Of course, the Lu clan knew the stakes, and he kowtowed vigorously and said in a trembling voice: "I move, I move." Yes, it was instructed by the second aunt Zhang, and this arsenic was also given to me by her, not long after Aunt Guo died, Aunt Zhang said that Shan'er was a sinister seed and could not be kept, so she gave me this small bag of arsenic, and asked me to give the little master a little bit every day, and slowly poison him, so that others would not find out. She also gave me the money. He said that after the deed was completed, he would give me a reward of twenty taels of silver. ”

Yang Qiuchi asked Lu: "How much arsenic did the second aunt give you?" ”

Lu Shi gestured: "There are about one or two"

Yang Qiuchi picked up the bag of arsenic and looked at it, there were almost three or four dollars, and then asked, "When did you start poisoning?" ”

"Soon after the third aunt died."

"That's been almost two years, why are there so many?"

"I didn't dare to put too much, for fear that I would be poisoned all of a sudden, and I would be suspicious, so I only used my little fingernail to pick a little bit each time, and sometimes I didn't dare to put it again when I saw that the young master was dying. When he was better, he continued to poison him. For this, the second aunt also said that I was useless, urging me to poison Shan'er quickly, but I really couldn't do it. The nurse began to cry.

When Mrs. Yang heard this, she almost fainted with anger, and yelled: "It's the opposite~!" It's just the other way around~! "I told Steward Pang to get the second aunt.

Steward Pang took the family out with him, and after a while, he dragged the second aunt by the hair. The second aunt's daughter, Yang Aixiao, also cried and followed behind to plead.

The second aunt Tai Zhang saw the nurse Lu Shi, as well as those silver ingots and a small packet of arsenic, although her face was pale, she didn't admit it, and she insisted that it was the wet nurse Lu Shi who made a confession.

When Mrs. Yang saw Zhang's denial, she was even more annoyed and instructed Pang to use the family method. Steward Pang ran out and brought a long leather whip, and slapped the second aunt with a slashing head and face. This is exactly what Song Tongzhi wants, with Mrs. Yang doing it for him, of course, he is happy and relaxed, and he does not interfere.

It seems that this housekeeper Pang often enforces family law, and this leather whip is accurate and ruthless, but it does not hurt the vital point, and the second aunt rolls on the ground too much in pain, screaming miserably.

The second aunt's daughter, Yang Aixiao, lay on her mother's body, used her body to block the whip, and begged Mrs. Yang to spare her mother. Old lady Yang was already mad and ordered to be beaten together, but after Yang Aixiao also received a few whips, he saw that he was useless like this, so he quickly dodged. Kneeling on the side and crying and pleading with his father.

The second aunt was finally beaten to death, and was woken up by the family members with cold water. But the second aunt still refused to admit her guilt.

Old lady Yang ordered two more family members to fight together. The whips of the three fell like raindrops, and soon beat the second aunt to death again. After waking up, he still did not confess his sins.

Perhaps, this second aunt has seen clearly, only she and the nurse know about this matter, and there is no way to convict her of one-on-one confessions, as long as she does not admit it.

Although it was legal to extort confessions by torture in the Ming Dynasty, Yang Qiuchi was afraid that if he continued to fight like this, he would probably be beaten to death. If you use Jinyi Wei Niu Qianhu's severed fingers to extract confessions**, it is estimated that few people can withstand it and should be useful, but as a last resort, there is no sufficient evidence to prove that Yang Qiuchi still does not want to use that method of coercing confessions to obtain confessions.

Yang Qiuchi analyzed, this Lu family has kept the silver ingot in the dark compartment, so much money she used will definitely attract attention, besides, she has not poisoned the child yet, and her task has not been completed, so she can't use this silver ingot yet. Therefore, after this silver ingot is placed in the dark compartment, no one should have touched it, which means that if this silver ingot was given by the second aunt, there must still be the fingerprints of the second aunt. This old fingerprint residue on the surface of the metal can be maintained for many years.

However, fingerprint identification can only help you identify the murderer, but because it cannot be used as evidence in the Ming Dynasty, this identification has no evidentiary significance.

There is another way, and that is to find the source of the drug.

