Song Tongzhi asked Butler Pang: "The evidence is conclusive now. If you don't come with the real reason, would you want me to be punished?"

Butler Pang's face was ashamed and nodded: "Yes, Shan'er was born to me and the third concubine."

"Come on the truth!" Song Tongzhi shouted.

"Yes, the third aunt has been bullied and beaten by the big grandma and the others. I often find a doctor to treat her injuries. She said that life was too hard and she wanted to die. When I saw that she was pitiful, I advised her. She was grateful to me, so she... took the initiative to get rid of me, so she got pregnant with this child." Butler Pang said with his head down.

Butler Pang admitted to committing adultery with his third concubine. Regarding adultery, the Ming Dynasty Law stipulates that it is only a 80-year-old man, and it stipulates that: "The traitor gives birth to a man and a woman, and the adulterer is responsible for adoption." It is obvious that Butler Pang wants to exchange his son for eighty boards.

Yang Qiuchi said: "You said the third concubine took the initiative to commit adultery with you?"

Butler Pang nodded.

"Aren't you not interested in women? How could you commit adultery with others? Besides, even if the third concubine is grateful for your care, even if you look like a shriveled monkey, the sow will not commit adultery with you, let alone the third concubine who is as beautiful as a flower."

"That might be!" the big grandmother interrupted, "This slutty fox is born a slut. She will come on when she sees a man. The person named Pang is just right for her."

"My mother-in-law said nothing wrong!" Zhou interrupted, "If this slutty fox was not a slut, would she be crazy!"

Yang Qiuchi took this and asked Butler Pang: "Do you know why the third concubine is crazy?"

"I don't know," Butler Pang trembled all over.

"It doesn't matter if you don't say it. Because I already know that the third concubine was given a medicine by you, which made her crazy."

"No, it's not me, why should I do this?" Butler Pang said in a panic.

"Because you were going to kill her, you used to drug her to scare her to death when she saw the evil ghost, but she didn't expect that it caused her to become a silly disease. After she became a silly woman, she was confused and drowsy. Somehow she didn't have hallucinations when she saw the ghost, and she was not scared to death. So you decided to sneak into the small attic and strangle her to death."

Butler Pang said: "No, I don't have a key. How can I enter the yard of the small attic?"

"Flip over." Yang Qiuchi said, "When the servants were fighting for the mountain with you just now, we all saw that although you were shriveled and had a pine bark, your early experience of running a boat gave you a strong physique and great strength. The walls of the small attic were only more than one person tall. With your body, it would be easy to turn over."

"You hid the paste and window paper under the small attic in advance, and were ready to do it late at night. What you didn't expect was that the eldest grandma asked you to go to the second aunt's room to talk about the third aunt. You couldn't leave, so you didn't have the chance to start."

Yang Qiuchi knew in his heart that Butler Pang had informed him and exposed the atrocities of the Big Grandma and the others to the third concubine, so the Big Grandma asked Butler Pang to go, not to talk to him, but because Butler Pang was so scared that he fell down in fear in the afternoon, and the Big Grandma asked him to go, hoping to ridicule and relieve his anger. However, this cannot be said in person now, otherwise the Big Grandma would not be able to get out of the stage.

"Yes," Butler Pang felt relieved, "I have been with my grandma and the others. I have never been out except going to the cottage. How can I have time to kill the third concubine?"

"That's right, you deliberately scolded the third concubine in front of them, and then scolded them to the point. Your intention was to think that the third concubine would not suspect you in the future after something happened to her. Unexpectedly, your words would please the big grandma and the others, so you kept serving you and not leaving."

"In order to let the big grandma and the others let you go and commit crimes and murder, you played a trick. You ran out to find the old bullhead when you went to the bathroom, and gave him a tael of silver to shorten the time he was going to make the fifth update in advance. In fact, it was just the fourth update at that time!"

"How do you know?" Butler Pang was very frightened. He knew the amount of money he gave to the updater very clearly, but this sentence was equivalent to admitting this matter.

