Five Elements/4
Ji Yan didn't know how to answer her.
His heart was like a flame, ready to burst into flames at any moment, and he couldn't suppress it no matter how hard he tried. He should protect her "new life".
He was indeed hiding something from her.
Ye Xuanling looked at him, her eyes never moving away, her gaze burning with vigilance and questioning.
His heart was slightly moved, but he didn't want to reveal anything on his face. His eyes were frank and unevasive, and his tone was sincere, even with a hint of vulnerability that was barely noticeable: "I have absolutely no intention of harming you."
Ye Xuanling looked at him, her eyes as calm as a dry well, waiting for him to answer other questions.
His eyes remained fixed on her face until he realized his answer. A moment of panic crossed his face, and his eyelashes drooped unnaturally. He should have answered the previous question first.
He coughed and cleared his throat. "An ordinary person's Nuo mask is only a temporary necessity, but a gang member's identity is a lifelong symbol. An ordinary person's Nuo mask is only used for rituals to ward off evil spirits... At the very least, ordinary people would only sketch a few strokes, which is nothing compared to the meticulous craftsmanship of a gang."
"It was a dark night and there were only a few lights on. How did you see clearly?" Ji Yan asked.
"The gang leader was close to me and waved at me, so his sleeve naturally brushed aside." Ye Xuanling pursed her lips and continued to ask, "Why do they tattoo Nuo masks on everyone in the gang? Wouldn't that make it easier for the police to arrest them?"
"Have you heard of tattooing?" Ji Yan turned and closed the wooden door, the halo of light from the flashlight shining on his face. "Tattooing is one of the Five Punishments. It involves tattooing words on the face or other parts of the body to make it easier for the public to identify the criminal."
Ji Yan chuckled softly, "Who knows, maybe this gang is just trying to identify their own people?"
"Then what do these two local cases have to do with you, the Jinyiwei?" Ye Xuanling was confused and bewildered. "Even if it's an investigation, aren't you too conspicuous?"
"These two cases really had little to do with us at first. I was only in Dianhai to arrest spies from the emperor's relatives," Ji Yan said. "But now I think there's a lot of dirty stuff involved in the Five Elements case."
Ye Xuanling: "What is your identity?"
Ji Yan pulled off the token from his waist and handed it to her: "Jinyiwei Tongzhi, I don't have to hide anything from you."
"Any more questions?"
"without."
"I know what you're worried about." Ji Yan lowered his eyelids and said softly but seriously, "Even if you tell others about our meeting, I won't kill you."
Ye Xuanling smiled cheerfully and patted his shoulder: "I know, I believe you, you are a Jinyiwei." It would be strange if she could believe him. On the day she found him, he had clearly personally dealt with someone wearing the same official uniform as himself. Besides, Liu Dakou and Zhang Xian were the best proof.
Can the identity of a police officer prove that one is completely innocent and has no intention to kill?
Ji Yan leaned closer to her, and said to her with a smile, "You'd better believe me."
Ye Xuanling's expression shifted slightly, but she smiled, her eyes curved into crescents, hazy and blurry: "Of course, Master Ji."
"If there's no one else present." Ji Yan paused for a moment, his drooping eyelids suddenly lit up, his brows relaxed, and a faint smile appeared on his face, "You can just call me by my name."
Ye Xuanling was a little dazed, but she didn't show it on her face. She replied, "Okay, Ji Yan."
"What should we do about that squad leader?" Ye Xuanling's eyes were blank for a moment, and after a while, she suggested, "Behave as usual, disarm his guard, and use your authority as a Jinyiwei to investigate their background, including the actors in that building. How do you think?"
"As you say."
I walked through several houses in a row and found that the structures inside were similar and the doors were not locked.
The two of them emerged from a room and walked around. There was a river near the outskirts of the city. There wasn't much sound, so the water must have been gentle and winding. The night was thick, as if covered in black ink, and the river itself was unclear.
Ye Xuanling wanted to go to the riverside to take a look, but she only had one flashlight.
She turned to look at him, but he spoke first: "Let's go, no need to ask my opinion."
Ye Xuanling nodded slightly and said "hmm".
It was already the coldest time of the year, and Dianhai Lake wasn't the north, nor was it as cold as the north. The gentle, calm sound of water echoed in my ears, and the dark green weeds growing along the shore bent and drooped, their tips poised on the surface of the river, trembling and bouncing with the current.
The weak light of the lantern seemed incredibly dim at this moment, making the river and the suburbs seem so vast and boundless, while they themselves seemed so tiny. A thin layer of small golden scales fell on the river surface, adding to the silence in this deep night.
"Is this the upper reaches?" Ye Xuanling asked, looking at the river. "Where else will this water flow to?"
"This river is long, but I know it will pass through Kanzhou." As he spoke, Ji Yan's gaze was already on her.
Could this river water be the path that group of people took? Pondering, Ye Xuanling turned around and said, "Let's go back and see if that person will do anything."
Ji Yan: “Yeah.”
There was still a faint light inside the Zhang family's house. The two walked side by side without saying anything more. Just as they were about to walk forward and push open the door, the squad leader stepped out first and bowed, "Sir, there is nothing unusual at the Zhang family."
The two looked at each other, and Ye Xuanling nodded slightly at him.
Ji Yan immediately understood what she meant and said, "In that case, everyone should go back and rest. It's late."
"Yes." The three of them bowed and said.
