Yuanhang put on his official uniform, put on his official hat and walked to the lobby of the yamen. As an official for the first time in a long time, he was promoted to the court, and he seemed a little nervous.

"Come, bring the drummer to the hall." Yuanhang relied on the impression of the appearance, picked up the shocking wood and patted it.

The official below brought in an old man from outside the door, and the old man knelt down and cried when he entered the hall.

"My lord, the little old man is wronged." The old man cried out bitterly.

"Don't worry, don't worry, if you have any grievances, tell me slowly." Yuanhang leaned over and said.

"My lord, Xiao'er went out to look for his wife the year before last, and he hasn't returned yet. Early this morning, the little old man was plowing the ground in his yard, but he dug up a white bone. I'm afraid that my son has already died unjustly, please make the decision for me. The old man began to cry again.

"What? Bones! Yuanhang looked at the old man in surprise, he never thought that the first trial of the case would be such a big case.

"Don't cry yet, let me ask you, what's your name? What's your son's name? The official hat was a little big, covering his eyes, and Yuan Hang straightened his official hat and asked.

"Back to my lord, my surname is Xie, and everyone calls me Xie San. My son's name is Xie Housheng. Old man Xie replied in a choked voice.

"Oh, so what do you do, and what does your son do?" Yuanhang nodded and asked.

"Our father and son are both Zhuang families, farming for a living." Xie Laohan stopped crying, bowed his head and replied.

"Your son disappeared the year before last, what do you say is going on to find a wife?" Yuanhang asked.

"The year before last, I said a family affair for my family, and I was the daughter of Du Tao in Dujia Village, twenty miles away, named Du Yue'e. Half a year after getting married, I returned to my parents' house, and I didn't return for more than a month. My son went to his mother's house to pick her up, but she never returned. A few days later, my daughter-in-law came back alone, saying that she had not seen my son and went to look for her. I haven't heard from my son since. Old man Xie choked up again.

Yuanhang listened carefully, squinted his eyes and thought for a moment and asked, "Then why did you come to sue when you saw Bai Gu, and how did you know that it was your son?" ”

"This ......" Xie Laohan hesitated and did not speak.

"Don't hide it, tell it the truth." Yuanhang shouted, and slapped the startled wood again, this time with more force, and his hand hurt so much.

Old Man Xie shuddered and said, "My daughter-in-law is now married to the butcher Zhang next door. Lao Er heard that my daughter-in-law had an affair with Butcher Zhang for a long time, and once said that he would listen to my son, but my son was honest by nature, and he was afraid that the ugliness of his family would be publicized, so he kept it secret. ”

"When did your daughter-in-law remarry Butcher Zhang?" Yuanhang asked again.

"It was the beginning of spring last year, and I couldn't get married in the first month, and I remarried in the first month." Xie Laohan replied affirmatively.

Yuanhang stood up, walked to the bottom of the hall, squatted in front of Xie Laohan, and asked, "Your son disappeared less than a year before last, and his daughter-in-law remarried, didn't you stop your father-in-law?" ”

"My lord, I'm not afraid of your jokes now. Once when the old man got up at night, he heard a man's voice coming from his daughter-in-law's house, and I heard that it was the butcher. Little old man, I was about to knock on the door when I overheard their conversation. My daughter-in-law said, 'You are so bold, aren't you afraid that my father-in-law will know?' The butcher said, 'I don't know, but if you dare to stop me, you will kill him.' The little old man was so frightened that he didn't dare to make a sound. Returned to the room. Old man Xie blushed and said with a sigh.

Yuanhang stood up, his hat covering his eyes again. So he took off his official hat, put it on top of the big case, took off his official uniform and said to Xie Laohan: "In this way, Butcher Zhang is very suspicious. Get up, old man, and let's go to your courtyard to take a look. ”

Yuanhang wore plain clothes, took the servants, and followed Xie Laohan to his courtyard.

Xie Laohan lives in the northwest corner of Yizhou City, and the yard is made of a fence, and the two houses look a little dilapidated. Yuanhang took a look at the family next to him, and he had a good life, and there were actually three large tiled houses. He pointed and asked, "Is this Butcher Zhang's house?" ”

"Yes, sir." Xie Laohan hurriedly bowed down and replied.

Yuanhang nodded and followed Xie Laohan into the courtyard. When he came to the ground, he saw a piece of white bone exposed on the ground.

