Neverland

The little prince was so frightened that he was trembling, holding Xu Muzhou's clothes with both hands, his whole body was extremely stiff, like a piece of wood, Yan Cen forcibly broke his face.

Xu Muzhou watched from the side, afraid that Yan Cen would break him.

The little prince looked at Yan Cen in horror, as if he was looking at an evil ghost that was looking for his life.

"You—" the little prince let out an almost inaudible sound from his throat, like a mosquito humming, and the half-cocked arrogance was gone.

Yan Cen squeezed his chin slightly with his fingers and pulled him towards him, then bent down again, looking straight into Xiaodouding's eyes.

"You have been in Song Xueyao's mourning hall tonight. You are hiding in the corner behind the coffin, just like every night these days." Yan Cen slowed down his voice, and said in a very slow and special tone: "You Didn't see anyone, didn't hear anything—except the wind blowing against the window sills."

Xiao Douding stared blankly into his eyes, then nodded hesitantly after a while.

—Here it comes again, Xu Muzhou thought.A trick that has been used all over the world, Yan Cen's trick is really tried and tested, and now it is used on children.

"To you, today seems to be a little quieter—" Yan Cen continued: "Because the people who keep watch on weekdays don't know where they went, and you didn't hear their voices. This is because you are tired and sleepy today , so I fell asleep before the hour... right?"

The little prince's eyes were a little distracted, he quietly let go of Xu Muzhou's fingers, and unconsciously repeated: "...that's right."

"But it's cold and hard here, and you don't sleep well, so you have nightmares at night." Yan Cen paused, then deliberately lowered his voice, slipped his thumb down the little prince's chin, and gently stroked his cheek throat.He said threateningly: "You will be very scared when you wake up tomorrow morning, and you won't dare to come to Changqiu Palace again at night."

The little prince seemed to have really seen some terrible scene, he couldn't help shaking, and nodded again.

"Very good, good boy." Yan Cen said, "Go to sleep."

As he spoke, he straightened up and snapped his fingers next to the little prince's ear. Like a little robot that had been unplugged, Xiao Douding cut off the power instantly, and his head fell on Xu Muzhou's shoulder, falling asleep immediately.

Xu Muzhou: "..."

"That's a good move." Xu Muzhou said calmly, "You either give me one as well."

"It's this little thing that reminded me." Yan Cen glanced at Xiao Douding, and explained: "Song Xueyao wants to stop, but of course the corpse of a queen of a country cannot rot. There are only a few ways to stop corruption in ancient times, Song Xueyao There is no trace of poisoning on the face, presumably ice was used."

"Ice?" Xu Muzhou asked back.

He instantly thought of the wooden frame under the coffin. Although the wooden frame was hard, it was very narrow, and it was too difficult to hide someone.The man in black just now was also able to lie flat on the ground because of his thin body.

"You mean, the wooden shelf was originally filled with ice?" Xu Muzhou asked.

"Yes, I should have noticed it earlier. It's just that I haven't been in this era of missions for a long time, so I didn't remember it for a while." Yan Cen sighed and said: "Xiao Douding is young and ignorant, and he doesn't understand the meaning of life and death." When they bumped into the coffin, they must have felt that the coffin was not as cold as the previous two days, so they felt that Song Xueyao had "warmth", so they wanted to seek her asylum."

Xu Muzhou felt a little incomprehensible: "...that's how you found someone under the coffin?"

"Half and half." Yan Cen said: "He hid well at first, but unfortunately the angle of view from below is too limited. When I went to catch Xiaodouding, he probably thought I found him, and his originally restrained breathing rate was messed up for a moment. .I thought it was my illusion, but later I found out that there is still space underneath, so I wanted to try it.”

Yan Cen said it lightly, as if all his guesses and reasoning could be covered by "try it out" and "no loss if you guess wrong".

But Xu Muzhou knows that these seemingly insignificant "try" are not as simple as he said.

"Besides, when we fought just now, I saw a waist card on that person." Yan Cen continued, "That's the waist card used by people in the inner palace...there is a sign of "exposed" written on it."

"Is that man an eunuch?" Xu Muzhou frowned and asked, "The way of the road?"

"The dew of the dew." Yan Cen said, took Xu Muzhou's right hand, and wrote this word on his palm.

Yan Cen's hands were still stained with warm blood, and the blood stains left a mark on Xu Muzhou's palm like ink.

Xu Muzhou looked at the bloodstains on his palm and fell silent.

"It's not a name." Yan Cen said, "I saw it when I was looking at the bedside records...it's the title of a noble concubine in the harem."

"What broken title." Xu Muzhou finished complaining, then looked at Yan Cen, and asked in a bad tone: "So you mean, the eunuch just now should be someone close to the noble concubine?"

"Yes, and I was wondering what he was going to do hiding in Song Xueyao's mourning hall." Yan Cen pointed to Xiao Douding in Xu Muzhou's arms, and said, "There is a reason for every human behavior—this little thing Hiding here is because I don't want to part with my mother, so what is the purpose of the imperial concubine's subordinates staying in the mourning hall?"

Xu Muzhou understood immediately, frowned and said: "...you think the imperial concubine has something to do with Song Xueyao's death."

Yan Cen didn't say yes or no, he straightened Xu Muzhou's collar that was running around just now, and motioned him to go back with him.

