"Um."
"Let's burn paper money first for Miss Song and the others who were killed."
After hearing about the pig butcher's situation, Jin An did not comment immediately. Instead, he stopped the cart carrying the coffin, then picked up large and small bags and walked towards the collapsed house.
Because the case has been closed and the real culprit has been caught and died in the fire, there are no government officials on duty at the scene. Jin An and the old Taoist priest successfully entered the fire scene.
The butcher's house was in a mess by the fire. The floor was covered with smoke-blackened bricks and tiles. Most of the roof was destroyed by the fire. All the flammable wood such as doors and windows were burned to char, revealing black holes.
Miss Song’s real name is Song Zhizhi.
The personal maid is called Caixia. .
Not to mention that the neighbor's aunt didn't believe that the pig butcher Tie Shuan was a kidnapper with a long history of crimes. Even Jin An and the old Taoist priest didn't believe that the pig butcher was a kidnapper.
Although the butcher is withdrawn and reticent due to his childhood experiences, which gives people a very rude impression. It is difficult for such a person to get along with the people around him, but just like the butcher was digging at himself last night, He was reluctant to buy a good coffin, but instead used all his life savings to buy paper money for Miss Song and the maid. You can see that the butcher is the kind of person with a cold face and a warm heart, and a kind heart. He is definitely not a greedy person. , a person who does all kinds of evil.
The butcher bought a lot of paper money for Miss Song and the maid. They burned it for a long time before only half of it was burned. At this time, footsteps and sounds of surprise came from behind the two of them.
"You are?"
Hearing the voice behind them, the two stood up and looked. It was an old man with half-white hair holding a wooden box in his hand. His clothes were neatly arranged. The old man also noticed the large number of people at the feet of Jin An and the old Taoist priest. Paper money, people were stunned for a moment.
Although the two of them had been burning for a while, and only half of the paper money was left at their feet, the amount was still very considerable. Just the fifteen kilograms, three large bundles of copper money paper, made people stunned.
In addition, there are three thousand gleaming gold foil ingot papers, which are extremely dazzling under the sun overhead.
"Two Taoist priests, who are you worshiping?" The old man looked at Jin An and the old Taoist priest in Taoist robes with an expression of surprise and confusion.
This kind of occasion is naturally the most suitable for the old Taoist priest to come forward: "Old man, we are entrusted by others to burn some paper money for Miss Song and Maid Caixia who are in distress."
Burn some paper money?
The old man looked at the paper money on the ground and the pot of ashes in the brazier. This was not a piece of paper money.
"Entrusted by others, by whom? Could it be that the confidantes of our young lady asked the two Taoist priests to come? They are also interested. If the young lady has a spirit in heaven, she will be very happy."
When talking about his young lady, the old man looked sad. Then he sighed and walked to Jin An and the old Taoist priest. He took out paper money and incense candles from the wooden box and burned them towards the collapsed house to pay homage to the deceased.
The wooden box was exquisitely made, with a deep interior and several layers of drawers. It looked like it came from a wealthy family.
Regarding being misunderstood, the old Taoist priest did not explain. Instead, he asked curiously: "From what I heard, do you come from the family of Mr. Song Haichuan, a famous local grain merchant?"
Through a brief conversation, the two confirmed the identity of the old man. This was indeed a servant from the Song family and an old housekeeper of the Song family. He fled to Jiangzhou Prefecture due to a flood when he was a child. It was also at that time that he entered the Song family and followed Grandpa Song Zhizhi all the time. Song Zhizhi has guarded the Song family for three generations and watched them grow up with his own eyes, so he has a deep affection for the Song family. Today, he specially came to the place where Song Zhizhi died to see the young lady again.
After such a huge change, the Song family is now grieving. Song Zhizhi's mother is ill and cannot afford to take care of business. Boss Song has no intention of taking care of business. He has to take care of his sick wife while preparing for the funeral.
Perhaps because the Taoist robes worn by Jin An and the old Taoist priests can easily bring a sense of security to the common people, or perhaps because they were moved by Jin An and the old Taoist priests' desire to worship their own lady, the old housekeeper of the Song family had a lot of conversations with the two. , the two also learned more details of the case.
Because they still had to find the butcher's body that had been buried in a mass grave and rebury the butcher, the two of them talked with the old housekeeper of the Song family for a while and said goodbye to the old housekeeper of the Song family.
