CHAPTER IX

Out of the yamen, Xu Chu walked around the street, and when he saw interesting things, he would look at them with interest. When she walked to the stall selling oil-paper umbrellas, she remembered that the broken umbrella she brought was lost at the Qian family, and she thought that the paper umbrella had long been unable to shelter from the wind and rain, so she simply stepped forward and picked up a new one.

This time the case of the Qian family was solved, not only did the master of the Zhang family give him an honorarium of fifty taels, but even Xiao Qinglang, the king of Jing'an, also rewarded some strange things. However, in her opinion, those things were far less affordable than the copper plates that were later replaced.

Xu Chu returned to Xujiazhuang after a gap of nine days, and now it is the time when every household lights a fire to cook, and the smoke curls is quite a bit of a pastoral and comfortable atmosphere.

Because the Xu family is a servant, so they live in the most remote west of the village, and now she pushes open the dilapidated wooden door into the courtyard, and sees that there is no change except for the fallen leaves and mud, and she knows that her father has not returned.

She sighed, put the fifty taels of silver tickets in the first room, and then began to tidy up the yard of the house. In the end, it was close to the mountains, and in autumn it was windy, and the leaves were all over the yard and the ground was full of dust. She thought that in a few years, her father would retire from the yamen, and she would have to persuade him to rebuild the house.

It took two hours to clean up, until it was dark, and then she resigned herself to the kitchen to make a fire and cook. When it was time to boil the water, she sat at the mouth of the stove and pondered the case of the Qian family, although Young Master Qian, Ying'er and others deserved it, but she just felt that there was a deeper case behind this matter.

It's like many people who sinned in previous lives were instigated.

But now she has no evidence, and she can't decide the case by instinct alone. Even if the stepwife is wrong, she can only receive a few words of condemnation. As for her past grievances with Young Master Qian, whether it is love or hatred, it no longer matters, as long as Master Qian doesn't speak, she will always be the stepwife of the Qian family......

Xu Chuzheng sighed, and heard the wooden door creak and was pushed open, and then a tall and sturdy figure appeared in front of the door of the stove room.

"Miss Xu......" The figure coughed lightly, and called faintly, "Miss Xu is really going simply......"

Xu Chu's mind turned white, and the whole person who was frightened by that voice was terrified. Could it be that he encountered a ghost, how could the pampered prince appear in his own unfortunate courtyard, which everyone avoids?

By the time she reacted, Xiao Qinglang was already standing on the edge of the stove with his hands on his chest, and after seeing the clear soup and little water in the iron pot, he raised his eyebrows and said coldly with disgust: "Last time, there was a bowl of noodles, but this time the favor that caught Ah Sheng was a few mouthfuls of clear rice soup?" ”

Xu Chu saw that he didn't blame, so he sat down and lit the fire carefully, and watched the rice soup in the pot boil away, before he said: "Is it difficult for the prince to deign to come here to ask the people to return the favor?" ”

Xiao Qinglang's eyelids drooped slightly, looking at Xu Chu who was looking up at him, but he only saw that those eyes were as bright as stars against the backdrop of the firelight. Inexplicably, he remembered the firmness and fearlessness in her eyes when the Qian family decided the case.

After a long time, he laughed softly, but his voice was still calm as if he didn't have much emotion, "What do you mean by asking Wei Guang to return the token?" The woman's autopsy is already shocking, isn't it more convenient to have a criminal department token? ”

Xu Chu's hand holding the wooden stick to play with the flame was scalded and shrunk suddenly, but she didn't think much about it, and only said, "The token of the Criminal Department is so easy to take?" The folk girl has no other thoughts, she just wants to take a few simple private jobs to add some money to the family, and then give her father a pension. As for those big and important cases, the people are really out of reach. ”

Seeing that Xu Chu handed over something, Xiao Qinglang subconsciously took it in his hand, and only when he took it did he find that it was a hot cake.

He was stunned in his heart, and pinched the piece of cake slightly in his hand, but he didn't really eat it in his mouth. Even if he is not a picky person, but he is used to brocade clothes and jade food, and this coarse object really feels that he can't swallow it.

Xiao Qinglang watched Xu Chu's figure busy circling around the stove room, and hesitated for a moment before he considered: "You don't want to accept the sign of the Criminal Department because Xu Cheng is doing it?" ”

"Everyone has their own destiny, the prince only hopes that the officials will rule Qingning and there will be no unjust prisons in the world, while the people want to live a simple life with the old father in peace, and they will be satisfied without worrying about food and clothing every day." Xu Chu took a simple meal and put it on the only table in the kitchen, and said with a smile, "If it's just the people's daughter herself, it's just that, but the old father's expectations and the people's daughter don't dare to disobey." ”

It seemed to be unexpected, but when Xu Chu was seen, he felt that her refusal was expected. In fact, even Xiao Qinglang himself didn't understand why he valued a woman who had only met a few times so much, maybe it was her ability, or maybe it was something he hadn't seen before.

