Murder

Wang Huanxi is a fat man who doesn't do much work and talks very little.

He is not in the same class as Zhang Songbai and Ban Mu. Ban Mu also got to know him because he heard that he had good knives and wanted to buy them.

Wang Huanxi carried three or four knives with him, and they were gone when they were sold out.Ban Mu bought the last one at that time.But when paying the money, his sharp eyes saw Wang Huanxi still had a short dagger in his waist.The short dagger was wrapped in several layers of oilcloth and pinned to Wang Huanxi's belt. If it wasn't for the conspicuous ruby ​​on the hilt, Ban Mu might not have seen it.

Ban Mu wants to buy that one, because it is short and small, so it is convenient for him to carry and use.But Wang Huanxi hid the dagger in his bosom, saying that it was not for sale.

That day Wang drank a little wine happily and talked a lot. "It was given to me by King Lu." He whispered, as if he wanted to share a big secret with Ban Mu.

The "King Lu" that Wang Huanxi said was not the current King Lu, but the old King Lu who had been dead for a long time.He said that he was born and grew up in the palace since he was a child. When he was a teenager, he wandered around with King Lu and even saved King Lu's life.This knife is the reward for this life-saving grace.

After the old King Lu passed away, he still worked in the palace, but the person following him was replaced by the younger King Lu.

Ban Mu is a reckless man, and besides going to teahouses to listen to stories, he has no chance to learn about these things.Wangfu, prince, meritorious deeds, and the world, those are things he has heard of but can never touch.He became excited and kept urging Wang Huanxi to continue talking.

If what Wang Huanxi said was true, what Ban Mu was most curious about was why he came to work in the brick kiln.

For a person who had saved his life to the old King Lu, the worst outcome would be to return home with a sum of money, and he would never have to go to such a place to suffer.

But Wang Huanxi stopped, and has been refusing to talk about it ever since.

Where there are people, all kinds of gossip are indispensable, Wang Huanxi doesn't say it, but someone inquired about it in a roundabout way.

Now the king of Lu dotes on Princess Lu and his son very much. Wang Huanxi offended Princess Lu and his son because of his own merits. Princess Lu wanted to drive him out of the palace in a rage.Under King Lu's dealings, he was assigned to this brick kiln to do hard work for a year, "to make up for the crime" - it is said at that time.

Ban Mu didn't know whether this statement was true or not, but he had verified it with Wang Huanxi, and Wang Huanxi neither admitted nor denied it, but bared a row of white teeth at him and roared fiercely.

He was in Liu Fangcun's residence, but he kept thinking about Wang Huanxi.Liu Fangcun was still talking to Zhang Songbai, and described in detail what Wang Huanxi looked like.Because of Liu Xiaodao's death, Zhang Songbai's class lost one person, so Liu Fangcun arranged Wang Huanxi to join them, making them four.

"Wang Huanxi has kung fu." Liu Fangcun said, "You have to think of something."

"Let's find a way?" Zhang Songbai sneered, "Master Liu told us to kill people, and won't you give us something good?"

"You know how to make explosives, you also have knives, what else do you need from me?"

"I'll give you whatever you call it." Zhang Songbai rubbed his fingers, "If you don't say anything else, you're talking about 60 taels per person, so you have to write a receipt, right?"

Liu Fangcun seemed to have heard some joke, and laughed harshly: "Written evidence? What did I write? Zhang Songbai, Ban Mu, and Liu Dali have repeatedly caused accidents in the brick kiln and intentionally killed people?"

Zhang Songbai's eyes sharpened: "If there is no proof, how can you prove that you really gave us the 60 taels?"

"Even if there is no proof, why don't you guys stop doing it?" Liu Fangcun asked.

Ban Mu thought it was impossible.Being caught by anyone else is not worse than being caught by the government.Liu Fangcun seemed to be negotiating, but in fact he was threatening.

But Liu Fangcun changed the subject and suddenly became gentle: "But I also understand your scruples very well. There must be money. I will give you 100 taels first, which is regarded as a deposit."

Zhang Songbai was silent for a moment, as if thinking.Ban Mu was familiar with him, and knew that Zhang Songbai had one thing in his heart and his own: Liu Fangcun used this matter to coerce the three of them into killing people, but this job of killing must not be missed, otherwise he would not have done it before he did it. Give 100 taels to stabilize a few of them.

"Just do the same as before. You are all used to it. I trust you." Liu Fangcun whispered, "You don't need to report everything to me, as long as you guarantee that Wang Huanxi will die."

On the way down the mountain, Ban Mu suddenly said a word.

"Why doesn't the surname Liu let us report to him?"

Zhang Songbai walked in the front, and turned around with a ferocious smile when he heard the words.

"Because he wants to get himself out of this matter, he is just a messenger, and he doesn't need to know so many things." He said, "We are responsible for killing people, and the person surnamed Liu is responsible for conveying, but in fact we want to kill Wang Huanxi. Yes, there must be someone else."

Liu Dali, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke at this moment.

"Who is Wang Huanxi?"

Zhang Songbai was about to say that it doesn't matter who gets involved, but Ban Mu said: "I know. He used to be the housekeeper of Lu Wangfu."

The other two stood still immediately, with uncertain expressions on their faces.

They killed people, strangers they didn't know, and their own brother's daughter-in-law. They were not as terrible as killing a housekeeper of the palace.That is another world, a world that these people cannot approach and touch in their entire lives.In this silence, finally even Ban Mu felt something was wrong.

