Hearing that the Heavenly Mother was eating people again, everyone had to put aside the meal and investigate the case first.

Zhanzhao took people out of the city hungry, just like when he was in Kaifeng Mansion, but Kaifeng Mansion he went out to investigate the case If he didn't eat, he could buy a bun on the side of the road and gnaw and walk, the people of Kaifeng City basically liked him, especially some aunts and mothers-in-law, who said that he worked hard, and investigated the case while eating.

But it's different when he goes out on patrol, everyone doesn't know him, he is not only Zhanzhao here, but also an official from Kaifeng Mansion, investigating the case while eating, and being said to be the official of Kaifeng Mansion, it is not good. Although Zhanzhao usually doesn't care much, he still has a sense of proportion, so he had to endure it...... Eat a good meal in a while!

However, when they arrived in the forest outside the city where the body was found, Zhan's stomach was not hungry, on the contrary, his stomach turned upside down...... This noodle really affects the appetite.

Zhanzhao has been in the rivers and lakes for many years, and the days of handling cases in Kaifeng are not shallow, and there are many dead people, but not many people who have been gnawed blood. At this moment, the corpse in the woods, the head is gone, the cavity is surrounded by blood, it is frozen, it seems to have been dead for a while. The clothes around the corpse were in tatters, the remaining flesh and skin were as if they had been twisted by a knife, the flesh and blood were blurred, and if you looked closely, the body was full of tooth marks, and the white bones of the body were pierced outside.

Zhan Zhao frowned when he saw it - what kind of hatred and hatred are so miserable? Bitten by wolves, right?

Bai Yutang frowned even more when he saw it, he shook his head and turned around and walked out of the forest, saying in his heart that he didn't know which tendon was wrong, so he came to see this Laoshizi.

Gongsun walked over, squatted down to inspect the corpse, and the fourth son sat on Zhao Pu's shoulder, lying on Zhao Pu's head with both hands, stretching his neck to look curiously, and sighed, "Ah, why is this happening." ”

Zhao Pu raised his face to look at him, "You're not afraid?" ”

The little fourth son blinked with a pair of big eyes, "Is it a dead person, and it's not a ghost." ”

The corners of Zhao Pu's mouth twitched - dare to be afraid of ghosts, not afraid of dead people.

Bai Yutang stood outside the forest, attracted by a few footprints on the edge of the woods, leaning against a tree, looking down at a few footprints in the snow in a daze.

Pang Taishi stood outside the crowd, side by side with Bao Zheng, waiting for the results of Gongsun's autopsy.

"Hey, old bag." Pang Ji's arm touched Bao Zheng lightly, "What kind of ** soup did you pour into Bai Yutang in Kaifeng Mansion?" ”

"Huh?" Bao Zheng looked at him puzzled, "What? ”

"I'm just wondering, look at Bai Yutang." Pang Ji touched his beard and sighed, "Look at him leaning against a tree." ”

Bao Zheng felt that Pang Ji was not right, but he still followed his line of sight...... Seeing outside the forest, next to a pine tree, Bai Yutang casually hugged him to lean, looking down and seemed to be staring at the ground in a daze.

Bao Zheng didn't see why, and asked Pang Ji, "What's the problem?" ”

"Big problem!" Pang Ji rubbed his chubby belly and sighed in admiration, "Look at this extravagant, from the top of his head to the toes, this is the best of the nobles, the best of the best, and the tribute of the best!" ”

The corners of Bao Zheng's mouth twitched, "Aren't you just a daughter, you are married to be the imperial concubine, what do you want to do?" ”

"Go." Pang Ji pushed him, pointed at Bai Yutang, and then said to Bao Zheng, "Look at his outfit again!" ”

Bao Zheng glanced at it again, Bai Yutang was dressed in white, was it cold, and there was a white fox fur embroidered edge on the collar of his clothes...... His clothes are naturally exquisite, they are all prepared by Chen Xing'er and Crescent Moon, and each piece is ridiculously expensive. But it's no wonder that Trap Island is rich, and Bai Yutang himself has a lot of money and a wealthy family.

"You say! Look at the group of officials in your Kaifeng Mansion again. Pongie pouted.

