Seeing that Wei Shuxuan was really serious, Ge Zian put away his smile and nodded. "I know. I'll listen to you carefully."
"That's good."
Eunuch Li was extremely efficient. Soon, he had the kitchen in Fenghe Palace cook three dishes and a soup for Wei Shuxuan and Ge Zian to enjoy.
In the palace, every living palace was equipped with a small kitchen for the convenience of the master to dine immediately.
"Mr. Wei, General Ge, I wonder if these dishes are enough. If not, this servant can go to the kitchen and ask them to cook some more."
"That's enough. No need. These are fine. Eunuch Li, you can go and attend to your duties first."
"Yes."
Wei Shuxuan was so hungry that facing the table full of dishes, she couldn't wait to tuck in. Ge Zian picked up a bowl and smiled helplessly. "Don't eat so fast. I won't fight you for it."
"...... I'm just too hungry. You don't need to mind me. Just eat your own."
After the two finished their meal, they left Fenghe Palace and headed for the imperial study.
Xin Zizhao was studying in the imperial study. He was wondering what Wei Shuxuan and Ge Zian were doing at the moment and was a bit absent - minded. The tutor who was teaching noticed his state and called him up to answer a question. "Zizhao, cough - cough - cough, Zizhao."
"What's the matter?" Xin Zizhao came back to his senses and looked at the tutor.
"Get up and answer the question," the tutor said, holding a book. "Recite the first five poems of The Book of Songs for me."
The tutor thought Xin Zizhao wouldn't be able to recite them, but he didn't expect that Xin Zizhao could recite the five poems very smoothly, without a single mistake. He had wanted to make things difficult for him to get him to focus on the class, but unexpectedly...
"Forget it. Sit down, Zizhao. You should listen to the class carefully. Don't always be in a daze. It's disrespectful to this tutor and the ancestors."
But Xin Zizhao ignored him. He just propped his chin up and read the book. He still couldn't help thinking about Wei Shuxuan.
The sixth victim was a eunuch. The crime scene was in the courtyard outside the imperial study. He died from excessive blood loss after being stabbed in the main artery of his thigh. Wei Shuxuan had examined the victim's body. Besides the fatal wound, there were also many other wounds, and there were some debris left under his fingernails.
Wei Shuxuan once picked out the debris with a sharp needle. There wasn't much. It looked like it had been scratched off something. Even if it was skin debris from a person, it couldn't be assumed that the person was the murderer. She put the debris on a white handkerchief and observed it carefully. There was a bit of green color, as if it had been scratched off a plant.
"Zian, go to the courtyard and see if you can find any green plants, preferably with some scratch marks on them."
"Got it."
It was winter now, and there weren't many non - withering trees. There were some shrubs that grew even in winter planted in this courtyard. Wei Shuxuan lowered her head and saw that the stems of these shrubs were green. She guessed it was these shrubs, but she needed to find the exact location.
The courtyard of the imperial study wasn't very big, but it was quite difficult to find a shrub with scratch marks. Wei Shuxuan and Ge Zian split up to search.
Wei Shuxuan lowered her head to see if there were any traces on the soil. She guessed that few people would step into the bushes here, but she didn't know if the traces left by the body were still there after so long.
Just as Wei Shuxuan was looking around, she saw that a patch of shrubs was a bit shorter than the surrounding ones, and there seemed to be signs of pruning. She immediately walked over there, bent down to check, and sure enough, saw a shrub with several scratch marks on its stem among the bushes on the side.
She immediately stood up, walked over to the small sunken patch of shrubs, and accurately found the shrub with scratch marks. She pushed aside the bushes and wanted to see if she could find the murder weapon here. After all, they had been able to find the murder weapon for the previous victim. Wei Shuxuan called Ge Zian to help her search together.
The two of them searched there for almost the whole afternoon, but still didn't find anything. Wei Shuxuan thought that it seemed the murderer this time hadn't left any evidence.
"We didn't find anything. What should we do?"
"Let's go back. Searching here any longer won't yield any results," Wei Shuxuan looked up at the sky. The afterglow of the sunset had appeared on the horizon. "Moreover, it's going to get dark soon. It'll be hard for us to search when it's dark. Let's just stop for now."
The two of them walked out of the courtyard outside the imperial study. Wei Shuxuan asked Ge Zian, "Do you know where a secluded place is?"
"Huh?" Ge Zian looked at her in confusion.
In the end, Ge Zian took Wei Shuxuan to a garden far from the center of the palace. The afterglow of the setting sun gradually faded, and it was getting dark. Ge Zian asked her, "Okay, I've brought you here. Few people pass by here. What on earth do you want to tell me?"
"Wei Wei."
A very familiar name came out of Wei Shuxuan's mouth. Before Ge Zian could react from his shock, he saw a familiar figure appear in front of him.
"Wei Wei?"
"Hello, Young Master Ge."
"Wei Wei, tell Young Master Ge the truth."
"Young Master Ge, actually, Mr. Wei Luo is the daughter of General Wei Tu, Wei Shuxuan. I'm very sorry. I didn't protect the young lady well at that time, which made her get hurt."
"Hurt?" Ge Zian looked at Wei Shuxuan and asked anxiously, "Xuan'er, where are you injured?"
"Actually, I..."
Before Wei Shuxuan could finish speaking, Wei Wei interrupted her. "The young lady has lost her memory. It's this subordinate's fault for not protecting the young lady well!"
"What? Xuan'er, you've lost your memory?" Ge Zian looked at Wei Shuxuan in surprise.
These two men were so busy talking that they didn't give her a chance to speak at all. She couldn't help rolling her eyes. "Hey, you two, listen to me first."
After that, Wei Shuxuan told them that she had been seriously injured and saved by Xin Zizhao. As for the memory - loss thing, she just made it up casually.
"Okay, Wei Wei, you can step back. We don't want to be seen."
"Yes, young lady."
Just as Wei Wei had hidden himself, Ge Zian and Wei Shuxuan heard a clear female voice coming from behind them. "What are you doing here!"
They turned around and saw Xuan Ruoling stomping towards them angrily. Ge Zian pulled Wei Shuxuan behind him to block Xuan Ruoling.
Seeing Ge Zian so obviously protecting this Mr. Wei, Xuan Ruoling got even angrier. Her Brother Zian had never treated her like this before.