The reason why the Nine Locust Forest is called the Nine Locust Forest is because it is said that in ancient times, there was a fairy who planted nine locust trees on this land, and the nine locust trees grew into branches and connected to each other, and the circle was a forest, and the flowers were undefeated, and the fragrance smelled for several miles.

Over time, this place was called the Nine Locust Forest by the villagers, and it has been passed down to the present day, in fact, there are far more than nine locust trees.

In order to commemorate the deeds of this fairy planting acacia, the villagers also built a temple next to the forest to worship this fairy, that is, the acacia flower Niangniang.

Ouyang Bei and Meng Dongting took advantage of the night to enter Meng Dongting's house on the edge of the Jiuhuai Forest.

This home is really dilapidated, Meng Dongting was arrested and put in prison for more than half a year, and no one cleaned up the house at all, the three-legged tables and chairs fell with a thick layer of dust, and there were several cobwebs on the doors and windows.

Despite this, the two of them finally found a place to stay, and in order to avoid people's eyes and ears, they tried to walk at night and day as much as possible.

Although the living and food are extremely simple, fortunately, the government has not sent anyone to search in the past two days, and Meng Dongting finally has time to wash the bath that he has not taken for several months, and changed into a long robe, which looks long and jade, and the utensils are good.

The wound on Ouyang Bei's buttocks also gradually healed, and it was no longer so hot and painful.

The hearts of the two gradually settled down.

In a blink of an eye, it was the evening of August 17, the two took advantage of the night to go out of Meng's house, and saw a white front from a distance, smelling a faint fragrance of flowers, the Jiuhuai Forest was in front of them, and the Huaihua Niangniang Temple was on the other side of the forest.

Meng Dongting asked Ouyang Beidao: "At present, we have two roads to go to Huaihua Niangniang Temple, one is to go straight through the forest, this road is short, but it is possible to meet the neighbors who live in the forest, and the other is to bypass from outside the forest, so the distance is long, and there are few people on this road, Ouyang catches the head, which one do you decide?"

Ouyang Bei thought for a while and said: "It's better to bother the little brother, you take me around the edge of the forest, don't be afraid to spend a little more time, what we are most afraid of now is to cause unnecessary trouble." ”

Meng Dongting nodded and said, "Okay, just follow Ouyang to catch the head!"

The discussion was decided, and the two of them strode forward side by side along the edge of the Nine Acacia Forest.

Just three days ago, one of these two people was a righteous and awe-inspiring head catcher, and the other was a prisoner who was guilty of punishment, who would have thought that two people like them could now be in the same boat.

Ouyang Bei couldn't help but smile bitterly in his heart, peeking at Meng Dongting, only to see the corners of his mouth squirming a few times, with an expression of wanting to say something, so he asked: "If there is anything you want to ask, don't hold back, just ask." ”

Meng Dongting said: "I'm just a little curious about what you are doing in Niangniang Temple, I have been holding back this question for two days." ”

Ouyang Bei smiled: "This should have been the initiative to tell you, but the stakes are high." Now the time has come, to be honest, I went to Niangniang Temple to find the eldest son of the Ma family in Yangzhou Guangsheng, Ma Xingbang, only he can help me clear my grievances. ”

Meng Dongting sighed: "But the Ma family, who was set on fire and murdered, and more than 60 people in the mansion were murdered?"

Ouyang Bei couldn't help but look at him with some surprise and said, "How did you know about this while on death row?"

Meng Dongting said: "It is said that good things don't go out, and bad things spread thousands of miles." I heard those jailers talk about it, they said that the whole Ma family was wiped out, why is this Ma Xingbang still alive?"

Ouyang Bei remembered Ma Dechang's tragic situation before he died, and said with a sad and indignant face: "The Ma family did die miserably, but this Ma Xingbang just escaped for some reason, and now he is the only orphan in Ma Mansion." ”

Meng Dongting said: "Then do you think we can meet him in the Niangniang Temple tonight?"

Ouyang Beidao: "I can't be sure of this, but with my intuition for many years, his current situation is definitely not much better, most of the time he is hiding in Tibet during the day, and finding a temple to live in at night, so I think there is a chance that I can find him tonight." ”

The two of them walked while talking, and when they arrived at the Huaihua Niangniang Temple, it was nearly three watches.

I saw that the temple gate was dilapidated, and the darkness inside was not real.

This Niangniang temple is enshrined in neither Guanyin Bodhisattva, Sakyamuni these Buddhist golden bodies, nor Taishang Laojun, Yuan Shi Tianzun these three Qing Taoist ancestors, plus living near the Jiuhuai Forest are some poor families, there has been no money to repair in the past ten years, and it is dilapidated to such a state.

Ouyang Bei pulled Meng Dongting to hide in the bushes next to the temple, first carefully observed outside the temple gate, and saw that the surroundings were quiet as usual, and no one was ambushed, so he gently approached the temple gate.

According to the method instructed by Ma Debang before his death, he knocked five times on the temple door with only half of the door panel left.

After waiting for a while, there was no sound in the temple, and Ouyang Bei knocked five times again, but there was still no movement.