Bao Zheng's eyelids jumped, "What's wrong with the people in my Kaifeng Mansion?" ”

"Alas......" Taishi shook his head with a sad face, and gestured, "You Kaifeng Mansion and Baiyutang, Baiyutang and Kaifeng Mansion...... People who are in two realms, don't you understand? ”

"I don't understand." Bao Zheng squinted at Pang Ji.

"That's it...... The silver of your Kaifeng Mansion for a year is not enough for this young master to buy a shirt, don't you know? Master Pang explained to Bao Zheng, "People eat abalone and shark fin, you try to eat pickled pork head meat, do you understand?" ”

Bao Zheng made Pang Ji laugh angrily, "What's wrong with eating pickled pork head?" Didn't you say two days ago that you wanted pork head meat to drink? ”

"I'm not joking at you, Kaifeng Mansion is poor." Pang Ji patted Bao Zheng's shoulder to show comfort, "I just don't understand, this mountain is high and the road is far away, he doesn't wait for the Jiangnan Water Town, the leader of the Tianshan Martial Arts Alliance is not rare, he doesn't want to be an official and he doesn't lack money, let the eldest young master don't do it, and come to this poor countryside with you, you see that he is about to vomit when he sees the corpse, and he will pay silver to Kaifeng Mansion to investigate the case and put money in it himself, what is he trying to do?" ”

After listening to Pang Ji's tirade, Master Bao scratched his head, "What ...... this?"

"And yes." Pang Ji hugged his arm and seemed to be very dissatisfied, "I don't see him paying attention to others, just squinting in your Kaifeng Mansion, and even Tianzun is here...... That's Tianzun, does Tianzun know the way! ”

Bao Zhengwangtian rolled his eyes, "I said that you are a fat man who understands it, I have a treasure in Kaifeng Mansion!" ”

Pang Ji was slightly stunned, "What treasure?" ”

Bao Zheng smiled and was proud, "I not only have treasures in Kaifeng Mansion, but also cats, do you have them?" Do you have one? ”

After speaking, Yang Tian laughed and entered the forest.

Pang Ji was so angry that he grinded his teeth in the back - dead sunspots, it's amazing to have cats, who doesn't have cats in the house!

At this time, Gongsun's preliminary autopsy was also over, and he stood up and told everyone, "Hmm...... He died last night, and it must have been five or six hours since he died. The person died a miserable death, it felt like he had been bitten, and he couldn't tell whether it was a human or a beast, because it had been so long, and the footprints around him were covered with heavy snow, so it was impossible to tell whether it was a person or an animal. ”

Everyone frowned—Evil Gate!

Zhan Zhao looked around and saw that Bai Yutang was not there, so he looked for it......

"Hey." Finding Bai Yutang behind a tree, Zhanzhao stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder, "What are you looking at?" ”

Bai Yutang looked back at him, stretched out his hand and pointed to the ground that he had been staring at, "There are footprints." ”

Zhan Zhao leaned over to take a look, and saw that there were two footprints by the poplar tree, which were very clear.

"Just two?" Zhan Zhao thought it was strange.

"There's still half of it in the back, and it's just blocked by the leaves, so it's not covered by snow, but it's also blocked by trees, but there's no footprints."

Bai Yutang pointed to the path, "I feel ......"

"Someone stood behind the tree, stood for a while, and then left." Zhan Zhao looked at the footprints carefully, "The snow has stopped in the morning, but the footprints that left are covered by snow, indicating that the person came at night and left at night." In the middle of the night, what are you doing standing behind trees in the barren mountains and forests? ”

"Maybe he saw the process of the Heavenly Mother eating people." Bai Yutang said, pointing to the back...... The back of the tree was where the corpse was lying, and the tree was thicker, so it was well hidden.

