When Chen Wenqi and Weng Junding walked into the backyard, Yun Feiyan and Yan'er were combing the hair of the madwoman Wei Lingyi after the bath. The newly-dressed Wei Lingyi is in the prime of her life, and she is quite beautiful. I don't know if it's because of the exhaustion in the morning or because Yun Feiyan takes care of her, Wei Lingyi is quite quiet at this time, although she looks demented and keeps muttering something in her mouth, she still sits on the chair obediently, at the mercy of Yun Feiyan and Yan'er, and does not resist.

Chen Wenqi looked at Yun Feiyan and smiled, which was regarded as a greeting, and then walked up to Wei Lingyi and asked tentatively, "What's your surname and what is your name?"

Who knew that Wei Lingyi didn't even look at him, and continued to mumble something to herself. Chen Wenqi listened carefully for a while, and vaguely heard something "He's asleep, hehe", "Don't blow, woo woo", "Don't blow, ah-" suddenly bounced up from the chair, grabbed his head with both hands, and pulled his originally combed hair into a mess.

Chen Wenqi saw that she didn't look like she was pretending to be crazy, and there was no hope of understanding the situation from her mouth, so he had to find another way.

"Brother Weng Nian, this goddess is not clear, I can't ask what the situation is, I want to go to her residence to have a look, hoping to find something. How about you send two catchers and one servant to accompany me?"

"In that case, I'll go with you too. Weng Junding called Qin Heng, the head of the Zhuang class, Qiu Sen, and Qi Zuo Xie Po, and ordered the three of them to take the madwoman Wei Lingyi to wait at the gate of the county office. Because he was walking with Chen Wenqi, he naturally couldn't sit in a sedan chair, so he and Chen Wenqi each led a tall horse, walked out of the county government meeting, Qi Qinhui and others, and then flew on the horse, and a group of six people walked to the place where the madwoman Wei Lingyi once lived.

After walking for about two hours, he saw a small village in front of him, Qin Heng turned his head and said, "My lord, there is Guo Village in front." ”

Weng Junding didn't have time to answer, and suddenly heard Qiu Sen's "huh".

"What's wrong?" Weng Junding asked.

"How do I feel like I've been here before? I remembered that I had been here twice for the inheritance case of the Zha Huolong and Huo Hu brothers. Qiu Sen replied.

When Weng Junding heard this, he asked with some surprise: "Oh, Huo Long and Huo Hu brothers are from this village?"

Qiu Sen shook his head and said: "No, they are in front, there should be two or three miles away from here, from the county government to Huojiazhuang, you have to pass through here." ”

Chen Wenqi said with a smile: "This is 'Mai Mang fell into the eye of the needle' - very coincidental." Fortunately, if you have time, you can visit Huo Long today. After speaking, he turned over and dismounted, and led the horse to the head of the village.

Because there was no official sedan chair, the people in the village did not know that they were from the official mansion, and when they came back with the madwoman, all the old and young ran out to see the excitement.

Chen Wenqi hugged his fists to everyone, pointed at Wei Lingyi and asked, "Do you fellow villagers know this person?"

Everyone laughed, and one of them said loudly: "She has lived in our village for almost two years, who doesn't know her? You are her relatives, right? Are you going to take her back?"

Chen Wenqi was noncommittal, and asked again: "Where did she live before?" ”

"Who are you from Sun Er, are you going to take his bones home?" someone in the crowd asked alarmedly.

Chen Wenqi shook his head and said: "We are from the government, and this is the county magistrate of this county. ”

When everyone heard that the person in front of them was the county order of the county, they hurriedly knelt on the ground and said in a trembling voice: "The grass people don't know that the adults have arrived, and they have offended a lot, so I beg the adults to forgive them." ”

"Everybody, get up. I heard that Sun Er died of a fall after drinking, and his wife lost her mind again, so the county came to take a look, and asked everyone to bear with me. ”

"But at the command of your lordship. ”

"Good. Who can take this county to Sun Er's house?"

"My lord, can two people lead the way?" asked a shirtless middle-aged man in a gown.

"Absolutely. ”

"Then he and I will take you there. He pulled a burly man of his age out of the crowd.

