In the Qing Dynasty, Chaoyang County, the capital of Chaozhou, there was a wealthy family with the surname of Wei in gaopingsaka, and the owner's surname was Wei Mingren. Wei Ren and his wife have a pair of children, the son is called Wei Chengzhao, the daughter is named Wei Qiongying, and they live a happy and well-off life.
In this year, Wei Qiongying reached the age of twenty-eight (sixteen years old), Wei Ren made a marriage contract to his daughter in his early years, and the man wrote to agree to complete the marriage for the child on the first day of October.
On this day, Wei Ren and his wife discussed that their relatives had written a letter, saying that the marriage was completed in early October, and now it was July, or I would go tomorrow to buy some Ayano cloth, exchange a few gold and jewelry, and prepare a dowry for my daughter. When Wei Shi heard this, he felt that this was the right thing to do, so he wrapped 60 taels of silver for Wei Ren and put it in the bag, asking him to go back quickly and pay attention to safety.
The next morning, Wei Ren left, it was nearly noon, came to the Sea Pavilion, Wei Ren was a little tired, and he couldn't see where there was an inn and hotel, just at this time, a wine seller came with a burden. I asked for some wine to eat, and I was relieved to continue to hurry, but he did not bring change, and when he paid for the wine, he opened the baggage. Zhou Ling, a passing thief, saw the silver in the bag, and Zhou Ling became evil and followed Wei Ren all the way.
Wei Ren ate and drank and walked about ten miles, passing through a sparsely populated pine forest, Zhou Ling caught up with Wei Ren in the back and slashed Wei Ren with a knife, took his baggage, looked down and saw that Wei Ren had a golden hairpin on his head, very valuable and exquisite, and pulled it off and took it away. Worried that someone would pass by and see him, he quickly left, and the body was not disposed of, and was directly left in the woods.
Ten minutes later, several passing guests saw Wei Ren's body, were very frightened, and rushed to report to the officials, just happened to meet Zhu Inspector dressed in official clothes and came out with officers and soldiers to inspect, and the crowd told Zhu Patrol: "In the back pine forest, there is a man who has been murdered, and I also asked the old man to check to see which miscreant did it, and it is better not to involve the people in the local area." ”
Inspector Zhu listened to the crowd say this, and quickly sent officers and soldiers Jiang Shen and Meng Qi to see, and the two came to the forest, and sure enough, they saw a man killed, but there was no other clue at the scene.
At this time, the descendant who sold wine to Wei Ren came back from selling wine, and also came to the woods, Jiang Shen went forward to buy a bowl of wine, and between the conversations, Jiang Shen told the wine seller that someone had been killed, and the wine seller looked at it and said that the deceased had bought his wine. Jiang Shen and the others saw that the liquor seller was related to the case, so they took him away to see Inspector Zhu.
Inspector Zhu mentioned the liquor seller to Guo Gong Guo Zhi County, and Guo Gong asked about the situation, and the liquor seller said that he had sold liquor to the deceased at Haiting, and saw that he had fifty or sixty taels of silver in his baggage. After some interrogation, Guo Gong felt that he was not the murderer and let him go. At the same time, zhu was arranged to put under martial law in the forest, lay the corpses away, and go around to investigate the thieves.
In ancient times, it was very difficult to investigate such a case, and several visits did not find valuable clues.
Suddenly, one day, Wei Ren's son Wei Chengzhao came to Guo to announce that Zhou Ling had killed his father.
It turned out that after the thief Zhou Ling killed Wei Ren, he drank wine on the street, and found a good singer Cui'er, listened to the song and drank for fun, and in order to please Wei Ren, he gave Wei Ren's golden hairpin to Cui'er.
Cui Er was born with a very good posture, good singing skills, is a well-known local singer and prostitute, and the gangsters in the market like her. One of them, Xie Liang, also liked this Cui'er, and usually hated that Zhou Ling and Cui'er were too close. On this day, he came to play with Cui'er again, saw the golden hairpin on Cui'er's head, was shocked, and asked Cui'er who sent such a valuable golden hairpin to her.
Cui Er did not hide it either, saying that it was sent by Zhou Ling, Xie Liang did not say anything more, but there was a sneer in his heart. Cui'er also knew that Xie Liang and Zhou Ling often fought for her and did not go to their hearts.
Xie Liang found Wei Chengzhao and talked about the hairpin that Zhou Ling had given to Cui'er. It turned out that the golden hairpin was originally given to his wife by Xie Liang last year, and two months ago the family lacked money, Xie Liang used the golden hairpin to find Wei Ren for a few pairs of silver, and it was only in Wei Ren's hands since then. Now that the golden hairpin was obtained by Zhou Ling and given to Cui'er, it is likely that Zhou Ling killed Wei Ren.
Wei Chengzhao cried, took money and thanked Xie Liang, and then came to file a complaint.
Guo Gong sent someone to take Zhou Ling and Cui'er, and seized the golden hairpin, and when he inquired, Cui'er Guo said that it was sent by Zhou Ling. However, Zhou Ling claimed that it was the dowry of his dead wife, and Guo Gong arranged for the torture, but Zhou Ling never recognized it. Sent over to write a complaint, accusing Xie Liang of falsely accusing him of being jealous of prostitutes.
Guo Gong sent someone to find Xie Liang, and Xie Liang said that the golden hairpin was given to his wife by himself, and there was a very small and hidden "Hu" character on it, which was the craftsman's payment, and Guo Gong checked that the fruit had the word "Hu". He also asked where the golden hairpin was made, and Xie Liang answered truthfully. Guo Gong found a Silversmith Hu who made a golden hairpin, and Hu Someone also confirmed Xie Liang's confession. It was indeed ordered by Xie Liang, who collected a silver processing fee at that time.
In the face of the evidence, Zhou Ling did not admit guilt after death, Guo Gong saw that the evidence was conclusive, and Zhou Ling insisted that it was his wife's. Guo Gong also sent to find Zhou Ling's wife, the local chief of the baojia, saying that if Zhou Ling had a family, he would not have done it all day.
Guo Gong was furious and ordered someone to kill Zhou Ling, the evil man, and Zhou Ling was afraid and confessed. According to Zhou Ling's prompts, Guo Gong dug out more than two hundred taels of silver in Zhou Ling's residence.
Wei Chengzhao found out that there were more than sixty two, and there was still a difference of two or two, Zhou Ling said that drinking wine to find Cui'er used up, Guo Gong gave Wei Chengzhao two or two silver from the remaining silver, and the remaining dirty silver was confiscated.
Zhou Ling was sentenced to death, and beheaded after the autumn of the following year. Xie Liang reported that the clue had a meritorious award of silver 1 two, Cui'er blasted out of the county court, not pursued, and the golden hairpin was returned to Wei Chengzhao.