Murder

Sima's house was decorated very festively, round and fat red lanterns were hung up one by one, running water mats were also set up long, and there were several corners around the street, the grandeur was as great as the food portion.

Chi Yebai and Sima Feng walked back slowly, and the banquet was not over yet, they saw Si Mafeng's bodyguard Si busy at the banquet from a distance.

Ah Si greeted the two of them, and then stared at Sima Feng with a rather strange expression.

Sima Feng: "What's wrong?"

Ah Si: "Master is angry because I can't find you, Young Master."

Sima Feng smiled, and suddenly thought of a key point - he quietly went to Qinshuangyuan to listen to the music because he felt that the house was too noisy, and no one knew about it except Ah Si.How did Chi Yebai find there?

He grabbed Ah Si: "Bastard, did you tell me where I'm going!"

"Yes." Ah Si was very calm and awe-inspiring, "Master asked me where you were, and I said you went to play with Miss Shuanghua. Master asked me what to play, and I said no Just play the piano, fight tea, match poems, draw eyebrows, arrange flowers and touch little hands."

Sima Feng's blue veins twitched: "You actually said that! Who touched her hands with her eyebrows and flowers!"

Ah Si hurriedly looked at Chi Yebai: "Young Master Chi is here too, that's what I said, it's true, young master, you must believe me..."

Chi Yebai was too lazy to listen to the two singing, so he walked into the mansion with a calm expression, and went straight to find Sima Feng's father.

Sima Feng's father is Sima Liangren, the former head of the Sima family.

Going back hundreds of years, the people of the Sima family did not live in Pengyang City, but lived in the Imperial City for a long time.Sima Liangren's grandfather's grandfather personally drew up ninety-nine and eighty-one criminal laws when he opened the dynasty, which is still in use today.After that, several emperors continued, and the influence of the Sima family penetrated deeply into the imperial court, and finally made the little emperor on the Dragon Throne fearful.Sima Shi was very keen, and immediately withdrew from the temple. Seven third-rank officials in the court and Sima Kong, who was then Minister of the Ministry of Punishment, resigned at the same time.The emperor was not in trouble, and the Sima family quickly left the imperial city, moved their family to Pengyang, and settled down there.

Sima Kong is Sima Feng's grandfather.

The old man left the government, and instead devoted all his energy to various strange cases and tricks, riding around on a small brown horse, which greatly satisfied his interest.Sima Feng traveled around with his grandfather when he was a child, and when he was four or five years old, he would squat next to the dead body to watch Sima Kong and Sima Liang's autopsy. Instead of being afraid, he was very interested.Because he is short, he can often find small details that adults can't see. Sima Kun likes his grandson very much and asks his son to teach him well.Sima Liangren, apart from training his son, would open the door to take in two or three apprentices from time to time, among them was Chi Yebai's mother.

Chi Yebai walked a few steps quickly, thinking that his mother and Sima Feng were of the same generation, a mouthful of old blood was stuck in his throat, and he couldn't spit it out or swallow it.

The person who made him restless followed closely from behind.

"Xiao Bai." Sima Feng said, "Don't believe Ah Si's words. You know that two of his ten sentences are true."

"What about you?" Chi Yebai glanced at him, "It would be good if two of your sentences are true."

Sima Feng felt a little wronged: "I have always been true to you."

Chi Yebai automatically ignored his words, and irritably pushed away Sima Feng who was leaning towards him.Sima Feng was half a head taller than him, this extra height often annoyed Chi Yebai, and he struck the palm of the wind with his first hand.Sima Feng dodged very quickly, dodging behind Chi Yebai and was about to put his head on his shoulder again.But before he put it on, the scabbard in Chi Yebai's hand was pressed against his throat.

Sima Feng stared at the back of Chi Yebai's head: "That's amazing, Xiaobai, your martial arts has improved again. Do you really want to beat me?"

"Don't hang around that kind of place anymore." Chi Yebai ignored his question, and suddenly said when he took his sword back, "After all, it's Fireworks Lane, you stay there for a long time, to yourself...to Sima's family Bad reputation. All the girls in Pengyang know that Sima Feng is a libertine, how can you marry..."

