Leng Yi said: "He was in the study next door, and he wasn't awakened?" ”

"No," Liao Zhifu said, "the inquest of the body of this mansion confirmed that it was strangled to death." When a person is choked by the neck, there is no way to call for help. What's more, it's just a weak woman who is powerless. ”

Leng Yi nodded, and asked Wei Du to take the hemp face out and call Xiaoshun and Tuwa in. asked what happened, and said that it was similar to a numb face. The three of them entered the courtyard and found that the lady was lying dead on the ground, so they hurried to call someone, Tuwa went to call the second master, and Xiaoshun went to call Lang Zhong in the house to come to the rescue. After Lang Zhong came, he checked and confirmed that the person had lost his breath and could not be saved.

Leng Yi asked, "Is Xiaoping, the personal maid who followed Madame, here?" I want to ask her. ”

Liao Zhifu said: "This mansion has already asked, asked where she was at the time, she said that after she came in with her wife, she saw the second master asleep in the study, and the lady was going to wake up the second master and let her wait in the south room." She waited in the south house, also because she hadn't slept all night the night before, and she was so sleepy, so she fell asleep. Later, I was awakened by the noise, and when I came out, I realized that my wife had been strangled to death. ”

Leng Yi said: "Can I meet this maid?" ”

Liao Zhifu said: "I understand what Leng Zhixian means, and I wonder if she is a murderer?" In fact, there is no need to work hard, this house has already checked, she is also a weak woman, and she does not know martial arts, she is a personal maid brought by Mrs. Madame's mother's family, and she has followed Mrs. since she was a child. Also reliable. ”

"I still want to see it with my own eyes."

"Okay." Governor Liao said to the Tu gang leader, "Call that maid." ”

The maid Xiaoping soon came, knelt down and kowtowed.

Leng Yi glanced at Cheng Luojie beside him and made a look. Cheng Luojie immediately understood, stepped forward to help her and said, "Master let you get up, you don't have to kneel." ”

Cheng Luojie's arm was secretly sent, and immediately retracted, in this case, the other party will naturally give birth to resistance, from the size of the resistance, you know the level of the opponent's martial arts, this can't be faked. After trying it, I felt that this maid's resistance was very weak, not as good as ordinary people, and I knew that she didn't have any martial arts at all.

Cheng Luojie helped the maid Xiaoping and stood up.

The Tu gang leader next to him smiled and said, "Cheng Tou is very strong in martial arts." ”

Cheng Luojie knew that she had tested the maid Xiaoping, but she had already been seen by the Tu gang leader, so she didn't answer, walked to Leng Yi's side, and shook her head slightly.

Tu Gang Master said: "The people in my house, who can do martial arts, I know very well in my heart, if she could strangle Mrs. to death, I would have found out a long time ago, and I don't need the yamen to investigate the case." ”

Leng Yi waved his hand to let Yahuan go out, and said, "Is the porter Liu Po here?" ”

"In!" Tu Gang Leader said.

"Please call her, I'm going to ask her what happened."

Next to him, Governor Liao said: "The government has already asked, and she said that she happened to go to the toilet at that time." Later, I learned that there was a thief, and the thief killed the lady and stole all the gold and silver from the house. Therefore, this government thought that this case was a roaming robber, who sneaked over the wall and committed theft, and when he happened to meet the wife of the gang leader, he killed people. ”

"Can I take a look at this porter?"

Liao Zhifu said: "Leng Zhixian wants to see if she has the ability to strangle Mrs., right?" I have also seen it in this mansion myself, an old woman with an old dragon clock, she is trembling even when she walks, and it is impossible to strangle her wife. No, where is it? Liao Zhifu pointed to an old woman standing at the door.

Leng Yi glanced at it, it was true, an old woman, short in stature, and a little hunchbacked.

The Tu gang leader said: "This porter is an old servant of my Tu family for many years, it is very reliable, she can't be the murderer." ”

Leng Yi looked at the prefect of Liao and said, "It's not that I don't believe in the prefect, investigating the case, my personal thinking is different, so I still want to ask this concierge Mrs. Liu again, is it okay?" ”

"Okay." Although Governor Liao was a little unhappy, he still agreed.

The porter Liu Po was called over, and Leng Yi asked, "Old man, can you tell me about the fact that Mrs. came to the small courtyard until she was killed?" ”

"Okay." Liu Po said, "When Mrs. came, I was about to go to the thatched house, and during the two days of the festival, I ate too greasy, and I always had stomach troubles. I heard Madame knock on the door, her knocking on the door was very soft, popping, snapping, not like the second master, knocking like a drum, and the guy of Tuwa, clang, like thunder......"

