17 Kill yourself

The one who witnessed the death of Lord Sima was Lao Bai, who sold supper under the overpass all the year round.

Reject Lao Bai said that Master Sima walked to the bridge on the overpass by himself at three o'clock last night.

In other words, Master Sima committed suicide.

The flyover is not a single bridge, but a collective name for three bridges. The one in the middle is a white marble single-hole bridge, which is dedicated to the emperor's sacrifice to the sky, and ordinary people can only walk on the wooden bridges on both sides. There was originally a swampy river under the bridge, which gradually evolved into a dragon's beard ditch.

When Master Sima jumped down, his head hit the big stone in the ditch, and he was out of breath at that time.

The scene of the crime had been tightly sealed by six doors, and although Lord Sima's body had been carried away by his family, Tang Ai stood on the bridge and looked down, and could see the brains splashing on the big rocks.

Lord Sima died a miserable death, which made his fellow officialdom embarrassed. A few days later, he came out of the funeral, and many people came down from the top to the bottom.

Tang Ai's top boss Liu Heyu and Lord Liu had a very good personal relationship with Lord Sima, and Lord Sima's favorite fourth aunt wiped all the snot and tears on Lord Liu's robe.

Tang Ai heard the fourth aunt say to Lord Liu again and again that her master would never commit suicide for no reason, he must have been killed!

Tang Ai originally came to mourn with Lord Liu, and after listening to the words of the fourth aunt, he couldn't help but be suspicious. Lord Sima is a well-established official, and there is really no reason why he can't think so.

First, Sima Xu, as the Shuntian Mansion Yin of the third grade, has a prominent position and rich oil and water, which is by no means comparable to other local prefects. Not to mention that he is an honest official, but at least in the past few years during his tenure, the capital has been considered to be qualified for public security, and there have been no heinous cases of criminals.

Secondly, after Tang Ai found the jade Ruyi for the fourth aunt, Sima Lu held a banquet to entertain her in order to express his gratitude, and said with great ambition that he was planning to buy a house for the fourth aunt in the suburbs of the city, and he couldn't see what was unsatisfactory at all.

Besides, Sima Lu went all the way from a small county order from Guizhou to the capital, and he was naturally sleek, and he never heard that he had any tricks that could be coerced to death.

That night, Tang Ai returned to the scene of the crime alone.

Several days have passed since the incident, the scene has been lifted, and there is no sign of Tianqiao Street. It is only in the middle of the night that the huge imperial city will enjoy some tranquility.

At this time, the only stall on the street was Lao Bai's beef noodle stall.

After Lord Sima's accident, Lao Bai was quickly summoned to Six Doors for questioning, but the light was dim at night, and Tang Ai was only greeted by him as a diner and sat down. His booth was too small, there were only two tables, and the table opposite was already occupied.

The man's whole body was buried in the shadows, and he was eating noodles with his head bored, and he could only tell that the hand that made the chopsticks was his left hand.

Tang Ai got straight to the point: "Lao Bai, I think there are still many doubts about Lord Sima's death, can you please recall to me in detail what you saw that night." ”

Only then did Lao Bai see Tang Ai: "Still talking? The adult just finished asking, Lord Xiao Tang, you have to ask again, why are your six doors endless! ”

"Which one?"

"That's the one who ate noodles there!" Lao Bai pointed to the table opposite.

However, the people at the opposite table went to cool the tea, and there was only an empty noodle bowl and a large silver ingot of white flowers.

How much is a bowl of beef noodles worth? That adult's shot was really generous.

Lord Liu is a well-known iron rooster, and his subordinates don't say it on their faces, but they complain behind their backs that he doesn't take everyone to eat and drink spicy, so that person will definitely not be him.

Tang Ai thought about it, but he couldn't think of anyone in the six doors who was not only from a local tyrant, but also had the same doubts about Lord Sima's death as himself.

She didn't have the heart to care so much, so she just let Lao Bai say it again.

