Jia Yujing of Red Mansion

Chapter 149: Catch the murderer at night

Jia Qiong, wearing casual clothes, quickly rode to the county government office with two royal guards.

I found Liu County Cheng and explained some things, and then immediately led people to Yonghefang.

Today happens to be the seventh day since Qian Shuangshuang was killed, and the Qian family is making the first seven memorials to her.

There is an incense table in the courtyard, with incense burners, dumplings, fruits, pastries, and three dishes of fish, meat, and tofu on it.

Legend has it that on the first seven days, the souls of the deceased will return home at midnight.

Therefore, according to custom, after the sacrifices are prepared and the paper is burned and prayed for the deceased, the family members have to go back to their rooms early to sleep.

The head must also be covered with a quilt so that the soul of the deceased cannot be seen.

In order to prevent her from being worried and unable to reincarnate smoothly.

At this time, the sky was completely dark, and Qian's family was burning paper to pay homage to Qian.

After burning the paper, they were about to go back to their room to sleep, when they suddenly heard a knock on the door.

The four people in the courtyard were all startled. Po Chen said in a trembling voice, "Could it be that the young lady is back?"

Mrs. Liu heard this and said anxiously: "Yu'er, go and open the door for your sister."

After hearing this, Qian Yu hurriedly opened the door, but before taking two steps, he heard someone outside the door shouting: "Open the door quickly, Magistrate Jia is here."

Only then did the Qian family realize that it was not Qian Shuangshuang's soul that had returned.

Qian Yu did not dare to neglect and hurriedly opened the courtyard door and invited Jia Qiong and others into the courtyard.

Qian Rong and others came out to greet him. He raised his hands and asked, "Mr. Jia, why are you here late at night?"

Jia Qiong said: "Qian Rong, I already know who the real culprit is who killed your daughter.

But there is no conclusive evidence to convict him.

If the thief refuses to admit it, if we fail to find any physical evidence, we will be very passive.

I need you to cooperate with me in putting on a show so that the thief can confess on his own. "

Qian Rong and others were very excited when they heard Jia Qiong say they knew who the murderer was.

Qian Yu immediately said: "My lord, whatever you say, as long as I can avenge my sister, let alone acting, I can die."

Mrs. Liu said at this time: "Sir, today is the day of my daughter's first birthday. Can we perform it again tomorrow?"

Jia Qiong shook her head and said, "No, I just want to use this day to do something, otherwise I wouldn't be here at this time."

When Qian Rong heard what Jia Qiong said, he no longer hesitated and said immediately: "Whatever your lord needs us to do, please just give us your orders."

"You guys are like this..."

Liuye Bridge is a small stone arch bridge in Yonghefang. Not far from the bridge, there is a small temple called Jinshui Temple.

This temple is very small and not famous. There are only three monks in the temple.

Because the popularity of the temple was not strong, the monks from Jinshui Temple took over the job of Yonghefang in order to make a living.

In this way, they can receive a subsidy from the government every month to maintain their livelihood.

Being a watchman is not an easy job. Not only can you not sleep at night, but you also have to watch the clock to keep track of the accurate time. When the time comes, you have to go out to patrol the streets.

Moreover, they are also responsible for preventing fire and theft. If they encounter these situations, they must immediately call the night patrol soldiers to come.

Because you often walk at night, you will always encounter some criminals, so it is also a high-risk occupation.

Moreover, the pay for watchmen is not much, and most people don’t like to do this job.

It's three o'clock at midnight, and the night is deep.

The street was pitch dark, and almost no pedestrians could be seen.

The door of Jinshui Temple opened with a creak, and a young monk wearing a worn monk's robe, holding a bamboo clapper and a lantern came out, banged his bamboo clasp and started patrolling the streets.

"Bang - Bang Bang, it's midnight, it's safe and sound~"

"Bang - Bang Bang, it's midnight, it's safe and sound~"

The monk patrolled the streets as usual, shouting and walking, and gradually came to the area where the Qian family was.

