Chapter 28 Another one dies

After they left, Leng Yi and Zhuo Qiaoniang sat for a while and then prepared to go to sleep. They heard a noise outside. The two hurriedly came out to take a look. They saw the thin man Mingshou grabbing the Zhike monk Mingkong's ears and pulling him.

He tilted his head, stepped on his feet, and screamed, followed by the fat man Mingzhi, who cursed: "You little brat, I asked you to wash the dishes, but you hid in the kitchen and slept, and took him to see the abbot. This time

We must tie him to the flagpole and break his legs to see if he still dares to be lazy!"

Seeing the pitiful appearance of the little monk Mingkong, Zhuo Qiaoniang hurriedly shouted: "Stop! Why are you bullying a child!"

Seeing that it was the county magistrate's wife who came forward, the thin man Mingshou quickly let go of his hand, hunched his waist and said with a smile: "Master! Madam! This boy is lazy and refuses to work. Let's take him to see the abbot and treat him well. We didn't want to alarm him.

You two, I'm so sorry."

Zhuo Qiaoniang pulled the young monk Mingkong, took a look at his ears through the light in the room, and said angrily: "You have gone too far! You have torn off his ears! How can you do it?"

The two of them quickly slipped away with their heads lowered.

The guest monk Mingkong gently broke away from Zhuo Qiaoniang's hand, just glanced at them, turned around and left without saying a word.

Zhuo Qiaoniang stared blankly at his back disappearing into the dark night. Then she turned back and followed Leng Yi back to the room.

Leng Yi said: "You are so kind to this little monk."

Zhuo Qiaoniang sighed and said: "When I saw him, I thought of my younger brother. I remember when I was a child, my younger brother was often bullied by the villagers. They beat him, scolded him, and pulled his ears. My younger brother was just like him.

, I could only cry. I was still young and timid at the time, and I didn’t dare to argue with those people. When I got home, my father saw my brother covered in mud, so he said he was naughty and beat him again. I didn’t dare to say it either.

My father didn’t believe it either. He could only hug my brother and cry to comfort him. When my brother saw me crying, he stopped crying and said that it didn’t hurt at all.”

Leng Yi's eyes were red when he saw her talking about the past. Not only was he sighing with emotion, he reached out to hold her hand and said, "You must have suffered a lot when you were a child."

Zhuo Qiaoniang blinked her wet eyes, forced a smile, and said: "It's nothing. Who's family didn't come here like this? Alas! I don't know how my brother is doing now. There was a drought last year, and I don't know how the harvest will be from the land he planted."

."

Leng Yi understood that Zhuo Qiaoniang's brother should be a farmer farming in her hometown. As a brother-in-law, he was burdened with debts and had no time to take care of himself. Naturally, he couldn't help him. He patted her hand and said: "Wait a minute.

We have overcome the difficulties and have some money, so we will help them."

Zhuo Qiaoniang was full of surprises. As the saying goes: It is very rare for a married daughter to throw water away, and a son-in-law to help his father-in-law's family, or even his wife's brother's family. Leng Yi offered to help, and this sentence alone was enough.

Zhuo Qiaoniang was already moved. However, she immediately shook her head and said: "No. My parents-in-law and my sister-in-law and uncle are also having a hard time back home. If we want to help them, we have to help them first."

Upon hearing this, Leng Yi realized that the county magistrate he was pretending to have had his parents and younger siblings in his hometown. It seemed that he had a big family, and hearing Zhuo Qiaoniang's tone, he was afraid that life would be very difficult. It seemed that he

He promised to take good care of the county magistrate's family. Judging from his current situation, this is not an easy task to accomplish.

Leng Yi said: "It will be fine. Just take it step by step and it will get better."

Zhuo Qiaoniang nodded and looked at him with bright eyes.

When he woke up the next day, it was indeed sunny. However, as before, the breakfast bell still did not ring. Leng Yi was a little disappointed. He opened the door, went out to the door, and looked towards the kitchen.

At this moment, he saw the horse-faced Mingzong hurriedly running from the kitchen. As soon as he saw his appearance, Leng Yi immediately knew that something must have happened.

Sure enough, the horse-faced Mingzong came to him, bowed and clasped his hands and said: "It's not good, eldest lord, senior brother Mingzhi..., he also died in the kitchen!"

Leng Yi was surprised: "How did you die?"

"It's the same as Mingyuan died yesterday!"

"Same?"

"Yes!" Horse-faced Mingzong said: "Lying on the ground, the back of his head was covered in blood, and his skull was broken! The doors and windows were locked, and he was found after breaking in."

Leng Yi said to Zhuo Qiao Niang: "Let's go!"

