Chapter 5: New Year (5)

While he was thinking about it, Li Yuanfang suddenly heard a horse's neighing from the air. He jumped up from the ground and looked in excitement. Sure enough, a high-headed horse stood under the hill, stepping on his four hooves and roaring to the sky. "Mo Feng!" Li Yuanfang exclaimed overjoyed, ran and jumped down the hillside, and rushed to "Mo Feng".

Seeing Li Yuanfang, "Mo Feng" seemed to recognize him, and kept sniffing. Li Yuanfang looked at it excitedly, but saw the horse standing proudly in the wind and snow, majestic, and there was no sign of facing life danger. Li Yuanfang reached out and stroked its shiny mane and murmured: "What a magic horse! How did you climb up the bank of the Yellow River? Ah? Good?" "Mo Feng" bent down his head and rubbed his cheek, as if he was intimate with his master.

Li Yuanfang felt a heat in her heart. Without thinking, she turned over and jumped onto the horse's back, pulled the reins tightly, and gently patted "Mo Feng"'s body: "Let's go back!" "Mo Feng" raised his head and neighed, and then ran on the snow. At first, she seemed to be still scared of the snow, and ran carefully, slowly becoming confident, running faster and faster, running forward like lightning, and in a blink of an eye, she returned to the wall of Shen's house.

When he returned to Shen's house, Li Yuanfang did not see Mei Yingchun. As expected, he went out to look for "Mo Feng" early in the morning and wanted to go to Zhendian in Jincheng Pass to put a custom-made coffin for Shen Ting. Ajun had already set up a simple mourning hall in the back hall, where he guarded the spirit. The aunt they rescued on the bank of the Yellow River was much better and could get out of bed. When he saw something happened in Shen's house, he no longer clamored to leave and took the initiative to help. He was now taking Han Bin to prepare lunch for everyone in the kitchen. Instead, Di Jinghui was left with nothing and took the book from the bookcase that Shen Ting put on, watching it randomly, passing the time.

Li Yuanfang tied up the "Mo Feng" and saw it start to chew the edible materials comfortably, so he came to the backyard. The door of the main hall was open, the desk was moved aside, and an incense burner was placed in the middle of the table. A wooden sign behind the incense burner read "The position of my father Shen Tingfang" and was considered a simple spiritual position. A Jun was covered in plain clothes and sat down in front of the spiritual position.

Li Yuanfang stepped into the door and paused in front of the spirit throne for a moment. As soon as he turned around, A Jun was already standing in front of him. Li Yuanfang looked at her swollen eyes crying and comforted her: "Miss A Jun, a person cannot be resurrected, please feel sorry for his death." A Jun nodded and smiled sadly: "Mr. Li, Mr. Di said just now that you went out to search for clues. Have you... found something?"

Li Yuanfang signaled Ajun to sit down, and he sat opposite her. He first asked Ajun to look at the knife. As expected, Ajun said with certainty that he had never seen this knife. Li Yuanfang opened the bag he brought back and handed Ajun one by one to Ajun to check it out. It was indeed all the books that Shen Tingfang lost in the study, and there were a lot of them. Ajun thanked him with tears and was about to put away the book, but Li Yuanfang stopped him and said, "Ajun, I still have a question about these books."

Ajun looked at Li Yuanfang inquiringly. Li Yuanfang gently stroked one of the books and pointed to the book section and asked Ajun: "Ajun, look, there is a copper buckle here. Do you know what it is for?" Ajun lowered his head and replied: "Yes, this is used to inlaid the nameplate." "What nameplate?" "It is the nameplate of the family surname of the book collector, which is used to represent the owner of the book." Li Yuanfang asked: "Ajun, why are the nameplates on Mr. Shen's books gone? Is it like this?" "It's like this."

Li Yuanfang thought for a while and asked again: "Miss Ajun, where are the other books of Mr. Shen's collections? Can you show me?" Ajun nodded and said yes, then lifted the curtain on the left wall and let Li Yuanfang in. Li Yuanfang had seen it before. The windows of this room were sealed with black oil paper, and there were several cabinets and cages piled up in the room, like a utility room. Ajun lit up the candles on the small table, took out a bunch of keys from his waist, opened one of the cages, and lifted the lid of the box, and saw that it was filled with

A box full of books. Li Yuanfang took the book casually and flipped it. It was similar to the books displayed in the study. The copper buckles of the books were all empty and there was no nameplate. A Jun whispered: "What is stored in this room is all my father's collection. The boxes and cabinets are all." Li Yuanfang nodded: "Have you read these books by Brother Mei?" "I have only read a part of them. After Mr. Mei lived for one month, my father moved a lot of books to the study for him to read, but some of them were still locked here."

The dark and dark room was only the candle emitted a faint light. A Jun's face was half covered in the shadows, and the tears on his face became more and more sad and helpless. Li Yuanfang sighed deeply in his heart, determined to tell the things he had considered on the hilltop in the morning. He lowered his head and asked in a gentle tone: "A Jun, have you ever thought about who killed Mr. Shen?" A Jun shook his head and remained silent.

Li Yuanfang asked again: "You really don't plan to report to the official?" A Jun shook his head silently. Li Yuanfang said: "But you already know that Brother Jinghui and I cannot stay here for a long time. We must set off within one or two days. Brother Mei has something to do in Luoyang and will leave. We... probably won't have time to investigate the cause of your father's death. You are left here alone, and I'm worried that you will be in danger." A Jun finally raised his head and looked at Li Yuanfang's eyes steadily. Li Yuanfang looked away and asked softly: "A Jun, what are you going to do in the future?"

A Jun replied mutely: "I... haven't had time to think about it." "Well, I know." Li Yuanfang nodded, and his tone became stern: "But time is tight, you must think now." Seeing A Jun's confused expression, Li Yuanfang smiled slightly: "A Jun, you said that you should treat Brother Jinghui and me as your brothers. At this moment, my brother wants to give you a suggestion." After a pause, he said firmly: "A Jun, go to Luoyang and find your cousin, my brother Shen Huai."

"Luoyang?" A Jun murmured and repeated. Li Yuanfang observed her expression: "Are you... willing to go?" A Jun lowered his head and said nothing. Li Yuanfang smiled: "That's good. I have thought about it, Brother Mei is going to Luoyang too. You can just go with him and take care of him along the way." A Jun asked anxiously: "But Dad?" Li Yuanfang said: "My suggestion is to stop at home for seven days first. I will discuss with Brother Mei and ask him to wait for another seven days. After seven days, it will be up to you to decide whether to bury or to help the spirits eastward. In short, you can set off by then." "Will Mr. Mei agree?" "The Yellow River is frozen, and he still needs to find a way to cross the river, so he can't set off immediately." Li Yuanfang said, looked at A Jun and said gently: "And I know that he will definitely agree to go with you."
Chapter completed!