Lao Bai stopped complaining after receiving the money, and said very cooperatively: "That day, I was about to close the stall and go home, when I suddenly saw a person on the railing of the wooden bridge. I ran up to the bridge to take a look, and saw that he was no longer saved, so I hurried to report to the officer. Later, when you came, I learned that he was the Governor of our Shuntian Mansion. ”

His words are no different from those of the day he was summoned.

Tang Ai frowned and said, "Are you sure you're right?" At that time, Master Sima was not followed by any suspicious people? ”

"No, not really. At that point, where could there be people on the street! ”

Tang Ai had no choice but to go home, but halfway down the road he suddenly noticed someone following.

"Who's pretending to be a ghost?!" She jerked her head back.

Before she finished speaking, a bunch of clear shadows had turned out from under the base of the city wall, stepping on the moonlight, and her wide sleeves fluttered.

It is impossible for this person Tang Ai not to know.

"Xiao Yu, it's you again! What do you want to do without sleeping in the middle of the night? ”

Xiao Yu smiled and came to her: "I didn't sleep, didn't you sleep either?" Your guts are also really fat, and today is Sima Li's first seven. ”

Tang Ai's mind flashed back to the picture when he was in the old white noodle stall first, and immediately thought of who the local tyrant was, and immediately said sharply: "No matter how fat you are, you can't be fat, you stole the token of Huiwangfu two days ago, and now you dare to assume the official!" See I won't punish you today! ”

"The villain knows the mistake, the villain knows the mistake! My lord, you are annoyed by the case, and you can't be angry with me! Xiao Yu hid to the side, "It's not a secret, the reason why I asked Lao Bai in the name of Six Doors is because I, like you, also came for the case of Lord Sima." ”

Tang Ai stopped and squinted: "You too?" ”

Xiao Yu nodded, carefully keeping a safe distance from Tang Ai: "Someone thinks that Master Sima died strangely, so he asked me to investigate." ”

"Someone? Isn't it the 'biggest official' again? ”

"Lord Xiao Tang really expects things like a god. Of course, my lord, you must have seen the clues of this case early on. ”

Tang Ai changed his mind: "Let's tell me what you found first?" ”

"Well...... Xiao Yu rolled his eyes thoughtfully, "Lao Bai's craftsmanship is very good!" ”

I really can't talk about it these days.

"You go!" Tang Ai was angry and roared.

Xiao Yu didn't move.

Tang Ai: "......"

Xiao Yu still didn't move.

"You're not leaving, are you? That...... Then I'll go! Tang Ai abandoned Xiao Yu in a huff, rushed back to the six doors, rushed into his room, and finally rushed to bed—sleep.

It's a pity that her quilt hasn't been warmed yet, and the door has been knocked on by Lord Liu.

Something happened again.

This is the case with the servant of the ministry, Xiong Guozheng, and Lord Xiong.

Tang Ai and Lord Liu rushed to the scene as soon as possible.

Lord Xiong, like Lord Sima, also jumped from a height by himself, and then his head blossomed. The only difference is that Master Sima jumped on the overpass, and Lord Xiong jumped on the bell tower.

The city gate guard brother had two drinks in the night, and then bumped into Lord Xiong jumping off the building.

Lord Liu wiped the sweat on his forehead, and patted Tang Ai's shoulder helplessly: "Xiao Tang, the aftermath will be handed over to you Haosheng." ”

There were only more people at Lord Xiong's funeral than when Lord Sima was buried, and all the six Shangshu were present, and even the crown prince Xiao Chengren wrote a letter of condolence.

Afterwards, Tang Ai returned to the six doors, and the more he pondered, the more he felt that the suicide of the two adults was not just a coincidence, so he took the opportunity to ask Lord Liu about the past of the two adults.

"When they first became officials, they didn't have any background, but they struggled to get to where they are today, and their popularity in the DPRK and China is not bad. It's a pity that the Si people have passed away. Lord Liu sighed and shook his head, "To put it bluntly, this is fate." ”

After another seven days, when it was time to reach the son again, I only heard a loud bang, and under the white pagoda of Miaoying Temple in Fucheng Gate, the brain of Lord Yu Shi Xiuyuanqi, the right deputy governor of the Supervision Yuanyuan, burst to the ground.

