Yanping County Government.
Inner hall.
The county magistrate Song Zhili was pacing back and forth, very anxious.
"Sir," the arrester Cheng Xiao bowed to report, "I have asked clearly. The old man's surname is Li. During his detention, only Mr. Gao, the scrivener, went in to write the complaint. After he finished, no one went in again. Pass."
As he spoke, he presented the paper.
Song Zhili took the paper and looked at it quickly, but his brows became more and more wrinkled.
"Also," Cheng Xiao added, "Wu Zuo has examined the corpse and it is true that he died of poisoning. Since no external injuries were found, he is suspected of taking poison!"
"Taking poison? How could this happen?" Magistrate Song wiped the sweat from his forehead and pondered, "Only Mr. Gao has gone in, is it possible..."
Having said this, he shook his head repeatedly, because Mr. Gao was just the scrivener responsible for writing the petition. He had no enmity with the old man, so how could he poison someone?
Besides, Mr. Gao is already old, so how can he force the old man to take poison?
"It should have nothing to do with Mr. Gao," Cheng Xiao analyzed. "The jailer confirmed that an hour after Mr. Gao left, Old Man Li asked the jailer the time, indicating that he was still alive at that time."
"Oh..." Magistrate Song frowned, "Then...could it be that Old Man Li committed suicide by taking poison? Did he bring the poison himself?"
After asking, the two were silent for a while, and then shook their heads at the same time.
Because logically speaking, the old man was suing on behalf of his daughter and the lawsuit had not yet been filed, so there was no reason to commit suicide.
"Now we're in trouble..." County Magistrate Song unexpectedly said something appropriate, "Yellow mud fell into his crotch - it was either feces or feces! As soon as the news spread, people would definitely think that our Yamen and Qiu Batian were colluding. Kill people and silence them for him, well... what should I do?"
"Sir," Cheng Xiao said with a solemn expression, "This matter comes at a very strange time. If Old Man Li did not commit suicide, it means that our Yamen is not clean!"
One sentence made Magistrate Song even more frightened.
"This Qiu Batian is too scary!" He guessed in horror, "All the people in our yamen have been bribed by him? What on earth does he want to do? Demonstrate with us?"
"This..." Cheng Xiao naturally couldn't give an answer.
"No..." Magistrate Song thought for a few seconds and hurriedly said to Cheng Xiao, "We have to block the news quickly and not let the news that Old Man Li died in the Yamen spread.
"By the way, isn't Old Man Li's daughter not in the Yamen? Send someone to bring her over quickly..."
"No!"
Unexpectedly, before Cheng Xiao agreed, Xu Zhen's voice suddenly came from the door.
"Master Song," Xu Zhen stepped into the inner hall and saluted Magistrate Song, "I have just been to Old Man Li's house. His house caught fire, and Old Man Li's daughter has been burned to death!"
"What!!?"
The two of them turned pale with shock, and Magistrate Song sat down on the Grand Master's chair.
"Xu Zhen," after the shock, Magistrate Song remembered something and hurriedly straightened his back and asked, "Why did you go to Old Man Li's house?"
"I saw the old man died in the county jail. I was worried that his daughter would also be silenced, so I hurried there. Unfortunately..." Xu Zhen shook his head helplessly, "It's still a step too late..."
Next, Xu Zhen recounted what happened at Old Man Li's house.
"It's actually like this..." Magistrate Song was horrified when he heard this. He clutched the armrest tightly and muttered in a low voice, "This method... is too cruel and vicious!"
Xu Zhen saw that Magistrate Song still believed that Qiu Batian did all this.
Who knows, what did County Magistrate Song think of after he mumbled, and suddenly looked at Xu Zhen and said, "You actually still have the heart to go to the old man's house... You are still thinking about his daughter..."
Snapped!
Suddenly, Magistrate Song's expression changed, he slapped the armrest and shouted angrily:
"Xu Zhen, look what you did! I asked you to summon Qiu Batian, you...how did you knock him out? Who asked you to do this?"
"Ah?" Xu Zhen was stunned at first, and then looked at Cheng Xiao innocently, "Didn't Chief Cheng say that you would blame him if he couldn't bring Qiu Batian? He also told me that if Qiu Batian dared to disobey, Just let me arrest him!"
"Bastard!" Cheng Xiao was furious and quickly clarified, "That...that's what Chen Tiefeng said!"
After speaking, he realized that his clarification was tantamount to smearing.
"No, no, no... Sir," he hurriedly defended Magistrate Song, "That's not the case, I just asked Xu Zhen to summon Qiu Batian, but I didn't expect him to be so reckless!
"Xu Zhen, you..." Cheng Xiao grinned angrily, "Look how much trouble you have caused to the Lord?
"Sir," he turned to Magistrate Song again and began to complain, "Xu Zhen is good at making opinions and has caused big trouble to the Yamen. Please dismiss him immediately! Otherwise, Qiu Batian will definitely not give up!"
Hearing this, Song Zhili narrowed his eyes and already understood what Cheng Xiao meant.
In their opinion, this case was all done by Qiu Batian.
Xu Zhen knocked out such an untouchable devil and took him back to the Yamen. The consequences were obviously very serious.
