Datang: Longevity for Thousands of Years, Exposed by Xiao Sizi

Chapter 97 The knife in the dark is confusing!
The next day.

Chang'an City, south of the city.

late at night.

Snow Cloud House.

This is a place of entertainment and is quite famous in the south of the city. Many famous people are willing to come here to spend money.

"Hey, come on, little brother. We don't have anything in Xueyunfang, but there are a lot of girls."

"Come on, come on, sir, come and have fun."

"My lord, you are here. I have been waiting for a long time."

"..."

Like any other brothel, many girls were out there entertaining customers in fancy clothes.

From the girls outside, it can be seen that the quality of the girls in Xueyunfang is obviously much higher than those in other places in the south of the city. This may be the reason why she stands out.

"Hey, General Du, you're here."

At this time, an official was stopped by the madam of Xueyunfang.

"Come to our Xueyunfang today?"

she asked.

General Du smiled and said, "Yes, I haven't been here for a few days. Is Miss Luluo okay? I came here tonight just for her."

The madam clapped her feather fan and said, "Good, it's good, but it also has some disadvantages."

"Oh?" General Du asked frivolously, "Could it be that Miss Luluo is ill?"

The madam gave him a reproachful look and said with a smile, "Look at what General Du said. It's not that. It's just that these days, General Du, you haven't been here, and our Luluo has missed you so much."

General Du burst into laughter when he heard this.

"Hahaha, so that's how it is! You scared me. Come on, take me to see Luluo!"

"Hey, good!"

The madam personally took General Du to the second floor.

When they arrived at a room decorated with a romantic atmosphere, they knocked on the door and said, "Luluo, General Du is here to see you."

"It's General Du, please come in."

"Green ivy is ready to serve you."

From inside, an extremely pure voice came.

There is purity in her voice, but her words are inviting the man to come into the room, which is touching, as if she is reluctant but also welcoming. This extreme contrast between her appearance and voice is also the reason why Green Rose has so many customers.

"Creak" sound,
General Du opened the door and walked in slowly.

When I saw the green ivy planted beside the bed, the corners of my mouth curled up.

"Luluo, I haven't been here for a few days, do you miss me?"

Luoluo smiled and said, "General Du, I miss him a lot. Other guests are not as great as General Du. In Luoluo's heart, the general is no ordinary guest."

General Du didn't know whether this was what Luoluo really thought.

He doesn't care either.

It just needs to sound comfortable.

"Hahaha, good! Then General, I will teach you a lesson tonight, too, this pure little goblin!"

General Du laughed and walked forward.

But halfway through, his eyes widened and he quickly dodged to the side.

“Hahhhhhh!!”

A hidden weapon had already appeared at his original position.

If he hadn't dodged in time, he would have been hit by the hidden weapon.

"who!"

"Who is attacking this general?"

General Du subconsciously reached for his waist and pulled out his sword, but he was here to have sex tonight, so why would he bring a sword? !
I couldn't help but put my fists in front of me to protect myself.

Looking around, he changed positions frantically and made preparations for defense everywhere.

soon.

Several men in black walked out.

Occupying every position, including windows, doorways, and in front of the green radish, it controls almost every possible escape spot.

General Du's eyes flickered. These men in black came prepared. He must be being targeted.

"General Du, what...what is going on?!"

At this time, Luoluo was frightened, trembling all over, and huddled on the edge of the bed.

"You still dare to ask me? This is not your room?"

"Bitch, tell me now! Did you ask me to set up a trap for this general?"

General Du's face was filled with anger.

How could a mere prostitute like Luoluo bear such a creepy look?
Luoluo couldn't help but become even more frightened. She covered her head with her hands and was about to cry.

"I...I don't know, I really don't know!"

General Du wanted to speak again, but the men in black did not give him a chance.

There are no words.

A man rushed out with a knife in his hand, his move was vicious and he went straight to the face.

General Du's eyes widened.
Don't dare to be careless and dodge repeatedly.

however,
There was a man in black waiting for him behind him, also drawing his knife to attack from behind.

