Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

"There's a fish on your forehead?" Chen Shao frowned and asked uncertainly, "What kind of fish?"

The older man gestured a few times with his hands.

Chen Shao glanced at Chan Yi, and Chan Yi quickly found a pen and paper and handed them to him.

The older man held the pen uncomfortably, and couldn't put it on the paper for a long time. The woman next to him couldn't bear it, so she snatched the paper and pen from him and drew it in a few strokes: "It's like this, not only on his son's forehead, but also on the back of my daughter's hand."

The diagram is as follows:

The first time Chen Shao saw the graphic, the word "Quan" came to his mind. However, he thought that no matter how useless the people in the county or prefectural government offices were, it was impossible that they didn't even know the word "Quan". He temporarily suppressed his doubts and asked, "Does everyone have this symbol, or just these two?"

The woman answered quickly, "Everyone has them. Some are on their foreheads, some are on the backs of their hands, some are on their clothes, and some are on the ground."

Chen Shao nodded to show that he understood, then looked at the "All" symbol and asked the older man again, "How old is your son?"

The older man wiped his tears and said, "I just turned nineteen this year."

"How tall and heavy is it?" Chen Shao continued to ask.

The older man replied, "Five feet one foot tall and weighs one hundred and twenty-six."

"Are you studying or working at home?" Chen Shao asked again.

The older man replied, "I've been working at home."

After writing down the data one by one, Chen Shao then asked, "Have you seen the place where he was killed?"

The older man nodded.

Chen Shao looked at him, "Are there any signs of a fight where he was killed? In other words, were there any signs of resistance or escape before he was killed?"

The older man shook his head blankly.

Chen Shao patiently asked, "Are there no traces, or do you not know?"

"I don't know." The older man blushed and tried to say, "Master Song said that the murderer who killed my son knew my son."

Chen Shao said: "Why do you say that?"

The older man shook his head again and said, "Lord Song also asked us if my son had made enemies with anyone recently. After we said no, Lord Song asked us to think about it carefully."

Since Mr. Song determined that the murderer was an acquaintance, it meant that there might not be any signs of a struggle at the scene. Although his son was of average height and weight, he was nineteen years old and had been working all year round, so his physical strength must be good. If he wanted to kill him without any resistance, it was more likely that the murderer was an acquaintance. After asking his son's name, Chen Shao turned to look at the woman.

The woman's daughter, Zhang Qiaoniang, was the second victim. She was seventeen years old, four feet seven, weighed eighty-nine pounds, and worked as an embroiderer at Jinsefang in the city. She was killed on October 15 while working alone in the workshop.

Ah Fu's throat was cut, and Zhang Qiaoniang's hands were nailed to the table by the murderer with a dagger. A "quan" symbol was stabbed on the back of her left hand, and her body was stabbed thirteen times. Blood was all over the floor. Her death was very miserable.

Similarly, after investigating the case, people from the county and prefectural governments asked the woman to think carefully about whether her daughter had any grudges against anyone recently.

The third victim, Tian Gensheng, was a storyteller, 48 years old, 5 feet tall, weighing 130 pounds. He was found dead in a remote alley on October 17. There were many marks of beating on his body. His tongue was cruelly cut off and thrown aside by the murderer, and his eyes were dug out and thrown aside. Next to the discarded tongue, there was also a "full" symbol.

The fourth victim, Li Shunan, was a doctor, 55 years old, 5 feet tall, weighing 113 pounds. He was found dead in an alley two streets away from Tian Gensheng on October 18. The body's stomach was cut open, the internal organs were dug out and thrown aside, and the medicine box was overturned. A white porcelain bottle rolled to the side with the word "Quan" written on it.

The fifth victim, Sun Shouyi, was a rich young man, 23 years old, 5 feet 2 inches tall, weighing 124 pounds. He was killed in the pavilion in his garden on the night of October 19. The body's limbs were cut off to varying degrees, and the limbs were hung upside down on the beam of the pavilion. The face was cut several times. On the table in the pavilion, there was a blank letter with the word "all" written on it.

The sixth victim, Huiren, was a monk, 41 years old, 5 feet 2 inches tall, weighing 138 pounds. He was stabbed in the heart with a dagger and died on the night of October 24. The Buddhist beads he carried with him were torn apart, and a "Quan" symbol was written on his monk's robe.

After spending nearly an hour to carefully interrogate the six victims, Chen Shao could not help but frown. None of the six people knew each other, and they had no similarities. Although there was a "Quan" symbol left at the scene after they were killed, the manner of death was different, and the place of death was also different. Especially from the place of death in the second, fifth, and sixth cases, it is more likely that the crime was committed by an acquaintance.

If we want to solve the case, we may have to go to Xitang County.

Looking up at the families of the six victims, Chen Shao felt a cloud of gloom in her heart. Regardless of whether this was a conspiracy of the former prince's party, she could not let such a big case go unchecked.

But even though she is in charge, she cannot abandon Hongyuan County.

Although he thought so in his heart, Chen Shao's eyes unconsciously fell back on the paper. From October 13th to October 24th, in just eleven days, the murderer committed six crazy crimes and then there was no more movement...

These are not roving crimes. The motive for roving crimes is usually for money, but in these six cases, no property was lost.

revenge?

Not really. The identities of the six people are very different, and it is difficult for them to form such a life-and-death feud with the same person at the same time in a short period of time.

Chen Shao looked at the symbol "全".

Why would the murderer leave such a symbol at the murder scene?

The murderer's last name is 'Quan'?

With a try-it attitude, Chen Shao asked the people who followed him, "Is there a family with the surname Quan in Xitang County?"

"There is no one in Xitang County, nor in Jingchuan County." The answer came from one of the two monks who followed. "After we reported it to the authorities, the officials in the county and prefectural government offices investigated the surname 'Quan', but to no avail."

"Since it's not the Quan surname, did the county and prefectural governments mention any other possibilities during their investigation?" Chen Shao asked.

The monk shook his head. "This is also the most puzzling point for the county and prefectural governments. In addition to the surname 'Quan', they also searched for all people with the word 'Quan' in their names, but without exception, they were not the murderer."

The woman who drew the character 'Quan' interrupted and said, "Isn't this a fish bone? How did it become the surname 'Quan'?"

The monk patiently explained to her: "This character '全' does look like a fish bone, but if the fish bone is slightly changed, it will become the character '全'."

As the woman nodded in understanding, the monk said to Chen Shao, "The officials from the county and prefectural governments have also checked all the fish butchers in the restaurants in Xitang County, and without exception, none of them are the murderer."