As long as Qiu Batian makes a small report to his uncle who is the Minister of Civil Affairs, his future will be very worrying.
Now, only by dismissing Xu Zhen can we shirk the responsibility and facilitate our subsequent operations.
Besides, if Xu Zhen is not fired, Xu Zhen will always represent the Yamen. Once Qiu Batian pursues the case, the Yamen will be implicated.
Um……
After making up his mind, Magistrate Song nodded heavily, with a sinister light in his eyes, and said to Xu Zhen:
"Xu Zhen, it seems that you are indeed not suitable to be a detective. From now on - you are dismissed!"
Upon hearing this decision, Cheng Xiao sneered with satisfaction.
However, when he looked at Xu Zhen, he found that Xu Zhen also had a sneer on his face.
"Xu Zhen, did you hear what you said?" Cheng Xiao pointed at the door, "Why don't you get out of here!?"
"Sir Song," Xu Zhen ignored Cheng Xiao, but clasped his fists at Song Zhili and said steadily, "If there is such a possibility, I will force Qiu Batian to the Yamen, but it is for your own good. Woolen cloth?"
"What?" Xu Zhen's words immediately caught Song Zhili's attention, "What do you mean?"
"Master Song," Xu Zhen asked again, "I wonder, have you ever thought that what happened to Old Man Li and his daughter was not Qiu Batian's fault?"
"What?" Song Zhili opened his mouth, "Qiu Batian didn't do it? How is it possible?"
"Xu Zhen," Cheng Xiao retorted, "What nonsense are you talking about? Who else could it be if it weren't Qiu Batian? Could it be that...then Old Man Li still made a false accusation?"
"Yes, Old Man Li's daughter was indeed abandoned naked in the market this morning, and some people recognized that the carriage belonged to Qiu Batian.
"Also," Song Zhili pointed at the paper, "it is clearly written on it. According to his daughter's confession, his daughter recognized that the person who abducted, raped and abandoned her in the downtown area was Qiu Batian and one of his subordinates. Could it be that Can this be false?"
"Sir," Xu Zhen objected, "these are just one-sided statements. From beginning to end, we have not received confirmation from Qiu Batian."
"Joke," Cheng Xiao sneered, "You don't naively think that Qiu Batian can admit it, do you?"
"No, that's not what I meant," Xu Zhen said. "According to my judgment, Qiu Batian probably doesn't know about Ailian."
"Oh?" Song Zhili was surprised and asked with raised eyebrows, "What's the basis?"
"Before I knocked Qiu Batian unconscious today, I saw two ravaged young women on his carriage," Xu Zhen said, "So, after I came out of Old Man Li's house just now, I deliberately found them."
Hearing this, Song Zhili and Cheng Xiao both looked puzzled. They didn't understand what the relationship between these two women had to the case.
"These two are new singing girls from the Jiaofang Division," Xu Zhen explained. "They were forcibly taken back to Zuixianju by Qiu Batian last night and stayed with Qiu Batian all night!"
"Ah?" Song Zhili couldn't help but said, "You mean...last night?"
"Yes," Xu Zhen said, "According to what the two of them said, Qiu Batian humiliated and tortured them inhumanely all night long!"
When speaking, Xu Zhen gritted his teeth and said it because the two poor singing girls were only sixteen years old.
"What you mean is..." Magistrate Song did not pay attention to this, but said with understanding, "Qiu Batian was with these two women last night, so the old man's daughter..."
"Sir," Cheng Xiao said hurriedly, "Qiu Ba is naturally surly and strong. Spending the night with a singing prostitute does not seem to affect his violence against Old Man Li's daughter, right?"
"When I summoned Qiu Batian, I deliberately told Old Man Li that he had complained, but the reactions of Qiu Batian and others were all very surprised, and they didn't look like they knew anything about it." Xu Zhen continued his analysis, "Furthermore, he Since he had already planned to kill someone and silence him, why did he have to wait until Old Man Li came to the Yamen to complain, and why did he have to poison him in the Yamen prison?
"Also, even if the murder is heart-breaking, is it unnecessary to first abandon the old man's daughter naked in the market, and then kill her and set her on fire? Isn't it too ostentatious?
"My lord, don't you think this case is strange?"
"This..." In fact, County Magistrate Song also felt that this case was a bit unreasonable before, but now that he heard Xu Zhen's analysis, he was even more convinced of his previous judgment.
"Wait..." However, Cheng Xiao glared at Xu Zhen and said, "Xu Zhen, according to what you said, did Old Man Li deliberately frame Qiu Batian? With his daughter's innocence and his own life, don't you think Is it ridiculous?”
"Really?" Xu Zhen said coldly, "Then what if... Old Man Li and his daughter were also taken advantage of?"
ah?
As soon as this was said, the scene became quiet again.
"Abandoning the market naked, killing people and silencing them..." Xu Zhen said seriously, "The case was done in such a ostentatious manner. If it wasn't a frame-up, it might be okay, but if it was really a deliberate frame-up, sir..." He looked at Song Zhili, "Then what's behind this The person’s background—it’s not small!”
…
