Song Tongzhi asked Steward Pang: "Now that the evidence is conclusive, you still haven't recruited it from the truth, do you want me to be punished?" ”

Steward Pang's face was pale, and he nodded: "Yes, Shan'er was born to me and my third aunt." ”

"Recruit from the truth!" Song Tongzhi shouted.

"Yes, the third aunt has been bullied and beaten by the grandmothers, and I often find Lang Zhong for her to treat her injuries, she said that this is too bitter and wants to die. When I saw that she was pitiful, I persuaded her. She thanked me and ...... took the initiative to reconcile with me, and only then did she conceive this child. Steward Pang lowered his head and said.

Steward Pang admitted that he and the third aunt were annihilated, and for the general annihilation, the "Daming Law" stipulated that it was only eighty rods, and stipulated: "Annihilation of men and women, pay the husband to adopt." "Obviously, Steward Pang wants to exchange the eighty board for his son.

Yang Qiuchi said: "You said that the third aunt took the initiative to communicate with you?" ”

Steward Pang nodded.

"Aren't you uninterested in women? How can you be annihilated by others? Besides, even if the third aunt is grateful to you for caring about her, just with your shriveled monkey appearance, the sow will not be able to annihilate you, let alone the flower-like third aunt. ”

"Maybe that's okay!" The eldest grandmother interjected, "This scratching fox is born a silver slut, and when she sees a man, she will go on it, and the surname Pang is not a ghost or a ghost, and this kind of person is exactly what she wants." ”

"Mother-in-law is right!" Zhou interjected, "If this scratching fox is not cheap, will she be a nymphomaniac!" ”

Yang Qiuchi took this and asked Steward Pang: "Do you know why the third aunt is a nymphomaniac?" ”

"I don't know," Steward Pang trembled all over.

"It doesn't matter if you don't say it, because I already know that the third aunt was drugged by you to make her a nymphomaniac."

"No, it's not me, why would I do it?" Steward Pang said in a panic.

"Because you want to kill her, you drugged her to let her be scared to death when she saw a ghost, but she didn't expect to trigger her underlying disease, which caused her to become a nymphomaniac, and after she became a nymphomaniac, she was delirious and unconscious, and somehow she didn't hallucinate when she saw a ghost, and she wasn't scared to death. That's why you decide to sneak into the little attic and strangle her to death. ”

Steward Pang said: "No, I don't have a key, how can I enter the small attic yard?" ”

"Turn it over." Yang Qiuchi said, "When the servants fought with you for the mountain, we all saw that although you have a shriveled body and a face of pine bark, the experience of running a boat in your early years has given you a strong physique and great strength, and the wall of that small attic is only more than one person high, with your body and bones, it is not difficult to climb over." ”

"You hid the paste and window paper under the little attic beforehand, ready to do it late at night. What you didn't expect was that the eldest grandmother asked you to go to the second aunt's room to talk about the third aunt, and you couldn't leave, so you didn't have a chance to start. ”

Yang Qiuchi knew in his heart that Steward Pang had reported the news and exposed the atrocities of the eldest grandmother to the third aunt, so the eldest grandmother asked Steward Pang to go, not to talk to him and speculate, but because Steward Pang was hugged by the naked third aunt in the afternoon, and he was so frightened that he fell down and made a fool, and the eldest grandmother asked him to go, because he wanted to laugh at him and relieve his anger, but he couldn't say this in person now, otherwise the eldest grandmother would not be able to get off the stage.

"That's right," Steward Pang was relieved, "I've always been with the eldest grandmother and them, and I haven't gone out except for going to the thatched house, so how can I have time to kill the third aunt?" ”

"That's right, you deliberately scolded the third aunt in front of them, and scolded to the point, your intention was originally to suspect you after the third aunt had an accident in the future, but I didn't expect your words to please the eldest grandmother, so I kept letting you wait and not let you leave."

"In order to let the grandmothers let you go, so that you can commit a crime and kill people, you played a little trick, took advantage of a little time to go to the toilet, ran out to find the old cow head of the husband, gave him a tael of silver, let him shorten the time, and played the fifth watch in advance, in fact, it was just the fourth watch at that time!"

