Nongmen Shenjue

The inside of the cave looked huge, but at this moment, there were ten or twenty people coming in, and it seemed crowded all of a sudden.

In the middle is a large piece of ash wrapped in bones, and everyone stands aside.

Although Pang Zhong was the servant of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, he was released as a county magistrate in his early years, and he had seen the scene of the crime a lot, but such a tragedy like the one in front of him is rare.The four skeletons, especially when looking at the posture of the skeletons when they died, with their hands and legs together, their bodies curled up and bowed, as if they were tied up, and there are exactly four skeletons, which makes people think of the four Li Ziying who have never seen anyone alive or dead.

Thinking of this possible outcome, Pang Zhong's complexion hardly improved.

"Survey!"

As soon as an order was given, someone immediately started to act.

Spread a clean white cloth on the ground, restrain the four bones one by one, and carefully lift them out. After all, the space in the cave is too small and too dark.After the bones were carried out, Lin Jia and Yuan Cheng split into two and searched the cave for traces of ashes.

The ashes are quite thick. Although the outline of the firewood is clearly left, it shatters as soon as it is touched. It burns very well. It can be imagined that the fire was very big and fierce at that time, and it took a long time to burn. More importantly, there is no firewood left. Especially at the edge of the ash, there are usually some unburned tails left, but there is no such thing here, there is definitely a combustion aid.

"The soil layer below has been turned over." Lin Jia discovered the clue.

Yuan Cheng also saw the side of the cave, the ground close to the cave wall was very tight, the color of the ground one or two feet apart was not quite the same, and the soil layer was also softer.Pushed away the ashes again, and poked it downward with a wooden stick. The surface layer was slightly hardened by the fire, and it was pierced in with a little effort, but the bottom layer was obviously softer.

Yuan Cheng nodded in agreement: "Indeed, this cave was completely turned over, probably two or three months ago, and something may have been buried underneath."

In an ordinary cave, no one would bother to dig the soil. Now that it has been dug, it means that there is a problem.In particular, such a hidden place was regarded as the scene of the crime, but it was not intentionally hidden, otherwise the burned bones could be buried with soil.

According to the experience of handling cases, it can only show that this place is special and has special significance.

"Dig!" Pang Zhong waved his hand and stepped out of the cave.

Others came out, and five or six government officials went in with tools to dig.

On the open space outside the cave, there were already four corpses neatly arranged. The clean white cloth and the black bones were particularly distinct.

"Let's do it." Pang Zhong ordered Lin Jia and Yuan Cheng.

Lin Jia and Yuan Cheng stood in front of the corpse. Of course, it wasn't the two of them who did the autopsy themselves.At the moment, being a slave is a cheap job, autopsy is an unlucky job, all the county magistrates are scholars of the imperial examination, and even entering the Ministry of Criminal Justice as a criminal officer feels that it is detrimental to the character of the literati, let alone go to the autopsy.However, county magistrates or criminal officers know a little about autopsies, such as Lin Jia and Yuan Cheng. Their skills are not inferior to those of the occupants, but they only use their mouths, and the occupants operate according to their dictation.

Those who are in charge of the manual operation are the attendants brought by these two people.

After a series of tests, a preliminary conclusion was drawn, and it was judged that the four had suffered different degrees of torture before their lives, including broken hands and legs, broken sternum and ribs, etc., and the mouths of the four were distended, and even if only the skeleton was left, the pain could be seen Fear should be burned to death by fire.Then measure the height of the four people to see the approximate skeleton shape, which is similar to Li Ziying's four people.

The autopsy was very slow, and everyone waited in silence.

With the results obtained, the excavation work in the cave has also come out.

A yamen officer ran out with a pale face: "My lord imperial envoy, there is a corpse pit in the cave, full of bones."

Pang Zhong's face suddenly became colder: "Clean it up."

After spending one or two hours, all the bones buried in the cave were finally cleared out, a total of 14 people.

However, Mu Qingyan knew that there were more than these bones originally buried, and more than a dozen of them were taken away.Counting it, Li Ziying and the others not only did five official robberies, they must have also kidnapped people from other places, but it was relatively scattered, and they must be foreigners, so they didn't attract attention.

By the time the work was over, it was already mid-afternoon.

The imperial envoy didn't cry tired or hungry, and the others didn't dare to object, but Pang Zhong's face was stern, and he couldn't care less about eating and drinking.This result was expected, but it was also the worst kind. Fortunately, there were people from the Shenhunsi to follow, otherwise it would be difficult to report back to Beijing.

With an order, all the bones were sent back to the cottage and temporarily placed in an empty house.

The imperial envoys led most of them back to the county seat first, leaving Chief Cui behind, and the officials of the county government continued to search to prevent omissions.As for the bones, a car must be sent from the county government to pull them, the identity of the victim must be confirmed, and the victim's family must be notified, all of which can be handled by the county government.Pang Zhong, an imperial envoy, also went to meet Wen Mingyu. Now finding the bones is just the beginning. They are investigating the case by order. The murderer is not complete until the case is clarified.

