Placid Chang'an

Su Cen rushed all the way back to the Yamen of Dali Temple from the painting studio, first ordered someone to find the man named Cao Wei, then asked someone to find the files in Shuzhong, and rushed in to search for the case of the Shen family 11 years ago.

As expected, similar to what the old man said, the Shen family was indeed extinguished because of a fire 11 years ago, and 32 corpses were found at the scene, which can be matched with the 32 members of the Shen family.The butler who escaped by chance was also found afterwards, but he had an alibi at the time of the incident, and the government did not make it difficult.

The cause of the fire was not found out, and this case became an unsolved case. After being buried in dust for so many years, it was discovered because of three paintings.

If things are really as recorded in the file, there is still a contradiction.Su Cen remembered that the old man from Huazhai said that the housekeeper rescued these three paintings from the fire scene, but the housekeeper was not at Shen's house when the crime happened, so how did he save the paintings?

Was it the butler who lied, used some method to forge the alibi, and actually stole the painting and set it on fire?Or is that old man from Huazhai lying?

It's a pity that there is no follow-up record of the butler in the file. According to what the old man in Huazhai said, it should be regarded as dead without evidence.

After closing the file, Su Cen ordered: "Come here."

When a yamen servant came over, Su Cen said: "Go and find out the history of that old man in the painting studio, and that painting studio, I always feel that something is wrong."

The yamen servant led the order to go down, Su Cen stood up and stretched himself, it was already dusk outside the window, and another day had passed.

Su Cen came out of the duty room, and was planning to ask Zhang Jun to find out the direction of the court in the past few days. When he passed the front office, he found that Xue Chengzhen was trying the case.In the past few days, Su Cen has been busy with the case of offering sacrifices to heaven, and other cases in Dali Temple have been pushed to the head of Xue Chengzhen, who is also the director. Su Cen felt very sorry, and asked casually, "What kind of case is this?"

Xiao Sun, who was serving in the front office, was fine at the moment, and replied: "It's not a big case. He said he was haunted by a ghost, and he came here to seek protection from the government."

Su Cen thought to himself why ghosts are haunting everywhere these days, and he was about to leave. After walking a few steps, he felt that the person kneeling in the hall looked familiar, so he asked again: "What's the name of the person who reported the crime?"

Xiao Sun thought for a while, "It seems to be called... Cao Wei?"

Su Cen suddenly raised his voice: "What's your name?!"

This voice not only startled Xiao Sun, but even heard Xue Chengzhen in the lobby. He glanced at Su Cen dissatisfied, and saw that instead of restraining himself, he rushed to the hall with a brisk stride, and said to the reporter: "You are Cao Wei?"

The reporter nodded suspiciously.

Su Cen remembered where he had seen this person before, and the portrait he drew was [-]% similar to this person according to what the housekeeper of Xu's family said, and the curvy muscles proved it even more.The third owner of Cuijixuan, whom they had worked so hard to find, came without any trouble. The person who went out to look for it hadn't returned yet, so he delivered it to the door himself.

Xue Chengzhen sat awkwardly in the hall, coughed twice and said, "Master Su..."

Su Cen turned around and smiled: "I'll take this case."

The reason why Cao Wei reported the case was very simple. Xu Youhuai had "Scorching Flowers" in his hand, but he was burned to death in front of the imperial court. Liu Kang had "Qi Ye Zhenzhen", which was burned to death in his home last night. It is not unreasonable for the people in the three "Tao Tian Tu" to worry about their own safety.

It's a pity that he didn't know that the butler of the Xu family had already revealed the matter of their partner tomb robbery and selling artifacts, and coming to Dali Temple to report the case was like throwing himself into a trap.

This Cao Wei has lumps all over his body, and he is digging graves. He never thought that he would be as cowardly as a mouse, and he would recognize everything when he was frightened by Su Cen.

As the sky darkened, Cao Wei trembled even more. He gnawed his fingers and said, "It's his turn. Both Xu Youhuai and Liu Kang are dead. He will be the next one. He admits to the grave digging and robbery, and he just asks the government to do it." Protect him from revenge by Shen Cun's ghost, he doesn't want to die.

Su Cen asked: "Why did you buy that painting knowing that Shen Cun was dead?"

Cao Wei seemed to know some things about the Shen family back then. According to common sense, others should avoid such dead things, so why would they buy them and watch them every day?

