One morning in the last years of the Qing Dynasty, Sima Qing, the magistrate of Tang County, was taking a walk in the backyard when he saw his disciples coming to report in a hurry, saying: "The scholar from Wulihe Village in the east of the city was asked to see you for nothing." Sima Qing said, "I understand." Step to the front hall.
Although Bai Desheng holds a teaching position in the countryside, he is still a student member of the county school. How could the county magistrate ignore a student member who arrived early in the morning? Bai Desheng is a Confucian scholar and usually pays great attention to his appearance. But at this moment, he was covered in weather, especially his shoes and trousers were soaked with dew, which showed that the matter was urgent. When Bai Desheng saw Sima Qing coming, he forgot to salute, took a step forward, and said hurriedly: "Master Sima, my wife Lin Yimei…she died last night!" Sima Qing was startled, as if he had seen a ghost in broad daylight. . Lin Yimei was "eating noodles" at his house yesterday and was chatting and laughing. How could she suddenly die?
Sima Qing is from Huguang. He came to work here last year and married a local woman as his wife. Madam has a girlfriend named Lin Yimei, who is an outstanding actress. Madam often invites her to her house to get together, and the two have a close relationship. Of course, Sima Qing didn't care how two people interacted with each other. A few days ago, Sima Qing was happy to have a son. Yesterday, they held a banquet to celebrate. The locals called it "eating noodles", and Lin Yimei was naturally among those invited. The tiger-head shoes, dog-head hats, and children's clothes given by Lin Yimei won applause from the female relatives, who even praised the women's red shoes for their exquisiteness and ingenious workmanship. Because of this, when Sima Qing toasted to the guests and friends at noon, he looked at Lin Yimei twice. Lin Yimei is indeed Xiaojiabiyu. She is dressed in coarse cloth but tailored to fit her body perfectly. What is even more outstanding is the phoenix hairpin on her head. It was in the shape of a golden wind, with wings fluttering about to fly. However, the windy feet tightly grasped a paulownia branch, and the paulownia branch was made into a pin and inserted deeply into the bun on the back of the head. . If the golden phoenix wants to take off, it must take people with it. In this way, Lin Yimei's whole person had an ecstatic attitude. A peasant girl, mixed in among a group of rich ladies and charming ladies, was supposed to be an unknown character, but because of those female celebrities and that hairpin, she was surrounded by the female family members like stars holding the moon in their arms, and she stole the limelight…
Sima Qing showed Bai Desheng a seat and asked, "Don't be impatient and tell me the details." Bai Desheng looked regretful and said, "It's my fault." Bai Desheng taught in a neighboring village. , signed a contract with the school, and can only go home for a day off after receiving the teaching salary at the end of each month. Yesterday was supposed to be a day for collecting wages, but unfortunately my boss had a guest, and I wanted to stay with him for free. However, I was so tired and so drunk that I fell asleep after drinking. I didn't wake up until five o'clock today. Because she was afraid that Lin Yimei would miss her, she wouldn't bother to wash up after getting up, so she hurried home. Unexpectedly, what greeted him was a dead body. Lin Yimei was hanging on the beam, her body was already cold! Suicide or homicide? It was not clear for a while, so she had to go to the government for help.
Sima Qing had a hasty breakfast, then took the policeman and the policeman with him and followed Bai Desheng to Wulihe Village to investigate the case. Wulihe Village is not far from the county seat. Sima Qing did not sit in a sedan chair and went with Bai Desheng. Sima Qing hesitated for a moment and said, "I don't know whether to ask or not, how is my relationship with you, Madam?" Bai Desheng said, "It is inevitable that there will be some bumps in the life of husband and wife, but we are generally doing well."
