The wooden structure of this small building faces south. They originally came in from the backyard on the north side, but now they circled to the main entrance on the south side and saw a copper lock on the door.
It was naturally difficult to encounter this kind of thing in the past. Now that there is an experienced adult beside her, she really does not want to be too "diligent".
"Since it's locked," she said respectfully, "Sir, why don't you come back tomorrow?"
Lu Yi didn't seem to hear her words at all, and ordered: "Open it, don't make any noise."
This summer, I couldn't, so I had to pick up the three pieces tied around my waist, pick out one of the slender silver sticks, bend over to align it with the keyhole, and gently stab and pick it again and again, and after a soft click, the copper lock was opened. is on.
Lu Yi looked in his eyes and asked lightly, "Is this lock-picking skill also taught by Yang Chengwan?"
"That's not true," Xia Xia hurriedly explained for the boss, "there used to be a prisoner in the prison, no one came to visit him, and he had no silver taels on him. In exchange for teaching me lock-picking skills, I bought it for him because I thought it would not be too hard for me.
As she said that, she pushed the door open a small crack, and ducked in. After Lu Yi also came in, she closed the door again.
Hearing her tone of voice was a little melancholy, but I don't know if it was a pity for the prisoner or a pity that she didn't learn everything. Lu Yi looked at her through the moonlight outside the window, and then turned his eyes to look at the scene in the room...
Directly opposite the door was a red lacquered corseted clubfoot table with a large empty lacquer plate on it. Behind the table is a screen painted with palace figures, all of which are ordinary things.
Going around the screen from the left, a dark wooden staircase leads directly to the second floor.
As soon as I stepped on it this summer, I heard a creaking sound from the wooden board under my feet, and then another creaking sound. If on weekdays, the rules of wooden stairs in some years are to creak, but when it is quiet at night, this movement is really harsh.
Frowning her brows, she had to go up as lightly as possible. When she was approaching the second floor, she suddenly saw a pair of green eyes at the entrance of the stairs...
She froze, her eyes dry, and she blinked.
Lu Yinyin's eyes also blinked, staring directly at her.
This summer, he took a deep breath and stepped back calmly, calmly, step by step, bumping into Lu Yi who was coming upstairs.
"He seems to be right above him. I heard that the ghost is the most vicious. Let's not disturb him. Let's go!" She wanted to squeeze down from him. No matter whether Lu Yi left or not, she was going to withdraw anyway, and her life was more important.
His eyesight was much stronger than this summer. Lu Yijing didn't move, grabbed her hard, looked at those green eyes and said, "That's a cat."
"Ah?" Jin Xia was stunned for a while, turned his head to look back, still couldn't see clearly, and learned the sound of a mouse in his mouth, "Squeak... squeak..."
"Meow, meow, meow."
Green eyes answered her enthusiastically, arching up, fluffy tail fluttering in the moonlight.
This summer, he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Should you let go now?" Lu Yi said badly.
When he turned around this summer, he realized that he had unconsciously grabbed Lu Yi's collar tightly, and quickly released it. Seeing that his robe was messed up, he apologetically took care of him again.
"Sure enough, Haoran is righteous."
Lu Yi sneered, pushed her hand away, and went straight upstairs.
The cat jumped down from the stair railing, ignoring it, meowing, and rubbing against Lu Yi's feet. It was only this summer that I saw that it was an orange tabby cat, with a fat head and a fat brain, and its coat was smooth and smooth.
"Could it be the cat that Zhou Xian has raised? Because he misses the old master, so he stays in the small building all the time?" She followed upstairs, guessing randomly, "... Maybe Zhou Xianyi's soul is attached to it. ?"
The fat cat rubbed his head vigorously on the top of the boot, Lu Yi raised his foot in disgust and turned it aside, the fat cat rubbed it again with determination, and rubbed even harder.
"Look, it wants to seek revenge for you."
This summer seems to have read the voice of the fat cat.
"Why do you think there must be grievances in Zhou Xianji's case?" Lu Yi asked suddenly.
This summer, I was stunned and realized that I had just called it a "wronged soul", and now I said "justice". Although they were all unconscious, they had already revealed their views on the case.
"I, just guessing." She wanted to prevaricate.
Lu Yi nodded: "It turns out that the six doors are so investigations, just guessing, they are preconceived."
"Hey! You..." He was agitated this summer and said angrily, "How can you be preconceived. This is the money for repairing the river, and he is solely responsible for it. Where in the world is such a foolish person shooting himself in the foot. Apparently already embezzling the 100,000 taels of river repair money, he should have absconded with the money, how could he hang himself?"
The fat cat meowed under his feet, as if to echo her words.
Lu Yi raised his eyebrows and said, "Don't you think he committed suicide out of fear of crime?"
"I… "
This summer was only halfway through when I heard a hoarse voice downstairs yelling, "Who? Who's up there?"
The official station responsible for guarding this place is an old man in his sixties. His voice is quite loud, and he walks very slowly. From hearing his voice this summer, to when he trembled upstairs with a lantern and appeared at the place. In front of her, she spent a full cup of tea.
The fat cat meowed, its thick tail swayed, and rubbed it enthusiastically as usual.
"Old man, did you raise this cat?" Handing over the catching card this summer, he couldn't help but ask, "What did it eat to grow up, so fat?"
"It has to eat lard bibimbap twice in the morning and in the evening."
"What! Morning and evening! Lard bibimbap!"
