Chapter 9 Nine, Yanghua trace
Sometimes, Huang Zixia really admires Li Shubai.
Among other things, it can't be considered a miracle that a person can take care of everything, worry about all government offices, and deal with all foreign countries.
Feeling so emotional, she curled up her feet and ate melon seeds in the household department, holding the file she had just brought from Dali Temple, thinking about the case, while accompanying Li Shubai to deal with various cases.
"Governor Wang, this is the editorial note of the law book you wrote the day before yesterday. There is a mistake in the month on page 37, and there are mistakes in names on pages 16 and 54. You can proofread it again. Governor Xu, you The transfer of Jiang Weixu's promotions over the years should be on the twelfth row of the fourth file room in the first row of the archives office. The emperor will promote him tomorrow morning, so remember to submit it to the imperial court. Governor Zhang, you will inform Cheng Shilang tomorrow , regarding Shi Chengyao's transfer to be the governor of Yunzhou, dismissed. Uncle Shi Chengyao committed a crime in Yunzhou in the past, and he needs to avoid it according to the law. Liang Tingfang, Ding You, who was the governor of Yanzhou three years ago, is about to expire, so he can take up this position..."
Huang Zixia felt that she really couldn't eat melon seeds anymore.
Holding the melon seeds, she thought silently, with this terrible memory, could she still remember the leaves on the tree in front of the window when she woke up one morning ten years ago?
Not long after, the affairs of the household department had been dealt with, and he took her to the Ministry of Industry.He is about to go to the middle of Shu, and now there are a lot of things in each yamen that he needs to deal with quickly, otherwise he cannot leave the capital.
When the people from the Ministry of Industry saw Li Shubai, they were overjoyed. They only had to work for half a day but waited for King Kui to arrive in the evening. Needless to say, Li Yonghe, the Minister of Industry, even the horseman at the door was overjoyed.
As soon as Huang Zixia saw the huge pile of account books, which were full of deficits, he immediately understood their pain-it was a great misfortune for the Ministry of Industry to have someone like the current emperor who likes to build a palace and leave the hospital!
Every time Li Yonghe confesses the accounts, he has to suffer a lot: "Last year, Princess Tongchang came out of the cabinet, and the construction of the princess mansion was like emptying the treasury. Qi, I really don’t know where to raise money. But now, it’s time to spend money again—during the heavy rain the day before yesterday, several low-lying cities in the south of the capital were flooded, and the sewers were completely damaged. It can’t be drained out, the deepest part of the stagnant water is more than ten feet! You also know, my lord, that the open channel above is fine, but I don’t know how to spend the money for the underground channel. People can only stand on the top and take a look. Seeing that the outside is clean and tidy, they have to settle the money. In fact, who knows what is going on inside? This is not the waterway that was dredged just a month ago. It has been blocked. Yesterday, the subordinate The governor of our department, Lu, fell into the water and drowned! Now there is a lot of discussion in the capital, saying that our Ministry of Industry has done it to us, it really makes my department ashamed!"
Li Shubai frowned slightly, took the account book, but didn't say anything, sat down and began to look through it.
Everyone was busy serving tea and water for him, as if serving a savior, Huang Zixia, a decent little eunuch, had nothing to do.
She had nothing to do, so she pulled out the hairpin from her head and drew the layout of Jianfu Temple, and calculated the situation at that time.
When the candle was struck by lightning and exploded, one of the suspects, Lu Zhiyuan, was at home. With the testimony of doctors and neighbors, the suspicion can basically be ruled out.Unless, find out a way that he can attack Wei Ximin half a distance away from Chang'an.
The second suspect is Zhang Xingying.The moment when Wei Ximin caught fire was just as he was picking up the veiled hat for Dicui and approaching the giant candle.Is it possible that the moment he saw Wei Ximin, in order to avenge Di Cui, he pushed down the candle and burned Wei Ximin to death?
The third suspect is Lu Dicui.Since Wei Ximin is next to the candle, he must also be not far from Dicui.She's been making candles in her home for years, maybe there's a way to blow up a nearby candle in a short amount of time?
She thought about it, and wrote the fourth possibility, Zhang Xingying and Lu Dicui joined forces to kill Wei Ximin in Jianfu Temple.
After hesitating for a moment, he wrote down the fifth possibility, Lu Zhiyuan conspired with Dicui to kill Wei Ximin by acting in public.
But she looked at the fifth possibility, sighed again, and slowly crossed it out.
So what's surfaced so far, that's it.
She took out the investigation materials of Dali Temple that Li Shubai had handed over to her, and looked at the names listed on the paper to compare them one by one.
This is all the relevant people who were present and not present when the son-in-law Wei Baoheng was injured that day, the grooms of the Zuo Jinwu Guard, the cleaners of the killing field, etc. are all listed above, and at the request of Huang Zixia, it was sorted out whether they had contact with the son-in-law past.
However, Huang Zixia looked at the row of words such as "I have never met the son-in-law", "I have met once at the gate of the yamen", "I have fed fodder for the horse the son-in-law rides", and couldn't help but sighed softly, his head as big as a bucket.
"What's the matter? It seems that you are more annoying than me."
The cold and clear voice behind him must have come from Li Shubai.
She said helplessly: "If only I could be like you and know everyone in the capital like the back of my hand."
"How is it possible. There are millions of people in the capital, and even if I go to the streets every day, I can't see so many of them—and, no one can really understand another person, even if they get along day and night, it's impossible."
As he spoke, he took the stack of papers in her hand and flipped through them.
