Song Yun'er was a little curious and asked, "The third aunt is snoring when she sleeps?" ”

Old Lady Yang nodded.

Yang Qiuchi also asked, "Uncle, can you be sure that it is the third aunt from the sound of snoring?" Yang Qiuchi regretted it a little when he asked him, the old lady and the third aunt had slept on a pillow for more than a year, how could they not know.

Sure enough, Old Lady Yang said, "It's her snoring, that's right." After a pause, he continued, "The day after she died, I went to sleep in her room, and people said that people would return to their souls within seven days of death, and wondered if she would see me pitiful, and came back to see me in a dream." I'm sorry to tell her......"

Speaking of this, Old Lady Yang's words were a little choked. It seems that Old Lady Yang has a deep affection for this little concubine.

Yang Qiuchi secretly glanced at the eldest grandmother, only to see that her face was indifferent, as if she hadn't heard Old Lady Yang's words, but the corners of her mouth showed a sneer of disdain.

Old lady Yang paused for a long time, and then continued: "That night, I leaned on the head of the bed, fell asleep in a daze, and suddenly heard a snoring sound, very soft, but very familiar, yes, it was hers. I was overjoyed, and when I woke up, I saw her lying beside me, dressed in white, which she had loved to wear. ”

I screamed in surprise and reached out to touch her face, but I didn't expect to touch a void, her whole body flew flat, and then slowly stood in front of the bed, I sat up, and was about to walk over, when I saw the skin on her face falling down piece by piece, turning into a bloody skull!"

I screamed in fright, and the white-clad skeleton grew bigger and bigger, bloody, and slowly walked towards me, and then I passed out with fright. When I woke up, it was already dawn. ”

After listening to Mrs. Yang's description of the ghost process, Yang Qiuchi's heart moved, which was very similar to the scene of his second ghost encounter, indicating that Mrs. Yang was also given hallucinogenic drugs.

Yang Qiuchi asked, "Uncle, on the night of the third aunt's death, when you went to the small attic, what time was it?" ”

"Four watches!" Mrs. Yang said with certainty, "I just heard the sound of the fourth watch outside, and remembered that Shan'er was also the fourth watch when she was born, so I wanted to go and see her." ”

The fourth watch, that is, the estimated time of the crime, at that time, Mrs. Yang still heard the snoring of the third aunt, indicating that the third aunt was not dead at that time. Perhaps, Mrs. Yang walked on the front foot, and the murderer entered the small attic and killed the third aunt on the back foot, and Mrs. Yang didn't see the last side.

The eldest grandmother interjected, "Master, let's not talk about this for now." Patronizing and talking without drinking and eating vegetables, this dish is cold. ”

"Yes, yes, eat vegetables, eat vegetables!" Old lady Yang greeted, and then instructed Steward Pang to arrange for people to heat up the food. In this winter, the food is easy to get cold.

Steward Pang greeted back and forth, busy and happy. Yang Qiuchi sighed with emotion: "Steward Pang is really a good hand inside and out. ”

The eldest grandmother also praised: "Yes, there are many maids and wives in the family, but none of them are useful, if you don't look at him, you will be lazy immediately." It's really impossible to do without Steward Pang, the rent collection outside, the ushering in and delivery, and even three meals a day, all rely on this Steward Pang to take care of it. ”

Steward Pang listened to the eldest grandmother praising him, smiled a little embarrassedly, and went back to work.

After Mrs. Yang didn't talk about these sad things, everyone raised their glasses and drank freely, drinking wine in this winter, relaxing muscles and invigorating blood, and eating made people's blood boil.

While drinking, Nangong Xiong came back and whispered a few words in Yang Qiuchi's ear. Yang Qiuchi showed a knowing smile on his face, and also whispered a few words in Nangong Xiong's ear. Nangong Xiong nodded, retreated a few steps behind Yang Qiuchi and stood.

When the banquet was dispersed, Yang Qiuchi and the others were a little drunk again. As usual, Mrs. Yang ordered the brown sugar mung bean soup to be decontaminated.

After a while, the maids brought up the decanting soup on a large tray. Steward Pang personally brought the decanting soup from the tray one by one to Yang Qiuchi and the others.

