Capture the Jade:

The smile in Lin Chengyou's eyes froze.

Before tonight, he had roughly checked the details of the three pregnant women victims.

The recently murdered Mrs. Xiao Jiang, the eldest son of Rong Anbo, is the successor of Song Jian, the son of Rong Anbo.

According to reports, when Song Jian married the Jiang family, he was strongly opposed by his uncle and wife. , but it has been tried and failed. Such a family can be described as humble.

But Song Jian fell in love with Jiang at first sight, and vowed not to marry unless she was the only one. It happened that Peng Zhen's wife came to Beijing with her husband to report on his work. A distant cousin, she received great kindness from Jiang's mother in Huaixi Road that year. She has long recognized Jiang's mother as her sister, and Jiang is her niece.

With Mrs. Peng as the guarantor, the uncle and his wife are a little looser, and Jiang's family background is not high, but he can be regarded as knowledgeable and polite. After seeing Jiang's first-hand, the old couple finally agreed. This marriage.

After getting married, Song Jian and Jiang Shi fell in love with each other, and soon gave birth to a pair of twins. When the children were two years old, Jiang became pregnant again, but unfortunately died of dystocia during childbirth. A month later, the old lady also passed away due to illness.

Because there has been no mistress in the mansion for a long time, the uncle intends to let his son remarry when his filial piety expires, but Song Jian insists on not remarrying.

More than a year ago, the wife and sister Xiao Jiang lived in the uncle's house for a while because of visiting her little nephew. .

According to Yan Sizhi who came back after inquiring, the servants of the Rong'anbo Mansion secretly discussed that the reason why Song Jian asked to marry Xiao Jiang was not only because Xiao Jiang was the children's aunt, but also because she looked like Jiang.

In addition, there are some unbearable rumors. For example, Xiao Jiang had a relationship with her brother-in-law during the period when she was living in the uncle's house. Song Jian had no choice but to come to the door to ask for marriage in order to protect the reputation of the two... Xiao Jiang was already nineteen years old when she married her brother-in-law, and she was reluctant to marry before because she fell in love with her brother-in-law when she was fifteen or sixteen years old.

The Jiang sisters are all from Huazhou. Xiao Jiang has been married to the Rong'anbo Mansion for a whole year, and she happened to be six months pregnant when the accident happened.

The victim of the second case, Shu Liniang, also happened to be from Huazhou. Shu Liniang's parents died early, and she married a failed scholar in Huazhou at the age of seventeen. Unfortunately, her husband died of a sudden illness last year. Shu Liniang and her husband's family have never been together He had no father or brother to depend on, so he had to go to Chang'an's cousin. This cousin was Shu Changshi of Jingzhao Mansion, named Shu Wenliang.

Today, Lin Chengyou originally planned to go to Shu Changshi and Zheng Pushe first. Apart from asking them about Shu Liniang's past in his hometown, he also wanted to know why a good woman from a good family should be a housewife. , Unexpectedly, he bumped into the reincarnation of Resurrection.

As for the first case...

Because the Bai family was victimized together with her husband Wang Zangbao, Liu Facao from the Tongzhou government has been focusing on investigating Wang Zangbao's side when investigating the victim's background. For example, whether Wang Zangbao had any enmity with others, and why he gave up his family business in Tongzhou to come to Chang'an... As for Bai's character, and whether he had any enmity with others in the past, there is no mention in the case file.

He only knows that Mrs. Bai is twenty-two this year and five months pregnant.

After reviewing the three cases, Lin Chengyou couldn't suppress the doubts in his heart. According to Zhuang Mu, did Zhuang Mu investigate the three pregnant women victims before the accident?

This is somewhat different from his original idea.

After Zhuang Mu said that, he stopped talking. Lin Chengyou waited for a while, got up, took a pot of shrimp toads from the table, and brought the pot back to the iron cage, loosening the ties on Zhuang Mu's body one by one. Only the anklets and handcuffs are left.

