"We brothers used to do petty theft and no capital business. Once we lost our hands in Lanzhou and were caught by the government. We luckily escaped from prison. As a result, our portraits were posted in nearby state capitals as wanted persons.
He had no choice but to travel all the way west, bribed a county official, used a fake identity, and made some money by selling defective glaze in Ganzhou City.
We usually like to gamble, and we can't help but lose the money we get. We often borrow money from the casino. At first, we were able to fight off the debt collectors with our skills. Later, the casino got ruthless and hired experts at a huge price.
We were arrested, and there happened to be a gambler in the casino who said he was willing to pay back our money with interest.
At first, we thought that the other party knew our details and wanted us to steal again. Unexpectedly, the other party just wanted to bet with us. If we won, we would not have to pay back the gambling debt he had paid. If we lost, we would give him two lives.
There was nothing we could do at that time. At least half of our lives would be lost if we fell into the hands of the casino. Let’s just gamble. Unexpectedly, we still lost in the end.”
"What are you betting on?" He Qizhou couldn't help but ask.
"dice!"
"Then it's too easy to make a fake one." He Qizhou said.
"We threw it first, and I also suspected that he had adjusted the package when he was throwing it. When I tried to grab it to take a look, he took the dice away. Then I couldn't hit the dice again and again, so I had to work hard for him."
"Did you also inform the assassins when we passed by here a month ago?" a soldier asked through gritted teeth.
"Yes, the boss asked us to pay attention to a group of officers and soldiers with an empty car. At that time, we were following a Persian caravan. After seeing you passing by, I rushed in front of you and stopped at Bailiyi as requested by the boss.
Mark it."
"Which casino did you meet him at?" Shen Yan asked again.
"Jubaozhuang. Sir, I have said everything that needs to be said, so please give me a good time!"
"Was the assassin injured when he escaped? You said he kept changing his appearance. Is there a secret code between you two?" Shen Yan asked again. He Qizhou couldn't help but admire him, after all, he was an old man.
Chen Jian hesitated for a moment and said: "I, I don't know, I must be injured, right? If I knew that it was Vice President Yu who came over, I would definitely persuade him to choose another time. Who can bear his slap?"
ah!"
"Where's the code?"
Chen Jian was even more hesitant. When Shen Yan saw this, he kicked the two of them hard several times. He Qizhou saw that he mainly aimed his kicks at the acupuncture points to prevent the two from escaping after breaking through the acupuncture points.
Having Shen Zhen stroke his feet was not that pleasant. The two of them screamed, and Chen Jian blurted out: "The code is: I heard that you can mend glass. I have a plate, can I help you?"
Shen Yan cursed secretly that this was just a one-way connection and was of little use, but he still asked: "Then how do you answer?"
"If I say, 'Take it and take a look,' it means everything is safe and you can talk with confidence. If I say, 'You have the wrong person,' it means that the two of us have been found out, so let the person stop talking."
Seeing that there was nothing more to ask, Shen Yan said to the two brothers on the ground: "I'll spare your lives tonight. If someone comes to see you tomorrow, be smart and use the code to let the person give the order! Maybe there will be someone else.
A chance to save your life.”
"Yes, we will do it," Chen Jian said.
Shen Yan then said to the soldiers who were gnashing their teeth: "Tie these two people tightly and throw them to the outside of the room where they live. I will go upstairs to guard them personally. Leave the room downstairs to the apprentice of Captain Yu. Tonight
How to make arrangements for the night watch?"
Guard Bai upstairs said: "Let me make arrangements, Madam, you are all injured, you should rest early."
Mrs. Han said: "Mr. Shen, you are really a great detective! And this brother Zhou, thank you for your idea of checking the footprints, and your medicine is also very effective. I really don't know how to thank you."
Han Rui also looked at He Qizhou with a pair of watery eyes. The apprentice of Captain Yu suddenly said loudly: "I won't sleep tonight, so I will sit on the north wall and leave the room to the guards!"
"What's your name?" Shen Yan asked.
"Guo Xiuyi."
"Then Mr. Guo, the escort chief is..."
"My dad!" Guo Xiuyi said angrily.
He Qizhou found that Guo Xiuyi's eyes had never left her since Han Rui appeared, but Han Rui didn't seem to care about him at all, but kept looking at him. Guo Xiuyi didn't know whether he was angry because of this, or because of his master's sudden death. And sad and angry.
"It turns out that he is really Mr. Guo's son. I am disrespectful and disrespectful. Since Mr. Guo is willing to share the trouble, it's a big deal. The rest of you are not allowed to leave the inn before Madam sets off. Do you understand?"
He Qizhou knew as soon as he heard that it was directed at him, but he didn't take it seriously. For the safety of Mrs. Han, he did not dare to leave easily, so he nodded and said: "Then I will go to the rooftop tonight."
Guard Bai said: "Okay, we only have ten people left now. We are still divided into two shifts, changing every two hours. Three people are still guarding the three walls of east, west and south. One more person is standing on the rooftop, looking only to the north, and one more person is in the courtyard of the inn. Inspection. Madam, please take care of me, Mr. Fang."
Fang Ting smiled and said, "No problem!"
