Chapter 440: Two hundred and sixteen, Two Scholars

Two hundred and sixteen, Two Scholars.

Hearing the address of "Thirteenth Lady," Lin Cheng raised his eyebrows slightly and raised his hand to subconsciously touch a certain case file of the Huang Meilu Xuan case in his bosom.

He turned his head to look at the gate of the mansion.

He nodded lightly, as if he had remembered something.

The noble lady wearing a purple-gold lotus cape was directing the servants in the main hall.

The inside and outside of the mansion were noisy, and everywhere were the sounds of bumping when moving furniture and the shouts of the workers.

There were many servants responsible for moving furniture. On the corridor where Lin Cheng was, people were coming and going.

Plus his plain appearance, neither the servants nor the noble lady in the main hall noticed him for a while.

Lin Cheng's gaze examined Pei Pei Pei Shisan Niang, and he lifted his foot to step forward.

"Get lost, don't block the way."

Just then, a rude man's scolding voice came from behind, and a dark, large hand patted Lin Cheng's shoulder.

However, the next moment, the owner of this dark, large hand was stunned.

He patted empty air.

Or rather, he patted it, because the slightly chubby young man who was originally facing away and blocking the center of the road did indeed flash to the side with his palm.

But his palm did not transmit any feedback about the touch at all, giving the experience of patting away a light cloud.

This dark, large hand belonged to a fierce-looking green-clothed man.

Beside him were several men dressed the same way, who were currently pushing and shoving to clear the servants who were blocking the way in front, clearing the path for the master behind.

"Eh."

The fierce-looking green-clothed man looked at Lin Cheng, who was lowering his eyes, in surprise, but he had no time to think about it at the moment. He passed him and continued to push and open the way.

"All move, all move... don't be blind..."

"Where is Madam Pei? My master is looking for her..."

The green-clothed men scolded impatiently.

Lin Cheng turned his head and looked.

He saw these few tall and sturdy green-clothed men jointly guarding a short, chubby merchant in the middle.

The short, chubby merchant was about forty years old, wearing a member's hat and wrapped in a black cloak.

His skin was a dark color that had been weathered by wind and sun.

At this moment, his expression was gloomy. One hand was placed in front of his abdomen, sticking out of the black cloak, and he was playing with a pure gold ring on his thumb.

Lin Cheng's gaze was immediately attracted by this pure gold ring.

He saw that the main body of the ring used the Chi dragon pattern popular in the Great Zhou Dynasty. The coiled dragon was lifelike, coiling on it, with its head held high.

Two rubies were inlaid in the eyes of the Chi dragon, dazzling.

Lin Cheng withdrew his gaze, his expression calm.

Actually, according to the etiquette and laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty, ordinary people cannot casually wear rings with coiled dragon patterns.

This is the exclusive right of the royal family or high-ranking officials. Of course, in actual life among the people, some wealthy commoners or merchants with high status might privately imitate the royal style to make and wear jewelry.

But this is an illegal and overstepping behavior, and the risk is also extremely high.

If it were at the feet of the Son of Heaven in Shenjing Luoyang, they would be reported and beheaded by the Shenjing Luoyang masses in minutes.

But this Jiang Nan Circuit in the south, far from the Emperor, and close to the poor mountains and bad waters of Lingnan, plus some conservative and fierce folk customs that advocate clan autonomy... no one bothers to worry about this for the Great Zhou Empress.

The short, chubby merchant wearing the pure gold Chi dragon ring passed by Lin Cheng and the others without saying a word, strode into the main hall, nodded to Pei Pei Pei Shisan Niang and said:

"Thirteenth Lady, I believed your words back then, sold all the hard goods in Yangzhou, brought money to fight in Prince Xunyang, and listened to your suggestion to take out half to buy these broken houses in Starry Square... As a result, now, you let me sell them all at a 30% loss and leave. Thirteenth Lady, are you playing with me?"

