Chapter 18 Chapter Eighteen

Master Ruyi smacked his thick lips and said thoughtfully: "I have also seen the witch side of the Black Fox Temple. Her name is Zhu Hong. She and the fox are called sisters. They eat and live together, and they are companions day and night. Some people say that she is also a black fox. Do you know her background? She She has no father or mother, and she came to the world from nowhere. She was once sold to a brothel, but she bit off the tongue of the guest officer on the first day of receiving customers, which is exactly the behavior of a fox. She fled to The Black Fox Temple. From then on, she lived in it and never came out again."

"When did Master see her?" Duke Di asked. "I saw her a year ago. This time I came to Jinhua and wanted to talk to her about foxes, but you know that there are too many ghosts and ghosts in the place where she lives, the poor monk has insufficient Buddha-nature, and the Zen lamp is not on. They were all stopped by that fox and hare. Sigh! Lord Luo, do you know that the girl who was going to dance last night is also a vixen! Hey, she was hurt by the scissors, so what?" Di Gong nodded to Luo Yingyuan.Luo Yingyuan replied, "To tell the truth, Master, that little Phoenix is ​​already dead—he was also murdered!"

"I knew it a long time ago." Master Ruyi was not surprised. "Her dead body is lying in the East Wing not far from us, while we are still drinking, chatting, and commenting on new poems in the painting hall." Zhang Lanbo looked at Yulan with both eyes, looking very panicked: "He was also killed? You found out that she was killed? Could it be that the fox fairy has manifested his spirit?" Magnolia nodded. Shao Fanwen said angrily: "Magistrate Luo, what happened last night is so unfortunate, you should tell us in time. We have all dealt with criminal trials, Bo has experience, and he will not be sad so easily. Now you have to Facing the investigation of two murders. Do you have any clues about the murderer of Little Phoenix?"

Seeing that Luo Yingyuan was nervous and hesitant, Mr. Di replied by himself: "Master Shao, these two cases are actually linked together. Song Xiucai tried to reverse the case for his father. I agree with you, Maud." General Ling has indeed committed the heinous crime of treason, and the iron case is as high as a mountain, and no one can overturn it. But Song Xiucai was right in one point. He believed that the person who wrote the anonymous letter to denounce his father was not out of loyalty to the Holy Majesty, but In order to cover up his despicable adultery, it was with this same purpose that he killed Song Xiucai who found out the truth."

Yulan suddenly let out a cry: "Master Di, you, do you want to continue this terrible conversation?" Her voice trembled and her whole body convulsed. "You...you are using a cunning and cruel method to tighten the curse ring...you forget that tonight is the Mid-Autumn Festival! You forget that all the people here are famous poets! You forget that I am a criminal People, there is a possibility of being executed at any time!" Di Gongdao: "Miss Yulan, don't be alarmed. As I said just now, the anonymous letter that denounced you and the anonymous letter that denounced General Mo came from the same dirty hand. I think you can understand the murderer just from this point. What interest does it have in your own case?"

Shao Fanwen, Zhang Lanbo, and Master Ruyi looked at Di Gong in surprise. Di Gong continued: "Let's talk about the murder of Little Phoenix. You know that there is a corridor leading to the East Wing behind the hanging curtain in the painting hall. The murderer only started to kill when he heard that Little Phoenix was going to dance "Black Fox Song". This song reminds the murderer that he is the biological father of the witch Zhu Hong in the Black Fox Temple, but in fact, Little Phoenix has already recognized him. He was sitting at the banquet last night..." Suddenly there was a loud noise, Yulan jumped up and overturned the stone bench, her willow eyebrows stood upright, her almond eyes widened, and she looked at Di Gong with a livid face and shouted loudly: "Di Renjie, you cunning litigator, devil envoy, I've had enough of your tricks in the past two days, and I can't bear your insults anymore! I, Yulan, have already put my life and death at risk, Di Renjie, I don't need to hide it from you, I was the one who killed Little Phoenix! That little vixen tried to blackmail me, and even taunted me with the old story of Bailuguan, saying that I was not worthy to sit at the banquet and watch her dance. I couldn't help it, so I stabbed her throat with scissors. Haha, it's my own fault , I have seen enough of that fox-like face." Wang Lan was excited, and her words were sharp.

