Huo Weilou obviously couldn't let go. As a doctor, Ming Guilan felt that this trip might help Bo Ruoyou recall some past events, but there was a sense of adventure in it, and he also told Bo Ruoyou to be cautious.
It was already the eighteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, Bo Ruoyou looked at Huo Weilou, and finally decided not to rush for a moment, "Just wait, I will give you an answer in three days."
Huo Weilou breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the words, Ming Guilan couldn't help asking about the case, he was also one of the victims back then, Huo Weilou didn't mean to hide anything from him, when it comes to the suspects falling on Feng, Wei and Cao's family , Ming Guilan was also taken aback.
"The three of them used to interact with our residence." He pondered for a moment, "However, Uncle Zhongqin's residence gradually interacted less with us. As for the Cao family, ever since the Second Highness got older, their popularity in Beijing has been booming. Without contacts, the House of Uncle Zhongyi is not even considered a family friend."
"You don't need to have too much contact, as long as you have some contact, it's not difficult to find out the horoscope of your birthday."
After Huo Weilou finished speaking, he asked again: "Do you know anything else about these three families?"
Ming Guilan thought for a moment, "The Marquis of the Cao family knows it. Uncle Zhongyi likes to practice Taoism. He has lived a life like a wild crane for many years. He is very comparable. I know even less about the masters of Uncle Zhongqin's family, but as far as I know You know, the third master of Uncle Zhongqin's family, and Uncle Zhongyi, both know some medicine."
The murderer back then also knew about medicine, Bo Ruoyou and Huo Weilou looked at each other, Huo Weilou said: "We will investigate these carefully." At this point, he told Ming Guilan, "You have to be careful these days."
Ming Guilan didn't dare to be careless, knowing that the case is now being presided over by the Director of the Direct Envoy, she felt at ease and did not ask more questions.
After he left the mansion, Huo Wei's building was covered with haze. He looked at Bo Ruoyou, "You said you'd give me an answer in three days, but after thinking about it for three days, you'll go outside the city to have a look?"
Bo Ruoyou's eyes were clear, and upon hearing this, she took the initiative to hold Huo Weilou's hand. His palm was covered with thick calluses, and when he touched it, it was a little painful, but it made her feel at ease, "Master Hou wants to accompany me. Go, I'm afraid."
Huo Weilou's ink pupils trembled slightly, he raised his hand and pulled her into his arms, he would naturally accompany her, but hearing her say that she was afraid, he couldn't say any words of persuasion or obstruction.
For two consecutive days, the yamen revisited the family that almost had an accident, and asked openly and secretly if they had contacts with the three families of Cao, Wei and Feng. Two of the official families did know each other, but the other two were ordinary wealthy gentry families. Although the merchants of many generations are wealthy, they are not as good as these lords, especially the Cao family, which has a noble concubine and a powerful noble family.
In the main hall of the Hou Mansion, even Lin Huai was summoned, and Sun Zhao said with a sad face, "Except for Mr. Bo, Mr. Liu's family, and the young master of the Xu family who was killed in the 29th year of Jianhe, are all in the family. Several generations of official households, although not family friends with the three families of Cao, Wei and Feng, are all in Beijing, and the previous generation has some contacts. The Li family who had an accident in the 21st year of Jianhe, and the Chang family who had an accident in the 24th year of Jianhe, They are just wealthy businessmen. Although they do business with the government and know some high-ranking officials, they have no contact with these three families. Moreover, only the parents and grandparents know the birthdays of the young masters. , and they are all servants that I am used to, and it will never be a bad thing."
Bo Ruoyou frowned, and soon she asked: "Nurse doesn't talk nonsense, what about Wen Po? Was the Wen Po who delivered their babies at that time from her own family, or did she hire an outside Wen Po?"
