It is said that Zhu Tong and his wife discussed for a long time and roughly guessed the opponent's plan. Then he changed his clothes and quietly left the back door of Zhu's house and went to Gao's house.
Jia Taijun has passed away, and her confidant, the female general Xiaomei, is guarding her yard. Xiaomei was slightly surprised when she heard that Zhu Tong was visiting. Zhu Tong bowed directly after entering the door: "General Mei, I have something important to discuss with the general in my later life."
, General, please step aside." Although the words were abrupt, Xiaomei thought for a moment and agreed. Seeing that there was no one else in the room, Zhu Tong reached into his arms and took out a jade plaque and handed it over. Xiaomei took it and took a look, and smiled.
.
On her birthday the year before last, Liu Feng sneaked in at night to congratulate her, and by the way, he said that he was about to be transferred out of the Qin State. He said: "I'm afraid it will take two years for the successor to arrive. My nephew wants to ask for a token for him." Xiaomei.
So he gave him a jade plaque given by Taijun Jia. This thing had just been taken out of Zhu Tong's hand.
Xiaomei shook her head and said softly: "I really didn't expect it to be you. Isn't it just a change of guard when the two of you were working together in Lu country?"
"Yes." Zhu Tong said, "Mr. Zhan Kun decided this matter before Liu Feng came to Qin. After the change of ownership of Lu, it was inconvenient for Wansheng to stay. Besides, Wansheng is from Qin, so it is cheaper than Liu Feng to do things in Qin."
Xiaomei nodded: "You came here suddenly today. Do you think something happened to the Fuyuntang case?"
Zhu Tong said: "It's a bit tricky. I don't know when the people from Dajiala Safe Factory will arrive. My uncle brought all the locksmiths in the city, but he couldn't open the combination lock." Xiaomei smiled unconsciously. Zhu Tong continued
Said, "The apparent owner of Fuyuntang, Mr. Bi, is nowhere to be seen; another clue was also broken due to our people's operational error. However, we analyzed the current situation and found that the other party's target is the Gao family. Please help General Mei guess."
Guess, they spent a lot of effort to make King Qin mistakenly think that a young sister-in-law, Master Hui Ban, was the third eldest daughter of the Ding family who was almost married to the Gao family. How could this threaten the Gao family?"
Xiaomei frowned: "What is the origin of this Master Hui Ban?"
"She is a sister-in-law in her twenties who has Buddhist contacts with the Queen Mother. The Queen Mother admires her calligraphy very much." Zhu Tong said, "She became a monk at Bodhi Temple in Qinghua Mountain."
Xiaomei was shocked: "Qinghua Mountain?"
Zhu Tong made up his mind: Look at what this means, he is not in the wrong direction. Then he nodded and said: "Yes, Qinghua Mountain. The King and Queen Mother went there to cool off the summer last year and got to know her."
Xiaomei immediately shouted: "Chunxiang!" She was so energetic that it spread far and wide.
I saw a girl of seventeen or eighteen years old walking in from outside, with a calm expression on her face without even looking at Zhu Tong: "General."
Xiaomei said: "Go to the camp and invite the Second Master and General Ou Cheng!" Chunxiang agreed, turned around and left.
Zhu Tong straightened his back unconsciously: Qinghua Mountain is afraid that the Gao family has some weakness. Sure enough, Xiaomei said solemnly: "The Gao family has hidden a huge arsenal in Qinghua Mountain and has private soldiers stationed there. No outsiders should know about this matter.
That’s it.”
Zhu Tong was slightly startled, and after thinking for a moment, he said: "The other party obviously knew what he was doing, otherwise they wouldn't have taken action directly."
Xiaomei said: "Please tell me in detail from the beginning."
Zhu Tong did not dare to hide it and told the Fuyuntang case in detail. "The news from SHIELD is that the little maid next to Bai Lan is also one of theirs. We have sent people to Xianyang. And..." He frowned and said,
"One of my brothers made a mistake yesterday."
The cook named Shen Daming of Shilixiang Restaurant got a message from Mrs. Guan, saying that her master had sent her away in a hurry. When it got dark, Shen Daming rushed to Ding's house and spent two taels of silver to ask someone to meet Bai Lan. 2
After a long discussion, the little girl returned home, and Shen Daming also returned to his residence. The two brothers who were watching were staring at the front door and the other at the back door. After a while, Shen Daming changed into a brocade robe and came out of the back door, wearing an embroidered flower.
The soft hat looked like a dandy. The brother who was staring at the back door inadvertently made a slightly louder movement, which alerted this person, so he had to retreat and change his companions to stay at a distance.
Shen Daming hired a sedan chair and took him to Chunfeng Tower. When he entered, he asked Miss Mei to order. Miss Mei had guests at that moment, so he dropped a large ingot of silver with his hand. The madam immediately took Miss Mei out and sent her to his room. But he didn't
He didn't stay long, and left in about two-quarters of an hour. When he left, Shen Daming didn't take a sedan or a car, and wandered back. The follower also followed him slowly. He walked to a secluded alley, paying no attention to people.
