At this time, Chen Shi had just received a document from his boss, asking him why he had solved the case but had not closed it for a long time?

When Chen Shizheng was worried, when he saw Zhou Cheng and Wang Ling returning empty-handed, he was not angry, and ordered the servants to beat each of them with twenty boards, until the two of them broke their skin and flesh, crying for their father and mother.

After the fight, Chen Shi was given another seven days.

This time, the two searched for the places around the toad ditch one by one, not letting go of any suspicious places, but the result was still a big disappointment.

Seven days have passed in a blink of an eye. The two had to beg for a few more days. This time, the two were each beaten with 20 boards and were given a grace period of three days.

Zhou Cheng and Wang Ling were so aggrieved in their hearts, Wang Ling said: "Brother Zhou, this Chang Qingqiu is clearly a trick of torture, he doesn't know where the corpse is, how can we find it?" We have to hurry up and find a way, otherwise we will have to be beaten to death by this unconscious official. ”

Zhou Cheng said: "I'm also thinking about this, but I can't think of a perfect solution!" ”

Wang Ling said: "The younger brother has an idea, let's spend a few taels of silver to find a way for the lawyer." ”

Zhou Cheng said: "Brother is reasonable. ”

At that time, there was a lawyer in Chang'an City surnamed Kuang, whose nickname was "Heavenly Neng", which meant that this person had great ability, and he could go up to heaven if he wanted to.

Zhou Cheng and Wang Ling found the home of "Heavenly Energy" and explained their intentions, of course, they had to send some money.

The "Heavenly Energy" smiled slightly: "This is not difficult, I will send you a few words, as long as you do what I want, you will be safe." ”

As he spoke, "God Neng" picked up the brush and wrote a few words, and the two of them took it. It turned out to be the words "stealing beams and replacing pillars".

Zhou Cheng and Wang Ling have lived for most of their lives, and they only know how to examine the corpse, and they really don't understand what these words mean.

"Heaven can" saw them holding the note in a daze. said coldly: "Just find a corpse and say it's Ma Xiaoqi's, don't you get it?" ”

The two of them suddenly realized and thanked each other.

said that Zhou Cheng and Wang Ling went to the nearby cemetery to find the bottom of the sky, but they did not find a single corpse.

When it was dark, they heard that a man had just hanged himself in a village outside the city, and the two were overjoyed and immediately went to the vicinity to hide.

At night. The family of the deceased was afraid that the body would be gnawed by wild dogs, so they found a broken mat to cover it, and asked two people from the same village to keep vigil and watch over it.

In the middle of the night. The two caretakers were napping, and one of them said, "Let's go into the house and drink wine to warm up, for the beast will not come in a moment." ”

The other agreed. Thereupon. Two night watchmen entered the house with lanterns.

Then. Zhou Cheng and Wang Ling hurriedly lifted the mat, carried the corpse and ran. Running out of three miles, the two put down the corpse, lit a torch and took a closer look, it turned out to be a girl.

The two lamented: "Life is hard, I finally got a corpse, but it was a woman." ”

Late at night, Zhou Cheng and Wang Ling came to a small bridge dejectedly and squatted on the bridge to worry.

Suddenly. An old man riding a donkey came to him. The old man was in his sixties and wore a freshly made blue cloth dress. In a hurry.

Seeing that the old man was about to reach the bridge, Wang Ling said to Zhou Cheng: "Brother Zhou, it's really a godsend, let's push this old man riding a donkey down the river and drown, wait for his skin and flesh to rot, and then carry him to the yamen for business." ”

Zhou Cheng was surprised: "Indiscriminately killing innocents, if someone finds out, you will lose your head." ”

Wang Ling persuaded: "In the dead of night, who would know if you kill someone in this wilderness?" Losing this opportunity will definitely be regretted. ”

Thinking of the taste of that meal, Zhou Cheng sighed and said, "Alas, it's all the stupid officials." ”

The two had made up their minds, and at this time the old man also went to the bridge. The small stone bridge was very narrow, and the old man slowed down the donkey. Zhou Cheng and Wang Ling rushed up to pull the old man down and pushed him down the river. The poor old man did not have time to cry out before he became a dead ghost, and the black donkey, seeing that his master had fallen into the river, howled twice and ran away. The two ignored it and hurried down the river to find the old man's body.

After a while, the old man's body was washed ashore. Zhou Cheng and Wang Ling were very happy in their hearts, they found a secluded place, tied a large stone to the corpse, and sank to the bottom of the river.

However, it was said that Zhou Cheng and Wang Ling happily went to see Lord Chen Shi, and reported in unison: "The villain has found the clues of the corpse, please give me a few more days, and I will definitely carry the corpse to see the adult." ”

Chen Shi was secretly happy in his heart, but he felt uneasy, so he lowered his face and shouted: "You two have fooled your own officials three times and five times, and the crime is not light. This time I will give you another five days, and if you come back empty-handed, see how the official cleans you up. ”

After a few days, Zhou Cheng and Wang Ling estimated that the old man's body had rotted beyond recognition, so they fished it out and carried it to the inspection courtyard to report to Chen Shi.

Chen Shi was overjoyed and urgently ordered the official to pass on the Luo clan to come to identify the body.

Luo came to the inspection yard, looked at the male corpse dressed in black slightly, and pounced on the corpse and cried, crying and reading: "This is my poor father-in-law, poor he died so miserably!" That Chang Qingqiu is really vicious, Lord Qingtian avenges the people's wife! ”

Luo sent people to carry back the corpse, and invited a group of monks to the ditch where Ma Xiaoqi was killed to pay tribute to the spirit, and also sold his gold and silver jewelry to buy a high-quality coffin, and buried the old man as a father-in-law.

At this point, the murder case can be closed, but after the document sentencing Chang Qingqiu was reported, for some reason, the Criminal Department did not approve it for a long time, and another case was involved during this period.

It turned out that the lady who rode the old man on the donkey thought that her husband had not come back from her daughter's house for a few days, so she sent her son to her daughter's house to look for it.

When the son arrived at his daughter's house, the daughter and son-in-law said, "I persuaded my father to stay that night, but he didn't agree to anything, and rode away on a donkey." ”

When the son heard this, he exclaimed: "Eighty percent of our father has an accident, hurry up and find it!" ”

So, everyone went to various places to check the whereabouts of the old man.

After a day of searching, we didn't find any news, and when we saw that it was getting dark, we were going to go home and ask someone to look for it again tomorrow.

Just then, a man dressed as a peasant walked in the direction of the suburbs with a donkey skin on his back. The old man's son saw that the skin of the donkey was similar in color to the donkey his father's ride, so he stepped forward and snatched it. Everyone unfolded it to see that the donkey skin had just been peeled off, and the blood stains had not yet completely dried up, and it was the donkey that the old man was riding.

The old man's son was furious, and when he went up, he punched the man who carried the donkey's skin, and asked, "What have you done to my father?" Say it! ”

The man was stunned for a moment, and asked rhetorically, "Why did you beat me in broad daylight?" ”

Everyone asked in unison: "You still dare to quibble, where did you come from this donkey skin?" ”

When the man heard the donkey's skin, he couldn't speak.

So, everyone decided that he had something to do with the old man's disappearance, and they sent him to the yamen of Jingzhao Yin's mansion. (To be continued......)