Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

"I understand." Chen Shao nodded, looked at everyone's tired faces, stopped questioning, and said, "You must be tired after the long journey. Go to Juxian Building and rest for two days. I also need to think carefully about how to investigate this case."

"Just take a rest," Chan Yi smiled and comforted them when she saw that they were in trouble. "Juxian Building is where our master settled the temporarily trapped people. You don't have to pay for food and accommodation."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

The two monks clasped their hands together and chanted "Amitabha".

"Send them to Juxian Tower." Chen Shao ordered the Yulin Guards beside him.

After the Imperial Guards led everyone away, Chen Shao's eyes fell back on the paper. After Chan Yi followed the Imperial Guards to send the people out of the hall, she also looked at the paper after returning. After just one glance, she looked at her again: "Is this case very difficult?"

"It's tricky, but it's not tricky either," Chen Shao said after asking the other two Yulin Guards to invite Cui Shu, Zhang Ruyuan, Chang Si and others over and to invite Li Tianliu back. "Whether it's tricky or not depends on when we can figure out the meaning of this 'all' symbol."

Chan Yi was worried: "If you can't figure it out, do you have to go to Xitang County again?"

Chen Shao said "hmm".

"What about Hongyuan County?" Chan Yi asked.

"We can only try our best to arrange it." Chen Shao tapped his brows lightly and said uncertainly, "The reason why Shi Xing's case took so long to investigate was because the time span was too long and there was a serious lack of evidence. These cases have only happened for more than a month, so they should be able to be investigated soon."

"I think the murderer in this case is the princeling gang of the previous dynasty," Chan Yi said angrily, "The purpose is to lure the young master to Xitang County so that he can no longer take care of the affairs in Hongyuan County!"

"No matter if the murderer is a member of the former princeling party or not, the most urgent task is to catch the murderer as soon as possible." Again, no matter if the murderer is a member of the former princeling party or not, since human lives are involved, she can't just ignore it. Chen Shao picked up the pen and followed the woman's handwriting, writing a few 'all' characters.

The murderer left such a word or symbol at the crime scene. In addition to being provocative, it must have a special meaning. As long as we can crack it, the case will be solved.

But what special meaning does this word or symbol have?

"I'm afraid that if we catch this murderer," Chan Yi said indignantly, "they will create another murderer."

"So while we're catching the murderer, we can't neglect the affairs of Hongyuan County." Chen Shao answered casually.

Chan Yi snorted, "It's a good thing that you had the foresight to train Liu Deming and the others early on, otherwise we would really be led by them by the nose!"

"Who said it wasn't?" Chen Shao still responded casually, without stopping his hand. After writing a few more 'all' characters, he was still confused, so he put down his pen and read the information he had written down twice from beginning to end, and sorted it out silently: In the second case, Zhang Qiaoniang died in the Jinsefang Embroidery Building. Although there was no one in the embroidery building, the dormitory of these female workers was not far away from the embroidery building. Zhang Qiaoniang was found dead when the other embroiderers went to work on the morning of the second day, which proved that the murderer did not make much noise when killing her.

Zhang Qiaoniang's clothes were intact and there were no signs of being violated. Under what circumstances could the murderer quietly enter the embroidery building, approach Zhang Qiaoniang who was alone, and kill her without alerting anyone?

There is only one possibility: someone who is familiar with the embroidery building and is familiar with Zhang Qiaoniang.

There were no signs of a fight in the room... The murderer could have killed the victim with one blow or knocked him unconscious by drugging him or using smoke.

Whether it was a one-shot kill or drugging, it would require someone very familiar with the person so that they would be caught off guard. And the smoke would need to be very familiar with the embroidery building so as not to cause any accidental injuries.

Let’s look at the fifth case. Sun Shouyi’s father was a wealthy family with many people. He was killed in his own garden and was not found until the next morning. This shows that the murderer was not only familiar with Sun Shouyi, but also familiar with the Sun family and their daily routines.

There was also the sixth case, in which there were people on both sides of Huiren's meditation room, but when he was killed, no one heard the noise. This shows that the murderer was not only an acquaintance of Huiren, but also an acquaintance whom he could let down his guard.

Although the first, third and fifth cases do not have such obvious characteristics as the above three cases, judging from the places where they died, it can also be concluded that the murderer is very familiar with the streets and alleys of Xitang County.

To sum up, the murderer is not only from Xitang County, but also from the county seat of Xitang County.

This person must be of high status to be so familiar with Sun Shouyi and know the Sun family so well.

Therefore, in addition to the symbol of "quan", the breakthrough point can also fall on Sun Shouyi's father.

If one wants to know everything about the Sun family, one must have been in and out of the Sun family frequently. If one frequently goes in and out of the Sun family, then Sun Shouyi's father must also know him!

