As soon as the guard's words fell to the ground, there was another thunderous roar from another direction.
The people in Diqiu City mobilized one after another, and all looked towards the mountains outside the city. Standing higher, they could see the gray mist filling the air, the gravel falling apart, and thousands of flying rocks falling from the sky.
It's like a spectacular fireworks falling.
"what's up?"
"Have the government found a gold mine and blown up the mountain to mine it?"
"I didn't hear that."
"Look, the guards are out."
The men in iron armor and silver helmets, holding a long spear, rode quickly down the long street on horseback. The red tassel on the spear was connected like a red thread, flying in front of the people's eyes.
In the blink of an eye, he was already far outside the city gate, kicking up the dust.
The people were left alone to continue speculating and discussing.
Far away in the mountains, after the third explosion, a man stumbled out of the thick dust and smoke. He covered his nose and looked back, and quickly left the place.
A blue silk shirt was stained with black and gray. He picked a clean corner and lifted it up to wipe his face. After waiting in the open space for a while, a person walked over from different directions.
"The matter is done." The two of them met and saw that each other's tasks were completed. They nodded with satisfaction, looked around, and said, "Go back first."
"Is this a good idea?"
"With the explosion like this, let's see how the government can find gold mines." After the older man finished speaking, he asked, "Have you recorded the directions?"
"Don't worry, I've got the size right. I'll blow up the mountain next to it but it won't affect the ore."
"Well, keep the map and we'll discuss it later when the weather calms down."
At the intersection, an old man stood with his back to the two people. When they approached, he turned around, revealing an old and solemn face, with cloudy but bright eyes. After straightening his back, his whole personality took on a new look.
The two men stood in front of him and bowed somewhat restrainedly. The old man put his hands behind his back, nodded slightly and said, "Without further delay, you leave here overnight, and I will meet you again after I have taken care of the things outside."
The three of them walked into the dense forest together. After twists and turns, a path suddenly appeared. They pushed aside the weeds as tall as a person and walked through a cup of tea. They found another forest.
They walked horizontally and vertically like this for nearly an hour. There was an open grassland in front of them, with mountains on three sides, and the woods they came out of on the other side. There was a lake not far away, and a cave directly opposite.
Surrounded by mountains and shaded by green trees, it is quiet and beautiful, like a secluded fairyland.
It's just that it's too quiet, and it becomes abnormal.
The old man was the first to ask: "I don't want you to wait quietly, but where are the others?"
The older man shook his head: "I told you before I left that they wouldn't run around."
The man in the blue silk shirt strode forward, "What are you doing suspiciously? Maybe you are all resting in the cave. I'll go and shout..."
The old man grabbed his arm and said, "Wait a minute." He slowly turned his head in a circle, as if he was tasting what was unusual. The wind blew the corners of his clothes, and his ears suddenly twitched, and his expression suddenly changed, " Withdraw immediately!"
Just as the three of them turned around, they suddenly stopped.
A few feet away in front, the guards in iron armor and silver helmets held their spears in front, approaching step by step, surrounding them in a circle.
—
Diqiu County Office
The county hall, which has always been spacious, was too crowded today. More than a hundred people, old and young, were crowded together, and even the government officials had no place to stay.
Outside the county office, the county government officials were removed, and there were majestic guards inside and outside, all with angry eyes and an aura of menace.
More and more people gathered in Diqiu, but they did not dare to get close. They only pointed at the county office from a distance, their curiosity was aroused, and they all speculated on what earth-shattering event had happened.
Yun Qi walked through the crowd and entered the county government office with gentle steps. Qiu Chan pushed Lu Anran next to him. When he arrived at the gate, he came face to face with the prince who was pushed by Shi Shui.
The two of them were sitting together in a wheelchair. At first glance, they looked like they were looking at themselves in the mirror.
"Your Highness the Crown Prince." Lu Anran let Qiu Chan help him up and saluted.
Zi Sangjin raised his hand and pressed it, "Okay, my legs are lame. Just sit down and be honest. I don't care about these false gifts."
The escort carried the two people's four-wheel chairs in, led by Meng Xueli, and sitting next to them were Nangong Zhi, Qi Shang, Yu Fangjing and Qian Liang.
Seeing Zi Sangjin stand up to greet and salute at the same time.
"Mr. Meng, I heard that the murderer behind the gold mining case has been caught?" Zi Sangjin sat at the top. The young man had a handsome face, but he carried the majesty of the heavenly family. Even if he threw it out and said lightly, it would still spread invisibly. Showing an awe-inspiring and inviolable aura.
Pointing his hand down, "Are you going to tell me that these are all murderers?"
Meng Xueli put his hands on his chest, half-opened his eyes, and said without distinguishing happiness or anger: "This matter is all your responsibility, and I don't know the whole story."
Yu Fangjing's eyelids jumped, he clasped his fists and trotted out. He lowered his eyes and said, "Go back to Your Highness. Before we talk about the gold mine case, we have to mention another case."
Zi Sangjin looked at him, Yu Fangjing paused, and then said: "The earliest Yaksha murder case discovered in Diqiu County, and the later Zhou family massacre case." He stretched out two fingers and put them together, "But the two The cases can be grouped together again.”
Meng Xueli said from the side: "Sir, instead of guessing charades, why don't you tell me directly."
"That's right." Yu Fangjing considered the words, "This can't be rushed. Before we talk about the case, we need to invite a few witnesses to come over and identify the person."
