Chapter 16 Chapter 16 The gray clouds hang low...
Gray clouds are hanging low, the air is filled with a faint earthy smell, and the air becomes cooler with each autumn rain.
Hezhou was woken up by the cold. He half-closed his eyes and touched the thin quilt spread at the end of the bed to cover himself and Xie Xunzhi.
After a while, a cold hand was placed on his forehead.
He grabbed Xie Xunzhi's hand and pulled it to his chest, asking in a sticky tone, "What's wrong?"
"It's time to get up... We have to go to Chen's house soon..." Xie Xunzhi's voice was also unclear.
The two of them held the jade pendant and discussed it until very late last night. The content ranged from how to investigate the case to why the Chen family was so rich.
It was not until midnight when the roosters started crowing that the two of them went to bed.
Today is another rare cloudy day, but the perfect temperature and brightness make Hezhou not want to move at all.
He turned over and hugged Xie Xunzhi, whispering, "Just sleep a little longer and then get up..."
After a while, Hezhou was pushed up while half asleep. Xie Xunzhi sat cross-legged behind him. "Brother He, you sleep sitting up and I will tie your hair for you."
"Thank you for your hard work." Hezhou suppressed his sleepiness and started to clean up. By the time he finished washing up, Xie Xunzhi had already prepared dinner.
I cooked multi-grain porridge, pickles, spring rolls and lotus seeds and ate them outside.
Xie Xunzhi was holding the rice bowl and eating slowly. "We will first find the Third Madam to determine the approximate time when the jade pendant was lost."
Hezhou nodded, a question popping up in his mind. He looked at Xie Xunzhi with a puzzled tone, "Xunzhi, how much do you think this jade pendant is worth?"
Xie Xunzhi lowered his head and said, "According to the Chen family's situation, it would cost at least ten strings of cash."
"That's fine. I'll buy you one that day." Hezhou took two mouthfuls of rice.
He vaguely remembered that in the novels he had read before, all ancient people wore a jade pendant, and it seemed that jade pendants were also of vital importance in apocalyptic literature.
When Zhao An came before, he also wore a jade pendant, and his temperament was much better.
"Ah?" Xie Xunzhi opened his mouth in astonishment, then laughed out loud, "That's good of you to have such a good intention. Let's earn Mr. Chen's exorbitant price of 200 coins first."
"I feel energetic!" Hezhou finished the last bit of rice in the bowl, and a light flashed in his eyes.
Xie Xunzhi shook his head and smiled.
After dinner, Hezhou came to Chen's house. The two first observed the area near the west corner gate.
The outside wasn't freshly painted, there was some dust on the floor, and the door didn't look like it was often visited.
The west corner gate is next to the main gate, and the surrounding area is clean and tidy, with no dog holes or signs of climbing over the wall.
"We still need to investigate from within. Go and knock on the door." Xie Xunzhi looked at him.
"Got it!" Hezhou raised the corner of his mouth, snapped his fingers, walked to the door and knocked.
After just a moment, the door opened, and two servants were standing behind the door, looking puzzled.
"Who are you looking for?"
Hezhou looked unfamiliar, not the same two as yesterday, and explained, "We are here to help check the jade pendant. Just inform the manager."
"Okay, just wait here." The servant scratched his head, looking puzzled.
He glanced at the person next to him who was running away, mumbling something.
Hezhou stood at the door and looked inside, looking more carefully during the day.
Soon, the butler, wearing a white robe, came over with a smile, followed by the servant.
"Sir, you're early!"
He smiled at the two of them first, then stood in front of the door with his arms around him, and yelled at the two servants, "This is the new Master He! You don't even recognize him!"
The two men lowered their heads and leaned against the door without saying a word.
"Hey! It's normal not to know each other. I didn't do anything. Don't make things difficult for them." Hezhou waved his hand, a hint of sarcasm flashing in his eyes.
He tilted his head and nodded inside. "Could you please lead the way? I'd like to ask when the Third Madam's jade pendant was lost?"
"Hey! Come with me." The butler waved his sleeves as a gesture of invitation.
Hezhou nodded happily and walked in.
The housekeeper took them around the corridor in the courtyard.
"By the way, sir, my Third Lady likes to be lively and go out. Maybe she dropped the jade pendant while she was out playing. Has anyone... reported it to the police?"
"Not at the moment. You've searched everywhere more than once, right? If someone has reported it, how could I not tell them?" Hezhou said in a frivolous tone.
He walked in the yard and looked around. The yard was more luxurious than what he saw at night. People passing by would look at him with curiosity.
The housekeeper chuckled softly and said, "Your Excellency is right. Thank you for your trouble!"
"You're welcome! Mr. Chen invited Xunzhi, and I'm just an errand boy." Hezhou reached out and embraced Xie Xunzhi.
He put his arm on Xie Xunzhi's shoulder and raised an eyebrow. "What do you think about Detective Xie's salary?"
Xie Xunzhi raised the corner of his mouth. "I don't really care. If I say I don't have any, will Lord He quit now?"
Hezhou chuckled. "How could that be? Am I that heartless person? I just like to serve the people!"
After chatting and laughing for a while, they walked to the west courtyard. In addition to the familiar fragrance of flowers, the sound of women playing could be heard in the courtyard.
The butler stopped in front of the door and said, "Sir, wait a moment while I go and make an announcement."
Hezhou nodded, his hand still on Xie Xunzhi, his fingers entangled with the scattered black hair.
The cool and smooth touch from his fingertips always gave him an inexplicable sense of satisfaction.
Xie Xunzhi leaned in and whispered softly, "Come and ask him later when he last wore the jade pendant. Has anyone seen it before..."
