At three o'clock, everything was silent, the old door of the morgue of Dali Temple creaked softly, and a black shadow came out of the door lightly, and closed the door casually, closing all the bloody rooms behind his back.

The black shadow rubbed his hands and walked forward, muttering in small pieces: "Amitabha, Amitabha."

Rounding the corner, a hideous monster's head suddenly floated over, the black shadow was so frightened that Lian Lian retreated, fell to the ground, and looked closely, the monster was just a pattern painted on the lantern with cinnabar, and the person carrying the lantern was wearing a dark green court dress, with a tall posture and a faint look like a black-faced god.

"My mother, I am haunted in the middle of the night, are you trying to scare me to death, my lord?"

Zhao Xi patted his chest and gasped, frightened, Zhao Hanzhuo raised the lantern higher, and the dim light of the fire reflected the beads of sweat on Zhao Xi's forehead.

"You're too timid."

Zhao Hanzhuo said, Zhao Xi rolled his eyes: "My lord, I am a man, and I am not a monk, so I can't be afraid of anything."

Zhao Hanzhuo didn't follow him, his chin was slightly raised, he looked in the direction of the morgue and asked, "Did you find anything?"

"The blacksmith was not born dumb, his tongue was cut off, and the root of the tongue was cut so neatly that I might not be able to cut it like this with my hands, tsk."

Zhao Xi shook his head and said, with a sigh on his face.

Although he talks a lot, he can enter Dali Temple at a young age to do work, and he must be outstanding.

Even he Zhao Xi can't do the accuracy, it can be seen that the craftsmanship of the person who does it, such a person can't be unknown in Yuanzhao, how can an ordinary blacksmith provoke such a character?

Zhao Hanzhuo thought secretly, and Zhao Xi mysteriously approached him: "My lord, in fact, I also found an interesting thing, guess ......"

"You have a three-month probationary period in Dali Temple, and today has only passed a month."

Zhao Hanzhuo blocked his words back expressionlessly, and Zhao Xi touched his nose boringly: "My lord, you are too serious, in fact, I found that the blacksmith's son and daughter are not his own."

A mute blacksmith of unknown origin, living in the most inconspicuous part of the Imperial City, if it weren't for this murder, perhaps no one would have noticed his presence at all.

He had his tongue cut off by an unknown person, married a wife as beautiful as a flower, but raised children for others, how many unbelievable things did he have?

Zhao Hanzhuo connected all the clues after the case and thought about it carefully, and the case has not found any valuable information so far, but he is not in a hurry at all, but has a faint excitement.

He likes to solve cases and enjoys the process of digging out the truth little by little.

The night breeze was slightly cool, the candle flame was swaying, Zhao Xi saw the smile on the corner of Zhao Hanzhuo's lips, and couldn't help but rub the goosebumps on his arm: "My lord, why do you look so much like a perverted murderer with this expression?" ”

"Jing Zhaoyin's people haven't been to Dali Temple?"

Zhao Hanzhuo asked, according to the law, the case transferred by Jing Zhaoyin to Dali Temple must be handed over within one day.

As soon as the widow reported the case, Jing Zhaoyin transferred the case to Dali Temple, and there was only one report in the case file, Zhao Hanzhuo took it directly early in the morning, Jing Zhaoyin was in charge of the population flow of the entire imperial city, and others didn't know who the blacksmith was, Jing Zhaoyin's household registration should be recorded in detail, why didn't anyone send the blacksmith's household registration information?

Zhao Hanzhuo pondered carefully, Zhao Xi also thought of this, and frowned suspiciously: "Is something wrong, after the body was transported back, I have been conducting autopsies in the morgue to repair the body, I haven't heard that anyone has come, and the blacksmith shop has not received any news?" ”

"Nope."

Zhao Hanzhuo shook his head, and wanted to ask something more, Zhao Shi strode from outside: "My lord, Xiaoyao Hou is here." ”

At this point, how did he come here?

Zhao Hanzhuo's heart moved slightly, and he stuffed the lantern into Zhao Xi's hand: "Go and rest." After saying that, he strode away with Zhao Shi, and Zhao Xi yawned and went back to his room.

The messenger led Chu Huai'an to Zhao Hanzhuo's usual office and gave him a cup of hot tea, the tea was cheap, brewed casually, and it tasted bitter and astringent, Chu Huai'an only took a sip and put it aside.

