Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

Chen Shao first asked the two yamen runners who went to inquire about the news.

The yamen runner who was visiting nearby replied, "I have asked around in several nearby streets. On the night when Zhang Qiaoniang got into trouble, they all went to bed early as usual. In the middle of the night, apart from the night watchman's call, no other sounds were heard, and no one else was seen. After Zhang Qiaoniang got into trouble, many people went there every day to watch the fun. Apart from the people from the county yamen, they didn't notice who went there every day."

The yamen runners who went to the surrounding shops to inquire about the news had nervous expressions and their teeth were chattering slightly. When Chen Shao looked over, they knelt down on the ground in panic.

Chen Shao comforted him: "Just say whatever you want to say. If anyone wants to retaliate against you because you told the truth, I will ask him first."

Perhaps this sentence gave the bailiff courage. Although his teeth were still trembling, he no longer had so many concerns: "I have checked all the shops around Jinsefang. Before and after Zhang Qiaoniang's accident, there was only one person who bought things in every shop. That's it, that's it..."

The bailiff glanced at Jin Zhiyuan secretly.

Since Jin Zhiyuan suspected that Wang Chunsheng was taking revenge on him, his expression has been highly focused. When the yamen runner looked at him, he caught it almost instantly. His face changed rapidly, and without Chen Shao asking, he quickly explained: "My Lord, I went to those shops frequently because I was entrusted by Brother Liu!"

When Liu Pingkang heard that the criticism was directed at him again, he quickly explained, "It was the students of the academy who asked me to go down the mountain to buy those things for them. The students of the academy are not from wealthy families, and I thought that Brother Jin was of noble status, and that he could buy them at a much lower price than I could, so I asked him to buy them a few times."

More and more evidence points to Jin Zhiyuan.

Seeing the increasingly flustered faces of County Magistrate Jin and Jin Zhiyuan, Chen Shao calmly asked Liu Pingkang, "Have you ever asked Jin Zhiyuan to help you buy things before?"

Liu Pingkang nodded repeatedly: "Yes, several times."

Jin Zhiyuan also came back to his senses and echoed, "Yes, one or two months before Liu Qiaoniang's accident, I often went to those shops to help him buy things. If you don't believe it, you can send someone to investigate thoroughly."

Chen Shao gestured to Fu Jiu: "Take the yamen runners and check again to see if what happened in the past one or two months is the same as what he said."

After Fu Jiu followed the yamen runner, Chen Shao set his sights on the night watchman again.

The night watchman was timid, but he had already understood that Chen Shao was the one in charge here. Even if County Magistrate Jin and Jin Zhiyuan made mistakes in front of her, they would still be punished. He knew what was going on, so he didn't need Chen Shao to ask. He knelt on the ground tremblingly and confessed everything: "On the night when Zhang Qiaoniang got into trouble, I did see a black shadow jumping out of Jinsefang and heading north. But the black shadow was so fast that it disappeared in the blink of an eye. I thought it was dazzled and didn't take any notice. The next day, I heard that someone got into trouble in Jinsefang, and I thought that the black shadow last night might be the murderer. But I didn't see the black shadow clearly at the time, and I was really afraid of its revenge, so I kept it a secret. Please forgive me, sir."

"When I asked you a few times before, you said you didn't see anything!" Because of Jin Zhiyuan's increasing suspicion, Magistrate Jin, who was already confused, said angrily, "If you had admitted it earlier, we might have caught him a long time ago!"

The night watchman kowtowed in fear and said, "I know I was wrong, please forgive me, sir."

"That's all." Magistrate Jin was about to accuse Chen Shao, but he stopped him. "Although you didn't see the murderer's appearance, do you still have an impression of whether he was tall or short, fat or thin?"

"The height of the murderer..." Madam Geng raised her head slightly, looked around, and locked her eyes on Jin Zhiyuan and Liu Pingkang. Just as she was about to speak, she was met with the bad eyes of County Magistrate Jin, and she was frightened and quickly retracted her gaze, and changed her words, "He was only slightly shorter than the wall of Jinsefang. As for his figure, he ran too fast, and I didn't see it clearly."

"You're talking nonsense..."

Chen Shao looked at Magistrate Jin coldly, and after stopping his nonsense again, he asked the night watchman a few more questions, then asked him to stand up and step back, and called the three embroiderers to his side.

