Criminal investigation in ancient times

"What!" Du Yuan only felt his head buzzing, and he was a little unsteady.Is the old man kidding himself?The purpose is to let me marry that Ge Shi? !But when he looked closely at his second mother's face, and then at the appearance of these uncles, his heart skipped a beat, probably it wasn't a joke.

Du Yuan stabilized his mind and said, "When did Dad disappear?"

Song choked and said, "Last night your father said he had something to deal with, so he stayed in the study and didn't go back. Who would have thought that when he got up in the morning, the candlestick in his study was still burning, but the person had disappeared."

Du Yuan said, "Dad disappeared in the study?"

Mrs. Song nodded and said: "You guys didn't see the master go out, it should be right in the study, but we searched the study and couldn't find the master."

Du Yuan thought in his heart: No wonder I didn't see anyone this morning, so I went to look for my father, but where did his father go?

Du Ruohai: "Is there something urgent that big brother has to leave suddenly?" This Du Ruohai is his father's cousin, and he is in the jade mining business. The two families have cooperated for decades and have never had any problems. I have the best relationship in my generation.

Mrs. Song shook her head and said: "With his thoughtful personality, it is impossible for him to leave in such a hurry without explaining, and the boy also said that he did not see anyone leaving."

Du Yuan walked back and forth anxiously in the room: "Did you report to the official?"

Mrs. Song nodded and said: "I just found out that the master could not be found this morning, so I reported it to the official. By the way, I sent a servant to the houses of these uncles who have a good relationship with your father to inquire, but there is no news."

After a while, the official came and searched around the room but did not find any clues, the mansion has been searched by the Du family, I am afraid that he is no longer in the Du family, so I said: "The next official will discuss this matter Report to the magistrate, see if you can find Master Du elsewhere, please stay calm and wait for the result." After speaking, he hurried away with the yamen servant and waited peacefully, how can he be at ease!Everyone in the Du family is counting on Mr. Du. When he disappears like this, everyone is panicked, and Du Yuan is also terrified. What if his father is really... what should we do?If I had known this would happen, I might as well have listened to my father!Now that this kind of thing happened suddenly, Du Yuan felt regretful in his heart, and only hoped that his father would be fine and find him sooner.

When the yamen servant came to the mansion to reply, it happened that Zhang Rui and Zhou Yin and his party were also there. When they heard the news, both of them were taken aback. Yesterday Feng Xuan asked Zhou Yin to spread the news about Qi Yuheng, and it happened today. did such a thing.

Zhang Rui: "The good man suddenly disappeared?"

Guan almost nodded and said: "I heard from the people in their house that this is the case."

Zhang Rui touched his earlobe and said with a smile: "This is a bit interesting, why don't you go to his house and have a look."

Zhou Yin nodded and said, "That's exactly what I mean."

Wu Zefeng's face darkened and he hurriedly said: "Young officer, let's go with the two of you."

Zhou Yin waved his hand and said, "Master Wu, you don't have to follow. You should first investigate the matter that the king has arranged for you. The price of salt has increased year by year, but the tax has not increased. Don't you, the magistrate, know this?"

Wu Zefeng hurriedly knelt down and said, "This...although the price of salt has risen, the amount of salt sold in recent years is not as good as in previous years. Even though the price has increased, the overall price has not risen but has fallen."

Zhou Yin: "As long as people are people, they must eat salt. The border has been more stable in recent years, and the number of people has never decreased. How can the salt sold be less and less?"

Wu Zefeng hesitated and said: "Your Majesty, I don't know that the official salt has a lot of taxes. In recent years, the sale of private salt has been rampant, and private salt is cheap. Many people would rather spend a few pennies and take the risk to buy private salt than to buy official salt. That’s why official salt is sold less and less.”

Zhou Yin: "Then strictly control the sale of private salt, and if you find out, you will be severely punished!" After saying that, he flung his sleeves and left.

The two left the Jiangzhou mansion, Zhang Rui said: "Do you think the private salt matter has anything to do with him?"

Zhou Yin: "How can it be irrelevant? Where did the private salt come from? It was not obtained from the salt merchants. If the salt merchants dare to sell the salt in such an open manner, it must be because the higher-ups will not hold them accountable."

Zhang Rui nodded and said: "Let's go to Du's mansion first to see what's going on." After speaking, several people walked towards Du's house.

