Ouyang Quan had just left.
Luo Changshi sneered: "Lu Gongfu died of illness. Ouyang Quan should be as heartbroken as Zhong and Leng, right?"
Su Wuming was astonished and asked in confusion, "What does the Changshi mean by that?"
"Because the stone bridge painting in his hands is worthless!" As soon as Luo Changshi uttered these words, he was glared at by Xiong Cishi. Luo Changshi covered his mouth and dared not say more.
Seeing this, Su Wuming had a big question mark in his mind.
Everyone entered the bamboo grove to pay their respects.
After the memorial service, Xiong Cishi asked what happened. Zhong Boqi responded: "Since Yuanfu passed away, Gongfu has been unable to eat or sleep, so much so that he has become emaciated. Do you all still remember the day of his funeral, when Gongfu played the guqin and broke the strings of the ancient Three Kingdoms guqin? It shows how extremely heartbroken he was, his grief was so deep!"
"He suddenly developed a serious illness last night, resulting in the death of both man and instrument!"
Lu Lingfeng asked what the illness was. Leng Ji, who was burning paper in front of the coffin, replied: "Chest pain. Gongfu brother died of heartache."
As the acting judicial assistant, Lu Lingfeng felt something was amiss and proposed: "I want to open the coffin and examine the body to get to the bottom of this."
However, as soon as he said that, he was immediately met with strong opposition from Zhong Boqi and Leng Ji.
"My brother Gongfu has not even cooled down, and you want to open his coffin and examine his body?"
Lu Lingfeng responded with righteous indignation, "I met Lu Gongfu a few days ago and heard his guqin playing, it was strong and vigorous, not like someone suffering from a chronic illness. Now he has suddenly died, there must be something suspicious."
Despite Lu Lingfeng's words, Leng Ji acted out of character, becoming very agitated and grabbed Lu Lingfeng's collar, retorting, "You mean my brother was murdered?"
"My brother Yuanfu passed away, and my brother Gongfu grieved too much, leading to his own demise, is that impossible?"
"You don't understand the bond between us, the Four Sons of Nanzhou. Even if Boqi brother and I follow him to the Yellow Springs, there's nothing surprising about it!"
"If you want to examine the body, step over my corpse!"
The Zhonglangjiang, true to his stubborn nature, responded: "Very well then!"
Su Wuming, Xiong Cishi and Luo Changshi hurriedly stopped Lu Lingfeng, this stubborn Zhonglangjiang could really do it.
"The Four Sons' reputation in Nanzhou is no less than mine, the Cishi. We absolutely cannot escalate the situation!" Xiong Cishi patiently advised.
Wei Ming coughed lightly: "Alright, alright, let's not make a scene in the mourning hall."
Hearing Wei Ming's words, everyone quieted down, even Lu Lingfeng stopped making a fuss.
Though the youngest present, Wei Ming had the highest achievements and reputation, so everyone was willing to listen to him.
Wei Ming walked forward, paid respects to the coffin, and collected Lu Gongfu's soul. With the soul of Yan Yuanfu he had collected during the funeral a few days ago, he now held the souls of two of the Four Sons of Nanzhou in his hands.
I wonder if Zhong Boqi will still lament the separation of life and death when he sees Yan Yuanfu and Lu Gongfu in prison.
As everyone left Lu Gongfu's house, Xiong Cishi and Luo Changshi expressed dissatisfaction with Lu Lingfeng's actions, but considering Wei Ming's presence, they didn't make a scene.
Wei Ming smiled: "Did Brother Lu discover anything?"
"Lu Gongfu's Three Kingdoms guqin should be considered a treasure. Even with the broken strings, it's still extremely valuable. However, just now, I didn't see the guqin anywhere."
Xiong Qiannian and the others hesitated for a moment, then recalled that they indeed hadn't seen the guqin. After all, Lu Gongfu was a master of the guqin. Even in death, he would never be separated from his guqin, it would certainly be placed on the altar to be used for memorial by those who came to pay respects.
…
That night, Su Wuming asked Fei Jishi and Pei Xijun to play the roles of Black and White Imps, leading away Leng Ji, who was guarding the spirit, so they could open the coffin and examine the body.
Su Wuming discovered the real cause of Lu Gongfu's death: he was strangled, then someone stabbed him in the chest.
As for Lu Lingfeng, he led Huang and Xie, two team leaders, to interrogate Ouyang Quan, the owner of Wangbinlou.
After a thorough investigation, they ruled him out. Then Lu Lingfeng cast his suspicions on Lin Bao, who had a grudge against Lu Gongfu before his death.
After all, Lu Gongfu had publicly refused to take him as a disciple, denying his talent and causing him great anger.
Lu Lingfeng assigned Xue Huan to go to the brothel, where Lin Bao’s mistress was, to arrest him. Lin Bao went to the brothel to take his mistress away, but Xue Huan appeared and arrested him.
Lin Bao fought back and escaped, encountering a man in black who tried to kill him. Seeing Lu Lingfeng and the others approaching, the man in black gave up and left.
Xue Huan was young and lacked experience. Fortunately, Lu Lingfeng arrived in time. Under his master's guidance, Xue Huan successfully captured Lin Bao and brought him back to the county office.
After a bit of intimidation, Lin Bao confessed his whereabouts.
It turned out that after being rejected and humiliated that day, Lin Bao harbored ill intentions and snuck into Lu Gongfu's house at night to seek revenge. He stabbed Lu Gongfu in the heart while he was asleep. However, he fled in panic after the murder and didn't take the guqin with him.
