treacherous world

Zhan Zhao and the others couldn't help being shocked when they heard the old woman's malicious curses, realizing that the old case that was hidden back then must be shocking.

"In the Yishui River, there are hundreds of innocent souls?" Bai Yutang was puzzled, "What do you mean?"

"This... happened 30 years ago." The old woman began to slowly describe the past, "At that time, Qushan County was very poor, and the magistrate of the county is now the prefect of Luozhou at the next level, Mr. Liang."

"What? The prefect of Luozhou used to be the county magistrate of Heshan County?" Everyone was taken aback, "Then there is a little problem."

"Liang Bao is actually not an outsider. She is a relative of Mr. Liang Wenxing, probably a nephew." The old woman sighed softly, "Otherwise, you say that he is a foreign official, how come he is so familiar with local customs?"

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay—is there really something wrong with Liang Bao!

"Can you make it clearer?"

After thinking about it, the old woman took out a brocade handkerchief from her sleeve pocket and put it on the table.

When everyone opened the brocade handkerchief, they saw a roll of torn sheepskin inside, with many crooked pictures painted on it.

"What is this?" Zhao Pu was puzzled.

"Oh!" Bai Yutang remembered, "I saw it in the horse belly ancestral hall that day, and I drew it." As he said, he took out a drawing from his sleeve, and the sheepskin drawing Comparing the patterns on the top, it feels similar.

"Yeah, I almost forgot." Zhan Zhao also remembered, "I wanted Gongsun to see it a long time ago."

Gongsun took the drawing and compared it with the sheepskin, and it seemed strangely familiar to him.

"I know it!" At this moment, from the roof, Ziying suddenly jumped down.

"You know?" Everyone looked at him inexplicably.

"This is a picture drawn by a juggling troupe practicing tricks!" Ziying said with a smile, "I love that one, and I know a lot of juggling troupe masters. Didn't the battalion invite several juggling troupes to perform last time to entertain the soldiers? I got to know them well, and they drew some similar pictures for us to see, saying that this is a common code used by jugglers all over the world."

"Code?" Zhao Pu didn't understand, thinking that even juggling uses codes?

"Well... I've heard of it too." Gongsun nodded, "juggling originated from folk tricks. There was a national funeral in the previous dynasty, and the emperor ordered the world not to play jokes for a year. Juggling classes make their living by amusing people. In this way, they lost their way of life! So a large number of juggling troupes moved to unknown places in the mountains, and secretly communicated with each other. The correspondence used this kind of weird graphics instead of words, so as not to be caught. Although the ban was lifted later, but This kind of writing is very convenient, and it has been used ever since.”

"Sir, you have a lot of knowledge." The old woman smiled and nodded to everyone, "That's right, this is the text that people in the juggling class use to communicate with each other."

"Those little beggars, did they die because of reading these words?" Zhan Zhao guessed.

"How did the little beggar die, old lady, I don't know, but I can tell you... At that time, there was a juggling troupe passing through Qushan County, performing here, and the finale performance was called Shark Dance."

"Mermaid?" Gongsun frowned, "Mermaid?"

"Several wealthy households in Qushan County saw with the county magistrate that the merman was beautiful and moving, with a lifelike fish tail, so they asked the head of the juggling class how it came about.

The class leader told him an old method, how to make a mermaid.

Everyone couldn't help taking a breath of cool air when they heard this... They remembered what Gongsun said that day, the sea mermaid made by mutilating young children.

"As I said just now, Qushan County was very poor back then, and all the daughters and children were abandoned because they couldn't afford it. So Liang County Magistrate came up with a vicious trick." The old woman's face changed slightly when she said this. , "They circled a water area by the Yishui River, made the girls into fake mermaids, and raised them in the water. Because they were afraid of being discovered by the people along the coast, they added fuel and vinegar to the legend of the horse's belly in ancient times to scare the locals. Common people, what is the difference between the north and the south, and the death of bullying the weak... are all lies."

"Horse belly, it's just a big tiger-striped fish that you've seen before and died on the shore. It hurts people occasionally, but if you say it's a god or something, it's a lie." The old woman became more and more excited as she spoke.

