The Midnight Owl

"This is the current situation." Wu Sheng transmitted all known clues to Chi Yingxue at the fastest speed, and listed them one by one, like a huge database.

After hearing this, Chi Yingxue blinked her eyes: "Oh."

Wu Sheng said: "I know the amount of information is a bit large, but you don't need to memorize it. You just need to keep an eye on Ying Jiu. He sent the body back on purpose and insisted on staying there. There must be a reason."

"Don't forget, you still told me..." Chi Yingxue complained.

Wu Sheng didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Then just pretend I didn't say anything."

"It's late." Chi Yingxue took out the four and a half oranges left in the fruit plate one by one, muttering—

The first orange: "Old Master Cheng survived a fall and returned to the West with poison."

The second orange: "Cheng Jiming kidnapped and tore up the ticket, Fushou will deny it."

The third orange: "Du Jinnian came to drink tea and disappeared."

The fourth orange: "Cheng Xiaonan was bedridden from alcohol poisoning."

In the end, half of the orange was broken into three pieces: "Now the Hai Gang and the Fushou Association are holding on, so you are going to hurry up and find the badge, and search the Cheng family compound by the way."

Four oranges with three petals are lined up according to size, making Chi Yingxue create them neatly and neatly.

"I remember it all, and I can't erase it." He looked serious and distressed, like an unfortunate user whose memory was occupied by redundant information that couldn't be deleted.

Wu Sheng didn't know whether he should be surprised or surprised: "When did you awaken this skill?"

Chi Yingxue raised her eyebrows in doubt: "Is this considered a skill?"

"Of course," Wu Sheng said, "Although I have all-round development in intelligence, martial arts, agility, and defense, most of the time, I still rely on 'intelligence' to decide the outcome."

Chi Yingxue thought for a while: "Where's the face?"

"..." For a long time after sending off his teammates, Junjun Wu didn't figure out whether the phrase "face" was simply asking "Don't you rely on your appearance", or with "Can you point something?" The deep meaning of "face".

……

The Cheng family arranged for the Fushouhui to have four rooms in total, Ying Jiuye and Xiao Wuye each had one room, and the remaining two rooms were allocated to other brothers.

As soon as Chi Yingxue entered the room, she felt something was wrong, there were people in the room.

The unlit room was pitch black, and the moonlight through the mist came in through the window lattice, leaving only a faint patch of frost, Ying Jiuye sat behind the patch of frost, unable to see his face clearly.

"I didn't know you knew Mr. Bai."

"He's my...friend." Chi Yingxue didn't think it was a big deal, but when she said the last two words, she still unconsciously curled the corner of her mouth, proud, proud.

"What kind of friend?" Ying Jiuye's voice was calm, steady, yet unfathomable, like a bottomless river, the surface of the river was flowing gently, and the undercurrent was turbulent below.

It's a pity that Chi Yingxue didn't hear it at all, he was tinkering with the oil lamp with great interest: "We broke through together."

"What's the matter?" Ying Jiuye frowned in the dark.

"You still don't understand." Chi Yingxue ended the topic unilaterally, then picked up the exquisite oil lamp, and shook it at Master Ying Jiu: "Can you light it?"

Ying Jiuye helped his men light the oil lamps, and when the room was lit up, his face was completely dark, and he didn't want to admit what he did just now.

Chi Yingxue is also obsessed with helping Cheng's family plan: "I should pull the wires from the small building over, it's so convenient to use all the electricity..."

Master Ying Jiu didn't want to stay for a second, he got up and smoothed the wrinkles on the gown, and walked out the door.

Seeing that people wanted to withdraw, Chi Yingxue quickly put down the oil lamp, and asked Ying Jiu's back, "Is the ransom paid by the Cheng family not enough? Why do you want to kill Cheng Jiming?"

Master Ying Jiu stopped in his tracks, remained silent for a moment, then turned around, with an undisguised surly and murderous look in his eyes for the first time: "Boy, no one dares to talk to me like that."

Chi Yingxue looked at him a little worriedly, not very satisfied with the response - did he kill him or did he not kill him?

Seeing this little brother wandering around the world again, Master Ying Jiu felt physically and mentally exhausted.

Destroying a person with one shot is nothing to Ying Jiu, but he can feel that even if he destroys the other party, there is no way to relieve the depression in his heart.

