conspiracy crime 4

Chapter 21
Tong Zhifu said: "First, the corpse of an unknown woman was found in Meijiakeng three years ago. The official ordered to carefully visit the whole city to investigate the missing woman with similar characteristics to the deceased. At that time, there were no other women in Qingyang City except Lingmei Missing, but more than a year after the incident, the government accidentally found out that a woman who came to Qingyang from other places to seek relatives also disappeared in this city during that time. It was just that her relatives who lived in Qingyang at that time were not sympathetic. , so I didn’t report it to the official. Second, I heard that there is a centenarian orchid planted in the back garden of Mr. Su’s house, isn’t it?”

Su Bicheng was stunned, and said: "That's right, Su does have a centenarian orchid. This kind of bluegrass usually grows in the northwest desert and can survive for more than a hundred years, so it is called centennial orchid. Due to the climate, this kind of bluegrass grows in the Central Plains. It is extremely difficult to survive in the area, so it is extremely rare, and Su is not boasting, I am afraid that there will be no second plant in Qingyang City."

Tong Zhifu said: "I heard that this kind of centenarian orchid only grows a pair of strip-shaped leaves throughout its life. When it is prosperous, the leaves can reach six or seven feet long, and once the leaves are broken, they will never grow new leaves again. But Is there something wrong?"

Su Bicheng said: "Exactly, I never thought that the magistrate would be so researched on Bai Suilan."

Tong Zhifu suddenly said coldly: "Is there a leaf of this centenarian orchid from Su Xianggong's family that is broken by two or three inches at the tip?"

Su Bicheng wondered: "Exactly, how did the magistrate know?"

Tong Zhifu didn't answer but instead asked: "Can Mr. Su remember when this leaf was broken?"

Su Bicheng shook his head and said, "I can't remember, it was about a few years ago."

Tong Zhifu said: "No, to be precise, it should be three years ago, because three years ago, during the autopsy on the unnamed female corpse, the official accidentally discovered that there was half of the hairpin on the unnamed female corpse's head. The leaves of the plants I have seen, I found out later by visiting an old monk in the Erlang Temple outside the city who had managed the imperial garden in the palace, that these are the leaves of the centenarian orchid."

Su Bicheng lost his voice and said in shock: "What, what?"

Zhifu Tong smiled slightly, deliberately did not look at him, and just went on: "The third thing I want to tell Mr. Su is that the local relatives of the foreign woman who disappeared in Qingyang City three years ago are reporting to me. After the officer's complaint was suppressed by the officer, he stopped the car and horse of Master Censor Wei this morning and handed over the pleading paper, and Master Wei's tone seems to have doubts about you."

After hearing Tong Zhifu's words, Su Bicheng's expression changed drastically, and he lost his composure and said, "Impossible, no one will suspect me..."

Zhifu Tong cupped his hands and said: "If Mr. Wei really finds out the real origin of the unnamed female corpse and the real culprit who killed her, then the matter of my wrongful trial and the murder of my sister will also come to light. On the surface of the water, I and the murderer are now two grasshoppers tied to a rope. If something happens to him, I will be unlucky. The days will not be long. The official wanted to find the murderer before the censor, set up an offensive and defensive alliance with him, and help him, but unfortunately he didn't appreciate it. Alright, I will say everything I have to say Alright, that's my farewell."

Su Bicheng's complexion changed continuously, and a row of cold sweat broke out on his forehead. Looking at his back as he turned and left, Su Bicheng hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth suddenly, and shouted loudly: "Master Zhifu, please stay."

Zhifu Tong deliberately took two steps forward, then stopped, turned around and looked at him with a half-smile expression in his eyes.

Su Bicheng looked at him, his eyes gradually dimmed, and there was a trace of panic in his eyes, he suddenly took two steps, fell down on his knees in front of him with a plop, hugged his legs and said in a crying voice: "My lord, save me, my lord, save me!" .”

Tongzhifu pretended to be surprised and said: "You didn't kill anyone, why?"

Su Bicheng hugged his leg tightly, as if his life-saving grass would fly away if he let go, his upturned face gradually drooped, and finally wept softly: "My lord is right, that woman from other places, Indeed, indeed I killed her. But, but I didn't want to kill her at the beginning, it was just a momentary miss..."

There was an imperceptible smile on Tong Zhifu's face, he hurriedly helped him up, and said: "No hurry, please sit down and talk slowly, I am with you now, and will only help you and not harm you. Just be sure to believe it."

