Detective in the Red Chamber

Jia Baoyu next to him was confused and wondered, "What kind of riddle are you two brothers playing? Did something strange happen last night?"

At noon yesterday, although Jia Lian had already forced a wave of sales, Jia Baoyu was already drunk at that time, and the attacker was unwilling to bring it up afterwards, so he naturally didn't have the slightest impression.

Since Jia Lian took the initiative to mention this matter, he had no intention of hiding it from Baoyu, so he immediately pursed his lips and said with a smile, "Of course it's Ping'erhe..."

"cough!"

Sun Shaozong coughed hastily, interrupted his words, and urged, "Since everyone is here, let's sift the garden quickly, so as not to cause panic in your house."

As he said that, he took a single sword with a sheath from the servant, hung it crookedly on his waist, and led the curious Jia family brothers to bring more than a hundred famous servants, and poured into the Grand View Garden.

Most of them, under the leadership of managers at all levels, will go to various places in the garden to carry out carpet screening to confirm that there are no thieves lurking in the garden.

A small number of people, under the leadership of Sun Shaozong, started their investigation from the bamboo forest where the thief was first discovered.

The book does not go into details.

However, Sun Shaozong led the team to the bamboo forest beside the Fengyao Bridge, and first ordered his servants to surround the forest in a general way, and then took Jia Baoyu, who was in a state of excitement, and Jia Lian, who seemed to be unwell and was always blushing, around the bamboo forest. Cut in circles.

"Second brother."

I thought that Jia Lian, who had no interest in solving the case, would be the first to lose his temper. Unexpectedly, Jia Lian still silently followed after turning to the sixth circle, but Jia Baoyu was a little impatient.

I heard him urging, "Second Brother Sun, didn't you say that those thieves put up a map in the bamboo pavilion? Let's not go to the pavilion to find out what's going on. What's the use of going around in circles?"

"Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't."

Sun Shaozong said without turning his head, "But you have to check it before you know whether it is useful or not."

Jia Lian also chimed in with 'unmovable eyes', "You just follow along honestly, why are there so many gossips?

The two elder brothers had such attitudes, so Jia Baoyu had no choice but to silence his drums and follow Sun Shaozong's example, groping around indiscriminately.

Going around like this, until the ninth lap, the three finally arrived near the clearing deep in the dense forest.

Seeing the small pavilion looming indistinctly, Jia Baoyu stretched his neck impatiently, wishing he could step out of the dense forest in one step, so as to see what traces the thieves had left in the pavilion.

At this time, Sun Shaozong suddenly stopped, and then slowly squatted in front of a weed bush.

"What? But what did you find?!"

Baoyu suddenly regained his energy, and squatted side by side with Sun Shaozong in front of the weeds, staring at the grass carefully.

"what?!"

Soon he let out a low cry, pointed to a weed and said, "This seems to be the mark of being cut by a sharp weapon!"

Indeed, the blades of some of these weeds were obviously cut off by sharp knives.

Sun Shaozong picked up two broken leaves from the ground, carefully inspected the condition of the fracture, and after confirming that it was the trace left by yesterday, he straightened up and looked around a few times, looking thoughtful.

"Second Brother Sun."

Jia Baoyu also got up, and asked curiously like a baby, "Is there any special significance to these cut weeds?"

Sun Shaozong shook his head first, then nodded again, under Jia Baoyu's bewildered gaze, he unfastened the single knife at his waist, bent over and aimed the blade at the weeds, and swiped it obliquely.

Then he frowned, looked at the swaying grass, and after a while, he handed the knife to his left hand again, and then slashed obliquely in the same way.

After observing this time, he finally put the single knife back on his waist with satisfaction, and explained to the curious Jia Baoyu, "These cuts may not have any special meaning, but as long as you are willing to figure it out with your heart, you can still get a lot of usefulness from it." Information."

"For example, at least it can be confirmed that one of the three thieves is left-handed. In addition, he had a lot of mood swings at the time, so he vented on these weeds, and he hacked three times in a row."

Jia Baoyu suddenly realized, "No wonder the second brother wants to switch to holding the knife in his left hand!"

Sun Shaozong looked serious again, and said, "But this information is not important. What's really important is that they didn't make a special trip to explore the way, but have some special purpose."

