At night, the dead Broken Cloud Xuan was divided into gloom and cold, and all the subordinates were sent elsewhere, leaving only a few guards outside the gates. Su Yan climbed over the wall and entered without attracting anyone's attention.

The house where He Shuang lived was in the westernmost corner, far away from the Triple Corridor and the Council Court, along the woods to the west, separated by a wall and a wooden door. In the past, it was a place where a group of maids lived, but then they walked and moved, and in the end, only He Shuang lived alone.

Su Yan did not go straight to the scene of the crime, but bypassed He Shuang's house and came to the pond at the back. I pushed aside the weeds and probed the depth of the water, and then observed the surface of the water, and seemed to have caught some clues in my heart.

"You say, if you are a murderer, kill a little-known maid, for what?"

The gray-white shadow squatting on the side shook the folding fan and said casually: "If I were her master, if I committed something, I would only scold at most." If I were a maid working with her, and there was a conflict between the two, at most they would be on the road and go their own way. If you kill someone, he must have done something that made me extremely angry, or she found out an unspeakable secret and had to kill him. ”

"Yes, it's a secret! A mere maid, with no wealth and no color, who will be killed by love? Moreover, she rarely leaves the academy, according to the people who work with her, she never has bad relations with others, and she is discreet and professional, where do you say she came from! Then the biggest possibility is that she discovered some secret, so she will be killed. ”

"What is the secret that a weak woman would be killed?" The West Building pondered for a long time, but he really couldn't think of why. He saw that Su Yan was still studying this pool, so he squatted over a few steps and asked, "What are you looking at here?" ”

Su Yan patted away the water stains, got up and said, "Eldest Sun Yue found out that He Shuang had opened the door to a stranger, and before leaving, he saw that the person seemed to be rummaging for something. Now that I think about it, He Shuang may have been killed that night, and what the murderer was rummaging through is very likely to be the key evidence! But he couldn't find it, because He Shuang threw it into the pond behind the house. ”

Xilou subconsciously looked at the water covered by weeds and asked her, "Why did you throw it?" ”

"I know that the deadline is coming, and I can't put the evidence in the hands of the murderer."

Xilou closed the fan and asked, "How can she be sure that one day we will pay attention to this pond?" ”

"Because, Changsun Yue!" Su Yan walked back to the front door of the house, and stepped on the moldy moss road to the half-open and half-closed wooden door to take a closer look.

"What's wrong?" Xilou couldn't help but ask.

"The keyhole of this door is full of rust spots, and it looks like it has been abandoned for a long time." Su Yan closed the door, but found that it was very laborious, "The door is already difficult to close, it should be open all the time." You look under the door, there are traces of people stepping on, not only the ones left by the criminal department when investigating the case that day, but also many women's shoe prints, I think this is a shortcut for the maids. She moved her steps and looked at the newly staggered footprints on the mossy ground, "Yesterday, the Criminal Department and Dali Temple also paid attention to this door, gathered here, and discussed for a long time. ”

Xilou watched Su Yan close the door and open it again, and after opening it, he kept walking in and out, and he couldn't come to a conclusion around the door. I couldn't stand it, so I immediately reached out to stop her, "You don't think this door has anything to do with the murderer, do you?" If this is the case, the Criminal Department and Dali Temple have already discovered that the woods outside are more related than this door! ”

Su Yanzheng lowered his head and repeatedly checked the footprints on the ground for other clues, and was awakened by Xilou's words, and hurriedly looked at the woods outside the door.

"The woods, the rusty keyholes, the maids' passages, and what Changsun Yue saw with his own eyes...... Let me ask you, did this door open on the day Dali Temple came? ”

"I wasn't there that day, but Zuo Qing was, saying that they found a clue to the door, so they opened it to check, but they didn't find anything, thinking it was an illusion."

"It turned out that the door was closed on the day of the crime, but the keyhole was covered with rust, as if it had been open, and it would be like this because of the wind and rain."

"It's also possible that it's just unlocked, how could the criminal department not find out."

"Look there," Su Yan pointed to the fence behind the door, which was covered with moss, but there was a different color from the surroundings, and she reopened the door and leaned against the wall, just to cover the area.

