Han Du saw that the old man was full of confusion and had no intention of explaining to him, so he asked directly: "Old man, please tell me where Jiang Zhen is. I really have something important and I need to find him."
The old man raised his head, looking a little sad.
Han Du was shocked and suddenly felt bad.
Sure enough, the old man said sadly: "Jiang Shi, he is dead."
Dead? Han Du suddenly felt troubled and could not help but lower his face and asked: "What happened? How did he die?"
Seeing the change in Han Du's expression, the old man immediately believed that Han Du and others were indeed Jiang Shi's friends. If the relationship was not close enough, they would not have the same expressions as they do now.
"More than two months ago, I got drunk and drowned in a pond."
Han Du's face became more and more ugly. He originally thought that Jiang Shihui would be his hope of opening a breakthrough, but he didn't expect that Jiang Shi would die two months ago. .??.
The old man was still chattering, "We have watched Jiang Shi grow up. I originally thought that he would never come back when he went out to serve as a soldier, but I didn't expect that not only would he come back, but he would also come back with an appointment from the imperial court.
."
"What a dignified village chief, what a great official. He has control over all these ten miles and eight towns. I thought that this kid was going to be successful and that his family would be prosperous, but I didn't expect that he would be drunk to death after just one drink.
, things are really unpredictable.”
When Han Du learned that Jiang Shi was dead, he was very upset. Why did he want to listen to the nagging of a bad old man?
But at this time, the soldier stepped forward and said to Han Du: "Master Hou, Jiang Shi has a good capacity for drinking, and he never gets drunk."
Han Du immediately turned his head to look into the soldier's eyes and said in a deep voice: "Continue talking."
The soldier quickly lowered his head and said: "We all came back from the grassland with the Marquis. We know that we must at least keep a clear mind to deal with emergencies. This has become our habit. Jiang Shi drinks, as long as he drinks
It’s almost the same, he has the character to drink if he doesn’t want to. Once we were joking with him, even if we put a knife to his neck, he didn’t drink an extra drop of wine.”
How could a person with a clear mind fall drunk in a pond? Even if he slipped and fell, he would still be sober when the water agitated him. He could get out of the pond without anyone's help.
climb up.
It seems that there is something fishy about Jiang Shi's death.
Han Du thought of this, raised his head and asked the old man: "Is there anyone else in his family?"
The old man sighed and shook his head, saying: "After he left home, his younger brother died early, and his father later died of illness, leaving his mother and younger sister to depend on each other. Later, his younger sister also married far away.
, there was little news, and only my mother was left at home. This time he came back, and the happiest thing about him was his sister
Son."
"Later, I arranged a marriage for him. However, after several years, I still haven't left a son and a half daughters. The most regrettable thing is that he has no queen. As for his old mother, after he died, he was also
I was so angry that I couldn't stay in bed and left not long after."
"What about his wife?" Li Jizu couldn't help but asked anxiously.
The old man shook his head and said: "After he died, the woman packed up her belongings and returned to her parents' home."
Not only is Jiang Shi dead, but there is no one left in his family. His wife has also returned to her parents' home. The only living relative is the girl who was married far away. However, there has been little news about her being married far away for so long. Is she alive or dead?
It's all unknown.
Han Du was filled with anger and said in a deep voice: "Excuse me, old man, please take us to his home and have a look."
The old man did not move, but shook his head towards Han Du and said, "What are you looking at? After there was no one in his house, a fire broke out one night for no apparent reason. By the time it was discovered, the fire could no longer be extinguished. It burned to the third
At dawn the next day, it was now a charred ruin with nothing left."
Huh? It's okay if the old man didn't say that. His words fell into Han Du's ears, and Han Du felt a deep sense of conspiracy.
Mr. Jiang Shi drowned in the pond, and then his wife returned to her parents' home. Then her mother died of illness, and even the house was burned down. If the house had not been burned down, Han Du would not have suspected anything. But now Han Du is suspicious.
I started to suspect that someone was looking for something in Jiang Shi's house. When he couldn't find anything, he simply set a fire and tried to burn everything.
"Can the old man take us to his home to have a look?"
The old man glanced at Han Du in surprise, clearly telling this man that Jiang Shi's home had been burned to the ground, so why go see it?
Suddenly, the old man took a deep look at Han Du, nodded, and said, "Follow me."
Han Du took Li Jizu and others, followed the old man without saying a word, and walked into the mountain village.
As soon as the old man returned to the village, he happened to meet a young man.
This person glanced at Han Du and others, with a wary look on his face, and asked: "Third uncle, who are they?"
Before Han Du could think of a reason to explain, the old man yelled, "Get out, the old man brought a few people into the village, do you still want to interrogate them?"
"Don't dare, don't be angry, third uncle. I just asked casually, it's my mouth that smells bad, it's my mouth that smells bad." As he said this, the man gave himself a few gentle kisses with a smile.