Yuanhang crouched down and looked at it, and the place where the bones were buried was at least half a meter deep from the ground. He looked up and asked Old Man Xie: "Do you need to plough so deeply?" ”

"My lord, last year my son went out to look for his son, and this place was abandoned for a year. So this year I plowed a little deeper. Xie Laohan replied.

"Oh, I see." Yuanhang nodded and said.

"Uncle, did you plow the ground yourself and find the bones?" Yuanhang asked, staring at the white bone.

"Lord Hui, it was the old grandson who found out." Xie Laohan replied.

"Oh, where is he now?" Yuanhang asked Xie Laohan on the one hand, and instructed the officials to carefully dig up the place where the bones were buried.

"This little old man didn't know that everyone was scared when the bones were dug up, and they scattered and ran away." Xie Laohan stood behind Yuanhang, answering all questions.

Yuanhang stopped moving, looked up with a questioning look and asked, "Everyone is scattered?" Do many people help you plow? ”

Xie Laohan replied: "There are four people in total, all of them are old neighbors. ”

Seeing that the white bones had been dug up, Yuanhang leaned forward and said, "Trouble the old man to take the officials and bring them back to the yamen, and I will ask them when I go back later." After speaking, he looked carefully at the white bones.

This is a headless corpse, with its upper body facing the courtyard gate and its feet facing the door of Xie Laohan's house. Yuanhang looked around carefully, and found nothing other than a skeleton. Yuanhang had no choice but to concentrate on staring at the white bones.

"My lord, did you find anything?" Ah, Jin saw Yuanhang squatting on the ground motionless, looking at the white bones, and also walked over and squatted down curiously.

"This corpse is not Xie Housheng's." Yuan Hang grinned lightly and said affirmatively.

"Huh? How do adults know? Ah Jin was stunned and hurriedly asked.

"This is a female skeleton that was stabbed to death with a sharp weapon and then beheaded." Yuanhang squinted at Ah Kim. Ah, Kim looked at the voyage with his mouth half-open in disbelief.

"Look here." Yuanhang pointed to the right chest of the corpse and said: "There are traces on the bones here, indicating that they were vigorously pierced by sharp weapons before their deaths, and they have been pierced into the bones. ”

"Then how can you be sure that it is a woman's bones?" Ah Kim asked puzzled.

"The bones are small and the pelvis is wide, which is only found in women. He ordered the bones to be collected and taken back to the yamen. Yuanhang stood up and turned his head to look at Butcher Zhang's yard.

"My lord, are you going to summon Butcher Zhang?" Ah, Kim stepped forward and asked.

"Is there no one in his house?" Yuanhang patted the dust in his hand and asked.

"The official has already inquired that Butcher Zhang has a butcher shop in the city, and he does business there during the day." Ah Kim replied.

"Then don't summon him yet, send someone to keep an eye on him and his wife." Yuanhang whispered and instructed: "Block the news first." You come with me to Dujia Village. ”

"Yes, sir." Ah, Kim bowed in response.

Yuanhang took Ah Jin and two officials to Dujia Village on horseback, and arrived in a moment, and when he heard about Du Tao's house, he searched all the way.

As soon as the Du family looked at the yard, they knew that they were not wealthy. Yuanhang and others pushed the door in, and a man walked out of the house, and saw Yuanhang followed by two officials, who were stunned at the door of the house for a moment, hurriedly stepped forward and bent down to salute, and asked, "I don't know what happened when the official came?" ”

Ah Jin glanced at it and saw that this person was in his fifties, not tall, and slightly hunchbacked. asked, "Are you Du Tao?" ”

"Xiaomin exactly." Du Tao replied.

"Du Yue'e is your daughter." Yuanhang asked casually.

"Yes, yes. I don't know what happened to the little girl? Du Tao asked a little nervously.

Yuanhang sat down on a small stool in the courtyard, pointed to another stool, and said, "You sit, don't panic, I just know some things casually." ”

Du Tao sat down and looked at the voyage and asked, "What do you want to ask?" ”

Yuanhang smiled and asked, "The year before last, half a year after Du Yue'e married to the Xie family, did she ever come back to live?" ”

"I've come back to live." Du Tao nodded and said after recalling.

"How long?" Yuanhang asked.

