"Wei Gong went the wrong way, the road is this way."
Nearing the halfway point of the mountain, Zhang Hua pointed at the specially opened road in the forest and shouted.
Wei Lin used the wooden stick he picked up as a crutch and fiddled with the sparse grass next to it.
"If you want to see the beautiful scenery, you have to take an off-the-beaten path."
With that said, he waded through the grass and walked into the dense forest.
"There's such a shitty scenery in this barren mountain. It's true that the brain is not functioning properly if it's missing parts."
Zhang Hua complained in his heart, but he could only follow him quickly.
Li Wentai, who was at the back, had already let go of the handle of the knife, but his expression was still uneasy.
Li Wentai was originally a scholar. Even if he stayed in the army for a long time and developed some battlefield fighting skills, he could not be the opponent of a seventh-grade monk.
Now we can only hope not to be discovered by Wei Lin.
After entering the forest, Zhanghua discovered that there was actually a small road hidden here. It's just that because of the cover of grass and trees, this path cannot be found from the mountain road outside.
The path is very narrow and can only accommodate one person. The road surface has been trodden bare. It is obvious that people often walk here.
Zhang Hua couldn't help but feel a little strange. He had been at Xuanhuang Pass for almost ten years and he knew the surrounding topography well, but he didn't know that there was such a small road in the short mountain so close to him.
What is this narrow path used for?
Certainly not for cutting firewood.
The felled trees need to be trimmed of branches and leaves, and then rolled down the hillside to the foot of the mountain. Therefore, the mountain road up the mountain is made extremely wide to facilitate the rolling of the logs.
"Mr. Wei, this must be your first time in Qingzhou. How do you know about this unknown path and where does it lead?"
Zhang Hua ran a few steps quickly to Wei Lin and asked.
"Hey, the Zajia family has never been to Qingzhou, so how do they know about this unknown trail? I just bumped into it accidentally."
Zhang Hua didn't believe Wei Lin's explanation. Because of the cover of weeds and trees, it is impossible to find this path on the mountain road outside. He and the Marshal had been here several times before, but why didn't they bump into each other. Now that I think about it carefully, I am afraid that Wei Lin's previous move to come to this barren mountain was not a temporary decision, but a premeditation.
Could it be that there is some secret hidden at the end of this path, and someone reported the secret to Kyoto.
That's why Wei Lin sent the commander away so that he could investigate more easily?
Thinking back to Li Wentai's weirdness just now, Zhang Hua felt more and more that he had guessed the idea.
Thinking of this, he slowed down and asked in a low voice when Li Wentai passed by.
"Wen Tai, please tell me the truth. What is going on on this road? What secret is hidden at the end of the road? That's probably why Wei Yi came here. If you tell me clearly, we can discuss a countermeasure. Otherwise, Wei Wei will be the first to attack, and we will be passive."
Li Wentai stared at Zhang Hua for a while with a gloomy expression before sighing.
"Lao Zhang, I didn't hide it from you on purpose. It's just that knowing the truth will not do you any good. In fact, it's not just you, even my brother-in-law was kept in the dark."
"The commander doesn't even know!"
Zhang Hua was stunned when he heard this.
The Marshal is the general officer in charge of Qingzhou's military and political affairs. What exactly did Li Wentai do that he wanted to hide from the Marshal.
"Are you collaborating with the enemy?"
Zhang Hua immediately thought of the worst possibility and asked.
"What are you thinking about? I, the Li family, have received favor from the emperor, so how could I do such a thing that will be infamy for thousands of years."
"Oh, that's true."
Zhang Hua nodded. In addition to being the handsome brother-in-law, Li Wentai is also a direct descendant of the Li family of the same state, so he should be incapable of collaborating with the enemy and betraying the country.
But this makes it even more strange. Apart from such heinous crimes as collaborating with the enemy and betraying the country, what else should be hidden from the commander-in-chief?
While the two were talking, Wei Lin in front stopped and pointed at the dense forest.
Zhong smiled.
"Haha, there is actually a wooden house here, just perfect for resting."
Zhang Hua turned his head and looked to the side, and saw Li Wentai's face was so gloomy that it was almost dripping with water.
well!
Zhang Hua sighed in his heart, patted Li Wentai's shoulder and whispered.
"Let's show him off. But don't be stupid, we can't beat him."
The walls and thatch on the roof of the wooden house are covered with moss. There are no windows and only a rough wooden door.
Wei Lin opened the door and peeked inside.
Apart from a few thatched futons and a straw mat, there was nothing else and no one in the house.
Wei Lin couldn't help but frown.
Did you see it wrong?
Just when they were at the foot of the mountain, Wei Lin, who had her back to the setting sun, was dazzled by a ray of light. She followed the light and looked around to see the low mountain.
It hasn't rained in Qingzhou in the past few days, and the weeds and trees will not reflect the light of the setting sun without water.
So Wei Lin was curious and wanted to find out, but then Li Wentai's attitude made Wei Lin suspicious.
This Li Wentai seemed to be understatement, but a trace of panic could be seen in his eyes.
Could there be something shady hidden in the low mountain?
Halfway up the mountain, Wei Lin used a wooden stick to poke at the spot where he had seen the reflection. Sure enough, he found a hidden path. When he reached the end of the path, he discovered the wooden house.