"Vice President Shen, please calm down. Why did you bring so many people here? Could it be that you are afraid this humble one will run away? Didn't this humble one also invest a lot of money? We are all fellow villagers, how could this humble one run away?"

Pei Pei Pei Shisan Niang laughed in anger, frowned, and looked at the fierce green-clothed men behind the short, chubby merchant.

"We agreed to come to Jiangzhou to make a living together and advance and retreat together. Why didn't I see you praise me much when we made money before? Now that we have lost a little, you are making a scene. You were allowed to be the vice president of the Chamber of Commerce, so you should be more steady. This kind of eager-for-quick-success eating style, how does it look to the other shopkeepers below?"

"We did make some money before. If it weren't for the endorsement of our past friendship, I wouldn't have followed you and the others to Prince Xunyang City and invested so much. But now, this so-called vice president can't even afford it. If we continue to lose, I'll be a stinking beggar. Why don't you allow me to speak? How can I have as much money as you, Thirteenth Lady? No matter how much I lose, I'm not afraid. Haha, it's no wonder you are the president of our Yangzhou Chamber of Commerce. No wonder I can only be a vice one."

"Alright, alright, saying these angry words is useless. You take people back first, don't make trouble in the city. There are many nobles in Prince Xunyang City recently, we can't afford to offend them."

Pei Pei Pei Shisan Niang waved her hand, preparing to chase people away.

"Good, then let's talk about something useful."

Shen Shen Bingqiang did not leave, sneering:

"Does President Pei know that all the merchants in Prince Xunyang City are watching our excitement now? They know we have many houses and are selling them off to leave the market, so they are maliciously suppressing prices and taking advantage of us."

Pei Pei Pei Shisan Niang pursed her lips and said earnestly:

"Vice President Shen, this humble one is not alarmist, nor did I deliberately pit everyone. The situation is that if we don't leave now, it will be even harder to leave later. After the East Forest Great Buddha is built, the houses in Starry Square will not be worth much. This is the general trend."

Because it's easy to be too clever by half.

Smart people naturally think of others as being as smart as themselves, finding logic to fill in the gaps for the other party.

But while case investigation and reasoning might require logic, reality sometimes doesn't need it.

It was the same right now; the party involved, Huang Meilu Xuan, couldn't be found, and the detailed situation of this woman was unclear. There were many details Lin Cheng had no way to verify, so he could only roughly deduce something specious.

A true master detective needs a keen sense of smell and a mysterious, unfathomable intuition.

And Lin Cheng's intuition was that in the entire incident at the old courtyard, Huang Meilu Xuan's assassination of Magistrate Ouyang Magistrate Ouyang Lianghan seemed a bit abrupt.

However, it was just abrupt; Huang Meilu Xuan's assassination of Magistrate Ouyang Magistrate Ouyang Lianghan wasn't considered the most important part of the whole event. In Lin Cheng's mind, its importance wasn't actually high, because there were many other important directions.

For example, the suspected connection between that little ink spirit and the owner of the Butterfly Loves Flowers, or the fact that the owner of the Butterfly Loves Flowers had astonishing poetic talent and such vast literary spirit, or even that the owner of the Butterfly Loves Flowers had mastered some inexplicable supernatural power, being able to drive the Xin Dingjian to kill people within the Moon Array under the pond... and so on.

Mainly based on Lin Cheng's past experience, clues are often hidden in the trivial details. Perhaps the case of Huang Meilu Xuan assassinating Magistrate Ouyang Magistrate Ouyang Lianghan was the clue to solving the case?

After pondering for a long time, Lin Cheng shook his head and temporarily put aside this abrupt point.

However, compared to this abrupt little matter of suspected personal vendetta, there was another matter more worthy of scrutiny.

Lin Cheng stood up, walked out of the courtyard gate, and looked left and right.

"How exactly did this owner of the Butterfly Loves Flowers find this place?"

His gaze slowly lingered on the eaves of the Chengtiansi Temple not far away.

