How to work

Apart from Shen Wansha, Zhao Zhu came here with Lu Li this day.

The three of them were very surprised by Yan An's self-capital, Shen Wansha's eyes were wide open, shock was written all over his face; Lu Li and Zhao Zhu looked at each other, apart from surprise, what they saw more was the thinking in each other's eyes .

Lu Li raised his eyebrows slightly: Do you think... there is a problem?

Zhao Zhu's slender eyes narrowed slightly: Aren't you too?

After a quick exchange of glances, the two fell silent and listened carefully to Yan An's account of the crime.

Yan An said that Gao Cheng was killed by him.The reason is that Gao Cheng has a bad mind and is promiscuous in the backyard.If Gao Cheng had only committed adultery with Pang, and had not done anything outrageous, nor had he violated the rules of the inner court, he would only dislike him and would not intend to kill anyone, but Gao Cheng should not seek the crown prince.

Shen Wansha asked: "Is it because of the master-student relationship between you and the son?"

Yan An shook his head, "Besides, Marquis Cui Luo of Wu'an is kind to me."

Marquis Cui Luo of Wu'an showed kindness to him, not only for saving his life, but also for knowing him.Cui Luo died too early, it seems a little unspeakable, but he promised Cui Luo to help him look after the Hou Mansion.A man's oath, in a word, for the rest of his life, he will try his best to do what he promised.

Lu Li tapped the table with his fingertips, "How do you know that Gao Cheng has an affair with Pang? And how do you know that they intend to seek the throne?"

"I was there when the Marquis of Wu'an first opened the mansion. Later, when I went to Beijing to send servants to Cui's house, and Marquis Wu'an picked up his wife, I helped. The rules in the mansion are strict, but it is more convenient for an 'old man' like me to know something. of."

Yan An lowered his head slightly and looked at his fingers. The blazing summer light passed through his eyelashes, leaving a faint shadow in his eyes, "As for their plan... I guessed it when Gao Cheng found me. Gao Cheng Xu Yizhongli wanted me to enlighten Cui Fen, the son of the Pang family, and said that as long as I agreed, I would get unimaginable benefits in the future. When he said this, his words were vague and his eyes flickered. The focus was not on how much interest he promised me. , repeatedly mentioning the 'benefits that can't be imagined in the future'..."

This move was a bit unusual, and Yan An felt that Gao Cheng might be testing him.Maybe Gao Cheng really wanted him to teach Cui Fen, but more, he wanted to test his attitude.He has no attachments to the Hou Mansion, to his son Cui Zhi, his son Cui Fen, and Cui Jie.

Yan An started to hold back, trying to get more information out, but Gao Cheng was not a fool, and after realizing it, he refused to say another word, but Yan An was already sure that Gao Cheng had no intention of cheating.

He hung out with Gao Cheng for a few days, but Gao Cheng refused to invite him to drink.Later, Gao Cheng went to him with the wine jar, and he asked straightforwardly. Gao Cheng smiled cunningly, but he still couldn't make up his mind. When he got angry, he threw the wine jar and kicked him out.

After that, Gao Cheng didn't come to him again, but he was even more worried. He didn't know if Gao Cheng had found someone else, and if he was planning to do something to his husband and son... There are those who can be a thief for a thousand days, but there are no people who can guard against a thief for a thousand days As long as he didn't do anything, Yan'an killed Gao Cheng.

"It makes sense..." Shen Wansha blinked and looked at Lu Li, "Little Li, what do you think?"

Lu Li crossed his hands into a tower shape, resting on his chin, his eyes narrowed, "Where are you, what did you use to kill Gao Cheng?"

"At the entrance of Chaoyang Street and Alley." Yan An raised his head slightly, and the sun shone on his face, from forehead to nose tip to chin to neck, the whole line was exquisite and elegant, with a heroic air, "I used ice skates."

"Ice, ice knife?" Shen Wansha stared at the boss, "Can ice kill people?"

Lu Li nodded, "Skate blades that are frozen solid, have excellent hardness and sharpness, and can indeed kill people."

