Seeing that the situation was not good, Mrs. Shen immediately ran back and hid behind the guards and said in a trembling voice: "What are you going to do? Are you going to rebel? When I go back, I will tell my husband and let Lu Chong lead people to arrest you all and chop them into pieces." Feed the dogs mud.”
The guard wiped his sweat and thought: "My aunt, please stop talking. You really don't leave any escape route for yourself! You are forcing the other party to silence him!" Although the guard also hates Mrs. Shen. , but naturally for Shen Xi’s sake, he still has to protect Mrs. Shen thoroughly.
The guard protected Mrs. Shen with his left hand and held a sword in his right hand towards the enemies outside. Seeing that the encirclement was getting smaller and smaller, it was becoming more and more unfavorable for him, so he could only fight his way out to break out.
The guard shouted loudly, frightening the other party to stop. However, the guard grabbed Mrs. Shen with his left hand and ran backwards. He held a sword in his right hand and stabbed a masked man who was outflanking him from behind.
The man hurriedly stabilized his body and used the sword in his hand to block the sword thrust by the guard. The guard wanted to force him back with his sword, but he didn't expect that the other party was not weak. He blocked the guard's sword and only moved back. Opened half a step.
The guard was anxious, so he had to swing his sword again and hit the man. This time the guard used all his strength, but the man couldn't stop him and took two steps back. Just as the guard was about to grab Mrs. Shen and continue running backwards.
But just then the person on their left rushed over and stabbed Mrs. Shen without hesitation.
Seeing that the sword pierced Mrs. Shen's neck, the guard hurriedly pulled Mrs. Shen behind him to avoid the sword. At the same time, he waved the long sword in his hand and hit the opponent's sword tip with the blade, knocking the opponent away. sword.
The man was taken a step forward by the huge force, staggered and almost fell.
The man who had just been forced back two steps by the guard quickly stabilized his figure. At this time, he saw Mrs. Shen being pulled towards him by the guard, and immediately waved a sword flower at Mrs. Shen. The guard heard a sword piercing the air behind him. There was a loud voice, and he hurriedly turned around and used his sword to block the sword that was stabbing Mrs. Shen.
This man was very strong. After blocking the sword, the guard tried to push the opponent's sword away. Unexpectedly, there was a stalemate between the two sides, and the guard had to increase his strength to push him away.
However, due to this delay, the three people who had been blocking the front rushed over one after another. The guard had no choice but to push Mrs. Shen back and let her run first before he could get behind.
But unfortunately there were many people on the other side, and finally four people surrounded him. Shen Qi went to chase Mrs. Shen. These four people were swordsmen hired by Shen Qi, and all four of them were desperadoes.
These four people have practiced swordplay together for many years. Although their swordsmanship is not great, their coordination is perfect, and the guards are unable to break through several times. At this time, the guards are fighting with the trapped beasts with all their brute strength, and soon they are scratched by the sword several times. Wound.
Mrs. Shen fell to the ground before she could run very far. Shen Qi caught up with her and stabbed her in the back with a sword. Mrs. Shen died before she could struggle.
Shen Qi took a breath and confirmed that he was dead, then turned around and went back to help. Although Shen Qi's kung fu was not good, adding another person to the bodyguard made the situation even more dangerous.
The guard rushed left and right several times, and found that Shen Qi was the breakthrough point, so he deliberately used a flaw to lure a swordsman to stab him. He repeated the same trick and used the sword blade to hit the opponent's sword tip.
Then he suddenly turned around and rushed towards Shen Qi. Shen Qi hurriedly raised his sword and stabbed the guard. The guard turned aside, blocked Shen Qi's sword with his sword, and ran past Shen Qi.
As soon as the guard relaxed, he heard the sound of a sharp blade piercing the air behind him. The guard hurriedly turned around and knocked it away with his sword. But he didn't expect that a sword flew over behind several hidden weapons, and the dagger pierced his chest.
The guard staggered and fell beside the tree, vomiting blood and having difficulty breathing, and died soon after.
It turned out that the four swordsmen cooperated perfectly. When they saw the guards escaping, two swordsmen threw hidden weapons to hide their identity. The other two swordsmen threw their copper swords one after another, two deadly swords one after the other.
Many people only pay attention to the sword in front and often ignore the sword in the back. Their move has claimed the lives of many heroes.
After the five men killed the people, they picked up the ransom and walked away.
Several people on the other side of the stone bridge waited for a long time and could not find the guards, so they went back directly to communicate with each other, so they sneaked towards the woods.
When they saw Mrs. Shen's body, they knew something was wrong. They sent someone to report the message first. Several other people picked up the bodyguard and Mrs. Shen's body and headed back.
When Shen Xi heard the news, he was like a thunderbolt. Although his first wife was very fierce, he still felt extremely sad in his heart. On the one hand, after all, they had been in love for so many years.
On the other hand, the wife's natal family has helped a lot in these years as a businessman. In fact, a lot of his business relies on his wife's natal family. This is one of the reasons why the first wife can speak out in Shen Xi's family.
Shen Xi sent someone to report it to the local government. The local officials heard that family members of businessmen were kidnapped and extorted money, and they took this very seriously.
Because this small country in the Western Region has always relied on this kind of trade development to obtain profits and exchange goods. If a vicious kidnapping case occurs against merchants, causing other merchants to panic and bypass them, the country's economy will have problems.
Therefore, after receiving the report, the local officials took it seriously and immediately rushed to Shen Xi's residence to investigate the situation. They sent another group of people out of the city to search for the kidnapper, and notified the deputy general on duty, requesting that troops be sent to assist in the search out of the city.
