Aunt Huang, these days, the old man has been letting him make fish, but I haven't seen him eat a few bites. ”

"If you don't eat it, isn't it cheaper for you little kings and calves? Why, I'm not happy. Aunt Huang glanced at the boy who spoke, and sneered, "Don't think I don't know, you drank a lot of fish soup yesterday." ”

Probably this is the most comfortable and relaxing place for the Liu family since his wife's accident. Left and right, whether it is the old man or the dignified maids who serve in the front yard, they will not come to this messy place.

At most, sometimes the food cooked is not to the taste of the master, and the housekeeper will reprimand him. But for those who are used to them, it is also insignificant, and there is Huang Damiang, the chef in charge, on the left and right.

The people inside were talking to me every word, and they heard Liu Er shouting the old sister-in-law of the Huang family. At this time, Aunt Huang saw that there were two handsome men and women in elegant clothes behind Liu Er.

Although she is only cooking, she also has some eyes. Just looking at Liu Er's appearance, he knew that these two people had a great background, and they definitely didn't want to see the stove on a whim. So, she explained a few more words, and then turned and walked out.

"Sister-in-law of the Huang family, these two came to investigate the case with the county magistrate, and they want to see the wooden board of the carriage sent before." Liu Er looked at Aunt Huang with a suspicious face, and hurriedly explained.

"Oh, what's so good-looking, dirty and smelly, and I don't know which monkey cub peed on it, it's very smoky." When Aunt Huang mentioned it, she looked depressed, "Yesterday, the old man sent it, and I asked people to split it into firewood and stew fish." ”

"Auntie, are you sure that board is stained with excrement?" Xu Chu looked directly at her face and hurriedly asked.

Aunt Huang was stunned for a moment, obviously not reacting. It wasn't until I understood her words that I was a little stunned and puzzled. How could a good girl's family still ask such a shameful thing so urgently.

However, although she was surprised in her heart, she didn't show it on her face, just shook her head and said, "What this lady said is too elegant, but I am sure that there are traces of peeing on it, and there is some filth on it." ”

"When the old man sent it that day, I saw that the board was very hard and good, but there was some damage on the side. At that time, I was thinking about taking it home and letting my house repair it as a tabletop. Who knew that as soon as I picked it up, I rubbed my hands with the smell of urine......"

Xu Chu and Xiao Qinglang glanced at each other and confirmed the guess in their hearts. But all this is speculation, and there is no evidence. What's more, although they have solved the mystery of the carriage, there are still many mysteries that are still confusing.

The two confirmed their conjecture and did not delay any longer. Thinking about yesterday's autopsy, Xu Chu had deduced that the murder weapon that cut off the head was Chai He, so he glanced at Chai He in front of the stove and asked: "When I was at home, I often cooked, and the biggest headache at that time was chopping wood and lighting a fire." But I see that your firewood stack in front of the stove is very neat, and the size of the firewood is also uniform......"

Aunt Huang didn't know what she meant, but she didn't mean to sigh, so she smiled: "The firewood in the house is generally sold by the croppers who come to the market. She glanced at the firewood in front of the stove, pointed and said, "These are all sent from outside, if there is a big one, just use an axe to chop it, it will take no effort." ”

"Huh? I thought I used a wood knife to chop wood! ”

"The people who help in the kitchen are not very strong people, the axe is still easy to use, and even the firewood that was smashed and chopped is broken. The hatchet knife is thin and hard to use, so we don't use that thing all the time. Aunt Huang explained simply, and sent Xiao Qinglang and Xu Chu to the door.

Before leaving, Xiao Qinglang deliberately went around the firewood room to take a look. Sure enough, at the base of the firewood room wall, the two saw two axes, but there was no trace of the firewood knife. The scattered wood chips and chisel marks on the ground were also formed by the fall of the axe.

That is, there is no firewood knife in Liu's house, so it does not have the conditions for beheading, and the firewood knife was not brought out by the murderer from Liu's house.

Leaving the back kitchen, Xu Chu and Xiao Qinglang went to see Shengzi who was driving the carriage that day. But no matter how he asked, he couldn't tell what was going on, only that when the carriage was surrounded by bandits, he lost consciousness with a pain in the back of his head. The rest of the words are not much different from what Liu Er said.

Before leaving his house, Liu Er also came back, and specially carefully opened the pillowcase and secretly stuffed the pearl to Xiao Qinglang. sighed and said: "This is the pearl, and I have to hide it tightly, otherwise I am afraid that Shengzi will be frightened again." ”

After all, it is unlucky to think about the things on the dead people in vain.

After working for a long time, the sky was already a little hazy and gloomy, and it seemed that another snowstorm was brewing.

