After Xia Xue heard these legendary stories about Di Renjie, she became even more interested in this ancient detective, and wanted to witness Di Renjie's case-solving style as soon as possible.

She quietly came to Pucheng County and decided to make a field trip to Di Renjie.

Early in the morning two days later, Xia Xue and Ouyang brothers and sisters came to the county office in Pucheng County after dressing up in disguise. Xia Xue disguised herself as a beautiful young man, and the Ouyang brothers and sisters disguised themselves as their attendants.

I saw that the county government of Pucheng County occupies a very wide area, the vermilion gate seat faces south in the north, and a plaque is hung on the door, and the four big black characters of "Pucheng Zhengtang" are written on it, showing a solemn and strict atmosphere. In front of the door, there is a stone lion on the left and right, which is majestic and solemn. There is a plaque hanging in the middle of the county hall with the four big characters of "Mirror Hanging", which looks very solemn; Below is a wooden table with pen and ink, a sticker, and a piece of wood.

Ouyang Yong was about to walk into the county office, and suddenly a group of people walked out of the county office, and the leader of them was about 18 years old. Xia Xue estimated that this was Di Renjie. "I didn't expect Di Renjie to be so young!" Xia Xue couldn't help but secretly admire.

Ouyang Yong also saw that the young magistrate was Di Renjie, and he sent him a letter of introduction. The letter of introduction said that Xia Xue and others were inspected by the state government and came to Pucheng County to investigate and make a secret visit, Ouyang Yong pointed to Xia Xue and said to Di Renjie that it was their inspection Master Li, hoping to meet with Di Renjie and understand some information.

As soon as she heard that it was the state government's inspection of the open and secret visits, Di Renjie naturally didn't dare to slack off, and hurriedly invited Xia Xue and the three of them to dinner, Xia Xue was not polite, she knew that Di Renjie was a clean official with clean sleeves, and she didn't want Di Renjie to be too expensive, so she deliberately said that she just wanted to eat some buns or something for a simple breakfast early in the morning.

There was no way, Di Renjie had no choice but to take Xia Xue and the three of them to a more famous local restaurant that sells steamed buns.

The group came to the central street of the county, the central street is still relatively prosperous, with many shops and some teahouses and restaurants. The bartender and Dr. Tea are loudly soliciting guests, a lively scene. There are even some people who run small businesses on the roadside, either carrying baskets or carrying burdens, and are selling hard.

Di Renjie was dressed in civilian clothes and led Xia Xue and the three of them to the second floor of a restaurant. Di Renjie had no choice but to order a few side dishes, ordered four steamed buns, and a few people ate them casually. Di Renjie couldn't help but be secretly surprised when he saw that the inspector turned out to be a beautiful young man, but when he saw that Xia Xue had an extraordinary aura, he didn't dare to underestimate it in his heart.

He reported to Xia Xue while eating, and at this moment, he suddenly saw a servant rushing into the restaurant: "Lord Di, it's not good, there has been a murder!" ”

As soon as Di Renjie heard that there was a case, he immediately got up and said goodbye to Xia Xue, Xia Xue decided to check Di Renjie's case-handling ability on the spot, and asked to go together, Di Renjie groaned slightly, so he agreed.

The deceased's name was Chen Qinglan, and he died in his study.

After Di Renjie and Xia Xue entered the study, there was a messy and terrifying scene in the study.

Two or three steps away from the door of the room, there was Chen Qinglan's corpse horizontally, with his head east and feet west. He wears a pale brown robe and is about twenty years old. At this time, not only had the buttons of his shirt been unbuttoned, but the clothes on his lower body were also folded unevenly, as if he had rolled and twisted on the ground when he was dying. Next to the corpse was a toppled oak chair and a carved coffee table. There was also a broken vase, the water was spilled all over the floor, and the marks were still visible. One end of the corpse's head, towards the first window facing the flower garden. A window is still open, and the utensils in the room are very delicate and luxurious, but the impression given to Xia Xue is vulgar and messy.

There was a maid standing at the door, dressed in plain attire. He was about fifteen or sixteen years old, and he looked thin and thin, his face haggard and frightened, his face so white that he was bloodless, and his head was bowed, as if his teeth were fighting, which added to the gloomy and terrifying atmosphere in the room.

