Perfect Encounter

He was going back to his room with his head down, when he met Fang Yuan on the way. Steward Fang still looked clean and decent, smiled kindly, and asked her softly: "I heard that Steward An wants to see this?" He opened a corner of the cloth bag in his hand.

An Ruochen looked down, but it was Zhao Jiahua's record.

An Ruochen raised his head in surprise, and Fang Yuan settled the conversation: "If you say who is the most familiar person on the side of the prefect, no one in Ziyun Building can beat me. But since Master Changshi is not willing, it is better for An Guanshi to stay in touch." Be loud."

An Ruochen nodded repeatedly.

Fang Yuan handed her the cloth bag, bowed his head, turned and left.

An Ruochen hurriedly returned to the dossier. It was written in the case record that Zhao Jiahua left a suicide note, which was indeed in her handwriting, talking nonsense, repenting that she had killed her daughter by mistake, saying that her daughter was coming to avenge her, and that she was cold, so he wanted to accompany her and so on.

An Ruochen suddenly realized what Zhao Jiahua said to her. Zhao Jiahua said that she was not very literate. In fact, she is literate, she signed the yamen record, and there must be her copy at home, so there is a handwriting comparison. But she specifically said that she was not very literate.

An Ruochen stared at the file, the suicide note was fake. If there is a letter or note left by Zhao Jiahua to her, it will also be fake. This is Zhao Jiahua's tip. She guarded against someone doing such things in her name.

An Ruochen re-evaluated Zhao Jiahua, this woman is too smart. Every word she said should be taken seriously.

In the Shilingya military camp, Long Da was also reading, and what he read was the letter. The letter only has the word "observance".

Only two words, he read for a long time. It seems that what is written in the letter is not "obedience", but other long-winded speeches.

Chu Qing came over and commented: "Miss An's handwriting is not bad, she is quite chic in her beauty, she seems to be a smart girl."

Long Da glanced at him, but said nothing.

Chu Qing continued: "This answer is concise and powerful, well-behaved and sensible, and I think she is an obedient girl."

Long Da folded the letter and put it back in his arms. Ignore Chu Qing. After much deliberation and deliberation, it would be really idle for him not to fight.

"I'm not idle, General, I'm telling the truth." Chu Qing wanted to emphasize that she was kicked out of the tent by Long Da.

"Arrange the handover of the prisoners tomorrow, so there will be no mistakes."

Chu Qing strolled away with his hands behind his back. Really, the general has already made arrangements, and he still needs to order. The word "obedience" is not very good. Why is the general dissatisfied? After studying it for a long time, he can still see whether the trick is going to work.

Let's talk about Li Xiu'er's plan is not going well. She thought about Aunt Lu's words, but she didn't dare to trust her wholeheartedly. But she would rather believe it, and go out and hide for a while. She planned to take her mother and step-sister with her, and said that she would take her mother to another county to see a doctor. Stay some time and come back. But this is the end of the year, and the timing is really bad. Resting after a busy day, she saw that her husband was in a good mood, so she made a request to take her mother to see a doctor and leave for a while, but was immediately rejected. The main room, Mrs. Jiang, also gave her a face, and scolded her for deliberately choosing this busiest time to cause trouble, because she wanted to embarrass the Jiang family and deliberately show her importance. It's just a concubine, she really thinks she is a green onion, like her, she can grab it easily. Mrs. Mo takes herself seriously. If you have the ability to leave, don't come back.

Jiang Wei let his wife scold him and did not give Li Xiu'er a voice. Li Xiu'er was scolded until she burst into tears, and she was scolded again.

Li Xiu'er went back to the room silently, knowing that it would be impossible to just leave. She couldn't sleep, and the more she thought about it, the more wronged she became, thinking of her unsatisfactory marriage, her mother's illness, and being exploited by others, living in fear, with no end in sight. I couldn't stop my tears, and didn't dare to cry out loud, for fear of disturbing the next room and being scolded again.

Crying and sleeping for a while, I don't know when it is. When she was in a daze, she suddenly heard something that was not right, and then she smelled the smell of burning cloth.

