Ink Burns

Chapter 129: Lamb with Skin (Chubby Chapter)

Old locust trees were planted all over the Nanfu. From the back house to the courtyard, all the empty spaces were planted with black locust trees. It can be said that green locust trees lined the road and white horses were like shooting stars. Black locust trees had deep roots and small leaves, and they were lush and covered the warm and flowing moonlight in the night sky, leaving only a few drops of starlight shining directly down.

The main courtyard of Nanfu is located on the northeast side of Jinghu Lake, with a large lotus field in front of it. Today, in the midst of spring, the lotus leaves are everywhere, with scattered green lotus leaves rippling among the silver waves, showing a tranquil and peaceful atmosphere.

It's quiet indeed.

Xue Xiao carried the food box and walked into the half-corridor between the east and west wing rooms, unconsciously slowing down his steps.

As the weather gets warmer, the quilted door curtains have long been replaced by lightweight gauze curtains.

The wind blew through the lotus field, and the gauze curtains cleverly found an opportunity to blow up from the latticed window frames, deliberately revealing a corner of the hidden picture: that was the secret of the girl's inner room, just behind a lifted glazed sandalwood screen. The eyes had to go through five levels and cut six generals before they could vaguely see the taut curtains and the quiet bed through the carved glazed screen.

Qiuyu lowered her head to help Qiutao open the door. Qiutao tiptoed out holding the candlestick. As soon as she stepped over the threshold, she was startled by Xue Xiao: "Oh my God!"

The unfilial bird walks silently!

Yes, birds generally rely on flying.

".Madam, have you gone to bed?" Xue Xiao glanced at the clock in the corridor.

It’s still early.

Just after Youshi (7pm), but less than 7:30pm.

Qiuyu kept his head down and said nothing.

Qiu Tao nodded: "The girl has been sleeping for a long time these days and is very sleepy. She dozed off on the warm couch for nearly two hours during the day."

"Sleepy?" Xue Xiao looked straight at him, his eyes were black and white, and he had a sharp edge: "Let the doctor take a look tomorrow--"

Before Xue Xiao finished speaking, he heard a muffled voice from inside, as if covered by a veil, revealing a bit of confusion and stagnation: "Who is it and what's going on?"

Xue Xiao was about to stop Qiu Tao from speaking, but he found that his eyes were not as quick as the girl's mouth.

"It's the Censor!" Qiu Tao said loudly.

The inner room was silent for a moment. After a while, the confused and dazed voice quickly returned to its usual rational and cold tone: "Please ask him to wait in the flower hall. I will come later."

Xue Xiao glanced at Qiu Tao and said: This girl is really honest.

It brushed past Qiuyu's temples again. Xue Xiao pursed his lips, walked inside, put the food box on the table, turned his back and waited. Not long after, he heard soft footsteps behind him. Xue Xiao turned around and saw Shanyue dressed neatly, with a white face without any makeup. Under the dim light of the palace lanterns at the corner of the glazed building, the dark circles under her eyes were clearly visible, like a winding mountain stream.

At the lower side of the Wuqingshan Creek is the bloodstain left by the sword energy that day.

It was probably because everything was growing in spring, and the scar had almost healed. The new flesh that had sprouted was whiter than the skin next to it, leaving traces of the scar.

"Master Xue." Shan Yue nodded and asked him to take a seat. He spoke quickly, "It's so late, is there anything important?"

Xue Xiao's eyes unconsciously turned to the food box on the table.

Nothing important.

But after that day, he had been in the Censorate and had not returned for five days.

Today, Censor-in-Chief Xiao Bo was on duty and he finally had time to go home. As soon as he left the yamen, he smelled the spicy aroma of roasted lamb from Tianxiang Tower and wanted to bring some back to eat together.

"It is indeed an important matter."