The matter of midwifery can be big or small, rich and noble families will often find experienced old people to come, but if there is no one in the family who is good at this, they will invite a stable woman outside. When she asked, Sun Zhao hurriedly said: "This is a question. After a while, these two families did find Mrs. Wen to deliver the baby, but many years have passed, and Mrs. Wen was nowhere to be found at that time, and I have asked Wu Xiang to continue looking for it, and it may be impossible to find it, it depends on luck."
It is also a job of finding a needle in a haystack, and everyone knows that there is little hope.
Huo Weilou looked at Lu Ke again, Lu Ke stepped forward and said: "In the past few days, the third master of Uncle Zhongqin's mansion went out of the city and came back again. We have already found out that this third master is a believer and likes to collect Buddhist and Taoist treasures. , because he is in the antique business, and several antique shops in the city that apparently have nothing to do with him are related to him, among which the reselling of magical artifacts has made a lot of money, and it has not yet been found that he is related to a cult.”
"Marquis Changning was reprimanded by His Majesty for the matter of gold ointment. He has acted very cautiously in the past few months. In the past half month, he spent a lot of time outside the city. In the past two days, he was giving porridge at the foot of Xiangguo Temple. The people outside the city treated him a lot. There are praises, he has three villas outside the city, one is in the northwest of Xiangguo Temple, and the other two are on the banks of the Luo River. The Second Highness goes to live there every year. I heard that there is flowing water from the Luo River inside, which is very luxurious. He likes to build gardens and often renovates the garden. We found a craftsman who worked in his garden. The craftsman said that Marquis Changning built many pavilions and waterside pavilions in the garden, and every time he found the craftsman with the best reputation in the capital. There are no shady secrets in the park, and no abnormalities have been found yet."
"Uncle Zhongyi is still living outside the city doing alchemy for the past few days. We asked the servants of Uncle Zhongyi's mansion, and they said that Uncle Zhongyi would offer elixir to the Empress Dowager during the Chinese New Year. .”
After saying this, Lu Ke's voice became more serious, "We also found out that during Wang Qingfu's official career, he walked around with these three people. In terms of number, he and Changning Hou had more interactions. As the head of the clan, he is very active in many etiquette and system matters, plus he has to take care of the noble concubine and the Second Highness, so he is quite generous to the Taichang Temple and the rest of the palace."
Huo Weilou continued: "Famen Temple's Buddha bone relics were lost, it was under construction and at the beginning of the 21st year, and the Seven Treasures Relic Pagoda was under construction in the 27th year. In the past two years, the three families of Cao, Wei and Feng had no special incidents, and no one After leaving Beijing, at most he went to live outside the city for a while, and Zhi Shi also went to various antique shops and black markets in the city to inquire. Although there are many people who are interested in some rare magical artifacts, in the past ten years, no precious magical artifacts have appeared. At present, most of these two Buddhist treasures are still in the capital or somewhere around."
Lin Huai sighed, "I never thought it would be related to them. No matter who it is, I'm afraid they have already noticed our movement. The criminal department's case against Li Shen has not yet been resolved. No one is looking into the case."
Sun Zhao said: "I had someone draw a portrait and show it to Liu Qing and Chen Mo, but they still couldn't recognize it. It's been too long, and the meeting at the pier was probably a coincidence, but he probably couldn't have imagined that this A few children really listened to his words and went to kill people."
Lu Ke also said: "Our people have been checking whether there are any traces of other cults around the capital, but they have not found them. Most of the people behind this scene don't want to be exposed. This Li Shen is probably one of the few people who knows the method of cultivating death. .”
The investigation has reached a stalemate. As long as the murderer behind the scenes no longer commits crimes, the real culprit will never be determined based on the current clues. What is even more frightening is that the real culprit may not be the three identified this time. There was a lot of fog, and she didn't know where to look next.