With tears in his eyes, Su Bicheng nodded gratefully, sat back in his original position, took a deep breath, and then calmed down a little, and told the magistrate what happened.

12
One night three years ago, he drank alone in the back garden of the Su family mansion.

At that time, the official document had already arrived, and the imperial court granted him a vacant post of Cheng Zhilang.

He has always had a high reputation among scholars in the south of the Yangtze River. He consciously read poetry and books, and has the ambition to save the country and help the world. Sooner or later, he will be reused by the court.Unexpectedly, after he asked an old acquaintance of his father in the court to submit a letter of recommendation for him, the court only gave him a regular six-rank idle position, and did not actually grant him an official position.Depressed, he dismissed his servants and sat alone in the back garden, drinking mulled wine while admiring his outstanding centenarian.

Drunk and blinded, I suddenly saw a woman flashing in from the back door, claiming to be surnamed Liu, who came from Anhui, and came to Qingyang City to look for relatives, who knew that the search for relatives would not be met, and it was getting late and she was lost near Meijiakeng. After leaving the road, he was in a state of panic, and saw a faint flickering light at the back door of the Su Mansion from a distance, so he walked along the path, thinking that he would stay overnight at the Su Mansion and leave tomorrow morning.

At this time, Su Bicheng was half drunk, when he saw this woman's handsome features and quite a bit of beauty, he became malicious and pushed her down under the centenarian, wanting to be rude.

The woman opened her mouth to scream in horror.At this time, Su Bicheng's lust was already aroused, and his drunkenness was full of courage. He hurriedly strangled her neck to prevent her from yelling and disturbing others, and at the same time, sprayed alcohol and brutally pressed her on her body...

Satisfied, he lifted his trousers and got up from the woman, and found that the woman was lying on the ground and could not move. He touched her breath and realized that he had strangled her to death with too much force.

He was so shocked that he woke up completely drunk, and he was afraid and regretted, but it was too late.

In order not to be discovered by others, he took advantage of the moonlight to carry the woman's body to the Meijiakeng Lake, two or three miles away from the back door of the Su's mansion, put a big rock on her and sank it into the lake.Maybe it was because the stone was pressed incorrectly in the panic, and the corpse surfaced by itself after a few days.

The work in the magistrate's yamen quickly found out that the woman did not fall into the water by mistake, but was strangled and killed before being thrown into the lake. Qin Jutian was ordered to investigate the case.

He has always known that his brother-in-law is known as a detective and has always solved cases like a god. As long as he gets out, there will be no case that cannot be solved.

If he finds out the truth, it will be over.Su Bicheng suddenly fidgeted, as if the end was approaching.

Not long after, there was another news that the only missing person in Qingyang City who matched the physical characteristics of the unnamed female corpse was the wife of Qin Jutian, the head arrester of the prefect yamen, that is, his own sister Su Bi'e.

When he learned of this, he was like a drowning man grabbing a life-saving grass, and immediately went to the magistrate's yamen to sue Qin Jutian for killing his wife and sinking her body.

After several twists and turns, the case was finally settled, and his brother-in-law Qin Jutian was sentenced for murdering his wife.

The unnamed female corpse was also regarded as his sister Su Bi'e, and no one traced her true identity.

He was relieved.

Unexpectedly, not long ago, he suddenly received news that someone saw his sister Su Bi'e appearing in Sichuan Province. He immediately panicked. His true identity and cause of death will be investigated by the government, and his rape and murder will most likely come to light.

In order to protect himself, the only way is to kill his sister before she returns to Qingyang, and destroy her body.

Fortunately, he soon found out that there was Tong Zhifu who was as anxious as him, and he also knew that Tong Zhifu had already sent someone to kill Su Bi'e before he did.

Only then did he secretly heave a sigh of relief. Unexpectedly, because of Qin Yue's appearance, Yao San and the others sent by Tong Zhifu missed one after another. Seeing that his sister was about to return to Qingyang, he panicked again and was eager to send his entourage and The bodyguard - Jiang Jianhan, a martial arts master, went to kill Su Bi'e. He knew that Jiang Jianhan had taught Qin Yue martial arts before, so he would never miss Qin Yue when he dealt with him.

