Go back to ancient times to explore the case

The first day of the first month of the 22nd year of Qiming was supposed to be a new beginning of the year, but Qing Tiansi failed to usher in a quiet and peaceful day.

In the early morning of this day, a man galloped over and beat the Qingtian Drum outside the gate. The sound of the drum was deafening.

Yan Qingchuan came out first, and asked the man's identity and why he came.

This man was originally a yamen servant in a county a hundred miles away from the capital. He came here overnight precisely because a murder case occurred in a village under the jurisdiction of their county.

As for why it was reported to the Qingtian Division, it was because no one else died, but the magistrate of this county!

The murder of an official ordered by the imperial court has been a serious case throughout the ages, no matter how big or small the official rank is.After Gongsun Zan heard about this, he immediately sent Yan Qingchuan as the leader and led a team to Kaiyang County to find out the case as soon as possible and arrest the murderer.

Xie Yu'an was still in a daze, so she was dragged onto the horse by Rong Shi. During the jolt, she looked at the back of Yan Qingchuan who was galloping in front of her, and sighed faintly: "I really want to ride a horse with Lord Yan."

Rong Shi raised his eyebrows and said: "Then I throw you over?"

Xie Yu'an pouted, "Forget it."

The group arrived at Kaiyang County after galloping for a whole day, and the crime took place in Zizai Village, twenty miles away, and it was already evening when they arrived at the village.

A group of villagers were discussing in whispers around a dilapidated mountain temple. Yan Qingchuan immediately ordered Xu Jin to disperse the irrelevant people, and then led them into the mountain temple.

The temple was dilapidated, full of cobwebs, and the air was filled with the rotten smell of old rotten wood and a strong smell of blood.

Yan Qingchuan signaled with his eyes, and a subordinate immediately took out an oil lamp and lit it up, and the moment it illuminated the temple, fear appeared in everyone's eyes.

In front of the already dilapidated statue of the mountain god, a middle-aged man with a bare upper body was tied to a chair, his hands and feet were bound, some crooked blood characters were drawn on his bare upper body, and a leather mask was worn on his neck. A collar, a metal object that looks like a fork stands on the collar, one end is supported in the depression where the two clavicles meet under the throat, and the sharp part of the other end has been inserted into the mouth from the man's chin, and a lot of blood flows from the mandible, It spread all over the neck, chest and abdomen, and it was bright red.

It is not difficult to see that this object should have just been stuck in the chin and collarbone socket of the deceased before he was alive, and was restrained by it. The deceased could only raise his chin high and could not speak or even lower his head during this period. Pierce the soft skin of his chin, straight into his mouth.

With such a cruel tool, the murderer obviously prepared it to torture the mind of the deceased. He may not even have done it himself. The deceased finally died of high mental stress and physical exhaustion, and ended himself.

Xie Yu'an walked up to the man and carefully looked at the dense blood on his body.

"The head of the green dragon, the tail of the white dragon, the child prays for joy in rainy days. The wheat is browned, start the dragon king. Big and small, first one to eighteen. Maha Sa."

"The wind is coming, the rain is coming, and the grain field is coming."

Yan Qingchuan walked up to her and said, "This is a nursery rhyme praying for rain." As soon as he finished speaking, the yamen servant who reported the case rushed to the feet of the deceased, choked up and said, "Our county magistrate has been an official for more than ten years, and he is dedicated to serving the people. , don’t even have a wife and children, and they are about to be promoted to the capital, how could they suddenly encounter such disasters. My lords, you must bring the murderer to justice, and you must not let the county magistrate die in vain.”

Detective Qingtian at the side quickly comforted him and pulled him away. Rong Shi put on his gloves and began to conduct a preliminary autopsy on the corpse. Luo Yi recorded it in a book, and other personnel also surveyed the crime scene.

Yan Qingchuan raised his chin and said, "Bring the witnesses."

A few moments later, a man who looked honest and friendly walked in. The moment he saw the deceased, he covered his chest, as if he was frightened again.

"Tell me what you saw."

The man nodded and began to narrate slowly: "My name is Wang Hai, and I am a villager in this village. Last night at around twelve o'clock, I heard dogs barking in the village. My wife told me to get up and take a look, and then I Follow the barking of the dog to check here, and found that the dog in the village has been barking at the mountain temple..." The man swallowed, and continued: "I didn't want to come in... .After all, this mountain temple is not very auspicious."

Yan Qingchuan asked: "Why is it unlucky?"

The man shrank his neck and explained: "In this temple, a woman died more than ten years ago. Since then, people have often seen white shadows floating by here, and singing. People in the village say it is a female ghost." The grievances linger, haunted by ghosts!"

Xie Yu'an interjected, "Is that song a nursery rhyme written in blood on the body of the deceased?"

The man was stunned: "What nursery rhyme in blood? When I entered the temple, I saw a dead person in the temple only by the moonlight. Your Excellency!"

Xie Yu'an was about to retell the content of the nursery rhyme, but he heard the faint humming of nursery rhymes in the quiet mountain temple.

"The head of the green dragon, the tail of the white dragon, the child is praying for joy in rainy days. The wheat is browned, start the dragon king. Big and small, first one to eighteen..." The voice was cold and ethereal, echoing in the mountain temple, It makes people feel eerie for no reason.

Yan Qingchuan stopped and asked the man, "Is it this one?"

The man frowned and thought for a while before saying, "Okay...it seems to be, I remember this tune, the county magistrate, could it be that the female ghost..."

Yan Qingchuan interrupted him sharply: "Okay, you can go, and the information related to the case is not allowed to be disclosed."

