They came from the north. Huanshui Town is on the west side of the official road. There is a stone bridge that is twenty to thirty meters long and four to five meters wide, which can just accommodate two carriages passing by.
There is a small river under the stone bridge. The water does not look very deep. There are many lotus leaves and duckweeds on the water. There are also people washing things on the stone platform by the water.
It should be restricted by the geographical location. The area of this town is not large, and it is similar to a larger village.
The market is not on the main street, but on a specially designated open space, just after crossing the bridge and entering the town, so it can also be seen from the official road.
The houses here are obviously different from those in the north. They are mostly made of bricks and stones, and the adobe ones are almost never seen again. It may be that there is too much rain and they are not suitable.
There are also poor families in the villages we pass by. Most of them are thatched houses, a bit like privately built shacks. They complain that they are crushed when it snows.
There was no snow as we went further south, but the temperature did not rise any more. The vegetables in the fields were all wilted from the cold, and it seemed that they were also affected by the cold wave.
They parked the carriage outside the market and went in on foot. Chou Chou didn't follow them. He stayed in the car and watched the carriage.
The main reason is that it has no interest in this small market, and it doesn't use spiritual consciousness. It can be seen at a glance from outside.
Jin Yang and Huang Huang are relatively new to these things, while Qingyan has a common problem among women and likes to join in the fun and go shopping.
The stalls in the market sell practical things. Unlike temple fairs, they have everything to eat, drink and play.
Most of them are agricultural and sideline products or home-made things, such as woven bamboo tables, chairs, benches, and even bamboo beds, as well as coir raincoats, bamboo hats, and self-woven cloth. They also make shoes and a lot of food, including bacon, chicken, fish, glutinous rice cakes, and fish. Meatballs, fish cakes and the like.
Qingyan liked the bamboo things very much and bought some of various kinds. For example, she bought two bamboo beds. They can be placed in the yard of the space. They will definitely be very comfortable to use in the summer.
I also bought a set of tables, chairs and benches, which are quite exquisitely made. The bamboo chairs are not high enough for me to sit with my legs bent.
I also bought a bamboo shelf and a cabinet box each, which is very convenient for placing things and light when moving.
They also bought two sets of coir raincoats and bamboo hats. They don’t really use these, but they can make a show of it on rainy days when there are people around.
The cloth woven here is also coarse cloth, but the colors are more colorful than those dyed in the northwest. It should be because there are more plants that can be dyed here.
Qingyan picked out the ones she liked and bought two. They could be used as tablecloths, curtains, etc. They looked pretty.
Needless to say, they bought a lot of food. Although they didn't lack fresh meat, the cured meats also had a different taste. Some people's food was delicious, but they couldn't make it themselves.
The most popular ones are fish balls and fish cakes, which are specialties here. They can be boiled directly into soup, stir-fried, or eaten in a hot pot.
After buying these, they stopped, mainly because the carriage couldn't fit in. The set of tables, chairs and two bamboo beds could fill the carriage. Fortunately, the other things didn't take up so much space.
After shopping, they were about to leave when they heard the sound of horse hooves coming from far away.
Qingyan stretched out her consciousness and saw a group of uniformly dressed officers and soldiers coming from the official road to the north.
There were about fifty or sixty officers and soldiers in this team, all riding horses. They didn't know what urgent mission they had, and they were running very fast. Fortunately, there was no one else on the official road, otherwise it would be difficult to avoid them.
The cavalry team quickly ran here, galloped past without any stop, and continued towards the south.
Qingyan asked Chou Chou curiously: "Look at what happened over there where we came? I don't know what these officers and soldiers are doing."
She used her spiritual sense to explore the limit of what she could see, but found nothing. It should be somewhere further away.
Chou Chou nodded, and while driving the carriage out of the town, he thrust his consciousness towards the north.
They continued walking south, and it was already past five o'clock. They could still walk a little further, and then start looking for a place to rest when it got dark.
After walking for more than 20 minutes, Chou Chou said: "There should be something wrong over there in Xiangyang City, which has also been sealed off like Xiangzhou City. Now no one is allowed in or out.
