Kaifeng Monster

Chapter 19 Pleadings (3)
This girl was a little too shy, and in the end Zhan Zhao took out the biscuits from the stove one by one with an iron fork to prevent them from burning.

At sunset, Zhan Zhao checked into the Yuelai Inn, staying in the same room where Duanmucui had stayed before.

After inquiring for a day, he can almost conclude that there must be something wrong with Liang Wenqi's murder. Most likely, the Wang family felt remorse and committed murder under the guise of being a demon.In addition, Duanmucui disappeared in Wang Dahu's house in all likelihood, because many people saw a well-dressed and beautiful girl entering Wang's house that day, but she did not come out afterwards.

As for the Yuelai Inn, it can be deduced that Duanmucui was traveling alone at that time and did not bring any member of Xihualiu's family with him. However, on the night Duanmucui disappeared, all of the members of Xihualiu's family left the store as if they were ordered by an imperial order. go.

"I was very puzzled at the time," recalled the chief shopkeeper of the Wenshui branch of Yuelai Inn, "It's so late, after leaving Wenshui County, there is no place to stay for a hundred miles around, where can they go?"

Where can they go?

This is also a question Zhan Zhao wants to figure out.

At the beginning of Haishi that night, Zhan Zhao, dressed in black, went to visit Wang Dahu's house at night.

It is more appropriate to say that it is a night visit, rather than a night walk.Although Wang Dahu's family hired a few nursing homes, they were only stronger than ordinary people, and there was no Lian family son among them, and it was not popular in Wenshui County to use dogs to look after the nursing home.Zhan Zhao was still cautious at first, and later wandered around in the courtyard very conspicuously, and it was not unnoticed that an old and dim-eyed steward yelled at Zhan Zhao arrogantly: "Don't go to sleep again, Just deduct your wages."

Zhan Zhao didn't speak, the manager snorted heavily, walked away with his hands on his hips.

When he was far away, Zhan Zhao laughed softly and said, "If you want to deduct my wages, it doesn't matter what you say."

Just as he was chuckling, he suddenly heard footsteps behind him, Zhan Zhao's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly stepped into the shadows.

I saw a servant in cotton-padded clothes, trembling and hurried to the wall, untied his trouser belt, and started to urinate at night.

This person is Li San.

But Li San said that after finishing his urination, his whole body felt comfortable, and while humming a tune, he put on his trouser belt, and suddenly his neck felt cold, and he was about to scold who was so narrow, when he lowered his head and saw the shining sword lying in front of him, I was so scared that I immediately spurted a few more drops of urine.

Zhan Zhao said in a deep voice, "How did your uncle die, and what did you hear and see that day, quickly and honestly."

Li San is indeed a kind-hearted young man, with a very sincere heart, as expected, no matter how big or small, from the facts, even how to match his clothes that day, how many steamed buns he ate for breakfast and how many bowls of steamed bun soup he babbled on and on about. Zhan Zhao had to remind him several times to clarify the key points.

When he said that the strange woman had passed away, Zhan Zhao's hand holding the sword suddenly trembled.

With a flick, the sword slashed across Li San's neck.Of course, it was just a soft blow, but Li San didn't think so. He thought that the people behind him were going to kill him, so he screamed like a pig.

As he wished, many houses were lit with candles, but before the rescuers opened their doors to show up, Zhan Zhao had already led him across the courtyard wall.

When he landed, Li San's eyes were straight, as straight as a hook; his legs were soft, as soft as chaff.

"That girl, where did you bury her?"

"City, city, mass grave in the west of the city."

"take me."

So take him there.

At first, Li San seemed to be stepping on cotton, with one deep step and one shallow step. For a while, he thought he was dreaming, so he pinched his thighs several times.

After making sure it wasn't a dream, he secretly looked at Zhan Zhao.

After asking Li San to take him to the mass grave, Zhan Zhao never said a word.The night was too thick to see his face clearly. In the darkness, he felt that his back was very straight, maybe, it was too straight, almost stiff.

Turning on the fire folder, he looked around, and found that the mass grave was not as overgrown with weeds and bones everywhere as he had thought before, which made Zhan Zhao heave a sigh of relief.

"Which one belongs to that girl?"

Li Sanshu shrank forward and pointed to one of the two new graves.

Zhan Zhao was silent for a long time, bent down, and said in a low voice, "Duanmu, I offended you."

Li San felt that the sword light in front of his eyes was confused for a moment, and then the grave-covering soil covered his head and face, rushed towards him, hurriedly covered his face and backed away, and when he opened his eyes again, he saw that Zhan Zhao was looking at the coffin in the cave with a focus on Huo Zhezi. Erqing reached out and knocked on the coffin lid, and said to Li San, "Is this coffin prepared by your master?"

