si-mexico Chapter 139 Acquaintance
Chapter 139 Acquaintance
Whether it was intuition or something, Luo Da walked over and opened the door. The smell was stronger, a bit smelly and nauseating.
He walked in, covering his nose and calling out "Old Lady Gao" twice tentatively. He felt something shaking above his head. He looked up and was so scared that he fell to the ground.
Old Mrs. Gao was hanging on the beam when two mice ran down from her body, squeaking and running away quickly.
Luo Da immediately crawled to find someone and notified the village chief Lin. He waited for the villagers to arrive and then put Mrs. Gao down.
After hearing about how the body was discovered and Gao Qi's unexplained disappearance, Shan Dajun also felt that Gao Qi was the most suspicious.
After examination by the coroner, it was determined that Mrs. Gao had been dead for more than three days, and Gao Qi had not left the village at that time.
Since Gao Qi was at home at the time, if Mrs. Gao was strangled to death, she would have struggled and made some noise. How could Gao Qi not know about it when they were only separated by a wall?
Therefore, the murderer of Old Mrs. Gao is most likely Gao Qi.
Village Chief Lin said that this time it was someone from Lu Xiucai's family who discovered that Old Mrs. Gao did not commit suicide, so Shan Dajun was not in a hurry to go back and report, but took people to look for Lu Chengjing and Shang Wan.
Unfortunately, Shang Wan went into the mountains, leaving only Lu Chengjing at home.
Lu Chengjing didn't let them into the wooden shed, but asked Xiaohuan to pour some water and talked at the long table outside.
Shan Dajun glanced at the half-built new house in the distance and said with a smile, "It looks like the new house is almost finished. Congratulations in advance on your new home."
"It will take some time to complete." Lu Chengjing said, "If you are free, you can come and have a drink."
This is a polite expression, just like a friend saying he will treat you to a meal some other day. As long as there is no specific time agreed upon, it is just a polite expression between adults and should not be taken seriously.
Besides, it would take at least an hour to get from the city to Yushu Village. They had no personal relationship with Shan Dajun, so there was no need for them to run so far just for a meal.
Lu Chengjing was waiting for Shan Dajun to decline, but he didn't expect him to agree so readily, which was really beyond Lu Chengjing's expectations.
He had discovered from several previous conversations that Shan Dajun seemed to be interested in getting close to their family.
It only takes a little thought to understand that Shan Dajun's attitude is probably related to Lord An.
The two exchanged a few polite words, but Lu Chengjing always disliked these, so he turned the topic back to the main topic.
Shan Dajun didn't like to talk nonsense either, so he asked, "I wonder how Madam Shang could tell that Old Lady Gao didn't commit suicide but died at the hands of someone else?"
Lu Chengjing had already thought of an excuse, and said slowly: "I like to read some miscellaneous books in my spare time. I have read about the difference between being strangled and hanging. After listening to my wife's description, I felt that something was wrong, so I went to ask the village doctor. After confirming it, I was sure that Mrs. Gao had indeed died at the hands of someone else, and then I told the village chief."
Shan Dajun was not a book lover, and of course he didn't have the money to spare, but he knew that some books did contain details related to autopsies.
Coroner Xu has several such books in his hands, which are well illustrated with text and pictures, so even a layman can understand them.
He easily believed Lu Chengjing's words and asked some other questions before taking his leave and leaving.
Because the cause of death was clear and Mrs. Gao's body had begun to stink, Shan Dajun did not take the body back to the county government office, but asked the villagers to bury it as soon as possible.
The money to buy the coffin was taken from the Gao family, and the villagers chipped in to make a simple funeral.
Gao Qi never appeared in the village again.
The county government had already determined that Gao Qi was a fugitive for fear of crime, and because they had not been able to catch him for a long time, they posted wanted notices throughout the city.
When Shang Wan went into the city to sell medicinal herbs, he met Qiao Yu'an's servant A Le at the city gate.
As soon as A Le saw Shang Wan, he kept praising the ointment she gave him. He was just going to Yushu Village to deliver a letter to Lu Chengjing, so it was a relief for him to meet Shang Wan.
Shang Wan put the letter away and drove the ox cart to a familiar drugstore. As soon as he stopped the cart, he saw a lady with a familiar face walking out of the drugstore.
It was the mother-in-law who gave the original owner a headache and fear when she saw her—Mrs. Lu.
Next to Mrs. Lu stood a young woman, wearing a crabapple-colored spring dress, with an oval face, a pair of thin curved eyebrows, delicate makeup, and a hint of pride between her eyebrows.
Two ruby hairpins were inserted diagonally on the bun, which complemented the ruby earrings on the earlobes, making her complexion rosy and her face look like a lotus.
This woman was also an acquaintance, she was Lu Chengyuan’s wife, Ms. Li.
The two main forces that bullied the original owner in Lu Mansion were Mrs. Lu and her.
The two of them were accompanied by a group of maids, some of whom were familiar faces.
The front of the drugstore was not big, and when Shang Wan was looking at the two of them, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law also saw her.
Mrs. Lu's brows immediately frowned in displeasure and the corners of her lips turned down, obviously she was extremely displeased with the original owner.
Li's expression didn't change much, and she even smiled a little more, as if she had a very good relationship with the original owner's sister-in-law.
The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law stopped, and the group of maids naturally stopped as well. Everyone's eyes fell on Shang Wan, obviously waiting for Shang Wan to take the initiative to come forward and say hello.
Shang Wan jumped off the ox cart and had no intention of talking to the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. He directly called the clerk from the drug store to move the medicinal materials on the cart.
She was a regular customer of the drugstore, and the shop assistants all recognized her face. Even without Shang Wan calling out, someone would come over to help.
The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were just left aside, watching Shang Wan treat them as air.
Mrs. Lu's face, which had originally been quite presentable, instantly turned ashen. She stared at Shang Wan with heavy eyes, and the displeasure in her eyes almost overflowed.
Li was a person who could read people's expressions. Even though she had many complaints about Mrs. Lu in her heart, she never showed it on her face and played the role of a good daughter-in-law to the fullest extent.
She pondered for a moment and took the initiative to greet Shang Wan: "Third sister-in-law, why don't you come forward to greet mother when you see her?"
Shang Wan turned a deaf ear to her and didn't even look at her. He stepped over the threshold of the pharmacy.
"Stop!" Madam Lu could no longer tolerate Shang Wan's disregard for her, and she sullenly scolded him, "Is this how you treat your elders?"
Shang Wan rolled her eyes secretly. She was already kicked out of the house, but she was still acting like a mother-in-law.
She turned her head and her eyes fell on Madam Lu. She looked her up and down lightly, and uttered two words with her red lips slightly parted: "Who are you?"
Upon hearing these two words, Mrs. Lu's face suddenly turned dark. She raised her finger and pointed at Shang Wan, her chest heaving up and down with anger.
Li quickly supported her and helped her calm down while staring at the bowl with disapproval, "Third sister-in-law, how can you talk to your mother like this?"
Shang Wan chuckled, "Mother? What kind of mother is she? She is not even on the same family tree. I don't have the habit of randomly recognizing my mother."
Li swallowed and looked at Shang Wan's delicate face in surprise. Is this still the woman who let her do whatever she wanted?