Li Xiu'er was startled suddenly, the words of that woman today flooded into her mind. Zhao Jiahua is dead, you will be next.

She jumped up quickly and quickly put on her clothes. He took out the bundle that he had packed secretly during the day from under the bed. Then she leaned over the crack of the door and saw black smoke coming from the store in front of her, and two figures were sneaking towards the storeroom, where there were a lot of fabrics. It seemed that they set the store on fire and wanted to continue burning the storeroom. And two other people were walking towards her room.

Li Xiuer covered her mouth in fright, and quickly dodged behind the wall, for fear of being seen by them.

If the house is on fire, everyone will rush to put out the fire. And if she was suffocated to death in this room, she turned around and threw it into the fire while fighting the fire, and finally said that she was accidentally burned to death while fighting the fire. Li Xiuer closed her eyes and her heart was pounding. It is estimated that based on the situation she was scolded today, if Xianggong and Jiang Shi went to report the case, they would say that she burned the shop with a grudge after being scolded, and ended up being trapped and accidentally burned to death. up.

Li Xiu'er thought of this, put her burden on her back, and quietly hid herself at the back window, and was about to crawl out to escape, but she couldn't bear it after thinking about it, so she reached out and took a vase, and climbed out of the window with the vase in her arms. Then she tried her best to throw the vase towards the roof, regardless of the result, turned around and ran to the back yard, passed through the gate, ran to the corner of the street, hid in the shadows and ran hard.

There was a bang, and the vase didn't know whether it hit the roof or fell to the ground. In this silent and dark night, there was a loud noise.

Li Xiu'er heard it, she felt that she had tried her best, and prayed for everyone's safety, and she wanted to live very much.

Li Xiuer disappeared into the night. And the Jiangjiayi shop was quickly overwhelmed by the horrified voices of "running out of the water", "put out the fire" and "come on, help me". The flames blazed brightly, illuminating the night sky.

Before dawn, half of Zhonglan City was awakened.

The fire in the Jiangjiayi shop was so intense that it burned to the left and right, and the neighbor next door was also affected. Soon the whole street was awakened, and everyone put out the fire with all their strength. But some people took advantage of the fire to rob and burglarize when the houses were out to fight the fire. For a while, there was endless yelling, crying, screaming and cursing.

The prefect Yao Kun was also called up. Hearing about this, he urgently sent people to put out the fire and maintain order. Hearing that the fire was raging and the thieves were rampant, Yao Kun simply put on his official uniform and went to the scene to direct in person.

At dawn, the fire was finally extinguished, some houses collapsed, some people were injured, and the whole street was pitch black and dripping with water.

Yao Kun organized rescue and sent people from door to door to inquire about the situation. Various medical clinics in the city were called to treat the wounded, the corpses were cleaned out, the address of the discovery was written, and the family members were sought to identify and claim them. As for how the fire started, whether it was accidental or man-made, the arresters were ordered to investigate from house to house.

Aunt Lu mixed in the crowd, asking around with her acquainted neighbors. Hearing this, he took a deep breath.

It is said that the fire started from Jiang's clothing store. His house is full of flammable clothing and cloth, and there are clerks keeping watch at night. I don't know how the fire started. But the man is gone. The concubine Li Xiu'er was also gone. It was not known which of the charred bodies it was.

Just now the prefect spoke with Jiang Wei and Jiang Shi. Mrs. Jiang said that last night Li Xiuer wanted to go back to her natal home to take her to see a doctor, but they didn't agree. Li Xiuer cried a lot. Jiang suspected that Li Xiu'er wanted to burn some clothes to vent her anger, so maybe the fire started like this. In the end, it was not expected that the fire could not be controlled and caused tragedy.

"Your Excellency must catch that **** and cut her into pieces." Jiang cried.

Jiang Wei said that Li Xiu'er was honest and timid, and was usually hardworking and willing to work, so he would never do this. Maybe the fire started, she didn't have time to run, and she was killed. Talking is also tears.

The couple quarreled again on the street over this. Jiang was not forgiving, and believed that Li Xiu'er had done evil. Jiang Wei devoted himself to searching for Li Xiu'er's body.

