Ci Jinzhi

  Chapter 77 Funeral

   No one in the room spoke for a while, only Zhou Ningyue's suppressed sobbing.

  After a long time, Xin You nodded slightly: "I can pretend I haven't been here today, but I have a request."

   "What request?" Zhou Mu's expression relaxed at first, and then her heart rose again.

   "When this matter is over, I want to have a good chat with my aunt."

  Hearing that Xin You just asked for this, Mother Zhou nodded without hesitation.

   In her opinion, this girl who suddenly became friends with her daughter is mysterious everywhere, and I am afraid it is not that simple.

   But these are nothing compared to the current difficulties. It is the mother and daughter's luck that the other party does not tell what they saw today. As for talking back, no one can pry her mouth open for those unspeakable things.

  Xin You glanced at Zhou Ningyue and asked Zhou's mother, "Do you need my help?"

   Zhou's mother immediately understood, with a grateful expression on her face: "Thank you very much. Yue'er, go to the West Wing."

"I-"

   "Be obedient, go to the west chamber." Zhou's mother's tone was uncompromising.

   Under resistance, she killed her husband. She ignored all kinds of emotions in order to deal with the aftermath, but it would be too cruel for her daughter to see the scene of Westinghouse again.

  At this moment, Mother Zhou felt sincere gratitude to Xin You.

  No matter what purpose this girl has, at least I can help her now.

  She really needs someone to help her at this time.

   "Thank you, thank you." Mother Zhou thanked again, and only then did a tear trickle down from the corner of her eye.

  Zhou Ningyue ran out crying.

  In the Westinghouse, there was a strong smell of blood, but Zhou Tong still kept his eyes wide open, completely out of breath.

  Mother Zhou squatted on the ground and wiped the blood on the ground with a rag. She was a little flustered at first, but she gradually became more agile.

   Seeing this, Xinyou felt that Zhou's mother had a difficult background.

   Judging by Mother Zhou's performance, she must have seen blood.

  Xin You silently sorted out the overturned pen mountain, the dropped brushes, and the scattered books.

  She offered to help, of course, not purely to help Zhou's mother tide over the difficulties, but more importantly, to search for valuable clues.

  Based on her previous speculation, the dispute took place in the study instead of the living room, maybe Zhou's mother found something in the study.

  Thinking about this, Xin You picked up a piece of letter paper, but before she could take a closer look, a hand suddenly stretched out.

  Xin You immediately took a step back and put the letter behind her back, but she didn't expect that the target of that hand was not the letter in her hand, but another piece of paper.

  Mother Zhou stuffed the paper into her mouth with lightning speed.

  Xin You frowned and looked at the woman who looked pained because she swallowed the letter paper.

  Mother Zhou tried hard to swallow the paper: "Miss Kou, seeing something you shouldn't see is not good for you."

  Xin You didn't say anything, and squatted down to clean up the broken celadon brush washer, and she had a better understanding of Zhou's mother's alertness in her heart.

   No wonder he was the one who killed her husband.

   "Auntie, are the servants not here? Will they come back suddenly?" Putting away the broken porcelain, Xin You seemed to ask casually.

   "Thinking that tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival, I let them go home this morning, and they won't come back until the sixteenth." When Zhou's mother said "Mid-Autumn Festival", her voice visibly trembled.

  Xin You secretly sighed.

  That day, Zhou Ningyue said that she would let Chunya go home for a day after the Mid-Autumn Festival. Unexpectedly, Zhou's mother would take an extra day off, and she would let her go home on the 14th.

   It can be seen that human behavior is the most unpredictable, and we should be more cautious in the future.

  Time can always cover up a lot of things, but after an hour, Westinghouse seems to have returned to normal except for one missing brush.

   Zhou Tong's body was moved to the east room kang after cleaning up the blood, changed its clothes again, and covered it with a thin quilt. At first glance, it seemed that he was just asleep.

  Xin You knew Xu Xutuzhi's truth, and left quietly.

  Back to the east courtyard of the bookstore, the first thing Xin You did was to take a shower and change clothes, then took out the letter paper and looked at it slowly.

  In fact, there is nothing to read. This is the last page of a letter. There are only a few decent words, which are the kind that are usually written at the end of a letter. The only thing of value is the name of the signing office: Dongsheng.

   But trying to find someone with a name that doesn't even have a surname is tantamount to finding a needle in a haystack.

  Xin You folded the letter paper and put it away, and arranged for Nanny Fang to go to Jixiangfang to keep an eye on the rumors about the Zhou family.

  In the evening, Nanny Fang brought back news.

"How did the girl know? It's really embarrassing. The master of the Zhou family died of a sudden illness in his dream during his lunch break, leaving his wife and daughter crying miserably. Yes, even a sister can't cry..."

  Xin You thought about it and came up with a plan.

  The next morning, when Xin You was about to go out, she ran into Duan Yunlang.

   "Cousin, let's go home together."

   "Second cousin, let's go back first, I'll go shopping and go back."

   "What is my cousin going to buy?" Duan Yunlang asked curiously.

   "There is a pastry shop near Jixiangfang that tastes good. There are also meat mooncakes from the south. I plan to buy some and give my grandmother a taste."

   Delicious pastries?

  Duan Yunlang immediately said: "I'll go shopping with you, anyway, I'm not in a hurry to go home."

  Xin You hesitated for a moment, then nodded: "Okay."

  With Duan Yunlang, it doesn't seem deliberate.

  The two cousins ​​and Xiao Lian went straight to Wuxiangzhai. When they got there, they saw a long queue.

   "It seems that this dim sum is really delicious." Duan Yunlang lined up at the end of the queue full of expectations.

  Xin You stood beside him silently, paying attention to the sounds around him.

   Queuing is boring, such a big event happened to the Zhou family, plus Zhou Tong's special status as a hundred households of Jinlinwei, there is no reason to discuss it.

   "Have you heard, the new owner of the house in Yanzi Hutong fell asleep during his afternoon nap!"

   "I know, that's the younger brother of Ji's sister-in-law. Ji's sister-in-law's eyes are swollen from crying."

   "It's so miserable!"

   "Yes, it's really miserable."

  Duan Yunlang pricked up his ears, and quickly discussed with Xin You: "Cousin—"

  As soon as he opened his mouth, he noticed that Xin You's expression was not right.

   "Cousin, what's wrong?"

   "They seem to be talking about my friend's house!" Xin You bit her lip, turned and left.

  Duan Yunlang was stunned for a moment, and hurried to catch up.

  Xin You walked quickly, and from afar, she saw a white hanging outside Zhou's house. From time to time, people came in and out, and intermittent crying came over.

   Walking outside Zhou's house, Xin You paused for a moment, looking in from the open door.

  Many people came to express their condolences in the courtyard, and a mourning hall has been set up in the hall.

  She walked in, and no one stopped her to ask questions at this time, so she walked all the way to Ji Cailan.

  Ji Cailan was very surprised to see Xin You: "Sister Kou, why are you here?"

   "My cousin and I went back to Shaoqing's mansion today, thinking about the pastry shop that Sister Ji mentioned, so we went to buy some pastries to take with us. I didn't expect to hear that something happened to Sister Zhou's house, so I came to have a look."

   Ji Cailan's eyes were red: "Sister Kou has a heart."

   "My condolences to Sister Ji. I want to offer a stick of incense to Uncle Ling and visit Sister Zhou."

   This kind of mourning matter can be said to be open to those who come to express condolences. Ji Cailan didn't think much about it, and brought Xin You and Duan Yunlang into the mourning hall.

   This kind of ancient background is mostly people who don't raise officials and don't investigate.

  (end of this chapter)