Pingyang Fu of the Red Chamber

Chapter 337 Another person dies one after another

Outside, heavy rain poured down, and big raindrops fell, making the roof rattle.

in the wing,
Under the dim light, the candlelight flickered.

The faces of everyone in the photo were all ugly, and they did not dare to step forward. All this seemed strange. People were resting on the bed, and they were burned by the fire. They were all turned into carbon. They were burned so thoroughly that it was impossible to say that they were burned. Yes, it was raining heavily outside, and it was obvious that the house was dry. Wherever there was a fire, it was extinguished outside.

Holding back his nausea, Ma Baotou put his hand into the quilt, and felt that it was extremely warm inside between his fingers. So why is it that the quilt is still so hot after a person died not long ago.

But while they were deep in thought, the master's words woke everyone up. Jiang Yan reacted quickly, took the oil-paper umbrella and headed out with his guards.

"Wait, Master, I will follow you. The three of you stay here and watch the scene. Don't touch the body."

Ma Baotou left three people here to watch. He walked to the door, put on his raincoat and followed Jiang Yan outside in the rain. The three people in the room looked at each other, swallowed their saliva, and glanced at the black man on the bed. The charcoal-like dead people were also frightened to stay away from the bed.

Looking at the gloomy furnishings of the surrounding houses, one of the detectives trembled and said,

"Ahem, what do you two think? I have handled many cases with Capt. Ma, and this is the first time I have seen it. The policeman can't tell how the person died. It's so abnormal."

"Hey, it's more than that. These two people who died in the academy, damn, it's so weird. I remember that the academy used to be a cemetery."

"No way, Fourth Brother, it's true or not, the one on the bed was burned to charcoal. You said there is no fire that can burn someone like that. The key point is that it's raining heavily outside, and the big fire is also extinguished."

The more the three of them thought about it, the more frightened they became. They huddled together and looked around for fear of something jumping out.

Especially when I stared at the stairwell to the second-floor attic, it was dark, as if there were evil spirits lurking inside, staring at the people in the house.

outside,

Ma Baotou and Master Jiang Yan left the wing and walked quickly towards the Xuanhuang area. When they came to a large room, they opened the door and walked in, lighting the oil lamp.

With the help of the weak light, many people on Datongpu were awakened. Under the illumination of the oil lamp, the disciples of the academy saw that the master was coming. The students all rubbed their eyes and looked towards the door.

Song Ziwen was worried. He still hadn't slept well. He was woken up by the sound of the door being kicked. He got up and put on some clothes. When he saw the teacher, he immediately bowed to him;
"Greetings, Master. It's so late, Master. What can I do for you?"

The rest of the people also reacted and followed to pay their respects.
Jiang Yan glanced at the room suspiciously. Everything was as usual. Ma Baotou used the candlelight to quickly scan the ground, especially the place where the shoes were placed. There were no flaws and no traces of water outside. He also looked at the pavement on the road. The messy clothes were extremely dry, not damp from the rain, and there were no raincoats around. There were only a few oil umbrellas leaning against the corner, which were also unused. Then he asked;

"Master, where are the other two people?"

Jiang Yan carried the lantern and continued walking inside. At the innermost part of Datongpu, he saw the two people who were there during the day, still sleeping soundly. He pointed at them and said,

"Here we are, the two of us are fine."

Ma Captou was worried and walked over to take a look. Sure enough, he was still sleeping. He then checked the windows and corners, but found nothing.

"Okay, Master, you can go."

When Jiang Yan saw Ma Baotou shaking his head and saying that he could go, he knew in his heart that these three people were not murderers, so he said to the people in the house;

"Okay, it's okay. Just lock the door. If you need anything, go to the front yard and tell me. Go to sleep."

After Jiang Yan finished speaking, he blew out the oil lamp, closed the door and walked out.

After returning to the previous wing, Ma Captou asked several people to use beds, wrap the body, and carry it all the way to the woodshed in the front yard.

Arriving at the woodshed,

Seeing this behavior, the mountain chief asked in confusion;

"Why did you bring the bed here? Who can sleep on it? Are you kidding?"

