Song Ran couldn't help but ask: "My lord, has the identity of the old man who fell to his death yesterday been confirmed?" ”

Shen Hanxi raised his hand and knocked on the wall of the car twice with the bone knuckle of his right hand slowly, and through the curtain of the car, the respectful voice of the shadow guard was immediately heard: "My lord." ”

He said lightly: "Let Xu Bingquan not waste time looking for someone, and take Yuan Liu to the Imperial Health Division to identify a corpse first." ”

Song Ran's eyebrows sank: "My lord also suspects that the deceased yesterday is the same person as the shipbuilder who secretly hid gunpowder?" Is he also connected to the bombing nine years ago? ”

Shen Hanxi said: "Whether it's the same person or not, you'll know in a moment." ”

The carriage was lit with soothing incense, and in the faint fragrance, he sat in a lazy posture, and the wide sleeves fell to his side. Seeing that the girl beside her frowned, she couldn't help but touch her hand under the sleeve and hold it in her palm. She paused slightly, then gently retracted her grip.

Song Ran's hunch was good, the old man who fell to his death on the bank of the Huanhua River last night was the craftsman Dali Temple was looking for.

When Xu Bingquan saw the corpse in the morgue of the Imperial Health Division, he had his heart slammed into the wall and died.

According to the information he has now, he has roughly restored the truth of the incident.

At the beginning of this year, Meng Changbai, a waiter in the Ministry of Rites, summoned craftsmen to build a building boat, and now this person, who has become a corpse and often does menial work at the ferry, also went to apply. It was probably a coincidence that he went to apply, and later he heard the overseer mention by chance that the owner of the ship wanted to invite Shen Hanxi to watch the play, and he had the idea of blowing up the ship.

According to the recollections of the craftsmen who built the ship with him, this man was withdrawn, always bored from work, barely spoke to people, and was often dirty, always emitting a foul smell, so that everyone turned away from him.

Xu Bingquan speculated that he probably deliberately made it so sloppy to cover up the smell of gunpowder on his body, so that people could retreat.

During the day, he started work normally, and at night he quietly returned to the ship, opened the bilge that had been built, and secretly hid the gunpowder in it.

He lived some distance from the shipyard, and it would have required a lot of gunpowder to blow up the entire ship, and he should have made several trips in the meantime. It is said that he was in very poor health, and that during the two months of building the ship, he fainted several times, and the overseer advised him to quit, and he begged bitterly, saying that he could not be paid, but only to be able to eat. When the overseer saw that he was pitiful, he did not drive him away.

Yesterday, it was the first time that the building ship was launched, in order to ensure safety, the boatmen first tried a round trip on the Huanhua River, and he took this opportunity to move some hands and feet, perhaps inserting an incense stick in the gunpowder, and when the incense stick burned to a certain extent, it could ignite the fire line, or it may have set up other mechanisms to ensure that the gunpowder could be ignited unconsciously.

He is a skilled craftsman and it is not difficult to do so.

When the case was found here, the case could have been closed, but what gave Xu Bingquan a headache was that the person died like this, and he fell to his death. What's more critical is that this person has always used a pseudonym when working, and he has a withdrawn personality on weekdays, always acting alone, and even his neighbors on the left and right don't know who his surname is.

In other words, this person is a person with no identity, just like a lonely ghost wandering in the world, Shen Hanxi will definitely refuse to accept such a result to close the case.

Xu Bingquan wailed a few times in his heart, but he maintained his composure on the surface, and called: "Yuan Liu, come forward and take a look, do you know this person?" ”

Song Ran originally wanted to follow Xu Bingquan into the body to identify the body, but before stepping into the threshold of the morgue, he was dragged by Shen Hanxi: "It's dirty inside, just wait." With that, he took her hand and walked into the next duty room.

This is the Xixing Prison Division of the Tingwei Division, and after discovering the corpse yesterday, he directly pulled it over and handed it over to Helan Jue for autopsy.

Helan Jue walked into the room and saw Song Ran standing behind Shen Hanxi, and his phoenix eyes picked up slightly.

The other party helped the gauze hat on his head and called him: "Lord Helan." ”

He walked over and said with a smile: "No wonder it was rumored that the adult had a male pet yesterday, I was still thinking about who was so blessed, it turned out to be an old acquaintance." ”

Song Ran didn't change his face for his teasing, and said, "Lord Helan, let's get down to business." ”

He hooked his lips, walked in front of Shen Hanxi, and said, "My lord, I have examined the corpse, and if you want to talk about it, yesterday should indeed be his limit." I've never seen such a thin corpse when I've grown so big, almost only a layer of skin hangs on the skeleton, and seeing him like this, I'm afraid of suffering a lot of sins when I'm alive. With such a body devastated by life, he can survive until yesterday, and he has done such a big thing, I want to applaud him. ”

Song Ran looked at the person in front of him with a complicated expression, this Lord Helan had a sven look, but when he talked about other people's suffering, could he not be happy? No wonder Xia Xiaoqiu always said that he was a pervert.

So, where did Xia Xiaoqiu go?

Song Ran was looking around, and he heard Shen Hanxi's understated tone: "On the last day of his life, all he thought about was to let this official die. ”

Helan Jue put his hand to his lips and said, "Maybe he wants to blow up Meng Changbai." ”

Shen Hanxi was silent, and suddenly heard a frightened shout from the morgue next door. A moment later, Xu Bingquan entered with Yuan Liu, whose face was pale, and there was an unusual solemnity on his own face.

