During the reign of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty, there was an old doctor named Wu Zhongkui in Liaocheng County, Dongchang Prefecture, Shandong.
Dragon Zhong Wu lost his wife in his early years and left a daughter, named Hehua, who was only 29 years old and looked extremely beautiful.
He Hua has been learning about writing and writing with his father since childhood. Not only can he recite poems and essays, but he can also be good at everything from piano, chess, calligraphy and painting. Doctor Wu regarded her as the pearl in his hand.
Dr. Wu went out to treat others every day. He Hua felt lonely at home alone. In order to find a companion, she invited Zhang Cuihua, who lived opposite her house, to her home to talk to her.
Zhang Cuihua is twenty-three or four years old, young and widowed, and looks good. He Hua said everything to her, it was very good.
One evening, Zhang Cuihua talked for a while at the house of Hehua. Seeing that it was getting late, she said goodbye and went home. The lotus sent her outside the gate.
According to a coincidence a scholar was passing by the lotus door. When the lotus saw that the scholar was in his twenties and had beautiful eyebrows and eyes, he was stunned and unconsciously moved to the heart of spring, and was affectionate to the scholar. The scholar saw the lotus peeking at him, and his face turned red, lowered his head and left hurriedly.
At this time, Cuihua saw Lotus still watching the scholar, and couldn't help but smile and said, "Young Master is leaving, I'm still watching!"
Lotus felt embarrassed and asked, "Sister Cuihua, do you know this scholar?"
Cuihua smiled and said, "He and my aunt's house are neighbors. I often see him when I visited my aunt's house. His name is Ye Qiuhua, full of literary talent, dignified character, and is still a scholar!"
Cuihua said this, and glanced at Lotus and asked, "What do you think about this young master? If you are interested, I can ask someone to be a matchmaker for you!" After hearing this, Hehua had not answered, but his heart had already agreed.
Just after the second evening, the Lotus was sitting under the lamp embroidering flowers. Suddenly, he heard someone knocking on the door. Lotus was shocked and asked, "Who is it?"
whispered outside the door, "Little student Ye Qiuhuai." When Lotus heard that it was Mr. Ye, he turned surprised and walked to the door and said, "Since I saw the young master outside the door, I can't sleep day and night. If the young master is interested in me, please ask someone to be a matchmaker and you will be your life!"
Mr. Ye immediately agreed. But he repeatedly asked to go into the boudoir to see her. He Hua thought to herself: If he had dated a man in the middle of the night, if his father knew, how could he forgive himself? But when he thought again, Mr. Ye was so infatuated with him. If he turned him out, wouldn’t he feel infatuated?
Thinking of this, He Hua was dressed upright and gently opened a door. Mr. Ye immediately flashed in. Before the He Hua could cover the door, Mr. Ye hugged her and asked her for pleasure.
Hearing this, He Hua couldn't help but get angry, and hurriedly broke free, and said sternly: "Young Master Ye, I see that you are dignified and don't want you to be a frivolous person! The little girl is in love with you for a hundred years, not for a night of joy. It's late at night, please go out quickly, otherwise I will shout!"
Ye Qiuhuai was scolded by He Hua and had to give up. Before leaving, he asked the lotus for something to be affectionate, but the lotus refused. At this time, Ye Qiuhuaiqiang took off an embroidered shoe from her feet and left in a hurry.
Late at night on the third day, the lotus was sleeping soundly. Suddenly, she heard her father shouting, "Catch the thief". She hurriedly put on her clothes and got out of bed, carried the oil lamp to her door, and saw that she was so scared that she screamed. She saw that her father was stabbed in the chest with a knife, and blood was flowing, falling into a pool of blood.
Neighbors rushed over when they heard the sound. Doctor Wu was so angry that he died. There was an embroidered shoe next to his body.
Lotus picked it up and looked at it. He was shocked and thought, "Young Master Ye snatched this seduction shoe from my feet last night. Why did it fall at the murder scene?" Could it be that Dad was killed by Ye Qiuhuai? She thought of Ye Qiuhuai's misbehavior to her last night, and regretted that she had misread the wrong person and led the wolf into the house to harm his father's life.
