Chapter 14 Chapter Fourteen

The next morning, Di Gonggong finished his breakfast and said to Hong Canjun, "The sky is clear today. The phoenix is ​​beautiful. I want to walk to Ding's house in a leisurely way. You go and call Tao Gan to go with you." The three of them walked through the corridor and courtyard, left the west gate of the county government office, and went straight to Ding's house. Di Gong lightly dressed and simply visited Ding's house from the second day, but it was unknown beforehand to take photos of Ding Yi.Seeing the sudden arrival of the county magistrate, the butler invited him to the flower hall to invite tea, and at the same time sent someone to report to Ding Yi.

Ding's house was in a hurry and chaos.It is unavoidable to invite eminent monks to come to the house to hang up the list and open scriptures, and worship the seven seven forty-nine heavenly kings of Liang.Both the mourning chamber and the ashram are located in the main hall, and there is an inscription in front of the coffin, which reads "Displaying the position of General Ding Huguo's respected spirit", and a pair of elegiac couplets on both sides, which read: Woody water source Xianshize Spring Frost and Autumn Dew Cigarettes were lingering in front of the coffin, white candles were burning high, and a group of monks were rectifying the law.Playing blows, blowing, singing Buddhist scriptures for the dead, and saving the souls of the dead and ascending to heaven early.

There is a table against the wall in the corridor, on which there are piles of birthday gifts, all wrapped in red paper, with auspicious birthday wishes and good words of congratulations attached, it is really dazzling.When Di Gong saw it, he was very surprised.The housekeeper quickly explained: "Master, this pile of birthday presents should have been cleared and put into storage early, but the servants of Naijin are busy with funeral arrangements and have no free time, so they are still piled here." Ding Xiucai rushed to the flower hall to see the county magistrate.Di Gongdao: "Today and tomorrow, the Japanese county wants to be promoted to try the murder case of Jin Zun. Because there are several details that need to be verified, I come back to visit the house. I will go to your father's study in this county. You Ding You are busy with funerals, so you don't need to accompany him. .”

The second yamen soldier was still on duty in the aisle, protecting the scene, met the county magistrate, and hurriedly reported that no one took a step near the door of the study. Di Gong opened the seal.Push the door and enter the house.Just as he was about to take a step, he felt a foul smell rushing into his nose, so he quickly covered his face with his sleeves, took a few steps back, and said, "There seems to be something rotten in the house, Tao Gan, go to the mourning hall and ask the monks doing Buddhist work for some pillars." Xianglai." Tao Gan took the order and left, and returned in a short while, with a strong sandalwood smoke and a pungent smell.Di Gong went in alone with incense, and came back in a moment. He held up an iron nail hanging in his hand, and stabbed a half-rotten black rat at one end. The box is packed, don't throw it away."

Di Gong put sandalwood on the pen holder of the desk to fume away the bad smell in the room. Tao Gan returned, and the three entered the study together.Di Gong pointed to a cardboard box on the ground and said: "This box was originally in the sleeve of General Ding, and it contained nine candied dates. When I left last time, I put it near the inkstone on the desk, and the black rat crawled up when it smelled sweet. Go to the desk and enjoy it, and look, the footprints left by the dead rat on the desk are still clearly visible." Di Gong leaned over, carefully picked up the paper box on the ground, and put it on the table. There was a hole in one corner. He opened the lid and saw that there were only eight of the nine candied dates left.

Di Gongdao: "This is another murder weapon. It turns out that these candied dates are highly poisonous." So he ordered Tao Gan: "You should find that poisoned candied date on the ground. Don't touch it with your hands." Tao Gan knelt down and searched carefully, and finally found the half of the preserved fruit under a bookshelf. Di Gong took out a toothpick from the seam of his clothes, picked out the candied dates, put it in the box, closed it again, and ordered Hong Canjun to say, "Wrap this box in oiled paper, and bring it back to the county government for inspection."

Di Gong looked around, shook his head and said: "It seems that there is nothing suspicious, we'd better go back to the county office to reason. Tao Gan, you seal the door again, and the second yamen must still be on duty outside the door. Make no mistake!" The three of them left the house and went back to the county government office, without talking all the way. After returning to Nei Ya's study, after the waiter had finished serving tea, Di Gong said, "Hong Canjun, you go and send a Ya Li general to call me to see me!" After Hong Canjun left, Duke Di said to Tao Gan: "This murder case is getting more and more strange. We still don't know how the murderer used the small dagger to kill people, but we found his spare murder weapon. Moreover, the defendant Wu Feng has a secret girlfriend. , the plaintiff Ding Yi also has a secret lover!"

Tao Gan said: "My lord, are these two girls really the same person? If Ding and Wu are rivals in love, and they are jealous of each other, it's not surprising that Ding Yi took the lead and sued Wu Feng!" Di Gongdao: "This statement is quite insightful. However, if this is the case, how can Wu Feng not kill Ding Yi himself, but kill his father?" Tao Gan said: "I am also troubled by this, and I don't understand how the murderer let Ding Huguo accept the poisoned candied fruit. I thought, this thing must have been given by the murderer himself. There are piles of birthday presents on the table in the corridor. , the murderer would not put the gift there, if so, how can he be sure that Ding Huguo will pick up the paper box instead?"

