"Slow!"

Cheng Jingling called out to Lao Li, who was about to drive the carriage to continue, lifted the curtain, and walked out of the carriage.

"Cheng Gongzi." When Lao Li saw Cheng Jingling coming out, he hurriedly bowed down and said apologetically: "I disturbed you to rest, and a corpse cart stopped in the middle of the road, blocking the road." Go back, don't come out to see, it's a dead body that hasn't had time to get out of the city, bad luck. ”

In the corner of the wall, when the corpse pusher saw Cheng Jingling dressed in a military guard uniform, he was already trembling with fright, and he lowered his head and didn't dare to make a sound.

Cheng Jingling waved his hand to stop Lao Li's persuasion, then jumped out of the carriage and walked to the side of the corpse cart.

The cart was covered with a roll of straw mats, and under the straw mats were corpses, but because the straw mats were too tattered to completely cover the corpses below, a white gauze skirt could be seen, and a foot wearing a ladies' hooked toe shoe, which was also white.

At this time, Lao Li also jumped out of the car and whispered suspiciously from behind: "Cheng Gongzi...?" ”

Cheng Jingling turned a deaf ear, but stretched out his hand to lift the corner of the straw mat, revealing a dead face below!

Duan Xiaoyue!

Sure enough, it was her!

Cheng Jingling was suffocated in his heart, a little incredulous, he was still listening to Duan Xiaoyue's little song just now, but in just a few hours, this girl who made him admire a little changed from a living person to a corpse!

At this time, Xiaoyue's face has long been no longer coquettish and moving when she was alive, but is iron-blue, her cheeks and eyes are bruised, her hair is scattered and broken, there seems to be a look of horror and pleading in her two wide-eyed eyes, her lips are slightly open, and a small piece of tongue is exposed.

Looking down, Duan Xiaoyue's originally slender and delicate neck was blue and black at this time, and it could be vaguely seen that it was a circle of handprints.

Below, there is the torn and torn clothes, you can see the dirty clothes and skin inside, and there are scars on the skin, including whiplashes, burns, knife wounds, and even fist and foot wounds, although they are not fatal, but you can imagine what kind of torture she suffered before her death.

"How did she die?" Cheng Jingling turned his head to look at the old man pushing the corpse, and his voice was a little cold.

Duan Xiaoyue was strangled to death, which is obvious, and what Cheng Jingling wanted to ask was the cause and effect of her being killed, and who killed her.

"I, I, I..." The old man who pushed the corpse was so frightened that he couldn't say a complete sentence for a long time.

"Smack!"

Cheng Jingling slapped his backhand firmly on the face of the old man pushing the corpse, beating him to a stagger, if it wasn't for the wall next to it, the whole person would have fallen to the ground.

"Can you speak this time? How did she die? Cheng Jingling continued to ask coldly.

Listening to the conversation between Lao Li and the old man pushing the corpse just now, and looking at Duan Xiaoyue's unwrapped clothes at this time, Cheng Jingling could guess what the old man was doing just now, so he was not polite to him.

was slapped back to his senses, and the old man who pushed the corpse knelt on the ground with a plop, kowtowing and begging: "Yes, yes... Adults spare their lives, little old men didn't mean to collide with adults, adults spare their lives! ”

Looking at the old man pushing the corpse with kowtowing like garlic under his feet, Cheng Jingling frowned, kicked it over, and said impatiently: "This official will ask you one last time, how did she die?" Don't talk nonsense, if you talk nonsense again, I will chop off one of your fingers, and you will not be able to blaspheme and insult the dead in the future. ”

"I don't know, little old man doesn't know either!" The old man who pushed the corpse straightened his waist, shook his head like a rattle, and said urgently: "The little old man is responsible for pushing the corpse, how did the person die, the little old man doesn't care, and he doesn't dare to ask!" ”

Seeing that Cheng Jingling heard this, his expression gradually became a little unkind, and the old man who pushed the corpse couldn't help but sweat profusely, thinking quickly, his brain had never turned so fast in his life.

