Chapter 22 Chapter Seventeen

Dusk is gradually coming, and the sunset glow forms arcs of light from light red to deep red in the western sky. The Mei Manor is doing a grand meritorious ceremony to pay homage to Mr. Mei.In the hall, the candles are burning high, the cigarettes are lingering, the white flags hang low, and the filial piety peaks are arranged, creating a mournful atmosphere.A group of eminent monks from Pu'en Temple were ringing the pestle around Mr. Mei's coffin, beating drums and cymbals, preaching satire, and reciting the Lotus Sutra.While twisting the Buddha beads hanging from the neck, he knocked on the wooden fish.After reciting scriptures and praying, singing and drinking and issuing ultimatums, please surrender the Three Jewels, prove the merits of the alliance, worship the Buddha and offer offerings, call the dead to give food, needless to say in detail.The guests and mourners were all standing in the outer hall, and there were crowds of people in black clusters.

When Di Gong and Tao Gan came to Meifu, Yi Cong Lu book, flags and flags preached that they should be exempted, so they didn't alarm everyone. When they entered the gate of Mei Mansion, they turned to the big garden, walked along the rockery, and walked through the vase-shaped gate at the corner of the white wall to enter the courtyard. ——From the courtyard, you can see various sacrificial ceremonies such as closing the coffin and chanting scriptures in the hall.On the bluestone steps stood respectfully the honored guests. When Di Gong and Tao Gan entered the hall, they saw Mrs. Mei standing beside the altar, all in plain clothes.Dignified and reserved, well-mannered.Di Gong and Tao Gan went forward to salute Mrs. Mei, expressing their condolences, and took a stick of incense from the attendant's hand, and respectfully inserted it into a bronze incense burner with a dragon and ni pattern in front of Mr. Mei's coffin.Then Xun Xun exited the hall, walked down the steps of the outer hall and returned to the courtyard.Digong suddenly felt the air was fresh, and felt a slight breeze blowing over his face.

"Tao Gan, you can see that the dark clouds in the sky have started to move. I already feel the cool wind blowing." Duke Di said happily. Tao Gan narrowed his eyes and looked up at the sky. Di Gong said again: "The sky is about to change. As long as there is a heavy rain, the plague in the capital is expected to improve. If the rain can fall for a few days, the plague will soon weaken, and the capital will return to its previous state." Prosperous and prosperous, the Holy Majesty is coming back." Tao Gan nodded frequently, looked at the sky again, and his face couldn't help but beam with joy.

Di Gongdao: "After Mr. Mei's funeral is completed, you should immediately move Mrs. Mei to Fengxiang. Right now, she is living in Chang'an as a widow, which is very inappropriate and dangerous." Tao Gan agreed and said, "I have notified Mr. Mei's distant nephew that he will come to the capital to take over Mr. Mei's property for the time being. The specific matters concerning the succession of the family wealth must be decided by themselves when Mrs. Mei returns to Chang'an to settle down." Di Gong nodded yes.Suddenly he sighed again and said: "Only half a month ago, Mr. Mei and I enjoyed the moon and sipped tea in this courtyard, discussing a good way to stabilize the situation. Who knows that Sudden has passed away: the so-called "there are unpredictable things, People have misfortunes and blessings' ah! - Oh, I remembered, Tao Gan, since we came to Mei Mansion tonight, we might as well go to see the place where Mr. Mei had an accident that day. I remember it was under the bluestone stairs in the middle of the Flower Hall in the East Courtyard. "

At this time, the memorial ceremony in the hall had just ended, and the guests were slowly leaving the outer hall. Tao Gan quietly found the old housekeeper, saying that Mr. Di wanted to see the stairs that Mr. Rimei fell down that day.The housekeeper did not dare to neglect the order, so he held a white paper lantern and led Di Gong and Tao Gan to the flower hall of the east courtyard. They came to the bottom of the stairs in the Flower Hall of the East Courtyard.Digong looked up and saw a corridor with a row of vermilion lacquer railings on both sides of the stairs, and two huge beams crossing under the round domed caisson, and a big red lantern hung in the middle of the huge beams. ——The entire flower hall is filled with harmonious red light.The blue and white fine-grained stone stairs are indeed very steep, with the handrails on both sides about two feet high, and there are sharp carvings of lotus buds at intervals.

