Since the thief who stole the painting didn't even take the painting out of the Golden Scale Pavilion, he naturally wouldn't leave. It would be conspicuous for the thief to use Qinggong to climb over the wall in broad daylight, so he might have slipped out through the back door.
When Chu Xinian was checking everyone in the Golden Scale Pavilion just now, he carefully looked at every maid in the room. Finally, he found that in addition to the panicked Xiong Qinglan, there was another maid who was very special.
No, it can't be said to be special, it can be said to be ordinary. The face is so ordinary that I can't remember it no matter how many times I see it.
Light eyebrows, eyes that are neither big nor small, a nose that is neither high nor straight, lips that are neither thick nor thin, it's like a colorless ink painting, you can vaguely see hazy shadows, but it's not clear no matter how you look at it.
Chu Xinian still remembered that Prince Guangping said that the Thousand Faces Thief was very good at disguise, and such an ordinary face was like a natural canvas with excellent conditions for disguise.
He secretly followed the maid and accidentally heard her talking to the housekeeper, saying that she was going to buy embroidered satin. So he asked the driver to drive the carriage to the back door and wait for her.
Xie Jingyuan didn't understand why Chu Xinian was so determined to catch a petty thief. He was talking about the purse, so he couldn't help but say something sarcastic: "Chu Xinian, you are addicted to solving cases. Is it worth it for you to catch a petty thief who stole a painting?"
Chu Xinian said: "General, don't you know 'use her talent but not her power'? Although she is a thief, she has some abilities that are hard to achieve. We might as well use them a little."
His words were full of meaning, but before Xie Jingyuan could figure it out, he saw a maid in pink clothes peeking out from the back door of Prince Guangping's mansion. She had plain features, a round white face, the only color was her dark eyes, and she was about fifteen or sixteen years old.
Xie Jingyuan frowned and found that the woman walked silently and lightly, obviously she was good at Qinggong.
Chu Xinian smiled and said, "General, the fish is out. Can you catch it?"
Xie Jingyuan narrowed his eyes slightly when he heard this, and said unhappily: "You want the general to capture a girl for you?"
He discovered that Chu Xinian had been a little restless recently, and had too many bad relationships. Now, he was even more upset, and he actually let him catch a girl.
Chu Xinian held his hand and advised gently, "This will be very useful. General, please help me."
Xie Jingyuan: “…”
Qianqian, a petty thief who had recently made a name for herself in the capital, felt that she was really unlucky today. Not only did she fail to get the famous painting she had stolen, but she also witnessed a murder for no apparent reason.
Her management activities can be roughly divided into the following two stages:
#Shit, the painting I stole was found#
#Fuck, the maid next to me actually killed#
In summary, she felt that the Guangping Palace was not a good place. Her intuition and experience from years of stealing told her that it was best to leave, and staying would definitely not bring good things.
With the murder, the Guangping Palace was now in chaos and no one could take care of themselves. Qianqian sneaked out from the back door and was about to leave, but before she could reach the corner of the street, her lower back was numb and her acupoints were pressed. Then she was thrown into a carriage while dizzy.
"your."
Xie Jingyuan threw the pink-dressed maid in front of Chu Xinian, frowned and wiped her face with a handkerchief. She was just a petty thief, her Qinggong might be very high, but she was not very good in a real fight, and she was strangled in one move.
Chu Xinian didn't expect Xie Jingyuan to move so quickly, and raised his eyebrows in surprise. He told the driver to drive back home, and then his eyes slowly fell on the pink-dressed woman in front of him.
Qianqian was deeply impressed by Chu Xinian. Wasn't he the one who found the painting today? She was alert and secretly complained that she had walked by the river for so many years, but now her shoes got wet.
Qianqian pretended to be dumb and said, "May I ask why Master Chu arrested me? I am the personal maid of the Prince of Guangping, and I don't know how I have offended you."
The carriage was shaking and had already driven towards the general's mansion.
Chu Xinian still had a gentle and graceful demeanor, slowly looking at her, not angry or annoyed, and said with a smile: "Qing Jia, why do you become a thief?"