Seeing that he didn't react, Xie Xunzhi poked Hezhou's waist and said in a louder voice, "Did you hear that?"
Hezhou reached down and grabbed his hand, blinking. "I heard it, but..."
He lowered his head and approached Xie Xunzhi, his voice lowered a lot. "Master Xie, what benefit can I get?"
Hezhou looked at him straight with bright eyes.
Xie Xunzhi's face was already pale, and when the heat spread behind his ears, a faint red color quietly crept up.
He pushed the two of them apart and said, "You're asking me for something good? What do you want?"
Hezhou Jian's eyes lit up, and he leaned forward and said in a hoarse voice, "Xunzhi, where were you that afternoon when we were sorting the files? After I came out for the third time, it was about half an hour. What were you doing?"
As he spoke, the corners of his mouth drooped, and his dark eyes softened again, like a sad large dog.
"We were all cleaning, and suddenly you disappeared. It was scary."
Xie Xunzhi patted him soothingly and said, "I ran out of ink while copying. I went to buy some writing brushes, inkstones, lamp oil, and mosquito coils."
"No wonder there are no mosquitoes these days. There were so many mosquitoes a few days ago that they almost devoured me!" Hezhou's face turned bitter when he thought about it.
Mosquitoes are so scary. Even though they wrap themselves tightly, they can always find a place to bite. They also keep flying around my ears, which is very annoying.
Xie Xunzhi laughed out loud, "Then why didn't you tell me you were going to buy mosquito coils?"
Hezhou was speechless. He thought there was no such thing.
The door to the west courtyard was opened by the butler, who stood in front of the door and said, "Come in."
In the yard, Bai Ling changed his clothes and sat in the shade, still holding the small fan in his hand.
There were people crowded around her, some squatting, some standing, some bending over and gossiping, most of them were maids.
"Third Madam." Hezhou greeted her.
Bai Ling fanned himself impatiently, "Just ask, it's just a jade pendant, is it worth all this fuss?"
The housekeeper stood aside and tried to smooth things over. "Madam, this is what the master meant. He said that you must find some clues anyway! It would be bad if it was lost without any explanation."
Bai Ling's expression was still grim. After a long while, he managed to squeeze out a sentence, "Well, ask!"
"Madam, can't you remember the last time you wore the jade pendant?" Hezhou sat down.
Xie Xunzhi was holding a pen and paper beside him.
Bai Ling laughed disdainfully, then turned away and rolled his eyes. "Last month, I brought it with me when I went back to my parents' home. Three days ago, when I wanted to bring it with me, I found it was gone."
"Who has usually seen it?"
"There are so many. I've seen them all over the backyard. I always bring them home with me! I say if you have time, why not search the yard!"
Bai Ling had a cold face, shook his sleeves, walked into the house and said something.
“How boring!”
Hezhou stood there in a daze, his eyes slightly hesitant, and turned to look at Xie Xunzhi.
Xie Xunzhi was also confused and paused with the pen in his hand. "How about checking the people who came back with the madam?"
Hezhou nodded and turned his gaze to the housekeeper.
The housekeeper laughed awkwardly, "Master, follow me! I asked all the servants at that time to come to the main courtyard."
He stood up and opened the door. "Please forgive me, sir. My wife is in charge of the backyard. She must have misunderstood the master's intention in asking you to come. Please forgive me!"
"Oh! Then what does Master Chen mean by calling me here?"
"I guess he wants to relieve the lady's pressure." The housekeeper closed the door and led them to sit in the yard.
Hezhou listened to the words without showing it on his face, but he snorted in his heart. These excuses came one after another, and there was not a single true word.
Yesterday, Chen Jianyuan was telling the story of how he liked to solve cases, and today he was helping the third lady solve her problems.
It was such a clumsy lie that he didn't even bother to cover it up, and it was hard to say who the butler was trying to comfort with these words.
Besides, what kind of ordinary jade pendant could make the Third Lady want to take it home several times?
The housekeeper asked them to sit at the stone table in the main courtyard, asked someone to bring some water, and left with a smile.
Hezhou poured a cup of tea and handed it to Xie Xunzhi.
He poured himself another cup of tea, the water was freshly prepared and still steaming.
"You said this is strange, it seems that the Third Madam is not in a hurry anymore?" Hezhou blew away the hot air and took a small sip.
"In her mind, this jade pendant is useless here, but she can use it when she goes back. However, it is not that important and is only considered a valuable item." Xie Xunzhi knocked on the table disorderly.
"Could it be related to Chen Jianyuan? The Third Madam and his biological mother are from the same family!"
The butler came in with nine people, men and women mixed together, standing in three rows with their heads bowed.
There were two people in front wearing bright clothes, who looked like the maids standing in the yard just now.
Four maids and five servants.
"Have you ever been to the Third Madam's room in the past month?"
Everyone answered in unison that they had been in. They were all brought by the Third Madam from her parents' home and were more trusted than most of the servants in the house.
Hezhou stood up and walked slowly among the nine people. "You know why I'm here! I heard from the housekeeper that all of you who signed in are dead contracts?"
There was no movement for a long time, and everyone stood still.
"The clue is among you. The prison cell has just been repaired, and there are countless rats and insects in that place!" Hezhou lowered his head. The already cool weather made him look even more terrifying.
The maids in front couldn't help but frown and mutter, "Who is it? Tell me quickly! The Third Madam won't embarrass him!"
Hezhou raised his eyebrows and lowered his voice, "You guys can just wait here. If I find something, don't blame me for not telling you! It's the same if I don't report it..."
"Me! I have something to say..."
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