This courtyard is in the style of an ordinary house, but the furnishings are more Huyi style. The door of the main hall is open, and there is a row of exotic copper hooks on the lintel, two of which are tilted to one side, as if they were pulled by force. Isiah stepped over the threshold, stopped, and covered her face.
On the smooth floor of the hall, a pool of red stains was particularly eye-catching.
Wen Yizhi paced around the hall, measuring the number of steps between the furniture. Wang Yan took out a sweat towel and threw it to Isia with the servant, looking around the messy hall and the various marks on the ground.
"The newcomer from Jingzhao Mansion, surnamed Feng, is a meticulous person. The signs in the house and courtyard have already told us how the murderer killed the man."
Wang Yan walked up to the bloodstain.
"The deceased was in the hall at the time. They fought and damaged a lot of things. There was only one bloodstain, and the deceased was killed by a single blow."
He turned back to the door.
"After the murderer finished killing people, he ran out of the door very anxiously."
Wen Yi knew: "How did you see that the murderer was in a hurry?"
Wang Yan raised his hand and pointed: "The murderer pulled down the door curtain. You can go and look at those crooked door hooks, which were caused by pulling the door curtain violently from inside the door. The murderer sneaked in and killed people very secretly. It doesn't make sense to pull down the door curtain."
Yu Yun pointed to the half-opened window: "There is a sticker on the window frame. The murderer might have come in through the window."
Wang Yan raised his eyebrows: "The window is only opened a slit, Jingzhao Mansion's ventilation will not be so embarrassing, it must be that the window was open when they came. It is so narrow that no one can get in. With this mark, they Found something on the windowsill, I guess, parrot feathers."
Wen Yizhi let out a cry with burning eyes: "I know! That is to say, when the murderer came in, the deceased was teasing the parrot in the house. When the deceased found the murderer, he quickly opened the window and let the parrot fly away. Then, the murderer swung his knife , kill the dead, chase out the door!"
Wang Yan patted him on the shoulder: "You can teach me, and I will add a spoon to the dining table of the Ministry of Criminal Justice. Actually, we can go back, tell Ah that the thief who stole the parrot is dead, and the parrot may be flying in the sky , let him continue to search."
Wen Yizhi was stunned.
Isiah bent her knees and knelt down in front of Wang Yan.
"Master, I'm not a thief! Please! The master is wronged! Please, help him."
Wang Yan looked down at her expressionlessly: "You can't even speak Chinese and dare to talk nonsense in front of me? The gray parrot was actually stolen by you and the deceased."
Isiah's spine trembled.
"The bricks and tiles on the roof of Xu's shop have no tread marks. The perpetrator is light in stature and weak in strength. He cut the hole very carefully. After stealing the parrot, he carefully glued the hole together. It seems like a good cover-up, but it is unnecessary. So Careful about mother-in-law and mother-in-law, it is obvious that she is a timid woman. That night, Guhande was in charge of lighting incense and guarding the door. You stole from the roof, am I right?"
Isia raised her tear-stained face: "It's not stealing! It's, master, my friend's parrot! Master's, friend, is gone. The parrot is gone. One day, master, I saw it."
Wang Yan asked in a deep voice: "What friend? What's your name? Where do you live?"
Isiah shook her head: "I know, name. Tamusha. I don't know where I live."
Wang Yan glanced at the entourage, and the entourage retreated knowingly.
Wang Yan continued to stare at Isiah's blue eyes: "After the murderer killed your master, he didn't find the parrot, and then went back into the house and rummaged through the drawers. I don't think he was looking for money. What's the secret of this parrot? "
Isiah cried and shook her head.
Yu Yun sighed: "Ayan, this is not the hall of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, why bother to scare a girl. Let her get up and ask slowly."
Xue Mulin echoed: "The ground is weeping with water stains, and it's not good for people from Jingzhao Mansion to watch."
Wang Yan put his hands behind his back and said nothing, Isia shook off Wen Yizhiyu's arm, and looked up at Wang Yan again: "I know a secret, master's, about, parrot. Let me tell you. But, please You, catch the bad guy!"
Wang Yan's expression remained unchanged: "You hand it over first."
Isiah shook her head vigorously: "No, exchange, must!"
Wang Yan turned around with a flick of his sleeves, and Isiah tightly grasped the hem of his clothes again.
"please!"
Both Yu Yun and Wen Yizhi showed pity. Wen Yi knew: "Ah Yan, it's too much to treat a weak woman like this!"
Yu Yun sighed again: "I know, Ah Yan did the right thing. The matter of throwing the parrot has been cleared up, and the rest of the murder case should be a matter of Jingzhao Mansion. Let this Yi girl go Let’s find the person surnamed Feng. Let’s go back and have another drink, refresh Atti, let him continue to search the city, and then go back to each house and celebrate each festival.”
