In the past, it was said that Emperor Qin had a mirror, which could illuminate people's hearts and insight into world affairs. Later, it was said that officials were fair and strict, and they judged cases like a god.
In the halls of the government offices in each place, behind the official chairs, there is a picture of the rising sun at sea to show that it is upright and bright. Gongsun Zhuoyu put on his official uniform and sat on the high hall, with the plaque "Mirror Hanging High" hanging above his head.
Du Lingchun and the prefect were hearing the trial and sat beside him. One of them waited to see what happened, the other waited to grasp the handle, and the people outside even surrounded the place and stretched their necks to see how Gongsun Zhuoyu tried the case.
Dan Qiu and Yu Sheng all knelt down in the hall, both pale. In particular, Gongsun Zhuoyu also ordered someone to carry the body up, and on a sunny day, it could scare people's souls away.
Gongsun Zhuoyu glanced at Du Lingchun's location, and nodded slightly: "Company, the lower official is about to start the trial."
Du Lingchun always looked so lazy that his bones were ripped off. Hearing this, he lifted the lid of the tea cup, and his slender and fair tail fingers were slightly raised, showing his femininity. The voice said in a cool voice: "Master Gongsun is only in charge of the trial. Our company only acts as an auditor, and will not interfere at will. It is expected that the same is true of the prefect."
The prefect can only respond and smile awkwardly.
Seeing this, Gongsun Zhuoyu retracted his gaze, and slapped the jingtang wood in his hand hard, and the voice echoed through the ghosts.
Gongsun Zhuoyu: "The criminals Dan Qiu and Yu Shengquan, this official's status quo sued you two for murdering Lei Quan, the butler of the prefectural house. Do you plead guilty!"
Dan Qiu seemed to be frightened by these battles, his face was pale, and he was speechless. Yu Shengquan raised his head, but only said eight words: "If you want to add a crime, why bother."
This is a plan to refuse to admit it to the death, and stubbornly resist.
Gongsun Zhuoyu didn't care either, and narrated the case according to the procedure: "Three days ago, an unnamed corpse was found in the ancient well of the prefectural Bieyuan. The maids in the house have identified them as belongings of Dan Qiu, the long-lost maid in the house."
After he finished speaking, he deliberately glanced at Dan Qiu, and then continued to add: "Because the corpse was severely decomposed, and the face could not be seen clearly, at first glance, everyone thought it was Dan Qiu's corpse. That corpse is Lei Quan, the housekeeper of the prefectural garden, oh, the fiancé of Miss Danqiu."
As soon as he said this, the crowd immediately exploded. Looking at this situation, could it be that the poisonous woman and the adulterer killed the unmarried husband? ! But that little lady looked weak and weak, and Doctor Yu had always had a good reputation, so she didn't look like someone who would do such a thing.
80% is the confused magistrate who tried the wrong case, everyone thought.
Gongsun Zhuoyu put the breakthrough on Dan Qiu: "Miss Danqiu, did you kill Lei Quan?"
Dan Qiu heard the words and looked at Yu Shengquan subconsciously, but the latter shook his head at her calmly. Dan Qiu closed his eyes in pain and bit his lower lip. After a while, he spit out a few words with difficulty: "I didn't kill anyone..."
Gongsun Zhuoyu thought how good it would be to admit it so openly, every time it took so much effort. He simply walked down to the court, put on the cloth gloves handed by the master, and then lifted the white cloth covering the corpse amid the exclamations of the crowd—
The rotten flesh on the corpse was cleaned, and now only a white bone remains.
Gongsun Zhuoyu picked up the corpse's head and showed Dan Qiu the crack in the back of the head: "Lei Quan was hit with a heavy object on the back of the head, and after he died, the body was thrown into a well. It was a coincidence that when this official searched around, he The murder weapon was found."
He said, and ordered someone to bring the pebble up: "Miss Danqiu, there is a bamboo bush in the courtyard where you live. This official found this stone from there, and it is still stained with Lei Quan's blood. Would you like to take a closer look?"
Gongsun Zhuoyu said, and handed the stone forward, Dan Qiu's frightened Hua Rong immediately turned pale. Du Lingchun took a sip of tea by the side, thinking that Gongsun Zhuoyu was also a narrow-minded person.
Dan Qiu didn't dare to look at the corpse, let alone the stone, covered his face with a handkerchief, turned sideways and shook his head in horror: "No... I... I didn't... Why should I kill him... "
Gongsun Zhuoyu: "Because you already have a sweetheart, you don't want to marry Lei Quan."
He said, and took out another sweat towel: "This is the man's sweat towel found in the drawer of your room, with the word 'Quan' embroidered on it. At first, this officer thought it was Lei Quan's 'Quan', but Only later did I find out that it was Yu Shengquan's 'Quan'."
All the clues are connected in series, in fact, it is enough to deduce the whole case.
Gongsun Zhuoyu shook his sleeve robe, and paced back and forth in front of Dan Qiu: "This official once found a handkerchief under the pillow in your room. It was stained with tears. It was really heartbreaking, but you will soon be with your fiancé, Lei. Quan is married, why are you crying? Because you already have a heart,"
Gongsun Zhuoyu said, and walked to Yu Shengquan, remembering what happened last time in the brothel, he kicked him quietly and forcefully: "And this person is Yu Shengquan, the doctor in charge of Jishengtang!"
Yu Sheng was in pain and groaned, but he dared not speak out.
The people watching from behind frantically eat melons.
Gongsun Zhuoyu kept staring at Dan Qiu: "But you are a servant of the prefect's family, and you are not in your own hands, and you have no control over your own marriage, so you have to marry the housekeeper Lei Quan."
