As for the inn, Lei Hua secretly observed.

As soon as something unusual happened, he left Lizhou City and marched in the direction of Qingquan County, meeting them and delivering news.

With a decision in his heart, Jiang Chuge discussed with Xiao Qi, and went to Jiaweiju together, taking advantage of the opportunity to order, Jiang Chuge informed Lei Hua of her thoughts, and Lei Hua readily agreed.

After Xinranju left, Jiang Chuge and the others went back to the inn to pack their bags and went out of the city.

Not long after, in the Tongju Mansion, Cao Lu received a report from his subordinates that Young Master Chen and his maidservants hurriedly left the city with packages.

Remembering that Xiao Qi once said that most of the silver tickets he carried when he went out were on another person who secretly followed, and he needed to be together with You, Cao Lu only thought that the young master Chen in his heart went out of the city this time to get the silver tickets.

However, his suspicious personality can make him send someone to secretly follow Xiao Qi.

But none of the people sent by Cao Lu could compete with Xiao Qi, after leaving Lizhou City, Xiao Qi killed all these people when he passed through a forest, and then continued to work with Jiang Chuge, stepping on the thick snow, and moving forward with difficulty.

Almost when Xiao Qi was in the grove, fighting fiercely with Cao Lu's minions.

A middle-aged man covered in wind and snow, holding a gray pigeon that had lost signs of life in the wind and snow last night, walked quickly through the main gate of the Tongju Mansion.

Not long after, this person saw Cao Lu in the backyard, in the courtyard where a concubine lived.

He quickly got down on one knee and raised his hands above his head, the frozen gray carrier pigeon in his hands.

"My lord, my subordinates searched along the way after dawn today, and found that the carrier pigeon died outside the city in the snowstorm last night, and the hoop on its leg and the wax paper inside the hoop were not lost."

"Bring in the wax paper."

Cao Lu was playing with the delicate and lovely concubine, and he had no intention of touching the dead.

"Yes."

The man responded, quickly took out the wax paper with the message Cao Lu needed from the hoop, and then respectfully presented it.

Cao Lu reached out and took the wax paper, unfolded it, and there was only a short line of small words on it, but it made him squint dangerously, and his eyes were full of murderous intent.

There is no noble family surnamed Chen in Lizhou City and its surroundings, and there is no Chen Qi.

Cao Lu suddenly crumpled the wax paper into a ball, and was about to give an order, but a man covered in wind and snow, like a snowman, came in outside the door again.

He strode forward, knelt on one knee, bowed his head and said: "My lord, my subordinates found the Qincha team in Kexian County seven days ago, and after four days of tracking, during the conversation between a female editor in the team and her maid, I accidentally learned that the Qincha was not in the marching procession, but as soon as the team left Didu City, he led two male subordinates to Lizhou at high speed to secretly investigate the situation in Lizhou. His subordinates followed the line and found that this Qincha and his subordinates were very likely to have stayed in Qingquan County......"

After learning the news, they identified themselves with the county magistrate of Qingquan County, and learned from them that Jiang Chuge and the three of them had a close relationship with Ren'an Tang.

But the county decree said that Jiang Chuge still stayed in Qingquan County.

They rushed to investigate, but found that the person was a fake, and after some interrogation, they learned that Jiang Chuge had gone to Lizhou City.

They originally wanted to catch Bai Qingqing, the shopkeeper of Ren'an Hall who helped Jiang Chuge get out, and bring him back to Lizhou City, so that Xu Neng could come in handy.

But he didn't want to be about to succeed, Bai Qingqing was rescued by a man in white who suddenly appeared and covered his face with white sand.

After the pursuit was fruitless, he left half of his men in Qingquan County and continued to search for Bai Qingqing and the man in white.

The rest of the people rushed back to Lizhou City with him.

Due to the delay in Qingquan County for several days, the Qincha team led by Han Chengdong even walked ahead of them after suddenly speeding up.

Cao Lu's face was gloomy, he had always thought that he had played with the stupid young master of the Chen family in applause, but the facts in front of him at this moment told him that he had been being teased!