After finishing all this, Lin Chengyou personally poured out a large bowl of Toad Mausoleum, put the bowl in front of Zhuang Mu, and said with a smile, "This way you can enjoy eating and drinking."

Zhuang Mu swallowed his saliva, regardless of the dried blood on his hands, he picked up the bowl and drank it without saying a word, after he drank the wine, he couldn't wait to put the bowl on the ground, his eyes gleamed greedily , Waiting for Lin Chengyou to pour him a second bowl.

Drinking three bowls of wine in one go, Zhuang Mu seemed to have regained his strength, picked up the soup bowl on the other side, and buried his head in eating the steaming bowl of pills. After eating and drinking, he was not in a hurry Putting down the bowl, he raised his eyes calmly and looked at Lin Chengyou from above the edge of the bowl.

He took a deep look at Lin Chengyou, put down the bowl, nodded and said in a deep voice, "You're not very old, so you can hold your breath."

The smile on Lin Chengyou's face remained undiminished, and he waited patiently.

Zhuang Mumo for a while: "I can tell you everything I know, provided that you prepare for me what I want: two hundred gold, a fast horse, and a share that will ensure my smooth departure Tongguan's past - and let me go."

Lin Chengyou smiled and said, "Your Excellency dares to make an offer."

Zhuang Mu twitched his lips: "These four things are difficult for others, but easy for you. You should have expected that the murderer will commit another crime soon, but this person is too cunning, you Dali The temple has not found any useful clues so far, but I have actually dealt with the real murderer."

Lin Chengyou calmly said: "The real culprit is willing to let you be caught by our Dali Temple. I am sure that the clues you provide will never be found on him. How can a person who may not be helpful to solve the case be called?" Agree to these unreasonable demands you made."

Zhuang Mu sneered and said: "Although I don't know the true identity of the murderer, I have learned more in the past month than you have investigated in a year in Dali Temple. I think you know this very well, so you will repeat it repeatedly." Run to the prison and entertain me with good wine and food."

Lin Chengyou said: "If you have nothing else to ask for, you can continue to refuse to eat and drink, and you are willing to accept the food and drinks I entertained. Doesn't it mean that you are also eager to deal with that murderer."

Zhuang Mu hesitated.

Lin Chengyou lifted the pot and poured another bowl of wine for Zhuang Mu: "I said earlier that you want to use Dali Temple to avenge your revenge. I want to use the clues you provided to find the murderer. You and I will take what we have It is necessary, but the things you know alone are not enough to find out who the murderer is in a short time."

Zhuang Mu looked at the wine in the bowl with a complex expression.

Lin Chengyou said with a smile: "If you want to catch the murderer, it's not enough to just tell what you know. You must at least cooperate with Dali Temple to set up a bureau. If you can successfully catch the murderer in this bureau, the four things you said- "

Zhuang Mu stared closely at Lin Chengyou, but Lin Chengyou deliberately hesitated, and after a while he nodded with a smile: "Maybe you can try your best."

Zhuang Mu's expression was slightly relaxed, but a trace of hesitation flashed in his eyes.

Lin Chengyou looked up at him: "You should know that your chances are running out. Once the real culprit finds out who is behind your scenes first, it will be useless to set up a trap. At that time, you will be useless to Dali Temple , Do you think I will agree to your conditions?"

Gritting his teeth, Zhuang Mu picked up the wine bowl and drank it all in one gulp. He suddenly said, "On the first day of March, a friend of mine suddenly sent me a message saying that one of his subordinates was out of town three years ago. An important item was lost, and it suddenly appeared in Tongzhou last month, and my friend suspects that the thief is in Tongzhou at this moment, and asked me to go immediately and capture the object and the thief back to Chang'an."

Lin Chengyou didn't say a word. This so-called "friend" presumably was Zhuang Mu's real master.

"When I arrived in Tongzhou, the object disappeared in the store. I found an inn in the most lively neighborhood of Tongzhou to stay and investigate the matter secretly."

"What kind of object? Why can you know it just by asking?" Lin Chengyou said coldly.

Zhuang Mu was silent.