He read it very quickly, glanced at ten lines, and then handed it back to her, pointed to a name on a certain page, and said, "You can check this person in detail."
Huang Zixia looked down, it turned out to be a man named Qian Guansuo, forty-two years old this year, the identity is the owner of Qianji Chariot and Horse Company, the black horse with broken hooves was from his car and horse dealer.
When he went to investigate in Dali Temple, he replied like this——
He was also asked if he had any contact with the son-in-law, he categorically denied it, saying that he had never had the honor to know the face of the son-in-law.
Huang Zixia was slightly surprised, and asked: "What does the lord mean, the reason for the accident with the son-in-law is related to the origin of that horse?"
"No, what I mean is—" he pointed his finger at the words behind, "Boss Qian actually met the son-in-law once."
Huang Zixia hurriedly asked: "How does the prince know?"
"When the group of horses arrived, Wang Yun invited me and other members of the military department to come and try the horses. The concubine Wei Baoheng also came. When I was trying the horses, Wei Baoheng complained that the people from outside the Great Wall did not have the right accent. It took half a year to get used to the password of the capital. At that time, everyone who heard the words of the concubine laughed, but only a short and fat man with a group of horse trainers thought about it. Soon I heard the jokes of the capital, It is said that the horse trainers of Qianji Chariot and Horse Shop are all practicing their official language hard, and even though they are suffering so much, some people are still yelling at Boss Qian as a short and fat man on the street, so I think that Qian Guansuo, the owner of Qianji, must be That's the man."
Huang Zixia nodded: "Well, according to the records of Dali Temple, other people even confessed to having fed the horses for Prince Wei. Since he concealed this matter, there must be other reasons."
Seeing that she had paid attention to it, Li Shubai stopped talking, and only turned around to signal the people from the Ministry of Works to remove all the ledgers, saying: "I have temporarily canceled a few expenses, and I have collected more than 25,000 taels of silver, which is almost enough for renovation. Once the entire Chang'an waterway."
The Minister of the Ministry of Industry smiled wryly: "Thank you, my lord, but...there will be a lot of rain this year, and I am afraid that after the money for the water channel is collected this time, after a few days of heavy rain, some water channel will always be silted up. Can the prince help us raise money again?"
"One time is enough. This king promises that Chang'an will never be blocked again this year," he said, turning his head to signal Huang Zixia to go back to the mansion with him, "Tomorrow you call the workers and the person in charge, and this king will announce a new regulation, so that they will not stop. If you dare to cut corners and cut corners again, you will be lazy and slack.”
Huang Zixia followed Li Shubai back to the palace. The carriage passed by Chang'an's market smoothly, Li Shubai asked her casually: "It's not convenient to ask you just now, did the Queen empress make things difficult for you today?" With a bitter face, Huang Zixia said, "Naturally. She actually asked a little eunuch like me to help her return to the Penglai Hall of Daming Palace." He wrote lightly: "This is what I asked you to bring to me, you don't need to take it to heart." "Yes... nothing else." Li Shubai asked: "I came to meet you specially, just to ask you to bring such a sentence?" Huang Zixia nodded. Li Shubai frowned slightly.But he didn't say it, and she couldn't ask, and her eyes passed by the window unconsciously.Chang'an's various squares passed by one by one. Some of the squares had very high walls, some were very short, and the shortest one was only half the height of a person. So, when she passed by Daningfang, she saw two people passing by outside the window. Inside the wall of the Daning square up to the waist, a woman stood there, her profile was slightly blurred in the already thick twilight, but she stood up immediately, and before she had time to call A Yuanbo, she got out of the carriage jumped down. Fortunately, because it is above the market, the speed of the carriage is not fast.She was very nimble, jumped out of the car, and steadied herself with a slight stagger. Li Shubai glanced at her through the car window, and gestured to Jing Yu who was following beside the car. The carriage turned a corner, stopped slowly, and waited for Huang Zixia in the corner. Huang Zixia leaned against the wall and walked to the place where the two people were, quietly listening to the two people talking. With his back to the wall was a man, with a warm and mellow voice, he said: "Miss Dicui, you don't even wear a veil, what do you want to do here by yourself?" In the deep twilight, the woman Huang Zixia noticed at a glance was none other than Dicui. The voice of the person standing opposite her made Huang Zixia feel very familiar, but at this moment she had no time to think, and could only hold her breath to listen to the movement below. Di Cui stood opposite that person in a panic, her voice revealed her extreme nervousness: "You...what do you want me for?" He stared at her in silence, before speaking for a long time, but instead of answering her question, he only asked: "You want to kill Sun Manzi, right? And you don't even wear a hat, you are planning not to go back, Yes or no?" Dicui was motionless, standing stiffly in front of him, without saying a word. "The man who just left——Zhang Xingying, he came here for the same reason as you, didn't he?" He said, and suddenly laughed softly, "Sun Laizi really should feel honored to be underground, there are so many people in the same place Heaven came here to kill him, it's a hot commodity, it's