Sizhou 14
The northern part of Sizhou City was unlike the inner city and other areas. It was a hive of activity, with hawkers hawking their wares, numerous gambling houses, and even a popular hangout for beggars. Because it was close to the docks, there was frequent shipping, and merchants, for convenience, would often hire a few strong laborers to help.
"The little beggar last time was about a head shorter than me. He had a mole next to the cochlea of his right ear, and he must have a disease in his right leg. He walked with one foot deep and one foot shallow. Either his leg was broken or he had one leg longer than the other." Aruo sat by the window on the second floor of the teahouse, leaning his chin on the back of his head and watching the people coming and going across the teahouse.
"It's not difficult to find someone with such characteristics." Li Xiaoman drank the tea in the cup in one gulp, put one foot on the railing, and leaned over to look down.
Aruo raised an eyebrow at her heroic posture, and couldn't help but regret that there were no cameras in this dynasty, otherwise she should really take a picture. If Su Zirui couldn't stand her sitting posture in the future, she would take it out and show him how rough the women of the dynasty were, so that he wouldn't have to hold her all day long.
Bored, he leaned over the railing and looked around. A thin figure came into his sight. Aruo's eyes lit up, "There!"
With a tap of his toes, Aruo had already jumped down from the second floor and blended into the crowd. Li Xiaoman paused for a moment, then quickly grabbed his machete and ran, "Boss, let me put down the bill first."
"Hey, hey, hey? Constable Li's here again!" When the shopkeeper hurried out, the two girls were nowhere to be seen. He was so angry that he kept cursing, "That's the third time this month! Next time she comes, she'll have to pay first before she's served tea!"
In the narrow alleys, the beggar was surrounded from behind, and Li Xiaoman, using all his power to extract a confession, was unable to extract any clues from him. Aruo carefully studied the beggar's expression, and seeing that he didn't seem to be acting, he let him go.
"That's it?" Li Xiaoman was a little disappointed. She had been busy for half a day but got nothing in return.
"What else can he do? He's just a messenger. What could he know? If he really knew, he probably wouldn't be here anymore." Aruo smiled. She hadn't expected this to happen, but she couldn't resist Xiaoman's insistence that she couldn't let go of any clues. "Let's go. If Su Feng knew I ran away, I'd be scolded again."
"Sister," the little beggar suddenly ran back before walking out of the alley, approached Aruo and whispered, "That person said someone has been waiting for you for a long time."
After saying that, he ran away quickly regardless of the two people's reactions.
Her eyebrows raised slightly, and Aruo's smile faded slightly, "That person is not waiting for me."
"Aruo?" Li Xiaoman patted her shoulder, a worried look in his eyes. "Do you know who he's talking about?"
Aruo shook his head and stretched. "Who knows? Let's go to the government office first. I want to sort out this case and take a look at the bodies of the two victims."
"Huh? But the coroner checked and found out that they died from a sharp knife stabbing their chests. The incision was clean and they didn't look painful. They must be familiar people." Li Xiaoman walked out of the alley with her.
"Someone familiar?" Aruo murmured softly, "By the way, after Zui Haitang and Yanhong died, did the prefect take any action?"
"The prefect lost his Drunken Begonia, but he still had many confidantes, so there was nothing unusual. However, after Yanhong died, he gave a beauty to his brother-in-law."
"Brother-in-law? Yanhong's lover?" Aruo paused.
"Yes, it was that fat guy." Li Xiaoman's disgust flashed across her face. "It is said that Yanhong died and he was very sad. The prefect sent a girl from Qingya Pavilion to comfort him. The fat guy was so happy that he forgot who Yanhong was in just two days."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Aruo regretted missing such an important clue.
"How do I know what you want to know?" Li Xiaoman was innocent. Even Su Zirui didn't ask about such trivial matters. She was not a gossipy person who liked to spread gossip everywhere.
Aruo was suffocating, not knowing what to say. The person who attacked her that day was a woman. Although her voice was very low, it couldn't hide her original voice. Especially since she had been in the opera troupe for two months, she had some understanding of true and false voices.
That voice sounds familiar.
"It is very common for these officials and wealthy people to give women to each other. Even Lord Su has received one." Li Xiaoman explained when she saw her unhappy expression.
"Huh? Su Zirui also received it?" Aruo widened his eyes. When?
Li Xiaoman raised an eyebrow and smiled, reassuringly saying, "Don't worry, he didn't enjoy it himself. Lord Zhu immediately sent two beauties to serve him when he arrived in Sizhou, but he ended up sending them off to do odd jobs in the official inn's kitchen. Lately, he's been making chicken soup every day for a certain victim."