General Du knelt down suddenly and barely avoided the fatal knife.

This is just the beginning.

The men in black showed no gentlemanly behavior and took turns to come forward.

If it was just an ordinary thief, it would be fine, but these men in black were all highly skilled in martial arts and they cooperated very well. Even though General Du was highly skilled in martial arts, his physical strength decreased rapidly due to the continuous consumption, and his concentration on defense also declined rapidly.

"Pfft..."

I don’t know which man in black slashed General Du’s back, but this seemed to be just the beginning. Within a few seconds, General Du was slashed several times.

"Who are you...who are you?"

General Du's eyes were wide open with anger, and his consciousness became increasingly blurred.

The black men did not answer him until the last one stabbed him in the heart. Only then did General Du fall to the ground unwillingly and die with his eyes open.

After doing all this, the men in black looked at each other and quickly knocked out the extremely frightened Green Radish in the room.

No one knows what happened next.

Until an hour later.

Lu Qing led a team to investigate the case.

"Shao Qing, we still need to continue investigating the Ministry of War. Why are you suddenly interfering in Jingzhao Yi's jurisdiction?"

Lu Shiji didn't understand.

Lu Qing's eyes flickered as he spoke, "Du Zhengchun, isn't he from the Ministry of War? Maybe he has nothing to do with our case, but if you have nothing to do, it's always okay for you to come and take a look."

"this…."

Lu Shi was still puzzled. Even if he had more time, he couldn't put the princess' case aside. He had made a big promise in front of His Majesty. If he couldn't solve the case, he would be in big trouble.

However, Shaoqing always had his own ideas, so Lu Shi didn't ask any more questions.

"Okay, here we are."

Lu Qing looked at Xueyunfang in front of him.

Because of the murder, Xueyunfang seemed a little deserted tonight. Not only here, but even the surrounding shops had closed early for fear of being affected.

"Lu Shaoqing, you are here again."

At this time, a guard from Jingzhao Yi discovered him and was speechless.

"Haha, yes, come and have a look if you have nothing to do."

Lu Qing smiled and said, "By the way, is this case related to the previous one?"

Jing Zhaoyi sighed and said, "Yes! He was also hacked to death."

"Lu Shaoqing, please tell me, why did several officials get hacked to death in just two nights? Who is the murderer? How could he be so bold? Do he really not take our Jingzhao Yi seriously? Or is it a ghost?"

Speaking of this, the officials of Jingzhao Yi were not only a little trembling.

This case happened in the busiest Xueyunfang, but except for a prostitute involved in the case, no one knew the whereabouts of the murderer.

It was exactly the same as several previous bizarre cases of official killings.

极为古怪。

"I cannot speculate on this. I need to go to the scene to investigate."

Lu Qing looked embarrassed.

Guard Jingzhao Yi said with a smile: "Our prefect knew you would definitely come, so he informed us early. You can just go up directly when you come."

Lu Qing smiled and said, "Okay, thank Prefect Zhao for me. Never mind, I'll go up and thank him in person."

Lu Qing smiled and patted the guard on the shoulder, then asked all the people from the Dali Temple to stay and only took Lu Shi to the second floor.

open.

Xueyunfang became extremely empty tonight.

Occasionally, when the maids were interrogated by Jingzhao Yi officials, they also looked afraid.

When Lu Qing arrived on the second floor and walked into the crime scene, he found bloodstains all around and an official was interrogating the crying Luoluo.

The official was Zhao Zhongxiang, the prefect of Jingzhao Prefecture.

Lu Qing stood beside him silently, waiting for him to finish questioning, and then asked: "Han Fuyin, this is your Jingzhao Yin case, but I came to disturb you. Thank you for allowing me to come."

Han Min turned around and saw the person coming. He rolled his eyes and said calmly, "If I didn't agree, you, Lu Qing, wouldn't have come? I'm afraid you're going to use His Majesty to pressure me again."

While talking.

His eyes glanced at the badge on Lu Qing's waist.

