I'm not a fortune teller.

Chapter 112 Does Lord Zhang have a younger sister?
"My husband, there is a gentleman who wants to see you."

Zhang Rui, who was still cautiously testing Cui Yan in the yard, was stunned. Today was a day off. Which adult would come to see him at this time?

Is it because of Qi Zheng's matter? Hasn't that matter been settled?
Confused, he could only follow Luo Ke'er to the front hall to entertain them.

"Lord Shen?" Zhang Rui had a bad feeling in his heart. This young Shaoqing of the Dali Temple was a very shrewd man. He found him at this time. Could it be that the girl from the Shen family leaked his identity?

This shouldn't happen. Could Murong fail?
"Master Zhang," Shen Yuan bowed with a smile, "I am sorry to bother you with your rest, but the Spring Examination is approaching, and His Majesty has ordered me to investigate the case, so I have to delay you."

"Investigate the case strictly?" Zhang Rui was stunned: "My Lord, what other cases do you want to investigate strictly?"

"The case of the third flower."

"Hasn't this case been concluded?" Zhang Rui invited the other party to sit down, and then said to Luo Ke'er: "Give the master a cup of tea."

Luo Keer nodded and then took her leave. Zhang Rui sat on her right and whispered, "Didn't I hear before that the so-called Tanhua case was planned by the evil spirit who caused a disturbance in the palace a few days ago?"

"That's the explanation to the outside world." Shen Yuan put away his smile and said seriously, "The Spring Examination is approaching, and we have to reassure the outside world. We have to identify the murderer and hand over all the princes to the aristocratic families for surveillance. One is to give an explanation for the last incident, and the other is to send a signal to the outside world that although the murderer who caused the murder that year has not been found, he has been controlled."

"But there are still many doubts in this case that have not been explained. In order to prevent accidents, His Majesty has ordered me to conduct a thorough investigation. Otherwise, if there are problems in this imperial examination, it will not only bring shame to the royal family."

Zhang Rui nodded when he heard this. That was true. If something similar to the Tanhua case happened again this time, it would mean that the court would be unable to protect the candidates all over the world, and even the basic safety of the candidates could not be guaranteed. This was an extremely dangerous signal, and the prestige of the court would be severely hit.

"What do you think is the biggest doubt, Lord Shen?"

"The Death of Princess Jialin."

Zhang Rui sighed inwardly, he knew the other party would say this.

"All the deaths of the top three scholars can be considered to have motives, but the death of Princess Jialin was too unreasonable. No matter where she was or her identity, there was no reason for her to be a target. The only connection was with only one person."

"What?" Zhang Rui pretended to be confused.

"Cui Yan!"

"This" Zhang Rui said in embarrassment: "Sir, Cui Yan and I grew up together. I am sure that he has no problems and is not from a family of sorcerers."

"We have investigated, and we can't see any problem with him." Shen Yuan said calmly, "Just like you, Mr. Zhang."

Zhang Rui: “.”

"But everything seems to be somehow related to him." Shen Yuan glanced in the direction of the backyard. He seemed to be able to see Cui Yan playing chess across the courtyard wall. He whispered, "His appearance disrupted the rhythm of the imperial examination and caused a stir in the capital. He was also on the bridge on the night when Princess Jialin died tragically. We have also found out something new recently."

"Oh?"

Shen Yuan didn't say anything more and told the story of the mysterious palace maid.

Zhang Rui was horrified when he heard this.

Is there such a thing in the palace?
Can it make everyone lose their memory?

In this way, it should be correct.

"Three years ago, the day before Princess Jialin died, the maid took advantage of the Third Prince Li Yu and left the palace. Princess Jialin then died tragically, and the cook seemed to have disappeared as well. But we didn't expect that three years later, that thing was still in the palace, and because Cui Yan appeared in the palace, she left the palace again."

"Cui Yan appeared in the palace?" Zhang Rui looked surprised.

"Why are you so surprised, Lord Zhang?" Shen Yuan smiled at Zhang Rui, "After Cui Yan left the palace, didn't he get on the carriage of you and the Lu family?"

"That was outside the palace!" Zhang Rui hurriedly distanced himself from the matter: "I picked up Cui Yan outside the Qinglong Gate at that time. I didn't know he actually went to the palace."

"Really?" Shen Yuan glanced at Zhang Rui with a half-smile, and then said, "Actually, I'm not very interested in which important figure in the palace summoned Lord Cui Yan, provided that it has nothing to do with this case. But now it seems to be somewhat related."

"What do you mean?" Zhang Rui asked with gritted teeth.

"Three years ago, Cui Yan actually appeared in the palace."

Zhang Rui: “.”

"Master Zhang, there is no need to be surprised. The Queen's actions cannot be hidden from many people, including His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Zhang Rui's face turned dark. If that was the case, did she know?

So many people knew it, but she was still allowed to sit on the throne of queen.
"Three years later, Lord Cui Yan was summoned to the palace again, and the monster appeared again. This is definitely not a coincidence. I can basically conclude that the murderous creature has targeted Cui Yan."

"But the maid that your Excellency mentioned did not follow Cui Yan afterwards, and Cui Yan did not encounter any strange things during the years he was transferred to Southern Xinjiang. On the contrary, from what your Excellency just said, the monster should have sneaked into the palace after killing someone, which means that the origin of that thing should actually be something in the palace."

