I am aging gracefully in the world of famous books

The morning breeze blew the white gauze curtain in front of the window, blowing the face of the sleeping man with refreshing coolness.

Pei Xiang woke up slowly, and closed his eyes to accept the 18-year life memory of the original owner, Doris Gladstone.

After figuring out his situation at this time, Pei Xiang opened his eyes all at once, and sat up abruptly.

After quickly scanning the entire room, Pei Xiang breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that she was the only one in the bedroom.Then she began to look carefully at Miss Doris Gladstone's bedroom.

The windows are open.

—It was Miss Gladstone's habit.

——Because she firmly believes in the "scientific conclusions" in some health guidelines, and believes that ensuring maximum indoor air circulation is beneficial to her health and skin.

——So, even in cold weather, she insisted on sleeping with the windows open.

There is water in a lotus-leaf-shaped glass bowl by the bed.

——Doris believes that the clear water at the head of the bed will absorb the stale air she breathes, and keep her away from the stale air and sweat pollution discharged during sleep.As a result, her eyes look more hydrated and brighter, and her lips take on an alluring rosiness.

Pei Xiang frowned and glanced at the amount of water in the glass bowl.

——Before going to bed, the water was full, but now it has dropped a little. This kind of evaporation is not right.

Sensing the abnormal amount of water, Pei Xiang got off the bed with bare feet, stepped on the soft carpet and walked to the fireplace in the bedroom.

——The fireplace is still warm, indicating that it has just been extinguished.

——I don’t know if the chimney is ventilated, if it is blocked...

Pei Xiang was observing the fireplace when he suddenly felt something wrong with the thick carpet under his feet.She squatted down and groped carefully for a while on the dark brown carpet in front of the fireplace. When she raised her hand again, her fingers were stained with some black and gray debris.

—Soot foam?

She looked carefully at the carpet under her feet again, and found some faintly curved black traces.Very shallow, if you don't check carefully, these intermittent traces are very easy to be ignored.

and……

Pei Xiang raised his face to feel the direction and strength of the morning breeze, and felt that it was calculated according to the normal wake-up time of the original body. When the maid found that Miss Gladstone had not rang the bell and entered the room to check, these traces It was about to be blown away by the wind.

Not only that, but the fireplace will cool down completely, and there will be no residual warmth like it is now.

She searched the dark carpet for a while, and after gesturing and surveying, she found at least four round utensils stained with soot that had once rested on the indoor carpet.

Following the traces of soot, Pei Xiang found some speckled indentations on the floor near the head of the bed, which looked like marks left by some square head brackets.

But she wasn't sure whether these marks were there before, or if they were put on last night.

—A round-bottomed heavy container stained with soot...is it a charcoal basin?

——Are those indentations left by tools like shelves to support the charcoal basin?

—With the fireplace lit, four additional charcoal basins were burned?

Doris Gladstone, however, was not ill, and there was no need for such warmth in her bedroom, nor had she ever asked her servants to do so.

Pei Xiang walked to the open window while thinking.She looked out the window first, the gardener had already started working, and the butler Jason was talking to two servants. The three of them were standing by the oak tree under her window, and their expressions couldn't be seen clearly.

Pei Xiang withdrew his gaze and began to look at the sash window in front of him.

After a while, she walked to the dressing table and took out a double-layer magnifying glass with a gold-plated handle from a drawer.

——This is a handy tool used by the original owner to observe whether the pores of the skin are fine enough, whether there are any signs of freckles popping up suddenly, and whether her oriental silk dress is free from any flaws.

Pei Xiang took a magnifying glass and carefully observed near the window frame. With auxiliary tools, she quickly found very small white cotton wool and fabric fibers in the gaps.

—Can I speculate that the gap between the window frames has been blocked by cotton batting and soft cloth?

After carefully collecting the cotton wool near the window frame, Pei Xiang wandered around the bedroom for a while, and after finding nothing worth noting, Pei Xiang went back to the bed and sat down, wrapping himself in the quilt.

——Now it seems that someone should have entered Doris Gladstone's bedroom after she fell asleep, well, maybe after she was unconscious.