When Dan Qiu heard the words, he remembered some painful memories, his eyes were faintly red, and his whole body was trembling.
Gongsun Zhuoyu seemed to have seen it with his own eyes, his voice was gentle, but piercing his heart: "So you and Yu Shengquan conspired to kill Lei Quan."
Dan Qiu suddenly panicked: "No! We didn't! We didn't kill anyone!"
Gongsun Zhuoyu weighed the bloody pebble in his hand, it was so heavy that Danqiu couldn't move it: "Yu Shengquan attacked Leiquan with a stone from behind, causing him to die on the spot. You might be found and you want to throw your body into the well. Lei Quan is dead, Dan Qiu is still a slave, and he can't escape the government's investigation or escape from the city, so you have come up with a plan."
Next to them were the yamen who presented the evidence, the bloody wedding gown, and the fallen gold hairpin.
Gongsun Zhuoyu also compared Dan Qiu's hair bun, and found that it was roughly the same as on the corpse: "You put Lei Quan in women's clothes, and the accessories are all Dan Qiu's common items, in order to ensure that if the corpse is damaged When people find it, it can be seen at a glance that it is the body of 'Dan Qiu'. It happened that Lei Quan returned to his hometown to visit relatives for a few days, and he was not in the house for a few days, so he was not noticed."
In any case, Dan Qiu couldn't escape the guilt. She was discovered by the yamen in Yu Sheng's family under the watchful eyes of the public. Even if she had a hundred mouths, she couldn't justify it. I killed Lei Quan!"
She is obviously a weak woman, but when she said this, there were tears in her eyes, but also a shocking ruthlessness, which caused an uproar around her.
Dan Qiu closed his eyes: "I am the son of the family, and I can only listen to the master's arrangement for marriage. Lei Quan knew that I had a crush, but he still asked the prefect to ask me to go..."
When she said this, she choked for a moment before continuing: "I went to beg him to redeem my betrayal contract, but he just wouldn't give it. I had no choice but to ask my brother Shengquan to take me away with me."
Yu Shengquan knelt beside him, anxious and unsightly.
"That day Lei Quan went home to visit relatives, I thought it was a good time, so I packed up and wanted to escape. But who ever thought that Lei Quan didn't lead the way, he turned back halfway, and found that my brother Shengquan and I were going to elope. The two scuffled directly together..."
Yu Shengquan was so nervous that a cold sweat broke out on his back. He wanted to say something, but he couldn't open his mouth. It was not until Dan Qiu said the next words that he breathed a sigh of relief.
Dan Qiu: "I was afraid that Brother Shengquan would be injured, so I moved a stone to smash Leiquan. Who would have thought of losing his life. I simply put on his own clothes for him, combed his hair into a bun and pretended to be a woman, and pushed him inside. In the well, he escaped from the house and hid in Brother Shengquan's house."
She actually took the blame on her alone. I don't know if it was because of the broken jar, but she didn't cry anymore, just closed her eyes and waited to die.
When Yu Shengquan heard the words, a trace of guilt flashed on his face, but he didn't say anything to explain, and he acquiesced.
Gongsun Zhuoyu laughed: "The girl is actually a lover, but it's a pity that I entrusted the wrong person."
He also saw Yu Shengquan strolling around the brothel that day, looking for the oiran girl to drink tea.
Originally someone pleaded guilty, but Gongsun Zhuoyu didn't bother to investigate further, and it was his style to close the case as soon as possible. It's just that Yu Shengquan is too hateful, it would be a pity if he just let it go.
Gongsun Zhuoyu said to Dan Qiu, "There is a strong incense in your room, because it was the first scene of Lei's death. You lighted a heavy incense to cover up the bloody smell, right?"
Dan Qiu nodded: "Yes..."
Gongsun Zhuoyu snorted: "If that's the case, it means that Lei Quan didn't die by the well. But you are frail and weak, and Lei is eight feet tall. How did you lift a heavy stone and smash him to death? How did you drag him all the way from the residence to the well and throw his body?"
This is a very real problem, because Dan Qiu can't lift the stone at all, nor can he drag Lei Quan.
After he finished speaking, he put the stone on the ground with a clatter, and the sound was dull, showing its weight.
Dan Qiu noticed that he had made a slip of the tongue, his face was pale, and Yu Shengquan, who was beside him, was stunned, and fell to the ground powerless.
Gongsun Zhuoyu made a conclusion and pointed to the two of them: "Human, it was Yu Sheng who killed all of them, and you are an accomplice, Miss Danqiu."
Neither of them refuted, their expressions turned pale.
The people outside suddenly exploded. Unexpectedly, Yu Shengquan was really the murderer. Some were unbelievable, some were contemptuous, and more, they were amazed at Gongsun Zhuoyu's ability to solve cases.
Du Lingchun supported his head, his eyes lowered when he saw this, although he did not speak, it was not difficult to see the satisfied expression on his face.
The prefect was full of resentment and did not want to let Gongsun Zhuoyu steal the limelight. After thinking about it, he suddenly found a doubt and asked aloud: "How does this official remember, Lord Gongsun once said that the corpse had been dead for more than 15 days. If this corpse is really Lei Quan, why did it decompose so quickly in just a few days?"
This Gongsun Zhuoyu also thought about it, the degree of decay of the corpse is largely determined by the surrounding environmental factors. At first, he thought it was caused by the water in the well, so he specially hung a dead mouse down. It turned out that the rate of decay was normal, and it was not until later that he discovered the clue.
Gongsun Zhuoyu smiled, but pointed at Yu Shengquan: "As for this question, the prefect will ask him."