Placid Chang'an

Thirty miles outside Chang'an City, there is Guifeng Mountain. On the mountainside, there is a pavilion called Wanqing Pavilion, which is taken from Li Yishan's famous saying "Heaven's will pity the grass, and the world is full of evening sunshine."

Of course, the Wanqing Pavilion is not famous for its solitary pavilion, but this pavilion is located in a maple forest. Every autumn, the maple forest is covered with frost, and the mountains are red. Sitting here quietly watching the sunset and falling trees. , don't have a mood.If there is a sudden rain and the evening clears again, after the new rain in the empty mountains, the weather will come late in autumn, and it will be a rare sight in the world.

Wanqing Pavilion got its name from this.

When Su Cen saw this pavilion, he didn't think too much about it, but just thought it was a coincidence that this pavilion had the same name as his sister-in-law Wan Qing.

Now it's late spring, the maple trees have just sprouted, and naturally there is no sight of the frosty Xiafei, so there are few people, except for Su Cen, Ah Fu and Huang Mian, there is no one around.

This piece of maple forest is not small, so the three of them spread out to look for it around the Wanqing Pavilion.

Although it is certain that Huang Wan'er must have been here before she disappeared, Su Cen cannot guarantee that she will find any clues after such a long time.A lot of evidence is practical, the wind blows and the rain blows, the grass grows and leaves fall, and many things have already changed beyond recognition. Finding such a vague clue in such a large forest is tantamount to finding a needle in a haystack.

However, this is the only clue they have.

At noon, the three of them marked the places they had found and returned to the Wanqing Pavilion to meet up.Su Cen had already expected that he would not be able to go back at noon, so he specially asked Ah Fu to bring dry food before he came, and now he just took it from the carriage and ate a little in the pavilion.

Halfway through eating, I heard the bell ringing not far away, floating back and forth in the mountains, far away and empty.

Su Cen stopped, stood up and looked at the source of the bell, but it was a pity that the trees were so lush that he couldn't see clearly.

Su Cen turned around and asked, "Where is the bell ringing?"

While eating, Huang Mian said, "Brother Su doesn't know something. If you walk another quarter of an hour, there is a temple called Caotang Temple. The ringing of the bell should mean that the monks in the temple are eating."

"Caotang Temple?" Su Cen frowned and thought, but felt that the name sounded familiar, as if he had heard it somewhere.Thinking about it again, wasn't the temple that Feng Yiming brought here back then the Caotang Temple? Su Cen still remembered that there was a famous well in this Caotang Temple, but it's a pity they didn't see it at the beginning, and they paid a lot of incense money .

"Caotang Temple is looking for marriage?" Su Cen still remembered what Dian Feng Yiming had said before, and asked Huang Mian to confirm it again.

"Yes, it is said that it is very effective. People in Chang'an City come here to offer incense and pay homage." Huang Mian suddenly remembered something, and stood up suddenly: "You mean that day Wan'er came here to offer incense?"

"A girl is in the year of cardamom, and what she is most willing to ask for is marriage." Su Cen sat down and ate and said, "There was heavy rain on the way back, so I hid in this pavilion to avoid the rain, which also explains Liu Si's love. The mud on the shoes and the maple leaf. I must have met someone when I was hiding from the rain. We hit it off right away, and we had a very happy conversation. That’s why we had a vow fulfillment and a private meeting the next day. I just don’t know what happened later. That's why Lingmei couldn't go back."

"So that's how it is," Huang Mian suddenly realized, "It's reasonable, brother Su, you're amazing!"

"These are just conjectures, there is no way to prove it." Su Cen smiled slightly, finished the dry food in his hand in two or three bites, poured a few more sips of water, got up and said, "I'll look for it after eating, they are sheltering from the rain in this pavilion , if there is evidence, it should be around here."

Ah Fu also stood up after eating, patted his chest and promised: "Second young master, don't worry, I'm sure every stone and every leaf will be spared."

Feeling sorry, Huang Mian bowed to the two of them: "I'm sorry."

After eating, everyone hurried to find it again. Su Cen just found the place where he had just marked, when he heard an "ouch" from somewhere.

