Speaking of this, he suddenly remembered something, and said: "Yuxiu's kung fu is very good, I once heard her say that when she came back for the New Year last year, she met nearly ten robbers on the road, and she beat them away. ”

"Recently, there has been no incident in our village and the surrounding villages where anyone has encountered robbers, this Chinese New Year, Wuxiu and Yuxiu, shouldn't they have encountered a lot of robbers?"

Zheng Bang shook his head: "I observed on the way here, and there are no traces of a fight on the ground. They shouldn't have encountered robbers. ”

"Our family has been in our family for so many years, that is, I sometimes have a few words with the people in the village, but my temper comes and goes quickly, and those who are familiar with me know that outside the village, there are at most one or two who hate me in their hearts, and there is absolutely no one who hates me."

"Also, our Liujia Village is adjacent to Zhoujia Village on your side, and we are standing at the head of the village and shouting in the direction of your village, and the people at the end of your village can hear it clearly."

"Wuxiu, Yuxiu, plus dogs, stones, there are a total of four people, Yuxiu's kung fu is so good, if they didn't meet a lot of robbers, there was no reason why they didn't make a little movement, and they suddenly disappeared." Liu Wuxiu's father was a little puzzled.

Xiao Qiongzhi pondered seriously for a while, and said, "They should have met people who are far more powerful than robbers." ”

"Since your family doesn't have any enemies in the village or outside the village, then the people who captured them should not be coming at you, but at themselves or others close to them."

Liu Wuxiu's father thought about it and shook his head: "It shouldn't be at them." Little master, you don't know, Wuxiu is like me, easy to quarrel with people, but her temper comes and goes quickly, and those who are familiar with her know that outside the village, there are at most one or two who hate her in their hearts, and there is absolutely no one who hates her. ”

"Yuxiu is like her mother, she has never quarreled with anyone, her temper is so good, she has been away from home for a long time, there are not many people in the village and outside the village who know her, no one should resent her in their hearts and hate her."

"Then it should be rushing, someone else who is close to them." When Zheng Bang heard this, he said very seriously.

"Wuxiu is now living in the little master's house with dogs and stones, big hero, what do you mean, are you saying that the people who caught Wuxiu and Yuxiu are actually coming for the little master, right?" Liu Wuxiu's eyes widened and he asked in disbelief.

"No, it doesn't have to be Chongzhi'er, specifically, I have to go to their way back to Zhoujia Village to take a closer look before I know." After Zheng Bang finished speaking, he carried Xiao Qiongzhi on his back and walked along the road back to Zhoujia Village.

In recent days, it has been a cold and overcast weather, with strong winds during the day and lighter winds at night, but occasional snowfalls.

The road from Liujia Village to Zhoujia Village is covered with thick snow on both sides, at least nearly one meter.

The snow on the road is only about four or five centimeters thick.

Because, for the sake of the patriarch of Liujia Village, the people of Liujia Village picked up the children who came to Xiao Qiongzhi's house every day last month to attend classes, and before the Chinese New Year, they had to spontaneously carry shovels on their backs and shovel snow on the road almost every day.

Zheng Bang carried Xiao Qiongzhi on his back, starting from the yard of Liu Wuxiu's mother's house, and along the way, he was carefully inspecting the road and both sides of the road, leaving footprints or other imprints.

Xiao Qiongzhi also lowered his head and followed to look carefully.

Since today is the second day of the new year, there are many people who go back to their parents' homes to pay New Year's greetings, and there are many footprints out of the village and into the village.

It is not easy to identify the footprints of Liu Wuxiu, Liu Yuxiu, dogs, and stones from these footprints, let alone the footprints left by potential people who kidnapped them.

However, Xiao Qiongzhi has noticed that when walking on the road on a snowy day, he likes to let the dog walk in front, and he follows closely behind, stepping on the footprints of the dog.

In addition, now the weather is freezing, there is ice and snow on the road, and it is inconvenient for ox carts to travel, and everyone in and out of the village has to walk on their legs.

Among them, the vast majority of people will directly choose a relatively safe and flat road in the middle because there are no vehicles passing by on the road.

Dogs and stones are different, they are used to learning Xiao Qiongzhi, walking on the right, never walking on the left or in the middle of the walk.

She told Zheng Bang all these situations carefully, and when she looked down at the footprints on the road, she also looked at the side of the road on the right, where there were similar overlapping footprints.

Finally, after walking more than 100 meters out of Liujia Village, Xiao Qiongzhi and Zheng Bang both found overlapping footprints on the road on the right side of the road that were suspected to be dogs and stones.

Both of them were a little excited, and began to look more seriously for the dogs and other footprints left by the stones on the road.

After walking about six or seven hundred meters, the footprints of the dog and the stone disappeared.

Moreover, where their footprints disappear, there is no other person's mass or dense footprints.

Xiao Qiongzhi's mind subconsciously flashed the scene that when Zheng Bang was doing a mechanism to catch pheasants, he used his sword to smooth out the snow on the snow that had been stepped out of the footprints.

She asked Zheng Bang to put her down from her back, took out the wooden dagger that Zheng Bang had sharpened for her from her arms, and poked it hundreds of times all the way to the place where the dog and stone footprints disappeared.

Zheng Bang asked a little puzzled: "Zhi'er, what are you looking for?" ”

Xiao Qiongzhi replied: "Footprints, I'm testing whether there is anyone here, using a sword to smooth out the footprints that have been stepped out, the snow on the snow, and how many footprints are hidden underneath." ”

"You're working too hard like this, in fact, to see if the snow has been trampled and then leveled, just pick up the snow here with your hands, pinch it to see if it is softer than elsewhere, and then look up at the snow on the nearby trees, whether there are any traces of movement, you can know." Zheng Bang said.

After speaking, he pointed to the two pine trees on the side of the road and reminded Xiao Qiongzhi: "Zhi'er, look, is the snow on these two trees thinner and less than the snow on the trees behind them?" ”

"Yes." Xiao Qiongzhi followed the direction of his finger, looked carefully, and nodded.

Zheng Bang then reminded: "The snow in the place where people have been trampled is often dirty, and even if it can be leveled with a sword, it will look like a noticeable difference, so at this time, you can only find some clean snow from nearby and cover it with a thin layer to cover it up." ”

"The snow found from the trees tends to be in clusters, and when people scatter it on the road, it is relatively soft."

Xiao Qiongzhi suddenly realized: "So that's the case, I understand." ”

Zheng Bang pointed to the two pine trees and continued to remind: "Take a closer look, is there anything special about the places with less snow on these two trees?" ”

Xiao Qiongzhi looked up and looked at it carefully for a while before he burst out with a surprised sigh: "Footprints! There are footprints in the trees! ”

"Yes!" Zheng Bang glanced at Xiao Qiongzhi approvingly.

These footprints on the trees are all picked in places with little snow, and they are not obvious at all. If you don't look closely, you can't see it.

Farmer's Gate Golden Branch

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