The Republic of China Conspiracy Records

Chapter 37 Magpie Bridge Immortal (6)

When Yuan Shikai proclaimed the emperor and carried out the restoration, the whole country was filled with righteous indignation and condemned constantly. Later, various places declared independence one after another, launched wars to defend the country against Yuan, and finally forced Yuan Shikai to abolish the imperial system.I knew about this, but I didn't expect that the Wei family and Zhou Zhi'er's father would be able to participate in such a big event, so I couldn't help but look at Wei Rutao with admiration.Zhou Zhier's father had a disagreement with Wei Rutao on this matter, and eventually died on the battlefield. It would be reasonable to say that Zhou Zhier hated the Wei family because of this.

Zhou Zhi'er heard Wei Rutao's words, and said in shock: "It's the unanimous opinion of everyone to wait and see the development of this matter and not intervene temporarily, so how can I blame the Wei family?"

"That's what I said, but your father died tragically, and you have some grievances in your heart. Since you yourself admit that the handwriting on the paper is your handwriting. In this way, you tell where you went at night yesterday, and who is there to testify? I will personally apologize to you and never mention this matter again, what do you think?" Wei Rutao was a little confused, but he still tried to speak calmly.

"I... I can't say it." Zhou Zhi'er still muttered, Wei Rutao couldn't help but feel a little anxious when seeing this, Ye'er also hesitated for a moment, gritted her teeth, and persuaded her: "Young Mistress, why don't you just say Well, how else can I explain it to the master."

Zhou Zhi'er was also sweating profusely in anxiety, but kept saying that she had never been to the Mongolian Pavilion, but refused to say where she had been at that time. Seeing this, Wei Rutao became more suspicious, and sighed: "If you don't want to say, I will I don't force you. It's just that it's just a joke to pursue this matter, so let's stop here, you and I each have a clear idea."

The so-called knowing it well naturally means that this note was sent by Zhou Zhier.Zhou Zhi'er's face turned pale when she heard it, and the tears in the corners of her eyes couldn't hold back, she said in a trembling voice, "Dad thinks that Zhiyan died because of me?"

Wei Rutao didn't answer, but turned around and walked back to the house.Seeing this, Uncle Zhou hesitated for a moment, looked at Zhou Zhi'er, sighed softly, and followed Wei Rutao out.The lantern was in his hand, and as soon as he went out, the room suddenly became dark.Ye'er must be a little afraid of the dark, so she couldn't help saying: "Young Mistress, I... let's go back too."

Zhou Zhi'er didn't respond to her, but turned around and chased out of the house, shouting: "Father!"

Wei Rutao did not turn around, but walked straight through the long corridor, preparing to go out through the side door at the end of the long corridor. A long ladder was leaning against the eaves next to the side door. Probably the craftsman patched the tiles yesterday. down here.Zhou Zhi'er chased after Wei Zhiyan, seemed to have noticed the long ladder, and suddenly stopped, calling, "Uncle Zhou!"

Uncle Zhou hastily replied, "Yes, young mistress."

"When Zhiyan came to tell you yesterday that he was going to Lang's house, where did the craftsman repair the roof?" Zhou Zhi'er asked him.Wei Rutao, who was in front of her, stopped when she heard her suddenly ask such a question, looked at her in surprise, and then at Uncle Zhou.

Uncle Zhou was also a little puzzled, thought for a while, then pointed to the top of his head and said, "It's almost here in the corridor."

"Is it the roof near the side door?" Zhou Zhi'er asked.

Uncle Zhou nodded.

"Then what was his posture on the roof?"

She suddenly asked a series of inexplicable questions, and I was also puzzled and asked Bu Ying: "Do you know what she is asking?"

"Look more, talk less." Bu Ying said seriously, "The purpose of tonight is to let you see clearly what happened back then."

I gave him a weird look, feeling a little suspicious in my heart, but I didn't say anything.Zhou Bo listened to Zhou Zhier's question, thought about it seriously, and then squatted down with his back to the side door to demonstrate.Zhou Zhier asked him: "Are you sure he was on the roof at that time, and he used this position in this position?"

