Although Wang Qingfu and Yue Mingquan had a close relationship with the person behind the scenes, they did not leave any correspondence, nor did they have any direct evidence related to the disappearance of Buddha Treasure. Checking the background relationship between the two can only narrow the scope of screening, but still Unable to convict.
It's just that the fewer suspects, the easier it is to use limited manpower and material resources to find key clues. Huo Weilou had a plan in mind, so he summoned Sun Zhao soon without delay.
When Sun Zhao saw the new list, coupled with the clues he had obtained along the Feiyun Temple before, the target had fallen on these three families, and he felt refreshed. However, these three families are all honorable families, which is not unusual Liming people are so easy to check, he felt his head was like a bucket for a while.
Huo Weilou warned: "The Zhishi will secretly investigate the strange behaviors of these three families who practiced Taoism and believed in Buddhism before. Combined with the time of several incidents, the more detailed the investigation, the better. Your yamen needs to re-screen Li Shen's confession. , He was pushed out to take the blame, the confession must be true and false, and more loopholes should be found. In addition, this matter should not be publicized, you should understand."
Of course Sun Zhao understood, and he was even more fortunate that it was the direct envoy who went to investigate the three families, and after conspiring with Huo Weilou, he left the house.
Bo Ruoyou listened to the discussion between the two, but felt that the situation was more severe. Firstly, the case had passed for many years, and it was Li Shen who took the initiative to commit the crime before he was caught. Second, these companies were all high-ranking people who could push out a Li Shen to take the blame. You can think of more ways to get rid of the crime, and it is extremely difficult to find direct evidence related to the case.
It was cloudy for several days, the snow had not yet melted, and the cold was threatening. Bo Ruoyou opened the window, and the mist around her lips slid away. When she raised her eyes, she saw dark clouds piled up on the edge of the gray sky.
She was in a trance, and a hand stretched out from behind to cover the window, "Be careful it's freezing."
Huo Weilou closed the window, took her into his arms, held her hand, it was still cold, Bo Ruoyou turned and leaned against the window, her heart was still heavy, Huo Weilou didn't know what she was thinking, and comforted her: " Even though it is difficult to find out, but now that there is a direction, don't be impatient."
Bo Ruoyou nodded, and asked again: "I wonder if Mr. Ming's house has been furnished?"
Huo Weilou knew that she was more anxious than anyone else, so he quickly comforted her: "If the arrangement is completed, someone will definitely send someone to tell us, now we have new clues, if we can find key evidence, you don't have to suffer, these few days can Are you still having nightmares?"
Bo Ruoyou hesitated to speak for a moment, then finally shook her head.
On the carriage back to the house, Bo Ruoyou lifted the curtain and looked out at the long street covered with snow, she was in a daze. She kept Li Shen's confession firmly in her heart. Words, while the rest did not reveal the real culprit, but they were very detailed. Matching the circumstances of the case like this, it is easy for people to regard him as the real culprit.
She was a witness to the case. Even though she couldn't remember what happened that night, Li Shen didn't mention that Bo Lanzhou and her were hiding in the closet. Did he forget? Or had the killer never told him this
"My sister is older and runs faster. She was probably scared by me. She is not afraid of the dark. What surprised me even more is that she left her brother and ran away..."
Li Shen's words that day suddenly resounded in Bo Ruoyou's mind, Bo Ruoyou's fingertips trembled, and she let go of the curtain. In the past, when Li Shen was the murderer, she still felt relieved to have avenged her brother, but now Knowing that Li Shen was just a scapegoat, these words lingered in her mind like a curse.
Back at Cheng Zhai, Bo Ruoyou's complexion turned a little dark. When he went to see Cheng Yun in the study, he saw Cheng Yunzhi was writing a prescription again. The prescription was either for her or for the eldest princess. Bo Ruoyou calmed down, He asked Cheng Yunzhi what he knew about the Cao family and the Wei family.
Cheng Yunzhi frowned, "Marquis Changning?"
