Murder

The eagle that Chi Yebai summoned flew away with the note.As its shadow gradually disappeared into the sky, Chi Yebai saw the lightning flashing in the lead gray clouds.

"It's going to rain," he said. "Let's go."

Ah Si obediently followed behind, not daring to step forward to lead the way.Sima Feng recognized Chi Yebai's position by listening to the sound, and caught up with Chi Yebai a few steps, grabbed his hand: "Take me."

Chi Yebai snorted, held his palm behind his back, and walked towards their horse.

Three people and two horses arrived at the government soon.But they couldn't enter because there was no one to lead them.Sima Feng wanted to put on some airs, thinking that his parents were still inside, and he might be criticized if he was not good.He is not afraid of being criticized, but now he does not want to be scolded by his father in front of Chi Yebai, so he stands on the street outside the house and waits.

After waiting for about half an hour, the three of them ate all the snacks at the tea stand, changed the rough tea twice, and finally saw Sima Liangren and Fu Guqing come out.

The couple came to the government office specifically for the murder case. Seeing the three of them waiting outside, they led their horses and walked back slowly, and told them what they had learned.

The official in Qinghe City had dealt with Sima Liangren before, so he had nothing to hide, and tried to explain every detail of the case as clearly as possible.

It was a neighbor of the old couple who found the body.He left home early in the morning and was about to go out of the city to chop firewood. Halfway through, the ax suddenly broke in two and fell to the ground.It turned out that the wooden handle of the ax was brittle from the inside, so he had to turn back and plan to borrow an ax from the old couple's house.

That area is located on the edge of Qinghe City, surrounded by many dirty sewage ditches, and there are a lot of mosquitoes and flies.As soon as the old man knocked on the door, the half-closed door opened a crack, and then a cloud of black blowflies burst out from the room, scaring the old man to the ground immediately.

There was blood all over the room, a hammer was thrown by the table, and three corpses were neatly arranged and displayed under the table.

The old man ran out in a shitty manner, and quickly talked about arresting the arrester.

Originally, the assailant could not be caught so quickly, but the soles of his shoes were covered with blood, and the sharp-eyed defenders saw him and stopped him immediately.

The young man's name was Xu Ying, he was about 30 years old, his speech was dull, but he quickly admitted that he had killed someone.

"He said that he passed by there last night and smelled the aroma of porridge and rice, so he knocked on the door and asked for a bowl." Sima Liangren said, "But the couple saw that he was a stranger, and because the elderly at home were old, , the child was too young, so he was not allowed to enter the door and refused. Xu Ying picked up a hammer in the yard, turned around and walked in."

After Xu Ying killed three people, he arranged the corpses neatly and finished the three bowls of porridge on the table without washing his hands.He rummaged through the room, but found nothing valuable, so he stripped off the old man's shoes and put them on, then lay down next to the three corpses and fell asleep.

This man's method of killing is extremely neat and straightforward.All three of them were killed with one hammer, with such force that their skulls were smashed, and there was a red and white thing on the hammer.

His subsequent series of actions proved that he had no fear of the murder scene and the fact that he killed himself. In the end, he slept peacefully and sweetly on the ground in his clothes.

"This is absolutely extraordinary." Sima Feng said.

Sima Liangren glanced at him: "That's natural. Is there anything else you want to say?"

"Being able to do so neatly is enough to show that he is a habitual offender. But he is used to killing people, but he is obviously not used to handling corpses, otherwise he wouldn't just walk out without cleaning the blood on his shoes." Sima Feng paused, " Have you seen him?"

"I haven't seen it yet. Murder is a felony. We came here uninvited, and we don't have the authority to see the prisoner." Sima Liangren said, "But I heard that he was a little slow to respond, and some questions were asked many times but he couldn't get it. Answer, forcing the police to give him two sentences."

"Knowing his name and some details of the murder case, Ying Beishe should be able to find some other information." Chi Yebai added from the side, "Besides, we have just found Gan Lingshi's brother Gan Hao, he told We also had a very similar murder case in the north of the city, but since no one reported it, we suppressed it like this."

Compared with these cases, Fu Guqing was more nervous about her son's eyes. Hearing this, she hurriedly asked, "What did Doctor Gan say? Can it be cured?"

"Of course." Sima Feng smiled, "It's cured, and it's even more handsome than now."

