She rolled up her sleeves
Ren Beixi's eyes darkened: "Why don't you take the sword?"
"General Ren, do you think it's dirty? This dagger has been wiped clean by my handkerchief, so it's okay." Gui Yao said with a smile.
On the side, Old Man Zheng's eyebrows were twisted into the shape of a "川" character, his face turned purple and red, and he opened his mouth to curse.
But before he could even spit out saliva from his mouth, a sword was quietly pointed at his neck.
Gui Yao looked at the sword that Ren Beixi had retracted.
Then move your gaze horizontally.
The assassin's sword, raised in his right hand, stopped steadily an inch away from Old Man Zheng, while his left hand removed his mask. His hair was as black as lacquer, and his phoenix eyes added a touch of charm. His every move was that of a young man. He gently lifted Old Man Zheng's chin with his sword and said perversely, "Let's go, Uncle Zheng."
After saying that, he pulled the bag on his body forward, stuffed the mask into it, and took out two bundles of hemp rope from it.
Guiyao winked at him.
Then he paused and took out the third bundle of hemp rope.
The young man grunted as he tied up Old Man Zheng and Zheng Er. After he was done, he stood in front of Ren Beixi and scratched his head.
"I just ran out of the house and saw Brother Zheng's family running to Yunchuan Temple in the middle of the night, so I followed them. I didn't expect to run into you."
The young man smiled and said, "My name is Li Cong. I'm sorry, I almost hurt this sister by mistake just now."
Don't hit someone who smiles at you.
Although it was indeed scary just now.
Gui Yao was equally well-behaved. She took the hemp rope from his hand with a smile, spread it out, and then gave it to Ren Beixiong, while she put her hands together.
“………”
Ren Beixi stroked the hemp rope and looked down at her hand.
The girl's wrist was still wrapped in a bandage, and the veins on it looked thin and shallow. Unfortunately, the sleeves of the clothes she wore today did not cover her wrists.
Gui Yao said nothing, but just raised her hand again.
The white wrist just swayed in front of his eyes.
Zheng Er on the side spoke happily.
"Why, if you're going to put on a good show, you have to do it completely. Why tie up us spectators and not the assassin?"
Before he could finish his words, Gui Yao kicked him quickly. Just as she was about to hold the old man next to her accountable, she saw that Old Man Zheng was just pursing his lips and looking up at the sky with an inexplicable expression.
Ren Beixi ignored her cat-like agility and simply turned his back to block the view of others. He said in a faint voice, "Handkerchief."
He saw Guiyao take out the embroidered handkerchief in a daze. There was a spot of dried blood next to the water-white lotus embroidery, which was very eye-catching.
He carefully cleared the weeds from the hemp rope, used an embroidered handkerchief to separate the skin from the rope, and finally tied a knot lightly. There was an extra rope at the end, which was held in the palm of the man's hand.
Gui Yao bit her lip and felt her wrist getting hot.
Someone else's blood remained on the dagger, and only a few drops were left when it was wiped clean. However, Ren Beixi covered the area with his own blood, and the faint wet mark was trapped in the bondage.
A group of people walked down the long steps in a mighty procession.
"Sister, are you the sister of the Gui family?"
Li Cong asked as he walked. After that, he glanced at Ren Beixi and said teasingly, "I don't know who was trying to resist the marriage before, saying that if he stayed in the northern border, he wouldn't have to come back to marry someone he didn't like. He ran away with three horses just to rush back to break off the engagement."
Ren Beixi lowered his eyes and straightened Guiyao's sleeves beside him.
"Li Cong is my younger brother, who grew up with me. He was very strict at home, so he would always run out to fight in the early spring."
His dark eyes looked at Guiyao's red earlobe, and his voice was deep: "He loves to tell lies, don't believe him easily."
Gui Yao snorted, turned around and stuck her head out to ask Li Cong through Ren Beixi.
"Little brother, did you catch up with them this morning?"
"Sister, just call me by my name." Li Cong smiled cutely. "No, I've been watching his house for several days. I'm just curious."
"What are you curious about?" Gui Yao asked.
"I'm curious about what his family is busy with. They were so busy that they didn't even come to claim their son's body."