The embroiderers were already nervous, and seeing what happened to the night watchman, they were undoubtedly even more nervous. Chen Shao calmed down and comforted them for a moment. He asked their names one by one, and then said gently: "I asked you to come here just to learn more about Zhang Qiao Niang. You just need to answer as needed, don't be nervous. I heard from Shopkeeper Ma that among the embroiderers in Jinsefang, you guys have the best relationship with Zhang Qiao Niang?"

The three embroiderers nodded hesitantly. The one with the surname Wu explained, "She is not very close to us. She is only good in the embroidery workshop. Outside the workshop, we invited her to go outing, appreciate flowers, climb mountains, etc., but she never agreed."

The other two embroiderers nodded repeatedly.

After Chen Shao motioned Chan Yi to take out a pen and paper to write it down, he asked, "How many people live in one room in your embroidery workshop?"

The embroiderer surnamed Wu replied, "The three of us will live in one room with her."

That's a four-person room. Chen Shao then asked, "I heard that she used all the money she earned to support her two younger brothers' education?"

The three embroiderers nodded.

Chen Shao continued: "When she broke off the engagement, she gave the other party two strings of cash as a gift. Did she borrow it from you?"

The three embroiderers nodded again.

Chen Shao pretended to be puzzled: "I heard from Shopkeeper Ma that she makes a lot of money every month, how could she not even have two strings of cash?"

The embroiderer surnamed Wu replied, "They should all have been given to her mother."

The embroiderer surnamed Zhao said, "Besides the two younger brothers who need to study, her mother is also in poor health. The money she earned should have been used by her mother for medical treatment."

Embroiderer Zhou muttered, "It doesn't cost that much to see a doctor."

Chen Shao agreed: "Her two younger brothers are studying at Lantai Academy. At Lantai Academy, each of them can earn no more than two taels of silver a year, while she can earn at least nine taels of silver a year. After deducting the expenses of her two younger brothers, she can still have four or five taels of silver left. And the family she was engaged to earlier should have gone to her mother if they wanted to cancel the engagement. Even if her mother couldn't raise the two taels of silver to return it to them, she should have come to the embroidery workshop to find her. Why did the family who came to find her come to find her?"

Several embroiderers seemed to have never thought about this question before. When they heard her bring it up, they suddenly realized it and said quickly, "Yes, why would you go directly to her? Is she a liar?"

"That's not right. If he's a liar, how could Qiao Niang give him money obediently?"

Chen Shao waited until their discussion stopped before asking the next question: "Has she told you about her family situation, such as her two younger brothers' education, how her mother treats her, and what kind of person the person she is engaged to is, etc."

"We talked a lot," said the embroiderer surnamed Wu. "We all go to the embroidery workshop at about the same time, and when we have nothing to do, we always talk about home. According to her, her two younger brothers were very hardworking before they went to school. After going to school, they can't read a few words and have become lazy. We advised them not to go to school and find a master to learn skills, but no one was willing to do so. We all advised her not to give them money, because without money to pay tuition, they would naturally stop being lazy. She said that if we didn't give them money to study, they would refuse to eat or drink, and said they would starve to death. After two days of hunger, they didn't do anything, but their mother couldn't stand it anymore and quickly gave them money to go to the academy."

Chen Shao picked the loophole in her words: "Since she knew that her mother couldn't control her two brothers, why did she still give all the money to her mother to manage, instead of saving it herself?"

The embroiderer named Wu was stunned.

The embroiderers named Zhao and Zhou were also stunned.

The three of them looked at each other in confusion, and then looked at her blankly: Aren’t they out here to make money just to supplement their family income?

Gu Feiyan sighed and reminded in a low voice: "Change the question, they don't have such advanced ideas yet."

She was obsessed. Chen Shao rubbed his brows and asked a different question: "On the night when Zhang Qiaoniang got into trouble, was she the only one in the embroidery building?"

The embroiderer named Wu nodded cautiously.

Chen Shao slowed down his speech and asked step by step, "Is there any urgent work?"

"There's no need to rush," said the embroiderer surnamed Wu, thinking. "Only the ten handkerchiefs she has will be delivered in a few days, but she has already finished embroidering nine of them and half of the remaining one. At her speed, the remaining half can be finished in less than half a day. The other work will be delivered in half a month or a month, so there's no need to rush."

The embroiderer surnamed Zhao said, "She wanted to finish it as soon as possible so that she could take on other work."

The embroiderer surnamed Wu nodded: "That's right, she makes more money than us because she can always finish her work early and then rush to do other work."

Shopkeeper Ma confirmed that what they said was true.

"In other words," Chen Shao asked, "she is often the only one working in the embroidery building?"