All the people at the table were stunned and looked at each other.Duke Di looked suspiciously at the two balls of anger shooting out of Yulan's eyes, and couldn't help but tremble all over. Yulan gradually eased her emotions, and continued calmly: "Song Yiwen is my old lover, and we have been in contact since we were in the capital. Little Phoenix knew Song Yiwen somehow, and she told me that Song Yiwen often went to the Black Fox Temple to see Zhu Hong. She found out my secret from Song Yiwen and tried to blackmail me." Di Gong asked: "Miss Yulan, what secret did Song Yiwen tell Little Phoenix about you?"

"Although Song Yiwen is my old lover, we broke up a long time ago. But two months ago, he came to Xin'an Bailuguan to find me suddenly and asked to make up with me. I flatly rejected him, and I was tortured by men. Now, I hate men, and I don’t even believe the man’s rhetoric. At this moment, I found that our maidservant hooked up with a pilgrim, flirting with each other. "I immediately drove her out of the Bailu Temple.That night I went out for a walk, and due to the heavy rain, I turned back halfway, and I ran into the maid who slipped back into the temple and stole my box.As soon as I got angry, I closed the door and beat her severely with a whip. Who would have thought that the servant girl had a hard life, but I beat her to death!At this moment, Song Yiwen came to see me in the temple. When he saw this scene, he helped me drag the body to the horse cherry tree in the courtyard and buried it secretly, and immediately agreed to never say anything.After he left, I pried off the door collar behind the Taoist temple and threw the silver candlestick into the well.However, he turned his back on the promise, wrote a secret letter to report on me, and sent me to jail, thinking that it was simply because I rejected his selfish request.

"Just three days ago, when I came to Jinhua and walked into the east gate, I happened to have a face-to-face meeting with Song Yiwen. He invited me to his place again with a calm face, saying that the house he rented was in the shopkeeper Meng near the east gate. backyard. When I went back to the hotel, I lied to the officer that I met my cousin just now. I hadn’t seen him for ten years. I wanted to take a leave of absence to visit him at night. The officer trusted me and agreed. In the middle of the night I found In the backyard of shopkeeper Meng’s house in Neidongmen, Song Yiwen didn’t know that I really came that night, and was already asleep. Hearing my voice, he hurriedly got up and opened the garden back door to welcome me into the house. When I got back to the house, I asked him to write The secret letter told me, but he laughed and refused to admit it. I took him back to the bedroom to get dressed, and killed him with a machete—the machete I brought with me from the inn.

"Now, masters Di Renjie and Luo Yingyuan, the case has been clarified, and you don't have to rush around. The concubines are full of evil and have committed so many heinous crimes. Even if the Criminal Department intends to excuse me, those three evil spirits will not be with me Quit now. Yulan bids farewell to all the masters and benefactors from now on." Here Yulan is calm and complacent, seeing death as home.The guests at the banquet were already ashamed of fright and at a loss.Di Gong was robbed by Yulan, and then revealed the undeniable facts of these crimes, which made sense, and Monk Zhanger couldn't figure it out for a while.

