Sunset and West Hammer, the light and shadow were sparse, and before the palace was under the key, Gu Changqing and Yan Mu walked out of the palace gate in a hurry.

When I walked out, I only felt inexplicably relieved, and when I looked back at the palace, I only felt like a monster, and I didn't know when I would eat people.

The two of them, who hadn't eaten much for a day, gobbled it up when they returned to the inn where they stayed, and asked someone to prepare hot water, and only after a good wash did they feel that all the three souls and seven spirits had returned.

Gu Changqing took out the handkerchief that Sister Qian handed him from his pocket, and the small white porcelain bottle wrapped in it looked more and more translucent and charming in the candlelight.

He beckoned Yan Mu over and asked, "Look, it's a drug here?" ”

Yan Mu was born in a medical family, although his medical skills are not as brilliant as his parents, but he is always stronger than many people, he just gently twisted the residue in the porcelain bottle with his hand and sniffed, and then put it on his tongue and licked it gently, saying, "This is a drug that is not very effective, and it is only an hour of coma after eating, but this drug is not commonly used here!" ”

"What's the difference?" Gu Changqing asked suspiciously, although he also grew up from the Yan family and his wife, but for pharmacology, this aspect still only exists on the surface, although Yan Mu does not look serious, but he has never been sloppy in this regard.

I saw Yan Mu put the porcelain bottle next to his nose and sniffed it again, before continuing, "The reason why this medicine is different from what we commonly use is because there is more than a taste of kudzu grass in the middle of the year, which is cool and relieves the heat, can dissolve some of the toxicity in the drug, and reduce the harm to the human body!" It's just that this kudzu grass is generally only found in the northwest high ridge land, and it is not easy to preserve, so we usually don't put such things in the drug! Yan Mu smiled coldly, "But this pharmaceutical person is also interesting, the drug has already been made, can it still hurt people's bodies!" ”

"You said that the kudzu grass grows in the northwest?" Gu Changqing grabbed Yan Mu's hand a little eagerly and asked.

Yan Mu nodded inexplicably, "Yes, we don't have that grass, especially the soil, even if you want to transport it, it's not easy!" ”

"Then do you know where Xu Meiren is from?"

Yanmu shook his head, "How do I know." ”

"Four years ago, the emperor once toured the west!" Gu Changqing said, "I heard that I brought back a woman from the Northwest at that time. ”

"Do you suspect that the drug was given by Xu Meiren?" Yan Mu glared at him and said incredulously.

Gu Changqing nodded lightly, "Since she wants to die, it is not impossible for her to put drugs in the wine in order not to let the people of She Xiangyuan obstruct her!" ”

"From the perspective that Xu Meiren committed suicide, she is indeed motivated. But I don't understand one thing, since she wants to commit suicide, then can't she commit suicide anywhere, just jump into the well Doliso, but why did she choose to be in Shexiangyuan? And don't hesitate to stun everyone! Yan Mu asked puzzled.

"Do you remember that Aunt Ping said that most of the people who commit suicide are actually patients, but their illness is not in the body, but in the heart!"

"Why don't I know my mother's words." Yan Mu nodded, "So you think this Xu Meiren will commit suicide because of heart disease!" ”

"No!" Gu Changqing shook his head and said, "Xu Meiren is definitely not a simple suicide. I guess that it was the murderer who grasped the problem in her heart and guided her step by step, otherwise how to explain that among the five people who died, there was a picture of the palace night banquet, and only Xu Meiren committed suicide! If she had nothing to do with the murderer, the murderer wouldn't have let him appear in the painting! ”

At the mention of the painting, Yan Mu suddenly thought of the purpose of the two of them entering the palace today, so he said, "By the way, what clues did you get from the princess?" ”

Gu Changqing smiled bitterly, "Like the whole case, there are clues everywhere!" ”

"How?" Yan Mu was a little surprised, the unbelievable degree of this case really made him interested.

"First of all, this Changshan princess is more persistent in this case than we imagined, she is not only investigating the case in private, but even does not hesitate to make a deal with me to know the progress of our investigation of the case, which is very strange."

The second is the painter of the palace night banquet picture, according to common sense, he finished painting the palace night banquet picture, and he is already a celebrity in the eyes of the emperor, not to mention that he will have no worries about food and clothing in the future, but at this time, he actually disappeared, and the first case appeared at this time, is this a bit of a cover to steal the bell!

