evening.
A group of people were eating in a courtyard in the west of the city.
Zhang Hu shouted: "Everyone, cheer up. We are full now. Tonight is a big job for Chengbitang. The price of printing this volume is worth half a year's wages. The manuscript will be delivered soon, everyone. Be more agile with your hands and feet."
It was getting dark, and the master of Chengbitang came out of the back door of Chengbitang with a cloth bag, and walked slowly along the Dipu River alone. On a moonless night, across the busy East-West Street, Dipu The riverside seemed lonely and noisy.
Suddenly, a dark shadow emerged from the alley nearby, and a white light flashed across the black night. Hall Master Zhuang jumped back vigorously, raised his eyes and said with a smile: "Good kung fu. Good swordsmanship."
The shadow man immediately retreated and said hesitantly: "Aren't you Zhuang Kan?"
"Hey, I'm your uncle, Yi Xiaotian!" After saying that, he stood up and rushed towards the black shadow, holding a short sword in his right hand and sliding past like light and shadow.
The black shadow caught the edge of the sword with his backhand, gently and deftly pushed away Xiao Yi's strength, and jumped back lightly. He was not willing to fight, and immediately wanted to retreat. Xiao Yi noticed his intention and shouted loudly Said: "Someone, come quickly! He wants to run away!"
In response, dozens of torches were set up, illuminating half of the street and reflecting the bright light of the Dipu River beside it.
Su Huangzhe came out from behind and said, "I've finally waited for you, Mr. Li."
The shadow man didn't answer. He quickly jumped into the river next to him. As a result, as soon as he got down, he was held down by two people. Yun Pan stood by and sneered: "I expected you to be able to swim. There were ten people guarding the river. I was afraid you wouldn't jump." He glanced back. Very good. An Si, his subordinate, was hiding behind the crowd like a quail, stretching his neck to look around.
Guo Xi stroked his beard and said with a smile: "Master Su, you are really good at predicting things."
The lobby of the Ministry of Justice on the second day.
Su Huangzhe, Guo Xi and others were all sitting in the hall wearing official uniforms. Sitting in the hall were not only Mrs. Cheng and people from the Duke of Qi, but also Liang Su, Wang Qingyan's wife Qin Manyun and others, as well as Dai Fuyin and Lin Shaoyin from the capital government office. There were also Doctor Cai from the Ministry of Rites and Doctor Liu from the Ministry of Husbandry. More than a dozen people related to the three cases filled the entire lobby of the Criminal Department.
After Su Huangzhe saluted Mrs. Qi Guogong, Mrs. Cheng Shilang and others, he said, "The three cases have been investigated for a whole month, and tens of thousands of confessions have been recorded. Now the truth has finally come to light."
"Next, I will tell you all about it from An Si Zhi."
An Ying specially changed into a new set of official uniforms and wore his newly bought shoes, because Mr. Su also gave him the final analysis of the case. He was really excited, nervous and scared. He was in the official room before. Keep spinning in circles. Yun Pan on the side saw her uneasiness and anxiety, and said angrily: "You are my subordinate after all, so there is nothing to be afraid of in this situation. You really can't go on, and Lao Guo and I are here to help you." An Ying was grateful. Looking at him and then at the smiling Guo Langzhong, his uneasy mood finally calmed down.
At this moment, An Ying walked to the center of the lobby and said, "Everyone, let's make a long story short. Let me start with the case of Minister Cheng."
"On the morning of the third day of July, Minister Cheng was found dead suddenly in his residence."
"At that time, Mrs. Cheng, you didn't report the crime immediately, right?"
Mrs. Cheng, who was sitting in the hall, nodded, and An Yingyou asked, "Why didn't you report the crime directly?"
Mrs. Cheng looked at the many people in the hall looking over, straightened her back, and said: "When we found out in the morning, there was no sign that my husband had been murdered. It wasn't until Doctor Cai came over to pick up the master's documents in the afternoon and we found that the study had been rummaged through. If I feel something is wrong, I will quickly send someone to the capital government office to report the case."
An Ying nodded and said, "In other words, if there is no situation in the study, you would not report the crime at all?"
Mrs. Cheng was stunned for a moment, looked at everyone's eyes, nodded firmly and said: "No. I have carefully looked at the master's body and checked all the food, and there was nothing unusual. I felt at that time that my life was over. Until the incident in the study happened, I felt that if there was a spy from the country infiltrating the country, we didn't know the exotic poison. So I told the Ministry of Punishment to examine the body carefully. Our Cheng family has been on the battlefield, and there is no taboo, as long as the truth is true. Military State There is no room for mistakes in big things.”
When everyone heard this, they all showed admiration.
An Ying admired Mrs. Cheng from the bottom of her heart for her firm mind and calmness in situations.
An Ying continued: "After examination, we found that Mr. Cheng was not poisoned or had any external injuries. The cause of death was rupture of the heart meridians."
According to the many years of experience of the Ministry of Justice, this situation is more common when the heart is hit by external force. This kind of impact is not small. Cheng Shilang himself practiced martial arts, and there were more than ten guards outside the house. It was basically impossible to kill Cheng Shilang quietly under such circumstances. "
"So we changed the direction of the investigation and focused on investigating the problems in the study."
"Mrs. Cheng, when Xiao Tao found out that Shi Lang Cheng had passed away that morning, he immediately reported to you. You went from the inner courtyard to Qinghui Garden, and then you said that several guards had gone to Pixiang Hall. The study room was empty for almost half a day. People are guarding you, so there is an opportunity for thieves to take advantage of you?"
Mrs. Cheng nodded, leaned slightly towards everyone, and said, "It suddenly caused chaos and made everyone laugh."
An Ying shook his head, "Mrs. Cheng, you are being humble. I carefully checked the status of the guards in Qinghui Garden during the day. In fact, it was only a quarter of an hour when the study was truly unattended!"
Mrs. Cheng was surprised, "How is this possible?"
An Ying took out a large drawing and showed it to everyone.
"This is the blueprint of the Cheng Mansion. After entering through the gate, there is the water system behind the screen wall, and the nine-curved corridor connects the east and west gates. Enter the east gate, and then pass through the wisteria corridor to Qinghui Garden. The guards of the east and west gates and gates are all from the Cheng family A veteran of more than ten years, he has never left his post until the sky fell."
"The wisteria corridor is winding and winding. There are a total of six guards in the entire corridor. The position of each guard station was decided by Mr. Cheng personally. I didn't think anything at the time, but when my brothers from the Criminal Department and I stood up, we found that every position It’s all carefully designed. You can see the two people in front and behind at every point.”
"At that time, Xiao Tao called the guards over and removed three people from six positions. The remaining three were in the corridor, plus the guards at the door. The entire Qinghui Garden was actually well guarded."
It wasn't until the afternoon when housekeeper Jiao Ruoyu gathered all the guards in Qinghui Garden for questioning that a loophole appeared in Cheng's defense. "
Mrs. Cheng looked at Butler Jiao in surprise.
An Ying pointed to the drawing and said: "The guards at the entrance of Qinghui Garden and the guards in the inner courtyard have been called. At this moment, the inner courtyard and Qinghui Garden are connected without any obstruction. The guards in the Wisteria Corridor have also withdrawn, and all the guards are standing In the open space behind the Pixiang Pavilion, listen to Butler Jiao, who is standing on the steps of the Pixiang Pavilion, explaining matters."
"Look at where we are at this time."
An Ying drew a sketch, "The study is located behind Pixiang Pavilion. At this time, everyone had their backs to the study, but Butler Jiao was the only one facing the study. And only half a quarter of an hour of this lecture could It’s when there’s no guard in the study.”
Mrs. Cheng stood up suddenly, pointed at Butler Jiao, and said sternly: "Which country are you from?"
Butler Jiao immediately knelt on the ground, "Madam, I'm not meticulous, I am, I am..."
An Ying walked over to comfort Mrs. Cheng and said, "Mrs. Cheng, there was no detail in the whole thing."
Mrs. Cheng looked back at An Ying and then at Su Huangzhe doubtfully. Su Huangzhe nodded towards her, and Mrs. Cheng relaxed her shoulders. She took a long breath and looked at Butler Jiao who was kneeling on the ground.
Facing everyone's surprise, An Ying said: "Butler Jiao is just helping people."
"Help?" Mrs. Cheng asked confused.
"He is helping Qing Niang."
