While shouting, Chai Yan was already running out of the room impatiently.
Zhang Lao Niu hurriedly ran out and said, "Sir, go to the yard, there is water there..."
In the blink of an eye, Zhang Yuan's room became quiet, and she was left alone standing by the bed with lingering fear, looking at the blood stain on the inside of the quilt in panic.
After being stunned for a while, Zhang Yuan quickly turned over the quilt and hid the blood stain again.
Afterwards, Zhang Yuan left the room, closed the door and hurried to the yard.
Beside the well in the yard, Chai Yan was washing his hands with a look of disgust on his face. Zhang Lao Niu stood aside and helped scoop out water with a wooden ladle, pouring one ladle after another on Chai Yan's hands.
Chai Yan scrubbed for a while but still felt that it was not clean enough, so he asked: "Hey, are there any soaps or soaps? It can't be cleaned like this!"
"Yes, yes, yes. Sir, wait a moment..."
After Zhang Laoniu agreed, he quickly ran to get a piece of soap locust. Chai Yan applied the soap locust on it and rinsed it again, and then he was done.
The sound of Chai Yan washing his hands also attracted Cheng Jiu and Guan Maochun back.
"Sir, what happened?" Cheng Jiu asked while looking at Zhang Lao Niu and Zhang Yuan.
Guan Maochun also asked: "Sir, what's wrong with your hand?"
Chai Yan frowned and waved his hands unhappily: "I won't say it any more. It's bad luck! It's bad luck!"
"I'm sorry, sir, please forgive me." Zhang Laoniu followed and apologized.
Chai Yan raised his hand to signal Zhang Laoniu to stop talking, and then asked Cheng Jiu and Guan Maochun: "Have you looked around and behind you? Is there anything abnormal?"
Cheng Jiu replied: "Sir, I have seen it all and there is nothing abnormal."
After hearing this, Chai Yan said: "Since there is no problem, let's go..."
After saying that, Chai Yan walked out of the courtyard gate. As soon as Zhang Yuan saw that they were leaving, his heart immediately dropped a lot.
As soon as Chai Yan reached the entrance of the courtyard, he suddenly stopped and turned around and warned: "Remember, if Cai Baozhong absconds and comes back, you must not take him in. You must know that harboring someone who rebels against the party is a capital crime!"
Zhang Laoniu immediately held up his hands, shook his head and said, "No, no, that guy Cai Baozhong did a lot of harm to my daughter. If I find him, I will risk my life to catch him."
Chai Yan nodded with great satisfaction and said: "That's the best."
Afterwards, Chai Yan and the others got on their horses and walked away along the village road they came from.
Zhang Lao Niu stood outside the courtyard gate until he was sure that Chai Yan and the others would not fight back, and then he breathed a long sigh of relief.
Immediately afterwards, Zhang Lao Niu turned to stare at his daughter, his eyebrows were high, and he shouted with a stern expression: "Come with me, I have something to ask you!"
.....................
After Chai Yan and the others left the village on horseback, they did not go towards the capital. Instead, they followed the road in the opposite direction and headed towards the mountains behind Giethoorn.
Cheng Jiu saw some clues and asked, "Sir, did you discover something just now?"
"Ah, have you found anything?" Guan Maochun asked blankly.
Chai Yan nodded while riding: "Yes, I just found three blood stains in Zhang Yuan's room, one on the window, one on the ground under the window, and the other one was inside Zhang Yuan's quilt
.The first two blood stains have been cleaned. Although they cannot be seen with the naked eye, they cannot escape my discernment. Only the area inside the quilt has not been cleaned..."
Guan Maochun was very puzzled and immediately asked: "Sir, why didn't she wash off the blood in the quilt?"
Chai Yan did not answer, but turned to Cheng Jiu: "Do you know why she didn't wash it?"
Cheng Jiu frowned and thought for a while, then replied: "Sir, according to my opinion, it's not that Zhang Yuan doesn't want to wash, but that he has no chance to wash!"
"Go on..." Chai Yan said.
Cheng Jiu continued: "There are only three people in the Zhang family. If Zhang Yuan suddenly washes and airs the quilt, he will definitely not be able to avoid the sight of Zhang Lao Niu and her daughter. If asked then, the things Zhang Yuan wants to hide will inevitably be revealed.
So she only washed away the blood stains on the windows and the floor, and the blood stains on the quilt could only be left temporarily until she had the chance to wash them off later."
"That's very good, I think so too!" Chai Yan nodded in appreciation.
Immediately afterwards, Chai Yan asked Guan Maochun: "Do you know what these three blood stains indicate?"
