With a smile in his eyes, Li Chaoge asked directly: "Then what do you want to grab?"
Gu Mingke looked at her and couldn't help laughing: "It depends on what you think."
Someone called them in front of him, Li Chaoge looked away, and glared at him with a half smile and annoyance: "Since you came out to listen, please concentrate and don't be lazy."
Li Chaoge went to the front door to read the handwriting, and Gu Mingke, who was accused of being lazy and paddling, followed slowly. The scene was right in front of him, but Gu Mingke didn't push forward, but just followed Li Chaoge quietly.
Li Chaoge reached out and stroked the paint on the door, and asked, "Is there any handwriting? Is there an extension?"
The housekeeper shook his head: "No?"
Zhang Yanyi was so angry when she saw the writing on the door of her house, how dare the housekeeper and others keep the writing. Naturally, as soon as he found it, he quickly sent someone to wipe it off.
Li Chaoge looked at the vermilion gate and asked, "Is the style of handwriting the same for the past seven days?"
"This villain doesn't know much about it." The butler said, "But on the last day, that is, this morning, the writing on the door was very scribbled, which doesn't look like the previous few days."
Li Chaoge pondered for a while, and asked, "When did today's word appear?"
The housekeeper remembered it very clearly, and he said fluently without having to think about it: "At five o'clock? At two o'clock, after the first wave of morning drums, the concierge ran over and told me that no one was writing tonight. The little one was very happy, and hurried to report Erlang. But before the third wave of drums fell, the people who went out to sweep the floor found that there was another word written on the door."
Li Chaoge asked: "When you went to report to Zhang Yanyi, was there someone at the door?"
The housekeeper felt a little embarrassed, rubbed his hands together and said, "The concierge has done something important, and he is going to ask for a reward in front of Erlang. The others are afraid of being left behind, so they all come here..."
Li Chaoge understood, that is to say, between the first wave and the third wave of the morning drum, there was no guard in front of the gate of the Zhang Mansion. The housekeeper couldn't help muttering at this point: "It's also strange. Even if the concierge wasn't there, the gate of the workshop had already been opened at that time, and there were people walking on the street. If someone pretends to be a ghost, they will be seen by reason. Why does no one know? Know? What exactly is this, and why can it fool so many people’s eyes.”
Li Chaoge stood in front of the door and watched. The door had just been scrubbed this morning, but ink stains were inevitably left in the cracks. Li Chaoge stepped forward to carefully identify the smell of ink. The taste is pungent but not condensed. It is not considered a good ink table, but it seems to be a common commodity that can be seen everywhere. Li Chaoge took a step back and asked, "Is there anyone in your mansion who can read and write?"
The housekeeper shook his head, thinking about it? The Zhang family relied on the younger brother who was a male favorite in the palace to turn around and only made a fortune this year. How could the Zhang family prepare calligraphy for the study. Li Chaoge asked again: "Where are the writings these nights?"
The butler called the concierge, and the two talked and gestured to show Li Chaoge what the characters looked like. Li Chaoge looked at it for a while, and probably understood the height of the person who wrote it.
The clues at the door were almost found, so Li Chaoge went back to Fangmen to ask witnesses. She knocked on the house closest to the gate and asked, "Did you hear any suspicious movements in the past few nights?"
This is a family of five, with parents and three children. When the mother saw that there was an official messenger coming, she hurriedly drove the three children into the house. Father stood at the door and replied respectfully and cautiously, "I never heard of it."
Li Chaoge swept across the yard and asked, "Your family lives next to the square wall, so there should be quite a lot of noise coming and going. You didn't hear anything?"
The children were locked up by their mother, but they still couldn't hold back, and they quietly looked out through the crack of the door. The children's father rubbed his hands, looking tense and restrained: "Caomin sleeps like a dead man at night, and can't hear anything when he falls asleep? No, really not? Have you paid attention to the outside."
The mother lowered her head and never looked at Li Chaoge. Li Chaoge looked towards the main room. When the children in the door saw her, they shrank back timidly, but couldn't help staring at this beautiful official. Seeing Li Chaoge looking at the child, the couple became visibly nervous. The father stammered and said, "My lady, we? We are ordinary people, we don't know anything. The children of the grassroots have never seen the world, so please don't embarrass them."
The attendant at the back listened and snapped: "Bold, do you know who this is?"
