Ci Jinzhi

Xin You stepped forward to check carefully, but there was no sign that the seal had been opened.

"Little girl, you know this family!"

An old voice came from behind, and Xin You turned around to see an old woman with gray hair.

"I'm Cailan's friend. Old lady, what's going on?" Xinyou asked, pointing to the sealed door of Ji's house.

The old woman sighed: "Her family was implicated by relatives and committed a crime. The men were sentenced to prison terms, and the women all became official slaves. Little girl, you'd better leave quickly and don't come back again, lest you be seen by the officials and get into trouble. Upper body.”

Xin You looked horrified and sad: "Why is it so sudden?"

"No, who would have thought that, a good family..." The old woman started talking.

Xin You listened cooperatively and learned from an outsider's perspective some of the circumstances surrounding the day when the officials came to arrest people. She also learned that thieves had visited the Ji family before her.

"That little thief is so courageous. He dared to climb over the wall during the day." The old woman pointed to where the thief climbed over the wall and then pointed to the door of her house. "The old woman was sitting at the gate and resting. The little thief thought I was asleep. …”

Xin You looked surprised: "You are indeed brave. Didn't you get arrested?"

The old woman felt embarrassed and said vaguely: "I didn't see that little thief bring anything out, and there is no one in the Ji family..."

Who wants to get into trouble for nothing when they are already in trouble.

"Little girl, let's go quickly. The Ji family is in bad luck. The younger brother and younger sister-in-law of the last year's daughter-in-law have disappeared one after another. It has only been less than a year and it's the Ji family's turn again..."

Xinyou thanked him and left quickly.

There is a thief visiting the Ji family at such a sensitive time. I'm afraid it's not a real thief.

At night, the waning moon was obscured by dark clouds, and a few stars could be seen here and there. Jixiangfang was pitch black, and every house had already turned off their lights.

Xin You arrived at the third house in Mao'er Hutong by a familiar road. After observing for a while, she jumped over the wall with a light jump.

The courtyard was as dark as the outside. Xin You leaned against the wall and remained motionless. After getting used to it for a while, she could barely distinguish the scene in the courtyard.

The yard was a bit messy. There were several pieces of washed clothes hanging on the clothesline. One piece fell to the ground. At first glance, it looked like someone was crawling there.

Xinyou from the Ji family was here. She entered the main room first and used her sleeves to cover the small copper lamp prepared for lighting.

The weak light is limited to a small area, just enough to see the things close in front of you without worrying about the light spreading out.

This is the east room where Ji Cailan's parents live. The drawers and cabinet doors have obviously been turned over and they look messy.But Ji Cailan said that the officers who arrested their family did not do much searching.

After looking for it, Xinyou went to the West House again.

There was a bed against the wall in the west room. It looked like no one was sleeping on it. The whole room was almost full of clutter.This room is even more messy, with scattered old cotton mattresses, books with pages missing, overturned suitcases...

Xin You's eyes fell on the bed board. He lifted it up and looked inside. He touched a hard object and took it out to see that it was a square wooden box.

Although she guessed that the wooden box was not the one she was looking for, she still refused to give up and opened it to take a look. She saw scattered pieces of silver and some copper coins inside.

Xin You put it back as it was, left the main room, skipped the east and west rooms, and headed to the kitchen.

Ji Cailan's two brothers lived in the east wing, and Ji Cailan and Zhou Ningyue lived in the west wing. I also knew that Ji's mother would not hide things she considered important in the place where her children lived.

Ji Cailan told her that there were indeed no east and west rooms where Ji's mother hid things, but one in the east and west rooms, one in the kitchen, and one in the woodshed.

Compared with the mess in the three main rooms, the kitchen seems much more orderly.Xinyou looked around with a lantern and went straight to the hiding place Ji Cailan mentioned.

It was a wall tile opposite the stove. It looked the same as the blackened bricks around it, but it was actually movable.

Xin You stretched out his hand and knocked, judging from the sound that he had found the right brick, he pulled out the brick with a little force.

Inside is a very small space, with a rectangular box lying quietly.The box is not big and has a small lock on it.

Xin You's eyes lit up with joy.

This should be it.

Xin You put the box away and restored the wall tiles. Just as he was about to walk out, he suddenly stopped and quickly blew out the copper lamp.In the darkness, her ears became more sensitive. When she heard the light and steady footsteps, she approached the kitchen step by step without any hesitation, as if she knew someone was here.

Xin You calmly took out the dagger and judged the identity of the person coming.

It may be the person looking for the box left by Zhou Tong, or it may be the Jinlin Guards.

Ji's mother died unexpectedly, and someone wanted to redeem Zhou Ningyue's cousins. It was not surprising that Lord He was cautious and sent people to keep an eye on the Ji family.

Xin You prefers the latter, which is the main reason why she is so calm.

The footsteps stopped.

There were few stars outside, and the figure was tall and straight.

After a brief silence, a familiar voice sounded: "Miss Kou."

Xin You came out of the hiding place and lit the copper lamp again.

The light shrouded the two of them, enough for them to see each other's eyes clearly.

He Qingxiao looked at the girl in black who was carrying a dagger casually, and asked with a smile: "Does Miss Kou know that I will come?"

"I guess Master He should have sent someone to keep an eye on this place."

"Did Miss Kou gain anything?"

"should have."

As long as Mr. He knew her identity and chose to conceal it, they were destined to be on the same boat. Xin You had no intention of hiding the existence of the box from He Qingxiao: "Let's talk in the house."

It is inconvenient to find another place to talk at this time, and if you find the wrong box, you can still continue looking.

The two walked into the main room and entered the west room.

The west room, which is full of clutter, is covered everywhere, so the bean light can be blocked.

Xin You looked around and sat directly on the overturned suitcase.

He Qingxiao squatted on one knee with a smile in his eyes.

"I learned from Miss Zhou that Zhou Tong left a box and his sister kept it. It should be this one." Xin You took out the small box.

He Qingxiao reached out to take it and clicked the lock on the box.

"Do you want to open it?"

"Open it and make sure it's right."

He Qingxiao reached into his sleeve and took out a thin wire from nowhere. Then he fiddled with the lock a few times and the lock opened.

He moved the box a little farther away from Xinyou and slowly opened the lid.

There were no incidents such as poisonous gas coming out or concealed weapons popping out. There were some papers in the box.

Xin You held up a small lamp and came over to take a look.

"Miss Kou, wait a moment."

He Qingxiao took out another pair of extremely thin leather gloves and put them on before picking up the contents of the box.

There were two letters and a narrow note.

The two of them read the papers one by one under the dim light.

Xin You stared at the signature of the letter, and saw the word "Dongsheng". Although there were not many words on the note, the information revealed made her hand holding the lamp tremble slightly.