Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

"Laidi is Li Ba Wa's eldest sister. She should be twelve or thirteen years old this year," Zhao Dayuan said angrily. "When the New Year was approaching the year before last, I went to Xiaochang Village to collect goods. Lao Zhou asked me to drink, and I stayed at his house that night. When I was half asleep in the middle of the night, the Li family suddenly knocked on my door and accused me of raping Laidi. Fortunately, we drank a lot that night, and Lao Zhou and I slept in the doghouse somehow. But the Li family didn't believe it, saying that Lao Zhou deliberately slept in the doghouse to protect me. They also dragged Laidi in front of the villagers who heard the news and watched the excitement, showing all the blue and purple marks on her body, and insisted that I pinched her. They also pulled out the sheets in the room where Lao Zhou often let me sleep, pointed to the bloodstains on them, and said that they were evidence of asking Laidi to break her virginity.

Fortunately, Lao Zhou was an old hunter and recognized the blood on the bed sheet at a glance. He tried his best to stop the Li family and asked me to go to the county town to find Uncle Liang Zhu. Uncle Liang Zhu reported to the government again, and the yamen officers arrested the Li family and took them to the government office, where they were severely beaten with a stick, and the matter was dropped.

But within two months, the Li family hated Lao Zhou and secretly poisoned seven chickens, three geese, and a sheep in his family at night. I wanted to report to the police and have the bailiffs beat them again, but Lao Zhou stopped me and only warned the Li family a few words. Only in the past two years have there been some peace.

Another victim with a bad reputation.

Chen Shao took the pen handed over by Chan Yi, and while writing down the key points of his words, he said, "Stay in the company for the next few days, and don't go anywhere until I confirm whether what you said is true or not. Otherwise, I will arrest you as a suspect in the serial murder case. Do you understand?"

Zhao Dayuan said: "I understand."

Chen Shao: "Go and call the next person in."

The next one was still a clerk from Fulai Trading Company, named Sun Chengyi, who was in his early forties.

Chen Shao found his roster and saw that there were no villages or towns involved in the case under his charge. He asked as usual, "Where were you and what were you doing on May 21st?"

Sun Chengyi's face flushed, and after a long while he replied, "In, in Qunfang Pavilion."

Chan Yi spat.

Chen Shao continued to ask calmly, "What about April 29th?"

Sun Chengyi, like Zhao Dayuan, thought for a while, then shook his head and replied, "I can't remember, it should be either in the tavern or in the Qunfang Pavilion."

After Chen Shao wrote down the name of the pub he often went to, he asked him to go out and call the next person.

The answers of the next four people who came in were similar. It was not until the seventh person came in that the answers were slightly different.

The seventh person was a clerk at Fenglong Trading Company, named Wang Yuquan.

As soon as Wang Yuquan entered the second hall, he began to tremble. Before he even reached the center of the hall, he knelt on the ground and started to kowtow.

Chen Shao deliberately left him alone for a while before asking, "Confess yourself."

Wang Yuquan trembled even more violently, his face turned pale and ugly, "I, I didn't kill Tao A-mei, and I didn't kill Li Ba Wa."

Chen Shao asked casually: "Who did you kill?"

"me……"

A pool of yellow water flowed out from under him, and a foul and pungent smell instantly spread. Chan Yi spit and quickly turned her back. Fu Jiu and Li Tianliu stood in front of Chen Shao at the same time, blocking her view.

Fu Jiu looked at Li Tianliu. Li Tianliu also looked at him, then stepped back as if nothing had happened.

Chen Shao glanced at the two of them, and after asking Fu Jiu to move aside, he frowned and slammed the gavel hard: "Speak!"

"It was not me who wanted to kill him," Wang Yuquan burst into tears in fear. "It was Liu Renda, it was Liu Renda who asked me to kill him."

Chen Shao shouted, "Who is Liu Renda, and who is he?"

Wang Yuquan replied tremblingly: "Liu Renda is also a partner of the company. He, he is Huang Zhiyi from Xiaochang Village."

Xiaochang Village?

