Chapter 3 Forced Closure

Chapter 3 Forced Closure

Chapter 3 Forced Closure
"Why did you let the young man go?" Ma Xun asked angrily.

Wang Lan snorted, "Is this the attitude you use when speaking to this county?"

Ma Xun suppressed his anger and said, "The princess's servant died in Jiangdu. Once the princess blames her, not only will the county lord be in trouble, but I will also be hard-pressed to escape. Now there is only one clue, the young man, and the county lord let him go. How can we investigate the case?"

Wang Lan said calmly: "He is not a suspect, he is a fellow traveler. The boatman has proved that he boarded the boat halfway and knew Eunuch Lu. He is actually the only survivor. It is not appropriate to lock him up in jail!"

"But the murderous sword is in his hand!"

"That is a very common sword that can be bought anywhere. We cannot prove that it is the sword that killed people. County Magistrate Ma, he is a member of the Xiao family. Xiao Cong has bailed him out. If you need him, you can always find him and ask him."

After saying that, Wang Lan turned and left. Ma Xun gritted his teeth and asked, "County Lord, what should we do with the case?"

Wang Lan ignored him and walked away.

Ma Xun stamped his feet in anger, turned around and left in a hurry.

However, Ma Xun did not notice that a dark shadow was following him closely not far behind him.

.........

Inside the carriage, Xiao Cong touched Xiao Xia's head and said with a smile: "Have you really forgotten everything?"

Xiao Xia sighed and said, "I feel like I remember everything, but I can't remember anything. I even forgot my name. I can't remember it no matter how hard I try!"

Xiao Xia's heart was pounding, and he hoped that the head of the family would not see that he was acting.

Xiao Cong smiled slightly and said, "Your name is Xiao Xia, and your nickname is Xiao Qilang. Do you remember it?"

Xiao Xia's eyes widened, and he was extremely shocked. He was also called Xiao Xia in the Sui Dynasty. Was this a coincidence? Or was it the arrangement of the God of Destiny? Could it be that he had returned to his previous life 1,400 years ago?

"Just take good care of your injuries! Don't worry about that case anymore. You are lucky to be alive."

Xiao Xia pulled his thoughts back to reality. He hesitated for a moment and said, "Master, the murder case is related to County Magistrate Ma!"

"Oh? How do you know?"

"This afternoon, the county lieutenant wanted to kill me in the jail to silence me. Thanks to the return of the county doctor, he failed!"

Xiao Cong's face suddenly became very ugly, and he snorted coldly in his heart. It was indeed Yuwen Shu.

.........

A carriage stopped in front of a house. County Lieutenant Ma Xun jumped off the carriage and walked to the gate. He knocked on the door knocker rhythmically. The door opened a crack and Ma Xun slipped in.

A tall and thin masked man in black quietly appeared in the alley opposite the house. He had a floral cloth wrapped on his back, and his eyes pierced through the dark door like a sharp blade.

In a room in the inner house, a short old man angrily scolded Ma Xun, "If you can't even handle such a small matter, what else can you do?"

Ma Xun gritted his teeth and said angrily: "I was planning to kill that young man in the middle of the night, but I never thought that he was a member of the Xiao family. Wang Lan let him go. What can I do?"

"You should have killed him on the boat!"

Ma Xun said with a gloomy face: "Butler, stop saying this kind of afterthought. You didn't tell me that you were going to kill this boy. You told me after you put him in jail. How would I know? I thought you were just trying to steal the treasure lamp?"

The thin old man sneered and said, "Who told you that it was us who did it? Who told you that there was a treasure lamp on the boat?"

Ma Xun was stunned. "Isn't it you?"

The thin old man snorted, "We were planning to take action at the Huai River, but someone got there first. If we had taken action, how could the boy have survived!"

"What about that lamp? Governor Wei told us to check the lamp!"

"Wei Lihu is trying to divert your attention. He's afraid that Wang Lan will find out that the boy is the real target. In fact, the lights on the boat are fake. The real Baibao Liuli Lamp is still in the hands of the Xiao family and has not been repaired yet."

Ma Xun suddenly realized, "Could it be that the princess sent Eunuch Lu here just to take that young man to the capital?"

The thin old man nodded, "You are not stupid!"

"Who is that young man?"

"Don't ask who he is. Just think about how to find a chance to kill him! Otherwise, how can I report back?" Just as he finished speaking, the door was kicked open, and a masked, tall, thin man in black rushed in like a whirlwind. His movements were as fast as lightning, and he pierced the throat of the thin old man with a sword. The thin old man screamed and fell to the ground with his head raised.
Ma Xun was so frightened that he turned around and ran away.

