outside the imperial city

Zhongyue City is also known as the City of Jiangdao.The reason why it is called this is because the city of Zhongyue is surrounded by a Qingfang River, which not only has beautiful scenery, but also makes the fishery of Zhongyue developed.

There are many fishing boats docked on the shore.Due to the occurrence of serial murders, there are fewer tourists visiting China and Vietnam, and these boatmen can receive fewer jobs, so they stop at the shore to joke with each other.

"Grandpa," a man in purple put away his net, "we didn't catch any fish."

"Really," the old man was wearing a bamboo hat, glanced at the net in the man's hand, and it was empty, "I can't help it, I can only go hungry for another day."

Under normal circumstances, people who live on the boat or on the shore can rely on the fish and shrimp in the Qingfang River to fill their stomachs.However, there are always a few days in a year when no one can fish, and the locals jokingly call these days "the wrath of Qingfang".

Zhang Man sighed at the thought of another day of hunger.It doesn't matter to me, it's just that Zhang Ziyi suffers with me too.

"Old man," a young man in a white gown came to the shore and greeted, "Can you give us a ride?"

Zhang Man looked up at them.Not to mention that he had a vague impression of this young man in white shirt, the young man behind him was too suspicious.With a sword at his waist and a veiled hat on his head, his right hand was tied into a rice dumpling with a bandage. Could it be that he was hiding something invisible?

Although the livelihood is hard to maintain, Zhang Man still can't risk his life, politely said: "Young master, I'm really sorry, I don't take passengers today. There are so many boatmen parked on the shore, the young master chooses another one."

After hearing Zhang Man's words, the other boatmen felt that there was something interesting, and shouted one by one: "Take my boat!" "Young master, come to me."

"No," the young man in white smiled slyly, "I just want to take your boat."

Without any secret signal, the two turned over and boarded the boat together with a tacit understanding.Jing Lingshuo landed on the bow of the boat, pulled out Wuhen, restrained Zhang Ziyi without much effort, and put the sword at his throat.

"sail."

The family has undergone great changes, and Zhang Ziyi has matured a lot.Although he didn't dare to defy him, he didn't panic either. He only stroked the oar lightly twice, and the boat swayed away the ripples and swam forward.

Yao Fanglan fell behind Zhang Man.Zhang Man felt that something was wrong, so he turned around quickly.Yao Fanglan immediately put an arrow on the bow.

As Jing Lishuo said, bows and arrows do not have an advantage in close combat.Zhang Man believed himself to be top-notch in physical skills, and was in a hurry to rescue Zhang Ziyi. He didn't pay attention to bows and arrows at all, and pushed forward with two fingers together.

"Yao Yao!" Seeing the full fingers approaching Yao Zanglan's veins, Jing Lishuo said urgently.

Yao Fanglan didn't panic, her eyes flashed brightly.The moment Zhang Man approached him, he decisively withdrew the arrow, and the long arrow spun around on his flexible fingers. After a few hits, the arrow hit the pulse of Zhang Man's neck.

Zhang Man moved his footsteps, wanting to bring Yao Fanglan into the water to fight, but he heard Yao Fanglan say: "Is this okay, Your Excellency is at stake."

Everyone stopped moving.There was a dead silence.

"You got it." Zhang Man stood up straight and gave up all his attacks, "I lost."

Yao Fanglan smiled and put the bow and arrow back into his sleeves.

"'My lord prince'?" Jing Shuo didn't let go, "Yao Yao, did you make a mistake?"

"Yeah. I made a mistake." Yao Fanglan said frankly, "It should be said, 'Empress Empress' eldest son'."

"Haha, you are Yao Fanglan, right?" Zhang Man laughed loudly, "As the rumors say, it is amazing. And that King Jinyuan, you can put down the purple clothes. If Zhang Man loses, he loses. Will never do it again.”

Jing Lishuo knew that Zhang Man said he was right, let go of Zhang Ziyi according to his words, went to Yao Zanglan's side, and asked, "What are you talking about?"

Zhang Man called Zhang Ziyi over: "It's just right, Young Master Yao should tell Zi Yi the truth. I've thought about it for a long time, but I don't know how to speak. Young Master Yao is extremely smart and slick, and he will definitely be able to explain things clearly. Thank you for your help."

Yao Zanglan patted the back of her head shyly: "I'm even ashamed of you praising me so much."

Jing Lishuo felt the veins popping up on his forehead after a long absence: "Yao Zanglan, be serious."

"Okay." Yao Fanglan said, "I'll start talking right away."

The four sat down in the awning of the fishing boat, and Zhang Man served a cup of tea for each of them.

As soon as he opened his mouth, Yao Fanglan became serious and his face darkened: "About 28 or [-] years ago, Yao Qingyun, the head of the Yao family, found a dying woman on the way home. The woman claimed to be Liu, and she was originally The daughter of a nobleman was kicked out of the house because she had an affair with a poor businessman and became pregnant with a child. When she was discovered, the child was about to be born. The Yao family has always been kind, so Yao Qingyun took the woman surnamed Liu back. Go home and deliver her.”

