Looking at the gloomy sky outside, Nie Xiaohu, Tang Yibin and Cao Xiaohui each held an apple in their hands, standing in the corridor outside the door of the fast catching room hall chatting.

"What do you say, why is Wu Xiucai suffering? Didn't you just fail the test, as for hanging? Tang Yibin shook his head and sighed lightly.

"Alas! These scholars, go to the field to farm, they can't do it, they do business, they don't have that brain, and getting fame is their only way out, Wu Xiucai has tried and failed, he is forty years old this year, and he has not yet married a wife, and he sees that there is no hope in this life, so he went to the extreme", Cao Xiaohui also sighed.

"As the saying goes, 'everything is inferior, only reading is high', these pedantic talents are all tendons in their brains!" , Nie Xiaohu pursed his lips.

"What's the use of reading, you say?" , Tang Yibin said in wonder.

"You're wrong, reading is still very useful, just take this apple!"

Nie Xiaohu raised the apple in his hand and turned around and said: "If you read a book, when you eat this apple, you will say, 'This apple is bright red and translucent, the smell is sweet and pleasant, the taste is full and pure, round and poetic, the aftertaste is sweet, the teeth and cheeks are fragrant, the charm is full, and the sudden feeling is like a dream, as if it is heaven and earth, it is really the best in the fruit!'" And if you don't read..."

"I blame you!"

"I blame you!"

At this time, Mao Guangjian and Shi Yuning complained to each other and walked in from outside the courtyard gate.

"Look at it!" , Nie Xiaohu was happy, and threw the apple in his hand at Shi Yuning.

"Thank you, Tiger Boss!" , Shi Yuning reached out and caught the apple, "Woo! It's just a mouthful, and by the way, he glanced at Mao Guangjian with a slightly smug look.

"Little stone, how does the apple taste?" , Nie Xiaohu asked happily.

"! Sweet! Delicious! Shi Yuning said and took another hard bite.

"Look, that's what people who don't read say!"

Tang Yibin and Cao Xiaohui both rolled their eyes, looked at Shi Yuning's bewildered expression and pursed their lips.

"By the way, what did you two complain about each other just now?" , Nie Xiaohu asked with a smile.

"Whew!"

Shi Yuning shook his head and said: "Just now we were walking on the street, and we happened to see a thief stealing an old man's burden, and we stepped forward and grabbed it, that guy was not honest, and struggled desperately, and it took us a long time to press him to the ground, I couldn't get angry, so I gave the kid two slaps."

At this moment, a scholar next to him spoke, he said, 'Two officials, don't beat him, just send him to the official', at this time the thief looked up at the scholar and said, 'You don't care about me, run!' ’。

When we heard this, it turned out that they were in a group, so we went forward to catch the scholar, but the boy jumped up and ran away in the blink of an eye! ”

"Hahahaha......", Nie Xiaohu and the others suddenly bent down with laughter.

It was getting dark, and the cold wind was blowing more and more excitedly, and everyone gathered around the fire to talk and laugh until it was dark, and then they went back to rest.

After a night of silence, the next morning, Nie Xiaohu opened his sleepy eyes, sat up from the bed, raised his hand to open a corner of the window, and looked out.

"Holy, when is it snowing?" Looking at the white expanse outside the window, Nie Xiaohu suddenly became excited, the snow had already stopped, and the entire Luoyang City had become a world covered in silver.

After washing up and eating breakfast, Nie Xiaohu sat down in the hall, and before his butt could be hot, a catcher hurriedly walked in.

"Report the head catcher!"

"What?" , Nie Xiaohu's face tightened.

"Someone in Anzhong District came to report that there was a murder!"

"Bring it on!"

"I've seen my lord!" An old woman knelt and kowtowed as soon as she entered the hall.

"Excuse me, get up and answer!" , Nie Xiaohu raised his hand.

"Thank you, sir!" The old woman nodded in acknowledgment and stood up.

"Who are you and where did the murder happen?"

"Back to my lord, the old body of the He family, lives by the Luoshui River in Anzhong District, this morning when I passed by the door of Sister Ren's house, I saw her door open, and a hand was exposed, I was taken aback, and quickly stepped forward to take a look, it didn't matter what I saw, the old body was scared half to death!"

"How?!" , Nie Xiaohu's brows were furrowed.

"It turned out to be Sister Ren, she fell in the door, her face was covered with blood, and her body was already cold, I screamed and ran to the street, at this time two officials happened to pass by, they looked at it, and they guarded the door, and one of the officials took me here."

"Lead the way!"

On a street by the Luoshui River in Anzhong District, a row of courtyards on the side of the street against the Luoshui River stands quietly in the snow, this row of courtyards is the same standard structure, the houses face the street, and the back is a small courtyard against the river.

There were few pedestrians on the street, but in front of a house near the southern end, it was crowded with people watching the excitement.

"Total headcatcher!" Seeing Nie Xiaohu coming, the catcher who was guarding the door of the room hurriedly clasped his fists and saluted.

"Hmm", Nie Xiaohu nodded slightly, "No one has been in the scene, right?" ”

"No, as soon as I found the body, I stayed at the door, and no one came in!"

The deceased was an old woman, dressed in a thin layer of white pajamas, lying face down on the floor at the doorway, her face covered with blood, the blood had long since congealed, and one of the deceased's hands reached out of the door and rested on the threshold.

"The murder weapon should be a blunt weapon such as a hammer", Nie Xiaohu checked the wound on the deceased's head and said, "Let the brothers search carefully to see if they can find the murder weapon." ”

On the floor behind the deceased, intermittent blood was connected into a route, along the blood, Nie Xiaohu came to the bedroom from the living room, the bedroom was neatly furnished, and no traces of a fight were found, but the front end of the quilt on the bed was stained with blood, and the mattress, pillow, and the wall next to the bed were splashed with blood. In the bedroom, there is a rouge gouache on the dressing table and an empty jewelry box.

In the kitchen at the back, the rice bag in the corner of the wall showed signs of being turned over, the rice was scattered on the ground, and the back door was latched from the inside, but the window on the left side of the back door was pried open from the outside.

There is a fence on the left and right sides of the backyard to separate the backyards of the neighbors on the left and right, but strangely in the middle of the fence separated from the backyard of the neighbor on the right, there is a low arch, and there is no door, so the backyards of the two families can communicate with each other.

On the snow in the backyard, there are two rows of footprints clearly arranged, one line leads from the porch steps outside the back door to the back door steps of the neighbor on the right, and the other line returns the same way, the two rows of footprints are exactly the same shape and size, and they should be the same person.

Judging by the size of the footprints, this is a woman's footprint, and the footsteps leading from that side to this side are less spaced, and the footsteps returning are more spaced, apparently due to running. On the neat snow in the backyard, there were no other footprints except these two lines of footprints.

"I searched the whole house, but I didn't find the murder weapon," Cao Xiaohui said when she came to Nie Xiaohu's side.

"Surround that house, and no one is allowed to come or go at will!" , Nie Xiaohu pointed to the courtyard on the right and said.