Chapter 129 An Eagle Flies from the Sky (Two Chapters Combined into One)
Seeing Zhao Shiqing in a daze, Xiao Yao thought she didn't understand, so she crawled in through the dog hole and then crawled back out, her movements done in one go, as smooth as flowing water.
Zhao Shiqing smiled bitterly. If she were ten years younger, maybe she could have gotten through. Unfortunately, she couldn't do that now.
"Monster, let's look for it again."
The little demon looked at her with contempt and turned away.
Fortunately, this time, Xiao Yao came back quickly. This time, Xiao Yao was very sure that she could bring Zhao Shiqing in. If she still couldn't get in, Xiao Yao decided to ignore her for the next month. She was too stupid, so stupid that even a cat couldn't stand it.
Because the manor of Baoqing Marquis's Mansion is separated from the imperial manor by a wall, there has been no major renovation since it was granted. It is impossible for it to be built better than the imperial manor.
And outside the manor, that is, the area under Zhao Shiqing's feet, actually still belongs to the imperial manor.
Therefore, the Baoqing Marquis Mansion did not cut down the trees outside the manor, because these trees belonged to the imperial manor. The place where the little demon found was two towering trees growing side by side.
The little demon quickly climbed up the tree, jumped lightly, and jumped into the manor of Baoqing Marquis.
Zhao Shiqing said to Jiang Han, "You guys stand guard here, we'll be back soon."
Jiang Han wanted to follow, but Zhao Shiqing shook her head. In this situation, it would be more convenient to remain a woman.
She and Lingbo climbed up the tree, and from there they could see the whole of Zhuangzi.
Although this place is also called Zhuangzi, there are neither fields nor tenants. Like Zither Villa, this is just a garden, but it occupies only half the area of Zither Villa.
The little demon was spinning around holding her tail. Her master was so annoying. His tail was not as fun as hers.
After Zhao Shiqing and Ling Bo made sure that there was no one around, they jumped down.
As soon as the two of them stood still, they saw Xiaoguai flying towards them.
Xiaoguai hummed softly and asked Zhao Shiqing and Lingbo to follow it.
Xiaoguai was high above and could see more clearly. It led Zhao Shiqing to a deserted place. After several twists and turns, a while later, the two people, a bird and a cat arrived at a remote courtyard.
This courtyard is in the southwest corner of the manor. Outside the courtyard stood two servants who looked difficult to deal with.
Xiaoguai told Zhao Shiqing that these two people came from the marquis's mansion in the capital.
Xiaoguai can count. Zhao Shiqing taught him that, but he only taught him up to four. For numbers beyond four, he has to count by four.
So now when Xiaoguai told Zhao Shiqing that there were four people inside, Zhao Shiqing knew that there were at least four people inside, and it was very likely that there were more than four.
Xiaoguai made sure that there were no other humans nearby, so Zhao Shiqing let Xiaoyao take the lead.
The two old women were guarding the door. Although they didn't go in, they could guess what was going on in the house. They lowered their voices and gossiped in a low voice.
"I don't know which unlucky girl this is. Oh, right, the old lady wants to kill her. Could it be that this girl is pregnant?"
"Of course not. If she's pregnant, it's just a matter of taking some medicine. There's no need to send out Aunt Niu. Hey, what is that cat playing with?"
They both looked over and saw a cat jumping around and playing with a small ball not far away.
It is not uncommon to have cats in a farm. Cats are used to catch mice in the kitchen and the warehouse. There are also cats in the imperial farm and the farm of the Duke Dingguo next door. Some of them are wild cats. As long as they don't steal food, the people in the farm will not drive them away.
Therefore, it is not surprising to see a cat here, but what is surprising is the ball that the cat is playing with.
The two maids had been in the Marquis's Mansion for more than twenty years. Even if they had not touched those good things, they had seen them.
What the cat was playing with was not a ball, but a bead, a bead the size of a longan!
The two looked at each other and saw greed in each other's eyes.
This bead was most likely dropped by a noble person.
In this area of the farm, all the people coming in and out are noble people.
If this pearl appeared in the marquis's mansion in the capital, the two maids would not dare to take it for themselves even if they picked it up.
But this is not the place, this is Zhuangzi.
Take this pearl to the pawn shop and pawn it, and split it equally between the two of you...
The two exchanged glances and ran towards the cat!
All they had eyes for was the cat and the bead, and they didn't notice that behind them, two slender figures flashed into the yard.
Just when the bead was within reach, the cat suddenly jumped up and kicked the bead far away.
Then the cat leaped up a tree and disappeared.
