He Zhenfu also began to report back: "Sir, when the scholar Xia Yuanji who discovered the body returned to his dormitory, there was nothing unusual and he quickly fell asleep."
Han Changmu sneered: "After seeing such a terrifying scene, he was still able to sleep. So his frightened look at that time was just faking it?"
He Zhenfu nodded and said, "Yes, when I was questioning Xia Yuanji just now, I found that his answers were smooth and without loopholes, but he seemed to have already thought of his words. Moreover, his eyes were erratic, and he always lowered his head and did not dare to talk to others. He was not as calm as he said, so he left someone to stare at him."
Han Changmu nodded with satisfaction: "Has the other shoe been salvaged?"
He Zhenfu shook his head with a strange look on his face: "Not yet. It's strange to say that the Imperial Army didn't find anything in the toilet, let alone the shoe that the deceased Li Cheng lost."
Han Changmu's heart moved and he raised his head in surprise: "Didn't you find the other shoe?"
He Zhenfu nodded in agreement: "I have already ordered the imperial guards to salvage several other squatting holes."
Han Changmu nodded appreciatively. He didn't know what he thought of, and suddenly asked: "The scholar who found the body was from the Shui family, and the deceased was from the Tian family, right?"
He Zhenfu nodded.
Han Changmu took out the map of Gongyuan from under the desk, and his eyes fell on the west side of the residence. Among the densely packed residences, he found Shuizihao and Tianzihao.
He frowned slightly as he looked at the two dormitories that were beyond reach.
The deceased died in the deepest part of the toilet, but this person abandoned the squatting pits on the outside and walked to the innermost part, where he found the deceased.
He didn't believe there was such a coincidence in the world.
At this time, Yao Yao had also finished checking the contents of the deceased Li Cheng's examination basket. They were just some pens, inks, paper, inkstones, and dry food. The dry food was arranged into small pieces, and there was nothing suspicious about it.
She began to look at the contents of the baggage. The contents of the baggage were very simple, just a piece of light gray leather, a rabbit fur manuscript, and a pouch.
She looked at these three things carefully and let out a light sigh.
Han Changmu walked over quickly and asked, "What's wrong? Is there any problem?"
Yao Yao held the goose-yellow pouch. The front was embroidered with a branch of slanting green bamboo, and the back was embroidered with a faint cloud pattern using slightly darker yellow silk thread.
The entire pouch is single-layered and does not have any writing on it, which fully meets the requirements of the provincial examination. The pouch is not very exquisite, but it has fine and skillful stitching, and elegant embroidery and color matching. It looks like what ordinary scholars are used to. The one I love to use.
But Yao Yao turned the pouch over, revealing the inner bottom of the pouch, with a four-petal plum blossom embroidered on it.
If an ignorant person sees this pattern, they will only think that the bag was given by someone, so they will embroider a small mark on it, and will not feel anything unusual.
But along the way, Han Changmu and Yao Yao had seen this pattern many times, and Yao Yao even still had this mark on his body, like a tarsus.
The two looked at each other in shock.
They all knew very clearly what this mark represented. They never expected that the undercurrent of power would be so huge that it had penetrated into the scholars and into Chunwei.
Yao Yao handed the pouch to the tip of Han Changmu's nose and said softly, "My lord, please listen."
A faint hint of dark fragrance comes over you. The fragrance is not strong, just a faint wisp, but it is extremely refreshing. Just a slight sniff makes you extra refreshing. It is a good product to remove odors.
Han Changmu blinked: "This is the smell of incense tablets mixed with night breath."
Yao Yao nodded, a flicker of surprise flashed in his eyes: "The incense tablets used by ordinary people do not add night breath. After all, this thing is too expensive. But you can smell the smell in this bag. There has been a lot of fragrance in it." There are only a few incense tablets. Li Cheng’s family background is not noble, he is just an ordinary farmer. Where did he get the night breath incense tablets worth thousands of gold? And they were all used up at once. So what will he do for the remaining few days of provincial examinations? Yes, and how did he know that he would be assigned the shit number before entering the venue, so he prepared so many night scented tablets in advance?"
"Unless," Han Changmu said with a stern expression and cold words, "unless he didn't prepare these fragrant tablets because he was afraid of being assigned a shit number, but had other motives."
When He Zhenfu heard this, he was stunned for a moment and narrowed his eyes: "Sir, could this man go to the toilet to look for something?"
Han Changmu's expression changed slightly: "Mr. He Qi, go and send a message to the Beiya Imperial Army to fish out all the filth in the toilet."
He Zhenfu also looked solemn and hurriedly made arrangements.
Yao Yao held the pendant bag and murmured thoughtfully: "If he was looking for something, how did he know there was something there and what it was? There was nothing else hidden on him. Or, that thing has been taken away by the murderer?"
