Chapter 28 Another Death

After they left, Leng Yi and Zhuo Qiaoniang sat for a while, and then they were ready to go to bed, when they heard a noise outside. The two of them hurriedly came out to take a look, only to see the thin man Mingshou pulling the ears of the monk Mingkong, pulling him to tilt his head, pad his feet, ouch ouch scream, followed by the fat man wisely, scolding in his mouth: "You little rabbit cub, let you wash the dishes, you hide in the kitchen to sleep, pull him to see the abbot, this time you must tie him to the flagpole, break his leg, see if he dares to be lazy!" ”

Zhuo Qiaoniang saw the pitiful appearance of the little monk Mingkong, and hurriedly shouted: "Stop! Why are you bullying a little kid! ”

As soon as he saw that it was Mrs. Zhixian who came forward, the thin man Mingshou hurriedly let go of his hand, and said with a smile: "Master! Madam! This kid is lazy and doesn't work, so we will take him to the abbot and treat him well. I didn't want to alarm the two of you, I'm really sorry. ”

Zhuo Qiaoniang pulled the little monk Mingkong, glanced at his ears through the light in the room, and said angrily: "You guys are too much! Rip people's ears to pieces! How do you do it? ”

The two of them quickly lowered their heads and slipped away.

Zhike monk Mingkong gently broke free of Zhuo Qiaoniang's hand, just glanced at them, didn't say a word, turned around and left.

Zhuo Qiaoniang looked at his back in a daze and disappeared into the night. Only then did he turn around and come back to the room with Leng Yi.

Leng Yi said: "You are so good to this little monk. ”

Zhuo Qiaoniang sighed and said, "When I saw him, I thought of my younger brother." I remember when I was a child, my brother was often bullied by the villagers, beating him and scolding him, pulling his ears, my brother was the same as him, he would only cry, I was still young at that time, and I was timid, and I didn't dare to go to those people to theorize, when I got home, my father saw my brother covered in mud, so he said that my brother was naughty, and beat him again. I didn't dare to say it, and my father didn't believe it. I could only hug my brother and cry to comfort him. When my brother saw me crying, he stopped crying and said that it didn't hurt at all. ”

Leng Yi saw her talk about the past, and her eyes turned red. Not only sighed, but reached out to hold her hand and said, "You must have suffered a lot when you were a child." ”

Zhuo Qiaoniang blinked her wet eyes, smiled reluctantly, and said, "Nothing, who didn't come here like this." Alas! I don't know how my brother is doing now, last year there was a drought, and I don't know how the harvest will be on the land he planted. ”

Leng Yi understood that Zhuo Qiaoniang's younger brother should be a farmer who farmed in his hometown. As a brother-in-law, he has a lot of debts and is too busy to take care of himself, so naturally he can't help him or anything. patted her hand and said, "When we get through the difficulties and have some money, we will help them." ”

Zhuo Qiaoniang was pleasantly surprised, as the saying goes: the married daughter spills the water, and the son-in-law helps the father-in-law's family, or even the wife's brother's family, which is very rare. Leng Yi offered to help, and this sentence alone had already moved Zhuo Qiaoniang. However, she immediately shook her head and said, "No." My parents-in-law and sister-in-law and uncle are also very difficult in their hometown, and we have to help them first. ”

As soon as he heard this, Leng Yi knew that the magistrate of the county he had impersonated still had parents and younger siblings in his hometown. It seems that it is also a big family, and listening to Zhuo Qiaoniang's tone, I am afraid that life is also very difficult. It seems that what he promised to take good care of the family in this county is not an easy task to complete from his current situation.

Leng Yi said: "It's going to be fine, step by step, it's going to get better." ”

Zhuo Qiaoniang nodded and looked at him, her eyes bright.

When I got up the next day, it was really sunny, but, as before, there was still no bell for breakfast, Leng Yi had a little cup, opened the door, went out to the door, and looked at the kitchen.

At this moment, I saw the horse-faced Mingzong hurriedly running over from the kitchen. As soon as he saw him like this, Leng Yi immediately knew that something must have happened.

Sure enough, the horse-faced Mingzong came to him, bowed down and said, "Oh no, my lord, senior brother Wise is ......, and he also died in the kitchen!" ”

Leng Yi was taken aback: "How did you die?" ”

"It's the same as Mingyuan died yesterday!"

"Same?"

"Yes!" Horse-faced Mingzong said: "Lying on the ground on your back, the back of your head is full of blood, and your skull is broken!" The doors and windows were locked, and they were also found by breaking into the door. ”

Leng Yi said to Zhuo Qiaoniang: "Go!" ”

Zhuo Qiaoniang hurriedly said: "Official, go ahead!" The concubine was a little scared...... "With that, she glanced at the box containing gold on the table.

