Placid Chang'an

Coming out of Xiaoxiangju, Su Cen walked back silently with the ink ingot in his hand.

The yamen servant behind him hesitated again and again, and stepped forward to inquire: "My lord, is there something wrong with this Li Yunxi?"

Su Cen smiled, and asked without answering, "What do you think?"

"My lord, you're so humble. How can you know that?" The yamen servant scratched his head shyly and smiled, "But he doesn't look like he's going to kill people, and he has no relatives or reasons with Shen Cun, so why bother?" Are you trying your best to avenge him?"

Su Cen shook her head with a smile: "I don't know either."

The yamen servant looked worried, "Then what should I do? The three-day limit is coming soon."

Looking at Su Cen, he was not flustered, and walked leisurely through the bamboo forest, as if he had a plan in mind.The yamen servant suddenly said, "Does your lord already know who the murderer is?"

The yamen servant followed Su Cen and has been observing carefully for the past few days. Although this adult looks young, he is as careful as a hair. He can often find clues in a little detail. Looking at the ink ingot in Su Cen's hand, he couldn't help but stare. Liang, "Is this ink ingot the key to solving the case?"

"This..." Su Cen glanced at the ink ingot, retracted his palm and smiled, "This is a bribe I accepted."

Xishi Painting Studio

Old man Zhang had just opened for a while, and there were no customers in the shop at this time, and old man Zhang was happy to be at leisure. He rummaged through the cabinet and found half a fragment of scroll from the bottom of the cabinet, carefully spread it on the table, and was facing it to ponder.

This is an excellent pair of blue and green landscapes, with distant mountains and near water, ink and light colors, covered with a thin layer of green.The azurite pigment used is also very good. This painting looks old, but the color has not faded.

It's a pity that the upper left of the painting seems to have been damp, and part of the painting paper has been dehydrated, and the inscription that should have been there is also unclear.

The old man was fascinated by it, when he heard someone behind him suddenly say: "Hu Qingyan's "The One Color Picture of River and Sky", it has long been rumored that this painting was unfortunately lost when Mr. Hu moved, but I never thought it would be here."

The old man didn't look back, but only smiled softly, "The kid is a bit knowledgeable."

Su Cen continued: "It's a pity that the inscription is gone, and the world may not recognize it."

"So what if you recognize it, so what if you don't recognize it," the old man's old voice was a little hoarse, "I know it is."

"If this painting is repaired by a skilled craftsman, it will be worth a lot of gold." Su Cen stepped forward and stood side by side with the old man in front of the painting, "Haven't you ever thought of repairing it?"

The old man stared at Hua Ning for a long time, then shook his head silently: "That's not easy."

"It's not difficult." Su Cen looked at the old man in Huazhai, and said word by word: "Have you ever heard of it--transfer flowers to trees?"

The old man paused, turned around and looked at Su Cen seriously, and smiled after a while: "You came today to see the painting, right?"

Su Cen also smiled, as if meeting an old friend after a long time, and said softly, "It's been a long time, Steward Shen."

Su Cen didn't take people away like ordinary criminals, and the old man didn't realize that he was the murderer who killed three people. He made tea for Su Cen calmly. The two really seemed to be friends who had known each other for a long time. Sit on the stove to drink, and have a long talk.

"How did you find me?" asked the old man.

Su Cen took a sip of tea, "I have someone check your identity, and this painting studio." After a pause, he continued: "The painting studio existed decades ago, and there was only one shopkeeper from the beginning to the end. "

The old man said: "Then you should exclude my suspicion."

Su Cen shook his head, "It's just that the shopkeeper of the painting studio suffered from a serious illness two years ago, and the relationship with his family has gradually become estranged since then, and he has been living in the painting studio."

"The real shopkeeper of the painting studio died two years ago, right? That's when you successfully replaced the shopkeeper of the painting studio. I don't know what method you used to make others not suspicious. It must be Yi something like that?"

"No need to change your face," the old man was not annoyed by being found out, but smiled, "My family name is Zhang, and then I changed my surname to Shen after I became the housekeeper of the Shen family with Master Bei. The shopkeeper of this painting studio is My cousin."

Su Cen was stunned, and the old man continued: "After the Shen family was wiped out, I came to the capital and joined my cousin. By chance, I discovered that those three beasts were also in the capital! Cough...cough cough cough... ..."

Mentioning that Xu Youhuai and the three old men were emotionally agitated and coughed for a while before they stopped, but Su Cen still noticed that the dry hands holding the teacup were shaking slightly. After many years, the old man was obviously still suppressing his anger.

"My master is loyal, kind, low-key and restrained. His painting skills are not even inferior to Shen Xingzhong, the ancestor of the Shen family. It's just that he knows that too much sharpness can easily lead to disaster, so he took his family to live in seclusion in the mountains of Sichuan. In order to hide the front. It’s just that I didn’t expect it, even so, I was still targeted by those three thieves.”

"They did not know where they got the news that "Hou Yi Fu Ri Tu" was hidden in Shen's house, and the climbers who pretended to be lost were invited home by the master. They were exposed when they were looking for paintings in Shen's house, and they were drugged and passed out Everyone, fearing that someone would identify them later, did not hesitate to set fire to the Shen family! Cough cough cough..."

