The family who came to beat the drums to protest their grievances was a family named Niu, who was engaged in the business of butchering pigs and selling pork in the county. The whole family is thick-backed and has a loud voice. When they saw Zhuang Zhong coming, they all shouted for grievances, and almost brought down the roof of the house.
Rubbing his ears solemnly, the gavel fell, "Don't yell together, who do you want me to listen to? Send someone out to make it clear."
The Niu family looked at me and I looked at you, and finally pushed a woman who was about thirty or forty years old and looked very sharp to speak.
The woman straightened her clothes, and said with a trembling voice: "My lord, we are from the pork shop of Niu's family in the county. Mrs. Li from your elder sister's family often comes to our shop to buy pork. Our Niu's business is the most honest..."
Zhuang Zhong frowned slightly, and someone pushed the woman. It was the woman's husband, Niu Dalang, the eldest son of the Niu family.
The woman sneered and slapped herself, "Look at my mouth, my lord, it's like this, I have a sister-in-law named Niu Sanniang, she married Lu Da from Lujia Village five years ago, my sister-in-law has always She was healthy and strong, but she suddenly fell ill and died two days ago! The more we thought about it, the more wrong it became. My sister-in-law has been pain-free all these years. Some time ago, she even picked a hundred catties of rice from the countryside and sold it in the county town. What should I say? Just leave? So we suspect that she died strangely, thinking that she was killed by someone!"
Niu Dalang also interjected at this time: "Before, my sister went to the county to see a doctor. She said she had some kind of intestinal pimple, and she was given medicine, but it didn't help at all. She left after a few days."
The whole family of the Niu family has come, and the Niu family's children and grandchildren are mostly male, so they have a daughter like Niu Sanniang, who usually suffers the most from the pain. Moreover, Niu Sanniang is diligent and forthright. The Niu family's daughters-in-law also like this little girl very much, and the younger generation also like Niu Sanniang, who is not gentle enough but very interesting. At this time, when it comes to Niu Sanniang, everyone Can't help crying.
Solemnly glanced at the Niu family, the characteristics of the Niu family were very obvious, the old and the young all came out of the same mold, but he still asked: "Is Niu Sanniang's husband here?"
Mrs. Niu curled her lips and said angrily: "Huh, he still wants to stop us from coming to report the crime, saying that this is life, don't disturb you, and you will be fined when the time comes. Bah! If my sister-in-law is really Being killed by someone, as long as the murderer pays for his life, even if each of us will be hit with 50 boards, our Niu family will not blink! I said he must have ghosts in his heart! Don’t think we don’t know, the most important thing on weekdays It's because he dislikes my sister-in-law, my sister-in-law is gone, I'm afraid he will want to marry a new one in the first seven days!"
The daughter-in-law Niu became more and more excited as she talked. As expected of a businessman on weekdays, her mouth was crackling like a firecracker, so a long series of words was finished in a short time, and people could understand them.
Niu Dalang glared at her, "What nonsense!"
Niu Da's daughter-in-law looked annoyed, "Originally, because of the few days of reading, Nalu Da thought that he was some kind of great person, and he didn't bother to associate with us vulgar people on weekdays. Pity me Sister-in-law, I am busy serving you every day, but I didn't get half a sentence."
"Why haven't you heard from her about this?" Niu Da asked suspiciously.
Niu's daughter-in-law gave him a blank look, "It is said that the married daughter poured water. Although our family is not like this, it is not good for my sister-in-law to worry about you. I have seen these things. You men, one by one I'm so careless, how can I see this. If my sister-in-law didn't tell me not to tell you, I was also worried that if we interfered, they would make the trouble worse. After all, it's really not good for others to interfere with the young couple's affairs, otherwise I would have let you Knock on the door and go."
Niu Da's eyes widened. In fact, he also felt the brother-in-law's indifference towards them, and he seldom moved around on weekdays. But he didn't care too much considering that these rough people had nothing to say to scholars, and besides, his sister had a straightforward temper and was not afraid of being bullied, so he was wronged anyway.
Father Niu sighed at the side, and Mother Niu said: "Okay, what's the point of saying these things at this time, this is in the court, don't make the magistrate so abrupt."
At this time, a group of people remembered where they were. When they came here, their calves were fighting a little bit. They didn't expect that they would be noisy for so long when they came in. In fact, this was deliberately done by Zhuang Zhong, and he was not formally promoted, otherwise the formation of those officials knocking on wooden sticks and saying "mighty" in unison would be enough to calm people down.
Zhuang Zhong listened almost to the side, and then said: "Who are the doctors who treated Niu Sanniang before?"
Father Niu said: "Let Dr. Song from Anshoutang in the county take a look. Dr. Song is the most famous doctor in Mei County for his medical skills. His medical skills are high and he charges little money. We Meixian people like to go to him if they are dizzy." Then see."
Zhuang Zhong ordered people to find Dr. Song. Dr. Song had already heard the news, so he rushed to the yamen as soon as he heard that he was called into the yamen.
"See my lord." Dr. Song is an old man in his sixties. He is already an old man in Dayou, but he still walks lightly and vigorously, showing no signs of aging.
"Doctor Song, you don't need to be too polite. Do you still remember what symptoms Niu Sanniang had when she went to see a doctor?" Zhuang Zhong asked. There is a sense of intimacy, and it is not so uncomfortable to speak. This is also done to reduce the sense of distance between each other and make it easier for the other party to tell some details that they usually don't pay attention to. These details are often the key to solving the case.
