Let's say that after walking out of the Wuzhuang Mountains and heading east out of the mountain pass, you will reach the boundary of Luanzhou. There was a Huang Xiucai in Luanzhou who failed to succeed in many trials and became obsessed with shadow puppetry. On weekdays, he tours and performs in various places to make ends meet.
On this day, Huang Xiucai was performing a shadow puppet show in a village. Three spectators in strange costumes came down the stage. One of the spectators was actually carrying a sword. Most people carry their swords across their waists, but it is very strange for this person to carry them on his back! These three people did not watch the show at the front stage, but went backstage to watch Huang Xiucai's operations. The audience had never seen anyone dressed like this before, and they all wondered if the shadow person was alive. After a closer look, they saw that the three people were dressed differently from the shadow person, so they gathered around curiously. For a moment, no one was watching the show. They were all watching the three people, wondering where they came from.
The three of them watched Huang Xiucai's performance leisurely backstage. One of them took out a cardboard box and took out three rolls of paper. Each of the three held one in his mouth. Then one of them used some unknown method. , with a hiss, flames burst out from his hands, and the paper was lit on fire. The three of them breathed out white smoke! Everyone became more and more strange, wondering what kind of spell the three of them had done, and they started talking about it.
The abnormal behavior of the crowd interfered with Huang Xiucai's performance. In the panic, a shadow figure who was about to appear could not be found. Huang Xiucai thought it had fallen to the ground, but Huang Xiucai lowered his head to look for it but found it was not there. Originally, the shadow figures who were about to go on stage were hung on the horizontal line in front of the shadow window, and they had to be inserted before going on stage. Huang Xiucai clearly remembered that he had inserted it before the show started, but he couldn't find it. He opened the box and rummaged through it, but still couldn't find it! The missing figure head is a unique figure, only one in the whole set, so if you can't find it, it will be left alone.
Thanks to Huang Xiucai's experience, he hurriedly went to a maid and said, "Madam, the master is not here! I heard he went to see a play!", "Well, let's go watch it too!" Once the two characters cooperated, It was successfully turned into an excerpt.
The audience in the audience saw the drama and started talking a lot. Some were booing, and some thought it was a new play and applauded! It wasn't until the excerpt was finished that Huang Xiucai leaned the shadow roll against the shadow window and closed the show. Everyone was talking about leaving the scene. At this time, Huang Xiucai was cleaning up the shadow and found that the missing shadow, together with the prop ax inserted together, was hanging on the line. Huang Xiucai was so angry that he took off the shadow and even thought of smashing it!
"Huh?" Huang Xiucai suddenly discovered that there were some blood stains on the prop ax held by the shadow man. The shadow man was brushed with tung oil, so the blood could not penetrate and was dripping slowly.
At this time, the three strangely dressed people also turned around and walked away leisurely. What happened today was really strange! At this time, please invite your family to invite Huang Xiucai and others to dinner. It is a common practice in the shadow puppet industry to hire Jiazi, that is, to hire the owner of the performance to take care of the food, and this is done after the "killing stage", which is the closing ceremony. Commonly known as "blowing when full and singing when hungry".
During the dinner, everyone advised Huang Xiucai not to take it seriously, as the matter was over. At this moment, a villager ran over in a panic and said that something had happened to Huang Xiucai's family!
It turned out that someone was passing by Huang Xiucai's house tonight and tripped over something. When I got home, I saw blood on my hands. I quickly called for someone to come back with a lantern to check, and I saw a man killed in front of Huang Xiucai's house. The leader of the village quickly sent a few people to guard him and called the official at dawn.
Only after dawn did everyone see clearly that he was the son of a rich man named Li in the village. His head had been chopped off, and blood flowed far away on the ground. Rich Man Li sat on the ground and cried loudly!
The government came to check and sent a man to conduct an autopsy. The autopsy showed that Mr. Li's head was cut off with a sharp weapon and he died. So Rich Man Li reported to the government, accusing Huang Xiucai's daughter-in-law Zou of colluding with an adulterer and killing his son.
The government took Ms. Zou back to the county government office, and she reported on the autopsy, saying that the wounds on the dead body were all intact and the head had been chopped off with a single knife. In addition to the murder weapon being sharp enough, the murderer must also be strong enough. It cannot be done by just one woman from the Zou family, there must be a third person.
Officials interrogated the defendant on the spot as to how he colluded with the adulterer to kill Mr. Li. Zou kowtowed and said: "My husband, Huang Xiucai, has been out singing shadow puppet shows all year round. A common woman has lived alone at home and has never done anything that is against women's ethics. It is obvious to all the neighbors! My family and the Li family are neither relatives nor neighbors. We have never had any contact. There is no hatred in the future. There has been no injustice recently. How could a citizen's daughter seduce an adulterer and kill him? Even if Mr. Li was really killed by me seducing an adulterer, where was the murder weapon? How could there be any reason to put the body in front of his house to show off? Look at the sky Master, please investigate carefully and never wrongly accuse a civilian woman..."