"What's wrong?" Su Cen shouted.

It was Ah Fu who answered, "It's okay, Second Young Master, I tripped."

Just as Su Cen was about to continue searching, he heard Ah Fu suddenly yell, and then he heard Ah Fu shout: "Second Young Master, Second Young Master, I found it!"

Su Cen and Huang Mian hurried over and saw a protruding log on the ground, only a small section was exposed. If you didn't look carefully, it would be confused with the root of the tree. If Ah Fu hadn't been tripped by it, I'm afraid Didn't notice at all.

It took several people a lot of effort to dig out the whole log, and after seeing the whole picture, they found that it was a wheel. Huang Mian stepped forward to take a closer look, and suddenly felt his throat tighten.

"This... This is my family's carriage," Huang Mian pointed at the wheel hub with trembling fingers: "My family's car will have imprints on the wheel hub, there is a yellow letter here, it is my family's right!"

Su Cen's eyes darkened, "Center here and dig again!"

Knowing that the ground might have to be dug, the carriage carried a hoe and shovel. After a while, the shaft and the bridle were dug up one after another, and they were all disassembled and buried in the ground.Huang Mian became more and more sure that this was his family's car, but he couldn't figure out why it was buried here.

As soon as the hoe went down, there was another blunt sound. Huang Mian knew that he had dug something again, so he hurriedly squatted down to have a look.

A moment later, Huang Mian let out a scream and slumped on the ground.

When Su Cen rushed over, he saw that half of the skull had been dug out, and the two empty eye sockets were staring at him blankly.

No matter how much Huang Mian didn't believe it, he knew that something must have happened after seeing such a scene.It is beyond his control that the dead are involved, so he can only report to the officials in desperation.

The people from Dali Temple came very quickly. After all, when they heard that a corpse was found in the outskirts of the city, and their adults were already there, no one dared to neglect.

Ning Santong came with him, and he climbed over the mountains with his big wooden box on his back. When he saw Su Cen, he complained: "It's a good rest day, you have to come out to find trouble. I'm discussing with Zheng Yang for a while to drink." I'm still listening to the song, it's all disturbed by you."

Su Cen could only smile apologetically, "Let's take care of the homicide case."

Despite his verbal dissatisfaction, Ning Santong didn't stop his hands. He opened his wooden box and prepared everything, and looked at Su Cen: "Where's the body?"

Su Cen casually pointed to the top of the mountain: "It's still digging."

Ning Santong became interested: "How many people died?"

Su Cen glanced at Huang Mian, Huang Mian was scared out of his wits by the half of the skull, sitting in the pavilion trembling, not daring to touch it anymore.Su Cen sighed and replied, "I don't know yet."

Taking advantage of the hot digging by the yamen servants in Dali Temple, Su Cen called Ah Fu, whispered a few words, Ah Fu nodded after hearing this, got up and left first.

It took more than an hour for the people from Dali Temple to dig up this area. The carriage was basically put together, and it was dismantled and buried in the ground.Fortunately, only one body was found from the beginning to the end. Judging by the clothes on his body, it should be the missing coachman Liu Si.

Ning Santong started the autopsy: "The deceased was a middle-aged man, seven feet one inch in length, one foot nine in length, wearing a single cloth jacket and a skirt, with blood on the front of the skirt, and a tear about an inch long. Sword wound." Ning Santong then opened the clothes on the deceased to examine the body, looked for a long time, and suddenly fell silent.

"What's wrong?" Su Cen leaned forward and asked.

"No wound." Ning Santong frowned.

"How could there be no wound?" Su Cen looked at Ning Santong in disbelief, "Didn't you just say that it was a suspected sword wound?"

"At least there is no wound on this corpse." The corpse has been buried in the ground for a long time, and it has decayed into a skeleton. Ning Santong motioned Su Cen to take a look. "The hole in the clothes is facing the chest. It should be a sword." The heart was pierced, but you can see that there is no sword mark left on this piece of rib, which shows that the murderer not only killed him with one blow, but also accurately avoided the rib, and the sword passed through the gap between the two ribs .”

