On the second day, before a few people decided how to intervene, another major event happened in the Hong residence.At that time, Su Mu had just packed up and went downstairs when he bumped into Lu Lingjue who was running up in a hurry, and the latter left a sentence in a hurry: "Yu Zhi, wait for me, I'll go get a waist card, it just happens to be oneover there."

Although he didn't know what happened, Su Mu could tell from Lu Lingjue's extremely fast movements that something serious must have happened, so he didn't bother to go down to get earlier, so he stood at the stairs and waited for another gust of wind when Lu Lingjue landedIt seems to be scraped out.

"Let me tell you, this really can't be ignored." Lu Lingjue took the waist badge and put it on his waist, "Yesterday we were still thinking about whether we need to reveal our identity, but we don't have to think about it."

"What happened to the Hong residence?" Su Mu immediately realized, and followed Lu Lingjue downstairs.

"Early this morning, the county magistrate sent someone to report that Hong Chengyu was found hanging himself in his room yesterday." Lu Lingjue continued, "My lord, go first, I don't have my belt card, so I didn't bring my belt card with me, so I didn't take it on the way."Come back and get it. No, who would have thought that my badge would come in handy before arriving at Jiang Prefecture."

"Now it is possible to enter the Hong Mansion openly and aboveboard for inspection. There must be ghosts in their family."

When the two hurried to the Hong Mansion, the door was already full of noisy voices. The relatives and friends who had come to express condolences for Liang Xuanxuan were all stopped outside by the yamen servants, chattering and chattering, and some even stood on tiptoeHe couldn't stop poking his head inside, wanting to know what happened in the Hong Mansion.

Lu Lingjue was also unambiguous, and the court servants showed their badges, and easily entered the Hong Mansion's compound with Su Mu. After many turns, the two entered the South Wing.Inside the door, Su Mu saw a tall and thin figure who was frowning and listening to the words of the woman beside him.

"My lord, I'm back." Lu Lingjue said weakly, and after meeting Liu Xiaoran's expression, he answered understandingly, "Let me ask them."

Opposite Liu Xiaoran is the eldest lady of the Hong Mansion, Ding Ziping, her eyes are red now, her expression is sad, she is carefully wiping away her tears, talking intermittently about the last time she saw her husband, while she stands with her hands down with a sad expression on her face.It was Hong Siqi, who seemed to be tormented by the successive blows, standing like a walking dead.

"The last time I saw my husband was at Xu o'clock yesterday. He came to see my son Nian'an's homework, asked about his experience in the school, and said he wanted to read something in the study. I thought he must go back again.Playing with his antiques, he didn't pay attention to them. After the child fell asleep, he went back to his room to sleep, but he didn't expect to find that the master hadn't come back when he got up this morning, so he picked it up and wanted to see it earlier. He happened to meet him on the road.I met Si Qi who was also going to find the master. At first the door couldn’t be opened, but after Si Qi knocked on the door and found no one answered, he tried to open it, but he didn’t expect that when the door opened...it was—it was......"

She couldn't continue with the rest of the sentence, sobbing softly, which was unbearable, so Lu Lingjue could only change a gentle posture and ask: "Madam's condolences... Do you know if Master Hong behaved abnormally yesterday, orAre there any signs of committing suicide?"

Ding Ziping raised her eyes when she heard the words, as if hesitant, but finally she gritted her teeth and said, "My lord... seems to have owed a lot of debts outside, and I've been worried about it all day long. I thought about asking him in a few days.It's clear, but I didn't expect..."

Lu Lingjue raised her eyebrows when she heard the words. It seems that Master Hong not only failed to make extra money for the family, but also failed completely.

Could it be that he chose to commit suicide because of guilt?

Liu Xiaoran nodded to Lu Lingjue, indicating that he would leave this place to him, then walked towards the corpse that had been laid flat on the ground.

This is the second time for Su Mu to see this Wang Yuzuo, and it can be regarded as a second time acquaintance. Wang Yuzuo greeted Su Mu and consciously gave way.