Lin Chengyou sneered: "Even if you don't tell me, I can find out after a few days of investigation in Tongzhou. Why waste each other's energy."

Zhuang Mu drooped his eyelids and said, "It's a mirror of the eight trigrams of heaven and earth. The mirror surface is not in the shape of a round wheel, but in the shape of a crescent moon. It's called the first moon mirror."

Lin Chengyou raised his eyebrows, it was "New Moon" again.

"One side of this mirror is dark and the other side is bright. The bright side is red, and the dark side is black. It is said that there are monsters hidden in this mirror. As long as you point the dark side at the person who has just died, it can disperse the soul of the person. Turning into a ghost on the spot will also forget some things before being killed, and become a puppet from then on, willing to be at the mercy of the mirror holder."

Lin Chengyou thought to himself, it sounds very similar to Shigong's boundless mirror, but Shigong's mirror reflects the spirit of injustice. Any objects or corpses that have been contaminated by evil spirits can be seen with this boundless mirror, and the mirror Zhuang Mu mentioned that can **** people's souls is obviously a magic weapon created by magic.

Suddenly, it occurred to me that this way of manipulating and torturing ghosts with the mirror is somewhat similar to Peng Yugui's Qimang guiding seal that tortured Tian and his wife. There are only some broken versions that are handed down in the world today.

About fifteen or sixteen years ago, the emperor's uncle heard a case reported by a courtier about a tragic case of using magic to harm people. For this matter, it was ordered that all Taoist temples in Chang'an and Dayin Temple should cooperate fully.

With the cooperation of a group of monks and Taoists, the master launched a treacherous ambush and cast a net secretly. After four or five years, he finally wiped out all the disciples of Chang'an sorcery at that time. At the same time, dozens of instruments that harmed people were destroyed.

Afterwards, the master locked those evil secret books in the treasure pavilion of Qingyun Temple. This is nothing more than fear that there are still many sects with magic spells hidden in the states and counties. If these people use magic to make trouble, they can also use these cheat books to figure out the principle of magic harm in time.

Since he was a child in Qingyun Temple, he had already opened the lock and secretly read those cheat books. One of them was the "Soul Scripture" which recorded Qimang's guide road seal. It was after reading this book that he finally learned Knowing that there are such powerful soul restraining techniques in the world.

As for the cheat book that recorded the "Unfeeling Gu" magic, he also accidentally read it at that time.

Just as I was thinking about it, I heard Zhuang Mu say: "Because this mirror has swallowed up too many remnants of resentful spirits, it has always been very resentful. Every cloudy day, dirty blood will spontaneously flow out of the mirror. When I wear it on my body, it is often stained with blood without knowing it. Only my friend and a few of his friends know about it. The thief who stole the mirror seems to be unaware. The reason why my friend knows that the mirror is at the same time Zhou showed up because a few businessmen from the same state were discussing in Chang'an wine shop that last time a Taoist priest was walking in the shop, bleeding from his chest and abdomen in a good manner, and it was strange that the man's face There was no scar, and after being reminded, the Taoist left immediately..."

Lin Chengyou suddenly said: "This mirror is so evil, it doesn't matter when you use it to harm people?"

Zhuang Mu took a sip of wine: "It's very particular. Whether you use this mirror to 'detain the soul' or to 'scatter the soul', it will greatly damage the morality. Before the mirror harms someone, it is best to find out whether the victim himself has done evil things in his lifetime. If he is not a good person, he will end up with an incomplete soul, which can be regarded as cause and effect. Less, so the mirror holders tend to only pick on the villains."

Lin Chengyou thought for a while and said, "Is this how you conclude that the three pregnant women victims were not good people?"

Zhuang Mu sneered: "This murderer didn't kill one person, but several pregnant women who were pregnant with Liujia. Even a rascal like me thinks such things are too harmful. If that person doesn't want to get involved The cultivation base of the whole body will naturally be carefully considered before doing it."

Lin Chengyou was silent: "How did the murderer know what the three victimized women had done?"