Zhan Zhao frowned, "This is some distance from the place where we camped last night, no wonder we didn't hear any movement yesterday, but in the middle of the night, who would pass by here...... Do you guess Qin Lisheng came and went last night, will he find something? ”

Bai Yutang thought for a while, not sure, "But he doesn't seem to have a reason to hide behind a tree and peek, he can't see anything, and I haven't heard him mention it this morning." ”

"Don't talk about this morning." Zhan Zhao seemed to remember, and was a little puzzled, "Chen Mo was clearly bitten, and Gongsun said that his injury was a bite, but he didn't admit it, and insisted that it was a scratch, what is he hiding for?" ”

Bai Yutang shook his head, it was indeed suspicious.

Gongsun asked the body to be collected and brought back to the yamen, where he was to be autopsied with the woodcutter who had died before.

Zhao Pu carried the little fourth son and Gongsun back together, and took the hungry little fourth son to eat first.

According to the usual practice, Zhanzhao led people around to look for clues, and he couldn't leave at this time, the heavy snow may have covered a lot of clues, so he had to check them as soon as possible.

Several officials and Zhanzhao went in different directions, sweeping away the snow little by little, hoping to find the missing clues.

This work is more meticulous and requires patience, Bai Yutang frowned slightly, he wanted to help, but Zhanzhao pushed him aside and asked him to find a quick-drying place to stand and not wet his boots for a while.

Bai Yutang was helpless and followed behind him, "Otherwise, let's go eat first, aren't you hungry?" ”

Zhan Zhao waved his hand, "It's troublesome to wash away something when the snow melts in a while, look at ...... again"

Before the word "look" could be spoken, Zhanzhao stopped, squatted down, carefully brushed away a layer of snow, and reached out to pick up something.

Bai Yutang also squatted down and looked at the things in his hand.

"Familiar?" Zhan Zhao asked Bai Yutang.

I saw that he was holding a small mirror in his hand, some of which looked like a sofa mirror that a girl carried, a copper mirror, surrounded by a circle of peach wood, carefully carved with a hundred flower patterns, and a peach wood handle underneath, carved with a pattern of a hundred birds towards the phoenix. And on the back of the mirror, a few words are engraved - the demon appears.

"Is this a demon mirror?" Bai Yutang asked.

Zhan Zhao took out the peach wood talisman he had picked up before, as well as the peach wood sword that Long Miao Miao had picked up, placed them together with this peach mirror, and asked Bai Yutang, "Is it like a set?" ”

Bai Yutang took it and looked at it, it was indeed ...... Whether it is from the color shape, the texture of the peach wood and the craftsmanship on the top, it seems to be really a set.

"What do you mean?" Bai Yutang asked puzzledly, "Was it left by the Heavenly Mother, or was it left by a demon hunter, but it doesn't look like a coincidence......

"Zhan-sama."

At this time, I saw Zhang Long hurriedly running over and beckoning to Zhanzhao, "We found something." ”

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang got up and followed Zhang Long to the other side of the forest.

"We found some blood under the snow, and we followed the blood trail and found this." After coming to a bush, they saw Zhao Hu and Ma Han picking up a large bush, and there were some muddy fields that were not covered with snow. This area is a yellow mud ground, the color of the ground is relatively light, and the price is dry, and you can see that there are clear bloody footprints on the ground.

And the most interesting thing is that this bloody footprint is not the shadow of a human foot, nor is it a horseshoe print, but a clear, larger than a human hand, plum blossom footprint.

"Paw prints?" Zhan Zhao was surprised.

"Like a tiger." Several of the older officials in Kaifeng said, "Wolves and dogs don't have such big feet, and leopards don't have either, and bears don't have this shape, which looks like the paw prints of colorful tigers." ”

Zhanzhao stood up and frowned, "There are tigers in the Baizhou Mansion?" ”

Zhao Hu asked the officials who came with them in the Baizhou Mansion, and the officials were also at a loss, "No, rabbits are rare in this forest, where did the tigers come from." ”

Zhan Zhao stared at the tiger paw print for a long time, asked Zhao Hu to rub it down according to the same size, and went back to ask Wang Tiande to find the local hunters to investigate, if there was really a tiger, it was impossible that no one had seen it.

"If there were tigers, it would not be possible to live here." Bai Yutang raised his eyes and looked at the woods, and came to a conclusion, "There are no deep mountains and old forests here, this forest is still an official road over there, and the tiger lives here without food or burrows, which is unreasonable." ”

"Could it be human-raised?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"Raising Tigers...... Not for nothing. Bai Yutang frowned slightly as if he had suddenly thought of something.

