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

The fat man and I came to the house of the director's wife. This house was really luxurious, occupying half of the street. The main door was not open on weekdays, and we could only enter and exit through the west corner door. The courtyard wall is so high, it must be more than two meters. Outside the wall, there are small vendors selling fruits, vegetables and other things, and there are also hawkers along the street. It is a lively place.

I thought to myself that if the young lady wanted to elope, it would be difficult for a weak woman to climb over the wall. If she came out from this corner door, she would inevitably alarm the servants. How did she escape? Or didn't come out at all?

We asked the waiter to go in and pass the news. Soon the main door opened and Dong Yuwai came out to greet us.

"You two gentlemen are far away from us, please come in quickly, please come in quickly!"

"It's just a routine thing for us, so I hope it's convenient for my uncle." We entered the yard while greeting each other.

It's hard to imagine that an ordinary member of the Communist Party of China could live in such a large courtyard, with dozens of houses in it. Each room is richly decorated and extremely spacious. The servants in the yard were busy planting trees and repairing, and the yard was a bit dirty, so we followed Mr. Yuan across the covered bridge in the yard and prepared to go to the living room.

I asked the director: "Why do we need to build a new house in our house?"

Director Wei said: "No, it's just that every year during Qingming Festival, some craftsmen are invited to repair and repair this old house. This is an old house that is hundreds of years old. Some houses have begun to leak again these days. I want to take the opportunity to repair it and plant some flowers. Just in case it’s too late to repair during the rainy season.”

When we came to the hall, it was a very spacious place. After we sat down, I said, "We have been ordered to find out more details from you. Please don't hide anything, so that we can solve the case as soon as possible and find Miss Dong."

"I know, I know, I will fully cooperate."

I asked: "Did you notice anything unusual in the days when the lady disappeared?"

"I went to the countryside to worship my ancestors in the past few days. I really don't know what happened at home. You two can talk to the housekeeper more. He is always at home. He may know more than me." Wait, send someone to call the housekeeper.

"How did you know that the young lady was having an affair with Liang Qi?"

The director sighed and said, "Oh, my family is unfortunate. Last year, my little girl caught a cold, and she couldn't get better after taking several doctor's medicines. Later, I heard that although Liang Qi was young, her medical skills were very good, so I invited her to check her pulse." Prescription, who would have thought that after taking a few doses of medicine, he would really get better, so he would often invite him to the house to nurse the little girl, but who would have thought that this boy would actually seduce the little girl and do something that is disgraceful to the family." As he spoke, his face Then there was anger.

"Liang Qi is a talented person and has a good family background. She is a good match for your family. Why don't you agree to this marriage so that the lovers can finally get married?"

The director slapped the table with a "?" and said angrily: "What kind of match is it? He is a romantic dude who does dirty things with men and makes a lot of trouble. I heard that he hangs out with a classmate all year round. It caused that man to die. Now he has changed his gender again and came to harm my little daughter. I will never agree to this marriage. You two still have something to do, but if it does, I forgive you for not being able to accompany me." After that, he threw down his sleeves and walked away.

The fat man and I were left here. At this time, the housekeeper had already arrived. He immediately stepped forward and apologized: "Sir, don't blame my master. He has been thinking about women these days and is in a bad mood. I hope you can forgive me."

I smiled and said, "Nothing, we are just asking casually. We want to go to the lady's room and have a look. Do you have any clues?"

The housekeeper said: "Please, please. The room has not been touched in the past few days since my lady has been missing. I hope you two gentlemen can find my lady soon."

We followed the housekeeper through the two courtyards and came to the innermost small courtyard. This is the young lady's residence. It is quiet, clean and spotlessly clean. There are many precious flowers planted in the courtyard, which will be in full bloom. , but there is also a place where there is freshly plowed soil, and sparse roses are planted there. They are listless. It feels a bit strange, so I inevitably pay more attention to it.

Entering the house, Miss Dong's boudoir is very elegantly decorated. There is a screen at the entrance, with curtains hanging on all sides. In the middle is a fragrant wood table with four finely carved wooden stools beside it. To the north is the lady's bed, with embroidered quilts and pillows. To the east is the lady's desk, which contains pens, ink, paper and inkstones, and a set of chess pieces that have not yet been played. Next to it is a guzheng. In the southwest corner is the lady's dressing table, which contains various rouges, gouache, and jewelry. Next to it is a large wardrobe. It seems that Miss Dong is a very tasteful woman who is proficient in poetry, calligraphy and painting.

