Yan Qi is responsible for investigating the second deceased, Xie Ping.
Instead of asking directly, she approached a few children in Dongping County who often ran errands.
I heard that these children often help the people in the county run errands and deliver things, and they can also make a little money on the way. They are also the most well-informed.
This group of children often gathers in a ruined temple in the east of the city.
But this group of children looked sloppy and dirty.
"Don't you ever wash your face?" Yan Qi frowned when he saw it.
The eldest child said: "Of course, it's just a small wash every three days and a big wash every five days."
Yan Qidao: "How do you wash in a small wash? How do you wash in a big wash?"
The oldest child said: "Garlic Nose, wash it and show it to her."
The child named Garlic Nose stretched out and said, "I just washed it yesterday, and today it's the peeing bug's turn."
The kid who called the piss bug sighed: "Then you should at least bring the guy who washes your face."
While they were talking, a child happened to come in with two buckets of water.
The peeing bug used a broken bowl to scoop out more than half of the bowl of water, and then took a piece of yellow and black cloth from the wall, which color it was originally unknown.
The piss bug first drank the water and held it in his mouth, then spread out the towel with his hands, rinsed his mouth vigorously, and then sprayed a mouthful of water on the cloth in his hand, casually wiped it on his face, and loosened it. He said in a tone: "Okay, I'm done washing."
After Yan Qi saw these operations, he was stunned for a moment.
"I'll give this to you. I want to ask you something." Yan Qi took out a dozen coins from his pocket.
The oldest child said: "What do you want to ask?"
Yan Qi described the scholar Wang Erhu mentioned that night, and mentioned Xie Ping by the way.
One of the children, who seemed to be the youngest, said, "I know that man. He is the gentleman the Xie family invited to teach their young master. He is very poor!"
"What's your name? Where do you live?" Yan Qi asked.
The child thought for a moment and said, "I live in West Fifth Street and rent a house from landlord Liu Mazi. It's called... I think it's Zhu Deng!"
After the child finished speaking, he glanced at the oldest child again.
The biggest one is clearly their head!
But the eldest child only gave him a copper plate.
The child was a little dissatisfied: "I answered the question alone."
The oldest one said: "Who told you to be small!"
Yan Qi said to the child: "Do you know the specific location of Zhu Deng on West Fifth Street?"
The child nodded.
Yan Qi said: "Take me there and I will give you five cents."
After she said this, the child immediately became happy and jumped up and down with Yan Qi towards West Fifth Street.
Most of the people living here on West Fifth Street are immigrants.
That Zhu Deng rented someone else's house, so he was probably not a native of Dongping County.
The child took her to the door and left with five cents.
Yan Qi was about to knock on the door, but the door opened first.
The man who opened the door was carrying a bag and seemed to be preparing to leave.
"Zhu Deng?" Yan Qi said.
Juden was very wary: "Who are you?"
"From the Yamen."
Yan Qi said that he was about to open the door and go in. Zhu Deng immediately became unhappy: "What are you doing? People in the Yamen can't break into private houses!"
Yan Qi asked back: "Xie's family won't let you go, so you want to leave?"
Zhu Den was speechless immediately.
Yan Qi looked at him carefully again.
Juden is still a little blue around his eyes!
Obviously, those were bruises and scars that only appeared after being beaten!
I guess I have been taught a lesson by the Xie family a lot now!
Yan Qi took another look at the courtyard where Zhu Deng lived. It looked very poor. So she said: "There are still doubts about Miss Xie's case. I want to ask you a few questions. You should answer truthfully. Maybe you can help her get justice!"
Zhu Deng looked confused after hearing this, and after a while he said, "Didn't Xiaoping commit suicide?"
"I'm not sure yet, but I'm sure it wasn't a simple suicide!" Yan Qi said.
"I knew it, I knew it!" Juden looked excited and even threw the baggage on the ground.
Then, he told his story with Xie Ping.
He is a down-and-out scholar, and the Xie family is a wealthy local gentry.
Zhu Deng ran out of money on his way back to his hometown. It happened that the Xie family was hiring a teacher for their youngest son, so Zhu Deng went.
While I was teaching, I got to know Miss Xie Ping from the Xie family.
Miss Xie admired Zhu Deng's scholarly talent very much. The man is affectionate and the concubine is interested. In the end, they make secret arrangements and achieve good things.
However, since the two of them ate the forbidden fruit, they naturally had to face the consequences.
Xie Ping is pregnant!
This matter was finally discovered by the Xie family!
Zhu Deng was not one to evade. He also liked Xie Ping, so he proposed to marry her.
Xie Ping is now pregnant out of wedlock, and the Xie family is a wealthy local gentry. If the matter spreads, wouldn't it mean that her face will be ruined?
So the Xie family could only agree.
But when the wedding day was about to be decided, something suddenly happened to Xie Ping!
The impoverished Zhu Deng had no status in the Xie family. Usually, if I want to eat some fresh rapeseed flowers, I have to look at Mr. Xie’s eyes.
The old lady of the Xie family even believed that Zhu Deng got Xie Ping through not-so-fair means, but the family scandal must not be made public, and she had to choose to swallow her anger, knock out her teeth and swallow her blood!
Now that Xie Ping died, the Xie family members unanimously believed that Zhu Deng had failed Xie Ping, so they made every possible effort to make things difficult for him.
Zhu Deng no longer had a foothold in Dongping County, so he was ready to leave.
Yan Qi remained calm and showed no change at all on his face.
This matter is indeed exactly what I guessed!
But Zhu Deng insisted that he had not let Xie Ping down and he sincerely wanted to marry her!
Moreover, as the saying goes, the Xie family is a wealthy family, rich and powerful in the local area. I am just a poor scholar who has not even passed the examination.
As long as Zhu Deng, who is impoverished, marries Xie Ping, he will be a high achiever! That is the toad eating the swan meat!
Therefore, it is absolutely impossible to say that Zhu Deng failed Xie Ping!
But in this case, Xie Ping has no reason to commit suicide!
So why did Xie Ping jump into the river again?
