Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

"I don't remember." Fu Jiu wiped his sweat off his face casually, then took a palm-leaf fan and fanned himself while saying, "I asked the shopkeepers and clerks of these shoe shops. Although a pair of shoes like this costs sixty coins, there are still many people buying them. They only keep track of how many pairs they sell every day, and don't care who they sell to."

Chen Shao looked at the slightly worn lines on the bloody footprints and said slowly, "Just because many people buy them doesn't mean they buy them often. Sixty cents a pair of shoes is not cheap. The murderer wore them to kill people, which shows that he didn't cherish them. Not cherishing them means that such shoes are ordinary things to him."

Chen Shao looked at Zhao Qiang and said, "Go ask around later and find out who buys shoes regularly."

Zhao Qiang nodded, then took out the list she had given him that morning and said, "Cheng Zitong is a loyal person, and he is well-known in all the businesses. So far, no problems have been found. This Xu San is a hoodlum who is not worthy of being on the stage. He is not very courageous and can only bully others. There are many problems found, but they are all about him bullying weak neighbors or being shameless and eating and drinking for free."

"Thank you for your hard work." Chen Shao said.

Zhao Qiang cupped his hands and said, "It is my blessing to be able to work for you, my Lord."

Chen Shao said gently: "Then I'll trouble you."

Zhao Qiang knew she was busy, so he glanced at the pebbles on the coffee table and the bloody footprints under the coffee table, then turned and left.

After Chen Shao watched him walk out of the Chengfeng Courtyard gate, he turned back and ordered: "Take a pair of shoes and send them to Sun Qi. When they search the shops selling butcher knives, ask the shop owners if there are any people wearing these shoes to buy butcher knives."

Fu Jiu was about to leave with the shoes, but Chen Shao stopped him again, "Please prepare the carriage when you come back."

After Fu Jiu left, Chen Shao went back to his room and changed into light clothes. He came out and drank a few sips of tea. Just as he was about to leave, Fu Jiu, who was driving the carriage back, shouted at the door: "Sir, the bailiffs have brought back Tang Yuelan and Feng Yu's adulterer. They asked you whether you want to interrogate them now or put them in jail first?"

Chen Shao asked: "Where is the person?"

Fu Jiu said: "In the second hall."

Chen Shao went out: "Then let's try it now."

Tang Yuelan and Feng Yu had a total of twenty-one adulterers, five of whom Chen Shao had met when he was in Wenhai Township.

Of the 21 people, 12 were within the range of height, weight, and shoe length of the murderer, and even the shoes worn by two of them were consistent. However, none of the 21 people had scars on their left and right thumbs.

In other words, none of the twenty-one people were the murderer.

Although I was mentally prepared for this, it was still somewhat disappointing.

After having the bailiffs throw them all into jail and lock them up for a month, Chen Shao set off for Taojiazhuang.

After getting off the carriage on the road outside Taojiazhuang, Chen Shao looked around. The wheat had already matured, and many villagers in Taojiazhuang were harvesting the first batch of mature wheat in the fields. When they saw her, many villagers greeted her enthusiastically.

After Chen Shao responded one by one, he asked casually, "On the day when Tao Amei's father passed away, when she returned to Zhaojiazhuang, did any of you uncles see her?"

Amid the chattering of the villagers, one person said, "I saw her leave the village and asked her why she didn't let her eldest brother go back to deliver the message."

The people in Taojiazhuang didn't know that Tao A'mei went back in such a hurry just to cook for the family. They all thought that she was going back to report the news of her father's death.

"How did she answer?" Chen Shao asked.

The villager who had spoken earlier replied, "She said her elder brother had to take care of her mother and arrange for her father to be buried, so he didn't have time. I saw that the rain was getting heavier, so I advised her to wait a while until it was lighter before leaving, but she said it was okay and left in a hurry."

After leaving Taojiazhuang, you have to pass Maoerzhuang to get to Wenhai Township. Chen Shao asked a few more questions, and seeing that no one else had seen Tao Amei, he asked, "Where is the boundary between Taojiazhuang and Maoerzhuang drawn?"

A villager answered quickly: "The boundary was drawn from the land of Tao Ming's uncle."

Another villager came out of the fields, stood on the main road, pointed in the direction of Wenhai Township and said, "Go this way, walk two or three hundred steps and you will see a small ditch. That small ditch is the boundary. The land on this side of the ditch belongs to Tao Ming's uncle, and the land on the other side of the ditch belongs to the Zheng family of Maoerzhuang Village. The small ditch is usually dry, but it rained a while ago and a lot of water has accumulated, so it should be easy to find."

After expressing his gratitude, Chen Shao walked along the road looking for a small ditch.

The small ditch is indeed easy to find.

Stopping in front of the small ditch, Chen Shao looked back at Taojiazhuang, then at the area of ​​Wenhai Township, and said, "Tao Amei got on the murderer's carriage in the territory of Maoerzhuang."

Continuing to walk forward, after walking about a mile, Chen Shao stopped again and looked at the villagers working near and far. She ordered the yamen runners and Yulin Guards to go up the mountain to search, and then she went down to the field and asked a nearby villager, "Uncle, I have a few questions I want to ask you. Is it convenient?"

The middle-aged man who was harvesting wheat was a little nervous when he saw so many people going up the mountain. When he saw her coming, he stood there in fear and dared not move. When he heard her question, he opened his mouth and asked after a long while: "You, you ask."

Chen Shaoxian asked, "Does this piece of land belong to the uncle?"

The middle-aged man nodded.

Chen Shao asked again: "Uncle, have you found anything unusual in the fields recently, like clothes or shoes?"

The middle-aged man shook his head.

Chen Shao continued to ask: "Uncle, did you see Tao Amei from Zhaojia Village passing by here on May 16th?"

When he heard her ask Tao A-mei, the middle-aged man's face turned pale. After a long while, he replied, "No, I didn't see it."

After a while, he answered again incoherently: "It was raining that day, I, I was at home."

Chen Shao looked around and saw many villagers working nearby. He wanted to call them all over to ask, which would be more convenient and faster, but seeing that they were all bent over, busy harvesting wheat, he decided to make a few more trips by himself.

After asking around in the wheat fields, Chen Shao saw students from Xu Xianmin, Zhang Lifu, and Ma Yongming's teams waiting on the main road. He took the towel from Chan Yi and wiped his face, then took the palm-leaf fan from Fu Jiu to cool off, then asked with a smile, "Have you finished searching?"

Several teams of students were very frustrated. First, they were frustrated that they had not found anything. Second, they were frustrated that they came back too late. Tao Ming and Sun Qi had both received new tasks. But in front of her, all the students still said respectfully: "We have finished searching."

Xu Xianmin lost his temper and said, "It's a pity that nothing was found."

"If you haven't found it, then you haven't found it." Chen Shao consoled him and said, "It just so happens that I have another thing I need you to do."

The students immediately said, "Sir, please give us your orders. We will do whatever it takes!"

Chen Shao smiled, "It's not that serious."

As he spoke, he told them in detail about the relationship network of Tao A-mei and others.

One of the students whispered, "Isn't this what Tao Ming and his team are doing?"