Exclusive golden branch

Chapter 456 Witnesses
In the early morning of the next day, the needlework girl who was sold to Jiangnan Road was taken to Baoling County Yamen.

As the owner of the Baoling County Government Office, Wu Youcai, the county magistrate, was squatting on the ground outside the hall, gnawing sweet potatoes given to him by the people, and when his hands were filled with the aroma of sweet potatoes, he saw Lin Yan and Ji Chongyan approaching from a distance. .

Wu Youcai quickly wiped his mouth with his sleeve, got up and went to meet him.

……

"All the big maids who are close and favored have disappeared. The only thing I can find is a needlework maid who is not very favored on weekdays. The Dong family didn't kill her because they think that what she knows is irrelevant." Lin Yan said Glancing at Wu Youcai who was coming to meet him, he said, "However, it's because they think it's insignificant, not I think it's insignificant."

The daily work of a sewing maid in a young lady's yard should be to sew and mend the young lady's clothes. The daily mending of clothes must be measured and modified by the young lady's side, so the sewing maid has many opportunities to contact the young lady Dong's family. From this point of view , it is not appropriate to classify sewing maids as irrelevant.

"Those cousins ​​in my family often chat while stretching out their hands for people to measure their size. During the chat, they often slip up." Lin Yan couldn't help twitching the corners of his mouth when he thought of this.

This was not intentional, but the instinct of being an official in Dali Temple for a long time made him subconsciously look for loopholes in his cousin's words, and he also made amazing discoveries over time.

"I have two cousins ​​who like the son of the same family, but that son has a marriage contract with another cousin." Lin Yan pouted, "That person usually looks like a dog, and he has a good reputation. It's not a good thing to have met my two cousins ​​in private!"

"I have an aunt who secretly used money from her father-in-law to subsidize her mother's family. I found out at first, and knocked and reminded her. She didn't know if she didn't understand my knock or pretended to be stupid, and even worsened. So I secretly disclosed this matter to her sister-in-law, and in the end, she told her sister-in-law to expose the money, which was already squandered by her family, and the natal family sold the property to make up for the hole.”

Judge Yumian, the Shaoqing of Dali Temple, was also good at talking about family matters. Ji Chongyan glanced at Lin Yan who was talking about his discoveries, and said calmly: "You are more and more like Mr. Ji."

Dali Temple Minister Ji Feng is like this. He has no case at hand on weekdays, and likes to gossip when he is free. He has done a lot of things to help neighbors catch thieves by means of "Dali Temple Minister".

Lin Yan: "..."

Fortunately, Wu Youcai was already approaching at this moment, he hurriedly saluted the two of them, pointed to the yamen hall behind him, and said, "Your Majesty, my lord, you are inside!"

Lin Yan nodded and looked at Ji Chongyan who had stopped: "Chongyan?"

After Ji Chongyan lowered his eyes and pondered for a moment, he suddenly said: "That sewing girl should know a lot."

Lin Yan was surprised: "How do you know?"

But Ji Chongyan just shook his head, didn't answer him, just raised his chin, pointed to the lobby of Baoling Yamen a few steps away, and said, "Here we are. Go in and ask and you'll know."

What does a sewing girl look like?Meticulousness is key.After all, needlework should at least not be meticulous, not to mention that repairing stitches need to be meticulous, a small embroidery needle, if it is a careless maid, it is very likely to be left in the clothes and forgotten.If such "forgetting" causes the master to put on clothes and get pricked with needles, then no matter how good-tempered the master is, he is afraid that he will have a fit.

So the sewing maid must be a meticulous person.This needlework maid named Xiuzhu is no exception.

When he entered the door, Lin Yan looked up and down the needlework maid who stood up and saluted with neither humble nor overbearing attitude.His appearance is not outstanding, it can be said that he is the kind who can't be found in the crowd.His facial features are dull, but the clothes on his body are very clean even though he is dressed like an ordinary maid.

After looking at Xiuzhu for a while, Lin Yan withdrew his gaze, looked at Xiuzhu and said, "They must have told you the reason for inviting you when they came here!"

Xiuzhu nodded: "It's about Miss Shang."

This needlework maid named Xiuzhu was born inconspicuous, not easy to attract attention, and not annoying.The owner of the family changed, and the owner didn't bother to change her name. He still called her Xiuzhu, and then sent her to work in the sewing room.If Lin Yan and others hadn't come to find him this time, the host would have almost forgotten about this person.