…
The cold wind at midnight began to become biting. He Qizhou stood on the rooftop and watched the soldiers on duty all wrapped up the quilts in the guest rooms, but their upper bodies were very straight, staring motionlessly in their respective directions; Guo Xiuyi in the north was Squatting on the wall, supporting his knees with one hand and supporting his chin with the other, his sad look could be seen from behind.
There was another soldier on the rooftop, and he kept looking north as ordered. He Qizhou didn't care if Guard Bai doubted him, and sent someone up to keep an eye on him. He just said nothing to the soldier who just lived in the same room. "Brother, so many of you have been killed, aren't you afraid?"
"Afraid! Why aren't you afraid? I haven't gotten married yet and I still want to go back to see my mother!" the soldier sighed.
He Qizhou felt a deep sense of pity, but he also knew that as a soldier, he could not shrink back no matter how scared he was! "By the way, do you know Captain Yu?"
"Of course, the Yu family is very famous in the Ganzhou area. I didn't expect that our wife is also a member of the Yu family. She is indeed very grand. If she were an ordinary woman, she would have been scared to death."
"Hey, when you go to Ganzhou, just ask the escort chief Yu and ask them to send more people." He Qizhou said.
"I guess she is a noble lady and is afraid of affecting the general's reputation," the soldier replied.
"I heard from Shen that there is only one escort leader left in this generation. Do you know how many brothers and sisters Madam's father has?" He Qizhou asked.
"I don't know about this, but Captain Yu has a younger brother named Yu Jingxing, who is in our Suzhou camp. General Han has just promoted him from the camp commander to the position of general. He may not be older than our wife. Alas, I don't know how sad it would be to know that my brother passed away so mysteriously."
"Then what's the name of Escort Yu? Judging from Guo Xiuyi's tone, their Pingxi Escort Agency should be a large Escort agency, right?"
"Of course, even our military sometimes entrusts them to escort supplies. The head escort is called Yu Jingshan, and he is the deputy chief bodyguard of the Pingxi Bodyguard Bureau. As you can see, the folk customs in our area are fierce, and bandits often appear, but as long as
Under the banner of Pingxi Escort Bureau, generally no one would dare to get into trouble."
During the chat, He Qizhou saw that Guard Bai had been patrolling the front and back of the yard, inside and outside the house several times, and he looked at the platform from time to time.
The crescent moon has passed the zenith and is gradually sinking to the west. The horses have long been asleep. He Qizhou has stopped chatting. Except for the sound of the strong wind and the footsteps of the white guards passing by from time to time, there is deathly silence around him. However, He Qizhou's heart is filled with ups and downs.
Doubts, like bubbles in water, keep popping up in the lake of your mind:
How did the Chen brothers get the instructions to do so, and why did the two brothers confess so easily?
As a master, Yu Jingshan should not point his vital part directly at the tip of the opponent's sword even if he blocks the opponent's sword. Is it a coincidence?
In a very short and extremely precise period of time, the killer entered the yard from a distance, then pried open the window, sneaked into the house, then closed the window, and then committed the murder, all without stopping and in one go. Can it really be considered so extreme?
Even if there was no sound when the window was opened, did the wind noise behind the window really not arouse the vigilance of Mrs. Han and her daughter, Head Guard Yu, and Guard Bai?
Why did Chen Jian say that when he opened the window, he saw the white guard climbing over the wall to chase the black shadow in the distance, but Yu Lili, who should have opened the window first, did not see the black shadow?
What Shen Yan said made sense, but why did his subordinate Fang Ting question it inexplicably?
…
Although he felt that something was wrong everywhere, he still couldn't figure it out, which made He Qizhou feel irritated.
In the inn, the oil lamps in all the rooms were on. After that assassination, I don't know how many people could actually sleep.
Unfortunately, the silence had not lasted for less than an hour. Just as He Qizhou watched the white guard finish patrolling outside again and walked into the inn lobby, a series of sounds from the second floor broke the calm again.
As soon as He Qizhou heard the sound, he quickly jumped down from the west. Before he could reach the stairs on the second floor, "Shout—" a shrill scream stopped abruptly as soon as it was uttered. He didn't know what the caller wanted to shout.
.
When He Qizhou crashed into the west door of the corridor on the second floor from the outside stairs, the Yu family and his son who were in the upper room on the west side also rushed out of the room and stood in front of him;
In the middle room, Han Rui stuck out her head and looked east;
At the door of the east wing, blood was flowing everywhere. Shen Yan stood at the door, looking at the three corpses in front of him as if he was in a daze, with a terrifying expression on his face.
The person who fell at his feet on the corridor was his subordinate Fang Ting. Not far away, Chen Jian fell on his back at the entrance of the stairs. In the middle of the stairs was Chen Kang who fell motionless. A few steps further down, there was a standing figure.
It was the White Guard, holding a bloody saber in his hand.
"What's going on?" Guard Bai asked Shen Yan.
Shen Yan did not answer immediately. He calmed down and looked through the three corpses one by one. The left side of Fang Ting's forehead was still bleeding. When he opened the wound, he found that it was a very thin and narrow wound stabbed by a sharp instrument;
Chen Jian's side ribs were shattered, and he died from heart and lung damage at first glance;
Chen Kang was slashed on the neck with a knife, and his head and body were only connected by a bit of flesh. All three of them were too dead to die.