Chapter 1: The Sleeping Flower Pavilion

  The Great Liang Dynasty, the prosperous era of Ming Ye, has not had a murder case in Chang'an for half a year. It was selected by the imperial court as the best place to live and a national key scenic protection area. The people from Liu Shan Men would choose to go on business trips to other places or investigate minor cases when handling cases.

  Now, in the great hall of Mian Hua Lou, a major taxpayer in the capital city, someone has actually died!

  Xiao Cao was stunned, she did want to crack the case, but she didn't expect to end up being the one who got ruined! In broad daylight, under the clear blue sky, a young girl with a promising future, who used to dance and strip, how could she have ended up getting herself killed?

  The once crowded Sleeping Flower Pavilion was suddenly deserted, with not a single person left. Xia Cao stood still, struggling with her thoughts - should she run or not? If she ran, it would seem like she's betraying her identity as a public servant; if she didn't run, who knows if Duan Shiyi's face would be useful in the great prison, and if it wasn't, wouldn't she be in trouble?

  In her heart, a fierce battle was raging, but her feet had already begun to sneak towards the door in defeat. Amitabha, she wasn't really afraid of death, truly, it's just that if she died, the legend of the female god capturing Duan Xiaoyu would disappear from the world.

  "Where are you going?"

  Just as she was about to step out of the grand hall of the Sleeping Flower Pavilion, a cold voice suddenly emerged from behind her. Then, she was spun around 360 degrees in mid-air by a whirlwind and blown back beside the corpse.

  Duan Shi's eyes were filled with extreme hatred and disappointment as he stared at her: "Xiao Cao, how many times have I taught you? The first thing to do when arriving at a crime scene is to protect the scene and search for clues. What are you running for?"

  As soon as she heard Duan Shi Yi's voice, Xiao Cao knew she was done for. This bastard would definitely not show any mercy due to their master-disciple relationship and would immediately bind her and send her to the Sixth Gate.

  Although he had just despised the cowardly Dabai, in the face of death, dignity was nothing. Duan Xiaocao immediately knelt down and hugged Duan Shiyi's long legs, crying bitterly: "Duan dog... no, Master, this disciple has only you as his master for this lifetime. The girl's death really wasn't intentional on my part, considering our half-year master-disciple relationship, you must believe me!"

  Duan Qing's face turned iron-green as he stared at the thing on the ground, grinding his teeth and pulling up the back of the person's collar, holding it in front of the corpse and saying: "I don't need to believe you, I also know that this girl's death wasn't your doing. Duan Xiaocao, can't you have some common sense? What color is the blood on the ground?"

  The little grass squinted and looked: "Black."

  "Why is it black?"

  The little grass thought for half a day with its head down and said: "Could it be that this girl likes to eat black sugar plum?"

  "...A loud slap landed on the back of her head, and Duan Shi Yi shouted with his neck stiffened: "You idiot! Who eats black sugar plum and turns their blood black? She's been poisoned!"

  Oh no, I've been poisoned.

  "Huh? Poisoned?! Duan Xiaocao jumped up, quickly regained her vitality, and pulled on Duan Shiyi's sleeve, asking with wide eyes: 'Then she wasn't killed by me, but died from poisoning?'"

  Alas, he was handsome and elegant for 25 years, how did he end up taking such a fool as an apprentice. Troublesome is one thing, but also stupid, stupidity is one thing, but also eats a lot!

  With a big kick, the little grass was kicked to one side. Duan Shi Yi squatted down beside the corpse and carefully scanned the girl's body. She only had a bellyband left on her, and there were several cyan-colored, almost disappearing kiss marks on her neck.

  The girls in this brothel, who doesn't have these purple marks on their bodies, would be too ashamed to say they're here to work, but the deceased is peculiar, with only a few marks on his neck, and the rest of his body is spotless, of course, he can't see the parts covered by his undergarments.

  Just as they were about to continue watching, the thousand mothers outside had already brought in the six-door catchers with a loud noise, and the voice was so loud that the Menghua Building was shaking.

  "Can a few of you masters help our humble household? We only have these few money trees, and now someone has cut one down for no reason. I thought there was something wrong with this official's wife as soon as she came in - look, she jumped out and smashed my poor golden tree to death!"

  The four great courtesans of the Sleeping Flower Pavilion, Jintree, Silvertree, Jade Tree and Treasure Tree, have always been carefully protected by Qian Mama. Whenever they are idle, they shake their trees, and clink, clink, money falls down.

