Early that morning, after Xue Ziqian, the governor of southern Xinjiang, got up and was freshening up in the back office, he suddenly heard "bang bang bang", and the drum outside the governor's yamen sounded three times in a row.

Xue Ziqian didn't even bother to eat breakfast, so he hurriedly put on his official uniform and prepared to ascend to the court.

"Smack!" Governor Xue Ziqian slapped the shocked wood: "Come on, bring the drummer to the hall!"

Who knows, the official Xi Donghai went out for a while, and came back to say: "Go back to the master, I haven't seen the drummer." ”

"That's weird, I obviously heard someone beating the drum in the back office, how could there be no one?" Governor Xue Ziqian said to himself.

Suddenly, "bang bang bang" and three more drums sounded, and the official Li Dewen hurriedly ran out, and he looked for a long time, where were there any drummers? It turned out that a "croaker" had landed on the drum rack and was pecking the drum with his mouth.

"Go, go, go! You flat-haired thing, you still want to learn to beat the drum and complain! Get out, make trouble again, and kill you!"

Li Dewen picked up a piece of soil from the ground, threw it at the croaker, and then returned to the hall to report: "Master, no one is beating the drum, it is a croaker pecking the drum, and I have driven him away." ”

"What is a quack?"

"Sir, this is a local dialect, and the croaker is actually a magpie bird. ”

As he was talking, "Bang Bang Bang" and a few more drums, Li Dewen copied the water and fire stick and said: "See if I go out and don't kill the troublesome flat-haired beast......"

"Li Dewen, wait!" Lin Youjia stopped Li Dewen, arched his hand to Governor Xue Ziqian, and said: "My lord, this matter is too strange, why does that flower magpie have to beat the drum again and again? ”

"It's very good for me, okay!" Governor Xue Ziqian nodded and agreed.

So, the two of them went out of the lobby together, stood at the entrance of the yamen and looked, only to see a flower magpie standing on the drum stand, tilting its head, looking at the lobby of the governor's yamen.

Lin Youjia was thinking about how to catch this flower magpie and find out, when he saw Governor Xue Ziqian cough, and said softly to the flower magpie: "I am Governor Xue Ziqian, this magpie, you beat the drum three times in a row, do you have a grievance to sue?" If so, you will fly over and land on my shoulder; if you are hungry, just stand there and don't move, I will ask the official to bring you some food......

A bizarre scene happened.

As soon as Governor Xue Ziqian's words were finished, he saw that the flower magpie flew over at once, landed on his shoulder, and called three times in a row, stretched out his right wing, and pointed in the direction of due south.

Governor Xue Ziqian nodded and asked, "You mean the direction of due south...... Would you like to lead the way?"

The flower magpie actually understood human words and nodded three times in a row.

"Come on, Lin Youjia, Xi Donghai, Li Dewen, the three of you ride fast horses, follow this mountain chirp, see what happened, don't hurt it. ”

"Yes!"

Lin Youjia and the two officials Xi Donghai and Li Dewen quickly pulled out three horses, and as soon as the mountain chirp spread its wings, it flew due south, and Lin Youjia, Xi Donghai and Li Dewen hurriedly rode their horses and followed closely.

It wasn't until it was dark that Lin Youjia, Xi Donghai and Li Dewen were out of breath and turned to the governor Yamen to report: "My lord, the three of us followed the mountain chirp until we reached the wild boar forest pass in the south, and the mountain chirp landed on an old pine tree on the top of the wild boar forest mountain, and the head rushed to the mountain stream 'chirping', and it stopped flying. The three of us climbed to the wild boar forest mountain to see, it turned out that there was a straight up and down mountain stream, dozens of zhang deep, so we knotted a few ropes, fell to the bottom, found a male corpse below, the weather was too hot, it had begun to rot, the three of us took a lot of effort, the corpse was hung up from the bottom of the ditch, brought back, and now it is placed outside the lobby. ”

Governor Xue Ziqian immediately ordered Qi Zuo to come for an autopsy.

