Chapter 112: Leaving Chang'an "Man's destiny is an epic."...

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Fuling was alert, but he also understood Yan Siqing's meaning - she was not opposed to leaving Chang'an with her, but before leaving, she had to find the murderer.

At the critical moment, even though Fuling knew that the latter could do it, time was indeed important.

"Leave Chang'an first, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future."

Yan Siqing raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure they didn't notice what happened today? Don't underestimate the insignificant. You and I have risen from humble beginnings, and we are naturally cautious and meticulous."

Fuling actually knew that after leaving with Yan Siqing this time, even if he could successfully send the person out of Chang'an, he would be dead when he came back. It would be difficult for him to have the time and opportunity to come here to track down the real murderer, unless he captured Chen Gai and tortured him, or assassinated his clan, and never let any of them go.

But no matter what, that is a matter for the future, and she has no say in what happens next.

"I know, but I refuse."

"Your Highness, we should leave."

Fuling had already put on a mask for Yan Siqing, and he could leave after changing her clothes.

"Please change your clothes first, we will leave now."

Yan Siqing: "When I was a child, I ate cakes from your family."

Fu Ling, who was packing up his things and leaving traces, was startled and turned back to look at Yan Siqing.

Yan Siqing said, "Back then, your parents were still starting from scratch, working hard together. But in the food business, as ancient times have always been, delicious is delicious. Once you rise to fame, your circumstances will change quickly. I remember your mother once gave me a rabbit cake, saying that her newborn daughter loved it. I was very young at the time, but I have a good memory. I can vaguely remember what the people looked like and how the cake tasted."

"You and your mother actually look a bit similar. This chain on your wrist was once worn by your mother, right?"

Fu Ling was stunned, and even had a subtle feeling of being struck by the cause and effect of fate.

Is it such a coincidence?

However, it seemed to be correct when he thought about it carefully. His family was from Chang'an, and his parents had started a business selling cakes. They were quite experienced and knew that ordinary people could not afford such cakes with carefully selected ingredients, so they set up their stalls on the streets near the official residence to sell them. The Yan family was still an official family after all, and their official position was neither high nor low, but they had a good reputation. They had medical skills that could be used by other powerful families, so they were also very respectable and did not even lack money at all - the Yan family had no less than ten pharmacies of their own.

If Yan Que and his wife had returned to Chang'an with their only daughter to report on their work, and had met the Xu couple selling cakes on the street, it would have been normal for them to buy some because their daughter loved sweets and they had the money.

Moreover, Fuling also discovered early on that Yan Siqing really liked sweet snacks. It might have been like this since childhood, and not just because she later married into Yancheng in the south.

So everything seems to be mysterious.

"When His Highness saw me at the post station, did he think of my mother and recognize me?"

She always felt that Yan Siqing was too perceptive in recognizing her identity as a daughter of the Xu family.

How can one person be so perceptive? As if seeing through everything.

"Of course not. I've met so many people in my life, and they all resemble each other. Besides, so many years have passed. I want to catch this murderer, and it's not just because of you or the connection I had with your parents back then. It's probably because that was the last time I had a happy time with my parents. Eating these cakes after that will always taste different."

It's different now.

Yan Siqing knew something was different, but she only realized it belatedly and felt the emptiness and sadness in her heart.

"I want to say goodbye to Chang'an."

"The price is the death of this murderer."

"But bringing me along might be a burden, Fuling, are you afraid?"

Fuling saw Yan Siqing's determination, and it was not the first time that he had experienced this man's tactics - if he wanted to do something, he had to do it.

The other party never changes his decision for anyone, even if it is Xu Junrong or Zhao Zhao, he can only influence the latter's choice at most, but once he makes a choice, he will not change it.

Fuling saw that Yan Siqing had already picked up his clothes, turned his back, and reached out to touch the scabbard.

"If we can't even take down the evil individual hiding in this small village, and let him threaten your safety, then there's no way I can successfully take you out of Chang'an."

Late at night, an ordinary couple who had just arrived and quickly disguised themselves were about to leave the yard. As soon as the door opened, the cool air brought by the fields in the mountain village hit them in the face. Bathing in the moonlight, Fuling glanced at the copper smelting plant in the distance, knowing that they must have realized that they had escaped and would soon catch up with them.

"I have the horses ready. They're in the small woods outside the village, not far away. Your Highness doesn't have much time. How are you going to find this man? Should we go find Chen Gai first?"

Yan Siqing is now just an ordinary thin woman, but her eyes are charming and beautiful. She smiled and looked around the village.

"Who among Chen Gai's relatives do you think he values ​​and loves the most? Who would he be willing to sacrifice money and energy for? And if anything were to happen, he would definitely be held accountable."

