Chu Xinian encountered such things very often in his rigorous and boring life, so it took him about two or three seconds to understand what Xie Jingyuan meant.
"… "
The night was long. He said nothing. He gently took off his boots in the dark and lay down on the bed.
Xie Jingyuan noticed the movement of the falling beside him, closed his eyes, and did not move. He only felt that he could smell the unique scent of Chu Xinian. It was very faint, very distant, and very cold, just like a cold rain falling in an uninhabited mountain forest.
The bed was covered with a thick mattress, but Xie Jingyuan still felt cold. It was too hot for an ordinary person.
Chu Xinian sighed slowly: "General, being soft-hearted is not good..."
He said this again, naming names.
Xie Jingyuan opened his eyes, raised his eyebrows expressionlessly, and felt incredible: "Are you talking about me?"
Chu Xinian asked back: "Is there anyone else here?"
Xie Jingyuan's dislike for this word was evident in his words. He said sarcastically, "It would be more appropriate for you to say these two words to the Prince of Jin. Even the Emperor has praised him before, saying that he is naturally kind-hearted and has the demeanor of a wise king."
Chu Xinian placed his hands on his abdomen, and his fingertips circled it quietly, thinking that the person who could fight for the throne could not be simple, so how could the King of Jin be so kind-hearted
But in the end, nothing was said.
The dragon gave birth to nine sons, each of them was different. The struggle in the royal family was inherently more ruthless than that in ordinary people's families. If they lost, they would die, and if they won, they would live. Each of them had a reason to fight for that position.
There is no absolute hero or villain in the battle for the throne. It's just that the author was Chu Xinian, and the character he created was named "Chu Jiaoping", so the prince's party became the villain.
Now, from Xie Jingyuan's perspective, the fault may not be entirely his.
Chu Xinian had no idea that the time they had spent together had gradually tilted the balance in his heart. He began to develop a preference for a certain character in his writing, to the point that he even cast aside the original character.
This silent change is the most terrifying.
Chu Xinian accidentally touched the back of Xie Jingyuan's hand in the dark and found that his body was as cold as ice. He slowly reached out his hand, pulled up the half-slipped quilt for him, and whispered two words: "Go to sleep."
The poison in Xie Jingyuan has not yet been cleared, and his body is always not as warm as others.
The latter did not speak, as if he had fallen asleep again. But Chu Xinian heard the system beep softly in his ear: Ding, please pay attention, the villain's blackening degree has dropped to 93, please continue to work hard~
Compared to the previous times, this time the drop was a little bit, but Chu Xinian still didn't know the reason. He opened his eyes and looked at the system's shining body, wanting to ask something, but felt that he would definitely not get an answer.
Chu Xinian only said one sentence: "... You can disappear now."
It’s so bright late at night.
The system snorted angrily: Humans who don't know what's good! Hate, hate, hate!
It’s super expensive, okay?!
The next night, Chu Xinian changed into a set of clothes that were convenient for movement, tied his hair up high, and prepared to explore the murder site at night. He had already asked Chu San and Chu Si, and they found that the place where they found themselves was 30 miles south of the suburbs of Beijing, and it was a deserted village.
Xie Jingyuan sat by the bed and stared at him, looking like he was waiting for something interesting to happen: "Why, are you really leaving the city late at night?"
Chu Xinian wiped the dagger in his hand for self-defense, then hid it in his arms and asked, "Why, it doesn't look like it?"
Xie Jingyuan slowly shook his head, curling his lips with ill intent: "I just want to know, how are you going to leave the city at night without a token?"
There was a curfew in the Great Yan Dynasty. After the day was over, people were not allowed to go out at night. Those who violated it would be detained at the least and executed on the spot at the worst.
Chu Xi had no official position and no special order, so it was impossible for him to ride in a carriage and leave the city. Unless he learned to burrow into the ground like a mouse.
"I know."
Chu Xinian was not panicked at all. He lifted the hem of his robe, sat down next to Xie Jingyuan, and stretched out his hand to him: "General, why don't you give up and lend me the token?"
Xie Jingyuan glanced at his slender white palm, then said coldly, thinking it was ridiculous: "Why should I lend it to you?"
Chu Xi was old, so he slowly lowered his voice and asked earnestly, "If I find out the truth, I can help you get rid of an old enemy, will you lend it to me?"
Xie Jingyuan paused after hearing this and looked at him sharply: "Enemy?"
He chewed on these two words and asked in an ambiguous tone, "How do you know who my nemesis is? Wait until you find out the murderer."