When the fire was extinguished, the warm meal was steaming, and the handsome man with a long posture looked at the woman who was not very delicate, and he didn't know what to think for a while.

"The case of the Qian family, why didn't you follow the rumors, but only found a few inconspicuous inquiries. Even Master Qian didn't even ask a few words, and he deduced the inside story between him and Ying'er. ”

"It is not as convenient as the official to investigate the case, nor is it as convenient as the prince who has enough manpower, so every time the woman investigates the case, she first lists the doubts in her heart and hits the core." Xu Chu's eyes will be bright when he talks about the case, and in the dimness, Xiao Qinglang inexplicably feels that the woman in front of him is shining all over, and sure enough, she should become a member of the Three Law Divisions.

"Sometimes too many clues may not be a good thing, but it is easy to disrupt the direction, it is better to dig deeper every time you set a direction, and you can always dig out the truth."

For Xu Chu's assertion, Xiao Qinglang heard it for the first time, don't talk about others, even if he handles cases, the more clues the better, and the more clues, the better, and then find out the truth. But now, there is a person who has put forward a statement that is contrary to his common sense, and even solved the case alone three or four times, which is fresh.

Xiao Qinglang thought silently in his heart, his eyes were deep, and he said sincerely for a long time: "I have been taught." ”

After sending Xiao Qinglang away, Xu Chu began to clean up the dishes and chopsticks, but before she finished wiping the table, she found a token on the table. She sighed, didn't say anything more, and gathered the token away.

In the next few days, the days were uneventful, she still memorized the codex, and from time to time went to the morgue to help with the autopsy with Yizhuang. It's just that since the Qian family's case, she also knows that she has displeased the county master, so she can avoid it as much as possible. Fortunately, with the Qian family's bounty, she didn't have to borrow the yamen's toolbox every time, but found someone to make a set by herself.

In September, the news of the haunting of Yunzhou City spread all over the town. Xu is Cangyan County is some distance from Yunzhou City, and when people talk about it, they are a little more unscrupulous and a little less taboo.

"That evil ghost is really powerful, not only can it kill people in the clouds, but it can even confuse the officers and soldiers stationed all over the city, so that people don't have a clue." I saw the storyteller patting the shocking wood, and continued with a sound of a river in his mouth, "The first person was cut off by a terrible ghost and died, and his death was miserable, and the ground under the castle tower was covered with blood, but it took a whole day to wash it with white ash...... As for the second person, it is even more bizarre, he actually died with a wooden stick through his chest, you think, who has so much durability and can kill people with a stick except for evil spirits? ”

As he spoke, the storyteller could lower his voice, his gaze swept over the faces of a group of curious people, and then bared his teeth and said: "In Yunzhou City, everyone knows a nursery rhyme now, and I don't know where it started, do you know what it is?" ”

"What?" Someone couldn't stand his betrayal, so he hurriedly asked. 、

"Nature is ......" The storyteller slapped the wood again, shook his head and shook his head to learn, "gold, wood, water, fire and earth, the wicked sacrifice evil ghosts, the eternal fall of the beast road, the hundred ghosts have no taboos......"

Xu Chu, who came to make soy sauce on the side, couldn't help but raise his eyebrows and glance at the storyteller when he heard this. Seeing that everyone was still listening to it with relish, she sneered and left alone.

Not to mention the side, not to mention those so-called ghosts asking for their lives, most of them are crowded. Even if there are really evil ghosts, Xiao Qinglang, the king of Jing'an, who is in charge of the world's criminal prisons, is in charge of Yunzhou, and he is afraid that the evil ghosts will not dare to appear and harass the world easily.

She sighed in her heart, and suddenly remembered that the bad vinegar used in the autopsy was gone, so she turned and went to the grocery store again...... At this time, she didn't know that someone in Yunzhou City had already remembered her.

Just after the second watch, I saw a carriage on the empty street from far and near, the headlights in front of the carriage flashed a strange light in the dark night, and then a faint blue flame appeared in the air around the carriage, only the carriage was burned beyond recognition.

It wasn't until dawn the next day, when the merchants began to set up stalls, that someone found the strange carriage, and some of them had the courage to come forward to check, but they just crawled miserably and shouted: "Ghost, ......

There have been four murders in Yunzhou City recently, each of which is strange and terrifying, not like a human doing, and now it is rumored that ghosts are rampant in the market, and those people are cursed to death.

"It's really not been peaceful lately, isn't it really as rumored, the curse of the evil ghost?"

"Why not, wasn't there a rumor before that the wicked sacrificed evil spirits to the wicked? It's only been two months now, and four people have died, and they have all died of gold, wood, water, and ghost fire, and this is not a curse! The person who answered the call looked shocked, lowered his voice and continued, "I heard that those people have no contact at all, and they can't even find out the cause of death. Now the Lord Zhizhou is so anxious that he hasn't left the yamen for a few days......"

"Hey, it's hard to say, I just don't know who is next."

"Shhhh