Coming out of the west courtyard, the spring rain was pouring, the lanterns were starting to turn on, and the house seemed to be shrouded in a faint light.
Liu Ruyan looked at the drizzle in the sky, picked up two banana leaves from the roadside, and handed one to Dong Qingxian to keep out the rain.
Dong Qingxian found it interesting and put the leaves on his head.
"The real person doesn't need this." Seeing Shen Yan concentrating on her, Liu Ruyan chuckled, "After all, it will harm your face."
At this time, the top of her head was green, and I have to say that she looked a bit funny.
Shen Yanchu turned around and looked forward: "The murderer is not Lin."
Liu Ruyan agreed: "I think so too."
Dong Qingxian was confused: "Who could that be?"
"Based on the clues, it is initially determined that the murderer and the Lin family are old acquaintances, and they served together in the Qi Mansion ten years ago." Liu Ruyan clarified his thoughts for him.
"Chu Kun?" Dong Qingxian suddenly thought.
"It can't be him." Shen Yanchu said firmly, "What he said in court today was not a lie."
Seeing that the matter was making no progress, she patted the two of them on the shoulders: "Never mind the evil spirits, just protect Mr. Jiang at night."
After that, she walked away.
Dong Qingxian followed closely: "Yan'er plans to act alone?"
She was stunned: "Do we still need to eat in groups?"
"Eat?" he repeated.
"Food is the most important thing for the people, aren't you hungry?" Liu Ruyan stood in front of him, dressed as a Taoist boy, with a banana leaf on her head.
Dong Qingxian's eyes were warm and soft, no matter how old the little Taoist boy was, he was still a half-grown child and could not withstand hunger.
"You have to eat more, otherwise you won't be able to grow taller in the future." He smiled warmly.
Liu Ruyan: "..."
The three of them returned to the front yard.
The food brought by the maid was still on the table. It seemed that Bai Zhi had not returned to the house yet.
After dinner, Dong Qingxian sat quietly, with no intention of leaving.
Although he is said to be a descendant of the Dong family, to be honest, his sudden appearance in Bianjing is a bit suspicious.
Shen Yanchu sat opposite: "Have we met before?"
Dong Qingxian did not intend to deny it: "We had a chance encounter. When we were in Jinzhou, it was thanks to the two of us that we came to the rescue."
"In that case, you are a violinist, why do you pretend to be a refugee?"
Dong Qingxian lowered his eyes: "I feel ashamed to say it. Qingxian went down the mountain for the first time. He had a lot of inconveniences while traveling. He deliberately pretended to be a refugee that day to avoid being noticed by thieves. I never thought that he would still be unable to prevent himself."
Liu Ruyan whispered: "It's just because your Taoism is too shallow."
Her voice was extremely low, but Dong Qingxian could still hear her and looked at her with gentle eyes.
When you think about a gentleman, you warm him like jade.
"That's why I got to know Yan'er." He said softly, remembering some past events, "In the past, I lived in the mountains with my father, with mountains and rivers as neighbors, with all kinds of beasts and creatures as my companions, learning music theory, and playing the Yao Qin. But I don’t have a friend around me that I can talk to, until not long ago, Master Wenxuan came to Shu."
"Is that why you went to Bianjing alone?" Liu Ruyan took over.
"Yes." Dong Qingxian's warm face was stained with loneliness.
Liu Ruyan picked up the tea cup on the table and stood up to salute him: "Xiao Dao gives you a drink. By the way, I wonder how old Brother Dong is?"
She looked at that extraordinarily handsome face and thought to herself that it should be almost the same as her own.
Clinker, Dong Qingxian replied: "Twenty-two."
Isn't she one year older than Bai Zhi? But in terms of temperament, she is the most youthful. On the other hand, Shen Yanchu seems to be cold, but in fact he is not as young as the weak crown.
On the side, Shen Yanchu asked coldly: "Who else have you met before coming to Bianjing?"
"He just said that he had met Qi Wenxuan." Liu Ruyan explained.
"What about other than that?" Shen Yanchu looked at it urgently.
Just when Dong Qingxian mentioned that he came to Beijing, the seven emotions between his brows were different.