"At all costs, kill the woman who is called Chen Shao's maid!"

He gritted his teeth, and Yin Wu's voice full of murderous intent sounded heavily, so frightened that the concubine on the side trembled, and didn't dare to say a word.

Cao Lu was born as a mountain bandit, and was recruited by the imperial court to get a position of general judgment in Lizhou.

In Lizhou all these years, he has never been the only one who calculates others, and he will never tolerate being used by others.

"Yes!"

The road outside the city was not as easy to walk as in the city, and with the heavy snow on the knees, until the sky was getting dark, Jiang Chuge and the others only walked ten miles.

The surrounding jungle is dense, and as far as the eye can see, it is white and expansive, and there is cold silence and mystery everywhere.

The position of the two at this time was far away from the team led by Han Chengdong fifty miles away.

Xiao Qi's state was acceptable, but Jiang Chuge was so tired that he was panting, and he walked slowly under Xiao Qi's support.

"Miss Jiang, it's getting dark, and there is no one to stay here, or I'll take you with light skills."

Xiao Qi suddenly paused and turned his head to look at Jiang Chuge.

Walking in the snow is already physically demanding, and the temperature is cooler at night, and the jungle is dense enough to be infested with wild animals, and if they don't leave in time, they may be in danger.

Xiao Qi thought about it, Jiang Chuge also considered it, she gasped, nodded and agreed: "Then it's hard for you." ”

Xiao Qi smiled shyly, then hugged Jiang Chuge's shoulders, secretly used his internal force, and the next moment he rose into the air, and the two figures flew on the treetops pressed by the thick snow, shaking off the little snow on the treetops at a very fast speed......

If Xiao Qi is alone, he can fly fifteen miles in the air without resting, but with people, the distance he can travel at one time will be greatly reduced.

After the two of them walked six miles, Xiao Qi could no longer hold on and landed on the ground.

After a heavy snowfall, the moon fades behind the clouds, bringing a faint light to the dark night.

In a blur, Jiang Chuge and the others looked at a small village not far ahead.

"Let's go to the village in front of us and find a family to spend the night."

Jiang Chuge's voice trembled slightly, her hands and feet were cold, her nose was also red, because she had blown too much cold wind, her head was painful, and there was a precursor to a cold.

"Okay."

Xiao Qi nodded, and the two supported each other and headed towards the village, but were stopped by four big men at the entrance of the village.

"Stop, no outsiders are allowed in our village."

The four of them looked vigilant and aggressive, as if they regarded Xiao Qi and Jiang Chuge as invaders.

"Big brothers, we have no ill intentions, it's just that it's freezing outside, so I want to spend the night again, and we will leave early tomorrow morning, so please make it convenient."

Jiang Chuge's face was full of sincerity, hoping to move the four people in front of him.

"No, the village chief said that the people outside will bring the plague to our village, and if strangers are allowed to come in, the people in the village will die, but no outsiders are allowed to enter the village!"

The burly man who had just spoken spoke again, his tone extremely resolute, and it was clear that there was no room for manoeuvre.

The words "everyone in the village will die" were like a sharp and cold sword, piercing straight into Jiang Chuge's heart, making her so guilty that she couldn't breathe.

Outside Yongzhou City, the tragedy of the night when Yanjia Village was slaughtered once again became clear in my mind.

The pain and abuse of the villagers, the resentment and sorrow, all converged in her heart, and the bitterness was intertwined, and there was no way to get rid of it.

The tragic picture kept echoing in his mind, and Jiang Chuge's body trembled faintly.

"Miss Jiang."

Xiao Qi noticed that she was strange, and a trace of worry flashed on Junlang's face, and he whispered beside her.

"I'm fine."

The hand in Jiang Chuge's sleeve was clenched into a fist tightly, and her nails pierced deep into her palm, the pain made her feel a little better, and she struggled to suppress the surging negative emotions in her heart and responded to Xiao Qi.

It's just that the voice that trembled obviously due to excessive suppression still made Xiao Qi frown.

