Now both houses are burnt black and the roofs are collapsed. Because of the fire extinguishing, sewage flows across the ground, and the burned wooden pillars are still emitting a faint smoke.
There are many yamen runners next to them moving away debris, revealing the original kitchen floor.
Zhan Beihan saw the collapsed stove, which had nothing but the burnt firewood inside.
But as Zhao Chengwei said, there are obvious traces of fighting near the stove, and there are also scattered blood stains that have been dried up by the fire and washed by water, and have become less obvious.
Zhan Beihan has extremely rich combat experience and can tell at a glance that these fighting traces are going out.
To put it simply, the battle broke out in the kitchen. One of them intends to retreat, while the other party chases him reluctantly, so he fights and retreats, and the traces left naturally extend outward.
"Then is the courtyard wall?"
Zhan Beihan looked out along the traces and saw a low courtyard wall, which was also blackened by flames.
“What is outside the courtyard wall?”
"It's an alley. Walking along the alley to the end, there is a horizontal bridge, and under the horizontal bridge is the capital's moat."
Zhao Chengwei said: "Mr. Cui has already followed the alley and investigated there."
"If Cui Li comes back, I will notify me immediately and you can go down." Zhan Bei said coldly.
"Yes." Zhao Chengwei responded first, then hesitated: "Prince, Ye Yi leads him..."
"I know what's going on!" Zhan Beihan interrupted him.
Zhao Chengwei was not good at saying anything, so he bowed his hands and hurriedly went to command the others.
Zhan Beihan stepped over the sewage flowing on the ground, walked to the courtyard wall, and carefully looked at the two shallow footprints marked on it.
From entering the Li family's yard, all the traces and clues flashed through his mind like a lantern, and then followed a certain rule and quickly connected them together to form causes and consequences.
Zhan Beihan narrowed his eyes.
The incident originated in the palace. Madam Li personally explained that she hid the golden needle of "Shen Wan" behind her kitchen stove.
In order to verify her words, Zhan Beihan sent Ye Yi to get the golden needle himself.
With Ye Yi's caution and meticulousness, he would definitely investigate Mama Li's residence in advance and go there after confirming it is correct, and would not alarm anyone.
If things go well, at most one hour, Ye Yi should bring the golden needle to report to Zhan Beihan.
However, an accident happened.
When Ye Yi rushed to Mama Li's house, he ran into another group of people.
Their purpose is also the golden needle hidden by Mama Li.
The number of people in this group is not too large, no more than four people at most, because the traces of fighting left in the kitchen are not complicated. According to Zhan Beihan's estimate, only two to three people were involved.
Madam Li's two daughters-in-law died in the kitchen.
Zhan Beihan speculated that when Ye Yi arrived, he happened to hit the other party and killed someone, but he had not yet obtained the golden needle.
Because the stove was knocked down later, if the golden needle fell into the other party's hands early, there was no need to attack the stove again.
What happened afterwards was very simple.
The other party is good at using poison, and Ye Yi may not be prepared for it, and was injured in the poisoning and left blood on the kitchen floor.
Then, Ye fled away while fighting and retreating.
The other party may have chased after him, or they may not have chased him. The final result was that everyone in the Li family was silenced, Ye Yi's life and death were unknown, and Jinzhen was not sure where to go.