Early the next morning, Lin Wei's little guard really came to ask Li Moyi to go to Baili Village together, Li Moyi slept on his stomach last night, and after getting up, his body hurt even more, and he wanted to refuse, and he thought about it again and thought about continuing to set up a stall with Li Yuanfeng to write letters for others to earn a few small money, Lin Wei's little guard is not bad, if he doesn't go, it will definitely be difficult to make a deal, it is better to bear the pain and accompany him, after thinking about it like this, Li Moyi finally gritted his teeth and endured the pain and went with him.

Baili Village is located about thirty miles northwest of Anqiu County, Li Moyi and Lin Weixiao's guards walked relatively slowly, it took nearly two hours on the road, and after walking for a long time, Li Moyi's body didn't hurt, at least he forgot the pain when he didn't care about it.

The murder happened at the house of Zhang Jue, a businessman in Baili Village, Lin Wei's little guard was already familiar with the door, and took Li Mo straight to the door of Zhang Jue's house, Zhang Jue's small courtyard was surrounded by a towering front door, and when he heard Lin Wei's little guard's voice, a young guard named Ma Wei came out to check, saw the two of them nodded, turned his head and called: "Boss, Lin Wei and the scholar are here." ”

"Hehe, Brother Guo, do you have any new discoveries?" Lin Wei stepped forward with a smile and asked.

Guo Beitang walked out, looked at Li Moyi and said with a faint smile: "Scholar, you are here, I heard Lin Wei say that you want to come to the scene to see, although this is not very in line with the rules, but you can also give it a try, you know this matter, we know, don't talk nonsense outside in the future, if I hear any rumors......"

This guy is still pretending to be garlic, obviously he asked Lin Wei's little guard to invite Li Moyi to come, Li Mo didn't tear it down, and smiled, "I still have pain in my body, Guo Baitang, don't worry, I don't want to be beaten by the board, my mouth is very strict." ”

Guo Beitang nodded, and said: "After you enter the scene, you must be extra careful, you must not touch anything at the scene, ask if you have any questions, and tell me immediately if you find anything......

After a warning, Guo Baitang took Li Moyi into the Zhang family's house, and introduced as he walked: "Zhang Jue's daughter-in-law died on her couch, lying on her back facing the sky, her eyes were not closed, there were pinch marks on her neck, her hyoid bone was broken, and she concluded that she was strangled to death." ”

"Is there any live photo......" Li Mo stopped suddenly, a little taken for granted, and coughed, "Did you find anything abnormal?" ”

Guo Beitang replied: "No, Zhang Jue's daughter-in-law's clothes were messy, and she found signs of aggression, so she suspected that the clothes were put on by the murderer afterwards......

Guo Beitang continued: "...... At that time, everything in the house was lost, and we basically did not touch it. ”

Guo Baitang led Li Moyi into the bedroom of the Zhang family.

Then he said: "Zhang Jue is out of the door on November 1, at that time there were people who saw Zhang at the door to send each other, after a few days, Zhang Jue came back from business only to find that his wife had died in bed, the corpse was already cold, Zhang Jue's whereabouts in those days have been verified to have no problem, we suspect that the town's scoundrel Han took advantage of Zhang Jue's absence to climb over the wall and invade Zhang's family, and then strangled Zhang's and robbed the family's money, several suspected piscals in the town have been arraigned, but there has been no evidence, Lord Song was not allowed to be punished, so no one was willing to confess. ”

As soon as Li Mo came to the scene of the crime for the first time, he immediately smelled a foul smell in his nose after entering the house, knowing that it was the smell of corpses, and his heartbeat suddenly accelerated. Not daring to think about it, his gaze wandered around the room.

As Guo said, the room was really chaotic, the screen was knocked down, the white tent was torn off, the antique vase was knocked to the ground, the round wooden chair was broken and fell to the corner, the wooden cabinet of sandalwood was open, and the clothes were turned all over the floor.

Guo Bantang saw Li Mo looking at the cabinet and was distracted, and provided another clue and said: "When Zhang Jue reported the case, he said that there was originally a small jewelry box in the cabinet, which contained a lot of gold and silver jewelry, but when he came back, he disappeared, and he should have been taken away by the murderer." ”

Li Moyi didn't answer him, and walked to the bed again to look, the corpse had already been removed, the bedding on the bed was messy, and even the sheets had been taken away, except for a puddle of yellowing water on the mattress, only the smell of the corpse remained.

