Chapter 51

Mingshu came to Qu's house and sat down against the east wall in her mother's room. At this time, she was not yet in Youzheng, and her father was in the yamen.Mrs. Qu also didn't sleep well last night because of the lawsuit. Even though she was wearing a red trousers to block evil spirits, she still couldn't make a good face. Broken heart.

Mrs. Qu asked Shen Momo to press her temples, and said wearily: "Your father is still in the court, the more turmoil is on the cusp, the more you can't leave early, otherwise you will mess yourself up, let's talk about it first."

Mingshu said: "I haven't seen my husband all day, I only know that he went to the Duke of Jin's mansion to talk after he got off the hall of the Ministry of punishment, and now he was invited away by the minister of the Ministry of punishment."

Mrs. Qu nodded and said: "It's not difficult to guess what Jin Guogong said, it's just that he knew that his son-in-law didn't say anything about the Ding family, so he took the opportunity to win him over. It's just casting a wide net, and it may not be very concerned about everyone. But the trouble lies with Zhang Shixun, what does he mean? Think the son-in-law has given false testimony?"

Mingshu said: "Mother has said everything I want to say. It has been more than an hour since Shen Shimo went to the Criminal Department, and I don't know what happened. The case itself and the two dead sufferers are not important anymore. It has completely become a reason for the Qingliu in the court and the powerful officials to fight each other. It has nothing to do with us. It was nothing more than seeing the female corpse and being involved. According to me, I saw it. Why did no one ask me to go to the Ministry of Punishment? talk?"

Mrs. Qu threw an orange into Ming Shu's arms, and said, "Eat something, and cover your open mouth. You don't want to summon a woman for interrogation."

Ming Shu caught the orange and peeled it open with her slender fingers. A fresh smell permeated the room. The flesh was sour and sweet, and there was no sign of freezing. It was indeed unheard of in Song Dynasty, and she had never seen it before. She said: "It's freezing in the sky, where is it?" Such fresh oranges?"

Mrs. Qu said: "Your father entrusted someone to buy it. When he went to the Duke of Jin's mansion last night, he couldn't bring out some eye-catching things? You mentioned it before, but I was reluctant to give you the scroll of Yan Liben of the former Tang Dynasty. Send it away, and stayed in our house for more than ten years, your father wanted to write a few lines of inscriptions many times, but in the end he was not willing to do so, and it made the Ding family cheaper."

Ming Shu was not surprised to hear that her father had gone to find Ding Wei. She had expected that her father would not ignore Yan Ziqin, but when she heard her mother tell the story, she still had mixed feelings in her heart.

Just as they were talking about Quyuan affairs, people arrived. The maid guarding the door drew up the cotton curtain to keep out the wind and snow, and Quyuan affairs came in in an orderly manner. The official uniform with red and large sleeves of a first-rank official was exposed inside, and the mink hoodie that was sewn by the daughter herself was wrapped outside the right-angled fringe.

As soon as he entered the door, a gust of unhealthy wind blew down the curtains, and when the maid picked them up again, Yan Ziqin, who was following behind, came in. The mother-in-law, who straightened her body, saluted and sat on the high chair beside his wife.

Mingshu looked at her husband and saw that he looked calm and wanted to speak, but she had to wait for her father to ask first, and saw that Quyuan was not in a hurry, picked up the teacup, and said, "Ziqin, tell me what you just said. Say it again."

Yan Ziqin responded, and explained today's conversation with Minister of the Ministry of Justice under the expectant but anxious eyes of his mother-in-law. In the final analysis, it was just a sentence, "Zhang Shangshu asked me to enter the Jingzhao Mansion to thoroughly investigate the singing girl Ruan Qing. Qing's case."

After speaking, there was silence in the room, except for the sound of Quyuan Shi putting down the teacup, no one answered.

After a long time, Mrs. Qu said: "You are not from Jingzhao Mansion, how can you be transferred to investigate the case? Who allows him to transfer people across the yamen?"

Qu Yuanshi said slowly: "The officials have already agreed, there is nothing to question. Tomorrow, according to Zhang Shixun's wishes, I will go to Jingzhao Mansion and do whatever I want. Whoever asks you about the case, you are not allowed to reveal a word."

Yan Ziqin nodded, and said: "My father-in-law understands what my son-in-law means. Only by leaking water can we gain a foothold. If we don't know my trump cards, the Ding family and Qingliu will be afraid. If they have a slight tendency, they will become a living target."

Qu Yuan said: "You are a sensible person, I don't need to say anything, go back and rest early."

Mingshu and Yan Ziqin bid farewell hand in hand, got into the carriage, Mingshu who had been listening just now finally spoke, said: "I see, father is going to the Queen Mother's place in eight to nine out of ten." No one knows, Qu Zhang is the Queen Mother confidant, "He said 'survive this battle', just waiting for the Queen Mother to intervene."

Yan Ziqin said: "Before everything is clear, we can only be careful at every step." He sighed again, and said with a smile: "Today I realize the difficulty of being a human being, and being alone is also a luxury. That's all, the muddy water has come to the door, why not let it go Go back and see how deep it gets."

