After eating the meal prepared by the Wang family, Yang Qing felt refreshed again. From the time he followed Mulan to the Xiahou Mansion to the time he finished asking the question, he had not eaten anything except some tea. Of course, the same was true for Xia Houyue and other people in the Xiahou Mansion. Therefore, it was not yet evening, and the Wang family prepared some food for everyone at Xia Houyue's request. After all, it would probably take some time for today's investigation to be completed.
"Ziyu, although according to the current clues, Wu Er and Zhu Ba in my house are suspected, there is no need to imprison them. After all, there is currently no evidence to prove that they were responsible. Ah!" Wang Pu asked expressionlessly.
"Hey... Don't be anxious, my lord, Yu has not imprisoned the two of them." Li Yu explained with a smile: "I am just borrowing two rooms in the house, and please ask them not to go out for a while and have a good rest."
When Wang Tong heard this, he couldn't help but feel a little angry. This is not what detention is. You must know that Wu and Zhu are the guards in the palace, but to be more precise, these two people are Wang Tong's personal guards. They just replied After the family had rested for the night, County Lieutenant Li Yu was instigated by Yang and locked them up. This was obviously not to give the Wang family face.
Wang Tong was young after all. At this moment, his energy and blood were rising, and he asked strangely: "Then I don't know how long County Lieutenant Li will ask them to rest?"
"Tong'er, don't be rude to Lieutenant Li." Wang Pu scolded Wang Tong.
Li Yu smiled and said: "Haha, it doesn't matter, you are a young man. As for how long you will live, of course..."
"Of course I can't decide until I visit Wu and Zhu's home." Yang Qing walked to Li Yu and interjected.
Yang Qing did not wait for Wang Tong to say anything and continued: "Brother Ziyu, before it is evening, I'd better go to Wu Er and Zhu Ba's homes to check."
"That's right." Li Yu responded, then turned to Xia Houyue and said: "Ms. Xiahou, you have been tired for most of the day. Go back and rest quickly. The rest of the matter will be left to the government. Of course, as soon as something happens, I will send someone to inform you of the news."
Xia Houyue nodded after hearing this, stepped forward and saluted, "Then I'll leave it to the county captain and Yang Langjun."
Wang Tong looked at Yang Qing and others leaving and punched the pillar in the corridor. At this time, he was full of anger. He never thought that Yang Qing would dare to ignore him. This was another humiliation for him. I made up my mind to try my best to return it in the future.
After leaving the palace gate and bidding farewell to Xia Houyue, Yang Qing stopped and suggested: "Brother Ziyu, in order to save time and energy, I think it is better to divide the troops into two groups. Brother will lead a group of troops to Wu Er's house. Brother Yu will follow. Huang Xianzuo went to Zhu Ba's house."
"Brother Yu has the same plan." Li Yu said with a smile: "Huang County Assistant, please accompany Brother Ming to visit Zhu Ba's house."
Huang Xianzuo accepted the promise with his hands raised, and then invited Yang Qing to walk in another direction. More than half an hour later, Yang Qing and his party arrived at Zhu Ba's house in the north of Shaocheng. This place was indeed very close to the Wang Family Villa. They passed by the Wang Family Villa and turned a street away.
"Mr. He, you should understand what I said. You are really not joking. You must tell the truth and don't deceive the government with lies. After all, this is related to your husband's life." Yang Qing asked Zhu Ba again. The wife made a few remarks and then started asking questions: "When did Zhu Ba come home last night?
Mrs. He was very nervous when she saw so many gentlemen, and she heard that her husband seemed to be involved in some kind of lawsuit. His replies were all tangential. It took Yang Qing a lot of effort to calm her down. , but at this time she still spoke softly: "If you go back to the official, I remember that the master came back around two o'clock in the morning."
"Then did you notice anything strange about Zhu Ba's expression when he came back?"
"The slave's husband often has to be on duty at the palace at night. The slave's family usually doesn't know in advance whether he will go home at night, so I had already fallen asleep before the master came back last night. But because of this, the slave's family usually sleeps very lightly. I woke up as soon as he pushed the door open last night and came in. At that time, I could only hear his voice being a little tired. He must have been tired from duty." He lowered his head and replied.
Yang Qing continued to ask: "What happened next?"
"My servant asked him if he had eaten, and if he wanted to make something to eat or get some hot soup? He just said that he had eaten early and told me to ignore it. He would sit in the outer room to sober up and rest. Heard him say this He said, the slave family ignored him and went to sleep on his own."
"Wait a moment." Yang Qing interrupted He's reply: "So Zhu Ba stayed in the outer room after coming back, but you talked to him in the inner room and never got up?"
"That's...that's right." He raised his head and said, "But when I woke up after being turned over and beaten by the master, he had indeed gone to bed and fallen asleep."
Yang Qing asked hurriedly: "When was that time?"
"It should be that he came back not long ago." He lowered his head and replied softly.
"Are you sure?"
"The slave family is sure, it's not the time to be ugly yet." He said firmly.
Yang Qing carefully observed He's expression and saw that when she finished saying this, she looked unusually determined. She thought it must be the truth, so she smiled and said, "I see. He, I want to stay in your house." Do you mind if I turn around?"
"Your Majesty, please excuse me."
Yang Qing got up and walked to the small courtyard outside the house and said to Huang Xianzuo who came out with him: "Xianzong Zuo, do you think what this woman said is true or false?"
