Under the guidance of the officer, we came to the courtyard where the four girls were arranged, and the officer stammered and told us about the experience of this morning, saying: "The lowly duty was ordered to send the girl in this courtyard back, and after shouting at the door for a long time no one opened the door, he pushed the door in, and then saw the door of the girl surnamed Wen wide open, and it was now lying there in this position, and the other little girl, no, no, no, is missing." ”

The three of us took a look at Yuan Xiu's room first, and the room had never moved. Looking at the gentle room again, the corpse was lying in the middle of the ground, the blood stains on the ground had solidified, and it seemed that he had been dead for at least two hours.

I asked the officer, "Have you touched Miss Wen's body?" ”

The servant shook his head tremblingly, "No, seeing that this is it, the lowly position is so frightened that his legs are weak, so dare to step forward?" ran out to report the news just when he ran into Tang's guards, and the adults came over later. ”

I glanced at Tang Li, and Tang Li nodded in confirmation.

Over there, Chu Nian walked over to observe, and I said to the officer: "Go to the government office, inform Lord Nian of this, and ask him to send the official and the servant to check the scene of the murder." ”

"No!" The errand officer ran away without replying to his head like an amnesty.

There are no outsiders, and the three of us are not so evasive, Tang Li reminded me, "I'm afraid that Nian won't have time to come here for a while." ”

I wanted to ask why, but then Su Qian's accident sounded, and he sighed: "It seems that some of you are busy today." ”

"There was a long drag on the ground, and it was obvious that there was a struggle." Chu Nian pointed to the traces of dragging on the ground.

I knelt on one knee at the side of the deceased, observed the gentle stalemate face, and reported: "My eyes were open, my expression was unwilling, and what was written in my outstretched hand was unfortunately erased by the murderer." ”

"Judging from the footprints, the perpetrator is a man, which is quite similar to the footprints of the Drunken Wind Building." Tang Li checked around, "Judging from the traces in the room, it should be that Yuan Xiu was kidnapped first, and then Wen Ya was killed. ”

Chu Nian found that Wen Ya's left hand reached under his abdomen, "Tang Li, come and help." ”

He had a wound on his arm, and with the help of Tang Li, he turned the body over.

I stepped forward to check the wound, took out Azhu's dagger from my arms and measured it, sure enough, it was not this one, I looked up and said to Chu Nian: "Childe, the deceased was stabbed in the heart with a sharp weapon and killed with a knife. This wound is the same as the wound on Jiang Zhong's body, and the murderer and the murder weapon should be the same person. ”

Chu Nian didn't seem to intend to deal with me seriously, just responded perfunctorily, his attention was still on his left hand, trying to break out Wen Ya's hand that was inserted into his clothes, but his body was too stiff.

Tang Li suggested from the side, "Childe, why don't you untie your clothes and take a look, we are not disrespectful to investigate the case, and I believe that Miss Wen will not be blamed if she has a spirit in the sky." ”

Chu Nian got up and looked at me and said lightly, "Come, my lord, let's go out." ”

Leave me alone?

Although I can understand what Chu Nian meant, I can face the corpse alone......

With no one to accompany me, I was a little scared, so I bowed to Wen Ya's corpse first, constantly hinting in my heart that I was dead and would not cheat the corpse, and then chanted a few verses to be considered excessive, so I carefully untied Wen Ya's coat.

Her hand was so protective of the purse, I carefully pulled out a purse, only to find that it was a semi-finished product, there was no embroidery on it, but there were a lot of Chinese medicines stuffed in it, among which Angelica Angelica was the most.

Is this in this way like we hint at the murderer?

How do you guess this dumb riddle?

I wrapped my purse in a white handkerchief, rebuttoned the corpse's clothes, and went outside to show them something.

Chu Nian removed a piece of Bai Zhi from his purse and sniffed it, looking at Bai Zhi in his hand thoughtfully, not knowing what he was thinking.

Tang Li saw that the purse was in the same dazed state as me, and asked me puzzled, "My lord, what is the solution?" As far as my subordinates know, a few girls are also gentle and like the mixture of herbs and flowers, what does she want to explain to us? ”

I don't know what happened last night to offend Chu Nian, I don't want to touch the nail anymore, so I gave Tang Li a look and asked him to ask Chu Nian.

Tang Li was both aggrieved and helpless between us, "Childe, do you see something?" ”

Chu Nian shook his head very calmly and glanced at me, "Are the other two girls safe?" ”

I assured with confidence: "Childe, don't worry, there will be no problem with Tang Li's arrangement." ”

Chu Nian nodded quietly, and suggested: "To ensure safety, it is better to secretly send it to the prefect's yamen for temporary detention, and before the water comes out, it is best not to make any more extraneous branches." ”

Tang Li agreed very much, and took the initiative to ask for orders to escort Ah Zhu and Ling Pei'er, Chu Nian agreed and asked Tang to leave the Su family to join us.

There were two of us left, Chu Nian glanced sideways at the corpse in the house, just when the post station steward and two messengers heard that the dead man had died, he ran out of breath, and before Chu Nian could pass his eyes, I first instructed the steward to cover the corpse with a white cloth, and sent someone to block the courtyard and wait for the government to come to check.

