Chapter 28 Chapter two

Di Gong looked down at the hall, and saw that there were crowds of people in the corridors and verandahs on both sides, and there was a crowd of people watching the trial.The homicide case in Nancheng had already spread throughout the city, and the people with good deeds came here to watch the trial of Mr. Di. Hong Canjun stood behind Di Gong as usual.Tao Gan and the secretary sat at the same table, one with a camera to assist the interrogation, and the other to record the confession.At this time, the secretary was rubbing a few silver whiskers under his chin, polishing the ink and moistening the pen.

Mr. Di patted the gavel, and declared: "Earlier, the Yamen was promoted to the hall. All military and civilian lawsuits in this state will be accepted by this hall. There are documents to submit, and no documents to dictate." Di Gong hadn't finished speaking, and someone shouted "injustice" in the hall. Di Gong raised his eyes and saw that two people had already appeared in the crowd, hurriedly climbed up to the courtroom, and knelt down on the bare aquamarine slab.An older man is tall and thin, with a haggard face and a haggard appearance; a young man is tall and slender, with a fleshy face.

There was a commotion under the verandah, whispering and discussing. "Silence!" Di Gong slapped the gavel twice, moved his body forward a little, and asked, "What is wrong with you two, tell me quickly!" The older plaintiff slightly raised his head, and said respectfully: "The villain's name is Ye Bin, and he runs a small brush and ink shop. This is the villain's younger brother, and his name is Ye Tai. The villain's brother Come to the court to report my sister-in-law, the antique dealer Pan Feng, who killed our sister in a very cruel way, and ask the master to arrest the murderer and avenge the villain brother."

"Pan Feng? Where is this Pan Feng now? Could it be that he has absconded?" Ye Tai said: "Master's guess is right. Pan Feng fled out of the city yesterday." Di Gongdao: "Ye Bin, when and how did you find out that your sister was killed by Pan Feng? Speaking calmly, don't miss the details." Ye Bin kowtowed on the ground, and slowly said: "Yes, master. Ye Tai went to Pan's house early this morning, and saw that the door of Pan's house was closed. He knocked on the door for a long time, but no one agreed. Usually at this time my sister , Sister-in-law is always at home, but today there is something unusual. Seeing this situation, Ye Tai became suspicious, worried that something was ominous, so he hurried home and asked me to go and have a look—"

"Hold on!" Di Gong interrupted Ye Bin. "Ye Tai, why didn't he ask the neighbors first? Maybe Pan Feng and his wife had something to do when they went out early in the morning." Ye Bin hurriedly said: "Master doesn't know. My sister's house is on a secluded street in Nanchenggen. There are dilapidated empty houses on both sides. No one lives there, so there are no neighbors." "Go on." Di Gong nodded and ordered. "The two of us went there again. When we got to the door, we yelled loudly and knocked on the door vigorously, but no one answered. But we felt that something was wrong, and we felt hairy in our hearts. We hurried around to the backyard again, and walked through the courtyard wall. I climbed into the house. I saw that the two windows of the bedroom were open, so I ordered Ye Tai to lie down, and I stepped on his shoulders, and looked in from the window. ——Ah! My God!"

Ye Bin's voice changed drastically. Despite the severe winter and the twelfth lunar month, the sweat on his forehead kept dripping down. "Master, I saw my sister lying on the kang, covered in blood, and I was so frightened that I didn't know what to do. Her legs softened and she fell to the ground. Ye Tai helped me up, and we rushed to find Lijia in our workshop. , ask him to testify and come to the Yamen to report." Di Gongdao: "Ye Bin, let me ask you, you saw your sister covered in blood outside the window, how can you conclude that she has been killed?" Ye Bin burst into tears, trembling all over, and replied: "My lord, she... her head is gone! Naked—"

There was complete silence in the courtroom, and the witnesses in the verandah looked at each other in amazement. Di Gong pondered for a moment, looked at Ye Bin's painful face, and said flatly: "Go on—you just talked about going to see Li Jia." "We met Lijia and told him about my sister's murder. I also told him that we were going to pry open the door to get in. Jia's surname was Gao, and he said that he saw with his own eyes yesterday noon that Pan Che was carrying a bulging big Skinny hurried out of the city, saying that he had something urgent to leave home for a few days. After hearing this, we were so angry that we wanted to grab Pan Feng back and beat him to death on the spot. Only then can we relieve our hatred. Master, do you think he is so big? What is it if it’s not my sister’s head in the skin?”

