How to work

The Honglu Pavilion is a place specially designated by Daxia to entertain foreigners. It has a large area and clear divisions.

Lu Li noticed that the guards in Daxia are almost all outside the divisions, and they don't go deep. They seem a little lazy, but in fact, as long as you pass by them, you will find that their eyes are particularly bright, as if they can see through the heart of the visitor. .

Lu Li tugged on Zhao Zhu's sleeve, signaling him to pay attention.

Seeing that his people were all around him, Zhao Zhu grabbed Lu Li's hand and explained to him in a low voice: "The emperor promised the freedom of foreign missions, and if the guards are too strict, there will be suspicion of prying eyes, but..."

"But you can't ignore it, so the people sent here are all elites!" Daxia does not interfere with the mission's privacy and respects their habits, but if they dare to have bad intentions... any troubles will not be hidden from the guards' eyes!

Lu Li's eyes sparkled, and he deliberately lowered his voice, "Is that so?"

Zhao Zhu kissed Lu Li's forehead from an angle that no one else could see, "Smart."

"What are you doing?" Shen Wansha leaned over, his big pure eyes flickering, "So close?"

When he said that, Lu Li knew that the young master didn't see what he just did.The young master is straightforward, often together, he will not make fun of his long-standing habit of being close to Zhao Zhu, so asking this question is probably because he is curious about what little secrets they are whispering.

"We're discussing the defense of the guards in this hall." Lu Li threw off Zhao Zhu and put his arm on his friend's shoulders, "What about you, just looking around, what are you paying attention to?"

Shen Wansha scratched his head, a little embarrassed, "Princess Uighur also lives in the Honglu Pavilion, let me see if there is a chance to meet her today."

Lu Li paused, "Princess Uighur?"

"Hey little Lizi, why did you forget? I said I want to get married, and I think Princess Uighur is pretty good!" Shen Wansha gestured and reminded Lu Li, "It's the one with big eyes, not blue eyes, veiled, and a nice voice. girl!"

"I remember." Lu Li's eyes were slightly complicated.The little friend is still thinking about getting married... to put wax on Helian Yu.

"The business is over for a while, I'll go see if the princess is here!" Shen Wansha made a decision, and began to worry again, "But I forgot to bring a gift..."

Turning to look at his little friend, Shen Wansha smiled again.Lu Li has become the suzerain since he owned Baibaolou, and his belongings are getting better every day.Of course, it was not bad in the past, Lu Li knew how to perform autopsies, and there were often generous rewards for solving cases, so he wasn't poor, but it was enough that he didn't dress so extravagantly.

Today Lu Li has a beautiful purse hanging from his waist, it doesn't look like a gift from King Ping, it should be given by Hu Weiwei.This purse is brand new, and the embroidery is excellent. Different embroidery threads are used to express light and dark colors. The contrast is strong under the sun, which is particularly eye-catching.

The pattern on the purse is fish playing with lotus leaves. The fish are lively and the lotus leaves are slightly brushed, which is lifelike.Shen Wansha remembered that the Uighur princess seemed to like koi, wouldn't this be a good gift for her!

He stretched out his hand and pulled the pouch from Lu Li's waist, with a bright smile, "Master wants this little thing!"

Ever since Lu Li owned Baibaolou, Shen Wansha has gotten a lot of good things from his little friend. Lu Li has never given him unambiguous gifts. It can be seen that there is no special significance.

I really care about Princess Uighur... Lu Li smiled helplessly, "I'll just give it to you. But isn't it enough to just give you a purse?"

Shen Wansha shook the jade ornament around his waist, patted his chest, and blinked, "The mountain man has his own tricks—" The little man looked very proud.

Lu Li almost laughed out loud.

He suddenly remembered that since He Lianyu is the Prince of Medog, he should be in the Honglu Hall, if he happened to meet...it would be nice.

……

Several people were talking, and they walked to the center of the Honglu Hall, in front of the council hall in charge of affairs of each hall.

