Zhang Youli took the cloth ball, pinched it with bamboo tweezers, and carefully wiped it on the mouths and noses of the two corpses, which were stained with black soot and charcoal dust.

He cautiously asked Sun Ying: "Sun Yanzuo, it seems that it is enough to conclude that these two people were burned to death, right?" ”

Sun Ying shook her head slightly: "It's too arbitrary, if you want to judge whether a person is burned to death, it is not accurate to rely on the soot and charcoal dust on the mouth and nose and the burning of the eyelashes, but also to check whether there are wounds on the body, whether there are fatal injuries, when necessary, it is best to conduct an autopsy." ”

"Autopsy!" Zhang Youli exclaimed: "This, how can the family of the deceased agree?" If you are angry with your pretenses, you are afraid that you will," he wanted to say and stopped, and he himself felt that what he said was a little inappropriate.

"It is our duty to restore the real cause of death of the deceased and avenge the deceased." Sun Ying's face was pale: "I'm afraid of being blamed, how can I be a good person!" ”

Zhang Youli was distracted, and hurriedly responded: "Villain, I have been taught." ”

Sun Ying pursed her lips and carefully examined the heads, faces, and chests of the two corpses, which were prone to death, and found nothing wrong.

He Denglou said beside him: "After the fire was extinguished, I had already found Fang Zheng of Yongchongfang to come and identify them, and he recognized these two people as two little apprentices of Ning Shunxiang, the eldest one is called Wang Jin, eighteen years old, and the younger one is Song Sheng, twelve years old. I live there on weekdays," he said, reaching out to the west, and next to the coffin shop were two half-collapsed wings: "That's the coffin shop's workshop, and they usually live there." ”

Sun Ying nodded, turned to Zhang Youli and said, "Write it down, and then record the situation on the corpses," he paused slightly: "There are no wounds on the two corpses." ”

Zhang Youli hurriedly wrote the book.

The group continued to walk inside.

The two courtyards are not big, and they can only be regarded as one and a half, the front half is used as a coffin shop and workshop, and the innermost one lives Ning Shunxiang's wife and concubines.

The worst burning part of the whole mansion is this one in the courtyard.

The walls of the courtyard and the houses inside had been burned down, and although the fire had been extinguished, the smoke still swirled over the ruins.

The thick smoke made people breathe.

Inside the collapsed second gate, there were three ragged people huddled in the rubble, and one of them had already extended his arm to the threshold of the second gate.

The clothes and hair of the three people were burned out, their bodies were black, there was no good skin and flesh, and the eyebrows, eyes, mouths and noses on their faces were all pasted together, and they couldn't distinguish their appearances at all.

Zhang Youli was startled by the hideous appearance of the corpse, and hesitated for a long time before he endured the horror and stepped forward.

Sun Ying said solemnly: "If you do a job, what kind of corpse, what kind of case will be encountered, if you are afraid, don't do it!" ”

Hearing this, Zhang Youli couldn't help but straighten his back.

Sun Ying said slowly: "Such a burned corpse beyond recognition, can only judge the age from his teeth and bones. ”

Zhang Youli listened to Sun Ying's words and recorded them carefully.

Because all the clothes on the corpse were burned, and the corpse was burned beyond recognition, there were not many clues to deliberately identify them.

After Sun Ying carefully examined the three corpses, she said lightly: "The three deceased are all men, the one who is about to climb out of the second gate is about twenty-six to twenty-eight years old, the one leaning against the wall is about eighteen to twenty-two years old, and the innermost one is about twenty-three to twenty-five years old. ”

As she spoke, Sun Ying looked at He Denglou.

Last night, the coffin was paved with water, and all the old and young of the Ning family were spared, such a serious situation, after the fire was extinguished, He Denglou should have made a detailed inquiry, and knew the situation of everyone in the Ning family well.

