Xiang Baotou took the dagger and stabbed it into the middle of the big drum. He slid it down slowly and stopped when it almost reached the end. Then he slid it up to the head.

As the drum head was cut open, a stench immediately rushed out, causing him to hold his nose and step back, and almost dropped his dagger to the ground. Others yelled and cursed, kept fanning their noses, and backed away far away.

Fei Butong and Fei Wudan had already hid under the platform. Instead, two little girls, Chuncan and Linghu Zhi, were hiding behind Qiu Wuhen and looking curiously. They pinched their noses with their hands and exhaled through their mouths.

It really stinks.

Linghu Zhi said to Qiu Wuhen, "Is there anyone dead inside?"

Qiu Wuhen didn't answer Linghu Zhi, but murmured in his heart, these two girls are so courageous. Most people can't hide from this kind of thing. It's better for them to hurry forward. If they see it later, they've already seen it.

The rotting corpse will definitely make them scream in fear. If I don’t explain it first, once they are frightened, they will naturally not dare to follow him like this next time.

He said to Mr. Xiang, "Give me the knife."

Mr. Xiang quickly handed him the knife and a lantern in his hand.

Qiu Wuhen held a lantern in one hand and a knife in the other and walked to the big drum. He made a horizontal cut in the center, forming a cross with the one made by Xiang Baotou just now, and then returned the knife to Xiang Baotou.

Then he grabbed the damaged drum head with his hands and gently opened it. Under the illumination of the lantern, the contents of the drum could be clearly seen.

As expected, it was the corpse of an adult man that was highly decomposed and had begun to liquefy.

The corpse was wearing an official robe, with patches on the chest, and a black gauze hat tilted on its head. The entire face was swollen like a pig's head, the eyes were bulging, and the tongue stuck out of the lips, filling the entire mouth.

A knotted rope was tightly tied around his neck. The rope had sunk deeply into the swollen neck muscles, and the rope was almost invisible.

Seeing this official robe, an idea flashed in Qiu Wuhen's head - could it be the missing chief clerk?

He immediately said to Mr. Xiang: "Come over and see if the person inside is your missing chief clerk. I see he is wearing an official robe."

Xiang Baotou was taken aback, covered his mouth with his sleeve, held his breath and stepped forward.

Qiu Wuhen pulled open the cut drum head, revealing a small piece, just enough to see Shidu's face.

Looking inside through the light of the lantern, Xiang Butou was so frightened that he screamed: "Oh my god, it really seems to be the master registrar. Why did he die here?"

Upon hearing this, several other detectives came over curiously and endured the disgusting and pungent smell of corpses to investigate.

A corpse was curled up there, swollen in a scary way. In fact, none of them could identify it as the chief clerk based on his appearance, but only the chief clerk had this official robe, and the most important thing was that he was the only official missing, so despite his appearance,

I can't recognize it, but I can basically conclude that it's the master register.

Qiu Wuhen said: "There are obvious signs of rope strangulation on the neck of the deceased, which proves that it was probably homicide. You should hurry up and notify the county magistrate. Dian Shi and the head catcher will come to see the scene and find the real culprit."

The moment Capt. Xiang saw the corpse just now, he was confused. He stood there blankly. After Qiu Wuhen's suggestion, he came back to his senses and quickly looked at the captors who were holding their noses and looking disgusted as they backed away.

Kuaiwe yelled: "Grandma, didn't you hear what you said? Why don't you hurry up and call someone?"

A group of police officers agreed and quickly ran to call for help.

Fei Wudan and Fei Butong didn't move closer in the first place, so they couldn't see the corpse very clearly. They just smelled the stench of the corpse from a distance and felt a little nauseous.

As for Linghu Zhi and Chun Can, who were behind Qiu Wuhen from the beginning, they could clearly see clearly that the two girls didn't vomit. They didn't know whether it was because they were frightened or because they didn't feel sick at all.

The magistrate is here, because the magistrate lives in the inner house of the Yamen.

And Dian Shi is a local, he lives in the city outside the Yamen, he has his own home, and the arrester is also the same, lying at home. He is relatively pitiful, because his buttocks were opened and bruised before, and he lay in bed to rest for several days.

I have been able to get out of bed these days, so I am still staying at home.

The county magistrate was the first to arrive after receiving the news. He had not yet fallen asleep and was handling official duties in his study. He was shocked when he heard that a dead man had been found in Deng Wengu, who was probably the chief clerk.

However, he still calmly changed into his official robe, and then, accompanied by several attendants, walked to the lobby.

Under the steps of the lobby, the magistrate saw his son Fei Wudan standing on the platform at a glance. He was stunned and said, "What are you doing here?"

"Let's play here!"

"What's there to do here? Go back quickly. It's freezing cold, and dead people were found here."

"It's fun to find dead people."

Although he said it was fun to find dead people, his voice was trembling.

In fact, he had wanted to leave for a long time, but several of his friends were here. It would be too shameful for him to leave, so he had to stay. But now that he saw his father and others coming, he suddenly became bolder.

Get up, of course you can't show yourself to be timid in front of everyone, and immediately look like you don't care.

The magistrate frowned and said, "Go back quickly, do you hear me?"

"I don't. I want to see if this dead man is the bookkeeper. Dad, please check quickly and leave me alone."

The magistrate was too doting on his only son. His son was not afraid of him at all, and he would not give him face in front of everyone. He knew that if he continued to dwell on this matter, the result would not be good and would only make him look worse. So he snorted.

Ignore him and walk towards the big drum.

As soon as I got close, I smelled the strong smell of corpses and stopped quickly.

Xiang Baotou hurried over and said, "Master."

"what happened?"

Xiang Baotou then briefly explained what happened. Fei Zhixian nodded and said, "Have Master Dianshi and Zuo Zuo come?"

"No, I've already called someone to notify you."

"Light a fire immediately. The case is serious and I want to investigate it personally."

Xiang Captou quickly agreed and ordered people to quickly place lanterns on the pillars to illuminate the lobby as bright as day. He also sent people to get a fire and put it under the table in the lobby, and surrounded it with screens to form a warm pavilion.

, so that the heat will not dissipate.

After setting up the arrangement, Fei Zhixian walked to the front of several cases and was stunned for a moment.

The desks were in a mess, the sign holder was overturned, the pen stand was crooked, and there were a few footprints on the table. He shouted angrily: "What's going on? Who did it?"

Fei Wutong, Chuncan, and Linghu Zhi almost didn't think about it. They raised their fingers and pointed at Fei Wudan at the same time: "It's him."

"Me?" Fei Wudan was stunned and pointed at his nose. When he saw the three people pleading towards him, he immediately puffed up his chest and said to his father with a righteous look:

"Yes, it's me. I stepped on the platform and made the mess. Because I heard a ghost screaming and got scared, so I ran to the platform."

When he heard that his son had done it, the magistrate lost his temper.

Although it was obvious that the footprints on the platform were of different sizes and could not be the son's alone, the fact that the son carried it down showed that he was still responsible and he did not want to deal with this matter anymore.
Chapter completed!