In the case library of Kuixian County Yamen, a young man with disheveled hair was looking through the files with eyes full of bloodshot eyes.
At the beginning of the founding of the Sheng Kingdom, only the capital city and the "Longxing Pavilion Museum of Literature and History" were set up as a place to store archives, books, files and other documents. Most local yamen, including county towns, had never set up this institution. However, since Li Zhanchun took the position of the capital censor and established the Shanhe Prefecture, he proposed to establish an institution to store local case files in each yamen. This is also one of the few places where the three judicial departments of Shanhe Prefecture, Tianbianwei and the Ministry of Justice can The government offices unanimously agreed, so the "collective case library" came into being.
He Nan returned to the Yamen alone tonight—Captain Xing and the two agents were responsible for "protecting" the safety of Xu Yuanwai's family. Chen Laozuo went directly back to his residence, leaving He Nan alone. Pushing a cart on the road covered with stars and moon.
On the way, a watchman who was on duty was so frightened when he saw He Cao's outfit - it was already creepy in the dead of night, but then he turned the corner and met a skinny man in a black robe with long hair like a waterfall. Carrying a cart carrying a headless corpse - this is what you can see in the underworld.
Under the escort of the watchman, He Nan returned to the Yamen without any danger - actually, it is not accurate to say that, He Nan had a fart crisis, and the watchman was the one who was frightened - and then went straight to the office. Went to the case library.
Since Xu Yuanwai and Chen Laozuo both mentioned that the "Thousand Faces Sect" also left numerous murders here, they must be able to find clues from the files.
With such a mood, He Nan found everything about the Thousand Faces Sect from the vast case files, and it was really shocking to read - the evils accumulated by the Thousand Faces Sect are really countless. What is even more frightening upon reflection is that the crimes committed by the Thousand Faces Cult are well known to everyone, but most of these cases do not have a single murderer arrested. They seem to be headless unsolved cases just like those headless corpses - —Then the question is, is it because no one wants to take care of it or no one dares to take care of it?
After reading all the files related to the Thousand Faces Sect, He Nan put the books back on the display shelves intact, but just before he was about to leave the collection library, he suddenly felt a tremor all over his body, as if he remembered something strange. As usual, he hurried back to the shelf.
He knew where the problem lay - the names and numbers of the cases were marked on the side covers of all the files, and they were arranged in order of numbers, and one of them was very eye-catching - these files were all from many years ago, even if No matter how well-preserved it is, there will still be traces of wear and tear from time. The old paper will turn yellow and the new paper will turn white. The old ink will be gray and dry while the new ink will be black and shiny... These can all be identified, especially when comparing the two sides.
"Then the problem lies with this one..." He Nan gently took the one that stood out among the old books with two fingers and gently pulled it out.
Objectively speaking, the ones who have been most restless in the past seven days are Capt. Xing and his little agents. He Nan is either sitting in the county office writing something or visiting. The old man was also at leisure, leaving only these military personnel who not only had to stand guard outside Yuan Xu's house in shifts, but also shouldered the responsibility of all searches, which was not easy.
But today their hard life was finally over - He Nan summoned everyone, including Yuan Wai, his wife, servants, and Yuan Er's wife and guys, and he announced that today the people in the Kui River would be released. The truth of three corpse cases came to light.
On September 29, the 20th year of Wangping, the sky is clear and the air is clear. It is suitable for funerals, burials, and lawsuits; it is taboo to start construction, break ground, and hold sacrifices.
He Nan was the last one to arrive. According to what he said - "The protagonist is always the last one to appear", and the reason for his late arrival was actually that he walked too slowly with various books that were half a person's height...
He Nan has a photographic memory. Regardless of whether the common people know it or not, at least the few people working in the Yamen have experienced it, and it is self-evident what it means for such a person to carry so many documents. .
"Thanks to everyone's hard work and active cooperation these days, He finally has the following evidence today, which can make the truth of this case known to the world." He Nan's voice was slightly hoarse, but it was still impressive. He bowed his hands to everyone in the hall and sat on the main seat. Even the county magistrate had to sit beside him.
