Chapter 458: The purple mark on the carriage
Chapter 458 The purple mark on the carriage
Chu Nanzhi got into the carriage and inspected it. The luxurious and spacious interior was cleaned spotlessly. Touching the light and smooth silk on the inner wall was like touching delicate skin.
The elegant sandalwood aroma lingers in the entire compartment, which is refreshing.
Chu Nanzhi recovered from the intoxication, quietly watching every corner inside, and there was indeed nothing abnormal as Li Sanmu said.
There are no traces of fighting, and the carriage is not damaged from the inside to the outside.
It seems that Mrs. Zheng did not happen on the carriage.
Get out of the carriage again, squat down and look at the wheels meticulously.
The wheels also look brand new, as if they have been specially washed with water.
She turned her head to look at the handyman who followed from Qi's house, and asked, "The carriage came back from outside the city yesterday, who cleaned it?"
The handymen yelled not far away, and then saw a middle-aged man with a goatee lazily walking over.
Chu Nanzhi glanced at the man: "Is it the carriage you cleaned?"
"It's small."
The man replied casually.
Chu Nanzhi looked in the direction of the stinking stable again: "Why didn't you clean the stable, only this carriage?"
"If you go back to the princess, this carriage is the most beloved car of the old lady. It was built with a lot of gold, and my uncle has also specially instructed it. Naturally, the little ones dare not slack off."
It makes sense to explain this way, after all, it is not a cheap product.
Jiang Xueyi is indeed filial.
No wonder he is much more lovable in Qi's house than his poor uncle Chu Wenyu.
Looking at the man with the mustache, Chu Nanzhi asked solemnly again: "Did you find anything unusual when you cleaned the carriage?"
"Back to the princess, there is nothing unusual."
Bazixu replied: "There is some mud on the car wall and wheels."
"Sludge?"
Chu Nanzhi couldn't help frowning.
This has been in drought for several months, why is there mud on the official road?
It's strange.
It stands to reason that at most there will be some dust on the cloth.
She waved at the man and reprimanded him to retreat, and continued to get down on the bottom of the carriage and began to check.
Used to smell the elegant sandalwood scent in the car, when she approached the wheels unexpectedly, she suddenly smelled a pungent sour smell.
And this pungent taste is very familiar, but it is not the mild sour taste of bamboo vinegar.
"Li Gongcao, bring me a lamp."
Chu Nanzhi gave instructions to Li Sanmu while looking at the wheels.
After Li Sanmu got the lamp, Chu Nanzhi took the lamp and inspected it carefully near the wheel.
After sniffing it carefully, she realized that the sour smell came from the wheels.
"It's strange, how can there be such a sour smell on the official road?"
Still mud?
Chu Nanzhi was very puzzled.
Could it be that Zheng's carriage didn't always follow the official road, but changed somewhere?
She continued to flip through the wheel, and when she was lost in thought, her eyes suddenly lit up, and she saw a purple-red mark on the bottom of the wheel.
Because the entire wheel has been washed by water, although the purple-red mark has also been diluted, it can still be seen clearly under the illumination of the light.
Going to the mark to confirm again, the bright color doesn't look like blood.
The blood was dark red after drying and solidifying, but the purple red stained on the wheels appeared extremely bright and bright, more like a color produced by a chemical reaction.
Chu Nanzhi thoughtfully put her nose on the wheel and sniffed again. The faint sour smell penetrated into her nose, which made her cough repeatedly.
Hearing the sound of coughing, Li Sanmu hastily bent down and asked with concern: "Is the princess not feeling well?"
Chu Nanzhi waved his hand: "You go and Li Dianshi bring His Highness here, there is no need to call others."
Li Sanmu nodded anxiously, and then left in response.
Chu Nanzhi wiped the imprint with her slender fingers, touching the top of her tongue, the sourness was mixed with a faint sweet taste.
She thought over and over in her mind, and suddenly she had an idea.
After Lin Jinxiao came over, Chu Nanzhi saw that Tang Ru and the Qi family hadn't followed, and asked reassuringly, "Is there any large dye factory outside this city?"
Lin Jinxiao frowned, pondered for a while, and answered unhurriedly: "There are several dye factories in the north of the city, one is in Cangshan Mountain, more than ten miles away from the city, and the other is in a village fifty miles away. .”
Chu Nanzhi pursed her lips and shook her head: "In just one night, it is impossible for the carriage to travel fifty miles away and then turn back. It can only be in the Cangshan Mountain you mentioned."
"Cangshan?"
Lin Jinxiao frowned: "Why do you doubt this place? There are only small roads in Cangshan Mountain, and there are bumps everywhere, making it extremely inconvenient to travel at night."
Li Sanmu suddenly had an idea: "The small road in Cangshan Mountain can lead to the Jinglu Canal. Could Mrs. Zheng just go into the mountain to meet Wu Enrong?"
"now it's right."
Chu Nanzhi said with a smile: "In order to deceive people, Wu Enrong didn't want to meet Zheng in a grand manner, so he deliberately pretended to be walking by water, and chose to meet Zheng in a secluded mountain, so that no one would notice anything. .”
Lin Jinxiao suddenly realized, and immediately told Li Ce: "Let all the officials of the county government and the soldiers of the coastal defense battalion rush to Cangshan Mountain, and dig three feet to find Mrs. Zheng."
When Chu Nanzhi was being pulled away by him, she suddenly turned around, looked at the two resplendent carriages, and hinted: "This carriage should also be taken care of by the county government for the time being, maybe it will become a witness in the future .”
Lin Jinxiao glanced at the carriage, and Li Sanmu and the guards inspected it for a long time but found nothing. Could it be that his wife found something tricky in the carriage?
In front of so many people, it was difficult for him to ask too many questions.
A group of people came to the courtyard, Tang Ru led everyone to look forward to it, saw Chu Nanzhi and Lin Jinxiao, came over hurriedly and asked: "What clues have you found, Princess?"
Chu Nanzhi didn't answer directly, but simply said: "Let's narrow down the search range first, and search in Cangshan."
"Cangshan? Could it be that the princess thinks that my mother-in-law disappeared in Cangshan?"
Jiang Xueyi immediately shook his head with a smile: "It's impossible, how could my mother-in-law go to the mountains in the middle of the night?"
Qi Yuhuan and Qi Yujie were even more displeased when they heard this: "Wu Enrong has now been imprisoned by the imperial concubine and King Dongjin, but King Pingning didn't interrogate him, but went to the deep mountains and old forests to find someone. Isn't this deliberately playing us tricks? ?”
Chu Nanzhi sneered and shook her head: "Since the two ladies are so smart, why not go to the county prison to interrogate Prefect Wu, anyway, your Qi family's methods of governing people are no worse than those in the prison."
"you"
Qi Yujie's face turned livid with anger, but Lin Jinxiao blocked her back with one word: "I said that the princess is solely responsible for this case. If Er Madam Qi wants to interpret this reasonable inference as a joke, in my opinion It’s not impossible.”
After finishing speaking, he led Chu Nanzhi, Li Ce, Li Sanmu and others to leave Qi's house resolutely.
(end of this chapter)