Everyone was already stunned, it was hard to imagine that someone could be so cruel.

"What do they want to raise sea mermaids for?" Zhan Zhao asked after a long time.

"What else can I do?! Take it and sell it to high officials, nobles, celebrities and dignitaries!" The old woman shook her head and sighed, "Sea mermaids are not easy to raise. If they want to live in water, how many girls can bear it?! Raise them." A sea mermaid will kill at least a dozen innocent girls... In order to make the sea mermaid as real as possible, they gave the girls medicine so that they could only make high and muffled sounds, just like the sea mermaid. It's like the mermaid is singing."

When everyone heard this, they just felt shuddering, they were devoid of conscience!

The county magistrate of Liang quickly explained the high-ranking officials and wealthy households by selling or giving away sea mermaids, and he became a magistrate.He realized that if this continues, sooner or later, this matter will be known and affect his official career.So he ordered people to kill all those sea mermaids, push down the dams of the mermaids, and destroy the evidence.

But God has eyes, on the day they started killing, the mountain torrent that happened once in a hundred years poured down from the mountain and destroyed the embankment and destroyed all the evidence.

Everyone felt that their hearts were blocked and flustered, and it was cheap for that villain!

"By the way, have you ever seen a crippled crazy old man?" The old woman asked suddenly, "It's a Yamen police officer."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang immediately remembered.

"He was the leader of the juggling class back then." The old woman said.

"Oh!" Zhan Zhao stared suddenly, no wonder he was so excited...

"What did he do back then?" Zhao Pu asked.

"This person has always regretted it. He told Liang County Magistrate how to make sea mermaids. He was originally greedy for money. He thought that Liang County Magistrate liked it, so he could just make one. I really didn't expect those people to be inhumane. They did so much in the past. There are almost no girls in Shanxian County. They also forced him to teach those sea mermaids. The place where the sea mermaids are raised is a hell on earth. Who can bear it..." The old woman couldn't help crying when she said this, the class leader He tried to escape several times, but his leg was broken, and he stayed in the county government office. He pretended to be crazy and foolish to live to this day.And these things... were written by him back then. He didn't dare to write in words openly, for fear of being recognized by others, so he secretly wrote this kind of coded symbols. "

Everyone present was very angry, Gongsun was lucky to send Xiao Sizi and Xiao Liangzi into the room, and did not let the children hear this sensational evil deed.

Bai Yutang only felt that he probably wouldn't have to eat for a few days.

"The matter had subsided at first, and many years had passed, until one day, the little monkey came to tell me that he met a good friend named Xiaohong in the underground palace." The old woman smiled kindly as she spoke. Some, "I followed the little monkey to see it. I was really scared to death. I thought it was the souls of those sea mermaids, because Xiaohong is too big!"

Bai Yutang understood immediately and nodded, "Indeed, two people are so big!"

"When I saw her, she was as big as four or five people."

Everyone was stunned, at a loss—how could the sea mermaid be so big and small?

"That's because you didn't get close. What you saw wasn't Little Red herself at all, but the reflection reflected through the glazed mirror in the underground palace."

Everyone suddenly realized that this was the case, and they thought they really saw a ghost!

"Xiao Hong was one of the many mermaids back then. She survived and has been in the Yishui River. She entered the ancient tomb from the cave. It may be because she dared not come out to see the light for many years, or she was in the water for many years. Life, she is not old."

"There is such a thing?" Gongsun repeatedly exclaimed in surprise.

"Then how did the former beggar and the current magistrate die?" Zhan Zhao couldn't help asking.

The old woman shook her head, "I don't know about that, all I know is that the current county magistrate was born in an opera troupe, so he should have a little knowledge of the troupe's script. Those little beggars are all little ruffians from other places during the day At night, they lived in the Ma Fu Temple. Sometimes they pretended to be beggars to beg, and sometimes they would steal from the house. One day, the little beggars died suddenly, and the county magistrate died the next day, and the magistrate Liang So I sent the arrester Liang Bao over to thoroughly investigate the matter."

When everyone heard this, their hearts trembled.

