The successive changes made everyone suddenly a little dazed, especially the Lin family. At first, the Chen family and the housekeeper were dubious. They just thought Tang Fan was alarming. It was hard to accept, not to mention that the Chen shi fainted directly, and even the housekeeper was at a loss, dumbfounded.
After Fan Zhifu and Ji Min were shocked, they all looked at Tang Fan with the highest status present.
Tang Fan said: "When you found someone, you even checked the surroundings? Where is the Old Town God's Temple?"
The yamen thinks that he is the head of all the yamen, and he speaks in an orderly manner: "There are two Chenghuang Temples in this city, on the east and west sides of the city. A new Chenghuang Temple was built a few years ago, but the old one was gradually abandoned because it was close to the suburbs. There are few people around, and even if there are, those poor homeless people go there occasionally to take shelter from the rain. The little ones didn’t expect Lin Tongjuan to be there, but it took a long time to find that place. We checked around the Chenghuang Temple and found no suspicious persons."
Tang Fan asked, "Where's the corpse?"
The yamen hurriedly said: "It's already been carried back, it's just outside, would you like to take a look?"
Tang Fan: "Hurry up and bring it in!"
The corpse was quickly carried in, and Chen shi has been sent to the back hall to rest, otherwise, seeing this scene, I am afraid it will be heartbreaking again.
Lin Fengyuan was indeed killed. The wound was in the back of the heart. A knife was stabbed in it, causing a huge blood hole. Rao was an immortal and also lost half his life, not to mention that Lin Fengyuan was not an immortal, and he could not wait for others to rescue him. Ji An When the government officer found him, he was already dead, and there was a huge pool of blood under his body, which was especially terrifying.
There was no need for Tang Fan to open his mouth to analyze, and many people present could think of it: the murderer could kill Lin Fengyuan from behind, he must have attacked him unprepared, and when Lin Fengyuan went out, he had a long attendant with him. But there is no trace, so the murderer is probably him.
In view of the grievances between the three generations of the Lin and Chen family that were widely circulated, Fan Zhifu and Ji Min subconsciously looked at Shen Kunxiu.
Shen Kunxiu received the strange eyes from everyone, his face was red and his ears were red, and he said angrily: "What are you all looking at me! The death of his father, son and son has nothing to do with me, if I kill it, I will be struck by lightning, and I will not die! "
Tang Fan ignored him, his thoughts were different from everyone else, and the most important thing right now was not Shen Kunxiu.
With Xi Ming and the others on the left and right, it's hard for the other party to fly with their wings on, so Tang Fan first asked the housekeeper, "You don't know the origin of that long follower called Wang Laiwang?"
The housekeeper said sadly: "Yes, at that time, the master brought him back and personally pointed him to serve him personally. I still had some doubts and wanted to ask a few more questions, but I was scolded by the master, so I didn't dare to ask again, what happened? It's become like this..."
Tang Fan said, "Is there anyone in your family with unknown origins like him?"
The housekeeper said: "No, except for him, everyone in the Lin family knows the bottom line."
Tang Fan asked the housekeeper to look for the picture of Dajiangdong just now, but the housekeeper led the official messenger to search up and down the Lin house, but couldn't find the picture that Tang Fan saw last time. Not only that, Tang Fan went there himself. Looking at Lin Fengyuan's study and bedroom, apart from the usual official documents, he didn't find any clues. If it wasn't for the successive incidents of Lin Fengyuan and his son, this place seemed to be a very ordinary home of sixth-rank officials.
Up to now, although everyone didn't say it, they all felt that Shen Kunxiu's suspicion was the biggest.
It's just that, just because of old grudges, Shen Kunxiu killed his son, and then killed his father. It would be too frustrating. If it turns out that Shen Kunxiu did it, it will be a big deal since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. Scandal - The court officials did not ask for orders for the people, but instead fought with each other every day, even to the point of murdering their lives. What is this if it is not a scandal
From the beginning, Shen Kunxiu was furious, and now he is gradually numb. He stood there without saying a word, looked up at the beam with his hands behind his back, and did not defend himself. His expression was arrogant and out of place. I'm awake" feeling.