Listening to the discussions among the people in the city, it seems that an official was killed. It happened last night. He was discovered at noon today. The whole city is searching for the murderer. These officers and soldiers should have come out of the city, but I don’t know. What to do. "
Qingyan frowned, "The official's family was wiped out? Is the security in Xiangyang City so bad? A whole family was killed, but no one heard anything, and it was not discovered until the next day.
It couldn't have been someone who did it. He would have drugged the people in the well or in the food, and then dealt with them one by one after everyone was drugged. "
In this way, no news will come out. If everyone in the family is dead, it will be difficult for others to find out.
Chou Chou nodded, "I just found that mansion. You guessed it right. Those people were indeed killed in their sleep. There was no trace of a fight inside.
The police and the police are now checking the corpses. Since there are no survivors, it is difficult to check the exact number of people in this family, especially the servants. There are many dead, and it is impossible to tell if one or two are missing. "
"We can't rule out cooperation between inside and outside. Maybe outsiders and domestic thieves worked together. If I had known about it, I would have gone to the city to have a look. Maybe we could investigate the case together."
Qingyan likes this kind of guessing and solving crimes the most. She feels that it is very fulfilling to find clues and find the truth bit by bit.
Chou Chou didn't even need to look at her expression to know what she was thinking, and said helplessly: "I will keep an eye on that side, and I will tell you the results when the time comes."
Qingyan got out of the carriage and sat next to Chou Chou. The things they bought were packed into the space as soon as they left the town, so the carriage was free.
"There are quite a lot of things going on here. Do you think it is also related to the disaster relief funds? This tragedy is about murder and silence!"
Chou Chou raised his eyebrows, "It's really hard to say, and it's not impossible. After all, this is a big deal.
The bandit over there was caught, and the Yu family and Mr. Huang were also exposed. Maybe the people behind him who wanted to fish in troubled waters also had a sense of crisis. For fear of exposing themselves, they simply killed the people who knew the inside story. "
Qingyan stretched her consciousness forward to see if she could still see those officers and soldiers, and also wanted to know what they were doing.
If she stretched her consciousness in one direction, she could see more than twenty miles away, and she soon saw the officers and soldiers.
Even if they speed up, they won't be able to surpass them by much, after all, they are also moving forward.
The officers and soldiers did not stop and continued to move forward. It was almost dark now, and it was not known whether they had to travel all night.
When it got completely dark, Qingyan took out four torches, two on a carriage, and just inserted them on the shelf extending out from the front.
It had just rained here, and the ground was so wet that it absorbed the light, making it impossible to see even a single torch.
There are many villages on both sides, so they can't enter the space to rest here. They have to walk forward and wait until they reach a place where no one is home.
At this time, Chou Chou said: "There are some results over there in Xiangyang. Wu Zuo said that the deceased were indeed drugged first, but it was not a poison, but a poison that sealed their throats after seeing blood. In other words, even if their necks were not wiped afterwards, those people Also dead.
As for the number of people, no matter whether they were masters or servants, no one was missing. They found their identity certificates in the mistress's house, and they were able to match the records of the government. "
Qingyan was very curious about this, "Does the government still have portraits of these people on the deed of sale? Otherwise, how can I check their identities?"
Chou Chou said to her: "You don't know this, right? Those prostitution contracts all have special characteristics of those people, not only the face and appearance are described in detail, but also the height and weight.
Of course, some people were sold when they were young, and they will definitely change, but they will still have some obvious features on their bodies, such as moles, birthmarks, scars, etc.
Of course, it is also possible that it will be destroyed, such as being burned or disfigured, but there is nothing that can be done in that case.
However, the people in Lin's Mansion, that is, the house of the official who died, were not disfigured. They were all killed by having their throats cut, so their faces and physical features remained intact and could be verified.
Where do you think those identity documents came from in ancient times? If they only wrote their place of origin, how many people would be impersonated. "
Qingyan said with some dissatisfaction: "Isn't there someone on TV who replaced the number one scholar as an official, or someone who signed up for the scientific examination on his behalf, like the female consort, the female patrol officer, or Tang Seng's father? Was he killed instead?"