When Lord Liu led Tang Ai and other subordinates to the scene of the incident, he was so heartbroken that he almost died on the pillar of Miaoying Temple, and he also went with Lord Qi.

Within a month, three successive members of the Jingshi Dynasty were killed by climbing to a high place, and no one believed that these three incidents were just a coincidence.

"The third one! The third one! Sima Xiongqi and the three adults definitely died unexpectedly! I wonder who it will be next? ”

Less than a day after the death of Lord Qi, rumors have spread throughout the government and the opposition, and everyone is in danger, saying everything. And because of the unfortunate death, the three adults were all officials and the third grade, so that many adults who were also in important positions in the three grades were all closed for some reason.

The "Imperial Times" also followed current events and reported on the deaths of the three court officials.

Later that day, Lord Liu was summoned to Ziweiyuan by the emperor alone. When he returned two hours later, he said only two words up and down to the six doors—a meeting.

This will be opened overnight, Lord Liu conveyed the holy will, and dragged out a lot of guidelines and policies, the most important thing is to point out to everyone that the emperor wants six doors to thoroughly investigate the murders of the three adults, with a time limit of seven days.

This is not difficult to understand, the three adults die every seven days, if the death of the three is really connected, then according to the frequency of such dead people, the next adult does not care whether he jumps off the bridge or the tower, and probably he should end himself seven days later.

After the meeting, everyone scattered to look for clues, and Lord Liu immediately ordered all the buildings with a certain height in Sijiu City to be sealed off.

Tang Ai immediately proposed to Lord Liu that he wanted to ask him to go for a new autopsy. Lord Sima and Lord Xiong have been buried by good students, and it would be disrespectful to dig them out again, and now only Lord Qi has not yet been buried in the ground.

He turned Lord Qi over, and left a sentence: "Lord Xiao Tang, Lord Qi's arms and legs are broken everywhere, and he really fell to death!" ”

Tang Ai sighed, and had to find another way to start.

Lord Liu saw that she had not made progress, and she was even more at a loss, and the few hairs on the top of her brain were gone.

It was definitely not a matter to sit down, Tang Ai immediately walked through the location of the accident of the three adults one by one, and carefully inquired about the three adults' families, etc., wanting to know what the three adults were doing before the accident.

Lord Sima and the fourth aunt Taiben were in bed, and suddenly put on their clothes and boots, saying that they wanted to go out for a walk, but they didn't come back;

After listening to the play in the theater, Lord Xiong invited a servant he admired to admire the moon, and then went to the north of the city alone;

Lord Qi was busy with the affairs of the Supervision Yuan, so he finished his official business late and sent his entourage on the way home.

The three adults were normal on the eve of their deaths, except that they were unaccompanied when they died, and there was nothing else in common between the three of them.

The seven-day deadline is approaching, and there is still no breakthrough in the six doors.

Tang Ai's head is bigger than two, and he can't care about the road when he walks on the street, so much so that when he heard Xiao Yu's sentence "Beware of the soles of his feet", he still stepped into the air and fell into the pit.

She had long forgotten that there was a bad road near the North Sea.

This road was built about two years ago, and it was originally a project for the benefit of the people, but the squire of the Ministry of Works, Mr. Zhang, who presided over the project, was suddenly impeached and imprisoned, and the reason seems to be that he was full of personal warmth due to a lack of public funds. It is rumored that Master Zhang committed suicide in prison, and the repair project was put on hold, and over time, the small pit on the road became a big pit, and the big pit became a sinkhole.

"What's wrong with you? Do you want to learn from those three adults who are heroic and righteous? Xiao Yu carried a big bulging bag, stretched his neck and looked down, looking at the excitement.

Tang Ai glanced at him angrily, jumped out of the pit and continued to walk.

"Wait, wait, wait." Xiao Yu caught up with her, "I have something to tell you." ”

"Then say it quickly, or don't bother!"

"I've not been idle these days, and I've learned about some corners and corners that might help the case."

Tang Aiyu stopped: "What have you learned?" ”

Xiao Yu patted the big pocket: "I have all the clothes covered, and I will talk to you in detail when I get to the six doors." ”