King of Song

Chapter 16
The hall of the Meng Mansion was the auditorium for the birthday banquet yesterday, but it has become a mourning hall in one day, which is really embarrassing.The coffin was placed in the middle, and the incense, candles and various offerings had been placed.

Mrs. Meng sat upright at the back, her expression was numb, her old heart suffered all the blows and torments.She was wondering what the hell she had done in her life?Young widowed and dragging his son, the son who didn't want to be a high school scholar died young, leaving two grandchildren to depend on each other.I thought that I should enjoy the blessings when I grow old, but I didn't expect my grandson to be murdered.

The heavy blow has already broken the old man's heart, and it is riddled with holes. In particular, what she can't figure out is that her granddaughter killed her grandson.To be honest, she didn't really believe it, but the conclusive testimony of grandson's daughter-in-law made people have to believe it.Now he is really a widowed old man. Fortunately, there is still an unborn great-grandson in the womb of the grandson-in-law. It would be nice if it was a boy!
Mrs. Li knelt in front of the coffin, weeping until she was in tears. Mrs. Meng's heart ached so much that she hurriedly asked someone to dissuade her.The grandson's daughter-in-law's stomach is too precious, and there must be no mistakes due to excessive grief.

When relatives and friends got the news, not a few people came to pay their respects to the spirit, and all of them sighed.This time, the Meng family can be regarded as extremely happy and sad, and they are so disappointed!The matter has come to this point, it doesn't matter anymore, the grandson is gone, what's the use of caring about it?
Mrs. Meng's teary eyes saw a group of people approaching. It seemed that there were the magistrate of Shao County and the prince who came to pay his respects yesterday. Why did Lin Zhao, the grandson's book boy, follow him?There are still many government servants, what are they going to do?
The deceased is the most important, and several people first offered incense and worship before the spirit, and then came to pay respects to the family members of the deceased!
Mrs. Meng said: "How many are here to pay homage to my poor grandson?"

"Yes, brother Meng's untimely death is really sad!" Wang Yu said in a deep voice, "You can't come back to life after death, so I ask the old lady to express my condolences!"

"Well, thank you, Mr. Wang!" Mrs. Meng was very strong, she wiped away her tears and thanked her!
Shao Wenquan stepped forward and said: "Madam, the next one is to pay tribute to Mr. Meng, and the second is to investigate the case!"

"Investigate the case? Is there a result?" Mrs. Meng asked tremblingly, her palms and backs were covered with flesh. She had always had a hard time accepting the fact that her granddaughter killed her brother!

"Brother Lin, tell me!" Shao Wenquan knew that there were troubles ahead, so he quickly threw the hot potato out.

Lin Zhao had no choice but to come forward and say respectfully: "Madam, the young master died for no reason. Last night, he entrusted me with a dream, saying that he had hidden evidence, and asked me to help him avenge his grievances. That's why I reported it to Mr. Shao, and begged the old lady for her consent. The coffin will be re-examined and the evidence will be obtained!"

Mrs. Meng wondered: "Have you already experienced the work of the county government?"

Lin Zhao replied: "The previous inspection was too rough, and many clues were overlooked. In order to be cautious, to find clues and evidence to avenge the son, we need to re-inspect!"

Mrs. Meng's face showed confusion, obviously she was not very willing!
Although Mrs. Li didn't know what Lin Zhao's purpose was, she instinctively objected: "It's too much, the dead are the worst, and you are deceiving people too much!" Then she said to the old lady: "Grandmother, my husband has been buried in a tragic accident, how can I disturb the peace?" ? How can you just watch them turn over your husband's body?"

"Old lady, this is also to avenge the young master, I hope you understand and agree!" Lin Zhao explained softly.

"What kind of vengeance? What kind of benefits did some people promise you? This is so rude!" Li Shi asked in a deep voice.

Lin Zhao didn't answer, but said bluntly: "Old lady, the palms and backs of your hands are full of flesh. You don't want your granddaughter because of the so-called 'great-grandson'? You are not afraid of harming your granddaughter by mistake, trusting the villain by mistake, and ruining your big family. Hand over the karma to others?"