"How do you know?" Steward Pang was very frightened, how could he even know the amount of money he gave to his husband, but this sentence was tantamount to admitting the matter.

Yang Qiuchi didn't answer, pointed out the window, and asked, "It's been dark for a long time now, and it should be almost the second watch at this hour." However, it seems that I haven't heard the sound of the shift, don't you think it's strange? ”

Steward Pang listened with his ears pricked up, and also noticed this question, just when he thought of this question, he suddenly remembered the question just now, and his face couldn't help but turn pale.

Yang Qiuchi smiled slightly and said, "Very good, you guessed it, that's right, the old bull head who played the watch was invited by me, so he couldn't play the watch tonight." Because there's something he's going to testify about! He turned his head to Nangong Xiong and said, "Bring people up!" ”

"Yes!" Nangong Xiong bowed his hand, turned around and went out, and after a while, together with another guard, brought an old man in. The old man was in his fifties, and he walked with a limp, and he was a cripple.

When Steward Pang saw the cripple, there was no trace of blood on his pale face, and he trembled and whispered: "Old bull head!" ”

"Yes!" Yang Qiuchi said, "He is the old bull head of our Yangjia Village." ”

Yang Qiuchi said to the old bull head: "On the day when the third aunt of Old Lady Yang's family died, did Steward Pang come to look for you?" You have to answer truthfully, otherwise, hum! ”

The old bull had obviously been beaten on one side of his face, his cheeks were bruised, and his lips were broken and swollen.

It turned out that Nangong Xiong went out just now to find this old man, and after a little interrogation, he found out that Steward Pang bribed him to make him fight in advance.

The old bull knelt down and kowtowed: "The villain doesn't dare, the villain confesses truthfully." On the night of the third aunt's death, Steward Pang came to me. gave the small one or two silver, and let the small one play the fourth and fifth watches in advance. ”

"How far ahead are you?"

"A total of one change in advance"

Yang Qiuchi reminded everyone to pay attention: "According to the testimony of Lao Niutou, this means that when the fifth watch was played that night, it was actually just the fourth watch. ”

Yang Qiuchi's estimated time of death based on the autopsy was about two o'clock in the evening, that is, the fourth watch under normal circumstances, but because the old bull head beat the fourth and fifth watches in advance, one watch earlier, that is to say, at two o'clock in the evening, the old bull head should have played the fourth watch, but he played the fifth watch.

Therefore, when the grandmothers disbanded, it was actually two o'clock in the evening, which was the estimated time of the crime. In this way, Steward Pang has time to commit crimes, and of course, for the same reason, the other four women also have time to commit crimes.

Steward Pang asked his husband to fight in advance, not deliberately to obtain evidence that he did not have time to commit the crime. Because in the Ming Dynasty, the level of the autopsy had not yet reached the level of accurate death time, not to mention that it was only one shift (two hours) earlier, if it wasn't for Yang Qiuchi, it would not be certain that the third aunt died about four watches. Therefore, Steward Pang couldn't think of finding evidence to prove that he was still with the eldest grandmother, so as to prove that he had no time to commit the crime.

The reasonable explanation should be that Steward Pang was grabbed by the grandmother, he was a servant, and he didn't dare to sneak away without permission, so he bribed the husband to beat the guard in advance, so that they could be disbanded, otherwise, after the fifth watch, the sky will be dawn, and it will be difficult to kill people at that time.

Although Steward Pang did not deliberately create alibi evidence, this early change did make Yang Qiuchi fall astray, and Steward Pang has not entered the scope of Yang Qiuchi's investigation of key suspicions.

Steward Pang did not admit defeat easily, and said: "I didn't kill the third aunt, you said that I killed her, what is the evidence?" ”

Song Tongzhi, Luo Xiancheng and others listened to Yang Qiuchi's analysis, and they all had a feeling of sudden enlightenment, and suddenly heard Steward Pang ask what was the evidence, and they were all stunned in their hearts.

