Qin Wan's heart skipped a beat and he looked out of the window. The night outside was as dark as ink, and it was already midnight!
Qin Wan glanced at the people in the room. Ning Buyi was teaching Yue Ning painting skills, and the others were standing aside respectfully waiting for Yue Ning to choose a painting. Everyone had never left. Could it be that the case and the art gallery People have nothing to do
Qin Wan pursed her lips, stepped forward and said, "I think it's too late, you should quickly decide who to invite."
Yue Ning already had an idea in her heart, but she didn't know how long she would have to wait, so she tried to delay the time as much as possible. As soon as Qin Wan said, Yue Ning immediately ordered two people, and made an appointment for tomorrow's painting time, and then she and Qin Wan walked out.
As soon as he came out of the painting gallery, Qin Wan saw the yamen in regular clothes standing outside, and when he saw Qin Wan coming out, he immediately stepped forward and said, "Princess, the mill is dead, the boss asked the villain to report to the Hou's mansion, and the villain arrived at the Hou Only then did the government know that you went to the Marquis of Anyang but did not come back, and the villain went to the Marquis of Anyang again, and only then did I know that you came here—”
This back and forth wasted a lot of time, Qin Wan looked at the situation and said, "When did you find out what happened?"
"I found out before midnight. This time, people were placed in three places. Our people have been guarding outside the mill. There was no movement at first, but when it was two pillars of incense, when it was midnight, suddenly inside the mill There was a loud noise, and the boss took us in to have a look, only to see that in a dark room behind the mill, a person was crushed to death under a graphite plate."
Qin Wan frowned, "Did the murderer break in from behind the mill?"
The Yacha shook his head, "There are people in the front, back, left, and right of the mill. Generally speaking, it is impossible not to disturb us to enter the mill, and the people who just gave birth to us entered the mill from all directions. I don't know how the murderer got away. .”
The Yacha had a bitter expression on his face, Qin Wan said after listening, "Where is Zhan Butou now? I'll go over immediately—"
Hearing this, the Yamen hurriedly said, "Don't be impatient, the princess, the boss sent the villain to report the letter, not for you to go for an autopsy. That man... that man was smashed so badly that there is no need for an autopsy anymore, let alone It's so late, and the villain doesn't know if the boss is still in the south of the city, so please go back to the residence earlier, the princess."
Qin Wan understood what Zhan Yang meant, and sighed, "Well, I'll go to the yamen tomorrow morning."
The Yacha responded repeatedly, and then he left. Yue Ning looked at the serious expression on Qin Wan's face and said, "How? Are you still going to the south of the city?"
Qin Wan shook her head, "I'm not going, I'll take you back first."
Yue Ning smiled and said no need, she got on the carriage, but asked the driver to go to Zhongyonghou's Mansion, she has time, and she will not be afraid no matter how dark it is, "We have been guarding here, but the case still happened, which shows that this It has nothing to do with the gallery."
Qin Wan sighed, "That's because I was thinking too much. Now that I don't have any special clues, I finally found a possibility, so I put great hopes on it. When we come today, we can't doubt it."
While speaking, Qin Wan sighed again, "Five people have died, and there are still two people left. The murderer's dojo is about to be set up."
Qin Wan opened the curtain and looked at the starless night sky outside, "What is the murderer's purpose..."
The low murmur was scattered in the long night with the cool wind in early summer, but Qin Wan couldn't figure out the answer to this question.
…
…
Early the next morning, Qin Wan went to the magistrate's yamen. When he arrived, Zheng Baishi was not there, so Zhan Yang waited in the yamen. My son hasn't left the palace yet, I'm afraid he will be blamed."
Five people have died in this case, but it is even more frenzied than the sex demon case years ago. As the head of the Gyeonggi Yamen, Zheng Baishi must be blamed, and this matter may also involve party disputes.
If it were in other places, the impact of any murder case would not be so great, but now in the capital, any disturbance in the officialdom may involve violent wind and waves...
Qin Wan said conveniently, "My sage is wise, Mr. Zheng should not be embarrassed too much. Show off the head, where is the body?"
Hearing Qin Wan's question, Zhan Yang said hesitantly, "Master, you better not look at the corpse this time."
Qin Wan was slightly surprised, "Why?"
"This time, the body was smashed beyond recognition. People must have been smashed to death. It's hard to find anything else, so you don't need to read it..."
