Zhan Zhao and colleagues are walking in Shasha

Qin Tong suddenly woke up from the dream, only felt a burst of heart palpitations, and was already in a cold sweat.The scene in the dream just now was like lightning flashing across the night sky, tearing a gap in the thick ink-like night.

Bloody Plum Blossom—that was one of the unsolved cases her father investigated in his early years.Qin Tong clearly remembered that there were a total of thirteen dead in that unsolved case. Because a plum blossom dripping with blood can always be found at the scene of the crime, it was called the "Plum Blossom Murder" case.

The case has been suspended for many years, but the suspect has never been caught.The victims were men and women, old and young, all over the east and west of the city, the south and the north of the city.The murderer often finds out the situation first before committing a crime, and then begins to make friends with the family quietly, and then tries every means to sow discord, making the family restless.When father and son broke up, husband and wife turned against each other, and brothers fought against each other, he would choose a person in this family on a dark and stormy night to brutally kill him.

According to survivors, the man captured them, locked them in a room, and told them that if someone would stand up and die before dawn, the rest of the family would live.

However, often no one is willing to die, and this person will not seriously kill the poor person who was pushed out, but chooses a person who may have been chosen by himself.Sometimes he is the master of the house, sometimes he is the hostess, as if everything depends on his mood.

Qin Xu tried to find out the case back then, but he couldn't even find the shadow of the murderer. Later, the plum blossom killer probably refused to commit crimes against the wind, so he disappeared in Shizhou City. After a long time, the case was settled.

However, Qin Tong had heard from his father in private that this thief would never let it go, and the bloody plum blossom was his symbol when he committed the crime.Such a person commits a crime, and the motive for killing is difficult to find.The people they killed were not only not related to them, they didn't even have close friends.He doesn't seem to care about money or power, he just kills for the sake of killing.

To catch such a killer, in addition to ability, it also depends on chance and luck.

Recalling these past events, Qin Tong felt dizzy for a moment, and the red paint on the window sills appeared before his eyes.Looking back now, it clearly looks like a plum blossom, why didn't I notice it at the time?There was buzzing in her ears, but she didn't care about it, and she was about to sit up with her arms propped up.

The movement from her side woke up Zhan Zhao, he stretched out his hand to grab Qin Tong, and asked in a hoarse voice, "What's wrong with this? It's not yet dawn."

"I have to go to Xu's house again." Qin Tong frowned, trying to explain a few words to Zhan Zhao, but couldn't think of any words for a while, and said for a long time, "I still feel a little uneasy, I just go to see One glance, and you won't miss tomorrow's business."

Zhan Zhao was silent for a while, sighed and said softly, "Is it because of the red paint on the window sill?"

"Yes." Qin Tong never expected that Zhan Zhao could guess what was in his mind, and couldn't help being a little surprised at his sensitivity.However, the situation was not clear, and Qin Tong was unwilling to speak out his doubts rashly, so he pondered for a while and said, "Brother Xiongfei, in my opinion, this case is definitely not just about Mrs. Xu, or that child killing someone. I have to go to Xu's residence to investigate the doubts clearly. Master Xue still needs to trouble you to deal with it, and I will try my best to go there before I am promoted."

Zhan Zhao didn't say anything for a long time, until Qin Tong became uneasy, and then he slowly said: "Since you know that this matter is not simple, you can't go alone. There is no hurry, and after being promoted to the court for interrogation, Brother Yu will accompany you." Just go one more time."

"Brother Xiongfei, you know my temperament." Qin Tong said quickly, "I have such doubts in my heart, how can I hold back to hear the trial? Besides, Brother Zhao and the others have arrested Mrs. Xu back to the Yamen. Who is instigating behind it, at this time they should relax their vigilance. There will be no mistakes in this trip, and it's not the first day for the younger brother to be this arrester, these things are still clear in mind, brother don't need to worry."

But Zhan Zhao became more and more uneasy in his heart. He shook his head and said, "I don't believe it. Why are you so impatient? There must be something hiding from me." He looked at Qin Tong and asked in a deep voice, "Why do you insist on I can't go to Xu's house again, can't you tell me clearly?"

"The red paint is really strange, my little brother is worried, so I want to ask the servants of Xu's family for information." Qin Tongqiang suppressed his anxiety and explained slowly.

