A piece of Japanese incense

The door of the Huang family mansion was closed, and the paint on it had peeled off, revealing the wood texture underneath.

The door had become loose due to the previous forced entry by the government. After tearing off the seal, a light push could feel that it was shaky.

"At that time, Old Huang and his son were lying here." Uncle Zhong pointed to the two pools of old blood outside the door and said slowly.

Stepping into the courtyard, the stone road was covered with moss, and there were hemp ropes scattered in the middle, accompanied by a few bloodstains.

"Her husband is here, and her daughter-in-law is over there!" Uncle Zhong continued to point out the locations of the other two bodies.

As you walk into the house, a cold breath hits you in the face, making you shiver.

The furniture and furnishings inside the house were all old and covered with thick dust. Spider webs could even be seen in some corners. The calligraphy and paintings on the walls had faded, and the words were blurred, as if telling the past.

The whole house was filled with a quiet and desolate atmosphere, as if time had stopped here. Occasionally, the wind would blow, making a humming sound, which made people feel fear and uneasiness.

The tiles on the lobby roof were incomplete, and daylight was filtering through. A large section had collapsed, which must be where the young man fell.

We did a cursory search but found nothing unusual.

"Have they found any clues in all this time?" I asked casually.

"I only questioned a few relatives and friends who had contact with him that month, as well as the guys in the blacksmith shop, and found nothing suspicious." My uncle answered indifferently.

I walked into a room. The first thing that caught my eye was a carved mahogany bed covered with exquisite embroidered sheets and pillows. There was a dressing mirror and cosmetics on the bedside table. There were some paintings and calligraphy and decorations hanging on the walls, and there were several pots of green plants and flowers on the windowsill.

"Is this my granddaughter's boudoir?" Yu Nian stepped into the room and looked around curiously.

I picked up the dried petals that fell on the ground and nodded, "Yes, it should be. Her clothes and accessories are all there, and the room is tidy as usual..."

"Oh my! This is clearly a robbery!" Uncle Zhong's voice came from the next room.

Yu Nian and I hurried over. The room was in a mess, as if it had experienced a violent storm.

The furniture that had been in good order was now overturned and in disarray. The paintings on the wall were crooked and seemed ready to fall down at any moment. The floor was littered with debris, some of which had even been crushed.

"Could it be that the Huang family has been attacked by three hands?!" Uncle Zhong pounded his fist on his palm and said with a sigh.

"I don't think so. Taixing Lane is densely populated and lined with houses. It is adjacent to Qili Street and is lined with businesses. The Huang family is not a wealthy family. Once the thief shows up, he only needs to shout loudly to attract the attention of the neighbors. How could an entire family be murdered without any noise?" Yu Nian analyzed calmly.

My uncle smiled calmly, "Yes! Although the room is in a mess, the bed is still flat, and the pillows and quilts are neatly made. The bookcases and dressers have not been turned over. Only the wardrobe and these large boxes are in a mess. It seems that the thieves did not intend to steal."

I opened the makeup box and agreed, "The jewelry is still there, so it's obviously not stolen."

Yu Nian thought: "It seems more like someone is looking for something..."

My uncle added, "Since there are no signs of the small drawers being searched, only the large wardrobe and wooden boxes, it seems to me that they are looking for someone."

The door of the woodshed was half open. Yu Nian and his uncle walked in, crouching. The room was full of dry firewood. In the corner stood a few worn-out pottery jars covered with thick thatch.

There was only one closet, with a lock hanging on the damaged door and a lot of thatch inside.

Yu Nian picked up the pottery jar on the ground and looked at it carefully. He couldn't help but pondering, "Although the ground is covered with dust, it is only a thin layer. These pottery jars seem to have been taken out of the cupboard. On the other hand, the hay, appearing in the cupboard, is quite abrupt."

I reached out and pulled at the hay a few times. After listening to Yu Nian's words, I suddenly understood and shouted excitedly, "Someone must be hiding in the closet, and covering himself with hay!"

"That makes sense..." Uncle Zhong also agreed.

"What is this?"

I looked up and saw a jade ring lying quietly in my cousin's palm, its color deep and restrained.

I picked up the jade ring and touched its texture. It was hard and smooth. In the sunlight, it emitted a faint luster.

"There are writings inside!" My uncle stepped forward and pointed inside the ring.

I raised it above my head, facing the sunlight, and saw clearly a line of poetry inside, and slowly read: "Dense, color, autumn, wind, west, sun, setting? What does it mean?"

"The sun sets and the west wind blows, and the autumn colors are rich!" my cousin repeated calmly.

"Ah? I see~" I chuckled: "What does this sentence mean? Which poet wrote it?"

"The sun sets, the west wind blows, and the autumn colors are deep..." Yu Nian muttered to himself.

"It's Bai." said my uncle in a low voice.

"White? How did you know?" I looked confused.

"The setting sun means it's clearly below. The west wind means the west of the wind, and the west of the wind is a stroke. Yes! It's white!" Yu Nian's eyes flickered: "Brother Jinqi really hit the nail on the head!"

Uncle Zhong suddenly interrupted: "Bai... Oh! Oh, right! A few years ago, it seems that there was a person named Bai who came to the Huang family with a matchmaker to propose marriage, saying that he wanted to take Xiao Zhuer as a concubine?"

"Aren't you engaged?" I asked.

Uncle Zhong replied, "Oh, the Bai family is very powerful and has absolute power. Old Huang is a scholar and would never let his granddaughter become someone else's concubine, so he hastily arranged for Xiao Zhuer to marry someone else."

A name popped into my mind: "Bai family? Which family is it?"

"It's...some doctor's..."

"Doctor of the Ministry of War? Bai Xian!" Yu Nian and I said together.

Uncle Zhong nodded and said, "Yes, it's him!"

"It's him again!" Yu Nian frowned.

"But he only came once with drums and gongs, and was chased away by Old Yellowhead, and that was the end of it."

"Why do I feel that a scoundrel like Bai Xun is not the kind of person who would let things go?" I threw the jade ring to Yu Nian and wiped my hands.

"Old Huang is always worried and frightened, and he has not had a good New Year."

"Pei Du!" My uncle called a man with a sword and whispered a few words in his ear. The man then ran away like the wind, disappearing without a trace.

"Uncle Zhong, you've worked hard too. Let me take you home." My cousin helped Uncle Zhong out of the woodshed.

"Okay, Aqi, thank you for your concern."

Yu Nian and I returned to the main hall and looked around the courtyard.

"I'm afraid this girl named Xiaozhu is in great danger." Yu Nian said after thinking for a moment.

I pulled the dead skin on my mouth and responded vaguely: "What do you mean?"

"Based on the bloodstains in front of the door, there should be three people's blood. There are only four people in the yard. I think Miss Xiaozhu was taken away by others after she was injured."