Finally, the most incredible thing is the picture of the palace banquet! That kind of painting always makes people feel ...... There's a hint of weirdness! ”

Gu Changqing seemed to be trying hard to find the strangest feeling that the painting gave him, and his facial features were tightly squeezed together.

"Did you see that painting? What, how does it feel? When Yan Mu heard that Gu Changqing saw the painting, he became excited for a moment, he had long wanted to see the picture of the cannibalistic palace night banquet.

"I guess I've seen it!" Gu Changqing said a little weakly, but all that appeared in his mind was the huge rosewood box.

"What do you mean to have seen?"

As soon as Yan Mu finished speaking, before Gu Changqing could explain to him, there was an eager knock on the door, and a somewhat unfamiliar voice said, "Is Master Gu here?" ”

Gu Changqing and Yan Mu looked at each other, and no one could think of who the person who came at this time might be.

Gu Changqing walked over, pushed open the door, and saw an old man about fifty years old, slightly fat, wearing clothes with good texture, no extra decorations, but the whole person showed a not simple atmosphere.

The old man noticed Gu Changqing's scrutiny, and just smiled lightly, "I think the prince is Lord Gu, I am the chief eunuch in the palace, and it was Princess Changshan who asked me to come out and send you something!" ”

In the palace, except for the emperor's father-in-law, who is the chief eunuch, since Princess Changshan can let him come out to deliver things, Gu Changqing has already thought of what it is, and after opening the door, he said, "Gong Mi Mian, please!" ”

Yan Mu, who had never known why, saw this situation and quickly gave up his seat to the chief eunuch, stood beside Gu Changqing, and whispered, "What's the situation!" ”

As soon as Yan Mu finished speaking, four more people walked in one after another, and the four of them carried a carved rosewood box together, the wooden box said to be a wooden box, but it looked similar to a box!

Seeing that the four people had already put the rosewood box intact on the table, the chief eunuch got up and said, "In addition to this box, the princess has another sentence for me to bring, the princess said, this painting is for you to use to investigate the case, and there must not be any damage, otherwise she will take your life!" ”

Yan Mu, who was stunned when he looked at the box, was already salivating, and when he heard that this was the palace night banquet picture, he couldn't control it, "This baby, naturally it's too late to love it!" ”

The chief eunuch smiled, "That's good, it's not too early now, I'll go back first." ”

After that, the chief eunuch waved his sleeves and left with the people in a hurry.

Gu Changqing watched them leave the inn before he came back and closed the door of the room and walked to the rosewood box.

"You said, I've been looking forward to seeing this ghost thing before, but now that it's in front of you, why don't you dare to open it!" Yan Mu gently stroked the rosewood box with both hands and muttered.

Gu Changqing shook goosebumps, ignored Yan Mu's self-talk, and directly dragged the rosewood box to his side, picked up the key and opened it.

The painting in the box is called "The Night Banquet of the Palace", painted in the 12th year of Chengming, painted in the 17th year of Chengming, and took five years to complete. Just like the name of the painting, the scenes in the three-zhang long painting are all the scenes of the night banquet in the palace, the distance from the north gate to the south gate of the palace from right to left is the distance of the palace city, and the center of the painting is the Wuji Palace where the emperor was at that time.

And the most shocking thing is that there were at least dozens of large and small banquets in the palace at that time, and the number of participants was thousands, but everyone's clothing and appearance were different, and even the food and table on the table were all in different shapes, not to mention the pavilions and pavilions outside the main hall and the depictions of various flowers and plants.

Gu Changqing and Yan Mu lifted the scroll out of the rosewood box and put it on the floor, slowly spreading it out.

Yan Mu does not think that he is obsessed with painting and calligraphy, and he has always looked forward to this painting only because of the legend that it will eat people.

But it was also because he had no expectations that he was even more surprised when faced with such a grand scene, and quickly walked back and forth a few times around the palace night banquet picture half-spread out on the ground, and looked at it with his mouth open for a long time before he said stupidly, "This is the picture that the emperor ordered someone to paint?" It's the one that people rumored to eat people? ”

Gu Changqing nodded cautiously and sighed sincerely, "It is this painting, I only heard of its grandeur before, but now that I see it, it is indeed extraordinary!" It is not from the hands of the five masters, but it has become a family of its own. ”

Yan Mu bit his finger and said after making sure it was not an illusion, "This painter must be a genius!" But ......" Yan Mu shuddered and said with some hesitation, "But this, but the villain in this painting, is it so difficult that it eats it?" ”

Gu Changqing glanced at him and said calmly, "If there are ancient divine beasts living in this painting, there are still some possibilities!" ”

"Then this is terrible, there must be at least a thousand people, how did this painter draw it? I just feel dizzy when I look at it. Yan Mu shuddered as he spoke.