Soon he thought of something, and hurriedly said: "That's right, when the little old man went in to collect the corpse, he heard the turtle men who helped carry the corpse talking, saying, saying... Oh, yes! said that this girl's name was Xiaoyue, and said that she died a pity, and it would not be long before she became the top brand of the Spring Garden, but she didn't expect to be taken by a guest they privately called 'Dead Pig'. It seems that the guest is still a pervert, not only forcibly possessing the unfinished Oiran, but also abusing her to death. It took a lot of money and thought to train her, and she lost a lot of money and lost a lot of money when she died directly, which made the owner of Zhaochun Yuan angry enough. But I can only swallow my anger and dare not find this guest to reason... That's all I know, that's all! Adult, Xiao Lao'er is a corpse pusher, responsible for collecting the corpse and sending the deceased on the last journey, all of this has nothing to do with Xiao Lao'er! ”

The old man who pushed the corpse obviously misunderstood, thinking that Cheng Jingling was Duan Xiaoyue's friend, and when he saw Duan Xiaoyue dead, he wanted to vent his anger on him.

Cheng Jingling frowned slightly, thinking about the information given by the old man pushing the corpse.

Dead pigs... Just by listening to this nickname, you can imagine its size. I just met Duan Xiaoyue, and it fits this nickname, and it makes Zhao Chunyuan dare not provoke... A name came to Cheng Jingling's mind: Guo Zhinan!

Looking at Duan Xiaoyue's tragic death on the corpse cart, Cheng Jingling was silent for a moment, then glanced in the direction of Zhao Chunyuan, reached out and closed Duan Xiaoyue's torn clothes and tied them, and then kicked the old man who pushed the corpse.

"If you say someone else is perverted, you're not a pervert? There is also a face that says that he is the one who sends the deceased on his last journey, blaspheming the deceased, just sending it like this? After a few kicks, he kicked the old man who pushed the corpse like a rolling gourd, and it was not until he vented the anger in his heart that he stared at him coldly and asked, "What's your name?" ”

The old man who was kneeling on the ground was trembling like chaff at this time, and it took a long time to say in a whisper: "Returning to my lord, little old man Liu Yi." ”

Then Cheng Jingling turned his head and asked Lao Li: "How much does it cost to bury a person?" Be decent, buy a coffin and erect a monument to bury it. ”

Lao Li was stunned, and after thinking for a while, he replied: "It's about thirty or forty silver, and it can be done by buying a thin coffin for a dozen silver dollars cheaper." Cheng Gongzi, what are you..."

Cheng Jingling took out the money bag from his arms, opened it and looked at it, only to see that most of the coins in it were gold and martial arts, and there were only a few silver coins.

Frowning, Cheng Jingling thought for a while, and said to Liu Yi: "After a while, when it is dawn, you go to the Que He Restaurant on East Fifth Street in Dongcheng and find their shopkeeper Luo Xingyi, just say that I Cheng Jingling asked you to come, and ask him to help pay for the burial of Duan Xiaoyue's body, understand?" ”

"Ming, understood, I went to the East Fifth Street Que He Restaurant to find the shopkeeper Luo Xingyi, and said that Master Cheng Jingling asked me to come, and asked him to help bury the body of Miss Duan Xiaoyue. I remember, my lord! I didn't expect Liu Yi's head to be quite good, but he remembered Cheng Jingling's words over and over again, and there was no mistake in repeating it.

Seeing this, Cheng Jingling nodded with satisfaction, and after finally seeing Duan Xiaoyue's terrifying face, he turned around and left.

got into the car, and at the moment when he lifted the curtain of the car door to go in, Cheng Jingling paused again, looked at Liu Yi, who was still kneeling on the ground and didn't dare to get up, and warned: "Don't move the body of the deceased anymore, go and do what I say immediately during the day, otherwise, I won't let you go." Do you understand? I don't care if you give me my real name or a fake name, do you see the clothes on me? If I want to, I'll find you! ”

"Don't dare, don't dare! Master Cheng, little old man will never dare! Liu Yi kowtowed a few more times and said in fear.

