Chapter 189: Bandits
When the maids heard that another person from the Feng family had died, and that it was Mr. Feng whom they had just met during the day, they all panicked: "What's going on in the Feng family? People keep dying. Could it be that the Suihouzhu really has a curse?"
Ming Huashang's mind was surprisingly calm. She stood up and calmly said to Jinbao and the others, "Put away your things, put out the candles, lock the door, and then go back to the backyard. I'll go check on Feng's family."
The maids hurriedly said, "Madam, you can't do that. It's so dark now. It's too dangerous for you to go out alone without Erlang. Besides, one person dies in the Feng family every day. It's really too weird. Maybe there's really a curse. Why not wait until tomorrow when the Yang energy is strong and ask a few monks and Taoist priests to go over. You can't put yourself in danger."
Ming Huashang said, "It's all right. Even if there really are ghosts and gods who harmed people in Shangzhou, they must be punished. Since I am the wife of the governor, and the governor is not in the government office, it is my responsibility to come forward. Jinbao, you stay at the government office, Bian Kai, you call everyone and follow me to Fengzhai."
Ming Huashang was kind and cheerful on weekdays, but when she was serious, she was as firm as Li Huazhang in her words. Everyone tried to persuade her for a while, but Ming Huashang remained unmoved. The maids and guards had no choice but to do as Ming Huashang ordered.
Not long after leaving, the carriage of the governor's mansion stopped at the gate of Feng's mansion again. Feng's mansion was now in chaos. In just three days, the three male masters of the Feng family died, and the housekeeper was nowhere to be found. People were panicked for a while. Everyone thought that it must be because Old Lady Feng bought the Suihou Pearl and provoked something unclean, bringing a curse to the Feng family.
If this continues, the entire Feng family will die!
The servants were running around the house with their belongings, and they almost bumped into Ming Huashang several times. When Baozhu heard that Ming Huashang had arrived, she hurried over to greet her: "Your servant is here to see Princess Yong. It's so late, why are you here?"
"Another murder has occurred in the Feng family. How can the government just sit back and do nothing?" Ming Huashang asked, "Where is the person who reported the case?"
Baozhu sighed: "In the Zhaixing Building."
Baozhu led the way, and the guards cleared the way. Ming Huashang soon found the yamen runner left by Li Huazhang at Feng's house. He was the first to discover that Feng Dalang was dead. The yamen runner looked very scared. Li Huazhang ordered them to guard the crime scene. Tonight, when he was on duty, he vaguely heard voices upstairs. He took a knife and went upstairs to find out what was going on. was lying on the third floor with a hole in his neck and bleeding. The yamen runner did not dare to be careless and quickly asked his companions to go back to the government office to report to the governor.
Ming Huashang was standing on the third floor. Old Lady Feng's recliner was shaking alone, and there was another corpse on the ground.
Feng Dalang, who was so proud of himself a few hours ago, was lying on the floor, dead. His throat was cut by a knife, and dark red blood flowed from his neck to the ground, dripping down the wooden board. His eyes were wide open, and his hands were grasping upwards, as if he was fighting against the sky for something.
Ming Huashang asked: "Was he like this when you found him?"
"Yes. Seeing that another person had died, I did not dare to act on my own and hurried to call for help."
"Did anyone come near you during that time?"
"No." The yamen runner couldn't help but shudder after saying this, "Princess, there is something really weird about their family. I have been guarding downstairs, and no one approached the Zhaixing Tower all night. I don't know why Feng Dalang died in the building. Is there really a curse on the Feng family?"
The yamen runners were used to seeing life and death, but faced with this scene, they were all a little scared. Yes, if it wasn't a curse, how could Feng Dalang, who was sleeping soundly in his bedroom, suddenly appeared in Zhaixing Tower and die inexplicably? When the yamen runners found the body, the blood was still hot, but they couldn't see the murderer at all.
Only a curse can explain this series of strange things happening in the Feng family.
The wind blew in from the window, and the fire shadows swayed rapidly on the floor. A yin energy attached to the bones. The exquisite and gorgeous vases, tables and chairs stood quietly, exuding a strange and cold feeling in the changing light and shadow, as if this was a house inhabited by ghosts. The yamen runners thought of the two deaths on this floor, and they were all sweating. One of the yamen runners swallowed his saliva and said cautiously: "Princess, it's almost midnight. I heard that the yin energy is the heaviest at midnight. Why don't we wait until dawn to come and see?"
