While pouring tea for Hu Qi, the boy asked with a smile on his face: "I dare to ask this gentleman, I don't know what you are bringing, can you open my eyes?"
Hu Qi raised the corner of his mouth and smiled slightly, took off the fan pendant and put it on the table: "This is it. Give it to you, but don't underestimate its value!"
The boy carefully picked up the fan pendant and looked at it carefully: this fan pendant was strung with two pearls as big as pigeon eggs. The two pearls were the same size and round and full. They looked like treasures.
Although the boy was full of joy, he still pretended to smack his lips: "The pearls are indeed good pearls, but they can't be sold at a high price!"
Hu Qi picked up the tea cup and took a sip: "Look at these two beads carefully."
The boy looked at the two beads carefully again, suddenly froze, and said in surprise: "This...is this?"
"One of them is a luminous pearl. It emits the same light as a pearl during the day. At night, it turns into a luminous pearl!" Hu Qi put down the teacup and showed off proudly.
The boy immediately beamed with joy and hurriedly leaned over and said, "Master, wait here for a moment. I will ask the boss to come over and take a look at it for you and offer you a good price!"
After saying that, he quickly shouted to the few servants on the side: "Quick, quick, give some refreshments and fresh goods to the guests!" After saying that, he carefully put the fan pendant away, turned around and left.
The three people looked at each other and smiled slightly.
After a moment, the waiter ushered a middle-aged man of medium height, fat body, and a goatee into the door with a big belly.
The three of them knew that this middle-aged man was the owner of the pawn shop by looking at his attire and his humble attitude.
The boss walked up to Hu Qi, cupped his fists and raised his hands to him, and said with a smile: "May I ask the young master what your surname is?"
Hu Qi cupped his hands in return and said with a smile, "I don't think you have the last name Hu!"
The boss immediately handed over to Hu Qi and Lu Ning: "It turns out to be Mr. Hu and Mrs. Hu. It's an honor for us to have you two here!"
Hu Qi and Lu Ning looked at each other for a moment, both looking a little embarrassed, but it was hard to expose.
After chatting for a while, the boss picked up the fan pendant and looked at it carefully. After a long time, he twisted his beard and smiled and said: "This fan pendant is indeed a good thing! Looking at the way the young master is acting, he probably is in urgent need of money, so he took it out to pawn it."
"Well, let me make it easier for you. I'll give you two to spend first. If it's not enough, we can discuss it when you come back. How about that?"
Hu Qi said nonchalantly: "Lingzhou City is so big, and you, Xinglong, are not the most famous. I chose this place because I encountered some difficulties on the road, and I came here with the help of your boys. Unexpectedly,
The boss gave me this family heirloom for this price, hey!"
The boss was startled and asked hurriedly: "I didn't expect that there was such a connection, but I wonder which boy in our store it is?"
Hu Qi thought for a moment before saying, "He said his name is Zhou Kui."
The boss nodded and said, "He is indeed our qualified young man!"
Hu Qi looked around and asked deliberately: "Why don't you see Zhou Kui today? I want to thank him in person!"
The boss twisted his beard and smiled and said: "Don't worry, sir, Lao Zhou has something to do at home and will be back soon!"
While he was talking, there was a rapid sound of hoofbeats and the neighing of horses outside the door.
The boy just now pointed to the door and said with a smile: "Sir, boss, Zhou Kui is back!"
Upon hearing this, Hu Qi and other three people quickly got up and hurried out the door.
But I saw a horse charging this way out of control. The man on the horse was swaying precariously, as if he might fall off at any time.
Lu Ning suddenly exclaimed: "There seems to be something wrong with the person on the horse!"
As soon as he finished speaking, as the horse bumped around like crazy, the man on the horse fell heavily to the ground and became motionless.
Toto quickly ran over and subdued the crazy horse. Lu Ning and Hu Qi immediately went to check on the injured. Unfortunately, the man who fell to the ground was bleeding from all his orifices and had a hole in the back of his head. He was no longer breathing.
Lu Ning and Hu Qi looked at each other, both feeling that something happened suddenly and strangely.
.
The servants and the boss were all standing not far away, no one dared to approach, and they asked fearfully: "How is he?"
Lu Ning stood up and said sternly: "I'm exhausted, you'd better report to the official immediately!"
The boy and the boss suddenly changed their expressions and said at a loss of words: "What, what's going on? All horses are obedient in Lao Zhou's hands. How...how could this happen?"
Hu Qi stood up, pointed at the body on the ground, and asked, "Is this person Zhou Kui?"
The boss nodded slowly, then suddenly realized: "Didn't you say you had seen him?"
Lu Ning sighed deeply and felt disappointed. In order not to arouse suspicion, she had no choice but to tell her boss her identity and the purpose of her visit.
After learning the truth, although the boss of the trade was a little disappointed and angry, he still told the three people what he knew: Zhou Kui indeed left the caravan, but not because of a mistake, but on his own initiative.
However, he never mentioned a word about why Zhou Kui left. Regarding the caravan, he was even more secretive and never told outsiders.