"Aren't we...shouldn't come down?" He stammered.

But it should have already been answered, and there is a handle in the hands of others, so it must not be answered.During the conversation, the three of them had arrived in the forest where the corpses were placed. Liu Dali scolded "Damn it" in a low voice, strode to the bushes, grabbed the two corpses with both hands, and carried the two corpses at the same time.

"Let's take care of these things first!" He roared fiercely, "My brother is going to be buried!"

Zhang Songbai let out a sneer, and instead of stepping forward to help, he went straight to the carriage and sat on it.

The carriage moved forward slowly, looking for a suitable place to throw the body.Ban Mu and Liu Dali were sitting in the carriage, and Liu Xiaodao's body was at Liu Dali's feet.Ban Mu saw that Liu Dali stepped on Liu Xiaodao's hand, but Liu Dali only concentrated on counting the money and silver on his body, and didn't notice it.When passing outside Pengyang City, Liu Dali opened the curtain on the window. Behind the towering city wall, there was a place with bright lights, music and dancing, and fragrant breeze.

"This place is called Jinyan Pond, do you know how to cut it?" He counted the money, put the silver in his arms, gritted his teeth and said with a smile, "It's the most famous fireworks place by the Yulan River. Whoever he wants to kill, kill one It’s killing, killing ten is killing. After killing, I’ll take the money and I’ll take you here to have a good time with the dripping bitch!”

Ban Mu kept looking at the twisted palms under his feet, and didn't answer him.

At this moment, the Qinshuang Courtyard in the Golden Mist Pond was in chaos.

Shuanghua, who returned to Qinshuangyuan, kept vomiting and had a splitting headache.Sima Feng and Ah Si who were waiting here rushed out in a hurry, and carried Shuanghua back to her room in a hurry.

The old bustard was so anxious that he couldn't speak smoothly: "Shuanghua is sick! You...Young Master Sima, don't listen to the song tonight, can you?"

"Don't listen, don't listen." Sima Feng carefully put Shuanghua on the bed, and walked out quickly, "Mom, since Shuanghua is not feeling well, I'll go and get her a doctor. This is my personal attendant, follow me." If Gan Lingshi has studied medicine, he can see Shuanghua first."

Ah Si: "...Oh, yes, I can."

Only then did the bustard calm down a little, and she didn't even drive Ah Si out together.

Sima Feng came on horseback, and immediately rushed out of the Golden Mist Pond on horseback.Bian Jiang left home with the two of them, Sima Feng and Ah Si were going to wait for Shuanghua at the Golden Mist Pond, and Bian Jiang was in charge of patrolling.Sima Feng saw him not far from Jinyan Pond, and immediately stopped him.

"Bianjiang, I would like to trouble you. Something happened to Miss Shuanghua in Qinshuangyuan. I am going to find a doctor for her now. Please guard Qinshuangyuan. Ah Si is also inside."

Bian Jiang was confused: "It's fine, I'm done with my inspection. But tonight...what happened to you? Why are you all in such a hurry?"

"I can't tell for a while." Sima Feng said hastily, "I'll entrust this matter to you. After it's over, I will make Gan willing to accept you as an in-room disciple and teach you to recognize herbs face to face every day."

Bian Jiang was immediately happy: "Very good, very good."

Sima Feng didn't dare to really go to the doctor.He hurried home first, and asked the guard at the gate to send a message to Gan Lexi, ordering him to take the medicine box and rush to Qinshuang courtyard immediately.After exhorting, Sima Feng headed towards Prince Lu's mansion without stopping.

According to the coachman, when Shuanghua came out of Prince Lu's mansion, his complexion was normal and he didn't feel any discomfort, but suddenly fell ill on the way.Sima Feng didn't know why, but vaguely felt that the source of this sudden illness should be in Lu Wang's Mansion.

It took a lot of effort to rush to Prince Lu's mansion.Passed several checkpoints on the way, because he was carrying the badge given to Sima Liang by the emperor tonight, the road was finally unimpeded.

When he was about half a mile away from Prince Lu's mansion, he saw Sima Liangren.

"Father." Sima Feng immediately drove forward and told Sima Liangren about Shuanghua.

"Exactly, I also have something to tell you." Sima Liangren galloped forward with him, "It is very likely that King Lu has seen Wen Xuanzhou who came back from Tiansheng Valley."

Sima Feng was taken aback: "How do you know?"

"He got up tonight and had a debate with the literati at the banquet. The content of the debate was lacklustre, but he mentioned more than once that all the classics in the world are collected in Jiezilou." Sima Liangren's voice was calm, but faintly worried , "I thought about it carefully, Wen Xuanzhou's understanding of Jiezilou may be far inferior to King Lu's."

Sima Feng was even more surprised: "King Lu is not from the Jianghu."

"But don't forget that Tian Ku's teacher used to be a member of the imperial court." Sima Liangren said, "Mu Ya is a rare person in the world who has a good memory. Almost everyone in the world knows it. But the people in the court The person who is good at remembering is most likely not Mu Ya but Tian Ku. You and I don’t even know whether Tian Ku’s teacher ever told people that he has a rare student in the world.”

Sima Feng felt a sudden chill in his heart.

Wen Xuanzhou has been looking for someone who is good at remembering, the so-called "spiritual memory person".The last thing he finds is Chi Yebai—but what if that "Shen Yiren" actually refers to Tian Ku?