Chu Xinian was about to say something when he heard a report: "General, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has arrived—"
Chu Xinian subconsciously looked at Xie Jingyuan and frowned: "Why did the prince come to visit so late at night?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the door was kicked open. The prince, dressed in a plain robe, walked in with his hands behind his back, still looking unremarkable. "I really want to know why I came to visit you so late at night, don't you, General Xie?"
He stared at Xie Jingyuan with an unfriendly tone.
Xie Jingyuan didn't move. Chu Xinian stood up and bowed: "Greetings, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."
"no."
The prince still didn't say anything to him. He waved his hand and found a place to sit. His eyes first fell on Chu Xinian, then moved to Xie Jingyuan, asking, "Why are you not sleeping in the middle of the night and running to the outskirts of the city? Are you tired of being a general and want to be a thief?"
It was obvious that it was Xie Jingyuan who asked the prince to come.
Xie Jingyuan ignored Chu Xinian's probing gaze, ordered someone to fetch two black attendant clothes, and threw one to him: "Put it on."
After that, he said to the prince, "The soldiers guarding the city gate today are the Tiger Guards, and they are very strict in checking. I am now ill, and it is inevitable that I will attract attention if I leave the city with my token, so I would like to borrow your carriage to leave the city together."
Chu Xinian understood something and asked, "Your Highness the Crown Prince is leaving the city?"
The prince remained silent. Xie Jingyuan glanced at Chu Xinian and explained, "Tomorrow is the anniversary of the late queen's death. Every year, the prince goes to the imperial mausoleum in the suburbs of Beijing to burn incense and offer sacrifices."
Chu Xinian put on his clothes silently, thinking that Xie Jingyuan might have borrowed the prince's connection just to make it easier for him to leave the city. Wasn't he afraid that he would do something bad
Chu Xinian looked at Xie Jingyuan thoughtfully. Seeing that he had changed his clothes, he asked in confusion, "General, are you going with us?"
Xie Jingyuan said coldly: "Why, you can go but I can't?"
Chu Xinian thought, let him go, after all, he is not doing anything shady, so he said, "Of course I can go."
The night was dark. The people who were watching saw the prince stay in the general's mansion for a while, then came out, got on the carriage, and drove straight to the city. No one noticed the two attendants who followed him into the carriage to serve.
The prince sat in the carriage with an expressionless face, feeling the shaking of the carriage, and felt very uncomfortable. It would be fine if he took Xie Jingyuan out of the city, but why did he bring Chu Xinian, the "enemy spy"? Suspicious eyes always fell on him uncontrollably.
Xie Jingyuan sat opposite Chu Xinian, staring at him, wondering what he was thinking.
Chu Xinian held a medium-sized wine gourd in his hand, which contained some liquid, and shook it lightly from time to time. He faced the dual gazes of Xie Jingyuan and the prince, looking innocent and harmless.
The prince curled his lips, thinking that he was as good at pretending as that hypocrite Prince Jin.
Xie Jingyuan raised his eyebrows and asked directly: "What?"
Chu Xinian shook his head: "Nothing."
I just think it's very interesting. When he returns to the modern world, I wonder if anyone will believe this experience when he writes about it.
When the carriage reached the city gate, it was stopped. The deputy commander of the Tiger Guards saw the royal decorations on the eaves of the carriage, frowned, and asked with his sword in his arms, "May I ask who is sitting in the carriage? Please show yourself."
The eunuch driving the car shouted in a sharp voice: "How dare you! This is the prince's car, how dare you stop it?!"
The deputy commander was indifferent: "Recently, bandits have been rampant in the city. There have been a thousand thieves who are very good at disguise. I am concerned about the safety of the city."
The eunuch glared and was about to yell angrily, but the prince lifted the curtain with a bang, showing his head, frowning and saying impatiently: "I want to leave the city to the imperial mausoleum to offer sacrifices, and if you dare to stop me, I will kill you without mercy!"
His face is the prince's face, his temper is the prince's temper. Ordinary people cannot learn his arrogance.
Upon seeing this, the deputy commander took the order and quickly signaled to let them pass.
In order to avoid exposing himself when the prince lifted the curtain, Chu Xinian directly squeezed in with Xie Jingyuan and asked thoughtfully, "What has the prince been like?"
He remembered that when he first wrote about the prince, although there were words like "idiot", the character should not be so arrogant. The Huhui Army was at least the emperor's personal guard, and he was too disrespectful.
Xie Jingyuan glanced at Chu Xinian and said, "Don't blame me for not reminding you. He is very narrow-minded. It's best not to ask such questions."
As soon as he finished speaking, the prince sat back down, his eyes roaming between the two of them, and asked suspiciously, "Are you two saying bad things about me?"
Really narrow-minded.
Chu Xinian remained silent, and Xie Jingyuan shifted his gaze.
