It is said that Kou Zhun was appointed to Dali as an official and was sent to Guizhou Zhibadong County from the palace examination high school in the fifth year of Taiping Xingguo (980). At that time, Kou Zhun, who had just gotten married, remembered that his parents were old, and Badong County was located in a remote area, and the folk customs were different, so he left his newlywed wife Song to serve the second elder at home and went to Padang alone.

Although Kou Zhun was only nineteen years old at the time, he was brave and knowledgeable, and he was a man with a furrow in his chest. During his three years in Padang, he persuaded the peasants to give lectures, and put the governance of a small Badong county in an orderly manner, and the people were rich and clean. In the blink of an eye, the three-year term expired and he returned to Beijing to report on his work. Because of his outstanding political achievements, he was still awarded the Dali Appraisal and had the right to know the Daimyo Governor of Chang'an County. I went to the Ministry of Officials to receive an official certificate, and took a leave of absence for two months and returned to Xiabang to visit my parents and wife.

They haven't seen each other for three years, and the Song family has given birth to a son for Kou Zhun, and now they are both two years old, running all over the ground. The child was named "Kou Lian" by the old gentleman Kou Xiang, Lian, the vessel of millet in the temple, and the old gentleman took this name, which contains the meaning of inheritance.

"Father, mother, Cheng'an County is not far from Xiabang, and the Daimyo Mansion is a rich place, and the child wants to invite his parents to go to work with him, so that he can settle the province in the morning and dusk and serve the second elder."

"Quasi-son, although his father is old and frail, he can still take care of himself. Your mother is in good health, too. You are only a small county, and it is not easy to feed a family of three, so we won't go. Besides, the family business is all in Xiabang, and no one takes care of it, which is not good. This time, you will take your wife and children to work. ”

"Father, this is not to be done. If the second elder does not go to Cheng'an, Lian'er's mother and son should stay and do their filial piety in front of their parents for the child. ”

"Quasi-son, what your father said is also what I meant. We stay, and you take Lian'er's mother and son to work. I've been married for three years, and I haven't spent a few days together in total. While your father and mother are still strong, your husband and wife get together more, the Kou family is not prosperous, and your father and mother are still counting on you to have a few more grandchildren. ”

Song didn't answer on the side, and it was even more difficult to speak when she heard her mother-in-law say this.

In the evening, the two returned to the room, settled the little Kou Lian, and Kou Zhun bowed deeply to his wife Song Xia, who was sitting on the edge of the bed.

"For three years, the good wife has bothered. Kou Zhun thanked him here. ”

Song Xia turned around to dodge, and hurriedly stood up, and saluted:

"Why should the husband be like this, the husband and wife are one, the husband and wife go to Padang to take office, and it is within the scope of his wife to serve Aunt Weng at home, and he should not be courteous to his husband."

"When her husband left, the good wife was just pregnant and didn't want to come back in three years, and Lian'er was already a doll running all over the ground. There are elderly parents on top, and Lian'er needs to work. The good wife is really hard. ”

"Lian'er is thanks to her mother who often helps take care of her, since she can say that she will leave, her father also loves her very much, and Lian'er is not the kind of naughty child, so she didn't bother much about his wife."

Next, the husband and wife talked about the affairs of Padang's tenure, and then turned off the lights and went to bed. As the saying goes, a little farewell is better than a newlywed, let alone a young couple who haven't seen each other for three years.

Happy days always fly by. The two-month vacation took ten days on the road, and Kou Zhun only lived in Xiabang for a month and a half, so he couldn't get up to take up his post. In the end, he still couldn't say anything about his parents, and at the insistence of the second elder, Kou Zhun had to take the Song family, Kou Lian, and the three of them to Cheng'an County.

Coming to Cheng'an County, the Daimyo Mansion, and settling down with his family, Kou Zhun had already heard from his father that Xiao Guoliang was on Yanshan Mansion Road, serving as the prefect of Yanshan Mansion, and also knew that the Holy Shang of Wutai Mountain was besieged, and Xiao Guoliang was trapped in the Liao camp and was wounded by an arrow. So, I hurriedly wrote a letter, first, to greet him, and secondly, to inform Xiao Guoliang, the teacher, that he had the right to know about Cheng'an County. Of course, don't forget to greet your smart little sister in your heart.

Less than half a month after he arrived in Cheng'an County, Kou Zhun encountered a life lawsuit.

That afternoon, after Kou Zhun left the hall, he was guarding his wife Song Xia in the house, teaching Xiao Kou Lian to read and write, when he heard someone beating a drum at the entrance of the yamen. Hurriedly came to the lobby and listened to the report of the officer:

"Master Qiyu, someone beats the drum and complains."

"Ascension, drummer."

After a while, the official brought in a man in his fifties who was dressed gorgeously. The visitor walked into the lobby and fell to his knees, claiming to have been wronged.

"Who is the one who kneels, and why is he wronged?"

"The villain is a person from Qiujia Village, Cheng'an County, surnamed Zhang, named Liren, and there are three in fifty this year. Because the family has few savings, it is inevitable that people will be jealous. Three days ago, the villain was sitting at home, and I didn't want Zhao Sanxi, a bachelor man from the village, to come to my house and say that he had found a human leg in the woods in the back garden of my house.

At that time, the villain was startled, and hurriedly followed Zhao Sanxi to the back garden, and sure enough, there was a new soil in the forest that had just been turned, and the thighs of a jumping person were exposed in the soil. The villain wanted to report to the official at that time, but was stopped by Zhao Sanxi. ”

"Why did he stop you?"

