"General An is coming back to Beijing? The old man has lost his welcome, and the young general should not be surprised. Duan Nantian glanced at An Ruiqi and Mo Niancong, who were standing in the middle of the main hall, and said with a cruel smile.

Duan Shangshu was polite. Xia Guan came to see Lord Duan today, in order to check the cause of Duan Gongzi's death, and asked Lord Duan to make it convenient and allow the prefect's yamen to open the coffin for an autopsy. An Ruiqi smiled back and said without humility or arrogance.

Duan Nantian couldn't hide the resentment in his heart after hearing this, and he took the case, glaring at them viciously, his tone was full of disdain and annoyance: "The March period has passed, and the murderer of the dog is still at large, and now you still have the face to bring up the old things again, aren't you afraid that the old man will go to the emperor and treat Mo Zhifu and Mo Shilang for the crime of incompetence?" ”

An Ruiqi faced Duan Nantian's anger without flinching, and calmly persuaded: "Lord Duan, please calm your anger. Xia Guan believes that this case is full of suspicions, and the suspicious points have yet to be thoroughly investigated. If the case is hastily closed, the real murderer is allowed to go unpunished, and an innocent woman is unjustly charged and dies, I am afraid that it is not what Duan Gongzi wants. ”

"Why should General An talk about dogs? The words are high-sounding, but in the final analysis, you have come to the old man again and again, just to save the girl's life. Although the old man is dim, he can't see your thoughts. After speaking, Duan Nantian squeezed out a sneer from between his teeth.

When Mo Niancong heard this, his face immediately turned red, and he was ashamed of himself. Thinking that since he took over the murder case, he was bent on clearing Ning Yue's name, but he ignored that as a parent official, he still owed Duan Ming under Jiuquan justice. The suspect is a poor little maid, the place of the crime is the mansion of Lord Ning, the minister of the humerus, and the deceased is a notorious and notorious son, and later because of the arrogance of the deceased's father, the Ning Mansion fell into a miserable situation of incomprehension. It is normal for people to have pity for the people of Ning Mansion and others, believing that they are innocent and affected, but in the face of justice, there is no room for the slightest selfishness, perhaps it is precisely because of this partiality that Mo Niancong's eyes have been blinded that he has been holding back, and he still can't see the whole picture of the case. Duan Ming was domineering and resentful everywhere, but in the end he died in Ning Mansion, is this really just a coincidence? There are many servants in the Ning Mansion, and Duan Ming, who is about to become their second lady's son-in-law, has no one to serve after entering the mansion, and even no one knows about the bleeding later, isn't it strange? I would be so foolish to believe their testimony! Mo Niancong churned inward, clenched his fists, raised his head and looked at An Ruiqi, but saw him with a calm and breezy attitude, and couldn't help but be stunned: Could it be that Brother An had already noticed that the case records were fraudulent, so he insisted on opening the coffin for an autopsy? Or perhaps, all he cares about is whether Miss Ning can get revenge?

An Ruiqi did not argue, but replied leisurely: "No matter who the lower official intervened in this case for, Lord Duan should understand that the lower official's determination to pursue the real murderer is true. If the murderer can be apprehended, wouldn't it be a good thing for Lord Duan? ”

Duan Nantian snorted, sat down slowly, pondered for a long time, and said: "I have heard that Major General An is far-sighted and intelligent, and he has been awarded the title of Major General after only a few expeditions. ”

Hearing Duan Nantian's sudden ridicule, An Ruiqi's face did not change, and he replied lightly: "Lord Duan is overrated." ”

"Actually, there is nothing wrong with opening the coffin for an autopsy. The old man didn't dare to try to make friends with General An, he only hoped that the young general would remember the old man's kindness today, and he wouldn't hinder the old man in the future. Duan Nantian pretended to be pitiful and said.

An Ruiqi felt funny when he heard it, Duan Nantian was really a treacherous and cunning, so he owed him a favor. Considering that it was imperative to open the coffin for an autopsy, An Ruiqi did not doubt that he had him, and immediately agreed.

A group of domestic servants with spears lined up in two columns to follow Duan Nantian, and Mo Zhifu, Mo Niancong, and An Ruiqi, who were a few steps behind Duan Nantian, were surrounded by dozens of prefect officials who were carrying iron trees on their shoulders or large knives hanging from their waists. Both teams had the intention of bluffing, and they didn't give in to each other, and they finally reached the backyard of Duanfu. Out of surprise, there was no depression, coldness, misery and loneliness in front of Duan Ming's grave. At this time, more than a dozen men in coarse cloth clothes were busy carrying mud, sand and stones, apparently repairing the cemetery. Seeing such a battle, the big men were so shocked that they stopped their work one after another, looking left and right, panicking, and then the housekeeper of Duan Mansion showed their eyes, and they dispersed in a hurry. Duan Nantian looked around at the dusty and messy cemetery with a solemn expression, thinking that his beloved son would have to go through such torture after his death, his heart was extremely sad, and he couldn't speak for a long time.

Seeing that the sun was rising, Duan Nantian gritted his teeth and said sharply: "Let's start." As soon as the words fell, the servants who stopped in front of Mo Zhifu and his party redivided into two columns, making way for them to pass.

Under the burning gaze of the servants, Mo Zhifu shrunk his shoulders and led the servants timidly to Duan Ming's tombstone. After Mo Niancong took over the iron catalpa from the hands of a servant, he deliberately turned his back to Duan Nantian and the others, and took the lead in digging up the loess covering the coffin. After a stick of incense, the coffin was revealed in front of everyone's eyes. An Ruiqi, who was inconvenient to come forward to help, stood side by side with Duan Nantian, secretly observing Duan Nantian's every move, in case he suddenly changed his hexagram and obstructed the actions of the prefect and the government, but Duan Nantian did not make trouble after all. At the moment when the lid of the coffin was opened, An Ruiqi vaguely saw that Duan Nantian's eyes became moist when he turned his head.

