Liu Shimin waved his hand to let the strong man in the brocade workshop step aside, and asked Hu Guihua again: "In the night four days ago, was there any movement in your house?" ”

Hu Guihua's big face has turned red significantly.

"Back to my father-in-law, no, there is no movement, the grass people's dyeing workshop does not work at night."

Liu Shimin squinted his eyes and said meaningfully: "Yes, you are the one who runs the dyeing workshop, not the one who opens the restaurant, and besides, the one who opens the restaurant will not make trouble in the middle of the night." ”

After speaking, he made a gesture, and the entourage pushed up three people, both men and women.

Liu Shimin put on a face: "Hu, these neighbors, you are not unfamiliar, right?" This one, right next door to you, grinds tofu. This is to collect night incense. This is Lang Zhong, who is particular about the time to boil medicine, and some medicines have to be boiled at night. Early this morning, our family quickly dug the streets in front of and behind them, and asked them door to door, only to find out a few of them. Come, a few of you, and tell me what strange things you heard that night. ”

"Back to my father-in-law's words, I heard, I heard that the dye shop was killing chickens."

The three of them reluctantly gave the same answer.

"Why kill chickens in the middle of the night! Say! Liu Shimin suddenly turned to Hu Guihua and shouted angrily.

Everyone around, including the Shanghai magistrate who accompanied him but was ordered by Liu Shimin to stand outside the door temporarily, couldn't help but be excited.

However, the Hu osmanthus is really more sophisticated than ordinary women, and still quibbles: "Folk women, folk women suddenly got a hidden disease this year, and got a home remedy from the monk of Youfang, saying that they should take the blood of a rooster in the middle of the night, soak the autumn dates and take them after steaming, and they can be cured." ”

Liu Shimin sneered, stopped talking nonsense with this woman, and rushed out of the door: "Shanghai County, come in with your county noon and catch quickly." ”

The person he named hurriedly rushed in respectfully and stood with his hands in his hands.

Liu Shimin motioned to the entourage he brought, took out a porcelain bottle, and pulled out the stopper for Wu Zuo to smell.

"This is the thick salt and vinegar sauce you use to test human blood?"

"Back to my father-in-law, yes."

"Okay, put things out."

In response to Liu Shimin's orders, the entourage successively brought out three clay pots, two of which were filled with chicken blood, and the third was a ball of soil.

Liu Shimin said: "Sprinkle." ”

The retinue obeyed, spread out a white cotton cloth on the ground, poured the first cup of chicken blood on top, and then dripped salt and vinegar sauce. After a while, that part turned a light purple-red, which was very different from the original color of chicken blood.

Liu Shimin personally paced in front of several large dyeing vasks to investigate, and instructed his entourage: "This pot of dyeing paste is a big-leaved ficus with lime, come and get it." ”

The attendant then took a varnished wooden spoon from the bamboo box he carried, scooped the dyed paste and poured it into the second bowl of chicken blood, shook it with both hands for a moment, splashed some on the white cloth, and then poured salt and vinegar on it.

The magistrate of Shanghai County took his subordinates to watch, and said strangely: "Hey, small, the villain also knows for the first time that the chicken blood is mixed with this dyed pulp, and the salt and vinegar sauce no longer changes color." ”

Liu Shimin sneered and said to the Shanghai magistrate: "The meaning of noon is the same as human blood. ”

Hu Guihua lay on the ground, buried her face in her forehead, and trembled to herself.

Finally, a lit stove was brought up, and Liu Shimin's entourage placed the third clay pot directly on the stove to roast.

After a while, part of the surface of the yellow mud, which was originally reddish-brown like old blood, clearly precipitated white powder particles.

Liu Shimin turned his head and teased Zhixian: "Your Shanghai County is a blessed land, the loess behind a small nunnery can easily burn lime." ”

Although the magistrate of Shanghai is only a seven-grade person, he is not a good person, and he has already considered the first sentence of the interrogation in his heart, and immediately said sharply to Hu Guihua: "Hu Guihua, you recruited from the truth, how did you murder the Huishang surnamed Yang with your son, and also blame the nuns of the Nine Lotus Nunnery!" ”

When Hu Guihua heard Liu Shimin say that the lime was burned, her body was already crooked on the ground, but the word "son" in the mouth of the county made her feel like a pinprick, knelt up straight, and said loudly on her back: "The eldest father, the eldest lord, this matter has nothing to do with my son, he went to the county school that day, and slept in the school at night, many villagers can testify." ”

The magistrate said: "This matter? What kind of hurtful thing is this, there can be an accomplice, and tell it to Gonggong Liu truthfully! ”

Hu Guihua's voice was weak: "I confess, I confess......"

……

Zhang Dai and Zhang Yanke waited anxiously in the post station.

"This master, who are you looking for?"

After noon, the man who was wiping the porch in the court, stared at the little official in soap boots who went straight to the door of the upper room, and just opened his mouth to ask, he saw that the man took off his gauze hat and tore off the mustache in the middle of the person, and it was actually a woman.

