A raincoat wind and snow to the small garden

Chapter 6: The Strange Story of Hai Niang (Part )

Chapter Six

In Xiang Xiaoyuan's eyes, Huaiyu was just doing his job impartially.

To the others, Huaiyu's partiality only served to confirm his intention to protect Xiang Xiaoyuan. We were all, like stray dogs sent to the capital by our fathers, so who was superior? Why go against Huaiyu? Thinking of this, everyone couldn't help but feel a sense of shared pity.

Seeing that everyone had calmed down, Xiang Xiaoyuan continued the autopsy.

When she turned Lin Qing's jaw, she saw several black spots on the corpse's neck caused by bruises.

This is no ordinary poison...

Just when Xiang Xiaoyuan was puzzled, Zhu Fangfei collapsed and shouted: "That's the poison of the Seven Flavor Fruit!"

When the word "Shichimi Fruit" is mentioned, most people react.

That is a poison unique to Youzhou, and Lin Qing is the daughter of the Youzhou governor.

Could it be that Lin Qing brought the Seven-Flavor Fruit herself?
Several young ladies who were familiar with Lin Qing looked at each other, and tremblingly turned over the boxes of the deceased, and indeed found a small box containing the Seven-Flavored Fruit in Lin Qing's box.

"Sure enough, it was Queen Hai who killed people! Lin Qing was possessed by a god and took the Seven Flavor Fruit herself! She died under the control of the evil god!"

The girls screamed, the box fell, and red berries were all over the ground.

Xiang Xiaoyuan urged them to remain calm: "Just based on the poison of the Seven-Flavor Fruit, we can't conclude that Lin Qing must have encountered an evil spirit. What if someone poisoned her..."

"Impossible." Zhu Fangfei covered her face and cried in fear. "I was the first one to find out that Lin Qing was dead! Her door was bolted, and there was no one in the room! If it wasn't Queen Hai's doing, what else could it be? She was just telling me a few days ago that she would return to Youzhou sooner or later. A young lady who is so homesick, how could she commit suicide?"

Everyone present has seen Lin Qing's unruly and picky face. If she had no desire to survive, how could she be so greedy for so many rich and worldly things?
After saying that, Yan Yun drew her sword and pointed it at Zhu Fangfei: "Tell me quickly, what do you know!"

Zhu Fangfei was first stepped on by Huai Yu and then threatened by Yan Yun with a knife. She was so angry that she burst into tears. She cursed Xiang Xiaoyuan in her heart for having so many followers, but she didn't dare to complain at all.

Zhu Fangfei: "Lin Qing and I are good friends and we agreed to chat at night. But when I went to look for her, she wouldn't wake up no matter how hard I tried. I thought something was wrong, but I couldn't break the door open, so I called a boatman to kick it down. When I opened the door, Lin Qing was lying on the ground. You all know what happened next..."

With the help of a boatman to testify, Zhu Fangfei's alibi was proven to be valid, and she was not the one who poisoned Lin Qing.

Lin Qiyu, the son of the Anxi Jiedushi, hid behind his two friends and poked his head out to ask, "What if the murderer is actually hiding in the room and escapes in the chaos when you call for help?"

The boatman shouted, "Absolutely impossible! I've been guarding the door the entire time! There's no one taking advantage of the chaos to escape. The house is completely empty... The Sea Goddess has followed us. I suggest you all sail back as soon as possible. It's still not too late to perform the ritual. I have elderly parents and young children to support, and I don't want to die at sea..."

The boatman wiped his tears again, and Zhu Fangfei cried with him as if she had found a confidant.

Xiang Xiaoyuan was given a headache by the waves of crying. If what the boatman said was true, the door was bolted from the inside. If the deceased had not done it himself, how could someone else have done it?

Is there really a Sea Goddess?
When the captain started making trouble, Fusheng had no choice but to use the imperial edict to pressure him.

"His Majesty has ordered that we must report to the Xuanqi Division before the 18th of next month. Violators will be punished! A mere evil spirit! We, we are protected by the Dragon's grace of the True Dragon Emperor. Why should we be afraid of her?"

The room was in chaos for a while. The captain was at his wit's end and could only take out piles of prayer flags and yellow paper talismans with curses written on them with cinnabar pen and stick them all over the room.

The sea breeze grew stronger, and the talismans and banners fluttered in the wind, giving a strange and terrifying feeling.