"We have other things to do today. Let's say goodbye for now. We will stay at the Wu Zang Taoist Temple in Yonglefang. Elderly people are welcome to visit at any time. They will definitely serve good tea and water. Regarding Miss Song and Caixia, we still have Please grief."
After saying goodbye to each other, the two led the sheep cart all the way out of the city and arrived at the mass grave on the western outskirts of the city.
The south of the Yangtze River is mountainous, with not many big mountains. It is mainly composed of continuous hills. Jiangzhou Fucheng is a coastal trade city backed by continuous mountains. Standing on the hills, you can see the endless stretches outside the south of the city. The sails docked and unloaded in an orderly manner in the blue deep water bay, and then filled with a cargo of goods offshore. Maritime trade is developed. Jiangzhou Fucheng has always been an important trading port in the Jiangnan region, and there are ships from all over the world every day. People come and go here to unload and load goods. The prosperity here and the taxes paid to the treasury can be compared to one city in the north. The mountains here are gold mountains and the water here is silver water. They are ranked among more than a dozen important cities in Kangding State. If you enter the top five, you will be as rich as your country.
"Those ships are as big as his grandma! Standing on the hills outside the city, you can see the sails clearly!" On a bare hill outside the city where the trees have been cut down, the old Taoist priest looked at the prosperous port in the south of the city and said ruthlessly He sighed with emotion.
Those sailing merchant ships are mainly Fuchuan. The larger ones can carry five thousand materials, which is about 300 tons of cargo, or five or six hundred people. The smaller ones can carry one thousand to two thousand materials, which is about one hundred and twenty tons. Ton to 240 tons of cargo, or can carry 200 to 300 people. But these sea-going ships are not the largest. The largest sea-going merchant ships anywhere can be ten feet long and three feet wide. They can carry more than 800 tons of cargo to the ocean at a time. They are simply giants on the sea and mobile fortresses. Traveling across the ocean with Kangding's tea, ceramics, silk and other exquisite goods. It is said that this is not the largest sea-going ship in the Kangding Kingdom. The largest sea-going ship is the "Shenzhou" class, which can carry six to seven thousand materials. The Shenzhou ship's cabin can not only raise pigs, make wine, farm fields, but also open a market.
Inland river merchant ships are as small as babies in front of these sea-going merchant ships that can withstand the wind and waves of the sea.
No wonder the old Taoist priest sighed so deeply when he climbed up and looked at the ships.
Kangding State has Shibosi in the south, the Western Silk Road in the north, and the Tubo Tea Horse Road in the west, which have brought continuous wealth to Kangding State. At this time, Kangding State was at its most prosperous when the country was strong and the people were prosperous.
Compared with the sea-going ships in this stage, the ports in the south of the city are rising one after another. The shipyards that can manufacture these sea-going ships are the real giants. Each shipyard is like a small town, with many craftsmen busy like black-spotted ants. New ships are put into sea trials every day, bringing more trade wealth to Kangding. Only advanced shipbuilding technology can continue such a prosperous maritime trade.
"It's as tall as a mountain, floating on the waves, with a brocade sail and a bird's head, surrendering to the dragon." Jin An sighed sincerely.
After stopping to admire the giant ships racing with thousands of sails, the two began to search for the butcher's body in the mass grave.
"oops!"
The old Taoist priest just took a step and almost stumbled. Because the spring rain kept falling, a lot of soil in the mass graves was washed away by the rain, and some bones were washed away. The old Taoist priest just tripped over a few white human bones in the soil. .
The city is prosperous, and countless dead people have been buried in this mass grave over the years. It is no exaggeration to say that there are several layers of bones buried in every inch of land.
"It's been raining every day these days, and the mountain roads are slippery. Taoist, be careful." Jin An supported the old Taoist priest, and then handed the hoe to the old Taoist priest to use as a crutch for the time being.
Although the clues provided by the butcher were vague, fortunately there were not many places where puddles could accumulate in the mass graves. After checking one by one, they finally found an overturned wooden tomb marker in a puddle.
The writing on the tombstone is scrawled, and it looks like it was hastily made, but the word "iron bolt" can still be seen clearly.
The pig butcher had no father and mother, and he was a murderer who was convicted by the government. If the local government could collect his body, wrap it in a straw mat and bury it in a mass grave, it would be considered that the local government has done its best to be benevolent, and it cannot ask the local government to do so. How much do you like a murderer?