"What's the matter?" Mo Niancong wiped the beads of sweat on his forehead with his sleeve, gasped, and shouted.

"Subordinates are coming!" After answering the cry that came out of nowhere, he shrunk his neck and ran over in a panic.

Mo Zhifu felt sorry for Mo Niancong's suffering, and couldn't help but point the finger at him for dereliction of duty, so when he saw him walking past him, he grabbed his shoulder fiercely and threatened in a low voice: "This matter cannot be lost, this time you have to examine it carefully!" ”

The autopsy in front of Lord Shangshu was carried out by his blood relatives who died tragically, which already made him feel related, but now he was met by Mo Zhifu's evil words, and he was so aggrieved that he didn't even dare to pick up the white handkerchief used to cover his nose when it fell on the ground. Everyone accused him of perfunctory post-mortem in the previous autopsy, but who knows the pain in his heart. The deceased was the only son of Lord Shangshu, so naturally he could not be treated as ordinary. Although everything is over after death, the grief-stricken Duan Shangshu definitely does not want to see Duan Gongzi's body turned around, stripped of his clothes, and his dignity swept away. Since he was bleeding on the ground, why did he need to pierce his body with a needle to test the poison and make Lord Shangshu unhappy? Duan Gongzi's clothes were intact, and there was only a scar on his head as far as he could see, and he was not poisoned, so why should I conclude that he died of excessive blood loss due to a head injury? He pouted, held his breath, and looked into the coffin, but fortunately, it was a cold day, and the corpse was not rotting badly, and the smell of decay was not as strong as he expected. After settling down, he took out a small cloth bag from his bosom and spread it out, picked up one of the silver needles about three inches long and pierced it at the Neiguan acupoint above Duan Ming's wrist. One in and one out, the long needles that originally shone with silver light were dyed black, which shocked the onlookers. As An Ruiqi said, Duan Ming is really poisonous! He secretly shouted: Oh no! But he felt a chill seeping from his back to his chest, and the hand holding the needle couldn't stop trembling, if it weren't for Duan Nantian rushing forward desperately and snatching it away, the vital long needle would have already fallen into the depths of the tomb.

"What's going on!" Duan Nantian stared at his red eyes and roared at him.

Silent as a cicada, his feet weakened, and he knelt down with a plop, and was stunned for a while before he remembered to kowtow to Duan Nantian and beg for mercy. Mo Zhifu hated him, he didn't dare to step forward to protect him, and he pulled Mo Niancong to prevent him from trying to persuade him.

Seeing that things were not good, An Ruiqi hurriedly gave up his hand and persuaded him: "Lord Duan is angry, please let him continue the autopsy to find out the cause of Duan Gongzi's death and atone for his guilt." ”

"Now that the evidence is conclusive, the dog was poisoned and killed, what else can be found! The old man will go to the court and ask the Holy Admiral to remove you one by one and investigate it! After finishing speaking, Duan Nantian flicked his sleeves and strode away.

An Ruiqi blocked his way and said awe-inspiringly: "Lord Duan wants to punish them severely, why be in a hurry. At this time, the most important thing should be to thoroughly investigate the murder case, arrest the murderer, and let Duan Gongzi be blind. Please stay for a moment and let him continue the autopsy! ”

At this time, with Mo Niancong's support, he stood up with difficulty, and interjected in a soft voice: "Lord Duan, my subordinates dare to use Xiang Shang's head as a guarantee, Duan Gongzi will definitely not take poison and die......"

When Duan Nantian heard this, he immediately walked back and ordered sharply: "Go on!" ”

"The subordinates had previously checked Duan Gongzi's throat, and there was neither foreign body nor discoloration, so the cause of death had nothing to do with choking and poisoning." He replied cautiously.

The head catcher who came in a hurry stepped forward, blocked Duan Nantian's fierce gaze for the servant, and urged: "In that case, why don't you find out why Duan Gongzi was poisoned!" ”

"Yes...... It's ......" staggered over to the coffin and began to re-examine Duan Ming's body. The wound on Duan Ming's head had rotted and become blurry, and it was only because of this that he was able to discover that this wound was extremely shallow, at best, it was only a flesh wound, and it could not put people to death. When he untied all the clothes on Duan Ming's body, he couldn't help but be shocked, only to see that there was a purple-black palm-sized patch on his right shoulder, and when he looked closely, there was a small dark dot in the center of the patch, and the skin had festered and fallen off, revealing blackened carrion. "That's where the murderer poisoned Duan Gongzi!"

"Such a small damage, I think it should be caused by a hidden weapon." The head catcher looked at Duan Ming's corpse without any scruples, and continued: "I have been walking the rivers and lakes for many years, but I have never seen such a strange poisonous injury, it is estimated that it is a unique secret weapon with extremely fine workmanship. ”

After listening to the words of the head catcher, An Ruiqi and Mo Niancong both had the strangely shaped secret weapon from Uncle Rong Guo and owned by the Dark Guard, and the two exchanged glances and remained silent. It can't be the emperor's doing, he has no reason to kill Duan Ming, does he? An Ruiqi looked at Duan Nantian silently, feeling uneasy.

"Send someone to find it! I will personally break the prisoner's body into ten thousand pieces to comfort Ming'er's soul in the sky! Duan Nantian shouted in grief. This was not only said to the Duan Mansion, but also to An Ruiqi and others. He swore to slash the enemy, whether it was the government or anyone, and whoever stood in my way would die!