Chapter 844 Ma
When Sun Shaozong arrived at Ningguo Mansion, he saw two huge thatched huts standing on the left and right sides of the road.
Pale lanterns swayed in the wind under the eaves, and countless charcoal basins were scattered throughout the shed, but there was not a single person in sight.
In addition, a few pieces of paper money floated in from somewhere and passed by Sun Shaozong's feet. In a trance, he felt as if he was in a ghost town.
"Master Sun?!"
However, an excited voice quickly broke the gloomy atmosphere.
Then, many living people rushed out from the mourning hall, led by the sisters of the You family.
Speaking of which...
Isn’t that Jia Xichun the daughter of Jia Jing?
Why isn’t her biological daughter guarding the coffin?
A trace of suspicion flashed through Sun Shaozong's mind, but he quickly put it aside - what did these bullshit things have to do with him?
After taking a few steps forward and seeing that he was still more than ten feet away, Sun Shaozong stopped and prepared to bow.
Unexpectedly, Youshi seemed to be overly excited and had no intention of stopping. She still rushed forward with a red face.
Seeing that if he continued like this, he would be exposed, Sun Shaozong immediately took the initiative to bow and said, "Sister Zhen, I heard that you have something to ask me?"
The name "Sister Zhen" immediately made Youshi realize that she almost lost her composure. She stopped in embarrassment and bowed in return.
In fact, it was no wonder that she lost her composure. It was already difficult for her to support Jia Jing's funeral alone. On top of that, things kept coming one after another, making Youshi even more at a loss.
Seeing Sun Shaozong now was like grabbing a life-saving straw for her, and naturally she didn't have time to think about anything else for the moment.
Even though he was sober at this time, the eagerness in his eyes was not diminished at all. While the others were behind him, he first sent a resentful glance, and then said softly: "I just sent someone to your house, and I didn't expect you to come."
Not to mention, here outside the mourning hall, she looked so seductive in mourning clothes, which was really stimulating.
No wonder the Japanese have developed a special mourning clothing series...
Bah! Bah! Bah!
I, Old Sun, am a man with a bottom line!
Just as she was trying to defend her bottom line, she saw Youshi slightly sideways, pointed backwards and said, "What exactly happened? Please tell me from the beginning, Taoist priests."
She didn't know how the mourning dress got put on; it looked very loose at first, but when she twisted her waist it suddenly tightened, leaving two outlines for no reason.
Even the second development...
cough~
Sun Shaozong's sight, after struggling through the mountains and ridges, fell on the two young Taoists behind him.
The two Taoists also hurriedly bowed and greeted, and then at Youshi's signal, they stepped out of the crowd and narrated what had happened with bitter faces.
It is said that in the afternoon, Master Hongyuan summoned all his disciples and was checking to see if there were any who were missing when he suddenly received an imperial decree asking him to preside over the Ningguo Mansion's memorial service.
Under normal circumstances, this would be considered a waste of talent.
But at this critical moment, it clearly demonstrated the emperor's trust in Master Hongyuan.
Therefore, Master Hongyuan not only obeyed the order with pleasure, but also brought most of his disciples with him, filling up the two thatched huts with a large crowd.
Although You Shi didn't understand the twists and turns, she knew that Master Hong Yuan was currently in the emperor's favor, so she naturally did not dare to neglect him in the slightest.
On the one hand, he ordered people to serve him, and on the other hand, he ordered people to prepare vegetarian food and accommodation.
After being busy for an hour or so, they finally finished their work and were about to invite all the Taoist masters to the side hall for dinner when suddenly a Taoist priest who had stayed behind came stumbling in and said that Master Hongyuan's wife, Ma, had been killed in her own garden.
It is said that after her husband led his troops to Ningguo Mansion, Ma felt upset, so she dismissed her attendants and went to the back garden alone to relax.
As a result, the family waited and waited, but she didn't come back until dark. Then they mustered up the courage to go look for her, and found Ma's body in the back garden.
