Xie Lingjiang has been taking care of Ouyang Rong these days.

Wherever the latter goes, she follows.

Except that Ouyang Rong sleeps at night.

Hmm, maybe he sleeps at night, and Xie Lingjiang is also considered to be taking care of it, but he is sitting on a rooftop somewhere quite far away.

But Ouyang Rong didn't know this.

Besides.

Even if Ouyang Rong summoned Liu Ashan and Yan Liulang to discuss secretly, Xie Lingjiang also stayed outside the house, holding his sword and leaning slightly on the pillars of the corridor.

Sunset west slope, Longcheng County Ya, somewhere in the west hall.

Ouyang Rong glanced at the ground outside the gate, and the shadow of the little junior sister who was pulled by the slanting sun for a long time.

Slowly retract your gaze.

There were only two people in the West Hall besides him.

Liu Ahan and Tsubame Rokuro.

Ouyang Rong said to them:

"How's that going?"

"Master, it has been confirmed without a doubt, the day we took Ah Qing back, the sword spike workshop of the Guyue Sword Shop was indeed missing a female spike worker who worked with Ah Qing."

Liu Ashan's expression was serious, and there was a faint look of fear on his face, and he continued:

"Before, the master asked me to withdraw all the brothers who were placed in the sword shop, so the news collected was still a little dull, when the master sent me to inquire, I heard limited information, only knew that the news of her disappearance was the day after I picked up A-Qing, and it began to spread, and no one knew exactly when she disappeared.

"And not many people know about it, it only spreads in a small area, and no one cares, and even the name of this female spike worker is not accurate.

"But......

"Fortunately, I went to ask Ah Mei, and she said that on the morning of being picked up, there was a female spike worker who disappeared, and Ah Mei also said...... said that the name of this missing female Jiansui was Zhang Qian, and she ...... to her on weekdays It's very strict, so Ah Mei pays special attention.

"It's just that Ah Mei didn't know that Zhang Qian was missing until I told her about it, and she only thought that she was absent from work again.

"I estimate that most of the stewards and spike workers of the Jiansui Workshop at that time were estimated to be similar to what Ah Mei thought, so the news of Zhang Qian's disappearance did not start to spread a little bit until the second day, and it seems that it was still covered by some people, and it only spread in a small area."

The thin and tall man couldn't help but look at the young county magistrate who was listening attentively and with a calm expression, and he sighed:

"This kind of disappearance of slaves and maids happens every month in Dragon City, and it is generally difficult to attract attention, so the old man is as careful as a hair and knows things like a god, so I will go to investigate it deliberately to find some clues.

"Master thinks this matter was done privately by the Liu family?"

Ouyang Rong didn't nod or shake his head.

He got up and paced back and forth in the room.

On that day, he urgently picked up Ah Qing from the Guyue Sword Shop, and he began to suspect the matter.

Looking back now, although there is a suspicion of hindsight, it is not too late.

faintly caught a small tail of the Liu family and Gu Yue Sword Shop.

Looking back now, Ouyang Rong's worries and speculations about Ah Qing that day were not wrong.

That morning, the inexplicably rising large amount of merit value was related to Ah Qing, and it was likely that it indirectly saved her life.

After all, if a female spike worker named Zhang Qian can be missing in the Sword Spike Workshop, then a Ah Qing can also be missing.

As for how he indirectly saved Ah Qing, Ouyang Rong suspected that it was the birthday gift he gave to the little girl, that is, the blue butterfly paper flower.

Later, I also heard Ah Qing say that this flower was left in the hands of an old craftsman in the Guyue Sword Shop and was not brought back.

His suspicions were confirmed:

This old craftsman who took away Ah Qing's flowers is likely to be an important person in the Gu Yue Sword Shop.

Or maybe the blue butterfly paper flower was made by this old craftsman, and after a strange experience that Ouyang Rong didn't know, it fell into the hands of a certain person in the Guyue Sword Shop, such as Liu Ziwen and Liu Zi'an, which had some impact.

indirectly saved A-Qing's life.

did not let Ah Qing disappear on the morning of that day like the female spike worker named Zhang Qian.

