Placid Chang'an

After bidding farewell to the three of them, Su Cen went straight back to Dali Temple, asked for the roster from Xiaosun, and hurried to Dongshi again during lunch time.

There are two gates on each side of the East Market. Like the city gates and palace gates, the city gates rise and close with the street. Those who are still wandering in the street after hours are caught by the street envoys and punished as night offenders.The city gate man opened and closed the city gate every day, but the key was in charge of the gatekeeper. The city gate key was stored under the east corridor of the city gate, and the gatekeeper who was on duty every night took it down, and then delivered it to the gatekeeper when the time came.

Su Cen came to the corridor of the northwest gate of the East City, and called a doorman to call everyone over with a register.

These people were obviously not happy about being called over in the middle of the day, and Su Cen's official uniform was no more than a junior official from the seventh rank, and he had the appearance of a frail young man. , Leaning or leaning, standing scattered in the courtyard corridor.

Su Cen glanced up, raised his chin and pointed at a thin monkey-like man next to him, "Starting with you, who is your name, where do you live, and which gate you were on duty on the night of the eighth day of April?" , can anyone come in and out during the period?"

Houzijing raised his eyelids, grinned with yellow teeth and said, "My lord, it's been several days, who can remember? Why don't you chat with us for a while, so we have time to think about it. What is your lord's name and where does your family live? Let us also know where a person like your lord can be raised?"

Su Cen frowned slightly, stared at the person for a while, nodded, closed the roster casually, got up and walked out.

"Hey, let's go now, and you won't ask?" Hou Zijing joked behind him, and the courtyard burst into laughter instantly.

When approaching the door, Su Cen stopped for a while, "I advise you not to go back, just wait here, it will be more convenient for Dali Temple to come over later to pick up someone. Since you don't want to answer standing up, then go to the courtroom and kneel down to speak." .”

All the people in the courtyard fell silent for a moment. They were just small households begging for a living, and they were quick to talk about lawsuits on weekdays. If they were to be sent to the Yamen, it would be a terrible thing.Seeing that Su Cen was about to leave, the monkey spirit hurried forward and grabbed Su Cen's sleeve: "My lord, my lord is easy to say, we all remember it, we remember it."

Su Cen glanced at the man, and the monkey spirit immediately jumped out like beans: "The young one is called Hou Ping, from Xiamaling. He was on duty at the southeast gate on the eighth night of the eighth day of the lunar new year. After the gate was closed, no one came in or out."

A crowd of people rushed forward to introduce their situation.

After being busy for most of the noon, the staff finally checked it all over, but there was only one person who was not right.

"Where's Wu Deshui?" Su Cen asked while staring at the roster.

"He—" Someone cut it in a low voice, and then it disappeared as Su Cen looked up.

"You," Su Cen pointed at the monkey spirit, "say."

"My lord, this..." Hou Ping hesitated to speak, and he was coy for a long time without saying anything.

Su Cen didn't speak, just narrowed his icy eyes, and everyone felt the icy frost hit their faces in the scorching sun.

Hou Ping approached cautiously: "Sir, this is Wu Deshui. If nothing else, you have a good life. There is a beautiful and beautiful younger sister who married a big man in Beijing to be a concubine. We dare not offend him. He came from the countryside to lead her. For such an errand, you are very arrogant, and you won’t see other people for eight out of ten days, either in the wine tank or under a woman’s skirt.”

Su Cen frowned: "So, he was on duty that day but others were not there."

The most worthwhile is the northwest gate closest to Pingkangfang.

"He came that day," someone murmured in the crowd, "he took the key to the city gate and left, but when Yinshi opened the city gate, he was gone. It's time to open the door."

"Has he ever done this before?"

"It's a common thing," Hou Ping pouted, "When the alcohol addiction started, he opened the city gate and smashed the door of the wine shop. He even did it."

Su Cen frowned: "Who is his big shot?"

Being able to neglect his duties like this and not be driven back to his hometown shows that this big man has great power.

All the gatekeepers looked at each other for a while, and someone whispered back in the crowd: "Mr. Liu."

Su Cen was taken aback immediately, this is really a big shot, not to mention that these door officials can't afford to mess with him, even if he sees someone, he has to walk with his head down.

When was the key placed on the table?Has anyone used it to open city gates during this period?Was it unintentional or deliberate?

"Where does Wu Deshui's family live?" Su Cen asked.

"I live in Guiyifang," Hou Ping replied, "I'll find out when I get there and ask about Wu Laolai."

Su Cen felt hungry after returning from Dongshi. While eating a bowl of clear water noodles in the small kitchen in the backyard of Dali Temple, he regretted why he didn’t eat a bowl of pearl and jade glutinous rice balls in Dongshi. By the way, he also ordered a small bean cold cake to take away. I ate it when I was in the case, but now I can only look at each other with Qingshui noodles, holding chopsticks and looking at tears.

Halfway through eating, I only heard the thunder rolling in the sky, and the sky darkened instantly.

Su Cen breathed a sigh of relief for no reason.

After a while, it really rained heavily, and it didn't stop this time.

