Jiang Xixi was horrified in her heart, raised her palm to look at her face, and scolded in her mouth, "Let you sleep, let you sleep, let people run away." ” As he spoke, the person had already flashed out the back door, looked left and right, and his sight was full of fluttering rain, and he didn't know which direction to chase after for a while. was frowning and thinking, a cool breeze rushed through his ears, and then, there was a heart-rending pain in the back of his head.
Jiang Xixi turned his head and looked at the figure with a wooden stick, and before he could even say a word, his body had already fallen to the ground softly, splashing a splash.
Fang Jing threw the wooden board on the ground, smacked at Jiang Xi with a hard mouth, and then looked at the wooden stick in his hand that was sharpened to a very sharp end, and pulled out a sneer on his lips, "Although this body is weak, fortunately, I can barely do carpentry, otherwise, I really can't deal with this girl." ” After speaking, he stuffed Jiang Xixi into a pocket that he had prepared a long time ago, put the bag on his shoulder with all his might, and walked in the direction of the birch forest step by step in the rain.
When Cheng Muyou and his party reached the birch forest, they got off their horses and walked towards the forest on foot.
At this time, the rain became more and more raging, like a huge, thick rain curtain hanging in front of them, so that they could not see the scenery clearly from a few steps away.
After a few people walked in the torrential rain for about half an hour, the officials finally lost some patience, and Cheng Muyou, who was leading the way in front, asked, "Cheng Gongzi, where is the place where the body was found, why have we walked for so long, but we still haven't arrived?"
” Cheng Muyou casually wiped the rain from his face, turned his head and said to them, "It's almost over, this forest is already muddy, coupled with the heavy rain, the road is more difficult to walk, a few officials can endure a little longer, and then walk half a cup of tea." ” When several people heard him say this, they cheered up and continued to hurry, but after walking in the rain for more than half an hour, they still did not see the scene that Cheng Muyou had just described: the corpse was chopped into several pieces and placed on the ground around the trunk of the tree, and the branch still had a human head stuck in it.
In front of them, the rain was wild and the trees were thick, intertwined into a horizontal and vertical net, but in this big net between heaven and earth, there was no corpse of Cen Nanying.
"Cheng Gongzi, are you on the wrong path?
Not to mention half a cup of tea, this tea should be cold, why haven't you found the murder scene yet?
The official who took the lead finally couldn't help it, and asked Cheng Muyou.
Cheng Muyou didn't look back, nor did he answer, after being stunned for a long time, he suddenly turned his head and walked towards the road without saying a word, his steps were fast, and the clothes on his body "rustled" with his movements, arousing the panic in the hearts of his companions.
"Cheng Gongzi, why did you turn back again?
What the hell is going on?
The official who took the lead slid on the ground a few times before he would catch up with Cheng Muyou's footsteps.
"We've come along."
A deep voice came from under the hat, Cheng Muyou's face turned pale, he looked at the top of the tallest tree in the distance, and said these words to him.
"Walked through?
How can it be?
Cheng Gongzi didn't say that there were guards at the scene, if we passed by there, how could we not see people?
” Cheng Muyou turned his head to look at him, his pale face glowing with blue light in the rain and mist, "Yes, why didn't you see anyone?"
Where have all the people gone?
With that, he ran toward the tallest birch tree, leaving behind a few stunned servants.
Running all the way to the big tree, he gasped and stopped, his eyes swept over the branches and trunks one by one: That's right, this is where Cen Nanying's body was found, but the family members who were supposed to be guarding here are gone, and Cen Nanying's body is also gone, so he didn't recognize this place when he passed by just now.
Cheng Muyou looked at the grass again, due to the heavy rain, the mud footprints and blood stains on it had already been washed away, this place looked no different from the rest of the forest, the grass was green, the shadows of the trees were intertwined, if it weren't for the unusually tall birch tree next to it, he estimated that he would not find this place after a few circles in the forest.
Several officials finally rushed behind Cheng Muyou, and several of them looked confused, panting like a cow, and the official who took the lead said to Cheng Muyou, "Cheng Gongzi, where is the corpse?"
Don't just run and talk. ” Cheng Muyou shook his head dejectedly, and then looked at him with a solemn expression, "The corpse was originally under this birch tree, but now it is gone, and the family members I left to guard the corpse are also gone."
Official, I suspect that during the time I left, something happened here, and these people may have encountered an accident. ” The official was taken aback, "What does Cheng Gongzi mean that the murderer returned to the scene and killed all the guards of the corpse?"
” Cheng Muyou frowned and shook his head, his eyes looked through the rain curtain at the trees in the distance, "I don't know who did it yet, but for now, I want to search this forest as soon as possible to see if I can find those families." ” "Okay, then we'll split up and check the inside and outside of this forest."
Although the leading official was afraid, because the Cheng family was a well-known scholar family, the county order had specially told him to do his best to investigate the case before leaving, so he had to obey Cheng Muyou's orders, and he took one of his subordinates and assigned another subordinate to Cheng Muyou, and the soldiers were divided into two ways and went into the forest to search.
The official who walked with Cheng Muyou was named Xiao Wu, who had not yet reached the age of the weak crown, and had just been a government officer for half a year, looking like he was not familiar with the world and was not afraid of heaven and earth.
Not only was he not afraid, but he also seemed a little excited, because this was the first time he had been sent outside to investigate the case, and he encountered such a big case of murder and dismemberment, his heart was inevitably surging, and the enthusiasm all over his body surged to his face, his face was ruddy, his starry eyes were round, and he had the strength to never give up if he didn't catch the murderer.
So along the way, he has always been in front of Cheng Muyou, blocking him from any wind and grass until the danger is eliminated.
And along the way, Xiao Wu searched extremely carefully, and he didn't let go of every bush and depression, so he had to see it with his own eyes to feel at ease.
The rain became heavier and heavier, and there was no sign of stopping, and the sky became more and more gray, like a huge iron cage, covering the birch forest from above, adding a bit of depression to people's hearts.
Cheng Muyou looked at the seriously searching figure in front of him, slowly stopped, and called softly, "Xiao Wu, do you feel wrong?"
”