Moreover, on the forehead of the corpse, a bloody word "Shi" was written by a sharp blade.
When Master Hongyuan heard about this, he was shocked and angry. He was about to lead everyone back to the mansion to investigate, but someone thought of the headless corpse case this morning and felt that there might be a connection between the two.
Therefore, before leaving, Master Hongyuan asked You to find a way to inform Sun Shaozong, and left two disciples behind to act as the middleman.
After hearing what happened, Sun Shaozong couldn't help but frown. Last night's headless corpse had the word "天" carved on it, and today's corpse had the word "师" carved on it. Could it be that the murderer wanted to complete the three kills of "Tianshi Mansion"?
Since he heard that Master Hong Yuan had just passed away and many of his disciples had to walk, Sun Shaozong thought that there might be some traces left at the crime scene that could be used to rescue someone.
He did not bother to be polite and asked for two horses for the young Taoist priests, urging them to lead the way.
After hurrying all the way, they finally intercepted dozens of Taoists near the residence of Master Hongyuan.
But Master Hongyuan was not among them.
I asked someone and found out that Master Hongyuan just couldn't stand it anymore and rushed back to his mansion first.
Yes~
This still didn't stop it.
The only ones who can hope for death now are the women, and not many people can get close.
They continued their journey and arrived at their destination before the group of Taoists, but found that this was not the Taoist temple as Sun Shaozong had imagined, but an ordinary house.
Of course, this so-called ordinary is just a contrast between the secular and the outside world.
In fact, from the perspective of a secular family, this mansion can be described as magnificent and splendid. Although it is not as good as the Rong and Ning mansions, it is not inferior to the current Sun family.
Perhaps Master Hongyuan had given instructions in advance. The two young Taoist priests who led the way had just explained Sun Shaozong's identity in front of the door when a middle-aged Taoist priest came out and led him to the back garden.
Speaking of which ...
It turns out that Taoist priests also have maids and nannies in their homes!
Sun Shaozong originally thought that he would see a group of female priests.
"Is this the Shaoqing Sun from the Dali Temple?"
As soon as I arrived in the back garden, I heard a dull voice coming from the darkness.
The middle-aged Taoist priest who was leading the way hurriedly took a few steps forward with a lantern. Sun Shaozong then discovered that there was a Taoist priest of medium stature standing with his hands behind his back in front of the flower bed.
Judging from his clothes and demeanor, it is undoubtedly Master Hongyuan.
But he seems to be only about thirty years old.
Becoming a real person at such a young age?
Or does this Master Hongyuan have some secret to maintaining his youthful appearance?
Sun Shaozong was suspicious, but he didn't know that Master Hongyuan opposite him was also equally surprised after finding out his approximate age.
The two looked at each other for a moment. Seeing that the guy was posing in a rather arrogant manner, Sun Shaozong did not take the initiative to salute. He just raised his voice and said, "It is me. You must be Master Hongyuan, right? I wonder if your wife's body is..."
"Here it is."
Without waiting for Sun Shaozong to finish speaking, Master Hongyuan pointed his mouth to the ground, then raised his head and looked up at the sky at a 45-degree angle.
This attitude...
A word suddenly popped up in Sun Shaozong's mind: killing his wife to prove his faith.
But then he shifted his attention to the corpse at the feet of Master Hongyuan.
Although the opportunity to solve a case is often based on a flash of inspiration, it ultimately depends on evidence - and according to the information obtained previously, Master Hong Yuan has clear evidence of his alibi.
Of course, the possibility of hiring a killer cannot be ruled out at the moment.
In short, everything will have to wait until the body is examined.
Taking the lantern from the middle-aged Taoist priest, Sun Shaozong walked closer and bent down to take a look, but was involuntarily stunned.
The deceased was a woman of outstanding appearance, about thirty years old, with regular features. There was a teardrop mole the size of a sesame seed at the corner of her left eye, which added a lot of color to her.
