Folk tale: The widow died mysteriously, leaving a folding fan, and the county order laid out a clever plan to catch the real murderer

During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, a strange case occurred in Qufu County, the capital of Yanzhou, Shandong: there was a squire surnamed Tao in Wuli Village, the old lord Tao Shangzhi, who had been an official in the Ministry of Rites in his early years, and later returned to his hometown, and his wife Yang Shi, who was kind and charitable, had a daughter and a son, and the eldest daughter Tao Rufang, married to Chen Mao, a wealthy local merchant. The son Tao Ruyu, rarely talented, was in his teens and won the xiucai in the township test. Later, he married Liu Shiyueniang.

This Liu Yue Niang really has a national color and heavenly posture, bright eyes and bright teeth, ice muscles and jade bones, the day of marriage, friends in school come to celebrate, some people are jealous, some people are envious. Since the marriage of the couple, the Liu clan has been devoted to filial piety, and the two are very affectionate. It is not expected that joy will come and disaster will come. His father Tao Shangzhi died of a recurrence, Yang Sifu became ill, and the couple went to Huangquan together.

Ruyu was overwhelmed with grief and kept filial piety for three years. At that time, Liu Shi had already given birth to a son, named Tao Yang. Ru Yugong was very famous, leaving his wife and young son to go to the test, on the way encountered a strong water bandit, Ru Yu panicked and the servant jumped into the water to escape, but buried in the belly of the fish, even the corpse was washed away. Only the attendant's servant Huang Chang was able to access the water, but was fortunately rescued by an old fisherman, and fled home to report to the Liu clan.

The Liu clan was devastated, the eldest sister Rufang heard this bad news, rushed to her mother's house, cried for a long time, and comforted her with words, and now that her brother Ruyu had died, she considered her sister-in-law Yueniang and persuaded her to remarry. I am willing to take the Tao family's bone and blood Tao Yang to raise. Yue Niang did not obey, vowed to keep the festival for her husband, she and her husband Jun were in love, only The only miao Tao Yang, who was determined to personally raise an adult to comfort her deceased husband.

Ru Fang was grateful for his kindness and righteousness, and after that, he often asked her husband Chen Mao to help her mother's family. The Liu clan let the courtyard vacate and live with Huang Chang and his wife. The Tao family's affairs were entrusted to Huang Chang and his wife Wei. Beside him, there was only a maid Xiaohong serving, living in the back house and not leaving the boudoir.

Chen Mao was a man of great pride and righteousness, but his behavior was extremely promiscuous, and after the death of his brother-in-law, he obeyed his wife's orders and often came to visit the Tao family. That Huang Chang's wife, Wei Shisheng, had a bit of a posture and loved to be greedy and cheap. Chen Mao's family was very wealthy, and they were very generous in money, and the two of them raised their eyebrows, and even rolled into a bed when Huang Chang was not at home.

Often coming and going, it is inevitable to be encountered by neighbors, everyone knows it, but Huang Chang does not know it. Chen Mao also had a bad idea of liu shi, the sister-in-law of the heavenly man, and several times wanted to let Wei shi want to hook up, and Wei Shi warned: "The housewife is high and cold, and the name and festival are like mountains, you must not have such a thought." Chen Mao was hindered by his identity and did not dare to commit it in the end.

On the night of the eighth night of the first month of March, Huang Chang went out to collect the bill and did not return. Only to hear Tao Yang crying in the room, XiaoHong shouted that it should not be, pushed the door open, hurriedly called out Wei's, the outer door was closed, the lantern went in around the back door from the alley, took a picture of the lamp, but screamed, and almost abandoned the lantern, only to see Liu Shi lying naked on the bed, bleeding in his mouth, already out of breath.

The two shouted for help, the neighbors heard the news and rushed to see this scene, someone rushed to the county court to report the case, at that time, the night was deeper, the duty official did not dare to wake up Lord Kong, so he ordered the door of Liu's residence to be locked, and tomorrow morning, he would do the district office.

