The paper lantern with a pale yellow light swayed in the wind in front of him, and Zhou Tan followed behind a strange-looking servant, walking on the tortuous dark path of Zeting Beizhuang, muttering in his heart.

During the day, in the ancestral hall of the Zhou family, as soon as the memorial message of the old patriarch Zhou Huai was recited, Zhou Tan was as surprised as the rest of the clansmen.

Originally, the move of Xinan Xiaozhou Mansion to donate family property was confirmed, and because it had been prepared, it was not sudden. What really made people not expect was that when Zhou Huai actually told his ancestors, he made it clear that Xinan Xiaozhou Mansion to Zhou Xian and Xibei Zhou Mansion have been five generations of relatives, so he authorized Xinan Xiaozhou Mansion to spend the temple sacrifice.

It is not the first time that the temple is in the Zhou clan, and the Shaolian Hall of the Zhou family in Huocheng was also established after the southward migration. But generally speaking, it is the Zhou clan who has moved to various places that will raise the expense temple. At that time, even if the Duke of Wenchang was the champion and the first, he was a very popular minister, and he never had any plans to have an ancestral hall.

What's more, Xinan Xiao Zhou's family is like an expense temple, and the sacrifice is calculated by Zhou Xian's father, and Zhou Xian was the single seedling of Xinan Xiao Zhou's mansion. The Xinan Zhou family that is going to be separated is only Zhou Xian and his direct children and grandchildren.

For the Zhou family, who pays attention to clan etiquette, this matter is over. But Zhou Xian, who returned to his Zhuangzi, didn't explain a single thing to his children and grandchildren, so he hurriedly left with Zhou Manyun, the granddaughter of Wufang.

Zhou Tan was originally discussing with his three elder brothers how to deal with it in the future. But after the unitary time, several brothers were called away by Zhou Xian one after another, and after being alone for a long time, it was finally his turn to call him. After the relief of being able to share the brothers, what pressed on Zhou Tan's heart was a heavy fear of the unknown.

Without waiting for Xiao Jiujiu in Zhou Tan's chest to figure it out, the servant who led the way stood in front of a secluded courtyard. Knock the knocker gently.

The door creaked open, and Zhou Gui'an's wrinkled face was stretched slender by the dim light of the lantern. It's like he's a different person.

"The fourth master is here!" , Zhou Guian raised his voice and called. greeted Zhou Tan, and even notified the people in the courtyard. After shouting, he ignored Zhou Tan, took the lantern in the manservant's hand and walked in front of him.

Zhou Tan reluctantly squeezed out a trace of smile lines on his face and crossed the threshold. The door behind him was quickly pulled up and slammed shut.

There were more than a dozen torches lit in the courtyard, as if it was day, Zhou Tan squinted his eyes uncomfortably, and subconsciously looked at a long object placed in the middle of the courtyard in front of him.

"Ahh A scream burst out from Zhou Tan's chest, his already pale face became even more pale, and one hand quickly clasped his lips, holding back the nausea that surged up.

In the courtyard was an uncovered female corpse, with a vague face and a faint stench of decay, apparently dead for a long time.

"Jing Yu, you come in!" , Zhou Xian's heavy voice came out of the hall in the courtyard.

Zhou Tanru was granted amnesty. Rush into the hall. As soon as he entered the house, he saw Zhou Xianzheng sitting in the room, his niece Man Yun sitting on the small footstool next to the chair, and Zhou Song and the other three brothers kneeling down. He hurriedly lifted his robe. He knelt behind the third brother with a bang, bowed his head, and didn't dare to move.

"Fourth. Scared just now? Zhou Xian coughed lightly. He asked, "Do you know who that female corpse is just now?" ”

Zhou Tan's eyelids jumped, and he replied honestly: "Back to father!" The son is timid. Didn't dare to take a closer look! ”

"Cowardly?" , Zhou Xian's chest cavity was like pulling a bellows, he laughed a few times, and said: "Finally, there is a timid son among my adopted sons!"