"In the harem, as long as there is a conflict of interest, it may be the murderer of Song Xueyao." Yan Cen said: "Except for cases involving family relations or team interests, the most direct suspects are those who are in high positions and have a prominent family background. Women... Because once Song Xueyao dies, the position of empress will be vacant, and these women are the easiest to take over."

Yan Cen was injured on his side, and it was not convenient for him to move, so he walked very slowly.Xu Muzhou glanced at him, then slowed down silently, maintaining the same speed as him.

"Whether Concubine Lu is the murderer who killed Song Xueyao or not, it is a very abnormal thing for her confidant to appear here." Yan Cen said: "Even if she didn't kill someone, she must be an insider—return [-] yuan." In other words, she at least has suspicions about Song Xueyao's death."

Yan Cen's voice was very soft, not at all the same as when he frightened Xiao Douding just now.

The dark clouds in front of the moon had completely dissipated at some point, and the moonlight diluted by the halo lightly fell down, coating the palace city with a layer of frost.

The huge Miyagi was unusually quiet, except for a few sporadic birdsong, only the footsteps of the two of them remained.

"So that's why." Xu Muzhou said, "Is this the reason why you ran into other people's knives?"

Xu Muzhou spoke bluntly, but Yan Cen was not angry. He smiled and asked instead: "Have you ever thought about what Song Xueyao's obsession is?"

"Aside from those environmental and personality factors, Song Xueyao didn't die normally, so it should be to find the truth, or give her justice." Xu Muzhou said: "Now we can only investigate in this direction, the progress bar of hydrangea is not It is ambiguous, and the specific task direction cannot be determined."

They had only walked a few hundred meters along the palace road when they were chasing the man in black, and they had already returned to the main hall of Changqiu Palace in the time it took to speak.

The little prince was not big, and he was not light at all. Xu Muzhou hugged him all the way, his arms were sore.

"What should I do?" Xu Muzhou said, "It's not safe for such a small child to be left alone here, so why don't you find a eunuch to pick him up?"

"Let's put it aside first." Yan Cen said: "It's the place where he was found before, and someone will come in and look for it later."

Xu Muzhou thought so too, the man in black was scared away by Yan Cen just now, he must not dare to come back tonight.

He walked around the mourning hall, found an inconspicuous corner behind the screen, and laid the little prince on the ground.Xiao Douding couldn't sleep well, holding on to his clothes pitifully, his face wrinkled like a little bun, Xu Muzhou worked hard for a long time to free his sleeve.

Xu Muzhou came out from behind the screen while straightening his crumpled sleeves.Yan Cen was resting on a chair by the door, the wound on his waist was very obvious under the flickering candlelight.

The blood was not as severe as the one just now, but the clothes had been ruined in sevens and eights, and the circle around the wound could not be seen. Yan Cen wiped blood stains with his hands.

Yan Cen didn't seem to care much, he sat there and looked at himself for a while, loosened a part of the belt that had been fastened tightly, and pulled the fabric to a bigger tear, making it look tattered.

Xu Muzhou picked up a candle from the ground and walked up, and put it on the coffee table beside Yan Cen.Then he half-knelt down, pulled Yan Cen's hand away, and looked at his injury with the light.

"Let's talk now." Xu Muzhou said, his tone was very low, sounding like he was very tired.

Xu Muzhou sat on one knee on the ground, looked up at Yan Cen, as if he didn't even bother to get up.Subconsciously, Yan Cen wanted to stretch out his hand to pull him, but he found blood on his hand when he stretched halfway, so he took the next best thing and rubbed his face with his knuckles.

He has always liked this kind of small gesture, which is a precursor to the words in his mind.

"Since you think that Song Xueyao's obsession is related to her death, have you ever thought that Song Xueyao's obsession is to bring the murderer to justice?" Yan Cen asked.

Of course Xu Muzhou thought about this question, and put this possibility at the top of his current guess list.

"If you want to make things big, there's absolutely no need." Xu Muzhou said, "Secret investigations are also investigations."

"But a secret investigation cannot give Song Xueyao justice." Yan Cen said seriously: "Mu Zhou, you have to understand the gap between this world and modern society... The operating system of this society is based on individual wishes."

Xu Muzhou was taken aback.

"Of course we can investigate secretly, so if we find out that Concubine Lu Gui is the murderer, how can we fulfill Song Xueyao's obsession?" Yan Cen said, "If we tell Wei Wenxuan directly, what will be his first reaction?"

Xu Muzhou suddenly realized what Yan Cen meant. The harem is the harem, and the outsider is the outsider. No emperor would want two big men with no relatives and no reason to check on his woman in his harem without permission. Wen Xuan came to find them two to investigate the haunting incident, not Song Xueyao's life or death.

It was so difficult for him to change his mind in such a short period of time that he forgot that this is not a world where there is no evidence to convict.

"But this is different." Yan Cen looked at the blood stains in his hands, and smiled: "There are people in the harem who hide their secrets and carry sharp weapons, which can even hurt the commander of the Pingjian Battalion... Do you think he will feel a sense of crisis in this kind of thing?"

Xu Muzhou understood that it was not the mastermind behind the scenes that Yan Cen wanted to scare with this incident, but Wei Wenxuan himself.

He wanted to put this matter on the bright side first, put himself in the same camp as Wei Wenxuan, and guide Wei Wenxuan to think according to his needs from the standpoint of a loyal minister who "cared about the emperor's safety", so that Get rid of your worries, lest this mission will die before it even starts.

So after dawn, Yan Cen seemed to be following orders, but in fact Wei Wenxuan was making decisions according to his ideas.