Chou Chou shook his head amusedly, "Not to mention that they are all fabricated by literary works, even if they are true, the chance is very small.
Especially when men dress up as women to go to the scientific examination, it is even more impossible. Before entering the scientific examination, you have to take off your clothes to verify your identity. It is difficult for men to pass the test, let alone women, and they are not officials. blind.
Even if there is an imposter, at least the person must be very similar in appearance. The original owner must not have any obvious features, and the appearance must be consistent with the description on the certificate.
Or you might be cruel and remove those special birthmarks or moles yourself, but your face must not be ruined.
You must know that in ancient times, if you were an official, you could not be disabled. It didn't matter if you had a scar on your body. If your face was disfigured or you were missing arms or legs, you would definitely not be able to be an official.
Officials are the face of the imperial court. If they can be anything wrong, then that's fine.
Not to mention becoming an official, people with disfigurement don't even have a chance to take the scientific examination and are rejected at the first level.
Qingyan nodded, I see. Although she is good at history, she really doesn't know the details. As expected, she still needs an experienced ancient beast like Chou Chou.
Although it said that it rarely appeared in the human world before, it could still know a lot based on hearsay just a few times. After all, the longer you live, the more you know.
They walked forward for more than an hour, and when it was about seven o'clock or almost eight o'clock, they stopped moving forward.
They were all hungry, and they happened to come to the junction of two counties, and entered the space directly.
The officers and soldiers in front had long since run out of Qingyan's range of consciousness. After all, they were hurrying on their way, so the speed was still much faster.
She didn't know where those people were going, and Chou Chou had to rely on Chou Chou for the rest, so there was no need for her to be outside. She might as well go inside the space to eat and rest.
Chou Chou withdrew his consciousness from Xiangyang and kept staring at the people in front, "Those people really traveled all night, but they were divided into two groups after that.
Some people went to a place called Leihe Town, which is more than thirty miles away, while the other part went to the west and continued to walk west without stopping.
People who went to Leihe Town went directly to a large house with the name Lin Residence written on it. From what they said after entering, it should be the ancestral house of the murdered official named Lin.
It seems that this is to notify the victim's family. This should be the Lin family's clan. This late at night, many clan members came to the door, and an old clan leader was asking about the whole matter.
wrong! After those officers and soldiers told the story of the murder of the Lin family, they actually started searching the ancestral home, even the patriarch's home, ah! They went to someone else's ancestral hall.
There's something wrong with those officers and soldiers! I'm afraid they weren't sent by the government to notify them. They were probably sent by the murderer to destroy the evidence! "
Qingyan said excitedly: "Will they also massacre the people in the human family? Then we have to stop them. This can be considered as a meritorious deed for us."
After all, there must be many innocent people in the clan. Now that they have encountered them, they cannot just watch.
Chou Chou shook his head, "Those people are not killing anyone right now, they are just looking for something, but obviously they haven't found anything. They have arrested the patriarch's family and the people in the ancestral home, and are now interrogating them.
I did use my spiritual sense to detect something. There was a dark room under the pond in the back garden of my ancestral home, and there were many gold and silver jewelry in it.
There is also a secret compartment in the kitchen cellar. There are many letters and a few notebooks in it, huh? There seems to be account books and lists inside. Are those people looking for this? "
This family is really good at hiding. There is nothing in the Lin Mansion in Xiangyang City. This ancestral house is really full of hidden secrets.
You wouldn't have thought that a big tree in the middle courtyard had a hollow in the middle, and there was a lot of gold and silver hidden inside.
Thanks to the strong vitality of this tree, otherwise it would probably be killed.
There is also a small box under the stone table in the front yard, which contains some jewelry. There are a few gold bricks under the trough in the stable...
This Lin family has really made so much money. He is definitely a big rat. With all this money in his arms, the people above him will probably be jealous. Who will die if he doesn't die? "
Qingyan's eyes opened wider and wider as she listened. This was really an eye-opener.
