In the twenty-sixth year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty, one day in late autumn, Chen Shuping, the magistrate of Luotian County, was reading a case file in his inner room. Suddenly, there was a sound of the door. Magistrate Chen looked up and saw, oh! Where did a monkey come from? When Chen Zhixian was about to get up and drive away, a man came in with the sound of "report Mr. Chen". When Chen Zhixian saw that it was Sun Hua, the catcher, he thought he had attracted the monkeys, so he said: "Sun, catcher, where did you get it?" Monkey?" "Tell me, sir, I didn't get it, it came to me on its own." "Looking for you? Why are you looking for it?" "What good will come of looking for me? It's not like I'm reporting the crime." "What? ?Monkey reported the crime?" Magistrate Chen looked at Mr. Sun with some disbelief. Sun Captou smiled and reported everything to Magistrate Chen in detail.
It turned out that early this morning, Capt. Sun returned from investigating a theft case at Lianghekou. When he walked to a mountain road not far from the east gate, a monkey suddenly jumped from the mountain and ran into the road with a "swish, swish". Facing Sun Baotou, he stood on his feet, raised his two front paws, "Chichijiji! Chichijiji!" and screamed loudly. Sun Captou felt very strange and thought, how can a monkey not be afraid of people at all? He looked carefully and saw that there was a ring around his neck, and then he realized that it was a monkey fed by people. No wonder it was not afraid of people. Sun Catcher stretched out his hand to catch him, but he didn't know that the monkey was very agile. With a "swish", it turned over more than ten feet. He was still sitting on the ground looking at Sun Catcher, shouting with some sadness, and there were tears rolling in the corners of his eyes. . Sun Catcher couldn't help but was startled, and he hurriedly bowed and asked, "Do you have a grievance to complain?" The monkey nodded repeatedly, then jumped away, leading Sun Catcher to a deep well in a bush, where the monkey was lying down in the well. Standing beside him, he howled while looking into the well. Sun Captou looked at the well. It was a deep dry well, dark and dark, and nothing could be seen. To be cautious, Capt. Sun took the monkey to the county government office.
Chen Zhixian has been an official for many years and has solved many difficult cases. After listening to Capt. Sun's introduction, he nodded to express his agreement with Capt. Sun, then kissed a few people, and carrying torches, ropes and other tools, Capt. Sun led the monkey and headed straight for the dry well. Chen Zhixian first carefully inspected the surrounding area of the dry well, but found nothing special, so he asked Sun Captou to prepare torches and ropes, and let people go down to take a look. Not long after, a policeman who went down into the well reported: "There is a male corpse inside!" County Magistrate Chen ordered the male corpse to be pulled up. As soon as the body reached the well mouth, the monkey immediately pounced on it, shook the body with its front paws, and howled in its mouth, as if it wanted to revive it. Chen Zhixian asked Sun Captou to take the monkey aside and then conduct an autopsy himself.
The deceased was in his fifties and had strangulation marks on his neck. He was undoubtedly murdered. According to the autopsy results, the deceased lost his life unprepared or while sleeping. The time of death was last night.
Chen Zhixian looked at the ring around the monkey's neck and asked Sun Captou: "Do you have any money?" Sun Captou took out five copper coins from his pocket in confusion. Chen Zhixian took the money and threw it on the ground. When the monkey saw the copper coins, he immediately stood up and picked up the five coins one by one. At this time, Chen Zhixian took off a government servant's hat and threw it on the ground. The monkey naturally put the coins into the hat one by one.
Seeing this, Sun Baotou suddenly understood and blurted out: "Sir, this monkey was raised by Jianghu entertainers." Chen Zhixian twitched his beard and smiled and said: "Exactly, it means that the deceased was a monkey charmer." "Let's get off. What's the next step?" "Don't worry, I think since the monkey can report the crime, he will definitely find the murderer."
Chen Zhixian is a careful person. He asked Sun Captou to buy some food that monkeys like to eat and feed it to the monkeys himself. The monkey was obviously hungry and looked very aggressive when eating. When Chen Zhixian was full, he said to the monkey: "You have reported the case to the county government, and your master's body has been found. In order to redress your master's injustice and make the murderer pay for his life, I have to ask you to help solve the case!" Monkey statue After understanding these words, he called out to Magistrate Chen twice and then went out. Chen Zhixian immediately followed behind with Sun Captou.