Did she think wrong? Didn't Huo Qinghong leak the news about the Ming family's case in the Chengnan dojo
Huo Weilou pondered for a moment and said: "We still have to go to Feiyun Temple to investigate Li Shen, this person was pushed out by the real murderer to take the blame, there must be a reason for him, and his low status, how did he get tied to the real murderer? These may need to be checked out of Li Shen's life to find out. Before he returned to Yizhou, he knew the method of cultivating death, and used this to instigate cheating money. The Yamen had to go to Li Shen when he was younger. "
Sun Zhao should be, and Huo Weilou instructed Lin Huai, "There is no need to confirm the case of Li Shen, just send the official document back to the Jingzhaoyi Yamen, and say to the outside world that Li Shen is not the murderer of the old case, and just convict him of murdering Wen Jin. "
Lin Huai's eyebrows moved slightly, "Is this telling the murderer clearly that the old case needs to be re-investigated?"
Huo Weilou said coldly: "Most of the real culprits have been known. If so, we will conduct a drastic investigation. If there is a direct envoy to come forward, if I were him, I would definitely speed up and destroy the evidence. There are no survivors, but there are five cases he committed, and all the witnesses and evidences involved during the period cannot all disappear, we have not found out, but he must know that the more anxious he is, the more likely he will make mistakes."
Everyone understood what he meant, and they all took orders to leave. Huo Weilou and Bo Ruoyou sent the two of them out. Before they left the courtyard, an embroidered clothes envoy came quickly.
"Master Hou, the news just came back from outside the city that something happened to Uncle Zhongyi outside the city."
Everyone's expressions changed slightly. At this moment, something happened to Uncle Zhongyi
Huo Weilou said solemnly: "What happened?"
"When he was refining alchemy, the alchemy furnace collapsed, and the coals inside poured out, setting the house on fire, and he himself was burned. Our people saw people from his village rushing back to the city to ask for the imperial doctor."
A person who has been making alchemy all the year round, and the alchemy furnace suddenly collapsed
Huo Weilou frowned, "Can it be fatal?"
"The subordinates don't know yet. At this hour, the imperial doctor should have just left the city."
Lin Huai hesitated and said, "I heard that their alchemy furnaces are all forged from fine iron. They burn charcoal all year round, and the furnace often collapses. Besides, he was injured himself, so it shouldn't have anything to do with the case, right?"
Huo Weilou ordered the embroiderer, "Look at which imperial doctor is there for consultation, wait for the person to come back, go inquire, see how the fire is in the village, where the injury is, ask for more details, and come back and report."
The embroiderer left in response, and Lin Huai and Sun Zhao also left.
Bo Ruoyou glanced at the gloomy sky, "The real culprit has been hiding for many years, and even introduced a scapegoat. It shouldn't be someone who committed suicide for fear of his crime being exposed, but his alchemy was on fire—"
Thinking of this, Bo Ruoyou shook her head, "The things that are going to be burned should have been burned long ago, so that no one would watch and make such a big commotion."
Huo Weilou said: "Wait for the news."
Bo Ruoyou also felt that he could only feel at ease after hearing the reward, so he stayed in the Hou Mansion. Now that the end of the year was approaching, the gardens built earlier in the Hou Mansion had been tidied up. Seeing that it was still early, Huo Weilou took Bo Ruoyou to Xin Look in the direction of the garden.
Most of the well-formed courtyards were demolished, and the exquisite water pavilions in the south were built. However, it is difficult to get water in winter, and there is only the snow that has fallen in the pool a few days ago. flower buds.
Wintersweet is fragrant, the red buds are not in full bloom, but their yellow pistils are already exposed, Huo Weilou leads Bo Ruoyou on the snow-covered path, the cold wind blows, the sound of the two of them stepping on the snow creaks ringing.
After walking a few steps, Bo Ruoyou saw a pavilion in the plum grove, with a plaque hanging on the pavilion, with the word "Xunyou" written on it, these two characters mean Xunyou's sweeping victory, but it contains Bo Ruoyou's name, so there is something special about it Interesting, and the iron and silver hooks on the words, it is Huo Weilou's handwriting at first glance, Bo Ruoyou stopped, looked up at the two words, and was slightly fascinated.
"When did Lord Hou write it? I don't know."
"More than a month ago, when I came back from the imperial court one day, someone from the bottom came to ask how the pavilion was named, so I wrote it down."