Zhang Yanke had already seen it under the window, and hurriedly stepped out, bluffing the guy with a bluff: "This is my family's friend in Songjiang, you go to the outer courtyard, we have something to discuss." ”

Zheng Haizhu threw his gauze hat and fake beard on the stone table in the courtyard, and said to Zhang Yanke: "Third son, I saw that you scared that young man, I just wanted to ask him to pour me a bowl of water to drink." ”

Zhang Yanke slapped his face and said, "It's not easy."

He entered the house diligently, came out with a teapot and a cup, made a cup, and presented it to Zheng Haizhu: "Miss Zheng has worked hard, my son knows that the real murderer must have been found out when he looks at your face." Why, did the dyeer do it? ”

Zhang Dai patted his younger brother on the shoulder, signaling him not to be in a hurry to ask, and he also sat down opposite the stone table, looked at Zheng Haizhu who was as thirsty as a cow drinking water, and said softly: "Slow down, speak slowly." ”

Zheng Haizhu drank the third cup of tea and gave a final conclusion first: "You can rest assured, Sister He was indeed wronged." ”

Then he said: "This morning, I went to the inn, dressed up as a man and went to the dyeing workshop with my father-in-law, Liu's father-in-law had already finished the secret visit and found a few witnesses, saying that they heard that the dyeing workshop was killing chickens that night. When I arrived at the dyeing workshop, under the inquiry of Liu Gonggong, sure enough, among the five dyeing workshops in Shanghai County, only this one could prepare dyeing ox blood red and vermilion dyeing pulp. According to Father-in-law Liu's instructions yesterday, I made three demonstrations respectively, and the magistrate also understood, because the ironclad evidence was like a mountain, and the magistrate interrogated him a little, and the proprietress Hu Guihua was recruited. ”

It turned out that Hu Guihua was originally a native of Xiuning, Huizhou, and the wealthy businessman Hu Lao Ye in his clan and the wealthy businessman Yang of Qimen have accumulated enmity over the years because of peer bidding and competition for goods.

When Mr. Hu learned that Mr. Yang was helping a nun print books in Shanghai County, he bought off Mr. Yang's servant Yang Amo and the neighborhood's carpenter. Several people totaled and poisoned Master Yang and Sister He to death in the nunnery, and rumors were released by domestic servants and neighbors, so that the government and the people thought that the two had an adulterous affair and then turned their faces, and the nuns died together with Master Yang in anger.

On that day, the workers in the dyeing workshop were on vacation, and the son was in the county to learn to repair the house, and there was only one Hu Guihua in the dyeing workshop, which was very convenient. In the name of watching the dyeing pulp, Yang Amo led his master to the workshop, tied and imprisoned him with the prayer belt stolen by the carpenter from the nunnery, and then moved it to the quiet time to fill the venom until he was exhausted.

Carpenter Ye and Yang Amo transported Master Yang's body to the back gate of the Nine Lotus Nunnery through the river boat.

Carpenter Ye went in first, ready to poison Sister He, but unexpectedly found that Sister He was not in the nunnery.

Yang Amo advocated dragging Master Yang's body into the nunnery first, but Carpenter Ye was a ruthless and refined character, saying that if the nun came back the next day and had an alibi, it would not make sense to slander her for killing people when she went out, how could she not abandon the body elsewhere after killing people and go out to do things by herself first?

Carpenter Ye then proposed that Master Yang should simply be thrown into the river, but leave traces of murder in the Nine Lotus Nunnery, and he could expose it by making a play.

Anyway, in the neighborhood, many men coveted the nun's beauty and hated her for teaching her girl to read and write, and the older jealous women were even more eager for the nun to suffer lawsuits.

At that time, the accumulation of ruined bones, and the good people spit stars, can also give the public a sentence to the nun to behead and help.

However, Master Yang had been dead for most of the hour, and Yang Amo stabbed it with a knife, but there was not much blood.

Yang Amo was in a hurry, turned back to the dyeing workshop, and killed two chickens with Hu Guihua, but the blood volume was still not enough.

That Hu Guihua, a woman from a Taoist family who showed up to run a dyeing workshop, and could also get the work sent by the brocade workshop, naturally had to deal with all kinds of characters from county officials, officials to a chief. She was very thoughtful, and remembered that she heard Lao Wu brag about the doorway of the inquest. When the ducks were put on the shelves, the dyed paste of the big-leaved banyan was mixed with chicken blood, and it was still dark red and not purple, so a bucket was loaded for the leaf carpenter to take to the scene of the fake life.

Zhang Yanke listened to Zheng Haizhu without blinking his eyes, and realized: "So, Miss Zheng took the footprints I found, the eight characters in her right foot are Yang Amo, and the other one who wears nun's shoes is Ye Carpenter?" ”

Zheng Haizhu nodded: "Exactly." I saw that Yang Amo, Ye Carpenter and Master Hu were all shackled to the county office, and the county lord also interrogated the three of them in front of Gonggong Liu, and then rushed over, it was so late. ”

Zhang Dai finally breathed a long sigh of relief.