"What do you mean?" Mrs. Meng's face gradually became serious.

Lin Zhaodao: "It's true that you feel sorry for your great-grandson, but what should you do if someone is not a descendant of the Meng family?"

"What?" Mrs. Meng was shocked suddenly, and Li's face turned pale instantly!

"Bold and lunatic, talking nonsense..." Chen Xuan came to investigate after receiving a summons from Li Shi, but found that the atmosphere was not right. Unfortunately, he couldn't easily leave after arriving.Especially when he just entered the mourning hall, when he heard Lin Zhao's earth-shattering words, he couldn't help being shocked and shouted to stop.

"Chen Xuan, it's just in time! What does this matter have to do with you? Why are you so nervous?" Lin Zhao asked a few words back, then ignored him, and said instead: "Madam, I know this is cruel to you , but the boy still has to be blunt. Someone killed your grandson and granddaughter with cruel means, and then pretended to be the orphan of the Meng family with wild species to seize the property of the Meng family, will you agree?"

"What did you say?" Mrs. Meng was trembling all over, and Mrs. Li gave Lin Zhao a hard look, and said, "Grandmother, don't listen to his nonsense, don't get angry!"

Mrs. Meng was much stronger than she imagined. She waved her hand and pushed Mrs. Li away, looked at Lin Zhao, and shouted sharply, "Speak clearly!"

Lin Zhaodao: "After the Shangyuan Festival, my son had a few friends from Xuanzhou, and my son accompanied them on a trip to Jiangning, and they never went home for many days. Later, because of studying hard and writing articles, I stayed at the state school. The old lady didn't come back until yesterday's birthday, and the whole family knew about these things. So when did the young lady become pregnant?"

"Young madam is more than one month pregnant. Some time ago, the son went back to the house to stay overnight. It seems to be the first day of February!" Xiaotao hurriedly replied, with a faint smile on her lips, the timing was just right.

Lin Zhao asked in a deep voice, "Young Madam, are you sure you were pregnant that night?"

"You... how can you be so rude?"

"Answer me!" Lin Zhao shouted.

Mrs. Li was startled, and couldn't help trembling with fear, stammering: "On that day, my husband stayed at home and left incense for the Meng family!"

"You are lying!" Lin Zhao said coldly: "You have admitted it yourself. In the past two months, the only time I have stayed in the mansion is on the first day of February. It is a pity that you study hard, and I got a good article that day. I read it at night and stayed in bed. None of them!"

"Stop talking nonsense, what evidence do you have?"

Lin Zhao held up a book and said, "Do you want a certificate? Good! Young Master has the habit of taking notes when reading. This book was found in the study room. It has the notes that Young Master made that night when he read, and the time is marked on it. Two The first day of the first month! On the morning of the second day, I went to the study, and the young master was still taking a nap in the study!"

"Uh..." Mrs. Li was startled suddenly. Seeing Chen Xuan's face in a panic, she forced herself to calm down and said, "Is the matter of our husband and wife's boudoir known to outsiders? Could it be that you fabricated some of the so-called evidence? "

"Hey, okay! Let's count it for now!" Lin Zhao said with a faint smile, "I thought of another thing. The young lady accidentally took the decoction, and I don't know the reason and effect!"

Li's heart skipped a beat, and he replied lightly: "Naturally, they are some nourishing herbs, why do you ask this?"

Lin Zhao said with a smile: "On the morning of the second day of February, I went to the study to meet the young master. When I left, my clothes were torn by the flower branches in the courtyard. I accidentally saw a pile of medicine residue dumped under the flower tree. Out of curiosity, I collected Get up and dry, mainly these medicines: Phellodendron, Comfrey, Silkworm Cloth, Peilan, Huanhuacao, Borneol... I don’t know medical skills, so I asked a doctor for consultation, and told me it was a contraceptive pill, I don’t know what it is Who took this medicine? Young Madam?"

