"Murder! Yang Chao killed Qi Steward! Zhu Yuanzhang's voice was still echoing in the quiet night, the courtyard of the Ma family suddenly boiled, many houses were lit up, and someone shouted: "What happened?" ”

"What's wrong? Don't call the ghost in the middle of the night......"

"Murdered...... It's Zhu Bugs' voice, he's not a person who has nothing to do and shouts......"

"Let's go out and see ......"

The country men usually live a relatively ordinary life, and when they heard about the murder of a major event, one by one is more energetic, the Ma family's side courtyard was suddenly chaotic and noisy, and I don't know how many people are running outside.

"I ...... I didn't kill anyone, I just smashed him with a stone......" Yang Chao's brain was a little cloudy.

Zhu Yuanzhang walked slowly towards Yang Chao, and said as he walked: "The two brothers next to you, it's just a trivial matter for you to fornicate with the Zhang family in Chengcheng, even if you make a fuss, you will only be beaten and scolded." Now that Yang Chao has killed someone, it is natural to kill people, if you are involved and convicted of being an accomplice, this life will be over...... I advise you to stand aside and not get involved. ”

Yang Chao's two sworn friends were already stupid with fright at the moment when Qi Guan fell down with blood. In the middle of the night, they were far apart, and they didn't see Zhu Ba's action of hitting Qi Guan Shi with his shoulder, let alone Zhu Ba's action of kicking the stone to cushion Qi Guan after the fact, and thought that everything was done by Yang Chao, at this time, he just wanted to get rid of it, where to care about the friendship between dead friends, the two of them squatted to the side with their heads in their hands, and said loudly: "It's none of our business......

Zhu Yuanzhang continued to walk towards Yang Chao and said coldly: "Yang Chao, you go with me to the case." ”

"Belong to your mother...... Yang Chao shouted, his eyes were red, and he grabbed the ground again, and a fist-sized stone flew out of his hand again, smashing towards Zhu Yuanzhang. He's out now, and he's killing someone anyway, so what can he do now except fight? If Zhu Ba can be stoned to death again, he will escape overnight, and there may be a way to live, and it will definitely be a dead end.

Zhu Yuanzhang had been prepared, how could he let him hit? Leaned lightly to one side, let go of the stone, and then strode forward in front of Yang Chao, wanting to punch Yang Chao in the stomach, but when it was time to make a move, his right hand hit Yang Chao's jaw with an uppercut from the bottom up.

Yang Chao was talking, his lower jaw was punched, the teeth of the lower jaw slammed upward, and the teeth of the upper jaw collided with a "click", he was halfway through his words, his tongue was just stretched forward, the upper and lower teeth were closed, half of the tongue was suddenly bitten off, and the blood spit out from the mouth with a "flutter". With a flick of his body upward, he actually flew backwards and fell, his feet were facing the sky, and he fell to the ground firmly, his eyes rolled and he fainted.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked down at his fist, and was slightly satisfied with the power of this punch, this body had recovered to the strength of an ordinary person on the basis of his unremitting practice of boxing every night, and it was much stronger than when he was just reincarnated and possessed.

At this time, a lot of people in the courtyard of the Ma family had already run out, and Bai Shui Wang Er ran in the front, he was originally a straightforward and proud person, and he also had the duties of a bodyguard to protect the hospital, so the accident came the fastest, and he also carried a simple lantern in his hand, which was used occasionally during night patrols. After running to the scene in three steps and two steps, he only glanced at the situation at the scene, then picked up the two Yang Chao dead friends who were squatting on the ground, and shouted angrily: "What happened? ”

The two dead friends were so frightened that they were all broken, and said hurriedly: "It's Brother Yang Chao...... He stoned all the things in charge...... Unexpectedly, Qi Guan Shi fell down with a stone and didn't say anything, as if he hit a stone in the back of his head...... It's none of our business, it's really none of our business. ”

"Eighth Brother Zhu, is that so?" Wang Er asked loudly.

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded with a calm face: "That's right, that's the way it is." I wanted to arrest Yang Chao and bring him to justice, but he was vicious and hit me with a stone, so I knocked him unconscious, and when he woke up, he would know. ”

At this time, the long-term and short-term workers who were running fast had already gathered around, and there were still people running in the distance, and there were people surging everywhere on the side of the dark field stalks, and many rough peasant women also ran out with their men to see the excitement.

The movement in the side courtyard was so loud, of course, it couldn't hide from the front yard and the inner courtyard, and the noise spread, and soon the entire Ma family knew that there was a murder case. The Tsing Yi hats, which can usually only be seen in the front yard and the inner yard, began to appear, and some of the Ma family's direct family members and children also ran over.

As soon as these families arrived, the long-term and short-term workers in the side courtyard hurriedly separated a passage and let them into the crowd. Seeing the bloody corpse of Steward Qi, the family members also panicked and shouted: "It's Steward Qi who is dead, and he is in charge of things on the side courtyard...... Hurry up and invite the second young master to come. ”

Countless lanterns ran in the dark night, and the inner courtyard was shouting again, and then someone shouted in the darkness: "Second Young Master is here, everyone is quiet......"

I saw six figures coming out of the side door of the inner courtyard, the second young master walked in the middle with sleepy eyes and ignorance, disheveled, obviously getting up in a hurry, a little maid with a double ponytail was hurriedly helping him sort out his clothes, and buttoned the clothes that had not been buttoned one by one. In front of and behind the second young master and the little maid, there were four family members, each carrying a lantern to help him illuminate the surroundings.

