Kill me if you can (16)

The house in front of him was short and simple, with the door slightly open. Murong Jin pushed the door open and walked in first, followed by Shen Tang. The house was small, with all kinds of tools piled up in the corners. The hunter was lying on the bed, and his wife was feeding him medicine. When he saw Murong Jin coming in, the hunter's eyes lit up, and he couldn't wait to sit up, but was held down by Murong Jin.

"Your Highness, why are you here? Come on, please take a seat!" Murong Jin provided them with the antidote, so the hunter family was naturally very grateful to him. Seeing their savior coming, they wished they could do something to repay his kindness.

"No need to do that, just lie down. I came here to ask you some questions."

The hunter leaned back on the bed and said, "You speak, and I will answer."

Shen Tang and Murong Jin looked at each other and quickly took over the conversation, "When did you get sick? Before or after going up the mountain? What did you do to get sick?"

The hunter rolled his eyes slowly and recalled what happened. That day, he went up the mountain with his hunting tools as usual. It was light in the morning and he didn't see anyone. There was nothing wrong with his body at that time. He went to the traps he set to check the prey as usual. He found a wild boar caught in a trap not far from the mountain road. He killed the wild boar and removed it from the trap.

The hunter slowly told everything he remembered, and described the wild boar's appearance in great detail. However, when he continued to talk about the journey down the mountain, he suddenly paused, as if he remembered something.

"I brought the wild boar down the mountain, and I met a man. Look at my memory, how could I have forgotten him." The hunter coughed twice and continued, "It was getting late when I reached the foot of the mountain, and I ran into my nephew. He said he went up the mountain to chop some firewood to cook, so I chatted with him and let him see the wild boar I caught. I thought it had been a long time since we last met, so I found a place to light a fire, cut a part of the wild boar meat and roasted it, and invited him to eat with us. We ate and talked, and then we rested for a while before leaving. You all know what happened next. My disease was passed on to my wife and children, and it brought misfortune to the whole village..."

Having said that, the hunter lowered his head in guilt.

Shen Tang frowned and asked, "Were you sick when you met your nephew?" If he really contracted the disease while hunting in the mountains, his nephew would probably have been infected with the disease as well.

Unexpectedly, the hunter shook his head and said, "No, my nephew is in good health. I heard that he is now working for the Ministry of War. I had a rare chance to come back home so I chatted with him. Maybe because of his good health, I haven't heard of any news that he is sick."

"Oh, that's really a coincidence." He met the person and then returned to the village with the disease. However, this highly contagious disease has not yet infected his nephew. There are so many suspicious points, Shen Tang doesn't think this is a coincidence.

Murong Jin frowned and listened to the hunter's words. The Ministry of War always stood behind the prince, so if they really intended to drug someone, it was not impossible.

"Where is your nephew now?" Shen Tang stared at the man lying on the bed. She had a hunch that this was related to the plague and the nephew mentioned by the hunter.

The hunter did not say this, but his wife explained it for him, "His nephew should be staying with the village chief these days. The child has a good relationship with the village chief's daughter. He probably lives nearby. If you want to go, I can show you the way."

Shen Tangchong, who had some idea in mind, smiled at them, indicating that he understood, and then asked a few more questions indirectly, "Did your nephew come back in the past few days, or did he come back from outside a long time ago? Has he revealed his situation?"

The hunter thought for a moment and said, "He came back a few days ago. As for his situation, he only mentioned it briefly when I was chatting with my nephew. It seems that a superior officer thinks highly of him and asked him to handle the matter so that he can be promoted to a high position. He didn't reveal the details. You can ask him in person. Maybe he will tell you more."

After receiving the reply from the hunter, Shen Tang already had some idea in his mind. But he had to come back at this time and had something to do with the prince's men. He was afraid that the epidemic was related to that man.

"Do you still have the wild boar you brought back?"

The hunter turned and looked at his wife. After he fell ill, his wife had taken care of many things for him. He didn't know much about the wild boar.

"I noticed that the wild boar meat turned purple soon after it was brought back and looked stale, so I threw the meat into the woods to feed the dogs." The woman explained tremblingly, lowering her head, not daring to meet the gazes of the people in front of her.

Not fresh? I'm afraid it was poisoned at the time, but the person who poisoned it had an antidote, so if he took it in time, he would be fine. But the hunter, who was unaware of the antidote, didn't know about it. He ate the poisoned meat and got sick, and then he came back, and then one person passed it on to another, so that more and more people were infected with the same disease.