Weng Junding asked their names, and learned that the man in the gown and shirtless was named Guo Xiwang, and the burly man of his age was named Guo Xicai.

"Good. Then the rest of the people are scattered, and if there is anything to ask in this county, I will find everyone again. ”

Everyone was afraid of causing trouble, and when they heard what the county magistrate said, they dispersed in a hurry.

Guo Xiwang pointed to the left and said, "Sun Er's home is in the west of the village, please come with the grass people." Then he took the lead and walked westward.

Chen Wenqi chatted with Guo Xiwang and Guo Xicai while walking, and after knowing that the madwoman Wei Lingyi and Sun Er came here, they said that they wanted to do business here for a few years, and rented two idle low-rise huts from a villager in this village to live in. Since then, the couple has been running to the county every now and then, but it is unknown what kind of business they are doing.

As he spoke, he had reached the two huts. In the westernmost part of the village, there are two separate thatched houses, and the nearest house is thirty feet away. When everyone entered the house, they saw that there was nothing but a small bed in the inner room and a stove in the outer room, which could be said to be surrounded by four walls.

Chen Wenqi motioned to Qin Heng and Qiu Sen to take Wei Lingyi outside the hut, and then asked Guo Xiwang and Guo Xicai to talk about Sun Er's situation. From their mouths, they learned that after Sun Er bought a house and settled in the village, he had little contact with the people in the village. Although everyone thinks it is inconceivable that two strangers have come to settle here without relatives and no reason, no one has explored the details. On the evening before Sun Er fell to his death, someone in the village saw him and his wife coming back from the county seat, as if they had made money doing business. Early the next morning, a villager named Guo Xilai found out that Sun Er had an accident and hurriedly called the big guy to go and take a look. When everyone arrived at the hut where Sun Er and his wife lived, the house was filled with the smell of wine, and Sun Er had already lost his breath and his body was stiff. At that time, Wei Lingyi was dancing with her hands, humming and not knowing what songs to sing, and there was no sadness of losing her relatives on her face, obviously her spirit was strongly stimulated, so that her mind was abnormal.

"After you entered the house, you smelled the 'fragrance' of the wine in the house?" Chen Wenqi bit the word "incense" very hard.

"Well, the smell of wine is not very strong, but it is easy to smell. Guo Xicai said.

"Is it the aroma of wine or the smell of wine?" The smell that volatilizes naturally from the wine has a clear aroma of wine, and the smell of wine exhaled from the mouth of the drinker has a disgusting taste, so Chen Wenqi has this question.

"It's the smell of wine, not like the smell of a drunken person's exhalation. Although everyone thought it was strange at the time, they didn't suspect that there was anything wrong with thinking that they couldn't control themselves after drinking too much, and it was common to spill alcohol outside. Guo Xiwang said.

"When you came, did you find any uneaten leftovers, where did you put them?"

"Leftovers?" You look at me, I look at you, and then shake my head and say, "I don't see it." ”

"Didn't you see it, all of them were eaten, and what about the vegetable bowl?" Chen Wenqi asked again.

"No, there's nothing on the stove. ”

Chen Wenqi was puzzled, could it be that Sun Er only drank wine and didn't want to eat and drink? So where did the fish and meat they bought home go? Could it be that Sun Er didn't have anything to do after drinking, and he fell down and died after Wei Lingyi finished cleaning up the dishes and chopsticks?

Chen Wenqi changed the topic again:

"After you entered the house, where was Sun Er?"

Guo Xiwang replied, "In bed." ”

"Where is his injury?"

"There were blood stains on the right forehead and half of the face, and it should have fallen to the right side. ”

"Is there any abnormality in other areas, such as blood stains on the mouth and nose, bruises on the body, etc.?"

The two looked at each other again, as if trying to remember what they had seen.

"There seems to be nothing wrong with it, there are no blood stains or black marks on the body. Guo Xicai said.

"No, the expression on his face seems to be very painful, and his eyes are slightly open. Guo Xiwang denied.

"Isn't that normal? He must have been in pain when he fell and died. Guo Xicai retorted.

Chen Wenqi thought for a while, and then asked:

"What do you say...... Who is this Guo Xilai? Is he still in the village?"