Isiya still held on to Wang Yan's clothes, and Wang Yan also remained motionless. Xue Mulin said with a smile: "You can run on Ah Yan with red faces and white faces. When it's interesting, don't talk about Ah Yan, are you willing to give up?"
Wang Yan frowned, turned sideways, and pulled out the hem of the clothes from Isia's hand: "I never negotiate conditions with prisoners. You have to understand that you are also a suspect right now. Everything you know must be confessed. Or, you and I are now Say it. Or, you go to the prison and say it."
Isiah stared at Wang Yan. Yu Yun said softly: "Girl, what he means is that as long as you say it, you will definitely continue to investigate."
Wang Yan glanced at him.
Isiah sniffed: "Okay, let me tell you." She got up and walked towards the door leading to the inner room.
Inside the door is a small hall. Boxes, drawers, and cupboard doors were all wide open. There is another door exactly like the wall, which is also open, revealing the inner dark room. There are traces of hanging scrolls or tapestries on the wall, and it is not known whether it was taken away by Jingzhao Mansion or by thieves. There is only a copper bar table against the wall, covered with exquisite exotic patterns, and there are several circles of different sizes on the empty table, circled with ink pen.
Isiah got under the bar a few times and let out a cry.
A board was missing at the bottom of the case, and a note was pasted in the exposed empty hidden compartment.
The followers turned the note over, and Wen Yizhi stared at the place where the note was posted, exclaiming, "Does the surname Feng belong to the dog? You can find it all!"
Xue Mulin said softly: "Could it be taken by the murderer?"
Wang Yan was expressionless: "The stickers surnamed Feng have different styles, and this one is a sticker for obtaining evidence."
Isiah said eagerly: "I'm not lying! It's a secret, the master hid it! A painting."
Wang Yan frowned: "What painting?"
Isiah gestured desperately: "Draw, yes, a parrot. I saw it once."
Wang Yan asked Isiah again: "How big is the painting?"
Isia shook off the sweat towel that Wang Yan threw to him just now: "Like this! It's very old."
Wen Yizhi blinked: "Old parrot?"
Isiah shook her head again: "Drawing, very old!"
Wen Yizhi asked, "How old is it?"
Isiah said forcefully: "Very old, very old, very old. Older than, grandfather's grandfather!"
Yu Yun said: "The inference made by Yizhi just now is wrong. Only bastards can live for such a long time, and parrots definitely can't. The parrot in the painting is definitely not the one we are looking for."
Wen Yi knew: "There must be a connection! An old painting, there is a parrot in the painting. There is also a live parrot that was stolen from unknown sources and killed. There must be something here, not an ordinary thing! "
Xue Mulin interjected again: "Girl, you said you only saw it once, are you sure it is a parrot in the painting? Many birds are similar in appearance to parrots. And there are many kinds of parrots, such as crested, peony, tiger skin... in the painting Which one is it?"
Isiah's face was flushed, and tears burst out of her eyes again: "Yes, parrot!"
Wang Yan waved his hand: "Okay, the criminal's confession is not clear, it can only be used as a reference, not as evidence. Let's look at the rest first."
He ordered his entourage to turn the case back to its original form, pointing to the circle marked by Jingzhao Mansion on the case and the yellow and black traces on the wall.
"In the middle of this case before, there was a cauldron or lampstand, and beside it was a sacrificial vessel, and there were burnt marks on the wall. This Hu merchant should believe in the Shenhuo sect."
There are quite a few Hu people who believe in Shenhuo Sect, and the imperial court did not ban it. But those who believe in this religion will enshrine the everlasting fire at home, and the people in the capital are afraid of flooding, so they are unwilling to rent houses to them or be neighbors with them. Therefore, many Hu merchants will not admit that they are followers of Shenhuo.
Xue Mulin showed a dazed expression: "The religious emblem of the Shenhuo Cult is the God of Light surrounded by a pair of wings, and the God of Light stands sideways, wearing a crown and a decoration on the crown, which looks like a curved beak, and the hem of his robe is splayed , like a tail feather."
Wen Yizhi's eyes lit up: "If the drawing is more sloppy, will it look like a parrot?"
Xue Mulin looked at Isiah kindly: "Girl, do you believe in the God of Fire?"
Isia shook her head and folded her hands: "Drawing, it's a parrot!"
Xue Mulin, Yu Yun, and Wen Yizhi all looked at Wang Yan again, and Wang Yan asked Isia again: "Xu Weng, who raises parrots, is just an ordinary citizen, why don't you and your master go to his house to steal it? Choose the market to start?"
Isia bowed her head: "I listen to the master. Why, I don't know."