Seeing that the frightened fourth uncle immediately kowtowed again, Zhou Manyun stretched out his little hand and pulled his grandfather's shirt. She could hear that Grandpa didn't blame the fourth uncle, but after watching the different face-changing skills of the previous three sons after seeing the corpses, she just felt it.

Zhou Xian shook his head, closed his eyes, and said softly: "Liu Laoqi, come out!" Tell them who that man is! ”

A figure sprang out from the side of the earroom, knelt on the ground, and sobbed.

After waiting for a long time, Liu Laoqi stopped his tears, gritted his teeth, and said: "Back to the lord and the lords, the female corpse in the courtyard is the second daughter of the villain, Mingxia, who was originally with the second grandmother. She entered the Zhou Mansion as an errand at the age of five, and when she was eight years old, she was sent to Luojing after learning the rules roughly, and now she is dead, and she is only sixteen years old. ”

Man Yun felt sorry in his heart, and his eyes couldn't help but close before opening them again.

When Gao stayed in Fengjin, he left Mingxia a maid to serve, because they lived in the same hospital together, and their mothers couldn't hide the fact that they couldn't move with the golden crow, and Gao had warned Mingxia not to say much about Fengjin. Mingxia also swore that she would not mention a word even in front of her grandmother and others.

When she returned to Fengjin, the second aunt was afraid that Mingxia would leak her mouth, so she asked her what she wanted, gave her some money and sent her home.

Unexpectedly, the Mingxia I saw again was already a corpse, and she was used as a prop to collide with the Zhou clan sacrifice.

The second girl returned home that day, saying that the second grandmother took pity on her old age and asked her to go home to find her own family affairs and serve her parents. When the old man and his wife heard this, their hearts were also happy. Liu Laoqi did not cultivate in his previous life, and he did not have enough incense lamps in this life, so he only raised four daughters, and the original plan was to let the eldest girl recruit a son-in-law to come to the door, and the following daughters were all married. But the big girl's life is not good, He Juzi, who came in at the beginning, was a shameless shabby, and within two years of marriage, he trampled the big girl to death.

The second girl came home with her grandmother's reward, and her mother and I planned to recruit a more reliable pension son-in-law. Because of the mourning of the main family, I only asked the matchmaker to ask privately, thinking that after serving a year of filial piety for Mrs. Tai, I would do family affairs. didn't think about it, then He Juzi came to the door and said that he wanted to remarry the Liu family and marry Mingxia again. The old man refused, but the surnamed He came to make trouble all day long, and shouted that Mingxia had ...... Innocence has been lost. He's willing to be haode! ”

Speaking of this, Liu Laoqi leaned down again, cried on the ground, and said, "It's all because I was anxious to listen and kept asking Mingxia." She refused to respond, and I beat her up and locked her up at home, but before I could think about it, she actually ran out secretly. When I found her in Jingping Mountain, she had hanged herself from a tree......"

Hang oneself! Young and old in the room, listen to this. There was no abnormal expression on his face, but he didn't know who breathed a sigh of relief in his stomach.

Zhou Manyun hung his head. Staring straight at his toes, the irony in his eyes grew stronger. Before a few uncles came. Grandpa took himself, and the master had already examined Mingxia's corpse, the silver needle probed for poison, and the needles taken out in the throat and abdomen were all black.

Master taught that in fact, most poisons cannot be detected with silver needles, and only some of the poisons in the gold and stone poisons can be detected in this way. The reason why silver needle drug detection is commonly used for preliminary elimination is that the arsenic commonly used by folks is often extracted from red letter stone, and its purity is limited. It is just right to identify the poison that makes the needle black, and if it is extremely pure arsenic, it will not work with a silver needle.

Mingxia's "self-hanging" is just a hanging tree, and the cause of her death is the word "self".

