Early the next morning, Di Xue and Chu Ran walked side by side. After leaving their horses at Dali Temple, they strolled on the streets of Yuanjing.
It was a rare free time, but Di Xue was not relaxed. Di Xue still didn't know what the shoe sample drawings she got from Qingluan yesterday were for.
But there are various signs that the shoe pattern and the account book seem to be related to the death of Shoemaker Li!
Unknowingly, the two of them walked near the small courtyard again.
Looking at the dog hole on the back wall of the small courtyard, and then at the various stalls around, Di Xue felt something in her heart.
He walked around the main entrance and looked at the patrolman at the door and ordered:
"You lead a team of people and focus on finding the merchants who set up stalls near Xiaoyuanfa on the day of the crime! Then ask them if they saw anyone suspicious!"
After Di Xue finished speaking, she thought about it again:
"Every household that has set up a stall must record how long they have been doing it and what they are doing!"
As soon as Di Xue was ordered to go down here, she saw a guard wearing a strong suit and an iron armor riding a horse and approaching:
"Master Di, by your Majesty's order, I have found for you the person related to the night of Zhou Huai's case. He has been invited to Dali Temple!"
When Di Xue heard this, she realized that the emperor was really hungry and had to feed him, but he was cold and handed over his clothes!
Chu and Ran rode horses back to Dali Temple, and they saw two men and one woman in the inner hall of Dali Temple.
One of the girls was dressed in pink satin, wearing a silver-inlaid jade hairpin and a butterfly tassel clip behind her head, which was very bright and beautiful.
When she saw Di Xue, she looked up and down with a look of admiration. Her big eyes flashed up.
Chu Ran pulled Di Xue aside and whispered:
"This is Jiang Qiaoyan, Miss Jiang. Her father is Jiang Zhongyuan of Dali Temple Yousi. She happened to be nearby on the day of the incident."
"On the day of the accident, my uncle and I were setting up a stall nearby, and then early this morning, we were brought here by the emperor's people. Master Di, I heard the process of solving the case. You are simply the number one female detective in Yuanjing!"
As soon as Chu Ran finished speaking, Jiang Qiaoyan ran forward and said with a smile.
"Miss Jiang is too praised. I often hear people in the temple mention that Jiang Sicheng has a smart and good daughter."
After hearing Di Xue's compliments, Jiang Qiaoyan happily ran to the side and sat down.
Di Xue looked at the two young men next to her and cupped their hands together. Li Heng stood up and came over to return the greeting: "Master Di, we meet again."
Di Xue nodded, and then another young man next to him, wearing a red wide-sleeved lining and a gray-white silk outer layer, said:
"Brother Zhou and Brother Li were drinking at my Jinyuan Restaurant that day. Brother Zhou was upset at the time, so I drank a few more drinks with him, but when I woke up I heard that something had happened!"
"You must be He Ziling, the young boss of Jinyuan Restaurant!"
After Di Xue finished speaking, He Ziling nodded and smiled obediently and continued: "I am also Qiaoyan's cousin!"
Di Xue looked at Jiang Qiaoyan and saw her nodding: "Brother Ziling's mother is my aunt!"
"In this case, we are all familiar with each other, let's get to the point!"
Di Xue saw that everyone knew each other, so she was not too polite. She turned to Jiang Qiaoyan and asked:
"Miss Jiang, were you nearby at the time? There were unusual merchants behind the courtyard!"
Jiang Qiaoyan thought about it and said:
"That day there was a relatively unfamiliar person who seemed to be selling cloth. There was a noise in the small courtyard, and he lowered his body as if he had picked something up, and then walked away with a cart selling cloth!"
"At the time, I just thought he was scared, but now that I think about it, he might be hiding something!"
Jiang Qiaoyan's words made Di Xue fall into deep thought. After a while, she seemed to be sure of something and said to Li Heng:
"There were some strange people among the Dali Temple patrolmen you saw at that time!"