Song Yun'er scooped a small spoonful and tasted it, frowned, and said, "It's so light, it doesn't taste at all." He turned his head to Steward Pang and said, "Hey! Help me get some brown sugar. ”

Tongzhi's daughter's daughter had instructions, and Steward Pang hurriedly agreed and told Yahuan to get it. Song Yun'er's face sank: "Why, I asked you to take it, but you asked someone else to take it, your shelf is quite big!" ”

Song Tongzhi shouted: "Yun'er must not be unreasonable! ”

Song Yun'er pouted and twisted her body, snorting, and the boss looked unconvinced.

Seeing that Tongzhi's daughter was angry, Steward Pang was a little frightened, and hurriedly trotted out of the living room to get brown sugar.

At this moment, a lantern on the beam in front of the foyer suddenly fell, fell to the ground with a thud, and immediately burst into flames.

The eldest grandmother, Zhou, Yang Aixiao and others screamed in shock, and stood up in a panic and hid everywhere. Old lady Yang was also a little panicked, stood up and hurriedly called the servants to put out the fire.

The lantern didn't catch much fire, but it suddenly fell down and ignited, startling everyone a little and a little flustered. The servants quickly extinguished the lantern's fire.

Fortunately, there was no danger, and another servant hurriedly brought a new lantern and replaced it.

At this time, Steward Pang came back with a bowl of brown sugar, Song Yun'er took it, scooped a big spoonful and put it in the bowl, and put a spoonful in Yang Qiuchi's bowl before drinking it in a big gulp.

Yang Qiuchi whispered a few words in Song Tongzhi's ear, Song Tongzhi nodded, called Steward Pang over, picked up his bowl of brown sugar mung bean soup, stood up and said: "Steward Pang, you, you are Old Lady Yang's right-hand man, I heard Old Lady Yang say, he, he has always treated you as a brother, a brother." The little girl's words were inappropriate just now, so Steward Pang didn't care. Steward Pang has worked hard, so please drink this bowl of decanting soup, which is considered to be the book, and the official will reward you. ”

Song Tongzhi is a five-grade official of the imperial court, equivalent to the current executive deputy secretary of the prefectural committee, giving a drink to a small housekeeper, which can be regarded as giving him a big face, and Steward Pang was flattered and didn't even dare to say it. The cat bent on his waist, respectfully took the bowl of brown sugar mung bean soup, drank it in one go, and thanked him repeatedly.

Next to him, Yahuan brought Song Tongzhi another bowl of decanting soup.

Yang Qiuchi and the others also drank their own decanting soup. Just as he was about to go back to rest, he saw a black shadow flash in, burrow into the table, and come to the foot of Yang Qiuchi. Yang Qiuchi lowered his head and exclaimed: "Little Black! What are you doing here! ”

That black shadow was Yang Qiuchi's beloved little black dog, Xiao Hei.

Yang Qiuchi and the others came to their hometown this time because they came to their hometown, and they didn't have a task to solve the case when they came, so they didn't bring Xiao Hei. Besides, Yang Qiuchi is the county lord first, how can he bring a puppy everywhere, that would be a loss of official authority.

The little black dog circled around Yang Qiuchi's feet affectionately, the little tail wagged loudly, Yang Qiuchi bent down to pick up the little black dog, and asked, "Little Hei, why are you here?" ”

The little black dog barked twice, which was an answer. Sticking out his tongue to lick Yang Qiuchi's hand, it was so itchy.

At this moment, a servant rushed in and said, "Old lady, ladies and gentlemen, Mrs. Yang has returned from Ningguo Mansion. ”

Ah, Xiaoxue is back? Yang Qiuchi and Yang's mother were both surprised and happy, and they thought that they would not be able to come until the next day. Xiao Hei must have been brought back by Feng Xiaoxue.

Yang Qiuchi hugged the little black dog and greeted him outside, and saw a group of people coming from afar, and the first one was his own lady, Feng Xiaoxue.

"Xiaoxue~!" Yang Qiuchi barked happily and put down the little black dog.

"Husband!" Feng Xiaoxue trotted up to meet her, holding Yang Qiuchi's hand, her face full of joy, as if she had been separated for a long time. The little black dog was bouncing around their feet, barking wildly.

"Why did you get there today, I still guess it won't be until tomorrow."

