The Golden Hairpin

As soon as the concierge of Zhou Mansion saw them, he immediately smiled: "Duke Yang, are you here? This is..."

The concierge nodded to Li Shubai with a smile. Li Shubai sat on the horse and did not get down, but said: "You go in, I will wait for you outside."

Huang Zixian turned over and got off his horse, and tied the horse to the horse stone at the door. The concierge smiled and said to her: "Master has ordered, you can go directly to where he lives from now on, come, and I will show you the way."

Huang Zixia thanked him and followed him into the Zhou Mansion. All the way to the corner near the garden, there is a small courtyard covered with prickly pears.

The courtyard door was wide open, and the two young men inside were sitting under the grape trellis and turning over the flower ropes. Zhou Ziqin's voice came faintly: "I...I said Abi and Ayan, will you come and help me?"

"Master, it's not that we didn't help you. It's really panic about that thing, how dare we touch it!" The two little servants didn't lift their heads, and focused on dealing with the red string in their hands.

Zhou Ziqin’s furious voice can even be heard by Huang Zixia outside the door: "You two bastards, would rather play with such silly things than help young master me... alas, my bones are about to be broken..."

The concierge was used to it, smiled calmly at Huang Zixia and left. Huang Zixia entered the courtyard gate and shouted inside: "Zhou Ziqin, come out quickly, something urgent!"

Zhou Ziqin's voice came from the room, as if on the verge of an amnesty: "Chonggu, help! Hurry... Jianghu help! Come and help me!"

Huang Zixian looked at the two little servants who were still indifferent, walking to the door of the wing where the sound was heard. Zhou Ziqin was pressed by two bronze men, a man and a woman, lying on the ground in anguish. Shang still clung to a boneless skeleton and refused to let go.

She didn't know what was going on, so she could only go in and drag the two strange bronze figures aside. The bronze man was half solid and very heavy, and she was so tired that she sat down for a while.

Today Zhou Ziqin wore a brocade robe with a green bottom embroidered with smoked purple peony flowers and a red belt. Even if it was stained with dust on the ground, it was still bright and dazzling. He got up from the ground, touched the skeleton and said gratifiedly: "Fortunately it's not bad, otherwise I will die of heartache-this is the complete young man's skull that I paid twenty taels of silver for me to find for me, you Look at the beautiful and round arcs, the neat white teeth, the deep eye sockets..."

Huang Zixia couldn't help but interrupt him: "How did you make it like this?"

Zhou Ziqin caressed the skeleton in his arms heartily, and said: "I just fell over when I took this bone with my foot slipped, and then the two bronze men fell down when they were shaken. In order to keep my precious skull, I only I was able to fight for the rescue—fortunately, no one was asked to do solid things, otherwise I would have to die under them today!"

Huang Zixia looked at the white and perfect skull in his arms. He had a deep understanding of why this handsome, healthy, and cheerful servant boy had not made a marriage decision. No woman would want to compete with the skull for her husband's embrace. It is estimated that this is also the reason why he was thrown into the most remote corner of the house.

"By the way, Chonggu, what can you do with me?"

Huang Zixia asked, "Do you remember those beggars who died under the poisonous arrow tree?"

Zhou Ziqin suddenly jumped up holding the skeleton, "Of course! I...how could I forget it! I will find out the cause of their death!"

"I already have some clues, if you want to know, come and help me do something." Huang Zixian motioned to him to put the skull down first, then stood up and walked out, "Remember to change into a light coarse cloth. The more worn the better. Don't go out wearing your red and green brocade robe!"

Zhou Ziqin got a horse from the mansion, and the three of them rode toward the northeast of Chang'an City.

After not taking a few steps, Zhou Ziqin hurriedly pulled his horse closer to Huang Zixia, and asked, "Chonggu, you said, is it clear about the deaths of those beggars?"

"Well, I have a clue. Just wait for someone to show up." Huang Zixia nodded and said affirmatively.

"Waiting for someone? Who?" Zhou Ziqin asked quickly, "Is it a particularly important person?"

Huang Zixia nodded slightly: "If what I guess is correct, as long as she comes, this case that has troubled us for many days will basically be solved."

"Who is it that can play such an important role?" Zhou Ziqin looked at her in astonishment.

She smiled, and just said: "In fact, it's just a rudimentary idea of ​​mine. People haven't seen it yet."

Zhou Ziqin looked at her suspiciously, but she stopped talking and let Zhou Ziqin guess for herself. Dirty son was dry and fierce, rushing to walk in the front, that Fusha followed closely, and Zhou Ziqin's horse could only fall in the end obediently.

The three horses filed back and forth, all the way along the streets of Chang'an. Zhou Ziqin suddenly slapped his head and said loudly behind them: "I know! I know who the person you said is coming over!"

Huang Zixian looked back at him in surprise. He held the horse's rein in one hand and waved the other in the air, staring at her with shining eyes, looking excited and longing: "Is it a woman?"

Huang Zixian was slightly surprised: "Well, yes."

"A girl of sixteen or seventeen?"

"right."

"A very beautiful girl who is sixteen or seventeen years old!"

"It should be...beautiful." Huang Zixia was not so sure about this.

"Sure enough, I guessed it!" Zhou Ziqin grabbed her sleeve excitedly and asked, "Then, when will Huang Zixia come?"

"...Huh?" She looked at him in amazement, speechless.

"That's what you said, a beautiful girl of 16 or 7 years old, who can tell the story of the whole case as soon as she comes over. Who else but Huang Zixia?"

Li Shubai was in front of him and didn't look back, but Huang Zixia still saw his shoulder twitched slightly, as if trying to endure the laugh that was about to burst out.

She was riding on the horse, looking speechless.