But at this time, there was everyone in the room.
At this time, Zhang Hua and Li Wentai also walked to the wooden house. After taking a look inside the house, Li Wentai couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.
"When was this house built? How could I not know?"
Zhang Hua looked left and right and didn't find anything unusual. It was just an ordinary simple wooden house. Why was Li Wentai so nervous?
"Hmph! It's probably the soldiers who went up the mountain to cut down the trees and built them secretly as a place to laze around. These monkey boys, let's see if I don't repair them properly when I get back."
Li Wentai pretended to be angry.
"It's really time to practice hard. I haven't fought in more than half a year, so I seem to have slacked off. Hehe, this is a joke for you, Mr. Wei."
Zhang Hua hurriedly echoed from the side.
"Mr. Wei, it's getting late, so we should hurry back to the pass. It will be completely dark after a while, and it will not be safe to ride a horse."
Li Wentai urged Wei Lin.
"No hurry, no rush, wait until the Za family goes in to take a look."
Wei Lin said and stepped into the wooden house.
After hanging out with Rong Fei in Kyoto for a while, Wei Lin was convinced by Rong Fei's uncanny ability to solve crimes, and she even asked for advice in private, just like she had asked Yu Qingzhi for advice on how to practice.
Rong Fei had a good impression of Wei Lin, so he didn't hide his secrets and gave everything to him.
Unfortunately, the time was too short, and Wei Lin only learned a few basics of reasoning and case handling, but her vigilance was cultivated, otherwise she would not have gone to the low mountain to investigate just because of a reflection.
According to Wei Lin's guess, the light was probably caused by the reflection of the setting sun from the polished metal.
It was normal for soldiers to carry knives, axes and saws when they went up the mountain to cut trees, but the timing was wrong.
It is unreasonable to not cut trees during the day when the sun is high, but to go up the mountain when it is dark and windy at night.
Discovering a hidden trail and the wooden house at the end of the trail halfway up the mountain, her initial reasoning instinct told Wei Lin that there must be something wrong here, and it was by no means as simple as Li Wentai explained.
But what's the problem?
If something reflects the sun, it means there must be someone in the mountain at that time, but up to now, I haven't seen a single person in the mountain. Although this short mountain can be descended from any direction, there is no reason to leave the well-maintained mountain road and go in other difficult directions.
So the question comes again, what about people?
It won't disappear out of thin air.
The boy Rong Fei once said: Wherever you walk, you will leave traces.
.
He also said: There is no lack of clues in the process of handling cases, but there is a lack of eyes that can discover clues.
But where are the traces? Where are the clues?
Why can't the Zajia find it? What would he do if Rong Fei was here?
Unknowingly, Wei Lin put herself into Rong Fei's role, imitating Rong Fei's way of thinking and perspective of observing things according to the detective skills Rong Fei had told him.
Reflected sunlight... low mountains... lumber drying yards... nameless paths... wooden houses... people disappearing out of thin air...
People don't disappear into thin air, not even monks.
Um...except for heavenly monks and venerables.
There can be no heavenly monks or venerables here, so people will never disappear out of thin air.
so…
Wei Lin's thoughts became clearer and clearer, her eyes became brighter and brighter, and she suddenly raised her foot and kicked over a futon at her feet.
Li Wentai's heart jumped suddenly.
"Wei Gong, what do you mean?"
Zhang Hua asked suspiciously.
Wei Lin ignored Zhang Hua at all. She bent down and carefully observed the ground under the futon. It was just compacted and flat soil, and there was nothing abnormal.
Wei Lin didn't give up, walked to another futon and kicked it away.
Li Wentai's heart jumped again.
There was still nothing under the second futon, then the third, the fourth...
All four futons were kicked over, and nothing unusual was found. But Wei Lin didn't show the slightest expression of frustration. Instead, she glanced at Li Wentai and Zhang Hua with some pride.
There was only a somewhat worn straw mat left in the wooden house that had not been checked.
Wei Lin walked to the straw mat, with a smile that couldn't be concealed on her lips, and asked the Zajia to tell them what shameful things you were hiding here.
He stretched out his right foot and tried to pick up a corner of the mat with his toes, but he stumbled and almost fell down.
Huh!
Wei Lin quickly stabilized her figure and looked at the straw mat strangely.
The straw mat seemed to be stuck to the ground and I couldn't pick it up.
With a cry of surprise in her heart, Wei Lin squatted down this time, reached out and pinched a corner of the straw mat, and lifted it up with force.
Zhang Hua was also a little curious about what Li Wentai was doing here, so he walked over and leaned down to take a closer look.
Li Wentai, who was standing at the door, sighed and closed his eyes.
Apart from occasionally slapping people, Rong Fei actually didn't like torture to extract confessions. So I just asked a few questions casually, and when I saw those men holding their necks and acting like heroes who were not afraid of death, I gave it up.
Not long after, Gu Fengxiao and others came back empty-handed to report that they did not find any clues in Zhuangzi.
Rong Fei was not surprised and escorted the captured criminals back to Kyoto City.
The journey back was uneventful and no accidents occurred. Instead, we met Duke Jiashen outside the city gate.
