Chapter 1282 Silence, Very Strange Silence

Liu Wei's statement about finding the murderer is actually not that absolute.

Li Kuan, the eldest son of Li Daguan's family, was a young man. He had one wife and two concubines in his family. There were three known concubines in the family, and a conservative estimate of six was unknown.

Liu Wei's suspicion of Li Kuan was based on facts.

After investigation, it was confirmed that the small wooden house and canoe by the mountain and river belonged to Li Kuan. In fact, the entire mountain forest belonged to Li Kuan.

Huaishan in Xijin County is owned by the imperial court. There is no principle that whoever is close can seize the land. Mountain people living near Huaishan can cut firewood and hunt on the mountain. This requires permission from the county government. Yes, this is a regulation that benefits the people.

Before Magistrate Song took over as magistrate of Xijin County, mountain people were not allowed to possess the materials on the mountain. It was precisely because of this that Xijin County became poorer and poorer. In good years, dozens of people could starve to death.

After Song County Magistrate took over, he gave the mountain to the villages. Each village could occupy a part of it, and the materials on the mountain were enough for the mountain people.

However, Huaishan Mountain is so big that it surrounds the entire county. The south and east of the county have the most villages, and the west has the least. The north is the transportation hub. After leaving aside the mountainous areas allocated to different villages in the west, there is still a large area of ​​mountainous area left, which is stingy. How could Magistrate Song let these resources go to waste?

So Magistrate Song made the decision and rented out the mountain land. Whether it was for felling trees, hunting, or planting fruit trees on the mountain, as long as you wanted to and paid the rent to the Yamen, the mountain would be your private property within a few years.

The daughter did not inherit the property, so Li Daguan and his wife had only one son, Li Kuan.

Since there was only one son, there was no need to separate houses, so even though he was already in his thirties, when he had married a wife and had children, he should have separated and lived alone, so Li Kuan still lived with his parents.

But unfortunately years ago, Li Daguan found an illegitimate son.

The mother of this illegitimate child was a brothel girl raised by Li Daguan in another place when he went out to discuss business with others.

Official Li didn't look down on women from brothels, and he never thought of taking a woman of that status home as a concubine. The woman also sensed the situation, took the money, and disappeared without a trace.

It was a coincidence that years ago, Li Daguan once again went to Fucheng to discuss business. By chance, on the way, he met his married wife. Then I accidentally heard that a young man of eighteen or nineteen years old called the woman "mother".

After calculating the age, doing some research, and then counting the months, Li Daguan realized that the foreign wife was pregnant with his child and separated from him.

Li Daguan was very angry. His first wife only gave him one son, and his concubines failed to live up to expectations. They gave birth to three daughters, all of whom were daughters. Unexpectedly, there was a son from another place.

Li Daguan immediately didn't care about anything and insisted on taking the child away. After all, the child was not a child of a few years old and could not live without his mother for a long time. I heard that his father was a wealthy businessman in Linxian County and he would have a brighter future if he returned. , and agreed to go home with his father.

In this way, the illegitimate son came to Xijin County.

Unlike Li Kuan, who was arrogant, reckless, and dandy, this illegitimate son grew up in poverty and had some discernment. When he first arrived, he got along with Li Kuan's temper. After more than ten days, he even questioned and objected to his entry. Even Mrs. Li's mother, Li Kuan's mother, who did not hesitate to threaten her with death, has lost her temper.

The people who eat melons are all impressed by his methods.

After Li Kuan let this new brother get into trouble several times, he became very angry with him, no matter in business or in daily life, he had a lot of trouble with him.

Two months later, Li Daguan negotiated a business deal in the capital, regarding the opening of a branch of a shipping company in the capital. Both Li Kuan and his illegitimate son wanted to fight for this good deal, but Li Daguan intended to give it to his younger son.

After learning that he had nothing to do with the branch, Li Kuan lost his temper.

When everyone was waiting for him to get angry and have a life-and-death fight with his new brother, Li Kuan was silent. The silence was strange. After a few days of silence, he rented mountain land with the Yamen in his own name.

What's going on here? Are you planning to give up business and start farming?

If you don’t do boating, the landowner will go away?

No one knew what Li Kuan was thinking. In short, from that day on, he acted quietly and low-key, and even went home less often.

Then, Liu Wei easily found the signature of the hilltop in the yamen's leasing document without any effort.

Li Kuan is Liu Wei's suspect.

Magistrate Song was dumbfounded when Liu Wei told her everything she found on the mountain. After that, he was stunned and immediately retorted: "The mountain belongs to him, so he is the murderer? Isn't this too careless? You also said about the underground river. The connection and the location of the reservoir are all there, so maybe the murderer secretly transported the body there himself, why do you think it's Mr. Li?"

Magistrate Song is an economic official. When he offended the Sun family, he felt so distressed that he lost his hair all night long. Now he offended another wealthy gentry, Li Daguan. Who can he look for to support the economy and people's livelihood of the entire county? ?

Liu Wei doesn't care about money. She just solves the case and doesn't care about anything else.

"It is written in your yamen's lease document that the land area leased by Li Kuan is 40 acres, and it is connected all the way from the entrance of the reservoir to the top of the mountain, right?"

Magistrate Song nodded: "So what?"

Liu Wei said: "Then do you know that coming out from the mouth of the reservoir is an underground river that cannot be filled in. The underground river is two acres wide and covers an area of ​​12 acres. To the left of the river, there is a cliff across the five acres of road. To the right of the river is The short road up the mountain is rugged with strange rocks, the mountain is difficult, and there is a waterfall further on. What do you think we would rent this kind of land for?"

Magistrate Song paused for a moment. When he first rented the land, he only paid attention to how much an acre of land cost, not where it was located.

Measuring the position and so on are all done by the master.

With this thought in mind, he said "Wait a minute" to Liu Wei, and then hurriedly ran outside to find the master.

After finding the master, the master said: "When we first surveyed the land, I was wondering why Mr. Li insisted on that piece of land? I even told him specifically that the river must enter the well after passing the reservoir, and the water cannot "Fill, you can't touch the waterfall upstream, and the water below won't flow if you touch it. He also agreed. When I came back, I still felt suspicious. Didn't I tell you, sir, that you didn't take it seriously?"

Magistrate Song didn't even remember it and asked, "Did you tell me? How did I respond?"

The master said: "Say, no matter what, it's rare for a fool to want that kind of land. If he's mentally ill, just let him get sick. Anyway, after it's stamped, you won't get the money back."

Magistrate Song twitched his lips in embarrassment: "I...did I say that?"

The master nodded seriously, and then said: "However, the time that Mr. Li rents the land is quite strange. The minimum rent for renting land here is half a year, and he only rented it for half a year."

This time, even if Magistrate Song still had something to explain to Li Kuan, he couldn't say it out.

Just rent a piece of land where you can't do anything.

The minimum is half a year, and you really only rent for half a year.

What can he do in half a year? It will take four seasons to plant trees and grain and receive the harvest. Moreover, a wooden house and a wooden boat belonging to Li Kuan were found on the land. All the evidence points to Li Kuan. How can he still accuse Li Kuan of being innocent? ?

Even if the murderer is really not Li Kuan, Li Kuan's purpose in renting this place must not be pure.