The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty, Chapter 15: The empty mansion and the Funeral tablets

The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty. 《成化十四年》Chengnian Shisi Nian
The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty, Chapter 15: The empty mansion and the Funeral tablets

Facing Qingzi’s body, Tang Fan couldn't help but laugh bitterly and said to Sui Zhou, "We're too careless!"


Sui Zhou frowned, "She was suffering on behalf of others, hiding the true killer."

Tang Fan nodded: "Just now she confessed too much, so I thought something was wrong. I wanted to take her back and then interrogated it carefully. I didn't expect her to be so determined that she committed suicide in a blink of an eye!"

Sui Zhou: "What did you just think?"

Tang Fan: "The Eastern Depot! Even if it was Qingzi herself who wanted to kill Zheng Cheng, not to mention how she got the money from Zheng Cheng, and how she was well versed in acupuncture points, it is doubtful why she, a young woman, could get the Eastern Depot to intervene and snatch the body from your Northern Administrative Court division!"

Sui Zhou nodded, it was obvious that he had just thought of that too.

The two men are in sync with each other in many ways, which makes it rare for them to have a tacit understanding of the case that sets them apart from the others.

Sui Zhou said, “The Eastern Depot side I'll check it on my own."

Tang Fan will agree: “I will also continue to investigate Qingzi side."

Sui Zhou nodded slightly and said little, then left.

Tang Fan looked at Qingzi who was lying on the ground, her beauty was still the same, but she had lost the air of being a top notch beautiful flower leader, a dagger was deeply embedded in her chest, her blood had slowly congealed, and her body had also started to stiffen.

The people die like candle lights going out, once you step into the Yin Yang River, there is nothing left, no matter how much money and beauty you had, it's all in vain.

Qingzi would commit suicide for fear that she would be interrogated and the real culprit would be brought to light after going to jail.

But once she died, did she really cut off the trail and Tang Fan couldn't pursue it?

Apparently not.

Qingzi is a young woman with limited eyesight and cannot think too long term, thinking that once she is dead, everything will be solved.

Tang Fan began to speculate from a different angle.

She was out buying a mansion and ransoming herself to go out, either for herself or for someone else, and if it was for herself, then it was impossible for her to commit suicide given that she wanted freedom, because someone who is greedy for life and afraid of death will not let go of life as long as there is a chance of survival, then she must be doing this for someone else.

Knowing that he or she has been found out and that he or she will end up dying no matter what, it would be better to kill himself or herself instead of being tortured and revealing the truth, so that he or she can keep the person behind him or her.

The people behind the scene.....




Tang Fan stood up: "Lao Wang."

Lao Wang: "Master Tang?"

Tang Fan: "You said before that Qingzi had a maid by her side to help her purchase a mansion, where is that maid now?"

Lao Wang: "Master Tang, the servant girl is not in the Huanyin House today, so she must have been detached, but we have followed her for many days and know where Qingzi girl has bought the mansion, and I have asked Lao Gao to stand guard outside the mansion!"

Tang Fan nodded his head in appreciation: "Now you go there and keep an eye on it, change with Lao Gao in looking after the place and anything going over and tell him to come here, I have something to ask him, and also, this Qingzi girl's corpse, let someone come over and made a good coffin for burial."

Lao Wang said yes, and left in a hurry.

Lao Gao quickly came over, and he reported the results of his own stalking these days to Tang Fan: "Master Tang, that mansion is the one in the east of the outer city, Xiaobi Street, I asked people nearby, the mansions there are not expensive, but there is one strange thing, that mansion has not been occupied since it was bought."

Tang Fan: "Is there anyone come in or out?"

Lao Gao: "Except for the maiden who hired someone to go in and clean up inside and out, I haven't seen anyone go in either."

Tang Fan pondered for a moment, "In that case, you come with me, I want to go and see for myself."

Lao Gao was busy saying, "Master Tang, its dirty and messy there, I'm afraid it's going to defile a nobleman like you!"

Tang Fan laughed: "How can I be considered a nobleman, there are some things that you can't ask clearly yourself so I still have to go to understand the situation."

Seeing that he couldn't be stopped, Lao Gao had to follow him out with him.

When we got to the ground, Tang Fan only knew why Lao Gao had said so.

The so-called Xiaobi Street in the south of the city is actually a slum.

Because of the proximity to the burial posts on the outskirts of the city, people with slight conditions are not be happy to live here. Over time, this place has become the meeting place of the Three Religions and the Nine Cults. There is also an abandoned Taoist temple not far away. Flies flying around, and many people wear seams to make up for being naked. Compared to the decent standing of the major government offices in the inner city, this is like another world.

In contrast, the clean, white and handsome Tang Fan, who is not wearing official clothes, standing here as an alternative, he instantly attracted many different eyes, including many with malicious intent.

However, Lao Gao followed him in the garb of a bailiff officer, but no one dared to mess with him.

The two men came to an old mansion.