There were some old furniture and bundles of firewood piled against the wall in the yard. Obviously, this was a firewood yard.
Suddenly, Xiaoguai swooped down and said, "Someone is digging a hole behind us."
Xiaoguai often goes to places like cemeteries and mass graves to play, so he is very sensitive to digging holes.
Zhao Shiqing looked around and thought that the behind Xiaoguai was talking about should be the back of the house.
The little demon came out from nowhere and handed the bead in her mouth to Lingbo, asking Lingbo to keep it for her. This was her toy, given to her by Zhao Yunnuan.
Zhao Shiqing nudged her with her toes: "Go to the back and take a look."
The little demon agreed, and a cat took the lead and rushed out, but soon returned: "That person dug a huge hole."
At this time, a woman's voice came into my ears, and then the door opened from the inside and someone walked out.
Zhao Shiqing and Ling Bo hid behind an old cabinet and saw a man dressed as a guard coming out of the house. He was carrying a bundle of straw mats on his shoulders. Judging from the length and size of the straw mats, there was most likely a corpse inside.
He went around to the back of the house and came back a moment later with a guard who had just been digging a pit. It was obvious that the body had been buried.
The two people entered the house. After a while, a few more people came out of the house, led by a white-haired woman. This old woman should be the Nanny Niu mentioned by the two old women just now.
Following behind Nanny Niu were two young daughters-in-law, one of whom looked somewhat like her and might be her daughter.
As expected, Zhao Shiqing guessed correctly. The four people Xiaoguai mentioned were actually five.
She quickly sorted out her thoughts based on the information she got from Xiaoguai.
Zhu Yu has not returned home in the past few days. He has been staying in this farm.
Then, he suddenly returned home to see Old Madam Wei, who then sent Nanny Niu to the farm.
Nanny Niu was ordered to clean up Zhu Yu's mess.
Of course, the fewer people who know about this kind of thing, the better. Nanny Niu is obviously a trusted confidant of Old Madam Wei, and the two young daughters-in-law who came with Nanny Niu, one is her daughter, and the other, even if not her daughter-in-law, is someone who has a close relationship with her.
These two guards seemed to be trustworthy people.
The mess they came to Zhuangzi to deal with was the corpse that had just been buried.
The neighbor on the left is the manor of Duke Dingguo's Mansion, and the neighbor on the right is the imperial manor. Outside the manor is the territory of the imperial manor, so it is not convenient to deal with the corpse. This is why they buried the corpse in this firewood yard.
Zhao Shiqing sorted out her thoughts. Nanny Niu and her group had already left the yard. The two old women had not found the bead and were gritting their teeth and cursing the cat that was preventing them from getting rich. When they saw Nanny Niu, they immediately fell silent and followed Nanny Niu out of the farm like two quails shrinking their heads.
After they left, Zhao Shiqing went to the place where the bodies were buried. He saw that the place had been cleaned up, the blue bricks had been re-laid, and a few worn-out tables and chairs were piled on top. If you didn't look carefully, you couldn't see any signs that the blue bricks on the ground had been disturbed.
"Second Miss, should we dig out the body and take a look?" Ling Bo asked.
Zhao Shiqing shook her head: "No need, let's go."
It is enough to know that there is a body buried here. Zhao Shiqing does not know how to perform an autopsy, and she has no interest in corpses.
Under Xiaoguai's high-altitude command, the two returned along the same route, reunited with Jiang Han, and returned to the capital together.
When they entered the city, they met a group of people. The leader was a heroic young man in his early twenties with bronze skin. He wore a dark green arrow-sleeved suit and a golden crown that held his hair together with a bead that was bigger than the little demon's toy.
The group of people behind him were dressed differently, like two groups mixed together, one group looked like servants, and the other group looked like people from a government office.
Zhao Shiqing asked Jiang Han, "Have you ever seen the young master who's in charge?"
Jiang Han shook his head. Although this was his third time in the capital, the places he had been to and the people he had met were actually very few.
People like Zhao Shiqing and the others who were entering the city were queuing up, but the Young Master with Arrow Sleeves and his men went straight in.
At this time, Zhao Shiqing heard someone complaining: "Look, we're still waiting in line, but others can go in directly. People are just so different."
Another person said, "What is there to complain about? When other people's ancestors hid Taizu among the cattle, what were your ancestors doing?"
The man refused to accept: "You also said that it was his ancestor, not him."
Another person said, "Although Hero Yan didn't fight on the battlefield like our ancestors, he has captured more criminals than you can count on one hand. Didn't you see how exhausted and hurried Hero Yan looked? He must have been out of town on a case. How could he, after working so hard on a case, give way to you and let you go first? How dare you be so shameless?"