As he spoke, he recalled the wound of the deceased, and the shape of the murder weapon he drew based on the cut surface of the wound... The tip is sharp and slightly narrow, and the rear part widens suddenly, with unevenness in between, and the thickness is slightly larger than that of a sword, very sharp...

The shape of the murder weapon is too deformed. Lu Li thought it was a disadvantage before, but also an advantage. The disadvantage is because it is difficult to find, and the advantage is because it is too special. As long as someone has seen it, they can follow the vine... But I never thought that it might be ice skates.

Now Yan Anyi said that he quickly went through the scene, the corpse and other manifestations in his mind, and it is very reasonable that the murder weapon is an ice skate!

If it is an ice skate, there is no need to take it back at all. It will quickly turn into water under the scorching sun...

"No wonder we couldn't find the murder weapon after searching for so long!" Shen Wansha beat his palms with fists, eyes wide open, very excited.

Zhao Zhu tapped the table with his fingertips, his eyes were slightly cold: "Gao Cheng was killed by you, why didn't you call me?"

Lu Li also remembered his previous analysis with Zhao Zhu: Gao Cheng was threatened.

Yan An lowered his head and smiled slightly, "He didn't dare, but I told him that if he dared to call, I would kill Pang Zi."

Shen Wansha sighed: "This Gao Cheng is sincere to Pang..."

Lu Li and Zhao Zhu looked at each other, exchanged glances, and asked again: "When you killed Gao Cheng with the ice skate, was he too shocked for a moment and leaned on you?"

Yan An raised his head slightly, a surprise of 'how do you know' seemed to flash in his eyes: "Yes."

"Then your clothes..."

"Of course it's dirty." Yan An's eyes narrowed slightly, "I'm about to kill someone, so I must have made preparations. I knew that Gao Cheng would be going out that day, so I asked him to meet him at the entrance of the alley, and I brought a small bag with me. The wrapped ice skates, and the same clothes that I was wearing at that time. I killed Gao Cheng with the ice skates, changed the clothes immediately, put them back in the small bundle, and burned them immediately after returning home."

So, bloody clothes and so on can't be found.

Yan An said that he was the master of the Hou's mansion, and he couldn't leave his pen, ink, paper and inkstone by his side all the time, and he didn't like to take people with him, so he took things by himself. Everyone was used to it, and no one doubted it.He came in and out of the Marquis Mansion in a carriage, and there would be an ice basin on the carriage. He had an unusual status, and he had as much ice as he wanted. It was easy to cut out ice skates, and it was not difficult to keep them.

Reasonable and reasonable.

"But why...you want to kill Gao Cheng outside the mansion? As you said, it's not that you don't know the Hou's mansion, and it's not that you can't do it." Lu Li pondered.

Yan An's explanation is: Madame has strict rules and it is inconvenient for her to live in the house.

There were people everywhere in the Hou's mansion during the day, and at night all the keys were lost. He could kill people in the Hou's mansion, but it would be very troublesome to solve the follow-up, and it would be even worse if his wife and son knew about it.

"But there is a government outside!" Shen Wansha reminded Yan An.

"I know." Yan An sighed slightly, "But Gao Cheng is just a servant."

The master's family is not guilty of killing the servants. Although Yan'an is not counted as Cui's family, his physical status is different.Even for ordinary good citizens, if they kill a slave who sells his bond, the legal responsibility will be reduced by one step.

The law is harsher for slaves. For example, if a good citizen kills a good citizen, he will be punished with his life. However, if a slave is killed, he does not need to pay for his life. The strictest and strictest, he will be sentenced to exile, and the punishment will be reduced by one grade.Conversely, if a slave person commits a crime, the punishment will be increased by one class.

Therefore, generally those who become servants will subconsciously be loyal. There is too little protection for them in this society, and their lifelong honor and disgrace are all tied to their masters.What can prompt him to betray the Lord must be a great temptation.

So Yan'an was very angry about this. Gao Cheng dared to betray his master, and he deserved this end.

Lu Li and Zhao Zhu didn't ask any more questions about this, but they asked Gao Cheng's room was so messy, but what did he do?

Yan An shook his head in denial.

