After returning from the Marquis of Wu'an, Hu went to talk to Qin Shu contentedly. Seeing this situation, Qin Xiang knew that there was no turning point for the matter. Qin Shuang wanted to take her to the garden for a joke, but Qin Xiang went back on his own. up the yard.
Before Qin Wan returned to Songfengyuan, a servant came to report, bluntly saying that Old Man Han had come.
Upon hearing this, Qin Wan immediately knew that Uncle Han had finished regulating the house on the west side. When he arrived at the front yard, it was true that Uncle Han had come to report the good news.
Before going out, Qin Wan asked Bai Ying to send Yan Chi a message.
Although Qin Ye was responsible for escorting Qin Wan into the palace to see a doctor for the Empress Dowager, from today onwards, Qin Wan entered the palace once every two days, so Qin Wan didn't see Qin Ye's people for the whole day, so it was just right.
Qin Wan explained to Hu Shi, took Fu Ling and Bai Ying, and left the house with Uncle Han.
The carriage headed west, and after two cups of tea, we arrived at Qin's residence in Changlefang in the west.
When I arrived at the gate of the mansion, I saw that the mansion gate, which was full of dust nets a few days ago, had taken on a new look, the paint on the door was repainted, and the lock was replaced with a new one without rust. At this moment, there was still a thirteen or fourteen-year-old The young man stood guard at the door.
Old Uncle Han said quickly, "Miss, this is a child from a farmer's family in Zhuangzi. Two years ago, both of the child's parents fell ill and died. I asked him to let Zhuangzi take over as a servant first. This child is a good boy." Well, when the old slave returned to the city this time, no one else brought him here, this house is not big, the old slave and him are enough to handle the errands that the young lady told me."
Then he looked at the child again, "Erbao, kowtow to Miss."
After the words fell, Er Bao kowtowed to Qin Wan on his knees.
Since the mansion was handed over to Old Man Han, Qin Wan naturally didn't interfere in the personnel affairs, and Old Man Han seemed to know what Qin Wan was thinking, so he didn't choose some random people of unknown origin.
"Get up, it's inconvenient for Uncle Han to live alone, it's also good for you to stay here, take good care of Uncle Han normally."
Er Bao got up and responded repeatedly, Han Bo knew what Qin Wan was thinking, and his eyes were a little moved.
After entering the gate of the mansion, I saw that the house was as elegant as Han Bo said. Although the place is not big, there are bamboo forests on both sides of the courtyard as soon as you enter the gate. Bypassing the screen wall, there is a hall with four wing rooms, with a moon door on the left and right sides. After passing the hall, there is another very open atrium.
It was mid-winter, and there were only a few dead branches left in the lotus pond in the middle of the atrium. There were only green bamboos and a few blooming red plum trees by the courtyard wall. There is no one to live in, the yard is full of overgrown weeds, first cleared, and then rested, the old slave is in charge, opened a list in the shop, bought some new furniture, and asked the lady to come later It’s time to live more comfortably.”
While talking, Han Bo said again, "The main house at the back is for the miss, the yards on both sides, the wing room on the left is temporarily used as a warehouse, and the wing room on the right is enough for me and Erbao to live in, the kitchen is also in the cross yard on the right .”
Qin Wan thought it was okay, so he didn't say any more. When he entered the room, he saw that the furniture in the room was half new and half was old, but the age could be seen. The room was cleaned spotlessly, and the curtains on all sides were also It was replaced with a new one, although it was not as elegant and refined as Songfengyuan, but it was still like a daughter's residence. Qin Wan knew that Han Bo had good intentions.
After looking at the main house, Qin Wan went to the two courtyards to have a look. After viewing the courtyard, Qin Wan said, "Han Bo, you can live here from tonight onwards. I don't usually come here every day. You live comfortably. That's it."
Han Bo hurriedly nodded, "The old slave knows what Miss means, so don't worry, Miss, the old slave will be there whenever Miss comes over."
Hearing these words, Qin Wan's heart warmed slightly. Han Bo had been the housekeeper of the second bedroom for half his life, and now he knew that Qin Guan could live under the fence of the Hou's Mansion, but he was also worried that Qin Wan would be wronged in the Hou's Mansion.
Qin Wan looked around, then stopped talking, and soon, Bai Ying, who was guarding outside the courtyard, entered the inner courtyard.
"Miss, His Royal Highness has arrived—"
Qin Wan hurriedly said, "Your Highness, please come in."
Han Bo was slightly surprised for a moment, and Er Bao who was standing beside him was also a little surprised.
