In the prison of the government office, Xiao Yuan grabbed the prison bar and was very excited, and kept expressing his gratitude to Congxi who was standing outside the prison bar, Xiao Yuan was in the cell next door, Qu Zaichen was sitting on the straw mat and looked calm and leisurely, Congxi, Yun Xian, Luo Yi, Lan Chu, Congran, Yu Zhuo, and Song Su were all standing outside the prison door.

Congxi interrupted Xiao Yuan's words of gratitude, and asked: "Brother Xiao, your suspicion has not been cleared yet, if you can't find the real culprit, the government will still determine that you killed Li Rongrong, so I ask you a few questions, and you have to answer me truthfully?" ”

Xiao Yuan glanced back at Qu Zaichen, puzzled, looked at Congxi and nodded vigorously: "Okay, okay, you ask, you ask, I will say everything I know." ”

Congxi: "Li Rongrong really didn't kill her?" ”

Xiao Yuan: "I really didn't kill her, I only looked at her a few times from afar, I have no grudge against her, what are you doing to kill her?" ”

Congxi hesitated and said, "The government said you. Interested in seeing the color? ”

Xiao Yuan hurriedly shook his head and said: "No, no, I really don't, although that Miss Li is good-looking, but I also know my identity, I am a small craftsman, I am Miss Guifu, how dare I, a poor and sour villain, have a crooked heart towards her?" The Li family is not something I can provoke. What's more, I have a wife at home, and my wife has always been diligent in her duty and diligent in housework, and I can't take care of my wife, so how can I be crooked towards other women? From the girl, you believe me, Miss Li really didn't kill me. ”

Congxi: "I heard that on the night Li Rongrong was killed, the craftsmen of your craftsman team could not continue to work because it was getting dark, and they had all left the Li Mansion, why did you stay in the Li Mansion?" ”

Xiao Yuan nodded: "Yes, our work needs daylight, every day when the sky will be dark, everyone will go home one after another, there is a wall that night I am almost finished, only a small piece of the top, I think it is not much worse, it will not take two moments to finish, I want to paint that wall and then go home, so I stare on the wooden ladder to climb to the top, carefully painted, in the middle of which others left one after another, I was left alone." I brushed the top and slowly walked down the wooden ladder to the ground, but as soon as my foot touched the ground, I was hit in the back of the head, and I fainted before I could turn my head, and when I woke up, they said I had killed someone, and I really didn't know anything. ”

Congxi turned his head to look at Yu Zhuo: "Why did the government decide that Xiao Yuan was the murderer of Li Rongrong, just based on the scratches on his arms?" ”

Yu Zhuo shook his head: "Not all, when the people of the Li Mansion found Xiao Yuan, he fainted by the wall of the Li Mansion, and a wooden ladder next to him leaned on the wall, Xiao Yuan not only had scratches on his arms, but also red lipstick on his face, the government compared, the lipstick on Xiao Yuan's face was the same as the lipstick used by Li Rongrong." Therefore, at that time, the government inferred that Xiao Yuan should have lust for Li Rongrong, and when he bullied Li Rongrong, Li Rongrong struggled to scratch Xiao Yuan, so Li Rongrong had skin blood on her nails, Xiao Yuan had scratches on her arms, and Li Rongrong's mouth grease on her face. And Xiao Yuan was afraid that Li Rongrong's shouting would startle others, so he strangled Li Rongrong's neck in a panic and inadvertently strangled Li Rongrong to death, and then, Xiao Yuan was frightened and wanted to escape by borrowing a wooden ladder over the wall, but fell down from the wooden ladder in a panic, hit the ground with the back of his head, and fell unconscious, so Xiao Yuan had a lump in the back of his head. ”

Congxi: "Even if Xiao Yuan wants to escape, why do you have to climb over the wall, before everyone finds out that Li Rongrong was killed, is it different to leave the gate openly?" ”

Yu Zhuo: "According to the people of the Li Mansion, Xiao Yuan's house built in the Li Mansion is closer to the back door of the Li Mansion, and the people in the craftsman team usually enter and exit the Li Mansion through the back door, and they generally do not go to the front door, and on the night Li Rongrong was killed, the back door of the Li Mansion was tied with thick branches from the outside, and it could not be opened from the inside, so the government thought that Xiao Yuan wanted to escape over the wall. ”

"I didn't, I really didn't." Xiao Yuan said immediately.

