Chu Zhixia wiped Shen Zhou's dusty face with a wet handkerchief, as if peeling off a layer of ash on the white jade. Shen Zhou's eyelashes drooped, and his cheeks were crimson by Chu Zhixia's rubbing, and there was a kind of small animal wet and well-behaved.

"Is it an assassin of the Mountain Ghost Clan?" Chu Zhixia asked.

Shen Zhou nodded.

Chu Shixia took a deep breath, and the doubts and worries in his heart became heavier and heavier.

If killing Shen Zhou was just Bai Huan's order, then things hadn't gotten out of control yet; On the contrary, if the identity of "Gongzizhou" is revealed, the Mountain Ghost Clan will definitely assassinate Shen Zhou frantically at any cost - nothing can highlight the glory of the Mountain Ghost Clan in this annexation war more than the head of the Luo family master.

Chu Zhixia knew that assassins had always been unscrupulous.

"Why is there a fire in the palace?" Shen Zhou asked.

"Shen Zhou, King Qin wants to kill you." Chu Zhixia stared at Shen Zhou and said.

Shen Zhou and Chu Zhixia were close at hand, and a warm snort hit each other's necks. Shen Zhou blinked, not realizing what a serious problem this was.

"He sent someone to set the fire, and he also recruited the assassins of the Mountain Ghost Clan. I haven't found out why, but if you want to hide, they won't be able to find you, right? Chu Zhixia said, "Luo's and mountain ghosts are in the same vein, you know how they think." ”

"So, Bai Huan dragged you in the fire just to force me to show up. When they can't find me, they will start with you. Shen Zhou asked rhetorically, "You don't want to tell me that no matter what danger you encounter, I won't come out, right?" ”

Shen Zhou looked at Chu Zhixia very unhappily.

Chu Zhixia patiently explained to him: "When I investigate why he has to kill you, you can argue with me about this issue again, and listen to me now." I can keep myself safe, you just need to protect yourself. ”

"I can't do it." Shen Zhou coldly refused.

"Sunken boat—"

Shen Zhou Huo Ran got up, pushed the door with his sword and left.

——

The ninth year of auspicious charm, the end of August.

Akiba Mountain House.

"You mean, King Qin went to great lengths, set fire to the palace, and used himself as bait to hook you in the backyard of the main hall and couldn't get out, just to force Shen Zhou to make a move, so as to kill him?" Pei Zhang summed up the ins and outs incredulously, and asked suspiciously, "What is King Qin's plan?" ”

"Good question, I want to know too." Chu Zhixia drank a small half bowl of osmanthus wine and stuffed balls with bitter hatred.

"I haven't asked you, what is the origin of the sinking boat?" Pei Zhang said curiously.

Chu Shixia said ambiguously: "Shen Zhou was picked up by my master, he was sick when he was a child, and he almost couldn't raise a kitten like a cub, so he finally picked up a life, and put it in Zhenbei Wangfu to raise it for my brother." It's half a little prince of the palace. ”

Pei Zhang shook his head, saying that he couldn't figure it out, "It just sounds like a bit of a Jianghu background." But King Qin Tianhuang is noble, even the leader of the Martial Arts Alliance will not let him make such a big move. Listening to your description, King Qin seems to be quite jealous of Shen Zhou - could it be related to his life experience? ”

Chu Zhixia was silent for a moment, put down the small spoon, and said, "Do you think I haven't thought about it?" But Shen Zhou's life history is impossible to find. He was taken away while he was still an infant, and even the people who took him didn't know where he came from, let alone my master and me. ”

Pei Zhang hesitated for a moment, and then said: "Have you ever thought that the third prince was beaten, but the king of Qin kept silent, maybe he was afraid that His Majesty would see Shen Zhou—perhaps, His Majesty would know Shen Zhou's life history." ”

The courtyard was silent for a while, except for the rustle of autumn leaves, stacked under the maple red sky.

"I've thought about it," Chu Zhixia's hand paused, and the sound of the spoon hitting the small bowl was clearly audible, "but I don't dare." ”

Pei Zhang looked at her quietly.

"If Shen Zhou really has a relationship with the Chen family or even the royal family, this is by no means a good thing. Shen Zhou's temperament is not suitable for being swept into such a treacherous situation. If Shen Zhou's life experience is really unspeakable to the world, so subtle that he has not left a single word in the plain text, revealing the truth will only put him in great danger. ”

The world's criticism, Shen Zhou does not understand, and will not care. But when it comes to the court, the world, power and struggle, being in it is like holding a torch in the wind, and there will be a danger of burning your hands.

Pei Zhang had to admit that Chu Zhixia's consideration was correct. Those in high positions are unbearable, and Shen Zhou's life experience makes Bai Huan so frightened, and it must be complicated and sensitive when he thinks about it.

Chu Zhixia looked at Pei Zhang, and said softly but firmly: "Pei Zhang, you and I are both from a big family, and we have read books and studied history. We all know that in the face of such a behemoth as the emperor, the society and even history, individuals are small ants. If one day, the wheel of fate will run over us, even if I give up my life and forget death, I will only be a mantis arm as a car. ”

"If I want to protect him, I can only hide him."

