Four days later, the remaining snow melted, and the Chibi River surface of the Yangtze River reflected the tepid light of the winter sun; a vulture soared in the clear blue sky.
An old white-haired man was sitting by the river fishing.
A vulture suddenly swooped down from the sky, got close to the river, and ate a bunch of "floating objects".
The white-haired old man looked closely and saw that the "floating object" was clearly a corpse. The body, head and face were thrown on the river, and a bunch of disheveled hair was still moving with the river current.
The white-haired old man had a look of surprise on his face, put away his fishing rod, stood up and left quietly.
An hour later, three detectives with long knives hanging on their waists and a man carrying a medicine box came and stood by the river, looking at the corpses floating on the river, one, two, three...
One of the agents called a swallow-tailed boat and boarded it one after another with two other agents and a widower. The boatman rowed towards a corpse in the middle of the river.
A vulture was sitting on a highly decayed female corpse floating on the river, pecking at the carrion. The big man yelled: "Hey--" The vulture took off its wings and flew into the sky.
The swallow-tailed boat drew close to the female corpse, and everyone on the boat covered their noses and looked at it.
The big detective looked at the corpse and realized that it was a female body by looking at the hair, but he didn't know whether the deceased committed suicide or was murdered.
Wu Zuo said that the body was soaked in the river water and it was really difficult to identify it.
Wu Zuo knelt down, opened the medicine box, took out a pair of medical gloves and put them on. He signaled the boatman to bring the boat closer. He reached out and pulled the female body from the water to the boat. Seeing that he couldn't pull him alone, several catchers came over to help, and they pulled him onto the boat.
Wu Zuo looked at the boatman and said, "Take this female body to the shore. I will check again to see if there are any injuries on other parts of her body."
The swallow-tail boat rowed toward the shore. Wu Zuo carefully observed the female body temporarily placed on the boat.
While the boat was traveling on the river, the big, medium, and small detectives looked in different directions on the river, and found floating corpses of men and women respectively. They counted: one, two, three... six in total.
Wu Zuo said that there were a total of seven bodies including those on the boat.
The big detective said that their identities were unknown, and whether it was homicide or suicide, the circumstances were unknown.
A police officer asked, did so many people suffer at the same time? Hard to say.
The little detective rolled his eyes a few times and said, "I analyze that the possibility of suicide is low, but the possibility of homicide is high."
The boatman interrupted, maybe the boat capsized in the middle of the river and all seven people on board were drowned. It was also possible.
Wu Zuo said, let's not draw any conclusions yet until all seven bodies are fished ashore for inspection.
Two hours later, all seven corpses were fished ashore, but they were all highly decomposed. Some corpses had more than half of their eyes and noses eaten by fish or vultures, making it impossible to identify the faces of the deceased.
Wu Zuo examined the corpses one by one and told several police officers that he really could not draw a conclusion as to how the deceased died. However, based on the identification of the seven corpses, the only thing that can be concluded is their gender and age. There are four men and three women. Two of the four men are older and two are slightly younger; two of the three women are older. One is older and one is slightly younger.
The big detective said that this information could not prove whether this was actually a murder case.
An hour later, several local villagers who had been invited had dug a huge pit in the mountain with shovels and shovels, placed all seven highly decomposed corpses in it and buried them in the earth.
In March of this year, it was raining heavily and the cold wind was blowing, making it even more chilly in spring.
Fu Dexing was wearing a coat and sitting on the Taishi chair against the wall in the grocery store on Puqi West Street. He kept coughing and occasionally lowered his head to spit into an earthen jar placed at his feet.
Fu Chunlan stood at the counter waiting for business. Seeing that no customers came, she approached Fu Dexing and stood behind him to give him a slap on the back.
Fu Chunlan said, Dad, you cough every day, please ask Mr. Hu from South Street to give you some herbs to eat. !
Fu Dexing shook his head and said confidently that my cough will be cured in due course when the weather gets warmer. Then my throat felt itchy and I kept coughing. When I coughed, the veins on my neck bulged clearly.
Fu Chunlan said anxiously, "The more you cough, the worse it gets. You'd better ask Hu Langzhong to come and take a look!"
Fu Dexing said, if it's raining outside, where can I hire a doctor? When the weather clears, I will go directly to Hu Langzhong.
Qian Wanguan was cleaning in the aisle to the right of the counter. He suddenly put the broom against the wall, looked at Fu Chunlan and waved: Come here.
Fu Chunlan approached him and he whispered to Fu Chunlan for a while.
Fu Dexing saw it and asked Chunlan, what did Wanguan tell you?
Fu Chunlan felt it was not appropriate to say it, so she just said it without saying anything.
Qian Wankuan smiled at Fu Dexing and said you will know later.
Fu Dexing saw Qian Wanguan walking into the back room and then coming out again, wearing a hat to protect him from the rain.