This official's brain was far inferior to Qiao Yu's. Only when he heard what Zou said did he realize that he was right! If it is seducing an adulterer, it is usually to murder the husband in order to achieve the purpose of staying together for a long time. But it is unreasonable to seduce an adulterer and kill others!
Immediately, the official said to Xiang, "What evidence do you have for accusing the Zou family of colluding with an adulterer to kill your son? Besides, your family is not related to the Huang family. What was your son doing in front of the Huang family? Tell the truth!" The rich man Li said tremblingly: "I don't know why Quanzi appeared in front of the Huang family. I just saw him die in front of the Huang family. The Huang family can't get away with it. There is no proof!"
The official said to Ms. Zou: "In court, you must tell the truth. It is not a place where face is concerned. If you cannot truthfully tell us what happened last night, I may not be able to excuse you!"
When Zou saw what the official said, she told the whole story.
It turned out that Huang Xiucai was away from home all year round singing shadow puppets, leaving Zou alone to stay at home and do housework. On weekdays, she never left the house or took a step forward. Ms. Zou was considered to be naturally beautiful, and her husband was away from home for a long time, so some scoundrels and rogues tried to take advantage of her. Unfortunately, Ms. Zou doesn't go out on weekdays and rarely interacts with people, so it's a rare opportunity to get close to her.
Rich Man Li's son is a prodigal son who spends his days doing nothing but looking for flowers and willows. Relying on being rich and powerful, he always cares about his daughter-in-law and often does dirty things. Naturally, this swinger had salivated over Zou for a long time and often looked for opportunities to lewdly tease her. Zou is a well-behaved woman and hates Mr. Li very much. Intimidated by the Li family's wealth and power, but not daring to provoke him, he had no choice but to avoid entanglement!
Mr. Li never gave up. He knew that Huang Xiucai was out singing shadow puppet shows last night and was not at home. He took the opportunity to open the door of Huang's house and broke into the house with the intention of raping him. Ms. Zou tried her best to resist, but she couldn't resist the gangster's ferocity and was pushed down on the kang. Just when Mr. Li was about to pull off Mr. Zou's clothes, a big man suddenly broke in from outside with an ax in his hand. He grabbed Mr. Li by the collar and shouted: "Don't be unreasonable, you villain. A certain family is coming!" The big man was like arresting a child. He dragged Mr. Li out of the house like a chicken. Zou saw from the crack in the window that the big man picked up his ax and chopped off Mr. Li's head with one blow!
Before the official could say anything, a government official suddenly reported that an official from a neighboring county had come to visit. Before the official could say anything, three people had already drifted in, dressed in strange and weird clothes. A tall and heroic man, a scholar with a sword behind his back, and a short man. Officials are always fooled, but after all, Linxian County Magistrate Qiao also recognizes them, so naturally he also recognizes these three people as the Three Ultimates. I know that these three people are experts in the world and do not follow etiquette. The official hurriedly clasped his fists and said: "The three of you coming here at this time must have important reasons. I am all ears!"
The young man carrying a sword among the three men pointed at Rich Man Li and said, "We are here for this thief. This thief raped a good woman and killed him for the Immortal family. He was tried in the Yama Palace and was involved in another case. There is a fisherman's daughter, who is imprisoned. For this reason, the thief snatched the dog into the house and imprisoned her. The thief pretended to rescue the girl, but actually transferred the girl to another house for detention. Being disrespectful to the old man, he raped and humiliated her many times, and the girl committed suicide by cutting her wrists with a bowl of ballast. The king of hell sent Yin away. Come on, please let us tell you, sir, and provide evidence so that this thief can be punished according to the law! Please handle the matters in the world of the dead as soon as possible so that he can be sent to the Palace of Hell as soon as possible to resolve the case!"
When Rich Man Li heard this, he was so frightened that he collapsed to the ground. At that time, the officials sent people to Rich Master Li's house to dig out the buried stone head of Guan Nu and bring it back to the county government. The officials were furious and said: "Bold madman, he has no way to teach his son. Father and son have committed evil, and they dare to falsely accuse others! Come on, left and right, Fight me forty times first!" Everyone in the hall also hated Rich Master Li's actions and struck without mercy. After a while, someone came to report, and Rich Man Li died under the stick.
The three young men laughed. Everyone was confused, and the young man with the sword behind his back said: "It turns out that the two Yin messengers are more impatient than us. The laws of the world must be obeyed, and the purpose is to warn the world. The two Yin messengers were so eager to deliver the order that they captured his soul!" No matter what, the punishment in the underworld is not enough, there are still punishments in the underworld. There is no such thing as death with a stick in the underworld punishment!" After saying this, the three of them clasped their fists in the air, and everyone was frightened! Only then did we know that these three people could communicate with Yin and Yang.
After talking about business, the three young immortal masters clasped their hands and left, but the local officials did not say anything about staying.
Let's say that one day, two people came to the Wuzhong County Yamen to file a lawsuit against each other. A fortune teller and a Taoist priest. The Taoist priest sued the fortune teller for blinding himself with a slingshot. Qiao Yu, the county magistrate, took a closer look and saw that the fortune teller was actually the short immortal master among the Three Ultimate Skills!