On the second day, Yan Ziqin didn't need to go to court, but took a rare late sleep. After getting up, he read, washed, and had a meal. After the meal, he ate two rice cakes wrapped in sucrose, which seemed very comfortable. Xu An, the family member, could only break out in a cold sweat, thinking, is this master confused or something, it doesn't look like trouble, but he started to enjoy it, could it be that he felt that he was at the end of the mountain and simply let himself go?

Seeing his idle appearance, Mingshu suddenly thought of the days in Linchuan. Looking back, she realized that life at that time was not bad. She missed the capital very much, presumably because she was under the cover of her parents and didn't know the ups and downs of the officialdom and the dangers of human relationships. Now that I am in charge of my own affairs, I realize the precious years of living in the mountains.

After everything was ready, Mingshu was going to set off with Yan Ziqin. She wanted to change into men's clothes, but was stopped by Yan Ziqin.

"Whoever is in our family is under their control, there is no need to hide it."

Mingshu thinks about it, it's the same reasoning, don't lie to her ears, she can't even fool Luo Qiyu by disguised as a man, let alone the sharp eyes in the officialdom?He just wore a dark blue thick beige and a plain white skirt. Different from the usual soft and gorgeous dresses, today's plain clothes showed a rare and capable temperament.

Du He also went with them. Ever since he knew that the Ding family no longer pursued him, he seemed to have come back to life. That night, he wandered around the street and greeted everyone. Naturally, he would not miss going with Yan Ziqin today. The opportunity of the yamen, riding a horse and a carriage outside.He was probably the one in the best mood of all, and the joy of seeing the sun again made him feel like he didn't know where he was.

When I came to the Yamen of Jingzhao Mansion and entered the gate, there was a dead silence in the courtyard, and the unmelted snow was blown up by the north wind, just like the snow-white magnolias in Zhegang, Linchuan.The yamen servants all know that an "uninvited guest" came today. Ruan Qingqing's case involves too many aspects, and this situation is the most difficult to handle. Live on food and don't want to be implicated.

Witnesses, testimonies, no matter what, nothing is as honest as the corpse of the deceased. This is the truth that Mingshu often tells him. Since a simple suicide case is so complicated, I don’t know which side is true and which side is false. , it is better to start with a corpse that will never lie.

The remains of Ruan Qingqing and Yin Jun were both stored in Lianfang. After two months of erosion, they had become highly bone-shattered. They were separated from the female corpse hanging on the beam of the Empress Temple for three months. At that time, she was still a A complete person, but now there is only a dry bone left.

Mingshu put on her gloves and put on a veil to block out the smell, while observing around the wooden bed where the bones were placed.

"Very young, both of them are very young, and the epiphysis has not completely closed." The so-called epiphysis is the enlarged and smooth articular surface at both ends of the backbone. The epiphysis of children is loose, leaving room for height growth. With age, the epiphysis gradually Closed, fully closed in adulthood.

Ming Shu stretched out her hand to check the condition of the pubic symphysis carefully, so as to judge the age more carefully, "The facial ridge of the pubic symphysis is sharp in women, and the age is between 20 and [-], and ossified structures appear on the surface of the pubic symphysis in men. Festival, should be around [-] years old."

This age check is to prevent the yamen from using other people's corpses to conceal the truth.

Yan Ziqin said: "I heard that Yin Jun had a broken right leg when he was young, can you see the signs?"

Mingshu nodded and said: "Look, there is a layer of callus on the right shin bone, and the bone is thicker than the same position on the left leg. This is caused by the poor healing of the broken bone. I heard that Yin Jun The family is poor, but it is very suitable for his family's situation, it should be his own bones."

While she was talking, she searched through the dead body that had been filled out by Wu Zuo. The column of the cause of death stated that she had taken poison, but in fact, the neck of the skeleton was indeed scorched black due to the corrosion of the poison. He and his arms all had varying degrees of mild injuries, which should have been caused within a few days before his death. It can be seen that the rumors are true, and he did try to commit suicide many times.

"Are you really begging to die tirelessly, all because of Ruan Qingqing?" Mingshu shook her head, came to the side of the dead woman, and examined the corpses one by one. It was a routine thing, but she suddenly froze. After a long time, Looking up at Yan Ziqin, he sighed and said, "You asked a good question that night. She is indeed pregnant, and it has been four months."

She paused, then continued: "In addition to the neck bone injury caused by the hanging, there are also signs of being beaten on the body, and the fetus...should have passed away before his mother..."

Just as he was talking, a voice came from the courtroom, but it was Du He's voice, which was far away and could not be heard clearly. Yan Ziqin and Ming Shu hurried over to check, only to see Du He pulling a timid elderly couple , shouted: "It's you, there were five other families claiming the corpses in the Niangniang Temple that day, and only one family said that the deceased was not their own daughter, but you!"

The old couple quickly shook their heads and said in unison that Du He was wrong, but Du He said: "You said that it wasn't your daughter who died that day, but today it happened again. Could it be that you were going to confirm whether she was dead or not? Said, Did you know that Ruan Qingqing would hang herself?"

Yan Ziqin, Ming Shu, Du He, and the surrounding yamen servants all looked at the old couple with a dozen pairs of eyes. Their faces turned from red to white, and from white to blue, showing their feet.

(End of this chapter)

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