Chapter Sixteen: The Strange Case

  New posts from the inner courtyard: 9853785, 9856401, welcome everyone to discuss literature and martial arts. Also strongly recommend Jing Cui Ya's new work "Honey Glazed Ham", no wait, it's "Rouge Buddha"; Zhou Hangwen's new work "Ten Days Eight Wildernesses Million Demons Record", the name is too short, not majestic enough. (Cui Da, can you update faster?: (())

  Just as everything was settled, Liang Zhongshu let out a hearty laugh and was about to say a few words to prove his presence, when a flag bearer rushed to the door, panting, and said loudly: "Report to the Governor, someone has come to the yamen to report a case of murder by knife, resulting in two deaths. The clerk requests that the Governor take his seat!"

  Liáng Zhōngshū was shocked, hastily gave a few words of instruction, and hurriedly left. On this side, Gāo Qiáng and Lú Jùnyì, Yàn Qīng were left facing each other. Yàn Qīng was silent and speechless. Lú Jùnyì had just been extorted by Gāo Qiáng and wasn't in a good mood either. He only said he wanted to go back and deal with the funeral, and then ordered someone to send over Yàn Qīng's certificate of removal from the household register and his personal belongings, before taking his leave.

  Gao Qiu dragged Yan Qing to the entrance of the Lu's residence, where Yan Qing still didn't say a word. At the gate, he knocked his head four times on the ground, and then Lu Junyi simply waved his sleeve and left directly.

  Just as the two were about to turn around, they saw people and horses stirring, and a military officer shouted. Liang Zhongshu had changed into official attire, and a group of officials surrounded him as he came out the door. Seeing Gao Qiang and the other standing at the entrance, he smiled and said: "Worthy nephew, if you have nothing else to do, why not follow your foolish uncle to the scene of the bloody case and see how the officials handle it?"

  Gao Feng naturally smiled and responded, but pulled Yan Qing along with him as he left.

  They arrived at the East Gate Inner Street, and the local security guards had already come to meet them. They were led to a secluded alley where a group of young servants were making a ruckus. When they saw the large contingent from the Leave Guard Office approaching, they suddenly dispersed with a loud noise, running dozens of steps before stopping and staring from a distance.

  The group of servants dispersed, revealing an empty space in the middle. Without waiting for Liang Zhongshu's order, they rushed forward to investigate the scene and returned after a while to report: "Reporting to Lord Lu Shou, we have found two male corpses on the ground, both stripped naked. One is a Buddhist monk with four knife wounds on his chest and abdomen, all of which are fatal; the other is a Taoist priest with his throat cut by a sharp blade, killed in one stroke. A bloody dagger was found next to him, suspected to be the murder weapon. On the ground, there is also a pair of rice porridge carrying poles, half of which has been knocked over, with rice and porridge soup scattered all over the floor. Nothing else was seen, please make a clear judgment, Lord Lu Shou."

  Liáng Zhōngshū furrowed his brow and listened, then called over an old man and asked: "Old fellow, is this rice porridge carrying pole yours? Come clean about the whole thing!"

  On both sides, the attendants' flags shouted in unison, and the old man, who was nearly sixty years old, was greatly shocked. His legs softened and he knelt on the ground, crying: "Your Honor, please make a just judgment! I really didn't kill anyone, it's unjust!"

  It wasn't the main road, but a local earth god appeared early in the morning with a smile and said: "The old man is Wang Lao Han, who often comes out to sell rice cakes and porridge for a living. Many neighbors are familiar with him. This morning, we heard his loud cries and rushed out to check, only to see the old man sitting on the ground, his rice cake pole broken in half, bowls and porridge scattered all over the place, and two corpses lying in a pool of blood. We didn't dare delay and called our companions to guard the crime scene while bringing Wang Lao Han here to report."