Guan Maochun was stunned for a moment, and then said: "I know, it means someone slipped into Zhang Yuan's room through the window with an injury, and slept in her bed and covered her quilt."
"Well, you're not stupid!" Chai Yan said and asked: "Then who do you think could sneak into Zhang Yuan's room with injuries?"
Guan Maochun said firmly: "It must be Cai Baozhong!"
Chai Yan looked at Cheng Jiu: "What do you think?"
Cheng Jiu replied: "I think the same as him."
Chai Yan nodded and said: "I also think it is Cai Baozhong who is most likely, but we cannot rule out that it is another man who secretly came to have a private meeting with Zhang Yuan in the middle of the night."
Guan Maochun was surprised, shook his head and said: "But look at Zhang Yuan, she doesn't look like such a woman. Besides, there are people at home. What if she is discovered?"
Cheng Jiuze said: "What do people think in their hearts? Can they be counted by just seeing and thinking? Your Excellency is right, it is not impossible!"
"But I still think that the owner of those blood stains is most likely to be Cai Baozhong. If nothing else happens, it was Zhang Yuan who took Cai Baozhong in and hid him somewhere." Chai Yan said.
Just now in Zhang Yuan's room, Chai Yan successfully collected the three blood samples, and got confirmation from Shangguan Peining that the owner of these blood was the same person.
Since there were no bleeding wounds on the bodies of Zhang Yuan and his family, this meant that the blood was brought into the house by outsiders.
That's why Chai Yan left Giethoorn and followed the direction Shangguan Peining sensed to find the owner of these bloodstains.
Chai Yan knew very well that what Zhang Lao Niu said just now was to cover up for his daughter. He did not expose it on the spot. One was because it was not yet certain that the owner of the blood stain was Cai Baozhong, in case the blood was left by another man when he sneaked in and had an affair with Zhang Yuan.
Yeah, that scene was so embarrassing...
The second reason was because he was concerned about the feelings of Zhang Yuan's daughter. Niuniu was still young. If the owner of the blood was really Cai Baozhong, Chai Yan would not be willing to tell the truth in front of the child or force Zhang Yuan to hand over Cai Baozhong.
Chai Yan himself felt that the easiest way was to directly find the owner of the blood stains. If that person was Cai Baozhong, he could just silently capture him and bring him back for business.
Cheng Jiu looked at the hills ahead and asked, "Sir, is that man in the mountains?"
Chai Yan nodded slowly: "Yes, I don't know if that person is Cai Baozhong."
.....................
Zhang Laoniu's backyard.
Zhang Laoniu brought his daughter to the chicken coop, stared into her eyes and asked in a low voice: "Whose is that blood in your quilt?"
Zhang Yuan did not dare to look directly at his father, lowered his head and said: "Yes...it belongs to my daughter. I was not careful last time..."
"Shut up, you still dare to lie to me?" Zhang Lao Niu was anxious and immediately interrupted his daughter.
Zhang Laoniu was afraid that his granddaughter would hear him, so he lowered his voice again and said, "Tell me, has Cai Baozhong been here? Did you hide him?"
Zhang Yuan didn't speak, just bit his lip and kept shaking his head.
Zhang Lao Niu understood everything as soon as he saw his daughter's appearance, and immediately stared anxiously: "Daughter, he treated you like that back then, why did you still protect him? Are you obsessed?"
Zhang Yuan's eyes gradually became moist, and he whispered: "Dad, he... he is also Niu Niu's father. My daughter... my daughter doesn't want Niu Niu to lose her father in the future...
....”
"Confused!" Zhang Laoniu shouted in a low voice, and then said: "He is a traitor wanted by the court. Didn't you hear what that person said just now? If he is found harboring a traitor, he will be beheaded, my daughter!
"
After saying that, Zhang Lao Niu fell into silence. He kept breathing heavily with his hands on his hips and his expression was very depressed.
Zhang Yuan wiped the corners of his eyes and said softly: "Dad, he promised me that he would only stay for a while, and when the limelight passes, he would leave immediately. It's the real dad, he really said that."
"Daughter, can you also listen to what that gambler says?" Zhang Lao Niu shook his head and said coldly.
Zhang Yuan was immediately speechless.
The two were quiet for a while, and Zhang Lao Niu suddenly asked seriously: "Where did you hide the person?"
Zhang Yuan hesitated for a moment, and finally said it: "In... on the mountain, in our small hunting house..."
Zhang Laoniu thought for a while, took a deep breath and said: "Daughter, go up the mountain immediately and tell him to be careful and not to be discovered. Do you understand?"
"I understand, my daughter understands. My daughter will go and tell him now." Zhang Yuan nodded quickly, and then ran out of the yard in a panic.