The carrier pigeon was pierced by the silver needle in its wing. It fell to the ground and flapped its wings and struggled a few times.
Suihe stepped forward and picked it up. As the beggar's finger had been injured before, she was extra careful and held its wings tightly before handing it into the carriage.
He suppressed his surprised voice and whispered,
"Miss, it's a carrier pigeon!"
"My pigeon..." The beggar with bleeding fingers ran to the car and said with a pursed mouth, looking somewhat aggrieved.
Wei Yunlan winked at Suihe.
Suihe understood what he meant and took out a small piece of silver from her purse and handed it to the beggar.
The beggar was stunned for a moment, his eyes lit up, but he didn't dare to reach out to take it. Instead, he waved his hands repeatedly, "No need to give so much."
He himself knew that without the person in the carriage, he would most likely not be able to keep the pigeon and would have flapped its wings and flew away long ago!
Unexpectedly, this beggar is not a greedy person.
Wei Yunlan nodded towards Suihe.
Suihe put away the small piece of silver, then grabbed a handful of scattered copper coins and handed them to the beggar.
Wei Yunlan's voice floated out from the carriage, "Take it to the pharmacy, bandage the wound, and buy some food."
The wound on that finger looked quite serious.
The beggar put the copper coins into his pocket and said to the carriage, "Thank you very much, sir!"
The beggar left happily with the copper coins in his pocket, and the car continued to drive towards the south city gate.
Wei Yunlan lowered his head and looked carefully at the pigeon in his hand.
This is a pigeon with a mailbox tied to its foot.
It looked like an ordinary carrier pigeon. Wei Yunlan gently squeezed the letter tube and it was easily untied.
Tied inside was a blank piece of paper.
Could it be that the paper was written with a special ink that can only become visible when exposed to water or fire?
wrong.
Wei Yunlan frowned slightly, recalling the scene where the beggar accidentally let the pigeon run away.
He remembered that the beggar was trying to grab the pigeon's wings, which caused him to be scratched by the sharp object and bleed a lot.
There is a mechanism under the pigeon's wings.
Wei Yunlan was the only one in the carriage.
She found a pair of thick gloves from the space and put them on, then she opened the wings of the pigeon, which had stopped struggling.
Upon closer inspection, it was clear that there was something hidden under the pigeon's wings!
It seems like a patch-style object is fixed.
Wei Yunlan pushed aside the feathers that were blocking her view and took a closer look. She discovered that the object was actually a very small iron box. The box was flat and seemed not much thicker than a fingernail.
This process is not simple.
Just by looking at this thing, you can tell that the person who released the carrier pigeon must be no ordinary person.
It is obviously difficult to pry open such delicate things while wearing gloves, so you have to use your fingernails or a needle to pry it open.
Wei Yunlan was about to take off his gloves when he suddenly stopped.
The person who released the pigeon was extremely cautious, fearing that there might be other mechanisms on the box, and he must not open it rashly.
"Let's go back home first." Wei Yunlan instructed Suihe who was driving the carriage outside.
This place is very close to Jingping Lane.
Perhaps because several nearby states were not affected by the disaster, Beiguan City was relatively stable. Apart from some private discussions among the common people, everything else remained the same.
When Wei Yunlan came back, she happened to meet Wei Mingxuan coming back from school.
He is now studying with an old scholar in the city. He goes there every other day, and today happens to be the day of his study.
"Sister, are you going out today too?" Wei Mingxuan walked forward.
"Miss Huang's condition has improved, so I went to the Huang residence to see her." Wei Yunlan nodded, said briefly, and went to Deputy General Huang's residence.
Wei Mingxuan vaguely knew that his sister had good relations with many young ladies in Beiguan City, but he was not interested in these. He just nodded and took the opportunity to ask if Miss Huang was safe.
Finally, he turned his eyes to what was in Wei Yunlan's hand.
"What's wrong with this pigeon?" Wei Mingxuan was a little surprised.
What is the elder sister doing holding a half-dead pigeon?
Wei Yunlan did not explain too much outside. He led Wei Mingxuan into the house and closed the door before saying, "This is a carrier pigeon we met on the way."
"It's a bit strange." Wei Yunlan pointed to the mailbox tied to the pigeon's foot, then lifted the pigeon's wings to show Wei Mingxuan the flat box hidden underneath.
"I guess the mailbox below is used to confuse people. The real letter is hidden in the small box under the wing."
Wei Mingxuan was shocked, and his expression gradually became cautious.
After listening to Wei Yunlan's description of the scene when she picked up the pigeon, she breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Big sister, it's a good thing you didn't open the box directly."
"What do you mean?" Wei Yunlan knew that during the months since he left Beiguan and traveled to the northwest, Wei Mingxuan had learned a lot from the people who came out of the Tianshu Pavilion's craftsman department.
Now, many of the mechanisms in this small courtyard in Jingping Lane were set up by him personally.
"I heard Master Zhao, who taught me about this mechanism, talk about it before."
Wei Mingxuan took the gloves handed to him by Wei Yunlan, put them on, and carefully untied the box from the pigeon's wings. Then he turned the narrowest side in front of his eyes, pointed at the two thin lines protruding from it, and said to Wei Yunlan, "Sister, look here."
"There is a poison sac hidden in this place. If you rashly open the box or damage it with great force, the poison will seep out. Usually the poison placed in such a place is very strong and can kill you if you come into contact with it."
"Can you open this box?" Wei Yunlan asked.
If Wei Mingxuan couldn't open it, she planned to call Zou Yun to ask.
At this critical juncture, the carrier pigeon intercepted in Beiguan City may contain clues and we must not be careless.
"I can dismantle it. It's not that complicated compared to the letter box in Tianshu Pavilion." Wei Mingxuan said confidently.
"Big sister, do you still have silver needles in your hand? Give me two."
Wei Yunlan handed over the needle and watched him fiddle with the small iron box for a while.
Finally, with a "click", the box opened and a small folded piece of paper fell out.
Wei Yunlan took a closer look and sure enough, on the inner edge of the box, there were some shiny things fixed with thin wires.
"I guessed wrong. It's not poison, but some small blades. It should be to prevent someone from catching pigeons and intercepting the letter." Wei Mingxuan said.
Wei Yunlan nodded in understanding, and without paying attention to the iron box, he unfolded the note in his hand.
This time, there was finally some writing on it.
There are only four words: September 3rd.
I looked carefully over and over again, but the fifth word did not appear.
September 3rd...
What day is it?
Wei Yunlan muttered to himself, and felt more and more that it sounded familiar.
Suddenly his expression froze and he thought of something.
She called Guixiang, who was cleaning the courtyard, and asked anxiously, "Do you remember what date was written on the note that the Liang family sent to mother two days ago?"
Under Wei Yunlan's burning gaze, Guixiang was stunned for a moment and replied,
"My lady, it is September 3rd."
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