The He family in Gongzhuang was crying loudly, and the county magistrate Wang Ji was looking at the dead body and was helpless. Of the three generations of the He family, only one He Qingquan was left. He was fine yesterday afternoon, but his wife found him dead in the study in the evening. Wang Ji checked the doors and windows.
It was tightly closed and intact, with no pry marks or abnormalities. But he died inside. The young master of the He family was always a romantic and talented man. He often drank and chatted with friends outside. I heard from his family that he didn't have any enemies. Several of He Qingquan's friends.
After hearing the news of the death, Wang Ji asked all those who came to mourn him one by one. He Qingquan had drank with friends at the Slender West Lake Painted Boat three days ago...
Chen Mengsheng came galloping with the prefect Zhu Zijian, followed by Shangguan Yanran, Xiang Xiaotian and Jiang Meng with several entourage escorts. When Chen Mengsheng rushed to He's house, he did not rush in but stared at the gate for a long time.
, took out the magic ruler and struck the door god on the door of He's house left and right. Everyone was puzzled by Chen Mengsheng's strange behavior, and no one dared to stop him. There were portraits of Qin Shubao and Yuchi Gong on the left and right of the door.
, the door god was whipped by Chen Mengsheng's Demon-Conquering Ruler and turned into green smoke, standing respectfully in front of Chen Mengsheng's eyes.
Chen Mengsheng cursed angrily: "You two are devouring human incense but don't want to repay it. The black air in this room must be the work of goblins."
The two door gods looked at each other with misery and smiled bitterly. Qin Shubao stepped forward and replied: "The Immortal doesn't know something. It's not because our brothers don't want to repay, but because those two women are so powerful in their magic. Our little door gods are really good at it."
No way, we brothers were imprisoned by the demon tonight. Seeing the demon doing evil, we can only stay here and ask for guidance from the immortal."
Zhu Zijian saw Chen Mengsheng talking to himself alone in front of the gate of He Mansion and asked: "Have you discovered any clues, master?"
Chen Mengsheng released the two door gods, turned back to Zhu Zijian and said: "There are indeed demons in Yangzhou Mansion who are doing harm to people. Just now I saw that there is still a demonic black air in this house. After asking the door gods, I found out that it was
It was done by two goblins who transformed into women, Mr. Zhu will wait for me to come into the house and check the dead body of Young Master He before he can reason."
A group of people entered the study room of the He family. The county magistrate Wang Ji saw the prefect Zhu Zijian rushing over to salute. Zhu Zijian waved his hand and said: "All red tape has been eliminated. Did Mr. Wang find anything?"
Wang Jidao: "Xiaoguan picked up Mrs. He Qingquan after midnight this morning to play drums and plead grievances. Her husband died in his study for no apparent reason. I came with the government servants to check, but after a whole day of checking, they found no clue."
Your Majesty, I apologize."
Zhu Zijian saw He Qingquan's body lying on his back, and his face showed the same dark gray color as the original mysterious deceased. Outside the study, relatives and friends were mourning, and Zhu Zijian asked Chen Mengsheng softly: "Master, do you think there are any clues to solve the case?"
Chen Mengsheng said: "Master Zhu, please exit the study first. Let me check it out and maybe I can find out some clues." Zhu Zijian waved to Wang Ji and led the officials out of the study.
After Xiang Xiaotian saw everyone leaving, he asked: "Brother, are you going to summon spirits again to investigate?"
"Well, there are too many villains in the house just now. The yang energy is too strong and it is not suitable to summon ghosts. Brother, you and your junior sister are waiting for me here. Don't be too close to avoid being possessed by ghosts." Xiang Xiaotian and Shangguan Yanran nodded in agreement.
Chen Mengsheng walked up to He Qingquan's dead body, pinched his fingers and recited a spell to summon He Qingquan's soul. He asked, "Who were you killed by?"
He Qingquan was asked inexplicably and replied blankly: "I don't know who killed me?"
Chen Mengsheng couldn't help but shook his head and sighed: "Another fool, he doesn't even know how he died. What happened in the study last night?"
"Nothing happened to me in the study. It seemed that I was reading in the room. Suddenly I smelled a faint fragrance of flowers, and then I felt a splitting headache. The pain was so severe that I couldn't sit up and rolled on the floor. What happened next?
I don’t know either.”
"You didn't notice anything strange? Has anyone entered the study?"
He Qingquan shook his head with confusion on his face and said: "I didn't see anyone come in." Chen Mengsheng saw that He Qingquan didn't know anything about it, so he could only put He Qingquan's soul into the soul-capturing bottle.
Shangguan Yanran asked: "Senior brother, how come you know the murderer after just a few questions?"
Chen Mengsheng shook his head and said: "The master of suffering himself doesn't even know who killed him. He only knew from the mouth of the door god that there were two women."
Xiang Xiaotian looked at the ground behind the desk in the study and saw red, green and pink things scattered and said in surprise: "Brothers, come and see what this is?"
Chen Mengsheng squatted on the ground and gently twisted the red and green powder with his fingers, not knowing what it was. Shangguan Yanran smelled a light fragrance and suddenly realized: "It's pollen, the pollen of peony flowers."
Xiang Xiaotian said angrily: "Is that evil guy Pang De using poisonous flowers to harm people again?"
"Brother, this is absolutely impossible. Pound was a frightened bird last night and it is difficult to protect himself. This person was definitely not harmed by Pound. He should have been killed by a monster." The three people checked carefully in the study.
I didn't find anything, so I opened the door and walked outside the study.
