Xiao Yichen hummed and walked out of the study. It was the first time that Shao had followed him to the scene of the crime. He took down the faceless female body that was still hanging on the tree. He was bold and careful, and was the most active in investigating the case.
Xiao Yichen walked out of the palace, and Shao Baotou stood upright on the snow at the entrance of the palace. At this moment, the sun had melted a lot of snow in the sky.
Seeing Xiao Yichen walking out of the palace, Shao raised his head and was about to salute, but was interrupted by Xiao Yichen waving his hand, "Let's get down to business."
Captain Shao nodded and was about to speak when he saw a figure running out of the princess. It was Ji Lingxue who had changed her clothes. "I heard that there is progress in the case, I want to go and take a look."
He was corporally punished by the emperor just this morning, and now he is jumping up and down again
Xiao Yichen frowned, but before he said any words of rejection, Ji Lingxue added: "I was the first person to discover the case of the faceless female corpse. I was mistaken for the murderer, so I must work with you to find the real murderer."
Xiao Yichen smiled and agreed. He turned to Shao Captou, "Tell me about the progress. What did you find?"
Chief Shao said: "This morning, someone was washing clothes by the moat and found a human skin floating in the river. Although he was frightened, he quickly reported the case. Wu Zuo and I rushed over immediately, and Wu Zuo examined the human skin. A faceless female corpse.”
Xiao Yichen nodded. It had been snowing in the capital for the past two days, and the moat was also covered in ice. The ice and snow did not melt until the sun came out today. Many diligent women went to the moat to wash clothes early. The murderer could not wait for the ice to melt so early in the morning. Go to the moat to throw the dough. The dough was thrown in the moat when the body was dumped. Later, it snowed and was frozen.
The three of them came to the Yamen morgue. The female corpse had not decomposed due to the low temperature recently. Now the whole piece of dough was pasted back on the female corpse. The thin white skin was illuminated by the winter sun, and the skin under the dough could be clearly seen. The uneven dark red carrion made those who looked at it feel cold in their hearts.
Xiao Yichen walked up to the female corpse and looked down at her face. He then raised his head and asked Shao, the policeman, "Where is the person who reported the crime?"
Knowing that Xiao Yichen had this question, Shao pointed his head in the direction of the lobby and said, "Still waiting in the lobby."
Xiao Yichen took Ji Lingxue's hand and walked to the lobby of the Yamen. Standing in the lobby was a fat middle-aged woman in her forties, wearing a blue shirt that had been washed until it turned white. When she saw Xiao Yichen and Ji Lingxue coming side by side, the woman's eyes flashed. , lowered his eyes and saluted immediately.
Xiao Yichen asked: "Tell me how you discovered Mianpi."
Mentioning her face, the woman's face turned pale, probably thinking of the strange scene, "At the fourth watch, I was awakened by the crowing of chickens in the yard. When I saw that the snow had stopped outside, I thought about my home for several days. I didn’t do any laundry, so I went to the moat to do it before dawn. Everything was normal. But when the first ray of sunlight came over, I saw something white floating in the river. I thought it was a handkerchief. , I found a branch and picked it up. When I saw it was human skin, my heart trembled with fear, so I quickly threw it aside and reported it to the official. "
At the end, the woman patted her chest and said, "Sir, why are there human skins in this moat? It's so scary. I don't dare to wash clothes anymore."
Xiao Yichen nodded. The woman spoke in detail and in a clear manner. She didn't look like she was scared at all
Xiao Yichen nodded, "Okay, I understand. You can go back first. The city is under martial law recently. Don't go out alone if you have nothing to do."
The woman bowed and gave a half salute, turned around and hurried away.
Xiao Yichen said to Shao Captou: "Send someone to keep an eye on her."
"She" naturally pointed at the woman who had just left to report the crime, and his intuition told him that this woman was not simple.
After leaving the yamen, Xiao Yichen and Ji Lingxue returned to the tree where the woman's body was hung. This was the backyard of the teahouse, and there were not many people coming and going. However, the murderer obviously did not use Qinggong to hang the body and then leave. So how did he do it
Ji Lingxue was also thinking about this problem. She stood under the tree, looked at the back window on the second floor of the teahouse, then looked at the height of the branches, and suddenly turned around and headed towards the teahouse.
Xiao Yichen raised his eyebrows, caught up with Ji Lingxue and asked, "Where are you going?"
Ji Lingxue said: "I want to confirm a guess."
What guess? This place has been checked countless times by people from the yamen. All the tea customers and waiters in the teahouse have been checked, and no clues have been found. However, Ji Lingxue seemed to have really found something when he came. Xiao Yichen raised his lips and smiled, holding up his hands. He followed Ji Lingxue to the second floor of the tea house with his back on his back.
In the private room of the tea house facing the big tree where the female body was hanging, Ji Lingxue opened the window and faced the north wind. Xiao Yichen took out a small ingot of silver and sent the waiter who was standing aside, walked to Ji Lingxue and asked, "Are you watching? What?"
Ji Lingxue clapped her hands confidently and said, "I finally know how the female body was hung on the tree without any trace of the murderer."
"Let's talk." Xiao Yichen looked at Ji Lingxue with an attitude of listening.
Find two thin hemp ropes, two iron hooks and a bag of 100 kilograms of rice, and I will do an experiment for the prince.
Xiao Yichen nodded and looked at the sky. Ange, who was hiding in the dark, disappeared in an instant, and not long after, he delivered a few things Ji Lingxue needed.
Xiao Yichen looked at the hemp ropes, hooks and rice on the ground and asked, "Why did we choose rice for this experiment?"
