Kyushu · Endless Nagato

Chapter 56: Scam (3)
"But those caves are harmless! It's just a lie!" An Xingmian was furious, "It's just a scam set up by the wicked, how could they be so easily fooled! Those are treasures, priceless treasures!"

Luo Xue sighed: "Faith makes people strong, but it can also make people blind. I am powerless to stop all of this, even if I break their legs and cut off their heads, so what? So, I can only rely on you. You must expose everything hidden behind this conspiracy, use iron-like evidence to clear up the grievances of Tianzangzong and Nagato, and calm down those angry Tianzangzongmen."

"I understand, I will do my best," An Xingmian said, "but I don't understand that the secret of Tianzangzong is hidden so deep that even my teacher still doesn't know the truth. I only found an unexpected insider to inquire about it. Why do you know so clearly?"

"It was just a coincidence," Luo Xue said, "During that time, I had been running around trying to rescue the arrested long-door monk. One night, I originally planned to take advantage of the most negligent moment before dawn to sneak into the One or two people were rescued from a prison in Tianqi City. As a result, a young monk named Shu Lin successfully escaped from prison at night. So I followed him all the way, trying to protect secretly, but I didn't expect that the order given to the pursuers was to shoot and kill , shot him before me. Although I rescued him, he was too wounded to recover. But before he died, he told me all this with the last of his strength, and exhorted I must find a way to destroy those book caves."

"But it seems that you, like me, don't believe that kind of statement." An Xingmian said.

Luo Xue rubbed his nose: "I have been a killer for the first half of my life. I am used to all kinds of conspiracies and schemes, and I dare not believe anything. Now I choose to trust you, and I hope you will shoulder the responsibility of saving the elders. The responsibility of the door."

"I will." An Xingmian nodded solemnly.

Yizhixiang Tavern in the west of Tianqi City, although the scale of the store is small, the decoration and furnishings are not as good as those of well-known restaurants, and the wine and food it sells can only be considered average, but the business has always been booming, and there are many drinkers.This is mostly due to the milf boss lady nicknamed "Yizhixiang".The proprietress is said to have been a widow in her 20s, and she is over forty now, but she looks like she is in her thirties, with fair skin and a handsome face, especially those red phoenix eyes that seem to be able to talk, which really attracts many drinkers to come here Patronize.

But tonight, the most eye-catching person in Yizhixiang is no longer the proprietress "Yizhixiang", but two visitors from afar. It's called Ren Jie, which is a very common and common name, paired with two ordinary and mediocre faces.However, their actions are not mediocre. They always spend a lot of money to invite people to drink, just to collect rumors of strange things in Tianqi City over the years.According to folklore, who doesn't have a lot in his stomach?Naturally, everyone is willing to approach this man and woman, tell some stories to cheat and drink.Some people even directly fabricated stories about themselves, but the people next to them never revealed it-if someone is taken advantage of, who will kill or not?
On this night, it was the turn to tell the story of Emperor Shengde’s era. It stands to reason that Emperor Shengde’s age was very close to the present, and more people remembered or had heard of it, but everyone was silent instead. Occasionally someone would tell a few stories , and they all heard that it was a false talk made up and made up, which missed the point at all.An Xingmian can understand this situation very well: You can talk about things in ancient times as you like, but the closer you are to today, the more careful you have to be, in case any story offends Huangwei or other things that can't be offended Big shot, that would be bad.So he was also very patient, constantly calling Yizhixiang's proprietress to serve wine, and at the same time making up some other jokes to liven up the atmosphere.So in the end, he managed to collect a few stories from those years. Two of them happened in the 11th year of Shengde. The story of the strange disease, both stories are scary and weird, regardless of the authenticity, even if they are true, it is absolutely difficult to connect with Nagato or the Jin Wuwei who left the palace.

Both of them were a little disappointed, but on the surface they were still full of joy. They accompanied the drinkers all the way until late at night, and the crowd gradually dispersed. Except for a stick of incense that seemed to be able to stay up all night, there was only A sleepy old man got off.This person has a big red rosaceous nose, a head of messy silver-gray hair, and a lot of patches on his clothes. It seems that he is a decadent poor man who lives in poverty but still throws money into the jug.Such people are very common in the marketplace, and they are often the object of help and enlightenment by the long-door monks, but now An Xingmian really doesn't have the heart to perform the duties of a long-door monk.

"Looks like that's it for tonight," he sighed to Xue Huaiqing, "Let's go back to the inn. Lady proprietress, pay the bill!"

Yizhixiang smiled and twisted her water snake waist to get the account book. The two stood up, and the old man with a bad nose on the wine table next to him suddenly sneered: "It's a pity that the real big thing is to use a bunch of nonsense stories to cheat wine." On the contrary, no one dares to speak, hehehe."

An Xingmian immediately stopped in her tracks, turned around, and asked respectfully, "Old man, if you have any folk anecdotes, please tell me. I am very grateful."

