Wei Shuxuan walked into the inner room of Pan Anping's study. There was actually a wooden bookshelf inside. It was rather dim there, and only a little light filtered in from the outer room, allowing her to barely make out the situation inside.
On the unlit floor lay a brazier. Suddenly, Wei Shuxuan noticed something in the brazier. She squatted down, picked it up, and took it outside to have a look. It was a half - burned pamphlet. She casually flipped it open and glanced through it. It was full of amorous words and accompanied by small pictures. It was really... chaotic.
Wei Shuxuan didn't know what words to use to describe the content inside. But who wrote it to whom?
She wanted to flip to the front to take a look, but found that the front part had been burned, and the content was completely unreadable. There was no way, so she could only flip to the back to check the signature and the beginning.
She roughly scanned one of the poems expressing heartfelt feelings. Wei Shuxuan's literary skills were not very good, and she couldn't quite understand the meaning expressed in it. However, the words were rather explicit, and she could still tell.
Leping must refer to Pan Leping, and the signature was Yubing. Who was Yubing? Was it a courtesy name or a real name? This really confused Wei Shuxuan.
But never mind this for now. She would just take this thing away first and then ask the people in the Pan Mansion.
After searching the study again, Wei Shuxuan couldn't find any other clues except the half - burned pamphlet, so she had no choice but to return.
After leaving the study, Wei Shuxuan didn't go back to her own room. Instead, she went straight to the front hall and asked the soldiers guarding there to call Yan'er, the senior maid in Jin Yan'er's room. She had something to ask Yan'er.
After a while, Yan'er was brought into the inner room by two soldiers. Wei Shuxuan smiled and motioned for her to sit down. "Miss Yan'er, don't be so formal. Please sit down first. I just have some questions to ask you."
".....Yes, Young Master Wei."
Yan'er sat down nervously opposite Wei Shuxuan. She didn't dare to look up at Wei Shuxuan. She only heard the person opposite chuckle. "Don't be so nervous, Miss Yan'er. You're not the one involved in the case. Why are you so scared? I'm just here to ask you some questions. As long as you answer me truthfully, you can go back."
"Okay."
"The first question. What's your mistress Han Xinran's courtesy name?"
"Huh?" Yan'er seemed not to expect Wei Shuxuan to ask about the mistress. She was stunned for a moment. She thought for a while. "This servant remembers that the mistress's courtesy name seems to be Yubing."
Wei Shuxuan nodded. "The second question. Is your mistress familiar with your second master? Or do they have much contact?"
"Not much. The mistress comes from a scholarly family and doesn't like people with low education like the second master very much."
"Has your second master never... studied?" Wei Shuxuan was a bit confused about this.
"It's not that... he has never studied. He's just not as talented as the first master."
"So he's of mediocre talent."
After that, Wei Shuxuan asked Yan'er a few more questions and then let her go.
So Han Xinran's courtesy name was Yubing. That meant the pamphlet was related to Pan Leping and Han Xinran. So, was it Pan Leping who had an affair with Han Xinran? But no matter how she looked at it, she couldn't see Han Xinran having an affair with her uncle!
Although the evidence seemed conclusive now, Wei Shuxuan thought this "evidence" was a bit unreliable. She still had to look for other clues.
Wei Shuxuan took the pamphlet back to her room. Just then, she saw Xin Zizhao waiting for her in front of her room. She looked at Xin Zizhao in surprise. "Why are you here?"
"Do you have any clues?" Xin Zizhao didn't beat around the bush and got straight to the point.
"Yes, there is. It's a half - burned pamphlet," Wei Shuxuan handed the pamphlet in her hand to Xin Zizhao. "It records the evidence of Pan Leping and Han Xinran's affair. But I don't quite believe it..."
Xin Zizhao took the pamphlet from Wei Shuxuan. After flipping through just a few pages, the tips of his ears turned slightly red. He coughed lightly and closed the pamphlet. "Why don't you believe it?"
"As far as I know, Pan Leping has a low level of education, while Han Xinran comes from a scholarly family and is very eloquent. How could such a talented woman have an affair with a mediocre person?"
"What if she just likes Pan Leping?"
"This is a very unlikely event. Pan Leping is fond of gambling and whoring. How could a well - educated woman like Han Xinran like him?" Wei Shuxuan retorted Xin Zizhao's inference irritably.
"So what are you going to do?"
"I've decided to rummage through Han Xinran's and Jin Yan'er's rooms. I think there must be many unknown secrets in them."
In the afternoon, Wei Shuxuan went to Han Xinran's room alone again. The layout of Han Xinran's room consisted of some paintings and calligraphy. There were also two or three potted plants by the window. The overall tone was rather plain, looking elegantly refined, completely different from Jin Yan'er's room.
The last time she went to Jin Yan'er's room, the room was filled with brightly - colored gauze curtains, and there was a rather strong incense in the room. It was quite tacky.
After rummaging through Han Xinran's room, Wei Shuxuan didn't find anything amiss. Instead, she found several copies of Buddhist scriptures copied by Han Xinran. The handwriting was delicate and neat, very beautiful.
"This is really well - written," Wei Shuxuan couldn't help but comment. "I'd better hide it first."
Since there was nothing special in Han Xinran's room, Wei Shuxuan left quickly. Then she headed towards Jin Yan'er's room.
When she entered Jin Yan'er's room for the second time, the floral fragrance in the room was still so strong. The purple gauze curtains were gently swaying gracefully. Wei Shuxuan lifted the gauze curtain and walked to the dressing table. She rummaged through the drawers on the dressing table. There were only some cosmetics and jewelry, nothing special.
The dressing table, pass.
Wei Shuxuan then went into the inner room. There was a round bathtub in the inner room, just like the one in her own room. She looked around. There didn't seem to be any place to hide things.
The inner room, pass.
Back in the room again, Wei Shuxuan scanned around. There was no bookshelf. There was only a tea set on the round table. At a glance, there was only a fur shawl on the rocking chair.
She turned around and saw Jin Yan'er's big bed. She walked over quickly, pushed the quilt to one side, and lifted the pillows. She still didn't find anything. But when she touched the bed board, it made an unusual sound. She knocked on the bed board, her eyes showing a look of surprise. She started to look along the edge of the board that made the strange sound...