"Let's go, Lao Li." After commanding Lao Li, Cheng Jingling got into the carriage, sat on the chair, and sighed with a somewhat dull gaze.

The reason why he reacted so much after seeing Duan Xiaoyue's corpse and had to bury him was not because of the heart of the Holy Mother, but because of the fate of one side, he wanted to take care of the aftermath for him.

It's because he has a faint sense of guilt in his heart, and he has an intuition that this Xiaoyue's death is likely to be directly related to himself!

Duan Xiaoyue, as the future number one Oiran that Zhao Chunyuan focuses on cultivating, Zhao Chunyuan has put an unknown amount of energy and resources into her, and now she died violently, and Zhao Chunyuan is probably also angry, so she is not even willing to pay a few dozen silver burial expenses, but a roll of straw mat is thrown to the corpse pusher, and it will be sent to Yizhuang tomorrow, and then the body of Yizhuang will be taken away and thrown into the mass grave.

And the one who can make Zhao Chunyuan suffer such a big dumb loss and dare not speak up is still a fat man, Cheng Jingling feels that seventy percent can be sure that it is Guo Zhinan.

At this time, Qingluo, who was huddled in the corner, suddenly spoke: "It was Guo Gongzi who took away Sister Xiaoyue..."

"What?" Cheng Jingling raised his eyebrows and looked at Qingluo sharply.

Qingluo was taken aback, lowered her head slightly, a little timid, but still said in a voice like a mosquito: "Master, yes, it's Sister Xiaoyue taken away by Guo Gongzi... I was treating my injuries in the side room before, and I could hear clearly. After you left after the banquet, Sister Xiao Yue was about to leave, but Guo Gongzi turned around and came back and forcibly took Sister Xiao Yue away..."

After listening to Qingluo's words, Cheng Jingling was originally seventy or eighty percent sure that it was Guo Zhinan, but now he has directly become the tenth layer.

"Alas!"

With a long sigh, Cheng Jingling couldn't help but start thinking nonsense: If he hadn't looked at Duan Xiaoyue twice more when he entered Zhaochun Garden, Wang Snake wouldn't have asked him; If he hadn't casually said that Xiaoyue's little song was good, Wang Snake wouldn't have let her go upstairs to play and sing; If Duan Xiaoyue hadn't gone upstairs, she wouldn't have been tortured to death by Guo Zhinan today...

I don't know if it's because of the closeness to Duan Xiaoyue, or if something hurts her, Qingluo already had red eyes at this time, and continued: "The slave maid has heard other turtle maids say before that Guo Gongzi of the chief judge has a very perverted and tyrannical personality, and when he does that thing in bed, he loves to abuse women very much, and there is basically no girl who can get out of his bed intact. There is more than one person who has died at his hands... It is said that the reason why he didn't go to the Golden Jade Pavilion was because he abused and killed many people in the Golden Jade Pavilion, and one of them was quite special, which caused the sect secretary to be unbearable, and even sued the Jiedu envoy before he stopped receiving him. ”

Don't look at Qingluo as just a slave, but Cheng Jingling, who has also been a private slave for more than ten years, knows that the big and small things that happen in a place are often the lowest slaves and maids know best.

They are extremely well-informed and have a wide range of information channels.

Because the dignitaries and wealthy squires of this world do not regard private slaves as human beings at all, they will naturally not avoid them when they do things and talk. When you do bad things or speak ill of people, do you deliberately avoid your own cats and dogs?

Therefore, although what Qingluo said is hearsay, it is very likely to be true.