Zhuang Mu said: "I don't know, but the **** incident on the mirror happened a month ago, which means that the thief has already arrived in Tongzhou, but there is no strange case in this month, so it can be seen that this person Why did the pregnant woman who didn't pick the right one at the beginning set her sights on Bai's family after a month? It should be because she was sure that killing Bai's would cause the least damage to her cultivation."

Lin Chengyou fell silent, the murderer not only killed Bai, but also killed her husband Wang Zangbao.

When choosing a pregnant woman, be careful, and when you kill Wang Zangbao, you are not afraid of damaging your cultivation?

According to Liu Facao, the couple gave up their family business and came to Chang'an because they offended local ruffians.

This has long made him feel unbelievable. The Wushu shop opened by Wang Zangbao and his wife was passed down from his father's generation. It has been open for decades in the local area. Don't even want the ancestral business?

It's a pity that he has focused all his attention on Tongjun Yueshuo these few days, and he didn't bother to study all the unusual things about the couple themselves.

"I searched for a few days and found no clues. I planned to return to Chang'an to report to my life. At this moment, two traveling merchants in the inn where I stayed said that on the way to the city in the morning, they suddenly saw the body of a Taoist priest. The Taoist robe was stained with blood, and others wanted to remind him, but the Taoist priest disappeared soon. I found out that the place was at the foot of Wuji Mountain in the suburbs, and hurried to Wuji Mountain. A murder case happened, and it was a young couple who died.

"After returning to Chang'an, I went to report to my friend. When my friend heard about this, he said that the murder was most likely done by the thief, but why the thief wanted to kill the couple, my friend didn't understand. I have been inquiring in the same state for so long, maybe it has aroused the vigilance of that person, in order to avoid revealing my identity, I was told to lie dormant for a while before returning to the pig iron shop."

Lin Chengyou: "But as far as I know, you didn't stay dormant all the time. On the day Shu Liniang was killed, you went to Chun'an Lane again."

Zhuang Mu smiled coldly: "It's not because of the traitor's trick. I guess the thief has been eyeing me since he was in Tongzhou. I am in the light, he is in the dark, he wants to understand Who sent me to investigate him, so he started planning to deal with me as soon as he returned to Chang'an."

After hearing what his "friend" said, Zhuang Mu went to Chongrenfang to find a hostel with many foreign traders to stay. One day, I felt really bored, so I went downstairs to find a wine shop to drink. After drinking alone for a while, I heard two children outside talking bluffing, saying that they saw blood on the body of the Taoist priest who passed by just now. Is the Taoist priest injured?

Zhuang Mu hurriedly came out of the wine shop, and chased along the crowd for a while, and he saw a Taoist priest in yellow robes. Xiang followed, and just like that, he followed to Chun'an Lane.

The Taoist entered the alley and disappeared in a blink of an eye. Zhuang Mu lingered a few steps at the alley, but failed to find the Taoist. Instead, he was stared at by the servants of several families in the alley Suddenly, Zhuang Mu felt that something was wrong, so he had to leave in a hurry.

On the second day, I heard that another pregnant woman died in Chun'an Lane.

"It was only then that I realized that the couple at the door of the restaurant were probably instigated to say those things. I went back to the inn door to search, but I didn't see the couple again. I knew that I had been exposed. Xingzang, if you go looking for my friend in a panic, you will undoubtedly fall into the tricks of the thief. So I didn’t dare to act rashly, and it happened that the Miyougui pig iron shop opened, so I went back to the pig iron shop to continue working.”

Lin Chengyou thought for a moment, the murderer Teng Yuyi saw at the spice shop that day was short in stature, about the same stature as Zhuang Mu.

"Is the Taoist man you saw at the entrance of the restaurant the same person as the Taoist priest you heard about in Tongzhou? Is he tall or short?"

"The Taoist made a disguise, but the businessmen in Tongzhou said that the Taoist was very short. The one I saw at the entrance of the restaurant was about the same size as me."

Lin Chengyou nodded, it is not common for such a short adult man, it seems that they are probably the same person.