Sima Feng took a step back, put his hands in his arms, turned around and said to him: "Young Master Lao Chi, you are bothering. But who said that I must marry a girl from Pengyang City? The world is so big, and there are so many good-looking women, why should I be married?" Want to find it here in Pengyang?"

Chi Yebai: "That's right. I'm sorry, I'm an outsider after all, so I shouldn't have said these things to you. Just pretend you haven't heard it."

Sima Feng: "...Oh?"

There was a smile on his face, but there was no smile in his eyes.Seeing that Chi Yebai had stopped talking, Sima Feng stopped talking, turned around and jumped into the corridor, and walked into Sima Liangren's study first.

Standing by the lamp, Sima Liang was wearing a new suit and was carefully smoothing his beard with a thumb-sized comb.

Although the comb is small, it is inlaid with a lot of tiny pearls and jade, which is full of brilliance and looks very beautiful - it's just that it is too small to comb.Sima Liangren frowned, carefully untied the beard that was entangled in the small comb, and greeted the two juniors without raising his head: "Mu Ya sit whatever you want, you stand."

Mu Ya is a word given to Chi Yebai by Sima Liangren. Apart from himself, even Chi Yebai has never used it much.Sima Feng was standing, Chi Yebai couldn't sit down, so he stood beside him.Sima Feng whispered to Chi Yebai that his father had been influenced by someone recently, and he kept clamoring to be a bearded man, and he focused on grooming and grooming his five-inch long goatee every day when he was free.Chi Yebai couldn't help smiling as he watched Sima Liang comb his beard.

After laughing, he realized that the distance between him and Sima Feng was too close, so he stepped aside a little.

Sima Liang asked them to go to Qingpingyu, but the first thing was not to solve the Qingpingyu case, but to visit his old friend.

"Pengyang's patrol has already set off for Qingping Island." Sima Liangren said, "We did not ask for our assistance in this case, and I only heard a little bit about strange things like human face lamps appearing in it. You must remember that everything The safety of my old friend is the top priority, no matter what, we must bring him back to Pengyang safely."

"Which old friend is it?" Sima Feng wondered, "Do I know him?"

"His name is Wen Xuanzhou, you don't know him." Sima Liangren obviously didn't want to say more, and waved his hands hastily, "Have you figured out everything you went to investigate?"

He said this to Sima Feng.Sima Feng nodded, and took out a piece of paper from his sleeve.

"All the news Shuanghua heard is here." Sima Feng said with a cold expression, "There are outsiders here, so it's inconvenient for me to recite."

Chi Yebai was slightly taken aback, and then realized that Sima Feng stayed in Qinshuangyuan for so long to do business.

"That girl is my informant." Sima Liangren explained to Chi Yebai, then turned his head and growled at Sima Feng, "If you don't come back immediately after getting the information, why are you staying there!"

"Playing the piano, fighting tea, pairing poems, drawing eyebrows, arranging flowers, touching little hands." Sima Feng said calmly, "There are so many things that can be done."

Even Sima Liangren could see that his son seemed not very happy.

"Why are you two arguing again?"

There was no response, and the two youths in front of them were silent.

Sima Liangren waved away the guests carelessly: "Forget it, Mu Ya, beat him up to calm down. Remember not to get involved in that case, and set off as soon as possible after eating Shuangtong's wedding wine, just bring him back. "

He talked for a while, and his beard seemed to be messed up again, so he hurriedly leaned into the light and continued to comb it carefully.

"Why is your father so fond of beauty all of a sudden?" Chi Yebai couldn't help asking.

At this time, the two had already walked out of the study, ready to eat.

Sima Feng walked in front of him, stood still when he heard this, and looked back at him.Chi Yebai was flustered by his stare, his eyes flicked to the ground, and finally he gritted his teeth and apologized in a low voice: "I'm sorry, I blamed you wrongly."

The person in front of him was silent for a moment, pointing to the crabapple flowers in full bloom on the top of his head: "My mother said he looks good with this beard."

The flowers and trees planted in the courtyard are all the kind that Sima Feng's mother loves. Sima Liangren loves his wife very much, and Sima Feng understood when he said Chi Yebai.