After listening to this, Pei Zhang was silent for a long time, and then sighed.

He knew that his scheming and persuasion would fall apart when the last word of this passage fell. Chu Shixia knew why Pei Zhang came. Bai Huan's jealousy of Shen Zhou shows the use value of Shen Zhou's life experience. Shen Zhou looked cold-hearted and cold-hearted, and he must have no expectations for his life experience, but he would also not refuse Chu Zhixia's request.

But Chu Zhixia just didn't want to, and even the small danger brought by snooping was turned away.

"Shen Zhou is a person from the rivers and lakes, the lives of the children of the rivers and lakes are like duckweed, licking blood on the tip of the knife, and living one day is a day. On the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival in the fourth year of Xiangfu, you beat me because of the sinking boat's insistence, I originally thought you were just a childhood sweetheart's friendship, you couldn't bear it, he was simple-minded. ”

Chu Zhixia raised his eyes and looked at him, without denying it.

"But I don't know that you cherish him."

Only you love him and treat him like a treasure.

A river and lake guest who comes and goes in the wind and rain, an assassin who survives in a pool of blood, and an alien who does not know what joy, anger, sorrow and happiness are, carefully treasured, like holding a handful of moonlight reflected in the pool water, and can't bear the slightest tremor to break it.

I'm afraid that he will be stained with dust, worried that he will be exposed to wind and snow, and pity him with low eyebrows.

"Yes," Chu Zhixia admitted, "I just can't bear to let him suffer like this, I just don't want him to be pointed out by a thousand people, I just don't want him to live under the same open guns and arrows as me." It is okay to say that I am soft-hearted, or to accuse me of not knowing the general situation. I just don't agree with this. ”

"In life, there is always a thunder pool that cannot be crossed." Pei Zhang shrugged his shoulders and said, "Unscrupulous people are even more frightening." ”

Chu Zhi Xia Quan praised himself and toasted him with a cup of tea.

——

Late at night.

The moonlight is like water, and the stars are shining.

A horse-drawn carriage walked slowly down the long deserted street, the lantern hanging in front of the carriage swaying. The coachman paced the horses slowly, and there was a faint and ambiguous sound behind the curtain of the carriage, and the candlelight was cut by the bamboo skeleton.

A series of subtle footsteps sounded, as if a cat was running lightly against a wall. The groom was startled, and when he looked up, it was a blue-eyed white cat, sitting on the wall licking its paws and looking at him.

In the next moment, the sound of a sword breaking through the wall of the carriage suddenly exploded.

The woman's shrill cry pierced the eardrum like a needle, and the groom was so frightened that he lifted the curtain of the carriage despite the danger of being reprimanded by his master. The naked woman, holding her blood-soaked robe, rolled off the couch and shivered.

The silver blade ran through the man's body from the back wall of the carriage, and the man's eyes were not closed, and the blade was still turning in his body. The flesh of the puddle of white flowers was stained red by the blood pouring down in an instant, and the blade was quickly drawn out like a snake, and the man who had lost his support fell limply on the woman with whom he was happy.

——

"The criminal department is dead."

A fold of the copied file was thrown on the table, and Chu Shixia pushed open the pages of the book, turning down page by page. Pei Zhang tried to wait patiently for her to finish reading, but he still couldn't help but pour down two cups of tea to calm down.

Just last night, Shangshu of the Criminal Department excused his wife to handle official business, but he was actually a prostitute in Qunyufang. Shangshu of the Criminal Department did not return overnight, and his wife was furious and led her servants to search all over the city, and found Shangshu's body in an abandoned carriage on the side of the road.

The criminal department is a member of the second grade, this matter is not trivial, Dali Temple immediately arrested the suspects.

"The person who was caught is the coachman of the Oiran Qiushui monk of the Jade Fang?" Chu Shixia turned a page of the dossier, and his tone was questioning.

These two people, one is a dusty woman who has left lowly documents in the government, and makes a living by selling beauty; One is a coachman who is innocent and has been a slave in the Shangshu family for three generations, and he lives a stable and smooth life.

None of them had a reason to murder the court officials.

The coachman confessed that he saw Shangshu die in an unknown situation, and he was afraid that he would not escape death when he returned home after reporting the crime, so he decided to escape. Oiran Qiushui's confession also said so, Mrs. Shangshu was jealous, the girls who had an affair with Shangshu in the Jade Fang were afraid of her, and Shangshu died so disgracefully, so she simply ran away with the coachman. ”

Chu Zhixia's fingertips were on the file, and the line of small characters wrote in detail that the sword broke through the back wall of the weak carriage, penetrated the heart of the criminal department, and intimately drew a small schematic diagram. The Oiran who had a good time with Shang Shuxing also had a slight knife wound on his body, which confirmed the authenticity of this assassination method.