He Denglou hurriedly took out the booklet and pointed to a few people on it: "Ning Shunxiang's eldest son is twenty-eight years old, the second son is twenty-five years old, the youngest son is seventeen years old, the coachman at home is twenty-six years old, the little servant next to Ning Shunxiang's second son is twenty years old, the little servant next to the youngest son is nineteen years old, there is a nephew who lives at home, he is twenty-two years old, the cook is twenty years old, and the other men are not very old in age." ”

Sun Ying knew that purely according to age, this kind of unrecognizable corpse could not be identified, and some other means were needed, but now was not the time.

He nodded slightly, and instructed Zhang Youli to record: "The three of them have soot and charcoal dust on their mouths and noses, their eyelashes are incomplete, and there are no external injuries on their bodies, and other conditions need to be investigated." ”

A few people walked all the way to the depths of the mansion, walked through the ruins, and roughly examined all the corpses, and everyone was in a heavy mood.

Although it is not possible to clearly identify the identity of each corpse for the time being, the number of corpses, including the number of men and women, can correspond to the number of the Ning family.

In other words, there are more than 30 people in the Ning family, ranging from the elderly in their sixties to the children of two or three years old, who may have fallen on this ruin.

It is said that fire and water are ruthless, and everywhere they go, they are full of sorrow.

But if they are destroyed at every turn, and not even a single relative is left, who will weep and weep for their deaths.

In just one night, more than 100 people died in Xiupingfang and Yongchongfang.

Such a desperate method is simply not something that ordinary murderers can do.

He Denglou can be sure that these murderers are just to kill the mouth and cover up the murder in the deserted house.

His face was gloomy, and his voice was difficult: "Sun Yanzuo, these deceased people still need to be carefully examined before they can be identified, right?" ”

Sun Ying nodded: "Yes, so we have to catch the head of Lao He and find a few people to help send these corpses to the Internal Security Division." ”

He Denglou naturally has nothing to do.

Sun Ying estimated the time required for the autopsy in her heart, and said slowly: "The results of the autopsy, I can sort them out tomorrow." ”

He Denglou's face was full of gloom, and he sighed long: "Such a tragic case, so many people died at once, I am a small head catcher, it is really difficult to make a decision, and I have already ordered someone to write to Lord Shaoyin." ”

Sun Ying also sighed with him, as soon as Lord Yin and Shaoyin of Jingzhao Mansion left, such a big thing happened in Beijing, and it was difficult enough to go upstairs.

Sun Ying looked at the dark sky: "After dawn, does He Zhutou have to search this ruins again?" ”

He Denglou nodded: "Naturally, I want it." ”

Sun Ying pondered: "In this case, He Zhutou has searched, and if he finds anything that is not easy to identify, he can come to the Department of Internal Health to find me." ”

He Denglou was overjoyed, and hurriedly saluted and thanked: "So, thank you Sun Cheng for doing it." ”

Sun Ying waved her hand heavily: "He Zhutou doesn't have to be polite, it's all for errands." ”

In this way, several officials pulled the cart, dragged the corpse, and followed Sun Ying out of the ruins and rushed to the Internal Guard.

As soon as Sun Ying turned his head and saw Zhang Youli standing on the edge of the ruins, he pursed his lips and shouted expressionlessly: "Zhang Youli, if you don't leave, who will give me a booklet for inspection?" ”

Zhang Youli was about to jump up happily, so he answered and hurriedly chased after him.

He Denglou smiled and shook his head, if Zhang Youli could learn a few tricks from Sun Ying, it would be more convenient for Jingzhao Mansion to handle cases in the future.

He thought of the two thorny cases in front of him again, and his heart suddenly became heavy.

He didn't do anything unreasonable, why did God torture him like this.

It seems that he is going to burn incense and worship the Buddha.

The sky was very dark, and the rolling mountains and forests became silhouettes, passing by quickly.

Yao Qi faced the heavy night, galloped non-stop, and finally arrived at Yuhua Mountain before dawn.