It's also a shame that Tang Fan didn't care about him. If someone else came and saw his solitary appearance, even if he didn't fall into the trap, he would still feel bad in his heart and make things difficult for him before giving up.
At this moment, the maid Xiaozhou who was standing beside Tang Fan suddenly leaned over and whispered to him for a while, describing it as intimate, even more presumptuous than that serious cousin Qiao.
Lu Lingxi looked dazzling, but no matter whether it was Tang Fan or Xiaozhou, the two of them looked at each other as if it was natural.
Tang Fan seemed to have heard what Xiaozhou had to say, so he turned to ask the housekeeper, "Is there any place that your master cares the most, and doesn't allow you to go in to clean or approach it?"
The housekeeper said: "You should be the study room. The study room is the place where the master works. It is easy not to let people in. However, during the day, it is auspicious to take care of it, and it is not a forbidden place."
But Tang Fan had already looked at the study just now, and he didn't find anything.
Tang Fan said again, "Is there no more? Think about it again."
The housekeeper thought for a while, and said, "There is another place, but it's just a utility room. There used to be some sundries piled up. Later, I don't know when the master locked it, and no one ever went in."
Tang Fan: "Take me there to have a look."
Butler: "Please come here."
He took Tang Fan all the way to a room next to the firewood house in the backyard. Fan Zhifu, Ji Min and others couldn't hold back their curiosity and followed behind.
They have long heard that Tang Fan is brilliant in solving the case, but they have never been able to see it with their own eyes. Right now, this case seems simple, but in fact, the relationship is crisscrossed. Shen Kun Xiuming is the most suspect, but Tang Fan abandoned him and found a little-known piece of the Lin family. painting to come.
Fan Zhifu and others didn't dare to rashly block and interrupt, and they couldn't help but take it seriously, wanting to see if Tang Fan really decided the case like a god, worthy of the name.
Without the key, the house naturally couldn't be opened, but the servants of the Lin family did not dare to forcibly open it, which did not mean that no one else dared. Lu Lingxi stepped forward and kicked the lock directly, opening the door wide.
The inside has not been cleaned for many years, and as soon as we walked in, the nostrils were filled with smoke and dust, and everyone couldn't help coughing and fanning with their hands.
The butler also asked people to find a few candlesticks and put them in every corner, so that everyone could see the situation inside.
Sure enough, as the housekeeper said, this is a complete utility room, filled with things that were previously abandoned in the house, and there are also many boxes. After opening, there are various books and some cloth. But whether it was cloth or books, they were so badly eaten by worms that they could no longer be used.
The housekeeper hesitated: "Sir, if my master didn't want people to see the painting, I'm afraid it would have been burned a long time ago and would not have been left in this place."
Tang Fan shook his head: "I'm not looking for paintings."
The housekeeper was puzzled: "Ah? That's...?"
Tang Fan didn't answer his question again, and turned to Lu Lingxi and said, "Look around again."
Everyone agreed, and even Xiaozhou and Tie Zhu joined in the search. The utility room was turned upside down. Just when everyone thought that nothing would be found, Tie Zhu suddenly said, "Sir, here is the following. hollow!"
Everyone looked at the sound and saw that he reached out and tapped in the corner. After a while, he said, "There is a gap here, you need a tool to pry it open."
Lu Lingxi said: "I have it, I will come."
He took out a dagger as thin as a cicada's wings from his body, and looked at the blade with a slight cyan light. The latter was directly inserted into the almost invisible gap between the floor tiles. Lu Lingxi exerted a little force, The whole floor tile was directly lifted out!
When Xi Ming took a photo of the candlestick next to him, everyone couldn't help but make a sound.
Based on previous experience, Tang Fan thought that there might be a dark passage or a dark room down there, but it turned out that he guessed wrong.