As soon as he arrived at the mansion, two servants came out to greet him and said: "The Du family has no visitors today, please go back, both of you."

Zhang Ruidao: "The two of us are from the yamen, and we came here specially for Master Du."

When the boy heard that it was someone from the yamen, he hurriedly called the two of them in.

Walking to Master Du's study room, Zhang Rui saw five people sitting in the room, one of them was very familiar, he thought for a while and pointed at Du Yuan, "Are you in Du Yunqing?"

Du Yuan nodded for a moment, looking at the young man in front of him a little strangely, Yunqing is his nickname, but there are very few people who call him, how could this young man know his own?

Zhang Rui took out the jade pendant from his neck with a smile and said, "You gave me this as a gift."

When Du Yuan saw the jade pendant, he was even more suspicious. It was the family emblem of the Du family. He suddenly remembered that he met a rascal in Qingzhou who almost corrupted the jade pendant that his mother had left for him. It was a child who begged for it back for him. .

Du Yuan said in surprise, "You are the kid in Qingzhou."

Zhang Rui nodded with a smile and said, "I'm right here."

Du Yuan got up and said, "Why did you come to Jiangzhou, and... you are still in the yamen?"

Zhang Ruidao: "It's a long story, let's talk about your father's disappearance first."

Zhou Yin said: "The two of us are here for the case of your father's disappearance. Please tell the truth and don't hide anything." Du Yuan and Song Shi nodded.

Zhan Qing and Duan Xiaobai walked in from the door, shaking their heads towards them.

It turned out that as soon as they entered the yard, Zhang Rui sent the two of them out to see if there were any clues.

Zhang Ruidao: "Your father disappeared last night?"

Du Yuan said: "It should be, anyway, when the door opens in the morning, people won't see my father."

Zhang Rui: "Who was on duty last night?"

Du Yuan said: "Which two young servants were on duty last night?" The Song family sent someone to call the two young servants.Seeing this, the three uncles of the Du family got up and left the Du family.

Two young servants came up and knelt on the ground and said: "It was the little ones who were on duty outside the door last night."

Du Yuan looked at the two of them, one of them was his father's entourage, it should be impossible to lie and said: "You didn't see my father come out last night?"

Both of them shook their heads and said, "I didn't see it."

This is strange... Since no one saw it, it is possible that this person disappeared out of thin air!Zhang Ruidao: "Then did you hear any sound?"

One of the servants thought for a while and said, "It seems that at night, I heard the sound of a chair falling to the ground in the room. I asked a question, and the master said it was all right."

Zhang Rui turned his head to look at Zhou Yin, Zhou Yin said: "Is there no sound after that?"

The two servants nodded: "After that, there will be no more sound in the room."

Zhou Yin rubbed his chin in doubt, got up and walked around the study, "How do you think Master Du disappeared?"

Zhang Rui walked to Master Du's chair and sat on it.The chair was a good chair, ebony, heavy and heavy, how could it suddenly fall over.Looking carefully at the side, there is no trace of bumping, but the tone of the boy's speech does not seem to be lying, so what is the sound?

Du Yuan came over and said, "Have you found anything suspicious?"

Zhang Rui shook his head and said, "Does your father often work in the study until late at night?"

Du Yuan was taken aback for a moment, his face became ugly, and he turned to Song for help.Mrs. Song nodded and said: "The business of Yuhang has been sluggish in the past few months, and the master is often busy until late at night before resting."

Du Yuan's eyes were slightly red, and he choked up and said, "It's because I'm not filial. I only think about having fun every day, and I don't even know how late my father is busy." Song patted his shoulder and covered his mouth with tears in his eyes.

Zhang Rui sighed: "Don't be sad, it's just missing now, maybe your father is fine."

Du Yuan said: "My father will be fine!"

Zhou Yin looked at the two thoughtfully and said, "Do you have a Yuheng in your family, named Qi Yuheng?"

Both Du Yuan and Song Shi were stunned and shook their heads, "I don't know if there is such a thing."

Zhou Yin stroked his chin and was even more puzzled. Could it be that the news about Tianxianglou was fake, or that Mr. Du didn't tell the mother and son about Yuheng at all.

After the two left, Du Yuan said: "Second Mother, what is Qi Yuheng they mentioned just now? Why have I never heard of it from Dad?"