Li Chaoge raised his hand and stopped the attendant's words. When she knocked on the door, she only spoke to the government for questioning, and did not reveal her identity, so the family did not know that she was Li Chaoge. Li Chaoge quietly glanced at the couple who were facing an enemy, turned around and went out.
Li Chaoge went on to ask the next family, which was also strange. Neighbors in the neighborhood did not look up and looked down. They would always see some traces of them on weekdays, but none of the families around Zhang's house noticed any movement at night. Li Chaoge asked for a while, but got very little. She gave up, and planned to break through from the inside of Zhang's house faster.
Li Chaoge walked into the side door nearby. She walked in front of the door, raised her head again, and glanced at the tall door wall of the Zhang family.
Zhang Yanyi also knew that she was guilty, so she built the walls of her courtyard extremely high. This height is difficult for ordinary people to climb unless they have learned martial arts.
Li Chaoge beckoned, and the butler immediately ran over and asked attentively, "Princess, what do you want?"
"Is this side door guarded at night?"
"Of course there is?" The butler replied, "Princess, please wait a moment, the little one will call someone over."
The guard at the side door came quickly. The side entrance is not as dignified as the main entrance, and the gatekeeper is just a middle-aged man in a rough old shirt. Li Chaoge glanced over him and asked, "Are you in charge of guarding the side door?"
The gatekeeper saluted unskillfully, shrugged his shoulders and said, "It's a villain."
"During this time, is there anyone going in and out through the side door at night?"
The janitor immediately shook his head: "No?"
Li Chaoge looked at his performance, and asked unhurriedly: "You don't even think about it, just say no?"
The gatekeeper froze. He thought for a while, then stammered and said, "I really didn't see it. It's been cold recently, and this side door is off. Usually, few people come in and out from here. Especially this For a few days, there were always some unclear things writing outside, and there were rumors that the house was haunted, and no one dared to go out after dark. After the villain closed the side door, he would not open it again all night, and no one really entered? out."
Li Chaoge turned around and asked the housekeeper, "There are rumors that your house is haunted?"
The housekeeper smiled awkwardly: "My servant is timid, ignorant, and will be startled at the slightest sign of trouble. There are indeed such gossip among the maids and wives..."
Li Chaoge was noncommittal, she walked slowly in the garden of Zhang Mansion with her hands behind her back. Zhang Yanyi has suddenly become rich, and the house has been built to the utmost luxury, even the garden is very spacious and magnificent. However, their family has a shallow foundation after all, and there is a lot of space in the garden, but there are not many trees.
Li Chaoge walked along the corridor, slowly looking at the bare flower beds on both sides, and asked casually, "Such a large open space can probably bury a lot of things. Has anyone died here before?"
The butler was so frightened that his legs went limp, how could Li Chaoge say such scary things in such a casual tone. The butler forced a smile, and said, "Princess, I'm joking. This house is a treasure house that Erlang paid a high price for Mr. Feng Shui to calculate. How could there be such a thing in the mansion..."
"Dead people and gathering wealth are not contradictory." Li Chaoge said lightly, "Don't you know? The top geomantic treasure site? Use bones to gather energy?"
Li Chaoge really didn't talk nonsense, okay? Under the palace? With so many bones buried in it, isn't it the most powerful magic circle for gathering wealth and power? The power of the emperor's family can gather, let alone ordinary people. The butler was frightened, his face turned pale, and he was completely speechless. Gu Mingke couldn't see it, and said: "Don't talk nonsense, it is a fierce formation that gathers energy with bones, and it will cause endless harm."
Zhang Yanzhi followed behind. Hearing this, he thought of Xing
Li Chaoge snorted and said, "I don't know Fengshui, so go ask Gu Siqing about these things, don't ask me?"
Obviously this topic is very eerie, but when Li Chaoge and Gu Mingke said it, no matter how you look at it, it looks like flirting. Zhang Yanzhi paused for a moment. Even though he was trying his best to find a topic, he still could clearly feel that he couldn't penetrate the two people in front of him.
Zhang Yanzhi looked at Gu Mingke, with unclear meaning: "Gu Siqing came from a family of literature and history, and learned without a teacher? It's amazing enough to know the law. I didn't expect that Gu Siqing could know Fengshui?"
There was no doubt in Zhang Yanzhi's eyes. Everyone said that Gu Mingke had been weak since he was a child, and he was passive and avoiding the world. However, based on Zhang Yanzhi's observations during this period, Gu Mingke did not look like a sick person at all, and many habits belonged to healthy people.
