Kyushu · Endless Nagato

Chapter 59 The culprit (1)
一
Qian Youcai was sitting in the yard, basking in the sun, smoking leisurely tobacco.He has been away from home for more than a year, but he has no nostalgia for his hometown.My hometown is so poor, and there is such a bad weather, life is miserable, not comfortable at all.Now in this small city in Zhongzhou, I live comfortably and comfortably, and I have a lot of money in my hands, so I don't have to work in the fields at all.Looking back, the decision at that time was really thrilling and wise, but at least I arranged the rest of my life for myself.He is a bachelor, and he has no family encumbrances, but now he can still visit the brothels in the city every now and then, and his life is so beautiful.

The more Qian Youcai thinks about it, the more he feels that he has good luck in this life, so he puts down the pipe and prepares to go to the casino to touch a few.But just as he stood up, there was a knock on the door.He basically didn't know many people in this city, so how could someone come to him?
He opened the door with some doubts, and suddenly his eyes blurred, his body soared into the air, he had already been kicked into the yard, and fell to the ground.Qian Youcai was dazed, and when he realized what happened, he was already firmly tied up, and there were two murderous strange men and women standing in front of him, who seemed to have malicious intentions.

"Two heroes! Take whatever you like, take whatever you want!" Qian Youcai is very smart, knowing that compared to this life, money and so on are just clouds.These two thugs are so skilled, you must follow them.

"Old Qian, it's not worth my shot for your rags," the male thug said with a smile, his tone didn't seem too vicious, "I just have a few questions for you, you just have to answer them honestly , not only will I not kill you, but I will also give you money."

Qian Youcai was surprised at first, and then delighted. His brain turned very fast, and he already guessed what the other party was going to ask, "Do you want to ask about the body of the long-door monk I dug up? Don't worry, you two. Guaranteed to tell the truth, and will not hide anything!"

"Old Qian, you are really a smart man!" The male thug laughed, reaching out to untie him, "I just like dealing with smart people."

This Qian Youcai was the farmer who dug a well in his backyard last April and dug out the immortal body of the head monk.Since An Xingmian and Xue Huaiqing thought it was suspicious, they naturally wanted to investigate.They threw the hard work of investigating the secrets in the palace to Yu Fengxian, a hapless ranger, and ran to Yuezhou to find the farmer, but in the end, they returned to Zhongzhou to find him.

"You two...how did you find me?" Qian Youcai couldn't help asking, "I pretended to be dead and ran away."

"We originally wanted to conduct an autopsy to see if you were murdered, so that we could confirm our guess," the man said, "but unexpectedly, when we arrived at the cemetery, my companions discovered that there was no corpse in the cemetery, so We guessed that you must have feigned death and escaped. We went around the village, the so-called money can make ghosts turn mills, and finally one person is willing to tell us your whereabouts, and that person is a coachman..."

"That little bastard Xie Guangxin!" Qian Youcai yelled, "I knew he was unreliable! I knew I wouldn't buy his carriage! I knew I stole his carriage and ran away!"

He immediately realized his gaffe, and he must not annoy the other party at this moment when the other party is in control of everything, and quickly put on a smiling face: "Don't mention that grandson...I'll tell the two of you exactly what happened. I He is a farmer who has been farming at home. He is single and has no money or a woman. He likes to smoke and drink, especially before going to bed. One night in April last year, I didn’t know what to eat. I ate something bad and felt nauseated all the time, so I made a drink in the afternoon, and went to sleep without drinking before going to bed. But in the middle of the night, I heard some noise behind the house. I got up and saw that it was a few people Digging with a hoe in my backyard."

"I quickly ran over to ask who they were, but...just like when I opened the door for the two of you, I was knocked over. The leader gave me a look: 'Did you not drink last night?' I I'm not stupid, and I understood it when I heard it. These bastards drugged my wine. They planned to stun me, so I could do things at night, but I was lucky. I just had a stomachache and didn't drink it. Broke through their treachery."

"They're planning to dig a deep hole in your backyard and bury the body of that eminent monk in Nagato, right?" An Xingmian asked.

"You guessed right, but they originally planned for me to dig it out unintentionally. Now that I see it, I can't do it unintentionally," Qian Youcai said, "But at that time their pit had already been dug. It’s been more than half, and it seems that it’s not easy to find a bachelor like me who is easy to drug, so instead of killing me, they gave me a thousand gold baht and asked me to help them finish the play.”

"So then you pretended to dig a well in the backyard and dig out the body, and reported it to the county magistrate," An Xingmian nodded, "But you were very smart when you took the money, and you knew to run away with the money."

"That's right, I'm not stupid," Qian Youcai said with a smug expression on his face, "Although I haven't read a book, I will listen to those who come from the village to talk about storytelling. I have heard too many similar stories. They How could it be possible for me to take the money to live a comfortable life? It would definitely kill me. So on the night the county magistrate took that shit 'immortal body' away, I bought Xie Guangxin's carriage from the village at a high price and ran away. .Anyway, I’m single and I have nothing at home. I just need to bring the one thousand gold baht with me..."

