Liaozhai: A scholar should draw a sword

Chapter 175
The next day, Zhou Yu came to visit Song Zhi as scheduled.

Of course, the visit is fake, but the real thing is to come to find clues.

Everyone in the county government knew that although Zhou Yu was only a young scholar, he helped many refugees during the disaster relief work, so it was not surprising that he was highly regarded by adults.

After turning around, Zhou Yu finally discovered the root cause...

It turned out that Song Zhi's father passed away last year. As an official of the imperial court, it is impossible for him to stay in his hometown and keep his filial piety all the time, right?
So he brought back his father's memorial tablet and set aside a room to enshrine it, offering incense and prostrating every day.

As a result, Zhou Yu discovered that someone had touched the altar.

Such behavior is almost equivalent to destroying the feng shui of people's ancestral graves, with vicious intentions.

After learning the reason, Song Zhi was frightened and angry.

After all, what the other party did not only harm him alone, but also his descendants.

"Master Song, according to my observation, the opponent's technique is not very clever, and he should only know a little bit about it.

Moreover, this arrangement is not permanent, and sometimes cleaning will inevitably move some things, so it has to be arranged again..."

Song Zhi was not stupid, he guessed what Zhou Yu meant when he heard this.

"You mean, the person who is in the yamen has the opportunity to enter here often?"

Zhou Yu nodded: "That's right! If the other party is really a master, there is no need to go through so much trouble.

Besides, with such ability, it is easy to sneak into the county government office.

Therefore, the greatest possibility is that that person has always been by your side..."

"His..."

Song Zhi couldn't help but sucked in a breath of cold air.

It felt like an invisible poisonous snake was staring at him every day and might bite him at any time.

"Then... how about that?"

At this time, Song Zhi could be said to be completely convinced of Zhou Yu, and he no longer had a trace of suspicion.

"It's actually not difficult to find this person. Your lord can pretend to send someone to clean up. After cleaning, the other party will definitely find a chance to sneak in and rearrange..."

Upon hearing this, Song Zhi's eyes lit up: "Understood, thank you very much!"

"You're welcome……"

In order not to arouse the other party's suspicion, Song Zhi was not in a hurry to send someone to clean it.

Two days later, he pretended to "accidentally" knock over the incense burner on the table while offering incense, and then ordered his servants to clean it.

In the morning of the next day, a man dressed as a servant walked around the backyard, and not long after, he sneaked into the room where the spirit tablet was enshrined.

After entering, he closed the door, then hurried to the altar and fiddled with it.

After fiddling around, he went to the door, looked through the crack of the door to make sure there was no one outside, then opened the door and walked out...

Unexpectedly, as soon as he went out, a rope net came down as a hood.

"What are you doing? Let me go..."

The guy cried out in fright.

"I didn't expect it to be your kid!"

Zhao Butou in the county government shouted angrily with a cold expression on his face.

This guy is Azhu, the handyman in the kitchen. He is honest and easy-going on weekdays, giving the impression that he is a good guy.

If he hadn't caught the current situation, I'm afraid no one would have suspected him.

"Captain Zhao, what are you talking about? How did you arrest me?"

"Why are you arrested? You don't know what to do?"

"Bastard, how dare you pretend?"

Another yamen servant got angry and stepped forward to punch and kick A Zhu.

"Okay, save some energy, tie it up first, and save it for the adults to interrogate later."

"I'm going to report to my lord..."

Not long after, Zhou Yu also came to the county government office to interrogate Azhu together with Song Zhi.

At the beginning, this guy tried to quibble, saying that he went in to offer incense to the old man.

Song Zhi was already simmering with rage in his heart, but when he heard that this guy was talking nonsense, what did he say to burn incense?

"Come on, use torture!"

"Yes!"

Several yamen servants, like tigers and wolves, dragged Azhu along and began to execute him in turn.

Unexpectedly, the kid was stubborn, and after three rounds of torture, he was still screaming.

At this time, Zhou Yu finally showed up.

He didn't do anything, just tapped A Zhu once, and then he saw the guy twitching on the ground like a goat, foaming at the mouth and rolling his eyes.

In fact, it was too easy for Zhou Yu to want this guy to speak, and he didn't need to use torture at all. He only needed a little trick to make this guy tell the truth.

It's just that this kind of person needs to suffer more.

"I recruit...I recruit..."

Ah Zhu finally couldn't take it anymore and started yelling loudly.

"Say, no matter how much you dare to quibble, I will definitely make your life worse than death!"

