From a son-in-law to a favorite of the empress

Zhou Yuan walked out of Mo Yun Zhai with a calm face, watching the two big boxes being loaded onto the carriage.

Then he slowly got on the carriage and couldn't help laughing on the spot.

Damn! I'm rich!

Five thousand taels of silver! Damn! I'll never be short of money again! I won't have to ask my wife for money again!

He rubbed his hands excitedly and shouted, "Quick! Go to Zhao's house!"

This means that his identity is about to be exposed. Zhou Yuan believes that the woman in Mo Yun Zhai will definitely send someone to follow him, but it doesn't matter. What if his identity is exposed? Anyway, the other party will not make it public.

At least the money is in hand! This is a very important link! How can you not even have the basic start-up capital to fight with Fengming Tower!

Zhou Yuan returned home excitedly, but happened to bump into his father-in-law Zhao Cheng.

"Yuan'er? What are you carrying?"

Zhao Cheng was puzzled.

Zhou Yuan scratched his head and said with a smile: "I went to get some money back. Ahem, I'll see if it can be used later."

Zhao Cheng nodded, walked over slowly, opened the box and was shocked.

He looked at Zhou Yuan and said seriously: "Does anyone else know about this?"

Zhou Yuan said: "At present, I only know about it. I haven't had time to tell Jianjia and my mother-in-law."

"Oh..."

Zhao Cheng quickly grabbed a few ingots of silver and put them in his arms, saying in a low voice: "Give me a hundred taels as a gift. Your mother-in-law has been very strict recently."

Zhou Yuan couldn't help laughing and said: "If it doesn't work, take some more?"

Zhao Cheng said seriously: "Keep your money for yourself and use it in critical places. This hundred taels is also It will take me a while. By the way, don't tell Jianjia and your mother-in-law about this."

Zhou Yuan said immediately: "Don't worry, father-in-law, the heaven and the earth know, you know and I know."

Zhao Cheng smiled and said: "You are a sensible son-in-law!"

Speaking of this, he suddenly said: "It's just right, come with me to the government office, the case has changed."

"What changes?"

Zhao Cheng said: "More than ten people died, and the death method is exactly the same."

Zhou Yuan's figure was shocked, and he frowned immediately.

...

In the morgue, everyone's face was very heavy. More than ten people died in one night. No matter what year it was placed, it was considered a shocking case.

Wang Ang clenched his fists tightly and said in a deep voice: "Yesterday we visited and investigated the co-workers of the deceased. It may have alarmed some people behind the scenes, so that four co-workers of the deceased were killed, and the whole family was wiped out."

"From the elderly in their sixties to the children of five years old, all were killed, a total of seventeen people."

Zhou Yuan took a breath of cold air. The whole family was wiped out, old and young were killed. The murderer must be crazy!

Zhao Cheng said coldly: "Yuan'er's previous judgment was correct. The people behind the scenes must be covering up some shocking secrets. Those who were killed should be participants."

Ye Qingying's face was also pale, with anger in her eyes. She gritted her teeth and said: "One of them had more than one wound on his body. There were traces of fighting in the room. His hands were thick with calluses. He should have been holding a knife for many years."

"He has martial arts skills, so the murderer failed to kill him with one blow, but eventually killed him."

Speaking of this, she paused slightly and looked at Zhao Cheng.

Zhao Cheng nodded and said, "At noon today, the Xue family sent someone to inquire about the details of the case. The deceased must be an old soldier."

Wang Ang's expression changed slightly, and he whispered, "Is it Xue Changyue's personal guard back then? That's troublesome. If the case is not solved as soon as possible, if there is a commotion, the matter will be unconcealed. I'm afraid it will alarm Lin'an Prefecture!"

Zhao Cheng said, "This is exactly what I'm worried about. Xue Changyue's letter has been delivered to me, expressing his concern about this matter and saying that he needs to give an explanation to his brothers."

Speaking of this, he smiled bitterly and said, "I don't want this old cripple to run to the yamen with a cane. If there is a commotion, it will be difficult to deal with. "

Ye Qingying asked in confusion: "What personal guards?"

Wang Ang said: "Captain Ye, you don't know that Xue Changyue was the governor of Datong, commanding an army of 60,000, a second-rank military general, and had great power."

"After the defeat, he was demoted and returned to his hometown, but his 80 personal guards followed him back to Yunzhou."

"The deceased just mentioned was one of the personal guards."

