A corpse that has been eaten by a wolf is a hundred times more horrifying than an ordinary dead person.
The flesh is connected to the tendons, the tendons are attached to the bones, the throat has been eaten, the head is almost separated from the body, the eye sockets are empty, and they have been licked clean by hungry wolves. The whole body is black, red and white, which is disgusting.
Yongpinghou, a military general, couldn't help but frown when he saw this broken body. There were already several young cadres around him who had never seen the world, covering their mouths and retching.
Princess Rongling ignored the churning in her stomach. She looked at the toes of her left foot that had lost all skin on the corpse in front of her and said in a trembling voice, "This is not Yan Qiao, this is Lu Tao..."
"Green peach?"
Cui Chun, the minister of Dali Temple, asked in surprise, and Marquis Yongping also looked at his wife in surprise.
"How can this be a green peach?"
Princess Rongling said: "Yang'er was naughty when he was young. He climbed up to the rockery to play. The stone came loose and Yang'er fell down. Lu Tao caught him, but Lu Tao was hit on the foot by the stone and kept him for more than three months. That's good, that was the first time I punished Yang'er to kneel in the ancestral hall, so I remember it very clearly."
Marquis Yongping was startled, "That seems to be the case."
He looked towards the place where the toe was broken and asked, "The big toe of the left foot."
Princess Rongling nodded with tears in her eyes.
It is true that there are people who regard servants as less than human beings, but she is not.
It is said that distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors, not to mention those who are by your side day and night. They take care of you when you are thirsty and hungry, and they are the first to know whether you are happy or not.
Lu Tao was particularly caring to her.
"Can you confirm when she died?"
Cui Chun said: "Although it is almost the beginning of spring, the temperature in the mountains is still very low. The bodies were frozen soon after being eaten by wolves, so it is really difficult to distinguish."
Princess Rongling took a deep breath and looked away from the body, "Since it's difficult to distinguish, let's keep quiet and let people from the Lin Mansion identify the body."
Cui Chun and Marquis Yongping were both a little confused.
Princess Rongling said: "It may not be Lu Tao who did it. If there is someone else who stole the short arrow, he should still be hiding in the house at this time. Don't alert the snake."
Marquis Yongping immediately understood what he was talking about and turned around to Cui Chun and said, "Excuse me, Mr. Cui."
Cui Chun quickly returned the courtesy, "You're welcome, Lord Marquis."
Princess Rongling held back her tears and glanced at Lu Tao's body before leaving Dali Temple with Marquis Yongping.
On the carriage, Princess Rongling told Marquis Changlan what he said, and then said: "Lv Tao is dead. There are only two possibilities. Either the person who bribed her will silence her, or the person who stole the short arrow will use her as a pawn." Scapegoat, what do you think?"
Marquis Yongping said: "I prefer the latter. That girl does things in an orderly manner and is not a fool. If she wants to harm Yang'er, there are countless ways in the house. Why bother going through such a big circle and causing trouble? So much right and wrong?”
Princess Rongling was in an extremely bad mood, "When I think that there might be a murderer hiding in the house, I feel horrified..."
"If there really is such a person, he won't do anything else for a while. Just pretend you don't know about it. However, it is a bit difficult to prove Yang'er's innocence."
If Lu Tao was the one who stole the arrows, if he found her, he could find out the whole story. But now that everyone in Lu Tao is dead, whether she did it or not, Song Yang's grievances cannot be cleared away.
Unless Yan Qiao or the murderer of Lu Tao is found, I really can't think of any good solution for a while.
*****
Wei Mansion.
Li Qingyi looked at Changning in surprise, "You said the butcher named Liu Yong is Jin Shu's uncle?"
Chang Ning nodded, "That's her uncle. Da Wu said that Liu Yong came to the Wei Mansion three days before Mr. Lin San went to Dali Temple to play drums and redress his grievances. And the few young boys he found later were indeed like this. What the girl said was that she was looking for green peaches."
Li Qingyi couldn't help but hissed, "I don't know if I'm overthinking it. I'll straighten it out and you guys can hear what's going on!"
The girls immediately cheered up and pricked their ears.
Li Qingyi clapped his fingers and said: "Liu Yong came to see Jin Shu. Within a few days, Lin Wenye went to the wolf's den and took out Song Yang's short arrow. Then he beat drums and complained against Song Yang. Liu Yong came to see Jin Shu again, and then I went to Yongpinghou Mansion and walked around. I heard that a girl in Yongpinghou Mansion was missing, so I went to sit in the tea shop and listened to the rumors outside. Then I returned to Wei Mansion to send news to Jin Shu. Shu obviously said something. After Liu Yong left, he found a few boys and asked them to look for Bitao..."
Jin Shu is Wei Laner's eldest girl. What she does is naturally Wei Laner's order.
The girls looked at each other in confusion, and Islam also imitated Li Qingyi and counted on her fingers: "Duanjian, suing, looking for Bitao...are they all related to Miss Wei San?"
Li Qingyi was really confused, "Why does this matter involve Wei Lan'er?"
"Yes, Miss Wei San seems to have no enmity with Mr. Song Xiaohou, right? Why does she need to harm him like this? It can't be that Jin Shu herself has a grudge against Mr. Song Xiaohou. Could it be that we are overthinking it? Maybe Wei The third girl just asked Liu Yong to inquire more about the Yongping Marquis Mansion, and it happened to happen to him!"