"Where does this come from?"

Jia Baoyu wondered, "Could it be from these weeds?"

"Yes."

Sun Shaozong explained, "This place is relatively close to the Fengyao Bridge. Whether you are chasing you or escaping afterwards, you should not choose to leave from this direction—that is to say, this trace should be before they were alarmed by you. has been left."

"If you were a thief looking for money, and you went all the way to the neighborhood, and found that a garden in Nuoda was unguarded, full of valuable curios, and young and beautiful women-you would be leisurely in the woods, take These weeds vent their emotions?"

Jia Baoyu thought about it carefully, then shook his head vigorously.

"So, I guess they sneaked into the garden with other purposes, but they went around to find this place, but they failed to achieve their goal. That's why a certain thief lost control of his emotions for a while."

When Jia Baoyu heard this, his eyes were full of admiration, and he couldn't help asking, "Then what is their purpose?"

"You think I'm a fairy?"

Sun Shaozong reached out and punched him on the shoulder, and said angrily, "Based on such a small trace, how could I analyze what their purpose is?"

As he said that, he turned his head and took another step, saying hello, "Let's go, see if there are other discoveries.

Jia Baoyu responded with a firm voice, and hurriedly followed, but this time he did not fumble blindly, but seriously searched for evidence—but he didn't see the flash in Sun Shaozong's eyes when he started on the road again. The color of understanding.

Although Jia Baoyu mustered up his energy, in the next two laps, he did not find any clues.

Fortunately, the main event of the gazebo was coming soon, so Jia Baoyu was not too depressed, but rushed to the bamboo pavilion excitedly, and looked around the mud and stones suspected of being a map several times as if he had found a treasure. .

This time Sun Shaozong did not follow him, but waited for Baoyu to see enough, and then stepped forward and asked, "How is it? Are these things piled up according to your home?"

Although he has been to this garden more than once, when it comes to familiarity, how can Sun Shaozong catch up with Jia Baoyu who wanders in it all day long?

"Um……"

Jia Baoyu squatted in front of the 'map' hesitantly, stretched out his fingers to pick up some of the stones, put them aside temporarily, pointed to the remaining part of the stones and said, "If you only look at this part, it is similar to Qiushuangzhai and Nuanxiangwu." , and around Daoxiang Village have a similar pattern, but there is a lotus root Xiangxie missing in the middle.”

Sun Shaozong immediately asked, "Then according to the pattern above, where should the Ouxiangxi Pavilion be located?"

Jia Baoyu swiped his fingers back and forth twice between several stones, pointed firmly at one of the open spaces, and said, "According to the layout and distance, it should be near here!"

Sun Shaozong didn't say anything, and immediately crawled to the ground, carefully put his eyes close to the open space, checked repeatedly for a long time, and finally found two scratches thinner than hair.

He used a stone to outline the two scratches, then drew a vague circle, and found that the range was not far from the place Jia Baoyu pointed out just now, so he got up from the ground, patted the dust on his body, and said, "Look. It looks like there should have been a stone in this place, but it was messed up by me unintentionally—or by those thieves on purpose."

While speaking, two more hands suddenly appeared in front of him, but it was Jia Lian who came up to help beat the dust attentively.

Although Sun Shaozong felt a little awkward, he was embarrassed to refuse Jia Lian's kindness—especially now he still had to ask Jia Lian.

Jia Baoyu frowned and said, "Looking at the number of stones on the ground, the thieves probably have already figured out the terrain inside and outside the garden."

"This……"

"Second Master, Second Master Lian!"

Just as Sun Shaozong was about to speak, a servant rushed in from outside, and said in a panic, "It's amazing! The old ancestor said that he was going to take Grandma Liu to visit the garden, and now he has led people to the Grand View Garden. The second grandma and Ladies are not easy to stop, what do you think this is good for?!"

Jia Lian just retracted his hand reluctantly, and when he heard this, his complexion changed drastically, and he stamped his feet anxiously, "How can this be done?! Now the mountains and plains are being searched. If the old lady sees it, how can I hide it?" live?"

Because Jia Mu was already frightened when she saw the stable on fire yesterday, no one dared to mention the robbery in the Grand View Garden in front of her at night.

