The Famous Detective of the Red Mansion

Chapter 76: The Poisoning Event at the Same Year's Party - Part 3

Were there still doubts?!

From the initial conspiracy of poison to the present absurd suicide, the twists and turns of the period and the strange changes have already overwhelmed people. But Sun Shaozong even said that there were still doubts now?!

In addition to being shocked, the people could not help but open their mouths and urge Sun Shaozong to quickly publish the so-called "doubtful points!”

Sun Shaozong pointed two fingers out and said, "In fact, when I inspected Zhu Peng's body, I always cared about two details. First, he deliberately used the sleeve of his left hand to cover up when drinking while he was alive, Second, the wet marks on his front and cuff."

"It's an ancient ritual to cover up with sleeves when drinking. Nowadays, only women and acid drinkers who respect the ancient will do so." Sun Shaozong glanced sideways at the corpse on the ground. "I'm afraid that this Brother Zhu is neither of them."

Most people were pondering along his way, but some people raised their conjectures, "Maybe... Maybe he didn't want people to see him drinking the poisoned wine?"

"It is also reasonable in this speculation." Sun Shaozong smiled and said, "However, if we conjecture together with the wet marks on his front, I'm afraid the result will be different. Come, please take a look at Brother Xu's clothes first."

As he said this, he signaled at Xu Shouye. Xu Shouye immediately stepped forward and raised his arms to show the crowd his royal blue gown.

The people around also looked closely and found that the front and back of his clothes were wet, and there was a faint smell of wine.

"When I found Brother Xu's clothes are the same cloth as Zhu Peng's earlier, and the styles are not much different, I asked him to help me do a little test."

When Sun Shaozong said this, he arched his hand to Xu Shouye, "Brother Xu, please excuse me."

Before he finished speaking, he suddenly picked up half a bowl of wine and poured it on Xu Shouye's right shoulder. The wine quickly soaked Xu Shouye's sleeve and dripped down the sleeve.

What was he doing?

When the people were looking confused, Sun Shaozong pointed at Zhu Peng's body again and said, "You brothers might as well choose several people to come forward and have a look at the wet marks on Zhu Peng's front. What is the difference between them and those on Brother Xu's right arm?"

As soon as they heard this, several people enthusiastically came forward and commented on the corpse. They also grabbed Xu Shouye's sleeve and looked from head to tail.

.

"Doesn't it seem to make any difference?"

"Yes, if there is any difference, it is that there is more wine on Xu's sleeve and less spilled on his clothes."

"But this... Shouldn't it be any different?"

Hearing the chatter of these people, and all of them were words of doubt. Xu Shouye couldn’t take it anymore. Without saying a word, he grabbed the clothes on his left shoulder and tore them open. He was half angry and half disdainful and said, "What’s the point of always looking at the outside? Look at the inside too!"

Inside?

The people looked at the white tunic that appeared on his shoulder and squatted down next to the corpse again. They opened Zhu Peng's collar and looked at it. As expected, they found a difference!

The layers of clothes on Zhu Peng's chest have been soaked through, but the inner robe on Xu Shouye's shoulder is only slightly wet.

But…

"What can this prove?"

"Maybe Zhu Peng's underwear is more absorbent!"

Seeing that these guys were still clinging to their mistakes, Xu Shouye huffed with disdain. He poured out half a bowl of wine and handed it to a person beside him. He said, "Here, slowly pour it on my left shoulder. Remember not to be too fast!"

Although the man did not understand his meaning, he still took the wine bowl and slowly poured the wine under the watchful eyes of the public.

Against the candlelight, the amber wine trickled down and soon spread a wet mark on Xu Shouye's left shoulder.

However, in the following period, the speed of expansion of the wet marks became slower and slower. When most of the bowls of wine were emptied, they could not spread to the elbow position, forming a sharp contrast with the marks on the right arm from the shoulder to the cuff.

"This... This, this, this..."

"Could it be..."

"How could this happen..."

Some smart people had already guessed some things, but it was unbelievable. For a moment, the hall was full of hesitation.

Xu Shouye waited for a moment, then did the same thing again. He tore off his left shoulder sleeve and waved his arm for everyone to see.

However, the inner robe on the left shoulder was as wet as the wet mark on Zhu Peng's chest!

"How could this happen?"

"Should the two bowls of wine be the same?"

"Could it be... But how can it be?"

"Cough!"

Sun Shaozong cleared his throat, and the voices of the whole audience immediately disappeared. Everyone stared and cocked up their ears, waiting to see how he would explain.

"Did you all see it just now?"

Sun Shaozong smiled and pointed to the wet marks on Xu Shouye's body. "In fact, I asked Brother Xu to test it several times just now, and the results were almost the same each time."

"This kind of cloth is easy for water to seep through, and the surface is very smooth. If you pour a lot of wine on it at once, most of the wine will flow down because it is too late to penetrate in a short time. This is the situation on Brother Xu's right arm."