Li San nodded: "The master said that although my uncle is a monster, he is finally a son-in-law; this girl was frightened to death, and her family can't be found anywhere, and the Wang family is always involved, so they prepared coffins for funerals."

Zhan Zhao nodded: "Your master has a heart."

Because it was a thin-skinned coffin that was buried hastily, no rivets were nailed around the coffin.Zhan Zhao hesitated for a long time before lifting the coffin lid with one hand.

Li San thought that people have been dead for so long, and although the corpses are not easy to rot in the cold, they must smell bad, so he quickly covered his mouth and nose and stood away, but Zhan Zhao told him: "Come here, hold on for me Huo Zhezi."

Li San had no choice but to go forward to take the fire folder from Zhan Zhao's hand, but he didn't dare to look inside the coffin, for fear of seeing a hideous face, and he would not be able to sleep peacefully from then on.Unexpectedly, Zhan Zhao bent down and carried the woman out of the coffin.

Li San was taken aback, thinking: "He even dares to hug the dead."

Although he was afraid in his heart, he was also a little curious. When he gave Zhan Zhao the light, he couldn't help but peek into Zhan Zhao's arms, his heart jumped up.

But seeing the woman in Zhan Zhao's arms, although her eyes are tightly closed and lifeless, but her skin is delicate and her brows are delicate, how can she look like she has been dead for two months?

Because I thought: How can someone still look like alive after being dead for so long? Could this woman be a goblin?After thinking about it again, she looks so good-looking, she must not be a goblin, she should be a fairy.

The more I thought about it, the more I felt that my judgment was right, and I completely forgot that among the demons and ghosts, there are not a few good-looking ones.

Just as he was thinking wildly, he suddenly heard Zhan Zhao whisper, "Duanmu, say something."

Li San was taken aback, he couldn't believe that this woman could still speak.Even though he thought so, he immediately pricked up his ears, for fear of missing the slightest sound.

After waiting for a long time, he still didn't hear the woman speak, the flame of Huozhezi flickered on and off, casting an unpredictable shadow on Zhan Zhao's face.

In her arms, Duanmucui's body was as cold as ice.

Three days later, Bao Zheng and Gongsun Ce also arrived in Wenshui.

After discussing the case with Zhan Zhao, Zhang Long and Zhao Hu accompanied Bao Zheng to the Wenshui county government office. Wang Chao and Ma Han went deep into the market to inquire about Liang Wenqi and Wang Dahu. Gongsun Ce was dragged by Zhan Zhao to see Duanmu Cui. .

"Mr. Gongsun, how is Duanmucui's situation?"

Gongsun Ce moved his pulse-cutting hand away from Duanmu Cui's wrist: "There is no pulse, no breathing, if you let ordinary people go, you will definitely die."

"Sir, you mean..."

Gongsun Ce chuckled: "Guard Zhan, you and I both know that you can't use ordinary people's reasoning to speculate on Miss Duanmu. According to what Li San said, Miss Duanmu has been dead for two months, how can ordinary people have the reason for her body not to rot after being dead for more than a month?" ? According to my inference, Miss Duanmu's soul should have left her body, and she didn't know where to stay, so she hasn't turned back yet."

Zhan Zhao breathed a sigh of relief, "I thought so too, but..."

Gongsun Ce got up and said, "We want to help Miss Duanmu, but we don't know where to intervene. We can only wait for her to come back with peace of mind... But Liang Wenqi's case is quite strange."

Zhan Zhao nodded: "Sir, what you said is very true. In the past two days, I also interviewed many people who were present that day, and all the interviewees, regardless of gender, old or young, insisted that Liang Wenqi was originally a monster and deserved to die. The folk customs here are ignorant, and the Wang family killed Liang Wenqi in full view in the name of recruiting demons, and then used the mouths of the people to cover up their guilt. Wen Qi's grievance may not be cleared up in this life, and there will be countless infamy left behind."

Gongsun Ce was silent, and sighed after a long time: "The world is so big, where we can't see, there are many wronged people like Liang Wenqi, how many can Miss Duanmu help, and Master Bao can judge again How many?"

Zhan Zhao raised his head, his eyes were exceptionally black and bright: "If one is caught, there will be one less villain; if one is tried, the world will be clean. I don't want to be perfect, but I want to have a clear conscience."

Wang Chao and Ma Han came back from inquiring, and brought back two breakthrough pieces of information.