He didn't know why Gao Cheng's room was stolen or what was lost.The first time he saw the room key was in Mei Xiang's hands, "Maybe before Gao Cheng left, he gave her the key and entrusted her to take care of the room."

"You said, Mei Xiang was also killed by you."

"Yes." Yan An lowered her eyes slightly, "Mei Xiang came to me and said that she knew a secret that was related to the survival of the Hou family. In order to win my trust, she told me that he and Gao Cheng were in the same group. The key to Gao Cheng's room in her hand was It is evidence that their relationship is unusual."

The two made an appointment to meet outside the ice cellar, because the location was the most remote and there was nothing important there, and there were few guards on patrol at night.The two of them, one is the 'old man' of the Hou Mansion, and the other is clever and introverted, scheming, and they met smoothly at night.

"But Meixiang has been around for a long time, but she still hasn't gotten to the point."

Yan An said that Mei Xiang brought poison with her, proving that she had the will to die.She was very excited and talked for a long time, asking Yan An to agree to be with her, and as long as Yan An was with her, she would tell him all the secrets.

She persuaded, threatened and seduced, Yan An gradually lost his patience, he could see that Mei Xiang did know something, but she didn't intend to tell him.He thought, since she and Gao Cheng were in the same group, she must not be a good person. Although he didn't know the secret, keeping Mei Xiang was a disaster, so he killed Mei Xiang.

He has been in the Hou's Mansion for many years, and got the key to the ice cellar door by chance a few years ago. The lock of the ice cellar has not been changed for many years, he was lucky, and opened it all at once.He said that he heard movement outside, hid in the ice cellar, then took advantage of Mei Xiang's unpreparedness, left suddenly, and quickly locked the door of the ice cellar again...

Yan An confessed that the process of his crime was like this.

As for Lu Li's question about Chui Kit Pang's poisoning, he expressed that he did not know about it, "The two have been at odds with each other, and it's unknown if they poisoned each other. This matter is indeed a coincidence."

……

Shen Wansha suddenly realized that everything made sense, it was really Yan An who did it!

"The case can be closed!" The young master announced loudly.

Zhao Zhu knocked on the table, looked at the indifferent Yan An, "Is everything you said the truth?"

Yan An bowed his head: "Don't dare to hide it."

Zhao Zhu and Lu Li looked at each other for a moment, Lu Li nodded slightly, "If that's the case, only—"

"You're lying!" A voice came from outside the door.

The voice was clearer and more mellow, with determination, firmness, and gentleness. Lu Li was very familiar with it, "Aunt Zhang——"

The door was pushed open with a "squeak", and shallow footsteps came from far to near. Lu Li noticed that Yan An's body froze.He lowered his eyes to look at his hands, his eyes seemed to flicker, but he didn't dare to look up at people.

Sure enough, Mrs. Zhang came.

As soon as Mrs. Zhang came in, Qian Qian saluted Zhao Zhu, without saying a word, she just looked at Yan An: "Did you see that?"

Yan An still didn't look at her, but nodded her head lightly, "I see." His voice was slightly deep, full of bitterness.

The question and answer were full of hidden meaning, and Shen Wansha's ears immediately perked up.Not only him, but the eyes of Lu Li and Zhao Zhu also started to glow.

"Then you still plead guilty?" Mrs. Zhang breathed out softly, turned to Lu Li and the other three, with a smile on her face, "Don't listen to this idiot's nonsense, I killed people."

She sat down on the table and continued to look at Yan An without explaining what she said just now, "How do you know that I killed Gao Cheng with an ice skate?"

Yan An still lowered his head, staring at his hand, his body was tense, and his voice was a little weak, "I killed Gao Cheng, of course I know."

The corners of Zhang's lips twitched.

"Mei Xiang was also killed by me."

Zhang's forehead twitched.

Shen Wansha was a little confused, why are they all arguing that he killed someone?He reminded Mrs. Zhang: "Master Yan has just explained the criminal process, it is justified, reasonable, reasonable and seamless..."

"I just heard what he said outside. As expected of a great talent, Mr. Yan is quite quick-witted, and he can do things well that he has never seen before."

