The breeze is blowing, and spring is just beginning to appear. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Zhuang Haoming gently pulled the reins, letting the curly-haired white horse under his crotch slowly slow down and fall to the end of the marching procession.

This is already the territory of Huguang, and when you look up, it is full of flat rivers. Although we experienced the disaster of last year's great drought, there was peace in front of us, and there was no trace of desolation after the disaster. At this time of early spring, it is like a beautiful scenery of green seedlings and smoke rising.

After six days and six nights of traveling, we are finally approaching our destination.

This time, he led the people of the torture and arrest room out of Jinling in the west, went down to Jiangzhou, and traveled all the way west along the Yangtze River to this land of lakes and lakes. Although there are only five people in total, including Zhuang Haoming, it can be regarded as the elite of the criminal arrest room. Among them, "Super Mountains and Seas" Cheng Chengtian, "Stars Like Rain" Jia Mengchao and "Peeling off the Cocoon" Xue Zhiyan are all characters who can take charge of themselves. If they are assigned to the yamen of various government offices, even if they can't make a name for themselves, they can at least make contributions and make a lot of fame.

It's a pity that they are employed in the criminal arrest room in the capital.

Every time he thought of this, Zhuang Haoming couldn't help but sigh secretly. The splendid Jinling City continues to attract countless talented people, each of whom is a hero in the world. These people come here for only one purpose, that is, they hope that they and their children and grandchildren can gain a foothold, and they can live forever on the banks of the Qinhuai River and in the Wuyi Alley, smiling at the purple gold wind and rain.

But in such a fierce competition in the capital, there is a contest of skills, wisdom, background and luck all the time, even as the chief catcher of the criminal arrest room, it is inevitable that there will be a day when the gutter capsizes, not to mention the little officials of the criminal arrest room? Looking at the backs of Cheng Shaotian, Jia Mengchao and Xue Zhiyan in front of him, Zhuang Haoming clamped his legs between the horse's body, and he was already driving side by side with the red-clothed girl at the end of the team.

The girl in red was less than twenty years old, her black hair was tied up at random, and a few strands of hair blown away by the spring breeze fluttered in front of her forehead, caressing her two faint eyebrows. Beneath her eyebrows were big eyes, as bright as stars, but after a flash of brilliance, they were as unfathomable as the sea.

A crimson short knife was hanging diagonally from the waist of the red-clothed girl at the moment, merging with her crimson lake silk light shirt, and also with her person.

Seeing that the chief catcher of the torture room came to her side, the girl smiled slightly and asked lightly, "Does my uncle have anything to say to my niece in private?"

This girl is the daughter of the chief general of the current court, Xie Yixiang, the third lady of Xie Fengxuan's family. She has followed the "Sword King" since she was a child to learn art, and her amazing kung fu has long been a leader among her peers.

Since leaving the school, she has entered Zhuang Haoming's torture room. So far, although he is not yet 20 years old, he has participated in the detection of several major cases, and there is a father who worships the general of Yipin, so he has been promoted to a head catcher by the imperial court at this time.

Hearing Xie Yixiang's question at this moment, Zhuang Haoming laughed, and the white beard under his chin also trembled, and said: "Yixiang, you are too careful, uncle has a bright and upright life, how can there be anything that is not glamorous, and he wants to talk to you in private? ”

As he spoke, he casually played with the horsewhip in his hand and continued: "I miss you the third lady of the Xie family, neither in the deep boudoir embroidery to be married, nor to fall in love with your senior brother, but you have to come to lick the blood with us rough people, aren't you still angry with your father?"

Xie Yixiang said respectfully: "Uncle said he laughed. My niece is in this position, she has a clear distinction between public and private, and she is dedicated to serving the country, how dare she mix her personal joys, sorrows, and sorrows with it? My father once said that looking at the entire capital today, only my uncle is still a good person who speaks fairly, so I can rest assured that I will follow you. If it weren't for her uncle's support over the years, how could my niece have today's achievements?"