Li Mo covered his nose and retreated, "The Zhang family doesn't seem to be poor, what kind of servants are there in the family?" ”

Guo Beitang said: "Originally, there was an old mother who guarded the door, but Zhang Jue was fired the day before he left home. ”

Li Mo raised his eyebrows, "Such a coincidence??" Does anyone know about this and ask that old lady about it? ”

Unconsciously Li Moyi had already dominated the scene, Lin Weixiao's guard hurriedly replied when he heard this: "I have found it, I have also asked it in person, the old mother is also surnamed Zhang, and she is from Zhangjiazhuang, three miles north of the village, she said that the old man Zhang and his wife quarreled in the room that night, and when she saw Zhang Jue in the courtyard the next morning, Zhang Jue was still angry, because she did not split enough firewood the day before, and scolded her for splitting her head and covering her face, and it happened that Aunt Wang next door came to ask her to go to the east of the village in the afternoon to watch the big play, Zhang Jue was even more angry, Immediately drove her away. ”

"Did the old lady see the Zhang family before leaving?" Li Moyi asked, "Did she hear Zhang Jue and his wife arguing about something?" ”

Lin Wei's little guard scratched his head, shook his head and said, "She said that she didn't dare to eavesdrop on the affairs of her master's family, and Zhang Jue didn't make a lot of noise when they quarreled, so she didn't know, as for whether she saw Zhang in the morning...... I don't think I mentioned it...... I guess I haven't seen it before. ”

Guo Baitang looked at Li Mo and said in a deep voice, "Do you suspect Zhang Jue? Even if the old mother didn't see it, someone confirmed that Zhang Jue had seen Zhang's on the day she left home. ”

Li Moyi shook his head and said, "I just think it's a little suspicious, look elsewhere, Lin Wei's little guard, you go to that Zhang mother to confirm, did she see the Zhang family on the day of dismissal?" An old servant who has been using it for many years and already has feelings like this will not be dismissed if he says dismissal, at least the Zhang family should come forward to persuade him to keep it, right? ”

"Well, I'll go!" Lin Wei's little guard promised and rushed out.

Li Moyi said again: "Guo Beitang, who saw the Zhang family on the day Zhang Jue left home?" Please summon me over and ask me a few words. ”

Guo Beitang brought two guards to investigate the case, one guard left in a hurry to summon someone, and the other guard, at this time, he couldn't help but ask: "Sir, are you still suspicious of Zhang Jue?" ”

"Well, it is necessary to exclude the suspicion of the informant himself in the first place." Li Moyi said.

The guard retorted: "But Zhang Jue didn't have time to commit the crime!" ”

Li Moyi smiled slightly, "So you have to ask clearly, and if they haven't come back yet, I'll tell you a few doubts about this scene first......"

In the expectant gaze of the two, Li Mo took a few steps, pointed to the fragments of the vase and said, "The messiness of this room starts with this antique vase......

"Oh?" Guo Beitang looked at the porcelain shards all over the ground and frowned silently.

"The antique vase broke before the couch, and the fragments scattered all around, and the fragments of the vase were very wide, and they were crushed a lot by other fallen furniture, which shows that the antique vase was broken in front, and the other furniture fell down later, which caused the scene of the furniture pressing the fragments, you look at this messy room, the cat is obvious......

Li Moyi walked up slowly under the puzzled gaze of the two, and said slowly: "At a certain moment, someone was sitting on the edge of the couch, he stayed for a moment, suddenly waved his hand and smashed the antique vase, and then ripped off the white tent with his hand, and then grabbed the low stool at the foot of the bed and threw it and smashed down the screen in the room......"

Li Moyi compared with his hands as he walked, and what he said was exactly the same as the situation at the scene, Guo Beitang and another guard were dumbfounded when they heard it, and their eyes widened more and more as Li Moyi compared.

