Ke Xue: Xiaolan delivers goods to your door at the beginning

Hmm? A curse?

Lin Xiaofeng was taken aback and wanted to ask further questions, but just then he heard the sound of a shoji door being pulled open in a room not far away.

...What a pity.

He composed himself and turned his head to look over.

Torata Tatsuei was still wearing the same kimono he had worn when they met yesterday.

"Making such a racket so early in the morning, Fanci, why are you sitting on the ground!"

She then looked at Lin Xiaofeng, gave a forced smile, and feigned surprise, saying, "Eh? This gentleman seems to have been here yesterday..."

“1.4 You’ve got it wrong.” Lin Xiaofeng looked back.

"what?"

Torada Tatsuei was completely taken aback by this answer, and exclaimed in confusion, "Ah!" before saying, "...What?"

"I didn't enter your yard yesterday, so I can't say I came; I can only say I passed by."

After explaining this, Lin Xiaofeng nodded slightly to the mother and son, then turned and walked towards the stables.

"..."

Torada Tatsuei's words, which he was about to use as an excuse, got stuck in his throat, and his expression was a mix of emotions.

After Lin Xiaofeng had completely walked away, she snorted coldly, glanced at Hu Tianshanji who was still sitting on the ground, and turned back to her room.

"hiss……"

Shigeji Torada shivered, whether from the cold weather that had caused him to take off his shirt or something else, he finally got up from the ground, looked at his soiled clothes, muttered, "I should take a bath," and after a moment of silence, let out a long sigh.

477. Friends, not enemies.

The Torada family's stables.

When Lin Xiaofeng walked steadily over, he happened to meet a group of people led by Hattori Heiji, all looking in his direction.

"Everyone's here," Lin Xiaofeng greeted.

"Lin Xiaofeng! Why are you so slow!"

Heiji Hattori looked like he was saying, "If you had shown up a few seconds later, I would have run back to find you."

Yamato Kansuke stepped forward, leaning on his cane, a complex expression flashing across his face.

Next, the two detectives exchanged information with Nagano Prefectural Police Inspector Yamato Kansuke.

Yamato Kensuke sighed, "All I know is that the recent events are definitely related to the case from six years ago..."

"What about the centipede?" Lin Xiaofeng asked.

“During the Warring States period, Takeda Shingen called the soldiers who delivered orders ‘Hyakuzu-shu’ (百足續), and the flags they carried on their backs were centipede-shaped patterns. During festivals, some riders in the yakuza archer selection teams would also carry those flags to simulate battle.”

Yamato Kansuke frowned noticeably as he said this: "However, based on the information I have, these two things may not be related... Of course, I'm not entirely sure."

Lin Xiaofeng said without showing any emotion, "Is there anything else you want to say?"

"okay, I get it."

Lin Xiaofeng nodded slightly and said no more.

Seeing this, Yamato Kansuke also walked away, leaning on his cane.

Lin Xiaofeng turned to look at the hesitant widow and asked, "Mrs. Torada, should I call you Officer Uehara?"

"Just call me Uehara," Uehara Yui sighed softly.

"Ue-Uehara?"

Hattori Heiji was taken aback. "Is this your original surname?"

"Uh...yes. The situation here is a bit complicated..."

Uehara Yui subconsciously glanced in the direction Yamato Kansuke had left, but unfortunately, he had already disappeared into the forest.

The festival was held at a shrine built in the forest.

It is the joint property of the two villages.

However, because the title of Ryuga no Kakeru had been held by Ryuuji for several years in a row, some families in the neighboring villages blamed them for all the misfortunes and troubles they had experienced during this period.

These rumors, spread by who knows who, have now become the 'mainstream' response to the conflict between the two villages.

……

The light in the forest flickered.

The diffused shadows also appear very soft.

Lin Xiaofeng walked alone among them.

Detective Yamato Kansuke, who had said goodbye about 10 minutes earlier, was now heading to the shrine where a festival was about to be held.

Lin Xiaofeng let his thoughts wander freely. While determining the direction, he also intentionally increased the distance, making his actions seem more like a coincidence.

Inside the shrine, in a room used to store ritual props.

Hearing the sudden approaching footsteps, Yamato Kensuke turned around alertly, paused slightly, and exclaimed in surprise, "It's you...!"

"That's what I wanted to say too."

Lin Xiaofeng threw the question back at him, asking, "What are you looking for?"

He had just observed that it was probably related to the thunderstorms predicted in the weather forecast. Apart from a drunken old man sleeping in a small guardhouse next to the torii gate, there were no other villagers or visitors at this time.

Yamato Kansuke remained silent for a few seconds, then said:

“I’m here to find the murder weapon that killed Ryūki Kōji. Before you arrived, I had already searched most of the forest, and now only this area near the shrine remains.”

I see. I didn't say anything earlier because the other party wasn't entirely sure either. The murder weapon was hidden in this shrine...

Of course, it's also possible that they made up a reason on the spot because they saw me suddenly appear.

Lin Xiaofeng pondered for a moment, then casually glanced around the room and walked to the shelf against the wall.

The area was filled with many festival decorations, including a 'centipede' flag printed with a centipede pattern, which was placed in a transparent plastic bag.

Lin Xiaofeng reached out and roughly flipped through them; there were 18 pages in total, and the colors varied in terms of newness and age.

"A lot of dust has accumulated on it."

His meaning was simple: no one had touched the shelves recently.

