Wen Ruo saves people
The next day, Wen Ruo quietly left the house wearing a bamboo hat and came to the vermilion gate again. The cold wind blew open the hat flap, and the guards were probably all sent out to look for someone.
She paused for a moment, then tried pushing the door. The brass ring jingled, but no one opened it.
Wen Ruo coughed, unsure how to get in. Just as she was racking her brains, the door opened, and Xiao Shunzi was startled again when he saw her clothes. He waved his hand and said, "Looking for the young master? You're thoughtful."
"Tell me what's going on. My young master reported the case, and this is what happened." Xiao Shun sighed. "You should talk to your young master. He hasn't slept a wink all night and hasn't had a drop of water."
Wen Ruo saw Qi Guanlan again. Qi Guanlan was pacing back and forth in the hall, with dark circles under his eyes and dry, chapped lips. He was still wearing the same clothes as yesterday. "Why did you come out? Did you sneak out again?"
Wen Ruo sat down, took the tea from him, and looked somewhat guilty: "You're not blaming me?"
"Why blame you? It's still someone else without you." Qi Guanlan forced a smile. "You came all this way just to ask this?"
Wen Ruo breathed a sigh of relief, took a sip of hot tea, and felt her body warm up. "You treated me to dinner, so I'll give you some good news."
Upon hearing this, Qi Guanlan looked at Yun Qing, who immediately understood and quickly left the hall, bringing the prepared dishes to the dining room one by one.
When Wen Ruo first saw the breakfast that Qi Guanlan had mentioned, it was fish porridge, red oil crystal buns, and other dishes that she couldn't name. She guessed that these were the princess's favorite foods.
When the food was served, Qi Guanlan, who had changed into a black brocade robe, strode in. In the time it took Wen Ruo to finish half a bowl of porridge, Qi Guanlan ate his porridge and steamed buns in a few bites. He put down his chopsticks and asked impatiently, "What good news?"
"You'll find out when you get to Dali Temple."
Wen Ruo picked up the straw hat to put it on, but Qi Guanlan snatched it away and threw it on the stool. He then pulled her sleeve and walked outside, saying, "Why are you in such a hurry? Did you go the wrong way?"
"Where are we going?" She had a good memory for directions. Wen Ruo looked down the corridor. This wasn't the back door. Qi Guanlan pushed open the small door. "You should be able to make do with my mother's cloak."
As she had guessed, Wen Ru clung to the door frame, refusing to go in no matter what. Qi Guanlan pried her hands off, saying, "How will you know if it fits if you don't try it on? My mother's height is much taller than mine."
"Yes, I'm short, so my clothes fit me perfectly."
"What good are these thin, gray clothes that look like plaster on a wall?" The reason she caught a cold was because, like the other people in Zhuxi Village, she wore things that looked good but were useless.
Yun Qing shook her head. To prevent him from really ransacking the place and destroying the princess's things, she took it upon herself to make the decision and pulled him to the side room to help him search.
Two brightly colored cloaks were draped over his arms. Qi Guanlan sniffed them and thankfully, they only had a faint scent of incense.
"Young Master, tell me the truth, what do you like about Xi You?"
Qi Guanlan paused for a moment, "At first I thought she was an acquaintance, so I went to talk to her. She disobeyed me, lied to me, and went against me. I was not convinced, so I wanted to deflate her arrogance. When I heard that she was dead, I became a little worried. I couldn't just stand by and watch her die. Is this what liking someone is?"
Seeing his open and honest expression, Yun Qing assumed he wasn't lying. After a moment's thought, she asked, "Between you and your mother, who would you choose?"
"Still need to choose?" Qi Guanlan thought for a moment and said, "Mother."
The princess had to fast for three days to obtain His Majesty's consent before she could marry him. Yun Qing sighed, thinking that the princess's love over the years had not been in vain. He then placed a light blue cloak in her hands and asked, "I heard she became Zhao Heng's woman. Aren't you jealous?"