Zi Sangjin asked: "Who do you recognize?"
"The identities of more than a hundred people in the hall."
Yun Qi waved his jade bone fan and moved his chin forward a little, "I know the guy in front of you." He raised his lips a little and said with a smile, "Steward Zhou, long time no see."
The old man kneeling at the front slowly raised his head, his face still as old as ever, but his eyes were heavy and heavy, making his face look different from the kind before, and extremely gloomy.
He smiled coldly and lowered his eyelids without saying a word.
Yu Fangjing added: "I specially invited Miss Lu to come here today because I have something to prove." He looked at Lu Anran.
Lu Anran nodded.
Yu Fangjing stopped talking nonsense and directly invited the first person to come up, who was a middle-aged man.
The man didn't know what was going on, but when he saw so many important people in the hall, his two minds immediately started to tremble, "Hey, common people, please see me, sir."
Yu Fangjing: "Look at the person kneeling below. Do you recognize him?"
The middle-aged men looked over one by one and said hesitantly: "The common people... don't recognize them."
Zi Sangjin frowned, seemingly dissatisfied with the result.
Yu Fangjing was neither impatient nor impatient, as if he had already made up his mind, and said, "Butler Zhou has been going to your incense and candle shop to buy things every day these days, but you haven't seen him yet?"
"Back to the lord, although the incense shop belongs to Xiaomin, Xiaomin's brother-in-law is in charge of the affairs on weekdays. Xiaomin usually doesn't ask anything about it." I was thinking, maybe my brother-in-law did something that violated the law and implicated him?
Unexpectedly, Yu Fangjing did not continue to pursue the case, but said: "You are talking about the waiter at the incense and candle shop. I have called you to identify him."
The middle-aged man was confused at first, but became even more confused when he saw the person, "Here, sir, who is this person? I don't know him."
"Not your brother-in-law?"
"Sir, are you kidding me? How could I not recognize Cao Min's brother-in-law?"
Yu Fangjing changed the subject, "He is indeed not your brother-in-law."
"Ah?" The middle-aged man was almost unable to turn around.
"But this is the one who has been opening stores and doing business recently."
"How is that possible?" The middle-aged man's first reaction was that his brother-in-law had secretly sold the shop to someone else behind his back, but he still had the land deed.
Yu Fangjing gestured to the government servant waiting outside the door, "I found a person in the newly built low wall in the backyard of the incense store."
The middle-aged man's heart suddenly jumped, and he had a bad premonition. When he saw the government servants carrying a body covered with white cloth, his heart almost stopped.
"Please identify this body."
The yamen servant lifted up the white cloth, and many people present took a breath, and none of them dared to look directly.
The corpse had long since decayed and festered into disarray.
The middle-aged man was startled and frightened. He bent over and retched for a long time. Suddenly he remembered something. He grabbed the hand of the corpse and looked at it. After looking at it, he threw his head to the sky and cried: "Daliang, it's my brother-in-law Daliang. How did you become like this? Who is it?" It hurts you..."
Yu Fangjing sighed and shook his head, "Your brother-in-law was in trouble a few months ago. If the government officials hadn't found wild dogs digging at the wall when they went to investigate the case, I'm afraid it would have been difficult to find him."
The middle-aged man fell to the ground crying and pointed to the waiter of the incense shop with trembling fingers, "Did he harm Daliang? Sir, you have to make the decision for me."
Yu Fangjing asked the yamen to take the body and the people down, then turned around and said: "The first one is that the clerk in the incense shop is fake. As for the true identity, we will discuss it later. Now we have a second witness."
Regarding Yu Fang Jing's pretentiousness, Meng Xueli looked at his nose and nose as if it had nothing to do with him. Nangong Zhi and Qi Shang didn't say anything because they knew about it. Zi Sangjin frowned and waited for the situation to develop. Only Qian Liang was sweating like rain. , sitting on pins and needles.
Yun Qi and Lu Anran looked at each other and exchanged knowing looks.
At this moment, everyone's minds turned a few corners, and the Yamen servant had already brought the second witness.
Yun Qi raised his eyebrows and smiled.
"This woman's name is Xiu Fang, from Xiasi Village." Yu Fangjing briefly mentioned Xiu Fang's identity, highlighting one point, "She once worked for the Zhou Mansion."
Among the people kneeling on the ground, one of the women couldn't help but raise her head and her eyes met Xiufang, who shrank and hid back.
"Miss Xiufang, tell me that a few nights ago, you bumped into someone after leaving the city. It was Zhou Pei, the late lady of the Zhou family. Is this related to this?"
Xiufang's head almost dropped to her chest, and she shook her voice and said: "Yes, yes, a folk girl, a folk girl..."
"Will you admit your mistake?"
"A civilian girl sent embroidery samples to Miss Zhou," Xiufang shook her head, her eyes flickered, and her voice immediately became softer, "Miss Zhou has a mole under her lip, a civilian girl, a civilian girl will never admit her mistake."
Yu Fangjing raised his hand and made a gesture, "Do you know these people below?"
Xiufang curled up her neck and hesitated. Yu Fangjing comforted her: "Miss Xiufang, don't be afraid. Just tell the truth boldly. I will make the final decision for the rest."
Perhaps these words had a comforting effect, Xiu Fang actually took steps, walked around the crowd outside, and suddenly stopped somewhere.
Biting her lip, she pointed forward and said, "She is Miss Zhou!"