Bo Ruoyou turned her head to look at Huo Weilou again, he was tall and tall, with such a broad back, standing beside him, there was a sense of security that the sky would fall without fear, Bo Ruoyou's heart suddenly jumped very fast , her deep and delicate eyes flashed a tiny light, like icicles floating on the lake in the early spring of February, she pursed her lips, and leaned in front of Huo Weilou, "Oh, it's so cold."
The mist from his lips sprayed on Huo Weilou's chest, he held her in his arms, and squeezed her cloak, "It's too thin, you just recovered from a serious illness, let's go back—"
Bo Ruoyou buried her face in front of Huo Weilou's lapel, her feet didn't move, she silently shook her head.
…
When the night fell, there was still no news outside the city. After such a long time, Huo Weilou began to wonder if Feng Qin's life would be in danger. He had dinner with Bo Ruoyou, and when Ning Xiao arrived at the mansion, there was still no Feng Qin. news.
Ning Xiao came here to report the follow-up of the gold ointment case, Bo Ruoyou didn't care to listen, looked at the sky, came out to talk to Fu Gonggong, and didn't know what to say, after Huo Weilou and Ning Xiao talked for half an hour, the words still remained. Huo Weilou became anxious when she didn't come back.
After Ning Xiao finished discussing, he was hesitant to speak, Huo Weilou didn't care about him, "Go back and rest, Fobao's case is with Lu Ke these few days, if you have free time, share it with him."
Ning Xiao was obedient in front of him, but upon hearing this, he had no choice but to leave the house, and Huo Weilou came out to look for Bo Ruoyou.
He searched around outside the study but couldn't find anyone, so he asked someone to ask, and the attendant said: "The county lord and father-in-law have gone to the guest house."
Huo Weilou raised his brows high, he couldn't tell whether it was a taste or something, he thought that in this Hou's mansion, there is a reason for him to go out to find someone, halfway to the guest house, he saw Fu Gonggong and Bo Ruoyou talking The smiling one came back, and when they saw him, the smiles faltered on their faces, and they looked at each other again, and then Bo Ruoyou trotted towards him.
Huo Weilou felt more and more unhappy in his heart.
When someone ran up to him, Huo Weilou held him back, glanced at Eunuch Fu who was standing upright, and asked suspiciously, "What are you going to do?"
Bo Ruoyou blinked, "My father-in-law said there are two interesting lanterns in the mansion, so I went to have a look."
Huo Weilou glanced at Eunuch Fu, and led her back, "What lanterns are there in the mansion? Why don't I know?"
Bo Ruoyou laughed, "Master Hou is busy with official duties, so naturally he doesn't know about this. Has Deputy Commander Ning left?"
The two entered the Nuan Pavilion while talking, and waited for another half an hour. Seeing that the midnight was approaching, news finally came from outside the city.
The embroidered clothes envoy flew to the gate of the mansion and galloped all the way to the two of them.
"Uncle Zhongyi was seriously injured. It is said that the stove collapsed, and the red-hot charcoal ash inside fell directly on his body. His left arm, shoulder, and back were burned. The fire in the village was not big, and only one alchemy room was burned. After buying some medicinal materials and elixir, the Second Young Master has already left the city to serve the sick, and the matter has alarmed the palace, and both the Empress Dowager and His Majesty have sent people out of the city to visit."
Huo Weilou's expression didn't change after hearing this, and Bo Ruoyou didn't doubt it, and when the embroidered envoy retreated, he said, "It seems that it was really an accident, but the Empress Dowager and Your Majesty are quite concerned about Uncle."
Huo Weilou said: "It's all because of Princess Anyang, and he doesn't care about official career, doesn't attract suspicion, is quite filial to the Empress Dowager, and is a pure minister in His Majesty's eyes, so he has a lot of care."
Bo Ruoyou recalled what Cheng Yunzhi said, "My adoptive father said that Uncle Zhongyi has a very good relationship with Princess Anyang, and Princess Anyang passed away many years ago, and he never reunited, and only devoted himself to cultivating the Tao."
