The Famous Detective of the Red Mansion

Chapter 27: A Silver Basin, Golden Boat, and a Homicide Case

The 27th of the twelfth lunar month.

At daybreak, snowflakes began to fall. When Sun Shaozong and Ruan Rong were ready to go to the Rongguo's Mansion to attend the invitation, there was already a half-inch thick layer of snow on the ground.

However, the pedestrians on the road were not stopped by the snow.

Carrying a basket, carrying a load, and even the people who drove a carriage…

The hustle and bustle of buying and selling would stir up the last big market speculation before the Chinese New Year.

When they arrived at the Rongguo Mansion, they saw nearly a hundred bright red lanterns lined up like the wild geese's wings around the golden front door. They were all lit with candles with the thickness of their arms. It's not obvious now since it's the day. If it's night, most of the streets were red!

The daily consumption of the candles in the lanterns were enough for ordinary families to use for a year.

As expected, it was the saying, “The smell of wine and meat wafts out in front of the rich people's houses, but the poor people die of cold and hunger in the streets!”

Sun Shaozong sighed with emotion. He watched Ruan Rong's carriage go in from the west gate and headed straight to the backyard, where Lin Daiyu was under the guidance of the female servants. He then urged his horse to go towards the easternmost area, where the black oil gate was.

It's also a strange story. Jia Lian's father, Jia She, the eldest son of the mansion, was a first-class general who had the rank of a Baron. He had to compromise himself in the small courtyard on the east side because the Old Lady Jia didn't like him.

On the contrary, the second son of the mansion, Jia Zheng, lives in the main room of the main house just like the master.

—Dividing Line—

When Sun Shaozong arrived at the black oil gate, there was Long'er, Jia Lian's confidant, waiting on the steps.

Before Sun Shaozong came down from the horse, he hurried up to him, greeted him with a smile on his face, and said, "Second Master Sun, you are here! Our master has asked several times, and we almost have to send someone to lift you in a big sedan chair!"

"I'm not the mistress of your family. Where can I sit in the big sedan chair?"

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Sun Shaozong jumped down from his horse and poked the red lanterns hanging on the wall with his finger. "In previous years, your family only hung up a couple of lanterns to get the atmosphere of the occasion. How can it be so ostentatious this year?"

"Oh~"

Long'er made a strange sound with a wink and said exaggeratedly, "It seems that you don't know yet! Our old second master's eldest daughter was elected as the Minister of the Fengzao Palace and was sealed as the Xiande Consort. How can we not celebrate this great event?"

As he said this, he pointed to the main gate on the west side, showing off with a little jealousy mixed, "You didn't see it before. There were countless firecrackers in front of the main gate, and then two carts of scraps of paper were swept out later!"

Tch!

There was Consort Xiande inside and Wang Ziteng on the outside.

With the help of these two powerful helpers, he’s afraid the servants of the rich from the Jia family will become more arrogant.

Thinking about these things, Sun Shaozong gave the horse to the doorman and followed Long'er across the threshold.

Walking through the mansion and the courtyard, he saw many young servants and servant girls talking behind his back in the dark. He thought that it must be because after Jia Lian and the others returned home, they talked about him standing upfront against the happenings of the salt dealers, which attracted many curious people.

Sun Shaozong thought that Long'er would lead him to the living room or the yard where Jia Lian lived. Unexpectedly, he turned left and right, but he entered a delicate and compact garden.

Seeing Long'er pointing up the rockery in the middle, he said with a smile, "My Lord saw that it started to snow, so he asked the servants to tidy up the pavilion and said that he wanted to “engage in intellectual conversations” with you."

Sun Shaozong didn’t even knew whether he was a hero, but for sure Jia Lian wasn’t one!

The two men went up the spiral stone steps to the top of the mountain. They saw that there were four or five pots of silver frost charcoal in the red lacquer Pavilion. Jia Lian still held a stove in his arms, and they laughed and said, "It's Erlang who has arrived. I looked at you from a distance in the dark and thought that it was an old bear."

Sun Shaozong was wearing a black cloak, so he said so.

Sun Shaozong laughed and pointed to Jia Lian's dark purple robe, "Don't need to mention if it was an old bear, even if they're a bear that jumped out and saw you, the Prince's maternal uncle, I'm afraid that they will have to retreat from you too. "

"What kind of Prince's maternal uncle am I? Baoyu is the real maternal uncle of the Prince." With complacent modesty, Jia Lian took advantage of the situation to welcome Sun Shaozong into the pavilion.

There was a silver basin on the stone table in the middle. There was shallow hot water in the silver basin. In the middle of it, there were a few beautifully carved gold boats. It looked chic, but he didn't know what it was for.

Seeing Sun Shaozong looking at the silver basin and golden boats, Jia Lian reached out and opened the roof of one of the golden boats. The rich aroma of wine immediately came out. It seems that the original golden boats were cups to warm up the wine.

It really was a first-class luxury!

.

Sun Shaozong praised him with a few words. As soon as he sat down with Jia Lian, he heard a rush of footsteps from far away.

When they looked, they saw that it was the gatekeeper who had just brought Sun Shaozong's horse down for a rest.

Seeing that he was panting like a cow and had no dignity of a rich family at all, Jia Lian was a little unhappy. He patted the stove on the table and shouted from a distance, "Hey, talented dog, are you rushing to reincarnate with your eyebrows staring so furiously?!"

After receiving his scolding, the gatekeeper hurried forward a few steps and hurriedly said, "Second Master, it's not a small rush. It's the guards from the Central Judicial Office outside the door who said that there was a homicide case at Yunshui Lane. Please ask the judge to investigate the case!"

Homicide case?

Sun Shaozong frowned when he heard the speech. According to the order, he would only go to the Central Judicial Office to take over the position after the New Year. How could they find him for a murder case that happened before the New Year? And found him all the way here at the Rongguo Mansion!

When he was trying to figure out what was strange in this matter, Jia Lian scolded, "Are you a dog with hysteria? There is a Central Judicial Assistant Officer in our mansion, but where is the Assistant Prefectural Magistrate?!”

The gatekeeper didn't dare to argue, so he had to look at Sun Shaozong.

Sigh~

Sun Shaozong sighed and stood up and said, "Brother Lian, I'm afraid our ”hero” is out of the question today! I took the order at noon yesterday to temporarily take over the Central Judicial Office after the Chinese New Year. Who would have thought that just one day later, the trouble would come to me."

He deliberately emphasized the words ”after the New Year." Originally, he wanted to arouse Jia Lian's suspicions and helped himself to find out what’s going on in his given title of the Prince’s maternal uncle.

However, Jia Lian didn't notice what he meant. When he heard that Sun Shaozong had become the Assistant Prefectural Magistrate of the Central Judicial Office and was about to investigate the murder case, his eyes lit up, and said with joy, "Since it's a major case involving human life, what are we waiting for? I've never seen anyone investigate a case since I was young!"

Then he raised his voice and said, "Xing'er, go and tell my wife that I will accompany the second master of the Sun family to solve the homicide case of human life. I won't be eating at home after the afternoon!"

Sun Shaozong was speechless, but it was not easy to express his concern. He had to send a message to Ruan Rong, asking her to stay at the Rongguo Mansion and talk to Lin Daiyu. After he had been to the scene of the crime, it was not too late to come back to pick her up.