Huang Xianzuo said: "Based on my many years of experience as a servant, this woman is an honest and cowardly woman. Although her words are somewhat protective, I think her words are still credible."
Yang Qing also felt that this woman would not dare to tell lies, but her words still could not completely prove that Zhu Ba had indeed returned home honestly and never went out again. It lasted for six quarters, and the time when He woke up for the second time was uncertain. Chou Shiqian was a bit too broad. If it was around seven quarters of Zi time, Zhu Ba would still be unable to determine at least one hour. whereabouts.
Yang Qing patted his forehead. It seemed that the key now was to determine the location where Xinlan caught up with the Wang family's convoy, the distance and time between the four places where the blood-stained stone was found, the place where Zhu Ba left the team, and Zhu Ba's home.
"Huang County Assistant, please send someone to check several houses near Zhu Ba's house to see if anyone saw Zhu Ba coming back last night." Yang Qing cupped his hands and said: "In addition, please send someone to do this... ....”
"I understand, I will give the order immediately."
Yang Qing waited for Huang County Assistant to go aside to arrange the arrangements, and then walked around Zhu Ba's house alone. Zhu Ba's family does not live along the street. There are three or four other families across the street, about in the middle of the alley. His family also has three rooms and a small courtyard. There is a hut on the right side of the courtyard where some sundries are placed. The entire courtyard is tidied up. Neat and clean, He is clearly a diligent woman.
He walked into the main room, which was Zhu Badai's outer room last night, and looked at the furnishings in the room. There was a short desk with three-foot-long and two-foot-wide straw mats on both sides. There were several beehives in the corner on the right. There are two sickles and a short knife placed on the left wall of the bed, and several iron tools stand below. Mrs. He had already moved into the back room. There was a man guarding the door. The door of the back room was a wooden door. According to Mr. He just now, she was talking to Zhu Ba through the door in the back room last night. Her conversation with Zhu Ba stopped. When he talked about sobering up in the outer room, the next memory was that he woke up and saw Zhu Ba had fallen asleep on the bed, and He fell asleep quickly after he finished talking.
Yang Qingyi sat on the straw mat, picked up the tea bowl on the desk, took a sip of water, and continued to observe the room. It seemed that the conditions of the Zhu Ba family were not bad. Although the furniture and other items were ordinary, they were complete, especially there were so many ironware. Although iron tools had become popular during the Western Han Dynasty and iron smelting technology began to develop rapidly, ordinary people could only have such iron tools, so people cherished iron tools very much.
I think the same is true for Zhu Ba's family, but why is it that among the iron tools standing in the corner, only the hoe is clean, while the iron tools next to it have a lot of dirt on them? Could it be that there are not enough hoes in the city?
Yang Qing secretly wondered, but he didn't pay much attention to it. Huang County Zuo came in and said that Li Yu sent someone to report that he had found out that Wu Er had indeed returned home to rest last night and never went out again until this morning. When he went to Wang's house for duty, passers-by, neighbors and family members testified along the way that he did not have time to go to the alley where the stone suspected of being the murder weapon was found. Huang County Zuo Youdao has not found out yet that anyone saw Zhu Ba returning home last night. Now that the sky has darkened, should he withdraw his team to join Li Yu first?
Yang Qing heard that there was no point in staying here anymore, so he nodded, called He out again, and told her to report to the government in time if she thought of anything.
When Yang Qing and his party arrived at the agreed meeting point, they found that Li Yu and his party were already waiting in a wine shop on the street. As soon as Yang Qing sat down, the two informed each other about their respective investigations, and Huang County Assistant also made corresponding supplements.
"So that's it." After listening to what Yang and Huang said, Li Yu agreed that there were still doubts about Zhu Ba's whereabouts last night: "It seems that the key now is to find out how much time it takes to travel between those places. A long time.”
"Yes, Qing Dynasty has asked Huang County Zuo to send people to try. I believe the results will be known later."
"By the way, Brother Ziyu, is it true that Wu Er is not suspected?" Yang Qing asked again worriedly.
Li Yu touched the beard under his chin and replied affirmatively: "It is true. It took Wu Er two seconds to get from where he left Wang Tong to his home, and the neighbor did see Wu Er at that time. When Er returned to his house, the two of them greeted each other." He paused, took a sip of tea, and continued: "His family also confirmed that Wu Er did not go out the whole night after returning home. Of course, this cannot be ruled out. His family was suspected of lying. But it happened that Wu Er's family had to pass through a fork in order to leave the street. There happened to be a few beggars living at that fork. It was fitting that Wu Er's life was good. Last night, a beggar got angry. When Wu Er went home and passed by, he showed kindness and gave some money for medicine. The other beggars were very impressed by him. They took turns waiting on him last night, so it can be confirmed that Wu Er never came out after returning home. Pass."
After listening to Li Yu's more detailed explanation, Yang Qing agreed: "So that's it. It seems that Wu Er really has no chance to commit the crime."
The three of them chatted for a while. Li Yu saw that it was getting late and said, "Mingzhi, it's already late today. Let's just do this for now. Tomorrow, Brother Yu will ask Brother Xian to come over and help."
"In that case, Naqing will leave first."
After the three of them got up and bowed to each other and said goodbye, Li Yu led all the officials to the Chengdu County Temple. Yang Qing looked up at the bright moon, took a few deep breaths, and felt that his body was much more relaxed. There have been so many things in just two days, and I can't help but feel a little tired. It's better to go home early and take a rest for the night.