"She and Zhao Heng got along well from the start, so it's not surprising."
"When the princess returns, I will try to persuade her for you."
"Amitabha." Qi Guanlan put his hands together. "Actually, I don't want to get married at all."
Yun Qing glanced at him, her expression a mixture of annoyance and awkwardness. "You have homosexual tendencies?"
Qi Guanlan covered her mouth, "Aunt Yun, I'm going to throw up."
I misspoke.
As Yun Qing breathed a sigh of relief, a hint of worry rose in his eyes. Could it be that the princess and his father's affair had affected him?
Before long, Qi Guanlan was wearing four or five cloaks. "These are from previous years, I reckon they're about the same size, let her try them on."
Qi Guanlan picked up a pale yellow cloak and draped it over her shoulders. "You came to find me and got sick. Wouldn't Old Man Yi be furious? Do you want to drive him away?"
Wen Ruo raised her eyelids. The brim of the hat was too big, covering most of her face, leaving only a pointed chin. Before she could speak, Qi Guanlan pulled it off for her and changed her into another hat that fit perfectly. She lowered her head and tied the ribbon.
At the morgue of Dali Temple, a group of people waited outside the door. Wen Ruo was still wearing a cloak, her hair was tied up in a man's bun, and she wore a wooden hairpin. From a distance, she looked like a wandering Taoist priest.
Zhao Heng approached with a curious look, scrutinizing the two of them. "You're really gathering information for him?"
He heard that Qi Guanlan had found all the matchmakers in the capital and even sent them to the Dali Temple. He was really curious about what kind of shady business the two of them were up to and why they had summoned him.
"What makes him worthy of you? Why don't you just come with me?"
Qi Guanlan's ears twitched slightly. He turned his face away and said angrily, "We've already got the clay puppet, what are you barking about? You're getting a good deal and you're still acting innocent."
Wen Ruo took it upon herself to exchange information for clay figurines, but in the end, it was all for his sake. It was Zhao Heng who took advantage of the situation, not Wen Ruo's fault.
The coroner has been in there for a long time, and there's still no news. The thought that Xi You might be a fake, and that Wen Ruo actually took his nonsense seriously and gambled on it, makes him uncontrollably nervous.
If Xi You is truly a fraud, then it's a matter of debate who is more innocent, him or Zhao Heng.
After an incense stick had burned, the coroner came out of the room, a mask as thin as a cicada's wing appearing in his hand.
"This was found under the deceased's ear. What I saw at the time was not the deceased's true appearance. Fortunately, Miss Wen reminded me that someone used a special method to disguise the deceased as Xi You. This method is so skillful that I failed to notice it."
"I was also inspired by Young Master Zhao."
Wen Ruo stood quietly to the side, momentarily lost in thought. She regretted not asking clearly about the connection between the Gu worms back then, so that she might have been able to find Tao Yan.
Zhao Heng's face paled. "No, I only heard it from Qi Guanlan."
Qi Guanlan stood there, his hands clenched tightly in his sleeves, cold sweat beading on them. Was Old Master He still alive? What if the matchmaker didn't even recognize him?
The courtyard was filled with red cotton robes of varying shades, each with a red handkerchief wrapped around their palm. All the matchmakers in the capital must be here, except for Wenruo's mother.
He turned his head. Wen Ruo's face was calm, but she secretly moved her feet, leaning her body little by little against the pillar. It looked a bit funny, but it eased his unease.
Is she always this calm?
As the number of people in the courtyard gradually decreased, Wen Ruo watched the matchmaker's departing figure, and her heart began to grow anxious.
Zhao Heng walked around behind her and whispered, "Do you still have your Young Master's Record?"
Wen Ruo glanced at him. The Fang family's marriage was off, but she hadn't seen him go to propose. What was the use of checking everyone in the register? There were still a few young men of similar social standing she hadn't written down. She replied in a low voice, "Shouldn't you ask the Women's Register?"
Zhao Heng pursed his lips, "Pretending to be confused wouldn't be a good idea."
