With Song Wencao's death, the clues were cut off again.

Although they now knew that the Iron Shoe Bandit and Prince Peacock were in cahoots, Prince Peacock was in the open while the Iron Shoe Bandit was in the dark.

As long as they didn't find him, the dark clouds of the Iron Shoe Bandit would always hang over everyone's hearts.

On the way to the parlor, Yang Muzhi shook his hands slightly. "Hua Manlou, do you hate the Iron Shoe Bandit?"

Do you hate him for hurting your eyes, changing the trajectory of your life, and even becoming a nightmare that you can't escape from when you wake up in the middle of the night?

The person being asked laughed silently. "I used to hate him, but then I realized that hating him was just punishing myself, so I don't hate him anymore."

Yang Muzhi sighed. "Hua Manlou, you live a good life.

When this terrible thing is over, I have something to tell you. Do you want to hear it? "

"If it's you, Muzhi, tell me."

At the appointed time, the four of them gathered in the parlor again.

The first to raise doubts was Lu Xiaofeng. "This is too much of a coincidence. We just confirmed Kantai's identity, but we were killed before we could ask anything. Now we suspect that Song Wencao was killed right after."

In other words, someone was observing their actions from a place they didn't know, and they were very likely being led by the nose.

Yang Muzhi and Hua Manlou, who had just returned from the murder scene, looked at each other and decided to make their discovery public. "Song Wencao isn't dead."

With so many complicated and confusing cases, Jin Jiu Ling immediately grasped the key point. "You're saying that Song Wencao faked his death because he realized that his identity was exposed?"

Yang Muzhi continued, "When I received the news of Song Wencao's death, I had been thinking about what was going on.

Finally, after discussing with Hua Manlou, we came to three conclusions. "

Hua Manlou had a telepathic connection with him, so he added, "The first scenario is what we saw. Song Wencao was indeed a subordinate of the Iron Shoe Bandit, and his identity was exposed and he was killed.

The second possibility is that Song Wencao is the Iron Shoe Bandit. He realized that his identity was exposed, so he faked his death to clear his name. "

At the crucial part, Hua Manlou stopped, and Yang Muzhi continued, "Before I talk about the third scenario, I want to make one thing clear.

At that time, it was very arbitrary to determine Song Wencao's identity based on the source of the poison needle. After all, this clue is too suggestive. It is entirely possible that the murderer stole the needle from Song Wencao's medicine box and deliberately framed him to divert our attention. "

Stroking his beard, Lu Xiaofeng understood what Yang Muzhi meant. "After successfully confusing our attention, they killed Song Wencao, so our clues were cut off.

In this case, Song Wencao is also dead. "

In the first and third scenarios, Song Wencao was dead.

Yang Muzhi had just said that Song Wencao was not dead, so it was obvious that there was only the second scenario left — Song Wencao was the Iron Shoe Bandit, and he faked his death to clear his name.

Although his thoughts were confirmed, Jin Jiu Ling still took responsibility. "I don't know if Mr. Yang has any evidence to prove that the dead person is not Song Wencao himself?"

Yang Muzhi smiled. "This is all thanks to Golden Constable's careful observation."

Jin Jiu Ling was puzzled and pointed at himself. "Me?"

"Yes, you once said that in the secret room, Song Wencao's behavior of hiding his left hand in his sleeve was very strange.

After that, I focused on observing Song Wencao's left hand, but I didn't find anything other than a strange black spot that looked like a birthmark.

And our third corpse didn't have any birthmarks on his left hand. "

This was enough to prove that the dead person was not Song Wencao.

After pondering for a while, Lu Xiaofeng's fingers stopped tapping on the table. "No, Muzhi, there are still flaws in your assumption.

We haven't seen Song Wencao for a long time. Maybe he was the Iron Shoe Bandit who went to carry out his plan to fake his death. Maybe he was just afraid that the curse at noon had already escaped, and the Iron Shoe Bandit couldn't find him, so he just casually killed someone and pretended to be him. "

Hearing Lu Xiaofeng's words, Hua Manlou smiled. "Brother Lu, if you can think of it, we can naturally think of it too. Let Muzhi finish."

Yang Muzhi intimately squeezed Hua Manlou's hand and said the most important evidence. "At first, I did think that the strange black spot was just a birthmark. It wasn't until I found Song Wencao's medicine box next to the corpse that I realized that it wasn't a birthmark at all, but something that couldn't be washed off."

Jin Jiu Ling immediately said, "It's red paint!"

"Yes!

It's red paint!

When Song Wencao wrote the curse at noon, the red paint accidentally left a mark on his hand, so he used the black grass juice to cover it. That's why when Golden Constable pointed out the curse, he subconsciously hid his left hand in his sleeve! "

After several rounds of discussion, the truth was now in front of everyone. Song Wencao was the Iron Shoe Bandit!

However, after knowing the truth, they still faced two problems.

The first problem was, should they announce to the public that Song Wencao was the Iron Shoe Bandit?

The advantage was that people who knew the truth would be more careful and vigilant. The disadvantage was that it was very likely to alert the enemy — this was also the reason why Yang Muzhi was hesitant to reveal Song Wencao's identity.

