In April, the weather began to gradually warm up. After a day's work, farmers in Huaiyang County walked towards the village with hoes on their shoulders. Su Lin wiped the mud spots on his face and turned to look at the setting sun in the horizon.

I silently calculate my family's savings in my mind.

There was still a surplus of grain last year after paying taxes. If the situation this year was the same as last year, he would be able to raise the money to travel to the capital, take part in the imperial examination, and gain fame.

"elder brother!"

A familiar voice came from behind, Su Lin turned his head, and a familiar figure ran barefoot from the entrance of the village.

"Lingyu, why are you here? Didn't I ask you to stay at home and practice calligraphy?"

"Brother! The servants of the Zhang family are here, saying that tomorrow is his young master's big day, and he wants you to go early! The whole village is waiting to eat the food you cooked!" Su Lingyu said with some pride.

"I already knew this. Let's go. I'm just about to go back."

Su Lin smiled and touched the other person's head, picked up the hoe and walked towards the village. The setting sun made the two figures, one tall and one short, look longer.

Su Lingyu jumped up and down next to Su Lin, pointed at the bamboo basket in Su Lin's hand and asked, "What is that?"

"The grasshoppers I caught, Xiao'e kept clamoring for them yesterday," Su Lin said.

Su Lingyu frowned and asked in confusion: "Who is Xiao'e?"

"Lingyu, sometimes you still have a sense of humor." Su Lin said with a smile.

Su Lingyu frowned, shook his head, and stopped paying attention to Xiao'e in Su Lin's mouth.

Anyway, her brother has been weird since he was a child. He often said some weird words, such as capital, proletarian, etc., and he also had a sense of humor just now.

Until now, she can't understand what humor is or what cells are.

Su Lingyu shook his head and changed the topic: "Brother, have you heard? Wang Xiucai from the next village is dead. He hanged himself in his husband's house."

"Wang Xiucai is dead?" Su Lin frowned.

Wang Xiucai and him could be regarded as good friends. Although the status of the two was very different, they admired each other. In Wang Xiucai's eyes, Su Lin was a rare genius.

Unique, he can guess the holy meaning of the new decree issued by the emperor with just a little speculation, and he gets it right every time.

In Su Lin's eyes, Wang Xiucai is a talent with broad thinking and strong sense of innovation. The most rare thing is that he is compassionate and compassionate. Although he comes from a family of scholars, he is well aware of the suffering of the people and the difficulty of work.

Of course, Su Lin knew that he was not a genius. He was able to guess the Holy Will repeatedly because he was a time traveler like Zhu Jiuqin, the founding king of the Great Xia Dynasty.

Although the Daxia Dynasty was a feudal dynasty, Zhu Jiuqin was a wise king.

After he overthrew Longzhao and ascended the throne, he vigorously reduced tax burdens, punished corrupt officials, improved farming tools such as dams and plows, invented advanced facilities such as hour hands, windmills, and waterwheels, and promulgated innovative laws to curb aristocratic families, which greatly improved the country's productivity.

, well loved by the people.

Su Lin had just traveled through time ten years ago. When he heard these stories, he knew that Zhu Jiuqin was also a time traveler like him. Unfortunately, Zhu Jiuqin passed away a few days before he traveled through time. Su Lin did not have the opportunity to meet this senior time traveler and reminisce about the past.

.

Not long after that, Prince Zhu Minben succeeded to the throne. Although he did not have the unparalleled talents and strategies of his father, he treated the common people very well. After he ascended the throne, he began to refine the laws of merchants, reduce the tax burden on farmers for the second time, and improve the welfare system.

Branch system.

Su Lin could vaguely see some shadows of modern laws in those new laws, but some pedantic and conservative laws could also be seen in the details.

If he guessed correctly, Zhu Jiuqin should have left a guide book for social transformation to his son, but Zhu Min should not have been a time traveler.

A few years ago, Su Lin heard that Wang Xiucai went to Longyuan County to become a disciple. Before leaving, he left a letter for him. In the letter, he was high-spirited and full of ambitions. He did not look like someone who would seek short-sightedness at all. Such a good-natured person

Why did this person suddenly die?

"How did he die?" Su Lin asked.

"Grandpa said that he was crazy. He said that he and his husband's daughter knew each other and fell in love. This year, he planned to come to propose marriage. As a result, the woman was killed in the woods this year. Her head was cut off and her internal organs were removed.

, so the reporter wanted to seek justice, but the government was naturally not happy and hanged himself when the incident happened."

Su Lin was shocked when he heard this and said solemnly: "Why are the government not happy? Why are they not happy?"

"Brother! How could his husband have a daughter? He was just a son. Who did he meet and fall in love with? Not to mention that the husband didn't have a daughter. Even the body in the woods was not found. When the policeman and the villagers arrived,

Seeing Wang Xiucai pointing to an empty space on the ground and saying that the body was there, everyone said he was crazy."

Su Lin frowned even more tightly, vaguely feeling that something was wrong.

The sky was getting dark, and the iron-gray sky was covering it from the west. Su Lin and Su Lingyu walked into Huaiyang Village. The light was dim, and only the outlines of the village houses were left. Under the old locust tree at the entrance of the village, a vague figure lay

The ground was motionless, Su Lin slowed down and shook his head helplessly.

Li Ergou from the village was lying here drunk again. He was also the same at the beginning of winter last year. If Su Xiao'e hadn't discovered it in time, he would have froze to death under the tree.

