Neverland

Xu Muzhou's attention was drawn away by the box. He inspected the box carefully, but found nothing in it.

It's like an ordinary box, except for the beautiful casing.It was about twenty centimeters long and three centimeters deep, and it was covered with a bright yellow soft cloth.

There are strict rules in the palace, and Song Xueyao is the lord of the harem. Although her words and deeds are exquisite, she has to set an example for others. The gesture is that a crowd of people stares at her. There will never be any useless things on her dressing table.

Xu Muzhou touched the inside of the box, and he was sure that there was something in the box.

But the things in it had obviously been taken away long ago, and there was no trace of anything being put on the soft cloth, Xu Muzhou didn't quite know whether it was taken by Song Xueyao's people or someone else.

He searched up and down again, but couldn't find any useful clues.

At this stall, Yan Cen, who moved faster than him, had already searched the other side, and came over to join him.

"Did you find anything?" Yan Cen asked.

"Not yet." Xu Muzhou put down the wooden box in his hand and said, "I was looking for something to store nail tools, but the ones on the dressing table are either ointment, face powder, or lipstick paper. Nothing else."

"Women at this time dye their nails with flower juice mixed with alum. The flower juice is not easy to preserve. When they need to use it, they will go outside to get fresh petals. They will not leave ready-made ones." Yan Cen said: "You If you look here, you won't find anything."

"Really." Xu Muzhou nodded, and thoughtfully said: "That is to say, if you want to poison Song Xueyao's nails for a long time, it is too difficult to simply poison a certain object... That is to say, it is even more difficult to poison Song Xueyao's nails for a long time. It is possible that there is something wrong with the court lady in charge of dyeing Song Xueyao's nails."

The flower juice of nail dyeing is different from the diet soup and medicine that is imported every day. It will not be checked back and forth, and it is very easy to do it.What's more, this kind of small work should not be done by Song Xueyao's confidantes, if it's just a random little court lady, it's not impossible to be bribed.

"Fortunately, all the people in Changqiu Palace are here now." Xu Muzhou said, "I am more inclined to let the poisoned people stay in this palace—after all, Changqiu Palace will be closed from now on, and Song Xueyao's death will also affect the palace." No splashes were found, and the Changqiu Palace should be the safest place in the palace city."

"I agree." Yan Cen said.

"Other than that, it's this thing." Xu Muzhou pointed to the wooden box: "When I came here just now, I saw it lying here wide open. I suspect there was something in it, but it's hard to tell. What exactly."

Yan Cen also looked at the box, but soon his attention was attracted by the scattered items on the bed.

The things that Xu Muzhou collected from the hidden compartments at the head of the bed just now were spread carelessly on the edge of Song Xueyao's bed, and they hadn't had time to be put back as they were.

Yan Cen picked among the pile of odds and ends, and picked up the hairpin that Xu Muzhou saw earlier.

"Is there anything special?" Xu Muzhou knew that Yan Cen had seen more things than him, and he couldn't recognize these strange things, which didn't mean that Yan Cen couldn't recognize them either, so he asked, "I just saw them. Look, I don't see anything famous."

"This is a bone." Yan Cen said: "When it was made into a hairpin, it was peeled off raw, and there was still blood on it."

Xu Muzhou: "..."

There were no blood stains on the hairpin except for some dark green spots like copper rust. Xu Muzhou couldn't see any blood, so he asked, "What bones, can you see it?"

Yan Cen threw the hairpin back on the bed, then pulled the small handkerchief next to the pillow at the head of the bed, wiped his fingers, and said, "Wolf bones."

Xu Muzhou breathed a sigh of relief.

It's fine if it's not human bones. An ordinary murder case must not become a serial murder case.

"After the head wolf is alive and the bones are removed, it needs to be soaked with a secret method to remove the fishy smell, and then ground into a hairpin. The stone on the hairpin should be dyed red with the blood of the same wolf..." Yan Cen said: "This kind It's a mess, it doesn't seem like the method of the Central Plains."

"From a foreign race?" Xu Muzhou's mind turned quickly: "Could it be a tribute?"

"It's possible, but not very likely." Yan Cen said, "It's too rough."

What he said was also reasonable, logically speaking, regardless of whether the economy of the subordinate country was good or not, the tribute to be paid would be decent, just like it was impossible for Song Xueyao to carry a stone hairpin.The raw materials of this thing are not expensive enough, and it is not good enough to meet the national characteristics.

Xu Muzhou frowned, still feeling something was wrong.This thing is not valuable enough, even if it was really rewarded by Wei Wenxuan, would Song Xueyao put it in such a private place as the secret compartment beside the bed?

After thinking for a while, he picked up the hairpin and compared it with the wooden box on the dressing table, but unfortunately found that the size did not match, the wooden box was too long.

Xu Muzhou was about to put the things down, but suddenly felt the hydrangea on his wrist get hot, he was stunned, and quickly pulled it out from under the thick cloth.

But the strange thing is that the progress on the hydrangea does not change at all.

Xu Muzhou couldn't help humming in doubt.

"What's wrong?" Yan Cen turned to look at him.

