Chapter 46 Chapter Forty-Six

Just when he had just drifted off to sleep, Bo Qinruo was awakened by a desolate and mournful singing. This song is so familiar!Where did he hear it in a trance? He rolled over and sat up. The singing became clearer and clearer. Yes, he must have heard the mournful song! He put on his clothes and got out of bed, walked out of the bedroom door, and walked to the door of the wing room where the county office servants lived. He called out the two guards on duty who were eating wine, and asked suspiciously: "Have you ever heard that?" until someone sings?" The two yamen servants looked at me and I looked at you, and then shook their heads together: "No! Master, we didn't hear anything."

"Yes! Master, I haven't closed my eyes since the second watch. If someone sings, I will definitely hear it!" Bo Qinruo let out a long breath, shook his head and said, "Maybe I was distracted..." Unexpectedly, before he finished speaking, the sad singing sounded clearly again. "Listen, listen, someone is clearly singing!" Bo Qinruo exclaimed in surprise. The two yamen servants listened for a long time. "Did you hear that?" The two yamen servants shook their heads in fear: "I didn't hear it! I really didn't hear it!" Bo Qinruo was stunned, and muttered to himself: "Could it be... Could it be that I've lost my temper? Could it be that this county government office is haunted by ghosts?"

The two yamen servants stood like tree stumps, not daring to talk to each other. Bo Qinruo thought for a while, and then ordered: "You guys go and inspect the third courtyard of the government office with me to see if there are any idlers staying? Also check the places where the bandits are detained. Bring questions immediately!" A yamen servant boldly asked: "Is the person singing the song that the master heard male or female?" Bo Qinruo said, "Looks like a woman." "Little one understands." The two yamen servants left with lanterns. Bo Qinruo returned to the bedroom and lay down with his clothes on.

Lying on the bed, he fell asleep in a daze.In his sleep, he saw a young woman tearing his clothes to complain.He immediately recognized the young woman, she was none other than Li Xiangyu, the righteous woman he had met when he stepped on the border of Jinkou on August 12th.He remembered that he had given her some silver. When he was about to ask her about his grievances, a sudden knock on the door woke him up.He got up and saw that the sky was bright, and a beam of sunlight passed through the window, and the sunlight spread a white light in front of the bedroom window. He opened the door and called the two yamen servants in.

"Have you ever found the person who sang the song?" A yamen servant said: "The young ones have been checking and patrolling in the middle of the night, but there is no one singing!" Another yamen servant said: "Yes, there are no singers! It's just...just that a young woman hanged herself before dawn." Bo Qinruo was shocked: "What is the young woman's name? What crime did she go to jail for? Have you ever found out?" "Master Qicha, the young woman's name is Li Xiangyu, a native of Xiayu Village, Qingpu Town. She was arrested on August 24th for robbery while taking advantage of the chaos."

Bo Qinruo burst into tears, and said to himself: "Yes! It's her! It must be her!" "Master knows this Li Xiangyu?" Bo Qinruo didn't answer, but raised his hand and said, "Follow me to the autopsy!" In fact, there is no need to examine the corpse.A cloth belt made of skirt cloth claimed an innocent life.It was indeed a suicide, there is no doubt about it. At the beginning, the righteous woman who would rather sell her body than rebel against the imperial court is now lying quietly in the main hall with "Mirror Hanging High".Her clothes were disheveled, half of her light blue white dress with fine flowers was torn off, and her hands were deformed by the bloodthirsty pincers.She died, and her sad and moving singing was cut off forever by a piece of cloth like green smoke.Bo Qinruo thought: Before she died, she must have sung a song, definitely!Perhaps, she sang silently in her heart!Otherwise, why did he hear her sad singing last night?

After a long silence, Bo Qinruo finally hit the case with a gavel and erupted like thunder: "Bring the famous master of punishment, Yuan Xi, to the hall! Bring Mo Yide, a troublemaker from Qingpu, to the hall! Prepare for the big torture!" Yuan Xilou, the famous criminal master under Chen Rongjun of Yuanzhi County, and Mo Yide, the shadow Mr., were brought to the front of the hall, "thumped", and knelt down very loudly. Bo Qinruo gave a startled slap: "Yuan Xilou! Li Xiangyu, the righteous wife of Qingpu, was interrogated by you?" "yes!" "What is the crime of this righteous woman?"

"Say... say it's stealing while taking advantage of the chaos." "Do you have any evidence?" "There is... there are forty-two taels of stolen silver as evidence." Bo Qinruo said angrily: "The money was given to her by the county on the day of the chaos on August 12th! Do you know?" "Damn the little one! The little one doesn't know! The little one really doesn't know!" "Didn't she tell herself?" "I said it. I can't believe it. I thought that on August 12th, when there was chaos, the master would never ignore the chaos and deal with her like this. The little one is guilty! Guilty!" Bai Qin Ruo asked again: "Under torture, does she have a confession statement?"

"No! If there is, the younger one will report it to the master. The younger one wants to ask for a confession and then report it to the master. I didn't expect..." Bo Qinruo gritted his teeth and scolded: "You idiot! Trash! Stupid pig! The sage of my heavenly pilgrimage and the integrity of my prefecture and county government are all ruined by you bastards and stupid pigs! The righteous woman Li Xiangyu sold herself to be a filial piety , Don’t go against the imperial court, be high-spirited and upright, show the sun and the moon, you stupid pig actually forced her to death in my Jinkou county government where the mirror hangs high, is there any reason? You and I will hold this stupid pig master thirty times! "

After the execution of the famous master Yuan Xilou, Bo Qinruo asked Mo Yide, Mr. Shadow again. "Mo Yide, are you convicted?" Mo Yide watched Master Xing being beaten, his body softened from fright, and when he heard the question, he repeatedly kowtowed and apologized: "Young plead guilty! Little plead guilty!" Although he pleaded guilty, he felt wronged: Mo Yide was not the one who forced the righteous wife Li Xiangyu to death, besides, he helped the government to take out the bandits out of loyalty. So, he explained: "The little one is also unintentional. The little one saw that she was poor but had so much money, so she became suspicious, thinking that she was against the government, the little one..."

Bo Qinruo didn't allow him to continue talking at all, so he casually dropped a fire stick, and let the servants beat the poor Mr. Ying into a daze, his skin was torn to pieces. Finally, Bo Qinruo announced in the hall: Jinkou County will widely collect the life stories of the righteous woman Li Xiangyu, and erect a monument for her to pass on to the world; the loyal bones will be buried generously by the government, and the family will be given silver compensation by the government. On the day of the burial, Bo Qinruo wrote a mourning poem for his righteous wife Li Xiangyu, saying: