Yang Qiuchi said to the two of them: "Your husband, Jun Lu Xueru, died today when he took the exam in the Ying Tianfu Tribute Academy. ”

Yes! Both of them exclaimed, and the trembling voice of the original Fan asked, "How did our master die?" ”

"Poisoned!"

When the little concubine Shen heard this, she hid her face and cried: "My Lang~!" Why did you leave us behind so ruthlessly, how can you tell us to live~! "I cried in a good tone, my voice was tactful and crisp, and my voice was not bad.

"Don't cry!" Hu Jiang roared.

The little concubine Shen's cry stopped abruptly, as if a quacking duck had suddenly been choked by the neck. The hand that hid his face slowly lowered, and there was not a single tear on his face.

Hu Jiangma's face pulled: "We still have something to ask you, it's not too late for you to howl when we leave!" ”

The old lady began to sob and cry quietly. Hu Jiang was about to stop drinking, but was stopped by Yang Qiuchi. Yang Qiuchi took out the small porcelain bottle from his arms and asked, "Who gave this thing with honey to your old man Lu Xueru?" ”

The little concubine Shen glanced at it and bowed to the original partner Fan.

Fan raised his head, his old eyes dizzy and he couldn't see clearly. Yang Qiuchi handed over the porcelain vase. Fan took it and looked at it carefully: "It's the old body that gave it to our master." It's honey inside. ”

When Hu Jiang heard this, it turned out that this old lady poisoned and killed Lu Xueru, and couldn't help but be furious, and scolded: "Okay, you old pious woman, I just heard Lizheng say that you were seriously ill and almost died, and it was Lu Xueru who went bankrupt to cure you of the disease, how could you take revenge and poison him to death?" It's just a beast! Come on, arrest this old pious woman for me! ”

Several officials at the door agreed in unison, and the iron chains in their hands trembled, and they stepped forward to arrest people.

The original Fan was frightened and cried: "Master, where did this start, I didn't, I didn't poison our master, the old man was wronged!" ”

"Are you still crying out for injustice?" Hu Jiang said coldly, "Your old man Lu Xueru was poisoned to death, we have found out that the honey in this porcelain bottle is poisonous, and this honey is what you gave to your old man Lu Xueru, the evidence is conclusive, do you still want to deny it?" ”

When the little concubine Shen heard this, she screamed and pounced on Fan, scratching and scolding: "It turns out that you are an old immortal who killed the master, I want to kill you!" ”

The original Fan family was old and frail, where was her opponent, she just held her head and cried out for wrongdoing, and several blood marks had been scratched on her face.

Yang Qiuchi glanced at Song Yun'er, Song Yun'er got up and grabbed the little concubine Shen's arm, dragged it back, and shouted: "The eldest master is here, don't be unreasonable!" The Shen family was dragged backwards by Song Yun'er and stumbled back a few steps, almost falling down, and didn't dare to splash again.

The catchers were about to step forward to arrest Fan, but Yang Qiuchi raised his hand and signaled not to do it yet. Hu Jiang was a little puzzled, but he also waved his hand to stop those officials, sat down and asked, "Young Master Yang, didn't you find the real murderer?" How to ......"

Yang Qiuchi didn't answer his question, and asked Fan, "Why did you give your master this honey?" ”

Fan was already frightened, seeing Yang Qiuchi and Yan Yuese, the officials seemed to listen to him, it seems that if he made it clear to this son, there would be hope to clear his grievances, and said: "Son, the old body is wronged, I really didn't poison it." ”

"Old lady, don't worry, speak slowly, we won't arrest people until we figure it out."

Hearing this, Fan Shi felt a little relieved and said: "Our master has repeatedly failed the imperial examination, his mood is irritable, his internal fire is heavy, he often has sores on his mouth and tongue, and sometimes he can't eat because of the pain, and he can't even drink water. I didn't cure it completely after looking for Langzhong, but then I got a home remedy, and I mixed honey according to the home remedy to smear the sores on the master, which was quite effective, so the master kept the honey with him. ”

It turned out that this Lu Xueru had mouth ulcers, no wonder when he lived in a small inn, he only ate porridge and pickles every day, and the half of the steamed bun was never finished, presumably after the mouth ulcer, this steamed bun was difficult to chew, and he couldn't eat half of it, so he could only drink porridge. And the honey in this porcelain bottle was used by his original wife Fan to treat his illness.

