Besides lying down, I also know a little about power struggles

Chapter 64 Who is lying?
Seeing his serious expression, Fang Tong bent down and took a look at the content.

"Luozhou?" She also frowned.

This place name was too familiar. She had heard it more than once. This was the territory of Sui Yongdao, the commander of the Beihe Army. Sui Yongdao was the uncle of King Ping Feng Wuqiong. There was a lot to talk about between this uncle and nephew and Feng Twelve.

Feng Twelve removed the black scarf from the corpse's face and compared it with the portrait on the memorial: "This memorial seems to be authentic."

He handed the pass to the guard and said, "Take it to the county government office to verify its authenticity."

"Can it be checked?" Fang Tong has always been curious about how people could verify the authenticity of things in ancient times when there were no electronic files or Internet systems.

"The government has its own way." Feng Twelve said, "No matter whether it is true or false, at least this matter will be recorded."

Fang Tong was just about to ask the government what solution they had when he saw Xiaonian come in with a middle-aged woman with a head full of pearls and jade.

"Your Highness, this is the madam of Furongyuan." Xiaonian brought the woman to the corpse. "Take a look. Do you recognize this person?"

The madam looked at the corpse, covered her chest with a handkerchief, and took a deep breath. "I recognize him. He came to our Furong Courtyard five days ago and rented a courtyard with his companions. It's the house where the county magistrate found the thunder bomb tonight."

"Did you see clearly?" Xiaonian asked, "Is it really him?"

The madam held the handkerchief and looked at the corpse's face carefully for a few times: "It must be him, there is a scar on his forehead."

"Has he been staying in Furong Courtyard these days?" Feng Twelve asked.

"This... I can't say for sure," the madam said, "They haven't come out since they moved in, they don't call girls or order much food and wine, but they paid ten days' rent right away and added a lot of reward money, so I can't say anything."

The madam covered her lips with a handkerchief and winked at Feng Twelve, as if smiling: "We privately said that these might be two bunny men who came here to hang out without telling their families, but we didn't expect them to be bad guys."

Xiao Nian heard her talking without restraint and shouted, "Alright, His Highness didn't ask you anything, so you don't have to say anything more."

The madam quickly stopped laughing and said, "The county magistrate also asked me today, but this is all I know."

"What does the other person who traveled with him look like?" Feng Twelve asked, "Does he have any weapons with him?"

The madam thought for a moment and said, "The other man is about thirty years old, not ugly nor handsome, with eyes that are neither big nor small, thick eyebrows, and a slightly sunken nose. By the way, when that man was taking out the banknotes from his sleeve, I saw that there was a box tied to his arm, and it was dark and heavy."

"Box?" Xiaonian immediately became alert. "Crossbow?"

"What crossbow?" The madam sighed and waved her handkerchief. "Your Highness, these days there are so many guests in Furong Courtyard that they are being chased away. I have only met them once or twice. I am already better than anyone else for remembering all of them. If I hadn't been in this business for decades, how could I have this ability to recognize people? If you ask our servants to come, I'm afraid they won't even be able to tell you their eyebrows and noses."

"We need to find a few more people." Feng Twelve called Xiaonian, "Send her back. If anyone else has seen those two, bring them here."

"It has been brought here," Xiaonian said. "This madam is quite considerate. When she heard that they wanted to identify the body, she called everyone who knew about it here."

Feng Twelve lowered his eyes and smiled: "Well prepared."

He asked Xiaonian to go out and call for help, then turned around and asked Fang Tong, "Do you want to stay here or go inside?"

"Of course I'm staying here." Fang Tong sat down on the stone bench without him asking her to do so. The result of the madam's identification was quite interesting, and she wanted to hear other people's opinions. In the next half hour, seven or eight people came to identify the body. Some recognized it, some didn't, but most of them thought that the body on the ground was one of the two guests.

Feng Twelve asked Xiaonian to take the last person away and looked at Fang Tong: "What do you think?"

Seeing him asking this, Fang Tong cautiously suggested, "Why not check which inn this person has stayed in first?"

Xiaonian was efficient and quickly found the inn where the man in Confucian robes had stayed. According to the recollections of the innkeeper and the waiter, this man checked in three days ago and rarely showed up in public since then. A few sets of clothes were left in the room where he had stayed, and there was some black gunpowder powder in the sleeve pocket of one of his outer robes.

"It's definitely him." Xiaonian was very excited. "There is black gunpowder in the thunder bombs. He prepared two places for himself to stay, one in Furong Courtyard and one in Xingfu Inn, to cover his whereabouts."

Feng Twelve looked at the clothes he brought back without saying anything, and Fang Tong didn't say anything either. The two were equally quiet. Xiaonian looked at the two of them and suddenly remembered that the girl had been with His Highness tonight.

He has always been full of doubts about Fang Tong's appearance.

His Highness claimed that this was a girl rescued from bandits, but he had privately asked the coachman, and he said that they had not rescued anyone along the way. The only possibility was that it was in the woods today, when he led people to chase the murderer who shot the arrow, and the rest of the guards were scattered in the woods, and no one paid attention to what happened near the carriage.

Could it be that during that gap, His Highness met this girl? This was too bizarre.

Xiaonian wanted to know, but he didn't dare to ask Feng Twelve. Anyway, whatever the prince said was the truth, even though these two people didn't look unfamiliar.

Feng Twelve saw his puzzled look and said, "This man bribed the officials to inquire about our number and itinerary, and Fang Tong heard it in the stable."

Fang Tong? Xiaonian was stunned.

Fang Tong pointed at himself cooperatively: "It's me."

Xiaonian was surprised: "You recovered your memory?"

Fang Tong shook his head: "I can only think of one name."

This was the result of a discussion between her and Feng Twelve. In order to make it easier for people to call her, she pretended to remember her name and used her real name again.

Xiao Nian looked her up and down, nodded doubtfully, and then suddenly realized: "Your Highness, is that the masked man you mentioned?"

"Yes," Feng Twelve said, "I have asked the officials to confirm that it is him."

Xiao Nian walked around the corpse twice and scratched his head. "That's not right. The bandits who attacked you were clearly well prepared. They knew your itinerary very well. They might have set up an ambush on the next section of the road. If he was an accomplice, why did he come to the posthouse to inquire? If he was not an accomplice, why did the man with the crossbow want to kill him?"

"What do you think?" Feng Twelve asked.

Xiao Nian thought about it carefully and answered seriously: "Your Highness, judging from the results of the body identification, this man is most likely the bandit in the forest. However, Miss Fang and the officer also pointed out that he was the masked man. I am afraid that one of them is not telling the truth."

Fang Tong had been listening to his analysis carefully, but when she heard what he said, she looked down at herself. Was it okay to tell her she was lying in front of her?

(End of this chapter)