When Yin Qianshan heard this, his face sank like water, and he immediately asked, "Can the scene be protected?" ”

The official replied: "Back to my lordship, Wang Zhutou has already blocked the scene, just wait for my lord to go and check." ”

Yin Qianshan nodded, but continued to check the account books unhurriedly, and soon found another account of the sale of the golden hairpin. He looked at it, first smiled, then frowned.

Zhang Chengjun carefully observed Yin Qianshan's expression, and stopped talking.

Yin Qianshan didn't ask him anything more, just left the account book and two golden hairpins, and told him to lead him down quickly, and let him wait for the summons at any time. Then Yin Qianshan hurried to the scene of Huali.

…

When Yin Qianshan arrived at Huali, it was already the third watch.

"Wang Zhutou, you didn't move the corpse, did you?" Yin Qianshan asked as he walked.

Wang Qi, who was leading the way in front, was stunned, his hand holding the lantern trembled, and replied hesitantly: "Lord Hui, we have fished out the body, otherwise I wouldn't have recognized it as Master Xue!" ”

Yin Qianshan stopped when he heard this: "Fishing? Found in the water? ”

Wang Qi nodded: "Yes!" ”

The male corpse was found in the well in the courtyard where the slave maid lived next to the main house of the Xue Mansion. The well has not yet dried up completely, and there is still more than three feet of water at the bottom, and the dead branches and leaves are mixed in it, giving off a turbid and rancid smell. When the catchers searched in the courtyard, they found clothes floating at the bottom of the well, so they went down to the well to investigate, only to find that the space was unexpectedly large. The profile of the well is not rectangular, but fishhook-shaped. The body was not found immersed in water, but lying on a rock exposed to the water at the "hook tip", and even the clothes on its body were dry.

Yin Qianshan soon arrived at the well, and he was conducting an autopsy under a pomelo tree by the well. Yin Qianshan looked up at this huge tree, and there were many huge fruits on it, exuding a unique fragrance.

Yin Qianshan stepped forward to observe the male corpse carefully. The male corpse had a very handsome face, and he looked no more than thirty years old. His face was pale, his lips were dark purple, and corpse spots loomed on his skin. He wears a white tunic with a disheveled head. Notably, the nails of his fingers are dark purple.

"Are you sure he's Xue Yingtang?" Yin Qianshan looked at Wang Qi and asked.

Wang Qi nodded hurriedly, showing a look of fear: "Lord Hui, I dare to be sure that he is Xue Yingtang." I have seen Master Xue a few times before, and I won't admit my mistake. And it's not just the lowly one here who has seen him, everyone has confirmed it! ”

"It seems that the previous county order has a lot to do with the Xue Mansion!" Yin Qianshan suddenly said.

As soon as these words came out, the atmosphere at the scene suddenly became a little awkward. Wang Qi laughed dryly, lowered his head and didn't dare to look at Yin Qianshan's eyes.

"I heard Zhang Chengjun say that Xue Yingtang was buried a year ago, is this true?" Yin Qianshan asked again.

Wang Qi hurriedly replied: "Lord Hui, it is true. Master Xue died of a violent illness, and he was buried in a hurry after three days of rituals, and he hit a ghost on the way out of the funeral! He swallowed a mouthful of saliva when he said this, "This matter is also known to everyone in Pinghu County." At that time, the funeral procession ran out, and the people of Xue Mansion were all dispersed, and later they still took people to carry the coffin to the cemetery for burial. On the day of Master Xue's funeral, Mrs. Xue threw herself into the well and died. Hey, this Xue Mansion is really evil! My lord..."

Yin Qianshan suddenly interrupted him: "Have you searched all the wells in Huali?" Was Mrs. Xue's body found? ”

Wang Qi was suddenly stunned, and he patted his head: "That's right!" I didn't think of it. Back to my lord, before the search was finished, he hurriedly reported to you as soon as he found Xue Yingtang's body. He sent a few men to salvage the rest of the wells. After saying that, he arranged for the arrest to go quickly.

