When the book-traveling little detective meets the two-faced prince

"In other words, if Wu Sanshan cherishes Qiao Ying so much and has worked hard to bring back her soul throughout his life, why... didn't he go out to look for the medicine as soon as he heard the news about the Three Soul Grass, but waited until three days later."

As he spoke, Lin Lezhi fixed his gaze on Qiao Ying who was standing next to Wu Sanshan's body.

Everyone's eyes also looked over there.

Lin Lezhi's eyes darkened.

It's not just the Three Souls Grass. A man who is not good at talking to others and is used to hiding himself in the dark, after picking up Qiao Ying, took the initiative to invite a Taoist priest to his home to perform a ritual.

This behavior is also very strange.

Judging from Wu Sanshan's life before he met Qiao Ying, he obviously didn't want to attract other people's attention.

After his veil was lifted up by a child as a prank, Wu Sanshan buried his face in the fish basket and did not go home until there was no one on the street. After that, he would rather suffer a loss and get less money from fishing than go to the market to sell fish himself.

Can this sudden change in behavior be changed simply by picking up Qiao Ying?

When he turned around, he happened to meet Qiao Ying's eyes. Qiao Ying looked at Lin Lezhi with an innocent smile and made a 'hush' gesture with her fingers, with a very serious expression.

Village Chief Wang seemed to wake up suddenly after hearing what Lin Lezhi said. He looked at Lin Lezhi and said, "After hearing what you said, I think back to when Wu Sanshan left two months ago. There were indeed many doubts. I also wondered where he heard it from."

"Three days ago, I was cleaning my yard. Wu Sanshan happened to come back from town with Qiao Ying after selling fish. He came back earlier than usual, but he didn't mention anything about the Three Soul Grass. He didn't look happy either. It was three days later that he went out again."

"I still remember that Village Chief Wang said that Wu Sanshan looked very flustered when he left. It was obviously cold weather and he had just left home early in the morning, but he was sweating all over."

"Yes, that's right. Before I had the chance to ask in detail, Wu Sanshan left in a hurry." After saying that, Village Chief Wang sighed.

"Could it be that he is afraid that his enemies will come to him?" After thinking about it, Liu Yunhe expressed his speculation.

"Village Chief Wang said that he left the market very early that day, looking worried. He stayed at home for three days and did not go out. When he went out again, he looked panicked."

"He may have wanted to hide at home, but he was afraid that his enemies would come looking for him, so he made up the story about the Three Souls Grass, threw Qiao Ying to Village Chief Wang, and fled far away."

"Maybe this is the reason why he has been hiding his face from people before. Otherwise, why did he hide his true face in Haibei Village and change his name?"

Guo Yong listened carefully to Liu Yunhe's analysis and nodded in agreement. This possibility was indeed the greatest.

"If not, how do we explain the headless skeleton in the coffin?"

"Wait a minute, Brother Liu, the more I listen, the more confused I become..."

Guo Yong could understand the first half, but the more he thought about Liu Yunhe's last sentence, the more confused he became. He said with a confused look on his face, "The items in the coffin must be at least a hundred years old. Even if someone was killed, it must have been Wu Sanshan's ancestors. Could it be a feud?"

"Brother Guo, you don't know that the objects in the coffin are indeed from a hundred years ago, but the bones in the coffin are not. The bones we saw are not the original owner of the coffin."

Lin Lezhi reiterated the suspicious points he discovered last night in front of everyone.

After hearing this, Guo Yong suddenly realized, "So that's how it is. Wu Sanshan really did kill someone. And according to what Brother Lin said, the body is brown, and it has been buried in the ground for quite some time."

"At least ten years." Lin Lezhi looked at Guo Yong and responded indifferently.

"At least ten years..." Deng Yang repeated these four words, then raised his head and said in panic: "At least ten years... That's when the people of Huaifeng Village disappeared eleven years ago."

Lin Lezhi walked slowly towards Deng Yang and nodded slightly in greeting with appropriate courtesy.

Lin Lezhi said respectfully, "Brother Deng has the most experience in participating in the Lantern Festival among those present. I was just thinking of asking Brother Deng about this. Could you give me some advice?"

Deng Yang nodded somewhat woodenly, and said in a panic: "Sir, just ask whatever you want to ask..."

Lin Lezhi paused for a moment, then said with a serious look in his eyes, "When the boat was about to return to the dock, I heard from the people around me that at the Lantern Festival eleven years ago, none of the lanterns on the boat were lit. Is that true?"

Deng Yang nodded quickly and said, "That's true. Every year I pull the boat back to the front of the pier, but because all the lanterns on the lantern boat went out that year, I remember it very clearly."

"After jumping onto the boat, I checked from front to back and found that none of the lanterns were lit."

Deng Yang looked more and more uneasy as he spoke, but he continued, "It was after that that we discovered that the people of Huaifeng Village no longer had any dealings with us. Later, it was County Magistrate Chang who personally led the yamen runners to the lake island to check, and only then did he discover that all the people of Huaifeng Village had disappeared for no reason."

"Because this happened during the Ghost Festival, just thinking about it made me feel that this was something evil, and everyone was uneasy for a long time. The Lantern Festival was also suspended for a while, and then... it was slowly resumed."

Hong Mingxu frowned, looked at Cheng Su with a serious face and said: "General, is it true as County Magistrate Chang said that there are still people alive on the lake island, and they came back to seek revenge on Wu Sanshan because Wu Sanshan stole treasures and killed people?"

"It has been more than ten years since this happened, and Wu Sanshan is now dead. It is difficult to draw a conclusion based on speculation alone. Only by finding the murderer who killed Wu Sanshan can we find the truth behind it."

Cheng Su's eyes darkened and he looked in the direction of the lake island. The lake island was hidden behind the mist, just like in this case, its appearance could not be seen clearly.

Slowly, Cheng Su turned to look at Lin Lezhi and asked in a deep voice: "Am I right, Lin Lezhi?"

Although he had not had much contact with Lin Lezhi, only meeting him a few times, he remembered the name Lin Lezhi.

Lin Lezhi smiled awkwardly, then bowed and said, "That's exactly what the general said."

Cheng Su turned to look at Jiang Lian'an and said, "There are more people who can solve this case than just Detective Jiang Gui. Detective Jiang Gui has really found a good helper for me."

At this moment, Lin Lezhi wished he could hit himself on the head.

As expected, I shouldn't have rushed to the front. I should have led Jiang Lian'an to see.

But after listening to Wu Sanshan's experience, for some reason, he rushed out in a fit of anger.

Jiang Lian'an nodded slightly and agreed with a smile: "Mr. Lin is indeed thoughtful and intelligent."

"I am deeply ashamed to receive the praise from General and Inspector Jiang Gui. I still need to ask General Cheng and Inspector Jiang Gui for advice. If Inspector Jiang Gui had looked at the boat first, he would have definitely discovered something suspicious."

"Well, the two of you should stop being so modest to each other. With the two of you and so many capable people helping you, this trip to the lake island will definitely help us find out the truth and restore peace to the people."

"We are willing to serve the general." Everyone shouted in unison.

As the sky grew brighter, the mist floating on the lake gradually dissipated, and the lake island gradually emerged.

On one side of the lake island, a wisp of green smoke slowly rose.

Extending straight into the air.