Dali Temple has his Lord Luo

Chapter 117 The Past of Wanzhou

"Yes!" Qian Wen replied.

"Remember the figure?"

"You must be as tall as Mr. Qin, neither fat nor thin!"

"Qian Wen, do you know Mr. Meng from the Cabinet?"

Qian Wen shook his head: "I don't know him!"

"What did this person say then?"

"He asked, will there be a chess competition at Qianwen Palace tomorrow? I can't tell clearly. He also asked, will Mr. Meng from the cabinet come to participate in the competition? I also said I don't know!"

Qian Wen continued:
"Then, he took out a piece of paper from his sleeve and asked me to take it to Qianwen Palace and give it to Master Meng. I felt very strange."

After the conversation just now, Qin Zhao looked at this matter again, and he couldn't understand it:
"Why didn't this guy send the note directly to the cabinet?"

"It must be the note sent by Mr. Meng himself!"

Luo Ning looked into the distance and sighed:

"But why did Master Meng kill Mrs. Meng?"

The next day, Yao Huan came back from Wanzhou and brought back news that no one could have imagined.

"Mrs. Meng is Lord Meng's third wife, and the first two wives of Lord Meng were both...the first drowned, and the second hanged himself."

Luo Ning and Si Zhi were stunned.

Yao Huan continued:
"I went to Mrs. Meng's natal family. They are a medium-sized merchant in Wanzhou, mainly dealing in timber. However, since Mrs. Meng got married, she has cut off contact with her family."

"why is that?"

Everyone doesn't understand.

"Mrs. Meng's father said this because Mr. Meng is an official and doesn't like merchants like them.

Although she was Mrs. Meng's natal family, she didn't dare to care about her, so she never took the initiative to visit her daughter. Mrs. Meng never returned home after her marriage, and contact with her was gradually lost. "

"Mrs. Meng's brother has never found his sister?"

Luo Ning really couldn't believe it.

It is said that Meng Qingsong is in the cabinet, and it is easy to help Mrs. Meng's brother embark on an official career.

Yao Huan looked solemn:

"I had this thought at first, but Mrs. Meng's brother didn't have any feelings for her.

I told them that when Mrs. Meng was killed, the whole family was indifferent, apart from being surprised.

Mrs. Meng's eldest brother said that when Mrs. Meng left Wanzhou, her two younger brothers had approached her, hoping to help her enter the government office.

But Mrs. Meng refused, so her two brothers are not close to her and are now engaged in the family's timber business. "

"Have you checked the whereabouts of the two people on the night Mrs. Meng was killed?"

"After checking, they took on a big wood processing job in those days. Many people can testify that Mrs. Meng's family has never left Wanzhou!"

"Yao Sizhi, is there something fishy about the deaths of Mr. Meng's two ex-wives?"

Luo Ning thought it was too weird. Meng Qingsong's three wives all died unexpectedly. What's the secret behind this?
"I went to the Wanzhou government office to check the files. Because both were accidents and both occurred when Mr. Meng was in office, the officials did not find any problems and the cases were hastily closed."

Luo Ning felt sad. She didn't believe there were such coincidences in the world. If the officials had discovered something wrong, could Mrs. Meng's death today have been avoided?

However, it's hard to say. If Master Meng hides all traces of himself like today, there may be no way to verify it.

Luo Ning appreciated Yao Huan's work ability.

Yao Huan's investigation was very careful, and everything he could think of had been verified. Now, he was becoming more and more certain that Meng Qingsong might have committed the crime.

But how to break his alibi?

And more importantly, why did Meng Qingsong kill his wife?If your guess is correct, it will still be the third wife?

The ministers of Dali Temple were still discussing the case, and Qin Zhao came directly to Dali Temple from the court.

He looked bad and told Luo Ning:

"Mr. Meng has submitted his resignation to the court this morning and wants to resign from the cabinet!"

"The case hasn't been solved yet, what does the Emperor say?"

"The Emperor agreed. Master Meng is very haggard, and the Emperor cannot bear it. After all, Master Meng is already old."

