Extranodal branches

It turned out that he was not a coward.

The roster only records that this policeman named Qingming was taken in by the old policeman eight years ago without any memory. He used the name of the jade flute in his arms and followed other policemen to do simple tasks of patrolling and collecting taxes. Wu Yi gradually developed and was able to keep his job after the old head catcher.But there is not a single sentence in the book that mentions his past: when and where he was born, whether his relatives are still there, what school of martial arts he learned from, etc. are all blank.

No wonder he, a disciple of Yihua, went to the yamen in the northwest to work as an errand.And I didn't even have a certificate, so I won his trust by saying Yihua.

He was able to communicate with Yihua, and he probably recovered his memory over the years, and the senior brother entrusted him to teach the apprentice "I", probably because of his close friendship, I wonder if he will come to visit him specially.Thinking of this, I think I still need to find out the identity of his senior brother, lest he go to Xu Hai to expose me as a fake in person one day.

There is no need to bother Ah Xu with these matters. I connected with the Feisheng Pavilion in the county government through a hidden line, and quickly learned about the basic situation in the county government.

I want to stay here and get the first-hand information about this case. Even if Xue Guike is not the murderer, he is absolutely inseparable. Last night I caught a glimpse of the decapitated corpse facing the door with shiny scales on the soles of the feet in the dark.It was a warning sign used by Feisheng Pavilion, indicating that he encountered a formidable and powerful enemy, but he would not die immediately.I only gave the blue powder to Xue Guike and A Xu. A Xu has not been out of the court for many years, but now he is staying in peace, so it is conceivable who left this mark.

In short, by mistake, I changed into the county government's knife and became Qing Ming's apprentice, who was able to walk freely in the county government and investigate cases in the name of the public.He didn't care about me, he kept his flute and a flute score, and he didn't even reveal the way to change flowers and jade, just let me fend for myself, never asked, but it was convenient for me to search for clues everywhere, pretending to be an apprentice Not so forced.

However, the appearance of a great apprentice overnight is still eye-catching. The arresting yamen servants don’t come to his side very often, but they often ask me why I want to be Qingming’s apprentice openly and secretly. My, why don't you ask Master? I am also very curious."

But the yamen servant said: "Ask him about this kind of thing? You can't beat a fart with three sticks! I'm groggy all day long and only know how to smoke, making the room full of water. I'm afraid he will accept an apprentice like you Prepare for the funeral in advance."

Another person said again: "Did you forget that he was in peace last month? Little brother, don't listen to his nonsense, he is just jealous. Although your master has a weird temper, he is still very good at martial arts. It is more than enough to teach you."

While talking, the two suddenly fell silent.

When I turned around, I saw Qing Ming walking slowly, his steps were always very light, I didn't notice it for a while.He seemed to be wearing the same clothes as that night, with a gray blouse wrapped around his body in a crumpled way, with one hand tucked into the cuff and the other holding an ivory-white cigarette rod. His long gray and black hair was untied. It hangs down scatteredly, and a few strands fall on the heat-conducting metal part of the tobacco rod, almost scorched.

His eyes seemed to glance over at us, and he seemed to have been focusing on the tobacco at the end of the pipe, just passing by us without seeing it, bringing a strong smell of tobacco.Yet his steps are light and dense, like a puff of smoke or a gust of wind, almost like... like a ghost who thinks he is invisible to us, intending to float away.

"Master is good." I said.

He nodded. He was walking non-stop, but after walking for a while, he remembered something and turned back. He asked me in a very blunt tone: "Where did you see "Cai Yu?"

I have never seen a master who is more lazy than his apprentices like him. Since the night he accepted his apprentices, this is the first time he has mentioned his homework.The flute score "Caiyu" he gave me is one of the basic music theories that Yihua's disciples must learn. A pair of mysterious jade hands, as soft as boneless, cold and poisonous, combined with the internal force, the intoxicating flower can absorb the internal energy of hundreds of schools without being violent, and the flute can fly nimbly, block the flow of the enemy's true energy with the melody, and use strength Fight hard, overcome rigidity with softness, and be strong when encountering strength. Although "Caiyu" is only a basic music theory, it is most suitable for students who have already made good use of their inner strength to practice. If I am indeed a student who has just changed from magic sword to Yihua, this set of mental methods is undoubtedly the best.

I don't think he chose it after careful consideration. Yihua Palace is still a mystery in the eyes of most people in Xu Hai. There is no flute score of Yihua Xinfa in circulation on the market, and the same is true in the Yamen. Probably he has a pitifully small collection of books. It just so happens that there is only this one, so just throw it to me, just a coincidence.