Leng Yi immediately understood, on the one hand, she was afraid, and on the other hand, she wanted to stay and take care of these life-saving taxes. However, for Leng Yi, what he was even more worried about was Zhuo Qiaoniang, who couldn't leave her here alone. Then he said to the horse-faced Mingzong: "You go first, I'll come right away!" ”

Mingzong promised to leave quickly.

Leng Yi went out to the door to take a look, the courtyard was empty, and they all went to the kitchen, so he took the gold and rifle box out, inserted it into the thick snowdrift in the corner of the porch next to the doorway, covered it with floating snow, took a look, there was no flaw, and said to Zhuo Qiaoniang: "Just hide here, let's take it back at night." Rest assured, no one will find out, the more generous we are, the less anyone will notice that we carry a huge amount of money, the more careful we are, the easier it is to have loopholes! ”

Zhuo Qiaoniang nodded, and followed Leng Yi to the kitchen quickly.

The footprints at the door were messy, and Abbot Juehui and a few monks at home came, standing at the door and discussing.

Leng Yi walked quickly to the door, looked inside, and saw Chef Mingyuan, almost lying in the same place as Chef Mingyuan yesterday, with his back facing the sky, a large pool of blood on the back of his head. On the board, there is still crushed tofu, and broken tofu is scattered on the wet bluestone slab. There are two holes in the stove, and the same fire is lit. The firewood was almost burning to the mouth of the stove.

Last night's newly replaced latch was smashed again. Includes latches on the ground.

Examining the corpse, it was already dead, but this time, the corpse cooled a little slower than Chef Mingyuan's. According to the preliminary judgment, the time of death was around the morning. The body had a blunt force trauma to the back of the head, but there were no other injuries to the body.

The person who found out that the fat man died wisely was the horse-faced Mingzong.

Leng Yi asked him to tell him what happened. Ma Face Mingzong said: "After the morning class today, I still didn't hear the bell, so I told Mingjing to let him come and see." He said that it must be that the fat man is lazy, and he has just been in charge, and the speed is slow, plus the helper Mingkong went to chop wood with Ming Shou, and he was slow alone, so the meal was not ready. Just wait, I always felt that something was wrong, so I came here to check it out alone. I still see only a trail of footprints on the ground, which seems to be wise. Because the snow stopped last night, the footprints are clear. As soon as I pushed the door, it was closed, and I felt even more wrong, and immediately shouted a few words, but there was no sound. Immediately turned to the window, and looked through the hole in the window they had pierced yesterday, and saw Wise lying on the ground, exactly like yesterday! I was so scared that my soul flew. I shouted as I ran to the Daxiong Hall to call the abbot. They came to see it, and asked me to call you, sir. So I went and called you. ”

Leng Yi said: "The method of forging the secret room is the same, and the murderer's murder method is the same, the only difference is that the wound this time is in the back of the head!" Instead of the chef Mingyuan's place close to the top of the head. In this way, it is easier to give people the impression that he accidentally fell and hit the back of his head on the bluestone slab floor and died, which is obviously influenced by the suspicion I raised yesterday, and the murderer wants to make up for this loophole so that the accidental death can be established. This can also be concluded that the murderer heard the suspicious points speculated by the county yesterday, so the two cases should be committed by the same person! This murderer is among you! ”

The abbot and the others looked at each other, and began to look at the people around them vigilantly again.

Leng Yi continued: "Fortunately, the scope of suspects is much smaller now than yesterday, - the chef Mingyuan is dead, and the thin man Mingshou and the monk Mingkong went to chop wood early in the morning, and there is no time to commit the crime." Only the five of you remain! Now, tell me where you all were in the morning. What are you doing? ”

As a result, after they finished speaking, Leng Yi was dumbfounded, and the abbot chanted in the room as usual, but this time, he opened the door of the room, and Mingjing, who was sweeping the floor in place of the monk Mingkong, saw him, and could testify that he had been in the room all along. And Mingjing, who hangs his eyebrows, has been sweeping the snow in the yard, and Mingtong, a white-bearded man who gets up early, can testify. Although the horse-faced Mingzong slept in the house alone, the white-bearded Mingtong once went to his room to steal charcoal. Because Mingtong's charcoal ran out, when he went to steal charcoal for the second time, the horse-faced Mingzong woke up and quarreled with him until morning class.

So, all four of them have alibis!