On the way out of the post house, Chu Nian's anger seemed to be too much, and he took the initiative to talk to me, "Are you blaming yourself?" ”

I really couldn't escape his eyes, I didn't hide it, and nodded honestly: "I have some feelings when I have been in contact with them in the past two days." ”

"Oh? What do you feel? ”

I glanced sideways at him, he was still as indifferent as usual, as if the life and death of strangers, sadness, and joy had nothing to do with him, it didn't matter, obviously he wasn't like this before.

I sighed in my heart, "I just feel that I am luckier than them, they and their families are in trouble, either life and death are separated, or they cannot love, and even their own life and death are unpredictable." If I'm like them, I have no talent and no appearance, I'm afraid I won't live long. ”

"Every man has his own life, and he cannot complain about others." Chu Nian seemed to be a little moved when he heard what I said, but the slightest touch in his eyes was swallowed up by indifference in a blink of an eye, and he looked sideways at me, as if admonishing, and said, "Besides, you are not them, you are me first." Chu Nian can talk well and laugh occasionally, but he can never be cowardly and vulnerable because of a little thing. ”

"What Childe said is that I will reflect on it." Alas, again to be classed.

This happened early in the morning, and I didn't have time to change my clothes, and when I went back and changed into clean clothes and came to the door of the post house, I found that Chu Nian had also changed, and I led the horse and waited patiently.

I saw that there was no one left and right of the post house, so I leaned over and whispered, "Childe, are you going too?" ”

"No way?"

"Nothing." I regretted it after blurting it out, isn't this nonsense? This is not a small case, can Chu Nian not go? So he quickly explained, "The subordinate means that you are more injured than me, or I will leave with Tang, I must remember the details clearly and come back to ...... you and report to you."

Chu Nian killed with a slap in the eye, and I immediately got on the horse and didn't follow.

I didn't say anything all the way, and when I came to Su Mansion, I happened to meet Tang Li, and at this time, Zhao Zhutou came out of it, and when he saw me, he immediately greeted me, "My lord, but I received a report from the officer?" Arrived so timely? ”

"No, I just heard on the road, can you be there?"

"I've just arrived, so please please, but I'm sorry for my family.

Nian Zhongjun, who heard the movement, also came out to greet him, and when he met, he knocked on the side, "Xia Guan heard that there were assassins in the post house yesterday, and my lord is not in a good state today, but he was disturbed?" ”

"Okay, how was the scene?" I deliberately acted upset.

Nian Zhongjun sighed with a sad face, "My lord, you can go in and see." ”

Nian Zhongjun saw that I didn't want to say more and didn't want to ask too much, so he could only lead me to the inner room from the side, and as soon as he entered the door, he saw Su Qian's body falling on the beam.

It's just that I didn't see it overnight, and the two good big living people were gone!

Tang Li went in to check everywhere, while Chu Nian followed behind me and secretly observed.

"Nian, can you ask who first found the deceased?" I glanced at the scene, and it was all from the government.

It was Zhao Zhutou who answered, "Lord Hui, it is Lord Su's attendant, he said that in the past, Lord Su got up early in the morning, but today he didn't, he felt something was wrong and knocked the door open, and the result was that we saw it like this." ”

"What about the letter?"

"Letter?" Nian Zhongjun reacted, and quickly took it out of his arms and handed it to me, "This letter is on that table, and the notes have been checked, and it is Master Su's notes." The lower official also ordered someone to measure the size of Master Su's shoes, but it was the same size as the footprints left at the scene, you said, could it be that he killed it? In order to cover him, Yi Qinghuan deliberately did not say anything to cover up the truth. ”

I didn't say anything, just looked up at the corpse hanging from the beam of the house and asked Nian Zhongjun, "Has Lord Nian seen Lord Su's way of hanging himself?" ”

Nian Zhongjun looked up in a daze, with a hint of surprise on his face, "This situation of Lord Su is indeed rare, but don't hide it from your lord, the investigation of cases is generally to catch the head and make a mistake to investigate, and the lower officials are rarely involved, if it is not ......"

He looked at me, and I sighed helplessly, it was because of officials like Nian Zhongjun in ancient times that so many unjust cases were created.

After such a comparison, I suddenly found that purgatory is the most humane department, whether it is a superior or a subordinate, it will be carefully investigated, and there will be no disclosure.

Raised his head and glanced at Su Qian regretfully, straightened the Taishi chair lying on the ground, looked at the distance between the deceased's ankle and the chair, looked sideways at Nian Zhongjun and asked, "Lord Nian, I am so anxious to close the case for fear that it will insult your reputation as a clean official for many years, right?" ”

Nian Zhongjun was speechless when I asked, and he was very ashamed.

"Let people put Master Su down and pass him on for an autopsy, it's uncomfortable to hang like this. Also, call that attendant, I have something to ask. ”

Nian Zhongjun hurriedly ordered someone to put the body down, and after ordering it to go down, he came over and whispered and confessed: "My lord, in fact, it's not that the lower officials are in a hurry to close the case, but the general gets the news and puts pressure on them, and the lower officials don't want the deceased to die in vain......"

"Jiang Shenjiang will go there and say, I am sure to tell you now, the murderer is not Su Qian, because not only he died today, but also a dancing girl also died in the courtyard of the post house, and from the perspective of time, the time of death of the two is extremely close. Nian, how do you think a corpse that has fallen here for at least two hours has committed a crime and killed the people in the inn. ”