Su Cen understood: "He is a master."

"At present, I have not found any other cause of death. I will not know until the body is brought back to Dali Temple for further examination."

Su Cen nodded, and ordered the servants to take back all the evidence they had dug up, and then walked up to Huang Mian: "Brother Huang, go back first."

Huang Mian was overly frightened, and raised her head to look at Su Cen in a daze: "There is no body of Wan'er here, does it mean that Wan'er is still alive?"

Su Cen pursed her lips, and could only comfort her, "At least I didn't die here."

Huang Mian looked downcast: "Where is Wan'er?"

Su Cen forced a smile, "As I said, I have a guess, and I just want to verify it now."

When the group returned to Chang'an City, the news had already spread throughout the city. Master Su found a corpse in the maple forest on the outskirts of the city. Dali Temple handled the case quickly, and now they have found evidence about the murderer.

The story of the process is miraculous. Some said that Master Su had opened his eyes and knew who the murderer was by looking at the corpse. Others said that the deceased gave Master Su a dream to seek justice and told Su Cen who the murderer was in the dream.A more reliable theory is that Mr. Su found evidence that could prove the murderer's identity in the excavated carriage, and waited for the trial tomorrow before the murderer could be arraigned.

As soon as the team from Dali Temple entered the city gate, they were surrounded by crowds. The people in Dali Temple didn't know why, but seeing that their master Su was calm and composed, they also straightened their waists to accept the welcome of the people.

Things got so complicated that Huang Mian naturally didn't dare to go home, so he followed Su Cen to make do with the night in the value room of Dali Temple.

Huang Mian was frightened during the day, tossed and turned at night and couldn't sleep. He wanted to talk to Su Cen, but Su Cen seemed to be tired during the day, so he turned off the light early and lay down, and his breathing slowed down after a while.

Huang Mian could only stare at the beams in a daze, thinking about the corpse during the day, and Wan'er again, but after all, he dug the pit for half a day during the day, and gradually became sleepy as midnight approached, just about to fall asleep. Suddenly, the sound of fighting came from outside.

Huang Mian sat up straight away, and looked at Su Cen, who had already got up with his clothes on, his eyes were like stars in the cold night, he was sober and thorough, without the slightest hint of sleepiness.

Su Cen raised his lips and smiled: "The murderer is here."

They lit the lamps and came outside the door, only to see two black shadows fighting in the courtyard, one wields a sword, with sharp sword skills and a cold light, the other is treacherous and flexible, and can frequently attack from unexpected angles. Throw all kinds of hidden weapons.

Immediately afterwards, flames came from all directions, and the servants who had been ambushing for a long time held torches and surrounded the two of them.

The man in black knew he was in an ambush, and got up and wanted to retreat, but Qu Linger stuck to his side like a ghost, although the damage was not serious, it was very haunting.

Suddenly, the right hand of the man in black suddenly exerted strength, and he pulled a sword flower, and the blade turned sharply, and went straight towards Su Cen.

"Brother Su, be careful!"

Qu Ling'er immediately panicked and set out to protect Su Cen.Su Cen didn't expect this person to be stubborn, and picked him, who didn't know kung fu, Su Cen backed away in a panic, seeing that the sword was about to sweep to the side of his neck, he heard a "Dang", Qu Ling'er threw A swallow clang knocked the sword away by an inch, brushed against Su Cen's neck and swept it against the door frame.

The man in black saw that he couldn't do it with one blow, and he didn't want to fight. Taking advantage of Qu Ling'er not catching up, he flew onto the roof and disappeared into the night in an instant.

Qu Ling'er stomped her feet angrily, seeing that Su Cen was just waiting to chase after nothing, but Su Cen shook her head: "Ling'er, forget it."

Qu Ling'er came back with her head bowed, "Brother Su, I can't beat him."

"It's okay." Su Cen smiled at Qu Ling'er, "Have you done what I asked you to do?"

"That's natural," Qu Ling'er suddenly smiled slyly, and spread her palms, the finely divided phosphorous powder shone in the dark.