Chapter 12 Chapter Eleven The Preface to the Five Elements

"So that's what they said after I left yesterday?" Lu Yuanqing asked. "Yes, Master Lu." Zhang Zhao nodded and said, "But who is this real person they are talking about?" It seems that Zhang Zhao is still bitter about the fact that he was ridiculed as ignorant by his tea-drinking father yesterday. Shen Bai smiled when he heard the words, "This county does not know who this real Shanqing is, but this Fusheng Mountain is one of the three ancient scenic spots in Biancheng, and this county must go to see it before leaving." "Three ancient sights?" Zhang Zhao scratched his head, "There are three other ancient sights in Biancheng?"

Lu Yuanqing finally couldn't help smiling, "Brother Zhang, it's understandable not to know who Master Shanqing is. As a native of Biancheng, I don't even know the three ancient sights of Biancheng, so it's a bit unreasonable." After Zhang Zhao passed the teahouse yesterday, he already admired Lu Yuanqing very much in his heart, but he thought that he, a foreigner, might not know the three ancient sights of Biancheng, so he said, "Then Master Lu must know what he said?" Seeing that Shen Bai was also looking at him with interest when he heard the words, Lu Yuanqing smiled, "The first scene of Biancheng is the Yanzhi Bridge, which was once visited by Emperor Zhengde's dragon feet, which is the former Heishui Bridge. The second scene is this volt Holy Mountain, it is said that there was an immortal who attained Taoism here and ascended to immortality. Whether this statement is true or not remains to be verified, but this place is well-known in Kyoto for its beautiful mountains and rivers, and there are many visitors here. As for the last scene? ..." Lu Yuanqing paused slightly when he said this, looked at Shen Bai and said: "It's already a scene but not a scene, and you won't be rewarded if you say it, why don't you say it."

"Master Lu doesn't know?" Zhang Zhao joked. Shen Bai snorted, "Zhang Zhao, you go down first." Seeing Shen Bai's words, Zhang Zhao didn't dare to neglect, and hurriedly said, "Yes, my lord." After Zhang Zhao left, Shen Baicai said, "Would Yuan Qing be interested in seeing the third scene?" "Your Excellency is really a man of means." Lu Yuanqing praised, "If I am lucky enough, of course I am willing to go." "Brother Zhou and I were shortlisted for the top three at the same time. When we first entered the Hanlin Academy, we got along very well. Now I am the county magistrate of Biancheng, so I have to pay a visit to Mrs. Zhou during the cold food festival. So he invited me to go to the Zhou Garden to enjoy the chrysanthemums on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival in August."

"So that's it." Lu Yuanqing nodded, "That Linjiang Zhoulang who was famous in the capital when he was young turned out to be the same age as the adult, but it's a pity..." "Yeah, brother Yan'an was full of talents but died young. It's really regrettable." Shen Bai seemed to be a little emotional, with a lonely expression on his face, "I still remember the youthful demeanor of Tong Dian Mianjun back then, but now Brother Yu is far away. Going to the border, brother Zhou has passed away, and I am the only one left to face such a desolate scene..."

"Youth is chivalrous, and you make friends with all the heroes. Your liver is full of courage, and your hair grows. In the middle of a conversation, life and death are the same. A promise is worth a thousand dollars..." Lu Yuanqing didn't say anything consoling, he just chanted this poem as if he suddenly remembered it casually. But Shen Bai felt that the slightest sense of desolation faded away with his chanting, "Yuan Qing, I'm just a little regretful, why didn't I know you earlier." "Actually, it's not wrong for everyone to know each other sooner or later. If it's earlier or later, my lord and I may not be what we are today." Lu Yuanqing smiled, "I think it's neither too early nor too late for me to get acquainted with your lord. Just right." The earlier him would not be what he is now, and the Shen Bai in Kyoto could not be what he is now.

"What you said is also right." Shen Bai suddenly said, "It's better to hit the sun than to choose the day, Yuan Qing, how about we go to Fusheng Mountain for a stroll today?" "The case is still unsolved, isn't your lord worried?" "I'm so anxious that the case won't make any progress." Shen Bai shook his head and smiled, "It's better to go out for a walk, and this real person Shanqing has such a great reputation in Biancheng, and he has never seen it in this county, isn't it a pity? " Maybe people who are destined to meet can be seen even if they don't go out. Shen Bai and Lu Yuanqing met this real Shanqing who the people were very convinced by at the gate of the Biancheng County Yamen.

"The poor Taoist Shanqing has met Mr. Shen." This real Shanqing is a female monk who is about 30 or 40 years old. With a flick of the whisk, her posture of shaking her head slightly has a sense of immortality. Shen Bai slightly nodded his head back and said: "Female priest, you don't need to be too polite." Although he was talking, his eyes were looking behind Master Shanqing.Behind her is a simple shelf with a person lying on it. Lu Yuanqing also surrounded him, and was taken aback when he saw the person lying on it, Widow Yao?How could it be her? "Female priest, what happened to the person behind you?"

"Returning to my lord, the Taoist temple of Pindao is on the side of Fusheng Mountain, and the nameless Tianqing female temple is there. When the female disciple in the temple was cleaning the temple this morning, she found a person hanging from the ivy tree at the door. My lord, Although the Tianqing temple in Pindao is small, there are many pilgrims who come to offer incense every day. If the corpse is not taken down and let her hang on the tree, it will not only damage the reputation of the temple, but also scare people. Pilgrims offering incense." When Shen Bai was talking with Master Shanqing, Lu Yuanqing had already knelt down to observe the corpse of Widow Yao carefully.Yesterday, the widow who flaunted good deeds was still laughing loudly and cursing wantonly, but now she is nothing more than a stiff corpse with a lifeless face.Yesterday and today, heaven and hell.

