The bark is fake.

To be exact, someone put a layer of bark on top of the original bark.

Lifelike, just like the real thing.

"It must be a cover-up."

Qu Youying was very sure that when she went to pull the wooden sign on the tree, she deducted it from the bark with one hand.

Her nails were flat and not pointy, so when she buttoned them, she accidentally cut the skin, and a little blood seeped out of her fingers and stained the bark.

At the same time, she also snapped open a piece of bark.

"This is something that someone glued with fake bark, and at the fingertips of the real and fake bark, there is another layer of things, which should be used to protect the bark of the real moon tree."

She put the broken finger in her mouth and sucked it, and after confirming the inside of the bark, she smoothed the bark with her palm.

As long as you don't look at it deliberately, you can't see it.

Mu Jingzhu didn't say anything, just reached out from behind Qu Youying to hug her, wrapped her small hands with her big hands, and made a prayer posture.

Qu Youying knew that he was hiding people's eyes and ears, so he also closed his eyes at the moment and made a wish seriously.

She didn't know if Mu Jingzhu had really made a wish, but she was.

She wants Mu Jingzhu to be safe and sound, and she wants this matter to be resolved as soon as possible.

"Let's go."

After making a wish, Mu Jingzhu took her hand and continued to wander the street seemingly aimlessly.

At noon, they returned to the inn, ordered some food, and sat down in the hall, watching the people in the street, and chatting occasionally.

There are still few people in the store, only a few outsiders, and it seems that they have lived for a short time.

The innkeeper didn't know where to go, and the shopkeeper hugged him lazily, seemingly very sleepy, and began to doze off as soon as he was free.

Qu Youying took care of it for a week, lowered her voice and said to Mu Jingzhu, "I didn't see the old man last time." ”

Because of the old man's words last time, she cared a lot, so she wanted to listen, but unfortunately she didn't see anyone.

"Don't care." Mu Jingzhu gave her a dish with chopsticks, put it in a bowl, and said in a slight tone, "If we haven't met it before tomorrow, then we will go back, and someone will be sent to monitor it here." ”

Qu Youying nodded, she had never had any opinion on Mu Jingzhu's decision, but she still cared about the bark.

She held her chopsticks in one hand on the table, held the chopsticks in the other, put them in her mouth and bit them, and said, "You say, why do you want to wrap fake bark around the real tree?" Is it just to cover up? ”

"What do you think it would be?"

Mu Jingzhu reached out and pulled out the chopsticks from her mouth and put them aside.

Qu Youying pursed her lips, scooped a spoonful of soup with a spoon, and put it to her mouth, but did not drink it.

"I can't say it, but I always feel weird. This tree is the Yuelao Divine Tree of Baixiang Village, representing the belief of a village. Since the other party stole the sacred tree and wantonly allowed others to worship him, he was prepared that no one would recognize him. So there shouldn't be any surprise in what this tree looks like, right? And for the villagers, the more peculiar it is, the more it will be believed. For example, the small vendors who do handiwork also know that they use red as a metaphor for marriage and make a moon-old tree. But the real tree is covered with fake bark, so as to confuse the real with the fake. Don't you think it's redundant? ”

She paused at this point, turned her gaze to Mu Jingzhu, and asked, "How do you know that this tree is red?" ”

"On the night of the sacrifice, when I rescued the fake Yang Wan'er, I saw it. Although the bark was not very red at that time, it was not what it is now. ”

"But I came here and didn't find out." Qu Youying was still puzzled by this, and she guessed, "Could it be that only when the sacrifice is made, will the disguise be taken off?" ”

"Near the old moon tree, there will probably be an answer." Mu Jingzhu picked up the tea on the side, took a sip, and said, "When it gets dark tonight, go and have a look around." If what the old man said is true, then to feed this tree, it is necessary to use blood. Blood went to the ground, and the dirt was red. ”

Qu Youying's eyes lit up, to prove this, the only way to prove this was indeed to dig the soil under the tree.

This is also the only one that the murderer can't do to cover up.

She nodded excitedly, then ate with her head down, and said no more about the case.

Time passed quickly, and night fell in the blink of an eye.

It seems to be darker in the mountains than in the town.

Qu Youying stayed in the room all afternoon, and stayed up until the end of the day, and she really couldn't stay up.

She urged Mu Jingzhu, who was still drinking tea and reading, and said, "Don't read books, when are we going?" ”

"No. It is safest to move after the child. You'd better go get some sleep first. ”

"No, I'm afraid that if I sleep, you'll leave me behind."

Qu Youying didn't rely on him so much, but since he said that this morning, she always felt a little uneasy in her heart, afraid that something would happen to him, so she didn't want to part with him.

"Absolutely not." Mu Jingzhu took a quilt again, poured a cup of tea, and handed it to her, "Take a sip of tea and rest for a while." If you keep your spirits up, you may not be able to sleep tonight. ”

Qu Youying held the teacup in both hands, always feeling that there was such a possibility.

She lowered her head and blew on the warm tea, blowing away the tea that floated on it.

She took a big sip and felt that the tea was too bitter, so she put it aside, curled up her legs on the chair, hugged her thighs with both hands, knocked her chin between the knees of her legs, and stared straight at Mu Jingzhu with a pair of big watery eyes.