After telling what she knew, Qingluo wiped her tears, glanced at Cheng Jingling carefully, and saw that he was just silent and didn't respond, so she didn't say anything more.

If it weren't for the fact that Qingluo already belonged to Cheng Jingling at this time, and she could also see that the relationship between Cheng Jingling and Guo Zhinan was just average, she should have just met for a short time, and she would never say so much!

Cheng Jingling looked at the lamp and candle on the table in a daze, but there were thousands of thoughts in his mind for a while.

He was thinking, if he hadn't looked at Duan Xiaoyue more, wouldn't she have died?

Or if you are a little and ask for Duan Xiaoyue according to Wang Snake's words, will you not give Guo Zhinan a chance to take Duan Xiaoyue away?

Just because Cheng Jingling looked at her more, and then Guo Zhinan looked at her more...

Although Duan Xiaoyue was just an inconsequential stranger to herself, she died indirectly because of some decisions she made, which made Cheng Jingling feel an inexplicable sense of suffocation.

Perhaps, this is the life of the people at the bottom of this world?

Just because of an unintentional move by the superior, he has to pay the price of his life.

And in a slightly depressed mood, Cheng Jingling still had a hint of luck.

It's okay, it's okay.

Fortunately, he has now escaped from the lowest world, as long as he works hard to cultivate and climb up, one day, no one will be able to control his life and death and control his destiny!

There was no one on the road at night, so it didn't take long for the carriage to stop.

"Cheng Gongzi, it's time to get there." Lao Li's voice came from outside the carriage.

Cheng Jingling came back to his senses, and after glancing at Qingluo next to him, he got out of the carriage first.

The carriage was parked at the mouth of the alley of the first lane of West Eighth Street, Lao Li stood under the car, and a horse stool was already placed on the ground to facilitate people to get on and off.

Walking down, Cheng Jingling's face swept away the gloom just now, and said to Lao Li with a smile: "Thank you for your hard work, go back and thank Brother Snake for me." ”

"Cheng Gongzi is polite." Lao Li responded humbly.

After waiting for a while, I saw Qingluo move out of the carriage with some difficulty. She had a foot injury that made it difficult for her to move, so she moved a lot slower.

At this time, lying in the front room of the carriage, looking at the height of the carriage board and the ground, a trace of embarrassment flashed on Qingluo's face. After hesitating for a moment, he could only poke out his intact foot and step on the stool first, and get out of the car at the risk of a second injury to his other foot.

Cheng Jingling frowned when he saw it on the side, took the initiative to step forward and take the handle and took the green radish down.

Qingluo blushed, and said a little embarrassedly: "Thank you, master, let me bother." ”

"Nothing." Cheng Jingling doesn't care about authenticity.

Seeing that both of them got off the car, Lao Li put away the stool, said goodbye, and drove the carriage away.

Cheng Jingling took Qingluo and turned around and walked into the alley towards home.

Qingluo's injured foot couldn't touch the ground at all, so she could only support the wall and carry the injured foot to jump on one leg, and she had to fall down several times, not to mention, it was still very slow.

In desperation, Cheng Jingling could only pick it up and walk sideways.

A trace of panic flashed on Qingluo's face, and she hung her head on Cheng Jingling's chest and muttered: "Yes, I'm sorry, master, it's Qingluo who is useless, and I haven't served the master yet, so let..."

"Alright, no need to say more. It doesn't take much effort for you to hold it for a while, so that if your injury gets worse, the injury that could have been healed in ten and a half days and a month will become one or two months. There will be a long time in the future, if you have a debt in your heart, you will serve the master and me well. Cheng Jingling interrupted Qingluo's words and chuckled.

"Even if the master doesn't hold the slave maid, the slave and the maid will serve the master wholeheartedly. The master is the heaven of the slave and the maid, if the slave and the maid do not serve the master well, then what is the use of living. Qingluo replied seriously.

Cheng Jingling smiled and didn't speak again.