She regretted and came to Liaocheng County Government to beat the drum to complain. Liaocheng magistrate Shen Xinzheng suddenly heard someone beating a drum to complain and quickly went to the court to ask about the case.
Lotus kneeled in the lobby and told the whole story. After hearing this, Magistrate Shen realized that this was a serious case of life-threatening death. He immediately sent a constable to take Ye Qiuhuai to the lobby of the county government.
A moment, Ye Qiuhuai was brought to him, and Shen Magistrate took a photo of Gavel and asked, "Ye Qiuhuai, as a scholar, you are well-read the Four Books and Five Classics, and you should be well-educated and polite. Why do you have malicious intentions to kill the father of lotus flowers?"
Ye Qiuhuai heard that the monk was confused and denied that he killed Wu Langzhong.
When Luohua saw the enemy who killed her father, she filled her chest with anger and scolded: "Ye Qiuhuai, I see that you are dignified and a gentleman. I don't want you to be so cruel and kill my father! You snatched the embroidered shoes from my feet with your own hands, and the embroidered shoes fell next to my father's body. My father was not killed by you, who is it?"
Ye Qiuhuai heard it, but shouted that he was wronged and didn't know anything about what Luohua said.
Shen Magistrate Shen saw Ye Qiuhuai not admitting his death in front of the evidence, and couldn't help but be furious and shouted, "Come here, a great punishment!"
Ye Qiuhuai was originally a weak scholar, so how could he withstand this severe torture, so he had to be scolded. County Magistrate Shen asked him to draw a custody, and he was sentenced to death, submitted a document to the superiors, and was sent to prison.
The official document was submitted to Dongchang Prefecture. The prefect of Dongchang Prefecture was named Xu Zhenjie. He was a fair and rigorous official. When he was reading the case file, he found that the case of Ye Qiuhuai's murder presented by the Liaocheng County Government had insufficient evidence. He only used an embroidered shoe as evidence. How could Ye Qiuhuai be guilty of death? He believes that the case is not questioned clearly and the judgment is unclear. Life is at stake, so how can we make a hasty decision? After reading the case file, he pondered for a moment and decided to send someone to Liaocheng to bring Hehua, Ye Qiuhua and Zhang Cuihua to Dongchang Prefecture for review.
Magistrate Xu first asked the yamen runners to take Ye Qiuhuai to the lobby. When Xu saw Ye Qiuhuai's appearance was dignified and had no evil appearance, he was a weak scholar and did not look like a murderer at all. The prefect Xu asked, "Ye Qiuhuai, where were you on the night Wu's death?"
Ye Qiuhuai replied tremblingly, "Sir, that night, because my aunt was crazy and no one was taking care of her, the young student served her for a night and did not go anywhere else."
Your prefect asked again, "What you said is the truth?"
Ye Qiuhuai hurriedly replied, "Everything that villain said is the truth. If you don't believe it, you can send someone to my aunt's place to ask for details."
The prefect Xu immediately sent someone to go to his aunt's house to verify. After investigation, what Ye Qiuhuai said was true. Prefect Xu concluded from this that Wu Langzhong was not killed by Ye Qiuhuai, but who was the real murderer? It seems that the lotus needs to be interrogated.
Lotus was sent to the hall, and the prefect Xu asked, "You and Ye Qiuhuai have a lifelong life. Who else knows except you?"
Lotus did not want to implicate Cuihua, and replied, "No one knows!"
Prefect Xu heard that she was lying, and he patted the auspicious tree and shouted, "You are a woman who has not left the boudoir. If no one is in contact, how did you know Ye Qiuhuai? It seems that if you don't move, you will not punish you!"
Lotus was so scared that he was like a sieve. He hurriedly knelt down and replied, "Little girl, the neighbor Zhang Cuihua knew about this. She was the matchmaker from it and agreed to be a matchmaker for us."
Prefect Wu heard that he snorted and nodded secretly. He asked the yamen runners to take the lotus flowers down, and he also told Zhang Cuihua to come to the hall.