Then, Lu Lingfeng interrogated the captured man in black. The man in black claimed he was hired by Zhong Boqi and Leng Ji. They were supposed to capture Lin Bao and deal with him at Lu Gongfu's memorial hall five days later.
Everyone was busy that night, including Wei Ming and Song Amian.
Seeing that no one was in the mansion, Song Amian put on exquisite rouge makeup and knocked on Wei Ming's door.
Wei Ming, who was in meditation, was startled awake. He opened the door and saw Song Amian, who was a sight to behold.
"Amian, what brings you here?"
Song Amian took a deep breath, looked straight into Wei Ming's eyes, and seeing his amazement, felt very proud and flattered. It turned out that she could attract him!
"Sir, do I look good?"
Wei Ming nodded, "Beautiful as a flower, breathtaking."
"Then who is more beautiful, me or Xijun?" Song Amian asked further.
"Equally beautiful, each has its own charm!"
Song Amian rolled her eyes, "Sir, you’re trying not to offend anyone."
Then she threw herself into Wei Ming's arms.
Wei Ming sighed, "Amian, you don't have to repay me in this way. Really, you don't need to!"
Song Amian shook her head, "Sir, I don't want to repay you. I truly like you."
"Amian, you shouldn't…"
"Sir, please don't say anything more. I've made up my mind. Please…"
"Have pity on me!"
The night passed without a word!
Fishing songs and reciprocal replies, how joyous is this music!
The next morning, Song Amian had already left.
But Wei Ming noticed that a palm-sized hole had been cut in his bed sheet.
During breakfast.
To hide her blushing cheeks, Song Amian kept her head down and remained silent, occasionally adjusting her posture uncomfortably.
Meanwhile, Lu Lingfeng and Su Wuming compared their findings.
"Lin Bao must be the killer!" Lu Lingfeng declared.
Su Wuming shook his head, "It's too early to conclude that Lin Bao is the killer, because Lu Gongfu died from being strangled, suffocated to death."
"What? Strangled? Lu Lingfeng was startled, "Did Lin Bao deceive me?"
The two of them decided to interrogate Lin Bao again later.
"By the way, there's one more thing." Lu Lingfeng mentioned Zhong Boqi and Leng Ji hiring the assassin.
Su Wuming sighed, "The bond between the Four Sons of Nanzhou is truly deep, so deep that they would engage in such illegal acts as hiring assassins!"
After breakfast, the two of them took Xue Huan to interrogate Lin Bao and confront Zhong and Leng.
Pei Xijun was surprised, "Aren't you going, Wei Lang? As a disciple of Di Gong, you wouldn’t be uninterested in a strange case, would you?"
"Of course I'm curious about strange cases, but my methods are different from theirs." Wei Ming smiled, "Xijun, I'll take you to see the so-called treasure of Nanzhou, the stone bridge painting, later."
Pei Xijun nodded, "Alright, to see a masterpiece by Zhang Xuan, one of the Four Masters of Painting, is not a wasted trip to Nanzhou."
"Four Masters of Painting? Who are they?" Wei Ming was puzzled. When he heard about painting, the first thing that came to mind was the brothers Yan Liben, then the painting sage Wu Daozi.
After them came Zhang Xuan, Qin Xiaobai, Zhan Zichen, and Zhou Fang.
But when people refer to “Four Masters”, “Four Sages”, or “Four Greats”, they usually mean the most prominent, most representative figures of their time!
Pei Xijun said with pride, "There's Wu Daozi, Zhang Xuan, Qin Xiaobai, and…"
"You!"
"Me?" Wei Ming was truly surprised.
He was good at painting, but he learned techniques from later generations, not the ancient Danqing art. To quote Qin Xiaobai: "There's no Danqing spirit in your paintings!"
"Of course it's you, Wei Lang. The Lingbo Fairy painting you made for me, the Taiping Hexian painting you made for the Princess, are widely praised and regarded as the best realistic paintings of our time, the founder of the realistic painting style!"
Wei Ming: "…!"
After Wei Ming left with Pei Xijun, Fei Jishi, who had been observing secretly, suddenly chuckled with a strange and knowing expression.
"Did Miss Song complete the wedding ceremony with Wei Ming last night?"
Song Amian shuddered at the words and immediately shook her head in denial, "Jishi Gong, where did you hear that? Amian only sees Sir as a benefactor, I would never…"
Fei Jishi waved his hand, "Last night, Xijun and I went to help Su Wuming dress as the Imps of Black and White. Lu Lingfeng took little Xue Huan to capture Lin Bao, leaving only you and Wei Ming in the mansion."
"Miss Song, though I'm not as famous as your Master, the Medicine King, I did study medicine with my master for decades, and I definitely have some basic discernment."
Song Amian fell silent, bowed and said, "Please, Jishi Gong, don't publicize this matter. Don't tell Miss Pei either."
Fei Jishi sighed softly, "It's common for men in our Tang Dynasty to have multiple wives. If you confess to everyone honestly, Xijun might be troubled for a while, but given her feelings for Wei Ming, she will eventually accept you."
"And Wei Ming is not a fickle man. Since he's… cough, it means he has accepted you. He will never abandon you."
Seeing Song Amian lost in thought, Fei Jishi shook his head helplessly, "Think about it carefully. In my youth, I made a mistake and lost her. Sigh, now that I think about it, it's too late to regret it!"
With that, Fei Jishi left the table and went to Wangbinlou to drink and eat chicken.
Song Amian, however, stared blankly out the window. Sir is a good man, he wouldn't be ruthless or ungrateful, he would definitely take responsibility for her. But would Xijun be able to accept it?
She didn't want to make him uncomfortable. Otherwise, how could she truly like him?