Yang Qiuchi did not answer, pointed out the window and asked, "It has been dark for a long time now, and it should be almost the second update at this time. However, it seems that I have never heard the sound of striking the ground. Don't you find it strange?"

Butler Pang listened with his ears and found this problem. Just when he thought of this problem, he suddenly remembered the problem just now, and his face turned pale.

Yang Qiuchi smiled slightly and said, "Very good, you guessed it, yes, I invited the old bullhead to beat the newbies, so he couldn't beat the newbies tonight. Because there was something he wanted to come out to testify!" He turned to Nangong Xiong and said, "Bring the person up!"

"As for order!" Nangong Xiong bowed and turned around and went out. After a while, he brought an old man in with another guard. The old man was in his fifties and limping, and was a lame man.

When Butler Pang saw the lame man, there was no trace of blood on his pale face. He trembled and whispered: "Old bullhead!"

"Yes!" Yang Qiuchi said, "He is the old bullhead who is the one in our Yangjia Village."

Yang Qiuchi said to the old Niu Tou: "Did Housekeeper Pang come to you on the day when the third concubine of the old man Yang died? You must answer truthfully, otherwise, hum!"

The old cow head covered one side and was obviously beaten, his cheeks were bruised, his lips were broken, and he started to swollen.

It turned out that Nangong Xiong went out to find the old man Niu Tou. After a little trial, he found out that Butler Pang bribed him and asked him to fight him in advance.

The old Niuto knelt down and kowtowed, "The villain dares not, the villain tells the truth. The night when the third concubine died, Butler Pang came to me and gave Xiao a tael of silver to ask Xiao to get the fourth and fifth updates in advance."

"How long have you been ahead?"

“A total of one update is ahead of schedule”

Yang Qiuchi reminded everyone to pay attention: "According to Lao Niutoudi's testimony, this means that when the fifth update was held that night, it was actually just the fourth update."

According to the corpse examination, Yang Qiuchi estimated that the death time was around 2 o'clock in the evening, which was the fourth update under normal circumstances. However, because Lao Niu Tou beat the fourth update and fifth update in advance, he was one update in advance. This means that at 2 o'clock in the evening, Lao Niu Tou should have played the fourth update, but he played the fifth update.

So, when the big grandma and the others disbanded, it was actually two o'clock in the evening, which was the estimated time for the crime. In this way, Housekeeper Pang had time for the crime. Of course, by the same token, the other four women also had time for the crime.

Butler Pang asked the updater to fight in advance. It was not deliberately trying to get evidence that he had no time to commit crime. Because in the Ming Dynasty, the level of corpse examination had not reached the level of accurate death to a few times. What's more, only one update (two hours) was ahead of time. If it weren't for Yang Qiuchi, it would be impossible to be sure that the third concubine died at around the fourth. Therefore, Butler Pang could not have thought of finding evidence to prove that he was still with his eldest grandmother and others during the fifth update, so as to prove that he had no time to commit the crime.

A reasonable explanation should be that Butler Pang was caught by the big grandmother and the others. He was a servant and did not dare to leave without permission. Then he bribed the updater to fight in advance so that they could disband. Otherwise, after the fifth update, it would be dawn and it would be difficult to kill people at that time.

Although Butler Pang did not deliberately create evidence of absenteeism, this early update did lead Yang Qiuchi astray. Butler Pang has not been involved in the scope of Yang Qiuchi's key suspect detection.

Butler Pang did not admit defeat easily and said, "I did not kill the third concubine. What is the evidence for you that I killed her?"

Song Tongzhi, Luo County Magistrate and others were all very enlightened when they heard Yang Qiuchi's analysis. Suddenly, when Butler Pang asked what was the evidence, they were all stunned. He said for a long time, and it seemed that it was just Yang Qiuchi's analysis. What is the evidence?

Yang Qiuchi said: "I ask you, before the third concubine died, who was sticking the paper on the windows in his small attic?"