Qianqian was startled when she heard this: "I don't understand what you are saying, sir."
Chu Xinian gestured at her bulging sleeves and said, "The girl must have hidden a lot of good things on her body. If she were to hand them over to the prince, what do you think would happen?"
A thief never leaves empty-handed. Since she didn't steal Meng Xiting's paintings, she naturally made up for it from other places, such as stealing some jewelry or something.
Qianqian subconsciously covered her sleeves when she heard that, knowing that she had run into a tough guy. She wanted to run away, but the masked man kept staring at her with a fierce gaze that made her feel cold from head to toe.
Qianqian gritted her teeth and said, "Sir, you didn't capture me just to offer me to the young prince, right? If you have anything to say, just speak up."
Chu Xinian did not answer, and said, "Let's talk about it when we get back home."
Xie Jingyuan's deep gaze slowly moved around Qianqian, staring at her until she felt a chill down her spine. He then smiled softly and said, "He wants to take you back to be his tenth concubine."
Chu Xinian looked over immediately and said, "General, don't talk nonsense."
Xie Jingyuan raised his eyebrows and asked back: "Isn't it?"
Chu Xinian: "Of course not."
No? That's easy.
Xie Jingyuan's eyes finally calmed down, no longer stabbing like a knife. However, Qianqian still didn't feel any better. After the carriage arrived at the general's mansion, she was taken directly to a room for entertaining guests.
It's hard to say whether the surrounding furnishings are good or not, but it's better than the dungeon. There are several guards with strong martial arts skills outside, so it's difficult to fly out.
Chu Xinian was not in a hurry to interrogate her, so he decided to lock her up for a night to temper her temper. The maid helped her change her clothes, and she closed her eyes and lay on the couch to rest. After all, a lot of things happened today, and she was a little exhausted.
Seeing that Chu Xinian seemed to have fallen asleep, Xie Jingyuan walked behind the screen and casually rummaged through the clothes that the other person had taken off. However, after searching everywhere, he couldn't find what he wanted, and he couldn't help feeling a little annoyed.
"Is the General looking for this thing?"
Chu Xinian seemed to have eyes on his back. He rested his head on his head, holding a small purse between his fingers, and waved it at Xie Jingyuan without even blinking, but his voice was full of laughter.
Xie Jingyuan was caught, and it was inevitable that he felt a little embarrassed. He saw that Chu Xinian still kept the purse, gritted his teeth silently, and walked directly to the couch and sat down: "Why, Mr. Chu, are you interested in Mu Aizhi? Do you really want to marry a beautiful girl?"
A pair of narrow eyes stared straight at Chu Xinian, not letting go of any expression on his face.
Chu Xinian, however, answered the question irrelevantly and corrected him: "General, Xinian is the second child in the family, the second son of Chu."
Xie Jingyuan ignored him and took the purse directly, but Chu Xinian didn't let go. They pinched each other and competed silently.
Chu Xinian opened his eyes and whispered with a half-smile, "General, have you forgotten? I said, if you want the purse, you should exchange it for something else."
Xie Jingyuan could snatch it, since Chu Xinian was not as strong as him. But for some reason, he always felt that it was meaningless to snatch it, and it was meaningless to exchange it. It would be better if Chu Xinian was willing to give it to him.
Xie Jingyuan raised his eyebrows coldly, and became even more annoyed: "If I don't change, what will you do?"
Chu Xinian's smile deepened: "If the general does not change it, this purse will naturally belong to me."
As he spoke, he pulled out the purse with a little force, opened it in front of Xie Jingyuan, and asked with interest: "General, do you think there is a letter hidden in it?"
When a woman expresses her love with a hairpin or a sachet, there must be a letter inside to express her love.
When Xie Jingyuan saw Chu Xinian opening his purse, he felt an inexplicable tightness in his heart, but he said sarcastically, "So what if I hid it? You can't touch a broken purse or a broken piece of paper?"
"General, you don't know that what is valuable is not the object, but the intention."