Moreover, he didn't really want to make this move.

"Do you know why I asked you to follow me?" Ying Jiuye rarely spoke his mind to others, but tonight, he made an exception.

Chi Yingxue: "Am I good?"

Ying Jiu glanced at him contemptuously: "You think highly of yourself."

Chi Yingxue frowned: "Then why?"

Ying Jiu looked at him quietly, as if he was looking at those past years through him: "Because you are very similar to me when I was young."

"Impossible," Chi Yingxue didn't even think about it, "You're not as good looking as me."

"..."

When Master Ying Jiu left Xiao Wuye's room, he felt that if he didn't kill tonight, he must have been possessed by a ghost—ninja, the kind who can endure all kinds of patience.

……

Wu Sheng used stealth stationery to search the entire Cheng family mansion, not even letting go of the small Western-style building.

In the end, he found the [Emblem of Troubled Times] under the "stove" mentioned in the badge manual, and found the following clues in three other places——

1. Cheng Jiming’s study room before his death was still kept as it was. In a book at the bottom of the bookshelf, there was a note with a different handwriting. It was suspected to be written to him by someone else. On it was an ancient poem “Like this star It’s not last night, for whom is the wind and dew a mid-night feast”, the inscription has no name, only a semi-curved, crescent-like red mark.

2. In Mrs. Cheng's residence, I found a letter signed by the Mr. Bai who was worn by Wu Sheng's soul. The content was that the matter that Mrs. Cheng asked him to investigate had already taken shape, and he needed to meet and discuss it in detail.

3. In Cheng Xiaonan's study in a small western-style building, Wu Sheng found a cylindrical seal on the carpet under the bookshelf, which should have fallen to the ground and rolled into it.There is a very delicate little lion carved on the top of the seal, but the lion's body is stained a little black, like blood, and the seal is engraved with "Yusheng" - Du Jinnian, the character, Yusheng.

Badges are easy to find, but clues are scary.

Wu Sheng put all the memos, badges, and letters in his arms, and slipped out of Cheng Xiaonan's room, which was the last search, and was going to go back to the Bai mansion at night—Mr. However, there may be more information clues in the Bai Mansion.

As soon as he left the study room, he smelled a strange smell, which came from Cheng Xiaonan's bedroom.

In front of the bedroom, the brothers from Fushouhui and Haigang stared like eagles, not even a fly could fly in.However, two of them seemed to be disturbed by the smell, cursing in a low voice: "Damn, I'm almost addicted to it."

Wu Sheng quietly returned to the study, started from the balcony outside the window, and headed towards the bedroom, jumping from balcony to balcony, and finally landed on the balcony of the bedroom like a checkers.

The floor-to-ceiling curtain was loose, leaving a narrow gap through which the light leaked.

Looking in through the gap, one can see the brightly lit room at a glance - a maid is sitting by the bed, holding an opium pipe, and passing it to Cheng Xiaonan's mouth.Her movements are very skilled, and it is obviously not the first time to serve her.In the lingering smoke, the bedridden Mr. Cheng with a hanging bottle struggled to turn his head, sucking lazily and satisfyingly.

Being poisoned doesn't delay smoking opium, Wu Sheng suddenly felt that the murderer's poisoning was superfluous - a person like Cheng Xiaonan can kill himself by himself, he really has a grudge, just wait and wait.

When he returned to the White Mansion, Wu Sheng glanced at the clock, and suddenly realized that five hours had passed since his soul passed through!

He spent the whole night in the Cheng family's mansion dealing with all kinds of people and searching for clues from all sides, but he didn't feel that so much time had passed!He originally wanted to finish searching the Bai Mansion, and then think about the issue of the save point.

But right now, it seems that the flow of time here does not correspond to reality at 1:1. This situation has appeared in the ancient castle on 6/23 and the hell in the brain on 9/23. Often, the time in the owl has exceeded five Hours, but real time does not.

If it is slow, it will be safe.

Wu Sheng stopped thinking about these things, and plunged into Mr. Bai's study full of materials, and started a huge search.

I searched until dawn and found nothing.

In the entire ocean of information, there are murders, robberies, adultery, stolen cattle, and lost dogs, all kinds of cases, but there is nothing related to the Cheng family, not even a word.

