During the Qing Dynasty, there was a Shajin Ditch in the saiwai countryside, which contained two small villages in this ditch, and the middle was separated by small earth beams. The front of the beam is called Qianzhuang, and the name after the beam is Houzhuang. More than a dozen children in Houzhuang study in a private school in Qianzhuang. Among the more than a dozen students is a university president and a second-year senior. The eldest of the university, surnamed Xu Mingziyu, was sixteen years old and had good character; the second eldest was surnamed Li Mingquan, who was one year older than Xu Ziyu, and was not very old, but he was a bad boy with a bad stomach.
On this day, the children came home from school and passed by the small river outside Zhuang, just as the daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law of former Zhuang Wang Shen and her daughter-in-law Shanhua were washing clothes by the river. The mountain flower girl is clever and clever, it is exactly twenty-eight years old, and she has not yet been allowed to match others. When she saw a group of students coming from the riverside, she secretly swept Xu Ziyu out of the corner of her eye. When my sister-in-law saw this, she asked her, "Hey, Shanhua, which of these students do you think will be able to make a difference in the future?"
Shan hua lowered her head and said softly, "If you want to say that there is a chance, it is still the university chief Xu Ziyu, who has good character and is stable, much stronger than Li Quanke." ”
"Ah, Xu Ziyu not only has good character, but his small appearance is also strange and likable." The eldest girl wants to peek at it twice, don't you think?" The sister-in-law stabbed the arm socket of the mountain flower with her hand, deliberately squeezing her eyes and smiling. Shanhua's little face brushed red, and she said, "Damn, net blind said." "Whoever is blind to say that you still shout at people in your dreams at night?" "You're talking nonsense! You're bullshit! Shan hua did not let people on her lips, she clenched her fists, and violently pounded her sister-in-law's shoulder. The scene of the sister-in-law fighting was seen and heard by Li Quan, the second senior. He gritted his teeth in hatred and secretly made up his mind.
Besides, Wang Shen's family is an old family in Qianzhuang, with a small courtyard and six thatched houses. The three main rooms live with the old two and the small two, and Shanhua himself lives in the north room of the West Wing, and after eating this night, Shanhua can't sleep. The figure of Xu Ziyu flashed in front of his eyes until the third day, and then he fell asleep dimly. In the haze, she heard someone shouting, turned over and sat up, only to hear the people outside the window calling themselves Xu Ziyu, Shanhua was surprised and happy, just wanted to get up and open the door, and was afraid of letting outsiders know to gossip in the middle of the night, and did not dare to move the nest. At this time, I only heard Xu Ziyu say: "Shanhua, I have long liked you, I have not dared to come to propose marriage, today I passed by the small river to listen to your words, I knew that you also liked me, so I took the liberty to come to meet you, please ..."
When Shanhua heard him say this, her heart fluttered, but there was still no squeak, and Xu Ziyu said, "Good Mountain Flower!" Let me in, I want to kill you. After saying that, he pushed open the window and came in, hugged her and kissed and touched her, and pressed her to the edge of the kang. Shan Hua was annoyed in her heart, what happened to Xu Ziyu today, so unruly? She pushed him away with force, and said with disgust: "There is something to say, why are you so rude." Xu Ziyu fell to his knees and pleaded, "Good mountain flower, you promise me, if you don't promise me, I won't live." ”
When Shanhua heard him say this, her heart suddenly softened, and she said, "It's not that I don't promise you, my body is not clean these two days, you... Come back in a few days! Xu Ziyu was helpless, so he had to let go of his hand and said, "We are sure of what we say, you can't lie to me?"
Shanhua nodded silently, he saw Shanhua nodding, and he couldn't help but hug and kiss. It took a while to let go of her and jump out of the window again.
After Xu Ziyu left, Shanhua secretly cried for more than half a night. The next morning, she didn't bother to comb her head, didn't want to eat food, let alone do needlework. She wondered in her heart; Xu Ziyu had always been stable and honest, why was that last night? If you are willing to marry me, you should ask a matchmaker to come and court me, and you should not come secretly yourself, let alone be rude to me. The more Shan Hua thought about it, the less angry she felt. I only blame myself for my own fate, and I met a thin person. I was sad in my heart, and my grandfather, who had not been seen for many years, came. Shanhua left her grandfather behind and accompanied herself.
