Northern Song Dynasty: The City of Qingquan Mystery Case

Gu Yu nodded and said: "It's early in the morning. I saw it from a distance when I went to collect dew for the old lady, but I could see it clearly across the pond! He was dressed in white and the fog was thick in the early morning. Standing by the pond, he looked like a fairy—— Who is it if it’s not Mr. Yi? He was squatting on the ground, as if something was lit, and it was still smoking! Beside him, squatted a very big cat. It was about the size of a wolfhound, with spots on its body .The tail is very thick, with a black and white pattern."

Ganqing was taken aback: "It sounds like a civet cat. Have you ever seen a civet cat? There are quite a few on the mountains outside the city!"

Gu Yu shook his head: "Maybe I've seen it before, I don't really remember it. I just came to Yongcheng from the northern mansion a year ago, and the civet cats are all in the mountains, how could I recognize them!"

Qianqing doubted: "Are you sure it's Xiangquan?"

Gu Yu pouted and said: "No mistake, Xia Zhi also saw it, he seemed to see Mr. Yi leaving the mansion early in the morning, thought he was delusional, so he didn't stop him."

"But how could it be? Xiaohan was still guarding his door all night, how could Xiangquan escape by himself?"

"Young master is so stupid," Gu Yu muttered, "Xiaohan has always been sleepy, and it's not like the young master doesn't know it! I'm afraid he was lazy, so Mr. Yi came out by himself. Xia Zhi said he saw Mr. Yi holding a box in his hand, but I I didn’t see it, but I saw him and the big cat.”

"Go back and tell my mother that you won't go home tonight. Also, continue to send someone to look for Mr. Yi of your family! Leave me alone!" Gan Qing finished speaking angrily, with a gloomy expression on his face, and left Gu Yu without turning back to the mansion. Walk in the courtyard.

Gu Yu snorted, didn't pay any attention to it, and rushed to find Xiangquan.

Qianqing didn't know, just when he went out to meet Gu Yu, the guard who informed him reported three more things to Mr. Zhao, but Qianqing didn't hear their conversation.

"Someone was found unconscious in the east of the city. It seemed that he had been unconscious for a long time. It was the watchman..."

Mr. Zhao's face was gloomy, he held his breath, and said after a moment of silence: "So, the one who just passed here... who beat him?"

One thing more is worse than one thing less, Yang Fu Yin originally wanted to keep Mr. Zhao's alarm from happening, but now seeing the situation, he dare not say anything.

Mr. Zhao immediately looked serious, closed his eyes and pondered for a while, and said to the guards: "Go and check the watchman, go immediately!"

The voice of "go at once" was particularly loud, it might as well be scary.In such a quiet courtyard, this order fully revealed Master Zhao's uneasiness.The guard was already tense, like a hunter about to encounter a beast, any sudden noise aggravated his inner tension and fear.

The guard who reported was suddenly uneasy, apparently still wanted to say something.He lowered his voice vigilantly and sensitively, and continued: "There is still one thing that has not been reported, the warehouse has been stolen."

"When did it happen? What did you lose?" Master Zhao asked in a deep voice.

"Salt, I just lost the salt. I don't know when it was lost, probably in the past two days."

Yang Fuyin interjected: "The warehouses in Yongcheng have always been fortified, the doors are extremely thick, and it takes several people to work together to open them, the locks are even stronger, and the walls are also very thick, how could it be..."

The guard replied: "The door seems to have been blasted open, and it was found that there were charcoal, sulfur powder, and saltpeter powder at the door, all of which had been drenched by rain."

Mr. Zhao said: "In this way, I'm afraid it was done before the storm last night. The sound of the gunpowder explosion was mixed with the sound of thunder."

Yang Fu Yin said with a smile: "It's okay, it's nothing serious. I'm afraid it's an ordinary thief, just find out." Then he turned to Mr. Zhao with a clumsy smile and said, "I feel that such a trivial matter doesn't need to be worried about by adults. "

Yongcheng can't be regarded as a big town. Every year, businessmen come and go frequently, and there are also fights and troubles, but there have been no major incidents.Yang Fuyin lived comfortably in such a place, so naturally he made a lot of money.The current scene is too tense, he really hopes that the incident will end soon and he can keep his official position.It would be best if these gossip and dog theft would not reach the ears of high-ranking officials.

Master Yang winked at the guard, if there is nothing wrong, leave as soon as possible.

The guard hesitated, but didn't move.He thought for a while, and then said: "One more thing... Boss Zhang in the west of the city said that his raw materials were stolen."

Yang Fuyin glanced at Mr. Zhao, and secretly groaned in his heart, hating that the guards didn't understand his eyes, suppressed his anger and said, "Which Boss Zhang?"

