Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

Muramasa replied, "About three years ago, when her uncle was delivering rice, he saw her hanging from a tree next to the haunted house."

Chen Shao: "I heard that after Grandma Sun passed away, someone in the village wanted to occupy her haunted house."

Muramasa nodded, "At first, her two uncles wanted to occupy the house as a cowshed. After a quarrel, her younger uncle moved in. But he was so scared that he ran back in the middle of the night. He said that he heard Granny Sun beside his bed asking him why he occupied her house. Her second uncle thought that her younger uncle was trying to scare him, so he moved in too, but he was also scared back. Later, two brave people in the village who didn't believe in evil also went there. After they were also scared back, the house became a haunted house. The villagers didn't want to go there anymore. Many people who wanted to go to the next village would rather take a detour than pass behind the haunted house."

Chen Shao said: "So, no one has been to the haunted house for two or three years?"

Muramasa smiled and said, "No one dares to go."

Chen Shao: "Has anyone in the village said anything about movement in the haunted house this year?"

Muramasa thought for a moment and said, "Yes. Three months ago, Xiong San, a village bricklayer, came back from Changning Village in the middle of the night. When he passed by the haunted house, he saw a light coming out of the house and heard someone crying. He thought he had seen a ghost, so he ran back to the village in fear and became seriously ill."

Chan Yi asked, "Is it Xiong San who worked with Zhao Liu from Zhaojia Village?"

Muramasa nodded repeatedly, "It's him."

Chen Shao asked: "Is Xiong San in the village?"

Muramasa said: “Yes.”

While answering, he called his son, who was peeking through the door to watch the fun, to invite Xiong San over.

As soon as Xiong San entered the yard, he knelt down and the first thing he said was: "I didn't kill anyone."

"I know you didn't kill anyone, so get up." After Chen Shao woke him up, he first asked about his whereabouts when Tao A-mei, Li Bawawa and others got into trouble.

Zhao Qiang had already asked him and verified it. Xiong San mistakenly thought that Zhao Qiang had not told her yet, and after answering each question tremblingly, she hurriedly said, "Zhao Qiang from Zhaojia Village has already asked me and asked someone to verify it. What I said is true. If you don't believe me, you can go ask him."

Chen Shao said yes, and then turned to the main topic: "I heard that when you passed by the haunted house a few months ago, you saw a bright light inside and heard crying?"

Xiong San's face instantly turned as pale as snow.

Although Chen Shao was a staunch materialist, he did not refute the theory of ghosts and gods. Seeing that he was trembling with fear, he could not help but comfort him: "There are so many people here, even the Yulin Army is here, what are you afraid of?"

Xiong San quickly looked around and saw that the courtyard was guarded by Yulin soldiers. He felt relieved and moved to stand behind Muramasa. He put his hands together and bowed several times in the direction of the haunted house before he said, "I was working with Zhao Liu. It was already midnight, so I thought of taking a shortcut and saw it when I passed by the back of the haunted house."

Chen Shao asked: "Which day is it?"

Xiong San leaned closer to Muramasa cautiously: "February 26th."

February 26 was the day when Gao Xiaosi, a four-year-old boy from Changhe Village, was killed. It was also the second case this year.

Chen Shao looked at Xiong San. If he had not been influenced by the rumors about the haunted house at that time and had gone to the haunted house to find out what was going on, he might have been able to save Gao Xiaosi and even catch the murderer. If the murderer was brought to justice, the subsequent cases would not have happened. But everything cannot be calculated by what if. The murderer had killed so many people and had already lost his humanity. Even if he went to find out what was going on, he might not be able to defeat the murderer. By then, he would have lost his life.

Thinking of this, the slight annoyance caused by his retreat disappeared.

Looking at him again, Chen Shao asked seriously, "What kind of crying sound?"

"What kind of crying sound?" Xiong San didn't know what she was thinking. When he heard the word crying, he instinctively recalled the experience of that night. He grabbed Muramasa's arm in horror and shivered, "I, I don't remember. I just heard some crying sounds, and I looked over there. I saw light in the haunted house, so I ran back in fear."

Chen Shao asked, "What time is it?"

Xiong San was about to cry: "Zi Shi."

The old man said that the hour of midnight is when ghosts come out of the underworld and wander around the world. If you don't hurry home at this hour, you will be hit by ghosts, which may cause illness or even death. He didn't believe it before, but after experiencing it himself, he believes it more than anyone else. And now, it is midnight. Who knows if the ghost he encountered that night is hiding nearby? With the Yulin Army around, he dare not come out. Now that the Yulin Army is gone, will he come out to take revenge on him?

Chen Shao looked at Muramasa and said, "No one in the village suspects anything, so why don't we go over and take a look?"

Muramasa was also terrified by Xiong San's fear. Hearing her words, he said with a dry throat: "The night Xiong San returned home, he was feverish like charcoal. He was also complaining of being cold and shivering. Several people tried to calm him down, but they couldn't. We invited a doctor to come and see him, and he didn't get better even after drinking a pot of soup. Later, he burned paper to apologize to Grandma Sun at the entrance of the village, and he gradually got better."

Xiong San is in such a state, how could they have the courage to go and see him?

Seeing the two people holding each other in panic, Chen Shao was worried that if he continued to ask, they would just hold each other. After all, there were no useful clues, so Chen Shao stopped questioning and asked, "Are all the villagers here?"

Muramasa nodded: "They are all here. The wheat harvest is about to start, so they are all waiting at home."

Just as he finished speaking, he quickly shook his head and said, "The two brothers Cheng Zitong and Cheng Zihe are not here. Cheng Zitong is the accountant of Rongfa Commercial Bank, and Cheng Zihe is studying in the Imperial College. Does your Excellency want them to come back? I will ask their father to invite them now."

"No need." After writing down the names, Chen Shaoyuan wanted him to call everyone else over, but suddenly remembered that there were cases in Wenhai Township on December 30th of the seventh year of Yuanhe and November 27th of the fourteenth year of Yuanhe, so he asked again: "Are Tang Yuelan and Feng Yu's families also in the village?"

Muramasa was a little hurt by Xiong San's grip, so he twisted his hand and asked him to be gentler, while replying, "Yes, all are here."

Chen Shao watched the two of them interacting with each other and reminded them, "Okay, I won't ask you about the haunted house anymore."

The two of them stopped.

Chen Shao said: "Tell me about the situation of their two families."

Muramasa looked at Xiong San uncomfortably, stammering and unable to speak.

Sun Qi stepped forward and volunteered, "Let me tell you. When we were searching these past two days, we also secretly asked the villagers about the two of them."

Chen Shao nodded: "Go ahead."

Sun Qi said: "That Tang Yuelan is just a..."

After swallowing the whore in his mouth, he changed his words temporarily: "She is just an indecent person. She had already had affairs with several people before she got married. After she got married, she still had ties with those people, and she also hooked up with many people in this village."

He glanced at Muramasa and said righteously, "One of them is Muramasa's uncle."

Muramasa blushed and quickly distanced himself from the matter, saying, "We have long since severed ties with my uncle's family, and we didn't know beforehand that he had an affair with Tang Yuelan."

Sun Qi sneered twice, "But you found out about it later and didn't stop it."

Muramasa turned his head away and did not argue. Regardless of whether he severed ties with his uncle's family or not, his uncle was still the elder, and even if he wanted to stop it, it was not his nephew's turn.

Seeing that Sun Qi was about to reprimand him, Chen Shao stopped him: "Go on."