"What happened?"

He opened his mouth and was about to speak, but suddenly an old but thick male voice came from the village.

"Mr. Zheng, these two people want to enter the village, but the village chief has an order to strictly prohibit people from other villages from entering without permission."

The big man turned around, waved at the source of the sound, and replied respectfully.

At the same time, Xiao Qi also looked towards the source of the sound, and Jiang Chuge on the side took a deep breath, stabilized his mind, and forced himself to focus on the old man who made a cheering question.

The old man's beard is white, his hair is soft and fluffy, and he has not taken care of it, although the whole person is sloppy, but he is in good spirits, and his eyes are very bright.

His steps were so large that the snowy ground didn't seem to affect him.

In just a short time, he came to the entrance of the village from more than 30 zhang away.

Judging from his pace just now, he should be a practitioner.

The moment he saw this old man, Xiao Qi frowned slightly, and his intuition seemed to have seen this person somewhere.

Because he couldn't recall the specific time and place, he secretly moved a little in the direction of Jiang Chuge, and looked at the old man with obvious vigilance in his eyes.

The old man's gaze swept over Xiao Qi without a trace, and finally stopped on Jiang Chuge.

I haven't seen her for a few months, and the woman in front of her has lost a lot of weight, combined with the news he learned in the past, this girl must have had a bad life.

As a member of the criminal investigation detachment, Jiang Chuge is a forensic doctor, and his recognition of human faces is also very good.

When the old man approached, she also felt that this person seemed familiar, and after searching in her mind for a while, she recognized him.

This person is the old man who told a story to a group of children outside Yongzhou City that day under the hundred-year-old willows at the entrance of Yangliu Village.

"Grandpa Zheng, Yongzhou City is hundreds of miles away, you ......"

"Old man, I'm here to visit relatives, can't I?"

The old man's temper was hot, which was completely inconsistent with the kind and kind image at the entrance of Yangliu Village that day.

The corners of Jiang Chuge's mouth twitched slightly, and he said in a kind manner: "You are right, even if it is hundreds of miles away, you can go to the door." ”

On that day, this old man spoke amazingly at the entrance of Yangliu Village, like a person with hills and valleys, and today he appeared here again......

Jiang Chuge would never really believe his statement of going to the door.

This old man's identity must not be simple, he appeared outside the city of Lizhou at this time, what will he want?

Seeing that Jiang Chuge had a hidden concern in his expression, Qin Hongzheng's eyes flashed with a fine light, and he hooked his lips strangely.

Xiao Qi understood, and subconsciously glanced at Jiang Chuge beside him, but quickly retracted his gaze, held his mind, and bent over at Qin Hongzheng, and responded with the word "yes" respectfully.

When Jiang Chuge saw Xiao Qi facing the old man in front of him, there was a huge difference in his attitude.

Although she didn't show much on her face, she had doubts in her heart.

But when she looked at the face of this person who was slightly similar to the people of the Eastern Qing Dynasty, she had a vague guess in her heart.

Qin Hongzheng, the second emperor of the Eastern Qing Dynasty, took the initiative to settle down with the current emperor Qin Chenglang eight years ago, and then fled to the rivers and lakes and has not been heard from for many years.

And this old man's appearance, the conversation he had at the entrance of Yangliu Village, the title he gave to Qin Ying, and Xiao Qi's respect for him, were enough to make Jiang Chuge associate him with Emperor Qin Hongzheng......

While Jiang Chuge was thinking, Qin Hongzheng turned around and went back to the village.

After a while, two middle-aged women came out of the village with their beds and quilts.

"Two, this is the quilt and a few hot steamed buns that Mr. Zheng instructed me to send, please put them away."

"Thank you."

Jiang Chuge came back to her senses and was about to reach out to pick it up, but Xiao Qi took the quilt one step ahead of her.

"Miss Jiang, I'll do this kind of rough work."

Thinking of how difficult it was for him to move forward in this knee-deep snow, Jiang Chuge accepted Xiao Qi's kindness.