The blacksmith was a place where weapons were bought and sold and horseshoes were mended. All the weapons of the caravan are broken and need to be replaced, or the horseshoes on the horse's hooves are rusted and smoothed and need to be replaced, and the blacksmith needs to help. Although this kind of blacksmith business will not be very good, there must be no shortage of such people. There is only one person in the blacksmith shop in Zhumadian, and the boss is his buddy or him. The craftsmanship is not very good, and the price is relatively expensive, but it is not a problem when he is needed.

The so-called horse clinic is actually a veterinarian, and the biggest task of the horse gang is to direct the livestock to transport goods, so the livestock is the main force of transportation. Among the livestock, the donkeys are too thin and small, and the camels are too big to walk on the ancient tea horse road, so the people of the horse gang mostly use mules and horses to transport. They are not only more obedient, but also easy to manage, as long as they do not get sick, they will work obediently. But animals are not people, and even people get sick suddenly, so once an animal gets sick, the problem is serious. So along the way, there will be one or two people who know how to heal, and there will be some horse clinics in some important places.

A repair shop is not really a shop, but a place similar to a meeting point. Usually, there is only one person at most, and when there is business, everyone is called to work. When the caravan transports the goods, there will be an accident, the bag of the goods will be broken, or the outer packaging of the goods will need to be replaced. When the number is small, the caravan and horse gang can solve it by themselves, and if there are more, you need to find someone nearby to help. This brings business to the tinkering shop. The caravan or caravan hand over the business to them, and they gather the people of the village to help solve it, and they will definitely complete the task on time and with quality and quantity. Some repair shops are familiar with the caravan, and they will also help the caravan people supply and store some goods, saving some trouble.

The caravan is full of men, and they are not very old men, and they will inevitably need to be comforted and vented when they are outside for a long time. There are brothels and prostitutes, but there are no regular brothels in small places, and there are also secret prostitutes who do not have a business license. These women are either widows of dead husbands or women abandoned by caravanserais, and they have to do this kind of business in order to live and survive. Some people want to use this opportunity to meet or find someone who is willing to help them get out of here. It's very unlikely, but they're willing to give it a try. The reason why Qin Tai stayed here and didn't continue to hurry was because he found a case, a case that might have something to do with him.

There was a murder in Zhumadian the day before Qin Tai arrived, which made Qin Tai have to be concerned. After inquiring, I learned that this case was not simple, and it was very likely that it was a certain detail of the case that Qin Tai was going to handle, which would at least cause a small amount of chaos. Qin Tai decided not to hurry, and stayed here to start investigating and solving the case. There is no government in Zhumadian, and there is not even a land security. Usually, the people of the yamen come twice a year, collect the fees they should pay and leave. If something happens, a local village chief or a person of prestige will report it to the yamen. Who would have thought that there would be a murder in this small place, which made the people here begin to feel uneasy.

The deceased was a woman, not very old, and a native of Zhumadian. The reason why she died violently and not because of illness was because of a promissory note. A promissory note is a kind of bill recognized by each locality itself, which is actually a white slip. After receiving the business, the repair shop assigns tasks to everyone, and they can't get the money immediately after completing the tasks. Sometimes it's because the caravan or caravan can't pay in time, and sometimes it's because the host deliberately doesn't pay. When you can't get cash, the repair shop will issue a promissory note to guarantee that you will cash in for a certain period of time. The deceased has a promissory note in his hand, which means that the deceased will not commit suicide and has not lost the ability to work, and the only possibility is a sudden emergency or murder. In this case, the person who died in this way cannot be dealt with casually, and it is necessary to report to the yamen according to the life lawsuit, and the yamen can only be buried after issuing a certificate of death. The reason why Qin Tai thought this case was suspicious was because he found a set of Taoist robes worn by a goddess in the deceased's house, and Qin Tai suspected that this woman was a goddess, or someone who had been a goddess. This woman did not die of natural causes, nor did she seem to have died of a sudden illness, so could she have been silenced by others, or was she used by others to become a new outbreak point of civil unrest?

