Shen Mingyue's husband's name is Zhang Cheng, although he has never gone to a private school or studied, he is a shrewd and capable young man, and he was the one who first followed the village chief Zhang Youfu to do the medicinal herb business. He was born upright, and he had a mouth that could speak well, and he was the matchmaker for many of the businesses of the medicinal herb shops in Nanwang Village and Luoyang City.

It's a pity that this Zhang Cheng's luck is a little worse, and he met a few mad dogs on the way back to Nanwang Village to talk about business in Luoyang City, although he got his life back from under the mouths of those mad dogs, he was bitten and disfigured. During the treatment period, because he took a large number of slightly toxic drugs, he became a waste of strong and dry outside.

Since his disfigurement, Zhang Chengcheng has never walked out of the door of Zhang's house, and he refuses to even go out of the small room where he lives on weekdays. It seems that he has become the second fool in Nanwang Village besides Zhang Donglin.

The wife was killed, but Zhang Cheng, who was the husband, did not appear, if it is common sense, this is extremely abnormal. But because every household in Nanwang Village knew about Zhang Cheng's affairs, he didn't show up, but it became a normal thing.

The scene of the crime was in the Zhang ancestral hall in Nanwang Village, and this ancestral hall is usually locked. When he entered the door, Chang Tai deliberately checked the lock hanging on the ancestral hall, and there was no blood stain on it, and from the description of the village chief Zhang Youfu, he did not hear any description related to changing the lock, so it can be determined that the existing lock on the door is the one that usually locks the ancestral hall.

So, how did Shen Mingyue, an ordinary daughter-in-law of the Zhang family, open the door lock of the ancestral hall and enter the scene of the murder?

"The key to this Zhang ancestral hall shouldn't be owned by everyone, right?"

"Keys?" Zhang Youfu was stunned for a moment, and then realized something, and quickly explained: "What the poor master said is right, the key to this ancestral hall is indeed not owned by everyone. There are three keys to the ancestral hall. One is with me, but it is handed over to my wife for safekeeping on weekdays. I'm careless, and I often walk around outside, and I don't have the key with me, and I feel uneasy, and I'm afraid that I'll lose it. The other one is in the hands of the old ancestor, and the other is in the hands of the old Zhang Tou'er, who is in charge of cleaning the ancestral hall. ”

"Ancestor?"

"Oh, yes!" Zhang Youfu nodded: "The ancestor is the daughter of our Zhang family, and when he was young, he made a lot of sacrifices to protect our Zhang family. Later, when I got older, I didn't get married, and I kept holding it in the village. Because of the relationship between the seniors, no matter men, women and children in our village, they all call her the ancestor.

The ancestor usually lived alone, and the courtyard was next to the ancestral hall. But then again, although the ancestor has the key in her hand, every time she goes to the ancestral hall, she is invited by us, and she doesn't need the key in her hand.

This old Zhang Touer is a widower, and he usually lives alone, but he does not live next to the ancestral hall, but next to the broken temple in the east of the village. He was lazy, neither farming, nor growing medicine, nor did he know how to make a living, so he really had no choice but to arrange a job for him to clean in the ancestral hall, and then give him some subsidies so that he would not starve to death. ”

Chang Tai nodded, walked over to Shen Mingyue's side, and squatted down. Shen Mingyue was half-lying on the ground, with a hit wound on the back of her head, and there was a lot of blood on the wound. In the corner of the offering table, blood stains were also found, as well as several long strands of women's hair. It can be inferred from this that Shen Mingyue accidentally fell when she was retreating, and the back of her head hit the corner of the offering table, which led to hemorrhage in the back of her head, coma, and finally death.

Shen Mingyue is not an ancestral hall that he went to alone, at least before he died, he had a pull with someone. In addition to the folds of her clothes, several grip wounds were found on her wrists. Chang Tai secretly compared it and decided that the person who had a dispute with Shen Mingyue was a man.

Among the three people who have the key to the ancestral hall, the only men are Zhang Youfu and the old Zhang Tou'er who is in charge of cleaning, among them, Zhang Youfu is the most suspicious.

Chang Tai thought about it, so he glanced at Zhang Youfu a few more times. Zhang Youfu noticed it, and his expression became a little unnatural.

While inspecting Shen Mingyue's body, Chang Tai found a shriveled Buddha's hand. That Buddha's hand was just under Shen Mingyue's body. On the hands of the Buddha, there is no dust.

"How often is this ancestral hall cleaned?"

"According to the rules of the village, it should be swept once a day, but the old man is lazy and only comes to clean once every three or five days. If there is any major event in the village and you need to use this ancestral hall in advance, you will notify him in advance, and he will come to clean it. ”

Chang Tai nodded, and took out the shriveled Buddha's hand from under Shen Mingyue's body: "This Buddha's hand, but it's a thing in the village?" ”

Everyone present looked at each other, not knowing how to answer. In the end, it was the village chief Zhang Youfu who opened his mouth.

