Chapter 27 1. Dolls

Zhengyue Building is one of the most famous inns in Chang'an City, and it also has a name called Zhuangyuan Building.It is said that since the opening of the scientific examination in this dynasty, a total of four top scholars and fifteen Jinshi have lived here.Therefore, before the exam every year, not only candidates from other places rush to move in, but also many local candidates in Chang'an also live in the Zhengyue Building to gain a little bit of energy. Huang Fucai, the owner of Zhengyuelou, also has a lot of money and smiles when it comes time to start a course to obtain a scholar, but this year he is crying.

In the third room of the East Wing, officials from the Ministry of Punishment were coming in and out. Last night, there was a murder case in this room.The body was discovered by Feng Er, the man who cleaned the room this morning. There was only one person hanging from the beam in the room, holding a beautiful folding fan in his hand. Although there was no blood, it looked very terrifying.According to the resident registration book of Zhengyue Building, the deceased was a Fujian candidate named Fang Rui, who was said to be Jie Yuan of the local provincial examination. Who knows how he was hanged from the beam of the room?

A skinny official from the Ministry of Punishment came downstairs, and the others carrying the corpse also came down, Huang Fucai went up tremblingly. The skinny official asked, "Does Fang Rui live alone?" "Go back to your lord," Huang Fucai hurriedly said, "There are two people living together. There is a candidate from Jiangnan called Su Changshan who lives with him." "Where is this Su Changshan now?" "I... I don't know. An official came to deliver a letter early this morning, saying it was from the General's Mansion, so he went out."

Another official whispered a few words in his ear, only to see the thin official's face was surprised, and asked: "What does the Su Changshirt look like?" Huang Fucai scratched his head: "There is nothing special about him, and he is wearing a simple shirt, but as soon as he entered the store, he picked the third wing room on the east side - that is the best room in our store, and the price is also cheap." Most expensive." Speaking of this, he felt a little guilty, and unconsciously glanced down from the corner of his eyes. The officials investigating the case from the Ministry of Criminal Justice had the sharpest eyes on people, and they frowned, "What's going on?"

"My lord... villain..." Huang Fucai trembled in fright: "Su Changshan moved in half a month ago, but Fang Rui came to the store a few days ago, dressed terribly poorly, with a hug in his hand. I have a doll, and I can’t even pay the room fee for one day... I want to stay in the hotel, but I was about to drive him away, when this Su Changshan came downstairs, so I let this Fang Rui live with him. There is a bed for two people, but I want to calculate the money by the head, and... I charged Su Changshan thirty taels more." The thin official gave Huang Fucai a cold look: "Your business is really good!"

Huang Fucai was so frightened that he knelt on the ground and beat his head: "The villain is greedy for petty gains... But he never expected such a big case to happen. This is a crime... The villain will never dare again. This is what I want to do." Return thirty taels of silver to Su Changshan..." "You said Fang Rui is still holding a doll?" The thin official interrupted his chatter and said in a deep voice. "That's right...a seven or eight-month-old baby." Huang Fucai answered tremblingly, his head was covered with sweat. "Where is the doll now?"

"Da Yu, the guy in my shop, is looking after..." Huang Fucai yelled into the shop, "Da Yu! Hurry up and take the doll out!" "Hey!" Following the answer, a guy in a rough winter coat came out quickly, and saw him holding a blue cloth swaddle in his arms, and the patched sleeves were covered with oil stains, as if he had just been out of the kitchen. , but a handsome face. The skinny official looked at the sleeping baby in the swaddle and asked, "Is this Fang Rui's doll?" "Yeah." The guy seemed to like the baby very much, and shook the swaddle slightly so that the baby could sleep more comfortably.

"My lord asked, why are you still so stupid?" Huang Fucai scolded, and then said to the thin official with a smile on his face: "My lord, this is my shop assistant Da Yu, who has always been a bit stupid." The thin official ignored him, and only asked Dayu, "How did the doll come into your hands?" "Fang Xiucai entrusted it to me last night." Dayu said. "Why did he entrust the doll to you?" "He said he has something to do, so let me take care of Tuantuan first." Dayu shook the baby, it seemed that Tuantuan was the baby's name.

The thin official asked Huang Fucai again: "Who else saw Fang Rui in the store last night?" "Da Yu was the night watcher in the store last night, and he was the only one who had seen Fang Rui." Huang Fucai answered hastily. The skinny official frowned and looked at Dayu: "You were on duty last night?" "Yes." Dayu replied. The thin official said: "You and I will go to the Ministry of Punishment." Huang Fucai turned pale with fright, and tremblingly said, "My lord, this..." "The case is unclear now. Apart from Su Changshan who lives with Fang Rui, the most suspicious person is the man who was on duty last night." He gave an order: "Take him away!"

