In the next few days, several branches of Tianxiang Yulu in the imperial city were decorated and officially opened.

As expected, business was booming, and there were long queues at the entrance of every shop.

Due to the increase in shops, the number of shipments has been expanded, and the amount of silver earned every day has multiplied.

The "head office" in Qifeng County is deserted, because the wives and ladies of princes and nobles and dignitaries in the imperial city do not have to make a special trip here.

Bai Yu, who was "shaking off the shopkeeper", lived a relaxed life this day, and every day was to make Yulian happy, taking her around to play in the mountains and rivers, and walking all over the scenic spots near Jingzhao Mansion.

The relationship between the two heated up sharply, and there was no need for Bai Yu to take the initiative, Yulian had already asked him three times and twice when the wind cold would be good, Bai Yu's heart was hot, and he knew that the wind and cold would need to be good, and it would not be good.

On the morning of this day, Bai Yu and Tao Yulian had just returned to Qifeng County from the hot spring village where they had lived for two days in the suburbs of the Imperial Dynasty, and saw a sea of people at the Yamen.

"The scar on the neck is so fine and smooth, I don't need to do an autopsy, I can see that this is a sharp sword to seal the throat."

"Our Qifeng County is on the edge of the imperial city, at the foot of the Son of Heaven, which thief is so rampant that he dares to kill people in Qifeng County." ......

There was a lot of talk.

Standing on the stone steps of the yamen, the head catcher shouted and asked, "This corpse has been placed in this morning, has no one identified the corpse?" What about family members? ”

People looked at each other, and no one claimed it.

Bai Yu asked Tao Yulian to stay in the carriage, and when he was about to get out of the carriage and go over to take a look, he suddenly heard someone say, "I remember, I said how it looks a little familiar, do you remember the day Tianxiang Yulu opened, there were more than ten people beating gongs and drums, and this corpse was among them." ”

Hearing this, some people with good memories also remembered.

"Yes, yes, I also remembered that there is this person."

"I also have the impression that this person is tall and thin, and he is particularly conspicuous among the more than a dozen people who beat gongs and drums." ......

Bai Yu's face changed, at that time, Tianxiang Yulu opened, and the more than ten people who beat gongs and drums were not sixteen officials? Who died?

The head catcher standing on the stone steps at the entrance of the yamen also changed his face, and it was the person who died of Tianxiang Yulu, which is troublesome, and now everyone knows that the background of Tianxiang Yulu is all over the sky, and those who imitate perfume were warned once, and some people did not do the same thing, and continued to imitate, and as a result, they were beheaded.

Bai Yu jumped out of the carriage and squeezed into the crowd to the front, only to see a tall and thin corpse lying on a straw mat, already stiff, with thin and long scars on his neck, and blood stained his clothes red.

He recognized at a glance that this was indeed one of the sixteen officials.

He couldn't remember what the name was, but he remembered that this man's old mother had died, his wife had remarried with her daughter of a few years old, and there was no one in the family, so it was no wonder that no one came to identify the body.

"What's going on?"

Bai Yu asked the head catcher with a gloomy face.

The head catcher hurriedly walked down the stone steps and saluted with fists in front of him, "Sir, the body was found in an alley, the scene has been blocked, and it is currently being investigated." ”

This kind of thing will be made public, and now the entire Qifeng County already knows that Bai Yu has been awarded the title of Qifeng County male, as the only nobleman in the county, his identity and status are transcendent.

There was already a catch who had already entered the yamen to report, and several adults came out to greet the county commander, the lord, and the warden, Bai Yu waved his hand, "I won't go in, are there any clues?" ”

The county commander's expression was grim, "There are no clues for the time being, but the lower officials promise that they will make every effort to track down and bring the murderer to justice as soon as possible." ”

Bai Yu frowned, he really didn't dare to compliment the Qifeng County Yamen's ability to handle cases, "Don't you mind if I investigate together?" ”

"Of course I don't mind, the lord will investigate the case personally, and the lower official believes that the case will be solved soon."

The county commander hurriedly said.

And I was secretly happy in my heart, Tianxiang Yulu's background was terrifying, if this case could not be found out in the yamen, he would be under great pressure from this county order.

Now the "owner" of Tianxiang Yulu has to investigate it personally, and if he can't find out, he can't be blamed, right?

"Carry the body in first, he has no family anymore, and no one will come to identify the body."

Bai Yu said to the head catcher, "I have something to do, I'll come later." ”

The head catcher hurriedly asked people to carry the body into the yamen.

