Chapter 33 Knife
As he spoke, he opened the small wooden box in his hand, revealing various spices packaged separately. "It's the beginning of summer, so I'm going to make a refreshing and refreshing fragrance for the county lady."
Thinking about what his uncle had just said, Qian Deng raised his hand and moved the spices, saying, "Spices are expensive. I'm afraid it's too expensive for your family."
"That's not necessary. Most of these spices are not expensive. Besides, the Meng family needs the help of the county lady, so they asked me to try my best to curry favor with you." Unexpectedly, Meng Lanxi did not hide anything and spoke naturally.
Qiandeng raised an eyebrow slightly: "Oh? Is there anything I can help you with?"
"It seems to be about tea trade along the Western Silk Road," Meng Lanxi said casually. "The tea produced by the Meng family tea garden is quite famous in the south and the Central Plains, but due to lack of connections, sales in the northwest have always been sporadic. So they wanted me to find out if the county lady has any connections in Kucha and Anxi. If they can hitch a ride on the caravan, the Meng family's tea will surely be sold in the northwest and make a fortune."
"I haven't really paid attention to the trade route," Qian Deng thought, frowning. "Although my grandfather was born in Kucha, I grew up in Chang'an and have no connection with the northwest. It would be better to discuss cooperation with Mingjiu or the Jin family."
Speaking of the Jin family, Qiandeng vaguely remembered that before Jin Tang was murdered, he had mentioned to him that the Jin family wanted to reconnect with the northwest and continue the trade routes. His chest tightened and he felt sad.
But Meng Lanxi shook her head and said, "I'm not going. I've done my best to help them by mentioning this to the county lady. I'm too lazy to do anything else for them."
"Aren't they from your tribe?"
"Yes, but whether the Meng family's business can grow and whether the Meng family can get more benefits, what does it have to do with me?" Meng Lanxi lowered her eyes and said softly, "Back then, the clan ostracized my father, so he had to team up with traveling merchants to the northwest to sell tea for a living. After my parents gave birth to me, they lived in poverty and lacked food and clothing, but they did not help them. Later, a flash flood hit the tea garden and all the land was destroyed. My mother and I stayed at my uncle's house, and we suffered humiliation. In the end, my mother had no choice but to flee with me. Even if the county lady is willing to help me now, if they benefit from it, I will feel sad for my parents and grandmother."
Qian Deng sighed softly, but she could truly understand his feelings: "In that case, if Mr. Meng needs any spices in the future, he can just ask Aunt Xuanji to pay for it. You don't have to owe them a favor for me."
Meng Lanxi smiled at her and said, "Don't worry about me, County Lady. Most of the spices I had before were collected or purchased by my mother when she was teaching me to identify medicinal herbs. They haven't been used up yet."
"So Mr. Meng learned pharmacology from your mother?"
Meng Lanxi nodded. "My mother told me that my grandfather practiced medicine in Shu. Although my mother lost her parents early and fled to the northwest, she kept the medical books left by my grandfather. She also gained the appreciation of a nobleman with her self-taught pharmacology and lived a good life for several years..."
When he spoke of his mother, a layer of sadness clouded his elegant features. Qian Deng, thinking of that pale beauty with deep dimples in her cheeks, also felt a pang of sadness.
Thinking of Ling Tianshui, she subconsciously asked, "So, do you know what happened to your mother when she was stranded in the northwest?"
Meng Lanxi shook her head. "My mother never spoke of the past. Even when I asked her, she wouldn't say anything. She just said it was just the desert sand, nothing special."
Qian Deng understood that Madam Meng was unwilling to talk about the past, so he simply asked, "She's been back in the Central Plains for eighteen years, and she hasn't had any contact with the Northwest since then?"
"Yes..." Meng Lanxi responded, then she was a little surprised, "How did the county lady know that my mother had been back for eighteen years?"
"When you were chosen as my husband, the Ministry of Rites had the files on your parents' situation." She evaded the question casually.
——In fact, the content written by the Ministry of Rites was not detailed.
Every time something happened in the mansion, she and Cui Fufeng would collect and study the details of everyone in detail, so she knew all the remaining husbands of hers very well.
The two of them walked slowly back to their residence along the high wall.
"Is the county lady's foot injury still serious? Do you need me to prepare some medicine for you?"
"It's okay, it's just a slight sting, it's nothing serious."
Qian Deng said this, glancing at his face that was greeting him gently, but what he was thinking in his heart was that eighteen years ago, when Ling Tianshui was six years old, Madam Meng left the northwest, married Meng's father, and gave birth to Meng Lanxi that year.
No wonder he was called a bastard by the Meng family before. After all, he was born too hastily.