Gui Yao couldn't help but look stern. Her eyes moved away from Li Cong and fell on the Zheng father and son who were farther away and had different expressions.
Finally, he looked up and saw Ren Beixi.
Her eyes were like water. "Because his Zheng family has only had one biological son, Zheng Er, from the beginning to the end. Brother Zheng was a young beggar picked up when the imperial court was recruiting soldiers, right?"
"That day, while hiding in your room, I accidentally saw the notes you left among the weapons."
Gui Yao's hands were busy, so she subconsciously bumped into Ren Beixi with her body. The pearl ribs on her skirt made a delicate sound because of the movement. Her ears were hot, and she apologized in a low voice that only the two of them could hear.
Ren Beixi just held her hand and said "hmm". The hemp rope was not tied firmly and then scattered all over the ground.
He frowned and leaned over to pick up her handkerchief.
When he stood up again, he saw Gui Yao, whom he had forgiven, running around Li Cong like a horse that had broken free from its reins.
"What I just said in front of the temple did happen. It happened suddenly. I'll tell you about it. I need you to help us provide some clues. Thank you very much."
Gui Yao concealed the content of Li Fuyin's lies and fluently recounted the case of Li Yueming's murder.
Li Cong tilted his head slightly with his sword on his back, and subconsciously glanced at Ren Beixi. Then he took out the tracking diary of the past few days from his bag and gave it to Gui Yao.
"Sister, just take a look at this. I'll use Ren Beixi as a guarantor, and remember that every word above is true."
Guiyao took the thin book and looked up.
The sky was covered with dark clouds. When she turned the page of the book, she felt that there was a sign that the clouds were clearing and the sun was rising.
On the first day, Zheng Er walked out of Zheng Yuan's room at noon and went out at noon. Old man Zheng was still sleeping, so Zheng Er went to the brothel.
Note: I didn't go in.
Gui Yao could see that Li Cong's handwriting showed his calligraphy skills, and it was written smoothly and casually, but there was an ink stain on the paper, where the first stroke of "I" was written straight as a stroke.
She didn't think much about it and continued reading.
Day 2 (crossed out)
Midnight on the first day: At midnight, I was lying on the eaves when I was woken up. At midnight, Zheng Er lost a fight and was scolded for being no better than his brother. He was right. I really wanted to take advantage of the chaos to go in and scold him. Note: Restraint.
On the second day, at noon, Zheng Er came to the government office. He lost the fight and came to file a complaint. It has been a long time since I saw the prefect Li. Zheng Er really deserves to die.
On the third day, Zheng Er stayed in Old Man Zheng's yard for a whole day. I went to buy some big buns from Xianyucheng and walked around the gate of the General's Mansion. I saw Brother Ren's dog pooping in front of the General's Mansion, but he didn't cover it up with some soil. I walked over and covered it with leaves. We should protect the environment of Anchao.
Midnight on the third day.
Can't let people sleep well? !
I followed them to find out why the Zheng family treated Brother Zheng Yuan badly. If I had known it would be so tiring, I would have knocked on the door of the general's mansion that day.
At the second watch, Zheng Er wanted to go to the brothel.
At three o'clock in the morning, someone from Li's mansion sneaked out. Zheng Er followed him, and I followed him too.
At four o'clock in the morning, it broke down and I lost track of it.
Guiyao's hand gently stroked the ink marks from the third watch.
"What day have you been observing them today?"
If this third day was the day when something happened to the daughter of Governor Li... She raised her eyes to look at the backs of the Zheng family father and son and took a deep breath.
He didn't need to answer again.
The mechanical voice of completion in her mind had already confirmed her guess.
"Congratulations to the host, the completion rate of the side quest Cat Kills the Lady has increased to 80%."
The leaves were scattered all over the ground by the rain.
The monk swept from the mountain gate to the top, and then swept back to the bottom.
Going down the mountain, there were only two carriages left.
Gui Yao stared at Zheng Er and Old Master Zheng getting into the carriage together. When she turned around, she saw Xiao Hui, the guard beside Ren Beixi, saluted Li Cong.