Probably the guards around Zhao Zhu had notified King Ping that he was coming, and just as Lu Li and the others reached the gate of the council hall, one of them came out swiftly to greet him.

The man's posture is extremely respectful. When he walks, he bends lower than others, and his speed is faster than others, but he is not tall, and his legs are not long. His two legs are so thick that he can almost see a phantom, "I have seen it before." Flat..."

I don't know if he was too nervous or too fast to react, he tripped over the threshold——

All five bodies fell to the ground, and a thorough salute was made.

This scene was very funny, Shen Wansha wanted to laugh very much, but thinking about laughing at other people's bad luck is wrong, he hugged Lu Li's arm hard, his body trembling from laughing.

Lu Li actually wanted to laugh too, but his arm hurt so much... so his face was twisted, a smile that was not a smile.

The expression on Zhao Zhu's face is always indifferent, domineering and mocking, occasionally showing a bit of sharpness, except when facing Lu Li, he has never smiled. Wansha took a look.

Lu Li and Shen Wansha admired this very much, but Prince Ping is different!

The man obviously hurt from the fall, his fingers trembled, hissed and breathed out, and it took him a long time to get up.

After getting up, he still saluted with the most respectful posture, "The next official, Bazheng, is the deputy director of the museum. I have met His Royal Highness King Ping, Young Master Shen, and Mr. Lu."

Zhao Zhu hummed and signaled him to get up.

Seeing that the marks on his face were too miserable, Shen Wansha reminded him with concern, "Do you want...to get some medicine?"

Ba Zheng's face was reddish, and he was a little excited, "Thank you, Young Master Shen, for your concern. I'm fine, I don't need any medicine."

"But you have a nosebleed..." Lu Li pointed at his face, how hard he fell.

Bazheng immediately raised his head and covered his nose, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry—" He apologized for a long time with great remorse, "Please wait a moment, my lord and the two young masters, I will come as soon as I go!"

After speaking, he ran away like a rabbit.

Shen Wansha looked at his back, still couldn't hold back, and burst out laughing, "This man is so stupid..."

When King Ping arrived, of course Ba Zheng wasn't the only one to welcome him. When Ba Zheng left, someone else would lead them in, make tea and serve snacks.However, Ba Zheng came back very quickly. Before Lu Li and the three of them drank two sips of tea, he rushed over, still running very fast, and almost tripped again when he entered the door.

His attitude of kneeling and saluting was very humble, with excitement and excitement in his expression, as if it was a very, very honored thing to be inquired by King Ping himself.

Zhao Zhu asked him to get up, and asked straightforwardly, "Do you know that there is no Tibetan salary?"

"Go back to the lord, I know." Ba Shang stood with his hands tied, the blush on his face remained undiminished, but it did not prevent others from seeing his appearance clearly.He was wearing the standard green official uniform in the Honglu Hall. He was not tall and thin, with bright eyes and a naturally smiling face, which made him look amiable.

"Wu Zanglu is from Xixia. He has a dull temper and doesn't like to talk, but he never makes things difficult for others. He is a good person."

Lu Li then asked, "He has been here for more than three months, who has he been close to?"

Ba Zheng had a surprised expression on his face, as if he didn't understand Lu Li's question, "Come... for more than three months?"

"That's right," Shen Wansha thought, that Bazheng is really stupid, and added, "Isn't he a member of the Western Xia Mission? It hasn't been more than three months since the mission entered Beijing?"

Bazheng carefully shook his head, "It is true that he has only been in Beijing for three months this time, but he has lived in Shangjing for more than a year..."

"More than a year?" Lu Li's eyes flickered slightly, "You said that he lived in Shangjing when he came with the Xixia Mission?"

"Yes." Bazheng nodded.

"When?"

"The year before last... the first month of the year before last, he came to the Honglu Museum, and stayed until May last year before leaving Beijing to return to Xixia. In Dongyue, he came here with the mission again."

"During his trip to the capital, he has been living in the Honglu Pavilion?"

"Yes."

"Before and now?"

"Yes."