What does it mean when I ask? The nearby villages all know that our Nanwang Village lives by planting this Buddha's hand. Therefore, this Buddha's hand is a thing in the village, but if the official asks that this Buddha's hand belongs to the person in the village, it is difficult to say...... may also grow into his daughter-in-law's own child. ”

"Nonsense, this Buddha's hand is definitely not our family's." Shen Mingyue's mother-in-law didn't even look at it, so she went back directly: "Since my family Cheng'er suffered, our family has never touched this thing. ”

"Poor master, I seem to have seen this Buddha's hand." Shen Mingyue's father-in-law was not as impulsive as his mother, but stepped forward and took a closer look before saying, "This is Zhang Donglin's, the fool who just stayed with the village chief." Look, there is a small hole in this Buddha's hand, which was originally tied with a red rope, and this red rope and this Buddha's hand are hung on Zhang Donglin's fool. ”

"Are you sure it's Zhang Donglin?" Chang Tai asked.

Shen Mingyue's father-in-law replied: "It's just that I've seen it, I'm not sure, but there are a lot of people in the village who have seen Zhang Donglin wearing this thing, and you can also ask people carefully." This Zhang Donglin is the same age as my Zhang Chengnai, but my Zhang Cheng is not successful in his studies, and he doesn't like to study when he is a child. Zhang Donglin has studied in a private school and has also taken the township examination. ”

"Have you passed the test?" Chang Tai asked.

"I passed the exam, and the grades were quite good, just when our whole village thought that there was going to be an official in the Zhang family, Zhang Donglin's grandfather passed away. According to the regulations of our dynasty, this close relative passed away, and he had to keep filial piety for three years before he could participate in the imperial examination again. This Zhang Donglin will boil it, wait. When he was finally ready to take the exam again, his grandmother passed away again. This Zhang Donglin was deflated all of a sudden, thinking that this was the will of heaven, so he smashed and burned all the pen, ink, paper and inkstones at home. Subsequently, he also followed the young people in the village to start buying and selling this medicinal herb.

He is a scholar, and when he starts to do things, he will inevitably have a clear eye. Just because he took a batch of bergamot with not very good ingredients to sell it in the medicinal herb shop in the city, because of the price, he was deliberately embarrassed by the shopkeeper of the pharmacy, saying that all the bergamot he sent was fake. This Zhang Donglin is a person who wants to save face, and he is honest and sincere, and after an argument with the pharmacy shopkeeper, he returned home and was a little crazy. ”

"How many years has this Donglin been crazy?"

"It's been more than two years. In the beginning, I only got sick occasionally, but then somehow the disease got worse and worse. Of course, there are times when you are sober, but there are not many times when you are in a situation. When you go crazy, you walk around the village, but it doesn't hurt people much. Shen Mingyue's father-in-law sighed as he spoke: "Because his illness is related to this Buddha's hand, he must have such a thing on his body when he starts to get sick." His father and his mother deliberately dried a few Buddha's hands, wore them with red ropes, and hung them on his body. When he walked around the village, he had seen all the big guys. ”

"Yes, yes, Zhang Cheng's father is right when he says this, this Zhang Donglin does often have such a Buddha's hand on his body." Zhang Youfu also hurriedly agreed.

After listening to the two of them, it happened that the servants in the government came over, and after Chang Tai handed over the scene to the servants, he took Xiao Shengzi to Zhang Donglin's house together.

On the way from the ancestral hall to Zhang Donglin's house, Chang Tai found a lot of bloodstains, but these bloodstains were not continuous, but sometimes appeared, sometimes not, and all that fell were dotted bloodstains. The bloodstains were gone to the door of a house.

Chang Tai instructed Xiao Shengzi to call the door, and after four or five calls, a woman in her fifties opened the courtyard door. When her woman saw that there were two yamen in front of the door, she turned white with fright on the spot.

"Poor master, this is Zhang Donglin's mother Ma." Zhang Youfu came along, and when he saw the door open, he whispered behind him.

"What are the two officials doing in my house? But what happened to my family Donglin? Ma asked nervously: "Is there something wrong with my Donglin?" ”

"You live in the village, don't you know that there was a murder in the ancestral hall?"

"Homicide?" Ma Shi panicked suddenly, "Is my Donglin someone harmed?" ”

Chang Tai frowned, because Ma's reaction was not at all like what a normal mother should have.

"No, it's not that your family Donglin was killed, but that your family Donglin appeared at the scene of the victim's death, and he was also the first person to find the deceased. Ma, you have to answer my next question truthfully. Where was your son Zhang Donglin last night? ”

"I don't know, I really don't know." Ma shook his head anxiously: "My son is sick, and when he is sick, he is a little crazy, like a child who can't listen to words." When he is sick, he likes to run outside. At first, his father and I would follow him, but it can be seen that he just wandered around the village and didn't cause any trouble, and gradually he stopped following. Anyway, when he gets tired of walking, he doesn't want to go, or he will come back when he is hungry. ”

"It was the same last night?"

"Hmm!" Ma nodded: "The door of my house is open from morning to night, but I am worried that when my son comes back, he will not be able to enter." There is nothing valuable to worry about at home, and it will be open when it is open. ”

"Do you know this thing? Is it your son Zhang Donglin's? Chang Tai took out the shriveled Buddha's hand and showed it to Ma.

Ma only glanced at it, then pursed his lips and nodded.