I can't imagine Zhou Ziqin would cry if he knew that he was Huang Zixian in front of him.

When approaching Tai Chi Palace, they abandoned their horses and walked and found a secluded alley.

Zhou Ziqin looked at the three horses behind him and asked, "Is our horse okay?"

Li Shubai walked forward, and said casually: "If you dare to steal a horse, you must be prepared to lose a leg first."

Huang Zixia and Zhou Ziqin looked at each other, and both saw the corners of each other's mouths twitching.

Huang Zixia took them to Guangzhaifang where Youwai Jiaofang was, and stopped.

Zhou Ziqin pulled on the clothes borrowed from the gardener, followed Huang Zixian along the river, and asked doubtfully: "Chonggu...it seems to be a bit far away from the place where the beggars died..."

"Don't attract people's attention, let me take a look." Guangzhaifang is outside the Phoenix Gate of Taiji Palace, Huang Zixian looks at the entrances and exits of Palace City and Waijiaofang from afar, guessing the shortest route, and then turns to a place where there are piles of shrubs and no one notices. , Looked at the traces of turning stones around, then pointed to the canal that flows through here, and said to Zhou Ziqin: "Let's jump down."

Zhou Ziqin was dumbfounded: "Chonggu, first, the weather is not yet time for swimming, and second, my water level is not very good..."

"It doesn't need to be very good, the water here is not deep, you just need to go down and touch something up." She said.

Li Shubai didn't seem to hear their conversation, and looked up to admire the surrounding scenery.

Zhou Ziqin asked again: "Chonggu, what did you drop? I will ask someone to help you pick it up..."

Huang Zixia interrupted him: "I'm looking for a piece of evidence related to the deaths of those beggars."

Before she finished her words, Zhou Ziqin had already begun to undress.

This time it was Huang Zixian's turn to look up at the sky, and Li Shubai said lightly beside him: "You are all told to wear such ragged clothes, what else are you taking off?"

"Oh, that's right..." Zhou Ziqin **** his clothes again. "Master, Chonggu, you have to say that you want to go into the water in the future, I will borrow a water."

"Stop talking nonsense, we must keep this matter confidential, and we must never be known." Huang Zixian stretched out her hands and compared it to the length of a pipa. "There should be such a big thing, maybe a package, but it's only big or small anyway. You look for it."

"Okay." Zhou Ziqin jumped into the water with a plop, and a fierce boy plunged into the ditch.

Standing on the shore, Li Shubai looked up at the blue sky and white clouds and the lush grove, and said with emotion: "The sky is light and the clouds are scattered, the smoke is scattered, and the scenery is good."

Huang Zixian found a relatively flat bluestone and sat down on the shore, feeling that the tone he used to force Zhou Ziqin to coerce and lure was more and more like Li Shubai, and she couldn't help feeling sad.

Not long afterwards, Zhou Ziqin emerged from the bottom of the water, gasping for breath, and said, "This ditch is so deep, and the water is quite dirty. It's all silt and weeds underneath. It seems a bit difficult to find something. Or I call a few people. Come, sift the waters around here carefully?"

"No." Huang Zixian squatted on the shore and said seriously, "I didn't say it a long time ago. In order not to get rid of the trouble, it is better for the two of us to look for it slowly."

Zhou Ziqin wore a face, lay his arms on the bank, and looked up at her: "But it's such a long river. It's like finding a needle in a haystack by touching something that I don't know what it is."

"Don't worry, in terms of distance, direction, hidden track, etc., this place should be the murderer's first choice. I think it should be here."

"...Obviously it is far away from Qujiangchi where the beggars fell dead, and the eight poles can't be beaten..." Zhou Ziqin was still muttering, Huang Zixian stretched out his right hand and pressed it on top of his head, so Zhou Ziqin was pushed back into the water. What I wanted to say turned into a string of blisters, all submerged in the ditch.

Zhou Ziqin danced and sank in the water for a while, then came up angrily: "Yang Chonggu, you bastard, don't say hello, I, my feet are dragged by the water weeds!"

"Ah? No!" Huang Zixia was also anxious immediately, "I'm sorry, come on, reach out to me, I will pull you up."

"It's very tight, I'm dead..." Zhou Ziqin said as he threw his feet desperately, Huang Zixia grabbed his hand and pulled up, and the two of you pulled me and it took a long time to finally get Zhou Ziqin off the feet. The heavy object climbed up.

Both of them were a little relieved, and sat on the ground, gasping for breath.

"What aquatic plants are so tough? You are almost dragged in."

"Don't mention it, it's dead, it's wrapped around my feet like cloth. I was watching under the water, such a large group of dark shadows—" Zhou Ziqin stretched out his hands and gestured in an embracing gesture, "wrapped around my feet. I can't shake it..."

Huang Zixian looked at the size of his gestures, and thoughtfully made another gesture of the size he just made.

Zhou Ziqin was stunned.

Huang Zixian looked at him, he looked at Huang Zixian, the two looked at each other for a long time, Zhou Ziqin stood up and jumped into the canal with a plop, and a fierce man plunged again.

Just when Huang Zixia was about to pick up what he touched out of the water, Zhou Ziqin suddenly got out of the water and shouted: "Hurry! Hurry! There is a big discovery!"

"What's the discovery?" Huang Zixia glanced at Li Shubai, thinking about the possibility of him going into the water to help.

"The water was too turbid just now. I could only see a shadow clearly. Now that the dirt in the water has settled down, I really can see it clearly! Not only the package! There is also a corpse!"

As soon as this remark came out, even Li Shubai was quite surprised, and asked: "corpse?"

"Yes! And it's still a headless corpse, I can see it clearly, absolutely no problem!"