This elegant young man seems to have a rather disgraceful background...
The two walked along the way, and when they passed by the gardenia, they stopped at the same time and looked at the pile of new soil.
After staring silently for a moment, Qiandeng turned his gaze and saw Meng Lanxi's sad face.
"Mr. Meng, do you think it was Jin Tang who killed Bai Bai?"
Meng Lanxi shook her head, speaking hesitantly and vaguely, "I don't know... but the dead are gone. Whether it was Baibai who killed him or not, what's the point?"
"Actually, I think that although Jin Tang is a bit willful and doesn't understand the ways of ordinary people, I remember that he wanted to thank me and was willing to run for my husband because I had unintentionally helped Jin Tuan Tuan. I think, if he can cherish his pet so much, he would definitely not harm others."
"Yes, I know what the county lady meant." Meng Lanxi breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I won't blame or resent him anymore. I think someone else must have attacked Bai Bai, and it probably wasn't Jin Tang."
Qiandeng nodded, hoping that he had truly let it go.
She heard footsteps behind her and looked back, only to see Ling Tianshui and Cui Fufeng coming back from outside, both of them looking solemn.
Seeing them coming, Meng Lanxi greeted them: "Ling Sijie, Cui Shaoqing."
Cui Fufeng nodded lightly, and Ling Tianshui just glanced at him, then turned to Qiandeng and gestured with a knife in his hand.
It was a standard-issue sword of the Imperial Guards.
Knowing that they would definitely make a major discovery on this trip, Qiandeng told Meng Lanxi to go back and have a good rest. The three of them dismissed everyone and closed the door in the house to exchange their findings.
"Ling Sijie is familiar with all things military, so we brought the same sword to the Imperial Guards. Since Ji Linyou is away, we secretly swapped the swords he uses in the army."
Hearing Cui Fufeng say this, Qian Deng hesitated a little: "The knife he's used to using will always be different. Won't the guards around him notice it?"
Ling Tianshui pulled out the knife in his hand and placed it on the table: "It's okay, I only changed the blade, the outer sheath is still in the camp. Ji Linyou is not in the army now, so no one will pull out the blade to check it for a while."
Qiandeng took the sword and took a look. Just as Ling Tianshui had said before, the swords of the Royal Guards were long and thick, heavy to hold, with a narrow and long blade. The back of the blade was three points thicker than that of an ordinary knife. The blade narrowed rapidly, and the end was not sharp, but rather a short, blunt arc.
"As the recorder of the Imperial Guard, Ji Linyou will also be arranged to stand guard in front of the palace, so his sword also has a Ruihu decoration." As he spoke, Ling Tianshui slightly tilted the blade to let Qiandeng see the sword light on it that was like water waves.
A pool of green light like clear water passed before my eyes. The extremely smooth light suddenly seemed to be interrupted at some point, jumping and flashing.
"This shows that the blade of this knife has been damaged and repaired, and it is no longer in its original forged-in-one state." Ling Tianshui pointed to a point near the end of the blade and explained it to her in detail.
Cui Fufeng took the copied case file and said, "This is the information we received from the old craftsmen in the Imperial Guard. On the first day after Qingming Festival this year, someone close to Ji Linyou brought this sword to him for repair. He saw that the blade was bent, and the damage was obvious from cutting on copper or iron objects. At the time, he thought to himself, these officers are really bored. Instead of going out for a walk during the holidays, what are they using their swords to cut things? And judging by the damage, it must have been caused by cutting on a thick, hard copper or iron object."
After hearing what the old craftsman said, Cui Fufeng and Ling Tianshui looked at each other, both of them remained calm.
Ling Tianshui raised his hand and flicked the blade. "It's true that the blade was bent last time. It's been repaired now, but the recorder said it feels like it's still missing something."
The old craftsman was full of confidence in his craft. He closed his eyes, pressed his fingers on the blade, and slid his fingertips down quickly along the curve. He shook his head and said, "No, how could there be any problem with the knife I adjusted? The edge is smooth and sharp. Unless I use it to chop copper figures or iron rods, there will be no problem."
Cui Fufeng asked, "So, last time, the knife struck something blunt like copper or iron, which caused this?"
The old craftsman replied without hesitation, "Exactly. This kind of thick-bladed, narrow knife can cut through thin iron sheets, but it's useless against thick, hard objects. Fortunately, the object it's hitting isn't too big, only about two inches square. I've used all my skills and finally restored it to like new."
"Two inches square...a copper beam for a carriage." Upon hearing this, Qiandeng murmured subconsciously.
The cut marks on the bronze beam of Princess Changyi's carriage matched perfectly with the damage on Ji Linyou's sword.
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