He pondered, "Have you found out who tied the back door from the outside?" ”

Yu Zhuo shook his head: "No, but according to the craftsman team and the Li family, among the residents in the back streets and alleys, there are a few children who are more stubborn, and they used to tie branches through the back door of the Li Mansion, just to have fun, Xiao Yuan knows about this, right?" ”

Xiao Yuan nodded: "Yes, once, when we left the Li Mansion, we found that the back door was tied from the outside, and when we looked through the crack in the door, we found that the knocker outside was tied with branches, and we also heard the laughter of several children outside the door, and then we inserted a sharp knife into the crack of the door, cut off the branches, and then opened the back door." ”

Congxi: "The government asked those children, the night Li Rongrong was killed, but the back door they were tied to?" ”

Yu Zhuo: "I asked, and those children said that they were not tethered, but we felt that they didn't dare to admit it." ”

Cong Ning frowned and thought for a moment and said: "Li Rongrong has skin blood on her nails, if the murderer is not Xiao Yuan, then the real murderer should also have scratches on his hands or body, right?" ”

Yun Xian thought for a while and said: "Not necessarily, if the murderer knocks Xiao Yuan unconscious, carries him to Li Rongrong's room, grabs Li Rongrong's fingers and presses Xiao Yuan's arm hard, then Li Rongrong's nails will still have skin blood, and there will be scratches on Xiao Yuan's arms." ”

Congxi nodded: "That's right." With a flash of his eyes, he seemed to think of something, raised his eyes and looked at Yu Zhuo and said, "Yu Zhuo, what is the shape of the lipstick on Xiao Yuan's face, is it consistent with the shape of Li Rongrong's lips?" ”

Yu Zhuo shook his head: "There are only a few pieces of red lipstick scattered on Xiao Yuan's face, not the shape of his lips, so he can't compare." It's just that the color of the lipstick is the same as Li Rongrong's lipstick. ”

Congxi pondered: "If the real murderer brought the unconscious Xiao Yuan into Li Rongrong's room, he could fake the blood marks of Li Rongrong scratching Xiao Yuan, and then he could put Li Rongrong's lips against Xiao Yuan's face, leaving a few complete lip prints, so that the government would even believe that Xiao Yuan was the real murderer of Li Rongrong, but he only left mixed lip grease, but failed to leave a complete lip print, it is very likely that he could not do it, he should not have brought Xiao Yuan into Li Rongrong's room, then the skin blood on Li Rongrong's nails should have been left by her when she scratched the murderer." ”

Yun Xian nodded: "It's smart from the beginning, it's really possible, didn't you check the others at that time?" Except for Xiao Yuan, the rest of the craftsman team and the people from the Li Mansion did they have any scratches on their bodies? Yun Xian looked at Yu Zhuo.

Yu Zhuo: "We have checked, although Xiao Yuan was the most suspicious at that time, but just in case, the magistrate at that time ordered us to check the Li family and the rest of the craftsman team, but we did not find any scratches on the others, and we also asked the Li family, and we did not find that outsiders had entered or left the Li Mansion." Li Fu also said that he had never seen Li Rongrong have dealings with outsiders, nor had he seen Li Rongrong have a grudge with others, and no other clues have been found, no matter how he checks, only Xiao Yuan is the only suspect. Xiao Yuan has so much evidence on him, and everything is reasonable, so the former prefect convicted Xiao Yuan of murder. ”

Congxi pondered for a moment and said: "Li Rongrong should have a maid, when Li Rongrong was killed, where was her maid?" ”

Yu Zhuo: "The maid said that Li Rongrong asked her to go to the Jade Crisp Building to buy pastries, and it took nearly an hour before and after, and the maid came back, only to find out that Li Rongrong was killed, we checked, the maid had no problem, when Li Rongrong was killed, she was indeed in the Jade Crisp Building." ”

