I become a god in another world

Chapter 281 Case Investigation
Chapter 281

Yang Tiehan's eldest son did not separate from the family and lived on the left side of the house, which was connected to two houses.

Directly opposite the eldest son's house are the residences of Yang Tiehan's two unmarried daughters. Next door are the livestock pens and thatched huts, and in front is a thatched shed with a stove and kitchen utensils underneath.

The first livestock trough Wang Hun saw was next to the kitchen.

According to his later oral account of the explanation given by County Magistrate Pang, there were several bundles of straw and dry wheat bran stalks piled next to the trough for starting a fire.

Before Zhao Fusheng came, he talked with Fan Bisi about the situation in Liutu Village. He guessed that this trip might not be smooth, and he had already memorized all the details in his mind.

When she entered the yard, she first scanned the yard.

The main hall, the side rooms on both sides, and the outdoor kitchen were all consistent with what Wang Hun had said.

Even the two pots on the earthen stove, a large black iron pot and a long-spouted copper kettle, were exactly the same, but the stone trough containing the headless corpse was missing.

Also disappearing were several bundles of straw.

According to Wang Hun, the straw that should have been standing upright on the inside of the wall was now scattered all over the ground, with many wet, fresh footprints on it.

Wan'an County had just experienced a heavy rain not long ago, and the footprints were not dry yet, which clearly showed that someone had come in afterwards.

Cai Datou and the others interlocked their hands and twisted their fingers uneasily. Seeing Zhao Fusheng walk straight towards the straw after entering the yard, Cai Datou's eyes flashed and he couldn't help shouting:
"grown ups--"

Zhao Fusheng ignored him and walked to the straw. He kicked it away, revealing a fresh mark of mud in the yard below.

The yard is made of compacted dirt.

There is a stone trough placed on the ground all year round, and the trough is filled with water, making the color of the soil below completely different from other places.

Fan Bisi also saw this and couldn't help but sneer.

Zhao Fusheng didn't smile, and his expression even looked a little cold.

The villagers' actions were plainly stupid, but it was not their fault.

These people are poor and backward, without foresight or extraordinary wisdom.

They even tried to conceal the fact when someone died in the village, but their methods were so clumsy that it was laughable, and clues of cover-up could be seen everywhere.

"Where did you move the bodies of Yang Tiehan's family?" Zhao Fusheng turned around and looked at Cai Datou calmly.

The old man shrank his shoulders.

He had a pair of large hands that were in stark contrast to his thin wrists.

The calluses on his fingers and palms were very thick, forming a thick layer of armor that protected his knuckles.

The calluses were cracked and filled with dirt.

At this moment, as he clasped his hands nervously, blood oozed from the cracks, stained with black dirt, but he seemed not to feel the pain, his whole mind was focused on the fear caused by Zhao Fusheng's questions.

"W-What bodies of Yang Tiehan's family? Tiehan's family is not dead--"

His eyes moved left and right, not daring to look into Zhao Fusheng's eyes:

"The one next to me is Yang Tiehan, who you just saw. If you want to see Yang Tiehan's family, I'll invite them over—"

"you dare--"

When Fan Wujiu heard the old man talking nonsense, he was about to scold him, but Zhao Fusheng interrupted him:

"You said that the houses of Liutu Village are all here, so all the people in the village are here."

"Yes, yes, yes..." Seeing that she didn't seem to mention Yang Tiehan, Cai Datou felt relieved and nodded.

"Then call all the things here and I will call out their names one by one."

Zhao Fusheng said calmly:
"Wang Hun came to your village today to register the household registration."

Before it was discovered that something had happened to Yang Tiehan's family, the names of most people in the village were recorded in the household register.

"I'd like to count the names on the list, including Yang Tiehan's family of nine, to see if the number is enough."

"Sir, sir..." When Cai Datou heard this, he was immediately panicked.

While Zhao Fusheng and Cai Datou were talking, Fan Bisi went into the inner room. After a while, he came out and shook his head at Zhao Fusheng:

"My lord, the things inside are in disarray, and the body is missing."

The Yang family's scene was destroyed.

Zhao Fusheng took a deep breath.

"Where are the bodies of the Yang family hidden?" Zhao Fusheng asked.

"My lord, my lord, there was no ghost disaster in the Yang family. The Yang family members did die, but their deaths were not caused by evil spirits, my lord."

Cai Datou, who had previously insisted that the Yang family was not dead, seemed to know that he could no longer hide the truth when he saw this scene. His knees suddenly weakened and he fell to the ground:
"Please go back, Master from the Demon Suppression Department. We will arrest the murderer and send him to the county government. We will keep him in custody for the county government to report to."

"..."

Zhao Fusheng suddenly felt heavy in his heart.

"Are you arresting the murderer?" She sneered and bent down to look at Cai Datou:
"You mean you have already figured out the case of the Yang family members being beheaded, and you know who did it?"

Cai Datou kowtowed desperately:

"Yes, yes, sir."

"Who do you think it is?" Zhao Fusheng asked.

"Yes, yes—" He hesitated for a moment.

