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Hearing a knock on the door, my great-grandfather hurried out to open the door. It was none other than my great-grandmother's second brother who knocked on the door, and behind him was a timid and handsome little girl, who looked like she was fourteen or fifteen years old, the same age as my grandfather.

My great-grandfather was stunned, and my great-grandmother's second brother smiled at this time, and pulled the little girl behind him to lift her feet and enter the gate.

After coming to the house, my great-grandmother's second brother sat on a chair in the living room and crossed Erlang's legs, and said to my great-grandfather and my great-grandmother with a proud face: "Qingjun, Xuanyi, this little girl is the second brother, I went to five or six villages to buy miles for the two of you, you see, this little girl is not only a good person, but also obedient and sensible." ”

My great-grandfather didn't look at the girl, he looked at my great-grandmother, and no one spoke.

At this time, my great-grandmother's second brother said to the little girl who was standing at the door timidly: "Come, come, tell your old lady what your name is and how old you are this year." ”

The little girl lowered her head and walked a few steps towards my great-grandfather and my great-grandmother, and said softly, "My name is Xiaoyu, and I am fifteen years old this year......

My great-grandfather glanced at the little girl at this time, and moved his lips, as if he wanted to say something, but was blocked by my great-grandmother's second brother in advance.

My great-grandmother's second brother said: "Xuanyi, this little girl has no father and no mother now, his cousin is going to sell her into the Qinglou, just happened to meet me, if you two don't want it, then I will send her back again, and ask her cousin to sell her into the Qinglou......" As he spoke, my great-grandmother's second brother got up from the chair and pulled up the little girl to make a gesture to go out, the little girl was frightened, and looked at my great-grandfather and my great-grandmother with poor begging eyes.

When my great-grandfather saw this, he couldn't bear it anymore, so he hurriedly stepped forward and begged my great-grandmother's second brother, "Second brother and second brother, don't, don't...... Don't send it back, let the children stay, let's go... ...... grin."

When my great-grandmother's second brother heard this, he looked at my great-grandfather, then at my great-grandmother, and let go of the little girl, and laughed.

Later, my great-grandmother said to my great-grandfather, my second brother is on an errand in the county government, how can he watch Uncle Xiaoyutang sell her into the Qinglou, he just thinks that you are soft-hearted and wants to indulge in it, and deceive you with these words.

Subsequently, my great-grandfather hurriedly asked my great-grandmother to clean up the remaining empty room in the house for the little girl Xiaoyu, and just like that, there was a little maid in the house. However, my great-grandfather and my great-grandmother never treated Xiaoyu as a maid, and they were raised as a daughter, and they were treated the same as my grandfather when they were fed and dressed. This Xiaoyu is also quite sensible, serving tea and pouring water, washing clothes and cooking, and rushing to do any work, these are all later words, in fact, this Xiaoyu is the biggest tragedy in the previous generations of my family, I am now thinking about whether to write about her in the following, I think she is the most pitiful, the most pathetic, the most worthy of sympathy and regret in the experience of our ancestors in the previous generations.

Getting back to the point, seeing that the little girl was placed by my great-grandfather, my great-grandmother and second brother said hello to my great-grandfather and prepared to leave.

At this time, my great-grandfather remembered the mandala branch he had picked up in the garden of Liangfu, and hurriedly called out to my great-grandmother's second brother to take out the mandala branch and show him.

My great-grandmother's second brother looked at the "hay stick" in my great-grandfather's hand, he was stunned, and then he looked puzzled, and my great-grandfather hurriedly explained.

My great-grandfather said that the fire in Liangfu should have been man-made. Why do you say that, because my great-grandmother's second brother said before that all the people in the Liang Mansion were burned to death by fire in their sleep, and in this case, in addition to ghosts and gods, there is also a possibility, that is, poison was given to people at dinner that day, that is, the kind of poison similar to Meng's sweat medicine.

This mandala flower has been briefly introduced earlier, and it has a narcotic and calming effect. This poison comes from this mandala flower planted in the garden of Liangfu.

The time of the fire in Liangfu was in August, which happened to be the best season to pick mandala flowers. After the flowers are picked, they can be dried or dried in the shade, which can not only be stored for a long time, but also can be directly used in medicine.

At this time, if you put the dried mandala flowers into the tea or food, and then boil it in boiling water for a short time, the whole pot of tea or food will become a chronic anesthetic, and within two hours, the poisoned person will be sleepy and unconscious, unless it can be solved by decoction with licorice and mung beans. This is also the real reason why the maid Xiaoju failed to wake up the other two maids.

The eight people burned to death in the Liang Mansion were undoubtedly poisoned by the mandala flower, as for the maid Xiaoju, the housekeeper of the Liang Mansion and the old mother who cooked, as well as Liang Deren's daughter Liang Xiuxiu, they may not have been poisoned, and after they noticed the fire, they escaped from the Liang Mansion and escaped the catastrophe.