And I can't say that the female worker who was going to disappear was originally Ah Qing, but as a result, a certain causal relationship caused it to deviate, so it became the result they see now.

But this gives rise to another question, he saved Ah Qing, but whether it is considered to indirectly kill Zhang Qian, if it is, it should be deducted merit, but it is a merit alone.

Does it not count, or has the increase or decrease already canceled each other out?

Or is it because this person named Zhang Qian is not a good person? It's not a pity to die, for example, the last time Ouyang Rong personally cut off the head of a traitor, he didn't deduct merit, there is a mechanism similar to a red name, killing a person with negative merit does not deduct merit.

If none of these are true, then there is only one guess left, the blue butterfly paper flower was acted on somewhere else, the merit is increased by other things, it is not the key hand that determines Ah Qing's life and death, even without it, Ah Qing is still fine......

Ouyang Rong was worried.

For the above set of guesses, he is not sure if it is correct, and there may still be some deviation, after all, he is not a god, and there is no last resort.

But this is the only relatively self-justifying possibility that Ouyang Rong can think of after gradually becoming familiar with the underlying mechanism of the Meritorious Tower.

Of course, there are not all loopholes and doubts.

For example, Ouyang Rong couldn't figure out why the blue butterfly paper flower he gave to Ah Qing could play such a big role?

Isn't it just a simple paper art? Some simple geometric principles are involved.

What other huge impact can it have?

This is not some kind of poetry and song, or a new process to promote productivity.

Or is it ...... evoked the beautiful childhood memories of Liu Ziwen and Liu Zi'an?

That's a bit of a.

In addition, there are two questions.

First of all, who is the old craftsman, listening to Ah Qing's description, he seems to be an ordinary old swordsmith, but he has a withdrawn personality.

Secondly, what happened to the missing female spike worker named Zhang Qian, or ...... How did he die, and what was used by the Liu family to do something?

Ouyang Rong has always felt that the truth is hidden in the most simple reality.

From the simplest logic.

Think about what the old craftsman is used for this position, and what the ancient Yue sword shop does.

The Liu family, whose interests are paramount, definitely does not support idlers.

Then the answer is obvious.

Forge a sword.

The Guyue Sword Shop is the core property of the Liu family.

The ancient Yue sword shop is used to forge swords.

Sword forging requires a swordsmith.

Therefore, is it possible that the old craftsman is helping the Liu family to cast some important swords, this matter involves the core interests of the Liu family, so the status of the old craftsman in the Guyue sword shop is transcendent, and he can influence the decision-making of Liu Ziwen, Liu Zi'an and others, so it indirectly affected Ah Qing's fate that day?

Coupled with the disappearance of the female spike worker Zhang Qian, and that day happened to be the completion of the extinguishing of the Jiasan Sword Furnace, the Dragon Shoutai held a sword washing ceremony...... So all kinds of things add up.

Is it possible that the old craftsman made it in the Jiasan sword furnace, cast a thing suspected to be the legendary Ding sword, and then replaced A Qing with a female spike worker Zhang Qian and went to sacrifice the sword.

Ouyang Rong was very skeptical about this.

However, the little junior sister repeatedly told him that the casting of the Ding Sword was not something that could be played by a family, and it did not require evil art sacrifices, which were only used by magicians.

In addition, the birth of the legendary Ding Sword will bring wonders and visions, and the day when the Jiasan Sword Furnace seems to be the sword is completed, the sky in Dragon City is clear, and there is no abnormal scene.

Regarding the possibility of Ding Jian, it seems that it is not valid.

At this point, my thoughts broke off, as if I had hit a southern wall.

This puzzle piece that was made up by Ouyang Rong's brain is still a lot of fragmented clues.

Wait a minute...... A sorcerer?

In the west hall, in the field of vision of the tall and thin man in Mu Ne and the blue-clothed headcatcher, the young county magistrate who had been wandering in the house suddenly stopped, looked out the window, and frowned slightly.

