, Zhang Zhongjing was appointed as the prefect of Changsha, and took over a murder case from his ex. The case is that the civilian woman Wu Gu committed adultery with her cousin Wang Qing and conspired to poison her husband Yu Meng to death. Wu Gu and Yu Wangqing have been sentenced to death by their former prefect and are only executed after the autumn.
When Zhang Zhongjing took over as prefect, the sentence for the death row was close. He approved the final case one by one. When he was about to "behead" Wu Gu's case, he found that there were many suspicious points in the case: the two male and female criminals only said that they had poisoned the fish soup, and there was no detailed statement on what poison was available and where the poison came from.
So, Zhang Zhongjing did not dare to neglect and immediately re-examined the two of them in detail. After carefully asking the whole story, Zhang Zhongjing was already as clear as a mirror and immediately changed his sentence to retrial next year. When the Yu family heard that the new prefect had quelled the death penalty of Gu Wu and Wang Qing, they went to the yamen to make noise. Zhang Zhongjing told everyone: "Be patient, and you will be re-examined in public at home next spring!"
In the early spring of the second year, Zhang Zhongjing took everyone to the Yujia courtyard. At this time, a fist-sized Bauhinia tree was in the poplar flower in the Yu family courtyard. A gust of spring breeze blew, and the petals on the trees swayed in the wind, causing countless petals on the ground and on the stone tables under the trees.
Zhang Zhongjing sat down on the stone pier beside the stone table, the defendants Wu Gu and Wang Qing stood aside, and the plaintiff Yu family members were all here and stood on the other side. A remote neighboring house heard that the prefect was on public trial on the spot. The sensational case of Wu Gu adultery and harming his husband all swarmed in, and the inside and outside of the Yu family courtyard was incomplete.
While everyone was scolding the "adulter husband and mistress", Zhang Zhongjing said, "Don't talk too much for now, and listen to the defendant's retelling the case!" Wu Gu wiped her tears with her sleeves, cleared her throat and said, "At this time last year, my husband Yu Meng bought two fish from the market early in the morning and asked me to make two bowls of fish soup. After the fish soup was prepared, it was just brought to the stone table in the yard, and my cousin Wang Qing happened to come. My husband and wife hurriedly gave up their seats. My cousin said that there was something else he had to do when he went to the city, so she stood in the yard and told me that my aunt was sick and asked me to take the time to go back and take a look. We kept him to eat fish together, but he refused to say anything and left in a hurry.
After my cousin left, my husband sat down to eat fish together and found that there were a few Bauhinia flowers falling in the wind in the husband's bowl. I wanted to pick it out with chopsticks, but my husband said, "The smell of flowers, the fish soup will taste more beautiful." He stirred it with chopsticks and ate all the flowers hairtail . Unexpectedly, after a while of eating, he screamed that his stomach hurt and rolled all over the ground. When everyone was so shocked that he was foaming at the mouth, he was unconscious.
The same pot of fish soup I had nothing to do after eating, but he died of sudden illness! At that time, the three of us stood in the yard and talked without a moment of separation. But the uncle and the second uncle insisted on suing the official and said that we were colluding, and that the cousin came to give the poison!
After hearing Wu Gu's crying, Zhang Zhongjing called over the yamen runners beside him, found a fresh fish and made a bowl of fish soup. After the fish soup was prepared and brought out, Zhang Zhongjing ate half a bowl in public. Then the remaining half bowl was placed on the stone table and a yamen runner shook the Bauhinia tree behind him. The yamen runner shook it gently, and the petals of Bauhinia fell one after another, and a few of them happened to fall into the fish soup bowl. Zhang Zhongjing stirred with chopsticks, placed the bowl on the ground, and ordered the yamen runners to bring a firewood dog and asked him to eat the remaining fish soup. Shortly after eating the fish soup, the dog barked and jumped up. After a while, foamed at the mouth and fell to the ground and died.
Everyone saw it and everyone was surprised. Zhang Zhongjing then stood up and said loudly to everyone, "Everyone can see clearly. This fish soup was originally not poisonous, but the brucet flowers were mixed into the fish soup, and the fish soup was highly poisonous. This is the reason for Yu Meng's death!" After that, he ordered people to release Wu Gu and Wang Qing in public. Gu Wu and Wang Qing knelt down and thanked each other deeply. The Yu family and everyone were convinced and praised each other.
