Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

Ma Dali's parents were eating with their children. When they saw a group of people coming in, they were so scared that they stood up immediately. The two old people instinctively protected the three children behind them.

Ma Dali quickly advised: "Don't be afraid, Dad and Mom, it's Mr. Chen from the capital, here to investigate A-mei's case."

Despite this, Ma Dali's parents did not let down their guard.

Chen Shao was not in a hurry to appease them. After taking a quick look at the layout of the house, he observed the expressions of the two elderly people and asked Ma Dali, "Do the uncle and aunt live with you?"

Ma Dali answered earnestly, "Yes, there is no other house in the family except this yard, so we have to live together. It's a bit crowded, but we can take care of each other."

Ma Dali's parents and three children looked at a loss, alert, and afraid, but not terrified. Chen Shao's suspicion of Ma Dali was reduced. Seeing that there seemed to be a house in the back, he said, "Can we go to the back? If we can, let the uncle and aunt continue to eat, and we can find an open space to talk."

"You can go." Ma Dali hurried over to open the door, then stepped back.

Fu Jiu and the Yulin Guards went over first.

Chen Shao followed closely.

At the back is a small kitchen, which is full of life and has no signs of extensive cleaning.

Pushing open the kitchen door, outside was a stone dam that connected to half of the street. There was a large well in the middle of the dam, about two or three meters away from Ma Dali's house.

Chen Shao walked out of the kitchen and looked around. There were several bundles of dry firewood on the left side of the kitchen, and a car rack on the right side.

The wheels and body of the car were covered with mud, some of which had dried and some was still damp.

Chen Shao looked outside the stone dam. There were many thatched huts on the open space outside the stone dam. There was an old donkey in the thatched hut opposite Ma Dali's house.

After watching the old donkey come back, Chen Shao went to the well again and looked down into the well. The well was not very deep, less than ten feet, and the bottom could be seen with the light of the fire. The stones around the well were very clean, with only traces of washing vegetables and clothes. Looking around, he saw many people looking out through the cracks in the door or window, so he told Chan Yi: "Go ask Ma Dali about his whereabouts in recent days."

After Chan Yi left, Chen Shao turned around and said to the others, "Let's talk inside."

Ma Dali's parents had already put away the food and the table, and were standing in the corner protecting their child.

Chen Shao sat down casually on a stool nearby and asked the two old men a few questions about their business and their children. After they relaxed, he said to Ma Dali, "Go and ask Tao Xiaolan to come out as well. I have something to ask her, too."

Ma Dali went upstairs immediately.

In a moment, accompanied by a creaking sound, Tao Xiaolan hurried downstairs with red and swollen eyes, walked straight to Chen Shao, knelt down, kowtowed and said: "Please, sir, please make a decision for my sister. Although my brain is a little stupid, I don't deserve such humiliation."

Chen Shao asked her to get up first, and then asked her: "I heard that you and A-mei are good friends?"

Tao Xiaolan replied yes, tears streaming down her face. "Before she got married, we were better than real sisters. After she got married, I don't know what kind of magic potion Zhao Shan gave her, making her willing to work like a slave. I tried to persuade her, but she said I didn't understand Zhao Shan and didn't know how good he was. I was so angry that I have had less contact with her in the past two years. If I had known..."

As he spoke, he burst into tears.

Ma Dali quickly found a handkerchief and handed it to her, "Stop crying, she's gone. The most important thing now is to cooperate with adults to catch her murderer as soon as possible and not let you sisters down."

She understood the truth, but when she thought that she would never see her sister again, Tao Xiaolan couldn't stop crying.

Ma Dali sighed, "Ask me, sir. I don't know everything about what happened between them, but I know about 80% of it."

Chen Shaoyuan didn't have much to ask her. He asked her to come out just to check her expression. Seeing that her grief didn't seem fake, his suspicion of Ma Dali was reduced a little. Even so, he still asked as a routine: "I heard that every time you go to Zhaojia Village, you will give Ah Mei a few cakes?"