However, the expression of the corpse at this moment was indeed a bit weird.
If I have to describe it, I can only use the word "seven emotions on her face" - the various emotions on her face are so rich that she doesn't look like a dead person.
But because of this, Sun Shaozong looked at her carefully for a long time, but could not tell what kind of emotions she was feeling before she died.
However, the cause of her death was clear: she was strangled to death with a rope by the murderer.
There was a deep purple mark on her neck. Judging from the subcutaneous bleeding and the depth of the mark, it was basically certain that it was a fatal injury.
Apart from this mark of strangulation, the most obvious wound is the word "Master" on the deceased's forehead.
The blood word was about the size of a ping-pong ball and was located below the hairline and above the eyebrows of the deceased.
Judging from the condition of the wound, it should have been carved with a sharp blade such as a dagger shortly after Ma's death.
The handwriting looked fairly neat, but after Sun Shaozong looked at it carefully, he discovered that the stroke of the character "师" seemed a little shorter than the original vertical stroke, and the angle of the stroke was also insufficient.
If you look closely, you will find that the word "币" (coin) next to it also appears to be smaller than the initial vertical stroke.
This seems to be...
In order to avoid the deceased's eyebrows, the font size was reduced starting from the second stroke?
Compared with the hideous headless corpse in the Tianshi Mansion, Ma's treatment seems to be much better.
Was it because the other party was a woman that the murderer showed mercy, or was there some other reason that made the murderer unwilling to destroy Ma's appearance?
After staring at the word "Master" and pondering for a long time, Sun Shaozong shifted his attention to the dead man's hands raised on both sides of his neck.
These were undoubtedly a pair of pampered hands, with delicate, fair skin, slender fingers, and nails painted with bright purple cardamom. In the gaps between the nails, there were a lot of tiny debris left.
Hemp rope, fibers of clothing, a fair amount of skin, and a hint of blood on the index finger of his right hand.
The murderer was scratched?!
Sun Shaozong was delighted, but he did not rush to identify the real culprit. Instead, he continued to investigate carefully.
After all, the other party was a woman, and her husband was standing next to her, so Sun Shaozong couldn't take off her clothes to take a closer look. He could only check the surface of the body for marks first.
Compared to the findings on her head, neck and hands, there seemed to be no clues left on her clothes.
However, Sun Shaozong would not be careless and continued to examine it inch by inch.
The deceased's coat was the most popular hooded mink coat at the time, with a few bright tassels playfully decorated on both sides. This kind of accessory is commonly seen on unmarried young women.
Among the group of beauties I met in Rongguo Mansion in the morning, Shi Xiangyun and Xue Baoqin had similar tassels on their collars.
Does this mean that the mental age of the deceased is younger than his actual age?
In other words, this is a guy with a girlish heart?
Thinking of this, Sun Shaozong inexplicably thought of Aunt Xue.
However, now was not the time to reminisce about his pursuit of beauty, so he quickly put aside the inappropriate thoughts and continued to search for evidence with full concentration.
But no useful information was found on the mink coat.
As for the inner layer of clothing, since I couldn't take it off to look, I could only roughly determine that it was a light yellow vest, and then...
etc!
Sun Shaozong bent down again, almost touching the dead man's shoulder, but even so, he still couldn't see clearly.
Finally, he simply reached out and gently pushed aside the bodice inside, and an apricot-colored shoulder strap suddenly came into clear view.
There's no way this style could be a belly|band!
It seems that this real woman is still a charming and sultry person...
wrong!
Sun Shaozong suddenly raised his head and asked, "Excuse me, Madam, when did you come to Beijing?"
Master Hong Yuan frowned and said, "About mid-June."
Uh~
It is no wonder that the new underwear invented by Prince Yi Zhong, although it was only for prostitutes in the capital - this was all because Prince Yi Zhong designed it as a sexy style from the beginning - but it has gradually become popular in Jiangnan and other places.