Zhuo Qiaoniang said quickly: "Go ahead, sir! I'm a little scared..." After saying that, she glanced at the box containing gold on the table.

Leng Yi immediately understood that on the one hand, she was afraid, and on the other hand, she wanted to stay and take care of these life-blood taxes. However, for Leng Yi, he was even more worried about Zhuo Qiaoniang, and he could not leave her alone.

Stay here. Then he said to the horse-faced Mingzong: "You go first, I will come right away!"

Mingzong agreed and left quickly.

Leng Yi went out to the door and took a look. There was no one in the yard. Everyone had gone to the kitchen. He took the gold and the rifle box out, inserted them into the thick snowdrift in the corner of the corridor next to the door steps, and covered them with floating snow.

, took a look, and found no flaws, and said to Zhuo Qiaoniang: "Hide it here, we will take it back at night. Don't worry, no one will find it. The more generous we are, the less likely anyone will notice that we are carrying a huge amount of money."

The more careful you are with money, the easier it is for you to have loopholes!"

Zhuo Qiaoniang nodded and followed Leng Yi quickly to the kitchen.

There were messy footprints at the door. Abbot Juehui and several monks at home had come and were standing at the door talking.

Leng Yi quickly came to the door and looked inside. He saw Chef Mingyuan lying almost in the same place as Chef Mingyuan yesterday, with his back facing the sky and a large pool of blood on the back of his head. On the chopping board, there was still wet tofu that had been crushed.

There were broken tofu scattered on the bluestone floor. The two stove holes in the stove were both burning with fire. The firewood had almost reached the mouth of the stove.

The newly replaced door latch last night was broken again, including the latch on the ground.

After checking the body, it was found that it was dead. However, this time, the body cooled slower than the chef Ming Yuan. Preliminary judgment showed that the time of death was around dawn. There was a blunt force injury on the occiput of the back of the body's head. In addition, the body

There are no other scars.

The person who discovered that Fatty Mingzhi was dead was the horse-faced Mingzong.

Leng Yi asked him to tell what happened. The horse-faced Mingzong said: "After morning class today, I still didn't hear the bell, so I told Diao Mei Mingjing to let him come and have a look. He said it must be the fat man who is lazy, and he just took the spoon.

, the speed is slow, and the helper Ming Kong went to chop wood with Ming Shou again, so the food is not ready yet. Just wait, I always feel something is wrong, so I come over to check. I look at the ground

There was still only a bunch of footprints, which seemed wise. Because the snow stopped last night, the footprints were very clear. As soon as I pushed the door and it was closed, I felt something was even more wrong and immediately shouted a few words, but there was no sound.

.I immediately turned to the window and looked through the hole in the window they had broken yesterday. I saw Akechi lying on the ground, exactly like yesterday! I was so scared that my soul flew away. I screamed and ran away.

The main hall called the abbot and the others. They came to see it and asked me to call you, the great master. So I went to call you."

Leng Yi said: "The method of forging a secret room is the same, and the murderer's method of killing is exactly the same. The only difference is that this time the wound is on the occiput of the back of the head! Instead of the chef's place near the top of the head. In this way, it is easier to give people the impression of him."

The impression that he died accidentally after falling down and hitting his head on the bluestone floor was obviously influenced by the doubts I raised yesterday. The murderer wanted to make up for this loophole so that accidental death could be established. This also leads to the conclusion that the murderer had heard about this county

The conclusion of the doubts speculated yesterday, therefore, the two cases should be committed by the same person! The murderer is among you!"

The abbot and others looked at each other, and then began to look at the people around them warily.

Leng Yi continued: "Fortunately, the scope of suspects is now much narrower than yesterday. The chef Mingyuan is dead. The thin man Mingshou and the wise monk Mingkong went to chop wood early in the morning and did not commit any crimes.

Time. Only the five of you are left! Now, tell me one by one, where were you all this morning? What did you do?"

As a result, after they finished talking, Leng Yi was dumbfounded. The abbot was chanting sutras in the room as usual, but this time, he opened the door of the room. Mingjing, who was sweeping the floor in place of Zhike Monk Mingkong, saw him, which can prove that he has been

In the room. And Diao Mei Mingjing has been sweeping the snow in the yard. The white bearded Mingtong who got up early can testify. Although the horse-faced Mingzong slept late alone in the house, the white bearded Mingtong once went to his room to steal charcoal.

Because Ming Tong ran out of charcoal, when he went to steal charcoal for the second time, the horse-faced Ming Zong woke up and quarreled with him until morning class.

Therefore, all four of them have alibis!
Chapter completed!