At this time, Qufu Zhi County was called Kong Gongze, and he was really an incompetent and confused official. In the morning, after listening to the night service, Kong Gongze was also diligent and led people to the Tao family for investigation.

The female servant went forward to check and found that Liu Shi was completely naked, there was no wound, there was blood in his mouth, and he supported his mouth to look at it, and his tongue had been chewed off, apparently after being raped by someone, he bit his tongue and committed suicide in shame and anger.

Looking at the report submitted by the boycott, Kong Zhixian let people search carefully, only under the futon, picked up a folding fan, a look is a man's thing, asked the maid Xiaohong to come and check it, to confirm that it is not owned by the Liu family, it is obvious that it is the perpetrator, and it is left here in a hurry.

Kong Zhixian asked Xiaohong and Wei Shi for details last night, and then visited the neighbors and asked what people the Tao family usually had? All the neighbors said that Liu Shi was a chaste woman, and Ping Su only had Ruyu's brother-in-law Chen Mao who often came and went, and suspected that he had an affair with Wei Shi, the wife of the domestic servant Huang Chang.

Chen Mao heard about this early in the morning, and after arriving, he just sent Tao Yang back to his home to be cared for by his wife Rufang, and he rushed back to see the results of the investigation by the county lord.

Zhixian guessed that Chen Mao and Wei Shi were selfish and greedy for Liu's beauty, and the two conspired to rape Liu Shi, because it was his sister-in-law who did evil things, Liu Shi was ashamed and annoyed, unable to speak to people, so he bit his tongue and committed suicide.

So he ordered his neighbors to help him and first buried Liu's coffin. At the latter order, Huang Chang, Wei Shi, and Chen Mao were arrested and returned to Ya for trial. Above the lobby, Zhixian first asked Huang Chang: "Your master mother was raped, and your wife Wei Shi and Chen Mao conspired to commit adultery, do you know?" Huang Chang said, "The little one went to the countryside yesterday to collect the account for the master mother, and this morning he returned, as for my wife and Chen Mao's private affairs, the little man really doesn't know, and when the adult inquires about the slut, he will understand." ”

Zhi Xian was shocked and asked Wei Shi to answer closely, but Wei Shi saw that she was hiding it, but had to admit that she and Chen Mao did have a private affair, but if it was said that the conspiracy to rape and kill the master mother, he really did not do it. Zhi Xianling grabbed Wei's fingers with a stick and used both sides to use force at the same time, but Wei Shi was tortured, but shouted: "There is indeed no conspiracy, but that Chen Mao really has a non-divided thought, and I have reprimanded him." It is also possible that he would have done it himself. ”

ZhiXian picked up Chen Mao again, and Chen Mao was treated with dignity and dignity, and who had been so tortured, he loudly declared: "When I came and went to the Tao family, I was entrusted by my wife to take care of me, if I said that I had an affair with the Wei family, I would admit it, but my inner sister-in-law has always been high and cold, and I respect it in my heart, so how could I do such a disgraceful thing?" Please look it up. ”

Kong Gongze sneered, you evil thief, this folding fan is yours, right? Saying that, he took out the folding fan found at the scene and gave it to Chen Mao to look at. Chen Mao shook his head like a rattle and denied it.

This Kong Zhi County had already determined that Chen Mao had made the case, Chen Mao did not move, so he urged Ya Cha to execute him fiercely, poor Chen Mao, was tortured to death, Kong Zhi County was eager to find no result, so when Chen Mao was unconscious, he signaled to the master, took his finger, pressed his handprint on the confession, dragged him to death row, and sentenced him to an autumn sentence. He chased the Wei clan out of the gate with sixty large plates.

This Kong Gongze Zhi County was dismissed from the imperial court at this time due to the incompetence of various things, and Chen Mao's father Chen Fuwang heard that the county had changed hands, and the original Zhi County had been dismissed, so he complained about his son' grievances.

