Qingyu Case: Female Minister of Dali Temple

"We can't let go of any possibility, but have you ever thought about it? The victims include not only women who were unfaithful to their husbands, but also rude and unreasonable old women and spoiled children. Even if they are all in cahoots with the wives who were unfaithful to the murderer, the murderer has killed so many people outside, how could he let them go?"

To prove that what he said made more sense, he stood up and came back, found two case files from the 14th year of Yuanhe, took out the body form, pointed to the autopsy results filled out that year and said, "Sir, please take a look at the autopsy results of Feng Yu and Hua Erya. Their bodies are exactly the same as Tao A-mei's. The murderer cut their throats, cut open their stomachs, dug out their internal organs, and stuffed them with stones. In addition, their bodies were also stuffed with branches."

After a pause, he continued, "I have also checked the thatched houses in Xiaochang Village and Wenhai Township in the past few days. The branches under Feng Yu and Hua Erya are the same dead branches and rotten wood around the thatched house in Xiaochang Village, and the branches under Tao A-mei are also the same dead branches and rotten wood in the woods around the haunted house. Of course, these are not the main points I want to say. What I want to say is that the murderer treated them so inhumanely, which shows how deep his hatred is."

"He is so cruel to an outsider who is just like him, how can he easily let go of the people around him who are directly disloyal to him?"

Well, he succeeded in convincing her. Chen Shao came over and took the body sheets of Feng Yu and Hua Erya, "According to you, if the murderer killed them as well..."

Xu Guang immediately said, "The prefectural government has never accepted such a case, at least not since I came here. But just in case, I can go to the law office and look for case files from previous years."

Chen Shao nodded and suggested, "You can also ask someone to find out which families in Hongyuan County with good financial conditions have married several wives."

Xu Guang agreed.

After dinner, when Xu Guang left, Chen Shao compared the information he had found with the case files and made comprehensive supplementary revisions.

……

Early the next morning, Tao Ming and others came to the prefectural government.

They came back last night, but it was too late, so they didn't come to disturb us.

Chen Shao met them in the second hall.

Tao Ming and Xu Xianmin handed the information they had found to Fu Jiu. After watching Fu Jiu hand it over to Chen Shao, Tao Ming, as the representative, said, "This is the personal information we have searched for."

Chen Shao looked at the palm-thick stack of papers, flipped through them quickly, and asked, "Have you checked everyone they know?"

Tao Ming said: "We don't know which ones are useful and which ones are useless, so we just check them all."

There was only such a thick stack of information for five people. If all the information was checked... Chen Shao put the information aside, thanked them for their hard work, and then said, "Those who have not been checked yet, don't check them yet."

"Don't worry, sir," Tao Ming said hurriedly, panicking, "This is the first time we have done something like this and we don't know where to start, so we have only investigated in detail. We will speed up the process and pick out the important people to investigate, and we will try to investigate all the remaining people within ten days."

The other students followed suit and expressed that they would live up to her high expectations.

Chen Shao glanced at Sun Qi and the others who seemed to be gloating over their misfortune, and said soothingly, "It's not that I dislike you for investigating too carefully or too slowly, but the clues we have found so far are almost enough. There's no need to bother investigating these for the time being."

When Tao Ming and others heard this, although they were unwilling, they had to give up.

"Keep it," Chen Shao stopped them when he saw them about to hand over the remaining silver. "You've worked hard these days. Not only have you been exposed to the wind and sun every day, but your studies have also been delayed. Take the remaining silver and share it with your teammates. Just consider it my reward for your hard work."

Tao Ming and the others declined for a while, but then accepted it. When they were about to leave, Chen Shao looked at Sun Qi and the others and told Chan Yi, "Give each of the people in their group a reward of ten taels of silver."

All the money came from "bribes", and Chen Shao was happy to use it to win people's hearts.

Chan Yi distributed the silver, and Sun Qi and the others could not hide their joy and said, "Thank you for the reward, sir!"

Chen Shao said gently, "Your team has found two clues in a row, which is a remarkable move. Go back, take a good rest, and then make up for the missed studies. The ability to do things is important, but studies cannot be neglected."

Sun Qi and the others said, "Don't worry, sir. We will study hard when we return and will never let you down!"

Chen Shao nodded, "Go ahead."

After they left, Chen Shao looked at the information they had collected for a while and then went to the lobby in front.

There are still a lot of people coming to register today, and because it is the last day, there are even more people than in the past.

The number of people who have registered has exceeded 1,500.

The number of people was far greater than Chen Shao had previously estimated.

Chen Shao did not stay in the lobby for long. Seeing that the clerks in charge of registration were indeed polite to the common people, and that Zhang Boshan was supervising them, he returned to Chengfeng Courtyard.

The next day came in a flash.

There were more than 8 people who voluntarily came to the prefectural government to register as people who knew how to tie the -knot, and Ding Lisheng notified nearly people from various counties to come.

More than 2,300 people filled the dam in front of the lobby under the morning sun.

Chen Shao looked at the list Zhang Boshan handed over and asked, "Are all the herbalists, hunters, and martial artists here?"

Zhang Boshan stepped aside, and Ding Lisheng stepped forward and said, "Everyone is here."

Chen Shao closed the list and looked at the people on the dam. Just like the screening of the murderer in the poisoning case, she first eliminated at least half of the people based on their height and leg length, and then the remaining people lined up in groups of thirty in front of her for her final screening.

Height, weight, shoe length, ten fingers, questions and answers... Soon, it was dark.

The murderer was not found.

Although he was mentally prepared, Chen Shao couldn't help but feel a sinking feeling in his heart before he said to Li Tianliu, "Okay, send it."

Li Tianliu waved his hand, and more than ten Yulin Guards immediately came out carrying three boxes of copper coins.

Zhang Boshan saw this and hurried over to ask, "Sir, this is..."

Chen Shao said calmly: "Whether they are business associates or ordinary people, they have delayed other people's time and should be compensated. For those in Hongyuan County, each person will be compensated ten coins, and for those outside Hongyuan County, twenty coins will be compensated. Let them line up and come to receive it."

"This," Zhang Boshan looked at the boxes of copper coins with a painful look, then looked at the people on the dam, and dissuaded them, "You allowed them to come because they were suspected. Now that the suspicion has been cleared, and you have provided them with a day's food, they should be satisfied. Why should you..."

Chen Shao looked at him until he swallowed his words, then he said to Li Tianliu: "Remember to count how much money was distributed, and ask Master Zhang to make up for it to me!"

Zhang Boshan's face changed rapidly.

Chen Shao sneered: "If it weren't for your inaction, Lord Zhang, how could they be suspected of a crime and stand here in fear and fear, exposed to the sun until now? You, not only do you not reflect on yourself, but you also blame them first!"

Zhang Boshan lowered his head and dared not speak.

Ding Lisheng, who had wanted to step forward to give her some advice, thought that even though he had made no contributions, he had worked hard. However, when he heard what she said, he quickly retreated.

When the people who came to be surveyed heard that they had to queue up again, they couldn't help but feel nervous again, until they heard that it was to receive compensation, they started to clamor.

Chen Shao returned to Chengfeng Court first and simply ate half a bowl of rice. She took out the case file and the information Xu Guang had investigated and started sorting it out from the beginning.

The clues were all correct.

There is no leakage either.

But the murderer was not there.

What went wrong?