Matchmaker Xu's body was found late that night.

On the day of her death, those who followed her later felt that something was wrong. Because although Matchmaker Xu doesn't go out, the food must be cooked, the lamps must be lit, and the barrels must be cleaned. In the past few days, the people who followed her had already figured out the rules of her life. They had doubts when they didn't see the smoke or smell the food at dinner, and they didn't see the lights in the house until night. According to Mrs. Xu's habit, she would go to the clean shed at the end of the alley to clean the barrels before going back to the house. And again the next morning. But I haven't seen her do this today.

So in the middle of the night, the spies on the trail made a plan and asked someone to pierce the window paper to observe quietly, only to find that Matchmaker Xu had died for a long time.

The government arrived quickly, and the neighbors in the neighborhood were shocked. They all said that it is no wonder that no movement was heard in Xu Matchmaker's house today, but the noise can be heard when cooking in the house. Why did he suddenly commit suicide by taking poison?

The government investigated the matter, but no one knew why Matchmaker Xu did this. She goes to the gambling house from time to time, but has not been in debt recently. I have also had trouble with some people over marriage talks, but there is no fatal enemy. In the end, the marriage between the Qian's family in Fu'an County and the An's family in Zhonglan City was finally negotiated and has been busy.

The officials asked relevant people to question, including Qian and An, but in the end they got nothing. So the case ended with "unexplained suicide".

Long Da thought deeply after receiving the news. Xie Gang said from the side: "The spies didn't see anyone coming in. There was only Mrs. Xu in the room. When the body was found, there were only traces of her in the room. Maybe she thought about it for several days, but she finally didn't dare to betray Mr. Xie. But she was afraid that the general would punish her for her crime, so she committed suicide after being frightened."

Long Da said in a deep voice: "Perhaps, she was taken care of by Mr. Xie."

Xie Gang thought for a while: "He knew about the conversation between Matchmaker Xu and Miss An, so he was afraid that Matchmaker Xu would really report to the general?"

Long Da nodded: "Whether Mrs. Xu committed suicide or was silenced, Mr. Xie is a powerful person."

Xie Gang quickly understood. "If you commit suicide, you will also be afraid of Mr. Xie. If you commit suicide, Mr. Xie will be cunning and scheming. He has not touched Aunt Lu. After thinking about it, he has guessed that the earring must not belong to Auntie, and someone else was eavesdropping that day. He can hide from his eyes and ears. Sneaking into Mrs. Xu’s house and committing murder must have been aware of the surveillance we arranged. Aunt Lu and An’s family were being followed, so he must have known about it. I wanted Matchmaker Xu to investigate this matter again. As a result, Matchmaker Xu resorted to all of them once she was frightened."

"That's right." Long Dao said, "With this move, Mr. Xie will definitely not survive. Matchmaker Xu has not reported to him for several days, and he will definitely be vigilant that she intends to betray."

"Then he will still attack Aunt Lu and Miss An?" Now there are only these two bait clues.

"Aunt Lu, he probably won't move for the time being. He is such a cautious person, and he knows that one more move is more dangerous. He will take it easy when there is no need to do it. He must have observed Aunt Lu. If Aunt Lu knows a little bit about his affairs, so she will always be on guard. Just like Xu Matchmaker, there will always be some abnormalities."

"Aunt Lu is going about her life as usual, don't panic at all."

"So Mr. Xie's danger lies with An Ruochen. But he is not in a hurry."

"How did you see that?"

"If he thinks that An Ruochen is more dangerous than Matchmaker Xu, then he will keep Matchmaker Xu to help him destroy An Ruochen. But he killed Matchmaker Xu first, which means that in his heart, Matchmaker Xu is the one who needs it the most. The one who silenced him. An Ruochen didn't see his appearance that day. Before he killed Matchmaker Xu, he would definitely confirm this with Matchmaker Xu. An Ruochen didn't know who he was, so he was relieved to kill him first. Matchmaker Xu."

Xie Gang thought about it, and it was true.

"You tell the people below to keep an eye on Mrs. Lu and An Ruochen. Especially An Ruochen. Although she doesn't know who Mr. Xie is, she reported the incident to the official and threatened Matchmaker Xu. Someone is following Mrs. Lu. It was also because of the letter she reported. For Mr. Xie, this girl is a big trouble. But with so many things happening in the city, Mr. Xie will definitely not take risks for a witness who has no idea who he is. Either he will Ignore An Ruochen, and concentrate on more important things. If you want to do it, he will patiently find the right time. We must not take it lightly, and do not be impatient. This time, we will not repeat the negligence of Matchmaker Xu."