Ye Tai couldn't help but also said: "Master, Pan Feng, the murderous demon who never blinked, has fled outside. Master Wanwang decides for Xiaomin and arrests him!" Di Gong asked, "Where is Li Jia, surnamed Gao?" Ye Bin said: "He is guarding the scene of the accident at the moment, and he cannot come to the court to see the master to testify. He said that if the house is not strictly guarded, the case will be complicated." Di Gong nodded in satisfaction, and said: "In a short time, I will go to the scene with your brother to investigate with the officials from the Yali and Wu Zuoren. At this moment, you should first report Pan Feng's physical characteristics in detail, so that the Yali can write a picture for the record. I immediately ordered Guanfang and Yibu to carry out strict investigations, and all the counties in Wenzhou Prefecture will cooperate to arrest them. You brothers, don’t worry, Panfeng can be captured within two days if you come here.”

Mr. Di patted the gavel and announced his withdrawal. Hong Canjun said in a low voice: "The dead man has no head, it's really weird. I don't know what the master thinks?" Di Gong said: "Perhaps it was very dark in the bedroom, and Ye Bin lost his eyesight and didn't look carefully. It must be that the quilt on the kang covered the head of the deceased. We will see when we get there." Di Gong's eight-person sedan chair had already been prepared in the courtyard outside the front hall.Di Gong and Hong Liang opened the sedan chair curtain and got on the sedan chair.Four army soldiers rode in front of tall horse sedan chairs and shouted, Tao Gan, the inspector and four other army guard sedan chairs followed, all the way to the south of the city.Pedestrians on the road saw that it was a guard of honor from the government, and they all avoided it.The shops on both sides of the market are adjacent to each other and bustling with each other. Although it is a place near Heshuo, it is as prosperous as the Central Plains.

After passing the General Temple, there are several twists and turns, the cityscape is gradually desolate, the poplars are rustling on both sides of the road, the area near the root of the south city is sparsely populated, and most of the houses are empty.This used to be the armory where the Beizhen Army was stationed, but it was empty this morning.The row of houses opposite the armory used to be the residence of the quartermaster, and now many civilians have moved in—Pan Feng and his wife are one of them. The sedan chair stopped in front of Pan Feng's house.Di Gong and Hong Liang get off the sedan chair.Gao Lijia stepped forward to greet him.Di Gong praised him a few words.