The old butler pointed to the last step of the stairs and said, "This is where the master fell to his death." Duke Di asked the housekeeper, "Is Mr. Mei's study upstairs?" "Yes. It's in the moon cave door on the left side of the stairs." Di Gong looked up at the big red lantern carefully for a while.Meifu dismissed the servants early.Mr. Mei didn't have time to paste the red lantern with white paper today after closing the funeral.Four luminous gold characters "Ronghua Wealth" are pasted on the outer periphery of the red lantern. Duke Di asked the old housekeeper again: "How do you light this lantern every night?"

The old steward replied: "Your servant will prepare a long pole by himself, with a small iron hook tied to the top of the pole. You only need to stand in the corridor every night, hook the lantern to your side with the long pole, replace the old candle, and replace it Put a new candle and light it.—One candle will burn till midnight." Tao Gan stroked the last stone carving of Han Ou on the handrail, and said, "Mr. Mei would die if he fell down such a steep staircase, even if he didn't touch his head on this sharp bud." Digong nodded.His eyes fell on the eyebrows on the front wall of the flower hall.There are three emerald green official characters "Yayitang" written on the eyebrows and foreheads.

"What a calligraphy!" Di Gong couldn't help but blurt out his appreciation. "This is my husband's handwriting." A woman's gentle voice sounded behind her. Duke Di hurriedly turned his head and saw Mrs. Mei and Dr. Lu standing behind him. Dr. Lu cupped his hands and said: "Master Di is here, I have offended you." Mrs. Mei pursed her lips and gave a shallow smile, and then said a blessing. Duke Di glanced at Tao Gan, raised his thick black eyebrows, and said, "Mrs. Mei came just in time. Can we see Mr. Mei's study upstairs?" Seeing Di Gong cast a glance at him, Tao Gan wondered.Furthermore, why did Duke Di think of looking at the study?He hadn't squatted down to take a closer look at the stairs where Mr. Mei fell to his death.

"Of course." Mrs. Mei said.While signaling to the old housekeeper to lead them upstairs. As soon as they got to the top of the stairs, the old housekeeper said, "My lord, be careful about the candles on the ground." He looked timidly at Mrs. Mei. "I should have picked it up a long time ago, but because I fell ill and my wife was busy, I forgot it for a while." Di Gong saw that there was indeed a long-extinguished candle lying horizontally at the top of the stairs. The old butler opened the door of the study, and the study was very dark. A faint red light from the corridor was in harmony with the color of the red carpet.Di Gong saw that there were large bookcases standing on the three walls of the study, but there was an antique big nanmu bed under the back wall. The mattress and pillows on the bed were very neat.A snow-white gauze tent is hung outside the bed, and a silk painting is hung above the bed, inscribed with the date "Books written by Ziyun Pavilion".Beside the bed is a large nanmu desk with a golden candlestick on it.The old housekeeper inserted a candle into the golden candlestick, and the room became much brighter.

Seeing that there was a book open on the desk, Di Gong couldn't help picking it up and flipping through a few pages, and praised: "Mrs. Mei, Mr. Mei was still reading this "Golden Chamber Medical Prescription" just before his death, researching the method of treating plague. Mr. Mei is really a man of noble character and self-denial!" Di Gong casually looked at the paper, pen and ink on the desk.The pen stand, wash bowl, ink bowl, and paperweight are all - once picked up and read, I can't put it down.Finally, he said with a smile, "Mrs. Mei, these things are elegant in shape and exquisitely crafted. They can all be collected as antiques."

