Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

Chen Shao glanced at the several yamen runners beside him.

Several yamen runners knelt down immediately.

Upon seeing this, the other yamen runners in the second hall also knelt down.

No one dared to argue.

Chen Shao didn't ask them to get up, nor did he ask the reason. He just glanced at them one by one and then continued to ask: "Are there any other clues?"

Wang Yuquan answered dryly, "No."

There are bloodstains on the thatched hut, so the original owner of the thatched hut is very likely... Chen Shao asked calmly: "Who is the original owner of the thatched hut?"

Wang Yuquan shook his head, indicating that he didn't know. Afraid that Chen Shao wouldn't believe him, he quickly explained: "Huang Zhiyi is idle, and the money follows..."

After taking a few furtive glances at the kneeling yamen runner, he said, "He got all his money by stealing from a few yamen runners in the government office. He doesn't have much money, and he gets angry when he loses. We don't want to gamble with him. He said there was a lot of blood in the thatched cottage, but we thought he was just bragging and trying to cheat us out of money, so we yelled and stopped him from talking any more."

Chen Shao questioned: "Since you all think he is bragging, why did Liu Renda report it to the police?"

Wang Yuquan didn't expect her to ask this, and hurriedly kowtowed a few times before changing the subject: "Huang Zhiyi always asked me to borrow money. He said that there was a lot of blood in the thatched cottage where he lived. That day, I thought he wanted to use this as an excuse to borrow money from me, so I left before he finished speaking. Later I heard that Huang Zhiyi won a lot of money that day, and almost all the money Liu Renda brought to the county town was lost to him. After Liu Renda asked him to treat him to a drink and was rejected, he went to the government office out of shame to report it."

This man's fear is just a pretense! Chen Shao's eyes flashed with a cold light, and he asked, "When Huang Zhiyi said those words, who were the people who gambled with him?"

Wang Yuquan paused for a moment before hesitantly saying three names, one of which was Liu Renda, and the other two were also from Fenglong Company, but they were escorts. After instructing a few yamen runners to find the man, Chen Shao looked at him coldly and said, "Take him away and keep him under good care!"

The yamen runner beside him quickly stood up and dragged him out swiftly. This time, before he could say a word, he covered his mouth with his hands.

"Go and invite Xu Guang over, and prepare the carriage. We will set off for Xiaochang Village in a while." After Chen Shao gave Fu Jiu instructions, he said to the yamen runner at the door, "Let the two people outside come in."

Chan Yi hurriedly stopped him, "Sir, aren't you going to Xiaochang Village tomorrow? It's already dark today, and you won't be able to see anything even if you go there. Why don't you go there early tomorrow and take a look at the thatched cottage and Li Bawa together?"

Fu Jiu didn't dare to persuade him openly, and could only whisper, "Young General Li hasn't come back yet. When he comes back and sees that the young master is not here, he might get angry again."

Chan Yi nodded in agreement and advised, "Since Liu Renda dared to go to Xiaochang Village to kill Huang Zhiyi, he must be very familiar with Xiaochang Village. Young Master, you should wait until General Li captures him and interrogates him before making any plans."

Chen Shao didn't say anything, and Chan Yi quickly winked at Fu Jiu. Fu Jiu quickly glanced at Chen Shao, then waved to the two Yu Lin guards not far away. The two Yu Lin guards also looked at Chen Shao, and seeing that she didn't stop them, they called four yamen runners to take them to Xiaochang Village.

"How many people are there outside?" Chan Yi asked Fu Jiu.

Fu Jiu said: "There should be two more."

Chan Yi said: "Let them come in together."

Fu Jiu walked out a few steps, brought the person in, and then invited Xu Guang to go.

The last two were both clerks of Fenglong Trading Company. Perhaps influenced by Wang Yuquan, they not only disclosed their whereabouts on April 29th, but also their whereabouts on April 3rd, when the fourth case occurred. After Chen Shao picked out the key points and wrote them down, he handed the paper to Chan Yi and said, "Sort it out and have someone send it to Zhao Qiang to help check it out."

Cicada shell should be it.

Because he was going to Xiaochang Village the next day and didn't know when to leave, Xu Guang simply stayed at the prefect's residence. Fu Jiu took him to the second hall. After Chen Shao exempted him from the formalities, he asked directly: "In your opinion, is there any difference between Tao Amei's death and those who were killed in the 13th year of Yuanhe?"

Xu Guang asked cautiously, "What do you mean, sir?"

Chen Shao summarized the discovery of the bloody thatched cottage in Xiaochang Village. Xu Guang was surprised for a moment, then said, "I have not seen the first few people who were killed, so I dare not make a rash judgment. As for the murderer of Tao A-mei, it must be the murderer in the 13th year of Yuanhe."

Chen Shao asked about the characteristics of the bodies of several victims in the 13th year of Yuanhe. Only after he confirmed that they were the same person or the same group of people who killed Tao A-mei did he feel relieved.

If the murderer in the sixth and thirteenth years of Yuanhe was the original owner of the thatched cottage, then the six cases this year were someone imitating the murders in the previous two cases, and the direction of investigation had to be adjusted accordingly. And judging from the frequency and brutality of the crimes this year, if it was not the same person, then this imitating murderer would be a very dangerous person.

If they fail to capture him as soon as possible, their current encirclement and investigation will likely anger him, causing him to kill more people to vent his anger, which is a result that Chen Shao does not want to see at all.

The only person who can completely eliminate her worries at the moment is Liu Renda.

And Liu Renda...

Li Tianliu didn't come back until late at night.

Liu Renda followed behind him, his upper body tied up like a dumpling, and there was a three-inch sword wound on his left shoulder blade, and the blood almost dyed half of his body red. His face was also bruised and purple, with bloodshot at the corners of his mouth, and his eyes were full of fear.

After kicking the man in front of Chen Shao, Li Tianliu turned and left without saying anything.

Chen Shao looked at the Yulin Guards who had followed him and asked what was going on.

One of the Yulin Guards kicked Liu Renda in disdain and said, "He didn't go back to Hanyuan County at all. He has been hiding in Qunfang Pavilion. The general led us to Hanyuan County for nearly fifty miles, but still couldn't find any trace of him, so he decisively brought us back. We forced Manager Shen to find a few guys who were familiar with him and tortured them. According to their confessions, we searched them one by one and soon found him in Qunfang Pavilion. He saw that he couldn't hide anymore, so he grabbed a prostitute named Jiaojiao and put a dagger against her neck, trying to force us to let him go. Humph, he didn't even ask about the general's nickname in the capital. The second lady of the Minister of Works threatened the general to marry her last year with her own life, and the general was not afraid of her. How could he be threatened by a scum like him?"

As he spoke, he kicked Liu Renda again, intentionally kicking his injured shoulder blade.

Liu Renda felt pain but dared not cry out. He struggled to get up and kneel down, kowtowed and said, "Please spare my life, sir. I know I was wrong. I didn't mean to threaten the general. I just made a mistake in a hurry. I beg you to have mercy on me."

Chen Shao listened to his clamor and asked sternly, "Did you kill Huang Zhiyi in a hurry?"