After the autopsy, he reported that "I have been dead for about five or six days, between the ages of thirty and thirty-five, with a broken skull, and many bones on his body, caused by a fall from a height, and no other injuries......

Governor Xue Ziqian took a look at it, one was a jade pendant tied around his waist, a fine white marble, on which was carved Guanyin holding a treasure vase; the other was an incense bouquet, the incense bouquet was sewn with a blue background brocade, one side was embroidered with a mandarin duck playing in the water, and the other side was embroidered with a lotus flower. The incense bouquet contains more than a dozen kinds of precious Chinese medicine spices, which can be worn in winter and summer without attracting mosquito bites and avoiding the smell of sweat.

Governor Xue Ziqian carefully looked at the two things, then came to the deceased, bent down, carefully looked at the deceased's clothes that had begun to rot, nodded, and said in his heart: "Seeing that the clothes worn by this person are not the clothes of ordinary ordinary people, there is medicinal fragrance on the clothes, and the incense bundles he wears are also filled with precious Chinese herbs. It seems that in order to solve this case, we must first find out who the deceased is?"

Thinking of this, Governor Xue Ziqian turned his head sharply, glanced at Lin Youjia, the two nodded, and then, Governor Xue said: "Li Dewen, you quickly take ten officials to various pharmacies and medicine halls inside and outside the city to inquire to see if any family members have disappeared or gone out recently, and if so, quickly bring his family members to meet me inside the governor's yamen." ”

"Obey!" Li Dewen took ten officials to take the order.

Soon, one of the ten officials sent out came back to report: "Master, Pan Yulian, the proprietress of the 'People's Pharmacy' on Fucheng South Street, said that her husband Yu Hewei went out six days ago and has not returned, and now he has come to the door of the lobby with the villain. ”

"Hurry up and call her to the court!"

"My lord has an order, Pan Yulian, the proprietress of the 'People's Big Pharmacy', will go to the court!"

Pan Yulian, the proprietress of the 'People's Big Pharmacy', walked into the lobby and knelt down and asked, "Master, why did you call the people's women to the Pan family?"

"Yu Panshi, this governor asks you, when did your husband Yu Hewei leave home, where did he go, and what did he do?"

"Back to the master, Yu Hewei, the husband of the people's wife, left seven days ago. On the day he left, the sky was just bright, saying that there was a shortage of medicine in the store, and he wanted to go to the area of the original Zhen Python Mountain to buy medicinal materials......

"Does he ride in a sedan chair or on an animal, with whom does he go with him?"

"Back to the master, Yu Hewei, the husband of the folk woman, rode my own mule, and when he left, he didn't say who he was with, he only said goodbye and said that he would come back in five days at most and three days at least, but so far seven days have passed, and he has no one to believe it. ”

"Hmm!" Governor Xue Ziqian nodded, picked up the incense bunch and jade pendant from the case, asked the official to hand it to Pan Yulian, and asked, "Yu Pan, do you know these two things?"

Pan Yulian took the incense bouquet and jade pendant, looked at it carefully, raised her head, and asked anxiously: "Master, this incense bouquet and jade pendant are things that my husband Yu Hewei never leaves, the incense bouquet is embroidered by my own hands, and the jade pendant is a family heirloom, why did it come to the governor's yamen and fall here with the eldest master?"

Governor Xue Ziqian sighed lightly and ordered the official Xi Donghai to take Pan Yulian to the corner of the hall to recognize the body.

Xi Donghai, the official of the government, gently lifted the white cloth covering the corpse, Pan Yulian looked at the corpse, suddenly trembled, her eyes widened, and she only called "My husband, ......" and fell backwards and passed out.

Governor Xue Ziqian asked Pan Yulian to wake up, comforted him with kind words, and then asked: "Yu Pan, how is your husband Yu Hewei on weekdays, has he ever offended anyone?"