He said to Fu Chunlan, let me ask you, what did Wan Guan do? Leaving so early.
Fu Chunlan said, I arranged for him to go out for something, and you will know later.
An hour later, Fu Dexing's asthma broke out, and a mouthful of phlegm was stuck in his throat. His eyes turned white and his whole body trembled.
Fu Chunlan approached and supported Fu Dexing, but it didn't work either. Then he shouted to the inner room - hired workers come here.
I saw two hired workers coming over one after another. It was clear at a glance that they were helping Fu Dexing to the inner room, one on the left and the other on the right.
Fu Chunlan walked around the grocery store, muttering, why haven't the people I asked Qian Wagguan to invite come yet?
Suddenly I saw two people coming outside the door, one wearing a bamboo hat, it was Qian Wankuan; the other holding an umbrella in his left hand and carrying a medicine box in his right hand, it was Hu Langzhong.
Fu Chunlan asked reproachfully, Qian Wagguan, why did you come so late? I asked two hired workers to help my father to the inner room. He had a lump of phlegm in his throat and couldn't come out. I wanted to see if Hu Langzhong could help him.
Qian Wanguan said that Hu Langzhong was seeing another patient, so he waited for so long.
Fu Chunlan urged, go in quickly.
In the inner room, Fu Dexing was lying on a bamboo bed covered with quilts, his eyes rolling white. Two hired workers stood there and stared, but they could not help.
At this time, Qian Wanguan brought Hu Langzhong in to observe Fu Dexing's condition. Seeing that he was having difficulty breathing, he knew that his throat was choked by phlegm, so he opened the medicine box and took out the twister, and motioned to Fu Dexing to open his mouth so that he could twist easily, but he couldn't. Not coming out.
Hu Langzhong said that the phlegm must be sucked out. If it stays blocked in the throat for a long time, there is a danger of suffocation.
Upon hearing this, Qian Wankuan couldn't help but give orders. He immediately squatted down in front of Fu Dexing, put his mouth to his, and sucked hard for several times. It took about a cup of tea to suck out the phlegm blocked in Fu Dexing's throat. . Because there was no earthen jar to catch the phlegm, he also vomited all over the floor.
Fu Dexing sat up and became much calmer. He cast a grateful look at Qian Wanguan, who was still spitting out saliva and dirt.
One day, the atmosphere in the judgment hall of Hades was gloomy.
Zhong Kui, who was wearing noodles with a curly beard, stood there and made a gesture to the Cao Yang family, who were kneeling in a row, to stand up.
Zhong Kui let out a rough voice and said: The seven undead souls of your family have reached the underworld for seven years. I went to the Palace of Yama to check the life and death book of everyone in your family. They basically did not do anything evil during their lifetime. According to the rules of the underworld, the undead are innocent. You can all be reincarnated smoothly and be reborn into a destined family. Now, we will send a secret messenger to send your family of seven to the King of Wheels Palace to receive reincarnation certificates, reincarnate as human beings, and start over again.
Cao Yang frowned, cupped his hands towards Zhong Kui and said, Judge Wu, please forgive me for stating that this undead soul will not be reincarnated as a human being for the time being. He will wait until the seven masked robbers who robbed a ship of soybeans on the Chibi River are captured and brought to justice one by one, and sentenced to death. Reincarnate as a human being, otherwise I would rather be the sufferer in the city where I died in vain.
Cao Hongyou and the other six undead people also said almost in unison that I would wait until the seven gangsters were captured and punished before I could be reincarnated as a human being.
Zhong Kui banged the table and shouted loudly, "No, reincarnating as a human is not better than being a ghost?"
There was silence in the entire hall.
Zhong Kui continued, now regarding your seven murder cases, neither the underworld nor the underworld has been closed. It is a fact that none of the seven robbers have been caught, but they will be caught sooner or later. In my opinion, Cao Yang will stay temporarily to cooperate with Hades in the detection work. I will make other plans after the case is closed in the future. The other six undead must obey the arrangements and cannot stay in the underworld for a long time.
Hu Qin glanced at Zhong Kui and immediately lowered his head.
Zhong Kui said with a smile on his face, "Hu Qin, thank you for embroidering my portrait with cross stitch when you were alive, and selling or giving it away as a New Year painting to be posted to others for good luck." I am ashamed that I, Zhong Kui, have not brought much joy to the people of the world. Even your family of seven, young and old, I have no time to protect, so I am in trouble. I am really sorry.
Hu Qin raised his head and said, Judge Wu, there is no need to be ashamed and don't say sorry. In your early years, you were born as a hero in the world. Who wouldn’t praise you? A hundred years later, if you become the great god of the underworld, who wouldn’t worship you? If I embroider your portrait and sell it or give it away, it's all part of my job and what I should do, but I haven't done enough.
Zhong Kui looked at her and smiled without saying a word.
