Chen Shaofu, her eyes red from crying, said, "Reporting to you, sir, I am from Qinghe Town. Last night, a villain broke into my courtyard and tried to kill me. Fortunately, I knocked him unconscious with a stool, which allowed me to find a constable for help."
My lord, I know who wants to kill me. It is my husband, Jiang Yaoguang.
To curry favor with the Song family, he didn't hesitate to kill a woman. Your Honor, you must seek justice for this woman!
Song Quanzhao frowned and said coldly, "Bring that villain up here."
Soon, a man dressed in black was brought up.
Upon seeing the situation inside the yamen, the man was so frightened that he knelt on the ground. Just as he was begging for mercy, he noticed the three people who were tied up to the side. He immediately said to them, "Boss, you, how come you've been tied up too?"
After saying that, he realized something was wrong and quickly kowtowed, pleading, "My lord, my lord, I'm innocent! I was just paid to kill someone, I'm innocent, my lord!"
Song Quanzhao slammed his gavel and roared, "Silence! Tell me everything you know and your relationship with those three people!"
The man in black was startled by the people in the hall and tremblingly told them everything he knew.
"Sir, I am just a resident of Qinghe Town. I only occasionally do petty theft. These people suddenly appeared in Qinghe Town half a month ago."
The younger ones saw how well they fought and decided to take a few of them as their leaders.
This time, it was only because the boss said someone was willing to pay money to kill this woman that the underlings went to kill her.
"Sir, I... I'm just an errand boy, I don't know anything else!"
If the boss hadn't said that she was just a woman who couldn't even kill a chicken, he wouldn't have dared to lay a hand on her even if he had ten lives.
Who would have thought that this would fail?
Song Quanzhao only looked at the three people who were tied up.
Zhao Da quickly removed the rags that had been stuffed into the mouths of the three people.
The bearded man in the middle hurriedly protested, "Sir, I'm innocent! I'm innocent! I didn't go to kill anyone. I just wanted to rob some silver. I wouldn't dare kill anyone."
The other two men quickly chimed in, "Sir, sir, we really didn't go to kill anyone. We were just passing through that village and wanted to rob some silver. How could we do something like killing someone?"
Zhao Da, however, presented the murder weapon that he had taken from the mule cart.
Three exceptionally sharp wood-chopping knives lay quietly on the table.
Song Quan glanced at the wood-chopping knife on the table and said coldly, word by word, "A few days ago, the prefectural city issued an arrest warrant, saying that three ruthless bandits had robbed and killed people on the road and committed all kinds of evil deeds. However, the three were too cunning, and the people of the prefectural city were not careful enough and let them escape."
"Qingshui County hasn't even had time to post the notice yet, but this official thinks the person in this portrait bears a striking resemblance to you."
As soon as he finished speaking, the constable beside him quickly unfolded the wanted poster in his hand and showed it to everyone.
The crowd watching outside the yamen gate looked at the person in the portrait, then at the three people kneeling inside the yamen, and they all erupted in uproar.
"Isn't this the same bandit who caused trouble in the prefectural city a few days ago? He's even gone all the way to Qingshui County to kill people."
"Indeed, it's fortunate that the people of Qingshi Village discovered it in time and brought the person to the yamen, otherwise, who knows how many people would have suffered."
Seeing that the crowd was getting more and more excited, Song Quanzhao simply slammed the gavel in his hand and said sternly, "Guards, bring the instruments of torture. I want to see what else you have to say in your defense."
Upon hearing this, the bearded man was so frightened that he immediately cried out, "Sir, sir, I confess! Yesterday, a strange man came to the three of us brothers and wanted to buy the lives of this woman and several members of the Jiang family in Qing Shi Village. He promised to give us five hundred taels of silver after the deed was done."
The younger brother agreed, which gave him the courage to kill.
"My lord, spare our lives! We only wanted to earn money, we didn't really intend to kill anyone!"
They had already been targeted by the government for acting too arrogantly in the prefectural city. They had finally escaped to Qingshui County, intending to stay there peacefully for a while, make some money, and then run away as soon as possible.
Who would have thought that the man would come knocking on their door, wanting to buy their lives? Upon hearing that they were just a few peasants from the village, they gritted their teeth and agreed.
Unexpectedly, this peasant knew kung fu. He knocked them unconscious in a few moves and sent them straight to the yamen, not even giving them a chance to escape.
Upon hearing this, Song Quanzhao sternly rebuked, "Who sent you to kill people? How can there be such arrogant people in Qingshui County? Tell us what you know right now!"
The bearded man stammered, "Sir, I don't know who that person is. He wore a straw hat the whole time, and I didn't even see his face."
The other two men also quickly shook their heads, clearly not knowing.
Song Quanzhao narrowed his eyes, and seeing that he couldn't get anything out of the three of them, he turned his gaze to Jiang Yimian and Chen Shaofu.
This case is really strange; there are too many suspicious points.
Especially after several encounters with Jiang Yimian, he felt that this person was not simple, which made him even more suspicious about the case.
He asked, puzzled, "Do you two know each other? Why would someone want to kill both of you at the same time?"
Chen Shaofu hesitated for a moment, glanced at Jiang Yimian, and seemed unsure how to begin.
Song Quanzhao frowned, sensing that something was off between the two.
Just as he was about to ask, he heard Jiang Yimian say with some surprise, "My lord, I understand. If Sister Chen is certain that Jiang Yaoguang wanted to kill her..."
The person who wanted to kill the woman was very likely Jiang Yaoguang as well.
Song Quanzhao frowned and looked at the two of them. "What do you mean? Who is this Jiang Yaoguang, and what is his relationship with you?"
Jiang Yimian quickly replied, "Jiang Yaoguang is my cousin, but because of the war and famine last year, my whole family lost contact with my second uncle's family and we lost contact with them."
Just a few days ago, she suddenly met him in Qinghe Town. The young woman was surprised to learn that her cousin and Sister Chen had a son, and that he also seemed to be engaged to the daughter of the Song family.
The woman couldn't bear to see Sister Chen kept in the dark, so she told the other party.
As for whether Sister Chen went to her cousin for confirmation afterward, which led to this fatal disaster, I have no idea.
Before Song Quanzhao could react, he heard the heated discussion among the onlookers.
"So Jiang Yaoguang killed people to cover up his affair with the Song family's daughter? This man is really ruthless. He killed his wife and cousin without hesitation."
"That's right. I didn't think much of this poor scholar from the start, and I wondered how the Song family's daughter could have taken a liking to someone like him. But now it seems that this man has some skills."
"That's not quite right. It's just their side of the story. What if it's a misunderstanding? The Song family aren't fools. How could they be so easily fooled by a poor scholar?"
"Who knows? Sir, please bring the Song family along. I'm really eager to know the outcome."
Song Quanzhao slammed his gavel, and the crowd that was still excitedly discussing quickly quieted down.
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