so funny." The sky was getting darker, and Dicui's face and figure had already melted into the night.The closed door drums in Chang'an City sounded loudly, and the curfew was about to begin. Di Cui raised her hand and grabbed the skirt of her chest, and said in a trembling voice, "I... don't know what you're talking about... I, I'm leaving." "What are you afraid of? The person you hate the most has died in his airtight cage as you wished. Shouldn't you be happy?" Dicui didn't say anything more, she turned her head suddenly and walked towards the Fangmen not far away. "Wait a minute..." The man called her from behind, his voice was soft, and he caught up with her in a few steps. She looked back at him in horror, and took a step back unconsciously. But he knelt down in front of her, raised his hand and patted off a piece of dust on her skirt, and said, "You didn't notice it yourself, did you? It's better not to get it dirty." Di Cui unconsciously pulled up her skirt and took a step back, said in a panic, "I...I will clean it up myself." She seemed to be extremely afraid of the person in front of her, she took several steps back, then turned around suddenly, and rushed towards the gate. And the man stood up, looked at her disappearing figure in the darkness, stood silently for a long time, and then said as if talking to himself: "Death is death, and there will be no similar people, will you? " Huang Zixia squatted under the wall, listening to his footsteps slowly heading to the other side.She was still squatting there in a daze, and someone behind her asked, "Are you still leaving?" She recognized Li Shubai's voice, and when she looked back, she suddenly found that the majestic King Kui was squatting here listening to the corner of the wall just like herself. She couldn't help being startled, and stammered, "My lord... my lord!" He didn't respond, just walked towards the carriage in the alley. Huang Zixia followed behind him and asked in a low voice, "Who does the lord recognize that person?" "Didn't you recognize it?" he asked back. Huang Zixia nodded. After a long time, she finally said, "The princess... is more beautiful than Dicui." Li Shubai smiled slightly, unwilling to mention these things, changed the subject and said: "From what they said, it seems that Sun Laizi is dead." "Yes, I'll go find out right away." Huang Zixia said, and was about to return to Dali Temple to inquire about the news. Li Shubai called her from behind: "Yang Chonggu." She looked back at him, slightly surprised. "What's the hurry?" Li Shubai frowned slightly, and said, "We have to eat the big things before we talk about them. Besides, someone will definitely come here right away." Huang Zixia also felt that he was really tired and hungry after running all day, so he could only silently follow him into the carriage.
Back in Kui Wang's mansion, it was completely dark. When Li Shubai got out of the car, Jingxiang hurried up to meet him. Li Shubai walked inside and said to him: "Get me two big iron locks, the bigger and more scary the better." Jing Xiang didn't ask what's the use, and went down to prepare after answering. Huang Zixia thought about it for a while, and immediately understood his method, and couldn't help but be speechless: "My lord, is this going to be too cruel..." "When they were lazy, did they ever think that they were too ruthless?" Li Shubai glanced at her, unmoved, "When the waterway is clogged and drowns people, they should realize that this is a major event that will kill people, isn't it? When you can just use money to perfunctory." Huang Zixia nodded, thinking to himself, let this unruly boss be watching, and it is estimated that from tomorrow on, the matter of managing the water pipes in the capital will change from a fat job to a drudgery. She was thinking about resigning, Li Shubai looked back at her, and she obediently followed - although this master was difficult to serve, she was still very happy to eat together, after all, she was really hungry now. But the meal was not peaceful, and Jingxiang had already entered after only a few mouthfuls.Sure enough, he was holding two large iron locks that looked terrifying, they were dark and very heavy. He showed the lock to Li Shubai, and then said to Huang Zixia: "Chonggu, Zhou Shilang's young master is here to look for you, and he is waiting at the gatehouse." "Zhou Ziqin?" Huang Zixia and Li Shubai looked at each other, and both of them saw the understanding in each other's eyes - it really came. He waved his hand and said, "Let Ziqin come here directly to see what happened."
"Of course something big happened!" Zhou Ziqin was wearing a carmine red gown, an emerald green belt, and a chicken oil yellow gauze crown on his head. His whole body was full of dazzling colors. He was always surprised, but this time it was even more exaggerated. That kind of joyful expression was simply the best explanation for the sentence "I'm afraid the world will not be chaotic". "My lord, Chonggu! In the afternoon, I was in Dali Temple to check the relevant records of Wei Baoheng, the son-in-law - have you seen it?" Huang Zixia nodded: "Dali Temple copied a copy for me." "Oh, I watched it while sitting in Dali Temple. It was just at dusk, and you know, the people in Dali Temple are weird, and the house is also gloomy, so after I watched it twice, I didn't see anything useful Yes, I was about to leave. At this moment, guess what, there was a lot of noise outside, saying that he was dead!" "Who is the deceased?" Huang Zixia fished out the only useful content out of a lot of nonsense, and asked. "It's simply unexpected, it's earth-shattering, it's just stunned, I can't believe it!" Li Shubai finally couldn't bear it anymore, frowned and said: "Short story!" "Sun Laizi is dead!" Zhou Ziqin immediately changed his style drastically. Sun Laizi, the beast who took advantage of Dicui's coma and committed the crime of being inferior to animals, died