After Jiang Yan and Ma Baotou came in, they actually found another bed board and laid it flat on the other end. Then, the four of them laid the bed on it and wrapped a bunch of things. The mountain leader suddenly opened his eyes wide, as if he understood. What,
"Why, something happened to Yu Ren too, isn't he fine this afternoon?"

"Back to the teacher, when the disciple and Ma Baotou went to Yu Ren's room, Yu Ren was already dead. The other three people were fine. The disciple also went to see it. It was not they who did it."

Jiang Yan said a few words, and the mountain leader's face became extremely sad. There had been no murder cases in the academy for more than ten years, but now something big happened.

"Horse catches the head, do you have any clues?"

"Back to the mountain chief, not yet. It can only be said that Yu Ren died not long ago. I will go and check again."

Ma Captou hesitated. The deceased was obviously burned to death. He died not long ago. What was strange was where he was burned. Wu Zuo walked over and opened the bed, only to see a scorched black mass with residual warmth still there. He inserted a silver needle into it. After a few moments, Wu Zuo shook his head.
"Looking back, the deceased was burned to death by fire, and his death time was less than an hour. Unbelievable, it was still raining outside."

The people around him felt chills all over their bodies, and they all understood what Wu Zuo meant. There was something going on here.

The head catcher could only say;

"Captain, you'd better take a rest first and leave someone to watch. It's almost dawn. I'll go back and report to the prefect."

"Okay, Jiang Yan, you make the arrangements, I'm going back first."

Lian Yuming left after saying what he was worried about, and the others also dispersed.

The next morning,
In Yangzhou City,

After a night of searching, all the Wang family's property was plundered and piled in the yard. Imperial City Secretary Li Qianhu stayed up all night, looking at the boxes all over the yard with shock in his eyes, not to mention the soldiers, whose eyes were red. .

After Ningbian arranged the guards, he said to Qianhu Li Yun not far in front of him,

"Li Qianhu, let your people take turns to rest now. No one is allowed to enter this courtyard. Anyone who disobeys the order will be punished by military law."

"Yes, General Ning, but the money is out in the open. There is so much money, and I am afraid of being outside because of my humble position."

Li Yun had never seen so much cash before, and he was even more worried all night. Now they have all been collected and piled up into a small mountain. He is afraid that the wealth will attract people's hearts.

"Li Qianhu, don't worry. We are all our people inside and outside. Let's go back to the Yamen and report to the Marquis and the Grand Eunuch." Ning Bian did not hesitate when he arrived. He was surrounded by brothers from the old camp guarding him. Everything must be safe, so he should go back. It would be best to tell Mr. Hou first.

Li Yun nodded vigorously after hearing this.

"Yes, General Ting Ning."

The two of them started to rush towards the Yamen. Behind them, the Wang family mansion was immediately closed and heavily guarded inside and outside.

Yanzheng Yamen, in the west wing,
Zhang Jinyu woke up, her tired look was gone. The sky was getting brighter outside, so she changed her clothes and got up.

After washing up, she ran to the adjacent wing to the west to see how Lin Daiyu was doing, so she knocked on the door;

"Yu'er, are you up yet?"

Lin Daiyu, who was having a meal in the house, heard the Marquis calling her "Yu'er," and was deeply affected for a moment, stunned.

Xue Yan reminded her quietly,

"Miss, my uncle is here,"

"Okay, I understand, go and open the door."

Lin Daiyu put down the spoon and whispered something. The maid Xue Yan no longer hesitated, walked to the door and opened the door.

Zhang Jinyu asked when she saw the door opened and the maid in front of her was also dressed in mourning clothes and looked a little sad;

"What about your lady?"

"Back to my aunt, the young lady is drinking porridge in the back room. She didn't sleep well last night and couldn't eat anything."

The little girl Xue Yan was a little sad. Zhang Jinyu couldn't bear it when he saw the little girl like that. He stepped into the door, opened the curtain and walked in. He only saw a lonely figure sitting at the table, drinking a cup. A bowl of thin porridge, how can that be done?