"Well, let's not talk about this. Does Zhao Fuyin have any clues on this case?"

Lu Qing was busy changing the subject.

He was in a hurry and needed to get to the point as soon as possible.

Han Min sighed and shook his head, "No, but it is certain that this case is exactly the same as the previous official murder case."

"This is already the third case. Judging from the knife technique used, the way the surrounding traces were handled, and the testimony of the witnesses, the murderers are a bunch of ruthless criminals."

Lu Qing was a little surprised: "Murderers?"

Han Min nodded and said, "Yes, according to Miss Luluo's confession, there were six murderers at the time."

"So, this overturns the previous inference that there was only one murderer. It seems that all the people who died before were civil servants, so there was no need for six murderers. Du Zhengchun was a military officer, so in order to ensure that there would be no mistakes, six murderers came out at the same time."

"The other party is an organization."

"Moreover, after they killed their target, they did not silence Miss Green Rose. I think they had their own organization's goal."

"Is it a vendetta? A bounty? Or a job for hire?"

Han Min frowned.

The murderer's method was too sophisticated and the surrounding environment was cleaned up. There was only one eyewitness, Luoluo, who had the testimony, so the case was really difficult.

"That's it."

Lu Qing's eyes flickered.

He did have some guesses.

These officials had all been in contact with the guards who assassinated His Highness Xiao Sizi. "Could it be the Feiyufu who knocked out my Dali Temple spy?"

Lu Qing thought of a possibility.

"Lu Shaoqing, what's up? You look like you have made some progress. Can you tell me more about it?"

Han Min couldn't help but ask.

Lu Qing laughed and said, "No, Prefect Han, even you have no clue, so it is even more impossible for me to know."

"I have other things to do, so I'll leave first."

He exchanged a few pleasantries and said goodbye in a hurry.

After leaving Xueyunfang.

Lu Qing narrowed his eyes and ordered, "Lu Shi, take people to keep an eye on Wang Yang, the driver of the Ministry of War. Remember, take good hands! If they are really those people in Feiyufu, we must treat them as we treat the imperial guards."

Lu Qing checked the files.

Wang Yang, who was in the carriage, and Du Zhengchun who had just died, had come into contact with the guards who tried to assassinate His Highness Xiao Sizi.

He was also the last official to have contact.

Their official positions are very low, and there is no protection around them.

Lu Shi nodded: "Shaoqing, I understand."

He was about to leave, but the next moment he remembered something and turned back and said, "Oh, Shaoqing, I have already found the suspect of the senior official in the Ministry of War that you asked me to investigate."

What needs to be investigated is the high-ranking officials of the Ministry of War who arranged official positions for Kaiyang's subordinates, those guards who committed the assassination, and who were able to erase the appointment files.

"Oh? Tell me."

Lu Qing became interested.

The high-ranking officer of the Investigation Corps was sent down by Lu Qing last night.

And his request to Lu Shi was to find a high-ranking official in the Ministry of War who had recently received a large amount of money.

Kaiyang did not live in Chang'an for long, which can be seen from Cao Gongyun's knowledge of the Big Dipper.

Kaiyang had been away from Chang'an for nearly three years, and all his subordinates were brought from Yizhou.

If he was not Kaiyang's subordinate, there could only be one reason why a high-ranking official in the Ministry of War would work for Kaiyang, who had no power or influence in Chang'an.

That is, wealth!!

As for the Big Dipper, according to Cao Gongyun, it is all about money!!
This is also very well-founded.

The three officials who died at this time, plus the passenger Wang Yang who was not yet dead, all received a large amount of money in the past month. For example, Du Zhengchun only came to Xueyunfang once every half a month a month ago, and his salary could only support such consumption.

But in the past month, he came every two days. What a strong body! It also shows that he is really rich!

The salary is not enough, and I don’t do business or gamble, so where will the money come from?

Only in Kaiyang.

They are all the same, except that some are low-ranking officials and some are high-ranking officials. The common point is that they all accepted bribes from Kaiyang.

