Gu Changqing, who quickly returned to the inn, took out the hidden palace night banquet without the slightest delay and observed it carefully.

Yan Mu knew that Gu Changqing would not usually hear his words at this time, so he simply hid aside and took the interesting books he bought a few days ago to read.

The candlelight is visible, and a crackle that appears every now and then makes the whole room seem quieter.

Yan Mu watched Gu Changqing raise his head from the painting, then walked over and asked, "What did you find?" ”

Gu Changqing seemed to have countless words to tell, and even his eyes were much brighter than before when he looked at Yan Mu, and his hand pointed to the place where the five dead people were, "Look here, here, here...... And here, the dry well, Zhongli Palace, Yongdao, Shexiangyuan, these four clearly constitute a complete shape, and you look at this, the place where the palace painting gallery is located, is the center of the figure surrounded by four points?! ”

Yan Mu's eyes followed the place pointed by Gu Changqing's fingers, and he was constantly thinking and laughing at the meaning of Gu Changqing's words in his heart, and Gu Changqing was quite excited because of the dissipation of the fog in his heart, "What I have been unable to understand at first is why the murderer chose the five of them, why there are both palace maids and eunuchs and the emperor's favorite concubines, and whether he killed these five people with ulterior motives or at will." So I set my sights on Xu Meiren, who has a big flaw! Because her death is the most unusual, and it is also the most likely to find the flaws left by the murderer.

But it wasn't until you looked at those girls just now that I suddenly understood, in fact, the person who died is not important to the murderer, and Xu Meiren was only chosen because she was more suitable in some aspects, and the important thing is the location where these five people died when they died, that is, the five locations of Shexiangyuan and Zhongli Palace. ”

Yan Mu felt a little difficult to digest, so he could only wait for the next in a daze, but Gu Changqing paused, and looked at the scroll seriously for a while before continuing, "So, according to the arrangement of the murderers in terms of locations, the most important of these five locations is the palace art gallery!" ”

"So what's the use of that? Even if this palace gallery is the center of the other four locations, that doesn't prove who the murderer is? Yan Mu asked suspiciously.

"Do you remember the description of the five dead in the case file we read?"

Yan Mu nodded, "Remember, the first little eunuch was hanging upside down by the well, but he was poisoned. The second is the little palace maid who hanged herself in Zhongli Palace, but her body was covered with ice cubes! The third ......"

Yan Mu was about to continue, but was decisively interrupted by Gu Changqing, "If you think about it carefully, the first deceased was poisoned, but he was hung by the well, while the second deceased was just hanging from a tree, although his hair was hanged, his neck was obviously strangled." The third deceased was frozen to death on the side of the road, while the second deceased happened to be wrapped in ice cubes all over his body! ”

"I see!" Yan Mu also became excited, "The murderer is playing a game, using the vision around the previous deceased to predict the death of the next deceased. ”

"Yes, the murderer is indeed one ring after another. But that's not the only thing he's holding! Gu Changqing pointed to the places where the five deceased died on the screen, and continued, "First of all, the first person to die was the little eunuch in the imperial dining room, with a low status, and the dry well was the farthest from the first rank of the emperor's place among the five points. The second is the great palace maid of Zhongli Palace, the personal maid of the noble concubine, and Zhongli Palace is the second farthest among the five locations from the first rate. The third is a first-rate firewood person, who is usually close to the emperor but has no direct contact, so his identity is in the middle, and the Yongdao where he was located at that time was also moderate from the first-rate at five o'clock. The fourth is Xu Meiren, the emperor's favorite concubine, who has a very close relationship with the emperor, and although this Shexiangyuan seems to be far away from the emperor's first-rate in the actual court, it seems to be the closest to the first-rate among the five points in this painting. Therefore, taken together, the first four deceased are getting closer and closer to the emperor in terms of identity and relationship with the emperor, and the place where they are is also getting closer and closer to the first rate! ”

Yan Mu tilted his head and thought for a long time before shaking his head and saying, "No, this fifth person who died was the chief eunuch, and he was also the person who stayed by the emperor's side for the longest time, but he died in the art gallery, and this art gallery is not the closest to the first rate?" Is there something wrong with your guess. ”

"Although the gallery is not the closest to the first rate, it is the center of the first four points that make up the figure!" Gu Changqing looked at Yan Mu and asked fixedly, "Do you remember how this fifth person died?" ”

Yan Mu frowned and said, "The fifth cause of death has not been determined, and there are four causes of death on his body, such as poisoning, suffocation, and so on!" The coroner at the time did not determine which one was the first to die! ”

"The body of the fifth deceased contains all the causes of death of the first four deceased, and the gallery where he died happens to be the midpoint of the figure enclosed by the place where the first four deceased were!" Gu Changqing sighed softly, "The end point is in the middle?" How not to be perfect! ”

"Then why did he do it? Isn't it easier to expose yourself if killing people is so complicated? ”

Gu Changqing smiled faintly, "I said that the murderer's purpose was not to kill people that day, I just had such a feeling at the time, and now I can be sure that this person's purpose is indeed not to kill people, I think his real purpose should be here......"

Gu Changqing pointed to the location of the painting gallery in the emperor's scroll, "Don't you think, these five cases are like a game played by the murderer with us, he left clues in each case and guided us step by step, the purpose is to let us discover the last gallery." ”

"Art gallery?" Yan Mu shook his head, "What do you mean?" ”

"The murderer is not only related to the art gallery, but his series of things are aimed at the emperor!"

Yan Mu was startled, "You mean he wants to kill the king?" ”

Gu Changqing shook his head, "Maybe his idea is not to kill the emperor, because sometimes fear itself is more terrifying than death!" ”

"You mean he's scaring the emperor?" Yan Mu couldn't help but smile, "Aren't you kidding, a murderer who killed five people, you suspect that the purpose of others is to scare the emperor, so why didn't he kill ...... directly?"

Speaking of this, Yan Mu was silent, "Then what should I do, if this is the case, do you want to talk to the emperor directly!" Yanmu snorted a haha.

"Naturally, I have to tell the emperor, and there are some things that the emperor will not let go. There's nothing we can do about it! ”

"What do you want to do?" Yan Mu was vigilant.

But Gu Changqing just smiled, "The murderer wants to play games with us, so we have to accompany us to the end, how can there be a reason not to paddle on a dragon boat." ”

Yanmu yawned, "Then how do you know?" ”

"You know in advance how the play will end, isn't it boring!" Gu Changqing shook his head, "The more beautiful and interesting things are, the more important they will be revealed at the end." ”

Yan Mu yawned again, although he also wanted to know the ending of the drama in advance to Gu Changqing, but at this time, sleepiness hit like a tide, so he couldn't take care of it, and he fell asleep from time to time when he returned to bed.

Gu Changqing sat against the wall, looking at the slowly long scroll spread out, he couldn't help but fall asleep slowly, in a trance in his dream, he seemed to be in the palace city with thousands of miles of lights.