Xilou suddenly realized and exclaimed: "As you said, this door has never been closed!" ”

Su Yan felt that the clues in his mind were slowly being pieced together, becoming more and more complete: "Suppose that on the night of the crime, the murderer came from the woods, passed by this open door, and knocked on the door of He Shuang's house. If something happens to him, the more frightened the eldest grandson is, he will definitely report it to the eldest grandson. As long as the criminal department comes to inspect this pond, there is a high chance that the evidence will be recovered. After killing someone, the murderer planned to flee the same way, but in a weak heart, he closed the door that should have been open, and then fled over the wall, trying to cover up his escape route. ”

Xilou couldn't help but clap his hands and praise: "Ah Yan really has Zhuge in mind!" So through these clues, can you identify the murderer? ”

Su Yan shook his head: "I can only be sure that what Eldest Sun Yue said is true." In addition to this, at most, I know that the murderer and the deceased know each other, and it is not the first time to take this shortcut, but it is definitely not the subordinate of Xuan Yunxuan, and the subordinate will not know that this door is broken. She had a flash of inspiration and hurriedly asked, "Let me ask you again, when did the academy start to close?" ”

Xilou said: "It is when the door of the Wan Chaofang is closed, when it is time." ”

"Whitney? Just after night, the eldest grandson Yue said that it was just night. You go and inform Zuo Qing to investigate all the outsiders that day, although they are not registered, but day and night alternate, when the door is closed, the guards must have an impression! ”

Xilou was puzzled: "Didn't you say that He Shuang has no enemies outside?" ”

"Everything is speculation, so everything that is being done now is validation. Also, let the criminal department come to the pond to fish. ”

Xilou inserted the fan into his belt, rubbed his hands and said, "It's a cold day, why bother the Criminal Department again, I'll go fish!" ”

As expected, there was evidence in the pond, a sweat towel, stuffed in a porcelain bottle, and when it was caught in the west building, it floated in the place with the most weeds.

Su Yan paced in the dimly lit room, touched his chin and said, "Sweat towel... Women's sweat towels, is this the murderer's, or whose is it? ”

Xilou held a needle and picked up a candle and said, "Sometimes a sweat towel can be identified in one direction, but sometimes, it is just a sweat towel. ”

Su Yan asked, "Have you checked the people who entered and left the academy that night?" ”

He shook his head: "When the door was closed that night, the guard was changing, and no one was seen entering or leaving, it seems that the murderer sneaked in while the changing of the guard was empty, or he may have hid until the second day before taking advantage of the crowd to recruit relatives and leave." ”

"It's insidious!" Su Yan threw the sweat towel on the ground with all his might, "The eldest grandson didn't see the murderer clearly, I don't know if it was a man or a woman, and the sweat towel couldn't indicate the owner, and the guards didn't see it." Now it's okay, the clues are all broken! ”

"Who's going to say it's broken? You, yesterday you said you were smart, but now you are confused again. ”

Su Yan was confused.

Xilou said: "Since the murderer didn't find the sweat towel, he will definitely come again, even if he doesn't come, he will always pay attention to this matter, once there is a stir, it will be a big mess, we will set a trap again, we will ensure that he throws himself into the net!" ”

Su Yan jumped up suddenly: "Good idea!" Then I'll hurry up and let the wind go. ”

Xilou watched a shadow fly by, shrugged his shoulders, and said to himself: "It's still so hot, I really can't do anything about you." ”

The next day, there was still no movement in the academy, and the sound of the wind that was released seemed to sink into the sea.

Su Yan hurriedly ran to Wan Chaofang, and just entered the courtyard, but ran into Changsun Xi. Su Yan gasped, subconsciously took a step back, and said in his heart: The road is narrow!