In fact, there is only a five-foot-square grid below. I'm afraid it's not enough for an adult man to lie down. However, such a hidden grid can't hide people. If it is used to put things, you can put a lot of them. Inside is neatly filled with silver ingots, which are beautiful in color, showing a dazzling silver.
Tang Fan stretched out his hand and took one, and put it in his hand. This kind of high-quality silver ingot can only be cast by the government, but there is no mark on the silver ingot, so it is not from the official casting.
Everyone suddenly saw such a large pile of silver, and there was no sound for a while.
Fan Zhifu even lost his voice: "He, Lin Fengyuan, is only a sixth-grade pass sentence, and his ancestors were not in business, so where did he get so many silver taels?!"
Everyone looked at the housekeeper, as if they wanted him to give an explanation, but the housekeeper was also stunned, and waved his hands: "Little one doesn't know anything!"
Although the Lin family's family is not bad, the furniture they use is similar to that of ordinary wealthy families. They are all ordinary pear wood, pine and cypress. They have never used those red sandalwood and huanghuali wood, and there are no precious calligraphy and paintings, antiques and treasures, but if these silver taels are taken out. , not to mention red sandalwood, it is estimated that it is more than enough to buy golden nanmu.
It can be seen that the Lin family may not know that Lin Fengyuan has hidden so much money.
The housekeeper over there seemed to be afraid that everyone would not believe it, and was still explaining stammeringly: "Master never let us in this room, and even the wife doesn't know..."
Fan Zhifu and others felt that tonight was really a bit bizarre. It was originally the Qixi Festival, a day when everyone was happy, but suddenly something happened to Lin Fengyuan. Under the pressure of Tang Fan's questioning, he finally acquiesced that he knew about the imperial examination case for a long time, and now the Lin family has been found out with such a large amount of money.
Anyone who encounters such a case will have a headache first. Fan Zhifu thought to himself that if he were to decide the case now, he could only think of Shen Kunxiu.
But judging from Tang Fan's performance, he doesn't seem to think that the death of Lin Fengyuan and his son is related to Shen Kunxiu.
"Sir, do you see this...?"
Seeing that Tang Fan had been silent, Fan Zhifu couldn't help asking, but the tall maid next to him gave him a cold stare, and the second half of the sentence was immediately choked in his throat, his face was so suffocated, what time did he say in his heart? Even a little maid dared to climb on the head of the official, but the deterrent force of the other party's cold eyes was too strong, and the dignified prefect was stunned in a cold sweat, so he scolded him in his heart, and did not dare to interrupt again. .
Tang Fan didn't lift his head, so naturally he didn't notice this little episode. He checked it carefully, put the silver ingot in its place, and said to Fan Zhifu, "Find the silver in a box and transport it back to the prefect. yamen."
The housekeeper couldn't help but said: "Sir, since these are left by our master, they should also be the property of the Lin family..."
Tang Fan got up and patted the dust off his hands, with a half-smile but not a smile: "You don't even have an official cast mark for these silver taels, and the source is naturally nowhere to be found. Your master gave his life for these things. Do you still want to keep it before you die?"
The housekeeper was stunned for a moment: "I don't know what the adults mean..."
"There's nothing else I don't understand!" Lu Lingxi couldn't help but interrupt: "Now anyone with a discerning eye can see that your master must have colluded with others in private, and did some shady deeds. If there is a rift, it is convenient to simply arrest your second young master, force your master to go to the Chenghuang Temple, and take the opportunity to kill people, these silver coins must be stolen goods!"
After that, he turned his head and smiled at Tang Fan, subconsciously ingratiating himself: "Brother Tang, am I right?"
Tang Fan nodded slightly: "Mostly so, but you need to say a little less. Lin Zhen's death should also have something to do with it."
Everyone was surprised when they heard it. Ji Min couldn't help but ask questions: "No, if Lin Zhen's death is related to this, how could he hang himself? And it happened after cheating?"