——This person quietly lit the fireplace, added a charcoal basin, and then blocked all the ventilation channels in the room, in order to let Miss Gladstone die from carbon monoxide poisoning in a confined space.

Pei Xiang thought about the tall oak trees outside this bedroom, and guessed that the murderer should have taken advantage of his original habit of sleeping with windows open, climbed the tree to enter the bedroom, lit the fire, blocked the ventilation channel, and then went to Her bedroom door went out.

— No, not necessarily so.

After analyzing this point, Pei Xiang suddenly shook his head.

The murderer didn't necessarily need to enter Doris' bedroom through the window.

Whether it was transporting the charcoal basin to Miss Gladstone's bedroom and lighting the fire, or withdrawing the charcoal basin after ventilating and ventilating afterwards, the people behind this scene had a lot of energy in the manor.So, he or she doesn't have to jump through a window at all.

Just find an excuse or avoid people, and that's fine.

Moreover, the original owner has not been awakened by the noise in the room, which is a bit unusual.Because it takes a lot of effort to light the fireplace.It's not like in a fairy tale, just wave a magic wand or fairy wand casually.

If the original owner is unconscious for some reason...

Pei Xiang's eyes darkened, and she went to the window to observe the tall oak trees, paying attention to the direction of the branches of the trees, trying to piece together the murderer's process of committing the crime.

After ensuring that Doris had inhaled enough poisonous gas, the other party took advantage of the night to climb up the oak tree, and then opened the bedroom window from the west side with a bamboo pole-like tool to allow the air in the room to circulate again.

Afterwards, when the noxious fumes in the room had largely dissipated, the murderer could return to Doris's bedroom for the aftermath.

— put away the wadding that blocked the sash windows, put out the fireplace, open the chimney, remove the charcoal basin, restore the bedroom to what it was before Doris went to sleep, and then quietly left.

Pei Xiang thought, if she wanted to verify her guess, she had to get out of the bedroom now and go to the courtyard to check if there were any traces left by the oak tree.

You should also go to the kitchen and storeroom and inquire carefully whether anyone has collected coal or used the charcoal basin between last night and this morning.

——Of course, if the other party has planned for a long time, there may not be any loopholes in the amount of coal used.

After pondering for a while, Pei Xiang gave up the plan to go downstairs immediately to find clues, because she had to come up with an excuse to explain her resurrection in a reasonable way.

——In view of the fact that the other party should have confirmed the death of Doris Gladstone.

come back to life?

——Wait, no, I'm completely overthinking it!

——Yuanchen and I didn't do anything bad, why are we trying to find excuses?

——According to common sense, it is the most normal thing for Miss Doris Gladstone to live in high spirits.

——Only the murderer behind the scenes will know that the fact that I am alive is very strange, even no less than a fairy tale!However, whether the murderer's emotions are stable, whether the world view needs to be reorganized, what does it have to do with me?

——No, no, it still has something to do with it.At the very least, I can still make the murderer feel terrified and puzzled, and even wonder who I am, have I been secretly monitoring everything?It's best to force the other party to mess up and let me take the opportunity to quickly find out the real culprit.

Pei Xiang had an idea in his heart, and thought that some people would be stunned seeing her alive and kicking, and eager light suddenly appeared in his eyes.

That's it!

Doris Gladstone is an arrogant and innocent eldest lady. Although she has a cold relationship with her biological parents, the Gladstones, she has always lived a happy life by relying on her grandfather's preference, and has always made others angry. But she is unaware of the magical existence.

There is really nothing deep and serious in her mind, nor can she understand complex and subtle hints and sarcasm. She only cares about eating, drinking, having fun and how to maintain her beauty, and she doesn't even feel deeply about her parents' partiality.

For the eldest lady, as long as the servants are obedient, as long as the pocket money is enough, and as long as the boys at the ball are keen to show her hospitality, the world is beautiful, kind and full of love.

Pei Xiang carefully recalled Miss Gladstone's past words and deeds, and bent the corners of her mouth in satisfaction.Such a character is so good, we must keep it.

