Chapter 845 Investigation
"No?"
"No."
"Not one?"
"All of my Tianshifu's disciples and hired servants in Beijing are now gathered here. If Sun Shaoqing doesn't believe me, you can measure their heights one by one."
Sun Shaozong was silent.
What Master Hong Yuan said was very decisive, and this was something that could be verified right away. This showed that among the disciples and servants of the Tianshi Mansion in Beijing, there was indeed no such tall and strong man.
Is there something wrong with my inference?
But I have carefully checked the traces at the scene several times, so there shouldn't be any omissions.
in addition……
Sun Shaozong glanced at the middle-aged Taoist priest who was suspected to be the butler out of the corner of his eye.
When he asked for the first time whether there was anyone in the mansion who was taller than six feet, the middle-aged Taoist seemed to have thought of something, but before he could open his mouth, he was interrupted by Taoist Hong Yuan.
If Master Hongyuan had been covering up in a hurry just now, he might have been able to find some flaws in this middle-aged Taoist priest.
However, after looking over, he saw that the middle-aged Taoist priest had a disdainful expression on his face, as if he was despising Sun Shaozong's absurd reasoning.
Tsk~
Is it because this guy’s acting is too good?
Or did I misunderstand something just now?
Sun Shaozong quietly withdrew his gaze and made up his mind to find another way out. At the same time, he pretended to be unwilling to give up and continued to ask: "Then who is close to the mansion, is there any..."
"Sun Shaoqing."
Master Hong Yuan interrupted Sun Shaozong and said sternly, "My wife has always lived in seclusion and rarely goes out. She is not from our Tianshi Mansion. I am afraid she may not even know that she is in the capital at this time."
Is this to clear the name of his disciples, or to tell himself that even if the real murderer is not among them, there must be an accomplice hidden in this mansion?
Sun Shaozong lowered his head and pondered for a long while before speaking again: "In this case, please gather all the people in the mansion in the front hall and wait. Do not walk around casually. Wait for me to inspect the surrounding traces and then investigate them one by one."
After a pause, he continued, "Please send someone to the Dali Temple and ask the yamen runners on duty and the jailers in charge of the women's prison to come as soon as possible."
Just as Master Hongyuan was about to nod, the middle-aged Taoist priest beside him became annoyed and said angrily, "I've already said that no one here is taller than six feet. Why are you still nagging about it? I heard that you just went to see that old Taoist Zhang. Could it be that..."
"Brother Hongfeng!"
Zhenren Hongyuan shouted in a low voice, and the middle-aged Taoist closed his mouth reluctantly. He looked towards Sun Shaozong, but his eyes were still not very friendly.
This attitude...
It doesn't look like he has any ulterior motives.
Did I really see it wrong just now?
Or does his hesitant attitude have nothing to do with the case itself?
Sun Shaozong was suspicious in his heart, but on the surface he just bowed like Master Hongyuan and said, "Thank you for your help."
Then he picked up the lantern again and began to search the garden with the corpse as the center.
When the middle-aged Taoist saw this, he glared at him twice and left indignantly.
Not long after, two old women, one short and one fat, came over again. They first bowed to Sun Shaozong, and then followed him closely as if they were guarding against thieves.
With his two tails like this, Sun Shaozong searched the garden and found that the soil close to the corner was unexpectedly wet and soft.
This is probably because the snow from two days ago only melted completely today, and coupled with the warmer temperature today, the ground has not frozen yet.
Fortunately, Sun Shaozong found several clear footprints in the left corner of the wall.
By comparing the footprints and the distance between steps, Sun Shaozong further confirmed his previous inference - the murderer who killed Ma was indeed over six feet tall.
Going around the wall from the courtyard, I saw two long rows of houses facing each other. I looked around at the servants and found that they were the dormitories for the young disciples of the Tianshi Mansion.
The same footprints were found on the south wall of the dormitory and on the north and south walls of the firewood yard next door.
Considering that there is no such tall and strong person in this house, there is basically no possibility of faking traces of intrusion.
Therefore, it can be basically concluded that the murderer did climb over the wall to enter and exit.
According to the old women, because there was no evening class today, four Taoists returned to the dormitory together at the beginning of the evening (6:15 p.m.).
The time when Ma went into the back garden alone to relax was 5:45 p.m.
The body was discovered around 7pm.
The time of death is determined to be between 6:00 and 7:00.
In other words, the murderer only had two quarters of an hour to commit the crime, from 3:15 to 1:15 of the evening .
Taking into account the existence of deviations between the past and the present, the time may need to be shortened further.
A burly man sneaked into the back garden of the mansion just after nightfall, killed the hostess and left calmly.
Either he has an insider leading the way, or he is familiar with everything here.
As for the inference that they had sneaked in ahead of time and ambushed in the garden, it was theoretically plausible - but even though it was getting dark early now, it would still be night again at noon.
