The Secret Chamber of the Card Game

The birthday party tonight was really exciting. An assassin assassinated the prince in public, and then a maid rushed to report that the eldest lady of the palace had hanged herself. Such explosive news made all the guests look at each other in dismay.

Everyone whispered in private: "Miss? Is it the one who has a marriage contract with the Lin family?" "It seems to be Mrs. Yun's daughter. She doesn't go out very often and has never seen her before!"

"I heard that the eldest lady doesn't care about world affairs and has an indifferent personality. How could she suddenly commit suicide?"

"Could it be that Young Master Lin went to the Tianxiang Tower to redeem Miss Ye's body before, and the news reached the ears of the eldest lady. She couldn't bear the humiliation, so she committed suicide?" Lou's girl redeemed herself, how could she endure such humiliation as a lady of the palace? She committed suicide when she couldn't think about it for a moment, what a crime..."

Xiao Lou frowned slightly when he heard these discussions among the crowd.

In the afternoon, he went for a stroll in the backyard, and after a quick glance, the eldest lady Qi Yiyao in his impression was a woman indifferent to fame and wealth, knocking on wooden fish, reciting Buddhist scriptures, with a calm appearance, as if she was indifferent to everything outside.

Will she hang herself because of the scandal that her fiancé molested a woman in a brothel?This is impossible.

There must be other reasons.

Xiao Lou looked at the lord, the face of the lord at this time was as dark as the bottom of the pot - first he was disturbed by the assassin, and then he heard the sad news that his daughter had hanged herself. This birthday, the lord is naturally extremely aggrieved, he stared at the maid , shouted angrily: "What nonsense are you talking about?!"

The servant girl's face turned pale with fright, and her lips trembled as she said: "Slave, I saw it with my own eyes, the eldest lady is hanging on the tree in the backyard..."

Realizing that something had happened to his daughter, the prince immediately took a deep breath, kept calm as much as possible, looked at the guest seats, and said indifferently: "Everyone, this prince has some family matters to deal with, so let's stop here for today's dinner, the reception is not good enough Please forgive me for that.”

Everyone bowed to say goodbye one after another, running faster than a rabbit.Although everyone was very curious about why the eldest lady committed suicide, it was not easy to see the jokes of the prince's family. If the prince got angry, ten heads would not be enough to cut off.

Shao Qingge, a son of a rich family, of course has no reason to stay in the palace and continue to watch the fun.He gave Yu Hanjian a "I'll leave first" look, turned and left.When he passed by, Xiao Lou said in a soft voice: "You go to the magistrate's prison to visit Ye Qi, and by the way, ask Ye Qi if he found anything in Tianxiang Tower these two days."

Shao Qingge smiled and said: "Don't worry, Xiao Yezi has never been in prison, I'll go and give him some food to calm his nerves."

Hearing Shao Qingge's gloating tone, Xiao Lou had no choice but to ignore him for the time being and continue to pay attention to the scene.

The guests left quickly.

But Yu Hanjiang and his party of three, as well as Ninth Princess and Qu Wanyue stayed where they were.

Yu Hanjiang took a step forward and said to the prince in a low voice: "My lord, since a homicide has occurred in Jiangzhou, I, as the magistrate of Jiangzhou, have the responsibility to investigate the whole matter clearly. The cause of Missy's death may not be simple, can it be tolerated?" Do you want to go to the scene to see?"

The Eighth Prince considered for a moment, nodded and said, "Thank you, Mr. Yu."

Yu Hanjiang, Xiao Lou, and Mo Xuemin followed the prince to the backyard, and the nine princesses and Qu Wanyue also followed.

The prince turned his head and saw these two people, he couldn't help but said coldly: "The idlers are waiting to retreat?"

Princess Nine hastily explained: "Brother Huang, it's me! Something happened to Ayao, I'm going to see it too!"

The prince recognized the nine princesses who were disguised as men, and frowned slightly: "Princess Tangtang, why don't you stay in the capital and run around dressed like this, how decent is it?"

The Ninth Princess said with a bitter face: "I'll talk about this matter later, I also slipped out out of helplessness. How could A Yao commit suicide? I communicated with her some time ago, I'm going to see it!"

The prince had nothing to do with her, so he had to take her with him.

The servant girl led the way, and everyone hurriedly followed her to the backyard.

There are four small courtyards in the backyard of the Wangfu. The layout of the entire courtyard is square and connected by a "back"-shaped corridor. Green trees are planted on both sides of the corridor, and there is an artificial pond and a rockery in the middle of the courtyard.

