Chapter 24 Noodles
The clues in front of her were strange and confusing. Qian Deng knew that there must be reasons for all the unreasonable clues, but she was just a girl and had never been exposed to criminal cases. She knew that the events in front of her must be wrong, but she could not figure it out.
There was only one thing she was sure of - the person who killed her mother must be among the ten candidates for husband.
To avoid alerting the real culprit, Qiandeng ordered Nanyu to remain incarcerated. Nanny Tian was confined to her room, locked away in an iron lock, preventing her from leaving.
Returning to the attic, she took out the album containing the information of the ten candidates and opened it to examine it.
The family backgrounds of the ten men were clearly presented in front of her, and her fingertips passed over each name one by one.
Meng Lanxi...
This seemingly innocent and harmless boy can actually set up traps to harm others without making a sound.
However, he was a god of smoke and water, thin and slender, and his shoulders and arms were not strong.
When her father was teaching her archery, he once joked that Dengdeng's shoulders were so thin and slender. If she wanted to draw a strong bow, she would probably have to practice for many more years than others to thicken her shoulders and back.
When her grandmother and mother heard this, they were horrified. How could their precious daughter be so strong and muscular? Therefore, she did not learn horse riding and archery, and even only learned the basics of wielding the ancestral double spear.
At that time, they all thought that Deng Deng, who was loved and cared for, would live in the glory of the palace all her life and would never encounter any difficulties or obstacles.
Qiandeng took a deep breath, forced himself to think, and turned the page in front of him.
Shi Jingning...
Can a hand that makes such gorgeous patterns hold a bow that kills people?
Qiandeng thought for a moment and then slowly turned him over.
Xue Xiyang...
The slightly upturned peach blossom eyes, the pair of white and slender hands playing "Phoenix Seeking the Phoenix" through the curtain...
Yan Penglai...
A beautiful young man with an ethereal aura, studying scriptures with a pure and unworldly mind...
Shangluo...
A spoiled young man who is still ignorant of the world...
Next page, Su Yunzhong, from Ganzhou.
Her eyes were fixed on the name, and the scene of the archery competition flashed before her eyes. Su Yunzhong subconsciously grasped the bow and arrow with a steady wrist, and the arrow suddenly trembled when it was shot, causing it to miss the target.
Why...was the arrow he shot off target from his heart or was it because he was out of his strength?
Or was there something happening on the court that distracted him?
Qiandeng turned the page, and the person behind him was Nanyu.
Something seemed to open up before her eyes, but more fog emerged, making her fall into deep thought.
The album of ten people handed to her was too simple in its records. Qian Deng thought for a moment and simply went to the front yard to find Cui Fufeng.
Her thoughts were a bit confused, and she was thinking about something, so her steps towards the front yard were a bit unsteady. Just as she turned the corner, she saw Daimao walking forward with a bowl in her hand. Unexpectedly, someone turned out from the opposite direction, and the two almost bumped into each other.
The other person was agile and held up her bowl to prevent it from being knocked over.
When Qiandeng saw that the man was Su Yunzhong, he stood behind the wall and did not move forward.
After the incident in the village, everyone was required not to travel alone, so Su Yunzhong was naturally with Shi Jingning and Shang Luo, who were in the same room with him.
Daimao took the bowl and thanked Su Yunzhong, while Shi Jingning looked down at the bowl and saw a bowl of steaming hot soup noodles topped with a poached egg and a few chives. It looked refreshing yet a little bland.
Shangluo saw Daimao crying and asked, "Why are you crying? Who are you serving this noodle to?"
"Give it to... give it to my brother." Daimao drooped his red and swollen eyes and uttered only a few words, "I scolded my brother in anger, and now he can't even eat..."
Everyone was there when Uncle Fu died, so they naturally knew about her and her brother's story. She had witnessed her father's tragic death, and in a rage, she had spoken without thinking, blaming her brother, Ah Zhong, for letting Uncle Fu deliver food. Ah Zhong, in turn, blamed himself for this, and the two siblings still harbor a grudge.
Shi Jingning looked at the bowl of watery soup noodles and said, "Let me make you some soup. I can make it with turnips and bean sprouts. I think they're in Zhuangzi's kitchen."