Yao Kun, the eunuch, had a headache when he heard that, so he sent someone to visit Li Xiu'er's natal home. If she did what she did, she would definitely flee back to her natal home. All the gossip and gossip in the neighborhood were for Li Xiu'er, saying that she was a kind and filial girl. It must be that a robber wanted to enter the shop to rob money, and accidentally touched a candle. Many neighbors reported to the police one after another, saying that their homes had been stolen, and some people provided clues, saying that they saw robbers wearing black clothes and covering their faces.

Aunt Lu listened for a while, feeling heavy in her heart. Although he expected that the other party would attack Li Xiu'er, he did not expect to use such cruel means to burn the streets, rob money and kill people, which is outrageous. In this way, the purpose of killing Li Xiu'er will be completely buried and no one will notice.

After Madam Lu finished her investigation, she looked around and wondered if there were eyes watching her actions. She didn't dare to show her flaws, put on a gossipy face and chatted a few words, and then delivered vegetables to each family as usual. On the way to deliver the goods, he deliberately detoured past the place she told Li Xiuer, and saw that the door of the house was closed, and there was a bamboo basket with a cover outside the door. Aunt Lu recognized this basket, it was she who put it in that room. Aunt Lu calmed down.

An Ruochen also heard about this case. Many families were involved and many victims were involved, so the military had to send manpower to investigate and patrol the city to prevent spies from taking advantage of the chaos to attack the city and do evil. Ziyun Tower also strengthened its security and sent additional guards. A copy of relevant case records was also quickly sent to Ziyun Building.

So An Ruochen went to look for the long history Li Mingyu again. Again she was rejected. Same as last time, the same rejection expression, the same reason for rejection, even the same standing posture. An Ruochen had done enough acting, she was anxious and stamped her feet. Turning her head, she quietly went to find Fang Yuan.

Fang Yuan was very reliable, and without saying a word, he quietly helped her get the record again.

An Ruochen looked at the record carefully. Of the thirteen corpses, four were excavated from the ruins of Jiang's clothing shop, and one of them was a female corpse, which had been burnt beyond recognition. An Ruochen's heart beat like a drum, he wondered if this female corpse was Li Xiu'er.

The case record also stated that five people confessed that they saw what appeared to be black-clothed masked men committing murder, but they couldn't tell the number of people, and couldn't tell how tall, short, fat, or thin, and there was panic and noise. One of them was confirmed to be joining in the fun and lying, and did not see the man in black.

Jiang's Clothes Shop was the place where the fire started, but not all the fires spread from Jiang's Clothes Shop. Someone confessed that when his house caught fire, he was still some distance away from Jiang's clothing shop.

There is no autopsy record, and it hasn't been that far yet.

An Ruochen thought while watching, trying to find useful clues. At this time, Chunxiao outside the house suddenly reported that Chang Shi Li Mingyu was visiting.

An Ruochen was taken aback, thinking that Steward Fang helped her steal the files and records were exposed, so she put away her things and was mentally prepared to defend herself, but when she got outside, Li Mingyu said with a straight face: "I heard that the girl has been in frequent contact with her younger sister recently."

An Ruochen was taken aback.

Li Mingyu said again: "Ziyun Tower is the military office and the general's mansion. It's an important place in the army. It's not just for anyone to come here if they want. The girl is also serving the army, so she should concentrate on it and always get entangled in housework. It's not appropriate."

An Ruochen quickly responded: "Master Li taught you the lesson."

However, Li Mingyu asked again: "Guan An wants to get the case file again and again, what's the plan?"

An Ruochen was a little confused about what Li Mingyu meant, so she didn't dare to answer easily.

Li Mingyu said: "I'm asking this because after all, Steward An is working with Master Xie. It is reasonable for the general to have orders, and Master Xie is not around. But if Steward An has urgent matters, I have to know about them so that I can help deal with them."

This tone made An Ruochen choke. "It's nothing urgent, just wait for the adults to come back."

Li Mingyu stared at her for a long while: "That's good. I understand the question. When the adults come back, don't tell me that I am embarrassing Manager An."