Yang Qiuchi told Steward Pang not to beat them first, and to take the second aunt Tai Zhang down and imprison him first. After Zhang was escorted away, Yang Qiuchi asked Steward Pang: "Do we sell arsenic in Yangjia Village?" ”

Steward Pang was sweating, bowed down and replied: "Back to Young Master Yang, there is no arsenic seller in our village, and the only way to buy arsenic is to go to the pharmacy in Guangde County to buy it." ”

Yang Qiuchi nodded, and asked Song Tongzhi again: "Uncle, how many pharmacies in Guangde County sell arsenic?" ”

"There are three." Song Tongzhi was very familiar with Guangde County, and he didn't know why Yang Qiuchi asked this.

Song Yun'er had already guessed it, and said in surprise: "Brother, I understand, do you guess that this Aunt Zhang bought arsenic from Guangde County and handed it over to the nurse Lu?" ”

Yang Qiuchi smiled approvingly and nodded: "Clever!" I don't know if it's been two years, and the store still remembers that the second aunt went to buy arsenic. ”

Song Tongzhi also understood, and said happily: "This, don't worry about this, only, as long as she bought it in Guangde County, she can find out, because, because pharmacies sell poisons like arsenic, it is necessary to clearly register the purchase, the buyer's situation, if it is used for medicinal purposes, it must be based on Langzhong's prescription, if it is used to kill rats, it must be based on Lizheng's identity certificate." Otherwise, if there is a problem with the arsenic that is sold, the store, Langzhong, and Lizheng will have to sit down. ”

It turns out that the Ming Dynasty's management of poisons is still quite strict (but it is still not as good as modern times, and China's current laws have directly defined the private sale of toxic substances as a crime). In that case, it's easy to do. Check the registration at that time and you'll find out.

Song Yun'er thought of another question: "Then what about what she asked others to buy?" Isn't that clear? ”

Yang Qiuchi shook his head: "For a matter like this, the fewer people who handle it, the better, and it is unlikely that it will fake others." ”

With the clues to solve the case, Song Tongzhi was very happy, and decided to go back to Guangde County to investigate in person, and by the way, he asked the people from the Yamen of Guangde County to solve the case together and arrest the criminals. Old lady Yang sent a few family members to protect Song Tongzhi and went to Guangde County together.

Before leaving, Song Tongzhi instructed Yang Qiuchi to continue to investigate the case of Guo's strangulation, saying that he would return immediately after finding out the results, but it was estimated that he would not be able to return to Yangjia Village until the evening.

Unexpectedly, this is actually a case within a case, the case of investigating whether Shan'er is the son of Mrs. Yang led to the murder of the third aunt, and the murder of the third aunt led to the poisoning of Shan'er.

Among the three cases, Mrs. Yang is most concerned about the first case, if it is clear that Shan'er is the son of his Mrs. Yang, the two cases of the son's mother being strangled to death and the son being poisoned will attract his attention. Otherwise, if this mountain was originally a sinister species, he would not care about Mrs. Yang if he was poisoned and his mother was killed, and maybe he would have said that he had killed it well.

Now it seems that the person who instructed the nurse to poison Shan'er is likely to be the second aunt Tai Zhang, and the motive is of course to be jealous, for fear that the third aunt will give birth to a son and have a higher status in the Yang family than herself. Since she can ruthlessly kill the child, of course, she can also ruthlessly instruct the nurse to kill the third aunt. Therefore, it is very likely that the third aunt was strangled to death by the second aunt.

But the nurse has always refused to admit that she killed the third aunt. Yang Qiuchi decided to take advantage of the psychological impact of the poisoning case on Lu's family and interrogated his nurse Lu's again, hoping that Guo's strangulation case would make a breakthrough.

Since the hard one can't work, then the soft one will come, so this time Yang Qiuchi did not torture to extract confessions, but used psychological warfare.

Unexpectedly, no matter how hard Yang Qiuchi persuaded the Lu family, killing one is death anyway, and killing two is also death, why don't you admit it together, and even say that the heroes are good at doing things, the Lu family still doesn't admit their guilt, and keeps shouting injustice, saying that they really didn't strangle the third aunt.

Yang Qiuchi is out of line, this Lu family doesn't admit it, and it doesn't look like it's lying. That's strange, is it really that the ghost came and went without a trace and strangled the third aunt?

Since the nurse does not admit her guilt, then go back and re-interrogate the second aunt Tai Zhang to see if she can find out with her conscience and admit this crime. However, even if it was indeed the second aunt who instructed the nurse to strangle the third aunt, since she did not admit the poisoning case, of course she would not admit the case of strangulation the third aunt.

