Chapter 57: The Fox and the Rabbit
As the county lady walked out of the corridor, Ji Linyou heard footsteps behind her. It was Jin Tang, carrying the basket containing the fox, who flashed out from the corridor and looked around.
"Brother Jin, what are you doing so sneaky?" Ji Linyou couldn't help but laugh. He turned around and raised his hand to flick the fox's head in the basket. "Tsk, no wonder others say Xue Xiyang is a vixen. This little fox really looks a bit like him."
"Don't move. You martial artists have strong hands. Don't hurt my fox." Jin Tang hid the basket behind him. Seeing that he was alone in the corridor, he pointed at the Yilan Pavilion and smiled mysteriously, "Do you want to watch the show?"
Ji Linyou raised his eyebrows and made a "please" gesture: "With a powerful man like my cousin here, you dare to make a move in Yilan Pavilion with your small body?"
"Oh, of course I won't do it, but I heard from the hunter that this little fox is very obedient after being trained." As he said that, he put the basket on the ground, pointed to the rabbit cage under the camellia tree in Yilan Pavilion, and patted its butt.
The little white fox flicked its tail, jumped out of the basket, leaped over the stepping stone, and ran under the camellia tree. It circled the rabbit cage half a circle, then stretched out its mouth and pried open the rabbit cage.
Ji Linyou was amazed: "This clever little guy is indeed a fox!"
"Hmph, this Meng Lanxi, he's always holding a rabbit to please the county lady. It really annoys me!" Jin Tang watched happily as the little white fox crawled into the cage and pounced on the rabbit, grinning smugly, "Now I wonder how he can use the rabbit to curry favor with the county lady!"
The white rabbit jumped out of the cage and fled in panic on the grass under the flower tree. The little white fox behind it chased it relentlessly and blocked it at the spring in a few steps. Just as it was about to pounce on it and bite it, a slender figure appeared from behind the flower tree, grabbed the rabbit's neck, lifted it up and held it in its arms.
Upon seeing that figure, Jin Tang's breath caught in his throat, his face flushed crimson, and he hurried over, stammering, "County Lady, I don't know how this fox disappeared without a trace... I was looking for it everywhere, and it turns out it was bullying the rabbits here!"
It was Qiandeng who had just turned around the corridor. She had not gone far yet, but when she heard the noise, she came over to take a look.
Ji Linyou gave Jin Tang a disdainful look and walked over to greet him, "County Lady."
Ling Tianshui and Meng Lanxi in the house noticed the noise outside and came out. Seeing this situation, Meng Lanxi pursed her lips silently, not knowing what had happened.
Qiandeng soothed the trembling white rabbit in his arms, then looked down at the little white fox that was circling around his feet and said, "Jin Langjun, please take good care of your fox. After all, the rabbit is weak and may be hurt by it."
"Yes, I was careless for a moment." Jin Tang quickly picked up the little white fox and let it touch the rabbit with its nose. He said to it as if teaching a child, "Listen to the county lady's words, remember? Get along well with the rabbit and don't bully it..."
Before he could finish his words, the little white fox opened its mouth and bit the rabbit's ear hard.
Qiandeng was startled and quickly signaled Jintang to take the little white fox away.
Jintang hurriedly pulled the white fox back, but it kept biting the rabbit's ear, causing the rabbit to kick around in pain.
Seeing that the rabbit's ears were about to be torn off, Ling Tianshui reached out, pinched the fox's mouth, forced it to open its mouth, and finally let go of the rabbit's ears.
Qiandeng fiddled with the rabbit's ears and found that they had been pierced by teeth, and the snow-white fur was covered with bloodstains.
Meng Lanxi silently hugged the white rabbit and stared at the fox in Jintang's hand, her face full of heartache and sorrow.
Qiandeng gently rubbed the trembling rabbit, and Meng Lanxi looked up at her, her voice slightly hoarse, "Don't worry, County Lady, I'll bandage it... This wound is similar to the one Princess Changyi inflicted on it last time at the mountain mausoleum. It should heal soon."
Hearing the words Princess Changyi, Qiandeng immediately remembered how she was aggressive in the palace and tried to push him into a dead end.
A surge of unbearable irritation welled up in her heart, and she immediately said to Jin Tang, "This fox is so ferocious, I'm afraid it's not suitable to stay in the backyard. Why don't you send it back and send someone to properly train it."