"What's wrong?" Zhan Zhao was keenly aware of the change in Bai Yutang's expression, and asked with a smile, "Thinking of the acquaintance of the Yanghu Tiger?" ”

Bai Yutang was silent for a moment and spoke, "Qin Li ......"

"Does he have a tiger?" Zhan Zhao was surprised, and said in his heart that Qin Lisheng Si Wenwen, I hadn't heard that he also raised a tiger.

Bai Yutang waved his hand, "No, I met him because I bought tiger bone wine." ”

"Tiger bone wine?"

"Many of the guys on Sky Island are on the water, and they are damp on the boat all year round, and many of them have rheumatism. Every time the crew goes to sea, they bring some tiger bone wine, which is the best treatment for rheumatism and gout. Originally, I bought tiger bone wine with a familiar shop, but then the boss wanted to close the business and not do it, and I introduced it before leaving, saying that the tiger bone wine in Baigui Villa was very good and the amount was large, which was many years ago. At that time, I introduced Qin Lisheng to my second brother, and they all talked to him about buying wine. There was a time when the second brother happened to be away, so I went to talk about it, and I have known each other since that time. Bai Yutang said, looking at Zhanzhao, "I have heard, of course it is just a rumor, the White Ghost Villa used to buy tiger bones from Orion to make wine, but once it was deceived by several Orions with fake bones, and suffered heavy losses." So they kept tigers in the lodge. ”

"That's ......" Zhanzhao touched his chin and thought, "Then if it is a tiger raised by the White Ghost Villa, one of them didn't pay attention and was bitten to death by a fierce beast......"

"Do you think that it was the White Ghost Villa that was afraid of taking responsibility, so it made up the saying that the Heavenly Mother ate people, so it was still the case reported by Qin Lisheng?" Bai Yutang quickly understood what Zhanzhao meant, "Then Chen Mo was also attacked by a tiger last night, didn't he say it, was it to protect the interests of the villa?" ”

"It makes sense." Zhan Zhao nodded, "But Chen Mo's kung fu is not weak, and it shouldn't be difficult to level a tiger...... It's hard to imagine that he was almost bitten to death by a tiger, and didn't Long Miaomiao's human spirit also say that he saw a woman instead of a tiger......"

"Maybe the tiger is a female, and it has become a sperm." Bai Yutang was half serious and half laughing, "The tiger spirit eats people and the Heavenly Mother eats people, I would rather believe the former." ”

"If it's really just a tiger eating people, then the case is simple." Zhan Zhao was quite happy to have found this clue, "It's much more reliable than the Heavenly Mother or something." As he spoke, he shook the mahogany mirror in his hand again, "But I always feel that it's not that simple." ”

Bai Yutang nodded—yes.

"I'm starving." Zhan Zhao said for no reason, and seeing that everyone had almost investigated, and everything that should have been turned over in the forest had been turned over, he clapped his hands, "Let's eat......"

As soon as Zhanzhao's word "bar" came out, he saw Zhao Hu running over, "Lord Zhan, there are a few farms in front, I heard that someone was lost, it may be the corpse." ”

Zhan Zhao looked at the sky, "Then let's go to the farm and ask first...... Have all the people at the farm eaten? ”

Zhao Hu tilted his head in confusion, and Bai Yutang expressed helplessness.

The farm was not far away, a small village, with a few people outside the house, a few clearing the snow, and most of them gathered together to talk about something.

When they saw that some officials were coming, they gathered around them.

An old man, everyone called him Qiao Bo, as if he knew a servant of the Baizhou Mansion, and when he came up, he asked, "Have you found the second shopkeeper?" ”

The official didn't know what to say, and looked back at Zhanzhao.

Zhan Zhao stepped forward to salute a little, and asked, "What happened?" ”

It turned out that the people of this village all relied on the nearby forest for food. Every summer and autumn, they go to the mountains to pick and cut fruits, which resemble a kind of mushroom and can be used for cooking, and are very popular in the south. The main timber from the logging is supplied to the White Ghost Villa, which comes to harvest two seasons with them every year. In the cold winter, they will go to the mountains to collect snow flame beads, buy small shops in the city, and then make jewelry and sell them.