Xia Ping, the female guard leader behind Feng Xiaoxue, said: "Madame said that the young master was in a hurry to use this treasure, so we rushed overnight, so we arrived early." ”

Yang Qiuchi patted the white snow off Feng Xiaoxue's body in distress, and said: "Look at you, what's the hurry, it's dark, and the mountain road is not easy to walk, if you are going to fall, what can you do." ”

At this moment, Song Yun'er also ran up with Yang's mother, and Yang's mother said: "Xiaoxue, why are you in a hurry with this black light, just come back early tomorrow morning." ”

Feng Xiaoxue went over to support Mother Yang and said, "Mother, I'm worried that my husband is in a hurry to use it, isn't there nothing wrong with us, don't worry." ”

Song Yun'er came over and held Feng Xiaoxue's arm affectionately, and said, "Sister-in-law, come into the house quickly, it's so cold outside." ”

"Yes, yes, come inside!" Mother Yang said. Holding Song Yun'er on the left, Feng Xiaoxue on the right, throwing Yang Qiuchi aside, the three of them walked into the hall side by side, laughing side by side.

Yang Qiuchi became a follower and followed them into the living room.

Feng Xiaoxue and the others hadn't eaten yet, and the eldest grandmother hurriedly instructed Steward Pang to rearrange the banquet.

When Feng Xiaoxue and the others were eating, Yang Qiuchi instructed Steward Pang to prepare a clean table, put an incense burner, and prepare a porcelain bowl for dripping blood to recognize relatives.

While Feng Xiaoxue and the others were eating, Yang Qiuchi bathed and changed his clothes and got ready. After they had eaten, everything was ready to stop, and then they cleaned their hands and burned incense, and began to confess their relatives with blood.

After Xiaoyahuan Zhichun brought Shan'er here, Yang Qiuchi took two blood collection blades from the forensic physical evidence investigation box brought back by Feng Xiaoxue, burned them with lamps and disinfected them, and pricked them on the fingers of Old Lady Yang and Little Young Master Shan'er respectively. Blood came out.

The mountains wept, casting some gray over the blood.

He took out two glass straws from the forensic evidence investigation box, sucked the blood of the two people respectively, put the glass straws in a tray, and then put the porcelain bowl that was going to be used to drip blood to recognize relatives into the tray, saying that he would pray for the blessing of the gods alone, and then carry out blood confession, so that it could be effective.

Yang Qiuchi carried the forensic evidence investigation box into the wing room and closed the door. It took a long time before he held the tray with two glass straws and a porcelain bowl with a solemn expression, walked out cautiously, and respectfully placed it on the table.

After lighting another incense stick and praying silently, he turned around and said, "I will now check whether Shan'er is the son of the old lady, and I will drop their blood just now in the bowl, if so, their blood will dissolve together, otherwise, it will not be dissolved!" ”

As for whether there is a parent-child relationship between the living and the dead, as early as the Three Kingdoms era, there was an example of the identification of relatives by dropping bones: at that time, Chen Ye's brother crossed the sea and died, and there were 50 or 60 victims at the same time. Chen Ye thought to himself, if it was a relative, it would definitely be different, so he cut his arm and spilled blood on the bones, and sure enough, the blood on one of the bones soaked in, and the rest of the bones did not enter the blood.

Song Ci's "Record of Clearing Grievances" recorded the method of checking the bones of the bones: "It is said that if a certain A is a father or mother, and there are bones, and a certain B comes to recognize the biological male or female, how can it be tested? Try to order a certain B to stab one or two drops of blood on the bones, yes, the blood will be soaked into the bones, otherwise it will not enter. The vulgar cloud 'dripping bone pro' cover is also called this. And it stipulates a detailed method of cooking.

For [***] The method of testing the parent-child relationship, that is, the blood method, which is commonly known as the dripping blood recognition (the kind in Stephen Chow's "Jiupin Sesame Official"), only appeared in the Ming Dynasty.

The "Guide to the Examination of Corpse Injuries" at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the "Fuhui Quanshu" and the "Collection of Corrected Grievances" in the early Qing Dynasty all have exactly the same record: "Parent-child brothers or separated since childhood, want to know each other, it is difficult to distinguish the true from the false, so that each prick bleeds, drop within a device, and the truth will be coagulated into one, otherwise it will not be coagulated." ”

Therefore, Mrs. Yang, they have also heard of the saying that they are blood and recognize relatives, but they have never seen it.