Xu Chu didn't want to delay for one more day, so after asking Xiao Qinglang, the two went straight to the courtyard where Liu Zhen lived before his death. Of course, behind the main house of the courtyard, there are rooms for several maids, and there is a special wing room for Zhu'er, who was transferred to her side as a personal maid.

The two of them didn't say anything, just looked at the scenery in the courtyard all the way. Dead vines and old trees, small bridges and flowing water, are completely a condensed version of the essence of the entire house. To be honest, such a small but delicate courtyard is much better than many official residences in the capital.

When he saw the housekeeper's mother-in-law, Xu Chu stepped forward and said, "I also bothered my aunt to take us to see your wife's room and Zhu'er's room." ”

The housekeeper was stunned and wondered: "What is there to see in Madame's room, Master Zhang has been here several times, but he didn't find anything, and he still returned empty-handed." ”

However, although she was puzzled, she did not delay in her movements, and took the two of them directly to the main house. On the wall in the middle of the hall in the house, there is a picture of Tang Yin's ladies, and the left and right are all mahogany furniture, which is simple and elegant.

Xu Chu's gaze swept over the outer room, and then followed Xiao Qinglang's side into the inner room, the transparent room was slightly cold because there was no owner's breath, which made Xu Chu's nose itch again. She rubbed it and endured it.

Xiao Qinglang looked around, walked to the tables and chairs in the room, and casually flipped through the sewing tape on the table. But I saw that the colorful silk threads inside were very complete, and there were embroidery products on the side, and it was considered that the stitches were fine and even worked hard.

"Your wife still likes embroidery?" Xu Chu saw Xiao Qinglang staring at the needlework, and also looked over, but it could be seen that there were still some rags in the needlework scissors, but he didn't find anything suspicious. But instinct told her that since she could attract Xiao Qinglang's attention, it was by no means as simple as what she saw.

"My wife didn't embroider anything before, but since the boy and the young lady left home one after another, they began to embroider small objects from time to time." The housekeeper sighed and said regretfully, "Since Mrs. Beat doesn't need to teach her son and young lady, she often uses this to pass the time, and there are a few times when Mrs. I see Mrs. specially take the soles of the shoes for the master and sew the uppers." Thinking that it was almost the New Year's Day, Mrs. wanted to surprise the master, but unfortunately God didn't open his eyes, and a good person suffered this catastrophe. ”

"You two must help catch the real murderer of Madame."

While talking like this, Xu Chu had already walked to the wardrobe, and when he opened it, he saw many clothes with bright colors and excellent textures. The cloak is large, the jacket is skirted, and the cotton sleeves are extremely complete. It can be seen that Liu Wengui is really willing to buy a head for Liu Zhen's family, according to what Xu Chu saw, only this cabinet of winter clothes, I am afraid that the price is expensive.

Xu Chu rummaged a little, and saw that most of those Luo skirt jackets and cloaks or big coats were matched. Such an exquisite collocation made her feel a sigh in her heart. As for what he sighed, he probably felt that such a husband and wife relationship was indeed rare, and in his previous life, how many men ignored the needs of their wives under the pretext of life pressure.

Next, she checked Liu Zhen's jewelry box, and even the mattress and the furnishings in the house. However, except for the jewelry head that Liu Wengui purchased with a lot of money, there was nothing else to find.

Just as she came down from the bed, the hand holding the bed was pressed hard. She fell on the bed with a thud, and when she raised her hand again, she saw a dent in her palm.

Xiao Qinglang frowned slightly, stretched out his hand and lifted the sheets, but saw that there was a pearl that was not too big or too small under the list.

Xu Chu pinched the pearl, and then took out the one that Liu Er had just given to Xiao Qinglang from his arms, and the two were evenly sized and there was not much difference.

"How so?" She was wondering when she suddenly heard a rush of footsteps, and then saw a bright and lively figure rushing outside.

"Sister Xu, I'm here again." But when he saw Xiao Mingzhu, who was in high spirits, he ran over in a fiery red riding suit. If Xiao Qinglang hadn't stopped her halfway, I'm afraid she would have jumped on Xu Chu like a little steel cannon.

Xu Chu hadn't seen her for a long time, and thought that she and Hua Wu were so chic in the capital that she was not sick, and she remembered that she had to run until after the New Year's Festival. Which Cheng thought that he would see her at this time. She blinked, looked back, and said strangely, "Where's the dude?" ”

Xiao Mingzhu came to Xu Chu's side, his face turned red and said: "He is busy making up for the dowry, my father said that if you want to be hired, you have to ask for treasures from the east, west, north and south." As she spoke, she saw Xu Chu's expression of surprise and banter, so she stomped her feet and said, "How can Sister Xu learn more and more from the third uncle." ”

Xiao Qinglang raised his eyebrows silently, "......"