Su Lin smiled bitterly and shook his head. He stepped forward to wake him up, but before he had taken a few steps, he suddenly froze in place.

Under the old locust tree, a petite girl was lying on the ground. Scarlet blood soaked into the yellow mud under her body. Her legs completely disappeared from the knees down. Dense white bones were exposed at the broken knee joints. The bone stubble was sharp, like some kind of creature.

Using brute force, he forcibly broke off his lower limbs and tore them off.

Su Lin's eyes widened, as if the blood in every blood vessel in his body had frozen.

"Xiao'e?...Xiao'e!"

Su Lin's voice was distorted by fear. He staggered to Su Xiao'e and squatted down in front of her. He picked her up tremblingly, but the sister in his arms had already lost his life.

"Brother, what are you shouting all of a sudden?" Su Lingyu looked at Su Lin in surprise, with a puzzled look on his face.

Su Lin's body was shaking violently. He turned his head and looked at Su Lingyu in disbelief with his red eyes.

There was no trace of sadness or fear on Su Lingyu's young face, only confusion and doubt, and her eyes never fell on her sister.

Su Lin stared at Su Lingyu in shock and hugged the body in his arms tighter.

"Lingyu, can't you see it?" Su Lin said hoarsely.

Su Lingyu pinched the corners of his clothes with both hands and shook his head in panic: "Brother, I don't understand what you said? Why are you crying?"

"Xiao'e...your sister."

"I, you and I are the only ones in my family. This joke is not funny at all, not humorous at all!" Su Lingyu bit her lip and was so anxious that she almost cried.

Su Lin fell silent.

The matter of Wang Xiucai came to Su Lin's mind again. In the flash of lightning, Su Lin suddenly understood why the other party died.

He gritted his teeth, suppressed the sadness in his heart, and gave up further questioning.

The abnormality of the situation is already in front of us, and nothing can be changed by dwelling on the details. The most important thing now is to ensure the safety of him and Su Lingyu, and to figure out why Xiao'e was forgotten by Su Lingyu.

Is it a demon? Or an evil cultivator? Or something else?

Over the past ten years, he had never heard of such a thing, but now, he had to think about it.

Sadness and fear were like demons eroding Su Lin's heart, but the potential sense of crisis suppressed the out-of-control emotions. Su Lin knew that he had more important things to do at this moment.

Su Lin gently put down his sister's body, lay down next to the body, and carefully observed the traces on the ground.

The yellow sand near the body was very clean, and there were no signs of rolling or dragging on the ground. Except for the place where Xiao'e lay, there were no obvious blood stains around it, indicating that this was probably the first scene of Xiao'e's murder, and the murderer did not move the body.

Then the murderer...or the demon is most likely still around here.

"Brother, what are you doing?" Su Lingyu was frightened.

"Shh! Hide behind the big tree... don't make a sound." Su Lin pointed at the crooked-neck tree at the entrance of the village, making a gesture of silence.

Su Lingyu was stunned for a moment. Although he was very scared, he still ran behind the old locust tree and squatted down holding the trunk.

She secretly glanced at Su Lin, with a trace of confusion in her frightened eyes. Although she didn't understand what happened, she knew that her brother must be doing her best.

Su Lin observed the surroundings vigilantly, clenched the hoe in his hand, bowed his waist, and walked cautiously towards the direction of the earthen house.

He must first ensure the safety of his home and settle Su Lingyu before making any plans.

Their grandfather left the village to visit relatives three days ago. It was impossible to come back so early according to the schedule, so there was no one at home.

Su Lin's palm touched the rough wooden door and gently pushed it open. The simple outer room had a clear view, and there was nothing suspicious.

He tiptoed to the curtain in the inner room, and slowly lifted up the curtain with a hoe. The knee-high earthen kang was leaning against the wall, and a dustpan was placed in the corner. There was no place to hide in the narrow space, and the house was very safe.

Su Lin breathed a sigh of relief, ran out of the house and ran under the old locust tree, pulling Su Lingyu into the house.

He came to the inner room and lifted up the quilt on the earthen bed, revealing a dry wooden partition. Su Lin's two fingers clasped the groove of the partition and used his finger muscles to lift the entire board.

, a long and narrow scarlet wooden box appeared in front of them. Su Lingyu next to her opened her mouth wide when she saw it. She had never known that such a thing was hidden at home.

"It looks so expensive!" Su Lingyu exclaimed.

Su Lin took out the wooden box and opened the lid. Two knives, one long and one short, were lying quietly in the box. The scabbard of the long knife was slightly curved, and the wood grain on the surface was shiny. The velvet rope tied in the middle had been soaked with blood, showing that

A weird black-red color.

The scabbard is engraved with characters that do not belong to the Kingdom of Daxia near the blade.

Su Lin's thumb pressed against the blade, and he slowly pulled out the long sword. The blade was as cold as water, and the forging patterns were complex and graceful.

The other sword had a straight blade and looked like a dagger. Su Lin judged it to be a Kodachi sword.

These two knives were obtained by Su Lin's grandfather from Japanese thieves. They are extremely sharp and the old man has maintained them regularly for many years.

It is also the best weapon that the Su family can produce. If there really is a so-called demon, this is Su Lin's only support.

"Creak——!"

Su Lin had no expression on his face, slowly and silently drew out the blade, and protected Su Lingyu behind him.

The door shaft of their old house has been in disrepair for a long time. If it is not opened and closed carefully, it will make a sharp hissing sound.
Chapter completed!