03 Rashomon (Part 1)

People were coming and going in the night market. As An Nianjiu and Yi Lingge walked along, they passed by countless young women walking in twos and threes. Occasionally, they would also encounter some who were alone.

Every time he met a girl visiting the night market alone, An Nianjiu would ask Yi Lingge to wait where she was, and he would follow her for a while silently, while observing whether anyone else was secretly following her.

"How is it?" Yi Lingge asked An Nianjiu who came back to find him.

An Nianjiu shook his head, indicating that he had gained nothing.

"There are too many people in this area, so the murderer may not dare to take action." Yi Lingge thought.

"Too……"

"Hey, look, there seems to be someone performing acrobatics over there!"

There were crowds of people in the distance, and there were faint rings of fire rising and falling. Yi Lingge's curiosity was aroused, so she pulled An Nianjiu and ran over quickly.

The two of them discovered Lin Wang, who was on the same team, among the crowd of onlookers.

Moyu was caught by his companions. The young man was a little embarrassed. He scratched the back of his head and explained that he had just patrolled here and couldn't help but stop and take a look.

An Nianjiu thought that she and Yi Lingge were not much better, so naturally they had no right to blame him, so they could only look at each other and smile awkwardly.

"Where is Senior Chen?" An Nianjiu was still anxious about Gu Bing's affairs and wanted to tell Chen Lian about the newly discovered victim as soon as possible.

Lin Wang turned around and looked at the high place in the distance, waving to them: "Follow me."

The temple fair night market is concentrated in the east of Yuling City, and Chen Lian is standing on the top of the tallest bell tower in the east of the city, with one foot on the eaves, overlooking the lights and the flow of people below.

Lin Wang climbed up with An Nianjiu and Yi Lingge, and the three of them carefully stepped on the tiles to approach Chen Lian.

"Oh, it's you guys, are you okay?" Chen Lian noticed the movement, turned around with his sword, and found that it was one of his own, and immediately changed his expression to an easy-going one.

An Nianjiu replied: "Senior, I have found the source of the forgetful soul fragrance. It is Mu Jiulang, a black market drug dealer who lives in the fourth house of Zuolu in Sangye Hutong."

"Well done." Chen Lian praised.

"I went there once before sunset, but Mu Jiulang was not at home at that time."

"It's okay, Lin Wang, go and call the others back, and we'll go there together."

Lin Wang agreed, turned around, jumped down from the bell tower, and walked quickly through the crowd.

An Nianjiu paused and said, "One more thing, we met someone from Senior Gu Bing's group and followed him to meet Senior Gu."

A faint smile appeared on Chen Lian's face: "Gu Bing and the others have arrived?"

"They seem to have just arrived."

Yi Lingge chuckled: "But it's too late. As long as Mu Jiulang reveals who he sold the medicine to, we can close the network tonight."

Chen Lian crossed his arms, with a trace of pride and regret in his eyes at the same time: "Gu Bing originally wanted to take the waterway to get ahead of us, but unfortunately, it was not as good as God, and it was delayed early by this year's rainy season in the middle reaches of the river. This time, we

It’s a victory without force.”

An Nianjiu was also very happy and smiled slightly. She looked casually towards the bottom of the bell tower, and suddenly saw a familiar figure, and her face suddenly condensed.

"Senior Chen, I have to go down there."

"What's wrong, Ajiu?" Yi Lingge asked strangely.

"It's okay. If everyone is here soon, you don't have to wait for me. I will go to Sangye Hutong to meet you." An Nianjiu nodded apologetically to Chen Lian.

Seeing that she was unarmed, Chen Lian called to her, took off his sword and handed it over: "Be careful."

An Nianjiu did not refuse, thanked him in a low voice, and then flew down.

She fell from the sky and landed right in front of a vendor selling various fancy masks under the clock tower, startling him.

"Eh-" The hawker's exclamation was interrupted by An Nianjiu patting a stack of copper coins in front of him. Then he watched blankly as An Nianjiu took a mask of the underworld judge from his stall and put it on.

face.

"You really didn't come alone." She glanced ahead. Zhong Linqi hadn't noticed that she was walking and talking with the suspicious man next to her who was wearing a bamboo hat and black clothes and a long knife at his waist.

The two of them avoided the dense crowd and turned into a sparsely populated alley at the intersection ahead. However, they did not go deep and stopped at the entrance of the alley.

The man in black with the knife straightened his bamboo hat and said to Zhong Linqi: "Master Ferry, the situation in the imperial capital is very strange recently. There is a new cavalry force of 30,000 in the Tiannan camp. The emperor just won a great victory in Mobei.

