Nongmen Shenjue

All the way to Fengzhou, except for the resupply on the shore, I never left the ship, and the waterway is direct.

Have nothing to do on the boat, look at the scenery on both sides of the strait, or play chess with Wen Jixue.Mu Qingyan stayed with Wen Jixue for a long time, and learned a lot, but they were all rough reading, that is to say, Wen Jixue didn't dislike them, and the two of them played to pass the time.For the rest, Wen Jixue continued to sort out the affairs of the Xue family, while Mu Qingyan either chatted with Qiu Hai, or listened to Chen Shiliu talking about the capital.

Chen Shiliu also knew about the case of the Qiu family in Fengzhou.

At the beginning, the Qiu family offered a reward, and there were also rumors in the capital.Chen Shiliu was already interested in this aspect, so he did not hesitate to inquire about it, and even investigated the so-called Grand Robber involved in it.

Chen Shiliu said to him: "Look at that person's behavior. Although it looks like stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, he is not like a Jianghu person. If he is a Jianghu person, he usually leaves a mark to show that he did the thing. Each line has its own line." If you don’t pay attention to others, then others won’t pay attention to you. But I’m still very curious, what kind of supernatural power does that person have, to be able to steal most of the wealthy households in Toyosu? It’s really not easy. .”

"How many years has he been stealing?" Mu Qingyan asked.

"Probably... four or five years. After the Qiu family's accident, the county government officers quickly arrested him everywhere, but he didn't dare to show his face, so he stopped." What he said, he didn't believe that the thief was the murderer.

In fact, the local people in Fengzhou don’t believe it, and the county government may not believe it, but the thief is the only visible breakthrough. In addition, so many wealthy households have been stolen, and I feel resentful. Are you arresting someone?Unfortunately, no one was caught in the end.

Fengzhou Ferry is very large, much bigger than Liulin Ferry, and there are many shops and vendors of various colors.As soon as we got off the boat, we could smell all kinds of aromas. It was almost noon, and the whole group was hungry.

Qiu Hai invited a few people to sit in the tea shed: "Wait a little bit, a car will come to pick you up later, and you can eat something casually at Liuxianju at noon, and I will cleanse you up in the evening."

"It's all arranged by Master Qiu." Mu Qingyan had no objection to this.

Chen Shiliu saw that there were two stoves in the tea shed, with a pot on top, one was boiling tea eggs, and the other was boiling dried beans, which smelled very fragrant.There are also steamed buns in the tea shed. Many people rest their feet here, drink a bowl of tea, and eat with two steamed buns.

Chen Shiliu saw a peddler at the table next door, a Han man broke open a steamed bun, sandwiched dried tofu in the steamed bun and ate it, swallowed it down, and poured tea.

"Brother Mu, do you want to try tea eggs?" Chen Shiliu was greedy, but he was embarrassed to order.It's nothing else, he is a young man when he is away from home, and he still has to show some face, sitting in the tea shed and eating tea eggs or dried beans directly, it doesn't look very good.

Qiu Hai laughed and said, "We produce tea in Fengzhou, and there are a lot of tea leaves. Lao Sun's tea eggs are all boiled with good local tea, which is very tasty."

As he said, he asked for a few and let them try it.

The tea eggs are spiced and smell very fragrant.

"I'll do it." Wen Jixue peeled one and handed it to Mu Qingyan. He didn't eat it himself, wiped off the water stains on his hands, and watched the boats coming and going in Duku.He had come to Fengzhou before, also to investigate Huangli's death, but everything seemed to be fine at that time.

Not long after, the attendants found two carriages, entered Fengzhou City, had lunch at Liuxianju, and came to Qiu's house.

Although the Qiu family has a small population, the house is not small, and a servant has come back to report that the guest room and yard have been tidied up.

Besides the housekeeper of the Qiu family at the gate, there was also a seven-foot-tall man who called "Father" when he saw Qiu Hai.This person is Qiu Hai's eldest son-in-law, Yang He.Yang He's facial features were upright, he looked like a steady and down-to-earth person, met Mu Qingyan and the others, and helped Qiu Hai walk inward.

Because Mu Qingyan and his party are all men, it is difficult for Qiu Baozhen to come out to meet each other.

When we arrived at the guest house, servants soon brought hot water.After many days of boating, water was inconvenient, and I was finally able to take a hot bath comfortably.Even though Qiu Hai was impatient, he was not in a hurry. He handed over the arrangements for the evening banquet to his eldest daughter Baozhen, sent out a few posts, and then went back to his room to rest.

It was dark, the lights of Qiu's house were brightly lit, and the maids brought various dishes to the table.

