Chapter 299 The Rules of Freedom

Chapter 299 The Rules of Freedom

"It seems that this guy knows exactly why Hou San died."

Li Xuan was on the roof, observing Zhao Si who was shivering in bed through the "skylight" he opened.

"And this matter must have something to do with him."

"Otherwise, why should he be afraid of being like this?"

Zhao Si is hiding at home now, still afraid of becoming like this. He probably knows very well that he will be next.

Li Xuan raised his head and looked around Zhao Mansion.

The Zhao Mansion is still very heavily guarded, and guards can be seen patrolling everywhere.

It might not be easy for the murderer to break into Zhao's house and take Zhao Si's life.

"If Zhao Si had been hiding at home, it would be difficult for the murderer to succeed."

Li Xuan stayed on the roof for a while, but found nothing more.

Zhao Si was determined to hide in his bed.

Seeing how scared he was, he must have really felt that a female ghost was threatening his life.

Li Xuan felt a little bored, shook his head and left Zhao Mansion.

He no longer cares whether Zhao Si dies or not.

Don’t do bad things, don’t be afraid of ghosts knocking on your door.

Even if Zhao Sizhen is dead, he should still deserve to die.

Li Xuan is now even more curious about whether Princess Ankang has found anything.

When Li Xuan climbed out of the Zhao Mansion's courtyard wall, Xu Lang also slowly walked out of the shadows.

He half-knelt in front of Li Xuan, and Li Xuan jumped directly onto his shoulders without any courtesy.

"Master A-Xuan, shall we meet the young lady now?"

Xu Lang asked Li Xuan.

Li Xuan nodded. Xu Lang was very discerning, which saved him the effort of writing.

When Li Xuan and Xu Lang returned to Hu Yulou, it was almost noon.

Hu Yulou was particularly deserted during the day because of the continuous troubles last night.

Hu Yulou is also open during the day, but it is far less busy than at night.

Moreover, the performances during the day are more refreshing and refined, not as exciting and hot as they are at night.

Li Xuan and Xu Lang returned to the private room on the second floor and found that there was no one there yet.

Princess Ankang and Princess Yuanan have not returned yet.

Li Xuan sat on the table, while Xu Lang stood aside.

On the table are tea and snacks just served by Hu Yulou's waiter.

Li Xuan looked at the hall on the first floor boredly.

There were only performances of singing and playing music on the stage, and the guests only sat at one or two tables, which was not deserted.

The excitement last night was like a dream, it felt unreal.

Li Xuan raised his head and looked upstairs.

The stairs leading from the third floor to the fourth floor have been blocked off, and there is a wooden sign saying "under repair".

There were two people guarding the wooden sign. They didn't look like Hu Yulou's thugs, but they were probably servants of the Hou family.

Li Xuan remembered that Hu Yulou’s mother Zhou was under house arrest in the boudoir on the fifth floor.

"I don't know if Zhou's mother found out that her belongings were gone."

The belongings that Zhou's mother had hidden under her pillow before running away were smoothly put into the Emperor Hong Bone Ring by Li Xuan last night.

After all, this is Zhou's mother's territory, and Li Xuan guessed that if she wanted to run away, there would be a way.

But before she ran away, if she found that her belongings were gone, she didn't know if she would simply escape.

Li Xuan said hello to Xu Lang, then quietly went out from the window of the private room and climbed upstairs.

When Xu Lang saw Li Xuan going upstairs, he just pretended not to see him and stood by with his back straight like a spear. Even though there was no one around, he still maintained a professional attitude.

Li Xuan climbed to the fifth floor easily, but before he even got close to the window, he heard the sound of rummaging.

He grabbed the window with his paws, then looked inside through the gap, and sure enough he saw Zhou's mother who was frantically rummaging through the house.

The originally tidy room was now a mess, with all kinds of things scattered on the floor.

Zhou’s mother’s hair and clothes were also messy, her eyes were bloodshot, and she looked haggard.

"Where are the things? Where are the things..."

Mother Zhou was chanting in her mouth, her eyes full of panic.