"No need, this is my brother's favorite." Daimao raised her elbow to wipe away her tears, still holding the big bowl tightly in her hand. "That's what my mother used to do. Back then, we always grabbed food from each other's bowls..."
Shi Jingning nodded silently and said no more.
Qiandeng saw Su Yunzhong raise his hand, as if he wanted to pat Daimao on the shoulder, but this was obviously inappropriate, so he forced himself to hold it back and clenched his hand into a fist and retracted it.
He looked at Daimao, his eyes full of complicated thoughts. He seemed to be looking at her, but also seemed to be looking at another figure through her body. His voice was low and a little trance-like: "Don't worry, it's you who did it. Brother will definitely like it."
Hawksbill looked up at him, bit her lower lip and nodded.
"After all, you and your sister are the only ones in this world who are connected by blood and can rely on each other forever."
His voice was so low and unclear, but it made Qiandeng in the dark feel like his heart was being stabbed by a needle.
She looked at Daimao who was carrying a bowl towards A Zhong's room, and thought that they, like her, had lost their loved ones.
However, they still have each other to rely on, while Bai Qiandeng has no other blood relative in this world who can let her let go of everything and cry on his shoulder.
Until they walked away, Qiandeng looked up at the dazzling white clouds in the high sky, took a deep breath for a long time, and then he barely suppressed all his grief and continued to walk towards Cui Fufeng's residence.
"When Prince Linhuai left, he mentioned to me that he suspected Nanyu was not the murderer, and that the real murderer should be among the other candidates for husband."
Qian Deng explained his purpose to Cui Fufeng, placed the scroll in his hand on the table, and said, "Now that Nanyu's suspicion has been confirmed to be a forgery, I want to uncover the true culprit behind this. However, I only have this brief list, and Mr. Cui is in charge of this matter at the Ministry of Rites, so I was wondering if you have more detailed information?"
Cui Fufeng said, "Of course, since this matter has been entrusted to me, I know all of your ten husbands. I have visited each of them at home and asked about their basic situations."
Although, as an unmarried man, he was not suitable for this task.
But when he heard his colleagues privately talk about the Lingling County Lady's fate of bringing down her husband, and laughed at the court's selection of husbands for her, and even made bets on who could suppress her sinister fate, the fire and blood of that night appeared in his mind.
The girl, the right half of her face covered in blood, stood before the chaotic army, her unusually bright eyes wide open, facing the unpredictable fate coming.
And he was one of the culprits who changed her destiny.
He went to see the Minister of the Chancellery and took the initiative to take on this hot potato that the Emperor and Empress had entrusted to the Ministry of Rites.
Although it could have been a routine matter, after receiving the preliminary list of over a hundred people, he spent more than a year, in addition to his busy office work, to screen out thirty-six people one by one, and then visited them one by one, taking into account various factors, before finalizing the final list of ten people.
So he might be the person in the world who knows her ten potential husbands best.
After scanning the information about Su Yunzhong that she spread out, Cui Fufeng quickly recalled the situations he had visited.
"Su Yunzhong is originally from Ganzhou. Twenty years ago, his family moved to Beijing. They have a very good reputation among their neighbors. Many of the Su family's ancestors served in the government, but their current generation has fallen on hard times, even to the point of poverty. Therefore, Su Yunzhong didn't have much education. However, he has a chivalrous spirit. Two years ago, he helped the government capture a gang of bandits. After being commended and recommended, he is now serving as a clerk in the Left Guard."
He came to participate in the selection of her husband for obvious reasons—
His family was in a difficult situation, he had a menial job with no future, and his parents couldn't even raise the dowry, so it would be difficult for him to get married and have children.
Therefore, even if he was faced with the mockery of the whole capital city for having no relatives who could bring bad luck to his husband, as long as he married her, he would have a clear marriage, a smooth official career, the wealth and glory of the royal palace... at least he would avoid forty years of detours.
However, Qiandeng was not surprised nor did he feel uncomfortable.
After all, most of these ten people came with this purpose.
The scene that Su Yunzhong had just asked Daimao and his brother appeared in front of her eyes. Somehow, her heart suddenly moved.
When he was in the palace, Su Yunzhong had a dispute with Jin Tang because of his sister.
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