Detective in the Red Chamber

He opened his mouth unwillingly, but after all, he had no room to refute, and finally had no choice but to sit back on the chair dejectedly.

Seeing his dejected appearance, Sun Shaozong couldn't help laughing and said, "What's there to be discouraged? Even when I have insufficient evidence, it is inevitable that I will make a wrong judgment-you can make such an inference, which is far beyond I expected it."

After listening to Sun Shaozong's compliments, Qiu Yunfei relieved the sullenness in his heart a little, but he heard Sun Shaozong's style change, and scolded, "However, how can you say these words in front of Brother Bao? Why don't you hurry up and accompany him! "

Only then did Qiu Yunfei wake up to the fact that he had already offended Jia Baoyu with his eloquent talk just now—even if the inference was reasonable, it would be too much to say that his father had an illegitimate child during the funeral.

So he hurriedly stepped forward to give Jia Baoyu a deep bow, and repeatedly confessed his crimes.

Fortunately, Jia Baoyu has a gentle temperament and is also obsessed with criminal names. He is no stranger to this "bold deduction" method, so he did not blame Qiu Yunfei.

When the three sat down again, Qiu Yunfei had a bitter look on his face, scratching his ears and muttering, "Since Zhou Xi can't be the illegitimate son of Duke Cun, then the psychic jade must be his counterfeit—but why did he counterfeit this?" How about hiding something so precious and important in a secret place?”

"Yes."

Jia Baoyu also wrinkled his small face like a zongzi, and sang with him, "If he really likes my jade and wants to imitate it to play in private, he should imitate it more realistically. How could he make such a strange thing?" Come?"

The two of you deliberated over each sentence, but fell into Sun Shaozong's original questions again.

Who made this jade?

What is the purpose of imitation?

Why did Zhou Xi hide it in a secret place?

"Brother Bao."

At this time, Sun Shaozong suddenly stood up, first took the genuine psychic gem from Qiu Yunfei, returned it to Zhao and handed it to Baoyu, and said, "We still have official business, so it is inconvenient to stay here for a long time... "

"Second Brother Sun!"

When Jia Baoyu heard this, didn't he know that Sun Shaozong was going to leave?

Quickly jumped up from the chair, pulled Sun Shaozong's sleeves and said, "This case is clearly related to me, you can't leave me behind, you should take me to investigate the case together!"

"Because it's related, you have to avoid it even more."

Sun Shaozong straightened his face, then slowed down his tone, and promised, "Don't worry, if there is any progress in this case, I will definitely let you know."

Jia Baoyu was still waiting for Sarai, but Sun Shaozong refused at all, so he had no choice but to send the two of them out.

"correct."

When he was outside the door, Sun Shaozong suddenly remembered something, and hurriedly turned back to Jia Baoyu and said, "I have already found out the thieves who broke into your house a few days ago, and they are the traitors from the White Lotus Sect that I captured yesterday morning..."

He briefly told Jia Baoyu about the white lotus sect searching for a needle in a haystack in the capital in order to find the holy girl, and told him not to spread the word. Then he took Qiu Yunfei and walked to the horse tie post .

"grown ups."

Qiu Yunfei graciously led Sun Shaozong's mount, and pressed his voice to inquire, "Did you think of any clues to solve the case just now, or why did you suddenly rush to leave?"

This kid really guessed it!

Just now, Sun Shaozong just had a flash of inspiration and sprouted a whimsical brain hole, so he was anxious to verify it.

But he never thought of telling Qiu Yunfei about this brain hole.

He took the reins and got on his horse, and asked without answering, "Do you know which is the biggest jewelry store around here?"

"Isn't it?!"

Qiu Yunfei opened his mouth immediately, and said in a wailing voice, "You really have to go door-to-door to ask? There are dozens of jewelry stores in the capital, and those that fail every year can have a home. Not to mention that the craftsman may not still be there..."

However, before he finished speaking, Sun Shaozong had already turned his horse's head around, making a gesture of going away with his whip.

"Don't, don't, I'll lead the way, can't I lead the way?!"

Qiu Yunfei panicked immediately, and asked Qiu Yi to lead his horse, and hurried to the front of Sun Shaozong, but immediately he reined in, turned around and asked, "Qiu Yi, do you know any famous jewelry stores nearby?" ?”

Chapter 549 A Whimsical Brain Hole [Part [-]]

Baorunzhai, located in the northwest of Longshengfang, is mainly engaged in jade and stone materials, as well as various woodcarving businesses. Although it is not as good as Mingyufang's industry leaders in terms of background, it is still worthy of the title of leader.

Passing through the ebony door that opens in four directions, one faces two long pear marble tables, on which are placed more than a dozen pieces of jade woodcarving samples, the materials may not be very expensive, but they are exquisitely carved, or carved to the depth of texture, Or ingenuity to match the sky...

Of course, this is only for ordinary people. Sun Shaozong is rich and rich now, and he has just come out of the Rongguo Mansion and other luxurious places. Looking at these objects, he just feels ordinary.

Everyone was scanning the jade wares, when the shopkeeper came up with his assistant, bowed servilely and said, "I have seen Mr. Qianhu, I don't know if you are here to buy some ready-made gadgets, or are you planning to order?" Make some utensils?"