The carriage wobbled towards the outskirts of the city, leaving deep ruts on the muddy road. The sky was dark, with faint stars visible. Chu Xinian calculated the time in his mind, and after about three hours, the carriage stopped.
Xie Jingyuan jumped off the carriage. A cold wind blew in. He coughed twice and held it back with a frown.
Chu Xinian held a cloak in his hand and wanted to put it on him, but seeing the prince standing beside him, he hesitated and did not move.
The prince sat in the carriage and lifted half of the curtain: "I will go to the imperial mausoleum to burn incense, and will come to pick you up in half an hour."
After saying this, he ordered everyone to set off. The eunuch driving the car whipped the horse whip, and the wheels rolled away, soon disappearing at the end of the path.
Chu Xinian watched the prince go away, but he was puzzled: the Queen Mother's Day is a major event, and all the royal family members should burn incense and pay homage, so why did the prince go alone at night
Xie Jingyuan seemed to see his doubts, but he didn't explain. He just said, "You came here late at night just to stand there and stare blankly?"
Chu Xinian handed him the wind cloak, then lit the lantern with a fire stick, picked up a wooden stick and walked deep into the forest. Under the dim light, he walked while hitting the grass with the stick to explore the way.
Xie Jingyuan saw the wind cloak, paused, then took it and tied it on his body in a few seconds: "At this speed, I'm afraid you won't reach the destination before dawn."
Chu Xinian strictly followed the instructions in the wilderness survival guide. In the dark and dangerous forest, in order to avoid attacks from snakes, insects, rats and ants, it is necessary to use a wooden stick to explore the road: "Safety is important."
Xie Jingyuan picked up a piece of gravel and smashed the stick into two pieces with a whoosh. He curled his lips and said sarcastically, "With this general here, are you afraid of danger?"
"… "
Chu Xinian stared at the remaining half of the stick in his hand in silence for a few seconds, thought about what Xie Jingyuan said, felt that there was some truth in it, so he threw it away and continued walking with the lantern.
Xie Jingyuan quickened his pace and walked in front of him to explore the way. People who practice martial arts have excellent eyesight. He keenly noticed that the growth shapes of the surrounding trees were different. When he looked closer, he saw that many branches had been cut off by someone, as if a fierce fight had taken place.
Chu Xinian walked up to him and touched the smooth cut surface of the branch with his hand: "It was cut by the sword."
The crime scene should be nearby.
Chu Xinian looked at the dimly lit lantern in his hand, and suddenly remembered something, and called out, "System?"
A large diamond flew out in response, and bulgbulg's body illuminated the surroundings extremely brightly, comparable to the lights in a nightclub. It said angrily: What are you asking me to do in the middle of the night!
The system needs to hibernate!
Chu Xinian thought it was nothing, he just asked you to come out and light up the way: "… I'm a little confused about the way, I would like to ask you to give me some directions."
The system loves to guide lost lambs the most. Upon hearing this, it came over with great interest and said, "Dear, how can I guide you?"
Chu Xi is old, and his tone is gentle: "Just stay here and don't move."
system:…
Only Chu Xinian could see the light of the system. He saw that the nearby grass was messy and there were large indentations, which was probably the crime scene. It was a pity that it had rained a few days ago and the bloodstains were washed away.
He took out the small gourd he had prepared, poured the liquid into his palm, and then sprinkled it evenly on the ground.
Xie Jingyuan smelled a sour smell, like wine or vinegar, and frowned: "What are you doing?"
Chu Xinian said: "Look for bloodstains."
As early as the 1830s, forensic scientists began to use luminol reagent to test blood stains. Once this reagent reacts with hemoglobin in blood, it will produce fluorescence.
But the Great Yan Dynasty obviously didn't have such a thing, so Chu Xinian could only mix vinegar and lees wine and sprinkle it evenly on the grass. This liquid would react when it came into contact with bloodstains.
Although Xie Jingyuan didn't know what he was doing, he held up a lantern and illuminated the area. When Chu Xinian sprinkled the liquid in the gourd on the grass, some white marks suddenly appeared on the grass. Although the color was very light, it was barely visible under the light of the lantern.
Xie Jingyuan had obviously never seen such a scene before. He frowned and asked suspiciously, "Is this the bloodstain you mentioned?"
Chu Xinian nodded: "The power of science."
Xie Jingyuan snorted and said coldly, "Is this person called Science so powerful?"
He thought science was personal.
Chu Xinian's eyes flashed with intention, and he said slowly: "Well... probably a little better than you."
Half of Xie Jingyuan's face turned black and he gritted his teeth silently. The silver mask on his face made him look even more eerie and ghostly in the darkness.
