After breakfast, everyone started doing their own business.
Xiao Chen put his hands behind his back and walked to Du Shaoqin who was sharpening a knife in the yard.
Du Shaoqin squatted on the ground, with a wooden basin next to him half full of cold water.
Directly in front is a crescent-shaped whetstone.
Du Shaoqin held a five-inch long thin-edged knife in his hand and pressed it on the whetstone. With his right hand, he drew some cold water from the wooden basin and dripped it on the knife, rubbing it back and forth.
"Why are you sharpening your knife every day these days?" Xiao Chen asked, lowering his head and watching Du Shaoqin pick up the knife and use his right thumb to mark the blade.
"There are too many people who are tortured. This knife is not sharp and it is very difficult to use." Du Shaoqin chuckled, "Not to mention, after a visit to Gongchang Mansion, my prison captain still gained a lot, especially my little one.
Apprentice, the current level of torture and confession is much improved compared to when I first came here."
"I hope they don't make any progress." Xiao Chen said calmly.
Stopping what he was doing, Du Shaoqin raised his head in confusion: "Why is this?"
"If there are no prisoners, they will have no chance to practice. In the Ming Dynasty, if torture and extorting confessions were useless, wouldn't the world be peaceful and peaceful?" Xiao Chen laughed.
"Haha, I was shocked. I thought you were talking about something." Du Shaoqin lowered his head and started sharpening the knife again.
"Stop sharpening your knife and come with me for a walk outside the city." Xiao Chen stretched out his right hand and patted the other party's shoulder.
"Going outside the city? There are still more than a dozen prisoners who need to be interrogated by me personally."
"Let others do the interrogation. You accompany me to the outside of the city to see Dingxi Hou's body."
"Are you really going?"
Xiao Chen nodded: "I always feel a little uneasy if I don't see his body. Gong Chang's affairs are basically done. Don't leave any regrets before leaving."
"Okay, let's go." Du Shaoqin stood up, called a prison captain over, handed over the knife in his hand, and walked out of the Guanyi courtyard with Xiao Chen.
The deserted ditch where Dingxihou's body was dumped was only four or five miles away from the gate of Gongchang.
The two of them rode out of the city gate, and while they were drinking tea, they arrived at the edge of the deserted ditch.
Despite the drought, the weeds in the ditch are still half a man deep.
There are some vegetation such as jujubes and thorns mixed in. If you stand on the edge of the ditch and take a look, you will know that it is not easy to get to the bottom of the ditch.
"Is this right here?" Xiao Chen raised his hand and pointed.
"That's it." Du Shaoqin nodded.
After saying that, he jumped off the horse, took out the knife from his waist, and fiddled with the weeds and thorns on the edge of the ditch, preparing to go down.
Du Shaoqin absolutely obeyed Xiao Chen's orders.
As for the worries in Xiao Chen's heart, he was even more obliged to get rid of them.
No matter how difficult it was to get down this desert ditch, Du Shaoqin didn't hesitate at all.
"Wait a minute, let's go down together." Xiao Chen greeted, jumped off the horse and followed.
Although the ditch was not too deep, it would not be a big task for the two of them to get down to the bottom with their skill.
But it is not that simple to find a body half a man deep in the grass and thorns.
It took a whole hour, but the two of them were finally only one or two feet away from the bottom of the ditch.
A foul odor filled their nostrils.
"The body should be nearby, look for it carefully." Xiao Chen hurriedly ordered.
Using their feet, they trampled down the weeds that were half a person's height. The two of them carefully dug through the weeds as if they were hunting for treasure.
"Here, here." Du Shaoqin shouted urgently, raising his hand and pinching his nose.
Xiao Chen Dunsheng looked over.
Next to a big stone, a body was lying.
Judging from her hair and clothes, she should be Mrs. Wang of Dingxi.
The weather is hot and the smell of corpses is pungent.
Especially the maggots crawling all over the body make one look at it and immediately want to vomit everything in the stomach.
"This should be the Wang family. If we look further, we will find Dingxi Hou's body." Xiao Chen said.
"Yeah." Du Shaoqin nodded, his throat couldn't help but surge a few times, and he wanted to feel nauseated, but he suppressed it with his inner strength.
Then keep looking.
Two hours later, the two searched the entire bottom of the ditch, but they never found Dingxihou's body.
Xiao Chen looked solemn and looked up at Du Shaoqin, who was also at a loss.