Hearing Xie Yixiang say such a thing, Zhuang Haoming suddenly couldn't cry or laugh. Unexpectedly, in just over a year, this girl has been refined into a hundred refinements, and the oil and salt are not entered. He laughed dryly, then stopped going around in circles with her, and said straight to the point: "Since you hold your uncle so high, your uncle's can't let you down." This time we are on an expedition to Huguang, I see that you have a lot of worries along the way, if there is anything you don't understand, just ask me. ”

It seems that this white-haired old man, known as "the mighty spirit lasts forever, the mirror is thousands of miles", the number one person in the criminal department's room, is really not simple. Since he saw through his thoughts, Xie Yixiang did not hide it, and said: "Then forgive my niece for being rude." How can that little killer who has only killed a few local officials be worth the long journey to arrest him?

Zhuang Haoming stroked the horse's mane with his hand and asked with a smile: "Since you can ask this question, it can be seen that you already have your own answer, so why do you need to ask me? ”

Seeing that his question was actually thrown back by Zhuang Haoming quietly, Xie Yixiang sighed secretly. Listening to the neighing of Cheng Chengtian, the "super mountain and sea cross" in front of the team, he shook everyone's eardrums with his voice that resounded through the mountains and seas, and shouted: "Everyone be careful!"

A few furious crows were alarmed, and shot out of the weeds by the roadside like arrows, circling and flying low in the air, making a low hissing sound. Underneath the crow, a man lay sideways in the middle of the official road, his face facing everyone, with a frightened look on his face. His eyes widened wide, staring fiercely at the green weeds on the side of the road.

Although it was early spring, the weeds that the man was staring at were knee-deep, and when the breeze shook them, a few small lilac flowers were revealed, revealing a quiet atmosphere.

But there is a hint of indescribable weirdness in this silence.

Although the winter cold is not far away, Cheng Qitian is only wearing a sleeveless short coat, revealing two iron arms with knotted muscles. He had been hovering between life and death for more than thirty years, and there was nothing in the world that could frighten him. At that moment, he took the lead and said to the man lying on the official road: "Brother Tai is a friend on which road, why do you want to lie here?"

Jia Mengchao on the side said coldly on the horse: "Can't you see that it's a dead man?"

As he spoke, his hands reached into his sleeves, but his eyes followed the corpse's gaze, locked tightly on the weeds by the roadside.

What's in the grass?

Jia Mengchao didn't know, and he didn't need to know. Because no matter what demons and monsters are hidden in the grass, as long as it dares to appear, he can nail more than 30 kinds of hidden weapons to that thing in an instant, known as "stars like rain".

Cheng Qitian couldn't help but snort coldly, but he didn't admit defeat: "You say that if you are a dead person, you are a dead person? Whether you are dead or alive is only counted if Lao Xue says it." Besides, the Mobei thief who was in a hurry back then was not just pretending to be dead on the road and waiting for an opportunity to rob the passerby?"

Hearing the quarrel between the two, Zhuang Haoming stepped forward immediately. Seeing this, he slowly frowned, silently glanced around, and immediately turned his head to Xue Zhiyan and said, "Old Xue, go and take a look." ”

As soon as Zhuang Haoming's words fell, Xue Zhiyan said: "The eyes of the deceased are protruding and the tongue is slightly extended, which is a characteristic of suffocation. The bruise on his neck should have been fatal, and it looked like the killer choked his neck with his hands, resulting in suffocation. Since the corpse's face did not change much, and it had not yet begun to turn blue, it died in the middle of the night last night. ”

As the best work of the torture room, no one has ever dared to doubt what Xue Zhiyan said. When he had said this, he dismounted and squatted down in front of the corpse, his eyes fixed on the bruise on the corpse's neck. I heard him add: "The murderer is a woman, between 20 and 30 years old, about 5 feet 3 inches tall, with fingernails and a ring on her middle finger. ”

Speaking of this, Xue Zhiyan groaned slightly, and hesitated: "The murderer's thumb seems to be a little deformed, or maybe it is swollen, and it is thicker than ordinary people's thumbs. ”

Xie Yixiang suddenly spoke: "It's not a deformity, it's not a bruise, it's that her thumb has been injured, so she wrapped a roll of gauze around her thumb." ”

Xue Zhiyan was slightly stunned, couldn't help but stand up, and looked at Xie Yixiang with some surprise. I saw that Xie Yixiang had come down from the horse at some point, and was using the scabbard to stir the weeds on the side of the road.

And in the grass was a woman's severed palm.