When Zhu Zijian saw Chen Mengsheng coming out, he hurriedly stepped forward and asked, "What did Master Chen discover?"
Seeing that Chen Mengsheng and the others were looking depressed, they felt sad for a while. He explained to himself: "I have just asked everyone with Wang Ji that three days before the incident, He Qingquan, Mr. Yun and Mr. Wei stayed at Xingyue Huafang, Yangzhou.
Most of the people who died in the Mansion murder case have been to Hua Fang. I also sent soldiers to garrison Hua Fang in Slender West Lake, but nothing was found."
Chen Mengsheng cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, Mr. Zhu, for the tip. I will go to the Slender West Lake Painted Boat to investigate."
Zhu Zijian said to Jiang Meng who was questioning the case: "General Jiang is responsible for taking Master Chen and others with him." Jiang Meng responded and led Chen Mengsheng and his party out of He's house and headed straight for Slender West Lake.
Xiang Xiaotian and Jiang Meng teased Shangguan Yanran along the way and said, "Girl, you'd better go back first. Huafang is a fireworks place and it's really not suitable for you to go there."
Shangguan Yanran said not to be outdone: "I went to investigate the case with my senior brother. Why can you go but I can't?"
Jiang Meng laughed loudly and said: "Miss Shangguan, you are really right. It is true that girls are not allowed on the painted boat. Even if you get on the painted boat, the madam will chase you off. The girls in the painted boat will be
It’s a pastime for rich young men.”
Shangguan Yanran shyly whipped her horse whip and threw away the people behind her as fast as a meteor. She ignored Chen Mengsheng's shouts and rushed straight into Yangzhou City. Chen Mengsheng and the other three looked at Shangguan Yanran going away and could only sigh helplessly...
There are painted boats like clouds on the Slender West Lake in Yangzhou Prefecture. Just after the second watch, bursts of fairy music mixed with the sounds of orioles singing and swallows can be heard from the painted boats. Jiang Meng raised his whip and pointed at the star-and-moon hanging in the middle of the lake.
The giant flat boat with the flag said: "Brother Chen, Brother Xiang's Xingyue Boat is the number one boat in Slender West Lake in Yangzhou Prefecture. There are so many beautiful women on the boat that it is a rich man's den."
Xiang Xiaotian smiled and said: "I guess Boss Jiang must be well versed in this, right?"
"Haha, it would be a good thing if my few dollars were not thrown off by the big teapot on the boat. I have never been on the Star and Moon Boat. Today I borrowed Brother Chen's light to go on the boat to investigate the case and feast my eyes on it.
"
Chen Mengsheng frowned and said: "If He Qingquan got on the Xingyue Boat and suffered an accident, I don't even know that there is any evil spirit on the boat."
While the three of them were talking on the shore, a wooden raft with two flat ends came out of the lake. Two young men in green clothes came up from the raft and lowered their hands and asked: "Are you here to have fun on the boat? Do you know any of them?"
Hua Fang, I’ll send you guys there right now.”
When Chen Mengsheng saw that these two young men were only fourteen or fifteen years old, cleanly dressed and articulate, he asked: "We came here because of its reputation, but we don't know which boat is better among so many boats?"
The older boy said: "Sir, if you are here for the first time, you should go to the small boat to listen to music and drink. There are seventy-two boats in Slender West Lake, and the sixty boats outside are all small boats.
Only the twelve inner circles are large boats."
Xiang Xiaotian led the horse and said displeasedly: "Brother, what do you mean by this? Are you afraid that we will shortchange your money?"
The boy on the side laughed and said: "Uncle, you have misunderstood. We, the guides, all hope that the uncle will reward us with two more coins so that we can go back and buy some brown rice to feed our families. How can we cause trouble to the elders? My eldest brother means big brother."
There are many rules on a painted boat, but it is not as comfortable as on a small boat. You see, there are three types of guests on the star-and-moon boat. There are no drunk people on the boat, no rich and elegant people, and no vulgar and unreasonable people."
Xiang Xiaotian turned around and said to Chen Mengsheng: "Brother, this is a bit interesting. They don't want to make money even if they have money. Let's go up to the Xingyue Boat and have a look."
Chen Mengsheng nodded and said: "Then let's go to the Xingyue Boat." He took out ten taels of silver from his sleeve and handed them to the two boys.
Seeing that Chen Mengsheng was generous, the boy came over and led the horse into the shed, and then the three of them got on the raft. Chen Mengsheng asked if there were any weird things that happened in the Xingyue Boat. The two paddling boys heard this.
His expression changed. He put the money back into Chen Mengsheng's hand and said, "Sir, we don't know what you said. We can't accept this money. Half a year ago, a guide boy was arrested because he said the wrong thing."
Resign, we brothers really don’t know." Chen Mengsheng saw the panic in their eyes and stopped asking further questions.
The raft was rowed near the boat. From time to time, girls in the small boats outside made gestures at Chen Mengsheng and the three of them. When they saw the raft rowing towards the boat inside, they returned to the boat angrily.
The raft floated down the river and in a short time, it reached the foot of the Xingyue Boat. Someone from the boat lowered the flower ladder to pick up Chen Mengsheng and others aboard. The big teapot was a young and beautiful woman in her twenties. She said with a smile:
"Zhidie has seen all the gentlemen. Are they here to listen to music or drink?"
Jiang Meng smiled and said: "Most of the big teapots who do the job are men. Today I opened my eyes. Such a beauty is actually a big teapot, haha."
Zhidie threw two slings of money to the boy who led the way and said calmly: "There are all women on the Xingyue Boat. Please follow Zhidie into the boat..."