He shook his head and sighed: "If this commotion, with Xue Changyue's sensitive identity..."

That was enough, enough for everyone to realize the seriousness of the matter.

Zhou Yuan was a little surprised. Why did Wang Ang explain Xue Changyue to Ye Qingying in such detail?

Does his second sister have another unknown identity?

Isn't she an orphan of Baiyun Temple and the master's apprentice?

Zhou Yuan found that there were still many things he didn't know, so he didn't rush to express his opinion.

Zhao Cheng said in a deep voice: "Yuan'er, you have experience in solving cases.I can hide my shortcomings. I'm afraid the matter needs to be resolved as soon as possible. "

Zhou Yuan thought for a moment before saying, "The core of the case is the reason for silencing. We need to start the investigation from this point."

"Except for the implicated family members, there are five key victims, all of whom should have directly participated in a secret matter."

He looked at Wang Ang and said, "Sir Wang, have you found out the whereabouts of the first victim for half a month?"

Wang Ang nodded and said, "It has been found out. There is nothing strange. He still goes out early and comes back late. He works in a house in the north of the city during the day, helping to build a garden, and goes back to sleep at night."

"This person has a simple schedule and is easy to verify."

Zhou Yuan thought for a while before saying, "Are the other four victims all his co-workers? Are they also helping to build the garden?"

"Yes."

Zhou Yuan said directly, "Bring all the hard laborers, supervisors and people involved in the construction of the house in the north of the city to the yamen for questioning. ”

“I want to find out the activities of these five key figures, determine the time when they participated in the secret incident, and then determine the nature of the incident.”

Wang Ang said in a deep voice: “They have been arrested and interrogated this morning, but they can’t explain anything.”

Zhou Yuan said: “Bring someone who is well-informed up, I will ask again.”

“Come with me!”

So the group went directly to the prison.

When they arrived at the door of a cell, Wang Ang said: “His name is Liu Er, he is the supervisor of the North City Mansion, and he knows everyone’s situation.”

The two Lius were both confused. Such a big thing happened, and they were arrested, and their courage was broken.

When they saw Zhou Yuan and others, they immediately knelt down and shouted that they were wronged.

Zhou Yuan said in a deep voice: “Don’t shout, what I ask, you answer, if you hesitate, you are lying, and you will be punished.”

“Answer me! Construction of the mansion, is there anyone staying at night! ”

Liu Er said quickly: "Yes, four people stay behind every night, taking turns to look after the supplies, otherwise it would be a big loss if they were stolen by thieves."

Zhou Yuan said: "How many people do you have in total!"

"Thirty-six people! Thirty-seven people including me!"

Zhou Yuan narrowed his eyes and said: "Four people every night, a total of thirty-seven people, so everyone must have stayed behind for one day in the past ten days. Can anyone change shifts or ask for leave?"

Liu Er smiled bitterly and said: "We are all poor people who rely on this to make a living. How dare we change shifts or ask for leave! We wish we could stay a few more nights and make more money."

Zhou Yuan said: "Did anyone ask for leave during the day?"

"No."

Zhou Yuan had a sense of propriety in his mind, and then said: "Mao Aqi, Shen Wencai, Da Gou, Tie Shuanzi and Shou Houzi, these five people have times when they are not on duty at the same time? Which days are they? "

Hearing this, Wang Ang and Zhao Cheng's eyes lit up.

Ye Qingying was confused, she hadn't realized the information yet.

"Yes, yes!"

Liu Er said quickly: "Because I am responsible for scheduling, I know very well that none of them were there on the third, eighth, and eleventh days of the first lunar month."

In the past ten days, there were three days without these five people.

It means that these five people must have participated in the mysterious incident on one of these three days.

And today is June 15th!

Zhou Yuan narrowed his eyes and said: "For such a big event, if the other party has already had the intention to silence them, then they will choose to silence them as soon as they finish the matter."

Zhao Cheng immediately said: "The first victim, Mao Aqi, died on the night of June 12th!"

Wang Ang said: "It can be confirmed that they must have participated in something on the night of June 11th."

Zhou Yuan said in a deep voice: "It takes five people to complete something, and these five people are hard laborers, which means that there must be a lot of movement. "

"Lord Wang! Check! Send enough people to investigate the residents of all the streets in detail and ask if they heard any strange noises on the night of June 11."

Wang Ang took a deep breath, gave a thumbs up, and said, "Mr. Zhou, you are so smart! I admire you, I admire you!"