"A doll pretends to be a mute, and sooner or later the mute does not speak.
In winter, the cold wind blows, counting the sheep and rushing home.
One accidentally walked, fell off a cliff and broke his leg;
One is gluttonous and lost its way, unable to move because of its full stomach;
One is stupid and stupid, can't eat grass and only weaves rope;
One was looking for a ewe everywhere, and died in a river of blood;
The last one was young, crying for food. "
Several little dolls in Shiba Villa stood in place and recited the nursery rhyme together. Among them was the little girl that night. She was as timid as the others and didn't understand what happened.
The butler of Xu's mansion stood aside blankly, and for the first time, he was numb in his heart when he was read by this immature child voice: "Could it be a premonition of murder?"
"Yes." Yun Yifeng said, "The doll will not speak sooner or later, and the word 'Xu' will appear when it is removed. The first two sentences of the nursery rhyme have been fulfilled. We must bring the remaining three shopkeepers home as soon as possible, so as not to have long nights and dreams."
The butler's face turned pale, and he kept saying: "I've already gone to ask for it, and the days should be about the same, but I haven't come back until now, it can't be... no, I will send more people, and I will go. "He staggered and stumbled when he was about to go out, obviously frightened.
Wangxing City has always been affluent and stable, and there are very few incidents of petty theft, but it doesn't want to cause a big case. First there is the Red Crow Sect, and then there is this bizarre and weird murder notice—all the children in the city are laughing and saying "" Doll pretends to be dumb", I didn't think it was anything before, but now I listen to it again, but it's like a slap in the face of the imperial court. Yun Yifeng sent disciples of the Fengyumen to cooperate with the government to conduct a detailed investigation in the city, but soon found out the source of the nursery rhyme, and it was also a young man with a birthmark on his hand, who gave a handful of candy to the little dolls outside the city and taught them to recite It should be the same person who wrote this murder ballad and the person who went up the mountain to inform Mrs. Xu.
"Why did the other party do this?" The subordinates of the palace were puzzled.
"Provocative." Ji Yanran said, "Didn't you see that the Xu family has become a frightened bird from top to bottom. Even if there are three layers of officers and soldiers to protect them, they all hide in their rooms and dare not go out. Thunder can kill them." Shake three times."
Yun Yifeng reminded from the side: "The Xu family is quite prestigious in the city, and this matter involves cults and horror nursery rhymes. It sounds rare and curious enough, and the people have already begun to speculate wildly. If the court cannot give an explanation as soon as possible, in the future, only I'm afraid it will become more and more troublesome and out of control."
"Let's go." Ji Yanran stood up, "Let's go see that Mrs. Xu."
There are five shopkeepers in the Xu family, namely Xu Qiuwang, Xu Qiusheng, Xu Qiuru, Xu Qiuyi and Xu Qiuping, which means "prosperous, wishful and safe". Now that Xu Qiuwang is dead, Xu Qiusheng survived acupuncture and moxibustion, but his intestines and stomach were completely damaged. He could only lie on his deathbed all day long, unable to take care of himself, and became half a chaotic waste. The remaining three brothers still don't know where they are, and they can't even tell if they are alive or dead. The old man Xu has also changed from the red-faced rich and noble man to rapidly aging, with a pair of cloudy eyes turning yellow. In the hall, he muttered sutras in his mouth.
The sound of the wooden fish was silent and hoarse.
The forest is also silent and empty.
Only the sound of hoofbeats was particularly noisy.
"The third treasurer!"
"The third treasurer!"
Shouts rang out in the mountains one after another. This was the servant sent by the Xu family to look for Xu Qiuru. They heard the news last night that someone saw the Xu family's cavalry enter the mountain with their own eyes and rushed to chase after it. After turning over two hills, I heard someone on the other side calling "Third Shopkeeper". I panicked, raised my hand and whipped to rush over, and happened to bump into Xu Qiuru's fellow accountant.
"What are you doing here?"
"Where is the third treasurer?"
The two spoke almost simultaneously.
