The First Volume of Qinghe County

  Ximen Qing pushed open the door and entered. Xue'er and Pan Jinlian were already dressed neatly, had combed their hair, and were ready to eat the breakfast that Ximen Qing had sent over.

  What caught Ximen Qing's eye again was that although Pan Jinlian had clothes on her this time, they were no longer the same as last night.

  "Master, look at Jinlian sister wearing this dress, how suitable it is!" Xue'er still had a smiling expression: "This was made by the original miss earlier, but she never wore it."

  As expected, apart from being a bit tight around the chest, this dress fits quite well.

  Ximen Qing was fairly satisfied with this arrangement, nodding his head and saying: "It's quite suitable. Sixth Lady, you can stay here at ease now. Xue'er, when you're free, take Sixth Lady to the garden for a stroll, but don't go if there are too many people up ahead."

  "I'll go to the county government office for a while, wait for my news."

  "Was he pushed down the stairs and died from a head injury?" Zhu Zhixian looked at He Jiu, who was shaking slightly in front of him, and slammed the paper on the table: "Are you sure?"

  "The little man is certain." He Jiu bowed his head, feeling that Zhu Zhi County's gaze was somewhat intimidating: "The little man has repeatedly verified that the head injury on the corpse is consistent with falling down the stairs."

  "How did you know someone pushed him down?" Zhu Zhi County seemed careless on the surface, his tone also very casual, but He Jiu knew that Zhu Zhi County's question was quite sharp.

  He Jiu regretted that he was a bit too excited earlier and forgot to ask Niu Dou a sentence, but at this time, Niu Dou was not in the house.

  He Jiu suddenly fell silent, and his forehead was instantly covered in sweat.

  "Hmm?" Zhu Zhi County saw that He Jiu hadn't responded and felt a bit displeased: "He Jiu, why aren't you answering the county's question?"

  My whole body is shaking, and my brain seems to have rusted, how can I still answer this question?

  "Sir, I have investigated the scene." Just then, Niu Daotou had not arrived, but his voice came first, and he walked in while speaking. He bowed to Zhu Zhi County: "The stairs are made of wood and are relatively narrow, only one person can pass through at a time. If Wu Dada fell by himself, with his build, he wouldn't roll all the way down from the top, at most he would slide down a few steps."

  "Just now I also made a slip of the tongue and told He Yitao about this."

  "Hei Qi secretly wiped his sweat: 'Good thing you came, otherwise I would have definitely eaten this beating today.'"

  "Oh, I see." Zhu Zhi County's expression improved slightly: "Has County Lieutenant Xi Men been invited?"

  "My humble self has met County Magistrate Xi on the way." Niu Dutou bowed and said, "The county magistrate didn't ride a horse, so I came back first."

  "Alright." Zhu Zhixian nodded: "Since that's the case, then just wait for a moment."

  The teacher on the side reminded: "County Master, about Bai Song's case, there was an official document arrived yesterday."

  "Oh, let me take a look!" Zhu Zhi County took the document presented by the teacher and glanced at it. He then handed it back to the teacher: "Bai Song, be executed after autumn! The other two offenders will be sent back and demoted to stablemen. Niu Doutou, you arrange for their escort."

  "I obey the order!" Niu Da Tou's face was filled with righteous indignation: "Bai Song is a man who has committed an unforgivable crime! Keeping him alive in prison would be a waste of food!"

  Magistrate Zhu heard this and exchanged a glance with the teacher, saying that Bai Song was also unlucky, calling him "dog official" repeatedly, Magistrate Zhu's face couldn't hold up either.

  "Ximen Qing has arrived to see the master!" At this time, Ximen Qing also rushed over, looking at the full house of people, although somewhat prepared, but feeling still needs to be flexible.

  "What's the conclusion of the autopsy? Let County Magistrate Ximen take a look!" Zhu, the county magistrate, instructed: "Ximen, my brother, this county wants to hear your thoughts."

  "Good." Ximen Qing took the paper handed over by He San, his eyes scanned it and automatically filtered out some unnecessary words: "Pushed down the stairs by someone?"

  "What a clever thing to do, I must say I'm impressed." Ximen Qing said with a hint of a smile as he looked at He Jiu, who was holding the ashes and bones that had been secretly kept inside as evidence to show Wu Song.

  It's all hard work, with many hands and feet...

  This guy looks like he's up to no good.

  Anyway, just now Niu Doutou said the basis, He Jiu still has a bottom in his heart, and directly repeated it to Ximen Qing again. Of course, this time he emphasized the words "Niu Doutou said" heavily, first clearing himself.

  "Oh, Niudou has a lot of experience, impressive!" Ximen Qing's gaze turned to Niudou who was standing aside.

  This guy is always laughing and joking around, but it turns out he's actually quite meticulous. You really can't judge a person by their appearance.

  "This humble servant is also making wild guesses, please instruct me, sir." Cow Head said humbly.

  Ximen Qing nodded in agreement: "What Niu Dutou said is not wrong. From the description just now, it can be basically confirmed that someone was pushed down, but the question is: who is the murderer?"

  "Sir, there's another thing. Wu Dajiang has a wife, and she hasn't been seen since last night." Niu Dahe secretly observed Ximen Qing's expression, throwing out a very direct question.

