Uncle Qi said, "What about the corpse? ”

Leng Yi said: "The corpse is temporarily stored here first, find someone to watch, don't let the beast eat it." ”

After the arrangement, the lieutenant chief took Minzhuang away.

Luo Panya's daughter-in-law couldn't imagine that Leng Yi would actually help her speak at this time, and she was grateful, and even thanked her. Luo Panya and his daughter-in-law are still intimate, seeing that their daughter-in-law is going to be arrested, they are also panicked, and now Leng Yi is not caught when he helps, and he is also very grateful in his heart, and he also thanked him.

Uncle Qi arranged for Jiao Laosan's father to guard the corpse here. Everyone else went back to their accommodations. At this time, Sun and Luo Panya's father, who went to the Sanlao Stone to check the bloodstains, came back and said that there were indeed fresh blood stains dripping on the stones, which was the same as what Jiao's third daughter-in-law said, thus proving what Jiao's third daughter-in-law said. The suspicion of her crime was ruled out.

When they returned to their lodgings, it was already noon.

Leng Yi took out a pile of money from his arms and gave it to Uncle Qi and said, "I want to see what is going on in this case, can I stay here for two more days, this is the food money." ”

Uncle Qi was happy: "Okay, okay, look at you, you are really generous, just live, what kind of money do you give." As he spoke, he took the money and put it in his arms.

Zhuo Qiaoniang helped the Sun family cook, and Leng Yi came to the woodcutter's house to see how he was doing.

The woodcutter had already gotten up, and sat crookedly beside the fire, leaning against the wall, and was in a state of malaise, for there was no fire in the shop, and it was cold in the house.

When the woodcutter saw Leng Yi coming in, he hurriedly said: "I was sleeping in a daze before, and I heard Banya's daughter-in-law shouting outside, saying that the cow dung was dead, and I thought about it and asked people to ask, but they all ran away, what happened?" ”

"Cow dung fell into the manure tank and drowned. It is suspected that someone deliberately murdered him. Someone holding a large rock, slammed the cow dung from behind, knocked him into the manure tank and drowned. ”

The woodcutter's eyes widened: "Really? How so? Who is this, so vicious? ”

"I don't know, now except for Banya's daughter-in-law, who was the first to find the body, the rest of the people have alibi."

"Could it be her?"

"It's hard to say. Okay, you don't care about this kind of thing for now, and recuperate with peace of mind! The meal was ready immediately. ”

Uncle Qi came in and said with a smile: "Ma Yan, your leg is broken, although I can't help you farm in the field, but this meal can still help you, before your leg is good, you can partner with me somewhere, and I will send it to you every day." How's it going? ”

The woodcutter thanked him and said, "Great! Thank you, Uncle Qi! ”

"Thank you for what the villagers said. However, I'm going to count the food for you! ”

"That's as it should be, as it should be. Hey hey"

Uncle Qi took a low stool over, sat down next to the fire shop, and said, "At noon, let's eat at your place, heat up the leftovers from last night, drink your wine again, and help you make a fire and clean up the house by the way." ”

"Okay, thank you!"

Uncle Qi said as he split wood to make a fire, and said to the woodcutter: "The cow dung is dead, you know, right?" ”

"I just heard what Brother Leng said."

"I fell into the manure tank and died, Brother Leng and I counted for a long time, and we don't know who did it."

Ma Qiaofu said: "I heard Brother Leng say that except for Banya's daughter-in-law, it is impossible for anyone else to do this." ”

"yes!" Speaking of this, Uncle Qi glanced at the back of the house, lowered his voice, and said, "I didn't say it just now, in fact, I think that this matter was not done by people!" ”

Leng Yi and Ma Woodcutter both looked at him in surprise.

Uncle Qi looked a little proud of having mastered the secret, leaned over, lowered his voice, and said, "Let me tell you, there are mountain demons on the mountains in our area!" It's from the Devil's Axe Cliff! This morning, I saw it! ”

"Oh? Did you see the mountain demon? Leng Yi asked.

"Yes! Just behind Ma Yan's house, when I just got up, I saw something moving in the grass behind Ma Yan's house, the sky was not yet bright, I couldn't see it really, I squinted and looked, your thing was black, jumped a few times to the side of the ditch, and it was gone! ”

"What does the mountain demon look like?"

"Two horns on the head! That horn, it's still flickering! It's scary. ”

The woodcutter smiled: "What you see is not a mountain demon, maybe it is an antelope or something, otherwise, you will not be eaten?" ”

"Impossible!" Uncle Qi said with certainty, "I can still tell the antelope, it is definitely not an antelope, because its two feet are old and thick, and they are still bent like this." Uncle Qi folded his arms and made a gesture. As I walked, the two horns shook up and down.

"Then why don't I eat you?" The woodcutter said.

