The hunt is divided into three fields, the first of which is participated by Mr. Sitang of the Academy, Mr. Xilou, General Zuo Ge Yiyan, and Mo Ke, the son of Mofu. The rules are very simple, the one who shoots the most wins, and the winner can get the first knife of the golden tassel ring given by Emperor Rong.

All the competitors changed into battle armor and each crossed a red and brown fiery horse and lined up at the starting point. The rays of the cold sun fell on the armor through the canopy of the trees, reflecting a blinding silver light.

In the center of the woods, there are more than a dozen pagoda-like observation decks, which penetrate the canopy high above the trees, and tents are erected at the tops, and fires are lit to keep the royal family warm.

Zuo Qing made an exception to the observation deck because of Murphy's relationship, and because of the prince's secret help, he was able to sit side by side with the prince.

The eyes of everyone on the observation deck fell through the dense trees and on the contestants, and before the game began, they already had the winner in their hearts.

Ge Yiyan squinted at Yan Zhen beside him with palpitations, and he didn't dare to come out. Yan Zhen spoke first: "Do you think it's important to get a ranking or to survive this hunt?" ”

Ge Yiyan laughed dryly: "It's just a competition, there's no need to be serious, everyone is here to make Your Majesty happy." ”

Yan Zhen's eyes purred, and he turned his horse to his side, and said strangely: "I think that only by playing exciting can your majesty be happy, it is too boring not to have some blood, you say, am I right?" ”

Ge Yiyan swallowed hard, and pulled the horse away in a panic: "The general said that it was better for us to get to the point." ”

Yan Zhen smirked to himself and returned to his starting point quietly.

Zuo Qing's thumb and index finger rubbed tightly, the joints were white, the low-hanging eyelashes lined a pair of dark brown eyes, and a circle of translucent mountains around his body slowly squirmed, like a god's mansion.

Su Yan looked up at him, and felt unspeakably uncomfortable in his heart, maybe because he couldn't ask for it, or perhaps, he just looked uncomfortable, such a moonlit and clear young man was full of an aura that did not match his age, full of scheming and sickness.

Yan Zhen turned the horse's head and came to Su Yan's side again, and the mountain wind blew his infinite green silk up, making Su Yan tremble.

"Good sister, you follow me later, I will fight one and you will pick one up, I will fight a pair and you will pick up another pair, so that you will be the first!"

Su Yan frowned: "This is not cheating? ”

Yan Zhen's eyebrows raised: "What are you afraid of?" If you find out that I'm in charge, you just have to be in the limelight, and most importantly—" he glanced at the West Building, "and most importantly, I don't want him to win!" ”

Su Yan couldn't help laughing, and glanced at the West Building from afar across the Buddha, his face was full of confusion.

"You kid hold such a grudge?"

"It's not for everyone to hold grudges, I don't think you will hold grudges, so you will suffer. I warn you, whoever bullies you in the future must remember that you will have to pay him back a hundred times and a thousand times in the future, otherwise he won't know what is the reincarnation of heaven and karma! ”

Yan Zhen's eyebrows fluttered and he laughed, and he said more and more clearly, and in the end, he was even unobstructed, and even the room in the west building heard it, and the room looked at this room and immediately turned his head.

Su Yan shook his head helplessly and drove his horse towards the Buddha. She thought that the Buddha would be under a lot of pressure because she was placed next to the West Building, but she didn't expect that she was too worried, only to see her head up, as if she was looking at something.

Su Yan asked her, "What are you looking at?" ”

Buddha Ji didn't speak, just stared at the top of his head, Su Yan looked up curiously, and saw countless branches intertwined above his head, forming a huge dense net above his head, they seemed to be prey covered by the net, and there was nowhere to escape.

For a moment, Su Yan felt that this huge net was tightening, and a sense of oppression swept over, she shivered, and hurriedly withdrew her gaze.

"What's so nice about the branches?"

Buddha shook his head and said: "Zuo Qing and His Majesty are above us, whether they are looking down from above or from below, they are very clear, but the west side where Murphy is located is very hidden, I don't know what he is going to do, but I am always unsteady in my heart." ”

Su Yan suddenly realized after she broke it, but what can Murphy do? You can't harm anyone in public!

