the enlightener says

Cai Yan giggled, and said, "I've seen a lot of dead people on the battlefield, anyway, they won't suddenly stand up and bite people, so there's nothing to be afraid of."

This is probably something that only a woman like Cai Yan can say.Qin Ke turned his head, just in time to see that Gongsun Li, who followed in last, was leaning on the wall and retching, with a painful expression on his face.

Although Gongsunli who walked the rivers and lakes had seen corpses before, in such a dark environment, two corpses were placed in front of him naked, their skin was gray and dry, and there was even a person holding a severed limb and fiddling with it , It really made her a little uncomfortable.

Shen Dao still had the same expression, as if the two corpses were nothing more than radishes on the roadside vegetable stand to him, and the wind was blowing under his feet all the way.

"How is it?" Shen Dao asked.

"My lord." Wu Zuo first planned to salute, then found that he was still holding the severed arm in his hand, and then put the thing back, and then replied, "It's almost spelled, although there may be some mistakes, but roughly It should be fine."

Shen Dao nodded, and explained to Qin Ke and others: "When these corpses were found, some of them were incomplete, so I asked people to put them together, and then sewed up some places, so that they can be identified better."

Qin Ke was actually a little disgusted in his heart. After all, it is not acceptable for ordinary people to sew up the human flesh and skin of the corpse as clothing material, but he still walked forward and looked at the corpse on the table. The wound on No. There was a long cut in the lower abdomen revealing the internal organs, obviously it was a heavy blow.

"Is this the way of capturing thunder?" Qin Ke remembered that when he was fighting with Xue Yang, his simple sword was really powerful.

Wu Zuo wiped his apron with gloved hands, leaving a large trace of blood and lime: "I know Xue Yang, and I have dealt with him. Nine out of ten people who were stabbed by him Both of them have such big lacerations, you should be very clear about the strong energy and blood of the little grandmaster."

Qin Ke looked curiously at the work in front of him, feeling that he was not an ordinary person, then cupped his hands and asked, "Dare to ask this one."

"School Office Detective Captain, Hu." Shen Dao was not surprised that Qin Ke would ask such a question. If it were him, it would be strange for him to face a master with a small master. At the same time, he added: " Remember Master Zhou’s words? He will arrange someone to help you, it’s him, and you will have many opportunities to work together in the future.”

Of course Qin Ke remembered this, but he didn't expect the helper to be so strong, he immediately smiled and said friendly: "It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Qin Ke, it's..."

"Fifth Grade School Affairs Fuyou Langzhong." Hu interrupted him, with a coldness in his voice, making people feel that he didn't seem to trust people very much, "I know your official position, and I know who you will be next. It's my boss, but at a time like this, we'd better not get too close."

Qin Ke paused in embarrassment for a while, so he continued to look at Gongsunli, waiting for the recovery of this important witness.

During this period, Shen Dao didn't stay long, just said that there were still official documents to read, and then left the room.

Gongsunli retched for a while, and finally got used to the smell and eerie atmosphere in the room. She was lured to the table by the tiger, carefully identified the corpse, closed her eyes after just one glance, and then slowly opened her eyes. : "It's him, I've seen this person before."

"Are you sure it's the barbarian from that day?" Tiger asked rigorously, even holding the head of the corpse, turning it left and right.

Gongsunli only felt his stomach churning, and nodded vigorously, knowing that this was the barbarian who had spoken to Xue Yang when he handed over the goods, but in less than a month, this man had already become This look.

Could it be that the incision was left by Xue Yang to silence him?

Then she was led to the second table, but this person was no longer someone she knew, and Hu was not surprised by this, after all, whether it was clothes or figure, the second corpse was not a barbarian , but they are Jingwu people who are not too common in daily life.

This is the shopkeeper of that warehouse, but I don't know if it was because of being affected, so he was killed by Xue Yang along with him.

Afterwards, the corpses placed on the ground were also uncovered one by one. After Gongsunli identified them, he indeed found those barbarians whom he had seen elsewhere.

