Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

Chen Shao stood in front of Liu Pingkang, who had lost two of his three souls, and asked in a cold voice, "Are you still unwilling to confess?"

Liu Pingkang shuddered suddenly, then came back to his senses and said, "It's you, the one you arranged!"

Chen Shao sneered: "It seems that you haven't seen the situation clearly. Regardless of whether it is someone we arranged or not, the fact in front of you is that no one will come to save you."

"Impossible, he said..." Liu Pingkang stopped talking halfway and suddenly said, "Don't even think about deceiving me!"

"All right." Chen Shao stepped back a few steps, called Magistrate Jin over, and handed him the indictment that he had written down when he interrogated Liu Pingkang. "Take it to the front and read it out loud in front of these people. Let everyone see what the devil who killed so many people looks like."

Magistrate Jin was resentful of Liu Pingkang for framing Jin Zhiyuan. Hearing this, he loudly replied "yes", holding the indictment and trotting forward, stopping only five steps away from the onlookers. He then cleared his throat, unfolded the indictment, and read it out loud.

"This is nonsense," Liu Pingkang struggled in fear after hearing a few words. "According to the criminal law of Datong, even if the murderer is really me, such a serious case must be tried by three judges before I can be convicted! You sentenced me to death without review by the Censorate and the Ministry of Justice. This is high treason! According to the laws of Datong, you should also be beheaded!"

Chan Yi said with disdain, "When you were helping them kill people, didn't you ask around? Before our young master left the capital, the emperor issued an imperial decree in front of all the civil and military officials, granting our young master the right to kill traitors first and report later. Even without this imperial decree, our young master has killed so many people in Hongyuan County, so killing one more person like you is nothing!"

The elite soldiers have already sharpened their swords.

Magistrate Jin has also finished reading out the charges.

Amid the indignation of the people, Chen Shao glanced at the direction where Gu Feiyan had chased and gave a cold order: "Execute!"

The elite soldiers stepped forward and with two swipes of the sword, they removed Liu Pingkang's clothes. Like slicing a duck, two pieces of flesh and skin fell to the ground in the blink of an eye.

The pain came belatedly after the second piece of flesh and blood fell to the ground. The intense pain, coupled with the fact that the rescuers never showed up, made Liu Pingkang finally compromise: "I confess, I confess, I confess everything!"

But Chen Shao did not stop immediately.

After the two elite soldiers had each taken five or six pieces of meat, he signaled, "Take him back to the hall for retrial!"

The elite soldier swung his sword twice and cut the hemp rope that bound Liu Pingkang.

Liu Pingkang's legs fell weakly to the ground. Seeing the bloody flesh being peeled off his body, he tilted his head in horror and began to retch uncontrollably.

Can't you bear it? He showed no mercy when he tortured and killed Zhang Qiaoniang, Tian Gensheng, Li Shunan and others! Chen Shao curled his lips sarcastically and said indifferently: "Take him away!"

Two elite soldiers dragged him back to the county government office and threw him into the lobby.

Chen Shao sat down in front of the case and told Chan Yi, "Go and invite the family members of those who were killed to come in and listen to the trial."

"Then the people outside..." Magistrate Jin ran to the case desk and asked carefully, "Can we also come in and listen to the trial?"

As soon as Chen Shao raised his eyes, Magistrate Jin quickly explained, "They were the ones who were clamoring to come in for the trial."

"Then let them in." Chen Shao said indifferently.

The people quickly swarmed in and surrounded the hall entrance.

After Chan Yi led the families of the murdered people into the hall, Chen Shao picked up the gavel and banged it hard twice: "Silence!"

Everyone shut up immediately and looked at her.

Chen Shao ignored their gazes, looked at Liu Pingkang, and said coldly: "You can speak now."

The pain in his body, the blood dripping from his wounds, and the curses from the people had already broken down Liu Pingkang's defenses. When he heard the question, he shouted in a venting voice: "It was Hu Mazi, he was the one who asked me to kill him. The person you should arrest is him, not me!"

"Who is Hu Mazi?" Chen Shao asked calmly, "Why did he ask you to kill someone?"

"Hu Mazi is a thug in Jingoufang," Liu Pingkang gritted his teeth and spoke very quickly, "He said that if I killed one person, I would get ten taels of silver, if I killed four people, I would get fifty taels of silver, and if I killed six people, I would get eighty taels of silver. After killing everyone, if I was caught, he would send someone to rescue me and would never let me suffer."

Chen Shao winked at Fu Jiu, and only after he saw Fu Jiu grab Jin Zhiyuan and leave with two elite soldiers did he look away and continue to interrogate, "Did he only look for you, or did he look for others as well?"

Liu Pingkang said hatefully: "He only looked for me!"

Chen Shao asked: "Why did he look for you?"

Liu Pingkang was speechless for a moment. After Chen Shao repeatedly asked him, he reluctantly said, "A few months ago, I owed the Golden Hook Shop fifty taels of silver for gambling. Because I couldn't pay it back, the shopkeeper of the Golden Hook Shop wanted to chop off my hand. He said he could pay it back for me, but the price was that I had to kill someone for him."

