Cloud of the Qing Dynasty

Mu Liuyun only said so much, and Zhang Chi roughly understood.

Although the Shangqing Palace is a monastic sect, it does not live by drinking the northwest wind. In the past hundred years, the number of this lonely sect has been small, and its martial arts are very powerful. Just relying on renting out the fields at the foot of the mountain is enough for the sect to live comfortably, and it has always maintained a cleanliness that does not contend with the world.

But now, they are in a heyday that has never been seen in more than a hundred years. There are almost a thousand formal disciples under the sect, and the disciples' family members and other idlers are a considerable number. To support so many people, but also to expand the sect, in times of famine, he will go around to give relief, and the money is spent like flowing water, so naturally he has to find a way to collect more, so he gradually developed a lot of his own. industry.

These properties are either managed by the disciples themselves, or run by the family members of the disciples, or simply other businessmen actively donate to the Shangqing Palace. One of them specializes in all kinds of high-grade mahogany and red sandalwood furniture, which is very popular. The favorite of dignitaries from all walks of life.

The raw materials for making furniture need to be transported thousands of miles from the origin of Lingnan to the workshop near Huashan, and they have to go through a long transportation process along the way.The more such a wide-ranging business is, the more inseparable it is from the support of a powerful force. It is precisely because this is the property of the Shangqing Palace that the bandits and bandits along the way dare not get involved at all. The loss is reduced to a range that can make money.

This is already a common and natural model. In the past hundred years of troubled times, all business routes have been firmly controlled by gangs of all sizes. All merchants are inextricably linked with gangs in the Jianghu .The gangs protect the merchants, and the merchants feed the gangs, a symbiotic relationship that has lasted for generations.

Therefore, since there are interests, there will inevitably be conflicts of interest.

Between gangs, it is commonplace for gangs to quarrel and fight for territory, to stab a knife and even destroy the family and annex them.

The conflict between Shangqing Palace and Jinghong Mountain Villa this time is a typical conflict of gang interests. In fact, Tian Xingdao and Qin Wuqi may not hope that the two sides will fight against each other. It is just that the people who work below start disputes in order to achieve their respective goals. It is inevitable, and when people in the world have disagreements, it is normal to start a fight. After the fight, the bosses of both sides come forward to coordinate and reconcile. I am afraid that the matter is not so easy to "coordinate". If the two sides fail to agree and fight again, Mu Liuyun can deal with all kinds of grievances, and by the way, he can make this little junior famous and make people in the martial arts re-examine the strength of Shangqing Palace .

"Can I understand that this time, the conflict between you and Jinghong Villa is actually quite serious, and I'm afraid it will be difficult to resolve it peacefully. Daoist Tian Xing knows that the two sides may not agree with each other and draw their swords, so he will let you come forward. Come to hold the line?"

"...That's true." Mu Liuyun nodded, Zhang Chi was indeed smart, and he grasped the point of the question right away.

"Then, Jinghong Mountain Villa does have a reason to harm you, and this reason is much stronger than that of the Red Lotus Sect." Zhang Chi frowned and said, "The day you were poisoned, if it wasn't because you went to take a bath and change clothes first, If you didn’t have dinner with Daoist Yichen and the others, I’m afraid you will not be able to escape this trip. Although most people in Jianghu have never heard of your name, there should be many people in your sect who know how powerful you are and are shocked. If Hongshanzhuang learned about this through some means, they would have thought that if you participated in this conflict, they would definitely lose a lot, so they might as well use tricks to get rid of you, their future rival, before you make your debut, and then blame you Others, whether it is in the short term or in the long run, it will be very beneficial to Jinghong Villa."

"You're right." Mu Liuyun still has lingering fears when he thinks about it. In the past, he was a bold man with high skills, and thought that he could force out or suppress most of the poisons in the world with his strong internal force, but when he encountered Duan Hun If he inadvertently ingests the poison of thistle, which can kill people within a few breaths after its onset, he is afraid that he will die.The other party used such a rare and strange poison, it really seemed to come here specifically to kill him.

"Then now, these contradictory clues constitute two more likely inferences." Zhang Chi rubbed his chin and frowned and analyzed, "The first inference is that the Red Lotus Sect murdered and blamed Jinghong. Villa. I have always wondered that the Red Lotus Sect has nothing to do with the Shangqing Palace. It can be said that there is no grievance or enmity. There is no need to take the initiative to provoke you, but they have formed a big beam with Jinghong Villa. The disciples of the Lotus Sect looted a batch of goods from the Jinghong Villa, and Jinghong Villa retaliated by destroying several religious altars. The Red Lotus Sect retaliated again and assassinated the followers of the Jinghong Villa. Now the two sides are on fire. I also heard that Jinghong Villa is going to hold a martial arts conference this time, in order to gather the strength of fellow martial artists to encircle and suppress the Red Lotus Sect. The Red Lotus Sect must be restless right now, just in time to learn that the Shangqing Palace has some conflicts with Jinghong Villa this time, They sent Bai Ling to poison the people in the Shangqing Palace. If the Shangqing Palace did not find Bai Ling, they would only suspect that Jinghong Villa bought "murder" to kill people. Even if Bai Ling was found, given that Bai Ling and Qin For such an unclear relationship, it is still easy to suspect that Jinghong Villa is on the top, and the power of the Qing Palace, no matter whether they have a face-to-face fight with Jinghong Villa in the end, it has caused a lot of damage to Jinghong Villa. The pressure made Jinghong Villa unable to deal with the Red Lotus Sect with all its strength, and this time the Red Lotus Sect is sure to make money."