"There are hills and valleys in the chest, and there are thousands of paintings, this person is indeed a very talented person, but I heard that this painting is from the hand of the young painter Dan Sheng!"

"Young painter? Isn't that smaller than you and me! Yan Mu said in surprise, "Then I want to see it!" ”

"But Dansheng has disappeared, and if you want to see it, I'm afraid you won't be able to see it!" Gu Changqing muttered, "It's just that I don't understand one thing even more, there are so many characters in this painting, it's not easy to find a few people from it, who first discovered that this painting ate the dead?" ”

"That's right! With so many people, who could have seen that there were dead people here, so the first person to find out that there was a problem with this painting must have a problem. Yan Mu nodded thoughtfully, but after thinking about it, he shook his head suddenly, "No, no, this is not right!" ”

"What's wrong?" Gu Changqing squinted at Yan Mu, "You talk about it carefully!" ”

"Finding those five people in so many people, if it weren't for the first person who found out that this painting would eat people, his eyes were too good and his luck was too good, or if this painting didn't eat people at all, maybe there were no five dead people in this painting at all, everything was a lie!"

Gu Changqing understood what Yan Mu meant, but this matter would not be so simple at all, because in the interval between the two people's conversation, he had already accurately seen the five people in this painting.

Gu Changqing wiped his hands with a clean towel, and then pointed to the three places on the painting, "This is Zhongli Palace, the place where the second little palace maid hanged herself!" This is the dry well closest to the imperial dining room, where the first little eunuch died. This is the road not far from the emperor's bedroom, where the third eunuch died! If you take a closer look at Shexiang Courtyard and the Art Gallery, these five places do indeed have dead people who are the same as in reality! So not all the rumors are false, and the paintings are also true! ”

Hearing this, Yan Mu rubbed his eyes, leaned down and looked at it carefully, and couldn't help but sweat coldly, "This, although this person is small, it is exactly the same as what people say." Look at the people at the mouth of this well, only the buttocks and thighs are left on it, this little palace maid, really fell on the tree with her hair, and this, the petals on the side of the deceased are so vivid! But how can you ...... among so many people?"

Yan Mu wanted to ask Gu Changqing how he found these five people in the paintings of these thousand people, but halfway through his words, he suddenly understood, so he simply didn't continue to ask, but suddenly realized, "I know, the reason why you were able to find these five people is because you already know the location of these five people's deaths, and then it is much easier to find these five people in these five locations!" ”

"Yes, that's exactly what I did, and it's the easiest and fastest way to do it." The corners of Gu Changqing's mouth slanted into a smile, "I can find it like this, presumably others must be able to find it like this!" ”

"What do you mean?"

"The person who first discovered that all five of these people appeared in the painting probably knew in advance that they would inevitably appear in the painting, and knew exactly where they were!"

"And he...... Isn't that the murderer? Yan Mu said softly, as if the murderer was in a corner.

Gu Changqing didn't answer, but continued to ask, "If I ask you to find five people in this painting, it will be easy, but if I ask you to find a woman in this painting wearing red plum brocade, wearing a green jade hairpin, and holding a needle and thread, can you find it?" Gu Changqing smiled.

"How to find it? But even if you ask me to look for me, I won't look for it, right? I don't have good eyes! Yan Mu shook his head with a look of rejection.

"And who would go to find those five dead people in this painting of thousands of people?" Gu Changqing asked rhetorically again.

Yan Mu thought for a moment, "Indeed, if he hadn't known in advance that there would be dead people in this painting, no one would have gone to the painting where there were so many people looking for the dead, unless he ate too much salt and was idle!" ”

"So, this also proves that the people in this painting actually existed a long time ago, even before these five people died." Something in Gu Changqing's eyes became transparent.

"If you reason like this, then the most suspicious thing should be the young painter Dansheng?"

Gu Changqing walked to the side of the painting and carefully looked at the details of the five deceased pictures again, but no matter how you look at it, it is like what Princess Changshan said, the lines and techniques of these five deceased people are incompatible with the whole painting, that is, they are not from the author's hand at all.

Yan Mu looked at Gu Changqing and shook his head gently, and said with some puzzlement, "Isn't Dansheng a murderer?" But he wasn't the murderer, so why did he disappear? ”

"I can't say clearly, there must be a problem with Dansheng's disappearance, but I don't know if he is a murderer."