Chen Shao: "Why did he kill people?"

Liu Pingkang: “He didn’t say.”

Chen Shao naturally didn't believe his lies. When he was killing people, he was able to lay so many clues to frame Jin Zhiyuan. Not only was he not a brainless person, but he was extremely cunning! Hu Mazi was a thug in a gambling house. Where did he get so much money, and why did he kill people? Even if he didn't get an answer after asking, he must have secretly investigated!

Chen Shao calmly asked again: "He didn't say, what about you, what is the reason you found out?"

Liu Pingkang subconsciously wanted to deny it, but Chen Shao calmly reminded him, "I've already given you one chance, and I won't give you a second one. You'd better think it over before answering."

Liu Pingkang opened his mouth for a long while before he fearfully glanced at the elite soldiers in the hall and said quickly, "He is the man of the General Fuguo. The General Fuguo asked me to kill him!"

A stone stirred up a thousand waves.

The people at the door were instantly excited.

"Nonsense," all the elite soldiers in the hall drew their swords and pointed them at him, "When did our general ever give such an order?"

Liu Pingkang was so scared that he took two steps back and shouted, "I didn't say that. Hu Mazi told others that!"

"Who did Hu Mazi tell you that? You'd better make it clear today, otherwise..."

"Back off!" Gu Feiyan came back at the right time, threw the person she was holding into the middle of the hall, looked at the indignant elite soldiers, and said coldly, "Why, do you want to rebel?"

The elite soldiers retreated unwillingly.

After Liu Pingkang saw the person on the ground clearly, the last bit of hope in his heart collapsed.

Hu Mazi, he was also arrested!

wrong.

He was the one who shot the arrow earlier!

He lied to him!

Liu Pingkang's eyes were bloodshot!

"You continue the interrogation and ignore them." Gu Feiyan signaled to Chen Shao.

Chen Shao asked her: "Hu Mazi?"

Gu Feiyan said: "We caught him and brought him back, but we didn't have time to interrogate him yet."

Looking at Liu Pingkang with angry eyes, Chen Shao was almost certain that the person she brought back was Hu Mazi. Looking at Hu Mazi who was tied up and stuffed with rags in his mouth, Chen Shao knocked the gavel twice, and while quieting down the people who were talking, he asked: "Did he designate the six people you killed, or did you choose them yourself?"

Liu Pingkang glared at Hu Mazi with gritted teeth: "He designated it!"

Hu Mazi shook his head and whimpered.

Chen Shao slammed the gavel hard: "Tell the truth, otherwise the crime will be even more serious!"

Liu Pingkang felt a chill in his heart, and suddenly came to his senses: "I chose it myself."

Chen Shao said coldly: "Tell me how you chose them, one by one, starting with Ah Fu."

Liu Pingkang instantly became excited: "That vegetable vendor is unlucky. He couldn't go anywhere else but had to pass by when I was hesitating. If I don't kill him, who should I kill?"

Ah Fu's father thought of countless reasons, but he never thought that it would be such a ridiculous reason.

Ah Fu's father staggered and collapsed on the ground, looking at Liu Pingkang numbly. He opened his mouth, but could neither cry nor shout.

Fu Jiu, who had just gone to Jingoufang, quietly slipped into the lobby. Seeing his appearance, she hurried over to help him up. After a long time, she still couldn't help him up.

Seeing him like this, Chen Shao lowered his eyes slightly, suppressed all his emotions, and then asked again: "Where is Zhang Qiaoniang?"

"Zhang Qiaoniang?" Liu Pingkang seemed very satisfied with Ah Fu's father's performance. After laughing wildly for a few times, he said hatefully, "Zhang Qiaoniang, that bitch, I just spent a few dollars on her, and she threatened me that if I didn't marry her, she would go to the Xu family to expose me! Who the hell does she think she is? How dare she dream of asking me to marry her? Pah!"

When Zhang Qiaoniang's mother heard this, she fainted.

But Zhang Mancang and Zhang Shitou didn't bother to help him. They rushed forward and punched and kicked Liu Pingkang. "If you kill my sister, I will beat you to death!"

Liu Pingkang was skilled in martial arts, so how could he allow them to bully him? He pushed and kicked them and easily knocked them out. "What's wrong with killing your sister? Your sister is just a person..."

"Shut up!" Chen Shao shouted, "If you dare to talk nonsense again, I'll drag you out and execute you!"

Although Liu Pingkang kept silent, he laughed twice provocatively at Zhang Mancang and Zhang Shitou.

"If I see you with this expression again," Gu Feiyan stepped forward and kicked him in the popliteal fossa. The moment he knelt on the ground, she stomped hard on his back, pinning him to the ground, and then gradually increased her strength, "I will break all the bones in your body. If you don't believe me, just try it!"

Liu Pingkang wanted to push her over in defiance, but after struggling for a long time, he was unable to move her at all.