The tall and majestic mountain gate is hidden in the night, and it is not clear to see the gold painting on it, only a large suffocating shadow.

Dozens of Beiya forbidden troops camped at the foot of the mountain and took turns to be on duty.

From a distance, I saw someone riding a horse, and the two Ban Jianmo swords of the forbidden army on duty in front of the mountain gate were horizontal in front of him, and shouted: "What person! ”

The voice was extremely fierce and rough, and it was cold and awe-inspiring in the night.

"In the name of the envoy of the Department of Internal Guard, I came to Yuhua Mountain to deploy first." Yao Qi hurriedly flew off his horse and handed the waist card of the Internal Guard Division and Han Changdu's handwriting to the younger forbidden army.

The thick eyebrows and big eyes of the young forbidden soldier were the ones who stopped Yao Qi in a loud voice.

He glanced down, exchanged the two things to Yao Qi as if he was hot, and said with a smile: "It turned out to be the brother of the Internal Security Division, quick, please come in." ”

The slightly older forbidden soldier next to him stabbed him, and joked with a smile: "What brother, it's obviously a girl, you're blind." ”

The young forbidden army glanced at Yao Ji more, and suddenly realized, his face suddenly turned red, and he hurriedly confessed again and again: "The eyes are clumsy, the eyes are clumsy, the girl is not strange." ”

Yao Ji grinned greatly: "It's okay." ”

The older forbidden soldier also laughed: "The girl came overnight, it was very hard, hurry up the mountain to rest, there is still a lot of work to come." ”

As he spoke, he and the young forbidden army moved out of the way to the side, and added: "The brothers of the Internal Guard Division are stationed in the courtyard halfway up the mountainside," he raised his hand and pointed: "The girl will be able to see it in about two moments of work along this mountain road." ”

Yao Qiqing said thank you, turned over on the horse, and after entering the mountain gate, she took off a pouch and threw it backhanded, and said with a smile: "Brothers have worked hard all night, add tea money to you." ”

The two forbidden soldiers laughed in unison: "The girl is too polite. ”

Seeing Yao Qi walking away, the young forbidden army who had mistaken Yao Qi for a man before weighed the weight of his bag and laughed: "This internal guard is not as scary as the legend, it's quite generous." ”

The elder forbidden soldier next to him hurriedly made a silent action: "You didn't see her killing, it's scary." ”

The young forbidden soldier was surprised: "Have you seen it? ”

The elder forbidden soldier shook his head: "I haven't seen it." ”

"Then how do you know that her murderous appearance is terrifying?"

"I guess."

"You're amazing, how did you guess? Teach me. ”

"Didn't you see the knife on her waist? The smell of blood is heavy. ”

"Does she have a knife on her? Why didn't I see it. ”

The elder forbidden army was speechless: "......"

After entering the mountain gate of Yuhua Mountain, there are three mountain roads, and the mountain road in the middle is the most spacious and neat, which can accommodate the Luan of Emperor Yong'an to pass through, and leads straight to the palace on the top of the mountain.

This palace occupies a large area from the top of the mountain to the mountainside, the construction is particularly magnificent, in the summer months on Yuhua Mountain, in addition to the Yong'an Emperor, the emperor's relatives, the envoys of various countries live in the palace, the Yong'an Emperor will also give some courtyards in the palace to the important ministers to live, in order to show grace.

The two mountains on the left and right are slightly narrower, leading to the courtyards scattered all over Yuhua Mountain.

Most of these courtyards are located below the mountainside of Yuhua Mountain, and they vary in size and scenery, some are the courtyards of courtiers, and some are royal courtyards.

There are no courtyards on Yuhua Mountain, but those who are qualified to accompany them can borrow and live in these royal courtyards.

The location, size, and age of the royal annex are demarcated according to the grade of the borrower.

