The big-eyed donkey did not disappoint Yao Guangqi, and that night, the big-eyed donkey found Yao Guangqi again: "My lord, there is a new discovery, the youngest son of the Wang family and Hu Jiaofen appeared in the Wang family's mother's house, just in the morning when I reported to you, my people found them, and now their chief patriarch and a group of people have controlled them." ”

Yao Guangqi was overjoyed and stood up suddenly: "Go." ”

Wang's mother's village is called Wang Gaowu, only dozens of miles away from Hujia Village, where Hu Jiaofen is located, when Yao Guangqi, He Shengzhi, and the big-eyed donkey and his party rushed to Wang Gaowu, Wang and Hu Jiaofen's youngest son Hu Chengmo has been tied at the entrance of Wang Gaowu Village, the patriarch and the chief are sitting on the side scolding, and the men, women and children in the village gather in a big circle to watch the excitement.

"You slut, thrown into the face of our Wang family, I don't have the face to come out to see people, sending you to the official is cheap for you, and when the government comes, I will leave you two adulterers and adulteresses when I die, and our Wang family will use clan rules to deal with you and sink you two adulterers and adulteresses into the river." The patriarch was about sixty years old, and he had been sitting there scolding for a long time, and after a few words of scolding, he took a breath, and when he saw a group of people in official uniforms, he quickly stood up and greeted him tremblingly.

The mustachioed servant came up and reprimanded: "Do you understand the rules? Are you all blind? This is Qin Cha and our county commander Master He, still not polite? ”

The patriarch of the Wang clan was just about to kneel, Yao Guangqi stepped forward, supported the old man, and said with a smile: "Don't dare to be the old man's courtesy, the old man please sit over there, let's interrogate these two, okay?" ”

The old man was very moved by Yao Guangqi's ease and kindness, and couldn't help nodding and said, "Okay, master, please try it." ”

Yao Guangqi walked up to Wang, this is a very young girl, probably less than twenty years old, if it weren't for the unkempt hair that had been tortured at this time, I believe this must be a radiant and beautiful woman. Wang looked up at Yao Guangqi weakly at this time, from her eyes, Yao Guangqi did not see the viciousness and ruthlessness, on the contrary, what was revealed in her eyes was the innocence and innocence of ordinary girls, and there was a trace of pleading, such a girl was really the murderer who poisoned her husband? Yao Guangqi asked very calmly: "Did you poison Hu Jiao?" ”

The Wang family hadn't eaten for a day, and was repeatedly beaten and scolded by the clansmen, and she was already weak at this time, but she still shook her head hard, and her tone of voice was almost pleading: "It's not me, it's not me, my lord, you know it, no matter how confused the little woman is, she won't dare to kill anyone, let alone murder her husband." ”

Yao Guangqi could see that this woman was not lying, her eyes were very firm, there was no slightest dodge, her eyes did not roll around, and although the voice was not loud, the tone was not ambiguous, and there was no jam in the words, if it was lying or covering up, it would never be like this. If it wasn't her, who would it be? With this question, Yao Guangqi asked again: "On the day Hu Jiao died, he only ate the breakfast you cooked, and besides, he hasn't been in contact with anyone else for several days, so how do you explain it." And since you didn't kill him, why did you elope with this kid and run away that day? ”

Wang left tears, looked at Yao Guangqi and replied with sobs: "He didn't eat my breakfast at all that morning, and he thought that I was late in preparing breakfast, which delayed his time, he said that he was going to go into the city to meet someone, saying that he could make a lot of money this time, and went out while scolding me." ”

"He is Hu Jiaofen's youngest son, his name is Hu Chengmo, right? Then why did you run away with him in a hurry that day? On the way here, after chatting with the big-eyed donkey, Yao Guangqi knew that Hu Jiaofen's youngest son was called Hu Chengmo.

Wang hesitated for a moment, looked at Hu Chengmo again, and finally sighed: "It's already like this, I don't want any shame." The two of us met at the temple fair a few years ago, he liked me, I liked him, and we made a private agreement for life. Last year, my father wanted to marry me, I just wanted to marry this enemy, he went back and said okay, saying that his father personally invited someone to come to propose, how do you know that the proposition is a propose, but it is not to marry him, but to marry his father Hu Jiaofen The old man, my father was greedy for money, and received 80 taels of silver from Hu Jiaofen, so he promised me to Hu Jiaofen as a concubine. Speaking of this, Wang cried, and Hu Chengmo on the side also cried.

Wang then cried: "Hu Jiaofen married me home, he, him, and himself can't do it, so he tortures me in every way, tortures me worse than death, and wants to commit suicide several times, if it wasn't for Hu Chengmo to stop me, I would have broken off by myself a long time ago." Last month, we made an appointment to wait for Hu Chengmo to make another blank of ink, and then ask for money from his father and eldest brother, and he took me away and flew away, never to return to this place. ”

"You wait!" Yao Guangqi interrupted Wang's words alertly, pointed at Hu Chengmo and said: "You said that he, Hu Chengmo can make ink, and can ask for money from Hu Jiaofen and his eldest brother, isn't he an idle loser?" ”

Hu Chengmo smiled helplessly: "Everyone says so, but in fact, my father deliberately passed it on." Since I was a child, my ink was made by me, my father and my brother too, but the ink quality they made was not good at all, more than ten years ago, my ink has been made by me, my father and eldest brother have long stopped making ink. ”

