Detective in the Red Chamber

"However, Liu Yiwei is dull and old-fashioned. Apart from serving Daoist Hongyuan wholeheartedly, he doesn't pretend to talk to anyone on weekdays, so the relationship with the two of them is quite ordinary."

"Ma Yizhen was born tall and burly; Zhao Yixiong was of medium stature; Liu Yiwei was born black and thin and short."

Although he felt that the possibility of the three committing the crime together and murdering Mrs. Ma was unlikely, Sun Shaozong ordered Huang Bin to verify the relationship between the three with the Taoist priests.

Just judging from the survey results, if those Taoist priests—including some Taoist boys—did not lie collectively, these three people would be enough for a Romance of the Three Kingdoms!

If they can cooperate sincerely and cover Ma Yizhen's sneaking into the capital to kill Ma Shi together, I guess Ma Yizhen himself may not believe it!

As for the assumption that all three had an affair with Ma Shi...

According to a series of surveys conducted by Sun Shaozong just now, it can be preliminarily determined that Ma Shi is a woman with low psychological maturity, introverted, young, and eager to be cared for.

Once this kind of woman is neglected, the chance of cheating may not be low, but it should not be possible to have sex with multiple lovers at the same time.

"My lord, look what this is!"

Sun Shaozong was rubbing the space between his eyebrows with his fists, trying to piece together the logical relationship, when the yamen servant who hadn't dared to be idle and kept searching the room suddenly yelled.

Sun Shaozong turned his head to look, and saw that he was squatting in front of the dressing table, holding a scrap of paper the size of a fingernail like a treasure, and the edge of the scrap of paper was obviously burned.

Sun Shaozong hurriedly stepped forward to take a closer look, and when he saw that there was no floating dust on the paper, his eyes lit up.

This was apparently lit a while ago!

Immediately, he carefully pushed the shreds of paper into his hands, and asked, "Where did you find this?"

"It's just under this dressing table, the villain just pulled it out with a broom!"

The yamen servant was very proud. He really had nowhere to search just now, and he didn't dare to be lazy in front of Sun Shaozong, so he picked up the broom and rummaged under the bed and the bottom of the cabinet. He thought he had found a clue!

Sun Shaozong looked at the dressing table, then turned around and asked, "Is there a charcoal basin in this room before?"

"some!"

Qiu Hong immediately replied: "It hasn't been broken since the morning. Later, when Madam was going out, she was afraid that there would be no one to look after her in the house, and she would accidentally run out of water, so she moved to another place."

As he spoke, he stretched out his hand and pointed to a certain corner: "It was originally placed here."

The place she pointed to was only three feet away from the dressing table. If Ma Shi had thrown a whole piece of paper into the charcoal basin at that time, there would be crumbs floating to the dressing table. Underneath, no wonder.

"That's strange."

Sun Shaozong showed the scraps of paper to the two servant girls, and said sarcastically: "Up and down in this room, there is no pen, ink, paper or inkstone, and there are no books. You just said that no letters were sent in, so the one that was burned is what?"

Questioning is questioning, in fact, Sun Shaozong didn't doubt these two maids very much.

Because according to the investigation just now, they spend almost all day in the back house with Mrs. Ma, and if they want to pass on news, they have to go through other people's hands.

But who dares to convey such a terrible scandal through so many people?

Otherwise, as long as there is a problem with one of the links, it will be a disaster for the adulterer!

"This……"

Xia He looked at the piece of paper in fear, and then looked suspiciously at Qiu Hong, obviously suspicious of what Qiu Hong had done behind her back.

Qiu Hong did not respond to her doubts, but gradually tightened her brows, looking thoughtful and unbelievable.

After a long while, under the gaze of Sun Shaozong, she stammered: "I want to report to Master Qingtian, I really don't know where this thing came from, but..."

"But what?"

"But Xia He and I are not the only ones who came to this dormitory today, there are also... and the master!"

Daoist Hongyuan also came?

He couldn't be the one who helped Ma Yizhen to kill Ma Shi in the back garden, right?

This is also unreasonable!

One must know that he was cuckolded, and he probably wanted to tear his adulterer into pieces, so how could it be...

and many more!

A light flashed in Sun Shaozong's mind.

Before, because of the traces in the back garden, especially the murderer's unwillingness to destroy Ma Shi's remains, and Ma Shi's facial expression, he tacitly agreed in his heart that the murderer who killed Ma Shi was Ma Shi's lover.

