In the first-class outer hall, there were five people, including the emperor, Yun Wangye, Luan Chuan, Yan Mu and Gu Changqing, and the others had already dispersed in front of the Qionghua Pavilion.

The night gradually deepened, but these five people were not the slightest tired, and the emperor took a sip of tea after sitting down, and immediately said, "Changqing, tell me, what is going on today?" ”

Gu Changqing smiled lightly, "Actually, this matter is not difficult, because Dan Sheng didn't want to be able to get away with it, his purpose was to let people find him!" ”

"Doesn't that make sense!" Yun Wang Ye asked.

"From the beginning of my investigation of this case, I felt that there were problems everywhere, and the file of the Palace Criminal Division lost a picture of Xu Meiren's death in Shexiangyuan, which is the first suspicion. The second is the letter I received to Princess Changseon! The third suspicion is that the murderer has such a complicated killing method! The fourth suspicion is Dansheng's disappearance. These four doubts were originally just doubts, but when combined, they became clues! Gu Changqing glanced at the expressions of several people slightly, and then continued, "Dansheng is very smart, he is afraid that his case is too delicate, and in the end it will become an unsolved case, and his goal will never be achieved. So in this case, he left a lot of clues, as long as he followed any of the suspicious points to investigate, this case can be solved, but everyone is deep in it and can't see these clearly! ”

"You mean these clues were deliberately left for you by him?"

Gu Changqing nodded and chuckled, "Dansheng deliberately left it, but not for me, and I just happened to get this errand!" ”

The emperor sat on the chair, looking a little tired, but he was really full of anger when he spoke, "But these four suspicious points can't see anything at all, how can you be sure that the murderer is Dansheng?" ”

"At first, I also thought the case was annoying, there were dead people everywhere, there were clues, everything was like a mess in my head. It's easy to figure it out. ”

"First of all, the first suspicion is that the scene map of She Xiangyuan in the case file is missing, after the incident, the only people who went to the palace criminal department were the queen and Princess Changshan, but neither of them took this painting, so there must be a problem with the shame of this thing, but to put it mildly, this scene map is not a valuable thing, and who wants it? The second suspicion, the letter to Princess Changshan, at that time, no one linked the painting to several murders, but it was credible that there were clues in the painting. Why is there a clue in the painting, and who knows about such a secret thing?

The third suspicion is that murder is so complicated is a problem in itself, and looking at these problems, there are naturally clues.

The fourth suspicion, Dansheng's disappearance. After receiving the letter, Princess Changshan once made a special investigation, and it is said that everyone wrote at that time, whether they would write or not, and they didn't let go of their left and right hands, but they didn't find this person at all. But it is unlikely that this person is outside the palace, so there is only one possibility, this person is not on all the lists.

But who can not be on the list? Even the dead have a list? The only possibility is someone who is missing and can't find the body.

Therefore, judging from these four suspicions, the murderer is likely to be Dansheng, but I was just guessing at the time, and there was no evidence. ”

"Are you sure Dan Sheng is the murderer, that night?" Yun Wang Ye remembered the night Gu Changqing left from the restaurant, and said in surprise.

Gu Changqing nodded and walked to the unfolded picture scroll, "Your Majesty, Lord Wang, come and see." Gu Changqing pointed to the five places in the painting: the dry well, the Zhongli Palace, the first-rate Yongdao, the Shexiang Courtyard and the Art Gallery, "These five points, what's strange in the location." ”

"There's nothing there, it's just five o'clock." Yun Wang Ye waved his hand.

"It's the midpoint." The emperor stretched out his hand and pointed to the gallery, "This is the center of the other four points. ”

Gu Changqing nodded, "The gallery is the center, and the person who died in the gallery at the beginning was the deputy chief eunuch beside the emperor, and it was recorded in the case file that he had both poisoning and suffocation and other ways of death in the first four ways. Don't you think that's weird? ”

Luan Chuan nodded thoughtfully, "It's quite strange, he killed a person like this, it's really perverted." ”

Gu Changqing shook his head, "It's not Dansheng who is perverted, it's that he wants to use this to elicit himself, so that we can find him through these strange points." ”

Gu Changqing paused, and then continued, "We all feel that there are too many abnormalities in these five cases, but if we have to separate them independently, they will all be normal."

First, from the cause of death of the deceased, the first deceased died of poisoning and her body was hung at the mouth of the well, while the second deceased happened to die of suffocation and then was hung from a tree, but at the same time she had ice on her body, and the third deceased happened to die in the snow.

In this way, it is natural to see that the deceased are interrelated, and the strange place on the body of the former deceased is a foreshadowing of the death of the next deceased.

The second point is that from the perspective of the identity of the deceased, the little eunuch in the imperial dining room, the big palace maid in Zhongli Palace, the first-rate little eunuch, Xu Meiren, and the chief eunuch, their relationship with the emperor is from far to near.

The third point, judging from the location of the place where the crime occurred, from the dry well, Zhongli Palace, Yongdao, Shexiangyuan, to the art gallery, the distance here is also getting closer and closer to the emperor's first-rate, and this proximity is not the distance seen by the palace people on the road that they are accustomed to, but from the straight-line distance on the palace night banquet map, the art gallery is the closest to the first-rate straight line, and the dry well is the farthest from the first-class straight line.

