Gu Shenwei was at a loss in his heart, he didn't have a clue, he was just a killer apprentice who had not yet graduated, he had taken on a murder business privately, and now he was looking for another murderer to prove his innocence.

Tie Hanfeng took over this matter, which must cost a lot of silver, take a lot of favors, and the price is so high that it seems that it is not something that a killer apprentice can repay.

Gu Shenwei was in a complicated mood, and he didn't speak again until the north city gate.

Someone is waiting for the master and apprentice.

Tie Hanfeng's red face put on a protective smile, and he exchanged greetings with the man affectionately, and pulled his apprentice over to meet the captain of the city patrol.

The commander of the patrol city is the military attache of Biyu City, responsible for patrolling and arresting thieves, and there are one hundred and eighty people under his command, in fact, the scope of his real jurisdiction is very small, the southern city is mixed, and no one is bound, outside the north gate to Jinpeng Castle, no one dares to care, even in the northern city, countless rich merchants and princes and nobles do not take the patrol city captain seriously.

The current Duwei's surname is Zhong, his name is Heng, a native of the Central Plains, and Tie Hanfeng calls him "Zhong Duwei" or "Lord Zhong".

Captain Zhong Heng was dressed in military general's civilian clothes, with a tall posture, elegant appearance, a sparse beard, and a waist knife in the style of the Central Plains hanging under his waist, which was longer and wider than the Jinpeng Fort narrow knife, and slightly curved.

Gu Shenwei spontaneously had a sense of closeness, he was too familiar with this kind of person, when he was in the Central Plains, there were military officials coming in and out of the family every day, and the Central Plains did not have the official title of "Du Lieutenant", judging from the clothing, he was probably only a junior official of five or six grades.

Zhong Heng didn't pay much attention to the young man who was seriously suspected, and chatted with Tie Hanfeng for a while before getting to the point, "What is Brother Hanfeng going to do?"

"Looking for the real murderer, who has Lord Zhong in this city? Our master and apprentice just follow you for a long time, plus three days as a hostage, haha. ”

The two of them chatted for a long time, and it seemed that they were going around in circles, seeing that half a day had passed like this, and they hadn't even entered the city gate, if it weren't for their low status, Gu Shenwei really wanted to open his mouth to reprimand them.

"Okay, I can't guarantee that I will solve the case, but some things have to go down the form, so let's go to the Ju Wangfu to explain first. ”

Ten years ago, because of a palace coup, the two princes fled here with several family members, willing to borrow troops to recover the throne, but have been short of money, I didn't expect good luck to come to the sky, the domestic tyrant died violently, no heirs, the two factions of ministers fought for me, and finally decided to welcome back the son of the old master.

The eldest prince, Ju Gaotai, died in the house of a prostitute in Nancheng only ten days after receiving the news of the restoration of the throne.

The so-called Ju Wang's Mansion is a small mansion where two princes and their entourage live in it, and it is quite crowded.

The second prince excused himself, and the three of them were met by the minister who invited the king to return to China, as well as a personal guard of the eldest prince.

The minister was very good at talking, and he had a good conversation with Zhong Heng and Tie Hanfeng, all of which were marginal topics, and Gu Shenwei suddenly returned to the Central Plains, among his father and that group of colleagues.

Although the minister expressed just the right amount of condolences for the death of the prince, everyone could see that he did not have deep feelings for the prince, and it is no wonder that he had only been with the future king for a few days after he had come from the country of Stone, and ten years ago the prince was a child.

The real sadness is that the personal guard, also surnamed Ju, is from the royal family, equipped with a scimitar in the Western Regions, he probably thinks that the assassination of the prince is his own dereliction of duty, so he has been staring at Gu Shenwei coldly, and it seems that he will draw a sword at any time to avenge the lord.

After chatting for nearly an hour, only one thing was clarified, the eldest prince Ju Gaotai went out alone the night before, and he was about to leave for China in three days, and he wanted to say goodbye to ten years of exile, but the bad news came at noon yesterday.