Gu Mingke kept looking at Zhang Yanzhi, nodded and said: "Zhang Fengchen has been praised too much, I? I didn't seek to make progress since I was a child? The books I read are partial and complicated. I know a little about everything, but unfortunately I am not very proficient."
Li Chaoge smiled lightly in front of him, and looked back at him: "You said you are not proficient, do you mean that you were admitted to the first place in Mingfa after a month of preparation?"
Gu Mingke said lightly: "That's a simple question."
Li Chaoge rolled his eyes and didn't want to talk to him. Standing by the side, Zhang Yanzhi felt a subtle feeling of being rejected again.
They were standing very close, but the other two seemed to form a world of their own, and no matter what Zhang Yanzhi did, they couldn't blend in. At this time, someone walked by carrying a bucket. The butler saw it and scolded loudly: "Presumptuous, didn't you see Wulang, Princess Sheng Yuan and Gu Siqing here? Why don't you come over and say hello!"
The strong man who carried the water put down the wooden barrel and bowed to Li Chaoge: "See the princess, Gu Siqing, and Wulang."
This gardener was tall and big, and although his movements of saluting were clumsy, he did the details right. Li Chaoge was curious and asked, "What are you doing here?"
The gardener bowed his head and replied: "Erlang is going to hold a plum appreciation feast, and let the plum blossoms bloom before the year before, and the common people will come and water the plum trees."
After Zhang Yanyi became well-off, she was arty, so she had to imitate the rich families in the capital and hold flower viewing banquets. Their house is newly built, and the soil in the garden has not been stored well, so how can they grow flowers and plants alive. But Zhang Yanyi didn't care, she insisted on holding a flower viewing banquet in the first month, and dug up plum blossoms at a high price, and planted them in her garden by force. Plants are inoculated? There is a certain season, Zhang Yanyi transplants in winter, how can it be possible to bloom.
However, Zhang Yanyi doesn't care about these things? The queen can make all kinds of flowers bloom in winter, why not let plum blossoms bloom? Zhang Yanyi invited a gardener to take care of the flowers and plants day and night. No matter what method she used, she must let the plum blossoms bloom beautifully before the banquet.
Li Chaoge understood Zhang Yanyi's virtues, so he didn't ask any more questions, and waved his hand to let the gardener go. After the tall young man walked away, Li Chaoge stretched out his hand and silently stared at his fingers.
Seeing Li Chaoge's movements, Zhang Yanzhi couldn't help looking at his hands: "Princess, what's wrong?"
Li Chaoge's tone is unhurried, I don't know? I don't know if he is talking to himself or asking someone: "What do you think of a pair of hands that hold a pen all year round?"
Zhang Yanzhi's subordinates became conscious, but Li Chaoge looked at Gu Mingke, stretched out his hand naturally and said, "Give me a look at your hand."
Gu Mingke stretched out his hand and let her look through it. Zhang Yanzhi was stunned, shook his fingers quietly, and secretly put them back to their original positions.
Li Chaoge looked at Gu Mingke's hand over and over, pinching here and there, but Gu Mingke was indifferent and let her play with it. Li Chaoge finally enjoyed playing, let go of his hand, and said: "Sure enough, what is a person's identity? The mouth can lie, but the hand can't. The hand holding the sword and the hand holding the pen all the year round are really different." Same."
Zhang Yanzhi couldn't help asking: "Princess, what's the matter?"
"Nothing." Li Chaoge rolled up his sleeves, looked at the empty garden, and said calmly, "He can write."
It is not uncommon for a gardener who works in a wealthy family to be physically strong, but it is not so common to be able to write. Li Chaoge thought quietly, if he could pick up two buckets of water so big, it would be no problem if he wanted to climb over the square wall.
Zhang Yanzhi looked up at the gardener's back, Li Chaoge called the housekeeper and asked, "What's the name of that man just now?"
The butler frowned, thought about it, and said uncertainly, "It seems to be Shi Xuguang."
"What's the history?"
The butler scratched his head: "I don't know much about this young man, I just remember that he is from the suburbs of Beijing, he is good at farming, and he is also practical and capable, so I recruited him."
Did Li Chaoge express his opinion and asked, "Where does he live?"
"Like the other day laborers, he lives in the house."
"Call his roommate."
"yes."
The butler went to call for someone, and Li Chaoge sat in the pavilion and waited. Soon the other party came over, and Li Chaoge asked, "Are you Shi Xuguang's roommate?"
