"At four o'clock this morning, I came to the kitchen and began to clean, the housekeeper brought back the ingredients and handed them to me, at the hour I fetched a small bucket of water from the big bucket in the front yard, carried it to the kitchen and began to cook, at six o'clock in the afternoon I brought the prepared meal into the room where the master ate, and then returned to the kitchen to clean up, and then I heard the housekeeper exclaim that the master was dead, he ran over and told me not to go, and then arranged for the servant to report to the official. It would be false to say that I didn't hate him at all, but I never thought of killing him. When there was a famine, I saw too many families, either starving to death together, or changing their children to eat, I wanted to live, I was only thirteen years old and I wanted to live, so I took the initiative to beg my father to sell me to the rich man, so that he could survive the famine with the money from selling me, and I could continue to live although I was sold into slavery. I can do anything to stay alive, so I can't kill the rich man, because I know what the consequences will be if I kill the rich man, and even if he does something like that to me, I will just suffer in silence, and this is my life. The cook sobbed.

Lin Fan pinched his eyebrows and was a little irritable, in the testimony of the cook, there was no special place to help her get rid of suspicion, the meal was made by her, no one had entered the kitchen during the period, and she served it herself after it was done, not to mention that the cook also said that the cook's fingers were obviously red, swollen and broken, and there was a faint amount of arsenic remaining. The taste of frost, unless it can be proved that the housekeeper put poison in the ingredients, she can't wash it away by jumping into the Yellow River.

"What about you? What have you done and what have you seen today? Lin Fan looked at the servant and asked.

The servant replied respectfully: "I don't know anything, I am responsible for some chores in the house, fetching water, chopping wood, cleaning, etc., because of my humble status, I can only move in the front yard, I cannot enter the inner house, and I cannot go to the kitchen." I got up and started sweeping the yard, I saw the housekeeper leave, I saw the cook go to the kitchen at the fourth hour, I saw the housekeeper come back with the ingredients, I finished sweeping the yard and began to chop wood. At the end of the day I saw the cook come out with a bucket to fetch water, and then went into the kitchen. At two o'clock I saw the butler leave again, and at four o'clock I finished chopping firewood, and found that the cook had almost used up the water in the big bucket, so I took the pole, picked up two buckets, and went to the village well to fetch water. At four o'clock in the afternoon I came back from fetching water, and I happened to bump into the door where the butler had entered with him, and then the butler went to the inner courtyard, and I was in the front yard, and poured water into the big bucket. At five o'clock in the afternoon, I almost finished the work, sat in the porter to catch my breath, rested for a while, and then I took out the dog's food box, and waited for the master to finish the meal at noon, when the cook would give me the rest of the meal, I took it to feed the dog, and was waiting, when I suddenly heard an exclamation from the housekeeper, and it didn't take long for him to come out and greet me and say that the master was dead, so I hurried to report to the official. ”

Lin Fan stood up and asked them to stay in the house, then walked out of the side room alone, found the servant, and asked him to help check whether there were any unprocessed ingredients left in the kitchen and whether the large bucket in the front yard contained arsenic. Frost, although he doesn't like Lin Fan very much, but for his own work, he is still very serious and responsible, and after some investigation, he told Lin Fan that there is no poison in the ingredients and the big bucket in the front yard.

After learning the news, Lin Fan paced back and forth in the courtyard, secretly thinking in his heart that Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes famously said that when all other possibilities are ruled out and there is only one left, no matter how impossible it is, it is the truth. Could it really be that the cook killed the rich man in revenge? Just thinking about it, the official messenger walked in with the shopkeeper Liu from the pharmacy.

"How?" Lin Fan stepped forward and asked.

The official shook his head, and the shopkeeper Liu said: "Shaoxia, there was a famine some time ago, and almost every household bought some arsenic. Frost, used to make traps to poison some rats or animals, and then eat them, there are too many people to buy them, and I can't remember them. ”

"yes, I'm sorry to bother you and bother you to come over." Lin Fan apologized, but he became vigilant in his heart, and wanted to poison an adult and buy arsenic. The amount of frost must not be small, buy arsenic in large quantities. The frosty man, the pharmacy shopkeeper can't remember, why did he lie?

Is it trying to shield the murderer? Could it be that the murderer still has accomplices? Did Shopkeeper Liu take the advantage of the murderer, or was he afraid of the murderer's power so he didn't dare to tell the truth? If it was a benefit, did the housekeeper really steal money and bribe the shopkeeper Liu?

If it was the power of the fearful murderer, was it the son of the rich man who did it? Otherwise, how could it be so coincidental that as soon as he left, the rich man died the next day, in order to inherit the family property in advance? But if the mastermind is the son of a rich man, who will he do it? Chamberlain? Cook? Servant?

