Last night, Zhou Yong came back from Ruichang County, and Zhou Jin asked him about Meng Changjiang's case at dinner. Zhou Yong also heard about the case and learned about it in detail. He complained to Zhou Jin, then Liu Ergui is a foreigner and has no relatives in Ruichang. The plaintiff is his wife, but he is a woman, how can he sue him, so this matter is Liu Ergui's brother-in-law Wu Neng sued on his behalf.

Wu Neng is a gangster who hangs out in the casino every day, he is twenty-seven years old this year, and his daughter-in-law ran away a long time ago. Now I live by being abducted and cheated. When the county government ruled Meng Changjiang not guilty, and the Liu family did not receive any compensation, this Wu Neng appeared. Wu Neng felt that if someone died, the Meng family would have to compensate, so at his instigation, Liu Ergui's daughter-in-law sued the government.

And Meng Changshan's wife, Chen's mother's family, was completely coaxing, hoping to get the five acres of land of the Meng family. As for their daughters, they are nothing more than damned obstacles, corrupting the family morals.

Regarding Meng Changshan, according to the villagers, he died after being ill for half a year, not suddenly. At that time, the death was tragic, with bulging eyes, bleeding nose, and a hideous face. It seems that he was very painful when he died, but he couldn't find out the cause of death when he did it later.

In the morning, Zhou Jin took two entourages and went out of the gate, stepping on the streets of Jiujiang City for the first time. As he walked, he was stopped by a fortune teller: "This son, please stay!" I see that you will have a bloody disaster in a few days! ”

Zhou Jin stopped politely and looked at the fortune teller, a man in his thirties who was not yet in his thirties, but he had a fake white beard and rolled his eyes. So he said with great fun: "Ha, now the liars are so unprofessional, so open-minded?" ”

"Don't believe it, Childe, come and listen to me tell you." The fortune teller said calmly.

"You're dressed so unprofessionally, I'm not interested in listening to your nonsense."

The fortune teller heard Zhou Jin say this, so he had to say: "This outfit is just mixed food to eat, so as to act." After speaking, the fortune teller's eyes returned to normal: "But the flaws are not hidden, the contemptible person is proficient in the I Ching gossip, Mai face, just now when you walked in front of me, I already knew that you would be injured in a few days, but it did not hurt your life." ”

"Haha, you'd better do the math for yourself first!" After Zhou Jin finished speaking, Yang Chang left.

Soon came to the mansion and explained his intention to Menzi, who may have known Zhou Jin's identity and did not look for trouble, so he went into the inner hall to report.

Soon, the prefect Zhang Maoqian met with Zhou Jin in the second hall. first asked about Zhou Jin's studies, and Zhou Jin answered vaguely. After all, Zhang Maoqian was only born as a lifter, and he was the same as Zhou Pan, so it was inconvenient to entangle Zhou Jin in his studies. So I talked about Meng Changjiang's case.

"My lord, I want to meet this Meng Changjiang first, so that I can decide on my next move." Zhou Jin said after listening to Zhang Maoqian finish the case.

"Yes, but you'll have to go to jail to check it out."

Zhang Maoqian let one of his entourages take Zhou into the cell. In a clean cell outside, Zhou Jin saw this Meng Changjiang for the first time. This is someone he's never heard of, but wants to recruit.

Zhou Jin was right again this time, this Meng Changjiang is a master, at least in terms of appearance. I saw that he was 1.85 meters long, with big shoulders and a round waist, and the muscles on his body exploded. There was also an old stab wound on his left shoulder, apparently from the battlefield.

Meng Changjiang was very energetic in prison, which means that he was not tortured. He didn't bring torture equipment, the cell was clean, the cell was close to the prison gate, and apparently he was living well.

"Can you find a quiet place where I can talk to him?" Zhou Jin saw Meng Changjiang's current state, so he thought that his request was not too much.

The guards saw that he was the person who was accompanied by the prefect, and that it was the prefect who asked him to deal with Meng Changjiang's case, and knew what this was, and he must be an important person. So he said: "The interrogation room is empty now, and it is quiet. ”

This interrogation room is actually a torture room, and the torture instruments are placed in a room.

