The next day, Lu Zheng took Ah Fu and strolled to his eldest brother's yard, but saw that his eldest brother, who should have gone out long ago, was practicing sword in the yard. He put away his sword when he saw him coming. He took the handkerchief handed to him by the maid, wiped the sweat on his face and said, "I heard that you hurt your wrist yesterday? You won't practice calligraphy today. Let me test your knowledge."

Lu Zheng felt bitter and said quickly, "Brother, why don't you go to... ahem, court today?"

Lu Che glanced at him and said, "It's a day off today."

"Oh..." Lu Zheng racked his brains to think of how to escape the fate of taking the exam, and then his savior came.

The eldest sister-in-law Pei came over with her daughter. Lu Che had a son and a daughter. The daughter Lu Zhiyuan was only six years old. She rubbed her sleepy eyes and called her father and uncle obediently. Then she let go of her mother's hand, walked to Lu Zheng, looked up at him, and asked in a soft voice: "Third uncle, are you feeling better?"

The original owner always loved this niece. Lu Zheng couldn't stand such a cute Loli, so he squatted down and said softly: "Bao'er is so good, Third uncle is already well."

Lu Zhiyuan smiled and curved her eyes: "Then wait until Bao'er comes back, Third uncle, you can take Bao'er to play together again."

"Okay... Hey, sister-in-law, are you going out?"

Pei smiled and said, "Yes, my little sister will be leaving tomorrow, and we will go back to make up for her."

Lu Zheng looked at her, then at his elder brother: "Is elder brother going too?"

"Of course."

Lu Che ignored his brother's angry face of being deceived, rubbed his daughter's hair, and said to Pei: "Are all the things ready?"

Pei nodded.

Lu Che said, "Wait for me to change clothes, go to see my parents later, and then go out."

Lu Zheng was still angry, and suddenly saw his elder brother turned his head and said lightly: "Go to my study to read later, I still have to take the test when I come back in the evening."

"Brother..."

Pei pulled her daughter over with a smile, nodded to the two of them, and went in. Lu Che glanced at his brother: "If you pass the test tonight, I will allow you to go out and play."

Lu Zheng's eyes lit up: "Is it a deal?"

"Of course."

Lu Zheng smiled and hurried to the study. You know, he has been here for so long, but he has never been out of the house. Although he has the memories of the original owner, it is not as interesting as seeing it with his own eyes. Lu Che

's study is very simple, and Lu Zheng's desk is placed next to his desk. Pens, ink, paper and inkstone are all ready, and his recent homework is piled up next to it. Fortunately, it should have been moved in just now, and Lu Che has not had time to look at it yet.

Lu Zheng flipped through it and found that the pile of horrible homework was not much better than what he wrote, and he was relieved immediately. After thinking about it, he felt a little embarrassed, so he simply hid the pile of homework. After hiding it, he clapped his hands and straightened up, and began to look at the layout of Lu Che's study.

Yesterday, he was too nervous and didn't take a close look at his brother's study.

Lu Che's study was very regular, with several bookshelves neatly filled with books, and the wide desk was also filled with case files. Lu Zheng went over to flip through it, but he froze when he saw a case file.

"On the third day of the tenth month in the nineteenth year of Yongning, there was a mountain called Baiquan Mountain ten miles south of the capital. There was a temple on the mountain. A woman's body was found. She was strangled to death by a rope. Later, her skin was peeled off and her body was thrown into the temple..."

Lu Zheng finished reading the case file. Although it was written in classical Chinese, the person who wrote it was clear and well-organized. Lu Zheng understood the meaning of it.

The deceased was named Lu Liu. She was a maid of a Jiao who worked in the Ministry of Personnel. She was said to have been missing for a few days. People thought she was a runaway slave and went to Jingzhao Prefecture to report the case. Who knew that two days later, Lu Liu's body was found in the temple on Baiquan Mountain in the suburbs of Beijing. The temple had long been deserted and even the locals seldom visited it. But no one knew why the body was found there. The

person who found the body was a woodcutter who wanted to take a rest in the temple. He saw a figure lying on its side in front of the temple from a distance. When he approached, he was almost scared to death. The woodcutter then reported the case to the police. The prefect of Jingzhao sent a detective and a coroner to investigate the case, but they still had no clue.

According to regulations, the Ministry of Justice only reviews the case, but if there is a strange case that the Jingzhao prefecture cannot solve, it can also be handed over to the Ministry of Justice for investigation.

Lu Zheng found that Lu Che had made a few marks with a pen on the side. He was about to take a closer look when he suddenly heard footsteps outside and the voices of his elder brother and the servant in the study.

Lu Zheng quickly put the case file back to its original place and sat upright in his seat, holding a pen with a serious face, pretending to study hard.

Lu Che had already changed into his going-out clothes. Seeing him shaking his head with a book, he didn't say anything, but reminded the servant not to run around.

Lu Zheng pouted and deliberately read loudly, and didn't breathe a sigh of relief until Lu Che's figure completely left the study. It was just like the scene when he was in high school.

After Lu Che's interruption, Lu Zheng also forgot about the case file. Remembering the bet he made with his elder brother, he quickly opened the book and read it carefully.

The third young master's change of heart shocked everyone in the Duke's Mansion. They thought he was just pretending, but who would have thought that the eldest young master would be reading at the desk when he went out. It was incredible.