Zhao Shi stopped when he walked to the door, Zhao Hanzhuo strode in, and without asking, Chu Huaian directly expressed his intention: "Someone is poisoning my house, and the murderer has been caught, but I suspect that the mastermind behind the scenes is not simple." ”

"Who is the murderer?"

"A mother-in-law in my mother's yard has been in our house for many years."

"Why did she poison her? What is the motivation for this? Zhao Hanzhuo asked bluntly, accustomed to thinking about problems with the idea of handling cases, Chu Huai'an's face was slightly gloomy: "She suddenly hit her head and died, and I haven't had time to ask yet." ”

The mother-in-law was hiding behind the crowd, and Chu Huai'an was sitting in the courtyard at that time, investigating one by one, when the mother-in-law suddenly rushed out and hit her head on the pillar and died, blood splattered on the spot.

The people in the courtyard screamed in fright, Chu Huai'an transferred some troops to the mansion to station, dispersed the crowd, searched the room where the mother-in-law lived, inside and out, and asked the housekeeper to find the deed of sale of the mother-in-law.

The deed of sale is clearly written, the mother-in-law has been in the house for eight years, and after careful calculation, it is probably Su Li who entered the house shortly after leaving Beijing.

There was no introducer written on the contract, I don't know what relationship came in, the housekeeper was confused, and stared at the deed of sale for a long time, but he didn't see the reason.

However, the deed of sale is stamped with Jing Zhaoyin's seal, indicating that the case was filed in Jing Zhaoyin's mansion at that time, and Jing Zhaoyin should have information about the identity and ancestral home of this mother-in-law.

"I just went to Jingzhao Yin's Mansion to transfer the file, but I didn't find any records about this mother-in-law there."

Chu Huai'an said faintly, and showed the deed of sale to Zhao Hanzhuo.

There is also the autograph of the previous Jing Zhaoyin on the deed of sale, and the official seal is stamped on it, which is undoubted.

But without an introducer, how did this deed of sale pass the government's inspection?

"Before, because Zhang Ling and the An family rebelled together, Jing Zhao Yin Manmen was exiled, I heard that he died of illness three years ago, and now if I check again, there is no proof of death."

Chu Huai'an told all the information he had, and Zhao Hanzhuo fell silent with the deed of sale, but he was afraid that this dead blacksmith would not have any record in Jing Zhaoyin.

Two people in a row are unknown, one is hidden in the downtown area, and the other is in the backyard of the Xiaoyao Mansion.

After a moment of silence, Zhao Hanzhuo got up and took out a booklet from the innermost drawer of the bookcase.

The booklet is very well preserved, but the pages are a little curly because I have looked through it so many times.

"What is this?"

Chu Huai'an asked, Zhao Hanzhuo walked up to him and opened the booklet, the first page was already full of crosses with a red pen.

"This is the detailed list of works that Gu Zhi gave at the beginning."

Nearly five years have passed since the An family rebellion, and the Hu people have also returned to Yuanzhao, and now Leng Buding mentioned this detailed list, and he was a little abruptly separated from the world.

"At the beginning, there were only dozens of people on this list, and after the investigation, hundreds of people were involved, and I personally supervised and beheaded some of them at that time, because there were too many people involved, and I did not completely investigate it, and only focused on the supervision and investigation."

Rebellion is a felony to involve the nine clans, but there is a saying that the law does not blame the public, and the situation of the war of the undead was critical at that time, if Jingzhong was really all cleared, I was afraid that it would make people panic, which was not conducive to the stability of the overall situation.

"Those thieves have resurged?" Chu Huai'an frowned, took the booklet and flipped through it, except for the red cross drawn on the first few pages, there were only dense words in the back, and nothing else.

Zhao Hanzhuo shook his head, turned one of the pages, pointed to a name and said, "The Imperial City is now heavily guarded, they are unlikely to rebel, I am more inclined to take revenge on Gu Jiong." ”

persuaded the An family to rebel, it was Gu Jiong's proposal to Kutar at the beginning, and later he threaded it through it, so that Kutar and An Wuwu reached a consensus and joined forces to fall into the crisis of internal and external troubles.

If it weren't for Gu Jiong's defection, Hu Keduo would have led an army of 100,000 to directly break through the border city and drive straight in, even if Lu Ji could still lead his troops to resist for a while, Chu Huai'an would not be able to rush to reinforcements with the hussars in a short time.

