0p0 Chapter 245 The Fawning Personality
Chapter 245 The Fawning Personality
"Dumplings, you two are really something, how come you have such a keen sense of smell?" Rong Qingqing looked at their messy hair with amusement.
"That's right, I've always had good luck, haven't I, Chai Hu?"
Dr. Zhang stroked his messy beard, walked over to the cutting board, and leaned over to look.
Chai Hu brushed off the wrinkled corner of his clothes and raised his hand as if to offer his help, but when he saw his own dirty hands, he gave up.
However, the aroma of food wafting from the pot next to me made my mouth water uncontrollably.
It's been so many years since he's had a New Year's Eve dinner with anyone.
Thinking about it, it seems that I've only ever eaten with my master once since I can remember.
The rest of the time, I spend it all on my own.
"You guys go wash up first. I thought you wouldn't make it back in time," Gu Qingyue said, moving away from Doctor Zhang. The smell was unbearable even in winter.
Dr. Zhang paused, only then realizing how filthy he was.
After spending more than twenty days in the mountains, sleeping under the open sky, how could you not get dirty?
He chuckled sheepishly, "Oh, little master is right, let's go wash up first, wash up," and then he ran off at lightning speed, almost outrunning Chai Hu.
"By the way, Fourth Brother, should we invite Mu Jinyan to come over for the New Year? Is he the only one at Songxiang Garden?"
Gu Qingyue recalled that when they left Lizhou, they asked Mu Jinyan to hold the rear. Today, Mu Yun Chu and the others are not here. He is probably spending the New Year alone in Songxiang Garden. How lonely he must be.
"Okay, I'll send someone to invite him. He should be the only one there," Gu Yuanen said somewhat embarrassedly.
This is the Gu residence, my sister's current home.
Since his sister didn't speak up, he couldn't very well ask someone else to come over.
The rear building in the southwest corner of the Qin residence.
A small flame lit up in a corner of the yard, and moments later it became a sea of fire.
"Fire!" A shout broke the silence of the quiet house from some unknown corner.
The sound was like a pebble thrown into a lake, causing the calm, dark night sky to boil.
Several figures in a panic ran out of the nearby houses and shops and onto the street.
"Go away!"
"Fire! Get out quickly!"
Within the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, a commotion broke out near Zhengyuan Street.
The people who started the fire around the basement where the salt was stored were naturally the young men of Moonshadow Pavilion. Their master instructed them to make the fire alarm the neighbors, preferably the whole street, to come and watch the spectacle. Now, that's enough of an alarm, isn't it? Hehe!
On the street, several figures were carrying buckets and basins, and some were even banging gongs.
More people ran into the streets.
In an instant, a commotion arose as the crowd surged toward the southwest corner of the Qin residence.
Meanwhile, in the study of the main courtyard, corpses lay scattered all over the floor.
Apart from the leader who was being held by the man in black, none of the others survived.
The man in black looked around, then pulled down his mask, revealing himself to be Yue Ling.
It's done! These are the men Prefect Li sent to retrieve the letter. Their fighting ability isn't much! They even had to send ten men to deal with them, humph!
He glanced at the boys behind him and said, "Go and report to the master that everything went smoothly."
Meanwhile, in the study in the front courtyard of the Lizhou government office.
Prefect Li's advisor, Wang Minqing, was sitting behind his desk writing a preliminary report on the excavation of the body at the Qin residence.
He simply couldn't believe that such a serious criminal case could occur in the Qin family, who always smiled at Prefect Li.
This happened in broad daylight, and the whole city knows about it!
This is no longer something they can easily resolve and erase in private.
He was getting a headache from writing, and Prefect Li instructed him to do his best to clear the Qin family of suspicion.
He wrote and revised, revised and wrote, from afternoon to evening, even missing his family's New Year's Eve dinner.
"Report!" came the servant's voice, and the advisor frowned.
"Come in".
