asked in his heart, "Are Shen Qiu and his mother all right?" ”

The copper coin was gently tossed by him, and landed on the table with a "bell".

Back side up.

The answer is no.

Gu Xu frowned.

Then he threw up the copper coin again for divination: "Are Shen Qiu and his mother still alive?" ”

This time the copper coin is face up.

Gu Xu breathed a sigh of relief.

But his gaze was still solemn, and his mood was not completely relaxed.

Then he silently recited in his heart: "With Shen Qiu's own strength, can he solve the troubles in the family this time?" ”

The copper coin rotated around the table a few times, and then fell with the reverse side facing up.

Seeing such a scene, he turned his head to look at Shangguan Jian beside him and said to her, "Do you have a channel to collect more intelligence information about the Shen clan in Jinling?" What Shen Qiu encountered this time may be more troublesome than we imagined. I feel like I need to help him as much as I can. ”

Shangguan Jin saw his solemn eyes and heard his serious tone, knowing that his attitude this time was sincere and serious.

"Shi Xiaohan is right," she thought, "he is indeed a person who values his companions very much. ”

In the first month of this year, when Xiao Han was still recuperating from his injuries in the Exorcism Division, Shangguan Jin once extracted a lot of information related to Gu Xu from Shi Xiaohan's mouth.

At that time, Shi Xiaohan commented: "I used to think that Gu Xu's guy was picky and uninteresting, he only knew cultivation all day long, he would only eat vegetables and tofu in the Yamen kitchen, he never knew how to rest, and he would not find a way to get himself something delicious." Even if I wanted to pay him to go to Piaoxianglou for a meal, he often found all kinds of excuses to refuse.

In addition, he was often overly cautious when he was on a ghost-killing mission - every time he opened a door, he would think that there was a ghost hiding behind the door, which made me think he was a coward for a while.

"Well, though, he may seem timid, but he never leaves his companions to slip away alone.

"The two of us often team up together to do tasks in Yishui County, and sometimes the ghost is stronger, so I said to him, 'You run first, this woman is behind', after all, as a monk in the second realm, you have the obligation to protect the weak in the first realm.

"But in this case, he will say to me, 'Lord Woman, do you despise my strength?', and then blocked in front of me, took out a complicated-looking rune paper from his coat pocket, and threw it at the ghost-Sister Shangguan, although I don't know the rune, I can feel that the power of the rune in his hand is stronger than the rune drawn by others."

Shangguan Jin listened silently and nodded, and at the same time would respond with a few polite words, such as "Sister Xiaohan, your knife technique is really powerful, you can actually kill the 'painted skin' ghost in one move", such as "The food in Piaoxianglou sounds really good, I really want to try it", such as "Gu Xu has really only learned the art of Fu Seal for less than a year, his talent is really outrageous"......

Shi Xiaohan especially likes to listen to these words.

And when Shangguan Jin praised Gu Xu, she would be happier than she was praising herself.

"Is this the youthful feelings of a young girl?" Shangguan Jian thought silently in his mind.

This kind of emotion has always been strange, naïve and ridiculous to Shangguan Jin—she feels that she should work hard for her career wholeheartedly in life, and that feelings will only hinder her from climbing to a higher place.

Of course, Shangguan Jian also has to admit that Shi Xiaohan's blushing and smirking look is very cute, so that she, who loves all beautiful things, can't help but look at it twice.

At that time, Shangguan Jin also thought of one thing - when he went to solve the Lu family's murder house case, whether it was a large number of merits or precious magic weapons, he could not successfully persuade Gu Xu to carry out this task; However, as soon as Chu Fengge mentioned the curse on Chen Jisheng, the governor of Yishui County, Gu Xu did not hesitate for a second, and set off without hesitation.

Gu Xu's performance today once again reminded her of this matter.

So she replied, "We have to go to Yamen again to check the situation in Jinling." If it really doesn't work, you have to ask the head of Luo. ”

Gu Xu nodded: "Then let's set off as soon as possible." ”

…………

Meanwhile.

Shen Qiu used the "Broken Sky Bead" to directly tear the space, and arrived at Jinling City in the blink of an eye and entered the Shen family's mansion.

Then he found his father, Shen Qianren, the head of the Shen family, and asked about his mother's condition.

Shen Qiu's mood was very anxious, like an ant on a hot pot.

But in front of his father, he tried his best to stay calm, and his tone was polite, cold, and unfamiliar, not like father and son, but more like a pair of strangers who were not related to each other.

But this time, when he saw Shen Qiu's figure, his father Shen Qianqian did not show his previous disgust, but breathed a sigh of relief and said, "You are finally back." ”

(change first, then change)

PS: Happy Chinese New Year to everyone!

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