The piece of paper was supposed to be a diary, and he wrote:

"On the fifth day of the ninth month of the third year of Tiansheng, Brother Deng Changhao came to discuss the township examination at noon, he didn't know where to get the collection of previous township test questions, and he also collected the direction of the scriptures and righteousness that several examiners specialized, and then guessed the questions and gambled on the questions. I don't quite approve of his approach, but it doesn't hurt, Brother Deng is full of desire to serve the court at this time, and he just wants to show Lingyun's ambition.

.....Brother Deng is not in high spirits today, he drank a lot, and he told me about his worries and troubles, that is, the evil young man of Sizhou Liuyi has a covetous heart for his wife....."

When Meng Ming saw this text, he immediately felt that Deng Changhao must have been framed, so he decided to stay in Sizhou first to conduct a thorough investigation of the extermination case, so as to restore the truth and comfort the victims.

Zhang Miaoniang took out a round bamboo tube from the package at this time, and then listened to something on the ground, it turned out that she seemed to hear movement underground, and felt that there might be a dark room or tunnel underground.

Finally she stopped at a spot in front of the bookshelf, and she studied the bricks on the ground.

She groped here and knocked there, and at last she pulled out a two-foot (66-meter) square slab from the ground, and saw a hole in it, and there was a light in it, and the cry of a baby.

Zhang Miaoniang decided to go down to investigate, she asked Meng Ming to let her out of the wind, and then she jumped straight down, and she landed silently.

Below is a secret room, about six meters long, about four meters wide, divided into two rooms, the space is relatively large, the air inside feels fresh, there is no sense of aggrieved, there must be a vent.

Zhang Miaoniang went down the secret room, only to see the door of the inner room half-covered, she looked through the crack in the door,

I saw a young woman with a sad face inside, holding a baby in her arms, and the child was crying loudly, and she couldn't even coax and persuade her; Then when he saw her, he lifted the placket of his clothes, revealing a round jade rabbit, and fed the child.

Zhang Miaoniang was full of doubts at this time, and said in her heart Wasn't the Ni family destroyed, and what did this woman and child have to do with the Ni family.

I saw Zhang Miaoniang pushing the door in, and the woman was concentrating on feeding the child, but she didn't notice that Zhang Miaoniang had arrived in front of her.

At this time, Zhang Miaoniang coughed lightly, the woman was shocked when she heard it, looked up and saw Zhang Miaoniang in front of her, and was suddenly shocked;

She stood up suddenly, and forgot to hold the child, only to see the child fall from her arms, and then she came to her senses, but it was too late.

Seeing this, Zhang Miaoniang immediately flew forward, stretched out her hand to pick up the baby who was about to land, and then turned around in place.

Zhang Miaoniang handed the baby into the hands of the young woman, and then smiled at her to show that she had no ill intentions and let her let her guard down.

I saw Zhang Miaoniang say: "Madame, please rest assured, my father-in-law is the master of the court, we don't have it, how to explain it after getting here, but I have a doubt and want to ask Madame for advice." ”

The young woman saw that Zhang Miaoniang didn't seem to have any ill will towards her, so she relieved herself and asked her to ask.

Zhang Miaoniang then asked: "May I ask why Madame is in this secret room, who are you Ni Xiucai?" ”

After the young woman's explanation, Zhang Miaoniang knew that this woman was Ni Xiucai's wife, and the child was his child.

She asked eagerly at this time: "This girl, my name is Li Yanniang, do you know the situation in the hospital, how is my father-in-law?" ”

The doubts in her heart became even bigger, and she said, "Mrs. Ni, your father-in-law has already suffered, and he has now been killed by bandits. ”

When Li Yanniang heard this, she was immediately struck by lightning, and immediately stayed on the spot, and finally cried bitterly, almost fainting, and the baby in her arms also cried at this time, and the scene was a little sad.

Zhang Miaoniang comforted her, and then hugged the child and coaxed her, coaxing the child to smile.

Li Yanniang finally gradually recovered her emotions, but she fell into silence.

Zhang Miaoniang asked: "Mrs. Ni, the government said that your Ni family was tragically destroyed, and even the six-month-old baby was murdered, how did you and the child survive?" ”

Li Yanniang recalled at this time and said: "That night, the child cried non-stop, so I went to the study to find Xianggong, the child was more willing to be close to Xianggong, so I handed the child to Xianggong, and sure enough, the child stopped crying." At that time, the dog in the yard bit badly, so Xiang Gong looked through the study and found that there were several people on the wall, all of them masked people dressed in strong clothes. ”

When she said this, she still seemed to have palpitations, as if she had entered a nightmare again.

