dtnovels Chapter 113 The Silver Hairpin
Chapter 113 The Silver Hairpin
[Ding, you have triggered a hidden task]
[Task Name: Lu Tan in the Well]
【The memory related to the case has been unlocked. 】
[A year ago, student Lu Qin was found dead in a dry well the day before he entered the Imperial College. The Dali Temple hastily closed the case. Chen Yangyang, who claimed to be an eyewitness, said that she had seen Zhou Muqi beating Lu Qin. Was what she said true? Or was it revenge for Zhou Muqi's words? Was it suicide or homicide? Who was the murderer? Please clarify the context, find the real murderer in this case, and bring him to justice! ]
[Non-mandatory task, no survival countdown. ]
[Solve the case and get extra rewards. Do you want to accept the mission? ]
Feng Jia nodded [Yes].
[Main quest: Lu Qin in the well, current progress 0%]
Chen Yangyang lowered her head, her eyes filled with deep guilt. "But I am a nobody, and the people at the Dali Temple don't believe me at all. They asked me if I had any witnesses or physical evidence. I didn't have any, so Dean Gu criticized me, saying that I was spreading rumors and causing trouble for him. He also notified my father to take me back."
"My father put me under house arrest. When I returned to the academy, Lu Qin's case had been closed. The verdict was suicide..."
"Sister Lan Zhao, I really regret this." Chen Yangyang's body trembled a little, tears slowly flowing down her eyes. "Every time I was bullied by Zhou Muqi and the others, I thought that Lu Qin must have experienced the same thing... If I had been braver and argued more... would things have been different?"
She shrugged her shoulders and said, "But I am also very lucky, Sister Lan Zhao. If I hadn't met you, I might have ended up like classmate Lu, either being bullied to death by them, ending up committing suicide, or being forced to commit suicide by jumping into the lake today..."
Feng Jia looked at the girl who was trapped in the quagmire of self-blame. Her face was young and innocent. After all, she was only a twelve-year-old child. He sighed and gently placed his hand on her shoulder: "Yangyang, you have done very well."
"Really?" Chen Yangyang said eagerly with tears still in her eyes.
"Really? Look at the huge Gu Family Private School, isn't there only one person who dares to stand up?"
Chen Yangyang looked at her, and Feng Jia said, "If Lu Qin was bullied, it must have been going on for a while. It is impossible that no one knew or saw it. However, you are the only one who stood up. So, you are not timid or cowardly. On the contrary, you are braver than those who have nothing to do with it."
After Lu Qin's death, her father criticized her for meddling in other people's affairs, and her husband thought she was stirring up trouble. Facing the isolation of everyone, she was like a small boat drifting on the sea. Sometimes she would wonder, am I wrong? Is it right to choose silence with those who know the truth?
But today, there was finally someone who told her clearly and unequivocally that she was right, she was brave, and those people were wrong. Chen Yangyang felt that her wavering heart had finally become firm.
"Thank you, Sister Lan Zhao!"
Feng Jia smiled and said, "Let's go back."
Seeing the sedan chair of the Chen Mansion disappear around the corner, Song Huai stepped forward and said, "You treated Zhou Muqi like this today, aren't you afraid that she will retaliate in the future? I guess she must be thinking of some evil plan to harm you now!"
Feng Jia smiled calmly, "You didn't see her expression when she left the court today. She was flustered and looked like she was afraid of being recognized. Just like Chen Yangyang said, Lu Qin's death was closely related to her, so she probably didn't have time to talk to me these days."
Song Huai was still worried, "But you mentioned Concubine Xiao in court. She is a noble concubine. Will Xie Qian punish you?"
"Xie Qian is loyal to the Crown Prince, but Concubine Xiao is the Ninth Prince's biological mother. The two factions have long been at loggerheads. It makes no difference whether we mention it or not."
Song Huai nodded, and Feng Jia said, "Come on, follow me to see the well."
"well?"
Feng Jia nodded, her eyes solemn: "The well where Lu Tan fell."