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone in the queue laughed. Although the man was still not convinced, he was too embarrassed to say anything else.
Zhao Shiqing suddenly realized that this person was the famous hero Yan.
The last person who disciplined and accompanied Zhao Tingxuan in his studies was this hero Yan.
Zhao Shiqing had heard of the great name of Hero Yan a long time ago and thought he would be a rough and burly man with a curly beard. Unexpectedly, he not only did not have a curly beard, but also looked quite handsome.
Yes, Miss Zhao Er is a person who likes beauty. No matter whether it is a man or a woman, or an animal or a bird, she will first look at whether it is pretty.
By the time Zhao Shiqing and others entered the city, Yan Daxia and his party had already disappeared.
Zhao Shiqing remembered what Niu Qiu had said yesterday. The reason why Hero Yan led his men out of the capital was because an old lady from the Weiguo Mansion who had been married far away for many years died in Ding'an Mansion, and her granddaughter was missing.
Ding'an Prefecture?
granddaughter?
Zhao Shiqing's heart moved. Ding'an Prefecture was actually not far from the capital, and was even closer to the manor of Baoqing Marquis Mansion.
As for Zhu Yu, he has a long history of bad deeds. Not only is he lustful, but he is also perverted and cruel. He even harms his own sister. Comparing him to a beast is an insult to beasts.
Zhao Shiqing hadn't seen any woman in Hero Yan's entourage just now, and had ruled out the possibility of sending that cousin back to the capital first. So, there was only one answer—
My cousin has not been found, either alive or dead.
Zhao Shiqing had a bold guess: could the missing cousin and the body buried in the manor of Baoqing Marquis be the same person?
Thinking of this, Zhao Shiqing urged his horse to go to the Duke of Weiguo's mansion.
The Duke of Weiguo's Mansion and the Prince of Liang's Mansion are distant relatives. Although Zhao Shiqing could not visit them in person for various reasons after arriving in the capital, she had found out the address of the Duke of Weiguo's Mansion in advance. Therefore, she found the Duke of Weiguo's Mansion without any effort.
But after asking the doorman, I found out that the hero Yan had not returned home, and the people in the Weiguo Mansion did not know that he had returned to the capital.
"Let's go to the Ministry of Justice!"
At Zhao Shiqing's command, several people went back to the Ministry of Justice.
Before they reached the entrance of the Ministry of Justice, they saw a man coming out of the Ministry. The man was wearing dark blue arrow sleeves, and it was none other than Hero Yan!
Zhao Shiqing narrowed her eyes slightly. She took out a charcoal pencil made by her master and a small notebook from the little demon's cloth bag. She tore a piece of paper from the notebook and wrote two lines on it with the charcoal pencil.
She folded the written paper into a square and whistled. Xiaoguai flew over. Zhao Shiqing handed the square to it and patted its head: "Give it to the guy with the bead on his head."
At this time, Yan Xia had already mounted his horse and was walking in the opposite direction of Zhao Shiqing.
This is the imperial city, and horses are not allowed in the imperial city, so Xiaoguai quickly caught up. When it flew over Yan Xia's head, it threw Fang Sheng down.
Yan Xia subconsciously reached out and grabbed Fang Sheng in his hand. When he looked up again, the eagle had already flown away.
Yan Xia did not hesitate. He pulled the reins and stopped the horse by the roadside.
He opened the Fang Sheng and was startled when he saw the words on it. He turned around and saw only his guards behind him.
How did this person know such a secret matter? Moreover, this person actually used an eagle to deliver the letter. Yan Xia had seen carrier pigeons before, but this was the first time he had seen a carrier eagle.
However, none of this matters. What matters is what is on the paper.
A body had just been buried in the firewood courtyard of the manor outside the Baoqing Marquis's mansion. That body was his cousin...
Yan Xia had never met this distant cousin, but he knew that the reason why his aunt brought his cousin to Beijing was to strengthen the relationship between the two families.
And he is the grandson-in-law in the old aunt's mind.
Hearing that the cousin was gentle and quiet, the Duke's wife still had some expectations. Her son was a person who got angry at the slightest provocation, so he should have a gentle and quiet wife to advise him from time to time, so as to prevent him from causing trouble in the heat of the moment.
Yan Xia neither yearned for nor opposed this.
A good man has ambitions to travel far and wide, and Yan Daxia takes it as his responsibility to eliminate violence and protect the good. He has no interest in love affairs, but when he reaches the age to get married, he will not object to his parents worrying about his marriage. As the eldest son of the Duke of Weiguo, it is his responsibility to get married and build a career.
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