('After the luncheon, Yue Su returned to his house, summoned Yang Yishan, took out the prepared memorial, and said: "Zhongyue, please draft another letter for me and write down what happened in Tianlao today. , surrendered to Wang Zhicai, the Minister of Punishment, and let him handle his own affairs."

Yue Su is no better than Hai Rui. He is both upright and tactful. He still has to be flexible when it comes to royal matters, otherwise he would not be able to work as a carpenter with the emperor. Things in the prison involve the uncle. I have already let my uncle go, so why bother quarreling with others over small details? We can't be vague about big things, and forget about small things. The Queen's two glasses of wine can't be served in vain.

In the afternoon, Xiong Tingbi and his children went to the mansion in person to express their gratitude. Yue Su told him that he was going to Henan soon and asked him to go with him. There was no suitable position for Mr. Xiong in the mansion, so he might as well serve as an aide for the time being and wait until the time came. Recommended again. [Search for the latest updates in z

Xiong Tingbi had long been grateful. Why did he care about his position? Since he was a staff member of the mansion, Yue Su asked the Xiong family to clean up the room and live in the mansion. After all, Mr. Xiong is now very dilapidated. The original house in Beijing has been They were confiscated and didn't even have a place to stay. During the Chinese New Year, they couldn't stay in an inn as a family.

It was a family dinner in the evening. Several large tables were set up inside and outside for Yue Su, with the female family members inside and the men outside. Yue Su was drinking with his men in the front yard, and Xiong Tingbi and his son were also there. When the drink was strong, someone suddenly walked in from the door. One person, when Yue Su and others took a look, turned out to be Jin Chan.

As soon as he saw Jin Chan coming back, Yue Su was secretly frightened. He thought something must be wrong, so he stood up and said, "Jin Chan, why are you back? Did something happen over there?"

Tie Qiu also stood up quickly and looked towards Jin Chan.

"Sir, something is indeed wrong." Jin Chan came to Yue Su, took off a bundle from his back, opened the bundle, and revealed a scroll of painting. Jin Chan presented the painting and said, "Look, Your Excellency. "

Yue Su took it and unfolded it, and it turned out to be a painting of a lady. There was a poem inscribed in the upper left corner of the painting, which was "Niannujiao Chibi Nostalgia". The maid painted on it was the same as the one painted by Sima Chen before his death. The maid is exactly the same. However, this painting is a complete painting and the paper is somewhat old.

"Where did this come from?" Yue Su asked in confusion.

Jin Chan saw that there were many people at the table, and he didn't know Xiong Tingbi and others, so he said: "Sir, this is a long story, let's take a step to talk."

Yue Su nodded, and the two went directly to the study. After entering the study, Jin Chan closed the door, and then told Yue Su exactly where the painting came from.

It turned out that after Yue Su returned to Beijing, Jin Chan and others were still keeping an eye on the Zhang family as always. Jin Chan rented two houses in Yanshi County, one was diagonally across from Zhang's house, and the other was in Zhang's house. The side of the ancestral hall is also convenient for tracking. The people staying here, including Jin Chan, are all men from the green forest road. They all like each other and drinking every day is inevitable. However, Jin Chan has not forgotten the business. , asking people to take turns to watch the door of Zhang's house every day.

Because they lived close by, in order to facilitate surveillance, Jin Chan simply had a piece of the courtyard wall removed, and through the hole, he could see the Zhang family's access control.

A few days ago, Zhang Guozhu went to the ancestral hall with only one butler. This was not a rare thing, because every now and then, Jin Chan would find Zhang Guozhu going to the ancestral hall.

It is normal to go to the ancestral hall to pay homage to ancestors, and Zhang Guozhu’s son died not long ago, and his spiritual tablet was also placed in the ancestral hall. There is nothing to say if he goes to have a look. But this is becoming more and more frequent. Jin Chan is curious,

He and Li Zhong sneaked into the ancestral hall courtyard, found a secluded corner, broke the lattice paper, and looked inside. They found Zhang Guozhu sitting alone in front of the coffin, holding a painting in his hand, watching intently.

After looking at it for a long time, Zhang Guozhu pressed a few times on the stone wall in front of him, then shook his head helplessly, stood up, put the painting into a secret compartment on the spiritual table, locked it up, and turned around to leave. Jin Chan and Li Zhong waited until

Zhang Guozhu walked out of the courtyard and was about to enter the ancestral hall to take a look. Who would have thought that at this moment, a man in black entered the ancestral hall before them.

The man in black actually had a key on his body. He opened the secret compartment, took out the painting inside, put another painting in, locked the secret compartment, and left the ancestral hall. Jin Chan and Li Zhong did not enter the ancestral hall and followed them directly.

The man in black left and followed two streets away. When they saw people on the street, the two men revealed their hiding places and started robbing them.

Looking at the figure of the man in black, he must be a woman. His skills are quite good. If he fights alone, he can be evenly matched. He can be two against one. The other party is not his opponent. The man was injured by the golden cicada, and the painting was also snatched away.

.The man in black took the opportunity to be injured and fled. She seemed to be very familiar with the terrain here. When she chased him to the back alley of the Earl's Mansion, she could not find her trace.

Jin Chan and Li Zhong returned to the rented house and opened the painting. Jin Chan immediately recognized the painting as the original painting that Sima Chen copied before he died. Realizing that the matter was of great importance, Jin Chan left early in the morning.

