Chapter 356 Plum Blossom Cake (3)

"Everyone who has some experience in planting flowers and plants knows that the hydrangea will change color when it blooms in different fields," Qian Chengli said, "If the red hydrangea that has already bloomed is buried with some iron tools around the field, the flowers will change. It will turn blue after a while.”

"In my hydrangea garden, only a small area has blue hydrangeas in bloom, and the rest are all red hydrangeas." Qian Chengli said, "I didn't think much about it at the time. I just thought that maybe it was a problem with the field itself. That day, the adults asked After I finished talking and left, I tossed and turned for a few days, but finally couldn't hold it back and asked someone to dig up the hydrangea garden, and the result..."

…

A large pit was dug out of the originally tidy flower bed. Although the things in the pit were covered with mud, the stains of blood covered under the mud could not be covered up by any amount of mud. At a glance, one could see the murder. The traces left behind.

This is what Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu saw when they followed Qian Chengli to the Qian family's flower field with their servants.

It seems that when he dug up and saw such an instrument, Qian Chengli ordered his people to stop. He did not dare to touch the instrument that was most likely a murder weapon, and went directly to Dali Temple to "exterminate relatives for justice."

Looking at the somewhat familiar tools, Liu Yuan said "Huh" and suddenly said: "Isn't this Liu Sanqing's stone cutting tool?"

Bai Zhu nodded, recalled the first time he met Liu Sanqing, nodded and said: "That's right!"

"Liu Sanqing has been betting on stones for so many years. No matter how carefully the stone cutting equipment is maintained, it cannot be new. If it happened to be broken at that time, it would be a coincidence to replace the equipment. That day I will go to Liu Sanqing with Lin Shaoqing. When I was asking questions there, I saw that the stone-cutting tools were too new, but it turned out that the old ones were here." At this point, Bai Zhu squatted down, looked at the stone-cutting tools in the flower field, nodded, and said, " Although it is old, the blade used for cutting stones is sharp. I hope it will be polished frequently in the future. Looking at the blood on this tool, it is indeed not a problem to use this tool to dispose of Feng Tong's body."

"Where is Qian Chengyi?" After saying this, Bai Zhu turned to look at the pale Qian Chengli, "He was not at home when I came to visit that day, and now he has left home and not come back?"

Anyone could hear the sarcasm in his words. Qian Chengli's originally pale face turned even paler. He hurriedly folded his hands and saluted, and said, "I dare not hide it from you, sir. Chengyi has never come back."

"After the master left that day, I always felt that something was not right, so I went to look for him. After asking around for a while, I found out that he was hired as a guard by Zhang Wulin, who opened the Four Treasures Shop of the Study, to help deliver goods. Oh. , by the way, that Zhang Wulin..."

Bai Zhu raised his hand and made a gesture to interrupt Qian Chengli's words, and said calmly: "We already know about this."

It was not that easy for Qian Chengli to find out who he was. In the past few days, they had been sending people to watch every move of the Qian family. Qian Chengli did not lie.

"Zhang Wulin and Qian Chengyi have been delivering goods for so many days and you haven't come back yet?" Bai Zhu said, looking at Liu Yuan who was squatting on the ground and staring at the stone cutting tools in the flower pit. There seemed to be a lot less conversation today. , Liu Yuanlai usually asks questions like this, and I don’t know what he is thinking today.

Just when he was about to call out "Liu Yuan" to remind him, he saw Liu Yuan squatting on the ground sighing, looking away from the stone cutting tools in the flower garden, and stood up and said: "I haven't been back for so many days... I'm taking someone with me. Go to the roommate of Zhang’s shop and ask about the situation!”

After the investigation found the key points, the person disappeared. Based on their experience, most of them were either killed or ran away. The former is either a scapegoat or an accomplice and an insider, while the latter is the real murderer. Neither of these two possibilities is a good thing.

After Liu Yuan finished speaking, he nodded to Bai Zhu and left with the people.

After Liu Yuan and others left, Bai Zhufu turned to look at Qian Chengli in front of him: Compared with Qian Chengyi's poor reputation, his brother Qian Chengli's reputation was excellent.

No matter the servants and maids of the Qian family, the neighbors or the regular customers who bought flowers, they all said that Qian Chengli was a good person and could not fault him. He has no airs about his servants in daily life. If he meets a beggar on the road, he will help him whenever he has some money. He is a kind-hearted person.

Throughout the year, Qian Chengli spent most of the year working on his flower and tree business.

Bai Zhu looked at the Qian family's mansion not far ahead: because he was in the flower and tree business, he naturally couldn't do without a lot of fields. The fields were all outside the city. In order to take care of the flower fields nearby, the Qian family's house was placed outside the city. .

Once you get out of Qian's house, you'll find a large village. The simplicity of the village is in sharp contrast to the grandeur of Qian's house.

This house outside the city has been owned by the ancestors of the Qian family, but no financial problems have been found.

Bai Zhu looked around and walked out of the flower field. After walking out of the flower field, he saw more than a dozen pots of peony seedlings on the side of the road. When he saw the flower farmer carefully loading the peony seedlings onto the flower cart, Bai Zhu was a little touched: People at that time were fond of peonies, and a valuable pot of peonies cost a lot. Fei, placed in the house, is also quite calm. There were several pots of expensive pots in his home. Whenever distinguished guests came to talk, they would be moved to the hall to save face.