Wen Ruo scoffed, "Young Master Zhao is so clever, why would he need the Young Master's Record? Perhaps he's too afraid?"
She was indeed quick-witted, leaving Zhao Heng speechless. "I'm more interested in you now. Do you want to be with me?"
"Young Master Zhao has many capable men under his command, he doesn't need me, does he?"
Zhao Heng chuckled softly, about to speak, when Qi Guanlan picked up a grand chair with one hand. He tactfully stepped aside and said sarcastically, "You should treat him like an ancestor, right, Young Master Qi?"
"roll."
The courtyard gradually emptied out, and the figures on the ground began to lean towards the door. Qi Guanlan's eyes dimmed. What does it mean that the greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment? His heart beat faster and faster, and a chill ran through his entire body, even down to his bones.
"Sir, this woman's name is Tian Wanwan. She was just brought into the Liu family in the west of the city to become the young master Liu's concubine." A matchmaker excitedly ran out of the house, then quickly covered her chest and gagged.
Wen Ruo raised her head to look at him. Qi Guanlan's eyes were slightly red. He had changed from being nervous and uneasy just now. His fair face was flushed. His voice trembled and he sounded pitiful. However, his face was no longer haggard.
"Neither Xi You nor Tao Qian Zhang."
Tao Yan is definitely alive. Wen Ruo felt relieved for a moment, "So who exactly wants to harm you? Is there another Yang Cong?"
It's not that she's pouring cold water on things; the inability to find the mastermind doesn't mean the danger is still there, and it's far from time to celebrate.
Qi Guanlan's lips tightened into a thin line, and in an instant, he grabbed Zhao Heng's collar, radiating coldness. "Was this a setup by you?"
Zhao Heng raised an eyebrow and slapped his hand away. "You're overthinking it. I'm not doing this for no reason. What good would it do for the Zhao family to go against His Majesty?"
Wen Ruo frowned. "To be honest, after thinking about it carefully, it's hard to say whether Xi You even exists. Did you really not find anyone suspicious at the banquet?"
“Miss Wen is indeed insightful. When I was investigating Yang Cong’s case, I learned that there was no such person in the capital, nor any record of their interactions. I suspect that this person was an imposter. According to the head of the Ministry of Revenue, she did not sign or affix her seal when she acquired the shop on East Street, perhaps because she was worried about exposing her identity.”
“You heard that, Xi You, don’t keep harping on it. I saw it with my own eyes. You started the trouble first. She didn’t offend you. Now that you’re in trouble, it’s Miss Wen who’s helping you out.”
After Zhao Heng finished speaking, he winked at Wen Ruo as if to claim credit. Wen Ruo turned her head away, pretending not to see it. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of the familiar official robe and realized that Lord Zhou's gaze was fixed on the chair beneath her.
Wen Ruo quickly stood up. "This humble subject's health is failing me; I hope Lord Zhou will forgive me."
Zhu Fei suddenly bowed and recounted what had just happened. Zhou Chengnian's expression was unusually serious, and he said sternly:
"Regardless of whether the girl from Xiyou is real or not, why she jumped into the river, why her clothes were changed, and why her appearance was altered, all of this raises questions about whether someone framed her, whether there is a bigger conspiracy behind it, and how this has affected His Majesty's new policies. We cannot be careless."
"Zhu Fei, hand over the cases you have on hand to others, and you will investigate this case on your own."
Zhu Fei said, "The city has been quite unsettled lately. This morning, in addition to the female corpse, several martial arts practitioners also died in Chunshui Lane. These people could leap over rooftops and move without a trace. I suspect that martial arts forces are involved, and the escape of Qian Zhang is just one link in the chain."
Wen Ruo suddenly looked up. "Someone died in Chunshui Lane?"
She had no idea.
"I will investigate this myself!"
Qi Mingshuo walked over from a distance, and Qi Guanlan ran over and hugged him. "I want one too. I want to see who wants to harm me and my mother."
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