Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

Chen Shao nodded, "Yes, but this matter is quite complicated. Although they can complete it alone, it may take a long time, so we need you to share the burden."

Xu Xianmin looked at the palm-leaf fan in her hand and said, "Let's go now."

"First go ask Tao Ming what they have found," Chen Shao said, "and then you can discuss how to investigate later."

After the students agreed, they couldn't wait to go.

Tao Ming is in Yunhe Town.

When a group of students rushed to the town, intending to find him quickly so as to snatch more work from him to make merit, Xu Xianmin stopped in front of a stall selling cattail leaf fans, took out three cents and handed it over: "Old man, give me a cattail leaf fan."

Zhang Lifu was puzzled and asked, "Why did you buy this?"

Xu Xianmin took the palm-leaf fan handed to him by the stall owner, fanned himself twice, and said, "It's a bit hot."

Ma Yongming watched his movements, and an idea suddenly occurred to him. He also took out three coins and said, "Give me one too."

Facing Xu Xianmin's unfriendly gaze, Ma Yongming waved his fan twice and said, "You are allowed to feel hot?"

The other students were also smart and immediately gathered around, buying up the fans on the stall. A few students who didn't get to buy a fan didn't take it seriously at first, but after listening to the explanation of a kind-hearted student, they quickly ran to another stall selling fans and took one each.

Seeing everyone holding a palm-leaf fan, Xu Xianmin's face was twisted with anger. But no matter how angry he was, he could only force himself to say, "Let's make a deal first. We can buy them, but when we meet Tao Ming and the others later, you are not allowed to reveal the secret! Scarcity makes things valuable, I'm sure you all know that!"

Ma Yongming smiled and said, "That's natural."

Xu Xianmin hummed twice and went to the town center first.

Seeing the students walk away, the stall owner who had sold out his fans immediately smiled. Another stall owner who had not sold many fans was jealous and suddenly shouted, "Fans, fans, the students of the Imperial College are scrambling to buy these fans. Three cents a fan, you won't lose money, you won't be fooled, but you can get a touch of the talent of the students of the Imperial College."

Chen Shao failed to find any clues on the road about a mile from Taojiazhuang, so she went to the haunted house in Wenhai Township. After searching the haunted house twice, she searched nearly a mile outward with the haunted house as the center in a minesweeper mode. She returned to the haunted house and simulated the process of the murderer killing Tao Amei and taking her body to dump it, and then went to Zhaojia Village.

During her day and night search, good news came again from Sun Qi's team that was searching for the seller of butcher knives.

Zhang Rende, the owner of a blacksmith shop in Qingshui Town, had seen a man wearing shoes provided by Chen Shao and buying a butcher knife eight years ago.

At that time, Chen Shao was wondering whether to use the method of looking for a needle in a haystack to search for the murderer. Upon hearing the news, he immediately went to Qingshui Town with Sun Qi.

Sun Rende's blacksmith shop was passed down from his grandfather's generation, and it has been nearly sixty years. Facing Chen Shao's questioning, Sun Rende was more excited than nervous. Taking out the account book in the shop, he proudly said: "Since the day my grandfather opened the blacksmith shop, it has been selling word of mouth. As long as you buy a butcher knife, kitchen knife, axe, hoe, sickle, etc. from us, if it is broken or blunt, you can bring it back for free repair at any time. So in order to prevent people from cheating, we will engrave marks on the handles of the butcher knives, kitchen knives, axes, etc. that we make."

After turning the account book to the first month of the 13th year of Yuanhe, Sun Rende respectfully handed it to Chen Shao, "Sir, please look at the column on the far right."

That column reads: the fourth day of the first lunar month of the thirteenth year of Yuanhe, a butcher's knife, the twenty-ninth day of the Gengzi year.

The 13th year of Yuanhe was the Gengzi year, and 29 was the 29th butcher knife sold that year.

Apart from this, there is not a single word describing the person who bought the knife.

In response to Chen Shao's question, Sun Rende confidently said, "We only recognize marks, not people."

Sun Qi was anxious, "Then why did you say..."

"I haven't finished speaking yet," Zhang Rende stroked the short beard on his chin and said with a smile, "I can lie to you, but can I also lie to adults?"

Sun Qi said: "Stop keeping us in suspense and tell us quickly."

Sun Rende was not in a hurry. He asked his servant to fetch a butcher knife that had just been made a few days ago. He took it and handed it to Li Tianliu politely, saying, "Sir, look, is this the butcher knife used by the murderer?"

Chen Shao took the butcher knife and said after just one glance: "Almost."

Sun Rende was very dissatisfied with her answer. Yes means yes, no means no, what does that mean? Fortunately, he knew that he was just an ordinary citizen and had no right to question Chen Shao, so he cleverly changed the subject and said, "Although our shop's account book does not record who bought the butcher knife, since it is called a butcher knife, the people who bought it are naturally butchers. I have taken over this blacksmith shop for nearly 20 years, and except for the butcher knife of the 29th year of the Gengzi Year, there has never been an exception."

Sun Qi said impatiently: "Who wants to listen to you? Just tell me who bought the butcher knife of Gengzi 29."

"What's the hurry?" Seeing that he was really anxious, Sun Rende didn't dare to talk too much. He swallowed the repetitive words that continued to brag about the blacksmith shop and turned to the main topic, "I'm not the only one who bought the butcher knife of the 29th year of the Gengzi period. Many old people in the shop remember it very clearly. Unlike other people who bought knives, this person is far from a butcher in terms of clothing and appearance."

Chen Shao said: "What does this person look like?"

Sun Rende shook his head and said, "I can't remember exactly what he looked like, but he came here in his own carriage, and he was wearing shoes like these."

Sun Rende looked at the shoes held by the student next to Sun Qi, "Only the uppers are different."

He drove a carriage by himself, which meant that the children in Wenhai Township were not mistaken. The murderer did have a carriage. Chen Shao took a look at the shoes and continued to ask, "How tall is he and how heavy is he?"

"How tall, how much..." Sun Rende answered cautiously, "He should be about the same height as me, but much thinner than me. I weigh more than 180 kilograms, and he weighs at most 130 kilograms. Although he looks thin, he doesn't look frail."

Chen Shao took a look at him. He was about five feet two inches tall. If the murderer was about the same height as him, he would be within the estimated range of the blood footprints. He weighed one hundred and thirty, which was also within the estimated range. "In your opinion, what does he do?"

Sun Rende thought for a while, shook his head and said, "It's hard to say what he does. Looking at his appearance, he doesn't look like someone who has been exposed to the wind and sun for many years, nor does he look like someone who has never been through the wind and frost. He looks a bit like..."

He glanced at the people around him, and when he saw the Yulin Guards, he suddenly said, "They are somewhat similar to them, but not as energetic as them."

Chen Shao reminded: "A martial artist?"

"A bit similar," Sun Rende said uncertainly, "but without the spirit of a martial artist."

After thinking for a while, Chen Shao asked, "How old is he?"

This time, Sun Rende quickly answered: "At the very least, he is over 50 years old."

It is normal for a martial artist in his fifties to lack energy and vitality after the constant hardships of life. It is even more normal for the murderer to have hatred and kill so many people.

But in the 13th year of Yuanhe, he was no less than 50 years old, so now he is almost 60 years old.

We have the weight, height, and age, and we have confirmed that the murderer practices martial arts and has a carriage. He wore the same shoes back then, and his habit has not changed since then, which further confirms his inference that he has a good economic foundation. Chen Shao called out all the shop assistants in Sun Rende's shop and asked them one by one. After confirming what Sun Rende said, he took the butcher knife and left.