These three points, the murderer has clearly told everyone that he is coming for the emperor.

And in all cases, the most important thing is the fifth deceased, the location of the gallery is located in the middle of the first four positions, and the chief eunuch is carrying the death method of the first four people, so it is very clear, the midpoint is also the end, so all the cases are from the gallery, this is the murderer telling us his identity!

That's why he used such a complicated method to kill. ”

"But why did he do that?" Luan Chuan couldn't help but ask.

"I believe Dan Sheng's explanation just now that he did this to make this painting famous for all eternity."

"Do you believe his crazy words?" Luan Chuan said in some surprise.

"It's not that I believe him, it's that I believe in madness."

Luan Chuan shook the goosebumps all over his body, when he thought of the flesh and blood of Dansheng in this painting, and then thought that he had crawled and looked at it carefully, and smelled it, he felt sick in his heart.

Yun Wang Ye thought that Luan Chuan was distressed for painting, so he gently walked over and patted him on the shoulder, and then said to Gu Changqing, "But what I am more curious about this king is, how do you know that this Dansheng will want to start a fire in this Qionghua Pavilion today?" This palace is so big, it's not impossible for him to find a random place! ”

Gu Changqing glanced at the emperor, there were some things that were important, and he had to ask for permission.

The emperor nodded, and he continued, "Lord Yun, do you believe in coincidence? ”

"Coincidence?" Yun Wang Ye frowned slightly, nodded after thinking about it, and said, "If it's true, I really believe it!" ”

"Then I said that this matter is a coincidence, do you believe it?!"

Yun Wang Ye said, "I believe it." ”

"Before, there was a mystery about the origin of the letter in the hand of Princess Changshan, why that person only chose the princess This is the thing I don't understand the most, until I pointed the finger of suspicion at Dansheng, I found out the truth of the most embarrassing thing!" Gu Changqing said a little mysteriously, "No matter how crazy a person is, no matter how well organized, once he meets the person who makes his heart move, he will fall apart in an instant!" ”

"You're saying Dansheng has someone he likes?" Yun Wang Ye asked in surprise, but after thinking about the inexplicable conversation between Princess Changshan and Dan Sheng today, he came again, "That person can't be Changshan!" ”

Gu Changqing didn't answer directly, but continued, "The estrangement between the queen and the princess before was not a day, Dan was born in this palace for five years, and he also knew it clearly. So he secretly gave the clue letter to the queen, wanting the queen to be scolded in his plan, but the queen knew the seriousness of the matter, and gave the letter to Princess Changshan, so the rumors about the palace night banquet came out from Princess Changshan. But Dansheng didn't want to let the queen go, and at this time, the queen knew that the princess tried her best to dissuade the emperor and the palace ladies from doing great things today, so she wanted to make the princess lose trust in front of the emperor, so she wanted to premeditate to set the emperor's favorite Qionghua Pavilion on fire on such a dog-swallowing night! ”

Thinking of the emperor's attitude towards the queen today, several people also nodded silently in their hearts, the emperor can allow the queen to have some small actions that are not in the flow, but he absolutely does not allow these things to threaten him.

I'm afraid that this time the queen will not be easy to get up!

They were thinking about it in their hearts, only to hear Gu Changqing continue, "The queen thought that as long as she did what she did that day without knowing it, everything would be fine, but she didn't know that Dan Sheng had been staring at her behind her back for a long time. So as long as there is the slightest movement, he will not hesitate to choose to let the queen have no way out. Therefore, the queen chose Qionghua Pavilion, then he wanted to make the fire of Qionghua Pavilion even bigger, and the emperor who burned it was even more angry! ”

"In this way, you asked Changshan to persuade the emperor, the purpose is to lure the queen out, and then guide Dansheng through the queen?" Luan Chuan was a little incomprehensible, "But how can you know that the queen wants to choose Qionghua Pavilion to do it!" ”

"Changshan has been able to live with the queen for so long, not because the queen is soft-hearted!" Yun Wang Ye first sighed, "Since the queen can let the people in Changshan Palace spread the rumors, if Changshan wants to know the queen's thoughts, it is not a difficult matter!" ”

Gu Changqing nodded approvingly.

The emperor, who had been silent and didn't say much, coughed, "Forget it, since Dansheng has admitted that he did it, you can discuss the rest in private." But Changyun, Dansheng's matter ......"

Gu Changqing quickly interrupted the emperor's words, "The emperor wants to execute Dan Sheng." ”

"Five lives!" A trace of pain flashed in the emperor's eyes, "Someone has to bear it." ”

"Dansheng has to be killed." Gu Changqing said expressionlessly, "It's just that the emperor can't kill him!" ”

"What do you mean?"

As soon as Gu Changqing's words came out, even Yan Mu, who had been unable to speak, pinched a cold sweat for him.

"Dansheng's mystery is now on par with that of the sacrificial officer, if the emperor executes him directly, I'm afraid that it will lead to some more incidents!"

"Then what do you mean ......"

Gu Changqing looked at the candle flames that were shaking back and forth on the table, and muttered, "A demon born for painting will naturally die for painting!" ”