"The Wang family's bodies are all here, but where is Dingxihou's body? How could it be missing?"
"Perhaps it was eaten clean by wild wolves?" Du Shaoqin also guessed with a guilty conscience.
"Impossible." Xiao Chen shook his head, "Let's go see Wang's body."
After walking a few steps, the two of them arrived at Wang's body again.
"Wang's body was covered with maggots, and there were no traces of wild wolves eating it. How could Dingxihou's body be so cleanly eaten by wild wolves? Even if it was really eaten by wild wolves, there would still be fragments of clothing.
We didn't see any of the fragments above." Xiao Chen's frown deepened.
"Could someone secretly collect the body of Ding Xihou?"
"No. All the people related to Dingxihou have been turned into corpses by us. Who will collect his corpse?"
"This is strange. I clearly threw away the bodies of Wang and Dingxihou together, but only the body of Dingxihou was missing." Du Shaoqin raised his hand and scratched his head, puzzled.
"Did you throw it down?"
"Yes, it was thrown down from where we came down just now."
Xiao Chen raised his head and looked towards the edge of the deserted ditch.
The place where Wang's body rested was at least thirty feet away from the edge of the ditch.
Even if the two of them carried the body and threw it down, it would only be thrown a distance of ten to twenty feet at most, which is great.
Coupled with the natural rolling and the obstruction of weeds and thorns, it is only one or two feet away from reaching its current position.
Xiao Chen turned around and couldn't help but look at Wang's body a few more times.
No, there is a problem, there is a big problem.
The bodies that were thrown down were tumbling around and their hair was messy. The bodies were probably placed in a random manner.
As for Wang's hair in front of her, although her hair was a bit messy, it had obviously been tidied up by someone.
Especially her lying posture, flat and spread out, with her hands folded on her abdomen, as if she were lying here.
It doesn't make sense to say that no one has sorted it out.
"Dingxihou, I'm afraid he's still alive." Xiao Chen said calmly.
"How is that possible?" Du Shaoqin shook his head vigorously: "Inside the prison, we watched Mr. Wang take poison to him, and when we pulled Dingxihou's body out, he was already a little stiff."
"It's all my fault. I was attracted by the fake imperial edict and fake jade seal presented by Wang. This woman is not simple. She used her wisdom and life to give Ding Xihou a chance to escape." Xiao Chen smiled bitterly.
After a few words, "I said that by leaving the body in the wilderness and exposing it to the sun, I hope Dingxihou can live an upright life in the next life. It turns out that all this was part of her plan."
Listening to Xiao Chen's explanation, Du Shaoqin suddenly felt that everyone had been tricked by this woman Wang.
But Ding Xihou's escape was an urgent matter, and it no longer mattered who should be held responsible.
"Then what should we do now?" Du Shaoqin asked hurriedly.
"What can we do? It has been more than ten days since this happened. If Dingxi Hou wanted to escape, he should have escaped without a trace. This matter should be dealt with as it should be, just report it truthfully."
"The crime of rebellion is a serious crime of the imperial court. We have escaped the main culprit. If we report it to the imperial court and the emperor blames us, or even issue an order to investigate and deal with Dongchang, it is very possible. And the opposition forces in Dongchang will definitely take the opportunity to wreak havoc.
Attack us. How about we don’t report it, but secretly look for Dingxihou and kill him again?”
Du Shaoqin said with a worried face.
Xiao Chen slowly shook his head: "Sometimes when I do things, in the eyes of others, I am extremely shameless. But one thing, I must adhere to the principle no matter what, and that is to never use lies to cover up my faults. This matter
, it was my dereliction of duty. Even if the emperor does not hold me accountable, I will not be able to live with it, let alone if I continue to use lies to cover up my fault. Unless the whereabouts of Dingxihou are known soon, we will kill him immediately.
The imperial court's report can be left alone."
Looking at Xiao Chen, Du Shaoqin said softly: "Do you know that Ding Xihou knows the secret of your life experience. Once he tells it, there will no longer be a place for you in the entire Ming Dynasty?"
"so what?"
Xiao Chen flicked his sleeves and puffed out his chest.
"Since I'm from the Lan family, why are I afraid that the world will know about it? My father died unjustly, and I don't want to stir up trouble in the court because of my family feud. But if everyone in the world insists on being my enemy, how can I
Can you stand and let them prey on you? Even if you face the whole world, what do you have to fear?"