"The ancestors of the Cao family of Marquis Changning also made military exploits, and the position of Marquis is also hereditary. There have been three or four queens in their house, and they are really honored and favored. Today's Marquis of Changning is the elder brother of the noble concubine, and the uncle of the Second Highness. , has no real power in the court, but there are a lot of properties under his name, and there are quite a few people in the court in the clan, so it is not an exaggeration to say that he is the number one powerhouse in the capital."
"Marquis Changning, I have spoken to him several times in the past. He is extremely arrogant and arrogant. In the past two years, he may have been a little more cautious in order to fight for the second highness. I have been back to Beijing for more than half a year. I haven't heard of the Cao family's aggressive actions .”
"As for the Wei family, their ancestors also started with military exploits. The old Zhongqin uncle died in battle. Today's Zhongqin uncles are still on the battlefield. They are full of loyalty. I didn't go around much with their house back then, but I heard that this generation, only Uncle Zhongqin has some ambitions, and his two younger brothers are very squeamish, and he knew from birth that he couldn't be a prince, so he naturally became a rich and idle person."
After Cheng Yunzhi finished speaking, he asked suspiciously: "What? Are they related to the case?"
Bo Ruoyou told Cheng Yunzhi the progress of the case, and he was silent for a long time after listening, "The real murderer who can drive Wang Qingfu and others, and steal the Buddhist treasure from the palace must be someone with high authority. It is indeed possible for the two of them, and Back then, these families had some contacts with the Bo family."
Speaking of this, Bo Ruoyou thought of Uncle Zhongyi again, "Father told me about Uncle Zhongyi last time, all I know is that he is married to Princess Anyang, but I have met Uncle Zhongyi twice, and I have also met Uncle Zhongyi's mansion." The second son has met face to face, but he has never met this princess."
Cheng Yunzhi said in a low voice, "You won't see it anymore."
Bo Ruoyou was a little surprised, so she heard him continue: "The Princess Anyang passed away more than ten years ago."
Bo Ruoyou was taken aback for a moment, never expecting that the princess passed away early, at this moment Cheng Yunzhi continued: "Not only have you never met the princess, you have never met the eldest son of the Bofu."
Bo Ruoyou realized at this moment that Feng Ye was the second in the Feng family, and he had never heard of the elder brother above him.
"Because more than ten years ago, Princess Anyang and the eldest son of the Bofu passed away almost at the same time." Cheng Yunzhi sighed a little, "If I remember correctly, it should have happened in the 14th year of Jianhe, when Princess Anyang had just given birth. Feng Ye had a hemorrhage, and he died within two days, the eldest son of the uncle's mansion contracted the epidemic that was spreading outside the city at that time, and he also died, he was only five years old when he died."
Sudden loss of his wife and eldest son, what a grief it must be, Bo Ruoyou never expected that Feng Qin, who is now looking at the immortal, would have such a tragic past.
"The 14th year of Jianhe, that was 17 years ago. Uncle hasn't reunited in these years?"
The family of the lord, the housewife is indispensable in the mansion, Cheng Yunzhi heard the words and said with relief: "There is no reunion, Uncle Zhongyi and Princess Anyang are young couples, and they have a deep friendship. I still remember one or two things about the big wedding back then. I am younger than Uncle Zhongyi." How old was he, and he came to the door with his father to congratulate him back then. I heard that the queen mother did not agree to marry Anyang to him. Ming, but I don’t want such a tragedy to follow.”
Bo Ruoyou was a little bit emotional, the so-called deep love can't live long, that's probably the case.
"Can foster father understand Zhongyi Bo as a man?"
Cheng Yunzhi hesitated for a moment, "I don't really understand, but seeing that he has no intention of official career and blindly practiced Taoism for many years, he can be regarded as a free-spirited person. Back then, the Anyang Princess had an accident with his eldest son, and I'm afraid it also made him disheartened for a while. Why? ? This case is related to him?"
