Chapter 52: Peng Dajie's Deduction

  Seeing Xia Yu's actions, Peng Ziqi glared at him with a bad temper, his face flushing as he scolded: "What are you afraid of? Can't I eat you?"

  "Ah! Ah...... I was so sleepy, just woke up."

  Last night's spring dream really tormented Peng Nang, and when the sky was bright and the medicine had worn off, she slowly woke up, only to feel that her body was sweating profusely, weak and lacking in strength. At this moment, she began to suspect something. In fact, if he had just given her a sleeping pill, she would have woken up feeling refreshed and wouldn't have noticed anything unusual. But Ximen Qing added his own special ingredient, which unexpectedly made the meticulous Peng Qiaojie detect that something was amiss.

  As soon as she felt something was wrong, Miss Peng quickly checked her clothes and body, but didn't find any signs of being violated. Since it wasn't a robbery, she thought maybe someone was after her money. So she hurriedly got up to check her bundle, but that too hadn't been touched. Now Miss Peng was really at a loss, she had a faint feeling that maybe someone had drugged her, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary...

  Suddenly thinking of Xia Zhen, she quickly ran to Xia Zhen's room. Although the door was closed, it was easy for her to open it quietly with her skills. She entered Xia Zhen's room and found that he was still sleeping soundly, which made her feel relieved. After a moment's thought, she went to check his horse bag and found that all his belongings were intact.

  Bai Si couldn't figure it out and returned to her own room, washed up and dressed, and after tidying herself up, changed into a close-fitting little dress, re-dressed and came back to Xia Fu's room again, only to find him still snoring away, and doubts arose in her mind once more.

  The daughter's family bath is always a trouble, she originally got up late, and this time the cleaning took a lot of effort. Looking at the sky, there was only one hour left until noon, but Xia Zhen was still fast asleep, which was unusual. The two people went to Yanggu together, she already knew that Xia Zhen was used to getting up early, every time she got out of bed, Xia Zhen had already finished cleaning, what happened today?

  With such doubts, she leaned over to Xia Xiu's side and examined him carefully. She looked left and right, up and down, and after a while, she couldn't help but think of the romantic and erotic dream from last night, the embarrassing situation that made her ears hot and heart skip a beat in the dream kept intertwining with the man sleeping in front of her, for a moment, her mind was dazed, her thoughts were scattered, and her heart was racing like a deer. Peng Gongzhu didn't even notice that her hair had fallen onto Xia Xiu's neck, and she startled him awake.

  Xia Xian sat up, grabbed his robe and put it on his shoulders, and nervously said to Peng Ziqi: "Early!"

  "Good morning."

  She nodded, her bright eyes still staring straight at Xia Xun, making Xia Xun's heart feel hairy, and he couldn't help but ask: "You... what are you looking at me like that for?"

  "Shh..." Peng Ziqi raised his finger to his lips, signaling him to be quiet. He tiptoed to the door, looked around the courtyard to make sure no one was there, then returned and leaned in close to Xia Xun, asking seriously: "Have you noticed anything off?"

  "Nothing... Ah..."

  Peng Ziqi sniffed lightly and said affirmatively: "You've sweated a lot!"

  "Uh... yeah."

  "I sweated a lot last night too!"

  "Oh?"

  Peng Ziqi's face became even more serious: "Don't you feel very tired after waking up?"

  "Ah......, Uh......"

  "I can tell from your face that you're extremely tired. I woke up feeling very tired too, hmm... my waist is still a bit sore."

  Xia Xiang let out a sigh of relief and hastily said: "Ah, yes, yes, I also...I also feel very tired."

  Peng Ziqi's expression suddenly became tense, and he hastily asked again: "Then have you had any dreams?"

  "Huh?"

  Peng Ziqi's face turned red, and he quickly waved his hand, saying: "Forget it, forget it, pretend I didn't ask."

  Xia Xiao smiled wryly with a confused expression: "Miss Peng, what exactly do you want to say?"

  Peng Ziqi straightened up and began pacing back and forth in the room, saying as he walked: "There's a problem here, there must be a problem inside."

  Xia Liu was made anxious by her, and hastily asked: "Is... there something wrong?"

  Peng Ziqi stopped in his tracks and said very seriously: "There's something wrong with the wine we're drinking!"

  Xia Xun's heart skipped a beat, his face had already changed color, he forced a smile and said: "The wine... the taste of the wine is very good, what could be wrong?"

  Peng Ziqi stared into his eyes, suddenly leaned in closer and lowered his voice: "I suspect... we're drinking fake liquor!"

  "What? Fake wine!"

  "Right, fake wine!"

  Peng Ziqi calmly analyzed: "I usually drink and won't sleep so dead, nor will I be so tired after waking up. But last night, I slept very soundly and still feel weak all over now, extremely sleepy. And you, who usually gets up earlier than me, actually slept until now. Don't you think there's a problem?"

  "This... um, indeed has some problems."

  "That's right!"

  Peng Ziqi snapped his fingers and made an analytical conclusion: "Originally, I suspected that this was a black-hearted shop, but after careful examination, we didn't suffer any losses. So there's only one explanation left - this isn't a black-hearted shop, but the owner is a swindler, they're selling fake wine!"

  Xia Xun said slowly: "This... Young Master Peng's analysis is... quite reasonable. What do you plan to do?"