Zhang Cuihua came to the hall and knelt on both knees. Prefect Xu looked down at the hall. He saw that although Zhang Cuihua was a widow, she was quite handsome and frivolous, not like a calm woman. He asked: "According to Hehua's confession, she met Ye Qiuhua, and you made a secret love with her is your match!"
"It's me."
Xu asked again: "Who else did you tell this matter except you?"
"No one knows about this except the little girl."
Xu sneered and said: "A bold concubine, I dare to argue. According to our proof, Ye Qiuhuai had never been to Hehua's house at all. If you don't mention this to others, How could anyone pretend that Mr. Ye knocked on the lotus's boudoir door late at night and snatched her embroidered shoes? It seems that he didn't move the punishment. I'm sorry you won't help!" He picked up the punishment sign and threw it into the hall.
Cuihua was so scared that she trembled all over and had to tell the truth. It turned out that Cui Huasheng was frivolous and widowed, and became a traitor with her cousin Wang Lin.That day, Cuihua returned home from Hehua, and Wang Lin happened to come to her place. After the two flirted and had fun, Cuihua told Wang Lin that Hehua had a love for Ye Qiu and asked her to make a matchmaker. Who knew that the speaker had no intention, and the listener had no intention. Wang Lin was Ye Qiuhuai's classmate and a scholar. He was born in a wealthy family and was handsome. He loved to look for flowers and willows and was a wandering young man. He had long heard that the daughter of Doctor Wu, Lotus, was extremely beautiful, but he had no chance to meet him. Seeing that there was such a good opportunity, he would not let it go.
While he was chatting with Cuihua, he asked about the place where He Hua lived. The next night, Wang Lin pretended to be Ye Qiuhua and came to He Hua's house. He knocked on the door of He Hua's boudoir and wanted to do something wrong. After being scolded by He Hua, he snatched one of her embroidered shoes and fled in a hurry.
After hearing Cuihua's confession, Xu Zhifu couldn't help but think that Wang Lin was born in a wealthy family and was a playboy. He was a misbehaving and corrupting Confucian style. Now he is cheating on his daughter by impersonation. It seems that he must be the murderer who killed Wu Zhongkui.
Thinking of this, he arrested Zhang Cuihua and sent someone to arrest Wang Lin, while bringing Ye Qiuhua to court, and gave him the torture instrument, telling him that the real murderer had been captured, pardoned him for no guilt, and released him in court. Ye Qiuhuai survived the disaster. He knelt in front of the hall and kowtowed to Prefect Xu, thanking him for his great kindness.
Besides, after Wang Lin learned that Zhang Cuihua was captured by the Dongchang Mansion, he had a premonition that the case would implicate him. He was so scared that he couldn't sleep day and night. He was about to escape for a few days, but he didn't expect that the Dongchang Mansion's constable had arrived at his house and locked him up with heavy shackles.
Wang Lin was taken to the lobby of Dongchang Prefecture. Xu Prefecture went to the hall to ask: "Wang Lin, have you been to Hehua's boudoir as Ye Qiuhua, and did evil to her and stole one of her embroidered shoes?" Wang Lin thought Cuihua had confessed long ago, and the matter had come to this point, so he had to tell the truth.
Magistrate Xu then asked, "Wang Lin, I will ask you again. Just because you did something wrong with the lotus, I woke up the father of the lotus, Wu Zhongkui. You are afraid that the matter will be exposed, so I will kill him to silence him. Is there any such thing?"
Wang Lin heard it and hurriedly argued: "Sir, the villain dare not act rashly. Doctor Wu was killed and did nothing to do with the villain!"
Magistrate Xu heard it and sneered, "Bold madman, since you confessed to snatching the lotus' embroidered shoes, why did this embroidered shoes fall next to Wu Zhongkui's body? Wu Zhongkui wasn't you killed, who was it?"
Wang Lin said, "Sir, the lotus' embroidered shoes were robbed by the younger generation, but Wu Zhongkui was not killed by the villain, because the embroidered shoes were thrown away by the villain. , I hope you can see clearly! "
The prefect Xu was furious when he heard this and shouted, "It's pure nonsense! Since you use embroidered shoes as a destiny to the lotus, how can you lose it? It seems that if you don't move the Great Suppression, you will not confess!" After saying that, he threw the Suppression Sign down to the hall. He shouted, "Great Exercise Service!" A burst of sticks beat Wang Lin to the point of being so irritated that he had to confess.
