Chapter 37 Clear the fog to cover the clouds

(Old and young masters, please collect it, thank you.)

More than a dozen officers and soldiers returned to the scene of the murder. Everything in the house was calm as usual. The two bodies remained on the ground as they were, and the blood on the ground began to slowly solidify.

Song Nan stood at the door and looked around the whole room carefully. The room was not big, and there was no place to hide at a glance. Just now, in order to find the two women, the people of Yihongfang also searched upstairs and downstairs several times. If the two women were still hiding in the building, they must be hidden in a very secret place.

Song Nan's eyes fell on a long knife on the ground, which was the embroidered spring knife carried by Jinyiwei. The knife had come out of its sheath and fell out of the blood pool, but Song Nan found that the blade was dark red, which seemed to be blood stains.

Song Nan picked up the candlestick and bent down to check carefully. There were indeed blood stains in the first paragraph of the embroidered spring knife, unlike the blood stain on the ground, but like a blood mark left by the tip of the knife piercing the body. Song Nan's heart moved. It seemed that Liu Wufu hurriedly drew a knife to stab the murderer's body when he was attacked. So, the murderer The hand has been injured. Judging from the depth of more than an inch pierced in the knife, the injury should not be light.

If the murderer is seriously injured, it is even more unlikely to escape from Yihongfang, but the upstairs and downstairs have been searched. Where can the murderer hide?

Song Nan frowned and thought, and the candlelight in his hand jumped endlessly. He was slightly stunned and almost burned the skin on his face. Song Nan was suddenly shocked and rushed to the back window in three or two steps. The back window slightly opened a gap, and a cold wind blew straight from the crack. It was this cold wind that made the candle fire jump.

In the cold winter season, it is a warm night, but the back window is not closed, which is really unreasonable.

Song Nan suddenly reached out and opened the carved wooden window lattice. The cold wind hit his face and blew out the candlelight in his hand. The window was dark, and the north wind roared across the treetops and sobbed.

Song Nan poked her head and looked out. Through the cold starlight, it could be seen that there was a straight wall under the window. Because it was on the second floor, it was more than ten feet high from the ground, and the ground was a dark alley, and the bare branches of a big tree stood in front of her, blocking the view.

"Master Nan, what's wrong?" Fang Jian quickly ordered people to light the lantern and come forward to ask.

When Song Nan waved his hand and was about to speak, Fang Jian suddenly shouted, "Master Nan, your hand..."

Song Nan looked down and saw that her left palm was red under the light, and there was a faint blood rushing to her nose. Song Nan thought for a moment, took the lantern and looked at the window sill. She saw several blood stains on the window sill, and suddenly her heart was like a mirror.

"Brothers, the murderer was injured and has escaped from the back window. You see, this is the blood stain left by the murderer when he jumped out of the window. It seems that the injury is not far away."

"It must be so, Master Nan, what should we do?" Fang Jian, Li Zhi and others nodded in agreement and asked Song Nan.

Song Nan said, "No, let's go after him. If we can catch the murderer, we will also have a face in front of the state government, and the Jinyiwei government will be able to explain."

Everyone nodded one after another. At present, Song Nan left most of the manpower to block the scene and guard Yihongyuan. Everyone was waiting for the state government and Jinyiwei to come. Only Li Zhifang and Li Zhijian took seven or eight brothers out quickly to the alley behind Yihongyuan. Several pools of blood stains and a pile of broken branches and dead leaves were found under the window of the murder room. , the broken marks are very fresh. It seems that the murderer used the big tree growing near the window to escape after the injury. It may be because the injury was too heavy and his hands and feet were not flexible, so he stepped on many branches, leaving such obvious traces.

"Follow the blood stains and chase." Song Nan gestured, and everyone held seven or eight lanterns and followed the scattered but eye-catching blood stains all the way to the west, passing through several alleys and remote streets. The blood stains were still continuing. Song Nan thought: If the blood goes on like this, the iron body can't bear it. Maybe you can immediately see the murderer frozen on the roadside. The scene.

After chasing two more alleys, Song Nan suddenly felt something was wrong, and the terrain became more and more familiar. There was an open space ahead, and several large bamboo forests rustled in the open space. Although it was night, Song Nan could still recognize this place and couldn't help but stop.

