Chapter 14 Chapter nine

Tao Gan walked into Zhenliu Pavilion.The maid serving Mrs. Ye stood at the door waiting for a message. Tao Gan said: "Master, is there any clue to this case? This maid is full of hatred for Ye Kuilin, Master can ask her personally." Di Gongdao: "The murderer must be Ye Kuilin's acquaintance or a person of low status. Ye Kuilin let him come in this Zhenliu Pavilion, refused to give up his seat and disrespected tea, and ate his ginger in sugar juice. Later, the two engaged in martial arts. It was Su Su. I don’t know whether it’s a suspicion, a new enmity, or a temporary disagreement. The leather whips and broken vases on the ground are clear evidence of the use of force. The murder weapon was not sharp, and it only smashed half of Ye Kuilin’s face with great strength. The murderer must be Great physique and great physical strength."

Di Gong signaled Tao Gan to let the maid come in. The maid looked at Ye Kuilin's body, frowned in disgust, and came forward to wish Di Gong good luck. Duke Di asked kindly, "What's your name?" "The maid's name is Osmanthus." "How long have you been in Ye Mansion?" "My family has been a servant of Ye Mansion for generations, and I was born in this Ye Mansion." "Your master was killed, what do you think?" "My lord, he is a dissolute old pervert. He has done all kinds of bad things in his life, and he will be clean after death. My lord doesn't know, this old pervert brings some prostitutes to this corridor every day for pleasure and chasing pornographic scenes. , full of ugliness. He was cruel and cruel to his servants, and abused them wantonly. If things went wrong, he would whip him. Six years ago, the master whipped a servant to death on that embroidered couch! If you don’t believe me, you can go to the bamboo forest in the backyard to dig it. The body is still there."

"Osmanthus fragrans, let me ask you, is there a He Peng who often comes to the house?" "Oh! The master is asking about General He on the other side of the bridge? In the past, he often came to the mansion, but Lord Hou was only focused on female sex, so he didn't come for a long time. General He is really a virtuous gentleman. The He family His ancestors were generals for three generations, but now the imperial court does not allow him to wear a waist knife, and his martial arts can only be used to fight wild deer and shoot old eagles." Di Gong asked again: "Osmanthus fragrans, who do you think killed your Lord Marquis?"

"It must be the one who pimps the prostitutes. But recently, the epidemic is so severe that all the prostitutes have fled Chang'an. Lord Hou wondered all day long." Di Gong asked again: "Osmanthus fragrans, who will treat Mrs. Ye?" "Doctor Lu. The Marquis said he was a serious doctor. I don't know what his medical skills are. I think he is just like the Marquis. He is a lewd and lecherous person. ——When the Marquis is fooling around with prostitutes, he is there!" Digong nodded. Tao Gan said: "Little is known about Ye Kuilin's private life, and even Chief Mei has never told us about it. It seems that Ye Kuilin is still cautious in his actions, and he has not heard of such scandals being publicized."

Di Gong lowered his head and suddenly found something glittering at the foot of the embroidered couch. He quickly bent over to pick it up, and saw that it was an earring inlaid with red jade.There is still a trace of wet blood on the jade. "A woman must have been in this corridor tonight! Tagan." A gust of wind blew, and the candles on the Eight Immortals Table were extinguished, and the young servant quickly took the flint and lit the candles again.Carefully avoid looking at the dead man. Di Gong stopped her and asked, "Who is the girl who came to this corridor tonight?"

The young servant's face suddenly turned pale, and he replied hesitantly: "That woman...she, she will never kill Lord Hou!" Di Gongdao: "She can be a witness. —Is it possible for a woman to kill Lord Hou?" The servant said: "I saw her coming to the mansion for the first time ten days ago, and she has come here often since then. But I don't know if she has been here tonight, and there are two people every time I come back." "Two people?!" Di Gong asked in surprise. "My lord, there are really two people. A man and a woman. One day, the little man heard a beautiful singing coming from the corridor, so he couldn't help going upstairs to take a peek. The woman was very young, and her appearance was as beautiful as a fairy. Then During the night, I heard the sound of drums accompanied by singing. The man was carrying the villain on his back, so he didn't look carefully, so he thought it was the drumming. Later, the woman danced on the embroidered couch, and the villain was almost fascinated by watching. "

Di Gong said: "You can go now. If any guests come to visit the house, please ask for their names and return them to me." The servant agreed and withdrew from the Zhenliu Pavilion.The maid followed suit. Di Gong said to Tao Gan: "Those two people did come here tonight. With this earring as evidence, Osmanthus said that the murderer might be a pimp. This guess may be right. Ye Kuilin is abusive, and the woman's The singing and dancing didn’t satisfy her heart, so she swung a whip to whip the woman, but the man came out to stop him. When he couldn’t stop him, he snatched the whip from Ye Kuilin in a moment of anger, and beat Ye Kuilin to death with the iron rod hidden in his body. ——This kind of pimping Everyone has one or two moves for self-defense, and although the arts are humble, they often have the courage of the flesh and blood, and they will kill people in a hurry."

