Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

The two brothers kowtowed even harder. Zhao Jianshu said, "Please spare our lives, sir. We didn't kill anyone. We didn't kill anyone. We really didn't kill anyone."

Sure enough, there was a problem. Chen Shao frowned and asked in a cold voice, "If you didn't kill him, then who did?"

"We don't know," the two brothers cried, "we really don't know."

Chen Shao sneered: "Don't know? I think you are the murderer, that's why you don't know!"

The two brothers panicked instantly. Zhao Jianshu was even more panicked than Zhao Jianshan. He didn't care that his forehead was bleeding, and he just tried his best to use this action to prove his innocence: "My Lord, we really didn't kill anyone. It wasn't us who killed him."

Chen Shao's tone was still cold: "If you didn't kill him, then explain it clearly. Why is there blood in the thatched house where your father lived?"

Zhao Jianshu said anxiously, "Yes, I saw it when I went there on the second day of August."

Chen Shao threatened, "What year's August 2nd, what were you doing there?"

Zhao Jianshu cried out: "On the second day of the eighth month of the seventh year of Yuanhe, I wanted to move two cabinets back. As a result, when I entered the house, I saw a lot of blood. I was scared for a moment, so I ran back."

On the first day of August in the seventh year of Yuanhe, Lei Wencai, a seven-year-old boy from Lijiagou, was killed by having his neck cut. That is, the murderer went to the thatched cottage the day after he killed Lei Wencai.

Chen Shao stared at the two of them with cold eyes, "Since you found the blood, why don't you tell us?"

Zhao Jianshu said timidly: "I am afraid..."

Chen Shao suppressed his anger and asked, "What are you afraid of?"

Zhao Jianshu cried, "I'm scared... I'm scared that they will say I killed the person. I'm also scared, scared that the murderer will come back and kill me after he knows I reported it to the authorities."

Chen Shao laughed angrily: "If you report it to the authorities, Lord Li will naturally come to investigate. How can he say that you killed the person! After Lord Li comes to investigate, he will naturally catch the murderer. How can the murderer kill you!"

Zhao Jianshu just cried and didn't say anything.

Zhao Jianshan said timidly: "Master Li has been investigating for so long but still hasn't found the murderer. Who knows..."

Chen Shao paused for a while before suppressing his anger that wanted to kick him to death. "If you don't report to the authorities, Lord Li will certainly not be able to catch the murderer! After the second day of August, another sixteen people were killed. These people could have avoided death. It was your selfishness and cowardice that killed them! Do you think that after being caught, you can get away with it by saying you're afraid? Don't even think about it!"

Zhao Jianshan muttered: "What does it have to do with us? We didn't kill the man..."

Chen Shao said coldly: "You didn't kill them, but they died because of you!"

The two brothers were silent.

Chen Shao calmed down his anger and continued to ask, "Where did the pebbles in the thatched house come from?"

Zhao Jianshu said: "My father picked it up and used it to lift the bed and cabinet."

Chen Shao: "After you went to the thatched cottage on August 2, have you been there again?"

Zhao Jianshu kept crying and didn't say anything. Chen Shao kicked him angrily, "Speak!"

It was the first time that Li Tianliu saw her get angry. He raised his eyebrows imperceptibly, then stepped on Zhao Jianshu's back and said nonchalantly, "From now on, let me do the beatings. Tell me, I don't have her good temper. If I accidentally break your spine, you'll have to blame yourself."

Zhao Jianshu said in panic, "We have been there, we have been there, we went there on October 19th and January 3rd."

Li Tianliu stepped harder and said, "Please tell me clearly, which year's October 19th and January 3rd."

Zhao Jianshu begged the master to spare his life, and then quickly said, "October 19th of the seventh year of Yuanhe and January 3rd of the eighth year of Yuanhe."

October 17, the seventh year of Yuanhe, was the day when Jiang Lan, a 63-year-old peasant woman from Yuanhe Town, was murdered.

December 30th of the seventh year of Yuanhe was the day when Tang Yuelan, a 30-year-old peasant woman from Wenhai Township, was murdered.

They went to the thatched hut only after the two people were killed.

In other words, they already knew what the blood in the thatched house was about, but they still chose to conceal it! Although Li Baozhong was not careful enough, Chen Shao's anger was aroused again: "Tell me clearly what you saw after you went there!"

Li Tianliu stepped on his back harder and harder, Zhao Jianshu almost crawled on the ground. He didn't dare to hide anything anymore, and hurriedly confessed: "I saw a lot of blood, a lot of blood..."

Chen Shao pressed the issue: "Who did you tell about the blood on the thatched hut?"

Zhao Jianshu glanced at Zhao Jianshan and said, "I just told him."

Zhao Jianshan had previously seen her as young, pretty, and fair-skinned, and although he was in awe of her, he was not really afraid. After seeing her kicking someone, and then seeing Li Tianliu stepping on someone, he really started to feel scared. Without waiting to be questioned, he quickly kowtowed and begged for mercy, "Sir, spare us, we already know we were wrong, and we will never dare to do it again..."

Chen Shao glanced at the villagers who were watching the excitement from far and near, kicked him again, and ordered Li Tianliu: "Have someone take them all back!"

Zhao Jianshu and Zhao Jianshan immediately begged for mercy. Li Tianliu drew his sword: "If you keep yelling, I'll kill you now!"

The two men shut up immediately and followed the bailiff obediently.

Chen Shao looked at the two men's backs as they walked away and asked Muramasa, "When did their father die?"

Muramasa was also frightened by her aura and stammered, "He died ten or fifteen years ago."

Chen Shao seemed to have some feeling when he asked, "The sixth year of Yuanhe?"

Muramasa nodded.

Chen Shao asked patiently, "The first half or the second half of the sixth year of Yuanhe?"

Muramasa said: "At the beginning of the sixth year of Yuanhe."

The murderer committed his first crime on July 13, the sixth year of Yuanhe.

The location of the thatched house was not good. It was built alone on the hillside, far from any village or shop. How did the murderer find it? Or how did the murderer know all these villages?

Chen Shao was puzzled, so he had to ask step by step: "Who are the outsiders who often come to the village?"

Muramasa's answer was no different from those of Wenhai Township Chief and Zhao Qiang. The only difference was that in addition to Pi Ziyun and others, he also mentioned that there was a villager named Gao who had a lazy nephew who would come to ask for money every now and then.

After writing down the name and address of his nephew, Chen Shao asked uncertainly, "How did Zhao Jianshu and Zhao Jianshan's father die? Who was the first person to discover that he was dead?"

Muramasa seemed to be afraid that she would blame him. He had been speaking very fluently just now, but when he got back to the issue of Zhao Jianshu and Zhao Jianshan, he began to hesitate again. "It seems that he starved to death. The person who found him dead was Zhao Jianshan's youngest son, Zhao Ren."

Chen Shao asked calmly, "These two brothers chased their father to the back mountain and ignored him. Didn't anyone ask them a few questions?"

Muramasa blushed and said awkwardly, "They have many family members and are arrogant and unreasonable. If they say that they secretly help their father, they will be beaten and scolded. Later, Zhao Ren was admitted to the Imperial College, and then, no one dared to provoke him anymore."

Chen Shao frowned when he heard this. "His uncle and his father starved his grandfather to death. How could he be admitted to the Imperial College?"