Chapter 61 White Bone Hairpin 16 Shou Zhai
The summer rain comes and goes quickly. By the time the carriage passed through the bamboo forest and arrived at the village, the rain had stopped and the sky was clear.
The stuffiness of the past few days had dissipated a bit, and the air felt much fresher. Xun Shu and his group found a restaurant in the nearby market and had some food. Instead of returning to the inn, they headed straight to Shou's house.
The connection between the Saint and the blessed hairpin has been discovered, and the relationship between Xili Zheng's death and the Saint's uterus can also be found. Xun Shu and Li Xuanhe both believe that things are definitely not as simple as they seem.
The day after tomorrow will be the Saint's Blessing Ceremony. Only by figuring out the whole story before then can we seize the initiative before reinforcements arrive and use this grand ceremony where the whole village will gather to resolve everything once and for all.
Xun Shu had a premonition that they would be able to find something useful during their trip to Shou's house.
Shou's residence was located west of the city, not far from Cai You's residence in Xilizheng. From the outside, the entire compound was magnificent, with a vibrant vermilion lacquer gate. Looking up, one could vaguely see the exquisite pavilions and towers within, a stark contrast to the simple elegance of Wei's residence.
The words "Shou Zhai" were written in gold on the plaque on the lintel. A white lantern beside it had not been taken down yet. Half of the paper lantern was wet and tattered by the wind, making it look out of place with the surrounding environment.
Li Xuanhe changed his identity once again, becoming Shou Duan's friend, hoping to catch up with him. Upon hearing their intentions, the servants at Shou's residence hurried inside to announce their arrival. A moment later, Madam Shou and Uncle Shou, both dressed simply, arrived at the door to welcome them in.
Before coming here, I had heard people mention that Madam Shou was in her forties, well-maintained and extremely beautiful. But now she looked haggard, with the dark circles under her eyes unable to be concealed. Her rumored shiny black hair was gone, and her head was full of dull silver hair, looking much more haggard than when she was buried two days ago.
Uncle Shou, who was standing by, was a bit more polite than Madam Shou. He forced a smile, a hint of hope in his eyes. "I heard you are my son's friends? Are you his classmates in the capital?"
Just now, Xun Shu was very surprised when he saw Shou Bo and his wife coming out to greet him. Now he finally understood something.
They probably want to know more about Shouduan.
She stood in the corner, carefully observing their words and actions, almost certain that they were truly heartbroken over the loss of their only son, and not just pretending. They probably didn't know that the corpse they had carried into the cave a few days ago was not the remains of their only son, Shou Duan.
Li Xuanhe's face was filled with sorrow as he casually made up a half-true, half-false story: "No. Brother Du'an and I were not classmates. We met at a poetry gathering in the capital and became close friends. Brother Du'an invited me to his hometown, Ningyuan Village, and I've always remembered it. I happened to be passing by this time, but I didn't expect..."
Li Xuanhe spoke eloquently, describing something that had never happened as if it were true. He praised Shou Duan, whom he had never met, to the heavens and on earth, and coaxed Shou Bo and his wife so much that they forgot to cry and nodded continuously, as if Shou Duan had come back to life and was standing in front of them again.
Ge Qi and Yu Chang on the side twitched their mouths. After so many days, they still couldn't get used to Li Xuanhe's appearance.
Thinking back to when Sanlang was in Beijing, although he would lower his status and say some flattering words to solve cases, how could he act like this, accompanying two ordinary people to act so sincerely?
What on earth has Saburo been through in the past six months?
Seeing how Shou Bo and his wife completely trusted him, wishing they could adopt him as their adopted son, Li Xuanhe frowned slightly, a look of embarrassment on his face. "Uncle and aunt, I've heard someone mention recently that the deceased wasn't Shou Duan... Have you heard of that?"
Mrs. Shou's eyes widened, hope rekindled amidst shock. "Who said that? Is there any evidence? If the body isn't Du'an, where is he now?"
Shou Bo was also surprised: "Are you serious? Where did you hear that?"
Li Xuanhe's lie was half true and half false. "I think they heard it at the restaurant two days ago, but I don't know who told them. They said they saw Du'an's body. Although his head was smashed, his hands were still intact. The palms of his hands were covered with calluses. He didn't look like a scholar from a wealthy family, but more like a servant doing rough work. May I ask you two elders, how did you confirm that the body with a completely disfigured face was Du'an's? Was it just because it was wearing Du'an's clothes?"
Shou Bo hesitated. "Not only the clothes, but also the gold locket the child had worn since childhood is around the corpse's neck. Although it's been crushed into gold flakes, the outline and pattern can still be vaguely discerned."
"Someone must have swapped my son's clothes and gold locks with that corpse! I said, my son is not dead, he is still alive!"
Mrs. Shou seemed overwhelmed by the sudden good news, as if she had grasped a lifeline, convinced that Shou Duan was still alive. She was extremely excited, her thoughts were confused and she was talking nonsense. Suddenly, her eyes rolled back and she fainted.
The house was in chaos. The maids hurriedly helped Madam Shou away, while other servants ran towards the gate to call a doctor.