Looking at Fan's expression, he shouldn't know that the honey was poisoned. Could it be that the honey she bought had been poisoned before that? Yang Qiuchi asked Fan: "Did you make this honey yourself?" ”

"No, I bought it from Mrs. Wang, who keeps bees in Dongmenpo."

"Beekeeping? Is there anyone keeping bees in the village? ”

Mirizheng on the side said: "Yes, there are several families in the village who keep bees, our village is surrounded by high mountains, and there are few fields, so if you just rely on farming, it is not easy to live, so there are some people who keep bees and sell honey to make some money to support their families." ”

Yang Qiuchi asked Fan's: "When you buy honey, do you choose it yourself or Mrs. Wang sends it to you." You should recall it and go into as much detail as possible. ”

Fan nodded, thought for a while and said: "Generally, the son of this old lady Wang comes down the mountain with a burden and sells it in Chuzhou City, and when he passes by our village, he will shout all the way, so I just buy it." A large porcelain bowl was placed at each end of the burden, and the honey was in it, and the person who wanted to buy it prepared his own utensils. When I bought it, I remember that it was around September this year. ”

Yang Qiuchi thought to himself, could it be the son of Mrs. Wang or even Mrs. Wang, although there is no evidence, it is better to check it out and see if there are any clues.

You must know that most of the clues to solve the case are found through investigation and visits, and they are not imagined out of thin air while sitting at home. Yang Qiuchi asked, "Where does this old lady Wang's family live?" ”

Miri was interjecting and said, "It's halfway up the East Gate Pass." ”

"Take us to her!" Yang Qiuchi said.

Miri was a little hesitant and said: "It's already the third watch, and there are still more than ten miles of mountain roads to them, it's pitch black, and the mountain roads are not easy to walk......

Hu Jiang looked at Yang Qiuchi and said, "Without further ado, if the criminal escapes, are you responsible?" ”

Miri was startled, and said that he didn't dare, so he hurriedly ran out to prepare torches and lanterns, and called a few village people. After getting ready, Hu Jiang ordered two catchers to be left to guard the Fan family and the Shen family, and then Mi Li Zheng led the way, and the group went up the mountain to find Mrs. Wang, who sold honey to the Fan family.

The mountain road is really difficult to walk, the slopes are steep, and some sections of the road are not horse-riding, so you can only get off the horse and lead the horse on foot.

Holding a lantern and a torch, the more than ten miles of mountain road walked for almost two hours before arriving, and it was already five watches by the time it arrived.

The family of the beekeeper Mrs. Wang lives in several wooden houses halfway up the mountain, and there are several rows of beehives neatly placed next to the wooden houses. Now that it was freezing cold, the bees did not fly around, but gathered in the hive, and occasionally some bees were disturbed by the lights and buzzed up, but soon flew back to the hive.

The guards of Zhu Kuai, Min Zhuang and Yang Qiuchi quickly surrounded these houses.

Miri was knocking on the door, rushing in, taking control of Mrs. Wang, her son, and daughter-in-law, and then quickly searched the room.

Mrs. Wang, her son, and daughter-in-law were frightened by the sudden search. However, after seeing clearly that it was the yamen's arrest, he knew that it was not a robber, so he felt a little relieved.

After a search, it was found that there was a room with eight large porcelain bowls, all filled with honey.

Mrs. Wang saw the catchers searching around, and asked cautiously with some puzzlement: "Uncles, what are you looking for?" ”

Hu Jiang said to Mi Lizheng: "You tell him." ”

Mi Li Zheng agreed, and said to Mrs. Wang: "There is a problem with the honey you sold to Old Master Lu's family in the village, and Old Master Lu took this honey and was poisoned to death. ”

"Ah~!" Mrs. Wang, her son, and daughter-in-law were so frightened that their faces turned white. Mrs. Wang said: "No, we, we have been selling honey for so many years, and no one has ever said that something happened to someone who ate my honey, let alone was poisoned." ”

Hu Jiang said: "That's why you deliberately poisoned Old Master Lu to death!" ”

"Wronged~!" Mrs. Wang knelt on the ground with a grunt and kowtowed again and again, "We have no grudges against Old Master Nalu, why do we want to harm him." Mrs. Wang's son and daughter-in-law also knelt down and kowtowed.

