Shengshichun

The eunuch had just entered, and the queen came out not long after. Next to her was a boy of seventeen or eighteen years old, with a pale face and a loose robe on his thin body. He moved like weeds in the wind.

The prince bowed his hands and called out "Mother," while the young man took a step back, saluted, and called out "Your Highness."

The prince smiled and said: "The third brother is really a stubborn person. You and I are brothers. There is no one closer than us behind closed doors. How many times have I told you not to call you Your Highness, but to call me brother? You I still won’t change. I’m afraid my mother will lecture me again.”

The queen looked back at the third prince, but did not express her position. She just asked the prince, "Have you just come back from Prince Rong's Mansion?"

"Exactly."

"I heard from people in Zhan Shifu that you put off all today's affairs. I thought you were going to stay and accompany your uncle Wang and your cousin. Why did you come back so soon?"

The prince said: "This was the original plan, but I just thought that my father's body was still in recovery and my son was uneasy outside. Therefore, Uncle Wang and his cousin insisted on staying for dinner, but my son also declined."

"You are too careful."

The queen said as she walked up the verandah, chatting all the way to Qianqing Palace where the emperor was.

The prince supported the queen all the way forward, and the third prince who fell behind seemed to be a shadow.

……

It was a very enjoyable meal at noon, mainly because the people at the table were very cute, Mrs. Cheng and Mrs. Du were very informal, and even now that they were older than Fuzhen, Fuzhen was still comfortable and relaxed.

During the dinner, I took the opportunity to ask a few things about the He family, but I also learned a lot of gossip.

This meal was eaten until the sun set in the west.

Fu Zhen was waiting for Pei Zhan after dinner, and fell asleep under the lamp with his head bent.

When he was shaken awake, he saw Pei Zhan sitting over the light, looking at him with eyes as bright as stars. The halo was like a thin veil, softening his usually tough face for no reason.

Fu Zhen couldn't help but let go of his guard: "You're back."

"Why don't you go to sleep in the house?" Pei Zhan didn't see her speaking so gently, so he took away the strands of hair sticking to her face.

Fu Zhen's face felt a little hot, so he brushed it off and said, "You're going to wake me up anyway, so I might as well wait here, but I didn't even notice that I actually fell asleep."

She looked over and saw that his hair had been let down and his clothes had been changed. There was a faint fragrance on his body, which showed that he had bathed and changed clothes, so she asked, "When did you come back? What time is it now?"

"The child's hour has passed. I came back at the beginning of the child's hour."

Fu Zhen thought for a moment: "Why did you come back so late today? Aren't you already in charge?"

"Something happened again at Prince Rong's Mansion. I was about to leave after dinner when someone suddenly came from the East Palace and summoned Prince Rong and his son to the palace. Before Prince Rong left, he asked me to wait for him to come back before leaving. It’s hard to get rid of your body.”

When Fu Zhen heard the word "East Palace", his sleepiness faded away and he woke up a little: "Why did the prince suddenly invite Prince Rong into the palace again? Prince Rong's palace is so busy at this stall. Is there anything important that requires both father and son to go?"

"It was said that there were some things that needed to be explained in the clan's mansion. However, Guo Song came back after patrolling around in the afternoon and said that after the prince returned to the palace, someone from the East Palace brought Tian Fu, the eunuch of the Xu family who was guarding Yongping, into the palace.

"After Tian Fu came back, the messenger from the East Palace had also arrived at Prince Rong's Mansion."

Fu Zhen was completely awake: "What does the prince want to do?"

This is very wrong. According to this timeline, after the prince inquired about Prince Rong's palace, he returned to the palace and asked Tian Fu to be called over at the Xu family. It seemed that he got some information from Tian Fu. Finally, He called Prince Rong and his son into the palace.

When Guo Song came to find her in the afternoon, he had already told her that the prince's people had found out that Prince Rong had led people to break into Xu's house on the night of the incident. Now that the prince had summoned Tian Fu into the palace, what was he suspecting? What else does he want to find out?
"It seems that we don't know the prince very well." Fu Zhen looked at Pei Zhan, "Sitting in that position, he does seem to be more unpredictable than the average person of his age."

Liang Ning had been dead for more than six years and had been away from the capital for many years when he was alive. Pei Zhan was in a similar situation. He left home when he was young and did not return until last winter, and had little time to interact with the prince.

Before that, everyone had subconsciously ignored him, who was as talented as the crown prince. Now that he thought about it, they were shallow. With the intelligence and methods of the emperor and empress, how could the prince who inherited the throne be so stupid?
Only with a city government can he be worthy of his status.

Pei Zhan turned on the lights and said slowly: "More and more clues are coming out of the murder case in Baiyu Alley, which is supposed to be a good thing. But now, I can't relax more and more. I'm afraid that... In the end, somewhere there will be a big thunder waiting for me."

Fu Zhen was silent.

She completely understood Pei Zhan's mood.

It has been deduced earlier that from the fact that King Rong kept the evidence so closely, the person he wanted to guard against must be someone of great importance. His status as King Rong was already so high in the world, how many people could he guard against? Woolen cloth?