"Boss Zhang who buys wine is the one... who occasionally sells some private wine. He is a gangster and sells private wine. We can't say anything about it."

Yang Fuyin glanced at Mr. Zhao nervously, and called the guard aside: "What did he lose?"

"Don't go into details, just tell us that the matter of the Tsing Yi robber is over, let us go there. It seems that what was lost was the material for wine making, and it was a living thing."

Yang Fuyin was shocked: "Alive? Could it be a snake or a scorpion?"

The guard was dumbfounded, shaking his head not knowing.Yang Fuyin hurriedly asked the guards to go down, glanced at Mr. Zhao, saw that his expression was normal, he secretly heaved a sigh of relief, feeling unhappy, why should he report at this time!Determined to punish the salary of the guard who does not have eyes.

At this time, Ganqing had just sent Gu Yu away, and was walking from the outside, passing the unlucky guard.

Ink-like blackness permeates wantonly in the night sky. At this time, the willow branches on the moon are so darkly stained by the night that there is no silver, leaving only a trace of cool and cold moon shadows.

Qian Qing's heart was in a mess.

Why did Xiangquan mess with the civet cat?

He thought in his heart that he had already entered the grass garden, so he walked blindly along the pebble road.He didn't know how many people's feet they stepped on, and he didn't care.It's just a kind of inexplicable uneasiness in my mind.

The owl cooed and stepped up the tree lightly. Looking around, it felt cold all over its body, like falling into an ice cellar.

It’s just that owls are climbing trees. What is a group of cats doing climbing trees?

The civet cat... Qian Qing suddenly became suspicious, and looked up at the tree in the blowing snow belt. It stayed on the tree obediently, its whole body was white and very eye-catching.Ganqing smiled wryly, only to find that its "partner" on the tree was gone.

There was not a single cat left in that group of cats, but at this moment, only Chuuxue was left.

Qianqing suddenly had a strange idea, he stepped forward and tugged on Fang Qian's sleeve: "Fang Qian, did you see clearly just now? Where did the group of cats on the ginkgo tree go?"

"Probably dispersed." Fang Qianwu didn't understand him, and he should be more vigilant at this time.

Gan Qing said nervously: "But is that a cat? Is it bigger than a normal cat?"

Fang Qian pondered: "It seems to be big... But, what does that mean?"

Fang Qian didn't seem to care about the question, he didn't even look at the tree again.

Ganqing said in a low voice: "It's probably a raccoon cat. There are many seven-sectioned raccoons on the mountains outside the city, which are generally not found in the city." Don't know? Didn't you just look carefully?"

"That's according to Mr. Xia's meaning—" He clutched the sword at his waist fiercely, his blushing, staring at the dark night sky outside the high wall.

He shook his head dryly.Maybe it was because Fang Qian was too tired to notice anything.

Ganqing left him, leaning against the largest ginkgo tree in the yard, smelling the fragrance of the tree at night.All the nervousness and worry just now disappeared, like the most obvious and leisurely white clouds in the dark night sky.Those messy thoughts were pulled away from his mind in an instant.

Civet cats, street lamps, Xiangquan—Qing Qing’s mind was in a mess, so he simply stopped thinking about it.

Safety first, rhino bone or something, if you lose it, you lose it.

Qianqing moved a little more. This is the corner of the yard. He felt that this corner was the safest, least accident-prone place, and the place where he could see the whole yard.In front of him was a large water tank.He lightly pressed his foot against the water tank, and glanced at the yard boredly—it was none of his business, so why bother to worry about it?It would be better to watch a play.

Thinking back afterwards, Qianqing regretted that he had chosen such a poor place to stay!

Time is still passing non-stop.The guard stood aside stiffly, but Qian Qing felt sleepy.

At the moment when Qianqing was about to fall asleep, he heard a "bang", like the sound of something breaking.Gan Qing was startled, and looked around, but there was another sound, the same sound, like broken porcelain and earthen jars.

The sound was too sudden, but clearly audible.Everyone was stunned.Fang Qian stepped forward and took a step back, drew his sword out of its sheath in an instant, saw a flash of cold light, and immediately shouted: "Get ready!"

Qianqing didn't react for a while, but heard the sound of the bowstring on the top being pulled tight.

He backed away slowly to the wall.

The guards all drew out their swords, and suddenly there was a cold light everywhere, and everyone looked around vigilantly.

"...What exactly is that sound? What is broken?" Yang Fuyin stood up and said tremblingly, his fat body was almost stuck to the pillar of the pavilion.

Just as everyone looked around, a trace of fear crept into Gan Qing's heart quietly.Because only he knew that when the broken sound just came, there was a slight vibration at his feet-it was the vibration caused by the water tank's force.

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