"Yes, yes, I recruit, I recruit..."

Azhu's spirit completely collapsed, and he explained everything.

Unexpectedly, this explanation would involve a sensational and strange case that Song Zhi had broken up before.

Early that morning, some people went to the county government office to report the case, saying that the two nuns of Zhihua Nunnery were killed.

Zhihua Nunnery is located near Dongli Town, about [-] miles away from the county seat. It is very small, with only two nuns, one master and one apprentice.

The master's name is Miaojing, and the disciple's name is Mingkong.

It stands to reason that monks have nothing to do with the world, who killed them so frantically?

Song Zhi brought a group of men to Zhihua Nunnery to investigate the scene, only to find that the situation was far more complicated than imagined.

Not only the master and apprentice were killed, but also two pilgrims who stayed here were also killed.

The four deceased had obviously been defiled, all valuables were gone, and the nunnery had been turned into a mess...

After watching the scene, Song Zhi preliminarily analyzed that this was a case of robbing money and sex. There may be more than one murderer, and most of them were bandits.

If it was a bandit, this case would probably become a case without a clue.

For this reason, Song Zhi was very troubled. After all, four lives were lost, and two of them were monks. This case will definitely attract the attention of the people, and even the attention of the superiors.

As expected, the news spread quickly and caused a sensation.

Not only Qiantang County, but even several neighboring counties are spreading the case.

Soon, the identities of the other two deceased were also found out. One was Zhuo Shi, the wife of a large family in Dongli Town, and the other was Zhuo Shi's maid.

Zhuo's husband was named Chang Wenshan, and his father was a fourth-rank official.

In short, the Chang family's family background is not simple, it is a famous family, a country gentry, which puts even more pressure on Song Zhi.

Because he knew very well in his heart that if the case was not solved, Chang Wenshan would definitely not give up, and his superiors might also hold him accountable.

Therefore, in any case, he has to look for all clues to crack the case.

Song Zhi went to Zhihua Temple many times in person to look for clues, but found nothing.

Until one day, when he led people to look for all the clues in the nunnery again, a businessman from other places came to the nunnery. When he saw someone from the yamen, he couldn't help being surprised and turned away in a hurry.

Seeing this man's flustered expression, Yachai stopped him and reported to Song Zhi.

As a result, when the man heard that a murder case had occurred in the nunnery, he was so frightened that he broke into a cold sweat and kept crying, saying that he was just passing by.

Song Zhi didn't care so much, he escorted him back to the county government for interrogation slowly.

The merchant was frightened, afraid that he would be blamed for the crime of murder, so he truthfully explained why he came to the nunnery.

After hearing this person's explanation, Song Zhi couldn't help being shocked...

He never imagined that the little Zhihua nunnery would still hide such a big secret.

It turned out that Miaojing and Mingkong were not serious monks at all.

On the surface, he is a monk, but secretly he is doing some indescribable things.

It's just that the two masters and apprentices are quite secretive, and the local people don't even know what they are doing behind the scenes.

This out-of-town businessman was an old friend of the two masters and apprentices, every time he came to Qiantang County, he would visit the nunnery, and sometimes he would spend the night there.

Of course, it is not free to eat and drink, money still has to be spent.

Hearing the explanation from the merchant, Song Zhi finally solved a doubt in his heart.

When searching the room, the subordinates found some colorful clothes from the room of the master and the apprentice.

It's just that Song Zhi didn't care about it at the time, thinking that although the other party was a nun, she was still a woman after all, because she loved beauty.

Now that I think about it, I realize it's not that simple.

After repeated interrogation, Song Zhi confirmed that the merchant did come by accident and had nothing to do with the murder.

However, he didn't let him go immediately, after all, this was a rare breakthrough point.

Therefore, Song Zhi sent his subordinates to secretly watch Zhihua'an, and anyone who entered would be taken back to the Yamen for interrogation.

After all, the local people knew about the case, so it was impossible to go, and the ones who went were likely to be those regular customers.

Needless to say, this method of waiting for rabbits really worked, and within a few days, I caught two more, and they were still foreigners.

In the first interrogation, the two answers were similar to those of the previous merchant, which further confirmed the deeds of Miaojing's master and apprentice.

And this time there was something else.

One of them confessed that when he went there last time, he accidentally found a young woman in the nunnery, with luxurious clothes, icy muscles and fine bones, and outstanding demeanor, which was unforgettable at a glance.

When he felt itchy, he went to Miaojing to find out the details of the young woman.

