Proofread by Fu Tianying
At night, it was not quiet in Tian Family. The lamp of Tian Ronghua"s study stayed on all night, and on his desk were piles of account books.
After going back to his room, the thirsty housekeeper poured a gla.s.s of water for himself, while he got unbearable abdominal pain before he tasted it. Beyond that, he felt his tongue was numb, his heartbeat was fierce and his head was a little dizzy, so he wanted to call someone for help, but his voice was low and hoa.r.s.e because his lips were numb, too. How could that be? Sick, or......
A terrible thought came to the housekeeper"s mind, but he didn"t want to believe it because he thought that the lord had always regarded him as brother, who would never hurt him. Thinking of that, the housekeeper struggled towards outside, hoping to ask for help as he went out. His stomach was so painful that he could not stand up straight, instead, he could only bend his body to endure the pain, struggling towards the door. He almost knelt on the ground as he approached the door, but fortunately he touched the door. He wanted to push it, but the door was locked outside. The housekeeper continued to push hard and shouted, "My lord, help me....." until he used up the last strength and fell to the ground, and died with eyes open.
The next morning, Tian Ronghua sat in the hall, whose face was pale. He waited for a while but the housekeeper was not seen coming, so he sent a young servant for a look. After a while, the servant ran and rolled in, shouting, "My lord, something very bad happened, seriously."
"What"s the matter? Why are you so hurried?" Tian Ronghua looked at the servant and said with confusion and blame.
"The, the housekeeper, died." Said the servant, pale and alarmed. "I went to his room, only to find him lying on the ground after I pushed open the door. I checked him, and he, he was dead, with his eyes unclosed."
"What!" Hearing that, Tian Ronghua stood up and ran towards the room of the housekeeper. A group of servants followed him, so the Tian Family was in a mess.
Running to the room of the housekeeper, he found that the door was open and the housekeeper was lying on the ground without any breath. Tian Ronghua bent down his body to see that the housekeeper"s face was hideous, which showed that he must have been very painful and he didn"t close his eyes.
Tian Ronghua closed the housekeeper"s eyes gently by his fingers. His eyes were finally closed. Then he held him up to the bed, with tears rolling down.
"Housekeeper." Tian Fugui rushed in hurriedly, seeing that his brother was sitting at the bed and the housekeeper was lying on the bed.
"Brother, our housekeeper, is he...... no, he was good yesterday and he talked to me." Tian Fugui realized that the housekeeper was dead when he saw the scene, and he could do nothing but cry. The housekeeper and his elder brother were similar in age. During the childhood, his elder brother was so busy that he was cared by the housekeeper. Then when they grew older, the housekeeper often gave him food as he was punished to take absolute diet. In his heart, the housekeeper was like a kind elders.h.i.+p. How it came that he died suddenly.
"Call the government." Said Tian Ronghua as he stood up.
A servant ran to the government quickly as he heard it.
"Brother, we must make it clear why our housekeeper was dead. But, please do not be too sad. We need you to deal with so many issues at home." Tian Fugui was sorry for the death of the housekeeper, while he also had a pity on his brother who was so haggard.
"I will deal with the issue of the housekeeper, and you just focus on yours." Tian Ronghua neglected his own study for the whole family, so he hoped that his younger brother could be interested in learning and could eventually win an official rank, so as to bring glory to their ancestors.
They two went back to the hall. They asked the servants whether there was something abnormal with the housekeeper; and meanwhile, they were waiting for people sent by the government.
Inside the government, the Magistrate Liu kept turning around in the room with the handwritten paper sent by the TongPan (name of an official rank). He didn"t expect that the Tong Pan came to know the case soon. Although the Tong Pan didn"t ask him to release Hu Chunqiu directly, it was quite clear that he wanted Liu to cover up the whole issue. How could it be easy to cover up such a case with full evidence! Since the Ma Family was not ordinary, they would not let it go after being framed.
The housekeeper asked Ma Lian to open the door of the storeroom privately, so as to let someone in for playing the ghost. Now the one had been caught, who had the golden leaves of Hu Chunqiu in his hand, and the written pledge by Hu Chunqiu. What"s more, the boxes were carried out by servants of Hu Chunqiu from the Ma Family. So if not solved properly, it would be exploded at any time. Or Tian Family could be pushed out to take the blame, but how to explain that Hu Chunqiu appeared in the woods in the middle of the night? The most critical one was the handwritten paper by him.
At this time, someone came to report that the housekeeper of Tian Family died.
Liu Ping was stunned at first but realized quickly, "It is good. A dead man can say nothing. Then everything can be imputed to him."
After about four hours, the government sent two officials and a post-mortem examiner. Tian Ronghua took them directly to the room of the housekeeper after greeting the runners who he knew before.
The surname of the post-mortem examiner was Niu, who was a single with no wife and no kids, and his parents were dead early. In addition, his work was known as low and humble, so he rarely made contact with people. Seeing Tian Ronghua and other ones, he didn"t greet anyone but went directly to check the body of the housekeeper.
"Who has ever moved the body? Where did he die?" The post-mortem examiner knew that someone must have moved the body as he saw that the housekeeper lay on the bed, with hideous facial expressions.
"It"s me. The housekeeper died at the door, and I moved him to the bed because I could not bear that scene. I am so sorry for being so reckless, which has brought trouble to you." Tian Ronghua apologized sincerely.
"Nothing, it"s human nature. Mr. Niu is an expert in post-mortem examination, and the cause of death would be known right away." One of the officials gave Tian Ronghua a step down.
Mr. Niu didn"t care about Tian Ronghua. He turned around to see the housekeeper, and muttered, "People who die between 23:00-01:00, 11:00-13:00, 05:00-07:00 and 17:00-19:00 pinch the middle fingers; people who die in the period of 07:00-09:00, 11:00-13:00, 01:00-03:00 and 13:00-15:00 stretch the palms; and people who die in the period of 03:00-05:00, 15:00-17:00, 09:00-11:00 and 21:00-23:00 clench the fists. We can say that he died in the period of Yin (03:00-05:00) due to his clenched fists and stiffness."
Then he picked out a pinkie-sized thin silver plate and a small bottle. He rubbed the plate with a piece of cloth dipped in the Acacia juice in the bottle, and after a while, the plate was bright. He then pinched the chin of the housekeeper to open his mouth, and put the plate in it. Having done that, he closed the housekeeper"s mouth and his own eyes.
The silence reigned in the room, and no one dared to talk. Tian Ronghua stared at Mr. Niu. He knew before that the post-mortem examiner was weird and competent, but it was the first time for him to see his work face to face. While the two runners had seen so many times that they asked what they were interested in during this period, so the room became noisy again.
About one hour later, Mr. Niu took out the silver plate, which had become black.
"He was poisoned, but what the poison is shall be confirmed after detailed autopsy when I take him back." All were shocked by what he said. Though they were startled by the death of the housekeeper, they were surprised to hear that he was poisoned. The housekeeper was good at making friends, and who would poison him?
Tian Ronghua was even more angry, "Please report to the magistrate as you go back, and find out the murderer. Then our Tian Family will appreciate it so much."