The monkey jumped up and down until it brought Chen Zhixian and Sun Baotou to a house near the river in the east gate before stopping. Chen Zhixian looked up and saw a sign hanging in front of the door with the four characters "Luofang Yipu" written on it. Chen Zhixian and Sun Baotou led the monkey and walked straight in. Boss Luo, who was busy, saw the two adults. He didn't know why the two adults had arrived. He was stunned for a moment, then kowtowed unnaturally and asked them to sit down. Chen Zhixian was observing the situation and asked straight to the point: "Did anyone rest in your shop last night?" Boss Luo looked at the monkey and replied: "There is a monkey charmer staying here. While buying wine and food, another one came Middle-aged men, after talking, they said they were from the same hometown." Sun Captou asked: "What happened next?" Boss Luo continued: "The monkey charmer is very affectionate, so he asked for another bottle of wine and drank with the middle-aged man. Get up. When they were sleeping, the two of them asked for the same room. At five o'clock, the middle-aged man called me: "Boss Luo, we want to leave early, and the money is all on the table." Because it was still dark at that time, I So I didn't get up. When I got up in the morning, I saw that the food and accommodation expenses for two people were indeed a penny on the table."
Chen Zhixian pointed to the monkey on the side and asked: "Is that the monkey you saw yesterday?" Boss Luo replied affirmatively: "It is this monkey." Chen Zhixian got up and went to the room where the monkey charmer lived, and carefully After checking it, I didn't find any clues. When Chen Zhixian brought Boss Luo to the body of the monkey charmer, Boss Luo was shocked and asked stammering: "He…how did he die?" Captain Sun always liked to attack people's hearts, so he smiled slyly and asked He said, "What do you think? I was about to ask you." Boss Luo was so frightened that he turned pale: "Sir, I don't know, I really don't know!" Chen Zhixian asked, "What did you hear last night? "I was sleeping deeply, and I was far away, so I didn't hear anything." "Then do you still remember the appearance of that middle-aged man?" Boss Luo recalled it and said, "That man was forty-one or twelve years old, and his height was He is big, and by the way, there is a purple-red mole on the left corner of his mouth. There is a long hair growing on the mole, which is very conspicuous." Magistrate Chen nodded and asked Boss Luo to go back.
Captain Sun said with some worry: "Sir, Boss Luo is a suspect. If we let him go, will it be…" Chen Zhixian smiled and said: "He is not a suspect." "How can you be so sure, sir?" "You Think about it, if Boss Luo was the murderer, would the monkey be so calm?" "That makes sense, that makes sense, why didn't I think of that? The monkey was in so much pain when he saw his master's body, it would be strange if he didn't tear him apart when he saw his enemy!"
While talking, the monkey suddenly disappeared and could not be found. Sun Captou was a bit irritable and couldn't help but cursed. Chen Zhixian said calmly: "This monkey is extraordinary. Don't worry, it will come back soon." Sure enough, with little effort, the monkey came back. When it saw Chen Zhixian, it called out "Zhizhi" twice and pulled his clothes. Go outside. Chen Zhixian understood and quickly ordered Sun Baotou to lead the people and follow the monkey with him. They followed the monkey and turned a few corners before arriving in front of a casino. Chen Zhixian immediately ordered police officers to surround the casino. There were a lot of people in the casino. When they saw people from the county government, they thought they were trying to catch gamblers and suddenly everything became chaotic. Chen Zhixian whispered a few words to Sun Captou. Sun Captou nodded and said loudly: "Everyone, please don't make any noise. There was a murder case last night. According to our understanding, the murderer may be here. Now please Everyone, please stand still, no crowding, no moving around."
Upon hearing this, everyone obeyed. The monkey wandered among the crowd for a while, then suddenly shrunk, opened his eyes, and hissed "Wow–" as if an arrow from a string had struck a middle-aged man. Chen Zhixian stepped forward and took a look. Yes, there was a purple-red mole on the left corner of the mouth and a long hair on the mole. It matched what Boss Luo said. So he took the monkey and asked: "Why do you think this monkey wants to catch you?" The murderer wiped a handful of blood flowing to the corner of his mouth, calmed himself, and said angrily: "I still want to ask you! Release the evil monkey Who are you to hurt the people?" "Shut up!" Sun Captou said loudly, "Don't be too presumptuous. I ask you what bad things you did, and you have to tell me honestly!" "What bad things did I do? Isn't that right? Have you played a few games here?" "You murdered the monkey's owner, so the monkey caught you, and you still dare to quibble? The crime will be increased!" "Haha," the murderer said with a dry laugh, "Do you have any evidence? With one The mute beast bites people and says I'm the murderer. Even if I'm beaten to death, I won't accept it!" Chen Zhixian didn't say anything. He just babbled at the monkey, as if asking: "Do you have any evidence?" The monkey seemed to understand what Chen Zhixian meant. , jumped up with a "chi" sound and jumped out of the door. Chen Zhixian hurriedly asked Captain Sun to lead his men to follow him, while he and several other agents were still guarding the middle-aged man.
