Capture the Jade:

People at the banquet prostrated themselves and kowtowed.

The crown prince welcomes his parents.

Lu Zhaoan prostrated himself on the ground, his face was as golden as paper.

The sage said "Ping", and strode to help Qing Xuzi to the top. After sitting down, he warmed Lin Chengyou: "I heard that there is a thief, what happened?"

Qing Xuzi looked at Lu Zhaoan meaningfully, Lin Chengyou said with a smile: "It's a long story, nephew Rong will report it in detail."

The sage and the queen looked at each other with a smile: "It's rare to be so lively tonight, I never expected to hear a story. Wow, after listening to this story, it's not too late to listen to you young people fighting poems."

Lin Chengyou said, "This story starts with the Dragon Boat Festival. On the Dragon Boat Festival, Du Yu from the Imperial College went to Dali Temple to report that his daughter Du Niangzi was lost in the academy the night before. Dongxi, please ask Dali Temple to investigate this matter in detail. The person in charge of accepting the case is my superior—Yan Wanchun and Yan Sizhi.”

Speaking, he said to an inconspicuous corner of the banquet: "Yan Sizhi, please tell me about the situation at that time."

The first person should stand up, and it was Yan Sizhi.

On today's trip, many low-level officials accompanied him, and Yan Sizhi was just one of them.

"Exactly." Yan Si said straightly, "Du reported to the police yesterday that his wife had lost two poem manuscripts in the academy, and it was Yan who was in charge of writing the case."

Lin Chengyou then said: "When Du  reported the crime, which two poems did Mrs. Du lose?"

Yan Sizhi replied meticulously: "One is "Bei Feng. Xiongzhi" from "Book of Songs", and the other is "Singing Cicadas."

There was a faint commotion at the banquet, because everyone could see clearly that among the piles of poems that Lu Zhaoan fell in his arms, the top one was "Once the Cicada" signed by Mrs. Du .

In order to let everyone see it more clearly, Lin Chengyou deliberately asked the palace people to elevate the manuscript of the poem, and wait until everyone has read it, which makes people feel like an empress.

He smiled and said, "Thieves who steal things are very cautious. They don't steal gold and silver jewelry, and they don't steal small things, because she also knows that Mrs. Du uses these things every day. If she loses them, she will be killed immediately." What I noticed. Poetry manuscripts are different. According to Du, Mrs. Du would transcribe Buddhist scriptures and poem manuscripts every day, and put them on the desk after finishing them. Remember, I won’t check the numbers every day. When Madam Du realizes that there is a shortage of poems, the bureau here has been arranged, and by that time, Madam Du will be completely speechless when she knows that she has been plotted against.”

"Tonight, the thief felt that the time was ripe, so he deliberately picked a brightly lit place with many people, and then pretended to accidentally throw out the poem manuscript in public, and everyone present just had to look at it Those two manuscripts will be thought to be sent by Mrs. Du, so it is logical to slander Mrs. Du for having an affair with him." Lin Chengyou laughed, "Mrs. Lu, am I right?"

Everyone was in an uproar.

The students of Xiangxiang Academy figured out the twists and turns, and glared at Lu Zhaoan angrily. This person is vicious, and dared to use such a nasty method to plot against their classmates.

Lu Zhaoan was surprised at first, then lost his mind and said: "My son may have misunderstood, Lu has never read these two poems. By the way, when I came here, Lu was bumped into For a moment, could it be that he was plotted against?"

The air fell silent, and everyone turned their eyes to Peng Erniang and the maid beside her. Coincidentally, if the maid beside Peng Erniang hadn't bumped into Lu Zhaoan, the pile of manuscripts would not have been exposed to anyone.

Lu Zhaoan seemed very angry, and knelt in front of the emperor with a pale face: "Your Majesty, Lu has the courage to defend himself."

"咚咚咚" kowtowed a few times, and said with his hands down: "Although Lu is humble, fortunately, he has caught up with the benevolent king and the prosperous age. When the sages select talents, they have always 'visited the virtuous and virtuous, and they are not humbled. No need', as soon as he applied for the exam, Lu was lucky enough to become the son of heaven. Ever since he won the Kui Yuan, Lu was afraid of failing the grace of heaven, so he worked hard and did not dare to make mistakes, but for some reason, this period often failed. People are slandering Lu's character behind his back, and what happened tonight is to deliberately trap Lu in a despicable situation. Lu dare to say that he has never read these two poems before, and this matter is quite strange , and ask the sage to see clearly."

He hit the ground, and those who were glaring at him could not help but hesitate after hearing these words. Lu Zhaoan is the first in Jinshi this year, and his literary talent can be said to be the best in Chang'an. If there is an accident, this person is likely to stand out in the next imperial court system.

