Just at this time, it started to rain again. In the blink of an eye, they had walked through the mountain stream for ten miles and came to a waterfall. This waterfall was twenty or thirty feet high. The water column came down from the top to the mid-air, but there was no sound of falling to the ground.

How brilliant it is, mainly because the water flow is not large.

There is no way to go here, because there are cliffs on both sides, and there is no way to go up. Of course, if you are a martial arts master, you can climb up the rock, but it is a pity that these are weak scholars.

Tang Yan was very depressed and pouted and said: "We shouldn't go back."

She turned back and looked at Mao Longgen and said, "Didn't you say before that there is a road here that leads to another market town?"

Mao Longgen spread his hands and said: "I just heard that, I have never been there. Besides, we didn't go here at all. We walked about halfway and went back. Because at that time, one of our companions suddenly fell and injured himself.

, we had no choice but to go back.”

"What a coincidence."

Qiu Wuhen said: "If I remember correctly, about halfway through the walk, there was a path going up the slope. Perhaps we should leave the mountain stream from there and go over the hillside to the market town instead of walking along

Keep going forward through the mountain stream, because going forward is a dead end."

Zhu Qi looked up at the waterfall, and suddenly he exclaimed: "Look, there seems to be a cave behind the waterfall, and there seems to be stone carvings inside the cave."

Everyone looked carefully and saw a cave vaguely exposed behind the waterfall in the misty rain. Everyone became interested.

They walked along the waterfall. There was a pond below. They walked around both sides of the waterfall and pond. Everyone could see more clearly. There was a road leading in. So they boldly followed the path to the water.

Walking inside, you will reach the water curtain cave inside the waterfall.

The cave is not that big, and there is indeed a stone carving on the wall of the cave. However, everyone was angry and funny when they saw it. It turned out that it was the carving that had been damaged by axes and knives. Another similar carving was found here.

The only thing is that the characters in this painting are different from the previous ones. Not much of the characters in this painting have been destroyed. Most of them have been preserved, but it has been covered with moss and dirt, obscuring most of the characters.

Shang Tian was the youngest among them and had the lowest official position. He immediately stepped forward to help, stretched out his hand to clean away the moss and mud covering the writing, and washed it away with clean water, so that the writing gradually became visible.

When everyone could see the words clearly, everyone was shocked and looked at Ni Hui, because the words said that Ni Hui died in this mountain.

Ni Hui was angry and scared at the same time. He looked around, then pointed at the words angrily and yelled: "What's going on? Who made this prank?"

Tang Yan burst into laughter and said, "This is interesting, who did it?"

Mao Longgen immediately stepped forward and carefully touched it with his hands to identify it, and said: "Judging from the moss and soil on it, this character should have been carved for a long time and was not recently engraved. Therefore, the two characters Ni Hui on it are not

Mr. Ni, they should have the same name. Maybe it was a prank done by someone, and they were put here to tease people."

Everyone nodded. After all, Ni Hui has the highest official position here. Although these are all officials of the Chief Secretary, his direct subordinate is only Mao Jie. But the others have lower official ranks than him, so they still have to pat him on the back.

Damn it. So they all told him not to worry. It was just the same name and not even a prank. Because the words seemed to have been there for many years and could not have been engraved recently, so it could not be directed at him.

Only Tang Yan never thought about flattering Ni Hui. His father was the prefect, and he had a much higher official position than Ni Hui. So she rolled her eyes and deliberately teased him and said: "Master Ni, I think this is the case."

No, maybe you offended someone a few years ago, and this person knew that you loved calligraphy and might come here one day, so he deliberately carved this calligraphy and waited for you to come.

.Actually, it’s for you, not others!”

Hearing this, Ni Hui's old face changed again. He looked at the words in confusion, then looked at Tang Yan and said, "No way, I didn't offend anyone. Did anyone deliberately tease me like this?"

"No matter how hard you think about it, maybe there is, but you forgot."

"I've just thought about it, I didn't offend anyone."

Suddenly he pointed to the depths of the cave in confusion and said, "There seems to be something up there."

Everyone looked up. Just now, they were only looking at the surroundings of the cave, but not at the top. The cave is relatively high, but because it is at a waterfall and in a valley, the light is extremely dim, so even if you look up, you cannot see the real top.

What is there? If you didn’t have sharp eyes, you would have seen it.

After everyone noticed the thing, they walked over and took a closer look. Suddenly Qiu Wuhen's heart moved and he said to everyone: "This seems to be a porch."

Everyone looked at him in confusion, and Tang Yan asked him: "What is a hanging coffin?"

"This hanging coffin is a popular burial method in some villages near Yunduan County. The deceased person is placed in a box and then placed on a tall tree. Of course, I have seen some information saying that in other places

There is a kind of hanging coffin, which is placed on the cliff so that no one can reach it. This one is placed in a cave. I have never heard of it or seen it, but from the location where it is placed, I feel

It's somewhat similar to the hanging coffin I saw hanging on a tree before, so that's why my judgment may not be correct."

