Chapter 31 chapter eight

Ma Rong rushed back to the state government office, and went to the inner government office to look for Di Gong.Di Gonggong and Hong Canjun were discussing official affairs. When they saw Ma Rong coming in, they asked face to face: "Ma Rong, look at your happy face. Didn't you already find out the whereabouts of the pair of golden hairpins?" Ma Rong gave a detailed account of Shen Shiguan's encounter with Shen Bazhi. Di Gong praised: "If you picked up the gold hairpins as soon as you got out of the horse and ran into a criminal, wouldn't you be a fairy? You have already drawn an important clue. Maybe you can find out the whereabouts of the pair of gold hairpins through Shen Ba It won't be so difficult to find the real culprit. Tomorrow I'm going to Juancheng County to discuss some business with Lu County Magistrate. If you feel that it's not safe to deal with Shen Ba's gang of scoundrels alone, you can call Qiao Tai assists you, and we must hunt down the real culprit of the murder on Half Moon Street."

Ma Rong laughed and said: "Why do you have to use a sledgehammer to butcher a chicken? I alone can subdue those scoundrels more than enough. Besides, if the two of them act together, they will show their whereabouts. I am afraid that Shen Ba will find out. It will be very inconvenient." Digong nodded in agreement. Hong Canjun hesitated for a while, and couldn't help asking: "Master, the murder case on Banyue Street still has some doubts that cannot be explained. I read the case file again and again, and I finally don't understand why the master ruled out the possibility of Wang Xianqiong's murder. "

Di Gong drank a cup of strong tea and said slowly: "Hong Liang, if you think about what happened on the 16th day and night carefully, you will find that this case is not very complicated. When you told me the main facts of the case that day, I told you The possibility of Wang Xianqiong's murder has been ruled out. A woman's careless behavior can easily arouse the idea of ​​a man committing a crime. It is true that Xiao Chunyu did not abide by boudoir precepts and had an affair with Wang Xianqiong. If he really wanted to strangle his lover to death, how could he bear it? Even if he was insane and had the heart to strangle Xiao Chunyu to death, why would he need to rape her? Isn’t this against the common sense? So I decided at that time that Xiao Chunyu was the only one who killed Xiao Chunyu. There may be two kinds of people, one is idlers, rascals, wild monks, and thieves;

"I quickly ruled out the possibility of official rich men and swingers committing crimes. They rely on their parents and have a lot of money. They can enjoy the pleasures of flesh and blood in the open court of love, so why bother to take the risk of indulgence and murder? For Butcher Shaw's daughter and the others dismissed her. They didn't even know where the back alleys like Half Moon Street were. "In this way, I narrowed down the circle of murderers to those rascals and idlers, and the most suspicious ones are wandering monks. Rascals and idlers wander around the streets and alleys, taking sheep by hand, and the neighbors know how to avoid or be on guard. It's just that Those wandering wild monks, begging for alms, using the guise of Buddhist compassion to steal chickens and dogs, are the most difficult to see through. In the middle of the night on the 16th, Wang Xianqiong Wuwei Restaurant was drunk and failed to make an appointment on time. Xiao Chunyu was anxious in the boudoir Waiting, and hanging the white cloth strip from the window. At this time, he was bumped into by a passing rogue or wild monk, and he had a bad idea, so he took the opportunity to boldly climb into the boudoir. In the dark, Xiao Chunyu didn't know there was a fraud, only that it was his lover Wang Xian Qiong came to attend the appointment. When the man entered the boudoir, Xiao Chunyu cried out in his heart, rose up to resist, and tried to rush out of the room to call for help. Where would he let him go? He strangled Xiao Chunyu's throat to prevent him from screaming. He strangled Chunyu to death. Then he raped her again, and robbed the pair of golden hairpins worn in the pure jade hair."

Di Gong took a sip of tea and moistened his throat. If Hong Canjun realized something, he nodded slowly; he couldn't help asking: "So, Wang Xianqiong really never raped or harmed Xiao Chunyu. However, what evidence can we produce in the court to defend him?" Di Gongdao: "This is not difficult. First, if Xiao Chunyu was strangled to death by Wang Xianqiong, then there would be deep nail marks on her neck, but Wu Zuo has clearly stated that the nail marks on the neck of the deceased were very shallow, and there was a It is obviously a trace of a murderer who did not leave any nails. The nails of all scoundrels, idlers, and wandering monks are short and uneven.

"Secondly, when Xiao Chunyu resisted, it was impossible for her own short nails to draw such deep scars on Wang Xianqiong's chest, arms, and back. As for whether those scars were pierced by thorn bushes, it seems that there is no need to investigate further. That's just a secondary matter. In addition, I saw that Wang Xianqiong's body was weak, while Xiao Chunyu's bones were strong. Even if Wang Xianqiong really wanted to strangle Xiao Chunyu to death, it seemed that he couldn't stand Xiao Chunyu's resistance. "The third and most important point is that when Wang Xianqiong found the murder scene on the morning of the 17th, the white cloth that Wang Xianqiong used to climb up and down did not hang outside the window but was piled up at the foot of the bed. The person Xianqiong killed, how did he leave after killing? The door of the boudoir and the door of the dyeing workshop below were locked tightly; Wang Xianqiong was a weak scholar, and he usually needed Xiao Chunyu's help to get in and out of the boudoir. How could he In front of me, Qiaotai grabbed the window sill with both hands, and jumped off the 1.5-foot-high building like that, so the villain who killed Xiao Chunyu must be a master with well-developed limbs and a light body."

Hong Canjun was enlightened and nodded. "Master's analysis is very detailed and convincing. After the murderer is captured, he will use what the master just said just now to interrogate him. I am not afraid that he will deny it. I think that the murderer is still in Puyang City at this moment. Master Feng judged Wang Xianqiong for killing people. Everyone knows it, and you, my lord, showed no signs of overturning the case in court. The murderer is not panicked and does not need to abscond." Di Gong stroked his long black and shiny beard, nodded slowly, and said: "The murderer is now trying to get rid of the pair of gold pins, and this is the best time to catch him. Ma Rong has I chatted with Shen Ba, the leader of the beggar group in the city. As long as the murderer sells the pair of golden hairpins in the market, he can be captured. Because he knows that the yamen has already drawn a pattern and handed it over to the prisons in those places, wouldn’t he be in a trap? As long as the pair of golden hairpins show their eyes in the market, Shen Ba has many eyes and ears, and there is no one who doesn’t know about it.”

Hong Canjun pondered for a while, and then asked: "Then, why did the master decide that the wandering wild monk is the most suspect?" Di Gong replied: "Wang Xianqiong said in the yamen court that the whereabouts of the watchman made people suspicious. The beggar wandered through the streets and alleys, begging for alms in the open, and doing some shady things in secret. That night, Wang The last thing Xianqiong heard was not the sound of the watchman's clapper, but—" Hong Canjun shouted: "The sound of a dervish monk knocking on a wooden fish!"