as expected. Huang Zixia thought about Wei Concubine's words, and asked, "Who is the murderer?" "I don't know! At present, there are no clues... but there is no clue at all!" Zhou Ziqin felt that his mouth was dry all the way, and he grabbed the tea on the table and poured himself a pass. Huang Zixia and Li Shubai looked at each other helplessly, restrained their tempers, and sat on both sides of the desk waiting for him to say the following. Zhou Ziqin poured a pot of water, wiped his mouth, and said, "No, I can't make this short, I have to start from the beginning." "Say it quickly." Huang Zixia was speechless. "The ins and outs of the matter are like this - don't blame me for being too rambunctious. I really can't explain this matter, otherwise you don't know who is who in it. It is said that there is a money store in the capital, The business is very big, and the owner's name is Qian Guansuo, I guess you don't know it..." Huang Zixia and Li Shubai looked at each other silently, Huang Zixia said in a complicated and strange tone: "I know, I've heard of it." Zhou Ziqin didn't notice it, and continued: "It's best if you know. Qian Guansuo is the most famous chariot and horse dealer in Chang'an, and he helped to get many horses in the government. I have seen him, a short and fat man. Tian is happy, and he really looks like he is making money. He started the year before last. His business is not only in cars and horses, but also has a group of masons, civil engineers, and even a few people from the Ministry of Industry and Sewers in him. There is a job hanging there, and now people in the capital are looking for him to repair houses, build ponds, and so on—hey, he is still plausible, saying that the four things of clothing, food, housing, and transportation, the first two are in the care of the wife at home, and the latter two are in charge of him, this is called..." Huang Zixia felt a little helpless when he heard it: "Ziqin, can you start with that murder case?" "Okay." Zhou Ziqin was a little frustrated, "Today evening, near dusk, Qian Guansuo and one of his stewards were drinking in the Xishi restaurant, and when they got drunk, they cursed at the steward. As for the reason, everyone around I heard that, it turns out that Sun Laizi was scolded in the street. After hearing that Wei Ximin was struck to death by lightning, he felt uncomfortable with all kinds of retribution in the world, so he stayed behind closed doors every day. But he was afraid of being scolded for breaking the house. Someone broke into the door and hurt himself, so he went to the manager to repair the house on credit. The manager didn't know why, so he asked a few people to repair the doors and windows for him all afternoon. When Qian Guansuo heard it while drinking, he became angry. It is said that such a bastard who everyone shouts and beats, and is so poor that he has to pay for repairs on credit, the person in charge only agrees when his orifices are covered with mud. He scolded for a while, and through the drunken madness, he led the person in charge straight to Sun Laizi's house, saying Even if his house is demolished today, the money must be repaid." Huang Zixia was very satisfied with his narration, so he nodded and asked, "He found Sun Laizi, and then started a conflict?" "No! At that time, the people in the wine shop saw that there was a lot of excitement, and the boss and a group of people followed him to the door of Sun Laizi's house. It is said that the doors and windows are really well repaired. The reinforced doors and reinforced windows are all half-inch thick wood boards. The doors and windows of his house were closed tightly, like an iron barrel. Qian Guansuo kicked the door and scolded Sun Laizi, but there was no sound inside. Someone handed him an ax from behind, and Qian Guansuo used the strength of alcohol to kill him. After opening the door, everyone was afraid that he would chop Sun Manzi when he went in with the axe, so they quickly took the axe away and returned it to the original owner—who do you think was the one who handed the axe?" Huang Zixia shook his head, and Zhou Ziqin turned his head to see that even Li Shubai couldn't figure it out, and he was a little proud: "It's strange that this person appears here, and it's not surprising, it's the old man Lu Zhiyuan!" Huang Zixia asked in surprise, "Why is he there?" "Didn't people in the capital often install lamps on the wall when they repair their houses? Lu Zhiyuan often cooperates with the manager to install lamps for people. This time, the wine shop in West City is next to his incense and candle shop. , I heard that he was begging for money from Sun Laizi, Lu Zhiyuan yelled that the money Sun Laizi promised to pay him was not enough now, but this Sun Laizi had money to repair the house, but he had no money to give him. So he got angry and picked up the money. A small ax for chopping wax followed to ask for money." Huang Zixia had nothing to say, so he had to ask again: "Then a group of them chopped up Sun Laizi?" "No! Sun Laizi is dead!" Zhou Ziqin was so excited that he punched the table with such force that even the teapot jumped twice. On the bed, dead and stiff. It’s so hot, and the house is closed tightly, the whole house is already a bit stinky!” Huang Zixia frowned and asked: "What was the situation at that time?" "At that time, when the others smelled the stench, they already felt that something was wrong. Only Qian Guansuo, who was insane from drinking, rushed forward and grabbed Sun Manzi's clothes to lift him up. Lu Zhiyuan, who was following behind him, hurried forward and pulled him away. He stopped, but Sun Laizi's body had already been swung to the edge of the bed. When Qian Guansuo was pulled and let go, he fell to the ground with a plop, and he was already stiff from death! Lu Zhiyuan squatted down and turned the body over on the ground to have a look. He was so frightened that he pulled him to