Since Ma only came in June this year, it is not surprising that she is used to wearing new underwear.
In this case, this thing cannot be used as a premise for inferring the character of the deceased - unless after peeling off the outer clothes, there are more explosive discoveries inside.
Sun Shaozong sighed and was about to continue to explore other places, but he heard someone behind him say with gritted teeth: "Master Sun, please respect yourself!"
After being reminded by the voice, Sun Shaozong realized that he was unintentionally hooking the bra straps with his fingers. He felt very embarrassed and quickly retracted his fingers.
Who would have thought that at this moment, there was a crisp sound and the bra strap broke just like that!
Awkward!
Capital embarrassment!
Sun Shaozong clearly felt that the gazes in front and behind him became sharp at the same time.
But he didn't know how to explain it for a moment. After hesitating for a while, he just continued to check other parts of the body as if nothing had happened.
There was nothing new found on the deceased's pants.
But the two embroidered shoes on the deceased's feet caught Sun Shaozong's attention.
There were obvious signs of kicking and friction from the toes to the surface of the embroidered shoes!
Sun Shaozong quickly picked up one of the embroidered shoes and carefully examined both sides of them. He found that they were relatively clean. He became more and more excited and hurriedly searched around with a lantern.
As expected, the footprints around were a bit messy.
The soles of shoes these days are mostly without patterns, so it is difficult to identify them clearly.
However, what Sun Shaozong was looking for were not those complete footprints, but the traces of kicking and friction.
This was naturally easier to find than ordinary footprints, so Sun Shaozong soon made his discovery - several kicking marks, front and back, diagonal, deep or shallow, imprinted on the ground.
After staring at the marks for a while and measuring the height of the deceased using his hands and feet, Sun Shaozong suddenly stood up, raised both hands flat in front of him, and pulled them up with gritted teeth as if he was strangling something.
The ferocious expression made the middle-aged Taoist priest next to him think that he was suffering from hysteria. He repeatedly looked at Master Hongyuan and asked him whether he should take any measures against him.
Suddenly, Sun Shaozong stopped all his movements, turned around and asked, "Do you have any tall and strong people in your house? At least six feet [1.86 meters] tall or above!"
"What?"
The middle-aged Taoist priest subconsciously took a half step back, and then he realized what Sun Shaozong was asking. He frowned and was about to answer hesitantly.
The Taoist Hongyuan next to him asked first, "Did Sun Shaoqing find any clues?"
"We did find some clues."
Sun Shaozong nodded and pointed around, saying, " The location of this back garden is relatively private. If you want to sneak in from the outside, you have to climb over at least two courtyards. If you want to kill people randomly without a target, there is no need to find this garden."
"If the murderer's goal is to kill your wife, then this opportunity is really too coincidental."
Hearing this, Master Hong Yuan couldn't help but interrupt and said, "So you suspect that it was done by my disciples and servants?"
“That’s right!”
Sun Shaozong nodded, and pointed at the feet of the corpse and said, "Madam, there are obvious marks of friction and kicking on the uppers of your shoes, but there are no similar marks on the sides and pants."
"This proves that the marks on your body were not caused by kicking your feet randomly while your legs were bent, but rather by friction damage caused when your body was standing upright."
"And most of the marks left on the ground were made by toes!"
"There is only one possibility for this to happen. That is, the murderer strangled Madam Zun's neck and lifted her body up so hard that her feet could not touch the ground and she could only kick back and forth with her toes to struggle!"
"And I just measured your madam's height, and after some experiments, I came to a further conclusion."
"The murderer's shoulder height is at most slightly shorter than mine. Otherwise, if he wanted to lift the lady up, he would not only feel very awkward, but also find it difficult to exert strength."
"In summary."
When Sun Shaozong said this, he stared at Master Hongyuan and asked word by word, "Please tell me, Master, is there anyone in your house who is six feet tall and strong?"