The trivial matters are still Mu Qingyan's and others', and Lin Jiayuan Cheng has no complaints about it.As a small and humble person, I have realized it a long time ago, not to mention that compared with what happened in the first few days, now I am doing practical things anyway.

Checking the identity of the bones is not an easy task.

Because there are only bones left, it is impossible to distinguish from the characteristics of facial features and length. Just looking at the skeleton and height is too general.In addition, the victims recorded in the Yamen were all from the five robberies. A total of 20 people were taken away, including Li Ziying and other 26 people. This does not match the number found so far. Furthermore, there may be hidden victim.

Mu Qingyan did know that except for Li Ziying, the rest of the accomplices were thrown into the bottom of the cliff.That place is not far from the cave, a few zhang cliffs, from the top it looks like a big gaping mouth, dense vegetation, that kind of place is habitually populated by poisonous insects, snakes and ants, no one dares to go down easily.

Mu Qingyan and Chen Shiliu were in charge of looking through the missing list, not only in Wanxia County, but also in surrounding counties such as Tianning Prefecture and Wuyi County.

On Pang Zhong's side, he arranged for people to visit the family members of the deceased in the robbery.

Many things have not been announced, but no one is a fool. Once all kinds of clues are connected, the incident can basically be restored.Even if they sympathized with the family of the deceased, if they really killed Li Ziying and the others, they would still have to be arrested.Among the people, it is pity for individuals to take revenge. Since the bandits are killed, they can be exempted from punishment and even rewarded. Backed by the favorite concubine of the dynasty.

It's like the person who handles the case sympathizes with sympathy, but has to continue to investigate.

Mu Qingyan thought of Zhu Yi, the title of Evil Bodhisattva is not for nothing, even if he is really keen to avenge others, he will not be polite in accepting rewards.Those who participated in the revenge must have agreed to the request of the evil Bodhisattva, and they naturally knew the price of revenge, so they should make arrangements for their families.

In a blink of an eye, on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, except for Li Ziying, the other 22 bones were also found.

The case has been classified as revenge murder, and dozens of people were sent out by the Yamen to find the victims from various households.The transportation is inconvenient, and those captives are all merchants from other places. The journey is far away, and there is no response for the time being.

It was dark now, and there were scattered snowflakes.

Mu Qingyan borrowed the kitchen to cook Laba porridge in the big pot.The rice and beans had been soaked and had been cooked for a long time, so he freed up his hands to make two dishes.I eat it in a restaurant during the day, and I plan to light it up at night, without any troublesome things, fried ham with garlic sprouts, a plate of pickled cucumbers, and a plate of small pickles.

Hearing footsteps coming in, he looked back and was taken aback.

The person who came was Wen Jixue, still wearing his usual clothes, a black cloak with a big fur collar over the red clothes, white snow on his hair, and he smiled at him when he came in: "Ayan, are you alright?"

"...Okay." Mu Qingyan frowned imperceptibly.

Wen Jixue stood by the stove, picked up a big spoon to stir a pot of porridge, and the aroma and heat rushed to her face, and she couldn't help taking a deep breath: "It smells so good! Ah Yan's craftsmanship."

Mu Qingyan looked him up without any trace, put three dishes on a wooden tray, and walked out with them, saying as he walked, "Put the porridge in a pot and take the bowls and chopsticks. The remaining porridge will be notified to County Magistrate Lin soon." Take the two yourself."

Jiao Li is helping to light the fire, so I'm not afraid they won't be able to carry it.

But before Mu Qingyan came out of the kitchen, Wen Jixue came over and grabbed the tray: "It's so cold, let's eat in the kitchen. Chen Shiliu will send it to him, and County Magistrate Lin will ask Jiao Li to let him know." Just do it."

Mu Qingyan smiled: "Okay, it's not a big deal, it's just that the kitchen is small and it's not easy to sit."

Wen Jixue directly moved a square table, which was originally used to place scattered things, wiped it with a rag, put the dishes on it, and filled two bowls of porridge: "Ayan, sit down."

Mu Qingyan sat down, looked at the chopsticks stretched out from the opposite side, and picked pickled cucumbers for him.

"This hot porridge must be served with side dishes to be delicious." Wen Jixue stirred the porridge with a spoon, tasted it, and squinted her eyes in satisfaction. In an instant, her whole temperament changed greatly.With a laugh, he opened his eyes, with the corners of his mouth slightly raised, evil and dangerous: "How did Ah Yan find out?"

"If I told you, wouldn't you be more prepared next time?" Mu Qingyan seemed calm, but in reality he was already full of vigilance.

The person in front of him is not Wen Jixue at all!

Zhu Yi!

