The First Venerable of the Prosperous Age

The matter here was temporarily settled. Chang'an waved goodbye, and on his way back, he heard a commotion coming from afar.

The luxurious mansion they had seen upon arrival was now completely surrounded by soldiers, with servants and maids trapped in the middle, wailing and crying loudly.

Chang'an wondered, "Isn't this where Sister Gongsun came from? What on earth happened?"

He leaped into the air with his light-footed skill. Outside the mansion, there was a commotion, but inside the courtyard, there was complete silence. Even though candles were lit inside the house, the air was filled with a deathly atmosphere.

Suddenly, a strange sound came from the bushes behind them.

When the noise stopped, Chang'an had already darted to the bushes and picked up the trembling servant.

The servant, dressed in tattered, dirty, and smelly clothes, pleaded, "Have mercy, good sir! Have mercy! I'm just a horse groom, it has nothing to do with me!"

Chang'an laughed and said, "The heroes are all out there bullying the servants. By the way, why don't you go outside and cry with them?"

"I...I'm afraid the officers will arrest me..."

Chang'an asked, "What happened?"

The coachman cried out in terror, "Lord Guo...Lord Guo and his family...all died...unnatural deaths overnight!"

Seeing the other person's lingering fear, Chang'an's eyes flashed: "Died a violent death?"

The coachman's face showed horror. "His entire family, young and old, all died silently overnight. The maid who served him in bed woke up to find Lord Guo's body beside her, and she fainted from fright..."

"A bedchamber maid?? Lord Guo?"

Chang'an laughed and said, "It seems that this murderer is not only highly skilled, but also a person who clearly distinguishes between love and hate."

The coachman exclaimed in horror, "Everyone related to Lord Guo has been slaughtered..."

Chang'an said, "Could it be someone from within the manor who did it? Otherwise, how would he know who should and shouldn't be killed?"

Suddenly, flames flickered, and in the distance, a large crowd of soldiers were running toward them in formation.

Seeing this, the coachman started trembling again. Chang'an covered his mouth and they crouched down in the bushes together.

In the center of the courtyard, the leading sergeant gave an order, "You guys, go check this area again to see if there's anything we've missed."

"Yes!" came the reply, and the soldiers scattered.

Not long after, a soldier ran up and said, "We've investigated everything. Every victim had a very narrow, fatal wound in their throat. There were no other wounds."

The captain nodded. "Is there anything else?"

The soldier then pulled out a red letter from his pocket, with a red flower tucked into the envelope.

The captain opened the letter and read it, his brows gradually furrowing, and finally, his expression changed slightly:

"How could Granny Gongsun, who appears dignified and reserved during the day, write letters and secretly meet with Inspector Guo at night?"

"Could it be!?"

The soldier added, "It's also very possible that it was a deliberate frame-up."

"That's right, but we can't rule out her suspicion yet."

Chang'an knew that this was unlikely to be a frame-up, because he had just seen Gongsun Da Niang sneaking out of the mansion.

Moreover, the victim's wounds were extremely shallow, yet fatal with a single blow, clearly indicating that he was killed by an extremely thin and sharp weapon.

Isn't that the sword she used?

Besides, isn't this Lord Guo, or Patrolman Guo, just a greasy, fat man who deliberately caused her trouble during the day and even tried to bully her?

At this point, the soldier continued, "What should be done with the servants and female slaves in the manor? Should they be released?"

The captain suddenly turned fierce: "Take them all back and interrogate them severely. The magistrate said that if we can't catch the murderer, we'll have to use them as scapegoats!"

"Ah!" the coachman exclaimed in surprise upon hearing this.

"Who goes there!?" The soldier drew his long sword and ran quickly toward the bushes.

The captain simply stood there with his hands behind his back, watching with a gloomy expression.

He saw that as soon as the soldier approached the bushes, he was immediately pulled into them by a mysterious force, and after a muffled thud, there was no further movement.

The captain's expression changed drastically, and he shouted, "Quick, someone come! There's a thief!"

The courtyard was small, and in no time, the soldiers quickly returned.

But now there are only locust leaves swirling in the wind in the courtyard, and no one is in sight.

Blood-red leaves, blood-stained wind.