The roommate was a man in his early twenties, with dark cheeks and a thin body. He looked like he was from the countryside. He was trembling: "Princess Hui, it's me."
The butler next to him widened his eyes: "Bold, how can you call me in front of the princess?"
"All right?" Li Chaoge stopped the butler and said, "It's just a trivial matter, don't worry about it."
The roommate knelt on the ground, trembling uncontrollably: "Princess, please forgive me, the grass people didn't mean it."
"No problem." Li Chaoge asked, "These? Has Tianshi Xuguang ever gone out at night?"
The roommate lowered his neck and shook his head wildly, unable to speak. Li Chaoge raised his eyebrows and asked, "Never?"
The roommate said tremblingly, "Caomin slept like a dead sleeper at night, and didn't find out?"
Li Chaoge asked a few more questions, and seeing that he was so frightened that he couldn't make sense of what he said, he knew that he couldn't ask any more questions, so he sent him back.
After they left, Zhang Yanzhi asked, "Princess, do you think it's this gardener?"
"There is no evidence so far." Li Chaoge stood up on the stone table, and said, "The side door said that no one went out, and the roommate also said that he didn't notice Shi Xuguang leaving. If you don't come in and out through the side door, you can only jump over the wall through the main door. But There were four people guarding the door, and a young man who was in charge of the garden passed by. They couldn't have missed it. Besides, even if Shi Xuguang was lucky that night and happened to find a loophole, how could he know about it in seven nights? ?Concierge shift time, and just dodge every time?"
Zhang Yanzhi was a little confused by these information, and didn't know who it was for a while. Standing in front of the corridor, Li Chaoge smiled suddenly: "Those who have the time to commit crimes don't have the ability to commit crimes, those who have the ability to commit crimes don't have the time to commit crimes, and those who have the most motivation to commit crimes have no action .What a hell, could it be that the case was made by a ghost?"
Gu Mingke folded his cloak, stood at the mouth of Shuo Shuo, and said, "There is no rush to solve the case. If you deliberate slowly, you can always dig out clues. Let's go? Let's go to dinner first."
Zhang Yanzhi moved his eyes and said, "We have prepared hot wine and hot dishes..."
Gu Mingke pulled Li Chaoge back, and smiled politely and distantly at Zhang Yanzhi: "It's not convenient for public officials to accept gifts from the people. Let's go out to eat."
Then, he turned around and asked gently, "What do you want to eat?"
Li Chaoge smiled, "I? I can do whatever, as you like."
Gu Mingke pulled Li Chaoge away in a high-profile way. After he got out, Li Chaoge called the Jinwu Guards and asked them to patrol the gate of Zhang's residence at night. Jin Wuwei is not the same as those impromptu servants in the Zhang Mansion. They are from regular government guards. As soon as Jin Wuwei stood at the gate of Zhang's mansion, no one dared to speak loudly in the street.
Li Chaoge also wanted to see what was playing tricks.
After Li Chaoge finished these, he and Gu Mingke went out for dinner, and then returned to the imperial city together. Li Chaoge stayed at Zhang's house for a long time. After eating, it was already time. Not long after she returned to Zhenyaosi, the bell sounded to retreat.
Li Chaoge went back to the princess mansion and learned that Gu Mingke was in the study. She went into the study and saw Gu Mingke sitting behind a desk with tall scrolls on it.
Li Chaoge sat down at the table, took out a roll and looked at it, and smiled softly: "I? I thought you were really free today."
Gu Mingke made a special trip to Zhang's mansion, accompanied her to ask questions and hang out, and finally went to Nanshi for dinner, basically spending a whole day. During the day, he looked calm and leisurely, but at night, he moved the file back to the mansion to work overtime
Li Chaoge tied the scroll and stuffed it back for him again: "Look at these? Measures, it will be approved until Haishi without talking tonight. Congratulations, take your time."
Falling in love at public expense during the day, staying up late and working overtime without pay at night, this is called swollen face to pretend to be fat, and it deserves it.
Gu Mingke didn't care about Li Chaoge's ridicule. He temporarily finished writing a scroll, put down his pen, and asked, "Are you going to Zhang's house tomorrow?"
Li Chaoge propped his arms on the table, and looked at him with a half-smile: "Why, I can't get bored after staying up all night today, and I still have to do it tomorrow?"
"Ask you something."
Li Chaoge leaned on Ping Shi, loosened his wrist, and said, "Not necessarily. I think there is something wrong with that gardener. I'm going to check him tomorrow."