She told the Buddha about this doubt, and the Buddha said, "Isn't it convenient to hide in the shadows, if you want to do something unseemly?" He is a Rong Guoshang scholar, and his power is comparable to that of the prime minister of the previous dynasty, who would suspect that it was him, and no one would dare to suspect that it was him. ”

Su Yan disagreed: "He is in power and in the opposition, even the current prince has to give three points, what else does he ask for?" ”

Buddha pondered for a moment, and then said: "Murphy was originally the prince's teacher, but later turned against him, so he turned to support the four princes in secret. It's not strange that you say it's strange, Murphy's power is monstrous, there are so many henchmen in the court, he was betrayed by the crown prince at the beginning, why didn't he kill him and set up another prince, but calmed things down. ”

"After all, he is the crown prince, but he has His Majesty's support behind him, and no matter how powerful Mo Fei is, he can't just do it casually..."Su Yan looked around cautiously and whispered: "What's the difference between that and rebellion, he just doesn't want to die, and he has to have a reputation behind him, right?" ”

"There's a point in what you're saying, but......" she looked west, "it's a strange winter hunt anyway." ”

Su Yan's heart rose to his throat, and he always felt that something would happen next. Maybe it's habit, or it's dependence, whenever these times, she will subconsciously look at Zuo Qing, as long as she sees him, she can feel at ease, but when she looks up, Zuo Qing is gone, and where the young man in the black robe on the observation deck stands, only the pennant is fluttering.

Like her, Ge Yiyan, who found that Zuo Qing had disappeared, was staring at her deadly, and said in a strange way: "I heard that Your Majesty sent Zuo Qing to wait in the forest in the west, if anyone reaches the end first, Your Majesty will reward you, I don't know if this is true?" ”

Su Yan was pleasantly surprised: "I just heard about it. As he spoke, he looked at the West Building, "You are close to him, is this really fake?" ”

Xilou said: "You know too late, it seems that Master Ge is better informed than you!" ”

Ge Yiyan sarcastically said: "I think we'll all be back when he arrives!" His words immediately attracted the dislike of Su Yan and Yan Zhen.

When the sun rose to the top, there was a loud sound of iron whips, and hundreds of birds rushed out of the trees, and the scene was extremely shocking.

Yan Zhen glanced at Ge Yiyan defiantly, took the lead, and galloped out first, and Su Yan and Buddha followed immediately.

Ge Yiyan glanced at the West Building, then bowed his back, his legs clamped fiercely, and the red horse was like an arrow off the string, and disappeared in a blink of an eye.

Xilou didn't have the mentality of a race at all, and rode slowly into the woods.

Su Yan was not familiar with horseback riding, so he went to learn for a few days today, and he could only be reluctant now, but how could this reluctant riding skill be better than Yanzhen, he grew up on horseback, and the fierce horse played the biggest role in his hands, and just after running for a while, the two opened up a long distance.

Su Yan's stomach was churning, and he hurriedly grabbed the reins and stopped under the tree to rest, and then looked around after he recovered, but he was really startled.

I don't know when I have entered the depths of the woods, and if I am right, then half a mile to the west is where Murphy is. She looked behind her, but there was no Buddha in sight, and there was no sound of horses' hooves nearby, and there was silence all around, only her own breathing. She circled around with her heart, hesitating to go any further west. If Murphy did make a move, would it endanger them?

She shook her head and comforted herself: Buddha's guess was unreliable, and she couldn't follow it.

Pulling the reins in one hand and holding the bow and arrow tightly in the other, he cautiously rode westward.

The line of sight is becoming more and more blurred, the stretch of the hand is full of mountains, the foot is a complicated path, and the trees on all sides are like obstacles in the maze.

But there was no one nearby, and it was as quiet as a ghost forest.

"Buddha... Buddha... Buddha? She whispered a few words, but there was no response.

Suddenly! As soon as the leaves above her head rattled, she immediately pulled the hunting bow she carried with her and aimed it, her nerves tensed in a straight line at this time, and the cold sweat became more and more, and her gesture continued for a long time, until she confirmed that the sound was from a bird, and then withdrew her bow and arrow. But just as she was slackening, there was a continuous sound in the direction of Fang Cai, and when she raised her head again, several arrows were shot at her, and immediately the reins were straightened, and the fierce horse neighed, and ran in the opposite direction.

The mountain wind carried the leaves, and quickly slashed through her like a sickle, cutting several bloody wounds on her back, and there were countless hidden weapons mixed in it, which could not be prevented. She bowed her back and barely dodged most of it, but more and more hidden weapons flew out from the depths of the woods, Su Yan hugged the horse's neck and pulled the longbow to shoot several arrows into the darkness of the woods, and immediately there was a scream. Five arrows were fired again, and sure enough, someone fell to the ground in response.

Su Yan counted the number of people, although the forest was large and secretive, it was impossible for Mo Fei to hide from Emperor Rong that he had ambushed dozens of people here, and there were no more than ten people at most. She drew five arrows from the quiver and put them on her bow, closed her eyes and calmed down, listening to the sounds around her with both ears, at first except the sound of horses' hooves, only the sound of leaves galloping by, but as her heart gradually calmed down, she heard the footsteps of people and the sound of wheezing a hundred feet away.

