snowstorm

In broad daylight, Xie Qiao was tied up and brought into the county magistrate's mansion.

The magistrate of Tai County was surnamed Li, and his name was Li Zhonglian. He had many wives and concubines, but he had only one son, so he was usually doted on.This crooked child whom he doted on was called Li Huaizhi. He was proficient in eating, drinking, whoring and gambling. Tired of playing with people before throwing them out.In this small town, Li Zhonglian almost covered the sky with one hand, so Li Huaizhi was used to domineering outside, and no one dared to provoke him.

That day, when he was looking for people in the street, he bumped into Xie Qiao. Seeing that Xie Qiao had evil intentions, and seeing that the other party was dressed in coarse linen and linen, he concluded that he was a foreigner with no power, so he could rest assured. kidnapped the man back home.

The appearance of the county magistrate's mansion is simple and low-key, but once you enter the yard, you will see another world, very luxurious.Xie Qiao squinted at the flowers, trees and decorations in the yard—a small county magistrate in a small town has more luxury than many officials in Jinling City.

"Aren't you going to wait for Grandpa to hug you?"

Li Huaizhi said this obscenely, but he pushed Xie Qiao's shoulder mercilessly.Xie Qiao didn't speak after being pushed like this, but continued to walk forward.His eyes were dark and dark, and there was a cold and murderous look in them.

It's just that Xie Qiao walked ahead, Li Huaizhi didn't see his eyes after all.

This is already the inner courtyard, so Li Huaizhi ordered the attendants to go down, and he pushed Xie Qiao impatiently to a room.

Suddenly, there was a pungent fishy smell, Xie Qiao frowned, and saw a maid coming out of a path carrying something in a basin, just passing by here.Li Huaizhi also frowned from the choking, he kicked the maid hard, covered his nose with his sleeve and yelled: "What is this?! Why is there such a stinky thing in the mansion?!"

The maid was kicked by him and shook her body, and the contents in the basin spilled on the ground——Xie Qiao could see clearly that the contents were black and red, which seemed to be some kind of blood.The maid seemed to be very afraid of this Li Huaizhi, and when she heard the words, she didn't care about the dirt on the ground just now, so she knelt down and kowtowed: "Master, please forgive me, this is the blood that the master brought over from the servants, and said it was to get rid of... that courtyard The evil in it!"

Hearing this, Li Huaizhi frowned even more, his face was wrinkled like a chrysanthemum, he shook his sleeves impatiently and disgustedly, and said, "Hurry up, hurry up! Don't try to get in trouble here!"

"Yes! Yes!" As soon as the maid heard this, she quickly walked in one direction with the basin in her hand.

Xie Qiao looked at the direction the maid was going, her eyes darkened.

The room was just a few steps ahead, Li Huaizhi dismissed the servant girl, then pushed Xie Qiao into the room with a smirk, he followed in, turned around and closed the door.As soon as the door was closed, the room became dark. Xie Qiao was standing in the room with his back facing the man, his hands tightly tied behind him.Li Huaizhi's eyes dimmed, and he couldn't wait to step forward without even caring about the wound on his wrist - he had already ordered that no matter what happened in this room later, no outsiders were allowed to come in.

The light in his eyes was dark and dirty - this person just injured him, and he would never let this person leave this room alive.

……

Hearing the voice behind him, Xie Qiao narrowed his eyes, with a sneer on his face.The moment the man stepped forward, Xie Qiao turned around abruptly, stretched out his leg and kicked the man's belly hard, Li Huaizhi fell straight on the ground with his eyes wide open, and was about to yell when he saw The person whose hands were bound just now knelt down halfway, and his knees hit his abdomen violently. For some reason, his hands, which were tied well just now, were now completely unbound.Xie Qiao quickly tore a piece of cloth from the corner of the opponent's robe, and stuffed it into his mouth.

Xie Qiao's piece of cloth was almost stuffed into his throat, and his eyes began to roll out, his body trembling slightly like a meat worm.