If someone is jealous of Lu Zhaoan, or if someone doesn't want the court to choose such a handsome man, then it is really possible to deliberately frame him, and the Peng family who just knocked Lu Zhaoan down Maid, it is very suspicious.

Peng Erniang felt the gazes from all directions, her face turned red with anger, she raised her hand, and pointed at Lu Zhaoan angrily: "You are talking nonsense! This pile of poems fell out of your sleeve, don't even think about slandering others."

Lu Zhaoan spoke eloquently: "Lu did not dare to speak nonsense, but before he came here, Lu did not have other people's poems on his website."

Peng Erniang was trembling all the time, wishing she couldn't even pronounce a word.

Aunt Peng was sitting on the table, already startled and angry. Seeing that her sister was caught by Lu Zhaoan in a blink of an eye, she was about to stand up to defend her sister, but someone at the table stood up before her and said: "Her Majesty the Empress has learned that Erniang Peng was at the table, but for some reason she suddenly left the table. There must be some reason for this."

It is the white female official, one of the four female officials of the academy.

Aunt Peng also knelt down and saluted the queen in a hurry: "I want to report to you. My daughter's younger sister had to leave the table because someone suddenly splashed the corner of her skirt. I don't know who I will meet before the incident. I was hit by someone." It was even more unexpected, and it is clear that someone is causing trouble. If my daughter remembers correctly, someone touched my sister's elbow, causing her to spill the drink."

The maidservant had long been limp on the ground like mud, tremblingly said: "Maidservant didn't do it on purpose—"

Suddenly remembered something, and looked at the banquet suddenly: "I remembered, it was... a lady accidentally bumped into it, and the servant girl couldn't stand still, so she would accidentally hit the second lady." Mother's elbow."

As the maid said this, she swept her eyes aimlessly, and when she came across a person, her eyes froze suddenly.

"It's her." The servant girl swallowed her saliva in astonishment, "This servant girl remembered, it was Wu Erniang who met the maidservant."

Wu Qi was more shocked than the maidservant, she opened her mouth in amazement: "Me?"

The maid nodded nervously: "I remember correctly, it is you, Erniang Wu."

The eyes of the students looked over in unison.

The servant girl tremblingly said: "At that time, you were playing with someone throwing paper balls, and suddenly you hit the servant girl hard."

The students began to communicate with each other tacitly with their eyes.

Everyone remembers this incident. After everyone was seated, because the empress did not show up for a long time, the dean only cared about talking to the imperial wives above. They secretly played around. Wu Qi played the most fiercely, and she sat next to Peng Erniang.

Wu Qi was stunned for a while, and said dumbfoundedly: "This, this is really wronged. Fang, I used paper **** to play with Mrs. Deng, but I really don't remember bumping into you."

Deng Weili herself was also stunned, wanting to defend herself, but this was love, but the more she thought about it, the more she felt that something was wrong, and when she looked at Wu Qi again, her eyes became more complicated.

The maidservant was so anxious that her eyes were red, she looked up at Erniang Peng and said, "Madam, others don't believe in maidservants, but you have to trust maidservants. If maidservants are really touched by Erniang Wu, they will hit you in a panic. .”

Wu Qi's eyes widened all of a sudden: "Is this really the case? I, I don't have any impression at all, and besides, there is your maidservant between me and Peng Erniang, even if I touched it, How could Erniang Peng spill the glass? Why don't you think about it again?"

The more people listened, the more confused they became.

Aunt Peng and Erniang Peng stared at Wu Qi bitterly. The more they climbed down, the more people would be involved. It proves that the wine glass was knocked down by someone sincerely.

At the moment of chaos, everyone applauded: "‌‌‌, no wonder you can set up so many seamless bureaus. This ability to open your eyes and tell lies is enough to deceive many people. people."

It was Lin Chengyou who spoke.

Everyone is confused.

Lin Chengyou smiled: "Let's not talk about when these two manuscripts came into Lu Zhaoan's hands, just talk about the scene just now, yes, the banquet was very noisy, it is because of this, then People don't dare to turn black and white. Unfortunately, because Dali Temple has already identified objects of suspicion, people can see their every move. Yan Sizhi, please tell me about the time What's going on."