Yin Qianshan lowered his head again and asked about the autopsy, and he looked puzzled: "My lord, my subordinates have never seen such a strange corpse." ”

"Can you find out the time of death? What is the cause of death? Yin Qianshan asked.

He nodded, shook his head again, and replied, "Lord Hui, the cause of death is quite clear, and the preliminary judgment of his subordinates is that he died of mercury poisoning." The smell of the corpse was not large, the symptoms of poisoning were obvious, there were no external injuries, there was no sediment in the mouth and nose, and it should have been thrown into the well after the poisoning death. But the time of death .." He frowned, hesitated again and again before continuing: "Judging from the degree of corruption, it does not take more than seven days, but because mercury has a certain antiseptic effect and will delay the decay of the corpse, it is impossible to judge at a moment. But there are two things that are strange..."

"Tell me about it." Yin Qianshan Road.

He said: "First, in such a damp place at the bottom of the well, the clothes of this corpse are not moldy. In addition, after the corpse was dragged up, it decomposed so quickly that it was visible to the naked eye. These two points are just too weird. ”

Yin Qianshan fell into deep thought when he heard this, he thought about it, and asked Wang Qi again: "You just said that it wasn't in the water when the body was found, right, the clothes were all dry?" ”

Wang Qi nodded and said, "Lord Hui, that's exactly the case." The terrain in the well was so peculiar that if it weren't for the smell wafting out, we wouldn't have found the corpses. ”

After listening to Wang Qi's words, Yin Qianshan went down to the bottom of the well in person regardless of the obstacles. He found that the water at the bottom of the well only reached his waist when he was standing. He crouched down again and looked at the bottom of the well, only to find an arched hole in the water, from which a faint stench wafted out. Yin Qianshan touched it with his hands, only to find that it was actually a circular hole with irregular edges, but most of the hole was below the water surface, and only the top of the cave was exposed. At this time, Wang Qi, who was sticking his head out at the wellhead to observe, shouted:

"My lord, have you touched the hole? You'll have to dive into the water to get into the hole, and then you'll be able to stand up and see where the body is. Stay safe, adults! ”

Yin Qianshan took a deep breath and then dived underwater. He groped his way through the entrance of the cave and slowly stood up as Wang Qi had said. It was dark, and if it weren't for the little light coming out of the hole in the water, you couldn't see anything.

Youyu quickly handed him a fire candle from the entrance of the cave, and Yin Qianshan blew out the fire candle, only to find that there was a big rock in front of him, half of which was in the water, and half of it was exposed to the water. The top of the rock outcropping from the water is flat and not small, large enough to accommodate a lying corpse. The space on the water is not too high for people to stand up straight.

Yin Qianshan suddenly felt a little suffocated, there was no air circulation here, and there was once a poisoned corpse. "My lord, come out quickly, you can't stay inside for long." The catcher outside the cave mouth urged.

Yin Qianshan finally raised the fire candle and glanced at the space, then blew out the fire candle and closed his breath and squatted down.

"My lord, there is an old vine on the wall of this well, you can step on it and pull the rope, you can make less effort!" Wang Qi reminded Yin Qianshan while pulling the rope.

Out of the well, Yin Qianshan took a short rest, and then asked Wang Qi: "You just said that there are clothes floating in this well, and you just came down to salvage the body, right?" ”

"Yes, sir." Wang Qi nodded, and urged: "Go to the house to change your clothes, it's cold, you'll catch a cold!" ”

"Keep your clothes safe. Also, you should pay special attention to the corners of the ditches in the garden to see if there is human excrement and domestic waste. Yin Qianshan admonished, stood up and walked towards the house, and sneezed at the same time.

The situation is getting more and more complicated! Yin Qianshan felt that there was a fog in front of him, and his thoughts were also chaotic.