Mrs. Song also shook her head in doubt: "This... the master has never told me. Could it be that the man hijacked the master for this jade?"

Coming out of the Du Mansion, both Zhang Rui and Zhou Yin were silent and didn't know what they were thinking.

Zhang Rui: "You..."

Zhou Yin: "You, you go ahead."

Zhang Rui: "Could this matter be related to the person Feng Xuan is looking for?"

Zhou Yin nodded slightly and said: "I think so too, why don't you ask Feng Xuan about this. By the way, Zhan Qing, didn't the two of you find any clues in this mansion just now?"

Zhan Qing shook his head and said, "The mansion has been searched by them a long time ago, and the two of us also searched some places that are not easy to be found, and found no suspicious clues."

Duan Xiaobai said: "However... this Du family is indeed rich, and the high-quality jade alone cost more than a few dozen yuan." The old problem of piercing the sky was repeated.

Zhan Qing glanced at him and nodded: "It's true that they are all good jade, but should Brother Duan send that jade flute back?"

Duan Xiaobai rolled his eyes and pulled out a high-quality emerald jade flute from his cuff, touched the body of the flute sighingly and said: "Oh, I can't take you home today." After finishing speaking, he copied Qinggong and returned to Du's house to deliver the things go back.

Zhang Rui twitched the corner of his mouth, it was really exhausting to have such a subordinate.

Finding Feng Xuan and telling him about it, Feng Xuan said: "Do you suspect that Qi Ming did it?"

Zhou Yin nodded: "Master Du's sudden feeling has something to do with this Qi Yuheng, and Qi Ming has been looking for this thing, I'm afraid he hijacked Master Du."

Feng Xuan frowned and thought, "But Master Du is a big man after all, even if Qi Ming's martial arts is strong, it is impossible for him to leave Du's mansion with people without a sound. It is very likely that they are still in Du's mansion..."

Zhang Rui: "I have sent people to search, but I didn't find any clues. And I didn't find the legendary Yuheng."

Feng Xuan shook his head: "The Qiyu Heng is so precious, can Du Ruoheng put it outside in a grand manner?"

Zhou Yin: "You mean, there is another mystery in this Du Mansion?!"

Feng Xuan said: "That's right, if my guess is correct, there must be a secret passage or a secret room under the Du mansion. If Master Du is still alive, he is probably in this secret room right now."

Zhang Rui rubbed his earlobe: "The entrance to this mechanism is probably in this study, so the boy didn't notice that Master Du came out of the room. It can also explain why the good-looking man suddenly disappeared!"

Zhou Yin: "Then let's go to the Du Mansion to investigate tomorrow!"

Feng Xuan said: "Tomorrow I will go with you. Speaking of which, that kid from the Du family still knows me."

Zhang Rui and Zhou Yin looked at each other and thought silently, then he was out of luck.

***

Early the next morning, Zhang Rui and Zhou Yin went to Du's mansion alone. When they arrived at the mansion, Feng Xuan had already arrived first, sitting in the flower hall and having a good chat with Du Yuan.

Seeing the two of them coming, Du Yuan hurriedly got up and said: "You two are here too, these two are the two officials I told you about to investigate my father's whereabouts."

Feng Xuan looked at the two with a smile and nodded, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Zhang Rui's eyelids twitched, what does Feng Xuan want to do?Actually pretending not to know...

Zhou Yin could pretend better than him, nodded indifferently and said: "Yesterday, we both thought about it and felt that your father may not have left the mansion."

Du Yuan hurriedly said: "Impossible, we have searched all over this mansion, it is possible that he will go to heaven and earth!"

Zhang Ruidao: "You are really right, maybe your father is really underground."

Du Yuan's face suddenly turned ugly.Zhang Rui hurriedly said: "No, I didn't mean that, I mean, is there a secret room or tunnel in your house, maybe your father is hidden in it."

Du Yuan shook his head: "There shouldn't be such a place, but I can't say for sure. I used to be in my hometown in Yuzhou, I came to Jiangzhou a few times and I don't know much about the mansion. Maybe ask the housekeeper, maybe he I know." After speaking, he called the steward of Du's mansion, this steward was called Du Shanshui, he was about fifty years old, and he had a lot of face in Du's house, when he saw a few people, he hurriedly knelt down and saluted: "This old slave pays homage to everyone Lord, pay homage to the young master."