At this moment, Lu Shi took out a list from his arms, handed it to Lu Qing, and said, "I dare not neglect this aspect of the investigation. I personally and carefully investigated the whole process, and selected a total of three people who meet the requirements put forward by Shaoqing."

"Among them, there are two people who are addicted to gambling and are in debt because of it. They are Qian Ming, a doctor, and Zhao Shun, a deputy director."

"A family member is ill and needs extremely high medical expenses, so there is also one person in the family who is extremely short of money, and that person is Zhou Changwen, a member of the Yuanwailang."

"These three people are all people who are extremely short of money recently. Money can save lives."

Lu Qing narrowed his eyes.

Among the three people, one lost money due to gambling and was in debt, and one had a family member who was seriously ill and needed money for treatment.

They all meet the conditions he gave.

Because there is a need for money, there is a place where people can take advantage of it.

Money has great appeal to ordinary people, even high-ranking officials, not to mention those who need money desperately.

"and then?"

Lu Qing asked again: "Do they have a large amount of money coming in to help them solve this urgent problem?"

Lu Shi nodded and said, "Yes!"

"who is it?"

Lu Qing narrowed his eyes.

Lu Shi looked at Lu Qing and said, "These three people all have it."

"Both?"

Lu Qing's eyes moved, a little surprised.

Lu Shi smiled bitterly and said, "Yes, Shao Qing, they all exist. It's outrageous. I went to Lu Shisan to confirm it at noon. Indeed, they all exist. All three of them have obtained a large sum of money during this period of time and solved their own crises."

Lu Qing narrowed his eyes slightly. Is it possible to bribe three powerful military officials at once?

After thinking about it, he suddenly laughed.

"Interesting. It seems that Kaiyang of the Big Dipper is really cautious enough. Considering that the officials of the Ministry of War might be traced back, he specially let three high-ranking officials of the Ministry of War receive a lot of money to divert attention and confuse the direction of solving the case."

If there is only one person, then it is obvious that this person is the most suspicious.

The officials who traced the line to the Ministry of War would definitely focus on investigating this person and then start to follow the clues.

But when the number of suspects becomes three, it becomes very difficult.

There are more things to consider, and there is also the risk of misjudgment.

Lu Qing sneered in his heart, not caring about Kaiyang's arrangement, and even felt that this was interesting.

The more complicated it is, the more it proves that the information Cao Gongyun gave him is correct.

He thought for a moment and said, "Tell me how these three people obtained their money."

"This sounds a bit magical." Lu Shi said.

"Magic?"

Lu Qing was a little surprised and asked, "Tell me about it."

Lu Shi said, "First, it's Doctor Qian Ming. His way of getting money is relatively normal. Didn't he lose money in gambling before?"

"But he refused to admit defeat, so he put his house and title deeds on the line, ready to gamble his life away. In the end, his luck turned, and he actually won the bet."

"Not only did I win back all the money I lost, but I also won a large sum of money. It can be said that good things come after bad times, and many people are envious of me."

Lu Qing raised his eyebrows and asked in surprise, "He lost money, put the house deed on the line, and then he turned the tables?"

A comeback?

Lu Shi thought about it for a while before he understood the meaning of the word.

He nodded and replied, "That's it."

Lu Qing narrowed his eyes. "Normally, if someone loses to this extent, their family will basically be ruined. Qian Ming... was able to win the money back. It's really not easy."

"Who says it isn't?"

Lu Shi sighed and said, "When it comes to gambling, the winner wins more and the loser loses more. I also think he is lucky."

"If the situations of the two people behind him were not even more magical, Shao Qing, I might have suspected that his victory was abnormal."

Is there anything more magical?

Lu Qing said: "Go on."

"The second one is Zhao Shun, the official."

He looked at Lu Qing and said, "Zhao Shun also lost money, and the amount he lost was almost the same as Qian Ming, but he was not as lucky as Qian Ming. The money he lost was borrowed, which resulted in him owing a lot of debt."