Tao Gan understood what Digong was trying to find, but obviously failed. The old butler held up a white paper lantern to illuminate everyone as they carefully walked down the tall and steep blue and white fine-grained stone stairs. Di Gong pointed to the east chamber of the flower hall and asked, "What is this room usually used for?" The old steward replied respectfully: "This east wing room is rarely inhabited, and it is very quiet. There is a secluded bamboo path leading to the east corridor of the large garden in the room. A corner door at the end of the bamboo path is the door outside the mansion. Main Street." Di Gong nodded if he realized something, and ordered the housekeeper to open the door of the east wing. Mrs. Mei was startled, and hurriedly said: "Master, don't go into this wing, it's dirty and dark, and it hasn't been lived in for three months." Di Gong didn't answer, but signaled the old housekeeper to unlock it.The old housekeeper dared not disobey, took out the key and opened the iron lock as big as an arm.Di Gong pushed open the door forcefully. The room was really dirty and dark, so Di Gong ordered the housekeeper to light the candles. Di Gong saw that there was a large rosewood bed under the left wall in the room, and a dark blue bed curtain covered the big bed very tightly.Sure enough, there was a small door next to the bed, and the dressing table and desk were side by side next to the small door. Digong approached the dressing table, looked at a bronze mirror on the stand, and then admired the rouge cream pots and lead powder boxes one by one with great interest. After looking at the rouge pollen, Qiuhui walked to the desk to look at the Four Treasures of the Study on the table.Autumn Equinox was surprised to find that there was still a shallow layer of black water on a large turtle-shaped endstone inkstone.Beside the inkstone is a piece of octagonal golden dragon incense pine smoke ink and an elephant tube purple wolf pen, the tip of the pen is still dipped in black ink. Di Gong hurriedly turned around and walked to the big red sandalwood bed, opened the long curtain that had been dragged to the floor, and saw that the bed mat, silk quilt, pillowcase, and the mattress were very clean, and there was a faint scent of powder. Di Gong was about to close the bed curtain, and couldn't help staring at the ground.He squatted down carefully, lifted the corner of the right bed curtain, and carefully inspected the foot of the bed in the shape of a tiger's paw and the bluestone floor. Suddenly, he stood up and said to Tao Gan: "Look at those black spots on the ground!" Tao Gan squatted down, wiped the stains on the bluestone floor with his fingertips, and said, "This is the trace of ink dots, sir. Although the ink dots have been wiped clean, they have penetrated into the stone slab and left behind There are stains, and it is not easy to wipe off. Unless you grind it slowly with sand." Mr. Di pulled the silky and clean bed curtain and inspected it carefully, and suddenly saw a brown blood spot as big as a fingertip on the back of the bed curtain. "Tao Gan, look at this!" Tao Gan leaned over to take a look, and realized something. "Madam Mei!" Duke Di said sternly with a stern face. "Mr. Mei died in this room!" Mrs. Mei's face suddenly turned pale, and she froze like a clay sculpture. "Mr. Mei was murdered. The murder weapon was the square turtle-shaped inkstone. After his skull was crushed with the inkstone, he fell to the ground at the foot of the bed. The blood from his head and Wet ink in the stone inkstone.—The blood and ink were wiped off, but stains were left on the ground. The bed curtain was also stained with blood, especially the fingertip-like patch on the back of the bed curtain. Big and small bloodstains are more telling." Mr. Di glanced at Dr. Lu, and said coldly, "This is the reason why there was ink stain on the deceased's cheek, and Dr. Lu didn't see it?" Dr. Lu said: "Master concluded that Mr. Mei was murdered based on just such a spot of ink. It is too rash! I'm afraid there is no other proof." Mr. Di smiled slightly: "Doctor Lu, the ink stain on the deceased's cheek and the ink and blood stains on the bed curtain and the ground are only indirect proofs, and the direct proof is the time of Mr. Mei's death. Lie. You said that Mr. Mei’s body was found around Haishi, which means that Mr. Mei fell down the stairs before Haishi. However, why did he hold a candle in his hand? The big red lantern under the beam in the flower hall is usually lit until midnight The corridors and stairways are brightly lit at the hour of the day as usual." Mrs. Mei and Dr. Lu looked at each other in panic. Duke Di sternly said, "Mrs. Mei, Dr. Lu, you are not guilty yet! Mr. Mei was murdered to death by the two of you."