Detective in the Red Chamber

Chapter 845 Survey

【………】

"No?"

"No."

"not a single one?"

"The disciples and servants employed by my Tianshi Mansion in Beijing are all gathered here. If Sun Shaoqing doesn't believe it, you can measure their heights one by one."

Sun Shaozong was silent.

What Hongyuan Daoist said was categorical, and this is something that can be verified immediately, which shows that among the disciples and servants of the Tianshi Mansion in Beijing, there are indeed no such tall and powerful people.

Is there a problem with my own inference?

But I have carefully checked the traces of the scene several times, and it stands to reason that there will be no omissions.

In addition...

From the corner of his eye, Sun Shaozong scanned the middle-aged Taoist who was suspected to be the butler.

Just now, when he asked for the first time, if there is anyone taller than six feet in this house, the middle-aged Taoist seemed to have thought of something, but before he could speak, he was stopped by Daoist Hongyuan.

If Daoist Hongyuan had hastily covered up just now, he might be able to see some flaws in this middle-aged Taoist.

However, after looking over, he saw that the middle-aged Taoist priest also had a disdainful expression on his face, as if he was despising Sun Shaozong's absurd reasoning.

tsk~

Is this guy acting so good?

Or did I just misunderstand something?

Quietly withdrawing his gaze, Sun Shaozong made up his mind to find another breakthrough, while pretending not to give up, he continued to ask: "The person who is close to the family, is there..."

"Sun Shaoqing."

Daoist Hongyuan interrupted Sun Shaozong's words, and said seriously: "my wife has always lived in seclusion, she is not from my Tianshi mansion, I am afraid that she may not even know that she is in the capital at this time."

Is this to clear the door for the disciples, or to tell myself that even if the real culprit is not among them, there must be an internal agent hidden in this house?

Sun Shaozong lowered his head and pondered for a long while, then he said again: "Since that's the case, please gather all the people in the house and wait in the front hall, and don't walk around at will - wait for the officer to investigate the traces around, and then check one by one. .”

After a pause, he said again: "Please send someone to visit Dali Temple again, so that the on-duty yamen servants and the prisoners who specialize in women's prisons will come as soon as possible."

Daoist Hongyuan was about to nod, but the middle-aged Taoist at the side was a little annoyed, and said angrily: "I told you that there is no one taller than six feet here, why are you still entangled?! I heard that you just went to see that Zhang Laodao, could it be..."

"Brother Hongfeng!"

Master Hongyuan gave a low shout, and the middle-aged Taoist reluctantly closed his mouth, and looked at Sun Shaozong, but he was still not very friendly.

This attitude...

It doesn't look like he has a ghost in his heart.

Did I really get it wrong just now?

Or is it that his hesitant attitude has nothing to do with the case itself?

Sun Shaozong was suspicious in his heart, but on his face, Master Hongyuan just cupped his hands and said: "I'm sorry."

Then he raised the lantern again, and began to search the garden with the dead body as the center.

Seeing this, the middle-aged Taoist glared at him again, and left indignantly.

Not long after, two women, one short and one fat, rushed over again, first saluted Sun Shaozong, and then followed him step by step like guarding against thieves.

With two tails like this, Sun Shaozong searched the garden and found that the soil close to the corner was unexpectedly wet and soft.

This is probably because the snow from the previous two days did not melt until today, and it caught up with today's warmer temperature, so the surface did not freeze.

Thanks to this, Sun Shaozong found a few clear footprints in the left corner of the wall.

And by comparing the footprints and the distance between steps, Sun Shaozong further confirmed the previous inference - the murderer who killed Ma Shi was indeed taller than six feet.

Going around from the atrium to the back of the wall, I saw two long rows of houses facing each other on the left and right. I glanced at the mother-in-law and followers, but it turned out to be the dormitory for the young disciples of the Tianshi Mansion.

The same footprints were found on the south wall of the collective dormitory and under the north and south walls of the small courtyard next door.

Considering that there are no such burly and tall people in this mansion, there is basically no possibility of forging the traces of invasion.

Therefore, it can be basically concluded that the murderer did enter and exit through the wall.

According to the mothers-in-law, because there was no evening class today, four Taoist priests went back to the dormitory together at the first hour of Youzheng [[-]:[-] p.m.].