Changsun Xi held an unknown object wrapped in brocade cloth in his hand, glanced at her, and laughed out loud from his throat: "Mr. Su doesn't have to be in a hurry, it's not dark yet, can't wait?" She looked back at Wan Chaofang and continued, "Fang Zhangsi is not free at this time, you should come back in the evening, it is just what he wants." ”

Su Yan was angry and was about to have a seizure, when suddenly a flash of inspiration and wanted to scare her, so he said: "You have the kung fu to mock others, it is better to keep to yourself." Now that Duan Yunxuan is dead, everyone is so scared that they don't dare to go out, you are good, and you still come to Wanchaofang. When you came, which way did you go? ”

"Road? What do you mean? ”

"It's nothing, yesterday I was just like you, I was not afraid of death wandering around, I temporarily decided to go to Wanchaofang for a walk, and picked a shortcut in the woods to the west of Yunxuan, guess what I saw?" Su Yan saw that she was no longer in the mood to ridicule herself, and couldn't help but be proud, "I saw that the people from the Criminal Department were handling cases there!" Good guy, a bunch of people, the head of the Xuan Court is also there, that's called a graceful jade tree in the wind..."

"Getting to the point." Changsun Xi said impatiently.

Su Yan smiled slyly: "You also know that Lord Nangong and I know each other, so he kindly reminded me not to take that road during this time, so as not to cause trouble, because ah, the place where people have died is very evil!" ”

"Ridiculous! There are no ghosts in the world, don't be alarmist! ”

"Even if there are no ghosts, you'd better not go there, the criminal department is very strict in its investigation, and those who approach it will be suspected of being a murderer if they are not careful."

"That's you, I'm the eldest grandson of the eldest grandson, he dares to doubt me?!"

"There are no relatives or friends in front of the case, and it is important to catch the murderer. The main reason is that the road connects the west gate of Broken Cloud Xuan, and the west gate has always been the passage of the maids, and the criminal department suspects that there is something strange about that door. ”

"Doors? What happened to the door? Changsun Xi suddenly looked frightened, but immediately realized his gaffe, and calmed down almost instantly. But her change couldn't escape Su Yan's eyes.

Su Yan still said calmly: "That door doesn't seem to have been closed all the time, but it was inexplicably closed on the day of the crime, you say it's strange, maybe the murderer deliberately closed it, trying to cover up the escape route!" Then from the side, it is concluded that there will be clues left in this vicinity, and among the clues, there may be evidence to prove the identity of the murderer. ”

Eldest Sun Xi laughed dryly: "What does it have to do with me... I, I tell you, I have come here today to walk the right way! ”

"Hehe, I'll remind you that there are already officers and soldiers guarding there, so you don't have to go in vain."

Eldest Sun Xi stared at her suspiciously, always feeling strange in his heart: "What are you telling me to do here?" ”

"I'm for the sake of Changsun Yue, it's good that you are sisters, otherwise the ghost will tell you this, thankless!" With that, he strode into the Wan Chao Room.

Changsun Xi couldn't control his fear anymore, lifted his skirt, and left in a hurry.

It's really hard to find nowhere to step on the iron shoes, and it takes no effort to get it! Su Yan suddenly felt refreshed, and ran to find the West Building. Wan Chaofang seems to have just arrived with a batch of tributes, and the West Building is being accepted. Su Yanhou was outside the door, and he didn't enter cautiously until the last two subordinates left.

Xilou made a pot of tea and said with a smile: "What, are you afraid of damaging my baby?" ”

Su Yan paused, and couldn't help rolling his eyes: "It's as if it's yours, shameless." ”

"It's not mine, but it's my father's tribute, the freshly baked glass, come, show you." As he spoke, he took down a large piece from the iron shelf, wrapped in paper in three layers inside and three layers outside, and what came out was a translucent blue and white colored glass triangular bottle, sprinkled with a lot of red water droplets.

The West Building proudly displayed it: "This treasure, after thirty craftsmen, has been continuously carved, and it is the best of the best." Speaking of this, his eyes, which had just been excited, dimmed, "In order to make this thing in a hurry, the craftsman did not dare to be negligent day and night. But the reward is a little salary that can't even satisfy food and clothing. A weak country has no dignity, and it is extremely rich! ”

said with a bitter sigh: "The previous Yan Kingdom was not so, probably after the death of Empress Yu, Emperor Rong began to impose taxes on the Yan Kingdom, and the annual tribute increased by thirty percent!" ”

Yuhou... Su Yan rarely heard Xilou mention her. When Princess Yan remarried, it caused a sensation in the Six Kingdoms. The people are saying that such a perfect beauty must be worthy of a hero like Emperor Rong, Su Yan also felt the same way at that time, but now...

Su Yan lowered his head sadly, how painful the King of Chu should have been at that time.