"Master Zhang is indeed a smart man." Shen Yuan smiled and said, "Indeed, I think so too. The monster should be in the palace. Or something in the palace has been attracting it, causing it to choose to return to the palace even though it cares about Cui Yan very much."

"Sir Shen, can you tell which palace maid is missing?" Zhang Rui asked curiously.

"Your Majesty's harem doesn't have that many calculations, because most of them are civilian women who entered the palace to serve as concubines, and Your Majesty is not obsessed with women. Concubines who gave birth to children basically never saw Your Majesty again, so most of the maids in the harem are very stable."

"The missing maid is called Xiaodie. She was the personal maid of the Fourth Prince's biological mother, Concubine Lu. It is said that she had been with Concubine Lu for more than ten years. Her background was clean and there was nothing wrong with her. But I didn't expect that."

"This monster can not only erase other people's memories, but also disguise itself as anyone." Zhang Rui immediately understood what the other party meant. "Xiao Die has served Concubine Lu for many years. If there are any problems with her habits, Concubine Lu should be able to notice it immediately. However, Concubine Lu has not noticed anything in the past three years. This proves that the monster disguised itself very well and even understood Concubine Lu's living habits. It served her without any problems. This is very scary."

Zhang Rui nodded. A maid who had been with her for many years was replaced, but her master didn't feel anything at all. This meant that the monster was not only disguising its appearance, but also...
"memory!!"

Shen Yuan smiled: "It's easy to talk to a smart person like Mr. Zhang. I believe it will be a pleasure to cooperate with Mr. Zhang in the future."

"Thank you for the compliment, sir." Zhang Rui quickly waved his hand modestly.

"That monster should be able to devour other people's memories, change their appearance, and erase other people's memories of it. Such a monster is probably so dangerous that it can threaten the country."

"With such ability, it can completely replace anyone." Zhang Rui wondered: "Why does it always play the role of some low-level people? It can obviously replace some high-ranking and powerful people, such as..."

"Queen? Or simply His Majesty?" Shen Yuan said with a smile.

Zhang Rui nodded slightly. Although it was a bit disrespectful, logically speaking, the other party should be able to do so.

"I also noticed this, so I thought that the monster must have a weakness."

"Weakness?" Zhang Rui responded: "Sir, do you think that the monster's ability is not as strong as we thought?"

"Hahahaha" Shen Yuan laughed out loud, which was rare: "Master Zhang, you really are..."

"Master Shen, please stop praising me." Zhang Rui waved his hand and smiled bitterly: "Let's talk about the case itself."

"Okay," Shen Yuan nodded, "If I'm not mistaken, that thing can replace others, but there are limits!"

"It takes time!" Zhang Rui also thought of this immediately: "Killing a person and obtaining his memory, if this ability can be abused infinitely, then he should have been a big shot by now, not a low-level palace maid, so he needs time to recover."

"So it's not that it doesn't want to replace a senior figure, but it just hasn't had the chance yet."

Zhang Rui nodded: "If that's the case, then the monster's ability to fight the enemy head-on should not be strong."

"What do you mean?" Shen Yuan looked at Zhang Rui with a smile.

"If it is powerful, it can definitely plot against the powerful outside, but it prefers to stay in the palace. The reason is probably that there are people in the palace who are of noble status but have no ability to resist."

"That's right!" Shen Yuan clapped his hands with a smile: "Whether it's the Imperial Concubine or the Queen, or even the pampered Crown Prince, they are all of noble status but have no ability to fight the enemy alone, and are the easiest to attack."

"But she still came out." Zhang Rui said faintly.

"It proves that Cui Yan's temptation to it is very strong."

"But it didn't do anything to Cui Yan."

"How do you know it didn't do anything to Cui Yan?" Shen Yuan looked at Zhang Rui.

Zhang Rui sighed when he heard this: "My Lord, why do you have to test me? Isn't this why you came here? Last night, Cui Yan and I were drunk on the bridge again. Didn't you suspect that we had contact with that monster?"

"Then is there any?"

"Have!"
-
"What are you looking at, little girl?"

Far away outside the living room, Feng saw her little girl Zhang Meng looking furtively at the door, frowned, walked up and knocked on the other person's head.

"Mom, please speak quietly. Don't let the people inside hear us." Zhang Meng covered her head and pouted.

"You still know that you can't be overheard?" Feng laughed angrily, "As a girl, how can you eavesdrop on other men's conversations? If it gets out, I don't know how you'll get married!"

"Mom" Zhang Meng pulled Feng's sleeve and acted coquettishly.

"What are you planning?" Feng frowned and looked at the little girl. Whenever this girl behaved like this, it was bound to be bad luck.

"That... the man who was talking to my brother, he looks very good. You can ask him about him."

Feng: “.”

I said this girl was acting sneaky, turns out she is having sexual thoughts.

Feng took a look inside and frowned slightly. The man looked good indeed, but he seemed older than her son. There was a high probability that he was already married, right?

"I'm only asking this once. If you're going to get married, you should give up immediately!"

"Okay, Mom!" Zhang Meng immediately smiled.

At this moment in the living room, Shen Yuan, who was originally discussing the case with Zhang Rui, suddenly looked outside unexpectedly, then looked at Zhang Rui who was still thinking about the case, and then the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.

"Does Master Zhang have a younger sister?"

"Forehead?"

(End of this chapter)