"He's honest, but he's a little ...... Hee-hee. I was there just now watching the excitement. Guo Xicai said.

"Who is going to find him in the village?"

Guo Xicai didn't say a word, and walked out. Looking at Guo Xicai's back, Chen Wenqi asked Guo Xiwang: "What did he just say, what is the one named Guo Xilai?"

Guo Xiwang smiled and said: "It's nothing, this Guo Xilai is a bachelor, maybe it's because he doesn't have a wife, this person is always confused when he sees a woman, and he can't move his legs." The girls and daughters-in-law in this village knew his temperament and always tried to avoid him. Moreover, everyone in a village is surnamed Guo, and they are all passed down by an ancestor, so he doesn't dare to make a mistake. But when he sees a foreign woman, he is like a fly seeing a bad egg, and he always has to think about it. ”

While talking, Guo Xicai brought a man who was about thirty years old and five short stature into the house.

"Your name is Guo Xilai?"

"Yes. Guo Xilai was a little nervous for some reason, and his eyes were dodgy and he didn't dare to face people.

"Did you find out that Sun Er was dead early in the morning and then call them over?" asked Chen Wenqi.

“...... Be. ”

"When and how did you find out that something happened to Sun Er?"

"I ......"

Guo Xilai scratched his head, obviously not very good at the hour, and stammered: "I don't know what time it is, the sky was already shining at that time." ”

"Where do you live?"

Guo Xilai pointed to the east with his hand and said, "It's in the middle of the village." ”

"What are you doing here so early?"

"I ...... I...... I couldn't sleep, I just walked around. Guo Xilai said a little nervously.

"How do you know that something happened to Sun Er? When you came, was the door of his house open?"

"No, the door is closed. I heard...... The woman was laughing and singing in the room, so she leaned on the window and looked in, and saw that Sun Er was sleeping on the bed and didn't move, so she called the woman softly, trying to call her out. But she ignored it after shouting a few times, and Sun Er didn't see a reaction, so I ...... I went to push the door, but as soon as the door opened, I thought it was Sun Er who opened the door, so I was so frightened that I turned around and ran. After running a few steps, I didn't hear any movement behind me, only to realize that I was scared of myself. I turned around and walked into the house, wanting to see if Sun Er was asleep first, and then ......" Speaking of this, Guo Xilai swallowed his saliva, his Adam's apple jumped up and down, and then said: "I first shouted in a low voice, and when I saw that he didn't agree, I pushed him, and as soon as I touched Sun Er's arm, I ...... I felt that something was wrong, how could he be cold and erect? Suddenly I thought that he was dead, and I was half frightened to death, so I hurriedly ran out of his house and called the people from the village. ”

"That's it?" Chen Wenqi asked as he stared at him.

Guo Xilai looked a little flustered, hurriedly looked away, and replied, "That's it." And they told you the rest of the rest. ”

Chen Wenqi glanced at Weng Junding inquiringly, and Weng Junding shook his head, saying that there was nothing to ask for the time being. Chen Wenqi said to Guo Xiwang and Guo Xicai: "Please bring a few pickaxes and shovels and lead us to Sun Er's grave." Guo Xiwang and Guo Xicai agreed, and each went home to get tools.

"My lord, I ...... What about me?" asked Guo Xilai, worried.

Chen Wenqi didn't speak, and looked at Weng Junding. Weng Junding shouted outside the house: "Qiu Sen." ”

When Qiu Sen heard this, he quickly walked into the house: "My lord, what do you command?"

Weng Junding pointed at Guo Xilai and said, "You and him stay here and wait for us to come back." ”

"Yes, sir. Qiu Sen understood, and immediately pressed Guo Xilai on the bench, and he stood by his side.

Even a fool knows what's going on. Guo Xilai hurriedly said: "My lord, don't wronged the villain, Sun Er, he was not harmed by me." ”

Weng Junding, where could he defend himself? Walking out of the gate together with Chen Wenqi and Xie Po, it happened that Guo Xiwang and Guo Xicai had arrived with pickaxes and shovels, and the group looked at the mass grave.

