Chapter 899: Death of Jia Huan (IV)
According to Jia Tanchun, because she was short of money, she could only barely scrape together four taels of change. As a result, she arrived at the bamboo forest around 11 p.m., but Jia Huan thought that she was humiliating him.
So he first used a mocking tone to encourage her to ask Baoyu for money, and when she was rejected, he started to speak ill of her.
Jia Tanchun was not a person who would just give in. Seeing that he still refused to change even at this critical moment, she turned around in anger and tried to leave.
Jia Huan rushed forward to stop them, and the two siblings began to pull and push each other.
"He was intent on taking off the hairpin on my head, but he had no idea that I had already pawned all my jewelry to pay off his debts, and replaced them with gold-plated items."
"I was heartbroken at the time, so I pulled out the hairpin and pretended to give it to him. I took the opportunity to stab him in the arm, then threw the hairpin and the silver on the side of the road, and ran out of the bamboo forest without looking back."
More than four taels of silver?
When Sun Shaozong was examining the body just now, Jia Huan's pockets seemed to be cleaner than his face.
So where did the silver go?
Picked up by the murderer?
still……
"Everyone, don't be idle!"
Sun Shaozong suddenly raised his voice and ordered, "Two people in a group, light lanterns and walk around here to see if you can find any other clues!"
Originally, according to Sun Shaozong's idea, he planned to wait until daybreak, and if the murderer was still not found, he would expand the search - after all, it would not be easy to find the murderer when it was so dark.
But since it is a reflective metal like silver, it should be possible to find it even at night.
As for requiring two people to go in pairs, it is because we are afraid that they will be tempted by money and secretly take away the evidence.
When the servants of Rongguo Mansion divided into groups and began to search, Sun Shaozong stared at the woman in the green skirt again and asked casually, "What happened after you left the bamboo forest? Did you find anything unusual along the way, or run into anyone?"
Jia Tanchun shook her head without hesitation and said, "After leaving the bamboo forest, I went straight back to the garden. It was not until the middle of the night that I heard about it... Alas!"
She sighed and said faintly: "Maybe this is fate."
If before, Sun Shaozong had only logically inferred that she might not be the real murderer, now he was 80% sure.
Because if the person who almost bumped into her at the entrance of the bamboo forest was Jia Tanchun, then under the current circumstances, she would have no reason to continue hiding it.
In this way, it is basically confirmed from the side that there was indeed another woman in green in the bamboo forest before and after the incident, and this woman is very likely the real murderer!
After another careful interrogation to confirm that there was nothing missed, Sun Shaozong returned to the crowd with Jia Tanchun, then called Zhao Guoji and ordered him to gather all the people in the mansion who were under 30 years old and had worn green skirts yesterday.
After Zhao Guoji left in a hurry, Sun Shaozong lit a lantern and prepared to continue looking for clues in the bamboo forest near the corpse.
"Second brother."
At this time, I heard someone calling from behind. I turned around and saw Jia Baoyu approaching me. Although he still looked a little depressed, he was ten times stronger than before: "What are you looking for? Let me help you find it."
Sun Shaozong didn't rush to reply until they both entered the bamboo forest. Then he lowered his voice and asked, "Has the Xue family's sister told you?"
This could only be something that Xue Baochai leaked.
"Um!"
Baoyu nodded, then raised his hand to press his heart: "Fortunately, my second brother is very perceptive, otherwise... I would be in such a dilemma with my third sister on one side and my dead brother Huan on the other."
After a pause, he continued, "Second brother may not believe me, but I was thinking about taking the blame for my second sister."
He could really do this.
This is also the reason why Sun Shaozong has always been quite friendly with him - a pure and kind-hearted young man is always more popular than those with complicated minds.
But it seemed that he was happy a little too early. According to Sun Shaozong's inference, the murderer who killed Jia Huan was most likely related to Yihong Courtyard - at least someone in the Grand View Garden!
But there's no need to say .
Sun Shaozong patted him on the shoulder and said softly, "Your third sister just said that she left more than four taels of silver nearby. I don't know if it was taken by the murderer, or..."