After inquiry, this maid's name is Ah Dong, and she is the maid bought by the deceased Chen Qinglan two years ago, and she is the official she reported. said that the young master Chen Qinglan drank until midnight last night and didn't come back until midnight, and soon after returning to the study, she heard him shouting and smashing things, so scared that she hid in her house and didn't dare to come out, and then slowly stopped moving, she still didn't dare to go to see the young master, because the young master's temper was very bad, especially after drinking, his temper was even more irritable.

When it was almost dawn, she had the courage to go to the young master's study to take a look, and found that the young master was dead, and she was scared to death, so she quickly reported to the official.

Di Renjie took out the magnifying glass that the queen had specially issued to the officials at all levels for the investigation of the case, bent his feet, and squatted down to examine it carefully.

His face was very solemn, and his eyes were full of curiosity, as if to suggest that the case was very intriguing.

The dead man's face was pale and blue, and his eyes were wide open, and he was hideous and terrible. Her blue-black lips curled upwards, revealing a row of pale teeth, and traces of blood coming out of her nose and mouth. This shape is enough to make people's hair stand on end when it is seen in the daytime, let alone when it is quiet in the cold night.

Di Renjie pointed to the blood on the deceased's lips and nostrils, and then pointed to the blue and black lips, and said, "This is clearly a sign of poisoning." ”

He sniffed his nose a few times, as if trying to use his sense of smell. Then he lowered his head and picked up the spittoon, looked at it carefully for a while, and exclaimed, "He still vomited!" In this spittoon is what he vomited. The poisoning insight has another corroboration. ”

There was an unpleasant sour smell of wine in the spittoon that rushed into Xia Xue's nostrils.

He saw a teapot on his desk again, and casually lifted the lid of the teapot.

"It's still a full pot of tea. Probably black tea? ”

Xia Xue also stretched out her head to look, she looked at the thick layer of tea leaves floating on it, it was really black tea.

Di Renjie took out the silver needle and other laboratory items, and after testing, it was found that the wine vomited in the spittoon was poisonous, and the deceased did drink too much rice wine, and the wine did contain arsenic.

The black tea in the teapot had also been carefully examined, and there was no trace of poison.

Di Renjie saw that there was still a blank piece of paper on the desk, and a few words were scribbled on it: "The one who harmed me", as if he had not finished writing. After comparison, it was found that the handwriting was that of the deceased Chen Qinglan.

Di Renjie immediately ordered people to find all the people who had been drinking with Chen Qinglan last night, paying special attention to the surname Tao.

Soon after, a middle-aged man named Tao Zongzhang was arrested, he was one of the drinkers who drank with the deceased last night, and his surname was Tao.

Tao Zongzhang was five short in stature, in his thirties, his fat cheeks were shiny, and his long and narrow eyes were full of obvious cunning. His face turned pale with fright, and he kept clutching at the few thinning hairs on the top of his head.

As soon as he entered the door, he shouted, "My lord, you have been wronged! Chen Qinglan was not poisoned by me, we drank until midnight last night, not only I accompanied Chen Qinglan to drink, but there were two other people, the four of us drank the same rice wine, the three of us were fine, why was he poisoned. Wronged! If you don't believe me, you can ask the other two people who are drinking. ”

The other two drinkers who accompanied him to drink last night were also arrested, they were indeed fine, and they all proved that when he was drinking, Chen Qinglan was normal, they saw that he drank too much, and they were afraid that he would have something on the road, so they helped send him home last night.

After Di Renjie heard this, he asked the messenger to suppress these people first.

He paced silently back and forth in the study, his lips tightly closed, and the wrinkles between the bridges of his nose were deep.

After pacing a few steps, he walked to the desk, lifted the lid of the teapot, looked at it carefully for a while, and asked, "Who made this tea?" ”

The maid Ah Dong said tremblingly: "I made it, and every time the young master came back from drinking, he asked me to make him a pot of black tea in advance to sober up." ”

Di Renjie was silent for a while after hearing this, and suddenly he turned around and stared at the maid Ah Dong with his eyes like a torch, and shouted in a deep voice: "Bold Ah Dong, you still don't honestly explain how to poison your young master!" ”

When Ah Dong heard this, his face was colorless, and he softened to the ground with a pop.

……

After interrogation afterwards, the maid Ah Dong honestly confessed that she poisoned her young master Chen Qinglan in the tea. The poison is arsenic, and the vessel in which the poison is placed is a teapot. Ah Dong knew that Chen Qinglan would be thirsty every time he came back from drinking, and he had to drink tea to quench his hangover, so before Chen Qinglan came back, he had already put arsenic poison in the teapot.