"Very well, thank you very much." An Xingmian patted him on the shoulder, "I have one last question. You have also dealt with those people. Can you guess their identities?"

Qian Youcai shook his head: "Then I really don't know. Although they are not masked, they are all the faces of strangers. Besides, how dare I look closely?"

This was An Xingmian's expected answer.He put a few more gold bahts into Qian Youcai's hand: "I'm surprised you, old Qian, you can exchange these gold bahts for drinks. Besides, you don't have to move tonight, we just want to ask about these A question that won't kill you."

Qian Youcai nodded and bowed his head: "That's it, that's it, the two of you are people of status at first glance, so naturally you won't care about scum like me. Walk slowly, you two, come to play when you have time..."

Leaving Qian Youcai, who is chatty but not lacking in fun, An Xue and An Xue smiled at each other.Now it's no longer a speculative inference, the ironclad is that the body of the Nagato monk is a hoax.This was obviously a plan that someone had set up long ago, concocted a fake corpse, put the metal plate in the corpse in advance, and lured the emperor into the trap step by step.It is a pity that there is no clue to find these people for the time being, so the last hope still falls on Yu Fengxian.

"The poison you gave to that Yu Youxia is not too heavy, right?" An Xingmian was a little worried, "If the poison occurs early, we have to replace it."

Xue Huaiqing smiled happily: "That's not poison at all, it's just a pack of kudzu root powder with some sugar."

An Xingmian was startled: "Won't he notice it?"

Xue Huaiqing shook his head: "No, as long as he believes that he has taken the poison, he will feel uncomfortable every day. The more suspicious he is, the more he will have the illusion of being poisoned. And the more he finds a famous doctor to replace him. He detoxifies, but can't detect the slightest toxicity, the more he will feel that the poison in himself is very serious. This Yu Fengxian is a person who is very afraid of death, even if the thought of "this may be a fake poison" flashed in his mind, he would never Take your own life as a joke."

An Xingmian was full of admiration: "It seems that you not only study the dead, but also see the living very well! 'Corpse dancers are also human', I said this for you."

When the two returned to Tianqi, Yu Fengxian was waiting impatiently for them, and when he saw Xue Huaiqing, he hurried up to greet him with a stiff smile: "I swear to God that I will never play tricks this time, you guys I already know his strength, isn't he hurting himself with his dirty tricks?"

"Well, I can't say for sure, safety first." Ever since getting to know An Xingmian, Xue Huaiqing has become more and more familiar with joking, "But you can swallow this medicine first, It can help you protect important internal organs such as the heart, liver and lungs, and reduce poisoning."

Yu Fengxian couldn't wait to take the hollow pill, swallowed it in one gulp, and then let out a long breath, as if feeling a little better.An Xingmian held back her laughter and asked him, "Mr. Yu, how is the matter we entrusted you to investigate?"

Yu Fengxian looked eager to show his merits: "Things in the palace are really difficult, especially this kind of past events more than 30 years ago. It is not easy to find one or two insiders, let alone let him tell the truth. That's it. But I spent a lot of gold baht and used a lot of strong connections. I finally found an old lady who used to be a maid in the palace and was later granted the status of a commoner by the emperor. She is terminally ill and her husband is dead. , I have no children under my knees, so I don’t have any worries, so I dare to tell me the truth. Otherwise, it will be difficult to buy that secret with money.”

"What kind of secret?" An Xingmian asked calmly, suppressing the excitement in her heart.

"At the end of June and the beginning of July in the 11th year of Shengde, a major event happened in the palace. A court lady had an affair with someone and gave birth to a child!" Yu Fengxian said mysteriously.

An Xingmian and Xue Huaiqing glanced at each other, and they were not too surprised. The appearance of an illegitimate child in the palace was originally expected by them.Xue Huaiqing asked: "Is there anything else?"

The two of them were not surprised, but Yu Fengxian was quite surprised: "Do you think that an illegitimate child in the palace is not a big deal?"

Compared with what we have experienced, an illegitimate child is really nothing, An Xingmian thought.But this couldn't be explained clearly to Yu Fengxian, he could only answer vaguely: "No, of course this is a big event, I mean, what kind of follow-up impact did this big event have. After all, the palace girl gave birth to an illegitimate child , will definitely bring about very bad consequences.”

Yu Fengxian nodded: "That's right, that's right. After the maid gave birth to an illegitimate child, she originally wanted to escape with the child, but due to postpartum hemorrhage, her body was extremely weak, so she had to entrust a foreign woman to take the child away. , I heard that the woman was a Tianluo assassin and the elder sister of the court lady. The emperor was furious when he heard about it, and sent Jinwu guards to chase them all the way, and finally forced the two of them into a thatched hut. The female Tianluo was helpless. Next, I set myself on fire, so I only brought back two charred corpses. Anyway, this matter ended like this. Later, the emperor strengthened the surveillance of men and women in the palace, making everyone feel in danger. That's another story .”

