Records of the Lost Cases of Helaitang in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 50: Outlining the Puzzle
At this time, the curtain was rolled up, and the little girl at the outer door announced: "Grandma is here."

Mrs. Feng walked in with a low eyebrow, bowed her head to Mrs. Zhu as a courtesy, lowered her head and blessed Wang Heng. Wang Heng quickly stood up and returned the courtesy.

Feng's sister-in-law is very good-looking, but her demeanor is much worse than Mrs. Zhu's.

Seeing Feng's hair with fluttering flowers on her temples, Wang Heng recognized that it was a piece of jewelry that had become fashionable recently. It was a palm-sized dotted emerald lotus, studded with pearls.

When we were still at home in Lanxi, the eldest sister was envious of the daughter of the county magistrate who was wearing a floating flower. The wife pawned two pieces of old jewelry in exchange for two small bead flowers. The eldest sister was so proud that she felt windy when walking with it.This made the aunts, concubines, and concubines in the family quarrel endlessly, and they could not have peace for several months.

Sister-in-law Feng wears such luxurious jewelry, but she never smiles and is taciturn.

Mrs. Zhu asked her to sit down and talk.

Seeing the situation, Wang Heng was about to leave, but Mrs. Zhu waved her hand and asked him to sit down and listen together.

Mrs. Feng was a little embarrassed and said: "Mom, the Bon Festival will be in a few days. The old system in the house requires some reward money to be given to the servants. In addition, the servants have been preparing for the father-in-law's birthday banquet in the past few months. It's a bit of hard work, so it's better to put the two together to get more rewards. In addition, two new places were added this year, and most of the servants were transferred from other places, so good work should be mentioned. The daughter-in-law planned Let’s make a bounty list, and let mother see if she can still do it.”

Mrs. Zhu said: "Just take care of it, don't reply to me for this kind of thing."

Feng said: "Mom, if you take a quick look, your daughter-in-law will feel at ease."

Mrs. Zhu was not very affectionate, so she turned over it a little, handed it to Wang Heng and said: "Qi Lang, take a look at it, learn to be in charge, and find time to go to the accounting office tomorrow to learn how to be polite."

Wang Heng didn't dare to really look at it. He flipped through a few pages and saw that the maids in each house were roughly rewarded with five taels of silver each. The stewards were each rewarded with five taels of silver, and so on. The lowest-ranking maids and servants were also rewarded with one or two taels of silver. There were also Several women were promoted to stewards, and several little girls were promoted to the third level, and they were handed back to Mrs. Zhu.

Mrs. Zhu said to Feng: "Just go ahead and do it."

From what Wang Heng sees, Mrs. Zhu treats Feng's sister-in-law quite well. Feng takes charge of the family as soon as she enters the house. Mrs. Zhu does not dispute her face easily. However, it is rare for mother-in-law and daughter-in-law to be affectionate after living together for several years, but it is also a fact that Wang Heng sometimes I feel that their relationship is more like the relationship between a superior and a subordinate in a government office.

After Feng left, Wang Heng chatted for a few words and then stood up to leave.

After autumn, it is still very hot at noon, but much cooler in the morning and evening.Along the way on the veranda, insects chirped. This little elf is always more sensitive than humans.

Back at He Laitang, Wang Cai was waiting for him with all the gossip he had heard.

After the murder of Hui Yun on his birthday, all the servants in the house kept silent for fear of getting angry.Within a month, all kinds of cunning and cunning began to stir up the undercurrent again.

"Today I went to receive the meal. I heard several ladies complaining. They said that Mrs. Liu, who was sweeping the courtyard outside, was promoted to steward, and the little maid Xiao Shao from Xiangtao Pavilion was promoted to the third class. It's so unfair. None of them can even read the number. Stupid woman, one is a stupid girl with a dull head, what kind of small achievements do they have, they speak well, and they vaguely accuse the grandma of being unfair."

Wang Hengxin said that Mrs. Zhu had just found out, but those aunts and ladies had already known about it?
"These ladies are suddenly so brave. Grandma has even told Madam about this matter. If Madam knows that they dare to arrange for Grandma, I'm afraid she will be punished."

Wang Cai said: "The world is bustling with people, all for fame and fortune. It's more than [-] yuan a month, but you can't take it from me." Wang Heng said: "The eldest grandma has been in charge of the family for several years, and she has some rules for doing things. If she praises her Whoever it is, there must be some reason.”

Having said that, an idea suddenly struck him, and a bold hypothesis emerged.

"Xiaocai, please help me find out what's going on in Mrs. Liu and Xiaoshao's family. Are they born at home or hired from outside? Who are their parents and brothers?"

