Beautiful women die young

  "Drive!" Three swift horses rushed out of the imperial city, raindrops pattering on the oilpaper umbrella and conical hat, splashing out a canopy of mist.

  Half a time ago, the messenger falcon from Dongdu Luoyang flew into the Chang'an Imperial Palace through the rain curtain, bringing bad news from afar - Qin Sang, the flower queen of Luoyang City, had fallen to her death at Shallow Red Building.

  This news caused the normally calm and collected Luoyang King's face to change color.

  Many people know that Luoyang King Li Yan and Huai Qin Sang have a close relationship, and this time the Empress Dowager's birthday, Shallow Red Building has news coming out, Qin Sang will bring the girls in the building to Chang'an to perform at the behest of Luoyang King. In fact, it is indeed so, Li Yan set off first, while Qin Sang delayed for a few days before departing.

  Who would have thought, beauty is short-lived.

  What really made Li Yan's face change was a hint of murder hidden in the spring rain.

  Yesterday, Luoyang City also had a spring rain. But the spring rain was as fine as silk, and the sky still looked very clear. However, in the highest attic of the Shallow Red Building, countless weak candlelights were lit up.

  It stands like a lighthouse, towering high above Luoyang.

  Everyone involuntarily looked up, only to see a flash of crimson like a startled swan falling from the sky, and in an instant, it smashed onto the empty ground in front of the light red building. The deep red blood flowed and mixed with the rainwater, spreading outwards.

  On a vast expanse of empty land, several large blood-red characters suddenly appeared: "Heartless and ruthless, his crime deserves punishment; with my blood, I will take your life."

  And the stunning beauty, the flower queen, lay in the center of the blood characters, with a golden hairpin inserted into her hair, dripping blood, 'drip', 'drip'.

  In the middle of the night, the spring rain has just stopped.

  Three swift horses galloped through the night, arriving at the tightly closed gate of Luoyang City. The soldiers on the city wall raised their torches and shouted: "Who goes there!"

  The traveler on horseback did not answer, a token was thrown accurately at the soldier, the soldier approached the torch to take a look, and hurriedly shouted: "It's the king! Open the city gate!"

  The people who came were Li Yan, Ling Ding and Yan Sanbai. Qin Sang's death and the blood letter seemed unusual, so Li Yan decided to rush back overnight. Fortunately, Chang'an and Luoyang are not far apart, and the three of them had martial arts skills, so they arrived in less than a day.

  At this time, Luoyang was quiet, and there wasn't even a single shadow on the long street in the middle of the night. However, the Shallow Red Building still had lights on, and Ying Xun took Li Ye's letter back one step ahead. Jia Qing, the governor of Luoyang, had been waiting here early, pacing back and forth at the door of the Shallow Red Building, looking anxious.

  Jia Qing, as the governor of a state, no matter how anxious he was, shouldn't have shown such a solemn expression at this moment. After all, the deceased, although familiar with the King of Luoyang, was just a humble woman from a humble background.

  As soon as Li Yan saw him for the first time, he asked: "What's wrong?"

  Jia Qing didn't dare hide anything, "Your Highness, Li Yihai's son Li Qian is dead."

  At this time, a gentle voice came from behind Li Yan, "May I ask when he died?"

  Jia Qing looked back and saw a man in white clothes taking off his bamboo hat, with some raindrops on his hair, walking out from behind Li Yan.

  "This is..."

  "In the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, there is a white heron." The White Heron bowed his hands.

  "He's here to help me with the case, you can tell him any clues." Li Yan said, leading the way into the main hall of the Shallow Red Building.

  The candles in the building were all lit up, and the girls were resting in their rooms. Only the half-old madam Jiuniang sat inside, looking worried.

  Seeing Li Yan come in, she couldn't help but show a happy expression, hastily getting up, "Prince Wang! You're back, Qin Sang she...she..."

  Jiuniang was on the verge of tears, and Jia Qing told Yan Sanbai about Li Qian's situation.

  Li Qian's father, Li Yihai, was a famous rich merchant who was kind and generous. He had a good reputation in Luoyang City. However, his son Li Qian was an ordinary person, neither having a good name nor being like some spoiled rich young masters.

  He was a man who had left no impression on the people of Luoyang, but an hour ago, he was found dead in a ruined temple on Xishi Street, his body in a pitiful state.

  "What's so miserable about it?" Yan Sanbai asked.

  "The victim was disembowelled and had his heart dug out." Jia Qing had seen the corpse before, the blurry bloodstained chest still made him shudder, and his heart was still racing at this moment.

  Just one day after Qin Sang's death, Li Qian died an untimely death. Adding to that the bloodstain, it was hard not to associate them. No wonder Jia Qing's face looked so bad. Yan Sanbai thought this way and asked: "Where did Qin Sang fall from?"

  "I'll take you there." It was Li Yan who spoke up. He comforted Jiuniang for a few words, then led Yan Sanbai upstairs.

  He was very familiar with this place, having come here many times before. He had walked up and down the stairs, pushed open the door, and seen the heavy red curtains swaying gently in the breeze. When he lifted them, he could see the woman who shared his love for crimson clothes sitting at her dressing table by the window, quietly stroking her zither.

  She turned around, a vermilion mole at the corner of her eye, bright and charming.

  Now she is no longer here, behind the swaying red gauze curtain, there are only candles all over the house, placed on the bed, eight immortal tables, dressing tables, and floor, densely packed, making the whole room eerie. The gauze curtain sways, swaying so that people's hearts can't help but tremble with it.

  Suddenly, a faint and melancholic female voice came from behind, as if sighing:

  "I've finally waited for him, Dong Lang... He's finally back."