There is no need to call Wuzuo at all, the conspicuous marks on Widow Yao's neck have already explained the cause of her death.Lu Yuanqing looked at her nails, they were in good condition, without any breakage or special marks, there should be no struggles, or it would be useless to struggle due to the disparity in strength between the two sides, or maybe there was no time to struggle at all... "Dare to ask Master Shanqing, is there a bright red flower beside this female corpse?" Master Shanqing seemed to be stunned, and then said: "What your lord said is that a red flower was indeed found under this ivy tree."

Lu Yuanqing nodded and said, "Thank you, Master, for sending the corpse to the yamen. There is still room for a real person in this case, please stay in the yamen for a while." Shanqing frowned slightly, then nodded and said: "That's fine, I don't want to be involved in rumors and life lawsuits." After placing Master Shanqing, Shen Bai said helplessly: "Yuan Qing, this is the third time." "Widow Yao, died of a tree, an ivy tree, located in the east." Lu Yuanqing sighed, "Tianqing Women's Temple is located in the east of Biancheng, Yao Widow hanged on the ivy tree at the entrance of Tianqing Women's Temple, this way of death Just like Ms. Zhao and Liu Yue before, both of them are consistent with the theory of the five elements, if this is the theory, then before the Ghost Festival comes, there will be two more people who will die from the theory of the five elements."

Shen Bai frowned upon hearing the words, "Die by water, by soil, by wood...there is still gold and fire!" "I always feel that something is wrong." Lu Yuanqing said to himself, "Where is it?" Shen Bai was puzzled and said: "Could it be that what I said is worse than gold and fire?" Lu Yuanqing shook his head, "That's not what I'm talking about. My lord, have you ever thought about why Ms. Zhao is the first to die if you really follow the law of five elements to kill people?" "Isn't Liu Yue the first one to die?" Shen Bai was surprised, "It was Liu Yue who disappeared first. I think Liu Yue was probably murdered after he disappeared. Ms. Zhao should not have died at that time." "No." Lu Yuanqing suddenly smiled, "It's wrong to think this way. It doesn't matter who dies first, what matters is who we find first! I don't think there is a long gap between the order of death of these people. It's just that these people were discovered one after another, not all together." "Perhaps Liu Yue died earlier than Ms. Zhao, but Ms. Zhao was discovered first, so Ms. Zhao is the first person, Liu Yue is the second, and today's Widow Yao should be the third." Shen Bai was even more puzzled after hearing this, "Since Yuan Qing is so sure, why didn't he just explain why Ms. Zhao was the first to die? What do you mean by that?" Lu Yuanqing said modestly: "Think about it, my lord. Regardless of why the murderer wants to kill people according to the law of the five elements, since he did so, he must strictly implement it. There is no problem with the color and position corresponding to the law of the five elements. Why did the murderer Will you deliberately ignore the most important principle of mutual generation and mutual restraint among the five elements?" Shen Bai suddenly thought of something, nodded and said: "Exactly. Water overcomes fire, earth overcomes water, wood overcomes earth, metal overcomes wood... If water overcomes fire, then it proves that fire is weaker than water, and naturally the first one to die should be Huo is the one, how could it be Miss Zhao who died in the water?" Lu Yuanqing nodded greatly, "My lord's words are very true. According to this inference, we can find that except for the wrong order at the beginning, all of them were murdered in the order of restraint. Tu restrained water, so after Miss Zhao died in the water , we dug out Liu Yue's head in the soil to confirm his death. Mu Ketuzheng explained that the person who died after Liu Yue would die from a tree, and then we found Yao's widow." Shen Bai's expression at this moment was already a bit weird, "If you say this, the next person will die in Jin? Who will this person be?" Lu Yuanqing shook his head slightly and said: "If it is said that Miss Zhao and Liu Yue are related because of their marriage contract, then we can still say that the deceased may have known each other, but what should Widow Yao say? She knew Miss Zhao, or She is familiar with Liu Yue? On the surface, Widow Yao and Liu Yue have nothing to do with Ms. Zhao, so why is she the third person?" At this point, Lu Yuanqing suddenly stopped, "Maybe she is not the third person. " "What's the meaning?" "I don't think the first person is Miss Zhao." Lu Yuanqing's expression suddenly became serious, "The murderer killed people strictly according to the rules of the Five Elements Law, and it is absolutely impossible to break this rule by himself, which makes no sense. I always feel that something is wrong, yes, it is here, Miss Zhao should not be the first person to die." "How can you kill people as you like?" Shen Bai said, "Perhaps the first person the murderer wanted to kill was the one who should have died in the fire, but he couldn't kill him smoothly, so he made the second choice and killed Miss Zhao." Lu Yuanqing shook his head lightly and said: "Absolutely not! If Miss Zhao is killed instead, then Miss Zhao should be the one who died in the fire, not the water!" He thought for a while and said: "My lord, you Remember what I just said, it doesn’t really matter who dies first, what matters is who is discovered first and who is discovered later. Liu Yue was discovered after Ms. Zhao, so we would naturally think that he died after Ms. Zhao Later, it was not the case. For the same reason, the person who died in the fire has not been found, so we always thought that the murderer changed his mind, but it was not."