Zhan Zhao looked at Qin Tong, seeing her calm expression, for some reason, his heart suddenly became angry, and he sneered, "Well, brother Yu can't stop you, so please do it."

"Brother Xiongfei..." Qin Tong never expected that Zhan Zhao would be annoyed, and he didn't know what he said wrongly touched Zhan Zhao's back scales, so he was a little at a loss for a while.She stretched out her hand to pull Zhan Zhao's sleeve, and whispered, "Brother Xiongfei, that's not what I meant..."

Zhan Zhao waved her away, collected his expression, and said indifferently: "No need to say more, I can take care of where you want to go. You are such a big person, don't you know what to do and what not to do?" " He looked at Qin Tong and said word by word, "If you want to go to Xu's house, then just go. Master Xue will take care of it for you, so you don't have to worry about it."

However, the more Zhan Zhao said this, the more panicked Qin Tong became.She had the urge to tell Zhan Zhao all the deduction in her heart, but she was afraid that what she thought was completely wrong, so she didn't have to lose face in front of Zhan Zhao.After struggling for a while, Qin Tong bit his lip and got up to leave, making up his mind that when he came back, he would make amends with Zhan Zhao, put aside his face and let him not get angry with him again.

Looking at Qin Tong's hurried figure, Zhan Zhao sighed in disappointment and helplessness.

When Qin Tong arrived at Xu's house, the east was already pale.She got off the horse neatly, tied the borrowed horse to a big willow tree at the entrance of the alley, and strode towards Xu's house.

It was still early in the daylight, the neighbors had not yet risen, and there was no movement in the surrounding area.Qin Tong knocked on the gate of Xu's house in three steps at a time, and waited patiently for a while. Sure enough, a voice came from inside after a while, and it was the cook from Xu's house who asked in a rough voice, "Who is that?" ?”

"Someone from the yamen, open the door!" Qin Tong raised his voice to answer, and then heard the sound of footsteps inside, and after a while, the door was opened, and the cook came out to salute Qin Tong.When he first saw Qin Tong alone, he couldn't help being taken aback, but then he recognized that this was the man who was with the head catcher that day, and he presumably was an old man, so he didn't dare to be negligent, so he let Qin Tong in in a hurry .

As soon as you enter the door, you can see wreaths and white paper scattered all over the courtyard. In the past, you can still see a bit of cleanliness, but now it is a mess and a mess.Xu's house suffered disasters one after another, and there was no one left who could call the shots, and the courtyard immediately showed signs of decay.Seeing it, Qin Tong didn't know what it was like, but he didn't want to say anything more, so he just shook his head and sighed, then went straight to the small building.

She didn't enter the door, but followed the route last night to the window on the side of the small building, first looked at the window sill, then looked around, and found that the window was facing an old willow tree.

Qin Tong has a very good memory, and after coming here for a while, he remembered the general scene of Xu's house almost exactly.Now she walked slowly to the tree, gently stretching out her fingers to caress the trunk - the lower part of the trunk was painted with a layer of white paint, from the root to the half of the tree body was white, only the top of the white paint was painted with red paint. Painted around.

This is also the only thing Qin Tong saw in Xu's house, the newly painted red.

"Your wife invited a painter over for her birthday," Qin Tong asked slowly, "Apart from the railings of the stairs, tables, chairs and benches, have you ever painted anything else?"

The cook was at a loss, how could Qin Tong get involved in such a long-term matter, na na said: "What else? He left halfway through his work, and never took any money."

"What about this tree?" Qin Tong flicked the trunk with his fingers, "How can it be painted white?"

The cook suddenly replied: "This is the painter who said that there is a secret recipe handed down from the ancestors, which can prevent the tree from infesting insects, so he painted the tree white. The master was not very happy when he saw it. He said it was a bad idea, and asked him to make it up again." Circle red."

"You said just now that the man left halfway through his work without taking any money." Qin Tong hummed and asked again, "What's going on?"

The cook sighed and said: "This villain can't tell clearly, it's because his hands and feet are not clean, which makes the master very angry."

"Then do you know where this painter's family lives? What's his name?" Qin Tong asked.

The cook shook his head again and again, only thought that he met this man on the road, he just happened to look for the painter in those few days, and saw that the young man was clean, decent and smart, so he brought him back.All I know is that this person's surname is Mei, and he came here from a foreign country to beg for a living, but he doesn't know anything else.

