Records of the Lost Cases of Helaitang in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 43 Two encounters with secret talismans
The two of them hurriedly arrived at the west gate in more than an hour.At the gate of the city, an old man set up a stall selling sour plum soup. When Wang Cai saw that he was unwilling to leave, he decided to have a drink.

"You are as happy as a god," Wang Cai said with his legs crossed on the small bench, "A cup of sour plum soup in summer..." Suddenly he looked at the base of the city wall with a surprised look.

Wang Heng followed his gaze and saw a pattern painted on a piece of bluestone at the bottom of the city wall in the direction where Xiaocai was sitting. If he were not sitting on a bench but walked into the city, he would hardly notice it.

This pattern is puzzling. The upper half of the picture is half of the Yao Gua, and the lower half is very much like a pavilion. It seems to be drawn with charcoal. The horizontal and vertical strokes are meticulous and definitely do not look like a naughty child's game.

The two of them sat for a while, led the horses into the city, and returned to the royal residence to report back to Mrs. Zhu.Mrs. Zhu repeatedly praised Wang Heng for his ability to handle affairs, rewarded him with a basket of novel fruits, and ordered the little girl to grab a handful of copper coins and reward them to Wang Cai.

After returning to He Lai Hall, Wang Cai came over and said, "Master, I feel like my brain is not strong enough and I can't figure out the countless clues." There were too many weird things on this day that I couldn't figure out.

Wang Heng pretended to be relaxed and said: "Don't be surprised if you see strange things, otherwise you will lose yourself."

Suddenly I remembered what the flute master said yesterday. It was still bright, so I had to go to Xiao Sheng Yueting to find out what was going on.

The steward of Lixiangyuan is Wang Youlin. He replied that Xiaosheng Yueting went to Nanyuan Villa today to serve his uncle.

Wang Heng asked hurriedly: "Did the eldest brother send someone to tell him?"

Wang Youlin smiled and said, "That's not true. In the past, Yueting would go to Nanyuan once every three or five days. It was made verbally by the uncle."

Wang Heng and Xiaocai looked at each other, it was a coincidence that everything happened today.

Wang Cai whispered: "Is it possible that flute master Lao Wu came to us yesterday and was noticed by Yueting, and he fled today out of fear of crime?"

Wang Heng said: "We have to go to Nanyuan again."

Young people are quick on their feet, and it only takes half an hour to walk from the Wang family mansion to South Garden.

Nanyuan Villa occupies a large area in the south corner of the city. It has been in operation for only a few years. The courtyard is not as large as that of the big house, and it even looks a bit desolate from the outside.

The old man who answered the door didn't know Wang Heng and Xiaocai, so he asked Mrs. Zhu to send someone to give the uncle some fresh fruits to try. The old man collected the fruits, but said that the Wang family had gone out early in the morning and did not know when he would return.He invited the seventh master to serve tea in the flower hall. Wang Heng couldn't ask Yueting, so he had to act according to the situation and follow the servant to the flower hall to wait for his eldest brother's return.

After sitting for a cup of tea, Wang Heng saw that the sun was sinking to the west, and he couldn't help but feel anxious. He stood at the entrance of the hall and looked out. He saw a pavilion and a Qinshan room across the stream across from him. Knowing that it was the study of the uncle of the Wang family, he followed Xiaocai said, let's go and have a look.

So I walked across the Jiuqu Bridge and heard someone in Qinshan's room. I recognized it as my uncle's book boy Xiao Du. Xiao Du seemed to be sorting out documents. When I heard the sound of someone coming in, I looked up and saw the seventh master of my family and his entourage. He smiled and greeted me. Watch the seats.

Xiaocai said: "Brother Du, my young master was ordered by the old lady to deliver some fresh fruits to the uncle. He didn't want the uncle to go out and sit in the flower hall with nothing to do, so he came out for a walk."

Wang Heng also said: "Just do your work and we will visit on our own."

Xiao Du smiled and said: "It's nothing serious. I picked up some expired and useless materials and planned to show them to the uncle before destroying them. I'm not in a hurry. I'll make a cup of mustard tea with you."

There was a stack of documents piled up on the desk. Xiao Du weighed them down with a crystal paperweight, then got up and went to the tea room.

