Farewell Flower Festival

After the pleasure boat docked, Chaoyan took Feicui ashore and the pleasure boat continued to row away.

Seeing that it was still early, Chaoyan decided to go to Hua Ninglu to see if there were any new rouge and powder to learn from. On the way, she saw Zhao Huan and a group of friends walking towards her from the opposite side, talking and laughing. Chaoyan turned around with Feicui and headed back home, fearing that she would lose control and rush up to beat him up.

On the way, Chao Yan changed her mind again and decided to go to the Jiuxingsi first to see if Mu Tianling was there. Maybe she could take this opportunity to take a look.

Just as she arrived at the gate of Jiuxingsi, Chaoyan saw Mu Tianling and Qianfeng coming out of the door, and her plan to visit was ruined. Seeing that Feiyu was not there, Chaoyan asked a question, and Mu Tianling said that he was going to perform other tasks. Chaoyan asked if it was dangerous, and Mu Tianling looked at her and did not answer.

After Mu Tianling got on the carriage, Qianfeng quietly told Chaoyan that Feiyu was sent to protect her secretly, and Chaoyan felt warm in her heart.

When Chaoyan was about to get on the carriage, she heard the sound of horse hooves. She turned her head and saw a group of people running towards her. Before Chaoyan could see what the leader looked like, a hand reached out from behind the curtain and accurately grabbed her arm, pulling her into the carriage. Immediately, Mu Tianling told the driver to leave.

Chaoyan pushed aside the curtain and looked back through the car window, asking Qianfeng who was the leader.

Qianfeng told her that it was Governor Yuan, one of the four governors of the Jiuxingsi, who was in charge of the public security of East City.

Governor Yuan had a formidable face, with a scar on the right side of his cheek and a pair of narrow and sharp eyes that looked like two knives when he looked at people.

One of his men behind him grabbed one end of the rope and tied the other end to a prisoner's hand, forcing the prisoner to run on foot following the horse.

The other person was covered in dust and his clothes were torn and covered with grass debris. He must have been dragged for a distance because he ran out of energy.

After the group of people stopped, the pair of knife-like eyes swept across the departing carriage. Governor Yuan jumped off the horse and with clean and neat movements, he led his men to escort the prisoner into the Jiuxingsi.

In the carriage, Chao Yan asked curiously, "Your Highness, do you have a bad relationship with Governor Yuan?"

Mu Tianling looked at the book in his hand and said, "How do you know?"

Chaoyan complained in her heart that anyone could see it. If they were so close, would they not even say hello? But now was not the time to argue about this. She told Mu Tianling what she had heard from Furong and asked him if he wanted to send someone to investigate. He nodded.

At night, after everyone in the house fell asleep, Qianfeng and Feiyu sneaked in to investigate and found a locked garden inside. After they climbed over the wall using their lightness skills, they saw a strange scene.

At breakfast the next day, Qianfeng reported the results of last night's investigation to Mu Tianling, and Chaoyan also listened in.

Qianfeng said that there was a large area of ​​flowers planted in the locked garden, and those flowers could glow.

The first thing Chaoyan thought of was fireflies. Qianfeng shook her head to deny her guess. The next moment, she seemed a little hesitant and expressed her doubts.

"Will-o'-the-wisp?" Chao Yan was a little surprised, then realized something and his face changed, "There must be someone buried underneath."

After Mu Tianling went out, he went to the Jiuxing Division as usual. After saying a few words to Captain Yu, Captain Yu left with a team of people.

Half an hour later, Captain Yu led his men to surround Zhao Huan's private residence. As soon as the servant opened the door, Captain Yu led his men in and said that a thief had committed theft last night and fled to the nearby area, and that every household needed to be checked, and asked the servant to gather everyone in the house.

Under the supervision of the two officers, the servant did not dare to disobey and brought the maids and servants in the house and the two concubines over.

Captain Yu was routinely asking for everyone's names, but before he had finished, an officer came running over to report that a locked garden had been found in the back and the criminal was most likely hiding inside.

The servant looked panicked and went forward to whisper to Captain Yu, saying that the house was bought by Zhao Huan and that he wanted to use the reputation of the Marquis' Mansion to make Captain Yu turn a blind eye and search other houses.

Captain Yu said that the criminal was very dangerous and must be arrested as soon as possible. The servant wanted to persuade him but Captain Yu suspected him of being an accomplice and he did not dare to say anything.

When they arrived at the locked gate of the garden, Captain Yu asked someone to break the door open. As soon as the door was opened, a strong scent of flowers hit them in the face.

There is a large field of bright hydrangeas in the garden, and the fragrance floating in the air is layered, covering up all other smells.

Captain Yu observed the growth of the flowers and asked his officers to start digging from the most lush area. After only two shovels, a piece of white hand bone was revealed.

After all the bones were dug out, the scene before them was horrifying.

Lush flower roots wrapped around a dozen skeletons, nourishing extremely bright flowers that exuded a sickening scent of death.

......

After Captain Yu came back, he had all the people in the house taken back to the Jiuxing Division to await trial, and he also sent a man to report to Mu Tianling.

Afterwards, Mu Tianling took people to the Marquis' Mansion to arrest the person, but was stopped by Zhao Zhong and his wife.

Zhao Zhong questioned Mu Tianling's intention to arrest people without any evidence and was seeking revenge. Mu Tianling said that the evidence had just been dug out of the ground and more than a dozen lives were at stake, so he asked Zhao Zhong to think carefully about how to save Zhao Huan's life.

Zhao Zhong still refused to cooperate and asked the guards to block Mu Tianling's way.

Seeing that both sides were about to fight, Qianfeng hurried over from outside to report to Mu Tianling that the person had been caught.

It turned out that Zhao Huan had escaped from the back door out of guilt, and was caught by Qian Feng right after he escaped. Before coming, Mu Tianling had sent people to make arrangements around the Marquis' Mansion to prevent Zhao Ce from taking the opportunity to escape.

After the man was caught, Mu Tianling took his men and left.

Zhao Zhong asked the butler to go and find out the situation, and asked his wife to bring Furong to the palace to plead with Concubine Yin.

Zhao Huan was taken into the private residence. He kept cursing all the way and threatened to make Mu Tianling pay the price.

But when he was taken into the garden at the back, his face gradually became one of horror. When he saw the dozen or so skeletons wrapped in flower roots, cold sweat kept coming out of his forehead.

The air was filled with a strong mixture of floral scent and the odor of rotting bones, which made people feel nauseous.

"Using the scent of flowers to cover up the stench of the corpse, you are smarter than I thought." Mu Tianling said.

Zhao Huan pretended to be confused and said he didn't know what he was talking about. Mu Tianling asked the coroner if he had finished the autopsy. Captain Yu replied that he had just finished the autopsy and immediately had the coroner brought over.

The coroner reported the results.

The longest time since death of these victims was more than ten years, and the shortest was nearly half a year. Among them, four skeletons were blackened, indicating death from poisoning. Six had cracked skulls, fractured ribs and limbs, indicating beatings. Two had broken cervical vertebrae, and it was impossible to determine whether they were strangled or strangled. The cause of death of the body with the shortest time was best preserved.

The coroner demonstrated on the spot how the victim was killed. Someone grabbed the victim's hair from behind and repeatedly hit his forehead against a hard object, causing his death.

While the coroner was demonstrating, Zhao Huan lowered his head guiltily, with cold sweat covering his forehead.

When Mu Tianling asked him if he remembered anything, Zhao Huan strongly denied it and said he knew nothing.

Mu Tianling asked Captain Yu to take his men out first, and he wanted to interrogate them personally.