The first work of the imperial prison

The table is the Eight Immortals table. There is a small damage on the lower edge of the corner of the table. It seems to be knocked accidentally. It is inconspicuous and not easy to be seen. What hangs on the gap is not the fabric, but a length of hemp rope.

It is not long, only two inches, and not thick. It is more like rope fibers than hemp rope, and its color is light yellow. It has nothing to do with the arrangement of the room or the ropes on the corpse.

This small piece of hemp rope appeared abruptly at the crime scene. If it was outside, it might not be surprising to pick it up alone. Hemp rope is everywhere, and it is not uncommon in life. But if you look carefully, you can see it. Recognize, this is no ordinary twine.

Its texture is not rough at all, and the rolling technique is excellent. If you smell it closely, you will find that it is stained with the smell of incense, not the powder and spices in the room, but another kind, similar to sandalwood.

This smell is very familiar, I just smelled it yesterday.

Qiu Yiqing immediately had an answer: "Incense from the mourning hall of King Lu's son?"

Ye Baiting: "That's right, this is the taste."

Yesterday, the royal palace hung white, and relatives and friends went over to show their filial piety. Different generations have different ways of expressing their filial piety. Most of them, it is impossible for others to prepare this at home if they have nothing to do, or if they are not in a hurry, the palace has to be prepared in advance. Yesterday, from the gate of the palace, you can see the shadow of the hemp rope from almost a distance away.

There is no such rule for the guests, as long as they dress carefully and speak carefully, and put incense on it, but the road chief of the Wangfu, as long as he has been there, he may accidentally get contaminated.

So needless to say, the murderer must have appeared in Prince Lu's Mansion yesterday!

Yesterday, there were quite a lot of guests in Prince Lu's mansion, but there were not many female guests. Because there was no suitable hostess in Prince Lu's mansion, and after the death of King Lu, the situation in Prince Lu's mansion went from bad to worse. It's a character, seeing that he died, the children all applauded, do you want to sing a big show for him?

It's lively, but in fact, there were only two theater troupes performing yesterday, and there was no one else...

Ye Baiting and Qiu Yiqing looked at each other.

"It seems that Shen Jiang doesn't need to check other lines to find the woman who took the first two orders for the deceased."

"This person is among the suspects we have seen."

Looking at the corpse again, Ye Baiting found something different again: "This time, the murderer was a little anxious. Not only did she not change her clothes, she came here directly to meet the appointment, and she also changed the way of killing."

Qiu Yiqing: "Why?"

"Here, here, here—" Ye Baiting pointed to the welt marks on the corpse, "These are postmortem wounds."

Qiu Yiqing immediately understood: "The corpse didn't die from suffocation?"

"There was white foam at the corner of the deceased's mouth and blood stains in the nose. Compared with the anoxic hematoma caused by the special bondage position, the cause of death this time is probably poisoning." Ye Baiting looked at the tea on the table, "The murderer probably arrived here , he poisoned the deceased first, and then quickly entered the game without too much foreshadowing, whipped, hung up, and cut off his organs..."

"According to the rule, before and after the murderer hangs the deceased, he must be whipped. Of course, this behavior may be 'flirting' in the eyes of the deceased. The murderer is a little impatient this time, so he speeds up some steps, or omits them directly. It's a bit faster, I probably didn't expect that after the deceased was hung up, he was already dead during the process of her whipping again."

The murderer changed his way of killing, from well-prepared, leisurely, with a little satisfaction of enjoying and punishing success, to hastily completing the process, why?

Ye Baiting was thoughtful: "Why did Zheng Hongchun have to die, and it had to be last night?"

What did he do to make the murderer suffer so much?

Chou Yiqing: "Let's unload the corpse, and we'll see the rest when we go back."

"Alright."

As soon as Ye Baiting answered, Shen Jiang came over from outside: "Master, Commander, I really found someone!"

Qiu Xunqing: "Who?"

"Li Yao, Lou Kai's wife!" Shen Jiang pointed outside, "It's across the street, and you can walk there with just a stick of incense!"

Ye Baiting and Qiu Yiqing looked at each other so delicately...Of course they had to ask questions immediately!

But the crime scene was a bit inappropriate, and the Jin Yiwei in Qingchao's house ordered: "You wait here to finish the investigation, be careful, and the dead body will be sent back to Wuzuo's room later!"

"Yes!"

The two followed Shen Jiang out of the yard, turned onto the street, turned in two directions, and saw Li Yao.

In the morning in the capital, it was already bustling. There were stalls selling breakfast on both sides of the street, selling steamed buns, fried dough sticks, pancakes and small wontons. Of course, there were also tofu nao. Li Yao carried a small basket on her arm and stood at the In front of the stall of tofu nao.