This flower and tree business involves running around in the fields and dealing with the soil every day. It is dirty, but if you do it well, you can indeed earn money. After all, the rich and powerful cannot do without this thing.

After glancing at the peony seedlings and then at Qian Chengli behind him, Bai Zhu left behind two servants following Qian Chengli.

After all, Qian Chengyi was involved in Feng Tong's dismemberment case. As his elder brother, Qian Chengli could not be removed so easily. Before the case is concluded, it is naturally impossible to call Qian Chengli "missing for no reason" again.

With such treatment, tea merchant Su Fuhai and Wenwan merchant Lu Yuanlin were left with the servants. Although there is no direct evidence at the moment, the source of the large sum of money is unknown, which really gives Dali Temple an excuse to keep the servants to monitor their whereabouts. .

Not long after returning to the Yamen of Dali Temple, Liu Yuan, who had visited Zhangjiawu's house, also came back with his servants.

As soon as he saw Bai Zhu, he said: "I haven't come back yet, but I found out from the Zhang family's clerks and servants the dates when Qian Chengyi and Zhang Wulin went out to deliver goods and the goods."

"Early in the morning on the day Liu Sanqing was found dead, Zhang Wulin and Qian Chengyi went out to deliver goods to customers. The accountant in the shop checked the accounts and found that there was no shortage of the Four Treasures of the Chinese Room," Liu Yuan said, "Young Master There’s only one thing.”

Seeing Liu Yuan's solemn expression, Bai Zhu was startled, and before Liu Yuan could speak, he asked, "Could it be that inkstone?"

Liu Yuan nodded, looked at Bai Zhu, paused, and then said: "Zhang Wulin's wife and daughter didn't notice anything until I came to the door. After all, the delivery was ten days and a half months away. It has happened before. Listen to what I said. After that, I counted the family's savings and found that a full two thousand taels of silver notes were missing. Only his wife and Zhang Wulin knew where the banknotes were."

Hearing this, Bai Zhu said "Oh" and said, "So, under the guise of delivering goods, Zhang Wulin and Qian Chengyi disappeared with the two thousand taels of silver notes and the inkstone?"

Liu Yuan said "hmm", thought for a while, and then said: "The two thousand taels of silver notes... I think it is most likely that the two of them ran away on their own initiative."

"It's not surprising that Qian Chengyi ran away. The Feng Tong dismemberment case has caused such a big fuss. Sooner or later, I will find him." Bai Zhu thought for a while and said, "Wulin ran with him, but it made him jump." If you come in, it's like you're asking for trouble."

In this way, the case can continue to be pushed forward.

"In this case, if Qian Chengyi used the knife that killed Feng Tong, then Zhang Wulin and Liu Sanqing are most likely to have known about it and were even the masterminds." Bai Zhu said, "In this case, Feng Tong's death was most likely due to a collision The secrets related to these two people must be related to the hanged manager Mao. The source of the money from manager Mao is unknown. The same is true for Su Fuhai and Lu Yuanlin. If we follow this line... …”

"Bai Zhu." Bai Zhu, who was talking about the case with a frown, was unexpectedly interrupted by a voice.

Bai Zhu raised his head and glanced at Liu Yuan who made a sound.

Liu Yuan looked at him and said, "Do you feel something is wrong?" He paused and then said, "When I looked at the stone cutting tools in the garden today, I was thinking about this case, as if there was an invisible hand. Just lead me to investigate further."

"Qian Chengyi brought out Zhang and Liu, and Zhang and Liu brought out Manager Mao, and who should Manager Mao bring out? Ordinarily, we were investigating the case step by step, but Su and Lu This person who was originally supposed to be brought out by Manager Mao was pushed in front of the two of me in advance." Liu Yuan said, "It seems that they were afraid that if I waited a step too late, those two people would be silenced, so they were put in front of me in advance. It’s like two people pushing it out.”

The weird feeling since taking over this case has finally found its source!

Bai Zhu suddenly shuddered when he heard this, and a chill ran down his spine: "No wonder I always feel that this case is so messy. This case..."

It was not that they had never encountered troublesome cases before, and there seemed to be few such cases, but it was the first time they had encountered such a mess.

"This case... really needs to be reorganized." Liu Yuan said, "And Lin Shaoqing, since taking over this case, I always feel that he is a little different from before. The situation of taking on several cases at the same time has changed. It’s not that it’s never happened before, how can people like Lin Shaoqing be the ones who have too many cases, but in this case, Lin Shaoqing is really a little abnormal.”

It was so abnormal that I took leave of absence one after another. Even after Liu Sanqing died, Lin Shaoqing did not come to the Yamen. He only rushed from the Hou Mansion to the scene of Liu Sanqing's death to have a look, and then went home again.

At this point, Bai Zhu already understood what Liu Yuan meant: "So... shall we go see Lin Shaoqing?" After a pause, he pointed to the clues he had sorted out half of the case and said, "Take this with you. !”