Folk Ghost Stories

early morning murder

Early in the morning, someone reported that a person had died in Zuixianlou, the largest restaurant in the county. After the county magistrate Lan Yu and all the yamen arrived at the scene, they saw the shopkeeper Huang Shiwen standing beside the corpse and muttering to himself, “Impossible… He only drank a cup of tea!” Early in the morning, Zuixianlou opened the door, and Guo Erliang walked in, shouting for water. Seeing that he was in a hurry, Huang Shiwen poured out the pot of tea he had just brewed for him. Who knew that Guo Erliang started to vomit just after drinking half a bowl of this tea, and then it died.

According to the report, the deceased was poisoned by arsenic. The belly is blue and black, and the color of the nails remains the same, indicating that he did not eat anything in the morning, he was poisoned on an empty stomach, and toxins were detected in the tea bowl. Lan Yu ordered a search of the store but found nothing toxic. Lan Yu thought to himself, it is indeed unreasonable to kill people in his own restaurant in such a large audience. So Huang Shiwen was ordered to wait at home, waiting for the official summons at any time.

In the past few days, Lan Yu has not been involved in the case because of other official duties. Later, he heard that Guo Erliang was haunted after his death, and came back every night to find his wife Qian Yue’e. On this day, when she was about to have a baby, Lan Yu rushed to Qian Yue’e’s house with several officers. As soon as they arrived at the gate of the courtyard, there was an exclamation from the house: “Er Liang, please let me go…” The yamen hurriedly stepped forward to call the door, and after a while, Qian Yue’e opened the door. Qian Yue’e’s house has two rooms, the outside is the hall, and the inside is sleeping. Lan Yu asked Qian Yue’e: “Is it really Guo Erliang’s ghost? Did he talk to you?” “It was him, no… didn’t speak. He… came from the wall, walked from the wall.” Lan Yu walked over Look at that wall, nothing unusual. The furnishings in the room are very simple, with two suitcases, a large bed with a blue cloth tent, and a tall copper lamp on the side of the bed. This light has a unique design, with a movable shade around the wick, which can be pulled at will to adjust the direction and size of the light. On the lamp holder, Lan Yu found a piece of colored syrup. He gently took off the candy syrup and put it away. Lan Yu said, “The ghosts won’t come again today, so close the door and sleep. I’ll send officials to watch the night tomorrow.”

But I didn’t expect that early the next morning, Qian Yue’e was found dead, and there was still a poisoned wine glass on the table. From all indications, she committed suicide by taking poison on her own. Lan Yu sent someone to investigate and found out that Qian Yue’e had bought arsenic from Huishengtang ten days ago. Based on this analysis, it is likely that Qian Yue’e bought arsenic and put it in the tea, gave it to Guo Erliang early in the morning, and then let him go to the street to buy things. Guo Erliang became poisoned when he passed the Zuixianlou, and he was thirsty and went to beg for water, so he died in Zuixianlou. And the poison in the teacup was the poison he spit into the water himself. Qian Yue’e poisoned her husband and committed suicide in fear of the crime. But what happened to Guo Erliang’s ghost? Lan Yu stood up and walked to the window. There was a smooth wall in front of him. The light behind him came over and reflected his shadow on the wall. Lan Yu’s eyes suddenly lit up.

strange sugar syrup

In the evening, Lan Yu brought people to Zuixianlou for a drink, and ordered the signature dish “Tang Cai Na Fu”. This dish is actually a big platter. There are all kinds of meat and vegetables coldly mixed on the plate. What is rare is that the Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea is still standing on it. It is made of colored sugar syrup. Lan Yu was full of praise, and Huang Shiwen quickly replied: “Thank you for your praise, this dish is handed down from our ancestors.” Seeing Lan Yu’s continuous praise, officials and servants toasted Huang Shiwen. Huang Shiwen couldn’t refuse, and he was able to escape and leave the banquet until he was drunk. Because he drank too much, he decided to sleep in the temporary bedroom of Zuixianlou. He stumbled into the house, took off his cover, and prepared to pour a bowl of tea to drink. He raised his head sharply and suddenly found Qian Yue’e’s ghost on the opposite wall. Her hair was disheveled and she stood erratically. Huang Shiwen was shocked into a cold sweat, and Jiujin suddenly woke up halfway. He turned his head and looked behind him. He couldn’t help but let out an “ah”. How could the copper lamp of Qian Yue’e’s house appear here? He walked over, opened the lampshade, and there was indeed a piece of sugar syrup with a portrait painted inside.

Just when he was in shock, several lanterns were suddenly lit in the room, and Lan Yu appeared in front of him with the official messenger. Lan Yu asked, “Aren’t you afraid of Qian Yue’e’s ghost?” Huang Shiwen said smoothly, “It’s just the shadow of a sugar syrup painting.” Lan Yu said, “Manager Huang is very knowledgeable! Qian Yue’e was killed by Guo Erliang’s fake ghost. Well, you did it, right?” Huang Shiwen stammered: “Little man… the little man only knows that putting sugar syrup in front of the lamp can make a human figure appear on the wall, which has nothing to do with Qian Yue’e’s death! Lan Yu asked someone to present a piece of paper, “This is your house deed, and this yard is behind Guo Erliang’s house.” Lan Yu waved his hand, and the clerk pushed another person. Huang Shiwen was stupid at first sight. treasurer. The shopkeeper said that Qian Yue’e never went to him to buy arsenic at all, and Huang Shiwen bribed himself to frame it for her.

Pinhole imaging eliminates guilt

Huang Shiwen explained the truth of the matter. It turned out that he secretly bought the yard across the wall from Qian Yue’e’s house, and the two often went over the wall to date when Guo Erliang was not at home. But their adultery was discovered by Guo Erliang. The greedy Guo Erliang actually used this to blackmail Huang Shiwen, and his appetite was getting bigger and bigger, and finally made Huang Shiwen anxious. After Huang Shiwen bought the poison, he told Qian Yue’e that as long as he got rid of Guo Erliang, he would marry her and become a big wife. Qian Yue’e actually played a trick on her husband.

But after Guo Erliang drank the poisonous tea and went out, he came to the Zuixianlou unexpectedly and died on the spot. Huang Shiwen was worried that the matter would be exposed, and decided to kill Qian Yue’e as well. Huang Shiwen used the principle of small hole imaging recorded in the book to make a small hole on the copper lamp of Qian Yue’e , and put the sugar paste painting on the lamp holder. Go through the small hole and hit the opposite wall to form the image of Guo Erliang. After a short time, the light will burn the sugar syrup, and the image will disappear automatically. Taking advantage of Qian Yue’e’s absence, Huang Shiwen dug a hole in the back wall where the lamp was facing, and then plugged it with mud, so he could remove the luminous ghost lantern at any time , and in the middle of the night, he could remove the mud ball from his yard. , turn on the light. Everything went very smoothly, Qian Yue’e was frightened by the ghost, and the news spread quickly. As soon as the official left that night, Huang Shiwen brought wine to Qian Yue’e’s place to shock her. After Qian Yue’e had a few glasses of wine, he went back over the wall. Unexpectedly, all this was seen through by the discerning Lan Yu.

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