My wife has a secret

Chapter 52 Chasing the murderer
Most of the accompanying constables were ordinary yamen runners from Suzhou Prefecture. How could they have come into contact with such a beautiful woman in their daily lives?
They looked up at the car window and found that the legendary Fourth Young Lady was not only worthy of her name, but also beautiful and charming.

Even though she was wearing plain clothes, her every glance, smile, gesture and movement exuded a breathtaking beauty that made people fascinated.

Qin Shuying pulled up her hair, hooked a strand of it behind her ear, and said softly, "My husband, those thieves killed people and set fires, they were extremely vicious... You don't know martial arts, it would be very dangerous if you act rashly."

When Chief Jiao heard that Xu Qing wanted to intervene in the matter, he panicked.

Seeing the fourth young lady of the Xu family giving advice, she hurriedly echoed, "Mr. Xu, the fourth lady is right... The bandits who hijacked the clinic have unknown origins, and they have crossbows with extremely strong penetrating power. Even those who have practiced martial arts have to stay away from them."

Although Jiao Tingzhang trusted Xu Qing, he thought that this notorious young man from an aristocratic family was not that simple.

But the situation in East Street is already chaotic enough. If the young master of the Xu family is involved, the consequences will be disastrous.

After all, the purpose of his trip was to protect the safety of the Xu family. He couldn't let the bandits on the street put the cart before the horse and forget his own job.

"Crossbow? Can they carry something that big into the yard?"

At the beginning, Xu Qing did not pay attention to the word "crossbow".

After being reminded by Jiao Tingzhang, he realized that the crossbows in the hands of the bandits were not hand crossbows, but the legendary heavy crossbows.

"Yes, judging from the style of the crossbow arrow, it should be a standard heavy crossbow operated by two people. I don't understand the origin of this heavy crossbow."

Jiao Tingzhang was eager to dispel Xu Qing's idea and told him about the power of the heavy crossbow. "The heavy crossbow was originally designed for the Tartar cavalry, so it is extremely powerful and difficult to defend against. Ordinary shields are ineffective against it... If the height of the courtyard was not low and the angle was not good, the heavy crossbow could have exerted even greater power."

Xu Qing remained silent.

Although the enemy situation in the clinic is unclear and the heavy crossbow is a thorny problem, Doctor Ning is the only clue revealed by the White Lotus Sect.

Judging from the reckless behavior of these bandits who rushed into the clinic in the street without caring about their own lives, Doctor Ning must be hiding the secret of the White Lotus Sect.

"Master Jiao, please let my husband do what he has decided... If anything really happens, I will go back and explain to Sister Shen, and will never implicate the officials."

Qin Shuying spoke softly, and her voice was very pleasant to the ear.

After hearing how considerate she was, the detectives all developed a good impression of her.

Almost everyone envied Xu Qing in their hearts and was jealous that he could marry such a beautiful bride.

"Although this heavy crossbow is not as sophisticated as the bed crossbow, it is still very troublesome to load and unload, and there are many blind spots. My husband can pick a few good fighters to go with him and go in from the side yard."

Qin Shuying raised her hand and pointed, as if she had picked out a constable at random.

"I see that this young man is strong and healthy. Why don't you let him and Chief Jiao stay with you?"

Xu Qing was slightly moved when he saw the candidate chosen by Qin Shuying.

Because the "good player" chosen by the other side was Shan Yongpei, Captain Shan of the Zhennan Zhongwu Army.

Shan Yongpei had been active in the military before and should have never met Qin Shuying. Why did she feel that the other party was highly skilled in martial arts and could protect her safety?

And Qin Shuying’s proposal just now was not nonsense.

Xu Qing observed the style of the heavy crossbow platform and found that it was indeed as Qin Shuying said. The angle of rotation of the crossbow mouth was limited and it could only take into account the direction of the south gate.

The clinic was surrounded by residential houses on the other three sides, so going around behind to catch the thief was undoubtedly the most effective way.

It seems that the fourth wife, Qin, is not as simple as he thought.

Shen asked her to accompany him, probably because he was impressed by her experience and intelligence, and knew that she could help him with these small things.

"Captain Jiao, you stay here."

"I……"

When Jiao Tingzhang heard Xu Qing's arrangement, he subconsciously wanted to refuse.

Qin Shuying, however, was calm and agreed with a smile, "My husband is so kind to me. He never forgets my safety even when he is in danger."

Xu Qing arranged for Jiao Tingzhang to stay beside the carriage, and also wanted him to monitor Qin Shuying's every move.

