The Secret Chamber of the Card Game

The world 20 years ago.

Shao Qingge and Ye Qi looked at the vines hanging down from the cliff, and hesitated whether to follow.Ye Qi said in his mind: "This Ren Yuan took us up the cliff, what if he is the murderer and wants to kill us?"

Shao Qingge thought about it for a moment, and said: "How about this, you pretend to climb up first, and I will place an entrance to the Peach Blossom Spring nearby. If the situation is not right, we will retreat immediately, it will not be so easy for him to kill us."

"Okay, I'll block his sight, call Tao Yuanming as soon as possible." Ye Qi raised his head and said to Ren Yuan, "Brother Ren, wait for us, I'll come up right away."

Ye Qi followed the vines and slowly climbed up.Shao Qingge summoned Tao Yuanming in the dark, and opened the Taohuayuan—fortunately, Xiao Lou gave him two Tao Yuanming cards, the first card's skills were cooling down, and the second card came in handy.In the next three hours, he and Ye Qi can go back to Taohuayuan to take refuge at any time, even if they encounter a murderer, they don't have to worry.

After Shao Qingge arranged the peach blossom garden, he climbed up behind Ye Qi.

This vine is woven from weeds, as thick as an adult's arm, and very strong.There must be people who often climb this cliff. There are many sunken pits artificially stepped on the cliff, which can be used as a foothold.

Ren Yuan climbed very fast, and within a moment, the three of them reached the top of the mountain.

The top of the mountain 20 years ago was not a mass grave.The bright moon hangs in the sky, so close that it seems like you can touch it.The wind on the top of the mountain is very cold, and the dry trees around are rustling by the cold winter wind.Ren Yuan stuffed his hands that were red with cold into his sleeves, walked forward quickly, and said in a deep voice, "Both of you, follow quickly."

Ye Qi and Shao Qingge followed behind him.

After walking a few steps, Ye Qi almost tripped over a corpse. He hurriedly supported the tree trunk next to him, pretending to be terrified: "W-Where are these corpses?"

Ren Yuan made a "shh" gesture on his lips, and said in a low voice, "It's those bandits who robbed the gold and silver treasures of the town and ran to the mountains to take over the mountain as king, but because of the uneven distribution of the spoils, many people fought among themselves. People were killed."

Ye Qi had guessed the identities of these corpses a long time ago, and asked Ren Yuan to inquire, just to confirm.

Shao Qingge glanced quickly around, leaned over and roughly checked the nearby corpses.Although he is not a forensic doctor, he has also learned a lot about autopsy from Xiao Lou's ears and eyes.Most of the corpses had obvious knife wounds on their chests and abdomens, and the ground was covered with blood. Obviously, these people were killed in a fight, and the weapon used by the opponent should be a sharp knife.

Ye Qi still wanted to take a closer look, but Ren Yuan urged: "Let's go."

The two had no choice but to follow him.

After walking along the winding road for a certain distance, a simple wooden house appeared in front of us.The location of the wooden house is very hidden, behind a few big trees, it is easy to be overlooked if you don't look carefully.

Ye Qi said in his heart: "I remember, there will be no such wooden house in the mass grave 20 years later, right?"

Shao Qingge said: "Yes. Twenty years later, there will be graves everywhere on the top of the mountain. But now, there are no more than ten corpses on the top of the mountain. Those who died of starvation were not dumped here in large numbers. The corpses are in small towns. Throw it around."

Ye Qi nodded, and said: "There should be important people living in the wooden house, let's pay attention to it later."

The two communicated in the heart-to-heart channel, and Ren Yuan suddenly said: "You two wait for me here, I will come when I go."

He took a step forward alone, knocked lightly on the door of the wooden house, and said in a low voice, "Mother-in-law, it's me."

After a while, the door opened from the inside with a "squeak", and a wrinkled old lady came out with a hoarse voice: "Ren Yuan? You came up the mountain to find me in the middle of the night, what's the matter?"

Ren Yuandao: "I want to take some food back."

The mother-in-law nodded and said, "Okay, come with me."

The two walked into the wooden house one after the other, Shao Qingge and Ye Qi glanced at each other, Ye Qi quickly threw a bug into the house, and soon there was a sound of footsteps coming from the terminal of the bug - it should be the two The individual walked down the stairs on wooden steps, followed by a conversation with obvious echoes, probably in a closed secret room.

Ye Qi pricked up his ears, only to hear Ren Yuan say in a low voice: "Grandmother, two people broke into my house suddenly today and found my cellar. Those two looked very unfamiliar, and they said they came to Qingfeng Town after fleeing from other places. The robbers here robbed me of all my carry-on luggage. They caught me, but they didn’t hurt me, they just asked me for some food. I didn’t think they were bad people, so I left them temporarily.”