It's just that such a result is undoubtedly not a good thing.All the barbarians were silenced, which meant that this clue was completely cut off. What Gongsunli had in his hands was no longer useful. Now that Xue Yang was still absconding, it would be even more difficult to find him.

Gongsunli finally checked the last face, it was a face that was almost split in two, stitched together by the tiger with very rough means, although the facial features could still be seen, but Gongsunli still couldn't help but look at the face. I vomited everything I ate this morning.

"This person... I've seen... the barbarians I saw that day are basically here, but there seems to be one... and one..."

"Is there another person not among them?" Cai Yan's eyes brightened slightly, took her words, and then looked at Qin Ke and Hu, "Is everything here? If so, at least it proves that there is one person who has not been caught. Xue Yang kept his mouth shut, maybe he ran away."

"That's right." Hu glanced at Gongsunli who was throwing up, and said thoughtfully, "Maybe it's not about running away? It's about this person... is Xue Yang's accomplice in silence?"

No one knows how to answer, because this is just a speculation.

"Is there any other way to find this person?" Qin Ke said, "Search the whole city with portraits?"

"It's hard." Hu shook his head. The portraits described by this description are very distorted. Even if barbarians are a feature, there are no three thousand or two thousand barbarians in a big city like Jianye City. It is extremely difficult to find them. When this person encounters such a thing, he will inevitably sneak into the darkness and will no longer appear in front of others.

Qin Ke also knew this, so he just mentioned this, otherwise he would have asked Gongsunli to cooperate with the painter to depict the appearance of the barbarians.

At this moment, Cai Yan, who was examining the corpse carefully, suddenly made a voice: "Look, this corpse seems to be a little different."

Almost immediately, everyone focused their eyes on Cai Yan.

Chapter 675 Spice

Cai Yan directly lifted the right hand of the corpse, and Qin Ke's bold look made the corners of Qin Ke's eyes twitch slightly, "Look, although the flesh on the arm is stiff, it is still different from ordinary people, and from the calluses on the tiger's mouth, it is still different from ordinary people. , should practice martial arts all year round."

Hu personally inspected the corpse, so he was naturally not clear about this point, so he nodded and said: "Yes, I guess, this person is the inside line of these barbarians hiding in the warehouse, presumably these barbarians passed the news through him, but no matter what No matter how I search, I can't seem to find out which family this person belongs to, it seems that he is just a river and lake person who has been wandering in the market all year round."

This is quite normal. After all, there are so many people coming and going in and out of Jianye City. Although the number of practitioners in this world is only a few out of thousands of people, in a big city like Jianye City, even Jianghu gangs have many practitioners. By.

Employers don't have to use their most core people. Naturally, it is difficult to follow the clues to find out which noble person is behind him.

But what Cai Yan wanted to talk about was more special than that. Just as she moved her hands slightly, she also lifted up the guy's fingers: "Although you used lime to make embalmed, but his There was a spice smell on my hands and some red flakes in my nails."

"spices?"

"Yes. You men may not be very clear, but I have smelled this spice, the name is 'Xiaran', the color is red, and the hands and feet of the infected people will turn reddish for several days, hence the name. But even in In the Tang Dynasty, this kind of spice is also very expensive, so it is very rare." Cai Yan explained sentence by sentence.

"Maybe it's because the warehouse just happened to have a batch of spices like this? After all, the warehouse itself is a place where goods gather, so it's normal to have spices." Gongsun Li said.

"It's unlikely. Even in the Tang Dynasty, such spices are very expensive." Cai Yan shook her head. She came from such a wealthy family as the Cai family, so she naturally knew more about Xiaran than Gongsunli. How can an ordinary small warehouse have the ability to import such goods."

After Hu lowered his head to examine the fingers of the corpse, he recalled in his mind the appearance of the corpse when it was discovered, "But I have checked the entire warehouse, whether it is the group of barbarians or the goods in the warehouse, there are spices, but there is absolutely no Xiaran."

Cai Yan laughed again, and said in a low voice: "There is another special feature of Xiaran spices. Once it is made and stored for half a month, the taste will change from strong to quiet, and the red color will become lighter. It turns white. The inside of the nail is so conspicuous, so Xiangfang is generally made of advanced materials, and it will be mixed when it is in place."

