On the house of Qi Yuanhan, a doctor in the Ministry of Industry and Water, there are still hanging white banners from the time of his funeral.
Two young men stood on either side of the door, with their heads lowered and a look of stiff compassion on their faces.
There was silence in the house, and no sound could be heard.
It seems as if Qi Yuanhan died, and all the spirit of the family was gone.
Seeing Li Xin'an and his party stop at the gate of Qi Mansion, two boys hurriedly came to greet them.
Taking the reins from Li Xin'an's hand, the young man asked respectfully:
"Sir, you came to our Qi Mansion to investigate a case?"
Li Xin'an looked at him in surprise, "How do you know?"
"Since the death of our master, some people have come to our Qi Mansion one after another. Some are from the Ministry of Punishment and Dali Temple, and some of us don't know their identities. The old lady said that no one in the Qi Mansion can stop anyone who investigates the case.
, everyone must cooperate fully. We will not give up until we find the murderer of the master!"
"Master Qi's mother lives with him?" Li Xin'an was a little surprised. He looked at the "Tianzhong" around him and found that this was not mentioned in the information they submitted.
"The old lady originally lived in her hometown in Hongzhou. After the master died, the old lady came here."
"The master is filial. Although he didn't take the old lady to live with him, he would take leave every year to live in Hongzhou for a period of time. So after the master died, the old lady's soul almost followed him. Now she hangs on her breath, just waiting.
The day the murderer is caught."
"Our whole government wants to wait for that day, but is also afraid of seeing it."
The boy was chattering endlessly, and Li Xin'an felt that this man was a bit annoying for some reason... It was not because of him. There was a dead air in the entire Qi Mansion, which made people feel upset.
Li Xin'an didn't wait for the young man to finish speaking and stepped into Qi Mansion.
A middle-aged man in mourning clothes hurried over, saluted Li Xin'an first, and then asked:
"I dare to ask this young master, is he here to investigate the case?"
There is always a question for how to meet... Li Xin'an took off Li Chu's waistband from his waist and handed it to the man.
The man took the black gilt waist badge and looked at it carefully. He didn't recognize it either.
It’s not his fault, not everyone can see the things belonging to Emperor Taisun Li Chu.
"This is……"
"His Royal Highness Li Chu, the Crown Prince, has taken over the case. We have been ordered to investigate the murder of Mr. Qi."
"His Royal Highness the Grandson of the Emperor!" The man was shocked, tremblingly sent the badge back, and then said respectfully:
"I am Wang Fu, the steward of the Qi Mansion. Sir, you can give me any orders. Everyone in the Qi Mansion will not disobey me."
Li Xin'an nodded, and many servants and maids had already walked out of the corridor, all dressed in mourning clothes.
He really didn't understand, "Steward Wang, Mr. Qi has been dead for more than half a month."
"Yes, it's been seventeen days."
"It stands to reason that after the first seven days, there is no need to wear mourning robes and mourning. Why are you all wearing mourning clothes and there are still white flags hanging on your house?"
Butler Wang sighed, "Sir, you don't know something. This is what our old lady means."
"The old lady has spoken. If the case is not solved and the murderer is not caught, the funeral of the Qi family will never be completed. Either the case is solved or she dies, otherwise the Qi family will always be like this."
"The old lady loves her son very much, so it is reasonable to do so." Li Xin'an sighed, "Steward Wang, can you take me to see the old lady?"
Butler Wang shook his head, "The old lady's health is getting worse day by day. She has gone to bed now. It is not appropriate for outsiders to disturb her. Sir, please forgive me."
Li Xin'an said "hmm" and said, "Can you let me see the bedroom where Mr. Qi was killed?"
"There is no problem with this. Come with me, sir."
Li Xin'an thought of something and asked:
"How many people have been in that house?"
"Since the discovery of the master's body and the report to the government, apart from the government officials, only the madam, the two young masters, myself, three servants and the old lady have gone in."
"The adults of Dali Temple have ordered that no one who is not involved in that room is allowed to enter. The old lady and my wife only went in once and then never went in again."
"It sounds like Butler Wang has been in there many times."
"I had no choice but to accompany the adults who came to investigate the case. The lady on the bed at that time had been chopped into a ball of flesh. The adults in Dali Temple were unwilling to do anything. I led the people to pack up those things.
of."
At this point, Butler Wang's face turned green and red. Thinking of the disgusting scene, he couldn't help but retched.
