The sky was bright, Gu Zhou stopped, ready to go to the court.

There is a report from the yacha who is in a hurry.

"My lord, Lord Huang of the Ministry of Works is dead."

Gu Zhou stopped shaking his hand, and his hat was almost crooked.

"How did you die?"

"Killed, sealed with an arrow."

"Where do people die?"

"Ministry of Works."

Gu Zhou stopped thinking that a few days ago, termites appeared in the Yongshou Palace, and many pillars and beams were mothed, so the emperor asked the Ministry of Industry to renovate the Yongshou Hall as soon as possible.

This matter is in charge of Huang Shilang of the Ministry of Works.

The case was important, Gu Zhou stopped and took people straight to the yamen of the Ministry of Industry.

The streets are deserted and there are no people.

Gu Zhou stopped in the carriage and listened to the informant tell him what had happened.

The informant was a minor official of the Ministry of Works.

"Because the Yongshou Palace ant plague is serious, it must be overhauled, and the emperor has set a deadline to repair it before the Mid-Autumn Festival, so the construction period is very rushed, and Lord Huang has not gone home for several days, either in the Yongshou Palace to supervise the work, or in the Ministry of Works. Last night, Lord Huang studied the drawings until late at night, and explained that he had called him before the entourage Yin, and now he was going to the court, in order to prevent the emperor from asking, he still had to prepare, and the entourage went to call Lord Huang at seven o'clock in accordance with Lord Huang's instructions. Knocking on the door and shouting, no one answered, pushed the door in, and saw Lord Huang lying next to the bookcase, with an arrow stuck in his throat. ”

Gu Zhou stopped frowning, is Lord Huang's death related to the renovation of the Yongshou Palace?

When I arrived at the Ministry of Works, Lord Huang's duty room.

Gu Zhou stopped and looked around, and saw that the window facing the bookcase was half open.

"Is this window always open?"

Lord Huang's entourage said: "It was on last night, because the room was still stuffy, Lord Huang let it open for ventilation." ”

Gu Zhou stopped and nodded, so this arrow came in through the open window.

Gu Zhou stopped in front of the window and looked out, it was an open pond of more than ten zhang, the lotus flowers in the pond were left, only a pool of dead leaves remained, and at the end of the pond was a flower wall, and there was a diamond-shaped lattice in the upper part of the flower wall.

"Zheng Guan, you go to the other side to see if there are any traces."

Zheng Guan took the order and left.

A preliminary examination of the body has been completed.

"My lord, the deceased died from an arrow in the throat, and the arrow was poisonous, and the poison was so fast that the deceased only walked two or three steps before falling to the ground and died, this arrow must have been shot by a small crossbow arrow."

"What about the angle of the arrow?"

"Flat shot."

Gu Zhou stopped and nodded, and went to check the drawings on the bookcase.

A large stack of drawings, with the main hall, the side hall, the beams...... The detailed neatness of the drawing.

"Where were you last night?"

Gu Zhou stopped and asked his entourage.

The attendant said, "The little one is waiting outside." ”

"Are you asleep?"

"Small...... Take a nap. ”

"When is it?"

"The little one can't remember clearly, the little one was still awake when the fifth watch rang, and the little one stared at it after the fifth watch, but it woke up faster."

"Didn't hear anything?"

Lord Huang fell to the ground, and the movement should not be small.

The attendant shook his head: "I haven't heard it." ”

After a while, Zheng Guan returned.

"My lord, the inside of the flower wall cannot be established, there are no traces on the flower wall, and the traces outside the flower wall are unknown, whether it is left by the murderer needs to be further verified."

Gu Zhou frowned and muttered: "No matter what, the murderer must be a master who is good at using a bow and crossbow." ”

If the entourage did not conceal and lie, then the time of Lord Huang's death should be between the first hour of the ugly hour and the seventh quarter of the ugly hour after the fifth watch, to be exact, from the second quarter of the ugly hour to the sixth quarter of the ugly hour.