Xiang Xiaoyuan read the words on the talisman and realized it was a form of curse, using curses to suppress evil spirits, effectively combating evil with evil. Apparently, even the captains knew that the Sea Goddess was a ghost, not a deity, and so they only feared her, not revered her...

Everyone was overwhelmed by the fear brought by the Sea Goddess. Someone spoke first, saying, "Xiang Xiaoyuan has provoked the evil spirit. If we sacrifice her as a human sacrifice, we can appease the Sea Goddess's wrath!"

A single stone caused a thousand ripples. In order to survive, everyone turned their eyes to Xiang Xiaoyuan.

"She's just a butcher, the lowest of the lowly, her life is not worth as much as ours..."

"Yes, the death of Xiang Xiaoyuan is nothing. We are the sons of the governor, and we are the ones that His Majesty wants to protect..."

"Throw her overboard!"

"Throw her down!"

The resentful, hateful, and mocking voices came like a tide, and the malice was like countless iron chains burning with karmic fire, tightly binding Xiang Xiaoyuan.

Xiang Xiaoyuan thought of the snowy night many years ago.

She ran across the white snow, hoping to find her parents returning from hunting. However, all she saw from afar were two corpses pierced by arrows...

In front of the powerful, the lives of common people are worthless. No matter how kind, hospitable, or respectful they are to the rich and powerful, they cannot escape death.

Just to cover up the emperor's escape, those soldiers could easily kill Xiang Xiaoyuan's parents.

as today.

Just like now.

Just like these spoiled children from wealthy families...

Xiang Xiaoyuan once again grasped the butcher knife at his waist.

She came here with nothing, she had gone to the capital with all her might, she wanted justice for her parents, she wanted to fight for a way out for ants like her, she would not die here...

Before Xiang Xiaoyuan could attack, a silver sword emitting a cold light swept towards him swiftly.

The sword light shone coldly and the humming sound was like the roar of a dragon emerging from the water, deafening.

However, the knife turned and a piece of the little finger was cut off.

The most ferociously named son of aristocratic family covered his bleeding hand and knelt on the ground in agony. His face was covered in cold sweat. He stared at the man who had drawn his sword and shouted bitterly, "Huai Yu! Are you crazy?! My father holds military power. If you dare to hurt me, he will never give up!"

Huaiyu chopped off his hand without even speaking to Fusheng. This man was so unruly that anyone would be terrified.

In the current situation, not to mention Fusheng, even Xiang Xiaoyuan was a little dazed.

But Huai Yu took the spinning sword, and with his agile movements, he just pointed his toes and killed Meng Han, whose fingers had been cut off.

The young man raised his chin and looked at him with disdain. Before he could say anything, Huai Yu's boot sole crushed Meng Han's face, stopping him from saying anything.

Huai Yu hurt someone and still dared to be so arrogant.

Everyone was stunned, a little unsure of Huaiyu's brutal nature.

Huai Yu said, "Aren't you all hostages abandoned by your families? If you were truly valued by your parents, why would you be driven to the capital to be used as leverage by the emperor to control the governors? You all know very well that this journey to the capital is full of dangers. If you are not careful, you could die there. To me, you are nothing more than objects. Even if I am escorting you to the capital, the long journey and some damage to the goods are understandable. Your Majesty will not blame me."

What's the big deal about killing one or two troublemakers? Maybe it can serve as a warning to other unruly children of noble families.

This Huai Yu was clearly even more arrogant than them. He didn't care about the life and death of the children of the aristocratic families at all...

Who on earth is he? This inhuman monster!

Huai Yu attacked with ruthlessness, not leaving anyone with any face. Everyone present was speechless, and no one dared to speak again, for fear of becoming the victim under Huai Yu's knife.

The atmosphere was unprecedentedly solemn.

But it is also convenient to verify something with Xiaoyuan.

With Huaiyu as a guarantor, Xiang Xiaoyuan was also infected with the evil spirit. Wherever she went, the children of wealthy families hurriedly retreated and dared not approach her.

Xiang Xiaoyuan glanced at the door latch and found tiny scratches on the dusty door bolt and door frame.

Xiang Xiaoyuan: "I understand how the secret room was formed."

He turned to Xiaoyuan, asked the boatman for a thin fishing line, and demonstrated the technique to everyone.

She tied one end of the rope to the door latch and then passed the rope around the door frame. When she closed the door and pulled the rope hard, the rope would lift the door latch. When the thin line was pulled away by Xiang Xiaoyuan outside the door, the door latch fell, forming a secret room structure that was luring people in.

