Ch. 41 - The Murder of her husband in Wanping County [Part 1]
The Famous Detective of the Red MansionThis chapter is broken. Please report this on discord.
Notes
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Although it was difficult to understand, her brain circuit wanted reputation but not life.
But the truth still needed to be made clear, so Sun Shaozong added, "Zhang-Li if you want to prove that you didn't have an affair, you must first prove that you didn't murder your husband! Since you kept saying that there was someone else who did the murder, why don't you tell us more about the situation at that time?"
He told Zhang Dalong and others to untie the rope around her first.
Although Zhang Dalong and others were reluctant, they did not dare refuse because of Sun Shaozong's ”Divine Judgement” reputation, so they had to loosen Li's rope.
Li regained her freedom and leaned away from the others. She knelt at Sun Shaozong's feet and looked up, revealing a delicate and slender snow neck. She said in a loud voice, "My husband was suspicious because of the rumors that came from nowhere. He often took it out on me these days. I tried to explain it, but he just didn't believe it! This evening..."
Although the woman was covered with blood and bruises, it was not difficult to see that she was slim and charming. In particular, there was a tantalizing charm between her eyebrows and eyes. No wonder there were rumors.
According to Li's words, in the evening, she did have a conflict with Zhang Erhu, who kicked her in the lower abdomen. She was in a cold sweat. She didn't dare to say anything, so she had to shrink into the inner room and sob all by herself.
Vaguely, she heard another quarrel in the yard. It seemed that Zhang Erhu had quarreled with someone again. She was hesitant to go out and have a look until she heard Zhang Erhu scream!
Li was startled. When she hurried out to have a look, she saw that the door panel was swinging like a pendulum, and Zhang Erhu had fallen into a pool of blood.
She went up to check and found that Zhang Erhu was no longer breathing. For a while, she wasn’t able to think too much, so she ran after the murderer desperately, trying to catch him. Unexpectedly, her big brother and sister-in-law stopped her as soon as she arrived at the next door. They insisted that she had murdered her husband. They also asked the neighbors to tie her up, saying that they were going to lock her in a pig cage and throw her into the pond!
Hearing this, Sun Shaozong had already made some conjectures in his heart, but he had to look at the scene to determine the details.
At that moment, a patrolling Yamen guard from Wanping County arrived at the scene. Hearing that a Prefectural Judge was here, they hurried forward to say hello.
Sun Shaozong was worried that he could not control too many people at once and was afraid that the murderer would run away. These Yamen guards came at the right time.
Therefore, he was not polite. He directly ordered the Yamen guards to watch and drive the group back to the scene of the crime like sheep. Sun Shaozong wanted Ruan Rong to go back home first, but Ruan Rong loved seeing him solve the case. How was she willing to go back now?
She had to wear a woolen cloak and covered half of her face with a silk scarf. She followed Sun Shaozong imposingly.
When it came to Zhang Erhu's house, Sun Shaozong was not in a hurry to enter but took a look to measure the terrain of the alley.
The alley was a dead end. There were only about a dozen well-off families living there. Zhang Erhu's family was located near the bottom of the alley, and there were only two families. If one wanted to get in and out of the alley, one had to pass in front of Zhang Dalong's family house.
When entering the alley, Sun Shaozong especially looked at it. It was a busy area outside. In particular, there was a dried fruit stall near the entrance of the alley. The hostess of the dried fruit stall was also among the pig cage team. According to her, no one was seen rushing out of the alley at that time.
This was also one of the important reasons why Zhang Dalong and his wife firmly believed that Li was the murderer.
After taking charge of the whole situation, Sun Shaozong looked around Zhang Dalong's and Zhang Erhu's houses with his eagle-like eyes several times. Then he raised his feet and entered Zhang Erhu's yard.
As soon as he crossed the threshold, he saw a dead man lying on his back in the middle of the yard, his eyes wide open and his face unbelievable. Several neighbors in the yard who were responsible for guarding the corpse heard the news and were busy kneeling on the ground to meet the Master Judge.
Sun Shaozong asked briefly, making sure they hadn't tampered with the body or the furnishings in the yard. He waved and ordered them to wait outside the door for a while.
After the scene was cleared, Sun Shaozong squatted next to the body and observed it carefully.
There was no doubt that the fatal injury of the deceased was caused by the pointed kitchen knife that had not been pulled out of his chest.
This knife was just an ordinary kitchen knife. There was no blood groove on the side, so there was hardly any splattering blood on the ground, only a large area along the chest.
On the handle of the knife, there were several clear blood fingerprints, but the traces should have been left by the deceased with their final remnants of strength rather than by the murderer. If there were more advanced instruments, they might be able to extract more sample fingerprints. But now they could only give up using fingerprints to arrest the murderer.
But…
This kitchen knife still revealed an important message!
The murderer must have been someone else.
Sun Shaozong wrapped a handkerchief around the handle of the knife, carefully pulled it out, held it in his palm, and explained to Ruan Rong, "According to the width, length, and stabbing posture of the knife, it should be squeezed in between the two ribs. To do this, at least one rib should be cut or broken. Li is soft and weak. I'm afraid she doesn't have so much strength."
As he spoke, he put his finger into the wound and stirred it up and down a few times. Then he distinctly stated, "The strength required is even greater because the back of the knife broke the fourth rib above."
Li and Zhang Dalong were not far behind. Hearing this, one was overjoyed, and the other was dissatisfied.
Li kept shouting, "The Master Judge can discover the minutest detail in everything." Zhang Dalong held back for a while and saw her infinite joy. Finally, he could not help but refute, "Master, this vicious woman usually carries water and firewood. What can't she do? How can she be weak?!”
Sun Shaozong smiled at the speech, but he was not in a hurry to argue with him. He first examined the body carefully from top to bottom and then looked around the room and outside twice. He then said to Zhang Dalong, "Since you think this evidence is insufficient, let's verify your testimony first."
"Verify... Verify testimony?"
"Yes, let's go over what you said in your testimony earlier on."
Sun Shaozong pointed to the next door and said, "You take off your coat and go back to your bed. When Li runs away, you put on your clothes and go out to stop her. Do you understand?"
Although Zhang Dalong didn't understand the significance of doing so, the Prefectural Judge ordered him to do so, so he had to take orders.
Two Yamen guards followed him as he entered the bedroom next door. He took off his coat, climbed into the bed, and laid down like a log. Unexpectedly, he felt a little shy for no reason and hurriedly wrapped his body in the quilt.
He was just a rough man, how was there anything to look at?
When the two Yamen guards were ready, they sent one of them to the next door to report. After a while, they heard a ”bang” from the next door and were knocked open by someone!
"Get up, get up!"
The Yamen guard first urged, but he then remembered Sun Shaozong's instructions and hurriedly changed his words, "Don't be too fast, just follow your speed at that time!"
After he was urged by the guard to be fast for one moment and slow down, Zhang Dalong immediately panicked, which was the same as when he heard the scream.
Zhang Dalong hurriedly got up and rushed out of his yard, and what he saw immediately left him standing on the spot!