Chapter 923: Consideration (I)
It’s similar to what Sun Shaozong had speculated before.
Recently, Lin Qisheng has indeed made many shocking moves in the court.
At first, everyone in the Censorate thought that Chief Censor Lin had set his sights on some big fish again, and they were all rubbing their hands in anticipation of being collectively "awarded the first-class merit."
Who would have thought that what he finally got was the news that Lin Qisheng applied for retirement.
Although according to Zhao Rongheng, Lin Qisheng's change started half a year ago, which is different from what his family said about more than two years ago.
But this is what proves that the reason why Lin Qisheng resigned was because he had problems controlling his emotions.
He probably developed some kind of mental illness two years ago, but these days there are only a few simple judgments about mental conditions: madman, fool, or normal person.
Although Lin Qisheng's behavior was extremely abnormal, he obviously did not fall into the first two categories. In addition, he was reluctant to seek medical treatment and did not know how to adjust his mentality, so his symptoms gradually worsened. Finally, he began to show restlessness and eccentricity in the court.
Lin Qisheng obviously realized that if he continued like this, he would face a catastrophic disaster, so he took decisive action to stop the loss - retiring and returning home.
With the connections and prestige he had established before resigning, he would definitely be like a local tyrant when he returned to his hometown in Shanxi. As long as he didn't run into a strong person like Hai Rui, he would most likely be able to continue his evil ways for several more years.
But he never expected that even if he resigned from his post, this catastrophic disaster would still come as expected.
Since he already knew about Lin Qisheng's situation in the court, after separating from Zhao Rongheng, Sun Shaozong naturally did not go to the yamen, but went straight to Lin's mansion.
No conversation along the way.
After arriving at the Lin family, the first things presented to him, in addition to the confession records of the Lin family servants from the interrogation last night, were two floor plans of the Lin family's residence.
One of them was very plain, with only a few symbols marked on the inner courtyard; while the other one was densely covered with various marks and notes.
This was specially instructed by Sun Shaozong to be drawn by Huang Bin before he left yesterday.
According to the confession from the government, after Lin Qisheng dismissed most of the servants, he became more and more independent and even refused the personal service of the servants and maids.
When he first learned of this information, Sun Shaozong had inferred that Lin Qisheng was most likely impersonated by someone half a month ago.
But when the concubines , three of them said that they had spent the night with Lin Qisheng one after another - even if the appearance and voice could be fooled, the figure and certain abilities were always difficult to fake.
Therefore, the time when Lin Qisheng might be replaced was narrowed down to within five days - because it was the night six days ago that he favored a concubine for the last time.
The densely packed sketch marked the actions of Lin Qisheng and other people in the Lin Mansion in the past five days.
The plain one shows the place and time when the two parties met.
Study, flower hall, three-door corridor, garden pavilion.
Sun Shaozong looked at it for a long time, and finally his eyes fell on the marking "Three Gates Along the Avenue".
This was the last time Lin Qisheng appeared in public, the time with the most witnesses, and the only time he approached the passage between the front yard and the back yard.
Obviously, the murderer did this deliberately to conceal the time of Lin Qisheng's death.
So what is his purpose?
To create an alibi?
He ordered someone to bring pen, ink, paper and inkstone. After careful comparison, Sun Shaozong wrote down on paper the names of those who had no alibi when Lin Qisheng appeared.
Since the murderer has to play two roles, it is impossible for him to appear in different places at the same time.
However, after finishing it, Sun Shaozong felt even more troubled.
Because most of the servants were dismissed, this huge mansion was empty, resulting in at least half of the people, both masters and servants, being alone.
Even after adding the screening criterion of alibi, more than one-third of the people were still included in the list.
Among them, Lin Qisheng's concubines accounted for nearly half.
It seems that before more information is discovered, it is difficult to determine the real culprit by the process of elimination - of course, targeted investigations must continue.
After handing the investigation list to Tang Weishan , Sun Shaozong changed another piece of paper and began to list other entry points for the case.
First is the place where the bodies are hidden.
Judging from the surface condition of the corpse and the degree of decay, the place where the body was hidden must have been indoors, and it was dry, constant temperature, and full of dust.
Not to mention the former and the latter, the middle condition excludes the vast majority of empty houses.
Since mid-November, the temperature has continued to drop. If there are no humans or other heat sources inside, the room temperature in houses with ordinary structures will drop below zero degrees at night.
If this were the case, the body should have shown signs of repeated freezing and thawing, but no such signs were found during yesterday's inspection.
This proves that the corpse should have been kept in a constant temperature state above zero degrees for a long time.
The Lin Mansion does not raise any poultry or livestock. A place that can maintain a constant temperature above zero for a long time is basically a place where people often go.
Considering the stench of corpse, it should have been brewing for more than a day before the body was discovered. If it was really hidden in a place where people come in and out, it would definitely be noticed - after all, the body itself showed no signs of being sealed or covered up.
Or, someone endured the stench and hid Lin Qisheng's body nearby.
However, this behavior involves great risks, especially the stench of a corpse is not so easy to dissipate. If someone really dared to hide the corpse, they should have noticed it when the whole house was searched yesterday.
Or...
It is hidden in a relatively sealed and temperature-controlled secret room.
Thinking of this, Sun Shaozong first added the note "secret room" after the three words "corpse hiding place", and then thought about it and added the word "underground".
After all, if it is just an ordinary secret room, it may not be able to maintain a constant temperature all the time.
On the other hand, if it is underground, it would be very easy to maintain a constant temperature above zero degrees.
After adding the notes, Sun Shaozong then instructed: "Chen Jingde, go ask the Lin family if there is any place in this house that may have a secret room - and by the way, ask if this house has been renovated in recent years."
The latter question reminded me of the tunnel in my home.
Wait for Chen Jingde to receive the order.
Sun Shaozong then added the four big words "impersonation" on the paper.
Although Lin Qisheng had five long wisps of beard and usually wore a pair of thick-framed glasses, it made it less difficult to impersonate him.
But if you want to hide it from others, necessary makeup skills are always indispensable.
Then there is the degree of familiarity with Lin Qisheng's daily life - even though Lin Qisheng lives in seclusion and has a bad temper and no one dares to approach him, he is not a stranger who can be easily pretended.
The most suspicious person here is obviously the servant who serves him in his daily life.
But the problem was that before the incident, most of the servants around him were dismissed, and the rest were all driven to the front yard by him.
Speaking of which...
Why did Lin Qisheng suddenly drive all the servants out?
It is clear that these manic symptoms have lasted for more than two years. Logically, the servants around him should have passed the adjustment period long ago.
If he had been so irritable recently that he couldn't keep anyone around him, then why didn't anything go wrong when he favored three concubines in succession?
Could it be...
What secret did Lin Qisheng want to hide by driving away the servants around him?
What secret could that be?
You have to know that when Lin Qisheng was alive, he slept with the wife of a certain manager almost blatantly and did not try to cover it up at all.
Could it be that this secret is much more serious to him than committing adultery?