Chang Sui pushed open the door and whispered a few words in his ear.
Startled, Master Wang stood up abruptly, knocking over his inkstone and smearing his newly written statement with black ink.
"Where did you say the fire started?" Master Wang asked in a low voice.
"Southwest corner of the Qin residence," Chang Sui's voice was even lower.
Upon hearing this, Master Wang calmed down.
He rolled up his sleeves, straightened the inkstone, and, thinking of the people he had sent out, continued, "Has the item been found?"
"We haven't received any news yet; we're still searching."
"As soon as possible, this is what the prefect is most concerned about," said Wang, the clerk, crumpling up the blackened paper in front of him and throwing it away. He then picked up a new sheet of paper and began grinding ink.
Once those letters are found and destroyed, Prefect Li can extract the information; the rest can be ignored for now.
Inside the Gu residence.
"You're so disloyal!"
As soon as Mu Jinyan entered the main hall, he began to shout loudly.
He saw Gu Yuanen leisurely roasting charcoal, looking incredibly relaxed and content.
I rode my horse so far in the cold wind that my hands and feet were frozen stiff. How miserable!
"Come, sit down, there's a charcoal stove over here," Gu Yuanen said, gesturing as Mu Jinyan grumbled as he entered.
"Hmph! That's more like it. Why spend the New Year at Doctor Gu's house instead of going back to Songxiang Garden?"
Mu Jinyan threw the riding whip onto the table next to him. "But it's fine, since neither Seventh Uncle nor Doctor Bai have returned, it's no fun."
Upon hearing this, Gu Yuanen smiled brightly, revealing a row of white teeth.
He watched as Mu Jinyan sat down in the armchair beside him, then pulled him close, put his arm around his shoulder like two buddies, and began to whisper in hushed tones.
The servant standing by the door tactfully withdrew from the central hall and stood outside the door.
In the kitchen, Gu Qingyue looked at the hundreds of dumplings that had already been wrapped with a satisfied expression, clapped her hands, and said, "Let's go, Sister Rong, you should go and rest for a while. They should be here soon."
"Sister Liu, please work a little longer."
Gu Qingyue turned to look at Liu Yong's wife, who was cooking on the other side, and felt very happy.
"Yes, Master," Liu Yong's wife said with a smile as she opened the pot lid, poked the stewing hen with chopsticks.
Rong Qingqing nodded, patted the dry flour off her hands, and walked towards the backyard.
Gu Qingyue followed behind and returned to her room.
After washing up, she decided to go and check on the two injured people first.
After all, it was almost Chinese New Year, and her uncle was still lying in bed; she felt a little sorry for him.
He strode into the guest courtyard, pushed open a door, and before he could even walk over, he saw Gu Yuanen and Mu Jinyan walking quickly towards him from the other end of the corridor.
"Hi, Dr. Gu!" Mu Jinyan exclaimed excitedly, as if he had discovered a new continent.
He ran over quickly, "You're Yuan En's younger sister? You really do look alike! I thought you looked very familiar when I first met you. So you're Yuan En's twin sister! That's amazing..."
"By the way, I heard you guys did something really big this time. Tell me all about it! I knew Dr. Gu was the best..."
Blah blah blah, Mu Jinyan couldn't stop talking.
Gu Qingyue frowned and gave an awkward but polite smile.
She never expected Mu Jinyan to be such a chatterbox!
She was about to say something disdainful, but then she remembered that he was Mu Yun Chu's nephew, so she immediately changed her expression.
Hmm, looking at him like this, he actually looks kind of cute!
Gu Qingyue thought to herself that she must be a typical sycophant.
This shift in mindset, from loving the house to loving its inhabitants, was so smooth that it didn't feel awkward at all.
"Go inside quickly," Gu Yuanen said, amused as he watched the two of them from behind. Seeing that his sister's smile was about to falter, he quickly intervened to defuse the situation.