Shanhua's grandfather was an old man who was more than a year old, tired of walking a few steps during the day, and fell asleep at night when he closed his eyes. Shanhua couldn't sleep, so she was afraid that Xu Ziyu was breaking in, so she lay down with her clothes and listened to the movement outside the window. A day later, Xu Ziyu did come. Shanhua didn't wait for him to push the window and said, "Don't come in, there are people in the house." ”
"Xu Ziyu" was stunned, and looked down at the kang in the room by the window, and when he saw that there was indeed a person lying on the kang, he was shocked in his heart, thinking that he had encountered the real Xu Ziyu. It turned out that this Xu Ziyu was fully dressed by Li. When Yamahana saw him pulling through the window, afraid that he would come back to find trouble, she said, "Never come to me again!" When Li Quan heard Shanhua say this, he knew that Shanhua had changed his mind, and his heart was on fire, so he pushed the window into the house and laid a dead hand on the person lying on the kang. Shan Hua let out a strange cry, which woke up the brother-in-law, and the little two hurriedly got dressed and ran to the ground, and the old two people also followed the sound.
The family held the lamp in their hands, went to the mountain flower house to take a look, almost frightened the soul, the mountain flower grandfather's head was gone, the mountain flower also fell in a pool of blood ...
The family called for mountain flowers, and it took half a day for the mountain flowers to ease up. I opened my eyes and fainted again. The family was crying again, and it was not until the middle of the night that the mountain flowers woke up. No matter what the family asked, the mountain flower did not squeak, just a strong cry. The family did not say anything when they saw the mountain flower, but only got the county government to report the case and find the murderer.
The three classes of servants passed the Shanhua family to the lobby and asked one by one. Finally interrogate Yamahana. The mountain flower is still a vigorous cry, not a squeak. The county official who handled the case was surnamed Cheng Ziliang and was a clean official. Seeing that Shanhua was crying and crying, knowing that there must be hidden feelings in it, and did not move the punishment, he was temporarily taken to the women's prison, beat the drum and retired from the church, came to the back hall, and said so and so to the lady, the lady led the order to quietly come to the prison, and even coaxed and persuaded, and the mountain flower revealed the truth. Tell Xu Ziyu how he courted until he committed murder with a knife and killed his grandfather from beginning to end. Madame returned to the back hall and repeated the doctrine of the eldest lord one by one, and the eldest grandfather ascended to the hall for the second time, and issued a fire sign to arrest Xu Ziyu and bring him to justice.
Xu Ziyu was taken to the lobby, frightened and pale, and shouted injustice. The county official passed on the mountain flower to confront, Xu Ziyu just did not recruit, helplessly only to be sentenced, several criminal laws have been on the road, Xu Ziyu passed out several times, but he woke up and shouted unjustly, did not confess, did not confess, it was difficult to decide the case, had to be temporarily detained, suspended for retrial. For three or four days in a row, the result was still two words: "wronged." The county grand master had no way, the second interrogation of shanhua, shanhua still insisted on Xu Ziyu. The county grand master slapped the shocked hall wood and shouted loudly: "Bold Xu Ziyu, the evidence of the people and the physical evidence is all there, why don't you recruit from the truth, do you want to let the old man and I be executed again!" ”
Xu Ziyu was helpless and had to admit to killing people.
The county magistrate asked again, "Since you confessed that you killed the person, where did you hide the head?"
Xu Ziyu said, "Buried under the old elm tree in the east of Lianghou Daodong." ”
On the one hand, the county official ordered the messenger to accompany the township libao to Lianghou to dig up the head, and on the other hand, he beat Xu Ziyu to death row, prepared to report the application, waited for the approval, and executed him after the autumn.
The county magistrate returned to the back hall, just after resting, and went to the lianghou to dig up the head of the person to report: "The deceased is a person who is more than an ancient rarity, but what can be dug out is the head of a middle-aged man with black hair and short beard." After hearing this, the county official was also stunned and overwhelmed, so he had to try Xu Ziyu for the second time.
Xu Ziyu knelt in front of the hall and did not dare to look up, and the county official slapped the stunned hall wood and drank: "Bold Xu Ziyu, he dared to tease this official!" Don't hurry up and recruit from the real thing, so as not to suffer the flesh and skin! ”
Xu Ziyu could only say, "The adult is angry, Grandpa Shanhua was indeed not killed by me, and the little man was tortured but only wanted to die quickly, so he asked someone to buy a human head with heavy money and bury it there." The county magistrate said, "Who did you ask to buy the head?" Hurry up and recruit from the real thing! Xu Ziyu was about to speak, and the cell boss Hou Qing knelt down in the lobby and said that he had done it.