At this moment, at the gate of the courtyard, a villager who followed Cai Datou hesitated for a while, then stood up with determination:

"Yes, it was me. I killed him."

Zhao Fusheng turned his head.

This man looked very old, with pale and sparse hair.

A yellowed sweat towel was wrapped around his forehead. Half of his teeth were missing. Facing Zhao Fusheng's stare, he subconsciously took two steps back, his legs shaking.

"I killed him."

Zhao Fusheng thought it was a bit absurd and asked him:

"How did you kill him? I saw that you were old and weak, with hair falling out and teeth falling out. I'm afraid you couldn't even lift the knife."

The old man pretended not to hear what she said next, and said:
"The Yang family and I have a grudge. His son had an argument with my son. Their family recently gave birth to a baby, and his wife has no milk. The baby was so hungry that he screamed in the middle of the night, which made me unable to sleep peacefully. I was very annoyed by it, so I picked up a knife and killed the whole family last night."

"That's what it sounds like."

Zhao Fusheng nodded and asked him:
"Where are the bodies of the Yang family members?"

Hearing this, he calmed down a little and said:

"I threw the body into the manure pit behind the Lin family."

When he said this, he spoke faster, unlike before when he stuttered and was purely making up a story. From this, it can be seen that the headless bodies of the Yang family were probably really thrown into the cesspool.

"grown ups--"

When Fan Wujiu heard this, he was about to speak, but Zhao Fusheng raised his hand to stop him from speaking, and looked at the old man:
"Who helped you dispose of the body?"

"W-what?" the old man asked stupidly.

"You said you threw the corpse into the pit. Who helped you carry it? Whoever did that is an accomplice and must be beheaded." Zhao Fusheng said coldly.

When he heard that he was going to be beheaded, fear appeared in Cai Datou's eyes, but for some reason, he suppressed his fear and did not utter a word.

"No, no one helped me, I was alone." The old man shook his head.

"Who are you trying to scare?" Zhao Fusheng couldn't help but laugh:

"There are nine people in the Yang family." Except for a newborn baby, Yang Tiehan's two daughters are younger, and the rest are all adults.

Even though the people of Liutu Village were poor, short and thin, moving nine dead bodies was more than an old man could do.

Zhao Fusheng said:

"From the time Wang Hun saw the scene to the time he returned to the city, and until we arrived, it took less than an hour."

She thought for a while and said:
"Well, since you say you did it all by yourself, you can carry my two messengers on your backs, walk to the cesspool behind the Lin family and throw them into the cesspool. Then I will believe you."

When Fan Wujiu heard this, he couldn't help but tremble with fear:

"These two envoys are——" "Let's just follow Big Brother and Second Brother."

"..."

Fan Wujiu's expression changed instantly:
"Actually, Liu Yizhen can do it, too."

"No." Liu Yizhen rejected him coldly.

The villagers were silent.

The old man who admitted to the murder was in a dilemma. He stood up tremblingly, walked to Erfan and said:
"Sir, I'm sorry..."

After saying this, he took a slight step forward and was about to reach out to carry the person.

He also did farm work, and although he was thin, he did have some strength in his hands, and he managed to carry Fan Wujiu up.

But he was old after all, and he had not eaten enough all year round, so how could he have the strength to carry two people?

"I, I threw the bodies away one by one—"

"Then just hold them one by one."

Zhao Fusheng nodded.

The old man carried Fan Wujiu and stumbled out of the yard. The others followed him, feeling both reluctant and uneasy.

He had only taken a few steps when his legs began to tremble. He had just walked out of the Yang family's courtyard and had not yet crossed the ditch in front of the gate when he fell down.

Fan Wujiu was prepared and turned over to stand firmly.

The old man twisted his waist and collapsed to the ground, groaning in pain.

"Let me see what other tricks you have up your sleeve."

Zhao Fusheng snorted:
"My time is limited. I don't have time to chat with you guys."

She waved her arms:

"I will give you one last chance now. If you tell the truth about the Yang family, the final outcome will have nothing to do with you and Liutu Village will be safe. If you continue to deceive your superiors and subordinates and cause major problems, the whole village will be held accountable."

"Ask, ask for the crime?" Cai Datou said:
"What crime?"

"If you say that you killed someone and chopped off the heads of the Yang family, you will naturally be arrested and taken to the government office." Fan Bisi said.

"Then, when can he be released?" Cai Datou knelt on the ground and asked anxiously:

"In a few months, we will start planting rice in the fields—"

What he said was naive and stupid.

Fan Bisi originally hated the villagers, but when he heard this, he almost laughed out loud:
"You're back to plant rice? If it's proven that you killed Yang Tiehan and his family, all those who killed them and dumped the bodies will be beheaded. No one will survive."

"what?!"

When the villagers heard this, they immediately panicked.

The Demon Suppression Division's statement was obviously inconsistent with their initial assumptions. The villagers, who had been as united as a rock and were willing to accept the good explanation, suddenly became alienated and looked hesitant.