Li Qingyi really couldn't figure it out, "But why is she asking about the affairs of the Yongping Marquis Mansion? Apart from Song Yang being arrested, there is nothing to inquire about in the Yongping Marquis Mansion..."
Princess Rongling and Li Qingyi were both in a stalemate, but Lin Wenye was very happy.
A great revenge was about to be avenged, and he was relieved of the resentment he had been holding in his stomach. He felt that he could finally feel proud in front of Lin Shengyuan and Lin Dongxing!
The boy came in and reported, "Sir, someone from Dali Temple came and said they found a female corpse in the mountains. It was gnawed to a disgraceful state by wolves. Let's go and identify it to see if it's Yan Qiao."
Lin Wenye frowned, "How can I tell if Yan Qiao is not Yan Qiao? Let Chen Lu go."
Now that he has obtained evidence that Song Yang committed murder, even if Yan Qiao is alive, it is just the icing on the cake. If he died, it wouldn't matter whether he looked at it or not.
Chen Lu was assigned such an errand, and she felt a little guilty, not because she wanted to see the corpse, but because she was going to Dali Temple.
People who have done something wrong are always afraid of seeing the officials.
Although she didn't kill people, set fires, or steal anything, she led the third master to find evidence and sent Xiaohou Song to prison, letting the people in Yongpinghou Mansion know that she would definitely have to walk away without food.
However, she is not a person who takes chances and has long been prepared for things to be exposed.
The third master is just a loser, how can he compete with Marquis Yongping?
Therefore, she didn't ask the person who bribed her anything. She didn't know who the person was, nor did she know if someone put the short arrow into the wolf's den on purpose.
She only knew that she was a loyal girl, and she persuaded the master to find evidence in order to seek justice for his wife and young master. She knew nothing else.
Even if Mr. Song Xiaohou's charges are cleared later and she settles the accounts with the third master, she will not do anything wrong.
When they arrived at Dali Temple, Chen Lu said that someone from the third room of his Lin family had come to identify the body. The officer asked, "Master Lin is not here?"
Chen Lu couldn't say that the third master didn't care about this, so she said, "Yan Qiao and I work together with my wife, and I know her better than the third master, so the third master sent me to recognize her."
"That's true." The Yamen responded, thinking that this little girl was really unlucky to be sent here to do such a thing, and then reminded: "The corpse has been chewed up beyond recognition, which is a bit scary. You have to know what to do. scared."
Chen Lu reluctantly smiled and said thanks: "Thank you, brother Yachai."
The corpse was covered with white cloth. The Yamen official put on deerskin gloves and slowly lifted the white cloth.
Chen Lu subconsciously covered her heart with her hand. She thought she was not timid, but her eyes widened in horror at that moment. Her legs gave out and she fell to the ground!
The officer looked at her and shook his head helplessly, "I don't blame you for being frightened. The appearance of this corpse would give even a man nightmares."
Chen Lu sat on the ground and rested for a long time before standing up holding on to the table, "I'm sorry... I didn't expect..."
"How's it going? Is there anything you can identify?"
Chen Lu looked over there again. Although the corpse was in a state of disrepair, there were areas where the skin was intact.
She looked at it carefully for a moment and said, "It shouldn't be Yan Qiao. Yan Qiao's arms are fatter than this."
The officer frowned when he heard this. Unless he was extremely fat or extremely thin, there was really no way to identify someone by fatness or thinness. As expected, women's minds are different from men's.
"anything else?"
Chen Lu asked: "How long is she?"
"Length five feet one inch."
Chen Lu shook her head: "Yan Qiao is not that tall, she is a little shorter than me."
The official looked her up and down, nodded and said: "So, it is indeed not Qiaoyan."
Chen Lu was still trembling a little at this time, so she knelt down and said, "In that case, I will go back first."
"Walk slowly."
After leaving Dali Temple, Chen Lu couldn't bear it any longer. He ran to the side and held on to a tree until he vomited until his mouth became bitter.
She didn't know who the corpse was, but she vaguely felt that his death should be related to Song Xiaohou. Otherwise, why did he die near the wolf den where the third master found the evidence?
If Mr. Song Xiaohou was wrongly accused, and the short arrow in the wolf's den was put in by someone, some people would definitely be involved in the matter.
Could this person have been silenced?
Chen Lu was alert, quickly tidied herself up, and hurried back to the Lin Mansion.
After reporting to Lin Wenye, she returned to her room.
Since Mrs. Zou's death, there aren't that many masters to serve in the third house. There are more servants when they have free time, and they go from house to house when they have nothing to do. As soon as Chen Lu opened the door, she saw several people sitting around Xiang Lu chatting. When everyone saw her coming back, they all came forward and asked, "How are you doing? Is that person Yan Qiao?"
Chen Lu frowned, "If you want to know, just go and find out for yourself!"
When everyone saw that she didn't want to say anything, they were not very happy. One of them said: "Hey, isn't it just that you have the favor of the third master! What's so majestic about it! Do you still want to be the third wife?! "
Chen Lu looked at the speaker coldly, "Get out!"