Han Changmu pinched his eyebrows and said, "If he was entrusted by someone else, I'm afraid the person who entrusted him didn't want to keep him alive at all."
Yao Yao pursed his lips: "Could it be that Xia Yuanji took the things away?"
Han Changmu pinched his eyebrows for a long time, and there were a few light wrinkles between his eyebrows. He said quietly: "Let's do another autopsy on the body and see what we find."
The stairs are long and the corridor is deep, and the wooden steps make creaking sounds when people step on them.
The morgue room was right next to the warehouse where the canceled exam papers were stored, and two soldiers were also guarding the door.
Han Changmu and the two pushed the door open, and a faint puff of dust hit their faces.
The ice hadn't been brought in yet, and I didn't dare to open the window for ventilation, for fear of attracting someone to tamper with the body, so the smell in the room would inevitably be a bit unpleasant.
There was a lamp burning in the room, making it slightly dim.
Yao Yao stepped forward quickly and lit a few more lamps, and the room suddenly lit up.
Standing in the room, separated by a warehouse, you can still hear the noise coming from the office room, and the complaining voice came through particularly clearly.
Anyone who is dragged out of bed in the middle of the night and has to go to the official hall to discuss matters disheveled will not have a good temper.
Han Changmu and Yao Yao looked at each other helplessly, squatted down, and began to check the condition of the body.
An hour and a half has passed since the body was discovered and moved to this warehouse. The body has cooled down, and stiffness has begun to appear on the face, neck, hands and feet, and there are also purple-red cloud-like patches on the lower back and neck. .
Han Changmu opened the deceased's mouth, but did not find any traces of scent tablets in his mouth. He was slightly startled, and turned his head to carefully examine the strangulation marks on the deceased's neck and the small bruise on his waist. .
And Yao Yao's eyes fell on the sapphire blue gown worn by the deceased. The material and workmanship of this dress were ordinary. There was no special belt around the waist. He just wore a belt that was slightly darker than the dress. Sweat towel.
Belt, belt, Yao Yao's eyes lit up and he looked at Han Changmu.
Before Yao Yao could speak, Han Changmu had already thought of something and uttered two words with a smile: "Come here."
Yao Yao was stunned for a moment, feeling that the smile on Han Changmu's cold face, coupled with the dim candlelight flickering next to him, always had such a sinister meaning.
She hesitated and refused to move forward.
Han Changmu laughed again: "Can I still eat you?"
Yao Yao curled his lips, saying such words in such a place, why are you so scared?
Her heart skipped a beat. There was no way to retreat anyway, so she simply walked over to see what kind of evil he was holding back.
She gritted her teeth and walked slowly to Han Changmu.
Han Changmu walked up behind Yao Yao with a half-smile, put his arm under her chin, strangled her neck, grabbed the other arm with his hand, and then pressed his free hand against her from behind. the back of the head.
Although he had not exerted any force, the feeling of suffocation on the verge of death still frightened Yao Yao.
She couldn't help but grab Han Changmu's arm with both hands, and tried with all her strength to pull his arm off.
She struggled hard all over, shaking so hard that even her feet made a thumping sound on the ground.
Just when she almost cursed in a high voice, Han Changmu suddenly let go of his hand.
Yao Yao staggered forward two steps, turned around, covered his throat and cursed angrily: "Are you sick?"
Han Changmu raised his eyebrows indifferently, caressing his sleeves with two fingers as if unintentionally, and raised his chin towards the waist and back of the body: "The bruises here should have been scratched by the accessories on the murderer's belt. traces."
"Being strangled like this will indeed leave no fingerprints." Yao Yao then snorted and mocked slightly: "But even so, there are many people with accessories on their belts. If you want to go in this direction, sir, Checking it is like looking for a needle in a haystack."
Han Changmu smiled lightly, then squinted his eyes when he heard the noisy complaints coming from not far away: "You have to look for a needle in a haystack. Why don't you go to the public office to check first."
Yao Yao is a person who obeys orders and naturally does everything he wants.
Han Changmu was walking in front, hearing the faint sound of footsteps behind him, and couldn't help but feel a little dazed.
He recalled the scene when he held Yao Yao in his arms just now, and recalled the wisp of fragrance that drifted past the tip of his nose.
His heart was filled with anxiety as he thought about it, and he couldn't help but laugh. He shook his head and felt that he must have lost his mind. It was so intricate and complicated, and a difficult case stood in front of him, yet he still had the heart to think about this.
He came back to his senses very quickly and saw Jiang Shen and the others walking towards him. He quickly looked solemn and went forward to greet them and saluted: "Mr. Ge."
Jiang Shen was not in good spirits, with a heavy look of tiredness on his face, but his eyes were still as sharp as before. Not surprisingly, he met Han Changmu here, raised his hand and said: "Let's go in together, Jiuchao We can also see if there are any doubts.”
Han Changmu responded respectfully and followed Jiang Shen into the official hall.