This Miss Zheng is really the first meritorious person this time.

She kept saying that Gonggong Liu was very powerful, and with a few clues, he was able to lock the dye shop from the red dye with lime and arrange the visit carefully, and sighed that the proprietress surnamed Hu was a thief, and she really had a lot of strength when she was still fighting.

But in fact, Zhang Dai thinks from the bottom of his heart that Miss Zheng is the one who is the best at doing things.

Not to mention her speculation on the traces of fate, nor to say that she is as good at seizing opportunities as chess Zhang Luo came to Liu Gonggong's questioning, just said that yesterday, when the Zhang brothers thanked Liu Gonggong for coming out to be the master, Zheng Haizhu smiled on the side and said, "Zhang Gongzi is the best at writing Kun dialect books, and this time he will definitely write a play "Liu Daren's Wisdom and Strange Eucalyptus" to sing all over Jiangnan."

Zhang Dai immediately understood that this was for his brothers, and promised Liu Shimin a thank you gift.

Jiangnan weaving admiral eunuch, the father-in-law who sits on this seat, where is there still a shortage of money?

What is lacking is clearly a good reputation, lest the over-eaten imperial history hand over the impeachment book like a marquee.

There is a lack of reputation touted by the scribe circle, after all, the people who look down on eunuchs the most in the world are civil officials and literati.

The Zhang family of Shanyin, the great-grandfather is the champion, and the fathers of the Zhang brothers are also either Beijing officials, or local gentry, and they are also staff members of the Lu Wangfu.

Liu Shimin prides himself on being a minister of the Son of Heaven who is both resourceful and literate, if the Zhang family, who has been a eunuch for generations, writes a play book for him and praises him, isn't it ten times better than the vulgar and dangerous things like the Lisheng Temple?

Sure enough, Gonggong Liu's eyes narrowed at that time, and he said straightforwardly: "Oh, this is good, Zhang Gongzi only writes the book of Kun dialect, but our family proposes that you go to the team of Yiyang dialect to perform, Yiyang dialect is suitable for playing the situation where the common people surround the principal officials and listen to lawsuits." ”

This rather interested attitude is a clear indication that the giver is on the right track.

At this moment, Zheng Haizhu finished talking about the eucalyptus, but still did not forget to remind Zhang Dai: "Son, you must never forget the matter of writing and singing." ”

Zhang Yanke put on an old face, pointed at Zhang Dai and said: "That's natural, even if my eldest brother is not sensible, a person like me who knows the importance will never procrastinate." ”

He smiled again and said to Zheng Haizhu: "By the way, Miss Zheng, the thank you gift to Grandpa Liu is a play, and the thank you gift must be money." With the current friendship between the two of us, I'm embarrassed not to mention money. ”

Zheng Haizhu was secretly thinking about another troublesome matter, but when she heard Zhang Yanke's oily and sincere words, she almost squirted a sip of tea on the stone table.

Zhang Dai helplessly glanced at his younger brother, who was not serious, and smiled at Zheng Haizhu: "Miss Zheng, that's the case." I heard Ru Li'er mention that you deliberately used the money from the sale of your ancestral house in Zhangzhou to build a school. Yanke and I want to give each five hundred taels of silver first, and do our best. ”

Zheng Haizhu felt a tremor in her heart, far more surprising than the affectionate confession of the male protagonist and male partner.

The rental and sale of houses in the Ming Dynasty are not expensive, and the Shanghai County in this world is far from being compared with Nanjing and Suzhou, five or six ordinary but acceptable quality houses, plus two small courtyards before and after, the rent for a year is about forty taels of silver, plus the cost of asking Mr. to teach, inviting craftsmen and technicians to teach, the cost of daily management, and the cost of adding things.

Hey, this is really, saving people's lives is better than creating a seventh-level God of Wealth!

Zheng Haizhu already knew the lives of Zhang Dai and Zhang Yanke in real history, and after this contact, he felt that these two brothers were good children who could cooperate.

So he didn't hesitate to excuse himself, and said with a look of real joy and gratitude: "Yes, yes, great, that's really a great help to me!" ”

Zhang Yanke laughed: "What this son appreciates is the girl's unpretentious nature, I guess what the girl wants to ask next must be, when will the money arrive." Rest assured, the gentleman pays faster than the horse. My two brothers came to invite Master Wu Di to go to Shaoxing to build a garden this time, and after paying the fixed money, there is still a surplus, the girl will find a ticket number for Songjiang Mansion, and I will deposit this amount to you tomorrow. ”

Zheng Haizhu's thinking seemed to be twice as fast, nodded his head, and seriously talked about the next work plan: "The two sons are so heroic and righteous, I thank the dolls in Songjiang, but I can't understand the righteousness, just spend all the money, and then cry and ask the sons for it." My idea was that in the school, the 100 taels of silver that my nephew and I had, plus the 1,000 taels of silver from the two of them, would have to be made into a fund. ”