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

It was not until dawn the next day that the two men came out of the basement. Their eyes, looking through the crack in the door, were red and bloodshot.

The bloodshot eyes and the bruises under the eyes proved that the two had not slept all night.

The area around Xing Tianqi's eyes was still red and swollen. He should have been sleepy, but he was unusually clear-headed. He stared at the situation outside the house without blinking, his eyeballs moving all the time, and he held the knife tightly in his hand.

After confirming that there was no movement in the courtyard, the two carefully opened the door and came to the courtyard. The first thing Xing Tianqi wanted to do was to go to the place where his family was killed to confirm it.

Li Weisheng grabbed Xing Tianqi in time and said, "Tianqi, don't go yet." Li Weisheng looked around, then looked at Xing Tianqi and said, "Follow me!"

Li Weisheng took Xing Tianqi to his room and asked him to change into his own clothes so that it would not be too obvious.

While Xing Tianqi was changing clothes, Li Weisheng secretly put the jade pendant that Xing Tianqi had placed on the table into his own arms.

Including the knife.

When Xing Tianqi looked over, Li Weisheng picked up Xing Tianqi's clothes, took a few quick steps and put them into the cabinet beside him.

"Put it away so it won't be easily discovered."

Looking at Li Weisheng, who was busy running around for him and was still a little flustered, Xing Tianqi's eyes were full of guilt.

"Weisheng..." Xing Tianqi hesitated to speak.

Li Weisheng closed the cabinet and pretended nothing had happened, saying, "What's wrong, Tianqi?"

"I'm sorry for last night. I shouldn't have lost my temper with you. And since these people are coming for our house, this matter has nothing to do with you. You'd better leave. I can't involve you. I..."

"Tianqi, stop talking. A man will die for his friend. We are friends. No matter what, I will not let you face all this alone."

"Can……"

Li Weisheng pushed Xing Tianqi's shoulders and walked outside, saying as he walked: "Okay, this is settled. If you refuse again, you don't consider me a friend."

Before leaving, Li Weisheng closed the door and looked at the furnishings in the room again. There was everything in the room, all prepared by Tianqi for him.

The two went to the scene where the Xing family was brutally murdered last night.

But not only was there no corpse on the ground, even the bloodstains had disappeared without a trace.

Looking at the clean ground, Xing Tianqi said in disbelief: "How could this happen..."

Li Weisheng squatted on the ground and looked carefully, and finally found a clue in a crack between the bricks.

"Tianqi, look here!"

Xing Tianqi looked in the direction Li Weisheng mentioned and found bloodstains that had not yet been cleaned in the cracks between the bricks.

This means that what happened last night was not a dream.

Xing Tianqi staggered several steps, but fortunately Li Weisheng stood up in time and supported Xing Tianqi, so Xing Tianqi did not fall to the ground.

Li Weisheng looked to the side, knowing that this was not a place to stay for long. Li Weisheng pulled Xing Tianqi's wrist and said, "Let's leave here first and then make a long-term plan."

Then he took Xing Tianqi and left through the side door of the house.

Afraid that Tianqi would be hungry, Li Weisheng went to buy some food. Xing Tianqi looked at the buns in front of him but had no appetite at all. He had no idea what to do next.

Since Xing Tianqi didn't eat it, Li Weisheng naturally wouldn't eat it either. He just sat quietly beside Xing Tianqi.

The two men hid in a corner of the town until noon.

Suddenly, I heard the voices of people talking.

"Oh no! I heard that everyone in that nameless mansion disappeared overnight. They are nowhere to be found in the entire Zhouqing Town. Could it be a haunted house?"

Someone mentioned what happened in the house. The two of them looked up and looked at each other. In order to hear clearly what the people were talking about, they hid in the corner and moved closer.

"It shouldn't be a haunted house. It seems that someone in the mansion colluded with the thieves outside and dug a hole in the corner of the house in an attempt to seize the property of that family. They have been caught by the government and executed on the spot."

"I've heard about this, too. I heard it was a little kid with a message carved on his forehead. That scene..." The beggar shook himself and said with a look of fear, "It's scary just to think about it. I'd better not go there recently."

As soon as the words fell, the two heard a "clang" sound, which was the sound of a bucket falling and spilling.