"But if you pour it slowly instead of pouring it all at once, then when the liquor spreads to a certain extent, the water seepage speed will be faster than the downward flow speed of the liquor, and most of the liquor will be absorbed by the underwear inside."

"Brother Xu's left arm and Zhu Peng's front are just like this!"

A small wet mark hides many secrets!

At the same time, they could not help feeling admiration. If it were not for the demonstration and explanation, they would still be half convinced.

It's just that…

Isn't the wet mark on Zhu Peng's front also falling slowly?!

"That's right!"

Pointing to Zhu Peng's corpse, Sun Shaozong firmly said, "After Zhu Peng fell, he first lay on the ground, and then he was lifted. During the whole process, his front was kept inclined to a certain extent, enough for the liquor to flow down. Therefore, if the liquor was spilled, it would never cause such wet marks!"

"In addition, to create such wet marks, you need at least half a glass of wine. Moreover, what is stained on his sleeve and what is sprinkled on the ground can make up a full cup of wine!"

"So there is only one truth, and that is, he was pretending to drink at that time, and with the cover of his sleeve, he secretly poured the poisoned wine on his front!"

"After pouring out most of the wine bowl, he pretended to have knocked over the wine bowl and then pretended to be flustered and shouted, “The wine is poisonous!”

Although many people have already guessed this point through the experiment just now, when they heard Sun Shaozong reveal the truth, they could not help but change their face color.

"He... He... You said he didn't drink that bowl of poisonous wine?" Jiang Yunhe could not help questioning, "But... But he has been poisoned?! Besides, why would he do this?!"

They then heard Sun Shaozong say, "How was he poisoned to death? I probably already have an idea. As for the reason why he did this..."

Speaking of this, he suddenly raised his hand and pointed to Zhu Hu, saying, "Then we should ask Brother Zhu!"

When he suddenly pointed at him, Zhu Hu was shocked. He immediately said, "Brother Sun, don't tease me. If it wasn't for your demonstration just now, I would have thought that my brother took poison to kill himself. How could I know the purpose of what he did?"

Clap~ Clap~

Sun Shaozong clapped his hands and said, "Brother Zhu is good at acting. Even at this time, he still has no flaws."

This remark was equivalent to directly pointing out that Zhu Hu was the murderer.

Therefore, in the astonished eyes of the people, Zhu Hu finally lowered his face and sneered, "I don't know if there is any proof that Brother Sun is targeting me like this. Besides, my third brother and I have been brothers since we were young. What's the reason to kill him?!

"I don't know the reason yet. As for this evidence..."

Sun Shaozong spread out his hand and pointed to the corpse and said, "When Brother Zhu was pretending to ask questions earlier, I took the opportunity to carefully examine the corpse with Brother Xu, but I did not find any obvious traces on the corpse."

"Therefore, I infer that the killer may have used small things such as poison needles to pierce the hair-covered places such as the back neck, so there was no trace left."

"I further studied the situation at that time and felt that it was unlikely that the killer would have the opportunity to collect the poison needle again or throw it into some secret place under the full view of the public. Considering this kind of blood-thirsty thing, I was afraid that no one would dare to hold it in the palm of his hand for a long time, so I searched around the body carefully with Brother Xu."

"As expected, I found this poison needle under the table!"

He picked up a handkerchief from the table, carefully showed a steel needle to the people, and then rushed to the door and said, "Come on, bring me the thing I want!"

With this order, someone immediately brought a half-big pig.

Sun Shaozong wrapped the poison needle in a handkerchief and gently poked the pig's buttocks. Only a few seconds later, he saw the pig lying on the ground, his limbs were twitching and his mouth was foaming. Not long after, his eyes rolled upwards, and there was no sign of life.

"How?"

Sun Shaozong shook the poison needle at Zhu Peng and asked, "Brother Zhu, what do you have to say now?"

At this time, all the people had already believed 80% and only waited for Zhu Hu to bow down and confess his guilt and then tell the inside story.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Hu didn't even look at the poison needle, but he looked up and burst into laughter, "Ha... Ha... Hahaha, it's really giving a dog a bad name and hanging him! Sun Shaozong, you said I left the poison needle under the table. What evidence is there?"

"If there is no evidence, but just a random guess, how can I not doubt that it was you who saw through my brother's act of pretending to be poisoned and killed him with a poison needle while examining the corpse, and tried to frame me?"

He has to say that this guy was a cruel character who didn’t shed tears without seeing the coffin!

Moreover, his counterattack could not be said to be totally unreasonable.

But…

Sun Shaozong also laughed and shook his head and said, "Brother Zhu is not only good at acting but also has a sharp and tight tongue. It's a pity that some of Brother Zhu's habitual moves have already exposed a mountain of hard evidence. You really can't argue!"

As he said this, he pointed to Zhu Hu's waist and said, "When Brother Zhu is nervous, you subconsciously hold the jade clasp on your belt three times. But every time you touched the jade clasp, your body and expression would suddenly stiffen, and you would quickly release your hands. Brother Zhu, are you afraid that you will touch the residual poison on it?"