Fuling was silent for a moment. "He's still afraid of performing the sacrifice, and he wouldn't dare let this relative stay in the village, fearing he might cause trouble again. But these people are always mean, thinking their child is good in every way and must have been corrupted locally. They just need to go somewhere else to be alright. So, while he takes over the mess and cleans it up, he'll also start moving the murderer somewhere else to hide out and cut off his connection with them."

"So, whoever took over his overseas business, created a profitable business, and avoided the local uproar over the murder case, that person is very likely the murderer."

"When I investigated, I only knew that his second son, Chen Yunbo, and his nephew, Chen Abao, were responsible for taking over his shipping and commercial business."

"However, Chen Abao's parents are both deceased, he has some medical conditions, and his brain isn't very sharp. He's always been cared for and looked after by Chen Gai...and Chen Yunbo makes most of the decisions, so this doesn't seem very strange to others."

It is very strange that he does not pass on the business to his own children but gives it to his nephew to take advantage of it. The villagers also talked about it, but Chen Abao is honest and pitiful, and he can only survive because of his uncle's care. This is also a manifestation of the power of the clan since ancient times.

Who is that?

Yan Siqing gave a direct answer.

"When we investigated Chen Gai today, we also looked into his family affairs. The villagers were quite talkative."

"He didn't struggle, he entered the wild forest on his own. Luo Xuan is your trick, but your father was probably deceived back then. He's traveled a lot, so he's definitely wary of people. The only person who could dispel his vigilance is probably a skinny, sickly, and not very bright, simple-minded child. This Chen Abao is even more suspicious."

"Also, during the years when Chen Gai was away on business, he wasn't in the village. He was worried that his nephew would be idle or bullied, so he asked him to take care of the crops in his hometown. The Chen family was considered landlords, and they rented the land to villagers to cultivate. When the harvest was due, they would sell it to merchants."

"Comparatively, Chen Gai's other sons are all of school age and are studying in the town, not in the village at all."

"Your father makes pastries, so he has to buy large quantities of food on a regular basis."

Fu Ling suddenly realized and turned to look somewhere.

In the south of the village, Chen Abao is a secluded man who used to live outside the village all year round. Although he had been sailing and trading in previous years, he had returned this year. This was because there had been heavy rains in the past period of time, which was when Yan Siqing was on his way to Chang'an. Those heavy rains had hindered sea transportation, and the government had strict control. In fact, many sea merchant ships had been transferred back.

That's why Yan Siqing said that the murderer was in the village.

Now, they were going to find him.

————

Fish ponds, pig pens, canals, fields, reed marshes, old houses, and bright moon at night.

Occasionally, you can see some smelting objects or broken pottery left over from the old village on the edge of the field, as well as moss-covered ruins.

When the cool breeze comes, everything sways and becomes quiet.

This is the most common scene in the village. Except that the houses here and Fuling are at the two ends of Gutong Village, there seems to be no difference between the two places.

However, the smell here was even stranger. Fuling was a martial artist with strong senses, and Yan Siqing was gifted, so he could still smell a fishy odor as usual.

Wherever there is a fish pond, there is naturally a fishy smell.

Yan Siqing and the other man came in the middle of the night and were uninvited guests, but the host seemed to be away.

After looking through the closed doors and windows, both women saw shoe prints on the ground.

The other person went out and hasn't come back yet, and the door is locked.

But...Fuling noticed Yan Siqing was looking at the fish pond.

"Do you think he'll destroy the corpse here? I released Luo Xuan's servant and threw him away. Whatever happens to him, but I don't think my father's servant will survive..."

"He took all the horses."

Fuling was dealing with the current situation. After the goal was achieved, she didn't care what happened to the servants, but the same couldn't be said for the servants her father had brought with him.

She also remembered that when Yan Siqing was handling the Liujia Village case in Chang'an, he found some clues about the murderer from the clues in the fish pond.

Yan Siqing looked at the fish pond and then at the pigpen.

There are still fish in the fish pond and pigs in the pigsty, and they are all living well.

It can be seen that both the fish pond and the pigpen are buildings that have been built for many years, and there is also a slaughterhouse for slaughtering pigs at the back.

It's been many years.

But it must have been abandoned for a few years in between - because Chen Abao went to sea, but now there are pigs in the pigsty and fish in the fish pond.

It should be that Chen Abao returned to his old business after returning.

However, the rainy season has passed, and offshore operations can be restarted at any time. The Chen family's business is mature, and his sons and nephews have no shortage of things to do. Why doesn't Chen Abao go out?

I still can’t help it....What have you done recently?

Fuling: "Pigs don't eat bones, but fish pond mud can sink bones."