Mouth, quickly turned around and ran away.
After this small episode and a cup of tea, the old man took Han Du to the place.
As soon as Han Du got closer, he saw the charred ruins. Thinking that this was Jiang Shi's former home, Han Du's face became gloomy.
I walked in and glanced inside. Perhaps too much time had passed, coupled with the sun exposure and rain erosion, the black dust on the ground had become hardened, and there was nothing visible at all.
Moreover, if Jiang Shi was really plotted, then even if he had something, it would have been taken away and would not be left here at all.
Han Du let out a long sigh. There were no clues, and he was a little disappointed. After walking around the burnt-black house, Han Du found nothing. Just when he came out and was about to leave, Han Du stood there.
It should have been the main entrance of the house, and opposite the main entrance, Han Du saw a symbol mark. .??.
In the eyes of ordinary people, this mark may just be a child's graffiti, but it is actually an important symbol used by Shanzi Yingye Bushou.
Han Du immediately and quietly winked at Li Jizu.
Li Jizu suddenly woke up and looked in the direction where Han Du was looking. The moment he saw the symbol, Li Jizu was shocked. He suppressed his inner excitement and pretended to walk there inadvertently.
When Han Du saw the old man, he was about to turn around and said to him quickly: "Old man, can you tell us what happened after Jiang Shi came back?"
"Of course." Although the old man felt sorry for Jiang Shi, he still followed Han Du's words, "The distinguished guest didn't know that when Jiang Shi came back with the documents awarded to him by the yamen as the head of the li
The young and old men in the village were all shocked. The distinguished guest had no idea how beautiful it was. The county grand master personally sent someone to send him back, and called all the prominent people from all over the country to come, and among them Jiang Shi was announced as the head of the village."
It only took a moment, and Li Jizu was done.
Seeing him coming back with a smile on his face, Han Du knew that he must have gained something. He waved his hand directly, interrupted the old man's words, and greeted Li Jizu.
Li Jizu quickly whispered to Han Du: "Master Hou, Jiang Shi left a secret message, which means, at the entrance of the village, under the big locust tree."
good!!!
Han Du was so happy that he almost shouted. It can be seen from the symbols and secret words left by Jiang Shi in the army. He must have felt something before leaving these preparations. In other words, Jiang Shi was probably not
He died of falling into the water after drinking, but was murdered.
However, no matter how hard those thieves tried, they would never have thought that Shanziying had such things as symbolic codes and secret languages. Moreover,
, Handu also formulated a set of independent symbolic secret words specifically for Shanzi Camp, which is impossible for people who are not from Shanzi Camp to know.
"Okay, as long as you leave a clue. No matter who harmed you, I will definitely seek justice for you."
Han Du suppressed the anger in his heart, turned to the old man and asked with a smile: "May I ask, old man, if there is a big locust tree at the entrance of your village, and where is it?"
The old man was stunned when he heard this, and then said: "The tree behind the little old man is right at the place where the distinguished guest asked for directions."
Han Du was slightly surprised, why did this matter come back to the original point?
However, Han Du did not delay and said goodbye directly to the old man, "We still have urgent matters to bother the old man, so we will say goodbye."
The old man nodded and said softly: "I won't give it away."
Han Du left directly with the people and rushed towards the entrance of the village.
The old man stood there and looked at Han Du and others who were leaving in a hurry, and couldn't help but murmur to himself: "I didn't expect that these noble people really came for Xiao Shidun. Xiao Shidun, if you really have a grievance, then...
May these noble people be able to clear your name and redress your injustice."
Han Du came to the big locust tree without stopping. Li Jizu made a circle along the big tree and soon found clues on an inconspicuous tree trunk. Following the instructions of the secret symbol, Li Jizu immediately took out the gun from his waist.
The short knife began to dig on the ground.
After digging about two feet deep, the short knife seemed to have stuck into something and made a muffled sound.
Li Jizu quickly dug up all the soil and took out something wrapped in several layers of oil paper. He opened the oil paper and a wooden box appeared in his hand.
Han Du quickly reached out to grab the wooden box and opened it, and saw a stack of papers wrapped inside. When he opened it, the first page recorded some things about the county magistrate Li Ang and the government official Pan Fu. This is not the place to take a closer look, Han Du
He quickly put away the wooden box and signaled Li Jizu to restore the dug hole to its original state and return to the county seat immediately.
After Han Du and others left, the old man walked step by step under the big locust tree. Looking at the soil that had been dug up, the old man sighed, "Are all young people today so impetuous?"
After saying that, he moved a stone, covered it on the pit, and sat on the stone to rest for a long time. In the evening, he also called all the heads of the village together.
After looking at everyone, the old man said solemnly: "I know that you all saw someone entering our village today, but what I want to say is that no one has come to our village today. Do you understand?"