Tonight's welcome banquet was not only for Mu Qingyan and his party, Qiu Hai also invited the magistrate of the county yamen, the master and the head hunter, as well as several friends to accompany him.Qiu Hai went to Fenglin to invite people, and they all knew that this time they hosted the county magistrate and others, naturally hoping for convenience.The county magistrate has been here for two years and has not handled the case of the murder of the Qiu family's daughter, but the officials are tactful, making friends with the local rich and powerful, making it easier for him and others.

Furthermore, now that Mu Qingyan is quite famous, everyone is quite curious and naturally wants to see it with their own eyes.

The atmosphere during the banquet was good, with delicious food and wine, and the guests enjoyed themselves.

Although some things are not mentioned on the surface, they are tacit to each other.

Early the next morning, Yang He took a few people to the county government as an accompanying guest, while Wen Jixue stayed at Qiu's house.

Catcher Jin of the county government had been waiting for them for a long time, led them into a room, and brought them a case file not long after.

"Mr. Mu, please take a look. This is the case file for the murder of the youngest daughter of the Qiu family. The post-mortem report and witness testimony are all complete." Catcher Jin's attitude was very kind, and he even slightly lowered his posture.Whether it was because of the Qiu family or because he believed in Mu Qingyan's own abilities, it was undoubtedly very convenient for Mu Qingyan to investigate the case.

Mu Qingyan looked through the case file and nodded secretly. The information on it is very complete, especially the identity information of the key witnesses or related persons to be interrogated.

Mu Qingyan has a good memory, and after reading slowly, these things are remembered in his mind.

Chen Shiliu was not idle either. He took out the booklet and took a quick note while reading it.He Chuan couldn't do this job. He Chuan barely knew a few words, such as recognizing the name of the signboard, and some uncommon ones had to be guessed.

Mu Qingyan looked at Yang He: "Do you still have the room of the second girl of the Qiu family?"

Yang He hurriedly said: "Keep it, nothing has been touched. The master loves my little sister. It is a thought to keep the place where she lived before, and occasionally go back to sit. We have actually persuaded him, worried that it would be bad for his health. Too much persuasion made him angry again. This time the master insisted on going to Fenglin to invite Mr. Mu, worried that Baozhen and I would not agree, so he said "cut first and play later". Mr. Mu, please take care of my little sister."

After three years of precipitation, for Yang He and Qiu Baozhen, they have slowly come out of the past.Recalling the beginning, I will no longer cry in grief, but the case has not been solved, and it sinks in the bottom of my heart in the end, lingering.

Mu Qingyan didn't procrastinate, he finished reading the case and waited for Chen Shiliu to complete the record before returning to Qiu's house.

He was going to Qiu Baozhu's former residence, which was also the place where the other party died.

Qiu Baozhu died one night in early summer three years ago.As the second miss of the Qiu family, she has her own courtyard, and there are several servant girls around her. Once the courtyard door is closed at night, even other members of the family cannot enter.Furthermore, there is a door between the inner family and the front yard, and the courtyard wall of the Qiu family's house is also very high.

It is said that the reason why the eldest daughter Qiu Baozhen found her sister's body first was because Qiu Baozhen came to discuss with her sister about going out to offer incense that morning.Qiu Baozhen came very early, the door of her sister's courtyard hadn't been opened yet, and when the maid opened the door, she saw that the door of her sister's room was still closed, and no one woke up.Qiu Baozhen stood outside the door and yelled twice, but no one answered, she reached out and knocked on the door, whichever door was not bolted, it opened as soon as she touched it.As soon as the door was opened, the smell of blood rushed to the face, and when one looked into the room, it was a miserable scene.

The maids in the courtyard all said that they didn't hear the cry that night, and Qiu Baozhu suspected that his head was chopped off after his death.

This is strange, people are killed, why bother to cut off their heads?

Usually there is no head case, either to hide the identity, or to hide a certain characteristic, of course, it may also be purely to vent anger.It is unlikely that an unmarried little girl will be vented like this.The burial of the body was carried out by his sister Qiu Baozhen herself, so it is impossible to recognize her sister.

Then, there is a high possibility that there is evidence of the murderer on the head.

In addition, the inspection of the work sealed in the case file is very rough, probably the money was sent by the Qiu family.This is inevitable, after all, Qiu Baozhu's unmarried girl, even if she died, the Qiu family would not let Wu Zuo look through the body.

Qiu Baozhen is the only mistress of the Qiu family, and the others are maids and wives, so there is no need for Yang He to shy away from leading them into the inner house.He said hello in advance, took the key to the yard, and called all the maids who used to serve in the yard so that they could ask questions.

In the past, the courtyards of the Qiu family sisters were very close to each other, but after the eldest daughter got married, they separated.