"What are you looking at me like that?"

Mu Jingzhu thought it was funny, she was so aggrieved that he couldn't help but want to tease her.

"Stay up."

She replied neatly, pursed her lips, and did not move.

"Why don't you sit in my arms?" He put down the book and opened his arms to her.

Qu Youying inexplicably remembered the scene on the street, although they were acting at the time, but now in a room, there are lonely men and widows, and he always has ulterior motives for her.

She was afraid that she would be eaten, and she didn't even vomit her bones.

So he shook his head very resolutely, "Don't." You read your book, I look at you, that's it. ”

"Hey." Mu Jingzhu was very interested in her answer, "Look at me? Don't you hate seeing me the most? ”

"It's different now." Qu Youying suddenly felt that her eyes were a little dry and tired, she reached out and rubbed her eyes, and said, "I have a feeling that you will leave me behind and investigate alone." ”

"Nonsense." Mu Jingzhu explained sincerely, "I won't leave you behind. ”

Qu Youying's eyes lit up, "Really? ”

"Really."

With his repeated assurances, Qu Youying was a little relieved.

"Then you continue to read, I'll sit for a while and rest."

She said this, her chin shifted slightly, and her cheek rested on her knee.

She had been thinking about the case all afternoon, so she didn't sleep much.

Now that it is quiet, I feel unusually sleepy, and my eyes are closed, looking at the wooden candle opposite.

However, the wooden candle became smaller and smaller in her sight, and then the darkness in front of her eyes shrouded her, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Only the silver moonlight pierced through the window and shone on her body, with a warm softness.

Mu Jingzhu put down the book in his hand, got up and walked in front of her, bent down to pick her up, and walked slowly to the bed.

"What a pig."

Mu Jingzhu helplessly poked her head, covered her with a quilt, and continued to accompany her by the bedside.

It wasn't until the middle of the moon that he looked up at the window.

This inn is not far from the Moon Old Tree, and with his light skills, it won't be long before he goes there and comes back.

So he didn't wake up Qu Youying, who was asleep, but just locked the door for her, opened the window, jumped down from the second floor, and quietly ran to the old tree.

After he left, the room was still quiet.

It can be said that the entire Baixiang Village was shrouded in soft moonlight and fell into a long sleep in darkness.

Qu Youying's breathing was steady, leaving only a faint candle flame to light beside her bed.

But not long after, the flame of the candle flickered rapidly, and it was extinguished by the wind in a few moments.

The whole room was plunged into darkness.

There was a "click", an extremely slight sound appeared in the doorway, and after a while there was a slight "babble", followed by the door being opened, and a person walked in from the outside.

In the dimness of the moonlight, only the figure of the man was seen approaching the bed......

When Qu Youying woke up, she felt some pain in her body, and she tried to turn over and find a more comfortable position.

But what came from behind was a hard and unscrupulous object.

Instinctively, she reached out to touch it, but found that her hands were tied behind her back, and when she moved again, she opened her eyes.

"Where is this?"

She panicked and looked at the world illuminated by the faint yellow candle flame.

This is clearly a cave, and there are hand-carved oil lamps on the walls of the cave.

There is a stone table in the center, surrounded by several stone benches, and a set of tea sets are placed on it.

In addition, the only place where she lay was a large stone platform about the size of a bed.

The stone platform was very hard, and she was very uncomfortable.

"How did I get kidnapped here? Candles, candles? ”

She screamed a few times, and all that could be heard around her was her echo.

She only remembered that she was asleep staring at Mu Jingzhu at the time, but what happened after that, she really didn't know.

After the initial nervousness and confusion, she quickly calmed down.

She struggled a bit, and found that although the rope was tied, it was not very tight, and there was still room for movement.

She sat on the stone platform with her legs bent, and then put her hands under her buttocks, through her thighs, and in front of her.

Immediately afterward, she untied the rope from her legs with her hands, and then bit the ropes on her hands with her mouth.

This skill was taught to her by Qianxi.

Because her body is very soft, as long as there is room for her hands and feet, she can break free from under the rope.

She untied the rope, moved her hands and feet, and descended from the stone platform.

"What the hell is this place?"

She took a deep breath and noticed that the air was moist, and as she listened, she could hear the sound of water dripping.

She walked around the small cave and found that the only exit stone gate was blocked.

She was also on the walls around her, looking for mechanisms, and even fiddling with everything here, but couldn't find the mechanism to open the door.

"Why did you tie me up here? Where is the candle? ”

She couldn't get out, she didn't know the time, she didn't know what the place was, and she didn't know what was going on while she was asleep.

All she could do was look for it here over and over again.

The other party brought her here, and this is another place where people once lived, and it must be the hiding place of the murderer.

With her usual intuition, she could guess that there must be something hidden here.

So she kept looking, all the time.

Then finally under the stone table, she found a dark grid.

She neatly opened the compartment, revealing a mahogany box inside.

On the box, the original shape of the moon tree is drawn.

And above, it is not locked.

She didn't think about it, she just opened it!

Wonderful! I want to talk about "Bone Physiognomy" with more like-minded people, pay attention to "excellent reading literature" on WeChat, talk about life, and find confidants~

Read the latest chapter on bone physiognomy, and go on