When Yao Qi arrived at the courtyard where the Internal Security Department was stationed, she saw a dark figure standing in the night, she turned over and dismounted, twisted the reins to the man, and said, "Quick, get me some water to drink, I'm dying of thirst." ”

Gu Chen tied the horse, shook his head helplessly and smiled: "Call me as soon as you come." ”

Yao Qi stopped and rolled his eyes: "I have no conscience, I'm here to help you, I almost fell off my horse when I ran, and I still have injuries on my body." ”

Gu Chen sneered: "Don't be funny, your little injury, is it a hurt to you, others don't know you, I don't know you yet?" ”

Yao Ji smiled noncommittally.

There was already an internal guard in the house who heard the movement, hurriedly poured a cup of tea, cooled it and handed it to Yao Qi.

Yao Qi thanked him and asked Gu Chen in a low voice: "How is it, have you received the Feinu summons, do you have a clue?" ”

Gu Chen pondered and said: "There are not many cooks on Yuhua Mountain now, Your Majesty has his own imperial kitchen, and the concubines and princesses also brought cooks, and other noble families are estimated to have brought useful cooks up the mountain, and those who can use cooks are nothing more than the forbidden army and the internal security department, as well as the palace attendants and palace maids." The cooks were already on the mountain, and there were twenty-four of them. ”

"That's not much!" Yao Qi snorted, squirted a sip of tea, and a pair of apricot eyes were round and bright, and his face was full of anger: "It's not much, what is it called too much!" ”

Gu Chen dodged: "Don't be excited, what's the matter, you want to eat people!" ”

Yao Qi raised his hand: "I'm going to beat someone again!" ”

Gu Chen hurriedly pressed Yao Qi's hand: "Okay, good, you are amazing, there are still six hours left before the saint drives to Yuhua Mountain, these twenty-four people say too much, and they say less and too little, you can tell me, how can you find out those two people as quickly as possible?" ”

Yao Qi pondered all the way when she came, and had an unformed plan in her heart, she thought for a moment, squinted her eyes and asked, "Where are they now?" ”

Gu Chen pouted at the back: "Behind is a big kitchen dedicated to cooking for the Beiya Forbidden Army, I got them all there, and there are internal guards outside." He paused slightly: "After receiving the Feinu message, I instructed the internal guards to carefully check the calluses on their hands, and there was no problem." They should all be old cooks. He looked at Yao Qi and said, "Ah Qi, you, could it be that you have misjudged?" ”

Yao Qi pursed his lips: "Old Gu, do you know that the cocoons on your hands can also be faked?" ”

“...... What do you mean? Gu Chen said blankly: "Can the calluses on your hands still be faked?" You make one and show me! ”

Yao Qi sighed and glanced at Gu Chen: "I don't believe it, anyway, it's not reliable to judge whether they are real chefs or fake chefs from the calluses on their hands, so I still want to find some other way to screen them." ”

"Something else." Gu Chen muttered: "Cook, the most skilled thing is not knife work and cooking skills, if it is a killer, knife skills must not be bad, but cooking skills may not be." ”

Hearing this, Yao Qi was like an initiation, and slapped the bookcase: "Old Gu, I'm hungry, can you ask one of them to make me a supper!" ”

Gu Chen glared and said, "One person, you are not afraid of dying!" ”

Yao Qi smiled indifferently: "All the meat and vegetables on this mountain have been delivered, right?" ”

Gu Chen nodded: "I sent it over at night, it's still fresh, what do you want to eat?" ”

Yao Ji folded his fingers and pondered for a moment, and smiled slyly: "Do you have a pen and paper?" ”

The internal guard quickly took the pen and paper, sharpened the ink, and placed it on the bookcase.