Then they heard the panicked voice of a young man, as if he wanted to confirm something, and he urgently asked about the words engraved on the child's forehead.

But there was no response.

The little boy had words carved on his forehead, and the two of them thought of Cao An in the mansion. When Cao An came to the mansion to apply for the recruitment of servants, he specifically asked Xing Tianqi if he could work in the mansion since he had a scar on his forehead.

Xing Tianqi had seen that word before, a humiliating word.

Xing Tianqi didn't mind the scar, but he felt a little sad about what happened to the child. He was not much younger than himself, but he had to suffer so much.

Looking at Cao An's uneasy and flustered eyes, Xing Tianqi didn't think for long and recruited Cao An.

"It's just a scar. It won't affect your work. Leave it as it is."

At first, Cao An thought he had no chance again, and wanted to leave dejectedly. But after a few seconds, his eyes lit up, and he looked at Xing Tianqi with a pair of shining eyes and said, "Really...really? Are you really willing to use me?"

"Yes, you heard it right. Go over there and record your identity."

"Thank you, Master! Thank you, thank you!"

Xing Tianqi still can't forget Cao An's eyes full of gratitude.

After Cao An became a servant in the house, he was the most active in doing work. He was always the first to rush to do the dirty and tiring work that others were unwilling to do, and no matter how tired he was, he always had a smile on his face.

When in front of everyone, no matter how hot the weather was, he would just let the sweat pour down and never lift his hair from his forehead.

The sound of running interrupted Xing Tianqi's memories. The young man ran towards the house like crazy, leaving behind the scolding of the customers, and stumbled all over.

Seeing this, the two men followed and saw the second in command standing at the door of the house with blood on his knife.

A commoner who came out of the house and passed by the two men said, "That boy is so pitiful. I think he is only about 11 or 12 years old. His life has ended before it even began."

"I think you shouldn't feel sorry for him. If he really colluded with the outsiders, he would be a treacherous and evildoer. He will be punished in hell!"

The man then joked, "If someone like this colludes with outsiders comes to your house someday, I'll see if you can still laugh."

"Pah, pah, pah, you crow's mouth, could you please say something nice and hope I'll do you a good thing?"

"Okay, let's stop talking. I'll just invite you to my restaurant for dinner. That should be fine, right?"

"That's pretty much it, let's go."

The words of the two people once again shattered Xing Tianqi's faith.

Looking at the bloodstains on the long knife, Xing Tianqi recalled everything that happened last night. Xing Tianqi knew very well that all the murderers were recruited by him.

The boy was wrongly accused and was just a scapegoat they used to cover up the evidence. It was he who harmed the boy named Cao An. It was all because of him.

It's all my fault!

Thinking of this, Xing Tianqi clenched his fists and kept muttering, "It's all me, it's all me..."

The tall second in command saw the two people with strange expressions through the crowd. He lowered his head and whispered a few words in Yan Jingyi's ear, then walked towards the two people.

Li Weisheng noticed that the second in command was walking towards them, and quickly shook Xing Tianqi's arm and said, "Tianqi, run!"

Hearing Li Weisheng calling his name, Xing Tianqi looked at Li Weisheng, his eyes filled with grief and confusion.

Li Weisheng knew that Xing Tianqi was already trapped in his emotions and would find it difficult to get out of it for a while, so he made a prompt decision, grabbed Xing Tianqi's hand and ran in the opposite direction.

The two men ran out of breath. When they ran to a forest, they could not run anymore and there was no place to hide nearby. If they continued like this, it would be essentially the same as last night. They would both die, not to mention revenge.

But the second in command had never seen them before, so he could only take a gamble.

Li Weisheng grabbed Xing Tianqi's shoulders and said with a firm and serious look: "Tianqi, if we continue like this, we will all die. We must run separately, so that one of us will always find a chance to survive."

"no!"

Li Weisheng raised his hand and swore, "I swear, no matter which of us survives, we will make sure the truth of this injustice is revealed and avenge them!"

"Besides, maybe this way, we can both survive."

Xing Tianqi calmed down and thought about it, perhaps this was the best way. Their target was him, and as long as he died, they would not make things difficult for Weisheng.

Anyway, all the people in the Xing family are dead, and he doesn’t understand what the meaning of his life is in this world.

You don't have to carry those heavy things even when you die.