The old man squinted at him: "I think you two young people are serious in your work, and you are not bad, but in this kind of market place, facing this group of cowardly and timid market people, what can you ask?" Come on? The real secrets are dangerous, and you will not be able to find out."

An Xingmian was startled. Hearing that the old man spoke well, and looking at his eyes, even though his eyes were drunk, he could still see a bit of sharpness. He knew that although he was down and out, he must have had an unusual past. He sat down on the table and continued to say respectfully: "Can I invite the old man to have a drink or two and listen to the teaching?"

The old man laughed and said, "I have already behaved like this, what can I teach you? But you are a pretty good young man, so let me tell you a real story, which happened in the 11th year of Shengde. "

An Xingmian's heart skipped a beat, and she shouted loudly, "Miss Boss, don't rush to pay the bill, just two more pots of Amber Fairy!"

three

You look at my poor appearance now, you must never have imagined that when I was young, I was once very successful.In the 11th year of Shengde, that is, 33 years ago, I was only 34 years old at that time, but I was already the owner of Yuanchun Hall, a famous medical center in Tianqi City.At that time in Tianqi City, as long as my name, Song Chengguang, was mentioned, everyone would give a thumbs up and say "young and promising".But in the 11th year of Shengde, I fell into a big somersault, and finally became what I am now.

I am ashamed to say that although I am the owner of a medical center, my medical skills are quite poor, but what I am good at is the way of doing business.As the head of the museum, I hired famous doctors with high salaries and made money by relying on other people's medical skills. Under my command, the most outstanding doctor was the famous doctor Ouyang Duan.Ouyang Duan is lazy and crazy. He often likes to be lazy, and he drinks like his life. He often gets drunk at home for two days. I love and hate him, but I have to use him, because he can attract enough popularity for me , With popularity comes money.Later, with his superb medical skills, Ouyang Duan was often invited into the palace to treat illnesses, which was more effective than imperial physicians, which added glory to my clinic.

At that time, I often said to myself in private: Until Ouyang Duan died, I probably didn’t have to worry about making a living. Duan unexpectedly a family of five were wiped out.

That scene was witnessed by me.At that time, Ouyang Duan hadn't shown up in the hospital for four consecutive days. I was so angry that I knocked on the door trying to find him out, but I didn't expect to witness the bloody death scene with my own eyes.The five members of Ouyang Duan's family, including him and his wife, his son, daughter-in-law, and unmarried daughter, all died, and the death conditions were extremely horrible - they were all sitting on chairs, their heads were chopped off, A ferocious Bloodwing Bird was painted on the wall of the main room, which was painted with their blood.

Have you heard of the Bloodwing Bird?That's right, it's the kind of bird that only appeared in legends. According to legend, it was born in Yunzhou. It is said that Yun Mie, the number one archer of the Yu clan in the past, once caught it with his own hands, but these are all unproven historical stories. Forget it, has anyone really been to Yunzhou?For the people of Apocalypse City at that time, what the Bloodwing Bird represented was actually a serial killer.This man in just three short months three years ago... Ah, you've heard the killer's story tonight?That's the best, I'll save some lip service.

All in all, Ouyang Duan was killed by the blood-winged bird killer. When he was found on July [-]th, because it was summer, the body had already rotted quite badly. According to his judgment, the time of death was estimated to be three or four days. It happened that he did not come to work. number of days.I lost one of my best doctors, but this is just the beginning of the nightmare.Because it is rumored that the doctor killed by the blood wing bird must have serious problems, either medical skills or medical ethics, and Ouyang Duan's medical skills must be good, so people have to doubt his medical ethics—that is equivalent to doubting Yuan Chuntang medical ethics.Our reputation plummeted, and the other famous doctors who were sitting in the hall couldn't bear the drag on their reputation, and they all left one after another.In addition, at that time, relying on the good income of the medical center, I embezzled a lot of funds to participate in the investment in Wanzhou's timber business. In the end, I was deceived by the traitor and lost all of it. Two unlucky things came together. Also powerless.

I used to be high-spirited, and it was hard to accept that the foundation I had created so hard was ruined, so I became addicted to alcoholism, and finally became... what you see today.But you must believe that the bloody bird-related murder I told is absolutely true. The reason why those people didn't tell it was because they were afraid of being implicated.

"Afraid of being implicated? What could be implicated?" An Xingmian was a little puzzled when he heard this, "Isn't it just a serial killer who slaughtered a famous doctor's family?"

"That's what's weird about this case," said the old and downcast Song Chengguang, "Tianqi is a big city, big enough to accommodate all kinds of strange theories, such a big case happened in Tianqi, it's frightening, but also It's nothing special, at least when the Bloodwing Bird killed three doctors in a row in Shengde's eighth year, it never prohibited people from discussing it. But that time, although there was no explicit prohibition, those who discussed it were often secretly warned or even detained , People are gradually afraid, and no one dares to mention it anymore.”

