Yang Qing had no other choice at this time, so he had to wait in the main hall with the master and servant. Other people in the mansion and the neighbors who were invited to help also came to report new news one after another during this period, but there was not much news among them. Multi-valued. However, Yang Qing did not sit idle and wait. He took the opportunity to ask everyone about Xinlan's basic situation, and he also had a general understanding of the missing maid.
The sky today has been gloomy, and the sun has not penetrated the thick clouds until noon. Xia Houyue had already asked someone to change a dish of tea for Yang Qing, but Mulan still hadn't come back, and no one from the government showed up.
Just when Yang Qing and others were bored and wanted to walk around the courtyard, Aunt Gu and Mulan finally came in with people from the government. He stood up and followed Xia Houyue out of the hall door. He looked up and found that the leading gentleman Zhao Fang was accompanying turned out to be an acquaintance.
"Ms. Xiahou, this is County Assistant Huang of the county. We were ordered by County Magistrate Hu to investigate the disappearance of the maid in your mansion." Zhao Fangzheng introduced Xiahou Yue.
Xia Houyue stepped forward and bowed: "Young lady has seen Huang County Zuo, please come in and talk."
"Ms. Xiahou is polite. The county magistrate heard about this and was very concerned. I have specially ordered you to come and deal with it." After all, the Xiahou family is an official family. Although the family fortune has begun to decline, its heritage can still bless another generation or two. Therefore, Huang County Zuo was also very polite.
He was about to follow Xia Houyue into the house when he suddenly caught a glimpse of Yang Qing standing next to him, and hurriedly came over to greet him: "Hey... I never thought that Yang Langjun was also here. I have met Langjun."
Yang Qing smiled slightly and said, "You don't have to be polite, County Assistant Huang. Qing didn't expect that the person coming from the government was actually Huang County Assistant leading the team."
"It turns out that Huang County Assistant and Yang Langjun know each other, and the little girl is about to introduce them. This will save the slave family from wasting their time." Xia Houyue said in surprise.
"Haha, I am familiar with Yang Langjun. Not long ago, it was with Yang Langjun's help that the wife-murder case in Chenjiacun was quickly solved. This time, Yang Langjun happens to be here, and I believe he will be able to find it quickly. It belongs to the missing maid in your mansion." Huang Xianzuo explained to Xia Houyue, then turned to Yang Qing and said: "If County Lieutenant Li knew that Lang Jun was here, it is impossible to say that he was the County Lieutenant who came in person today. "
"Qing also misses Brother Ziyu very much, and is thinking of visiting him again when he has some free time in the past few days. After today's work, I would like to ask Huang County Zuo to say hello to Brother Ziyu on my behalf."
"sure."
Seeing that everyone had sat down, Yang Qing said, "Huang County Assistant, I'll wait until I have time to talk about gossip. It's better to deal with business first."
"It should be so." Huang County responded: "Mrs. Xiahou, I have heard Mulan and Zhao Fangzheng tell me about the matter. I think that my maid Xinlan probably encountered an accident. The key is that Xinlan returned to the mansion after leaving the Wang family's motorcade. This section of the road is basically fixed, so the top priority is to investigate whether Xinlan has seen her on her return journey, her surroundings and the people on the roadside."
Yang Qing secretly gave Huang County Zuo a thumbs up in his heart. This man really had something to offer. He was indeed an experienced official with many years of experience, and his ideas for handling cases were quite sophisticated, which could be said to coincide with his own.
"Huang County Assistant, Qing Qing thinks that in addition to the investigation along the street, another key point is the confessions of everyone in the Wang family. From the current point of view, they are the last people to have seen Xinlan. Their stories are very important to what we are waiting for next. The search is very important, you may not know what clues you can get from there," Yang Qing added.
Huang County Zuo thought about it for a while and decided to follow Yang Qing's suggestion. He immediately ordered the thieves to search along the route that Xinlan went to chase the carriage last night, and ordered his subordinates to go to the county temple to inform the county lieutenant Li Yu to come. He was in charge of the overall situation. After all, he had to ask the Wang family, but his identity could not suppress the scene. Moreover, if Li County Lieutenant heard that Yang Qing was here, he would be happy to come, and he had sold himself a small favor.
Osmanthus Alley is originally a secluded place, and the streets adjacent to it are mostly residential areas with few commercial activities, so it is much easier for the officials to search. Huang County Assistant sat under a big locust tree with Yang Qing and Xia Houyue. He had ordered people to report as soon as they had any clues. The waiting at this time was boring, and everyone was silent. Huang County Zuoyou wanted to open his mouth to liven up the atmosphere, but he saw that Yang Qing had begun to close his eyes to rest, and he couldn't help but swallow his saliva and hold back what he was about to say.