Because this village is all doing things together, it is led by two people, the big shopkeeper and the second shopkeeper. The big shopkeeper is Qiao Bo, who is responsible for negotiating the price with the merchants, and the second shopkeeper is called Liu Zhong, who is five years old Chinese New Year's Eve now, has good physical strength and has been a hunter for several years, and is familiar with the nearby mountains and forests, and he is responsible for assigning everyone to work in the forest.

It is said that Liu Zhong caused him to go into the mountains yesterday to check, preparing to find out the area with snow flame beads, and then notify the villagers to pick up the ...... But Liu Zhong didn't come back after he left. This morning, the chief treasurer sent someone to look for him in the forest, but he found a lot of officials, and he had a premonition that something was wrong, so he reported to the official.

It's a pity that the corpse is already blurred with flesh and blood and is unrecognizable, and Zhanzhao doesn't know if Lu Dao is the second shopkeeper in the mouth of the villagers.

"You must have been in and out of the mountains for many years, right?" Zhan Zhao asked Qiao Bo, "Are there any beasts in this mountain?" For example, tigers and the like......"

"Nope!" Qiao Bo shook his head vigorously when he heard this, "How can there be a tiger." ”

"I heard a tiger bark last night."

At this moment, a voice came from below......

When everyone looked down, they saw that it was a little girl of four or five years old, with these two pigtails in the sky, which was very cute.

"Niuniu, what are you talking nonsense?" The doll's mother came to her and asked, "You slept like a pig last night, where did you hear the tiger calling?" ”

"Did I hear that, woo-woo-woo." The little girl was very serious and learned to bark twice from the tiger.

"When?" Zhan Zhao saw that this girl was chubby, and felt that her face was like a bun, hungry......

"Well...... little sister looked up and thought for a long time, "at night, when it's dark!" ”

Everyone looked at each other helplessly.

The aunt embarrassedly picked up her daughter and explained to everyone, "Maybe the child dreams at night, don't take it seriously." ”

Zhan Zhao asked the official to take the family of the second shopkeeper to the yamen to identify the body, and he himself led people around the village.

In a cowshed, Zhanzhao found something.

Zhan Zhao went to the cowshed because there was a calf that had just been born in the cowshed. Zhan Zhao grew so big, and the first time he saw the newborn calf, he thought it was cute and went over to take a look, but at the door of the cowshed, there was a lantern that had been papier-mâché that attracted his attention.

The lantern is small and odd-looking.

Zhanzhao reached out and picked it up, the handle of the lantern was peachwood, and a centipede was carved on it, wrapped around the long handle. Half of the white candle inside the lantern has been extinguished, the lantern is not broken, and on the lampshade, a faint gold lacquer is painted with a Buddhist "swastika" character.

Zhan Zhao took the lantern and shook it, and there was a string of white ones under the lantern, among which there were two mahogany beads, one with a Maitreya carved on it, and the other bead with a Bodhisattva carved on it......

Zhan Zhao shook the lantern and asked Bai Yutang, "Another peach wood treasure." ”

Bai Yutang could also see that this thing was not ordinary, it was an exorcism or something in the temple, not like ordinary people.

The official found the owner of the house, and coincidentally, the family of three, a middle-aged man, his daughter-in-law, and a four-year-old girl - the girl named "Niuniu" who said that she heard the tiger bark in the middle of the night.

"Is this lantern your home?" Zhan Zhao asked the hostess.

Niuniu's father looked at it for a while, wondered, and asked the daughter-in-law next to him, "You bought it for Niuniu?" ”

The daughter-in-law shook her head and said she hadn't seen it.

Zhan Zhao asked Niuniu again, and saw her carrying a lantern and said, "An elder brother left it." ”

"Which brother?" Zhan Zhao was curious.

"Well, I don't know, it's not from the village." Niu Niu's words startled her father.

