I am a consultant in Kaifeng

The peach blossom forest outside Bianjing City belongs to the rich merchant Li's family.

Every spring, the peach trees are full of flowers. When the wind blows, the peach blossoms on the branches will fall with the wind. It seems that there is a rain of flowers in the forest, which is beautiful and magnificent.

Uncle Wang, who leased the land to grow peaches, has half-grey hair. He is no different from ordinary people in Bianjing.

In spring, the peach blossoms are in full bloom, and literati and elegant guests sometimes come to the peach groves to admire the flowers and recite poems. That is not a problem, because the peach trees have no fruit yet, and there will be no fruit thieves.

But last night there were sudden spring thunder, and the wind and rain were extremely severe.

Uncle Wang didn't sleep well all night, thinking that the wind and rain were too unusual, and wondered if the peach tree had been blown down.

I tossed and turned all night and couldn't sleep well.

Today, the sky just showed a little white, and Uncle Wang has already woken up.

By the time the sun rose slowly from the east, he had already arrived at Taolin.

Pink petals spread all over the ground, and the moist air was filled with the fragrance of flowers.

The gentle spring breeze was blowing in front of him, Uncle Wang squinted his eyes slightly, feeling the tranquility of the spring day.

Then, his foot seemed to step on something.

He lowered his head subconsciously and found that his foot had stepped on a hand.

Where did the hands come from in the peach forest?

Uncle Wang was stunned, trembling in his heart, slowly moved his foot away, and then he found that it was a severed arm.

His heart was beating faster, and his instinct told him that this was not a good thing.

He boldly walked towards the peach tree in front, and then he cried out in dismay, the old man stumbled away from the peach forest with a pale face, and went straight to Kaifeng Mansion.

In the peach grove, a woman's body was lying on the ground, her eyes were wide open, the blood at the corner of her mouth had already solidified, her clothes were insufficient to cover her body, her limbs were cut off, and they were scattered in four directions.

Du Xiaoning had seen dead people before, but he had never seen such a cruel dead person. When he first saw it, his scalp went numb and he took a deep breath. At the same time, he quickly raised his hand to cover his eyes.

Zhan Zhao turned his head to look at Du Xiaoning, the handsome young master covered his eyes with his hands just now, his exposed face and lips were a little pale, obviously frightened enough.

Zhan Zhao asked helplessly, "Didn't you say you're not afraid of death?"

Du Xiaoning: ""

It is true that she has seen dead people, but she has never seen anything like this.

In the past, she sometimes looked through her father's information and saw various scenes in the photos, but they were all photos.

In this world, she followed Du Ruoyu and saw dead people in the Ministry of Punishment. Although those people were dead, they still had their beards and tails intact. How could it be like the female corpse in front of her?

Du Xiaoning took a deep breath, put down the hand covering the eyes, but never glanced randomly.

"I'm really not afraid of dead people, but I didn't expect such a scene."

She didn't know medical skills like Gongsun Ce, and she wasn't a post-mortem examiner. Seeing such a tragic death scene, it's not a shame to be a little frightened for a while.

Zhan Zhao was a little speechless, and turned towards the autopsy work.

Wu Zuo was wearing clothes for autopsy and had gloves on his hands. Seeing Zhan Zhao approaching him, he motioned to his disciples to help him take off his gloves and overalls.

Zhan Zhao: "Is it murder?"

Wu Zuo nodded, "The deceased should have been killed in the middle of the night. Her limbs had injuries from being tied up with ropes, and there were several bruises on her body, but these injuries were not fatal. What was fatal was the strangle marks on her neck. She was used by someone. He was hanged by a rope and dismembered."

Wu Zuo was talking to Zhan Zhao. Although the people who had been onlookers had been evacuated, there were still troublemakers pointing not far away.

Du Xiaoning's eyes fell on the crowd who were blocked not far away by the yamen servants, and then turned to look at the peach tree where the deceased was found.

The one lying under the peach tree was supposed to be a beautiful girl.

But at this moment, she was unconscious, lying on the ground, and there were peeping eyes not far away.

Regardless of his fear, the third young master took off his overalls silently, and covered the dead body carefully and gently.

Zhan Zhao, who was listening to the report of the autopsy results, caught a glimpse of that scene out of the corner of his eye, and was a little surprised.

At this time, Zhang Long came over with the yamen servant, his eyes fell on the corpse, and asked, "Dismember the corpse after death?"

Zhan Zhao nodded, and said to Zhang Long, "Let's find out the identity of the deceased first. Where's Uncle Wang who reported the crime?"

"Staying in the small wooden house, the old man was very frightened, and he hasn't recovered yet. The old man said that the deceased was the fifth girl of the Li family." Zhang Long said while calling the servants to tidy up the scattered limbs of the deceased. , and carried the corpse under the peach tree onto the stretcher.

Zhan Zhao nodded slightly, and Xu Sheng said, "It's normal to be frightened when encountering such a thing, let someone comfort him, and we'll go ask him later."

After a short pause, he said again: "Notify the Li family to come to Kaifeng Mansion to identify the body."

Zhang Long said hello, his eyes fell on the corpse that had been put on the stretcher by the yamen servant again, and he said in a sympathetic tone: "It's a pity."

Who said it's not a pity?

According to the old man, the fifth girl of the Li family, who is in her eighth year this year, is just about to bloom.

A good young girl from a wealthy family. She should have had a smooth and beautiful life, but she suffered from this misfortune and died without a whole body.

