In Jiang Mansion, Jiang Li stared at Zhao Ke without moving his eyes.
Zhao Ke didn't say anything at first, but in the end, he finally defeated, saying: "When he came to Jiang Mansion, Miss Jiang had passed away. The lord asked his subordinates to guard Jiang Mansion, and the subordinates would I have inquired about everything I can inquire about in the mansion. But Houzhai Qingra is not in the scope of subordinates, so I just get a rough idea."
"You said." Jiang Li said.
"Ms. Jiang died prematurely, although his subordinates did not see it with their own eyes, the Jiang family's big room kept secret about it. Since then, Ms. Jiang's biological mother, Aunt Hu, moved into the courtyard, and on several occasions it was almost life-threatening. "
Jiang Li's eyes narrowed: "What do you say?"
"It's all accidents, but Aunt Hu was lucky and she managed to escape every time. Later, when Mrs. Jiang saw her pitiful, she always helped, and Aunt Hu fell ill from time to time, so there was no sign of this person in the house."
Jiang Li thought for a while, and just asked, "Zhao Ke, just tell me whether Miss Jiang's death is related to Ji Shuran."
Zhao Ke is obviously not used to talking to people about this kind of thing, and he hesitated for a while before he said: "Nine out of ten."
"Sure enough..." Jiang Li murmured. She turned to look at Zhao Ke, and the question became sharper: "Then how much do you know about me?"
Zhao Ke: "What?"
"At the beginning, my reputation for killing my mother and brother was spreading throughout Yanjing City. As for the Jiang family, it was also a big event for the Jiang family to be named. Since you have come to the Jiang family to be a spy, you can't miss this point. Regarding me, How much do you know? For example, why did I push Ji Shuran's small production? Before that, Ji Shuran hadn't had a good relationship with me. I was so young at that time, I had the ability to do these things, maybe there is something hidden in it?"
What happened back then was too long apart. Tonger didn't even know, as for Baixue, she only came in later. I heard that the maids who had happened at the time were all driven out of the house because of the disadvantage of taking care of them. Now they are looking for an insider, but they can't find it. The clues left by that incident were nothing but a reputation full of evil. But Jiang Li herself was not really Miss Jiang Er. Without the memory of that incident, she didn't know the truth at all.
Zhao Ke said: "Second Miss, although this is a major event for the Jiang family, you went to Qingcheng Mountain, in the eyes of the Yanjing people, you are undoubtedly the abandoned son of the Jiang family. The adults let your subordinates lurch in Jiang's family and will not bother to investigate. An abandoned child."
Jiang Li: "..."
Ji Heng's subordinates have exactly the same temperament as Ji Heng. This can be said to be very rude, of course, there is nothing wrong with what he said. A senior daughter, Qingxiu who was expelled to a nun's nunnery thousands of miles away, no matter how you look at it, this lady, I am afraid that it will be difficult to return to Yanjing for the rest of her life. It's strange that it takes too much thought for a lady who has been forgotten by everyone.
"Besides," Zhao Ke said again: "Why does Miss Jiang Er ask her subordinates about these things, and what the truth is, Miss Er doesn't know the best?"
It turned out to be against the general, and about Ji Heng's men followed him, with a sharp vision and a good grasp of the point. Jiang Li smiled: "But what I saw back then was also one-sided. I only saw part of Ji Shuran's hidden face. It's not that what I saw is the truth. Maybe there is something deeper behind the truth, right?"
Zhao Ke said: "Yes."
"Zhao Ke, you really don't know anything about Ji Shuran's miscarriage back then?"
Zhao Ke replied: "The subordinates don't know."
Jiang Li looked at his expression and made sure that he was not lying. Knowing it in her heart, she thought for a while, and said, "Well, don't mention Ji Shuran. I want you to do three things for me in the past few days. The first thing, help me check as much as possible. The reason behind Miss Jiang’s early death. If you can’t find out, let me know about the trivial matters about Miss Jiang as much as possible. The second thing is that you have recently paid more attention to whether there are any high-ranking people in Yanjing City. I think Taoist Chongxu should be here. The third thing," she paused, "I need a master of ventriloquism. There are many capable people and strangers in the government office, and I think you should know a lot of such people."
After finishing these three things, Zhao Ke’s expression became very ugly again. He didn’t ask Jiang Li why he did these three things. He just said reluctantly: "Ms. Jiang Er, you are not the master of the subordinates. ."
"I'm not your master, but your grown-up lent you to me, so I can use it." Jiang Li smiled, "Otherwise, you go back and protest with your grown-up, or leave from Jiang's house and change Come alone?"
