"What did you see when you came in?" Shen Yan asked Bai Huwei. In terms of official rank, he was in the fifth rank, which was much higher than Bai Huwei.
Bai Huwei said: "I saw the two brothers rushing towards the stairs. Mr. Fang hit Chen Jian with a palm and fell to the ground. When I rushed up, Chen Kang also rushed down like crazy, because I was worried that the two of them would deal with me, so I also made a killing move, but I didn’t expect that Chen Jian was beaten to death by Lord Fang’s fatal blow, and Chen Kang was also killed by me. Lord Shen, I would like to ask, why did the two of them escape?"
"Looking for what stabbed Fang Ting to death?" Shen Yan's face felt a little hot, but he still wanted to sort out his thoughts first.
Everyone outside entered the house one after another, and they were all a little unbelievable when faced with this sudden scene.
The murder weapon that stabbed Fang Ting to death was quickly found on the stairs. It was a small knife shaped like a bamboo leaf, half an inch wide, three inches long, and as thin as a cicada's wing.
Shen Yan held the murder weapon in his hand and finally spoke, but it was more like talking to himself: "Bamboo Leaf Knife! The unique hidden weapon of the Twin-tailed Scorpion. It turns out that their boss is the Twin-tailed Scorpion!"
"I have also seen this kind of wound. When General Han was assassinated for the first time, two of our brothers in charge of perimeter security were stabbed to death by this thing. Who are the two-tailed scorpions? Why did the two of them escape? ?" Guard Bai started to question him. Except for the four people including the innkeeper who shrank in his room in fear, everyone else also turned their attention to Shen Yan.
Shen Yan looked around and said slowly:
"About eight or nine years ago, there were several major cases from Yongzhou to Suzhou. Court officials and the abbot of Quanzhen Taoist Temple were murdered one after another. Two such bamboo leaf knives were found at the scene, and we couldn't break them. Later, some Beiliangshan gangsters who were arrested said that it was the work of the two-tailed scorpion.
After this incident, the Double-tailed Scorpion was rumored to be a miracle in the Beiliang Mountain area. Later, even Quanzhen Master Lu was alerted and came to investigate the case in person. However, after all the troubles, only a few of the Double-tailed Scorpion's men were captured. Boss, no one has ever seen the true face of the Two-tailed Scorpion.
Their confession was no different from what the Chen brothers said about their boss. Since then, the Two-tailed Scorpion disappeared out of thin air and has never been heard from again.
Because our Gansu Military Inspection Division failed to solve the case, we were ordered not to be promoted within three years. I didn’t expect him to show up again now!
Next, I will talk about what just happened here. After that, I still need each of you to tell me your whereabouts during this period. I suspect that there is an assassin between us, maybe it is the two-tailed scorpion himself, so Everyone should be more vigilant and be wary of those around them."
After Shen Yan said this, he looked at Yu Qun and his son intentionally or unintentionally, because considering their age, only they had this possibility.
Seeing that no one objected to the proposal, Shen Yan said:
"After everyone dispersed, I checked the Chen brothers. The true energy in their bodies was blocked and they would not be able to break through the acupuncture points for at least half an hour. Moreover, they were tied very firmly. If they wanted to break free, they would need to use a lot of force. There was no movement, so I went to the back room to adjust my breath and prepare to replenish the acupuncture points every half an hour.
After about two sticks of incense, Fang Ting came over from next door and told me that we hadn’t had much rest in the past two days, so he suggested that we each sleep for an hour before dawn. When I slept, he would sit in the corridor and the two rooms. He went around the room and tapped the acupuncture points of both of them every half an hour. I would come back for him after an hour.
I thought there was nothing wrong with this, so I agreed to him. In fact, I didn't sleep deeply. Almost half an hour later, just now, Fang Ting probably wanted to touch up the acupuncture points of the Chen brothers, but he didn't expect that the two of them had already separated. He was restrained and hid behind the door.
I estimate that as soon as Fang Ting entered the door, Chen Jian stabbed him in the head with this bamboo leaf knife, and Fang Ting fatally struck Chen Jian to death as he was about to escape downstairs.
Chen Kang was halfway up the stairs when he was bumped into by the white guard who was coming. Because both of them had just broken through the acupuncture points, they couldn't escape the attack. They were both killed in one blow. White guard, this is different from what you have seen with your own eyes. Does it match?"
Bai Huwei said: "I think that's probably the case."
Shen Yan continued:
"Everyone watched while they were being tied up. After I went upstairs, I personally searched their bodies and found no weapons hidden on them, so I guess someone secretly handed them to them during this half hour.
But Fang Ting was the only one who entered this room, which confused me very much. Why did these two people want to assassinate the person who secretly released them?
It was more like he knew that Fang Ting was going to attack their acupuncture points, so he attacked them secretly regardless of how much of his skill had not been recovered.
Alas, let’s forget about this for now, you can each tell us your whereabouts.”
Needless to say, the people on the wall of the inn, He Qizhou and another soldier on the rooftop can testify, and the two people on the rooftop can also prove to each other that they have never left.