Gu Jiong's betrayal saved Yuan Zhao, but it still killed many people.

These people are not fuel-efficient lamps, if they want to take revenge on Gu Jiong, they naturally have enough patience to wait for the right time.

"Revenge against Gu Jiong?"

Chu Huai'an was skeptical about this, if it was really just aimed at Gu Jiong, then why did he poison the Xiaoyao Mansion? And as revenge, Gu Zhi did not die, and the poison under the mother-in-law of the Hou Mansion was not fatal, but the blacksmith and the mother-in-law both hit the pillar and died, what kind of revenge is this? Do you deliberately give away the head of the enemy?

This can't be said to be reasonable, Zhao Hanzhuo naturally thought of this: "That mother-in-law took the initiative to hit and died, the house may not be absolutely safe, the Hou Ye can go back and investigate the people in the house again, and I will take someone to continue the in-depth investigation tomorrow." ”

The case is still confusing, and speculation alone is not helpful to the case, and it is still necessary to explore and investigate from the existing clues.

Chu Huai'an nodded, agreeing with Zhao Hanzhuo's statement, but he was not in a hurry to leave, and hesitated for a moment and said, "Do you think Gu Jiong is still alive?" ”

"Probably so."

"I've heard that his mask has been found in the blacksmith's shop, and with his skills, ordinary people can't touch his mask."

Gu Ji didn't care about the world's eyes, he wore a mask purely to seal that painful memory, as if Gu Li had never died tragically, and he had never stayed in Hudi for such a long time.

He rarely takes off his mask, and he never lets people touch his mask, so under what circumstances would his mask fall at the scene of the crime?

"I've looked closely, and the mask is indeed his, but it's not damaged, and there's no blood, it doesn't look like it fell after a violent fight, but more like someone put it there."

If the mask is specially placed there, there are only two situations, one is that Gu Zhi deliberately left it to give others some kind of hint, and the other is that someone got Gu Jiong's mask and deliberately put it there, wanting everyone to think that Gu Ji is the murderer.

"What do you think...... Is Gu Jiong a murderer? ”

After a long time, Chu Huai'an asked the doubts in his heart.

From the time he came in to the present, the situation he and Zhao Hanzhuo discussed was based on the premise that Gu Ji was not a murderer.

But is Gu Jiong really not a murderer?

Yuanzhao is indebted to the Gu family, when Gu Ji entered Beijing with Kutar as Hu He, he almost killed Lu Ji several times on the school field, he hated the Yuanzhao royal family very much, and even Lu Ji hated it together.

Later, he may have turned against him, probably wanting to see Yuanzhao and the Hu people fight and lose, after all, his plan had been achieved at that time, and the Hu people and the Yuanzhao royal family couldn't get anything good from it.

The Hu people have all surrendered to Yuanzhao, but he has never really surrendered, he does not go to the court, nor does he wear the Yuanzhao official mansion, he is alone on weekdays, acts casually, and his methods of handling cases are bloody and murderous, like an emotionless monster.

These small works hate his rebellion, but who knows what kind of purpose he had in the first place to recommend these people to Kutar and An Wuwu, and pull them into the endless abyss?

Gu Li and Lu Ji's wedding has been completed, what else in this world can hold him back and make him a person? ?

At the beginning, Chu Huaian believed that Gu Zhi would not rebel, because he still had a little bit of the Gu family's arrogance in his bones, but now Chu Huaian is not sure if Gu Zhi will kill people.

Because Chu Huai'an didn't know if these dead people owed the Gu family a blood debt.

"To be honest, he is currently very suitable for the murderer, he is strong, has a lot of experience in killing, he is clean, and he has full motives."

Zhao Hanzhuo sought truth from facts, but did not draw conclusions.

Chu Huai'an knocked lightly on the table, twisted his eyebrows and thought about it, and for a long time, he wrote the word 'emperor' on the table with tea.

"Do you think that's possible?"

Chu Lingzhao kept Gu Zhi's life in order to show his bearing as a king, the first emperor was sorry for the Gu family, which was indirectly forced to force Gu Zhi to surrender to the Hu people, Chu Lingzhao rehabilitated the Gu family, tolerated Gu Zhi's willful and reckless behavior, and established his image of being tolerant and generous, regardless of his previous suspicions, and attaching importance to the humerus, which can appease the people.