Du Yuan said: "Du Bo, please hurry up, these are the officials who came to investigate my father's whereabouts, if you ask anything, you can answer it truthfully."

Du Shanshui nodded and said: "What do the officials want to ask, the little one knows everything."

Zhang Ruidao: "How long has this courtyard been built?"

Du Shanshui said: "This courtyard was originally a salt merchant's courtyard, and later the salt merchant sold this courtyard to our master because of business contacts, and the master built many additional houses on the original basis. After all, it has been more than ten years from purchase to construction.”

Zhang Rui frowned when he heard this, so this other courtyard already existed, and Mr. Du just built a new house in it.

"Then do you know if there are other secret passages or secret rooms in this courtyard?"

The butler shook his head and said, "This little one doesn't know."

Du Yuan said disappointedly: "You go down." The housekeeper bowed and retreated.Feng Xuan looked at him and said, "Maybe your father didn't tell the butler that there is such a place."

Zhou Yin said inwardly: Even if he found out, he would not be able to tell a servant, besides, there is a possibility that Yuheng is hidden in this secret room.

Zhang Rui: "Let's go to the study. I suspect that if there is a secret room, the entrance should be in the study."

When they arrived at the study, several people searched separately.

The study is not open, there are two rooms inside and outside. There is a bed for people to rest inside, and there are bookshelves, antique shelves and a desk outside.A huge jade washing pen was placed on the table.

Zhang Rui looked at it and saw that the jade brush washer was exquisite in workmanship, and the jade quality was transparent, which seemed to be worth a lot of money.There is also an open account book on the table, with a string of ink marks on it.Taking a closer look at the ink stain, it seems that the brush was suddenly dropped and splashed on it.What exactly happened, this Master Du hurriedly put down the brush before he even had time to call for help.

Suddenly remembered the boy's painting: "I heard the sound of the chair falling to the ground."

Zhang Rui stood up abruptly and said, "Feng Xuan, take a look under this chair!"

Du Yuan was taken aback and said, "Do you know Hero Feng?"

Zhang Rui coughed and said, "No...not familiar."

Feng Xuan walked over with a half-smile, pulled the stool aside with one hand, knelt down and tapped the ground lightly, "Kong Kong..." Sure enough, the bottom is empty!

But this is a whole rock, could it be that the rock has to be lifted up to get down?

Zhang Rui leaned back and accidentally touched the brush. "Boom!" With a muffled sound, the place where the chairs were placed suddenly collapsed, Feng Xuan was startled and jumped to the side, only to see a deep and authentic entrance appearing in front of everyone.

Du Yuan was dumbfounded in surprise, pointing to the entrance and said: "My dear, there is really a secret room! My father never told me!"

Zhou Yin looked at the silly boy, then at Feng Xuan raising his eyebrows, and stood behind holding Zhang Rui, which meant that the two of you would lead the way first.

Before Feng Xuan was ready, Du Yuan rushed in first, Feng Xuan hurriedly grabbed his clothes behind and said, "What's the rush, I'll go down and check first." After speaking, he copied the lightness kung fu and walked inside went in.

After a while, seeing that no one came out, the three of them were anxious.

Du Yuan said: "Hero Feng, are you okay?" There was only a trace of echo below, but no Feng Xuan's voice.

Zhang Rui also said, "Feng Xuan?" There was still no sound.

The three of them discussed it and decided to go down to have a look. Zhang Rui took out the candlestick from the desk and lit it and walked down. The entrance to the dark room was all polished bluestone steps, which stretched down for a few meters. It seemed that the bottom was not small.

At the bottom of the stone steps, the green bricks were covered with moss due to the humidity, making it slippery and difficult to walk. After walking for a short distance, there were two forks in front, one on the left and one on the right.

Du Yuan looked at the two intersections and got into trouble, and shouted, "Mr. Feng, where are you?" The voice echoed in the empty underground, but no one answered.

Zhang Rui walked up to the two doors with a candle and inspected them carefully. There were footprints in front of the two doors. One of them seemed to have just been stepped on. He pondered for a while and said, "Go in and have a look."

It was even darker inside the arch, and a rotten smell filled his mouth and nose. Zhang Rui covered his face with his sleeve and held up a candle to shine it. "Ah!" exclaimed.