run back quickly. When Qian Guansuo saw the distorted face of the corpse, he also backed away in fright. The two fell to the ground and couldn't get up for a long time. , The reporter who reported to the official was called Lizheng. When he reported to Dali Temple, it was almost dark. As soon as I heard that Sun Laizi had died, I hurried over to have the body examined, and then came to find you. " "How did Sun Laizi die?" Huang Zixia asked. "It was stabbed to death! The wound was thin and small. It should be a sharp small dagger, about an inch and a half wide. Moreover, the murderer was very weak, and the wound was not deep. The other party knew that he was not strong enough, so he poisoned the murder weapon. , stabbed him twice and ran away. There was no murder weapon left at the scene, and the murderer should have taken it away." "Are there signs of struggle?" "No, the murderer should have committed the crime while the deceased was asleep." "Where is the injury?" "Sun Laizi was lying on a narrow bed with his back to the wall and facing the door. The corpse was in that natural sleeping position. But he was covered in sores, and I didn't feel sick to death during the autopsy." Zhou Zi Qin said, while drawing on his body, "One wound is under the luteal bone of the left shoulder, and the other is on the waist to the right of the navel. The wounds are all oblique downward marks. It is obvious that when Sun Manzi was sleeping on a low bed, the murderer squatted. stabbed at the side of his bed." "Where are the traces of struggle?" "No signs of struggle." "Unreasonable." Li Shubai said calmly. "It's unreasonable, it's not serious, and the stabbing wasn't deep. The deceased should at least struggle to resist." Zhou Ziqin looked at them with an aggrieved face: "I don't know. When I went to do the autopsy, the body was already lying under the bed. But according to what everyone said after opening the door, Sun Mangzi was indeed lying on the bed in a sleeping position. at every turn." Huang Zixia frowned slightly, put aside this doubt first, and then asked: "When is the exact time of Sun Laizi's death?" "I can conclude with certainty that it will not be later than noon today at the latest. He definitely died at or before noon." "That is to say, he was dead at least two hours before Lu Zhiyuan and Qian Guansuo broke through the door?" "Yes, it was in the house that had just been repaired, and the doors and windows were strengthened in that iron-barrel-like house. The door was tightly closed, and there was a bolt on the inside. Qian Guansuo kicked it hard for several times and failed to kick it open. The only window It is a whole piece of thick wood without any patterns, and the window bolts are attached from the inside. The walls are all rammed loess walls, and there are no mouse holes." Zhou Ziqin looked frantic, "So, where did the murderer come from? Where do you come in and kill people, and where do you go out, and lock the doors and windows from the inside, without leaving any traces?" Huang Zixia frowned slightly, and asked again: "At present, there is no physical evidence at all?" "Yes, no. But... there are witnesses," Zhou Ziqin said here, with a toothache-like expression on his face, "but, but..." Huang Zixia signaled him to continue. Zhou Ziqin frowned, lowered his voice, and said: "According to the testimonies of several old ladies in the workshop, when they were wearing their shoe soles under the shade of a tree by the ancient well, two men and women who were not from the workshop came to Sun Laizi's house one after another. Nearby, it seems to be wandering to observe something, but it seems to have left without doing anything.” "Men and women?" Huang Zixia frowned and asked. "Yeah, a man and a woman," Zhou Ziqin murmured, holding his head in annoyance, "It is said that the man who came first was very tall, with a righteous face and a straight back. Good boy, although they are old and sitting in a remote place, it is inevitable that they will look at them a few more times. But because the big girls are sitting at an angle, they can't see Sun Laizi's house, so I don't know where he went to do it. what." "Where is that woman?" "That woman kept her head buried, she couldn't see her face clearly, but she was slender, and she shouldn't be very old. She came after the man left, walked around where he walked, and was in Sun He wandered around Laizi's house for a long time." "The rest of the features, are they gone?" "Yes..." Zhou Ziqin said with difficulty, "She is wearing a pair of green cloth shoes with cork soles, and two opposite hibiscus flowers are embroidered on the left and right shoes." Huang Zixia remembered the pair of cork-soled hibiscus blue cloth shoes on her feet when she saw Dicui at Zhang Xingying's home this afternoon, and her face changed slightly: "Did you tell Dali Temple?" "No. But I think, once Dali Temple conducts interrogation in various workshops, the two of them will be found out soon, and they will be called for interrogation at that time." Huang Zixia looked at Li Shubai speechlessly. Li Shubai walked to the case, pulled a piece of paper and wrote a document, saying, "Go and investigate the situation over there tonight, lest the evidence be lost." Zhou Ziqin pulled up Huang Zixia's sleeves, and said quickly, "Let's go, I've already checked, there is absolutely no place to go in and out of Sun Laizi's room, please help me make sure quickly, and see if there is any way to do it." To kill in a room like this." "Yang Chonggu." When they walked to the door, they heard Li Shubai calling her in a low voice from behind. Huang Zixia hurriedly turned around: "My lord." Li Shubai's eyes fell on Zhou Ziqin's sleeve, and she slowly said: "Tomorrow we have other important matters, you remember to return home as soon as possible, and you must not stay overnight." Huang Zixia quickly pulled his sleeve out of Zhou Ziqin's hand, bowed his head and saluted: "Yes."