Hmmm-

The five arrows quickly broke away from the bowstring, and lightning flashed like thunder, piercing into the darkness of the woods.

The shadows of the trees shook violently, accompanied by screams, and birds swooped out of the canopy, and for a moment, the silence around them returned.

A series of horses' hooves sounded from the east, and the west building, which had been left behind, galloped on a fierce horse, through the fallen leaves, like a howling wind.

Su Yan was dumbfounded by this scene, stunned there, and forgot that the arrows on the bow were empty, and even more forgot that there was an ambush in secret.

Xilou flew off the horse and galloped over, hugging her into his arms: "I'm late!" ”

Su Yan raised the corners of his mouth disappreciatively, pointed to the trees behind him that still did not stop shaking, and said, "Kill a few, there are still a few left." ”

Xilou immediately pulled out the sword at his waist and sprinted over with lunges, one move and one style neat, without dragging mud and water at all, and as he turned the blade of the sword, the shouts were endless.

Su Yan chased after him, only to see four masked people pouring out from behind the bushes, with a long bloody mouth on their chests from top to bottom, and they were already dead.

"Let's leave quickly, this place is not suitable for long!" She longed to grow wings and fly out of the woods.

Xilou unhurriedly took out the handkerchief from his sleeve and wiped the sword with great leisure: "Since the mastermind behind the scenes has laid a net here, he will not let anyone approach easily. You wait and see, at least half a pillar of incense before His Majesty receives news from the Assassins. ”

At this time, Xilou said a word, and she slowly calmed down and carefully sorted out the whole thing.

Emperor Rong was mediocre, he knew that too many people wanted his life, so he carried guards with him, and there were dead soldiers on standby at the same time, if the assassins dared to come and attack, it would be simply full. But if it is the person next to Emperor Rong, it is not impossible to kill the master, after all, the person who knows and is most approachable to Emperor Rong is the easiest to take his life. And those who want to kill Emperor Rong, except for the current Shangshu Lord Mo Fei, I really can't imagine anyone who has the courage to have this reason.

Today, Emperor Rong finally left the palace, and there were not many guards beside him, so Mo Fei naturally wanted to fight for himself. At this time, looking back, when Murphy built the palace in Bishui Lake, it seems that he left a big foreshadowing.

But at the end of the day, Murphy was a cautious man, and if the killer found out that the person was not the emperor, he should not have done it, but chose another time. But those killers clearly wanted Su Yan to die.

I'm afraid there is only one reason: the killer is not Murphy.

Su Yan suddenly realized, turned around and jumped on the horse, stretching out his arm to the West Building, "Quick, there is still an ambush here!" ”

The West Building also noticed the anomaly and immediately jumped on horseback.

All the way back, Su Yan kept thinking about the reason. If the person behind the scenes is himself, then how did he know his identity, and if it wasn't for the identity of the prince's daughter, why did he do this? I still couldn't figure out this question until I went back.

Zuo Qing was already waiting outside the palace, and it seemed that he had heard about the matter in the woods, but he didn't expect the news to come out before half a pillar of incense.

Su Yan couldn't help but sarcastically mock the people behind him: "I thought you were a living Zhuge , but I didn't expect it to be miscalculated!" ”

Xilou smiled bitterly: "It's all at this time, you still have the heart to joke." ”

"It's just that I suffered some skin injuries, and if I can get my life back, my ancestors will bless me!"

Xilou didn't say anything anymore, but the strength of his arms around her seemed to be a little stronger, Su Yan only felt weak and wanted to break away, but he was injured and couldn't move.

This scene fell on Zuo Qing, but he felt dazzling.

"You don't deserve to end up like this." Zuo Qing was suddenly touched by her wound, and he impulsively wanted to wipe the blood stains for her, but reason still didn't let him do it, but spoke a little unkindly.

Su Yan only felt that his chest was blocked in one breath, and he was very aggrieved if he couldn't go up or down, "It's easy to say, you can try it instead?" I guess it should have been shot into a sieve. ”

Zuo Qing looked at the West Building in surprise, wondering in his heart, could it be that he had miscalculated? Ge Yiyan couldn't wait for the prey, so he wanted to kill and take the opportunity to kill Su Yan? But it's too far-fetched, Su Yan's identity has always been secret, he has no way of knowing, and he won't kill an irrelevant person. But if it's to use Su Yan to hit yourself...

