Chapter 6
On the other side, Cao Mi finally returned to his courtyard.
She had just crossed over today, so she was busy with all kinds of trivial matters in the palace, and it was not until she returned to the dormitory at this time that she had a short rest.
After washing and changing clothes under the service of Taozi and another maid, she leaned on the couch and stared at the charcoal stove with sparks in front of her in a daze.
The encounter on this day was very different from the life of the princess she imagined. The hidden waves in the palace broke out almost one after another on the same day. Whether it was the charcoal stove disguised as an accident, or the situation on the Zhang family’s mother and daughter and the prince’s son Qi Rui, they were all directed at the original body.
Beneath this seemingly mess of trivial matters, there is an extremely important clue, which is—
If King Bei’an’s concubine was discredited and died unexpectedly, who would benefit in the end?
At present, there are too few clues in Cao Mi’s hands. She thought about it for a while and only got some specious answers. In order not to add more troubles to himself, Cao Mi shook his head, put aside these doubts for the time being, and prepared to take a good rest first to nourish his spirits.
Of course, after waving away the maids, she got up and re-checked the charcoal stove and the windows to ensure that this afternoon’s tragedy would not happen again.
It was still early, and after she lay back on the bed, she was finally able to secretly verify her guess in the afternoon.
Just in the afternoon, the original bed appeared and her family photo album, and later, the album disappeared in her palm.
Cao Mi had a vague hunch that she, like other protagonists who traveled through time, had obtained a portable space.
She closed her eyes and began to search for that space with her consciousness.
This kind of thing seems a little funny to a girl in the 21st century, but Cao Mi confirmed that he could feel a faint connection with that space.
That feeling was very mysterious. Anyway, when Cao Mi opened her eyes again, her consciousness had already entered another dimension.
This is a place she is all too familiar with, her home in the twenty-first century!
At this moment, she was standing in the backyard of her home, beside her was the bamboo reclining chair she was lying on before she died, and the reclining chair was covered with a soft and comfortable fleece blanket.
The album that suddenly appeared in the afternoon is now lying quietly on the fleece blanket.
Looking around at the familiar place in front of him, Cao Mi felt that his emotions that he had just sorted out in the afternoon could not be restrained.
She took a few deep breaths to hold back her tears, and walked to explore this place she was all too familiar with.
The scope of this space was her original home, and a thin layer of mist shrouded the surrounding area, preventing Cao Mi from going out. But Cao Mi didn’t care about this, she walked through the backyard and entered her small two-story villa.
At first, she noticed a strange phenomenon, that is, the clock at home was broken. But she soon realized that it was not the clock’s problem, but that time seemed to stop completely in this space.
Except for her “accidental visitor”, everything in the family stayed at the moment she died.
She can take the things in this space to the outside world, that is, the Bei’an Palace. After the alarm clock was taken out, it started ticking away again. She can also bring things around her in reality into the space at will.
Except for living things.
In simple terms, this space seems to be a super fresh-keeping storehouse, but for Cao Mi at this time, its consolation effect is far greater than its practical effect.
After tossing for a while, after getting a general understanding of the space, Cao Mi finally let out a light breath.
She arbitrarily stayed in the space, returned to the reclining chair under the grape trellis, held the album carrying the precious memory, and fell asleep again.
——
The next day, Cao Mi woke up in the bed of Princess Bei’an, and the photo album that she was holding in her arms came out with her again.
With a thought, she directly sent the album back to the space.
After confirming that there were no other omissions, she called the maid on duty outside the door to change her clothes. She thought it would be Taozi who came in, but Xia Lin was unexpectedly the one who came.
Cao Mi hadn’t forgotten Xia Lin’s first reaction when he saw him yesterday. This maid, who seemed to be a lively relative, was probably one of the people who wanted his own life. Being served personally by such a “suspect”, Cao Mi couldn’t help feeling chills on his back.
But she didn’t dare to show any discomfort, not only to pretend she didn’t know everything, but also to brace herself for today’s plan.
After changing clothes and washing up, she first refused the meal that Xia Lin brought her, and then she led people to Jingmingyuan.
Cao Mi decided that before finding the murderer who wanted to assassinate the original body, he would eat three meals a day in Jingmingyuan. One is to ensure your own safety. On the other hand, you can also pay attention to the eldest son of the royal palace who doesn’t want to eat and drink, and make a good impression in front of the future protagonist of destiny.
The breakfast was eaten very quickly, Qi Rui ate even less than last night, and even Cao Mi, who had been watching him all the time, lost his appetite, so he withdrew the meal when he was 70% full.
After breakfast, a maid brought the boiled potion, and Qi Rui and Cao Mi each had a bowl.
Qi Rui was naturally drinking the appetizer that Dr. Liu prescribed yesterday. Although he ate less, he was very simple in drinking medicine.
But Cao Mi looked at the medicinal soup that was placed in front of him to treat wind-cold, but he became vigilant in his heart.
Although he knew that the original body had been drinking for a long time, it was unlikely that the murderer would do anything on it, Cao Mi decided to be more careful.