Congxi lowered his eyebrows and thought for a moment and said: "There are no new scratches on the craftsmen's team and the Li family, have you checked it out, how did you check it?" ”

Yu Zhuo: "We let the male servants of the Li family get together and let them undress and check them one by one, even Li Rongrong's father and two brothers, the magistrate at that time persuaded them to undress, let us check it, because Li Rongrong was disheveled but not violated, so the magistrate also asked the female messenger to check the maids and daughters of the Li family, and they did not find any scratches on their bodies. The people of the craftsman team, we asked their consul to gather everyone to the Li family, and also let them undress and check them one by one, and there were no scratches on their bodies. Oh, by the way, there was one person who didn't go to Li's house because he was sick and had a fever, but I went to his house to check on him and didn't find any injuries on his body. ”

Congxi: "Who is the sick man?" ”

Yu Zhuo: "I remember his name is Chen Xing. ”

Congxi's eyes flashed: "Chen Xing? How did you check on his house, can you tell me more about it? ”

Yu Zhuo recalled: "When I arrived at his house, it was his sister who opened the door, saying that her brother had a high fever, he was in a coma, and he was lying in the bedroom, I walked into Chen Xing's room, Chen Xing was indeed lying on the bed, with a thick towel on his forehead, and Chen Xing's mother was sitting at the head of the bed, with tears in her eyes and a worried face, looking at Chen Xing.

I thought that Li Rongrong had blood marks on her nails, and the place where she scratched the murderer should be the skin exposed outside her clothes, that is, on her neck, chest, or arms. So I explained my intention, saying that I wanted to check Chen Xing's neck and chest, as well as two arms, Chen's mother heard it and immediately lifted Chen Xing's collar, I looked over, Chen Xing's neck and chest had no scars, Chen's mother leaned over and lifted Chen Xing's inner arm, rolled up the sleeves to the shoulders, and there were no scars, Chen Xing's sister also walked to the bedside, lifted Chen Xing's outer arm, and also rolled up the sleeves to the arms, and there were no injuries on the arms, and then I left. What's the matter, Congxi, do you think there is something wrong with Chen Xing? ”

Congxi shook his head: "I'm not sure, I just think it's a bit of a coincidence that he is sick, you saw clearly at the time, Chen Xing didn't have any new scars on his arms?" ”

Yu Zhuo nodded: "Although the room was a little dark that day, I could see it clearly, and I deliberately turned my head to look at his entire arm, and there were no new injuries." ”

Congxi looked at Xiao Yuan: "Brother Xiao, what do you think of Chen Xing, have you seen him have any dealings with Li Rongrong?" ”

Xiao Yuan thought about it and said: "Chen Xing usually keeps his head down, doesn't like to talk, only stuffy work, I don't know him very well, but usually when everyone laughs and calls him 'prodigy Xiucai', Chen Xing's head will be buried lower, and his face will be red, and his father is too, every time someone calls Chen Xing 'prodigy Xiucai', I think their father and son are very embarrassed." I haven't seen Chen Xing have any interaction with Miss Li, the yard where Miss Li lives is dozens of meters away from the house we built, and Miss Li usually doesn't come to our side, occasionally I meet Miss Li on the road, she also has her nostrils facing the sky, and she seems to disdain to look at us, she shouldn't look down on Chen Xing. ”

Congxi: "Do you remember what time Chen Xing left that night?" ”

Xiao Yuan shook his head: "I didn't pay attention." ”

After thinking for a while, he turned his head to look at Yu Zhuo: "Yu Zhuo, since you can't find anyone with scratches on your body, have you checked where the Li family and the craftsmen were when Li Rongrong was killed, and there are witnesses around them?" ”

Yu Zhuo shook his head: "No, at that time, people who felt that there were no scratches on their bodies could rule out suspicion, so they didn't check again, in fact, if there were outsiders in and out of Qufu, such as... For example, a martial arts master like Qu Ergongzi, flying the eaves and walking the wall into the Li Mansion, and then flying the eaves and walking the wall to leave, the people of the Li Mansion may not be able to notice, and it is useless to check the people of the Li Mansion and the people of the craftsman team, right? At that time, the magistrate also thought of it, but he didn't find out that Li Rongrong had anything to do with outsiders, and he didn't find out that Qu Ergongzi had anything to do with Li Rongrong? ”