His Royal Highness? Although Zhongyonghou's Mansion is a Marquis' Mansion, Uncle Han still didn't react when he heard the words His Royal Highness, so Qin Wan said, "I want to talk to His Highness here, don't worry about Uncle Han, you can just step back and rest. "
Han Bo hesitated for a moment, "Erbao, go make tea—"
Han Bo only regarded Yan Chi as a guest, and as if he was afraid that Qin Wan would be rude, Qin Wan laughed and said, "Go, Han Bo, it's okay, there are Poria cocos here, Poco cocos can do these things."
Hearing this, Han Bo retreated with Er Bao, and soon Yan Chi entered the inner courtyard.
After Fu Ling and Bai Ying saluted, Qin Wan brought Yan Chi into the room.
Yan Chi looked at the yard for a moment, "It was cleaned up so soon?"
Qin Wan nodded and got straight to the point, "Is there any change in the Meng Mansion these two days?"
Yan Chi's eyes darkened when he heard the words, "Meng Hui's suspicion is very high. The fourth wife was his only witness for two nights. Since they are husband and wife, this testimony is not complete. He is the only one in the house who practices martial arts."
Speaking of which, Yan Chi continued, "Not only is the holly tree on the side of the third room and the fourth room, but there are also traces by the lake that go to the third room and the fourth room. The murderer left the lake after killing Meng Wei on the fourth night of the lunar new year. , but traces were left on the other side of the lake. All the evidence points to the third and fourth bedrooms, but the third and fourth bedrooms are all elderly and sick. As far as the conditions of committing the crime are concerned, Meng Hui is the only one. Mr. Zheng has already put Meng Hui in prison. He is awaiting trial in the prison of the Lin'an government office."
Qin Wan listened to the corners of her lips pursed slightly. Her most important duty was the autopsy, and the case was just to express her own thoughts. Now the Lin'an government office and the Ministry of Criminal Justice have made inferences based on the evidence they have found, which is normal But thing.
Qin Wan sighed when he heard the words, "There is one thing, I always feel that it has something to do with the Meng Mansion's case, it suddenly occurred to me when I went to the Marquis of Wu'an's Mansion for a banquet today—"
Yan Chi's expression was certain, and when Qin Wan suddenly asked him to come here, he knew there must be something wrong, "Tell me."
"Today, I went to the Marquis of Wu'an's Mansion for a banquet. Mrs. Song also invited a painter to paint. At that time, we were in the Guanyue Tower, looking at my fifth sister's future husband. The painter was painting in the east, and my fifth sister's future husband was from They came from the west, and in the end, the artist’s painting only showed Meilin and us in the Moon Tower, because he didn’t see anyone from the west.”
Yan Chi narrowed his eyes slightly, "Because his sight was blocked by Merlin?"
Qin Wan nodded, "That's right, when he saw us looking downstairs, he thought we were enjoying some scenery, but he didn't know that what we were looking at were people."
Yan Chi frowned slightly, still not knowing what Qin Wan wanted to say.
Qin Wan then continued, "I went to see a doctor for the two Meng Yao brothers and sisters that day. I saw the portraits of Ning Buyi for all of them in Laba that day. You should know about this. I saw a painting at that time. Upstairs in Mingde in the mansion, Meng Zhou and Meng Hui were chatting and laughing at that time, their eyes were all looking away, but Meng Jin's eyes were downcast. Looking at the painting at that time, I only think that the painter probably captured a moment and remembered it in his mind In it, I drew it, and I even felt that Meng Jin could not get involved in the jokes between Meng Zhou and Meng Hui, revealing the infighting in the Meng family, but today I feel that these are secondary. They were looking down at someone downstairs. Meng Yao said that when they were painting, they walked around casually. If the artist had a layout, they would stop for a while for the artist to trace. Let the artist paint. Everyone will show their best. On the bright side, both Meng Zhou and Meng Hui are showing brotherly love, but Meng Jin is attracted by other things? Who is this person who attracted his attention?"
Yan Chi listened, his brows furrowed tighter and tighter, and Qin Wan said again, "We have already said that the dispute over the family property of the Meng family is not necessarily the direct cause of the murder of Meng Wei and his son. Know the inside story."
Yan Chi nodded, "So you think this is our chance to find other inside information?"
Qin Wan nodded, "Those paintings are still in the Meng Mansion, and every scene is drawn according to the real scene of the Meng Mansion, as long as you find all the paintings in the garden and compare them with the surrounding Mingde Building, or, Go ask the painters in the art gallery, and you will know who Meng Jin can see from the angle of lowering his head at that time... Maybe you will find out."
Yan Chiting's eyes lighted up slightly, he didn't expect that Qin Wan's trip to the banquet would yield such rewards, and she would discover the side details of these paintings—
"I know what you mean, I'm going to Meng Mansion right now."
Yan Chi's deep eyes were full of quiet brilliance, "Do you want to go with me?"
Qin Wan smiled and shook his head, "If I go, it will make no sense, you go, if you don't find it, it's okay."