She clearly remembered that she packed all her belongings last night, put them into a small wooden box that only she could open, and hid them under her pillow.

Zhou's mother wanted to leave last night, but found that the small wooden box under the pillow was missing.

Later, the Hou family put her under house arrest, which made it easier for her to find her belongings. But until now, she has searched the house and found nothing.

"Inviting thieves?"

"How could such a coincidence happen..."

"Could it be that it's really haunted?"

Zhou's mother sat on the chair suspiciously, biting her nails uncontrollably and looking very nervous.

"Impossible, impossible..."

"If there really is a ghost, how could the business on Flower Street be as good as it is now!"

"Someone must be doing something secretly, that's for sure."

After sitting for a while, Zhou's mother stood up again and started to move around in the room anxiously.

Now that Hou San is dead, Ayimu is still missing, and she herself is under house arrest by the Hou family.

If this continues, the best outcome for her will be bankruptcy and returning to her old business.

When the time comes for her to be sold to pay off her debts, the rest of her life will be completely ruined.

Obviously, Mother Zhou is not one to sit still and wait for death.

Zhou's mother climbed into her bed, and then pressed her hands back and forth on her bed board. After a while, there was a burst of machine sounds.

"Damn it, I really have a back-up plan."

Li Xuan, who was peeking out of the window, saw this scene and couldn't help but secretly thought in his heart.

The mechanism under Zhou's mother's bed was very delicate. As the mechanism sounded, a passage appeared under her bed. It was so dark that it was unknown where it led.

The amazing thing is that Li Xuan can still clearly see the space under her bed without any changes.

"It even uses visual and spatial illusions. The craftsmanship is very good."

Li Xuan sighed in praise.

At this time, Zhou's mother carefully put her lower body into the passage.

This passage should be like a slide, and you can slide down it.

Mother Zhou held the entrance of the passage with both hands, seeming a little hesitant.

I'm afraid I'm still reluctant to part with my belongings.

But now the bow is on the string and has to be fired.

Finally, Zhou's mother gritted her teeth, let go of her supporting hand, and slid into the passage with a whoosh.

Li Xuan quickly climbed into the window, then leaned to the passage and looked inside.

In the dark passage, Zhou's mother could no longer be seen, but the sound of clothes rubbing against the slide could still be vaguely heard.

"Mom is really good at playing this week."

At the door of the passage, Li Xuan was hesitating whether to slide down with him, but as soon as he put his head to the entrance of the passage, he couldn't help but frown.

"This smell..."

Li Xuan moved his nose and immediately took two steps back in fright.

At this moment, the passageway mouth began to slowly close, and the sound of the machine sounded automatically.

But at the last moment when the passage was closed, Li Xuan clearly heard screams coming from inside the passage.

And the owner of that voice was none other than Zhou’s mother.

"Ah this..."

As a hint of burnt smell penetrated his nose, Li Xuan believed that Zhou's mother was probably in danger now.

"Are you actually ready in this secret passage a long time ago?"

Li Xuan felt a little scared, but he didn't expect the murderer to be so well prepared, allowing Zhou's mother to fall into the trap herself.

If he hadn't smelled the familiar smell at the entrance of the passage just now, he might have suffered the same fate as Zhou's mother.

Li Xuan looked at the closed passage and immediately shook his head.

"No, we can't pursue him from here."

He leaned over the closed passage and sniffed hard with his nose. After identifying the smell, he immediately climbed out of the window and looked for the smell.

Once outside, the smell was much blurred, but Li Xuan found that the burnt smell was getting clearer and clearer.

"under."

Li Xuan came all the way to the window on the first floor, and then like a hound, he followed the scent all the way to Hu Yulou's backyard.

This was the first time he stepped here and found that Hu Yulou's backyard was quite large.

The backyard is surrounded by many low-rise bungalows, which look like they should be able to accommodate a lot of people.

The kitchen, carriages and warehouses are also arranged here, which really takes up a lot of space.

It seems that Hu Yulou's real estate alone is probably a huge fortune.

Li Xuan followed the smell to the warehouse and found that the smell came from underneath the warehouse.