I asked the housekeeper, had all the lady’s things been touched? The housekeeper said: "I just asked someone to clean it, but the lady's things are always sorted by the personal maid, and no one else dared to touch the lady's things. One time, the maid outside touched the rouge on the lady's table. She was severely punished.”

I told the housekeeper: "We are on official business, please step aside for a moment." The housekeeper hesitated for a moment and then stepped away.

I can see that everything in her house is placed in an orderly manner, without any chaos. Even the rouge and gouache on the table are placed very neatly. It feels like she has some obsessive-compulsive disorder. Such women are generally rational and do not know how to do things. Too impulsive.

I said to Fatty Zheng: "Xiaodong, don't you think this lady's boudoir is a little strange?"

The fat man glanced at me and said, "I'm only interested in dead people. I think it's normal, nothing special."

I said, "This room is missing something, and there is something extra, and it is also a little messy."

The fat man perked up when he heard this: "Master Guo, stop being so pretentious. Tell me, what are you missing?"

I pointed to the dressing table and said, "You see, the lady's dressing table is fully equipped with makeup and other items, but there is a mirror missing. Look at the chessboard on the table. Everything else is arranged very neatly, but this one is missing." The chessboard is in a mess, and the black and white pieces are placed randomly on the board. Logically speaking, shouldn’t the pieces be put away after the game?”

"What's there? Maybe she forgot to collect it?" The fat man didn't care.

"If, as the housekeeper said, they haven't touched anything in this room, then according to the lady's character, all her things are placed in a very orderly manner. This is her habit. She will definitely not let the chess pieces be messed up like this. Put it on the chessboard.”

The fat man scratched his head and said, "What's more?"

I said, "When you look at this screen, something doesn't feel right. It feels a bit too big and out of place with the other furnishings in the room. We were all a little crowded when we came here, and the painting on the screen is "Diao Han Han". Jiang Tu, it feels a little awkward to put it in the lady’s room.”

The fat man also came over to take a look: "Maybe this young lady likes this tone. What's so strange about it?"

I said: "No, look at the picture of ladies with spring flowers hanging on the wall in front of her desk. The couplets on both sides are also very poetic, making people feel fresh and elegant. And the style of this screen is also similar to this picture." It’s not a tone, this screen is more like an object in a man’s house.”

"If you don't tell me, I don't think anything about it. But now that you say that, the more you look at this screen, the more awkward it becomes."

I squatted down and looked at the screen carefully, and found that there were indeed traces of being moved, and the traces looked very new. What exactly is this screen trying to conceal? So could it be another screen here?

The fat man and I slowly moved the screen, and sure enough we found something dark brown in the cracks between the bricks under the screen. We picked some out with our fingernails. There was a fishy smell, and it felt like a trace of coagulated blood. Although the floor tiles have been washed, the marks in the cracks of the tiles cannot be washed away.

At this time, the director came over in a hurry and said with a smile: "I shouldn't have treated you two so slowly just now. I'm really worried about my daughter's safety. I hope you guys don't blame me. It's almost noon, I've prepared some For food and wine, please give me some thin noodles and two drinks, so that I can get close to the landowner's pleasure."

I stood up, raised my hands and said, "Director, you are so polite. We should go. We have to do business when we get back, so we won't eat. I'll bother you again another day." After saying that, I walked out the door with the fat man, and I looked at The piece that was turned over said: "Master Dong, what are you going to use this piece of land for?"

The director was a little surprised, but quickly calmed down and said: "Oh, originally this land was good. My daughter said she wanted to plant some henna in the spring to dye her nails, so she pulled out the original flowers and plants, but this time I was so busy that I forgot about it.”

I jokingly said: "Maybe I dug up some incredible treasure, hahaha!"

The director said, "Brother, you are making fun of me. There is no treasure in this house." After that, he walked out of the yard with us, and did not try to persuade us to stay. He only said that we would definitely get together some other day.