"Master, Yu Hewei, the husband of the people's wife, is a well-known good man, and he has never offended even a three-year-old child. Seeing a doctor on weekdays, with or without money, can make people see a doctor and grab medicine, and if the neighbors are lacking or owing, as long as they give him a mouth, he will respond to his needs. Once, Wu Youde on East Street, his family also opened a pharmacy, found the slave husband Yu Hewei, said that the money was a little tight, there was no money to buy medicine, so he borrowed five hundred taels of silver from the slave husband Yu Hewei, so far, four or five years have passed, and there is no return, the slave family has thought many times to urge, and the husband Yu Hewei said: 'When someone's family is not lacking, when he has it, he will naturally pay it back, don't go to the door to urge people to annoy and offend people'......'"

"Yu Pan, how is this Boss Wu you just mentioned?"

Pan Yulian snorted in her nose and said disdainfully: "Wu Youde, that person, is treacherous and deceitful, although he is also a gentleman who runs a pharmacy, but he has never done business well. A while ago, I heard that his wife ran away with someone, and the pharmacy was about to close, who knows that in the past few days, I heard that he found someone to rebuild the pharmacy and married a daughter-in-law, and I don't know where he got the money all of a sudden?"

Governor Xue Ziqian nodded, and then asked, "Yu Panshi, your husband Yu Hewei usually likes to raise birds?"

"Back to the master, the husband of the slave family is kind-hearted, and he never bears to keep the birds in a cage. More than two years ago, the slave husband got up early and went out to a family for medical treatment, he just walked out of the house, and suddenly heard the old Tsubaki tree in front of the door croaking in the 'chirping', raised his head, and saw a small croaking child who had just come out of the shell a few days ago fell from the tree, the slave husband Yu Hewei hurriedly pulled up the coat placket to pick it up, fortunately, he was really caught by him. The little croaker hadn't opened his eyes yet, and he didn't have any long hair on his body. When a neighbor saw it, he asked the slave husband to throw it away, or feed it to the cat. The slave husband couldn't bear it, and said that size is a life, so he sent the little croaker home, and then went to the doctor. From that day on, the slave husband had to take time out of the field every day to catch insects and grasshoppers to feed the little croak, and the little croaker was fed by him and could fly, and the slave husband took it to the old Tsubaki tree in front of the door and released it. The little croaker didn't want to go up the tree, and when he fell on the shoulders of the slave husband, he didn't leave, so the slave husband went out every day to feed it under the old tsubaki tree, and even the old birds and a few small birds in the tree were not afraid of him. The neighbors all said that the slave's husband was kind-hearted, and even the birds liked him. Who knows that kindness is not rewarded, he, he goes out well, but it is ...... Slave husband...... You died so miserably!" Pan Yulian choked up and couldn't speak.

After being sad for a while, Pan Yulian suddenly raised her head, looked at Governor Xue Ziqian and said: "Lord Qingtian, why are the mules that the slave husband Yu Hewei rode and the more than 1,000 taels of silver he brought with him gone?

"Yu Pan's, Lord Ben asks you, can you bring in the little croaker that your husband Yu Hewei saved?"

"The women can. ”

"Okay, Yu Pan, you quickly summon that little croaker and hand it over to Governor Ben, and in three days, Governor Ben will naturally give you an explanation, now, take your husband's body home and bury it properly." ”

After Pan Yulian left the court, Governor Xue Ziqian called Lin Youjia, Xi Donghai and Li Dewen to explain again, and the three of them took the order and left.

The next day, as soon as the day dawned, Xi Donghai and Li Dewen, two officials of the governor's yamen, carried a big gong and knocked along the street and shouted: "Everyone has listened, today the governor is going to be tried in public, everyone go to the door of the governor's yamen to see it!"

When everyone heard this, they all thought it was strange, so they had to go and see it. Before the hour passed, the entrance of the governor's office was already full of people who came to see the excitement.