This is very strange.

Even if Mrs. Cheng entrusted him with other things other than Cheng Jiming's kidnapping case, there should be a record, so there is only one possibility for such a blank - the record was taken away or destroyed.

It may have been destroyed by Mr. Bai himself, or it may have been destroyed by someone who did not want him to continue investigating.

Because Wu Sheng found a note in an inconspicuous, possibly original poetry notebook written by Mr. Bai.

The handwriting on it is flamboyant, with no handwriting, so casual that even my own mother can recognize it.

Fortunately, the words are big enough and the number of words is small enough, so I can barely distinguish them—those who troublesome, die.

This note is inscribed—Half-fallen plum in the pond is also broken.

Half fallen plum...

Wu Sheng stared at the signature, and slowly spelled out a word: "... the sea."

……

All the clues are connected because of this word that surfaced.

The doubts surrounding the two lives have gradually dissipated, revealing a clear context, but——

Wu Sheng took out the suspected blood-stained seal found in Cheng Xiaonan's study, frowning deeply.

Where is Du Jinnian?

He returned to Cheng's house non-stop, the sky was already bright, and the ritual venue had been set up in the Cheng's courtyard, the monks were taking their positions one after another, and the servants were busy shuttling back and forth.

The story of Mr. Cheng's fraudulent corpse spread throughout the Cheng family's compound overnight. On the way back, Wu Sheng even heard neighbors talking about it.Outsiders talking about this is just to watch the excitement, but these people in the Cheng family's mansion are really frightened. No matter whether they are servants or servants, no matter how strong or weak, everyone has fear in their eyes and communicates as much as possible. Stay away from the mourning hall—the old man is still lying in the mourning hall, and he will be buried in a coffin later.

Looking at the atmosphere, Wu Sheng vaguely had a plan in his heart.

He didn't know where Du Jinnian was, but he had been investigating the case all the way until now, at least he had to reveal the truth - to give Cheng Jiming, who died in vain, an explanation.

"Mr. Bai, I found you—" With a loud voice, his teammates walked over generously.

Wu Sheng stood still very cooperatively, watching Qian Ai, who was dressed in a coarse cloth jacket, getting closer and closer: "Why, your uncle is looking for me?"

Qian Ai had come to him, and whispered, "I'm looking for you."

The noise in the courtyard blocked the conversation between the two of them. From the perspective of others, it looked like a servant was talking to Mr. Bai. In fact, Lao Qian was transmitting the results of the night's gossip to his military adviser - the history of the remarriage of the second master of the Cheng family.

Cheng Jiming's original partner was Zhou Lanxin, who died of dystocia, but his daughter kept it, but the adults didn't.After that, Cheng Jiming vowed never to marry a wife again, and he also rejected all the three aunts and six wives who were matchmakers. Who knew that once when he was out on a social occasion, he woke up after being drunk, and Hai Huiping was lying beside him.

Cheng Jiming is a gentle and courteous man. Even if there is no pressure from the Hai Gang, Hai Huiping should be responsible for this situation. That's how Hai Huiping entered the Cheng family.On the surface, it was the second master of the Cheng family who indulged himself after drinking, but in private, there were rumors that it was Hai Huiping who set it up.After all, the Hai Gang had asked someone to come to their door several times to talk about matchmaking. Obviously, it was Hai Huiping who first fell in love with Cheng Erye.

Wu Sheng has figured out the context, and Qian Ai's information is to add more details.

Qian Ai mixed into the crowd again, Wu Sheng looked around at the many monks in the compound, and locked on the one that was the most pleasing to the eye in a second.

With just one look, the little monk came over. Anyway, the courtyard was still chaotic, and no one cared about walking back and forth.

"What do you want me to do?" Xu Wang asked as soon as he came to him.

Wu Sheng was amused: "Aren't you going to inquire about the progress of the mission first?"

Xu Wang raised his little bald head: "Anyway, you will definitely be able to hand in the paper in the end, the process and everything are false."

[If you like it, hug it, throw it down, and do business. 】

The cross motto given by a certain teammate last night flashed through my mind inappropriately.

Wu Sheng quickly calmed down and said, "I do have a plan, and I need you to be the main force."

Xu Wang nodded: "What do you want me to do?"

Wu Sheng said: "The drama is possessed."