Dr. Song sighed: "I watched San Niang grow up. Speaking of which, this is the first time she sees me for medical treatment. I didn't expect it to be the last time."
As soon as these words fell, the Niu family felt another burst of grief.
After Dr. Song finished speaking, he said again: "When Sanniang arrived at my place, she was already out of shape. Her illness came on suddenly. When I asked her, she said that she was fine the first day, and she started to get sick the next afternoon. Abdominal pain and diarrhea, frequent urination, urgency, and nausea and vomiting. I vomited several times in a short period of time, and went to the latrine several times. It is said that I have to go to the latrine eight or nine times a day at home, all of which are dark green. I couldn't see anything at the time, but the symptoms were like intestinal diarrhoea, so I prescribed these medicines for her."
Dr. Song handed the prescription to Zhuang Zhong, "This prescription is what I usually use to treat intestinal pimples. I just change the dosage according to the symptoms. It is most effective on weekdays, but this time... hey."
Doctor Song's face was very ugly. Although he was sure that Niu Sanniang was not put to death by him, he had never encountered such a thing in his many years of medical practice. He is usually good at treating intestinal ulcers, but he didn't expect to kick the iron plate this time, it didn't even have any effect, which really made him extremely ashamed.
Zhuang Zhong didn't know Chinese medicine, so he handed the prescription to Mr. Tong. Mr. Tong took a look at him and gave him a wink, indicating that there was nothing wrong with the prescription.
Zhuang Zhong ordered someone to clean up, and took his own guy to Niu Sanniang's house. Only after seeing the corpse would he know what happened. If it wasn't for the troublesome autopsy here and the lack of sufficient equipment, otherwise he would have inspected the corpse first, and the corpse would have told him more intuitively what happened.
Zhuang Zhong and the Niu family rushed to Lu's house together, but there was no one in sight, and the coffin in the mourning hall was gone. The Niu family was in a hurry, and they found a villager to ask what was going on and where everyone had gone.
The villagers knew the Niu family, and when they saw them, they couldn't help sighing: "Why did you come here? It's too late. I'm afraid they have already been buried now."
Although the water splashed by the married daughter does not mean that there will be no contact, the family will definitely come over if she is gone, but I didn't expect that when Niu Sanniang was buried, there was no one in the Niu family. At that time, he felt strange that no one in Lu's village knew how much Lu Da's wife's family loved her.
The Lu family is a farming and studying family. It is not easy for a poor family to provide for a scholar. The Lu family is extremely poor. If it weren't for Niu Sanniang's ability and the Niu family's frequent subsidies, they might not be able to eat a piece of meat all year round. But because the Niu family sells pork, they smell the meat every now and then, which makes everyone greedy. Although Lujia Village is considered relatively affluent in Mei County, except for the rich farmers and landlords, no one can eat meat every day. Everyone said that Lu Da's family married such a good wife because of the virtues they accumulated in their previous life.
The Niu family's eyes widened immediately, and each one's voice was like a gong. Father Niu, who had been languid and silent, jumped up at this moment, "What? My daughter has not passed her first seven years, so why don't you just bury her?" ! We have no news at all."
The neighbor was also a little curious, "So you don't know? I just said why you didn't come. It seems to say that it's too hot. If you leave it for seven days, it will stink. And Lu Daniang found a fortune teller and said it was today. The day is the most suitable for burial, otherwise you have to wait a month later, so you have to rush to bury him."
Now the Niu family is not happy, what's wrong with not seeing their daughter/sister for the last time, regardless of whether they came with the county magistrate, a group of people suffocated and rushed to the burial place. Their speed is very fast, if they don't exercise solemnly on weekdays, they won't be able to keep up at all, but even so, they still lag behind a lot.
Lao Yuan Niu's family began to yell, "Well, you Lu Da, you actually buried San Niang while we were not around, is it because you are so anxious because of a guilty conscience!"
A man who looked like a scholar came out from the crowd, and said while wiping away his tears: "Father-in-law, you are finally here. I sent someone to send you a message, but I didn't see you coming for a long time. I was afraid that it would be late, so I had to bury you first." , although I didn't catch the last look, but Sanniang will definitely be happy to know that you are here."
This remark seemed to put all the responsibility on the Niu family, and Niu's daughter-in-law was not happy, "What do you mean by that, you were buried without even saying hello, how could it be that we were wasting time!"
Lu Da was surprised, "Did you meet the person who delivered the news?"
"What message? We haven't seen it before."
"I rushed over early this morning, why did I go astray? No, everyone knows about your shop, so it shouldn't be." Lu Da was puzzled.
The Niu family came to their senses at this time. In order to file a complaint today, the whole family dispatched no one to do business. I'm afraid it's because of this that they diverged, so I don't blame Lu Da.
Niu's daughter-in-law is the most shrewd in the Niu family, and immediately said: "This is also because you suddenly said to bury it, so there is no way to bury it before the first seven!"
Lu Da repeated what the villager had said before, and finally sighed: "My son-in-law has no other choice. I just hope that Sanniang didn't enjoy any blessings during her lifetime, so that she can feel at ease after death."
Zhuang Zhong had already come up at this time, seeing the tomb being built, and hearing such words, he snorted coldly in his heart, these words are really beautiful, no wonder so many people believe that a person who can't even pass the entrance examination for children will be able to take the entrance examination in the future Top pick.
Niu Da came over with a worried expression on his face, "My lord, what should I do, my sister has already been buried."
Zhuang Zhuang didn't even blink his eyes, and said a sentence that was often on his lips, "Open the coffin for an autopsy."