"On the day Mrs. Rong Anbo was killed in the spice shop, why did you go to the back alley of the spice shop?"

Zhuang Mu groaned coldly, his face gloomy.

He stayed in the pig iron shop for two days, and the more he thought about it, the more uneasy he became. He wanted to send a letter to his "friend", but he was afraid of being intercepted by the thief. Let this rogue go out of town for him, and actually let this rogue deliver the letter for him without knowing it.

He went to the casino to gamble twice, and found that there were many tails following him, including Marquis Wu, and several martial arts masters of unknown origin.

Zhuang Mu hadn't done anything bad recently, so he was a little puzzled in his heart. He was thinking about countermeasures secretly, when he suddenly saw a yellow-robed Taoist leave the gambling house in a hurry, as if he saw him by accident, he turned around and left in fright.

Zhuang Mu hesitated, today this Taoist is much taller and stronger than the previous Taoist, but his martial arts are obviously much worse, and this Taoist sees him flustered, which means that this person has no accomplices around him.

The opportunity was not lost, Zhuang Mu immediately decided to catch up. In order to get rid of the tails behind him, he deliberately took a shortcut and came out from the secret passage, wounding those Marquis Wu who were blocked in the secret passage, and chased to the street in one breath.

It was the time when the West Market was the most crowded, and the Taoist priest was inconspicuous among the crowd.

Zhuang Mu followed the Taoist priest into a secluded narrow alley, the Taoist priest seemed to have finally noticed someone behind him, and suddenly ran wildly, but within a few steps, a blood stain dripped from the hem of the Taoist robe.

Zhuang Mu's eyes lit up, no wonder the Taoist priest was so flustered, the moon mirror that "friend" was looking for seemed to be on this Taoist priest, and he jumped to catch up, the Taoist priest seemed more and more at a loss, frightened He took out something from his body and threw it into the barrel in the alley.

Zhuang Mu stopped immediately, the barrel was half full of blood, and for a moment he couldn't see if there was a mirror inside, so he had to bend down and dip his arms in the blood to fish it out. When he didn't catch it, he suddenly realized that he might have been fooled.

He broke out in a cold sweat and was about to leave the narrow alley when someone screamed in the quiet room behind the window. Hearing the movement, it was obvious that something serious happened inside.

He was stunned for a moment, and was about to run up the wall to escape. Suddenly, someone pulled the rope on the wall, and the wooden barrel full of blood was lifted up quickly in front of his eyes. Zhuang Mu's face changed drastically, and he remembered His arm was covered with blood, but he was not allowed to wipe it off at all, so Lin Chengyou appeared.

This series of events happened in a very short moment, and every step was calculated perfectly.

Lin Chengyou stared at Zhuang Mu in the cage. Even if he was not there that day, the murderer would lead Wuhou to the scene. Report the "facts" to Dali Temple, so that the murderer can still achieve his goal.

Whether Zhuang Mu was caught on the spot, or a wanted notice was posted afterwards, Dali Temple and the county government will investigate Zhuang Mu and the master behind him thoroughly.

The murderer not only successfully obtained the three Moon Lords, but also sent Zhuang Mu to Dali Temple, so that he could reap the benefits of the fisherman without making a show.

Thinking of this, Lin Chengyou's eyes darkened a little. This person seemed to have some understanding of his abilities, as if he knew that as long as Zhuang Mu fell into his hands, it would be just around the corner to find out the master behind Zhuang Mu.

Even the personality of Zhuang Mu, who is regarded as a "chess piece", and how he will react after encountering an incident, this person is sure of his score.

Looking at it this way, this person is no longer a smart person like Peng Yugui, but a great strategist who can arrange troops and deploy generals.

Lin Chengyou thought back and forth for a long time, stood up in deep thought, and reorganized the whole thing in his mind, he turned and looked at Zhuang Mu: "Did your 'friend' say where the mirror appeared in the same state?" One day?"

"The first day of February."

Lin Chengyou stroked his chin. The Bai family was killed on the fifth day of March, more than a month after the Yueshuo mirror appeared in Tongzhou.