For a murderer who is extremely burly to climb over walls and break into houses in broad daylight, the risk of being exposed is too great. Anyone with an IQ above average probably would not make such a choice.
In addition, judging by the murderer's entry and exit routes, the murderer most likely identified Ma early in the morning and was alone in the back garden at the time.
Based on this, we can further infer that there may be some special connection between Ma and the murderer.
Otherwise, how could he get accurate information in such a short time and enter and exit the Zhenren Palace with ease?
If this is true , then the unproportionate character "师" has a reasonable explanation.
The expression on the deceased's face also had an explanation.
While searching for clues and pondering over and over again, Sun Shaozong walked around the backyard of the Zhenren Mansion and returned to the garden.
He originally wanted to take one last look at the corpse, but when he got closer , the first thing that caught his eye was still the figure of Master Hong Yuan standing with his hands behind his back, gazing up at the starry sky.
This should have been about half an hour, right?
Has he been posing next to the corpse?
perhaps……
He was not actually posing, but he didn't know how to face his wife's sudden death?
If this is true, the previous inference of "killing his wife to prove his faith" is biased.
Moreover, if there really was some unclear connection between Ma and the murderer, the possibility of Master Hongyuan conspiring with the murderer would be reduced to the lowest point.
Sun Shaozong was just thinking about this, wondering whether he should take the opportunity to test the relationship between the couple, when he suddenly heard footsteps coming from behind him.
Holding the lantern in hand, he turned around and saw Huang Bin leading three female jailers, walking quickly with the Taoist butler.
"grown ups!"
Seeing that Sun Shaozong was not far ahead, Huang Bin immediately stepped out of the crowd, walked quickly to the front, bowed and said: "I have sent brothers to guard the front and back doors. Without your order, no one is allowed to enter or leave at will."
Sun Shaozong nodded, turned to Master Hongyuan and said, "Master, can you find a suitable room for these female inmates to further examine the corpse?"
Taoist Hong Yuan did not look at him, but waved his wide robe sleeves at Taoist Hong Feng.
Taoist Hongfeng immediately understood his meaning and asked two maids and three female jailers to carry Ma's body to the side hall for inspection.
As for Sun Shaozong and Huang Bin, they followed Master Hongfeng into the crowded hall.
Just now when they were on the road, because it was dark, Sun Shaozong did not get a good look. Now that the hall was brightly lit, he discovered that among the disciples of the Tianshi Mansion in the capital, there were actually not many true Taoists, only about ten or so.
And even more of them are Taoist children in their teens who have not yet been given the seal script. These should be the ones that Master Hongyuan had just accepted as his disciples after he made great progress in the capital.
At this time, those half-grown children were standing in a crowd, filling up half of the hall, but they were all silent as a mouse, not daring to make any noise. It was obvious that they were usually under very strict discipline.
Instead, the old women and maids occupied only a corner of the living room, whispering to each other.
Of course, as soon as Sun Shaozong showed up, the maids and servants immediately quieted down.
This hall should be where the Taoists do their homework on weekdays. There is a small altar at the innermost position.
Because he didn't know if there was any taboo, Sun Shaozong didn't step onto the platform. He just stood in front of the crowd and looked around, then said loudly: "Those who stayed in this mansion before, please stand in front of me."
Several Taoists in the crowd exchanged glances, and then stepped out together.
There were only six people who stood up, but they were all adult Taoists. It seemed that Master Hongyuan had brought all the Taoist children to Ningguo Mansion to support the event.
Among the six people who stood out, there was only one person who was over five feet five inches [1.71 meters] tall, let alone six feet tall.
All we can say is that the height difference between the north and the south is still relatively obvious nowadays.
At this time, the maids in the corner could not help but get a little agitated. One of them boldly asked, "Master Qingtian, should we...slave servants like us stand over there too?"
"No need."
Sun Shaozong waved his hand and ordered, "Huang Bin, take your men to carefully interrogate everyone who was in the mansion at the time of the crime to see if they have an alibi - and who are the maids around Madam Ma? Stand up and answer."
Huang Bin was about to step forward to receive the order, but after hearing the following words, he quickly retreated back to his original position.
At the same time, two maids, about fifteen or sixteen years old, came over tremblingly, bowed and said timidly: "I am Qiuhong [Xiahe], the servant, greets the great master Qingtian. We are the maids beside the madam."
After a pause, Na Qiuhong added, "After Madam arrived at the garden, the two of us kept chatting with Zhang's sister-in-law. Later, when we felt something was wrong, we three discovered the body together."
That's a clever one.
And judging from their accents, they should be locals from the capital, not brought from the south by Mrs. Ma.
Sun Shaozong nodded and ordered without question: "I want to go to Madam Ma's bedroom to check it out. You two lead the way."
The two maids subconsciously looked at Taoist Hongfeng, and seeing that he had no intention of stopping them, they took Sun Shaozong and the two yamen runners to Madam Ma's bedroom.