He poured a glass of wine into his mouth and smiled sadly: "It's the person involved like me who dares to speak out. Even if he is arrested and beheaded, what is there to regret? Woolen cloth?"

Xue Huaiqing squeezed An Xingmian's hand quietly, and the two exchanged glances, both a little excited.Although this crime sounds abrupt at first glance, it is very suspicious that it was forbidden to spread afterwards.Under normal circumstances, it is a common practice that the court strictly prohibits talking about anything, and there may be problems with anything.And more importantly, just now Song Chengguang mentioned a very crucial sentence, which was exactly what An Xue and the others had been looking forward to hearing.

"As you mentioned just now, this doctor Ouyang Duan...has he ever served in the palace?" Xue Huaiqing pretended to ask casually, "Then he is very powerful."

"As I said, he is more effective than the imperial physicians in the palace," Song Chengguang said, "The concubines and concubines in the palace often don't want the imperial physicians to see them, and they specifically ask old Ouyang to see them by name."

"Why are they all concubines? The emperor doesn't need him to look at them?" An Xingmian asked.

Song Chengguang chuckled: "This old man Ouyang is best at gynecology, especially he is the most confident in delivering babies, and never makes mistakes. I think back then, the concubine Yi had a difficult labor for two days, all thanks to old man Ouyang..."

I see!An Xingmian could no longer hear what Song Chengguang said later, he understood that he had finally found the key to open this secret door, and this key was called Ouyang Duan.The palace, the baby, the gynecologist who was mysteriously exterminated, all these seem to be connected by an invisible thread.Next, he will find the thread.

"That day was July [-]th. The auspicious day in the calendar, the auspicious day of the zodiac, it was the day I was destined to be a catastrophe...the day of calamity...July [-]th!" Song Chengguang was completely drunk, Lying on the table, muttering indistinctly to himself.

Only then did An Xingmian greet the proprietress to pay the bill, and at the same time took out a bank note and stuffed it into Song Chengguang's arms.After paying the bill, he was about to leave with Xue Huaiqing, but was held back by the proprietress.

"Guest officer, it stands to reason that we shouldn't talk too much when we run a hotel, but you have spent so much money with me these two days, I can't help but do this kind of favor," the proprietress said in a low voice. I was still young that year, but I clearly remember that at the beginning, everyone was still spreading various rumors, but after a few days, they were suddenly not allowed to talk about it, and anyone who talked about it might be unlucky. So it's best for you two not to inquire about this matter, after all, life is important, right?"

"Thank you for your kindness," An Xingmian said, "We will be careful."

He put two extra gold bahts in Yizhixiang's hand, and after walking a few steps, he suddenly remembered something: "By the way, has the last bloodwing bird killer been caught?"

"He was not caught. He was found after many years in a small roadside inn. He probably died of illness," said the proprietress. "He also left a diary, which described in detail his The process of committing several crimes. As for the reason for the murder, it is really similar to what everyone guessed, because he met a quack doctor and killed his mother and wife, so he went mad."

"Oh? Diary?" An Xingmian was very interested, "Is this case of Ouyang Duan mentioned in it?"

"It should have been mentioned, but it happened that the last few pages of the log were torn out. So no one knows the specific process."

"It's been torn off...it's more interesting." An Xingmian's mouth showed an intriguing smile.

When they returned to the inn, it was almost dawn, but neither of them felt sleepy, especially An Xingmian, who changed from his usual calmness and kept walking up and down the room, making Xue Huaiqing worry about the situation downstairs. People will come up to protest.

"Although I don't know the specific details yet, I think the general context is almost the same," An Xingmian said. "The cause of everything must be related to this doctor named Ouyang Duan. He must have spied on him when he was in the palace to do business." What a secret thing, so it led to silence."

"You mean, the killer Bloodwing Bird didn't do it?" Xue Huaiqing asked.

"I don't think so," An Xingmian said. "There is no reason for the Bloodwing Bird to come out to kill again after being silent for three years, and most importantly, if the Bloodwing Bird did it, why would there be someone above it?" It is forbidden to discuss this matter? I suspect that someone wants to kill Ouyang Duan, but is afraid of being traced, so he deliberately pretends to be the bloodwing bird, trying to draw people's attention away, so as to escape the crime. "

"It is indeed possible," Xue Huaiqing said, "In the past, there were corpse dancers who pretended to be Xu Mizi and committed crimes. Anyway, many people know that Xu Mizi likes to directly kill the living and take the corpses, but the final fate of those who pretended to be It’s all going to be miserable. But the Bloodwing Bird doesn’t have the skills of Sumeru, so there’s nothing I can do if it’s impersonated.”

"And the last few pages of his diary were torn out, which is even more suspicious," An Xingmian said. "Why do you have to tear up the part of Ouyang Duan except for the other content? Others may think that part is important." secret, but can we think about it the other way around..."

(End of this chapter)