Yamato Kansuke didn't hide anything, and while inspecting the shrine behind the long table, he said, "I suspect there might be a secret room here... There's a very interesting case. A contestant in the Ryu-harama (a type of horse racing) claimed afterward that his watch had been stolen, and that it was an heirloom from an elder. Although it didn't meet the criteria for filing a case, the police still helped search for it, but naturally, they couldn't find it. However, just before the Ryu-harama selection competition the following year, the watch suddenly reappeared, hanging on a sword used by a supporting actor."

A locked room...

From the outside, this building doesn't seem to have any horizontal space compression; is it a ceiling or a floor...?

Lin Xiaofeng pondered for a moment, then leaned closer to the long table to observe it carefully. He pointed to a wall brick that was mostly hidden by the tablecloth and said:

There are signs of movement at the edges.

Since the shrine is located above the wall, and the surrounding area was painted a gray that is closer to the floor, it is not easy to spot unless you look closely.

Huh? Really... this expert Lin's ability to observe things is truly outstanding...

Yamato Kansuke muttered something, placed his right hand on the table, and tapped the wall with his cane with his left.

Lin Xiaofeng took a few steps back without making a sound.

Yamato Kansuke probed a few times, found the right spot, and pushed forward with force.

With a series of soft 'clicking' sounds, a gap appeared in the floor beneath the long table.

Seeing this, Yamato Kensuke squatted down again to lift it.

He moved the floorboards with little effort, revealing an opening that seemed to extend inwards.

"I'll go in and take a look first."

Yamato Kansuke took his phone out of his pocket and shone the light inside.

The secret room wasn't very large; in terms of size, it was more like a temporary shelter that could accommodate five or six people.

"Oh, be careful," Lin Xiaofeng reminded him, and silently turned on the recording function.

Fortunately, neither the builder nor the subsequent users of this secret room installed any traps or mechanisms inside.

Soon, Yamato Kansuke found several shovels covered in mud inside, but whether they contained traces of Ryūo Koji's blood still needed to be determined.

Lin Xiaofeng placed a sensor at the entrance and then entered the secret room.

Besides shovels, spades, ropes, and sticks of varying thicknesses, there were also several sharpened samurai swords.

"..."

Lin Xiaofeng muttered to himself silently.

Judging from the watch case, the other party actually used items from the secret room as an emergency measure. Is it because they don't care about the cost of using 'public' items?

Soon after, the two made a new discovery: in an unlocked box, they found about 50 jars that were wrapped fairly tightly. When they got close enough to smell them, they could faintly detect a pungent paint odor emanating from them.

Without a second thought, Yamato Kansuke unscrewed a can.

Lin Xiaofeng, watching from the side, recognized the contents of the container before he could: "It's tung oil."

"...The selection of archers for the Swift Arrow Horse is never held at night."

Using the faint light from his phone, Yamato Kansuke scanned the secret room, a few beads of cold sweat forming on his forehead. "Luckily, there are no guns, but with so many weapons, they could practically control the village."

478. Other people's wives always smell better.

In the afternoon, Lin Xiao arrived at Longwei's house, where Hattori Heiji and Toyama Kazuha were already there.

Lin Xiao said he wanted to know if Ryūo Kōji had mentioned anything related to calling the police before he died.

"No... Kang Si didn't say anything like that..."

Ryūo Tamefumi paused for a moment, then said hesitantly, "However, after Torada Yoshiro's death, Kōji did indeed act particularly fearful for a period of time."

"Do you know what he's afraid of?" Hattori Heiji asked.

“This…” Longwei Shi hesitated, wanting to say something but stopping himself.

Beside him, his mother said, "Perhaps it's a curse. During that time, Kang Si kept saying things like 'I might be next,' 'I'll be killed,' and 'I'll die under the curse'..."

"A curse?!" Toyama Kazuha exclaimed in surprise, then scrutinized the old man in front of her, who looked to be at least 80 years old, trying to confirm whether he was talking nonsense.

The old man shouted with a strong voice, "The curse I'm talking about is the curse cast by the Torada family, who have hated our Ryūo family for generations!"

Haha, could it be some kind of curse that severs the family bloodline again? So your ancestors once married their daughter to a centipede?

Kazuha Toyama couldn't help but mutter a complaint to himself.

Lin Xiaofeng asked, "Grandma... why have your two families had this conflict for so many years?"

"Humph!"

The old man gave a cold snort. "That's because...because...huh?"

She paused, then said with a troubled expression, "That's strange. What was it again? I seem to only remember hearing from my elders since I was little that we should hate the Torada family, but I've forgotten why."

"I believe the Torada family members share similar feelings."

At that moment, the entrance door was pushed open, and Ryūki Kei and Ryūki Ayaka walked in.

He noticed the gazes directed at him.

Ryūki Ayaka smiled and said, "It's started raining outside, so it looks like we won't be able to practice riding and archery today."

Hattori Heiji wasn't interested in this topic. He walked up to Ryūo Kei and asked, "Excuse me... what did you mean by what you just said?"

“You mean that…” Ryūki explained, “It’s me, Ayaka, and Kōji, who all get along well with Shigeji and Yoshirō from the Torada family.”

"Oh?" Lin Xiaofeng asked, "So, you know what Ryūki Kōji wants to do with the police?"

"Could it be related to the death of Officer Kai?" Hattori Heiji had clearly not forgotten to probe this matter, and deliberately omitted the cause of death.

“I don’t know.” Longwei Jing shook his head: “He has never talked to me about this.”

"Officer Kai's death was just an accident!"

Ryūo Ayaka couldn't help but chime in, "Everyone knows that he practiced so hard because he missed the target that year. On his way to return the horse to the Torada family, he accidentally took a shortcut and fell off a cliff."

You know very well, but you don't know if it's the perpetrator or the next victim... Lin Xiaofeng stared at him.