"If one person handles the remains individually, it's easy to leave clues and traces, but if they're all taken together, it's very difficult to investigate."

Pigs can digest all the human flesh, and no one will notice the bones sinking into the mud of the fish pond.

Could it be that Chen Abao has also killed someone in the past few months, so he has to restart these two places to deal with the bodies, and he has no intention of going out again?

But it was such a misfortune that he was not here.

"Your Highness, it's dirty over there."

After Yan Siqing was stopped by Fuling in a low voice, he looked at the three slop buckets in the pigpen from a few steps away, then looked at the two pigs, and pulled Fuling's sleeve with his fingers.

Their eyes met.

"Since you're not here, let's go."

"Notify everyone, surround this village immediately, issue a wanted order, he will always come back."

The two left one after the other.

Just a short while.

Crunch...

The door of the slaughterhouse quietly opened, revealing a bloody blade. A young man in plain clothes poked his head out, with two big eyes on his dull face.

There were bloodshot eyes from days of staying up late.

Years of working at sea and living in the fields of mountain villages have made this man very simple and unadorned, with rough skin. At first glance, he looks ten years older than his age, completely different from the delicate skin of the pampered dignitaries.

But even such a person actually looks more like a ghost crawling on people's faces, standing upright during the day and crawling at night.

His body was half exposed, his head tilted, staring straight at the direction where Yan Siqing and the other person had just left.

But the figure was no longer visible.

On the contrary...

Sudden!

A person fell from the roof.

One knife down.

The wrist holding the knife was directly cut off. When the man was about to scream, Fu Ling came down and grabbed his throat with one hand, pressed the blood Qi, opened his mouth, blocked the rag, and then kicked his legs and feet twice and knocked him to his knees.

Rope bondage, complete control.

No sound was made.

Yan Siqing walked out from the back of the house without even looking at Chen Abao, but just looked inside at the door for a while.

He covered his mouth and nose with his fingers.

"It's him."

"Just keep a breath."

"Let's explain it to the Dali Temple someday. The rest is none of our business."

"Well, maybe there is some connection."

Both of them looked towards the commotion in the village. It turned out that they had been discovered, and Chen Gai brought the villagers over.

Maybe he was asking the villagers outside the village today and was noticed by Chen Gai when he turned around.

.....

Fortunately, he still arrived to take action, otherwise Chen Gai might have to send Chen Abao away again tonight. The world is so big, where can he find him in the future?

But now Fuling caught a glimpse of the villagers holding hoes, rakes and other tools, so he immediately stopped Yan Siqing behind him and prepared to retreat first.

Compared to revenge, she had to protect Yan Siqing's safe retreat. Anyway, there was quite a bit of commotion here, and people from the Copper Smelting Institute would definitely come.

Chen Abao, Chen Gai and others have been exposed, and someone will deal with them in the future.

However, in the eyes of the suffering Chen Abao, these villagers who showed up were his saviors. Hope appeared in his eyes, but soon he heard a soft and graceful voice.

"Deal with him yourself."

"Don't worry about anything else."

Um?

Fuling also liked people who seized the opportunity to get down to business, and who talked without interrupting their work. In addition, Fuling hated this person to the core, so when he heard Yan Siqing's words, he no longer hesitated and immediately broke his other legs. With a few crackling sounds, even the finger bones of his other hand were broken.

Yan Siqing stood by and watched coldly.

Finally, Chen Gai's men were approaching, already hundreds of meters away, shouting angrily... Fuling had already vented some of his hatred, and drew his sword, ready to deal with these ignorant and instigated villagers.

Of course, she couldn't kill them indiscriminately, but it was not difficult to defeat them. She planned to let Yan Siqing go into the house.

"Need not."

The words are as light as yours.

Fuling finally realized something was wrong, and Chen Gai stopped in horror.

There are crowds of people in the mountains and forests.

Someone is approaching.

Is it Master who is following the pursuers from Lachen's side? !

Or are Jiang Hui's people here?

Swish, swish, swish, one after another, the assassins rushed out with swords in hand.

Not long after, Yan Siqing and Fuling completely disappeared from the village, while the black-robed man's pursuers were stopped by the river. After a fierce fight, the other side retreated, and when they rushed to the village again, the man had already disappeared.

However, Chen Gai and others were tied up like dumplings and thrown there.

"Sir, Fuling has betrayed us. Was it her who arranged for someone to take Yan Siqing away?"

The subordinates were puzzled and shocked that Fu Ling had such ability.

The man in black robe had a gloomy expression on his face.

"Not her."

"Then... could it be Prince Yan?"