Now that a few years have passed, his throne is stable, and there are people in the court who can be relied on, so there is no need for Gu Jiong, a disobedient chess piece.

Recently, because of Chu Gua's incident, Chu Lingzhao is also a little jealous of Chu Huai'an and Su Li, and it is not impossible for people to give some medicine to deter them.

After all, it is indeed easy for the dignified monarch to stuff an ear and eye into the Xiaoyao Marquis's Mansion.

As soon as Chu Huai'an's words fell, Zhao Hanzhuo stretched out his hand to paste the words into a ball: "Master Hou, you have overstepped the rules." ”

As a courtier, you can't talk about the king behind your back.

Chu Huai'an rolled his eyes angrily: "If you hadn't seen it, you would have been able to ask this question?" ”

He trusted Zhao Hanzhuo's character to be so straightforward, but he didn't expect this person to be upright and unwilling to bend after so many years.

"No matter who you are facing, Master Hou shouldn't ask this."

Zhao Hanzhuo insisted, Chu Huai'an couldn't go on with him, and got up irritably and walked out: "Okay, it's not early, let's rest early, how to check, how to check, what to do if you find out!" ”

One by one, he doesn't want to live a good life, he has to find death, it's his business!

It's a big deal, help collect the corpse and set up a monument!

Chu Huai'an muttered in his heart, he was in a bad mood, and he kicked the pillar all the way.

After Chu Huai'an left, Zhao Hanzhuo carefully looked through the roster again, and there was no blacksmith and the name of the mother-in-law in the Hou Mansion on it.

Zhao Hanzhuo wrote the names of the two on a separate note, sandwiched it at the back of the book and put it back on the bookcase.

When he was already ugly, Zhao Hanzhuo yawned, and was about to turn off the lights and lie on the bookcase for a night, when Zhao Shi walked in with a person: "My lord, catch a spy!" ”

The man was wearing a night coat and a black face scarf on his face, and he didn't resist when he was carried by Zhao Shi, but only blocked his face with a face tosh, revealing a pair of big black and bright eyes.

"I'm not a spy!"

The man retorted, blurting out a long-running female voice, full of energy, not quite the same as ordinary boudoir women.

"What does Miss Zhang want to hear here?"

Zhao Hanzhuo directly broke Zhang Zhizhi's identity, Zhang Zhizhi's eyes widened slightly, his eyes turned around, he decisively gave up the struggle, pulled down his scarf and revealed his face: "Meet Lord Zhao." ”

Zhang Zhizhi said hello in frustration, but was very frustrated after being caught.

"You're here for Lord Gu's business?"

“…… Be. Zhang Zhizhi's face is hot, in the end, she is still a boudoir woman, for a man to break into Dali Temple at night, this matter is really not good, but thinking of the business, she quickly left her reserve to argue for Gu Zhi: "Lord Zhao, Gu Zhi can't be a murderer!" ”

"Why can't it be? What does Miss Zhang know about the inside story? ”

"I ......"

Zhang Zhizhi wanted to speak and stopped, his face was flushed, he was rarely shy, hesitated for a moment and gritted his teeth: "Lord Zhao should know that I am interested in Lord Gu, I have been pestering him these days, I know where he has been, Lord Zhao can let the autopsy speculate on the time of death of those corpses, I can tell the adult where Gu Zhi went, and the adult can go to the witness confrontation!" ”

Zhang Zhizhi was out of the way, and she wanted to tell Zhao Hanzhuo about this at the daytime banquet, but Wen Ling and her brother didn't want her to get involved in these rights and wrongs, so they kept blocking her, and she couldn't sleep at night, so she couldn't help but sneak away again.

"Well, okay, if necessary, I will ask someone to go to the house to ask Miss Zhang for questioning."

Zhao Hanzhuo said warmly, expressing his approval and welcome for Zhang Zhizhi's hurried testimony.

"Don't you ask now?" Zhang Zhizhi looked anxious, as if she was involved in the murder case herself.

"I'm already asleep."

"Tell him to get up, now Gu Zhi is missing, in case something happens to him......" Zhang Zhizhi asked as a matter of course, Zhao Hanzhuo raised his eyes and looked at her, that glance was not very fierce, but it shocked her all of a sudden, making her speechless.