Tao Gan was suspicious, and couldn't help asking: "Why did an antique dealer choose such a remote place to open a shop? I don't think there will be any business here if you open a tofu shop. Which rich person would come here to buy antiques." Duke Di nodded, looked at Lijia, and waited for his answer. Lijia replied: "It's true that this place is remote and desolate, but shopkeeper Pan's business is mostly door-to-door selling, and there is no need for customers to condescend to come here to buy. After the negotiation is over, he will come to deliver the goods." Di Gong nodded and ordered Li Jia to lead the way into the courtyard. Passing through the front yard, you can see a small courtyard. There is a well at the door, and beside the well is an old crooked-neck tree. Lijia pointed to the small courtyard and said, "Master, look, the middle one is the bedroom of Shopkeeper Pan and his wife, the left is his shop, the back of the shop is the kitchen, and the one on the right is a warehouse for storing miscellaneous items. Shopkeeper Pan used to pile up some worthless antiques. After Brother Ye Bin went to report the case, I personally guarded the gate of this courtyard, and no one else was allowed to enter." Mr. Di and others entered the bedroom of Pan Feng and his wife.The bedroom is not big, there is a big kang by the window, a thick quilt is spread messily on the kang, on the quilt lies a naked female corpse covered in blood on her back.Her hands were bound together and her legs were stretched out stiffly.The corpse was indeed headless. ——The neck was chopped unevenly, bloody and bloody.The quilt and the kang were also covered with dried blood stains. Duke De moved his eyes away from the corpse, and began to size up the layout of the bedroom.He saw a dressing table against the back wall, and beside the dressing table were four suitcases stacked, with the words spring, summer, autumn, and winter written on them, which seemed to be used to store clothes for the four seasons.There is a small square lacquered table in the corner next to the suitcase, and two wooden stools are placed beside the lacquered table.Di Gong found that the paint on the lacquer table had been touched when it was still wet. Duke Di's gaze returned to the corpse unconsciously.Suddenly, he asked, "I don't see any clothes left by the dead—no dresses, shoes or socks. Taugan, go and open those trunks." Tao Gan used a wooden stool as a foothold, opened the top suitcase, rummaged through it a few times, and said, "Except for the neatly folded spring clothes, there are no clothes that were stripped off from the dead. " Di Gongdao: "Open all four suitcases and have a look. Hong Liang, go and help Tao Gan." Hong Liang stepped forward to help Tao Gan move all the suitcases down, and when he opened them to search, he still couldn't find the clothes, skirts and jackets he just took off.When he was puzzled, Tao Gan suddenly called out and said, "Look, sir! I found these jewelry in the middle of this second suitcase: a pair of gold bracelets inlaid with rubies, and six gold hair clips. " Di Gongdao: "Pan Feng is an antique dealer, and of course he also does some jewelry business. It is not uncommon to have these things. You just put them back to their original place, and we will seal up this house. Tao Gan, I am most interested at the moment It is the original clothes worn by the corpse, not the jewelry. You and Hong Liang stack the suitcases as they were, and follow me to the warehouse to have a look." Di Gong, Hong Liang, and Tao Gan walked into the warehouse, and saw many large and small wooden boxes and cartons piled up on the warehouse floor. Di Gongdao: "Tao Gan, check all these boxes carefully here. Don't forget, besides looking for those clothes, there is also that human head! Hong Liang and I will go to the next wall shop to have a look." A simple counter divides the store into two halves, behind which there are three shelves.There are all kinds of porcelain and jade wares on the shelves, and on the top shelf are letters of books, all covered with a thick layer of dust.In the corner of the store, there are many clay sculptures and wood carvings of Bodhisattvas, stone drums and iron tripods and other clumsy objects. Di Gong opened the drawer of the counter, but saw a large pile of scrap silver and copper coins next to some old account books. "Hong Liang, Pan Feng left home in a panic. You can see that he didn't take away the jewelry or the broken silver." If Hong Canjun realized something, he nodded frequently. They searched the kitchen carefully again, but found nothing unusual.Just when he was about to transfer out of the warehouse, he bumped into Tao Gan coming out of the warehouse. Tao Gan said: "My lord, I checked every box and box in the warehouse. They are full of things like copper stoves and iron tiles. There are still a lot of ancient bricks hidden in the tomb. The warehouse is moldy. It's damp and dusty, and it looks like no one has been in it for a while." Di Gong silently stroked his big beard, secretly wondered. The inspector, Li Jia and the Ye brothers were all waiting outside the gate of the front yard. Di Gong walked out of the front yard and ordered the inspector to say: "You send two servants to salvage the well with hooks, and then follow Li Jia to borrow a stretcher to carry the female body back to the Yamen. Finally, it is sealed. There are two guards left in this house, and they are not allowed to evacuate without orders. If there are any suspicious persons wandering around, no matter who they are, they will all be captured and escorted to the Yamen." Di Gong said to the Ye brothers in a blink of an eye: "Your brothers My sister was indeed brutally murdered, but unfortunately her head has not been found yet." Ye Bin shouted hoarsely: "It must be the devil Pan Feng who took it with him. He was afraid that the government would recognize my sister. Mr. Gao saw it with his own eyes. He hurried out of the city with a big leather bag. The bulging thing in the big leather bag is not a human head, what is it?" Di Gong ordered Li Jia: "Please tell the truth about what you saw Pan Feng yesterday in detail." Li Jia gave a dry cough and replied "Yesterday at noon, I met shopkeeper Pan on the street, and I went up to say hello. Po Nai had no intention of stopping, and he never stopped. He only rushed towards Ximen. He seemed to be muttering that he was going to leave the city for a few days. I saw that he had never worn a leather robe, and his face was red from the cold. He held a large