The squad leader's face was normal. Who knew when Dianhai would become the next Anping? Ye Xuanling thought as she looked at Ji Yan. She had a rough idea of what to expect. At least this man was incredibly important to her. Many things she couldn't do could be accomplished through his influence.
It is indeed as Ji Yan said, a county magistrate alone is not enough to destroy the entire county. If it is really a five-element human sacrifice, then she will find out the person behind it even if she dies.
No matter how much power this person has, she will make him pay with blood.
Returning from the outskirts of town, Ye Xuanling spotted Sanqi waving at her from a distance. Sanqi ran over, propped up on her knees and panting heavily, "I've found out everything about that actor."
Ye Xuanling also knew that what Sanqi mentioned was a thorough investigation, and it was only about the man's family background, not his identity, but she was still suddenly shocked.
It was already late at night, and to avoid being noticed, the three of them found a secluded alley. Ye Xuanling's kerosene lamp was still on, and with that light, the alley wasn't so dark.
Sanqi's expression was solemn, but her tone was calm. "When the murder occurred in the theater today, the actor hid far away. You don't know what happened after the interrogation and records were taken by the police. The theater was not blocked again, but it was not open to the public. The servants were also dismissed at nightfall. I don't know his name yet. The actor lived in the west of the city."
When Sanqi followed him to the west of the city, to avoid being seen, she stood on a high building overlooking the actor's house. But it seemed as if he was the only one in the house. She looked over with empty eyes. The house was not large, but it had a courtyard.
There were two costumes hanging in the yard, but it was too dark to see anything else in the yard. However, soon after, smoke rose from the kitchen. The smoke from the burning firewood was not strong, but there was always an indescribable bitter smell.
She didn't recognize what it was.
After waiting for an opportunity, the actor closed the door and Sanqi squatted on the roof, but the smell was too strange. It was not strong but it lingered for a long time.
Sanqi didn't dare make a loud noise to alert the enemy, so she had to give up. The same smell wafted through the streets of West City. She asked around and found out that it seemed to be a very common thing in that area.
"I bought some of that stuff from a commoner's house." Sanqi reached into his pocket and pulled out a cloth bag. "This is it."
Ye Xuanling took it, opened it, and sniffed it, looking embarrassed: "This thing is Shisi grass."
No wonder she couldn't detect the bitter herb smell in the deceased's stomach; it turned out to be this thing. Theoretically, after being dissolved by gastric juice, the herbal odor would be less strong, yet she could smell this odor in the deceased's stomach.
Shisi grass tastes bitter but is non-toxic. It becomes very bitter when it comes into contact with acid. When combined with alkali, it can become highly toxic and damage the internal organs.
For ordinary people, it can be taken internally to treat heatstroke and applied externally to relieve pain.
"Could this thing be the cause of Zhang's death?" Sanqi asked.
Ye Xuanling shook her head. "We can't be sure yet, but at least we can be sure that both the actor and the troupe leader are suspicious."
Ye Xuanling's thoughts were a bit confused. The investigative documents didn't seem to mention alkali. "It's not certain that Zhang's death was caused by Shisi grass."
After a moment, she had an idea. She couldn't take two things at the same time within an hour. If the food and the herbs conflicted with each other, she would be killed instantly.
"Let's go back to the inn first. We'll deal with the rest tomorrow." Ye Xuanling fastened her pockets. "Can you give me this Sanqi thing first?"
Sanqi said "hmm" in a heavy voice.
Ye Xuanling: "Master Ji, where are you staying? The post station? Or are you staying with us at the inn?"
Ji Yan hesitated for a moment: "Don't worry about me, I have my own arrangements."
Who's worried about you? Ye Xuanling glanced at him and turned her head quickly.
Ji Yan only accompanied the two of them to the bottom of the inn, watched them go in, and then turned and left.
In order to save money, the two of them only rented one room and asked for the rent to be split in half, 37%, so he didn't have to help her pay.
The two of them only had one lunch in the afternoon and didn't eat anything until late at night. Sanqi asked her, "Xuanling, do you need something to eat? Do you want the waiter to bring it up?"
Ye Xuanling couldn't eat anything at all: "No need, Sanqi, just take your portion."
In the end, Sanqi just asked for a vegetarian pancake to fill his stomach.
The two returned to the room, washed up, and wanted to change their clothes and go to bed, but the two windows were not closed tightly and were blown open by the cold wind.
Enduring the cold, Ye Xuanling walked straight to close the window, but noticed Sanqi's actions beside her. The two of them walked to a window each as if in tacit understanding.
Ye Xuanling glanced at the dark sky. There was only a crescent moon hanging in the sky, but the moonlight was not enough to illuminate the entire street. She lowered her eyelids and looked down, and her heart seemed to stop for a brief moment.
This person hasn't left yet.
Ji Yan stood at the street, casually meeting her gaze, like two drops of rain falling into the same spring pond, creating tiny ripples. He didn't rush to retract the smile in his eyes, just gently brushing past hers.
The light-colored shirt is made of thin silk, and her black curls are lightly frowned.
Sanqi looked at the two of them, especially Ye Xuanling's slightly furrowed brows, which looked like frost flowers that could not be melted in winter.
Sanqi looked away after just a moment. She lowered her head and slightly raised one corner of her mouth. The dim and bright moonlight shone through the gap, revealing two pairs of eyes looking at each other.
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