Ouyang Bei couldn't help but be suspicious, and stepped into the temple to find out, but as soon as his feet landed, a cold dagger stretched out from behind the temple door, and it hit his throat like lightning.

This sudden change made people unprepared, Ouyang Bei didn't dare to move a little, and his mind turned sharply: "Who is this person? Could it be Ma Xingbang?"

Behind him, Meng Dongting was a scholar, who had never practiced martial arts, and he was even more shocked and at a loss.

The man behind the door hid in the shadows and didn't show up, only to hear him ask Ouyang Bei, "Who are you?

Ouyang Bei wanted to turn his neck to clear his throat and speak, but when he moved slightly, the dagger instantly tightened a little, so frightened that Ouyang Bei hurriedly said, "Don't ...... Don't get me wrong, it was Mr. Ma Dechang who asked me to come. ”

The man behind the door asked, "You said that Old Man Ma asked you to come, what is the evidence?"

Ouyang Bei said with some difficulty: "This ...... In addition, I am Ouyang Bei, the head catcher of Yangzhou Mansion, if you are the eldest son of Ma Xingbang, then we still have a few fates. ”

The man behind the door heard him say this, and apparently retrieved the dagger.

Ouyang Bei saw that he couldn't miss the opportunity, so he hurriedly used his luck, and used his fist technique, a move "Black Tiger Digging Heart", and hit the person directly in the chest.

That person was not slacking off, and his other hand shot like lightning, and struck straight at Ouyang Bei's wrist.

Ouyang Bei stretched out his arm to block the block, stepped up and turned sideways, dodging the dagger blade, and the knife cut at the man's wrist.

only heard a soft sound on the ground, and the arms of the two came to a hard collision, and the internal forces collided with each other, and they were both shocked back by the strength of the other party.

Ouyang Bei looked at the man carefully, but saw that it was a magnificent man, and he still couldn't see clearly in the shadows behind the door.

I saw the man move from behind the door and arch his hand: "Ouyang is so handsome in catching the head, and he is worthy of being a famous catcher in Nanzhili." ”

Ouyang Bei saw his appearance clearly by the moonlight, and immediately put his mind at ease, this person was Ma Xingbang, the eldest son of the Ma family.

Ouyang Bei bowed his hand and saluted: "The eldest prince is polite." It's your intention to give in, and there are injuries in your body, how can Ouyang not know?"

It turned out that the two of them had just made two moves, and Ouyang Bei had already noticed that Ma Xingbang's wrist strength was a little astringent.

Ouyang Bei had heard that Ma Xingbang had learned swordsmanship from the Heavenly Master, and his strength and flexibility on his wrist were the strongest, so he knew that he had injuries on his body.

After this incident, Ma Xingbang's face has obviously lost weight, his eye circles are dark, his beard is sparse, and his clothes are untidy.

Ma Xingbang went to find a vacant place and sat down, and said with a sad face: "Ouyang Zhutou, what did my father say to you before he died? ”

Ouyang Bei didn't want to hide from him the fact that he had changed from a head catcher in the government to an outlaw fugitive, so he said in a low voice at the moment: "Young Master Ma, when your father was dying, he just asked me to come here to find you, and he also told me the code of the joint. Besides, I'm not a headhunter now. ”

Ma Xingbang was surprised: "Why is this?"

Ouyang Bei smiled bitterly: "I was framed by the prefect Jia Jingzong, and I was accused of being the murderer who set fire to Ma's house, and put me on death row, and now I have to rely on Ma Gongzi to clear my grievances." ”

Ma Xingbang's hateful teeth itched, and he said: "These dog officials, if they don't take the real murderer, they will only wronged the good people." Alas, I blame myself for not listening to my father and insisting on going my own way, otherwise...... Otherwise, my Ma family will not be ......"

Ouyang Bei saw that his eyes were flushed, his words were choked, and he didn't know what to say for a while.

Ma Xingbang felt sad for a moment, but after all, he was the eldest young master of the Guangsheng, and he was alone for a long time, and after a little adjustment, he was calm as usual.

He cleared his throat and said, "In that case, then we should cooperate with each other and work together." Now I will tell you what I know about the ins and outs of this case, and I also ask Bei Ye to refer to it in detail and what we should do next. ”

Ouyang Bei worked hard and put himself on death row, in order to solve the case, as soon as Qi Bochuan said this, he immediately perked up, and hurriedly said: "The eldest son, please speak!"

I only heard Ma Xingbang say vigilantly: "This matter is a long story, and it is definitely not a matter of words." Is this kid credible?"

After that, Ma Xingbang nodded at Meng Dongting, who was still listening dumbfounded.

Ouyang Bei nodded and said, "Please rest assured, this is a little brother I brought out from death row, and I have shared hardships together, and it was he who led the way for me, so I came here." ”

Ma Xingbang nodded, silent for a long time, as if sorting out his thoughts. At this time, there were several mournful cries of night birds in the distance, and the atmosphere was unusually sad.

Although Ouyang Bei had thousands of mysteries in his heart, waiting for Ma Xingbang to solve them one by one, he was not easy to urge when he looked sad at the moment.

After a long time, Ma Xingbang said slowly: "Speaking of this matter, we have to start from more than three months ago. ”