Gu Xiran ignored him, grabbed Shu Huan’s hand and walked away.
“Don’t leave me alone!” Gu Xihe was somewhat anxious and grabbed his sleeve.
Gu Xiran shook his sleeves and said, “You better behave these few days. Don’t follow us. Go back to old madam’s.”
“No! It’s so boring at old madam’s!”
“Then, go play with Ranmo.”
“He is the same like the others, crying with a bitter face, making me want to slap his face fiercely to let him have a change of expression.”
“…”
Gu Xiran looked at him silently for a while and said, “Then, what do you want? It’s also very boring following us. At such a time, who has the mood to laugh and play?”
Gu Xihe scratched his head and was stumped for words. Seeing that they wanted to leave again, he hurriedly asked, “Did you bring that little girl Shang Xin back?”
Shu Huan stopped her footsteps very surprised. She swept twice over him and teased, “What? Did you miss that little girl?”
“Pei, pei, pei!” Gu Xihe spit with much effort on the ground. He said, “What nonsense are you saying? I just want to find someone to bully and vent my suffocating heart; is that also not allowed?”
“Allowed!” Gu Xiran laughed and said, “It happened that that little girl is a bit foolish. When being bullied, she wouldn’t cry nor shout nor beg for mercy. She is a lot better than Ranmo and the others.”
The moment Gu Xihe heard that, he got happy. Very deserving of a good spanking, he nodded and said, “The one who knows me the best is second big brother…”
“Go, go. She is at Plum Flower Pavilion.” Gu Xiran didn’t wait for him to finish, interrupted him and waved his hand like getting rid of a fly.
Gu Xihe also didn’t get angry and ran away happily.
Shu Huan looked at his back, bit her lip and laughed, “In the end, who will be bullying whom is still unknown…”
After Shang Xin had resolved what was gnawing on her mind, she was no longer the silent child that was at loggerheads with herself. That sharp side of her character was gradually showing.
—
After taking many turns in Gu household for an hour, Gu Xiran took Shu Huan to the place Gu Xitian raised his horse at. It was a secluded place not far from Red Cloud Yard. However, now the stable was empty. Only a few bunches of hay were left.
Gu Xiran grabbed two stand of hays and rubbed them between his fingers. He said, “It seemed that he truly loved that Shadow. In such a large stable, he only raised that one horse.”
Shu Huan frowned and said, “What are you suspecting? Why did you suddenly ask little fourth about the horse?”
Gu Xiran shook his head and said, “I just casually asked. I didn’t think to verify anything. However, after what little fourth said, it made me start to think that this may not be an accident.”
Shu Huan was tired of standing. Anyway, there was no one here. With the support of her hand, she went and sat on the wooden fence. After she tidied her skirt, she said faintly, “But it also couldn’t prove that this is not an accident. After all, before that horse got frightened, nothing had happened.”
Gu Xiran smiled, “That was why I needed to come investigate. After all, we have nothing to do.”
Shu Huan casted him a sidelong glance and asked, “Occupational disease? Could it be that you were a criminal lawyer before?”
Gu Xiran didn’t answer. He continued to search carefully in the stable. After a while did he say, “If it wasn’t an accident, I want to know the motive for the murder. After all, living in such a complicated place; who would know if the next one who would die because of an accident wouldn’t be us?”
Shu Huan nodded silently. However, after watching him search for a long time and there was still no clues, she couldn’t help but sigh, “If there is truly a murderer, he/she wouldn’t be as sloppy as to leave some evidence for you to find when making it look like an accident. Moreover, the accident happened on the outside. Here is not the first scene of the crime.”
“Mm,” Gu Xiran also finished searching. He put his hand on the wooden fence and said, “Since there is no clues, then I can only guess the motivation…”
He didn’t finish speaking yet when he saw a servant with swollen red eyes came in with a broom. He was startled when he saw them and then he quickly said, “Greetings to second young master and mistress.”
Gu Xiran gestured for him to come over and asked, “Usually was it you who looked after Shadow?”
That servant approached, shook his head and said, “It’s eldest young master who personally looked after it. He even fed it personally. This little one only cleaned around.”
Shu Huan asked, “Then, yesterday before eldest young master went out with the horse, did anything unusual happened?”
The servant thought for a while and then answered, “No. It was the same as usual. Eldest young master personally came to feed the horse and let this little one prepares the saddle and the bridle. After that, he took the horse out. Unexpectedly…”
He lowered his head and became silent. He looked very sad.
Saddle and bridle?
A thought jumped in Shu Huan’s head. Would anyone hide sharp objects such as needles under the saddle, so that when Gu Xitian sat on the saddle, the sharp object would penetrate into Shadow? This was something that could be done. Although, it was necessarily to accurately calculate how long it would take before the sharp object would penetrate into the back of the horse. It couldn’t be too early, otherwise, everyone would be suspicious if Gu Xitian had an accident the moment he went out on the horse.
She looked at Gu Xiran. Seeing that he was in deep thoughts, she didn’t say anything.
After a while, she heard Gu Xiran ask, “How long had it been since you entered the residence?”
“Three years.” That servant also looked like someone clever. He seemed to understand why Gu Xiran asked that. He quickly knelt and said, “This little one’s family is poor. Ever since young, this little one hasn’t had a full meal and warm clothes. Only after I followed eldest young master did I get to live comfortably for a few years. This little one has always remembered eldest young master’s grace and would definitely not do such a thing as betraying the master.”
“Get up,” Gu Xiran said. “I just asked casually. You don’t have to panic. Tell me again what had happened before eldest young master departed from the residence. Did you leave after you put the saddle and bridle on Shadow?”
That servant shook his head and said, “No, eldest young master was waiting to pull away the horse…”
When he talked till here, he suddenly remembered something and quickly said, “If second young master doesn’t believe me, you can ask big sister Yingluo. When this little one put the saddle and bridle on the horse, she happened to send the packed bag over and also passed a message from eldest young mistress. Then, she went out with eldest young master.”
Gu Xiran nodded. He didn’t ask more and said to Shu Huan, “Let’s go.”
When the two were far away from the stable did Shu Huan ask, “Is it him?”
Gu Xiran still said, “I don’t know.”
Shu Huan became a bit sorrowful, “How to investigate when there is no evidence at all?!”
Gu Xiran laughed, “One day had already passed. Even if there was any evidence, presumably it had been already cleaned up. We could at most get some understanding of the details and reconstruct the event. Afterwards, we can see whether any useful information could be inferred from it.”
Shu Huan casted him a sidelong glance, “What if you couldn’t?”
“Then, I already did my best and can let it go to do what I was supposed to do. I can’t be on edge every day and guard against something that could really had been an accident.”
It seemed that it could only be like that.
Shu Huan didn’t say more. She followed him to Red Cloud Yard and called Yingluo out to question her. Aside from proving that that servant didn’t lie, they didn’t get any other information.
As the two were planning to leave, they didn’t expect to see Ji Danqing came from afar while carrying the medical chest. They stopped and waited for him to approach them. Yingluo took advantage of this to retain them, “Since doctor Ji had arrived, why don’t second young master and mistress rest in the room for a while and drink some tea before leaving. So, you can get to know what the situation of my miss is.”
Knowing that that she was anxious, uneasy and helpless now and also because they walked around the residence for half a day, they truly felt thirsty. Hence, they nodded. After they waited for Ji Danqing, they entered Red Cloud Yard together.
