Chapter 348 Bookshelf
Early in the morning, Zhu Lan took Chu Xin to the Dali Temple to meet Si Ying, and then returned to Chu Xiuning's house again.
Looking at the seal on Chu Xiuning's courtyard door, Chu Xin's expression was somewhat sad.
An officer from the Dali Temple was guarding the door and stopped the two men.
"This is the scene of a murder. The case has not yet been concluded. Outsiders are not allowed to enter."
Zhu Lan took out the special warrant he had just received from Si Ying. The officer took a look at it and said nothing more. He quickly tore off the seal on the door and followed the two of them in.
"Sister Zhuangyuan, do you think we have missed something before?" Chu Xin asked softly, looking at the familiar scenery in the courtyard.
Zhu Lan nodded.
Yes, she felt that she must have missed something last time.
She reviewed the whole incident again and found one thing that was very strange - that was Chu Xiuning's position.
First of all, Chu Xiuning was the personal maid of Concubine Lan at that time. Judging from her state when she last talked to her before her death, she was very loyal to Concubine Lan.
Then, since Yan Xiuyun is Concubine Lan’s biological son, Chu Xiuning should have tried her best to protect him.
Chu Xiuning mentioned a book at the end. According to the mysterious note he obtained later, the book was "Collected Annotations of Various Philosophers", which recorded the evidence proving that Yan Xiuyun was the real prince. This is also the reason why Zhu Lan decided to go to Xiangyang County based on the clues in "Collected Annotations of Various Philosophers".
But the final result was completely beyond her expectations - the clues brought by the Jin couple, or the Chen mother and daughter, not only could not prove that Yan Xiuyun was the real prince, but the answer was even completely the opposite.
It almost completely means that Yan Xiuyun is Chen Zao!
As Concubine Lan's man, why would Chu Xiuning suggest that she should dig out such a clue that would be almost fatal to Yan Xiuyun?
In any case, Chu Xiuning had no reason to harm Yan Xiuyun.
After confirming this, Zhu Lan had another association -
What if the book that Chu Xiuning was referring to was not "Collected Commentaries on the Philosophers"?
Then she recalled another detail, that is, when Chu Xiuning mentioned the "book", she suddenly stood up and seemed to be walking somewhere, but soon she fainted and lost consciousness.
Recalling Chu Xiuning's actions at that time, Zhu Lan felt more and more...she seemed to stand up and want to get something.
And could it be that the murderer hid in the house because of that thing?
Zhu Lan wasn't sure, but she wanted to give it a try.
Zhu Lan brought Chu Xin into Chu Xiuning's room. The bloody smell in the room had long since dissipated, replaced by a faint musty smell.
The officer behind him waved his hand with some disdain, walked forward and opened the window to ventilate, and the sunlight outside the window shone in, and the room suddenly became much brighter.
Zhu Lan's gaze quickly fixed on a bookshelf in the room.
The bookshelf was so large that it almost filled the entire front wall.
The place where Zhu Lan and Chu Xiuning were talking was not far from the bookshelf, and the direction Chu Xiuning faced when he stood up was exactly this bookshelf.
After she mentioned the "book", she seemed to want to walk towards this bookshelf. Does this mean...
Zhu Lan's eyes narrowed and he walked straight towards the bookshelf.
There are four layers of bookshelves, with a lot of books on them, ranging from poetry to law, and even some valuable ancient books.
There are so many books, even if Zhu Lan has a photographic memory and can read ten lines at a glance, it will still take a long time to finish reading them.
She turned and asked the officer if she could take the books away.
"No." The officer answered firmly, saying that nothing at the crime scene could be taken away at will before the case was closed.
He also told them that they could check it but had to put it back where it was and he would be watching.
Zhu Lan learned from Chu Xin that Chu Xiuning was a person who loved reading. Perhaps because he had been influenced by Concubine Lan for many years, Chu Xiuning was also well-read and talented.
Another point is that she seems to have some obsessive-compulsive disorder.
The furnishings in this house are almost exactly the same as those in the He Mansion and in Chu Xiuning's house in his hometown of Tongzhou.
For example, the position of the incense burner on the table, the direction of the spout of the teapot after pouring water, etc., all need to be consistent.
Zhu Lan started from the top row of the bookshelf and looked through the names of each book one by one until he had roughly looked through all the books on the entire shelf, but did not find any strange books.
She took two steps back and began to look at the bookshelf as a whole, very carefully.
When I just glanced at the title of the book, I seemed to feel that there was something odd, but Zhu Lan couldn't put his finger on it.
She frowned in thought, trying to catch the weirdness in her mind.
Seeing that Zhu Lan didn't say anything, Chu Xin didn't disturb him. He was also curious about the books on the bookshelf, so he took a book from the third shelf.
He flipped through it, seemed to have no interest in the contents, and put it back where it was.
She picked up another book at random, still from the third layer.
"Wait." Zhu Lan spoke suddenly, startling Chu Xin, who turned around to look at her.
"Why did you only take books from the third floor?" Zhu Lan suddenly asked her.
"Ah." Chu Xin was stunned for a moment, as if he found Zhu Lan's question very strange.
She looked back at the bookshelf again, a little confused:
"Because it's convenient."
"No..." Zhu Lan murmured and shook his head, then walked back to the bookshelf.
Because of Chu Xin's height, when she stood in front of the bookshelf, her eyes were level with the third shelf, and she would subconsciously look at the books that were easiest for her to see first.
Just like when people arrange their bookshelves, they will put the books they read most often in the most eye-catching and easiest to reach position.
Zhu Lan recalled that Chu Xiuning was about the same height as himself. Standing in front of the bookshelf and looking up slightly, the easiest thing to see should be the fourth layer of the bookshelf, which is the top layer.
Chu Xiuning has obsessive-compulsive disorder. Even if she moves, she will try her best to ensure that the positions of the books on the bookshelf do not change.
The books on the fourth shelf are obviously older than those on the three shelves below, which illustrates this point, because these are the books that Chu Xiuning reads most often.
Zhu Lan's eyes fell on one of the books, and his gaze suddenly focused——
Yes, she understood why she had that strange feeling just now!
Among the books on the four layers of the bookshelf, this is the only one that is very new. It is obviously rarely read, but it is placed in the most conspicuous position.
There must be something fishy!
Zhu Lan took out the book again without hesitation.
The book looks old, the paper is a little yellowed, but there are no wrinkles.
This time, the mark on the book is obviously much more straightforward than what is implied in the "Collected Annotations of Various Philosophers" -
Because one of the pages was folded up.
This book records the origins of some titles in Daliang. Zhu Lan turned directly to the page with a folded corner.
The content of this page is about the Ning'an Marquis' Mansion.
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