Just now, Yang Qiuchi solemnly bathed and changed clothes, cleaned his hands and burned incense, and prayed alone, which had already made them feel some kind of mysterious power. Later, the two glass straws that Yang Qiuchi took out made them even more surprised. They've never seen clear glass, they've never seen rubber. Seeing that Yang Qiuchi squeezed his hand, the long transparent tube sucked the blood in, and he was even more surprised, and his heart was full of awe.

People are like this, always in awe of those mysterious things, and many myths and legends come from this awe of mysteries. Yang Qiuchi's pretended to be mysterious was to arouse the awe of Old Man Yang, so as to believe in the result of blood recognition.

Hearing Yang Qiuchi say this, everyone knew that the most critical moment came, and Old Lady Yang and others all gathered around and watched intently.

Yang Qiuchi picked up a glass straw from the tray and dripped the blood to the bottom of the bowl, then picked up another straw and slowly squeezed out the blood in the tube.

The bright red blood came out of the pointed mouth, slowly condensed into a small droplet, and fell.

If this drop of blood continues, the fate of the mountain will be decided.

If the blood is compatible, he will ascend to heaven, and he will be taken care of by Mrs. Yang meticulously, and truly live a happy life as a young master; If he is not compatible, he will fall into hell, such a feudal family is absolutely impossible to tolerate the existence of evil seeds, and its fate can be imagined.

Although the two drops of blood in the bowl were next to each other, they were like two awkward children, back to back, and after waiting for a long time, they still read separately and did not melt together.

Yang Qiuchi sighed and shook his head.

Old Lady Yang's gaze became unusually cold, she snorted heavily in her nostrils, raised her head, stared at the mountain in the arms of the little girl Huan Zhichun, gritted her teeth and spit out two words: "Evil seed!" ”

The eldest grandmother, Zhou's and Yang Aixiao looked at each other and smiled, as if they had expected this result.

The eldest grandmother glanced at the mountain with disdain, walked to the old lady's side, pouted and said: "I have long said that this fox spirit is not a good thing, it is bad morals, and I don't know where it was recruited to ...... wild seed."

"Enough!" Old Lady Yang yelled, startling everyone, "Steward Pang, take out this wild seed for me and throw it into the dung pit and drown!" After a pause, I didn't hear Steward Pang's promise, and when I turned my head to look, I saw Steward Pang's face like ashes, and he muttered in his mouth: "No...... No way...... Wrong! ”

Old Lady Yang was not angry, and seeing that he did not respond to his orders, he shouted: "Steward Pang! ”

Steward Pang was full of cleverness, and then he came back to his senses and promised: "Yes, master, you called me?" ”

"What the hell! I'll tell you to take this seed and drown it in a dung pit at once!" Didn't you hear? ”

Steward Pang's face turned even paler, he agreed, and slowly walked in front of Yahuan Zhichun, trembling and taking the thin Xiaoshan'er over and hugging him tightly in his arms.

Shan'er didn't know that a catastrophe was coming, so he stretched out two calloused little hands to grab Steward Pang's face.

"Child~!" Steward Pang called out in a low voice, letting Shan'er's little hands scratch on his equally rough old face, and two muddy tears rolled down from the corners of his eyes.

Old Lady Yang was even more irritable, and shouted, "Steward Pang, didn't you hear what I said?" ”

Steward Pang hugged the child tightly, as if he was afraid that others would snatch him away, walked up to Mrs. Yang, knelt down with a bang, held the child and kowtowed, and said, "Master, please, spare this child." The child is innocent. ”

"Innocent?" The eldest grandmother said in a weird manner in the back, "The wild seed born by the fox should not stay in this world, let alone stay in our Yang family, and it will not tarnish the reputation of our Yang family." ”

Hearing this, Steward Pang held the child and kowtowed a few more times, and said miserably: "If the master and wife can be merciful and spare the child, the old slave is willing to resign from the position of housekeeper, and I don't want all these years of wages." I'll just leave Yangjia Village with this child. I beg the lord and the wife to do it! With that, he kowtowed a few more times.

Zhou Shi, the lady of Yang Qingshui next to him, said hatefully: "No! This child is a wild seed from the Yang family, and only by killing can this shame be washed away! ”

(To be continued)