In the gloomy lobby, the dark curtain swayed slightly in the night breeze, shrouded in a strange temperament. Jin Yuncheng knelt on one side of the carpeted floor, and on the other side, Murphy sat quietly, his eyes slightly open. After the next person finished making tea, he slowly got up, picked up the teacup, walked to the opposite side, and bowed his back slightly: "The girl from Yuncheng was born and died for the general, and she has been to many deep palaces and forbidden courtyards, presumably this skill is unmatched." Right now, the old man has something unspeakably hidden, I wonder if the girl in Cloud City would like to hear it? ”

Jin Yuncheng looked at the dark tea in his hand, straightened his back, and made a simple salute: "I want to hear it in detail." ”

Murphy placed the tea on her desk and paced down the lobby with his hands in his hands.

"The old man has a capable assistant, and now he is haunted by a case, and he is uneasy all day long. The old man had a lot of help from him in the court, and he couldn't bear to lose him. ”

"May I ask my lord, who is this person?"

"Ji Yu."

"Lord Ji Yuji, the left waiter of the province under the door? I remember that he took office nine years ago, and since he took office, he has found a lot of talents for the adults and entrusted them with important tasks. "It is very clear what kind of helpers Jinyun City has for Mo Fei, where they come from, and what background connections they have, and this is also her own job as a dead soldier.

Murphy's eyebrows sank, and he looked back at her: "This person can't stand the torture, and he can't fall into the punishment department." ”

"Kill people?"

"Not yet." Murphy returned to the case, took a sip of tea, and then said, "Help me sneak into Broken Cloud Xuan, find out what that maid hid before she died, and bring it to me." ”

"What is it?"

"A sweat towel."

Su Yan bit the dog's tail grass and sat on the eaves, his two legs swinging in mid-air, shaking the branches hanging from the roof.

She yawned and poked the man next to her with her elbow.

"You say, if we squat like this, can we really guard the murderer and throw himself into the net? No matter what, I think that if he really came, it would be stupid, how could there be such a stupid murderer! ”

"Sometimes it's not that the murderer is stupid, but in the face of a crisis, it's hard to fall ahead and remain the same."

"If my guess is wrong, and Changsun Xi is just simply afraid, wouldn't it be a waste of work?"

"How can a normal person react like that, don't worry, the news must have gotten out, and the murderer will definitely come!" Xilou took a bite of the melon and asked her, "When will you wait until today?" ”

"It's dawn."

Xilou sighed, twisted his buttocks, bit the melon, took off his cloak, folded it squarely on the side, and patted it: "Come and sit." ”

Su Yan glanced at the mat and immediately moved over. Sitting and feeling bored, he took out a dark green sweat towel from his sleeve, sniffed it closely, hurriedly threw it aside, and complained: "I might as well hand it over to Dali Temple, and by the way, let them arrange a few people for me, I don't have to be so day and night!" ”

Xilou folded it, hid it in his belt, turned his head and asked her, "Then who do you want from Dali Temple?" ”

"Two who stalk, four who catch people, and six who guard the door...... There are also six prepared, all of them are ambushed in the dark, and I will sleep soundly, and as soon as there is a sound, I will immediately order my subordinates to bring the murderer to justice in one go! ”

"If it is handed over to Dali Temple, there is nothing to do with you, you will really have to go home and fall asleep! It's better for us to do it ourselves, do a good job, and get a reward from Emperor Rong, if we don't do a good job, it's not too late to hand in the evidence, don't you say? ”

Su Yan thought for a moment and nodded vigorously.

A gust of cold wind was biting, Su Yan subconsciously touched the root of his neck, but he felt a hand of blood, and he jumped up in fright, and suddenly found a white shadow standing in front of him, shadowing in the staggered branches.

Both of them tensed their nerves, for fear that a single glance would let him slip away.

The shadow stared at Xilou's waist, the broadsword in his hand did not move, and the cold light churned on the knife surface.