"That's it!" The Tu gang leader said without annoyance, "Ask you what happened, what are you doing with those boundless things, and get down to business." Needless to say, if you don't ask! ”

"Okay, okay," Liu Po said, "I opened the door, and sure enough, Mrs. came, smiled at me and asked, by the way, Mrs. is sweet when she laughs, and it looks like it can numb people's bones." Xiaoshun They all said so, and I also felt the same way, ......, ouch, look at my mouth, like a horse without a halter, and ran away again, I continued, - Mrs. looked at me, and said with a blessing: "Po Liu, Happy New Year!" I hurriedly returned the salute and said: Hello Madam, Happy New Year! New Year's greetings to Mrs. ”

As she spoke, Liu Po gestured to the blessing ceremony, and then continued: "I asked: Is there something wrong with Madame?" The lady said: It's okay, I'll go shopping, you can do your business, you don't need to close the door, I'll just go shopping. With that, he went to the main house. Madame is easy-going, never give us a face, I was more presumptuous in front of Madame, just had an upset stomach, so I didn't follow, so I ran to the toilet. After a while, I heard Tuwa crying loudly, and shouting something, I didn't hear clearly, I don't know what happened to the child, I still had a stomachache at that time, and I squatted in the pit and didn't get up. Later, when I heard the second master shouting at the door, I panicked, and quickly got up and came out, only to know that my wife had been killed. Alas, what a good man, like a narcissus, this thief also went to the hand, alas......"

After that, a strong sigh.

After Leng Yi asked, he asked the porter Liu Po to go back to the room, and then said to the Tu gang leader: "I want to investigate the scene again,"

"Please." Tu Gang Leader said.

Leng Yi first inspected the lobby of the main house in the courtyard where the body was found, the ground was paved with green bricks, very clean, there were two rows of chairs on both sides of the lobby, an incense case in the middle, two chairs on both sides of the incense case, and a landscape calligraphy and painting hung above.

He went to the next study, where three walls were lined with bookshelves filled with wire-bound books in boxes. The desk is clean and spotless, with pen holders and inkstones.

Leng Yi turned to the bedroom again, and several cabinets in the bedroom were all opened, and the clothes, daily necessities, etc. in them were thrown all over the floor. Even the quilt on the bed was messed up, and half of it fell to the ground.

Leng Yi carefully looked at the situation in the room one by one, and asked the Tu gang leader: "Are you sure that the things in the house have not been touched since the incident?" ”

Tu Gang Master said: "Of course, I said, don't move everything around, wait for the yamen to investigate." ”

"Where are the stolen taels of gold?"

"I asked my brother and he said it was in the closet. Not a single ingot is gone. ”

Leng Yi glanced at the messy wardrobe and the things in the room, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

With his hands behind his back, he strolled out and slowly checked the entire small courtyard. Pay special attention to the corners of the fence for any residual snow. Unfortunately, the snow on the fence has been swept clean, and the remaining snow on the ground has been swept together and piled up into snowdrifts. It is impossible to tell from this whether there are any signs of entering over the wall.

After reading it, he touched his chin and thought for a moment, and said to the Tu Gang Master: "May I ask if Mrs. Zun's body has been buried?" ”

"Not yet."

"Have you washed the body?"

"Not yet. Mr. Yin Yang said that it should have been cleaned after death, but in order to wait for the yamen to conduct an autopsy, it was delayed for some hours, and after the autopsy was completed, the corpse was already completely stiff. Not easy to clean. After Mr. Yin and Yang read it, he said to wait for three days. After three days, the body will soften, and it is advisable to wash it again. ”

Leng Yi said: "I want to re-examine the body, I don't know if it's possible?" ”

Gang Leader Tu frowned and glanced at Governor Liao's mansion.

Governor Liao hurriedly said to Leng Yi: "This, this mansion has already been inspected, and the corpse is very specific, after you go back, this mansion will ask them to send it to you, you can see it at a glance, so you don't need to investigate it again, right?" ”

Leng Yi shook his head and said: "If you investigate a case in a lowly position, you must personally examine the body, because the corpse can tell a lot of clues to solve the case, if you don't personally investigate the body, you can't find useful clues to solve the case, and this case is also difficult to solve." ”

Governor Liao was a little embarrassed, and looked back at the Tu gang leader.

Tu Gang Master said: "Okay, since Leng Zhixian insists on inspecting it personally, let's inspect it." Let's go! ”

The leader of the Tu gang led Leng Yi and them to the mourning hall in the front hall, where the corpse was parked on the mourning bed, and a good coffin of Jin Sinan was placed next to it, which had not yet been painted.

Leng Yi gently lifted the white sheet covered, and at first glance, he couldn't help but be a little surprised. - The leader of the Tu gang is already in his fifties, and this lady is no more than twenty years old, although she is dead, she can see that she was a great beauty in her life, and her skin is also very good, smooth and white.

The Tu gang leader seemed to see Leng Yi's doubts, and said, "My original partner passed away three years ago, and she is my successor." ”

Old husbands and young wives, such marriages are still relatively common in large families.

Leng Yi asked the servants to carry the mourning bed to the next room, open the window, and begin the autopsy.

He mainly observed the neck of the deceased, because the cause of death was mechanical suffocation, that is, strangulation. The deceased's head was highly bruised, his face was bruised and swollen, his conjunctiva was congested and edema, and hemorrhagic spots were detected. Sure enough, finger and nail pinching marks were found on the neck, located around the Adam's apple in front of the neck and on both sides of the neck. There is a pinched indentation on the left, and it is thicker, and three on the right. This shows that the murderer is right-handed. The vast majority of people are right-handed, that is, they are accustomed to using their right hand, which has no special surname and cannot be a clue to solve the case.

Leng Yi also found scars on the chin and angle of the mandible, and around the mouth and nose, which were injuries caused by the murderer covering his mouth and nose with his other hand while strangling his neck. This is more common in strangulation cases.

(To be continued)