Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

Chen Shao took the kitchen knife and looked it over for a while. There was a thin layer of rust on the blade, but judging from the handle, it was a pretty good kitchen knife.

Asking Chan Yi for a handkerchief, Chen Shao wiped the rust while asking, "Where did you find it?"

The yamen runner took credit for it and said, "I found it in the graveyard covered with weeds outside the village."

Chen Shao: "Where exactly is it?"

The bailiff pointed in the direction of the village and said, "Go this way. There is a pile of graves near the village. When Sun Qi and his men were searching the village, they must have been afraid, so they passed by this area."

After Chen Shao thanked him for his hard work, he walked to the torch held by the Imperial Guards, looked at him for a moment, and then gave the kitchen knife to Fu Jiu. "When Tao Ming comes back tomorrow, give him the kitchen knife and ask him to take it back to Taojiazhuang and ask Tao Amei's family to identify it and see if it is the one Tao Amei carried with her."

Fu Jiu took the knife. Chen Shao did not return to the thatched cottage. Instead, he followed Muramasa, who was still waiting nearby, to his house to rest.

There are more and more clues.

But how to find the murderer from the vast crowd is still a difficult task.

Seeing that it was almost dawn, Chen Shao forced himself to sleep for two hours.

The next day, after having a very rich breakfast at Cun Zheng's house, Chen Shao saw that the villagers had already started slaughtering chickens and sheep. He took back his words about not eating here at noon and, led by Cun Zheng, went to the place where Tang Yuelan and Feng Yu's bodies were dumped.

Both bodies were dumped in a grove between two wheat fields not far from the village.

The grove is not even five square meters.

There are only thirteen trees, big and small.

Standing at this end, you can see through the sparse trees on the other side without any obstruction.

The same person discovered their bodies: Xiong Guicai, the owner of the wheat field next door.

Xiong Guicai was also one of the twenty-one people they were in love with.

Chen Shao stopped at the place where Muramasa pointed out their bodies were found.

There is nothing special about this area.

The only special thing was Tang Yuelan, the first person whose body was dumped here.

Tang Yuelan was murdered on December 30th of the seventh year of Yuanhe.

She was the first victim to be disemboweled by the murderer.

He was also the last victim of the case in the seventh year of Yuanhe.

When the murderer was killing her, he clearly intended to further abuse the corpse, but suddenly stopped.

Generally, serial killers have a motive for killing, which is money, power, love, or revenge. But for this killer, she has not yet found a clear motive.

This is also the key reason why we have not been able to catch him.

Back to the present, there are generally only two reasons why the serial killer suddenly stopped. One is that the killer had an accident, that is, he was arrested or died for other reasons. Obviously, the current killer does not meet any of the conditions, so it can only be the second reason. The second reason is that his motive for killing has been "filled", that is, if the killer killed for love, then he would stop after the love was fully satisfied. However, once this satisfaction is lost again, the killer may become even crazier.

Apparently, this is the case with the current murderer.

Chen Shao asked Muramasa a few questions as usual, but the answers she got were nothing new. After coming out of the grove, she went to the grave where the yamen runners had found Cai Dao and took a look around. The grave was very large, and almost everyone who died in the village was buried in this area.

The kitchen knife was found in an old grave near the main road. Judging from the location, the murderer must have thrown it away after killing someone. Although it was thrown away casually, Chen Shao still searched the grave carefully and returned to the village after confirming that there were no other clues.

Tao Ming has returned from Taojiazhuang. He came back last night and this morning took the kitchen knife given by Fu Jiu and went back to Taojiazhuang again. After waiting for Chen Shao to drink a bowl of tea and rest for a while, he stepped forward and said, "Brother Tao and Sister Tao said that when Sister Amei returned to Zhaojia Village, she had lunch at noon. She had green bean porridge, Hu pancakes, fried eggs with chives, and homemade pickles. There were no cakes at home, and Sister Amei had not eaten anything else before she left home."

The contents of the intestines that were cut open in the haunted house were very delicate rice cakes. Although Chen Shao had long identified them as the murderer's, she was relieved to be able to confirm them.

Tao Ming took out the kitchen knife and continued, "I asked Brother Tao and the others. This is the kitchen knife that A-mei brought with her when she returned to Zhaojia Village."

As he spoke, he handed over the kitchen knife and pointed to a small notch on the blade, saying, "Here is the evidence. Brother Tao said it was left when he was chopping sheep bones."

Chen Shao took the kitchen knife and handed it to Fu Jiu, "Since it belongs to A-mei Tao, it is evidence. Keep it well."

"Brother Tao and the others have asked us to do something," Tao Ming said with some embarrassment. "They want to come and see the place where Sister A-mei was murdered."

In fact, they also wanted the internal organs that were dug out of Tao A-mei's body by the murderer. Tao Ming was afraid that Chen Shao would think he was talking too much, so he didn't dare to say it.

Chen Shao said, "Come and see if you want to. The internal organs in the haunted house... I'll divide them up later. If others want to come and see them, let them take them away. If they don't want to take them away, we'll bury them separately."

Chen Shao did not blame him! Tao Mingsong said angrily: "Students thank you on behalf of Brother Tao and the others."

"Nothing to thank me for." Chen Shao looked at Chan Yi, "Give me the list of people selling butcher knives that Cheng Lao Er provided yesterday."

Chan Yi brought the list over. Chen Shao looked at Tao Ming and Sun Qi, gestured to hand the list to Sun Qi and said, "Check if these people remember who they sold the butcher knives to. If they remember, check them accordingly. If they don't remember, ask if there are other people who sold butcher knives to others."

Sun Qi glanced at Tao Ming, who looked disheartened, and happily took the list from him. "The students will definitely check it out."

Chen Shao said, "It's better for your team to act together. If you encounter any difficulties, solve them by yourself if you can, and don't try to be stubborn if you can't. Asking for help from others at the right time is not a sign of incompetence, but a sign of brainstorming."

Sun Qi and several team members said: "Students understand."

After they left, Chen Shao looked at the frustrated Tao Ming and his team members and said with a smile, "You want to do something so bad? Okay, I'll arrange one for you too."

Tao Ming and several team members were immediately excited.

Chen Shao said, "From the first case in the sixth year of Yuanhe to now, there have been a total of twenty-three victims. I need you to investigate their network of relationships, that is, whether they have common acquaintances or common enemies. You don't have to be so rigid when investigating. For example, Tao A-mei and Tang Yue-lan may not have made friends, but Tang Yue-lan's close friend knows Tao A-mei's close friend and they have a very good relationship, which can also be counted as a common acquaintance. Twenty-three people may not seem like a lot, but investigating the relationship between them is a huge project."

Tao Ming quickly expressed his opinion: "Don't worry, sir, the students..."

Chen Shao raised his hand to interrupt him, "Listen to me first. As before, I will not interfere with your investigation. The only requirement for you is to conduct a thorough investigation of every victim. As for how long the investigation will take, I will not set a time limit, so don't be anxious, just take your time."

Tao Ming said to several team members: "Students, go right away!"

Chen Shao nodded, "You go first, I'll see if the other groups are free, if they are, I'll let them join in."

Tao Ming agreed and left with his men.