Isn't this open space and bamboo forest the location of Fanggu's shop? That day, after falling down, I came to get drunk and accidentally broke into the bamboo forest. I saw that Aunt Fang was practicing martial arts in this open space, and I was almost mistaken for a spying apprentice. Later, I went here many times. Although I didn't deliberately remember, I didn't get the wrong place. After walking through the bamboo forest, I took dozens of steps. My aunt's shop is gone, but Song Nan can't step out.

A sense of ominousness surged into his mind, because suddenly, some details in Song Nan's mind were automatically connected, resulting in a stunned guess. From the sudden closure of Fang's shop to the murder case in Yihongfang tonight, the whole thing seemed to develop towards a clue: Fang's aunt who can do martial arts, self The women who are willing to enter Yihongfang as prostitutes should quickly find a bandaged wound or hide after being injured, but they have held so far to come here to hide, obviously because this is their own territory, and it is safer to hide here.

All this seems to indicate that tonight's murder is related to Fang's aunt.

"Gufang...Gufang" Song Nan said silently and suddenly said, "Guang...Gufang, what an obvious coincidence. The other is Qinger, not to mention a pseudonym in Lu Qingli's name; the murderer of Yihongyuan must be Fanggu Lu Qingli's two sisters."

Song Nan was stupid. She originally felt that the two sisters were a little strange. The young woman who opened a shop was already an eye-catching and unusual place. What's more, she also bumped into the secret of her martial arts skills. Everything indicates that they are not doing business at all, but under the guise of opening a small hotel. Other plots to kill Jinyiwei are evidenced.

Thinking of this, Song Nan was even more hesitant. How did Fanggu and Lu Qingli not look like unprovoked evildoers? Although they did not have a deep relationship with themselves, they were not bad for themselves. Looking back on her several contacts with them, Song Nan had a good impression on Fanggu from the bottom of her heart.

Song Nan is almost sure that as long as he goes dozens of steps forward and crosses the bamboo forest path, he will find them hiding in Fang's shop, and he can easily solve this murder case. However, there is a voice in his heart warning Song Nan that there must be hidden feelings in it. He should not catch the two people so hastily. Give it to the government.

"Master Nan, why don't you chase after him?" Li Zhi asked in surprise when he saw Song Nan standing in a stunned way.

Almost in an instant, Song Nan made a decision: "Don't chase. The murderer fled to the west of the city. Shall we chase all the way until dawn? Don't forget that our responsibility is to inspect Dongcheng. Let's leave this investigation and arrest of people to the arresting of people. If we take people, we don't have better face and have any practical benefits. This makes everyone tired, but it's boring.

Fang Jian said in astonishment, "However, we have been chasing him for more than an hour. The murderer has been bleeding. I'm afraid it won't last long. Maybe we can catch it immediately."

Song Nan shook his head and said, "God knows if I can catch it. I'm sleepy. It's almost dawn, and I don't have the energy. Well, the two of you take your brothers back. The people of the state government and the Jinyiwei should have begun a large-scale search. You go and tell them the direction of the blood and let them suffer. ; I'm lazy. It's not far from my home. I'm going back to go back to bed. After that, you went back to the camp and handed in the sign, took the brothers to the bathhouse to take a hot bath to relieve fatigue. At noon, take them to the restaurant next to the barracks to have a good meal. It's on my account.

Li Zhi and Fang Jian said hurriedly, "How embarrassing."

Song Nan smiled and said, "There's nothing to be embarrassed about. Go ahead. Don't toss around. You can't do it."

Li Zhi and Fang Jian think so. What if they catch it? After arresting people, don't you want to hand them over to the state government to arrest them quickly? Those grandchildren are ignorant and may not even say a word of thanks. Why do they need to take mice? Once everyone was discouraged, they suddenly felt tired. They followed Li Zhi and Fang Jian and Song Nan to say goodbye and returned to the east city.

The noisy footsteps of everyone gradually calmed down. Song Nan stood in the dark for a while to confirm that they would not turn back against their orders. Then they dodged from the shadows, stepped gently, walked step by step to the small bamboo forest, raised their legs and slowly through the bamboo forest path, and soon arrived outside the backyard of Fanggu's shop. .

The yard was quiet. On that day, the grape rack when he was doing business with Fang Da's peers had been overwhelmed by half of the snow, and the backyard that had not been taken care of seemed decadent and desolate. Song Nan walked through the door of the courtyard and slowly walked towards the back door of the shop. The frozen soil under her feet was trampled to make a creaky cracking sound. Song Nan's heart beat violently for no reason and came In front of the door, he took a deep breath and put his hand on the door panel. With a slight force, he squeaked, and the door opened in response.