Lin Yimei was the kind of woman with a proud temperament. When she married Bai Desheng, she really expected him to get an official position and be prominent among others. Who would have thought that Bai De would never make any progress after being promoted to a scholar, and eventually became a teacher. Lin Yimei was inevitably a little bit dissatisfied about this. Bai Desheng accepted his fate and thought that it would be good to study and inherit the family, but Lin Yimei always wanted to be a head above others. It also happened that Lin Yimei's girlfriend became the county magistrate's wife. She was able to frequently visit the county government office and finally found some psychological balance. Therefore, she often showed off in front of the villagers: "My husband has a great reputation and does not kneel before officials." "When I go in and out of the Yamen, it's like going to the market!" After her vanity was satisfied, Lin Yimei still treated her scholar husband well, so it's not an exaggeration to say that the two of them have a good relationship.
Sima Qing said: "This is too shallow." Bai Desheng said: "Or it's just a woman's opinion. But this way, she won't complain in front of me." As he spoke, Bai De Sheng led Sima Qing and others to Wulihe Village. The officials immediately inspected the scene. After a while, the autopsy report of the deceased came up: "Lin Yimei committed suicide by throwing herself into the ring. It was not caused by external forces: she had engaged in sexual immorality with the opposite sex before her death." At that time, Bai Desheng was also beside Sima Qing. After listening to the report, He was very surprised. Lin Yimei was in a good relationship these days, so how could she commit suicide? She didn't come back last night, so who was she sleeping with? Sima Qing nodded secretly, thinking: So, Lin Yimei was raped. , committed suicide in shame and anger? So, we must find the evildoer as soon as possible and avenge Lin Yimei, so that he can be worthy of his wife's girlfriend. Thinking of this, he immediately called a confidant to send a new ghost prostitute and explained in this way.
The scene of the crime was sealed off by the government, and it was difficult for outsiders to know the progress of solving the case. But curiosity makes some people wait eagerly, hoping to know why Lin Yimei seeks death. At this moment, a policeman who came out to use the toilet inadvertently revealed a message, saying: "The government found a suicide note from Lin, which will be of great help in catching the real culprit. Although Lin was not very literate, he wrote many things. The name of the painting is unclear, but the county government official, the god of the new ghost prostitute , and Bai Xiucai's full cooperation, will soon understand the essence of Lin's suicide note…"
Sima Qing's little plan was nothing more than knocking on the mountain and shaking the tiger. There was one person in Wulihe Village who couldn't keep his temper and fled out of the village with his girl. Sima Qing had already taken precautions, and the guy was captured quickly not far from the village. The person who was taken away was named Wang Dagou, who was also from Wulihe Village. He was in his 30s and looked like a scoundrel. When he saw Sima Qing, he softened himself first, and before being tortured, he slapped his mouth and shouted: "Master, spare my life! I shouldn't, I shouldn't!" Sima Qing said coldly: "Smart! This way you can suffer less. A lot of physical pain!"
It turns out that this big dog also has some land, but he has everything from food, drink, prostitution and gambling. Therefore, he is still a bachelor in his 50s. Yesterday, he went to the county town for a tour. He originally planned to gamble and go whoring, but he was so unlucky that he even lost 7 of his money in prostitution. In the evening, he sighed and walked back, but found a phoenix hairpin on the road. The hairpin was heavy and golden, worth at least ten taels of silver. If you use it to gamble or go whoring, it will be enough for a while! When Wang Dagou was feeling proud, he suddenly saw Lin Yimei, the wife of Bai Xiucai from the same village, walking over looking for her, so he hurriedly hid the hairpin in his pocket. Lin Yimei's sharp eyes had already seen Wang Dagou's movements, and she shouted from a distance: "Brother Wang, what did you pick up was a wind hairpin?" They were all neighbors in the same village, and Wang Dagou couldn't hide anymore, so he simply looked out for the wind. The hairpin came out and asked: "So what if