The yamen runners present were all tall and strong. They looked around in fear and were not as calm as Ming Huashang. Ming Huashang did not believe that the curse would kill people. Suihou Pearl was a magical creature born from nature and nurtured by heaven. How could a family be destroyed because of a pearl?
Sui Houzhu would not be so evil. Only human hearts can be so vicious.
Ming Huashang did not reply to the yamen runner's words. She put aside all distracting thoughts and scanned the third floor inch by inch.
When she came to the third floor last time, the body of old lady Feng had been transported to the government office. Li Huazhang was afraid of destroying the scene, so he did not let anyone move the furnishings on the scene, but only put a seal on it. Everything was in the most comfortable place, the screens were arranged in an orderly manner, the furniture was clean and tidy, and the recliner was placed with a pillow that just fit the curve of the back. When sleeping on the recliner, you can get the teacup without getting up, and you can see the treasure box as soon as you look up. If you want to stand up, you can reach the crutches by raising your right hand.
But now, the position of the cane has changed. Before, the cane was placed on the right side of the recliner, but now it is on the left side of the recliner. The position of the screen has also changed, moving outward a few inches, there is mud on the ground, the keyhole of the box at the back is not closed, and the curtains are also messed up.
In the eyes of the yamen runners and others, nothing was missing on the third floor and there was clearly no change. However, in Ming Huashang's eyes, they were two completely different spaces.
Seeing that Ming Huashang remained silent for a long time, Baozhu asked tentatively, "Princess, is it too cold upstairs? I'll have someone bring you a brazier."
"No need." Ming Huashang refused. She took the torch from the yamen runner, slowly walked to Feng Kun's side, and used the firelight to illuminate the corpse.
Everyone was a little scared when they saw this scene. Baozhu asked tentatively, "Princess, what are you looking at?"
Ming Huashang remained silent. After a while, she suddenly spoke up: "Someone, pry open this piece of wood."
The bailiffs were confused and said, "Princess, these are wooden planks that can't be pried open."
"No, there is a secret passage here." Ming Huashang pointed to the bloodstains on the floor. "The blood is flowing everywhere else, but only on this wooden board is the blood flowing down. There must be something wrong here."
The guards were banging on the floor. Ming Huashang was bored waiting, so she picked up the dove stick and played with it. Suddenly, a frightened voice of the guard came from behind: "Princess, there is really something under here!"
Ming Huachang turned around and saw that a wooden board had actually been lifted up where Feng Kun was pointing, revealing a dark hole underneath. A high, narrow and steep staircase led to the hole, winding and twisting, and no one knew where it led to.
The bailiff looked down with a torch and felt an inexplicable chill: "Princess, what is this?"
"What is this? You have to ask the Feng family." Ming Huashang turned around and looked at Baozhu, "Miss Baozhu, why is there a secret passage in Zhaixing Tower? Where does it lead to?"
Baozhu's eyes widened, and she was also shocked by this secret passage: "Princess, please forgive me, I didn't know. I am just a maid in the inner courtyard, and I only take care of the old lady's room. I really don't know how there is a secret passage in the mansion."
Ming Huashang looked calm and said in an orderly manner: "Since there is a secret passage on the third floor, it means that there must be other entrances to Zhaixing Tower, and it is not necessary to go upstairs through the main gate. So even though the guards did not see anyone approaching, the murderer and Feng Kun had already gone upstairs through the secret passage. I don't know whether they had made a special appointment or met by accident, but they met on the third floor, and that was the voice heard by the gatekeeper. But the two may have had a conflict, and the murderer stabbed Feng Kun in the throat and escaped through the secret passage. When the guards came up, they only saw the corpse, so they thought Feng Kun appeared out of thin air."
Ming Huashang closed her eyelashes slightly and whispered, "It seems that after the midnight on the third day of the Lunar New Year, there might be someone going upstairs."
The people around were confused and asked, "Princess, what does this mean?"
