Cloud of the Qing Dynasty

There are many people traveling from south to north, and the climate is relatively hot and humid, so there is a special bathhouse in the backyard of the inn for people to take a bath.

Zhang Chi took off his outer clothes with difficulty, and saw Mu Liuyun, whose face was as heavy as water, entered the inner compartment. The inn clerk came and went courteously with hot water and a change of clothes, but he could only stay in the room. The cold water drawn down from the mountain in the public bathhouse is like a cloud and mud.

Seeing that Mu Liuyun had lowered the curtain, Zhang Chi yawned and said, "Are you afraid that I'll peep at you, aren't you afraid that I'll run away?"

A cold snort came from inside the curtain: "If you can escape, try it."

Zhang Chi choked, but he had to admit that in the hands of such an evil star, he was indeed unable to fly.He had no choice but to let out a "hissing" sound of resentment, while taking off all the clothes on his body, and looked down at his chest. It was already a blue-purple color, and his back probably wasn't much better.

He endured the pain and pressed on the wound. Fortunately, the bones were not broken, and he did not suffer any serious internal injuries, but after all, he suffered this innocent disaster for nothing. Decent, why are you not afraid of killing innocent people by mistake when you face to face without saying a word?"

Mu Liuyun replied coldly: "If I really want to take your life, can you still live till now?"

Zhang Chi thought back about the opponent's attack at that time, and he didn't know whether it was water-cooled or lingering fear. He was trembling all over: "That being said...but no matter how you look at it, your moves are intended to kill people and silence them."

Mu Liuyun was in a bad mood, and unconsciously became more talkative: "You are holding my disciple hostage, so why not push you back with my sword, it is obvious that I am not good at martial arts, but I still have the face to blame me for being too fierce. "

He had already washed his whole body with soap locusts, rinsed it again with clean water, and put on clean clothes, but he still felt that there was a lingering muddy smell on his body, which made him feel very bad. If it wasn't for the reputation of the Shangqing Palace, he would have wanted to go out anytime, hold Zhang Chi down and beat him up.

He tried very hard to restrain his anger, and came out after wiping his hair. Seeing that Zhang Chi was still soaking in the water and rubbing his body, he said impatiently, "Why are you so dawdling?"

"I have injuries." Zhang Chi's expression was innocent and helpless.

"How bad can it hurt?" Mu Liuyun thought he was just making excuses.

Zhang Chi opened his mouth in surprise, looked at Mu Liuyun like a monster, and boldly stated a guess of his own: "Could it be that you...have only fought with martial arts masters who are similar to you?"

Mu Liuyun frowned and glanced at him: "Why do you say that?"

"...No wonder." Judging by the opponent's reaction, Zhang Chi knew he had guessed right. Mu Liuyun probably felt that he had been lenient in every way, but in Zhang Chi's view, every move and every move of the opponent was about to kill someone. He used all kinds of tricks to save his life.If I had known this before, I might as well have raised my hands and surrendered obediently, explaining the whole story, maybe it would not have come to this point.

Zhang Chi sighed helplessly, what could he say?You can only blame yourself for being unlucky.

***

They were all men anyway, so Zhang Chi came out of the pool without any scruples, dried his body hastily, changed into the clothes he borrowed from the clerk in the store, and walked towards the lobby enduring the pain all over his body.

Originally, a large number of guests saw that they were dead, and those who died were still people in the rivers and lakes. Even those who had already stayed hurriedly checked out and left. Everything in the hotel still maintained its original chaotic appearance, only the innkeeper and a few clerks gathered behind the counter dully, looking at Mu Liuyun eagerly.

Zhang Chi walked into the lobby, looked left and right, and asked in surprise, "Where's my wine bag?"

Everyone in the inn said they didn't see it, Mu Liuyun folded his arms and looked at him coldly: "Could it be that your accomplice took it away because he was afraid that the matter would be exposed?"

"What's this called? Don't say that I have no accomplices at all. Even if I have accomplices, I have been arrested. What's the use of hiding the wine bag?"

"If it wasn't for the poison in the wine, what would others do with your wine bag, wouldn't it be very valuable?"

"You can think of it this way, maybe the real murderer saw that you had already insisted that I was the murderer, so he took the wine bag away while you were busy chasing me. The purpose was not to prevent people from knowing that the wine was poisonous, but precisely because he didn't want to be killed by others. I know that there is no poison in the wine. After all, the Shangqing Palace is not so easy to provoke, wouldn't it be great if you can easily blame me for the murder?"

Mu Liuyun shook his head: "Although it makes sense in theory, it's just your one-sided opinion."

"Don't worry about it." Zhang Chi searched the table where Yichenzi and the others were sitting, picked up a wine glass and said, "Fortunately, the murderer didn't do things carefully. There is still a half glass of residual wine here. Is it a problem with the wine? Try it." Just try it out, shopkeeper, do you have chickens, ducks and other living things here?"

"Yes, yes." The innkeeper, who also wanted to get rid of the suspicion, hurriedly asked the waiter to catch two chickens and a big yellow dog from the back kitchen, and Zhang Chi poured the half glass of residual wine into the yellow dog.

The yellow dog "woofed", broke free from his hand and got under the cabinet, refusing to come out. After a while, nothing unusual happened.