As he spoke, he had already arrived at the backyard.
"Sir, the master's bedroom is over there." Butler Wang pointed out to Li Xin'an.
Looking at the house with the door closed, Li Xin'an slowly walked over and opened the wooden door.
"Squeak——"
wooden door slowly
(This chapter is not finished, please turn the page)
Shaking it open, a corpse smell accompanied by dust hit my face.
Li Xin'an covered her nose and glanced at her feet.
On the threshold, the blackened blood seeped deeply into it, and in front of it was a vague human figure traced in white gray.
Qi Yuanhan died there, leaning against the door with his hand on the bolt.
He was almost able to escape from the house, but he still didn't have time.
Li Xin'an walked gently into the house and looked at the moldy bed soaked in blood. This was the source of the stench in the house.
If it hadn't been for the Dali Temple officials to spread lime on it, no one would be able to enter this house.
The one-horned man's face in front of him was no longer as clean as when he had just painted it. Blood was flowing to the ground. The blood stains made the face look ridiculous, and the fangs in its mouth could not be seen.
Li Xin'an pulled out "White Rainbow" and waved it gently in the air.
"Bai Mu, come in."
Murong Bai, who was standing outside the door, raised his eyebrows and walked into the house.
Li Xin'an turned around suddenly and stabbed Murong Bai.
Murong Bai did not dodge and let Li Xin'an's sword stab into his chest.
"Turn around."
Murong Bai looked at Li Xin'an doubtfully, who stared at the tip of the sword closely. Murong Bai had no choice but to turn around and put his back against the sword.
Li Xin'an frowned and flicked his wrist, feeling a little awkward.
"close the door."
"Why."
Butler Wang trotted forward and closed the door.
"What's wrong?" Murong Bai turned back and looked at Li Xin'an, "Are you trying to imitate that murderer?"
"Yes, I want to find out how he killed people."
There was a trace of doubt between Li Xin'an's brows, "Judging from the post-mortem examination, this man's sword movements were from bottom to top, but almost all sword movements in Jianghu are flat thrusts or upward thrusts.
The one who lowers the tip of his sword first."
"Perhaps the murderer is too short?"
Li Xin'an's eyes flashed brightly, "It's possible!"
He walked slowly, staring at the moldy bed, and whispered:
"White wood."
"Um."
"I'm sorry for you."
"What to do?"
"Sit on this bed."
Murong Bai looked at the quilt covered with mold and the bed soaked with donated blood, and twitched the corner of his mouth.
"After your injury is completely healed, I will definitely fight you again!"
"As long as you can't kill me."
Murong Bai sat down on the bed with a livid face. Li Xin'an pressed his chin and poked Murong Bai's side with "White Rainbow", then looked around the room, and finally locked his eyes on the table.
"Qi Yuanhan's habit was to refill the candlesticks after every night. He spent most of the night working in the study. This was also the case on the night he was killed."
"The servants confirmed that Qi Yuanhan had filled his candlestick with wax oil on the night of his death, and turned off the lights less than an hour after Qi Yuanhan returned to the bedroom. It rained heavily that night, and no one came out again.
, so no one saw whether Qi Yuanhan’s room was lit by candlelight."
"The murderer sat on this stool, lit the candlestick, and wiped the blood from the sword."
Li Xin'an immersed himself in it, sat down like the murderer, put the sword across his knees, and stroked it gently.
"Then Qi Yuanhan woke up."
Murong Bai said coldly: "What should I do?"
"Sit down here with me."
Li Xin'an rushed over quickly, pulled Murong Bai up, and lay down on the bed under his surprised gaze.
"Brother Li, you..."
"Shh!" Li Xin'an closed his eyes, then opened them suddenly and looked at the round table.
There seemed to be an ethereal human figure on the empty stool.
He lowered his head to wipe his sword, then raised his head and grinned at Li Xin'an.
As if something was pressing down on him, Li Xin'an struggled to get up, his lips trembling as if he was saying something.
He suddenly ran towards the door like a madman.
Then the running figure stopped suddenly, and Li Xin'an fell forward weakly, hitting the door.
He turned over, his eyes widened, staring blankly at the roof.
The illusive human figure took the brush, dipped it in his blood, walked to the white wall, and drew the unicorn face.
It seemed...his movements stopped for a moment.
This unicorn face is not painted smoothly!
Li Xin'an stood up from the ground with excitement on his face.
"Brother Li?
(This chapter is not finished, please turn the page)
"
"Baitou, I know!"