"More than a month." Du Tao replied without thinking.

"Oh, do you remember very well, why did she go back to her parents' house for so long?" Yuanhang stared at Du Tao and asked.

Du Tao thought for a moment and replied: "When the little girl came, she said that my aunt was going out to do business, and it was inconvenient for me and my father-in-law to be at home, so I went back to my parents' house. ”

Yuanhang thought for a moment and asked, "When your daughter went back, was your uncle here to pick her up?" ”

"No, it was my aunt who asked someone to bring a message to tell Yue'e that she had returned home, and my daughter went back." Du Tao replied.

"Have you ever seen someone deliver the message?" Yuanhang's eyes flashed, and he asked.

"I don't know this, Yue'e had already packed her package when I came back, and only told me that someone had sent a letter to go back." Du Tao shook his head and said.

"Oh." Yuanhang nodded, suddenly smiled, and said, "After Yue'e went back, didn't she come back?" ”

"I'm back, I'll be back in half a month. said that his uncle was gone, and then he remarried. Du Tao sighed heavily.

Yuanhang didn't ask anything more, and got up to say goodbye after a few casual conversations. Out of the Du family's courtyard, he said to Ah Jin: "Go back to the yamen and immediately interrogate Du Yue'e and Butcher Zhang." ”

It was already noon when he returned to Fuzhong, and Yuanhang hurriedly ate a bite of food, then returned to Yamen, and brought Du Yue'e up to the court.

"The folk girl Du Yue'e has seen an adult." The woman in the hall knelt on the ground and said.

"Look up." Yuanhang sat behind the big case and looked down.

Du Yue'e raised her head, and looked quite beautiful from afar.

"You are Du Yue?" Yuanhang asked in surprise.

"Yes, my lord, the folk girl is." Du Yue'e replied a little scared.

"Let me ask you, half a year after you got married, why did you go back to your parents' house for more than a month and didn't return?" Yuanhang stared at Du Yue'e and asked.

"It was my father-in-law who told me that I was going out to do business, and my father-in-law was the only one in the family, so the girl went back to her parents' house." Du Yue'e replied.

"Then why did you go back to your in-laws' house after a month?" Yuanhang continued to ask.

"Someone sent a letter saying that my father-in-law was back, so I went back to my mother-in-law's house, but I didn't see him." Du Yue'e replied calmly that Yuanhang did not find any signs of her lying.

After chatting casually with Du Yue, Yuanhang suddenly asked, "Who sent you the letter?" ”

"Yes......" Du Yue'e suddenly asked unprepared, paused and hurriedly said, "The people don't know each other." ”

'Smack! Yuanhang slapped the startled wood hard, his eyes widened, and he shouted angrily: "Bold people's daughter, dare to lie in the court." If you don't know each other, how can you easily believe it and go back to your in-laws' house. If you don't tell the truth, don't blame the official for serving the punishment. ”

Du Yue'e sat on the ground in fright and cried, bowed her head and said, "Yes...... It was Butcher Zhang who went to find me and said that my father-in-law had returned. ”

Yuanhang laughed and asked again, "When did you have an adulterous affair with Butcher Zhang?" ”

"This ...... My lord, the folk girl only ...... after the princess disappeared" Du Yue'e wanted to say something, but was interrupted by the voyage.

"Nonsense, you remarried less than a year after your father-in-law disappeared, if it wasn't for the adultery, would you be so anxious?" Yuanhang stared at Du Yue'e with a sneer.

Du Yue'e cried bitterly.

"My lord, General Qin has come to ask for a meeting." Shadowless walked in from outside the hall and said.

"Please General Qin come in and put Du Yue'e in prison first." When the voyage saw that it was getting late, he instructed the officials.

Qin Chao walked into the front hall, hugged his fist at Yuanhang, and said: "My lord, Lord Siwei sent someone to send back the news that he has captured the first county, Han County, and is now leading his troops to Guyu County. ”

"Okay!" Yuanhang slapped the table, stood up and said happily.

"My lord, the construction of the city gate suspension bridge has begun, and some places are unknown, so please go to your lordship." The Qin Dynasty was afraid of making mistakes, so he came to invite Yuanhang to go in person.

"It's okay, I'm tired of the trial, so I'll go to the city gate and walk around." Yuanhang smiled and walked out of the yamen with the Qin Dynasty.