Conan's physique? The Crown Princess is involved in a murder case again

The sunlight was like an invisible mountain, nailing the old man's hunched figure firmly to the uneven earth wall.

Where there is light, darkness is always present.

A few years ago, Zhang Bing had one leg broken because of gambling debts. The man who called himself Mr. Duan appeared on that day.

Master Duan gave Village Chief Zhang a sum of money enough to repay his son's debt. In exchange, Village Chief Zhang had to help Master Duan spread rumors that the God of Runhe was selecting a concubine and provide a list of women of marriageable age in the village.

According to the agreement between the two parties, on the first and fifteenth day of every month, the village chief would place a letter with accurate information under the stone statue of Runhe God under the guise of worshiping Runhe God.

Village chief Zhang is familiar with all the women in the village and knows which girls are pretty and easy to target.

Village chief Zhang has always been cautious about the girls from outside the village, and has only selected a few over the years.

The reason why Xu Wanru was chosen was because Village Chief Zhang saw the relationship between Xu Wanru and Bai Shaotong.

Village chief Zhang knew that a man and a woman like them who eloped in an illegal manner would not likely take the case to the government even for the sake of their family's reputation.

Although Xu Wanzhi was not very pretty, she was a pampered young lady who had been brought up in a boudoir. Her delicate skin and tender flesh were something that a rough and unruly girl from the countryside could not have.

In the past few years, Village Chief Zhang has only been providing information to Duan Ye and his gang, but has never been involved in the kidnapping of the girl.

In this way, he could lie to himself with a clear conscience that those missing girls had nothing to do with him.

At this point, Village Chief Zhang's emotions got a little out of control, but when he saw that the people opposite him had no words of comfort, he adjusted himself and continued.

"That's all I know."

"Do you know where these women have gone?" asked Magistrate Song.

Village Chief Zhang shook his head. "The other party only said that they wanted some pretty girls, but never mentioned where they were going. I guess they were sold to some brothel."

"Then how do we find this Mr. Duan?"

"It's always Master Duan who contacts me first, and I can't help you find him."

After saying this, Village Chief Zhang seemed to remember something, and carefully looked at Xu Xingyin standing in the corner. After a long pause, he hesitated and said, "But I do have a way."

"what?"

"I have no idea what I am doing, so I have been secretly investigating for years. Although I have not found out the identity of Mr. Duan, it is not a complete failure. This group of people may be doing the same thing in other places besides Jufengpo. The ones I know of are Lifeng Town and Wujiazhuang. They are both remote and poor places, so it is most appropriate to act in the name of the gods."

Magistrate Song took out a map, pointed to the two places mentioned by Village Chief Zhang and showed them to Jing Zhichen and Xu Xingyin, and said.

"They are all remote places at the junction of the capital and various prefectures."

Village Chief Zhang nodded and said, "Lifeng Town also borrowed the name of the river god, and Wujia Village used the name of the mountain god."

"You don't know, could it be that someone knows about these two places?"

"No."

As Village Chief Zhang spoke, he took out a box of letter paper from the house. Although the letter paper looked ordinary, it was specially made.

"On the fifteenth of this month, I will write a letter to Mr. Duan to calm him down and prevent him from discovering the abnormality of Jufengpo. You can set off for these two places as soon as possible. With Miss Xu's beauty, she will definitely attract attention. It will be like catching turtles in a jar, and we can naturally catch these thieves, right?"

"good idea!"

"nonsense!"

Two voices sounded in unison. Xu Xingyin, who said "good idea", was stunned. He turned his head and saw Jing Zhichen's ashen face.

"What do you think is good about this, Miss Xu Qi?"

Jing Zhichen's slightly unhappy tone made Xu Xingyin dazed for a moment. She curled her lips and thought, if someone didn't know, they would think it was Jing Zhichen who wanted to use himself as bait.

No matter what he thought, Xu Xingyin was still respectful to such a great Buddha as Jing Zhichen.

"Putting you in a trap and catching you all in one fell swoop, Mr. He, do you think there's anything wrong with that?"

"You are a weak girl, what good can you get from fighting against such evil people? If the thief fails to find you, and you get yourself involved, how can you let Magistrate Song explain to the Xu family?"

Jing Zhichen snorted lightly, and the words "long hair and short knowledge" were almost written on his face.

"Besides, with Miss Xu Qi's looks, I'm afraid she wouldn't be worthy of the thieves' attention."

"..."

Xu Xingyin almost couldn't hold back from spitting in Jing Zhichen's face. This guy's words were really annoying. Would he be suffocated to death if he didn't say the second half of the sentence?

Besides, even though Xu Xingyin never considered herself a beauty, she also believed that she was no worse than Xu Wanru, right?

Village Chief Zhang has seen all kinds of scenes in his life, so he was unusually calm about the minor quarrel between the two.

"It's not appropriate for Miss Xu to go alone, and those people don't dare to act rashly, right? In my opinion, it's better to find someone with strong martial arts to play with Miss Xu and imitate Miss Xu and Mr. Bai. This way, we will definitely succeed."

"It's a good idea, but the choice of person is questionable."

Magistrate Song, who had been silent for a long time, spoke quickly this time, "I am a little old after all, and it doesn't look like that when I stand with Miss Xu. I wonder if Mr. He has time to help me?"

“That’s not impossible.”

"I guess it's very inconvenient!"

The two voices sounded again at the same time. This time, Jing Zhichen, who felt that he was being disliked, was the first to become unable to sit still. He turned his head to look at Xu Xingyin.

"Miss Xu Qi, do you think that I...can't protect you?"

Xu Xingyin quickly shook his head and cowardly took all the responsibility on himself.

"I just think that such a matter is not worth wasting Mr. He's time."

"It's okay. I have my own considerations."

"..."

Thus, the matter was settled so hastily, and everyone seemed satisfied except Xu Xingyin.

They had already decided on the direction of the follow-up investigation and when they turned around they saw Village Chief Zhang looking at them eagerly.

Jing Zhichen coughed lightly, and the servants beside him came forward to negotiate with Village Chief Zhang.

"Our young master will certainly do what he promised you. We have already sent people to secretly protect Zhang Bing, and we will also find a way to get him out of this mess in the future. If he can really turn over a new leaf in the future, it is not a bad idea for him to be willing to take the imperial examination."

It is not easy for people like Zhang Bing to live a normal life. Jing Zhichen and others also promised to continue to improve Zhang Bing's future, which is indeed a pleasant surprise for Village Chief Zhang.

"Thank you, thank you!"

Village chief Zhang, with tears in his eyes, bowed deeply to the group of people.

This shrewd old man, who had been trying to be strong for half his life, was ultimately defeated by his own flesh and blood.