Xilou took Su Yan's hand and was about to take her to heal, but Zuo Qing stopped them: "This matter has been handed over to Ge Yiyan to deal with, for the sake of your own life, you'd better keep quiet for the time being." ”

"Song Yiyan!" Su Yan was dumbfounded, desperate again, "Giving him him is giving him a chance to shield Murphy!" ”

"Murphy proposed, Your Majesty didn't refute it, but these are none of your business, you just care about your own injuries." As he spoke, he handed her a packet of medicinal powder, "Mix the medicinal powder with water and drink it, it won't leave a scar." ”

Su Yan felt that this person had lost a few words to you first, and he was very good to you, he couldn't see through it, he didn't know what he was thinking, he just felt that he was uncertain and weird. Then he shook off angrily: "Don't worry about me!" "I was about to enter the palace, but I saw someone coming towards her in the road, this person was none other than Prince Zheng, Ge Zheng.

Su Yan's feet suddenly couldn't move, and he didn't know what to do, so he suddenly panicked.

After thinking about it, Ge Zheng had already come to the palace gate, and there were several people from the criminal department behind him, but the eldest grandson was not in the list. His eyes swept over Su Yan and Zuo Qing, and he bowed his head to the West Building: "I heard that there was an assassination in the woods in the western suburbs, and Lord Eldest Sun has already led someone to search, and I just heard that there was a fight, could it be the second son and Mr. Su..."

Xilou arched his hand: "There were about one or twenty assassins in the group, and a few were shot on the spot, and the rest all ran away." ”

Ge Zheng was shocked: "The assassins have already set up an ambush there? ”

"It should be." Xilou looked at Su Yan, who was nervous, and said, "Presumably, the Criminal Department has found clues, the prince doesn't have to worry, these assassins can't even get close to me, let alone Your Majesty!" ”

"That being said, if the assassin's person is not found out, I will not be at ease for a day..."After all, Ge Zheng's gaze still couldn't avoid the shocking wounds on Su Yan's body, "Mr. Su shouldn't take risks... Can the injury be severe? ”

Su Yan looked at him in shock, and after a while, he came to his senses and shook his head mechanically.

Xilou protected her in his arms and said with a smile: "This case has been handed over to your son for full trial, assisted by the Criminal Department, and the prince is relieved." ”

Su Yan looked at this and then that, thinking that it was none of his business, so he moved inside, moved again, and finally moved to the palace gate, but was stopped by Ge Zheng, "This king has brought the imperial doctor with him, and he will heal you later." ”

Ge Zheng smiled elegantly and kindly, and turned around and walked into the palace.

Su Yan breathed a sigh of relief, but suddenly remembered that Zuo Qing's West Building was still behind him, so he hurriedly restrained his shocked face, stuck to the wall of the corridor, and fled in a hurry.

Xilou sighed: "After thousands of calculations, I didn't count that Ah Yan would meet the people of Ge Yiyan, let alone that these people couldn't kill you, so they wanted to kill Ah Yan to get angry." ”

Zuo Qing's expression was heavy: "This assassin, I'm afraid it's not just for me. ”

"How?"

"After Su Yan entered the western suburbs, His Majesty also decided to go hunting in the forest with the most prey in the west, although he finally went to the east, but if he followed the direction arranged before, he happened to pass through the place where the assassins were ambushed, don't you think that the target of the assassins in this assassination also includes Emperor Rong? Since this is the case, then this mastermind is more than just a song. ”

"Is it difficult or Murphy?" He tried to find a trace of negation on Zuo Qing's face, but was disappointed.

Zuo Qing said: "Throughout the ages, how many murders have occurred in the hunting of the royal family, this hunt, some of them are Murphy's dogs, the time and place are favorable, how could he let go of this good opportunity that does not require a large number of troops and is not easy to expose himself." ”

"But Murphy is cunning and cautious, he won't let his men scare people before they catch an important person, so it seems that the Assassins are not Murphy's lackeys."

"It's better to think like this, Murphy has long planned to assassinate Emperor Rong during the hunt, so he laid a net and waited for Emperor Rong to hunt in the western suburbs, and this assassination plan was for Ge Yiyan to preside over the overall situation, but Ge Yiyan had murderous intentions for you and me because of what happened last night, so he tried to assassinate two birds with one stone today. Unexpectedly, Emperor Rong temporarily changed the route, but bumped into a Su Yan, he thought that Su Yan was brought to the academy by me, thinking that she was extremely important to me, and if he killed her or arrested her, he would definitely be able to restrain me, so as to get what he wanted. ”

"I still don't think it's Murphy who is the mastermind, and according to his style, he won't do it here."

Zuo Qing crossed his arms and thought calmly: "There is another possibility, it is purely that I am thinking too much." However, I can use the topic to play. ”

Xilou smiled dumbly: "I'm curious if your prediction is based on clues or random speculation?" ”

"Speculation also has to be based, I just figured out Ge Yiyan and Murphy."

"Murphy's heart is like a city, and he hasn't been caught in the slightest bit for so many years, but his nephew is a simple-minded and reckless person, and he really doesn't look like a family."

"That's what separates us from him."

The two looked at each other and smiled, and went back side by side.