After Chen Qinglan came back from drinking, he drank poisonous tea, so he died of poison soon after. Chen Qinglan didn't expect that the tea was poisonous, thinking that someone had poisoned the rice wine he drank, and Tao Zongzhang, who drank with him, recently borrowed him a sum of money because of gambling, he thought that Tao Zongzhang wanted to poison him to death, so he scolded Tao Zongzhang angrily before he died, and wrote "Tao who harmed me" on the paper, but it hurt so much that he couldn't write it anymore before he finished writing.

But why is the tea not poisonous after testing?

Di Renjie explained to Xia Xue: "The tea has been replaced. ”

He pointed to the tea in the teapot and said, "Aren't all the tea leaves in the teapot floating on the surface?" This is abnormal. Normally, the tea leaves should sink to the bottom, even if the water used to make the tea has not been boiled, there are only a few floating tea leaves. But please look, all the tea leaves are floating on the surface. It can be seen that the tea leaves and tea have been replaced; And there is no boiling water when changing, so the tea leaves can't be brewed, so they naturally float on the surface. ”

The maid Ah Dong confessed that she did pour out the poisonous tea, and because of the tight time at that time, there was no boiling water, so she made a pot of new tea with cold water, but she didn't expect to be discovered by the careful Di Renjie.

When asked why Ah Dong poisoned her young master, Ah Dong burst into tears, she lifted her clothes, and saw that she was covered in bruises and miserable.

Ah Dong cried and said: "My family is poor, and I was sold to Chen Qinglan as a maid two years ago, but I didn't expect Chen Qinglan to be a pervert, he likes to abuse women, especially after drinking, he will abuse and scold women like crazy, and her wife just can't bear it and flee back to her parents' house." So, he targeted the abuse at the weak me. There were several times when I was almost beaten to death by Chen Qinglan after drinking, and I was scared to death every time I saw him, and I lived in fear all day long, especially after he drank. For more than two years, I had been abused to the point of almost having a nervous breakdown, and finally I couldn't bear it anymore, so I poisoned Chen Qinglan in tea last night......"

Di Renjie was silent for a while after the interrogation, and he asked Xia Xue: "Lord Li, although the maid Ah Dong killed someone, but because she was forced to be helpless, can she be extrajudicial and exempt from the death penalty, and be given a lenient sentence?" ”

Xia Xue thought that the laws of later generations were more rigid and cold, and paid more attention to rules and terms, and she was now at the top of a country's power and had supreme royal power, so she decided to exercise her own unique rights, and she still appreciated Di Renjie's humane side, so she completely agreed with Di Renjie's suggestion. Of course, she said in the tone of the state capital's inspection: "Okay, I will report Lord Di's opinion to the queen, I believe that Her Majesty will definitely agree, and you will judge according to your opinion." ”

The maid Ah Dong was guilty of murder, and of course cannot be acquitted.

In the end, the maid Ah Dong was sentenced by Di Renjie to serve three years in the women's prison, and the prisoners in the Angel Country Prison were not raised for nothing, they all had to work without pay, and the maid Ah Dong was assigned to serve three years of unpaid labor in the garment factory of the women's prison.

……

After Xia Xue conducted an on-the-spot investigation of Di Renjie in Pucheng County, she finally determined that Di Renjie was indeed a Qing official who was "as good as a torch in his eyes and as careful as a hair" and was good at judging cases.

After Xia Xue returned from Pucheng County, Di Renjie was soon promoted to the secretary of Dali Temple in the Angel Kingdom, in charge of the trial of criminal and prison cases across the country, which was equivalent to the chief justice of the Supreme Court in later generations.

Di Renjie later knew why he, a small magistrate with no backer, no background, and no money, was able to sit on the throne of the chief justice in one step. The angel queen is a meritocracy, exceptional reuse, Di Renjie's kindness to the queen is grateful, and he vows to live up to the queen's trust and trust, and do his best for the cause of the legal system of the angel country.

As the youngest chief justice in history without any backer or background, Di Renjie did not disappoint Xia Xue and the people after serving as the secretary of Dali Temple in the Angel Kingdom, he was diligent and honest, fair and just, and quickly completed the judgment and handling of tens of thousands of difficult cases across the country that had been backlogged, and no one was wrongly prosecuted. In addition, special training has been provided to the government personnel responsible for cracking the case throughout the country, which has greatly improved the quality of these investigators in handling cases, and has made great contributions to the rule of law and the security of the country and the people.