Idle courtiers

Chapter 87 Red Pills
That night, Zhou Nan entered the county government's cell with his hands behind his back.

Seeing him coming, a female prisoner with a round waist came over to greet him.

Zhou Nan: "There is still a confession to be recorded in the murder case of Huo's dyeing workshop. Since the clerk is in charge of this matter, he must be responsible to the end. Come here today and complete the confession. You give me the key to Widow Huo's prison door and leave Bar!"

The female prisoner was taken aback: "Master Zhou, this is not in compliance with the rules! If you want to record a statement, just tell me, we just need to take the person to the execution room. How can we interrogate in the cell without allowing people to listen? If others know , I can’t afford to take the small ones.”

Originally, the prisons of the Ming Dynasty did not set up female prisons alone.Only according to the status of the prisoners, they are divided into large cells and single cells.

Many female felony prisoners are treated lightly by their fellow inmates or abused by their prisoners after being thrown into prison.The reason is simple: anyway, you little girl is about to be beheaded. Before you die, let's have a good time.

This kind of thing happened a few times, and it was really outrageous.Later, a female prison was set up separately, and female prisoners were guarded by female prisoners.

However, even so, when the government encounters a female criminal, as long as it is not a felony of beheading, in principle, only the family members are asked to take them back to take care of them.

Zhou Nan was nicknamed a satyr in Andong County, and all the incense and jade he stole were widows, and the big girl with yellow flowers didn't even look at it.So, a rumor spread in the county, saying that Mr. Zhou only loves mature women who know the truth and have unique tastes.

Seeing that Zhou Nan was going to interrogate Widow Huo alone tonight, the female prisoner thought Master Zhou was a mouse but not a musket - he was playing the cat's heart. ——Suddenly shocked, he spoke out to remind the pawn master to respect himself.

Zhou Nan immediately understood what she was thinking, and was extremely angry: what people say is scary!
He had a cold face: "You can just take the key if I tell you, what's the point, I'll take care of it, it's not up to you, and it's against you?"

Entering the single cell, the light inside was very dark, and there was a musty smell of straw.

But Widow Huo was sitting in the straw, unkempt and looking at Zhou Nan with dull eyes.

Zhou Nan slapped his nose with his hand, and said, "Mr. Huo, I'm Li Zhou Nan from the county government office. I'm in charge of your case. Today, I'm here to ask you two questions. You have to be honest. answer."

"The first question is, what kind of medicine did you feed Niu Er, and where did it come from?"

Widow Huo didn't answer.He just murmured: "Master Zhou, I'm about to be beheaded, what medicine does Niu Er take?" He closed his eyes as he spoke.

Zhou Nan asked a few more times, but Widow Huo still kept her eyes shut.

He rushed up angrily: "Widow Huo, don't resist your interrogation by the Public Prosecutor's Law, don't go all the way to darkness. At that time, you will be smashed to pieces by the iron fist of "Law of the Ming Dynasty."

After a pause, he came back to his senses. This is the Ming Dynasty. Can she understand me when I tell her this?

Then he continued: "Widow Huo, don't regret if you don't answer. I will ask you one last question, and I will leave after asking. You can choose to remain silent. The second question is, do you want to die or live?"

Widow Huo: "So what if you want to die, so what if you want to live?"

Zhou Nan: "It's not easy to want to die. Your case will be sent to the Nanzhili Procuratorate tomorrow, and then reported to the Ministry of Criminal Justice in the capital. It will be sentenced in three to five months at most. Naturally, you will be sentenced to death." .As for wanting to live...obediently listen to me..."

Widow Huo heard the meaning of Zhou Nan's words, and the light of hope ignited in her dull eyes.She knelt forward, put her arms around Zhou Nan's legs, and shouted: "I want to live, I want to live, master, you can do whatever you want me to do. I heard people say that master likes widows, and women know deeply about the bed. I wish to serve Master Hou."

Zhou Nan was furious, and shouted: "Widow Huo, what do you think, who do you think I am. I just ask you to answer the first question. If it is useful, maybe you can save your life."

Only then did Widow Huo realize that she was going to make a mistake, so she prostrated herself on the ground and kowtowed: "Please ask the master to ask, and the woman will answer honestly."

"Okay, answer the first question."

Widow Huo: "my husband bought that medicine outside. He said it could be used for fun, but I don't know where he got it. Just don't take too much, because it's bad for your health. My husband bought five or six medicines one after another. Once, there were three bottles left after his death, all of which were eaten by Niu Er."

"Shenxianfang, what's the name of that medicine?" Zhou Nan asked, "Also, who is that Taoist priest?"

Widow Huo: "As for who the Taoist priest is selling the medicine, how does the woman know. I don't know the name of the medicine, it's just broad bean-sized balls, just like red beans."

"Hongwan, the Hongwan case!" Zhou Nan's heart shuddered, it turned out to be such a thing.

In the last years of the Ming Dynasty, there were four strange cases, namely "the case of attacking the stile, the case of Hongwan, the case of moving the palace, and the case of the demon book."

The so-called Hongwan case refers to Ming Guangzong who became ill just two days after succeeding to the throne, and the medicine stone was ineffective.Someone offered a red pill, and Ming Guangzong felt very good after taking it.He took it non-stop, and finally died. He only reigned for ten days.

This incident caused a huge disturbance later, and it was regarded as a major political event in the last years of the Ming Dynasty.

Now, according to Widow Huo, the red pill might be an aphrodisiac.

The ancient Chinese aphrodisiac contains many tiger and wolf medicines, which are used to forcibly stimulate the potential of the human body.Therefore, it works very well when used in matters of the sexes.

However, overdose of this kind of drug that forcibly overdrafts the body will make people weak and will die suddenly if they are not careful.

……

Coming out of the prison and returning home, Zhou Nan thought for a long time.I thought to myself: If we want to find out whether Mr. Mei took the red pill ten years ago, there may be only one way, and that is to open the coffin and do an autopsy.

Most ancient aphrodisiacs used heavy metal elements such as mercury and lead.After taking this kind of thing for a long time, the bones will turn black after the human body absorbs it. This is why the bones of Niu Er's corpse turned black as Li Painter said earlier.

In later generations, unscrupulous traders mixed lead powder in the feed when feeding chickens, so that white feather chickens with black bones could be pretended to be silkies. The principle is the same.

However, it is impossible to dig the grave of Mr. Mei. He has to work hard with me.The relationship with the Mei family has finally eased, but I can't touch this bad luck.

So, where to start?

Zhou Nan thought about it again, and suddenly remembered what Widow Huo said: "My husband bought it five or six times back then, and after he passed away, he left three bottles, all of which were eaten by Niu Er."

Immediately slapped his thigh: "I have this medicine in Andong County."

The main raw materials in the dyeing business are various dyes, such as gamboge and alizarin red, which are produced in Huai'an, and it was impossible for Widow Huo's husband to travel far away.

In this way, it becomes easy to check this matter.

Start with the various pharmacies in the county.

(End of this chapter)