Uncle Zhou nodded affirmatively.Zhou Zhi'er seemed to get excited all of a sudden, and shouted, "Father, that craftsman is lying!"

Wei Rutao was startled: "How do you say that?"

Zhou Zhi'er took a deep breath, then took the lantern from Uncle Zhou, and said to Uncle Zhou: "Uncle Zhou, please climb up to the roof now, and use the posture of the craftsman at that time to uncover the tiles from the roof."

Uncle Zhou looked at her inexplicably, Zhou Zhi'er saw that he was not moving, and urged: "Go quickly, be careful."

Wei Rutao seemed to have thought of something at this time, and frowned. Uncle Zhou saw that he was silent, so he had to follow what Zhou Zhier said, and climbed to the roof with the long ladder, while Ye'er helped him hold the ladder.Zhou Zhi'er walked straight back to the door of the hut when Uncle Zhou was climbing the ladder, and after Uncle Zhou climbed onto the roof, she asked him, "Uncle Zhou, are you alright?"

Uncle Zhou lifted a tile from the roof and said in response, "Okay, Young Mistress."

Zhou Zhi'er said: "Okay, now look carefully, I'm walking past the door, can you see my face clearly?" Saying that, she held the lantern and walked slowly from the door to the side door.After walking a few steps, Uncle Zhou said in shock: "I see clearly, young mistress, I can see your face clearly!"

I was startled, and immediately understood why Zhou Zhi'er said that the craftsman was lying. If the craftsman was near Uncle Zhou's current position at that time, after the tiles were uncovered, if someone came out of Wei Zhiyan's hut, he would definitely be able to He saw the other person's face clearly, but when the craftsman answered Zhou Zhi'er's question, he said that he only saw a back.

In fact, with his posture, either he could clearly see the other party coming from the door of the hut, or the other party had already passed under his position, and he couldn't see his back at all!

Wei Rutao naturally wanted to understand this truth, his face changed a little, and he said: "Since you can clearly see the person walking out of the hut from this position, why did the craftsman say that he only saw a back?"

"Why?" Zhou Zhi'er sneered, "Of course there are ghosts in my heart!"

At this time Uncle Zhou slowly climbed down from the roof, and then said: "Could it be that the craftsman sent this note? But I have been present all the time, and I didn't see him handing the note to the young master."

"Of course he didn't hand the note, he just concealed who sent the note." Zhou Zhi'er glanced at Ye Er, Ye Er was a little uncomfortable by her, and said in a low voice: "Young Mistress, what... what's wrong ?”

"I remember when we went out, Qiu'er said she had a sudden abdominal pain," Zhou Zhi'er said slowly, "And when we went out just now, the craftsman didn't say goodbye. It's so late, what is he still doing at Wei's house?"

Ye'er couldn't help shivering, and said: "Young Mistress means, Qiu'er..."

"I remember that in the past, I sometimes gave you and Qiu'er the clothes I didn't wear or wore less. The craftsman also said that the clothes on the woman who came to the Mongolian Pavilion were very similar to mine."

"Besides, Qiu'er is your maid, so she can come and go from your room freely." Wei Rutao finally believed that Zhou Zhi'er was not the one who came to the Meng Mansion, and said, "If you really wrote such a note, it will be very convenient for her to get it. .”

"That's right." Zhou Zhi'er bit her lower lip tightly and said, "Although I really don't remember when I wrote such a note, if I did, then Qiu'er is the most likely to get this note people."

"But why did she do this?" Wei Rutao paused, "My Wei family has never treated a servant harshly, she...why is she so vicious!"

"Have you forgotten, when Zhiyan and I were married and had no children, we proposed that Zhiyan take her as a concubine, but Zhiyan flatly refused."

"There is such a thing. At the time when Zhiyan refused to accept her, she felt that Wuyan stayed at the Wei family again and left for a while, but didn't she come back by herself later? Could it be that she was holding a grudge because of this matter?" ?”