The man in black thrust out his sword, and the tip of the sword shot into the back of his neck and out of his throat, nailing Mason to the ground.

The man in black walked forward, drew his sword, wiped the blood off Amazon's body, threw the floral bag on his back at Amazon, and strode out of the room. There were seven or eight warriors lying in the yard, all killed by a single sword.

The masked man in black walked out of the gate and left with a swagger. Soon, the gate was crowded with people who came to watch the fun.

Soon, the county magistrate Wang Lan arrived with constables and yamen runners and cordoned off the scene. They rushed into the backyard and were stunned by the scene before them.

.........

In the back hall of the county government, the governor Wei Lihu drank a sip of tea, then slowly said to the anxious Wang Lan: "Since the treasure lamp was found next to Ma Xun, the case is closed, right? County lieutenant Ma Xun colluded with the thief to kill people and rob, and died because of an internal conflict due to uneven distribution of the spoils. Just report it like this!"

Wang Lan was embarrassed and said, "But Ma Xun is General Yuwen's man, and the other old man who was killed was the chief steward of the General's Mansion. I'm afraid General Yuwen will not let it go. Also, I'm worried that the princess will not accept this conclusion?"

Wei Lihu sneered, "You are really a small county magistrate, worrying about nothing all the time. What does it have to do with you if Yuwen Shu refuses to give up? Will he cause trouble for a small county magistrate like you? What does it have to do with you if the princess does not accept the conclusion? Can a small county magistrate like you change the situation of the court?"

Wang Lan stood there for a while, then bowed and said, "Thank you for your guidance, sir!"

"Go! Do as I say. The Jiangdu part of this case is over. As for the Beijing part, it has nothing to do with us."

"I humbly obey my orders!"

Wang Lan bowed, then hurried away.

As soon as Wang Lan left, a man in brocade robe, about twenty years old, appeared from behind the screen. He had a handsome face and a big red mole on his forehead. He was the young man in brocade robe who was in the restaurant before.

At this time, the young man in brocade robe looked down at Wei Lihu with a hint of arrogance and coldness on his face.

Wei Lihu was obviously very afraid of this young man in brocade robes. He bowed and smiled and said, "Everything has been arranged according to your instructions!"

The young man in brocade robe nodded and said, "Even if the matter in Jiangdu is over, don't make any more waves. I will explain it to my father."

Wei Lihu sighed, "It's a pity that we failed at the last minute and the boy managed to survive."

The man in brocade robe turned around, stared at Wei Lihu fiercely and said, "The man who did this is one of the three great masters in the world. He can kill four sixth-rank warriors in an instant. Do you think he will fail? He failed twice in prison. Do you think it was just a coincidence?"

"But."

"No buts. It was confirmed on the ship that the child was dead. As for why he is still alive now, it is God's will. Do you understand?"

"God willing?"

Wei Lihu murmured, and then asked, "Do I need to take action?"

The man in brocade robes stared at the sky for a long while, then said calmly, "You can make a move, but you must be patient and strategic. This is related to the plan of ascending the throne, and my father must not be involved."

"Your Highness, please rest assured!"

Wei Lihu nodded and asked in a low voice: "Will Your Highness come again?"

"At the end of the year! There will be a big show in Jiangdu City at the end of the year, I should be able to come."

Thinking of the big show in Jiangdu City at the end of the year, Wei Lihu's eyes were full of anticipation.

At the same time, in an inn in Shanyang County by the Huai River, a horse-faced man in his thirties said to several of his trusted subordinates with great concern: "The chief steward was stabbed, Ma Xun is also dead, the situation is unclear, and we can't get any orders from my father for the time being. We can only return to Chang'an."

Everyone nodded. They were ordered to come to the Huai River to ambush Eunuch Lu's boat. Unexpectedly, before they could get the boat, they received the news of the death of the chief steward and County Lieutenant Ma, which really frightened them.

The man smiled at a pair of high-ranking twin warriors sitting next to him and said, "I can only ask you two to continue to lurk in Jiangdu. You can stay in the Chen family in Jiangdu for a few months, and then find an opportunity to infiltrate the Xiao family in Jiangdu. Wait patiently for the general's order!"

The two twin warriors bowed together and saluted, "We will follow the orders of the eldest master!"

At dawn the next day, the horse-faced man returned to Chang'an with more than a hundred men.

The death of County Lieutenant Ma Xun was like a door slamming shut, isolating all the secrets to the other side of the door. Jiangdu returned to its usual tranquility, as if nothing had happened.

(End of this chapter)