"Miss Jiang, are you alright?" Qi Zhi Xuan hurriedly asked.
"It's fine." Gently shook his head, "The origin of that bronze mask you also saw, is a high monk handed over to your grandfather, your grandfather also gave a lot of incense oil money to the Huangjue Temple, this matter has nothing to do with him, but ... the man who has dealings with that and the high monk, surely can not get out of it. "
"That is my second uncle." Qi Zhi Xuan said in a deep voice.
This matter turned out to be related to the second uncle, that is, he didn't know who exactly the second uncle had colluded with to try to harm Qi Mujiu.
Although he called out to Qi Mujiu as ""Ninth Uncle,"" in fact, Qi Mujiu was only his cousin uncle, whereas the middle-aged man seen in the picture was his own second uncle.
Grandfather had three sons and one daughter.
His father is the first born, is the heir of the Duan Wang House, but it is a pity that ... his father has always been frail and sickly, and when he was ten years old, his father died of illness.
Grandfather did not let the second and third uncles of the concubine inherit the title, but let him be the son of the Duan Wang House.
Grandfather also gave the emperor a folded letter saying that when he reached sixty next year, he would pass the title on to him.
At that time, Qi Zhi Xuan would be the proper Duan Wang.
He knew that his two uncles had been upset, and he hadn't realized that his second uncle had actually colluded with someone else to kill Qi Mujiu.
Once the bronze mask that he brought with him burned Qi Mujiu to death, the Emperor would definitely be angry with him, and then he would definitely not be able to keep his title as the son of the Duan King.
Not only will he not be able to keep his title, he may not even be able to keep his life.
Second uncle will be able to get the support of the people behind him and become the next king of Duan.
This is really a plan to kill two birds with one stone.
"Thank you, Miss Jiang, for your help." Qi Zhi Xuan made a bow at Jiang Yu Qi and left with the bronze mask.
...
Meanwhile, in the Yamen, Magistrate Huang Wenjian was interrogating Ye Qingze.
Xu Xiniang's parents and Ye Qingze's father and second uncle were observing.
"Ye Qingze, did you know this Xu Xiniang before?" Huang Wenjian slammed the shocking wood and asked loudly.
Ye Qingze had already passed the student examination and was a Xiucai, so Huang Wenjian didn't let him kneel down, but just let him stand and reply.
"Back to the words of the magistrate, the student knows Xu Xiniang."
As soon as he said this, Tailor Xu and his wife tried to rush over again, but they were blocked by those magistrates.
"If you guys dare to rant about the public hall again, this official will have you thrown out." Huang Wenjian turned his head and chided.
Tailor Xu had no choice but to tug on his wife at his words.
"The student and Xu Xiniang grew up together in this town, they used to play together when they were young, so naturally they knew him, it's just that men and women are different, and ever since they grew up, the student has kept a distance from Xu Xiniang, and not interacted with each other." Ye Qingze arched his hand and said aloud.
Although the Dayan Dynasty was enlightened in its folkways, the great defense of men and women was definitely to be guarded.
Xu Xiniang was two years younger than him, Ye Qingze loved to play with Xu Xiniang when he was young, and there were quite a few other people who played with them, and after they grew up, there was a difference between men and women.
"Last winter, about the seventh day of the waxing moon, the student came back from the examination, in the east end of the town met Xu Xiniang who washed her clothes by the river and walked back, she suddenly tugged at the student's sleeve, and stuffed a note to the student."
"What's written on it?" Huang Wenjian asked in a hurry.
"A love poem." Ye Qingze did not hide it and gave an honest account.
Xu Xiniang did not go to the academy to study, she just bought a few books on her own to learn, her writing was crooked, of course Ye Qingze remembered it clearly.
Write love poems this kind of thing, there is damage to the reputation of the daughter's family, Ye Qingze knows that he said out to Xu Xiniang some impact, but he had to say.
He didn't want to carry the charge of murder.
"You are talking nonsense, my daughter has always abided by the rules, how could she write that kind of stuff for you?" Li Daniang was instantly anxious.
Her innocent daughter, who died in such a miserable way, and had to be slandered and have dirty water thrown on her, Dame Li's heart was like a knife.
"Where is the poem?" Huang Wenjian asked.
"Burned, it's about the innocence of a daughter's family, the student doesn't want others to know." Ye Qingze hastily shook his head.
Since then, Xu Xiniang pestered him many times, but he was so focused on his studies that he didn't even think about such things as male and female love.
He has already seventeen this year, the family did not say marriage for him, because Ye Qingze has long made up his mind, not to marry before the age of twenty, he wants to study hard, and strive to be successful in the imperial examination as soon as possible, and even become a scholar.
He wants to honor his ancestors, he wants to become the family's dependence.
"Yesterday afternoon, Xu xiniang climbed over the wall to come to the school to look for me, at that time the house was one person, my aunt fainted, grandfather with the second and third brother they rushed to the backyard, I was going to go, only because sitting in the back, ran slower, and because of the haste was tripped by the bench, and so on, when I climbed up, the house was only me, Xu xiniang was at that time to come in. "
Hearing Ye Qingze say that his own daughter actually went over the wall to find him, of course, Tailor Xu and his wife don't believe it, the two of them are in a hurry, but they don't dare to open their mouths any more, lest they be driven out by the magistrate.
"She told me that her father wanted to betroth her to her cousin, saying that her cousin was addicted to gambling and also had an affair with the widow in the village, and that she didn't want to marry there, but they had been betrothed since they were young, and even if he she had cried and cried and cried, his father and mother hadn't changed their minds, and she asked me to take her to elope."
"This is nonsense, I refused her, she tugged at me and did not let go, pulling and pulling also dragged away the amulet hanging around my neck, she said that it was a token of love that I gave her, said that she wanted to bring the thing back to her parents, so that I would marry her, after she said that, she ran away."
"The student was busy visiting his aunt in the backyard, so he didn't chase after her to get the amulet back, and then ... the student's grandfather got sick and vomited blood, and there was a panic at home, and the student didn't have time to report the matter to his father and mother, and the result was that he woke up in the morning today ... Then I heard my aunt come back to report that a female corpse was found by the river ..."
Ye Qingze explained everything he knew truthfully.
He really didn't kill Xu Xiniang.
"Where is the coroner?" Huang Wenjian turned his head and asked.
"Already finished examining the corpse and is waiting outside." Sheriff He hurriedly said.
"Call her in for questioning." Huang Wenjian slapped the shocking wood and said loudly.
"Yes." Sheriff He answered, and a moment later, the female coroner in charge of the autopsy came in.
This was the rule in the various government offices of the Dayan Dynasty, when a woman died, the female coroner would examine the body.
"Your honor, although this Xu Xiniang had her head smashed and her face smashed, the cause of her death was choking on water, someone pressed her head into the water and choked her to death alive, there are obvious finger prints on the back of Xu Xiniang's neck."
"On top of that, she had been defiled, and judging from the wounds on her head and face, the time of her death was yesterday night, around midnight."