But he said that when he opened the door of the main room, he saw a rope tied in the middle of the beam, and there was only a square stool under it, but there was no trace of the body.
The thin subordinate hurriedly explained: "Because the windows were not closed overnight, a lot of rain had entered the house, so the big guy tied the corpse from the rope and carried it directly to the back room."
Having said that, he will take Sun Shaozong inside to see the body.
"Don't rush."
Sun Shaozong waved his hand, Shi Shiran walked to the square stool, squatted down and carefully surveyed, and asked, "Has this stool ever been moved?"
"That's not true. When the big guy took off the body, he stepped on the Grand Master's chair."
The thin subordinate said, and then pointed to the Taishi chair on the left, which was full of mud footprints.
Sun Shaozong squatted around the square stool, groped carefully for a while, then lifted the stool up, and compared the height with the Taishi chair not far away, then got up and walked towards the back room.
However, when he was halfway there, a food box in front of the window attracted him. He stepped forward and looked at it and said, "Where did this food box come from, and have you delivered meals to Master Xu?"
"No no no!"
The thin subordinate hurriedly said, "Master Xu brought this from home last night!"
"Oh."
Sun Shaozong nodded noncommittally, and finally set off into the inner room.
The corpse of Xu Mingtang was lying on the soft slump at the base of the east wall. He was wearing a brand-new official robe, his legs were tight, his neck was streaked in a ring shape, his eyes were wide open, his tongue was stiff, and the skin on his face was blue and purple. One tablet had obvious symptoms of subcutaneous hemorrhage.
After a simple inspection of the body, Sun Shaozong had already reached a conclusion in his heart, but he patiently asked the thin subordinate officer, "I don't know if Mr. Xu has been in office, has he repaired the river embankment on a large scale?"
"Naturally, it has been repaired. Lord Xu has always been diligent. When repairing the embankment, it can be said that he did everything himself, and he was commended by the Lord of the Ministry for this."
"That's it."
Sun Shaozong nodded noncommittally again, and then asked some details about Mingtang's family. The subordinates also reported the truth one by one. It could be said that the answers were fluent, and there was no ordinary subordinate's restraint when facing Shangguan.
When asked later, Sun Shaozong couldn't help but praise: "Mr. Xu must be the right hand of Mr. Xu, but I don't know Mr. Gao's name, what job does he usually hold?"
The clerk hurriedly bowed and said, "I don't dare to be the word 'sir' as an adult. In Xiaye Xingmao, I will be appointed as a bookkeeper."
"Mr. Ye is too modest."
Sun Shaozong said, pulled him aside alone, and said, "I have already seen some eyes on this case, but it involves a secret in the family of Xu, but it is not easy to announce it in public, only Mr. Lao Ye can go one more time, and Wang Shangshu and Lord Jia, the prime minister of the lower government, are invited to speak here."
Hearing that this case involved secrets from Xu Mingtang's family, Ye Xingmao was suddenly taken aback.
So he hurriedly said: "This is the responsibility of the villain. How can you talk about the word 'you have to work'? The villain will go and invite two adults to come!"
Ye Xingmao hurriedly returned to the back hall and quietly reported Sun Shaozong's intentions. Naturally, Wang Yan and Jia Yucun did not dare to neglect and rushed to Xu Mingtang's courtyard.
When he entered the courtyard, he saw Sun Shaozong waiting at the door of the main room.
Because of anxiety in Wang Yan's heart, before anyone could approach, he asked, "I heard that Sun Tongjuan has already solved the case? Do you know who Xu Mingtang is responsible for?!"
However, Sun Shaozong waited for them to reach the door, and then he cupped his hands and said, "Reporting to the Ministry of the Ministry, according to the official investigation, there is no trace of external force on the body of Mr. Xu, and he actually committed suicide."
"Since... commit suicide?"
Wang Yan was stunned for a moment, glanced at Ye Xingmao suspiciously, and frowned: "But didn't the scribes just say that the stool Xu Mingtang used to die is more than a foot high from his toes?"
