As soon as the bronze bell sounded for the closing of the Forbidden City, the flashlight of veteran security guard Zhao Jianguo illuminated the unusual appearance of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. On the white marble railings, fresh bloodstains snaked into the shape of the Big Dipper, with the seventh star facing the Palace of Heavenly Purity.
"This thief is really particular about Feng Shui." Tang Ren squatted beside the bloodstains, chewing a donkey roll, and the powdered sugar fell on the Ming Dynasty tiles. Qin Feng grabbed him by the collar: "Don't, don't destroy the scene!"
Su Chen dipped a cotton swab in the bloodstain, frowning: "It's human blood mixed with cinnabar. Someone must have performed a secret technique here within three days." He suddenly opened the well cover, and in the 20-meter-deep imperial well floated a bright yellow silk, with the dark patterns being the twelve-chapter patterns of the legend.
The sound of tiles breaking was heard in the distance. Qin Feng was about to chase after him, but was stopped by Tang Ren: "Look at the glazed tiles!" Under the moonlight, the Chiwen beast on the roof of the Hall of Supreme Harmony was missing an eye, and half a piece of bloody glutinous rice paper was stuck to the broken part.
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Lin Wanru, an expert in restoration, was shaking. She pushed open the secret door of the Duobao Pavilion in the Yangxin Palace, and in the dusty camphorwood box lay a half-broken sword: "This is the sword of Emperor Yongzheng's secret guard, which was registered as a relic three years ago..."
Tang Ren was suddenly tripped by the door, and his head hit the "Sikuquanshu" bookshelf on the north wall. The entire wall of books suddenly flipped over, revealing the densely packed parts of Western clocks in the interlayer. Qin Feng picked up the silk thread on the gear: "Suhang's high-quality silk, someone has come in recently."
"Look at the ground!" Su Chen's flashlight illuminated a shallow drag mark, and at the end of the mark was a loose gold brick. After prying it open, a book "Construction Method" was placed in the secret compartment, and Zhang Minguo's cigarette label was sandwiched between the pages - a scribbled route map was drawn on the back of the Hardman cigarette, and the end point was marked "Jingqi Pavilion".
Lin Wanru's face suddenly turned pale: "Jingqi Pavilion is where the Zhenfei Well is located. During the renovation last month, we dug out..."
From outside the window came the mournful howl of a wild cat.
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When Tang Ren's Luoyang shovel got stuck on the wall of the well, Qin Feng discovered that the cracks in the blue bricks were seeping dark red. Three meters down the well, the shovel hit a hard object - a bronze box tied with an iron chain, with the eyes of the Taotie pattern on the box inlaid with jade.
"This keyhole is the Big Dipper!" Su Chen wiped off the rust, and the seven small holes were arranged in a spoon shape. Tang Ren took out the eyeball of the Chiwen he picked up in the Hall of Supreme Harmony and inserted it into the position of the Tianshu. As the mechanism turned, a musty silk cloth embroidered with secret edicts floated out of the box.
Lin Wanru translated with a flashlight: "...In the third year of the Xuantong reign, a Tibetan jade seal was made..." The second half was incomplete due to insect infestation.
"There's movement!" Qin Feng suddenly turned off the flashlight. A hemp rope was lowered from the well, and the cloth-shoeed feet fell silently to the ground. The moment the shadow raised the Luoyang shovel, Tang Ren smashed the bronze box into the man's face.
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When they reached the Dongtongzi Pass, the moonlight was illuminating the red wall. Qin Feng counted the bricks on the wall: "It is said that every brick here... has a wronged soul..."
"You're such a jerk!" Tang Ren suddenly pushed him aside, and the flying tile knife brushed past his ear. The shadow climbed over the wall, and the key chain on his waist jingled - it was the standard key for the Forbidden City warehouse custodian.
Su Chen found half a footprint at the base of the wall. The pattern on the moss showed that it was an old cloth shoe worn by Nei Lian. Lin Wanru looked solemn after receiving the call: "Old Zhang, who was on duty at the warehouse, took sick leave three days ago."
At the sound of the midnight drum, Tang Ren suddenly pointed at a brick and said, "This one is a different color!" He pried open the fake foam brick and found an oil paper bag stuffed inside, which contained half a list of goods that had been relocated to the south in 1933 and was stamped with the letter "Q" in wax.
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In front of the Wuying Hall calligraphy and painting exhibition, Lin Wanru's camera stopped at the scroll of A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains: "This seal is wrong! The double dragon seal of Emperor Huizong of Song should have a secret mark..."
When Tang Ren approached, he bumped into the display cabinet, but the alarm did not respond. Qin Feng felt a layer of thin wax on the corner of the cabinet: "Someone copied the fingerprint film." Su Chen found traces of hair-thin steel wire at the bottom of the display cabinet - the original was lifted away from the air vent above.
"Look at the roof!" Tang Ren pointed at the cracks in the glazed tiles. When Qin Feng climbed up the eaves, he found half a piece of scale armor with ink stains stuck in the bracket - this was the remnant of the beast on the roof of the Forbidden City, which should have been locked in the warehouse.
Lin Wanru checked the surveillance video, but the picture was frozen at three o'clock in the morning: "They used slide projection to fake a still picture!" Suddenly, she stared at a certain picture: "The jade pendant worn by this porter is exactly the same as the one buried with the deposed Crown Prince Yinreng..."
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Following the copper-coin pattern on the floor tiles of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the three of them found the abandoned underground palace entrance. Tang Ren's firelight illuminated the bloody words on the wall: "Dragon veins are broken, jade rings appear." Qin Feng counted the broken bones in the thief's hole: "At least five groups of people have been here."
Su Chen's trekking pole made a hollow sound, revealing a bronze water channel under the stone slab. Following the rusted gears of the mechanism, they found scratches from a modern crowbar at the water gate. Tang Ren suddenly stepped on something soft - a moss-stained Forbidden City work uniform, with the name on the badge covered in blood.
"Be careful!" Qin Feng pulled Tang Ren away, and the crossbow arrow brushed against his hair and got stuck into the bricks. There was a note tied to the arrow feathers: "See you at Jingshan Pavilion."
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In the Wufang Pavilion, Old Zhang was tied up under a locust tree. The man in black threw a cowhide bag, inside of which was a jadeite Chi Niu from an imperial jade seal: "Exchange it with the key to the secret passage of the Yangxin Palace."
Tang Ren suddenly pointed at the corner of the pavilion: "The gap between the bricks is reflecting light!" Qin Feng took the opportunity to knock over the stone table, revealing the cellar of the previous dynasty underneath. At the moment when the black-clothed man's sleeve arrow missed, Su Chen cut the hemp rope of Old Zhangtou - but found that he had a two-headed snake tattoo on his wrist.
The chase unfolded around the crooked tree. Old Zhang suddenly took out a tinderbox and ignited the dead vines. The fire burned along the ground veins and formed a strange Bagua formation. When Tang Ren smashed the flames with a copper coin, the emerald Chi Niu rolled down the cliff and shattered into glass shards all over the ground under the morning sun.
"A fake..." Qin Feng picked up the fragments, "The real jade seal was replaced when we moved south."
The morning bells of the Forbidden City rang, and Lin Wanru came running in: "The files from the Yongzheng period in the storeroom... were torn up!" The yellowed paper scraps fluttered in the wind, and the three words "Prince Gong's Mansion" could be vaguely seen.
(The "Mysterious Seal of the Forbidden City" case has reached its climax, and the shocking secrets under Prince Gong's Mansion are about to be revealed)