When County Magistrate Zhao was confused, Zhu Pingan spoke up, "Sir Zhao, how many people are engaged in the funeral business in Yiwu County, including coffin making, tomb selection, funeral procession, tomb relocation, playing musical instruments and singing, etc.? Please make a detailed statistics. Please send someone to invite them all to the county government office now, and don't leave any one behind."
Although County Magistrate Zhao did not understand Zhu Ping'an's purpose in asking about the funeral business, he still answered without hesitation: "Your Excellency, there are eight coffin shops in Yiwu County, including three in the county town and five in the towns below. There are many people who choose the burial sites, from all walks of life, and they are all registered in the county government, about 20 to 30 people; most of the people who undertake funerals are from charity cemeteries, there are five charity cemeteries in Yiwu County, in addition to charity cemeteries, Zhalouzi funeral clothing shops also have connections to undertake funeral matters, there are about ten Zhalouzi funeral clothing shops in Yiwu County; there are about ten people who play musical instruments and sing, most of them do both weddings and funerals..."
It can be seen that County Magistrate Zhao's work in Yiwu is very solid, and he has basically a clear understanding of all aspects of Yiwu.
Zhu Ping'an's evaluation of County Magistrate Zhao increased a few points. There are not many county magistrates who can achieve this level.
In the future, County Magistrate Zhao’s achievements were definitely not limited to being a county magistrate.
"Sir, these people are not just a few. Do we have to invite them all to the county government?" Magistrate Zhao asked uncertainly.
"Yes, don't leave any one behind." Zhu Ping'an nodded heavily.
"Sir Zhao, invite them to the county government office and send a clerk to inquire in detail and record whether they have undertaken funerals or grave relocations in the two months before and after the incident last year. If they have undertaken funerals or grave relocations during this period, record in detail who they have undertaken them for. In particular, ask them if there are any suspicious or strange things during the period. No matter how outrageous, record them in detail and finally ask them to sign and seal."
Zhu Pingan continued.
"As you command." Magistrate Zhao nodded vigorously, turned around and arranged for officers to go to the county government office to retrieve the funeral business files, compare the files, and invite all those engaged in the funeral business to the government office.
After County Magistrate Zhao arranged the matter, he could no longer suppress his doubts and asked Zhu Ping'an, "Sir, I am stupid and don't know what is the purpose of asking the funeral staff?"
Chen Dacheng and others were also confused and didn't know what Zhu Ping'an's intention was.
"Find the victim's head." Zhu Ping'an said shockingly.
"Ah?" County Magistrate Zhao was indeed shocked. The confusion in his mind became even more confused, and he had more question marks.
"Master Zhao, I suspect that the victim in this case is not Chen Erlang's wife Zhang, but someone else."
Zhu Ping'an whispered in County Magistrate Zhao's ear.
If the murderer was Chen Erlang, there was no need for him to cut off his wife's head and discard it. Even if he was venting his anger, it was unreasonable to simply discard the head. On the contrary, if the murderer was not Chen Erlang, why did he cut off the head and hide it? The murderer must have a purpose in doing so, to collect heads? This can basically be ruled out. If it was such a perverted collecting hobby, there must be more than one case of victims whose heads were cut off in Yiwu County. However, Zhu Ping'an also learned that there was only one case of people being beheaded after being killed in Yiwu County. Therefore, Zhu Ping'an suspected that the murderer cut off and hid the head because he definitely did not want everyone to see the victim's head. He did not want everyone to see the victim's head, which was to cover up something... Following this line of thought, Zhu Ping'an had a bold guess.
Zhu Ping'an's first reaction was that the murderer might be trying to conceal the identity of the victim, and that the victim might not be Chen Erlang's wife Zhang. If the victim was not Chen Erlang's wife Zhang, who was she
This question will be answered once the victim's head is found.
"Ah?! What?!"
Zhu Ping'an's words were more shocking than thunder, and County Magistrate Zhao was so surprised that he almost jumped up.
"Shh, keep your voice down, don't make any noise, so as not to alert the enemy." Zhu Ping'an gently patted County Magistrate Zhao on the shoulder.
"Yes, yes." Magistrate Zhao nodded repeatedly, but he couldn't help but whispered in Zhu Ping'an's ear, "But sir, there were no murders in Yiwu County in the two months before and after Chen Erlang killed his wife."
"It is precisely because there is no homicide that I am more certain of my guess," said Zhu Pingan.
Upon hearing this, County Magistrate Zhao was thoughtful and stunned for a long time. A light seemed to flash in his mind, and he seemed to understand something.
If the victim was someone else, then it would make sense to cut off his head and hide it.
If the victim is someone else and no one reports the crime.
This real murder case was buried normally by the murderer in a non-homicide manner.
After all, a person's death cannot be concealed. Only a normal funeral can calm things down.
The body was in Chen Erlang's house, with only a head. How could the murderer give a normal burial? He had to cover it up. But no matter how hard he tried, it was impossible to cover everything up. There would definitely be some strange things when he buried the body.
Therefore, Lord Zhu asked him to send someone to inquire those in the funeral business whether they had undertaken funerals, grave relocations, and other matters in the period since the incident, and to specifically inquire whether there were any suspicious or strange circumstances during the period.
"Sir, I think I understand." County Magistrate Zhao looked at Zhu Ping'an.
"Just understand it, no need to explain it in words, so as not to alert the enemy." Zhu Ping'an nodded slightly.
"Yes." County Magistrate Zhao nodded.
"Let's go back to the county government office and wait for news." Zhu Ping'an said to County Magistrate Zhao, "There are some questions that we need to ask them further."
When Zhu Ping'an and County Magistrate Zhao left, Chen Dacheng also took a few clansmen to the county government. His brother's case finally had hope again, so how could he stay at home? On the one hand, he was worried and didn't want to miss any details, and on the other hand, he wanted to contribute his strength to the case.
The Yiwu County Government was very efficient, and soon all the people engaged in the funeral business in Yiwu County were invited to the county government by the officials.
County Magistrate Zhao checked and confirmed that all those engaged in the funeral business in Yiwu County were present without any omission.
The clerks in the county government followed the instructions and asked them one by one whether they had handled funeral matters within the period after the incident and whether there were any suspicious or strange incidents during the period, and recorded them in detail.
Because there are many people engaged in the funeral business and there are not enough clerks in the yamen, in order to improve the efficiency of handling cases, Zhu Ping'an and County Magistrate Zhao also went down to question and record.
County Magistrate Zhao questioned five people, two of whom had been engaged in funeral affairs for some time after the incident. However, after careful recollection, they all said that there was nothing suspicious or strange during the period of the funeral.
County Magistrate Zhao noticed that other clerks in the field did not seem to have recorded any suspicious or strange funeral matters.
Could it be that Lord Zhu is going in the wrong direction
Just when County Magistrate Zhao was beginning to have doubts again, he saw a clerk standing up with a transcript in his hand and walking towards him. (To be continued)