One is that just a few days ago, it was heard that Wang Dahu had betrothed his daughter Wang Xiu to Liu Biao, the only son of the Liu family in the west of the city.

The second is that although Liu Biao is a scholar, his father was a bodyguard in the bodyguard bureau in his early years and knew many bandits in the Jianghu.

So far, the facts of the case have been clarified.The Taoist priest who threw the knife to kill people that day was probably not a Taoist priest, but a figure from the Jianghu invited by the Liu family.

It was night, and the Wenshui county government was adorned with bright lights, and Liang Wenqi's case was tried at night.

Wenshui County is located in a remote place, and the people's daily spiritual and cultural life is extremely poor. It is rare to meet Bao Qingtian, who is well-known all over the world, to try the case.Of course, it’s not all for Mr. Bao, Zhan Zhao, Gongsun Ce and the four captains each have their own supporters, but it’s a pity that Wang Chao and Ma Han stayed in the inn to guard Duanmucui—but this did not prevent the county government from dragging their families with them that night. The hall was full of people, and it was extremely lively.

Although Wang Dahu is a big family, he has never seen such a posture before. He stood tremblingly in the courtroom. When he raised his eyes and saw the solemn face of Baogong in the hall, he unconsciously thought of King Yama in the Senluo Palace. His knees softened and he knelt down. fell to the ground.

Bao Zheng held the boundary formula and re-shot it on the desk.When the boundary fell, Wang Dahu's body trembled again.

"This government asks you, is there any secret behind Liang Wenqi's death?"

"Return to my lord, there is nothing hidden in it." Wang Dahu kowtowed repeatedly, "My little girl was seriously ill. On that day, a wandering Taoist suddenly came to the door and said that there was a monster in the Wang family. The villain followed the words of the Taoist priest and stayed in the house. There is an altar to catch monsters inside, and more than a hundred villagers in Wenshui County have seen it..."

Speaking of this, among the people watching, there was that good-natured person who shouted loudly: "Master Wang is right, then Liang Wenqi is a monster."

Bao Zheng said nothing, Zhan Zhao pressed the giant gate with his hand, turned around and glanced at the crowd, his eyes were cold and stern.Everyone was frightened, but they didn't dare to speak out.

Because someone agreed just now, Wang Dahu became more courageous. He looked up at Bao Zheng and said, "Everything the grass people said is true. Lord Bao, please check it out."

"Every sentence is true?" Bao Zheng's voice was stern, "It is absurd to conclude that Liang Wenqi is a monster just based on the words of the wandering Taoist! Where is the wandering Taoist?"

"You, You Fang has gone." Cold sweat oozes from Wang Dahu's forehead.

"Do you know what his Taoist name is? Where did he come from? Where is the Taoist temple?"

"This..." Wang Dahu was dumbfounded, and he murmured after a while, "At that time, the little girl was seriously ill, and the little people rushed to the doctor in a hurry, and they treated the Taoist priest as if they were life-saving straws, and didn't care about it. It is true to hear what the adults say now. It's some... some..."

"My lord, can you let Xiaomin have a word?" The crowd stepped aside, and a big man with a hulking back and a bearded face came out more and more.

"Who is in the hall?"

"Liu Tianhai, a grassroots man, the Wang and Liu families just got married today, and the son Liu Biao will soon marry the only queen of the Wang family."

Bao Zheng remained calm: "What do you have to say?"

Liu Tianhai's face was full of arrogance, and he arched his hands toward the hall: "Just now, I heard what your lord said, there may be another inside story about Liang Wenqi's case. However, Liang Wenqi was killed by a wandering Taoist priest, and the master of the Wang family didn't know about it. My lord, instead of chasing that wandering Taoist priest, you are here to force the master of the Wang family, it is inevitable..."

Liu Tianhai deliberately didn't finish his sentence, his face was full of provocation.Incited by him, the onlookers couldn't help whispering among each other.

"Besides," Liu Tianhai became more complacent the more he spoke, "my lord can't help but say that he brought the master of the Wang family to the court, and people say he's going to court, but he doesn't know where the plaintiff is?"

Bao Zheng was taken aback, there was indeed no plaintiff in this case, only the half-enclosed pleading sent by Duanmucui.As usual, Bao Zheng would not have taken it hastily, but since Duanmucui sent someone to send it, everyone in the Kaifeng mansion expected that there would be no mistakes, so they came all the way to start the trial in a different place, not to be wary of Liu Tianhai's question.It would be too unreasonable to say that the plaintiff is Duanmucui, and Duanmucui's life and death are uncertain, so he may not be able to appear to argue with Liu Tianhai.

