good season

Zhao Shiqing didn't know what Master Zhen did in the capital.

The moment she met Shen Guanyue (Xiao Yue), the cooperation was completed, and she threw Xiao Zhen out of her mind.

At this moment, Zhao Shiqing was standing in front of a ruin in a daze.

Is this the Jixiang Inn?
Is this the auspicious inn where she stayed for one night?

This place is not far from Liangdu. Zhao Tinghan and Zhao Yunnuan who came to pick him up are both staying at the official inn. As usual, Zhao Shiqing and Meng Hu and their respective people went their separate ways to find places to stay.

The first thing Zhao Shiqing thought of was the Jixiang Inn. This inn was not only large but also comfortable. Its only drawback was that it was surrounded by empty space and not prosperous. However, for someone like Zhao Shiqing who wanted to hide his whereabouts, it was the most suitable place.

Therefore, Zhao Shiqing not only came by himself, but also asked Meng Hu to come along.

I didn’t expect that the magnificent inn three months ago would now be reduced to rubble.

Ling Bo opened his mouth in surprise. Although Meng Hu had never lived here, he knew this inn. It was the largest inn within a hundred miles. How did it become like this?
Zhao Shiqing briefly told the story of how the princess and her entourage had stayed here when they came to Beijing. Meng Hu said, "Second Miss, about ten miles south of here, there is an inn called Hao Zai Lai. You can stay there. I have a friend in this city. This matter seems strange. I will go ask him."

Zhao Shiqing nodded and took his people to the Haozaila Inn.

At night, Zhao Shiqing was getting ready to go to bed when Ling Bo came in and said, "Second Miss, Meng Tou'er is back and wants to know if you have gone to bed."

Zhao Shiqing said: "Please ask him to come in."

As she spoke, she came out from the inner room and went outside.

Although one doesn't have to be polite when out and about, Zhao Shiqing's status is there, and she is an unmarried girl. Meng Hu felt embarrassed to disturb her so late at night.

Zhao Shiqing was very calm and composed. She knew that Meng Hu would not have come over overnight if he had not found out anything.

"Brother Meng, what happened in that inn?" Zhao Shiqing went straight to the point.

Meng Hu said hurriedly: "My friend is the head of the county government. According to him, the owner of the Jixiang Inn is called Su Xingjian. The Su family's ancestral home is here, but they went to Wu two generations ago. In addition, there are few descendants, so there is only one family left in the Su family.

Three years ago, the previous owner of Jixiang Inn wanted to sell the shop. The Su family's relatives thought this was an opportunity, so they told Su Xingjian, who was far away in Wu, about this. So Su Xingjian and his family returned to their hometown, bought the inn, and lived here from then on.

Su Xingjian was very good at doing business. In less than a year, he doubled the size of the Jixiang Inn.

Moreover, Su Xingjian had a very good reputation in the city. Whenever the government needed money, they would find him and he would never refuse and would always be generous.

But this year, Su Xingjian suddenly became addicted to gambling. He would go to the gambling house whenever he had time. Nine times out of ten, he lost money. Fortunately, the Su family was wealthy, so this little money was nothing to him.

A few months ago, Su Xingjian repainted the Jixiang Inn, making it more gorgeous than before, and thus won the eldest princess's business.

No one expected that on the tenth day after the eldest princess left, one morning, the innkeeper was cleaning each room, but found that a room that should have no guests was bolted from the inside.

The clerk called the shopkeeper, who brought people to break down the door, only to find three bodies hanging from the beams in the room.

The dead were Su Xingjian, his wife Yan, and their eldest daughter Su Lanlan.

There was a suicide note on the table. After comparison, it was confirmed that the handwriting was indeed Su Xingjian's. In the note, Su Xingjian said that he owed gambling debts and could not bear to see the inn being used to pay off the debts, so he went to the underworld with his wife and daughter.

In addition, the innkeeper also recalled that someone had indeed come to inquire about the inn in the past two days, asking about the inn's business and whether it was profitable.

With these evidences and the fact that Su Xingjian was indeed a gambler, the government quickly closed the case, concluding that Su Xingjian and his family of three had committed suicide.

Originally everyone thought that after Su Xingjian's death, the creditors would soon come to take over the inn. Since the fish scale book was not found in either the home or the inn after the death of the Su couple, the government believed that the fish scale book had already been pledged to the creditors.

But this is a place where a murder had occurred after all, so the government put a seal on the inn and also pasted a piece of paper on the door, which roughly meant that if the creditor came, he could go to the government with the fish scale book to have the seal unsealed.

However, after half a month, the new owner of the inn did not come to handle the handover procedures, and the inn caught fire. Fortunately, the inn had been sealed and there was no one in the inn, so no casualties were caused.

