Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

Fu Jiu took the knife and went behind.

Seeing that she was easy to talk to, several women gathered around and asked, "Sir, can you tell that this is a butcher knife just by looking at this stone?"

Chen Shao briefly explained the basis for her judgment. Amid the people's various praises, she stood up and glanced at the cleared pebbles. At this glance, her eyes suddenly lit up and she walked over quickly.

There's a bloody fingerprint on the cobblestone!

He reached out and snatched the torch from Chan Yi's hand, shining it on the bloody fingerprints.

The bloody fingerprint was very fresh. It should have been left by the murderer when he killed Tao A-mei. It was the fingerprint of the right thumb.

There is a somewhat thick mark in the middle of the fingerprint. This mark is the scar mark that grows after the injury heals.

The murderer's right thumb was injured!

This is a clue that can directly identify the murderer!

Chen Shao was in a very happy mood and shone the torch to other places to see if there were any more fingerprints. The woman behind her saw that she seemed to like fingerprints very much, so she asked, "There is another footprint here, would you like to take a look?"

Chen Shao turned around and saw the woman holding a broom to sweep away the maggots stuck on the bloody footprints, and quickly stopped her, saying, "Don't move!"

The woman was startled.

Chen Shao pushed her broom aside and carefully squatted in front of the bloody footprint. She first illuminated the entire bloody footprint with a torch, then looked around, "Look again to see if there are any other bloody footprints. Be careful when cleaning and don't destroy them."

Several women came over and carefully cleaned the maggots around. Soon, bloody footprints were exposed one after another.

Starting from the killing area she had marked earlier, the bloody footprints covered almost half of the room. There were also some maggots scattered around the room, especially on the bloody footprints. After learning from Chen Shao's lesson that they should not move around, the women poured the maggots they had cleared out into the pit they had dug outside, then stood at the door with brooms, not daring to come in again.

Chen Shao squatted in front of the bloody footprints and told Chan Yi without even looking up, "You can let them go."

"Come out." Chan Yi called everyone out to the yard, took out silver from the carriage, and weighed two taels for each of them.

The women took the money and said that they would come back again next time if something like this happened, and then they left happily.

The bloody footprints were all the same size, about seven and a half inches long, so it could be determined that the murderer was the same person.

After Chen Shao looked at all the bloody footprints, he looked at the bloody fingerprints on the cobblestones. There were thirteen bloody fingerprints, most of which were on the right thumb.

There is a scar in the middle of each thumb.

These scars further proved her judgment that the murderer's thumb had been injured.

She took out the pebbles with the bloody fingerprints, cleaned them up a bit, and asked Chan Yi to put them away. Afterwards, Chen Shao asked Li Tianliu to break off two branches for her, and made a pair of simple chopsticks with the branches. After cleaning the maggots on the bloody footprints, she ordered, "Find me a hoe."

When Chan Yi went to borrow a hoe, Fu Jiu came back with a butcher knife.

The butcher knife Fu Jiu brought back was shorter than she expected, but the shape was the same. Chen Shao compared the butcher knife with the whetstone and said, "It's almost the same knife. Let's arrange for someone to search around the haunted house to see if the murderer has hidden the knife anywhere. Also, invite Cheng Lao Er over."

Fu Jiu first asked the yamen runners guarding Wenhai Township to find a butcher knife, and then shouted outside, "Cheng Lao Er, come in."

Cheng Lao Er entered the room in fear and was about to kneel on the ground. Fu Jiu grabbed his arm and said, "If you have anything to say, please talk in a nice way. Don't dirty these bloody footprints on the ground."

Cheng Lao Er avoided the bloody footprints and cried dryly, "Master, please help me. I have been killing pigs for more than 20 years, and no one has ever accused me of killing anyone."

Chen Shao glanced at his feet, then asked, "Have you ever killed anyone?"

Cheng Lao Er's legs went limp and he was about to kneel on the ground again. Fu Jiu pulled him to the door and said, "You should talk here."

Cheng Lao Er knelt down and said, "My Lord, please be wise. I have never killed anyone."

"As the saying goes, if you don't do bad things, you don't have to worry about ghosts knocking on your door. Since you haven't killed anyone, what are you afraid of?" Although the murderer has not been caught yet, Chen Shao, who has a rough estimate of the murderer's height and weight, said in a very good mood, "Get up, I called you over to ask where you bought this butcher knife."

After hearing the first half of the sentence, Cheng Lao Er was still trying not to think about it. But after hearing the second half, he immediately stood up and said, "I bought it from Lao Huang in Qingshui Town."

Chen Shao asked: "Is Lao Huang a knife seller?"

Cheng Lao Er shook his head, then nodded, "Old Huang is a blacksmith. He sells everything, including knives."

Chen Shao: "Besides Lao Huang, where else are there places that sell knives like this?"

Cheng Lao Er said: "Only Lao Huang is selling it in Qingshui Town, but there are many in other towns, including..."

Chen Shao interrupted him, "Let's talk about this question later. Answer me first, is this kind of knife used exclusively for killing pigs? Or does it have other uses?"

Cheng Lao Er said: "It can be used to kill other things, but it is basically used to kill pigs."

Chen Shao instructed Fu Jiu: "Take him to write down all the shops that sell butcher knives."

After Fu Jiu left, Chen Shao's eyes fell on the bloody footprints again.

Li Tianliu gave her the borrowed hoe.

After Chen Shao took it, he handed him the butcher knife. He used the hoe to circle out several clear bloody footprints, and then compared the depth of the bloody footprints and said: "The murderer's feet are about 7.8 inches long, his height is between 5 feet and 5 feet 3, and his weight is between 120 and 150 pounds."

Li Tianliu waved to the Yulin Guards guarding the door to bring over the torch, and then shone it on the bloody footprints she had circled one by one, and asked, "How did you see that?"

Chen Shao looked at him and teased, "Want to learn?"

Li Tianliu sneered: "You can say it if you want, then forget it if you don't want to."

Chen Shao smiled and read through the bloody footprints again. He said, "We have all the specific conditions to identify the murderer. Now we just need to find him among the specific crowd."

Li Tianliu said in a yin-yang way: "Don't be too happy too soon."

Chen Shao nodded in approval. Under his vigilant gaze, he said in a heavy tone, "It's only a matter of time before we find him. What I'm more worried about now is whether he will go to extremes."

Li Tianliu said disapprovingly: "Haven't you already arranged for yamen runners to guard every village?"

"That's exactly the problem." Chen Shao said worriedly, "The murderer's psychology cannot be judged by ordinary people. His previous activities were all in the northwest of Hongyuan County. Now that we have controlled the northwest, he should not have the chance to strike again. But I'm afraid he will get angry and suddenly change direction to commit crimes somewhere else to retaliate."

Li Tianliu looked at her, seeing her serious expression, and said casually: "As long as he is not a fool, he will not kill anyone again after seeing you investigate the case like this."

I hope so. Chen Shao carefully dug out the bloody footprints and put them on the straw mat beside him. Then he told Fu Jiu, "Put them in the carriage. Be careful not to break them."

After supervising Fu Jiu to put away the bloody footprints, Chen Shao endured the stench and squatted in front of the internal organs. Just as he was about to turn them out for inspection, Ding Lisheng suddenly rushed in breathlessly. After being stopped at the door by Li Tianliu, he still said excitedly: "Master, we found it, and we found it too!"