Yan Sizhi got up again: "After Yan entered the table, he kept staring at the suspect. When the incident happened, the lady of the Peng family was holding the wine cup in her hand, and the maid was standing by the side, serving it like Mrs. Peng. While picking up the wine cup to drink, someone's back bumped into the maidservant hard, and the maidservant bumped into Mrs. Peng again, so the wine was spilled, but because His Royal Highness was coming, the people at the table were busy getting up. After saluting, the banquet was in chaos, and Mrs. Peng and the servant girl couldn't care less about chasing the horse. Afterwards, Mrs. Peng was busy leaving the banquet to make up, and the maid helped Mrs. Peng to hurry away. Because the timing was just right. , Even if it is pursued after the fact, it is still a mess, but Yan can see clearly that the person who bumped into the maidservant of the Peng family at that time—"

Yan Sizhi looked at Wu Qi solemnly: "It is the wife of the Wu family."

Wu Qi was at a loss.

Yan Sizhi: "Because of your collision, Peng Erniang and the servant girl had to leave the table. When the servant girl was leaving, she bumped into Lu Zhaoan who was rushing to the table. It just so happened that Lu Zhaoan dropped the scroll in front of everyone. Poetry draft..."

Aunt Peng and Erniang Peng never expected that someone would testify when the incident happened, and this person was an official of Dali Temple, so they were stunned for a while.

Looking at Wu Qi, Lin Chengyou smiled and said, "Unexpectedly, right? It was you who hit it, not someone else. This matter can't be blamed on others."

Wu Qi was stunned for a while, then smiled helplessly: "I'm sorry, it's all because of my poor memory, maybe I was too excited to play, and I didn't even realize that I bumped into someone. Er Niang, I was also confused just now Water, I apologize to you."

Peng Erniang was cold and silent, but most of the others believed Wu Qi's words. After all, Yan Sizhi's testimony could only prove that Wu Qi bumped into the maidservant of Peng's family, but it was impossible to determine whether Wu Qi did it intentionally or not.

Besides, who would notice that he bumped into someone when he was having fun, so he cast his angry eyes on Lu Zhaoan again. If this person didn't deliberately deny it, how could Peng Jinxiu and Wu Qi be involved in this matter.

Lin Chengyou nodded empathetically: "Ms. Wu has a short memory, which is understandable. However, after reading Yan Sizhi's testimony, it can at least show that Peng Erniang did not leave the meeting intentionally. She was a person who was not prepared beforehand , How can you put the poem manuscript in the hands of Mr. Lu. Mr. Lu, do you still insist that the maidservant of the Peng family stuffed the manuscript into your arms?"

Lu Zhaoan straightened his spine, and said calmly: "Lu never said that the maid did it from the beginning to the end, but Lu has never thought that these two poems are the same thing, maybe someone else Taking advantage of the chaos, it is unknown if it is stuffed into Lu's arms, so I ask the sage to look into it."

Lin Chengyou seems to have expected Lu Zhaoan to say this: "Okay, you haven't read this poem, you should have read her."

He said and waved: "Bring it up."

The Jinwu guards came over with an old woman in a coarse cloth dress. The old woman was **** and her mouth was still stuffed with cloth strips.

After the old woman, some common people followed.

In the back, there are the yamen servants of Dali Temple. The yamen servants are carrying some boxes and cages.

Lin Chengyou pointed at the old woman and said to Lu Zhaoan: "Do you recognize her?"

Lu Zhaoan shook his head indifferently: "I don't know."

Lin Chengyou looked at the common people on the left: "He said he didn't know this woman. You are Lu's neighbors, do you want to remind Lu's?"

A few ordinary people fell on the ground and did not dare to raise their heads, but they said in their mouths: "Lu, why don't you know her? This is the congee lady who sells porridge at our alley. Every time Mrs. Wang comes over, you have to buy a bowl of porridge, remember you bought it the day before yesterday."

Lu Zhaoan suddenly realized: "Oh, it turned out to be Mrs. Wang. Forgive me for my poor eyesight. Seeing her being tied up, I didn't recognize her for a while. My son, what happened to her——"

But Lin Chengyou said: "It's over, Mr. Lu is done with the recognition. Next, it's time to recognize the other one."

As he spoke, he looked at the old Bai surnames on the right, and saw that they were trembling with fright, squatted down and said softly: "Don't be afraid, I need you to identify someone later, raise your head and speak .”

The few people wiped off their cold sweat and slowly raised their heads.

"Do you live near Yongan Street in Liquanfang?"

A few people nodded silently.

"Have you ever met this woman?"

"Yes. She comes to our alley every now and then to sell porridge."

"Look up and take a closer look, is there someone familiar to you over there?"

Following Lin Chengyou's guidance, several people looked forward, and after a while, they recognized someone: "Yes, her name is Jiaoyu."

"Why do you know her?"

"She often comes here to buy things, and the most she buys is porridge."

"Whose maid is she?"