Sun Shaozong was originally going to work in Beizhen Fusi today, so he was naturally wearing the Mojiao Tunyun Robe, the dignified fifth-rank standard, plus the reputation of the Dragon Guard, so the shopkeeper couldn't help but be careless.

Seeing his sincere and fearful appearance, Sun Shaozong smiled kindly, and reported to himself, "This official is Sun Shaozong, the governor of Shuntian Prefecture. Because there is a piece of jade involved in the case, I hope that your name can help you palm it, but I don't know what's going on under your name." inconvenient?"

Hearing the word 'Sun Shaozong', the back of the shopkeeper suddenly softened a bit, how could there be any inconvenience?

Hastily nodded and bowed in response, and invited an old craftsman over fifty years old from the backyard, and introduced to Sun Shaozong and others, "This is Master Hu from the small shop. Three generations of ancestors have worked in the jade craftsman's shop. He is known as the eight-armed arhat, but there is no Master Hu who doesn't know about the jade wares in the capital!"

That Master Hu is a dull man, hearing the shopkeeper boasting about himself, his old face was flushed with blood, and after a long while he squeezed out a sentence of "don't dare to do it", but there was no other words.

It wasn't until Sun Shaozong handed over the piece of jade to him that Master Hu suddenly cheered up.

He took out his glasses from his sleeve and put them on, holding the jade over and over again, and after concentrating on it for an unknown amount of time, he took off his glasses again and returned to his dull face.

"how?"

Sun Shaozong couldn't wait to ask, "Master Hu, can you see anything from this piece of jade?"

"Go back to the words of the adults."

Master Hu held the jade flat in his hand, lowered his head and muttered, "Young old man is blind, and he can't see too much, only that this piece of jade should have passed through the hands of three people one after another."

"The first one is a carver from the Southern School, he should be an expert in the industry. The cloud pattern carving is extremely fine, and the front and back sides are also cut to a very smooth finish. Unfortunately, a lot of good materials have been wasted."

"The second person should not be in our line, and he has a good foundation in calligraphy. It's a pity that Kong has the strength of his pen, but he was defeated by the carving knife."

"The third one is a carver of the northern school, who is most particular about materials, so after removing the jade from the utensils, he only made some repairs along the cloud patterns-it's a pity that this person's craftsmanship is a bit poor, and the imitation cloud patterns are useless. It has its shape, but it has lost its charm, and anyone with a discerning eye can detect the traces of repairing as long as they look carefully."

This old man really has a way!

He still had some stumbles at first, but later on he spoke more and more smoothly, and his rhetoric was roughly consistent with Sun Shaozong's inference, and he even added a lot of details.

Qiu Yunfei didn't have much hope at first, but now he heard such "mysterious" words from him who is a novice and a member of the Southern Paibei School, and couldn't help asking, "Then can you see that this thing is from the hand of that family scripture? "

"This……"

Master Hu showed a look of embarrassment, and he hesitated, "The last repairing handwriting, most carvers in the capital can do it; as for the master of the Southern School in front, he is not an unknown person-but this circle of cloud patterns alone , just want to recognize whose handwriting it is, but it is absolutely impossible."

"Besides, look at the patina on this jade. I'm afraid it has been around for more than ten or twenty years. During these years, the southern school carvers in the capital have also changed several times. In addition, the inner government often recruits people from the south. Every year Release..."

"and many more!"

Sun Shaozong interrupted him suddenly, and asked, "Can you judge the exact age of this piece of jade more carefully? Is it ten years or twenty years?"

"This……"

The worry on Master Hu's face became even stronger, and he said in a sly way, "The patina can be quite different between the ones that are often played with and the ones that are not often played with - Xiao Er can only judge based on experience, this piece of jade has at least More than ten years, but it should not exceed 30 years."

"As for the repair, it was about a year ago, and the patina was obviously thinner."

It was removed in the last few years...

Sun Shaozong compared this time period with his own speculation, and he felt a little more confident in his heart.

Qiu Yunfei was rather disappointed, so he dragged Mr. Hu to question him again.

It can't be said that he got nothing during the period, at least he found out that in the capital, he wanted to ask experts from the Southern School to carve such a piece of jade, and he probably had at least a dozen taels of silver.

But this made Qiu Yunfei even more puzzled—since he paid a lot of money to hire a famous artist, why did he look so different?

You must know that the Rongguo Mansion has never hidden it, and has always spared no effort to promote the story of "born with a jade", but if you inquire carefully, you can imitate the appearance of that piece of jade.

But he said that seeing that he couldn't ask any more questions, Sun Shaozong ordered the shopkeeper not to disclose today's events to the outside world, and then he left Baorunzhai with everyone.

After leaving the door, Qiu Yunfei asked where he was going.

This time, Sun Shaozong was determined to get rid of him, so he found a reason and rode towards Beizhen Fusi alone.

Seeing Fusi Zuojin in Beizhen, he reined in his horse's head again, chose a small street shop at random, and filled his stomach without knowing the taste.