Ma Dali nodded: "Yes, I will give it to you, but not much, just three or four."

Chen Shao stared at him: "Why do you want to give it to me?"

Ma Dali looked at Tao Xiaolan and said frankly, "She scolds Tao A-mei every day, saying that she is a blockhead and deserves to work like a cow or a horse without having any food to eat. Sometimes she gets so angry that she can't eat. I thought of giving her a few cakes to improve her life a little bit, and also make Xiaolan less angry."

Tao Xiaolan looked at him, "Why haven't I heard you say that?"

Ma Dali said disapprovingly: "What's there to say? It's just a few cakes."

"That's right," Tao Xiaolan cried and cursed, "Do you think if you give her food, it will fall into her mouth?"

Ma Dali advised: "Whether it can fall into your mouth or not, it is still a token of your thoughtfulness."

Chen Shao interrupted their affectionate conversation and continued to ask, "Where did you go on the 21st?"

"Twenty-one..." Ma Dali counted on his fingers and realized it was the night when Tao A-mei had the accident. He quickly replied, "It was raining that day, so I didn't go out."

Chen Shao: "You didn't go out in the morning?"

Ma Dali said, "The 21st is market day. Many people in the village will carry vegetables to sell. The shop is busy, so I won't go out."

Chen Shao said: "In other words, you were at home that day?"

Ma Dali nodded, "They are all here, and the neighbors can all testify for me."

Chen Shao: "What about yesterday and today? Where did you go?"

"She didn't go out either." Ma Dali explained, "She was going to go out yesterday, but Zhao Liu came and told her about what happened to A-mei. She got anxious and insisted on going to Zhaojia Village to find out what happened. After returning from Zhaojia Village, she locked herself in the room and refused to eat or drink. She just kept crying. With her like this, I couldn't go out either, so I was delayed for the past two days."

Chen Shao looked at Li Qiang.

Li Qiang said awkwardly: "After sending Ah Mei home, we didn't ask them again. We don't know whether they went to the village or not."

After asking Li Tianliu to arrange for the Yulin Guards to go back and verify, Chen Shao stood up and looked around several houses downstairs and upstairs. Chan Yi also came back.

The neighbors did confirm that he was at home on the 21st, but their testimony only proved that he was at home during the day.

What happened to A-mei Tao happened at night.

However… the car rack outside the kitchen looked like it had not been cleaned in the past few days. There was no sand or blood inside or outside the car from Tao A-mei’s abdominal cavity. If he was the murderer, then there would be another vehicle to carry people. Thinking of this, for the sake of caution, Chen Shao first asked Ma Dali if he had another car. After getting a negative answer, he ordered Chan Yi again: “Take a few Yulin guards to ask along the street if he had borrowed a car from anyone in the past few days.”

Watching Chan Yi leave, Tao Xiaolan realized belatedly that Chen Shao was suspecting that Ma Dali had killed Tao A'mei. Without thinking, she quickly explained, "Sir, Dali has not been out for the past few days. He is definitely not the murderer of A'mei."

Chen Shao smiled and comforted him: "This is just the process of investigating the case. It is not just targeting him."

"But..." Tao Xiaolan was about to explain, but Ma Dali held her back. He said that a man of integrity has nothing to fear. He didn't kill anyone, so he wasn't afraid of being investigated.

Qingshui Town is not big, and Chanyi finished asking questions in just two cups of tea.

He never borrowed a car from a neighbor.

"I'm sorry to have frightened you, old man." Chen Shao nodded slightly to Ma Dali's parents, and then quickly walked out of the pancake shop. Standing in front of the carriage, he looked back at the surroundings, and then looked at the dozen pancakes that had not been sold on the pancake stall, and told Fu Jiu, "Buy them all."

Fu Jiu bought one, and Chen Shao took a few bites and praised, "It tastes good. You all should try it."

After Fu Jiu distributed all the sesame cakes, Chen Shao got on the carriage and said, "Go back to the prefect's mansion."