Chapter 29 Chapter 29 Why is the Imperial Yellow Queen Mother's meal in Chang'an the most...

The four people here suddenly fell silent. There were two suspects who were suspected of poisoning, both of whom were ladies hidden in high-class families. There was no evidence, and even the Dali Temple could not easily step into the threshold of aristocratic families and take the cousin into jail to await trial.

It was Qingyin who broke the silence first. He asked the maid Huangying for a stack of jute paper and a pair of scissors, then sat down and cut the paper into the shape of a lively butterfly.

He moved his mouth and uttered a long string of strange incantations. The butterfly in his hand suddenly stood up its wings, flapped slowly twice, flew to the ground poisonous insect next to the skylark, circled around it, and then flew outside.

Qingyin folded her arms: "Follow the butterfly."

A few people didn't understand why and followed him. Yuan Shenji rode his chestnut horse that had been with him for many years as usual, while Du Yourong, Duan Zhiwei and Qingyin got on a canopy-covered carriage.

This fragrant carriage should be painted with some kind of paint mixed with agarwood, giving off a smell similar to agarwood water. Duan Zhiwei was allergic to agarwood and sneezed violently several times.

Du Yourong took out a handkerchief from her bosom, on which was embroidered a pattern of green bamboo with gold thread, and she handed it to Duan Zhiwei attentively.

Duan Zhiwei hesitated for a while. The handkerchief looked light and luxurious, and the embroidery was exquisite. It seemed too rough to use it to wipe his nose. Unexpectedly, Du Yourong comforted her considerately, "It's okay. I have many silk handkerchiefs at home. You can use this one."

She is totally different from the arrogant daughter before. She is indeed acting. In order to delay the marriage as long as possible, a kind and gentle lady armed herself and turned herself into a domineering and arrogant girl.

Just for a cicada monster that looks extremely unreliable.

Thinking of this, Duan Zhiwei looked across.

Men and women are strictly prohibited from riding in the same carriage, but since Qingyin turned into the appearance of a putao, no one cared about this.

But Qingyin had no intention of pretending to be a little girl's naivety. He sat there calmly with his eyes closed, his arms crossed, and his body swayed slightly as the carriage moved forward on the yellow earth.

Not to mention Du Yourong, even a random woman from the market would say, "Oh, whose child is this? He looks so lifeless. He doesn't look like a child at all."

After Du Yourong got on the car, except for paying attention to Duan Zhiwei when she sneezed, she stared at Qingyin as if she wanted to say something but stopped herself from doing so. But she opened her mouth several times, and each time it ended in a sigh.

The person opposite him closed his eyes, immersed in his own world.

In Duan Zhiwei's opinion, this is completely a case of: I know you are pretending, I know you know I am pretending, I know you know I know you are pretending...

But no one on either side exposed the truth. As adults, there is no need to explain everything in such detail, otherwise things would not be able to go on and life would not be able to go on.

As the horse neighed, Yuan Shenji pulled the reins and ordered the coachman to stop the carriage.

The butterfly landed at the door of the largest tavern in East Market, and turned into a lifeless paper-cut.

This wine shop is particularly eye-catching in the bustling East Market. On the vermilion beams on both sides are inscribed with "Lanling fine wine tulip, jade bowl with amber light."

Qingyin got out of the car, glanced at the butterfly paper-cut in Yuan Shenji's hand and said, "The person who put the poison is in this tavern." Then she took the lead to enter the tavern.

Duan Zhiwei thought to himself: "You should have said so earlier if you had such a golden finger..."

It was indeed the most famous restaurant in Chang'an City. Duan Zhiwei took a quick glance and saw all kinds of customers. There are strong men with curly beards, well-mannered scholars, blond-haired and blue-eyed merchants with faces like Greek sculptures, and of course, there are also young men from wealthy families who wear gorgeous clothes and spend money lavishly.

The waiters were all smart people. With a quick glance, they saw Yuan Shenji's official boots and Du Yourong's expensive red grass red wide-sleeved dress, and hurriedly welcomed them to the private room with a smile.

Yuan Shenji said: "No need, give us a spot in the corner of the second floor."

The wine doctor was a little surprised, but tactfully did not ask the reason and took them to a corner on the second floor. Although the location was remote, it overlooked the entire restaurant and allowed him to see everyone's words and actions.

Qingyin and Yuan Shenji kept looking around. Duan Zhiwei didn't recognize anyone, so he had to look down at the menu. Seeing the wine doctor waiting there, Du Yourong ordered him to serve a set of white peony tea first.

Qingyin suddenly said, "It's him."

Several people looked up and saw a handsome young man in a crescent-colored robe coming out of the private room, seemingly going to the painting room.

Qingyin stared at him as he left and said, "Pei Yuan's half-brother, Pei Huan."

Yuan Shenji immediately stopped the wine doctor who was delivering the tea and asked who else was in the room. The wine doctor smiled awkwardly and said, "That is the privacy of the diners..."

After receiving a silver ingot, Dr. Jiu immediately changed his tone: "It should be the gentlemen and ladies of the Pei family. They seem to be relatives. They are cousins."

Duan Zhiwei slammed the table and said, "I knew it was her."

Qingyin stood up and called Du Yourong: "Come on, I'll go with you to find out." Then he turned to Yuan Shenji and the others and said, "Wait here."

Du Yourong pretended to be walking in the corridor and happened to meet Pei Huan who was returning from the studio. Naturally, she was invited into the private room. Qingyin transformed into Pu Tao and pretended to be her maid and followed her in.

This arrangement was actually very reasonable. After all, despite the rumors, Du Yourong was still devotedly in love with her cousin. Now that she was about to get married, she should not be with Yuan Shenji.

