Chapter 725 Su Xingfang (Part 2)
The Su family's living room is consistent inside and out, and is decorated very simply.
Of course, if we have to put it in a positive way, we can also describe it as "simple and elegant".
But these are not important, Sun Shaozong is not a Feng Shui master who looks at the house, the purpose of his visit this time is mainly to "look at people"!
Therefore, after the host and guest sat down, Sun Shaozong's eyes kept wandering around Su Xingfang's face.
Su Xingfang was calm and asked an old servant to serve tea. He then said calmly, "My Lord, since you have come to my humble abode, I should have made a bed to welcome you. Unfortunately, your Excellency has just met with an accident, so it is inconvenient for me to entertain you. If you have any instructions, please feel free to tell me."
Although he knew that Su Xingfang was a capable official with a broad mind and temperament, Sun Shaozong couldn't help but sigh inwardly when he saw that Su Xingfang remained so calm despite being under suspicion.
Why would such a young and promising official kill Daoyan and his disciples?
Could it be out of righteous indignation?
But if it was out of righteous indignation, why did he first send the body to the Dali Temple and then set up a trap to kill his own uncle?
It doesn’t make sense, it really doesn’t make sense!
Sun Shaozong was completely puzzled, but he looked confident. He reached out and fiddled with the teacup in front of him, making a series of tinkling sounds.
After a while, he suddenly said, "County Magistrate Su, I mentioned this on the way here, but I heard from Jiang Laoqi that you are in good health and have not taken sick leave in two years?"
“Cough cough cough…”
Su Xingfang coughed a few times at the right time, then shook his head and said, "Who can be free from disasters in life? I am just gritting my teeth and holding on. The officers below don't know the truth and think I am made of iron."
What a good Su Xingfang, he was able to shirk his responsibilities so perfectly!
"Su Zhixian, you are from Huai'an, Jiangsu, right?"
Seeing that he answered fluently without any flaws, Sun Shaozong asked more bluntly: "I heard that your place is close to Hongze Lake, but I don't know what the difference is between the water of Hongze Lake and the water of Shichahai in the capital?"
“This one.”
Su Xingfang really thought about it carefully, and then gave an answer: "Although both places have fresh water, Shichahai is enclosed in the city after all, so it is less fresh than Hongze Lake."
"More than that?"
Sun Shaozong leaned forward slightly, stared into Su Xingfang's eyes, and said word by word: "Although the water in Shichahai Lake is not fresh, it is much cooler than Hongze Lake - otherwise how could Lord Su catch a cold in the water?"
This is basically the manifestation of poverty!
Su Xingfang did not play it safe this time. His expression gradually turned cold. He looked into Sun Shaozong's eyes and asked, "What do you mean by that, Lord Sun? Are you doubting me?"
"Ha ha!"
Sun Shaozong laughed and leaned back in his chair. He flicked his finger on the teacup and asked again before the crisp sound of "ding" faded away, "I just thought that Magistrate Su was in high spirits recently and went to Shichahai for a winter swim, so he caught a cold. How can I suspect you?"
"Or..."
He raised his head again and looked at Su Xingfang with a hint of sarcasm: "Sir Su, besides winter swimming, did you do anything else? For example, you rowed a boat to carry the bodies of the two monks to the vicinity of our Dali Temple, and then escaped into the water?!"
"My Lord Shaoqing, you will understand."
Su Xingfang's face darkened completely. He stood up and waved his sleeves, saying, "This matter has been widely circulated for a long time. How could this county not know about it? If you blame me for this, I'm afraid you will be laughed at!"
"It's widely spread?"
Sun Shaozong sneered, and stood up, staring at Su Xingfang with a fierce look: "People outside only heard that the two monks floated to the Dali Temple with the current, but apart from me and the murderer, I'm afraid few people know that the murderer escaped by diving!"
"And I just mentioned the word winter swimming, and Lord Su reacted like this. I'm afraid it's not..."
"Sun Shaoqing!"
Su Xingfang suddenly raised his voice and said angrily: "Although I am only a sixth-rank official, I am also an official appointed by the court! If you have real evidence, just show it to me. I am willing to accept the blame!"
"But if you are just nitpicking, I am sorry that I cannot continue to defend you to the end!"
At this point, he was too lazy to care about serving tea and seeing off the guests, and directly said, "Someone, help me take Lord Shaoqing out!"
After the old servant outside responded, he turned around and bowed, saying, "I am in deep mourning, so I won't see you off!"
It seems that without the most important motive and evidence, it will not be easy to defeat Su Xingfang with words alone.
But Sun Shaozong came here not just to see living people!
Seeing the old servant enter the hall and wait to see him out, Sun Shaozong suddenly said, "Wait a minute, I have something else to ask you. I beg Magistrate Su to agree to it."
Su Xingfang didn't say anything, but just looked at him neither humbly nor arrogantly.
Sun Shaozong then continued to talk to himself: "Your uncle was attacked and killed, which must be related to the case of the corpse on the black-sailed boat. Therefore, after thinking it over, I still think that his body should be brought back to the government office for a thorough inspection."
“You dare!”
Before he finished speaking, a loud shout suddenly came from outside the door, and then an old lady rushed in, pointed at Sun Shaozong's nose and said, "If you dare to touch my brother, I will fight you!"
Judging from the look of her face, she must be Su Xingfang's mother.
Apparently, she had actually been eavesdropping outside the door just now, and she couldn't help but jump out when Sun Shaozong mentioned that he would take the body to the institute for inspection.
An old lady of such status would be extremely difficult to deal with if she was unreasonable.
Sun Shaozong naturally didn't want to argue with her, so he took two steps to the side and said to Su Xingfang, "County Magistrate Su, I am doing this for official business, I think you should understand - I will go ahead, and my Dali Temple servants will be waiting outside."
After saying this, he bowed slightly to the old lady and walked around her and left the living room.
"You bastard official! Don't even think about touching my brother's body!"
"Mother, mother, calm down first..."
"Get out of the way, I want to see that dog official..."
Tsk~
Su Xingfang's mother really has a hot temper.
Sun Shaozong shook his head subconsciously, but caught a glimpse of a woman holding a child out of the corner of his eye. Judging from her clothes, she must be Su Xingfang's wife and child.
The two parties were not close friends and they were at a distance from each other, so Sun Shaozong naturally would not rashly step forward to greet him. He just pretended he didn't see anything and followed the old servant out of the Su Mansion.
After arriving outside the gate, he ordered the accompanying yamen runners to stay and wait for the body to be transported back to the yamen, and then Sun Shaozong got on the carriage again.
In fact, when he was rushing to the county government office, he had not yet thought about transporting the body back.
But when he heard that Su Xingfang had brought the body home, he decided to bring the body back to the government office for inspection.
The reason...
Although it was common practice to bring the corpse home, three yamen runners in Wanping County died!
Based on Sun Shaozong's understanding of Su Xingfang, he should have suppressed his grief, taken care of the affairs of the other three people first, and then returned home to report the death.
Now he has returned with the corpse in a hurry, there must be something fishy going on!
Especially now there is no motive or evidence, and Su Xingfang is a difficult guy to deal with, so we can only hope to find some new clues from the corpse.
“Gee~!”
At this moment, Zhang Cheng whipped the horse and shouted, and the carriage started slowly and then began to accelerate.
At the same time, a wild dog came from nowhere and started barking wildly in front of the carriage.
etc!
When Sun Shaozong heard the barking of dogs, a thought suddenly popped into his mind: There seemed to be something wrong with the scene just now!
