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

"A... small bamboo stick?"

Jiang Lian'an looked at the small bamboo stick in Lin Lezhi's hand. He was a little confused at first, but after taking a closer look, he thought, "I seem to have seen this small bamboo stick somewhere."

Jiang Lian'an thought for only a moment, then his eyes tightened and he said, "It's those puppets!"

"Yes, help me get it."

Lin Lezhi naturally stuffed the thin bamboo stick in his hand into Xiao Yihuo's hand, and then buried his head in the crackling tiles around him and started searching.

Jiang Lian'an watched the actions of the two people and looked thoughtful.

After finally finding two relatively intact tiles, Lin Lezhi stood up from the rubble, held the tiles in his hand in front of the two people and said, "I just found that the tiles on the roof are different."

"different?"

"Yes." Lin Lezhi held up the tile on his right hand and said, "Look at the surface of this tile. Isn't it darker than the other tile?"

After looking at it carefully, Jiang Lian'an nodded and said, "That's true."

"It has been eleven years since the disappearance of Huaifeng Village. During these eleven years, except for the period immediately after the incident, the Lantern Festival in Pinghai Town has been held as scheduled."

"Therefore, there are many lanterns on the shore of the lake island. The frames of the lanterns are made of wood or bamboo strips, supplemented with cotton thread and paste. If no one cleans them for a long time, the lantern frames soaked in the lake water will grow mold spots due to being soaked in water, and the paper stuck on them will also be broken."

Jiang Lian'an thought carefully and said, "Although it is dilapidated, it does not affect its use. Since it can be made into a doll, it can naturally be made into something like a paper lantern. Huaifeng Village is built on the mountain. When the night falls, it looks like the lights of Huaifeng Village are on when you look from the other side of the lake in the distance."

"Yes, we only need to burn the paper lanterns at dawn, and those who come to search the island will find nothing. It will be like a haunted place. However, Huaifeng Village has been uninhabited for eleven years, and the tiles on the roof have been in disrepair for a long time. After the fire, the color of the tiles darkened and became brittle, making the tiles even more unstable. This is why we fell off the roof."

"Do not."

Xiao Yihuo suddenly objected, which stunned Jiang Lian'an and Lin Lezhi. Then Xiao Yihuo gently turned the thin bamboo stick in his hand and corrected him: "You are the only one who fell down."

I thought Xiao Yihuo could really say something useful, but it turned out that he just wanted to insult me.

This kid feels uncomfortable if he doesn't say something bad about himself every day.

"Yes, Mr. Xiao is right, it's just me."

Lin Lezhi gritted his teeth and forced a stiff smile, secretly telling himself to keep a calm mind, but the look he gave Xiao Yihuo showed no intention of backing down.

The two people seemed to be competing with each other.

Lin Lezhi smiled, but still couldn't help but retorted: "However, this is just my speculation. Mr. Xiao is so powerful, why don't you go to other roofs to see if the roofs elsewhere are the same as I said.

Xiao Yihuo glanced at Lin Lezhi, with no emotion in his eyes, and without saying anything else, he walked towards the outside of the house.

"I'll go help Brother Xiao too. It will be faster if we have two of us."

Seeing this, Jiang Lian'an spoke up and followed him out.

Lin Lezhi originally wanted to make Xiao Yihuo unhappy. He thought that with Xiao Yihuo's temper, even if he would do as he said, he would have a somewhat reluctant expression on his face.

But Xiao Yihuo did not behave as he expected. Instead, the corners of his mouth slightly raised when he passed by him.

He really couldn't understand Xiao Yihuo more and more.

Not long after, the two men came back from outside. Jiang Lian'an was holding a few tiles in his hand, and Xiao Yihuo was holding the thin bamboo stick that Lin Lezhi had stuffed into his hand before.

"Brother Lin's inference is correct. Brother Xiao and I have checked and found that the roofs of the village have traces of being burned, and there are traces of wax left on some tiles."

As he spoke, Jiang Lian'an handed the tile in his hand to Lin Lezhi, and sure enough, there were traces of wax flowing on the tile.

"I wonder... can you two answer a question I have?"

Lin Lezhi was staring at the tiles intently, while Xiao Yihuo stood aside without saying a word. Jiang Lian'an glanced around at the two people standing on both sides and suddenly asked.

Lin Lezhi pulled himself off the tile, looked at Jiang Lian'an and said, "What does Detective Jiang Gui want to ask? Is it about the case?"