"Knock knock" three drums, "Might-martial!" Governor Xue Ziqian came to the front of the public hall with his robe on his hand, and "snapped" and slapped the startled wood, "Bring a croak!"

"With a croaker!"

I saw a servant carrying a large birdcage covered with a black cloth curtain to the court, and he put the birdcage on the official case, "Master, bring it to the croaking." ”

Governor Xue Ziqian nodded, pointed to the birdcage with his hand, and said: "Quack, you have come to beat the drum several times to complain, how did your life-saving benefactor die?

"What? You say you can recognize the murderer of your benefactor? Well, you know......" Governor Xue nodded at the birdcage, and then came to the door of the public hall with the birdcage in his hand, and said loudly to the people who came to see the trial: "Today, all those who come to see the trial, don't move, the officials will guard the surroundings, and anyone who walks around and exits will be arrested as suspects." This governor asked the croaker to come out and admit the murderer. As he spoke, Governor Xue tore off the curtain on the Ding birdcage.

"Chirp, chirp, chirp!" a flower magpie flew out of its cage. I saw it circle around everyone's heads three times, and suddenly its wings were folded, and it stretched out its mouth and pecked at a man in his thirties who was about to squat down, with no flesh on his cheeks, and the man hurriedly blocked it with his hand.

"Chirp!chirp!" At this moment, several magpie birds flew from nowhere, pecking and scratching at the man, pecking the man and screaming, and his face was full of blood.

Everyone was stunned with their mouths open at this time, "Isn't that Wu Youde, who runs a medicine shop?"

"Bring him up!" Governor Xue Ziqian shouted majestically.

When all the magpies saw that Wu Youde was arrested, they all circled again, "chirp, chirp, chirp" shouted a few times at Governor Xue, and flew away together.

"Wu Youde, this governor asks you, how did you plot to kill Yu Hewei? ”

Wu Youde knelt forward and climbed half a step forward, and said: "Master Qingtian, the villain is wronged, the villain is a gentleman who sees a doctor, and he only knows how to open a medicine hall to help the world, cure diseases and save people, how can he have the heart to harm people?

At this time, Lin Youjia, Xi Donghai and Li Dewen came to report: "My lord, this is the purse purse found in Wu Youde's medicine cabinet, and there is also a piece of champas, please take a look." ”

Governor Xue Ziqian took it and looked at it carefully, and sneered: "It is passed on to the Pan family." ”

Pan Yulian went up to the lobby, and Governor Xue Ziqian asked, "Yu Pan, look at this purse, is it your family's thing?"

Pan Yulian raised her head and looked at it, and said: "Back to the master, this is exactly the money purse that the slave husband Yu Hewei used to put silver for him when he went out, the four corners of the robe, the slave embroidered four words with silk thread 'Yu Ji Yaotang', two auspicious clouds were embroidered on the waist, and the back was embroidered with 'Fushou Shuangquan'. There is also the piece of champa, which the slave family usually carries on his body, and every time his husband goes out, the slave family has to put it in a blanket for him. The slave husband was away from home, and when he saw Shampa, he remembered the slave. On the corner of the champa, there is a peony flower, which is embroidered by the slave family. When the folk girl is not married, the name of the milk in her mother's house is called peony. ”

Governor Xue asked the official to show the blanket and the champa to everyone, and it was exactly the same as what Pan Yulian said.

"Wu Youde, what else do you have to say? How could the Yu family's clothes and champas be left in your house when Yu Hewei went out to take them away? Moreover, according to the investigation, you eat, drink, prostitute and gamble, and you are already a family with four walls, penniless, and you can't afford to support your wife, so you have run away with people, where did you get the money these days? Renovate the pharmacy, re-accept your wife's room, and go in and out of the casino, and you are not quickly recruited from the truth!"

"This, this ......" Wu Youde was in a cold sweat at this time, trembling all over, and had to truthfully confess the truth.