Zhao Pu frowned, "It was those little beggars who stole the sheepskin notebooks of the lame catcher when they stole, and then drew the pictures and texts on it in the horse belly ancestral hall. These pictures and texts were known to the magistrate who was born in the troupe and recognized them. The content of the text was horrifying. He also inadvertently grasped the secrets of the prefect of Luozhou! Could it be that the news leaked out later? Then the beggars died overnight, and the people in the yamen died... and the legend of the horse belly It started to become very popular, it is very likely that Liang County Magistrate back then murdered people to silence them."

"As for the water rats coming out of the river..." the old woman interjected, "Actually, that day, someone sprinkled a lot of medicinal powder into the river, which made many water rats rush ashore like crazy, and then crashed into the river. His head was bleeding and he returned to Yishui, bleeding to death one by one from all seven orifices.

"They sprinkled medicinal powder into the river to deal with Xiaohong?" Zhan Zhao woke up suddenly, "To poison Xiaohong to death?"

"Yes, but Xiaohong's life is fatal. The little monkey and I rescued her and kept her in the water tank until the poison dissipated. This roll of sheepskin was given to me by Xiaohong. She said it was behind the horse belly ancestral hall. Found it in the pool."

Bai Yutang knew in her heart that what she saw in the pool behind the horse belly ancestral hall that day was probably Xiaohong, and the full moon that day—could it be related to the glazed mirror that the old woman mentioned just now?

The old woman thought about it again, "That's about it. You came here after that. Last evening, the river embankment also collapsed. Xiaohong is in the underground palace. She should be fine."

After listening to the old woman's words, everyone remained silent. There are still many doubts in this matter, which need to be sorted out one by one.

"But..." Zhan Zhao always felt that something was wrong, "The little monkey seems to believe in the horse belly fairy?"

"Xiaohong told him." The old woman said earnestly, "I don't know why Xiaohong's voice is healed. She can talk, but it's very dumb and inconvenient. She said that there are really gods in Yishui. The gods will protect her!"

"Then why do all the dead people have dead rats in their throats?" Bai Yutang didn't say that the dead rats were fake, and looked at Gongsun and Zhao Pu.

Both of them understood in their hearts and listened in silence.

The old woman shook her head, "I don't know, I've already said what I know."

Everyone nodded. At this time, Zhe Ying came to Zhao Pu's side, "My lord, Liang Bao is here again, and he brought an official."

"official?"

"Wearing a blue dress, a sixth-grade grade, a little old."

"It's Liang Zhifu!" The old woman blurted out, her face showing fear.

Zhao Pu laughed and said, "Oh, what are you afraid of, the old man, he is only a sixth rank official, let's show the fourth rank of adults!"

Everyone looked at him weakly - you seem to be a first-class product!

Zhao Pu thought for a while, waved to Zhe Ying, and whispered a few words in his ear, Zhe Ying nodded and left with Zi Ying.

Zhan Zhao listened to his instructions to the two of them, and asked Zhao Pu, "Do you want to..."

"This man even dared to kill his subordinates in order to protect himself. Maybe this time he saw that the matter was about to be exposed, so he came to remedy it?" Zhao Pu smiled, "just to see his real body, is it a human or a painted skin?" have to."

Zhan Zhao sighed softly, "For the first time, I feel that killing someone is even cheaper for him."

Bai Yutang suddenly stood up.

"Brother Bai?" Zhan Zhao was puzzled when he heard the sound.

"I suddenly thought of an interesting idea." Bai Yutang said, beckoning to Gongsun lightly, "Gongsun, do me a favor."

Gongsun's eyes rolled, "Oh... Could it be that Fifth Master Bai wants to repay him with the same way?"

Bai Yutang twitched his lips, "As the cat said, letting them die is too cheap for them!" After saying that, he took Gongsun to the backyard, and Zhao Pu let the old woman enter the house to meet the little monkey, the fourth son, and the others. Avoid together.

Zhan Zhao rested his chin on one hand and pondered, when did Bai Yutang start chewing his own cat?Wasn't he still brother Zhan yesterday?

Soon, footsteps were heard at the gate of the courtyard, and Liang Bao walked in with Liang Zhifu.