The officials could block the crowd, but they couldn't block their sight. A few days after Zhao Wu'an lit the lamp, someone in the front row found that it was none other than Xiao Donglai, the sect leader of the Heavenly Immortal Sect, who was lying on the ground.

The front row passed to the back row, and the crowd suddenly became commotion for a while. Someone shouted out for unknown reasons: "Sect Master Xiao, wake up, the fire is out!"

"Stop arguing. Zhao Wu'an, who leaned over to check Xiao Donglai's situation, said lightly, "He's dead." ”

He's dead?

"What kind of calf are you talking about!" it was Gu Hetian of the Liancheng faction who spoke, his eyes were furious, and he was carrying a Xuanhua axe behind him.

As soon as he opened his voice, a group of heroes in the rivers and lakes also loudly accused Zhao Wu'an of bewitching the public, and only a few people looked at each other and talked about it.

Nie Xinglu, who had been hiding in the shadows, also walked to the door at this moment, and said loudly: "Everyone, please be quiet, Zhao Jushi is right, Sect Master Xiao, but he has passed away." ”

Taiyuan Nie's family is also a famous family in the rivers and lakes, Nie Xinglu is also a young and famous person, he agreed with Zhao Wu'an's words with a serious face, and for a while, the people who rushed to extinguish the fire seemed to have been thrown into a basin of cold water on the head, speechless, and the discussion was extinguished nine-tenths.

Zhao Wu'an held the candle and looked down at Xiao Donglai's corpse. He was visibly surprised when he died, his pupils constricted, and he was right in front of the door that had collapsed in the inner room. And the door in the inner room was opening outward at the moment, about one step away from Xiao Donglai's corpse. Zhao Wu'an raised his head and noticed that above Xiao Donglai's body, there was a broken window.

Outside the door, Nie Xinglu suddenly said, "Luo Guanhai, Sect Master Xiao's death, but what did you do?"

Luo Guanhai was stunned for a moment, obviously he didn't expect Nie Xinglu to suddenly point the finger at himself, the scholar's anger rose from his heart, and he said angrily with a thick neck: "Don't want to spew blood! If you talk about injuries and killing people, Sect Master Xiao's third-grade master, I have no power to restrain the chicken, how can I kill him?"

The implication is also obvious, he Luo Guanhai has no martial arts and can't kill people, but Nie Xinglu is a second-grade master, and it can be said that he has a chance to win against Xiao Donglai.

Nie Xinglu didn't become angry, but said coldly: "When Sect Master Xiao left, most of us and others who went to the banquet were on the feast, and they could all testify to each other. You, the only one, I haven't seen from beginning to end. ”

Luo Guanhai was choked, and after a while, he bent his neck and said, "I'm just sobering up!"

"Then why is it just on fire, and you're not among them?"

"When I woke up, I rushed to the feast, but the terrain was not familiar, and when I walked to the entrance of the back garden, I met the butler and brought me out. Luo Guanhai gritted his teeth and said, "If you still don't believe it, you can go and ask the housekeeper of Xiao Mansion." He has served Sect Master Xiao for nearly twenty years, so he can't be my accomplice, right?"

Except for a few drunken knights on the seat, the knights in the courtyard at this moment were stunned to watch the two questioning each other, unable to understand the situation for a while, and did not dare to say more.

Nie Xinglu snorted and said, "When you and I first met today, you pretended to be drunk and wanted to have a drink behind me. What's more, the head of the Meng family has already reminded me that if there is a murder this time, it must be Luo Shen's doing. There are so many people who went to the banquet, but your surname is Luo, I think you must have something to do with this matter!"

Luo Guanhai's face flushed, obviously trying to suppress the anger in his chest but couldn't, and after a while, he said angrily: "Xia worms can't talk about ice!"

With that, he turned around and left.

Nie Xinglu sent him away with a cold look. An Guangmao glanced at Zhao Wu'an, and saw that Zhao Wu'an was standing next to Xiao Donglai's corpse, staring at the window, thinking deeply, and said: "This matter happened suddenly, and the heroes were all feasting, and I think it can be separated from this matter." Not only An Guangmao, Qingdi Township is under the jurisdiction of the central government, and this Tianxian banquet is the supervision of the Yamen on Huaixi Road. From now on, we and other officials will take over here, and if you are eager to solve the case, please give the official family face, return to the banquet, and wait for the notice of my government office. ”

These words are still leaky, and they are not simply driving people away, but just a delaying tactic to stabilize the scene and temporarily suppress everyone's panicked emotions. Although going back to the feast does not prevent them from talking to each other, in a public place, everyone will restrain their actions to avoid being suspected of being the murderer, which actually gives the government time to solve the case.

This time is not much, but it is certainly enough for An Guangmao and Zhao Wu'an to analyze the situation here.

The heroes who walked in front saw that the officials were blocking the way and could not get close, so they lost interest and gradually dispersed. There were still quite a few people in the back who couldn't see the shape clearly, and they came forward and stretched their necks to look around, but under the obstruction of the yamen, they finally slowly left.

Although Sect Master Xiao is dead, after all, the government here is not small, and An Guangmao's words are timely, so there is no major riot now. Of course, it's quite possible that after just a stick of incense, everything will be different.

