Hanging is different from strangled bodies. The latter will have crossed rope marks on the back of the neck. Moreover, anyone strangled will have struggled violently before death. Even if there are no traces of being scratched by nails on the neck, there will definitely be other strangled bruises on the body. This was clearly stated in the Northern Song Dynasty's "Xi'an Jilu".

At the level of an ordinary coroner, it is not difficult to distinguish whether it is suicide or strangulation. Just read "Xiwen Lu" carefully.

Tang Fan was not very surprised by this result, because in his opinion, Zhang, the wife of the Li family, was a kind man with a harmless personality. People with this personality were generally patient and obedient, treated secular ethics as usual, and subconsciously abide by it. Before bringing the beautiful woman back, Li Man had two concubines, and he did not see Zhang treating them. Even if she was angry and sad, she would not have been able to hang herself because of this.

If you change your temperament to a more intense and extreme person, it is possible, or if you are like Zheng Sun, you will directly attack your husband.

Therefore, the possibility of Zhang committing suicide is not very high.

Since it was not suicide, we had to find the murderer, and the Li family had no choice but to take charge of this matter.

Tang Fan lives next door to the Li family, and he has to go over and take a look at it for both reason and reason.

However, this time he did not go alone like in the morning, but instead ordered Lao Wang and several yamen runners in the yamen, and went with him along with the procurator Du Jiang.

Zhang's body was parked in the middle of the Li family hall. The county magistrate and chief clerk of Wanping County were both there, and there were also coroners from the county next to it.

Wanping County is directly under Shuntian Prefecture. They also knew Tang Fan. When they saw Tang Fan coming, they all came up to greet him.

Tang Fan asked: "You two don't have to be too polite, how is the progress of things?"

The county magistrate of Wanping said: "The Li family said that no suspicious people entered their mistress's room that night. Only the two maids were watching outside. Now we have arrested them. Do you want to ask?"

Tang Fan said: "Where are them?"

The county magistrate of Wanping asked the two to come over. Achun and Axia were both weak women. Someone was watching behind him, so there was no need to tie him up. However, they looked listless, which was worse than when they saw him in the morning.

The county magistrate Wanping briefly explained the content of his cross-examination. In fact, Tang Fan had asked the same content a long time ago, and it sounded like nothing new at this time.

Li Man watched coldly for a long time, and finally couldn't help but step forward and said angrily: "Mr. Tang is so arrogant that his family is in chaos. Since he can't find out anything, why not let me organize the funeral for Zhujing first, so that she can be buried as soon as possible!"

The Wanping County Magistrate shouted: "Don't be rude to the people. Now that a murder case has occurred, it is no longer your family's business. Zhang's body should be taken over by the government until the truth is revealed!"

Li Man sneered: "I am also very sad when my inner man died, but I just stopped him from letting him hold the funeral! You guys are bullying me, everyone in the Li family. I think my grandfather was also a third-rank minister. There are still one or two old masters in the court. If I sued him for this, I am afraid that you will be in trouble and leave!"

The Wanping County Magistrate and the Chief Clerk were both dissatisfied with a businessman's daring to threaten them, but they were unable to determine whether what Li Man said was true or false, so they all looked at Tang Fan. After all, among the three, Tang Fan had the highest official position, so naturally he had to follow his leader.

Tang Fan smiled: "I don't know which old senior you are talking about is. You might as well listen. Maybe I will know you just right!"

Li Man paused and then asked softly: "Sir, the villain is not making trouble on purpose, but it is just as hot today, and it is difficult to store the body. My inner person helped me with housework for decades, and there is no credit and hard work. Investigating the case is the adult's business and has nothing to do with the villain. I just hope she can be buried as soon as possible so as not to die in peace in the nine fountains. The dead are the most important. This is also a matter of course. I believe that the adults can understand it?"

Before Tang Fan could respond, he said again: "The villain has a lot of information, so please let Lord Tang talk."

Li Man looked at Tang Fan with anticipation, and the latter nodded: "Yes, let's lead the way."

Li Man took Tang Fan to the next room, and without saying a word, he knelt down with a plop!

"There is actually another hidden story about Zhu Jing's death. There is a silhouette of paper here. Please read it!"

He put on the stacked paper with both hands.

Tang Fan took it, but felt a heavy weight in his hand. When he opened it again, he saw that there were dozens of Huitong silver notes in the middle of the layers of white paper, some of which were 100 taels and some of which were fifty taels. The total number was at least about 2,000 taels.