Seeing this, Zhao Fusheng struck while the iron was hot:

"If you participated in the dumping of the body before, you still have a chance to redeem yourself. That is, provide clues related to Yang Tiehan's family. If anyone can provide good clues, I will not only not pursue the matter, but also give you a reward."

As soon as she finished saying this, some people became even more interested.

"May I ask, sir, do you charge tea money when handling cases at the Demon Suppression Division?"

"Tea money?"

After hearing this, Zhao Fusheng finally understood why the people of Liutu Village dealt with the corpses and cleaned up the ghost crime scene.

She remembered that she had heard Old Man Zhang mention this term in Fengmen Village.

Whenever a village or town wants to report a ghost case to the Demon Suppression Bureau, the local villages and towns will raise a sum of money and hand it over to the Demon Suppression Bureau to treat the bureau to food, drink and entertainment. This fee is called the tea fee, and the amount is not cheap.

Because of this unfounded reason, these people destroyed the scene of the ghost disaster and threw the corpse into the cesspool...

Zhao Fusheng suddenly felt tired.

"absurd!"

Fan Bisi shouted:
"What kind of person is our master? Who wants you to pay for tea?"

"Yes Yes Yes."

Fan Bisi's scolding not only failed to cause panic among the villagers, but it seemed as if a huge stone was lifted from their hearts in an instant.

"Has the tax for the Demon Suppression Bureau been paid this year?" Zhao Fusheng took a deep breath and asked.

"I have paid it all, I have paid it all. I borrowed grain from others to pay. I dare not owe a single grain." Cai Datou knelt on the ground and took two steps away, saying.

"Since you have paid the tax to the Demon Suppression Division, there will be no additional fees. For the Yang family case, if you can provide clues that will help us solve the case, I will halve the tax to the Demon Suppression Division next year for the villagers who have made contributions."

"what?!"

As soon as Zhao Fusheng finished speaking, all the villagers at the scene were stunned.

Cai Datou's pupils shrank sharply, and he suddenly turned around and shouted at everyone:
"What are you standing there for? Go and retrieve the body!"

After hearing his shout, a few people wanted to run away, but after running a few steps, they seemed to think of something and stopped.

"Those who have been related to the Yang family in the past few days and know some information about the Yang family should stay, and those who have no intersection with the Yang family should go to retrieve the bodies. Call all the people in the village. I have something to ask."

Zhao Fusheng ordered.

Her words were more effective than Cai Datou's roar.

The news of the tax reduction by the Demon Suppression Department was extremely helpful to these villagers, and it almost put Zhao Fusheng in an unfavorable situation, whether it was the case of the ghost in Goutou Village or the case of Fengmen Village later.

But this situation did not make Zhao Fusheng feel any better.

The Demon Suppression Division was supposed to be an institution that handles ghost cases, reduces ghost disasters in people's lives, eliminates disasters for the people, and protects the peace of the area. But now it has become a terrifying existence that crawls on the people and sucks their blood, and has caused these villagers to overcome their fear of evil spirits.

She frowned and called Cai Datou up:

"After the incident, you came to the Yang family, right?"

Cai Datou quickly stood up and wiped his sweat:

"Yes, I have. To be honest, the first time the envoy came, I was the one who accompanied him into the yard."

"We are here too." Other villagers also spoke up.

"Don't be anxious. I will ask you one by one. There will always be a time for you to speak." Zhao Fusheng said.

The others had to suppress their anxiety and nodded.

"Tell me the location and circumstances of the Yang family members before they died."

Zhao Fusheng said to Cai Datou.

"Yes."

After Cai Datou finished speaking, he leaned over and lay back on the spot where he had been kneeling before, and pulled away the straw on the ground, saying:
"To answer your question, there was originally a stone trough here. When the officer and I entered the yard, we saw a corpse lying there—"

Upon learning that the Demon Suppression Division would not charge extra for handling cases, and that they would be able to reduce taxes next year, Cai Datou's mind suddenly became more flexible:

"Even though the head was gone, I knew it was Yang Tiehan just by looking at the clothes, body shape, hands and feet."

After he finished speaking, he bowed to Zhao Fusheng and said, "Please follow me, sir. I will show you where the other bodies are placed."

He led Zhao Fusheng into the house:
"There was a headless male corpse in the main room at that time, right here—" In the direction of his finger was a wooden barrel, half of which was filled with turbid water, with a yellowed old towel placed next to it.

"There are two bodies in the left wing, a man and a woman."

One was still beside the bed, its feet resting on the edge, its headless upper body slumped straight into the bed.

The other body was at the head of the bed, it was a woman.

"The left wing is the room of the third son of the Yang family. He is young, only twelve, and sleeps more than the others. His mother loves him and is the last one to wake him up every day. I guess something happened when his mother was calling him to get up, and both mother and son died here."

Cai Datou sighed when he said this.

With his knowledge, it was already remarkable that he could make such a guess, but Zhao Fusheng heard some useful information from his words:

"Sleepy? Wake me up?" As soon as she finished speaking, Cai Datou immediately flinched:
"I, I was just talking nonsense—"