The backyard of the Prince's Mansion was huge, and it was late at night, with dense trees in the yard, even if someone was hiding somewhere, it would be difficult to attract attention.

The place where the eldest lady hanged herself was on a tree behind the rockery.

That tree is the tallest and thickest tree in the whole yard. It has luxuriant branches and leaves and can cast a large green shade on the ground. It is a good place to enjoy the shade in summer. Therefore, stone benches and stone tables are placed under the tree. The female relatives of the palace can sit here to drink tea and chat.

At this time, a woman in white clothes was hanging from the tree, her limbs were hanging down softly, and her body was shaking gently with the wind.

This scene made everyone's expressions change.

Mrs. Yun immediately rushed over in a breakdown, hugged her daughter's leg, and shouted: "Ayao, my Ayao! Why are you so overwhelmed! Is there anything you can't say to your mother properly? Why bother to commit suicide! You Just leave like this, what will my mother do..."

Her heart-piercing cries made the prince's face even uglier.

Although the prince doesn't have deep feelings for the eldest daughter, she is his own flesh and blood after all. Seeing her in white clothes hanging on the tree, as a father, the prince is also heartbroken. He took a step forward and gently hugged Madam Yun's shoulders , whispered: "Don't cry, why did Ayao commit suicide?"

Madam Yun wiped her tears and said: "I asked her to change clothes in the afternoon, and told her that Young Master Lin would definitely come tonight, so I asked her to dress up a bit and not go to see her fiancé in white, that would be unlucky... She also Didn't say anything!"

The prince frowned: "Did you tell Yiyao about Lin Shaobo's scandal in the brothel?"

Mrs. Yun stammered for a moment, and finally nodded with tears in her eyes: "I, I also slipped my mouth by accident." Her face instantly became extremely pale: "Ah Yao probably couldn't think about it, so she found something wrong. See you?!"

The prince's face was terribly gloomy.

Beside, Mrs. Qing and Mrs. Han didn't know whether they were really sad or fake, they also took out their handkerchiefs and wiped away their tears, while sighing: "Ah Yao can't think about it so much..." "That's right, how can you be so confused at such a young age?" !" The two went forward to comfort Mrs. Yun while crying: "Sister, don't be too sad."

The three wives cried together, while the ninth princess stood there with a dazed expression, muttering in confusion: "Why did Ayao commit suicide? She wrote to me a while ago, saying that the wedding date is set for next month."

The prince sighed softly, and said: "Go and carry down the body of the eldest lady, and bury it some day."

The two servant girls immediately stepped forward and lifted the eldest lady who was hanging from the tree together, and laid it flat on the ground.

Xiao Lou quickly glanced at the strangle marks on the corpse, and gave Yu Hanjiang a wink.

Just as the maids were about to cover the corpse's face with a white cloth, Yu Hanjiang suddenly stopped them: "Wait a minute."

The prince looked back at him: "Master Yu?"

Yu Hanjiang said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, my wife once learned autopsy techniques from a foreman. Can you let him take a closer look at the body of the eldest lady? I suspect that the eldest lady may not have committed suicide."

The prince was startled, and looked at Xiao Lou with a frown: "Madam really knows how to do an autopsy?"

Xiao Lou took a step forward and saluted politely: "Go back to the lord, the girl has indeed studied with a master for several years."

The prince nodded and asked him to go and have a look.

Xiao Lou took a step forward and was about to observe the corpse when Mrs. Yun suddenly rushed over and hugged her daughter tightly, crying and saying, "Don't touch her! My A Yao died so badly. She didn't have a good life for a few days before she died. I can't be bullied by you like this again!"

The sudden death of her daughter, this Mrs. Yun was obviously stimulated, and she lost her mind at this moment.

Xiao Lou Wen said: "Ma'am, please calm down, the eldest lady may not have committed suicide, don't you want to find out the real cause of your daughter's death?"

Mrs. Yun was startled, and pointed to the bright red marks on her daughter's neck: "Didn't my daughter hang herself? She hanged on a tree, the red marks on her neck are so obvious, how do you want to do an autopsy?"

Xiao Lou said softly: "Hanging herself will indeed leave a strangle mark on her neck. But if she is murdered and then hanged to a tree, it will also leave a strangle mark on her neck, won't it?"

Madam Yun suddenly shuddered.