An Ruochen knew that people were soft-spoken, so she could only answer with a smile on her face.

After Li Mingyu left, Chun Xiao comforted An Ruochen: "Girl, don't take it to heart. Master Chang Shi is like this, always keeping a straight face, always staring at everyone, as if he sees everyone as lazy."

An Ruochen responded with a few words, but his mind was still on the case. She thought about it and wondered if Mrs. Lu had sent the news. So I said I want to take a walk to relax. She seemed to be wandering casually, avoiding the patrolling guards, and when there was no one around, she came to the veranda she had agreed with Aunt Lu, lifted the third brick, and sure enough, she saw a note of peace under it.

An Ruochen quickly put the paper into his sleeve, laid the stone bricks flat, and went back to the room as if nothing had happened.

After entering the house, he took out the paper to look at. There is a "three" written on it, and then a tick on the words "Anzhai".

An Ruochen was a little excited. "Three" refers to Li Xiuer, and "An Zhai" means that she successfully hid in the room they arranged, and she is alive!

An Ruochen burned the paper and paced back and forth in the room, thinking about what to do. Li Xiu'er's hiding like this is not a long-term solution, and she misses her mother, so she can't stay here if she can't keep it safe. She should see her, must see her as soon as possible.

An Ruochen went out without Chun Xiao, but Tian Qing and Lu Zheng wanted to notify her. This is Long Da's rule, no matter where she is, she must be guarded. It would be too suspicious if she didn't even inform Tian Qing and Lu Zheng of sneaking out. If the traitor finds out, things will leak out instead.

Today, Tian Qing accompanied her to go out. On the way, everyone was talking about the case of Jiang's clothing store. Tian Qing asked An Ruochen if she would not go and see it?

An Ruochen said that now the clothes shop must be full of officers and soldiers from government agencies, and there are many things to deal with when the shop burns down, and there is nothing to do except to make trouble when he goes there. Li Changshi only reminded her today that she had to wait until Lord Xie and the general came back to give them instructions. She didn't want to cause trouble.

Tian Qing made a grimace when he heard this, "Li Changshi." He seemed to have a lot of criticism for this man. An Ruochen smiled, but didn't answer the question.

After that, An Ruochen wandered to the vicinity of Anfu, and found a young man to pass a message to Anfu. After a while, An Ruoxi led the maid out, walked to the street and saw An Ruochen, and said, "What? Come here today by yourself, and don't order me around? Do you want to go back and have a look? "

An Ruochen made a disgusted expression: "I don't want to go to that ghostly place. Let's find a place to talk alone. Don't bring the girl, will you come?"

An Ruoxi naturally went.

The two sisters wandered around, and finally stopped at Qingshui Pavilion, which was a tea house, where they enjoyed tea and listened to music. An Ruochen said that she was tired from walking, so she could just sit here.

An Ruoxi has no objection, she is full of doubts, not knowing what tricks An Ruochen is playing.

Seeing them stop, Tian Qing stood across the street and waited. An Ruochen gestured with his eyes, Tian Qing understood and nodded.

An Ruochen took his younger sister and sat down in the private room of Qingshui Pavilion, ordered a pot of tea, and didn't listen to the music, soon there were only the two of them left in the private room. An Ruoxi stopped pretending immediately, and asked with a sullen face, "What do you want this time?"

An Ruochen said slowly: "I said, I will tell you something more when we meet next time."

An Ruoxi sat up straight: "Speak."

"Jiang's clothing store was burned, affecting the whole street, more than ten people died tragically, and half the street was burned down?"

"I heard." Speaking of this tragedy, An Ruoxi was very serious.

"Some of the fabrics in Jiang's clothing store come from Southern Qin, do you know?"

An Ruoxi was taken aback. "Could it be that the burning of the shop is related to Nanqin Freight Forwarding?"

An Ruochen shook his head: "I don't know the specifics. At least it's not written in the yamen's case files. But recently there are rumors that the Merchant Shipping Division is investigating the customs clearance of goods, so this matter is subtle."

An Ruoxi frowned.