Chen Shao's heart skipped a beat and he quickly took the roster of Fenglong Commercial Bank. Liu Renda was not among the people listed. After signaling Fu Jiu to ask Manager Shen to come, Chen Shao asked, "Why kill him?"

Wang Yuquan said fearfully, "He won our money, and Liu Renda wanted him to treat him to a drink, but he didn't want to. So Liu Renda asked me to go with him to his house at night to steal back the money he lost. Liu Renda estimated that he would fall asleep, so we climbed into his yard together. As a result, he was not asleep yet. When he saw the two of us, he laughed and said that he had known that we would steal his money and was waiting for us. He asked us to give him 20 strings of cash, otherwise he would report us to the police and arrest us, and also asked us not to work in the business in the future. Liu Renda started fighting with him, but he couldn't beat Huang Zhiyi, so he asked me to help. I went, but Huang Zhiyi kicked me away. Liu Renda hugged his waist and asked me to strangle him, so I strangled him. I, I didn't mean to kill him, I just strangled him and he didn't move..."

Shopkeeper Shen followed Fu Jiu in. When he heard the second half of his words, his expression suddenly changed.

Chen Shao looked at him: "Where is Liu Renda?"

Shopkeeper Shen said quickly, "He's gone. He's in charge of Hanyuan County. When he's not shipping goods, he often comes to the county town to play with other people. He followed Wang Yuquan back to the business earlier, and when he heard that I was going to bring them to the prefect's mansion, he said he had to go back first. I didn't think much about it, so..."

Chen Shao's eyes turned cold: "He went back to Hanyuan County?"

Shopkeeper Shen had cold sweat on his forehead. He quietly rolled up his sleeves and wiped it twice, then said uncertainly, "It should be."

Chen Shao looked at Li Tianliu, the coldness in his eyes almost solidified: "Catch him immediately!"

Li Tianliu bowed to her, called a few Yulin guards, took Manager Shen by force, and went to arrest the man himself.

Chen Shao looked at their backs gradually disappearing into the night, his face cold and gloomy. He retracted his gaze and looked at Wang Yuquan again. Wang Yuquan was crawling on the ground, constantly begging for mercy. His forehead was already bloody. Chen Shao's eyes did not show any sympathy, "Where are Huang Zhiyi's family? He died just like that, didn't his family come to report to the police?"

"He and his parents died six or seven years ago. His eldest and second brothers disliked him for being lazy and addicted to gambling, so they kicked him out of the house." Wang Yuquan's teeth were chattering, and he stumbled as he spoke. "He also hated his eldest and second brothers for not caring about their brotherly love and looking down on him, so he lived alone in a thatched cottage outside the village. It was almost three months after his death that his eldest brother found out. He reported to the prefectural governor's office, but the officials said that he must have killed someone and waited until the body was rotten before deliberately accusing him of being killed by someone else and reporting to the authorities. They beat him up and kicked him out."

Chen Shao asked coldly: "When did you kill him?"

Wang Yuquan said, "July of the year before last."

In July of the year before last, it was about the same time that the Li family took revenge on Zhao Dayuan. Chen Shao said, "Take him away and keep him under guard."

The bailiff came forward and dragged him out. Wang Yuquan struggled and shouted, "Sir, please have mercy. I, I know the clues to kill those people!"

The yamen runner subconsciously stopped, and after Chen Shao indicated to let him go first, he said indifferently: "Tell me about it."

"The thatched hut where Huang Zhiyi lived," Wang Yuquan said quickly, "there was a lot of blood in the thatched hut where he lived, and there were also stones, stones from the Dafeng River!"

Chen Shao stared at him, "How do you know?"

"He told us that when he was gambling with us," Wang Yuquan did not dare to hide anything. "He said that when he first arrived at the thatched hut, it was full of blood. He used a hoe to dig for half a month before he could clean up the bloody mud."

Chen Shao asked: "Since we know the clues, why didn't anyone report it to the authorities?"

Wang Yuquan secretly glanced at the yamen runner beside him and said in panic, "Liu Renda reported it. Liu Renda said he wanted to frame Huang Zhiyi for the murder, but no one in the government paid any attention to him."