Chapter 32 The Murderer (1)
The old man leading the way hurried forward to explain.
"Qing Yang, these people are passers-by who were passing through our village. When they saw what happened, they were curious..."
He Qingyang interrupted with a sneer, "A passerby? Aren't ordinary passersby supposed to travel during the day and rest at night? How come even murders are now the responsibility of passersby?"
His eyes turned sharp and swept towards Song Qianzhao and others.
"Whether he's a passerby or not is not up to them to decide! Tie him up first and then interrogate him!"
"That's right!" Liu Dashan chimed in, "It's the dead of night, he might be the murderer's accomplice!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the strong men accompanying him raised their hoes in unison.
The old man recalled the skills he had just witnessed and stamped his feet anxiously: "Qing Yang! Don't be impulsive! They are really..."
"Get out of here!" He Qingyang pushed the old man away and said with a fierce grin, "Catch him!"
The strong men received the order and rushed forward, shouting, raising their hoes high, as if ready to smash...
“Swish!”
Ruyue's body was as fast as lightning. She shook the long stick in her hand. With a few crisp "cracks", the first few hoes were broken into two pieces!
Almost at the same time, the bowstring behind her shook, and a feather arrow flew out from the air, piercing through Zhang Qingyang's rich man's hat with a "whoosh" and firmly stuck into the screen wall behind him!
The whole yard was dead silent.
He Qingyang let out an "Ah" and touched his head in panic. If the arrow had been half an inch lower, it would have been his crown that was nailed to the wall!
"If we are really accomplices," Ruyue snorted coldly, "what if we massacre your entire village?"
The strong men turned pale and trembled as they all shrank behind Zhang Qingyang.
"Oh! Please forgive me, hero! I was blind and didn't recognize you!" He Qingyang's expression changed faster than turning the pages of a book. He nodded and said, "The village just suffered a disaster. Everyone is scared to death. That's why I offended you..."
"Yes, yes!" Liu Dashan also hurriedly smiled apologetically, "The hero has arrived just in time! He can serve as a witness for us, so that the authorities won't come and accuse us of wrongly accusing a good person."
As he spoke, he glanced at the shivering man and woman on the ground.
That is the "murderer" they are talking about.
"It's unfair! We really didn't kill anyone!" The woman's face was covered with tears. "We don't even know what happened!"
The man also struggled to raise his head, veins bulging on his forehead.
"You're arresting people for no reason. Do you have any law?"
"We've caught you red-handed, yet you still dare to deny it!" He Qingyang shouted, kicking the man on the shoulder. "We've already found arsenic in your house, why don't you confess now?"
"Besides, the facts of this case are already clear," He Qingyang said coldly, "You and my aunt's family have always been at odds. When it comes to motives for murder, who could have a more convincing explanation than you?"
"I said it wasn't me!"
Tears welled up in the woman's eyes and her voice trembled.
He Qingyang turned a deaf ear to her explanation and instead turned around and bowed to Ruyue.
"My dear heroes, although a murder has occurred, this is ultimately our village's internal affair, so..."
"I'm determined to take care of it!"
Ruyue's eyes widened, and she slammed the long stick into the ground. "What do you want to do?"
He Qingyang glanced at the stick, his Adam's apple rolled unconsciously, and he swallowed back the words that were about to come out of his mouth.
Ruyue frowned slightly: "Stop talking nonsense and tell me what's going on!"
He Qingyang turned around and took a coarse cloth bag from the burly man, shaking it open to reveal the white powder inside.
"Lady, please look! This is the arsenic we found under their bed!"
He picked up a handful and pointed at the blue crystals mixed in it, "Look, they've mixed it with something else. Maybe they think the poison isn't strong enough!"
"It's not ours!" The woman's cheeks flushed, and the veins on her neck became visible. "We've never seen this package before! Someone must have framed us!"
“Bang!”
Liu Dashan rushed over, swung his arm and slapped her hard in the face! The woman screamed, and blood immediately seeped from the corner of her mouth.
"You evil woman!" Liu Dashan's eyes were bloodshot. "My mother, my wife, and my three-year-old child all died at your hands! And you still dare to quibble?!"
He beat his chest and howled, but not a single tear came out of his eyes, which seemed particularly artificial.
Song Qianzhao suddenly said in a low voice.
"Son-in-law, I'm telling you... Now that your mother-in-law's family is all dead, who should this family property belong to?"
Liu Dashan froze, his face turning pale in an instant. His voice suddenly rose, "What do you mean? Family property? You...are you doubting me?!"
"Since you were the first to discover the scene," Song Qianzhao stared at him with a sharp gaze, "why don't you tell me what the situation was like?"
"I... I've already told the village head!" Liu Dashan pointed at He Qingyang standing beside him. "I came back late last night and saw the gate was ajar. I went in and... and..."
He suddenly realized that something was missing, and he covered his face with his hands and burst into tears.
"My poor wife and children! They died so tragically!"
This time I actually squeezed out a few tears.
Song Qianzhao continued to ask, "Why did you come back so late?"
"I..." Liu Dashan hesitated, "I just... went to play a few rounds of Pai Gow..."
"Then tell me, where did you play? Who was there with you? When did you leave?"