The county official was stunned and asked for the root cause, it turned out that this Hou Qing and Xu Ziyu were in the same village, there were no parents and brothers and sisters-in-law, no brothers and sisters and children, only the wife lived alone at home, and there was a bare stick man named Liu Qing in the village, who was an honest person who did not dare to provoke and a tough person who did not want to pay attention. He was idle all day, and when he saw that Hou Qing's wife had a bit of a posture, Hou Qing was not often at home, so he had to tease when he had time. As the saying goes: "The monkey does not go up the pole and strikes the gong". At first, Hou Qing's wife was reluctant, and the two hooked up after a long time. Hou Qing found that his wife was recruiting a wild man. But he saw Xu Ziyu tortured, but he had a plan, came to Xu Ziyu's death row, pretended to be very sympathetic, and said: "There is no other way, in order to alleviate your pain, you have to find a human head to end this case." Xu Ziyu had to agree, and personally wrote a letter to his parents, Hou Qing took the letter to Xu Ziyu's father and mother and said: "As long as you take out a hundred taels of silver, the case will be closed." The old couple heard that the case could be closed with a hundred taels of silver, and when they saw their son's handwritten letter, the old two borrowed enough one hundred taels of silver to give to Hou Qing. Hou Qing got the silver, bought wine and meat, went home and let his wife cook a few delicious dishes, and found a reason to invite Liu Qing. The three men pushed the cups and changed the cups, drew their fists, and drank until late at night. At this time, Liu Qing was drunk and could not move the nest, Hou Qing asked his wife to find a pillow and said, "He can't go, let's lie down for a while." You clean up the table first, I'll go out for a trip, and come back in a moment to sleep well. Hou Qing said and turned around and went out.
After cleaning up the table, the wife rushed to Liu Qing, wanting to take the opportunity of Hou Qing's absence to make love to Liu Qing, but she pushed, Liu Qing did not move, Hou Qing's wife suddenly panicked, hurriedly shouted Hou Qing, Hou Qing understood in his heart, it was he who put poison in the last glass of wine, deliberately went out to hide, and when he came back to see people dead, he instead hit a rake and said: "When I left, people were fine, were you harmed?"
When Hou Qing's wife heard this, she was terrified. When Hou Qing saw that his wife was afraid, he said falsely, "This is not good, people died in our house, and they want to take people's lives and file a lawsuit, in my opinion, it is better to bury the corpse." ”
When Hou Qing's wife saw the dead man, she had no idea long ago, and she listened to him in everything.
In this way, Hou Qing carried Liu Qing into the wild, cut off his head, pushed the corpse into a dry well, then covered it with stone soil, took the head to the old elm tree behind the beam and buried it, and returned to the prison to quietly tell Xu Ziyu. Hou Qing thought that he was doing things skillfully, and people did not know that they could do three things in one fell swoop, and they did not want to be self-defeating. When he saw xu Ziyu wanting to recruit, he knew that he could not hide it, so it was better for him to say it earlier, and listen to it dead or alive, so as not to suffer the skin and flesh.
After the county grand master listened, like cold water toppings, he was just about to close the case and then there was a fork in the head, so he had no choice but to temporarily send Hou Qing to death row and listen to the beheading. After everything is done, retire to the back house to rest. He thought about it, and the more he thought about it, the more complicated the case became. When madame saw that he was frowning, she asked why, and he told him again from beginning to end. Madame groaned and said, "Xu Ziyu is out of touch, who is the murderer?" This matter is also related to the mountain flower, and you have to find clues from her, so you might as well send her here, and I will ask why. The county official felt that what he said was reasonable, and issued a second signature to interrogate Shanhua.
When Shanhua came to the county court for the second time, the county master did not open the church, but led her to the lady's room, hiding behind the screen himself, listening to the secret of their conversation.
Madame said, "Don't be afraid, girl, it has now been proven that Xu Ziyu was not the one who killed your grandfather, and now, it is only you who wants to wash Xu Ziyu, and you should think about it, where have you been lately, and who have you been in contact with?" Shanhua thought about it for half a day, except for the day when she and her sister-in-law washed by the river, and never went anywhere else, so she told the story of the laundry that day. After the lady left, she consulted with the county official and felt that Li Quan was the most suspicious. The next day, he sent people to the countryside to investigate, and only then did he realize that Li Quan was a scoundrel. The county grand master immediately passed Li Quan to the church.
When Li Quan came to the lobby, the three classes of servants shouted tang wei, frightening him to fall to his knees on the ground, and without interrogation, he all recruited. After he killed people, he threw the heads into the backyard of Zhang Cheng and Zhang Yikai's small dye shop, and the county officials listened to it and issued a signature to spread the word that Zhang Cheng and Zhang Yikai had arrived at the church.
When the Zhang brothers came to the lobby, they could not withstand the severe torture, so they had to confess that there was a human head, which was now buried in the rocks on the barren grass slope in zhuangxi. When the county magistrate heard this, he immediately sent someone to dig it up. Not long after the visit, ya gong came back and reported: "The human head has been retrieved, and three more corpses have been found in the rubble pile." I don't know who did it, please decide. ”
The county official thought that the case would be closed at this time, and when he heard the report that three corpses had appeared, he knew that there was another fork in the road. He slammed the shocked Tang Mu and shouted, "Bold Zhang Cheng, Zhang Yi, where did the three corpses in the chaotic stone pit come from, quickly speak from the truth, if you don't talk about the great punishment again!" ”
The servants on both sides saw that the big old man was angry, and one by one they lit up the water and fire sticks, and they also shouted and cheered. When the Zhang brothers looked at it, they didn't have to talk about the suffering of flesh and skin, so they had to recruit from the truth.
