Nongmen Shenjue

Zheng Ming was somewhat suspicious of Mu Qingyan's question about shopkeeper Liu, but he still didn't ask.

"A little friendship, not very familiar." After all, Zheng Ming is the owner of Juming Tea House, and he has a wide range of contacts and well-informed information.

"The shopkeeper Liu's name is Liu Shouxin, and their herbal medicine shop is also on Zhengnan Street. However, it was just a small shop at the end of the street, small and dilapidated. There are rumors that the shop will be sold out. In recent years, times have turned, and the business of their business shop has improved, and now the shop has expanded, and the business has also grown."

"How does Liu Shouxin behave?" Mu Qingyan asked.

"A good old man with a gentle temper. Apart from drinking tea and listening to books in the teahouse, he has no other hobbies. He has a good son who has been helping the shop since early in his life. His son is the only one who goes out to buy medicinal materials. His son is 27 or [-] this year. It's called Liu Huan."

"Second brother!" Mu Lin came over suddenly: "There is something in the yamen, and I want to go there with Chief Cai, and you can go by yourself after dinner."

"What's so urgent?" Mu Qingyan frowned slightly, already guessing in his heart.

Mu Lin whispered next to his ear: "Someone reported to the officials that two bodies were found in the woods next to the official road."

Sure enough, there was a murder case.

"I see, brother, go get busy."

Mu Lin and the others ate half of the wedding wine, but they didn't dare to delay at all, and quickly returned to the yamen under the leadership of Chief Cai.

"Your Majesty."

Outside the yamen, county captain Lu Dongtian was already riding on a horse with a follower by his side.The police officers did not dare to despise this man, not only because of Lu Dongtian, but also because of his extraordinary skills, especially good at solving cases.

The next group of ten or so people rode out of the city on fast horses.

Mu Lin had been under Lu Dongtian for a while, and he knew that the county lieutenant was not good at talking and he was very mobile.Including Cai Butou and others, they have never been able to figure out the details of Lu Xianwei, so they dare not make mistakes in everything.

The Yacha who sent the message before was not specific. He only said that the body was found in the woods next to the official road. However, the official road is very long, some go south, some go north, and the exact location is not yet known.

As the fast horse galloped, Mu Lin recognized that it was the official road in the direction of Guangmin County, and he almost ran to the border between the two places before gradually stopping.The weather at the end of August has gradually cooled down, but after running all the way, everyone is sweating profusely.

Mu Lin wiped off his sweat casually, and then dismounted.

"My lord, it was a local hunter who reported the case. The body was found in a wooden house in the forest. The wooden house was built by the hunters to rest their feet. Unexpectedly, when they were going to sleep last night, they found two dead people inside." It's Lizheng from a nearby village.

Since it was Orion's wooden house, it would naturally not be too close to the official road.

Guided by Li Zheng, the group walked for more than half an hour, and finally saw a small wooden house.The cabin is a bit old, but in good condition, enough to keep out the wind and rain.

The door of the wooden house was open, and there were two villagers standing outside. They were the hunter who reported the crime, father and son.

The wooden house has limited space, Lu Dongtian brought his followers, Mu Lin followed Cai to catch the boss, and everyone else waited outside.

The furnishings in the wooden house are simple, and there is a wooden bed next to it, which is very spacious and can accommodate two or three people.In addition, a simple earthen stove was built. Of course, there is no iron pot on the stove, but there is an open clay pot, which can be used to boil some hot water or soup.Finally, there is a square table in the middle.Everything is made of wood cut in the forest, which is relatively rough, but it is enough for a cabin in the woods.

Of the two dead, one was lying on his back on the bed, and the other was lying on the ground.

Both are men, in their twenties, wearing old cloth clothes and straw sandals on their bare feet. You can see obvious thick calluses, and there are old cracked wounds on the toes.The skin of the two is rough, and their complexion is black and yellow. It is obvious that they have been exposed to the sun for a long time. With the calluses on their hands and feet, they look like coolies.

The attendants around Lu Dongtian began to inspect the corpse.

"The dead man on the bed, looking at the posture of his hands and feet, showed signs of struggle. No blood or dander was found in the nails, and there was no obvious trauma on his body. There were bruises on his mouth and nose, slight bleeding spots on his face, and bruises in his eyes. Bleeding spots." The deceased's mouth was wide open, and a white silk thread was twisted out of his mouth: "Preliminary judgment, the deceased should have been suffocated to death by someone covering his mouth and nose in his sleep. There was no obvious sign of poisoning, but the deceased was in his prime, struggling But the reaction is not strong, it may be affected by drugs, such as Mongolian sweat medicine, mixiang and so on."

Then he squatted down to look at the other person.

The deceased was obviously injured, and a small piece of soil under his body was stained red, dried up and turned black.

When the deceased was turned over, there was a mass of blood stains on his chest, and when the clothes were lifted, it was obvious that the upper mouth was at the heart.