Huang Zixia followed Li Shubai back to the palace. The carriage passed by Chang'an's market smoothly, Li Shubai asked her casually: "It's not convenient to ask you just now, did the Queen empress make things difficult for you today?" With a bitter face, Huang Zixia said, "Naturally. She actually asked a little eunuch like me to help her return to the Penglai Hall of Daming Palace." He wrote lightly: "This is what I asked you to bring to me, you don't need to take it to heart." "Yes... nothing else." Li Shubai asked: "I came to meet you specially, just to ask you to bring such a sentence?" Huang Zixia nodded. Li Shubai frowned slightly.But he didn't say it, and she couldn't ask, and her eyes passed by the window unconsciously.Chang'an's various squares passed by one by one. Some of the squares had very high walls, some were very short, and the shortest one was only half the height of a person. So, when she passed by Daningfang, she saw two people passing by outside the window. Inside the wall of the Daning square up to the waist, a woman stood there, her profile was slightly blurred in the already thick twilight, but she stood up immediately, and before she had time to call A Yuanbo, she got out of the carriage jumped down. Fortunately, because it is above the market, the speed of the carriage is not fast.She was very nimble, jumped out of the car, and steadied herself with a slight stagger. Li Shubai glanced at her through the car window, and gestured to Jing Yu who was following beside the car. The carriage turned a corner, stopped slowly, and waited for Huang Zixia in the corner. Huang Zixia leaned against the wall and walked to the place where the two people were, quietly listening to the two people talking. With his back to the wall was a man, with a warm and mellow voice, he said: "Miss Dicui, you don't even wear a veil, what do you want to do here by yourself?" In the deep twilight, the woman Huang Zixia noticed at a glance was none other than Dicui. The voice of the person standing opposite her made Huang Zixia feel very familiar, but at this moment she had no time to think, and could only hold her breath to listen to the movement below. Di Cui stood opposite that person in a panic, her voice revealed her extreme nervousness: "You...what do you want me for?" He stared at her in silence, before speaking for a long time, but instead of answering her question, he only asked: "You want to kill Sun Manzi, right? And you don't even wear a hat, you are planning not to go back, Yes or no?" Dicui was motionless, standing stiffly in front of him, without saying a word. "The man who just left——Zhang Xingying, he came here for the same reason as you, didn't he?" He said, and suddenly laughed softly, "Sun Laizi really should feel honored to be underground, there are so many people in the same place Heaven came here to kill him, it's a hot commodity, it's so funny." The sky was getting darker, and Dicui's face and figure had already melted into the night.The closed door drums in Chang'an City sounded loudly, and the curfew was about to begin. Di Cui raised her hand and grabbed the skirt of her chest, and said in a trembling voice, "I... don't know what you're talking about... I, I'm leaving." "What are you afraid of? The person you hate the most has died in his airtight cage as you wished. Shouldn't you be happy?" Dicui didn't say anything more, she turned her head suddenly and walked towards the Fangmen not far away. "Wait a minute..." The man called her from behind, his voice was soft, and he caught up with her in a few steps. She looked back at him in horror, and took a step back unconsciously. But he knelt down in front of her, raised his hand and patted off a piece of dust on her skirt, and said, "You didn't notice it yourself, did you? It's better not to get it dirty." Di Cui unconsciously pulled up her skirt and took a step back, said in a panic, "I...I will clean it up myself." She seemed to be extremely afraid of the person in front of her, she took several steps back, then turned around suddenly, and rushed towards the gate. And the man stood up, looked at her disappearing figure in the darkness, stood silently for a long time, and then said as if talking to himself: "Death is death, and there will be no similar people, will you? " Huang Zixia squatted under the wall, listening to his footsteps slowly heading to the other side.She was still squatting there in a daze, and someone behind her asked, "Are you still leaving?" She recognized Li Shubai's voice, and when she looked back, she suddenly found that the majestic King Kui was squatting here listening to the corner of the wall just like herself. She couldn't help being startled, and stammered, "My lord... my lord!" He didn't respond, just walked towards the carriage in the alley. Huang Zixia followed behind him and asked in a low voice, "Who does the lord recognize that person?" "Didn't you recognize it?" he asked back. Huang Zixia nodded. After a long time, she finally said, "The princess... is more beautiful than Dicui." Li Shubai smiled slightly, unwilling to mention these things, changed the subject and said: "From what they said, it seems that Sun Laizi is dead." "Yes, I'll go find out right away." Huang Zixia said, and was about to return to Dali Temple to inquire about the news. Li Shubai called her from behind: "Yang Chonggu." She looked back at him, slightly surprised. "What's the hurry?" Li Shubai frowned slightly, and said, "We have to eat the big things before we talk about them. Besides, someone will definitely come here right away." Huang Zixia also felt that he was really tired and hungry after running all day, so he could only silently follow him into the carriage.
Back in Kui Wang's mansion, it was completely dark. When Li Shubai got out of the car, Jingxiang hurried up to meet him. Li Shubai walked inside and said to him: "Get me two big iron locks, the bigger and more scary the better." Jing Xiang didn't ask what's the use, and went down to prepare after answering. Huang Zixia thought about it for a while, and immediately understood his method, and couldn't help but be speechless: "My lord, is this going to be too cruel..." "When they were lazy, did they ever think that they were too ruthless?" Li Shubai glanced at her, unmoved, "When the waterway is clogged and drowns people, they should realize that this is a major event that will kill people, isn't it? When you can just use money to perfunctory." Huang Zixia nodded, thinking to himself, let this unruly boss be watching, and it is estimated that from tomorrow on, the matter of managing the water pipes in the capital will change from a fat job to a drudgery. She was thinking about resigning, Li Shubai looked back at her, and she obediently followed - although this master was difficult to serve, she was still very happy to eat together, after all, she was really hungry now. But the meal was not peaceful, and Jingxiang had already entered after only a few mouthfuls.Sure enough, he was holding two large iron locks that looked terrifying, they were dark and very heavy. He showed the lock to Li Shubai, and then said to Huang Zixia: "Chonggu, Zhou Shilang's young master is here to look for you, and he is waiting at the gatehouse." "Zhou Ziqin?" Huang Zixia and Li Shubai looked at each other, and both of them saw the understanding in each other's eyes - it really came. He waved his hand and said, "Let Ziqin come here directly to see what happened."