You should know that at this time, you can buy rice with more than two stones of rice with only one tael of silver. Two thousand taels is equivalent to buying rice with more than four thousand stones. For second-rank officials like the Six Ministers of the Shangshu, only sixty-one stones per month.

But there are poor people, there are rich people. For a relatively successful businessman like Li Man, two thousand taels are not an unbearable number. Before, Feng Qingzi wanted to redeem himself, he had to ask for five thousand taels. The madam in Huanyilou was not a lion. For a real rich man, five thousand taels are also a small meaning.

However, compared with the court officials with very low salary, these more than 2,000 taels are really a huge amount.

Tang Fan held the silver notes and smiled: "Why, are you going to bribe?"

"How dare you!" Li Man hurriedly bowed, "I heard from Old Li that the Li family has been taken care of by Lord Tang for many years, and she was grateful and couldn't repay her. So she was a little bit of a word and didn't give her respect. I hope she would accept it with a smile."

Tang Fan weighed the silver notes: "Do you hope this case will not be investigated?"

Li Man smiled bitterly and said, "Zhujing's death is also heartbroken. If the adults want to investigate the case, they naturally dare not stop him. They just hope that our family can live a safe birthday for a few days. If the adults come to the door every few days, not only will the funeral not be completed, but the servants are also worried and have no intention of doing things!"

Tang Fan nodded and took the silver note into his arms: "I understand what you mean."

After saying that, he turned around and walked out first.

Seeing that he had accepted the silver notes, Li Man naturally knew that the matter was done. He was overjoyed and hurriedly followed.

But Tang Fan and the other two returned to the hall, and the Wanping County Magistrate and the chief clerk both came up and asked him about his opinion: "Sir, should you investigate this case or not?"

Tang Fan asked strangely: "Check it out, why not? Even the murderer is there. Are you planning to let the real murderer go to justice?"

The Wanping County Magistrate and the Chief Corner both were shocked: "Where is the real murderer?"

Tang Fan pointed at Li Man and said, "Isn't this the real murderer?"

Before Li Man could speak, he shouted again: "Come on, tie him up!"

He took people from Shuntian Mansion, so he didn't bother the Wanping County Magistrate and the others to take action. After hearing Tang Fan's order, Lao Wang and the others immediately responded to the promise, strode forward, pulled Li Man back with both hands, and tied the rope tightly.

"You! How dare you wrongly accuse a good person? I will sue you! I will sue you!" Li Man didn't expect that Tang Fan would turn against him. He was shocked and angry, and struggled desperately.

Tang Fan raised his eyebrows: "I am wronged by a good person? It may not be enough. You can even make a wife, why are you still calling a good person? If you don't accept it, it's okay. Don't be impatient, and let me tell you one by one."

He turned to Achun and asked, "Is the jade earrings I gave you that day still there?"

A Chun said: "I'm here, I'll put it back to my wife's makeup box."

Tang Fan: "You go and take it out."

Achun should have stood up and brought the whole makeup box over: "Master Tang, right in the last grid."

Tang Fan opened the last frame and found the lotus jade earrings inside.

He signaled Achun to put down the box and took out the same earrings from his arms.

Achun exclaimed: "Sir, have you found another one?"

Tang Fan nodded and raised the jade earrings: "This other pendant was found under the bed in your wife's room."

Tang Fan asked: "On weekdays, have you ever been chasing and playing in your wife's house?"

Achun said: "Of course it's never been done. Although the wife is kind-hearted, there is a difference between master and servant. If the rules are placed there, we can't be presumptuous."

Tang Fan asked again: "Then your wife will have the habit of dancing hands and feet or getting up and traveling at night when she sleeps."

Achun replied, "That's even more unprecedented. The wife's sleeping looks good. Sometimes she never even turned over for a whole night."

Tang Fan said: "I'll ask you again. You said before, in the middle of the night, you once went into the house to close the window, right?"

Ah Chun said: "Yes."

Tang Fan asked: "Have you ever entered the inner room at that time?"

Achun said: "No, I only closed the window outside at that time. Axia went to check the inner room."

Tang Fan asked Axia again: "So have you ever seen any abnormality when you entered the inner room?"

Axia said: "No, no, the wife turned her back to me at that time, covered with a quilt, and she looked very sleeping. I didn't come up to see her, for fear of disturbing her."