Shen Qi and the others had already fled far away, so the government naturally could not catch the criminals.
There was no post-mortem examination during this period, and Shen Xi began to organize Mrs. Qi Shen's funeral.
Shen Xi was a native of the Chu State. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, people in the Chu State believed in the theory of ghosts. After the death of the deceased, a soul-calling ceremony was held.
In the soul-calling ceremony, relatives or attendants of the deceased usually hold the coat of the deceased, go up to the roof, hold the collar in their left hand, hold the waist in their right hand, face the north, and call the name of the deceased in a long voice, three times in a row.
Then another person takes the clothes and covers the deceased. This is called "recovering".
"Book of Rites. Tan Gong Xia" and "Mozi. Fei Ru" have records of soul-calling rituals.
Mrs. Shen's body was placed on the bed by the window on the south side of the earthen house. Shen Xi personally washed Mrs. Shen's body, which is called bathing, and then inserted a horn between the upper and lower teeth of the deceased to pry open the mouth so that he could eat. .
The shao is a sacrificial vessel made of animal horns, shaped like a spoon, and used to scoop food. Most people don't just carry this thing around with them, they have to find someone to make it temporarily.
During this period, after death, the deceased was generally not allowed to go to the underworld to starve with an empty mouth. Things such as pearls, jade, shells, and rice were put into the mouth of the deceased. Of course, there was a hierarchy.
"Shuo Yuan. Xiu Wen" says: "The emperor uses pearls as treasures, the princes use jade, the officials use coins, the scholars use shells, and the common people use grains." In some tomb-robbing novels, it is mentioned that corpses contain jade. , all come from this.
Because this was not the territory of the Zhou Dynasty, Shen Xi overstepped his bounds. In the gift of rice, he put a jade object and some rice into Mrs. Shen's mouth.
Then she put on three new sets of clothes for Mrs. Shen. The underwear here does not count as three sets.
Shen Xi has no other friends here, only Adili comes to express his condolences.
The next day was Xiao Lian. Because he kept things simple when he was away from home, Shen Xi just wrapped Mrs. Shen's body in a quilt and then tied it tightly with a twist. The quilt was just a quilt.
At this time, after two days of searching, the local government still found no results. They did not find any useful information. They believed that the kidnappers had escaped and gradually withdrew their search troops outside the city.
The third day is the coffin, which is when the body is put into the coffin. Unlike later generations, the body does not lie on its back in the coffin. Instead, the legs are slightly bent, with the thighs and calves at about 90 degrees. to one hundred and thirty-five degrees.
Shen Xi could not bring his wife's body back to Dazhou for burial because of the long distance, so he had to bury his first wife on a nearby mountain.
Because no one could use divination to choose the Zhai house and the day, that is, the burial place and the date of burial. So Shen Xi took a group of people to the Kunlun Mountains to choose a place for burial that day.
On the way back from the mountain, Shen Xi happened to meet Ye Feng and others who were returning from the mountain. So Ye Feng and Zhuan Zhi reported the situation to Shen Xi. When Shen Xi learned that something happened to the caravan, his heart sank again.
Upon seeing this, Ye Feng comforted Shen Xi and told him not to worry until Lu Chong came back to see the specific situation there. Then, in order to distract Shen Xi, he asked about what happened in the past two days.
When Shen Xi told the news of Mrs. Shen's death, Ye Feng and Zhuan Zhi were shocked. This happened so suddenly.
Ye Feng listened carefully to Shen Xi and the guard's description of what happened. When he heard that the guard entered the woods because a man waved to him, the guard followed him into the woods and became a little suspicious. Later, he heard that the butler had not returned from shopping, so he became a little suspicious.
Ye Feng thought for a while and said: "The person saw the guard walking over, and he could accurately know that he was the guard who sent the ransom, which means he knew the guard. Since you came here, the guard has not gone out. If he is not a familiar person, how can the other party know it? Do you know that he is the one who sent the ransom?" Everyone couldn't help but nodded when they heard this.
Ye Feng continued: "And the housekeeper went out to do some shopping at that time, and there was no alibi. Since then, he has not returned and disappeared. Could it be that that person is the housekeeper?"
Shen Xi and the others always believed that the housekeeper was very loyal, so they did not doubt the housekeeper. Because those who can hold the position of housekeeper are the confidants or relatives of the master's family.
Shen Xi thought for a while and felt that Ye Feng said that the other party knew the guard, so the housekeeper was indeed suspicious. So he immediately took out a token and handed it to one of the guards, asking him to return and immediately set off back to the Chu Kingdom.
Shen Xi explained to Ye Feng: "I'll have people rush back to inform the people in my house and ask them to send people to monitor the situation at Shen Qi's home. If Shen Qi is found sneaking back, he will be arrested immediately."
Everyone returned to the city, and Lu Chong, who had just gone to Loulan Kingdom to investigate the news, also rushed back. Unexpectedly, what Lu Chong brought was bad news. All the people in the caravan of Shen Xi's brother Shen Cheng were killed, and their goods and property were robbed. Empty.
Shen Xi was so furious when he heard the news that he vomited blood and fainted.
Ye Feng quickly stepped forward to support Shen Xi, and at the same time found a clean place to lay down Shen Xi. Then he pressed his philtral acupuncture point. After a minute or two, Shen Xi gradually woke up. Ye Feng took out his own honey and asked someone to wash it with warm water. Water, give it to Shen Xi to drink.