The burly man raised his shrunken eyes and murmured: "There are not only Shen Cun's ghosts in that painting, but also the treasures of the Shen family."

Su Cen raised his head, "What treasure?"

Cao Wei bit his finger and continued: "Shen Cun himself said that the treasures of their Shen family are hidden in these three paintings."

After asking Su Cen again and again, he understood that when Cao Wei and his group stole the ancestral tomb of the Shen family, they thought that there would be two famous paintings buried in the tomb of the calligraphers and painters. His fingers are still clean.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, Shen Cun, the current head of the Shen family, said that all the treasures of the Shen family are hidden in these three paintings.What other treasures could the Shen family have, of course, those priceless paintings, maybe even the lost painting "Houyi Cruising the Sun" by Shen Xingzhong.The three people were so determined that they came up with the idea of ​​these three paintings again, but before they had time to do it, the Shen family was burnt down.

They thought that the treasure of the Shen family would be wiped out and no one would know about it, but they bought it back and observed it carefully, hoping to find some clues from it.

"We didn't know that Shen Cun's ghost was so fierce. If I knew it was like this, I wouldn't buy it home." Cao Wei took two steps forward, "My lord, if you want to save me, you must save me. Help me, I don't want to die."

Su Cen tapped the table lightly with his knuckles, and said calmly, "So on the night before the sacrifice, did you quarrel because of these paintings?"

Cao Wei was taken aback for a moment, obviously he didn't expect Dali Temple to even know that they had quarreled at the beginning, a cold sweat broke out on his back, and he said cautiously: "Yes, yes, I thought I was the only one who had paintings in my hand, I never thought about that. The two turtle grandchildren actually had a pair of hands, so Xu Youhuai said let us all take out the paintings, and he will find out the secret of the treasure together and we will go find it together. This bastard thinks we are stupid, he just wants to swallow the treasure alone , All these years, Liu Kang and I have been running around outside, and he enjoys a happy life in Beijing alone, and we have long been displeased with him, so we quarreled."

Su Cen: "So you killed them both, and you came to swallow the treasure?"

Cao Wei was frightened and kowtowed again and again: "Your Excellency, check it out. I didn't kill anyone. How dare I kill anyone?"

Su Cen naturally understood that Cao Wei didn't kill the man. If Cao Wei really had the idea of ​​making two paintings, he would have taken the paintings away by now, so why would he go to Dali Temple to throw himself into the net.Su Cen couldn't help laughing when he saw the burly man looking like a soldier, "You're so timid and dare to rob the tomb?"

"It's just some skills left by our ancestors to make ends meet." Cao Wei crouched on the ground, not daring to get up, "There is nothing to be afraid of the dead, the only fear is that some people will die unsatisfied and turn into ghosts to haunt us after death!"

"Wouldn't you die with peace?" Su Cen's eyes twitched, "You mean the deaths of the 32 members of the Shen family are grievous?"

Cao Wei visibly froze, and kowtowed again and again: "The grass people don't know, the grass people don't know anything..."

This Cao Wei is now in a panic, asking him if he doesn't know anything, Su Cen doesn't waste any more time.But luckily they found him, so Su Cen ordered someone to send Cao Wei back home in order to avoid alarming others.The murderer had already killed Xu Youhuai and Liu Kang one after another, and even did not hesitate to kill in front of the emperor, so naturally he would not let Cao Wei sit at home and do nothing.

Su Cen then led a group of yamen servants in disguise to sneak into Cao's house through the back door at night, and waited quietly.

It was already dark when Su Cen and others arrived at Cao's house. In order to prevent the murderer from becoming suspicious, Su Cen asked the servants of Dali Temple to lie in ambush around the bedroom, while he changed into a servant's clothes and followed Cao Wei into the bedroom.

Li Shi made things difficult for him when he stayed in a dead room for a night, but now he shares a room with Cao Wei for a night, I don't know how the master will act like a monster.

The third piece of Shen Cun's "Taoyao Tu" "There is a truth" is hanging in Cao Wei's room. Su Cen stepped forward to look at it. It is exactly the same as the previous two pictures, except that the flowers and green leaves are replaced by fruitful and hanging branches. The posture of the pen is arbitrary, or Yan or Yang, swaying freely.

Judging from the painting alone, this Shen Cun should be a bold and generous person, and the person who can paint this colorful paper does not look like someone who will be entangled after death.