"I think it can only be like this." Zhou Zhi'er smiled bitterly, "At the beginning we all thought she was a good person, so when we wanted to take a concubine for Zhiyan, she was the first thing that came to mind, but we never thought that such a disaster would be planted. "

She smiled extremely bitterly, and I thought to myself, she has such a deep affection for Wei Zhiyan, but she wants to take a concubine for him personally, the pain in her heart must not be filled with tears, but fortunately Wei Zhiyan flatly refused, who Knowing that it will lead to today's disaster.This Qiu'er looks pretty and lovely, but who knows that she is such a person who will take revenge, because of such a thing, she has a grudge in her heart.

It's just puzzling that Zhou Zhi'er kept emphasizing that she had never written such a note, so why were the words on the note actually her handwriting?
Naturally, everyone present couldn't figure it out. Wei Zhiyan said: "Since Qiu'er is suspicious, just go back and ask her. If she really has a grudge because of that incident, my Wei family will definitely not tolerate her."

As he spoke, he slowed down his tone, "Just now, my father was so angry that he wronged you with his unscrupulous words, you...don't take it to heart."

Zhou Zhi'er bent down and bowed to him: "Zhi'er doesn't dare, but father is also concerned about it and chaos, Zhi'er dares to blame you."

Wei Zhiyan nodded, and said, "Let's go back and ask Qiu'er."

After speaking, he turned around first, opened the side door and walked out. Zhou Zhi'er, Zhou Bo and others hurriedly followed behind him, and the group turned back to Wei's house.Bu Ying and I walked at the end, but the person who went out in front did not close the door. After I walked out, I suddenly turned around and said to Bu Ying who was behind me: "The person who walked at the end just now did not close the door, but he seems to know the door behind him." There are still people who want to leave, how do you think this should be explained?"

Bu Ying was startled, rubbing his nose in embarrassment, as if he didn't know how to explain it, and after a while he said seriously: "I think the folk customs here are very good, everyone doesn't pick up lost items on the road and doesn't close their doors at night, um."

As he spoke, as if he was satisfied with the explanation, he passed me and walked to the front.I was startled, smiled wryly, and had no choice but to chase after him.

When the group returned to Wei's house, Zhou Zhi'er asked the family if the craftsman had left and where Qiu'er was.The family replied that Qiu'er led the craftsman into the backyard, Zhou Zhier and Wei Rutao glanced at each other, Zhou Zhier said: "What is she leading the craftsman to the backyard for?"

The family said: "The craftsman said that going out from the backyard is close to the shop where he lives, so Qiu'er led him there."

I muttered in my heart, the craftsman saw Qiu'er but deliberately concealed it, and Qiu'er led him to the backyard at this moment, could there be some unclear relationship between the two?

Wei Rutao was a little impatient, and was about to ask someone to go to Qiu'er to find out, but Zhou Zhier stopped him, and only said that he wanted to find her by himself, and let Ye'er go with him.After hearing this, Wei Rutao probably didn't want to publicize the matter, so he took Uncle Zhou along with her.It's just that for some reason, Ye'er seemed a little unwilling to go, moved her mouth, but didn't say anything, and finally followed.

I glanced at her, then Bu Ying and Bu Ying followed them through the backyard, first went to Qiu'er's room, did not find her, then went to the back door.Before approaching the back door, I heard someone talking. Although the speaker deliberately lowered his voice, he could still hear it clearly in the dead of night.

Hearing this voice, Ye'er opened her mouth and wanted to shout, but Zhou Zhier stopped her. Zhou Zhier then signaled Wei Rutao and the others to keep quiet, and approached the back door with light steps to listen to what the two people behind the door were saying.I followed them and pricked up my ears, only to hear Qiu'er urgently say outside the door: "Really, that's all I have, I... I beg you, please let me go!"

"You have to understand, if I tell Mr. Wei and Mrs. Wei that you have been to the Mongolian Pavilion, and they know that you killed Mr. Wei, what will happen to you!" The craftsman said viciously, his tone was completely different. The previous humility, "Master Wei's life, I only care about you asking for the money, but you still push back, do you look down on Young Master Wei or me, and think I dare not tell the Wei family?"

(End of this chapter)