Concubine

Chapter 35 The Case
Hu San is a repeat offender, and he was locked in a separate room in the North Repeat Offender Cell.In front of the cell is a fence lined with a row of large logs as thick as an arm.There was a toilet in the back corner, the lid was thrown aside, and there was a stench coming out of the toilet. There was a pile of straw on the ground, damp and moldy, and a horizontal cage was placed in the middle, like a big box, divided into upper and lower The two parts were sandwiched in the middle with Hu San facing up, and the head, hands and feet protruded from the holes in the wooden box. They were locked and bolted together with iron chains, and then connected to the wall.

Yang Qiuchi asked Da Banya: "Why is he locked like this? Then how can he defecate?"

Da Banya smiled apologetically and said, "Master, according to the regulations, the murderer is only in the cage at night. After the brothers put him in the cage last night, they didn't bother to untie him during the day."

"Oh? Why is that?"

Da Banya leaned into Yang Qiuchi's ear: "Young Master Yin gave us 30 taels of silver, and asked us to take good care of this guy. So, hehehei...he had to pull it in his crotch if he wanted to relieve himself." Paused After a pause, he said again, "Master Yang, we didn't dare to touch the 30 taels of silver. After you come, you decide how to divide it.

When Yang Qiuchi heard this, he thought to himself, the money came really fast, so he asked, "How did you divide it before?"

"Half of the supervisor, and the other half is divided equally among the brothers of the prison guards."

"Half? So much?"

Dabanya quickly bowed his waist and said, "Master Yang, you take [-]%, and the rest will be divided among the brothers. What do you think?"

ah?Yang Qiuchi was stunned for a moment, and then laughed loudly: "You misunderstood, I mean my half is too much, and you have so many talents to divide half, isn't it too little?"

Dabanya breathed a sigh of relief: "My lord, you manage the entire prison, we brothers can all see the hard work, and the filial money sent outside is not all for your old face. You only take Half of it is completely taking care of the brothers, besides, these are all the rules left over from the past."

"Well, since that's the case, let's continue as usual."

"Okay, I'll go tell my brothers and bring you the silver." Da Banya hummed a little tune and left.

Yang Qiuchi leaned on the cell fence and looked inside.I saw that Hu San's eyes were closed tightly, and a low moan of pain came out of his mouth.The wounds left on my buttocks, thighs and two ankles when I hit the board with a stick yesterday have scabbed over.Many flies are crawling on it, flying up from time to time, making a buzzing sound.

Yang Qiuchi shouted: "Hu San!"

After calling several times in a row, Hu San still didn't move.

The little black dog that had been following Yang Qiuchi stuck its head into the fence and barked for a while. Hu Sancai tried to open his eyes and looked at Yang Qiuchi. His chapped lips moved, but he couldn't speak.

Yang Qiuchi said: "Did you kill the Bai sisters?"

Hu San shook his head, trying to nod, but the thick iron chain tightly tied around his neck hindered his movement.

The kid nodded and admitted, most likely because he was thinking that he had already confessed yesterday anyway, and if he retracted the confession, he would suffer again.It should not be what he had in mind.Yang Qiuchi slowed down his tone: "Don't worry, I won't torture you. Tell the truth, what's going on?"

Hu San tried his best to open his swollen eyes wide, and looked at Yang Qiuchi with difficulty, not knowing what his intention was.

At this time, Da Banya came back with a small bag in his hand, humming a little tune, and handed the small bag to Yang Qiuchi: "Master Yang, take it."

Yang Qiuchi took the small bag, squeezed it, and stuffed it into his arms.He ordered: "You go and get a chair, I want to ask this Hu San some things."

"Okay, I'll get it now, villain." Da Banya turned to leave, but was stopped by Yang Qiuchi again: "Wait, tell someone to take Hu San's cage first, so it's not easy to ask questions."

Big Ban Ya bowed his waist and agreed.After a while, together with several guards, they came back carrying a grand master's chair, and brought a small coffee table, and put tea, snacks, pens, ink, paper and inkstone.A jailer opened the cell door, went in and opened Hu San's cage, and shouted: "Hey! Get up and kneel down, our Lord Yang wants to ask you something!"

Hu San's hands and feet were pinched all night, and he was already stiff and unable to move. Hearing this, he bent his hands with difficulty, trying to turn over and get up, but there were dozens of iron chains locked on his body. The heavy weight, plus the torture last night and the night in the cage, has already been tortured beyond human shape, and it took a long time to turn over.

Da Banya pouted at the other guards. The two guards nodded and walked into the cage. The three of them helped Hu San up. The wounds on his thighs and buttocks had dried up, and blood scabs stuck to his pants. This movement caused pain in the wound, and Hu San lay on the haystack, half kneeling and half prone, moaning loudly.