Xie Qiao frowned in disgust, then pulled out the dagger hidden in his sleeve, and stabbed the restrained man's head hard.

Seeing a shiny knife shadow piercing his head, the man was so frightened that he kept struggling, and let out a "woo hoo" cry, his pants were soon wet, and a smell of urine permeated the air. Xie Qiao frowned even more.

It's just that the knife didn't stick to his head in the end, but stuck to his temple and pierced into his hair, and nailed it to the ground.Li Huaizhi's temples felt cold against the blade, the hairs all over his body stood on end now, he only regretted that he provoked Zun Shashen to come back, and wished he could pass away immediately.

Xie Qiao looked at the man condescendingly, raised his eyebrows and said, "Your life is in my hands now, do you want to take it back?"

Hearing this, Li Huaizhi nodded tremblingly.

"As long as you answer my question, I will spare your life." A sneer appeared on Xie Qiao's face: "If you dare to speak out, this knife will immediately plunge into your head. Do you agree?"

Li Huaizhi yelled twice, Xie Qiao took out the cloth stuffed in his mouth, and threw it aside in disgust.

"Forgive...forgive...I'll say anything..." Li Huaizhi looked at the knife next to his eyes and felt cold sweat all over his body.

"The hairpin of Concubine Jing's tomb, where did you come from?"

"Stolen... from my father..."

"Where did your father come from?"

"I...I don't know..."

Xie Qiao raised his eyebrows when he heard the words, then took out another dagger from his sleeve, and pretended to stab at the other temple.

Li Huaizhi's face turned pale with fright, he suddenly closed his eyes and said indiscriminately, "I... I overheard it, it was my father who sent someone... to dig it from, from Zhoucun! Hero, please forgive me!" ah!"

"Really?" Xie Qiao weighed the dagger in his hand and asked.

"Really...really! I heard it with my own ears that day!"

"very good."

Xie Qiao put the dagger in his hand into his sleeve, and pulled out the dagger on the ground to put it away. Li Huaizhi saw that the other party finally took the dagger away, and was about to breathe a sigh of relief when he saw Xie Qiao smiled, and then picked up the dagger in his hand. The low stool on the floor hit him in the face with a "bang".Li Huaizhi's eyes darkened, and finally passed out completely.

Xie Qiao controlled his strength, and seeing that the man lost consciousness completely, he stood up leisurely, first took out a handkerchief from his bosom to wipe his hands, and then stood away from the man with disgust on his face some.

He inquired about Zhou Village from this person, since this person is the parent and son of the county magistrate, and he heard it by accident, the news should be correct.Now he has to go to Zhoucun to find out the situation and leave a letter for Lu Jue here.

He wandered around the room a few times, and finally found a pen and paper in a corner. He unhurriedly lit the lamp, and wrote a few lines on the table. Add one more sentence.After finishing writing, he stuffed the letter into his arms, and opened the door again—that idiot ordered no one to enter the courtyard, so there was no one in the courtyard at this time, so Xie Qiao left the door openly.Standing in the yard for a moment, the matter of the maid just now flashed across his mind, and he walked in one direction.

There are many flowers and trees in the gardens in the south, so although there are many servants in the county magistrate's mansion, Xie Qiao took advantage of the flowers and trees to cover her and walked to a courtyard smoothly along the road that the maid just walked.

As soon as he entered the yard, an unpleasant fishy smell came to his nostrils. Xie Qiao hid behind a big rock, and he endured the smell and looked outside. He saw that all the doors of the rooms in the yard were pasted with yellow paper symbols. Those maidservants were spilling blood on the talismans one by one.

Since there are yellow talismans here, it is not difficult to guess that the bloody stool is dog blood.

Xie Qiao subconsciously felt that this matter was strange, and was thinking about how to figure it out, when she saw the maid she just met limping towards this side with a bloody empty basin, as soon as she approached, Xie Qiao Covering her mouth, she entered the gap in the rockery behind the boulder.

