Back at the Yamen, Meng Tianchu took Murong Yuxue to re-examine the autopsy in the mortuary, the deceased's external injuries were not fatal injuries, and the stomach contents were not poisonous, indicating that he did not die of oral poisoning, and there were no obvious fatal lesions, nor did he die of illness.

So how did Tan die?

Meng Tianchu sat on the stool next to the corpse, his eyes staring directly at the corpse, staring at the corpse's highly spasmodic and terrifying posture, there are many reasons for this kind of convulsions, but most of them are related to poisoning, is it poisoning?

Poisoning? Subcutaneous injection is not possible except for oral toxicity. In ancient times, there were no syringes, and there were no pinhole-like skins.

Toxic gases? Skin contact absorption? Not like that. He carefully examined his skin and respiratory organs, and there was no sign of poisoning.

So what else can cause poisoning?

Blood! Meng Tianchu's heart jumped violently, through blood circulation! The uterus of the pregnant woman Wu Xiaomei was ruptured, and the amniotic fluid entered the lungs through the blood circulation, resulting in embolism, which was an important cause of her death.

The deceased Tan's head trauma! Powdery stuff at the bandage!

Meng Tianchu jumped up violently, carefully picked up the bandage next to the corpse and examined it carefully, dipped a little bit of his finger on his tongue, immediately frowned and spit it out, picked up a glass of water and rinsed his mouth, although he was still frowning, his eyes lit up.

He ran out of the mortuary and told the king to go to the vegetable market at once and buy two live frogs.

Wang Zhutou didn't understand what the master wanted the frog to do at this time, but he didn't dare to ask more, so he ran out of the yamen quickly, and quickly bought back two live frogs.

During this period, Meng Tianchu had already made a neutral solution from the powder remaining on the bandage with normal saline. A small amount of the solution was injected into the lymphatic sac on the frog's back, and after a while, the frog developed intermittent, tonic muscle spasms in the limbs. The frog's body and retreat stiffened, and the forelimbs were hugged, and after the stiffness slowly eased, Meng Tianchu applauded above the frog, and the frog immediately appeared again.

Meng Tianchu nodded, ran out of the mortuary again, and came to the yamen lobby, Murong Yuxue didn't know what he was going to do, and followed behind.

Meng Tianchu stood next to the torture instrument in the lobby, touched his chin and thought for a while, and took off the hammer from the torture rack. After repeated observations, it was used in the last torture of Cao's family, and the blood that adhered to the hammer during the torture still remained.

Meng Tianchu instructed Murong Yuxue to get a glass of water, then he dipped a little water with his fingers and gently wiped it on the hand, put it on the tip of his tongue and tasted it, immediately frowned and spit it out, and quickly rinsed his mouth with water.

"What's wrong? Touts. Murong Yuxue asked curiously.

Meng Tianchu didn't answer, and returned to the mortuary with the handbag, and Murong Zhenxue followed behind in confusion.

Meng Tianchu cleaned a stick with blood with normal saline, and then used a syringe to inject the solution into the lymphocele on the back of another frog, and after a while, this frog also had a generalized tonic spasm.

"Alright, now we've figured it out." Meng Tianchu said with a smile.

Murong Yuxue asked, "What does Master know?" ”

"I know how the Tan family and the previous Wen Po Cao family died!"

"Wen Po Cao's family? Wasn't he poisoned by arsenic under Cuilian? ”

"No, Cao's symptoms when she died were different from arsenic poisoning, she was poisoned by someone on her handkerchief!"

"Huh? So how do you poison it? Murong Yuxue was very surprised.

"It's simple. When the venom was smeared on the clamp stick of the hammer, when the torture was used on Cao's finger, Cao's finger was broken, and the poison on the hammer entered Cao's body through the wound and caused the poison through the blood flow. Meng Tianchu walked to the side of the corpse, picked up the bandage and continued: "Tan also died like this, the murderer added this poisoned powder to the hemostatic powder that Tan might use, and Tan used the poisoned hemostatic powder to stop the bleeding, and the poisonous powder entered the wound and caused the poisoning to die. ”

Murong Zhenxue was even more surprised: "Master, how do you know?" ”

"The frog told me."

"Huh?"

"You saw my experiment with two frogs, too. Wen Po Cao and Wu Lai's lady Tan had the same symptoms when they were poisoned and died, which made me think about the two cases together, and the powder left on Tan's bandage caught my attention, and I dared to taste it, and found that the powder tasted extremely bitter, which reminded me of a very toxic Zhongbao. ”

"What's in it?"

"—Nux, Nux! This medium leaf has a strong bitter taste. And it is highly toxic, if it is poisoned by blood, it only needs a little bit (to be precise, through subcutaneous injection, etc., 5 mg can cause death, and the lethal dose of oral administration is larger), the symptom of strychnine poisoning is the appearance of generalized stiffness, which eventually causes respiratory paralysis and death by suffocation, so there will be obvious symptoms of suffocation, and the symptoms of Cao's and Tan's death are consistent with this. I did a toxicity test with a frog, which confirmed my suspicion that there was a highly toxic strychnine on the slug and bandage! ”

"Oh, you used a frog to test just now!" Murong Zhenxue was a little embarrassed, she saw the terrifying appearance of the frog just now, and she was very puzzled why Meng Tianchu tortured these two frogs so much. Now I know that Meng Tianchu is doing a toxicity test.