Tang Fan said: "Let's not mention cheating in the hospital exam for now. I will ask Shen Xuetai to clear up my doubts later. Now let's talk about the Lin family. I have just personally checked Lin Zhen's body. He did not hang himself, but someone else. The cause of death, if we look at Lin Fengyuan's incident, it is very likely that he was also murdered and died. This official is very strange. At that time, before Lin Zhen was buried, the body must first be verified by the official government. Suicide?"
Fan Zhifu was suddenly questioned and stammered: "This, this... Lin Zhen was suspended from the beam when she died. Many people saw it with their own eyes. Lin Fengyuan came over again and made a big noise, and was in a hurry to take the body back, so, So…”
Tang Fan also didn't want to entangle with him on this issue, and said, "When I came to visit the Lin family last time, you were there. Did you find any clues about Lin Fengyuan?"
Fan Zhifu was afraid of being picked on by Tang Fan again, so he quickly racked his brains to recall: "Lin Fengyuan is so thin and nervous, don't want to keep us sitting for a long time?"
Ji Min also said: "He doesn't seem to want us to sit for a long time. He insists that Shen Xuetai forced his son to death, and the adults want to help him find out the truth, but he doesn't want to. Where in the world there is such a father, it is too abnormal."
Tang Fan: "Yes, now that I think about it, his thinness and haggardness is not because of the death of the eldest son, but the disappearance of the second son. The other party killed Lin Zhen and threatened the life of the second son. Naturally, Lin Zhen did not dare to say it. Instead, he had to do everything possible to cover up the truth, and even pushed Lin Zhen's death on Shen Xuetai's head, for fear that others would find out, and then the other party would become angry. He was willing to be played by the other party in the applause, so it was inevitable that there would be gaps in the words. There must be a key point hidden in that painting, but unfortunately we found it, and the other party must have noticed it, so this killed Lin Fengyuan to silence."
Speaking of this, Tang Fan and Sui Zhou's eyes met, and the two instantly thought of the same thing.
Lin Fengyuan's death was probably related to the White Lotus Sect.
The responsibilities of passing the sentence are very complicated. As the prefect's assistant, the so-called "handling trade, prohibiting adultery and illegal" can basically manage grain transportation and water conservancy.
When Huang Jinglong tortured prisoners a few years ago, Jin Yiwei made a big raid in Ji'an and arrested a group of people, but the foundation of the White Lotus Sect has not yet gone, so he can still secretly collude with officials and continue his treasonous plan.
However, their partners are not just anyone.
Fan Zhifu was timid and afraid of things, and it was estimated that he would not be able to get into the eyes of the White Lotus Sect. Lin Fengyuan was in the post of sentencing, and many things had to pass through his hands.
Suizhou had mentioned before that they got news from the three dragon heads of the White Lotus Sect. It is said that the White Lotus Sect had privately mined and minted money in Ji'an, but now the Lin family has discovered these silver ingots of unknown origin. , the combination of the two, it is not difficult to speculate the relationship between them.
But even if the Lin family colluded with the White Lotus Sect, they couldn't explain the assassination of Tang Fan and the tragic death of those judges.
Moreover, there is only one Lin Fengyuan colluding with the person who has a head and face in Ji'an Mansion, I'm afraid it may not be.
So there are still many unsolved mysteries.
If these mysteries are not solved for a day, things will not be solved satisfactorily.
The only thing that is certain now is that Shen Kunxiu should have little to do with the death of the White Lotus Sect and the Lin family.
Because firstly, the official position of studying politics is of little use value to the White Lotus Sect, and secondly, his character cannot cooperate with the White Lotus Sect. He was involved only because he had a son who was worried.
Thinking of this, Tang Fan let out a long sigh.
Taking advantage of the imperial examination case to fish in troubled waters, the abacus of the White Lotus Sect is not bad.
Fan Zhifu found someone to pack the money away, and the others returned to the front hall of Lin's house.