The jailer kicked Hu San hard on the ass: "Cry your mother for mourning! Then tell me to make you look good."

This kick just hit the wound on Hu San's buttocks, causing him to scream in pain, and fell to the ground, trying to restrain himself from moaning.The jailers stepped forward and grabbed his hair and shoulders, dragged him up and knelt down.

Yang Qiuchi waved his hand: "Okay, you all go out, I want to ask him alone."

All the guards agreed in unison, and locked the cell door to prevent the criminal from rushing out and injuring Lord Yang, and then bowed and exited the cell.

Yang Qiuchi patted the head of the little black dog lying beside him, and asked Hu San: "I'll ask you again, did you kill the two sisters of the Bai family? You have to be honest, this is your last Here's the chance."

When Hu San heard this, he burst into tears and kowtowed desperately: "My lord! My lord, I was wronged! I really didn't kill the two of them! I beg you, my lord, I was really wronged, old man Save the villain's life, and in the next life, we will form a grass ring to repay your great kindness!" The sound of kowtowing and the rattling of the iron chain around his neck rang together.

Yang Qiuchi waited for his crying to subside before asking, "Want to drink water?"

Hu San raised his head and stared at Yang Qiuchi in a daze. Hearing the word drink water, his chapped lips seemed to burst into flames.He didn't dare to nod, for fear that this was deliberately teasing himself.

Yang Qiuchi picked up the teapot and passed it in through the fence. Hu San hesitated for a moment, then took it carefully, looked at Yang Qiuchi again, raised his neck, and drank the big pot of tea in one gulp.He choked on drinking too much, put down the empty teapot and coughed violently.

After a long time, he calmed down slowly, kowtowed to Yang Qiuchi a few times to express his gratitude, and then handed the teapot back to Yang Qiuchi.

Yang Qiuchi took the teapot, put it on the table, and asked slowly: "Okay, please tell the truth in detail."

Hu San drank some water, regained his energy, and said slowly: "I went to the street at noon yesterday to do some errands, and I stopped by to find Widow Xie, and wanted to make out with her, but she happened to be out..."

"Who are you, Widow Xie?"

Hu San hesitated for a moment, then lowered his head and said, "She, she is my girlfriend, and she has been dating for almost a year."

"Well, you go on."

Chapter 35 The Case

"On the way back, I met a few friends, and we drank together in the tavern. After drinking, I returned to Yin's house, a little drunk. When I passed by Xiaomei Bai's residence, I knew that she usually took a nap at noon, so I wanted to steal it. Take a look."

Speaking of this, Hu San looked a little embarrassed, secretly raised his eyes to look at Yang Qiuchi, saw that he did not show a sarcastic expression, breathed a sigh of relief, and then said: "I poked through the paper on the window with my fingers and looked in, and I saw Bai Xiaomei was sleeping on the bed in a small dress, and the quilt slipped to one side, revealing..."

Paused, embarrassed to explain, skipped and continued: "I... I was obsessed with ghosts, I opened the window and went into the room, and... just gave her to that..."

"Did she not resist?"

"Resisted, I gagged her mouth, pinched her neck, I was nervous and scared, she resisted very hard, so... so I... didn't go in and it was over..."

Yang Qiuchi wanted to laugh, but felt it was inappropriate, so he held back his laughter, coughed, and asked, "What happened next?"

"After the incident was over, I became sober and knew that it was over. At that time, I just wanted to run away quickly, and never thought of killing her. Really! My lord, please believe me! I can swear a poisonous oath!"

Yang Qiuchi nodded: "Go on."

"I got up and put on my clothes in a hurry, and escaped from the Yin family compound through the back door. I fled to Widow Xie's house and hid. I wanted to flee the city immediately, but I thought that little sister Bai would definitely report me. I will be caught. I thought about changing my clothes and fleeing after dark and before the city gate was closed, but I didn't expect that you would find me so soon."

"When you put on your clothes, didn't Miss Bai yell?"

"She just lay on the bed and kept crying, without shouting."

"Oh, then how did you kill her sister Bai Sumei?"

"I've been wronged, my lord!" Hu San kowtowed desperately, "I really didn't kill Bai Sumei, she was really not there at that time. I only found out about her death after hearing the old magistrate's questioning. "

"Then you didn't kill Miss Bai?" Yang Qiuchi asked, staring into Hu San's eyes.

Hu San put his hands on his chest, his lips trembling: "Master, I swear, I really didn't kill their sisters. I only wanted to run away at that time, and never thought of killing anyone. When I ran away, little sister Bai was still crying on the bed , how could he die..."

