The fire in the woods was very faint, on the one hand, the trees were leafy in March, obscuring the moon in the sky. On the other hand, Xiao Lian didn't dare to use too bright torches, for fear of alarming the mountain bandits.

Under the flickering firelight, the woods looked so gloomy that it was impossible to imagine that there would be a peach grove on the mountainside in such a mountain during the day. It is even more difficult to imagine that there will be a mountain bandit's den not far from such a peach forest.

Xiao Lian and He Jingying followed the fat tiger in the woods. Suddenly, the fat tiger barked. Xiao Lian squatted down beside the fat tiger in the aisle, and the firelight illuminated the muddy ground in front of the fat tiger.

The mud was a little wetter than the surrounding area, and the dirt seemed to have been turned over. A closer look at the past shows that the dirt was not turned up, but several horseshoe prints were overlapped on top of each other, resulting in the appearance of the dirt being turned over. There was a shallow strangulation mark on the tree next to the dirt.

Xiao Lian took advantage of the firelight to inspect the surrounding trees and mud in turn and said: "Horses have been tied to these trees, it should be that those mountain bandits tied their horses here at the beginning, and rode away after tying Ji Shang and Miss Wang on the mountain road." ”

He Jingying's heart jumped suddenly: "Prepare the horse here in advance?" But today we are temporarily determined to go to enjoy the peach blossoms. How could they get the news so quickly? ”

Xiao Lian also realized this, and remembered the family members who were cut off when he checked the plague before, and his heart was even more uneasy: "Is it the domestic servant in the house again?" ”

He Jingying shook her head: "Since I found out about the plague, I have checked all the maids and maids in the palace and the prince's mansion, and they are all innocent." Every month, on the pretext of rewarding, he also sent some rice and oil to the relatives of those maids. The most recent time was three days ago, and nothing out of the ordinary. It shouldn't be a person from the house. ”

Xiao Lian: "Could it be the people around Ji Shang?" Or the people around Miss Wang? ”

He Jingying: "Ji Shang should not be able to go alone on weekdays without a small house." There is a mother Zhang next to Miss Wang, and Mother Zhang is not the one who will harm Miss Wang. ”

Xiao Lian searched around and saw that the fresh soil was spreading along the northwest direction. Xiao Lian pointed: "It should be that direction." ”

The two of them followed the sigil towards the hill, and the further up they went, the drier the dirt became, and the horseshoe prints became harder and harder to find, until a fork in the road was completely gone.

Xiao Lian looked left and right, there were two roads, one up the mountain and one down. The way up the mountain is easy to walk, but the way down the mountain is very difficult.

The way down the mountain is along the stone wall, which is a natural formation of steps. Going down the stairs is a narrow passage. The passage is a natural formation of a half-open cave that has been cracked in the steep mountain wall. The half-open cave is bordered by a steep cliff on one side and a cliff on the other. The cliff is not high, but the passage is so narrow that it is only for a procession of horses to pass.

Xiao Lian squatted down and stretched out his hand to touch the stone steps down the mountain, there was scattered dirt on it, and it was slightly wet.

Xiao Lian pointed to the way down the mountain: "The mountain bandits should go in this direction." ”

He Jingying: "Why? ”

Xiao Lian: "The horseshoe prints are gone here." Although the soil in the direction of the mountain is dry, a few horses passing through it will leave some traces. The lower part of the mountain is full of cliffs, and the stones are hard, and the horses' hooves will not leave marks. Xiao Lian showed He Jingying his hand stained with dirt: "There is still this soil, which has not dried yet, and it should have only been left for a short time." ”

Xiao Lian said again: "Daughter-in-law, don't you think today's events are too coincidental?" ”

He Jingying nodded, she also felt strange, in addition to the mountain bandits who just said that they would not choose the palace to attack, there were also some other doubts. But these doubts only flashed through her mind, and she failed to grasp them.

Xiao Lian said: "When we found Gonggong Xu today, there were still a lot of people around. Looking at the cars stuck on the road today, there are still a few that are quite rich. The peach blossoms here have long bloomed, and people come to this mountain to see the peach blossoms during this time. Have these bandits never made a move? The first time he made a move, he picked the carriage of the palace. Are they tired of being alive or are they sick in the head? ”

He Jingying recognized Xiao Lian's evaluation of "brain disease".

Xiao Lian continued: "I don't think this group of mountain bandits is an ordinary group of mountain bandits, and this place may not even be a base camp. It's too difficult to bring in some supplies on the way down the mountain. Mountain bandits often have to block the road and rob, and in this terrain, the large ones dare not rob, and the heavy ones cannot be transported. Could it be that after they grabbed the treasure chest, they didn't immediately go back to their old nest, and then went to exchange for rice? ”

He Jingying: "If it's a mountain bandit who only kills people and trades goods, it's possible." It's a place that's easy to defend and hard to attack. There are many caves in the mountains, and Tibetans are easy to hide. ”

The corners of Xiao Lian's mouth hooked: "These murderous bandits are quite romantic, and the place where they live is quite outstanding."

The mountain road is narrow, and if you can't see clearly, you may fall. The two of them found some more dry wood and made two larger torches, took them in their hands, made a mark on the way down the mountain, and lit the stairs with the firelight, and prepared to go down.

But the fat tiger, the cowardly dog, after going down two steps, his limbs and fat legs trembled with fright, and he whimpered on the steps and refused to go. Xiao Lian had no choice but to carry the fat tiger up, and regardless of whether the fat tiger could understand it or not, he seriously instructed a few words, turned around and walked down the steps with He Jingying.

The mountain wind blew over the cliff with a mournful cry, through the half-open stone cave, and blew two torches to hunt. The shadows of the two were imprinted on the stone wall, suddenly elongated and sometimes shortened, and from a distance, they looked like two evil ghosts with teeth and claws.

Walking through the half-open stone cave, they soon saw the end, and the two were in confusion, and suddenly attracted by a flickering fire on the left.

The two quickly extinguished the torches and stood against the cliff. At the end of this half-open cavern, there is a cave on the left-hand side, and the entrance is narrow enough for one person to pass through. If it weren't for the firelight flashing inside at night, it would have been hard to find a hole here.

The two of them quietly walked in, entered through the narrow hole, walked a hundred steps and suddenly opened up, the cave is extremely deep, it is a natural karst cave, and stalactites are hanging on the top of the cave. The flickering light was because someone happened to pass by the entrance of the cave when they were on patrol, and when they looked through the hole, they would see a glimmer of light.

There are strange rocks in the cave, and although the two of them have walked to the open area, there are still many prominent strange rocks to hide. The two of them hid behind strange rocks and eavesdropped on the two on patrol.

"I heard that the big boss and the second boss quarreled again."

"Because of the two people who were arrested today?"

"Isn't it? The second boss got angry when he saw the person who was arrested. ”

"Hey, isn't that what we're doing? What's there to be angry about? ”

"It's not that you don't know, there are many rules in the second master."

"If it weren't for the second boss who saved the life of the big boss back then, where could he be the second boss? Why are there so many rules? Cut off the brother's financial route! ”

"Hey, don't say that, after the second master came, although the brothers didn't have as much oil and water as before, there were a lot fewer brothers who went to report to Lord Yama. You see how many brothers die every year before us? ”

"What's this? Who doesn't care about this with their head tied to their belts? ”

Xiao Lian and He Jingying clinged to the cliff and glanced at each other. Looks like you've found the right place.

(End of chapter)