Well, no wonder the kitchen lady was so free that she drank tea in the backyard of the official inn, and no wonder Cai Xin always warned her not to trust men after going to the kitchen. Aruo curled her lips, feeling a little uncomfortable, "Do they treat women as objects? If they don't need them, they don't need them..."
Li Xiaoman asked meaningfully, "So what do you want? Do you want him to accept those two beautiful women so that the official posthouse will be more lively?"
Aruo was too lazy to pay attention to such obvious ridicule and trap. He turned his head and saw several constables from the government office gathered together. He couldn't help but tease Li Xiaoman, "I don't know whether the official post station is busy or not, but your government office is quite lively."
Li Xiaoman also noticed something unusual at the government office entrance and frowned. She knew all those constables; they were all well-behaved people. Why were they gathered at the entrance chatting so enthusiastically? She quickly walked over and patted one of them on the shoulder without any hesitation. "What are you talking about here while you're on duty?"
"Xiao Man!" The person being photographed had a rather grim expression. Aruo and the other two glanced at him curiously, and the expressions of the several constables were not very good.
"What's wrong?" Li Xiaoman asked.
"It's the body that was thrown and smashed on Changning Street earlier. It's the woman named... Yanhong. The prefect couldn't persuade Young Master Zhao a few days ago, so he came to the government office and took her away."
"Took away?" Li Xiaoman's face darkened. "How could they take away important witnesses and evidence when the case hasn't been solved yet?"
The male constable choked. "The prefect has come in person, so it's hard for the chief constable to not show respect. Young Master Zhao said that he had nightmares every night after Yanhong's death, thinking about a lover. He must bury Yanhong properly."
"Nonsense! If he had done nothing wrong, why would he have nightmares every night?" Li Xiaoman couldn't help but get angry. "Didn't my father say anything?"
Her father was the most cautious person, so why did he let people take the body away like that?
"When Captain Li found out, the bodies had already been taken away from the charity cemetery. It was difficult for Captain Li to go against the Chief Constable, so when Lord Su found out, he directly reprimanded the Chief Constable and sent people to dig Yanhong out." The male constable swallowed his saliva, his face looking strange.
"Wow, so cruel, digging her up after she's already been buried?" Although Young Master Zhao wouldn't necessarily have been given a proper burial, the dead are the most important, and Su Zirui's actions were truly a bit inhumane. Aruo noticed the strange expressions on the faces of several detectives, thinking they were afraid of the head of the Ministry of Justice, so she spoke up for Su Zirui, "But Lord Su is doing this to solve the case. I believe Yanhong will be properly buried afterward."
"No, that... a few of us went to dig it up the day before yesterday... there was no body there at all." The male detective's face turned pale, and his voice trembled. "But the people who went with us were very adamant that they buried Yanhong there."
Aruo and Li Xiaoman looked at each other in confusion. "You mean... someone dug up Yanhong's body and took it away first?"
"Maybe Yanhong died unjustly, and that...she is dead again." Another male detective said in a low voice.
When the summer breeze blew, several people suddenly felt cool.
Aruo was the first to come back to his senses and coughed, "I don't talk about strange things. You are imperial detectives, yet you are so superstitious..."
The voice stopped abruptly. Aruo thought of the low female voice and felt inexplicably abnormal.
No, didn't that fat young master Zhao have a new love and forgotten Yanhong? Why did she suddenly have nightmares every night? And that female voice among the men in black who attacked her and Actor Zhang that day...
Li Xiaoman noticed Aruo's expression suddenly changed and touched her arm. "What's wrong?"
"I suddenly have a bad feeling." Aruo looked at her expressionlessly.
"You're especially good at predicting bad things." Li Xiaoman held his forehead, his expression becoming serious. He asked his colleague, "Where is Yanhong buried?"
"At the foot of Longyin Mountain, east of the city. Near the Zhao family villa."
"The land behind the old house?" Li Xiaoman's face changed and he subconsciously looked at Aruo.
The lush foliage, layered on top of each other, let sunlight filter through the cracks, blocking the heat with its shadows. The woods felt unusually cool. It was midday in summer, but the breeze carried the chill of early autumn.
"The willow tree in the old house is the gate to the formation. Through visual repetition and the willow tree's allusion, when one brushes aside the willow branches and enters the inner courtyard, one has already entered the formation. At the same time, the rich fragrance of peach blossoms mixed with the miasma makes one see the illusory peach tree."
"Well, if it's the scent of plum blossoms, you'll probably see plum trees. The principle is the same, it's just that some hints and people's conditioned reflexes are used to create a natural illusory world. And then it's supplemented by miasma to confuse people. Normally, the center of the formation is the tree in the center." After roughly explaining the formation routine of the ancient house to Li Xiaoman, Aruo pointed to the pond after the formation had been broken.