A few people walked around the house again, and then hurriedly left the Hu merchant's house under the complicated eyes of the Jingzhao government servants. Wang Yan ordered people to take Isiya to Yuehua Pavilion to rest in a carriage, and informed Liu of the current progress by the way, and ordered the entourage who had just been sent to inquire about the case to come forward and return.
The entourage reported that what the people living nearby said about Guhand and the circumstances of the case was basically the same as what Isiah said. Guhande treats people kindly and never has any grudges with others. There was only one maid, Isiah. On the day Guhand was killed, because Jingzhao Mansion wanted to rectify the market, the shops in Ligongfang were closed. Isiah went out to buy vegetables in the morning, and Guhand was at home alone. When Isiah came back, she found him lying in a pool of blood, crying in panic Shout, the neighbor helped to report to the officer.
But the follower learned another interesting thing—
Guhand had a mistress named Helena, who was about the same age as Guhand, with red hair, plump and gorgeous, and she sold jewelry in Dunhuafang.
Isiah was indeed Gohhand's maid, but before that she was Helena's slave. Helena gave her to Guhand. After Guhand got Isiah, he didn't see Helena often. In the past few months, Gukhand's friends and neighbors have hardly seen Helena. She didn't show up even when Guhand was dead.
Yu Yun shook his fan meaningfully: "The relationship between these three people is quite intriguing. Alas, the little orchid has a pitiful background."
Xue Mulin said: "There are many suspicious points about this girl. Although the people of Shansi country have white skin, eyes and high nose, their hair color and pupil color are mostly black or dark brown, which are similar to ours. This woman has a pair of green pupils, more like Angsa, Bai People from Man and other places. These places are far from the customs of the Shansi country, and they are proud of their nobility. Few people believe in the fire religion, and even less are slaves to the Shansi people. People with blue eyes usually have yellow and red hair. The girl is dark-haired, and perhaps one of the parents is from Shansi."
Wang Yan pondered for a moment, and ordered several people to go to Dunhua Fang to check Helena.
The boy who delivered the letter to Lan Jue also rushed over and reported that Mr. Lan did not know the details of the origin of the gray parrot. He asked Mr. Qiao from the same department. Among the tribute was a gray-feathered parrot and two monks and slaves. The parrot is very clever, can speak Mandarin and Chinese, and responds like a four- or five-year-old child. It was bestowed by Emperor Tongguang on Duke Rongkang of Taiyuan.
Yu Yun groaned: "This is comparable to what we checked. It's a pity that no one in Rongkang's mansion is in Beijing now, so we can't verify it for a while."
I will tell you again, Lord Lan just happened to be reviewing a book. There is a passage in the book that says that a certain man got a Kunlun female slave, and the female slave was accompanied by a gray-feathered parrot. A parrot can also transform into a girl in gray clothes. Mr. Lan did not disclose the title and author of the book, but he said that although the humanities of the book are outrageous, all the writings about exotic characters, customs, insects, birds and utensils are very detailed, which is in line with the facts. This paragraph may also serve as evidence.
Xue Mulin said: "That's right, the monk slaves and the Kunlun slaves are similar in appearance, and people in the world often confuse them. Many people in Shansi travel to various places, and the monk slaves were brought to our court from Molin, Papilao and other countries. , this gray-feathered parrot probably came out of the same place as the monks and slaves, and they brought them here together."
Yu Yun smiled and said, "The person who wrote the book that Xiaolan mentioned sounds like the owner of Qiqufang, but the Ministry of Rites had the good fortune to see his new edition first, and it must be the full edition! His book must have pictures. Tsk tsk , Ah Yan, can you talk to Xiaolan, get a copy and let me wake up later?"
Xue Mulin followed with a smile: "It's true that Honglu Temple didn't know about it. It takes the Ministry of Rites to be so profound."
Wang Yan said lightly: "If you are envious, you can also transfer to the Ministry of Rites."
Yu Yun shook his head: "I just promised you to go to the Ministry of Criminal Justice, and we will have dinner together, how can we not keep our promise?"
Wang Yan said: "These two wishes can be fulfilled at the same time. You go to the Ministry of Rites first, and copy out these wonderful books every day to alert all living beings. You will definitely be able to eat at the Ministry of Punishment in a few days."
Yu Yun and Xue Mulin thumped Wang Yan, and Wang Yan straightened his expression again: "I can't see the wonderful book right now, but it was taken away by the Jingzhao Mansion, and the witness insisted that there is a parrot painting, so I have to look at it."
Yu Yun asked: "What do you think of the painting in Jingzhao Mansion?"
Wang Yan looked at the void pretending to be mysterious: "After going to the next place, I can see it naturally."