"That's right." Ye Meng walked back and forth, swaying the tassels and sachets she bought a few days ago. "It's that beggar. When we were exchanging money at another bank, that beggar also exchanged a silver note worth ten taels of silver.”
"However, at this moment, the owner of the counter said that the banknote was from the bank where the murder occurred. There was also the seal of that bank on it.”Ye Meng continued," I stopped the beggar and learned from him that he stole the banknote from an old man, who was an old servant of the bank.”
"Or rather, the person we met.”Ye Meng finally stopped and looked at Magistrate Zhang with a sharp gaze, her face full of pride.
"What do you mean by that?" Magistrate Zhang guessed something and quickly asked," Could it be that this person is not the real old servant?”
"That's right." Ye Meng snapped her fingers in the air at him, looking very handsome and free. "When we went to Doctor He's clinic for tea, we heard Doctor He mention something. He said that there is a possibility, and that is a disguise.”
As long as he had a human skin mask and good makeup skills, he would definitely be able to disguise himself as the original owner.
In addition, when she found out that the banknote was stolen from an old servant, she thought that although an old servant had worked in the bank for decades, it was still a job of sweeping the backyard. Presumably, the salary would not be very high.
Moreover, when he saw him, he was dressed simply. It was likely that he would not bring such a large amount of silver notes with him when he went out.
"So, at that time, I placed the spearhead of this case on the old servant, so I immediately decided to start investigating from the identity of the old servant.”Ye Meng said," Qi Lu and I made some inquiries that day and finally found the old servant's residence. We asked his neighbors about him.”
"The result didn't disappoint us.”Ye Meng couldn't help but clap her hands. She said excitedly," His neighbor said that this old man is usually a kind and amiable person. However, after he disappeared on the back mountain for two days half a year ago, he became a little different. You could say that he has become even more mysterious."”
"Missing for two days?" Magistrate Zhang suddenly interrupted," Where has he been these two days?”
"According to what he said at the time, he went to stay at his relative's house for two days.”Ye Meng replied," But everyone in the neighborhood knows that the old servant is actually a lonely old man and doesn't have any relatives at home. But it's his own business after all, so the neighbors didn't say much.”
"In other words, the identity of the old servant was changed in these two days?”Magistrate Zhang asked. He casually placed one hand on the table, but his hand was slightly clenched. His other hand was stroking his short beard, as if he was thinking about something.
"That's right." Ye Meng nodded." Not only that, but I also suspect that the old servant was killed at that time."”
"Killed?" Magistrate Zhang asked. However, he felt that it was a little stupid to ask this question. After all, if a person wanted to disguise as someone to do something evil, especially killing and robbing, he would definitely not choose to keep that person and leave trouble for himself.
Even an ordinary person could understand such a simple question, let alone a county magistrate like him.
As for why the murderer chose the old servant, it must be because he was alone and did not have any relatives, so it was much easier to disguise himself than others. In addition, he was responsible for sweeping the floor in the bank, so it was not too eye-catching and it was beneficial for him to explore the bank's terrain.
Moreover, as an old man, after an accident, the people in the government office would not associate him with it. He could avoid investigation. At the same time, he could use his loyalty as an excuse to clean up the money house on the surface, but in fact, he could take the opportunity to set up the scene to eliminate all clues.
This way, the government office could not find any clues, and it also provided him with more time and opportunities to transfer the money.
"He was killed." This time, Ye Meng did not mock him. She brushed her hair behind her ear and nodded." That night, Qi Lu and I will go to the back of the mountain that the neighbor mentioned. Maybe we can find the old servant's real body."”
"Did you find it in the end?" Magistrate Zhang asked with concern. Right now, he wanted to know where the corpse of the old servant was.
"Milord, the body has been found. I have sent someone to the morgue.”Qi Lu walked out from the side and said respectfully," We'll give him a proper burial after this case is closed.”
"Yes." Magistrate Zhang made a gesture to indicate that he already knew. He admired Ye Meng, who was standing in the middle of the front hall. Although she was only a woman, her talent and intelligence were completely higher than that of a normal seven-foot man. Even corpses from half a year ago could be found.
However, Ye Meng was lucky enough to find the body. For some reason, the murderer chose to bury the valuables not far from the body.
The place where the corpse was buried was in the dark. It had always been in a shady place, and the temperature was not high. In addition, it might have been buried in a hurry, so the corpse was not buried deep. Therefore, the degree of decay of the corpse was much lighter than under normal circumstances.
Seeing that the two of them had finished talking, Ye Meng looked at Magistrate Zhang, indicating that she wanted to continue, and said," However, we happened to meet the murderer who came up to transfer the money. After he left, we immediately went up and found the broken silver with the remnant seal of the money house. This is the evidence."