It was already late when the two returned to Gu's private school. The other students had all left school, and only a few diligent ones were still studying hard in the classroom. The Nine Corridors were very long, winding from the south gate to the north gate. The trees became more lush and green as they got closer to the north gate, and the environment became more secluded. The well was on the southwest side, and probably few people came here. The blue brick road was covered with moss and weeds grew half a person's height.
Feng Jia walked over, held onto the edge of the well and looked down, but it was pitch black and she could not see anything.
According to Chen Yangyang, the female student named Lu Qin fell from here. Unfortunately, it has been a year since the incident, and all clues and traces have been completely washed away by years of rain.
Feng Jia walked around the well twice, measured the size of the well mouth, and said to Song Huai: "I'll go down."
Song Huai was shocked: "You want to go down? This well has been abandoned for many years, and we don't know what's inside! No!" After a pause, she lifted up her skirt and said: "I'll go down for you!"
Feng Jia shook her head: "No need, I will go down myself, you just wait for me here."
In her previous life, when she was the Junior Chancellor of the Dali Temple, in order to seek the truth, there was no place she could not go, including steep cliffs, deep wells and rapids. So what was so difficult about a mere short well?
She lowered her head, tied the slightly cumbersome hem of her skirt around her waist, and then turned over to go down the well. She stuck her feet firmly on the wall of the well and held one end of the tinder in her mouth. The wall of the well, like the outside, was covered with dense and wet moss. Because it was too slippery, Feng Jia went down very slowly, carefully examining every inch of it and not missing any details.
The deeper we went, the more foul the smell became. We also heard rustling sounds coming from the bottom of the well, probably the reptiles or something like that living at the bottom of the well being disturbed and running away. We didn't find anything until we reached the bottom of the well.
Feng Jia was about to go up when her eyes were attracted by something. The tinder illuminated the small space in front of her. There seemed to be something stuck in the moss at the edge of the well. She reached out and dug it out. It was a small gold bead earring.
"How is it? Did you find anything?" Song Huai asked when he saw her coming up.
Feng Jia showed her the earring in her hand. Song Huai was puzzled: "What is this? Found at the bottom of the well? Could it be Lu Tan's relic?"
"impossible."
Pine and locust trees don't know the reason.
Feng Jia wrapped the earring in a handkerchief, put it in her sleeve, and walked slowly out, saying, "Have you forgotten what Chen Yangyang said? Lu Qin's family is poor, how could she afford such expensive gold bead earrings? Besides, even if she loves beauty and has money to buy jewelry, this earring can never be hers."
"why?"
"The craftsmanship and shape of this earring remind me of a place, the most famous jewelry store in the capital, Wuyuan Silver House. The jewelry there is only supplied to dignitaries, and each one is custom-made. Even if Lu Qin has money, he can't buy it." Feng Jia sighed softly, "Of course, this is just my speculation. If you want to find out whether this thing belongs to the deceased or the murderer, you have to go to Wuyuan Silver House!"
As the two were talking, a man suddenly ran out hurriedly from behind them. The man was holding a pile of books and looked very panicked. His shoulder bumped into Feng Jia, knocking her body crooked.
"Girl, are you okay?" Song Huai protected Feng Jia.
Feng Jia subconsciously touched her sleeve, luckily the earring was still there, then she looked up.
The person who bumped into her was a very tall woman with her long hair tied into a simple bun. She glanced at her with a face as beautiful as peach blossoms, without saying a word, and then hurried away.
"Who is this? He bumped into someone and just ran away!" Song Huai was filled with righteous indignation. Just as he was about to go up to argue, he suddenly saw something dropped on the ground.
It's this book.
"It must have been dropped by the female student just now!" Song Huai said, bending down to pick it up. The moment his hand touched the cover of the book, he was stunned.
Feng Jia noticed something was wrong with her, took the book, opened it, and saw a hairpin hidden in the gap between the pages.
The shape of the hairpin is a very simple pear blossom pattern, which can be seen everywhere in the market. However, the difference of this silver hairpin is that its tip is sharpened to a very sharp point, so sharp that a slight slide of the finger can create a sharp wound.
This silver hairpin is used to kill people.