With a "creak", the old wooden door made a screeching sound, Shi Xingang and Lin Xuewu took the lead in walking in, and the rest of the people were waiting outside.

The inn was really dark, and a few people lit torches and looked around.

After checking separately, no obvious abnormalities were found, Shi Xingang said to Lin Xuewu on the side: "Strange, I also walked through this line with the team a month ago, and I also landed at this inn at that time, and I also met the innkeeper, I saw him talking and laughing at that time, and said that the business was good, how could I not see that he had the intention of moving away, and there was not even a note on this door, could it be that he hadn't come back for the New Year?"

"I don't see it", Lin Xuewu pointed to the table and said: "Shi Darttou, you see that there is very little dust on this table, only a thin layer, I think I cleaned it a few days ago." ”

Master Xue also came over at this time: "I checked the guest room just now, everything is quite complete, we can stay at night." ”

Several assistant dart masters who checked the surrounding environment also came over one after another, saying that they couldn't see anything unusual.

Shi Xingang thought for a moment and said: "It stands to reason that we are very taboo to stay in this store that has changed hands, but even if this is an empty store, let's make the inn bright, and we will stay here tonight." When a few people heard this, they went out to make arrangements.

Ah Xiu followed the others into the inn and found that the hall was bigger than he imagined, surrounded by earthen walls, uneven, and complete with tables, chairs and benches, so he and Cui Sanping found a corner and sat down.

The carriage was too big to enter, so it stopped outside the inn and found a few people to guard it in shifts, while the others ate their own dry food in the inn.

Shi Xingang is an old Jianghu, and he is also more cautious, not letting everyone live in the guest room, for fear of accidents, so he simply lined up the tables and chairs after eating something, and laid the floor in the hall together, and slept in clothes.

The weather was still very cold in the Spring Festival, so Shi Xingang asked people to set up a few more braziers in the inn to keep warm.

About two hours later, it was late at night, everyone was already asleep, and some people were still snoring, but Ah Xiu didn't know why, he couldn't sleep after tossing and turning, and he always felt uncomfortable, so he got up and looked around.

With the light from the brazier, Ah Xiu saw that there were two cabinets more than half a person high against the east wall, thinking that it should be the counter of the inn, and he was curious, so he walked to the counter and looked at it, but saw that there was a paper and pen inkstone on it, and an abacus, the inkstone had long been dry, and the tip of the brush stained with ink was also hard, and it seemed that it had not been used for at least a few days.

There is a book in the corner of the counter, Ah Xiu picked it up and looked at it, turned two pages and found that it was an account book, the words on it were not very good-looking, but the writing was quite neat, and there were altered notes in some places, all of which were written were the check-in records of some guests, Ah Xiu turned to the last page with words, and the day written on it was the eighteenth day of the first month, which was five days ago.

It seems that the owner of this inn must have left five days ago, Ah Xiu thought to himself. Then read on, "On the eighteenth day of the first month, six guests stayed overnight, their identities were unknown, and they booked four rooms and rewarded twenty taels of silver. "There is no follow-up to the ledger here, and Ah Xiu can't see why.

Put down the ledger, Ah Xiu went around to the back of the counter again, saw that there were two drawers inside, hesitated for a moment or opened, the first drawer was placed in some scattered silver and copper coins, the number is not too much, it should be for change, the other drawer is placed in the position of two ingots of silver, Ah Xiu picked it up and turned it upside down, about a total of twenty taels, thinking that it should be the silver rewarded by the six guests recorded in the account book.

"It's strange, why is this money still here when everyone is gone?" Ah Xiu had some questions, but he didn't think much about it.

Ah Xiu didn't make much money as a runner, and he could have two taels of silver left after a month after deducting expenses, but he was simple and upright, and knew that ill-gotten wealth was not advisable, so he put the money back in the cabinet and went to check it elsewhere.

There is a door curtain behind the counter, Ah Xiu opened it and walked in, it was very dark inside, the light of the brazier in the hall could not enter, nothing could be seen, Ah Xiu took out the fire fold from his arms and blew it up, relying on the faint light to scan it, and found that this should be a bedroom, the bed and wardrobe are all there, the quilt on the bed is spread out, a little messy, along the corner of the quilt that falls under the bed, Ah Xiu vaguely saw that there was a mass of things reflecting, although the light was very dim and not easy to detect, but it was still discovered by Ah Xiu.

Ah Xiu walked to the side of the bed in two steps, looked down, but it was a jar, the outside of the altar was painted, very smooth, reflective, if it was daytime, I am afraid it is not easy to find, it is easy to be ignored.

