Chapter 161： The death of Qiu Lu

The maid who spoke was Xia Yu, one of the four great maidservants. Zhen Shicheng's attitude made her courageous and said: "The day before yesterday, the maidservant came into the house to wait for the wife, and unexpectedly found that Qiu Lu had red eyes, as if she had cried..."

"So, maybe Mrs. Bo has reprimanded Qiu Lu?" Zhen Shicheng guessed.

"Impossible!" Xie Qingyao was quite excited, "My mother has always treated them kindly, I have never seen my mother angry with them!"

Hearing what Xie Qingyao said, Xia Yu hurriedly lowered his head and dared not say anything.

Zhen Shicheng was rather helpless: "Xie girl, you'd better not intervene when the officer asks. Your emotions will affect them. There is nothing more important than finding out the truth at the moment, do you think it is?"

Xie Qingyao bit her lip, her eye circles gradually reddening.

Her mother died so miserably, she might still have a reputation for treating people harshly. How can she not be annoyed? But Master Zhen was right, the truth is the most important thing. Only the truth will stop outsiders' speculation about the mother.

"Xia Yu, do you think Mrs. Bo will scold Qiu Lu?" Zhen Shicheng asked again.

Xia Yu hesitated.

Zhen Shicheng glanced at Xie Qingyao.

Xie Qingyao knows, warmly said: "Xia Yu, as long as what you say is true, no one will blame you."

Xia Yu raised her head with a dazed expression: "Just as the eldest girl said, Madam has always treated us kindly and hardly spoke aloud to us. But the day before yesterday—"

Xia Yu hesitated for a moment, and said: "Looking at the appearance of Qiu Lu the day before yesterday, it seems that I was really being trained--"

"After you entered, did Mrs. Bo say anything to Qiu Lu?"

"Madam let Qiu Lu go down."

"How is the tone different from the past?"

"Madam was a little cold at the time, Qiu Lu lowered her head and hurried out."

Zhen Shicheng stroked his beard.

Will the big maid who has been reprimanded bitterly kill the master mistress? After the murder, he knew he could not escape the death penalty and threw himself into the lotus pond?

The female widow came to report: "My lord, there is sand in the deceased's mouth and nose. The preliminary judgment is that it is drowning, not falling into the water after death..."

Zhen Shicheng nodded and said to Uncle Yongchang: "At present, there are two possibilities, Qiu Lu throws himself into the water, or is pushed into the water. I think the lotus pond is not very far from the place where people live, if Qiu Lu is If someone is pushed into the water, someone calling for help should be heard."

"Who of you heard the movement in the garden last night?" Uncle Yong Chang asked the servants in the backyard.

At night, the door from the front yard to the back yard will be locked, and only the people in the back yard can hear the movement.

No one answered Yong Chang's words.

These people may have not heard the movement, or they may have heard it but do not want to cause trouble. Even the head of the household cannot pry everyone's mouth open.

"Master Zhen, if Qiu Lu was in a coma when she fell into the water, she wouldn't be able to call for help, right?" Jiang Si asked.

Zhen Shicheng glanced at the girl's wives.

The female widow said: "There are also sand and water weeds in the nails of the deceased. From this, it can be judged that the deceased has struggled after falling into the water. She should be sober at the time."

Jiang Si took a serious look at the girl.

The female widow is about the same age as her, with her black hair wrapped in a plain cloth towel, she is a delicate and neat girl.

Seeing Jiang Si coming over, the female widow smiled at her.

Jiang Si immediately liked Dasheng.

She admires all women who rely on their ability to feed themselves. Although Wuzuo is a lowly job in the eyes of the world, it is admirable for a girl to do so well.

Jiang Si smiled back.

It seems that the girl from the Xungui family did not expect the girl from the Xungui family to show her the strange look that she is used to, and after a moment, she is embarrassed and lowered her eyes.

"Who else is in Qiu Lu's family?"

"There is an old mother, a elder sister, and a younger sister." Guan Shi said.

The doorman suddenly said: "Yesterday, Qiulu's sister came to see Qiulu, and then Qiulu hurried out with her sister."

"Uh, how long will you be out?"

The doorman thought for a while and said: "It's just over half an hour, Qiu Lu is a family born, and their family lives in the alley north of Bofu."

"What's the difference when Qiu Lu comes back?"

"With a calm face, looking at the mood is not good." The door said.

"Since Qiu Lu is a family-born child, her siblings and sisters are working in the house, right?" Zhen Shicheng asked again.

The steward said in a hurry: "Qiu Lu's brother is a idler. He was too tired to do things in the mansion earlier. Her sister-in-law couldn't come out to work after three children. Her sister was a second-class maid in the mansion because of the old lady. I'm sick and take leave and go back to serve my old lady. Alas, Qiu Lu is the most prosperous of this family..."

Zhen Shicheng understood. It turned out that Qiu Lu's family depended on Qiu Lu for support.

"Uncle, ask someone to tell Qiu Lu's family to come over."

Before Uncle Yong Chang sent someone to shout, loud cries came from far and near.

"Qiu Lu, why did you leave cruelly?" A few people soon came to the front, and the crying loudest was a woman in her thirties.

The manager whispered to Zhen Shicheng: "That is Qiu Lu's sister-in-law."

"Uncle, Qiu Lu waited on Madam once, but she couldn't just leave so miserably." The woman cried at Uncle Yong Chang.

Uncle Yong Chang was frustrated when he heard this, and shouted, "Shut up!"

The people secretly shook their heads, and the one closest to the woman whispered: "Madam is dead."

The woman gave a shock, and looked at Uncle Yong Chang in shock.

She took the money to go out gambling early in the morning when she killed Qiandao. She was so busy taking care of the three children that she didn't even have the time to go out. If someone came to say that the sister-in-law was gone, she wouldn't know anything.

How come the madam is so good?

It's really unlucky. I thought that if Qiu Lu was gone, I could ask for some money from my wife, but now I have nothing...

"Sister Qiu Lu, what did Qiu Lu do when she went home yesterday?" Zhen Shicheng asked.

The woman looked at Zhen Shicheng.

"This is Lord Yin Zhen from Shuntian Mansion, you can say whatever your lord asks you!" Uncle Yong Chang said.

"Oh, how come your lord asks that? We Qiu Lu already—"

Zhen Shicheng is very experienced, knowing that he can't be polite to such a woman, and said with a straight face: "Mrs. Bo was killed by someone, and Qiu Lu was found dead in a lotus pond last night when it was supposed to be the night. If you don’t tell me carefully, then Qiu Lu is probably the murderer who killed Mrs. Uncle and committed suicide. By then—"

The woman was so frightened that her legs softened: "Oh, my lord, it is impossible for Qiu Lu to kill his wife. Yesterday... Yesterday the mother-in-law was not good enough, so the local woman asked Caizhu to come and find Qiu Lu back."

The woman said that she pulled the girl who was standing not far away, and pushed it to Zhen Shicheng: "Caizhu, you can tell this old man, is it true?"

The girl named Caizhu looked at her only thirteen or fourteen-year-old. Her eyes were flushed with tears at the corners of her eyes. She fell to the ground with such a push.

The girl did not cry out, nor did she rush to get up, but slightly raised her head to look at Zhen Shicheng, bit her lip and said: "My sister can't kill, she, she was forced to death by my brother and sister!"