The mother-in-law sighed softly, and said, "In this world, we are all in danger, and you still have the time to save others...don't save the two white-eyed wolves, who will steal all your things and harm you."

Ren Yuan smiled and said: "I don't think they are vicious people. I can't make up my mind, so I asked my mother-in-law to make a decision."

The mother-in-law was silent for a moment, and then said: "We don't have much food in the first place. There are so many children who can't share it. How can there be food for foreigners? Now is not the time to be kind. Why don't we take advantage of the middle of the night and send them away?" Get dizzy and throw them out of Qingfeng Town. Life and death are a matter of life, whether you can survive or not depends on their good fortune, we don’t owe them anything.”

Ren Yuan hesitated for a while, gritted his teeth and nodded, "Okay, let's do what my mother-in-law said. I will call them into the house later, give them a full meal, and then throw them down the mountain in a daze. It can be regarded as the utmost benevolence.”

Shao Qingge and Ye Qi listened to the conversation from the bug, looked at each other, and couldn't laugh or cry.

Although my mother-in-law and Ren Yuan's approach is not very kind, but in troubled times, even self-protection is difficult. Food is limited, and one more mouth will make more relatives starve. No one has the obligation to save two strangers. Decisions are also considered normal reactions.If Ren Yuan really left the two of them and shared the food with them, it would be a saint.

Ye Qi said in his mind: "This mother-in-law's voice sounds very familiar, is it the one we met in the town during the day?"

Shao Qingge said: "It should be her, the hoarse voice is very recognizable, it may be because of a bad voice and mild asthma."

Ye Qi said: "What should we do next?"

Shao Qingge smiled helplessly, and said: "The only thing we can do is plan. They want to stun us, so we simply pretend to be stunned, lower their vigilance, and go up the mountain to investigate later in the night."

Ye Qi also agreed with this approach: "They may poison the food, be careful later."

Just as we talked about the communication in the spiritual world, the door of the wooden house opened again. Ren Yuan walked up to the two of them and said with a smile, "You two, mother-in-law invites you in."

Shao Qingge and Ye Qi obediently followed, Ye Qi pretended to be curious and asked: "Who is this mother-in-law?"

Ren Yuan said: "My mother-in-law is a very good person. She adopted many orphans in the small town, and I was also brought up by her. By the way, my mother-in-law taught me how to make rattles."

orphan?rattle?

These two key pieces of information made Shao Qingge and Ye Qi excited.

It turned out that the source of making rattle drums was not Ren Yuan, but the "mother-in-law" 20 years ago.

Since the mother-in-law is an expert at making rattles, it is very likely that every child she raised has a rattle given by her. Perhaps this is also why the murderer has a deep obsession with rattles, and even left the rattle at the scene of the crime. reason?

Shao Ye and the two entered the wooden house with doubts.

The interior area of ​​the house is much larger than imagined, with three floors: the second floor, the first floor and the basement.

The two were brought to the table on the first floor by Ren Yuan. This was a long table that could seat eight people at the same time. After Shao Qingge and Ye Qi sat down, the mother-in-law poured two glasses of water and took a Putting a plate of dry steamed buns, he said: "Let Ren Yuan say that the two of you are his friends? I don't have anything to entertain guests here, so you two can just fill your stomachs."

Shao Qingge glanced at the water in the glass - drug should be added.

Ye Qi also knew that the water must not be clean, so he pretended to take a sip from the cup, and said with a smile, "Thank you mother-in-law, we just ate at Brother Ren's and we weren't hungry. By the way, why does mother-in-law live on the mountain?"

The mother-in-law sighed softly and said, "We poor families don't have land deeds in our hands, so we can't build houses in the town. We can only build random houses out of wood in the wilderness to keep out the wind and rain."

Ye Qi sympathetically said: "So it's like this...Let Eldest Brother Ren say, he was also raised by you?"

The mother-in-law smiled, looked at the two of them, and did not answer.

Ye Qi estimated that the drug was about to take effect, so he pretended to be in a daze and fell on the table.Shao Qingge also lay down on the table cooperatively.Ren Yuan came over and patted Shao Qingge's shoulder lightly: "Brother Shao? Wake up."

Shao Qingge continued to pretend to be dizzy.

The mother-in-law stood up and said: "My drug works quickly, you can move the two of them out." She yelled upstairs: "Afeng, Aran, come down and help Uncle Ren."

Two children ran down from the second floor, together with Ren Yuan, they dragged Shao Qingge and Ye Qi down the mountain.

