The population of Shangshu Mansion is not large, only about twenty in total. The master is of course Ye Shiqing, Ye Qing is the young master, and these two are the masters. It is said that Ye Shiqing married a concubine in his early years, but

He died of illness soon, so the others were all servants.

There are two kitchens, two to serve Ye Shiqing's daily life, two to serve Ye Qing, two accounting rooms, one butler, and the rest are all nurses and guards.

Although the number of people in Shangshu Mansion is declining, the servants in the manor have always regarded themselves as superior to others, not to mention the chief steward. Among other things, his brother in Yonglefang has a prodigal son.

Even if a person's life is lost, it's not all his fault.

These things are transparent in the government and are not considered secrets. Who makes him highly respected by Ye Shiqing?

The housekeeper's name is Li Tianyang. He is still in his forties and is still very heroic. The maids in the house, because the young lady Ye Qing has disposed of the house elsewhere, rarely come back. They live a boring day and have an affair with Li Tianyang.

It has become the biggest pastime.

Shortly after noon that day, the maid Hongjuan came outside Li Tianyang's bedroom, hoping to "flirt" with the hot housekeeper and ask for some pocket money. Unexpectedly, she knocked on the door for a long time.

There was still silence in the room.

Hongjuan suddenly felt a little unhappy and said to herself: "This damn ghost! He appeared for a while this morning. After drinking some porridge, he disappeared. There was no one at lunch either. If I hadn't carried it for you, I would have definitely held him accountable.

, could it be that you did something bad last night and you are still asleep now?"

Thinking of this, she thought that her relationship with him was unusual, so she went up to push the door. Unexpectedly, the door was not locked and opened as soon as she pushed it.

This is a rather spacious bedroom. The bed is on the east side. You have to walk in to see it clearly.

"Hmph, I'm really hiding. I must have been seduced by some little slut. Be careful if someone tells the master..." Hongjuan said angrily, walked in lotus steps, twisted her buttocks, and then went in.

When he looked in the direction of the bed, he immediately stopped mumbling, his face changed, and his face turned pale.

I saw the butler Li Tianyang sitting in a pool of blood under the edge of the bed. The pool of blood was connected to his chest. The bloody mouth was already dark red. His hands were hanging down weakly. His face was pale. It was obvious that he had been dead for a long time. His eyes were wide open and he could not rest in peace.

"ah--"

The ear-piercing screams resounded throughout the Shangshu Mansion the next moment.

As mentioned before, like Jingzhao Mansion, the place where Shangshu Tai worked was also the residence of Shangshu Ling. The mansion was located in the back office of Shangshu Tai, very close to Ye Shiqing, so the news of Li Tianyang's death quickly reached him.

in the ears.

The important place of Shangshutai is located to the east of Shengshi Palace. Although it is outside the imperial city, it is only separated by a wall from the East Palace. In such a noble area, his chief steward was actually killed. Ye Shiqing looked extremely angry and immediately put down his hands.

The things above rushed to the scene.

When Ye Shiqing arrived, Hongjuan's mood had stabilized slightly with the comfort of other maids, and she immediately told the story tremblingly.

Ye Shiqing listened with a sullen face and looked around the room. He saw porcelain shards on the ground beside the window and door. They should have been caused by the vase placed next to the window and door falling. He glanced at the body again and saw only the residue outside the wound.

A piece of porcelain, the killing method is not very clever.

He frowned, then breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Let Lao Yi come here to see me."

Lao Yi was the accountant in the mansion, in charge of all the entry and exit details of the Ye Mansion and the bank account. He had been following Ye Shiqing for more than ten years, and the attendants at the nursing home in the mansion all respectfully called him Mr. Yi.

Mr. Yi was in his sixties and was wearing a white robe. When he learned that Ye Shiqing had summoned him, he ran over without stopping. He was panting but did not dare to neglect. He saluted and said, "Master, please come to me."

"Who has come to the house these past two days?" Ye Shiqing asked.

Li Tianyang and Mr. Yi were fully responsible for the recruitment of Ye Mansion, and Ye Shiqing never asked about it.

Mr. Yi glanced at the corpse, his expression suddenly changed, and said: "Reporting to the master, the mansion has not hired anyone for several months."

Ye Shiqing pointed outside and said, "So, everyone is outside?"

"Exactly." Mr. Yi responded.

Ye Shiqing thought for a while, then turned to Hongjuan and asked, "Have you seen Butler Li this morning? When was the last time you saw him?"

Hongjuan said: "Reporting to the master, Mr. Li drank some porridge this morning and then disappeared."

I asked others and they all said they didn't see it.

At this time, a nurse took courage and said: "Master Qi, Mr. Li took our brothers to Yongle Fang two days ago, captured a murderer, and locked him up in the dungeon of Qianya."

"Murderer?" Ye Shiqing asked, "How old are you?"

"Around ten years old, she is still a little girl." The nurse paused and added hurriedly, "It is said that she killed Mr. Li's nephew."

Ye Shiqing thought about it and realized that he had indeed seen a little girl in the dungeon last night. He suddenly felt a little clearer and went to the nursing home to check. Sure enough, the little girl was missing.

"The murderer should still be hiding in the mansion. Quickly send someone to Jingzhao Mansion to report the crime and ask them to send people to search."

After Ye Shiqing finished giving instructions, he planned to go back to the front office. For him, this matter was over. After all, it was only a housekeeper who died. Now that he had found out the truth, he didn't care.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he walked out of the courtyard, the nurse who was ordered to report the case hurried over and said, "Sir, Lord Jingzhao Yin Zhang wants to see you."

"Huh?" Ye Shiqing was really surprised. Could it be that the Jingzhao Mansion could predict the future? It was reported immediately.