After Xiuzhu saluted, she got up and said: "Miss Dong Liu is also very popular with the master and wife on weekdays. She is very beautiful. Since she was twelve or thirteen years old, unmarried sons from Kaifeng often came to propose marriage, but Both the master and the wife rejected the lady because she was too young."

The so-called "too young" refusal is of course just an excuse. After all, it's just that the master and wife of the Dong family didn't like these young masters.This idea can't be wrong, after all, Miss Dong Liu is beautiful, and it is not impossible for Mr. Dong and Mrs. Dong to marry this daughter high.

This is of course not nonsense.Lin Yan didn't look at Xiuzhu when he heard the words, but glanced at Ji Chongyan who was aside.

Before Chongyan met this servant girl, he was sure that this servant girl would tell them many things.Seeing this maid right now, it really seemed like nonsense when she opened her mouth, but it was enough for them to taste some other meanings from the nonsense.

Master Dong and Mrs. Dong seemed to be planning to let this daughter be their stepping stone to the next step. In this case, no matter whether it was genuine love from the bottom of their hearts or other considerations, the beautiful Sixth Miss Dong was extremely important to them.

It is obviously unreasonable for them to keep silent when such an important daughter is taken away.

Xiuzhu continued to talk "nonsense": "Master and Madam dote on Miss very much. Although Miss is not a good master, she is not a bad person. Except for occasionally losing her daughter's temper and punishing her sister who did something wrong by starving her." Besides, I won’t do anything harsh.”

The image of a spoiled girl with a bit of a temper, but not a big evil has already taken shape in her mind.

"Master and Madam have said more than once that they want to send the young lady to be a concubine to the rich and powerful. There have been a few times when the rich and powerful passed through Luoyang and let the young lady come out to see each other, but the young lady despises the rich and powerful who are too old or too ugly. Sometimes they are neither old nor ugly. Stupid, because I failed the first few times." Xiuzhu's "nonsense" continued.

Mr. Dong and his wife were planning to get ahead, but Ms. Dong, who was raised in a deep boudoir, didn't have such a big consideration. The rich and powerful were too far away from her. She cared more about whether the appearance and temperament of the rich and powerful were in line. She is picking on the rich and powerful with the eyes of picking a husband.

But Mr. Dong and Mrs. Dong obviously don't want her to pick a husband, so naturally they will not be less harsh on her.

It's just that Ms. Dong is not smart, and she can't understand the painstaking efforts of Master Dong and Mrs. Dong.

"Six months before the accident, the old lady celebrated her birthday, and the master invited a famous opera troupe in Kaifeng to come to my house to sing an opera," Xiuzhu said, "The one who played the role of martial artist was Mr. Liang, the mainstay of the troupe. Mr. Liang was very handsome. , people speak nicely, Miss Liang fell in love with Mr. Liang."

For Mr. Dong and Mrs. Dong who are single-minded about climbing the ladder, the stepping stone of their own beauty, oh no, it is unacceptable that their daughter fell in love with an actor, so they detained Miss Dong Liu at home and put her under house arrest. While looking for someone to go to the troupe to make trouble.

"There was only one quarrel, and the theater troupe immediately became 'obedient'. Mr. Liang left that day, and there was no news at once." After Xiuzhu's "nonsense", she quickly looked up at Lin Yan and Ji Chongyan.

Lin Yan pouted and said, "Go on."

Only then did Xiuzhu let out a "huh" and continued: "After the young lady found out, she made a fuss and went on a hunger strike for a few days. She felt so hungry that she hanged herself. Halfway through the hanging, she wanted to cut her wrists for fear of dying. Being afraid of pain and leaving scars became a hunger strike again..."

Who are Mr. Dong and Mrs. Dong?In their eyes, their own daughter seemed to be playing around with a child, so naturally they ignored her and let her make trouble, but people were not allowed to go out, and at the same time, they started to think about climbing power.

"I don't know who the dignitary is this time. I have only seen that person from a distance once in the outer court. He looks about 50 or [-] years old. He looks like an ordinary literati. His appearance is not ugly. The first day I met him The lady didn't give him a good face, but after closing the door, the dignitary talked to the lady for a while, but she didn't know what to say. Before leaving, the lady smiled and sent him out of the door. Afterwards, she told the master and wife about her agreed."

Lin Yan frowned when he heard this, and opened his mouth, but after thinking about it, he suppressed the urge to speak and let Xiuzhu continue.