The "mass grave" in the mouth of the villagers is not the usual place where bones are everywhere and overgrown with weeds, but a name that is different from the "ancestral cemetery". According to the local folk customs, each family has a cemetery, this cemetery can only bury the deceased of the clan, and the dead of foreign clans can never enter the burial, so it is called the "ancestral grave" of a certain family; In other words, this "mass grave" is no different from the ancestral graves of other families except for the surname, no owner and no management, the difference is that all the graves here do not have tombstones, but just put a stone at random to distinguish the head and tail of the grave. If there is no one to lead and identify, there is really no way to find Sun Er's grave.

Guo Xiwang walked straight to a grave with sparse weeds, and said to Weng Junding and the others: "My lord, this is Sun Er's grave. ”

Weng Junding and Chen Wenqi walked slowly around Sun Er's grave, keeping the surface terrain in mind, and then called Xie Po to him, explained a few words, and asked Guo Xiwang and Guo Xicai to start digging up the soil piled on the grave. When he was about to make a move, Guo Xiwang suddenly shouted, "Wait a minute, something is wrong." ”

Chen Wenqi walked to his side, looked at it and found nothing abnormal, and asked, "What's wrong?"

"I put this stone on it last year, and I remember that it was this rough side down and the smooth side up, you see," he said, turning the stone over, "isn't this side much smoother?"

The stone placed on the grave was turned over? Who in this mass grave will come again? Why did you turn the stone after coming? Could it be the madwoman Wei Lingyi's doing? A series of questions rose in Chen Wenqi's heart. He thought about it and said to Guo Xiwang:

"Whoever turned it up, dig it up. ”

Guo Xiwang and Guo Xicai listened, and turned their eyes to Weng Junding, Weng Junding was also inconvenient to explain, and waved his hand and said, "Listen to him." ”

Only then did the two of them start digging the soil. Because the burial has only been half a year, the grass roots are not long, and the buried soil is relatively loose, and the coffin lid is exposed after about a stick of incense.

Chen Wenqi hurriedly told the two to stop, and asked them to hand over the tools in their hands to Xie Po and Qin Heng, and they continued to dig. He was afraid that the villagers would use too much force and damage the coffin and even Sun Er's body.

After cleaning up the floating soil on the coffin and around it, Xie Po took out a small crowbar from the toolbox he brought with him, slowly stretched the flattened end into the gap in the coffin lid, and pressed it down hard, the end of the crowbar sank violently, and the whole person couldn't contain it, and a servant fell to the ground. Fortunately, his hands were supported in time to avoid choking on the lime in the tomb.

Qin Hui pulled Xie Po up and said with a smile: "Why do you have to work so hard?"

Xie Po patted the lime on his body and said, "How do you know that there are no nails in this coffin?"

Guo Xiwang heard it above, and said: "How could there be no nails? I saw my second uncle nailing six nails around the coffin, and the lower part of the coffin was also bolted with a wooden bolt." ”

"There are nails that don't pry them up so easily. Xie Po said as he put his hands on the lid of the coffin, and with a slight lift, the lid of the coffin rose in response to the sound and was lifted aside.

Before everyone could figure out why Xie Po opened the lid of the coffin so easily, they heard Xie Po standing in the tomb exclaim: "Oh, come and see!" looked at the coffin with a horrified face.

Dealing with dead people all year round, he has long been accustomed to seeing it as a servant. What happened in the coffin that made Xie Po so frightened? Everyone quickly looked into the coffin, and when they didn't look at it, they all shouted "ah" in unison, and their open mouths didn't close for a long time.

It turned out that in the coffin, except for the miserable white lime, there was nothing, and Sun Er's body was gone!

Coming back from the dead? That's the first reaction of the crowd. But then it was denied: even if Sun Er really came back from the dead, he was choked by this lime, and there was no possibility of survival, not to mention that six big nails were nailed to the coffin lid, and the mouth was bolted by a wooden bolt, and the half-dead person could not break out of the coffin with his bare hands.

"Grave robbers"? Those who are accustomed to robbing tombs must not know that the people buried in this mass grave are all buried here by the hands of fake villagers, and most of them do not even have coffins, but only roll up the reed mats and bury them hastily.

So, who took so much effort to dig open the grave, pry up the lid of the coffin, carry Sun Er's body out of the coffin, and close the lid to cover the earth?