The man had no choice but to shut up, turn around and leave. Yan Qingchuan walked up to Rong Shi who was doing the autopsy, and asked, "What did you find?"

Rong Shi lifted the dead man's eyelids to check and said: "The time of death was around ten o'clock last night according to the visual estimation. Judging from the binding injuries on his body, the deceased should have been tied up [-] hours before his death.

The body is severely dehydrated, and there are cases of incontinence, which should be caused by extreme mental stress.There was a blunt trauma to the back of the head. The fatal injury was a puncture wound near the mandible. There was no trace of external force. "

In other words, the deceased had endured more than ten hours of mental torture before his death. Perhaps the murderer was watching this scene in front of the deceased at that time, watching how the deceased gritted his teeth and persevered, and watched him bleed out stench due to the dual physical and psychological torture. Shit, watching him finally break down and kill himself.

And why would the murderer do this?Xie Yu'an's first thought was that either the murderer had some monstrous hatred for the deceased, or the murderer was a pervert with anti-social personality, who made a living by chewing and savoring the taste of killing.

Compared with the two, the former can rely on clues to investigate step by step and have traces to follow, while the latter is much more difficult.

Luo Yi at the side turned pale when she heard Rong Shi's narration, and she said in a dazed voice, "Is there really someone who would be so cruel? Could it really be haunted?"

In order to make her relax, Xie Yu'an patted her on the shoulder and said, "That's impossible. We must be firm materialists and embrace science."

Everyone is used to Xie Yu'an's crazy talk from time to time, no one pays attention to her.

"My lord, I have checked all around, and there is no clue."

Yan Qingchuan nodded, and ordered: "Bring the deceased back to the village, find a vacant residential house, and return to the county government early tomorrow morning."

Everyone responded, and immediately started to move. Xie Yu'an followed behind Yan Qingchuan and said, "Master Yan, where are you going?"

Yan Qingchuan said without turning his head, "Visiting."

Xie Yu'an looked at the evening sky, and wanted to persuade Yan Qingchuan, but thinking of her character, he kept his mouth shut and followed her silently.

The two first came to a house, knocked on the door, and asked some questions related to the case. The woman said with a look of fear: "The one who died was the county magistrate, right? Did he still have more than a dozen paintings on his body?" The ghost nursery rhyme from years ago?"

Seeing that Yan Qingchuan and Xie Yu'an didn't answer, the woman stomped her feet and said, "My God, my God, it must be haunted again, that female ghost must have returned."

Yan Qingchuan's face darkened, presumably it was the witness Wang Hai who leaked the details of the case.

The two left this household and went to the next household. As expected, this household was the same as the previous household. The other household first expressed their ignorance, and then confirmed that the case of the mountain temple was haunted.

It was not until they came to the third family that they got some useful information.The villager said that he saw the county magistrate walking in a hurry at the entrance of the village yesterday morning, heading towards the mountain temple. rumor.

The two were walking back, Xie Yu'an rubbed his chin to sort out the case, "The deceased died at around ten o'clock last night, and was tied up at around six o'clock yesterday morning, and the villager just said that he saw the deceased yesterday morning Come to the village.

In other words, the deceased entered the mountain temple on his own initiative at around six o'clock yesterday morning, was attacked by the murderer who had already ambushed there, and was killed after more than ten hours of mental torture. "

After sorting out the timeline, Xie Yu'an asked Yan Qingchuan, "Master Yan, what do you think of this case?"

Yan Qingchuan replied in a deep voice, "Either it's a vendetta or an indiscriminate killing."

If it is the latter, it is serious. A murderer who kills for fun will never stop after committing a crime once, and he will continue to kill.Obviously, both Xie Yu'an and Yan Qingchuan thought of this, and their faces became more serious for a while.

"Master Yan, Miss Xie." Luo Yi stood in front of a residential building and waved to them.

After they approached, she pointed to the house on one side, "There are no vacant houses in the village, so I just managed to find these two. Ah Shi and I sleep in this one, and Mrs. Yan and Miss Xie share the same room, is that okay?" ?”

Xie Yu'an stared, "What!"

Seeing her like this, Rong Shi cast a look of incomprehension, shouldn't she be happy?

"Hmm...I don't sleep well, I'm afraid Mr. Yan won't be able to sleep well because of the disturbance, why don't Luo Yi and I sleep in the same room."

This time the staring turned into Rong Shi, "No way!"

Xie Yu'an looked at her, "Then I'll sleep with you?"

Rong Shi said with disgust on his face, "I refuse."

Xie Yu'an was about to bargain, when a gust of wind passed by, followed by a loud "pop".

The door on one side was closed, and Yan Qingchuan disappeared.

"Miss Xie, did you quarrel with Lord Yan?"

Xie Yu'an sighed, "No."

"Then why don't you want to sleep in the same room with Lord Yan?"

It's not that she doesn't want to, is she willing to get it?It's just that she is still struggling with reason.

"Okay, it's okay, you go and rest."

After Rong Shi and Luo Yi left, Xie Yu'an stood outside the door, took a deep breath and knocked on the door: "Master Yan, I'm coming in."

There was no response from the room, so Xie Yu'an could only push the door open and go in.

A candle that was about to burn out was burning on the table, and the candle was flickering. She looked at the figure on the bed.

Yan Qingchuan was sitting on the bed, her long black hair was draped softly over her shoulders, and she was holding the case letters recorded during the day in her hand, carefully flipping through the , as if he didn't notice Xie Yu'an at the door.

Xie Yu'an suddenly felt her mouth dry, she called out in a daze, "Master Yan."

Yan Qingchuan raised his eyes to look at her, and the moment their eyes met, the candle went out.

In the dark and quiet room, there were only two light breathing sounds.