"So, this person must have been in contact with someone within half a month, so he came into contact with Xiaran, or this person himself wears Xiaran on weekdays?" Qin Ke pondered.

"Smart, I'll reward you with a bunch of candied haws next time." Cai Yan blinked, and reached out to touch Qin Ke's bun, but thought that his hand had just touched the corpse, so he only smiled lightly.

Hu suddenly raised his head, and then hoarsely called out someone, and immediately outside the door, a guard of the school office wearing a tight black robe lifted the felt cloth and walked in, saying respectfully: "My lord."

"Go right away and find out which places in Jianye City have entered the materials of Xiayan spices in the past half a month."

"Yes."

Cai Yan waited quietly for the tiger to issue orders, then stood up and clapped his hands and said, "Then let's go and see first, how many incense houses in Jingwu have made Xiaran in the past half a month?"

Qin Ke also thinks so, although Xiangfang may not necessarily be a good clue, no matter where this person came into contact with Xiaran, but at least through Xiaran spices, maybe the person behind the scenes can be found Who is it.

"Okay." Hu was naturally excited, but Qin Ke, Cai Yan and others still had to suppress his emotions, so he nodded heavily, but then his eyes fell on Gongsunli.

"In this case, this girl should also go with us." Hu Hu said slowly: "Perhaps she can provide clues at some point."

The so-called clues naturally refer to the escaped barbarian.

Although Gongsunli agreed, his body was involuntarily chilled by Hu's cold gaze.

There are not as many incense houses in Jianye City as in Ding'an City of Tang Dynasty. After all, compared with the extravagance of Ding'an City in Tang Dynasty, Jianye City is more like a city that is full of rich and noble families but always maintains a calm pace. Zhuge Wanling himself advocates frugality , and even promulgated decrees many times to prohibit excessive extravagant banquets for guests on some festivals, and the result naturally caused some aristocratic families to slander behind their backs.

But in this way, Qin Ke and the others felt a lot easier.

After some inquiries from many incense workshops, everyone learned that there are about five incense workshops in Jianye City that can make Xiaran, mainly located in the south and north of the city, and they are one of the favorite places for the ladies of the government.

But the four of them checked a few incense shops, and the answers they got were that they had never sold Xia Ran at all recently, and this kind of answer also made them a little disappointed.

By the time of the last one, Hu was already a little impatient. He walked straight to the counter and swaggered to the counter, facing the shopkeeper who was struggling with the account books on the abacus: "Shopkeeper, I want to know, just half a month later. In the end, who has taken Xiaran spices from you, it is best to show us the account books."

The shopkeeper was startled for a moment, then smiled reluctantly and said, "Guest, this is..."

But the next moment, a token was already in front of him, and Hu's voice was as cold as a piece of ice, and there was no doubt about it: "The school office is doing things, and I understand the answer."

So the shopkeeper of Xiangfang almost went to the counter to look up the account books.

"It seems that he is quite proficient." Cai Yan has seen this scene several times along the way, and couldn't help but pursed his lips and smiled.

But Gongsunli only felt disgusted by Hu's behavior. After all, he was a little scared by Hu's cold gaze just now in the school office, so he couldn't help but scolded fiercely at this moment: "I know how to bully others."

"I'm just playing with power, but I'm definitely not bullying. If something really happened in Jianye City, it might not be a good thing for Xiangfang."

Hearing Hu's sudden answer, Gongsunli immediately closed his mouth. Unexpectedly, Hu was separated by some distance, and his ears were still sensitive. The faint answer made Gongsunli subconsciously shrink his body and approach Cai Yan.

This is probably the Jianghu people in Jianye City's natural fear of the government.

Qin Ke didn't think that what Hu said was wrong, but that Hu seemed a little withdrawn, or maybe he had something hidden in his heart, but he couldn't ask about other people's private matters.

After a while, the shopkeeper brought Xiangfang's account books over, and explained to everyone while flipping through the account books: "In half a month, our Xiangfang received some orders, but because of the production of Xia Dye, there are some orders. It's complicated, so most of them haven't had time to send it out yet."