"Xu Guanren has a very close personal relationship with His Royal Highness the Prince, but it's a pity. ”

The minister sighed, and made a heartfelt speech, recalling the friendship between the two and the interaction between Shi Guo and Meng, as if he had been by the prince's side.

Gu Shenwei listened for a while before he understood that the "Xu Guanren" was the big-bellied Buddha.

Tie Hanfeng took the opportunity to talk about checking the body, the minister was very embarrassed, although he had not yet ascended the throne, he was also the lord of a country, the body had been put into the coffin, and it was not easy to open it again, and finally Zhong Heng vouched for his official position, claiming that he had personally examined the corpse and killed him with a knife, the wound was located on the right side of the neck, which was very small, very similar to the narrow knife of Jinpeng Castle.

Tie Hanfeng didn't insist, Gu Shenwei felt that this was a mistake by Tie Cripple, and it was necessary to inspect the corpse himself, but he didn't have the qualifications to speak.

When the three of them said goodbye, the grief-stricken guard surnamed Ju suddenly spoke, "Lord Zhong, you won't believe this kid, will you?" Jinpeng Castle said that this matter has nothing to do with them, I believe it, but if you want to exonerate him, although Shi Guo is small, it can also gather thousands of elite soldiers. ”

Zhong Heng snorted embarrassedly, and Tie Hanfeng said first: "Hehe, if Jinpeng Fort really wants to exonerate anyone, it will never trouble Lord Zhong, there are thousands of elite soldiers in your country, you go and ask how many of them are holding the Jinpeng flag?"

Jinpeng Fort is a killer organization, and it also has a large number of mercenaries, often serving the countries of the Western Regions, and Tie Hanfeng's words are not all false words and intimidation.

Ju Guard's face became as red as Tie Hanfeng's, and the minister hurriedly stepped forward to dissuade and defuse the turmoil.

When the three of them left the Ju Palace, the atmosphere was not as harmonious as when they came.

Zhong Heng invited the master and apprentice to the office, tasted tea and ate snacks, seeing that dusk was approaching, and finally began to get down to business, Gu Shenwei couldn't wait to throw out his own opinions, "Those two people killed the prince, the minister welcomed the king is fake, the killing of the lord is true, and it is the guard who did it, I threw an imitation narrow knife in the house, anyone can pick it up and kill people." ”

Captain Zhong Heng looked at the young man carefully for the first time, and did not show contempt for his status, "Your idea is bold, but why? The minister wants to join forces with the guards to kill the prince, you know, this prince is about to become the king, and it is too late to curry favor." ”

"Because of the second prince. Gu Shenwei had been thinking about it for a long time, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt that his guess would not be wrong, "If the elder brother dies, the younger brother is qualified to become the king, so he wants to bribe the minister and protect the lord, and the reason why these two people agree is because welcoming the lord back to the country is far less than the credit of the co-lord to seize the throne." ”

Gu Shenwei looked at the murder through the eyes of his training at Jinpeng Castle, and felt that everything was clear.

Tie Hanfeng sneered and disagreed, but Zhong Heng was quite interested, and began to treat the "murderous" young man seriously, "As far as the matter is concerned, what you said has a certain truth, but there is one thing you said wrong, the customs of Shiguo, the royal family guards cannot change masters in their lives, the eldest prince is dead, and the Ju guards must guard the tomb for him for the rest of his life, and he will never return to the palace." ”

"The rules can be changed, the second prince became the king......"

Zhong Heng shook his head, "No, no, you still don't know the customs here, the king's power is not as great as you imagined, and it is completely different from the emperor's dignity in the Central Plains. ”

Gu Shenwei has lived in the Western Regions for several years, but he has heard his father say some local customs, Zhong Heng does not seem to be exaggerating, and Tie Hanfeng also nodded and acquiesced.