No, if it was Prince Yan's son Jiang Hui, with his troops, he would not only take Yan Siqing away, but he would probably not just stop them, but would also kill them all.

Who is that?

Suddenly, the subordinate crouched on the ground, listened to the movement on the ground for a while, and immediately looked up: "The troops are coming."

"This is Jiang Hui's real arrival. I'm afraid the people over there have also been rescued, but he himself didn't fall for it."

"withdraw!"

The man in black robe walked away with a flick of his sleeves.

They retreated quickly, and not long after they retreated, a group of red horses rushed into the village.

The horse's hooves stepped on the ground, and the reins were pulled. Jiang Hui looked coldly at the messy village, and also saw the movement in the houses to the south.

Horses walked along the narrow paths in the fields, leaving behind a trail of hoof prints.

Finally, Jiang Hui stopped in the yard and glanced coldly at the uncle and nephew of the Chen family.

Jian Wuliang and others who were rescued and followed later have already made a general investigation.

"It's the murderer..."

Ruo Zhao: "But the madam is missing. She must have been abducted."

“Your Highness…”

No one dared to speak.

Jiang Hui looked towards the copper smelting plant with an expressionless face.

Suddenly he smiled coldly.

——————

On the carriage leaving Chang'an.

Fuling looked at Yan Siqing and found that his expression was calm and composed.

Moreover, she seemed to be very calm since leaving the forest.

Becoming more and more relaxed.

She still remembered that when the group of people showed up just now, Yan Siqing was very calm and said, "Let's go. They will handle it here."

Yan Siqing spoke lightly, turned around, and fluttered his sleeves.

He left directly and neatly without any hesitation.

Fuling pondered for a long time, and only after the carriage left did she say, "Your Highness is deliberately falling into a trap. I understand, but you do have helpers. They are not from Prince Yan's Mansion, nor are they from others. They are your own people."

"According to the current situation, even if the prince found out about Gutong Village, the only clues left there would be that I took you away, but we were tracked down and there was a fight. In the end, I don't know if it was my master or my people who successfully took you away."

Yan Siqing: “Yes.”

"I know you won't kill me, so being caught doesn't matter. I just used Chen's hand to escape. Falling into his hands is easier for Jiang Hui to accept than if I escaped directly."

"And then they fight their battles."

"I'm leaving Chang'an."

"It's just that I didn't expect you... You surprised me. Fortunately, you and I have the same goal."

Fu Ling realized what was happening now, and he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "It was I who did that. So just now in the forest, or on this journey, if I had any other thoughts about you, Your Highness, I'm afraid someone around here would have killed me."

Yan Siqing: "Yes."

Fuling was quiet, but then he smiled.

“Why do I feel even happier?”

"This is you, Yan Siqing."

Smart and cunning, cunning but not immoral.

Fuling originally thought that Yan Siqing had arranged her men long ago, so she could naturally leave Chang'an on her own and didn't need him. However, Jiang Hui would definitely track her down to the end. If he stayed in Chang'an and was caught, it would be difficult to complete the previous logic - Yan Siqing didn't seem to want Jiang Hui to know that everything was designed by her and that she had escaped.

The best outcome is...

"I hope he thinks I've died at Chen's hands."

"Let's put an end to all grudges and not get involved in anything else."

Yan Siqing spoke softly, without any reluctance between her brows. It was obvious that she believed from the bottom of her heart that this was the best ending.

And she also looked at Fuling.

"I helped you find the murderer, you have to take the blame for me."

"Then we're even, okay?"

Fuling was speechless and could only smile bitterly.

Being like Yan Siqing may be a godsend for Jiang Hui, but it is also a disaster.

"Your Highness, you are able to make such arrangements. What about His Highness Liaochen?"

Fuling felt a little uneasy. She still remembered that when Yan Siqing left Chang'an, he used a token to directly open the city gate and leave.

Who gave the token? Was it the princess's token? If so, then the Chang'an city gate would have already sent a message to Prince Yan's mansion.

Yan Siqing glanced at her and smiled slightly, gently and profoundly.

“The destiny of man is an epic.”

"But no one knew it then. But people will know it later, and someone will write about it."

"They don't let you stay because they think you don't need to get involved. That's their business."

Imperial Palace, Qinghuang Monument.

It was pitch black, with only the moonlight as witness.

Lechen dug under the monument and found a box under the huge stone.

The box has been covered in dust for many years, but it is still intact and contains precious treasures. There are also gold and jade embedded in it. I wonder what kind of mood Emperor Ye was in when he buried it.

Lechen opened it and found the jade seal and parchment inside.

There was ecstasy in Lechen's eyes.

But suddenly.

"My son, why are you not sleeping at this hour to dig sweet potatoes?"