While hesitating, Zhan Zhaolang said, "The plaintiff is naturally Liang Wenqi."

As soon as this statement came out, not to mention the crowd watching and gasping with Liu Tianhai and Wang Dahu, even Bao Zheng, Gongsun Ce and others were stunned.Zhan Zhao said to Bao Zheng, "My lord, please send Liang Wenqi to the hall."

Bao Zheng pondered for a moment, seeing that Zhan Zhao had a plan in mind, he nodded as he said: "Tell me."

This rumor is no small matter, everyone knows that Liang Wenqi was beheaded by a Taoist priest who collected demons that day, how could he still come to court?Therefore, everyone stretched their necks long, lest they miss the good show.I saw the yamen servants of two county yamen carrying a stretcher to the hall. On the stretcher and under the white cloth, a human figure with a decapitated body could be vaguely seen, and the nose was full of the pungent smell of quicklime powder.Knowing that it was the Yacha who pulled Liang Wenqi's body out of the ground, all the onlookers backed away in a hurry.

Mr. Liu Tianhai was shocked, but when he saw that it was just a corpse, he couldn't help but sneered, turned to Bao Zheng and said, "Master Bao, this is your so-called plaintiff? Xiaomin Yulu, please tell me clearly." , how does a dead person sue, how does he submit a pleading?"

Before the words finished, Zhan Zhao said in a deep voice: "Mr. Gongsun, please show me the pleadings received by Kaifeng Mansion."

Gongsun Ce was taken aback for a moment, seeing Bao Zheng nod his head slightly, he took the pleadings from the case as he said, and showed it to Wang Dahu.Liu Tianhai laughed loudly: "Yes? What is there? Is this the pleading? Mr. Bao, everyone said that you are a god in solving cases and you are reborn in the sky. I am afraid it is a misrepresentation among the people."

Before the words finished, Zhang Long and Zhao Hu took a step forward and angrily said: "Shut up, in the courtroom, you must not be rude to adults."

Liu Tianhai was tough by nature, and he was quite tainted with the habits of gangsters when he was flying darts in the early years, so he was not afraid, snorted coldly, and cupped his hands to Bao Zheng: "Master Bao, the one who sued is a dead man, and the pleading is another This is so inexplicable, according to what Caomin sees, my lord really shouldn't embarrass the master of the Wang family. If your lord has not found the murderer, you may wish to search patiently for a few more days, and I am sorry that Caomin will not accompany you today."

After finishing speaking, the onlookers were clamoring again, but this time they were more disappointed, because they thought: It is said that Mr. Bao can judge the powerful and judge the ghosts and gods, but now it seems that it is only mediocre.

Liu Tianhai laughed, turned around and winked at the crowd, a gray-clothed scholar turned around and walked out with the little boy beside him.Zhan Zhao could see it clearly, although he didn't know who the scholar was, but he thought there must be something strange in it, he was about to step forward to stop him, when suddenly he lost sight of his vision, and heard the wind blowing loudly, bleak and cold to the bone, and came rushing towards him with sand and stones.For a while, sand and stones flew in the hall, people's shapes could not be discerned by the side of their elbows, and a group of people couldn't open their eyes, they could only shrink back and hug their heads in trembling.

Erqing was in the wind, and when Zhan Zhao opened his eyes to look, he felt a palpitation in his heart.

Above the lobby and in the courtyard, countless candles were raised in the night, and all of them were extinguished in an instant.

It was very quiet for a while, and everyone was inexplicably terrified.Gongsun Ce suddenly felt that the pleading in his hand was about to move, when he looked down, the half of the pleading was shaking and seemed to be trying to break free, glowing with green phosphorescence.At that time, it was pitch black inside and outside the county government office, everyone focused their eyes on Gongsun Ce's hand, Gongsun Ce's heart moved, he let go of his hand, the pleading was fluttering, and it flew into the air, and soon spread out, the silk script The cracks are clearly visible.At the same time, the white cloth covering Liang Wenqi's body was lifted slowly, and the other half of the pleadings glowing with pale green phosphorescence slowly flew up from Liang Wenqi's arms.Zhan Zhao suddenly understood: the other half of the pleadings was actually in Liang Wenqi's arms.

However, the two pleadings were spliced ​​into one in mid-air, and the word "you are wronged" is impressively in sight.The crowd exclaimed again and again, mixed with the sound of thumping and falling, and some people lost their voices: "Liang Wenqi really died unjustly, and now I am going to sue Master Bao!"

(End of this chapter)