Bo Ruoyou was stunned.
Just now when Bo Yixian was here, although she took a second look, there was not much turmoil in her heart. After all, she had already guessed Bo Yixian's identity last time, but she didn't expect Huo Weilou to have such a thought.
Seeing the scene just now, she could almost guess what the old lady of Bofu and Bo Yixian were thinking, and she was afraid that they would all think that Huo Weilou had a close relationship with her.
Huo Weilou said that he would support her.
Marquis Wu Zhaohou, who has the right to rule the country, supports her, so why should she be afraid in the capital
She knew how to avoid suspicion in the morning, but now she felt a warm current slipping through her heart, and the tip of her nose was slightly sore, "Master Hou saw the presence of the Minnv cousin, so that's why?"
Huo Weilou felt pity for her ever since he saw her autopsy on the mountain. Just now, he met the eldest lady of the Bo family and saw her beautifully dressed, like gold and jade. At the time, he couldn't hold back for a moment, "It's not because of anyone, I just did it if I wanted to."
Bo Ruoyou was a little moved when she heard it again. Cheng Yunzhi said that based on her identity, it is impossible for Mrs. Bo to recognize her. Although she is not self-deprecating, she understands that what Cheng Yunzhi said is right, even she understands the truth, Huo Ruoyou Wei Lou naturally understands it all too well, today in front of Bo Yixian and the old lady of the uncle's house, Huo Weilou wants to let them know that even though she is just a little maid, she is also someone that Wu Zhaohou values, and no one else can Take her lightly.
Bo Ruoyou's voice was slightly hoarse, "Thank you, Lord Hou."
Huo Weilou saw that the corners of her lips raised slightly, "Are you so moved?"
Bo Ruoyou nodded, and said quite sincerely: "From childhood to adulthood, no one has treated women as well as Lord Marquis except the adoptive father and mother." After a slight pause, Bo Ruoyou said worriedly: " It's just... Lord Hou treats women like this, I'm afraid it will ruin Lord Hou's reputation."
The smile on Huo Weilou's lips faltered, he felt a little helpless, "Why, aren't you afraid that others will think that you can work in front of the Marquis because of your color?"
Bo Ruoyou shook her head again, "Master Hou treats Minnv with good intentions, Minnv's post-mortem skills are not bad, and it's not that she is really afraid of such rumors."
Huo Weilou looked at her with some headaches, he squinted his eyes and said: "What is it that is not close to a woman? Can't you have an excellent reputation that is astonishing throughout the ages? I am a man, so do you really want to become a monk?"
When Bo Ruoyou heard this, she couldn't help but think of what Huo Qinghong said last time, she looked eagerly at Huo Weilou, "Yes, Master Hou will always marry a wife."
Huo Weilou was about to be laughed at by her, but when Bo Ruoyou mentioned this, she felt a little overstepped and didn't go further, and she felt a little bit astringent in her heart, so she quickly said: "Anyway, Lord Hou Treating Minnv so sympathetically, Minnv can't repay her, it's a pity that Minnv only knows how to perform autopsy, she can't be a saddle for Lord Hou—"
Huo Weilou raised his forehead, "Do you really want to be a subordinate of this Marquis?"
When Bo Ruoyou heard the words, she actually asked, "Master Hou, is he willing to let a woman be his subordinate?"
Huo Weilou laughed back angrily, and stared at her again, as if he wanted to see through her eyes to see what was going on in her mind. Bo Ruoyou leaned back intimidated by his awe-inspiring appearance, and muttered helplessly: : "Look, you don't like women for business. If there is no murder case, I'm afraid there won't be any women around you."
Huo Weilou wanted to refute her, but after thinking about it, he felt that what she said was the truth, he raised his hand and rubbed the center of his brows, he never imagined that this unfeminine reputation would one day cause him such a dilemma.
But soon, he raised his eyes and looked at Bo Ruoyou. Although everyone knew that he was not close to women, it was normal for Bo Ruoyou to take it seriously, but he treated her differently. Apart from being moved, couldn't she have Thoughts beside the half point
Seeing that his eyes were dim, and Bo Ruoyou's back was tightly pressed against the wall of the car, Huo Weilou suddenly asked: "You were born in Qingzhou after the age of five, besides your adoptive father and adoptive mother, are there any close people around you?" ? Do you have other friends?"