it's Fengchai?" Lin Yimei shouted: "I lost that Fengchai!" Wang Dagou thought to himself: This little girl is quite greedy, and "half of it" is especially insufficient. He wanted to take all the hairpins! He sneered and said: "I can only buy you a hairpin in ten years if Bai Xiucai earns some money. Little lady, you are too greedy!" Lin Yimei had it on her face. With a look of sadness, he said: "Brother Wang, let me tell you the truth. My family is poor and it is rare to wear gold and silver. I only wanted to be a guest at the house of Mr. Sima, the county government, so I borrowed it from the goldsmith's daughter. This wind hairpin. It’s my fault that I had a few extra glasses of wine at noon and lost the wind hairpin on the way back…” Wang Dagou believed that Lin Yimei’s good face was already known to everyone in the village. But what do these trivial matters have to do with my big dog? He dangled the hairpin in front of Lin Yimei's eyes and said bluntly: "I am not ignorant about picking up gold here, you should thank me with your body!" Lin Yimei took a step back and hurriedly said Said: "This, no, absolutely no!" Wang Dagou didn't force it, he just said: "I can't tell you how much this thing is worth. Anyway, I didn't steal or rob, little lady, you can do whatever you want!" Just when Lin Yimei was hesitating, Wang Dagou had already stepped forward to hug Lin Yimei. With half a push, Wang Dagou carried Lin Yimei into the sorghum field on the roadside. Afterwards, Wang Dagou did not break his promise and returned the wind coin to Lin Yimei…
Sima Qing was going to continue to torture Wang Dagou, but he thought that the goldsmith's daughter who lent him the hairpin to Lin Yimei was from Wulihe Village, so he asked the village's local security guard to lead the way and went straight to the goldsmith's house. The goldsmith went out to collect the bill, and the goldsmith's daughter happened to be at home. Sima Qing asked: "Did Lin Yimei borrow a phoenix hairpin from you?" The golden girl nodded: "Yes." It turned out that the goldsmith was a person who liked to be unconventional and often designed some unique jewelry. I had no idea whether the new jewelry would be popular with others, so I let my daughter wear it to show off. The day before yesterday, Jinnu went to Lin Yimei's house to ask for advice on female beauty. Lin Yimei immediately took a look at the phoenix hairpin on Jinnu's head, and said, "I'm going to a decent banquet tomorrow, and I'm worried about dressing up without jewelry. Let me borrow the hairpin." Jinnü wears the hairpin for "advertising", so how could she not agree? What's more, Lin Yimei is also Jinnv's master of female beauty.
Sima Qing said "Oh" and asked again: "Have you returned the phoenix hairpin to you?" Jin Nu took one of the phoenix hairpins from her head and said, "Return it, this is it." Sima Qing was startled: "Return it. ?" The golden girl said: "When we were having dinner yesterday, she came over to return it, but the expression on her face was very embarrassed. I wanted to collect people's reactions to the new jewelry for my father, so I quickly asked: 'This hairpin embarrasses you7' ?" Lin Yimei said: "What's the embarrassment? It made me steal the show! It's just that I lost it, but luckily I found it again. Alas, this hairpin almost killed me Ah!' I hurriedly comforted her. If you really lose 7, you don't have to look for it. This hairpin is worth only a penny at best! Unexpectedly, she immediately started sweating, covering her face and ran back…"
Sima Qing was also surprised: "What are you talking about, this hairpin is only worth a penny?" Jin Nu said: "Most of the samples of new jewelry are made of lead tires, but they are coated with a layer of gold powder on the outside, which makes them almost real. . Only when the outside world recognizes it, will it be changed to the real material. My lord, think about it: If this wind hairpin is really worth ten taels of silver, how can we lend it out so easily?" Sima Qing paused, shook his head, no. If you continue to ask further, you will return to the crime scene of 7.
Bai Desheng hurriedly greeted him and asked, "Why did my wife Lin Yimei die?" Sima Qing sighed and introduced the ins and outs of the wind hairpin, saying: "She originally thought that the wind hairpin was worth a lot of money, so she had to Endure the humiliation in return. When you find out that you have lost your integrity and been humiliated for a penny, you can imagine your regret. This is the real cause of Lin Yimei's death!" Bai Desheng could only sigh.