Xiaocai glanced at the pile of documents and said curiously: "What kind of document is this? I have never seen it before."

"Sun Huilan, female, was born in the 43rd year of Jiajing, originally from Zhenyang County, Taicang Prefecture, South Zhili Province, and now lives in Sanjia City, Zhenyang County, Taicang Prefecture, South Zhili Province. Her father, Sun Yu, was a student in Taicang Prefecture, and her mother and grandson, Liu, died. , Thirty acres of top-grade paddy field." Wang Heng looked at it carefully and said: "This is a household post, stamped with the seal of Zhenyang County Magistrate, this share is for the household to keep."

Xiaocai wondered: "Sun Huilan, I don't know who she is. She seems to be from a decent family. Why is her household address in our Wang family?"

Just then Xiao Du came out with tea and said, "My uncle did this for Miss Huiyun. I didn't want Miss Huiyun not to have this blessing."

Xiaocai and Wang Heng were both stunned. Xiaocai said, "Brother Du, how can you say this?"

Xiao Du regretted his mistake and only said: "Since Miss Huiyun is dead, the matter is over."

It has been more than 200 years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, and rituals and music have collapsed. Apart from the imperial examination, where else do we need to read household registration documents?

Wang Heng probed: "Does Grandma know about this?"

Xiao Du said: "I also told Grandma about it." Xiaoxiao refused to say anything more.

Xiaocai chatted for a while and found out that no one else was waiting to visit Nanyuan today, and Xiaosheng Yueting was not seen.Wang Heng just said that he had something to do when he returned to the mansion, drank a cup of tea and left.

On the way back, Wang Cai kept sighing. When he arrived at Zhouqiao, it was already evening. The cool breeze blew away the heat of the day on Zhouqiao.

Many villagers had already come to the bridge to enjoy the cool air with benches on their backs. There was also an old man with white hair and beard who was shaking a cattail leaf fan and talking about the Tanci "Jade Dragonfly". He was talking about Empress Jin's maiden's servant bragging that there was no food for yesterday's dinner. I was worried when suddenly a sauced duck flew down from the patio and poured out three bowls of rice.A neighbor on the bridge asked how the duck could fly down from the patio. My father-in-law slapped his fan and said that there was something special about it. A cat stole the duck and went up to the house. When it jumped over the patio, it didn't catch the duck and the duck fell. When it came down, the servant fainted from eating it and thought it had flown down from the sky.

At this time, a small boat came over from Zhihe Pond. A man was sitting on the bow. He opened the fishing net and shouted to the bridge: "Master Wang Liu, there are live and fresh Baisichuan today. Do you want to have one?" .”

The old storyteller nodded and smiled at the man on the fishing boat and said, "Show me."

Wang Heng looked down at the river, and out of the corner of his eye he saw a place where he was so startled that he hurriedly pulled the young man down the stone steps.Standing on the revetment on the north side of the bridge, you can naturally see the bridge piers more clearly than looking down from the bridge. Although the light is not as good as during the day, you can tell that the patterns painted on the bridge piers are exactly the same as those on the city gate.

"This pattern may have something to do with us. If it appears again and again, someone wants to tell us something." Wang Heng murmured to himself.

Xiaocai said: "The pattern painted on the city wall is to inform people who enter the city by land. The pattern painted on the bridge pier is obviously to remind people walking on the waterway. But if it hadn't been for the boatman selling fish, we wouldn't have looked under the bridge. , if the time is later, the night is dark, and nothing can be seen."

"The west gate is the only place to go back to the city from Chandanguan. Drawing this riddle may have something to do with us, but the reason why we passed Zhouqiao is because we were going to Nanyuan to find the Moon Pavilion. How did the person who drew the riddle know?" Wang Hengdao .

Xiaocai seemed to have realized something: "Yueting!"

He pointed to the pattern and said: "The upper half of this picture is half of the Yao Gua, and the lower half is very much like a pavilion."

I was refreshed by this discovery, but then I fell into confusion. The first half of the picture could not be explained, and I could not connect it with Yueting.

"It was such a bad day." The teenagers walked back to the Wang family mansion with tired steps.

(End of this chapter)