  The old man finished speaking, and the king also came to his senses, hurriedly saying: "Lord, please be aware! I'm just a small peddler who makes a living by selling cakes and gruel. I'm usually very careful and haven't even killed an ant. This morning at four o'clock, I walked through this alley, but because it was dark and my old eyes were blurry, I didn't see the road ahead and tripped. When I got up, I saw two dead bodies on the ground, which shocked me so much that I couldn't stand still. I quickly called out to the neighbors, but was caught and brought before you. In fact, I hadn't seen these two people before, how could I dare kill them?! I hope Lord will clearly see the truth and prove my innocence!"

  Crying out a few times, she wailed with a sorrowful face: "This fall has broken all the bowls and household items. I don't know how we'll make a living in the future, sir, have pity on us!"

  Li Chongshu couldn't help but laugh, and the officials on the side also hurriedly chimed in with a few chuckles. Gao Qiang watched from the side and thought it was quite amusing too - this old man's cries of injustice really had some skill to them.

  Li the Secretary called over a constable from the side and asked him for his opinion. The constable, whose surname was Mu, had a short and stout build, resembling a round ball, with a horizontal row of small whiskers on his chin and two beady eyes that stared widely. He came forward to pay respects to Li the Secretary and said: "Reporting to Your Excellency, in my humble opinion, these two are both monks who have renounced worldly attachments and should be excluded from motives of passion or revenge. There is nothing else around the corpses except their clothes which have been stripped off, it's clearly a case of murder for gain."

  Just as he finished speaking, a tall and thin man with two small whiskers and eyes that shone brightly, also a detective, surnamed Mao, came out: "Not so, not so! I beg to differ from the Magistrate. In my humble opinion, although these two are monks, the one has a strong smell of blood on his lower body, and he's not wearing a single piece of clothing. It seems like he's done something that goes against public morals. Moreover, if it were a case of murder for money, the thief wouldn't have left behind even the victim's undergarments or shoes and socks. Why would they leave behind a dagger worth 50 to 70 cents?"

  Li Zhongshu listened to Mao Kungmu's words and nodded in agreement. Just then, Mu Kongmu blew his mustache and said: "Brother Mao, there is one thing that doesn't make sense. If we say the monk was injured by a wicked person, then why didn't he have any wounds on his body? And besides, wasn't his lower body also naked? How could there be no smell of blood or anything else? Your words don't add up." Mao Kongmu and Mu Kongmu began to discuss the case in front of Li Zhongshu, each one speaking a sentence.

  Gao Liang felt dizzy, and walked alone to the side of the scene to watch for a while, but couldn't make sense of it. Suddenly, he heard the distant singing of the group of young men, with a few sentences floating over on the wind, such as "lustful prohibitions broken at the time of killing and revenge, because of unsmooth karma" and "the great monk passed away this morning, the little monk was frantic last night". He only felt that it sounded familiar, but couldn't think of where he had heard it before.

  Deep in thought, he wondered to himself that he hadn't been in this ancient era for long and wasn't very familiar with the streets, so how could he have heard such a small phrase before? His mind kept wandering to books like "Water Margin", when suddenly he remembered something and hastily called over the local militiaman to ask: "Is there a Temple of Repaying Kindness outside the mansion?"

  He saw that the man was dressed in magnificent attire, and was walking alongside Liang Zhongshu. Not daring to be slow, he respectfully said: "Reporting to your honor, Bao En Temple is the first temple in this region, located five miles outside the west gate, with extremely prosperous incense offerings every day."

  Gao heard that there was indeed a Bao En Temple, and he already knew five parts of it in his heart. He asked the local guard: "May I ask if there is a family with the surname Yang living nearby?"

  "The governor is not a god, how can he guess it right at once!" The local tyrant smiled and said: "Behind this wall is the lower house of Yang Xiong, the section chief of the Benfu prison. He is nicknamed 'Bing Guan Suo' because of his good martial arts skills and his dark yellow complexion."

  Yang Xiong's case is solved! Gao Qiang heard the name and immediately understood the whole story, it was the "Shi Xiu kills Pei Ruhai" from Water Margin. Shi Xiu was falsely accused by Yang Xiong's wife Pan Qiaoyun of flirting with her and was forced to leave, he was resentful in his heart, came back at night and waited outside Yang Xiong's house, killed the lustful monk Pei Ruhai and the head monk Dao Ren who helped spread the rumor, stripped off their clothes to give to Yang Xiong as evidence to clear his own name.