Bo Ruoyou said: "He has something to do with Feiyun Temple, and he was also present when the prince revealed the case of the Ming family, so naturally there are suspicions, but he was the one who directed us to Feiyun Temple to investigate. Thinking about it, if he is the murderer and pushes Li Shen to take the blame, he shouldn't come forward and let us go to Feiyun to investigate, right?"
Cheng Yunzhi rubbed his chin, "I don't know much about this person, so I don't make judgments. Judging the case emphasizes evidence, so you can investigate as you want, and you don't have to preconceive it."
Bo Ruoyou responded, and then went back to the room after groping for a while about the situation of the several houses that Cheng Yunzhi had mentioned.
At noon on the second day, Bo Ruoyou went to the Hou's mansion. When he arrived at the Hou's mansion, he knew that Huo Weilou had just returned from the palace. He hadn't walked a few steps into the mansion when he saw two attendants going out with a box. You were a little suspicious, and soon ran into Eunuch Fu who came out to welcome him.
"Eunuch, is this going to give gifts?"
Eunuch Fu laughed, "It's not a gift, it's an item left by the prince in the Marquis's mansion earlier, you should remember that the prince was poisoned with the gold ointment because of the loyalty of the second son of the uncle's mansion. Later, he came to apologize and gave away many good things When the prince left, he only took the blue sparrow and the cat with him, but left behind the statue of Bodhisattva, I saw that I was tidying up the guest house today, so I asked someone to send it to the prince."
Bodhisattva statue? Bo Ruoyou frowned, and hurriedly said, "Wait—"
The two attendants had gone far away, and upon hearing the words, Bo Ruoyou couldn't help but stop. Bo Ruoyou quickly walked over, and opened the knee-high box. The box was covered with flannelette, and a black and shiny Bodhisattva statue lay quietly inside. , the Bodhisattva statue has solemn eyebrows and a faint fragrance. If you look closely, you can tell that it has been enshrined for a long time. Except for the patina produced by frequent wiping, the base pattern of the lotus pattern is slightly stained with dirt. If there seems to be no smell of incense.
Bo Ruoyou felt a little confused, closed the lid and asked Fu Gonggong, "Isn't Uncle Loyalty only a believer? Buddhism and Taoism are often intolerable. Ordinary people may go around praying to gods and worshiping Buddha without taboo, but Uncle Loyalty has practiced Taoism for many years. Could it be that he still believes in Buddhism?" ?”
Eunuch Fu didn't know the inside story, "I don't know, this Bodhisattva seems to be sent by the second son of the Zhongyi Bofu, maybe their father and son believe differently?"
Something weird lingered in Bo Ruoyou's heart, she went to the study thoughtfully, and as soon as she reached the door of the study, she saw Lu Ke and Ning Xiao talking to Huo Weilou in the room, when she came, the two hurried salute.
Bo Ruoyou was not used to being the head of the county, so he hurriedly ordered the two of them to excuse him, and saw that there were many letters and newspapers on the table, so he knew there was news. Huo Weilou got up from behind the table, "Come here—"
After Bo Ruoyou walked to the desk, Huo Weilou stepped aside and asked her to sit in the open chair, "Look, these were all delivered this morning, and they were all delivered by Cao Yan, Wei Huan and Feng Qin over the years. They practiced Taoism, and all three of them had villas on the banks of the Luohe River outside the city. Feng Qin lived outside the city for a short time all year round, while Wei Huan and Cao Yan lived outside the city most of the summer and winter every year. Among these two, Cao Yan has the most villas outside the city, and almost every two years, he needs to renovate them."
"After so many years, it's not easy to find out where they were when the cases happened, and to prevent the underlings from abusing others, but after the end of the Chengnan Dojo, and before Wen Jin was killed, all three of them were there. After staying out of the city for a while, Li Shen was pushed out to take the blame. The real murderer behind the scenes must personally inform him of many cases, and perhaps he must be trained to prevent him from being interrogated by the yamen. I have a private meeting with Li Shen in the villa outside the city."
"Renovation every two years?"