The new Zhixian is called Kong Chengye, who reviewed the original case file and felt that the confession was full of loopholes, and the case was most likely a case of injustice. Then he took out the physical evidence left at the scene- the folding fan, and looked at it carefully, this folding fan was exquisite, and there was an inscription poem, which was Wang Wei's "Acacia"

Red beans are born in the southern country, and a few branches are sent in the spring.

May the king pick up more, this thing is the most acacia.

The writing is dragon flying phoenix dance, but light and weak, although there is a little talent, but slightly frivolous, the fall for the Longhu mountain people. This folding fan is generally a young literati inker vassal of elegant things, the incident happened in the spring cold march, Chen Mao is an uncompromising businessman, this folding fan is certainly not his thing, the new Kongzhi County immediately sent someone to conduct a meticulous investigation and visit.

Chen Mao did not have the habit of holding a folding fan at all. The Longhu Mountain People on this face are difficult to find out who they are. There is a Longhu Academy in the east of the city, which may be related to this "Longhu Mountain People", but there are no less than a hundred people studying here, how to find out whose folding fan it is? Zhixian Kong Chengye made a clever move, and people extended the words on the fan surface to frame.

Summoning all the students of Longhu Academy to the outside of the county gate, he only said that he was looking for a calligraphy wizard and went to the Confucius Mansion to write an inscription. It is a great honor for students to be able to do things in Confucius. Say that the framed words are held high. All the students began to talk about each other, only to hear someone say, "Brother Zhang Xian, isn't this your ink treasure?" The man just wanted to deny it, and the crowd had surrounded him.

Zhixian smiled slightly, and let him stand at the front desk, the person knew that there was a difference, but it was difficult to ride the tiger, so he had to stand out hard, but he had already been taken down by the messengers on both sides. This person's name was Zhang Bao, and he was already frightened like chaff in the public hall, and he was not waiting to be tortured, and he had already summoned the truth out of 1510.

It turned out that he and the dead Ruyu were good friends, and on the day of Ruyu's wedding, he had also gone to congratulate him, and when he saw Liu's beauty, his eyes had not moved away for half a day. After learning that Ruyu was dead, Liu Shi was widowed, and his mind couldn't help but be moved. He often asked Huang Changtao about Liu's family affairs, which was like the meaning of true pity like jade.

On the eighth day of the first month of March, he went out and met Huang Chang, knowing that Huang Chang was not at home tonight. When Ruyu was alive, he came to the Tao family many times, knowing that its inner house was an inside and outside room, and through the alley, he could go around to the back door. In the evening, he sneaked to the Tao family in the twilight and hid in the back room.

That night, Xiaohong sent in the bath water, Liu Shi entered the room to close the door, began to bathe, suddenly remembered that the door was not closed, so he got up and went in, closed the door to wash it, waiting for Liu's bath, Zhang Bao hid in the dark to sprinkle the evil medicine that had been prepared on Liu's face, the evil medicine entered the nose, and Liu Shi could not help himself... When the medicinal qi dissipated, Liu Shi knew that he had been defiled by people, and he was ashamed and angry, and he bit his tongue and committed suicide. Zhang Bao saw that his temperament was so fierce, and fled in a hurry, but he left the folding fan at the scene, and finally revealed.

At this point, the truth of the case has been revealed, and Kong Chengyezhi County has sentenced him on the spot: the evil thief Zhang Bao, the treacherous and vicious, the ammunition staining the body of the virgin woman, until the death of the person, the heavenly reason is clear, and the sentence is beheaded according to the law. Chen Mao and Wei Shi have a private relationship, the staff is fifty, thinking about it at home for three months, and raising Tao Yang well to grow up! The case is closed.

Everything in the world has cause and effect, and whatever you do will eventually return in another way. Zhang Bao sneaked into the boudoir, raped a virtuous and beautiful woman, and finally fell into a different place. The Heavenly Dao has reincarnation, and the heavens have spared no one.