Yan Chi said in a low voice, "You called me here just for this purpose? Will you come here often in the future?"
Qin Wan nodded and shook his head again, "It's urgent, I don't want to waste time, I won't come here often in the future, after all, I can't stay here overnight, but if there is something urgent, I will probably give you a message to meet here."
Knowing Qin Wan's intentions, Yan Chi stepped forward and hugged her before leaving quickly.
…
…
In the Meng Mansion, Meng Yao was very surprised when she learned that His Royal Highness Prince Rui and his son had brought the guards to see the paintings of the Laba Festival, but she still calmly asked someone to take out all the scrolls.
In the front hall of the main courtyard of the Meng Mansion, Yan Chi immediately sat down with his saber across his face, while Meng Zhou stood beside him nervously.
"His Royal Highness, you are very good, why do you want to see the flowers of the Laba Festival?"
During the Laba Festival, the murder case had not yet happened, and those paintings had nothing to do with the murder case anyway.
There was a slight smile on the corner of Yan Chi's lips, but the absurdity clearly didn't reach his eyes, so not only did he not give people a sense of affection, but on the contrary, there was something unpredictable and dangerous, "Don't worry about this Mr. Meng."
Just one sentence blocked Meng Zhou's other questions, and Meng Zhou didn't dare to ask any more. After a while, several nuns around Meng Yao sent the scroll to the front hall.
Yan Chi got up, thinking about what Qin Wan said, and opened all the scrolls one by one.
Soon, Yan Chi found the picture of the three brothers climbing the stairs.
Yan Chi looked at it carefully for a while, put the painting aside, and found out all the garden pictures with characters in everything, and asked Bai Feng and the others to take the paintings, and then ordered Meng Zhou to take him to the Ming Dynasty. De Lou.
"Tell me, when you were painting that day, where were the painters painting?"
Even though he didn't know why Yan Chi wanted to look at the paintings and why he came to Mingde Building, Meng Zhou still didn't dare to disobey Yan Chi's order. The two walked along the road to Mingde Building, and soon they arrived at a gazebo .
Meng Zhou said, "Master Ning was painting in this gazebo at that time, and you can just see Mingde Building from here."
Yan Chi narrowed his eyes, and saw that the gazebo was in a flower garden, and not far away was a hollowed-out flower wall, and Mingde Building stood behind the flower wall. It was not close to Mingde Building, but once As it gets closer, the field of vision becomes narrower, which is naturally not conducive to painting. Yan Chi nodded, and then pointed to the places of several other paintings, "Take me to these places to have a look."
Meng Zhou didn't know why, so he hurriedly took Yan Chi there, but saw that the other paintings were all done between the flower gardens and pavilions around Mingde Building, Yan Chi said again, "These paintings were done at the same time? "
After asking this question, Meng Zhou continued to nod, "That's right, they all took about the same time. The single portrait was drawn while sitting in the main courtyard. For the other garden pictures, everyone was in the west of Mingde Building first. We posed together, and then one master followed our brothers, and the other two masters followed several younger ones and several younger brothers and sisters."
Yan Chi nodded, walked through the positions on the picture one by one, and then wrote down one by one. In the end, he chose to board the Mingde Building. Standing on the Mingde Building, Yan Chi looked downstairs according to Meng Jin's line of sight, and immediately , frowning tightly.
In order to confirm, he opened a few more scrolls and compared them one by one. Finally, he picked up a painting.
In that painting, Mencius and his wife of the third room are standing under a corridor, and the person who painted them is at the other end of the corridor. The two of them are looking at the plum blossom not far away like two people in a painting.
With Meng Jin's sight, the only people who can see are Mencius and Xu, and Meng Zhou said that the painting time is the same, so when Meng Jin was in Mingde Building, Mencius and Xu must also be in the corridor under.
Meng Jin never looked at his frail nephew. The only explanation was that he was looking at Meng Ziyi's beautiful nephew and daughter-in-law, Mrs. Xu. Could it be that Meng Jin's love for Mrs.
Yan Chi's brows became tighter and tighter, almost unbelievable. Meng Ziyi of Sanfang suffered from a stutter and had been injured before. Not only that, but he was not tall, weak and sickly. With him, how could he kill Meng Wei and Meng Jin
"Take these paintings back, you and I know about this, don't let other people know."
After Yan Chi finished speaking, he ordered Bai Feng, "Go to the Lin'an government office and invite Master Zheng and Butou Zhan over here."
Bai Feng took the order to leave, Meng Jin looked at Yan Chi and said nervously, "Your Highness, what happened?"
The corners of Yan Chi's lips twitched slightly, "The case of Meng Jin and his son is not without uncertainty. Right now, I suspect that someone in your house is pretending to be sick. I will give it a try in front of Mr. Zheng later."