He searched inside the warehouse for a long time, and finally found a hidden cellar entrance through the direction from which the smell came.

As there was no one in the warehouse now, Li Xuan directly opened the entrance to the cellar.

Although it was pitch dark inside, Li Xuan couldn't help it.

His pair of green cat eyes can see things clearly in this environment.

Li Xuan went all the way to the deepest part of the cellar. He found that the burning smell was coming from the corner, but there was no way in front of him.

"Hey, it's true that the smell is coming from behind this wall."

"There must be some agency."

Li Xuan felt around on the wall and knocked on it.

It turned out that there was something wrong with the sound in the corner of the wall. He pressed hard a few times, and the wall suddenly sank in, then rotated, revealing a narrow passage.

As the passage was opened, Li Xuan's vision suddenly lit up, and the burning smell filled his nose.

In the dark secret room, a corpse was burning. The green fire on the corpse was the green fire from last night. While the green fire was burning, the smell of smelly garlic filled the nose.

Li Xuan knew that the smell was poisonous, but it had no effect on him.

Judging by the body shape and the unburnt clothes on her body, there is no doubt that this is Zhou’s mother.

Li Xuan sighed, probably Zhou's mother never thought until her death that she jumped into the fire pit.

"It's burned like this and there's no way to save it."

Li Xuan bypassed Zhou's mother's body and went to the exit of the passage to check.

Previously, Zhou's mother had followed this path, sliding all the way from the boudoir on the fifth floor to the secret room in the cellar.

Li Xuan smelled it, and then gently touched the slide in the passage with his paw.

As a result, he touched some sticky liquid.

Li Xuan looked at the liquid on his paw carefully, smelled it a few more times, and already understood what it was.

"Just because of this thing, has this place turned into a slide that cannot be touched?"

Li Xuan shook his head and sighed, and quickly shook off the mucus on his claws.

He didn't want to get burned out of curiosity.

Then, Li Xuan walked around the secret room in the cellar. Because Zhou's mother was turning her remains into fire, the secret room was very bright.

There are some clothes and costume props stored in the secret room. In addition, there is a wooden box containing scattered silver taels. A rough estimate should be a hundred taels.

These one hundred taels of silver range from silver ingots to thin pieces of silver. It should be very convenient to use in the market.

I guess it was the money that Zhou's mother prepared for herself all year round when running away.

Li Xuan unceremoniously put it into the Emperor Hong Bone Ring.

Then, there was nothing else in the secret room.

In the secret room, apart from clothes and traveling money, there were no documents or the like as Li Xuan had expected.

This is a cellar after all, and the dark and damp environment is not conducive to storing those things.

Li Xuan was still very sorry for Zhou's mother's death. He originally had many questions to ask Zhou's mother, but now it seems that there is no chance.

Li Xuan looked back at the still burning corpse, then silently walked out of the secret room, closed the mechanism in the corner again, and restored it to its original state.

Mother Zhou's death was not worthless.

At least, Li Xuan felt that if the news of Zhou's mother's disappearance spread, the murderer would definitely come to take a look.

The murderer must also want to admire the masterpiece he carefully crafted.

Thinking about this, Li Xuan left the cellar and quietly returned to Hu Yulou.

With his identity as a little kitten, he returned to the private room on the second floor without disturbing anyone.

And when he came back, he found that Princess Ankang and Princess Yuanan had returned.

The two princesses were gathering together, whispering quietly, not knowing what they were discussing.

But looking at their sneaky looks, Li Xuan couldn't help but laugh a little.

"This detective game actually makes them more and more into it."

Li Xuan jumped onto the table suddenly, startling both of them.

"Axuan, I didn't know how to say anything even when I came back."

Princess Ankang complained, patted her small chest, and then naturally hugged Li Xuan into her arms.

Princess Yuan'an on the side suddenly blushed and her heart beat fast. She looked very nervous and stared at Li Xuan.

"Axuan, you were so close to me just now."

"I can smell the burnt and smelly body odor on his body."