"Yuan Yuan Huaimin, a native of Chang'an, of the Yuan family of Jingzhao... demoted to Jiangzhou Yuan Sima..."

Half an hour later, inside Chengtiansi Temple.

In a guest courtyard with the gate half-ajar, Lin Cheng met Yuan Yuan Huaimin, who had just finished his afternoon nap.

"Yuan Sima Yuan, I am Lin Cheng, Xia Guan Guan Lord Xiaoguan Lingtai Lang of the Astronomical Bureau, here by imperial decree to investigate the homicide in Jiangzhou... I apologize for the intrusion."

"Mm, good afternoon, Lord Xiaoguan Lingtai Lang Lin, please sit, please sit, sit anywhere, don't be a stranger."

Yuan Yuan Huaimin got up in a daze and pointed casually at the courtyard, which actually had no stools for resting.

Lin Cheng asked with a calm expression:

"Lord Yuan is a descendant of a noble family and also a Yuan Sima of a prefecture; why live in this Xingzi Fang, and in such a cheap guest courtyard in a temple?"

Yuan Yuan Huaimin thought for a moment and asked in return:

"Lord Xiaoguan Lingtai Lang Lin, your Astronomical Bureau doesn't need to sign in every morning, right?"

"No need." Lin Cheng shook his head.

Yuan Yuan Huaimin looked envious:

"How about we swap official positions? You come be the Jiangzhou Yuan Sima? And let me be a Lord Xiaoguan Lingtai Lang, how about that?"

"No swap." Lin Cheng shook his head: "Isn't Jiangzhou Yuan Sima also an official? Is it that unbearable? Could it be... that you have to manage the stables?"

Yuan Yuan Huaimin showed regret:

"The Yuan Sima position is quite leisurely, but the prerequisite is having a good superior... *cough cough*, it's not that Brother Magistrate Ouyang Lianghan isn't good, it's mainly... Brother Magistrate Ouyang Lianghan is too strict. In his words, it's 'small-scale involution,' and there's no telling when this involution will end.

"The salary of a Jiangzhou Yuan Sima is actually not low, and occasionally I can go to Prince Xunyang Tower to listen to a pipa song from Master Qin, provided I don't get my salary docked every day."

His expression was nostalgic as he recalled the past:

"Thinking back to before Brother Magistrate Ouyang Lianghan came to be the Magistrate Ouyang Changshi, I lived much more comfortably than now. I remember the first time I came to Jiangzhou, I went to work in the morning and deliberately arrived an hour late, only to find I was the first one there. At that time, I felt I had come to the right place, and that this Jiangzhou Yuan Sima position was meant for me, but now... sigh, don't mention it, don't mention it."

Having said that, Yuan Yuan Huaimin looked up at the sky, his expression suddenly joyful. He turned and ran back into the room, packed his things, and prepared to go out.

At the same time, he politely chased the guest away:

"If Lord Xiaoguan Lingtai Lang Lin has nothing else, please return. I'm about to go out too. Are you going to Prince Xunyang Fang? We can go the same way."

Lin Cheng looked curiously at Yuan Yuan Huaimin, who was preparing to go out with great interest:

"Where is Yuan Sima Yuan going?"

"The time has come, it's time to go to Brother Magistrate Ouyang Lianghan's house for a meal. I go every three days. Sigh, if it weren't for being embarrassed, I would go every day."

Lin Cheng wanted to say something but stopped.

Yuan Yuan Huaimin saw this and immediately looked vigilant:

"Lord Xiaoguan Lingtai Lang Lin, I can't bring anyone over."

"...?" Lin Cheng.

"Lord Xiaoguan Lingtai Lang Lin might not know, Brother Magistrate Ouyang Lianghan is easy to talk to, but his fierce aunt is very strict. Every time I go over for a meal every three days, I have to endure a round of verbal violence from her at the dinner table, full of sarcasm and hidden barbs. I have no choice but to swallow my pride; it's truly a disgrace to a scholar."