Fu Guqing gave him a white look, and looked at Chi Yebai Yin Yin.

"It can be cured." Chi Yebai said.

Only then did Fu Guqing feel relieved: "It will be fine if it can be cured. Is it difficult? How long will it take?"

After inquiring about the situation one by one, Ah Si realized that they had already reached the city gate. "The direction is wrong." He reminded, "Madam, Mr. Gan's house is not here."

Sima Liangren waved his hand: "It's okay, you go back to find Mr. Gan, and my wife and I will leave first."

The rest of the people were taken aback: "Leave now?"

"When I was leaving the house, I received a letter from Shuangtong, saying that I seemed to be embarrassed and wanted me to talk to him." Fu Guqing said with a smile, "You also know that her parents have already left. She is the dearest."

Chi Yebai immediately thought of Sima Shuangtong who married a court official not long ago. She was Sima Feng's cousin, and she looked somewhat similar to Sima Feng.

"Besides, Jingqi seems to have something important to say. The letter says that we hope we can leave as soon as possible." Sima Liangren suddenly lowered his voice, "I'm afraid this important matter is related to the court. Jing Qi knows my temper, if it's not a big deal , if it is not related to the imperial court, he will never send a letter to invite."

Sima Feng was stunned for a moment: "Who is Jing Qi?"

Sima Liang was also stunned for a moment, and then he was furious: "It's your cousin's husband, your cousin's husband!"

Sima Feng: "...Brother-in-law's name is Qu Yongchang, if you say Jingqi, who knows it!"

Sima Liangren originally wanted to talk to him about his speculation, but at this moment he was so angry that he couldn't say anything, so he threw up his sleeves and got on his horse, and Da Da left.

Chi Yebai had no choice but to tell Fu Guqing that he had asked the people from Yingbeishe to check whether there were similar cases nearby. Fu Guqing gave a few more instructions, and then took Sima Feng's hand and earnestly said: "Don't mess with Mu Ya. Angry. If he doesn't care about you, Ah Si is useless."

Ah Si: "...??? I... madam, why am I useless!"

After bidding farewell to Sima and his wife, Chi Yebai and the other three stayed in Ganhao's yard, one for Ganhao to detoxify Sima Feng, and the other for Chi Yebai to work for Ganhao.

Although Ganhao only runs a butcher shop, he said that the seven or eight yards around him, as well as the entire street, are all his property.

Sima Feng was taken aback.He never knew that a butcher could make so much money.

But under Ah Si's reminder, he quickly remembered that his eyes were willing to charge 1000 taels of silver, which was still the discounted price, and he immediately understood the source of his money.

From the second day on, Qinghe began to rain continuously.Ah Si went to the government to inquire every day, but there was no updated news, because the couple and the granddaughter were from a poor family, and there were no other relatives in the family, and the murderer was also arrested, the government's attitude was a bit perfunctory: no matter whether the criminal was killed One person or two people will receive the same punishment. If this is the case, there is no need to spend extra manpower and material resources on the investigation.

This day Ah Si came back from outside, carrying four or five packs of heavy medicinal materials, and threw them heavily in front of Gan Hao.

Gan Hao was picking medicinal herbs under the eaves sheltering from the rain. He was startled by the voice and was very dissatisfied: "I'm rude! I don't know how to measure it! It's not big or small!"

"You don't see any sense of propriety in calling me up, Mr. Gan!" Ah Si was so angry that he was about to laugh, "How did I become your helper?"

"Only you can do it, your young master can't do it, and Chi Yebai has no time to do it." Gan Hao quickly opened the medicine bag he brought back and picked out the things he needed, "This is all your young master wants." Use it, you little guard is really cruel."

Ah Si: "What do you mean?"

Gan Hao: "You can't lose your temper with me now. What if I tamper with the medicinal materials and hurt your young master?"

Ah Si: "You can't move your hands and feet. Young Master Chi has already memorized the detoxification prescriptions you wrote and the appearance of the herbs. He remembers exactly how much it costs and when to put it in."

Gan Hao: "...Hmph. You are just like my junior brother, annoying."

Ah Si: "Your junior brother is much more interesting than you!"

After that, he picked up the umbrella again and ran into the depths of the yard.