Tang Yan said: "Maybe we can take it down. Maybe it's not a hanging coffin inside, but a treasure left by a thief. Then wouldn't we make a fortune?"

Everyone actually knows that a daughter of a prefect, from a wealthy family, doesn't care about gold and silver treasures? She is curious about what is inside? She deliberately uses these words to seduce everyone, so that everyone will listen to her and get the things down and take a closer look.

.

The first one who agreed was Gao Yang. He was from Wenjiang Mansion, and Tang Yan's father was his immediate boss. He said: "Why don't we find a way to take it off and open it. If it is really gold and silver treasure, we can

If they are separated, the trip is not in vain."

As soon as these words came out, several other people became interested. They were all poor and scumbag officials. Being an official in the Ming Dynasty was probably the most miserable thing in history. There was not much money, as long as your rights were not enough.

, even if you want to make money, you can't make it. And your own anger is pitifully low. If there is such a windfall, it will be tempting.

"Shopkeeper Zhu, could you please ask your servant to go up and help take down the box?"

Zhu Qi was always easy to talk to, but this time he shook his head and said: "I think it's better not to go. If it's really a hanging coffin, then people should stay quietly and don't disturb the yin people. There is a difference between yin and yang.

.”

Gao Yang rolled his eyes and said: "But if it is really the property looted by a thief and placed here, we find it. We don't have to divide it after we find it, but we can hand it over to the Yamen and then lay down a dragnet to wait.

When thieves come to take the bait and are caught, wouldn’t it be possible to eliminate harm to the people by catching them all?”

Gao Yang has already seen that shopkeeper Zhu is very rich. He can spend one hundred taels of gold to buy a piece of calligraphy, which proves that he is quite rich. Therefore, he doesn't care about money at all. If he wants to use money to seduce him, it is better to use high-sounding words.

It is more appropriate to ask him to help based on his moral principles.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Qi still shook his head and said: "I am a businessman, and I make money by being friendly. Whether it is the dead people or the stolen goods left by thieves, I have no interest in touching them, so if you want to get them, you should go do it yourself."

Just when he said this, he suddenly heard Mao Longgen squinting at the sarcophagus and saying: "Look, the box doesn't seem to be locked. Let's open it and take a look. If it's money, take it out. If it's a dead person, let's pray. Please

How about he forgives the interruption?"

These people were all watching the excitement and did not mind the trouble, so of course they all nodded. Although shopkeeper Zhu’s servants were unwilling to help, it did not mean that they had nothing to do. So a few scholars came up with the simplest way to build a human wall, which was not possible anyway.

It's only two feet high and can be climbed up by building a human wall.

At the moment, Shang Tian, ​​who was the strongest and the one with the smallest official rank, was at the bottom. He squatted down, and then Gao Yang stepped on his shoulders and stood up, so that his hands could almost reach the coffin. Everyone ordered him

Grab the stalactite above and step on the depression, then you can climb up two more steps, and then you can reach the coffin.

In fact, Gao Yang had already thought about these steps, and immediately stepped up according to their instructions, and finally reached the side of the box, where there was still a little space. He squatted there, grabbing a protruding stalactite with one hand, and grabbed it with the other.

He carefully opened the lid of the box. When he looked inside, he was so frightened that he screamed and fell down from the top.

Fortunately, several scholars below prevented him from falling, and immediately stepped forward to catch him. As a result, the momentum was too great, and they all fell to the ground. Only Ni Hui did not catch him. After all, he was from Qi.

As an official, the biggest thing here is of course the hard work of the people below, and he can just wave his hand and give instructions.

Seeing them falling into a ball, they couldn't help laughing. Everyone got up in embarrassment, looked at Gao Yang angrily and said, "What are you doing?"

Gao Yang said: "There is a corpse inside. It looks like it was just killed and the head was chopped off. It looks very scary."

Everyone was shocked when they heard this, and all looked at Ni Hui.

Ni Hui said angrily: "Why are you looking at me? I am not responsible for solving the case. Mr. Mao, you are the executioner, go and do it quickly."

Mao Longgen was at a loss and agreed repeatedly. But he said with a grimace: "I'm just an ordinary scribe. I'm not a criminal officer, I just do paperwork."

"No matter what, you are the one who carries out the punishment and is responsible for the investigation. This matter should be handled by your punishment."

Mao Longgen didn't dare to talk back to Ni Hui, so he had no choice but to agree. When he came to the mountain wall, he didn't know how to get up. Later, he rolled his eyes, turned around and pointed at Qiu Wuhen and said: "Yunduan County should be responsible for this boundary, so I'd better ask
Chapter completed!