Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

Li Daniu claimed to have discovered a patch of high-quality cattails and lured Sun Qiang into a grove, where he then stoned him to death.

The grove is less than a hundred feet away from the main road.

After Sun Qiang died, Li Daniu was anxious to make a comeback, so he just hastily buried it with dead branches and leaves and rushed to the casino.

Sun Qiang sold thirty pairs of straw sandals, each pair costing six coins, for a total of 180 coins. Together with the 126 coins Li Daniu earned from selling straw sandals, he lost all his money in less than two hours. After losing all his money, Li Daniu returned home and looked at the empty and dilapidated hall. He suddenly remembered the murder and broke out in a cold sweat.

He was anxious to get back at the crime and only remembered hitting Sun Qiang five or six times on the head and face, but he didn't remember whether Sun Qiang was dead or not. Fearing that Sun Qiang was still alive, Li Daniu rushed to his home to find out the truth. Then, there was the story of the woman looking for her husband and reporting to the prefectural governor.

Li Daniu was arrested. Based on his identification, the illegal gambling house was destroyed in one fell swoop. The three bosses of the illegal gambling house and all the people who were still gambling inside when the illegal gambling house was destroyed were also arrested.

However, no matter how many remedial measures were taken, Sun Qiang's life could not be saved.

Chen Shao asked Chan Yi to take out five taels of silver from the property confiscated from the black gambling house and give it to the woman as burial expenses for Sun Qiang and a little compensation.

When I returned to the prefectural government, it was already the end of the year.

There were still three people waiting in the lobby.

A white-haired old man, a wealthy man and a man in his thirties dressed in rough clothes.

The white-haired old man was alone, while the rich man and the man in rough clothes were in a group.

After asking Fu Jiu to lock the man up in jail, Chen Shao went straight back to the lobby.

When the three saw her, they immediately stood up and surrounded her.

Taking a look at the hunched body of the white-haired old man, Chen Shao sat down at the table and said, "Old man, you speak first."

The old man with white hair was about to fall to the ground with a wooden stick in his hand. Chen Shao quickly stopped him: "Old man, just stand there."

The old man with white hair still insisted on kneeling on the ground, "Sir, you can make the decision for me."

After signaling Li Tianliu to help the man up, Chen Shao asked, "Who do you want to sue?"

The old man wiped away his tears and said, "I want to sue Yang Dong, the cloth shop owner in Qingshui Town! A few years ago, his son Yang Wu beat someone to death. Yang Dong knew that my family was in financial difficulty, so he came to me at night and promised me fifty taels of silver to let my fourth son take the blame for Yang Wu."

Chan Yi interrupted, "Murder is a capital crime!"

The old man with white hair said sadly, "Yes, murder is a capital crime, but the fields that can produce grain in my family have been taken away by the Wen family. A dozen people can only rely on those few acres of thin land to live all year round. When the harvest is poor, the land is turned over and over again. In the end, not even a wild grass root can be found. If I had these fifty taels of silver, I would not have to worry about food for the next ten years..."

When the white-haired old man said this, he couldn't help but burst into tears.

Chan Yi, Quan Shu Yu and Zhang Chun Hua also couldn't bear it and their eyes turned red.

The man in rough clothes even began to wipe away his tears secretly.

Chen Shao sighed in his heart, but did not show it: "Who did Yang Wu beat to death? Since Yang Dong is willing to give you fifty taels of silver in exchange for your son to take the blame, why don't you give the fifty taels of silver to the family that was beaten to death in exchange for their forgiveness?"

"The family that was beaten to death only had that one son," the white-haired old man wailed, "Yang Dong was willing to give them silver, but they wanted two hundred taels of silver. Yang Dong couldn't give it, so they reported it to the government. The government was about to go to Qingshui Town to arrest the man, so Yang Dong came to me."

Chen Shao still questioned: "Does your family agree to let your fourth son take the blame?"