"It's not about the case." Jiang Lian'an shook his head slightly, then looked at the two people with curious expressions and asked with certainty: "You two said before that you didn't know each other before coming to Qujiang County. Is that a lie?"

Hearing this, Lin Lezhi looked a little embarrassed, and tried to keep a calm tone and asked, "Why does Detective Jiang think so?"

“It’s just the feeling down there.”

"Feel……?"

"Yes." Jiang Lian'an smiled and continued, "First, you said that you two are not familiar with each other, but your words and actions are very natural to each other. You have never treated each other with courtesy, but instead often bickered. This is something that people who are not familiar with each other would never do."

"Secondly, Young Master Liu is clearly a friend of Brother Xiao and Brother Qingchuan, but he trusts Brother Lin very much and is also very concerned about Brother Lin, and Brother Xiao and Brother Qingchuan have no objection to this."

"There is a third one." Jiang Lian'an looked at the peace knot on Lin Lezhi's waist and said with a smile: "You two both have the same style of peace knot tied on your body. There are many styles of peace knots, but the small and exquisite peace knots like yours are rare. Moreover, the materials and weaving methods are exactly the same. Even if you didn't buy them together, you must have bought them in the same place."

"I don't know...are the feelings I'm talking about correct?"

As he spoke, Jiang Lian'an's inquiring gaze wandered over the two of them, with a faint smile on his lips.

Lin Lezhi subconsciously looked at Xiao Yihuo who was standing beside him, but Xiao Yihuo seemed to be detached from the crowd. He put his hand on his waist, with visible disappointment in his eyes.

When he saw Lin Lezhi looking at him, Xiao Yihuo moved his hands away from his waist and looked away.

What's going on? Normally, when someone talks back at me, don't they always have a bunch of words waiting for me?

Why are you so listless now?

"Just as Detective Jiang Gui said, we did meet a few times before coming to Qujiang County. We have some acquaintance but not much. We didn't expect to meet again here."

"I see. Meeting again means we are destined to be together. If you two don't want others to know about your relationship, I won't say anything more."

"There's nothing that shouldn't be known, it's just that we had some misunderstandings before, but now the misunderstandings are resolved, right, Xiao Xu."

Lin Lezhi winked at Xiao Yihuo, and Xiao Yihuo responded with a short and dull "hmm".

"It's good that they are all untied." Jiang Lian'an suddenly remembered something and looked at Lin Lezhi's left arm, and asked with concern: "By the way, I forgot to ask Brother Lin, is the injury on your left arm better?"

As he spoke, Jiang Lian'an walked forward and wanted to check the condition of Lin Lezhi's arm.

Sensing Jiang Lian'an's intention, he pretended to move away casually the moment Jiang Lian'an stepped forward, shook his left arm and said with a smile: "I'm almost well now. I have to thank Jiang Guitan for the medicine bag."

"To be honest, if it weren't for my brother Lin, the injury wouldn't have been aggravated."

The smoke-cloud scar on the inside of his left arm was no longer completely covered. If Jiang Lian'an saw it at this moment, he would be in big trouble.

"It's just a minor injury, nothing serious."

As he spoke, Lin Lezhi looked up through the rotten roof at the floating fog outside, then looked at the two of them and said, "The fog is beginning to dissipate. We should go back as soon as possible and report the situation here."

Immediately, the three of them rushed back to Huaifeng Village.

When the three men arrived, the group led by Cheng Su had already returned to the village and saw the bodies of the two soldiers who had died at the hands of poisonous snakes.

After hearing Jiang Lian'an's story about the other Huaifeng Village, Cheng Su became furious and vowed to catch the murderer to comfort those who died unjustly. He also ordered his men to set off more signal smoke to help those who were lost to find their location.

As the fog gradually dissipated, the large amount of rising smoke became more and more obvious. After an hour and a half, the people who were lost in the forest also returned to the village one after another, following the abandoned objects and smoke in the forest.

The group led by Qingchuan and Liu Yunhe also returned to the village after an incense stick of time.

When they saw Xiao Yihuo and Lin Lezhi, their first reaction was not joy at knowing that they were safe and sound, but rather they were stunned and looked incredulous.

Liu Yunhe widened his eyes and blinked a few times, thinking that he was seeing things.

After rubbing them several times and confirming their clothes several times, Liu Yunhe's eyes widened even wider, with deep surprise in his eyes.