Idle courtiers

Chapter 92 Miscellaneous Notes
Zhou Nan thought for a while and asked, "Second Miss, did Brother Ling like to practice Taoism at the beginning, and there is a meditation room at home. Or, did Brother Ling do any unusual behavior back then?"

Mei Chi: "No, my brother didn't believe in Buddhism or Zen at the beginning. He often said that he should cultivate a noble spirit. All the inexplicable things in the world are kept and ignored." After finishing speaking, she glanced at Zhou Nan and snorted coldly: "You were with your brother all day long, don't you know?"

Zhou Nan: "Ten years is too long, and many things have been forgotten."

"Brother Zhou doesn't practice Taoism..." Zhou Nan frowned, thinking: Am I wrong?

He said again: "Can you take me to Elder Brother Ling's room to have a look, maybe I can find something?"

Soon, the two came to the room where Sister Su lived.Unfortunately, as Zhou Nan said, ten years is too long, and there are no traces of the past here.Even Sister Su's things have been moved away, the house is empty, there is nothing to find at all?
Just when Zhou Nan was expressing his disappointment, Mei Chi suddenly said: "Actually, there is still a place that has remained the same as it was before, and my brother and I still...we went there to play after passing by. Lots of bro stuff."

Also, who else?

Of course it was Zhou Nan. Back then, Zhou Nan went in and out of Mei's house every day, playing with their brothers and sisters, as if they were a family.

That place was a happy little world for the three of them.

Zhou Nan was overjoyed: "Wherever it is, take me to see it."

"In the backyard, no one has lived there for a long time."

Mei's house is huge, with more than ten courtyards.The place Mei Chi mentioned was located in the innermost part of Mei's house, backed by a small river, and there were three rooms in the yard, where the coffin of Mei's house was kept.

It turned out that according to Anton's customs, the ancients had a short lifespan.As soon as a person is over forty, he will buy coffins for the family members, and they will be kept at home, and they will be painted with a coat of paint every year, just in case of emergencies.

There is nothing to hide about this, and it is very auspicious to put a coffin at home, which means promotion and wealth.

There is another folk saying that goes like this: a thousand coffins come out of the door, and their family is very prosperous.

Having said that, the coffins parked in the yard still made people feel pressured, and the Mei family didn't come here when they had nothing to do.

It was mid-winter at the moment, and the cold wind was blowing through the yard, and the roaring sound filled my ears.

The withered and yellow weeds fluttering in the yard made people feel hairy.

After all, she was a girl, Mei Chi couldn't help shrunk her shoulders, her complexion turned pale.

"Are you scared?" Zhou Nan smiled at her.

Mei Chi raised her brows and was about to regain her drunkenness.

Zhou Nan suddenly said gently: "Don't be afraid, I'm here!"

After saying this sentence, Mei Chi's eyes suddenly became hot.The scene in front of me is so familiar, yes, ten years ago, when I was a child.Big Brother and Zhou Thief often come here to play, and I will follow every time, and then I am scared pale by the terrible silence here.

At this time, Zhou thief will be like today, first jokingly ask: "Are you scared?" Then he said: "Don't be afraid, there is me!"

Among the three rooms in the yard, two were used to store coffins, and the other one was opened up as a study by Mr. Mei.

Pushing open the creaking wooden door, the snow-white sky shines into the study.I saw a desk, some chairs and a bookshelf full of books inside.

There was a layer of dust on the table because no one cleaned it.

Zhou Nan pulled out the drawer and found a porcelain bottle the size of a pumpkin among the piles of odds and ends. When he opened it, there was a strange smell of medicine.Although ten years have passed, the taste is still very strong, the same as the red pill that I copied from Widow Huo's home.Presumably, this elixir neutralizes a large amount of heavy metals, which is not easy to decay.

No, it's different, these meatballs are more beautifully made.Each one is engraved with the word "Xuanzhen" the size of a tiny head.

As for the porcelain bottle, there was also a line of small characters engraved on it: "Little friend of the Mei family, Huicun." It must be Xuan Zhen's handwriting.

"Yes, yes, as expected, I guessed right."

Seeing Zhou Nan muttering to himself, Mei Chi was curious, and asked in a trembling voice, "Brother eats this kind of food to...be..."

"Not necessarily, I just doubt it." Zhou Nan searched for a long time on the bookshelf, finally found a handwritten booklet, and asked, "Second Miss, this is your brother's handwriting."

Mei Chi: "That's right, it was written by my elder brother...Since my elder brother passed away, my father has burned everything he wrote, saying that he was sad to see it. Unexpectedly, unexpectedly, I saw it again today... It can be regarded as a blessing." Just a thought... Big brother, big brother, don't you know how much your family misses you after you've been gone for ten years?" Her voice was choked up, and tears welled up in her eyes.

"Sure enough, I found it." Zhou Nan was overjoyed. Scholars in this era have the habit of recording their daily reading experience. It can be regarded as a diary, and Mr. Mei is no exception.

Things like diaries are too personal and inconvenient for others to read.Moreover, looking at the books on this shelf is not serious reading.There are novels, miscellaneous notes, and all kinds of messy Fengyue books.That's why Mr. Mei specially set up this bookstore here to avoid being seen by his father.

Zhou Nan searched for it, and he found it.

Without delay, he immediately unfolded the booklet and read it carefully.

This booklet is the memoirs of Mr. Mei's recollections. It is written wherever he thinks of it. It has no logic and is very scattered. It is full of fragments of words.

I didn't write anything of value at the beginning.It’s just that when I was studying every day, I suddenly had a feeling; or when I was angry with my classmates, I wrote a note on it: "Cai Xiucai of Zhujiaji is really hateful. Today I said that my stereotyped articles are nonsense. I will report this revenge in the future. ""Finally selected as a scholar, yes, yes, go out and have a drink to celebrate." "There are tens of thousands of women in the world, and the purpose of life is to get in touch with them more."