Qin Wan was a little helpless, "Don't worry, the body can be brought back? It's better to be burned to death than to be crushed to death. There is still a very high possibility of leaving clues. Even if there is no way to test it, let me have a look, and I will help. Nothing to do."
When Qin Wan said this, Zhan Yang felt a little ashamed, and hurriedly said, "The corpse was brought back, since that's the case, Princess, I'll go to Yizhuang—"
Zhan Yang and Qin Wan set off together and headed straight for Yizhuang in the south of the city. When they arrived at Yizhuang, they saw a dead body that could no longer be seen on the mortuary case. The graphite plate was smashed from the chest of the deceased. Half of his face was smashed, his entire chest and shoulders were smashed into a puddle of flesh, only the lower abdomen was still intact.
It was already early summer, and ice basins were placed around the room where the corpses were placed, and incense was also lit, but even so, the smashed corpses would rot soon, but after one night, the smell of corpses was gone. Small.
Qin Wan's autopsy was an autopsy, but the way this person died was too shocking, Qin Wan only felt a little discomfort in his stomach.
Although he was a little uncomfortable, Qin Wan couldn't see anything on his face. Although the face of the corpse was smashed, it could be seen that it was a man in his forties with gray temples. The rough, intact hands have a lot of dirt in the nails, and the hands are even more chapped with blue veins. If you look closely, there are many old scars. It looks like a person who has done a lot of hard work.
"Do you know the identity of the deceased?"
Zhan Yang shook his head, "I don't know yet, I'm being investigated."
Qin Wan nodded, and began to walk around the deceased to look at the deceased's clothes. The clothes on the deceased's body were very ordinary. Because he was beaten to death, he bled a lot. At this moment, all the clothes were covered with dried blood. Qin Wan frowned. When it came to the dead man's shoes, the dead man's shoes were very worn. There was only a thin layer of cloth left at the toes, which was about to be torn. Qin Wan leaned over and took off the thin dirt, then took a closer look, "It seems to be...wood chips..."
Zhan Yang also took two steps closer to look, "Sawdust?"
Qin Wan nodded, and went to look at the dead man's hand carefully, and saw that the dead man's fingertips and palms had thick calluses, and the index finger of his left hand was particularly scarred, "This man may be a carpenter, or he may be a carpenter who often uses People who are easily injured by knives, such as some craftsmen who weave bamboo baskets, or blacksmiths who forge iron, may also—”
After Qin Wan finished speaking, Zhan Yang had an idea in his heart, "Okay, I will check in this direction later."
After saying this, Qin Wan said again, "Last night, I heard from the people in the yamen that they were guarded on all sides at that time, but they were still run away by the murderer, but is that so?"
Zhan Yang nodded, "Yes, I was guarding the mill last night, but I really don't know how the murderer escaped."
Qin Wan recalled the layout of the mill. Although the outer walls were broken, there were still obstacles for the murderer to come in and out, and his skills were very good. It was not easy for someone to slip under his nose.
"Tell me about the place where the dead man died."
Zhan Yang heard the words and said, "When we went to the mill before, we found a stone mill hung up in the main hall, but this time the deceased died in a row of small houses behind the main house. The doors and windows of those small houses were all damaged, and the walls collapsed. From our point of view, the houses were dangerous houses. Ordinary people might be killed if they entered, but the murderer killed the dead inside, and the stone fell into the house. On the roof beams, the deceased was crushed to death in an upright manner. Last night was a starless and moonless weather. We stayed outside and did not see any fire inside the house... "
"Did you go to the mill yesterday?"
When Qin Wan asked, Zhan Yang hurriedly said, "I went there once yesterday morning, but our people didn't dare to go there specially because they were afraid of being caught in the grass, and waited until night, and they all lay in ambush one after another."
If the murderer wanted to attack at midnight, it was useless to go early, but how did he escape
"What is the break in the rope like?"
Zhan Yang walked to the long table at the side, and took the rope over, "There is no break in the rope, it was not cut, it should be that the murderer wrapped the rope around the beam, tied the graphite disc and hung it up, and then put his hand Let go and let the graphite disk fall, so the graphite disk killed the deceased, so the murderer must have been there at the time."
Qin Wan looked at the rope that Zhan Yang was holding and frowned. The whole rope was very long and as thick as a fist, but there were no traces of cutting on it, only some wear and tear. But if the murderer was at the scene of the crime, and How did you escape
"Did you light a torch when you went in?"
