After Yu Shu saw Jing Chen, she returned to the Forgotten Machine Tower. Before she went to sleep, she did not manage to wait for Xue Rui's return, so she suppressed a load in her heart and secretly made up her mind.
The next morning, Gui Qi sends a message outside the door that Xue Rui sent Lao Chui to deliver a message last night, saying that he has taken over a difficult case and has to go out of the city to investigate. He can't come back these days.
Yu Shu is ready to go to the fan shop in the south of the city to find Xin Li Shan. She wants to see how her precious fan is made.
Unexpectedly, there is a guest in Wangji Tower.
In the tea room in the backyard, Zhu Qingjue is standing in front of a pot of canna with his hands behind his back. Hearing the footsteps, he turns around and sees Yu Shu.
"Childe Zhu."
"Where is Lord Xue?"
Zhu Qingjue doesn't come here to see Yu Shu.
"My eldest brother is not here. He is on official business."
Zhu Qingjue frowns and says to Yu Shu, "Ask someone to find him. I have something to say."
Yu Shu thinks that there is some progress in the matter of the Tenth Princess. She smiles at him and sits down.
"He went out of the city and won't come back in a short time. Childe Zhu, you can tell me what you want to say. Anyway, I already know what I should know."
Zhu Qingjue tilts his head and looks at her. Yu Shu usually doesn't wear makeup. She only draws her thin eyebrows before going out. Her fair and delicate face looks more heroic. She doesn't have the pretentiousness of ordinary women. At first glance, Zhu Qingjue can tell that she is a straightforward and straightforward girl.
However, Zhu Qingjue still thinks that the girl he saw at the Hibiscus Gentlemen's Banquet that day is more like her nature and more imposing.
"I remember something about three years ago."
Zhu Qingjue wasn't a suspicious person. When she heard Yu Shu speak and recalled the relationship between Yu Shu and Xue Rui, she felt that it was alright to tell Yu Shu about it.
"Childe Zhu, please go ahead."
Zhu Qingjue turned around and faced Yu Shu. She did not sit down.
"Before the Tenth Princess had the accident, I went to the palace to write a prescription for her. Once, she asked me to help her collect a set of 'Xuanning House Journal'."
Speaking of this matter, his face was obviously a little confused.
Yu Shu, however, did not detect anything unusual. She asked hesitantly, "What is this' Xuanning House Literature Journal '?"
Poetry collection? Banned books? Or those essays describing love and romance? Many guesses popped up in her mind.
Zhu Qingjue glanced at her with slight disdain and said, "That is a chess manual written by Mr. Ning Mufang, the Great Qin Scholar of the previous generation. It is very rare and very precious."
Yu Shu understood his expression and was not embarrassed. She only knew about the Spiritual Chess Scripture, but she had never heard of Ning Mufang.
"What's wrong with that?"
Zhu Qingjue snorted lightly, thinking that if Xue Chengbi was here, he would understand as soon as he heard this. The girl in front of him was so uncultured, it was as if she was playing the lute to a cow. He had run over early in the morning and even told her this in a serious manner.
"The Tenth Princess does not like to play chess and has always been indifferent. Isn't it strange that she suddenly wants me to help her find such a precious chess manual?"
In fact, Zhu Qingjue suspected that the Tenth Princess wanted this chess manual to give to someone. But in the palace, who was good at chess and needed her to please them?
Zhu Qingjue could not think of one.
Since it was not from the palace, it must be from outside the palace.
"You're saying … the Tenth Princess wants this chess record for someone?"
"I didn't say that. I just found it strange." Zhu Qingjue did not mean what he said. He did not want to believe that the Tenth Princess had an affair with someone and wanted to give it to him in private.
Yu Shu rubbed her chin and thought about it. She asked him, "Then did you help her find it?"
"Yes, that set of chess manuals. There were four volumes in total. I searched for them for half a month before I collected them all. I had just sent them to the palace when something happened to her a few days later." Zhu Qingjue's voice was a little low. It was obvious that he thought of the Tenth Princess's sudden and unclear death.