Wang Cai replied: "Okay, I'll go find Uncle Gen and ask."

Wang Heng said: "Don't alarm Uncle Gen first. Go and sit at the concierge. Someone in Old Fulin or Old Guozhong must know about it."

Not long after, Wang Cai came back excitedly carrying a basket of red water chestnuts and said with a smile: "For those of you who respect Eunuch Fulin outside, please give us a try."

Wang Heng loved eating water chestnuts and said happily: "It's better to go early than to go late."

Wang Cai said: "I also found out about the affairs of those two families. In fact, I didn't ask anything. I just sat in the front door and listened for a while. But I don't think they all know it. The uncles and uncles at home are even more talkative than the aunt and uncle. The little girl Shao'er from Xiangtao Pavilion is a child of the Wang family. Both her parents work on the old farm in Liuhe. She has an older brother who lives in Nanyuan. He is the uncle's personal attendant and is highly valued by him."

"Xiao Du?" Wang Heng blurted out.

"Exactly."

"Po Liu from Waikuaoyuan is the wife's roommate. She has been out of fashion for a long time, and somehow she got into the eyes of grandma. Her husband is Lao Yang, who works in the kitchen. He taught me how to cook, and his skills are pretty good."

Wang Heng cried out "Ah" and felt relieved. The fragments in his mind instantly connected together to outline the puzzle.

He looked out to see if there were any servants working in the courtyard. He stood up and closed the door of Helai Hall. He solemnly said to Wang Cai: "I now have a preliminary guess about Huiyun's murder case. Huiyun's murder case." I am related to the eldest brother, Feng Shi, Xiaodan Hongyun, cook Lao Yang, and bookboy Xiao Du."

"It is said that Brother Chenyu and Master Huiyun are close friends in opera. However, they may be more than that. Master Huiyun's lover is most likely Brother Chenyu. Talents have always matched beauties. Master Chenyu is a well-known talent, and Hui Yun's talent and appearance are naturally beautiful, but her foundation is still lacking. Xiaodan Hongyun once said that Huiyun once considered herself as the eldest son of Master Chenyu. After Huiyun entered the house, she aroused the vigilance of Feng's grandmother. After bribed Hongyun, they successfully caused Huiyun to faint with a certain potion, and diagnosed Huiyun to be pregnant. At this time, Xiao Du, the eldest brother's personal attendant, told her intentionally or unintentionally, most likely unintentionally, because he was very casual later. The ground told us that the eldest brother was coming to Sanjia City to give Huiyun the household registration of Sun Huilan, the daughter of the Sun Ju human tribe. Sun Huilan had passed away long ago. It would be easy for Master Huiyun to impersonate her. Since Sun Juren was willing to give her the household registration, he would not expose it. She, they were counting on marrying the eldest brother and bringing the Sun family to a higher level. Huiyun had obtained a good citizenship, so she could naturally marry a noble son-in-law. When she was proud, she told the troupe that if she wanted to do it, she had to be the bride of the house. .”

"So Feng herself guessed a result. The eldest brother is likely to abandon her, marry her family friend Sun, and marry an actor named Sun Huilan, who is actually Huiyun. Now that her natal family has declined, the Feng family in Huating has only one cousin. My uncle is a minor official outside, so it is naturally difficult for him to compete with the Wang family, and she herself has been married for several years and has nothing to do, and the eldest son of the Wang family is a single descendant, so it seems inevitable that she will be abandoned."

"It was probably a few days after the beginning of summer. One evening, the eldest brother returned home from Nanyuan Villa. He sat in Mrs. Zhu's room for a while, then went to find Huiyun and stayed until very late. Feng felt that the eldest brother had already passed away. With Mrs. Zhu’s understanding, it seems that mother and son have reached an agreement.”

"Feng didn't want to sit back and wait for death, so she decided to eradicate Huiyun and secure her position as the grandma of Ge Laofu. She bribed Hongyun to assassinate Huiyun at Yuebo Bridge, but was rescued by Yueting and failed."

"So she decided to poison her, and this time she succeeded. After the murder occurred that day, you also went to the kitchen to investigate, and found that none of the chefs had any motive. The person in charge of Master Huiyun's meals on weekdays was Mrs. Liu's husband, Lao Yang. He is a servant of the Wang family, so his loyalty goes without saying. It may be difficult to convince him to commit adultery, but if the mistress instigates him, I think it is still possible."

"Papa, papa." Wang Cai clapped his hands: "Wonderful, wonderful, I didn't expect that the young master can also be a storyteller. The plot is perfect and the plot has ups and downs. Unfortunately, where is the supporting evidence?"

(End of this chapter)