For some reason, he always felt that this dignified and elegant beauty would bring him great pressure, and that there seemed to be some kind of danger hidden in her beauty and charm.

Even though the two of them are allies now, Xu Qing is still unwilling to let his guard down against her.

……

When Xu Qing and his group disappeared at the end of the alley, Qin Shuying lowered the car curtain, placed her slender, jade-white hands on her knee-length skirt, her thick eyelashes drooping and her eyes smiling.

Jiao Tingzhang was like an ant on a hot pan, unable to keep calm.

The job of protecting the fourth young lady was both tedious and dull. He could only prick up his ears to listen to the noises outside and pray in his heart that Xu Qing and the others would have smooth sailing.

"Captain Jiao, I just heard that you know a lot about the origin and structure of the military crossbow. How come... have you ever been a soldier before?"

Jiao Tingzhang was slightly stunned, then he realized that Qin Shuying was talking to him.

"Madam Four is very good at predicting things. I once joined the army in the first year of the Zhengde reign and served at the border... Afterwards, I was chopped by a Tatar and my face was disfigured. I then returned to my hometown in Suzhou and found a job."

The reason why Jiao Tingzhang was familiar with the crossbow was that when he was in Yancheng in the northeast, he saw it display its power and defeat the Tatars.

But what puzzled him was why Qin Shuying understood the characteristics of the heavy crossbow arrows and knew that this thing had a fixed angle and was not easy to disassemble.

"Madam Four has also seen a heavy crossbow?"

Qin Shuying said slowly, "When I was young, the capital was in turmoil, and the top floor of Wangyue Tower was occupied by the city defense, and a lot of these things were installed there."

Jiao Tingzhang was stunned for a moment, searching for relevant information in his mind.

Although there have been foreign invasions to the north of Da Qi, the situation in the court has been relatively stable in recent years, and there has been no unrest.

So he just thought that Qin Shuying made up an excuse to deal with him and didn't think about it any further.

……

"Master Xu, all the criminals in the clinic have escaped!"

When Xu Qing first heard this, he thought that the constable who climbed over the wall and entered the courtyard first was joking.

But he soon realized that Shan Yongpei was acting in sync with the group of people, and with his rigid personality, he would definitely not play such a clumsy joke.

Xu Qing did not choose to climb over the wall to enter the hospital, but went around to the clinic gate and rushed into the backyard.

As soon as he came in, he saw the heavy crossbow.

The crossbow body of the heavy crossbow was supported by some simple supports, with the crossbow mouth facing outward and aimed at the street entrance.

Matching arrows were scattered on the muddy ground, and a single arrow was as thick as Xu Qing's arm. One could easily imagine the power of the heavy crossbow from this.

The house inside the courtyard was a warehouse for storing dried medicinal herbs. When Xu Qing came to see Doctor Ning last time, he had seen him drying herbs here. Now, the house was full of blood, and large areas of blood splattered from the ground to the wall, forming a cruel and terrifying picture.

In the center of the bloodstain, there were three or five bodies soaked in blood.

Except for Doctor Ning, the faces of the other corpses were unrecognizable. One could only see the deathly aura emanating from the empty eye sockets.

The strong smell of blood filled the air, making people sick.

A constable came forward and whispered, "Mr. Xu, after a simple inspection, the bodies were basically confirmed to be Ning Zhiyuan's family. Not only his wife and children, but even the medicine dispensers in his pharmacy were dragged here by the group and killed one after another."

Even though Xu Qing did not witness the White Lotus's crimes with his own eyes, he knew that these people were ruthless, otherwise there would not have been so much blood splattered everywhere.

"The courtyard of the clinic is surrounded by houses on three sides, all with earth walls. How did they escape?"

Faced with Xu Qing's questioning, the constable remained silent and dared not answer.

Although the detectives were still searching the yard and checking for various mechanisms and secret passages, the entire clinic was so small that they had searched back and forth three times but found nothing.

Xu Qing knew that it was futile to blame the constable. Those White Lotus sect members were cunning, and their disappearance should be the escape route they had prepared in advance.

"Look for the charcoal stove and the hearth in the house to see if there is anything that has not been burned cleanly. If there are any books with strange font sizes or incoherent sentences in the room, bring them to me."

"Yes."

Although Xu Qing is not the immediate superior of these detectives, in this small area of ​​Suzhou, the words of the Xu family are more effective than those of Prefect Xu, so the detectives are doing their best to serve Xu Qing.

After the constable left, Xu Qingze squatted down and observed the corpse while suppressing his discomfort.

