Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

Chen Shao didn't even turn his head: "What did you find?"

Ding Lisheng covered his nose, looked at the bloody footprints in the thatched hut, and said in a muffled voice: "Found a thatched hut with blood."

Ok?

Chen Shao stood up and looked at him. Seeing his dishevelled appearance, he thanked him for his hard work before asking, "Where did you find it?"

Ding Lisheng was instantly elated by the hard-earned words of comfort, and he no longer felt the stink. He put down his hand and said excitedly, "In Pinggao Township, in an abandoned thatched house outside Pinggao Township."

Chen Shao got up and walked out of the thatched hut. He stood in a ventilated position and looked at the villagers who were still standing in the distance watching the excitement. After asking Chan Yi to tell them not to leave the village for the next two days, he turned around and asked Ding Lisheng, "Tell me, how did you find it?"

Ding Lisheng rubbed his hands, "We were searching the mountain. When we reached Qingyu Mountain, we saw a thatched house on the mountainside. We went over to take a look and saw pebbles in the house with some old blood on them. I was afraid that it was left from killing chickens and ducks, so I asked the yamen runners to guard there and went to Pinggao Township to inquire. After learning that the thatched house had been abandoned for nearly 20 years, I guessed that it might be the place where someone was killed, so I hurried to report to you."

Chen Shao walked around the yard twice, "How far is Pinggao Township from here?"

Ding Lisheng followed her closely: "Ten miles."

Chen Shao stopped by the morning glory vines in front of the hedge and said, "How far is Xiaochang Village?"

Ding Lisheng counted on his fingers and said, "It should be about five or six miles away."

Chen Shao: "How far is Xiaochang Village from here?"

Ding Lisheng glanced at the villagers in the distance and said, "It's about five or six miles away."

If the thatched house in Pinggao Township is also the first scene, then the first scenes of the serial murders have almost been found. Chen Shao looked back at the haunted house and told Li Tianliu, "Arrange a few people to go with him to check the situation. If it is really a murder scene, protect it. Also, tell everyone in Pinggao Township that before I go, they are not allowed to go anywhere except to work in the fields. If there is an emergency, you must go out..."

Chen Shao looked at Ding Lisheng and said, "I must come to you to report and explain where I am going and what I am going to do."

Ding Lisheng responded repeatedly.

Li Tianliu selected a few Yulin guards, and Ding Lisheng took them there excitedly.

Chen Shao returned to the thatched hut and first used a branch to pick out the few relatively intact internal organs. After picking out the maggots that were still wriggling inside, he asked Li Tianliu, "Do you have a dagger? Give it to me."

Li Tianliu took out the dagger from his sleeve and handed it to her.

Chen Shao took the dagger and handed him the torch. When he pulled the dagger out of the scabbard, he looked at the cold light reflected by the blade and raised his head slightly and said, "Are you willing to give it up?"

Li Tianliu took a look at the rotten internal organs in front of her, then looked at her: "I can't bear to part with it, give it back to me."

Chen Shao curled his lips and said, "Thank you."

Li Tianliu snorted twice and said nothing.

After having him squat down and holding the torch closer to the internal organs, Chen Shao took the dagger and carefully cut open the intestines. The stench immediately rushed towards him. Chen Shao turned his head away and hid for a while. When the smell dissipated, he looked back at the chyme at the end of the intestines and almost talked to himself: "Tao Amei was from Taojiazhuang when Shenzheng left. She was killed in Zizheng, four hours ago... If Tao Amei had just eaten before leaving Taojiazhuang, then it would fit. If she didn't eat before leaving, then..."

Li Tianliu asked: "What?"

Chen Shao said: "Then the porridge was eaten by the murderer."

Stirring the chyme with a dagger, Chen Shao said, "The chyme is fine and smooth, it should be a snack or something like that."

As he said this, he sniffed hard and called Chan Yi over to him: "Smell it, does it smell like drugs?"

Chan Yi suppressed his nausea, sniffed a few times, stirred it with a branch, and then poked the spleen and lungs next to it uncertainly before saying, "If these mold-like blood spots are not caused by decay, then the owner of these internal organs must have taken drugs before he died."

Chen Shao looked at the spleen, lungs and other tissues she had poked and said, "Rotation cannot form that kind of mold."

Chan Yi glanced at Li Tianliu and said, "That means he took drugs."

Having said that, Chen Shao still dissected open the stomach, lungs, heart, etc. one by one to confirm his judgment that the patient had taken drugs.

Chen Shao did not touch the internal organs that were more severely rotten.

After leaving the thatched hut, he took off the handkerchief covering his mouth and nose, wiped the dagger clean, and handed it back to Li Tianliu. Then he told Fu Jiu, "Dig a pit and bury the internal organs."

After Fu Jiu finished burying the body, Chen Shao ordered again: "Arrange someone to guard this place well."

Afterwards, she looked down at the filth on her body and the faint stench of decay as she moved. She walked to the vent, shook herself vigorously and said, "Where's Muramasa? Bring him over."

Muramasa was a middle-aged man in his early forties. He followed the yamen runners and looked at the haunted house with fear. He was about to kneel down, but was stopped by Chen Shao, "Is it convenient at home?"

Muramasa said hurriedly, "It's convenient. Please come this way, sirs."

Following Muramasa into the village, Chen Shao drew a few buckets of water from the village well and washed himself. Then he sat in the courtyard of Muramasa's house, looked at the villagers who came back one after another, and asked, "How many households are there in the village?"

Muramasa replied timidly, "One hundred and thirty-seven households."

Chen Shao: "How many people are there in total?"

Muramasa: "Together the old people and children, there are 692 people."

Chen Shao: "The village is very big."

Muramasa said with a little pride: "Our village is the largest village in this area."

Chen Shao casually asked some questions such as whether there was enough land and food, and then returned to the main topic: "Tell me about the haunted house."

Muramasa swallowed a few times fearfully before answering reluctantly, "The haunted house used to be where Granny Sun lived."

Chen Shao interrupted him, "I think the haunted house is not close to the village. Why would Granny Sun live there?"

Muramasa looked around and said cautiously, "She wanted to live there on her own. Her son was bitten by a poisonous snake while chopping wood in the valley below the thatched house. By the time they found out, it was too late. Granny Sun said her son told her that he was too lonely lying there alone, so he wanted her to live there to accompany him. So she moved there. The haunted house was built for her by the villagers, who knew..."

Chen Shao asked, "Is there no one left at Grandma Sun's house?"

Muramasa said: "Her family is gone, but her uncle and two younger uncles still live in the village. When she insisted on living there, it was her uncle and two younger uncles who supported her with food and drink."

Chen Shao: "Were those plots of land in front of the thatched cottage reclaimed by Granny Sun?"

Muramasa sighed, "Yes, before her son got into trouble, she was the most capable person in the village. After her son passed away, she became a little crazy. Despite this, she still reclaimed a few plots of land after moving to the haunted house. At first, she didn't want the rice and flour sent by her uncle and two younger uncles, but later when her condition became more and more serious and she was always talking to herself in front of the place where her son got into trouble, she started to accept it."

Chen Shao: "I see that although the haunted house is overgrown with weeds, it is not dilapidated. When did the incident with Granny Sun happen?"