After confirming the character design for a period of time in the future, and having further detailed plans, Pei Xiang slowly relaxed the tense shoulder and back muscles, and recovered from concentrating on thinking.

When she relaxed, she couldn't help shivering.

Pei Xiang turned his head and glanced at the open windows and the curtains blown by the wind, thinking, even if he was going to imitate the words and deeds of the original body, some small living habits still need to be changed without a trace.

For example, the practice of opening windows to ventilate and keep healthy can be completely changed to daytime.At night, especially on cold nights, it is best to avoid it first.

——In this day and age, a cold is a big deal.

It is now 1870, and the original Doris is the eldest granddaughter of an earl on the British Isles, surnamed Gladstone.

Her father, Mr. Charles Gladstone, was the old earl's only son and sole heir to the Gladstone title and estate.

Twenty years ago Mr Gladstone married Miss Caroline Portland, the crown jewel of the Portland family.It was a well-matched marriage, and the eldest daughter, Doris Gladstone, was born in the second year of the marriage.

It is said that when Doris was born, Mr. Gladstone, who already had two illegitimate daughters before marriage, was a little disappointed. He had always hoped to have a legal male heir as soon as possible.

A little more than a year later, Doris's younger sister, Jane Gladstone, was born and became the second young lady of the family.Disappointed again, Mr. Gladstone left the manor overnight for the city of London.

Less than two years later, Gladstone Manor finally ushered in the next heir, Edward Gladstone.

The birth of this boy was a relief to Lady Caroline, and a smile to Charles Gladstone.

Three-year-old Doris Gladstone was hugged and kissed by her father for the first time.

Then, five years after Doris's birth, a little sister, Anne Gladstone, was born.

It was probably because this child did not carry too much hope from the Gladstones, so even though she was another lady, Mr. Gladstone did not show rejection or disappointment again, and even showed his affection for the little daughter. Kind of caring and loving.

His attitude influenced the children's mother, Lady Caroline, so Anne's popularity was second only to the heir Edward, which made her two sisters very dissatisfied.

The elder Miss Gladstone was a year apart, but very different in character.

Missy Doris Gladstone has no heart, but has a big temper and doesn't like to study.She often failed to complete the studies assigned by her tutor, and she was a bear child who gave Mrs. Caroline a headache.

The second lady, Jane Gladstone, is much more obedient and well-behaved, and is also very smart and studious. The tutor often praises her to Mrs. Caroline.Gradually, Mrs. Caroline prefers the caring and intelligent second daughter Jane, and often severely reprimands the clumsy eldest daughter Doris.

Of course, as a mother, except for her son Edward, Mrs. Caroline consciously loves her three daughters.It's just because of the difference in age and personality that she treats her differently.

Especially the eldest daughter Doris, she will be the first lady in this generation of the Gladstone family to enter the social world. If she behaves inappropriately or is too stupid and superficial, it will have negative effects on the reputation of the entire Gladstone family. Impact.

Just when Mrs. Caroline made up her mind to hire a strict tutor to discipline her eldest daughter, the Earl of Gladstone, who had been leading troops stationed in India, returned to England.

After seeing the four children of his grandchildren, this gentleman immediately called his seven-year-old eldest granddaughter Doris Gladstone to his side, patted her head and smiled happily.

Since then, Doris has been favored by the most powerful person in the Gladstone family.

reason?Because of Doris Gladstone's luck, of course.

She looks exactly like her grandmother, Lady Anne, when she was a child.Yes, even though there was a third young lady in the family who inherited her grandmother's name, in the eyes of the old earl, this proud and straight-tempered eldest granddaughter was the most similar to his dead wife.

The old earl and his wife had known each other since childhood, and after they got married, they were also deeply affectionate and loved each other.Both of them were not affected by some frivolous and absurd behaviors in the aristocratic marriage relationship, and they always respected and loved each other and had the same heart and mind.

After the countess died of illness, the old earl was very miserable, and he didn't even want to stay in England.Because the figure of his wife Anne is everywhere here, and the memories of the two are everywhere, so he applied to go to India after making a marriage arrangement for his only son.