Tang Fan asked: "Have you ever looked under the bed?"

Axia shook her head: "The bed is covered with sheets, and usually it will be lifted up to clean the bottom of the bed only when cleaning."

Tang Fan said: "A woman sleeps in her boudoir and has a very good sleeping look. If she accidentally leaves the pendant next to the pillow, how can she fall deep into the bottom of the bed for no reason? There are only two explanations. Your wife's earrings were not accidentally left behind by herself, but were strangled by someone's neck. Because of the violent struggle, the pendant was thrown out of her ears, fell to the ground, and was accidentally kicked under the bed by the murderer!"

A Chun's face turned pale: "Is that the murderer under the bed at that time?"

Tang Fan: "No, when you went in and closed the window, the murderer jumped out of the window and ran away. If I was not wrong, you were just looking out of the window, but forgot to look at the bushes under the window?"

Achun said: "Yes, yes, I glanced into the garden at that time, and then heard the cat moaning, and thought it was because I forgot to close the window before, causing the wild cat to run in..."

Li Man shouted: "I have been with Zhuo Jing for decades, and I have a deep love for her. She is virtuous and kind. Why do I want to kill her?! You mediocre official, based on these false speculations, you casually concluded that I was the murderer. I will go to the Ministry of Justice to seek justice with Dali Temple. Don't bully me, the Li family is no one!"

Tang Fan said lightly: "Although you and Zhang have been married for dozens of years, you are indeed in love with each other. But because time has changed, from thick to weak, you began to regret spending all your family fortunes for her, giving up the future of the imperial examination, marrying such a wife who cannot give birth to a child, and having a young and beautiful concubine encouraged her, and she wanted to divorce her and marry another newcomer. But because there are some officials in Zhang's family, you are afraid that you will not be able to divorce your wife, but instead make enemies with the Zhang family, so you will not do it and have a bad idea. You will start to take the initiative and kill her, right?"

Li Man sneered: "No! Of course not! You swear to others! When Zhang died, I was obviously in another place and just rushed back today. Since I was not here, how can I kill someone?"

Tang Fan looked at him coldly: "If you have the courage to do it, don't have the courage to admit it. Don't you know yet? The sole of your right foot has exposed you."

His words made everyone look at Li Man's shoes, and even he himself couldn't help but look down.

Lao Wang bent down, took off Li Man's right shoe and handed it to Tang Fan.

Tang Fan turned the shoes over: "You are right. You did come back from another place, but you didn't come back today. You should have been a few days in advance to create evidence of absenteeism to avoid the suspicion of killing your wife, but these shoes betray you."

Before Li Man could speak, he said again: "You are afraid of leaving marks or footprints when sneaking home and killing people, so you deliberately wiped your shoes clean in advance. Unfortunately, this is wrong! You traveled thousands of miles and the soles should be very dirty, but why are yours clean? Could it be that you have been traveling so many days and finally got home but are not in a hurry to go home, but instead find a place to polish your shoes first?!"

Tang Fan smiled slightly: "Also, when you jumped into the window and ran away, you accidentally made a sound, and you were worried that Ah Chun and the others would be found when they went in. In desperation, they jumped into the window, but they rubbed their heels against the wall of the windowsill. I've already seen the trace, which is exactly the same as the wear on your shoes!"

He threw his shoes on the ground, sat on the chair, pointed to Zhang's coffin and said, "After that! Tell me why you did this in front of your wife. She has married you for decades, and even if she can't give birth, she has already done her best to do her virtuous things. Not only do you do housework for you, but you can't help but take concubines and have children. You treat your concubines as your own son. Although the world has a lot of constraints on women, there are very few people in the world who can truly do as much as your wife!"

Tang Fan's face darkened and he said sternly: "What are you not satisfied with? You are going to kill your wife?! Are you still human?"

At this point, denying it is useless. Li Man looked wooden and after a while, he finally said, "Do you think I want it? When she married me, she was eighteen and twenty. They were like each other and had a good marriage that others could not even envy."

"At the age of 30, her mother's family suffered a disaster and needed a large sum of money. None of her brothers and sisters could be reliable. At that time, I was still studying hard, and the savings in the family were all from the ancestral property. In order to help her family overcome difficulties, I gritted my teeth and sold the property and gave it to her. I had to give up the imperial examination for this, use the remaining savings as capital, and change it to business, which gradually improved my family's background."
Chapter completed!