  Peng Ziqi hugged his shoulders, pinched his chin and pondered: "I haven't thought it through yet. Do you think we should call the boss over to scold him, then ask him to waive our store fees and meal expenses? Or should we just demolish this shop?"

  Xia Jiang was startled and quickly said: "In my opinion, let's just forget it."

  "What?"

  "After all, I'm also a reputable person in Qingzhou City. As the saying goes, 'helping relatives is not helping reason'. Anyway, we won't lose anything. If we make a big fuss here, will the people in this town still spread good words about us? It's damaging our reputation."

  "Peng Ziqi shook his head and sighed: 'Die for face, live for suffering, that's exactly what you are.'"

  "Man in the world of rivers and lakes, one's body is not at his own disposal..."

  Peng Ziqi gave him a cold glance and said: "What kind of Jianghu person are you, always talking about Jianghu. Are you not getting up yet?"

  "Let's take a break and rest for a while, it's almost noon. We can head back to the city in the afternoon."

  Peng Ziqi nodded and said: "Alright, I also feel a bit tired. Then I'll go back and rest for a while."

  "Good..."

  Peng Ziqi walked to the door, hesitated for a moment, and then turned his head to ask: "You last night... really didn't have a dream, did you?"

  "Huh? Why am I having a dream?"

  "Never mind, never mind, when I didn't say."

  Peng Ziqi hastily slipped out of the door, flashed under the corridor and stomped her foot in embarrassment and annoyance: "Silly girl, you're dreaming, do others have to follow your dreams? Can dreaming make them have the same dream as you? And keep asking and asking, really shameless!"

  Peng Ziqi muttered to himself, a shop assistant who happened to be passing by the courtyard saw that this guest was dressed in men's clothes, but had a completely feminine demeanor, and couldn't help but stare. Peng Ziqi caught sight of him and immediately shouted in a harsh tone: "What are you looking at? You rascal! Hmph!"

  Miss Peng shook her long hair and went back to her room with a proud and spoiled expression, leaving the shopkeeper looking bewildered.

  Feng Xihui died, and there were not many people attending the funeral. He was not a local, and the funeral was organized by his good friend and superior Zhao Ximu, who worked together with several colleagues from the prefectural government to raise funds for it. Seven days later, Feng Xihui's coffin was buried in Linglong Mountain west of Qingzhou City.

  Because his home was burned to ashes, years of savings were destroyed in an instant. A few colleagues raised a limited amount of money for the funeral, so they only invited a half-hearted monk from a local small temple to preside over the funeral. The people who attended the funeral, apart from a few colleagues from the government office, were only Xia Liu and several merchants and wealthy businessmen who thought they had a close relationship with Feng Jianxun.

  Liu Zhanggui from Nanyang River was also there, today he disguised himself as a servant of An Yuanwai. The two people were standing on the side of Xia Xun, separated by four or five people. Xia Xun held an umbrella with one hand and didn't glance sideways, but the corner of his eye had already noticed that a pair of cold eyes had been staring at him all along.

  The sky was overcast, the rain was misty and wet, drenching the still night and the monk's only decent set of robes. He shook his Buddhist bell in his hand, chanting the "Great Compassion Mantra" for Feng Xihui: "Namo Amitabha, Dharani, Namo Ahmi Dhaba, Namo Siddham, Namo Wei Ga Lan Di..."

  Time and again, the recitation was low and solemn, accompanied by the clear rain threads and the gloomy sky color, forming a sad and moving farewell song. Xia Liu stood in the crowd, motionless and speechless, with no emotional fluctuations visible on his face.

  "Monk, you've recited it wrong!"

  The sound of the monk's chanting in the quiet night was stuck there, vaguely always reciting the sentence "Amitabha", and two words were still mispronounced. Wu Hui Guang, the official of Qingzhou Prefecture, who was wearing a dark blue long gown, couldn't help but...

  The old monk's face turned red, pretending not to hear, and continued to mutter the sentence "Amitābha". Wu Hui Guang coughed and couldn't help but raise his voice: "Monk, you're reciting it wrong, it's not 'Wei Ge', it's 'Pi Jia', this sentence should be read as 'Amitābha Pi Jia Lan Ti'."

  When his own disciples and many guests pointed out that the mantra he was reciting was incorrect, Jing Ye monk immediately became flustered, his face flushing red as he argued: "This donor, I have always been reciting Amili Duo Wei Ge Lan Di, which is Wei Ge, no mistake, my master taught me so."

  Wu Huiguang was an eighth-rank official, a jinshi (a successful candidate in the imperial examination) from a regular route, working on grinding and auditing tasks in the prefectural government office. Probably due to occupational disease, he was straightforward but somewhat foolish, a stubborn and unyielding person. He couldn't see that this master was a half-baked monk, unwilling to let it pass, immediately retorting: "No, what you're reciting is wrong, either your master taught you wrong, here should be recited as 'Amitābha', not 'Weiguo'."

  "It's Vega, not Beiga!"

  "It's Pikachu, not Weico!"

  As he watched this comical scene, Xia Xun suddenly felt a sense of absurdity and desolation: looking up at the new grave in front of him, the feeling of being watched by the pair of eyes on the side, which had made him feel like an ant on his back, had disappeared without him realizing it.

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