Being dragged all the way like a "corpse", Ye Qi pretended to be dizzy on the surface, but actually seized the opportunity to stick a bug on the soles of the three of them.The three left Shao Ye at the foot of the mountain and turned away. Ye Qi opened his eyes and asked Shao Qingge with a tacit understanding: "Shall we go back and check now? Or wait for midnight?"

Shao Qingge said: "Go now, if we are sent back to the original world after midnight, we will have no chance to investigate."

Ye Qi nodded, and together with Shao Qingge, they used teleportation cards to quickly come to the wooden house on the top of the mountain.

Ren Yuan had already descended the mountain.

Through the windows on the second floor, it can be seen that there are four beds on the upper floor, bunk beds, and four children sleeping on the beds, with only one head exposed.Judging from their hairstyles, there should be two boys and two girls.

Ye Qi said: "These four children are all orphans adopted by the mother-in-law, right?"

Shao Qingge said: "Yes. Is it possible that the murderer 20 years later is still a child?"

It is impossible for the mother-in-law to commit the crime. She looks more than 60 years old now, and the longest-lived person in Qingfeng Town 20 years later will not be 70 years old; so, is the murderer Ren Yuan or these children?Or, are these people just plot characters related to the case?

Ye Qi analyzed: "My mother-in-law has raised four children. Just now, when my mother-in-law called them to come downstairs to help, she called them by two names. Have you noticed that one Afeng and one Aran, that 'Afeng' would Could it be Qin Feng 20 years later?"

The mother-in-law called the children by their first names, and they called them by nicknames.

Could A Feng be Qin Feng?

If so, then the other three children who grew up with Qin Feng are very suspicious.Obviously, Qin Feng was related to the murder case of Li Gui. He wrote a register, and the names on it were all marked with red crosses. Most of those people have disappeared, and a few are still alive. He must know something.

Shao Qingge said: "Xiao Lou said at the time that Qin Feng was suspected, but he was not necessarily the murderer. The evidence about Qin Feng was too obvious and too simple. Therefore, he probably knew who the murderer was. Growing up with him We have to focus on the older three children."

Ye Qi said: "It's a pity that they all fell asleep. I didn't expect that Ren Yuan and my mother-in-law would conspire and throw us both unconscious and down the mountain. We can't continue to ask Ren Yuan for help, so let's think of a way."

Shao Qingge suddenly bent his lips: "I have an idea."

Ye Qi said anxiously: "Say it quickly."

Shao Qingge said: "We copied Brother Nine's [Masquerade] card before, and that card happens to be in my hand now, so I can pretend to be Ren Yuan, go into the room and chat with my mother-in-law, and figure out the four cards. identity of the child."

Ye Qi's eyes lit up: "Good idea!"

Shao Qingge pretended to be Ren Yuan, and went to knock on the door again, while Ye Qi lay on the roof and eavesdropped with a bug.

The mother-in-law opened the door and saw "Ren Yuan" who had gone and returned, and couldn't help wondering: "Why are you back again?"

Shao Qingge said: "I'm worried about the children. Are Afeng and the others asleep?"

The mother-in-law said: "They are all asleep."

Shao Qingge said: "Just now, you asked Afeng and Aran to help me and throw those two outsiders down the mountain. I think Aran's complexion is not very good. Is he sick recently?"

The mother-in-law said helplessly: "When Qi Ran went to dig weeds in the woods at the bottom of the mountain yesterday, he caught wind and cold. However, he is in good health. I showed him this morning. It shouldn't be serious."

Shao Qingge pretended to be enlightened and said: "The weather is cold recently, the children still have to be careful, if they get sick, it will be troublesome if the root cause of the disease is left behind, especially the two girls, I have to take care of my mother-in-law."

The mother-in-law smiled and said: "Ningshuang and Xiaoyun don't have to worry, they have been with me all the time, and these two children are smarter than the other, you can rest assured to go back to the town, don't walk around recently, so as not to be caught. The sweet potatoes I brought today are enough for us to eat for several days, I thank you on behalf of the children."

It turned out that when Ren Yuan went up the mountain, besides discussing with his mother-in-law how to deal with the two foreigners, he also secretly brought food for her mother-in-law.

Shao Qingge said: "It should. Then I'll go back first, mother-in-law take care."

He turned and left the wooden house, and said to Ye Qi in his mind: "Qin Feng, Qi Ran, Ning Shuang, Xiao Yun, four children, two boys and two girls, are all orphans who depend on their mother-in-law. Ren Yuan has been helping them, giving them They send sweet potatoes."

Among these people, who is the murderer who wiped out the Zhao and Chen families more than ten years later?