"I saw the third one." I replied respectfully.

Feisheng Pavilion has collected the mental methods of various sects. Except for mastering the sect of Shendao, other sects have been dabbled in to some extent. However, learning Yihua's flute scores requires talent in music theory, so I have never read them all.In the past few days, I have to spend a few hours studying "Caiyu", but it is not this material, and the tunes it blows are often hoarse and unpleasant. Not only the yamen servants are looking for a way to avoid it, even the cook's dog has changed from barking at the beginning. Get out as soon as you get there.The yamen servants didn't know that I was practicing kung fu, and they probably got some bad names like "Ghost Wenchou" and "Li Guihao" behind their backs, and then they slandered Qing Ming for not taking apprentices, and let me disturb the order of the county yamen.

"Have you brought the flute with you? Close your inner strength and play for a while." He lowered his eyes and waited for me to take out the flute. The two yamen servants who were chatting with me just now saw the lecture and wanted to avoid suspicion. They were about to shirk their goodbyes, but he told them to stay where they were in advance. , "Brother Zhao is also here today, you use [-]% of your internal energy to see how the flute works."

Before he probed my inner strength, of course I had some reservations, now the [-]% should be changed to [-]%, even so, the yamen servant surnamed Zhao was still dizzy by this song, and he didn't know which direction to swing the knife.

"At the beginning of the second measure, this hole cannot be fully pressed." After the song was over, he tapped the flute with the pipe to signal me.

When I got closer, I realized that the tobacco rod was not just bare ivory, but the place where I held it was covered with a layer of transparent, off-white soft leather, and his fingertips rubbed against it from time to time.

——Small movements that most people often appear when they are anxious.

"This unremarkable piece of music is actually..." Another yamen servant shouted, eye-opening, and dragged Brother Zhao while talking, and disappeared from sight after a while.

"Thank you, Master, for your guidance."

"It's nothing, you've done a good job." He took a puff of the cigarette, stopped rubbing his fingertips against the rod, and followed the original direction towards the morgue with his eyes wandering.

He has never taken the initiative to talk to people in the yamen, and he hardly even made eye contact with me. Although he treats people leniently, he always has a loner temperament. Lifting is really unusual.

Putting this matter aside for the time being, I will follow him closely. There are not many opportunities to investigate the corpse without picking the lock.

During the day, the appearance of the corpse became clearer, and the smell became stronger as the temperature rose, but Qing Ming stepped into the room and took a puff of cigarettes, and the strong smell of tobacco on his body actually overwhelmed the smell of the corpse like a barrier.When he saw me coming in, he only warned in a hoarse voice: "If you are afraid, or feel bad, go to the courtyard for a while, the things in the house are dirty, be careful."

"Apprentice knows." I obediently stood opposite him and said.

——He seemed to have smiled slightly before looking down at the corpse, but I didn't see it clearly, and when he looked up again, he had returned to his usual tired look, as if that smile was just a phantom.

The head and body of the corpse were placed upright on the ground and hadn’t been put together yet. The scars at the gouging were very clear, shallow and deep, and they were oblique wounds from bottom right to top left. Out of hook cut injury.The knives of the disciples of Shendao are all improved Tang knives, straight up and down, single-edged and blunt-pointed.This farmer is tall and burly, if I want to chop off his head, the incision must be smooth and even, and it can only be cut flat. The sword disciple's way of handling the sword must lose strength halfway from the bottom to the top, and it is impossible to learn from the simple to the deep.

At the same time I noticed that the knot on the farmer's bunt was dead.

Working people wear bunts, and often use thin ropes to tie up the overly loose fabrics under the armpits. The knots are all slip knots, and it is too lazy to untie them, and it is also easy to put on and take off, but here is a dead knot.Someone had apparently put on and taken off his clothes, but hadn't quite covered up the marks.

"Master, when was the body delivered?"

He was examining the palm of the dead body, and turned it over and over several times with the blue hand: "There was a lot of noise when the incident happened, and the woman's screams woke up the servants and neighbors, so it was sent that night. Do you think what?"

——Then the clothes were put on again after being taken off in the yamen.But the people in the yamen can take off their clothes for an autopsy in a fair manner, and put on their clothes to make it look like a cover-up.

"Did the women who were victimized the previous two times not be restrained?" I looked at his crumpled clothes and asked, but I recalled the smell of his corpse that night.

——He is a fast catcher, and he can do an autopsy anytime he wants, why must he take advantage of the middle of the night when no one is around?

