Shen Zhiyan took the brocade box over, glanced at it and handed it to His Highness, "Is the golden hairpin in the brocade box broken?"
Chang Qingqing nodded and said: "Yuan Qiu just arrived at the handyman's room, accidentally fell on the ground and broke it. The servant is a palace servant of the Liushang Bureau, and she can repair jewelry a little bit, so Yuan Qiu asked the servant to help her repair it. Yuan Qiu knew that the family was in urgent need of silver, so he planned to repair the gold hairpin and ask his servants to go out of the palace to sell the gold hairpin in exchange for silver, and ask someone to take it home to help his parents."
Murong Ci looked at the brocade box. The brocade box was made of rosewood, inlaid with exquisite mother-of-pearl, but it looked old, so it should be an old thing. She opened the brocade box, and on the bottom of the maroon velvet was a golden and beautifully shaped golden hairpin.
The head of the hairpin is in the shape of a pine branch, with a few pine leaves hanging from it, and a few plum blossoms hanging down from the pine branch, beautiful and elegant, with bright colors.
This is the golden hairpin of pine, bamboo and plum.
This kind of golden hairpin is also worn by foreign wives, but judging by the exquisite workmanship, it is the golden hairpin made by Liushang Bureau.
She felt that she had seen this pine, bamboo, plum and gold hairpin somewhere before, but she couldn't remember it for a while.
"This golden hairpin can only be worn by concubines and foreign wives. How could a court lady in Yuanqiu have such a precious golden hairpin?"
"My servant asked Yuan Qiu, and she said that Concubine Zhao rewarded her." Chang Qingqing replied.
"When was the last time you saw Yuan Qiu?" Murong Ci recalled carefully. He had seen Zhao Concubine several times in the past, but he had never seen Zhao Concubine wearing a pine, bamboo, plum and golden hairpin.
"Three days ago, Yuan Qiu handed over the golden hairpin and the brocade box to the servant girl. These three days, the Liushang Palace was quite busy, and the servant girl couldn't get away to look for Yuan Qiu. She didn't come to Yuan Qiu until today, and let her see the gold hairpin. Hairpin. If she thinks the golden hairpin is okay, the servant will try to help her sell the golden hairpin." Chang Qingqing replied unhurriedly, clearly and without any fear.
According to the palace rules, palace people cannot privately sell items in the palace, but if it is a private item, it is not so strict.
The golden hairpin was rewarded by the master to Yuan Qiu, and Yuan Qiu sold the golden hairpin outside the palace, no one would pursue it.
Murong Ci knew this, looked at Shen Zhiyan, his eyes intertwined, and they both understood each other's thoughts.
Chang Qingqing's performance can be described as magnificent, without panic or fear at all.
But she was more or less suspicious, and the motive for the murder was that the precious pine, bamboo, plum and golden hairpin, Chang Qingqing, secretly killed Yuan Qiu in order to embezzle the pine, bamboo, plum and golden hairpin. However, she came to Yuan Qiu today with a golden hairpin, which is easy to expose, isn't this very contradictory
She could have come quietly, or asked if Yuan Qiu was discovered after his death, so that it would not be easy to be exposed.
These thoughts just flashed by, Murong Ci stared at Chang Qingqing, she lowered her head, her face was open, and she looked innocent.
"You know, Yuan Qiu is dead." Shen Zhiyan locked Chang Qingqing's eyes, observing her reaction.
"What happened when Yuan Qiu died?" Chang Qingqing's complexion changed drastically. She was still calm and restrained just now, but now she became sad and mournful, with water in her eyes, "How could Yuan Qiu die like this?"
Murong Ci and Shen Zhiyan looked at each other again, and asked, "When you saw Yuan Qiu three days ago, did she act strange?"
Due to grief, Chang Qingqing fell to the ground with tears rolling down her face. Hearing the question, she thought for a while, and said in a hoarse voice: "She learned that there was an accident at home, and she was worried about her parents' illness. It is impossible for her to kill herself, she still wants to go out of the palace and go home to see her parents, she must have been killed by someone."
Shen Zhiyan asked: "Why did she die? I will investigate thoroughly. You don't have to worry about it. Do you know where her home is?"
She nodded, "Your servant knows, it's not far from my servant's house."
He took out two silver ingots and handed them to her, "You try to bring this silver back to Yuan Qiu's parents. I want to keep this brocade box and gold hairpin."
Chang Qingqing choked and said: "This servant will thank you for your kindness on behalf of Yuan Qiu."
After that, she returned to Liushang Bureau.
Murong Ci looked at her back, staring at her in thought, "Chang Qingqing doesn't appear to be pretending. When she suddenly heard that Yuan Qiu died, it's human to shed tears of sadness, and there is no trace of acting."
Shen Zhiyan nodded in agreement, picked up the pine, bamboo and plum golden hairpin and looked at it, "This golden hairpin was really given to Yuan Qiu by Concubine Zhao."
Suddenly, a shattered scene flashed through her mind, and she laughed happily, "I remember, it's not Concubine Zhao, but Concubine Xiao."
"Your Highness means that this golden hairpin belongs to Concubine Xiao Gui." He was startled.
"I have seen Concubine Xiao wearing this pine, bamboo, plum, and golden hairpin." She stood up and said with flying eyebrows, "I think it should be like this: Concubine Xiao used this pine, bamboo, and plum golden hairpin to buy Yuan Qiu to do things for her. Concubine Concubine Xiao was drugged into the soup she ate before going to bed. In order to help the family, Yuan Qiu had no choice but to agree to Concubine Xiao Gui and took over the errand. After Concubine Zhao died, Concubine Xiao Gui could not sleep well, and felt that keeping Yuan Qiu would be a disaster after all, so she sent someone to secretly kill her."