"Well, two adults, please come with me."
Sun Shaozong pushed open the door of the main room, pointed to the square stool on the ground and said, "The first suspicious point in this case is this square stool - please look at it, sir, the Taishi chairs on both sides are not far from the place where Lord Xu was hanged. The stool was moved from afar, so it is unreasonable to seek the distance so far."
After speaking, he led the two of them to the vicinity of the square bench, and pointed to a wet green brick next to the square bench: "Two adults, please look again, there are obvious signs of being smashed by heavy objects on this blue brick— But the fallen square stool is clearly still some distance away from here."
He pointed to the food box in front of the window again, and said, "In addition, Master Xu specially brought the food box from home, but he didn't see any tableware."
"Therefore, the following officials deduced that Mr. Xu should have brought an ice cube with a height of about a foot from his home in a food box, and then placed the ice cube on the bench. The illusion of human beings."
"And the reason why he didn't use the teacher's chair was probably because he was worried that others would think he committed suicide by stepping on the back of the chair."
"So..." Wang Yan frowned and said, "Is he really committed suicide? But since he committed suicide, why does he have to spend so much trouble pretending to be killed by someone?"
"Well..."
Sun Shaozong suddenly raised his hand and pointed at Ye Xingmao, and said firmly: "I'm afraid we should ask our Mr. Ye!"
Ye Xingmao was stunned for a moment, then waved his hand hurriedly and said, "Sir, don't make a joke, how could the villain know why Master Xu acted like this?"
"You do not know?"
Sun Shaozong shook his head and laughed, "Just now I asked you about the affairs of Mr. Xu's family, but you were so quick to answer, but why did you push it back at this moment?"
When Ye Xingmao heard this, he even screamed: "Sir, I know a little about Xu's family, but why did he want to die, and why did he pretend to be murdered by others, how could I? know?"
After speaking, he knelt on the ground and begged Wang Yan: "Lord Butang, the villain is really wronged, please ask Lord Butang to decide for the villain!"
Wang Yan and Jia Yucun heard this, but they were also confused by the second monk, and looked at each other, Jia Yucun urged: "Brother, what does this clerk have to do with this case, you can say it directly, Stop going around in circles!"
"I didn't go around in circles."
Sun Shaozong spread his hands helplessly and said, "Dare to ask the two adults, do you often invite the clerk who is in charge of the accounts in the yamen to be a guest at home? Even when you are not at home, you will let him come and go often?"
"Of course not!"
Wang Yan and Jia Yucun answered in unison, and when they looked at Ye Xingmao again, they became more suspicious.
They didn't pay attention when Sun Shaozong didn't ask, but after this question, the two suddenly remembered that it is a taboo in officialdom to have too close personal contacts with the clerk in charge of the accounts!
Not to mention ordinary officials, even the daring and corrupt officials would never act like this!
Seeing that something was wrong, Ye Xingmao hurriedly shouted: "I'm wronged, the villain rarely goes to Lord Xu's house..."
Before he could finish speaking, Sun Shaozong said with a smile, "That's right, you really haven't been to Lord Xu's mansion very much, and I've already found someone to confirm this - but that's why I'm even more curious, are you? How do you know about the many trivial matters in Lord Xu's house?"
"Yes... it's Master Xu and me..."
"You want to say that Master Xu told you, right?" Sun Shaozong said again: "But I have already asked. In the past five or six days, Master Xu has only returned home once last night, and he closed it in a hurry after returning. Thank you"
"And you just said casually, the fact that the door of Xu's house occasionally felt the cold two days ago, has been replaced by others."
"Mr. Ye, do you want to say that you can count." Having said that, Sun Shaozong's eyes widened and he sneered: "I still intend to explain honestly, why did you put eyeliner on Mr. Xu's mansion?! What's the reason? So he can only drag you into the water by pretending to be killed?!"