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That umbrella was the somewhat damaged paper oil umbrella that Wanying and Xu Hu, the second son of the Xu family, were holding when they went to Yamen to report the case.

According to the second son Xu Hu, the umbrella was hand-painted by Xu Xuan, and the pattern on the umbrella was also a picture of green pines and cypresses drawn by Xu Xuan himself, and there was only such a picture in the entire Huaxi Town, and there was no phenomenon of admitting mistakes. In addition, when Xu Xuan went out, the umbrella was still intact, but when he found it, there were traces of damage on the umbrella surface, and some ink was found where the umbrella fell.

Xu Xuan only brought an umbrella when he went out, why when he disappeared, ink appeared around the umbrella, these clues are not difficult to make people suspect that Xu Xuan's disappearance is extremely closely related to Han Shuzhai.

That night, the county magistrate ordered someone to summon the old shopkeeper and the young man of Han Shuzhai, but they all said that they had not seen Xu Sangongzi.

As for the ink mentioned by the Xu family, because of the rain, it was also washed away, and there was no way to verify it.

The county magistrate asked Xu Hu if he had ever seen the ink that the little guy said. Xu Hu was an honest boy with no heart, and immediately shook his head, saying that the thing he saw ink was said by the little guy in the house, and all he saw was the umbrella that the little guy brought back. He had been to that alley too, but as the adults said, all traces had been washed away because of the rain.

Ink, he didn't see.

Whether there had been a fight at the scene, he could not tell.

Because there was no evidence to support that Xu Xuan's disappearance had anything to do with Han Shuzhai, the county magistrate let the old shopkeeper and the young man go after routine questioning.

Xu Hu, on his side, continued to search for Xu Xuan with the officials of the county government, as well as clues that might be related to Xu Xuan's disappearance. They first walked twice along the road from Xufu to Han Shuzhai, almost digging out every stone on the road to see. Then he went to the places that Xu Xuan usually liked to go, but he still found nothing.

According to the old people in the town, that night, they heard many people calling the name Xu Xuan, and in the middle of the night, the people who listened were panicked, as if they were calling for souls.

The Xu family searched for a night.

The trappers of the government also helped to search for it all night.

But Xu Xuan, the third son of the Xu family, who disappeared for no reason, still has no trace.

After searching all night, it was not until the early morning of the second day that the government got a new message. This news came from the town's watchman, who said that he had a face-to-face with Xu Xuan when he went out.

Xu Sangongzi is a kind person, although he was born wealthy, he never looked down on them as poor people. When the two met, Xu Xuan also said hello to his husband, saying that it was raining heavily at night, so he should pay more attention. The husband didn't ask Xu Xuan where he was going, but looking at the direction he was going, it should be Han Shuzhai.

The husband's words also confirmed the words of Xu Xuan's wife Wanying before, Xu Xuan went out that night, and indeed went to the Han study to buy ink.

The husband also provided a very important piece of information, saying that after he separated from Xu Xuan, he had heard Xu Xuan talking to someone. Because of the heavy rain at that time, the people on the street were all holding umbrellas, and Xu Xuan was standing with his back to the husband at that time, I don't know if the person was intentional or unintentional, and the husband didn't see the person's face clearly. Just listening to the voice, some of them look like Chen Gui.

Chen Gui, a native of Huaxi Town, his father Chen Maode used to work in the Xu family's shop, and was later kicked out by the Xu family for stealing things from the shop. It is said that the stealing of the master's things was to be sent to the official, but the Xu family let Chen Maode go, just drove the people away, and did not ask for compensation.

If this is another family, nine times out of ten they will be grateful to the Xu family, but the father and son of the Chen family have a grudge against the Xu family because of this incident, especially Xu Xuan's eldest brother Xu Tian. But because Xu Tian was away all the year round, and Xu Hu was a practitioner, Chen Gui found the trouble on Xu Xuan's head.

The people from the government immediately found Chen Gui, but Chen Gui did not defend himself, saying that he did meet Xu Xuan on the street, but the two only said a few words and separated. Chen Gui also told the people in the government that it was impossible for him to harm Xu Xuan, because Xu Xuan was the great benefactor of their Chen family.

Chen Gui told the government that his father had stolen the shop's things to sell because his mother was sick and had no money for medical treatment. The Xu family knew about the situation, but they still kicked his father out of the shop. Outsiders only know that the Xu family is generous, but they don't know that his father can no longer find a job to do after that, and his mother almost died of illness. It is also for this reason that the father and son hold a grudge against the Xu family, and even Chen Gui threatened to kill the three sons of Master Xu, so that he could taste the pain of losing his relatives.

The third son, Xu Xuan, knew about Chen Gui's mother, not only personally found a doctor to go to the Chen family to help Chen Gui's mother see a doctor, but also begged his father and brother to arrange a job for the Chen family father and son, in addition, he often asked the little servants around him to send money and gifts to the Chen family. Chen Gui said that although he had not studied, he could not do that kind of thing of revenge, and he met Xu Xuan on the street, said hello to Xu Xuan, and invited him to attend his mother's birthday banquet a few days later.

Regarding what Chen Gui said, the catchers also confirmed them one by one. Xu Xuan did help Chen Gui's father and son, and Chen Gui's mother Liu was indeed arranging her birthday. According to Liu, the birthday celebration was just a pretense, and they just wanted to use this pretext to express their gratitude to Xu Sangongzi.

Xu Xuan is a noble person of the Chen family, no matter from that aspect, Chen Gui has no opportunity or reason to hurt Xu Xuan.

In addition, the catchers also confirmed from Chen Gui that Xu Xuan was indeed going to Han Shuzhai to buy ink that night, but at that hour, the old shopkeeper of Han Shuzhai was not in the store, and the only guy left seemed to be a little inconsistent with Xu Xuan.

Chen Gui told Zhu Kuai that he had accompanied Xu Xuan to buy ink in the Han study, and saw with his own eyes how that guy was embarrassed for Xu Xuan. That is, Xu Sangongzi has a good temper, and if it was him Chen Gui, he would have beaten that guy a long time ago. It's just a little guy, and I don't know where he got the courage to argue with Xu Sangongzi. Chen Gui once proposed to Xu Xuan, saying that he was looking for someone to teach that guy a lesson, but was dissuaded by Xu Xuan, not only that, Xu Xuan also asked Chen Gui not to embarrass the other party, saying that except for life and death, everything else is a trivial matter.

The little guy Chen Gui said was the one who accompanied the old shopkeeper of Han Shuzhai to the mansion for questioning on the night of Xu Xuan's disappearance, but he didn't mention a word about the contradiction between himself and Xu Xuan.

The catchers felt that something was wrong and summoned the young man again. This time, he was so excited that he even yelled at the county magistrate and the catchers, saying that he had killed Xu Xuan.

During the interrogation, the young man made it clear that he had murdered Xu Xuan and buried his body in a ruin somewhere in the town, but the catchers did not find Xu Xuan in the ruins, and the shopkeeper of the adjacent shop in the Han study confirmed that the young man did not leave the Han study that night, and he had never seen Xu Xuan go to the Han study and have any arguments with the young man.

All of a sudden, the case became strange.