"What is reflection? When did you know it?" Li Xiaoman asked, jumping over the wall and out of the ancient house.
"After passing those willow trees." Aruo jumped down from the wall of the ancient house, took out the detoxification pills from his waist and swallowed them, then followed Li Xiaoman into the woods.
"You knew there was a problem, and yet you still went in?" Li Xiaoman looked incredulous. If she knew there was a problem, shouldn't she have gone back and found someone? If she hadn't arrived that day, and then two experts came to help, she would have lost her life.
Aruo continued walking, looking around the dense woods, and replied nonchalantly, "Some things, even if they are fake, there are still people who want to see them."
"Oh?" Li Xiaoman was confused.
Aruo walked cautiously along the leaf-strewn path in the woods, his nerves strained by the occasional clatter of leaves beneath his feet. Suddenly, he caught sight of something sliding along the ground. Terrified, Aruo grabbed Li Xiaoman's arm and refused to let go, "Xiaoman, there's a snake here!"
"Aruo, you... don't even know what this area is called, yet you dare to drag me here?" Li Xiaoman didn't know who was more pitiful, herself or this stupid guy who was afraid of snakes.
"Does it matter what this place is called?" Aruo looked around, afraid that something else would slide over.
Li Xiaoman was speechless. The hill not far ahead was called Longyin Mountain by the people of Sizhou... and "dragon" was a respectful name for snakes, so the constables would periodically sprinkle realgar powder around the city to prevent snakes from entering. Glancing at his own arm, which was painful from being scratched, Li Xiaoman looked at her, but still put the topic aside and pulled out a bag of powder from his waist. "It's not important. Apply this."
"What is this?" Aruo opened it and smelled it, "Realgar powder? This..."
"You'd better not ask." Li Xiaoman looked at her with pity and put some on her forehead.
The corners of his mouth twitched, Aruo gritted his teeth, and smeared his face fiercely, almost wanting to pour it on himself.
Silently, he helped her spread the powder evenly to avoid the scary pink patches on her face. Li Xiaoman asked, "So why did you come here?"
"There are no acquaintances at the official post station these two days." No one knew what major case had happened. Su Zirui, Beili and others had been going out early and coming back late these two days. They wanted to find Qin Zhi, but it turned out that he and Zhongbo had been out for a few days because of urgent matters.
Aruo had considered asking the brothers of the Baiyan Gang for help, but she was still unsure and embarrassed to mobilize a large force. Fortunately, there was Constable Li Xiaoman. "I always feel something is wrong. The person who attacked me and Xizi Zhang here last time sounded a bit like Yanhong."
"No way, didn't Yanhong at that time... Could it be an illusion?" Li Xiaoman rubbed his arms with a little coldness. This forest was originally lacking in light, and the miasma made it even more gloomy.
A faint peach fragrance spread. Ah Ruo was sensitive to aromas and instantly caught a hint of a familiar fragrance. She subconsciously looked up and a dark shadow flashed into her eyes. She was so scared that she hugged Li Xiaoman and screamed, "Someone!"
Li Xiaoman reacted extremely quickly and drew his broadsword. He looked over but saw only swaying tree shadows. "Could it be that the detoxification pills didn't work and your eyes are blurry?"
There was a slight rustling sound at his feet. Aruo's nerves tensed up and he stared straight ahead. "No, there really is someone there. Xiaoman, be careful and don't be careless."
Li Xiaoman calmed down and protected the person behind him. The two of them looked carefully. The surroundings were so quiet that only the shadows of trees and the faint rustling of leaves could be heard. After waiting for a long time, there was still no movement. Li Xiaoman suddenly relaxed and turned to comfort the person with a grim face, "Okay, it's okay, you must be..."
Before she could finish her words, she saw the man in front of her suddenly turn pale, his face twisted with terror. Her eyes, reflected in hers, were wide open. Li Xiaoman's heart trembled, and she quickly rushed forward to tackle him. A flash of cold light flashed across their flying black hair. Li Xiaoman quickly pulled the man and rolled him twice. Where they passed, several silver needles pierced half of the ground.
"Who is it!" Li Xiaoman protected Aruo and raised his head and shouted sternly, holding a broadsword in front of him.
The layers of fog dissipated, revealing a woman in a black dress with her hair tied up high. Her beautiful face was indifferent, except for her pair of flying peach blossom eyes, which were filled with fierce murderous intent.
Aruo climbed up and pointed at the person in disbelief, "Yanhong?"
Oh my God, she has no feet on the ground!
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