"Look, the wine I gave them must be fine." Zhang Chi said as he opened his bag and searched for it. Mu Liuyun saw that his bag was full of bottles and jars and all kinds of strange objects , Thinking of the white powder Zhang Chi had sprinkled on him before, he asked, "If you didn't poison me, then what was the white powder you sprinkled on me earlier?"

"It's just lime powder." Zhang Chi paused, and found that Mu Liuyun was still looking at him suspiciously, so he said angrily, "If you don't believe me, go back to the scene and see."

Mu Liuyun didn't speak again, he watched Zhang Chi take out the silver needles from a wooden box, and poked them over the dishes on Yichenzi's table one by one, the silver needles didn't change color at all.

"There will definitely be no problem with the food." The innkeeper was afraid of spreading this matter.

"That's not necessarily true. As far as I know, not all poisons can change the color of silver needles." Zhang Chi took the leftover food and fed them to the two chickens. When he fed a plate of fried mustard greens, The chicken started kicking and kicking in a short while, and died.

Mu Liuyun's questioning eyes turned to the fat chef. The chef was much less courageous than Zhang Chi, and his legs softened and he almost knelt down: "I really didn't do it, I didn't poison it!"

The innkeeper also quickly excused him: "This cook has been working here for four years, and the neighbors in the neighborhood know him. He is a coward who dare not even kill a fish. How could he poison someone?"

Zhang Chi looked the cook up and down with his chin up and down, and didn't find anything unusual, so he asked, "Think about it carefully, when you were making this dish, did any suspicious people enter the kitchen or come into contact with it?" raw material?"

"Yes, yes! I remembered!" The cook hurriedly said, "It's an old woman who came into the kitchen to borrow vinegar. At that time, I happened to go to the backyard to get peppercorns. I walked away. She must have taken the opportunity to poison me!"

"Old woman...?" Zhang Chi frowned and thought about it. He remembered that there was an old woman among the people present at the inn. He was 60 years old, he didn't bring any luggage except a package, his clothes were old but decent, and he took a grandson who seemed to be demented, and sat at a table in the corner to eat.

He could always remember these details very clearly, and even remembered that the hunchbacked old lady was a bit indifferent to the child, but there was nothing strange in itself, and it was common for disabled children not to please the elders, so he Did not pay more attention.

After thinking for a while, Zhang Chi asked the innkeeper: "When I was chased and killed by this vicious Taoist priest, where did the old woman go?"

Mu Liuyun gave him a sideways look.

Everyone in the inn shook their heads, expressing that the scene was so chaotic that no one paid attention.

Zhang Chi still didn't give up and checked at the door with the light of the inn, only to see footprints of all sizes and sizes all over the ground, and it was so dark that it was impossible to track them.

He could only sigh and spread his hands: "The real murderer ran away, it's not my fault, but you should believe that I wasn't the one who poisoned you."

Mu Liuyun shook his head: "Everything now is just your empty speculation. Even if the wine you gave them is non-toxic, there is no guarantee that you did not put the poison in the dishes. It just happened that someone entered the kitchen. You pushed it all over her head."

"...You are really cautious." Zhang Chi was speechless.

"No matter how you say it, Yichen personally identified you as the one who harmed him before he died. Although I don't know how he came to this conclusion, I will definitely not let you go easily until the matter is clear."

Zhang Chi resignedly scratched his half-dry hair: "Well, I really don't have enough evidence to prove my innocence, but don't just treat me as a murderer, why don't you just cooperate with me? Find a way to find out the real culprit, wash away my grievances, and have an explanation for the deceased."

Mu Liuyun looked at him suspiciously: "How do you want to find it?"

"The poison they were infected with had such a rapid onset, it was unheard of. This must be a rare and highly poisonous poison in the rivers and lakes. This area is close to Miaojiang. Maybe it is some kind of poison from Miaojiang. I know a very The powerful Miao doctor has a lot of research on poisons, maybe he can know some clues."

"...Then let's try." Mu Liuyun had no other ideas for the time being, and could only express his agreement.

The corpses of Yichenzi and others have never been moved, and the pained expression on the dying moment is still vivid in his memory. Zhang Chi clasped his hands together, bowed to the corpses and said, "Brother, we only have one relationship, you just want to marry me!" I was killed by someone, and I misunderstood my brother before I died. I think if you are alive, you definitely don’t want the real culprit to go unpunished. If you offend me, don’t blame it.”

As he spoke, he pried open the mouth of the deceased, carefully scraped off some poisonous blood and mucus with a dagger, put it into a bottle, and put some mustard greens that poisoned them into another bottle, and after closing the bottle cap, he said: Don't leave things for long, we'd better leave overnight, and we should be able to reach the Miao doctor's residence before dark tomorrow."

Mu Liuyun nodded: "Then let's go."

As he turned around and was about to go out, Zhang Chi stopped him in surprise: "Wait..."

"What's the matter?" Mu Liuyun frowned, his tone a little impatient.

Zhang Chi said speechlessly: "...don't you clean up the things here first?"

Mu Liuyun turned his head and saw that the people in the inn were all looking at him with their mouths wide open in surprise, and couldn't believe that the priest actually planned to leave immediately.