Seeing that Jia Lian was in a hurry, Sun Shaozong patted Jia Baoyu on the shoulder helplessly, and said, "It seems that it's time for you to act again, no matter whether you are acting cute, stupid or pitiful, in short, hold the old lady back, at least until the search is over." The entire garden, let the maids and mother-in-law return to their respective homes."

Chapter 502 Asking the fan to bury the root of the trouble, interviewing Miaoyu with doubts

But he said that he was watching Jia Baoyu's figure, walking away on the other side of the bridge, and seeing that the nearest family member was also five zhang away, Sun Shaozong turned his head to face Jia Lian, and stopped talking, "Second brother, what..."

Seeing this, Jia Lian immediately put on a bold face, "What's there to talk about between us brothers? Erlang just speaks out if he has something to say!"

He is so magnanimous, it seems that he is wretched.

Sun Shaozong simply put the propriety, righteousness, integrity and shame behind him, and said with a shy face, "That's all right, Xiaohong, who is the identity of Miss Ping'er, who in this house doesn't know? If it wasn't for the second elder brother's promise to give her to me as a concubine, I would never dare to be rude to her."

"Otherwise, if other people know about it, I'm afraid it's not something a woman can bear just for gossip."

Although Jia Lian owed some shrewdness, he was not a fool after all, so he could hear what Sun Shaozong said, but he hoped that he would fulfill his promise and give Ping'er as a gift.

Jia Lian himself had no opinion, and even wished to use this to get closer to Sun Shaozong.

only……

"Brother, I am willing to send her to you, but where is your sister-in-law, you can't leave Ping'er for a moment, and you even argued with me this morning." Jia Lian said, seeing Sun Shaozong's complexion changed slightly, he patted his chest again "But don't worry, brother, I will definitely find a way to make that woman let go and send her to your house myself!"

As he said that, he added with a playful smile, "If you miss her these days, you might as well come to our house for a few days, as if it's just a temporary residence."

He has already talked about this, what else can Sun Shaozong say?

I had no choice but to agree unwillingly.

Turning around, he was about to continue to investigate nearby to see if he could find other clues, but he saw a maid from the other side rushing over, shouting across the Fengyao bridge, "Second master, the master called you to come over, Said that there is something to tell you to do!"

Jia Lian frowned when he heard the words. After Baoyu was sent away, he was secretly happy to be alone with Sun Shaozong. He never thought that his father would come to send him again.

Being depressed, he naturally refused to submit obediently, and beckoned the maid to come closer to ask what happened.

But it turned out that Jia She had just heard that there was a shabby man surnamed Shi who settled down in this city, and his nickname was a stone nerd. The pens and inks of celebrities in the past dynasties are all rare treasures.

Jia She was obsessed with this thing the most in his life, and he was overjoyed when he got the news. He originally wanted to go there to see what happened, but he sprained his ankle in a daze, and now his ankle is swollen like a steamed bun, so it's not easy to go and see it again. what fan.

That's why he ordered someone to call Jia Lian, and asked Jia Lian to find out what happened on his behalf.

After hearing the cause and effect, Jia Lian became more and more impatient, and scolded, "How many serious things are you doing now? You are serving in front of the master, so you won't let the master invite others to see you?"

The servant girl shrank her shoulders in fright, and said, "The master said, the servants in the mansion don't even know a few words, so they don't know what kind of fan they are, so this matter has to be done by the second master." .”

Although Jia Lian was reluctant, he also knew his father's temper. If he really disobeyed his orders, the family law would fall on him in a blink of an eye.

Therefore, he could only say goodbye to Sun Shaozong reluctantly, and crossed the Fengyao Bridge humming all the way.

But when he left, Sun Shaozong felt much more at ease. First, he searched carefully outside the bamboo forest, but failed to find any decent clues. There are two traces of overturning the wall.

Through comparison, it can be basically confirmed that the three thieves had already escaped last night.

Sun Shaozong felt at ease, and there was really nothing else to investigate, so he simply wandered around, admiring the beautiful autumn scenery.

About half an hour later, Zhou Rui came over in a hurry, saying that the search in various places had come to an end, and no thieves were found hiding during the period.

