The Mystery of Ming Dynasty in the Ancient Book Miscellanies of Guangdong in Qing Dynasty

In the Qing Dynasty, a man named Liu Shixin wrote a book called Guangdong Scraps, which was divided into four volumes and recorded a strange case that happened in Xinxing County, Guangdong Province in the Ming Dynasty. One day, a new county magistrate named Li came to the county. He is leaving the city. On the way, he saw a woman crying in front of the grave. Strangely, at first Li Zhifu thought that she was not wearing white mourning clothes, but very gorgeous and bright clothes. But after a while, I took a closer look and saw that the woman was wearing mourning. When magistrate Li asked, he asked his entourage. The attendant said that the master was wrong. It was a sad woman in mourning. ? Li Zhifu is very puzzled. He felt that he was not mistaken at first, and that the woman was not wearing mourning, so he ordered the chief to take the woman back to the yamen for interrogation. After returning to the yamen, Li Zhifu began to interrogate the woman. The woman said, "My poor husband just died of illness, which is known to all the neighbors. Today is July 7th, so I'm going to have a drink at the grave. Excuse me, my Lord, where can I wear colorful clothes? " So Li Zhi-xian sent the woman's neighbors to ask questions, and all the neighbors said that the woman's husband really died of illness. At this time, Li Zhifu still felt wrong. Convinced that he didn't see the woman in mourning at first, he still refused to release her. After a woman's husband died, no one in the family came to help her. Neighbors saw that the woman was pitiful and Li Zhifu was so stubborn and unreasonable, so they helped the woman to come forward and appealed to the higher government, accusing Li Zhifu of "detaining the widow for no reason." The magistrate issued a document demanding that Li Zhi-zhi be released within half a month. If the circumstances of the woman's crime are not ascertained, Li Zhi-zhi will be punished for the crime of "entering the country as a victim" (similar to today's administrative punishment, serious dismissal). This time, Li Zhifu panicked, spared his life, slipped out of the county in disguise, and visited the nearby area for investigation, but after several days of investigation, he found nothing. One night, when Li Zhifu was investigating a case, it happened to rain lightly. He saw a hut at the foot of the mountain, so he ran over and asked his master to stay for shelter from the rain. The owner of the house is a middle-aged village woman who kindly let him in. Li Zhi claimed to be a fortune teller passing by from other places and asked if he could stay overnight. At this time, the son of the village woman happened to go home, so Li Zhifu took out some money and asked the village woman to prepare some meals. The simple and kind village woman smiled and said, "My family is not a restaurant, but shoes and poor food. You don't hate guests. How can you spend money? " "Li magistrate of a county to see the family so sincere, in the long run, everyone began to warm up. In the evening, Li Zhixian and the woman's son were drinking alcohol, chatting all over the place. After three rounds of drinking, the son asked Li Zhixian drunkenly, "You are a city dweller. Do you know the magistrate now? Li Zhifu said, "Yes, it seems to be a Li." ""The son said, "This magistrate Li is really unlucky, because he will be dismissed soon because of that woman's case! I don't know about this matter even if it is Bao Gong's reincarnation, but only I know the truth! Hearing this, Li Zhifu's spirit suddenly perked up, and his son became more and more proud. continuous shooting said on the table, "To tell you the truth, I actually support my old mother by being a thief. That night, I just went to inquire about the situation at home. When I saw the door left unlocked and unlocked, I went in and took some money. Before I could do it, I saw a local martial arts expert come in and had to hide in the dark to observe. When master Wu entered the door, he was very much in love with that woman, and this woman completely ignored her sick husband lying in the back bed. After a while, the woman said that the medicine had been fried, so she went in with a copper spoon and poured the contents into her sick husband's mouth. She only heard her husband scream, and then she was out of breath. I looked at it carefully, half dead. I see that the copper spoon is not liquid medicine, but molten tin! I was so scared that I found a chance and ran away. I am the only insider, but unfortunately I can't go to the government to report and testify. " Li Zhifu was overjoyed and asked his son, "Why didn't you report it?" The son said, "I am a thief. Who will believe me if I report it? Isn't this a trap? Seeing that this woman's son is not bad in nature, Li Zhixian stole only to support her mother. The old woman is also a kind person, so she advised her son, "Stealing by thieves is never a long-term solution. I hit it off as soon as I saw you. So, come into town with me tomorrow. I have some money in my luggage. I will give you venture capital! " My son was also very happy, so he agreed. The next day, Li Zhifu took the thief back to the county seat and told him to wait first. Li Zhifu himself went back to the yamen first, and then sent an official to bring the thief in. Arriving in the backyard, the thief was shocked and kowtowed again and again when he saw that the fortune teller who had meat with him yesterday turned out to be a magistrate of a county. Li Zhifu helped him up with a smile and told him to testify in court when interrogating the woman and Wu Ju. The thief quickly agreed. So the magistrate sent an official to arrest Wu Ju and the woman. At first, Wu Ju and the woman denied it in every way until the thief testified and told the story of that night in great detail, which made Wu Ju and the woman feel powerless, but they still refused to admit it. Seeing that the two men were still unwilling to give up, Li magistrate ordered an autopsy and found that the throat of the deceased was blocked by tin. It turned out that this was Wu's idea. In order not to stop him from having sex with a woman, he actually killed his seriously ill husband in such a vicious way. The reason why we use tin solution is that we are afraid that the poison will be seen and the tin will not be found. The neighbor who complained to the government was also directed by Wu Ju. Li Zhifu sentenced the dog man and woman according to law and gave the thief who testified a large sum of money to do business. The strange thing about this case is that if it weren't for Li Zhixian's passing glance, he wouldn't have doubted this woman at all, and he wouldn't have gone to the end, so his dead husband wouldn't have wronged himself. Fortunately, he was able to check the clues in person and happened to meet the only witness present, Comrade Thief. Perhaps Li Zhixian's blindness was arranged by her unhappy husband in Jiuquan?