Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 150 The Unsolved Case of the Didian

On Xiamen Street, a horse-drawn carriage was traveling from north to south. The carriage was very large and surrounded by pink curtains.

There were eight riders following the carriage, with swords on their waists and bows and arrows on their backs, looking very majestic.

The carriage quickly arrived at Pingkangfang and came to the crossroads.

A wooden stage was built at the street corner, and many foreigners were performing acrobatics on it. Some played strange musical instruments, some played with monkeys and snakes, and some painted their bodies in strange colors and danced on the stage.

There were many people watching around the wooden platform.

Princess Changshan lifted a corner of the carriage curtain, looked towards the wooden platform, smiled slightly, and said, "Sister, it's just as you said, it's very lively here."

Princess Xincheng laughed and said, "I wouldn't lie to you. These barbarian acrobatics are different from the style of our Tang Dynasty. You won't see them in the palace."

Last month, someone died in the princess's mansion. Princess Changshan was quite frightened, so she has not left the palace for more than a month.

Until that morning, Princess Xincheng came to the palace to see her and said that there were more Hu people performing acrobatics in Pingkangfang of Chang'an City, and it was very lively.

Princess Changshan then asked Li Zhi for permission and left the palace with Princess Xincheng.

The two women did not get off the carriage, but just watched from afar through the window.

At this moment, no one knew what happened, but the people who were watching the acrobatics suddenly dispersed and headed east of the street.

Princess Xincheng was very curious and ordered a guard to find out what was going on.

After a while, the guards came back.

"Your Highnesses, I heard that a murder occurred at the Sitong Di Inn in the east of the city, so the people went to watch the excitement."

Princess Changshan recalled the bad memories from her last visit to the Princess's Mansion. She raised her eyebrows slightly and said, "What's so interesting about a murder case?"

The guard replied, "I heard the victim was beheaded. The Wannian County thief-hunting officer couldn't find the culprit, so he alerted Di Renjie of the Dali Temple. Di Renjie is very famous, so everyone wants to see him solve the case."

Both women had witnessed Di Renjie's ability to solve cases in the princess's mansion, and they became more interested when they heard him solving a case.

"Sister, do you want to go take a look?"

"Alright."

The carriage soon arrived outside the Sitongdi store, where they saw a cordon of isolation surrounded by people watching the excitement.

Everyone was talking and exchanging the information they had gathered.

Since the carriage couldn't pass, Princess Xincheng suggested getting off and walking over.

Princess Changshan has been locked up in the Princess Court for many years and has some social anxiety disorder.

"Sister, why don't you just take a look here? If the case is solved, you can find out here."

Princess Xincheng thought about it and decided that they were princesses after all, and it was not appropriate for them to go to such a place where murders had taken place and show their faces in public, so she nodded in agreement.

Speaking of this Sitongdi store, it has indeed been unlucky recently.

In March, a clerk died in a guest room. This was also a case investigated by the Dali Temple.

After the murder, the number of people living there dropped by half.

The shopkeeper spent a lot of money and specially invited a high monk from Da Ci'en Temple to perform a ritual to exorcise the evil spirits, and only then did he finally restore his reputation and regain his customers.

Who would have thought that in July, another murder occurred, and it was still a mystery case. Even the county lieutenant of Wannian County could not find the murderer!

If Di Renjie couldn't find out, he would not open the store and would just go back to his hometown to farm.

At this moment, Di Renjie was standing in the room where the crime was committed, listening to Li Jin beside him asking Wei County Magistrate of Wannian County about the situation.

It turned out that yesterday afternoon, a foreigner moved into the store and lived in Room C on the second floor.

Early this morning, the shop assistant found the body of a Hu man in the house, but his head was missing.

Before Di Renjie arrived, the Wannian County Magistrate had already conducted an investigation and interrogated other guests.

According to his conclusion, the deceased died after 3:30 pm.

Everyone in the inn has an alibi.

The store has an Anxi guard dog with a keen sense of smell, so it is impossible for an outsider to climb over the wall to commit the crime.

Therefore, the case is difficult to solve.

After listening to this, Di Renjie asked, "Wei County Lieutenant, how do you know the deceased died after three quarters past the hour of Xu?"

The Wei County Magistrate bowed respectfully and said, "Sir, at about three quarters past midnight, the innkeeper came to the deceased's room and asked if he wanted some water. At the time, the Hu man was drunk and lying in bed, soundly asleep. Therefore, we know he died three quarters past midnight."

Di Renjie asked, "Did you find the deceased's head in the inn?"

Wei County Lieutenant said: "We haven't found anything yet."