Shen Hanxi's gaze fell on Yuan Liu's body: "The one lying inside is your acquaintance?" ”

The old man, who was calm and comfortable when he was questioned in the gunpowder factory, trembled all over at the moment, and his soul was not possessed: "Yes, there are ghosts......

Shen Hanxi's tone was tinged with a hint of mockery: "If you come to identify the corpse, you have to be prepared to see the hell." Rao is a powerful ghost, I don't think he will dare to cheat the corpse in my court guard, and you don't need to be afraid of being like this. ”

Yuan Liu's voice was hoarse, almost out of tune: "My lord, the person inside...... He, he, he...... What a ghost! ”

Song Ran chuckled in his heart, and couldn't help asking, "What does this mean?" ”

Yuan Liu slowed down for a long time before calming down a little, but what he said was still not very organized. After listening to him, Song Ran only felt a chill down his spine, and when he came back to his senses, he was already sweating through his heavy clothes.

According to Yuan Liu, the person inside was the gunpowder craftsman who survived the explosion nine years ago. When Ting Weisi came to investigate the explosion, he admitted that he and his colleagues had accidentally operated the gunpowder that caused the explosion. After all, thousands of lives were at stake, and it didn't take long for him to be put on death row, beheaded for public display, or Yuan Liu's body collected for him personally.

In other words, he, like the Ministry of Industry Shangshu who was investigated and prosecuted back then, is a scapegoat to calm down the gossip among the people.

After Yuan Liu finished speaking, he glanced up at Shen Hanxi, and the fear in his eyes became even stronger: "Could it be...... Is it his unjust soul who is asking for his life? ”

After all, it was the young man in front of him who sentenced him to death.

Xu Bingquan also felt that this incident was too weird, a person who had died nine years ago suddenly appeared nine years later, and almost killed the person who sentenced him to death - but also responded to the sentence and reported it back. He couldn't help but nod his head and agreed: "It's not impossible for the soul to ask for his life." ”

Shen Hanxi stroked the wrench on his hand, and in the lingering incense of tranquility, his voice suppressed everyone: "This official has never believed in ghosts and gods. After that, he sneered lightly, "What kind of unjust soul would choose such a stupid method of asking for his life?" ”

The corners of Xu Bingquan's lips twitched slightly, and he said convincingly: "Lord Shen is extremely right. ”

Song Ran frowned and groaned: "Is this person really the craftsman who died nine years ago?" ”

Yuan Liudao: "We have been apprenticed together since childhood, and we entered the gunpowder factory together, he is turned into ashes, and he is recognized by the old decay!" ”

Song Ran asked again: "The corpse you collected nine years ago, are you sure it's the same person?" ”

He searched in his mind, when Zhang Dewen was sentenced to beheading, he was afraid of death when he went to collect the corpse, but he didn't pay attention to whether it was him. However, that is a repeat offense of the Ting Wei Division, who in this world, can unknowingly give the Ting Wei Division's repeat offender? Therefore, he nodded with great conviction: "Naturally, it's the same person." ”

Song Ran still had doubts, and suddenly Jinyi Lang entered the room and said, "My lord, the East Palace has arrived." ”

As soon as his eyelids jumped, two figures broke into his sight.

The prince was dressed in a black robe, with a blue and black pattern woven on the neckline, a middle single of plain yarn inside, and a belt tied around the waist.

He was dressed solemnly, he should have just come from the Wenhua Palace, but there was no big battle, only a little eunuch by his side.

Song Ran has only seen the prince twice, once pretending to be a close attendant like this today, and the other time was in the Li Mansion a few days ago, wearing women's clothes. She was afraid that he would find out, so she couldn't help but hang her head and hide behind Shen Hanxi.

Xu Bingquan took the lead and said diligently: "Xu Bingquan, the secretary of Dali Temple, greets His Royal Highness the Prince." ”

The crown prince said, "Lord Xu is exempt from courtesy", looked at Shen Hanxi, only to see him get up slowly, and nodded his head as a salute: "Why is Your Highness here?" My court guard is really brilliant. ”

At this time, Helan Jue and the other brocade clothes present bowed down: "Welcome to His Royal Highness the Prince." ”

The commander-in-chief is more than the sky in the Imperial Guard, and even if the crown prince comes, the others will have to act according to the eyes of their adults.

The prince's eyes were slightly cold, but he quickly disappeared, and said: "Lord Shen is the minister of the humerus of the imperial court, and if something like last night happened, this palace should come to visit, and when I see Lord Shen well, this palace will be relieved." His voice was clear and smooth, like a pearl of jade, and he said, "Since Lord Xu is here, then let this palace listen to the progress of the case by the way." ”

Shen Hanxi raised his eyebrows slightly, made a gesture, invited the prince to take a seat, glanced at the hesitant Xu Bingquan again, and said, "Lord Xu, don't be stunned, tell the truth." ”

Although Song Ran tried her best to keep a low profile, she saw that no one stepped forward to look at the tea for the prince, except for Yuan Liu, and only she had the lowest status, so she lifted the teapot and poured a cup for the prince. The prince's gaze stopped for a very brief flick of his fingers on her face, and then he withdrew it, and his expression was not different.