Then she said: "Xiang Gong knew that there were robbers in the house, so he quickly opened the secret room, and then let us go down, and he told her that there was enough food in the secret room, and told her not to come out in it." Then Xianggong put the lid on, and I don't know what happened in the future. ”

Meng Ming interjected at this time and asked, "Mrs. Ni, such a tragic incident happened to the Ni family, and we are also heartbroken when we hear it. However, it is true that the murderer should be brought to justice as soon as possible, and I have a few questions for you to solve my doubts. ”

Li Yanniang said at this time: "Lang Jun, may I ask, the concubine will answer truthfully." ”

Meng Ming asked, "Mrs. Ni, how is your family's family background, but a rich family?" ”

Li Yanniang said: "Lang Jun, the Ni family is not a rich family, but a well-off family with a little wealth. ”

Meng Ming asked again, "Does Madame know Deng Changhao?" ”

Li Yanniang replied: "Deng Changhao and my father-in-law are young, or classmates, but also close friends, and they are like brothers; I am also her mother-in-law Shen Xiguang, who has also known each other since childhood, and is a close friend in the boudoir. ”

Meng Ming didn't ask any more questions, and then fell into deep thought, he felt that this Ni family extermination case should have a major hidden secret, and it should be a case within a case.

In a cell on death row, there is a man wearing a death yoke around his neck (the yoke is wedged with a wooden wedge, that is, if a person does not die, he must wear a shackle forever and not take it off), his hands and feet are shackled, and he is lying on the ground with his head scattered, not knowing whether he is alive or dead.

At a closer look, I saw that he was in tattered clothes, covered in blood, and scarred, and the whole person seemed to be unhuman, not to see a faint breath, but to think he was dead.

This person is Xiucai Deng Changhao, he is now recognized as the leader of the bandits, and he single-handedly caused the tragedy of your family.

At this time, he had just returned from his torture, and the scene returned to the scene of his torture.

At this time, in the torture room, the lights were dim, flickering and bright, and the smell of blood was stained.

I also saw that on one wall there were all kinds of torture instruments, such as: sill cars, male ga, tiger chairs, nail chairs, ox tendon torture whips, soldering irons, peeling stools, peeling knives, etc.

At this time, there was a presiding prison officer standing there commanding, and there were four soap officials next to him waiting for orders, only to see them tie Deng Changhao to a cross-shaped wooden frame and tie his hands and feet to it.

At this time, the prison officer shouted in a loud voice: "Prisoner Deng Changhao, now you will truthfully invite your crimes, how you became the leader of the bandits, and how you will bring about the crimes of destroying the Ni family one by one." so as not to suffer the punishment of flesh and skin. ”

At this time, Deng Changhao eagerly shouted injustice: "My lord, I am wronged, and I am also a scholar and a Confucian disciple, and I still have "benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and faith" in my heart; I have not done these illegal things that have lost my conscience, and I hope that my lords will see it and restore my innocence. ”

When the inquisitor heard this, his eyes immediately widened, and he said angrily: "Deng Changhao, you still dare to deny it, now that everyone has obtained all the stolen goods, you still dare to deny it, I think you are "not crying when you don't see the coffin", you can only be tortured." ”

Then he shouted, "Someone, a large waiting." ”

The handymen hurriedly went out to carry out the execution, only to see a burly, dark-faced man in the prime of life who suddenly picked up the whip and whipped it on his head and face.

I saw that the whip made a sharp whistle, which seemed to pierce the air, and quickly and fiercely whipped on Deng Changhao's body, and suddenly the skin on his body was opened, and a long whip mark appeared.

Deng Changhao let out a dull roar, his face twisted and hideous, and then the leather whip soaked in salt water fell on his body like raindrops, and the bright red blood fell to the ground dripping.

The new wound covered the old one, and he was overwhelmed by the heart-rending pain, and finally fainted.

Seeing this, the miscellaneous servant hurriedly poured cold water on him, which pricked his nerves, and when he woke up, he was whipped again.

He gritted his teeth, his teeth creaked, and he refused to beg for mercy, and he didn't know how many times, but he only knew that he couldn't die, he was wronged, and he still had to wait for the snow to go out with his family.

His consciousness was already blurred, but there was an interrogating voice in his ears: "Do you want to say it?" To say or not to say?"

He muttered and whispered hoarsely, "My lord, I have been wronged, how can I truthfully invite me." ”

By this time, the inquisitor had begun to scream unwillingly, mixed with a terrifying grin.

He came to a blazing brazier, took out a red-hot soldering iron, and then burned it like Deng Changhao.

The soldering iron is burned on the skin, and suddenly there is a burning sound of "zilazila", and the skin and flesh emit a scorching smell;

Seeing Deng Changhao screaming again, he suddenly fainted again.

Then the inquisitor gritted his teeth and shouted angrily, "Wake him up, continue to roast him, and let him go on the tiger chair." ”

The tiger stool, placed there, is like a bench, but at one end of the stool there is a wooden post or stake.

After Deng Changhao was splashed awake, he was forcibly pressed to sit on the tiger chair, and then his hands would be fixed on the stake to achieve the punishment of the executor to make them unable to move.

After his hands were tied, the executioner forcibly straightened his feet and tied them to the stool, and Deng Changhao's whole body at this time would be in a state of tension, which was very uncomfortable.

However, this was not the end of the story, and in order to achieve the goal of inflicting pain on the prisoner, the executioner put three or four more bricks under his feet to put pressure on his knee joint.

At this time, Deng Changhao was suffering from heart-piercing pain, they were still adding bricks, only to hear the sound of "Gaba", his legs were broken.

Everyone saw that Deng Changhao was more rigid and refused to confess, so there was nothing they could do, so they ordered someone to take him back to the cell and try him again tomorrow.

The handyman threw him into his cell like a dead dog, and then walked away.