If Sun Shaozong had no other orders, he was going to withdraw all the servants, so that the maids and maids could go back to their respective houses, and also prevent the old lady from showing her feet when she was visiting the garden.

Sun Shaozong waved his hands indifferently, "Do what you should do. I will walk around in this garden casually, so that when the old lady brings someone in, I can guard her along the way."

Zhou Rui thanked his master thousands of times, and led the servants out of the garden.

Sun Shaozong wandered around for a while, seeing Yingying and Yanyan, led by Xiren, appear on the tree-lined road, so he avoided it far away, and turned to the nearby mountain path.

Not long after walking, I saw a small quiet temple flashing out of the forest in front of me.

Sun Shaozong walked leisurely and leisurely, and when he arrived at the gate of the small temple, he was looking at the three characters "Qicui Temple" on the plaque, when he heard the sound of hurried footsteps behind him, followed by Miaoyu's surprised voice, "Master Sun? You ...how are you here?"

Looking back, I saw this fake nun was wearing the moon-white veil dress from yesterday, with a light blue belt, and the three-foot blue silk was simply tied behind her head. Yun, looking very free and easy, but holding a little baby girl in his arms.

Sun Shaozong smiled slightly, turned sideways to get out of the way, and said in his mouth, "Why, don't you invite me to sit in?"

Miaoyu felt more and more weird, but since Sun Shaozong "graciously rejected" her two sacrifices, her perception of Sun Shaozong gradually changed from initial contempt to respect.

So he hurriedly handed the child over to the little nun behind him to take care of him, stepped forward and locked the courtyard door, and gave up his hand, "The temple is poor, I'm afraid there are only a few cups of rough tea, so I can talk about my feelings."

Sun Shaozong went into the courtyard without hesitation, but did not go to the main hall, but walked into Miaoyu's meditation room.

Miaoyu was stunned again, but immediately followed in step by step, opened the small cabinet made of Xiangzhu, took out many bottles and cans, and took out the small red clay stove, which was a lot of work.

Not long after, she personally held a small tea tray filled with begonia-style carved lacquer filled with Jin Yunlong's birthday, and inside it was a small kiln-shaped multicolored cup, and presented it in front of Sun Shaozong gracefully.

Every move is pleasing to the eye, even ordinary tea, it also adds a third of charm, not to mention that this tea is indeed a rare treasure.

It's a pity that Sun Shaozong is not a person of this way, and he didn't ask what kind of tea it was, he swallowed it clean, put the tea cup on the tray, and asked, "Do you know why I came to you this time? "

Seeing him staring straight at her, Miaoyu lost her mind for a moment, blushed and took half a step back, and said shamelessly, "Buddhism is a pure place, sir, please respect yourself."

"Self-respect?"

Sun Shaozong saw that her shyness was very natural, and she didn't show any flaws, so he couldn't help but rolled his eyes, and said angrily, "You are also a nun with hair and practice, can you stop thinking about the love between men and women? I I came here this time because I have something serious to ask you."

It was only then that Miaoyu realized that she had misunderstood what Sun Shaozong meant, her face turned even more blushing, she arranged the tea set in a panic, and asked cautiously, "But I don't know what is the serious business?"

Sun Shaozong didn't bother to continue playing charades with her, so he said solemnly, "Those thieves from last night probably came after you, Quicui Temple!"

"what?!"

Miaoyu suddenly couldn't help but cried out, then felt a little unbelievable, and asked suspiciously, "How is this possible? There are only a few monks like us in the nunnery, how can we provoke such gangsters?"

"That's exactly what I'm wondering about."

Sun Shaozong frowned and said, "Those thieves turned most of the Grand View Garden and even pieced together a topographical map, but they obviously failed to achieve their purpose of venturing in. I'm afraid it's not as simple as making money."

"The places where people live in this garden are mostly in conspicuous places. Only you are quiet and hard to find—that's why I deduced that those thieves came for Changcui Temple. As a result, because of the dark sky, this place is very secretive. So it didn’t work out.”

Speaking of this, he looked at Miaoyu and said, "Think about it carefully, what is there in this Cuicui nunnery that is worth the risk of thieves?"

"This……"