Di Renjie nodded and said to Li Jin, "Yuan Fang, go and interrogate everyone again."

Li Jin nodded in agreement and left the house with his men.

Di Renjie walked over to the corpse. The body was lying on the couch, with very little blood around it. There were a lot of wine stains on the ground and around it. As soon as he got close, he could smell the odor of alcohol.

Di Renjie checked carefully and soon made several discoveries.

First, a lot of lime was applied to the neck of the corpse, which was equivalent to stopping the bleeding of the wound, so there was not much blood.

Second, there is a small hole the size of a palm on the couch, just to the right of the headboard.

Third, there were many empty wine bottles in the deceased's bag.

At this time, an old coroner walked in and said with a bow, "Mr. Di, I am Coroner Ma." This man was the coroner of Wannian County.

Di Renjie said, "Coroner Ma, I would like to confirm with you the time of death of the deceased."

The coroner bent over and said, "Sir, the time of death was between the beginning and end of the Xu hour."

Di Renjie put on gloves and reached out to touch the skin of the corpse. Although he was not a coroner, he had been in contact with corpses many times and could roughly judge the time of death.

Judging from the degree of rigor mortis and the livor mortis, the body had been dead for more than six hours.

There should be no problem with the autopsy results performed by Coroner Ma.

At this time, another Dali Temple official came in and said, "Sir Di, we have searched the entire residence and inn, but we haven't found the deceased's head."

Di Renjie nodded without saying anything more, his eyes flashing with a thoughtful look.

After a long while, Li Jin walked in.

Di Renjie asked, "How is the confession? Have you obtained it clearly?"

Li Jin said in a deep voice, "We've questioned everyone. Most of them have witnesses from others, so it's impossible for them to commit murder. However, there are two people who are somewhat suspicious."

Di Renjie asked, "Which two people?"

There were two other people following Li Jin in.

One of them was of medium build, holding a large flower pot, and the other was a skinny young man.

"He is quite suspicious." Li Jin pointed at the skinny young man.

The shopkeeper hurriedly said, "Di Shaoqing, General Li, this man is our shop assistant. How could he kill someone?"

Li Jin said, "He said he came to the house at 12:30 pm and saw the deceased, and found him sleeping. However, after 12:30 pm, it would be difficult for anyone else to commit the crime, so he is the only one who could have committed the crime."

When Wei County Magistrate heard this, the corner of his mouth twitched, as if he wanted to say something, but held it back.

Di Renjie glanced at the shop assistant and saw that he was trembling and seemed to have no courage to defend himself. His eyes were full of fear.

"Yuan Fang, it's not him."

Li Jin frowned and asked, "Why?"

"If he was the murderer, why would he say he saw the deceased at 12:30? Wouldn't that be telling everyone he's the murderer?"

Li Jin nodded and turned to look at the man holding the flowerpot.

"Then we only have him left. His name is Wang Yuan. Theoretically, he also has the opportunity to commit the crime."

The man said anxiously, "It wasn't me. I entered the hall at three quarters past midnight last night and drank alone. I waited until the outer hall was cleared before leaving. It was almost midnight by then."

The shopkeeper said, "Yes, he did leave when the outer hall was cleared. I can prove it."

Li Jin said, "You entered the hall a little later than the waiter, right?"

Wang Yuan said, "That's right."

Li Jin said, "After the waiter went to the guest room to see the deceased, you immediately went inside to kill the person, and then quickly walked to the outer hall. This is also possible."

Wang Yuan said, "I entered the hall only a few breaths later than the shop assistant. Everyone can prove it. How could I have killed someone and cut off his head in such a short time?"

Wei County Lieutenant said, "General Li, the murderer cut off the head in a hurry, so there must be blood on the body, and he needs to change clothes. This little time is definitely not enough."

Li Jin frowned and said, "If that's the case, then no one is suspected. Unless someone fabricates a confession."

Wei County Lieutenant glanced at Di Renjie and asked, "Does Di Shaoqing also think someone fabricated a confession?"

Di Renjie didn't answer. Instead, he asked the waiter, "Young man, when you came to the house to look for the deceased last night, were you sure he was still alive?"

The shop assistant said anxiously: "He must be alive, he's still snoring!"

Di Renjie asked, "Then what did you see on his neck?"

The shop assistant was stunned for a moment and said, "He is like other Hu people, with a shawl around his neck."

Di Renjie nodded and said, "Yuan Fang, I already know who the murderer is."

Li Jin and Wei Xianwei asked in unison, "Who is it?"

Di Renjie pointed at the man with the flowerpot and said, "He's the murderer."

(End of this chapter)