Yang Qiuchi said: "Let me ask you, before the third aunt died, who pasted the window paper on his small attic?" ”

"It was posted by the maid ring during the New Year."

"Did you post it?"

"No," said Steward Pang, "this kind of thing has always been done by servants. ”

"Yes, I forgot, you are not a servant, you are a steward." Yang Qiuchi smiled sarcastically, "Since you are not a servant and did not put window paper too much on the third aunt, then how can you leave your handprints on the window paper?" ”

"Handprints? What mudras? Steward Pang was confused. At this time, Song Tongzhi and the others couldn't understand.

"That afternoon, in order to avoid the third aunt who was a nymphomaniac, you smashed the flower pot and scratched your palm and fingers, right?"

"Yes, Lang Zhong also bandaged my fingers."

"Which finger did you bandage?"

"Middle finger. What's wrong? ”

Yang Qiuchi didn't answer, but looked around for a while before saying, "Please raise your hand and see what's on your fingers?" Everybody has something on their palms and fingers, what do you see? ”

Steward Pang didn't understand what Yang Qiuchi meant, and subconsciously turned his palm to look at it.

Song Yun'er and the others also involuntarily turned up their palms to check, and said suspiciously: "Nothing." ”

Yang Qiuchi grabbed Song Yun'er's slender palm, pointed to the lines on it and said, "Don't you see all kinds of lines on your palms and fingers?" ”

There are lines on the palms and fingers, which have long been understood in ancient China, and have developed into a method of fortune-telling by palmistry. The hand has horizontal lines, and there is no need to talk about killing. The hand has vertical and horizontal lines, and the title is to the third duke. And the ancients also used handprints on the deed as a kind of proof.

It can be seen that the ancients had a certain degree of understanding of the lines of people's palms and fingers, but there was never a record of identifying criminals through fingerprint comparison in ancient books, indicating that the ancients did not recognize that people's fingerprints had a unique surname, and did not use fingerprint identification as evidence of criminal offenses.

The only surname found in the fingerprint was Henry of the 19th century. Dr. Foltz and William of the British Indian colony. Herschel, the two of them revealed this epoch-making discovery in different places almost simultaneously.

But their findings did not attract much attention at the time, and it was not until the early twentieth century that judicial authorities around the world began to officially recognize that fingerprints could be used as evidence of the same identification. It was also at that time that China introduced fingerprint identification technology in the modern sense.

Song Yun'er looked at her palm and said, "Yes, there are a lot of lines." Speaking of this, Song Yun'er grinned, "Brother, did you find out that Steward Pang was the murderer by looking at your palmistry?" ”

Yang Qiuchi shook his head: "No, when Steward Pang came out to re-paste the window after killing people, his palms and fingers that were glued with paste were covered with dust again, and when he pressed and leveled the window paper, he left these light gray handprints. But there are a few fingerprints in these fingerprints that have no lines. If you don't believe me, we can go to the little attic right away! ”

Steward Pang had already guessed the meaning of Yang Qiuchi's words, and his eyes showed a terrifying expression.

Song Yun'er also guessed it, and said in surprise: "Brother, you mean, this housekeeper Pang was injured on his middle finger that day and wrapped the wound with a cloth, so there is no line on the middle finger of the handprint on the window paper, which proves that the handprint on the window paper is his, so he is the murderer!" ”

"Clever!" Yang Qiuchi praised.

Song Yun'er smiled proudly: "No wonder you used my hair to sweep the dust on the window paper in the afternoon, and you were still lying there looking left and right, it turned out that you were observing this." ”

Yang Qiuchi used the presence or absence of a specific fingerprint to prove the criminal, and it did not involve the same surname of the fingerprint, so it could be understood and accepted by the people of Song Yuner's time. Song Tongzhi and the others listened to Yang Qiuchi's analysis and nodded in agreement.