"Executive member Xu, Mrs. Yuan, first of all I want to hear what you think of this case." He Nan cast his eyes on the two of them.
After all, Xu Yuanwai is a wealthy man in the city, and he can sit alone in a chair while waiting in the audience. He frowned and looked at He Nan, squinting his eyes like a tiger and wolf in a sleepy state: "What else can I say...that night? I have already said that this is all the fault of the Thousand Faces Cult, and they are the only ones who will kill people by beheading again and again."
Yuan Er's wife over there was an ordinary woman. She just cried secretly: "The daughter of the people only asks the warden to find the murderer of my husband..."
"Haha..." He Nan showed two rows of white teeth, but his words were unexpectedly terrifying: "Isn't the murderer of your husband already in this lobby?"
The words were not shocking, and everyone's breathing was raised for a while, and they looked around to see who looked like the perpetrator.
"By the way...the murderer who killed Mr. Xu's wife...is also here."
Although autumn was only halfway over, He Nan used two words to turn the county government office into a world of ice and snow, and the atmosphere had never been so solemn.
"What does He Yucao mean?" The county magistrate sitting next to He Nan couldn't sit still: "Since you said the murderer is here, why don't you let someone capture them?"
"Don't worry, County Magistrate. Even if the murderer is pinned to the ground at this time, they will not admit it. You might as well listen to me tell the whole story..." He Nan leaned over and whispered in the Magistrate's ear.
"Well, since everyone is waiting for me to speak, I won't hold back..." He Nan cleared his throat: "Xu Yuanwai's words are not unreasonable. Since I visited Xu's house one night five days ago, from Xu Yuanwai After hearing about the 'Thousand Faces Cult' that had done many evil things here ten years ago, I read through some past files and visited some old people in the city, and pieced together the true identity of the Thousand Faces Cult from their mouths."
In the next half hour, He Nan told everyone everything he knew about the Thousand-faced Sect, including that they killed people and took their heads to worship the so-called Thousand-faced Old Immortal, and this Thousand-faced Old Immortal These believers who sacrifice human heads to him will be given "the power of immortality".
"The so-called immortality is of course fake. In fact, it was a liar who told a big lie from beginning to end. He used the so-called old immortal's name to defraud money and control these believers." This is what He Nan said about Qianmian Cult. Summary carried out.
"So He Cao, what is the connection between what you are talking about and the death of my husband?" Yuan Er's wife has been confused from the beginning, and she was confused - she doesn't care about Qian Qian. Is Mian Laoxian a real god or a fake god? She only cares about who killed her husband.
In contrast, Xu Yuanwai seemed much calmer. He just drank cup after cup of tea without saying a word the whole time.
"Come here, show Mr. Xu some tea first." He Nan directed the government officials to bring another pot of tea to Mr. Xu before returning his attention to the case.
"He Yucao, you have said so much, but you still haven't been able to give us an explanation. Since you said you knew the murderer was among us, why didn't you tell him his name?" Xu Yuanwai put down the gun in his hand. Tea cup.
"Haha..." He Nan showed a smile to Mr. Xu, which made people shudder: "Mr. Xu, can't you just drink your tea?"
"Forget it, let me start with my reasoning... Yuan Er is a handsome man with a romantic nature. Although he was favored by many girls when he was young, his family is poor, so he has never been able to get married because of his livelihood. He had to work as an apprentice in this tailor shop, and then he naturally married the daughter of the tailor shop owner who fell in love with him, Yuan Er’s current wife. And why did he choose to marry the tailor shop owner’s daughter? ——The reason is very simple, because most of the people who come here to make clothes are women, many of whom are young and beautiful. After the death of my father-in-law, the tailor shop fell into the hands of Yuan Er, and his wife never cared about the things in the shop. , he can use the pretext of "tailor-made clothes" to flirt with those women inside. But he is a very smart man. Although he is not clear with others outside, when he returns home, he is in front of his wife. He looks like a good husband and father, and he has to explain everything clearly to his wife, except for his broken shoes."