Huo Weilou originally wanted to ask if there were any men he was close to, but felt that it was too straightforward, so he asked.
Bo Ruoyou shook her head, "No."
This made Huo Weilou somewhat surprised, and secretly heaved a sigh of relief, "You have lived in Qingshan County for ten years, but you have no friends?"
Bo Ruoyou smiled wryly for a moment when she heard the words, "When I was young, my neighbors had older brothers and sisters, but my foster father and adoptive mother didn't allow the folk daughters to play with them, and later the folk daughters got older and less socialized with others. .”
Huo Weilou frowned when he heard that, he was considered a mature and diligent person since he was a child, but even so, he had many acquaintances and friends when he was young, and Cheng Yunzhi and his wife loved her very much, so how could they not allow her to make friends.
Seeing that Huo Weilou was a bit surprised, Bo Ruoyou explained: "I don't remember clearly what happened at that time, and the adoptive father and adoptive mother were probably afraid that the daughter would have an accident." At this point, Bo Ruoyou said: "Your Majesty What I don't know is that when Minnv was young, a Taoist predicted that Minnv's fate was poor, and that she might not live to be eighteen years old, perhaps because of this, her adoptive father and adoptive mother took special care of Minnv."
"It's a bunch of nonsense." Huo Weilou scolded lightly, "If there really were such Taoist priests who can reach destiny in the world, there wouldn't be so many accidents. Who invited the Taoist priests back then? You, the elders of the Bo family?"
Bo Ruoyou nodded, "It should be."
"His heart can be punished." Huo Weilou scolded again, "You were young back then, they treated you like this, they were really vicious and did not think of affection."
Bo Ruoyou listened and laughed, Huo Weilou frowned, "You're still laughing—"
Bo Ruoyou hurriedly said: "Master Hou helped the Minnv fight against the injustice, the Minnv is very happy."
Huo Weilou shook his head, with a look of helplessness on his face, and felt that her thoughts about men and women were purely due to the fact that she had never made friends since she was a child, and thought that it was Taoist nonsense that made her lose the chance to make friends, and she felt sorry for Bo's family from the bottom of her heart. Two points of anger have been born.
While the two were talking, the carriage had already entered Lanzhengfang. Bo Ruoyou opened the curtain and looked at it. Seeing that it was getting late, she worriedly said, "I don't know if I can find clues on those pieces of paper—"
This statement also made Huo Weilou a little uncertain. When the carriage stopped before the Hou's mansion, they immediately entered the Hou's mansion with the scraps of paper they collected. When they arrived at the main courtyard, Bo Ruoyou opened the bag and saw only snowflakes They were in a pile, and many of them were stained with mud from the woodpile, so Bo Ruoyou rolled up his sleeves, "It's getting late, we have to put it together quickly."
Seeing that she was more anxious than anyone else, Huo Weilou shook his head and asked Eunuch Fu and two embroiderers to assist him.
Poured the pieces of paper on the table, and Bo Ruoyou found new rice paper and pen and ink. If they could be pieced together, they would be pieced together; Half an hour later, night fell outside, candles were lit inside and outside the Hou's mansion, and the papers were only sorted out three out of ten.
Bo Ruoyou wiped the sweat off her forehead and glanced outside, Eunuch Fu hurriedly asked, "Do you want to go home?"
This is an extremely trivial job, and only Bo Ruoyou has seen many copybooks written by Wei Ling, and can best recognize her handwriting. Although it is possible to hand it over to the embroiderer, she is a little worried, and Bo Ruoyou said: " Maybe I will trouble my father-in-law to send someone to my house to announce that I will go back later today, so that my adoptive father can know that I am in the Hou's residence."
Naturally, Eunuch Fu didn't respond, and soon sent someone to Changxingfang to spread the word. Not long after, Ning Xiao came back from Xu's house.
As soon as he entered the hall, he saw Bo Ruoyou busy in the pile of shredded papers, he raised his brows, Huo Weilou had already come out of the study after receiving the report, so he said, "How? Just report here."
Ning Xiao quickly said: "The maid found it and asked her. She said that the reason why Xu Wanshu went to the West Market was because there was a pastry shop near the alley. When Xu Wanshu's biological mother was still alive, she often took her there. He also said that Mrs. Xu's marriage for her was a nephew of Mrs. Xu. That nephew was from a family of merchants, but she was ugly and fond of drinking and sex. Xu Wanshu was very dissatisfied when she found out about this, so Only then did I quarrel with Master Xu and leave home."