Not to mention the degree of her suspicion in this case, just say that her husband had just died. According to the rules, she had to go out less and stay at home to watch for her husband, but she didn't. She was not afraid of being criticized by others, and even bought tofu?

Ye Baiting took a closer look, Li Yao was in mourning, she must be wearing plain onyx, and there were white flowers in her hair, but this dress was very clean, the creases were very new, it was obviously newly put on, and there was no hemp rope around her waist , but the hemp rope she used for her husband's funeral is not so particular, the color is darker, the texture is much rougher, and the price is obviously not expensive.

As soon as Li Yao finished buying tofu, she was bumped into by Shen Jiang, who said she was not allowed to move. Now seeing the two people coming towards her, she saluted slowly: "My concubine is Mrs. Li, and I have met the Commander."

Ye Baiting observed her expression carefully, and for a while... didn't see anything wrong.

Qiu Yiqing looked at the basket in her hand: "Come out to buy tofu nao?"

Li Yao lowered her eyes, lifted the cloth on the small basket, and let the two of them take a look. It was tofu nao, nothing else: "You two are laughing, my husband didn't have many hobbies when he was alive, and the one he liked the most was this one. Tofu nao, other people’s family has always refused to eat it. Now that he has died unexpectedly and has not been buried yet, I think, at least for a few days, I can walk around and buy it, let him taste it, and it will be enough for the two of us of conjugal love."

It's even more strange to say this... How can you and Lou Kai have a husband and wife relationship?

Ye Baiting has met her several times, and she can tell that Li Yao does not have the symptoms of Stockholm. She should have great hatred for Lou Kai, but this hatred is restricted by the rules of the world and her heart. , so that she can't do more things, but the word affection, he doesn't think there is much.

He didn't ask directly, but only said, "Where were you last night?"

Li Yao smiled slightly: "My husband has just died, so the concubine is naturally guarding the spirit."

Ye Baiting glanced at her unruly hair, her bloodshot eyes: "Watching the spirit is hard, isn't it? How long did you sleep last night?"

Li Yao sighed: "I'm making a joke of you, my concubine has always been very timid, even if the wind blows at night, I would be afraid. Now that my husband is dead, it is even more difficult to sleep. The wind was a bit strong last night, and I hardly slept much."

Ye Baiting: "The deceased is gone, madam should take care of herself, don't suffer too much."

Li Yao lowered her head, her voice was gentle: "It will be fine after a long time, I still have a daughter to take care of, so I won't allow myself to be sad for too long."

Qiu Yiqing asked directly: "Zheng Hongchun is dead, do you know?"

Li Yao froze for a moment, obviously: "Who?"

Qiu Yiqing: "Zheng Hongchun."

Li Yao reacted and smiled meaningfully: "Oh, it's that disgusting man."

"You don't seem surprised."

"Surprised or not, it has nothing to do with me," Li Yao's lips curled up sarcastically, "Such a person should have died a long time ago."

"Why do you think so?"

"His wife is very similar to a concubine..."

Li Yao not only had a sarcastic smile on her lips, but even looked at Qiu Yiqing with irony: "Some injuries are not on the face or hands, and outsiders may not be able to see it, but those who have experienced it can know it at a glance. How can you pay attention to these noble men?"

Ye Baiting: "You know that Ma Xianglan, like you, is often beaten by her husband..."

Li Yao suddenly asked back: "When did Zheng Hongchun die? You came to look for a concubine... Could it be that he died not long ago?" Before the other party could answer, she laughed again, "Then you are looking for a concubine. If you have lost someone, why don't you go and look for Prince Lu's mansion."

Ye Baiting felt that there was something inside the words: "Why do you say that?"

Li Yao looked at the road ahead: "It's a bit far from my home, and the road is very long. If you two don't give up, let's listen to the stories I heard from myself."

Ye Baiting and Qiu Yiqing looked at each other, another story?

However, Li Yao has already taken the lead to go forward: "There is such a little girl, although she is a concubine, her life is very good, she was born without a concubine, but any family with some background will not treat someone harshly who can't even speak The little girl, about to reach the age, the dowry thing, can also bring the benefits of marriage to the family, right? The little girl is two or three years old, and she is very similar to the eldest daughter, and she has won the favor of her ancestors... Why do you say to your ancestors? Like her? Because her sister-in-law has a good face, she was engaged to Prince Lu's mansion when she was ten years old. That is a great blessing. The little girl looks like her. Wouldn't she also be destined to fly on a branch and become a phoenix in the future? Genealogy Once changed, the little girl will be recorded as a daughter under the name of her aunt."

Hearing this, Ye Baiting and Qiu Yiqing also guessed that this is Sheng Long's story.

