"Let me go out and take a look."
Seeing a look of worry on Lan'er's face, Lu Jing had no intention of arguing with him anymore. He was obviously worried about his grandfather, so he stood up and said.
As he spoke, he picked up the bamboo hat on the side, but as soon as he walked to the door, he heard a knock on the door.
Lu Jing glanced at Lan'er, who shook her head and said softly, "It's not grandpa, he knocked on the door very softly."
So Lu Jing and Yan Yun looked at each other and stood still against the wall.
Lan'er went to open the door and found a strong class yamen servant named Ma Liu standing outside the door. Her face suddenly turned pale, "I...what happened to my grandpa?"
"How do you know I'm here because of your grandfather's affairs?" Ma Liuqi asked.
Lan'er's eyes immediately turned red when she heard what he said. She was very familiar with Ma Liu, because in the past, whenever there was a murder case in Wujiang City, Ma Liu would notify Cheng Zuo to do an autopsy.
But in the past, she didn't have any bad feelings towards Ma Liu, because her grandfather ate this bowl of rice, so death was very common to her.
But it wasn't until she lost her family that Lan'er discovered that she didn't understand life and death at all.
"Why are you crying," Ma Liu said puzzledly when he saw tears falling down Lan'er's cheeks, "A murder broke out in the south of the city, and your grandfather happened to go to the Yamen, so Detective Wang asked your grandfather to help with the autopsy. Your grandpa asked me to bring you a message, telling you to bring the half basket of fat persimmons to your sister Xiangyun later... But it’s strange that I didn’t know when you had a sister.”
"Dead Ma Liu, next time something like this happens, can you just say no?! Don't ramble!" Lan'er stopped crying after hearing what he said, but said angrily.
Ma Liu was confused, but before he could say anything, he saw the door slamming shut in front of him again.
Ma Liu shouted, "Hey, don't close the door in a hurry. I'm thirsty. Let me go in and drink a bowl of water. Also, give me a persimmon to try."
However, after shouting for a while, he saw that the door was still not open. In the end, he could only scratch his head and go to buy herbal tea from a stall nearby.
After Ma Liu left, Lu Jing and Yan Yun also said goodbye to Lan'er.
Although the person who made the marriage did not come back, he still passed the message through Ma Liu. Xiangyun was obviously a girl's name. If nothing else, she should be a certain steward on the boat that night. You can find out more from her. Who was on the boat that night.
However, when Lu Jing and Yan Yun went to the brothel where Xiang Yun was staying, they heard that not long ago, Xiang Yun was invited to play the piano by a group of students from Bailu Academy.
It wasn't until dusk that Lu Jing and Yan Yun finally saw the person they were looking for.
It must be because of a busy day, Xiang Yun's face looked a little tired. She didn't want to see any visitors at first, but she couldn't help it. Yan Yun paid enough, so she freshened up a little and cheered up again, and came to Lu Jinghe. In front of Yan Yun.
He fiddled with the strings twice and said, "What music do you two want to hear?"
"We're not here to listen to music." Lu Jing said.
"I'm sorry, guest. Xiangyun is a housekeeper, and she does not sell herself as a performer. If you are looking for pleasure, I can ask my mother to help you call some more sisters."
"We're not here to have fun, we just want to ask you about something." Yan Yun said.
"Inquiring about something, what is it?" Xiangyun's eyes may have seen too many human affairs, but they didn't show much surprise. They just waited quietly for Yan Yun's next words.
"More than three months ago, a group of escorts from the Tianma Escort Bureau invited you to sing on the boat to entertain you. Miss Xiangyun, do you still remember?"
"I remember," Xiangyun nodded, "because usually scholars and businessmen come to see me, and warriors... are relatively rare, so I remember it very clearly."
After a pause, she added, "No offense, I'm not saying that warriors are vulgar, but in comparison, you are indeed more...direct."
"So was there anything that impressed Miss Xiangyun that night?" Lu Jing said.
"Well, if you want to say something impressive, does it count that I almost lost my virginity?"
"Well……"
"Actually, it's not a big deal. There was an escort named Geng Nantian in the Tianma Escort Bureau. He was very drunk that night and insisted that I sleep with him. However, I was quickly dissuaded by several escorts who were traveling with me. He didn’t suffer any injuries and continued to sing songs to them on the boat.”
"Miss Xiangyun is frightened."
"It's hard to say that I was frightened. I've experienced things more embarrassing than this." Xiangyun said lightly, but she didn't mean to go into details. She just continued, "You two are not here just to care. Mine."
"Indeed," Lu Jing didn't hide it, "We are investigating a case and would like to ask Miss Xiangyun whether the pair of bronze hammers belonging to Geng Nantian's bodyguard were on the boat that night, and who else left during the journey. Have you passed?"
Xiangyun thought for a while, "I don't remember anyone leaving, but before midnight, Escort Geng was too drunk and was carried to the back cabin. An Escort named Hou was looking after him, while the rest of us were The banquet continues in the forward cabin until dawn."
"Can you see the back cabin from the front cabin?" Yan Yun asked.
"Half and half, you can't see it from where Escort Geng is lying, but you can see his back from where Escort Waiter is sitting. Of course, I didn't stare all the time. I just glanced there occasionally. Anyway, I was watching. The bodyguard was always there, apparently meditating? As for the pair of copper hammers, they were also brought to the stern of the ship."
After Xiangyun finished speaking, she asked, "What else do you want to know?"
"That's all for now," Lu Jing said, "Thank you, Miss Xiangyun, for clearing up our doubts."
"You're welcome, you paid." Xiangyun combed her hair and pointed to the lyre beside her, "Are you really not going to listen to the music? Just asking a few questions for ten taels of silver is not cheap."
"No need, it's getting late. I think you're tired, Miss Xiangyun, so I won't bother you anymore." Lu Jing said and Yan Yun had already stood up.
So Xiangyun also put down her qin and sent the two of them outside. Afterwards, Yingying bowed to her as a farewell.
Walking on the street, Yan Yun said to Lu Jing, "Both Geng Nantian and the bodyguard named Hou are the murderers. If Geng Nantian did it, he was pretending to be drunk before, and the bodyguard named Hou is likely to be the murderer." He was his accomplice, so that he could sneak away from the back cabin easily, and the escort surnamed Hou could also ensure that others would not break in accidentally during this period.
"And if the escort named Hou does it, the risk will be greater. He needs to exchange clothes with the drunk Geng Nantian in a short period of time, and then let Geng Nantian sit on the chair instead of him. Generally speaking, When they see him vomiting, no one else will bother him, and he can kill people with Geng Nantian's bronze hammer."
After Yan Yun finished speaking, he saw that Lu Jing was still frowning and thinking about something, so he asked, "What? Is there any omission?"
"Oh, no, your analysis does make sense. I'm just thinking about a question, why three days later?"
"Um?"
"Wang Wan said that Su Zhe was missing for three days, but he was killed on the third day. Why?"
