"Lord County Commander, I need to ask you about this question, if there is one more official like you in the Great Qing Kingdom, it will be a blessing or a curse for the people," He Jiehao asked after a moment's pause.

"Officials have always been conscientious, careful every step, and never cause trouble to the people."

"Oh, so what about this kind of fatal case?"

"Of course, the big case of human life is cautious, and we don't dare to be the slightest careless, if it is widely implicated, such as a certain official of the imperial court, it can be stopped, and if it is good, it will be accepted, so as not to harm itself. Xia Guan is not as upright as Bao Qingtian, nor is he as treacherous and evil as Jia Shidao who brings disaster to the country. Xiaguan is just a seven-grade county, just do your duty as an official, "This may be the official character and official virtue of the county order, it sounds like a serious book." In this way, he gave a speech in front of Taigong and He Jiehao, so that the listener felt that this was his heartfelt words, it seems that this county order is not really confused, and it is indeed not easy to do this.

"Okay, let's go to the scene of the crime first," and then called a subordinate to lead the way, but this subordinate was the person who knew the scene of the crime last night, and it was also he who followed the drunk man and reported the drunkard's death in the backyard to Taigong. The county commander and He Jiehao, Taigong and others came to the dense forest in the backyard, and more than a dozen officials and the subordinates of He Yuan followed, and it was already approaching darkness at this time, and they were lighting the dense forest path in front of them with lanterns. A subordinate looked at the Taigong behind him and said, "Master Tai, it's there, you see, it's there." ”

Taigong stepped forward and took the lantern in the man's hand and shone it forward, and saw the body of the drunkard hanging from the branch in front of him. Taigong immediately rushed over, followed by the county magistrate and He Jiehao, and then He Jiehao stepped forward and stood under the corpse, took the lantern and looked at the corpse hanging from the branches, and ordered his subordinates to step forward and take down the drunkard's body and lie flat on the ground. After that, the county order ordered the officials to carry the body back to the county office, ordered the servants to conduct an autopsy, and returned to the hall.

"Taigong, Lord He, disturb you until late at night, now that the matter is over, the lower official has to retire first."

"Lord County Order, the matter is not over yet, and the parties should be interrogated immediately."

"Yes, yes, it is rumored that the people of He Mansion came to ask."

Gou Cai, a subordinate of He Yuan, stepped into the hall, looked at the Taigong above the hall and the county commander and He Jiehao sitting on both sides, and said, "The lord, the lord, the county commander." ”

"Well, Gou Cai, tell the county magistrate what you saw last night carefully, and remember not to ignore the details," He Jiehao, who was sitting on the side, said very seriously.

"Yes, the slave told the county magistrate about last night's events, and the slave wrote it down."

"Wait a minute," the prefectural magistrate instructed the scribe next to him to make a note.

"Yesterday at night, it was the big day of the lord and Mrs. Wang, the lord and the official master were chatting happily, and suddenly one of them said something indecent to satirize, and then went into the backyard to pay tribute. Although the prince was very angry, he didn't care about it under the persuasion of the official, but the lord was still worried about him walking around, so he ordered the servants to follow, and followed him to the backyard, and found that the drunk man had been wandering in the backyard for a while, walking towards the dense forest behind the mountain bag. The minion followed to see what he was going to do, but he repeatedly circled in the dense forest in the backyard, saw a floating blue flame in front of him, walked towards the floating blue flame, and didn't know what he saw, shouted: "There is a ghost", his expression was very nervous and he didn't know what to trip, he grabbed his hands frantically upward, and was hung high in the air by the falling rattan, and then the slave didn't know, and the slave was also afraid to rush all the way to report the matter to the master. ”

"What do you say came out of his mouth?"

"There are ghosts."

"There are ghosts, ghost fires," At this time, He Jiehao continued to ponder and ponder seriously, and maybe he could find any clues from it. The county magistrate looked at Taigong in surprise and said, "Taigong, will there really be a ghost?" ”

"Don't talk nonsense, wait first, listen to what Hao'er has to say?"

"Yes, yes, Taigong taught me."

At this time, He Jiehao suddenly said: "There must be a corpse buried in the dense forest." ”

"Hao'er, what did you say?" Taigong asked in surprise.

"I didn't say anything, Lord Prefectural, we can make an assumption at this time."