Cai Yan just glanced at the account books, and then rolled his eyes: "You can just say which one has already been sent out, and it will save us from checking the account books again."

The old shopkeeper blushed, knowing that he was talking too much nonsense, so he could only honestly say: "The Gao family."

"Which Gao family?" Qin Ke's ears perked up, subconsciously feeling a little ridiculous.

"Of course it's the Gao family. There are only a few Gao families in Jingwu, and the other shabby households can't afford such good things as Xia Ran." The shopkeeper replied.

Indeed, there is only one really prominent Gao family in Jingwu.

That is the noble family behind the great general Gao Changgong, the Gao family headed by Gao Cheng.

But if it was really the Gao family, how could it be?You must know that Gao Changgong has always been Zhuge Wanling's best friend, and the Gao family has always been Zhuge Wanling's staunch backing. That being the case, why does such a family hide armor privately, and why do they send someone to silence them?

Is it true that there is an intention of treason?

"Impossible." Qin Ke subconsciously said.

Chapter 676 Red Sachet

Today's weather is fine, and even the Gao family's old house is covered with golden sunlight. The willow leaves are leaning against the small lake in the breeze and gently swaying, just like Qin Ke's current mood, as he looks across the tea table The old man who looked very idle, just felt that he had checked the wrong route at all.

"Drink tea." Gao Cheng, who woke up from the hangover last night, seemed to be in a good mood, and was very satisfied with the fact that the two juniors came to visit him today, so he personally made tea for the two of them.

Qin Ke and Cai Yan looked at each other, and then picked up the tea bowl and drank tea. Although they both wanted to get something about Xia Ran from Mr. Gao Cheng, if they asked in the face, no one would I know if it will scare the snake.

It's not that Qin Ke doesn't have confidence in the Gao family, it's just that in Qin Ke's view, the Gao family has no motive at all to hide armor and rebel - the Gao family is on the side of Zhuge Wanling in the court, and his son is Jing General Wu Gao Changgong, if even Gao Changgong wanted to rebel, Zhuge Wanling would have died a few years ago.

Therefore, Qin Ke just made the assumption for the time being: Someone inside the Gao family colluded with outsiders, but Gao Cheng didn't know about it. In this way, it only needs to track down that person. Not only is it not harmful to the Gao family, but it is very big. good thing.

"How about this tea?" Gao Cheng naturally didn't know that the two little guys in front of him had ghosts in their hearts. After he resigned from his official position, he is now an idle old man who raises birds at home, and has nothing to do with the affairs of the court. relationship, so it seems very calm to treat everything.

"Yeah, good, good." Qin Ke replied vaguely.

"A cow chews peonies." Gao Cheng sneered, and then turned his gaze to Cai Yan, "Little girl, your father is Cai Yong, that old boy can drink tea, I think your tea-tasting skill is not that bad go."

In fact, Cai Yan was already confident after taking a sip, and he spoke very briskly: "This should be the acre of green beauty planted by Uncle Gao himself? It is said that this is the tea tree you poured out yourself, Uncle Gao. Although the source is It comes from the Dragon Well that is often seen in the south, but you have cultivated it for nearly ten years, Uncle Gao, and it is already very different."

"People say that the four unique dragon wells are green in color, rich in fragrance, sweet in taste, and beautiful in shape, but the taste of Uncle Gao's Bimeiren is not strong at first drink, even a little weak, but after a while, the taste will return to sweetness. But it seems that it can come from the throat, moisten the lips and tongue, and last for a long time. It’s like a beauty covering her face. It may not be amazing at first glance, but the longer it takes, the more she will show her beauty.”

Gao Cheng's eyes lit up slightly, and he smiled, "That's right, she's indeed a formidable girl, if she can tell the truth about me, Bimei, so quickly, I've invited the right person for this cup of tea."

After speaking, he looked at the clear color of the tea, and said with some sarcasm: "If you put on heavy makeup, it's just rouge and vulgar powder, so what kind of beauty is it? It's a pity that Jing Wu drinks my tea." People are mostly stupid pigs, very boring."