The time for Ma Shi to go into the back garden alone to relax is the three quarters of Youzheng [45:[-] p.m.].

The body was discovered around Xu time [seven o'clock in the evening].

The time of death is judged to be between Youzheng and Xu hours [six o'clock to seven o'clock].

In other words, the time left for the murderer to commit the crime is only the two quarters of an hour from the third quarter of the unitary hour to the first quarter of the unitary hour.

Considering the existence of back and forth deviation, the time may be shortened further.

A burly man sneaked into the back garden of a deep house just after nightfall, killed the mistress and left calmly.

Either there is an insider leading the way, or he is familiar with everything here.

As for the inference of sneaking in ahead of time and ambush in the garden, it is theoretically reasonable-but although it is getting dark early, it will not be night until the right hour.

An extremely burly murderer would jump over the wall in broad daylight, and the risk of exposure is too great. As long as the IQ is not lower than the average level, I am afraid that they will not make such a choice.

In addition, judging from the murderer's entry and exit routes, the murderer most likely identified Ma Shi early in the morning and was alone in the back garden at that time.

Based on this, it can be further deduced that there may be some special connection between Ma Shi and the murderer.

Otherwise, in such a short period of time, how did he get the exact information, and how did he get in and out of the real man's mansion with ease?

If this is the case, then there is a reasonable explanation for the word 'teacher' with an uncoordinated proportion.

And the expression on Qi Qing's face of the deceased also had an explanation.

In this way, searching for clues and pondering over and over again, Sun Shaozong circled around the backyard of Zhenren Mansion and returned to the garden.

He originally wanted to check the corpse one last time, but when he approached with a lantern, the first thing he saw was the figure of Master Hongyuan standing with his hands behind his back, looking up at the starry sky.

It should be about half an hour, right?

Had he been sculpting beside the corpse all the time?

perhaps……

He wasn't actually posing, but he didn't know how to face his wife's sudden death?

If this is the case, the previous inference of "killing his wife to prove the Tao" is somewhat biased.

Moreover, if there is any unclear connection between Ma Shi and the murderer, the possibility of Master Hongyuan colluding with the murderer will be reduced to the lowest point.

Sun Shaozong was thinking about this, whether he should take the opportunity to test the relationship between the couple, but suddenly he heard footsteps approaching behind him.

Holding the lantern and turning around, I saw Huang Bin leading three female prisoners, walking quickly with the housekeeper.

"grown ups!"

Seeing clearly that Sun Shaozong was not far ahead, Huang Bin immediately stepped out of the crowd, walked quickly to the front, bowed and said: "The villain has sent brothers to guard the front and rear doors. Without your order, no one is allowed to do anything at will." In and out."

Sun Shaozong nodded, turned around and said to Master Hongyuan: "Really, can you find a suitable room for these female prisoners to further examine the corpses?"

Daoist Hongyuan didn't look at him, he just waved his wide sleeves at Taoist Hongfeng.

Taoist Hongfeng immediately understood what he meant, and asked the two women to bring Ma's body to the side hall for inspection.

As for Sun Shaozong and Huang Bin, they followed the real Hongfeng to the crowded hall.

When we were on the road just now, because of the dim night, Sun Shaozong hadn't seen it clearly. At this moment, the hall was brightly lit, only then did he realize that among the disciples of the Tianshi Mansion in the capital, there are actually not many real Taoists, only a dozen or so look.

And even more are teenagers who have not been taught seal script. They should all be Daoist Hongyuan, who have just been recruited under the sect after they opened up the situation in the capital.

At this time, those half-grown children stood Wu Yangyang halfway across the hall, but they were all silent and did not dare to make any movement, obviously they were under extremely strict control.

On the contrary, the women and maids only occupied a corner of the living room, whispering uncontrollably.

Of course, as soon as Sun Shaozong showed up, the maids and women immediately fell silent.

This hall should be the place where Taoists do their homework on weekdays, and there is a small Dharma platform in the innermost place.

Because he didn't know if there was any taboo in it, Sun Shaozong didn't step on the platform, he just stood in front of the crowd and looked around, and then raised his voice: "All those who stayed in this mansion before, stand in front of this official. .”

Several Taoist priests in the crowd exchanged glances, and then came out together.

There were only six people who stood up, but they were all adult Taoists. It seems that the real Hongyuan brought all the Taoist boys to Ningguo Mansion to support the scene.