Jin Tang stared at Meng Lanxi in embarrassment, hugged the little white fox tightly, and blurted out: "But County Princess, my snow fox is rare and precious. There is only one in Chang'an. Isn't it very popular with you? But that, that wild rabbit is everywhere in the mountains and plains. It should be thrown out!"
Qian Deng silently shook his head and whispered, "A lonely white rabbit, wandering east and west, its clothes are never as good as new, and its friends are never as good as old. Mr. Jin, this rabbit has been with me during my most difficult times."
Jin Tang stood there in a daze for a long time before he nodded woodenly.
After Qiandeng turned and left, he came to his senses, pinched the fox's mouth angrily, and cursed with gritted teeth: "Little beast, you killed me!"
A soft laugh came from the side, and Meng Lanxi's clear and calm voice was lowered to a low voice: "Didn't you command the little fox to do the bad things? Why do you blame it for the mess?"
Jin Tang opened his mouth, finally understood, and subconsciously gritted his teeth: "Asshole, you... you just realized that the fox was going to catch your rabbit!"
"Not only that, I even noticed the county lady coming over." He was playing with the rabbit's bitten ear in a carefree manner. As they passed by, he whispered in his ear, "Picking up my leftovers is so boring. I hope Young Master Jin comes up with something new. Maybe the county lady will be impressed by you."
Jin Tang was so angry that his body was shaking. He wanted to throw the fox in his hand at his face and scratch him until his face was covered with blood.
Ji Linyou patted his shoulder sympathetically, then looked at Meng Lanxi's leisurely departing figure, clicked his tongue twice, and was about to leave when Jin Tang angrily threw the basket containing the little white fox to the ground and chased after Qiandeng: "County Lady, I have something important to report regarding Shi Jingning's death!"
He was so angry that his voice was so loud that not only Qiandeng, who had already walked out of the Yilan Pavilion, stopped, but even Meng Lanxi and Ling Tianshui, who were returning to the house, heard it and went back to the corridor to look at him.
Jin Tang pointed at Meng Lanxi and shouted, "Before Shi Jingning died, he was holding rabbit meat in his hands! County Master, I heard from the kitchen staff that you don't eat rabbit meat. But why did Shi Jingning choose rabbits from the pen when he was clearly preparing food for you?"
Qian Deng walked back, his eyes flickering slightly: "How did you know that the broken bones in Shi Jingning's hand were from a rabbit?"
"The kitchen isn't far from the animal pen, where they keep the game just delivered from the farm. They were all killed by the fire, but the sizes are pretty much the same. When my workers were cleaning up, Doctor Jiang from the mansion came to see them and asked them to help find some calcined sheep and deer bones for use as medicine," Jin Tang said anxiously. "I even accompanied Doctor Jiang to look for bones, and he told me it was strange. All the other game sent from the farm came in pairs, but why were the rabbits the only ones that came in odd numbers, not pairs?"
Qian Deng's gaze fell thoughtfully on the rabbit in Meng Lanxi's arms: "In previous years, the rabbits in Zhuangzi were indeed sent in pairs."
"Yes, I also thought this was strange, so I paid attention to it at the time. After asking around, I discovered that the only thing missing from the animal pen was a rabbit. When Shi Jingning died, there was a small animal left next to his body. Its size and shape were exactly like a rabbit!"
That day, when Qiandeng was inspecting the kitchen traces, Jintang was talking nonsense to Shangluo behind his back. After being discovered by Qiandeng, he regretted it ever since. Therefore, after noticing something unusual from Doctor Jiang, he hurriedly paid attention to everything, hoping to share the worries of the county lady, to make up for his image in her heart, and let her see that he was not a useless playboy.
"County Lady, when I was renovating the house, I asked everyone in the kitchen, and they all said you never eat rabbit," Jin Tang said, pointing angrily at Meng Lanxi. "Then why did Shi Jingning catch a rabbit before he died? I've been thinking about it, could he be implying that the murderer had a rabbit?"
Everyone's eyes turned to Meng Lanxi and the rabbit in his arms.
Meng Lanxi continued to stroke the rabbit gently, only smiled and asked, "Why, Jin Langjun is so concerned about this rabbit that he even wants to involve it in the murder case?"
"Hmph, originally, I didn't have any solid evidence, so although I was suspicious, I only paid close attention. But now you're so arrogant and act like a mean person, I can't bear it anymore!" Jin Tang turned to Qian Deng and loudly accused him, "County Lady, it must be him! Besides him, who else in the mansion holds a rabbit every day?"
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