"On the day when Xu Wanshu had an accident, the servant girl and the two young servants from the Xu family went to the nunnery first. At that time, they saw the strangeness of Xu Wanshu's death. Although the beam was broken, it was not a new one. But Mr. Xu went, and Mrs. Xu insisted that she hanged herself, and was afraid of their nonsense, so he sent them away."
"The servant girl also said that Xu Wanshu usually doesn't leave the gate, and she goes to the Lingxiao Poetry Club once a few months. Either Mrs. Xu doesn't allow her to go out, or she is sick and weak. She also likes poetry and scriptures. Because she is often grounded, legendary scripts are her favorite. Madam Xu doesn't care much about these. She asks her servants to buy new scripts almost every half a month. .”
"My subordinates asked carefully. Chongwen Library, and the two libraries in Xishi, they are frequent patrons. Even a bookstore called 'Wuya' in Xishi will send new scripts to Xu's family when they come out."
When Bo Ruoyou heard this, she raised her head from the rice paper. Lingxiao Poetry Club is also a bookstore, so this fits her inference. At this time, Ning Xiao said again: "In Xu Wan The night Shu ran out of the house, Wuya Bookstore sent a new book, but Xu Wanshu didn't have a chance to read it."
Huo Weilou frowned, "She left home that night, even the Xu family didn't know where she went, how did the murderer know? Did you go to those bookstores and ask?"
Ning Xiao nodded, "I have already sent people to this Wuya Bookstore. They said that when it was just dark that day, they met Miss Xu's family. At that time, they were very surprised. The book had already been sent to Xu's house. Why did she She even came to the shop in person, Xu Wanshu learned that the book had been delivered, so she left without buying anything, and the subordinates of the pastry shop also went to check, the shopkeeper couldn't remember what happened before January .”
Bo Ruoyou suddenly thought of the dirt in the wooden box, could it be pastry crumbs
Ning Xiao said again: "The subordinates are also very suspicious of the person from the calligraphy and painting shop, but that night, almost everyone had witnesses to testify, including the person who delivered the storybook, someone was with him."
Huo Weilou pondered for a moment with a sullen face, "The maid takes care of her every day, is there any doubt?"
Ning Xiao said: "She doubted Mrs. Xu, saying that Mrs. Xu treated Xu Wanshu very harshly, and cursed her many times for dying of illness earlier..."
Huo Weilou shook his head without hesitation, "Impossible, if Mrs. Xu wanted her to die, she would not want to marry her nephew. The daughter of the Xu family will definitely have a generous dowry. If a merchant's family marries an official daughter, it is also With a bright face, Mrs. Xu only wants to make the best use of Xu Wanshu, and killing her will do no harm."
Ning Xiao should say, "The maid was thinking too simply. She said that when she went to the nunnery that day, the rope that strangled Xu Wanshu was still on the ground. Later, it was taken away by the Xu family and worn before burning Xu Wanshu to death. and their clothes, they were burned together.”
Huo Weilou frowned, and Ning Xiao said again: "According to her description, the rope is not the thick hemp rope used by ordinary craftsmen, but very thin. Although it is also made of cotton and hemp, it somehow gives people a sense of fineness, unlike It is used for hanging things or binding heavy objects."
Huo Weilou looked at Bo Ruoyou, and Bo Ruoyou also looked at him at this moment, the two looked at each other, Huo Weilou said: "It seems that what you said makes sense, since it is a special rope, it might be working with a murderer There are relationships."
Thinking of what was said in the carriage on the return journey, Huo Weilou said, "Bundled paper? Book? Or a picture scroll?"
Ning Xiao's eyes brightened slightly, "It is indeed in line with what the maid said."
Huo Weilou looked at Bo Ruoyou, "It seems that he still has a lot to do with Lu Wenhe."
The rice paper in front of Bo Ruoyou has already extracted a lot of small characters, which can be connected into phrases at most, but it is difficult to form sentences. Bo Ruoyou hurriedly said: "Before dawn, the minnv will finish distinguishing and transcribing all the characters on the gold-sprinkling paper."