"Miss Zhang doesn't want to leave now?"

Zhang Zhizhi nodded without hesitation, and after nodding, he felt that something was wrong, and before he could react, Zhao Shi, who had been waiting next to him, suddenly took a rope and put it on her.

"Lord Zhao, what are you doing here?"

Zhang Zhizhi panicked, but heard Zhao Hanzhuo's indifferent verdict: "Sneaking into Dali Temple at night to listen to the secrets of the case violated Article 136 of the Yuanzhao Law. ”

“……”

Lord Zhao, are you serious?

Until she was thrown into the prison of Dali Temple, Zhang Zhizhi was still stunned, she came to Dali Temple as a witness, how could she become a prisoner in the blink of an eye?

"Let me out, I want to see Lord Zhao!"

Zhang Zhizhi threw herself to the door of the cell and shouted, Zhao Shi leaned against the door and closed her eyes to recuperate, allowing her to scream and remain motionless.

After half an hour, Zhang Zhizhi shouted that he was tired, and silently lay down on the haystack in the cell to rest, and after a while, he let out a small snoring sound.

The jailer secretly walked up to Zhao Shi and looked at the prison curiously: "What's the matter?" Why did the adults lock up a girl in prison for the first time and let you guard it personally? ”

"Adults are tired and want to rest, I think she is too noisy."

Zhao Shimu replied with a face, and his tone was full of disgust for Zhang Zhizhi.

The jailer glanced at Zhang Zhizhi a few more times, and the corners of his eyes twitched, such a good-looking girl was only noisy, no wonder the adults have not been able to start a family so far.

……

Su Li has been very tired these days, and after being carried back by Chu Huai'an last night and hurriedly bathed, she fell asleep deeply, but thinking about the bodies of Chu Liu and the two children, Su Li still woke up early in the morning.

The imperial doctor worked all night, and in the second half of the night, the fever of the three of them subsided, and the stomach was not pulled, Chu Huai'an did not go to sleep after returning from Dali Temple, and stayed here, when Su Li came, he saw him sitting quietly next to Chu Liu's bed.

The sunlight poured in from the window, illuminating Chu Liu's frost-white hair on his temples very clearly and dazzlingly.

Su Li walked over with light steps: "How is my mother?" ”

"I just drank some porridge, and then I slept and sweated."

"You haven't slept all night?"

"Hmm."

Chu Huai'an should grab Su Li's hand, he held it a little tightly, as if he wanted to get some strength from her.

"What's wrong?"

Su Li held Chu Huai'an's hand back, Chu Huai'an didn't look back, still looking at Chu Liu's: "Ah Li, I suddenly found that my mother seems to be a lot older." ”

Ever since he knew that Chu Liu's family almost sold Su Li into Goolan Courtyard, he had been angry with Chu Liu's family, and later went to receive filial piety and almost broke off the mother-son relationship with her, and since then, he has rarely appeared in front of Chu Liu's family.

After getting married, Su Li wanted to ease the mother-son relationship between him and Chu Liu, and he subconsciously resisted a little, but this time Chu Liu's poisoning made him suddenly realize that Chu Liu's had aged so much unconsciously.

This discovery made him a little frightened, afraid that if he turned around again, Chu Liu's family would be in the twilight.

"People will get old, this is an inevitable process, and it will be good for us to accompany our companions more in the future." Su Li said softly and relieved, she has seen too much life and death, and she has experienced too much pain, so she knows how to let go and know that she can better cherish the moment.

"Hmm."

Chu Huai'an agreed in a deep voice, took Su Li's hand and didn't let go, Su Li wanted to comfort him a few more words, but Chu Gua, who was sleeping next to him, suddenly cried.

The cry was sharp, making Chu Liu's frown, and Su Li hurriedly broke away from Chu Huai'an's hand: "I'll take the melon out first." ”

Su Li said as she rushed to the side of the bed and picked up Chu Gua and walked out, but just stepped out of the door when she heard Chu Gua spit out a clear call: "Ah Li!" ”

That voice was not much like Chu Gua's usual voice, but more like Yue Yan's voice.

Su Li paused suddenly, looked down at the Chugua in his arms, but saw a red pattern appear on the half of his face with a black mark, which looked like a map at first glance.

Su Li had to take a closer look, but the pattern disappeared quickly, and Chu Gua fell asleep again.