He was intoxicated with himself, but Qin Ke could only sit in a daze, and he couldn't relate this tea drinking to any beauty. At this time, Cai Yan suddenly leaned into his ear and laughed in a low voice: "Don't Hearing his eloquence, my dad told me how many times he went to a brothel when he was young, and how many times he had a 'beauty' with heavy makeup."

This made Qin Ke burst into laughter, and then covered his mouth hastily and in a bit of embarrassment, pretending that he was just choking on the tea and began to cough.

Cai Yan, who caused Qin Ke to be rude in front of Gao Cheng, still maintained a calm smile, and the gesture of refilling Gao Cheng's tea was even more elegant like stippling, as if what she just said was not what she said, whispering to Gao Cheng Talk about the pros and cons of tea.

Of course, all of this was just foreshadowing, and another quarter of an hour later, Cai Yan talked about spices following the "tea fragrance" just right, and naturally turned the matter to "Xiaran" spices.

"Xiaran, that stuff is not bad. Although the fragrance is strong, it's not pungent, but it's a bit too complicated to make." Mr. Gao Cheng didn't know the mystery behind Cai Yan's words, and replied with a smile, "But I heard that you Many young people in Ding'an City in the Tang Dynasty like to make them into sachets and wear them."

Cai Yan nodded, with a look of regret: "Yes, at first I thought that Jianye City is so big, it shouldn't be too difficult to buy some Xiaran, but unfortunately several incense shops said that it is not easy to buy, so I have to wait Only in January."

Qin Ke didn't speak, but his eyes flickered slightly when he lowered his head to drink tea.

He knew that what Cai Yan said was a lie. Although Xiaran didn't have many audiences in Jianye, the big incense houses would always have some stocks in stock, but Hu had already said hello to let those incense houses unify their caliber. In other words, after the war between Tang Guo and Jing Wu affected the shipping, it is not afraid that the Gao family will notice anything.

Gao Cheng and Cai Yan hit it off, and he didn't want to see the little girl feel sorry, so he naturally pondered, and said after a while: "I remember I bought some at home recently, if you want, I'll give it to you."

Cai Yan made a surprised expression, and exaggeratedly said: "Where does this make it, Uncle Gao, don't you use it yourself?"

Gao Cheng shook his head, laughed and said, "I don't like these things at all, most of the incense is sandalwood, but a few female family members in the mansion are still interested, so I bought some, it's just a reward .”

Female dependents?

Cai Yan narrowed her eyes, and her voice became sweeter: "Then thank you, Uncle Gao, but I'm curious, which sisters also like Xiaran, if there is a chance, I can get to know each other."

While talking, a powerful guard with a long knife hanging from his waist came straight all the way, probably saying that someone from some family came to visit and asked the old man if he wanted to meet him.

For this kind of thing, Gao Cheng only felt that it was cumbersome, so he just waved his hand and asked Gao Yanzong to meet him on the grounds of hangover, and the guard was also used to this kind of thing, and he turned and left without even showing a little surprise .

But Qin Ke's eyes stayed on the guard for a long time.

The guard was not good-looking, and even had a hideous scar on his cheek, causing one of his eyes to be completely destroyed.

But it is such a person who is showing a lone wolf-like temperament all over his body, but there is a red sachet hanging on his waist, with a pattern of mandarin ducks playing in the water embroidered on it.

That taste seems to be Xiaran.

Qin Ke stretched out a hand, and gently began to write on Cai Yan's palm.

An hour later, the two finally left under Gao Cheng's reluctant persuasion, and immediately let the hired carriage go straight to the school office after leaving the house.

"The person you are talking about is Mr. Gao's personal bodyguard. His name is Gong Wu. He has the cultivation level of a small master, and he manages many people under his command." Hu just went to the file library and found this person. name.

However, Qin Ke now has a completely different guess in his mind: "What if the person in the warehouse was not killed by Xue Yang, but this Gong Wu? As far as the knife on his body is concerned It's not hard to do that."

Cai Yan looked at him, his eyes brightened slightly: "You mean, maybe someone imitated Xue Yang's sword technique and killed the people in the warehouse?"