Seeing the Marquis coming, Lin Daiyu wanted to stand up and give him a gift, but when she thought about it, she was too weak to stand still and swayed. Zhang Jinyu was so frightened that she hurriedly stepped forward to support her and asked anxiously;

"Yu'er, sit down quickly. Listen to me and eat more. After all, there are a lot of things today. I have already sent people to the capital to report to the Jia family. I believe people will come soon. As for your Lin family Man, I will make arrangements according to what my father-in-law told me before he died. If you have any other arrangements, you can mention them to me."

Lin Daiyu clasped her hands together tightly, feeling a little sad, and said in a deep voice;

"Just let Mr. Lang arrange it. Yu'er has no objection, but she has no appetite and really can't eat it."

"No, you have to eat. Come on, half for each person."

Zhang Jinyu took the naan bread on the table, tore half of it into Lin Daiyu's hands, and forced her to eat it. She was not polite and ate it.

Helpless and seeing that she couldn't push it away, Lin Daiyu had no choice but to eat in small bites. Seeing that Lin Daiyu had eaten, Zhang Jinyu felt relieved and shouted to Xue Yan;

"Girl, give me a bowl of porridge, and bring some steamed eggs."

"Yes, Lord Hou."

Xue Yan saw the young lady eating, and left the room with a happy face.

Inside the room, Zhang Jinyu and Lin Daiyu sat at the table and ate in silence without anyone making a sound.

outside the house,
Mr. Zhao's father-in-law Zhao had his eyelids closed. Although he had just woken up, he was obviously in low spirits. He must have not slept well all night. He was still thinking about how to write a note to the emperor. He thought of it in the middle of the night and reported it truthfully.

He wrote a note overnight and asked people from the Imperial City Division to rush to the capital. He had already guessed that people from the Dongwang Palace were behind the conspiracy in the south of the Yangtze River. Zhao Si knew in his heart that he must be cautious when dealing with the four kings. So the Marquis was allowed to take action, but he had killed a lot of people in the past two days.

"Come here, is the Marquis awake?"

Xiao Guizi, who was waiting beside him, immediately ran in and said hello;
"Send greetings to my godfather. When I return to my godfather, the Marquis has already gotten up and gone to Miss Lin, no, to Mrs. Lin's house."

"Oh, I got it. Let's go. Let's go out and say hello to the Marquis."

"Yes, godfather."

Xiao Guizi immediately came over, took a cloak, put it on Eunuch Zhao, and then helped Eunuch Zhao out of the room.

As soon as he walked to the side room in the backyard, he saw a maid walking over carrying a food box with an anxious look on her face. Zhao Si thought she didn't have enough food when she saw it, so he asked;

"What are you doing in such a hurry?"

When Xue Yan saw it was Eunuch Zhao, she immediately bowed and bowed;
"Xue Yan met Eunuch Zhao. The servant served the marquis a bowl of porridge. When he passed by the back yard, he saw that a group of people seemed to be gathered around the yard. I'm afraid something happened in the main room."

"Something's happened. Whoever dares to make trouble, the Zajia will break his legs."

Zhao Si was upset when he heard about the troublemakers, and he shouted angrily, "Xue Yan didn't know very well, he was walking in a hurry,
"Go back to father-in-law, I don't know this."

"Okay, you and I go in. Xiao Guizi, go to the main room to see what's going on."

Zhao Si looked at the little girl's embarrassed look, and probably couldn't ask anything, so he asked his godson to come over and take a look, and then he opened the door and went in with the maid.

As soon as I entered the house,

Zhang Jinyu saw it and took care of Eunuch Zhao to sit down.
"Excuse me, Brother Zhao. I've had a hard time these days, thanks to your help."

"Oh, my Lord Marquis, you are out of business, it's just a matter within the family."

As he spoke, he walked over and pulled up a chair. Before he could sit down, he heard a shout from outside;
"Godfather, something happened in the hall."

(End of this chapter)