Because of its proximity to the ancient canal, there are many river branches in the jurisdiction, and Gupo Village is a medium-sized village with only about 1,000 people.

It turned out that on the river bank below, more than a dozen catchers were investigating the scene at this time, and Liu Hua and Tong Zhen were squatting next to a corpse with serious faces, this was a female corpse, there was no head on the neck, by observing the height of the corpse, the development of a certain part, and the tightness of the skin, Liu Hua concluded that the age of the deceased would not be too big, at most about thirty years old.

Liu Hua carefully examined the incision in the neck of the corpse, and then examined other parts of the corpse, and then held up the deceased's right hand, a trace of doubt flashed in his eyes.

"What's wrong? Did you find any clues? Tong Zhen asked suspiciously.

After hearing this, Liu Hua shook his head: "No, the clothes worn by the deceased are made of coarse linen, and the workmanship is not too fine, according to the age of the deceased and the reasoning of this clothes, it is said that the deceased should have been a peasant woman who worked as a farmer before his death."

This kind of peasant woman, because she farms in the field all the year round, and does housework, laundry and cooking all day long, the skin on her arms will be rough, and her fingers will have more or less calluses.

However, I found that the deceased's ten fingers were very delicate, and the skin on his arms was not rough, but very smooth.

Generally, the women who have the time and energy to do these maintenance are mostly family members of wealthy families. Is this weird? Suppose the deceased was a family member of a large family before her death, but what is the clothes on her body that are so coarse? ”

Hearing Liu Hua's question, Tong Zhen explained to him: "This is normal, now many families have three wives and four concubines, and even some ordinary families have concubines.

Those from wealthy families marry women from good families as side rooms, and those with slightly weaker families take some Qinglou women as concubines, and marry women from wealthy families, because the men have a solid family, so they do not need to work, and the clothes they wear are also some silk satin.

And the concubines married by slightly weaker families do not have this kind of treatment, after they are good, although they are also free of food and clothing, but the things they eat and wear are all very simple and rough, if your analysis is not wrong, then the deceased should belong to the latter.

Of course, this is not all the case, if the other party is a woman who is not much different from Dong Xiaowan or Gu Paner, this matter is another matter, such a woman, let alone a rich gentry, even those princes and ministers in the court are also flocking to it. ”

"Dong Xiaowan? Gu Paner? How many such women are there in the world? After sighing, Liu Hua stood up and looked around: "The top priority at the moment is to determine the identity of the deceased.

The brothers had just surveyed the area and found nothing suspicious, and since this place is from the lower reaches of the river, I don't think this is the first scene.

Although the body of the deceased had been soaked in the river, the body did not show symptoms such as swelling or whitening, nor did it emit a putrid smell, which indicates that the body had not been soaked for more than 24 hours...... Well...... The hour is the way I invented timekeeping, in other words, it hasn't exceeded twelve hours.

It's only noon now, and according to this time, the deceased should have been killed in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Although there are not a few people who take concubines in this county, there are not many people who have concubines in general.

In addition, the green building in this county should also be checked to see if there is a missing woman in the green building? Some of the miscellaneous women there were all poorly dressed, but their skin was well maintained, which was very consistent with the characteristics of the corpses. ”

Tong Zhen looked at the corpse on the ground, and then nodded: "For the time being, this can only be the case?" After finding out the source of the corpse, let's look for the murderer, and I'll let Huang Tianxiao take charge of this matter when I go back. ”

"Huang Tianxiao? What a domineering name, what kind of person is he? Liu Hua asked with some curiosity.

Hearing Liu Hua's question, a trace of appreciation flashed on Tong Zhen's face, and he said softly: "Huang Tianxiao is the head catcher of this county, he is upright, resourceful, thoughtful, and strong in martial arts, to be honest, he is somewhat similar to you."

I wanted to introduce him to you as an assistant before, but because Huang Zhutou's father suddenly fell ill, he has been serving his father at home, so I didn't mention it, let's go to his house later, how about you see the person I picked for you? If you feel that he can take on a big responsibility, you can give him more help in the future. ”

After speaking, Tong Zhen ordered the two catchers to transport the body away, and asked him to re-examine the body, and store it in Yizhuang after the autopsy, and then instructed the rest of the catchers to search upstream along both sides of the river to see if they could find any clues?

After arranging these, Tong Zhen led Liu Hua towards the county seat. The two rode horses for more than two hours, and finally came to a house in the south ring of Canal County, after dismounting, Tong Zhen took off the gifts he bought on the road from the horse, and then walked to the door to knock on the door.

After a few knocks, the vermilion door was opened, and the door was opened by a middle-aged man in a white robe with a sword hanging from his waist, about thirty years old, handsome, tall and heroic.......

After this person saw Tong Zhen and the others, he was stunned for a moment, and then his face instantly showed surprise: "Chief Catcher, why are you here?" I don't know that the chief catcher is here, and I am not welcomed, so I ask the chief catcher to atone for his sins. ”

"Huh...... Between you and me, what are you doing here, I heard that my uncle was in poor health before, and I haven't come to visit, but today I happened to pass by here, and I came to visit my uncle. Greeting here, Tong Zhen said to Liu Hua: "Vice President Catcher, let me introduce you, his name is Huang Tianxiao, he is the head catcher of our Canal County, everyone is a family, we will be closer to each other in the future." ”

"Huang Zhutou is good, under Liu Hua, I have been listening to the chief catcher praise you before, but now I look at it, it is really extraordinary, and I will ask Huang Zhutou to support me a lot in the future." After Tong Zhen's introduction, Liu Hua took the initiative to greet Huang Tianxiao with a smile.

When Liu Hua's voice fell, Huang Tianxiao's eyes suddenly lit up: "It turned out that Vice President Liu was here to catch the head, I had heard some of the deeds of the vice president head catcher before, and the case was like a god, both civil and military, and even the Long Live Lord favored the vice president head catcher, and the royal seal was nine products to catch fast."

This is a precedent for the Qing Dynasty, after hearing the news, I was really excited, we finally have hope to catch the head, afterwards, I had to talk to the chief catcher, please ask the head catcher to transfer me to the deputy head catcher to listen to the errand, but at that time my father was sick, and the deputy head catcher was still in Hebei at the time, so the matter was temporarily put on hold.

Today, I have to see the vice president to catch the head, the lowly position can be brought up again, please the vice president catcher will be the lowly position under the command, the lowly position will follow the vice president to catch the head of a big job, when the vice president catcher held a recruitment meeting, I wanted to rush to participate.

But because I was busy decocting medicine with my father at the time, I didn't make it, which really made me regretful, I didn't expect that the vice president would come to the cold house today, which was really surprising to me.

Oops...... I patronized and talked, I forgot to invite you two adults into the hospital, let's stop standing at the door and talk, go to the house to drink tea, I'll get a few snacks at noon, let's have a few drinks, two adults, please meet. ”

While speaking, Huang Tianxiao warmly beckoned the two of them to go to the house for tea, but when he let the two into the courtyard, he suddenly asked with a little doubt: "Huh?" Two adults, is there a big case in Canal County? Otherwise, why would you go to the river before you come to me? ”