Meng Tianchu told the Xi girl one by one about the things he found during the day, and after the Xi girl listened, there were some tears in the corners of her eyes somehow, Meng Tianchu didn't dare to ask, so she had to sit there and drink tea.

Miss Xi stood up, walked to the window, looked out the window, didn't say a word, the two of them were silent, for a moment, Miss Xi turned around, and said quietly: "I thought I had to leave tomorrow, but now this girl hasn't come back yet, I really don't know if I can go or not." ”

Meng Tianchu found that her eyes contained tears, and thought to herself, this master usually looks fierce, but he didn't expect to have such feelings for his subordinates. Hearing her say this, it was hard to say anything, so I had to watch her and not speak.

Miss Xi sat back in the chair, sighed deeply, and said to herself: "I just said a word, she was so angry that she didn't come back for a day, she really spoiled her on weekdays." ”

"Can I ask Miss Xi what you told her?" Meng Tianchu asked cautiously.

"Alas, I've been with her for four years, that year my father brought her back from here, and he has always let her be my companion, I'm two years older than her, so I treat her like a sister on weekdays, our relationship is very good, probably the same, she is different from other maids, she is good to her, and her natural personality is also a little more pampered."

Meng Tianchu saw that she didn't say the question she asked just now, and she didn't want to ask it again.

"Last night, she suddenly said that she was going to see the former master and young master, and I joked that she was simply a slut, so willing to go back to see others, people said that they might not have forgotten her a long time ago.

If she hadn't been sold, she wouldn't have been sold like her father did. “

When Meng Tianchu heard this, she thought to herself, what you said was a little mean, no wonder she couldn't stand it, and asked, "Your father bought her at that time?" ”

"No, it's my dad who has always wanted to find me a clever girl to be a companion for me, I only have three brothers at home, and they are all old, my dad has always had this idea when he sees me alone, and then I met Lian'er. When she thought it was appropriate, she opened up to the master of her former place, who naturally wanted to please my father. So I gave her to our house. ”

Meng Tianchu sighed, and suddenly felt a little pity for this Lian'er who had never seen it before: "When did you find out that Lian'er was not there, that girl?" ”

"Yesterday night. Because the weather was hot, she and I couldn't sleep, so we found some side dishes and osmanthus wine here, and drank while eating, until the third watch, I thought I was drunk, and I didn't find her when I woke up. ”

"Do you live together?"

"Yes. We have always slept in the same bed. ”

Meng Tianchu thought to himself. This Xi girl really didn't look at that Lian'er as a person, and asked, "Then what?" ”

"I thought she was going out to play. I quickly asked one of the guards to look for her, for fear that she would get lost and not be able to come back. ”

"She shouldn't get lost growing up here."

"She told me that she said before she came to our house. I had never been to the county seat before, and I didn't know the county road at all, so I was worried that she would get lost. ”

Listening to Miss Xi say this, Meng Tianchu understood why she went to the tea shed in the morning to ask Boss Wang the way to destroy Cloud Villa.

"When did you find out that she was missing?"

"My local guards searched for a long time and didn't find it, so they came back and told me, I just started to worry, and then I thought that I had drunk the night before and said that hurt her, and I was worried that she would leave in anger, so I came to you."

"I don't think she will be angry with you, you are so good to her, I think she is playful, she has gone too far and can't find her way home."

"I hope it's what you think, you go back first, I suddenly feel tired, I'll wait for her tomorrow."

"If she can't find her tomorrow, won't you look for it?"

"The main thing is that it's my mother's birthday in ten days, and I have to rush back."

The next day, as soon as Meng Tianchu arrived at the Yamen, he hurriedly took people with him and continued to look for them in the county, but Meng Tianchu did not use the power of the East Factory, and it was too trivial to find a girl and use the East Factory.

At noon, everyone returned to the yamen to meet according to the original promise, and when they saw everyone's expressions, they knew that there was no result.

Meng Tianchu sat on the chair in disappointment, could it be that this lotus has evaporated from the world? Where will she go?

Everyone sat or stood as if they were deflated, and at this time Cai Zhao hurriedly walked over: "Sir, someone from Nuanchun Pavilion came to report the case just now, saying that a woman's body was found in them, you hurry up and take a look." ”

A woman's corpse? Meng Tianchu was excited, and suddenly had a very ominous premonition, he stood up on the ground, and walked out with Zhu Hao, Murong Yuxue, and Wang Yi as soon as possible.

Nuanchun Pavilion is located in the center of Renhe County, which is the most prosperous area, and this brothel is also very famous in the local area. Unexpectedly, they found a dead person in their garden, and the proprietress named Feng Ming naturally felt very unlucky.

The people in the entire garden were standing at the door and reluctant to enter, and Feng Ming was also standing under the corridor, his face gloomy, his hands crossed his waist, and he didn't speak.

Meng Tianchu and the others stepped forward, and when Feng Ming saw the people from the yamen coming, he reluctantly squeezed out a smile from his thick rouge face.

"Who of you found the body? Where are the bodies now? Meng Tianchu asked.

That Feng Ming pointed to a girl in their garden next to her, who was about twenty-four or five years old, I am afraid that she was very old in this garden, but she looked quite standard, but the powder on her face was thicker, I thought that she was scared into a cold sweat when she saw the dead person before, so the powder on her face was wet with sweat, and she looked a little embarrassed and funny.