But Miaojing said with a smile, she advised him not to make up his mind, saying that it was someone else's meal.

Song Zhi asked carefully, and finally confirmed that the young woman was Zhuo Shi.

The case finally began to take shape.

So Song Zhi called his master to discuss with him.

"My lord, have you found a clue?"

Song Zhi nodded with a smile: "Some progress has been made..."

Next, he first talked about the situation explained by the two people, and finally said: "Based on what that person said, I boldly speculate that the other person's food that Miaojing mentioned should not be referring to Chang Wenshan."

Upon hearing this, the master couldn't help being surprised: "No way? Our people have inquired about it and said that the Zhuo family has always followed the rules."

When Zhuo married Chang Wenshan back then, all of Chang Wenshan's classmates and friends were envious, and they all envied him for marrying such a beautiful wife.

Indeed, Zhuo is not only beautiful, but also has a figure and charm that few women can match, and there are many men who covet her.

It's just that the Chang family has a large courtyard, and the Zhuo family and her husband have always been affectionate, and there have never been any rumors of her being overly polite.

Because of this, Master couldn't believe it.

Song Zhi sighed and said, "Don't talk about you, I don't believe it either. It's just that some things in this world are hard to say.

For example, Master Miaojing and his disciples, if we hadn't accidentally found clues, how dare we guess what her master and disciples are up to? "

Master nodded: "That's true."

"At present, we have no other clues, and we can only make some bold assumptions, and then follow this assumption to investigate, it is better than being helpless."

The master hurriedly said: "Yes, yes, your lord is right."

"But remember, this matter cannot be spread to the outside world. After all, this is just my assumption. If it gets out, it will not end well."

"Little understands."

Master nodded quickly.

"In this way, for the sake of confidentiality, I will not send other people. You can find a way to find out about Zhuo's whereabouts before his death, and who he had contact with...

Remember, we must keep a low profile and be careful not to let people know that we are in Cha Zhuo's. "

The master nodded again and again: "Yeah, the little one will definitely be careful."

In order to live up to the high expectations of the adults, the master tried his best, disguised himself and stayed in Dongli Town for four or five days, and finally got some clues.

After returning, he reported to Song Zhi.

"My lord, after a little inquiry, there is nothing special about Zhuo's situation.

Firstly, it was rare for her to go to the street once, and secondly, even if she went to the street, she always followed her maid and never had contact with men alone.

However, the little one also inquired about some doubts..."

Song Zhi cheered up: "Oh? Tell me!"

"According to a small inquiry, the Zhuo family likes to pay respects to the Buddha, and basically goes to Zhihua Nunnery every month to offer incense, or donate some sesame oil money or something.

However, I have never spent the night in a nunnery before.

Since about half a year ago, she stayed overnight in the nunnery from time to time, and sometimes stayed for two days, saying that she was fasting in the nunnery.

Originally, there was nothing suspicious about this, fasting is considered a normal thing, and many people who worship Buddha have such a behavior.

However, the villain overheard another piece of news.

It is said that a cousin of Chang Wenshan who was far away in Guanzhong came to Jiangnan for a study tour and stayed at Chang's house for a few days.

His cousin's name is Qi Chuan. It is said that he is handsome and suave. When he first arrived, he attracted the hearts of many girls in the town, and even a matchmaker came to him as a matchmaker.

Qi Chuan stayed for a few days and then left.

Originally, there was nothing suspicious about this, after all, it was normal for distant relatives to visit.

But I thought about it for a while, and compared the time before and after...it was a bit of a coincidence.

So my lord, do you think there is any connection between the two? "

After listening to the call, Song Zhi savored it carefully, and couldn't help but raised his hand and patted the master's shoulder, and said with relief: "Yes, what you said is very important, and it may be the key to solving this case. "

The master looked flattered, and said repeatedly: "The little one just learned a little bit from the adults."

"Hahaha, there is no need to be modest, according to what you just said, after Qi Chuan left, Zhuo's habits have changed for many years, if it is not a coincidence, then it must be the key clue.

Although the deceased is the most important, I don't want to suspect Zhuo, but the matter is very important, involving four lives, I can only investigate to the end.

If in the end Zhuo Shi is innocent, I will offer incense to her and apologize for her mistakes. "

The master hurriedly said with a flattering face: "My lord is serious, I also want to catch the murderer, avenge the innocent victims, and give the people an explanation."

Song Zhi nodded in satisfaction: "Hehe, that's right, that's it."

……

(End of this chapter)