Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

"As for Hua Erya and the others..." Xu Guang shook his head. "When I was investigating the case before, I only paid attention to how they were killed. As for their personalities, I mostly heard from their husband's family or their own family. At that time, I even lamented privately that the way they died was not very glorious. But no matter what, death is the greatest thing. It is really wrong for the husband's family and her own family to belittle her like that.

"Now that we have investigated, we know that they are far more annoying than what their husbands or their parents say. Take Hua Erya from Lijiagou for example. Her husbands said she was not decent before, and her parents had endless quarrels with her husbands because of this. The reason was that she gave birth to her first child less than seven months into the pregnancy. When she got into trouble, when Lord Li went to Lijiagou to investigate, her husbands said that she was pregnant with a bastard before she got married, and her parents said that she was abused after she got married and gave birth to the child early. The child was less than five years old at the time, skinny and weak, and it was hard to tell who she looked like. If you want to investigate carefully, neither side can produce solid evidence.

"I went to investigate this time. I wanted to see the child, but I heard from people in Lijiagou that the child had been taken away by Hua Erya's cousin from her uncle's family. They said that the child was conceived after Hua Erya had an affair with her cousin before she got married. That cousin had given birth to a girl every year for so many years, but no son. After thinking it over, I felt that the family line could not be cut off, so I came to Lijiagou to take the child away.

"Although Wang Gaolan and the others are not as unvirtuous as Hua Erya, they are not easy to get along with. Some of them are shrews who bully their parents-in-law, uncles and nephews at home, while others openly move their husband's things to their own home."

Chen Shao took out the information of Hua Erya, Wang Gaolan and others and placed them on the coffee table one by one. Looking at the detailed investigation results, his heart was filled with shocking waves.

The murderer did kill bad people, but they were all specific bad people.

A boy who is spoiled to the point of being lawless.

A young woman who does not observe the 'virtue of a woman'.

A rude and unreasonable old woman.

After reading all the information back and forth twice, Chen Shao asked Chan Yi to bring all the case files to her, and asked: "In your opinion, what is the reason why the murderer killed them?"

After thinking for a moment, Xu Guang said uncertainly: "Probably hatred for these three types of people."

Money, power, love, and hatred. The victims were almost all ordinary people, neither rich nor powerful. From the personal styles he had investigated, there was no love, so only hatred remained. Chen Shao patiently asked, "Why do you hate these three types of people?"

Xu Guang shook his head: "The murderer has killed more than 20 people, which shows how cruel and ruthless he is. Logically speaking, these three types of people would not offend such a person. Even if they offended him, he would kill those who offended him, so why did he kill so many people? After thinking about it, there is only one possibility."

Chen Shao asked: "What is possible?"

Xu Guang hesitated for a while before saying, "Unless he is helping someone else to get revenge."

Chen Shao followed his words and asked, "Who to help?"

Xu Guang pondered, "It's just a guess, and I don't know if it's right. If I were the murderer, and I was a very good friend of one of the victims' family, and I saw my friend being insulted and abused by his family all day long, as a friend, I would inevitably argue for him. If at this time, my friend's family also scolded me, and even touched a sore spot in my heart, maybe one day in a rage, I would have the intention to kill him to silence him."

Chen Shao recalled his previous judgment that the murderer might have problems with masculinity, and asked, "Why can't the murderer be the one who was insulted and abused by his family, but just a friend?"

Xu Guang said: "I have also thought of this possibility, so during this investigation, I not only checked the victims, but also their families, but none of them met your judgment of the murderer."

He looked at the pebbles: "Especially judging by the scar on the right thumb."

"What about the friends of the victim's family?" Chen Shao asked, "Have you checked on them?"

Xu Guang nodded. "I did a brief investigation, but not in such detail. From the results of the investigation, there is no one who fits the description of the murderer."

After Chen Shao asked Chan Yi to bring him a pair of shoes that the murderer often wore, he asked, "During your investigation, did you see anyone wearing this type of shoes in the victim's home?"

Xu Guangxi first answered affirmatively that there was no shoe, and then asked, "Are these the shoes the murderer wore?"

Chen Shao asked him to compare his shoes with the bloody footprints.

While he was comparing, Chen Shao roughly told him the information that Zhao Qiang and Sun Qi had found.

Xu Guang was shocked and couldn't help saying, "The murderer can wear such shoes to kill people, it seems that he has a lot of money."

"Look at these lines," Chen Shao walked over, squatted in front of the bloody footprints, and drew a circle with his hand. "There is wear and tear, but not much. This proves that the shoes he wore when he committed the crime were neither new nor particularly old. Look at the force applied to the entire bloody footprint. The force has always been in a uniform state, proving that these are the murderer's own shoes. The shoes cost only 60 cents a pair, and he wore them to kill people without any care. This is enough to prove that he is not short of money. So I'm thinking..."

Chen Shao sorted out his thoughts a little, "Rather than the idea that the murderer is a friend of the victim's family, I would rather believe that the person who was insulted and abused by the family is the murderer."

Xu Guang also insisted on his own opinion, "If the person who was insulted and abused was the murderer, then he was also abused by his family, wife and children, right?"

It didn't make sense, but Chen Shao still argued, "You said before that the murderer had problems in that area, and among the people he killed, there were several who were unfaithful to their husbands."

"I still insist on this statement, but please don't forget that the murderer is not short of money." Xu Guang argued, "Since he is not short of money and his wife is unfaithful to him, he can just divorce her and marry someone else. There is no need to kill for this!"

Chen Shao suddenly had an epiphany because of his words, "What if he divorced? There was a gap of six years between the first serial murder case and the second serial murder case, and there was another seven years between the second serial murder case and the third serial murder case. Could it be that the six or seven years were the time for him to divorce his wife and remarry?"

Xu Guang thought what she said made sense, but he still insisted on his own opinion: "Your Excellency, are you saying that the wives the murderer married were all unfaithful to him?"

Although it was absurd, it was not impossible. Chen Shao said, "We can't let go of any possibility."

Chan Yi, Fu Jiu and Li Tianliu all looked at Xu Guang in surprise.

Especially Li Tianliu, watching Xu Guang who refused to give in when arguing with Chen Shao, he curled his lips slightly and said to Chan Yi jokingly: "Aren't you usually the most protective of your young master? Why are you so cold today?"

Chan Yi ignored him.

And Xu Guang was still arguing with Chen Shao.