"During the Chinese New Year, maids and servants stick to the floor."

"Did you post it?"

"No," said Pang's family, "this kind of thing has always been done by servants."

"Yes, I forgot that you are not a servant, you are the housekeeper." Yang Qiuchi smiled sarcastically, "Since you are not a servant and have not pasted window paper for the third concubine, how could you leave your handprints on the window paper?"

"Medits? What kind of handprints?" Butler Pang was confused. Song Tongzhi and others couldn't understand it at this moment.

"That afternoon, in order to avoid the ill-blooded third concubine, you broke the flower pot and your palms and fingers were scratched, right?"

"Yes, the doctor even bandaged my fingers."

"Which finger was bandaged for you?"

"What's wrong with the middle finger?"

Yang Qiuchi did not answer, but looked around and said, "Please raise your hand and see what is on your thumb? What is it on everyone's palms and fingers?"

Butler Pang didn't understand what Yang Qiuchi meant, so he subconsciously turned up his palm and looked at it.

Song Yuner and others couldn't help but turn their hands up to check, and said in confusion: "Nothing."

Yang Qiuchi grabbed Song Yuner's slender palm, pointed to the pattern on it and said, "Didn't you see all kinds of patterns on your palms and fingers?"

There were lines on the palms and fingers, which had been recognized in ancient China for a long time, and it also developed into a method of fortune-telling when reading palms and fortunes. The monograph "The lines on the hand of the hand are scattered, and there is a blessing and fortune, and there will be no disaster. The hands have horizontal lines, so there is no need to discuss killing. The hands have vertical lines and horizontal lines, and the title is as high as the three dukes." The ancients also used handprints on the text as a proof.

This shows that the ancients had a certain degree of understanding of the lines between the palms and fingers of humans. However, the ancient books never used fingerprint comparison to identify criminals, which shows that the ancients did not realize that human fingerprints are unique and did not use fingerprint identification as evidence of criminal crimes.

The uniqueness of fingerprints was discovered by Dr. Henry Fortz from Japan in the 19th century and William Heschel from the British Indian colony. They revealed this epoch-making discovery in criminal investigations in different places almost at the same time.

However, their discovery did not attract people's attention at that time. It was not until the early 20th century that judicial departments around the world began to formally recognize fingerprints as evidence of the same recognition. It was not until then that my country introduced modern fingerprint identification technology.

Song Yuner looked at her palm and said, "Yes. There are a lot of patterns." Speaking of this, Song Yuner laughed, "Brother, did you find out that Butler Pang is the murderer by looking at palmitage?"

Yang Qiuchi shook his head: "No, when Butler Pang finished killing the man and came out to paste the window again, his palms and fingers that were covered with paste were dusted again. When pressing the window paper, these light gray handprints were left. But there were a few fingerprints in these fingerprints that were not traced. If you don't believe it, we can go to the small attic to check it out immediately!"

Butler Pang had guessed what Yang Qiuchi said, and his eyes showed a terrifying look.

Song Yuner also guessed it and said in surprise: "Brother, do you mean that Butler Pang was injured in his middle finger that day and wrapped the wound with cloth. Therefore, there was no trace on the middle finger on the window paper, which proved that the handprint on the window paper was his. So, he was the murderer!"

"Smart!" Yang Qiuchi praised.

Song Yuner smiled proudly: "No wonder you used my hair to sweep the dust on the window paper in the afternoon, and were still lying there and looking left and right. It turned out that you were observing this."

Yang Qiuchi used the existence or not of a specific fingerprint to prove the criminal, and did not involve the issue of fingerprint identity, so it was understood and accepted by people in Song Yuner's era. Song Tongzhi and others nodded in agreement after listening to Yang Qiuchi's analysis.