"Old Taoist, the body is right here, give me the hoe."
Jin An and the old Taoist priest put on scarves to prevent the smell of corpses, and then began to dig the grave. During the process, they dug out many human bones and some half-rotted dead people. The two continued digging while reciting the "Sutra of Savior".
Fortunately, the government officials were lazy and did not bury the person deeply, so they quickly found the body wrapped in a straw mat.
When the straw mat on which the body was wrapped was untied, a stench suddenly overflowed. The butcher had been burned to death. Even though the temperature was not high in March, the body was still decomposing very quickly and maggots were already growing on the body. Especially after being soaked in puddles for a long time, the body was severely swollen.
"Supreme Taiyi Due Tianzun."
"You are also a miserable person. You have become a lonely ghost. You only care about others. You would rather suffer yourself and customize the cheapest yellow coffin for yourself."
The old Taoist priest shook his head and sighed, as if he was regretting the bad luck in the pig butcher's life.
Jin An didn't have so many taboos about the dead. He picked up the maggot-soaked corpse, laid it flat in a dry place, and began to clean the corpse briefly. Then he put it back in the coffin and gave the butcher a decent burial.
The two had met, and he had a good impression of the man, so he thought he would take care of him more if he could.
Almost all of the pig butcher's body was scorched by the fire. Only the burns on his chest and face were lighter, but only slightly compared to the scorched parts. His back was the most severely burned, almost carbonized.
"The burns on the chest are minor and the burns on the back are severe. I have heard of some cases of burning to death. When people are burned to death, their bodies will curl up due to pain." The old Taoist priest looked at the pig butcher sympathetically.
Um?
Jin An, who was cleaning the surface of the corpse, suddenly frowned.
Ignoring the nausea of the decomposing corpse, he looked at the palms of the butcher's hands, then looked at the butcher's armpits and the inside of his arms, and found that the skin and flesh in these places were the least burned, almost still. Retains full flesh color.
With doubts, he checked other parts in detail and frowned: "He was burned to death by the fire while he was conscious. Before he died, he was holding someone in his arms."
When he heard that the pig butcher was burned alive by the flames while he was awake, the old Taoist priest took a breath: "How painful it is!"
"Little brother, are you saying that the pig butcher was burned to death while holding Miss Song and Maid Caixia?"
Jin An pointed at the butcher's face, throat, chest, inner arms, palms, thighs, and knees, and explained: "Old Taoist, look at the parts of the body I'm pointing to. The burns are much lighter than those on the back. The situation at the fire scene at that time should be that the butcher was kneeling on the ground, holding Miss Song and the maid Caixia in his arms... If I guessed correctly, the three people should have been hugging each other when they were burned to death. That's why it appeared. The burns on the back and calves were severe and almost carbonized, but the burns on the areas I pointed out were minor.”
The old Taoist priest was stunned: "Could it be that the butcher was trying to protect Miss Song and the two of them were burned to death in the fire and missed the best time to escape?"
After saying that, the old Taoist priest frowned tightly: "Little brother, do you suspect that the pig butcher is not the real kidnapper who kidnapped Miss Song and the two of them? Is this an unjust case?"
Jin An glanced at the old Taoist priest: "Old Taoist, do you think Tieshuan is the kind of person with a vicious face?"
The old Taoist slapped his thigh hard and shouted: "As an old Taoist, I know that the pig butcher is definitely not that kind of evil person!"
"Whether it is an unjust case or not, we cannot make a conclusion now without knowing more specific details of the case and the Yamen case files. We will talk about it when we go back first." Jin'an put the butcher's body into the coffin, but did not bury it on the spot. It was put on a cart and brought back to the coffin shop for personal autopsy.
"Old Taoist, I have to trouble you to go find the old housekeeper of the Song family, carefully understand all the details of the case, and ask Ming Tieshuan, Miss Song, and the maid Caixia how they died."
"I'll go back to the coffin shop first and plan to open the coffin myself and conduct an autopsy."
"Since we have received the money, we must do business with integrity and take care of all the funeral arrangements for our customers."
"Okay, little brother, I'll go to Tieshuan's house right away to find the old housekeeper of the Song family!" After the two returned to the city, the old Taoist priest ran non-stop to Shengpingfang.
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