Chi Yebai still felt a little guilty in his heart, so he racked his brains to think of a topic, and reminded him: "The leader is here too, why don't you go say hello?"

Although they are all well-known clans and gangs in the Jianghu, unless necessary, they don't have many opportunities to meet the rest of the people.The last time they saw the leader of the martial arts was when they went to Jiezilou for a wedding banquet a year ago.Sima Feng seemed extremely helpless, pulled out the fan and slapped it open, fanning it hard a few times, the hair on the sideburns flew up.

"Little Bai." He said, "To me, you are not an outsider."

Chi Yebai stood in front of him, his eyes were attracted by a flying moth.

Sima Feng: "..."

Chi Yebai: "Sima, look, this moth is so big."

Sima Feng was silent for a moment, closed his fan and slapped him on the head, and laughed angrily: "Let's go! Leader Lin is still waiting to drink with me!"

On the second day, Sima Shuangtong was sent to the sedan chair, and the two were immediately urged by Sima Liangren to set off.

Qingping Island is under the management of Pengyang City and is a small island on the Jinyi River, a tributary of the Yulan River.The island is not big, with hundreds of people, many men and few women, who make a living by fishing.Sima Feng sat on the bow, quietly listening to Chi Yebai's words.

"It has been 78 years since Qingpingyu was built, and there has never been a homicide on the island. Currently there are 130 men and 57 women, all of whom are innocent, and no one has a record of committing a crime." Chi Ye Bai said, "But in recent years, the population has flowed from place to place. I don't know if anyone from Pengyang City has mixed into Qingping Island."

He turned to look at the river.

"Besides, the waterway was opened last year. As the closest island on the Jinyi River to the Yulan River, Qingping Island began to berth briefly on weekdays. There is no decent pier on the island, and ships cannot dock. However, because Qingping Island is famous for its peach blossoms and peach blossom fish, There are more and more people going to the island to play. Last year, there were more than 600 people recorded in the files alone, which is ten times more than the previous year."

"There are too many people, accidents are inevitable." Sima Feng answered, "What is that human face lamp?"

"The skin of the corpse was peeled off to make lanterns. Human eyes, ears, mouth and nose were drawn on the skin, hollowed out according to the outline, and candles were lit inside, and the light came out." Chi Yebai recalled, "The policemen The letter sent said that the lamp was hanging at the scene of the murder, and it was very gloomy."

"Have you heard of this thing before?"

Chi Yebai shook his head.He and Sima Feng grew up together, and later followed Sima Feng to find murderers and solve crimes, but this was the first time he had heard of such a weird object.He was born with an astonishing memory, so he quickly went through it in his mind at this moment, but he couldn't find anything that matched it.

"It seems that more than one person has died." Sima Feng said, "And this bastard who makes human face lamps is a veteran. Skinning people is not easy, even the best butcher or doctor can't do it well."

"A veteran murderer, a veteran in handling corpses, and he has a relatively quiet place where corpses can be disposed of." Chi Yebai said.

"It's a man." Sima Feng lowered his voice, "He has the strength to drag the corpse, and he has the strength to discard the corpse after skinning."

Chi Yebai took the turquoise bone hairpin from his head, poured some water on the side of the boat, and gestured on the board: "Using human skin to make lanterns is an unusual way of handling them. He regards this as a token to commemorate his victory." Items, he's showing off."

"Or deterrence." Sima Feng continued, "For example, the murderer in the murder case of the three corpses in Pingyang Town a few years ago cut off the hands and feet of the deceased and displayed them at the intersection, trying to deter the monster in his imagination."

While speaking, Qingping Island was already in sight.Chi Yebai cleaned the bone hairpin and inserted it, and prepared to disembark with Sima Feng.

The boat couldn't dock, and both of them had kung fu, so the distance was not a problem, and the clothes, shoes and socks were not wet when they landed.Peach blossoms were really everywhere on Qingping Islet, Sima Feng couldn't stand still when he saw the pink and crimson flowers, turned his head and waved his fan, and couldn't stop smiling at Chi Ye.

Chi Yebai: "What are you laughing at?"

