Shang Yuanji took a long time to explain his family situation, and he paused for a moment before continuing to talk about this doubtful case.

Shang Yuanji said: "My lord, now I want to talk about the fact that my mother was killed. The day before yesterday, on the evening of the 22nd, I, my brother Chongming, who was not angry, sent a quick letter. And the letter only:

"The master's mother died of illness, and she replied immediately when she saw the letter."

Just these eight words! I was taken aback and had some doubts in my heart. Although my mother had asthma and sometimes had frequent attacks, how could she die out of thin air this time when there was absolutely no news of her illness beforehand? The gates were about to be closed, and even if I left the city, there would be no carriages or horses, so I had to wait until the morning of yesterday. Sir, guess what I saw when I got home? “

Nie Xiaoman didn't watch out for Shang Yuanji's sudden question, but he still couldn't help but replied lightly: "Could it be that your mother has already taken the funeral?" ”

Shang Yuanji looked directly at Xiao Man and said, "Yes, my lord, not only that. Even the shadow of the coffin is gone! They...... Before I went home, they had sent my mother's coffin to Yeshan Daoyuan early in the morning! ”

Nie Xiaoman's eyes turned a few times on the empty tea bowl on the side of the circle chair, and nodded slightly. Xiao Man replied, "Yes, it is indeed a bit unusual, but has your aunt ever given a reason?" ”

Shang Yuanji was so angry that he clenched his hands into fists, then shook his head again and again, and said, "There is no reason! For no reason! ...... Alas! My lord, I can't help but tell you this, when I knocked on the door, I waited at the door for a long time, and the one who came out to open the door was not the Chunlan who had served my mother for many years, but an old Jiangbei mother who I didn't know. The living room was empty, and there was no trace of a funeral except for the clutter of chairs and tables. I asked the old Jiangbei mother, and she only said a few irrelevant words, which made me baffled. I thought there was something wrong with the postcard and was about to run upstairs to my mother's room. Suddenly, my aunt poked her head out of the second room and peeked at me sneakily, and then she told me a whole lot of nonsense. At that time, I naturally wanted to inquire about the root cause, and her answer was really hateful! I pressed on, but she couldn't speak. ”

"What did she say?"

The scholar took another deep breath and shook his head again and again, but there were words in his mouth, as if his previous half-crazy state had returned.

"Alas. There is no reason for this...... She said...... She said that this was to save money, so she secretly mourned early in the morning. Master Nie, do you also know that there is a custom of secretly mourning here? ”

Jing Mo replied on behalf of Nie Xiaoman: "I know this, quietly carrying the coffin out in the morning can save all the expenses of pomp and circumstance, which is called a funeral." If it is to save money, there are many people who do this. ”

When Shang Yuanji heard this, he stared at Jing Mo's face, and replied angrily: "But my mother is not so poor!" I know that my mother had a lot of gold ornaments, and a jeweled hairpin, and some silver, and though I don't know how much it was, I must have had more than enough to take care of her funeral. But my aunt said that there was no at all, and then I went upstairs and saw that my mother's two suitcases had been opened, except for a 500 taels of shares from Chime Biologics and a bill of 1,000 taels from Hufu Money. ”

Shang Yuanji said this, and once again looked at Nie Xiaoman, as if he wanted to wait for Nie Xiaoman to give his judgment on this. Nie Xiaoman kept his eyes on the floor, as if admiring the early winter sunlight shining in from the window paper. Then he stood up and, as he had done many times, began to pace and count the tiles again.

After a while, he raised his head and asked, "So, do you mean that your mother was killed because of a dispute over family property?" ”

Shang Yuanji said loudly: "This is naturally a murder for money, Lord Nie, you say yes?" ”

Nie Xiaoman shook his head slowly and replied, "I think it's too early to draw conclusions now, I think if your aunt really wants to swallow the property, why not swallow the certificate of buying shares in the pharmacy together?" ”

"That can't be swallowed. The shareholding voucher of Chime Biologics Pharmacy can only withdraw some bonus interest, but cannot withdraw the share capital, and it is useless for her to swallow it. ”

"And what about the deposit notes?"

"That's also the death period, one is four hundred taels for three years, and the other is six hundred taels for five years, and taking it is equivalent to waste paper."

Nie Xiaoman lowered his head and groaned for a while, and then said, "So, how much your mother's jewelry is in total, do you know it?" ”

Shang Yuanji's small eyes widened suddenly, and he bit his lip again, revealing a hesitant look.

"I don't know how much it is worth after all, but I heard my mother say that that one jewel hairpin is worth a few hundred taels. There are also my father's expensive leather robes, which seem to be missing, but I haven't looked them closely. ”

Nie Xiaoman frowned, began to pace again, lowered his head, and the room suddenly became quiet again.

Shang Yuanji's actions are enough to show that his mind is not completely out of his unsound state. He hurriedly reached into the pocket of his coat and fumbled for a while, then suddenly opened one of his small eyes, revealing a look of horror, and shouted "Ouch! Ouch! ".

Then, Shang Yuanji's hand touched the left pocket of his middle coat again, and the horror on his face gradually receded. He pulled out a crumpled booklet bound on letterhead paper and flipped through it several times before he reached the page he was looking for. He brought the pamphlet four or five inches away from his little eyes, looked at it carefully, muttered at the corners of his mouth, and suddenly raised his right hand and patted it on his own forehead.

Shang Yuanji said to himself, "'Ouch! These are all ironclad evidence of murder, why can't I remember it at this moment? I'm thankful that I wrote about it all last night. ”

Jing Mo looked at this crazy scholar with some sympathy, and waited patiently, Shang Yuanji didn't know what to write in the booklet, but since he said to himself and Xiao Man, he should be able to explain his suspicions. However, he seemed to have forgotten the preface, and did not hand the pamphlet to Xiaoman.

Shang Yuanji sat down again and said, "My lord, let me tell you that after I returned home yesterday, I found all kinds of facts that are enough to confirm the murder of my mother. The first point is that they didn't wait for me to come back for funeral, they actually secretly made a funeral, and they held any secret funeral for no reason, and they didn't even let me see the coffin. ”

Nie Xiaoman replied lightly: "Well, you have already said this. ”

"The second point is that my mother's chest has been opened by them, and all the precious jewelry is gone."

Nie Xiaoman's impatient appearance gradually became irrepressible, Xiaoman's brows were tightly locked, and while listening to Shang Jiyuan's narration, he still nodded reluctantly.