"This time, the woman seems to have a special physique. The murderer's smoke failed to make her completely unconscious. She thought the murderer had left, so she dragged herself to the door and saw the scene of the murder." He raised the corpse's hand and moved closer The tip of the nose sniffed.

——Avoiding others, going to take off the clothes of the corpse, it seems that it is not for the autopsy... The strong corpse smell on his body seemed to revive at the tip of his nose that night. Lazy and tired eyes like waking up - I have a strange guess in my heart.

"You are very interested in the case? If you want to stay in Gongmen to work, you can ask brother Zhao more." After he entered the room and touched the corpse, he put the cigarette stick aside, checked that it was almost done, then turned his head and raised it to smoke again. With one sip, smoke and a hoarse voice escaped from the lips together.

I said: "It's just that I haven't seen the government solve a case. It's very new for the first time. I can't help but want to ask more questions."

Using a bamboo stick, he scraped off some scarlet flakes from the seam of the nail in that hand, put them in the cloth towel, stood up and said, "It's up to you to learn more. I want to go out for a while, but I have to lock the door. You go back."

I didn't want him to find out that I was paying too much attention to this case. I exited the house and watched him fly away before returning to the bedroom. Ask me about the flute score, and I understand why.

Qing Ming deliberately tested my homework in front of those two yamen servants.

Another policeman surnamed Hu who was watching the battle was a well-known "big colander" in the yamen, and he could spread the word about anything, not to mention my ugly flute music that could attack people. ".How much they hated my flute in the past, but now they are so eager. Thinking about it, Qing Ming has never used this trick in front of them, and he often looks difficult to communicate. No wonder I became the center of topic in the yamen for a while.

This is a good opportunity to get acquainted with the yamen servants.

Through this, I learned something about Qing Ming eight years ago from a few old people.

"When he first came, he was much worse than he is now. He wandered around in rags in a daze. We all thought he was a beggar and a lunatic, and we were going to chase him away, but old Xu Fei said he was not good at martial arts, so he insisted on bringing him back to take care of him. Later, it was true. He got it right, maybe six years ago, when he was a little more conscious, he would not be able to find his way home, and he could go out with us on patrol, and at critical times, he used a set of palm techniques that Xu Hai had never seen before. The villain at the Red Grass Beach died. Later, he seemed to remember something, and he went back to his hometown. When he came back, he said he had forgotten all about it, but we can all see, maybe it was There was an accident at home. Since then, he has always been languid, a 30-year-old man, with gray hair like that in the past few years, I am afraid that he has fallen over the threshold."

Lying in bed at night, I usually think about what I have seen and heard a day. This habit helps to sort out information and discover the connections between seemingly unrelated news. It has helped me a lot in the past, and today is no exception.

I found that Qing Ming was not as careless as he appeared on the outside.

When he checked my homework in person, he probably already had the intention of justifying my name.I was able to successfully mingle with the yamen servants, thanks to this opportunity.If I am indeed his apprentice, it will be much more convenient whether I want to enter the Gongmen or continue to practice the Yihuadipu mental method.

He who took me in as a "disciple" with such a casual attitude at the beginning turned out to be a gentle master with a delicate mind.

But to him, I was just a junior who was entrusted by my senior and had only been with him for three days.For such a person, he took care of such people with such care and thoughtfulness. Presumably, his colleagues in the yamen should have received a lot of help, but his reputation is not very good.

When those yamen servants came to ask me the reason for my apprenticeship, they gave some rather pertinent comments: "It's not that he is not human, we ask him to do something, as long as he can do it, he will agree, do it well, and everyone needs to go to him for substitutes. But that's the problem, he doesn't get annoyed with the troublesome things we throw at him. He's alone, and he's in charge of the yamen, which means there's no chance that we'll be able to replace him. It's an effort without return. After a long time, everyone takes it for granted and doesn't appreciate him anymore. What is he trying to do? He never expresses his likes and dislikes. He eats so much. Now the cook cooks delicious food, but he only eats so much. It seems that eating and how much to eat is a prescribed task, and the taste is not in the scope of consideration. When we meet, we talk to him, He responded, if he didn’t take the initiative, he would pass by as if he didn’t see us. If you only regard him as a colleague, he really helps a lot, but if you regard him as a complete person, he is definitely a lost soul. Weird, you can only feel numb around him, and you don't want to have a deep friendship with him."

The details of life they said are consistent, but I have doubts about the conclusion for the time being. I don't believe that a Yihua disciple with outstanding martial arts will respond to people's requests for fear of being dismissed like an ordinary government servant. There must be other people behind him. reason.