Yu Shu had an idea. Did the Tenth Princess give the chess manual away after she got it? If she gave it away, then who has the chess manual now? If she didn't give it away, then who was she going to give it to?
There was no doubt that the man named Xiao Ji was the most suspicious. The Tenth Princess had most likely given this chess manual to him.
Yu Shu was a little depressed. If Xue Rui was here, she might be able to find a few suspects based on this. However, she was not familiar with the people in Anling City and did not have the ability to know everything.
"Young Master Zhu, is this the only thing you remember? Is there anything else?"
Zhu Qingjue hesitated for a moment and took out a piece of paper from his sleeve. He took two steps forward and handed it to Yu Shu.
Yu Shu took it and saw a poem written on the paper. It said, "Time is limited, don't wait for the flowers to fall. Mountains and rivers are empty, take pity on what is in front of you."
In her opinion, it was different from those sad poems. As for the deeper meaning, as an "illiterate", she could not understand it.
"This is?"
"Three years ago, about a month after the Hibiscus Gentlemen's Banquet, the Tenth Princess copied this poem and asked me to evaluate it. What do you think of it, Yu Suanzi?"
If Zhu Qingjue knew that Yu Shu was illiterate despite having more than a year of money, she probably wouldn't have shown this to her.
Yu Shu said, "Hmm." She pretended to read the few lines of the poem in her hand again. After a while, she said,
"The writer of this poem should have a good mind. Otherwise, it would not be comparable to the sentence 'Mountains and rivers are empty'. However, it does not sound like a woman."
Half of this was a guess, and the other half was purely bluffing.
Unexpectedly, Zhu Qingjue actually nodded cooperatively when she heard this, and she said, "Indeed, this poem doesn't seem to be written by the Tenth Princess. At that time, I heard of many dissolute deeds of Xue Rui, and I felt that it would be written by him. I've come today to seek confirmation."
Yu Shu looked at Zhu Qingjue's matter-of-fact tone, as if Xue Rui was a dissolute ruffian who would secretly write love poems to young girls. She felt displeased in her heart and instantly said coldly,
"My brother is a very polite person. How can he be so sneaky?"
Even if Xue Rui was not here, Yu Shu could not bear to see him being wronged.
Zhu Qingjue saw her serious face and raised his eyebrows, saying, "You believe in his character. What if it was really written by him?"
"If it was really written by him, I will eat this piece of paper." Yu Shu did not frown and shook the paper in her hand.
“.....”
"I will keep this poem with me. When my brother comes back, I will tell him what you said. Childe Zhu, if there is nothing else, please go back first."
After asking what she wanted to ask, Yu Shu felt that he was not pleasing to the eye. She opened her mouth to send him away, which was not the kind face she had when she asked him to stay.
Zhu Qingjue suddenly felt the back of his molars itching, but he endured it. He thought that it was difficult to deal with a villain and a woman, so he would not argue with her.
But at this time, he did not know that the person in front of him was a villain and a woman.
"No hurry. I have one more thing to ask the fortune-teller for help."
Zhu Qingjue suppressed her restless temper. Because she was asking for help, she forced a smile at Yu Shu. She had been standing still for a long time, but now she walked over and sat down opposite her.
Yu Shu wanted to go back upstairs to have a divination. Seeing that he was not leaving, she became a little impatient,
"I'm afraid I can't help you, Childe Zhu."
She did not want to help him even if she could. First, Zhu Qingjue was not on good terms with Xue Rui. Second, he was the son who urged Jing Chen to marry and have children with her. They were not the same kind of person, so she did not need to be on good terms with him.
"Don't talk so rashly, fortune-teller. Now there are few people in the capital who do not know your ability. I am not asking for your help for free. If this thing is done, I will reward you greatly, and I will definitely make you satisfied."
That was because Yu Shu had heard his last sentence. She remembered his identity and thought of an idea. She lifted the corner of her mouth and asked,
"Tell me first, what do you want from me?"
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