Chu Xinian didn't notice it and concentrated on examining the bloodstains on the ground. Finally, he found that among the messy bloodstains, there seemed to be a crawling trace in the southeast direction.
He poured out the liquid in the gourd and continued to sprinkle it. A trail of blood, so faint that it was almost invisible, led straight into the depths of the dense forest.
Chu Xinian said to Xie Jingyuan, "When Jiu Niang was dying, she crawled a distance. Let's go over and take a look."
Xie Jingyuan had a grumpy look on his face and refused to move. But seeing Chu Xinian already walking inside, he had no choice but to follow him reluctantly.
The bloodstain was very long, and it became fainter and fainter, almost invisible. Chu Xinian could only throw away the empty gourd in his hand and lean over to look for clues. The weeds here were so lush that they grew up to his knees, so that he didn't even notice that there was a dry well under his feet. When he stepped on empty space, he had already fallen halfway down.
"Thank you Jingyuan!"
Chu Xinian's heart tightened, and he called out the name in a hurry. Xie Jingyuan turned around upon hearing the voice, and immediately grabbed his arm as fast as lightning, but the whole person was dragged in with him.
Xie Jingyuan used his palms to form claws, tightly grasping the edge of the well, trying to hold the two of them up. However, the bricks and stones were rotten and were crushed into powder by him, and the two fell straight into the deep well.
“Plop!”
Water splashed everywhere.
It’s great that there is water in the well.
This was Chu Xinian’s first thought after falling into the well.
If Xie Jingyuan hadn't thrown away his walking stick, they would have had a high probability of not falling in.
This was the second thought in Chu Xinian’s mind.
The two of them fell into the well together, choking on water several times before floating up. Xie Jingyuan tightly grasped Chu Xinian's arm, went to check on him immediately, frowned and said, "Chu Xinian!"
"I do not."
Chu Xinian wiped the water off his face with his sleeve. Perhaps he had been accustomed to a peaceful life for more than twenty years, so even if he was in trouble, he would calm down after a moment of panic.
Xie Jingyuan said: "We fell into the well."
Chu Xinian: "Yeah, I know."
"… "
Xie Jingyuan didn't know what to say for a moment, but that hand was still tightly holding him. After a moment, he said coldly: "I told you to run to the outskirts of Beijing. What happened? Did you fall into the well?"
Chu Xinian felt that the well water was really cold and chilly, making people feel cold all over. "General, you are a great martial artist, can you climb up?"
As soon as he said this, he felt it was impossible. It was just like a bird falling into a well and unable to get out. They need a certain distance of horizontal run before they can fly. Even winged animals are like this, let alone Xie Jingyuan.
Even though there are Qinggong skills in this era, it should not be possible to reach that level.
"No," Xie Jingyuan shook his head. "The well wall is too high. They say it's 20 meters high. I jumped, and it was only 10 meters high."
Chu Xinian now had only one thought in his mind: it was a miracle that they didn't fall to death. Of course, it was possible that Xie Jingyuan grabbed the wall of the well to cushion the force when he fell.
Xie Jingyuan curled his lips and said sarcastically: "Why don't you let that man called science come to save you? Isn't he more powerful than this general?"
Chu Xinian hummed: "He's not here now."
Science is a very mysterious thing. Sometimes it exists, and sometimes it doesn’t.
Perhaps it was because the well was too quiet, and people unconsciously wanted to say something to ease the atmosphere. Chu Xinian was silent for a moment, and said: "General, you don't have to fall in with me..."
As long as Xie Jingyuan lets go, everything will be solved.
Xie Jingyuan looked at him after hearing this, with most of his body in the shadows, making it difficult to see clearly: "Really?"
He said: "I didn't react just now. Next time you fall in, I won't hold you."
After Xie Jingyuan finished speaking, he slowly let go of Chu Xinian, turned his back to him, and was alone, wondering what he was thinking.
Chu Xinian glanced at his back and suddenly felt that this man did not seem like a villain, and the ending in the original novel where he was imprisoned to death by the new emperor seemed too harsh.
He hesitated and stretched out his hand, gently placed it on Xie Jingyuan's shoulder, and whispered: "I guess the prince will be here soon, I hope he can come over."
Xie Jingyuan thought of the prince's recklessness and said coldly, "It would be better if he didn't fall in."
His mouth seemed to be shining with light. Not long after he finished speaking, a noisy sound suddenly came from above, as if someone was shouting something, but the distance was too far to hear clearly.
Xie Jingyuan subconsciously looked up, thinking it was the prince, and was about to remind him to watch his feet. However, before he could say anything, he heard a sound of bricks and stones falling, and a black shadow fell straight down -
“Plop!”
Water splashed everywhere.
The prince lived up to Xie Jingyuan's trust and successfully fell down.