No more! Just as I was looking for him, Shen Daming stepped out from behind and grabbed the escort guy by the neck. The two immediately started to move. Shen Daming was very skilled in martial arts and had forced many escorts. He only had three or five escorts.
He couldn't stand it anymore. In desperation, the escort pulled out his musket and fired a bullet, hitting Shen Daming in the throat. Fortunately, he was still alive.
After hearing this, Xiaomei immediately said: "Send someone quickly to check on the eldest girl from the Ding family."
Zhu Tong hurriedly asked: "What's wrong with this woman?"
Xiaomei said: "Since they have such a master as Shen Daming, why don't they just kill Miss Ding to silence her? To avoid future troubles, it's just a family temple."
Zhu Tong stumbled with an "Oh!" and said, "I didn't expect that."
After a while, Chunxiang, the girl who had just gone to invite someone, came back and said, "The second master and General Ou are here, do you want to invite them in?" Xiaomei looked at Zhu Tong.
Zhu Tong thought for a while: "It's better that few people know my identity. I'm not afraid of anything else, I'm just afraid of being seen by outsiders."
Xiaomei said calmly: "Don't worry, I don't worry either. People are aware of such secret things in Qinghua Mountain." Then she let Chunxiang lead him away from behind.
That night, Captain Kong personally led two people to the Ding family temple. After walking around twice, they found a small courtyard. There were flowers of all seasons planted here and there was a rockery fish pond. It didn't look like an ordinary sister-in-law's residence.
The four treasures of the study were set up in the house, and the bookshelves were full of books. However, there were only two sisters-in-law living in the courtyard, and there was no Miss Ding.
It was past the fourth watch when Zhu Tong received the telegram from the escort agency. The couple had already fallen asleep, so they hurriedly got up and read the telegram. They were full of doubts and sat guessing. Suddenly, Zhu Tong slapped the pillow: "Sleep!" Without any explanation, he pulled his wife to lie down.
After getting off the bed, Liu Jing just turned around and rested again. After only lying down for half a stick of incense, another telegram came. Zhu Tong from the capital was a little excited after reading it. He held an oil lamp in one hand and a telegram in the other and said with a smile:
"Daughter-in-law! Look at this, it's interesting."
Liu Jing said angrily: "Sleep!"
Zhu Tong said: "It's really interesting. They have made us guess for so long with their riddles. Why don't we also give them a hook to repay them?"
Liu Jing, who was already very sleepy, became interested again after hearing this. He sat up and said, "What kind of telegram? Let me see it." Zhu Tong laughed. The couple thought about it until dawn.
In the afternoon of the next day, the fishermen of the Bahe River closed their nets and returned. It was cold now, and although the river was still flowing, someone from the government had come to tell them that it was not far from freezing, and asked everyone to fish less and build more nets. Suddenly, upstream,
A black shadow floated over. When everyone took a closer look, it turned out to be a corpse. An old fisherman hurriedly called his son to intercept the corpse. They saw that he was wearing brocade clothes, and it was obvious that he was a wealthy man.
Not long after, the body was delivered to the magistrate's office. The deceased was a man, about fifty years old. He was killed first and then dumped. Liang Wu checked the wound and found that he was killed by a long, thin sharp instrument through his throat.
There was a dish from Shilixiang Restaurant on the person's body, and the government sent people to Shilixiang to call for people to identify the body. Cao Dong's family went there in person and recognized the deceased as Shen Daming, the cook of their restaurant. This man had successfully gone to work the day before yesterday.
He has not come since yesterday for some unknown reason. His boss was still a little worried, but unexpectedly he was gone. Mr. Cao’s face was filled with sadness.
But just now, someone came to report the case. It was a steward of the imperial censor Ding Bozhang's house. It turned out that a woman named Guan had disappeared in their house a few days ago. I thought she had encountered some emergency or escaped.
I never thought that when I sent someone to clean her house today, I found that she had a box with a mezzanine. Inside the mezzanine were five scrolls, three iron rods and a handkerchief. The scroll, the iron rod, the veil and the box.
There were blood stains on the clothes. The person in charge was afraid that something was wrong with Mrs. Guan, so he rushed to report it to the official.
Cao Dong's family happened to hear people from the Yamen shouting about this matter, so they hurriedly ran out of the morgue and gathered next to the steward of Ding Mansion and the clerk in charge of case records to listen to them.
Then the clerk asked: "What are those five scrolls?"
The steward said: "It's a set of Diamond Sutras. The handwriting is written by a woman and there is no signature."
"Does the old lady always believe in Buddhism?"
The steward thought for a while: "It seems... he is a Buddhist."
The literary official wrote like a dragon and a snake: "What is the iron drill used for?"
"We don't know about this. It's a bit like a barbeque knife used by barbarians. The veil belongs to her, and her daughter-in-law in the same class recognizes it." The steward said, "I remember that the report instructions issued by the government said not to damage the scene.
, I waited for the officials to check before collecting the evidence, so I didn’t touch anything in the room. Otherwise, I would have brought the box.”
The clerk nodded: "You did a great job. Thank you for not destroying the scene. We will go there right away." He arranged for a arrest leader to go over. After hearing this, the boss named Cao had a gloomy face and rubbed his face in the Yamen.