Shou Bo stood there, his expression rather solemn, without moving. When everyone dispersed, he seemed to wake from a dream, ushering them back to their seats. He sighed, "Please forgive me, Madam has never been able to accept Du An's departure. To be honest, we did suspect that the body wasn't Du An's... but if it wasn't him, who else could it be?"
Li Xuanhe asked, "What does this mean?"
Shou Bo waved his hand, and the waiters in the room immediately left. Seeing the door closed, he spoke, "I understand what you two just said. It was meant to comfort my husband and me. I am Du'an's father. How could I not understand my child? Du'an has been a bit of a smart kid since he was a kid, but at least he has a kind heart. He is not good at socializing. In Ningyuan Village, he doesn't even have many friends, let alone enemies. If that unrecognizable corpse is not Du'an's, but someone else's, then someone must have swapped Du'an's clothes and gold lock with the corpse... Why would they do this? Is it just to make my husband and me sad? If it was for money, Du'an has been dead for so many days, and I haven't received a single letter asking for ransom... How is that possible? I really can't think of any reason why that corpse couldn't be Du'an's!"
If Shou Duan hadn't taken the initiative to replace the body, if he had never had any grudges against anyone, then why was all this happening? If, as Shou Bo said, he was just trying to make the couple sad, wouldn't it have been simpler to just kill them? Why go to all this trouble?
Li Xuanhe thought for a moment and then asked, "Did Duan inform his family in advance by letter when he returned to Ningyuan Village to visit his relatives?"
"A month ago, he did send a letter saying he would return to the village, but he didn't specify a specific time."
"Who else knows besides you?"
"When the Madam learned about this, she was very happy and mentioned it to everyone she met. I'm sure many people in the village know about it..."
Li Xuanhe sighed in his heart, feeling quite helpless, and didn't know what to say for a moment.
"Oh, there's something else that's quite strange," Shou Bo suddenly said. "Du'an was accompanied by a servant and a handyman who took care of his daily life. But after Du'an died, these two disappeared. Perhaps they were afraid of being punished, so they left secretly at night. I thought they might know the circumstances of Du'an's death, so I sent people to inquire in several nearby counties, but there is no news about these two people yet. Perhaps they have gone far away."
Li Xuanhe kept this in mind and then asked one last question.
He pretended to be distressed, frowned and sighed, "I heard someone say the other day that Xilizheng received a blood letter before his death, and then he died tragically in the sky gap the next day. I don't know if Duan received a blood letter before his death-"
Before Li Xuanhe could finish his words, Shou Bo suddenly stood up and interrupted him, "Du'an had nothing to do with this!" He spoke anxiously, his pupils trembling, clearly extremely panicked. After a moment, as if realizing his loss of composure, he took a deep breath, calmed his tone, and stammered, trying to explain, "What I mean is, Du'an has never hurt anyone, so how could he have received a blood letter? There was no white cloth found on his body..."
This explanation was rather pale, so Li Xuanhe pretended not to notice and did not ask any further questions.
Since entering the room, Xun Shu has been sitting quietly, not saying a word, quietly looking around. Her eyes swept around the room and inevitably fell on Shou Bo's face. Since she saw him, she took the opportunity to read his face. She didn't see anything unusual, but she saw something else.
Why did this person look familiar? Besides the street at dusk, had she seen him somewhere else?
While she was lost in thought, Li Xuanhe stood up to say goodbye to Shou Bo. Xun Shu silently stood up and followed him until he got on the carriage. Then he said, "Shou Changze must know about the blood letter. Perhaps he also received a blood letter with the same content."
Li Xuanhe poured her a cup of tea and asked, "Ah Shu, did you see anything?"
Xun Shu naturally took the teacup, sipped the cool tea to moisten his throat, and then spoke, "Logically, Xili Zheng didn't tell anyone about the blood letter he received the night before his death. Even if people heard about it, they only knew that he received a life-threatening blood letter, but they didn't know what was written in it. But when you mentioned the blood letter just now, Shou Changze immediately said that Shou Duan had never hurt anyone. He must know the contents of the blood letter... If Xili Zheng couldn't tell us, how did Shou Changze know it? I guess he must have a similar blood letter in his hand."
"Ah Shu is indeed clever," Li Xuanhe praised with a smile. "It's a pity that, in order to conceal his identity, I can't interrogate him directly today... Shou Changze must have concealed many things, and this may be the key to the case. Once the road to the north is reopened and reinforcements arrive, I will definitely return to Shou's residence and ask him about this matter thoroughly."
-
The carriage left Shou's residence and returned moments later to the inn they were staying in. Xun Shu had originally suggested heading north to Tianxu, but Li Xuanhe, thinking they'd been traveling for most of the day and had been caught in the rain, and that Xun Shu's wound might have gotten wet, insisted Yuchang drive the carriage back to the inn.
When Li Xuanhe came to Xun Shu's room with medicine, she was sitting at the table, propping up her head, staring at the door, and she happened to catch Li Xuanhe's eye. Li Xuanhe paused and asked, "What are you thinking about?"
Xun Shu slammed the table, forgetting the wound on his hand. He grimaced in pain and hissed as he gasped, "Today I always feel that Shou Changze looks familiar. Just now I finally remembered where I've seen him before!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