After the corpse was carried away, Du Xiaoning felt much more at ease.

She looked around and asked Zhan Zhao, "Master Zhan, is this the scene of a murder?"

Zhan Zhao raised his brows slightly, "This is the scene of the corpse throwing. As for whether it is a murder scene, we have to wait and see."

He looked up at the peach tree, as if he had discovered something, and with a "huh", he flew up to the peach tree like a big bird.

Du Xiaoning looked enviously at Zhan Zhao on the tree.

Want to learn, envy.

Seeing this, Zhang Long said to Du Xiaoning: "Master Zhan must have found some clues."

Du Xiaoning turned her head and smiled at Zhang Long, "Brother Zhang Long, I can't help you here, why don't you let me meet the old man in the cabin, okay?"

She is not professional in surveying the scene.

But it's okay to help appease the old man and ask questions.

Zhang Long also saw the scene where Du Xiaoning covered his eyes with his hands in fright, and felt it was funny, but also full of sympathy for Du Xiaoning.

Regarding Du Xiaoning's proposal, Zhang Long readily informed.

Zhan Zhao performed lightness kung fu and jumped down from the tree.

The sapphire blue figure fell to the ground lightly, without even raising a single leaf.

"Where's Du San?"

Holding his saber, Zhang Long crossed his arms and said with a smile, "He said he wanted to see Uncle Wang."

When Zhan Zhao heard the words, his eyes fell on the figure who was walking through the forest path.

The young man is tall and straight, but his frame is a little slender.

I saw that frost-colored figure spreading flowers and willows in the forest path, looking like he was here for a spring break rather than to handle a case.

The scene where Du Xiao took off his coat to cover the dead just now suddenly resurfaced in his mind.

Although the third son is an authentic dandy, he is also a gentle person.

Zhang Long followed Zhan Zhao's gaze, clicked his tongue and said with interest: "These sons and brothers are all pampered, and they will never encounter a murder case in eight lifetimes, let alone this kind of corpse throwing scene. I think Xiao Ning was almost scared just now. Jump up on the spot."

As he said that, he touched Zhan Zhao's arm, "Master Zhan, you are really good at it. On the first day he arrives at Kaifeng Mansion, you bring him out to investigate the case."

Speaking of this, Mr. Zhan felt no guilt.

"He is in Kaifeng mansion, sooner or later he will get used to these things."

Zhang Long couldn't help laughing, "It is said that Du Shangshu loves this adopted son very much, and tried his best to push him into Kaifeng Mansion. I don't know if he has any regrets at this moment."

Who knows?

Zhan Zhao didn't know, and didn't want to know.

A cup of steaming water was placed on the desk in front of Uncle Wang. He raised his head and met the young man's overly beautiful phoenix eyes.

The young man looked at him kindly, smiled at him, and said comfortingly, "Uncle, please drink a glass of hot water."

Uncle Wang was flattered, "Officer, official—"

"Uncle, don't be cautious. I'm not an official, but a handyman in Kaifeng Mansion. All the officials are busy. Let me chat with you for a while."

Chat for a while?

Uncle Wang looked at Du Xiaoning in astonishment. The young man was very handsome, with a faint smile on his brows and eyes, which made it easy for people to like him.

Du Xiaoning sat down beside Uncle Wang, "Brother Zhang Long said, Uncle knows that girl."

Uncle Wang nodded, and said in a hoarse voice: "That's the fifth girl of the Li family. Last year, there was a good harvest of peaches. I picked some of the best ones and sent them to the Li family. I happened to meet the fifth girl at the back door."

"Why did Miss Wu let you meet at the back door?"

"At that time, Mr. Li was seriously ill. The fifth girl said that she was going to the Great Buddha Temple to pray for Mr. Li, and arranged for a carriage to wait at the back door. Sir, I only met the fifth girl once or twice. As for why she was chopped down Throwing hands and feet in Taolin, I really don't know!"

When the old man talked about this, he still had lingering fears. His hand holding the teacup trembled slightly, and he wanted to cry without tears: "I was about to be scared to death this morning!"

Du Xiaoning thought for a while, then raised her hand and patted Uncle Wang's shoulder, "Uncle, no one said that you had anything to do with Miss Wu's death. In fact, Mr. Zhan asked me to thank you, thanks to you reporting the case to Kaifeng Mansion. Otherwise, I don’t know when the matter of the fifth girl will be discovered.”

Uncle Wang didn't expect this young man to be polite and courteous. They are ordinary people, they are easy to look at people's faces in everything they do, especially people of high birth, and it is common for them to yell at them.Now Du Xiaoning suddenly came, and he was polite and considerate to him, and his affection immediately exploded.

Between people, once you hit it off, you can talk about anything.

"Sir, what you said is, I heard that shortly after the death of Master Li, the fifth girl left Bianjing and went south to her aunt's house. Her aunt's home is in Yangzhou, thousands of miles away from Bianjing. When I went to the Li family to pay the rent a few days ago, I heard from the steward of the Li family that Miss Wu would not return to Bianjing until summer at the earliest, and if she gets used to it, it is possible that she will not return to Bianjing for two or three years."

Du Xiaoning raised her eyebrows slightly: "Uncle, do you mean that people in the Li family don't know that Miss Wu is in Bianjing?"

Uncle Wang nodded.

Du Xiaoning's phoenix eyes fell on the old man calmly, "Did you hear wrong?"

Uncle Wang was startled, then shook his head: "No, I heard correctly."