But why the inn caught fire and whether it was arson have never been found out. In addition, the new owner of the inn has not appeared, and without a victim, the government office has not come to the case. "

Meng Hu told Zhao Shiqing everything he had found out, and then he went back to sleep, but Zhao Shiqing couldn't sleep.

She remembered the cute girl with big eyes and dimples. That girl is dead?

She thought back to the dream she had that night, in which she saw the little girl and her family of four being strangled to death.

A family of four?
Zhao Shiqing, who had been lying on the bed, sat up suddenly. She had dreamed of a family of four, but Meng Hu just said that three bodies were found, Su Xingjian, Mrs. Su, and their eldest daughter.

So does Su Xingjian have a little daughter? Yes, the little girl she saw last time, she seemed to have heard from the people in the kitchen that she was the boss’s little daughter.

Zhao Shiqing is not a person who likes to meddle in other people's affairs. In the past, if she encountered such things, as long as she was not involved, she would mostly treat it as gossip and forget about it after listening.

But today, she couldn't fall asleep no matter what.

She had seen the little girl, and then she dreamed that the little girl and her family were all killed, and now, the little girl's family was really dead.

The crows covering the roof and the warning from heaven were all her own creation, but the dream was something she really had.

Is it true that there are warnings from God in this world?
No, no, no, this matter has nothing to do with her, so there is no warning. Instead, it is a revelation from God, telling her that a tragedy is about to happen here?
Zhao Shiqing felt very uncomfortable. If she had found the owner of the inn that day and told him her dream,
Zhao Shiqing shook her head. Even if she told him, Su Xingjian's family probably wouldn't believe it.

Besides, is there any conspiracy behind this? After all, Princess Jiayi once lived here.

Zhao Shiqing wanted to have another dream, preferably one that could tell the truth. But that night, not only did she not have any dreams, she even stayed awake all night. Her mind was filled with random thoughts, and as she was thinking, the day dawned.

The next day, Crown Prince Zhao Tinghan, who had been away from Liang for fourteen years, finally returned to Liangdu.

Before entering the city gate, Zhao Tinghan, supported by Denghua, staggered to the incense table that had been prepared long ago, knelt on the ground, and burst into tears.

"Father, I am an unfilial child!"

Two eunuchs from the Prince of Liang's mansion tied a mourning band for him. After completing the procedure, Zhao Tinghan walked towards the city gate. Outside the city gate, officials of all ranks in Liang, as well as gentry and merchants from Liang, knelt on the ground to welcome the return of the prince.

Zhao Yunnuan walked beside Zhao Tinghan. They were twins and looked 30% similar. This was the first time in 14 years that they stood side by side.

Zhao Shiqing stood far away and could only see the backs of her brother and sister's heads. She was so moved that she sniffed, but she heard Meng Hu muttering in her ear: "Why hasn't the second young master arrived yet? This shouldn't be the case." Zhao Shiqing was stunned. She was just moved. Only then did she remember that, yes, her second brother didn't go to pick up her eldest brother. So when they arrived at the city gate, with so many officials already there, why didn't her second brother show up?
Could something have happened at home?

When she thought of this, she wished she could go into the city and take a look at the palace right away, but there were so many people at the city gate that if she wanted to go in, she had to wait until her elder brother and the others went in first.

She raised her hand and snapped her fingers in the air, and Xiaoguai fell silently on her shoulder.

"Go to the palace and see what my second brother is doing."

Xiaoguai flapped his wings and flew high, over the high city wall and into Liangdu.

About two incense sticks later, before Zhao Tinghan's carriage entered the city gate, Xiaoguai came back.

Soon, Zhao Shiqing found out why Zhao Tingxuan did not leave the city to welcome the emperor.

Princess Nie of Prince Liang is sick!
The news that Zhao Tinghan would go into the city at noon today was reported back to the palace last night, and Nie fainted at noon today.

In the golden hour before Zhao Tinghan came back, Nie fainted and the palace was in chaos. Zhao Tingxuan, the filial son, must have been staying by Nie's side to take care of her.

Zhao Shiqing opened her mouth, speechless, so speechless!

After turning around in a circle, she said to Ling Bo, "What do you think she wants to do?"

Ling Bo thought, you ask me what I do, but I don’t dare to tell you.

Zhao Shiqing didn't expect her to answer. She just wanted to vent her anger. She turned around twice and said in a low voice, "Second Miss, now that the prince is back, let's go back to Baihe Mountain in a few days. It's more comfortable to live there."

Zhao Shiqing thought so too. After she settled Xiao Yue, she would return to Baihe Mountain, which was her territory.