Su Yan hurriedly pulled out the short sword from his boots and prepared his defense: "Report your name." ”

The shadow's eyes narrowed under the mask, and he raised the knife and pointed it horizontally at Su Yan, unable to hear the voices of men and women, and said, "I will be engraved on your tombstone." ”

"Grandma's so arrogant! Xilou, you attack his left, I am in charge of the right, today we will have a double sword combination, let him open his eyes! ”

I only heard Xilou humming softly, and in a blink of an eye, he had already sprinted out. Su Yan also hurriedly caught up, and when he was about to attack the shadow, he quickly separated and attacked his left and right. The shadow kicked the trunk of the tree, jumped up the canopy, and flew down the other side, landing behind them.

The shadow's cold voice said, "Hand over the things and leave you alive." ”

"It's okay to hand it over, but you have to leave your name, and if you ask from above, I can explain it." Xilou held Su Yan's hand and reminded in a low voice, "This person has done a good job, you and I are not opponents, and now he has not used his weapon, so he can't figure out the tricks for the time being, and there is no way to deal with it, you be careful." ”

Su Yan nodded, not daring to relax.

I saw the shadow put away the broadsword and tilted his head to look at the two of them, as if he was looking at the plaything in his hand.

"You're a couple?" He seemed curious about the relationship between the two.

Su Yan was stunned. In the middle of the night, the murderer doesn't kill people, what do you care about what they do?!

The shadow asked her again, "What will happen to you if he dies?" ”

Su Yan looked at the West Building, feeling very embarrassed. If the West Building is really in trouble, he must give up his life and forget about death, but what the shadow asked is obviously between men and women......

"I won't die, and I won't put her in danger, you don't want to delay time, or you can fight and take things away if you win." The West Building said coldly.

"So, what about losing?"

"Lose? Then leave your name! After that, a flash of wind and lightning, Su Yan only caught the West Tower running towards the shadow like a cloud, and then several sharp lights and shadows shot out, attacking the enemy. However, the opponent's set of knife techniques made it superb, and it was easily resolved.

Su Yan didn't know how to help, looking left and right, he couldn't intervene at all. Although the shadow is a knife, the feet are very flexible, a set of knife techniques, stunned to play thousands of tricks, just in the middle with soft, very good-looking. The fan method of the West Building is like flowing water, but it is secretly rolling and the momentum is compelling. It's just that the quality of the shadow's knife is good, and after dozens of moves, he was stunned that he was not destroyed at all, and it was difficult for him to get close to his body in the West Building!

After dozens of moves, Xilou didn't taste any sweetness, but was restrained. only to find out that the murderer was playing a big monkey with himself! The conceited to the extreme, the most hateful! Dengshi was furious. He flew up, broke off the branches, used them as swords, and wrestled with him.

Su Yan finally saw the opportunity, raised his short sword and aimed it at his back to sneak attack, the shadow turned back to resist, Xilou took the opportunity to throw the branch at him, impartially, inserted into his right shoulder, and immediately turned red on the entire shoulder.

The stab in the West Building stabbed his acupoint, and he couldn't move for a while. Just as both of them were relieved and ready to take him down, they didn't expect him to suddenly use his internal force to shake out the branches and fight back against Su Yan. Taking advantage of the panic in the West Building, he took the sweat towel on his body and fled from behind the roof in a hurry.

Xilou didn't care what evidence he had, and hurriedly went to check Su Yan's injuries, but fortunately, he only injured his muscles and bones.

Su Yan covered his wound and looked depressed: "It's better to let him run!" ”

"Don't worry, I have my own way." There is someone, maybe it's time to use it, Xilou thought secretly.

"He snatched the evidence, he will definitely not come to Xuan Yunxuan again, and we will no longer have a way to lure him forward?" Su Yan was angry and remorseful, "If I knew that this person was a master, I shouldn't have put the evidence on my body, it's really careless!" Could it be that this matter really has nothing to do with Changsun Xi? ”

Xilou pinched her face and comforted: "Don't be discouraged, there must be a road before the car reaches the mountain!" ”

Su Yan sniffed, and suddenly had a flash of inspiration, "That's right! When I was fighting, I smelled a fragrance on him, it was very peculiar, it shouldn't be Rong Guo's spices, I seemed to have smelled it somewhere...... I just can't remember it now! ”

"Go back and get some sleep, don't think about it."

All night, Su Yan's mind was full of the fragrance smelled on the murderer's body, which became stronger and stronger, lingering. She always felt like she had smelled it somewhere, but she couldn't remember anything.