The second problem was, since Song Wencao had faked his death, he wouldn't show his real face to others. He might change his appearance and blend into the crowd again. How would they capture him?

The four of them discussed for a long time, but they couldn't even reach a consensus on the first problem.

Lu Xiaofeng's fingers tapped on the table again. He seemed to be hesitating, but in the end, he made up his mind. "We've been passively following the Iron Shoe Bandit's rhythm. This is too disadvantageous for us to solve the case.

I remember that Muzhi once said that if Uncle Hua's poison isn't treated in time, it will break out in the next two to three days. Why don't we take advantage of this to take the initiative? "

In this way, Hua Ruling would inevitably face danger. As soon as he finished speaking, everyone fell silent.

In the end, it was Hua Manlou who broke the silence. "Father … has the same idea. Let's do as Brother Lu said."

Yang Muzhi, who was sitting next to him, patted Hua Manlou's shoulder. "Don't worry. All of our actions are carried out under the premise of ensuring Uncle's safety."

The four of them finished the follow-up work. Before leaving, each of them said a sentence. Perhaps the other words were too weak, but in the end, they condensed it into two words: "Take care."

Lu Xiaofeng relied on his memory and reasonable speculation to find the room where Shen Lingshuang had settled Princess Peacock.

No matter how annoying her personality was, the Peacock Princess Consort's exotic face and graceful figure were still very pleasing to the eye. It had only been a short while, but her appearance had changed drastically under Shen Lingshuang's hands.

The brocade clothes that wrapped around her tall and slender figure were replaced by plain training clothes. Her delicate hair bun was untied and became messy. Her hands and feet were tied with straw ropes, and a piece of cloth was stuffed in her mouth.

It was like the difference between heaven and earth.

"This girl … what did you do to her?" Looking at Shen Lingshuang, Lu Xiaofeng felt that Princess Peacock was like the wife of a bandit that she had forcibly brought up the mountain.

Shen Lingshuang didn't have any self-awareness. She said righteously, "I searched her body."

Lu Xiaofeng was speechless. He didn't know what to do with Shen Lingshuang in front of him. "… Did you find anything?"

Lu Xiaofeng raised his chin and motioned for him to look to the side. Following the direction of his gaze, he saw some small trinkets that girls often carried. Only a small piece of paper attracted his attention.

The paper was rolled up and looked like it had been taken from the leg of a carrier pigeon. When he opened it, there were only a few words: "Father, I hope the prince takes care of himself."

Thinking back to the eight words he saw in the secret room that day, Lu Xiaofeng was sure that this was the handwriting of the Iron Shoe Thief, who was also Song Wencao.

The second half of the sentence on the paper was easy to understand. It was that Prince Peacock was not acclimatized to the Central Plains, so he asked him to take care of himself.

But the first half of the sentence, "Father," was very thought-provoking. Combined with the fact that this short letter was received by Princess Peacock, could it be that Song Wencao was actually Princess Peacock's father?

Lu Xiaofeng glanced at Shen Lingshuang, who was in a daze. "Girl, how much strength did you use to hit her?

When can she wake up? "

Then, Shen Lingshuang looked at Lu Xiaofeng as if she was looking at a fool. "Isn't it easy to wake her up?

Can't you just pour a basin of water on her? "

"… This is a girl." Even if she wasn't likable, she was still a girl. Wouldn't it be too cruel to do that?

It wasn't clear if she understood Lu Xiaofeng's meaning, but Shen Lingshuang returned with a basin of water and replied in a sincere tone, "I know. I'm not blind."

"…" Lu Xiaofeng didn't know what to say. He could only watch as the basin of water was poured over Princess Peacock's head. She woke up.

Lu Xiaofeng squatted in front of her and pretended to be fierce. "You saw our methods!

If you don't behave, you'll suffer!

After you remove the cloth from your mouth, you'll answer every question you ask. Do you understand?! "

As if she was frightened by the ropes that tied her hands and feet, or as if she was frightened by Lu Xiaofeng, the always aloof Princess Peacock shrank back like a quail and nodded desperately.

Seeing that she was still cooperating, Lu Xiaofeng took out the cloth stuffed in her mouth and asked, "I, cough, this girl found a small note on your body. Who wrote it?"

"My father wrote it. I'll tell you everything. Don't kill me."

"Stop!

Just answer my questions. Don't say anything irrelevant. Do you understand?! "

Seeing Lu Xiaofeng's firm attitude, Princess Peacock didn't dare to speak. She nodded timidly.

"Where is Prince Peacock now?

When is he expected to arrive? "

"Not far away. The prince originally planned to sneak in tonight to find Hua Ruling and ask him about the whereabouts of the real Jade Buddha Of The Vast Seas."

That's right. The Iron Shoe Bandit was indeed closely related to the royal family of Hanhai Province. Prince Peacock also knew that the Jade Buddha Of The Vast Seas he obtained was a fake, but there were still loopholes in his words.

Why did Prince Peacock want to sneak into the Hua family's house at night?

He thought that he had the old king's token, so he should swagger in and take it, just like what Princess Peacock did at the beginning.

"How does Prince Peacock plan to ask about the whereabouts of the real Jade Buddha?"