"As expected of the kitten I have fallen in love with, the smell on her body is so unique."

Princess Yuanan hugged her red face, looking obsessed.

Li Xuan and Princess Ankang were not surprised now, and they just pretended that they had not seen Princess Yuanan's current appearance.

"uh-huh."

Princess Ankang coughed dryly, waking up Princess Yuanan.

"Sister, let's continue talking about the current case."

"Uh, okay, okay, sister."

Princess Yuan'an suddenly woke up and put away her madness.

She cleared her throat and said:

"Sister, I've asked about it."

"It is true that there have always been rumors that Flower Street is haunted, but it has been particularly noisy in the past few days."

"This is all because a girl died tragically last month, and people said she came to take revenge."

"Coupled with the fact that weird things have been happening recently, this story becomes more and more real."

Not to mention, during the morning Princess Yuanan went out, she really found out about the haunting.

It can be seen that this guy is not completely incapable of investigating the case, but he just didn't pay attention to it before.

Now that she became curious, the efficiency of the investigation immediately improved a lot.

After hearing what Princess Yuanan said, Princess Ankang also looked solemn.

"Sister, have you ever found out the name of the dead girl?"

Li Xuan and Princess Ankang both had an expected answer in their hearts. Now they need to confront Princess Yuanan.

As a result, Princess Yuanan shook her head:

"Sister, I've asked about this matter, but I haven't been able to get a definite answer."

"I heard that the dead girl was not famous. She was just an ordinary girl on Flower Street, not an oiran or anything like that."

Hearing this, Li Xuan and Princess Ankang couldn't help but look a little disappointed.

But then Princess Yuanan changed the topic and lowered her voice and said to them:

"But there is one thing I have found out clearly."

"The dead girl was in Hu Yulou when she was alive."

"But when I asked people from Hu Yulou, they were hesitant and refused to elaborate. I guess it was because my mother didn't allow them to talk about it that week."

After hearing this, Li Xuan couldn't help but sigh.

In this case, Zhou's mother's death may be inevitable.

"Sister, if I think correctly, the dead girl's name is probably Sissi."

Princess Ankang said with a complicated expression.

She had previously known about Hui Hui's evaluation of the other doctor and Qian Qian through Li Xuan.

Princess Ankang still has a good impression of this kind of person who can save stray cats.

I feel that at least they should all be kind people.

Huihui said that Sissi hadn't seen him for more than a month.

Although Princess Ankang had made some mental preparations, she still felt a little uncomfortable.

Especially when many of the clues brought by Princess Yuanan can match theirs.

Then, Princess Ankang also told Princess Yuanan the news they had learned from Doctor Fang.

After hearing this, Princess Yuanan said without thinking:

"The murderer is most likely Dr. Fang."

Li Xuan and Princess Ankang couldn't help but be silent, because they also guessed the same.

"But we have no evidence now, it's just mental testimony."

Princess Ankang said.

No, Princess Yuanan shook her head:

"I'm afraid my sister is not clear. The person who died this time was the son of the Minister of Civil Affairs. If the clues we know are known to the government, they can take him down first."

"As for the remaining evidence, they can naturally pry it out from Dr. Fang's mouth."

"When the time comes, even if it's not him, it will be him."

What Princess Yuanan said is true.

"So, before we make a conclusion, the clues we have cannot be disclosed at will."

Princess Ankang said seriously.

"No one knows about the relationship between Doctor Fang and Sissi, at least according to my previous investigation."

Hui Hui told Li Xuan about the relationship between Doctor Fang and Qian Qian.

But except for a cat like Hui Hui, when Princess Ankang inquired about the news on Flower Street later, no one knew about the relationship between the two people.

It seems that their relationship should be a secret.

After seeing the two princesses communicating about the clues they had found, Li Xuan also started to share his own clues.

He patted the table with his tail to attract the attention of the two princesses, and then dipped water on the table and wrote a few words.

"Mother Zhou is dead."

Princess Ankang and Princess Yuanan were both surprised, but neither of them doubted Li Xuan's words.

"Axuan, when did this happen?"