Hong Canjun interjected: "The murderer killed Ding Huguo, but why didn't he take the cardboard box from his sleeve. Instead, he left the evidence at the scene of the crime?" Tao Gan nodded repeatedly and sighed: "I have seen some suspicious cases before, but they are not as confusing and confusing as today's events. Except for Ding Huguo's murder case, the mystery of the landscape painting is still unresolved. The name of Qian Mou The elusive traitor is still at large, and maybe he is calling on his friends to continue to do evil. Master, there is still no trace of who this person is?"

Di Gong said with a wry smile: "No. Yesterday Qiao Tai said that he had interrogated the family members of Qian's house, but no one knew his appearance, let alone his surname Zhang and Li. He always came late at night. His cloak covered his body, a scarf covered his nose and mouth, and the brim of his cloak covered his forehead. He never spoke a word, and even his hands were always hidden in his sleeves, so he would not show them." The three drank another cup of tea, and the servant reported that I had been called. Di Gong looked Wu Zuo up and down, and said: "Last time when you inspected Ding Huguo's injuries, you claimed that most of the poisons taken internally can be detected. Today, there is a box of candied dates, a total of nine pieces, and a mouse ate half of them. They were poisoned and died immediately. You should examine this box of preserved fruit in public now to see what kind of poison it contains. If necessary, you can also autopsy the dead rat itself."

Di Gong handed over the paper box to Wu Zuo. Wu Zuo opened the small bag he was carrying, and took out a wallet, which contained all kinds of pliers, probes, knives and other instruments.Wu Zuo picked up a thin-bladed sharp knife with his right hand, and took a stack of square white papers from his sleeve with his left hand, placed them in a corner of the desk, took out a small pair of pliers from his wallet, and picked up the half of a candied date bitten by a dead rat. Place it on white paper, and carefully cut off a piece of paper-thin pulp with a sharp knife. Di Gong and his second relative followed the cadres to watch Wu Zuo's every move carefully. Wu Zuo used a knife to spread the thin slice on the paper, took a brand new tube of wolf hair, dipped it in boiling water, and dropped the water on the thin slice.After soaking for a while, Wuzuo took out a piece of snow-white glossy paper from his pocket, covered it with a thin sheet, and pressed it tightly with his palm.Then burn a piece of wax, pick up the bright paper and dry it on the fire, take it to the window to observe carefully, and then use the index finger to touch the paper for a while, then turn around and hand the white paper to Di Gong, saying: "Qi report My lord, Xiao Ke used the poison of candied dates as a paint, called Garcinia, and injected the poison into it with a hollow needle." Di Gong twirled his beard slowly, looked at the white paper carefully, and asked, "How can you see it?" Wu Zuo smiled and said: "This method of drug testing has been used in our medical field for hundreds of years! The foreign matter in the juice can be identified from its color and appearance. Please see, sir, the imprint on this paper is yellow. It is in the form of fine particles, which can only be touched by the sensitive hands of experts. There are many small circular spots on the thin slices, so it can be concluded that the poisoning equipment is a hollow needle." Hearing this, Di Gong praised repeatedly: "Good! Good! You can test the eight candied dates in the box again to see if they are all contaminated with this poison." Wu Zuo obeyed.Di Gong was fine for a while, just took the paper box in his hands and played with it, and then tore off the white paper at the bottom, at this moment a faint red letter on the edge of the paper came into view.He hurriedly lowered his head to look carefully, it turned out to be Wu Feng's half seal, he sighed unconsciously: "Wu Feng is doing something ridiculous, but he left his name on this paper box." Hong Canjun and Tao Gan hurriedly stood up to watch.Hong Canjun said: "Master, this seal is exactly the same as the one he stamped on the scroll that day." Di Gong leaned on the back of the chair and said: "In this way, the two clues point directly to Wu Feng. First, Garcinia Cambogia is a must-have yellow pigment for painters, and its toxicity is known to everyone. Second, the upper half of the paper The Fang Hongyin is even more solid evidence for Wu Feng’s crime. I thought about it, and Wu Feng used this page of paper as a backing when he used the seal on the painting, and accidentally put a seal on it.” Tao Ganxi said: "My lord, there is nowhere to find it. It's easy to get it. Today, Wu Feng sent the evidence of the crime to us, it's God's help!" Di Gong disapproved of this word, and just waited silently for his assistant to inspect the remaining preserved fruit. Finally, Wu Zuo reported: "Master, Xiao Ke has checked the remaining eight candied dates—one by one, and each one is infected with lethal poison." Di Gong took a piece of official paper from the case and handed it to Wu Zuo, ordering: "Write down the inspection results truthfully!" Wuzuo holds a pen to write a book, writes it in a moment, draws it, and presents it with both hands.Di Gong treated each other with kind words, sent Wu Zuo to leave, and ordered the messenger to call Fang to arrest the servant of the inner yamen. When I was young, Fangzheng arrived.Di Gong ordered: "Fang arrests, I send you to lead four servants to go to Yongchun Hotel to arrest Wu Feng!"

---

Notes: