The First National Preceptor of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 368

They didn't even go to the tofu shop; their own sheep went missing, yet they falsely accused Qin Daxian—that's really going too far.

Xu Tian smiled mysteriously and glanced at the butler.

The steward thought to himself that his master liked to study these strange things in his spare time, so of course he knew that a shovel was necessary. He sent someone back to get it.

The eight officers then began digging down the entire street. When they reached three meters, Ding Daxian's expression indeed turned sour.

"Why are you digging up the road instead of properly handling the case? With the street dug up like this, who will come to my shop to buy pancakes?"

Who would still buy tofu from the Wang family? You, the magistrate, haven't prioritized improving people's livelihoods since taking office; instead, you've damaged public property.

Xu Tian sneered from the side.

"Get it for me!"

Ding Daxian was detained aside and forced to watch helplessly as Qin Xian dug up the entire road surface.

You can see a drainage system made of red bricks below, which means that even the Tang Dynasty had a drainage system.

There's absolutely no way the sheep from Old Wang's family could have disappeared without a trace; the reason could be found in this pipe.

Qin Xian directly inserted his dagger into the brick dust, then removed the brick, revealing a bloody mess underneath. The people on the street vomited.

Although it was snowing in August, the bloody scene still made many people close their eyes.

Xu Tian walked over and took out the red bricks one by one. He then saw a corpse. At first, everyone thought it was a murder case, but upon closer inspection, they found that it was actually the carcass of half a sheep.

When the old man saw the sheep carcass, he immediately pounced on it.

"My sheep, the wool of which has ink on it with numbers, is the one that went missing. It's the one with number seventeen written on it! So you dragged my sheep into the pipe, but it was too big to be pulled out from the other end, so you killed it for meat."

Old Wang's eyes were bloodshot as he spoke, looking like he was about to rush up and beat him up.

Xu Tian immediately ordered his men to stop them, and the surrounding villagers also said, "No wonder my yard has been flooded these past two days."

"There was a heavy rain yesterday, and the icicles in the yard melted into water that can't drain away. There's still a thick layer of ice in front of my house."

The people nodded in agreement, while Ding Daxian looked terrified.

Xu Tian turned to look at him, his expression indifferent, and said, "Aren't you going to admit it now? Besides, the bloodstains on your clothes have already betrayed you. I know a way to test whether the blood on these stains is human or animal blood using mulberry leaves."

Sheep's blood turns purple when it comes into contact with mulberry leaves, while human blood turns red.

Ding Daxian immediately knelt down on the ground with a thud and said, "It was the greed of a villain."

He was then taken to prison by the bailiffs, and the surrounding people applauded, praising the magistrate for his wisdom and keen insight.

"The new county magistrate is our upright and just official."

“In the past, such cases would have taken a month to solve, but unexpectedly, the case was solved as soon as the court went to court, and the lost sheep was also found. So even if it was only half a sheep, the loss can still be reduced.”

"Stop talking! I didn't believe such a thing existed before. I was so stupid. I thought the sheep belonged to Old Man Wang, who ate it himself."

Old Wang never expected that Manager Ding would resort to such a despicable method. He dug a pit in his yard, crawled through the underground drainage pipe, and stole a sheep from his yard. However, the sheep was too fat, so he chose to slaughter it for meat. It was truly despicable.

After everyone returned to the yamen, Xu Tian narrowed his eyes and said, "The sheep thief today is Ding Daxian from the pancake shop. He should compensate Old Man Wang from the tofu shop with a total of three taels of silver. I have inquired at the market, and a mature sheep costs three taels of silver. You should compensate accordingly."

Ding Daxian, the owner of the pancake shop, disregarded neighborly relations and stole sheep from the tofu shop for his own selfish gain, which seriously damaged the convenience of life for the residents in the surrounding streets.

These days it's freezing cold, and many underground pipes are covered in ice. I hereby order you to clear the ice from these underground drainage channels.