Refuses to leave.
After waiting for a long time, the people who went to Ding's house came back. The leading catcher carried the box straight into the morgue and shouted: "Mr. Liang, come and take a look at this iron drill. I think it's the same as this cook's."
The holes are similar in size."
Liang Wuzuo immediately said, "Bring it to me and let me see." The catcher quickly took out the iron drill.
The Cao Dong family came closer and saw five scrolls neatly placed in the mezzanine under the box, with blood dripping from them. While the arrester was thinking about the iron blade and the wound, the Cao Dong family secretly took out a scroll.
He opened it and took a look. The headman shouted: "Hey, don't move! This is important evidence."
Cao Dongjia laughed twice: "I'm just a little curious, I didn't break it."
The catcher frowned: "You are so old, you should know the importance."
Just as he was talking, someone outside shouted: "Jiang Wuzuo is here."
I saw Jiang Wuzuo striding in and said: "I heard that you have a corpse that has been soaked in water. I want to verify that what you said is correct. I hope you will forgive me for coming uninvited."
Jiang Wuzuo has been to their yamen before, so everyone recognizes him. Who doesn't know that he came from the state of Lu with Mr. Zhu Tong? As the saying goes, if one person has the Tao, chickens and dogs will soar. Mr. Zhu Tong is obviously valued by the prince, and Jiang Wuzuo will follow suit.
Benefits. The head catcher said: "Jiang Wuzuo is willing to come, so naturally it is the best."
At this time, Jiang Wuzuo had already walked to the corpse. He first asked Liang Wuzuo about Shen Daming, looked at it carefully for a while and said, "This man is not from Qin, right?"
Cao Dongjia immediately said: "He is from Chu."
"Are you from the Chu country?" Jiang Wuzuo opened the box and put on his white gloves, "Must be from the Shu country." Liang Wuzuo nodded with a smile.
The head catcher asked: "How can you see it?"
Cao Dongjia pointed at this man's collar and said: "The style is clearly Shu brocade. How can he, a cook, afford Shu brocade? What's more, this is Qin State, and Shu brocade is becoming more expensive because of its rarity. Or he bought it in his hometown, which is cheaper.
, or someone in his family can weave this. If he is not from Shu, his wife must be from Shu."
Cao Dong's family said: "Shen Daming is single and has no wife."
"That's strange." Jiang Wuzuo thought, "Does this person have any external wealth? Or does he have a wealthy concubine and a widow?"
The catcher smiled and said, "With this kind of appearance, which rich widow would like him?" He suddenly clapped his hands and said, "This lady is an old widow!"
Jiang Wuzuo's eyes lit up: "Is it possible that the two of them have something secret?"
The head catcher said: "Mrs. Guan has a lot of things there, and we have all moved them here. Why don't you go to Shen Daming's house?"
Jiang Wuzuo nodded: "That's fine. I'll go with you."
The catcher looked at Cao Dong's house with a smile: "Where does this cook live?"
Cao Dong's family secretly hated Shen Daming for wearing Shu brocade, and also hated themselves for not running away earlier. They couldn't leave now, so they had to lead the way for them honestly.
After searching Shen Daming's house for a while, he saw a lot of gold and silk hidden in this man's chest. The headman said, "This cook is really rich. Mr. Cao, how much salary does your restaurant give him?"
The inside of Cao Dong's house was like cooking oil. He wished he could drag Shen Daming over to whip the corpse! On his face, he only pretended to be timid and fearful: "The villain has no idea! Even the villain can't wear Shu brocade."
"It may not be that the source of his money is improper." Jiang Wuzuo picked up a list and said, "We just guessed that it was not correct." The catcher took it and took a look. It was an advertisement for an embroidery shop, Xianyang Jixiang Embroidery Shop. Jiang Wuzuo said
, "I was having a drink at the Flower House a few days ago and heard fans mention this embroidery shop. They said that the embroidery they sell is Shu embroidery and it is very expensive. The work is so good that many oiran ladies from Chang'an come to her place to have their clothes custom-made. The owner is a
Widow, surnamed Huang."
The catcher laughed: "The cook actually hooked up with two widows? What a blessing." He looked at the list again, "Could it be that the two widows were jealous and the widow killed her lover?"
"It's too early to draw conclusions." Jiang Wuzuo began to investigate more carefully.
The head catcher thought: "Now that Mrs. Guan is missing, my brothers may have to make a trip to Xianyang."
Jiang Wu said: "I'm afraid it will be a hard trip for you, so hurry up." He took out some piece of paper from the pillowcase and held it up in his hand with his fingers. When everyone saw it, they saw two tickets for the boat tomorrow.
At a quarter of the afternoon, we took a combined train and boat ticket from Chang'an to Tianjin and then to Japan.
The catcher took it and said with a smile: "I don't know which widow I am going with."
There was no further delay. The arrester took the ship ticket and the order from Jixiang Embroidery Shop and returned to the Yamen to report to the master, requesting that he rush to Xianyang immediately. Jiang Wu led two people to continue the search. Cao Dong's family accompanied them in the search, feeling that Shen Daming was torn to pieces.