"So the young lady who came to steal the lover turned out to be His Royal Highness......"

In the room, everyone tried their best to hold back a smile. Mu Changan helplessly held his forehead: "If you want to laugh, laugh, I feel sorry for you like this." ”

Pei Xia is a girl, and she was a little reserved and only pursed her mouth, and Wei Jiu laughed directly.

"Why did His Highness come to Chenzhou?" After the joke, Pei Xia was still very surprised, "It's a good thing that I ran into it, if I change someone else'......"

"If it was someone else, I wouldn't have been silent just now." Wei Ba stole a glance at his Royal Highness, since the last time he investigated the case with Pei Xia in Linci County, Wei Ba could vaguely feel that His Royal Highness was a little interested in this Pei girl, instead of going around the bend to investigate, wouldn't it be better to get people under his nose and look at it? Although he was glared at by the dragon commander when he entered the door, he was obviously not angry when he saw His Highness's appearance!

"I came to Shanzhou to visit an old man. I wonder why Miss Pei came here? Mu Changan was indeed not angry, but he was very vigilant in his heart, they had just arrived in Peiling on the front foot, and Pei Xia had arrived on the back foot, it was difficult to say whether it was a coincidence or a follower.

Pei Xia also knew in her heart that Mu Changan would look very kind, but if she didn't make this matter clear today, Mu Changan might turn her face the next moment, after all, she hadn't really won Mu Changan's trust, and she was now holding Mu Changan's big handle.

Fortunately, she really didn't come with Mu Changan.

"I'm here to investigate a case, because the evidence is not sufficient at present, Lord Cao just asked me to come alone to investigate privately, and here is the letter that Lord Cao asked me to hand over to a friend." Pei Xia took out Cao Yanzhang's letter to Zhang Yuan, the chief bookkeeper of Peiling County, and Long Zhi took it and opened it and read it carefully, then nodded to Mu Changan.

Mu Changan was a little relieved, and said with a smile: "That's really a coincidence." Miss Pei is here to find a place to live? Since everyone is an acquaintance, I have wronged Miss Pei to live here for a few days. ”

The implication is to monitor Pei Xia. Pei Xia didn't have any opinion on this, she was also looking for a place to live, and this was an unexpected gain for her. After this incident, presumably Mu Changan's wariness of her can be greatly reduced, she didn't even poke out Mu Chang'an from the fiefdom without permission, how can she hurt him?

"Your Highness is gracious. Lord Cao sent me to come alone, I was afraid that I would come out of the basket, since I met His Highness, probably God blessed, I wonder if I can borrow someone from His Highness? ”

Pei Xia has a clear way of thinking about the case and acts decisively, how can he be afraid of getting out of the basket because he is alone? The twists and turns of these words are just one meaning: I am inconvenient to stay in the inn on official business, if you are not at ease, you can send someone to follow me.

Pei Xia is so frank, most of the time it is really just a coincidence that he appears here. Mu Changan was in a much better mood, and he felt that the more Pei Xia pondered, the more interesting she became, her mind was exquisite, her advance and retreat were measured, and she was interesting and interesting.

"It's okay, let Wei Jiu go with you, in case something happens, you can take care of it."

Pei Xia thanked Mu Chang'an and rested that night.

The next day, Pei Xia took Wei Jiu to the county government of Peiling County to find Zhang Yuan.

Zhang Yuan is the same age as Cao Yanzhang, and he has thick eyebrows and big eyes. After reading the letter, he sighed with emotion: "I have said goodbye to Brother Cao's capital and haven't seen him for several years, so I miss it very much." Unexpectedly, Brother Cao has now been promoted to the official business of the Qiuzhou Criminal Prison Division, which is really gratifying. Since Brother Cao asked you to come, if you have anything to help, just say, I will definitely do my best to help you. ”

Pei Xia saluted and thanked him and asked: "I am investigating a case, the place where the deceased died is on a mountain, which is relatively close to the old tree village here, I heard the legend of the old tree village about the mountain god eating people on that mountain, I don't know if Lord Zhang has heard of it?" ”

Zhang Yuan was stunned: "Is there anything else?" I've never heard of that. ”

Pei Xia thought about it, the mother-in-law in Liujia Village said that it was a rumor more than 20 years ago, Zhang Yuan came to Peiling County should be a matter of the past few years, and it is normal that he has not heard of it, so he asked again: "Did Laoshu Village report a disappearance case 20 years ago?" ”

This Zhang Yuan had seen it in the file of Peiling County, and he had some impressions: "I remember that there were a few reports, and you wait for me to find it for you." ”

Zhang Yuan went to the treasury where the government office stored the files and rummaged for a while, took out a book, hurriedly browsed it, and said to Pei Xia: "There really is, Tianhe has been reported missing for nine years, ten years, and eleven years, and there have been five people missing in total, all of whom are fifteen or sixteen-year-old teenagers, and no one has been found according to the above records. ”

Pei Xia asked him for the dossier, transcribed the information of the missing person, and continued to ask, "Is this all?" Did anything else happen in Laoshu Village in those years? ”

Zhang Yuan went to look through the files of the previous years and the next few years: "Ah! In the first three years, even in the sixth year of Tianhe, a disappearance was reported, and it disappeared after the eleventh year of Tianhe. ”

If the legend of the mountain god cannibalism really refers to these disappearances, the year is the right time for the mother-in-law of Liujia Village. In other words, during that time, six teenagers disappeared in Laoshu Village.