However, he was afraid that if the incident was exposed, people would suspect him. When he was hesitating and anxious, he suddenly learned that Tong Zhifu was sending a message to the underworld through Yao San to invite a killer to deal with the girl wearing a veiled hat And to kill Su Bi'e, he was afraid that Zhifu Tong would hire a third-rate killer who didn't know what to do, and he would be defeated by his opponent again.

So he had a plan, let Jiang Jianhan wear a face scarf to pretend to be a cold-blooded killer in the rivers and lakes who no one has seen his true face. Ye Fenghou was hired by Tong Zhifu to kill Su Bi'e.And told him not to use his own martial arts as much as possible, so as not to be seen through his identity and implicate himself.In this way, not only is it safe, even if someone investigates the matter in the future, it will be the killer hired by Tong Zhifu and has absolutely nothing to do with Cheng Zhilang Su Bicheng.

Jiang Jianhan really lived up to expectations, and soon Feige sent a letter telling him that Su Bi'e had been killed by him in the Yangtze River, and his body sank to the bottom of the river and no one found it.

Su Bicheng was overjoyed, who knew that just after he finished watching Jiang Jianhan's "Good News", his sister Su Bi'e appeared in his study alive.

After listening to Su Bi'e's dictation, he realized that the girl who saved her several times was actually Qin Yue, she had already changed her appearance with Qin Yue, and the person Jiang Jianhan killed was Qin Yue, not Su Bi'e.

He was extremely disturbed, and while secretly scolding Jiang Jianhan for his incompetence, he was perfunctory with Su Bi'e, pretending to promise her to reverse the case for the Qin family, but secretly, he poured sweat medicine into the food to charm her, and then asked someone to kill her before dawn the next day Placed in front of Yao Sanjia.

He knew that Yao San would definitely report to Zhifu Tong when he found out about Su Bi'e, and when Zhifu Tong saw Su Bi'e, he would understand that the "killer" he hired had killed the wrong person, and this was the real Su Bi'e.

He knew Tong Zhifu's character very well, in order to protect his own future, he would do anything, if Su Bi'e fell into his hands, naturally there was no reason for her to survive.

In this way, Su Bicheng not only achieved his goal of killing his own sister and covering up his crime of rape and murder, but also did not fall behind at all, and it would not have any impact on his future pursuit of fame and officialdom.

Unexpectedly, Tong Ziang saw through this trick of killing people with a knife, and now he said such insinuating words to him, and said that Mr. Wei has become suspicious of him, how could he not be panicked?
Hearing Su Bicheng tell the secret in his heart, Tong Zhifu couldn't help being surprised. He never dreamed that behind his anxious and unscrupulous pursuit of Su Bi'e, a confidant, there was actually such a sinister and vicious person who was just taking advantage of it. The hired killer is also his own. This is really hard to guard against.

But his face remained calm, pretending to be deeply aware and unpredictable, he picked up the teacup and slowly sipped tea, then raised his eyes to look at him and said: "So, that name Did the foreign woman really die at the hands of Mr. Su?"

Su Bicheng looked terrified, nodded hastily and said: "Yes, it is true that the villain got drunk and lost his temper, and accidentally caught her... the villain has told the adult and everything, and I have nothing to hide, and I ask the adult to cover up for the villain in front of the censor. The villain will never forget the virtue of the adult's rebirth. Besides, the adult and the villain are in the same boat now, and their lips are dead and their teeth are cold. The matter of Chang'e will also be implicated accordingly. When an adult helps a villain, he is actually helping the adult yourself. Don't you think so?"

Tong Zhifu glanced at him, sighed and said: "I naturally understand this truth, and I really want to help Mr. Su, but it's a pity that it's too late."

Su Bicheng's complexion changed slightly, and he said strangely: "Is it too late? What does your lord mean..."

Tong Zhifu's expression was gloomy, and he said with a wry smile: "To be honest, I am now a mud bodhisattva crossing the river, and I can't even protect myself."

Su Bicheng was startled and said, "Your Excellency..."

Before finishing speaking, there was a sudden crash, the door of the study was knocked open, a team of well-dressed magistrate's yamen rushed in, and with a clang, they all drew their swords and surrounded Tong Zhifu and Su Bicheng .

Before Su Bicheng understood what happened, he heard the sound of footsteps again. The patrol censor Mr. Wei had strode in, followed by Su Bi'e's mother and daughter, and several guards in brocade clothes that Mr. Wei brought from the capital.

(End of this chapter)