These processes are roughly under the control of An Xingmian and Xue Huaiqing, but there is nothing new, and the most terrible problem has never been solved: if it is only the illegitimate child of this court lady, even if it is the illegitimate child of a certain concubine, How can it not trigger this big conspiracy that intends to destroy all the book collection caves.And if it was to save an illegitimate child, what secret evidence is there for Nv Tianluo to hide?

Yu Fengxian saw the confusion of An Xingmian and Xue Huaiqing, and also guessed that this historical secret, which seemed shocking enough to him, was obviously not to their liking, so he shut his mouth knowingly, stood aside Dare to speak, for fear that if Xue Huaiqing is in a bad mood, if he doesn't give him an antidote, it will be over.On the other hand, An Xingmian couldn't bear to see his anxious look, and patted him on the shoulder: "Mr. Yu, don't be nervous, this news is still very important. Let's take our leave first, what else needs to be investigated, We'll come to you again."

The two were full of doubts, and when they returned to the inn, they didn't know what to say for a while.The illegitimate daughter of a court lady is naturally a scandal of adultery in the palace, but that's all. No matter how angry the emperor is, the most he can do is to arrest the court lady and her adulterer and punish the nine clans. How can it harm the entire Nagato?This is not just making a fuss over a molehill, it is basically throwing a catapult at a mosquito. There must be some secrets in it that need to be dug deeper.

An Xingmian leaned on the bed with a troubled expression on his face, Xue Huaiqing couldn't help laughing seeing him sighing.An Xingmian glanced at her: "Sure enough, corpse dancers are also human beings. It used to be abnormal for you to smile, but now it's abnormal not to smile."

"That's all thanks to you, those who are close to ink are black," Xue Huaiqing smiled, "Don't be so troubled, at least we are approaching the truth step by step, instead of being completely played by others like a few months ago You don’t know it in the palm of your hand, don’t you? The evidence is at this point, but it’s actually the last point. You should be happy instead of upset.”

"I should really be happy, but this last point is too difficult to make up," An Xingmian said, "but you are right, the more annoying you are at this time, the less conducive to clear thinking. Take a day off and let's go shopping .”

Xue Huaiqing shook her head: "Don't mention the word 'shopping' anymore. I haven't shopped enough a few days ago? I haven't shopped as much in my life as I did in those few days. I can memorize what Tianqi City looks like. .”

An Xingmian smiled: "No, let's not watch Tianqi City today, and set off at night to watch sideshows."

"Juggling?" Xue Huaiqing was taken aback for a moment, but soon understood, "Has the Qiuyan Squad come to Tianqi City?"

An Xingmian nodded: "That's right, let's meet Tang He, if we're lucky, we can meet Big Brother Bai."

"Why can I see Mr. Bai?" Xue Huaiqing asked.When she heard Tang He's name, she didn't know why, her heart trembled slightly, and an uncomfortable soreness began to pervade.

"I think these two are a bit of a joke." An Xingmian squeezed her eyes, "During the dungeon, after the two of them resumed their activities, Big Brother Bai went to Tang He if he had anything to do, and Tang He didn't seem to hate him at all. He. She is a girl who walks in the market. A man like Brother Bai who is gangster may be particularly attractive to her. I think that maybe Brother Bai will follow Tianqi. He has never been coy people."

"You want to match the two of them?" Xue Huaiqing was very surprised, "If I remember correctly, you seem to be very interested in Miss Tang, right?"

"That's a thing of the past," An Xingmian said, "People always have to go out of the past to find new goals."

Xue Huaiqing's heart jumped again, always feeling that his "new target" seemed to be something special.But no matter what, she could also see that when An Xingmian mentioned Tang He, he really no longer felt the helpless feeling of frowning and frowning in the past, but was cheerful and relaxed like mentioning an ordinary person's name, which showed that he They are all telling the truth.Thinking about it this way, the strange soreness in my heart disappeared at once, replaced by a sudden joy that quickly permeated my whole body.She no longer resists such joy and warmth, on the contrary, she enjoys all of this, enjoying the happy time of more than half a year since she met An Xingmian.

Maybe I'm becoming less and less of a corpse dancer, Xue Huaiqing thought, but I like it now, very much.

"Then let's go to Qiuyan Class to visit Miss Tang." She smiled and said sincerely.

two

Compared with small cities, the competition among various performance groups in Tianqi City is much fiercer. After all, it is under the feet of the emperor, and the people are well-informed, and some small tricks cannot fool people.But the Qiuyan Class has no pressure in this regard, their performances are always the most gorgeous, with all kinds of breathtaking stunts.So even in Tianqi, Qiuyan Troupe's performances are still full, and tickets are hard to come by.

(End of this chapter)