The accountant was confused and replied: "The third shopkeeper? The third shopkeeper went to the ditch to relieve his hand, and he hasn't come back yet. I'm going to look for it."
"Quick, go find each other!" The servant didn't have time to explain, "It's near here, you must bring him back!"
The accountant was in a daze, and before he could figure it out, the people in front of him had already dispersed, seeing everyone's expressions were tense, as if some serious event had happened, so they didn't have time to ask any more questions, and they went down the ditch together.
At this time, the sun was hanging brightly in the sky, and the weather before the cold spring was not much hotter than summer. The accountant slid and jumped down the low slope, shouting so loudly that it was about to smoke, leaned against a tree and rested for a while, panting, just thinking about where to go to find some wild fruits, a drop of cold water suddenly splashed on his forehead .
"Bah bah!" He thought it was bird droppings from the nest, so he wiped it carelessly and looked up. The golden sunlight passed through the gaps between the dead branches, piercing his eyes so hard that he couldn't open his eyes. In the light, a pair of feet were hanging in the air, shaking from side to side by the wind.
"Crack!" Another drop of blood splashed on the ground, soaking the reddish-brown soil slightly moist.
The accountant's pupils constricted, his knees became weak, he took two steps back, and fell heavily to the ground.
"Help! Someone is dead!"
…
Xu Qiuru's body was transported back to Shiba Villa. When he was untied from the tree, half of his neck was strangled by the rough hemp rope, his eyes protruded with a ferocious expression, and his tongue stuck out half a foot long. Shocked, frightened and grief-stricken, he fainted on the spot.
Ji Yanran said: "The last two are left."
"Both the government and Fengyumen are looking for them, and I don't know if they can get ahead of each other and bring them back safely." Yun Yifeng handed him a cup of hot tea, "Where is Mrs. Xu, how is it?"
"After seeing Xu Qiuru's body, he became completely ill and was bedridden." Ji Yanran said, "It's reasonable for him to be unable to stand the stimulation at his age."
"After this incident, even if Xu Qiuyi and Xu Qiuping can be recovered safely, most of Xu's family has been destroyed." Yun Yifeng sat at the table, "I didn't gain anything by ruining the believers' families. I always feel that , this is not the style of the Red Crow Sect."
"There is another possibility." Ji Yanran dragged a chair and sat across from him backwards, "If Xu Qiuwang didn't have that ghostly symbol on him, what would we do?"
"You and me?" Yun Yifeng thought for a while: "My lord will go back to Wangcheng, and I will go back to Fengyumen."
Ji Yanran corrected him: "I will send you back to Fengyumen, and then back to Wangcheng."
Yun Yifeng smiled: "I understand what the prince means."
Whether it's going back to Fengyumen or Wangcheng, you have to go anyway. Although Xu's family is wealthy, there are so many rich and powerful gentry from the north to the south. Even if there are nursery rhyme murders in the family one after another, in the eyes of the court, it is nothing more than a more bizarre and bloody murder than usual. The troublesome headache should be caused by Zhang Guhe, who is far from qualified to let Ji Yanran stay. But once the red crow cult's talisman was in hand, the nature would be completely different, and the cult would reappear in the world, even if His Royal Highness Xiao Wang wanted to leave, he would not be able to leave.
"The Red Crow Cult once flourished, and most of the elderly people have seen talismans, and it is not uncommon to be able to draw seventy or eighty pieces at random." Ji Yanran said, "There is no object related to the Red Crow in Shiba Villa. I have also analyzed that Xu Qiuwang has no motive for joining the cult, so I guess, maybe he really didn't know what the Red Crow Cult was when he was alive, and the murderer stuffed Zhang Fu after his death, in order to get you and me involved in this matter."
This time it was Yun Yifeng's turn to correct him: "It's the prince, not the prince and me."
I'm innocent, and you hired Fengyumen to do things this time, and you haven't paid the money.
"Isn't Lao Wu here?" Ji Yanran felt wronged, "In this way, my whole body will be covered, and the Master of the Cloud Gate will find it valuable, just take it."