……

Turning to the back, the words that jumped out lifted Zhou Nan's spirits.

Translated into vernacular, it says so:
"Recently, when I was walking, I always felt my heart beating and short of breath. I went to the doctor and came back to check the pulse. He said that the pulse was irregular. If I don't take the medicine, I'm afraid something will happen. I don't want to die. I still have so many women who need to know! Start taking medicine today! "

"My heart is still beating hard, fast and slow, so uncomfortable."

Zhou Nan's heart moved, and he asked, "Second Miss, is Brother Ling's heart not good?"

Mei Chi looked puzzled: "Yeah, big brother has had this disease since he was a child, don't you know?"

"Forgot, forgot." Zhou Nan hesitated a few times, thinking in his heart: So Mr. Mei has a heart attack!

Continuing to read, Mr. Mei wrote again: "Today, brother Zhou and I went to the Taoist temple to see the elder Xuanzhen, and we stayed overnight in the temple. The three of us fell asleep on our feet. Sure enough, Master Xuanzhen spoke elegantly. , is a man of great learning, I want to get closer to him."

Zhou Nan's face turned pale with shock: The three of them shared the same bed, maybe even took red pills, dry firewood and fire... Oops, Zhou Xiucai's chastity is not guaranteed.

Fortunately, the following text made him breathe a long sigh of relief.

Mr. Mei wrote again: "Xuanzhen Dao has grown up so much that he could tell at a glance that I was suffering from a hidden disease. He gave me a bottle of elixir and said that after taking it, the medicine would cure the disease. Sure enough, after taking it, my heart beat smoothly. I'm not out of breath anymore. It's really an elixir, an elixir!"

"The medicine is good. Now I can really walk like the wind. It's just that this elixir is too expensive. A bottle is worth a hundred taels of silver, which is only enough for one month. Every time I go to ask for medicine, Xuanzhen just asks for money. It turns out that this so-called get Immortals are also vulgar things, what a pity, what a pity!"

"No, it's not right, it's not right after taking this medicine. Why do I feel pain all over my body, it's like rotten furniture, rotten from the inside."

"My mouth stinks when I speak, as if I have just eaten rotting meat."

"You can't stop the medicine. Once you stop, your heart will beat hard. Let's continue to buy it!"

"My body is really soft. I accidentally scratched my finger today, and the blood couldn't stop...I feel like I'm going to die. I'm so soft all over, but I'm very energetic and want to go out for a walk."

"Poison, it must be poison. Xuanzhen was greedy for my money and tricked me into taking poison. I'm going to ask about it."

"In the past year, he has defrauded me of thousands of taels of silver, and I have to ask him to pay it back. I don't lack money, but I just can't bear this... Hey, I have a nosebleed, how is that possible."

……

The miscellaneous notes came to an abrupt end here, and the paper was full of black spots, which were obviously blood from Mr. Mei.

Seeing this, Zhou Nan's heart is clear: the chain of evidence is complete.

From Mr. Mei's handwritten letter, it can be known that Mr. Mei was born with heart disease, and he was short of breath when he was active.Cardiovascular disease was an incurable disease in ancient times, and it was possible to die suddenly at any time.

By chance, he and Zhou Xiucai met Taoist Xuanzhen.

The Mei family was quite rich, so the Taoist came across Mr. Mei's money, so he used the red pills to lure him into giving money by falsely claiming that it could cure diseases.

In fact, this medicine is really symptomatic, and the effect is very good.In fact, even in later generations, Viagra, the supreme medicine, was first used to treat heart disease.It's just that patients find it more magical in the process of using it.

However, unlike Viagra, which has undergone strict drug testing in later generations, the red pill is full of poisonous substances that can cause great harm to the human body.Mr. Mei has taken it for a long time, and the poisoning has become more and more serious, and the internal organs and bones have been greatly damaged.That Zhou Xiucai was also unlucky back then. During the dispute with Mr. Mei, he punched the blood vessels in his body which had already become brittle, and he bleeds to death.

"Big brother, big brother...he was poisoned..." While Zhou Nan was watching, Mei Chi also read carefully.

Immediately, his face turned pale with shock, and his voice trembled.

Zhou Nan nodded: "I suspected this back then, Second Miss, you should know that I was wronged by now, right?" Having said that, he felt ecstatic in his heart, and finally he was able to wash away the grievances on his body.That scholarly fame should be returned to me, haha, labor and management can finally be proud of themselves.

Of course, on the surface, he still looks sad.

"Second girl, I will take all this writing to the county magistrate. Don't worry, the "Law of the Ming Dynasty" will never let a bad person go, nor will a good person be wronged. I'm afraid I will trouble you to record a statement later, I I can take it back and tell the county lord."

"No, there is still one more piece of evidence. If I don't see it, I still won't believe it." Mei Chi shook his head.

Zhou Nan: "What evidence is missing?"

Mei Chi: "According to Song Ci's Record of Washing Injustices, people who die from poisoning will have black bones."

Zhou Nan was shocked: "Second Miss, you don't mean to open the coffin for an autopsy?"

Mei Chi nodded, and suddenly saluted: "Brother Zhou, please help me?" At this time, she had fully understood that Zhou Nan was wronged, and she had completely forgiven him in her heart.

How important it is to open the coffin for inspection, so of course no one else should know about it.She couldn't do it as a weak woman, so she could only ask Zhou Nan for help.

Zhou Nan thought: Indeed, if the chain of evidence is to be confirmed, a piece of Mr. Mei's skeleton is indeed needed as evidence.

Forget it, forget it, I can only go with her.

(End of this chapter)