After the second aunt was arraigned, as expected, the second aunt not only denied that she instructed the nurse to poison her, but also categorically denied that she instructed the nurse Lu to strangle the third aunt.

The investigation of the murder of the third aunt has reached an impasse again.

Yang Qiuchi needs to think about it, what is the problem, if the two people in the small attic are not murder suspects, then who killed the third aunt Tai Guo? How could an outsider enter a room with locked doors and windows to kill Guo?

Yang Qiuchi was pacing and thinking in the Yang family's compound, and Song Yun'er didn't dare to disturb and followed him closely.

Nangong Xiong, the personal guard of the Jinyi Guard, followed them a few steps away. Since Yang Qiuchi fell into a coma when he was caught by a ghost last night, Nangong Xiong has not left an inch, and there is a lesson from Xia Ping's past in front of him, and he doesn't want to follow in his footsteps.

Although last night's incident was that Yang Qiuchi left the protection area without saying hello and ran into the haunted little attic, strictly speaking, Nangong Xiong could not be blamed, and Yang Qiuchi did not blame Nangong Xiong, however, Nangong Xiong himself knew very well in his heart that Yang Qiuchi was the person who had high hopes that Lord Ji and even the emperor could destroy Jianwen Yu's party, and he wanted to ensure absolute safety.

The reason why he is okay is because Yang Qiuchi was in danger last night, if there is really something big, he will definitely not be able to escape, if Yang Qiuchi dies, he will be buried 100%, this is the iron rule set by Gonggong Li long ago.

Therefore, Nangong Xiong was very glad that Yang Qiuchi was fine, and he no longer dared to take it lightly, and became Yang Qiuchi's little tail like Song Yun'er.

Old Lady Yang and Steward Pang also followed behind Yang Qiuchi, expecting him to have a flash of inspiration and make a discovery.

Yang Qiuchi is not a brother in the end, he can figure out the problem by turning his head twice. He turned around the Yang family's compound, his head was about to break, and he didn't come up with anything famous.

Yang Qiuchi turned to the second floor of the haunted attic, and did not talk to the people who followed behind, lying on the railing of the corridor and looking at the hazy sky in a daze.

It's starting to snow.

It had been so gloomy since the morning, and now it was finally snowing heavily.

The snow fell heavily, and the cold wind mixed with snowflakes rolled all over the sky, and after a while, the roofs and yards were covered with thick snow.

Yang Qiuchi couldn't figure out the case, and when he saw that it was snowing, he simply didn't want to do it, and lay on the railing of the corridor to watch the snow scene.

Song Yun'er also lay on the railing and accompanied Yang Qiuchi. Old Lady Yang and Steward Pang stood behind them, not knowing what they were going to do. But when they saw that neither of them spoke, they did not speak, and just watched the snow quietly.

In fact, it can't be quiet, because the cold wind is cold, whining, and it hurts to smoke on people's faces.

Yang Qiuchi sighed: "What a lot of snow, what a strong wind!" ”

"Yes," Old Lady Yang stood beside Yang Qiuchi, looking at the heavy snow outside, "Our Yangjia Village is on the mountainside, in front of which is an empty field dam, there is nothing to block, wind and rain and snow all year round, this wind blows whirring, especially in the winter and spring, this cold wind can blow away all the stones." ”

Steward Pang also echoed on the side: "Yes, our village is just on the tuyere, the wind is blowing, the people suffer the most, the straw on the roof is all gone after a gust of wind, and the stones can't be suppressed, it's pitiful." ”

Yang Qiuchi also sighed: "Yes, on such a cold day, the straw on the roof was blown off, and there was no money to buy charcoal fire, and the cold wind swept into the house with heavy snow, so how can people live." ”

Speaking of the cold, Yang Qiuchi couldn't help but shiver. He was most afraid of the cold, although he wore a thick leather jacket and a thick cotton hat, but the cold wind was like coming out of hell, and no amount of thick clothes could stop it.

Song Yun'er has martial arts and is not afraid of the cold, watching Yang Qiuchi freeze like that, she grinned: "Brother, let's go back to the house and bake the fire, if you freeze to death, my sister-in-law will come back and give me a white eye." ”

Old lady Yang also smiled and said: "Yes, virtuous nephew, let's go to the warm pavilion to roast the fire, blanch two pots of good wine, make a few side dishes, and enjoy the snow scene while drinking, how about it?" ”

Yang Qiuchi is a drunkard, and when he heard what Old Lady Yang said temptingly, he couldn't help but swallow his saliva, and nodded his head again and again.