Yang Qiuchi nodded, then turned to Butler Pang and said, "You used the incense to confuse the little maid Zhichun and the nanny Lu, then tore off the window paper outside the third aunt's room, saw off the cross-tied wood. I got in, strangled the third aunt who was sleeping on the bed with the rope I brought with me, pretending that she committed suicide. I got out of the window frame, set up the cross-tied wood again, pasted the window paper, and then sneaked back to your own room. I was right?"

Butler Pang didn't seem to notice Yang Qiuchi's words, but was listening to something, with a terrifying expression on his face.

Seeing that Butler Pang did not answer, the eldest young master Yang Qingshui walked up and kicked Butler Pang's chin again. Butler Pang was looking around with his mouth open, and suddenly got the kick. He closed his upper and lower teeth and bit the tip of his tongue hard. He screamed in pain, and blood suddenly flowed out, and his mind was restored to awakening.

Yang Qiuchi was not surprised by Butler Pang's strange expression, as if he had already expected it. He asked: "Butler Pang, don't you admit it yet?"

"What do you admit?" Butler Pang covered his chin.

"Acknowledge that you killed the third concubine!"

"I don't." Butler Pang was going to make a final struggle, "She is my son's mother, why should I kill her?"

Yes! Song Tongzhi and others felt it was reasonable and looked at Yang Qiuchi together.

"You raped the third concubine and gave birth to Shan'er. From then on, you have planned to let your son inherit the entire family property of Mr. Yang. The third concubine somehow knew your idea and firmly opposed it, because the way to achieve this goal is to kill the eldest son! You are afraid that the news will leak, so you killed the third concubine."

The eldest young master Yang Qingshui was surprised. He could not have imagined that the housekeeper Pang was so vicious.

Yang Qiuchi continued: "If you want to kill the eldest master, of course you can't kill him directly, that will arouse suspicion. The best way is to poison the eldest master to have hallucinations, let him see the ghost, and scare him to death, just like you poison the old master and me, so that we can see the ghost!"

What? Old Master Yang and Yang Qingshui were both shocked and looked at each other. Yang Qingshui asked, "Is it really the poison he made? Is there any poison in this world that can make people see evil ghosts?"

"I don't know what poison is, but I know that some plants or medicines in this world can make people hallucinate strange hallucinations. By the way, some poisonous mushrooms can also produce this hallucination."

Plants that can make people hallucinate are called hallucinate plants. For example, some of the cactus species that are found in the deserts of northern Mexico are hallucinate plants called "magic balls" by the locals. If people eat the tender stems or buds called "Blue Feather Jade", they will have various hallucinations: they will see various strange-shaped fish; or colorful flowers; or colorful butterflies. Hallucinate plants are the things that wizards love the most.

Poisonous mushrooms are more common. Yang Qiuchi mentioned that some poisonous mushrooms can also produce such hallucinations. In this regard, Mr. Yang and others have heard of this, so they understand what kind of medicine Yang Qiuchi is talking about.

"I don't!" Butler Pang shouted at the top of his lungs, "If what you said is true, then why is the eldest young master not dead?"

"Because the eldest young master left home and went out for a study trip the day after seeing the ghost."

"Then why is the old man not dead? He has been at home!" Butler Pang's voice was shrill.

Yang Qiuchi sneered: "Before the eldest young master died, if the old master died, the Yang family property would belong to the eldest young master. How could it be your turn? So, you would not kill the old master before you killed the eldest young master."

"Why did the old man see a ghost that night?" After saying this, Butler Pang suddenly agreed and looked back, as if someone behind him called his name again.

Yang Qiuchi smiled: "I have been thinking about this question for a long time. I guess the most likely thing is that the old man accidentally took the medicine you gave to the eldest master. Since the medicine was shared by two people, the eldest master and the old man both saw the ghost, but neither was scared to death."

Butler Pang didn't answer any longer, and looked back in horror, then looked around, as if there was something terrible around him.

Seeing Butler Pang like this, everyone was a little surprised. Only Yang Qiuchi smiled knowingly and said, "Butler Pang, what are you looking at?"
Chapter completed!