Lu Li groaned slightly, and then thought of another question, "Why didn't Zanglu suddenly come to Beijing the year before last?"

"It seems to be delivering a letter for the monarch." Ba Zheng tilted his head and tried to remember, "I will present the letter to the emperor when I arrive in the capital."

"Did you leave after delivering the letter?"

Bazheng shook his head, "I didn't leave. It has been ordered above that when foreigners come to Daxia, as long as we have money to pay for them, and we don't act like monsters or cause trouble, we can't drive them out..."

Lu Li understands Emperor Taijia's policy a little bit. If foreigners really want to make trouble, even if you drive out, they can find a way to hide. Why don't they just watch it under their noses, which can also show that Daxia has a big belly.

"So he just stayed in Shangjing for more than a year?" Shen Wansha was surprised, "What do you want to do?"

Bazheng had an expression of 'I want to know too', "This person is very boring, and he stays in the museum most of the time, which is really strange."

Lu Li's eyes drooped slightly, and he clasped his hands, "Who is he usually close to?"

Bazheng was a little embarrassed, "He was bored and didn't like to make troubles, so the officials didn't pay much attention to him. But he never had any visitors in the embassy, ​​and he was only with Xixia people after he came with the mission..."

"Will he know martial arts?"

"meeting."

"So he has no sense of existence and doesn't cause trouble. Even if Qinggong suddenly disappears in the hall, you don't know what big things he does outside?"

"This... the Honglu Pavilion respects the habits of people of other races, so..."

Lu Li sighed softly and looked at Zhao Zhu.

Zhao Zhu shook his head at him.

The law and order in Shangjing City has always been strict, and he is more sensitive to people of other races. It is impossible for Zang Luruo to do evil everywhere with his martial arts, and it is impossible not to be noticed.

Therefore, Wu Zanglu may be an innocent victim; if he has a secret, then what he did must not be such a serious and conspicuous thing as murder, murder, and arson...

Lu Li's eyes darkened slightly, and he continued to ask, "What hobbies does he have?"

This Bazheng knew, his eyes immediately became excited, "He likes to watch Yaoqing girls dance!"

"Yaoqing..." Lu Li felt that he had heard this name before, and after a while, he remembered it!Xue Junda mentioned this name when he was dragging Qu Jiu to quarrel yesterday, and the two seemed to be jealous because of this person...

Shen Wansha smiled ambiguously, "Girl Yaoqing is the most beautiful girl in Qinyan Pavilion, with the thinnest waist and the most moving dancing posture, who doesn't like to see it?"

"You know Miss Yaoqing?" Lu Li looked at Shen Wansha.

Shen Wansha blinked at him, "Whenever you go to the capital, who doesn't know Miss Yaoqing? But Miss Yaoqing is beautiful and expensive, not everyone can meet her. If you are interested, the young master will take you there, but the young master..."

Suddenly, his scalp became numb and his hairs stood on end. Shen Wansha tilted his head subconsciously. Seeing Zhao Zhu's murderous expression, the words in his mouth immediately turned around, "Uh... Although the young master is not short of money, Miss Yaoqing is not bad either. She is not interested in lack of money, and she can't see it. But King Ping must have an idea, little Lizi, if you ask King Ping to take it, he must have a way!"

Zhao Zhu gave Wansha a slanted look, feeling that the child was always being led along with He Lianyu, and he became more cautious.But the daughter-in-law still had to answer the question, so he nodded with a straight face, "If it is really necessary, this king will take you there."

Lu Li was satisfied, and just about to continue asking Ba Zheng if this Wu Zanglu and Miss Yaoqing were close, when he heard the harsh sound of gongs outside, and someone shouted anxiously, "It's gone—it's gone— —”

Lu Li and Shen Wansha looked at each other, and immediately ran out the door. Zhao Zhu not only ran out, but also waved his hands to order the hidden guards to pay attention to help.

Running out of the main hall and looking in the direction of the noise, they quickly saw the place where the fire started.

The fire started in the northeast corner of the Honglu Pavilion. It seemed to be a small single building. Thick smoke was billowing out, and the flames were faintly churning. The situation was very bad.

