At this time, two servants who were awakened hurriedly ran down from the fourth floor. Limeng came to her senses, handed Lu Hongmin's body to one of the servants, and hurriedly ran to the living room next door.

The walls of the living room are covered with valuable collections, including Tang Bohu's calligraphy and paintings and some weapons of this century, including long and short swords, pistols, rifles, etc. of various sizes. Limeng knew that these guns were always loaded with bullets, she

Take a rifle off the wall and run to the balcony.

It has only been fifty or sixty seconds since the man slipped down the ladder just now. In addition, in order to prevent others from chasing him, the man removed the ladder, so it was delayed for some time and did not run too far. The beautiful and brave Limeng came from

He stuck his head out from the balcony railing and looked around the courtyard. The man was running under the moonlight. He jumped over broken walls in the grass and ran to the back door. Limeng picked up the rifle, took aim, and pulled the trigger.

With a "bang", the sound of gunfire broke the silence of the night.

The man's body shook violently and fell down. "Hit!" A servant shouted loudly: "I'm going to catch the robber!" At this time, the man stood up unsteadily again.

"Ah, he's going to run away! Uncle Gude, run and close the door."

"Yes, Miss." Good ran to the balcony and wanted to get down the ladder, but the ladder had been moved away by the man who was shot, so he had to run around the long corridor and then downstairs.

At this time, the man who was shot staggered for a few steps and then fell down again. Limeng quickly shouted to another servant, Ah Cai, "He fell again, right there!" Ah Cai leaned out from the railing.

He looked down and said, "I saw it! He is crawling in the grass. He is injured and can't run away now. I must catch him!"

"You monitor him here and let me go."

"No, Miss Limeng, it's too dangerous, you don't want to go."

"It doesn't matter, I still have a gun!" Limeng held the gun and bravely ran downstairs.

The servant Ah Cai looked at this brave girl and thought: What should he do if he is attacked by a robber? He really couldn't let go, so he had to look at her with uneasiness. "Miss, the thief hid aside.

, it’s that side of the small door, you have to be careful!”

But Limeng only wanted to catch the robber. She didn't listen to the servant's words, took the gun and ran straight to the back of the abandoned palace.

The servant Ah Cai was very anxious. He also wanted to protect the lady, but it was too late to go downstairs. He stretched his body, straightened his arms, tried his best to grab the removed ladder, pulled it back, and then quickly went downstairs.

He climbed up the ladder and hurried to the back of the hall. Unexpectedly, when he arrived, Limeng and his servant Gude were standing there blankly.

Ah Cai hurriedly asked: "What's the matter?"

"We didn't catch him, he got away," Goode said.

"How? Didn't he pass by the little door?"

"I've been watching until now, but I haven't seen anything. Look, this is the key to the door!"

"So where will the robber go?"

"I don't know either!"

"Strange, he did escape here...Miss, did you see anything?"

"No." Limeng had a strange expression on her face.

"Impossible, he has no way to escape, he must still be hiding in the yard." Ah Cai said.

"Damn it, let's see how long he can hide, we must find him!" Gude said bitterly.

"Yes, even if he got into the mouse hole, we have to dig him out."

At this moment, two of Su Jinmao's tenant farmers were awakened by the sound of gunfire, and they ran out of the farmhouse.

"Have you seen anyone suspicious?" Good asked.

"No, we didn't see anything."

"Everyone split up and look for it." Limeng said, not knowing where he was.

They searched the woods, the grass, and even the stone statues and columns covered with vines. They searched carefully. Not even a pit or a stone was spared. The doors and windows of the palace were also closed and locked.

The windows were also intact. In short, there was no sign of anyone hiding.

But where did the thief escape to? Everyone saw with their own eyes that he climbed here after being injured, but then mysteriously disappeared into the grass. And the only thing they discovered was that there was a hat left where the thief fell after being shot.

The yellow leather hat that taxi drivers often wear. This hat is the only physical evidence left by the prisoner, so it becomes an important clue to solve this mystery.

The next morning, just after dawn, the town's security arrived at the scene and began to investigate. After a rough investigation, they quickly sent a case record to

At about ten o'clock, two cars from the Southern District Security Bureau came speeding by. In one of them sat Inspector Zhou and Agent Liu of the District Security Bureau. In the other car sat two young reporters: one was

A reporter from "Jin Bao" and another reporter from a major newspaper in Dongzhou City based in the Southern District.

Two cars parked on the gravel road in front of Su Jinmao's house.

Su Jinmao's wife has passed away long ago. He now lives with his daughter Susan, his adjutant Lu Hongmin, and hired male and female servants. His life can be said to be very luxurious.

The girl Limeng is an unfortunate girl. She became an orphan because her parents died. Limeng's father is Su Jinmao's sworn brother. Five years ago, Su Jinmao took Limeng to live with him and treated her like Susan, as if she was his own.

Another daughter.

After Inspector Zhou of the District Security Bureau learned about these situations, he began to ask everyone: "The prisoner must not have escaped from this yard, right?"

"Yes, Inspector Zhou. That seems to be the case so far." Inspector Zhou listened to the detailed report from the village security again, and continued to study the case with the security guards.

"All the entrance and exit doors are locked. The small door at the back has been opened. The two people holding the stolen goods may have escaped, but Goode has been guarding there since then. The injured man should not be able to escape.

Lose."

"Then let's assume that this person is still hiding in a secret place in the yard. But what did the two thieves who escaped first steal? Let's check the lost items."

After some inspection, nothing was missing. Several famous paintings of Tang Bohu hanging on the wall of the hall are still in old frames. These paintings are Su Jinmao's beloved things. No matter how high someone bids, Su Jinmao will never give up.

Will be sold, but are there really no changes to these precious paintings?

"If the thieves even disdain these priceless paintings, then why did they come?" This question puzzled everyone present. So were there other items stolen?

But after Su Jinmao checked, he still couldn't determine what was missing.

But the two thieves clearly stole a large bag of things. What was going on? The security guards looked at each other, not knowing why.

At this time, Su Jinmao came in with the doctor. Su Jinmao was in good spirits. He greeted the two security guards loudly, said: "This way, please!" and led them into the bedroom.

The bedroom was the scene where he and his adjutant Lu Hongmin were attacked. Pieces of clocks and vases were scattered all over the floor. The chair was overturned and stained with blood. Lu Hongmin's body was covered with white on one side of the wall.

The bed sheet was lying flat on the ground. Although the deceased was killed in the middle of the night, he was still wearing the suit and boots he wore during the day. The doctor opened the blood-stained shirt and found a large wound on his chest.

After careful examination, the doctor said: "The deceased was stabbed with a dagger and died immediately."

"Is it the dagger on the fireplace in the living room? The one next to the murderer's yellow leather hat?" Inspector Zhou asked.
Chapter completed!