Cong Ning frowned and thought: "If the murderer is not Xiao Yuan, it is very likely that the back door of the Li Mansion was deliberately tied by the real murderer, so that Xiao Yuan's behavior of escaping over the wall is more reasonable, then Xiao Yuan fell down from the wooden ladder in a panic and had a lump in the back of his head, which is also reasonable." The government can also quickly identify Xiao Yuan as the real murderer, so that even if the real murderer has scratches on his body, he will have time to cover it up. That's a one-size-fits-all solution.

can use a branch to tie the back door, if he didn't happen to see the branch at that time, it was intentional, and the person who knew that several children in the back alley had used a branch to tie the back door of the Li family should be a craftsman team or a person from the Li family, and it is impossible for outsiders to know about this kind of accidental trivial matter, so the real culprit is very likely that the Li family and the craftsman team are people. Tie the door with a tree branch should be a deliberate framing of a few children to cover up the deliberate tethering of the door. Doesn't your government think so, even if those children don't admit it, you also think that a few children did it, and they don't seriously investigate the reason why the back door was chained?

If the real murderer tied the back door, it was really a good plan, which could not only cover the scar on the back of Xiao Yuan's head, but also make Xiao Yuan's jumping off the wall and coma reasonable, and also blame the matter of tying the door to a few naughty children that the government would not care about. ”

Yu Zhuo and Song Su both nodded and pondered, and Song Su exclaimed: "The girl is really smart, we didn't expect this layer after checking for a long time, but if the real murderer is someone from the Li family or the craftsman team, we have checked it once, and there are no blood marks on their bodies, you also said just now that Li Rongrong should have scratched the real murderer, if so, the real murderer can still only be Xiao Yuan?" ”

"No, it's not me, I didn't kill anyone, I really didn't kill anyone." Xiao Yuan said immediately.

"You are suspecting that the person Yu Zhuo inspected at Chen's house that day was not Chen Xing, and the person lying on the bed should be Chen's father." Qu Zaichen, who had been watching and listening, suddenly spoke.

Everyone looked at Qu Zaichen in surprise, and they all rolled their eyes to ponder.

Congxi lowered his head and sighed gloomily: "I really hope I guessed wrong, but I..." Congxi paused for a moment, looked at Yu Zhuo and Song Su, and said: "Yu Zhuo, Song Su, in the past two days, you have secretly inquired about the day Li Rongrong was killed, when did Chen Xing leave the Li Mansion, and we will go to meet Chen Xing tomorrow." ”

Yu Zhuo and Song Su nodded: "Okay." ”

Congxi turned his head to look at Qu Zaichen, and said with a smile: "Second son Qu, before you find the real murderer, you have to stay in prison for two more days, can we discuss something?" ”

Qu Zaichen: "Let's hear it." ”

Cong hurriedly blurted out: "Let's go back now, dig out our minds, work hard, exhaust our efforts, and run around day and night to catch the real murderer for you, we will definitely let you regain your freedom and see the light again, when you come out of prison, can we write off today's incident?" ”

Qu Zaichen said calmly: "Madame's meaning, is it for me to be ridiculed by the people of Jinzhou for no reason, and then suffer from a few days of imprisonment in vain, and this matter will be over?" ”

Yun Xian: "If you are not happy, we will find the murderer in a year and a half, it is also a good thing for you to stay here for a while and taste more of the world." ”

Qu Zaichen: "Then I have to think hard in prison, and when I get out, let you taste what kind of human tastes will I have?" ”

Congxi hurriedly said: "No, really no, I think it tastes good now, besides, you don't suffer here, they don't dare to torture you, shouldn't you rest here for two days?" If you're not used to eating here, then you can order food and let Loy bring it to you, okay? ”

Qu Zaichen: "You personally deliver it, three meals a day are indispensable, I may be able to consider your proposal just now." ”

Cong nodded hurriedly: "Okay, Second Master Qu, so many people are listening, you have to talk about it, and when you are released from prison, you are not allowed to trouble us again." ”

Qu Zaichen: "I'm hungry now? ”