Meng Tianchu smiled: "I don't have poison testing equipment, and there is no way to use frogs for experiments." ”

Murong Xue said: "Then have you found out who is the real murderer?" ”

"The biggest suspect of a crime is Wu Lai!" Meng Tianchu said affirmatively. "Wu Lai is indeed very smart, he poisoned and killed the Cao family in a very clever way, and almost hid it from me. However, sometimes being clever is mistaken by being smart. The second time he committed the crime, when he killed his wife, it was because of his slippery head that he caught my attention. ”

"Slippery?"

"Yes, on the night of his wife's death, he actually went to my Xizi restaurant and pretended to be crazy to make trouble, but the shop guy was locked in the firewood shed. It was also a coincidence that caught my attention and gave me the impression that he was deliberately creating alibi. I have examined the scene of the murder, and there are no traces of outsiders infiltrating the room, and there is no trace of a fight, and the person who can poison the wound used by his wife Tan should be someone close to Tan. He also did the poisoning on the shackle, hehe. Wu Lai underestimated my ability too much. ”

Murong Zhenxue thought for a moment and asked, "Then why did he poison the sling?" ”

"Have you forgotten? On the morning before the ascension to the court to interrogate Cao, Wu Lai gathered hundreds of villagers to petition the yamen. Because of the heavy rain, they all went to the lobby to hide from the rain..."

"I know, he just took advantage of this chaos and smeared the poison on the skewer. The hammer was placed on the torture rack in the lobby, and it was so messy at that time that it was easy to get hold of. ”

"That's right! He knew that the was only used for female prisoners, and it was likely that the Cao family would be executed. So poisoning the shackle is a clever trick. It's just that his trick of poisoning his own family is too stupid, and with such a scope, it is easy to suspect him. And he deliberately went to my store to create an alibi. ”

"Then how did he know that Cao's head would be injured that night? Does he know fortune telling? ”

"You don't need to be able to tell fortunes, you just need to find a helper and break his lady's head with a stone, of course, you can't hit it too hard, generally small injuries, bleeding. At such a late hour, he estimated that his wife would not go to Langzhong, so he made some of his own clothes at home, so that he just fell into his trap. ”

"So cunning! Let's go find him! ”

"Well, depending on the inspection at his house before, I was a little suspicious that Wu Lai was a ghost. So on the way back, I had already arranged for Wang Zhutou to send someone to follow him. However, we can't arrest him just yet. ”

"Why?"

"He also had an accomplice who didn't show up. Find this accomplice and catch them all! No matter how cunning the fox is, it can't escape the palm of the hunter! ”

Meng Tianchu walked to the door and asked Wang Zhutou about the situation of following Wu Lai. Wang Zhutou said that according to the fast brothers who went to follow him, he came back and reported that Wu Lai had been at Huang Qi's house and had never left.

Meng Tianchu also instructed Wang Zhutou to go to Wu Lai's house and bring all the hemostatic herbs in the room.

Meng Tianchu took Murong Zhenxue to the Yamen prison and interrogated Hao Tianbao's concubine Cuilian.

Cuilian has not yet been convicted in the court, and Cai Zhixian waited for Meng Tianchu to come up with a handling opinion after he was busy, and then asked for sentencing.

The guards brought chairs to Meng Tianchu and offered fragrant tea.

Meng Tianchu asked Cuilian: "I interrogated you today to ask you about Wu Lai." ”

"Wu Lai?" Cuilian showed a sneer of disdain on her face: "What does he have to say, a loser." ”

"Looks like you know him well!"

"Not much, but enough."

"Oh, Wu Lai is just the younger brother of Hao Tianbao's original wife Wu Xiaomei, it stands to reason that you have nothing to do with it, how can you be interested in him?"

"It's not that I'm interested in him, it's that he's interested in our Hao family's money."

"I don't understand this, what can he do if he is interested in the Hao family's money? It's never his turn. ”

"It's not my turn, that's why I did some stealing things."

Meng Tianchu personally poured her a cup of tea and handed it into the fence.

Cuilian took the drink and drank it dry, handed back the teacup, glanced at Meng Tianchu's handsome face, and sighed: "You are so good, but it's a pity that I am not blessed to follow you." ”

Meng Tianchu smiled and didn't pick up her stubble. Returning to the topic just now, he asked, "Can you tell me how Wu Lai stole chickens and dogs?" After a pause, he continued, "This matter is very important to me. ”

"What? Did this Wu come to commit a crime? ”

"It's suspicious, but I'm not sure yet, so I need your help."

"Hehe, dignified criminal master, ask my little woman for help. So what's in it for me? ”

"What benefits do you want?"