Zhao Ke was very depressed. He was one of the top talents in the Guogong Mansion. Everyone praised him for his skills, disguise, or brain. Therefore, the great talent gave himself the dangerous things lurking in Jiang's house, and now that Miss Jiang Er uses herself, not only is she not embarrassed at all, she is also very comfortable. I don't know, I thought I was her little servant, and she was her decent master.
It's really unreasonable to use an overkill to kill a chicken with a sledgehammer!
But he still didn't dare to tell Ji Heng to let someone else come.
That's fine, just this time, and if the adults know that they are being used in this way, they will definitely remind Miss Jiang Er to ask her not to do too much, and she will definitely be sympathetic to herself. Zhao Ke had no choice but to answer: "Okay. If nothing happens, the subordinates will leave."
Jiang Li stopped him and asked, "What you said to you, would you tell your sir one word?"
"Miss Jiang Er," Zhao Ke said solemnly: "The great talent is the master of the subordinates."
"Okay." Jiang Li said: "Then you can add something that you can't inquire about by the way. If your adult can find out, I wonder if you can help me?"
Zhao Ke stared at Jiang Li dumbfounded. This man was so daring not only to command himself, but also to make such an unreasonable request to the adults? !
Because the shock in his heart was so great, he couldn't make any expressions on his face, but disappeared in front of the window with a blank face.
Jiang Li closed the window, returned to the collapsed floor and sat down, thinking about what Zhao Ke said, that the things that were so difficult to dig back then seemed to prove more and more that Ji Shuran did a lot of secret things.
Although she is not the real Miss Jiang Er, it is precisely because of Miss Jiang Er that she survived. In a way, she can understand Miss Jiang Er's feelings. I can't do anything, but now, perhaps the only thing I can do to help Miss Jiang Er is to help her find the truth and not to bear the charges that do not belong to her.
On the other side, in the Guogong Mansion, when he heard the news from Zhao Ke, Lu Ji couldn't sit still.
"She, she, her..." The blue-shirted scribe who wanted to come to him, ignorant of his anger, he didn't care to maintain his indifferent and calm posture, and said anxiously: "How can she be so bold?"
More than just being bold, I just don't know what the sky is. Look, what is this saying, not only let the master of the Guogong Mansion do things for her, even Ji Heng dare to call it. Does this girl grow up with a bear heart? Whether she was born she didn't know how to write the word "fear".
Ji Heng didn't seem to take this matter to heart. He just muttered to himself: "Ask about Ji Shuran's miscarriage?"
"Yes." Wen Ji replied, "Zhao Ke said, that's what Miss Jiang Er asked."
"The three things she wants Zhao Ke to do. You can think about the first two. The third one is to find someone with excellent ventriloquism... What does this mean?" Lu Ji shook his head, "Does she want to do tricks?"
"There are many visitors to the house, Lu Ji, you go find one." Ji Heng said.
Lu Ji agreed, but wondered in his heart, Ji Heng was always responsive to what Jiang Li wanted to do. In the beginning, Ji Heng didn't even care about Jiang Li's death. Lu Ji suspected that there were other secrets between the two of them, of course, he would not listen. However, Miss Jiang Er can be considered incredible for Ji Heng to make such a big change.
"Ms. Jiang Er seems to be investigating Ji's affairs recently." Lu Ji said, "Isn't she going to deal with Ji's family? Behind the Ji's family is Ji's family, and Ji's family also has a Lie. If Ms. Jiang's Er is dealing with Ji's family, Just to deal with Libi. Right now Yongning hates Miss Jiang Er. If Yongning and Libi join forces, Ms. Jiang Er’s life will not be easy." Lu Ji shook her head, "She has always been shrewd, how can she do anything like this. This kind of thing?"
"She is holding back so hard." Ji Heng said: "Now, I can't bear it. But fortunately, the enemy is not defeated by patience. She is so happy."
"Jiang Yuanbai is clever politically, but not as good as his daughter in family matters." Lu Ji sighed, "Now, it's worth seeing."
Ji Heng stared at the flickering candlelight on the table, with a smile on his lips, but his eyes were deep.
It is indeed worth seeing, because he himself has also begun to be curious.
…
In the winter of Yanjing City, the sun is always precious. The sun rose yesterday, and today is like taking back yesterday’s good weather. I woke up early in the morning. The cold wind was mixed with rain and snow.