But what if not?

What if Ma Yizhen killed Ma Shi not because he was Ma Shi's lover, but because he was instructed by others to kill Ma Shi who was conceived by adultery?

Further deduction, the three people who were sent to Longhu Mountain in Jiangxi seem to be incompatible, and there is basically no possibility of collusion.

But what if all of this was originally ordered by Daoist Hongyuan?

The three conspired together...

Do not!

As long as there are two people conspiring together, that's enough!

Because the other person is very likely to be the real adulterer!

After all, judging from the current investigation, only a few disciples favored by Daoist Hongyuan could come into contact with Mrs. Ma.

And Hongyuan real person planned to kill his wife, would he still let his adulterer go?

"Huang Bin!"

Thinking of this, Sun Shaozong immediately ordered: "You immediately send someone back to the Yamen, and bring the headless corpse here, so that everyone in the Tianshi Mansion can recognize it!"

Without waiting for Huang Bin to take the order, he motioned Huang Bin to come forward and whispered a few words in a low voice.

Huang Bin nodded knowingly, and hurried to the dormitory again.

…………

half an hour later

After searching the inside and outside of Mrs. Ma's residence three times, Sun Shaozong returned to the front hall with the maids and servants.

Contrary to the previous "a bird enters the forest, a hundred birds suppress the sound", this time when Sun Shaozong entered the hall, the noise not only did not weaken, but added fuel to the fire, one wave after another.

Perhaps drawing strength from it, one of the young Taoist priests actually shouted at Sun Shaozong and asked: "My lord, your endless cross-examinations don't mean that you regard us as murderers?!"

"Yes!"

Someone next to him immediately responded: "It's clear that someone is targeting our Tianshi Mansion. You and the officials are almost there to arrest the murderer, but you only care about pestering me and the other suffering masters?"

Seeing that there was a leader, the rest of the Taoists also beat the side drums one after another.

For a while, the crowd was furious, and the servants who were frightened were panicked. After all, Taoist priests have been bullish recently.

Sun Shaozong turned a blind eye to it, and stood still in front of the altar as if nothing happened, and ordered: "Go and bring the real Hongyuan here. I have a few questions, and I want the real person to explain clearly in public."

A few yamen servants at the door rushed out as if they had received an amnesty, but the hall fell silent.

Relying on the recent momentum of the Tianshi Mansion, the Taoists may dare to fight against the court officials to a certain extent, but they definitely dare not make trouble in front of Daoist Hongyuan.

Not long after, I saw Daoist Hongyuan coming in from the door with his head held high, and a group of Taoist priests were busy addressing them as 'Master, Uncle, Uncle'.

Daoist Hongyuan didn't pay attention at all, and he decided to come to Sun Shaozong, stared at him for a long while, and then said: "I heard that Sun Shaoqing has some questions, and I want to answer them personally?"

"good."

Sun Shaozong nodded slightly, and then asked straight to the point: "How tall is Ma Yizhen, the eldest disciple of the real man?"

"Six feet is more than enough."

"Are you familiar with the terrain of this mansion?"

"Naturally familiar."

"When the official asked, why did the real person insist that there is no one in Tianshi Mansion who is six feet tall?"

"Ma Yizhen left Beijing more than ten days ago, how can he do this? Since there is no suspicion, there is no need to mention it."

"I heard that those who walked with him were Dazhen's third and fifth disciples?"

"Exactly."

"Then how does the real person know, he won't conspire with two juniors and secretly lurk in the capital..."

"Sun Shaoqing!"

Daoist Hongyuan interrupted Sun Shaozong's words, looked at Sun Shaozong fearlessly with his long and narrow eyes, and asked word by word: "Did you use the word 'unnecessary' to settle cases in the past?"

Sun Shaozong looked at him silently for a while, then suddenly grinned: "What the real man said is that I made a slip of the tongue just now, and the three people in the company were at odds with each other, so how could they be willing to work together? In fact, it was Ma Yizhen and Liu Yiwei who got together first. Murdered Zhao Yixiong, and then..."

"Master Sun!"

Daoist Hongyuan interrupted Sun Shaozong's words again, and his words became more impolite: "Although I respect you for having the name of Qingtian, I can't allow you to speak empty words and tarnish my disciple's innocence!"

After a pause, he continued: "Furthermore, Yizhen is my nephew, and Yiwei is my family nephew. The two of them have no reason, so how could they deceive their master and destroy their ancestors, and kill Zhuojing without regard to ethics?!"