The dullness in the hall was broken by Zhou Bai's angry voice, he straightened up, moved two steps towards him, and said, "Father! Mingxia's family is a servant of the Zhou family, and she is the one who is employed by her mother's side. was forced to death by an idler scoundrel. The Zhou family must seek justice for their family! ”

"Justice?" , Zhou Xian frowned, leaned over and asked Liu Laoqi, "Mingxia's body was stopped in front of Shao Lian Hall." At that time, the people who rushed there were also clamoring for justice, to seek justice from the Zhou family! ”

"Sir!" , Liu Laoqi, who was kneeling, was shocked on his face. hurriedly said: "Because Mingxia committed suicide, the villain will be buried after receiving the body." It was He Juzi who came to my house. At first he ...... He said that it must be the Zhou family that made Mingxia lose her virginity, and let the old man find the head of the family to make trouble. Because he's always a scoundrel. The villain didn't listen to him and drove him away. As a result, Mingxia's front foot was buried, and the back foot grave was picked up......"

"Then, He Juzi took Mingxia's corpse and entangled a group of scoundrels to break into the ancestral hall of the Zhou family to make trouble."

Liu Laoqi's face was full of tears, he nodded, leaned down, and refused to get up again.

"Liu Laoqi! Let's see if this is your eldest son-in-law, He Juzi! ”

A young man was pushed up from the back hall, his hands cut behind his back, tied up with flowers, sackcloth stuffed in his mouth, and his face was frightened. It was the Zhou family who drove the hearse to shout grievances during the clan sacrifice.

Liu Laoqi wiped his tears and looked at it, confirmed it, and kept emphasizing, saying: "It really has nothing to do with the villain, the eldest girl has gone early, He Juzi has nothing to do with my Liu family......"

"I will hand him a note tomorrow and send him to the county government office to punish him for the crime of forcing his life and digging up the body without permission." , Zhou Xian Wenyan said something to Liu Laoqi, and then waved his hand, letting people take He Juzi, who had been stunned as if he had something to say.

Liu Laoqi kowtowed and thanked him, and according to Zhou Xian's instructions, he went out to find a helper to take Mingxia's body away and prepare for reburial.

There were only a few blood relatives of the Zhou family left in the hall, and the door was brought by the old servant Zhou Gui'an and firmly locked.

Listening to the sound of moving outside the courtyard gradually quieted down, Zhou Xian looked around, and the sons who were still kneeling under the hall smiled dismally: "I rewarded Liu Laoqi with a sum of money to bury the money, and He Juzi, who was going to be sent to the county government, has been knocked out of his tongue. As soon as the loess is buried, no one will know about the dirty things you have done! ”

"Father!" , several calls, invariably rang out in unison.

"Nobody really knows?" , Zhou Xian snorted coldly: "If people don't know, unless they don't do it." Just think that Liu Laoqi, who is stupid, has no doubt in his heart? However, because he is a servant of the Zhou family, he is still led by the grace of life, so he forbears. People are doing it, and the sky is watching! Wait for the day when you have exhausted all the blessings left by your ancestors, that is, the time for retribution. ”

"Daddy!" , Zhou Song knocked his head on the ground fiercely, and stubbornly responded: "The child admits it." I gave money and silver to He Juzi, and asked him to help persuade Mingxia to come out and tell Qing Fengjin about the past. But I really don't know that he will do things to ruin people's reputations and destitute them to coerce. After Mingxia hanged herself, her son specially trained He Juzi. Later, I was worried that the little mongrel's entry into the pedigree was a foregone conclusion, so I promised the surname He, and the corpse collided with the ancestral hall. ”

"Little bastard?" , Man Yun slowly stood up, his eyes fixed on the uncle motionlessly.

"Get out of here!" , Zhou Song's finger pointed at the tip of Man Yun's nose.

"Zhe'er died early, Brother Kai'er is still young, it's me Xu Manyun who represents the fifth room here. If you want her to go, what about the father? Zhou Xian pulled Man Yun and pulled her to his side.

Man Yun lowered his head and looked at his tender bamboo shoot-like thin ten fingers, and he was distracted. The silver hidden in her chest was ready to move, her fangs cold, and there was an urge to bite and tear everything in front of her. (To be continued......)