"Master, this is the mansion that Qingzi had someone buy."

Tang Fan is in such an environment, knowing that Qingzi bought this house, it is absolutely impossible to live in it for herself, but the fact that she can get even five thousand and two thousands redemption silver taels, how can she live here, let me say is she is really looking to live here, he afraid it might not be safe to come to the Huanyin pavilion.

The mansion was locked, but Lao Gao was agile and had his own way of breaking the lock in three strokes and two.

Tang Fan pushed the door in, although the place had been re-decorated and cleaned up, but could still smell the smell of decay, which made the house seem to have been sealed for many years.

Lao Gao followed behind Tang Fan, a little cold in his heart: "Master, this mansion is gloomy, I'm afraid no one lives here!"

Tang Fan joked: "Didn't you once go to a mass grave in the countryside to spend the night, why are you scared?"




Lao Gao laughed heatedly, "Look what you said, it's all from when we were young, and we didn't know anything back then, and you still peed on people's graves, now even if you give me ten more the teals and I won't dare!"

The yard was empty and depressing, a few old trees were listless and dying, and there was a wooden bucket by the well, but it looked just as shabby as the yard, with water leaking underneath and ropes rotting away.

Tang Fan lifted a step towards the inside, pushed open the door of the main house, but froze for a moment.

In this small main house, there are no chairs or coffee tables, only a table with some fresh fruit on it, and four neatly arranged funeral tablets at the back, two of which are padded high and two of which are slightly lower.

Tang Fan recently looked at these fresh fruits for some time. They are a bit soft when pressed. From the time point of view, the time that Qing Zi hired someone to clean it was the same as some days ago

Four funeral tablets seats, naturally, is for four people.

The first to take the funeral tablet of the Feng Family.

She is the mother of the Feng Family, Feng Qin.

The second sister, Feng's Qing’an funeral tablet position.

The fourth funeral brother, Feng Qingning.

It wasn't hard to surmise from the name on the funeral tablets that Qingzi was most likely surnamed Feng before she entered the Huanyin House, and these people were really her family.

It is indeed saddening to have parents die prematurely and families fall apart.

But in this world, there is no love without a reason, and no hate without a reason, she has been in the Huanyin brothel for so many years, and she has received so many benefactors that she does not know how many, Tang Fan does not believe that she will kill Zheng Cheng just because she cannot stand him, and thus carry bring complications in her own life.

Father, mother, second sister, fourth brother.

Qingzi... Where did you rank in the family?

If she was the eldest daughter, then where did the Feng Family third son go?

Tang Fan pondered for a moment, "Lao Gao!"

Lao Gao: "Eh, what's the order master?"

Tang Fan: "Didn't you ask the neighbors about this house before, did you ask about the previous owner of this house?"

Lao Gao: "I asked, but this place was burned to the ground by a fire a few years ago, many of the original residents were either burned to death or moved away, only one old man still has some memory, said it was a dozen years ago, there was a family surnamed Feng here, then did not know what had been done, overnight the officials came to the door, the male members of the family were enlisted, the women were sick, sick and died, very miserable, this house was also seized, the old man did not dare to inquire, later said the house is haunted, and no one dared to live in it!”

Tang Fan frowned, “Ten years ago, specifically?"

Lao Gao was busy saying, "He doesn't even remember, I think it was thirteen or fourteen years ago, because they said that Qingzi was only six years old when she was sold into the youth house, and she is nineteen this year, could it be right."

Tang Fan pondered for a while, then suddenly said, "Go, go back to the Shuntian Prefecture!"

Lao Gao: "Huh? You're not looking inside?"

Tang Fan: "Don't look, there's a clue."

While he was talking, he walked towards the outside at a fast pace, Lao Gao looked back at the gloomy house and those funeral tablets, couldn't help but shiver, and hastened his pace to follow out.

Being in the Shuntian Mansion has the advantage. As the highest administrative agency in charge of the capital city and its surrounding area, all events, large or small, will be grouped into categories.

Tang Fan focused his attention on the major case thirteen years ago, but unfortunately, he searched overnight and found no information about the Feng Family's crimes.

He felt his eyes were sour and his head was heavy.

Are am I looking in the wrong direction?

Thirteen years ago, it was the first year of Chenghua reign, the year the current emperor took the throne.

Tang Fan held his head and tried to remember, that year, what happened.

After the death of Tang Fan parents, he went abroad to study alone and learned about the world's events, not just those nerds who only studied to death, but all the men in the Feng Family, who were exiled by the army, were bound to commit a very serious crime, if not committed by themselves, then they were implicated in the serious crimes.

Even........

Tang Fan wrote a few words in one stroke on a white piece of paper.

In the first year of Chenghua reign, the Feng Family.

"Master Tang," reported the Inspector Du Jiang standing at the door, “The Northern Administrative Court Division General Sui Zongqi is here and is outside to see you."

Tang Fan couldn't help but smile and sat up straight: "Quickly invite him in!"














- The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty -



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