Bo Ruoyou grasped the point keenly, and when Huo Weilou nodded, she suddenly became suspicious, "The murderer will definitely leave bloodstains and other clues at the scene with such a method of harm. I have visited Li Shen's house. Even after a year and a half, the bloodstains are hard to cover up, but if the altar is demolished and the inside and outside are renovated, most of the traces will be covered up."
The letterhead on the table records the habits of several people in cultivating Taoism, as well as the mansion in the south of the city and the period of time they lived in the villa every year. Although it cannot be accurate to a certain day, it can already outline the habits of several people.
"It's almost normal for Uncle Loyalty to practice Taoism. He likes to practice hard, but fortunately he can make alchemy. He also went to the palace to speak for the queen mother, and... he also offered elixir to the queen mother... for this reason, he likes to collect rare ores and medicinal materials. Wei Huan Xi Da invests gold and silver in Buddhist temples and Taoist temples outside the city, and also likes to collect secret treasures, this Cao Yan... seems to want to seek good fame?"
Huo Weilou should say, "He donated a lot of rice, grain, gold and silver to the porridge shed for the Buddha's birthday in Xiangguo Temple, and he also likes to donate outside the city every New Year's festival. , people outside the city called him 'Cao Dashan'."
On the surface, she was a good person of Cao Da, but in private she was selling gold ointment. Thinking of Huo Weilou and Cheng Yunzhi's description of this person, she could only feel that it was true, "He seeks this good name not only for the Cao family, but also for the Second Highness, right?"
Huo Weilou stood beside her, leaning against the edge of the table, he heard the words and stroked her hair, "Smart."
Not far away, Lu Ke and Ning Xiao looked at each other, and they both cupped their hands, "Your Majesty has no other orders, so the subordinates will leave."
Only now did Huo Weilou remember that there were two more people, so he waved his hands and gave up.
After they left in a hurry, Bo Ruoyou realized that she was being rude, but at the moment of the case, she didn't care about anything else, "Just looking at these, I feel that they may have selfish intentions, but they don't see anything to do with the cult. It's just that the renovation of the Cao family's house is too fast, which makes people suspicious, and Wei Huan likes to collect magic weapons, but he doesn't know what to use them for. Entering the palace, he said that he is not in the court now, and he is not trying to win people's hearts, right?"
"It's just..." Bo Ruoyou raised her eyes to look at Huo Weilou, "Sometimes the one who looks the most unsuspecting may be the best one to cover up?"
The human heart is complicated and subtle, and ever-changing, but now there are too few clues in the investigation, so we can only continue to wait. Not only that, Cao Yan and Feng Qin are both living outside the city, which is not very good."
Bo Ruoyou's expression also sank, "Perhaps the evidence has already begun to be destroyed."
Huo Weilou naturally understands, but now there is only suspicion but no real evidence, unless he can find certified physical evidence against them soon, "Don't worry, there is no direct evidence now, and it is impossible to arrest three people at the same time, but if there are clear clues, I'll figure it out."
Huo Weilou is in a high position, and holds the direct envoy, this is the biggest reliance to solve this case, at least he is not afraid that the three of them are all lords' families, thinking so, but Eunuch Fu's voice came from outside.
"Master Hou, Mr. Ming is here—"
Both Bo Ruoyou and Huo Weilou's expressions shook, Bo Ruoyou's eyes sparkled and he asked, "Has the outside of the city been arranged?"
Huo Weilou's expression was much more complicated, he ordered someone to invite Ming Guilan to come in.
Not long after, Eunuch Fu personally pushed Ming Guilan into the house. Ming Guilan was wearing a thick fur-collared cloak, and his complexion was a little pale. Eunuch Fu said that his leg disease was very uncomfortable in winter.
Bo Ruoyou couldn't help but stood up and asked, "Master, come here, but is the outside of the city ready?"
Ming Guilan said gently: "I came here just for this purpose. I have arranged it as best I can according to my memory. If the county lord is ready, you can go to see it at any time."
Bo Ruoyou hardly hesitated, "Today is too late, I can go tomorrow."
Huo Weilou frowned tightly.