After Chen Shi listened to the old man's family's words, he interrogated the person carrying the donkey's skin: "What is your surname?" Where are the people? Why kill the old man? Recruit from the truth, lest you be punished! ”

The man kowtowed and replied, "The villain's name is Niu Er, a native of Tongzhou, who kills pigs and sells meat in the city every day for a living. A few days ago, when the villain was returning home from the city after selling meat, he saw an ownerless donkey running towards him on the way, so he grabbed the reins and pulled him home. That night they killed the donkey, stripped it and dried it, ready to sell it for a good price. Today, the villain carried a donkey skin around the capital, and because the price was too low, the villain was not willing to do it, so he carried it back. I didn't want to meet these people on the way, so I insisted that I killed someone. The villain is really wronged, please call the shots of the old man Qingtian! ”

Chen Shi listened to Niu Er's complaint, and said with a sinking face: "There are a lot of pedestrians, why was that donkey bumped into by you?" The donkey was ridden by the old man, and you must know where the old man is hiding. It seems that you will not accept the punishment if you do not move. ”

At first, Niu Er gritted his teeth and insisted on not recruiting, but the punishment was too severe, and he couldn't bear it for a few days, and was forced to confess with grievances: "On the road, I saw that the donkey that the old man was riding was shiny, and when I saw no one around, I wanted to rob his donkey." Unexpectedly, the old man pulled the donkey and refused to let go, and shouted loudly, and the villain panicked for a while, so he killed the old man. ”

Chen Shi asked, "Where is the corpse hidden?" ”

"Hiding in a place where no one knows."

Chen Shi hurriedly sent someone to look for it, but found nothing.

Chen Shi was sentenced to death, but Niu Er couldn't bear such suffering, so he had to confess and hide in another place where no one knew.

The servants searched for it, but they did not find it. Naturally, Niu Er was tortured again. In this way, Niu Er changed his confession several times, but never found the old man's body. Niu Er's body was originally relatively weak. Unable to withstand the repeated torture, he died tragically in prison a few days later.

Later, the approval of the Criminal Department to behead Chang Qingqiu was issued.

Chang Qingqiu was escorted out of prison and taken to the execution ground to be beheaded. After more than a year of prison life, Chang Qingqiu lost his desire to survive more and more, and what he wanted was to die quickly. But when the officials announced the order to him to be put to death, his desire to survive prevailed. Shouting along the way.

Chang Qingqiu's wife, Wang, was a cowardly woman, and when she saw that her husband was about to be beheaded, she ran to the carpentry bureau to cry. The chief worker has a generous personality. The popularity is very good, and listening to Wang's story, it resonates with the carpenters. However, the carpenter came from a humble background and was unable to avenge the foreman. I had to follow the torture car and shout. to vent the resentment in my heart.

The torture car stopped on the execution ground, and Chang Qingqiu greeted the workers: "I am wronged, if you still recognize me as the foreman, you will definitely find out the real murderer and avenge me!" ”

The carpenters swore on the spot that they would find out the real culprit and let the foreman look at him under the nine springs.

After Chang Qingqiu was beheaded, the carpenters went around to investigate. In the end, nothing was found.

I don't know who issued an initiative: "Everyone donates some money and puts together a reward for catching the murderer." ”

Hundreds of workers in the carpentry bureau donated their money. A total of 500 yuan was scraped together. The carpenters also posted notices at various intersections: "Regardless of whether you are a man or a woman, if you find out the real murderer of Ma Xiaoqi, you will be rewarded with 500 yuan." ”

As soon as the notice came out, those beggars, thieves and other people from humble and well-informed backgrounds wanted to get the money, and more and more people in the capital were looking for the real culprit.

This incident caused two people to be uneasy, one is Chen Shi, the case has been closed, if they find out the real murderer again, wouldn't it be in vain? The second is Luo, who closed his eyes at night and dreamed that Xianggong and Chang Qingqiu came to ask for his life.

Luo has another trouble, since the return of the father-in-law, Hu Butcher has never mentioned marrying her again. This Hu butcher is very slippery, he thought to himself: Although Luo's murder is for my Hu butcher, but marrying such a ruthless woman as a scorpion as his wife, won't there be endless troubles? Besides, since Ma Xiaoqi's death, the neighborhood has been suspicious, and he married Luo at this juncture, which will lead to a big disaster. Therefore, Hu Butcher not only did not mention the matter of marrying, but also the number of times he went to Luo to have fun was significantly reduced, so that Hu Butcher occasionally came to Luo, and Luo Shi seized the opportunity to count down his ruthlessness and unrighteousness, and when she was annoyed, Hu Butcher started to beat her, and she did not dare to shout loudly.

On this day, Zhang Shun was about to go to the people's house to steal a few pennies and spend money, but he happened to enter Luo's house before he could take care of the theft, but he saw a drunk man stumbling in and hurriedly entering the firewood stack.

The drunk, with the strength of the wine, began to bully Roche when he entered the door, punched and kicked, and insulted her with swear words in his mouth, Roche just cried and let him beat and insult her. After a while, the snoring of a drunk man could be heard from inside the house.

Zhang Shun boldly got out of the firewood, licked the broken window paper and took a look, only to see Luo Shi sitting on the kang platform, looking at the drunk man lying upright on the bed, with a look of resentment, and kept whispering: "You conscienceless thing, I killed Xianggong for you, and now my Xianggong's bones are not cold, you beat and scolded me and bullied me like this." Alas, I knew why I had to do it in the first place! ”

then talked about Ma Xiaoqi's various benefits to her.

Zhang Shun was taken aback when he heard this, and hurriedly tiptoed away.

Early the next morning, Zhang Shun ran to the carpentry bureau and shouted to the carpenters: "Hurry up and get the reward, I have already found out the cause of Ma Xiaoqi's death!" The carpenters didn't believe it, and Zhang told him about the adventure of last night.

So, the carpenters asked someone to write a petition and came to the yamen of Jingzhao Yin Mansion together to cry out for grievances. Chen Shi immediately ordered the official to look for Zhang Shun for questioning, Zhang Shun tremblingly walked into the hall of Jingzhao Yin's mansion, thinking that he had committed a theft on weekdays, but he didn't expect Chen Shi to ask what he heard that night.

Zhang Shun didn't dare to lie and told the truth.

Based on the information provided by Zhang Shun and his own inference, Chen Shi determined that Luo was the murderer of Ma Xiaoqi, and Nahu Butcher was an accomplice.

What needs to be found out now is where Ma Xiaoqi's body is hidden.

Chen Shi analyzed that most of Ma Xiaoqi's corpse was hidden at home, because Luo was a weak woman, how could she carry Xianggong's thick corpse? Even if you want to go out, you will worry about being discovered by the soldiers who are on duty at night in the streets and alleys.

So, Chen Shi ordered Ma Ming to select more than a dozen shrewd and capable officials, let them pretend to be beggars, and Zhang Shun led the way, instructing them to go to Luo's house to behave like this.

said that Zhang Shun pretended to be drunk, and as soon as he entered the house, he deliberately teased Roche, and Roche didn't understand their intentions and scolded him.

At this time, Ma Ming, who was dressed as a beggar, broke into the house and rummaged around for a while, but found no suspicious signs. (To be continued......)