"The aunt at home doesn't like her, but the aunt is very close to this younger sister. She always takes her by her side, loves her very much, and shares good things with her. She lives smoothly, and her life is better than other aunts. Females are even better."

"But people will grow up. She gradually discovered that something is wrong. There are too many scary things in the back house, too many unspeakable dirty thoughts. If the aunt does not get close to her, it is because she doesn't like it or because she doesn't like it Xinli, because my father would always beat my aunt, every half a month, there would be a strong smell of medicine in the yard of my aunt, and the elder sister who loved her was even more pitiful, obviously married to the palace, everyone said high marriage, everyone said Saying that she is very happy, everyone is envious of her and jealous of her. Every time she goes to live in the palace, she sees her sister's smiling face, but her life is actually not easy, and she is also enduring the beatings of the prince. The son not only beats his sister, but also beats his sister's children..."

"She is such a good sister, such a lovely niece, to have this kind of experience... No wonder my sister has to arrange the time when I go back to the palace for a short stay, and I can't be whim. Need to cultivate! The younger sister was very scared at first, and then she was angry. She really wanted to do something, and she was even ready to do something, but it was still her elder sister who stopped her. If we arrive, we will take our niece and stay far away."

"The younger sister was not convinced, and she grew up. She observed slowly and found that her elder sister just didn't tell her, because she liked her and loved her, and her elder sister didn't want her to have any troubles. My elder sister was in pain and wanted to resist. She also went home to confide in her, but Not only did the aunt not help, she was unwilling to speak for her sister in front of her father, and she also advised her to be patient, because the aunt herself came here like this, and she thought that all women came here like this, and she couldn't be beaten to death, so Renren passed, who else said The man in the family has no temper? He who has no temper is useless, and he who has a temper is called a man. Let the elder sister be more obedient, so as to maintain the relationship between the two governments. .”

"The more my sister knows, the more she can't accept it. She sympathizes with her pain and understands her thoughts for the sake of the child. Since there is no room for easing some things, it's better to solve the problem itself. She designed a situation— —A bureau that killed the brother-in-law of the beast.”

"She is very smart. She has been immersed in the back house for many years. She has seen the darkness of this world, such as the maidservants who disappeared in her father's room, and the corpses carried out from the corner door at the back of Prince Lu's mansion. She knows how to make good use of people. Motivating people... But she is still too immature, and when her game is about to succeed, the prince is suddenly called away, and she is also discovered, and she passed out after a dose of medicine."

"One big move, in exchange for two crises, the younger sister was taken away, and the situation in the palace was believed to be done by the elder sister. That time, the elder son was particularly aggressive. The blood on the older sister's body soaked through the skirt... Since then, my sister has been seriously ill, and I can’t take care of it, the doctor’s pulse said that there is no cure for medicine and stones, and it depends on how long I carry it.”

"My sister was very lucky. She was rescued when she was sent to the brothel, but she had no time to go back to the palace to clarify everything. My sister's damage had already been done...Isn't it ironic? Yes, it's still this person, if she doesn't act, my sister may have a hard time, at least she won't be critically ill all of a sudden. What's more ironic is that my sister is seriously ill, and my brother-in-law has his eyes on my sister."

"Where will my sister agree? She has seen the end of her life at a glance, and the Daluo God can't save her. But the sister who looks so much like her shouldn't suffer. The future of the sister is still long, and she should find an ordinary man to marry. Now, this man doesn't need to be high-ranking, powerful, or rich. As long as he is a kind and warm person, they will love each other, husband and wife love each other, and have a lot of children and grandchildren. The biggest worry is that the children are disobedient and always have to talk back from time to time. She will live a safe and smooth life, grow old with the person she loves, and never know the pain of being hurt..."

"My elder sister resisted fiercely, but her husband wouldn't listen to her, let alone her mother's family. She could only grit her teeth and bear her husband's beatings. She also wanted to endure a few more years until my younger sister was old enough to marry...but Still can't change this result. My natal family and my husband have already reached a consensus that my younger sister will not be allowed to marry at all. Even if she is over 20 years old and dragged into an old girl, she still has to guard this trap and maintain this in-law relationship! You, a doctor, felt the pulse, A person whose time limit for death cannot die in one year, two years, three years or four years? There will always be a time when you go, and the day you die will be arranged by your sister to marry your husband. That day!"

Li Yao's voice is erratic, like a rootless duckweed, where the wind blows, it can only fall there: "Look, the world is so unfair, a woman's life is cheap, no one is protecting her, jumping from a fire pit, Entering another pit of fire, suffering unspeakably, being protected by someone, the result is the same, but the suffering of one person has become the suffering of two people. It is obvious that the man who did the bad thing is the man, and the woman is dead, but they can still spend time and drink and do whatever they want .”