When he returned to England again, the eldest granddaughter was already over seven years old, and she was exactly the same as the seven-year-old Anne he remembered.

How could this make the old earl, who missed his dead wife very much, not excited?

With the support and doting of her grandfather, Doris made it impossible to carry out Mrs. Caroline's discipline plan.Once she reprimanded her daughter, Doris ran to the earl's study to complain. The little girl cried and wiped all the tears on the earl's expensive coat, but the earl didn't dislike it, just kept feeling distressed. The wronged granddaughter.

He sent someone to inquire about what had happened, and concluded that Doris might be at fault, but Mrs. Caroline was also somewhat biased and arbitrary.The old earl was immediately unhappy, so he kept Doris by his side, and he personally found someone to teach the eldest granddaughter.

Of course, after changing three tutors in a row, the old earl had to admit that his precious granddaughter was not made for a talented girl.

But if it's not right, it's right. His granddaughter, the eldest lady of the Gladstone family, will have wealth, beauty and noble background in the future. What are you afraid of?

At the same time, Mrs. Caroline was also unhappy because of Doris' complaint and the intervention of the old earl.She felt that her dignity as a mother had been offended. Whether it was the child's disobedience or the old earl's meddling, they were all questioning her ability and upbringing.

However, no matter how much dissatisfaction Mrs. Caroline had, she would not show it.After all, it was the head of the Gladstone family, who had made great achievements in World War II.

As a result, Doris's relationship with her grandfather became deeper and deeper, while her relationship with her parents and siblings gradually faded.She was not a particularly bright and sensitive character, she always liked to be straightforward, and was spoiled by the old earl very self-willed, but she didn't feel any sadness because of it.

After living like this for more than ten years, on the eve of Pei Xiang's crossing over, the old earl's body finally couldn't hold on anymore.On the hospital bed, he looked at Doris who was crying bitterly, and thought of the simple and domineering character of this granddaughter, and felt slightly distressed for the first time.

He is not afraid of Doris being bullied, because this girl is not a character who can swallow her anger.Moreover, he also left Doris with a capable and reliable agent and rich assets, enough for her to spend the rest of her life flamboyantly.

Earl Gladstone's distress was that this girl had a bad eye for men. The young men she had her eyes on before were all glib playboys, and there was no good candidate worthy of entrusting her life.

His illness was so severe that he could not wait for the day of Doris's marriage. Before he died, he wanted to find a safe way out and a backer for his granddaughter.

In addition, the private property he left to Doris was a little too rich, and he was a little worried about his son.Hearing that he failed to invest in the mine recently and owed gambling debts, he was afraid that if he closed his eyes, the new Earl of Gladstone would rely on his father's authority to "rob money" from Doris.

The old earl thought about it, and finally used a big favor.

After he had arranged all the affairs behind him, he accepted God's call and left the world with a peaceful expression.

He left relatively at ease, but he never expected that his beloved little granddaughter would be murdered suddenly, and it was still in Gladstone Manor.

At this time, Pei Xiang thought of the old earl's will and follow-up arrangements, and sighed softly.

After the death of the old earl, the original Doris Gladstone inherited half of Anne's grandmother's dowry. If the various properties and investments were discounted, they would be worth about [-] pounds.

Not only that, the old earl also gave Doris all the jewels he obtained in India. It is said that those jewels are of high value, and the appraised value is definitely more than [-] pounds.

Once the will was announced, the members of the Gladstone family present all took a breath, and the way they looked at Doris changed immediately.

Especially the new Earl Charles Gladstone, whose expression at that time was particularly complicated and dissatisfied.

Pei Xiang recalled all the things that happened recently, and his thoughts surged.

—Who wanted Doris's life?What is the motivation?Does it really have anything to do with this legacy?

——It won't be the earl, the matter is far from killing his own daughter.The possibility of other family members is not very high. They don't have deep feelings, but they are not life and death enemies.

——Although money is touching, other possibilities cannot be ignored...