Yanshi, hurry back to the capital.

After listening to Jin Chan's narration, Yue Su looked at the painting for a while and said, "Call Zhong Yue over and ask him to do some research on calligraphy and painting. Let him appreciate it and see if he can tell what the origin of this painting is."

Jin Chan went out and called Yang Yishan and asked him to help him appreciate the painting. Yang Yishan looked at it for a long time and only saw that the paper should be from the early Ming Dynasty, but the painting power was very average, not even as good as Sima Chen who copied this painting. It was really

I can’t see what the value of these words is, or whose handwriting they came from. Moreover, these words don’t even have a signature. God knows who painted them.

Yue Su was impatient, so he immediately sent out his men and invited all the antique shop owners in Beijing. On the night of the first day of the new year, people from Shuntian Mansion came to the door, and the antique shop owners were frightened.

, who doesn’t know the name of ‘Yueyan King’?

After a short while, the officer "invited" seven or eight antique bosses to come to the door. Yue Su asked them to help inspect the paintings one by one. Seeing that they were such an errand, these people put down their suspense and cautiously began to appraise the paintings.

Normally, when these great experts saw this kind of painting, they would have thrown it aside a long time ago and even scolded the person who asked them to appraise the painting. But in Shuntian Mansion, who would dare? After looking at it over and over again a dozen times,

Only then did he dare to come to the conclusion, "Sir, I'm afraid you have been deceived. The paper used for this painting is indeed from the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty, but it is definitely not the work of a famous artist, and it is not valuable at all."

Everyone said so, and it seemed that it was indeed not authentic, but why did Zhang Guozhu keep looking at it and lock it in a secret room as a treasure? Moreover, Sima Chen even lost his life because of it.

This matter became more and more bizarre, and Yue Su decided to go to the Earl's Mansion again to find out the matter.

A few days later, Yue Su bid farewell to the emperor and left for Henan again. The emperor was reluctant to leave, but he decided to go.

After leaving Beijing, Yue Su went all the way south, first to the banks of the Yellow River, and expressed condolences to the victims on both sides. The people's homes had been rebuilt, and the Yellow River embankment was almost repaired. They just waited for the beginning of spring, sowing and farming, and they could make a living.

Seeing such a scene, Yue Su felt relieved and headed to Yanshi County with peace of mind. The current county magistrate is Hua Tengzhuo. After Yue Su's recommendation, this man easily became a regular official. When he saw Yue Su's arrival, he warmly welcomed him and greeted him.

The county government office was used as a temporary residence for Yue Su.

Yue Su also drank a cup of tea at the county government office and took people to Zhang's Mansion. Unexpectedly, when he arrived at Zhang's Mansion, he saw white lanterns hung high in front of the door and white ribbons tied on both sides of the door. It was obviously a funeral.

Yue Su became suspicious and asked someone to send him a famous post. After some inquiring, he heard that Zhang Guozhu was dead.

Hearing the news of Zhang Guozhu's death, Yue Su was even more shocked. According to Jin Chan, Zhang Guozhu was fine a few days ago, so how could he die just because he wanted to?

After a while, a middle-aged man walked out of the courtyard. The middle-aged man was wearing sackcloth and wearing filial piety. When he saw Yue Su, he bowed and saluted, "Zhang Guobang, cousin of Beibei Bo in Xiaorenzhen, comes to see Yue Shaobao."

Yue Su nodded and said: "I don't know why Uncle Zhenbei died, so I apologize for disturbing you. May I ask why Uncle Zhenbei went?"

"My cousin died of a sudden illness. I don't know what the disease was. It may have been due to the pain of losing a son." Zhang Guobang said truthfully.

"Oh. Who is in charge of the house now?" Yue Su asked again.

"My cousin's second son is young, and my sister-in-law is currently in charge of the family affairs. When my cousin died, my sister-in-law fainted when she saw her brother's body and is now bedridden. I will entrust the affairs of the house to me for the time being," Zhang Guobang said.

.

"But I don't know how long it took for Uncle Zhenbei to die?"

"It has been six days, and there will be a funeral tomorrow."

Six days! Yue Su nodded and said: "I know that Uncle Zhenbei has passed away. There is no reason not to express condolences. Please lead the way. Our academy plans to go to the mourning hall to burn incense to Uncle Zhenbei."

"Thank you, sir."

Zhang Guobang led the way and brought Yue Su to the mourning hall. After Yue Su entered the door, he heard monks and Taoist priests performing rituals, and everyone in the family cried bitterly. Yue Su came forward, placed incense sticks, and said: "Master Zhang was alive before his death."

We had met several times with the Lord's Court. His Majesty also helped the Lord's Court make plans to encircle and suppress the rebel bandits. Unexpectedly, it had only been a few days before he drove west, with his voice and smile still before his eyes. The Lord's Court planned to pay homage to Sir Alex's body, but I don't know if I can.

"

He said he also wanted to see the body, but who could deny it? Zhang Guobang ordered someone to open the coffin lid, and Yue Su came closer to take a look. Zhang Guozhu was seen wearing a shroud, the body was cold, and there was a slightly painful expression on his face. If he was seriously ill,

It's not like death, but if it's poisoning, it's unlikely, because the body of a person who died of poisoning will change after so many days. Yue Su was doubtful, but he didn't say he wanted an autopsy.

He just bowed to the corpse.

I'm in a bad state today, I'm afraid the third chapter will be late.
Chapter completed!