Chu Xinian actually pulled out a piece of letter from his purse. He was just about to open it when his arms suddenly felt heavy and something small hit him. Before he could take a closer look, Xie Jingyuan reached out to him and said coldly, "Give me the purse. I'll exchange it for my jade pendant. You should be satisfied, right?"
Chu Xinian subconsciously handed him his purse.
Xie Jingyuan took the purse and wanted to throw it into the stove to burn it, but he looked down and somehow felt that it was meaningless. He walked into the inner room without saying a word, lay on the bed, closed his eyes and fell asleep.
The curtain slid down, obscuring his figure.
Chu Xinian only saw the object in his arms at this time, and found that it was the jade plaque that Xie Jingyuan wore close to his body, with the words "Lanting" engraved on it. He still remembered that the last time he didn't stare at it for a second longer, the other party was very unhappy and said a lot of threatening words in a sinister way.
Chu Xinian didn't know what secrets were hidden behind this piece of jade, nor did he know what it represented, but he could vaguely guess that this piece of jade was very important to Xie Jingyuan.
In the end, the other party treated him like this
In exchange for a dispensable wallet
Chu Xinian held the still warm jade pendant in his hand, stunned for a long time, then looked at the person lying in the inner room, not knowing what he was thinking, and stood up and walked away quietly.
"General?"
Chu Xinian's voice was low and gentle, just like him, neither anxious nor impatient. He sat down beside the bed and saw Xie Jingyuan with his back to him, so he asked, "Is the general asleep?"
"… "
Xie Jingyuan closed his eyes and said nothing. The purse was thrown casually beside the pillow, looking lonely.
Seeing that he ignored her, Chu Xinian smiled, took off her outer garment, got into the quilt as usual, kept Xie Jingyuan warm, and pulled him into her arms from behind.
Xie Jingyuan frowned and was about to push him away, but Chu Xinian stretched out a finger in front of him. His slender fingertips were wrapped with a red thread, and at the end of the thread was a piece of jade with excellent color. The words "Lanting" were clearly visible.
"Lan...Ting..."
Chu Xinian suddenly read out these two words slowly behind him, causing Xie Jingyuan to freeze. But he continued, "This thing may be a bit heavy for the general, so take it back. I just said it casually, so don't take it seriously."
Xie Jingyuan didn't move.
Chu Xinian thought he was still angry, so he picked up the purse beside the pillow and threw it lightly towards the stove in the room. A puff of green smoke came out and the thing was instantly burned beyond recognition.
Chu Xinian explained: "I didn't think about it, I just felt it was not good to throw away other things casually."
Xie Jingyuan finally spoke and glanced at him: "Then why are you throwing it away?"
Chu Xinian leaned his head against the pillow and glanced at him with a smile: "I'm afraid the general will be unhappy."
After saying this, he handed the jade to Xie Jingyuan and said, "General, take it back."
Xie Jingyuan's back was pressed against Chu Xinian's burning chest, and for a moment he felt the temperature was a little hot. He heard Chu Xinian's explanation, lowered his eyes to hide the expression in his eyes, and said in a hard tone: "Take it, I never take back what I give away."
Chu Xinian looked at the jade pendant and was still a little hesitant: "But..."
"But what but?"
Xie Jingyuan finally turned around and looked at him with an unfriendly look. His fingertips lightly touched Chu Xinian's chest, slowly drew a circle on his dirty part, and said with ill intentions, "If you feel embarrassed to take it for free, how about cutting a piece of meat from your body?"
Chu Xinian felt as if he had missed a beat. He subconsciously held down Xie Jingyuan's movements and suppressed the subtle itch just now: "... General, what do you want to do with my meat? I'm not Tang Monk. Can I stay young if I eat it?"
The piece of jade was right between their fingers, and it felt a little uncomfortable when pressed too hard.
Xie Jingyuan glanced at Chu Xinian and did not answer him. He stared at the jade and said, "Wear it. You cannot take it off without my permission."
Chu Xinian somehow agreed.
Xie Jingyuan: "Also, from now on, you are not allowed to accept money from any woman, any woman."
Chu Xinian smiled and thought this was unreasonable: "What if they insist on throwing it here?"
Xie Jingyuan sneered: "Can't you hit it back?"