Ji Lingxue spread her hands and smiled: "Because one hundred kilograms of rice is exactly the weight of the female corpse, I couldn't find anything else to replace it with, so I had to use rice instead. I can use it to cook after use."
Xiao Yichen twitched the corner of his mouth, as if he couldn't do without the word "eat" when he was with Ji Lingxue.
Ji Lingxue squatted on the ground and tied two hemp ropes to the hooks. She pulled hard and made sure the hooks were fixed on the hemp ropes. She walked to the window and asked Xiao Yichen to throw the hemp ropes with hooks onto the branches and fix them.
Then he put the rice on the double hemp rope. The tea house was on a high ground and the distance between the trees was relatively short, so the rice bag was easily scratched and landed on the tree accurately.
Xiao Yichen exerted gentle force, and the iron hook that was still hooked on the tree was retracted obediently. He turned to look at Ji Lingxue and asked curiously: "How did you find out?"
Ji Lingxue pointed to the subtle hemp rope mark on the window sill, "This is the evidence. The one on the left was left by the murderer, and the one on the right is the result of our experiment. What do you think of the experiment I conducted?"
Xiao Yichen curled his lips and said, "You have solved the mystery that has troubled me for many days." Because the traces left by the murderer have not been found these days, many people thought it was a sneaky murder, which made people panic.
Ji Lingxue smiled, spread her hands and said, "Then, my lord, please give me a reward!"
Xiao Yichen raised his hand and scratched Ji Lingxue's palm. Ji Lingxue was so itchy that she took her hand back and glared at Xiao Yichen, "My lord, you are so stingy!"
Xiao Yichen said: "I'll give you a piece of sweet potato." He pointed to the sweet potato stall selling sweet potatoes on the street.
Ji Lingxue suddenly jumped on Xiao Yichen's back, put her arms around his neck and said, "Get down quickly, it's faster to get down through the window!"
Xiao Yichen: "..." Does he look like a "horse"
Xiao Yichen only felt depressed for a moment, and skillfully carried Ji Lingxue on his back and climbed out of the window.
An Ge blinked and looked at Xiao Yichen carrying Ji Lingxue's back and complained in his heart: Your Majesty, where is your noble image, do you want it all
Xiao Yichen carried Ji Lingxue on his back and landed in front of the roasted sweet potato stall. The old man selling sweet potatoes had his eyes dazzled when a pair of wall figures suddenly appeared in front of him.
The woman said: "Old man, here are two sweet potatoes."
The old man smiled, picked up two pieces of sweet potatoes, put them in a bag and handed them to Ji Lingxue. Ji Lingxue held the sweet potatoes and left first, while Xiao Yichen paid for them.
That night, Xiao Yichen received news from Chief Shao that there was something wrong with the woman who reported the crime.
Xiao Yichen asked Ji Lingxue, who was observing the mouse in the cage, "The moonlight is pretty tonight, shall we go and see it together?"
Ji Lingxue held the porcelain bottle and looked up, "You can see the moon every day, no matter how beautiful it is, it can't be more beautiful than this."
Xiao Yichen coughed, stood up and said, "Then Princess, please rest early." Then he walked out.
Ji Lingxue stopped him, threw a porcelain bottle to him and said, "Bring it with you for self-defense."
Xiao Yichen took it, put it in his arms, smiled and said, "Okay."
As soon as Xiao Yichen left, Ji Lingxue called Mo Xiang.
Mo Xiang looked in the direction of Xiao Yichen's study, "Princess, why is the prince leaving again?" The other wife wished that her man would stay with her every day, but her princess always chased the prince away.
Ji Lingxue hummed indifferently, lowering her head and fiddling with the abacus in her hand, "The prince will be investigating a case these days." This sentence explained Mo Xiang's doubts.
Mo Xiang groaned, brought the finished cotton shoes to Ji Lingxue and said, "Princess, please try the cotton shoes I just made to see if they fit your feet."
Ji Lingxue hummed, still fiddling with the abacus without raising her head.
Mo Xiang leaned forward and asked, "Princess, what are you thinking about?"
Ji Lingxue raised her head and said, "Of course I am calculating the losses in my store, as well as the cook's labor losses and medical expenses. These must be calculated and listed in detail so that I can get them back from Uncle Guo tomorrow."
Mo Xiang groaned, "The cook is so pitiful. She has no income since her hand was injured. I heard that she still has five children to raise. Her husband has bad legs and feet, so the burden of supporting the family falls on her. Now The two main pillars of the family are disabled, and the family is waiting for the northwest wind. "
Ji Lingxue stood up and asked, "Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?"
Mo Xiang blinked and said, "I also heard Xiaosi mention it accidentally." Besides, no matter how pitiful the cook's family is, it has nothing to do with you, Princess. You hired her as a cook and her salary was much higher than that of other families.
Ji Lingxue glanced at the sky outside and said, "Wait for tomorrow, buy some supplements and go see them."
Mo Xiang nodded, "Okay, there are still some supplements in the palace's warehouse. Why don't you ask the housekeeper to get some?"
The next day, Ji Lingxue asked Mo Xiang to go shopping early in the morning, while she took a walk in the palace. From a distance, she saw a gentleman in green robe sitting in the pavilion. Ji Lingxue called a maid and asked: "Who is that gentleman?" ?”
The maid shook her head and said: "The specific identity of the person whom the prince asked to live in the mansion is not clear."
Ji Lingxue said "Oh" and had no intention of coming forward to say hello. She turned around and walked towards the other road, just in time to meet Ji Yuqing who was wearing a red dress and beaming with joy.
Ji Lingxue looked at the sky and asked, "Sister, you are dressed up so festively, but you are going to a wedding?"
(End of chapter)