As he walked, the monk suddenly realized that there was no one on the street.

Usually when he was patrolling at night, he would always meet some people walking at night.But after approaching the street where Qian's house was located, he walked for a long time without meeting anyone.

The monk suddenly thought: Today is the seventh day since Qian Shuangshuang died.

The breeze blew by, and the monk suddenly felt a chill coming over his body, and he couldn't help but shiver.

He involuntarily quickened his pace, wanting to leave this place quickly.

He stopped playing watch and began to recite Buddhist scriptures. He didn't even look around, just kept his head down and walked quickly forward.

Suddenly, he heard a faint cry.

In this dark and quiet street, it penetrated his ears like a magic sound.

The monk stopped in fear, raised his head and looked around, but was horrified to find that he was standing next to the Qian family's embroidery building.

The crying sound came from the Qian family yard.

He could also see the fire coming from the yard and the embers rising into the night sky. It looked like someone was burning paper inside.

The monk cursed in his heart. Does the Qian family know the rules? They are still burning paper so late. Aren't they afraid of attracting ghosts?
Thinking of fooling around, he felt chills and goosebumps all over his body.

He quickly calmed down and planned to leave this ghost place as soon as possible.

But at this moment, he suddenly felt a warmth on the back of his neck.

It's raining?No, rain is cold.

And the sky is full of stars and not a single cloud. How can it rain?

The monk thought and reached out to touch the back of his neck, but his hands felt sticky.

When he illuminated it with a lantern, all the hair on his body suddenly stood up, and his hands were bright red. This was blood!

The monk raised his head tremblingly, and immediately screamed in fright and fell to the ground.

"Ghost! Ghost..."

But he saw that the window on the second floor of Xiulou was opened a crack, and a strange woman shrouded in red light was standing there with disheveled hair, staring at him with malicious eyes.

The monk was so frightened that he closed his eyes and did not dare to look any further.

I dropped the lantern and the clapper that fell to the ground, got up and ran back.

But his legs were weak because of fear, and he would fall down after running a few steps.

He rolled and crawled all the way, looking like he was finally going to run out of the street.

Just as he was about to breathe a sigh of relief, the female ghost suddenly fell from the sky again, blocked his way, and floated towards him in a dangling manner.

Now the monk completely collapsed. He didn't dare to run away. He fell to his knees with a plop and kowtowed like garlic.

"Miss Qian, the monk didn't mean to harm you.

I will recite sutras to you every day from now on, and wish you early attainment of bliss.

Please let me go, let me go. "

"Hmph, I knew it was you, the thief, who did it. Let me capture it!"

Jia Qiong gave the order, and the government servants who were hiding in the alley nearby heard the order and immediately swarmed up and grabbed the monk.

Yes, this is all Jia Qiongbu's fault.

When Qin Keqing said that thieves should often go out at night, Jia Qiong's mind immediately flashed to a sentence that Ye Shichang said when he was questioning the case, and it was also a sentence that he had always ignored.

"The watchman happened to be passing by at that time, and he shouted that it was midnight, and everything was fine.

The watchman at Yonghefang is a monk from the nearby Jinshui Temple. He must have just left home. "

Previously, Jia Qiong's search scope was limited to the neighbors near Qian's house.

But they ignored the watchman who passed downstairs of Qian's house five times every night. He was the most likely person to discover the tryst between Qian and Ye.

And there was another thing that made Jia Qiong quickly locate him, and that was the stab wound on the deceased.

Because watchmen are a high-risk profession that involves walking at night, they carry weapons with them for self-defense, and most of them are short weapons such as daggers and daggers.

Jia Qiong thought that tonight happened to be the seventh day of Qian Shuang's double head, so he quickly formulated a plan to catch the murderer on the night of returning to the soul, and captured the criminal in one fell swoop.

(End of this chapter)