"You...you are such a mouthful!" Yuan Er's wife was furious and immediately drank it out. "My husband has never acted deviantly with other women. How could he do such a thing?"
"That's just in front of you..." He Nan interrupted Mrs. Yuan Er, "What's important is not how many women he had an affair with, picking orchids and giving peony seeds, but that there was such a person among the women he had an affair with. ——Xu Yuanwai’s wife, Mrs. Jin.”
These words almost caused Xu Yuan to suffer a stroke and die. His face was ashen and he shouted loudly: "Hey, prison officer, don't talk nonsense and insult the integrity of the Xu family!"
However, He Nan ignored him at all and continued talking to himself: "Xu Yuan's wife, Mrs. Jin, was originally a maid he bought, but as the days passed, this little girl also lost her beauty. Xu Yuanwai took advantage of the situation and took her as a concubine. But how could Jin, who was in her early twenties, be willing to have sex with Luan Feng and Ming, an old man in his sixties? If she was the main wife, that would be fine, but a concubine would be fine. After a hundred years, Xu Yuanwai could not get any property, so she hooked up with Yuan Er, the owner of a tailor shop - Yuan Er was not yet old enough, strong and good-looking, and more or less the owner of a tailor shop. It’s considered an industry.”
"In this regard, Yuan Er thinks more than Jin - a wife is not as good as a concubine, and a concubine is not as good as stealing. He Yuan Er only wants to steal, but does not want to divorce his wife for a certain woman. After all, divorce means giving up this life. The tailor shop is completely under my own control and is getting better and better, so I just kept putting it off."
"Humanity is that you often walk by the river, and there are shoes that don't get wet. She never expected that Jin was pregnant with Yuan Er's child, and her belly was getting bigger day by day, which made her feel extremely panicked. She wanted to Knowing that Xu Yuanwai was already over sixty years old and could no longer have sex with her, the child could only be Yuan Er's, but if the master found out, she would be doomed. So she once again proposed that Yuan Er divorce His wife threatened him with the child, but after Yuan Er learned that Jin was pregnant, he avoided seeing her from then on, and Jin could only live in fear every day."
"Finally she came up with such an idea - if you Yuan Er doesn't want to give me this title, then give me some money and let me run away from here and give birth to this child. So she asked Yuan Er to go out, but she didn't want to When he left the city that night, he happened to be caught and killed by the Thousand Faces Cult, and their bodies were thrown into the river."
"Are you saying that right now, there are remnants of the Thousand Faces Cult in this county government office?" The county magistrate was shocked. After all, He Nan had just said that the murderers of these two people were in the hall.
"It is true that we can blame all today's crimes on the Thousand Faces Cult, but is that really the case?" He Nan glanced at the county magistrate beside him, and then at the people in the audience with different expressions.
"The Thousand Faces Sect's sins are heinous and should be eradicated. But things must be dealt with one by one. I will deal with the Thousand Faces Sect, and I will also bring other murderers to justice." He Nancong brought him in. He took out a few volumes from the book that was half a man tall: "The biggest doubt about this case is the date... I have in my hands the files on the headless corpse case in the past. Let's count them all on the Thousand Faces Cult - every case The case of the headless corpse happened at least half a month apart, and I visited many elderly people who had some detailed knowledge about it, and got their confirmation - in their impression, it was indeed the case."
"The Thousand Faces Sect is also very strict in the selection of the so-called sacrifices. There will definitely be six sacrifices, ranging from male to female, from virgin to old woman. If this case is defined as the work of the Thousand Faces Sect, then we will definitely still One girl was ignored, but I sent people to search down the Kui River, but no body of the girl was found."