Sima Feng: "It's pretty."

Chi Yebai was a little annoyed, but it wasn't easy to show it - after all, Sima Feng was not talking about himself.

The two walked through the peach forest to find the old friend Sima Liang was looking for, and when they walked out of the forest, they saw a person lying on the side of the road.

The boy in the stone blue shirt was rolling on the ground with his hands on his abdomen, his face was full of pain, and he kept moaning.Sima Feng quickly walked over to help him up, and asked him what's wrong.

"Experimental medicine..." The boy's eyes were red with pain, "Stomach hurts..."

"Who wants to arrest you to test the medicine?!" Sima Feng was taken aback. There are still medicine men here in Qingpingyu?This was beyond his and Chi Yebai's expectations. Could it be that the case of the Human Face Lamp is...

While he was thinking about it, the boy picked up a pen from the ground, then took out a booklet from his pocket, opened it, and wrote while shaking: "Mao'eryan took too much internally, and the abdominal pain is unbearable... Ouch, my mother is in too much pain... ...Remember not to eat..."

Sima Feng: "..."

Chi Yebai said coldly: "Even if you try the medicine yourself, it should be done in moderation. The whole plant of Mao'eryan* is poisonous. Although it is not fatal, it is enough to torture you for several days."

The young man was sweating all over his head, and nodded repeatedly: "It turns out that the whole plant is poisonous, so we must write it down."

As he spoke, he solemnly wrote down the words "The whole plant is poisonous" on the booklet, and then muttered: "You should take Daqingye for six qian... licorice for three qian, and mung beans and black beans for each four qian... let's be safe. Son."

Sima Feng didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and pushed him: "My child, I want to ask you something, do you know Wen Xuanzhou? We are looking for him."

The boy turned his head abruptly, and the brush in his hand left a huge ink dot on the paper.Sima Feng and him exchanged glances, suddenly saw the young man's brow wrinkled, and he burst into tears.

"Wen Xuanzhou is my master." The young man cried, "He is already dead."

The author has something to say:

-

Yes, this story takes place one year after the story line of "People of the Rivers and Lakes".

The following content is for readers who have seen people in the rivers and lakes, Lin Mengzhu is related:)

Sima Shuangtong's husband is also Sima Liangren's apprentice, but he became an official in the court and did not follow the same path. "But he is very upright and reliable, with excellent character, I really want to adopt him as my son." Sima Liang said, "Look at my rebellious son!"

Sima Feng walked past his father and uncle expressionlessly, and sat directly at Lin Shaoyi's table.

Lin Shaoyi also had a drink with Sima Feng Chi Yebai last night, he didn't drink much, and he was still in good spirits today.Li Yijin, who followed him to congratulate him, drank a lot, but he can hold a lot of alcohol, and now there is no trace of drunkenness on his face.

"Brother Li is a good drinker." Sima Feng liked him quite a bit, "We'll discuss it another day."

Li Yijin waved her hand: "No more."

Sima Feng: "???"

Li Yijin: "Drinking is a mistake."

Sima Feng: "What happened?"

But Li Yijin kept silent.Lin Shaoyi beside him smiled, picked up the small teacup and slowly pecked at it.Even though Sima Feng was clever and sensitive, he couldn't figure out what happened between the two.

"Where's Chi Yebai?" Lin Shaoyi asked him, "Aren't you going out today?"

"When the auspicious time comes, send my cousin to the sedan chair, and we will set off. He is in the stable." Sima Feng looked at the sky, grabbed the snacks on the table and stuffed them in his mouth, "Why didn't Tian Ku come? The wedding invitation I delivered it to him myself."

"He and Shen Qing went to Seven Star Peak." Lin Shaoyi said, "Tang Ou and Shen Guangming found something new in the mountain, let him study it."

Sima Feng immediately felt itchy: "What magical thing?"

Lin Shaoyi recalled what Tian Ku said, and slowly started talking to him.The three of them sat on a short table under the tree, but no one disturbed them.Li Yijin watched Lin Shaoyi eat, sighed after eating two pieces of snacks, and rubbed her waist with two fingers.

Drinking was wrong, really wrong.

he thinks.