"Wu, Wu Erniang."

"On the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, you can come here to buy porridge."

Several people nodded again: "I bought it."

Lin Chengyou snorted: "Remember so clearly?"

"Because this porridge is not very delicious. Besides, this is the maid next to the prime minister's daughter, and the people in the Dragon Boat Festival mansion are full of food, so the logic is that you can't look down on a bowl of porridge of."

After saying this, Lin Chengyou said to everyone: "In the past few days, Lu Zhaoan seldom came out to prepare for the exam, and the Dragon Boat Festival was no exception. During the whole day, he only came out to buy when this lady Wang came over. I ordered two bowls of porridge, and not long after Lu Zhaoan finished buying the porridge, Mrs. Wang pushed the cart away. The old woman did not stop all the way, but went straight to Wu Erniang's house and stopped to continue selling porridge. After a while, Wu Erniang’s maid Jiaojiao came to buy porridge, but the old woman also pushed the cart away immediately. The neighbors on both sides can testify to this.

"What it means is that according to the report from the yamen guard who monitored Lu Zhaoan, this seemingly impoverished lady Wang only sold 37 bowls of porridge all day, and from Ningfang, where Lu Zhaoan lived, to Wuer In the middle of Yong'an Avenue where my mother lived, there were at least five lively street intersections, and Mrs. Wang was yelling, but she never stopped. The starting point was Lu Zhaoan's residence, and the end point was Wu Erniang's residence."

"Coincidentally, Mrs. Du lost the poem manuscript on her front foot, and the poem manuscript on her back foot is now in Lu Zhaoan's hands. In addition, this cart has passed through two entire workshops, but it turned out that only I have no reason to believe that Mrs. Wang who sold the 'Thirty-seven Bowls of Porridge' has something to do with Wu Erniang. She was responsible for stealing the manuscript, and Mrs. Wang was responsible for passing it on to Lu Zhaoan.”

Lu Zhaoan: "It's absurd, it's really absurd. Although Lu has bought porridge several times, he has never spoken to this lady Wang. Based on this alone, he insists that Lu has nothing to do with this matter. Lu definitely dare not admit it."

Wu Qi is also very inexplicable: "I've never heard of this, Jiaoyu, have you bought porridge outside?"

The maid hurriedly said: "I have bought it several times, but I haven't even seen her appearance clearly. This is really nothing. No, what the maid means is that it is It’s not that someone intentionally framed us.”

"Placing blame?" Lin Chengyou sneered, "In Ningfang, it is Lu Zhaoan himself who buys porridge every time, and on Yong'an Avenue, it is Wu Erniang's maidservant who buys porridge every time. No one is forcing you to buy porridge, everything is voluntary, and not once or twice, nor for a day or two. After I figured out that this kind of thing can never be blamed, I made people stare at Mrs. Wang that night, And the people on the other side are always around Wu's house. This morning, before dawn, the Jiaomen next to Wu Erniang sneaked out of the door, and went to the plane tree outside the east wall of the nearby temple, I stuffed a bag of things into the worm hole in the tree trunk, and after walking away for a short time, Mrs. Wang also came in the dark, took advantage of no one around, took out the bag and left.

"Today Lu Zhaoan and Wu Erniang are going to drive out of the city. In order not to startle the snake, I didn't let Jiaoyu be caught. Instead, I ordered Wang Yu to be arrested on the spot. Wang Yu had no time to hide the bag. , The head is exactly a piece of gold." Lin Chengyou, "You said you didn't know Mrs. Wang, but you asked your maid to send gold to Mrs. Wang early in the morning. Now that the evidence is solid, I would like to hear it. How can you quibble."

Wu Qi was dumbfounded: "I don't know anything."

She turned her head to look at Jiaoyu suddenly: "You maidservant, what's going on here?——"

Jiao's face was ashes, and he knelt down without saying a word.

Lin Chengyou ordered the yamen servant to bring Jiaoyu over, and said with a pleasant face, "See clearly who your master is? The next step, she will claim that you stole the gold ingot without knowing it at all." Don't you feel chilled after instructing you to do so many dirty things and pushing you away? Are you sure you still want to work for her?"

Bitting his lips tightly.

"According to the law of my dynasty, if the accomplice can provide clues to help arrest the murderer, she can be punished lightly. You also know how vicious she is. I really want to push everything on you alone. , you will be doomed to death, and the sorcery she introduced will easily make people's souls incomplete, so you are not afraid that you will end up like Mrs. Wu—"

Jiao was shocked: "I said, I said. That ingot, that ingot of gold was given by Erniang's slaves to Mrs. Wang."

There was an uproar at the table.