Xue Xiao turned his eyes away from the food box, and placed his hand steadily on the edge of the stone-grained round table, speaking in a calm tone: ".Xue Changfeng was detained in Xingye Manor on the outskirts of the city. No matter who went to see him, he claimed that he was innocent, and cried that he was an unfilial son who killed his father and mother. During this time, Eunuch Shu, who was beside the saint, came to see him once. Xue Changfeng struggled hard to break free, and his neck shackles almost broke. Eunuch Shu repeatedly used the death of the former prince to blackmail him, but to no avail - he really knew nothing."

Shan Yue nodded: Who can tell the secret to Xue Changfeng? He is so unreliable that he was used as a knife and chopped off a few melons and dates, but he didn't feel anything at all.

"What does the saint mean?"

Shan Yue frowned and asked, "Although Zhu is hateful, Xue Changfeng is even worse. Zhu worked hard to make a way for herself, but Xue Changfeng is good at hiding behind others and enjoying his leisure time. In his heart, there is nothing else except himself! There is no your mother, no Zhu, and no small niche."

"Whoever makes him comfortable is the one who is in the niche!"

"His little love affair is all based on his own pleasure."

You can't think too much about Xue Changfeng. The more you think about him, the more disgusting he becomes.

Xue Xiao's biological mother Su died mysteriously, but he did not investigate. Instead, he took advantage of the situation to ask to marry his beloved Bai Yueguang. His biological father refused and was killed by "Qingfeng" and got a strange disease. He did not investigate carefully either, but just waited for his brother to help him find a wife. After the wife got married, she gave the eldest son who was left behind many vicious reputations. Even the second wife Liang from the next room could see through it. It was a trick used by the stepmother. He, a man who had been up and down in the officialdom for several years, believed it all. Not only did he not investigate or redress, but he sent his young son away.
Xue Changfeng has no one in his heart but himself.

Speaking of admiration, Shanyue thinks more highly of Zhu than Xue Changfeng: Zhu was able to fight to the death even when facing a desperate situation, and she is eloquent and has a bad heart, but she is definitely not a loser.

Xue Changfeng is cowardly, bad and incompetent.

Just because his cooking is notorious, it is easy to overlook his badness!
"Although his hands are not stained with blood, he has also killed several people." Shan Yue whispered: "According to reason, he should be killed."

Xue Xiao shook his head: "The Saint will not allow it for now. The Saint is certain that the death of the former crown prince must be related to Xue Changfeng."

This situation can be accomplished only thanks to the saint.

After he killed Zhu that day, He Wuma bit her tongue and died for her master. Xue Changfeng was furious because Shan Yue called him a "scapegoat" and tried his best to take the initiative.

The scene was very chaotic.

He left Luo Feng to control the situation by force, and went to the Qingshou Palace alone to explain the cause and effect. The sage specially sent the Jinwei to the official post station, which led to the drama of catching Xue Changfeng killing his wife on the spot. With the Jinwei present and the sage's endorsement, no one doubted the real cause of Zhu's death. At most, people talked behind his back that he deliberately set up a plan to kill someone with a borrowed knife in order to kill his father.

People can talk about it, but without evidence, no one can bring the case to the person responsible.

At the same time, Xue Xiao inevitably exposed his closeness to the Saint in front of Shan Yue - no matter what the Saint's purpose was, he was willing to cover up the scandal in his family. The close relationship and deep trust between them were not something that ordinary officials could achieve. But in the eyes of the people and the court officials, he was just a mad dog chosen by the Saint to clean up the dirt, and he could be abandoned at any time, and there was not much sincerity between the monarch and his subjects.

He didn't mind telling Shanyue the truth.

But Shanyue never asked.

Therefore, even if he wanted to speak, he had no idea where to start.

Shan Yue nodded thoughtfully: "The Saint wants to use Xue Changfeng as bait to lure out the big fish?"

"'Qingfeng' has always been secretive. I told the Saint about this organization, and he found it unbelievable. For a while, he felt insecure about everything and didn't know who to trust or not."

Xue Xiao said in a low voice: "The relationship between the royal family is complicated. I should not and dare not speak on my own."