Mingyue and Qingfeng are wearing thick cotton-padded jackets, helping to clean the broken flower branches in the yard together. Jiang Li looked out the window and Tong'er said, "Girl, the snow is so big today, why don't you go to Ye's house?"
In such a heavy snowstorm, except for the people who need to be exhausted, it is too cold and cold for those rich and noble people who don't even have to go out of the house. The room was burning with charcoal, Jiang Li was still holding the stove in his hand, but standing at the entrance of the yard, he still felt a swish coldness.
"I can't help but go," Jiang Li looked at the sky, "but it's really inconvenient to go out right now, so let's go when the snow is smaller in the afternoon."
Tong'er lowered her head resigningly, Jiang Li's answer was just as she expected. For Xue Huaiyuan, Jiang Li will visit regardless of wind and rain. Sometimes I really don’t understand. Even if my girl is kind-hearted, someone from Xue County Cheng is taking care of it. Why can’t I let it go
Just thinking about it, Bai Xue walked in from outside and said, "Girl, Aunt Hu is here."
"Aunt Hu?" Tonger was taken aback.
Jiang Li didn't look surprised, and smiled slightly: "It's much faster than I thought, Tonger, go and pour tea, Bai Xue, please come in."
When Aunt Hu came, she was still with the maid of that day. She seems to have only this maid, after all, although she is an aunt, almost no one in the house remembers her. Only superficially won the title of aunt.
Aunt Hu and the maid entered Jiang Li's house together.
The house and the outside seem to be two worlds, and Aunt Hu and her maid, probably haven't felt this kind of warmth for a long time. Jiang Li clearly saw that the maid involuntarily approached the charcoal fire a little bit, greedily absorbing a little bit of warmth from the house.
Jiang Li sighed. In the twelfth lunar month of winter, the master and servant were only wearing thin cotton clothes. It is hard to imagine that in a big family like Jiang Mansion, the servants also had winter clothes, but these two people lived so horribly. Although Mrs. Jiang wanted to help Aunt Hu, but the stewardship was in the hands of Ji Shuran, Mrs. Jiang couldn't take care of the minutiae. But if Aunt Hu's master and servant had fallen into such a situation, Jiang Li would not believe it if it hadn't been for Ji Shuran's acquiescence.
"It's cold outside, Aunt Hu drink some hot tea." Jiang Li pushed the tea cup in front of Aunt Hu.
Aunt Hu took the teacup and took a sip. It seemed that there was a little warmth, and her pale face was a little bloody. She said: "Second Miss, my concubine is here today to answer the question asked by the Second Miss yesterday."
Jiang Li smiled. Aunt Hu is a smart person and didn't answer immediately yesterday, just to weigh the pros and cons. But today, she has made a decision immediately, and she seems to be a smart person too.
"No hurry," Jiang Li said with a smile: "I've said that, when Aunt Hu wants to say it, she can say it when she wants to. If it's not in a hurry, I won't force you."
"Second Miss Bodhisattva is heart-hearted, so naturally he will not persecute his concubine. It is just in the eyes of the concubine. The fierce battle between the second young lady and the Ji clan will soon begin. It’s a favor for the second lady. So today I’m here to show my heart to the second lady." She said: "The concubine is willing to help the second lady."
"Help me?" Jiang Li smiled, "Aunt Hu doesn't have to say so justice. She helped me to kill someone with a knife. It's just another way of saying it. Besides, helping me doesn't mean helping Auntie herself?"
Aunt Hu looked at Jiang Li for a while, and suddenly smiled. She smiled, showing a somewhat demure and gentle gesture. She said: "Second Miss and Madam are really different."
The "madam" she said naturally refers to Ye Zhenzhen.
Jiang Li smiled indifferently: "I haven't been with my mother for a long time, and only from others can I know what kind of person she is. I heard that my aunt and my mother had a good relationship with me, and I probably knew about her."
"Madam is a good person." Aunt Hu said softly.
"Because my mother can tolerate your big sister, but Ji can't tolerate it."
As soon as these words came out, several people in the room were silent, and Tong'er and Bai Xue even dare not say anything, and stood quietly behind Jiang Li.
"Second Miss is too courageous," Aunt Hu said, "Don't you be afraid that the master will hear these words?"
"My auntie thinks my father is too clever," Jiang Li said lightly: "If he could really see everything and hear everything, there won't be so much confusion in this mansion."
"Second Miss is a sensible person." Ji Shi lowered his head and said slowly: "It is indeed not an accident that Yue'er fell from the rockery."