By the time Zhao Shiqing returned to the palace, it was already past noon.

Zhao Tinghan was weak and exhausted after all this ordeal, so he returned to Changchun Palace to rest.

Doctor Hu, who had been treating Zhao Tinghan, was in Suining Palace at this time.

Zhao Yunnuan asked him to examine Nie, but Nie refused to cooperate. Zhao Yunnuan took action himself, grabbed Nie's wrist, and asked Doctor Hu to take Nie's pulse.

Doctor Hu was shocked and frightened. He had been an imperial physician for so long and had met countless noble people, but this was the first time he had experienced such a scene.

One was the Princess of Liang, and the other was the eldest princess. He couldn't afford to offend either of them, so he could only bite the bullet and go to diagnose Nie's pulse.

"Has my mother's illness reached the point where no medicine can cure it?" Zhao Yunnuan asked.

Hearing this, Zhao Tingxuan, who was standing by helplessly, was startled and said hurriedly: "Eldest sister, how can you say that?"

Zhao Yunnuan glanced at him and said, "Oh, so you also know that mother is not seriously ill. Then why don't you even go to the city gate, letting the people from the capital, the officials of Liangdi and the people of the city laugh at you? Let them all know that you, Zhao Tingxuan, the second son of Zhao, are a beast who disrespects your brother?"

Zhao Tingxuan's face changed drastically: "Sister, I didn't, I didn't disrespect Big Brother, I, I just, it's just that my mother fainted, I couldn't bear it, I..."

Zhao Yunnuan looked at Doctor Hu: "How is my mother's health?"

Doctor Hu hunched his shoulders and said cautiously: "Princess Liang is fine."

Zhao Yunnuan nodded with satisfaction: "In this case, we won't delay Doctor Hu. You can stay in Changchun Palace to look after the prince for the next few days."

Doctor Hu was overjoyed and said goodbye and left immediately.

Seeing that Doctor Hu had left, Nie was about to speak when Zhao Yunnuan grabbed the cups on the small table and threw them at Zhao Tingxuan!
The cup broke apart at Zhao Tingxuan's feet, and the warm tea splashed on his robe. Zhao Tingxuan took a few steps back to avoid falling.

Nie didn't cry or scream. She stared blankly at the cup that was broken into pieces. Suddenly, she raised her head, stretched out the hand that was not held by Zhao Yunnuan, and hit Zhao Yunnuan in the face.

A slap hit Zhao Yunnuan's face. Zhao Yunnuan looked at her coldly, let her go, stood up and walked out.

Zhao Yunnuan walked to the door and bumped into Zhao Shiqing who was walking towards her.

Now that Zhao Shiqing is back, even though she knows that Nie's illness might be fake, as a daughter, she still wants to come and take a look.

When Zhao Shiqing saw Zhao Yunnuan, he was about to say hello, but then he saw the fingerprints on his sister's face.

Nie looked frail, but she used all her strength to slap Zhao Yunnuan. At this moment, half of Zhao Yunnuan's cheek was red and swollen.

In Prince Liang's Mansion, apart from Nie, who else would dare to hit the eldest princess?

Zhao Shiqing was stunned and asked, "Sister..."

Zhao Yunnuan forced a smile and said, "These things have nothing to do with you. Go in and pay your respects and go see Big Brother. I'll go too."

Zhao Shiqing nodded and said to Zhao Yunnuan, "Sister, I'll be back soon and will come to see you later."

After watching Zhao Yunnuan walk out of Suining Palace, Zhao Shiqing walked in.

The porcelain fragments on the ground had been cleaned up, but the tea stains that had not yet dried were telling Zhao Shiqing what had just happened here.

She greeted Nie and was about to speak when something flew towards her.

Zhao Shiqing subconsciously dodged, and the thing flew past her ear and hit the opposite wall with a crisp sound, and the incense ash flew everywhere.

It turned out to be a small brass incense burner the size of a palm.

Zhao Shiqing: This is going to kill people!

If this incense burner hits her on the head, she will have no choice but to go to the underworld to complain to King Liang.

She turned around and looked at Zhao Tingxuan who was already dumbfounded. "Second brother, just now, Mother wanted to kill me. You saw it, Mother wanted to kill me! I am still alive, thanks to my master. It's not that Mother was soft-hearted, but my master taught me well. I have martial arts skills, and I was able to dodge in time, don't you think? If it weren't for my master, I would be dead now. Second brother, you almost lost another sister."

Zhao Tingxuan's head buzzed. Ah Ying was dead, and now Xiaomei almost died.
He spoke with difficulty: "Mother, Qingqing just came back. Didn't she make you angry?" (End of this chapter)