Xing Tianqi smiled, nodded and responded: "Okay, we both have to survive."

After making the decision, the two of them ran away. Looking at Xing Tianqi's receding back, Li Weisheng smiled, then took out the pendant belonging to Xing Tianqi from his arms and put it around his waist.

He clenched the spice knife in his hand and ran in the other direction without looking back.

The second in command, seeing the two men running away separately, his eyes fell on the jade pendant on Li Weisheng's waist. He had asked Yan Jingyi about this when he chased them out just now.

Yan Jingyi said that there was a jade pendant on Xing Tianqi's waist that was made of the same material as the jade seal, which was very easy to identify.

The second in command's eyes darkened and he chased in the direction of Li Weisheng.

Seeing the man chasing him, Li Weisheng felt relieved and ran even faster.

Li Weisheng knew that he was not Xing Tianqi. He knew very little about the Xing family and did not know what Xing Tianqi was carrying. But Li Weisheng knew it must be something he could not bear.

Otherwise, the Xing family would not have suffered such a tragic event.

My parents died to protect me, and when the cloud arrows were shot, they protected me under their bodies. I stayed in the Xing family, and maybe it was really me who brought my own bad luck to such a good family.

They should be fine.

When he could hardly run anymore, Li Weisheng ran towards the river. The second in command also caught up with him and pointed the bloody long knife in his hand at Li Weisheng.

The second in command chased such a long distance, his breath was a little unstable: "Run again, why don't you run!"

Li Weisheng looked like he was about to pass out, but he propped his hands on his knees and said indifferently, "If you can't run, then naturally you won't run. It's so tiring to keep running. Aren't you tired?"

The second in command snorted coldly, waved the knife in his hand and said: "In this case, I will let you rest forever!"

"Don't!" Li Weisheng stopped the second in command with a look of disgust, then straightened his back and said, "Even if I die, I, Xing Tianqi, will never die at the hands of dirty people like you!"

After saying that, Li Weisheng slashed his neck with the spice knife in his hand. Blood gushed out. Then Li Weisheng controlled his body and lay down on the river.

Only in this way can we buy more time for Tianqi.

The action was so fast that even the second in command was surprised.

I just kept running and had no chance to stop and rest, nor did I have time to think about anything else.

When he fell down, Li Weisheng's brain became free, and many images and thoughts flashed rapidly.

When I was young and carefree, I was praised by everyone in the village for my good knowledge. Word of mouth spread and I gained a good reputation.

My parents asked me to study hard and not do farm work.

There were many moments when Li Weisheng felt that he was a child of destiny.

However, due to the war, in order to save their own lives, my parents used their own flesh and blood to block the incoming arrows, and countless people in the village were killed or injured.

Li Weisheng cried bitterly while holding the bodies of his parents.

At that moment, Li Weisheng realized that knowledge was useless. He could not save his parents, nor could he save the people in the village. He could only watch everyone fall in front of him, covered in blood.

The once peaceful village was soon littered with corpses.

Because of his status as a talented man, Li Weisheng did not end up as a refugee.

Li Weisheng thought he could make a name for himself with his knowledge, but once he left the village, he had no money and no power, so others would not look up to him just because of his knowledge, and would even laugh at him.

When I was copying books, I would occasionally hear the master's family laughing at me secretly.

Useless is a scholar.

Is it because life is too short? So there doesn't seem to be much to reminisce about.

In fact, most of them are sad.

When I think about it this way, it seems that nothing in life is happy, so I always feel depressed.

No, there are still happy things, such as my acquaintance with Xing Tianqi.

The happiest memory recently is being with Tianqi, going to see the beautiful mountains and rivers of Northern Qi together, rowing a boat together and talking about the future. It was so carefree.

How could Li Weisheng not know that Xing Tianqi asked him to copy books in order to preserve his dignity as a scholar, and that he was the only person who treated him sincerely and believed that he could pass the exam and display his talents.

Li Weisheng fell into the water, creating a splash.

I thought cutting my neck would be very painful, but it turned out to be just like that. It was not as painful as the freezing cold of the river water or the impact of my body hitting the rocks.

Before he completely lost consciousness, Li Weisheng suddenly wanted to laugh happily, but he couldn't laugh anymore.

Tianqi, you are wrong.

Who said...I can't be your...