Her father hurriedly asked, "When did you see the living person?" Why do you still take other people's things? ”

"Yesterday." Niuniu thought for a while, "In the evening, my mother was cooking, and I came to feed Niu Niu, and I saw a little brother in gray sitting next to the cowshed. ”

"You spoke to him?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"Well, he wears so little, he must be frozen, and his face is white!" Niu Niu replied, "I went and fetched a cup of hot tea for him, and he drank it, saying that he wanted to sleep in the haystack and leave at night, and told me not to tell my father and mother and the others." ”

The crowd was a little speechless and asked the little girl, "So you agreed?" ”

"Hmm." Niuniu nodded, "Is he just sleeping, not stealing." ”

……

Niuniu's father and mother were also a little helpless, Zhanzhao asked him which haystack he was lying on, and Niuniu pointed to the back of the cowshed, where there was a small wooden shed, and there was a lot of hay piled up in it, which was a place to store forage for cattle and sheep in winter, which was very dry and warm.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang walked in, and found some blood stains in the grass pile in the corner.

"Blood ......" Zhanzhao squatted down and looked.

"If he's pale, he's probably injured." Bai Yutang asked Niu Niu, "What exactly is he dressed in?" Did you bring anything with you? ”

Niu Niu described it specifically - a tall and thin young man in his twenties, wearing a white jade crown on his head, his hair tied up like a siu mai, a gray robe with a white neckline and a white belt, a burden in his hand, and a basket behind him, and a white ponytail with a handle behind his back.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang glanced at each other - white ponytail, dust?

"Listen to the dress up is a little Taoist?" Bai Yutang shook the lantern and asked Zhanzhao, "No wonder there are things to exorcise ghosts, but the Taoist priest should be Taoist, why are you holding something from the Buddhist family?" Mutiny? ”

Zhanzhao spread his hands, and he noticed that the little Taoist priest's hair bun was like a siu mai...... Siu mai is also good.

After learning about the situation in the village, Zhanzhao left some officials and told Qiao Bo not to enter the forest in the near future, pay attention to safety at night, and contact the military camp in front of him if there is any danger.

When everyone returned to the Pozhou Mansion, it was no longer time for lunch, but it was almost time for dinner.

Zhan Zhao rushed back to the yamen and told Bao Zheng all the clues he had found, and the clues were there, but the case was not clear, but even more confusing.

Bao Zheng asked Zhan Zhao to rest for a while, hurry up to eat, and go to the White Ghost Villa in the evening to check the matter of raising tigers in the villa.

Zhan Zhao pulled Bai Yutang and strode out, this time he could finally eat!

When I met the little fourth son in the yard, the little fourth son pounced over and told Zhanzhao that the plum vegetable button meat in the restaurant in front of him was delicious, and it had a fight with Shaoxing Mansion.

Zhan Zhao was even more hungry when he heard this, and ran out of the door with Bai Yutang, and as soon as he arrived at the door, he saw a servant rushing back, his face was white, and he shouted, "It's amazing, Lord Zhan!" ”

Zhanzhao's eyelids began to jump - what's wrong?!

The official ran too fast, stumbled and fell to Zhanzhao's feet, and shouted, "There's a tiger ahead!" ”

Zhan Zhao blinked and plucked out his ears, "What's in front of you?" ”

Bai Yutang also asked uncertainly, "There are tigers?" ”

"Yes, walking around the city, a big black tiger, so big!" The official pointed behind him.

Zhan Zhao touched his chin, turned around, and shouted, "Zhao Pu? Ouyang? Do you want to catch tigers? ”

……

However, no one answered, and the official told him, "The Nine Princes, they have all gone to the barracks and haven't come back yet." ”

Bai Yutang patted Zhanzhao, "You go to dinner, I'll catch ......"

Before he finished speaking, he saw Zhan Zhao rolling his arms and sleeves, and walked forward aggressively, "This tiger is too ignorant of lifting, if it doesn't come out early or late, come out now, catch it!" Stew it! ”

The official took two steps back and looked at Zhanzhao's back, "Good guy, Lord Zhan's eyes are green!" ”

Bai Yutang couldn't cry or laugh - no, this cat is hungry and wants to eat his own family.