Hu Jiang sneered: "This is exactly the reason why we asked you to inquire, you still obediently confessed, how did you poison and kill Old Master Lu?" Recruit from the truth, otherwise, you will have to suffer from the flesh and skin! The crowd shouted and intimidated in unison.

"The women are really wronged, we just sell honey to make some money to support our families, what are we doing to poison others for no reason. I beg the Lord Qingtian to be aware of everything and be the master of the people's women! ”

"You still dare to deny it!" Hu Jiang roared, he saw Yang Qiuchi in the small inn before using a duck to test that the honey in the porcelain bottle was poisonous, so he wanted to show his hand and shouted: "Come on, go catch a duck for me!" ”

There were some poultry in the backyard of Mrs. Wang's house, and one of them quickly agreed and ran to the backyard and caught a duck.

Hu Jiang pointed to the honey in the big porcelain bowls in the room and ordered: "Shovel a lump of honey and feed this duck!" ”

I quickly shoveled a large lump from a porcelain bowl and fed it to the duck, so big that the duck choked on its neck, and after a long time, it still quacked and swayed and did not do anything.

Hu Jiang was disappointed and looked at Yang Qiuchi with some embarrassment.

Yang Qiuchi smiled bitterly, thinking to himself, if it was really this old lady Wang who poisoned this old master Lu, just go down to the honey in the porcelain bowl to sell to old master Lu, not all the honey, besides, according to Fan's words, this honey was bought in September, and it has been almost three months, and the poisoned honey has already been destroyed, how can it be kept and wait for us to investigate.

Mrs. Wang did not admit to poisoning, and seeing that Mrs. Wang was not like lying, there is no evidence to prove that Mrs. Wang poisoned the honey, so there is no reason to arrest people. Since no clues were found, I had to go down the mountain first and think about what went wrong.

Judging from the current situation, Lu Xueru's original wife Fan may have the largest surname of poisoning. However, Yang Qiuchi has a feeling that this Fan is not like the person who poisoned and killed Lu Xueru, her life was saved by Lu Xueru, and she is an old woman, what is the benefit of killing Lu Xueru? Yang Qiuchi couldn't think of a reason for the Fan family to kill Lu Xueru, but he felt that the concubine's behavior was strange. But there is no evidence.

Even Yang Qiuchi had no idea, Hu Jiang and the others had to leave with Yang Qiuchi dejected, and the group walked down the mountain along the road they came.

Although he didn't sleep all night, Yang Qiuchi didn't feel tired at all, this kind of night errand has almost become his daily routine in modern society, and he is often called up in the middle of the night to investigate the scene, and this case has fallen into a dead end now, what should I do next? Yang Qiuchi didn't have a clue at all, he had something in his heart, how could he be tired.

Song Yun'er held a branch broken from the side of the road in her hand, swaying it casually, seeing Yang Qiuchi thinking about it while walking with his head in a sullen state, but he couldn't help at all, so he wanted to distract him, waved the branch in his hand, pointed to the distant mountains opposite, and said, "Brother, look, the scenery of this mountain is so beautiful." ”

They had been walking down the mountain for a long time, and by this time it was already dawn, the sun was showing its red face from the mountains, and the snow on the peaks was white, and the snow on the mountainsides and valleys had mostly melted, revealing the emerald green dress of the mountains.

The thin morning mist was like a jade belt, wrapped between the mountains in the distance. The winding mountain terraces reflect the sparkling waves in the morning light. There are already early risers walking on the mountain paths. A few kingfisher chirps to show the tranquility of the valley.

Yang Qiuchi stopped, took a deep breath, and sighed: "Yes, what a pastoral scenery, if the two of us can pass under the east fence of picking chrysanthemums here and leisurely see the words of Nanshan, it would be great." ”

Song Yun'er's face flushed slightly, and she took a sip: "Who is with you, you have so many concubines, let them accompany you." With that, he picked up the branch in his hand, broke off a leaf, and gently bit it in his mouth, feeling the comfort of the green leaves moistened by the morning dew.

Yang Qiuchi turned his head and smiled slightly, looked at Song Yun'er, was suddenly stunned, and shouted, "Yun'er, quickly spit out that leaf!" ”

Song Yun'er was startled, thinking that there were some small insects on the leaves, so she quickly spit them out.

Yang Qiuchi picked up the leaf and said, "You, you, you, the eldest lady has entered the mountains, and you must not touch anything you don't know." ”

(To be continued)