Ming Huashang paused and said, "There's no rush to think about this. Someone, bring some cigarettes and see where this secret passage leads to. Gather all the people in Feng Mansion. If anyone refuses to come, they will be treated as suspects."
Ming Huashang was calm and composed when giving orders, which was very shocking, and everyone hurriedly followed his orders. The officers and soldiers smoked the secret passages upstairs, Baozhu went to each courtyard to summon the masters and servants of the Feng Mansion, and Ming Huashang went to the main hall for the gathering. However, the stairs of the Zhaixing Building were too steep, so Ming Huashang could only hold the old lady Feng's cane and go downstairs carefully.
Madam Feng Da and Madam Feng Er were frightened by the curse, and suddenly heard that Princess Yong had come and asked everyone to go to the main hall. They didn't understand why, but they had to do it anyway. When they changed their clothes and put on makeup, and brought many maids and servants to the place, the servants from other courtyards had already gathered.
Ming Huashang sat in the main seat, and Mrs. Feng Da and Mrs. Feng Er sat on the left and right, and Baozhu stood at the side with her hands hanging down. Mrs. Feng Er's eyes were swollen, and she asked: "Princess Yong, it's so late, why did you call us here?"
Ming Huashang glanced at the crowd and said to Mrs. Feng, who was sitting aside and wiping her tears, "Madam, please accept my condolences. We originally left guards for Feng Dalang, but Dalang said that the servants of the Feng Mansion were enough to protect him and there was no need for soldiers to follow him, so we did not force it. Unexpectedly, a tragedy still happened. Madam, when did Feng Dalang go out?"
Mrs. Feng was still rejoicing yesterday that Mrs. Feng had become a widow early, but she didn't expect that it would be her turn in the blink of an eye. She wiped her tears with a handkerchief and said, "I don't know. I was sleeping soundly, and was suddenly woken up by the maid, who said that Dalang had died. Then I realized that Dalang had disappeared at some point. How could this happen? Dalang was fine when he came back at night. He was in high spirits, drank two glasses of wine, and told me that he wanted to rest early today. Who knew..."
Mrs. Feng Er sat aside with her hands hanging down and laughed coldly. Feng Dalang was so happy to drink after Feng Erlang died. He deserved to be stabbed to death!
Ming Huashang nodded and asked, "Does your courtyard lock the door at night? Who has the key?"
"The key is with the gatekeeper... Oh no." Mrs. Feng frowned, then realized, "It seems that the door was not locked tonight. Dalang said he would take care of it and told us not to worry about it, so I didn't ask any more questions."
Feng Dalang did not allow anyone to lock the door, and disappeared at night without alarming Mrs. Feng. It seemed that he had planned to go out on his own initiative. Ming Huashang asked, "Do you know who Feng Dalang is meeting tonight?"
Mrs. Feng shook her head, also at a loss. Ming Huashang turned to Baozhu and asked, "Have you called everyone in the mansion?"
"I sent people everywhere to call for help." Baozhu bent down and whispered to Ming Huashang, "But the room of the temporary guards recruited by the outer courtyard was dark, the floor was turned upside down, and the people were gone."
"What?" Ming Huashang's face turned serious and asked, "Where did they recruit them?"
Baozhu shook her head: "I don't know, it was the old lady and the housekeeper who found him."
Ming Huashang sent two yamen runners to check the outer courtyard. After a while, they came back and said to Ming Huashang, "Princess, I went to ask around. The leader of that group is called Dong Hai. They act erratically. People in Feng Mansion dare not approach them. No one knows their background. We don't know when they disappeared, but many things in the house were not packed up. They must have left in a hurry. I also found this in the corner."
The bailiff handed over a dirty red scarf with dark brown unknown marks on it. Ming Huashang took the scarf, looked at it, and asked, "Do you know what this is?"
All the women in the hall shook their heads, obviously not interested in the things of the rough man. Only Baozhu's face changed, and she said hesitantly: "Princess, I remember hearing that there is a group of bandits in Huanglong Mountain. They occupy the mountain and do all kinds of evil. They often rob passing caravans. They will tie a red cloth on their left arm to distinguish their identity. Every time they go down the mountain, as long as they don't have red cloth on their arms, no matter old or young, women or children, they will all be killed, leaving no one alive. Could it be that the group of wanderers recruited by the old lady are... actually bandits?"