He whispered something in his mouth:

"Remember...... Last time I went back to the East Treasury to burn the tent...... The little sister has a thief who was not caught...... It seems to be a suspicious magician...... And suddenly burned the tent of the Liu family...... The eight achievements were sent by the Liu family.

"Does the Liu family have a Qi Practitioner of the Warlock Dao Lineage...... Whether or not human sacrifice is related to it. ”

Ouyang Rong's face was thoughtful.

"Dragon City Liu Family...... What lies beneath this calm lake...... It's amazing......"

After a while, Ouyang Rong slowly shook his head vigorously, as if he wanted to shake off these doubts.

He came back to his senses, turned his head and asked a certain blue-clothed catcher:

"Rokuro, how are you doing over there?"

Yan Liulang stepped forward and said:

"The missing female spike worker is called Zhang Qian, and it is actually easy to find it with a name, so I took someone to look through the files of the Hucao warehouse, and finally found Zhang Qian's family in the south of Cuiying Street in the south of the city.

In addition to a seventy-year-old mother who is still alive, her family also has two elder brothers, her eldest brother is married and has a good family background, and the second brother is proficient in eating, drinking, prostituting and gambling, and often relies on the family to help.

"In order to prevent being discovered by someone who cares, I went to contact them in private clothes, and then asked them sideways. Zhang Qian's two brothers were very wary of us, and they were very tight-lipped, and they never mentioned the disappearance of their sister.

"Later, our people inquired from the nearby neighborhood and learned that not long ago, that is, the days when Zhang Qian disappeared, someone from the Guyue Sword Shop Workshop came to Zhang's house.

"We also heard that these days, Zhang Qian's second brother was in the gambling house kiln in the south of the city, and suddenly spent a lot of money."

Yan Liulang paused, and smiled at Ouyang Rong:

"Ming Mansion, it seems that the Liu family sword shop seems to have given a lot."

Ouyang Rong glanced at the smile on Yan Liulang's face, seemed to understand, nodded and asked, "Then what." ”

"Then we found a breakthrough from Zhang's mother, Zhang Qian's two brothers may be satisfied with the Liu family's hush money, but Zhang's mother is not satisfied, she wants to find out about the disappearance of her young daughter and find her daughter."

Yan Rokuro smiled a little:

"It's just that before that, no one cared about the requests of a septuagenarian lady, and the family was not in charge, but fortunately she met us and met the Ming Mansion.

"Mingfu, what do you say? What do we do now? ”

The blue-clothed catcher stared at the young county magistrate with burning eyes, a little eager to try.

Ouyang Rong turned around and returned to his seat, leaned back in the chair, spread his hands on the table, feeling the coolness of the Nanmu tabletop, he took a deep breath and slowly bowed his head:

"Missing, a good missing, dead without proof? No, life and death are uncertain, if the Longcheng County Ya receives a report, of course, it is to investigate, give an explanation to the Zhang family, live to see people, dead to see corpses, this is called justice.

"However, if you want to make a big investigation, it is not enough to have justice, you also need to be powerful."

Ouyang Rong leaned back in his chair, looked up at the wooden ceiling, and introduced something that was about to happen with a serious expression:

"Jiangnan Provincial Inspector Shen Daren inspected Longcheng, concerned about the local flood and people's conditions, and came to the grand ribbon-cutting ceremony of Di Gong Gate, where several county officials, powerful gentry, and clan elders gathered at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, and they were happy.

Suddenly, there were good people, kneeling on the ground and shouting grievances, kneeling in front of Lord Shen, who loved the people like a son, and wept and accused the Liujia Sword Shop of abducting female workers, and then there were onlookers who threw out the bully Liujia to set up a porridge shed nursery for profit.

Lord Shen and the officials of Jiangzhou naturally will not sit idly by, and on the spot ordered the Longcheng County Ya to temporarily detain the three Liu brothers, and immediately thoroughly searched the Guyue Sword Shop, looking for the missing female worker, but unfortunately it seems that the body has already been destroyed, and the search has been fruitless, but new evidence of the crime has been found one after another, and there is no doubt that the Liu family has a hundred mouths to argue, and the three brothers are all imprisoned, and the Longcheng County Ya has copied the Liu family, and the people of the county are all happy......