"However, the recent cases are extremely frequent. Compared with the old cases, they are not only very different in time, but also have fallacies in personnel. This is why I think that the wives of Xu Yuanwai's side wives, Jin Shi and Yuan Er, were not committed by the Thousand Faces Cult. , but someone imitated the Thousand Faces Cult to commit crimes and gave them a ride, but it is a pity that it is difficult to paint the skin of a tiger... This murderer who imitated the murder is really clumsy. "
"I have a more interesting version of the truth about this case. You have to listen if you want to hear it, or if you don't want to hear it..." He Nan asked everyone a question with a very strange look: "Yuan Er... ...Is it really Jin who asked you out?"
From this moment on, He Nan completed all the preparations and began to tell the truth: "Although Yuanwai Xu is old, he is not stupid or blind. He found out that his concubine was pregnant, and... Knowing that the child was not his son, he had been secretly investigating who was the adulterer. After confirming the identity of Yuan Er's adulterer, he asked someone to send a message to Yuan Er in the name of the Jin family, claiming that the other party should prepare some The money was enough for him to leave this place. But Yuan Er did not intend to actually hand over the money to the other party. Instead, he took a pair of scissors and intended to steal the money from Jin at the agreed place, somewhere outside the city. Killing, but he never expected that he would not see his mistress at all, but Xu Yuanwai and several servants of the Xu family. Xu Yuanwai had obviously heard that a boy's body was buried in the Kui River a few days ago, It reminded me of the Qianmian Cult's intention to put the blame on the Qianmian Cult, so Yuan Er was beaten to death and beheaded, and his body was discarded directly into the Kui River."
"As for dealing with his concubine Xu Yuanwai, he is not in a hurry. Anyway, the Jin family cannot escape from his hands. These days, he has been imprisoning his concubine in the cellar of the mansion and lied about her disappearance. In fact, he is really trying to deal with her. They were beaten and tortured. After another female corpse appeared in the Kui River, Xu Yuanwai thought of a way to steal the body and then kill the concubine. In this way, the four dead became three and four. One case turned into three, and the murderers were all attributed to the Thousand Faces Cult, and as the mastermind of the incident, he could clear himself of all suspicions."
"You fart!" Xu Yuanwai's face turned red, and he roared loudly and without regard for his face: "You just made up a story and then justified it!"
Unexpectedly, He Nan admitted frankly: "Yes, I just made up a story to justify it."
"But..." He Nan liked, liked, liked the twist of hanging on by a thread very much: "As long as we find the fourth corpse in your house, it will prove whether my words are true, right? Let's put the current situation first. Tou, how about cutting open the belly of your real concubine’s body to verify your motive for murder?”
"If I guessed correctly... the female corpse you took back should be hidden in the well in your house now, right?" He Nan walked from behind the desk to Member Xu, leaned over and whispered softly.
"You...how did you know?" Xu Yuanwai broke into a cold sweat, undoubtedly admitting his crime in disguise.
"It's very simple... You originally wanted to transport the female body out of the city and bury it in the wilderness without anyone noticing, but I blocked the access of your whole family and ruined your plan, so in order to prevent her from making any noise, The corpse stinks, and you can't let the police outside know that you are digging a hole in the house, so you can only sink her in the well, but if you do this, your water source will be cut off, so you have dug enough for the whole house. It took three days of water to block the well mouth—is this the limit of the water containers in your house, right?"
"Actually, even if the amount of water you prepare exceeds my expectation, I won't be in a hurry, because I will wait for you to cut off the water before going to court for trial."
"Otherwise, why do you think I kept you alive for seven days? If I wanted to catch you, three days would be enough."
Xu Yuanwai fell down from the Grand Master's chair with a "pop", and his vision went dark for a while. He was not thirsty, but frightened - this was He Nan's method. In fact, this did not really help solve the case. As he said, it would be enough to make Xu Yuanwai stay in prison for three days, but he just wanted to leave an immortal impression on these people and make them fear and revere themselves, human life, and the law.
"Okay... these two cases are almost done, so let's talk about... the other two things now, shall we?"
He Nan sneered and turned his attention to another person in the county government office.