After Meng Changjiang was brought in and the rest of the people went out, Zhou Jin opened his mouth and asked, "Meng Changjiang, do you want to live?" ”

Meng Changjiang shook his head and said, "Live? Of course I did! ”

"But your sister-in-law's family and Liu Ergui's family don't want to give up. Kill for your life! ”

"Those two sluts, they are innocent! If you don't kill them, the sky won't tolerate them! ”

"But now that you have violated the king's law, the prefect wants to save you, but he can't. But I have a way. Zhou Jin said.

"Oh, please teach me." Meng Changjiang saluted Zhou Jin's bent legs.

"Do you have any money? It is sufficient to pay the money of indulgence and make restitution to the two families. ”

"No, but I still have a few acres of land."

"That's not enough, your case involves two families, two lives."

"What then?"

"Sell you and you'll get money!" Zhou Jin directly said what he thought.

After Meng Changjiang heard this, his brain was not good: "Sell me?" I'm a murderer who will ask for trouble and buy me. ”

Zhou Jin immediately took out the paperwork that had already been written and handed it to Meng Changjiang: "Are you literate?" Look at it, and sign it. ”

"Pick up some words." Meng Changjiang took it and looked at the paperwork, which was a contract to sell himself. The contract is very simple: I am now voluntarily committed to Zhou Jin, a student of Jiujiang Mansion, who lives and dies by the master, and has no regrets for life.

Behind is the place where the two sides drew the charge, and Zhou Jinde had already signed his name and pressed his handprint. Just waited for Meng Changjiang to sign and draw.

Meng Changjiang thought to himself, who is Zhou Jin this time, and he didn't write how much he was asking for it, so he didn't want to: "This, who Zhou Jin is, I don't know, and the price on it is not written." ”

"When Zhou Jin was in office, I was the fourth in the family. Because I was going to Ji'an, I was worried that the bandits there would not be quiet, so I wanted to find a guard who was familiar with the situation there. And I just heard about you, and I think you are a loyal and brave man, so I want to recruit you. Because of your murder case, you have to be sent thousands of miles to serve at the border at the lightest. That's why I wronged you to be my slave. ”

Zhou Jin looked at Meng Changjiang, who wanted to speak, and continued: "You are my person, and I will naturally settle your affairs for you, don't worry." I'm the prefect who found you, you're a murderer, I don't have to lie to you. ”

Meng Changjiang thought about it again and again, thinking that it would be good to be able to survive, seeing that Zhou Jin was square and steady, and the prefect invited him to win people, he must not be a traitor, so he signed it and handed it over to Zhou Jin.

"Alright, I'm leaving. You'll be out in two days. ”

Seeing that Zhou Jin left without looking for a witness, Meng Changjiang reminded instead: "The Ming Law prohibits common people and animal slaves, aren't you afraid that I will regret it?" ”

"This document is but a promise, and I trust you to keep it." Of course, Zhou Jin believed it, because he would ask the prefect to punish him as a slave in lieu of his punishment. Although it seems ridiculous to sentence a private person as a slave, but this method of protecting the lives of righteous people will be in such a nosy matter?

After leaving the cell, Zhou Jin replied to Zhang Maoqian and told him that he wanted to rush to Ruichang immediately to find the plaintiff.

"That's good, if you can appease the accuser, the money will be forgiven. I will send you two servants with you. Zhang Maoqian said very generously, anyway, it didn't cost his money.

The two officials received the tickets and went in and out of the government office in the same week. At the door, Zhou Jin sent an entourage to tell his family where he was going, and then went to the market and hired a mule cart to carry four people to Ruichang County.

The county seat of Ruichang is seventy miles west of Dehua County, Jiujiang Prefecture, and Antai Township is twelve miles north of Ruichang County. Therefore, Zhou Jin and others need to take a car to the county seat first, and then transfer to Antai Township.

At the end of the day, Zhou Jin and others arrived in Antai Township. Originally, Zhou Jin still wanted to go to Ruichang County, but looking at the sky, he may not be able to come back from Antai Township today.

These two officials have been here, and they first found the lieutenant chief, and then went to Li Ergui's house.

Li Ergui's daughter-in-law was a woman, of course she couldn't see Zhou Jin directly, so she stood in the grid door and answered Zhou Jin and the others. Outside, her younger brother Wu Neng came to entertain.

"Wu Neng, I was sent by the prefect to settle your lawsuit. Are you really going to keep the lawsuit going? As far as I know, Meng Changshan was killed by Li Ergui and Meng Chen. It's a matter of losing some money when you get there. Zhou Jin said straight to the point.