  Ximen Qing's face didn't change color, his heart didn't skip a beat, he directly rushed to Zhu Zhiyuan and cupped his hands saying: "This woman is called Pan Jinlian, she has an old relationship with my concubine Xue'er, last night she received a fright, currently she is recuperating quietly at my estate."

  Ximen Qing is really shameless! What's with the old relationship with Snowy, isn't Pan Jinlian also "old" with you?

  Not even mentioning the cow's head, even Zhu Zhi County coughed and suppressed his smile, speaking seriously: "In that case, I wonder if County Lieutenant Ximen has asked about the case? This woman can be considered an important witness."

  "It's not just a case!" Ximen Qing said with a serious face: "This woman has even revealed the murderer!"

  "Who is the murderer?" The cow head couldn't help but ask: "Last night, I caught a suspicious prisoner and temporarily detained him in prison."

  "What you're saying is suspicious, but it's just a kind-hearted neighbor." Ximen Qing had heard Pan Jinlian mention Wang Po before, and now hearing Niu Daliang say this, he naturally associated the so-called suspicious person with none other than Wang Po from the tea house next door.

  Although Wang Po attaches great importance to money, at the critical moment, Wang Po is still willing to help Pan Jinlian. So, Ximen Qing's first step is to get Wang Po out of prison.

  "The real murderer is often a fruit vendor who comes and goes in the Wu family, nicknamed Yuange!" As soon as Ximen Qing spoke, even Niu Da's head was slightly surprised.

  That Geng brother, no more than carrying a basket and wandering around the street, selling some pears or something, unexpectedly having such guts?

  "This man coveted Pan Jinlian's beauty and often took the opportunity to get close, it was said that this man had been drinking with Wu Dalang every day for several days. Ximen Qing stroked the sheep fat jade pendant on his waist and talked eloquently: 'Wine makes people bold! This man got Wu Dalang drunk last night, intending to go upstairs to rape Wu Dalang's wife, but unexpectedly Wu Dalang was startled awake by Pan Jinlian's cry, went upstairs to check, and in the struggle pushed Wu Dalang down from the building!'"

  As for Wu Dalang's absurd plan, Ximen Qing naturally wouldn't mention it, not to save face for Wu Dalang, but for Pan Jinlian and even Wu Song!

  "Very well." Zhu Zhixian nodded and said: "Niu Dutou, bring the person you arrested for questioning. If their statements are consistent, they can be released on the spot."

  "I obey the order." Niu Da went out and gave a few instructions, and soon Wang Po was brought up, kneeling on the ground, trembling with fear, first kowtowing to Magistrate Zhu, then catching sight of Ximen Qing, feeling somewhat reassured.

  "Wang Po, tell me about what you saw and heard last night!" Ximen Qing seemed to not recognize Wang Po's appearance at all, with a completely official and businesslike attitude.

  "When the old woman arrived, she saw Wu Dalang's wife crying alone upstairs, while Wu Dalang was already dead at the foot of the stairs." Wang Po thought for a moment and replied honestly: "There is someone named Yan Ge who has been coming to Wu's house to drink wine these past few days. You might want to investigate him."

  "Then when you went out, did you see any suspicious people?" Ximen Qing asked intentionally, emphasizing the two words "suspicious".

  "Suspicious... oh, right!" Wang Po was also a clever person and understood Ximen Qing's implication to add some material: "The old woman has night vision, when she went out, she didn't bring a lantern, but saw a figure sneaking out of the Wu family home, running towards the street. At the time, I thought it was just my eyes playing tricks on me, now thinking about it, that figure wasn't particularly tall..."

  That's enough!

  "That's right!" Ximen Qing suddenly interrupted Wang Po's words: "Sir, that Yuanyang is only fifteen years old, and his stature is not tall and large, which matches Wang Po's description."

  "Hmm." Zhu Zhi Xian nodded and said: "At least this Yuan Ge is a key figure, very suspicious! Niu Dou Tou, do you know where Yuan Ge lives in this county?"

  "This...," the cow thought for a moment, "a fruit vendor, where would I know to go!"

  "The old woman knows!" Wang Po directly interrupted: "This man has an elderly mother living in the city, and the old woman is willing to lead the Cow Head to go get her!"

  "Alright! Let's do it!" Zhu Zhixian slapped the table: "Niu Toutou, release Wang Po and go catch that Yu Ge, throw him into prison, wait for interrogation!"

  "Humbly obeying orders!" Niu Dutou recalled that when he caught Wang Po yesterday, he was somewhat impolite. This time, releasing Wang Po to lead the way... he feared Wang Po might not be able to handle it.

  As expected, Niu Dou saw Wang Po turn around and proudly gave him a "you can't do anything to me" look. This Wang Po is not a simple character after all.

  As soon as the two of them stepped out, Wang Po stretched her waist with a big yawn, looked around and made a gesture to Niu Da's head with a mouthful of saliva.

  "Hey old lady, what's going on? Hurry up and lead the way!" The cow shook its head impatiently.

  "You can't travel on an empty stomach, right?" Wang Po said slowly: "Let's have some breakfast first? The old lady hasn't eaten anything since last night."

  The cow's face changed several times, and finally still took Wang Po to eat breakfast.

  After all, Niu Tou still had to go and catch Guo Ge back to settle the score.

  "This old woman, I'll get you back for this later!" Niu Da Tou thought viciously.