Rong Xia, Feng Chan has made great achievements in Cang Qing Mountain, and the army will return soon. At this time, the imperial capital is adding more troops, fearing that there will be changes in the world, so the ferry master should prepare early."

"No one expected that His Majesty could decide the outcome with Rong Xia so quickly. This cavalry may be prepared to support the Northern Expedition." Zhong Linqi waved his hand and said, "The emperor has Zhu Zhi and Jin Yiwei watching.

We don’t have to worry about it.”

The man hesitated several times, but finally silently agreed with the leader's opinion.

"By the way, do you have any clues about what you were asked to investigate?"

"There are some clues, but... it is Yunzhongjian's business to hunt down the murderer in the rivers and lakes. Why should the ferry master bother to bother?" His expression showed faint dissatisfaction.

"I originally didn't want to meddle in other people's business, but since Master Huiyi said that my destined person is here, it's a different matter."

"My subordinates can't see what the young monk from Hanlin Temple is doing. How can the ferry master trust him so much?"

Zhong Linqi smiled faintly: "Actually, I can't see it either. But when it comes to fate and fate, it's all about whether you believe it or not. Nie Guijiang, you must be the one who doesn't believe it, right?"

"Believe it if it's good for you, don't believe it if it's bad for you. The ferry master laughs at it, and his subordinates are the kind of people who are very utilitarian." Nie Guijiang shrugged self-deprecatingly.

"So you are always very reliable in doing things. But now that we are in peace, it would be better for us people to be less aggressive and stay indifferent."

Nie Guijiang did not answer. He lowered his head and thought alone. After a while, he remembered that he had not told the leader the results of his investigation. When he was about to speak, he suddenly noticed someone approaching from behind. Without thinking, he drew his sword and slashed behind him.

With a "clang", the long knife was held by a silver-edged sword. The girl wearing a judge's mask stared coldly at Zhong Linqi behind Nie Guijiang: "Shopkeeper Zhong, I am very curious now, who are you?"

What kind of business are you doing?"

Zhong Linqi looked at her awkwardly and said slowly: "Little girl, there may be some misunderstanding between us..."

The pressure from the sword became heavier and heavier. An Nianjiu didn't want to compete with his opponent anymore, so he raised his leg and kicked Nie Guijiang's knife-holding wrist to force him back.

"Are you going to kill her?" Although Nie Guijiang retreated, he still stood in front of Zhong Linqi.

"Step back, you have nothing to do here." Zhong Linqi shook his head.

Nie Guijiang then watched An Nianjiu warily while sheathing his sword and retreating, his figure slowly disappearing into the night behind the alley.

"Don't tell me that's the bodyguard you hired." An Nianjiu did not put away his sword, but stared at Zhong Linqi.

"That's my capable subordinate."

An Nianjiu snorted coldly through his nose: "Don't you pretend to be a businessman anymore?"

"I'm not very good at lying in front of women."

"I think you are quite glib."

Zhong Linqi smiled helplessly, thinking that this girl's unforgiving demeanor was really similar to that man when he was young. Could it be that the talents cultivated by Yunzhong Sword are all carved from the same mold?

It was also because they were so similar that even though he was misunderstood by her, he still couldn't get angry at all and even wanted to laugh from the bottom of his heart.

An Nianjiu saw that he was still laughing when he was pointing a sword at him, and couldn't help but reveal a frown and bared teeth under the mask.

"I'll give you a chance to explain in three sentences." She said patiently.

"Explain what?"

"Identity, motivation, whatever."

"well……"

An Nianjiu sighed when he saw the man opposite him, spread his hands and said to himself frankly: "Forget the River, the final tomb is abandoned. Half a month ago, I went to Hanlin Temple on the other side of the lotus pond at the back of your deserted villa to find my old friend Hui Yi.

The abbot was reminiscing about old times and was told by him that he might meet someone who is destined to be here in Yuling, Jiangzhou, so he came."

"You are the leader of the assassins..."

"You could say that."

"I actually accepted help from someone like you..." An Nianjiu felt a little broken. She put her hand on her forehead and slowly took off her mask, revealing a face that was frightened and angry at the same time.

The long sword slashed across the ground and sparks shot out. An Nianjiu pointed at the sword mark between himself and Zhong Lingqi and said, "I'll just pretend I've never seen you before and say goodbye."

As if he didn't hear her words, Zhong Lingqi walked forward and said, "I asked someone to conduct an in-depth investigation of Mu Jiulang. In addition to being a black market drug dealer, there are other suspicious things about this person..."

"Yunzhongjian doesn't need your help." An Nianjiu interrupted him and turned around and left without looking back.
Chapter completed!