The sun is shining brightly, the cicadas have stopped chirping, and it is almost the beginning of autumn.
The Eight Gates were still as busy as usual, with prisoners being brought back here and witnesses being taken away over there.
People come in and out of the Eight Gates every day. The apparent peace and prosperity in the capital is due to the diligence of the Eight Gates, who catch snakes, insects, rats and ants in the dark night.
When the emperor has wise and capable ministers under his command, the people in the capital will naturally live in peace and contentment.
Fu Mingrui was sorting out the case files of Bai Zhankui in his study. He read and wrote at the same time, as if he was replaying the whole case in his mind again.
Since Bai Zhankui's wife Yu Pingting jumped into the river with her son at the beginning of the year, the whole family has been completely broken. The Bai family lives in pain every day. The villagers in Baijia Village also scolded Yu Pingting for being vicious, saying that she wanted to die with her two children, as she wanted to make the Bai family extinct.
But then something strange happened: Bai Zhankui's mother, Chen Jinhua, hanged herself.
Chen Jinhua's hanging was very strange. There was nothing under her feet, and like Bai Zhankui, there were no scars on her body.
Normal people who hang themselves will move a chair to raise themselves up, and then kick away the chair and stool. In addition, as mentioned before, the person who hangs himself will have some scars at the last moment.
There was nothing under Chen Jinhua's feet, but the beam was made of sorghum, which was about a seven-foot-long distance from the ground. How did Chen Jinhua get up there
The scene of that day is still vivid in Fu Mingrui's mind.
Originally, there was no need for the Eight Gates to dispatch a person to commit suicide for a hanging case like this. The local county magistrate could handle it himself. But because the scene was too strange, the county magistrate reported it to the Eight Gates.
The Baijia Village Book is related to Fanggu Town in the eastern suburbs of the capital. The town belongs to the capital and is not far from the capital, so the county magistrate reported it.
But when Fu Mingrui arrived at the scene, it had already been completely destroyed.
When the villagers saw Chen Jinhua hanging herself, they kindly tried to take her down the moment beforehand. However, they didn't realize that by doing so they were destroying the scene.
At that time, Fu Mingrui got very angry and pointed out that the villagers were ignorant!
Later, during the questioning process, the villagers discovered that something was wrong at the scene.
There was no stool under Chen Jinhua's feet, and the doors and windows were tightly closed. Putting several suspicious points together, Fu Mingrui initially inferred that this might be a murder case in a closed room.
But the common people inferred another version, saying that it must be the evil daughter-in-law who came to claim her life!
At that time, Fu Mingrui had never opened his eyes and had never been frightened, so he naturally did not believe in these supernatural things. In his business scope, he was more exposed to murders in closed rooms.
This was the Bai family's first case, but because the scene was destroyed and there were too few clues at hand, there had been no progress.
Until, Bai Zhankui's father suddenly "hanged himself" in the same way!
This caused a sensation in the entire Fanggu Town, and the rumors of the evil daughter-in-law seeking her life became more and more outrageous. During that time, almost the entire Fanggu Town was discussing this case.
This time, the villagers learned their lesson and did not try to take down Bai Zhankui's father Bai Genfa.
When Fu Mingrui arrived at the scene, it was well protected and there were no extra footprints on the ground except Bai Wu's own footprints.
Bai Wuyou died in the same way as Chen Jinhua, without a stool, with sorghum hanging high, and no other scars on his body.
There were no signs of struggle at the scene, which means that Bai Zhankui did not struggle before his death. Or, this may not be the first crime scene. It is possible that Bai Zhankui was strangled to death outside and then hung on the beam inside the house, and then this secret room was created.
Fu Mingrui thought of many possibilities, and even the layout of the secret room. The only thing he couldn't figure out was that there were only footprints of the deceased at the scene. How did the murderer leave the secret room? Why didn't he leave any footprints? As long as he figured this out, the case would be solved.
Then, on that day, when he was hunting with Duanmu Qingchen in the western suburbs, he suddenly figured it out. If a person didn't struggle before dying, it might be because he was drugged. Then the only people who could drug their family members without them knowing were their family members.
This family member put drugs in the food, waited for Bai Wuyou to fall unconscious, and then strangled him to death. Then, the key point came.
He put on the victim's shoes, carried the victim to the victim's room, and hung the victim on a noose that he had prepared in advance. Then, he closed the window, backed out of the room, and pulled the bolt with the prepared rope outside, and then cut the rope with scissors. Everything became a perfect locked room case. In the victim's room, there were only the victim's own footprints.
Once all the clues are sorted out, we can catch the person.
That day, the Emperor urgently ordered him to go to Shangshu Ma Guanqun's house to solve the case of Ma Yun turning into a butterfly. That case happened to be a locked room case.
So he was the one Zhao Cheng was asked to catch that day.
It was only after the Ma Guanqun case that he opened the court to try the Chen Jinhua hanging case in a secret room.
In court, Bai Zhankui said nothing, just staring blankly, neither denying nor admitting. In this case, if the suspect does not deny, it is considered as tacit consent.
During the day on the night of Bai Zhankui's death, Fu Mingrui interrogated him for the last time. Bai Zhankui remained the same, neither admitting nor denying.
In the case of Chen Jinhua, Bai Zhankui was convicted of murdering his father and mother.
That night, Bai Zhankui committed suicide in his cell out of fear of punishment.
Fu Mingrui picked up the official seal for closing the case, but it hadn't been stamped for a long time. What if he was wrong? What if the real culprit in this case was hiding in the dark that he couldn't see
Things hidden in the dark are always more exciting than what you can see... Lian Youyou's words unconsciously rang in his ears, as if constantly reminding him that there might really be an invisible murderer in this case.
Zhao Cheng entered holding a pile of files and gently placed them on Fu Mingrui's desk. However, he saw that in front of Fu Mingrui was Bai Zhankui's case. For some reason, the adults in their family did not stamp the official seal for a long time, but stared at the case files in a daze.
"Sir? Why hasn't the coffin been closed yet?" Zhao Cheng's "closing the coffin" was a joke about the final stamping and sealing of the case file. Once the case file is stamped with the official seal, the case is closed.
When Fu Mingrui heard what Zhao Cheng said, he not only did not stamp the document, but instead put down the official seal: "What if there is another real murderer? We just haven't seen this real murderer..."
"What are you talking about, sir? If Bai Zhankui was wronged, why didn't he cry out for injustice?" Zhao Cheng also gave his own reasons, "Look at the people who entered our Eight Gates, who didn't cry out for injustice? The real murderers cried out for injustice more loudly than the others, but in the end, what happened? Were they all punished one by one by you, sir!"
"If it was really Bai Zhankui who killed him, wouldn't it be more perfect if he put a stool under the body? Then everyone would think it was suicide, and the county magistrate would not report it to the Eight Gates. He did so much... Isn't it a bit superfluous?" After Fu Mingrui overturned all his judgments, he found that this case was far from as simple as it seemed. (To be continued)