Chapter 9 The scene of the murder

But he said that Qin Wei returned to the camp this day and was sullen. How could he meet such a woman as Hua Yun? Zhou Ke came to ask about the situation in the camp and replied that the body was found in the wilderness of the western town, and Zhou Ke took people to investigate the scene.

It is said that Zhou Ke went to the scene and was shocked to see the body. It turned out that the deceased was not someone else. It was the merchant who could see the little Mozi of the rich Ma Haiqing's family in the restaurant a few days ago. However, today, he is not dressed as a merchant, just a robe, which looks more like a literati.

Zhou Ke first asked about the situation. When a passerby took a shortcut and walked through the wilderness, he found a man lying on the ground, covered with blood. He tried his breath and died, so he reported the case in panic. Judging from the scene, there was no trace of fighting or dragging the body. It should be the first scene. The body was only stabbed in the critical part of the abdomen. The knife was deeply determined to be stabbed in the front of the body at a short distance and died with a knife. The murderer should be a professional person and familiar with the deceased. The killing time should be around the early morning. Zhou Ke asked the people around him. There were no witnesses and no one knew the identity of this person, so he had to send someone to investigate first. He also gave the same instructions to Qin Wei and gave him full responsibility.

Soon his identity was proved to be Hong Yi, a painter who once lived here specializing in landscape painting. He moved here ten years ago, but no one knew where he was going. He just returned ten days ago. Zhou Ke's heart thumped, and the first thing in his mind was Xiao Mozi. Is this related to him? Then we have to go to Ma Dashan's house.

Zhou Ke came to Mafu. The Zhuangyuan was very simple, and there were few subordinates. According to Ma Dashan, most of his wealth should be returned to the public, so as to make a modest contribution to the country. Zhou Ke met Ma Haiqing and asked about Hong Yi after greeting him. Ma Haiqing thought about it for a long time, and then said that he was a former landscape painter. He has been away from here for several years and has never seen him. Zhou Ke said, "This person was killed around early this morning." Ma Haiqing was stunned and sorry, but at the same time asked, "What does Vice Adjutant Zhou mean? Is it that I have anything to do with this murder?" Zhou Ke replied, "The great good man misunderstood, just because he met the little Mozi of the good family and the deceased Hong Yi at the end of a few days ago, so he wanted to inquire about the situation." Ma Haiqing said, "So it is. I will order someone to call him, and Vice Admiral Zhou can ask him face to face." So good!"

After a while, Mozi came to the hall, saluted and stood aside.

Zhou Ke asked, "Xiao Mozi, do you recognize Hong Yi?"

"Hong Yi? Oh... I know, I saw it a few days ago."

"Where do we meet?"

"In the welcome restaurant."

"Why did we meet?"

"Oh, that's right. Hongyi painted a landscape painting and wanted to sell it at a good price. He knew that the local family belonged to our rich family, so he asked someone to go out and wanted me to deal with it. However, I thought that the master was usually alone in national affairs and the suffering of the people, and how could he spend extra money to buy these decorations, so I refused. Because I felt nothing, I didn't report to the master when I came back. What? Did Hong Yi find the camp?

"No, he was killed this morning!"

"Ah!!!" Xiao Mozi's mouth didn't close for a long time, and he was surprised.

"In this way, Zhou can leave first. If you have any questions, please cooperate with Ma Dashanren and Xiao Mozi!"

"This is natural! Deputy General Zhou, walk slowly, come to someone, and bring it up!" With that, the servants brought up some silver. Ma Haiqing said, "It has been hard for the vice general to kill the enemy, and now he is worried about the case. Although he is helpful, he is not strong enough. In the future, he can only send someone to order it. This is a little care. Please accept Vice General Zhou!" Zhou Ke politely retreated but also accepted it. This is also a practice in officialdom. Zhou Ke has benefited from Ma Haiqing many times, and this time is no exception.

After saying goodbye to Ma Haiqing, Zhou Ke tasted Ma Haiqing and Xiao Mozi's words while walking, which seemed reasonable, but he always felt that there was something wrong, but he couldn't say it. After leaving Ma's house, he did not immediately return to Yingzhai, but found Hong Yi's home and wanted to see if he could find something.

When entering the house, the room is extremely simple, with a bed, a bookshelf, and a pair of tables and chairs. The objects are also placed very neatly, with no trace of fighting. Zhou Ke came to the desk with a landscape painting on it. Zhou Ke remembered that Xiao Mozi once said that Hong Yi came to him to sell a landscape painting. If he didn't sell it, it should be this one, so he looked at it with great interest. It was just a good landscape painting, but he didn't find anything strange. Zhou Ke went to the bookshelf and looked through it for a while. Suddenly, an idea flashed and he looked around. He also looked around in the trash can, but there was nothing. How can a writer who specializes in landscape painting have only this work? Is it really because it was not long after I came back?

With doubt, Zhou Ke turned over all the books on the bookshelf and finally found a folded ink landscape that was used as a bookmark in a book. Zhou Ke opened this ink landscape and compared it with the landscape picture on the table. Although Zhou Ke is a general, he is very prolable in calligraphy. Although there is a similar style in calligraphy, everyone must write a little difference. Since ancient calligraphy and painting, the painting should be the same. In Zhou Ke's layper's view, the two paintings are right. The treatment method of landscape is still different. When he went back, Zhou Ke ordered his men and soldiers to go several ways, some to find Hongyi's previous works, some were responsible for collecting representative landscape maps of all local painters, and entrusted three experts from other places to compare. These three things are carried out secretly at the same time, and the collection of paintings is also carried out by ordinary people.

After all of them have been collected, experts have also come from other places. Zhou Ke asked him to carefully compare all the landscape paintings. The three experts agreed that the one found on Hongyi's table was not by himself, but by He Tian in the city. Zhou Ke thanked the expert and immediately came back to He Tian. Unexpectedly, He Tian disappeared! Time coincides with the time when he ordered his men to collect paintings. Is someone monitoring his every move? Or did some of his men leak the wind? Otherwise, how can He Tian disappear for no reason at this moment?

Since I learned that someone asked He Tian to draw a landscape map, how can I explain that Hong Yi is a master of painting? Why do I need to ask others to help draw a landscape and sell it for money? Now that this picture is found in Hongyi's home, it should be that the murderer sneaked into his home and put it down. The only explanation is that the confession does not arouse suspicion. In this way, the biggest suspect is Xiao Mozi. Because only he said that he had seen this landscape painting, and Hong Yi took the initiative to find him. But the two met for a very short time that day. Why did Hong Yi deliberately pretend to be a customer to hide his eyes and ears?

Zhou Ke immediately rode to the Mafu to see Xiao Mozi. But it happened that Xiao Mozi went out. Zhou Ke had an ominous feeling. When he returned to the camp and ordered his men to find Xiao Mozi, someone came to report that Xiao Mozi's body was found and died in the back mountain, which was also killed by a knife at close range. After investigation, he found that Xiao Mozi wrote a word "one" with blood on his right finger. Was it not finished, or was this the message of death? What does he want to write? The name of the murderer? Or other hints? How to find out the number of words starting with "one"?

The case is even more complicated. The only thing we can do now is to find He Tian. But what if the person he met was just a little Mozi?