These four lanterns are very bright, very dazzling in the dark night, the long-term and short-term workers on the side of the field stalk quieted down together, watching the second young master and his party come from afar, the crowd parted to the side, the second young master entered the circle of people with an impatient face, and the family members in Tsing Yi and small hats pushed the long-term and short-term workers next to them, and scolded: "Retreat, don't squeeze the second young master." ”

The crowd dispersed a little outside, surrounding the corpse of Qi Steward, the unconscious Yang Chao, the two frightened dead friends, and the calm face of Zhu Yuanzhang in the center.

"Tell me, what's going on! In the middle of the night, don't let people stop. The second young master glanced at the corpse of the steward Qi, there was no regret, pity, sadness, sadness and other emotions in his eyes, he had managed the side hospital for the Ma family for fifteen years, and he had no credit and a little hard work, but in the eyes of the second young master, it was not much different from a dog dead.

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned, and told the story in a calm tone, from their decision to go to Chengcheng to fight the Zhang family's people, to Yang Chao's decision to tell the truth, and then to Li Chujiu's abandonment of the secret and surrender to the light, he and Steward Qi came to the side of the field stalk to arrest Yang Chao, and Yang Chao jumped over the wall to kill Steward Qi...... This series of things is explained in turn, clearly organized and clear.

After hearing this, the second young master twitched the flesh in the corner of his eyes and ordered: "Wake up Yang Chao, let me ask him if what you said is true." ”

Wang Er stuck Yang Chao's acupoint, fiddled with it a few times, and really woke Yang Chao up, but unfortunately this person's tongue was broken, and he couldn't speak at all, he babbled and roared a few times, and pointed at Zhu Yuanzhang for a while, but he couldn't say anything.

The second young master was very impatient, and turned his head to the two Yang Chao dead friends who were kneeling on the ground and asked, "Yang Chao can't speak, I'll ask you, is the matter as Zhu Ba said?" ”

"That's the case......" How could those two die-hard friends have the courage to lie, while kowtowing, they told in detail what they had done today, and cried after finishing: "Second young master, we are not as good as pigs and dogs, we were instigated by Yang Chao, a bastard, and almost betrayed the Ma family, second young master, you just have to beat, we dare not have half a word of complaint." But we didn't kill anyone, Yang Chao was the one who killed, and it had nothing to do with the two of us. "They are anxious to get rid of the crime of murder, and as for the betrayal of the Ma family, they can't care about it when they admit it.

After listening to the confessions of these two guys, the second young master no longer had any doubts, waved his hand and said: "The matter is clear, come here, beat Yang Chao, the murderer, to death, and let him pay for his life." ”

"Second Young Master, isn't this inappropriate? Haven't we become an abusive lynching? Isn't the county order just at odds with us? Don't give him a handle at this time. A middle-aged man wearing a long robe who looked like a steward squeezed out of the crowd, arched his hand to the second young master and said: "The old slave thinks that he might as well hand him over to the government, anyway, he committed homicide, and the government still wants to sentence him to death, so why dirty his hands." ”

It turned out that this person was the chief steward of the front yard, named Ma Qianjiu, forty-eight years old this year, a slave of the Ma family, and grew up with Ma Zhixiong, the eldest young master of the Ma family. After Master Ma handed over the Ma family to the eldest young master to manage, this Ma Qianjiu became the chief steward of the front yard, and he was highly respected in the Ma family and managed all the affairs of the Ma family's front yard. This time, Young Master Ma went to Xi'an Mansion, worried that the second brother would be young and frivolous and ignorant, so he left Ma Qianjiu to assist him.

Ma Qianjiu also knew that the second young master seemed to be doing something recently, but the second young master was taking the path of a side courtyard, and it was not the direct family members of the Ma family who moved, but let the group of long-term and short-term workers in the side courtyard do things, so he didn't care. didn't expect a murder case to come out in a blink of an eye, and when he saw that the second young master was about to give an order again, he hurriedly came out to stop it.

The second young master was obviously quite jealous of this Ma Qianjiu, after all, he was his eldest brother's henchman in charge, and it was not good to refute his face casually, so he thought about it with his rusty brain, and said: "Okay, tie up Yang Chao, throw him into the firewood room, and escort him to the yamen tomorrow, so that the county order can punish him." ”

Zhu Yuanzhang secretly said in his heart: This Ma Qianjiu is an old and serious person, and he has a lot of power to speak in the Ma family, so he must pay attention to it in the future.

At this time, the second young master stretched out his hand and pointed at Yang Chao's two sworn friends and ordered: "Kill these two to beat them with a hundred sticks, and drive them out of the Ma family after the beating." Hum! How dare you betray me? This time there was a lawsuit for his life, and tomorrow he will go to court, and the county order will try Yang Chao's matter for the first time, and the rumor will spread, how can I still plot against the people of the Zhang family? Kill me angrily. ”

A few men in green clothes and small hats went over with wooden sticks, and pressed the two men to the ground and beat them, and the sound of sticks hitting their buttocks resounded in the night sky.

At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly glanced at Li Chujiu next to him, the latter understood, stepped forward, and said to the second young master: "Second young master, the manager of Qi is dead, but the work of the side courtyard cannot be stopped, starting tomorrow, who should we listen to?" ”