"Yes." Xie Gang got the order and went down.

An Zhifu's days were not going well, and he was worried and anxious. The jade shop is open, the publicity is well done, the ostentation is full, the business is booming, and there are customers who come from other counties and counties to order. Many of the samples in the original store sold out, and a few customers ordered bulk orders after seeing the samples. He collected the subscription money and signed the contract, but troubles came. The two most important boxes of goods he ordered early in the morning could not be obtained for a long time. After dragging on for a few days, the people from the Merchant Shipping Department actually told him that because the thieves doing evil in the city were likely to be spies sent by Nanqin, the prefect ordered to stop the trade in the city and stop the entry and exit of goods at the border.

An Zhifu was dumbfounded, actually pick at this juncture? Then he can't buy or sell, and the money he bought is in vain, and he still owes the orderer a large amount of liquidated damages.

An Zhifu was in a hurry to find people to lobby in various ways, and even threw a big banquet for Liu Deli, the Prime Minister of the Merchant Shipping Department. At the banquet, he complained and pleaded for mercy. Why did he order this batch of goods a long time ago, and it should have arrived quite early, before the prefect gave the order, so he should be able to give it to him, right? He had paid for it.

But Liu Deli did not let go. "The order was early but the goods arrived late, and there was no time to go through paperwork in the future. Who would dare to disobey the prefect's order? Now we dare not let go of any goods, and we have to return to Nanqin. Our Da Xiao The same is true for those on the other side, and they are not allowed to travel to the Southern Qin Dynasty."

An Zhifu broke into a sweat: "My lord, my lord, what should I do then? But what else can I do? As long as things are done, the benefits are easy to say."

"There is a way..." Liu Deli dragged his voice: "It's not that there is no way."

"Yeah." An Zhifu nodded and waited to hear, determined that as long as the goods were given to him, he would give up half of the money.

"Just wait until the prefect announces that the city will be closed again."

An Zhifu's face froze.

"What do you think, can the prefect seal the city forever? Of course he won't. He's just showing off to Nan Qin. When Nan Qin is honest, he will reopen the city. Besides, This matter has been reported to the emperor, if there is an imperial decree from the emperor to declare that there is no need to stop closing the city, that is also possible."

An Zhifu's face became even more rigid.

This is no nonsense. When Nan Qin becomes honest, when will he have to wait? And it's not being honest anymore, it's because the prefect and the emperor feel that he is being honest. The next thing is to wait for the imperial decree, among other things, during the time when Zhonglan City went to the capital and back, all the money he had spent in setting up his shop had already sunk to the bottom of the Sixia River.

"Ah, by the way, and if it is an official tribute product, it can be transported in and out if it has official documents and seals. Yours, don't you have it?" Liu Deli stroked his beard and drank a glass of wine: "If No, I can't do anything about it. If there is, report it quickly. Nanqin is furious because of the closure of the city, and it will probably take a while. The prefect is hard to get off. At this moment, he must not show weakness. The emperor also has Temper, the majesty of the emperor, maybe after a while, the imperial decree will not allow even tributes and official goods to enter or leave."

An Zhifu wanted to cry but had no tears. He is not an official, so where can he get official documents? He also wanted to be furious, obviously his goods had been ordered for a long time, and the paperwork should have been completed a long time ago, but it was all delayed by the Merchant Shipping Department, but now it was completely wiped out. But An Zhifu didn't dare to say this at all. A few more words of pleading, Liu Deli's complexion became ugly, and he thought he was long-winded.

An Zhifu didn't dare to say more, and swallowed it all in one breath.

Back home, An Zhifu lost his temper severely. No one in An's house dared to speak loudly, and all the houses hid in the yard, for fear of attracting An Zhifu's attention and being picked on. An Ruochen was anxious, not because of An Zhifu's temper, but because she felt that she was about to lose the chance of getting General Long to help her.

A few days ago, Matchmaker Xu was killed, and the officials sent to Anfu for questioning, which really shocked the An family. An Ruochen knew the details of the matter, so she was naturally even more surprised. The next day, seeing Mrs. Lu coming to deliver food as usual, she felt relieved again. But a few days later, I heard that Matchmaker Xu's death was a suicide, and there was no movement from the general's side, and Aunt Lu came every day, and there was no abnormality. The intriguing meeting never happened. The ghostly Mr. Xie is only her imagination.

An Ruochen was very disturbed. In the limited years of her life, she has never experienced such a thing.

In the past, her cleverness and suspicion were all used to fight against her father, aunt, brother, and sister. She has only heard about such major events of killing people and endangering the country in the stories told by the storyteller. Now she really met, but it was completely beyond her imagination.