After eating and drinking enough, watching a table with messy cups and plates, looking through the window at Beizhen Fusi not far away, Sun Shaozong was caught in a dilemma.

And what made him in a dilemma was the whimsical brain hole mentioned above.

When he was in Rongguo Mansion, Qiu Yunfei once believed that Jia Baoyu's piece was a counterfeit, and deduced from this that Zhou Xi was Jia Zheng's illegitimate son.

But as the argument of 'illegitimate child' was completely overthrown, the Rongguo Mansion had no reason to counterfeit - after all, it was used to make the child famous, if there was no special reason, who would randomly copy from the same item?

Therefore, it can be basically concluded that Zhou Xi's psychic jade is a counterfeit.

So the mystery that needs to be solved most urgently at the moment is what is the purpose of Zhou Xi spending a lot of money to get that four-faced coin?Was it directly related to his being killed?

Sun Shaozong was also at a loss for a while. After all, he would not even inquire about it based on common sense, but he spent a lot of money to create a four-dimensional image and put it in the interlayer, which is precious and important. It is really unreasonable.

But when he was in Rongguo Mansion, he suddenly thought of another unreasonable possibility—maybe the owner of that piece of jade started imitating it before the psychic jade was born!

This sounds even more illogical at first glance. Without a reference, how can we talk about imitation?

But don't forget, there are traversers in this world, and Sun Shaozong is not the only one!

Although Sun Shaozong had never read "A Dream of Red Mansions", he also judged from the name of the piece of Jia Baoyu that this piece of psychic jade must be one of the important props in the book.

Just imagine if there is a traveler who has read Dream of Red Mansions, before the birth of Jia Baoyu, and through the existence of the Rongning Second Mansion, he knows that he is in the world of Dream of Red Mansions, so without seeing the psychic Baoyu with his own eyes, It is justifiable to come up with such a piece of ambiguity.

That's right, this is referring to the imprisoned Prince Yizhong!

And Sun Shaozong's speculation is not a fantasy without evidence.

First of all, Prince Yizhong loved white dragon fish clothing the most when he was young, and he went in and out of brothels. It was not until Emperor Guangde ascended the throne that he curbed his interest in this area.

As for Zhou Xi's father, he was first an official in the Jiaofang Division of the Ministry of Rites, and later became a musician. He went in and out of brothels and brothels, and they had some intersections with each other, which is also a reasonable guess.

Second, if the inference of Qiu Yunfei's 'illegitimate child' is applied to Prince Yizhong and Zhou Xi, it seems to make more sense.

Of course, the theory of prostitution during mourning certainly does not exist.

The reason why Prince Yizhong did not dare to recognize this illegitimate son was probably because Zhou Xi was indeed born of the Zhao family, and the Zhao family had already married Zhou's father at that time.

In addition...

With the story of Zhao Ji and Lu Buwei first, and the fact that he has no children these years, Prince Yizhong is probably not 100% sure that Zhou Xi is his own son.

Third, Zhou Xi's parents both died in the autumn of the eighth year of Guangde, and it was at the turn of summer and autumn of this year that Prince Yizhong was imprisoned for his attempted rebellion, and most of his party members were implicated.

According to Master Hu's deduction, it was during this time period that the jade was removed from the ornament.

If deduced according to the previous train of thought, Zhou Xi's parents both passed away, I'm afraid it may not be a good story of "the same quilt at birth, and the same acupuncture point at death", but the chain reaction of Prince Yizhong's bad things!

After the death of his parents, Zhou Xi removed the counterfeit precious jade and hid it in the interlayer of the incense burner. It is very likely that he already knew his "true life experience".

If we extrapolate based on this, the masked man would be afraid that Zhou Xi would fall into the hands of the government, shoot him and then commit suicide, also...

wrong!

There seems to be some necessary factors missing here!

Just because he was afraid that Zhou Xi would fall into the hands of the government, he shouldn't directly kill him.

You must know that it is the 'son' of your own master - even if it is just suspected, it is not something that can be sacrificed casually!

And the masked man apologized with death afterwards, obviously not because he was afraid of being implicated by Zhou Xi.

Besides, since he had waited until Zhou Xi was captured by the government, it was enough to notify his party members who were in contact with Zhou Xi in time and let him transfer in advance, so how could he be willing to shoot Zhou Xi with an arrow?

unless……

What shocking secret is hidden behind this, either involving the battle for the throne, or endangering the life of Prince Yizhong—of course, it is very likely to be both.

That's why the masked man would not hesitate to kill the killer, and then apologize with death.

Thinking of this, Sun Shaozong became more and more embarrassed.

That Prince Yizhong had old grievances with his family, once Prince Yizhong made a comeback and even usurped the throne, even if the Sun family would not be overthrown, they would definitely not be reused like they are now.

Therefore, considering his own interests, Sun Shaozong should expose it, or at least verify his inference first.

But the problem is...

This inference is based on the premise that Prince Yizhong is a time traveler, otherwise the whole thing would be hard to make sense.

However, Sun Shaozong didn't dare to say anything about the time traveler even if he was beaten to death.

So things have fallen into a deadlock, making people in a dilemma!

Chapter 550 Masochist, Canton Fair