Gan Hao's house looks very ordinary at first glance, with one courtyard and two or three wing rooms, but he has already quietly opened up the surrounding courtyards, and it took Ah Si two days of groping to get familiar with all the paths.Gan Hao arranged for Sima Feng to live in a corner of a courtyard, and Chi Yebai also lived here for the convenience of taking care of him.He reads and organizes at a very fast speed, but he has cleaned up half of the study in a few days.Gan Hao asked him to write down the entries and titles by category, and Chi Yebai did as he wanted one by one.

At this time, he was in Sima Feng's room, writing in the booklet from memory while waiting for the water in the medicine barrel to boil.

According to Gan Hao, the detoxification of this poison requires a two-pronged approach, taking two hours of medicinal baths every day, and eating and drinking various medicinal materials at the same time.The poison that invades the meridians is the most difficult to detox, so when soaking in the medicinal bath, Chi Yebai and Ah Si need to protect with internal strength to keep the water temperature at a suitable temperature, so that the medicinal power can enter the body.

The wooden barrel brushed with tung oil was very heavy, and it was filled with medicinal juice. Although it was mixed with water, the color was green or yellow, and there was an indescribable strange smell.

Sima Feng couldn't bear it at first, but after soaking for a few days, he seemed to be having fun in bitterness, and he insisted on finding a bit of sweetness of candied fruit and refreshing green hills after the rain from the smell of the concoction.It's just that Chi Yebai and Ah Si didn't express any opinion on what he said, they didn't agree or question it, Sima Feng thought about it later, and found that the two of them were probably holding their breath and trying not to talk, and they didn't bother to talk to themselves.

Chi Yebai concentrated on his work and had no time to pay attention to him, so Sima Feng moved a low stool and sat by the door, listening to the sound of rain in a daze.Chi Yebai wrote very quickly, the pages were turned over from time to time, the pen was put down, and the pen was picked up again.Although he couldn't see it, he found it interesting to describe Chi Yebai's various moods in his heart based on the voice.

"Has the eagle not come back yet?" He asked Chi Yebai nonchalantly.

"No." Chi Yebai paused, "It's raining too much, it may delay for a day or two, I'll remind you again."

"No need." Sima Feng stopped him from pulling out the eagle whistle, "Just a day or two, don't worry. Your eagles have worked very hard. As the head of the family, you should be more considerate."

"Really?" Chi Yebai ruthlessly pierced his thoughts, "Even if you stay in this yard for ten or twenty days longer, you can't take advantage of me."

When he said it so bluntly, Sima Feng's face became a little hot: "What an advantage! I just can't sleep well at night, and I want to hear your voice."

"So you touched my room?"

"Ha." Sima Feng coughed lightly, and said seriously, "After all, this place is not Ying Bei She, nor my house. I'm worried that you won't be able to sleep well."

"When we used to go out, sometimes we couldn't even sleep in the bed, so what's the matter?" Chi Ye said without stopping the movement of his hands.

"We both slept together then, so it didn't matter."

A dot of ink falls on the paper.

Chi Yebai pressed his chest angrily: "Who is sleeping with you!"

"Although one tree is up and the other is under, it's still one tree, so it's considered together..." Sima Feng was talking, when suddenly he heard the wind whistling in his ears, something was being thrown from Chi Yebai.

He hurriedly dodged sideways, the paperweight passed by, and was grabbed by Ah Si who ran over.

"Don't throw this!" Ah Si roared angrily in a low voice, "I will be scolded by Mr. Gan! Don't throw anything, I beg you two young masters, you have the heart to make me take the blame?!"

The rain continued for several days without any signs of stopping. The world seemed to be woven into a thick and thick net, covering the human world with airtightness.Ah Si put the paperweight back on the desk, and slipped out to sit and listen to the rain with Sima Feng.He took out an oiled paper bag from his pocket, and poured the large pine nuts inside into Sima Feng's hands. "Master, this is delicious." Ah Si said.

Sima Feng took out a dried one and gnawed it: "It's not tasty, the shell is too hard."

"...that's not how it's eaten." Ah Si had no choice but to peel off his shell and clothes.

After peeling a few, he realized: "Master, did you do it on purpose?"

Sima Feng: "Huh?"

Ah Si got angry: "I'm helping Mr. Gan, and I have to peel the pine nuts for you!"

Sima Feng: "You were my underdog."