He naturally knew the important role that Princess Jing'an played in "Qing Feng", but he could not tell the emperor directly.

He currently has no evidence and can only rely on oral testimony. Who would believe him?

What's more, Princess Jing'an's lineage had made contributions when the emperor ascended the throne!
Jiangnan has been suffering from a long-standing illness. If we want to get rid of it, we must have the courage to scrape the bone to cure the poison, a sword that can cut iron like mud, and the right time and place. Before that, we must have a sign that we have a legitimate reason to fight!

Zhu is dead, and it would be a good deal if Xue Changfeng could drag on with his miserable life to squeeze out some more unexpected surprises for them.

Therefore, Xue Changfeng cannot be killed, nor can he be released, and he cannot be easily contacted by anyone.

After weighing these considerations, the interrogation of Xue Changfeng came to a stalemate.

Shan Yue suddenly remembered something, and went into the inner room, handing a yellowed leather notebook without words to Xue Xiao: "Turn to the page from December last year!"

On each page, only the year and month at the top are visible.

Below the year and month, there is nothing but blank space.

Shan Yue's words and Xue Xiao's next actions instantly coincided with each other.

"Put that page over the fire, and the words will appear—"

As soon as Shan Yue opened his mouth, Xue Xiao had already unfolded the page of the notebook and carefully placed the paper outside the flame to dry.

The man had long knuckles with distinct joints, and his hands were like his other hands, thin but powerful.

Shan Yue was stunned.

"In the Taoist temple, there are all kinds of people, so it's not uncommon for them to know some martial arts." Xue Xiao explained: But he was more curious, why did Shan Yue know these martial arts tricks? Why did he need a blank notebook?
As the flames jumped, a line of words appeared on the paper.

"Master Yao, the Supervisory Censor of the Censorate—"

Shan Yue leaned forward and said softly, "Last year when I was getting married, I heard from the Liu family that besides you marrying 'Qing Feng', someone in the Imperial Censorate had already been cannibalized!"

It’s this Lord Yao!
"Yao Zaozheng." Xue Xiao whispered.

Tonight, it’s the young official sitting next to Tongue-Long Bear Laowu.

Xue Xiao murmured in a deep voice: "He was born in Yuyang, northern Shaanxi. After graduating from high school, he married the daughter of a merchant from Songjiang Prefecture, who was from the same hometown as his teacher. They have been married for five years now and have two sons and a daughter. He is usually taciturn, but he behaves very appropriately."

Shan Yue and Xue Xiao looked at each other, and at the same time saw a flash of brilliance in each other's eyes.

I have a solution.

There is a solution!

"Gurgle——" Someone's stomach was growling.

"You didn't have dinner?"

"You didn't have dinner?"

They both spoke at the same time.

Shan Yue was the first to smile, her eyes sparkling, just like the lively light of the lotus fields in Mirror Lake outside the window: "I really didn't eat. I slept well these days, but sleeping is more important than anything else--"

Finally, I saw the red lacquer food box on the stone-patterned round table, and then I smelled a hint of the medicinal mutton soup: "What a nice smell."

Xue Xiao's face was calm and steady. "Luo Feng bought it. It's the mutton from Tianxianglou. If you're hungry, you can take it down and ask the kitchen to cut it into thin slices and eat it with the mutton soup and noodles."

Suddenly a question came to mind: "Can you eat mutton?"

At that time, I only thought about the nutritiousness of mutton, but I forgot that many girls in the capital city did not like to eat mutton, probably because it smelled fishy.

Xue Xiao pursed his lips, then let it go: If Shan Yue doesn't eat it, then blame Luo Feng for not buying it well.

Shan Yue smiled and said, "Eat, eat everything."

After a pause, he turned around and told Qiu Tao: "Please ask the kitchen to make a bowl of noodles for Brother Luo Feng as well!"

How can you eat the food someone else bought and not leave some for them?

Xue Xiao:?
What does it have to do with him?

This box of lamb legs with skin, a trace of meat, and a drop of soup, does it have anything to do with Luo Feng?