"Sir, Zhang Ruyuan and the others are here." Chan Yi's reminder interrupted Chen Shao's lingering thoughts. Looking up, he saw Cui Shu, Zhang Ruyuan and Chang Si standing in a row. Chen Shao gathered his thoughts in time, nodded, and handed over the information he had written down. "You can also take a look. This is a case that the people from Xitang County came to ask me to decide."

When the three of them gathered together to watch, Chen Shao gave a brief introduction to the situation, and then said: "You have also been studying in Caofang for so many days. After watching, tell us your opinions."

When Zhang Ruyuan, Cui Shu and Chang Si heard this, their originally relaxed attitude suddenly became tense.

After reading it over and over again, knowing that they could not get through it, Chang Si and Zhang Ruyuan could not help but put their hopes on Cui Shu. Cui Shu did not disappoint them. When they met his gaze, he took the initiative to say, "Every time the murderer kills someone, he leaves a 'Quan' character. Does that mean the murderer's last name is 'Quan'?"

Chen Shao shook his head: "We have checked the county government of Xitang County and the government office of Jingchuan County. Whether it is in the county or the county, they will have the full surname."

Cui Shu asked: "What about those with the character 'Quan' in their names?"

Chen Shao shook his head again: "No."

Cui Shu was suspicious: "Why did the murderer leave this word?"

Chen Shao did not answer, but turned to look at Zhang Ruyuan and Chang Si.

Zhang Ruyuan held the paper with the information on it, not daring to look her in the eye. "The murderer was so cruel, but he didn't do it for money, so he must have done it for revenge. Although their family members said they didn't have any enemies, we can't believe them completely."

Chen Shao didn't say anything, but turned to Chang Si.

Chang Si also avoided her gaze and said cautiously, "The murderer would not leave a 'Quan' character for no reason. Since people with the surname 'Quan' and people with 'Quan' in their names are not the murderer, could it be that this is not a 'Quan' character, but a fish bone? You see, this part is the fish head, and this part is the fish tail. It is completely reasonable. Has the county government of Xitang County investigated anyone related to fish?"

Chen Shao nodded.

Chang Si didn't give up and asked, "Hasn't the murderer been found yet?"

Chen Shao said 'hmm'.

"That's weird," Chang Si was puzzled. "It's not the surname 'Quan', it's not the name with 'Quan' in it, it's not even related to fish, so what else could it be?"

Chen Shao encouraged: "Think about it again, is there anything else?"

While they were pondering, Li Tianliu strode back, glanced at the three of them, and asked directly, "Are you going to Xitang County?"

Zhang Ruyuan, Cui Shu, and Chang Si all looked at her.

Chen Shao also glanced at the few people and said, "I should go there."

Li Tianliu sat down opposite her, "Hongyuan County doesn't care?"

"I asked you to come back to discuss this matter with you." Chen Shao did not avoid people. "You should know everything about Xitang County. No matter how this case came about, since it involves many lives, we can't just ignore it. Xitang County is not close to Hongyuan County. It will take at least a month to go back and forth, plus the time for investigating the case. A month is not long, but it is not short either, so..."

"So," Li Tianliu interrupted her and said, "I will go with you no matter what."

Chen Shao knew it would be difficult to convince him. Fortunately, even if he went to Xitang County, he couldn't just leave at will, so he was not in a hurry. He took the recorded information from Zhang Ruyuan and handed it to him, saying, "Then take a look at this case first and see if you can figure out anything."

Li Tianliu took the paper, read it from beginning to end, and asked her: "If we find someone related to the word 'Quan', does that mean we have found the murderer?"

Chen Shao nodded: "Almost."

Li Tianliu looked at her, then at Zhang Ruyuan and the others: "Is there no one with the surname 'Quan' in Xitang County, or anyone with the name 'Quan'?"

"There is no one with the last name 'Quan'. The county government of Xitang County has checked everyone with the name 'Quan', and none of them is the murderer." Chen Shao said.

Li Tianliu looked at the word "Quan" from front to back and side to side, and asked, "Is it possible that the murderer didn't write the word "Quan"?"

Chen Shao raised his eyebrows: "For example?"

"How should I know?" Li Tianliu threw the paper to her and stood up. "I just said it casually. If you don't have anything else to do, I'll get busy."

Chen Shao nodded and said "OK". After he left the side hall, he stood up and said, "Go back and think about it carefully. If you have any new ideas, feel free to come to me."

Zhang Ruyuan and several others agreed.

After returning to Chengfeng Courtyard, Chen Shao pondered over the case for a while. Just as he was about to put it aside for a while, the Yulin Guard knocked on the door and came in, saying, "The two monks are back again. They said they want to see you, young master."

Chen Shao glanced outside and said, "Please invite them to the study."