When the Yamen was released, Su Cen came out from Dali Temple and couldn't help being stunned when he saw someone coming. Qu Ling'er was standing outside the door wearing his usual uniform and holding a silk umbrella. received under the umbrella.

"Where's Ah Fu?"

"Ah Fu is helping the girl from the old Zhang's next door to collect her clothes."

Su Cen cast a sidelong glance at Qu Ling'er: "The rain has never started to fall, and it's been an hour since it was collected?"

"You know all about this?" Qu Ling'er's face drooped, "I'm just too bored at home, so I took advantage of the rain to come out to breathe, and I dare not come out when the sky is bright."

"Breath through Dali Temple, you don't seem at all afraid to come out."

"Didn't I just drop by to familiarize myself with familiar places?" Qu Ling'er grinned, "If you really send me in someday, I'll find a way to get out."

Su Cen rolled his eyes back, "You can't come here, Dali Temple is in charge of criminal and prison cases, and you can just send it to the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice and wait for Qiuhou to be executed."

"Brother Su, you are so cruel." Qu Ling'er pulled her sleeves to wipe away the tears that did not exist, then turned her head and smiled again, then walked backwards towards the gate of Dali Temple, commenting with great interest : "This Dali Temple is really magnificent. It is said that 'the eight-character yamen opens to the south, don't come in if you have a reason but no money', shouldn't your Dali Temple be like this?"

Then he shook his head and muttered to himself, "Of course not, after all you are inside."

Su Cen couldn't help laughing: "The Dali Temple is not owned by my family, I don't care about others."

"But you will definitely uphold justice for those ordinary people," Qu Ling'er said with a confident face, "Besides, you are not short of money, so you can get a beauty or something."

Su Cen: "..."

Before Su Cen could ridicule Qu Ling'er, he turned around and smiled, "You don't know that ordinary people like us are most afraid of coming to this kind of place. Officials and businessmen protect each other, and money can make a living. Even the two stone lions at the door can catch you." A mouthful of blood, but I believe you are not such a person."

"Oh?" Su Cen swallowed the sarcastic words, and asked, "Then who am I?"

"You are a good person," Qu Ling'er smiled, "Brother Su, you are a good person."

What is a good person?Su Cen couldn't help but smile wryly. Evil people are free and easy, bad people are free, but good people have to follow the rules and regulations of the world to seek the truth. The most difficult thing in this world is to be a good person.

Turning into the alley, the rain became heavier, crackling on the umbrella surface, and the rain curtain slipped from the ribs of the umbrella like a curtain, and the surrounding scenery seemed to be covered with a thin layer of smoke, making it difficult to see clearly.

Qu Ling'er suddenly stopped and pulled Su Cen's sleeve.

"What's wrong?" Su Cen asked, but Qu Ling'er was frowning and looking straight ahead.

Su Cen looked over, and saw a person coming from the depths of the rain and fog, without an umbrella, his black clothes were completely soaked, approaching, Qu Ling'er suddenly handed the umbrella to Su Cen, and sent the person to Su Cen. The last push: "Let's go!"

In the next moment, the cold light came out.

Su Cen was pushed staggeringly, and just as he stabilized his steps, he saw Qu Ling'er leaning back, narrowly dodging the dagger that flew across the air, and then turned backwards in a sinister manner, sliding onto Su Cen's body Pulling Su Cen aside, "Why are you still standing there, run!"

The ribs of the umbrella in Su Cen's hand were almost broken when he was pulled. Thinking about how hard it was to hold it, he let go of his hand when the person caught up with him, and the umbrella hit the person all over his face with the force of the wind.

Su Cen took advantage of the time to catch his breath and asked while running, "Where is this person coming from?"

"How do I know?!" Qu Ling'er pressed the wound on her waist, the wound on her waist just now was cracked again, oozing red streaks, throbbing pain every step she took.

One of them was injured and the other was weak. It was obvious that they were no match for that man. The man in black flipped and landed firmly in front.

Qu Ling'er hurriedly stopped, protecting Su Cen behind her, and said to herself, "I'll hold him up later, don't turn around and run as far as you can."

"Can you do it?" Su Cen frowned.

"Don't talk nonsense, let's go!"

Qu Ling'er flew forward with all her strength, Su Cen gritted her teeth and turned around to run.

Just two steps after running out, there was a bang, and Qu Ling'er jumped over him in a strange posture and hit the wall in front of her, half of the wall collapsed in an instant, and Qu Ling'er's flesh and blood were crushed by the sharp edges and corners of bricks and tiles. The seven meat and eight vegetables, did not come up in one breath, but coughed up blood first.

Su Cen: "..."

Hastily stepped forward to help him up, "Aren't you very powerful? How about your Pingsha Luoyan Treading Xue Wuhen?"

Relying on Su Cen's support, Qu Ling'er barely got up, and rolled her eyes with the last of her strength, "Brother Su, I only have two unique skills, concealed weapons and light skills, and I will run away after killing someone. You took away the hidden weapons, if I run away what do you do?"

"Okay." Seeing the man in black approaching step by step, Su Cen grabbed a brick and stood sideways in front of Qu Ling'er, "Brother Su is here to protect you."