Strange Events of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 13 Condolences to the Palace
In the afternoon, the breeze picked up.

The crowds on the originally busy streets began to thin out, and people whose homes were far from the market began to close their stalls and go home one after another.The governor has already issued a notice that starting today, the curfew will become more stringent, and Luoyang City can only enter and exit.

Although the people didn't know what happened, they could sense the tense atmosphere in the city, and they didn't dare to neglect the curfew.Once you offend the bad luck of being an official, I'm afraid it's not just as easy to pay for the crime as a fine.

Two people and one cat were walking on the street. The woman was playful and cute, dressed in sky blue, holding a ball-like white jade kitten in her arms, adding to her youthful vitality.The man walking side by side is handsome, dressed in a white robe, and has a personable demeanor.

It was Ling Changfeng and his party who came out of Qingfeng Building, and they were walking towards the county government at this moment.

Xiaolan said angrily: "Master Changfeng, why are you angry at Mencius Yan? I don't usually see that you have the same knowledge as this kind of person. It made me pretend to be innocent. Hmph! "

Ling Changfeng touched his blue lower back, took a deep breath, and said, "Xiao Lan, your martial arts are getting stronger and stronger. With your pinch, I was almost exposed to pain."

Seeing Xiaolan's proud appearance, he shook his head again, and continued, "That Mencius is indeed domineering in his words and deeds, but have you ever thought about why he bet with me so confidently?"

Xiaolan thought for a while, shaking her head like a rattle, and said, "Master Changfeng, I can't think of it. You should hurry up and don't be fooled."

Ling Changfeng smiled and said: "Okay, I'm just guessing. Why did the emperor appoint me as a special envoy and Mencius Yan as the person in charge of the investigation? It is clear that one person is enough for him." After a short pause, he sighed: "Perhaps the emperor wanted to conduct a thorough investigation of the court, to find out what the factions in the court are. I accompanied the prince to read, and obviously the court and the court believed that my father and I belonged to the prince's faction. Mencius Yan may be another person's supporter Right. This person hides too deeply, it depends on who can find out this time."

Xiaolan became more and more puzzled, but suppressed her curiosity, and said slowly: "Whatever the emperor, I'm only standing by my young master. If you want to harm the young master, you have to ask whether the light sword will agree or not." .”

At this moment, the autumn wind is bleak on the street, and the chill seems to have deepened.

Ling Changfeng looked sideways at Xiaolan, seeing the latter's serious face, knowing that he was concerned about him, even though he was always heartless, his heart couldn't help but warm.Touching her nose, she said, "Don't worry Xiaolan, there are many people who want to harm me, and I won in the end. Even if I am the emperor this time, I will not lose."

Xiaolan regained her playful and lovely expression, nodded and did not answer.Naturally, he has full confidence in his young master's ability.He even hugged Xiaoyu tightly in his hands.

The life experience of this person and cat are quite similar.Xiaolan was abandoned at the gate of Ling's mansion when she was born. After being picked up by the porter, she wanted to send her to Luoyang Yuyingtang (a welfare institution that adopts abandoned babies and orphans), but was stopped by her wife who gave birth to Ling Changfeng not long ago. She was adopted in Ling's mansion as a maidservant, and grew up with Ling Changfeng. Although she has the name of master and servant, she is actually the closest relative.Xiaoyu is also a kitten who was abandoned since childhood.Now Ling Changfeng is the closest relative of the two, so naturally he can't see anyone trying to harm him.

Seeing that Ling Changfeng regained his composure, Xiaolan walked straight forward, hurriedly followed, and asked, "Master, where are we going next?"

"Nanhe Palace!" Ling Changfeng whispered.

. . .

Nanhe Wang's mansion is about a stick of incense's foot away from Fireworks Lane.Although it was the residence of a third-rank official, it was extremely inconspicuous in Luoyang City.It only occupies an area of ​​one acre, and the decoration is quite old.There is no doorman standing guard in front of the gate, but a few white lanterns are hung and a few white cloths are spread, which is no different from the sacrifices of ordinary people.Since no one came to express their condolences, it seemed extremely deserted.

At this moment, Ling Changfeng and the others standing in front of the door adjusted their expressions, and their expressions were full of admiration.Although I heard that Mr. Wang is a clean and simple official, seeing it with my own eyes gave me a different feeling.Ling Changfeng asked himself that he couldn't be so pure-hearted and ascetic.

As soon as he entered the door, he saw a young servant burning paper money in front of the mourning hall, and there were no other servants around.Ling Changfeng and Xiaolan looked at each other, feeling very strange in their hearts.

Xiaolan asked, "Excuse me, is this the mourning hall set up for Lord Si Tianjian? We came here to investigate clues to the cause of Lord Wang's death. This is my young master Ling Changfeng, who was also appointed by the emperor this time." Special envoy for the investigation of the case."

Hearing this, the young servant immediately stood up and confessed his crime.He replied: "This is exactly the mourning hall set up for Mr. Wang. Because the body is still in Yizhuang, no one came to express condolences. Moreover, my wife and young lady were only informed by the postman this morning. The news of the death may not have arrived yet."

Ling Changfeng naturally knew that Mrs. Wang and her family's daughter were in the Jiangling Mansion thousands of miles away at the moment, and asked, "How many of you are usually in the mansion? Can we go up and offer incense sticks?"

The servant replied: "I would like to thank my lord for my lady here. Since my lord came to Luoyang from the capital, there have been 5 people serving him. Now two of them went with the postman to report the letter, and two of them were arrested by the governor. The interrogation has not yet returned, and now I am the only one here."

Ling Changfeng and Xiaolan each burned a stick of incense, and then Xiaolan burned another stick of incense in Xiaoyu's name.The originally deserted censer also wafted a faint cigarette smoke.

After offering incense, Ling Changfeng bowed his hands to the mourning hall, and said solemnly: "My lord Wang has a spirit in the sky, and Ling Changfeng disturbed you this time." Then he turned to look at the servant, and said, "When you come here this time, I also want to check Mr. Wang's residence and trace the clues of his murder, is it convenient?"

The little servant returned the salute and said quickly: "My lord, please do your own thing. I still have to keep vigil for Lord Wang. I can't lead the way for my lord. I hope you will forgive me."

Ling Changfeng nodded, and said, "Thank you. You should be busy first, and we can do some research on our own." After speaking, he dragged Xiaolan to the inner room.

The layout of the palace is extremely simple, a study room, a main room, and the rest of the rooms are the dining room and the resting place for the servants.

After Ling Changfeng identified it, he motioned for Xiaolan to follow, and walked straight towards the study.When I opened the door, I saw that there were only a simple table, a chair, and a few shelves of books in the study.Apart from the four daily treasures of the study and a candle, there is nothing superfluous on the table.

Xiao Lan frowned, and said, "There is a familiar smell." For a while, she couldn't remember where she smelled it.

Ling Changfeng was quite surprised, and asked: "I didn't smell it, think about it more carefully?" After all, the two had been staying together, and Xiaolan actually smelled something he didn't smell.Among them, there must be places of negligence.

Xiaolan hugged Xiaoyu with one hand and touched her nose with the other, thinking carefully.With a flash of inspiration, he said, "I remembered! It's him!"

(End of this chapter)