"Lord Ho, what do you want to assume?"

"Gou Cai, what did he say to make my father angry?"

"Master, this is not something that a slave can say."

"Say!"

"Master," Gou Cai looked at the fairness above the hall.

"Just say it," at this time, Taigong's face showed more helplessness, family ugliness should not be publicized, this Taigong knows better than anyone else, Jie Hao should also understand this truth, but today he did the opposite. If the more he covers up his family scandal, the more suspicion it will arouse, why not make the matter public, it will be more calm, and the rumors will not spread.

He said that the lord married a prostitute, "Since the prince let him say it, he has no worries in his heart, so he has the courage to say this."

"The drunkard is too bold and reckless, and he is simply innocent," the county magistrate said angrily.

Taigong sighed and said, "Alas! Wang Yao is indeed a woman in Qinglou, her stage name is Hua Hong, his father is Wang Songren, a teacher in the literary prison that year, the word Mingyang, and because of a poem, the woman survived and fell in the red dust. ”

"Lord He is really a true and righteous person," the county magistrate praised He Jiehao.

"Okay, let's get down to business, let's say my father has a grudge against this, in order to maintain the reputation of the He family, it is not tolerated that anyone has such a false statement about the He family, just now the next person said that the drunk man ridiculed the official for marrying a Qinglou woman, and my father held a grudge because of this, hatred is not terrible, but what is terrible is that he has a murderous intention. My father was worried that this person would spread the word and wanted him to keep his mouth shut forever, so he secretly ordered people to follow him, introduce him into the dense forest, strangle him with rattan and hang it on the branches, create a false impression that we will go astray, and convict us of ghost murder, so that it is logical to maintain the reputation of our He family, and burying the dead secretly is not unaware? ”

"Lord He, Taigong is your father, this is definitely not Taigong's doing, if this is really the case, killing the drunk man is not Taigong's original intention, it was Gou Cai's private act."

"Then the second hypothesis also came out, it was Gou Cai who misunderstood his father's intentions and strangled him to death with rattan."

"Yes, at present, the people under He Mansion are the most suspicious."

"Master, master, the slave did not kill anyone, the slave was wronged."

Taigong said helplessly: "Gou Cai, you go, if you really didn't kill anyone, we will prove it." ”

"Someone is coming, bring Gou Cai back to the county office," several officials entered and took Gou Cai out of the courtyard, and then the county commander got up and said: "Taigong, Lord He, the next official retires." ”

After returning to the mansion, the county magistrate instructed the scribe: "Tell the cell boss, Gou is a member of the He family, and he is only a suspect at present, and he is entertained with good wine and meat, do you know?" ”

"Yes, my lord, this little one understands."

"Well, it's good to understand, you can do it."

At night, the county commander was lying on the bed tossing and turning and it was difficult to sleep, and when he heard the sound of the rooster, he immediately turned over and got up, and it was early in the morning, and he secretly walked out and put on a black cloak to cover his face. At this time, the prisoner was lying on the table and fell asleep, and there was a wine jug and a plate of peanuts on the table, and only a few peanuts were scattered on the plate. One of the jailers raised his head and opened his sleepy eyes, and stood up in shock, while the other jail officer held the handle of his saber in surprise and said, "Who?" ”

"Blind your dog's eyes, it's the official."

"My lord," said the two prisoners, kneeling.

The county commander stretched out his finger and said, "Shhh Be quiet. ”

Only then did the two prison guards whisper: "My lord, what is the matter here?" ”

"Give the key to the officer," a jailer took out the key and handed it to the county commander, who took the key and said, "You can stand down." ”

"Yes, the little one."

After the two prison officers retired, the county commander looked behind him and opened the cell after feeling that there was no one around. Gou Cai, who was lying on the straw mat, vaguely heard footsteps approaching him, opened his eyes and immediately sat up, "Who are you?" ”

The county order took off the cloak and said, "It's this official, Yan Ruyu." ”

"Oh, it's the county magistrate, why are you here?" Gou Cai sat down with confidence.

The county magistrate put down the box in his hand, took out good wine and food from the box and put it on the table, sat down, and said: "The official can't sleep, come to you to drink a few sips, you see that you are in prison, I am afraid that you are not used to it." ”

"There's nothing unaccustomed, they're all nice to the little ones."