The monkey came to a small house and screamed "chichiji" at the locked door. Sun Captou asked his neighbor whose house it was, and the neighbor said it was rented by a guest from Jinzhai. Captain Sun understood and told the middle-aged man's appearance, the neighbors kept saying, "That's him." Captain Sun hurriedly returned to the casino to report to Magistrate Chen, who ordered the middle-aged man to be brought to the hut. . As soon as the door opened, the monkey immediately jumped in and circled around a vat. Captain Sun opened the pot fastened to the vat and saw that it contained rice. The monkey lay on the edge of the tank, put his front paws in and kept stirring, and soon he grabbed a small cloth bag. Captain Sun opened the bag and saw that it was a bag full of money. He snapped at the middle-aged man: "Where did it come from? Why are you hiding it in a rice vat?" "Everyone has black-haired pigs, and they hide their money in rice vats to prevent thieves." The guy refused to plead guilty. The monkey barked "chichichi" twice more at the bottom of the bed. Chen Zhixian realized that there were stolen goods inside, so he immediately asked Mr. Sun to move the bed away. Sure enough, there was a wooden box inside. When he opened it, he saw that it was full of circles. Circles, clothes, gongs, etc. The monkey skillfully grabbed a hat and put it on his head, then started beating the gong while walking around. Chen Zhixian admired the monkey's cleverness very much. He was using facts to prove that these things were the accessories he used when acting with his master. He then asked the middle-aged man sternly: "You said you didn't kill anyone, why are you here with all the monkey and its owner's belongings?" "This…" "You still dare to deny it?!" "I…" The middle-aged man's expression changed. It was white, like a deflated rubber ball, and collapsed on the ground. Captain Sun waved his hand, and his men tied up the murderer. But the murderer was still unwilling to give in and still shouted not to kill anyone.
County Magistrate Chen ignored him and ordered him to be escorted back to the county government office. Not far away, the monkey left without saying goodbye. Sun Captou was surprised and didn't know what the monkey was going to do. Chen Zhixian said: "It was doing the last thing." Just as they entered the lobby, the monkey came back and brought a person. who? Boss Luo. When Sun Baotou saw it, he couldn't help but boast: "This monkey is smarter than Sun Wukong!"
In the solemn hall, Magistrate Chen was shocked and shouted angrily at the murderer who was kneeling under the hall: "Murderer, please quickly arrest you for committing murder and robbing money, so that you won't suffer any physical pain!"
In the face of the fact that there were both witnesses and material evidence, the murderer had no choice but to bow his head and confess his crime truthfully.
It turned out that the deceased's name was Fang Hongchi, a native of Liu'an, Anhui, who was in his fifties and had made a living by playing monkeys since he was a child. The criminal's name is Hu Biao, nicknamed Yi Yi Mao. He is a gambler. When he loses money, he engages in some shady activities. When he was looking for the target of the crime in a neighboring county, he found that Fang Hongchi had made a lot of money playing monkey tricks, so he took up his idea. Since he never had a chance to make a move, he had to follow him all the way to Luotian County, where he approached Fang Hongchi at Luofang Yipu. Fang Hongchi never imagined that he was luring a wolf into the house. Because he drank too much, he fell on the bed and fell asleep without taking off his clothes. In the dead of night, Hu Biao took off the rope holding the monkey and strangled Fang Hongchi to death. At that time, Hu Biao didn't take the monkey seriously, but he didn't know that this monkey was very intelligent. When it saw Hu Biao strangling its owner's neck with a rope, it rushed forward to catch and bite Hu Biao. Hu Biao was a little panicked and quickly picked up a bamboo stick and hit the monkey. The monkey jumped ten feet away with a "whoosh". Hu Biao was afraid that the monkey would do something bad, so he came towards the monkey again. The monkey "swish, swish, swish" jumped three times and climbed up the window and over the wall, and even its shadow could not be seen.
In fact, the monkey did not run far. Hu Biao carried Fang Hongchi's body out of Luofang Posthouse, and it followed behind him secretly, so it saw Hu Biao's every move and remembered it in its heart.
After Hu Biao's confession was postponed, Chen Zhixian immediately announced that Hu Biao had killed to pay for his life and was sent to death row to await execution. The monkey was the main advocate and should have been rewarded, but because it was an animal, it was sentenced to be released back to the mountain and allowed to be free.
Fang Hongchi had no wife, children, or brothers and sisters, so Chen Zhixian had no choice but to bury him in Luotian. The monkey lives in the forest near its master's grave. People often see it sitting silently in front of its master's grave, never leaving for a long time…