Fortunately, everyone was not kept waiting for too long. A thief came to report that he had found clues in the alley ahead. This made Yang Qing and his party finally relax a little, and everyone rushed over without delay.
"Old Li Tou, have you found any clues?" As soon as he arrived at the place, Huang County Assistant couldn't wait to ask an old thief.
"Back in the county, I saw a pile of leaves piled here, but this location is still a few steps away from the locust tree next to it, and the leaves all around were scattered on the ground. I thought there was something fishy here. , so I dare not move lightly and wait for the county sergeant to come and deal with it." Old Li Tou pointed to a pile of leaves on the ground and said to Huang County sergeant.
Huang Xianzuo nodded: "Yes, Lao Li, you did a great job. You are worthy of being an old man in the county. You have rich experience."
"Yang Langjun, what do you think?"
"Haha, Qing doesn't know, Huang County Assistant still has people sweep the leaves away to prevent me from waiting here to guess." Yang Qing said with a smile.
Qiu Thief, who was present, swept away the leaves in a few seconds. Everyone gathered around and looked closely but found nothing. They felt disappointed, but then someone noticed something unusual.
Old Li Tou leaned over and grabbed a handful of soil from the ground, holding it in front of Huang County Zuo: "Xian Zuo, the land here has just been renovated."
"Huang Xianzuo Qing also thought there was something buried underneath, so he asked a few gentlemen to dig it out gently."
Huang County Assistant did not hesitate and immediately ordered: "In that case, Old Li Tou, you can dig up the soil quickly."
Lao Li Tou and another Qiu used a hoe to gently dig up the new soil. He didn't dig twice when he felt he hit something hard. He immediately asked his companion to stop, and he slowly pushed the soil aside. After a few breaths, a stone just big enough for one hand to hold was revealed.
When everyone looked around, they saw a lot of blood stains on the stone. Seeing the discovery of blood-stained stones, Huang County Zuo suddenly became excited and immediately ordered the excavation to continue in order to find more clues. After a while, a dozen leaves and thumb-sized rags mixed in the soil were dug out. Of course, these leaves and the rag were also stained with blood.
"Everyone, it seems that this place is a murder scene that has been hastily covered up." Yang Qing bent down and picked up the stone and observed it in detail: "The blood stains on the stone are obviously human blood. This stone is obviously human blood." It’s the murder weapon. And this place is at the end of an alley. I just saw this alley, and there are uninhabited and dilapidated houses on both sides of the alley. It seems that this is the murderer’s deliberately chosen place to commit the crime.”
"As for the person who was hit by this stone, Qing thought it was most likely Xinlan." Yang Qing held the piece of rag in his right hand and said to Mulan: "Mulan, I remember you said this morning that Xinlan was the one who was in the body yesterday. Wearing light green clothes, right?"
Mulan replied with a serious face: "Yes."
"That's correct. Nine times out of ten, Xinlan was hit with a stone and bled here."
"Where did the Xinlan people go?" Xia Houyue asked anxiously on the side.
"It's still impossible to tell whether Xinlan was injured and taken away, or whether she was killed and her body was moved to another place?" Yang Qing replied.
Huang Xianzuo interjected at this time: "Yang Langjun, is it possible that Xinlan was killed and still buried here?"
"There is no such possibility. Only the soil under the pile of leaves has been renovated, and the rest of the place has no trace of being renovated. Moreover, the depth of the pit where the murderer buried the murder weapon and blood stains is less than one foot. I think the murderer is afraid that he will be renovated. People found it and had to bury it in a hurry." Yang Qing said.
Huang Xianzuo lightly hit his left palm with his right fist: "I see, but how should we trace Xinlan's trace next?"
Yang Qing sighed softly and said: "At a certain moment, I had no clue, so I had to ask the county sergeant to continue asking the officials to go along the street to ask if anyone had seen Xinlan. The rest was to wait for County Lieutenant Li to come and take me there. The Wang family asked about it."
I don’t know whether the murderer was intentional or just lucky, but there was no trace of the murderer at the scene. Yang Qing shook his head and smiled bitterly in his heart. According to the scene, the murderer’s method of committing the crime was very simple, that is, he hit Xinlan with a stone. In fact, from a certain Generally speaking, simple and effective methods leave fewer flaws. Especially with today's criminal investigation methods, it is difficult to detect clues invisible to the naked eye from the murder scene here. Now I have to try my luck at Wang's house.
