Returning from the abyss

Chapter 1282: Tracking the Suspect

The death of a branch leader is a big deal in a place like Fengzhen.

There were more than 20 yamen runners surrounding the room alone, and a seemingly experienced captain of the police was leading the constables and coroners to search for any remaining traces at the scene.

There were a lot of people gathered outside. Lu Ning saw some men in white shorts helping the yamen runners to stop the crowd. These people were probably from the Salt Gang. There was obvious anger and sadness on their faces, and people didn't dare to approach them casually.

Lu Ning did not squeeze into the crowd. She looked around. This place was only one street away from the inn. She looked according to her memory and found that the direction where she saw the black shadow last night was right here, only two houses away.

She took a breath and jumped onto a tree from an unnoticed corner, then followed the branches to the place where the man in black jumped last night. There were some slight cracks on the tiles on the roof, which were obviously stepped on by someone. Lu Ning followed the traces and found that he jumped from the tree where she was.

But this is not enough to prove that the man is the murderer.

Lu Ning jumped down from the tree and tried to find more evidence around her. She didn't really care who did it last night, but she didn't want it to become a problem for her in the future.

"footprint?"

She saw a very shallow footprint not far from the wall. There was a ditch next to it, which made the surrounding ground wet and a little muddy. Lu Ning squatted down to check it, but it was difficult to judge the footprint with common sense. After all, there is such a thing as lightness in this world, and the depth of the footprint cannot accurately reflect the weight.

However, judging from the complete shoe print, it can be judged that the person is about 1.8 meters tall, which is obviously tall. With this judgment as a basis, Lu Ning recalled the figure he saw last night and found that the two figures did not match - the figure was agile, but short, and definitely not 1.8 meters tall.

There are two people?

When Lu Ning was walking out from here, she happened to hear someone talking outside.

"I think the murderer must have found out the patrol personnel in the branch yard, so he dared to sneak in. If he really had such fierce means, why would he hide? He could just kill everyone here and get away."

"Mr. Han, it's better for us not to say such terrible things..."

"Uncle Tong, I am speaking the truth. If it weren't for the old friendship between our two families, I wouldn't come to help you find out who came here to kill someone and wanted to get away with it."

As they were talking, both of them turned around.

One of them was older, with many wrinkles on his face and a slightly overweight body. Although his clothes were relatively plain, they were clearly carefully tailored and sewn. The other was younger, with a black crown on his head to hold his hair, holding a folding fan that looked like it was made of pure metal, and wearing a valuable silk gown, but at this moment he was rolling up the hem of the gown and tucking it into his belt to prevent it from getting dirty by the mud in the alley.

"Hey, Uncle Tong, look, isn't there someone who got here before us?" the young man said carelessly.

The older man immediately set his eyes on Lu Ning.

"Outsider? You're not from this town."

"Yes, I came here yesterday and will be leaving tomorrow." Lu Ning replied.

"As for the murderer, this stranger is more likely to be the suspect. What are you doing here? Come..."

"Uncle Tong, Uncle Tong!" The young man quickly pulled him aside and said, "Don't be so suspicious and think everyone is guilty. Although it is common for criminals to return to the scene, we still need evidence to arrest them."

"Mr. Han..."

"Hey, let me do it here." Master Han tapped Uncle Tong's shoulder lightly with his fan, then took two steps forward, deliberately avoiding the muddy places, before clasping his fists and bowing to Lu Ning.

"My name is Han Younian." He looked much more serious. "I wonder if you have found anything here, young lady?"

Should I ask this question directly? Lu Ning pondered the situation and then nodded: "Follow me."

She took the two of them back to the tree and told them about the footprints she had seen and the marks on the roof tiles, and even what she had seen last night.

“Since you saw it…” Uncle Tong wanted to speak again, but was stopped by Han Younian.

Lu Ning saw Han Younian turning around there, then leaping onto the tree. After observing the situation on the roof according to the direction she described, he fell into the yard.

After a while, Han Younian climbed out from the top of the wall again, avoiding the muddy area when he came out.

"Uncle Tong, what this girl said is correct."

"Oh?"

"There were at least two people passing by here last night. One of them was eight feet tall, probably the murderer. This girl is obviously not tall enough."