"It's this mourning star, if the old lady didn't take into account the sister brought out by her mother and drove her out, this kind of thing wouldn't have happened. Now I'm afraid that no one will come to this Warm Spring Pavilion. ”

Meng Tianchu ignored the old bustard's rambling on the side, walked up to the girl and asked, "What's your name?" How long has you been in this garden? How did you find the body? "Back to the official, my name is Xiaoqing, I have been in this garden for thirteen years, and I smelled a strange smell in the house last night. At that time, I thought it was a guest's body odor, and I called a maid to clean the room and sprinkle flower water. I woke up this morning and the room smelled even worse, and there were a lot of flies, so I came early to see if there were rats dead in the room or something. They looked for the stench, and found the dead man in my closet, it was terrible, who was so immoral to put the dead man in my house. ”

"You take us to see it first. You can follow at any time, and I will ask you when I have something to say. Meng Tianchu motioned for the girl to take them in.

I didn't expect the girl to go in when she heard this. His face changed immediately, and he leaned against the wall as soon as his feet became weak: "I won't go in if I die." Go in yourselves. If you have anything to say, you come out and ask me. ”

As soon as Wang Yi heard that this woman was still verbose, he pushed her into the room with her collar, and said with a dark face: "When is it, do you still think that you are picking up customers at the door and negotiating prices with guests?" Hurry up. ”

The girl was frightened by Wang Yi's appearance, and she didn't dare to talk more, so she had to go upstairs with a grind. Walk to a sunny room around the corner of the stairs. She pointed, refusing to go in again.

Wang Yi was about to get angry. Meng Tianchu waved his hand: "Forget it, don't let her in, I think she is really frightened." Just let her wait at the door and don't leave, let's go inside. ”

The girl immediately nodded gratefully: "I'll wait at the door, and if the official has any orders, call me immediately." ”

Meng Tianchu brought Wang Yi and Murong Yuxue to the room, and a foul smell rushed towards him, but fortunately, everyone was used to seeing it, so he just frowned and didn't speak.

The room had been made a mess by those who had come in to find the dead rats, and the scene had been almost destroyed, Meng Tianchu frowned, and found a corpse lying in the middle of the room, it seemed that the corpse had also been moved.

Meng Tianchu walked to the side of the corpse and found that the deceased was a woman, about sixteen or seventeen years old, wearing only a blue underwear, most of the underwear was dyed red by blood, and the clothes outside did not know where they went.

Meng Tianchu squatted down and began to carefully examine the body surface of the deceased, and found that there was a subcutaneous hematoma on the headrest, which should have been hit by a heavy object, and there was no blood. There was a deep wound on one side of the neck, the large artery in the neck was severed, which was supposed to be fatal.

The eyes of the deceased were still wide open, as if he were dead. The most shocking thing to look at, the flesh and blood on her face are blurred, she has been brutally slashed several times with a knife or some other sharp weapon, and she can no longer see the woman's appearance, and the body has begun to decompose.

"Why is this room so hot?" Murong Yuxue was about to open the room, but was immediately stopped by Meng Tianchu.

"Don't open the window, this room is cold in winter and hot in summer, and the owner of this room is the girl outside, you also saw it, just like her, how could the old bustard give her a good room? If the window is opened, more flies will fly in, let's be patient for a while, the girl has lived in this room for I don't know how many years, we are nothing for a while. ”

When Meng Tianchu said this, Murong Yuxue was a little embarrassed, turned to look at the girl who was still waiting at the door, and found that the girl was probably crying sadly because of Meng Tianchu's words.

Because the scene had been almost destroyed, and no valuable traces were found after careful search, Meng Tianchu asked the girl at the door: "When you saw this corpse, how did it lie in your closet?" ”

The girl thought that she had a good impression of Meng Tianchu, gritted her teeth, turned her heart sideways, walked in, went to the side of the closet, opened the closet, and got into it herself, because the wardrobe is larger, and most of the women in the Jiangnan area are small, so the girl got into it and lay down, which is exactly the same as the space of the closet, and the deceased is smaller than the girl, so it should be easier to place.

Meng Tianchu didn't expect that the woman was so scared before, but now she actually came to demonstrate herself, she was grateful, thanked her, and the girl went out with a red face.

Since the origin of this corpse was unknown, Meng Tianchu immediately thought of whether it would be the personal ring of Miss Xi who they had been looking for for the past two days, so he asked Wang Yi to call a brother to inform Miss Xi and ask her to recognize it, but the deceased's face was scratched, and he couldn't see his appearance clearly, so he didn't know if he could still identify it. Perhaps, they have been together for a long time, and they can probably recognize this girl from other places whether this girl is her maid Lian'er.

Meng Tianchu then asked the girl just now: "How many guests did you pick up yesterday?" Are there any visitors? ”

"Yesterday there were only two guests, one was a regular guest and the other was a raw guest, as if he were a foreigner, but the outsider came in the afternoon, and when he came, he smelled it, and as soon as he entered the door, he said that the room smelled bad, and turned around and went to the other sister's room. At the time, I didn't smell it, and said that the guest saw that I was old and found an excuse to leave. ”

"Then you never left your room?"

"Yes, my regular guest came in the morning, because he often comes, and we have a good relationship, and he said that he invited me to a newly opened tavern in the west of the city to eat West Lake vinegar fish, and we stayed in the room for about an hour and then went to eat."

"How long have you been and when did you come back?"

"That place isn't very far from us, and he still has a carriage, so it won't take more than an hour to go back and forth and eat."

"Who's that regular customer of yours?"

"This... It is inconvenient for us to say the name of the guest, this is the rule of our business. ”