In fact, when he left the caravan, he also planned to leave Lingzhou. However, his old mother did not want to stay away from her hometown, so he had no choice but to stay with her. Unexpectedly, such a tragedy would happen...
After bidding farewell to their boss, the three of them left dejectedly.
After running around for a long time, the three of them were a little tired, so they first found a restaurant and sat down to have something to eat and rest. Facing a table of dishes and fine wine, Tuotuo's eyes lit up and he immediately rolled up his sleeves and ate.
Lu Ning held his chin, looking a little uninterested and unhappy.
Hu Qi put a piece of mutton in her bowl and said with a smile: "Miss Lu, everything is difficult at the beginning. If you want to investigate the case, you have to eat well!"
Lu Ning picked up the mutton and looked at it, then put it down. He couldn't help but sigh: "Hey, I thought I could find out something, but apart from confirming Zhou Kui's identity, I didn't seem to get any useful clues.
"
Hearing what she said, Hu Qi also put down his chopsticks and said sadly: "How could it be such a coincidence! When we came to investigate the case, Zhou Kui suddenly fell off his horse and died?!"
Lu Ning pondered for a moment and said: "I also suspect that there is something fishy in this! But we are not from the government and have no right to investigate the case or conduct an autopsy."
Toto ate up all the food in a few mouthfuls. He wiped his mouth and said, "Then let's go to the government office and ask the official! Anyway, our caravan has always been connected with the local government office!"
Lu Ning thought for a moment and nodded: "That's all we have to do. After we visit the second person, I guess the Yamen has taken Zhou Kui's body away. By then, let's go over and ask!
"
With that said, she finally put the mutton in her bowl into her mouth.
Hu Qi saw Lu Ning eating, and immediately felt happy: "Then where should we go next?"
Lu Ning thought for a while and said: "This is relatively close to Dongsheng Escort Agency, let's go there! I hope we can find some clues there!"
The knot in their hearts was temporarily put aside. After eating and drinking, the three of them left the restaurant and headed straight to Dongsheng Escort Agency before sunset.
Arriving at the door of the Escort Bureau, the three of them dismounted, but did not see a gatekeeper at the door, and the Zhuqi door was wide open.
The three of them stood outside the door and hesitated: Although the Dongsheng Escort Bureau is not as famous as the caravan, the guards are not so lax that they can't even afford a gatekeeper.
Just as Lu Ning was hesitating whether to rush in, Hu Qi suddenly pointed at the stone lion beside him and shouted: "Miss Lu, what do you think this is?"
Lu Ning looked in the direction of his finger and saw a bright red color on the stone lion's mouth.
She wiped a little with her finger, put it under her nose, smelled it, and exclaimed, "Is it blood?"
"Oops!" Lu Ning secretly shouted, so he quickly opened the door and rushed in.
The courtyard was also empty, with no one in sight, but there were traces of scorch everywhere, and there was a pungent smell in the air.
Broken escort flags, burnt gold-lettered signs, a few large empty boxes... in the courtyard
The ruin made the three people's hearts sink. Hu Qi and Totuo tacitly understood it and quickly separated to search everywhere.
Lu Ning stood in the yard and looked around, always doubting the pungent smell in the air.
She drew out her long sword and rummaged carefully in the yard. Suddenly, she noticed wisps of green smoke coming out of a locked door.
Lu Ning stood at the door, thinking about whether to go in and take a look, when Toto and Hu Qi hurriedly gathered over.
The two looked at each other and shook their heads.
Hu Qi sighed: "It seems that we haven't found anyone! But the house was turned into a mess, as if it had been robbed."
After listening to his words, Lu Ning felt somewhat certain about the things in the room in front of him.
Toto saw her staring at the room in front of her and asked curiously: "What are you looking at? What is in this room?"
Lu Ning's face was as dark as water, and he said coldly: "You'll know when you go in and take a look!"
After saying that, she held a long sword in her hand and cut off the big lock on the door in a few strokes. Before the lock could hit the ground, the door was suddenly pushed open.
Seven or eight charred corpses spewed out in an instant and were scattered all over the ground.
The three people were startled and took a few steps back. After they calmed down, they discovered several charred corpses on the ground, their whole bodies burned black. Everyone's hands were stretched straight in front of them, as if they were pushing something.
.
In the small room, there were several stacked corpses, which were also burned into charred corpses. The flesh on their bodies had been connected together and could not be separated.
The pungent and unpleasant smell rushed towards them, and the three people immediately turned around and couldn't help vomiting. After waiting for a long time, Toto plucked up the courage to walk into the house to check.
Seeing Lu Ning's embarrassed expression, Hu Qi quickly helped her and found a clean place to sit down and rest.
Although Lu Ning was usually free and open-minded, seeing such a scene was really hard to accept. She hugged her knees and sat under the tree blankly, her face waxy and she was sweating profusely.
Hu Qi thoughtfully took out the silk handkerchief and handed it to her, but Lu Ning was still in a daze and did not take the handkerchief. Hu Qi sighed, then took the handkerchief and gently wiped away the sweat on Lu Ning's forehead.