Bai Yu drove the carriage and sent Yulian home first.

Immediately afterwards, he rode to the workshop and called Gu Fei over, "Who didn't come to work today?" ”

"How do you know that someone isn't coming to work today?"

Gu Fei felt strange and reported, "Huang Cheng didn't come today, I sent someone to his house to call him, the house was closed, and I didn't know where he went, I heard his neighbor say that he didn't seem to see him go home last night." ”

Bai Yu said, "He is dead, the dead body is placed in the yamen, and no one recognizes the body." ”

"What." Gu Fei was surprised, "How did you die?" ”

"Look at the wound, someone has a sword to seal the throat."

Bai Yu asked, "When Huang Cheng went to work yesterday, was there anything abnormal?" ”

Gu Fei thought for a while and shook his head, "My subordinates didn't pay attention, but seeing that he was talking and laughing with others, it was no different from usual." ”

Bai Yu said, "Huang Cheng, don't make a noise about this matter for the time being, so as not to cause panic, this official suspects that someone is targeting Tianxiang Yulu, you should pay attention here in the workshop, and send more people to patrol to prevent anyone from making trouble." ”

"Yes."

Gu Fei's expression was solemn.

Bai Yu rode away and came to the yamen to see the autopsy.

He was not idle, his mind moved slightly, his eyes were cool, and he had the eye of reconnaissance.

The whole corpse was not in his eyes, and he could see the situation in the body, except for the scar on his neck, he could not find any other scars, and there was no sign of poisoning, it seemed that the fatal wound was here in the neck.

After the autopsy, he washed his hands in a wooden barrel, "The deceased only had a wound on his neck, and there was no sign of poisoning, and the cause of death was that he was sealed by a sword; The pupils are frightened, indicating that they were frightened before death; The money bag is still there, and there are a few taels of silver in it, which should not be a robbery; It was preliminarily judged to be a vendetta. ”

This conclusion is similar to Bai Yu's own view.

Bai Yu beckoned to the head catcher, "Take Lord Ben to the scene to have a look." ”

The head catcher rode his horse and left the yamen with him.

When I came to a small alley, I saw a few catchers groping around for clues.

Seeing Bai Yu coming, a few catchers hurriedly saluted.

Bai Yu jumped on the wall and stood on a high place to check the location of this alley, which was between Huang Cheng's home and the workshop, which means that Huang Cheng was likely to pass by here after finishing work last night.

He gave each of the sixteen officials a courtyard, all of which were in a relatively good location, and when they came out of the workshop, they could go home on the street, and Huang Cheng might have taken this alley to take a shortcut.

Bai Yu instructed the head catcher, "You take someone to check the residents around this alley to see if anyone saw the murderer last night, or heard any unusual movements." ”

"Yes."

The head catcher left with the catchers.

Bai Yu jumped down from the wall, looking at the long trail of blood on the ground, and felt a burst of anger in his heart.

He was the only one left in the alley, a little eerie and quiet.

Bai Yu closed his eyes and imagined the scene last night.

Huang Cheng, who had been in the workshop for a day, was tired, but he was happy when he thought of thirty taels of silver a month, and came out of the workshop, looked at the late sky, and walked home humming a small tune.

Walking to this dark alley, he hesitated for a moment, and in order to get home and take a hot bath quickly, he still walked in and took a shortcut.

As he walked, he suddenly had a sharp pain in his neck, accompanied by a warm liquid, Huang Cheng looked around in horror, but he couldn't see who attacked.

Because the trachea was broken, Huang Cheng felt suffocating and dizzy, and he was weak, he covered his neck tightly with his hands in panic, staggered and wanted to rush out of this alley, walked more than ten steps, fell to the ground, and couldn't get up again.

The next day, the person who had the body reported to the Yamen of Qifeng County, and the Yamen of Qifeng County put the body on display for people to identify the body.

Bai Yu Huo Ran opened his eyes, and the Eye of Scouting scanned back and forth.

He saw a thin red light spreading from here to the other end of the alley.

The path the killer left?

Bai Yu's face was solemn.

You know, there are clear grades of colors that the Scout Eye sees: gray-white, green, cyan, blue, red, purple, and gold.

Red's energy level is very high, which means that the murderer is very strong.

He hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and followed.

Fortunately, the red light is as small as a filament, it is considered a small red, if it is a big red, he may not even have the courage to chase down.

I followed out of the alley and found that the filamentous red light spread along the street, I don't know how far.

Bai Yu had no choice but to ride a horse and follow.