  The one who died was the leader of the four great courtesans, no wonder Qian Mama wailed like a pig being slaughtered. She immediately invited Li Er Gou, the famous catcher from Liu Shan Men.

  As a fellow captain, Li Er Gou was always a bit uneasy whenever he saw Duan Shi Yi, because he thought "if Yu was born, why was Liang also born", with him being such an outstanding and powerful captain, why did they still need a Duan Shi Yi?

  So as soon as he heard that the person was killed by Duan Xiaocao, he immediately cheered up and his teeth were all smiling: "Know the law and break the law! Take this little girl back to Liu Shanmen Prison for me. This case, the captain will come to investigate!"

  The little grass immediately took off his shoes and threw them at his face: "You bastard, you're dreaming!"

  Li Erdou was covered in dust and yelled furiously: "Catch her!"

  "Yes!" The two bailiffs beside her quickly stepped forward and took hold of her.

  "Let me go!" Xia Cao hugged Duan Shi Yi's arm and refused to let go: "Duan Gou Dan will use the Dragon Subduing Eighteen Palms, you dare to move his beloved disciple, he'll bite you!"

  Li Er Gou scratched his ear and looked at Duan Shi Yi, saying: "What's going on? Is Captain Duan going to bend the law for personal gain?"

  The little grass looked up at him, although Duan Shi often shamelessly flirted with virtuous women, courtesan girls and underage girls, but at critical moments he was always reliable and would not leave her unattended!

  However, Duan Shi didn't grab her hand or hit the two bailiffs, but instead used all his strength to try and pull his arm back from her grasp: "Xiao Cao, you go back with Captain Li first, I still have something important to attend to."

  "What's wrong?" Little Grass asked foolishly.

  "The Meng Hua Lou is offering a holiday discount, and as my teacher, I've booked three days of pipa performances for you. It wouldn't be worth it if we didn't listen to the end." Duan Shiyi said with a pained expression.

  Then this shameless turtle egg took advantage of her stunned moment, kicked her back into the arms of the two catchers behind her, and smiled at her with a wave of his hand: "Listen well in prison."

  Duan Xiaocao, this hatred, with the footprints of that bastard on his chest, was dragged back to the Sixth Gate Prison by Li Buzhang. The last thing he saw before leaving was Duan Shiyi's back view going upstairs to the second floor with a twisted butt.

  The case of the murder at the Meng Hua Lou flower house fell into the hands of Li the captain.

  The chain lock clicked shut, and a small piece of grass rolled into the cell against the wall with a burst of furious kicking, cursing as it kicked.

  There are despicable people who have no humanity, and they actually abandoned her to listen to Gu Xiang's pipa music. Fortunately, she kept his secret last time and didn't reveal that the wife of the Beijing city guard wrote love poems to him. When she is interrogated, she must expose them and let those two dogs be punished!

  The hatred in her heart turned into strength, and Duan Xiaocao kicked the wall root with one foot. She thought it would be very painful, but unexpectedly, a brick at the corner of the wall "crashed" and fell off.

  The little grass was stunned by the light leaking from outside.

  Her boundless divine power, isn't it already cultivated?

  "What's the noise?" The jailer outside was obviously startled, and hurriedly came this way. Xiaocao quickly picked up the dry straw on the ground and blocked the corner of the wall, then leaned against it herself, blocking the hole tightly.

  "Rumble..." His stomach growled on cue, like thunder, and Xiaocao rubbed it, looking at the approaching prison guard: "I'm hungry."

  After all, they are all eating public rations, and she is still wearing official clothes. The prison guard didn't make things difficult for her, but instead smiled and said: "I've long heard that the disciples of Captain Duan can eat a lot, I didn't expect that when their stomachs growl, it would be so earth-shaking, like a wall collapsing. Wait, I'll go get you some food."

  Duan Xiaocao let out a sigh of relief and was deeply convinced by her own cleverness.

  The cells next to it were all empty, and only the one on the left had a dark thing in it, which was unknown whether it was alive or dead. The little grass didn't care either.

  What she's most worried about now is whether she can sneak out at night and beat that son of a bitch Duan Shi Yi to death.

  In the six-panel gate of the big prison, there is also a shift system. At night, only two prison guards are on duty at the gate, and they basically do not patrol inside, so when it gets dark, Xia Cao quietly dismantles the extra bricks and slowly climbs out.

  "Don't forget to bring back some roast chicken when you come back." someone said.

  "Oh." Little Grass readily agreed.

  Crawled out of the eaves and walked on the wall, only then did he realize that he had left the range of the six-door prison.

  Who was just talking to her?