"Of course something big happened!" Zhou Ziqin was wearing a carmine red gown, an emerald green belt, and a chicken oil yellow gauze crown on his head. His whole body was full of dazzling colors. He was always surprised, but this time it was even more exaggerated. That kind of joyful expression was simply the best explanation for the sentence "I'm afraid the world will not be chaotic". "My lord, Chonggu! In the afternoon, I was in Dali Temple to check the relevant records of Wei Baoheng, the son-in-law - have you seen it?" Huang Zixia nodded: "Dali Temple copied a copy for me." "Oh, I watched it while sitting in Dali Temple. It was just at dusk, and you know, the people in Dali Temple are weird, and the house is also gloomy, so after I watched it twice, I didn't see anything useful Yes, I was about to leave. At this moment, guess what, there was a lot of noise outside, saying that he was dead!" "Who is the deceased?" Huang Zixia fished out the only useful content out of a lot of nonsense, and asked. "It's simply unexpected, it's earth-shattering, it's just stunned, I can't believe it!" Li Shubai finally couldn't bear it anymore, frowned and said: "Short story!" "Sun Laizi is dead!" Zhou Ziqin immediately changed his style drastically. Sun Laizi, the beast who took advantage of Dicui's coma and committed the crime of being inferior to animals, died as expected. Huang Zixia thought about Wei Concubine's words, and asked, "Who is the murderer?" "I don't know! At present, there are no clues... but there is no clue at all!" Zhou Ziqin felt that his mouth was dry all the way, and he grabbed the tea on the table and poured himself a pass. Huang Zixia and Li Shubai looked at each other helplessly, restrained their tempers, and sat on both sides of the desk waiting for him to say the following. Zhou Ziqin poured a pot of water, wiped his mouth, and said, "No, I can't make this short, I have to start from the beginning." "Say it quickly." Huang Zixia was speechless. "The ins and outs of the matter are like this - don't blame me for being too rambunctious. I really can't explain this matter, otherwise you don't know who is who in it. It is said that there is a money store in the capital, The business is very big, and the owner's name is Qian Guansuo, I guess you don't know it..." Huang Zixia and Li Shubai looked at each other silently, Huang Zixia said in a complicated and strange tone: "I know, I've heard of it." Zhou Ziqin didn't notice it, and continued: "It's best if you know. Qian Guansuo is the most famous chariot and horse dealer in Chang'an, and he helped to get many horses in the government. I have seen him, a short and fat man. Tian is happy, and he really looks like he is making money. He started the year before last. His business is not only in cars and horses, but also has a group of masons, civil engineers, and even a few people from the Ministry of Industry and Sewers in him. There is a job hanging there, and now people in the capital are looking for him to repair houses, build ponds, and so on—hey, he is still plausible, saying that the four things of clothing, food, housing, and transportation, the first two are in the care of the wife at home, and the latter two are in charge of him, this is called..." Huang Zixia felt a little helpless when he heard it: "Ziqin, can you start with that murder case?" "Okay." Zhou Ziqin was a little frustrated, "Today evening, near dusk, Qian Guansuo and one of his stewards were drinking in the Xishi restaurant, and when they got drunk, they cursed at the steward. As for the reason, everyone around I heard that, it turns out that Sun Laizi was scolded in the street. After hearing that Wei Ximin was struck to death by lightning, he felt uncomfortable with all kinds of retribution in the world, so he stayed behind closed doors every day. But he was afraid of being scolded for breaking the house. Someone broke into the door and hurt himself, so he went to the manager to repair the house on credit. The manager didn't know why, so he asked a few people to repair the doors and windows for him all afternoon. When Qian Guansuo heard it while drinking, he became angry. It is said that such a bastard who everyone shouts and beats, and is so poor that he has to pay for repairs on credit, the person in charge only agrees when his orifices are covered with mud. He scolded for a while, and through the drunken madness, he led the person in charge straight to Sun Laizi's house, saying Even if his house is demolished today, the money must be repaid." Huang Zixia was very satisfied with his narration, so he nodded and asked, "He found Sun Laizi, and then started a conflict?" "No! At that time, the people in the wine shop saw that there was a lot of excitement, and the boss and a group of people followed him to the door of Sun Laizi's house. It is said that the doors and windows are really well repaired. The reinforced doors and reinforced windows are all half-inch thick wood boards. The doors and windows of his house were closed tightly, like an iron barrel. Qian Guansuo kicked the door and scolded Sun Laizi, but there was no sound inside. Someone handed him an ax from behind, and Qian Guansuo used the strength of alcohol to kill him. After opening the door, everyone was afraid that he would chop Sun Manzi when he went in with the axe, so they quickly took the axe away and returned it to the original owner—who do you think was the one who handed the axe?" Huang Zixia shook his head, and Zhou Ziqin turned his head to see that even Li Shubai couldn't figure it out, and he was a little proud: "It's strange that this person appears here, and it's not surprising, it's the old man Lu Zhiyuan!" Huang Zixia asked in surprise, "Why is he there?" "Didn't people in the capital often install lamps on the wall when they repair their houses? Lu Zhiyuan often cooperates with the manager to install lamps for people. This time, the wine shop in West City is next to his incense and candle shop. , I heard that he was begging for money from Sun Laizi, Lu Zhiyuan yelled that the money Sun Laizi promised to pay him was not enough now, but this Sun Laizi had money to repair the house, but he had no money to give him. So he got angry and picked up the money. A small ax for chopping wax followed to ask for money." Huang Zixia had nothing to say, so he had to ask again: "Then a group of them chopped up Sun Laizi?" "No! Sun Laizi is dead!" Zhou Ziqin was so excited that he punched the table with such force that even the teapot jumped twice. On the bed, dead and stiff. It’s so hot, and the house is closed tightly, the whole house is already a