Qin Tai is dressed as a scholar, and his status as a scholar in various places is very high, which is equivalent to the status of the yamen. In some small places, people even treat scholars as officials. When important ceremonies are held in some villages, it is very honorable to be able to invite scholars. So when Qin Tai appeared at the scene of the murder, everyone told Qin Tai the news they knew. The old man in a village even asked Qin Tai to preside over the overall situation, and asked Qin Tai to investigate the scene and write down the conclusions and report them to the yamen. Generally, after this kind of thing happens, the reader can push it as much as he can, and he is unwilling to care, but Qin Tai will definitely not do it.

Qin Tai agreed, and asked Qiu Xiaoqiu and Zhan Xiaoxiao to be a group and ask the people present for confessions. Qin Tai's actions not only did no one raise objections, but also made some elderly people feel Qin Tai's stability and reliability. Gradually, the information was gathered, and the deceased's past became clearer.

The deceased, Ma, was Chinese New Year's Eve 34 years old and a native of Zhumadian. The wife of the third king of the former Zhumadian blacksmith shop. Professional farmers, after losing land, make a living by helping repair shops in business. Why is it the third wife of the former blacksmith shop? Because Wang San met a girl the year before last, Wang San must live with this girl, that is to say, he wants to ask for a little wife. Ma did not agree, and her husband Wang San went to the yamen to ask for the dissolution of the husband and wife, and then became husband and wife with this girl. On the grounds that Ma had no children, the yamen agreed that Wang San would dissolve his marriage with Ma and marry other women. Ma not only lost her husband, but also lost the only piece of land in her family. Ma is a native of Zhumadian, and her husband Wang San was originally from here and knew Ma since childhood. The two adults have betrothed to them since childhood, and Wang San has long regarded Ma as his wife. Wang San went out for a period of time after he became an adult, and when he came back, he opened the only blacksmith shop in Zhumadian. Wang San's ability is not big, and the business is not good, so Wang San has not developed. Ma is usually quite virtuous, the only drawback is that he likes to tell right and wrong, and the east and west are short and irresponsible. Wang San rarely gets angry, and even if he has a few whining words, it will pass immediately. The only bump between the two of them is that they don't have children, which makes Ma feel insecure.

The year before last, a caravan did business from south to north, and when it passed by Zhumadian, it was sold to a girl from Zhumadian owner. The owner of Zhumadian was unwilling to keep this girl, but the caravan insisted on keeping this girl as accommodation and food money, so the boss had to accept this girl. Everyone in Zhumadian knows that although the boss does not have a wife, the boss does not need a woman, and the shop in a small place cannot afford to raise a girl. If this girl stays, she will either be sold to the people in the village as a little wife or will be a secret prostitute in the future. When everyone was feeling sorry for this girl, Wang San unexpectedly got along with this girl.

When everyone thought that the Ma family would never agree, Wang San actually wanted to split up with the Ma family for this girl. Of course, Ma Shi didn't agree, and slapped the girl a few times in front of everyone, so angry that Wang San made a decision to cut off relations with Ma. Since then, Ma has been kicked out of the house, and Wang San and this girl have lived a married life.

The people in the village don't know where Ma went after Wang San's clarification, some people say that Ma went to a big place to complain, and some people say that Ma remarried, anyway, Ma came back alone not long ago. Because Wang San didn't let her go home, the family's land was also owned by Wang San, so Ma had to live in his original mother's house. Although Ma's sister-in-law often ridiculed her, she had to endure it because she had no place to live.

Because he didn't have a job, Ma was often hungry, and the shopkeeper of the repair shop was Ma's hair small, so he couldn't stand it, so he had to let Ma do odd jobs in the repair shop. Unexpectedly, early in the morning, Ma was found dead in his room. Because it may have been killed by him or murdered, Ma's brother and sister-in-law all called themselves wronged and unlucky.

After Qin Tai looked at the preliminary information, he immediately thought of three possible clues or development directions. Ma's brother and sister-in-law, will they know some truth? The female shopkeeper in the repair shop is said to be Ma's hair, will she know some clues? Ma's ex-husband Wang San, and his current wife, will they have problems? Qin Tai stayed at Ma's house to ask Ma's brother and sister-in-law, Qiu Xiaoqiu went to contact Wang San and his wife directly, and the shopkeeper of the repair shop was a woman, so he had to hand over the matter to Zhan Xiaoxiao. Nominally, they helped the people in the village collect evidence and report it to the yamen, but in fact, Qin Tai wanted to know if his judgment was right.