"Do you want to open it and take a look?" Ah Xiu asked himself secretly, he also knew that it was not good to rummage through other people's things, but he couldn't control his curiosity, and finally decided to open it and take a look.

The mouth of the jar was plugged by a round wooden stopper, Ah Xiu just unscrewed it with a little force, and shone it in with a fire fold, a pile of gold and silver was reflected in his eyes, Ah Xiu frowned and thought: This inn is really not looking for money, it has saved so much money, if it is placed in the homes of ordinary people, this money is completely enough to live a lifetime. But why didn't they take it with them?

With a little doubt, Ah Xiu put the altar back to its place, looked around and found nothing suspicious, so he put out the fire and prepared to go out, but he had just lifted the curtain halfway, and his eyes inadvertently swept to the window of the earthen wall on the west side, and suddenly found that a figure seemed to be faintly reflected on the slightly broken window paper.

Ah Xiu suddenly became excited, and the hand that was about to open the curtain also stopped, and he didn't dare to move, and looked at the window with bated breath.

Although there were a few braziers in the hall, they were not too bright after two hours, especially the west wall was the most gloomy, so that Ah Xiu could see the shadows on the windows through the bright moonlight outside.

After a few breaths, I saw that the shadow moved slightly, and disappeared in a flash, Ah Xiu stood in place and didn't dare to move, and after a while, he didn't find anything, so he walked out of the bedroom lightly, turned out of the counter, and slowly walked to the window of the west wall against the wall, and looked out bravely, but all he saw was a black wood, and nothing else.

Ah Xiu came to the door of the inn again, and when he looked out, he saw two men on duty chatting on the side, and the rest of them were sitting in the corner of the wall and napping, and the carriage and goods were all there, and there was nothing unusual.

Ah Xiu felt a little drumming in his heart, and felt that something was wrong, so he came to the place where Lin Xuewu was sleeping and shook it gently. Lin Xuewu was very alert, and he didn't sleep very well, but he woke up after a little bit of Ah Xiu, sat up and asked, "Ah Xiu, what's wrong?"

"Shhh ”

Lin Xuewu has been wandering the rivers and lakes for some years, and he knew that Ah Xiu must have discovered something, so he bent over and tiptoed behind the counter with Ah Xiu.

Ah Xiu motioned to Lin Xuewu to squat down, and the two of them hid behind the counter like this, only to hear Ah Xiu say softly: "Second uncle, I just found a figure on the west window. ”

"Figure?" Lin Xuewu was stunned for a moment, and then he was about to get up and look at the west window, but he was pulled by Ah Xiu.

"Second uncle, that figure is gone...... Ah Xiu told the second uncle what he saw just now, and saw Lin Xuewu frowning and said, "Don't move here first, don't disturb the others, I'll go find Shi Dart." ”

Ah Xiu listened to Lin Xuewu's words and hid behind the counter, while Lin Xuewu walked towards the place where Shi Xingang slept.

Ah Xiu waited for a while, Shi Xingang walked over, followed by Lin Xuewu and Xue Daoshi, only to hear Shi Xingang ask, "Ah Xiu, are you sure you saw a figure in the window just now?"

"Sure. Ah Xiu replied in the affirmative.

Shi Xingang nodded slightly, and he didn't know what he was thinking, so he turned to Xue Dart Master and said, "Xue Dart Master, you and Ah Xiu are waiting here, don't wake everyone up, so as not to startle the snake, I will go out with Lin Dart Master to have a look." ”

"Good. Master Xue simply agreed.

Shi Xingang and Lin Xuewu were just about to turn around and walk out, but they were stopped by Ah Xiu: "Shi Daotou, I can't be used here, let me go with you." ”

Shi Xingang looked at Lin Xuewu, as if asking for his opinion, and when he saw Lin Xuewu, he nodded and said, "It's okay, follow us closely, and look at my eyes when I encounter something." ”

The three of them each took their blades and walked out of the gate.

The two guys on duty at the gate heard the voice, looked back and found that it was Shi Xingang and the three, thinking that they were here to check the work, and hurriedly stepped forward to say hello, but they were about to speak but were stopped by Shi Xingang raising his hand.

"Did you find anyone just now, or did you hear any movement?" asked Shi Xingang.

One of them replied, "No, Shi Darttou, we took over the shift half an hour ago, and we haven't noticed anything unusual until now." ”

Xinggang nodded, waved them back, and the two of them didn't know what to do, so they had to go back and continue to watch the night.

Ah Xiu and the three of them walked around the inn for a week, and found that there were faint footprints under the window outside the west wall, but they looked down the footprints into the woods not far away, Shi Xingang knew that his group should have been peeped at just now, but he didn't know the reason.

The three of them discussed for a moment, and felt that they should go to the woods to find out.