Zhao Wu'an lowered his head and looked at the window carefully by the moonlight. The windows were obviously vandalized, and most of the wood chips were sprinkled on the root of the wall, and on the bottom of the window railing, under many scattered wood chips, there were two clear signs of depression, one large and one small. If you look closely, you can see that it is because this small piece of wood has been crushed by something, and it appears that the small pieces are dented. The wooden fence beneath the large depression was completely shattered, and the wood chips were mixed with the debris of the window.

Zhao Wu'an poked his head out of the window and found a large piece of broken pottery on the ground.

"Did anyone smash the water tank just now?" asked Zhao Wu'an.

An Guangmao turned his head and asked the officials, then shook his head.

Zhao Wu'an frowned and pondered for a while, and walked inside. Luo Guanhai's room is indeed more luxurious than others, although the room is small, it still has windows on three sides, and the light is transparent. Under the window facing the door, there is a Buddhist shrine, but the place where the Buddha statue was supposed to be placed is now empty. The entire wall was already pitch black, and Zhao Wu'an walked up to take a look, and the bottom of the Buddhist shrine was inevitably scorched.

The location of the fire should be a pile of straw between the bed and the Buddhist shrine, the fire is actually not big, but a puff of straw will explode if it suddenly burns, that is, this straw alarmed the feasting heroes.

The temperature in the back room was still very high, and the choking dust and the wet sunken wood beneath their feet were uncomfortable. Zhao Wu'an walked around the house twice and picked up a piece of cotton thread on the ground.

There were two fire folds falling next to the cotton thread, and the opening had been loosened, which seemed to be the source of the fire.

He was stunned, realized something, and then measured the distance of this cotton thread by hand, and it was less than twelve feet. He looked closely at the room, and the distance between the east and west walls was at least six feet.

"It's not enough......" Zhao Wu'an said in a low voice.

An Guangmao, who walked in the door and squatted next to Xiao Donglai's corpse, asked, "What's wrong?"

"No, nothing. Zhao Wu'an shook his head, "Nie Xinglu said when he got up before, there were some sticky things. ”

An Guangmao grabbed Xiao Donglai's corpse, scraped it on the ground with his fingertips, put it on the tip of his nose and sniffed it, and said in surprise: "Fire oil." ”

Zhao Wu'an was stunned: "What?"

"It seems that these things under Sect Master Xiao's body are the source of the fire. An Guangmao said.

Zhao Wu'an looked at the fire fold on the floor of the inner room, and was surprised for a while: "No, how can this be ......?"

"One thing is certain, the murderer used a one-handed knife. An Guangmao didn't hear Zhao Wu'an's words of surprise, and looked up.

Zhao Wuanqi said: "Why?"

An Guangmao pointed to the knife that was inserted horizontally into Xiao Donglai's body: "If it is both hands, then the stab into the chest is generally vertical." If it is inserted horizontally, it can only mean that the person is holding a knife with one hand and stabbing from the side, or a backhand knife. ”

Zhao Wu'an is not very familiar with the flow of knife techniques, but An Guangmao has been practicing knives for twenty years, and he is also quite keen in this regard.

Zhao Wu'an walked to An Guangmao's side, squatted down, and moved Xiao Donglai's body away a little with him, and it was really scorched black below, but the sinking wood was already wet, and the dust was mixed and he couldn't see clearly.

"The water here should have been splashed by Nie Xinglu when he fell. Zhao Wu'an whispered to himself, "The corpse is still warm, and it may be because of the fire oil." But where did the fire come from? The loud noise we heard was undoubtedly the straw exploding......

While the two were concentrating and analyzing, they heard footsteps not far away. Some people are trying their best to get here, but unfortunately it seems that they have not practiced martial arts, and their physical strength is extremely limited.

Zhao Wu'an stood up straight and looked out, and the person who came was Xiao Donglai's wife, Meng Qingxian. She is obviously already a woman who understands the overall situation, and when she heard that her husband had an accident, she rushed to the scene, but she still tried her best to keep her complexion unchanged, unwilling to lose face in front of outsiders.

It's just a pity that such a whitewash can't last long.

Zhao Wu'an walked out of the house and passed by her, Meng Qingxian's body came from a faint fragrance, and Zhao Wu'an actually felt a little comfortable.

Meng Qingxian, who had passed shoulders with Zhao Wu'an, didn't take many more steps, and slowly stopped in place, his hands holding the hem of his skirt were also frozen in mid-air, and the fabric slowly slipped from his hands.

The butler and a few servants who came with him also looked sad.

Zhao Wu'an said softly: "Mourning." ”

Meng Qingxian bit his lip tightly, and finally couldn't support it anymore.

"Come from the East!"

She wanted to pounce on her husband's warm body, but she stumbled and fell to her knees at the door of the guest room. An Guangmao, who was still standing inside, didn't stand or stand, and for a while, he said embarrassedly: "Lady's Day mourning......"

Meng Qingxian's tears broke off and fell.

Zhao Wu'an gently patted the white clothes on his body. Inadvertently, fierce anger flashed in his eyebrows and eyes.