"Nonsense, young lady is pregnant, how could she take this medicine..." Xiaotao panicked and rushed to refute.

Lin Zhao smiled and said, "Yes, how could the young lady take contraceptive pills? Who in the whole family doesn't know that the old lady is waiting to give birth to her great-grandson!"

Mrs. Li was smarter, and said coldly: "I don't know where you got a pair of medicine residues and slandered me. What is your intention?"

Lin Zhaodao: "Young madam, may I ask where is the medicine pot you used to boil the medicine?"

"Pharmaceutical pot? How could I know such a trivial matter!" Mrs. Li ignored it.

"Xiao Tao, then you must know..."

"me……"

"I just asked Yu Guanshi, who is in charge of utensils in the house, that the medicine jar used by the young lady is made of celadon. A month ago, a piece was knocked off and replaced with a new one... Coincidentally, I happened to be among the pile of medicine dregs I found this in the middle of my life!" He held up a piece of celadon porcelain, presented it in front of everyone, and said, "You can ask Guanshi Yu to identify it, and see if it is the fragment of the Young Madam's? Such things cannot be forged!"

"This..." Li was flustered and didn't know how to explain, and Xiao Tao was even more panicked. He was the one who handled the medicine residue. He thought it was very hidden, but he didn't want Lin Zhao to find out.

On the other side, Chen Xuan realized that it was a big mistake to come here today, so he forced himself to calm down and said, "What can a piece of porcelain prove? Maybe it was you who replaced the dregs of my sister-in-law's tonic..."

"Well said! There is indeed a possibility. So I request an autopsy for evidence!" Lin Chen said, "If I am wrong, I am willing to bear the crime of slander and let it be dealt with!"

After finishing speaking, he quietly looked at Mrs. Meng. These two pieces of evidence were not absolute proof, nor were they rigorous enough.But it is inevitable that doubts have been planted in everyone's hearts, and that is enough.Mrs. Meng is no exception. Inheriting the incense of the Meng family is a major event, not to mention the lives of her grandchildren and granddaughter are at stake. She has to be cautious!

Mrs. Meng was silent for a long time, then said in a deep voice, "Open the coffin!"

"Grandmother..." Li Shi was about to dissuade her, but was stopped by Chen Xuan's eyes. If she tried to stop her now, it would be an attempt to cover up the situation, and it would be even more suspicious.In his opinion, it doesn't matter even if the coffin is opened for an autopsy, since Wu Zuo didn't find anything, so what can Lin Zhao do?Without hard evidence, what do you do if you refuse to admit it?

After Mrs. Meng agreed, the officials of the county government stepped forward to open the coffin lid.Lin Zhao stepped forward, seeing Meng Ruogu's pale face, his expression was slightly sad, but now is not the time to be sad.Immediately, he called Wu Zuo, and followed him to do the autopsy.

The first thing to check is the inclination of the wound, which penetrates from the upper right.Then he checked other injuries on his body, and found two bruises on both arms, and a small bruise on the outside of the ulna on the right arm, which seemed to be caused by a collision.There is a ring-shaped bruise on the wrist of the left arm, and its shape is somewhat similar to palming and pinching.

Wu Zuo couldn't help but feel ashamed when he saw this, he had indeed overlooked many clues, this brother Lin really has a lot of tricks!

Later, he found that Meng Ruogu's right index finger was stretched out, while the other fingers were clenched into a fist. Lin Zhao couldn't help showing doubts.The servant who participated in the collection said: "Young master's fingers are tightly clenched. We tried it, but it couldn't be opened, so we had to do this!"

After Lin Zhao observed carefully, he found some abnormalities.The movement of the index finger seems to point out or ask for help, why should the fist be clenched?Some are not in line with common sense!Unless Meng Ruogu did it on purpose, could there be some hidden clues?Lin Zhao's eyes lit up, and he tried to open his fingers, but failed.Turning to ask Wu Zuo, the result is that it can only be opened by breaking off fingers.

Mrs. Li immediately stopped with tears in her eyes: "Absolutely not... Husband suffered a terrible misfortune. You open the coffin for an autopsy and disturb the peace! Do you still want to damage your husband's body? You are too deceitful!"