"The sword is good at stabbing, the sword is good at splitting, and if you want to kill people through the wall of the carriage, in addition to the good sword, the skill of the assassin is also very important. The Assassins, on the other hand, were skilled in their elaborate assassination techniques, paying attention to the need to use the least amount of effort to get to the point, and rarely used such simple and crude assassination methods. It sounds easy to break through a carriage with a sword, but not many people can do it. ”

After Chu Zhixia sorted out the facts of the case in detail, he remembered and asked Pei Zhang: "Do you have a relationship with Shangshu of the Criminal Department?" ”

Pei Zhang shook his head stiffly.

"Then what are you doing with the dossier for me?"

"The book of the Criminal Department is Chen Dang. Bai Huan now asks Dali Temple to thoroughly investigate the case and strive to burn this fire to His Royal Highness. ”

Chu Zhixia's eyes sank slightly.

Pei Zhang breathed a long sigh of relief and said, "Who did this, do you have a clue?" ”

Chu Zhixia turned to the last page of the dossier, which was rubbed down from the wall of the carriage, and the traces left by the sword. Chu Zhi Xia Mo held the familiar sword marks on the file and did not answer Pei Zhang's words.

——

It's late autumn, and the chill of the rain is drilling into people's bones everywhere.

There is a huge boat floating on the lake, and the warm light shines through the narrow window, lighting a cool rain. Plump shrimp and crabs, aged wine and wine are delivered to the banquet like water, and the drunken and hazy-eyed guests are poured into the soft arms of the dancing girl, and the sound of silk and bamboo is endless.

The sound of the strings cracking is abrupt and harsh.

Dali Siqing looked over with everyone's eyes, and the white-cheeked pianist hung his head in shame. Some people prefer the elegance of "the song is wrong, Zhou Lang Gu", laughing and raising the wine glass to grab the pianist's waist. Dali Siqing bowed his head and drank with little interest, thinking about ending the banquet early.

Events happen in an instant.

The gold bottle slammed to the ground, and the wine splattered.

The guest beside Dali Siqing raised his head violently like a beast smelling blood, and dragged Dali Siqing up. Dali Siqing looked up blankly, an iron thorn pierced the throat of the guest, and the shy pianist retreated in the screams of everyone, shaking off the blood beads on the iron thorn.

The expression on the face was as cold as a living person, and the violinist threw out the weapon in his palm as he retreated, extinguishing the lights on the ship. Dali Siqing was horrified to find that there were people in the crowd who made the same movements as her, including maids pouring wine and small servants of guests...... Even the guests themselves, the cabin was instantly plunged into darkness.

"Sure enough, it came." Dali Siqing heard the new guest whisper, laughing with a faint madness.

Keqing pressed Dali Siqing down under the table, and Dali Siqing only heard the sound of swords colliding, which was small and crisp. No one in the cabin dared to breathe loudly, lest the blade fall to their throat in the next moment.

The sound of blood splattering was dull and hoarse, like a low roar from the throat of a beast.

The lights are back on.

Dali Siqing found that he had a layer of warm blood splashed on his face, which was slowly flowing down. He leaned under the low table and saw the overturned wine cups, the broken screens, and the messy table.

Mai Ji bare her snow-white chest, holding a soft sword like a belt in her hand, but a long sword pierced her heart and nailed to the pine floor, blood soaked through the light veil as thin as cicada wings; The purple-clothed noble son was lying on the overturned table, revealing half a thin and sharp broken blade on the back of his neck, like a snake that had been trampled on a broken neck bone; The smiling little guy held a slender iron whip in his hand, but the iron whip was wrapped around his neck and wrangled his cervical vertebrae.

All died, and there was blood everywhere.

Dali Siqing trembled slightly, and saw more than a dozen people standing up.

Some of them wore the robes of the violinist, some wore the light veils of the dancing queen, and some of them were well-dressed, but all of them wore silver ghost masks on their faces, like a group of ghosts with the same face.

The man standing in the middle was a tall and slender young man, dressed in black, and slowly drew his long sword from the screen. The moment the long sword broke away from the screen, the body of the host of the banquet, Yang Haiyan, a cabinet official, fell to the ground.

Keqing raised his head with difficulty, stretched out his hand and tried to grab the corner of his clothes, his voice was hoarse, "Gongzi Zhou......"

The girl standing beside the boy holding the lamp stepped on his cervical spine to stop him from crawling forward.

"In the last battle on Jiangnan Lake, nine of the ten ghosts of the Luo clan died. This blood debt, Luo's got it back today. The young man's voice was low and announced the end of a blood debt.

"Frostcoat." The boy called out, his fingers hooked down.

Luo Shuangyi understood, took a sword casually, and pierced Keqing's heart.

"Head of the house, there's another one over there." Someone reminded.

Dali Siqing watched the girl named Shuangyi come with a sword, and was so frightened that she almost forgot to breathe.

The young man who was called the "head of the family" pressed Luo Shuangyi's shoulder and said lightly: "Forget it." ”

"Shen Zhou: The Tiger Doesn't Threaten You, I'll Be Hello Kitty"