Candles are like beans, and the prison is silent. Dayu hugged the baby and curled up in a corner of the prison as if afraid of the cold.It's really strange that a big man goes to jail with a small baby in his arms.At this moment, he opened his eyes and looked at a sympathetic person on the opposite side.But he saw that the man's clothes were clean and he was dozing off comfortably with the dry straw under his body. "Wow-wow-!" The cry of the baby suddenly broke the silence of the cell. Da Yu shook it in a panic, but the baby's crying did not stop, but became louder and louder.

The person on the opposite side was woken up, looked this way sleepily, and said, "Stop shaking." Dayu cast his eyes on him for help. "The baby hasn't eaten for a long time, so he will be hungry." The flat voice here yawned. Dayu looked at him anxiously: "Then what should we do?" "Give him milk." "But I don't have milk." Dayu said sincerely. "..." The other party seemed to be choked by his sincere answer, paused for a moment before saying: "I know, there is no one in this cell." Dayu looked around and found that there was indeed nothing in the cell except straw, so he carried the doll to the door of the cell: "Brother Jailor, the doll needs milk—rice soup is also fine." The jailer gave him a blank look: "It's midnight now!" Da Yu looked at him in embarrassment. The jailer stared and said, "Why are you looking at me? It's useless to look at me! Food can only be brought in during the meal delivery time! Give it your finger to suck it and stop crying. You won't die of hunger all day!" Da Yu sadly returned to his original sitting place and sat down, stuffing his fingers into Tuantuan's mouth.When Tuantuan saw something coming into his mouth, he immediately bit it down.The crying stopped for a while, but it started again after a while, and the crying was louder. I saw Tuan Tuan weeping in the dim light, petal-like soft hands scratching, and innocent big eyes full of water. "Babies don't like being fooled either." The boy opposite shook his head. Dayu looked at the crying doll helplessly, suddenly, he seemed to have thought of something, put his finger in his mouth, but this time he frowned slightly, as if he was enduring the pain. The finger was stuffed into the doll's mouth again, and the doll swallowed it in one mouthful. This time it was quiet for a long time, and the crying did not sound again.The doll was sucking hard, as if his fingers really had milk. At this moment, the boy in the cloth shirt suddenly got up and walked to the prison door.Without saying a word, he stuffed something into the hands of the jailer.The jailer only felt a heavy hand, and looked down, it was a whole ten taels of silver! "It's cold in the winter night, buy wine for the brothers to drive away the cold, and buy a bowl of rice soup by the way." The jailer smiled and said again and again: "Go now! Go here!" The jailer left in a hurry, and the boy walked up to Dayu: "The rice soup will be here in a while, take out your fingers." Dayu looked at him gratefully, and took his finger out of the baby's mouth, only to see blood was still bubbling from the finger, but he first used his other hand to gently wipe off the blood stains around the baby's mouth, with a concentrated expression of love. The boy took the baby in his hand and handed him a piece of cloth. Big Clumsy bandaged his fingers five or six times, and bloodstains could still be seen here and there.Just listen to the other party's straightforward narration: "You bite hard." Dayu looked at him embarrassedly, as if he didn't know what to say. "What's your name?" the other person asked. "Big fool." "Do you have a last name?" "My surname is Nanmen, Nanmen Ruoyu. The boss said these four words are too troublesome, so he called me Dayu." The young man was listening casually, but now his eyes lightly swept over him: "Great wisdom is like a fool, a good name." Nanmen Ruoyu grinned in embarrassment, even though he was covered in coarse linen, this smile was handsome and picturesque.In fact, his nose and mouth are particularly beautiful, and his lips and teeth are exposed when he smiles, which is more vivid.The prison seemed to be splashed with a gourd of sunshine. "My name is Su, and my name is Changshan." The boy said relaxedly. "I know. You came to the store on the ninth day of the first month of last month. The dish you ate the most was Pinghu bamboo shoots, and the tea you drank the most was Wushan Yunwu." Nanmen Ruoyu said earnestly and somewhat clumsily: "You have breakfast in the morning. The habit of opening windows requires three candles at night." Su Changshan gave him a serious look at this moment. "Guests who come to live in the inn, I remember all your living habits." Nanmen Ruoyu scratched his head: "Boss Huang said that I am stupid, but my memory is still good."