Liu Dashan's forehead was covered with sweat. He hesitated and said, "At... at Old Zhou's house in Hongzhen, I played with Zhang San, Li Si and the others... until... just after midnight..."
"Zi Shi? It's so late at night. Did you come back on horseback or on foot?"
"I……"
Liu Dashan's Adam's apple rolled and he stammered, unable to answer.
When everyone in the courtyard saw this, they began to whisper to each other and became suspicious of Liu Dashan.
"Yes...I walked back! Yes, I walked back!"
Liu Dashan replied immediately.
Song Qianzhao pointed at the upper of his shoes.
"The snow just melted last night, and the road is extremely muddy, but your shoes are spotless. And you still dare to argue that you walked back here?!"
Liu Dashan hurriedly looked down at his shoes and his face turned pale instantly.
"Well... well... I went home and changed my shoes! Yes, I changed my shoes!"
"Your home?" Song Qianzhao asked doubtfully, "Isn't this your home?"
Liu Dashan was suddenly speechless, his face flushed, and he stammered and couldn't say anything.
"Liu Dashan owed some debts before," He Qingyang took the initiative to explain, "so he was kicked out of the house by my aunt."
Upon hearing this, everyone present looked at Liu Dashan with suspicion.
Most villagers knew that Wang Dashan, addicted to gambling, had accumulated a significant debt, with debt collectors even visiting his home. His family had no choice but to pay back some of the money. Since then, he has been expelled from his home and now lives alone in a dilapidated hut next to a cemetery outside the village.
So what he said about going home in the middle of the night was obviously a lie.
"Dashan," Song Qianzhao said in a long tone, a meaningful smile on his lips, "You are not desperate because of the debt collectors, so you killed your mother-in-law's family so that you can inherit their property?"
"Oh my God! You can't slander me!" Liu Dashan stamped his feet anxiously. "I, Liu Dashan, wouldn't dare to kill anyone even if I had ten guts!"
"Dashan!" He Qingyang exclaimed in surprise, "You haven't even signed the divorce agreement yet! My aunt's family is extinct, so the house and the pharmacy belong to you..."
"No, no, no! It really wasn't me!" Liu Dashan waved his hands repeatedly, "It's true that I owed a debt, but, but I really just came here tonight to pick up some herbs!"
As soon as these words were spoken, there was an uproar at the scene, and everyone became even more suspicious of him.
"I...I often do this," Liu Dashan explained stubbornly. "My mother-in-law doesn't recognize me, and my wife won't give me money, so I can only come here secretly to get some medicinal herbs to sell. When I climbed over the wall tonight, I saw the lights on in the main hall, but the figure was motionless and there was no sound. As for the rest, everything I said is true!"
"Every word is true?" Song Qian raised his eyebrows, "Then how did you get back?"
"I took a ride back... I arrived at the village at noon and have been staying at home ever since. I plan to wait until nightfall to pick up some good herbs."
"That is to say," Song Qianzhao chuckled, "from the hour of You to the hour of Xu, no one can prove where you are."
"I'm at home, what's wrong?"
"What a coincidence," Song Qianzhao pointed to the main hall, "the deceased was killed at this hour!"
Wang Dashan's face turned pale.
"Now, let's talk about the most crucial point." Song Qianzhao pointed at the man and woman on the ground, "Who was the first to suggest that they were the ones who killed He Heng's family?"
The main room suddenly became quiet and everyone looked at each other.
"It's you!" He Qingyang suddenly pointed at Wang Dashan and shouted, "You led us to capture He Ming and his wife!"
"No... that's not the case!" Wang Dashan was so anxious that he broke out in a cold sweat. "I just... I just raised a suspicion. I didn't ask you to arrest him directly!"
"Wait a minute," He Qingyang turned to Song Qianzhao, "Sir, we found arsenic in He Ming's house. But are you saying...they weren't the murderers?"
"Think about it, everyone," Song Qianzhao looked around at everyone, "If you were the murderer and had a grudge against the deceased, would you blatantly hide the poison in your own home? And put it where it can be found with a search?"
Everyone nodded in agreement, feeling that what he said made sense.
He Ming and his wife looked at Song Qianzhao with gratitude in their eyes.
"Moreover," Song Qianzhao pointed at the bodies on the ground and said, "the four bodies died at different times, which means the murderer acted in batches."
"He Ye and He Heng have bruises on their bodies, indicating they had fought with the murderer before they died. And He Heng's sister's face..." Song Qianzhao made a pinching gesture, "There are obvious pinch marks on her face, as if someone had forced her to take drugs."
These words made everyone present gasp. When He Heng's sister was mentioned, everyone's eyes turned to Wang Dashan. That was his first wife!
Liu Dashan's face turned pale instantly, his legs became weak, and he could hardly stand.
"Think about it, everyone," Song Qianzhao pointed at the wronged couple and said loudly, "The young man has difficulty walking and is disabled; his wife is also a frail woman. How could it be so easy for the two of them to poison He Heng's entire family?"
"Moreover, it's such a potent poison. How could a family of four be poisoned at the same time? If one person took effect first, how could the others not notice it? Besides, if it was really a stranger who poisoned them, how could they succeed so easily?"
"It's not a stranger..." He Qingyang muttered to himself, "Then doesn't it mean..."
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