Su Cen glanced back at Cao Wei who was hiding in the corner and shivering. He couldn't bear the way the eight-foot-tall man gnawed his fingers, and asked aloud, "Do you know Shen Cun?"

Cao Wei shrank in the corner and shook his head, "No, I don't know."

"Then I don't understand." Su Cen rubbed his chin and turned around, "There are people like us Da Zhou, how did he find you?"

Su Cen specifically didn't mention the painting, Cao Wei really took the tick, and followed Su Cen's train of thought: "Maybe, maybe it's because we stole their ancestral grave?"

"That's not right," Su Cen tilted his head and looked at Cao Wei, "You did the tomb robbery, and you also said that the Shen family's tomb is very clean, and you didn't bring anything out of the tomb, that is, It is said that Xu Youhuai and Liu Kang did not touch the things of the Shen family, so if Shen Cun wants to take revenge, he will be the first to seek you, why did he kill Xu Youhuai and Liu Kang?"

"This, this..." This Cao Wei was really not smart, and he panicked when Su Cen fooled him.

Su Cen said with a smile, "Could it be that this ghost kills people by random choice?"

"Yes, yes," Cao Wei nodded hastily, "Shen Cun turned into a demon, killing people everywhere."

"I don't think so," Su Cen's eyes froze suddenly, "He only kills people with ghosts in their hearts!"

Following Su Cen's sound, the candlelight in the room suddenly flickered, and a huge black shadow enveloped the flames, trying to extinguish the weak candlelight in a trance.

"Ghost, there is a ghost!" Cao Wei howled loudly.

Su Cen frowned and followed the faint light of the fire. The window that had been closed just now had loosened a small crack at some point, and the night wind blew in, which almost blew out the candlelight.

Su Cen went to the window and was about to close it, but suddenly changed his mind, looked at Cao Wei intently, and asked sharply, "Who killed the 32 members of the Shen family?"

The night wind continued to blow in, and Su Cen's figure was gradually enlarged, dancing flames and shadows intertwined, like a group of demons dancing wildly.The paintings hanging on the wall were also blown, and the sharp drawing paper scratched across the wall, as if someone's nails were scratching the wall.

Cao Wei wished he could stick his head into the wall, and kept muttering to himself, "Don't kill me, don't kill me!"

Cao Wei's mind had already collapsed, Su Cen walked forward step by step in a black suit with bare back, and asked in a low voice, "Who killed me?"

Seeing the huge shadow engulfing him, Cao Wei screamed, "It's Xu Youhuai! It's Xu Youhuai's poison that set the fire on fire, don't do my business, don't do my business! Woooooo... "

A gust of wind blew in, completely extinguishing the last bit of fire, and the sudden silence accompanied by darkness shrouded it.Su Cen stopped abruptly, the sun was approaching, the moonlight was not clear, and without the candlelight, he couldn't see his fingers. A chill couldn't help but rise from his heart.

"Ghost! Ghost!" Cao Wei stared round and looked behind Su Cen, and howled heart-piercingly.

Sensing something strange behind him, Su Cen turned his head abruptly, and saw that the place where the painting used to be hung was bursting with green light little by little, and the places where the huge and round peaches were originally painted gradually became The miserable green dead head was flying against the wind.

Even though Su Cen didn't believe in ghosts and gods, seeing this scene for a moment made goosebumps goosebumps on his back. He felt that his throat was pinched tightly by an invisible hand, and he couldn't make a sound.

I don't know how long it took Su Cen to regain a little consciousness, only to hear a knock on the door, and the yamen servants asked what happened outside the door.

Su Cen forcibly collected his mind, let the yamen servants come in, turned on the lamp again, and then drove away the darkness and fear.

Looking at the "Tao Tian Tu", it has returned to its original state, and the ghost image just disappeared like a nightmare.

It was too quiet... Su Cen suddenly realized that something was missing in the room, and when she turned her head, she saw Cao Wei fainted from fright in the corner.

Su Cen frowned, thinking that he was really timid, and raised his chin to Cao Wei: "Wake him up."

Several yamen servants stepped forward and pinched people and splashed water, but when nothing worked, one yamen servant stretched out his hand to probe his nose, then slumped on the ground, looking at Su Cen in horror: "My lord, my lord... man, man , people died..."