Lu Li was a little anxious, "Zhao Zhu—"

Zhao Zhu nodded, "I've sent someone to go."

On a March day, the sun was so bright and dazzling that it could almost illuminate all dark corners. Lu Li couldn't understand why the fire started in the middle of the morning.

Shen Wansha grabbed the hand of the little friend, "Come on, let's go and have a look!"

When he got closer, he smelled the smell in the air, Lu Li frowned tightly, "There is tung oil."

Zhao Zhu's face sank like water, his slender eyes narrowed, "Not bad."

"Tung oil..." Shen Wansha suddenly realized, "So someone set the fire on purpose! No wonder the fire is so big and burns so fast!"

When viewed from a distance, the small building still had a lot of smoke and little fire, and there were not many signs of damage. After a while, almost half of the building was submerged in the sea of ​​flames!

Shen Wansha clenched his fist angrily, "This person is too bad, he dared to set fire to hurt people in broad daylight!"

Bazheng came with them, and he couldn't help being nervous when he heard this. "This small building is where the embassies store their belongings. On weekdays, the staff of each embassy take turns to be on duty. Today is just a rest, so there should be no one..."

no one?Nobody was okay, at least no lives were lost.But if no one is there, what is this fire trying to burn?

But no matter what doubts you have, you have to put them aside now, the most important thing is to put out the fire!

……

The small building is made of wood, so it is difficult to extinguish the fire, and with tung oil to support the combustion, it is even more difficult to extinguish it. A bucket of water is like a drop in the bucket, and it is not enough.

Most of the guards in Honglu Temple participated in the firefighting work. Those with low martial arts skills would lift water to pour water on the burning part below, and those with high martial arts would jump higher and pour water on the upper part. Everyone present actively did what they could. Extinguish this terrible flame.

Including Lu Li and Shen Wansha.

The fire attracted many foreigners, some of them watched with cold eyes, and some of them actively fought the fire.

Zhao Zhu personally directed the crowd to disperse, assigned responsibilities to various places, and even brought in a water truck, led the escort team to transport more water with light buckets...

In the end, King Ping was present, and the efficiency on the spot was extremely high. Everyone united as one, and finally extinguished the fire.

When the fire was extinguished, half of the building collapsed, and the other half was soothed black that it was impossible to see what it looked like.

Lu Li wiped off the black smoke and dust marks on Zhao Zhu's face with a handkerchief, and felt a little distressed when he saw the small scratches on his forehead, "Thanks for your hard work."

The situation was very serious, Zhao Zhu didn't play a hooligan this time, he just took the handkerchief from Lu Li's hand and wiped it himself, "This fire is weird."

"It's not strange!" Shen Wansha also wiped his face with a wet handkerchief, "There is no one inside, what did the arsonist want to do?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Hong You, who was the first to check the fire scene, came out, "My lord, there are people inside!"

"Is there... someone?" Shen Wansha immediately glared fiercely at Ba Zheng, "Don't you say there is no one!"

Bazheng saluted pitifully, "Today's rest, there really shouldn't be anyone..."

"Is the person alive?" Lu Li was more concerned about this question.

"Dead," Hong You said solemnly, "The body has been burned black."

Zhao Zhu ordered his subordinates to guard the surroundings, turned his head and called Lu Li, "Go in and have a look."

Lu Li nodded, and walked in first, Shen Wansha and Zhao Zhu accompanied him on the left and right, followed by the dark guard Hong You and his subordinates, and behind them was Ba Zheng who was in charge of receiving them. and members of foreign missions.

As Lu Li walked, he observed the scene, the dead body, with an extremely serious expression. Apart from observing these, Zhao Zhu paid more attention to the sturdiness of the small building, worried that the building was fragile and would collapse suddenly.

Lu Li slowly walked up to the corpse. The corpse did indeed have scorched marks as Hong You said, but it hadn't been charred yet, and it was still relatively complete.