"Other embroiderers are afraid of damaging their eyes," Wu said again, "but she often works until late at night. When she comes back, we've already gone to bed."

Chen Shao paused for a moment, letting the others wait outside the lobby, and then asked, "Besides her family, has she mentioned anyone else to you?"

The oldest of the embroiderers was only nineteen years old, and the youngest was only fourteen. None of them were married yet, so they didn't understand what she meant for a moment. It was until Shopkeeper Ma reminded them in a low voice, "It's another man."

The cheeks of several embroiderers turned red instantly.

It was also at this time that they realized Chen Shao's intention of sending the rest of the people out of the lobby.

Although Zhang Qiaoniang is dead, it is important for a girl to maintain her innocence even after her death.

Seeing that they all understood, Chen Shao stopped beating around the bush and said, "The family that she was engaged to came to Jinsefang, probably to urge her to get married. What does that family look like? Why did she not want to? Has she told you about it?"

Shopkeeper Ma answered helpfully, "The family was well-mannered and polite. Zhang Qiaoniang didn't want to marry him, so the other party took the gift money and left without further ado."

"Why is she unwilling? Has she ever told you the reason?" Chen Shao asked several embroiderers.

The embroiderer surnamed Wu replied, "After getting married, there is no way for me to earn money for my family."

It's a valid reason.

Chen Shao changed the subject again: "Has she ever mentioned other men to you?"

The three embroiderers looked at each other, shook their heads, and answered in unison: "No."

Chen Shao did not rush to ask further. The three of them had been with Zhang Qiaoniang for quite a long time and must have a deep understanding of her. However, if they were asked to talk about Zhang Qiaoniang rashly, they would definitely have nowhere to start.

If they want to reveal useful clues, she needs to guide them.

The prerequisite for guidance must be that she has sufficient understanding of Zhang Qiaoniang’s death.

She had only seen the scene of Zhang Qiaoniang's death, and had not seen the evidence or her body, so it would be futile to ask further.

After letting the three of them rest for a while, Chen Shao turned around and asked Gu Feiyan to send someone to the inn to get the box containing Zhang Qiaoniang's evidence. He also asked Chanyi to find someone to invite Zhang Qiaoniang's mother and two brothers over. Then he stood up and called Xu Guang, "Lead the way, let's go to the mortuary and take a look."

The coroner of Xitang County and Xu Guang's examination were both correct.

Zhang Qiaoniang's fatal wound was indeed in the chest.

He was killed by the murderer who stabbed him in the heart.

However, when Chen Shao was using a silver needle to measure the depth of the wound, he made an unexpected discovery: the direction in which the blade pierced the heart was tilted toward the upper right.

The murderer is left-handed!

After examining the other twelve wounds on her body, Chen Shao confirmed this judgment.

With this judgment, Chen Shao checked the bodies of Ah Fu, Tian Gensheng, Li Shunan, Sun Shouyi and Hui Ren again.

Ah Fu was killed by the murderer who slit his throat. The direction of the cut was shallow on the right and deep on the left, with the right side sharp and the left side blunt, a typical left-handed person.

Tian Gensheng was beaten to death, but his cut tongue was also tilted from right to lower left (not obvious, requires careful observation to find), and similarly only a left-handed person can do this.

The wound on Li Shunan's stomach also slants from right to lower left (also not obvious and requires careful observation to be discovered).

The wounds on Sun Shouyi's dismemberment were the same as those on Tian Gensheng and Li Shunan.

Huiren also died from a pierced heart, the wound was the same as Zhang Qiaoniang's.

The murderer is left-handed, which is a very crucial clue.

Coming out of the morgue, Gu Feiyan handed over the box containing the evidence of Zhang Qiaoniang, Tian Gensheng and Sun Shouyi.

Chen Shao glanced in the direction of the lobby, took the box and put it aside, then opened the box containing Zhang Qiaoniang's evidence first.

There is very little evidence of Zhang Qiaoniang, just the clothes she was wearing and the things she carried when she died.

"Why are her clothes so thin?" Chen Shao just unfolded her coat, and Gu Feiyan pulled a corner of her top and questioned, "It's made of coarse cloth. She makes a lot of money, so why is she wearing such poor clothes?"

"Look at her undergarment," Chan Yi couldn't help but hum after she helped spread out the undergarment, "It's also made of coarse cloth!"

Chen Shao did not respond, but picked up the silk bellyband that fell out of his inner garment and the silver bracelet with twigs of crabapple in the box and ordered: "Go and call Magistrate Jin and Jin Zhiyuan to the mortuary."