She shook her head and said to Xia Lin, who was holding the medicine, “I woke up from a nap yesterday, and I felt great. Stop this medicine for now.”
Hearing her words, Xia Lin didn’t take the medicine off immediately, but persuaded with a frown: “Madam, the cold is easy to repeat. You were fine yesterday, so it’s better to drink two more.”
Cao Mi smiled softly, but he couldn’t refuse, “Take it off. It’s a three-point poison, and I’m afraid I’ll lose my appetite if I drink it.”
While smiling and confronting Xia Lin, she was secretly surprised by the maid’s attitude towards the original body.
After Qi Rui drank the medicine, Cao Mi tried to communicate with him, but the child didn’t know what was going on.
Cao Mi was not discouraged, she took Xia Lin away after she said a few words to herself.
Qi Rui’s matter can’t be rushed, she has to deal with the situation of Zhang’s mother and daughter first. Yesterday, she took the initiative to ask Qi You for the task of investigating, so she put this matter in the first place.
When she arrived at the place where the servants were being held in the backyard, Chunlin was already waiting outside the house.
Here we must first mention the difference between the two assistants of the original body.
Xia Lin’s work is more about staying with the original body and helping the original body to make decisions. Therefore, as soon as she saw the original body yesterday, she was very active and used to give the original body an idea.
Chunlin is responsible for implementing this part. After the original body completes a decision with the help of Xia Lin, Chunlin guides the relevant stewards in the mansion to deal with it.
However, Cao Mi knew that this was not the work of the original master, but more like the result of their own intentional distinction.
After meeting with Chunlin, Cao Mi entered the door under the guidance of Chunlin.
Yesterday, the people of King Bei’an had come forward and arrested several suspected stewards and servants. What Cao Mi had to do was to find out who was involved in this matter.
She sat down as usual and ordered the stewards to be brought up one by one for questioning.
After a night of detention, several stewards in the backyard looked a little haggard, but the voices of grievances became louder.
The old lady who bought it said that she had been in the mansion for most of her life, and that she had paid according to the original rules, and she had never been greedy for a single piece of copper. The chef in charge of the kitchen shook the fat on his face, and said that every meal for Mrs. Zhang was done as instructed, and what the serious master in the house would eat was what Mrs. Zhang would serve.
They not only shouted injustice full of anger, but even took the initiative to ask for the account book to come and check the book to prove their innocence.
Cao Mi felt very difficult.
In the memory she obtained, the expenses in the backyard were taken from the public account of the Fuzhong. After Xia Lin helped him reconcile the accounts every month, he would hand it over to the housekeeper of the Fuzhong.
The housekeeper was a member of King Qi You of Bei’an. Judging from the way he freely entered and exited the study yesterday, he was definitely a character that was deeply trusted by Qi You.
If such a person is not also involved in this incident, it can only prove that there is no problem with the ledger handed over to him, at least not a big problem.
Cao Mi held her forehead, feeling that things might be more complicated than she imagined.
The stewards were brought out for interrogation one by one, and they were brought back down one by one. It took most of the morning, but Cao Mi didn’t get any useful information.
It was at this time that Chen Kang was brought up.
Chen Kang is a lean middle-aged man with long and narrow eyes, showing a stock market rudeness. There are still two mustaches on his face, and he looks like a traitor in the anti-Japanese drama.
He has no talent, nor does he have a fixed job in the palace, usually assisting other stewards to do some chores.
After Mr. Zhang came, the work of distributing the charcoal fire to the yard was handed over to him.
Therefore, this person is the most likely perpetrator in this incident, and also the target of Cao Mi’s intentional final interrogation.
As soon as Chen Kang came up, he didn’t shout his grievance like others, but with a smile on his face, he flattered Cao Mi, as well as Chun Lin and Xia Lin who were standing behind her.
He looked extremely cooperative, but what he said was extremely perfunctory.
Cao Mi asked him to get up and asked: “The first supply in the Yilan Courtyard should be arranged by Director Chen. If Mrs. Zhang is wronged, the Director will know where the charcoal fire that should be provided in the courtyard has gone. ?”
Chen Kang’s smile collapsed, “The villain doesn’t know!”
His tone was very exaggerated, reminding Cao Mi of those harlequins in Peking Opera.
“The villain has always done things according to his orders! Could it be that Zhang’s mother and daughter were born in poverty and were not used to the good food in the mansion, so they starved themselves?”
If it wasn’t for the delicate appearance of the original body, Cao Mi would have wanted to laugh out loud.
Seeing that Cao Mi didn’t speak, Chen Kang didn’t care, and acted happily to himself, “Or maybe that Mr. Zhang deliberately deceived the prince and princess, and wanted to wait for the storm to pass, so that he could exchange that silver charcoal for money! Oops! It’s really abominable! It’s really abominable! The lord was fascinated by the orphan and widowed mother, madam, you must polish your eyes!”
Cao Mi smiled, “I also think the steward makes sense.”