The courtyard of the youngest daughter Qiu Baozhu is very large, with seven or eight houses, complete with front and rear porches, and many kinds of flowers and plants in the courtyard, especially peony.It's not yet the flowering period of the peonies, but the courtyard is very clean, and the flowers and plants are well maintained, obviously someone takes care of it from time to time.After all, there are no people in the courtyard for a long time, and there is no popularity at all.

—— Time went back to that night three years ago.

It's just summer, and the nights are a little chilly.

The two big maids in the courtyard went around and saw that everything was in order, so they closed the courtyard door and went back to sleep.The lady doesn't let them spend the night in the house, so those on night duty sleep in the next room so that they can listen to the movement and serve.It was getting late at this moment, the young lady fell asleep, and they also went back to the room to fall asleep.

The night was getting darker and darker, and when it was midnight, the door of the main room suddenly opened.

With the brilliance of stars all over the sky, one can see clearly that it is a pretty girl, it is Qiu Baozhu, the second miss of the Qiu family.Qiu Baozhu came out on tiptoe, still carrying a heavy package in her hand, after hearing the movements of the maids, she quietly opened the courtyard door and went out.

Mu Qingyan frowned, not expecting such a change.

He was not in a hurry to follow Qiu Baozhu, but just stayed in the courtyard and continued to watch.

At the fourth watch, I heard a call in a trance, it was far away and it was not real, but there were fragmented footsteps looking for the sound, and then it became quiet.

Another half an hour later, there were footsteps coming outside the courtyard. It sounded like two people, with heavy footsteps and heavy breathing, a man and a woman.Before Qiu Baozhu sneaked out, the courtyard door was ajar, the two carefully opened the courtyard door and came in, the man among them was actually Yang He.Then look at another woman, beautiful in appearance, around twenty years old, she should be Qiu Baozhen, the daughter of Qiu's parents.

The faces of these two people were full of tears, especially Qiu Baozhen, the tears couldn't stop rolling down, and there was a choked sound in his throat.The two carried heavy objects and wrapped them in a long blanket, which was a bit difficult.They were still very careful when they entered the yard, and pushed open the door of the main house, then put the blanket on the ground and opened it, and inside was a headless corpse, dressed in the same dress as Qiu Baozhu before.

Qiu Baozhen couldn't hold back, almost cried out, and quickly covered her mouth with her hands.

Yang He wiped away his tears and urged her in a low voice: "Hurry up, be careful not to wake someone up."

The two carried the headless body into the house and took away the bloody blanket.

When they left, the courtyard door was only closed and not bolted. After all, people were outside and it was difficult to bolt the door.

Not long after, someone came back, inserted a thin iron rod into the crack of the door, moved it little by little, and finally tied the door.

After dawn, Qiu Baozhen was the first to come to the yard.Because the courtyard gate was tied from the inside, the maids didn't notice anything unusual, until Qiu Baozhen "discovered" the corpse, and the Qiu family fell into chaos.

Mu Qingyan glanced at Yang He, then walked out of the courtyard.

"Mr. Mu?" Yang He's heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly followed.

"I want to take a look around, is it convenient?" He asked without any hesitation.

Yang He was confused and a little nervous, but he still nodded: "Of course it's convenient."

Mu Qingyan followed the route on the night Qiu Baozhu was killed.

Qiu Baozhu was just fifteen years old, and she had already made a marriage agreement, so no matter what, she shouldn't sneak out in the middle of the night with her bundle.This makes people guess towards elopement.However, even if she leaves the courtyard where she lives, she cannot go out of the second gate of the inner courtyard. There is a woman on duty at night, and even if the woman falls asleep, the sound of pulling the door latch can wake people up.A little girl can't afford to go over the courtyard wall, let alone bribe the old woman.

Then the question arises: Would Qiu Baozhu be so naive?

Knowing to prepare the burden in advance, and sneaking out the door quietly in the dead of night, must have thought about it a lot.Among other things, how to leave home must have been carefully considered, and it must be implemented with a certain success rate.

What is she relying on?

Not long after walking, a moon gate appeared in front of him.

Yang He said, "This is the back garden."

Mu Qingyan stepped in.

The back garden of the Qiu family was built with southern characteristics, with small bridges and flowing water, rockery pavilions, exotic flowers and plants.There are scenery to enjoy in the garden in all seasons, and waterside pavilions are built by the water, so it is good to live in the cool air in summer.

In the dead of night, Qiu Baozhu walked into the shadowy back garden alone, carrying a bundle.

She went all the way to the edge of a bamboo grove, picked a stone stool and sat down, with the bundle on her knees, looked up at the stars in the night sky, and smiled very sweetly.But whoever saw her joke, no one suspected that she was waiting for her lover.

Bamboo clusters are densely grown, and the shadows are like ink, like dormant beasts.

The starry-eyed Qiu Baozhu didn't know that there was someone waiting quietly in the shadow behind her.