Yang Qiuchi nodded, then turned to Steward Pang and said, "You used incense to stun the little maid Zhichun and the nurse Lu Shi, and then tore off the window paper outside the third aunt's room, sawed off the window lattice and crosswood, got in, strangled the sleeping third aunt on the bed with the rope you brought with you, disguised her suicide, drilled out of the window lattice, re-erected the crosswood, pasted the window paper, and then sneaked back into your own room." Am I right? ”

Steward Pang didn't seem to notice Yang Qiuchi's words, but listened to something with a terrifying expression on his face.

The eldest young master Yang Qingshui saw that Steward Pang did not answer, so he stepped forward and kicked Steward Pang on the chin again, Steward Pang was looking around with his mouth open, and he was coldly taken by this kick, his upper and lower teeth snapped together, and he snapped and bit the tip of his tongue hard, so painful that he screamed, blood suddenly flowed out, and his consciousness also regained consciousness.

Yang Qiuchi was not surprised by Steward Pang's strange expression, as if he had expected it. asked, "Steward Pang, don't you still admit it?" ”

"Admit what?" Steward Pang clutched his chin.

"Admit that you killed the third aunt!"

"I didn't." Steward Pang had to make the last dying struggle, "She is my son's mother, why should I kill her?" ”

That's right! Song Tongzhi and the others all felt reasonable, and looked at Yang Qiuchi together.

"You forcibly annihilated the third aunt and gave birth to Shan'er, and from then on, you planned to let your son inherit the entire family property of Mrs. Yang. The third aunt somehow knew about your idea and resolutely opposed it, because the way to achieve this goal was to kill the eldest young master! You were afraid that the news would leak out, so you killed the third aunt. ”

The eldest young master, Yang Qingshui, was taken aback, he couldn't imagine that this Steward Pang had such vicious intentions.

Yang Qiuchi continued: "If you want to kill the eldest young master, of course you can't kill it directly, that will arouse suspicion, the best way is to poison the eldest young master to hallucinate, let him see the ghost, and scare him to death, just like you poisoned the old lady and me, let us see the ghost!" ”

What the? Old lady Yang and Yang Qingshui were stunned, glanced at each other, and Yang Qingshui asked, "Is it really his poison?" Is there still poison in this world that can make people see evil spirits? ”

"I don't know exactly what the poison is, but I know that there are some plants or medicines in this world that can cause strange hallucinations when eaten, and by the way, some poisonous mushrooms can also produce this hallucination."

Plants that can cause people to hallucinate are called hallucinogenic plants, for example, some of the cacti produced in the desert of northern Mexico are hallucinogenic plants called "magic balls" by the locals. or a thousand purple and red flowers; Or colorful butterflies. Hallucinogenic plants are the most beloved thing by wizards.

Poisonous mushrooms are more common, Yang Qiuchi mentioned that some poisonous mushrooms can also produce such hallucinations, in this regard, Old Lady Yang and others have heard of it, and they understand what kind of medicine Yang Qiuchi is talking about.

"I didn't!" Steward Pang shouted hoarsely, "If what you said is true, then why didn't the eldest young master die?" ”

"Because the eldest young master left home the day after he saw the ghost, he went out to study."

"Then why didn't the old lady die? He's always at home! Steward Pang's voice was terrible.

Yang Qiuchi sneered: "Before the eldest young master dies, if the old lady dies, the Yang family's property will belong to the eldest young master, how can it be your son's turn!" Therefore, you will not kill the old lady until you kill the eldest young master. ”

"Then why did the old lady see the ghost that night?" After saying this, Steward Pang suddenly agreed and glanced back, as if someone behind him was calling his name again.

Yang Qiuchi smiled: "I've been thinking about this question for a long time, and it is estimated that it is most likely that the old lady mistakenly ate the medicine you gave to the eldest young master, because the medicine was shared by the two of them, so the eldest young master and the old lady both saw ghosts, but they were not scared to death." ”

Steward Pang didn't answer any more, and looked back in horror, and then looked around, as if there was something terrible around.

Seeing Steward Pang like this, everyone was a little surprised, only Yang Qiuchi smiled knowingly and said, "Steward Pang, what are you looking at?" ”

Steward Pang's eyes widened, full of horror, and he still didn't answer.

(To be continued)