Chapter 19 Chapter Fourteen

Two official sedan chairs meandered out of the main gate of the Jingzhao Government Office.In the first sedan chair sat Di Gong, in the second sedan chair Tao Gan and the servants of Yali sat, and Qiao Tai and Ma Rong rode retinues on horseback.Go straight to Ye Mansion by the Crescent Bridge through the Martial Arts Hall of the school grounds. The fog in the market began to lift, and the sky rose a little.The air was filled with a pungent smell of rotting mildew.The hot wind made passers-by feel dizzy, nauseated, and palpitated. Official sedan chairs and horse riders stopped in front of the gate tower of Ye Mansion.The ear door opened, and it was Dr. Lu who came out to greet him.Seeing that it was Di Gong, Dr. Lu hastily bowed and bowed, saying that he was negligent, while welcoming Di Gong and his party into the inner hall of Ye Mansion.

After taking a rest in the inner hall, Di Gong and his party followed Dr. Lu into Mrs. Ye's bedroom. In the bedroom was an exquisite red lacquered bed, on which Mrs. Ye's body had been covered with a white cloth.Di Gong lifted a corner of the white cloth to look at the disfigured face of the deceased, and motioned for the assistant to start the inspection.The maid was crouching by the bed and sobbing, Duke Dee took a look at her and decided to ask her in detail after a while. He turned around and asked Dr. Lu, "When did you find Mrs. Ye hanging from the beam?" "Only half an hour ago. Madam locked the door and didn't come out for a long time. The maid panicked. Just as I came to Ye Mansion to deliver medicine for Madam Ye, the maid dragged me to open the bedroom door, and saw that Madam had hung up. It was still shaking on the beam. I cut the strip of cloth, and saw that the madam had already passed away, her body was cold, and her limbs were already stiff. So I laid the dead body of the madam on the bed with the maid and covered it with a white cloth. gone."

Di Gongdao: "Doctor Lu, you and your co-worker will examine Mrs. Ye's body carefully and fill in a detailed post-mortem form. ——You first found the body, so you can provide me with more information about the situation at that time." Di Gong then led Tao Gan, Qiao Tai, and Ma Rong to Zhenliu Pavilion on the same road as last night. After entering the corridor of Zhenliu Pavilion, Di Hui looked at the bamboo curtains on the row of windows near the river, and ordered Tao Gan to roll up all the bamboo curtains. Ma Rong suddenly exclaimed: "Master, this corridor is very similar to the puppet show picture I saw in Yuan Yutang's big mirrored box yesterday. But there is also a tall and thin man whipping a poor man on the picture. The woman. The woman was pushed down on this embroidered couch, but the embroidered couch has moved a little bit, and the window porch and pillars are not carved."

"What did you say?" Duke Di asked in surprise. "Yuan Yutang?" "My lord, I need to talk about it in detail. Could it be that there is such a coincidence!" Ma Rong was both surprised and amazed. "Ma Rong, sit down and talk slowly, don't miss the plot." Di Gong ordered. Tao Gan and Qiao Tai rolled up a row of bamboo curtains when they went to the window pavilion. Sitting on the embroidered couch, Ma Rong talked about how he chatted with Yuan Yutang before and after meeting Lanbai at Wufu Restaurant last night, watched the puppet pictures, and how Yuan Yutang's father and daughter deliberately refused to recognize each other.

As soon as Ma Rong finished speaking, he stood up, looked out of the window in the corridor, suddenly thought of something, and said loudly: "It's a coincidence again! The second set of pictures Yuan Yutang showed me is the willow tree. There is a pavilion in the shade, a stone bridge under the pavilion, and a water pavilion under the stone bridge—there are still a few people on the stone bridge. Isn’t this exactly the same as the willow garden of He Peng’s house opposite the window?” Di Gong looked carefully at the willow garden in He Mansion on the opposite side of the canal, secretly surprised, and couldn't help but realize.Said: "This means that Yuan Yutang knew the inside story of Ye Kuilin flogging the servant girl to death in the corridor six years ago, so He Peng may have participated in this crime. Didn't Lan Bai tell you that his father worked as a servant in He Peng's mansion? Servant. Yuan Yutang is a witness to this brutal crime! Ma Rong, you have to bring Yuan Yutang to see me as soon as possible, the sooner the better, don't delay. Now you and Qiao Tai go to the window to have a look. Is it possible for a person to swim across the river, climb up the window sill along the stone pillar, and then jump into this corridor.——What kind of physique and stature, or what extraordinary skills are required to do this.”

Ma Rong and Qiao Tai carefully looked at the window sill and the stone pillar, then climbed out of the window sill and tried to climb down the stone pillar, they couldn't help being speechless, saying it was difficult. Qiao Tai said: "It seems that the murderer who climbed up the window sill from the stone pillar is not only tall, but also has a dexterous climbing ability. He Peng often hunts, and climbing trees may have a solution, but he is not tall." Di Gongdao: "But I noticed that his two arms are very long, as flexible as an ape." At this time, the young servant of Ye Mansion came to the corridor to offer tea, Duke Di carefully looked at her face, and was surprised secretly.