"Yue'er" is Miss Jiang's name. In fact, no one in the whole Jiang family seems to remember Miss Jiang's name or her name. This is just a concubine. If Ye Zhenzhen hadn't been softhearted, she wouldn't have existed in the world. Therefore, everyone thinks that Yue'er's final death is fate.
But whether it was fate or a conspiracy, no one continued to care, except for her biological mother.
"You speak slowly."
"After I gave birth to Yue'er, my wife also had a second lady later. Madam treated Yue'er very well. If she had any good things, she shared a share with Yue'er. Although Yue'er was a concubine, she was actually treated differently from the second lady. There are not many of them. The concubine was very fortunate to be able to meet a good person like his wife. I only hope that Yue'er will grow up in peace, marry an honest family, and live a normal life. It is also very good."
"I just didn't expect the wife to go so early, and then Ji's came in." She looked at Jiang Li and laughed self-deprecatingly: "Even though Ji's looks on the surface, it is extremely gentle and generous, and it is also very gentle and generous to Yue'er. Very good. But women, there is always an intuition. The look in her eyes at Yue'er is always obstructive."
"I want Yue'er to stay away from her, not to approach her. I didn't expect something happened."
"They regard Yue'er as a playmate with Jiang Youyao, but how can ordinary people treat their playmates like this? That day..."
That day, Miss Jiang's family was playing with Jiang Youyao in the house. Jiang Youyao was only about two years old and a child who knew nothing. Miss Jiang's family didn't know what she had done, but she always touched Jiang Youyao. Ji Shuran was furious and kicked Jiang Yueer. The Jiang family eldest was only four years old, and she kicked Jiang Yueer to her back without mercy. She knocked her head on the threshold and disappeared on the spot.
Ji Shuran was panicked for a moment, and immediately made a decision, only to let his servants take Jiang Yueer to the rockery, and make Jiang Yueer fall from the rockery accidentally, and this was the reason he lost his life.
"They also don't want to think about how Yue'er is only four years old, how to climb such a rockery." Although Aunt Hu tried to say the past calmly, her body still couldn't help shaking slightly, she curled up her fingers and scratched randomly. For a moment, as if to catch her disappeared daughter, she said: "My Yue'er, died in the hands of Ji Shuran."
"How did you know?" Jiang Li asked.
"My maid, her name is Baoqin." She raised her head and gestured to the maid standing next to her. She said: "Her twin sister, named Siqi, was with Yue'er that day. She was there. Outside, I happened to see what Ji ordered the others to behave, and immediately ran back to the yard without being noticed, and told me."
"Where is that maid?" Jiang Li asked.
"Dead." Aunt Hu bowed her head, "The people in the yard that day were all scapegoats. Siqi was beaten to death to protect the young lady from disadvantage. I couldn't save her."
"You know this, why don't you tell your father?" Jiang Li asked.
"Second Miss, do you think I have not told the master?" Aunt Hu sneered: "It's just what I said, no one believed. They all said that I was mad because of losing Yue'er and got hysteria. They slandered and framed Ji's family. I want to send me to the temple. If the old lady is not thinking of the master and servant to speak for me, I am afraid that I would have had an accident and died in the middle of a temple."
Jiang Li was silent. After a while, she said, "Doesn't anyone in the house believe what you said?"
"How to believe it?" Aunt Hu said: "She is the lady of the Ji family, the current lady of the main house, gentle and generous, virtuous and virtuous, no one would believe that she would do something with a concubine lady who does not hinder her. Maybe, Some people may have noticed that it is unnatural, but the Ji family was thriving at the time. Who would offend the in-laws of the Ji family for a dead person, the second lady, you are also in the Jiang family. You should look at the favors and interests. It’s clearer than I am. They also have family affection, but this family affection must pay attention to the pros and cons. In the face of interests, they are very fragile."
What she said was like crying and laughing, but Jiang Li seemed to be able to see her full of resentment and sadness through the face of the woman who was no longer in this age.
Aunt Hu calmed down for a while before she whispered: "There is one person in this house who should believe me, that is the wife. It is a pity that she is dead. This may be my retribution."
"What do you mean?" Jiang Li was sensitive to the other meanings in her words.
"Second Miss, this matter has been buried in my heart for many years." Aunt Hu said with a sorrowful smile: "Everyone in this house avoids me like a plague, and I haven't been able to tell this secret to others. But now you Here, I think you should also know about this. In fact, the death of Madam was not accidental."
When Jiang Li heard it, it seemed as if she was pouring cold water on her head. In the already cold weather, it was even colder. Her smile disappeared. She just asked, "Aunt Hu, you have to make it clear."