"Who was the adult of Peiling Zhi County at that time? Is there no attention paid to such successive disappearances? Pei Xia felt very strange.

"That adult was demoted and transferred elsewhere because of these disappearances." Zhang Yuan explained: "Miss Pei, you don't often come to our side, I don't know, the mountain you said is called Si Myanmar Mountain on our side, it stretches for hundreds of miles, and there are only a few peaks in your Qiu Prefecture. Many places on the mountain are densely wooded, surrounded by fog all year round, and if this person hides in it, it will be difficult to find him for three or five years. ”

In this way, it should be that someone saw a missing boy enter the mountain, and the legend of the mountain god eating people will be spread. After Pei Xia learned about the situation back then, he planned to go to Laoshu Village to have a look, but was unexpectedly stopped by Zhang Yuan.

"Lord Zhang? But what else? Seeing that Zhang Yuan wanted to speak and stopped, Pei Xia was a little puzzled.

"Miss Pei, that old tree village...... Hey, the villagers there are very repulsive to outsiders, it's not easy to deal with, if they say anything ugly, you can bear with it, you don't know the place well, don't conflict with them. Zhang Yuan saw that Pei Xia only brought one person with him this time to investigate, and he looked like he was still sixteen or seventeen years old, so he was a little worried.

Wei Jiu is young, even if he is a little careless, but he can always follow Mu Changan by his side, he must have some ability. Pei Xia was very relieved about this, but Master Zhang was also kind, Pei Xia saluted and said: "So that's the case, thank you Lord Zhang for reminding me." ”

"Miss Pei, although I am not as powerful as Brother Long, a few villagers still can't help me. If you want to know what you want to do when the time comes, just ask, and if they dare to make things difficult for you, I want them to look good! Coming out of the county office, Wei Jiu patted his chest and assured that he felt cordial from the first time he saw Pei Xia, and this time he was sent out to handle the case with Pei Xia, and he could be said to be very happy in his heart.

"That's what your Highness taught you?" Pei Xia saw that he was talking interestingly, and couldn't help but tease.

"Not really." Wei Jiu rubbed his nose a little embarrassed: "Your Highness will definitely not have the same knowledge as these people, and will tell us not to cause trouble." ”

"I see that His Highness's complexion this time seems to be worse than last time, is it because he has been seriously ill recently?" The last time Pei Xia saw Mu Changan taking medicine, he wanted to ask about his condition, but Mu Changan diverted the topic and didn't ask, feeling that Wei Jiu was a simple-minded person with no scheming, Pei Xia knocked on the side.

"It's an old problem, it's cold and it's going to get sick, cough and chills, it's still good now, and it's even worse in winter." Wei Jiu was really not alert, and told Pei Xia about Mu Changan's situation one by one.

"Your Highness is young, how can there be such an old problem? Didn't you take a look at the imperial doctor in Beijing in the past? Pei Xia was curious.

"Of course I have seen it, but it is a little troublesome to cure, and it is ......" And Mu Changan wanted to take advantage of his illness to recuperate, but which of the so many pairs of eyes in the capital was easy to fool, and he could rest assured if he didn't let them see that he was really sick, so he didn't care about it after delaying it for so long. Although Wei Jiu doesn't have any scheming, he is not stupid in the end, and this kind of secret will naturally not be said.

He hesitated for a moment and brought this sentence through, and as for the cause, he really didn't know, and asked Commander Long and Mr. Gao, but no one told him.

"I only heard that His Royal Highness was kidnapped when he was a child, and he suffered from a cold outside, and he has not been treated, and when he found it, he had a high fever for several days, and he was almost not saved."

I didn't hear this from His Royal Highness, but he heard what other palace maids and eunuchs said in the palace, and it is unknown whether it is true or not.

It's not good to ask too much about other things, although Wei Jiu doesn't have any scheming, but Mu Changan is not easy to fool, Pei Xia will accept it when he sees it, so as not to go back at night Mu Changan asked about Wei Jiu and became suspicious.

The two hired a car to come to Laoshu Village, which is completely different from the lively scene of Liujia Village, Laoshu Village looks much desolate here, several houses at the head of the village have been abandoned for a long time, no one in the village moves, every household is closed, and there are people working in the fields outside, but they are all older, and there are no young people in sight.

Pei Xia found a smoking house and knocked on the door, and the door was opened by a lady in her fifties, she looked at the two strangers in front of her, and her expression was very vigilant.

"Auntie, my brother and I passed by your village, we were really tired from walking, and we wanted to borrow a place to rest and beg for a bowl of water to drink."

On the way here, Pei Xia discussed with Wei Jiu, since the people in this village are very repulsive to outsiders, and directly reveal their identities and say that they are allowed to handle the case, they must not cooperate, it is better to pretend to be a passing traveler to probe first.