Following the scent of blood, they parted the nearby bushes and finally found the soldier, covered in blood and trembling. Beside him lay the brave captain, his head severed from his body, lying quietly in a pool of blood.

The poor alley outside the mansion wasn't so bloody. Although there was no one there at the moment, the smell in the air was enough to evoke images of disease, toil, hunger, and pain!

The alley and the mansion were originally separated by an insurmountable wall, but now, the wall seems to have cracked, allowing the two places to have some connection.

The groom has now passed through that wall and left that place that never belonged to him.

He was now about to kneel in this filthy, foul-smelling, yet somehow welcoming alley, pleading repeatedly:

"Hero! Young hero! Your martial arts are so high, please, save them!"

Chang'an didn't speak, but gently pushed him, causing him to sit back down on the ground. Then he sat down himself and laughed:

"You seem to be in such a hurry, could it be that your lover is in there?"

The stable boy's face quickly turned red: "This...this...I..."

Chang'an patted him on the shoulder: "If you're sure she's not a liar, then you should cherish her. After all, there are very few women in this world who are willing to follow their husbands wherever they go."

He added with a smile, "Of course, don't get me wrong, I didn't mean to offend you at all."

The coachman said with a wry smile, "Hey, what's this? Haven't I suffered enough humiliation at the Guo residence?"

After saying that, he even tried to kneel down again. In his mind, kneeling seemed to be the only way to face power.

"I only beg you, young hero, to save them from this predicament. If they are captured and tortured, they may have no way to survive."

Chang'an said, "Of course I will go to save them, and you don't need to kneel down to me."

"That's wonderful, thank you so much, hero! Thank you so much, hero!"

The coachman's face was full of anticipation; he wished Chang'an could sprout wings right now so he could immediately rescue his precious child from the government's clutches.

Chang'an sighed and said, "If I were to intervene now, I would not be saving them, but killing them."

The coachman's smile froze. "What... is that?"

Chang'an replied, "If we take action now, it would be tantamount to accusing them of fleeing from justice. For them, the days ahead of them, hiding and barely able to move, will not be easy."

"Then... what should we do?" The burning light in the coachman's eyes began to fade.

Chang'an said, "There is only one way to rescue them and let them live openly and honestly."

"That is to find the real culprit."

Chang'an didn't want to get involved in this mess, but since it involved Gongsun Da Niang, and he had already righteously agreed to it, he couldn't go back on his word halfway.

Now he has returned to the stage during the day, but Gongsun Da Niang is nowhere to be seen.

Chang'an could only frown and return to the Du residence with a heart full of doubts.

After confirming that his senior and junior sisters were sound asleep, he returned to his room, thought about many things, and then slowly closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Because he went to bed late, he was woken up by the noise outside.

He got up, opened the door, and found a large group of people already surrounding the house.

Leading the group was, of course, the smiling old steward, with a young Du Fu standing beside him, looking utterly ashamed.

The man who was putting his hand on Du Fu's shoulder was wearing a round-necked noble robe, with a refined and elegant demeanor, yet he was also dignified.

His face was thin and lean. Beneath his relaxed eyelids, a pair of cloudy yet sharp glasses possessed a sharp edge, and his gaze revealed the authority of a superior.

This must be Du Fu's father: Du Xianle.

Du Xian slowly spoke: "Was that knife by the door the one you stuck there?"

Seeing the old steward's wicked smile, Chang'an finally understood:

Since I can bribe him with money, he can naturally betray me for greater benefits.

The old steward only needed to embellish his greedy behavior to make it seem like he was helping his master catch a thief and thus making a greater contribution.

Chang'an shook his head and smiled bitterly: "That's right, we're the ones who stuck the knife there."

Du Xian coldly replied, "Oh, could it be that you possess superhuman strength, young friend?"

"I don't deserve it, I don't deserve it," Chang'an replied casually, but his eyes were searching for Jiang Xiaotao.

Hua Chan was still asleep, but her junior sister was an extremely unstable factor.

He suddenly noticed that his junior sister was behind the crowd, engrossed in doing something.

Gradually, the atmosphere at the scene underwent some subtle changes.

With a "thump," a large group of people knelt down in front of her, revealing Jiang Xiaotao, who was engrossed in eating candied hawthorns.

Chang'an was utterly shocked!

It turns out that the people inside the wall are the ones who are most willing to kneel.