"Looking at the size and shape of the catchy mouth, the murder weapon should be a dagger, very sharp. The assailant was decisive and killed with one blow." After speaking, he glanced at the ground. Although it was muddy ground, the soil had been compacted after being trampled on for a long time. There was no blood, so no footprints could be seen.

Lu Dongtian listened while observing the wooden house.

"The murderer should be one person. He may have used drugs first, sneaked in while the two were asleep, and tried to smother them to death. But when the first deceased was struggling, he alarmed the second person, and that person wanted to escape. But because of the drug, he was unable to move smoothly, and was stabbed in the chest by the murderer.

These two are not hunters, not even nearby villagers, even pedestrians traveling from the official road, they will not go deep into the forest to spend the night.Well, their presence here is suspicious. "

Captain Cai took over the words: "They probably made an appointment with someone to meet here, but who would have thought that it was a killer who waited for them. There is nothing around the two of them that can prove their identity, or they have been destroyed. Yes. From the looks of it, it seems to be silenced."

Mu Lin also said: "Maybe it's caused by theft gang or something like that, and the uneven distribution of spoils?" , this kind of grass has never been seen before, and the style of straw sandals is also different from the local ones."

Straw sandals have a wide audience, not only farmers will wear them, such as woodcutters, bearers, monks, priests, knight-errants, and even wealthy sons and daughters may wear them.However, the materials and weaving of straw sandals in the north and the south are different.

Lu Dongtian nodded, very satisfied with Mu Lin's meticulous observation: "That's right, these are not local straw sandals in Fenglin, but straw sandals woven from cattail grass in the north, called cattail sandals. These two are immigrants, most likely homeless beggars stream."

Cai Butou frowned: "The court cracked down on homeless people in the early years, and there have been no homeless people around Fenglin County for a long time."

Homeless people are people who have no land, no home, and wander around.Back then when the south was in a famine and the people were displaced, some like the Mu family and the Zhao family accepted the settlement of the court, and some simply wandered around, either doing part-time jobs, begging, or the so-called wandering rivers and lakes. one day.

The vagrants are an unstable group. They wander around, causing various safety hazards, and they are not productive. Therefore, the imperial court has adopted coercive measures.Now you can see beggars in Fenglin County, but you can't see the kind of vagrants in groups.

"People pass by to take pictures, and geese pass by to leave voices. Take the portraits and check around." Lu Dongtian ordered.

The police officers didn't know, but Lu Dongtian knew that, for example, this kind of homeless death case was not that simple.

Mu Lin has been busy for more than half a month, until the day when Mu Wan and Zhao He Xiaoding, the progress of the case is still not much.

On Mu Qingyan's side, he received a reply letter from Jin Lilin from He County.

Although his sudden letter was very abrupt, Jin Lilin still tried his best to help him find out.

He County is under the rule of Yunxi Prefecture. The local area is densely forested with many mountains and dense forests. It produces various medicinal materials and jade, and there are many merchants.In the past there were many bandits, the imperial court made great efforts to encircle and suppress them, and there were garrisons in the nearby towns, which gradually stabilized. Occasionally, there were unlucky ones, but there were absolutely no bandits who became popular.

A few years ago, Jin Lilin asked about the case of the robbery of Liu Jisheng's medicine store from the people who handled it in the yamen, and it was roughly the same as what he knew before.However, Jin Lilin mentioned one thing. It seems that Liu Huan, Liu Ji's young boss, had a dispute with the girl from Yinhualou in the county.

Someone once said that the other party threatened to teach Liu Huan a lesson.

Jin Lilin also said that those wandering bandits were mostly looking for good news, knowing that those people were fat sheep, they set up an ambush early.Even with eyes and ears in the county, it is not impossible for someone to spread the news to the bandits, intending to make Liu Huan and his party lose their goods.

On the other hand, Jin Lilin also found out that Liu Huan bought an outhouse in Hexian County, where he raised a girl who had been redeemed from the Hualou.That girl is not simple, she is an oiran lady in the building, and it is said that the ransom money is not less than 500 taels!That house has two entrances, there are about twenty rooms in the big and small houses, and there are about ten servants and maidservants in the house. Not to mention the daily expenses, the house alone costs more than 100 taels of silver.

Mu Qingyan frowned.

If this is the case, the ransom fee, setting up a house, buying servants, plus raising a lady who eats well, is really not a small sum.The business of Liu Ji Sheng's medicine shop was doing well, but it was very poor five or six years ago, and the shop was almost sold out to make a living.Even now, it is impossible for Liu's young master's family to spend several hundred taels of silver to support the foreign house at once, which is very inconsistent with their family background.

This Liu Huan has a problem!

Where does the money come from?

Expect Liu Shouxin to give it to him?It should not be possible.It is unrealistic to want to embezzle the silver taels in the shop, after all, Liu Shouxin is the owner of the shop.But a few years ago, Liu Huan was in charge of going to He County to buy medicinal materials. He couldn't make money in this link, could he?In this way, the one who cheated is himself.