In fact, it is true that Wang Lin said that he lost his embroidered shoes. That night, after snatching the lotus' embroidered shoes, he fled from the lotus' boudoir in a hurry. He hid his embroidered shoes in his sleeves, came to Zhang Cuihua's house, chatted for a while before leaving. After walking not far, he touched his sleeves and was shocked that his embroidered shoes disappeared. He thought the embroidered shoes were thrown into Cuihua's house, so he went back to search.
Cuihua asked him what he was looking for. Wang Lin thought Cuihua had picked up the embroidered shoes and refused to return them.
Cuihua said, "If you don't say what you lost, why do you want me to return it to you?"
Wang Lin had no choice but to tell the truth. When Cuihua heard this, she suddenly became jealous and burst into tears.
Wang Lin begged her to return the embroidered shoes, but Cuihua said she hadn't seen her at all, and Wang Lin was panicked. It turned out that the embroidered shoe was thrown outside Cuihua's gate and had been picked up by Wang Damao, who lived opposite Cuihua.
Wang Damao is a scoundrel, and he is good at eating, drinking, gambling and everything is good. He saw Cuihua young and widowed, and he came to tease her several times, but was rejected by Cuihua.
That night, he came to Cuihua Gate again, and was about to go up the steps to knock on the door, but he felt his feet soft. He bent down and saw that it was only embroidered shoes.
He checked it casually, thinking it was a thing of Cuihua, and he was secretly happy. He happened to use this thing to find Cuihua.He was about to go forward and knock on the door, but suddenly he heard someone in Cuihua's room talking. He heard that it was Wang Lin telling Cuihua how he snatched the lotus' embroidered shoes and threw them away.
Wang Damao was surprised when he heard this and thought to himself: He Hua is a woman in the boudoir, younger and more beautiful than Cuihua, why not take her embroidered shoes to meet her.
So on the third night, he came to Hehua's house and climbed into the wall, but he didn't know which room Hehua lived in, so he knocked on the door of Hehua's father Wu Zhongkui's room.
Wu Zhongkui was awakened. He looked into the yard through the window and saw a man. He heard the man say, "Miss Lotus Girl, open the door quickly. My name is Ye Qiuhuai. I don't believe it. I have your embroidered shoes as evidence."
Wu Zhongkui heard this and it turned out that this man was here to seduce his daughter. He couldn't help but get angry. He picked up a sharp knife and shouted loudly, "Catch the thief!" While shouting, he opened the door and rushed out. Seeing this, Wang Damao rushed forward and snatched Wu Zhongkui's sharp knife and stabbed him in front of his chest. The sharp knife pierced his chest. Wu Zhongkui died immediately. When Wang Damao grabbed the knife, he dropped the embroidered shoes on the scene of the murder.
Besides, Wang Linqu made a fuss and confessed that Wu Zhongkui was killed by him. He was sentenced to death by Dongchang Mansion and was sent to prison.
This year, Mr. Shi came to Dongchang Prefecture, Shandong for inspection in accordance with the emperor's order. Shi Xuetai is knowledgeable and loves talents. He is a virtuous man. After he arrived in Dongchang Mansion, he checked the official documents and documents. On this day, when Shi Xuetai was looking through the case file, he found a trial file about the murder of Wu Zhongkui. After careful reading, he found that the trial of the case was wrong: Wang Lin had learned from Zhang Cuihua's address of the boudoir where Hehua lived, and had pretended to be Ye Qiuhua's place and had snatched her embroidered shoes without disturbing anyone. Then the second time he went to Hehua's boudoir was familiar with the road. How could he knock on Wu Zhongkui's door by mistake?
Shi Xuetai decided to review the case personally. He thought at his desk that after Yulin snatched the lotus' embroidered shoes, he only went to Zhang Cuihua's home. After leaving her home, he found that the embroidered shoes were lost. Since Zhang Cuihua denied picking up the embroidered shoes, it means that the embroidered shoes did not fall into her home.