"Not long ago, Zhou's mother's body was still burning."

Li Xuan continued to write.

Then he wrote to the two princesses what had happened previously.

"My mother's secret passage this week should be her own secret. How did the murderer know about it?"

Princess Yuan'an wondered.

Mother Zhou wouldn't publicize such a secret secret passage, right?

Even if someone in Hu Yulou knows the location of this secret passage, he should be a close confidant of Zhou's mother.

This made Princess Yuanan begin to waver in the idea that Doctor Fang was the murderer.

Even if Dr. Fang is close to Hu Yulou’s Sissi, how could Sissi, an ordinary girl, know about Zhou’s mother’s secret secret?

Zhou's mother's secret passage was obviously tampered with by the murderer, so she jumped into the fire pit and was burned to death.

Both princesses were lost in thought.

At this time, Li Xuan wrote a few more words.

"The murderer may go to check on Zhou's mother's body. Someone needs to be sent to keep an eye on the cellar. Maybe they can run into him."

"Axuan is right!"

Princess Ankang and Princess Yuanan nodded in agreement.

The two people spoke in unison, making them look at each other and smile.

Then, Princess Ankang looked aside.

"Xu Lang, can you assign someone to keep an eye on the cellar and take turns guarding it for twelve hours?"

"Miss, no problem, I'll make arrangements right away."

Xu Lang took a step forward and simply agreed to the matter.

"If it were me, I would probably want to confirm when I heard that Zhou's mother was missing."

"The murderer went to such great lengths, I'm afraid it's not an ordinary grudge."

"well--"

Princess Ankang couldn't help but sigh.

The person who was still talking to her in the morning was dead in less than a day, and the yin and yang were separated. This feeling made her feel a little unreal.

But now there is no time to give Princess Ankang any more emotion.

Li Xuan patted the table with his tail again, and then wrote:

"Zhao Si should know the details. He may be the murderer's next target."

"We want to know the truth and he is an important breakthrough."

"If even Zhao Si is dead, I'm afraid only the murderer himself knows the truth."

Then, Li Xuan briefly wrote down what he saw and heard in Zhao Mansion.

Everyone could tell there was something wrong with Zhao Si's fearful reaction.

In addition, Zhao Si and Hou San always have conflicts and are considered mortal enemies.

As the old saying goes, the one who knows you best is your enemy.

"It seems that we have to find a way to meet Zhao Si once."

Princess Ankang pondered.

"Sister, do you want to reveal our identities?"

"Otherwise, I'm afraid the Zhao Mansion won't let us in."

Princess Yuanan said worriedly.

Princess Ankang thought for a while and then asked:

"Hey, what are the rules for us to go out to investigate the case this time?"

Princess Yuanan thought for a while and said with some uncertainty:

"I remember that Manager Zhao only emphasized that the investigation process needed to be recorded."

As she spoke, Princess Yuanan looked up at the two eunuchs responsible for recording them.

These two people didn't say a word all day long, and their sense of presence was as low as possible.

If they hadn't mentioned this matter now, they would have almost forgotten that such a person had been following them.

"Other than that, we emphasized the need to report to the Ministry of Internal Affairs before leaving the palace. It seems that no other rules were mentioned after that."

"Hey, it seems like this month's competition is quite free."

Hearing this, Li Xuan also realized something was wrong.

Their previous games had relatively clear rules, but this month they seemed to have gone too far with freedom.

Emperor Yongyuan always liked to hide little Easter eggs in competitions.

Li Xuan guessed that the rules of this month's competition were so free, perhaps because of Emperor Yongyuan's own intentions.

"In that case, it doesn't break the rules if we reveal our identities and visit Zhao Si, right?"

Princess Ankang spoke and looked at the two father-in-laws who were responsible for recording.

But the two father-in-laws seemed to be unable to hear the words and didn't even react at all.

Princess Ankang shrugged at Princess Yuanan and spread her hands:

"It seems there is no problem."

Thanks to book friends 20230405173851278 and Angel Loves Joking for their reward support.

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Good night, see you tomorrow!

(^^)