"Rokuro, Ashan, what do you think of this script?"

Yan Liulang and Liu Ahan glanced at each other, and nodded vigorously together: "It should be so!" ”

Ouyang Rong opened his eyes, but compared to Yan and Liu, who were happy, his brows were still slightly condensed.

Seeing this, Yan Liulang accepted it with a smile on his face, and couldn't help asking:

"What is the Ming Mansion worried about?"

"It doesn't matter."

Ouyang Rong temporarily put away his thoughts, shook his head, and turned his head to admonish:

"Before Lord Shen of Jiangzhou arrives, there are still two things that need to be done.

"Liulang, the case of the disappearance of the female spike worker, Zhang Qian's second brother, you also have to pull over and avenge his sister, just Zhang's mother, I'm afraid it's not enough.

"This official has just learned that the Jiangzhou Shangguan who came to Digong Gate to cut the ribbon this time, in addition to the supervision envoy Lord Shen, there is also the new Lord Jiangzhou Thorn Shi Wang.

"This Shangguan did not invite, and Lord Shen's reply did not mention that he invited him to come with him, his position is unclear, and he may be neutral, but it is not ruled out that it will make things difficult for us. Therefore, all our operations must ensure that they are justified and bright. ”

"Yes, Mingfu!"

Yan Liulang thought about it and said solemnly:

"That kind of thugs who eat, drink, prostitute and gamble, there are many ways to clean up, I will think of a way when I go back, it's not too difficult."

"That's the best."

Ouyang Rong turned his head again and said to Liu Ashan:

"Ah Shan, after the previous disasters, the merger of fertile land, porridge shed and nursery hall to accumulate wealth and hurt the people, the three young men of the Liu family bullying men and women, all kinds of criminal evidence, on the basis of what I have prepared before, I will go back and check and fill in the gaps, as I just said to Liulang, to ensure that the evidence is conclusive, righteous and bright, it is difficult to find faults, even if it is a small crime, as long as it is on the scale, it can also make the Liu family shed its skin."

"Yes, sir."

Ouyang Rong slapped the case with his palm, and said loudly:

"This time, with the opportunity of the officials of Jiangzhou to inspect here, we have to settle the general account with the Liu family.

"The case of the disappearance of the female spike worker is an appetizer to test the attitude of the officials, with the cooperation of Lord Shen, and the righteousness on our side, as long as we can successfully search the Guyue Sword Shop, then the next thing is that the melons are ripe, and other criminal evidence is thrown out one by one, and it can't be stopped!

"Besides...... Who knows if the Gu Yue Sword Shop can find out something that surprises us. ”

He paused and chuckled:

"I hope everything goes well, and the next thing will be troublesome for Rokuro and Ashan."

"Yes."

Yan and Liu were ready to retreat.

"Wait...... Ahsan stayed. Ouyang Rong suddenly raised his head and shouted, "There is one more thing. ”

"Sir, please speak."

"Last time, you were asked to clean up the 'rats' in the county office, how did you do?"

Liu Ahan said seriously:

"Master, almost all of the eyeliner of the Liu family we found has been cleaned up, but listening to the master, we left a secretary surnamed Yuan alone...... At the moment, this person probably thinks we haven't found him yet. ”

Ouyang Rong said calmly: "Arrange him into the team of the county government to repair the gate, and then give him some authority to be a steward or something." ”

Liu Ashan frowned slightly: "Master, this is what you want to ......"

Ouyang Rong didn't answer, and continued: "In the next few days, you will send someone to keep an eye on him, and notify me as soon as there is any movement." ”

"Yes, sir."

Subsequently, Ouyang Rong said a few more words, and Yan and Liu retreated.

Only the young prefectural commander was left sitting alone in the hall.

He put his chair in his hands, closed his eyes and muttered:

"What is hidden in this Guyue Sword Shop......