"No matter how smart my younger sister is, how determined she is, how much she has endured in this matter, and how many lessons she has learned, the damage to her elder sister is already doomed. She cannot be saved, and she is not even so sure about her own path Day by day, she is hardened by the world, and often sleepless nights because of her regrets, no one knows what she is thinking, what she is going to do, what she can do."

"I have seen her eyes, very cold, she is very contemptuous of my cowardly behavior, she scolded me in a corner away from people, do you really want to continue like this? Why don't you act? Why don't you cheer up? Say I still have Daughter, don't you think she is pitiful? Ask me if I have thought about it, if life continues like this, what will happen to my daughter?"

"Oh, why don't you eat minced meat. I've heard too many things like this... People always tell you all kinds of truths and instill all kinds of concepts in you, which seem to be right, but they never tell you How about you, what are you going to do?"

"She is so self-confident that she is smart, but she didn't realize that she is also very pitiful. Some people live a bad life and suffer a lot. They will be laughed at by many irrelevant people and become outside talking points. Sometimes, they will become Other people's burden. Her sister is her burden."

"My sister regards her younger sister as another self, and loves and takes good care of her. She hopes that her sister and this other self can live well. How can my sister not be grateful for such a pure love that even puts her life into it? Guilty? She can’t be her sister’s hero, she can’t save her sister, at least she can be her niece’s hero, she can take care of everything for her niece—including her troubles, her friends’ troubles.”

"She was trapped by herself."

These words are very directional, the troubles of Zhu Yue's friend...

Ye Baiting: "You mean... Zheng Baiwei?"

"You guess?" Li Yao didn't answer directly, with a slight smile on her lips, "People are really interesting. Some people suffer and want to die, but others don't let her die. Some people don't want to die, but they just die. , Some people fail to save those who are in suffering, so they want to be a hero, to be the savior of others... Ah, my home is here, and I am about to leave my company.”

Li Yao pushed open the door: "If the commander suspects the concubine's identity and has evidence, he can come to the door to arrest people at any time, left and right..." She smiled, "No matter where the concubine is, I can't escape."

The black door slowly closed in front of him, covering the woman's face.

Ye Baiting and Qiu Yiqing looked at each other: "There is no doubt that Li Yao is talking about Sheng Long."

"But why, Li Yao will know?"

Shen Jiang had investigated the life trajectory of the suspect before, and the two had no obvious relationship. It was only because of the relationship between Prince Lu and Lou Kai that they had met on various occasions. If there was no close friendship, why did they know so much about the past? clear?Some details were known only to the person involved, and Shen Jiang didn't find out.

But if you say it's all fabricated, it's all a lie... What's the purpose?Deliberately making up a story, just to reduce your suspicion and involve others?

Ye Baiting thought about it seriously: "Sheng Long is burdened with the regret and guilt of her sister's death, and it is possible for her personality to change, but because of the excessive burden and guilt, she is willing to help Zhu Yue with everything, including Get rid of her handkerchief, Zheng Baiwei's father?"

Qiu Yiqing: "Have you noticed that no matter Yan Rouman or Li Yao, the stories they tell are always missing something."

Ye Baiting nodded: "Well, Yan Rouman focused on the first half of Li Yao's life, not the aftermath. For example, Li Yao has a six-year-old daughter. Did she have any difficulties and changes before and after giving birth to a daughter... The change of a person never happens in an instant, did Li Yao's change of strength really start when her husband died?"

Qiu Yiqing: "Sheng Long's story only focuses on the relationship between her and her sister. I don't doubt the authenticity of this relationship. I have seen similar ones. They are very pure and do not contain any love that asks for anything in return. The Sheng family is still in the Lu Palace, and the living environment is complicated and depressing, and the men of both families have violent tendencies, can a girl living in this environment really grow up happily without being hurt at all?"

The reason Sheng Long was given special treatment by the Sheng family was because she looked like her elder sister, so in Prince Lu's mansion, would she receive other special treatment just because she looked like her elder sister?

Why is sister's love so important, it's almost Sheng Long's salvation and obsession for half his life?

Maybe Sheng Long doesn't really have much, she only has this.She only has this one, treats each other sincerely, loves her and loves her, and is reluctant to bear her sister who suffers a little bit.This is the most precious person in her life and the person she least wants to let go of.

Ye Baiting: "One more thing, both Li Yao and Sheng Long had accidents when they were growing up. Li Yao was killed by her stepmother and disappeared, and Sheng Long was taken advantage of because she couldn't find a job. The former entered a brothel, while the latter almost After entering the brothel, they were all rescued... Who is this person?"

According to the story told by Yan Rouman, the one who saved Li Yao was probably Rong Ningyu, but what about the one who saved Sheng Long?Will it be the same person?

If there really is such a justice envoy and such a hero in this case, then this hero must be Sheng Long?