And those traces wiped by the fine line are the best evidence of the modus operandi.

Yan Yun suddenly understood, and she praised him repeatedly: "Xiao Yuan, you are so smart!"

Before Xiang Xiaoyuan could even offer a word of modesty, the frustrated Meng Han sneered, "Since you know the method of murder, it means you are most likely Lin Qing's murderer! Besides, everyone present knows that Lin Qing once bullied you, so it's only natural that you harbor hatred for her, which gives you a motive for murder..."

Xiang Xiaoyuan laughed instead of getting angry. "So, I, the murderer, could have made the case appear to be the work of an evil spirit, but I chose to show off my skills by recounting the entire murder process, thus leading you to suspect me? I'm not that stupid, am I?"

The crowd was speechless.

Meng Han wanted to argue again: "Perhaps this is your way of getting rid of suspicion. This is your brilliance!"

"Enough!" Ni Miaoyi suddenly squeezed out of the crowd and stood in front of Xiang Xiaoyuan. "Xiaoyuan just stayed in the room and had no time to kill Lin Qing. I live next door to her and I can testify for her!"

Ni Miaoyi stepped forward and moved Xiang Xiaoyuan deeply.

Xiang Xiaoyuan's suspicion has been cleared, and next Fusheng will come to check the alibis of everyone present.

The strange thing is that everyone has witnesses who can prove that they did not kill Lin Qing... The murder case has gone around in circles and returned to the original hypothesis of "the evil god killing people".

After the commotion tonight, everyone was exhausted, but no one slept.

They were afraid that they would be the next human sacrifice to be targeted by the Sea Goddess, so they spent a huge amount of money and bought many talismans with the boatmen and placed them in the house to drive away evil spirits.

Xiang Xiaoyuan was tired after a day and planned to lie down and take a nap.

However, before she could touch the pillow, there were rapid knocks on the door.

Xiang Xiaoyuan was so annoyed that he could only get up and open the door with a sleepy look on his face.

The people who came included not only Yan Yun who was hugging a pillow, but also the playboy Lin Qiyu who looked excited.

Yan Yun: "Xiao Yuan, such a big thing has happened. I'm a little nervous. Can I sleep with you?"

Nodding to Xiaoyuan: "Okay."

After she finished speaking, she looked at Lin Qiyu: "Mr. Lin, you are not here to sleep with me too, are you?"

Lin Qiyu praised: "You are worthy of being the number one detective of the Xuanqi Division. You guessed my intention right away! I was actually wondering what the point of those people and the boatmen buying the talismans was. Didn't they see that you were not affected at all even when the Queen of the Sea targeted you? If I were to say, you are the greatest talisman. With you in control, none of us would be in any danger!"

Xiang Xiaoyuan was stunned when she heard this, but she soon understood that Lin Qiyu was treating her as a talisman to ward off evil spirits!
However, there is indeed a saying that butchers who kill a lot of pigs have a lot of evil spirits and can suppress evil spirits... Lin Qiyu was right to choose her.

But Xiang Xiaoyuan still felt a little unhappy after hearing this. She asked with deep resentment, "Lord Huaiyu lives next door to me. Why don't you go to him instead of me..."

Everyone knows that Huai Yu has killed countless people, and even ghosts and gods dare not provoke him.

Lin Qiyu got goose bumps all over his body, shaking his head like a rattle: "Am I crazy? Go find him! I'm afraid that among the souls who died under Huai Yu's knife, there might be one like me!"

However, Huai Yu is skilled and courageous, making him a very good choice for a bodyguard...

When the three of them said this, they looked at each other at the same time.

Lin Qiyu and Yan Yun suddenly had an idea and pushed the car towards the small garden.

Xiang Xiaoyuan had no choice but to bite the bullet and go knock on Huaiyu's door.

After knocking for a long time, the door finally opened.

When Xiang Xiaoyuan looked up, she was met with Huaiyu's handsome face, which was cold and world-weary.

Xiang Xiaoyuan wanted to back out, and if her friends hadn't put their hands on her shoulders, she would have run away.

But in the end, Xiang Xiaoyuan hugged the pillow in his arms and asked in a low voice.

"Lord Huaiyu, everything is going on dangerously tonight, and everyone is really panicking... I'm a little scared. Can I sleep with you?"

(End of this chapter)