Yang Qiuchi observed his expression, he didn't seem to be lying, and asked again: "Did little sister Bai catch you when you resisted?"

Hu San recalled it carefully, and said with certainty: "I haven't caught her. I crossed her hands on top of her head and grabbed her with one hand, so she couldn't hurt me."

"Take off your shirt and let me see."

Hu San struggled to pull off his clothes from his shoulders. Yang Qiuchi observed carefully, and there were no scratches on Hu San's entire upper body.

Yang Qiuchi asked: "You said you didn't kill the Bai sisters, what evidence do you have?"

Hu San thought for a long time, then shook his head blankly: "I can't produce evidence, but I really didn't kill them two. Sir, please trust me."

Yang Qiuchi pondered, trying to recall what he saw during the autopsy.

Suddenly, Yang Qiuchi remembered something. When he checked it himself, the little girl Bai on the bed had obvious rigor and corpse spots, but Bai Sumei on the ground hadn't appeared yet. From this, it can be seen that the time of Bai Sumei's death must have been around After Bai Xiaomei, there was a difference of at least two hours.

If Hu San abused Bai Xiaomei and strangled her to death, there was no reason to stay at the scene for two hours before killing Bai Sumei.If it were me, I would have fled the scene immediately.

From this point of view, at least it is certain that Bai Sumei was not strangled to death by Hu San.Who could it be?

The skin fragments left under Bai Xiaomei's fingernails should be left by the murderer. DNA testing must be done as soon as possible to find the problem.The inspection instruments were still behind the truck in the valley. Although the valley was sparsely populated, he still hired someone to bring the equipment back as soon as possible.

While thinking about it, a voice like a silver bell came from outside: "Brother, brother! My father told you to go!" I knew it was Song Yuner, the eldest lady of Song Zhi County. I'm not used to it.

Song Yuner came to Yang Qiuchi's side like a gust of wind: "Brother, let's go, my father told you to go."

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Yang Qiuchi stood up.

"The parents of the Bai sister who died yesterday afternoon came to see the body. Don't you have the key to the mortuary? My father told you to go quickly. They will drink tea and wait for you there."

After hearing this, Yang Qiuchi hurried out of the cell with Song Yuner.

Dabanya and other guards were waiting at the door of the cell, Yang Qiuchi said: "I have something to go out, so you should keep an eye on Hu San."

Da Banya and the others quickly agreed.

Yang Qiuchi and Song Yuner hurried to the greenhouse with the little black dog.

Entering the door, I saw a couple, a man in his 50s or [-]s, with a black beard on his stern face, a relatively strong figure, wearing a military uniform, frowning and thinking about something.Sitting next to the military officer was a middle-aged woman who was wiping tears.

Sitting next is Yin De, the eldest son of the Yin family.Song Zhixian sat on the chair next to him, and he kept moaning and grieving along with him.

Seeing Yang Qiuchi and others coming in, County Magistrate Song stood up and said to Yang Qiuchi, "Come on, let me introduce you. These two are the parents of the Bai sisters who died yesterday, Mr. Bai Qian and his wife." Turning to Boss Bai Qian, he said, "This is the nephew of the lower official, surnamed Yang and named Qiu Chi, who is the supervisor of the Yamen cell."

Yin De, who was sitting at the bottom, listened to Song Zhixian's introduction, and was a little surprised. When this young man was surveying the scene yesterday afternoon, he was just a young apprentice. How could he become the supervisor of the cell today.Still stood up and bowed to Yang Qiuchi.

Yang Qiuchi returned the gift, but he was thinking in his heart: Boss Bai Qian, Boss Qian?The name seems to be a military officer. I don't know what rank it is, but the Song magistrate claims to be a subordinate official, and his official rank should be higher than that of the Song magistrate.

Yang Qiuchi's conjecture is correct, this thousand is always a local military officer in the Ming Dynasty, with a rank of sixth rank.

Yang Qiuchi bowed to salute.Unexpectedly, Boss Bai Qian just looked at it with eyelids, nodded slightly, and ignored Song Zhixian, "Master Zhixian, let's go see the little girl first."

Song Zhixian repeatedly agreed, and led the way, and a group of people came to the mortuary.

The mortuary is in a basement to the east.Yang Qiuchi opened the door with a key, and a cloud of dampness rushed towards his face, making Song Yuner shiver involuntarily.

In the middle of the mortuary are two large wooden boards for corpses, each supported by two benches.Two corpses lay flat on the wooden board, their faces covered with white cloths.On the ground in front of the board, there were two long burning lamps, which gave off a cool light in the dim mortuary.

(End of this chapter)