When Lu Che came back and heard the report from the servant, he also raised his eyebrows in surprise. After some examination, it was proved that Lu Zheng was not just pretending, but really studied hard.

Lu Che's expression eased, and he rarely smiled at his brother: "Not bad."

Lu Zheng hurriedly said: "Then can I go out to play tomorrow?" Seeing Lu Che's face darken, he said again, "A gentleman's word is as good as his bond!" Lu

Che put down the book and was about to teach him a lesson, when he suddenly saw a servant at the door of the study, and asked: "What's the matter?"

"Sister Bixi, who is beside the old lady, came to tell you that today is the fifteenth day of the lunar month, and asked you and the third young master to go to Fu Shou Tang for dinner."

The rules of the Lu family are that every first and fifteenth day of the lunar month, you must go to Fu Shou Tang of the old lady Lu to eat together. The Duke of Ying's mansion has few people, so it doesn't matter whether you are a man or a woman, and you all eat at a big table. But today, Pei took her daughter to live in her mother's house, so no one reminded Lu Che.

Lu Zheng escaped again and ran to Fu Shou Tang in a hurry.

Lu Che straightened his robe and was about to leave, but suddenly he paused. He found that the case files on his desk seemed to have been moved. He called the servant and asked, "Who else has been in this room today besides the Third Young Master?"

"No one else, Young Master." The servant answered honestly.

Lu Che did not say anything, but lowered his eyes to look at the open case files before walking towards Fushou Hall.

When Lu Che arrived, Old Lady Lu had already made Lu Zheng laugh. Lu Zheng had this talent since he was a child, and he was very much loved by the elders, not to mention that he grew up in front of Old Lady Lu, and was treated as the apple of her eye.

Because Pei and Lu Zhiyuan were not at home, and Lu Che's eldest son Lu Yan was studying at Hengshan Academy and had only been home for a long time, there were only Lu Che and Lu Qing, father and son, staring at each other at the table.

Old Madam Lu took a look and said, "Why hasn't your mother arrived yet?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Yun came in from outside, but her face was still angry.

"I am late, mother, please forgive me."

Mrs. Lu smiled and said, "It's okay. Ask

someone to serve the dishes." After dinner, they drank tea. Mrs. Lu asked Yun, "I saw that you didn't look very well just now. What happened?"

Yun said, "The maid who takes care of the flowers and plants in the yard accused a maid in my yard of stealing my gold hairpin. Nanny Yu took people to check and found that it was indeed stolen. "It was found in the girl's room. This was not a big deal. If she admitted it, she would be punished according to the family rules. But she refused to admit it. I was afraid of upsetting my mother, so I temporarily locked her up in the woodshed and asked the traffickers to take her away to sell her."

Old Madam Lu frowned, "Such a girl with evil intentions cannot be kept. You go and deal with her first."

Yun stood up and said, "Let your wife take her leave first."

"Go ahead."

Yun was about to leave when Lu Zheng suddenly said, "Mother, why don't you listen to the girl's explanation? Maybe it was a misunderstanding."

Lu Che was originally talking to Lu Qing. When they heard him say that, they both looked at Lu Zheng in surprise.

Seeing her son's puzzled look, Yun softened her voice and said, "How could you be so careless, mother? It's just that the golden hairpin was indeed found in her bag. There are witnesses and evidence. How can she deny it?"

According to Yun, the girl's name was Liuzhi, and she was a third-class maid in the courtyard. It was Mrs. Dong, who was in charge of the flowers and plants in the courtyard, who discovered that she had stolen. Mrs. Dong insisted that the golden hairpin was found in Liuzhi's bag, but Liuzhi refused to admit it.

Lu Zheng asked, "Mother, how can you be sure that what Mrs. Dong said is true?"

Yun hesitated and said, "Mother Dong has served in my courtyard for decades. The willow branch was just bought from outside. Naturally, I have to believe Mrs. Dong."

Lu Zheng said, "Mother, can you tell me exactly what Mrs. Dong said?" Yun

nodded to Nanny Yu beside her, and Nanny Yu stepped forward and said, "Mother Dong said that she saw Willow Branch sneaking around that day. , and followed her, and found that she put a golden hairpin in her bag. She felt that the golden hairpin looked familiar, so she told me. I remembered that the golden hairpin that Madam had lost before, and then I knew that it was stolen by Liu Zhi. "

Lu Zheng shook his head: "Mother, this golden hairpin was not stolen by Liu Zhi, I'm afraid that it was framed by this old woman Dong."

As soon as he finished speaking, not only Yun and Madam Lu showed surprised expressions, but even Lu Che and Lu Qing couldn't help but pay attention.

"How did the third brother know?" Lu Che asked.

Lu Zheng said, "Why don't you bring Liu Zhi and Mrs. Dong here? I'll ask them a few questions and the truth will come out."

Nanny Yu turned her eyes to Yun, who nodded slightly and said to Old Lady Lu, "Since Zheng'er said so, why don't you bring them here so that people won't say that our Duke's Mansion wrongly accuses good people." Old Lady Lu

nodded. Lu Qing was originally going to go to the study to discuss things with his eldest son, but seeing this, he was also ready to see what kind of trouble this third son would come up with. He simply didn't get up and just sat there, waiting for Nanny Yu to bring them here.