The words were said with anger, it seemed to be a compliment, but in fact it seemed to be contemptuous, but Yan An was not angry, "I made it myself—"

"Little Lizi," Mrs. Zhang ignored Yan An, directly blocked his words, and looked at Lu Li, "You have already suspected me, haven't you?"

Lu Li frowns, and simply admits, "Yes. But the evidence is insufficient, especially the murder weapon, the bloody clothes, we have not been able to find it... I have prayed, I hope that the murderer will not be you."

"Why? Because I killed someone, am I a bad person?" Zhang's eyes were bright and her smile was warm, "Little Lizi is scared?"

"It's not that I'm afraid, it's just..."

"It's normal to be confused for a while, but remember, I will never hurt my friends."

Mrs. Zhang's words were very firm, her eyes were very sincere, her brows sparkled with wisdom, and her whole person was full of a special sense of beauty... Lu Li found that he didn't hate Mrs. Zhang at all, and couldn't hate her.

"You are Daxia's number one author. Come, let Aunt Zhang listen. Why do you doubt Aunt Zhang?" Mrs. Zhang spoke with a smile, her whole person was elegant and calm, as if what they were talking about now was not her murder case, but It's a trivial matter, as an elder, she wants to see if the junior's ability, to what extent, is it enough to make her proud.

Under her deliberate guidance, Lu Li did not feel depressed at all, instead he felt the warmth of being cared for by his elders.

"I can't think of the murder weapon, but Bloody Clothes... You are Mrs. Hou, and you have a confidant. Even if you can't handle it yourself, Madam Du and others can help you. I think you got Gao Cheng's key and went to his room, but I don't know why. You don't have to go at night. The mansion is under martial law at night. Even if you are Mrs. Hou, it's not good if you make a lot of noise. You may go in the morning. People in the mansion get up early, and it's just dawn. Sometimes, lights need to be turned on in the room to see things.”

Lu Li was thinking while talking, "Pang Zi fouled you and killed your husband, you are too calm. It's not the kind of not afraid of ghosts knocking on the door if you haven't done anything wrong. It's like everything is under your control. This will happen, so don't be afraid, don't worry, don't even get nervous, you have already prepared in advance."

He looked at Yan An again, "There is also the confession made by the master just now. It seems that there are enough motives and everything is reasonable, but knowing that Gao Cheng has plans, shouldn't the master tell his wife? Even if he can't see his wife to avoid suspicion, at least Tell Cui Zhi too, let's discuss and find a way? Cui Zhi lost his father, so the master taught Cui Zhi to understand people's hearts and world affairs, instead of protecting him closely, cultivating an innocent temperament, and waiting to go out in the future and throw him hard. somersault."

When Shen Wansha heard this, he tapped his fan on his palm, yes, what Xiao Lizi said was right!Could it be that the real culprit is not the banquet master?

Lu Li paused, and then said: "Master also said that he threatened Gao Cheng with Pang's life, so Gao Cheng didn't call for help, but according to the statements collected by the servants these days, Gao Cheng is not a motivated person, and his usual performance is quite The meaning of dawdling. If Gao Cheng really likes Pangzi to the extent that he can give up his life for her, then according to his ability, he can do many things for Pangzi. But Pangzi is still living a self-righteous life now, I can't even see through the situation in front of me... I think it is more likely that Gao Cheng will take advantage of the opportunity."

……

The more Lu Li talked, the clearer the organization, and Zhao Zhu would interject from time to time to sort everything out. The story of Yan An's surrender to murder became more and more untenable, and Zhang's suspicion became more and more serious.

Shen Wansha's eyes straightened.He just listened to Yan An's self-reporting of the killing process and felt that everything was right, and firmly believed that Yan An was the murderer, but his little partner immediately turned around, and the suspect became someone else!

The young master stared blankly at the fan in his hand. Could it be that his ears are so soft that he sounds like everything?

Yan An's nose was sweating, and he seemed a little anxious, "It was really me who killed it, maybe the details are a little blurry after a long time, let me think about it again—"

"You make it up again!"