But Duan Zhiwei was still very curious. The several young men of the Pei family had not yet entered officialdom, and Yuan Shenji probably didn't even know them. How come Qingyin seemed to know the other person's half-brother as if he had passed away?

Duan Zhiwei and Yuan Shenji were the only ones left sitting here, looking at each other in bewilderment. Duan Zhiwei didn't know what to do, so he lowered his head and pretended to look at the menu. Unexpectedly, when he looked closely, he found that a serving of raw duck soup pancake cost more than three hundred yuan. In comparison, his own roast duck was simply doing charity.

She quickly closed the menu.

Yuan Shenji just thought she was quite interesting, so he said: "The entire government office is under the care of your restaurant, Madam Duan, don't worry, just place your order, I will pay."

The food in the canteen of the Nan Ya government office was extremely bad, so Su Qian usually ran to Duan's restaurant early in the morning to buy a dozen Hu Bing or something and brought them over, then paid for the food.

“I don’t feel comfortable with this…” Duan Zhiwei pushed it away, but his stomach growled.

She was called to the Du Mansion early in the morning, and she hurriedly washed the red mud off her hands. She didn't even eat breakfast, and this time she was so hungry that her heart was burning. She had to bite the bullet and change her words: "Thank you very much for the treat, Captain."

Duan Zhiwei decided to waive Yuan Shenji’s meal expenses at Duan’s restaurant for the first quarter.

After comforting herself like this, she opened the menu again without hesitation. Just as she was studying what a single-cage golden milk pastry was, a soft but pleasant female voice came from behind: "It turns out to be Captain Yuan. Long time no see."

They both looked at the same time and saw that the person who was speaking was a woman in a blue skirt with a pearl hairpin and a small orchid hairpin on her head. She looked elegant and pretty. She looked at Yuan Shenji with a blushing face, her eyes filled with endless emotions.

However, Yuan Shenji asked politely but indifferently: "Who are you?"

Duan Zhiwei remembered who she was. When she was at Nanyan Temple, Qujiang Pond and Bazi Niangniang Temple, she was always by Du Yourong's side. She must be Du Yourong's close friend.

The lady's face turned from red to pale, and after a long pause she said, "I am the daughter of Mr. Lu Qiju, my name is Xianglan. Commander, don't you remember me?"

Of course I remember this name. Not only do I remember it, it's like a thunderbolt in my head.

Another suspect has appeared. Duan Zhiwei and Yuan Shenji exchanged glances, and Yuan Shenji stiffly changed his words: "It turned out to be Madam Lu. Have you had lunch yet? Why don't you sit down and eat together?"

Mrs. Lu's face showed some joy at this moment, and she said okay and sat down.

Duan Zhiwei had never observed a suspect before, and she was not good at this, so she lowered her head and focused on ordering dishes: "What is the Imperial Yellow Queen Mother Rice? This name is really impressive."

Yuan Shenji poured her a bowl of sencha and pushed it in front of her: "It's just steamed yellow rice made from corn."

Her fantasy was shattered, and she asked again, "What about the Bright Shrimp?"

Yuan Shenji answered patiently: "It's grilled shrimp."

"It turns out to be grilled shrimp. I like shrimp, so I want this."

"Um."

The two of them were chatting back and forth, and it was clearly a normal conversation, but for some reason they seemed to be intimate with each other.

Lu Xianglan's eyes moved back and forth between the two of them. She retracted her fingers into her sleeves and secretly dug her nails into her flesh.

Single-cup golden milk pastry, imperial yellow queen mother rice, roasted shrimp, longevity porridge...plate after plate of Chang'an specialties were brought to the table by Dr. Wine.

The shrimp was cut in half and smeared with some kind of mayonnaise in the middle. Yuan Shenji handed one to Duan Zhiwei: "It's a little hot, be careful."

The shrimp meat was fresh, very elastic, tender and juicy. Duan Zhiwei liked it very much and called Yuan Shenji and Lu Xianglan: "You guys eat too."

Lu Xianglan gnashed her teeth secretly, but could only pretend to be gentle and said, "This wine shop is the most famous one in the East City. I often come here to eat. I am a little tired of it. You guys can eat here."

After that, she called the wine doctor to order a portion of grilled shrimps: "Although these shrimps are good, there are only two on a plate. It's rare that Madam Duan likes them, so I'll order another portion for you."

The wine doctor quickly brought over another plate of shrimps. This time, Lu Xianglan actually stood up and turned around to take the plate of shrimps. She looked at Duan Zhiwei deeply, then put the plate in front of her and said, "This plate of Guangming grilled shrimps, please enjoy, Madam Duan."

Duan Zhiwei could also clearly see that Madam Lu did not really want to ask her to use the grilled shrimp, and she felt that it was not right to take it, nor was it right not to take it.

Du Yourong and Qingyin suddenly came out of the room. Seeing Lu Xianglan, she was not very surprised. Instead, she enthusiastically pulled her aside to reminisce about the past.

Lu Xianglan was very anxious because she didn't get to see Duan Zhiwei eat the shrimp himself. She could only pretend to be nice and talk to Du Yourong. When she came back, she found that the plate in front of Duan Zhiwei was empty, and she secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Is this what you're looking for?"

Yuan Shenji held the plate of grilled shrimps in his hand, and he made a fire gesture. The plate immediately caught fire. What was terrifying was that several distorted screams came from the flames, and everyone in the restaurant ran out in panic.

Yuan Shenji drew out his cold knife and said, "You poisoned an official with a Gu insect, and murdered him. You wanted to kill his entire family. How evil is your mind? Do you know your crime?"