"What?" Yao Guangqi was surprised: "More than ten years ago, you were only a few years old at that time. ”

Hu Chengmo looked at Yao Guangqi coldly: "What's so strange, Luo Bingwang wrote poems at the age of seven, I grew up in a workshop, what's the fuss about making ink?" ”

Yao Guangqi felt that his harvest was too great, and this result was completely unexpected: "Your father has been making ink for 30 years, and he is a famous local ink maker, how can you let such a young child do it?" ”

Hu Chengmo sighed: "My father has been doing it for more than 30 years, but the first 20 years ago it was actually not good, until more than ten years ago, I started to make ink, my family's workshop flourished, my father's name gradually became known, and he became a local ink maker, and only then did all the dignitaries and nobles designate my father's ink, and since then my father has made a lot of money." ”

"In other words, for more than ten years, your father's ink was actually made by you, and outsiders don't know about it, right?" Yao Guangqi has realized that Hu Chengmo is the person he is looking for.

Hu Chengmo nodded: "At that time, I was too young, if I said that ink was made by me, no one would believe it, and it would also affect my family's business, so at that time, I said to the outside world that ink was made by my father, and later, my father was afraid that my brother's craftsmanship would not be good, and he was afraid that he would not be able to eat this bowl of rice in the future, and said that ink was made by my brother, and I could only be said to be an idle loser." ”

Yao Guangqi said happily as if he had received a treasure: "In other words, everyone only knows that the ink is made by your father and your brother, including the person who collects the ink, right?" ”

Hu Chengmo nodded.

New answers have been found, but the old problems remain unsolved. "And who killed your father?" Yao Guangqi muttered to himself.

Hu Chengmo said suddenly: "Two days ago, outsiders came to look for him. ”

Yao Guangqi hurriedly asked, "Who is it?" ”

Hu Chengmo said: "It is said that he came from the county to order, and he is the deacon of Mopintang, and every time Mopintang comes to order and collect ink, it is him." ”

"That's right." Yao Guangqi patted his head: "How did I forget this stubble." ”

Yao Guangqi turned to the county magistrate He Shengzhi and said: "He county magistrate, please take care of these two people first, don't be embarrassed, don't be punished, this person is an important witness." ”

Yao Guangqi rushed to the ink hall with a big-eyed donkey and a mustache, and when he came in, he asked, "Is the person in charge of contacting the craftsman to receive the ink order?" As soon as he entered, the mustache stood at the gate and shouted.

It was still Deacon Wu who came out to greet him, and when he saw a group of officials such as the mustache coming, he greeted him with a smile on his busy face, and said with a respectful face: "Officials and uncles ......", Deacon Wu swallowed the rest of his words, because he saw Yao Guangqi behind the mustache. Yao Guangqi looked very natural, "Don't be stunned, didn't you hear what the official said, go and call out the person who contacted Hu Jiaofen." ”

Deacon Wu nodded awkwardly, and quickly turned around and walked to the store: "Lao Liu, Lao Liu." After Deacon Wu entered the inner hall, everyone outside suddenly heard him raise his tone: "Lao Liu, Lao Liu." ”

When the people in front heard such a shout, they knew that it was not good, so they hurriedly ran to the back, only to see that the window behind them was open, and Deacon Wu stood in front of the window and shouted: "Lao Liu, Lao Liu." ”

The big-eyed donkey pulled Deacon Wu away, jumped out of the window and chased after him, followed by the mustache. The two jumped out of the window and chased them down the alley.

Yao Guangqiyuan was also going to chase him out, but he hesitated, looked at the windowsill, looked down at the ground again, and suddenly turned his head and stared at Deacon Wu with sharp eyes: "Did Deacon Liu really jump out of the window and run away?" ”

Deacon Wu was stared at uncomfortably, and he didn't dare to look into Yao Guangqi's eyes, and he didn't have enough confidence to speak: "Naturally, I jumped out of the window and ran away." ”

Yao Guangqi approached Deacon Wu step by step, his expression was cold, his eyes were firm, and he continued to increase the pressure on Deacon Wu: "In which direction did he run away?"

"That's over there." Deacon Wu casually pointed out the window, he was already panicked, and his words were no longer clear.

"You're lying." Yao Guangqi suddenly shouted, and then grabbed Deacon Wu's collar: "Harboring a key criminal, the same crime as the criminal, do you want to die?" "The last dead word, Yao Guangqi deliberately bit very hard.

In the face of Yao Guangqi's continuous pressure, Deacon Wu couldn't bear it, he trembled, his face turned pale, he raised his right hand with difficulty, pointed to the wall on the right, and squeezed out two words: "He didn't run, he hid there." ”

Yao Guangqi turned his head to look, Deacon Wu's finger pointed to a large cabinet on the wall, this kind of container is available to many merchants, not only to store all kinds of goods, but also to store miscellaneous sundries, Yao Guangqi understood, behind this cabinet may be a secret room, he immediately dragged Deacon Wu to the cabinet, and said fiercely: "Open it, otherwise I will arrest you and go to the county office, according to your cover-up to commit a crime, you will not be so good to talk when you go to the yamen." ”

Although Deacon Wu looked embarrassed, he still stretched out his hand and pulled out the fourth cabinet in the fourth row, and then reached in and flipped his wrist, as if something had been twisted inside, and at the same time, there was a rattling sound from behind the cabinet, and the cabinet was split in half from the middle, revealing a very narrow door.