Mrs. Zhang snorted coldly, her beautiful eyes sparkled, and she spoke the next words very quickly.

"I killed Gao Cheng because he not only committed adultery with the Pang family and plotted to become the Marquis of Wu'an, but he also wanted to persuade Yan An to become theirs. Gao Cheng has other masters on his head, I don't know this Who is the master, but this person is very powerful."

"I did kill Gao Cheng with the ice blade. After killing Gao Cheng, I left the ice blade on Gao Cheng's body. I wiped the blood evenly on my body. I didn't take off my outer shirt, but put on another one that was exactly the same as that day. When I returned Afterwards, the bloody clothes were not burned, and Mother Du washed them for me herself. Mother Du followed me all day, but when I killed Gao Cheng, I asked her to go shopping in the shop. She didn't know, but she was very nervous when she saw the bloody clothes, so she The past two days have been a little restless."

"Pang's son, Fen'er, was not born to Marquis Cui Luo, but his father was Gao Cheng. The two had hooked up a long time ago, thinking that the matter was kept secret, and no one else knew about it. I secretly took the blood of Marquis and Fen'er Recognizing relatives, the two don't get along. Cui Luo treats me badly, and I don't care about these dirty things. Gao Cheng is cold-hearted, and may not have sincerity towards Pang, but he still treats this son who is connected by blood. If you have a loving father's heart, then I threatened Fen'er's life, so naturally he dare not call out."

"But he still didn't tell me who the accomplice is."

"I killed Gao Cheng on a bustling street, and I did it for his master to see. I want people to know that although I am a widow holding a job, I am not easy to bully!"

"I've been paying attention to Gao Cheng for a long time, but I can't find any evidence that he has contacted outsiders, but there is someone in the Marquis' mansion who is with him. There is a token between them. I have seen traces of the token, but I can't find anyone. This person is too smart and patient. Originally, I had a lot of time to spend with them slowly, but Gao Chengxin was too big, and he focused on Yan An and Shizi. I couldn't sleep well, and I didn't want to eat. Gao Cheng, make his room extremely messy again, find a red wine vessel with special patterns and familiar marks, and take it away."

"This is to tell Gao Cheng's accomplice that the token is in my hands. This accomplice does not know who I am. He will definitely panic, get confused, make mistakes, and show his feet by making mistakes."

"Sure enough, when I put it in a corner with a pattern imprint, Mei Xiang came..."

Zhang's back is straight, her eyebrows are beautiful, her expression is firm, and there is a strong tenacity in her eyes, "I personally took the lives of others, and my hands are covered with blood. My relatives and friends will be afraid of me and worry about me. The world has been different since then, but I, have no regrets!"

"No one can hurt my people!"

Mrs. Zhang is too courageous, and her eyes are full of vigor. At this moment, her momentum is as majestic as the sea, overwhelming everything.

Shen Wansha's shocked mouth opened into a circle, Lu Li was stunned for a moment, and looked at Yan An—Yan An was sitting elegantly and gracefully, but his eyes were still downcast, looking at his hands.Even if the hands were tightly clasped, and the fingertips turned white, there was really nothing to see, and his eyes did not leave.

Mrs. Zhang didn't even look at Yan An, she just pursed her lips slightly and her eyes were firm as she talked.

Since she entered the room, the two of them haven't met their eyes once, but the atmosphere flowing between them...is so in tune.

The atmosphere seemed to be as natural as tempered, not deliberate, contrived, or intentional to avoid suspicion. Lu Li believed that if the two met by chance in a nearby place, the way they got along would probably be the same.

Lu Li recalled the way Yan An looked at Mrs. Zhang through the window before...

Could it be that they have feelings for each other, but they all keep their sense of proportion, and no one will take a step forward?

"I know that it seems a little insufficient to just say these things. I will fill in the details later. I will tell you a story first. After I finish, you will probably understand."

Mrs. Zhang let out a long sigh, her voice filled with the vicissitudes of time and helplessness, "It must start from 20 years ago..."

Sensing that Mrs. Zhang was in a bad mood, Lu Li personally poured her a cup of tea, "Aunt Zhang is not in a hurry, just speak slowly."