Only the white guard kept walking, but when he entered the inn, he did not deliberately relax the footsteps. Anyone who was not asleep downstairs or upstairs could prove that the continuous footsteps only appeared downstairs, except of course the last time he intercepted Chen Kang.
Upstairs, the Yu family and his son said that neither of them dared to sleep. They kept their ears open and paid attention to the movements inside and outside the house. Except for Fang Ting's movement, they really didn't hear anyone else enter the upper room on the east side;
Shen Yan felt the same way, because he was in the inner room and did not hear anyone else entering the outer room separated by a board. A chill could not help but feel on his back, because there were two possibilities: there was someone with Qinggong in the inn. Extremely high, maybe he can be easily assassinated; another possibility is really what we thought before, Fang Ting was killed after letting him go, is Fang Ting really one of them?
Shen Yan noticed that everyone was looking at him strangely, and hurriedly defended: "Everyone, I didn't let these two people go. If I wanted to let them go, why should I arrest them? Besides, I don't have to insist on guarding them myself. Right? Wouldn’t that invite suspicion?”
"Go and ask the innkeeper and the waiter if they have left the room?" Guard Bai sent a soldier beside him to ask.
"No, no, we have been in the room." The shopkeeper's voice came from the west end guest room downstairs, and then the other three people also responded.
"Releasing people may not really mean to save them. Could it be that Fang Ting is really working with these two people, or has received benefits from these two people, and then pretended to let them go, killing them while they were escaping, but these two people noticed He wanted to take advantage of Fang Ting's idea, but he didn't expect that both sides would be harmed, and they would all die?" He Qizhou, who was standing at the end of the corridor, suddenly put forward his own idea.
"That's right! Why didn't I think of that?" Shen Yan suddenly realized. He was certainly aware of Fang Ting's greed for money and lust. If the other party hadn't known how to respect him and had some background, how could he have tolerated him until now?
He had been clamoring for this mission. At first, he thought it was because he wanted to win favor with Han Chong, but now it seems that it might actually have something to do with the assassins.
Shen Yan was both appreciative and wary of He Qizhou. In fact, he was able to confirm that the Chen brothers were insiders only after seeing He Qizhou's action of wiping the window sill. Now, He Qizhou's judgment is obviously more reasonable.
Now there is only one most difficult question left to explain, where did the bamboo leaf knife come from?
Shen Yan was embarrassed to ask He Qizhou for advice, but he really couldn't figure out the doubt in his heart, so he muttered to himself: "Fang Ting was transferred from Shuzhou only three or four years ago. It was impossible for him to know Shuangwei before. Xie, it is even less likely that he would have brought this murderous knife with me on a business trip. If he really handed this knife to the Chen brothers, then who gave it to him?"
He Qizhou said: "There are too many doubts today. Master Shen, you are right. Maybe I am worrying too much, or there really is someone else."
Shen Yan was a little frustrated, but he still had to face the crisis and said frankly:
"Guard Bai, please lead a few people to search the inn inside and outside again. Our ultimate goal is to send Mrs. Han and her daughter to Suzhou City. There are only more than three hundred miles left. I hope everyone can cheer up. Let’s work together! Don’t sleep tonight, everyone. Tomorrow we will send people to Ganzhou and Suzhou to report the situation, and wait for more people from both sides to come to support. Anyway, Mrs. Han is injured and has to recuperate here. We will defend the two sides here. Brother Zhou, please continue to go to the rooftop to guard."
"No problem." He Qizhou was still thinking about how to solve the doubts, but he was a little surprised by Shen Yan's change in attitude toward him. He nodded in agreement and prepared to go out and go to the rooftop.
"Master Shen, I have burdened your Wu Cha Division. I really don't know how to repay you." Mrs. Han's tired and weak voice came from inside.
"I'm incompetent, I hope my wife will forgive me." Shen Yan didn't have much confidence anymore. The killer who seemed to be still hiding around him made him feel like he couldn't do anything.
"Then everyone should be careful." Mrs. Han explained again.
"Okay." "Yes!" Shen Yan and the soldiers responded respectively.
Han Rui returned to the room and said softly to He Qizhou: "Be careful, Mr. Zhou."
He Qizhou nodded slightly, and when he turned around, he found that Guo Xiuyi picked up a jar of wine from behind the counter and went out. At first, he was worried that this person would walk away. After going up to the rooftop, he found that he was back to where he was squatting before. On top of the wall, I was just drinking wine one after another.
More than an hour later, the sky was dimming, and the soldiers on the rooftop and on the east, west, and south sides had already changed shifts. Guo Xiuyi refused the white guard's offer to change the guard, and still stared blankly at the north.
He Qizhou was not polite, because he also knew that there would be no results if he waited on the rooftop. After thinking hard in the middle of the night, he gradually got an idea in his mind. After getting off the rooftop, he took out two more bottles of wine from the inn. Go to the north wall, jump up to the top of the wall, squat down next to Guo Xiuyi, and throw a jar of wine to him. The jar Guo Xiuyi brought out had already been drunk by him.