Leng Yi asked all the people in the post station to wait in the hall of the post station, and they were not allowed to discuss the case and talk, let alone go out. Supervised by Yin Ying and Cheng Luoxiang.

Subsequently, Leng Yi and Cheng Luojie rummaged through the ruins and items sorted out. It took almost an hour to finally take a look at these sorted things. Then Cheng Luojie called over, pointed to a short beam and said, "Have you noticed this?" ”

Cheng Luojie took a closer look, it was a small hole, and the surroundings were scorched. "What is this?" ”

"This is a beam on the side of the gable of the house. The house was very dilapidated, and there were cracks in the wooden planks of the gables, and the murderer tied ropes to this short beam, and through the cracks, went around the beams above the broken main beams, and hung them on the main beams to hang the main beams. ”

Leng Yi got up and walked to the broken thick beam, pointed to the rope on the beam, picked up the broken end of the rope, and said, "Pay attention to this, this is the rope used to suspend the main beam, this end of the short beam tied under the eaves of the gable was broken by fire, and half of it is tied to it." As soon as the rope broke, the heavy beam, which had been sawn off for more than half of it, broke and collapsed. Therefore, this rope is actually the starting part of the killing mechanism. Whoever gets this mechanism is the murderer! ”

"That's right!" Cheng Luojie picked up the short beam, inspected it repeatedly, pointed to the small hole and said, "It seems to be something in it!" It's an arrow! ”

"I guess it is, can you take the arrow out without damaging the hole?"

"What are you doing with this hole?"

"It is used to observe the trajectory of the bow and arrow. Thus it was determined where the murderer had shot this arrow, which had broken the rope. ”

Cheng Luojie said happily: "You mean, the murderer hung the rope in advance, and when the time came, he shot the short beam under the eaves with a rocket outside, burned the rope tied to the short beam, and triggered the killing mechanism?" ”

Leng Yi nodded. He took out a broken shaft from the pile of items and said, "This should be the arrow shot by the murderer!" Because the house collapsed, the outer section was almost burned by fire, so it was easily broken. ”

Cheng Luojie took the arrow shaft, observed it carefully, and said: "This is an ordinary arrow, there is no personal characteristics, just from the arrow shaft, you can't determine whose it is." She looked at the hole again and said, "This arrow still has a broken shaft in it, and I have thought of how to get it out!" - Use a saw to see from the top and bottom sides, take out the arrow, and then close the short beam, so that it will not affect your detection. ”

Leng Yi nodded and said, "Your method is very good, just do it!" ”

Leng Yi called the post and asked, "Is there a saw in the post station?" ”

"Some" Yi Cheng said: "Our post station is in disrepair and is often tinkered, so the general carpenter's tools are prepared." It's in the grocery room of the kitchen. ”

Leng Yi said: "Take me to see." ”

When they came to the grocery room, Leng Yi looked at it and said, "The door is not locked?" ”

"yes, this grocery store has been unlocked."

Leng Yi frowned and said, "In this way, the murderer is free to take the saw." ”

Yi Cheng was a little frightened, as if the murder of the magistrate was related to his dereliction of duty.

Leng Yi said again: "Is there a carpenter in the post station?" ”

"Yes, in fact, he is not a carpenter, but one of our buddies, he used to learn carpentering, so if there is anything in the post house that needs to be repaired, call him."

"Bring him here, I have something to ask him to help with."

Yi Cheng hurriedly called the fellow, the carpenter was very frightened, and when he came in, he knelt down and kowtowed: "The grass people knock to see the master!" ”

"Get up and speak!"

The carpenter hastened to his feet and stood with his hands down.

Leng Yi asked Yi Cheng to leave first, and then asked the carpenter, "Do you know how to carpenter?" ”

The carpenter nodded.

Leng Yi took the short beam from Cheng Luojie's hand, pointed to the hole where the arrow was, and said, "Can you saw this short beam and take out the arrow?" ”

The carpenter took it, looked at it, and nodded.

"Then you can do it, take it out immediately."

The carpenter was very quick, and soon sawed the stub beam and took out the arrow.

Leng Yi was very satisfied, looked at the carpenter, and suddenly asked, "Where were you last night, before the crime?" ”

The carpenter shuddered and stammered: "The villain ......, the villain has been ...... and helping to barbecue!" ”

"Help with the barbecue? Didn't leave halfway through? ”

"No! Oh no, if you count the help to fetch firewood, carry water, etc., but I have left a few times. But they are all with the post station guys, the third and sixth sons. Never left alone. They can testify! ”

"The county will check it. Okay, there's nothing you need to do, so step down. ”

The carpenter hurriedly stepped out.

Leng Yi said to Cheng Luojie: "You go and verify what the carpenter just said immediately." ”

Cheng Luojie agreed, and asked in a low voice, "The eldest master suspects this carpenter?" ”

"Everyone is suspicious!" Leng Yi said: "I observed the broken beam, the traces of the broken saw are very neat, and it seems that the movements are very skillful, not like a raw hand sawing it." ”

Cheng Luojie said happily: "That's easy to do!" Just call everyone in and let them see the wood, won't you be able to find the suspect? ”

"How can it be so easy!" Leng Yi smiled: "This can be disguised, and sawing wood is not a particularly difficult thing, as long as you master the essentials, you will soon be able to be familiar with it." Therefore, this cannot be used for screening for the time being. - Okay, go and ask, lest they collude and come to the ruins, and I'm going to do a test. ”

Cheng Luojie agreed and left in a hurry.

Leng Yi took his short beam, came to the ruins, called the post man, and asked a few men to help, and put the seat of this short beam on its original seat as much as possible.

Because the house next to the upper room has not collapsed, it is still good, so it can be used as a reference comparison.

Soon, the seat of the short beam was set. At this time, Cheng Luojie also came back, saying that the two people mentioned by the carpenter can prove that the three of them have been together last night, including helping with barbecue, carrying water, carrying firewood, etc., all of them are the three of them. The two asked separately, and the answer was the same.

This result did not surprise Leng Yi. He inserted the broken arrow shaft into the hole, roughly estimated the trajectory according to the direction of the arrow shaft, and then asked Cheng Luojie: "Where do you think this arrow came from?" ”

Cheng Luojie glanced at the direction of the arrow shaft, pondered for a moment, and said: "Judging from the flying line, it should have been shot from outside the wall, and the height is as high as the wall, so the murderer should have shot this arrow from the wall." ”

The two of them followed the line to the wall, and judging from the fact that the snow under the wall was still good, the murderer did not shoot inside the wall. The two went out of the gate again and came outside the wall. At first glance, I couldn't help but be dumbfounded. - Outside the fence was a flat dam, and the snow on it had been swept out and piled up. That is, there is no snow outside the fence. So, there is no trace of the murderer.

Leng Yi immediately asked Yicheng to bring a ladder and put it on the wall, and asked Cheng Luojie to climb up to inspect the snow on the wall. That's where the murderer fired! In this way, the murderer is likely to be foreign. I'll just say, how can there be internal annihilation among us! ”

After Cheng Luojie came down, Leng Yi slowly swallowed the ladder, glanced at the indentations on the wall, and then lay there and looked at the short beam where the post man stood dozens of steps away, then came down, patted the official robe, and said, "The murderer didn't release arrows from here." ”