Han Younian opened the folding fan in his hand with a swish sound and began to wave it. "The grass stems in the yard have traces of bending, and the traces are still fresh. I looked inside the house, and there was no one there. Judging from the dust on the tables and chairs, no one has lived there for at least three to five days."

"In other words, it was the person from last night?" Uncle Tong frowned.

"One jumped down from the roof, using the tree as leverage to land outside the courtyard. The other jumped directly from the roof and landed inside the house. The latter's Qinggong was obviously better, because the cracks on the tiles came from the former's stepping on them."

Han Younian said proudly: "Uncle Tong, the number of young and strong people in this city is not as large as before. How many people are eight feet tall? It won't be difficult to seal off the city and search for them."

"But if the thief is hiding, it's hard to say. Besides, this man killed the leader of the Salt Gang, so his martial arts skills are probably not low. Recently, it was heard that many of the leaders of the four major gangs were stabbed. I'm afraid it's..."

"Leave the task of finding the hidden person to me. But this girl also needs to prove her identity. After all, gang assassinations have been a hot topic in recent days, and I can't guarantee that there are no accomplices." Han Younian said.

"It's easy to prove your identity, but aren't you going to investigate the second person?" Lu Ning asked.

"Of course we have to investigate. After all, the man was chasing the murderer in the middle of the night, so his identity is probably unusual." Han Younian said.

"Catching the murderer is a priority." Uncle Tong said, "Someone come!"

Following an order, several yamen runners rushed in from the entrance of the alley. Uncle Tong casually pointed at a person and said, "You, follow this girl and get her proof of identity. The rest of you, block this alley and the houses on both sides." At this point, Lu Ning was basically certain that Uncle Tong should be the magistrate of this place.

She didn't mind, and returned to the inn with the yamen runner. Lu Qingxu certainly had a pass and identity certificate. Although he had lost his official position, he still had documents that could prove his identity.

After the yamen runner returned to report, Lu Ning told Lu Qingxu about his experiences and discoveries.

Lu Qingxu nodded after listening: "Then Tong Youcheng is a man who can get things done."

"Do you know him?" Lu Ning asked.

"Before I became a censor, I also had a year of experience in the Ministry of Personnel. There are many mediocre and incompetent officials in the world, and there are also many greedy and vicious ones. Tong Youcheng has mediocre talent, but his desire to get things done is pretty good. He also knows that he is not capable enough, and is willing to humble himself and ask for help from others, so there have never been any major mistakes under his command." Lu Qingxu commented.

"He looks quite old."

"Just to pass the exam, you're already over 30 years old. How many more years will it take to fill this official vacancy? Aning, for an official like Tong Youcheng, it's the end of the road for him to make further progress and enter the government." Lu Qingxu shook his head.

"Okay, let's not talk about that. What do you think about today's case? If the murderer is still in the city, he will definitely try to escape."

"How can we solve the case without seeing the scene? I only heard your description, so I can't make any rash judgments. We're leaving tomorrow, so how can we catch the murderer so quickly?"

However, not long after, the bailiff returned to the inn, and this time his attitude was much more respectful.

"Sir Lu, my master would like to invite you..."

Lu Qingxu looked at Lu Ning helplessly. This County Magistrate Tong did not hesitate at all when he asked for help. Judging from the time, it was probably that he asked the yamen runner to come back and find the person as soon as the runner told him who it was.

"I'm not an adult anymore. Lead the way."

After Lu Qingxu arrived at the yamen, not to mention that County Magistrate Tong was polite and apologized to Lu Ning, Lu Qingxu couldn't refuse when he asked for his help. After all, this matter might be related to whether he could set off normally tomorrow.

Tong Youcheng really sealed all the entrances and exits of Fengzhen according to Han Younian's instructions.

In this case, Lu Qingxu had no choice but to take Lu Ning to the scene to see what was going on.

"Godfather, he said that no matter what the result is, he will give me 100 taels of silver... How can a county magistrate like him be so rich?"

"Three years as a clean prefecture official can earn you 100,000 silver coins. This is not a lie. At least the Wei Dynasty has given a lot of official and private fields to the governors of various states, prefectures, and counties. Although the law prohibits officials and their relatives from doing business, it does not apply to the officials' friends. If they are willing to trade with the local wealthy, even if they do not do anything illegal, the income will be no less than their salary. If there are no such benefits, who would be willing to be an official?"