"Hush," Xie Qiao pressed the maid's mouth, and said, "I don't mean any harm, I just want to ask you some questions, and I will reward you after you answer the questions, are you willing?"

This is a blind spot, and the opponent is a man whose strength is far stronger than her own, so the maid had no other choice, so she nodded tactfully.

"You know, I can shoot much faster than you can scream."

After hearing this, the servant girl nodded again tremblingly.

So Xie Qiao let go of her hand and went straight in: "What happened here?"

The servant girl was afraid that her throat would move, so she whispered: "One of our master's concubines went crazy some time ago and was driven back to Zhoucun. He asked us to put some talismans here and sprinkle some dog blood to get rid of bad luck... ..."

Zhoucun again?Xie Qiao frowned slightly, and asked again: "Why is she crazy?"

After hearing this question, the servant girl was stunned for a moment, and her voice became even softer, with a little fear in her voice: "Also...not the first one to go crazy, the previous ones, all, died..." But this time This one has a good brother who keeps coming here to find his sister, so she survived.

Xie Qiao frowned, then put the silver coin and a letter in the servant girl's hand, and said: "This is your reward. In a few days, a young man like a fairy will come to this mansion, and you will give this letter to Him, he will give you more rewards. If you want to leave here, just tell him then, and he will naturally do it for you."

The servant girl was taken aback, tears welled up in her eyes, she carefully hid the things in her bosom, and nodded solemnly.Xie Qiao smiled, then turned and left.

……

As soon as Xie Qiao left the county magistrate's mansion, he bought a horse and found out the way to Zhoucun. Therefore, when Lu Jue arrived in the city two days later, there was no sign of Xie Qiao in the city.

Although Xie Qiao was not here, he left a message after all.Lu Jue didn't find anyone on the street, so he had to go back to the inn.As soon as he entered the inn room, he saw Xu Lai looking at him anxiously.

Lu Jue frowned, and asked, "But did you hear about Qiao Er at the inn?"

Xu Lai hesitated to speak, his face was almost distorted, and he finally said with determination: "I just heard a rumor downstairs..."

"What rumor?"

"They said that the day before yesterday, the magistrate arrested a young man in the mansion to play with. The man said... said, that he was your good friend..."

Lu Jue stood up abruptly, and Xu Lai stepped forward and said, "They said it in private, slave... I went up to ask, but they refused to say anything—not even money..."

Lu Jue's face was completely livid at this time: "He is Qiao Er?!"

"I don't know," Xu Lai burst into tears, and said, "I asked Xiaoer about it, but Xiaoer said that His Royal Highness stayed in this shop for a few days-there were black eyes in His Highness' eyes during those few days. Qing, it's easy to recognize—but His Highness hasn't come back since the day before yesterday, so this kind of contact..." Xu Lai's voice was getting weaker and weaker, and he was very anxious at this moment. If something happened to Xie Qiao, then he would die Not enough anymore.

"Snapped!"

There was a clear sound, Xu Lai was startled, and when he looked up, he saw Lu Jue's face was terribly ugly, veins appeared faintly on his forehead, and there was a pile of broken porcelain lying quietly beside his feet——Xu Lai opened his eyes wide, He has never seen Lu Jue like this before. Jinling Lu Huaiyu is well-known and is a role model for the children of the aristocratic family. Mr. Lu has always been calm and easy in dealing with things, not to mention throwing things, and he rarely even has a bad face... But at this time ...

Xu Lai suddenly felt sour in his heart—maybe his Highness's expectation might be answered...

"I'll go to the county magistrate's mansion to find someone. Take care of the doctor and wait for news at the inn."

Lu Jue's voice was a little lower than usual, he turned around and left after leaving these words.Therefore, Xu Lai didn't even have a chance to refute. Although he was worried, he could only obey.