"But after a few days, Shaoqing, guess what, something magical happened."

Lu Qing couldn't help but ask: "What? Could it be that...he won back too!?"

"No."

Lu Shi quickly shook his head and said, "He lost so badly that he doesn't dare to go to the casino anymore. He has learned his lesson."

"But the debt must be repaid. Zhao Shun has no choice but to sell everything he has to pay off the debt. He doesn't want the debt to be pursued back to the Ministry of War. If that happens, he will be embarrassed in front of his colleagues."

"So he packed up the things in his house that he thought could be sold and took them to the pawn shop."

"Then…."

Lu Shiyi clapped his hands and said, "Shaoqing, guess what? Zhao Shun is really lucky. I don't know which of his ancestors collected it, but there is actually a copy of Wang Xizhi's calligraphy in his home, and it is an authentic one!"

"The pawnshop immediately offered a high price to buy it, and Zhao Shun immediately turned his life around."

Lu Shi sighed that Zhao Shun was so lucky.

But Lu Qing narrowed his eyes.

He looked at Lu Shi and said, "That Zhou Changwen, is his luck the same as well?"

Lu Shi nodded and continued: "Yes, Shaoqing, compared to Qian Ming and Zhao Shun, Zhou Changwen has better luck."

Lu Shi paused for a moment, and without waiting for Lu Qing to respond, he said directly: "His money was given by others!"

"It is said that Zhou Changwen once gave some money to a beggar, so the beggar survived. Then the beggar went through many things and eventually became a very wealthy businessman."

"This time, the businessman came to repay Zhou Changwen. When he learned that Zhou Changwen's family was seriously ill, he not only gave a lot of money, but also directly invited the best doctor in Chang'an City to come over. He also waved his hand and said that he would pay for all the medical expenses."

Hearing this, even Lu Qing was slightly stunned.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

In my mind, I began to think about the situation of the three people that Lu Shi mentioned.

For these three people, every one of them has a very magical source of money.

Qian Ming, even if you lose all your money, you can still win it back. This will definitely make countless gamblers shed tears of jealousy.

I feel that this person must be protected by the gods.

After all, turning the tide against the odds is often just a dream.

And this is the most normal thing.

Zhao Shun was penniless and was about to sell everything he had, but he discovered an authentic painting of Wang Xizhi at home, which he sold for two thousand strings of cash, or over one million yuan.

Turn over directly!
Zhou Changwen was even more bizarre. He might have even forgotten that he once gave money to a beggar. Then the beggar became a rich man and came to repay his kindness.

This kind of thing that even children in fairy tales don’t believe actually happened in reality in a magical way.

It's magical realism!
No matter which of these three people you pick, there must be something fishy about where their money came from.

Therefore, it is impossible to infer who has a problem just by looking at the source of money. After all... they all have a problem.

This is interesting.

Lu Qing laughed and became more and more looking forward to seeing the true face of Kaiyang, who arranged all this.

The three suspects are now extremely magical.

Moreover, among the three people, one of them accepted money and must have known that working for Kaiyang and arranging non-official people as guards would be extremely risky, so he would definitely be very cautious in his actions.

After all, those who can become officials in the Ministry of War, and high-ranking officials at that, are not fools, because their immediate superior is Li Jing.

Well, starting directly from them seems to be a blocked path, since we can’t start from them….
Lu Qing narrowed his eyes and decided to take another route.

He already has his own way, and he also understands it completely.

Kaiyang was probably afraid that the high-ranking military officials who granted him official posts as guards would attract the attention of others, and thus they might be found out.

That's why they go to great lengths to muddy the water on purpose.

The money these three people got seemed magical.

In this case, no one can infer who has a problem based on the experiences of these three people.

If an ordinary person investigated to this point, the clues might be cut off and he would be at a loss as to what to do.

But unfortunately,

As the Shaoqing of Dali Temple, Lu Qing is not an ordinary person.

He thought about it, then stood up and said, "Lu Shi, come closer and help me do something."

(End of this chapter)