He sighed and slapped his palm heavily:

"Sigh, if it weren't for that table of good dishes, how could a great man tolerate such a great insult! Forget it, I won't lower myself to the level of such a boorish woman from the countryside. Who told her to cook so well?

"Lord Xiaoguan Lingtai Lang Lin looks like a good man, so don't go and suffer this bird's anger. Sigh, go back, go back, let me go and face this fiery pit."

Lin Cheng frowned as he looked at the righteous Yuan Yuan Huaimin and suddenly asked:

"I heard Yuan Sima Yuan's poetic talent is peerless, and you were a famous talent in Chang'an before."

Yuan Yuan Huaimin nodded like a pounding pestle: "Peerless, peerless, but now eating is more important, I'll take my leave first..."

Lin Cheng interrupted: "Why don't you write anymore now?"

"It's not like a sow giving birth to piglets, how could I be so prolific?"

"The reason."

"Does your Astronomical Bureau manage this too?"

Lin Cheng said faintly: "Then I'm sorry to trouble you to submit a piece of calligraphy, it's needed for the case investigation."

Yuan Yuan Huaimin hesitated and asked: "Is a painting okay? I have a 'Winter Plum Shy' painting."

"That will do."

Yuan Yuan Huaimin turned back into the room, hurriedly rolled up a scroll, and stuffed it into Lin Cheng's hand.

Lin Cheng put away the scroll and suddenly asked:

"Does Magistrate Ouyang Changshi Magistrate Ouyang often come to find you to appreciate the zither?"

Yuan Yuan Huaimin was stunned and nodded: "Yes. Why?"

"As a Yuan Sima, you should know about the case at Huang Meilu Xuan's house. On the day the incident happened, was Magistrate Ouyang Magistrate Ouyang Lianghan scheduled to come see you?"

"We generally don't set a specific time. He's a busy man and only comes when he's free. That day, I was at home."

"Good, I understand."

Lin Cheng walked out of the courtyard, but he didn't leave immediately.

Standing in the shadows, he watched the back of Yuan Yuan Huaimin as he hurried to catch the mealtime.

Turning around, he walked familiarly to a lake in the temple.

These days, he came here often.

Lin Cheng stood on the shore, silently observing the pavilion in the center of the lake.

This temple and this lake were located in the most central position of Xingzi Fang.

Legend has it that stars once fell from the sky and landed in the lake.

Later, it was regarded as an auspicious sign, and the people of Prince Xunyang gathered around the water, and the surroundings gradually became prosperous.

Later, this neighborhood was also named Xingzi Fang by the governor of Prince Xunyang Commandery in the early Han Dynasty...

"Xingzi Lake... Xingzi... truly a good name... avoid the moon and pluck the stars... avoid the moon and pluck the stars..."

I don't know how much time passed, but Lin Cheng's figure disappeared by the lakeside.

On the way back, Lin Cheng went to the ruins of the old courtyard again, walked around, and left the courtyard bathed in the sunset glow.

He walked calmly out of the alley where the old courtyard was located, and when he passed a large mansion at the alley entrance, he suddenly stopped.

"Pack up, move everything away. The buyer will be back to inspect later, don't be slow with the guests..."

A cold, condescending voice of a woman faintly rang out from inside the mansion.

"Yes, Thirteen Lady." The servants replied.

Lin Cheng was quiet for a while, looked at the high wall of the mansion, turned his steps, and went around to the main gate of the large mansion.

He saw quite a few servants moving furniture at the main gate.

Lin Cheng, dressed in a low-key gray soap uniform, covered the golden lacquer token of the Astronomical Bureau at his waist and walked into the crowd with a calm expression.

He walked against the flow of people, strolling into the mansion. The servants and subordinates around didn't notice him for a moment.

Lin Cheng stopped not far from the main hall of the mansion and raised his eyelids.

He saw a noble lady wearing a purple-gold lotus cape in the hall.

She looked coldly at the servants, her tone when ordering them around was quite heavy, as if she was in a bad mood.

(End of chapter)

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 441 =====