"Master, we're going to Yangzhou ahead!"

Xu Yan sat on the bow of the boat and pointed ahead.

Traveling all the way, the two of them were still a little uncomfortable at first, but they were young in the end, and they quickly adapted to the life of boating on the canal. This time, Liansheng traveled as an inspector of Dali Temple, replacing the Son of Heaven and Dali Temple, to inspect the criminal work throughout the country. Therefore, in addition to Xu Yan, the entourage also has a master of brocade clothes sent by the British king, who protects all the way in the open and in the dark.

The moonlight was excellent this night, the river was sparkling, and Lian Sheng and Xu Yan enjoyed the moon while drinking tea. Some time ago, I had a lot of experience in the capital, and after the end of the spring, Liansheng took Xu Yan to leave the capital and go south along the Grand Canal.

"I don't know what Fang Sheng is doing?"

Liansheng held the teacup thoughtfully.

"Don't worry, the list will be released in a few days, and His Royal Highness said that he will definitely notify Master as soon as possible. I'm very optimistic about Fangsheng! Xu Yan said and shook her fists.

"I hope that with your auspicious words, Fangsheng can get what he wants."

Liansheng looked at the bow of the boat, suddenly pointed to the front and asked, "What is that?" ”

Xu Yan followed her finger and looked over, and it turned out that there was a black thing floating in the direction of the bow of the boat.

"Looks like a baggage?"

"Could it be that someone fell overboard?" Lian Sheng thought to himself that the wind and waves on the river were calm, and the boat would not capsize, so someone could only fall into the water.

The brocade guard standing at the stern of the boat attached a hook to a long bamboo pole, walked to the bow of the boat and hooked it, and soon hooked up an oiled paper bag.

"What is this?"

Liansheng motioned to Jin Yiwei to open the oiled paper bag.

The oiled paper bag was only half wet, and when it was opened, there was a black thing lying inside. Lian Sheng and Xu Yan took a closer look through the moonlight, and exclaimed together: I saw that the black thing turned out to be a dead child!

The dead child was naked, very small-looking, and had some white powder on his body. The brocade guard twisted his hand and said, "These are limes." ”

"Was it a dead baby, thrown into the river?" Xu Yan took two steps back, not daring to look at the oiled paper bag in Jin Yiwei's hand.

Lian Sheng asked Jin Yiwei to put the dead child on the board, took out a handkerchief and put it on his hand, leaned down to press the dead child's body, Xu Yan covered her mouth, afraid that she would scream.

This kid is so small. The umbilical cord on the stomach is still very long. I don't know if he was born to die, or if he was killed by someone.

The child was already small, did not grow meat, and it seems that it had been marinated in lime for a long time. The body is slightly blackened. A thin layer of skin encloses tiny bones. The head is extraordinarily large, and the small neck is thin, which reminds Liansheng of the chicks in the backyard of the orphanage when he was a child. Helpless and pitiful.

"A dead child can't be buried in the ground, so why should it be treated with lime embalming?" Liansheng was puzzled.

"Maybe I love this kid too much and don't want him to rot." Xu Yan thought of a reason on the side.

"If that's the case, why throw the child into the water instead of a coffin?"

Xu Yan's fingers stirred together, looked at the river and thought for a while, shook her head and said, "It's really strange, there seems to be something strange in this." ”

"When we get to the shore, let's take a good look." Liansheng looked at the brocade guard and said, "I'm sorry for you to put away this oil paper bag, this is evidence, you have to be absolutely careful." ”

Jinyi Wei said in his heart that this is really unlucky, not to mention a dead child, he even has to keep it by himself, alas, it is really unlucky.

The next morning, I arrived at Yangzhou Wharf.

Niu Zhixian has been waiting at the dock with his wife for a long time.

Liansheng changed into his official uniform and walked off the boat with Xu Yan. The two brocade guards followed behind, and Niu Zhixian greeted each other, because they were female officials, and they saw Mrs. Zhixian again, and Mrs. Zhixian looked at her 30s, and when she saw Liansheng, she said: "I heard that Lord Gu is famous, and when I saw it today, it really deserves its reputation, and it is really a heroine among women." ”

"Mrs. Cow praises falsely." Liansheng doesn't like these person-in-law contacts in officialdom, but he has to do this when he comes out to inspect.

In order to facilitate the inspection, Liansheng became the sentence of the six products again, and this time he was sent to the local area mainly to be responsible for trying difficult cases, redressing unjust prisons, and accepting appeals from the people.