  "Who?!" Jia Qing's scalp felt numb, and he immediately turned his head to shout, his right hand instantly grasping the hilt of his sword. Just then, a woman suddenly appeared at the door, smiling and looking around at them, "Governor, no need to be anxious, I am Qiu Chan, here to pay my respects to you gentlemen."

  "Who are you? Why are you pretending to be a ghost here!" Jia Qing's heart, which had been lifted up, relaxed slightly.

  That autumn cicada was born to be beautiful, with a goose egg face, willow leaf eyebrows, and soft waist. It's just that those eyes are too enchanting, adding a few points of seductive charm. "It's midnight, this young lady must be the girl from the Shallow Red Building."

  Jia Qing remained unmoved by her beauty, gazing at her coldly.

  "Miss, why did you say those words just now?"

  "It's still this young man who is kinder." Qiu Cui smiled and said, "I heard that the king of Luoyang has returned, so I came early to wait for him, wanting to provide some clues for the king."

  "Clue? But what about that sentence just now?" Yan Sanbai asked back.

  Autumn Cicada nodded, "After the king left, Sister Qin was not quite right, looking a bit dazed. A few days ago, I came to her room to find her, and before I even lifted the curtain and walked in, Sister Qin said this sentence to me through the curtain."

  "Does that cicada girl know who Dong Lang is?" asked Yan Sanbai.

  The autumn cicada suddenly burst out laughing, "Isn't that the famous Dong Lang, known throughout the world? The king and Qin sister have always been close, I'm sure they must know this - the nonexistent Dong Lang."

  At this time, Li Yan had already walked into the room alone, folding his fan to open the curtains, avoiding the candles on the ground, and sizing up the surroundings. Upon hearing this, he turned around, "Dong Lang is the protagonist of Meng Bi Sheng's written romantic novel 'Butterfly Dream', Qin Sang loves reading this book, usually holding it in her hands, and has mentioned him many times before."

  How could the people in the book come to this mundane world to find her?

  "Could it be that Qin'niang is ill?" Ling Ding couldn't help but ask suspiciously.

  "It's possible that there is a man in the world who is similar to Dong Lang, but it's not certain." Yan Sanbai said as he also walked into the house to carefully investigate. The excessive candles made the room very bright, Jia Qing said that since the incident, no one had touched the decorations in this room, and even the candles were left burning.

  The window on the west side was open, and Qin Sang fell from here. On the windowsill of this window, there were three candles in total, evenly distributed, standing steadily upright, without any signs of being moved.

  Yan Sanbai looked for a while, then turned his back, focusing on the candle in front of him. The countless flickering flames made his eyes dazed, but soon, from the midst of that dazzling light, a woman in red clothes walked slowly towards him. Her slender feet stepped into the empty spaces between the candles, walking along the reserved path, and then jumped out of the window!

  But no, the candles on the windowsill were still intact.

  Qin Sang walked to the window and was pushed down from it. At this time, the murderer should still be in the room, he lit a candle and placed it on the windowsill, then quietly left.

  Thinking of this, Yan Sanbai turned his head and asked Qiu Chan: "When Qin Sang fell from the building, was there anyone in the building who saw it?"

  "Xiao Yue saw her," said Qiu Cui, "She is Qin sister's personal maid, but according to her, when she came in, she only saw a corner of her clothes, and rushed over, it was already too late, at that time there was no one else in the room."

  Jia Qing walked over and said in a low voice, "Does Lord Yan also find it strange? Qin Sang was lying on his back, he should have been pushed down the stairs. But according to what Xiaoyue said, Miss Qin completely took her own life. And this candle, obviously was placed here later."

  At this time, Li Yan, who had been silent all along, suddenly turned his head and asked, "How many candles are there in total here?"

  Yan Sanbai was taken aback for a moment, looked around four times, and said: "There are 108 in total. Is there something special about this number?"

  "One hundred and eight... indeed not bad." A flash of light suddenly appeared in Li Yan's eyes, "Meng Bi Sheng also has a book called 'Chi Qing Nie Hai Lu', where the woman, in order to avenge her unfeeling lover, once lit one hundred and eight candles and laid down a curse, causing that unfeeling lover's heart and lungs to split apart and die."

  "A curse? Is it that blood letter?!" Ling Ding's mouth was agape, this was really too surprising, just now Jia Qing also said that Li Qian had his heart dug out!

  Yan Sanbai and Jia Qing had never read any romantic novels, so they both looked at Li Yan with inquiring glances. Autumn Cicada, however, leaned against the door and smiled, seemingly indifferent to this life-and-death matter. "Isn't that right? A heartless scoundrel deserves to be punished; with my blood, I'll take your life. Tsk, tsk, a heartless man is done for, killing him would be good, why bother sacrificing one's own life?"

  At these words, Ling Ding couldn't help but shiver, this woman's heart was too ruthless.

  Another gust of cool wind came, blowing the candle shadows in the house to shake, some candles had been burning for a long time and went out. The room suddenly darkened a lot.

  Ling Ding stared at the sudden darkness that had appeared in the room, thinking of the ruthless and deadly curse, and involuntarily leaned closer to Li Yan's side.

  Yan Sanbai stared at the window, speechless and silent.

  Suddenly, he moved, his light footsteps starting to walk, the tip of his foot lightly tapping on the dressing table, only to see the candlelight on the windowsill flicker, and a white shadow had already stepped onto the rooftop across from the shallow red building under the moonlight.

  Jia Qing's pupils constricted involuntarily, "The candle didn't fall!"

  Li Yan looked out the window and saw Yan Sanbai standing on a much shorter rooftop, waving at him - in fact, there was another possible explanation for the previous question, that is, Qin Sang's lightness skill was very high, just like Yan Sanbai.

  The prince is indeed a man who has read through all the romantic novels (≧▽≦)/~

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