As he was talking, someone suddenly shouted from the bamboo forest opposite: "Master Sun, Master Sun, here is a piece of silver!"
Following the sound, I rushed over and saw two servants from the Rongguo Mansion holding a piece of silver.
Sun Shaozong asked them for the money, and asked Jia Baoyu to take it quietly, and asked Jia Tanchun to confirm it. The result confirmed that it was the silver she had lost here before.
This result made Sun Shaozong quite disappointed.
I had been thinking that if the silver was taken away by the murderer, it could be used as decisive evidence.
But it doesn’t matter.
Since it has been confirmed that the murderer was wearing a green skirt at the time and the approximate time of the crime [inferred based on Jia Tanchun's time], we also know that she is most likely related to Yihongyuan. Once Zhao Guoji gathers people, there is no need to worry that she will not reveal her true identity.
…
A quarter of an hour later.
There were more than sixty women standing densely at the entrance of the bamboo forest. What made Sun Shaozong's scalp tingle was that half of the maids in Yihong Courtyard were there!
"It's winter after all, and wearing green clothes will make others feel comfortable."
Xiren explained in a low voice that because she did not wear yellow clothes yesterday and was famous for her wide social circle, Jia Baoyu temporarily sent her out to introduce the identities, backgrounds and personalities of those women.
Sun Shaozong curled his lips speechlessly. Fortunately, he had more than just these two conditions.
So he cleared his throat and said, "Anyone who can provide an alibi for yesterday around midnight, please stand to my left."
Jia Baoyu helped explain: "That is to say, around the hour of Hai, there must be someone who can prove you, but he doesn't have to be in this bamboo forest."
As soon as these words were spoken, many people immediately withdrew from the team and stood on the left side of Sun Shaozong. A rough count showed that there were as many as 70% of them.
This should have been great.
But Sun Shaozong really couldn't be happy, because among the maids in Yihong Courtyard, only Bihen stood up. Including the two senior maids Sheyue and Qiu Wen, there were still five people left!
Not to mention that there were also several maids in the Grand View Garden...
Perhaps noticing that Sun Shaozong's eyes were focused on Sheyue and the others, Xiren hurriedly explained for them, "The master returned home yesterday, and the second master drank a few more cups, so it was inevitable that there was some chaos in our courtyard. It was not until midnight that everyone went back to their rooms to rest."
Yes~
Looks like there's more to check!
Sun Shaozong pursed his lips, signaling Baoyu to come forward and interrogate those who had alibis one by one to prevent any of them from lying.
Then he lowered his voice and asked Xiren: "I heard that Huan Lao San was detained in Yihong Courtyard to study these days? I wonder who usually has more contact with him?"
"Sheyue and Qiuwen are ordered to supervise the Third Master, so they usually have more contact with him. Then there are Bihen, Si'er, and Zhuier. They usually manage the study, so naturally they have more contact with him than others."
Bihen can be ruled out.
The suspicions about Sheyue and Qiu Wen have increased greatly, as for the other three maids... who are they?
"Zhui'er is in there too."
Xiren looked at the three familiar faces in the crowd and couldn't help but distinguish them, "Master Sun, let's not talk about anything else, but none of the maids in our courtyard dare to meet with the Third Master in the middle of the night!"
Of course.
Ever since Jia Baoyu was poisoned and nearly died three years ago, Mrs. Wang has vigorously cleaned up the Yihong Courtyard. If she knew that someone had a secret meeting with Jia Huan in the middle of the night, he might not even be able to save his life.
"Maybe Huan Lao San has some evidence against him?"
"handle?"
Xiren hesitated and said, "They are in Yihong Courtyard all day long, what could Third Master catch them with?"
"Yeah, what's the handle?"
Sun Shaozong muttered to himself, but he had some speculations in his heart.
After all, there won't be too many evidences that would make someone risk their life to betray their master.
In addition, in the eyes of the maids in Yihong Courtyard, Jia Baoyu is not just a master...
Perhaps, we can start from this aspect and try to set up a plan?
Regardless of whether the real murderer can be found or not, at least the three maids in Yihong Courtyard can be ruled out as suspects.