Zhan Yang nodded quickly, "That's natural, more than a dozen of us lit torches, almost making the inside of the mill as bright as day, but even so, we still haven't found a single ghost."
Qin Wan was even more confused when she heard these words. She put down her body and walked up to the deceased to check the intact part of the murderer. After checking, Qin Wan found some black powder under the murderer's broken nose bone.
"This is the powder of Datura leaves again?!"
Zhan Yang still remembered that there was such a powder in his body when Hu Dequan died!
Qin Wan nodded, "Indeed, the deceased was brought to the scene after being unconscious."
Logically, this is naturally the case, but if this is the case, wouldn't it be easier for the murderer to be discovered when he carried a person into the mill? Why did Zhan Yang, who had so many of them, insisted on not being noticed.
"Could it be... the deceased was already there, and the murderer came later?"
Qin Wan suddenly thought of this, and Zhan Yang's eyes lit up slightly, "It's not impossible, how long can this leaf powder keep people unconscious?"
Qin Wan pondered for a while, "It's fine for at least one or two hours, or as long as a day or two. He has a lot of powder in his nasal cavity. According to this dosage, he can be unconscious for a day at least."
Zhan Yang's eyes lit up, "It must be like this! The murderer stunned the deceased early and stayed at the mill, because he knew that we would only guard outside at night, and he was not weak in martial arts, so he would come in and out at that time. There is also a way to make it silent, the murderer hung up the stone mill in the main house earlier, and must have gone to the mill more than once, maybe there is some secret passage in the mill that we haven't discovered—"
Qin Wan sighed, "It's a pity that we can't find any other clues for the time being. These two times, the murderer left very few clues on the deceased. He knows that the government is doing its best to investigate this case, so he must be cautious."
Zhan Yang's expression was dignified. Once the murderer became vigilant, it would be even more difficult for them to find key clues. Now that five people have died, when seven people are dead, the murderer's dojo will be completed. checked.
"Why don't we go to the mill?"
Qin Wan still wanted to go to the mill, Zhan Yang saw Qin Wan was so attentive, so he nodded quickly, but before he could go out, Tong Yu came in from the outside and said, "Zhan Butou, the third son of Uncle Weiyuan is here."
Zhan Yang and Qin Wan looked at each other, Zhan Yang had no choice but to say, "Let the third son in—"
Qin Wan and Zhan Yang came out of the front hall, and saw Wu Yu coming in a hurry, Wu Yu said politely first, "Zhan Butou, I went to the Yamen just now, Master Zheng and you are not here, so I am going to Yizhuang Here we come, Zhan Butou, I wonder if there is any trust in the elder brother's story?"
Zhan Yang smiled wryly, "It's not so fast yet, these days the yamen is investigating the unidentified deceased in the past few years, to see if there are any similar to the situation of the eldest son, after all, it has been four years, if you say immediately Let's investigate, we have no direction." Besides, everyone in the yamen is busy with this serial murder case.
Wu Yu nodded to express her understanding, and said, "That's right. After I reported to the official, I went back and asked the people who served my elder brother to interrogate me. After hearing what these people said, I knew that my elder brother was outside. If you have enemies, I was thinking, will my elder brother be sought for revenge..."
Wu Yu took out a piece of paper, "I wrote the identities and names of these people on it, I hope it will be helpful for Zhan Butou."
Zhan Yang took it in his hand, glanced at it roughly, and Wu Yu said again, "Both the fourth brother and the eldest brother have accidents. The fourth brother is the treasure of the mother, and my father is also very guilty of the elder brother. Now I am forced by my father and mother. I'm also very helpless, I hope I don't cause trouble to Zhan Butou, I will leave the big brother's affairs to Zhan Butou."
Zhan Yang waved his hands, "These are all as they should be, don't worry."
While talking, Zhan Yang glanced at the paper again, "But the third son only wrote about the enemies of these eldest sons, why did they become enemies, but the third son did not write, the third son should tell you all, so we can check it out, Otherwise, if we come to ask, if others don’t admit it, we won’t have groundless suspicion—"
Having said that, Wu Yu smiled wryly, "This..."
Zhan Yang raised his eyebrows, "What's wrong? Is there anything inconvenient for the third son to say?"
Wu Yu sighed helplessly, "My elder brother... nothing else, just lust... Back then, he wanted to bring that brothel girl back to his home because of her beauty... Most of his enemies were jealous of the beauty. The next…”