Li Cong had his back to her, so she couldn't see clearly. She didn't plan to look closely, but just patted the carriage with her hands to make a noise:
"Do you know the old saying, 'Confess and receive leniency, resist and receive severity?' I hope you two men of Zheng will choose your words carefully."
After the ideological education, Gui Yao walked towards Ren Beixi with curved eyes, and was helped into the carriage by him as when she came.
Ren Beixi produced a steamed bun from nowhere, with two teeth marks on it. "We're in a hurry to get back, so why not give it a snack?"
Gui Yao tilted her head, always feeling that the tooth mark looked like hers, but she had no evidence.
Before she could refuse, there was a noise outside the carriage.
Li Cong got on the carriage.
“……?”
“……!!”
Li Cong got off the carriage.
Although she was in a hurry, the road to the city was relatively smooth, probably to accommodate her frail body.
Gui Yao supported herself with her hands, opened the curtain, and waved with a smile to Li Cong who was riding in front of her.
"I was just traveling with the Zheng family father and son, so I didn't have time to ask."
"Do you know who was in the carriage that left the Li family that day?"
When Li Cong heard this, his cheeks suddenly turned red.
His grip on the reins tightened noticeably: "Good sister, my wife is very strict with me, and I can't let her know that I recognize other sisters."
Gui Yao raised her eyebrows and said, understandingly, "Your notes are for her to see."
Li Cong nodded slightly, his face turning even redder.
She couldn't help but curl her eyes, and after a while, the corners of her mouth slowly relaxed.
"This matter... I'm very concerned." She looked at the mountain road outside the carriage turning into a market and said seriously, "Please tell me in detail about everything related to her."
"Li Yueming is Zheng Yuan's sweetheart. Zheng Yuan told me that year he broke his leg while working as a porter in the snow, and all the little money he had was spent on medical treatment. He was from the northern border, and when his leg was almost healed, he followed the caravan to Xianyu City, but many merchants had stopped working due to the heavy snow."
Zheng Yuan was Li Yueming whom he met at that time.
After three days of heavy snow, the caravan decided to continue south.
Zheng Yuan's legs were in trouble again. He was poor and was doing odd jobs helping the caravan keep accounts using the arithmetic he had learned by himself. The caravan did not have enough silver and was going to go at a loss, so they found a way to leave Zheng Yuan in Xianyu City.
The accountant left him a note.
“Xianyu City has beautiful scenery.
Wait until spring and take a look."
He almost didn't survive that cold winter.
That day he rescued a dying kitten. It was so beautiful and white in color. Fortunately, it was on the ice and was not buried by the snow.
Hearing that the daughter of the prefect of Xianyu Prefecture liked to take in small animals, he was really hungry and wanted to exchange them for some money.
He fainted in front of the door.
After waking up, he realized that he was like the stray cat that was picked up by the prefect's daughter.
"Later, Zheng Yuan went to guard the border."
Li Cong's smile didn't reach his eyes. "He even concealed his leg disease for this reason. The Ren family army has guarded the northern border for more than twenty years. Zheng Yuan should have returned to the capital the year the General of the Cavalry died in battle."
Gui Yao lowered her eyes and could see Ren Beixi's arm resting on her leg, with veins taut.
She paused for breath.
Under her long eyelashes, she recalled the scene at that time. She didn't know what Zheng Yuan looked like, so the only thing in her mind was Li Yueming's pale figure.
"That year, when he returned to the capital, he made military achievements and requested an imperial decree to grant him marriage."
What happened next? Gui Yao thought of what Ren Beixi had said. It had been less than a month since they both died.
The story ends here.
When the carriage reached the downtown area, the wheels slowed down and became a little bumpy. Gui Yao unconsciously clenched her hands.
"Zheng Er was really arrogant when he went to the government office."
Li Cong seemed to hesitate for a moment before saying, "Li Yueming was there that day. I saw him reaching out to tease Li Yueming, but was stopped by Li Fuyin."
"My sister just asked me who was in the Li family's carriage that day." Li Cong only sighed. "There are no carriages at the back door of the Li family. Their actions were stealthy but they didn't seem like habitual criminals. There were only two horses, and Miss Li was riding the front one."
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