"Concubine Xiao has loved Concubine Zhao for many years, but Concubine Zhao has not favored Concubine Zhao for several years. Why did Concubine Xiao kill Concubine Zhao?" Shen Zhiyan asked, "Furthermore, if Concubine Xiao wanted to get rid of her opponent, she could have done it a few years earlier, why wait until now?"
"Because Concubine Xiao's purpose of killing Concubine Zhao was not
It's not to get rid of the opponent, but to disrupt the layout of the ballad and confuse the direction of our investigation. Concubine Zhao is just an unfortunate cat and dog. Concubine Xiao chose her because she took the opportunity to get rid of her. "Murong Ci's clear eyes are bright.
"But why did Concubine Xiao do this to confuse the direction of our investigation?" He still didn't understand.
"Because" she stopped suddenly, do you want to tell him the secret of the promiscuous palace
He is not an outsider, and his mouth has always been relatively tight, so he probably won't spread it out.
So, she briefly explained the reason, and said: "Concubine Xiao did this to remove Murong Yu from the layout of the ballad, to create a murder case that is completely different from fish eating people, and to disrupt the direction of our investigation."
Shen Zhiyan was horrified, and stammered: "Your Highness is sure that Yuwang and Concubine Xiao are having an affair."
Murong Ci solemnly nodded, no wonder Murong Yu broke into the East Palace last night and asked her not to investigate Concubine Zhao's case again, it turned out that he already knew who the murderer was.
He still couldn't accept this iron-clad fact, wiped the sweat from his forehead and his hands, "Then what is your Highness planning?"
"Even if there are pine, bamboo, plum, and golden hairpins and Chang Qingqing as witnesses, Concubine Xiao will deny everything completely and deny it. She can say that the Qingluan Palace was stolen, and that Chang Qingqing stole the pine, bamboo, plum, and golden hairpins."
"Indeed, how could Concubine Xiao plead guilty, but if she let Concubine Zhao just let her go, wouldn't her death be in vain?"
"Is this palace lacking innocent souls who died unjustly?" She smiled coldly and left the gazebo.
The resplendent imperial palace is a huge birdcage inlaid with gold and silver, imprisoning canaries that are either delicate or charming or beautiful and vulgar, devouring every living life.
Back in the East Palace, Murong Ci planned to take a shower and change clothes before taking a nap, but he didn't expect to see a person rushing excitedly as soon as he entered the main hall, and a gust of fragrant wind rushed towards his face, followed by a voice as clear as a silver bell: "Your Highness, you finally came back."
Duanrou Princess Murong Shi smiled like a flower, her delicate and picturesque eyebrows filled with a bright smile.
Shen Zhiyan Shi Shiran saluted, "I have met Princess Duanrou."
Having solved a suspicious murder case, Murong Ci was originally in a relaxed mood, but when he saw the girl he didn't want to see, he suddenly felt depressed and sat down lazily.
Murong Shi turned around and spun to her side, her brows crooked with a smile, "His Royal Highness, I finally figured it out, that court lady was bitten by a cat, I thought of several kinds of insects and beasts that can cause similar wounds, there are white rabbits , puppy, monkey"
"Princess, you are too slow, this matter has been resolved."
Murong Ci took the teacup from Ruyi's hand, hoping that the fragrant tea could soothe the upset at this moment.
Shen Zhiyan was taken aback for a moment, then smiled, it turned out that His Royal Highness sent the princess away like this.
Murong Shi was taken aback, quite disappointed, "It turned out to be resolved."
That is, she is too stupid to help His Highness.
Murong Ci looked at him and winked at him vigorously.
He cleared his throat, "Princess, in fact, there is one thing Your Highness needs the help of the princess."
"Yes, only the princess can help." She immediately agreed.
"What's the matter?" Murong Shi widened her watery eyes, delighted and excited.
"If the red beans and sesame seeds are mixed together, Your Highness would like to know how to quickly separate the red beans and sesame seeds." Shen Zhiyan rolled his eyes and blinked at His Highness, "The princess went back to the mansion and thought about it. Come to the East Palace and tell His Highness."
"Red beans and sesame seeds are mixed together, how to tell them apart?" She tilted her head and thought hard, and after a while she suddenly said joyfully, "Can't you tell a dozen maidservants to pick out the red beans together?"
There are so many maids in the palace, if you can find a few more maids to choose together, it will be faster.
She was smug that she had come up with such a wonderful solution.
Shen Zhiyan laughed, "Princess, a dozen maids gather together and choose slowly. This is the most stupid way. So many court ladies are doing the same thing, so there is no need to do anything else."
Murong Shi was a little ashamed, scratched her head and smirked, and then she said with great interest: "Then I'll think about it when I go back. Your Highness, I know that there is a new restaurant in the city, and that restaurant has launched three new dishes, and everyone who has eaten it praises it." The taste is endless, the flavor is unique, and the fragrance on the teeth and cheeks is wonderful. Because there are too many customers who want to try new dishes, and there are not so many private rooms in the restaurant, you must make a reservation three or five days in advance. Your Highness, I have already made a reservation. Now let's try it Bar."
"Princess, I can't do it today." Murong Ci made excuses, glanced at him, and lifted his eyelids.
"Why not? I managed to book a private room." Murong Shi was disappointed, "If I don't go today, I will have to wait for several days."
"Your Highness is tired and wants to rest." Shen Zhiyan dragged her out, "You can eat new dishes from the restaurant at any time, princess, let me and you study how to quickly separate red beans and sesame seeds."
"Don't pull me, let go" she yelled angrily, "Shen Zhiyan, let me go"
The yelling became farther and farther away, Murong Ci frowned and let out a breath.