"Who's Liqin?" , Nie Xiaohu interjected and asked.

"Oh, her name is Du Liqin, a distant relative of mine, from Kaifeng, who just arrived yesterday. People didn't find it, but they found this! ”

As he spoke, Du Hongxuan took out a piece of paper from his bosom and handed it to Nie Xiaohu, then sighed and lowered his head.

Nie Xiaohu took the piece of paper and unfolded it, it read: "Your son has been invited by me to be a guest, if you want him to return safely, you must prepare five hundred taels of silver before the end of this afternoon, and bury it under a big willow tree in the northeast corner of the mass grave outside the city, if you do so, your son will return safely tomorrow, if not, you know the consequences!" The handwriting was very sloppy.

"Where did you find it?"

"Right on the pillar in front of the door that leads to the backyard in the inner hall, and nail it to the pillar."

After reading it, Nie Xiaohu put away the paper, "Take me to the backyard." ”

"Nie Zhutou, come with me!" , Du Hongxuan stood up and walked towards the living room.

Out of the living room, there is a flower garden on the left, there is a path between the flower garden and the living room, follow the path to the backyard.

The backyard is very spacious, there is a wing room on the east and west sides, all of them are two-story small buildings, and the small building side by side is a row of bungalows, which is the place where the people live, there is a stable on the side of the south wall, and the north is the inner hall of the living room, which is the place where Du Hongxuan and his wife live.

The fence is very high, about three meters, there is a small door next to the stable, the door is locked, Nie Xiaohu first entered the east and west two small buildings to investigate, and then asked someone to open the small door, go out to observe, and then return to the courtyard.

"Master Du, do you mean that the incident happened during breakfast?"

"Yes."

"Where's breakfast?"

"In the living room."

"Who was there?"

"There are four of them, me and my wife, and the others are Liqin and Junzhe."

"Who is Joon-cheol?"

"Oh, his name is Feng Junzhe, and he is my brother-in-law, who arrived three days ago."

"Your little boy is playing in the backyard, can he be accompanied by someone?"

"Yes, of course, it's the housekeeper Du Linquan," Du Hongxuan said, pointing with his hand to a middle-aged man standing not far away.

Nie Xiaohu looked at it, it was the person who looked like the housekeeper in the living room just now.

He was standing at the top of the stairs, and Liqin, who was standing in the hallway on the second floor.

"Were there any other people in the backyard at the time?"

"No, everyone is having breakfast in the front gatehouse."

"Hmm", Nie Xiaohu nodded, "You go and gather everyone to the living room, find me a separate room, and I'll ask them one by one." ”

"No problem, I'll do it!" , Du Hongxuan nodded in agreement, turned around and left.

In the living room of the Du family, Nie Xiaohu glanced at the people present one by one, and Mrs. Feng was sitting on a chair accompanied by the maid and sighing sadly; Feng Junzhe looked cramped and uneasy, and there was a young manservant standing beside him; Du Liqin sat on the side and looked left and right, as if nothing happened, and there was a pretty little maid standing beside her; The housekeeper Du Linquan stood beside Du Hongxuan, bowing his head and being silent, with a look of self-reproach on his face.

"Let's start with you, Master Du!" , Nie Xiaohu smiled slightly.

In Du Hongxuan's study in the inner hall, Nie Xiaohu and Du Hongxuan sat opposite each other, and Tang Yibin and Shi Yuning each found a chair behind Nie Xiaohu and sat down.

"Master Du, how old is your son this year?"

"I'll be four years old in two months."

"Could you please recall that when you heard someone screaming in the backyard, were all four of you in the living room?"

"How?" , Du Hongxuan frowned slightly, "Nie Zhutou, do you suspect that one of us kidnapped my son?" ”

"No, it's just a routine inquiry", Nie Xiaohu shook his head slightly.

"I want to think about it", Du Hongxuan thought for a while, shook his head lightly and said, "No, it was only me and Feng Junzhe who were eating in the living room at that time, and Mrs. went to the toilet, Liqin said that there was a bracelet that I forgot to wear, so I went back to the room to get it, and at this moment I heard the screams in the backyard." ”

"And what did you see when you rushed over?"

"I saw Liqin's maid Binglan standing at the corner of the stairs, as if she was frightened by something, and the housekeeper Lin Quan was also there. I asked Binglan what had happened, and Binglan said that she saw a white figure floating in the air and disappeared in a flash, and she thought she had seen a ghost, so she screamed. ”

"It looks like I'm going to invite a mage to come to my house to exorcise evil spirits," Du Hongxuan added to himself.

Nie Xiaohu couldn't help but smile after hearing this, he didn't believe that there were any ghosts and gods since he had traveled over from modern times, and then asked with a smile: "Then what was the situation of Binglan at that time, did there be any action or something?" ”

"She looked very scared at the time, her cheeks were red, and she covered the left side of her face with one sleeve hand, which seemed to be very frightened."

"I see", Nie Xiaohu smiled and nodded, "Please go and call the housekeeper Du Linquan to come in!" ”

Du Linquan entered the room and did not sit down, but stood in front of Nie Xiaohu in an orderly manner, with his hands hanging down, his head bowed, and a guilty expression on his face.

"Steward Du, please tell me about the situation at that time!"

"Yes, sir!" , Du Linquan nodded.

"This morning, the lord and the ladies were having breakfast in the living room, the young master got up early, and after breakfast he was playing in the yard, and I was watching from the side, and then I suddenly heard a woman's scream in the west wing, I was taken aback, thinking that something was wrong, so I quickly ran over.

After entering the west wing, I found Miss Du's personal maid Binglan standing at the corner of the stairs, her cheeks were flushed, she covered one side of her face with one hand, her eyes were wide open, as if she was frightened, I asked her what happened, she said that she saw a white figure floating in the air, and it disappeared in a flash, so she was frightened.

Immediately after that, the old man ran in, and when he saw that Binglan was fine, the old man turned around and looked at the yard, and then we found that the little young master was gone. ”

Nie Xiaohu smiled and asked, "Then do you believe what Binglan said?" ”

"Hmm", Du Linquan nodded, "The west wing room is indeed a little unclean, the year before last there was a maid named lotus, because she accidentally broke a vase beloved by Mrs., was reprimanded by the master, saying that she would sell it to the drunken spring building to compensate, she couldn't think about it for a while, so she hanged herself in the west wing, and from time to time someone said that she had seen a white figure there, probably the ghost of the lotus who died unjustly." ”