Although King Yan was the emperor's own son, he always lived in the palace and had no power at all. He was weak and young, so King Rong had no reason to be so wary of him.

The remaining three people are the emperor, the queen and the prince. The world is as big as the king's land. If the emperor and empress want to kill one or two people, they definitely don't have to go through such a big detour.

As long as there is a voice, there are people and there are methods to deal with people in an honest manner.

And if it was the emperor and the empress who instigated Prince Rong and his son to commit murder, it would be useless for Prince Rong to hold these evidence, because no one would use them to vindicate the deceased.

The remaining one is the prince.

Each of them understood the above principles, but no one opened their mouth to say that the prince was suspicious.

This is the crown prince, so even suspicion must be well-founded.

But the prince's behavior today was too strange.

Asking about Princess Rong's death so frequently seemed more like nervousness than curiosity.

In fact, after hearing Guo Song's reply in Prince Rong's Mansion at noon, Fu Zhen had some vague suspicions.

But her own thoughts didn't count. Now when she heard Pei Zhan's words, she knew that everyone had thought together.

"This matter cannot be taken lightly. As the crown prince, there is no reason for the prince to casually instruct Prince Rong to kill people. More evidence needs to be found."

"Anyway, I have asked Guo Song to go to the palace gate to try to get more information about the contact between the East Palace and Prince Rong's Mansion. In addition, I still plan to go back and find a suitable opportunity to find Gu Gu about the phoenix on the fan. Master, ask sideways."

"That's fine." Fu Zhen nodded, "The prince is well-informed, maybe he has seen or heard of it, I'm not sure. But you have to be more careful. Now that the prince is involved, every move is like walking on thin ice."

Pei Zhan nodded: "I will choose the right time."

Fu Zhen straightened up the teapot and poured himself half a cup of tea, and then said: "Xu Yin seems to know the secret behind the fan, otherwise he wouldn't be so determined to get it. Unfortunately, he is an enemy and cannot tell this information. I."

Speaking of this, Pei Zhan said: "It has been some time since the guards went to Tanzhou, and there should be news about their return."

"That's right." Fu Zhen remembered.

Pei Zhan had previously arranged for escort Jiang Lin to lead people to Tanzhou to check Xu Yin's background, as well as Xu Yin's fellow countryman Zhou Yi who suddenly appeared in the northwest. Prince Rong's palace cannot ignore it, and Xu Yin cannot ignore it either. slack off.

She looked out the window at the night sky: "I wonder how they are doing?"

……

The summer in Tanzhou is rainy, and the sun is still blazing in the morning. After noon, the clouds begin to gather. During the lunch break, the God of Thunder roared, and the heavy rain fell like erected bamboo poles.

Jiang Lin has been in Tanzhou Prefecture for three days. During these three days, he first went to the government office. From the local chronicles, he saw the distribution of all the families with the surname Xu in the jurisdiction, and finally arrived at the county town called Xiangtan.

Xu Yin's place of birth registered in the official records is Yukou Village, Yunhe Town, Xiangtan County, and the information found in the government office also shows that Xu Yin, who was a high school scout in the 16th year of Shengyuan, walked out of this place. The family had roots here for the longest time before the war and migration.

Various clues indicate that the search for Xu Yin led him to Xiangtan County.

Jiang Lin pushed through the window of the inn located at the dock by the Xiangjiang River, and the accompanying guard Liu Quan walked in, patting his wet body: "Boss, I have already inquired. The county government said that Xu Yin does live in Yukou Village. Moreover, after he became successful a few years ago, he came back to renovate the Xu family's ancestral house. Now he is very famous in the village.

"And he also hired people to take care of the house. The village, town, and county all take it seriously. During the holidays, they will clean the ancestral hall of the Xu family's ancestral house."

"Who is the housekeeper?"

"It's a person named Zhou Yi."

"Zhou Yi?" Jiang Lin frowned, "Are you sure that's the name?"

"Here, this is the roster of the Xu family's servants that I got. Take a look." Liu Quan took out a dry book from his clothes and handed it to him, "There is no one living in the Xu family, and Xu Yin is still here." I have never come back to visit the family, so there are not many servants, including the people who look after the house and the home, there are twelve in total."

Jiang Lin flipped through the pages and paused for a moment on the words "Steward Zhou Yi". Then he looked at the gray rain outside the window and said, "Go down and rest for a while. I'll go take a look when the rain stops."

The summer rain in the south comes and goes quickly, because the heavy rain hinders the journey, and the cargo ships docked on the river gradually approach.

After the rain gradually subsided, the dim river water lapped at the embankment, and people began to come and go in the rice shop downstairs again.

It wasn't until Tsai Fu finally walked out of the store carrying a load of rice that the rain finally stopped.

Jiang Lin wore a silk shirt, brought his troops, dressed as a rice merchant, drove his horse through the crowded Qingshi Pier, and rushed towards the Xu family mansion in Yukou Village, five miles away.