Huo Weilou knew this, "It is true."
After he finished speaking, he glanced out, the night outside the window was dark, and when the hour passed, he asked, "Why don't you stay in the Hou's mansion tonight? I'll send someone back to Cheng's house to explain to Mr. Cheng."
Bo Ruoyou thought for a while, "Then wait a minute, Lord Hou."
After Bo Ruoyou finished speaking, he was about to go out without waiting for Huo Weilou's answer. He was a little surprised, but when he was about to get up, Bo Ruoyou, who had already walked to the door, turned around and ordered: "Your Majesty, don't move."
Huo Weilou paused, and sat back calmly, Bo Ruoyou smiled deeply, turned and ran out the door.
Huo Weilou frowned and looked at the door, thinking that it would be enough to just wait for a while, but he didn't want to see the time for half a cup of tea pass, and the outside was still quiet, his brows became tighter and tighter, he wanted to get up and go out to have a look, but Thinking that Bao Ruoyou would not allow him to move, he changed his posture three times in a row, but he became more and more restless.
Just when he was about to bear it, there were footsteps outside, Huo Weilou straightened his back, and the next moment, Bo Ruoyou came in with a tray, on which was a bowl of soup cakes , coming from the cold, but with curling heat, Huo Weilou froze for a moment.
He sat without moving, Bo Ruoyou walked towards him slowly, she smiled brightly, "The child's time has passed, today is Lord Hou's birthday—"
Huo Weilou's pupils trembled slightly, she approached slowly, and offered this bowl of soup cakes in front of him, "May the birthday of Lord Hou be auspicious, as constant as the moon, as rising as the sun, as long as Nanshan's life, never dying or dying like The luxuriance of pines and cypresses is nothing but inheritance."
She looked at him with shining eyes, "Please Lord Hou eat longevity noodles—"
Huo Weilou's heart suddenly became hot, and even his eye sockets felt a little hot. Today is the 21st of the twelfth lunar month, and he didn't even remember that the soup cakes were steaming, and the mist made his eye sockets hot. He pointed out that The tip moved, and then leaned over, caught the tray and put it on the desk next to him, and pulled the person to his knees.
"Shicai and Fu'an went far away for this reason?"
Bo Ruoyou nodded, "Every year on my birthday, my foster father would cook birthday noodles for me. When I was young, he coaxed me, saying that the longer the noodles, the longer the life span. My father-in-law said that Lord Hou never lived a long life, and only went to visit His Royal Highness on the day of his birthday. I thought, Master Hou should also eat birthday noodles. This is a whole piece of noodles. Master Hou will use it soon, and I wish Master Hou a long life. Hundred years old, tomorrow I will accompany Lord Hou to visit His Royal Highness the Eldest Princess, Lord Hou—"
"Well… "
The lips were kissed, and all the remaining words of Bo Ruoyou were sucked into his stomach. He bit her lips and grinded them, and then broke his teeth, looking for her sweet tongue to curl up and entangle, and instantly took Bo Ruoyou's breath take it all away.
Her cheeks were hot, and her waist was softened by his rubbing, and she couldn't help clasping his shoulders. At this moment, his kisses were gliding from her lips, all the way to her cheeks and ears. The next moment, the soft earballs were sucked Stop, the wet pleasure made her back go numb, and she went limp, leaning on his chest for support, holding her inexplicably unbearably, as if comfortable, but also uncomfortable, she shrank tighter and tighter, and finally shivered and pushed her in. his chest.
Her breathing was hot, and her body was also hot. Huo Weilou was no better than her, his Chen Mo-like eyes were on fire, and the heat couldn't be suppressed, but she pushed him, and he regained his senses, and he regained consciousness. Pressed in his arms, his chest was heaving and unsteady, and it took a long while before he picked up the soup cakes on the desk.
The author has something to say: Note ①: From "The Book of Songs Xiaoya".