roccoschili Chapter 212 Solving the case in a dream
Chapter 212 Solving the case in a dream
this is a true story.
The story takes place during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty.
At that time, there was a family named Liu in Caozhou (now Heze City, Shandong Province) who opened a pawn shop and made pawn business.
The big shopkeeper hired by the Liu family pawnshop was Zhang from Yucheng (now part of Shangqiu City, Henan Province).
Zhang worked hard to manage and operate the pawn shop for the Liu family and has not been home for two years. He made a lot of money for the Liu family and also had some savings of his own.
This year entered the twelfth lunar month, and towards the end of the year, Zhang began to miss his family, so he proposed to his employer that he wanted to go home to celebrate the New Year this year.
The head of the Liu family agreed and enthusiastically retained him until New Year's Day.
After Zhang spent the New Year at his employer's house, he left on a blue mule. Before leaving, he made an agreement with his employer that on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, he would return to Caozhou and the pawnshop would open for business.
However, for some unknown reason, Zhang did not come back at the appointed time.
The Liu family was anxious for the pawnshop to open, so they sent someone to Zhang's home in Yucheng to urge him.
Who knows, when they arrived at Zhang’s home, Zhang’s family told the visitor: “Zhang never came back.”
The Liu family was very angry. They felt that Zhang was not trustworthy and did not return at the agreed time, which delayed the business of their pawn shop and wanted compensation from the Zhang family.
The Zhang family insisted: Zhang never came home! A big living member of their family has worked for the Liu family for two years, but now he is still alive and dead, and his body is not seen. The Liu family actually wants compensation. It is simply unreasonable! Our Zhang family asked you about the Liu family’s request for someone!
The Zhang and Liu families had a huge quarrel over this, and finally reported it to the official and started a lawsuit.
The case was reported to the governor of Shandong.
The governor ordered the Caozhou County Magistrate to solve the case within a time limit and arrest Zhang.
Unexpectedly, this case was delayed until June.
The officials were helpless. Thinking that the deadline given by the governor was coming soon, but there was still no clue about the case, I couldn't help but panic.
One night, the officers were still investigating the case in the south of Caozhou City when they suddenly saw an old man walking over with a young man.
The two were still talking: "The moonlight is very beautiful tonight, why don't we go to the pavilion to enjoy the moon?"
The officials knew that there was indeed a pavilion more than ten miles outside the southern city of Caozhou.
The servants chatted privately and said to Shang L: "These two are going to the pavilion at this time. They have to travel dozens of miles. When they come back, if the city gate is closed, how will they enter the city?"
Everyone felt strange in their hearts, so they took a shortcut and rushed to the pavilion to wait to see what the old man and the young man wanted to do.
After waiting not long, the two people came and sat down in the pavilion, chatting while admiring the moon.
However, listening to the conversation between the two of them, most of them were trivial matters between neighbors.
After a while, the young man suddenly said: "The matter of Liu's pawnshop in the city has not been found out yet. I secretly guessed in my heart: It may be Sun who sells cakes in Ximen, and he was greedy for Zhang's money, so he was killed. he."
The old man asked him why he thought so.
The young man said: "Sun's cake shop has been open here for several years, but it suddenly closed during the Spring Festival this year, so I doubt him."
The old man scolded the young man: "This matter is a matter of life and death. Don't make random guesses or talk casually!"
It seemed that the old man was a little unhappy, and he immediately said: "It's already late at night, we can go back!"
After that, he walked back. The young man followed closely.
When the officials heard them talking about the case of Liu's pawnshop, they couldn't help but pay attention and followed them forward.
The two men walked very fast. When we returned to Nancheng, the city gate was closed.
When the servants were thinking about how the old man and the young man entered the city, they saw the two people sneaking in through the crack in the door!
The officers were shocked. How could the two big men get through such a small gap?
They quickly asked the guard on duty at the city gate to take the key and open the city gate.
After entering the city, I hurriedly chased after them, only to see that the old man and the young man were no different from when they were outside the city, and they continued to move forward.
After a while, the two walked into a small alley. The young man seemed to have arrived home, so he said goodbye to the old man and then entered his house.
However, he did not open the door to his home, and still got in through the crack in the door.
Once the public servants had the city gate, they were already used to it.
After they followed the old man to more than [-] houses, the old man entered the house through the crack in the door without opening the door.
The servants were confused, but thinking that they had just talked about Liu's pawnshop outside the city, they had to ask for clarification.
So, he went up and knocked on the door.
After a while, the old man came out and opened the door. He was holding paper in his hand and lighting it on fire. He was wrapped in clothes. He looked as if he had just climbed out of bed. He was very sleepy and tired and had not yet woken up.
The servants asked him: "You and the boy were admiring the moon in the pavilion outside the city just now. Why did you fall asleep so soon when you just came back?"
When the old man heard their question, he couldn't help but said in confusion: "How do you know? I did go to admire the moon, but it was in my dream."
The officials didn't believe him and thought he was fooling himself.
So, he took him to see the young man to confront him.
When the young man was called out by the servants, he was in the same state as the old man, as if he had just been called out of bed.
The officials didn't know what to do, so they took them all to the county government office and let the county magistrate make a decision.
The old man and the young man, in front of the county magistrate, repeated what they had said in their dream about Sun's murder of Zhang.
The county magistrate was hesitant, after all, he was talking in his sleep. But considering that the deadline given by the Governor is coming soon, we can only believe it or not!
Early the next morning, the county magistrate sent two people to lead the way and went to a certain village with the government officials to look for Sun.
When we found Sun's house, we saw the green mule Zhang was riding tied to the door of his house.
The officials were overjoyed and swarmed up, caught Sun and took him to the county government office.
The county magistrate went to court for the first trial. Sun felt guilty and immediately confessed.
The next step will be easy, which is nothing more than finding the stolen goods, convicting Sun and compensating the Zhang family.
This happened in the summer of Yisi year.
The governor of Caozhou at that time was Wu Zhonggao, who once served as a shepherd in Dezhou. Mr. Wu had a good relationship with Yan Daofu (a great Confucian in the Qing Dynasty. Poet and writer.) and told Yan Daofu about this incident.
When Yan Daofu met Mr. Yuan Mei, he told Mr. Yuan Mei about it, so it has been passed down to this day.