Jiaochu

After opening the book, the old housekeeper pointed to one of the names for Yan Jiang to look at, then closed the book and walked back slowly.

This Ma Yuan was the hall leader who was promoted five years ago. His father Ma Biao was the previous hall leader. Five years ago, his father was killed by water bandits while transporting goods, so he succeeded him as the hall leader.

Yanjiang asked someone to secretly monitor Ma Yuan. After more than a month, the man finally took action. He went out late one night and went to the suspicious dock to meet the mysterious man.At that time, there was a small boat docked on the shore. After Ma Yuan got on the boat, the boatman standing at the bow untied the rope and floated the pole down the river.

Finally, the boat stopped at another ferry. Ma Yuan got out of the cabin and went ashore. The boatman stretched out the long pole and continued downstream.

One dragon shadow guard continued to monitor Ma Yuan, and another dragon shadow guard continued to follow the boat.

The boat was several hundred meters downstream when a splash was heard and the boatman jumped into the water and disappeared.Long Yingwei immediately used Qinggong to fly onto the boat and found that there was no one in the cabin. Only then did he realize that the boatman was the mysterious man who was connected with Ma Yuan. He immediately dived into the water, but after searching for several times under the water, he could not find anyone. .

On the other hand, after Ma Yuan returned to his residence, he stayed in the room and did not go out.

The next day, the door never opened. The two Long Shadow Guards felt something was wrong. One broke the door and the other stood guard outside. When they entered, they found that there was no one inside.The two looked around the room and found signs of movement in the wardrobe. After moving the wardrobe, they discovered a secret passage.

One person went into the secret passage to check and the other person stood guard outside.

The secret passage is narrow and low, and can only allow people to bend down to pass through. Although it hinders the speed of travel, even if they are overtaken, they will not be able to use fists and kicks to fight.

When the Long Shadow Guard who entered saw the exit, it was already half an hour later.

The exit is behind an abandoned City God's Temple. The terrain is hidden and difficult to be discovered.

But when Long Shadow Guard came out of the exit, he found that the man was dead, not far from the exit, and the gold and silver jewelry in the bag were scattered on the ground.

There were black and blue fingerprints on the deceased's neck, and the neck bones were broken.

After Yanjiang told the old housekeeper about Ma Yuan's murder, the old housekeeper went to the Taoist temple to report it to Mr. Xiao. Then the old housekeeper came back and took Yanjiang to the Taoist temple. He thought that the other party wanted to find out how the person died. The result was that the army was called upon to investigate.

Mrs. Xiao said that Yanjiang was nosy and told him to go back to where he came from and not cause trouble here. He was almost a troublemaker.

Yanjiang was also a little embarrassed, thinking that it was not him who killed the person.

Ma Yuan's clue was broken, so Yanjiang started investigating from the people who had been in contact with him, and found a clue. Ma Yuan had interacted with a Hu merchant, and the servant who accompanied the Hu merchant , the appearance and body shape are almost the same as those of Yue Nu. Yanjiang speculates that this Hu Shang should be Mika.

After telling what happened, Yanjiang felt a little dry, so he picked up his cup of tea and drank it in one gulp.

"Does the Xiao family know about Ma Yuan?" Ye Lanchen asked.

Yanjiang replied: "Wei Chen found out that Ma Yuan had plans to establish his own business and was secretly wooing other hall masters. Wei Chen estimated that the old man hid in the Taoist temple to cultivate immortality because he thought it would be a disaster. Unexpectedly, Ma Yuan died suddenly. , even if others have any thoughts, there will probably be no movement in the short term. Whether the old lady knows about transporting goods privately or not, I don’t dare to comment on it." Ye Lanchen thought for a few seconds and said: "You go back first Bar."

"Wei Chen excuses himself." After Yan Jiang came out of the imperial study, he headed out of the palace.

On the other side, Ye Lingjue arrived in front of the vermilion palace door. Dongmo knocked on the door. After a while, a little palace maid opened the door. Seeing it was Ye Lingjue, she quickly saluted and said hello and led the people in. .

Before entering the palace, Concubine Xiao's stern words came from inside: "Get out!" A young palace maid walked out in fear. When she saw Ye Lingjue, she quickly came over to salute. Ye Lingjue asked the young palace maid to go down first. He walked over and bowed his hands and said, "Mother and concubine, my son is back."

"Ling'er is back." When the people in the palace hurriedly walked out, the scowl on their faces had been replaced by smiles. After some greetings, they ordered people to serve tea and put all the teacups and cups that had been smashed on the ground. Clean up.

"I have already heard about what happened before," Ye Lingjue said.

After Concubine Xiao waved the servants to go down, she said: "It was all a misunderstanding. It was because Concubine Yu listened to the villain's slander and even harmed the mother and concubine."

"Concubine Lan has never had any disputes with her mother." As soon as Ye Lingjue finished speaking, Concubine Xiao slammed the table angrily, "Shut up!" and sneered, "If she gave birth to a son, do you think the emperor would still care about it?" Do I value you as much as I do now?" After calming down, she continued in a calm and soothing tone, "Ling'er, mother and concubine are doing this for your own good. If a prince is born in the Weiyang Palace in the future, you and my mother will be here. There is no place for him in the palace."

"Don't worry, mother and concubine, my father is not a heartless person. As long as his sons and ministers are careful in their words and deeds and make no mistakes, mother and concubine will not suffer in the future." Ye Lingjue said.

Concubine Xiao's expression softened and she said: "Having said that, you still have to be careful. You are still young and don't understand the sinister nature of people's hearts. Concubine Lan seems to be unconcerned, but in fact she is deeply scheming. That girl is not a fuel-efficient lamp either. , don’t get too close to her in the future.”

"My son went to Yangzhou this time and met his grandfather." Ye Lingjue said.

After hearing the second half of the sentence, Concubine Xiao's expression became obviously tense.

"My grandfather gave this to my mother and concubine." Ye Lingjue took out a letter from his arms and put it on the table.

Concubine Xiao stared at the letter for a few seconds before reaching out and picking it up. After taking out the letter, she saw the words on it and her eyes showed obvious panic.

There are only four short words in the letter:
Stay safe
After staring at those four words in fear for a few seconds, she waved her hand angrily and threw the tea cup in front of her to the ground, "You are the one who filed the complaint?! What kind of ecstasy soup did that mother and daughter pour into you? I am your mother." Concubine, I raised you and worked hard to plan for you, but in the end you are no better than an outsider." She sneered twice, and suddenly stared at that calm face with extremely resentful eyes, "Get out! Get out of here! roll!"

"My dear, please retire." Ye Lingjue bowed his hands and stepped back.

When he was about to reach the door, he felt something hit him from behind, but he did not avoid it. He only heard a muffled sound, and a tea cup hit his spine hard, making a clang sound when it fell to the ground.

Dong Mo was startled, and when he saw Ye Lingjue walking out with a calm face, he couldn't ask any more questions and followed behind him silently.

After coming out, Ye Lingjue said, "I want to go for a walk alone. You should go back first." Dong Mo replied yes and left first.