"The progress bar is responding." Xu Muzhou raised his wrist at him: "But the task progress has not decreased."

Yan Cen reached out and touched the hydrangea, and understood what Xu Muzhou meant.His eyes scanned the dressing table, and finally changed his previous thoughts, picked up the hairpin in Xu Muzhou's hand, and put it in his arms for the time being.

Xu Muzhou was about to say something more, when he saw Yan Cen's face darken, he frowned slightly, and listened to the movement outside.

Immediately afterwards, Xu Muzhou also heard light footsteps passing under the bedroom window.

Yan Cen made a silent gesture to him, walked lightly to the front door, and leaned behind an antique vase taller than a person, so as not to reflect his shadow on the oiled paper on the door.

The sound of footsteps stopped outside the door, and the slender figure on the oil paper flashed past and paused at the door.

Xu Muzhou dodged to hide in the curtain behind the screen, and saw Yan Cen push open the door quickly, and dragged in the young girl who was about to escape.

"what--"

Taking advantage of the situation, Yan Cen grabbed her throat with three fingers from behind, kicked the door shut, and threatened in a low voice: "Pingjian Camp investigates the case, don't make any noise."

The person who came did not look like a little court lady with no eyesight. Although she was wearing filial piety clothes, the fabric was exquisitely decorated and she wore a silver hairpin on her head. She should be a big court lady Song Xueyao was close to.

She grasped Yan Cen's rock-steady hand in vain, her fair face was flushed from lack of oxygen, she nodded quickly when she heard the words, and she did a good job.

Yan Cen let go of his hand, the other party staggered a step, and knelt down on the ground with a pale face.

Xu Muzhou came out from behind the curtain, and saw Yan Cen take off the badge from his waist, and waved it in front of the young woman's eyes.

"Who are you?" Yan Cen asked.

The woman's eyes flickered, she knelt on the floor with difficulty, kowtowed to Yan Cen, and said in a low voice: "Slave Xin Yi is the dowry maid of the empress."

Xu Muzhou became interested in marrying a maid as a dowry.This should be Song Xueyao's closest person in the palace, similar to a confidant and a sister, and must know Song Xueyao very well.

"What are you doing here?" Yan Cen asked, "Why are you running?"

"I..." Xin Yi said: "I'm here to clean the queen's bedroom. Although Changqiu Palace is closed, the queen's bedroom is cleaned every day. I just saw that the padlock outside the door was broken , so I want to report first—"

Yan Cen was still a wounded person, when Xu Muzhou came over, he picked up a round stool for him and put it behind him, patted his shoulder and signaled him to sit down.

Yan Cen took a glance and sat obediently.

Fortunately, the maid buried her head low and did not dare to look directly at them.

"Does the palace lady need to do such a trivial matter as cleaning the bedroom?" Yan Cen asked.

When he asked, his tone was neither high nor low, and he didn't seem to have any threatening meaning, but Xin Yi shook his whole body, and buried his head deeper between his arms.

"Yes, the empress's bedroom has always been cleaned by people close to her...since she passed away, I cleaned it up myself." Xin Yi said: "I miss the empress, so I also want to do something for her..."

As Xin Yi said, he boldly raised his head and glanced at Yan Cen quickly, and asked stutteringly, "My lord, are you here—"

"I'm here to investigate the case." Yan Cen said, "Shouldn't you be the most clear about your mother's affairs?"

Xin Yi shook again, and said, "I, I don't..."

"The empress is the mother of a country, how important is your body's well-being." Xu Muzhou interjected at the right time: "If the empress is not going well and the case is not cleared, it must be very important to both herself and the eldest prince. unfair."

"Your Excellency, don't listen to those rumors in the palace. Any hauntings are nonsense." Xin Yi raised his head quickly and said anxiously: "The Empress is no longer here, so there is no need to disturb her peace anymore."

Her attitude was quite different from the previous cautious look, Yan Cen narrowed his eyes slightly, and stopped talking.

Xin Yi's face turned pale from his sizing up, pinched the palms of his hands, and knelt hard to accept his gaze.

Xu Muzhou and Yan Cen sang the red face and the bad face. Hearing this, he chuckled softly and said, "Pingjian Camp has its own regulations for investigating cases."

Xin Yi shrugged his shoulders and answered yes in a low voice.

"Let's go." Yan Cen said: "If you dare to reveal half a word about today's matter—"

"Don't worry, my lord." Xin Yi knew that she couldn't afford to offend these people, so she quickly said, "I won't dare."

After she finished speaking, she glanced at Yan Cen's face, stood up on the ground, and walked out of the door with a bowed body.

When Xin Yi's footsteps were far away, Yan Cen chuckled and said, "Loyal servant."

Xu Muzhou withdrew his gaze from the door, and said, "It's not right for the queen's empress to not care about the cause of the master's death. She is still so guilty when she sees us."

"She has very clean eyes. Although she is hiding something from us, she is not guilty of Song Xueyao's death." Yan Cen stroked the ash on his knees and said, "I doubt that Song Xueyao knew about this matter."