This is not difficult to understand. The heavy suppression was in the territory of Tongzhou. The murderer should not have brought the new moon boy from Chang'an to feed him. Therefore, the first new moon boy can only be taken locally in Tongzhou. But the murderer is not very familiar with the local area, so it took a lot of time just to select the pregnant women.

Nai Zhong ate the next moon boy and still did not wake up. The murderer either managed to transport the object to Chang'an, or he had to rush back to Chang'an to get the next one because he was afraid that frequent crimes in Tongzhou would attract suspicion. New Year's Day Tongjun.

What puzzled him was that after only 20 days, the murderer targeted and killed Shu Liniang.

Chang'an has a prosperous population, and there are countless pregnant women. Shu Liniang is a "other house woman" raised by Zheng Pushe. She hides in Chun'an Lane and has always lived in seclusion. Beside Zheng Pushe, she is even more delicate.

How could the murderer know that she was not a "good person" for a woman who never left her home?

Unless...

Unless the murderer knew Shu Liniang in the past, even if she was hiding in Chun'an Lane, the murderer would definitely find her.

After killing Shu Liniang, the murderer killed Rong Anbo's eldest son's wife Xiao Jiang in Xishi only one day later.

One day is not enough to find out what a person has done in the past. It can be seen that before killing Shu Liniang, the murderer had already thought that Xiao Jiang would be next.

No matter how capable the murderer is, it is impossible for the murderer to know who Shu Liniang was in the past and what evil Xiao Jiang has done in such a short period of time. Judging from this, the murderer must have learned about it from someone else. The details of the two, or the murderer himself is well versed in the character of the two.

A white light flashed in Lin Chengyou's mind. The time to prepare to kill Xiao Jiang was the shortest. Does this mean that this person is the most familiar with Xiao Jiang?

And this point may be the only flaw left by the murderer.

Zhuang Mu took a sip of wine by himself, looked down at the wine cup and said, "How about it, isn't this game going to be easy?"

Lin Chengyou turned to look at him and said with a smile, "It's not easy to do, but it must be done."

He thought for a moment, then went up to tie the chain to Zhuang Mu again, and said before leaving: "Wait, wait until I confirm a few things, and then I will tell you how to cooperate."

***

In the case room, Lin Chengyou briefly talked about the conversation just now.

Yan Sizhi was stunned for a moment: "This is simply unexpected... But judging from this, the murderer should not commit another crime. The pregnant women in Chang'an City have basically been recorded in the book now. I will know immediately if the murderer does anything. Checking the background of pregnant women is naturally impossible."

But Lin Chengyou said: "The past was the past, and now is the present. Naizhong has already appeared in this world. Judging from my dealings with this thing today, the negative power of this thing has not recovered. If the murderer wants to use Naizhong to disturb Chang'an, he must Find the next Moon Boy as soon as possible, he is now focused on quickness, and may not be as hesitant as before when he starts. Little Jiang may be the key point of the whole case, I will first go to find Song Jian, the eldest son of Anbo."

Yan Sizhi hurriedly put down the file in his hand: "Let me go with Lin Pingshi. When we arrive at Rong'anbo Mansion, I will take notes."

***

Rong Anbo Mansion.

The steward led Lin Chengyou and others inside, and said in his mouth: "Uncle has been ill recently, and he rested early, and the son is still working as a director in the study outside."

Lin Chengyou looked around while walking, Xiao Jiang's body was still parked in Dali Temple, but Rong'anbo Mansion was completely white, white gauze lanterns were hung on the corridors and under the eaves, and the servants were all dressed in plain white.

The servants led the two of them around the corner, and a handsome man in his twenties and thirties came facing him. He was Song Jian, the eldest son of Rong Anbo.

Song Jian was haggard, his eyes were full of mourning, although he was not wearing plain clothes, but he did not wear any jade pendant or fan pendant around his waist. He must have heard the report from his servants, so he came here specially to welcome the guests, and saw Lin Chengyou from a distance, Stride over.