"Master and Madam were overjoyed, and then started to prepare a 'dowry'. Within half a month, the young lady was carried to the dignitaries with the 'dowry'." Xiuzhu paused, looked up and said Lin Yan and Ji Chongyan said, "I'm usually not very conspicuous. The lady didn't want me, but only brought a few capable people close to her. But after leaving, the lady... disappeared."

"It was discovered that the lady was missing. It was the lady who came back three days after being carried away. The master and wife waited for a whole day but did not find anyone. After looking for someone to check, they found that the house of the rich and powerful was rented. These are all the masters in the yard. Mama said that the young lady probably married a fake rich man, the master and madam were cheated or something."

Although Master Dong and Mrs. Dong are just merchants, the place where the accident happened was at least in Kaifeng, and they are considered "local snakes". Master Dong and Mrs. Dong were furious when they heard the news. After being extremely angry, they began to investigate. This investigation...

"A few days later, the master led someone to break into the troupe where Mr. Liang was, but there was no trouble. After talking to the troupe master, the master left, and the troupe left the next day." Xiuzhu said here, After a pause, he continued, "Afterwards, the nurse in charge of the yard, as well as the one who helped the master and wife to check people before, were all sold out. Even though I was a sewing girl, I was going to be sold out. Originally, my teeth were He wanted to sell me to Liucheng in Zhuzhou, but later I gave him the savings hidden in the soles of my shoes, and he sold me to Jiangnan Road."

Stay in Zhuzhou?Lin Yan was taken aback for a moment, and said: "I remember that there was a epidemic in this place last year..."

"Yes, the source of the epidemic was not found. Later, we had to close the city and set fire to it and buried the people in the city." Ji Chongyan didn't speak until this time. He looked at the seemingly ordinary little maid in front of him and said, "You If they are sold to stay in the city, they will die, just like other servants of the Dong family who were sold."

A sentence exploded in Lin Yan's ears like a thunderbolt!No wonder Chongyan said that this little girl named Xiuzhu must know many things, all the servants of the Dong family were dead, and she was the only one alive.In this case, there are only two possibilities: Either this little maid also has a problem, or this little maid discovered something intelligently and saved her life in advance.

If there is something wrong with this little maid, then this little maid should have stayed in Dong's house to "watch" the Dong family not to talk nonsense, or disappeared like the troupe.

It seemed that she was still alive but was betrayed by Yuan Yuan, obviously because the little maid seized the opportunity to save her life.To do this, you must be aware of something first, so that you can deal with it early.So when they asked this time, this little maid would definitely tell them a lot of useful news.

Hearing what Ji Chongyan said, the pale Xiuzhu breathed a sigh of relief: she had guessed this when these two came to her door.Between concealing and telling the truth, she chose the latter without hesitation.

Although she is alive now, it is not difficult to find her whereabouts. If those people have the heart, they can get rid of a sewing girl without anyone noticing. Maid girl, how can I tell these people to let her go?

That being the case, it is natural to tell the whole story.As long as this Lin Shaoqing is a little bit worthy of his reputation as a "Jade Faced Judge" and catches those people, she will have the hope of surviving, so she naturally tries to tell them as much as she can about what she discovered.

"Master Dong's change of attitude began when he found the theater troupe. It can be seen that the so-called dignitaries are mostly related to this theater troupe. But such a local snake came to the door so aggressively, and did not smash the theater troupe and hurt the people inside. People, instead they just withdrew like this, and the ending only ended with 'the theater troupe went away', which is obviously not in line with Master Dong's usual strong approach, after all, Master Dong is not a gentle and kind person." Lin Yan said, "The first time Miss Dong Liu took a fancy to the theater troupe's pillars, and he could come and smash things, but now that the theater troupe has arrested someone, he just let it go so gently, and never pursued it afterwards, which is unreasonable."

There was no nonsense in Xiuzhu's words from the beginning to the end. Hearing Lin Yan's words, she was even more relieved: These two do have some skills, and it is very likely that they can catch those people and completely solve her worries.

So after thinking about it, Xiuzhu said again: "I remember the appearance of that dignitary, Mr. Liang and the appearance of the troupe master."

This is nothing short of a big surprise.

But the surprise didn't stop there, Xiuzhu thought for a while, and said: "Before that Ren Yazi sold me, he seemed to know that something in Liucheng would kill me early in the morning."

This happened last year. Now, everyone knows that the Liucheng Society killed people because of the epidemic.

How did Ke Renyazi know in advance that there would be an epidemic in Liucheng?

(End of this chapter)