While Lu Qingxu was teaching Lu Ning, he was also keeping an eye on the surroundings. When he arrived at the gate of the murder house, the yamen runner who led the way immediately called the guard at the gate and brought the two inside.

"Captain Lu, this is Lu Qingxu, Lord Lu. Lord Lu is an expert at solving cases. I heard that Lord Lu is in Feng Town, so I asked him to come and help us solve the case." The bailiff said to the captain who was still at the scene.

Captain Lu just glanced at Lu Qingxu and muttered, "First it was Master Han, then Lord Lu. Are you leaving the case to outsiders?"

"This is the nature of County Magistrate Tong. Since Captain Lu knows about it, we won't say much." Lu Qingxu stepped forward and started chatting with Captain Lu directly. "We are only here at the invitation of County Magistrate Tong. As long as this thug is not eliminated, Fengzhen will be in turmoil. Captain, why don't you tell me the whole story of this case?"

Captain Lu still looked a little unhappy, but after thinking about it, he opened his mouth and began to tell Lu Qingxu what had happened.

Generally speaking, during the morning exercise, the sub-helmsman who always led the brothers in the helm to practice did not show up, so someone came to check. When they arrived, they found that the sub-helmsman's door was not locked, and a bloody smell was wafting out of the house. The person had been dead for a long time. This matter caused a commotion, and attracted people returning to Fengzhen from the dock to watch. It was not until Captain Lu brought people over that the scene was protected. Fortunately, although the people of the Salt Gang did not understand this, they knew that they could not let anyone in at will.

However, the situation inside the room became a lot more chaotic because several people from the Salt Gang came in to check it out.

"A Ning, follow me and take note." Lu Qingxu took Lu Ning to the branch leader's house.

The body of the branch leader was not on the bed, but on the ground. He was stabbed three times in the back, once in the chest, and had a cut on the neck. His death was horrible. The coroner's examination was completed. The fatal wound was the stab wound in the chest, and the cut on the neck was left after death, probably to confirm the death of the murderer.

After reading the coroner's report, Lu Qingxu took Lu Ning to examine the body.

Lu Ning also knew that the abilities of coroners in this era varied greatly. After all, this job was not well-received by ordinary people, and there were even fewer who were willing to strive for excellence in their work. She followed Lu Qingxu to carefully observe the condition of the corpse, and mentally supplemented the parts that were not in the report.

The weapons used to inflict the four cuts on the back and chest were actually different from the weapons used to inflict the cuts on the neck. The cuts on the four cuts were smooth and the wounds were larger, while the cut on the neck had irregular edges that rolled up and had a thinner blade, more like it was cut by something like a saw blade.

Then the question is obvious, since he already had a knife in his hand and stabbed the man to the ground, why didn't he use the knife to finish him off, but instead used another weapon to cut his throat?

The height of the murderer was determined by a small hole on the paper window and some dust marks on the window edge. The small hole should have been made by the murderer when he was spying on the situation in the house, and the dust marks were sprayed on later. Finger marks were clearly seen in the dust marks. Combining these two positions, and by asking someone to do a comparison, the murderer's height was roughly determined.

"This is also a trick." Lu Qingxu looked at the method of showing the handprint and couldn't help but sigh, "Who in the Fengzhen Yamen has such ability?"

"It was Mr. Han's idea, and he was the one who did it," said Captain Lu.

"We'll meet if we're destined to." Lu Qingxu smiled and walked out of the house. "Captain Lu, do you have any other clues?"

"Nothing."

"Have the people in the Salt Gang been checked?" Lu Qingxu asked.

"This...Except for the leader, the rest of the Salt Gang members who live here were either patrolling or resting in the side rooms last night. The patrol officers can testify to each other, and coming here from the side rooms, let alone avoiding the patrol officers, it would be difficult not to alarm the rest of the gang members who sleep in the same room. After all, everyone in the branch is a martial artist, and their eyes and ears are much smarter than ordinary people."

"It's not today. I've observed that the people in the Salt Gang who patrol every day should be rotated, and it's not always these people. Is there someone who rested last night, or was involved in the affairs of the Salt Gang and was not here?" Lu Qingxu asked.

"Indeed." Captain Lu was also an experienced officer and immediately realized what Lu Qingxu meant.