He heard footsteps coming in first, he didn't pay attention, but when he found out that it was "Wen Jixue", he felt strange, because the footsteps sounded wrong, even if they were similar, they didn't belong to Wen Jixue.It's just that, at that moment, he thought that he was too sensitive and misunderstood, but when the other party came in and opened his mouth to speak, there was a sense of disobedience all the time.It's not that Zhu Yi has revealed any flaws, but a kind of intuition, his mental strength is sharp, even if his eyes don't notice it, his perception will remind him.

I heard earlier that Zhu Yi is good at disguise, and can imitate human voices, he can be a man or a woman, it is difficult for people to find his flaws.In addition, Zhu Yi was involved in this case, so when he realized that "Wen Jixue" violated the agreement, he immediately thought of Zhu Yi.

Originally, he wanted to find an excuse to leave, but obviously Zhu Yi didn't give him the chance.

"Wen Jixue is so lucky to have such a wonderful person as you to accompany me." Zhu Yi's voice changed, it was no longer Wen Jixue's voice, but a woman's voice, soft and melodious, only this voice can Softens the bones of men.However, now he is still wearing the appearance of Wen Jixue...

Mu Qingyan couldn't help frowning: "What's the matter?"

"Well, I have some news for you." Zhu Yi's voice changed again, and it was a clear man: "There is a nunnery in the southeast of Wuyi County, and Young Master Wen of the God Catching Department is enjoying the tenderness there."

Before he finished speaking, Zhu Yi flew out like a phantom, and was fighting with a person facing him in the courtyard.The visitor was also dressed in red, and it was Wen Jixue who rushed over after waiting for Mu Qingyan for a long time.

As soon as Wen Jixue saw another self, she didn't understand the identity of the other person, so she immediately made a fierce move.

However, Zhu Yi refused to fight, her sleeves shook, and countless white powders splashed out. Taking advantage of Wen Jixue's hiding place, she vacated and left quickly, only bursts of laughter echoed: "A Yan cooks good porridge, how can you change it?" Come back someday to taste it.”

This is deliberately provocative.

Wen Jixue snorted coldly, and hurriedly walked up to Mu Qingyan to check: "Are you all right?"

Mu Qingyan shook his head: "It's okay, I found out that he was wrong a long time ago. However, Wen Mingyu suffered a loss in his hands."

Mu Qingyan didn't think it was wrong that Wen Jixue didn't go after Zhu Yi, after all, Zhu Yi didn't do anything here, and most importantly, Wen Jixue's antidote had to fall on Zhu Yi.

Wen Jixue sneered: "This Zhu Yi has caused a lot of trouble, and it has given him a headache. He dare not show up in a short time."

Mu Qingyan was puzzled at first, then understood.

The four people that Zhu Yi killed this time were not ordinary people, they were all the sons of dignitaries in the capital, one or two was all it took, he killed four at once.Not to mention the families the four belong to, even the court looks ugly, especially Li Ziying's involvement with Concubine Li in the palace. The countermeasures seriously affected the prestige of the court.

Furthermore, Zhu Yi is a man of the rivers and lakes, and it is a taboo to confront the children of the powerful and powerful, and directly confront the court.

He was originally on the list of the God Detective Division, but this time, it is not only the God Detective Division, I am afraid that the court will offer a reward.Under the stimulus of a lot of money, no matter how scary Zhu Yi's rumors are, there will always be someone who will take the risk.Too many ants killed elephants, no matter how powerful Zhu Yi was, she had to avoid the limelight.

Mu Qingyan thought about it, and suddenly smiled and said, "Just now he pretended to be you, but he spoke in a woman's voice, which is quite interesting."

Wen Jixue raised her eyebrows, wanting to be angry, but also a little helpless: "A Yan thinks it's interesting? Blame me for coming too early for disturbing you?"

Mu Qingyan chuckled, and reached out to touch his face: "No matter how you look, it's not you, and it's not like I can't recognize you. I don't want him to act like you."

Wen Jixue stretched her brows and eyes, and her eyes were full of smiles: "Let's go, let's eat."

The two of them didn't go to the kitchen anymore, Gao Tian Jiaoli went to serve the dishes and porridge, and went back to the room to eat.

However, when Zhu Yi left, there was a commotion, not only Chen Shiliu, Lin Jia, Yuan Cheng and others heard the sound, even the imperial envoys also sent people to inquire.

Mu Qingyan looked at Wen Jixue.

Wen Jixue said to the attendant sent by the imperial envoy: "The one who came just now is a friend from the world, it is not convenient to show up, but because of friendship, he brought a message."

Then, he told about Wen Mingyu.

"My cousin is in the nunnery?" Chen Shiliu's eyes were full of surprise and doubt.

But the attendant listened and didn't bother to inquire about the "friends in the rivers and lakes", so he hurried to report to the imperial envoy.