  This matter was handled by Shi Xiu with ruthless means and meticulous planning, two lives were quietly settled without a sound, the officials at the yamen couldn't find any leads and could only close the case as a mutual killing. Although this matter can be said to be Shi Xiu's doing, he had risen from a wandering peddler selling firewood to saving Yang Xiong and opening a butcher shop, leaving behind his life at the bottom of society and entering the middle class, but because of this illicit affair, he suffered unjust treatment and lost everything he had worked hard for over the years, it's no wonder that his anger was boiling.

  It's just that according to Shi Da Ye's writing, this matter actually occurred in Hebei's Ji Zhou, which is over a thousand miles away from the capital, so the location doesn't match. However, nowadays Ji Zhou belongs to Liao Guo, one of the Yan Yun sixteen states, I suppose Shi Da Ye wasn't careful enough when he was daydreaming, his research wasn't meticulous, and he made such a big mistake, haha.

  Looking back, the two were still arguing, Liang Zhongshu patiently listened with a big headache. Suddenly, Gao Qiang couldn't help but laugh and thought of a sentence: There is only one truth, and the only one who can see through this truth is an ordinary-looking young man from 900 years later!

  Just as he was feeling pleased with himself, Yan Qing appeared in front of him and said calmly, "There's a look of satisfaction on your face, I suppose you've made some progress on this murder case?"

  Gao Jian was taken aback, seeing Yan Qing right in front of him. He couldn't help but think that this young man had just been brought under his jurisdiction due to an illicit affair, and now here he was again, embroiled in another such case. But little did he know, how many more such cases were lurking beneath the clear blue skies of the Song Dynasty?

  Suddenly remembering something, he hastily asked Yan Qing: "Xiao Yige, dare to ask if there is a Cui Ping Mountain near this mansion?"

  Yan Qing slightly paused, then replied: "There is indeed a Cui Ping Mountain, located twenty miles outside the east gate of this prefecture. It's a desolate mountain that people rarely visit. —— How did you know about it?"

  High in the heart, urgent, another murder case is right in front of you. Shi Xiu killed the lustful monk, and the next day he colluded with Yang Xiong, lured Pan Qiaoyun and Ying'er to Cuiping Mountain, and asked about the adultery from beginning to end. Yang Xiong personally took action, killing Pan Qiaoyun and Ying'er, and dug out their hearts, liver, gallbladder, lungs, spleen, small intestine, and stomach. Although Pan Qiaoyun was not chaste and had an affair with a monk, the circumstances were not as bad as those of Lu's wife, Jia Shi. However, no matter what, adultery by women is not punishable by death. Two good men abandoned their bright future to become outlaws just to vent their anger, isn't that a pity?

  Especially "拼命三郎" Shi Xiu, can be said to be a talent with both wisdom and bravery, who is decisive and determined. In the single-handed heist of the law court, he fully demonstrated his extraordinary courage and wisdom. If he were not born into poverty and unable to attend school, this person would have been able to rival Yan Qing in terms of ability. If he could be taken under someone's wing and utilized, allowing his talents to be showcased on the main stage, he would surely become a brilliant figure in the future.

  Gao's mind was made up, and just then Liang Zhongshu could no longer stand Mao and Mu's endless bickering, so he ordered his men to simply record their mutual accusations as a case of homicide and closed the case, then followed them back to the Lu Shou Si government office.

  In the evening, Gao Qiang called Yang Zhi, Lu Qian, Yan Qing and Xu Guanzhong to his room and instructed them in this way. The several people were somewhat perplexed and did not know why the official suddenly wanted to go up to Cuiping Mountain. Yan Qing and Xu Guanzhong heard that they would secretly take Li Gu out of the city, thinking that they had guessed some clues. Yang Zhi had made up his mind to sacrifice himself for Gao Qiang, and Lu Qian did not say a word, each going their separate ways to prepare.

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