Suddenly Shao Fanwen stood up, with surprisingly firm and calm face, but trembling hands and feet.He walked up to Yulan and looked at Yulan carefully, tears could not help but glisten.Looking at the dark clouds in the distant sky with his haughty eyes, he calmly straightened the deep purple python robe, buckled the gold and jade belt, and said a few words from his trembling lips: "Yulan—the old man missed you! I There is no need for pity, let alone forgiveness..." As he said that, he jumped up and jumped out of the railing of the ancient pavilion into the abyss of hundreds of feet! "Ah!—" Yulan let out a miserable scream, and Di Gongfang understood what was going on.Busy leaning over the railing to look, the canyon under the abyss is sounding like thunder, the mountains outside the ancient pavilion are rushing, and the autumn insects are singing.A jade-like bright moon is rising in the sky.The mountains and valleys were covered with a layer of white light like silver frost.Wisps of light mist escaped from the hole, curling up in mid-air to cooperate with the fine clouds in the sky. Miss Yulan finally regained her composure.said: "Look! None of us noticed when the moon came out. How bright and round the moon is!" Only then did the guests turn around and look at Miss Yulan's face as silvery as the bright moon.Di Gong poured a full cup of wine into Magnolia's porcelain cup. Yulan took it and threw it all down.The voice is sad: "Shao Fanwen, Shao Fanwen, it was the concubine who missed you! You said several times that you wanted to build an exquisite tomb in your hometown, but today you threw the corpse away! Lord Di, Lord Luo, I just wronged you Two gentlemen, don’t worry about your blasphemous words. The concubine is already in the wind, and her life is not long. Shao Fanwen’s suicide has proved his own sin. He is the only true sweetheart in my Yulan’s life. ! "I met him when I was nineteen. We fell in love. We were inseparable. He helped me secretly escape from the brothel in the capital and come to Jinhua to spend the best days of my life. But he dared not make it public. Marry me as his wife, because his father firmly opposed him marrying me, and he was the head of the Jinhua mansion at that time, so he was afraid of being ridiculed by others. Later, his father made the decision to marry him, and he became the prime minister Daughter, we just broke up. He didn't leave me a penny, so I had to go back to a fireworks factory to make ends meet. There I got seriously ill again and was dying. Later, thanks to Wen Dongyang, I was pulled out of the fire, but my heart was full of tears. I still miss Shao Fanwen. I remember him day and night. I heard someone call Jinhua to the capital to ask about Shao Fanwen’s information. My heart has never forgotten Shao Fanwen. It is difficult for you men to understand women’s hearts. Once a woman really falls in love with a man, she will love him madly and desperately, even though the man tortures her, ridicules her, and even abandons her, she will not hesitate. He lived and died for him, there is no second person who can replace Shao Fanwen's position in my heart. "I know that he seduced General Mo's concubine. When General Mo found out, he wrote an anonymous letter and reported General Mo. Just when the Ninth Crown Prince was rebelling, General Mo suffered disaster. Shao Fan Wenyuan and The Ninth Prince is very enthusiastic, but he sees that the eldest son of the Ninth Prince is not talented, and his rebellion is doomed to fail, so he does not participate in his conspiracy. But the Ninth Prince regards him as his confidant. Later, the Holy One sent The imperial envoy and Shao Fanwen catered to the imperial envoy and reported all the henchmen of the nine princes, and wiped them all out. They made great contributions and gained the trust of the imperial envoy. Therefore, they were promoted to the capital and entered the Jixian Hall. . "Because Shao Fanwen has no children, he can't bear the illegitimate daughter of the Song family, but he doesn't dare to admit her publicly. Whenever he arrives in Jinhua, he always sneaks to the Black Fox Temple to visit Zhu Hong, but he covers his face. Afraid that Zhu Hong would recognize his face, Zhu Hong told him about Song Yiwen's coming to Jinhua to avenge his father's case, and he tried to kill Song Yiwen. He happened to meet Xiao Fenghuang when he came out of the Black Fox Temple. Note that Xiao Fenghuang came to the county government office yesterday afternoon to see him and recognized him. He was afraid that Xiao Fenghuang would talk too much and reveal the truth, so he sneaked into the east room of the painting hall and killed Xiao Fenghuang when the fireworks were set off. This county government office was originally the Ninth Prince Shao Fanwen often goes in and out of the palace, and he is very familiar with the doors and passages, so he can do it cleanly and without leaving any traces in a short period of time. When I saw Little Phoenix was killed last night, I immediately thought that he did it. At that time, I was very emotional Bad, with a splitting headache. He never hid it from me,—he told me the whole story in detail—I would not say these things anyway if he is not dead today. "It's true that I flogged the servant girl to death, but the one who buried the dead body with me was