"Of course they disagree," the white-haired old man picked up his sleeves and wiped his tears while saying, "But when Yang Wu beat people, only a distant cousin of Yang Wu was present. As long as his cousin points out that it is the family that my fourth son beat and killed, it will be useless for that family to deny it."

Chen Shao finally understood, "Please continue."

The old man with white hair sobbed for a while and continued: "When my fourth son heard about the fifty taels of silver, he took the initiative to step forward and accepted the task. Yang Dong gave him ten taels of silver on the spot, saying it was a deposit. The remaining forty taels could only be given to us after he took the blame. My fourth son took the blame and was beheaded, but the remaining forty taels of silver have not been seen to this day, and Yang Dong refused to acknowledge the matter."

The wealthy man at the side couldn't help but interrupt and said, "What do you mean Yang Dong didn't give you an IOU?"

The white-haired old man blushed: "For such a big thing, no one expected that Yang Dong would lie..."

The rich man muttered, "He asked your fourth son to take the blame for his son. What's the big deal about cheating one person? Besides, the bigger the case, the more you have to write an IOU. This is a lawsuit involving a life. Let alone Yang Dong, even if it happened to someone else, they would definitely cheat after the incident."

Chan Yi glared at him.

The rich man shuddered twice, then smiled and said, "Isn't this just an analogy? Think about it, the family that was beaten to death originally wanted 200 taels of silver, but now they have only one tael left. How can they not hate each other? With this hatred, how can they not focus on that Yang Dong? On Yang Dong's side, someone has taken the blame, so naturally he would distance himself from this matter as far as possible, and why would he bring up silver to give people a chance to criticize him? So, let me say that when Yang Dong came to our house, he should have been asked to give all 50 taels of silver. If he doesn't give it, then we can just part ways. After all, it's his son who died, not mine."

The old man with white hair seemed to have just come to his senses, and with tears in his eyes, he said, "Sir, you have to make the decision for me."

The rich man shook his head and said, "I'm afraid it's hard to make a decision on this matter. There is no evidence at all."

"Shut up!" Chan Yi yelled angrily.

The rich man shut up awkwardly, but before he shut up, he muttered, "This is really not easy to do."

"He's right, this is indeed a difficult matter." Chen Shao's affirmation made the rich man straighten his back instantly. But before he could interrupt, Chen Shao continued, "It's difficult because this matter is against the moral code and disregards human ethics! If I make a decision for you today, it would be encouraging rich people to commit crimes and then pay others to take the blame! But if I don't make a decision for you today, it would be too much to encourage these rich but untrustworthy people!"

"Let me say something unpleasant," Chen Shao looked at the old man and scolded him without mercy, "Your son died, but you at least got ten taels of silver. But the man who was beaten to death by Yang Wu, because of your son's 'good deed', not only did he not get a penny of compensation, but he also had to watch the murderer get away with it!"

The white-haired old man was stunned.

Even Chan Yi, Quan Shuyu, Zhang Chunhua and others who were infected by him woke up instantly.

The rich man also shut up completely.

Chen Shao's face was calm: "You are wrong, but the root cause of this disaster is that the Wen family robbed the fertile land, which made it impossible for you to survive. In view of this, I can forgive you for the crime of aiding and abetting the evil, but you and your family should not think about the forty taels of silver that Yang Dong owes."

The white-haired old man took two trembling steps back.

Chen Shao did not feel any sympathy for them, but instead ordered Li Tianliu: "Immediately arrange for someone to go to Qingshui Town to arrest the cloth shop owners Yang Dong and Yang Wu, and bring them to justice. Then invite the family that was beaten to death by Yang Wu!"

Li Tianliu made arrangements immediately.

After asking Chan Yi to take the white-haired old man aside to wait for a while, Chen Shao looked at the rich man and the man in rough clothes, "Tell me, what are you two here for?"

The rich man naturally spoke first.