Lin Fan continued to wander in the courtyard, his brain was running rapidly, thinking about whether he had missed something, and in a distraught way, he saw the big dog in the servant's mouth, the dog was lying on the ground and seemed to be sleeping, Lin Fan walked over slowly, wanting to pet the dog to relieve the irritability in his heart.

He squatted down and stroked it, and suddenly felt that something was wrong, and when he examined it closely, he found that the dog was dead, and it was obviously also arsenic. Frost poisoned!

Strange, could someone test a dog for poison? Lin Fan found the dog again, cut open the dog's stomach and examined it, and found that there was no food in the dog's stomach.

This discovery lifted Lin Fan's spirits, the dog was poisoned, but there was no food in the stomach, indicating that the dog was poisoned by water, so the only people who had contact with the water source were the cook and the servant.

Is it the poison in the water that the cook takes away, or the poison that the cook takes after the water? If the water that the cook drew at the beginning contained a lot of poison, then why did the big bucket check now and it was not poisonous?

Even if the servant filled the bucket with water, no matter how much he diluted it, he could not detect a single amount of arsenic. Frost residue unless... Lin Fan looked at the moss around the bucket, and a flash of inspiration flashed in his mind, and he instantly figured out everything.

Lin Fan called everyone over and said proudly: "I have already figured out the facts of the case, the real murderer is the servant."

The official glanced at Lin Fan strangely and asked, "How can it be a servant?" Is there any evidence? ”

"The key to solving this case is the poisoned dog, the dog's stomach is empty, indicating that it was not poisoned by food, but drank poisonous water by mistake."

"Assuming that the murderer is a housekeeper and he puts poison in the ingredients, the dog will not be poisoned if he drinks water and does not eat, and the eldest brother has also checked the remaining ingredients, and there is no poison in the ingredients."

"Assuming that the cook is the murderer, then the poison will either be in the food or in the small bucket of water she brings back to the kitchen, and there is no need to put it in the big bucket. Since the poison is in the water, and then the poison penetrates into the food during cooking, the cook has been cooking in the kitchen, if the dog has been to the kitchen, the cook will definitely find out, and she will definitely prevent the dog from drinking the poisonous water by mistake. ”

"Assuming that she doesn't have time to deal with the poisoned water left over from cooking, and she doesn't have time to stop the dog from drinking the poisonous water by mistake, and she knows that the dog will die in a while, then she will definitely find time to dispose of the dog's corpse afterwards, and then fetch water again, wash her hands repeatedly, and remove the arsenic left over from cooking on her hands. Frost to taste. ”

"But the dog's carcass was not disposed of, and the cook still had arsenic left on her hands. The smell of the frost shows that she doesn't know that the water is poisonous, and the deceased died of poisoning after eating, her suspicion is the greatest, and she will not choose this method if she kills. So the murderer can only be a servant. ”

"He put the poison in the big bucket at the beginning, and then after the cook took the poisonous water, he poured out the remaining poisonous water in the bucket when there was no one, and then went to fetch clean water, so that the water in the big bucket was no longer poisonous when we checked. And the poisonous water that is poured on the ground, waiting for the water to slowly seep down, will not be discovered. ”

But he didn't expect that the water he poured out near the big bucket was mistakenly drunk by the dog when he left the rich man's house and went to the village to fetch water, and he didn't find out that the dog was dead, and if he did, he would dispose of the dog's body as soon as possible. To sum up, there is only one truth, and that is that the murderer is a servant. It's just that I can't guess what his motive was. Whether it is the cook or the housekeeper, they all have a motive for committing the crime, but the servant seems to have no motive at all. Lin Fan stated calmly.

He inspected the weedy and moss-covered land around the courtyard bucket, and sure enough, he found arsenic in the damp soil. Ingredients of the cream.

"I killed the master, and it has nothing to do with the cook." When the servant saw that the matter was revealed, he simply stopped hiding it, he slowly squatted down, and said with a painful expression.

"You murdered the head of the family, didn't take the opportunity to escape, and actually came to report the case in a big way, I really don't know if you are stupid or you are bold." The official said in amazement.

Hearing this, the servant suddenly raised his head, changed his honest and responsible appearance, and said with a hideous face: "That's because the son of the rich man, Wang Tianming is not dead!" Killing one is also killing, killing two is also killing, fighting my rotten life, if I can kill his family, I can solve the hatred in my heart! ”

"What about the cook? This thirteen-year-old girl has no grievances with you, but she will suffer injustice for you! Lin Fan scolded.

"I won't bother her, our life and death will have to wait for the rich man's son to come back before it can be decided, I thought that I could hide it for a while, and when Wang Tianming came back, I killed him with my own hands, and then I would confess everything, but now it seems that it is impossible." The servant sighed resignedly.

"What kind of enmity do you have with the rich man? What was your motive for committing the crime? Lin Fan incomprehensibly explored.

"Motive for the crime?" The servant smiled bitterly and told a story that shocked Lin Fan a little.