"This man's face is blue and purple, his tongue is behind his teeth, there are traces of feces on the ground, and there is a purple constriction on his neck. According to the old man, he hanged himself."

Su Mu nodded and also squatted down.

He stretched out his hand and lightly pressed the corpse spots on the corpse. The color faded after the finger pressure, and the cornea had begun to show signs of drying, but the pupils had not yet appeared cloudy. It should have died two or three hours ago, based on the current time., died between ugly time and Yin time last night.

The appearance of the corpse conformed to the characteristics of mechanical suffocation death, and the purple cable groove on the neck had the deepest point of force at the bottom, and the sides gradually became shallower, and finally it was "lifted out", the subcutaneous bleeding was serious, and there were no obvious signs of fighting scratches on the body, are all in line with the characteristics of hanged death during his lifetime.

It's just that there is another light-colored mark that circles horizontally and slantly downwards. Because it can't be seen clearly, in this era when autopsy is prohibited by law, Su Mu is not sure whether it is caused by the dead being strangled with a rope from behind.Mark of.

However, there was foamy liquid in the mouth and nose of the corpse, and there were many bleeding spots in the conjunctival membrane of the eyes, and the signs of asphyxia were more obvious. If it was just a simple hanging, there should not be such obvious signs of asphyxia.

The leathery appearance can deepen the color of the scratches, and you may be able to see something strange, but it will take some time to wait. Su Mu stood up and looked at Liu Xiaoran with some hesitation: "It's hanging to death, but it may not be hanging itself.There is no way to be sure, and it will take a while to check the changes in the traces on his neck. What is certain now is that his death time should be about three or four hours away from now.

"how long it takes?"

"The leathery time has something to do with the environment, but it shouldn't be too long. There should be some obvious changes in a day. Now you might as well check if any suspicious people have come in and out during this time period, even if he is reallyThere should be an opportunity to hang himself to death, after all, he didn't look like he wanted to commit suicide yesterday."

Liu Xiaoran nodded slightly, and then began to observe the surroundings of the room.When he arrived today with the magistrate, the body had been untied and laid flat on the ground, and the beam where the ropes were located was facing the gate.The last time he saw the lights on in the room was the old housekeeper in the mansion. He saw the lights on in the study when he passed by yesterday. According to his recollection, not long ago he heard the sound of the watch, so this time is Yinshi and Choushi.At that time, if Hong Chengyu had hanged himself at that time, his shadow should be very obvious under the light, and the housekeeper would not fail to notice the abnormality, so the death must have happened after Yinshi.

According to Ding Ziping and her maids, the door of the house was locked from the inside at first, and Hong Siqi forcibly opened it before she could enter. The windows were also kept closed, and there was no sign of being forcibly opened.There is no abnormality in the furnishings in the house, making people have to believe that Hong Chengyu hanged himself to death.

It's just... Liu Xiaoran frowned, and looked at the blank paper that Hong Chengyu spread out on the table. It seemed to be stained with some water stains, and there were slight wrinkles on the paper. It didn't rain yesterday. Where did this water stain come from?coming?If it was caused by the owner drinking tea, where did the tea cup go?He didn't see a container of water either on the table or on the bookshelf.

It is unreasonable in itself that there is no tea cup in the study of the master of a rich family, and the water stains on the paper can also prove this point. If there was a tea cup in this room, where is it now?

Liu Xiaoran lowered her head and lightly stroked the paper, her slender fingers caressed lightly on the folds.

Could it be that this teacup was deliberately cleaned by someone?

The author has something to say:

As for judging death by hanging and strangulation, there is actually a clear record in Song Ci's "Winning Injustice Collection", including "When hanged on the throat, the tongue will touch the teeth; below the throat, there will be more tongue.There will be feces after that." Generally speaking, if the person strangled and pretended to hang himself, the marks on the neck will be obviously different, and it is easier to judge from the life reaction and groove marks, and the lack of fighting marks on the body is also a way to distinguish, but——Song Ci also said that the most difficult thing to judge is "immediate hoisting before death". This is actually still a difficult problem until now. It needs to be combined with on-site investigation to see that it is more effective~