"The mountain demon doesn't necessarily eat when he sees a person, it depends on whether he is full or not. Moreover, no one can say what the mountain demon is going to do, and wherever he appears, he will be unlucky,"

He might have gone to cow dung, so cow dung was out of luck. Fell into a dung pit and died. ”

The woodcutter said, "Didn't you say that cow dung was drowned by someone who knocked it into the manure tank?" ”

"yes!" Uncle Qi looked at the woodcutter, "It may also be that the murderer is pretending to be a mountain demon, which is not clear." ”

The woodcutter said: "Only you see the mountain demon, and others don't see it, who can say it clearly!" ”

As soon as they said this, Sun and Zhuo Qiaoniang brought the food, put down the food, and ate it simply. Although they also poured wine, except for Uncle Qi, Leng Yi and Ma Qiaofu drank very little.

After cleaning up, Sun said to the woodcutter: "We can help you cook your meal, but what should you do with Lazar?" Do you want to talk to Jiao Laosan and ask his son to come over to help? ”

Ma woodcutter said: "No need, spring ploughing will start soon, their family is also very busy, his eldest son will be half a laborer in the future, and the younger son can't do anything." It's not troublesome. ”

"But you're alone, and your legs and feet can't move, and there's no problem with eating and drinking, what should I do?"

"It's okay, can a living person suffocate urine? Rest assured! ”

Several people laughed.

After eating, Leng Yi said: "I still want to look along the ditch to see if there are any clues." By the way, the collapsed wooden bridge was repaired so that everyone could walk. ”

Uncle Qi said, "It's okay left and right, I'll accompany you." ”

So, Leng Yi took Zhuo Qiaoniang and followed Uncle Qi to inspect along the ditch, they kept seeing the scene, and looked left and right in the cow dung house, but found nothing.

By the time they repaired the collapsed wooden bridge, it was getting dark.

On that day, the people from the Yamen did not come, saying that it was late and they could not survey when they came, and they would have to wait until the next day to come. Leng Yi was very dissatisfied with Yamen's attitude towards handling cases.

That night, after dinner, Leng Yi and Zhuo Qiaoniang returned to the house and prepared to sleep. Zhuo Qiaoniang asked in a low voice: "Official, is this case very tricky?" ”

"Yes!" Leng Yi said: "It looks very simple, but the possible crimes have been ruled out, and the case has reached an impasse." ”

Zhuo Qiaoniang said: "Didn't you say that Banya's daughter-in-law is a major suspect?" ”

"Yes and no." Leng Yi said: "At present, she is the only one who is suspected, but, as she herself said, if she pushed cow dung into the manure tank and died, there was no one around at the time, and she could pretend not to know." That way, we won't even know the exact time of the deceased's death. It is not possible to expel others. No one can be cleared of suspicion of crime. Therefore, she actually pushed herself to the current dead end. Generally speaking, the thief shouts to catch the thief, and he will think of an excuse to get away with it, such as finding a person with him to find the body. In order to prove that he is not a murderer. And will find ways to excuse themselves. However, I remember that the first thing she said when she came back was, 'The cow dung is dead.' No shirk was made. Her statement is in line with the common situation of the testimony of ordinary eyewitnesses. Therefore, her suspicion of a crime can basically be ruled out. ”

Zhuo Qiaoniang suddenly said: "No wonder, when the chief wanted to tie her up, you said no." Now, all of them are not suspected of committing a crime, so who will be the murderer? ”

Leng Yi said thoughtfully: "When the possibility becomes impossible, then the remaining impossibility will become possible." ”

"Impossible?" Zhuo Qiaoniang asked, "What is impossible?" ”

"For example, passing outsiders commit crimes, such as the elderly and children, such as the woodcutter with a broken leg, such as accidents, such as suicide, etc., the impossibility that has been discharged before must be re-investigated as a possibility."

"That range is too big, and some of these impossibilities are really impossible, such as Jiao Laosan's youngest son, only four or five years old, he can't even carry the big rectangular stone, it is impossible to kill people, and there is a woodcutter, he has broken both legs, and he can't walk at all, let alone walk for a meal, so far, and he has to hold the stone to hit people, it's impossible. These people should be excluded! ”

Leng Yi said: "What you said is not unreasonable, then let's find people with older surnames from those who are impossible, such as a few old people and older children." ”

In addition, it is necessary to investigate the activities of those nearby villagers to find suspects who have recently gone out. However, this workload is relatively large, so it is still handed over to the Yamen to catch quickly, and when the capture is coming tomorrow, I will privately measure the identity and assign this work to them. ”

However, without waiting for Leng Yi to do this work, a new murder happened again.

The sky was already dark, and as soon as Leng Yi got up, he heard someone outside shouting loudly, "Someone! Help me! Listening to the voice, it seemed that Sun's Leng Yi hurriedly pulled the door out, and saw a person standing next to the lawn well in the distance, who was hurriedly fishing for something in the well with a well rope. ran over to take a look, and sure enough, it was Sun. Busy said: "What's the matter?" What's going on? ”

"My man, it looks like he fell into a well!"

Leng Yi was taken aback, and hurriedly looked into the well, there really seemed to be a figure inside, but he couldn't see clearly, he pulled the well rope and slipped down, the person was immersed in the water face down, and hurriedly turned him over and lifted his head out of the water. When I touched the side of my neck with my hand, there was no vascular pulse.

(To be continued)