Li Chongrun went over and smelled hard, but he only smelled a faint odor that was still vaguely left in the room, and no smell of blood was found at all.
"There are indeed traces of blood."
Di Renjie took a piece of handkerchief from his arms, dipped it in some well water and wiped it on the back of the table. He found that the handkerchief had some light pink dirt on it, "It's just that it's been a while, at least more than a month.
"
"This is the kitchen. Lao Chen usually chops up a chicken or something. It's normal to get some blood on it." Cui Fangzheng said very disapprovingly.
While Di Renjie was still thinking about the blood stains on the table, Li Chongrun became very interested in the table.
Pushing left, pushing right, and pulling hard, Li Chongrun found that he couldn't pull it anymore. The table seemed to have roots on the ground and was motionless.
"Cui Fangzheng, please help me if I'm troubled." Li Chongrun felt that he had been led into a misunderstanding by the inertia of his thinking. The table placed here was more like a huge handle than a table.
Li Chongrun and Cui Fangzheng stood on both sides of the table, and at Li Chongrun's instruction, they lifted the table up with force. There was a creaking sound, and the table was lifted up a few inches, and a dark sound was heard.
A gap emerged from the floor beneath the table.
As the two continued to exert force, the table and the floor below cracked from the middle, and opened from the middle like a door. Supports made of several wooden rods held the door panel diagonally and slid to both sides, leaving a dark hole.
Appearing in front of everyone like this.
It is not particularly strange for ordinary people to dig a cellar in their homes and store some vegetables and vegetables for the winter.
It's just that most people's cellar entrances are usually placed outside to facilitate receiving the air-conditioning from outside.
Li Chongrun was a little excited about the secret passage he had discovered, and he was excitedly preparing to dive into the secret passage.
"Be careful." Di Renjie stopped Li Chongrun's somewhat reckless behavior. Cui Chenggui asked his men to find a threshold and hold it in his hand as a shield. He also begged a live chicken from a neighbor's house and threw it in to confirm that there was no poisonous miasma in the secret passage.
, then he got in cautiously.
Just after taking two steps, I didn't know what I knocked over, a crashing sound was heard, and a faint smell of the kitchen came out.
"No, come out quickly!" Li Chongrun suddenly thought of something and quickly called Cui Chenggui to run out.
Fortunately, Cui Chenggui didn't go in very deep, and just rolled and crawled out of the secret passage.
Flames soaring to the sky burst out of the secret passage, setting fire to the thatched roof of the west wing.
Everyone quickly fled from the room.
As thick smoke began to rise, the neighbors shouted "The water is gone!" and hurried in, bringing pots and pans to help put out the fire.
After narrowly escaping from death, Cui Chenggui patted his chest with lingering fear and saluted Li Chongrun, but because he was still in shock, he could not express his gratitude in detail.
It took nearly half an hour to extinguish the fire. Naturally, the west wing had collapsed, and the long table with blood stains and half of the main hall were completely burned by the fire.
The ashes that had just been extinguished were still emitting wisps of green smoke, but there seemed to be something inexhaustible in the tunnel, which was still spitting out flames like a blast furnace.
The neighbors who were putting out the fire saw that the flames outside had been extinguished and would not spread to their neighbors' homes, so they dispersed. When they heard that the drum was beating to clean the street, the bad guys also went to clean the street, so they all charged and went their separate ways.
.
The ground of the small courtyard was hot from the underground fire, so Li Chongrun and Di Renjie hid outside the small courtyard. However, Yang San hurried over.
Seeing that Old Chen's house was on fire, Yang San didn't bother to greet everyone, and hurriedly prepared to rush into the fire scene.
Li Chongrun quickly stopped him and explained the situation to him.
Yang San and Lao Chen were both from Xingyang, which was not far away. Hearing that Lao Chen might have returned to his hometown, he complained to Li Chongrun and hurried to Xingyang while the city gate was still closed.
But before he left, he left a message saying that the princess was here to visit and wanted to see Li Chongrun by name, and asked him to go back quickly.
