Ch. 95 - Ask Trifles and Implicated in an Ongoing Case

He said that when he opened the door of the house, he saw a rope noose tied in the middle of the beam. There was only a square stool underneath, and there was no trace of the body.

The thin petty official quickly explained, "Because the window was not closed overnight, there was a lot of rain in the room, so we all untied the body off the rope and carried it directly to the inner room."

With these words, he wanted to take Sun Shaozong inside to see the corpse.

"Don't hurry."

Sun Shaozong waved his hand and went to the square stool. He squatted down and surveyed carefully. At the same time, he asked, "Has this stool been moved?"

"Nope. When everyone untied the corpse, they stepped on another chair."

The thin petty official said, pointing to the chair full of muddy footprints on the left.

Sun Shaozong squatted on the left and right sides of the square stool, fumbled carefully for a while, then lifted the stool and compared it to the height of the other chair not far away. He then got up and walked toward the inner room.

However, when he was halfway there, he was attracted by a food box in front of the window. He looked up and said, "Where did this food box come from? Have you ever sent food to Lord Xu?"

"No, no, no!"

The thin petty official hurriedly said, "This is what Lord Xu brought from home last night!"

"Oh."

Sun Shaozong nodded noncommittally, and then he finally started into the inner room.

The body of Xu Mingtang was lying on the couch against the east wall. He was wearing a brand-new official robe, his legs were tight, his neck was cut in a ring, his eyes were wide open, his tongue was stiff, his face was blue and green, and he had obvious symptoms of subcutaneous bleeding.

After simply examining the body, Sun Shaozong had a conclusion in his heart, but he patiently asked the thin petty official, "Did Lord Xu build the River Embankment on a large scale when he took over the office?"

"Of course, it has been repaired. Lord Xu has always been diligent. When he repaired the River Embankment, he did everything himself. He also won the commendation of the Minister."

"That's it."

Sun Shaozong nodded noncommittally and then asked for some details about Mingtang's family. The petty officials also reported truthfully one by one, which could be said to be a fluent reply. There was no formality between ordinary petty officials in the face of senior officials.

When asked later, Sun Shaozong couldn't help but praise him, "Sir, I think you must be a great help to Lord Xu, but I don't know your name yet. What's your daily job?"

The petty official quickly bowed himself and said, "I can’t bear your calling me ”Sir.” I am Ye Xingmao, the Accountant."

"Mr. Ye is too modest."

Sun Shaozong said this and pulled him aside alone. "I've seen something about this case. It's just that it involves secret information from many families, but it's not easy to announce it in public. I can only ask Mr. Ye to come again and invite Minister Wang and Lord Jia, the Prefectural Magistrate of the Government, to talk here."

Hearing that this case involved secrets from the Xu Mingtang family, Ye Xingmao suddenly realized that it was no wonder he had asked many trivial questions about the Xu family a while ago.

So he hurriedly said, "This is my job. How can we talk about ”hard work?” I'm going to invite the two Lords to come now!"

Ye Xingmao hurried back to the back hall and quietly reported Sun Shaozong's intention. Wang Yan and Jia Yucun, naturally, dared not to neglect him and hurried to Xu Mingtang's courtyard.

Entering the courtyard, Sun Shaozong was waiting at the door of the house.

Wang Yan was anxious. Before the man came near, he asked, "I heard that Assistant Prefectural Sun has solved this case. Do you know who killed Xu Mingtang?"

Sun Shaozong waited for them to arrive at the gate, and then he said with an arch of his hand, "I'd like to inform you that according to the investigation, there was no trace of external force on Xu's body, but he actually killed himself."

"Com... Commit suicide?"

Wang Yan was stunned. He glanced at Ye Xingmao suspiciously and frowned. "But didn't those petty officials say that the stool used by Xu Mingtang to commit suicide is more than a foot away from his toe?"

"Well, please follow me."

Sun Shaozong pushed open the door of the main room, pointed to the square stool on the ground, and said, "The first suspicious point, in this case, is this square stool. Please look, Lord. The grand master chairs on both sides are not far from the place where Lord Xu was hanged, but this square stool was moved from a distance. It is unreasonable to seek far and neglect what lies close at hand."

With this, he led the two to the square stool, pointed to a wet green brick beside the square stool, and said, "Please look again, Lords. There are obvious marks of being hit by heavy objects on this green brick, but the fallen square stool is clearly a distance away from here."

He pointed to the food box in front of the window and said, "In addition, Lord Xu specially brought the food box from home, but there was no tableware."

"Therefore, I infer with the following that Lord Xu should have brought an ice cube about a foot high from his home with a food box, then placed the ice cube on the square stool, melted the ice cube after suicide, and created the illusion of being secretly murdered."

"The reason why he didn't use the master's chair was probably because he was worried that others might think that he killed himself by stepping on the back of the chair."

"So..." Wang Yan frowned, "Did he really commit suicide? But since he committed suicide, why does he have to go through so much trouble and pretend to be killed?"

"Well..."

Sun Shaozong suddenly raised his hand and pointed at Ye Xingmao. "I'm afraid we'll have to ask Mr. Ye!"

Ye Xingmao was stunned, and then he hurriedly waved his hand and said, "Don't joke with me, Lord. How can I know why Lord Xu behaves like this?"

"Don't you know?"

Sun Shaozong shook his head and said with a laugh, "I asked you about Xu's family just now, but you answered like a stream. How can you evade it now?"

When Ye Xingmao heard this, he cried out, "Lord, I do know a little about Xu's family, but as for why he wanted to die and pretend to be hurt by others, how can I know?"

He then knelt on the ground and begged Wang Yan, "Minister, I am wrong. Please return me the justice and decide for me!"

When Wang Yan and Jia Yucun heard this, they were also confused. After looking at each other, Jia Yucun urged, "What is the relationship between this petty official and this case, Brother? Just say it straight and stop beating about the bush!"

"I didn't beat around the bush."

Sun Shaozong reluctantly threw out his hand and said, "Let me ask you two Lords, do you often invite the Accountant in the Yamen to your home as guests? Even when you are not at home, you will let them come and go often?"

"Of course not!"

Wang Yan and Jia Yucun answered in unison. When they looked at Ye Xingmao again, they were more suspicious.

When Sun Shaozong didn't ask, they didn't pay attention, but when he asked, they immediately remembered that it was taboo in the official arena to have intimate contact with the Accountant in private!

Not to mention ordinary officials, even those bold and resolute corrupted officials would never act like this!

Seeing that things were bad, Ye Xingmao hurriedly shouted, "I am wrong. I seldom go to Lord Xu's house..."

Before he could finish speaking, Sun Shaozong said with a smile, "Yes, you haven't been to Lord Xu's house very much. I've already confirmed this with someone just now. But that's why I'm even more curious. How do you know all these trivial things about Lord Xu's family?"

"It’s... It's Lord Xu and me..."

"You want to say that Lord Xu told you, right?" Sun Shaozong added, "But I have just asked. Lord Xu only returned home once last night in the past five or six days. After he came back, he hurriedly closed the door and ordered not to interrupt."

"But you just casually said that the doorkeeper of the Xu family had a cold two days ago, and others have replaced it."

"Mr. Ye, are you trying to say that you can figure things out by guessing?" At this point, Sun Shaozong's eyes were sharp, and he sneered, "Or do you intend to tell honestly why you put spies in Lord Xu's house?! What forced him to drag you into the water by pretending to be killed?!"

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