Tao Gan nodded and said: "Since they are men and women who sing, Ye Kuilin will naturally not give up his seat to serve tea. They kill people and then slip away quickly. There are not one or two servants in such a large Ye Mansion, who will stop them? I thought about coming here Most of the women who sing are prostitutes from a certain fireworks house in the old city, and it's not hard to find them." Di Gong said: "We might as well search here again, maybe we can find some things left by the murderer." Di Gong went to the window and rolled up the bamboo curtain of Concubine Xiang.Seeing that the outside of the pavilion is facing the canal, the dark Crescent Bridge is in sight.The canal just makes a turn here, so the river is very wide.Di Gong looked down again, and suddenly found that the Pillow Pavilion was really a pillow on the water, and a row of stone pillars stood under the long corridor. The foundations of the stone pillars were all in the water three or four feet close to the river bank.

The water surface around the stone pillar is covered with green duckweed and aquatic plants.Both sides of Zhenliu Pavilion are high vertical walls with hundreds of blades.On the north side of the Crescent Bridge stands the minaret-like Xulou.There is a row of graceful smoked willows along the south side of the Crescent Bridge, and the cornices of a delicate pavilion are exposed in the shade of the willows.There is a curved stone bridge under the pavilion, and under the bridge is an exquisite and unique water pavilion. Di Gong looked at it and suddenly remembered that the garden pavilion opposite was He Peng's mansion.I saw that this line of scenery was so familiar, but I couldn't remember it for a while.

He put down the bamboo curtain and looked back, seeing Tao Gan putting together the pieces of the celadon vase on the table one by one.Tao Gan raised his head and saw Di Gong looking at him, and said, "Master, here are some pieces of broken porcelain with sugar juice stuck to them, the same as the mouth, fingers, and cuffs of the deceased. I think Ye Kuilin grabbed them before he died. He picked up the vase in an attempt to defend himself. After the whip in his hand was taken away by the murderer, he picked up the vase. Unfortunately, he was hit by the murderer's iron rod, fell down, and the vase fell from his hand to the ground and broke. Here is Two larger pieces of porcelain just landed on the whip. Look, sir, this piece of porcelain sticking with sugar juice is the slender neck of the vase."

Tao Gan assembled almost all the celadon vases together. Di Gong's eyes suddenly flashed: "Liuyuan map!" A picture of a willow garden is being painted on the celadon porcelain. Di Gong suddenly realized, ran to the window and pulled up the bamboo curtain of Concubine Xiang, with a look of surprise on his face. "The garden pavilion of He Peng's house is exactly the same as this willow garden picture: Tao Gan, don't you think that this willow garden picture, this celadon vase has something to do with Ye Kuilin's death?" Before Di Gong could finish his sentence, he suddenly saw a crumpled white paper under the bamboo curtain, and hurriedly bent over to pick it up.He gently unfolded the paper ball, but it turned out to be a white silk sweat towel with a spot of bright red blood in the middle.Di Gong touched the four corners of the sweat towel, but it was wet. "This sweat towel is soaked in water, oh, there is a piece of water grass on it! Tao Gan, carefully keep this white silk sweat towel, it may be the most important evidence left by the murderer." Duke Di suddenly thought of something, he quickly pulled up the bamboo curtains, and looked at the window sill carefully with a candle, but he didn't see anything, so he ordered Tao Gan to pull up all the bamboo curtains on the left and right.Only after Tao Gan pulled up the two panes, Duke Di called to stop. "Strange! Strange. There is a thick layer of dust on the left and right window sills. How can there be no dust on this window sill? It is very clean. Someone must have wiped it." Di Gong jumped up and stood on the window sill.Tao Gan was so frightened that he hurriedly supported Di Gong's leg and shin. Di Gong saw a stone pillar standing vertically under the window sill, and the joints of the stone pillar were wet and there were a few pieces of waterweed. "Tagan! Someone swam across the river, climbed up the ledge from this stone pillar, and jumped into this corridor."