She is not worried about anything else now, but she is afraid that the general will not believe her and think that everything she said is a lie made up by her. Because everything she said sounded plausible, but none of them could be verified. Things always go in the opposite direction. She said the granary would be burned, but it didn't. She thought that she would be fine if she didn't rent a house, but the owner was killed. She said that Mr. Xie would deal with Aunt Lu, but Aunt Lu was fine. She said that matchmaker Xu would lead the general to find Mr. Xie, but matchmaker Xu committed suicide.

She had no idea who Mr. Xie was. The only matchmaker Xu who can prove that this person really exists no longer exists.

An Ruochen had no choice, it was already the end of August, and there were still two months before the day when she would get on the bridal sedan chair. Two months is not long or short, and she has been planning to escape for several months. Isn't this time running out in the blink of an eye?

Should he think of his own way again, or bet his hope on the general?

An Ruochen sighed inwardly, General Long never said that he would help her escape from home. She didn't know why she felt that she could see hope in him. That's all, anyway, in the end, the big deal is still to act according to the previous plan. Life and death are up to fate, wealth is in the sky, if you don't work hard for yourself to get a better chance, then you can't blame others.

An Ruochen decided to wait for a month. If September passed and still couldn't get some progress from the general, then she would have to fight desperately in October.

In the end, instead of waiting for a month, An Ruochen met General Long on the third day of September.

That day was a bit gloomy, and An Zhifu lost his temper again because of the jade shop. He was devastated, and the jade business was even worse than he had imagined. I thought it would be delayed if the goods were not available, but Liu Deli was right anyway, could it be possible that he really will be locked in the market for a lifetime? Wars can't be fought, and now it's just to show Nan Qin a good look and teach them a lesson. When the market is closed and reopened, his goods will be able to come over, and then the business will continue.

But now the trouble is on those big merchants from other places. To put it bluntly, these people just don't agree to extend the delivery deadline. I also do not agree to return the deposit and do not do business. No, just after lunch, a commotion came to the house, a group of people were arguing loudly with An Zhifu in the hall of the front yard, begging for an explanation.

At this time, all the houses hid in the inner courtyard and closed the courtyard door, and only sent a servant girl to quietly inquire about the movement. The same is true for An Ruochen. The girl didn't need to inquire too much, because the yelling was too loud, and she could hear 70% to 80% of it if she stood far away and pretended to be busy.

"It's about business." The girl came back and told An Ruochen. An Ruochen nodded and sent her down. He sat down and thought about whether it would be good or bad for her to escape.

After a while, someone tapped on the window frame outside the window. An Ruochen looked up and was shocked.

General Dragon!

Long Da held his finger to his lips and made a silent gesture.

An Ruochen nodded, her heart was beating like a drum, she went to the window to look around. With a serious face, Long Da whispered: "No one. The old nurse is resting in the side room, two maids are dozing off in the backyard, and two are doing needlework in the house, and a servant is teasing with a maid outside the yard. , the other two male servants were ordered by your second aunt to do rough work. Some other people were gossiping in the front yard."

"..." Should I praise the General? Her eyes and ears are clever and alert, even better than her second aunt.

"Did the general come in through the wall?" She decided to ask the most curious one first.

"You should ask me why I'm here."

"..." So it is true that they came in through the wall? "What orders does the general have?" An Ruochen asked while carefully looking around, for fear that someone would suddenly appear and catch General Long. Over the wall to have a private meeting with a civilian girl, the general will be in trouble if it gets out?

"Do you still want to leave home?"

"Of course." An Ruochen was very worried, "Does the general want to come in and talk?"

Long Da raised his eyebrows: "Why?"

An Ruochen looked at his eyebrows, and couldn't help but want to pick them up too, but unfortunately he couldn't control his eyebrows, so he could only move them. "Because of concealment." As a girl's family, of course she has to worry about the general being found out about his secret meeting, is there even a need to ask?

Long Da raised his eyebrows again. An Ruochen felt that this meant approval. She made a gesture of invitation, but Long Da waved his head in the direction of the door. An Ruochen rushed over to open the door, and in the blink of an eye Long Da had already stepped in.

Really, since I am also in a hurry to enter the house, wouldn't it be faster to jump out of the window? An Ruochen muttered in his stomach, closed the doors and windows, and stood in front of Long Da respectfully.

"I'm asking why you still decided to leave. Didn't you explain all the difficulties of leaving home to you before? Do you have any good ideas for a woman to make a living by herself?"

"No." She hasn't gone out yet, hasn't experienced the things Long Da said, and now she is thinking about it in the boudoir, and she really can't think of new ideas other than the ones she thought of before.