Chen Wenqi didn't have time to think about it, he asked Xie Po to take off his gloves and put them on his hands, and then jumped into the tomb, first carefully observed around the coffin, but did not see anything, and then touched the floating soil around the coffin with his hands, but found nothing. He turned his gaze to the coffin, and suddenly, he saw a finger-length, triangular strip of navy blue cloth hanging from the pointed point of a wooden bolt that locked the coffin's stop, and then saw that the other wooden bolts were all smooth, and it was obvious that this strip of cloth was torn off by the wooden bolt.

Chen Wenqi carefully took off the strip of cloth and handed it to Xie Po for him to collect.

At this time, the inner wall of the coffin was unobstructed, there was nothing to see, Chen Wenqi stared at the lime in the coffin for a while, and then jumped out of the tomb, asked Xie Po for a cloth towel to cover his mouth, and asked him to help him tie it, then jumped into the tomb again, crouched on the side of the coffin, put his hand into the lime in the coffin and slowly groped, touched the other side of the coffin, and suddenly the tentacles were hard, as if there was a round hard object. Going up, it's a mace.

Chen Wenqi jumped out of the tomb with a hammer and asked Guo Xiwang and Guo Xicai: "Do you have the custom of putting things in the coffin?"

The two nodded at the same time, and Guo Xicai said, "Yes." Gold and silver jewelry or the deceased's favorite things are used for burial. ”

Chen Wenqi showed the hammer in his hand and asked, "When you buried Sun Er, could you put this hammer in his coffin?"

The two of them said together: "No, don't say that he doesn't have this thing at home, even if he does, no one will think of giving him anything to accompany him." ”

"Do you know this mace?"

The two took the hammer and read it, and both shook their heads to indicate that they didn't know each other.

At this time, Wei Lingyi, who was originally quite quiet, suddenly screamed: "Don't blow, woo woo, don't blow, ah-"

Guo Xiwang said with a smile: "This crazy woman doesn't know anything, but she reacts to this." Last year, when she closed the coffin for Sun Er and prepared to nail it, she also called it the same, and everyone thought she was reluctant to bury Sun Er. ”

At this time, Wei Lingyi's eyes were fixed on the hammer, her mouth kept screaming, and her face was terrified.

Only then did Chen Wenqi realize that she shouted "don't hammer" at the county government yesterday, but he thought she was shouting "don't blow". He put the mace into Xie Po's toolbox, and Wei Lingyi slowly quieted down.

Wei Lingyi went insane, Sun Er's body mysteriously disappeared, and Chen Wenqi almost concluded that this was not the rumored "fall to death", but a vicious homicide case. On Sun Er's body, there was obviously evidence of killing Sun Er. Therefore, in order to uncover the truth about Sun Er's death, we must first solve the mystery of Sun Er's disappearance.

Chen Wenqi pulled Weng Junding aside and whispered a few words. Weng Junding nodded, then called Guo Xiwang and Guo Xicai to him, and said to them: "Thanks to the two of you for your help today, this county is here to thank you." But today's events, I hope that the two of them will keep their mouths shut and not leak it, even if they can't reveal half a sentence to their parents and wife. If anyone leaks today's events, they will be dealt with as accomplices, and the county will not spare them. Do you understand?"

"Don't worry, don't worry, don't say anything about the grass people's death. When the two of them saw Weng Junding's fierce appearance, they couldn't help but be very nervous, and hurriedly swore that they would never mention a word to others.

Chen Wenqi walked over, patted them on the shoulder, and then said to Weng Junding: "My lord, please go back first, I will stay with them to rebuild Sun Er's grave." ”

"Or, leave Qin Heng behind, and have a companion when you go back. Weng Junding was a little worried.

Chen Wenqi shook his head and said, "I'm fine, let him go back." ”

"Well, you have to be careful and come back early. Weng Junding said helplessly, and then ordered Qin Heng and others to take the madwoman Wei Lingyi back to Sun Er's thatched hut to meet Qiu Sen, escort Guo Xilai, and return to the county government from the same way.

......

It's the fourth watch of the night, the chickens don't cry, the dogs don't bark, and everything is silent. A black shadow drifted into Guo Xilai's house like green smoke......