This summer suddenly became very indignant, and when he looked at the cat again, his eyes were full of envy, jealousy and hatred.
"The two of you are here to investigate the case?" The old man put the card close to the lantern and saw the word "catch" on it. "No one told me. How did you get in?"
"I don't like to disturb too many people when investigating cases." Lu Yi said lightly, "Are you the postmaster here?"
The lantern was dim, and the old man didn't see Lu Yi's flying fish robe clearly for a while, so he explained to him this summer: "This is the Master Lu Yi who has experienced Jin Yiwei."
Hearing the five words of Jin Yiwei's experience, the old man hurriedly stuffed the fat cat and lantern into Jin Xia's hands, and saluted Lu Yi respectfully: "Wang Chi, the humble officer, see Mr. Lu."
"Have you always been in charge of guarding the house here?" Lu Yi asked.
"Yes."
"When did Zhou Xianji live in?"
"You're talking about Lord Zhongzhou, the Minister of Industry. He came just after the winter solstice last year." Old Wangtou sighed, "I didn't expect him to hang himself."
This cat is very heavy and clingy. This summer, he put down the lantern with difficulty, and put the fat cat that refused to go down on his shoulders with great difficulty.
"Tell me the whole story." Lu Yi ordered.
Lao Wangtou has talked about this several times in the past few days, but Lu Yi's identity of Jin Yiwei's experience is assumed, and there is a non-angered and arrogant demeanor in his speech, which makes him not dare to neglect, and is still detailed from beginning to end. said it again.
"That night, Lord Zhou came back very late, and his face was not very good. The book boy told me that the smoked cage was not warm enough, and asked me to raise a brazier. Later, I came back and slept until the next morning, when I saw the upstairs The window was open, I thought Lord Zhou had already got up, but when I went upstairs to take a look, I found that Lord Zhou was already hanging on the beam."
Old Wang pointed to the top of Jin Xia's head, the latter looked up at the beam above his head, and hurriedly moved a few steps to the side.
"Since the hanging beam committed suicide, there should be the sound of the stool being kicked away by him and falling to the ground. This floor is made of wood, and the sound must not be small. Didn't you hear the movement?" asked this summer.
Lao Wang pointed at the fat cat awkwardly: "Hu often knocks things over. I'm used to listening to it on weekdays, and even if I hear it, I don't care."
When Ah Hu heard its name being called, he gave a "meow" and flicked his tail in a good mood. It happened to swipe around this summer's neck, making her itchy.
"Where did the stool fall?" asked Jin Xia.
"That's the stool." The old man motioned her to look at a round stool with a waist and bulging legs and a clay support, "I remember it seems to be crooked here."
He sneezed twice in a row because of the cat's fur. This summer, he was overwhelmed and returned Ah Hu to him. Then he half squatted down and looked at the round stool by the candlelight of the lantern. Sure enough, he saw an obvious dent on the side of the paint. Then take the lantern to check the ground...
"His book boy didn't hear anything?" she wondered.
"In those two days, the little book boy caught the cold. After drinking the soup at night, he fell asleep. When he got up early, I called him."
At this time, Lu Yi had been standing quietly beside him, as if he was thinking about something. After a while, he asked, "Zhou Xian has moved in since he moved in, how many times do you want you to raise the brazier?"
"Only once that night."
"Is it particularly cold that day?"
"It was raining that day, and it was indeed a little cold. And when Lord Zhou came back, his clothes were all wet from the rain, so it was probably not too cold."
"He didn't take a sedan chair?" Jin Xia asked curiously, "Still didn't use an umbrella?"
Old Wangtou tried his best to recall, and said, "It's strange to say that Lord Zhou has always had a sedan chair, and I don't know why there was no sedan chair to send him back that day."
Lu Yi turned to look at the window and asked, "Which windows were open that morning?"
Lao Wang stepped forward and opened the two windows on the northwest side: "It's these two."
As soon as the window was opened, a gust of wind came in, and Ah Hu made two "meows" in dissatisfaction, and arched into the man's arms. Lu Yi approached the window and looked out. Even if the moonlight was so good tonight, there was really not much to see, only uneven houses.
"Master Zhou usually always opens the window here." Old Wangtou was also very puzzled about this.
This summer, I opened several windows facing the south one after another, looked out, and suddenly said in surprise: "This is right facing the back garden of the official post, the scenery is good!"
Lao Wangtou smiled and said, "Yes, this place has the best view. There are peach trees underneath, and it's blooming season now."
"It seems that Zhou Xian is no longer a flower-loving person, and he has let down this wonderful spring in vain." This summer, he shook his head and looked at the three-drawer bookcase. When the drawer was opened, it was all empty. They must have all been sent to the yamen. The top of the bookcase is also empty, only the pen holder, inkstone table and washing machine are left.
"Have you moved the things on this?"
she asked the old king.
Old Wang shook his head: "No, after the people from the yamen came, they locked the door, and I never came up again."
This summer, I stretched out my fingers and rubbed hard on the bottom of the inkstone. I retracted my hand and looked at it carefully. There was only a slight ink mark on my fingers, and it was clean after washing.
"How?" Lu Yi asked.
"It looks like Zhou Xian has left no suicide note." As soon as he finished speaking, he seemed to have thought of something this summer. He brought up a lantern to illuminate the walls, and carefully illuminated the walls one by one...
Old Wangtou didn't understand what she was doing at all, but Lu Yi knew it.