Dong Qingxian opened his lips and gave a bitter smile: "I don't dare to hide anything. Qingxian came here disguised as a refugee. His clothes are ragged, and others are avoiding me."
His words were frank and didn't sound like he was lying. Shen Yanchu looked at him lightly, maybe he was worrying too much.
The sound of rain outside the window gradually became smaller, and Liu Ruyan looked at the yard: "Bai Zhi hasn't come back, is he okay?"
"No need to worry." Shen Yanchu raised his head and looked outside the courtyard, "In order to examine the deceased, the Qi family has sent two guards to guard outside Bai Zhi's house."
"The murderer can even deal with military generals. How can we guarantee his safety with only two guards?" Liu Ruyan felt uneasy, "Unless the murderer feels that Bai Zhi cannot detect the cause of death."
Front yard, Anning Hall.
In a small, quiet room, candlesticks flickered with firelight.
In the corner, there was a male corpse lying on two beds respectively. His face was blue and purple, his eyes were closed, and his naked body was covered with a snow-white fine cloth.
Next to the corpse, stood a man in a blue shirt.
Bai Zhi leaned forward, his eyes never leaving the deceased. He pressed his right palm against the body, inspected it inch by inch, and carefully identified the traces on the surface.
The results showed that the deceased was not injured in front of him, and there was not even the slightest sign of struggle.
"Could it be that before they died, they were intoxicated by some kind of incense, or maybe they were exposed to numbing powder?" He pondered.
The odor floating in the air was nothing but the smell of corpses. A night of spring rain was enough to destroy all evidence.
Evidence of crime? He suddenly remembered that Liu Ruyan once said that the clues were in the powder left by the murderer.
Bai Zhi's eyes darkened slightly. He walked towards the desk in a few steps, took out the packet of white powder from the medicine box, and unfolded the handkerchief.
Fluorite, pearl, centipede.
He slowly walked towards the male corpse, holding the bag of powder in his hand. At this moment, he seemed to see Mr. Chen who had been dead for a long time, and his eyelids suddenly moved!
As if he was about to wake up from a long sleep, his thin and soft eyelids twitched involuntarily.
Bai Zhi was surprised for a moment, and inadvertently, the firefly powder she held in his hand accidentally fell and scattered on the chest of the male corpse.
The moment the powder settled, the male corpse began to change again. There seemed to be something crawling under the eyelids. Then, a corner of the eyelid was lifted, and the crawling thing inside finally showed its original shape.
I saw red legless insects emerging one after another, climbing down the man's corpse's face at an extremely fast speed, like red blood lines.
They crawled to the powder and gathered into a ball, eating up all the centipedes mixed inside.
It was insects, and Angelica dahurica was shocked. If these insects feed on poison, they are poisonous insects.
Gu can kill people invisible, and the Gu that Liu Shangshu and Master Chen used is even more complicated. Judging from the method, could it be related to Bai Man?
The so-called Baiman, that is, the ethnic group in the southwest, believe in Buddhism and witchcraft.
From the charred corpses in Liujiazhuang to the hanging corpses in Qi Mansion, rare poisonous insects reappeared one after another. Bai Zhi looked solemn, picked up a piece of insect with tweezers and put it into a bottle, got up and walked outside the house.
The red lacquer door was opened by him, and the two guards waiting outside turned around immediately.
"Mr. Bai has something to do and wants to see the head of the family!"
"Tick-tock, tick-tock..."
The copper kettle dripped loudly, and Liu Ruyan glanced at her: "Hai Shi has arrived, it's time to go to Lord Jiang's place to keep vigil."
Shen Yanchu immediately stood up and put on the fence.
Liu Ruyan picked up an umbrella and opened it: "It's not peaceful at night, so I'll go with you so that we can take care of each other."
After saying that, she turned back to look at Dong Qingxian: "If nothing happens, fellow Taoist, please go back and rest as soon as possible."
Dong Qingxian couldn't help but worry. He originally wanted to go with her, but seeing Liu Ruyan's look of not being able to refuse, he had to give up: "Take care of yourself."