Yao Qiyang sprinkled, wrote twelve dishes on the paper, even the requirements were written in great detail, slowly dried the ink, and handed it to Gu Chen: "Aren't they twenty-four people, you let people make two lots for each of these twelve dishes, remember to write the requirements clearly, and then let them draw lots, cook according to the above requirements, remember to arrange for the internal guards to watch them, and tell them that the sage wants to choose a few cooks to come out, whether they can be favored by the sage, it depends on this dish." ”

Gu Chen instantly understood Yao Ji's intentions, raised his eyebrows and smiled: "If you are greedy, just say it directly, you are calling it a false holy decree, and you are going to lose your head." ”

Yao Qi smiled indifferently, she had done a lot of things to lose her head, and she didn't care about this one more, she smiled and said, "I'm afraid of losing my head, don't eat it for a while." ”

Gu Chen sighed: "If I don't eat it, I will lose my head with you, wouldn't it be a great loss for me." ”

Gu Chen did not fake this matter, but personally made twenty-four lots, took them to the backyard, stared at the twenty-four cooks and grabbed lots, and lined them up in front of the stove.

The one in the back is the public chef who cooks for the Beiya Forbidden Army, and a large stove room occupies most of the courtyard, and there are more than 30 eye stoves in it, which is enough for these people to show their strength.

The sound of washing vegetables and chopping vegetables resounded halfway up the mountain for a while, and the stove room was in full swing, the pale white smoke rose into the air, and the steaming heat spread in the yard.

He Zhenfu opened the door curtain and saw Yao Qi sitting and drinking tea, he laughed: "I saw smoke in the courtyard behind me from a distance, and I thought who set the house on fire, it turned out that you were here." ”

Yao Qi smiled "fluttering": "I said this, I came here to order a house." ”

He Zhenfu smiled heartily: "Say, what kind of tricks have you made again." ”

Yao Ji sighed: "I made some supper for the big guy, and I will serve it in a while, don't eat it if you have the ability." ”

He Zhenfu's face was about to burst into laughter: "I know that you have a lot of losses, and I am still worried about Gu Zongqi, you will have a way as soon as you come." ”

Yao Ji didn't have a relieved look on his face, and shook his head: "Not necessarily, since they have the courage to Li Dai Taozhuang, they must have made complete preparations, and the people sent here are only afraid that they are also people with advanced cooking skills, and this method may not work." ”

He Zhenfu was very optimistic, patted his thigh, and smiled easily: "It's okay, if you can eat a good meal, you can also earn it." He took a sip of tea and said: "You don't know, yesterday I rushed to Yuhua Mountain in one go, and I didn't even bother to eat, so I started to work. ”

Since leaving Beijing, Yao Qi's heart has always been a little unstable, and he always feels like something is going to happen, so he can't help but say: "I don't know what happened in Beijing." ”

He Zhenfu said: "Jingli, what can happen in Beijing, it's okay." Nothing is bigger now than the things on Yuhua Mountain. ”

The two of them looked at each other in unison, cheered up and said, "Let's go, go and see how those people are doing with their supper." ”

The stove room was filled with a large white expanse of heat, rolling like a sea of clouds, escaping out of the door.

With such a big smoke, it's no wonder He Zhenfu thought that the yard was on fire.

Walking into the big kitchen, I saw that these twenty-four people were all dressed decently, and the oil stains on the apron tied around their waists seemed to be slapping Yao Qi's face, saying that they were real chefs.

From their one-glance and extraordinarily methodical movements, it is indeed impossible to tell who is the real cook and who is the fake cook.

Some people are fast and have already put the vegetables in the pot, while some people are slow and are still struggling to cut the vegetables.

Yao Qi's heart sank, and she felt that things were getting more and more tricky, but she didn't show any clues on her face, and He Zhenfu and He Zhenfu walked behind everyone one after the other, stopping from time to time to take a look, smell the smell, and admire.

The two of them looked relaxed, but in fact, their hearts were so tense that they didn't even dare to blink their eyes, and they didn't let go of any clues.