Shi Xuguang has broad joints and rough palms. His hands are used to doing farm work, but he has a pen callus on his index finger. Li Chaoge knew that there were some scholars from ordinary families who read in the rainy weather. They helped the family plow the land on sunny days and read under the lamp at night and on rainy days. Such a person is very strong, and it is unlikely that he will be a gardener for others.
And he is also the gardener of the Zhang family.
Hearing that Li Chaoge no longer went to Zhang's mansion, Gu Mingke secretly heaved a sigh of relief. That's good, as long as Li Chaoge doesn't go to Zhang's house, Zhang Yanzhi can't catch up with him. Gu Mingke asked: "Where is Shi Xuguang's ancestral home?"
Li Chaoge found out the news in the afternoon. She said, "Qingyun Village, Dayuan County, in the suburbs of Beijing, is backed by Mount Mang and fronted by Luoshui River. It is a fertile land."
Gu Mingke frowned: "There is a certain distance to Mang Mountain, can you go back and forth in one day?"
"It's okay." Li Chaoge didn't care, and said, "If it's too late, I? Just stay in the local area for one night. You don't have to wait for me tomorrow, go home by yourself."
Gu Mingke suddenly had to guard the empty boudoir alone. Seeing Gu Mingke put down the pen, Li Chaoge was surprised and asked, "What's wrong?"
Gu Mingke tidied up the unfinished files and said, "There's no rush, you can take it easy today."
Tomorrow he has ? one night to read the files. In contrast, he should do something ? more important today.
Li Chaoge stared at him in surprise, he didn't know who it was: "You will delay the official business? Is there something urgent?"
"Can't you rest if you're not in a hurry?" Gu Mingke glanced at her and said, "Didn't you say last time that there was a sword move that was incoherent? I? Go with you to have a look."
Li Chaoge turned a corner in dissuading words, and immediately swallowed them back. It's good that Gu Mingke is willing to give her advice, but Gu Mingke is always very busy, and Li Chaoge is embarrassed to delay his business. Now? Now that Gu Mingke took the initiative to mention it, Li Chaoge naturally had nothing to say.
The two of them randomly found an open space to fight. Once Gu Mingke accompanied her to unravel the tricks, Li Chaoge soon broke out in sweat, and the originally stagnant place became smooth. Li Chaoge was in a very happy mood. She went back to the house and changed her clothes. When she came out, she asked the maid and learned that Gu Mingke was painting in the study.
What kind of painting does he have nothing to do? Li Chaoge ran over to have a look, and found that Gu Mingke was drawing a map. Li Chaoge looked at it for a while, and asked, "What are you drawing this for?"
"The Geographical Economics Note is unclear, and there are some problems with the proportions of many places. Let me draw a new one."
At this time, books were mostly transmitted by manual copying, and the text and drawings on the book were easily mistaken, misunderstood or even lost in the repeated copying. It has been noted that the above picture is becoming more and more distorted, and some of them are inconsistent. Gu Mingke's progress was seriously delayed, so he decided to draw an accurate and complete map by himself.
This is not a small project. Li Chaoge sat beside him, helping him to hold a pen and ink, look up information, and check old drawings. While flipping through the map, Li Chaoge asked, "Why do you suddenly want to draw a map?"
"Sure something? Things."
Li Chaoge immediately leaned over: "What's the matter?"
Li Chaoge leaned against Gu Mingke's arm, but Gu Mingke's hand holding the pen was not affected at all. He hung his wrist stably in the air, drew a straight line, and said, "I'm not sure yet, I'll tell you when I find out."
Li Chaoge remembered that last time, she asked Gu Mingke who was burying the bones and setting up the array in the palace. Gu Mingke was silent for a long time, saying that he needed confirmation. When he came back, he was flipping through maps of various places. Could it be that there is something to do with that person
Li Chaoge thought for a while, didn't he? Say no more, quietly give Gu Mingke a hand. The two of them tossed and tossed until late at night, and the maid came to remind them again and again, before the two of them closed the pen.
Seeing the reluctance of the princess and the son-in-law, the maid couldn't help but slander her. The night life of other people's couples is stable and poor, but their princess son-in-law has new tricks every day.
Playing the piano, drawing and painting, competing in martial arts and practicing swords, from piano, chess, calligraphy and painting to astronomy, geography, from mountains and rivers to daily life in the market, the two of them dabble in everything, but they just don't sleep.
Really maddening.
!