"Really?" Yun Yifeng set his eyes on the wrench.
"Don't." Ji Yanran was quite vigilant, moved the chair and took half a step back, "Except for the soldier amulet, at most I will play with you for a while, and you have to return it to me when you get tired of playing."
The subordinate stood guard outside the door, his eyelids twitching when he heard it.
The prince can really do it.
Yun Yifeng held the soldier's talisman, and asked after a while: "The person who wants to involve the prince in the Xu family's murder is not the same as the mastermind behind the scenes on the snow mountain?"
"I hope it's the same one." Ji Yanran said, "Otherwise, it wouldn't make sense for everyone to want to deal with me, right? We can't be so unlucky."
"That's hard to say." Yun Yifeng put the soldier talisman into his sleeve, and said casually, "After all, the prince likes to pay on credit so much, he might offend someone at any time."
Ji Yanran: "..."
Ji Yanran euphemistically reminded: "It's agreed to only play for a while."
"I know." Yun Yifeng said confidently, "But I'm not tired of playing."
"A finger pull, what's not to like?" Ji Yanran coaxed, "Be obedient."
Yun Yifeng raised his hand with a palm, and took two steps backwards, which disappeared before his eyes, looking at his posture and wanting to run away with an army of 800,000.
Ji Yanran didn't know whether to laugh or cry, grabbed the other person's wrist, and pulled him back in front of him: "This thing is dark and ugly, and it's still heavy. Next time, I'll get a piece of suet jade and carve you a whiter and more delicate one, how about it?"
Yun Yifeng said calmly: "My lord owed me the money inlaid with gold, jade and emerald last time, but I haven't cashed it yet."
"Together in the future, together in the future." Ji Yanran forcefully took back the soldier talisman, her mouth running endlessly, "What else do you want, why not just make an empty list, except for my mother in Prince Xiao's mansion, just move the rest." .”
Yun Yifeng didn't hold back his laughter, and punched him casually: "Someone is coming outside."
"My lord, Master Yunmen." The subordinate stood at the door, "There is no news about the fourth shopkeeper of the Xu family, but the fifth shopkeeper has been found."
"Are you alright?" Ji Yanran asked.
"It's okay." The subordinate replied, "Xu Qiuping has been staying outside Yunmeng City for the past few days, discussing with the mountain people about purchasing timber. The place is quite remote, so he didn't know that something happened at home until the people from the government office came to the door. , Immediately rushing back day and night, this time just entered the door."
Yun Yifeng straightened her clothes and said, "Let's go, let's go and have a look."
Xu Qiuping's safe return is obviously of great significance to Shiba Villa. Firstly, the family finally has a backbone, and secondly, as long as people are properly protected, the horror rhymes will not be fulfilled again. "The last one is young, crying for food", sounds like it has something to do with eating , the second shopkeeper is gluttonous, and this one seems to be hungry again, so Mrs. Xu forced his sick body to sit up and ordered the servants to strictly guard Xu Qiuping's residence. With the addition of government servants, the inside and outside layers are as solid as gold. Every day, his meals have to be tasted by different servants for a round, and the quantity is strictly controlled. Even if he loses his appetite, he has to eat three meals and three bowls of rice.
Xu Qiuping travels north and south, has seen the most worlds, and has experienced the most storms. At first, he thought this arrangement was too much of a fuss, but after seeing the tragedy of his second brother with his own eyes, his back immediately turned white. Curled up on the bed limply like that, screaming indistinctly all day long, how could he look like a dignified living person. During the reunion on New Year's Eve, the whole family was lively and festive, but in a blink of an eye, three of the five brothers were missing, and the fourth brother has not been heard from until now. Going with the nursery rhyme "Blood Flows into a River", I am afraid it is just too bad.
He panicked and said: "Master Zhang, you have to help my Xu family."
"Yes, I will try my best to catch the murderer." Zhang Guhe said, "But until the case is solved, Xu Wuye should not go anywhere, just stay in the villa."