She saw disapproval in General Long's eyes. Hurry up and ask cautiously: "According to circumstances, there must be a way for the car to reach the mountain, does it count?"

Well, it doesn't count. She could see it from the general's expression.

"I'm afraid you don't even know which mountain the car has reached. If you go to a fork in the road and a dead end, it will be bad."

"It's not, now it's in front of the general." An Ruochen probed. Did the general come here to help her, or to use her?

Long Da raised his eyebrows again, this girl is really interesting to talk about. He looked at her, her clear eyes were guarded, but fearless.

Long Dao: "The suspect who attacked the racecourse has not yet been caught, and the situation between me, Da Xiao, and Nanqin has become more tense. The owner of Pinghu East Lane was killed. It seems that it was done by thieves, and the suspect has not been caught yet. Aunt Lu is safe and sound. The people I sent to follow up today have not found any suspicious people trying to approach her or hurt her. She comes in and out regularly every day, and there is no abnormality. Xu Matchmaker hid at home for several days, and finally committed suicide... "

An Ruochen was in a hurry and interrupted him: "General, I never lied. Everything here is true. There is indeed Mr. Xie. He and Xu Matchmaker secretly attacked the granary. I really heard ..."

Long Da waved his hand, An Ruochen choked, bit his lip, and closed his mouth.

"You are impatient, what big things can you do?"

"Ah?" An Ruochen was stunned, she still has something important to do?

"Escape from the family, hide your name, and go to a foreign land to live alone. This is difficult for a man, let alone you, a weak woman, it is not a big deal."

An Ruochen pursed her lips and straightened her back. It is indeed a big deal. Her heart suddenly settled down. The general didn't disbelieve her, and he didn't despise her either. He faced her thoughts squarely and tried to guide her.

"The general taught you the right thing." She responded and listened respectfully.

Long Da looked at her expression, and continued: "The progress of those things is different from what you expected, and it was unexpected, which means that the other party is a scheming, calm and strategic person. He not only controlled Matchmaker Xu, but also restrained her There must be some means to keep her from daring to betray. Such a person must have his network in the city, and he has been lurking for a long time. That's why he can recruit suitable people, and then firmly control them. He In this city, food, clothing, housing and transportation need to be taken care of, and there must be someone who knows him and has seen him. During these days, I sent people to investigate everywhere in the city, but there was no trace of this person."

"The general doesn't know what he looks like, so how do you find out?" An Ruochen couldn't help interjecting, and realized that he was impolite, so he quickly bowed his head to admit his mistake.

Long Da didn't answer, but asked, "Guess."

"..."

"If you can be resourceful and strategic, then I will give you some benefits."

Are you kidding her? An Ruochen was not sure, she carefully observed Long Da's expression. Turning around in her mind, it's not that bad for her anyway, so she said: "If you want to control others to do things for you, you have to intimidate, lure, or threaten... well, or you can form a friendship with kindness, or you can win sympathy. Xu The matchmaker sees Qian's eyes open, so she doesn't have much sympathy. Besides, if they do such a thing, then Mr. Xie will definitely not cheat sympathy by pretending to be pitiful. Hmm..." An Ruochen thought for a while, "The clothes he wore The material of the clothes looks good, the body is slender, the back looks quite stance, and the voice sounds calm, I guess he looks like a decent person with status."

As she spoke, she looked at Long Da. Long Da's eyes were bright, showing approval. An Ruochen was overjoyed, suddenly gained confidence and felt lighter. "A character like this must be particular about food, clothing, housing, and transportation, and his clothes are not sloppy, and his demeanor and behavior are also graceful. I can't decide what's in his heart, and I can't figure out his likes and sorrows. Only in this way can I scare others. It's like..."

Long Da raised an eyebrow.

"..." An Ruochen swallowed back the words "just like a general" in time, and changed his words: "It's like someone from a wealthy family. So the general checked those restaurants and shops to see if anyone had seen the surname Thank you, man with matching features, right?"

Long Da nodded. What he didn't add and correct was that there were very few rich families surnamed Xie in this city, and people who were well-fed, well-fed and well-mannered, and the scope of this investigation was not large. But if the enemy country is lurking in Zhonglan's spy work, it is common to change his name and surname to forge his identity. His surname may not be Xie at all in the city. Mr. Xie is just a code name. Check the surname Xie.

Seeing that she was recognized, An Ruochen laughed, and that smile made her whole face light up. Long Da couldn't help taking a few more glances, and said: "You are right. Since you answered well, I will give you benefits."

An Ruochen was overjoyed and said, "General, can you cancel my engagement?"

"cannot."