not Song Yiwen but Shao Fanwen, and it was he who later wrote an anonymous letter to denounce me. I don't know Lai Yiwen at all. The one who said Song Yiwen just now That remark was all made up by the concubine, just to relieve Shao Fanwen. He knew that I was infatuated with him, but he tried every means to torture me. He hated me and worried that I would reveal the truth one day, so He wanted to put me to death without showing any traces. However, Master Di and Master Luo have already detected his behavior, and Master Di's big net has already been put on Shao Fanwen's head. Out of old feelings, because of my crazy love for him Love, jump out and take care of everything. I made up a nonsense attempt to make Mr. Di loosen his pressure on Shao Fanwen. I think it is a pleasure to go to hard labor for Shao Fanwen, and even to beheaded. I hope he will always be so majestic , so suave. Who knows, who knows that he is a man, he pushed away my love, rejected my mercy, my forgiveness. He felt that he couldn't be spiritually insulted, and he didn't want to rely on a woman's love. He sacrificed himself for love and sacrificed himself. He committed suicide by jumping off a cliff. His crazy actions made me feel that he was taller and more perfect, and also made me feel that the world was dark and lifeless, and that my life was meaningless. My lords, my lord Luo, I don’t want to implicate the kind officer who detained me. I’d rather go to the lobby of the Ministry of Criminal Justice to convict Bailu Guan of the crime of murder and wait for the judge. Lord Di, Lord Luo, please accept my magnolia’s bow, and pay my respects. My concubine clashed with each other just now, and my words were not inferior." Yulan summoned the official who came with her entourage, toasted him a glass of wine, and asked him to put chains on herself and go to the hotel in Jiaokou City first. Watching Yulan's official sedan chair swaying down the mountain, Luo Yingyuan regained consciousness and regained consciousness. "Brother Dinian, this turned out to be a big dream! All this is incredible." "Luo Xianggong, you have recorded Yulan's words and actions just now, which can enrich the biography you wrote for her. Her life and her poems are all over tonight. You don’t need to think about Yulan after today. You and Mr. Zhang, who was dazed by the poems in this scene, go back to the Yamen in a sedan chair. Let Master Ruyi and I enjoy the moonlight for a while and eat a few mooncakes. Let's chat for a while. After you return to the Yamen, please ask Master Gao to draft a report as detailed as possible for the cause of Shao Fanwen's death. Write down these touching and pathetic plots in the past two days, and let the Ministry of Criminal Justice and Dali Temple have a look. Let the scholars of Jixian Hall have a look, let the Holy Majesty have a look—and let the people of future generations read this wonderful and wonderful legend!" There are only two people left in the Guting, Di Gong and Master Ruyi.Di Gong ordered to remove the fruit from the banquet and distribute the rewards to the followers.The servants and maids were ordered to go to the campfire in the pine forest tent to have a good time. Master Ruyi looked at Di Gong and said meaningfully: "My lord, the ten miles of fog has receded, and the 'Mist in the Meeting' has also dissipated, and the mountains are still beautiful. Look at the round moon, it seems to be so close. Master Di, don’t forget that we are here to enjoy the moon tonight!” Di Gongdao: "Master Ruyi, you are very sympathetic to Zhu Hong, I have to tell you with regret that she is dead." "I know. When I saw that black fox in the middle of the mountain today, I knew that Zhu Hong was dead. Lord Di, let me ask you a question, do you really have conclusive evidence of Shao Fanwen's crime?" "No. Yulan was too impatient. She jumped out and blew away the ten miles of fog covering this suspicious case. If she calmed down tonight and Shao Fanwen didn't make a sound, just drinking and eating moon cakes, the whole ending would change. In fact, I was not sure who the real murderer was at the time——Master Ruyi, I also suspected you. In the end, Shao Fanwen would mock me a few words, or write a doggerel to me, and everyone drank Luoxian Ling brought the wine from the yamen, and happily returned to the yamen in a sedan chair. Tomorrow, we will go to our own business, and the moon will gradually bend and darken. It is precisely because of Miss Yulan's sincere and passionate love for Shao Fanwen that she has committed all the crimes. She thought we had all the evidence of Shao Fanwen's crimes. The noble spirit of dedication aroused Shao Fanwen's conceit and dignity. Shao Fanwen did not want to continue living under the forgiveness and pity of others, especially a woman. " Master Ruyi smiled and said, "This may be a well-arranged play. Forty years ago, Zhu Hong's mother brought back a fox cub from the wild. It seems to us that it is a fox cub. The black fox played a part in the legend of the world. From the point of view of the fox, perhaps it was a character who played a part in the legend of the fox. Ha ha ha ha." The bright moon outside the pavilion is beautiful, the autumn mountains are picturesque, and the world at night seems to be like daytime.

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