"Oops, what's going on? Ladies and gentlemen, what happened in the middle of the night? Fang Zian smiled and said.

A man who looked like an officer slowly walked into the courtyard and shouted coldly, "Why did it take so long to open the door?" Is there a ghost in your heart? ”

Fang Zi'an hurriedly smiled and said: "Master Jun, in the middle of the night, you suddenly slammed the door, and you were all scared to death." I thought I had met a strongman, only to realize that it was an officer and soldier, so didn't I open the door immediately? The military masters forgive their sins, we ordinary people are timid and have never seen the world. ”

The officer snorted coldly and said, "Are you from this family?" What is your name? Is there anyone else in the house? ”

Fang Zi'an hurriedly said: "Below Zi'an, I'm the only one at home." My father and mother are dead. ”

The officer nodded, waved his hand at the others, and shouted, "Search! In front of the house and behind the house, search everything inside and out. ”

The soldiers shouted their promises, carrying torches, and divided into three groups, one into the house to search, one in the yard, and the other to the back of the house.

Fang Zi'an wanted to know the specific situation and figure out what the person in the room had done. If that person is a thief or a thief picking flowers, he can't hide it for him, and he has to let the officers and soldiers know about it immediately. If it's something else, then you can pretend to be dumb.

"Master Jun, what's going on, such a toss in the middle of the night? It's scared to death. Fang Zi'an said.

"You didn't do anything wrong, what are you afraid of? If it weren't for the fact that we were searching for a female assassin, we would have suspected you if you had opened the door in moderation. The officer shouted.

Fang Zi was relieved, no wonder he felt strange when he fought with that person just now, that person was not tall in stature, and his technique was flexible, but his strength was insufficient. Shicai himself was cut by him is the numb tendon on his elbow, if the force is greater, he can make himself unable to exert force for a long time. But the man's strength was not strong, and it was only a moment of soreness and numbness. And although the other party's voice was deliberately low and coarse, the delicate voice that seemed to be unconcealable in retrospect seemed to be a woman.

"It turned out to be a female snitch, I thought it was a flower thief. I don't know whose valuables I stole from, and the soldiers searched all over the city in the middle of the night. The stolen goods must be extremely valuable. Fang Zi'an said with a smile.

"Stealing? That's good. This female thief was an assassin, and she assassinated Qin Xianggong on the street, and she was bold. Damn, it's so bad that the old sons can't live in peace. If he catches her, Lao Tzu will give her a dozen big slaps first. The officer shouted.

When Fang Zi'an heard this, he was greatly surprised. This person really assassinated Qin Hui. In this case, I can't ventilate the news. Another thought in Shicai's heart was to stabilize the person who was searched by the officers and soldiers, if this person was a real villain, he would be equivalent to trapping him in the house and letting the officers and soldiers catch turtles in the urn. But this person is really the one who assassinated Qin Hui, and that is a righteous man. Although he said that he had no grudge against Qin Hui, Qin Hui, the old thief, was obviously a damned person, and there was nothing wrong with assassinating him. That person was actually the one who assassinated Qin Hui on the street, but he had some courage. With Qin Hui's identity, there must be a lot of guards around him, which is a fatal move.

"Qin Xiangye is fine, Qin Xiangye is my big Song humerus, but there is nothing to do." Fang Zi'an smacked his lips and said.

The officer squinted at Fang Zi'an and said, "You talk a lot, you know a fart." Are these things your concern? I have some doubts about you, you people, what are you doing with these things? ”

Fang Zi'an was taken aback, and hurriedly said: "Master Jun, don't scare me, it's too much to talk about." I am a scholar below, studying in Qixia Academy, and I am going to take the autumn exam this year. So I was a little concerned about these things. If the military master thinks I'm asking too much, just shut up. ”

When the officer heard this, he looked Fang Zi'an up and down a few times, only to find that Fang Zi'an's dress was indeed a scholar's appearance. So he smiled: "It turned out to be a student, but it was disrespectful." But you still read your books, don't ask questions. You met me, if it were someone else, you would have slapped you. ”

Fang Zi'an nodded again and again. As he spoke, several searching soldiers came back one after another to report.

"Ladle, there is no sign of an assassin in the courtyard."

"Report to the head of the horse, and there are no assassins behind the house."

"The report was made to Ma Dutou, and the house was searched, and there was no trace of the assassin. But we found a sword, and I don't know who it was. ”

Fang Zi'an hurriedly said: "That's the villain's sword, which is hung in the house for decoration, this is not a crime." ”

The officer took the sword handed by the soldier and looked at it, it was just an ordinary long sword, not a standard weapon, but an ordinary long sword that was usually used for juggling, and it did not even strike.

"You scholars, you like to make swords or something to put on a façade. If you can't hold the chicken, can you move it? It's funny to look down on us warriors again, but to have swords hanging in the house. The officer complained unceremoniously.

"Ashamed, ashamed. Shame, shame! Fang Zi'an said again and again.

Na Ma Dutou handed the sword to Fang Zi'an, waved his hand and said to the soldiers: "Since there are no assassins, let's go to the next alley to search." ”

The soldiers shouted their promises and rushed out the door. Fang Zi'an accompanied the smiling face and walked slowly. The horse turned around and said, "Fang Zi'an, if you see the assassin's traces, you should report to the official immediately, this assassin assassinated Qin Xiang, and Qin Xiang swore to dig three feet into the ground to find out." If you can report the clues, you may be able to gain some benefits. If you don't report it, you are guilty of the same crime as the Assassins. ”

Fang Zi'an hurriedly said: "Certainly, definitely." Rest assured, if there is any clue, I will report it to you as soon as possible. Assassinate Qin Xiangye, is this worth it? Everyone, walk slowly, protect the land and the people, arrest the assassins, hard work. ”

The officer waved his hand and walked out of the door. The noise outside, the light and shadow of the fire, and the sound of footsteps quickly disappeared, but they went to the next alley. Fang Zi'an didn't close the courtyard door until they had walked far away, and quickly returned to the house.

……

When the officers and soldiers left, Fang Zi'an immediately returned to the house and quickly closed the door. He looked up at the beams of the house, and it was dark and he couldn't see clearly. So he whispered, "They're gone, this ...... Righteous man, you can come out. ”

He screamed several times, but there was no response. Fang Zi'an was a little puzzled, hurriedly went back to the room and took out the lamps and candles, and searched up and down the three rooms, but there was no shadow of the assassin at all. Fang Zi'an went outside again to look for the plantain bushes in front of the house and behind the house, and finally had to die, the person had disappeared and disappeared.

Fang Zi'an returned to the room with the candle flame and whispered to himself: "Are people so rude these days? Anyway, I saved him, and ran away without even saying thank you? It's rude. ”

Placing the candlestick on the table in front of the window, Fang Zi'an sat down, but suddenly found that there was a piece of paper pressed under the inkstone on the table, and there seemed to be words written on it. Fang Zi'an hurriedly took it out to check, and there were a few lines of words written on it.

"Meng Gongzi rescued him with righteousness, and he was grateful. I failed to assassinate the old thief Qin Hui, and the old thief deployed troops to search for me throughout the city, so as not to affect the son, I couldn't stay for a long time. The great grace does not speak, and it will be reported later. ”

The note was not signed, except for a small ink plum in the lower right corner of the paper.

Fang Zi'an read the note, pondered for a moment, picked up the note and lit it on the candle flame, watched the flame rise and burn the paper to ashes, then blew out the lamp and went to bed to rest.

In the next two or three days, several groups of officers and soldiers came to search for them, and the noisy Fang Zi was not at peace. Fang Zi'an also heard a lot of rumors on the street, and learned about the general situation of the assassination near Wangxian Bridge that day. Although the versions of the news on the street are different, the basic information is almost the same, all say that there are two assassins, a man and a woman, who collided with the car and launched an assassination at the moment when Qin Hui's car turned into the side street, and the two assassins almost succeeded, but unfortunately Qin Hui's attendant guards desperately guarded them, and seven or eight people were killed and dragged the assassin alive, allowing Qin Hui to escape. The male Assassin was killed on the spot, and the female Assassin fled. Hearing these news, Fang Zi felt sorry for himself. At the same time, he was relieved that he had helped the female assassin escape that night. If you dare to assassinate Qin Hui, you must be a righteous man. It's a pity that I didn't succeed. But this move also shows the hatred of the people of the Great Song Dynasty for Qin Hui at this time.

The more the officers and soldiers who searched made a fuss, although they disturbed themselves, the more relieved Fang Zi'an was. The officers and soldiers tossed around like this, which only showed that they had not captured the assassin, and the assassin was still at large, so the officers and soldiers continued to search the whole city. And this situation obviously can't last long, close the city gate and search all over the city, three or five days can be, long time will definitely not work. This is Lin'anfu, the capital of the Great Song Dynasty, a city inhabited by two million people, and it is impossible to make a storm for an assassin, even if the target of her assassination is the current prime minister, the powerful Qin Hui.

Sure enough, after a few days, the situation calmed down, the city gates were reopened, and the officers and soldiers who searched for it also died down, and only more checkpoints were set up on the streets to check for suspicious people at any time. This verified Fang Zi'an's prediction, the assassin could not be caught, the order of the city would be restored to normal, and even Qin Hui would not be able to arouse public anger.

After a few days, the market was as quiet as ever, the heat of the conversation subsided, and people gradually forgot about it. In addition, there are other things happening in the city, such as the release of Wanchunyuan's new songs this year, and the first swan song of several new songs, the threshold of Wanchunyuan is about to be broken. Qin Xiqing's Quhui admission qualification for Wanchun Garden has been fried to five hundred taels of silver each, which is simply crazy. Under the impact of these news, Qin Hui's assassination was gradually forgotten. Fang Zi'an also returned to his normal life of sprinting to prepare for the exam.

Half a month has passed, and it is nearly mid-to-late June, which is the hottest time of the year in Lin'an Province. During the day, the sun was shining, and the skin was scorched, and even if I stood in the shade, I was still sweating. Large households have stored ice cubes in winter, and there is also a structure of a groundwater pond with a patio to cool off, and ordinary people can only carry it through.

Fang Zi'an is also hot enough, there are no air conditioning fans these days, he can only use some local methods, such as placing several basins of cold water in the room to let it evaporate and dissipate heat. Then there is the two legs stuck in the bucket to get the slightest coolness. But these methods are actually not very effective, and only after the second watch of the day is the most comfortable time. After the heat of the time before the sun rises, the temperature is cooler, and this time is the best time for Fang Zi'an to study. So Fang Zi'an simply reversed his schedule and rest, soaked in the cold water tank during the day to sleep, and then read books and prepared for exams at night, and went out at night, like a night cat.