Aunt Hu didn’t seem to see the change in Jiang Li’s face, and she said to herself: “At first, Ji’s family had just entered the door. At first, I thought that Ji’s family would spare our mother and daughter as long as they were gentle and obedient. Trouble with our mother and daughter. At that time, I often went to please Ji’s family, and gave Ji’s food, embroidery and so on. One day, I heard Ji’s talking to her mother, but it was the same thing. The doctor who treated his wife to the sickness is now back to Yanjing City and has to find someone to stop his eloquence."
"What are you talking about?" Jiang Li frowned. "My mother died because she was weak when she gave birth to me?" It was because of this that the original Miss Jiang Er was very self-blame. If it were not for giving birth to herself desperately, Ye Zhenzhen wouldn't have to go so early.
"The body is weak, so take care of it slowly." Aunt Hu said: "But Madam's body went from bad to worse for the past six months. We didn't think much about it at the time. On that day, I suddenly realized something was wrong. After Madam's death, Madam. For various reasons, the few personal maids in her were either going home to take care of her seriously ill mother and leaving Jiang’s Mansion, or they were married away from the mansion. For half a year, there was no more news. These are the maids beside you, the second lady. , Madam left you, there is nothing left."
"Now that I think about it, it may not be that Ji's bought these maids and doctors who were ill, and used his wife's medicinal food to make trouble."
Jiang Li shook his head: "But it's not necessary. My father met the Ji clan after my mother passed away. At that time, the Ji clan was still in his boudoir, the entire Yanjing city, the lintel of the Ji family, although Jiang could not be found. The family is so high-end, but the young masters of ordinary officials are still more than enough. You don’t need to be here as a continuation."
"This is also something my concubine doesn't understand." Aunt Hu's face also showed some confusion, "If you want to say that Ji had favored the master before, it was so vicious, but it couldn't be justified. Before the Ji and the master, I haven't met each other."
Jiang Li stopped talking.
"After knowing this, my concubine dared not say anything, I was afraid that the more secrets I knew, the faster I would die." Aunt Hu said: "I thought, as long as the Yueer who can protect her grows up, these things should not be known. It’s good to be rotten in the stomach, I didn’t expect..." She smiled bitterly: "This is God’s punishment for me. Madam treats me so well on weekdays. I can’t complain for her, so I deserve to lose Yue’er. This is mine. Blame yourself."
Jiang Li looked at her. She knew Aunt Hu was sad, but she could no longer sympathize with Aunt Hu. If Aunt Hu had revealed these things a little bit, the real Miss Jiang Er had been wary of Ji, and it would not lead to the final tragedy. Although it seems to everyone that she, Miss Jiang Er, has everything except her bad reputation in the past, only Jiang Li knows that the real Miss Jiang Er is gone in the world.
The daughter Ye Zhenzhen wanted to protect did not survive in Jiang's house.
"Second Miss, I know you blame me, and I don’t expect you to forgive me. However, my sin is naturally carried by myself, but Ji’s body has carried two lives, and I can live like a fish in water. I am not reconciled. "This time, she didn't even call her "concubine body" anymore. She said: "I have endured so many years and thought about how to die with her, but I can't even get close to her. I don't have the money, so I can't help others. To put it ugly, I just want to poison her. I don’t have money to buy arsenic. I think it’s too cheap for Ji to die like this. It’s because I killed her. Others would only say that I was vicious and murdered as the mistress of the house, so I deserved my month. The child does not live long. But what about the Ji family? Still a virtuous reputation, dead and bright, that's not what I want."
Jiang Li looked at her and said, "What do you want to say when you tell me this?"
"Second Miss, I know that you brought the people of Tongxiang to Chang'anmen to raise the drum of grievances. For a stranger who has never been ignorant of his life, you can wash his grievances for him. Not to mention Yue'er, Madam is your mother, you must have a way. Proved innocence for Madam’s death, didn’t he?"
"So what about you?" Jiang Li asked, "Aunt Hu, what can you do?"
"I can... give everything." The dead-water woman gradually burst into flames of revenge in her eyes, like a lioness with her cubs taken away by a hunter, shining with the madness of death. She said: "Including my life."
She suddenly stood up, faced Jiang Li, and knelt down.
"Concubine, please second lady."
Jiang Li looked at her, and for some reason, she thought of the desperate self who had been put under house arrest in Shen Mansion.
It can't be done together with the death.
She said: "Auntie Hu, get up, I promise you, not for you. But Ji must die."
She should pay the price.