Because this man was right—what if he was hanged from a tree after being killed?

She immediately stepped aside, looked at Xiao Lou and said, "Master Yu, right? Come on, help my daughter take a look!"

The Ninth Princess and Qu Wanyue were also watching. Seeing Xiao Lou walking over calmly and leaning over to inspect the corpse, the Ninth Princess couldn't help complaining in a low voice, "Mrs. Yu actually knows how to do an autopsy? No wonder Mrs. Yu is unwilling." Marrying this princess, it turns out that he is so heavy-mouthed and likes women who can do autopsies."

Qu Wanyue: "..."

The Ninth Princess had a strange thought, Qu Wanyue didn't know how to answer, so she pretended not to hear.

Under the crowd watching, Xiao Lou carefully inspected the pupils, skin, and nails of the corpse, and turned the head of the corpse, focusing on the red marks on the neck.

Everyone doesn't understand autopsies, and they don't know what Xiao Lou looked at the corpse over and over again...

Just when the prince was getting impatient, Xiao Lou stood up suddenly, looked at Yu Hanjiang, and said in a low voice, "It's not suicide."

Meeting his determined gaze, Yu Hanjiang certainly believed Xiao Lou's conclusion.

But others didn't believe it. After all, Madam Yu suddenly said that she would conduct an autopsy. How many women in ancient times could do an autopsy?

The prince's expression was ugly: "Madam, don't talk nonsense, what evidence do you have?"

Xiao Lou explained earnestly: "The traces left on the corpse will be different when the neck is strangled before death and after death."

Pointing to the marks on the neck of the deceased, he said: "If the eldest lady committed suicide, then she was still alive when she hung herself on the white silk, and the blood inside her body was still circulating. Therefore, the constriction formed on the neck , should be at the bottom, with the deepest marks, spreading to the sides, getting lighter as it goes up, until finally disappearing—this is a typical mark left on the neck of a person who hanged himself.”

"However, the constriction on Missy's neck is horizontal and circular. Except for the darker part of the throat, the depth of the other parts of the constriction is very uniform, and there is no phenomenon of sloping up, gradually becoming shallower, and finally interrupted. The reason for the formation of such marks is that her neck had no blood circulation at that time, the skin was necrotic, and the marks left after being strangled by Bai Ling would be the same depth."

Xiao Lou paused for a moment, then looked at everyone: "When the eldest lady was hanged from the tree, she was already dead—this is murder."

Hearing Xiao Lou's words, everyone present gasped in unison.

The ninth princess couldn't help but said: "Can the traces alone prove that this is murder? This is too childish!"

Xiao Lou looked at her calmly: "Princess, if you don't believe me, you can experiment with animals. If a living body and a dead body are strangled, the marks left will be clearly different."

Princess Nine wanted to refute, but Yu Hanjiang whispered, "I trust Madam's judgment."

Ninth Princess: "..."

Yu Hanjiang took a step forward and said, "Missy was indeed murdered, and the evidence at the scene also shows that she was murdered. The prince can take a closer look at Missy's shoes."

He leaned over and picked up a branch, scraped off a few leaves from the dead man's feet, and asked, "My lord, can Missy know how to do light work?"

The prince immediately shook his head: "Yiyao doesn't know martial arts."

Yu Hanjiang said: "That's it. The tree in front of me is so tall, if she doesn't step on the stone table to hang herself, how can she fly up and wrap her neck with white silk? If she wants to hang herself, she can only step on the stone table, but No footprints of hers were left on the table."

Xiao Lou immediately echoed: "That is to say, someone killed her first, then picked her up and hung her on a tree, so no footprints of her were left on the table."

Yu Hanjiang glanced at the crowd, and said coldly: "This murderer is very smart, but it's a pity that he has kept a secret. First, he forgot to leave the footprints of the dead on the stone table. The difference between the traces after the leash leaves a gap."

The two husbands sang and followed each other, and everyone looked at each other in blank dismay.

It was clearly the scene of a "suicide by hanging", but Master Yu and his wife just took a few glances and decided it was a murder case?

Qu Wanyue was listening beside her, almost wanting to give her a thumbs up.

Even in ancient times, the environment changed, but they still couldn't stop the two masters of the Heart Chamber.Yu Hanjiang inspected the scene, Xiao Lou observed the corpse, and the criminal police and the forensic doctor worked together to solve the case. The inference of murder was easily drawn, and a group of people could not refute it.