That Wu Neng saw that Zhou Jin was following the two officials, and he knew each other, so he believed Zhou Jin's words with a preconceived idea, so his momentum was naturally short: "Lose money, that's so easy." My brother-in-law is the pillar of the family, he is dead, what should my sister do? ”

When Zhou Jin heard the logic of this person's speech, he found that his focus was still on money, so he ignored him and continued: "How much do you want?" Make an offer. ”

"How much?" Wu Neng is a ruffian, someone gives money, and immediately forgets what his surname is, although he has also blackmailed, but those are all petty fights, but he has no concept of this kind of life lawsuit, he is afraid that people will not give it, and he is afraid that he will suffer a loss, so he asked with a smile: "How much can you give?" ”

"Do you want to buy your husband's life with money? There is no heavenly reason! Li Ergui's wife Li Wu suddenly cried, Li Wu is not a fool, watching his younger brother want to buy his husband's life and not stop it.

"Mrs. Li, how can this be said to be buying your husband's life? Your husband kills someone, and sooner or later he will die. So Meng Changjiang only needs to pay you some money out of kindness. After Zhou Jin finished speaking, he looked at Wu Neng, "Have you thought about it?" ”

"My husband didn't kill anyone! So there is no need to pay for your life! The county yawu made an examination and said that he died of illness. Li Wu suddenly shouted.

Zhou Jin thought to himself, he still couldn't stop it. I still have to find out the cause of Meng Changshan's death, so that this woman can completely give up resistance in her heart: "I don't know if the county yawu is allowed to do the test." ”

After speaking, Zhou Jin beckoned the officials and Li to grow out of the Li family.

Meng Changshan has been dead for almost half a year, and Zhou Jin is not sure if he can find evidence. After thinking about it again, Zhou Jin decided to go to Meng's house first. Because up to now, the impression of the Meng Chen clan in Zhou Jin is a Pan Jinlian shape

Elephant, this is the image of Zhou Jin's own brain. Zhou Jin didn't know the real situation, and when the prefect Zhang Maoqian introduced Meng Chen, he only used moral judgment words such as **fox and shamelessness.

Therefore, Zhou Jin needs to understand Meng Chen's character before he can find a way to kill. When I came to Meng's house, it was just a small courtyard, a three-room main house, a kitchen next to the east side, and a pigsty and toilet on the west side.

The gate of the courtyard was a few wooden sticks, on which were hung two seals of the county government fluttering in the wind. With a gentle push, the door opened. Walk through the courtyard to the door of the main house, which is also pasted with a note. The official carefully removed it, and then asked the chief to take the key and open the door.

The furnishings in the house are very simple, and in the hall, on the north wall facing the door, there is a tablet of the god of the family. That god is a piece of white red paper, on which is written the spiritual position of the ancestors of the Meng family. There was not even an offering table under the family god, and the incense burner was placed directly on a large table, which may be used for eating.

The hall was empty, and the ground was full of ash, and Zhou Jin found no useful information. I went to the head room and looked at it, but I found nothing. However, in the east room, Zhou Jin turned out some relics such as Meng Chen's clothes, and found that they were all ordinary rural women's belongings, and there were no makeup items such as gouache. The only thing worth it is a copper hairpin.

Zhou Jin had a question in his heart, didn't this Meng Chen family commit adultery? Otherwise, why don't you have a piece of jewelry? Could it be that this Li Ergui doesn't need to curry favor with Meng Chen to get this woman?

"Why are there only these things?" Zhou Jin asked the chief.

"The value has been pawned by the Meng Chen family." The lieutenant said.

"How could she take her own jewelry?" Zhou Jin still had doubts.

"It's not clear. We only saw her pawn the items a few times and bury Meng Changshan. So it's not clear what exactly was pawned. However, she usually carries a lot of gold and silver jewelry. The lieutenant said.

Zhou Jin nodded, he didn't ask, what he had to do now was whether it was right or wrong, Meng Changshan had to be killed by those two.

When he came to the kitchen, Zhou Jin looked at the water tank, and there was still half a tank of water in it. The water tank was discharged casually, and the dust on the cylinder wall was scattered. When the dust settled, Zhou Jin found that there were small black pupae sticking to the walls of the water tank. I found a wooden block and pressed it, and it was very hard.