But when he saw Li Mo come to the wardrobe, he pinched his chin and thought about it, "Hmm...... The murderer is very smart, but there are still negligence, the scene of this burglary is obviously faked, Zhang is weak, and he is at home, the murderer can easily subdue her, where will it be like a world war...... Also, if it was a robbery, the murderer rummaged through Zhang's dresser for Xu Bu but went straight to the wardrobe? ”

paused, "Unless the murderer knows very well where the Zhang family hid the treasure......"

Li Mo pondered for a moment, and muttered in his mouth: "Robbery? …… For money? …… Does Zhang Jue usually care about his reputation? ”

Guo Beitang nodded silently.

Li Mo realized something, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, "There's nothing to see inside, let's go outside and take a look." ”

Li Mo covered his nose and walked out of the room, took a long breath of fresh air in the courtyard, and then looked around, and said, "The walls of the Zhang family are very high, and outsiders are afraid that it will not be so easy to climb in, right?" By the way, which room does the Zhang family's mother live in? ”

The guard pointed to a hut against the wall on the south side of the gate, Li Mo walked over and looked at it, and found nothing, the north side of the small courtyard of the Zhang family house is a firewood house and a simple thatched house next to it, directly opposite is the main house, there is a partial room on the left side of the main house, and on the south side is a warehouse and Zhang's mother's hut, Li Mo found that the partial room was locked at this time, so he asked: "Guo Beitang, have you checked this partial room?" ”

Guo Baitang said: "No, this door has been locked, first, we feel that Zhang Jue has no time to commit the crime, and secondly, it seems useless to check this room, Zhang Jue said that this room is only opened when relatives and friends come to visit, and it is usually locked, so we didn't check it." ”

Li Moyi took a closer look at the copper lock hanging on the door, there was indeed a lot of dust on the lock, but what made Li Mo's eyes light was that the small piece on the keyhole seemed to have been wiped once, so there was only a thin layer of dust, Li Moyi smiled and said: "It seems that the Zhang family has relatives visiting not long ago...... Guo Baitang, can you open the door and let me in to have a look? ”

"This ...... It's okay to open it, but we don't have a key, so we have to ask Zhang Jue to open it, and he is now living at the house of relatives and friends in this Baili Village. With that, Guo Beitang instructed another guard to call Zhang Jue.

"No, I just want to take a look." Li Moyi poked his finger at the window of the side room, pierced a small hole in the paper-paste sandpaper, and looked in.

There was no light in the room, it was pitch black, and if you looked closely, you could only see that the cobwebs in the house were all over, the dust was fluttering, and a wooden bed was empty, and there was nothing Li Moyi imagined...... Zhang Jue should be able to live at home, right? You didn't seal off his home, so why did he stay with a friend for so long? ”

Guo Beitang replied: "Maybe it's because of the death? I've heard he's ready to sell his house and move elsewhere. ”

"Oh, I'm afraid it's not easy to sell such a house......" Li Moyi said casually, and continued to look east and west in the yard, there was no trace of climbing and stepping on the high wall, which ruled out the possibility of outsiders entering the house to commit murder, Guo Beitang looked into the side room through Li Mo's broken window paper, but found nothing.

Soon Aunt Wang next door and Sun Laohan on the opposite side of Zhang's house were all reported, and Li Moyi borrowed the small room of Zhang's mother and asked them one by one.

Aunt Wang is about fifty years old, short and stocky, her simple face is faintly afraid, her demeanor is a little trembling, she will answer whatever she asks, a typical ordinary person - afraid of seeing officials.

The questioning ended quickly, and she was the least involved, but she provided some very important information.

"On that day, I came to find Mazi Zhang, and I wanted to go to the east of the village with her in the afternoon to watch a big opera, and the troupe from Kyoto heard that there are many new plays...... Uh, yes, at first I didn't realize that it was wrong, and as soon as I said it, Zhang Jue scolded Zhang Mazi like crazy, saying that she was not good at looking at home, and she knew how to sneak out to play all day long, giving people a chance to take advantage of it, I saw that the situation was not good and left directly, and then I heard that Zhang Mazi was driven away, alas, she is an honest person. ”

"Give people a chance to take advantage of?? Are you sure you heard it right? What else is relevant besides this sentence? As a neighbor, have you heard any rumors about the Cheung family? Li Moyi asked.