It turned out that the brothers were collecting dyed cloth in the backyard that night, when they overheard a "bang" and flew into something from outside the wall. The two brothers went out to take a look, and it was a bloody human head. The two brothers discussed, wrapped the head with a broken pocket, took advantage of the silence of the night and went deeper into the wilderness to bury it. Just halfway through the pit, suddenly three people came from behind, and when you were who these three people were, it turned out to be the three big leaders of Houzhuang who wanted to eat. People gave them the nickname dry firewood sticks, one-eyed dragons and boiling dry oil, and when they heard that a rich family in the lower camp wanted to marry a daughter-in-law, they got together and started a ghost idea. Dry wood stick said: "Such a good thing can not be touched several times a year, we have to think of eating more meals." ”
The one-eyed dragon asked, "How do you eat it?"
The dry firewood stick said: "Tomorrow we will get up early, and we will say that we will lead the donkey to the owner, cut the grass, carry the water, and chop the firewood." You can drink wine and eat meat, and the most important thing is four plates and five bowls. ”
Boil the oil and say, "Yes! That's it. After saying that, they all went to sleep.
The next day, as soon as the chicken crowed, the two men were on their way. When they came to the bottom of the old elm tree on the beam, they were running into the Zhang brothers burying their heads. When these two came close to see the brothers of the dyeing workshop, they said, What are you running so early? When the Zhang brothers saw someone coming, they immediately panicked, afraid of meeting people, but they came to people, what can we do about this?
The brothers could not hide it when they saw it, so they had to tell the truth, begging the three brothers to do something good, not to say anything to the outside, and said: "As long as you don't leak the news, we will entertain you for three days, and give each of you ten silver, and if there is any difficulty in the future, just say that you don't need to eat." ”
When the servants heard that they had food to eat and that they could still spend money, they agreed to keep it a secret. But there is one, the Zhang brothers must keep their promises and not repent.
The Zhang brothers nodded and said, "Yes! Yes! Yes! In order to show sincerity, he immediately took out the money and said: "Who is going to fight the wine!" Come back to our brothers and have a good drink. ”
The one-eyed dragon preemptively said, "I'll go!" Take the money and go. The Zhang brothers said, "We are waiting for you here, come back quickly!" ”
When the dry wood stick and the boiling oil saw that the Zhang brothers were so generous, they also came to the momentum, took the pickaxe of the Zhang brothers and said: "You two brothers rest for a while, we plan for a while, quickly get it intact and go home to drink." ”
The more the Zhang brothers thought about it, the more wrong it became, and when this bottomless pit was filled, they must be killed. The two brothers rested while discussing ways. Zhang Shi saw that the pit had been dug almost completely, so he said, "Let's beat them to death, bury them, and let them always blackmail us." Zhang Cheng said, "Yes! That's it. ”
The two brothers came to the front and said very kindly, "Two big brothers, take a break, let's plan for a while." "Dry wood sticks and boiling dry oil handed the pickaxe to the Zhang brothers respectively. Saying that it was late and fast, two people one by one, and before the two of them could react, they went to Yama Wangye's report. Just after cleaning up these two, the one-eyed dragon who went to fight the wine came back humming and carrying the wine, and when he walked in, he was dumbfounded, and the two brothers died, leaving him to escape. As the saying goes: the dog is in a hurry, and he still has to jump the wall, and he picks up the stick from the ground and runs to Zhang Cheng without saying a word. But he was the opponent of the Zhang brothers, and after only a few rounds, he also cried out for his life, and the Zhang brothers dug the pit again, pushing the three hungry ghosts down the pit, and buried the human head together.
The Zhang brothers confessed, drew a confession, and were sent to death row to listen to the beheading.
Shanhua's grandmother's family took her grandfather's head and buried her body xu Ziyu was acquitted. The county official felt that a handsome scholar had been tortured for no reason, and he could not bear it. If you think about it all from the mountain flowers, you can see that although the mountain flowers are mountain village girls, and the flowers are like jade, they are really popular. It was only because he was born in a lowly place, did not marry at a high gate, and did not marry at a low door, that he caused such a disaster, and he deliberately brokered, and when he took the mountain flower as a righteous daughter, he personally promised to give it to Xu Ziyu. Although the Xu family is rich and wealthy, how dare the county master be a matchmaker? Not to mention that she is the dry daughter of the county grandfather! Immediately nodded yes. The two families choose a date to become relatives.