As he spoke, the bailiff at the side brought out a black wooden tray under Qi Lu's signal. It was covered with a clean white cloth. He lifted the white cloth and inside it was the silver that Ye Meng had brought back yesterday. There were whole pieces and some pieces. There was still some soil on it, and it was still a little wet.
Magistrate Zhang picked up a silver ingot and found that there was indeed a faint seal of the bank on it. It seemed that the money house had been robbed of its property.
"Is the witness the corpse of the real old servant lying there?”Magistrate Zhang put down the broken silver in his hand and gestured for the bailiffs dragging the wooden tray to leave. Then, he continued to ask Ye Meng.
"That's right." Ye Meng nodded. "However, the corpse of the old servant is not suitable to be moved and displayed in the front hall.”
"No worries." Magistrate Zhang waved his hand to indicate that it did not matter. Then, he turned his gaze to the real murderer lying on the ground. It was as if he wanted to see through the wrinkled human skin mask and asked,"How did you catch this person?"”
"Speaking of which, this is all thanks to Qi Lu.”Ye Meng gave Qi Lu an encouraging smile, which made Qi Lu feel a little flustered and his face turned slightly red.
"Oh? So it's Arrester Qi." Magistrate Zhang's tone was very calm, as if he did not find anything surprising. After all, only Qi Lu could catch him. "However, this is too rash. Alerting the enemy is one thing, but getting injured is not a good thing. You should come back and discuss with me and deploy your men before capturing them.”
"Yes, I am. We didn't expect to face him head-on.”Ye Meng was still a little scared when she recalled the scene. She had planned to find the target and then work with the people from the government office to catch the murderer. That way, the chances of success would be higher. However, she did not expect the murderer to run back halfway. Fortunately, Qi Lu still had the three silver needles in his hand to temporarily paralyze the murderer, so they were successfully arrested.
"So, have you found out the identity of this person?”Magistrate Zhang was still more concerned about the true identity of this person. He had a hunch that this murderer was not simple. He might even be a criminal wanted by the imperial court.
"Not yet." Ye Meng shook her head and said regretfully," But I've already invited Doctor He over.”This was because this person had never taken off the human skin mask in order to disguise himself more successfully. As time passed, the human skin mask seemed to have grown on his face, and it was very difficult to tear it off.
Coincidentally, He Tang had done some research in this area, so he quickly sent someone to invite him over.
At this moment, speak of the devil. Just as they were talking about this, a constable suddenly ran over and said that He Tang wanted to see him. Magistrate Zhang waved his hand to signal for him to bring the man in quickly. His wide, dark red sleeves shook slightly with a strong swing, looking very dignified.
"Greetings, Magistrate." He Tang was dressed in a light blue long robe and a thin gray coat. He rushed over with a square box on his back.
"No need for nonsense, Doctor He, quickly help him remove the human skin mask on his face.”Magistrate Zhang didn't stick to the formalities and quickly ordered.
He Tang also knew that he was anxious. He nodded slightly to him and put the box on his back on the ground. He knelt down beside the murderer and reached out to touch his face for a while.
After a long time, she roughly touched the place where the human skin mask was attached to his face. She took out some bottles from the box beside her and poured them on his face. Then, she carefully rubbed them. Finally, she took out a pair of tweezers and slowly reached for his back.
Magistrate Zhang and the others who were watching from the side were so nervous that they were sweating profusely. They all focused their attention on He Tang's slender and fair fingers. On the other hand, Ye Meng was curious. It was the first time she had seen such a human skin mask. She kept praising it in her heart. The methods of the ancient people were really too magical.
After an unknown period of time, He Tang finally got up. The tweezers in his hand were holding a thin human skin mask. There were some unknown stains and blood stains on it. It seemed to have been stained when it was separated. At this time, the murderer's face had some rotting pus, which looked extremely disgusting. Fortunately, it wasn't too serious. He could still recognize the basic facial features.
"This!" After Magistrate Zhang saw the appearance of this person, he was shocked and muttered something.
"Sir, what's wrong with this person?" Ye Meng looked at the murderer's face and didn't find anything strange. Could it be that he knew Magistrate Zhang?
"No." Magistrate Zhang patted his chest and said,"I don't know if I'm happy or excited now."”
Didn't they all mean the same thing? Ye Meng couldn't help but roll her eyes when she heard this.
"Ye Meng, do you know who this person is?”Magistrate Zhang suddenly called out her name, his tone mixed with some excitement.
"Who is it? Could he be the leader of some fugitive?”Ye Meng guessed.
"That's right." Magistrate Zhang nodded his head repeatedly." This person is the infamous thief who has been wanted by the imperial court for two years!”
This man was famous for his cruelty in both the imperial court and the martial world, because when he was active, no one survived the house he robbed. Moreover, because he had always been good at qinggong, he often disappeared without a trace after committing a crime. That was why he was called traceless.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。