When saying this, Yao Fanglan clenched her hands tightly into fists, as if holding back something.Jing Lishuo's heart ached, and regardless of the presence of others, he attached his uninjured left hand to Yao Zanglan's, and gently wrapped his fist.

Feeling the warmth of Jing Lingshuo's palm, Yao Fanglan was stunned for a while, took a deep breath to calm herself down, and continued: "After the woman surnamed Liu gave birth, she didn't settle down to confinement, but cried and cried. Then he begged Yao and his wife to kill the child. The ancestral precepts forbade the children of the Yao family from taking lives, and Yao Qingyun couldn't bear to see the woman surnamed Liu commit suicide, so he had to spend a lot of money to hire a nanny and begged her to take the child. Take it big."

"However, there is God's will in the dark, and this nanny was invited by the businessman's family to be a nanny five years later." Yao Zanglan let go of her fist, and shook hands with Jing Lishuo, as if she could get a great deal by doing so. The strength is average, "This merchant's family is not a poor merchant, but the leading wealthy merchant in Jingyang City. The family became suspicious when they saw that the child brought by the nanny looked very similar to the head of the family. A child born to an adulterous maid."

"And that maid has now become the emperor's concubine." Yao Zanglan closed her eyes, "Then the emperor's concubine and the empress. This business grows day by day, but it can't escape this catastrophe. This woman has been waiting To take revenge on the merchant, she had already planted spies into the merchant. As soon as she became queen, she took action against the family."

"The head of the family, the mistress, and their children died one after another, but she didn't take action against her own children. But this was not out of kinship, but because she wanted to use her own son as a puppet to control the business." Yao Zanglan looked at Zhang Man, "The woman used the power of the businessman to do a lot of outrageous things, including...taking advantage of the princess's clothes to go out and try to murder the princess. Unfortunately, this mission failed because of Chu Jingqing and King Jinyuan. .”

Feeling that Jing Lishuo was holding his hand slightly harder, Yao Zanglan's fingers changed positions, and the two of them interlocked.Jing Shuo glanced at Yao Zanglan in surprise, who smiled softly at him.

Do you know what it means to interlock your fingers?Looking at his unconscious smile, Jing Lishuo sighed secretly, but his fingers couldn't help but lingeringly lingering on the back of Yao Zanglan's hand.

"The woman was afraid that the government would investigate the matter and find her, so she decided to act first and wiped out the business." Yao Fanglan said, "Patriarch Zhang, am I wrong?"

Zhang Man shook his head sadly: "It's word for word, as if you saw it with your own eyes. How did you do it?"

"It's nothing." Yao Fanglan said, "It's just collecting some information based on a deep understanding of the woman's nature."

Yao Fanglan's address to the mother of the dynasty was extremely contemptuous. It was okay at first, but later on, it was either "this woman" or "that woman", but everyone present did not speak out to correct him.

"Ziyi," Zhang Man said to Zhang Ziyi, "but you heard everything?"

Zhang Ziyi nodded in a daze.He heard too much at once, and his mind was very confused: "That is to say, I was born before the empress empress entered the palace, so..."

No one took up the conversation.They didn't know how to proceed.Such indiscretion of a woman is already a great scandal, and such indiscretion of the queen is a national humiliation and indescribable.

"And then?" Zhang Man said, "Will King Li Muzhong and King Jinyuan find me just to tell a tragic story?"

"Of course not." Yao Fanglan hurriedly said, "We are here to investigate the serial murders in the city."

Yao Zanglan had no intention of letting go at all, and Jing Lingshuo couldn't help but keep their hands in an extremely ambiguous posture.Even Zhang Man had already passed the romantic age, so he couldn't stand it now: "Two big men, let go of your hands before talking."

Jing Lingshuo showed reproach on his face, and glared at Zhang Man, not daring to look at Yao Fanglan's expression, and took his hand back.Yao Fanglan's hand suddenly emptied, and his fingers twitched involuntarily.

His eyes darkened, and quickly returned to their original state, repeating: "We are here to investigate the truth of the serial murder case."

Jing Lingshuo interjected: "That night, I chased you out of Yinzhen Restaurant, but you made someone knock me out?"

"My lord was joking." Zhang Man smiled helplessly, "My grandpa and grandson are full and hungry now, how can I let others knock you out?"

He looked directly into Yao Fanglan's eyes: "You may not believe me when I say something like an old man, but I really didn't kill people."

"I know." Yao Fanglan didn't pretend to be mysterious, and said directly, "I just came to ask you, what do you know about this murderer?"

"This murderer is at most thirty years old," Jing Yushuo added, "should be the same as you, with strong fingering skills. Moreover, he is used to using silver needles as weapons. Most importantly, he has the same relationship with the six people who opened the Yinzhen Restaurant. Enmity and entanglement."

"I know someone like this." Zhang Man said hesitantly, "It's just that I haven't seen this person for many years."

"Old Patriarch Zhang, but it's okay to say." Yao Fanglan knew what he was worried about, "We will never charge people with crimes without finding evidence."

"Okay," Zhang Man smiled, "Speaking of which, it's another story."