After Di Xue's reminder, Li Heng also thought of the scene that day:
"But there is one person who I find strange. Although that person is wearing the clothes of a Dali Temple patrol officer, he is not tall. He is more than a head shorter than the other patrol officers!"
"Maybe I know how the murderer got out!" Di Xue said after listening.
"What do you mean?" Chu Ran vaguely thought of it, but still asked.
Di Xue paused and then said: "There is a ghost in Dali Temple!"
"The courtyard has only one exit, the main door. If the murderer climbed over the wall and came out, he would be seen by onlookers, so the murderer chose to go out through the front door!"
"Think of that short policeman!" Li Heng said, turning the jade pen in his hand.
Di Xue nodded:
"The murderer pretended to be Zhou Huai and needed to disguise himself, so after killing the people, he entered the dry toilet through a secret passage, changed into the patrol clothes that had been prepared in the dry toilet, and then packed the disguise clothes and threw them out of the dog hole."
"Then it was picked up and destroyed by that vendor!" Jiang Qiaoyan said.
"But Brother Zhou is tall and mighty, how can he pretend to be a short policeman?" He Ziling asked doubtfully.
Di Xue did not answer, but took out the drawing of the special shoe pattern. When everyone looked at it, they saw that the shoes on it were very strange, and the soles were nearly a foot thick.
The soles of the shoes are made of wood, with straps punched through the middle and tied to the feet, just like walking on a thick version of stilts that fit the feet.
In this way, no matter how high the murderer's martial arts skills are, he cannot come and go freely when moving, so there will be abnormal noises when he falls off the pot and jumps onto the beam.
As soon as Di Xue got something to look at, Han Shu's voice sounded from outside:
"Master, the body has been found!"
Di Xue and Chu Ran looked at each other, said goodbye to everyone in the room, and followed Han Shu to the outskirts of the city.
Along the way, Han Shu told how they found the body.
Han Shu followed Di Xue's instructions and went to the suburbs of Beijing closest to the courtyard. In a woods, Han Shu's thin dog Abao reacted.
The patrolmen dug up the soil and found the bodies of two middle-aged women. They were somewhat decomposed, but not serious.
Di Xue saw that the facial decomposition of the two corpses was not serious. The wounds on the necks were the same as those of Li Shoemaker and Xu Lai. They were all caused by the special daggers from Jing'an Village!
After inspection, there were no traces of poisoning on the body. There were calluses on the palms and fingers. It was probably caused by frequent sewing and repair work.
"Inform the families of Zhao Er and Liu Yun to come to Dali Temple to identify the bodies."
After finishing speaking, Di Xue once again turned his attention to the wound on the neck of the female corpse.
Seeing her frown, Chu Ran couldn't help but asked: "But what did you find?"
"I suspect that the murderer of shoemaker Xu Lai and the two embroiderers was a woman!"
After Di Xue finished speaking, Chu Ran asked in confusion: "How do you know?"
"Look at the two corpses, one is taller and the other is short, but the positions of the wounds on their necks are different. The taller one's wound is lower, the short one's wound is in the middle, and the same is true for Li Shoemaker and Xu Lai's wounds!"
"You mean the murderer is short in stature, but you can't infer based on his height alone."
Di Xue nodded:
"So I suspect that this is the person who killed the three members of the Wang family, so everything makes sense. Those strange shoes are very small in size and are most likely worn by women!"
"It's true that even though men and women are the same height, the average male's feet are larger than those of a female."
After Chu Ran finished speaking, Di Xue said as if she was sorting herself out:
"If my suspicion is correct, then the murderer of these cases is the same person. She is a woman from Jing'an Village in Sichuan. She has excellent martial arts skills."
After putting this information together, a figure gradually emerged in Di Xue's mind. If it was really her, what was the reason? Or who is the person behind her?
"Do you have any doubts about the ghost in Dali Temple?"
After listening to Chu Ran's words, Di Xue opened Li Shoemaker's account book and pointed at a name for Chu Ran to read. After reading it, Chu Ran was a little surprised:
"Could it be him?"