"So that's how it is," Qin Tong felt more and more in his heart that his suspicions were well-founded, and then glanced at the red paint on the window sill, and said lightly, "I want to go into the small building, don't follow me .”

How dare the cook not agree, he quickly opened the door for Qin Tong, bowed and sent her in.

Qin Tong turned around and closed the door, walked up to the pear-blossom table in the room that was left out by the painter alone.She stretched out her hand and gently tapped the table.

The wooden table made a hollow sound, which seemed a little strange in this empty small building.

Qin Tong bent down and was about to take a closer look, when a man's laughing voice suddenly came from behind.

He only heard him say: "Interesting, I really didn't expect you to be able to trace this far. This is really a tiger father without dog son."

The voice was deep and sweet, and just hearing him speak made people feel good.However, at this time and this place, one can't help but make people's hairs stand on end.

Qin Tong turned around awkwardly, and saw a man standing in the room at some point.I saw that this man was slender, wearing a ochre-colored slanted collar gown, leaning on the railing of the stairs, looking at Qin Tong with a smile.He has a handsome face and is actually very handsome.

Qin Tong only felt his heart beating wildly, and forced his composure on his face, "Who are you?"

"Who am I, Master Qin doesn't know?" The man said with a light smile, "I thought Master Qin would have already guessed my identity if we can track down this place at this time."

Seeing that this person knew her identity, Qin Tong's heart sank. She narrowed her eyes and said softly, "Are you really that plum blossom killer?"

"That pear tree table is a gift from me to Mr. Qin." The man answered irrelevantly, but still smiled, "After all, you are still too young, far behind your father."

Qin Tong took a deep breath when she heard the words, her heartbeat gradually calmed down, and she asked word by word: "Mr. Xu was killed by you, am I right?"

"Yes, I killed it." The man didn't seem surprised at what Qin Tong said, but readily admitted it.He looked at Qin Tong and laughed, and said, "I like this family, and I always want to give them a big gift. If you think about it, you've heard Lord Qin mention the Plum Blossom Killer, so you should know my preferences, right?"

Qin Tong said with a cold face: "Mr. Xu is upright and upright. How did he offend you and invite such vicious hands?"

"It's so good to help the world, upright and upright," the man chuckled, "All of you are blindfolded, so you can't see the real face under that mask. Do you know how that old thing tortured his wife Of course, his wife is not a good thing." The man held back his smile, but his eyes were still gentle, "I was whitening that old locust tree that day, and I saw that woman when I looked up. She Googo looked at me, and I knew what she was thinking—she was just about to have the word 'obscene' etched on her face."

These words made Qin Tong's face involuntarily heated up, and immediately sank his face and said: "Your words are groundless, don't spout blood and try to justify your crimes."

"Why are you spitting blood?" The man laughed again, "I never pick on those boring people. Fathers are kind, sons are filial, husbands and wives are harmonious, it's really meaningless. I like these people who are obviously so dirty in their hearts, but they still have to pretend A kind-hearted person."

Qin Tong spat at him and scolded: "What do you want to do with you? You want to make more troubles? You have committed many murders, not to mention that you will lay down eighteen hells after you die. Don’t you feel bad conscience when you’re alive?”

"Why should I have a bad conscience?" The man pretended to be surprised. "I'm helping them. In fact, they all wish that their family members are dead. It's just that they can't do it because of reason. But I don't care about it, I will help them." Let’s do it, I’m afraid they still have to thank me in their hearts.”

Looking at the appearance of the man in front of him, Qin Tong suddenly understood why his father would say that the thief would never give up easily - this man is a lunatic, he has already gone mad.As long as he lives for a day, he will not put down the butcher knife in his hand. Human relations and principles are just a joke to him, and he is just living in his own dream.

But, how could such a person plan to frame Bai Yutang?Is it really my wishful thinking that I guessed wrong?Qin Tong couldn't help frowning, and couldn't help asking: "How did you kill Mr. Xu? You used to lock them up and ask those people to choose whether to die or live to torture them. But this time back?"