It turned out that Wu Youde inherited his father's pharmacy business, and he should have practiced medicine well, but he didn't do his job, prostituting and gambling all day long, and the family business was lost in a few years, and he couldn't even get the money for the herbs. Because the money he owed to Yu's family had not been repaid, he was afraid that Yu Hewei's daughter-in-law Pan Yulian would be annoyed with him, so he asked Yu Hewei to get up early and leave quietly, and he waited at the city gate.

On the morning of Yu Hewei's departure, the sky was not yet bright, and no one got up, Yu Hejinshu only coughed lightly under the tree, and the little croaker on the tree flew down and landed on Yulin's shoulder.

The two of them rode together on a mule from Hewei's family, and came all the way to a mountain pass more than 60 miles away from the county seat. Wu Youde said to He Wei: "This mountain pass is rich in half summer, why don't we rest on the mountain and see where there is half summer." ”

Yu Hewei did not doubt that he had him, so he followed Wu Youde to climb the mountain.

When he climbed to the mountainside, the mule couldn't go up, so Yu Hewei tied the mule to the tree and continued to climb up.

Finally climbed to the top of the mountain, and the two sat down under the only old pine tree on the mountain to rest. At this time, Wu Youde said to He Wei: "Brother Yu, after climbing the mountain for a long time, you are carrying a purse bag, and it is not too heavy!

Yu Hewei was kind-hearted, and he didn't have the heart to defend against people at all, so he really took off the purse and put it under the pine tree. At this time, Wu Youde stood up, stretched out his arm, kicked his legs, and deliberately pretended to look at the scenery to look down the mountain, and suddenly, he turned around and shouted to Yu Hewei: "Brother Yu, come over and see, isn't the big green plants in this mountain stream and ravine just Banxia? Now, the two of us have sent it, and we don't need to buy it! You hurry up and come and see, ...... quickly."

After hearing this, Yu Hewei hurriedly came to Wu Youde's follower and went down to look: "Angkor, where is Banxia? Why didn't I see anything?"

"What about Lord Yama......" The voice fell, and Wu Youde pushed him violently from behind Yu Hewei.

"Wu Youde, you, you ......" At this moment, the croaker who fell on the pine tree hurriedly shouted, and fell down with Yu Hewei to the mountain stream, it stretched out its mouth several times to peck at Yu Hewei's clothes, trying to pull him up, but it was too small, how could it afford to pull Yu Hewei, who weighed more than 100 pounds?

The little croaker guarded Yu Hewei's corpse at the bottom of the stream for three days.

Wu Youde killed Yu Hewei, turned around and picked up his purse and carried it on his shoulders and went down the mountain, walked halfway up the mountain and untied the leashed mule, rode to a nearby town in one go, went to the cattle market and sold the mule, after eating and drinking, he went to the casino to play until dark, and then hired a carriage and went home.

Sitting in the car, he looked at Yu Hewei's purse and champas, and thought: Anyway, no one knows, if you take it to other places in the future, you can sell it for a few taels of silver, so he didn't throw it away, he thought he did it seamlessly, but he was sued by a croak who couldn't speak.

"Smack!" Governor Xue Ziqian slapped the shocked wood, pointed at Wu Youde and scolded: "Wu Youde, you are really virtuous, as a doctor, you should have a benevolent heart, not only did you not repay the debts, but you plotted to kill your life, did not follow the right path, wanted to get something for nothing, the sky net was restored, how could you be allowed to get away with it, and wanted to seek people's money, why didn't you think that once the matter was revealed, you would not only have your family property confiscated, but also end up in a different place, and everyone scolded you." In vain, you have put on a human skin, and it is better for a flat-haired beast to know benevolence and righteousness. Come on, put the murderer Wu Youde on death row, and ask the queen to behead him!"

Hearing the verdict, Wu Youde was as soft as mud, collapsed to the ground, and couldn't say a word anymore......