A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Guier followed the sound and came to a house. The two concubines of Marshal Zhang who she had just seen at the dinner table were collapsed at the door and crying. Sha Yanxiao was trying to communicate with them, but they completely ignored him.

Seeing Gui'er, Sha Yanxiao said anxiously, "Why are you here? Forget it, you, go back to the main house and report immediately. Something happened here. Bring the two generals here."

The guard stood at attention and said, "Yes," then walked away quickly.

Gui'er curiously poked her head in and looked into the room, only to see two pairs of feet in embroidered shoes dangling in the air. She was startled, and Sha Yanxiao quickly hugged her and said, "Don't look."

But Guier couldn't help but look up. Judging from their clothes, it was Miss Zhang Er and Miss Zhang San, who were hanged from the beams of a main room. They were hanged with white silk, just like in the play, except that their hair was loose and their facial expressions could not be seen clearly.

Two people were hanging side by side on the beam, shaking from time to time. At first glance, it really looked a bit like a scene from a horror movie.

At this time, Marshal Sha and Marshal Zhang hurried over. Marshal Zhang looked into the room, his eyes suddenly widened, veins popped out, and he shouted, "What's going on?"

The mother of the two girls cried and said, "I don't know. It's a rare occasion for our daughter to come home, so we planned to get some things to bring back for her. We were only away for a short while, and when we came back, this happened."

Marshal Sha called out to the guards: "Quick, put the man down."

Marshal Zhang shouted, "Old Sha, how do you explain yourself? You are going too far. If my daughter had not suffered injustice from you, she would never have hanged herself." As he said that, he rushed forward and grabbed Marshal Sha by the collar of his clothes, but was immediately pulled away by the guards.

Marshal Sha said, "Old Zhang, calm down. We haven't figured out what's going on yet. If your daughter was mistreated by our family and wanted to commit suicide, why didn't she do it at my house, but instead came back to her parents' house to commit suicide? Don't you think it's strange? Besides, when you left this morning, your three daughters were so happy. Oh, and what about the other daughter?"

When everyone heard this, they woke up as if from a dream. Marshal Zhang took the lead and ran to another yard. As soon as he entered the yard, he saw a person lying on the ground from a distance. When he got closer, he saw that it was Miss Zhang Si's mother. There was a knife stuck in her chest, and she was dead.

Marshal Zhang looked around hurriedly and shouted, "Xiao Si, Xiao Si."

Suddenly, there was a noise in a room. Everyone rushed in and saw Miss Zhang Si climbing out of a cabinet. Marshal Zhang stepped forward and asked, "What's going on?"

Miss Zhang Si trembled as she spoke, "Just now, two servants I didn't recognize suddenly burst in and started strangling me with a white cloth. My mother saw me and started fighting them, telling me to run. I didn't know where to run, so I ran inside and hid in the closet. I didn't dare come out until you came and called me."

Sha Yanxiao asked, "Did you see those people clearly? Which direction did they run to?"

"It happened so fast that I couldn't see clearly. I heard the screams from my two sisters in the yard next door, but I didn't dare to come out."

Marshal Zhang angrily said to Marshal Sha, "What do you want? If you want to kill me, just come after me. Why harm my wife and daughter?"

Marshal Sha sighed and said, "If I really want to do this, do I need to find someone to disguise themselves as your servant?"

Sha Yanxiao said, "Uncle Zhang, it's definitely not us. Now that things have come to this, we will definitely get to the bottom of it. Don't worry."

Then he turned to a guard and said, "Go to the military headquarters and pass on my order to transfer a company to guard the headquarters. Also notify the coroner to come and examine the body and collect it."

At this time, Miss Zhang Si walked into the yard and saw her mother's body, and burst into tears again.

Sha Yanxiao took Gui'er back to the yard where the two Miss Zhangs hanged themselves.

At this time, the bodies of the two Miss Zhangs had been untied from the beams. Sha Yanxiao said to Gui'er, "I'm going to take a look at the bodies. If you're scared, stand back."

Gui'er nodded obediently and stood at the door without going in. Sha Yanxiao walked up, parted the hair of the two Miss Zhangs, and observed them.

Although Gui'er was standing at the door, she couldn't help but look inside. She inadvertently caught a glimpse of one of the Miss Zhangs whose fingernails had fallen off. She couldn't help but feel strange. Although the Miss Zhangs were not good-looking, their hands were extremely beautiful, slender, and tender like green onions.

So Guier couldn't help but step forward and take a closer look. Sure enough, the nails of the two Miss Zhangs, which were well maintained, were damaged to varying degrees, and some even had some dandruff in the crevices of the nails.

If it were in modern times, they could immediately take the samples for testing and extract DNA to quickly identify the murderer, but in this era, it can only mean that the two of them had fought with someone before they died.

Gui'er said to Sha Yanxiao, "Brother, look at their hands."

After hearing this, Sha Yanxiao took their hands and examined them. He then said to Marshal Zhang and the mothers of the two Miss Zhangs, "Please look, I'm afraid the daughters didn't commit suicide. I saw two strangulation marks on their necks, one deep and one shallow. The shallower one is where the white silk was hung, indicating that they were strangled and then hung. Also, look at their hands. The nails are turned up, and there's something stuck between the nails. They must have resisted before they died. I think the perpetrators in the next courtyard are the same group here."

The mothers of the two Miss Zhangs just cried, but Marshal Zhang frowned and said, "Then who do you think is responsible?"

Sha Yanxiao said: "This needs to be investigated. Please give me a few days."

When Gui'er heard this, she knew she couldn't go back today. Now she no longer thought about going to school. It was so chaotic here and someone had just died. She hoped nothing would happen again.

On that day, a group of people were transferred from the local military camp to guard the Marshal's residence and divided into shifts for patrol. Soldiers were guarding outside the rooms where Marshal Sha, his wife, Sha Yanxiao, and Gui'er lived.

Although Gui'er had witnessed Ah Xiang hanging herself and Juxiang's death, this time it was a homicide case and the murderer had not been caught. The security in Fengcheng was not good, so even though there were people guarding outside, she was still a little uneasy. She did not take off her clothes and was dressed neatly. She had a small shoulder bag with her and a pocket pistol taken out and held in her hand in case of any emergency.

One night, while lying in bed, tossing and turning, she suddenly heard a knock on the door. Gui'er startled, sat up in bed, and asked, "Who is it?"

"It's me." Sha Yanxiao's voice.

Gui'er breathed a sigh of relief and went to open the door. Sha Yanxiao walked in with a glass of milk. Seeing that Gui'er had not changed into pajamas, he turned around and saw that the quilt on the bed was messy. He probably guessed what was going on.

He sighed and said, "I should have known not to bring you here. I never thought something like this would happen."