The man laughed heavily, and said: "I was unlucky this time, and I couldn't pick a good day to send that old thing on the road. That night, his wife and I were hugging and making out, but he bumped into him—this old thing was at that time He was so angry that he wanted to kill his wife. I picked up the inkstone on the table and hit him on the back of the head. Unexpectedly, this old thing couldn't help but fell to the ground and struggled for a while, and soon died. , I didn’t even give me a chance to torture him.” At the end, he actually laughed softly again.

Seeing him confessing his crimes so lightly, Qin Tong couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart, and asked, "Then you threw Xu Langzhong's body down the second floor, pretending to fall to his death?"

"Yeah, isn't it very clever?" The man said softly, "If the maid hadn't talked too much, this would have been settled."

Qin Tong couldn't help but sink his face, and said coldly: "It's nonsense, if it's really just that, why did you design to frame Bai Yutang? You have no grievances with him, but you set up this trap, say! Who ordered you? "After she finished speaking, she stared closely at the person in front of her, only to see a flash of surprise on his face, and then laughed loudly: "Master Xiao Qin, I said that you are not old enough, so it is not a joke. I don't know how your father taught you You, pour all kinds of dirty water on me, I'm a killer, I don't do such things as framing."

Qin Tong sneered and said, "Are you a killer? If you really follow the rules of killers, after you kill Langzhong Xu, you don't need to push him down the second floor. You are a foreigner, and the Xu family has nothing for you except your appearance." I know, once you leave, who can catch you?"

"Why do you say that?" The man calmed down for a moment, raised his eyebrows slightly and said, "His wife was terrified that night. I had a relationship with his wife for a few nights. How can I see her suffer? Of course I have to help her."

Qin Tong let out a "bah" and cursed: "Shameless you!" After scolding, she still didn't forget the business, looked at the man coldly and said: "You don't want to avoid the seriousness here, and there is no reason to be sympathetic if you kill countless people." Love? I'm afraid you won't believe anyone you tell me. You're acting like this just to frame Bai Yutang."

"I don't know what white sugar and brown sugar you're talking about," the man laughed. "It's okay to see if you're holding on to this matter, and I might as well tell you that I really didn't do this thing, it was that child who made it up on his own."

Qin Tong's heart tightened, and he pretended to be surprised: "Son, I don't think you can even lie. How can a child have the ability to do these things?"

"Why not? You underestimate him." The man laughed deeply, "This child is a bastard born to that woman and a gambler, but that's not what the woman told her husband—she never admitted that she He once gave birth to a child. Later, the child was kicked out of the house by his gambler Lao Tzu, and he lived on the street and was about to starve to death, and they took him back to Xu's house to raise him."

Qin Tong snorted and said, "So what? Could it be that he will frame someone who has only met once and has nothing to do with it? What good does it do him?"

"This is what he is capable of," the man frowned slightly, although he was still smiling, and sighed, "I never thought that this kid would be able to do such a thing, and pour a basin of dirty water on himself , just for his mother who refused to recognize him."

Qin Tong frowned and said, "What do you mean?"

"Master Xiao Qin, why do you come to ask me everything?" The man smiled softly, "Investigating the case should be a fast job. I am a murderer, so I have no reason to investigate the private affairs of other people's houses for you." He said Wan Wan straightened up and straightened his sleeves, collected his expression and said indifferently: "Okay, after talking to you so much, it's time to send you on your way." He said softly, "Don't worry, for your father's sake, I will It will give you a good time."

Qin Tong had been waiting for this moment, and before the man finished speaking, he drew out his knife and slashed at him.The knife was sharp and fast, and it came straight to his face with the sound of the wind.However, the next moment, the man stretched out his hand and waved it, and the knife was in his hand.Qin Tong staggered a step, and saw the man holding a knife, raised his eyes and smiled softly at himself.

Qin Tong's eyes widened, but before she could get timid, there was a sharp sound of piercing through the air, and the knives in the man's hands snapped off in unison.

The door was kicked open with a "bang", Qin Tong looked up against the light, and saw that Zhan Zhao was standing at the door, panting slightly.She also heard Bai Yutang's voice in a daze, and hummed in a low voice: "Why are you in a hurry, I told you earlier, this kid's life is at stake."

Outside, the spirit of spring is strong.

The author has something to say: the state is not very good, this part will be repaired after the full text is finished, if there is anything you don’t understand or if you see a bug, you can point it out, eh~ I love you~

Bug catching + minor repairs, does not affect the plot