The sprinkled gold paper was torn too finely by Wei Ling, and several months of shredded paper accumulated together, except for the dirty ones that were burnt, and the rest wanted to piece together a whole piece of sprinkled gold paper, it was almost impossible Possibly, that's why Bo Ruoyou abandoned this idea, and later only copied the words and sentences that he identified. Everyone has their own writing habits, and if they can find some unusual words and sentences, they can roughly know what Wei Ling wrote.
Huo Weilou nodded, and Ning Xiao said again: "The yamen came to report that the maidservant of the Feng family did mention that Feng Wodan and the young master of the Li family often met, but Feng Wodan kept it a secret, even she didn't know about her family. The lady and the young master of the Li family exchanged information. In addition, the people who went to the silk shop in Xishi found the silk shop where Feng Wodan bought clothes when he fell into the lake last year. , and was bought by the shopkeeper of Huafang, and it was the servant of the silk shop who sent the clothes to Huafang at that time."
Huo Weilou listened with deep eyes, "No, the one who gave the clothes was a girl, not a servant."
Ning Xiao also looked sad when he heard the words, "It is indeed a boy. The shopkeeper also called out the boy who delivered the clothes at that time, because there were only embroiderers in their shop, and all the errands were men, and at that time, the boats were expensive. Urgent, after they found the clothes, they found this young man and ran to deliver the clothes, and later the young man arrived at the painting boat, handed the clothes to the people on the painting boat, and left."
"Who did he give it to, does he still remember?"
Ning Xiao's face sank at this point, "He said he handed it over to the maidservant on the ship, and said that the maidservant on the ship was waiting at the pier."
Bo Ruoyou was still writing, but she couldn't help raising her eyes at this moment. Li Yuluo said that the girl from the silk and satin shop delivered the clothes, but the silk and satin shop gave the clothes to the boy. Maids, but both the shopkeeper and Li Yuluo said that there were no maids on board.
Huo Weilou's voice turned cold, "There was an extra person pretending to be a servant girl on the painting boat out of thin air, and Li Yuluo and the others thought she was from the silk shop when they boarded the painting boat."
This inexplicable statement sent a shivers down Bo Ruoyou's spine. This person is so weird, but at that time everyone saw her but didn't care!
A strong thought came to Bo Ruoyou's mind, this person is the murderer!
Thinking of the murderer who was on the same boat with them half a year ago, watching Feng Wodan changing clothes behind the screen so closely, Bo Ruoyou felt a little terrified in his heart.
She couldn't help but said: "When she got on the boat, she found a cinnabar mole on Xu Wanshu's arm, and maybe she also saw the cinnabar mole on Feng Wodan's body. This person is most likely the murderer..."
At this point, she showed hesitation again, "But Feng Wodan changed his clothes behind the screen." She looked at Huo Weilou, "Master Hou should remember that we have been to that boat house, and there is indeed a building on the northeast corner. Put up a screen."
Huo Weilou was pacing in the hall. At this moment, his gaze caught sight of a shiny sword with a scabbard hanging on the northwest corner of the room, and the candle flames on the northeast corner opposite the sword were now shining brightly on the scabbard. His phoenix eyes sank, "Mirror."
A white light flashed in Bo Ruoyou's mind, and she immediately recalled: "There is a dressing table in the northwest corner of the room, and there is a mirror on the dressing table—"
Huo Weilou nodded, "If a person stands on the east side, he can just see what is reflected in the mirror, and the door of the room is on the southeast corner, and the person who delivers the clothes cannot stand in the deep part of the room, most of them are near the door. Standing by Xiang Xiang, he is very likely to see von Wodan changing clothes through the mirror."
Bo Ruoyou's breathing was a little tight, she never expected to catch the clues of the murderer under such circumstances.
For many days, although some clues were found, other than the scene of the crime, it was not confirmed that the murderer had appeared elsewhere, but now such an important link has been discovered, Bo Ruoyou hurriedly looked at Ning Xiao, "Deputy Commander May I ask what the servant girl looks like?"
"I asked." Ning Xiao nodded, "But the boy said that the maidservant looked very ordinary. He was in a hurry and it was getting late, so he could only remember that she was wearing the usual peach red coarse cloth jacket and skirt by the surrounding lights. , I can’t remember exactly the opposite. The subordinates suspected that she was after the people of the poetry club, so she wandered around the painting boat, or she just wanted to peep at the woman changing clothes.”