bit stinky!” Huang Zixia frowned and asked: "What was the situation at that time?" "At that time, when the others smelled the stench, they already felt that something was wrong. Only Qian Guansuo, who was insane from drinking, rushed forward and grabbed Sun Manzi's clothes to lift him up. Lu Zhiyuan, who was following behind him, hurried forward and pulled him away. He stopped, but Sun Laizi's body had already been swung to the edge of the bed. When Qian Guansuo was pulled and let go, he fell to the ground with a plop, and he was already stiff from death! Lu Zhiyuan squatted down and turned the body over on the ground to have a look. He was so frightened that he pulled him to run back quickly. When Qian Guansuo saw the distorted face of the corpse, he also backed away in fright. The two fell to the ground and couldn't get up for a long time. , The reporter who reported to the official was called Lizheng. When he reported to Dali Temple, it was almost dark. As soon as I heard that Sun Laizi had died, I hurried over to have the body examined, and then came to find you. " "How did Sun Laizi die?" Huang Zixia asked. "It was stabbed to death! The wound was thin and small. It should be a sharp small dagger, about an inch and a half wide. Moreover, the murderer was very weak, and the wound was not deep. The other party knew that he was not strong enough, so he poisoned the murder weapon. , stabbed him twice and ran away. There was no murder weapon left at the scene, and the murderer should have taken it away." "Are there signs of struggle?" "No, the murderer should have committed the crime while the deceased was asleep." "Where is the injury?" "Sun Laizi was lying on a narrow bed with his back to the wall and facing the door. The corpse was in that natural sleeping position. But he was covered in sores, and I didn't feel sick to death during the autopsy." Zhou Zi Qin said, while drawing on his body, "One wound is under the luteal bone of the left shoulder, and the other is on the waist to the right of the navel. The wounds are all oblique downward marks. It is obvious that when Sun Manzi was sleeping on a low bed, the murderer squatted. stabbed at the side of his bed." "Where are the traces of struggle?" "No signs of struggle." "Unreasonable." Li Shubai said calmly. "It's unreasonable, it's not serious, and the stabbing wasn't deep. The deceased should at least struggle to resist." Zhou Ziqin looked at them with an aggrieved face: "I don't know. When I went to do the autopsy, the body was already lying under the bed. But according to what everyone said after opening the door, Sun Mangzi was indeed lying on the bed in a sleeping position. at every turn." Huang Zixia frowned slightly, put aside this doubt first, and then asked: "When is the exact time of Sun Laizi's death?" "I can conclude with certainty that it will not be later than noon today at the latest. He definitely died at or before noon." "That is to say, he was dead at least two hours before Lu Zhiyuan and Qian Guansuo broke through the door?" "Yes, it was in the house that had just been repaired, and the doors and windows were strengthened in that iron-barrel-like house. The door was tightly closed, and there was a bolt on the inside. Qian Guansuo kicked it hard for several times and failed to kick it open. The only window It is a whole piece of thick wood without any patterns, and the window bolts are attached from the inside. The walls are all rammed loess walls, and there are no mouse holes." Zhou Ziqin looked frantic, "So, where did the murderer come from? Where do you come in and kill people, and where do you go out, and lock the doors and windows from the inside, without leaving any traces?" Huang Zixia frowned slightly, and asked again: "At present, there is no physical evidence at all?" "Yes, no. But... there are witnesses," Zhou Ziqin said here, with a toothache-like expression on his face, "but, but..." Huang Zixia signaled him to continue. Zhou Ziqin frowned, lowered his voice, and said: "According to the testimonies of several old ladies in the workshop, when they were wearing their shoe soles under the shade of a tree by the ancient well, two men and women who were not from the workshop came to Sun Laizi's house one after another. Nearby, it seems to be wandering to observe something, but it seems to have left without doing anything.” "Men and women?" Huang Zixia frowned and asked. "Yeah, a man and a woman," Zhou Ziqin murmured, holding his head in annoyance, "It is said that the man who came first was very tall, with a righteous face and a straight back. Good boy, although they are old and sitting in a remote place, it is inevitable that they will look at them a few more times. But because the big girls are sitting at an angle, they can't see Sun Laizi's house, so I don't know where he went to do it. what." "Where is that woman?" "That woman kept her head buried, she couldn't see her face clearly, but she was slender, and she shouldn't be very old. She came after the man left, walked around where he walked, and was in Sun He wandered around Laizi's house for a long time." "The rest of the features, are they gone?" "Yes..." Zhou Ziqin said with difficulty, "She is wearing a pair of green cloth shoes with cork soles, and two opposite hibiscus flowers are embroidered on the left and right shoes." Huang Zixia remembered the pair of cork-soled hibiscus blue cloth shoes on her feet when she saw Dicui at Zhang Xingying's home this afternoon, and her face changed slightly: "Did you tell Dali Temple?" "No. But I think, once Dali Temple conducts interrogation in various workshops, the two of them will be found out soon, and they will be called for interrogation at that time." Huang Zixia looked at Li Shubai speechlessly. Li Shubai walked to the case, pulled a piece of paper and wrote a document, saying, "Go and investigate the situation over there tonight, lest the evidence be lost." Zhou Ziqin pulled up Huang Zixia's sleeves, and said quickly, "Let's go, I've already checked, there is absolutely no place to go in and out of Sun Laizi's room, please help me make sure quickly, and see if there is any way to do it." To kill in a room like this." "Yang Chonggu." When they walked to the door, they heard Li Shubai calling her in a low voice from behind. Huang Zixia hurriedly turned around: "My lord." Li Shubai's eyes fell on Zhou Ziqin's sleeve, and she slowly said: "Tomorrow we have other important matters, you remember to return home as soon as possible, and you must not stay overnight." Huang Zixia quickly pulled his sleeve out of Zhou Ziqin's hand, bowed his head and saluted: "Yes."