Zhao Sanxi said that the government moved the government, and it was a life lawsuit, which might ruin my family. The villain thought about it at the time, and Zhao Sanxi's words were not unreasonable. The villain is so big, he has never dealt with the government. I also know the depth of the water in the yamen. ”

Speaking of this, Zhang Yuanwai felt that there was something wrong with his words, where was there anything in the yamen that said that the yamen was not good.

"You go on."

Seeing that the villain hesitated, Zhao Sanxi persuaded the villain, anyway, God knows this, you know and I know. As long as I don't say it, naturally no one will know, and I will secretly bury this jumping man's leg. The villain also understands that the reason why Zhao Sanxi said this must be to make money. The villain asked Zhao Sanxi how much he wanted at that time. ”

"What did Zhao Sanxi say?"

Zhao Sanxi said that they are all neighbors and blind dates, just look at them and give them a little. At that time, when the villain saw the sincerity of what Zhao Sanxi said, he believed it. Because it was daytime, I wanted to dig out the human leg and bury it somewhere else, but I was afraid that others would see it. had to follow what Zhao Sanxi said, dig a deep pit on the spot and re-bury it. ”

"How much money did you give Zhao Sanxi later? Since it's already buried, why did you suddenly report to the official again today? ”

Afterwards, the villain gave Zhao Sanxi twenty taels of silver. Zhao Sanxi left with a thousand thanks, and swore to the villain that if he said it, it would be thunderous. Who knows, yesterday evening, Zhao Sanxi came again, and brought two strangers. The three of them forced the villain to give them three hundred taels of silver, otherwise they would go to the government to denounce the villain. ”

After listening to Zhang Yuanwai's words, Kou Zhun felt that the case was very clear, but Zhao Sanxi was worried about Zhang Yuanwai's money, and he didn't know whose tomb he stole from, so he got a human leg so that he could frame Zhang Yuanwai in order to get some silver taels. It's just that Zhao Sanxi found two more foreigners? Kou Zhun thought, detained Zhao Sanxi and asked.

"Come on, take Zhang Yuan down first, take care of it, don't be embarrassed."

"Head catcher Liu An, you take someone to pass on Zhao Sanxi and those two outsiders."

The officials on both sides agreed, and they went to work. It's just that Liu An walked to the door of the yamen and didn't go out immediately, but came back again, leaned to Kou Zhun's side, and said in a low voice:

"Master, this may not be that simple."

"Oh?"

"This Zhang Yuanwai is famous for being rich and unkind, and he is famous in Cheng'an County. Everyone calls him Zhang Wuliang. ”

"In this way, you first take someone to send Zhao Sanxi over, and at the same time carefully search around Qiujia Village to find the source of the human leg."

"Yes, sir."

Liu An took Zhao Sanxi and two outsiders, Zhou Lei and Chen Cong, to the county government early the next morning. Kou Zhun was immediately promoted. From Liu An, Kou Zhun already knew the details of Zhao Sanxi.

Zhao Sanxi is the only son in the family, he was spoiled by his father and mother since he was a child, he was idle and not doing his job, he was angry with his father and mother when he was a teenager, and he was addicted to gambling. Now thirty-three-year-old Zhao Sanxi, there are only three dilapidated old houses left, and the daughter-in-law doesn't have to think about it.

"Whoever kneels, report the name."

"The villain Zhao Sanxi, a native of Qiujia Village."

"The villain Zhou Lei, a native of Shanglin Village."

"The villain Chen Cong, a native of Wuding Village."

"Zhao Sanxi, let me ask you, where do human legs come from?"

"Master, the human leg was indeed found by the villain in the woods in the backyard of Zhao Yuanwai's house."

No matter how Kou Zhun asked, Zhao Sanxi insisted that he didn't get the human leg, and insisted that it was inadvertently found in the forest of Zhao Yuanwai's house.

"How did you meet Zhou Lei and Chen Cong?"

Because of Zhao Yuanwai's twenty taels of silver, the villain went to the gambling house to gamble, and in less than two days, the twenty taels of silver were lost. Originally, the villain was not familiar with Zhou Lei and Chen Cong, and they only met occasionally in the gambling house. ”

After Zhao Sanxi's narration, Kou Zhun understood. For a long time, Zhao Sanxi was not rich in money, and occasionally went to the casino to make a small gamble, and suddenly made a big move, which naturally attracted the attention of Zhou Lei and Chen Cong. The two asked Zhao Sanxi to drink outside, and in a few words, they knew the origin of the silver from Zhao Sanxi's mouth, and after the two heard it, they were secretly happy in their hearts, thinking that they had finally found a way to get money. So as soon as the three of them were combined, they decided to continue to blackmail Zhang Liren.

After asking and asking, Zhou Lei and Chen Cong didn't know the origin of the human legs. Liu An, the head catcher, yesterday afternoon's search, did not hear of any new deaths nearby, let alone anyone's grave stolen. Because they couldn't figure out the origin of the human legs, the four of them couldn't get rid of them for the time being.

Kou Zhun continued to send the head of the captor, Liu An, to bring more servants to find the source of the human legs. I also took people to Qiujia Village, and Zhao Yuanwai went to the forest in the back garden to investigate. Upon careful examination, there was no doubt that the human leg had been severed from the dead man. Moreover, judging from the symptoms of the human leg, it should be from a young woman.

So, Kou Zhun put the focus of solving the case on finding the identity of the dead young woman, as long as the woman's origin and identity are found, then it will not be far to solve the case.

It's just that, with the passage of sixty, not only did the origin of the dead young woman not be found, but even the body of the rest of the body except for the leg in the forest outside Zhao Yuan.

For a moment, the case was deadlocked.