Very common, Li Yuluo also said this.
The murderer was an unrememberable young woman...
This person's face is already blurred, and now I don't even have the slightest impression of the people who have met her. She is so ordinary that she may be everyone who passes you by on the street. Thinking of this, Bo Ruoyou feels terrible , and feel distressed.
And she never thought that the murderer was actually a woman.
Seeing that Huo Weilou and Bo Ruoyou were both in deep thought and silent, he gave another bad news, "Chunfenglou also went to ask about it. The day before Feng Wodan's accident, Li Xiuwen did send someone to leave a message, but the shopkeeper said There were quite a lot of literati coming and going that day, and no one specifically asked Li Xiuwen about it."
The murderer appeared in Huafang before, but it was Yan Guo Wuhen. Bo Ruoyou's eyebrows frowned more and more tightly. After a while, she swung this thought out of her mind with deep eyes. There were not enough clues, and fantasizing was a waste of effort. It's better to do the matter at hand well.
Huo Weilou also said: "Let's go to Huafang again. This person just happened to encounter an accident with Huafang. Maybe he has something to do with Huafang. Even if he is not a servant on Huafang, he knows the situation on Huafang. I often entertain guests, and there is also the Lingxiao Poetry Club, you can start with the nearby restaurants, calligraphy and painting halls, and the scores of pens, inks, papers and inkstones."
"There are a lot of people coming and going in Chunfeng Building. Although we can't be sure, it has something to do with literati." After Huo Weilou said this, he looked at the pile of shredded papers in front of Bo Ruoyou. Lu Wenhe is involved.
As soon as her eyes were wrong, she saw that Bo Ruoyou, who had been thinking hard to no avail just now, was concentrating on distinguishing and recording the words written by Wei Ling. It must have upset him too.
Strange, he has always been the one who reassures others, but now, someone has come to reassure him.
Huo Weilou looked at it, his eyes seemed to be glued to Bo Ruoyou's body, while Ning Xiao responded to Huo Weilou's words, but saw that he didn't say any more, when he fixed his eyes, he frowned.
After following Huo Weilou for many years, he had never seen Huo Weilou's expression like this before. His brows were soft and soft, which made his somewhat stern facial features a little gentler. The way he wrote it, he left without saying a word.
The dim lights in the hall dimmed and turned on again, and Bo Ruoyou's forehead was covered with sweat. Although Wei Ling wrote a lot, and occasionally they were connected into sentences, which looked like letters, but she never wrote any titles, as if the letter was only written by herself. Write, never send.
Bo Ruoyou was a little worried, after writing a few large sheets of paper, her nib froze for a moment, she picked up the scrap of paper, carefully examined it through the light, and soon, her eyes brightened, "Your Majesty! found it!"
Huo Weilou walked out from the inner room, Ning Xiao also came in from the outside, Bo Ruoyou handed over the scraps of paper, "Master Hou, this is Lu Wenhe's nickname, he often uses this word as signature on his poems and paintings."
That's the word "Mingyi". Bo Ruoyou has seen Lu Wenhe's paintings and poetry collections, and no one knows Lu Wenhe's nickname better than her. Bo Ruoyou said again: "Now the excerpts are enough. Minnv also found some weirdness. Among the letters written by Wei Ling, the word "Yulu" is the most commonly used, and she refers to herself, but she praises others a lot. It was intentional, so far, the two characters have revealed some clues, and they are even more weird. Waiting for the girl to piece together the words on it, I think I can see more clues—”
Huo Weilou looked at her, "Look slowly, just these two words can bring Lu Wenhe back for interrogation."
He turned around and told Ning Xiao, "Go get Lu Wenhe, today, it's not like inviting this great talent into the house."
Ning Xiao followed the sound and left, Huo Weilou was holding the scrap of paper with his fingertips, and when he turned around again, he saw Bo Ruoyou buried her head down again, she was muttering something, and she really started to compose words and sentences.
Huo Weilou looked at her, and suddenly called her, "Bo Ruoyou—"
"Huh?" She raised her eyes subconsciously.
Huo Weilou leaned over, brushed her forehead lightly and quickly, he showed her his hand, and saw that there was a trace of her sweat on his rough knuckles, and he said: "Take a break and do it again." .”
These words are quite common, but for some reason, Bo Ruoyou's face flushed red.