At this hour, the sky is still dark, and the murderer wants to shoot Lord Huang through the half-open window through the flower wall, and it is an arrow to seal the throat, which shows that the eyesight and accuracy are excellent.

Gu Zhouzhu personally went to check outside the flower wall, the grass at the foot of the flower wall had traces of being slightly trampled, Gu Zhouzhu stood here, looking in through the diamond-shaped grid, this point is the best shooting point.

The slight marks indicate that the murderer quickly completed the kill, fired an arrow and immediately retreated.

"Zheng Guan, take this arrow and go to the ordnance supervisor to ask."

"Yes."

Gu Zhou stopped asking people to understand what Lord Huang has been doing recently, no matter how big or small, everything must be understood clearly.

Then he left the Ministry of Works and went to the palace.

"You mean, Lord Huang's death is related to the renovation of Yongshou Palace?" Xiao Yan met Gu Zhouzhu outside the imperial study and asked about Lord Huang.

"There must always be a motive for killing, Lord Huang is renovating the Yongshou Palace, there is no other errand at hand, and the preliminary understanding is that he has no enemies."

"What is it worth someone to take his life when he repairs an eternal life palace?" Xiao Yan was puzzled.

"Could it be that there is something strange in the Eternal Life Palace?"

Gu Zhou stopped: "The appearance of termites in Yongshou Palace is strange enough, the building materials in the palace are carefully selected, there can be no termites, and the measures to prevent termites in the palace are not strict, and they must be inspected and used every year." ”

"Also, this is not Xishan, the vegetation is flourishing, there are many insects and ants, and it is not surprising that termites appear." Xiao Yan agreed.

"The court official was shot dead, this matter has a great impact, how many days does my father limit you to solve the case?"

Gu Zhou stopped: "Five days." ”

"Then you have to work hard, but no matter how hard it is, you still have to come to the king's wedding banquet tonight."

Gu Zhou stopped: "Even if you can't come, the ceremony will definitely arrive." ”

Xiao Yan said: "Try your best." ”

He also knew that this case had put a lot of pressure on Gu Zhouzhu, and he said that he would definitely come, but Gu Zhouzhu really couldn't come, and he wouldn't blame him.

Jiang Wanning was in the Yunshang Embroidery Workshop at this time, and she specially came here to customize a set of clothes.

When I came to tailor the clothes before, I didn't see Li Yuanniang, and the people in the embroidery workshop said that Li Yuanniang went to the palace to send clothes to the concubine.

came over today, and finally met Li Yuanniang.

Li Yuanniang, who is in her thirties, has curved eyebrows with willow leaves, slender Danfeng eyes, and between Gu Pan, her eyes are flowing, and she has a unique style.

Unexpectedly, Qin Bochong was her guest of the scene.

According to the intelligence of the Beidou Division, only Qin Bochong had an affair with Li Yuanniang, and Li Yuanniang mostly dealt with the daughters of noble women.

"The material you picked is still plain, so I asked the embroidery girl to put some effort into the cutting and decoration, the cut of the waist, more highlight the tall and graceful figure of the county lord, this plum blossom buckle, and the skirt and cuffs of the pattern consistent, by the way, there are also a few butterflies embroidered here, it looks more vivid." Li Yuanniang said with a smile.

Jiang Wanning is still very satisfied with the workmanship of Yunshang Embroidery Workshop, with skillful hands and clever thoughts.

But her focus is on Li Yuanniang.

Li Yuanniang has a faint fragrance of plum blossoms.

It's very light, and if you don't smell it carefully, you can't smell it.

This reminded Jiang Wanning of the day of King Suheqi's death, a woman with the fragrance of plum blossoms went to see Suhe.

Before, she and Gu Zhouzhu thought that the woman was Sun Guifei, because Sun Guifei used to live in Meifangyuan and also liked to use plum incense.

However, now it seems that it is likely that it was Li Yuanniang who went to see Prince Suhe that night.

After all, it is not so convenient for Sun Guifei to leave the palace.

And after Sun Guifei moved out of Mei Fangyuan, she no longer needed Mei Xiang.