Old lady Yang took Yang Qiuchi and others to the warm pavilion of the Yang family's compound, and from here, you can open the window and look down on most of the village and see Tianba in the distance.

There were several large pots of charcoal in the room, which burned vigorously, and most of the windows were closed, and only a few leeward windows were opened to let in the air, and the warm pavilion was as warm as spring.

Song Yun'er called it a good place, sat down next to Yang Qiuchi, the room was warm, Yang Qiuchi felt a little hot, and Song Yun'er helped Yang Qiuchi take off his leather jacket and cotton hat.

At that time, there was no space cotton silk cotton, and this leather jacket and cotton hat were made of cotton, although warm, but very heavy. Taking it off, Yang Qiuchi suddenly felt a lot more relaxed, and involuntarily stretched out his arms and legs in the field. made Song Yuner laugh.

Song Yun'er smiled and said, "Brother, don't dance around there, if you want to learn martial arts, I can teach you." ”

When Yang Qiuchi heard this, he shook his head again and again: "I don't do it, I practice three times in winter and three times in summer, and I'm tired to death, besides, anyway, with you as my personal bodyguard, what am I doing with that sin." ”

"What if I'm not there? Like last night. ”

"Then you can follow me at any time and never leave, won't you?" Yang Qiuchi teased her.

"Not an inch?" Song Yun'er grinned, "I'm not your wife and concubine, why can't I leave an inch?" After saying this, Song Yun'er felt that there was something in some words, which was easy to misunderstand, and she couldn't help blushing slightly.

Yang Qiuchi didn't dare to make such a joke with her, in case people wanted to take it seriously, it was not a joke. Although Song Yuner is indeed very good, she is beautiful and has high martial arts, she is just like a boy, not the kind of woman she ideals. Yang Qiuchi prefers to treat her as a sister or a good friend.

Besides, I don't dare to take a concubine casually now, that female thief is unbeatable, her martial arts are unrivaled, and she has a hobby of stealing her own concubines, if she accepts Song Yun'er, don't steal Song Yun'er when the time comes, and she won't even see her face, it will be a big loss.

Yang Qiuchi said: "You are my sister, what can't you keep inseparable, the two of us slept in the same room that day." ”

"That's a special situation, there is no other house, fortunately we lived together that day, otherwise, I don't know what happened after being cut off by the enemy." Speaking of the thrill of that day in Beishao Village, Song Yun'er felt a little palpitating, and her attention was diverted.

When Old Lady Yang heard this, she asked with great interest, "Encounter an enemy?" What's going on? ”

Song Yun'er gushed about the experience of meeting the enemy that day.

The maids had already warmed the wine and prepared a side dish to accompany it. Yang Qiuchi and Old Lady Yang were drinking while listening to Song Yun'er put up a dragon gate array.

Blowing happily, Song Yun'er also picked up the wine and drank it. After a few glasses of wine, his blood was boiling, and he blew it even more divinely, blowing Yang Qiuchi like a fairy of an unknown prophet, and even Yang Qiuchi felt that he admired himself very much.

The north wind was raging outside, and the house was full of spring. Before you know it, it's evening.

Not long after dark, Song Tongzhi and the others finally rushed back in the snowstorm. There are also Luo County Cheng of Guangde County and several catchers, and there is also a little old man, who is smiling when he sees everyone, and he is a businessman at a glance.

After Song Tongzhi was promoted to Tongzhi of Ningguofu, Guangde County did not have a new county commander, so the original Luo County Cheng acted as the county magistrate.

Steward Pang and the servants led Song Tongzhi, Luo Xiancheng and others to the warm pavilion.

Although Song Tongzhi was covered with snow on his head and his face was frozen like an old carrot, his face was full of spring breeze. As soon as he saw his expression, Yang Qiuchi fell to the ground with a stone, and things must be going well.

Sure enough, Song Tongzhi didn't have time to shake off the snowflakes on his body, so he excitedly took out an account book from his arms and handed it to Yang Qiuchi: "Find, find it, this is the account book!" The second aunt, Zhang, bought it at the pharmacy where Jiang and Jiang shopkeepers. I, I brought the ginger shopkeeper with me. ”

(To be continued)