After Baozhu finished speaking, the whole hall was in shock. The women were so frightened that their faces turned pale. Mrs. Feng thought of something and asked hurriedly, "Did they cause the death of the old lady and Erlang?"
Mrs. Feng thought of the maid saying that Feng Dalang was killed by having his throat cut, and she was filled with grief: "Dalang, why is your life so miserable? When dad was alive, he favored your younger brother. I finally got the family property back home, but after just one day of comfortable life, you were killed by the wolf that dad and your younger brother brought in. You are gone like this, what should we do..."
Three days ago, Mrs. Feng Da and Mrs. Feng Er could still pretend to be harmonious sisters-in-law, but with the death of Mrs. Feng, Mr. Feng Erlang and Mr. Feng Dalang, the conflicts between the first and second wives continued to intensify. Now, they can't even maintain their face. Mrs. Feng Da scolded the second wife in front of everyone in the mansion, and Mrs. Feng Er was not willing to be outdone and cried bitterly.
For a while, the main hall was filled with weeping and grief. Ming Huashang had no time to listen to their crying and stood up and said, "The two ladies are emotional and it is not appropriate to discuss matters. Let's talk about it another day. Baozhu, do you have writing materials in the mansion? I will send a message to the prince and ask him to mobilize troops to suppress the bandits."
Baozhu hurriedly said, "Yes, Princess, please follow me here."
·
Under the cover of night, the group of horses and men galloped against the frost and snow, and disappeared into the shadows of the mountains. Li Huazhang dismounted at a valley, and the person guarding the intersection hurried forward and saluted Li Huazhang: "Your Highness Prince Yong."
Li Huazhang waved his hand calmly and walked quickly towards the hillside: "Where is the housekeeper?"
"At the bottom of the hill. His horse got frightened and dragged him all the way here. The road in this valley is dangerous, and he lost his grip on the reins and rolled down the hill."
The yamen runner gestured to Li Huazhang as he spoke. Li Huazhang looked down the dark hillside and held out his hand: "Fire starter."
The yamen runners hurriedly blew up the fire sticks and passed them over, saying, "Prince Yong, be careful. It just snowed and the road below is not easy to walk on."
Li Huazhang held a tinder and walked on the mountain road as if it were flat ground. After a while, he had distanced himself from the yamen runners. The gravel on the hillside had traces of rolling down, and some of the sharp corners were still stained with blood. Li Huazhang followed the bloodstains and reconstructed the scene in his mind.
Combining the statements of the Feng family and the city gate guards, Feng Kun went to the housekeeper to discuss business at noon, and the housekeeper quietly left Feng's house and rode out of the city. After leaving the city, he did not take the official road, but took a quiet and less-traveled path. When he reached this area, his horse was startled. It happened to be a steep slope, and he did not hold on firmly and rolled down from the top of the slope, and was hit by a rock and broke his bones.
Li Huazhang stopped in front of a large pool of blood. Snow fell on the blood, bright red and white mixed together. There were also traces of dragging on the edges, which was very creepy. Li Huazhang looked around. It seemed that this was where the butler fell. He should not have died when he fell, but his bones were broken and he could not move. He could only crawl on the ground with his legs dragging. Li Huazhang followed the bloodstains and soon saw a body lying face down. It was the butler who had talked to them yesterday.
Li Huazhang squatted down, sniffed the housekeeper's breath, and took his hand back without surprise. The coroner had not arrived yet, so it was impossible to determine the cause of the housekeeper's death, but Li Huazhang initially inferred that he had broken his bones and tried to climb to the mountain road to call for help, but ended up losing blood and falling into a coma. His luck was also very bad, as no one had ever passed this road, and the weather was not good, with the coldest winter in recent years, and he froze to death in a coma.
From the scene, no trace of other people was found, it looked like a complete accident. Coincidentally, after Grandma Feng was accidentally poisoned and Feng Erlang accidentally fell into the water, the housekeeper of the Feng Mansion also accidentally fell off the horse and died.
It’s unexpected that I love the Feng family too much.
At this time, the yamen runners gradually climbed down the hill, and walked up behind Li Huazhang. Li Huazhang asked, "Where is his horse?"