"That is, the second prince colluded with the minister, and the killer was someone else. Gu Shenwei quickly adjusted his thinking.

This time it was Tie Hanfeng who refuted him, "Stupid, aren't you in your mind yet?" We're not here to find out who the real killer is, but to prove that you didn't kill the third person." ”

Finding the real culprit and getting rid of suspicion seem to be the same thing, but Gu Shenwei still understood what the master meant, "That pair of sisters and brothers can prove that I only killed two people." ”

"Both of them are missing. Zhong Heng frowned, and seemed to be puzzled, "I sent people to search all over Nancheng, but they just disappeared, and they didn't see anyone alive or dead." ”

"Since Xu Xiaoyi took you away in the tavern, no one has seen them again, I can guarantee this. ”

Tie Hanfeng also made a guarantee, Gu Shenwei was very surprised, he had seen Tie Hanfeng's connections in Nancheng, but he didn't expect that he had quietly investigated.

The case has reached a dead end, and although Gu Shenwei has the object of suspicion, there is no real evidence.

"Come on, it's almost time, let's look around and ask, maybe things are still turning around, it's best to touch those two little devils, if the facts are as you say, they are the best evidence. ”

Zhong Heng summoned two patrolmen, carried lanterns to lead the way in front, went out of the government office, and went all the way to Nancheng, to the famous "Liuren Lane".

On both sides of Liuren Lane are two or three-story small buildings, with a total of no less than 100 houses, and the best and most advanced prostitutes in Biyu City are all gathered here, Xu Yanwei is one of them.

Tie Hanfeng's eyes lit up, he hadn't been to this place a few times, "Look at this building, is there Xiao Fengchai living in it, tsk, a great woman, so expensive that people want to commit suicide, we have a fate, but you look at the ugly woman at the door, it's like she doesn't know me." ”

Zhong Heng smiled and said nothing, and Gu Shenwei pretended not to hear.

Xu Yanwei's small building is still as messy as yesterday morning, the body upstairs has been removed, the blood stains are still there, Gu Shenwei can recognize the location of the pot-bellied Buddha and the bodyguard, and the third bloodstain is located on the bed, which is where Xu Yanwei sat when Gu Shenwei killed people.

"There used to be a thousand taels of silver here. ”

Gu Shenwei pointed to the empty low table.

"No, there was nothing when the patrol came, maybe it was taken away by the sisters and brothers, or maybe it was taken by the murderer. ”

Maybe it was too fast to be caught by the patrol who arrived first, Gu Shenwei thought to himself.

The pot-bellied Buddha was in charge of five prostitutes, all of whom lived nearby, and the two patrolmen were ordered to summon the other four, but none of them would go upstairs, and the questioning could only be carried out downstairs.

"My lord, it's really not the right time for you to look for us at this time, there are just more guests, and it is a loss to delay for a while. "A spicy-looking prostitute grabbed the white way as soon as they met, and the bones of the pot-bellied Buddha were not cold, and they had found a new owner to continue their business.

Zhong Heng asked the name first, it was nothing more than the name of Yingyan Jinyu, and Gu Shenwei noticed that they did not follow the surname of the big-bellied Buddha Xu.

Then the scene was a little chaotic, the mother-in-law and the servants came to urge people one after another, either the "prince" came, or the "Hou Ye" was leaving, and the questions and answers were reversed.

Prince Shi? Yes, Ju Gaotai often comes to play, but I haven't seen him for a few days, he is really a prince; yesterday morning, they were all sleeping, and the servants were resting, so early in the morning, there was no one on the street; Xu sisters and brothers? Who knows, maybe they were killed and thrown into the wilderness.

In this chaos, neither Zhong Heng nor Tie Hanfeng asked for valuable clues, but a prostitute pretended to be unstable on her feet, bumped into Gu Shenwei, and whispered in his ear, "Fourth watch, one person." ”

The prostitute's name was Shen Yanshi, and she lived opposite Xu Yanwei