Operating at night would easily attract the attention of the servants. Having learned his lesson, Zhou Yuan decided to visit Fulinyuan on the day.
This Fulinyuan is the residence of Mrs. He. Ever since the incident about the haunted dry well in the backyard came out, she has rarely gone out in the claustrophobic courtyard. Some people say that she is guilty of harming people, saying that she was the one who instigated Mrs. He to force Xiu Ying to death. Others say that she did not want to see her son and daughter-in-law committing evil outside, so she stayed in the courtyard to eat fast and chant Buddha's name to atone for her sins.
Mrs. Zhou Yu'an knew what these people looked like, so she placed the tiles and landed lightly on another roof.
There was a kitten lying on the roof. It raised its head when it heard the sound of stepping on tiles. After looking around, there was no sign of anyone.
Zhou Yu'an quietly entered Fulinyuan and found Mrs. He's bedroom without any mistakes. According to the information provided by Chunhong, Mrs. He should be worshiping Buddha in her small Buddhist hall at this time.
Pushing open the bedroom door, an unpleasant smell hit my face. The smell was very special. The smell of blood was mixed with the smell of filth, and the filth contained a hint of corpse smell.
Judging from the corpse aura, this person had been dead for about two days.
Following the smell, he walked to the big bed and opened the bed curtains, only to see that there were no quilts on the bed. On such a cold day, there was only a mat on the bed. There was a large stain in the middle of the mat, like an old man's incontinence.
Upon closer inspection, he found unwiped blood stains in the cracks of the bed.
Old Mrs. He didn't like the crowd. In addition to the nanny who followed her, there was also a cook and two girls.
The cook was picking vegetables in the kitchen, and from the side she saw a woman in her thirties.
Two maids were doing needlework in the servant's room, one big and one small, one was quiet and the other was making trouble. They looked very similar, so they should be a pair of biological sisters.
Zhou Yu'an did not see the nanny Chun Hong mentioned. According to previous calculations, she should have accompanied Mrs. He to the Buddhist temple.
Everyone is in the yard, who is dead?
I squinted my eyes and looked around, and found that the boxes containing clothes in the room were in a mess. They were originally placed in the order of the four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. In order to make it easier to pick up clothes, some people would adjust them according to the solar terms and put the clothes of the current season in the front, such as winter, spring, summer, and autumn.
Right now, Mrs. He's four boxes were in a mess, and one of them was stained with blood.
Opening the box, I found that it was not filled with clothes, but the bedding that was supposed to be placed on the bed. The bedding was rolled up haphazardly, and there were a large number of sachets placed around it. The pungent aroma was wrapped in the unpleasant corpse stench.
The deceased had no head and all his clothes had been stripped off. Judging from his body shape, he should be around 50 to 55 years old. The deceased had fair skin and his nails were carefully taken care of. At first glance, he looked like he was not a servant doing menial work in the mansion. There were two wounds on the deceased's body, one was a stab wound directly into the heart, and the other was an impact wound on the deceased's back.
Then, Zhou Yu'an had such a picture in his mind.
The murderer and the victim had an argument, and the murderer pushed the victim, causing the victim to hit a box containing clothes. As a result, the victim not only had impact injuries, but also a mark similar to a copper lock.
The copper lock is not small, but to cause such an impact injury requires great strength, or the victim was wearing single clothes when he hit the copper lock.
The only people who can wear single clothes in this room are Mrs. He and her personal nanny.
There was such a big movement but no maid came to check, which showed that they were used to it and that the two parties involved in the dispute were people they could not afford to offend.
So is this deceased Mrs. He or the nanny next to her?
There were footsteps in the yard, Zhou Yu'an locked the box and hid aside. A strange thing happened. She actually saw Mrs. He entering the room with her grandma.
They knew that there was a dead body in the room, and Mrs. He also told Auntie to deal with the matter.
Fuyang County Government Office, after receiving the news, Shen Chongming immediately arranged for the government servants to capture the grandmother who was trying to dump the body with a sword.
Facing Mr. Li's inquiry, Grandma remained silent.
The yamen officers searched her body and found several banknotes and a bag of loose silver coins, as well as a road guide to Chongzhou.
"Sneaking out from the back door of He Mansion in the middle of the night, she not only brought the body with her, but also brought directions and transportation. Where is Nanny Yu planning to go? Who is this body that you hid in the box?"
"Your Majesty asked, I don't know that this body appeared on its own." Aunt Yu said with a sullen face: "The night the young master was killed, there was lightning and thunder. The old lady felt uneasy, so she took me to the Buddhist hall, until She came out of the Buddhist hall early the next morning. Before she could return to her room, she heard the bad news, saying that the young madam had killed the young master. The old lady was anxious to see the young master. Halfway through, her blood boiled over her heart, and she was sent to shopkeeper Liu of Jishan Hall. Your Excellency If you don't believe it, you can call shopkeeper Liu and ask. When I returned home, it was already evening. When I opened the door, I smelled a disgusting smell of blood. When I lit the lamp, I discovered that it was a headless corpse. .”
"Since you didn't kill the person, why didn't you report it to the official?"
"The young master died tragically, Lianxiang was killed, and even the corpses buried in the dry well were dug out. There are too many things in the house, and the old lady is not willing to let the master worry about it anymore. Besides, we are not the first to worry about this kind of thing. An encounter, but the only things they have seen before are mice, rabbits, and skinned snakes. They want the old lady to be afraid and hand over the key hidden in her hand."
"Key? The one in the He family's secret room?" Shen Chongming looked at the grandma in front of him. He always felt that something was wrong.
Suddenly, he saw her hand and turned it over.
"You are not Aunt Yu, who are you?"
"Yu Xiulian, Grandma Yu's sister, twins from the same mother, look almost identical." Zhou Yu'an leaned outside the county office: "Half a month ago, she came to Fuyang County in the name of visiting relatives. She didn't go anywhere. Yu Xiulian went to the Yuelai Inn to visit her sister, but she took the opportunity to go out to buy incense and candles and went to the Yuelai Inn to meet her. A week ago, Yu Xiulian left the Yuelai Inn. Before leaving, she had a dispute with the shop clerk. After scolding her at the door, she watched Yu Xiulian get on the carriage and drive towards the city gate. Because the color of her carriage was too outstanding, the soldiers guarding the city also had some memories of her, but she did not leave the city, but sneaked back secretly Arrived at He Mansion."
"Who is this girl? How come you know so much about my sisters?" Aunt Yu turned around and looked at Zhou Yu'an, "I do have a sister who married to Chongzhou, and I am here to seek refuge with her."
"You call returning home a refuge. You two sisters acted so well. It's a pity that Tianwang Huihui didn't miss it. You are not Aunt Yu, but her sister Yu Xiulian." Zhou Yu'an grabbed her hand: "You sisters seem to have the same background, but your experiences are different."
