Yi Qing was puzzled. As a mother, what could be more important than a reunion with her daughter?
Sang Sang glanced in the direction of the door twice and said in an extremely low voice, "I suspect that Guard Xiao has some problems."
Yi Qing was stunned. Then she thought, amusedly, what on earth had Xiao Tian done this time to make others suspicious of him?
She herself had suspected him before, as had Mrs. Fan, Ran Ran, and Xu Maozhi... It seemed that only the dog - emperor and Baozi had absolute faith in him.
However, Yi Qing didn't show her thoughts on her face. Instead, she smiled and asked, "What do you think is wrong with him?"
After experiencing so many ups and downs, she had full trust in Xiao Tian. Otherwise, with her aloof and cold - natured personality, how could she have developed a relationship with him to the point of being intimate?
"Madam, Guard Xiao writes with his left hand," Sang Sang's voice was still extremely low.
"Huh?" Yi Qing was stunned.
What was the logic behind this?
Did Xiao Tian write with his left hand? Why hadn't she noticed?
And even if he wrote with his left hand, so what? Did that mean there was something wrong with him?
Sang Sang continued, "He holds the sword with his right hand, but writes with his left. This servant guesses that he is trying to hide his handwriting."
Yi Qing was completely taken aback.
Maybe because she was illiterate, she hadn't really cared about how Xiao Tian wrote.
But thinking more carefully, it seemed that Xiao Tian used his right hand when instructing Baozi.
"When did you see him writing with his left hand?" Yi Qing also lowered her voice.
"A few days ago, when you were out, this servant wanted to serve you tea. I accidentally saw through the curtain at the door," Sang Sang replied. "This servant thought it was strange at that time because I had never seen anyone write with their left hand before, so I paid extra attention."
"Last night," she paused and then continued, "when Guard Xiao was instructing the young master to write, this servant paid extra attention and took a couple of glances."
"What did you find?"
"Madam," Sang Sang bit her lips, "Guard Xiao's handwriting with his right hand is at least 70 - 80% similar to General Xiao's when he was alive. In fact, it can be said to be exactly the same."
Yi Qing couldn't help widening her eyes and frowning.
Sang Sang said, "This servant can't figure out why he can imitate the handwriting so perfectly. When General Xiao was defeated in the battle, was there really no traitor around him? How could he be defeated?"
Sang Sang had blind faith in Xiao Jinghan.
She suspected that Xiao Tian deliberately imitated Xiao Jinghan's handwriting and played an important role in the conspiracy.
Yi Qing thought quite differently.
She thought of the speculation she had previously denied - Xiao Tian = Xiao Jinghan.
But because there was no red birthmark on Xiao Tian's buttocks, she had dismissed this idea.
Now thinking about it, it seemed a bit hasty.
Could it be that she had misseen it back then?
But that shouldn't be the case. She was panicked at that time, but she still saw that red birthmark!
Then how could she explain what Sang Sang had said?
"Sang Sang, do you recognize General Xiao Jinghan's handwriting?" Yi Qing asked, confused.
"Wasn't the outer - courtyard study rebuilt after it was burned down?" Sang Sang replied. "This servant thought it was too empty inside, so I went to the storeroom to find some things to put in it. Then I found General Xiao's calligraphy and paintings from when he was alive in the locked storeroom."
Speaking of which, Yi Qing also deserved some credit for this.
After Yi Qing came to the General's Mansion, she had the storeroom properly managed, especially the things left by Xiao Jinghan.
After a pause, Sang Sang continued, "You know, this servant comes from the Shangbei General's Mansion, also a family of military officers. So I pay extra attention to and am familiar with the military officers in the court. I have always admired General Xiao very much. I know that he has been slandered a lot, and I also know that he had made great military achievements. So when I saw his calligraphy, I took a few extra looks."
"You may not know, General Xiao's calligraphy was as vigorous as a startled dragon, with strokes as sharp as iron hooks, and it seemed to penetrate the wood," Sang Sang said.
Although Yi Qing was semi - illiterate, she could still tell whether calligraphy was good or bad to some extent.
After hearing what Sang Sang said, she was actually a bit intrigued.
It seemed that she had also seen the characters that Xiao Tian had written while instructing Baozi. They were quite nice.
Could it be that it was General Xiao Jinghan's style of calligraphy?
Had she actually missed such a detail?
It couldn't be blamed on her. She didn't know many characters. Even if she saw good calligraphy, she would just admire it for a while and try to recognize it. How could she carefully distinguish whether it was written by the same person?
Come to think of it, even if she had tried to distinguish carefully, she probably wouldn't have been able to tell.
- Because in her opinion, all good - looking calligraphy looked about the same, but ugly calligraphy had all kinds of ugliness. The fact that she could barely distinguish between regular script, running script, cursive script, and official script was already a credit to her history teacher from her past life.
"Sang Sang, are you sure?"
"Sure," Sang Sang nodded firmly.
So what she meant was for Yi Qing to figure things out first.
After all, if Xiao Tian was not a good person, there might be great changes in the General's Mansion. It might not be a good thing for her to take her daughter out.
"Okay then," Yi Qing rolled her eyes and quickly came up with an idea. "Later, when Xiao Tian is not around, you take out the calligraphy from the storeroom for me to have a look. Then I'll find an opportunity to ask him to write the same characters so that I can compare them carefully."
If she compared them side by side and still couldn't tell, she might really be blind.
"We need to be quick. I'll be leaving the capital with him in three days."
"Okay," Sang Sang agreed. "How about you find a way to send Guard Xiao away, and I'll go get it for you right now?"
"Okay."
Yi Qing called Xiao Tian in and said seriously, "Sang Sang said it's not advisable to go without preparation. So how about you take some people to find out the situation in Ke Shanlong's mansion first? I won't be at ease if others go to find out. Please make this trip for me."
As she spoke, she winked at Xiao Tian.
Xiao Tian was completely confused, but subconsciously thought that she was hinting to him not to ask the reason and just do it. So he nodded and agreed, "I'll go right away."
Yi Qing watched him leave, feeling a bit guilty. But there was no other way. Where could she find a reason to send him away?
She could only act mysterious first and then think of an excuse slowly.
Sang Sang quickly retrieved the calligraphy scroll of Xiao Jinghan from the storeroom.
Yi Qing unrolled it on the table. It read "The sea is vast because it admits hundreds of rivers; a precipice stands a thousand feet high because it is free from desire." The sixteen characters were indeed, as Sang Sang had said, as vivid as a swimming dragon in the clouds and seemed to penetrate the wood.
"Look here," Sang Sang pointed to the character 'ren'. "Coincidentally, when I took a peek, Guard Xiao was teaching the young master to write this character. It's exactly the same."
Yi Qing propped her chin and looked at it, muttering to herself, "There's actually such a thing. I'll have to test him tonight."
"Madam, please be extremely careful," Sang Sang said nervously. "If you get into danger because of this servant, I'll feel extremely guilty."
"Don't worry. You're very observant. That's good, very good," Yi Qing squinted her eyes, her eyes full of calculation.