Not long after, Zhang Huanhua, who was wearing casual clothes, came to the yard outside the murder scene, cupped his hands and said: "I am the official Zhang Huanhua, I want to pay my respects to Mr. Ye."

"Brother Zhang, why should you be so polite?" Ye Shiqing smiled and walked up to him, holding his hand and saying, "Looking at the way Brother Zhang is dressed, I'm afraid he's not here for official business. I thought Brother Zhang had no idea."

"How do you say this?" Zhang Huan smiled and asked a little curiously.

"There was a murder in my house, and I was sending someone to report it. Unexpectedly, Brother Zhang came to the door." Ye Shiqing said with a smile, and led Zhang Huan into the murder scene.

Zhang Huan glanced at the body casually, not paying much attention, but closed the door and said: "Brother Ye, the Black Mountain fugitive is in the dungeon of your house, and the Adjudication Department will come to the door soon."

"What?" Ye Shiqing was shocked, "How could a fugitive from Montenegro be in the dungeon of my house?"

Zhang Huanhua said with a cold smile: "The steward of your house has a brother. He didn't know that she was a fugitive from Montenegro. He wanted to buy her by force. Unexpectedly, his son was killed instead. In order to take revenge, he asked the steward of your house to hide the little girl in the dungeon."

"Is this true?" Ye Shiqing's expression changed several times.

"If Brother Ye doesn't believe it, you can torture him personally." Zhang Huan sneered, "But I'm afraid the Adjudication Division won't give you this time."

Ye Shiqing glanced at Li Tianyang's body coldly. If he wasn't already dead, he would have skinned him and cramped him. On the surface, he remained calm and said: "Brother Zhang's intelligence source is actually earlier than the Judgment Division."

This step is really strange and strange."

Zhang Huan shook his head and said: "The Adjudication Department needs to make arrangements. I can travel easily and easily, and of course it will be faster. There is only one way to save Brother Ye now. Give the fugitive to Zhang and take him back to Jingzhao Mansion. Then he can be washed."

Get rid of the suspicion that Brother Ye is colluding with the underworld."

Ye Shiqing said lightly: "Brother Zhang, what's the benefit of doing this?"

Zhang Huan said: "Catching the fugitive first before the Adjudication Department, plus the favor of a third-level powerful official in the dynasty, the benefits are of course countless." At this point, he gritted his teeth and said bitterly, "But the most important thing is

I hope Brother Ye can help me deal with Yan Li."

"Yanli?" Ye Shiqing suddenly realized. Of course he had heard of this Yanli. Defeat Qin Yiqiu, the Young Master of the Yanshan Bandits, the first-class real name, all had incredible auras. He had also heard of Zhang Huanhuan's son before.

He died in the hands of Yan Li.

"That's easy to say, but unfortunately, the fugitive disappeared." He spread his hands, "I'm afraid it's related to the murder that Brother Zhang saw."

"What?" This time it was Zhang Huan's turn to be surprised, "What on earth is this?"

Ye Shiqing said: "It's because of Ye's poor discipline. The so-called word "sex" is a knife in the head. The steward in my house lost his life for this, and even caused Ye to suffer. But the fugitive should still be in my house.

, Brother Zhang will search with me, she won’t be able to escape.”

However, before he finished speaking, a nursing home rushed in from outside, trembling and said: "Old, old, master, that crazy, crazy dog ​​Li, Li, Li Yong came with many people, came, said, said that there is something hidden in the house.

The imperial prisoner must be brought in and searched!"

Ye Shiqing frowned deeply and said: "Brother Zhang, please go back to Jingzhao Mansion and bring someone over as soon as possible. You must find her before the Adjudication Department. I will buy time for you."

Zhang Huan nodded solemnly.

…

Lan Yu met Li Jiming in a nearby house, which made him feel a lot more comfortable.

After all, in his eyes, even though Li Jiming was the master of Xiao Pavilion, there was no reason for him to go to see him. With such a big show of pretension, Xiao Sibai came, but it was a pity that the latter was already dead.

This shows that the majesty of the Daxia Dynasty is still deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

Li Jiming was very anxious, even more anxious than Tang Sanghua. As soon as he saw the person, he went straight to the point: "Master Lan, I have two unkind invitations. The first is that I have a nephew who intends to join the Judgment Division, and the second is that I have a good friend.

, is imprisoned in the prison of the Adjudication Department, and I would like to ask your Excellency to release him."

When Lan Yu heard this, he immediately became angry and thought to himself, "I am your subordinate. Is this a request or an order?" But the next moment, he took a breath and calmed down.

"In exchange, I am willing to provide the whereabouts of the fugitives from Montenegro." Li Jiming did not give Lan Yu a chance to react. First of all, he could not expose his urgency, and secondly, he could not expose the existence of Tang Sanghua, so it was not difficult to mention the two.

Not easy conditions.

As the saying goes: if you want to take something, you must first give it.

If he wants Lan Yu to believe this information, he must make a request, otherwise how could the other party believe it.

Only when the other party believes that he will treat him with sincerity.

Lan Yu grabbed Li Jiming's lapel, glared at him and said, "I will keep the matter of Pavilion Master Li in mind. Now tell me immediately, where is the fugitive from Montenegro?"

Li Jiming said word by word: "The dungeon of Shangshu Mansion."

Ye Qing, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly raised his head, his eyes bursting with astonishing light: "You say it again?"

Of course Li Jiming recognized Ye Qing. After all, she was a frequent visitor to Xiao Pavilion, but regardless of her mood at the moment, he said bravely: "The fugitive from Montenegro is hiding in the dungeon of Shangshu Mansion."

Ye Qing was in a daze, her head was a little dizzy, and a memory suddenly appeared in her mind.
To be continued...