My great-grandmother's second brother looked at my great-grandfather with wide eyes after listening to my great-grandfather's explanation of the "hay branch" in his hand. These officials and errands in the Liang Mansion for many months did not find out that my great-grandfather had made such a major gain after only going once, and my great-grandmother's second brother was more and more impressed with my great-grandfather.

When my great-grandmother's second brother came to his senses, he took the mandala branch from my great-grandfather's hand, looked at it, and asked my great-grandfather, how did you know about this flower?

My great-grandfather hurriedly said that in the past, the master Wang Shoudao told him that the master Wang Shoudao knew medical skills, and once someone was unconscious, and his family looked for Wang Shoudao to see, and after Wang Shoudao saw it, he said that it was not a ghost or a god, but poisoning, and then asked the family to find licorice mung beans, mix them together and mash them, and use boiling water to wash the patient, and the patient was awakened.

My great-grandfather then said that when he saw the mandala flowers in the garden of the Liang Mansion, he immediately thought that someone had poisoned them, and he was sure that the flowers should have been planted by the people in the Liang Mansion themselves, and that the person must have premeditated them. The fire in the Liang Mansion should also have been set by their own people in the mansion, as for what deep hatred that person had with the Liang Mansion, causing him to poison and set fire, it is unknown.

After my great-grandfather finished speaking, my great-grandmother's second brother nodded approvingly, and he speculated and added two more points according to my great-grandfather's train of thought: First, the person's poisoning was targeted, and he did not poison the housekeeper, Xiaoju, and Miss Liang, and after setting the fire, he also shouted that Xiaoju to flee for his life, and that person should at least have a close relationship with the maid Xiaoju. Second, now the old mother and Miss Liang are left to cook in the Liang Mansion, and the whereabouts of the old mother and Miss Liang are unknown, and the suspicion of arson is on the two of them, but it is unlikely that Miss Liang will set the fire, and the only suspect is the old mother, and the old mother is in charge of the food of the whole house, and it is very convenient to poison.

However, the burning of the housekeeper and the housekeeper in the Liang Mansion is still a mystery, perhaps because of the collusion of people and ghosts.

After that, my great-grandmother's second brother excitedly thanked my great-grandfather and rushed to the county office with the mandala branch.

Later, when my great-grandmother's second brother chatted with my great-grandfather, he said that he took the mandala branch to the county government and told the county grandfather that the two of them would be combined, on the one hand, let the two of them perform autopsies on the eight people who were burned to death, and on the other hand, hold a court to retry the maid Xiaoju in the county government prison.

The results of the autopsy proved that the eight people were indeed poisoned, although the corpses had been four months old and were not decomposed, but the traces of poisoning were still detected from the stomachs of those corpses. Before, the county government's attention was on finding the real arsonist, and no one thought about poisoning, and they didn't deliberately check whether the people who burned to death were poisoned, and they ignored it.

The process of interrogating the maid Xiaoju was also relatively smooth, Xiaoju admitted that the best relationship with her in Cai's mansion was the old mother who cooked, and when Liang Deren wanted to take the opportunity to bully her, it was the old mother who helped her out, as for the person who woke her up on the day of the fire, Xiaoju denied it, saying that it was a man's voice who called her, and the mandala flowers planted in the garden, Xiaoju also didn't know.

At this time, it seems that the old mother is the most suspicious of committing the crime, as for the man who woke up Xiao Ju, it may be the housekeeper of Liang Mansion, or it is possible that Xiao Ju is lying, but these are no longer important, what matters is how to catch the old mother of Liang Mansion.

A few days later, the entire county town of Erwei posted a notice, the whole city wanted the old mother of Liangfu, why has there been no list of wanted people before, first, it has been delayed by other successive things, and second, before the suspect is determined, the county government does not dare to rashly release the list.

It's just that the county government has very little information about the old mother, and the people in the village where the Liang Mansion is located don't know much about the origin of the old mother, let alone who the old mother's surname is.

Writing here, some people may say that they will not ask Liang Deren's son Liang Tongsheng, the young master of the Liang Mansion should always know the details of his family. This, the county government is not stupid, I have asked a long time ago, this Liang Tongsheng really doesn't know the details of the old mother who cooks, saying that the housekeeper found it from outside two years ago, the old mother claims to be surnamed Hu, and everyone in the house calls her "Hu Ma", not only does the food do well, but also makes a good soup, as for where this Hu Ma is from, Liang Tongsheng really doesn't know. This, in fact, can also be understood, just imagine, a young master who only knows about fights and brawls, as for the old mother who cooks in the house, is he so concerned.

Time flickered, and it came to the twenty-first day of the lunar month, and it would be the New Year in a few days.

At dusk, my great-grandfather came back from my great-grandmother's shop, still carrying a large pile of New Year's goods that my great-grandmother had given him.

However, before he reached the door of the house, my great-grandfather saw a man kneeling in front of his house from a distance, looking thin and withered