When Zhang Chi stopped to drink water, Mu Liuyun interrupted: "But I don't understand, what good does this do for Bai Ling himself? If the planting succeeds, she will kill her lover, and if she loses, she will kill her." Her own life, why would she do such a thing."

"The affair between Bai Ling and Qin Wuqi is just a rumor. I don't know if it's true or not. Even if it's true, according to Bai Ling's fanatical demeanor, he might be brainwashed into making such a decision. What's more, sometimes the boundary between love and hate is very blurred, and it is not uncommon to have resentment due to jealousy."

Mu Liuyun nodded: "Well, continue."

Zhang Chi continued: "If this inference is true, the members of the Red Lotus Sect saw that Bai Ling was captured alive by us, and it is very likely that they will be traced to the head of the Red Lotus Sect, so they decided to sacrifice Bai Ling, so they sent a The dark chess lurking here killed Bai Ling and silenced her. The person who killed Bai Ling didn't know that I had searched her body, so he put this letter on her body, trying to attract our attention to Jinghong Mountain Villa, but was unfortunately caught. We were caught by a coincidence and were unable to remove the red lotus tattoo on her body in time. Based on this inference, there are still two doubts in the matter. First, if we did not follow the clues to trace Bai Ling's head at that time, it was just the Shangqing Palace. The person who came to negotiate was killed in southern Xinjiang. Even if people suspect Jinghong Mountain Villa, there is no basis for it. How can the Red Lotus Sect put this matter on Jinghong Mountain Villa? Could it be that there are other actions and consequences that we have not discovered? Trick? If it wasn’t for setting the blame, why did they come to poison the people in the Shangqing Palace for no reason? The second doubt is, if Bai Ling was sent by the Red Lotus Sect, why did the Red Lotus Sect give it to this little little pawn who might become an abandoned pawn at any time? Such a valuable hidden weapon for the spirit girl? Or is this hidden weapon obtained by Bai Ling through other channels, such as the rumor that Qin Wuqi gave her a token of love?"

"It's so complicated..." Mu Liuyun frowned, feeling that he couldn't think through it anymore, "Then... another deduction?"

"The second inference is that the murder in Jinghong Villa was blamed on the Red Lotus Sect. Let's assume that because of this conflict, Qin Wuqi wanted to get rid of you who got in the way—especially you, so he used money or personal charm to lure Bai Ling to replace him." He poisoned you, and maybe gave her this syringe to do things, and then sent someone to kill Bai Ling to silence her, and deliberately dug out half of the red lotus tattoo, creating the illusion that the Red Lotus Sect killed and silenced her, and married her The Red Lotus Sect is in trouble. In this inference, there are also two doubts. Jinghong Villa does not have any influence in the south of the Lingnan area. If the person who silenced him was sent by Jinghong Villa, why would he be familiar with the environment and flee to Wugu Village? , the possible explanation is that Jinghong Villa bought a local from Wuguzhai to silence them, but the temporary bribed locals are unreliable in their ability to handle affairs, and they are very easy to leak their information, so this is still a doubt. Doubt [-] It is the person who silenced me. Why did you leave this letter? The possible explanation is that the person they bribed saw that I had a vicious vision all the way, so he deliberately left a letter that was obviously planted, and this letter is likely to be a The counterfeit products that can be detected through investigation, using this kind of framing that can be seen through with a little use of the brain, on the contrary create the illusion that the Red Lotus Sect killed first and framed them later. But if they don’t do anything unnecessary If Zhang Xinjian said, I might not even notice Jinghong Villa's head, so why should they cause more trouble by themselves."

Mu Liuyun admired Zhang Chi's ability to think things through so thoroughly, and at the same time felt a little chilled by Zhang Chi's assumption: "It's either this murderer and that one, or that murderer and that one, isn't it in the eyes of these people? Here, are the four lives of the Shangqing Palace just pawns in their hands?"

Zhang Chi sighed: "This is Jianghu, you will get used to it sooner or later."

Mu Liuyun nodded helplessly, and then asked Zhang Chi: "In your opinion, which side is more likely to commit the crime?"

"It's hard to say. These two are just my inferences based on the existing clues. There may be two wrong ones, or there may be some discrepancies in the process. Even the government needs to have all the witnesses and material evidence to decide the case. Now we still have too few clues, and we can't determine which side is innocent just based on deduction." Zhang Chi said, "If we can find the person who killed Bai Ling, things will be easy to handle, but so far , even if he is really in Wuguzhai, he will just die down and hide himself well. And our dry food has already been eaten, maybe Adamu has no intention of harming us this time, but it is hard to protect the one who hides in the crowd Will the person take the opportunity to poison us or something? After all, it is on their territory, and it is too easy to attack us. So I suggest that we should let go of this clue for the time being and go first Jinghong Villa, let's see what the owner Qin Wuqi has to say about this."

Mu Liuyun nodded.

"Then it's not too late, let's leave today." Zhang Chi got up and began to pack his things.