Cuilian's expression was gloomy: "What else can I think, I know that as a concubine, I deliberately murdered my original wife, and I was going to be executed by Ling Chi." What's more, I also murdered Cao and Xiaohong, I'm just waiting for a thousand cuts, what else is there to look forward to. ”

After Meng Tianchu let the guards retreat, he squatted down by the fence, motioned for Cuilian to lean his ear, and said in a low voice: "To tell you the truth, I suspect that in addition to you, there are other people who have also bought the Wenpo Cao family and murdered Wu Xiaomei, if you can help me find out this person, I can turn a blind eye to the murder of Wu Xiaomei by the Cao family, and only determine the murder of the Cao family and the servant Xiaohong." In this way, even if you are condemned to death, you will not be overwhelmed. ”

"Is that true?" Cuilian's eyes lit up and she was pleasantly surprised. The voices were trembling. After all, being cut by a thousand knives in front of everyone, suffering the most tragic torture and slowly dying, that kind of feeling makes people shudder to think about it. If she can really get rid of this suffering, it will be a great joy for her.

"Of course it's true. I could swear! Meng Tianchu said affirmatively.

This was a decision he made after careful consideration, and there were several reasons for doing so: first, Cuilian murdered Cao and Xiaohong, injured the town steward and Xiaoxing, and tried to honor the one they killed, and the crime was enough to die. One life is one, beheading and hanging are all deaths, so why use such cruel Ling Chi. Second, if she conceals Cuilian and buys Cao's murder of Wu Xiaomei, she can leave that amount of money to Cao's seriously ill husband in bed for treatment. Cao is guilty, but his husband is not. Third, use this as a condition in exchange for clues to solve the case and catch the real culprit behind the scenes.

Cuilian heard Meng Tianchu say this, grabbed his hand holding the fence, and said in a trembling voice: "Master, you... You're so good to the slaves! The slave family is willing... Willing to do anything for you..."

Meng Tianchu coughed and hurriedly withdrew his hand: "I have a condition to do this, you must tell me valuable news about Wu Lai, otherwise, I still can't help you." Of course, what you say must be true, and if I find out that you deliberately fabricated this sensational information in order to make the information valuable, I can't help you either, understand? ”

"Well, the slave family understands." Cuilian nodded, brushed her hair, and said, "Master, do you know how Wu Lai uses our Hao family's money?" The lord is away all the year round, so naturally I don't know, I've always been a big *** personal maid, I don't know. ”

"He is a relative, how can he use the Hao family's money?"

"Take advantage of his sister's grandmother. Wu Lai can't do anything, the only thing he is doing is that mouth, he doesn't have to think about sweet words, one by one, people who don't know can really be deceived by him when they hear it. His mouth deceived his sister and grandmother, so the grandmother doted on this younger brother very much, and always responded to his needs, he said to take the money to open a silk village. Her sister secretly embezzled a large amount of money from the Hao family to him, and as a result, he took it all to eat flower wine, and he said that he was going to do the salt business, and his sister embezzled a lot of money from him, and it was all given to the casino. He was addicted to taking money, but Wu Xiaomei's account of embezzling the Hao family's huge amount of money without permission was becoming more and more difficult to fill. ”

"How do you know that?"

"I'm a big *** personal maid, what can they do to hide it from me, if I don't know, no one will know!" Cuilian was a little smug when she said this.

Of course, Meng Tianchu knew that this Cuilian was not a fuel-efficient lamp. smiled: "Well, having such a younger brother is indeed a headache." ”

"Yes, but there are no impermeable walls. This matter was still noticed by the master, and the master was very angry. The town housekeeper must take care of the accounts, and all the money used by the grandmother must be reconciled and clarified, and if the accounts cannot be reconciled, the grandmother and Wu Lai must be used to see the official. ”

"Then did your master check the account in the end?"

"Originally, it was going to be checked, but then Zhenjiang interceded for grandma, saying that grandma was going to give birth, and it was not too late to check after giving birth, don't move the fetal gas, the old man thought that it was also, and it was not easy to conceive one, so forget it. For this matter, grandma also thanked Zhenjiang in private. ”

"Could it be that Wu Lai was afraid that the account check would affect the pond fish, so he killed his sister and killed him?"

"I don't dare to say this, I'm just telling you about it, as for whether it's useful to you, I can't say. By the way, there is another thing, before grandma gave birth, the account book that recorded her embezzlement of money was suddenly missing, and the master suspected that grandma or Wu Lai had done something, but he couldn't get the handle. The master never let Wu Lai enter the house again, but he didn't expect that this time Wu Lai would sue the master. ”

"What do you think he sued your lord for?"

"I don't know what to do. In order to make a sum of money. Before this, he had come to the master to burn five thousand taels of silver. The old man naturally didn't do it, so he ran to sue the official. ”

"Who do you think will take the ledger? Isn't it your grandma? ”

"It's unlikely, it is estimated that Wu Lai did it. Because grandma knows our lord better than anyone else, she knows that the child in her belly is the bet, and the lord will not pursue it for the sake of the child. ”