Gu Feiyan sneered disdainfully, and her toes moved down along his spine all the way to the coccyx, then she suddenly exerted force.

With a crisp sound and a scream, Liu Pingkang fell limply to the ground.

Gu Feiyan stepped aside as if nothing had happened and signaled Chen Shao: "You continue."

Chen Shao glanced at Liu Pingkang, then at the elite soldiers who stood up straight and looked inexplicably proud, and then at the onlookers who were as silent as a cicada before continuing, "What about Tian Gensheng and Li Shunan? What's the reason?"

Liu Pingkang went completely crazy: "Tian Gensheng and Li Shunan, Tian Gensheng and Li Shunan, hahahaha, who the hell are they, how dare they look down on me! And Sun Shouyi, he is a waste, if he is not his father, he is worse than a dog, why do I have to suffer so much and live such a cowardly life, while he does nothing and has endless money every day! And that old bald donkey Huiren, I asked him to draw a curse for me that can make Xu... that tigress die early, but he scolded me for turning back, who the hell is he, how dare he teach me how to do things!"

Chen Shao looked at him quietly for a long time.

She had always known that the evil of human nature was far beyond her imagination, but his behavior of taking someone's life for a simple reason still made her feel disgusted.

Chen Shao suppressed his surging anger and said calmly, "There are all kinds of reasons to kill them, so what's the reason for framing Jin Zhiyuan?"

Liu Pingkang sneered: "Then you have to ask him what he has done!"

Chen Shao glanced at Jin Zhiyuan and asked him, "What has he done?"

Liu Pingkang frowned and said angrily, "What has he done? He has such a good family background. He failed the imperial examination every time, but his father still found him a job in the county government. As for me, I gave up my dignity and ignored the jokes of others. I finally married into the Xu family and lived a comfortable life for a few days. But he insisted on competing with me!"

Jin Zhiyuan subconsciously retorted: "I didn't!"

"You don't have it?" Liu Pingkang said calmly, "If you don't have it, then... why does that tigress always compare you to me?"

Xu Caijin originally wanted to listen to what he had to say, but after hearing this, he couldn't help but laugh coldly: "Comparing you to him is because you both learned martial arts from the same master. He has a better background than you, but he works harder than you! You are dirty, so why do you think others are as dirty as you?"

Liu Pingkang's face was distorted, but he didn't dare to be presumptuous when facing her: "I didn't work hard? In the first two years when I married you, I did all the hard work in the Xu family. What did he do for you? You always compare him to me, you just like him!"

Xu Caijin did not argue with him. He waited until he finished speaking before saying disdainfully, "It seems that you already know very well that the only wrong thing I, Xu Caijin, have ever done in my life is marrying you and letting you bring disgrace upon my Xu family!"

This sentence was too harsh. Liu Pingkang looked at her in disbelief, "What did you say?"

Xu Caijin expressionlessly pulled out the already written divorce letter from his sleeve and threw it at him: "It doesn't matter what you say. From now on, you are you and I am me. Let's part ways and have nothing to do with each other anymore!"

Seeing the word "divorce", Liu Pingkang's face, which had been pale due to torture, instantly turned blood red, "You, you, you, you want to divorce me..."

Xu Caijin was too lazy to waste words with him, so he took a few steps back and ignored him.

Liu Pingkang did not give up and said angrily: "I married into the Xu family, bowed my head and was ridiculed. What right do you have to divorce me? I don't agree!"

Having said this, he angrily tore the divorce letter into pieces and threw it away.

Then, he quickly reached into his arms, but found nothing. He suddenly realized that his dagger had been taken away by the elite soldiers when they disguised themselves as bandits and attacked him.

The humiliation of being divorced and the powerlessness to commit suicide made Liu Pingkang roar a few times and then slam his head to the ground.

It only hit once, and the second time hit Gu Feiyan's shoe surface.

"After killing so many people, do you want to die like this?" Gu Feiyan gently lifted him up with the tip of her shoe, turned him over, and quickly pressed his acupoints.

Chen Shao glanced at the onlookers who were talking again, announced Liu Pingkang's crimes in court, and ordered Magistrate Jin to arrange for people to drag him out and execute him immediately.

Then, Chen Shao looked at Zhang Ruyuan, Cui Shu, and Chang Si, "Did you remember what he just confessed?"

The three nodded uncertainly.

Chen Shao did not test them, and directly ordered: "Then give me his confession, together with the evidence collected in the past few days, and rewrite a case file for me. If there are any incomplete parts, find a way to complete them yourself."

Although she let them follow her these days, she did not teach them anything directly.

Asking them to rewrite the case is undoubtedly a test of how much they have understood.

The three of them understood this logic, and although they were hesitant, they still agreed to it.

The people all followed to watch Liu Pingkang's execution, and the hall returned to silence.

After signaling Fu Jiu to remove the rag from Hu Mazi's mouth, Chen Shao went straight to the point and asked, "Tell me, who ordered you to do that?"