Tang Dynasty detective

Chapter 773 Exploring the scene
"So, he is an orphan?" Lu Jitong said.

"Yes! No one knows who his parents are. At first, he was picked up by the teacher in the town on the day of the summer solstice, so he was named Xia Zhi. But the teacher died of illness when he was five years old. After that, he lived on the street again until he met Lantern Chen." Liu Yang said.

Li Canghai frowned slightly, he thought for a moment, and asked, "Old man, is this lantern Chen a resident of this town?"

Liu Yang shook his head and said, "The Lantern Chen is not from this town, but he fled here. No one knows his name, but his surname is Chen. Because he is good at making lanterns, everyone in the town calls him Lantern." List."

"How is this lantern Chen?" Li Canghai continued to ask.

"Lantern Chen Wei is a man of few words. He only makes lanterns in the workshop on weekdays and rarely communicates with others. Although he has a weird personality, he is also a good person." Liu Yang said with a sigh.

After listening, Li Canghai let out a sigh, then paced back and forth in thought.

After a while, Li Canghai turned to Lu Jitong and said, "Brother Lu, take me to the place where you found the corpse."

"Yes, my lord." Lu Jitong answered with a bow.

After Li Canghai bid farewell to Liu Yang, he and Lu Jitong rode fast horses out of Fufeng Town and headed east.

Fufeng Town is built on the mountain, the terrain is high in the west and low in the east.

Lv Jitong led Li Canghai along the edge of the cliff for more than ten miles, and made a long circle before arriving at the place where the body was found.

The terrain here is gentle, the river bed is wide, and the cold river water flows continuously.

Apart from some tenacious vegetation on both sides of the river, the most plants that can be seen as far as the eye can see are clumps of thorns.

"My lord, the corpse was found in the bramble bush ahead." Lu Jitong pointed to the bramble bush not far upstream.

Li Canghai squinted his eyes and said, "Let's go and have a look."

Soon, the two came to the bush of thorns that Lu Jitong had mentioned.

"My lord, when the corpse was found, it was hooked on the thorns." Lu Jitong stood on the bank and said, pointing to the thorns in the river.

Li Canghai stared at the thorn bush for a while, then took off his shoes and socks, and walked into the river.

Seeing this, Lu Jitong hurriedly took off his shoes and socks, and followed.

Li Canghai originally thought that the river water would be icy cold, but he didn't expect that the water flowing from the underground river would actually have a hint of warmth.

Li Canghai was walking in the river, carefully stepped on the slippery stones, walked to the side of the thorn bushes, and bent over to check.

This bush of thorns is very large, half of it grows on the shore, and half grows in the water.

And the body was found in this thorn in the water.

According to Lu Jitong's description, the corpse should have been stopped by thorns when it was going down the river from upstream, so it was not washed away by the current.

Li Canghai looked carefully at those thorns, and found that there were many rags hooked on those thorns.

The rags also matched the clothes of the deceased, which proved that the deceased was indeed stopped by the thorns.

"My lord, what are you looking for?" Lu Jitong asked in puzzlement when he saw him crouching in the water and looking around.

"It's nothing, just take a look." Li Canghai said.

After a short pause, he looked up and looked around, and said, "Brother Lu, besides the corpse, are there other things found around here?"

Lu Jitong shook his head and said, "Except for the corpse, there is nothing else around."

"Describe to me the condition and posture of the corpse at that time." Li Canghai said.

Lu Jitong nodded and said, "When the corpse was found, half of the deceased's body was hooked by thorns, and his body was submerged in the water."

Li Canghai closed his eyes, and went through the situation in his mind.

Lantern Chen fell from mid-air, then fell into the river, and was washed along the river to the thorn bushes ten miles away. It seemed that everything was reasonable and there was nothing suspicious about it.

But Li Canghai felt that there was something else hidden in it.

"If the death of the deceased was not an accident, as the first scene where the body was found, there may be some other clues hidden here. Brother Lu, look around." Li Canghai said.

Lu Jitong cupped his hands in response, then walked to the shore and searched carefully.

While Lu Jitong was searching the shore, Li Canghai was not idle either.

He bent down and looked carefully around the thorn bushes.

The thorn bushes are densely covered with thorns, and if you don't pay attention, you will be stabbed.

Li Canghai bent over and carefully rummaged through the thorn bushes with a wooden stick.

However, after searching for a long time, he did not find any clues.

Just when he was about to give up, he casually took out the wooden stick inserted into the thorn bush, and picked out a thin cotton rope.

This cotton rope is much thinner than chopsticks, and its color is dull. It is hard to find when it falls among the thorns.

Li Canghai held the cotton rope in his hands curiously, and he pulled the cotton rope hard, only to find that the cotton rope passed through the thorn bushes.

Li Canghai tried again, trying to pull the cotton rope out, but it seemed that something was tied to the end of the cotton rope, and it was difficult to pull it out.

Li Canghai hurriedly searched along the cotton rope, and sure enough, he found the end of the cotton rope not far from the shore.

The cotton rope was originally tied to the bottom of a big tree and was buried by the withered grass, so it was difficult to find.

"Strange, who would tie the cotton rope here?" Li Canghai said to himself.

"My lord, what did you find?" Lu Jitong came over and asked.

Li Canghai picked up the cotton rope and said, "Brother Lu, did you see this cotton rope when you found the corpse?"

Lu Jitong shook his head and said, "The corpse was discovered by Xia Zhi. I don't remember seeing the cotton rope."

Li Canghai looked down at the cotton rope in his hand, the cotton rope was tied with a knot, closing the broken parts together, just like a noose.

In addition, the marks where the noose was broken also seemed to be cut by a sharp knife.

"My lord, why did this cotton rope appear here?" Lu Jitong was a little puzzled, this place is in the wilderness, not to mention people, even animals are rarely seen, who would tie the cotton rope here?
If it is to catch prey as a trap, but there are no traps around here?

Li Canghai frowned, untied the hemp rope, put it away, looked back to the upper reaches of the river, and said, "Brother Lu, take me through the route you are looking for."

"Yes, my lord." After Lu Jitong nodded, he took Li Canghai away from the place where the body was found, and went up the river.

Although it was daytime, the further upstream we went, the thicker the fog and the dimmer the light became.

The two walked along the river.

The water flow in this valley is turbulent, the strange rocks are rugged, and the dark light makes people feel very depressed, as if they have fallen into the abyss of hell.

(End of this chapter)