The corpse was lying on its side, with its limbs bent in a boxing position, and its clothes had been burned to pieces.After carefully examining the symptoms of the corpse up and down, Lu Li suddenly sneered, "The deceased did not burn to death, but after dying for unknown reasons, he was burned like this."

"Really?" Shen Wansha looked surprised, "That means killing first and then burning, the murderer wants to destroy the corpse!"

Lu Li nodded and glanced at Zhao Zhu.

"That's right, the murderer definitely didn't expect that the fire could be saved in such a timely manner with King Ping here!" Shen Wansha followed Lu Li to see Zhao Zhu, and suddenly punched his palm, "The sky is dry and the things are dry. How long does it take to burn down the entire small building! Ba Zheng also said that today the small building is on duty for rest and bathing. There is no one inside, the fire is too fierce, and the lives of the firefighters are more important. It was discovered after being burned to ashes!"

Hearing the conversation between the two, everyone was enlightened and understood what was going on.

But Lu Li said that he was burned after death, so he was burned after death?Those who didn't participate in the spring hunt, or didn't see Lu Quer's performance during the spring hunt, couldn't help but wonder.

Zhao Zhu couldn't see his daughter-in-law being suspected, even with a little look, so he simply asked for these people, "How can I be sure that the body was cremated after death?"

He is confident that Lu Li has absolute knowledge to explain, and speaking in front of everyone can also improve Lu Li's reputation.

Lu Li was a little surprised that Zhao Zhu would ask this?Seeing Zhao Zhu avoiding people and winking at him quietly, he just realized... In a sense, Zhao Zhu was also worried about him.

"Simple." Lu Li smiled slightly, accepted this feeling, gave a 'reassuring' wink and went back, and began to explain the shape of the corpse.

"When the living meet the fire, the fire forces them to fight, and there will be ashes in their mouths and noses, but the dead don't..."

Before he finished speaking, someone hurriedly said, "What if he covered his mouth with a wet handkerchief?"

Shen Wansha sneered, "If you cover your mouth with a wet handkerchief, it's fine if you run out; if you don't run out, you will still be burned to death in the fire. How can you still have the strength to cover your mouth?"

"That's true." Lu Li nodded solemnly, looking around, "In addition—"

Pointing to the dead body, he continued, "When a living person encounters fire, blisters will appear on his skin, and the dead will occasionally have this symptom, but the blood of the living is flowing, and the body is trying to repair, and there must be red spots around the blisters, but the dead will definitely not. There is... this corpse, no."

"If a living person cannot escape from the fire area, it must be very painful. It is impossible not to struggle and roll when being burned, so if there are burn marks, it will be all over the body, but this dead person—" Lu Li gently pushed the body, let The corpse changed from lying on its side to lying on its back, revealing the left side of the body that had just been pressed underneath and was in contact with the ground, "Look, everyone, the skin and flesh are very good..."

Now everyone is convinced, as expected!

Although the body of the deceased was not carbonized, after all the burn marks were serious and the face could not be clearly identified. Lu Li asked Ba Zheng and the guards to help him to check to find out where someone was missing and what the specific characteristics were, so that he could come to identify the body.

As for himself... he wanted to find out what the cause of death was.

Although the fire did not burn the corpse, it did burn away most of the traces on the corpse. Just looking at it this way, it is impossible to determine the cause of death. He needs an autopsy.

As soon as Lu Li said the words of autopsy, the scene was quiet again.

The aliens who participated in the spring hunting yesterday didn't know what to put on their faces. They didn't succeed yesterday, but they came again today!

Two days in a row, people were killed. One was clearly from Xixia, and the other was unidentified, but died in a place where people of different races gathered together. It was possible that they were also people of other races. Lu Li thought it was very unusual.

Yesterday's one was poisoned, today's...is it the same?

He looked at Zhao Zhu very eagerly, hoping that Zhao Zhu could achieve the goal of dissection for him.

Zhao Zhu couldn't stand Lu Li's eyes the most, his pupils were clear and full of longing... If only his wife could look at him like this on the bed!

"Dissection!" Must be dissected!