Chapter 724 Su Xingfang (Part 1)
In the carriage.
Sun Shaozong opened the iron box on his right hand side and took out a ceramic pot filled with hot water from between two hand warmers, one cold and one hot.
Because it was placed together with the hand warmer, the hot water poured in by the servants when they went out in the morning was still about 40 to 50 degrees at this time.
He poured some warm water on the handkerchief to wet the dirt on his hands. After rubbing it repeatedly, Sun Shaozong lifted the curtain and threw the handkerchief out.
Soon, a commotion was heard outside. It turned out that a street vendor and two beggars were arguing over a high-quality brocade handkerchief.
This handkerchief may not be worth much to a wealthy family, but if it is washed clean and sold to poor families to save face, it can also fetch a lot of copper coins.
The noise was soon forgotten by the carriage, and Sun Shaozong's mind returned to the current case.
In fact, based on the traces at the scene, we can basically identify the murderer, and it is undoubtedly Su Xingfang.
But so far, the two most important things are still missing: motive and evidence.
There is no need to say more about the lack of motivation.
Although those traces could be connected together to infer that Su Xingfang was the real culprit behind the scenes, it was still not enough evidence to arrest a sixth-rank county magistrate.
pity!
I was actually fooled by him at that time. Otherwise, if I had discovered the problem earlier, I would have been able to find the ropes of the mechanism from him.
In this way, the case will naturally be proven as irrefutable evidence.
It's too late to regret now, I can only find other ways to collect other evidence.
Fortunately, although the thin rope that pulled the mechanism could be dealt with, the marks on the body were not so easy to remove...
"grown ups!"
Sun Shaozong was just thinking about the case when the yamen runner who was leading the charge suddenly came on horseback to report: "Zhixian Su is not in the county office. I heard that he went home with his uncle's body!"
Brought the body home?
Sun Shaozong thought for a moment, then opened the curtain and ordered, "Go and call the head of the Wanping County Express Team, Jiang Laoqi."
The bailiff agreed, turned his horse around and rushed back to the Wanping County Court.
Soon, Jiang Laoqi [the man who appeared in the Yunshui Lane naked corpse case] was brought forward.
Through the curtains, Sun Shaozong ordered his runners to give a horse to Jiang Laoqi, and told him to accompany him and show the way to Su Xingfang's home.
Jiang Laoqi had been the foreman of Wanping County for more than ten years and had served under four county magistrates. Naturally, he was not a fool. So when he heard that the foreman was accompanying and showing the way instead of leading the way, he vaguely guessed that the master had something to ask him.
So he smiled apologetically, told Zhang Cheng the approximate route, then slowed down the horse and backed up to a position level with the car window.
Sure enough, after walking about a hundred steps, Sun Shaozong asked through the car window: "How is the relationship between Magistrate Su and his uncle on weekdays?"
"I'm fine!"
Jiang Laoqi smiled and said, "Grandpa was very respectful to Captain Cao. To be honest, Captain Cao's wife died two years ago, and he was alone without any children, so he simply moved to Grandpa's house to live."
At this point, he suddenly felt something was wrong - would his words make Lord Sun mistakenly think that the old man could not distinguish between public and private affairs and was seeking benefits for his relatives?
It doesn’t matter if Lord Sun misunderstood, but what if it gets to the Master’s ears?
So he hurriedly tried to make up for it: "But my master is a man who clearly distinguishes between public and private matters. No matter how much he respects Captain Cao, it is only after the court is over. On ordinary days, there is no room for error in the distinction between high and low."
"To be honest, it's a waste of talent for Captain Cao to work in our government office."
"In terms of martial arts , even a dozen constables in our county combined may not be his match."
"As for his talent, several clerks in the county all praised his writing skills. He is indeed worthy of being the uncle of the Jinshi master!"
After hearing what Jiang Laoqi said, Sun Shaozong was silent for a long while, and then he murmured: "In this case, Captain Cao is really wasting his talent."
After a pause, he asked again, "By the way, I heard that Magistrate Su is not in good health. I don't know if he can withstand the unexpected incident."
Jiang Laoqi was slightly stunned outside, then laughed and said, "Your Excellency may have heard it wrong. My grandfather has always been in good health. He has been in the county for more than two years and has never taken a sick leave!"
Always good bones...
Sun Shaozong chewed over these words twice and asked some trivial questions.
Jiang Laoqi answered as he walked. When he saw a place that was off the track, he suddenly pointed to the front and said, "Sir, the small courtyard in front is the residence of my great master!"
His voice was full of relief. He was obviously nervous because of Sun Shaozong's questioning, and he vaguely sensed that something was wrong, so he was eager to get out of it as soon as possible.
Therefore, after he finished speaking, he immediately rode his horse forward and rushed to report to Su Xingfang.
The carriage slowly stopped outside the gate of Su's mansion. Sun Shaozong jumped off the carriage and looked around, only to see that the village was not only remote but also very small. It had two entrances, front and back, but in terms of size it was not even as big as the courtyard where Sun Shaozong lived alone.
This is normal.
Su Xingfang was born in a poor family. After passing the imperial examination, he continued to serve as an official in the capital. If he had not accepted bribes lavishly, he would not have been able to accumulate much wealth.
Just as he took a look, Su Xingfang came out after hearing the news. He had changed his official robe into a plain outfit. He stood a few steps away and saluted, but his mouth was full of doubts: "Isn't Lord Sun investigating a case? Why did you come to my humble abode again?"
Sun Shaozong did not rush to return the greeting. Instead, he stepped forward and grabbed Su Xingfang's wrist. He lowered his head and carefully examined his fingers. Then he asked with a smile, "County Magistrate Su, why are there so many red marks on your fingers?"
"this……"
Su Xing showed a guilty look, shook his head and sighed, "When my mother heard that my uncle had met with an accident, she picked up the whisk that she usually used when worshipping Taoism and burning incense to beat me - I didn't dare to dodge, but my wife rushed over to stop me. I was afraid of hurting her, so I grabbed the whisk tightly and begged."
At this point, he spread out the five fingers of his right hand, generously showing the traces of red marks on them: "This is probably left from that time."
This guy had actually already prepared a way to deal with it!
It seems that it may not be so easy to catch him this time.
Sun Shaozong stared for a while, and when he saw Su Xingfang looking at him calmly, without any fear in his eyes, he let go of his wrist and said with a smile: "So that's how it is, Magistrate Su is really a filial son!"
There was a hint of sarcasm in his tone, but Su Xingfang seemed not to hear it. He shook his head and smiled bitterly, "Su acted recklessly and killed my uncle. How can I talk about filial piety?"
As he said this, he raised his hand and made way for the other party to enter: "This is not the place to talk. Please come in, Master Shaoqing."