According to Wang Lin's confession, he found that the embroidered shoes were lost not far from Cuihua's house, which means that the embroidered shoes fell near Cuihua's house and there was a possibility that they were picked up. Thinking of this, he decided to send someone to investigate Cuihua's situation.
According to investigation, Zhang Cuihua usually behaves frivolously, and some frivolous people on the street often flirt with her in front of her house. After learning about Zhang Cuihua's situation, the learning platform sent her to the court.
Shi Xuetai asked, "You have matched Hehua and Ye Qiuhuai to make a matchmaking matter. In addition to telling Wang Lin, who else has disclosed this to?"
Cuihua replied, "No one except my cousin!"
"Who else is there except for your love with Wang Lin?"
"No one else!"
"Does anyone come to your residence often?"
"Who often comes to your residence because of his misbehavior, and I scold you every time I come."
"The night when Wang Lin lost his embroidered shoes, Have Wang Damao been to your house? "
" Never come!"
"Who else comes to you often except Wang Damao?"
Cuihua thought for a while and said, "There are Zhang Daming who runs a teahouse, Wei Laosan who collects old goods, Li Erhu who runs an inn, and Zhao Dashun who works in the yamen. These people have bad intentions, I ignored them. Please learn from the Master of Taiwan! "
Shi Xuetai listened and ordered the clerk to write down the names of these people one by one, and then sent someone to the City God Temple to put down the case, and took Wang Damao and several others to the City God Temple for trial. The statues in the City God Temple had ferocious faces and glared at Wang Damao and others. After seeing the statues, they all stood upright, their bodies were trembling, and they lay on the ground without even raising their heads.
At this time, Shi Xuetai sat in front of the case and said, "Last night, the City God asked me to dream, saying that the murderer was among you. Now I will give you a chance to repent and reform myself. If I can confess myself, I can be lenient to deal with it!" After hearing this, Wang Damao and his friends said that they were innocent.
Shi Xuetai heard this and sneered, saying, "Since you all say you are innocent, then who is the murderer? Let the City God point it out now."After saying that, he walked down the case and personally took Wang Damao and his men into a small room on the side of the hall.
This small room had been arranged by Shi Xuetai. All the windows were covered with thick black cloth. The room was pitch black and there was no fingers.
Shi Xuetai asked them to take off their shirts, bare their chests and backs, facing the wall, standing in a row. Shi Xuetai said sternly: "You just stand like this, no one is allowed to move. In a while, City God will write the word "kill" on the murderer's back. "After saying that, he ordered people to lock the door.
After a while, the officer opened the door and let them walk out one by one. Shi Xuetai stood at the door and watched in person. Wang Damao walked at the end. When he walked past Shi Xuetai, Shi Xuetai shouted: "Wang Damao, you are the murderer! Come and take him down! "
Wang Damao shouted unjustly: "The City God did not write on my back, why do you say I am a murderer? "
Shi Xuetai sneered and said, "Although the City God has not written on your back, why is your back covered in ash? Why is there nothing else on others? Not to be able to come from the real trick! "
It turned out that this was a clever trick used by Shi Xuetai. He asked the officer to apply a pot of ash powder on the four walls of the room in advance. Wang Damao was guilty of being guilty. He heard Shi Xuetai say that the City God would write the word "kill" on the murderer's back, and he was very scared. So, he leaned his back against the wall, and he thought that the City God would not be able to write on his back. Who knew that "smartness was mistaken by intelligence", which happened to reveal that he was a murderer.
At this time, Shi Xuetai patted the case with his hand and shouted sternly: "Wang Damao, what's going on, you still want to deny it now! No need to be punished. I wish you no one to be punished. If someone comes, I will be punished! "Wang Damao saw that he was not guilty and was afraid of the pain of flesh and blood, so he had to confess the crime of killing Wu Zhongkui.
In this way, Shi Xuetai made a trick and finally made a murder case that was wrong and wrong, and was passed down as a good story by the world.