"Lord Niu, Xia Guan encountered a strange thing on this canal last night." The two talked as they walked. Niu Zhixian asked: "I don't know what it is?" ”

"Catch a dead child."

Only then did Lord Niu breathe a sigh of relief and said: "In some places, there is a saying that newborn children are not allowed to enter the soil, and it is also common to throw them in rivers. ”

"This kid was salted in lime." Lian Sheng looked at Niu Zhixian, and the latter was really shocked: "Didn't the adults mean a joke?" ”

"Naturally, it's not a joke, the official who returned to the county government will present this little one."

The two were talking when they heard someone shouting something in the distance. Niu Xian Ling glanced at it and ordered the official to go and see what happened.

The two of them were just about to get into the sedan chair, when the inquiring official came to meet the two adults and said, "This is really strange, that Lu Da really floated up from the river, and he still had a letter in his hand." ”

This is a clueless statement, Niu Zhixian frowned and said, "I told you to investigate, how can you say it so cloudy." ”

The official was reprimanded, and hurriedly said, "Two lords, this is the way it is. ”

It turned out that there were Lu brothers in Yangzhou, and the two served their mother together and did not separate families. The day before yesterday, it was rumored that Lu Dalang had fallen into the water, Lu Erlang cried bitterly, ran to the side of the canal to burn paper to worship his brother, and said that if the brother has a spirit in the sky, please float the body so that the family can decorate the burial and put the body into the ground. After the worship was over, he threw a letter into the river, saying that the river had a spirit and sent my brother's body back.

"Your Excellency, you say it's not strange. That Lu Dalang's body really appeared on the shore, and he really held a letter in his hand! Someone recognized it as Lu Erlang's letter! ”

"Oh, that's a miracle." Liansheng and Niu Zhixian glanced at each other, and Liansheng said: "Lord Niu, the lower officials are also here to break the prison, why don't we go and have a look?" ”

"Well, Xia Guan also has this intention, this strange power theory is really strange, Xia Guan feels like someone is doing ghosts."

Niu Zhixian twisted his long beard and nodded and said.

This Niu Zhixian is over 40 years old, with a white face and a long beard, a typical image of a scholar, I can't imagine that there is a furrow in my belly, and it seems that he is a talent.

The two of them came to the crowd surrounded by the officials, and someone had already called out to Lu Erlang, who was kneeling on the ground and crying bitterly: "Erlang, Erlang, the county master is here." ”

Lu Erlang suppressed his grief and stepped forward to greet Niu Zhixian.

Liansheng looked at it, this Lu Erlang was only in his 20s. He was a handsome young man, dressed in a white linen filial piety robe, with a filial piety cloth tied on his head, and his eyes were red and swollen from crying.

"Lu Er, it is said that your brother's body has not been found since he fell into the water?"

"Yes, the little one spent a lot of money and didn't find the body, the little one was anxious, so he remembered to worship Hebo, and begged Hebo to return my brother's body to me, in order to reassure my brother, the little one also repaired a book, hoping that my brother would receive it, and it was really sincere, and today my brother's body actually floated up by itself, and he still held the letter written by the small one in his hand."

"It's really Hebo's manifestation, and you present the letter." Liansheng spoke.

Lu Erlang looked at Liansheng and then at Niu Zhixian, and didn't know what Liansheng did.

"This is Lord Torturer from Beijing."

Lu Erlang then presented the letter.

The outside of this letter is a brown paper envelope, there are water stains on it, open the letter only to see that it is just written brotherly love, miss brother, since the brother died, the sister-in-law is widowed and pitiful, it is better to send the sister-in-law home to remarry Yunyun by herself.

After reading it, Liansheng handed it over to Niu Zhixian and said to Lu Erlang: "I can't see it, you are still a very enlightened person, and you actually agreed to your sister-in-law's remarriage." ”

"When the younger brother dies, the younger will naturally treat the nephew as my son, and the sister-in-law has no concern, she can remarry, since my brother can hold this letter to show that he has approved of this matter, this is also a merit."

"Sure enough, it's merit." Lian Sheng sneered: "Then who should take custody of the property inherited by your nephew?"

Lu Erlang raised his head when he heard this, only to see that the female torturer had a stern face and sharp eyes, and he lowered his head and thought to himself: Did she see something? (To be continued......)