"The direction of the blood spraying seems to be wrong... The fact that it splashed onto the wall indicates that the deceased's aorta was severed. Why is Doctor Ning's body different from others?"

Xu Qing stared for a moment, then stepped forward and turned Doctor Ning's body over.

Just as he had expected, most of Doctor Ning's knife wounds were on his back, which was completely different from the knife wounds on his wife, children, and the pharmacy clerks.

The wounds of the other victims were mostly located on the neck, and only by cutting off this part would the shape of the blood splattered on the wall fit.

"The faces of the other people will also be destroyed, leaving only Doctor Ning's face. What on earth is the White Lotus thinking?"

Xu Qing, puzzled, was just about to get up to wash his hands when he suddenly noticed another strange thing on the body: Doctor Ning was not wearing shoes.

Even if the shoes slipped off during the dragging, they should not have fallen off at the feet, not to mention that the other corpses were wearing shoes and socks.

Xu Qing gestured with the shoes and socks next to him, his pupils shrank slightly, and he realized something was wrong.

Then he came to Doctor Ning's face and found something strange about his neck.

There, the skin color above the face is slightly different from the skin below, and with a slight click, a glue-like fake face can be revealed.

"Human skin mask?"

Although he had heard of it in movies and TV shows in his previous life, this was the first time Xu Qing saw this thing in real life.

If the shoes had not matched Dr. Ning's size, Xu Qing would probably have thought that this was Dr. Ning himself.

"Mr. Xu? What's wrong?"

When the detectives heard Xu Qing's surprised cry, they hurried over from other places. When they saw Xu Qing's face half covered with his hand, they were all shocked.

But these people immediately realized that Dr. Ning's body had been replaced by someone else.

"Ning Zhiyuan is a middle-aged man who is not good at physical strength. They can't run far."

If Xu Qing said that those bandits were martial artists who could leave this place by walking on a 90-degree wall, he could accept it.

But if someone said that Doctor Ning was also an expert in this area, he didn't believe it from the bottom of his heart.

This means that the White Lotus Sect must have a secret passage hidden somewhere in this clinic!

Just as Xu Qing walked out of the door, he suddenly had an idea and thought of something.

Previously, when he was looking for Master Liu, he had also faced the situation where the murderer was elusive.

"Captain Shan, do you remember that the situation we had last time was very similar to this place? There is an indescribable sense of familiarity."

Shan Yongpei concentrated for a moment and nodded.

He had just followed the detectives to search each house, and he felt that this place was exactly the same as the abandoned house of Master Liu. Although the structure was simple, it was also the place where the White Lotus Sect appeared.

The White Lotus Sect, which was able to hide in large numbers in the downtown area, must have made some arrangements in the two houses.

"It's a simple matter. We just need to think of something in common between the two yards."

Xu Qing frowned and thought, and said as he thought: "The stove, chimney, bed... No, these things are almost destroyed. The only fixed buildings that cannot be destroyed are..."

Xu Qing stopped talking for a moment and glanced at the sealed dry well in the yard.

The detectives around the two men understood what they meant and immediately stepped forward to check the surroundings for traces.

A moment later, someone exclaimed, "The bricks sealing the well mouth are loose bricks!"

Shan Yongpei saw this and ordered everyone to leave, then he directly hit him with the butt of his knife.

With a loud "boom", the bricks covering the wellhead were shattered by its powerful force.

"It is indeed a dry well. There must be a different world inside. Sir... I, Shan, will go down first and lead the charge."

Shan Yongpei was afraid that the gang of bandits would run further away, so he relied on his superb martial arts skills and jumped down from the well.

This dry well was deeper than Xu Qing had expected, almost as high as a three-story building.

Therefore, it was not so easy for the other constables and Xu Qing. They had to find a strong and heavy hemp rope from outside, hang it down, and then slide down to the bottom of the well one by one.

The darkness at the bottom of the well was like a huge curtain, swallowing Xu Qing.

His eyes soon could not see anything clearly, but fortunately the constable who came down first was experienced and lit a fire to illuminate the place where they were.

There are cold and hard stone walls all around, and the air is filled with the smell of moist earth.

In the quiet and narrow space, there is a deep tunnel hidden in an inconspicuous corner. The edge there is very narrow, only enough for one person to pass through sideways.

"Where's Captain Shan?"

The first constable who came down answered, "I didn't see him."

"That's not right. There are so many bandits in that group. How could they escape through such a small hole? Well, the fire starter placed at the entrance of the cave was blown by the wind, which means that the ventilation inside is normal and it is not a dead end..."

(End of this chapter)