"For no reason?"

Sun Shaozong sneered, took out a pamphlet from his sleeve, handed it to Hongyuan Daoist, and said: "Is it for no reason, the Daoist is clear in his heart, but I am not confused."

Daoist Hongyuan's eyes fell on the blue booklet, and he unconsciously turned dark, but his mouth remained calm: "What is this?"

Sun Shaozong raised the booklet: "Of course it's Mrs. Zun's autopsy record."

Master Hongyuan's left hand also subconsciously lifted up, but it was still far away from the booklet, and it froze in mid-air.

Immediately, he simply lowered his hand, shook his head and said, "Your Majesty Sun, if you have something to say, you might as well speak it out."

This made Sun Shaozong somewhat unexpected. He was stunned for a moment, and seeing that Daoist Hongyuan had no intention of changing his mind, he simply opened the autopsy report, selected a paragraph and said: "The breasts, abdomen, and rear hips of the corpse, Spots of different shades were found, and according to the judgment of several stable women who were invited temporarily, the deceased was pregnant before her death, and it was three months old."

Speaking of this, Sun Shaozong closed the booklet again, raised it towards Master Hongyuan, and said, "Really, this is not an 'unnecessary' thing, right? Or, if you want Wu Zuo to take out the evidence, please go through it yourself. Will you believe it?"

Daoist Hongyuan's complexion had completely darkened, and even a few people in the crowd looked suspicious.

But more people were baffled, and some even couldn't help shouting: "What does this mean? Auntie is pregnant, so what does it have to do with Brother Ma and others?"

In fact, Sun Shaozong was not prepared to expose this matter in front of everyone.

However, Daoist Hongyuan refused to accept the move, so he had no choice but to make it public.

Now that he has made a start, he will appear to have no confidence if he conceals it any more. Therefore, when Sun Shaozong heard someone question him, he immediately smiled: "It's hard to say what has something to do with Ma Yizhen and others, but this child is the same as Hongyuan. Real people have nothing to do with it!"

This time the audience was in an uproar.

"Ridiculous! How dare you slander my uncle like that!"

"Master has been in Beijing for five months, and she is three or four months pregnant, what's so strange?!"

"Master and his wife have always been loving..."

"My uncle is a real person appointed by His Majesty, how dare you be silly..."

"Of course I dare to conclude!"

Sun Shaozong first yelled harshly, interrupting all kinds of voices of doubt, then looked around the audience, and said with a sneer: "Otherwise Daoist Hongyuan would have committed the crime of deceiving the emperor, and everyone in the Tianshi Mansion will also be unable to get rid of it." Get involved!"

After a pause, he added: "Because Daoist Hongyuan once said in person that when refining alchemy for His Majesty, one cannot get close to women."

This time the uproar in the hall was even worse.

But soon, it fell into a deathlike deposition.

Those who are deep in the city are looking at their hearts and minds; while more people are looking at Master Hongyuan in disbelief.

"Ah~"

In the midst of this dead silence, Master Hongyuan suddenly sighed and said: "I have just thought about her past, and I have already expected it, but I never thought about it... I never thought about it..."

As he said that, he suddenly raised his head and laughed loudly: "Hahaha... I think Liu Hongyuan has always been conceited and worthy of the sky all my life, but I never thought about it, never thought about it... Hahaha..."

The laughter was sad and desolate, and his tall and thin body was also crumbling, and everyone who looked straight at him felt embarrassed.

Only Sun Shaozong first cursed secretly as a 'player', and then frowned.

According to the existing clues, Ma Yizhen and Liu Yiwei must have been instigated by the real Hongyuan to kill Zhao Yixiong and Ma.

As long as one of Ma Yizhen and Liu Yiwei is arrested and confesses the truth, no matter how much he conceals it at this time, he will only be dying.

However, Hongyuan's performance at this time made Sun Shaozong think of another possibility - what if Ma Yizhen and Liu Yiwei refused to confess, or were 'unable' to confess?

At that time, I didn't seem to have any evidence that I was able to lock down that Hongyuan Zhenren was the mastermind behind the scenes.

Thinking about it further, even though Daoist Hongyuan had lost face a lot at this time, he neglected his lovely wife for the sake of alchemy for the emperor, and was put on a cuckold.

As long as he is not involved in the case later, the emperor will definitely comfort him...

tsk~