"In front. His horse was luckier than him. Although it broke its leg, it was still alive when we came. It looked uncomfortable and kept neighing. We came here because we heard the horse's cry."
Li Huazhang followed the direction pointed by the yamen runner and walked for a long time before he saw a horse. The horse had been tortured by the cold and pain for a long time and was exhausted. When it saw someone approaching, it didn't even have the strength to raise its head, and it fell to the ground and cried sadly.
Li Huazhang looked back at the way he came, somewhat surprised. After the housekeeper fell off the horse, the horse ran so far? Looking at the shiny fur of this horse, it must be a well-groomed and well-trained domestic horse, and it would not make the mistake of throwing a person off and running away.
Li Huazhang asked someone to hold a torch to illuminate the area. He squatted down and gently stroked the horse's mane. After the horse stopped resisting him, he carefully checked the horse's entire body.
There were no thorns found in the horse's hooves, and the mane was cleaned and free of disease and insects. Li Huazhang noticed that when he checked the hair on the horse's back, the horse would twitch slightly. Li Huazhang returned to check the horse's back. His eyes swept to the saddle and tried to lift it. The horse immediately reacted strongly and cried continuously. Li Huazhang realized that the problem was with the saddle. Suddenly, his eyes fixed and he said to the yamen runner, "Bring me a fire."
The bailiff hurriedly brought the torch closer, and in the light of the torch, he saw a flash of silver light. The bailiff looked again and saw that Li Huazhang had actually pulled out a needle from under the saddle.
The bailiffs gasped and asked, "How could there be a needle on the horse's back? Who is so careless?"
"It wasn't an accident." Li Huazhang stood up and said coldly, "Someone deliberately hid the needle under the saddle. When the butler first got on the horse, the horse was fine, but as the butler rode hard, the needle gradually penetrated from the saddle into the horse's flesh. The horse went crazy when it was hurt. The harder the butler reined in the horse, the deeper the needle penetrated, and the horse ran faster. In the end, the butler couldn't hold the reins and was thrown down the hillside. It looked like he fell off the horse accidentally. The horse was stimulated by the pain and ran a long way, and only stopped when it fell here."
The yamen runners were shocked when they heard this: "Who did this? It's so vicious, it's impossible to guard against it!"
"Could he be a horse breeder? Only they have access to horses."
Everyone expressed their opinions. Li Huazhang was about to say something, but suddenly he was stunned and a flash of inspiration came to his mind.
Needle?
Li Huazhang finally realized what had been bothering him for so long, and suddenly he understood. He immediately turned around, put his finger to his lips, blew the horse whistle, and said to the yamen runners without turning his head, "Go back to the government office."
Li Huazhang was walking very fast. He had expected that his warhorse would meet him halfway, but he did not expect that the first to arrive was not his horse, but a white pigeon.
Li Huazhang opened the envelope. The words were in the handwriting he was most familiar with, but the content was in code. The yamen runners came running over, panting, and asked, "Governor, are you going back to the yamen now?"
Li Huazhang put away the letter, his face solemn, and said in a deep voice: "No, let's go to the city gate first."
·
city gate.
The guard was walking back and forth at the gate, blowing air on his hands. Suddenly, he narrowed his eyes and saw a group of people running towards the gate in the cold wind. He said coldly, "Stop. Who are you?"
The leader stopped far away in the shadows and said, "We are leaving the city on the orders of King Yong."
"King Yong?" The guard looked them up and down and asked, "When did King Yong give the order?"
"Just now, Prince Yong wanted to investigate a case and asked us to go out of the city to look for evidence."
Just now? The guard subconsciously looked outside the city. King Yong had just left the city half an hour ago and had not returned yet. Why would he order people to go out of the city to look for evidence? He reacted suddenly and was about to call for support, but the leader sensed something was wrong and had already drawn his knife and stabbed him.
The guard was stabbed in the abdomen, blood gushed out, and he opened his mouth but couldn't speak. The man who came seemed very excited. He pulled back the knife with force, without even looking at the fallen guard, and shouted loudly to the people behind him: "Brothers, kill them, and we will be rich for the rest of our lives after this!"
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