"Zila" sound, the fresh meat was put into the pot, splashed a little oily, and fell on the back of one of the people's hands, the person's face did not change, as if he didn't know, the action did not even stop, the fresh meat turned out, and fell into the pot without a trace, and the mellow aroma overflowed.

He Zhenfu's gaze fell on the hand of the person beside the man, looked at it a few more times, and then walked forward.

Yuhua Mountain is much cooler than in the capital, but the stove room is extremely stuffy, ordinary people stand in it for a while, it is so hot that they are covered in sweat, not to mention that these people have to close to the stove, scorched by the raging flames, and the sweat has already soaked their clothes.

The smell of food, the smell of oil, and the smell of sweat are mixed, and the smell in this stove room is really not so good.

Yao Ji carefully examined everyone's expressions.

Most of them frowned and seemed extraordinarily nervous.

A few people looked relaxed and seemed to be confident.

There were also a few people who were a little far away from the stove, not knowing whether they were disgusted by the smell or afraid of the splashing of oily hot hands.

Yao Qi took a few extra glances at these people and made a note of their appearances.

Walking out of the stove room, Gu Chen greeted him and asked, "How is it, what do you see?" ”

Yao Qi said to those people: "What are those people called?" ”

Gu Chen and He Zhenfu flipped through the roster and circled on it.

Gu Chen said: "I have just instructed, prepare the dishes, and paste your name on the plate for screening." ”

Now it seemed that there was nothing to do, and the three of them went back to the front yard together and talked about the things on Yuhua Mountain.

He Zhenfu had just made a round trip on Yuhua Mountain, and said in a deep voice: "This mountain is too big, and the forbidden army can't deploy defenses in all places, so it can only be tightly guarded around the palace, and there will inevitably be loopholes in the deep mountains." Hunting is a common thing during the summer vacation, and if the saint wants to hunt in person this time, he is afraid, "He is not finished, but the meaning of the unfinished is well known to everyone."

Yao Qi and Gu Chen glanced at each other.

It's not the first time for the two of them to go to Yuhua Mountain, they are quite familiar with the situation here, and they also know that He Zhenfu is telling the truth.

Gu Chen condensed and said: "It can only be the day of the saint's hunting, and he will follow more forbidden troops." ”

Yao Qi faintly felt that the situation was critical, although the scope of the hunt was delineated in advance, the forbidden army would also carefully investigate first, and a large number of forbidden troops would patrol the mountains on the day of the hunt. But if there is a problem in the forbidden army, such a large mountain range, just find a place to cat, and people can be caught off guard and suffer a dark loss.

She didn't dare to think about the consequences of Emperor Yong'an suffering a secret loss, and when she thought about it, she felt that Xiang Shang's head was not guaranteed.

Emperor Yong'an is a person who will repay his eyes, and what he is best at is anger, if he suffers a secret loss, he is afraid that the forbidden army and the internal security department will not be able to fall well.

The first to bear the brunt of the bad luck are those of them who have no official position and no background.

Yao Qi was at a loss and said: "Open guns are easy to dodge and dark arrows are difficult to defend, relying on the protection of the forbidden army alone, it is inevitable that there will be omissions." The Praetorian Army cannot be counted on alone. ”

He Zhenfu said: "Then, the Internal Security Department is just such a person, who can you count on if you don't expect the forbidden army?" He looked at Yao Qi: "What other way does Ah Qi have?" ”

Yao Qi smiled quite self-knowingly: "Method, I don't have such a useful brain, other ways should let the envoy spend his brains." ”

Gu Chen and He Zhenfu snorted and smiled at each other.

I've never seen such an unmotivated person!

As he spoke, the guards came and went, and the twenty-four cooks had already made supper.

Gu Chen was overjoyed, and hurriedly ordered: "Let them come in one by one!" ”

The internal guard answered, and after a while, there was a bustling sound outside.

Gu Chen and the three of them smelled the fragrance of the vegetables, rubbing their hands, salivating.