Aunt Wang frowned, thought for a while and said, "I haven't heard anything again, my lord, do you suspect the Zhang family?" Oh, my God! There is no more well-behaved woman in the world than her, she doesn't go out of the door every day, she can't see her shadow for half a year, Zhang Jue doesn't have any relatives and friends, how can there be any rumors about her, there are rumors that it is also related to Zhang Jue. ”

"Oh? Are there any rumors related to Zhang Jue? Let's hear it. Li Moyi said.

"This ...... This...... I can't say it, it's all the neighbors'......" Aunt Wang hesitated, Guo Beitang sneered, "Sister Wang, this is a murder case, if you don't want to say it now, then we have to take you back to the governor's mansion, and listen to you slowly there!" ”

According to the law, all suspects of robbery and other serious crimes can be punished in court, and in this year, no search warrant is required, no arrest warrant is required to arrest people, and whoever wants to be arrested can be arrested.

Aunt Wang trembled with fright, and even said, "I said, I said...... Zhang Jue is often not at home, there are a lot of rumors about him, I heard that he often lingers in the land of spring willows when he takes the opportunity to go to Suzhou to do business, and he also charters a girl in Qingxue Pavilion in Suzhou, saying that he wants to marry home as a concubine, and there is ...... There are also rumors that he has a bit of that with the widow Zhao in the village...... It's not clean......"

Li Moyi and Guo Beitang glanced at each other, Guo Beitang warned Aunt Wang not to say that people were not behind her back, and let her go out with a strict tone, and then called Sun Laohan in.

Sun Laohan is only forty years old, but that face looks like a dried old orange peel, it seems that he has had a very difficult life in this life, when he saw the visitor, Guo Beitang directly asked directly: "Sun Laohan, you are guilty!" ”

Sun Laohan is an honest man, he was frightened and immediately trembled, he was sitting on a low stool, his body pounced forward, and he suddenly fell to the ground, he crawled and shouted in fear: "My lord, the villain is wronged......"

"Wronged? Let me ask you, did you really see Chang in the early morning that day? Do you dare to draw a pledge to prove that the man is really Zhang? Know that perjury is a crime and exile! Guo said threateningly.

Old Man Sun was so frightened that he didn't dare to make a sound for a while, but Li Moyi had a pleasant face, "Uncle Sun, don't be afraid, you can tell me slowly about the situation when you saw Zhang Jue go out that day, pay attention, what I want to listen to is all the details of the woman at that time, what she was wearing, the way she walked, what she said, what was the difference in her expression and tone?" You have to tell me everything, don't be afraid, as long as you make it clear and clear, no one will embarrass you. ”

Sun Laohan calmed down a little, he raised his head, recalled and said: "That's right, alas, I got up to grind beans in the yard on the fourth watch of that day, and it was not yet dawn when I made fresh tofu, I loaded the tofu cart and went out, and when I turned around and closed the door, I heard the sound of the door of Zhang's house, Zhang Jue walked out of the door, I was a little puzzled in my heart, Zhang Jue went out to do goods in the past, either at noon or in the middle of the night, I saw him go out early in the morning for the first time in a few years, and what is even more strange is that it was not Zhang's mother who came out with him but Zhang's family, I lived in the opposite door and saw the Zhang family marry into the Zhang family, but in a few years, I saw the Zhang family go out for the second time, and I couldn't help but look at it a few more times......"

Guo Beitang asked, "Can you see clearly?" Is that really Zhang's? ”

Sun Laohan shook his head, "My old eyes are dizzy, and it was not yet dawn at that time, so I really didn't see the woman's face clearly, but her dress was not much different from the Zhang family I saw half a year ago. ”

paused, "What she said at the time was: The husband needs to be cautious when he goes, and the concubine hopes that the husband will return home safely as soon as possible...... Then she suddenly covered her mouth and chuckled, Zhang Jue said goodbye to her, and said hello to me, and when I looked back, the Zhang family had already gone home and closed the door. ”

After saying that, he suddenly chuckled? chuckled......" Li Moyi muttered to himself, and suddenly sneered, "I understand, Sun Laohan, don't tell anyone about what we ask you today, if you go back, if you hear any rumors...... Guo Baotang will arrest you as a murderer! ”

"The villain doesn't dare, the little one doesn't dare......" Sun Laohan trembled and left.