"Yes, sir. Here's the thing, last night was the young master's birthday, and the young master and the friends who came to congratulate him drank together until the middle of the night. After the guests were gone, the young master slept in the bedroom, and I slept in the concierge.

But not long after I fell asleep, Tang Tianyi broke in, and when I got up, he had already entered the young master's bedroom, and I heard the two of them arguing in the bedroom for a long time, because the two of them often do this, so I am not surprised. After the two quarreled, Tang Tianyi left angrily, but it didn't take long to hear a scream from the back garden, I was startled, and quickly turned on the lantern to take a look, and found that Tang Tianyi was lying under a small tree, with a pool of blood on his chest, and he was dead. I quickly raised the alarm, which was about a pillar of incense, and the village patrol arrived. ”

"Where was your young master when you found the body?" Nie Xiaohu then asked.

"I'm still sleeping in the bedroom, after the patrol arrived, I went to check in the young master's bedroom, and found that the young master was sleeping heavily and snoring."

"In the time between Tang Tianyi leaving and when you heard the screams, did you see anyone coming in? Or do you hear any movement? ”

"Nope"

The old servant thought for a while, and said: "Because the young master and Tang Tianyi quarreled fiercely, so I haven't slept all the time, if someone comes in, I will definitely be able to see, although I am a little older, but my ears are very good, the wind rose in the middle of the night last night, blowing the water in the small lake next to me, I really listened to it, and there was no other movement." ”

"That means that in the second half of last night, there was no one else in this courtyard except for you, Tang Tianyi, and Nie Haikun, right?" Nie Xiaohu asked.

"Yes," the old servant nodded affirmatively.

Nie Xiaohu pondered for a moment and asked, "Where is the corpse?" ”

"The corpse is parked in the east wing, come with me," Tang Huaiyuan said.

In the east wing, an old woman in a white dress and white hat was kneeling on a futon, next to a brazier, and the old woman was sobbing and throwing paper money into the brazier. In the middle of the room was a desk with a corpse lying on it, covered by a white cloth.

"This person is the servant of Tang Tian's family, he has been in Tang Tian's family for more than fifty years, and he is also Tang Tianyi's only relative." Tang Huaiyuan said.

"My young master died so inexplicably, how can I be worthy of the dead master and wife!" Seeing Nie Xiaohu and the others coming in, the old woman burst into tears.

"Don't be sad, old man, I will definitely find out the murderer and give you an explanation!" Xiaohu comforted.

"Pity my young master, his parents are dead, he is helpless, lonely, and now he has no power to restrain the chicken, so how can Nie Haikun do it!" The old woman couldn't stop crying.

"Helpless?" Mao Guangjian's eyes tightened, and he asked, "Old mother, you said that your young master has no power to restrain the chicken?" How so? ”

"That's right".

The old woman sobbed a few times, and then said: "My young master has been weak and sick since he was a child, and his health has not been good, who knows, who knows that just one day two months ago, the young master vomited a mouthful of blood without warning, I quickly went to the doctor to treat the young master, and after the doctor saw it, it was said that the young master had an incurable disease, and his life was not long. ”

Nie Xiaohu nodded.

"My young master just came to find the theory of Nie Haikun, how could I have thought that he would do such a poisonous thing!" The old woman burst into tears again.

After Nie Xiaohu comforted the old woman for a few words, he came to the side of the table.

Tang Huaiyuan gently uncovered the white cloth, and what caught his eye was a miserable white face, and further down, there was a sword wound at the mouth of the heart, the wound was about an inch wide, and the skin around the wound obviously had a dent of a gauntlet, obviously, it was killed by someone who stabbed it directly into the heart with a short sword or dagger, and all of them were pierced, so that the skin around the wound left the marks of the gauntlet, and the deceased's back did not penetrate, indicating that the murder weapon was a short sword or dagger or something.

After inspecting the corpse, Nie Xiaohu and the others went to the small garden where the corpse was found under the leadership of Tang Huaiyuan.

"Has anyone ever entered this garden since the incident?" Nie Xiaohu asked.

"No, we've locked this place off since we arrived, and no one has ever come in."

Nie Xiaohu nodded, and went into the garden to look around.

The garden is not big, about an acre of land, the garden is planted with flowers everywhere, there are a few small trees in the middle, there are no tall trees, it is a small garden, about 20 meters north of the garden is a small lake, there are fences on both sides.

The place where the body was found was next to a small tree, more than fifty meters away from Nie Haikun's bedroom. Due to a heavy rain just a few days before the incident, the garden was relatively muddy, and several rows of footprints were clearly visible on the ground.

Nie Xiaohu sometimes bent down to check the footprints, sometimes observed the surroundings of the garden, sometimes lay on the ground and carefully observed the grass on the ground, and finally became interested in the small tree where the body was found, and kept looking up and down.

After about half an hour like this, Nie Xiaohu nodded thoughtfully, and at the same time walked out of the garden with a frown.

"Have all those footprints been compared?" Nie Xiaohu asked

"It's all compared, it's not wrong, it's all the footprints of Tang Tianyi and the old servant of the Nie family, it's strange to say, the footprints of the third person can really not be found in the garden, and all the nearby ones have been searched, and no murder weapon has been found", Tang Huaiyuan said.

"Let's go back first, there are still a lot of doubts about things, I have to think about it", Nie Xiaohu said with a frown.

"What about Nie Haikun?"

"Let him out, until there is a clear conclusion to the matter, he is only suspicious, you can't treat him like a prisoner, besides, if the murderer is not him, he will never run away, if he really escapes, then the matter will be simple, isn't it?"

"That's what Nie Zhutou said", Tang Huaiyuan thought about it and nodded in reply.

On the way back, Nie Xiaohu bowed his head and remained silent, trying to recall all the clues, letting the horse slowly wander forward, and Tang Yibin and the four of them also rode horses and slowly followed Nie Xiaohu's side.

"How's it going, Tiger Head, have you thought of who the murderer is?" , Shi Yuning asked as he walked.

"It's a bit weird, and I haven't figured out why." Nie Xiaohu pouted and shook his head.

Shi Yuning pursed his mouth, and suddenly it was like a deflated ball.