Dreaming back to the Tang Dynasty, I was working as a detective in Chang'an

The sky was already dark by now. When the three of us arrived at the place where datura flowers were planted, we smelled the ripe fragrance. Generally, the datura flowers we see in other places are light yellow, and This datura flower is black!

Black mandala is said to be the most poisonous type. Under the pale moonlight, they exude a trace of enchanting light.

The fat man told me and Tianbao: "Don't touch those flowers and stems, especially the seeds, they are poisonous."

I said, "If it's so toxic, why do we still grow it?"

"In fact, it also has medicinal value. A small dose can act as an anesthetic. Therefore, Datura was used in these serial murder cases. The purpose was to make the victims lose consciousness and lose the ability to resist."

There is a thatched house built on the hill far away from the flower garden. According to locals, there lives a Wenpo, the owner of the flower garden. She does not live here usually, but only comes here to see the flowers for a few days.

We looked from a distance, and there was a faint candlelight in the small room, flickering on and off. It seemed that we were lucky today.

As I approached the hut, I saw a small fence surrounding the outside of the house, and a lonely little house inside. It was so small and pitiful. We knocked on the door and an old lady came out of the house.

This old lady appeared to be in her 60s. She was thin and dry, with a face full of wrinkles and skinny hands. She was hunched over and asked us coldly in an extremely hoarse voice: "Who are you looking for?"

I took a step forward, saluted and said, "Old lady, I heard that you are a well-known stable lady within hundreds of miles. My brother has a boil on his back that needs to be dug out with a knife, but the doctor is afraid to use it." The knife hurts too much and I'm afraid he won't be able to survive it. I hope my mother-in-law can give us some medicine to relieve the pain."

"Oh, that's right, you guys come in first." As she said this, the old lady let the three of us in.

She said: "The analgesic medicine you are talking about should be Ma Fei Powder, not Datura. This Datura cannot cure this disease."

The fat man asked: "Excuse me, mother-in-law, what disease does it cure? I am the barefoot doctor in our village. I want to ask you for advice. I can cure diseases and save people next time. It can be regarded as your good fortune."

The old woman sighed and said: "I am a stable woman. I usually deliver babies and cure some women's diseases. This black mandala is the messenger of hell. It can bring life and death."

"Then why are you still growing it? Aren't you afraid that it will be used to harm others?"

"I am a lonely old woman who also needs to eat. If they use it to do bad things, they will have to repay me. I am just a flower grower. I can't control that much."

I asked: "So who else has come to buy flowers and seeds from you recently?"

The woman stared at me for a while and said calmly: "I don't think you are here to buy flowers, do you?"

I handed the woman ten taels of silver and said, "We don't mean any harm, we just want to ask. According to the rules of the world, you don't ask so many questions. Just answer."

The old woman weighed the silver in her hands, with a happy face on her face. She put the silver in her arms and said, "A month ago, someone bought datura flowers and seeds from me."

"Do you remember what he looks like?"

"He was an ordinary young man. I can't remember his appearance clearly. He was very thin. He took the things and left. He was very generous. I don't know anything else."

It seems that the suspect can be identified. He is a very thin young man. He appeared at the crime scene twice and bought datura flowers.

It seemed that he was very thoughtful and had been preparing for the murder at least a month ago.

This is a premeditated serial murder case. If we want to find out the truth, we must start with the relationship between the four victims.

The four people who were killed all came to Chang'an from Guangdong 13 years ago. This is not a coincidence. They knew each other because there are IOUs as evidence. If we want to get clues, we still need a lot of visits.

After returning from the flower garden, we arrived at Ge Dazhi's home.

Ge Dazhi's home is in the countryside. Although it is in the countryside, the home looks very well-off and the furniture and furnishings are much better than those in the same village. No wonder he can marry a very beautiful wife.

When we arrived, Ge Dazhi's wife was drying her quilt in the yard. When she saw us, she hurriedly greeted us and let us into the main room.

"How did you marry into Ge Dazhi's family?"

"Our family was very poor, and we made a living by making tofu with my father since I was a child. Because I looked pretty good, although I didn't do anything bad, I still got a bad reputation, so when I was in my twenties, no one came to propose marriage. When I was 24 years old, a matchmaker came to my door and said that there was a Cantonese boy who wanted a wife. He didn't mind my bad reputation and was willing to spend money as a betrothal gift, so my father agreed with me."

"Has he ever told you about his time in Guangdong?"

"No, I also asked him. He just said that there was a flood in his home in Guangdong, so he came to Chang'an. I said, what about your family? He told me that the flood blew away their home and the whole family died. He was the only one alive. He stayed in his hometown and felt sad before leaving. But once, in his dream, he called out the name of a woman named "Shufen" and shouted, "I was wrong, don't come to me." I Seeing that he was very scared and his whole body was wet with cold sweat, I woke him up. After he woke up, I asked who this woman was, and he slapped me in the face, saying that it had nothing to do with me, and also called me Don’t mention this person’s name again. Since then, I have discovered that he sometimes has nightmares, and when he wakes up, he loses his temper, either hitting me or scolding me.”

"Before the accident, did your husband behave in any unusual way?"

The woman thought for a while and said, "Yes, on the day that Mai Laoguang's accident happened, he didn't get drunk and said, 'What is supposed to come will always come.'"

"The night before the crime, where were you and what were you doing? Are there any witnesses?"

"Are you suspecting that I killed my husband? Although he has a bad temper, he is very good at making money. As long as I don't mess with him, he will be fine. He beat me in those days, and I ran back to my parents' house in anger, thinking about this If he hadn't come to pick me up last time, I definitely wouldn't have gone back by myself, but he didn't move. I was quite puzzled. He used to pick me up very quickly. I have been at my parents' house these days, You can go to our house and our neighbors’ houses and ask.”

"Don't mind, we are just doing it on a routine basis. Until the case is cleared, everyone is suspected."

The woman wiped her tears, but there was no sadness in her eyes.

The name of the woman named Shufen is the key. Why is he so afraid that she will come to him? What on earth has he done?

The household registration management in the Tang Dynasty was very strict. Everyone who came to Chang'an from other places had to report. We started to conduct a detailed investigation at the household registration office to see where they came from 13 years ago, so that we could write a letter The local county government is assisting in the investigation and may also be able to find clues.