The old man was coughing so badly, Su Cen stepped forward to help him with his back, and handed him another cup of tea to moisten his throat.The old man knew that he didn't have much time, so he suppressed his cough and continued, "I saw those three beasts again in the capital, and I knew this was an opportunity given to me by the heavens. I planned with my cousin to make them pay for their lives!"

"It's a pity that my cousin was in poor health and left two years ago. After thinking about it, I took his place and took over the painting studio. My cousin and I have a seven-point resemblance. So for a while, outsiders only thought that he was haggard due to illness, and didn't think about other aspects. My younger siblings helped me hide it, and you were the first person to discover me in the past two years." The old man sighed, "Young people are awesome. Ah, I am really old."

Su Cen smiled flatly, "I'm actually guessing, after all, I have no evidence. But it's because of another thing that I'm sure that the housekeeper is you."

"Oh?" The old man raised his eyebrows, "What's the matter?"

Su Cen smiled, "A friend of mine went to Dali Temple to look for me last night. He was holding a food box in his hand. I thought it was for me, but he just delivered food for another person and came back through my place to have a look. Take a look. After a while, the real meal for me arrived, and I got my wish to eat."

The old man didn't understand what he had to do with him, and his face showed a bit of doubt.Su Cen continued: "Every food box has its own place, so that everyone can eat. If my friend goes to mine first, I will have two food boxes, and one of them will not be able to eat. "

The old man suddenly realized.

"It is only you who can deliver these three paintings to Xu Youhuai and the others."

Su Cen said: "I felt a little strange when I came to your place the first time, but I didn't realize what was so strange. I didn't realize it until I saw those two food boxes. If ordinary people got those three paintings, they would They will be hung together, and the value of these three paintings together is far more than their selling value alone. In this way, the first person who sees the paintings will buy all three paintings back, after all, the three paintings together It is more likely to find the whereabouts of the treasure. But the fact is that Xu Youhuai, Liu Kang, and Cao Wei each have a painting in their hands. They even hide it from each other and don't want the other two to know that they have a painting in their hands. You must have told them. In the future Then find the painting and only give it to one of them, and they still hold the idea of ​​collecting three paintings by themselves, so they try to hide the fact that they have the painting."

The old man held the teacup and smiled calmly: "Your Excellency is indeed smart."

Su Cen asked, "Did you paint the white phosphorus on the painting?"

"I did everything alone," the old man nodded, "I also set fire to Xu Youhuai's death on the way to sacrifice to heaven. I just wanted to find someone to investigate, the best officials in Dazhou to investigate, and pay me back." All 32 members of the Shen family are fair!" The old man smiled comfortably, "Young man, you didn't disappoint me."

Su Cen laughed at the words, not sure if they were a compliment, and then asked, "Then Liu Kangzhong's drug was also given by you?"

The old man was taken aback for a moment, then nodded.

Su Cen: "Where does the white phosphorus come from?"

The old man said: "I traded it for the painting."

Su Cen: "Who did you trade with?"

The old man frowned and thought for a while: "I don't know that person. He changed the painting with me and left. I never saw him again."

Su Cen nodded. If that person can't be found, it won't affect the final result. Su Cen drank his tea and stood up straight: "Let's talk about the rest of the Dali Temple Yamen."

The old man also finished his tea calmly. He just got up, but seemed to remember something, and raised his head and asked Su Cen: "There is still some white phosphorus left, do you want it?"

Su Cen didn't expect this, but with white phosphorous, he had direct evidence, so he nodded to the old man.

The old man got up and walked slowly to the compartment in the painting studio.

"I've been to Xiaoxiang Residence." Su Cen said suddenly.

The old man paused, only to hear Su Cen continue: "Hua Hua is innocent, don't worry, I won't make things difficult for him."

The old man turned his head and nodded at Su Cen, with some rare reflections in his cloudy eyes, he said "Thank you", then pointed to the "Tianjiang and Sky One Color Picture" on the table and said: "The most valuable thing in my place is That's it, you can take it away, if you really have a chance to repair it, it will be considered a merit."

Su Cen took out the ink ingot, weighed it again, and said with a smile, "I accept bribes twice a day, I'm afraid I will be dismissed and investigated."

The old man looked intently, smiled, turned around and walked in with his hands behind his back.

The yamen servant behind him wanted to follow, but was stopped by Su Cen raising his hand. Now that the painting studio is surrounded, people can't run away. Considering that this is also a loyal servant, Su Cen may have some unfulfilled wishes. Trying to give one last bit of decency.

But before Su Cen could turn around, thick white smoke burst out from the compartment inside!

Su Cen said inwardly that she was not good, and hurriedly looked around, except for the little water in the teapot, the shop had already cleaned up all the water.With no other choice, Su Cen picked up the teacup and wanted to put out the fire, but the studio was full of calligraphy and paintings, which were already flammable, and with the blessing of white phosphorus, once it burned, human power would not be able to save it!

The road leading to the inner room was soon too burnt for people to enter. Thick smoke was billowing and tongues of flames rushed toward us. Seeing that the fire could not be put out, all the yamen servants had to drag Su Cen out forcibly.

A lot of people had already gathered outside the shop, those fighting the fire, watching the fun, making a mess.

Tongues of fire rushed into the sky, facing the bright sunlight, it was impossible to look directly at it, while the flames were crackling, only a long sigh was heard from someone inside the shop.

"The old slave lived on 11 years, lived up to expectations, and was able to kill the enemy! Master, the old slave is here to accompany you!"