Although the prince was shocked in his heart, he listened carefully to the couple's singing and harmony, and found it very reasonable.

It appears that the daughter was indeed murdered.

If it was suicide, it would be a big deal to declare to the outside world that "the family is unlucky", and the daughter hanged herself on the tree because she couldn't think about it for a while... But if it was murder, it would be a big deal!

Someone in the palace unexpectedly killed the eldest lady without anyone noticing!

The prince's face darkened suddenly, and he immediately lowered his voice and said: "Since Lord Yu deduces that this is murder, this case will be handed over to Lord Yu to deal with it. Please catch the real culprit as soon as possible and give Yi Yao justice!"

Yu Hanjiang nodded: "My lord, don't worry, I will do my best."

The prince paused, and said again: "Besides, don't say anything about this matter for now."

Yu Hanjiang said: "Understood."

The prince's sharp eyes swept over the people present, and said: "From today, the palace will be sealed off, and no one is allowed to go out! Also, keep your mouth shut, whoever dares to reveal a word to the outsiders, don't blame me for not being sympathetic! "

A group of servant girls and servants immediately knelt down on the ground and responded in unison: "Yes, my lord!"

At this moment, a crisp girlish voice came from a distance: "What happened? It's so lively over there!"

A maid whispered: "Miss San, please slow down..."

At the corner, a girl in a red dress with two braids walked quickly towards this side. The girl had a pair of sword eyebrows, clear and bright eyes, a heroic look on her face, and a long sword on her waist. , looks very heroic.

It was the third lady of the Wangfu: Qi Yiru.

I heard that this third lady likes to wield knives and guns, she was born with a boyish personality, she often gallops on horseback, and has injured many people in the street, she is arrogant and domineering, and her reputation among the people is not very good.

Looking at her in person, she indeed has a rather flamboyant personality, her eyes full of arrogance.

However, after seeing her father in the crowd, she immediately averted her eyes, obediently came over to salute: "Father..."

The prince is having a splitting headache now, and he doesn't bother to care about his daughter's ugly attire. He said in a deep voice: "Your eldest sister has an accident, go and call your second and fourth sisters."

Qi Yiru was at a loss: "What's the matter, big sister?"

It wasn't until she saw the corpse on the ground that she screamed "Ah", "How could this happen!"

The prince said angrily: "Why don't you call someone?!"

Qi Yiru immediately turned around and ran away.

During the time when the prince and Yu Hanjiang were talking, Xiao Lou had roughly estimated the time of death based on the spots on the corpse and the degree of stiffness of the corpse. The result he came up with shocked everyone at the scene: "The time of death of the eldest lady... should be Youshi, or It was just an hour ago."

You time, around 18 o'clock, it was just dark at that time, and the dinner party at the palace had not yet started.

Yu Hanjiang said in a low voice: "It seems that the eldest lady died before the dinner party. At that time, everyone had time to commit crimes. Even the ladies who accompanied the prince after the dinner party could not escape the suspicion."

Hearing this, the faces of the three ladies instantly turned ugly.

Madam Qing was as hot-tempered as her daughter, and she said angrily, "What does Master Yu mean by this? Am I going to harm a junior?! I have no grievances or enmity with the eldest lady, why do I want to harm her?"

Mrs. Han was soft and weak, with an aggrieved look on her face: "My lord, my concubine has been brewing medicine in the yard at that time, and my body has always been weak. How can I have the strength to hug the eldest lady and hang her from a tree? Master Yu said so, but Any proof?"

Yu Hanjiang said calmly: "Ladies, don't be impatient. You haven't got rid of the suspicion. It doesn't mean that you are the murderer." He looked at the prince and said, "My lord, I need to ask the ladies for some details. I wonder if the lord will allow it?"

The prince nodded with a sullen face: "This case will be handed over to Lord Yu for investigation. From today on, you all cooperate with Lord Yu's questioning. This king must investigate the truth when something like this happens in the palace!"

Yu Hanjiang looked at the nursing home next to the prince: "Can this nursing home be borrowed? I need some help from him."

The prince said straightforwardly: "No problem." He looked at Long Sen, and said: "From today on, you will follow Lord Yu. If you have any orders, just let him arrange it."

Long Sen cupped his fists and said, "Obey!"

If the prince doesn't cooperate, he, the magistrate of Jiangzhou, would not dare to enter the palace rashly.With the support of the prince, Yu Hanjiang's investigation will naturally go much smoother.