This man was a coachman. He took their young master to the river that night. After the young master got on the boat, he walked around nearby.
Little did he know, he saw a horse approaching quickly. The man was dressed in black. After dismounting, he took off his black clothes at the corner, picked up a stone, wrapped it and sank to the bottom of the river. Then he got on the boat.
Since the person's name and address were recorded in the records, the King of Qi asked someone to bring the person over for questioning.
The man was the coachman of the businessman Wang Fu's family. He said: "The villain always goes to the river several times a month. Because my young master is in love with a girl. The villain sends him there every time. After the young master gets on the boat.
Because the weather was cold, the villain couldn't just sit in one place and wait, so he brought a pot of wine. After drinking it, he walked around to get rid of the cold. The villain remembered that it was very cold that night. There were relatively few guests, so the villain walked to the gatehouse.
When I was there, I saw a man in black running over on horseback. Most villains would not pay attention to this, but because he was wearing black clothes, the villain thought it was a bit strange, so he took a few more glances. After all,
Anyone who comes to play here will dress up as much as possible. After he sank his black clothes to the bottom of the river, he got on the painting boat."
"Can you see his appearance clearly?" King Qi asked urgently.
The driver shook his head, "I can't see clearly because the place where he stands is relatively dark, but I can see that he has a jade ring on his thumb."
"Which boat did you board?"
"It should be Chun Niang's painting boat." The coachman thought for a while, "It might also be Mei Niang's boat. Anyway, it's just these two boats."
Fu Cheng was about to send someone to ask, but someone came to report the case, saying that Chun Niang of Xisu River was found lying dead in her home. It was Huafang's mother who found it. In addition to Chun Niang, even Chun Niang's serving maids were dead.
The body was stinking when I arrived, and it looked like it had been dead for more than three days.
When King Qi heard this, he couldn't help but feel discouraged. He finally found some information, but it was lost here.
Yu Wenhao took a closer look and said: "It took about three days for the person to die. In other words, Chun Niang was killed after we found Lu Yuan's horse. The murderer knew the direction of our investigation very well."
"Fifth brother, I don't understand why the murderer wanted to get on the boat? Wouldn't it be better to just leave?" King Qi asked.
"At that time, the Ministry of War had already led people to chase him. He walked out injured. Once he encountered the pursuer, he would not be able to run away. It would be better to hide in the boat for a while and wait for the news to pass before leaving."
Yu Wenhao asked people to go to Chun Niang and fish out the black clothes from the river to see if there were any clues.
Chun Niang lived with her maid in a rented house by the West River. In the past, Chun Niang would receive guests in the boat and only go home to sleep during the day, rarely interacting with the surrounding people.
And everyone knows what she does for a living and generally doesn't like to associate with her.
Hua Fang's mother said that Chun Niang hadn't come for two days, and she thought she was pregnant at that time, because after picking up the guests that night, Chun Niang said she had a stomachache, so maybe she was pregnant.
The girl who painted the boat came to Yuexin to have a rest, so her mother did not rush her and just asked other girls to take the place of Chun Niang.
There are usually only one or two girls in this kind of small boat, and at most there are only three or four girls. However, because Chun Niang has good looks, good talents, and has regular patrons, she is basically the only girl in this small boat.
, she didn’t come to work, so she asked someone to take her place.
My mother went to Jingzhao Mansion to testify. She said that she was not painting the boat that day, so she did not see the strange guest.
Mother was also a little dissatisfied with Chun Niang and said: "Ever since I got married to a noble person, I have always asked for leave every now and then. I have asked for leave for seven or eight days in a row this month. I didn't expect that something like this would happen now. This is terrible.
What should I do? The money for the boat has not been paid off yet. I said at the beginning that I couldn't just use her alone. But now it's fine, and I still owe more than a thousand taels of silver that I haven't paid back. What should I do?"
As my mother said this, she paused and wiped her tears.
When King Qi heard this, he suddenly had a thought in his mind and asked: "She hasn't been there for seven or eight days this month? So on the eighth day of this month, was she on the boat?"
Mom shook her head, "The civilian woman doesn't remember it. I have to go back and look at the records to find out. The civilian woman has written it down."
"Come here, take mom back and watch together to see if it is Chun Niang who is on the boat on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year." King Qi immediately ordered.
Yu Wenhao gave King Qi an appreciative look, showing that he was thoughtful.
Yu Wenhao felt relieved and handed over the clues here to him and Fu Cheng, while he continued to take people out to investigate.
However, although King Qi thought of an important point, the news brought back by the headhunter disappointed him, because it was Chun Niang who was on the boat that night when the accident happened, not the person who took her place.
The only clue now is the black clothes sunk at the bottom of the river.
The head catcher fished out the clothes, which were wrapped around a big stone. After wrapping, he tied them up with his sleeves. Anyway, if there hadn't been a big torrent, they wouldn't have been able to be washed away.
The fabric of the clothes is very good. It can be seen that it is not a night clothes, but a black brocade robe with fine stitching and even embroidery on the cuffs.
There was a cut on the left shoulder of the clothes. After soaking under it for a few days, the blood was gone. A piece was cut off from the hem of the clothes. I believe it was used by the man in black to bandage the wound on his shoulder. He was hiding in the alley and was probably dressing it.
The wound prevents blood from flowing down and being followed by others.
The material was good and there was embroidery. It was not a night clothes, so it could be seen that he took a black dress from the closet and put it on, then covered his face and came out.
In other words, the entire theft plan was not a long-planned one, but a temporary one.
"Can the material be traced?" King Qi asked.
Fu Cheng took a look and said, "Although it is a precious material, many silk and satin shops sell these materials, so it is difficult to track down."
King Qi fell into melancholy. He looked at the only evidence and the insignificant confession. He was five feet eight tall, wearing a jade finger ring, black clothes, good martial arts, capable of fighting several people in the military department, and also seriously injured two people.
The most important thing is that this person was recognized by Lu Yuan. Lu Yuan was not guarded against him. That must be someone Lu Yuan knew and believed.
Who could it be?
King Qi had guessed King Ji before, because King Ji's martial arts were good and his height was suitable, but with his personality, it was absolutely impossible for him to do such a dangerous thing personally. He had so many people, so he could just send one or two
Just go.
The fourth child...could it be the fourth child?
But there are many people under Lao Si, so why should we take risks ourselves?
For a moment, he fell into a dilemma. King Qi racked his brains and couldn't think of a way to catch the man in black. So, after thinking about it, he went back to his house, changed his clothes, and walked around the boat.
He really wanted to find the murderer for Lu Yuan, or in other words, he wanted to do something for Yuan Yongyi to make up for the guilt in his heart.
He didn't bring the stone lock, so he rode his horse to the Xisu River alone.