Ah Si became more and more angry: "But last year you said that it is better to be a brother than a brother with me, and this year when the firecrackers were fired during the Chinese New Year, you still said in front of everyone that you would live and die with me and that you would be sworn brothers."

Chi Yebai said leisurely in the room: "That's because he wanted to trick you into burning the string of 66 tied Ertijiao, he made a bet with me."

Ah Si: "..."

Sima Feng hurriedly comforted him: "Hey, I am four, don't be angry, the young master really treats you as a brother..."

Chi Yebai: "Be a younger brother."

Ah Si was depressed and sad, she lowered her head and peeled violently.After peeling the pine nuts, he looked up at Sima Feng.

"Master." Ah Si whispered, "I just met Miss Shuanghua on the street."

Sima Feng: "Oh?"

Ah Si: "She greeted me first, she actually remembers me!"

Sima Feng: "Yes, how can I not remember you, you are my follower."

Ah Si didn't hear it: "She called me Fourth Master."

Sima Feng laughed out loud.He wanted to hold back, but couldn't.Ah Si blushed, moved her buttocks angrily, and distanced herself from Sima Feng.

"Did you tell her that your real name is Sima Si?"

"I..." Ah Si paused, "I will ask my wife when I get home. My wife is very knowledgeable, and she can give me a nice word."

"My parents don't have the talent to give calligraphy, you think about mine, and then think about Xiaobai's."

Ah Si said earnestly: "I think Young Master Chi's handwriting is very nice, it's vast and majestic."

Sima Feng smiled and said, "Then shall I pick it up for you? Or let Mu Ya pick it up for you?"

Ah Si thought for a while, and became somewhat vigilant: "Master, I don't believe you."

Sima Feng walked up to Ah Si's side: "I can't see it now, so tell me, what does Shuanghua look like today? She came out alone?"

Ah Si blinked, and her face felt a little hot again: "Miss Shuanghua today is not the same as before."

Because Sima Feng often went to Jinyan Pond to drink and listen to music, Ah Si met Shuanghua many times.Shuanghua's appearance in the Golden Mist Pond is very beautiful, her makeup and hairpin are both elegant and delicate, not too luxurious, but they match her very well.That day she visited Sima's house alone for the sake of Jin Yanchi's sisters, with her face up to the sky, which was another kind of beauty.

"There is an oiran competition here in Qinghe City, so I specially invited a few girls from Jinyan Pond to join in the fun. Besides Shuanghua, there are a few others, but I am not familiar with them." Ah Si whispered, "Miss Shuanghua today ……Very beautiful."

"What's a good idea?" Sima Feng asked enthusiastically.

Ah Si's face turned even redder.He couldn't say what to think, he only knew that Shuanghua stood in front of him, he didn't know how to speak, even his hands and feet seemed to hate the clumsiness of this body and couldn't move smoothly.

The woman was smiling, raised the edge of her umbrella slightly in the rain, and called him "Fourth Lord".The water droplets on the oil-paper umbrella surface rolled down one after another, and everything and sound seemed to be gone in an instant, only the person in front of me was clear.

"..." Ah Si trembled, covering his face, "I won't say it... I can't say it."

Sima Feng has never seen him so shy, excited and funny, and now he is very boring, so he keeps urging him to describe it.

Ah Si peeked at Sima Feng with her eyes peeking through the fingers covering her face, "I really don't know how to say it, but I know she looks really good-looking today. Young master...you are the most familiar with Miss Shuanghua, and you also know her best." , you...you teach me?"

"There's nothing you can't say, I'll teach you." Sima Feng was very enthusiastic, and kept arching his shoulders with his arms, "How is her lip color today? Are her eyebrows thick or light, and what shape are they? Shuanghua doesn't like it. He has heavy makeup, but he pays special attention to these powders and balms. He is one of the best makeup masters in Jinyan Pond. Since he was invited to participate in the Oiran Competition, he must not be careless about his clothes. What color is she wearing, what pattern is her shirt, and her belt? ..."

Just as Xu Xu was talking, he suddenly heard the soft clanging of tables and chairs behind him.

"Sima Feng." Chi Yebai put down his pen and said coldly, "The time has come."

Sima Feng was taken aback: "So fast? The water is boiling?"

"Open." Chi Yebai raised his hand and patted his nose lightly, as if wanting to disperse the strong smell of herbs, "Come here and take off your clothes."