The dead are the most important, such things must not be done, but there is no way, Lin Zhao said in a deep voice, "Go get some ice cubes and hot water!" Big families have ice cellars for summer cooling , it is convenient.

Li asked, "What exactly are you going to do? After all the tossing, if there is no result, I will not agree!"

"Who says there is no result?" Taking advantage of the gap, Lin Zhao said, "Just now I checked the young master's wounds and the wounds on the body with my wife, and I can already prove one point!" Looking around the crowd, he said word by word: "At least you can Prove that the murderer is definitely not the eldest lady!"

As soon as this remark came out, everyone's eyes widened and their attention increased!

Shao Wenquan asked: "Brother Lin, what is the evidence?"

Lin Zhao explained: "Young Master's fatal wound is on the neck. According to the condition of the wound, it can be judged that the spike of the candlestick penetrated from the upper right."

"Not bad!" Wu Zuo echoed!
"If that's the case... think about it, the young lady is several inches taller than the young master. If you want to stab her, you should stab her upwards, and the wound should be from the bottom up..." Lin Zhao said while gesticulating.

Chen Xuan snorted coldly: "Can't she hold up the candlestick and stab it from top to bottom? Wouldn't it be enough to add the length of the arm!"

Lin Zhaodao: "That's a good point! If that's the case, the chances of being stabbed are much smaller, or even missed at all. During the process of holding the candlestick high, the young master will be aware of it, and then he will block or dodge!"

"What if Brother Ruogu didn't block and evade, or attacked from behind?" Chen Xuan mentioned another possibility.

Lin Zhao shook his head and said, "No, it's not a sneak attack, the young master blocked it too! On the outer side of the ulna of the young master's right arm, there is a bruise, which was caused by the collision... To be precise, it should be left when the attacker blocked the attack... ...And there was a ring-shaped bruise on the left arm, which was caused by heavy hands. The situation at that time should be that the young master failed to block, and the other hand was held vigorously, unable to resist the stabbing... "While speaking, while making movements to cover up, everyone saw it vividly...

"Wu Zuo, what do you think about this?" Shao Wenquan asked.

Wu Zuo nodded and said, "That's right, that's right! There are bruises on Mr. Meng's wall, which proves that he had resisted before his death." At this moment, he already admired Lin Zhao, not to mention the facts, so he naturally agreed.

Just at this time, ice cubes and hot water arrived, and Lin Zhao said, "Wu Zuo, I would like to trouble you, first use ice cubes to cool the young master's right hand, and then soak it in hot water..." Everyone didn't understand why, and their attention was also very high. He was quickly attracted by Lin Zhao.

I just heard him continue to say: "Judging from the shape and degree of the bruise, the person holding the young master's arm is stronger than the young master. The young master is a thin and weak scholar. Although his strength is not strong, he is still weaker than Miss Meng, who is a girl. Let's be strong, women! From this we can see that the murderer cannot be Ms. Meng!"

Lin Zhao explained it very clearly, everyone thought about it carefully, it was indeed so!Mrs. Meng asked tremblingly, "Was Ruoying wronged?"

"Not bad!"

Shao Wenquan was very excited and asked, "Who is the murderer?"

Lin Zhaodao: "Judging from the direction of the wound, this person should be taller, at least on par with the young master. His strength is also strong enough. Based on a comprehensive inference, he should be a man of slightly taller stature! Do you agree with this?"

Shao Wenquan nodded thoughtfully and said, "That's right, it should be a man!"

Wang Yu was also full of joy, and said with a smile: "Brother Lin's analysis is reasonable!"

"I'm sure everyone remembers the situation at that time. The princess was killed within a short time after leaving the banquet and returned to the room. When Miss Meng entered the door, the young master died, and then someone rushed to the scene. The murderer had no time to leave after committing the crime, so he stayed behind. Think about it. Who were the first to arrive at the scene? Who is the murderer is ready to be revealed!"

(End of this chapter)