Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

After returning to the haunted house, Chen Shao stopped again. The mountains were dark green and the moonlight was white. If there was no firelight, the haunted house would stand alone here, and it would indeed have a bit of a spooky atmosphere.

After walking along the main road, passing the village, and measuring the distance to the main road where Tao A-mei was returning from Taojia Village to Zhaojia Village, Chen Shao looked around and asked Sun Qi and Tao Ming, "Have you searched this road?"

Tao Ming rushed to answer: "We have searched, but found nothing."

Chen Shao asked again: "How far is this place from Taojiazhuang?"

Tao Ming couldn't answer.

Sun Qi couldn't answer either.

Muramasa, who was still following, replied, "Less than three miles."

It was less than three miles away, so where did Tao A-mei get into the murderer’s car?

Chen Shao walked towards Taojiazhuang.

Fu Jiu was driving the carriage and wanted her to ride over, but Chen Shao refused.

Walking in the moonlight and feeling the night breeze, Chen Shao did not walk fast. It took him nearly half an hour to reach the main road outside Taojiazhuang.

Although this road is mountainous, the view is still wide.

Although there is a forest on the inner side, the trees are not dense, and on the outer side, it is almost all farmland.

Chen Shao asked Muramasa: "Are there usually many people on this road?"

Muramasa was about to answer, but was interrupted by the barking of dogs in Taojiazhuang. As the dogs barked, several middle-aged men came towards this direction with guns and sticks. Seeing the crowd of people on the road, several middle-aged men immediately stopped and raised their sticks vigilantly and asked: "Who are you! What are you doing here?"

Tao Ming recognized the identities of the men and quickly stepped forward and shouted, "Fourth Master, Second Uncle, it's us. We followed Master Chen back to investigate the case."

The person on the other side heard Tao Ming's voice and came over immediately. When he got closer, he saw that it was Chen Shao. Surprised, he blurted out, "Is there another case?"

Tao Ming rushed to answer: "No, it's the place where the adults found the murderer who killed Sister A Mei."

The man called Erbo immediately asked, "Where is the murderer? Has he been caught?"

Tao Ming glanced at Chen Shao and said hurriedly, "It's almost there, we'll catch him soon."

Chen Shao bowed apologetically and said, "Sorry to bother you."

Several men hurriedly made way for him and said, "No, no, sir, you have been up all night investigating the case, right? If there is anything I can help you with, just let me know."

"We can't do anything else, but we'll do as much hard work as we can."

Chen Shao said: "When there is a need, I will come to bother you. There is nothing to do today, uncles and aunts, please go back and rest early, we should leave too."

The men left after telling them if they had any tough jobs to do.

Chen Shao walked around and turned back to Wenhai Township. This time, she did not observe the environment on both sides of the road, but put herself in Tao Amei's shoes and simulated the scene when she left Taojiazhuang and returned to Zhaojia Village that day.

It was raining that day, and her father had just passed away, so she must have been more anxious to get home than usual. At this time, the murderer passed by here...

Chen Shao stopped suddenly.

It is impossible that the murderer just happened to pass by here and happened to meet her before attacking her.

The murderer must have been targeting her for a long time and knew her well enough to know that no matter how big the incident was, it would not stop her from returning to Zhaojia Village, so he deliberately waited for her on this road.

This is true for Tao A-mei, and also for Li Bawawa and others.

Since it was premeditated, the murderer must have appeared after Tao A-mei came out of Taojia Village and walked a distance. When Tao A-mei was in a mess, an acquaintance appeared, and this acquaintance was an "honest and decent" person. After the acquaintance asked her to get in the car and said a few words that he was going to Zhaojia Village or a village farther than Zhaojia Village, Tao A-mei would definitely let down her guard.

There is pastry-like chyme in the intestines of the haunted house.

Chen Shao turned around slowly. He wanted to go back to Taojiazhuang, but he thought of the dog in Taojiazhuang. In order to avoid disturbing the villagers, Chen Shao looked up at the sky. It was still a while before dawn, so he told Tao Ming: "Go back to Taojiazhuang now and ask Brother Tao Da and Brother Tao Er for me when and what did Sister Tao eat when she returned to Zhaojia Village? Did she eat any snacks like cakes?"

After Tao Ming responded, several members of his group instinctively followed him.

After Chen Shao motioned Fu Jiu to give him the torch, he stopped her and said, "You stay and let him go back alone."

They were less than thirty feet away from Taojiazhuang when Tao Ming, in order to show off, asked his teammates to stay behind and walked away quickly with a torch in hand.

Chen Shao didn't look away until he turned into the fork in the road leading to Taojia Village. After asking his teammates and a Yulin Guard to wait here, she turned around and continued to figure out where the murderer appeared.

It’s not good to be too close to Taojiazhuang.

It can’t be too far from Taojiazhuang either.

Far from Taojiazhuang, that means close to Zhaojia Village. Considering Zhou's nitpicking about her, if she was already very close to home, she would not risk being criticized by Zhou by taking a carriage.

Well, there aren't many places to choose from.

Taojiazhuang is five miles away from Zhaojia Village.

Taojiazhuang is three miles away from Wenhai Township.

The place where the murderer "happened" to meet Tao A-mei could not be too close to Taojiazhuang, and after Tao A-mei got on the carriage, she could not have been without any vigilance, nor could she have eaten the cakes mixed with the drug immediately. The drug also takes time to take effect, otherwise Tao A-mei, who was strong and had a kitchen knife, could not have allowed the murderer to take her to Wenhai Township without any resistance.

It’s just the right place, about a mile from Taojiazhuang.

Chen Shao stopped about a mile away, looked around, slowly closed his eyes, and imagined the scene where the murderer stopped the carriage and greeted Tao A-mei in surprise.

Tao A-mei watched the rain getting heavier and heavier. Although she was afraid that Zhou would scold her, she still got on the carriage. Under the coaxing of the murderer, she ate the cakes mixed with drugs. Judging from the fact that there were no scratches or bruises on her body, she did not seem to doubt the murderer during the effect of the drug.

She fell down and woke up again in the haunted house.

When she was in the haunted house, would she cry and beg him like Gao Xiaosi did what Xiong San heard?

Chen Shao opened his eyes and slowly walked back to the haunted house.

A hint of white has appeared on the horizon.

Xu Guang is still studying the bloody footprints.

Chen Shao stood in the yard in front of the haunted house. After looking at him for a while, he said to Sun Qi and the others, "You guys go back and rest. You don't have to follow me all the time."

Sun Qi bowed and said, "Student is not tired."

The others also followed suit and said they were not tired.

Chen Shao knew that they were trying to show off, so he said, "Go back, I'm also going to rest."

She planned to go to the place where Tang Yuelan and Feng Yu dumped the bodies after daybreak, and then go to Changning Village.

After hearing what she said, Sun Qi and the others left reluctantly.

When Chen Shao entered the haunted house, he first briefly summarized the clues that the blood footprints could provide based on the blood footprints that Xu Guang had studied. Then, when he was about to explain to him the theory of judging height and weight from the blood footprints, the village guard who had been sent by Fu Jiu to look for knives suddenly rushed over with a kitchen knife.

Li Tianliu kicked him over and was about to kill him with his sword when the yamen runner shouted, "General, spare my life! This is a kitchen knife I found around the village!"