Li Xin'an walked to the unicorn face statue and pointed at a place with her finger.
Murong Bai looked over and saw that they were the eyes of the one-horned man.
He took out the picture that Li Chu had copied for them from his pocket and compared it carefully.
"In this place, there is a line that connects the eyes and the width of the face. But for the unicorn face on the wall, this line was obviously added later!"
Murong Bai's eyes widened and he realized that there was indeed a pattern here.
"Brother Li, how did you tell that the lines on the unicorn face on the wall were added later?"
"Look here, the lines obviously extend beyond the eyes."
"The original painting method was to extend from the corners of the eyes, but the murderer obviously finished painting the eyes and added this additional line."
"But maybe that's how the unicorn face was originally drawn?"
"Whether that's the case, we have to wait until we see the other four people who died before we know." Li Xin'an said with a smile, "It's also possible that the painter at Dali Temple couldn't see the killer's poor painting skills and made some superfluous changes himself.
But once what we say is confirmed, it will be a big breakthrough!"
What kind of big breakthrough... Murong Bai was about to ask, but he suddenly realized the problem.
"Brother Li, you mean...this unicorn-faced figure does not represent the killer and has nothing to do with the killer?"
"Yes!" Li Xin'an said excitedly, "If it is someone really related to this portrait, how could it be wrong?"
"Then, the person who wants to kill Qi Yuanhan and the others is not the person behind the one-horned figure. This is just a cover to disrupt our sight."
"This killer was hired!"
Murong Bai nodded slowly, "That's right! If you hired someone, and you are not familiar with the painting method of this unicorn face, it is understandable that you will make mistakes."
"But, who is it that wants to kill four ministers at once? Could it be that they have offended someone's interests together?"
"We are the Blood Clothes Hall. More than ten years ago, our job was to kill people for money." Li Xin'an said calmly, "Generally speaking, commoners kill commoners, businessmen kill businessmen, and officials... kill officials."
The two of them looked at each other, and a name popped up in their minds.
"Yang Guozhong!"
Li Xin'an had complicated eyes and shook his head slowly.
"No, it shouldn't be him."
"Why?"
"As far as I know, the reputation of the four murdered adults was not very good during their lifetimes."
"Especially Zhang Ying, the director of the civil service examination department, has a very close relationship with Yang Guozhong's party, and Yang Guozhong will not kill them."
Murong Bai frowned and sighed: "If this is the case, the person who will do it will be their political enemy."
"This is also the place where I am most suspicious." Li Xin'an said, "Qi Yuanhan, Zhang Ying, Wang Qinglang and Zhou Ximin, these four people belong to the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Personnel, Menxia Province and Jingzhao Mansion respectively. It stands to reason that they usually gather together.
If we don't get together, we won't have the chance to provoke the same political opponents, because their political views are different!"
"It's not a business matter, that's... a private matter?"
"How do these four adults get along on a daily basis?"
Murong Bai's words made Li Xin'an almost jump in shock!
"Yes, personal relationship...how could I forget the relationship between these four people who died!"
Li Xin'an said excitedly: "Bai Mumu, you have made great achievements!"
Murong Bai twitched the corners of his mouth and forced out an ugly smile.
"You said... the murderer first killed Qi Yuanhan's concubine, and then killed Qi Yuanhan."
"Why didn't the murderer just kill him?" Murong Bai asked.
Li Xin'an smiled and said, "This is a common problem among some killers. If there are others present when performing a task, they will usually kill the person who has nothing to do with the task first to scare the target. Usually, some targets will be frightened to death directly because of this.
, to save them from using the knife again.”
"The same to you?"
"I'm not that crazy yet."
Li Xin'an opened the door and walked out of the room.
Outside the house, Butler Wang was guarding the door anxiously. When he saw Li Xin'an and two people coming out intact, he stepped forward and said hurriedly:
"Sir, are you okay? I heard the door bang."
"It's okay." Li Xin'an smiled and waved her hand.
Looking at Butler Wang who looked like a big stone had fallen from his heart, Li Xin'an suddenly felt that he should know a lot of things.
"Steward Wang, I have something important to ask you."
"You said that if a villain knows everything, he must tell you everything he knows."
"Let me ask you, how is the relationship between your master and Zhang Ying, the director of the civil service examination, Wang Qinglang, the provincial minister, and Zhou Shimin, the chief minister of Jingzhao Prefecture, who joined the army?"