Mr. Qiao was sitting there eating tea and drinking snacks. When he saw them coming back, he clapped the snack chips on his hands and got up: "Are you back?"
Tang Fan couldn't help his mouth twitching when he saw this. Lin Fengyuan's body was still lying there. When he went to dig the grave to send the body, Xiao Wu covered his nose and retreated three feet, but now he is so courageous that he can still eat something in front of the corpse. .
Seeing that he could see what he was thinking, Mrs. Qiao blinked at Tang Fan, as if to say that this place was not in a cemetery, the atmosphere was different, and of course the mood was different.
Before Tang Fan could understand what she meant, his line of sight was blocked for a moment. When he looked up, it was the maid Xiaozhou who gave him a charming and shy smile.
Tang Fan: "..."
Coincidentally, Fan Zhifu and the others who came in behind Tang Fan saw this smile. Everyone shivered in unison at first, and suddenly felt that ice water was pouring down their heads.
Fan Zhifu once heard how Semu women have amorous feelings, but unfortunately the body odor is a little heavy, which is a fly in the ointment. At the time, it was a pity.
just forget it.
This kind of bliss, only Tang Da people can afford it!
Tang Fan didn't know what Fan Zhifu was thinking, he first ordered Lin Fengyuan's body to be brought back to the official residence, then set his eyes on Shen Kunxiu, and said solemnly, "Shen Xuetai, this is the end of the matter, although Lin Zhen's death has nothing to do with you , but cheating in the hospital exam, you can't get rid of it, let alone know the law and break the law, and protect the young master Ling. If you are willing to confess as soon as possible, I can still turn around for you. If you wait until I will find the son and let him speak , it won't be as polite as it is now."
Shen Kunxiu said in a stern voice: "What do you want me to say, the deaths of those five reviewers have nothing to do with me, let alone contemplation!"
Seeing that he was still trying to shirk his responsibility, Tang Fan couldn't help but ignite: "I said before, even if it has nothing to do with you, you must know the inside story! Not to mention, the Taiping who sold the exam papers in Qingfenglou. Daoist, isn't that your son!"
Shen Kunxiu was indeed slightly shocked.
If he was willing to confess happily, Tang Fanyuan still wanted to save him some face, but the other party couldn't cry without seeing the coffin, and Tang Fan felt that he didn't need to be polite to him.
Shen Kunxiu hadn't spoken yet, but Fan Zhifu asked curiously, "Sir, how do you know that Taoist Taiping is meditation?"
Tang Fan said: "The Taiping person is also Chang'an. The Chang'an person, the ancient name of Xi'an Prefecture, the Shen family's ancestral home in Xi'an, isn't it just right?"
Fan Zhifu snorted. He had never thought about it from this angle, but in this way, it made sense.
Tang Fan said: "Having a father who is a school administrator should be honored, but unfortunately Shen Xuetai never accepts bribes, and the eldest son of Shen likes to spend time and money, lingering in brothels, and the daily expenses are far from enough. Compared with collaborating with the examiner, Young Master Shen would definitely prefer to sell test questions directly, but it is a pity that Shen Xuetai never does such humiliating things. So he had no choice but to think of another way to make money, that is, colluding with the judges."
Shen Kunxiu looked embarrassed, because Tang Fan really told most of the facts.
Shen Kunxiu didn't know about Shen Si's private contact with the reviewer.
Shen Da Gongzi is not too stupid, he also knows that when you hit a snake and hit seven inches, you have to take advantage of the opponent's weakness. He heard that there would be a vacancy for the position of the mountain chief of Bailuzhou Academy. One point, pretending to be an old man, coercion and inducement, made those reviewers cooperate with him, and peddled news in Qingfenglou as a Taoist Taiping.
With Tang Fan's ability, being able to guess this is considered very powerful, but what Shen Kunxiu said next surprised everyone.
"My scoundrel has no ink on his chest and does things without thinking. This whole thing is because he was used by others!"