Fortunately, the officials from Dali Temple had already arrived, so Di Renjie arranged for everyone to check out the place, made an appointment with Li Chongrun to come back tomorrow to investigate, and then returned home on his own.
Li Chongrun hasn't seen his princess aunt for a long time.
"My nephew has met Her Royal Highness the Princess." Li Chongrun entered the small courtyard through the back door. He was originally going to go to the bedroom to change clothes before going, but he didn't expect that Princess Taiping and Shangguan Wan'er were chatting in the small courtyard and happened to bump into them.
"I'm waiting for you here, let's go."
Her Royal Highness the Princess, who was dressed in men's clothing, saw Li Chongrun coming and pulled him away.
"Your Highness, where are we going?" Li Chongrun, who looked confused, had been running all day today. He ran to Dali Temple from noon to follow Di Renjie to investigate the case. He didn't even have time to eat, so he was really hungry.
"Mian Sheng!"
Compared to His Royal Highness the Princess, his cheap grandma, and His Majesty the Emperor, Li Chongrun had not seen her for a long time. The last time he saw her was during the spring outing at the beginning of spring. Li Chongrun took a look at her from a distance when he went to Yingzhi.
Imperial City, Xianju Hall.
When Li Chongrun, who was feeling dizzy from hunger, was led here by Princess Taiping, Wu Zetian was preparing a meal in the Xianju Palace.
Although she is the most powerful person in the world, Wu Zetian's royal meals are not luxurious, and are even a bit simple.
There was a bowl of white porridge, a plate of fish and meat, and a plate of beautifully arranged dried vegetables, plus a bowl of soup cooked from an unknown source, which looked very crystal clear.
"Don't kneel around when there's no one else around." Wu Zetian wore a very docile white silk lining, her hair was disheveled, and she didn't wear makeup. She didn't look very good.
As soon as Li Chongrun and Princess Taiping entered the main hall, they heard Wu Zetian's arrangements and just bowed.
The lights in the main hall were brightly lit, as if it were daytime. Li Chongrun suddenly remembered that he had seen Wu Zetian several times, and it seemed that they were all so brightly lit.
"How is your little troupe developing?"
After dismissing the palace servants serving in the main hall, Wu Zetian saw that Li Chongrun had not seen him for a long time, and there was no daily greeting. Instead, he asked about his business first.
"Your Majesty, business is going well, especially the food is delicious. Your Majesty must try it when you have the opportunity." Li Chongrun didn't know what His Majesty was thinking, so he simply advertised his restaurant.
"I heard that you just ignored the people who were given to you by Taiping and focused on building your own theater. Could it be that you forgot about the things I arranged for you?" Wu Zetian seemed a little angry, but what he heard was a little more interesting.
joke.
"Your Majesty, I dare not forget it. It just so happens that I will need one today."
"It's good that you haven't forgotten. Di Renjie just came back from Hedong. I heard that he has some news. Now that you are doing this, just follow him directly. There will be an edict tomorrow, and the Dali Temple Prime Minister will retire. You go
Click Mao and follow Huaiying to do things."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Prince Jianchang's house, you go and walk around more." Wu Zetian suddenly said something irrelevant.
"Yes, Your Majesty. It's just that I don't have any contact with the Prince of Jianchang County. I'm afraid it would be disrespectful to visit him rashly."
"It's okay. If you move around more, you will naturally come and go." Wu Zetian waved his hand, "You go ahead. I still have something to say to Taiping. Just leave by yourself."
Li Chongrun, who was confused, was inexplicably summoned to face the saint. He just said a few incomprehensible words and was sent away. Li Chongrun felt that he was confused.
But when he said goodbye, Wu Zetian made a special arrangement: "You don't like Taiping people, so it's good to have your little theater, but your men need to be tighter. This time it's just Mr. Di who received a message."
Note, I don’t hope there will be a next time.”
Li Chongrun knew that this was the real reason why Wu Zetian called him here, and he broke into cold sweat instantly.
"Here."
But when Li Chongrun mentioned this matter to Shangguan Wan'er after returning to the palace, Shangguan Wan'er had other opinions.