And among the six people who stood up, not to mention six feet tall, there was only one person who was over five feet five inches [1 meters].

It can only be said that the current height difference between the north and the south is relatively obvious.

At this time, the women and maids in the corner couldn't help becoming agitated again, and one of the women boldly asked: "Master Qingtian, we... us slaves, are we going to stand over?"

"No need."

Sun Shaozong waved his hand and ordered: "Huang Bin, take someone to interrogate all those who were in the mansion when the case happened, to see if they have an alibi - and who are the maids next to Madam Ma? One, stand up and answer."

Just as Huang Bin wanted to step forward to take orders, he quickly returned to his original position after hearing the latter words.

At the same time, two maidservants aged fifteen or sixteen came over tremblingly, bowed their bodies and said in a timid voice: "My servant Qiuhong [Xia He], I have met Lord Qingtian, we two are maidservants beside Madam."

After a pause, Na Qiuhong added: "After Ma'am arrived in the garden, the two of us kept chatting with Zhang's sister-in-law about family matters. After we felt something was wrong, it was the three of us who discovered the corpse together."

That's a clever one.

And judging from their accents, they should be natives of the capital, not Madam Ma who brought them from the south.

Sun Shaozong nodded, and ordered without doubt: "I am going to check Madam Ma's bedroom. You two should lead the way."

The two servant girls subconsciously looked at Taoist Hongfeng, and seeing that he had no intention of stopping, they brought Sun Shaozong and the two yamen servants to Mrs. Ma's bedroom.

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Chapter 846

Ma Shi's residence is actually not far from the back garden, but they are not connected to each other. Instead, they need to take a detour between the two gates to enter and exit.

Compared with the two rows of formwork warehouse-style dormitories just now, the environment here is naturally much better, and the cornices and brackets are not inferior to the buildings and palaces.

But the most outstanding one is not the main room, but the east wing room whose style is very different from that of the northern buildings.

"Master Qingtian."

Seeing Sun Shaozong stop and look at the structure of the East Wing, Qiuhong said timidly, "The East Wing is the place where the real people of my family practice Daoism and Xuan. Usually, even my wife dare not enter without permission."

Hearing what she said, Sun Shaozong became even more curious.

But right now, no one who can make the decision is in front of him, and he didn't want to embarrass the two servant girls too much, so he just nodded ambiguously, then signaled Qiu Hong to step forward, and pushed open the door of the main room.

As soon as I entered the door, I felt a faint warm fragrance, and after entering the inner room, the smell became stronger.

And the interior layout, like the tassels on the hood, is full of girlishness—Sun Shaozong even found a string of pink wind chimes and paper cranes on the window.

"Look around and see if there's anything odd."

While Sun Shaozong ordered, he opened the closet on his own, but saw that there were layers of clothes inside, all of which were used by women, and he did not see half of men's clothes.

So he asked casually: "Don't Daoist Hongyuan usually sleep here?"

Qiu Hong hesitated for a moment before replying hesitantly: "The real person...the real person is mixing the elixir for Long Live Lord."

Although Mrs. Ma is dead, Daoist Hongyuan is still alive, and is a member of the holy family. Or, as a maid, how dare she reveal the privacy between the husband and wife at will?

Therefore, it can only be so vague.

However, Sun Shaozong was too lazy to play tricks with her, and asked straight to the point: "In this way, Master Hongyuan and his wife haven't had sex for a long time? Then what is the relationship between the two of them?"

"The relationship between Madam and Daoist is... naturally excellent."

As Qiu Hong spoke, she lowered her head and neck subconsciously, but what she wanted to conceal was not the timidity she deliberately pretended to be, but the helplessness in her eyes.

At this moment, there was a sudden tinkling sound in the house. Qiu Hong looked up subconsciously, and saw Sun Shaozong tore off a paper crane and was dismantling it with great interest.

Her first thought was to speak out to dissuade her, but her lips moved slightly, and she remembered the identity of the person in front of her, so she quickly swallowed her words back.

Just as he was about to lower his head and neck again, he heard Sun Shaozong say to himself: "I have seen it just now, there is not even a decent female crown in this mansion except Madam Ma - now that Madam Ma is dead, In the future, I'm afraid the house won't need so many maids anymore, right?"