After the servant retreated, Duke Di said, "Tao Gan, you don't care about that servant's face?" Tao Gan was taken aback, grabbed the three hairs on his left cheek, twirled the crow a few times, slapped his thigh fiercely, and replied: "Master, I know. Isn't his face very similar to He Peng's?" Her mother—Ms. Ye’s maid—is probably He Peng’s concubine. She gritted her teeth at Ye Kuilin, but she tried to protect He Peng. She was the one who wiped away what He Peng left on the window sill last night. Footprints, He Peng committed crimes and wiped out traces, trying to cover up the truth and confuse our eyes."

Di Gong suddenly asked Ma Rong again: "Does Yuan Yutang know your identity?" "He thought I was just a soldier, but I later told him that I am Captain Guo Yi of the Jingzhao Government Office, and I am in charge of Jing'an criminals in the capital." "You must find Yuan Yutang immediately. You can see Lan Bai at noon today, but you may not be able to see her father. Yuan Yutang must have hidden things from her daughter. Don't delay, act now, and hurry up Qiao Tai found him after going to the Guandi Temple. When you find him, you must also bring his other daughter, Hong Hong, to the government office to see me. Let's go down to the pavilion, and the post-mortem examination of Dr. Lu is almost finished."

The four of them returned to the Lotus Pavilion outside Mrs. Ye's bedroom. Wu Zuo stepped forward and handed over the detailed post-mortem records.Said: "Master, there is no doubt that Mrs. Ye committed suicide by hanging from a beam. It has been about an hour since she died. Let the government servants take the body away." Di Gong nodded, and ordered Wu Zuo to go to Liuyan corridor to examine Ye Kuilin's body, and ordered six yamen servants to wait on Wu Zuo—to collect the dead bodies of Ye Kuilin and his wife together, and cremate them after being judged by the court. Di Gong turned to Dr. Lu and said, "Dr. Lu, I have something to ask you."

Di Gong pulled out two chairs beside the table and motioned for Dr. Lu to sit down. "Doctor Lu, why do you think Mrs. Ye committed suicide?" When Dr. Lu heard that Di Gong asked about Mrs. Ye, he felt a little more at ease.So he replied respectfully: "My lord, in my opinion, Mrs. Ye is a virtuous wife. She respects and loves you, and she has a good song. You may also have heard that the lord is a licentious person who loves prostitutes." She was a prostitute, and her life was extremely debauchery. Mrs. Ye suffered from it very much. She tried her best to imagine her husband as immaculate in virtue, but in fact, Hou Ye's debauchery and depravity hit her too hard, making her completely lost. Hope was born. The murder of Lord Marquis, there must be a lot of discussion in the small world of the family. Madam thought it was a great shame for Yemen. In a fit of anger, she committed suicide by committing suicide."

Di Gong was silent, thinking in his heart.This Dr. Lu knows the heart of a woman very well, and his words fit well, so he should not be underestimated. "Doctor Lu. I also want to ask you about Mrs. Mei's life experience. There are rumors outside that Mrs. Mei did not come from a famous family." Dr. Lu was flustered, but he smiled calmly and asked back, "Master, what did you hear about Mrs. Mei?" "I heard that Mrs. Hai was originally the head of a prostitute team in Haitang Courtyard, and her name was Sapphire." Dr. Lu said solemnly: "Master, let me say something that I don't know how to advance or retreat. I am afraid that the master has absorbed the rumors and rumors from the outside world, and it is too late to examine them carefully. All kinds of rumors about Mrs. Mei from the outside world are not credible. There are malicious slanders. There are also those who cause trouble out of nothing, fabricated a name of sapphire for no reason, and forced it on Mrs. Mei. According to my contacts with the Mei family, I know that Mei Yao is a virtuous and virtuous person, and she is the daughter of a famous nobleman in Jingyang." Di Gong was secretly surprised, and asked again: "Now why did this rumor arise?" "Mrs. Mei's maiden name is Liu. At first, Uncle Liu was determined not to allow his daughter to marry Hai Liang. The reason is simple. Mei Liang is more than thirty years older than Mrs. Mei, and she is more than enough to be a father. But Mrs. Mei's eyes are very appreciative of Mr. Mei Gao Xingchun. Virtuous, knowledgeable, determined to marry. There was a dispute between father and daughter, and Mrs. Mei eloped to the Mei Mansion one night. Uncle Liu was so angry that the three corpses jumped up and down, ashamed of the elders in his hometown, he moved to Huguang." After hearing this, Duke Di sighed and said. "It turns out that the rumors are terrible, and they almost wronged Mrs. Mei."