leather pouch in his right hand, and the inside was bulging like a round thing." Di Gong asked Ye Bin: "Has your sister ever told Pan Feng that she was being abused?" Ye Bin replied: "To be honest, my sister-in-law and my sister-in-law have always gotten along very harmoniously, and there has never been any quarrel. Pan Feng lost his wife in middle age and married my sister two years ago, so he is older than my sister. Few. He had a son earlier, who has grown up and is now working in the capital. After all, he has reached his twilight years, showing signs of aging and often suffering from illnesses. I used to think that he was Zhicheng and honest , who would have thought that it was a murderous villain, who has kept it from me for so long." "I've already seen his wolfish ambition! My sister often tells me that Pan Feng always tortures and beats her!" Ye Tai couldn't help interrupting. Ye Bin was surprised, and asked Ye Tai: "Why have you never heard of it? I thought they were very affectionate as a couple." "I didn't want to make brother Xian sad, so I kept it a secret." Ye Tai said. "If we catch him this time, we will not let him go lightly." Di Gong asked Ye Tai: "Why did you go to your sister's house this morning?" Ye Tai hesitated for a moment, and replied, "I went to visit them when I have nothing to do. It's nothing important." Di Gong said: "Okay! Now we will go back to the Yamen together, listen to the autopsy results, and then go to the court for detailed deliberation." Di Gong's sedan chair was carried to the "Jishengtang" herbal medicine shop and stopped. Di Gong ordered his followers to wait outside, and he went in to meet the shopkeeper Guo himself.Shopkeeper Guo is the number one doctor in Zhoucheng, with excellent medical skills, and he runs this herbal medicine shop himself.But in the yamen, if there are wound examinations and autopsies, he will also act as a coordinator.Therefore, Di Gong came to invite him in person. Di Gong opened the door and entered "Jishengtang", and smelled a unique fragrance of crude medicine.Shopkeeper Guo is rolling up his sleeves and cutting a ginseng with a guillotine.He was about forty years old, but his back was stooped and his temples were graying.Although he is less than four feet tall, his shoulders are very broad, and a pair of big eyes under thick eyebrows are piercing. Seeing Mr. Di walking into the store, shopkeeper Guo hurriedly put down the guillotine, brushed off the powdered medicine on his body, rubbed his hands, bowed and said: "Master Di is coming to the humble house, and the little people are neglected and negligent. , please forgive me." Di Gongdao: "The next official came to the mansion to ask shopkeeper Guo to condescend to go to the Yamen to assist in the autopsy. The shopkeeper may have heard that a woman in Nancheng was killed by gangsters and her head was taken away. The case is a bit strange." Shopkeeper Guo agreed, and carefully put the ginseng in his hand into the medicine cabinet and locked it. Di Gong asked curiously: "Could it be ginseng that the shopkeeper is holding in his hand?" Shopkeeper Guo smiled and said: "My master guessed exactly. This ginseng is commonly known as Biezhi, and it only grows under the cliffs of Yaoshi Mountain outside the city. , can be sold at a high price. This one was dug up by my humble wife in the mountains yesterday. It is worth two or two, and it is very expensive. Therefore, I can't bear to part with it, and I want to use it for myself. It is winter, and it is the season of nourishing, so Cut it up and prepare to make soup with my poor wife." Di Gong nodded frequently, appreciating the love between their husband and wife very much. Shopkeeper Guo took off his bib and was about to follow Mr. Di out of the shop when he saw a little white cat limping up to Shopkeeper Guo's feet, making love and whimpering softly.Shopkeeper Guo bent down and picked it up carefully. "Master, this little white cat has a broken leg, and I brought it back from the street. I want to ask Master Lan Dakui to help me splice its leg bones when I have free time someday." Di Gongdao: "I often hear from my entourage that Lan Dakui is the most popular Jiaodi master in Beizhou. He won the championship several times in Hebei Dao wrestling rings, and he is the most heroic figure in the party." Shopkeeper Guo said: "Master Lan Dakui is not only majestic in body and imposing in appearance, but also has a very upright character. He is not close to women, and guards his body like a jade, so he is admired by everyone and loved by everyone." He said and put the little white cat down.At this time, the curtain was lifted, and a slender and beautiful woman walked in, with a tea tray in her hand, and four big white cats at her feet.She wished Di Gong a blessing and offered a cup of fragrant tea.Di Gong recognized it as Mrs. Guo.Mrs. Guo is the warden of the women's prison in the state government office, and she often respects Di Gong very much.Di Ping paid little attention to her in the past, but at first sight today, he found that her eyebrows were like spring mountains, eyes like autumn waters, skin like snow, and her figure was graceful, with a charming style. Di Gong saluted and said: "I have heard more than once from the government officials that Mrs. Guo manages the women's prison in an orderly manner. Unexpectedly, the family is still a good helper of the shopkeeper Guo." Mrs. Guo replied: "Master Di is over-rewarded. In fact, there have been very few prisoners in the women's prison of the prefectural government. After the disbanded batch of prostitutes from the Beizhen Army were properly settled by the master, the women's prison was almost always empty. It’s also because Master Di has a good governance, so the place is Jing’an, where traitors and traitors are kept away, and the people live and work in peace and contentment. Even though it’s in Shuofang in the north of Saibei, it’s not inferior to the Central Plains in terms of etiquette and music, prosperity and prosperity.” Di Gong listened.A layer of respect was born in my heart.Mrs. Guo is not only dignified and reserved, but also speaks well.Mrs. Guo went back to her room and took out a mink fur cloak and put it on the shopkeeper Guo, and gave some detailed instructions.While sipping the fragrant jasmine tea, Duke Di couldn't help thinking of his wife and concubine, with a sweet smile on his face. Shopkeeper Guo put on a big leather hat again, and followed Mr. Di out of the "Jishengtang". ——The official sedan chair is waiting at the gate.