Yun Sheng looked at the plainly dressed woman with interest. Although she answered calmly, her fingers moved in a panic and her eyes occasionally avoided her husband, as if she knew something that others did not. It seemed that someone really wanted to kill that man.

After getting the specific address of the hunter's nephew, Shen Tang and his companions left the hunter's home, planning to turn their attention to the hunter's nephew. The hunter's wife took the initiative to guide them and led them to the village chief's home. Along the way, Shen Tang talked with Murong Jin about the epidemic. Yun Sheng caught up with them after they had walked a long way. After catching up, he just followed behind quietly without interrupting, which made Shen Tang a little uncomfortable.

Although Yun Sheng was walking behind with his flute tied around his waist, his eyes were always on the woman leading the way.

"Swoosh--" Murong Jin was walking forward when a pigeon covered in blood suddenly fell from the sky, landing in front of him with blood staining the ground with its feathers. The woman leading the way was startled by the movement, and her already trembling body shook even more violently. She turned her head away in panic, not daring to look at the bloody pigeon.

Murong Jin frowned and picked up the bloody pigeon. He found that there was a letter tied to the pigeon's feet. He immediately untied the letter. There were only two lines of bloody handwriting on it to warn him.

He glanced over and looked in the direction of Yun Sheng. Why did he give this thing to him? Could it be that he was overthinking it? This person came here just to treat the patient with Jiang Mo, not to attack him?

Murong Jin slowly crumpled the letter in his hand into a ball and continued walking forward as if nothing had happened.

"What was written on the letter just now?" Shen Tang approached Murong Jin and asked, somewhat curious about what message was tied to the pigeon's leg. Unfortunately, the other party didn't seem to want her to know, and just laughed it off. Shen Tang had no choice but to shrug and continue walking forward.

Several people walked out of the woods and came to the side of a street. The hunter's wife pointed to a house on the street and said, "This is the village chief's house. My nephew may be inside."

As she spoke, she took the initiative to go forward and knock on the door. After a long while, someone came out and opened the door a little.

"Has Han'er come here?" the woman asked the person inside the door, but there was only confusion in the other person's eyes.

After the door was shut heavily, a muffled voice came from inside, "What Han'er? You must have recognized the wrong person. The person you are looking for is not here."

The woman forced a smile and turned around to explain, "Maybe I remembered it wrong. Oh, their house should be at the end of the alley. We'll know when we go in and take a look."

While the woman was knocking on the door and talking, Murong Jin did not follow behind, but called Yun Sheng to the intersection of the forest and the village street. "That letter paper, you just tied it to the pigeon deliberately, right?"

Yun Sheng raised his eyelashes and said, "Your Highness, what do you mean? My brain is not working well and I don't understand what you are saying."

"Qianji Pavilion Yun Sheng, if the news is correct, can I call you like this?" Murong Jin spoke bluntly, and the cynical look on the other person's face finally disappeared.

Yun Sheng was not surprised that the other party knew his identity so quickly. After all, if this person was really a fool, he could not compete with the current crown prince for power. He could not stand the fool crown prince, so he naturally could not let the person who controlled the crown prince die.

He stood quietly in the distance, chuckled, "Since Your Highness already knows, just tell me what you want. Let me guess, do you want me to help you avoid this disaster and save your life?"

Murong Jin looked up at the man in front of him who was speaking jokingly, but did not deny what he said.

"If I say yes, can you guarantee that I will not die on this trip?"

Yun Sheng said slowly, "As long as you pay enough, I can naturally keep you alive."

Murong Jin was a little curious for a moment. He had looked up information about this person. This killer had always been pure and had few desires, not a money-loving person. So what exactly did the other party want?

"I don't want things, I want people." The blindfolded man chuckled, suddenly raised his head to look at Shen Tang not far away, licked his lips maliciously and said, "I think Jiang Mo is quite capable, I want her."

Murong Jin showed a slightly embarrassed look on his face. He looked at the thin boy, then at Yun Sheng, as if he didn't know how to answer. After a long while, he stammered again, "Do you have a fetish in that area?"

Yun Sheng frowned: "Which aspect?"

"That's it..." Murong Jin's face flushed red, and he finally whispered, "Longyang's fetish?"

Yun Sheng, who was stunned into silence by Murong Jin's words, glanced at the Third Prince with a complicated look. It turned out that Murong Jin had always treated that person as a man, and he had misunderstood all along. But it didn't matter this way.

Yun Sheng, who suddenly felt better, coughed lightly, and his brows relaxed. "So what? I want that person. Is the Third Prince willing to part with her?"