Dad, we are so stable, should we do something?

I have always been uneasy about this matter. I feel that something might happen at home. In this case, can Tian Qi and Tian Liu sneak out of the city tonight? The city gate will not be strictly checked tonight. The gate should be closed to prevent anyone from coming in these few days. It should not be difficult to get out."

"Master, I have a way to get out." Tian Liu and Tian Qi answered together.

"Okay, you and Tian Liu work together to find a way to get out of the city gate and return to Hu County tonight, and inform my father and the others to be careful. In addition, the city gate will definitely not be open in the next few days, but it should be open in three days. You stay in Hu County first and see what happens. If there is nothing, you can come back."

"Yes, young master." After saying that, Tian Qi and Tian Liu quickly left the city gate together.

When Tian Qi and Tian Liu arrived at the city gate, the guards were changing shifts, but the gate was closed. It was usually closed at 4: am, but at this time it was only closed at : pm.

The person who came over on shift asked, "Why are the city gates closed so early today?"

"Oh, I heard that the paintings at the poetry party held by the prefect were stolen by thieves, and the prefect is looking for the thief in the whole city. Look, someone is also going door to door to investigate this evening."

"Who is so bold as to steal the things of the prefect?"

"How would I know? Okay, you guys should take over the shift so we can get off duty early."

"Good good."

The two teams were laughing and joking as they changed shifts, and at the same time, Tian Liu and Tian Qi had already climbed out of the city gate during their shift change. The two of them left the city gate and headed towards Hu County in the dark.

On the second day of the poetry reading, the two gentlemen sitting at the top were suddenly replaced.

So the judge explained to the students at the beginning, "Dear students, due to yesterday's incident, the thief has not been caught yet, and Mr. Su and Mr. Song's paintings have not been found yet. The two gentlemen are a little unwell and cannot participate in the following competitions. I hope you students will not be offended, but we have invited Mr. Li and Mr. Juren from the Fucheng Academy to be the judges. These two gentlemen are equally talented and will definitely give you fair scores."

After hearing this explanation, the students understood. They were all present yesterday and understood the difficulties of the two gentlemen, but they had no opinions. Today's poetry competition questions became more interesting and more difficult, which eliminated more than half of the students. Everyone's attention began to focus on the poetry competition, and no one discussed yesterday's events anymore. The whole day was extremely lively, and the students did not realize that the city gates were not open today, and outsiders were not allowed to enter.

As soon as the robbery incident happened yesterday, the news spread all over the city today. In the morning, the people outside the city gate were told that they were not allowed to enter the city for the next few days, and the people in the city were not allowed to go out. They were told that the prefect had issued an order to catch the robbers and that they were not allowed to enter or leave the city. At first, the people were a little panicked, but then someone said that the gate would be opened within three days, and if they had any problems during that time, they could go to the government office, so the people calmed down and began to disperse.

Because the thief arrogantly left a message "I took this painting" last night and jumped over the courtyard wall in full view of everyone, the prefect was furious and ordered all the city gates to be closed and the thief must be caught.

At this time, a carriage seemed to have just arrived outside the city gate of Zhengfu, asking why they could not enter.

"The city gates are closed recently to capture wanted criminals. The gates will be temporarily closed and will be reopened in the next few days. If you pass by here, please take a detour." The soldier on the city wall shouted loudly to the people below.

When the people in the carriage heard the answer they wanted, they immediately turned their horses around and headed towards Hu County.

At dusk, an ordinary carriage quietly drove into Hu County. The guards checked the documents and questioned the people in the carriage. They found nothing unusual and let them in. The curtains on the carriage were always covered after passing through the city gate.

The carriage drove straight into the East City of Hu County. Now Hu County was full of people, and outsiders who came to Hu County at this time generally could not rent an inn. Some were rented by local families for a few days, and there would usually be a sign outside the door of such families, but this carriage went directly to a small alley in the East City. When it arrived in front of a small courtyard, the driver got off the carriage, knocked on the door four times, stopped and knocked twice more quietly, and waited for a while. Someone came to open the door, asked a few questions, and then opened the door. After the carriage drove in, the door was quickly closed.

On the other hand, Tian Qi and Tian Liu met an ox cart carrying goods on the way to the provincial capital at noon today.

"Uncle here, are you going to the provincial capital?" Tian Qi asked as if he was familiar with the place.

"Yeah, what do you want?"

"Uncle, we are from Hu County. We arrived at the city early in the morning, but the city guard said that the city is now closed. He said that he was closing the city gates to catch criminals and it would be open in a few days. You don't have to go."

"How could that be? I have lived here for many years and have never heard of the city gates being closed."

"If you don't believe me, just keep walking forward. There should be a lot of people walking back ahead now."

After the uncle finished speaking, he drove the goods towards the provincial capital. About an hour and a half later, he met some people walking towards him. Tian Qi and the others informed them of the situation and got on an ox cart and went to Hu County together. It was already You time when the ox cart arrived in Hu County.

In a small courtyard east of Hu County.

At this time, the driver had already untied the carriage frame, and the horses were eating hay in the stable. Several people in the yard, wearing cloths wrapped around their faces, removed the carriage from the carriage frame and opened the base of the carriage. Inside was a box-shaped thing wrapped in cloth, but there was a lot of horse manure around it.

"Master Xia, where is this and when will it start?" Li Er was the person in charge guarding this yard. When he saw the box, he asked directly.

"Have you checked where the water source of this city is?" Xia Donglai was the person sitting in the carriage. He had thick powder and blush on his face, looking like a handsome young man.

"We have done some research. There are two main water sources in Hu County. One is the main water source in the city. Almost everyone in the county relies on this water source. The other is a small tributary that not many people use. The main river is called Hexigang and runs from east to west. We are closer to it in the East City."

"Okay, then you take me with you tomorrow. I want to check out the situation on the spot. After we're done investigating, we'll take action as soon as possible and leave here."

"How's the cleanup going on here? No clues left behind, right?"

"No, don't worry, sir."

"Okay, then let's have a good rest tonight. We don't have to get up too early tomorrow and just pretend to be outsiders looking around."

"Yes."

After saying that, Master Xia took another piece of cloth to wrap the box, went into the side room and found a place to hide it. After hiding it, he came out, locked the door, and went to the main room in the front yard to rest.

As for the other two, Tian Qi and Tian Liu, they got off the car when they entered Hu County, thanked the people who sent them there, and went straight to the county government office.