The carriage slowly stopped in front of the door of an ancient mansion, and before the carriage could stop, the mandarin duck immediately jumped out of the carriage, relying on the memory of a moment, and ran in the direction where he had just caught a glimpse of Xia Yuan.

"Eh, mandarin duck, why are you going? Don't run around! Chu Huai poked his head out of the carriage and shouted to her.

But his voice was getting farther and farther behind the mandarin duck, and she responded to him flawlessly.

She ran back to the corner just now, but unfortunately all she saw was a whole empty street, and there was no shadow of Xia Yuan.

Is it a hallucination? The mandarin duck's expression became a little lonely.

Chu Huai hurriedly chased after him, but what he saw was a mandarin duck standing at the intersection as if he had lost his soul.

"Why did you run away without saying a word? Make it easy for me to find. ”

"Master, you'll find me soon."

Chu Huai couldn't see the light in her eyes the moment the mandarin duck turned around, but soon she returned to normal.

"Master, I saw Xiao Yuan." The mandarin duck's eyes began to redden, and tears quickly blurred her eyes.

"Xia Yuan?" Chu Huai was also secretly surprised, "Impossible, you must have recognized the wrong person, the imperial city is far away from here, how could he be a busy man here?" ”

"I've never mistaken Obuchi, he's unique, and I'll never recognize anyone else as his."

"Okay, don't think about it, I'll have a chance to meet him in the future."

"Master, are you telling the truth?" Mandarin duck's expression instantly became active, and she even grabbed Chu Huai's collar excitedly, wanting to see from his face whether he was joking, "Do I really have a chance to meet him?" ”

Chu Huai was startled by the mandarin duck's sudden movements, and it was not easy to avoid her hand directly, so he had to let her hold it: "Really, really, will your master and I lie to you?" You'll know why I'm saying that now. ”

"If that's the case, Master, I don't even know how I can thank you, you really helped me too much."

"Oops, I just helped you because it was more interesting." Chu Huai stared at the mandarin duck's hand tightly, okay! Let go! I can't breathe!

The mandarin duck began to wonder why Chu Huai always stared in the same direction, and when she followed his line of sight, she realized that she hadn't let go of his collar all along, so she hurriedly let go of her hand, took a step back, and said, "I'm sorry, Master." ”

"It's fine." Chu Huai didn't care about the wrinkled clothes that were scratched by the mandarin duck, and said to the mandarin duck, "Let's go back quickly, don't let Master Shu wait alone for a long time, don't think so much, everything will be fine." ”

"Well, okay, let Master worry."

The mandarin duck followed Chu Huai and walked back to the small alley, still a little reluctant to turn back frequently, looking at the street, as expected, every time she turned around, it was the same empty piece, even if she heard Chu Huai say so, but this comfort could not make up for the empty nag in her heart.

From a distance, I saw Shu Shan standing outside the house with a smile, waiting for the two to approach.

"Master Forgiveness, I've kept you waiting for a long time, Mandarin Duck She is not sensible, she saw the old man, and ran to find someone without saying anything."

"Okay, how's it going? Has the Mandarin Duck girl seen her old friend? ”

"It's a pity, no, Mandarin Duck she recognized the wrong person."

"That's a shame." Shu Shan made a regretful expression, "Don't stand still, come in and rest together, you should be tired after a day's journey." ”

"Master Shu is, Chu is here to thank Master Shu."

......

Xia Yuan rubbed his arm and shuddered.

"What's the matter, Your Majesty, is it cold?" Qin Han walked by Xia Yuan's side and asked worriedly.

"No, for some reason, when I walked through that alley, I felt a chill, as if someone had been staring at me."

"Alley?" Qin Han looked back at the mouth of the alley he had already walked through, and there was no one behind him.

Xia Yuan saw that Qin Han had been staring behind him, and couldn't help but say, "It's okay, Brother Qin, don't stare at the back anymore, you will hit the tree, this should be my illusion." ”

"No, as His Majesty's personal guard, I must ensure your safety."

"The feeling just now didn't make me feel the killing intent, so don't worry." Xia Yuan suddenly regretted telling Qin Han about his feelings, which seemed to make him care a little too much.

"You have to be careful."

Xia Yuan and Qin Han turned a corner together and walked into a mansion.

"Your Majesty, you're finally back." The little eunuch hurriedly greeted you, "Lord County has been waiting for you for a long time. ”

"Well, got it, take me to him."

"Yes."

The little eunuch walked in front of Xia Yuan with his head bowed and led him to the depths of the mansion.

At this moment, the prefectural magistrate was pacing back and forth in the living room, and from time to time he took out a handkerchief and wiped the cold sweat oozing from his forehead.

"Lord Prefectural, what is it that makes you so anxious?" Xia Yuan watched at the door for a while before slowly walking into the hall.

"Your Majesty!" Seeing Xia Yuan walking in, the county commander hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed, "But when you came, you should have seen it when you came, right?" Before it was dark, the town was empty. ”

Xia Yuan touched his chin and said, "This is indeed a little strange, the whole street is strangely deserted, but if it is just because of the fear of pirates, it shouldn't be such a scene." ”

"Your Majesty, don't you know, just in the past few days, there has been a thief in the town, there are people missing every night, there are men and women, old and young, all walking on the street, disappearing in an instant, what's even more weird is that the number of missing people every day is still growing, some people are missing in the evening, some people are missing at night, which makes the people in the town lock themselves in their homes before dark, and dare not go to the street!"

"It's only been a few days before something so excessive happened?"

The county commander looked at Xia Yuan worriedly, and every once in a while, he kept wiping the sweat beads on his forehead with a handkerchief, "Your Majesty, what do you say we should do, this thief has made everyone in our town panic, but we can't continue to let him run rampant!" ”

Xia Yuan pondered for a while, and said to the county commander: "Lord county commander, I already know the situation, while it is still early, you should go home quickly, I will solve this matter." Come! Send the prefectural magistrate back. ”

As soon as the words fell, a few guards walked in and said to the county commander, "Lord the county commander? Here's please. ”

"Emperor Xie, your great kindness, we will definitely remember it." After the county commander finished saluting Xia Yuan, he followed the guards and walked out.

"Brother Qin, I have to trouble you to investigate." Xia Yuan sat down, picked up a book and read it.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

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