Luo Ning rubbed his eyebrows with his hands. Is Meng Qingsong trying to escape?

"Yao Sizhi, you and Meng Sizhi go to Fukang Street to check whether Master Meng's whereabouts that day is true."

"Master Qin, let's take a trip, starting from the cabinet."

Qin Zhao still didn't understand what Luo Ning was going to do. After he came out of the cabinet, went to Meng's Mansion, then to Fukang Street, and then back to Qianwen Palace, Qin Zhao understood that Luo Ning was sorting out the timeline of Lord Meng's murder.

When he returned to Dali Temple at noon, Qin Zhao drank a large pot of tea tiredly:
"Sure enough, after walking around like this, I found that for half an hour, it is entirely possible that Mr. Meng would commit the crime before going to Fukang Street and then back to Qianwen Palace."

Luo Ning frowned:
"However, this does not explain the problem at all. It only shows that Meng Qingsong had time to commit the crime."

"Why don't you catch him? If I scare him, he might be killed!" Qin Zhao wanted to solve the problem simply and crudely.

Luo Ning smiled:

"He is a member of the imperial court. How can he arrest people without any conclusive evidence? These are all our guesses. Even if they are all consistent, Mr. Meng has a perfect alibi."

The two people are troubled here, Yao Huan and Meng Xiao come back.

"Sir, Master Meng did go to Fukang Street the day before yesterday. He entered several shops on Fukang Street. Everyone has an impression."

"What do you all say?"

"Meng Qingsong wears official uniform and introduces himself when he enters the store, so everyone remembers him."

"Then what time?"

Yao Huan smiled bitterly:

"Every time before asking for directions, Mr. Meng will ask the time first, so someone can prove the time from Youshi to Xu."

Luo Ning sneered:

"Even if there is a time difference, Mr. Meng will explain that he is on the way."

What a perfect plan!
When he was at a loss what to do, the Yamen servant from Jingzhao Mansion walked in.

"Master Luo, I left Master Meng's residence this morning, and he asked me to deliver this note to you after noon!"

Luo Ning hurriedly took it:
"Leaving this morning? Is there anyone in Meng's house now?"

"Master Meng is the only one here!"

Under everyone's gaze, Luo Ning opened the note, which was written by Meng Qingsong:
If it's convenient, please come to my house.

Luo Ning didn't dare to delay. Is this a turning point in the case?
When they arrived at the Meng Mansion, the door was ajar. Luo Ning glanced at Qin Zhao, who pushed the door open and entered.

It was still the same, the Meng Mansion was gloomy and silent. The two of them looked at each other and had no choice but to run to the study.

When they arrived at the study, there was still no sound, and there was a gap in the door. Qin Zhao called out: "Mr. Meng?"

no respond.

"Mr. Meng?" Luo Ning also shouted.

Still no answer.

When they walked into the study, they saw Mr. Meng lying on the soft couch, motionless. The two of them thought he was asleep, so they called several times at the door of the study.

Meng Qingsong still didn't move. Only then did the two of them realize something was wrong and ran over.

Meng Qingsong's face was pale and there was no blood. He touched his nose again and there was no breath at all:
"Master Meng is dead!"

Dong Mingfeng received the news and rushed over quickly to confirm that Meng Qingsong had committed suicide.

So who killed Mrs. Meng?
Why did Mr. Meng commit suicide?

How did Master Meng's first two wives die?

Everything became a mystery.

　This story is adapted from the most famous chess murder case in British history in 1931.At the end of the case, both the prosecution and the defense accepted all the testimonies, but there was nothing they could do against the suspect. This case also became a famous unsolved case in the UK because the suspect had a perfect alibi. After the acquittal, one day He died of kidney disease later that year.As for whether the victim was killed by himself, it also became a mystery after his death.Ye Beixi borrowed the suspect's alibi, rewrote the plot and invented the characters.

　　The next story, the sad "Point of No Return"

　　
　
(End of this chapter)