Jiang Zhu rolled his eyes at the old man, and Youyou looked away.
"Although he looks a bit older, he is still better than Fang Jinyuan."
Ye Anyian nodded thoughtfully: "That's right."
"Yang Lu" asked for trouble, coughed in embarrassment, picked up the paperweight on the table, patted it, and waved his hand down impatiently: "Drag these three people down, and take the next one with you!"
As soon as the words fell, several government officials came forward and dragged and lifted Ye Quan, Wu Xianglian and Ye Chenghe down.
Zhou Zaiqian, who was standing aside with his head lowered, suddenly breathed a sigh of relief when he saw this.
Ye Annian looked at the old man sitting at the top with 'absent-minded' written all over his face, and frowned: "Why do I feel that this new magistrate of the county is not good at solving cases?"
Jiang Zhu glanced over and said with a smile, "Maybe everyone handles cases differently."
While the two were chatting, two more people were brought up from below, and they turned out to be two women.
One of them, an elderly woman who walked slowly, kept her head lowered. She was supported by another younger woman next to her, and slowly walked to the center of the open space and knelt down.
Ye Annian looked at these two people, and his heart skipped a beat. The old man's figure was quite familiar to him, and the younger woman next to him was wearing a plain dress with a white flower on her temples. silk flower.
But it's not Granny Qian and Qing Niang.
Recalling that Qing Niang had blocked the door of Zhou Ji's pawnshop and burned paper money, Granny Qian explained that it was Zhou Zaiqian who killed Qing Niang's beloved.
Thinking about it, the two of them came here just for this matter.
"What grievances do you two have?" the person sitting at the top asked.
Granny Qian kowtowed and said in a plain and calm voice: "Mr. Yang, I want to sue Zhou Zaiqian for raping a civilian girl."
"I'm suing Zhou Zaigan for paying someone to kill someone." Qing Niang also kowtowed and followed.
"Oh?" The old man who was twirling his beard paused and glanced down, "When did this happen? Who were you who he robbed and killed?"
"More than thirty years ago, Zhou was fucking him..."
"Wait a minute." The old man stopped quickly, "What happened more than thirty years ago, why are you suing now?"
He twisted his sleeves with his fingers and felt weak in his heart. He was good at treating diseases and saving people, but how could he solve a case?
It just happened that things were self-defeating. The person I wanted to see was met, but others were also put in this position, so I had to bite the bullet and not let the brat see the joke.
"Ahem," the old man cleared his throat and spoke again, "You have been hiding the past thirty years ago, but what's the secret?"
"Master Qi," Qing Niang kowtowed to him before saying, "It's not that I don't want to report it, it's actually that the previous magistrate Fang Jinyuan bullied others. Zhou Zaiqian gave him a gift that year, and the two cases were hastily settled that year."
"Tell me carefully."
"More than thirty years ago, Zhou Zaiqian fell in love with my daughter Fang Yingying at first sight and came to my house to propose marriage. But he was a gangster when he was young, so the old man and I naturally couldn't agree. He came to the house several times later, but we all refused. "
"I thought this matter would be over, but one day, Yingying ran back crying and told me... that she had been defiled by that bastard!"
"We filed a lawsuit with the county government, but Zhou Zaiqian gave a gift to Fang Jinyuan, that dog official, and that dog official... actually sentenced my daughter to him!"
"That's unreasonable!" The old man became angrier as he listened, and his beard trembled. He slammed the table and shouted, "Come here! Drag Zhou Zaiqian down and kill him with a cane!"
He gave the order, and all the government officials with water and fire sticks in their hands rushed out, but they froze in place again.
Kill with a stick? Isn't this... a bit too fast?
Seeing that the government officials were stunned, the old man raised his voice: "What are you doing standing still? Come on in!"
Jiang Zhu held his forehead, and he finally understood that this smelly old man came here specifically to cause trouble for him.
"Master Yang," Jiang Zhu took a step forward, "Is your way of deciding the case too arbitrary? After the victim has complained about the case, shouldn't he ask the suspect for confirmation of the case?"
"It is despicable to do this this week, but it would be too easy for him to let him die like this? The crimes he committed must be made clear to everyone."
"Hey! You little..." mid-sentence, the old man stopped abruptly, "Ahem, you unreasonable citizen, it's not your turn to teach me how to solve the case."
Then he looked at Zhou Zaiqian next to him and said loudly: "You are so bold and unruly, and you still haven't admitted your guilt!"
"Master Yang, the common people have been wronged!" Zhou Zaiqian knelt down with a plop, "The case was closed back then, and the common people don't know why this old woman wants to bring this matter up to bother you."
"But this case has been settled a long time ago. Cao Min was young and did make a mistake, but later on, Cao Min also married that woman, didn't he? Cao Min is not guilty of this, right?"
"Beast!" The old man was so angry that he picked up the paperweight at hand and threw it at Zhou Zaiqian.
Seeing that the paperweight was about to hit Zhou Zaiqian, Jiang Zhu turned aside, raised his hand calmly to catch it, and said with a smile: "Master Yang, calm down."
With this blow, Zhou Zaiqian might go directly to see the King of Hell.
Zhou Zaiqian wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and forced out a smile: "Mr. Yang, Doctor Jiang, I am telling the truth. There is no need to be so angry."
"Yes, Fang Yingying is dead in the back, but I didn't kill him."
"It is true that Fang Yingying was not killed by you, but she was killed by you." Ye Anyian said softly and walked out of the crowd.
Granny Qian's words just now reminded him of it.
When he and Jiang Zhu came here to choose a location for their shop, they asked Granny Qian about West Street.
Granny Qian told him about Zhou Zaiqian's old past, and also advised him not to rent a shop here.
Now that I think about it, the girl Granny Qian talked about who was raped by Zhou Zaiqian was obviously her own daughter.
And the young lady who opened the umbrella shop next door was not the poor prostitute who was forced to give birth to Zhou Zaiqian's child.
When Zhou Zaiqian saw him, he was stunned for a moment, but he quickly laughed: "Hahaha, what does this have to do with me."
"You married Fang Yingying, and you had a daughter, Zhou Rong." Ye Annian ignored him and continued, "But you were addicted to gambling at that time, owed a lot of money, and didn't care about your family at all. Wife and daughter. Later, Fang Yingying became pregnant again. You didn't kill her, but the debt you owed became a reminder of her death. "
"It was those debt collectors who forced her to death, killing two people. Zhou Zaiqian, does this really have nothing to do with you?"
"Then I didn't kill anyone." Zhou Zaiqian smiled evilly, "Even if he died because of me, so what? You can't judge me!"
"Beast!"
"Oh, that old lady Qian is so pitiful. She wants to be the mother-in-law of such a person. If it were me, I would have found a rope and hanged her to death."
"Fang Yingying is also pitiful. This week, Zai Qian is too arrogant. It seems that he doesn't even take Xinzhi County seriously!"
"No. He's the hardest to deal with when he's so slippery!"
The onlookers were talking a lot. The old man sitting on the Grand Master's chair rolled up his sleeves in anger and was glared back by Jiang Zhu.
But I heard Qing Niang, who had been kneeling there quietly, speak: "You can get rid of the blame for Yingying's matter, but what about Peng Chuan?"
"I was originally a prostitute in a brothel. After many years, I finally met a man who was willing to redeem my life, Peng Chuan. However, I was disturbed by Zhou Zaiqian. He gave me a sum of money and asked me to give him a child. Son, if I don't agree, he will send someone to kill Peng Chuan."
"You are talking nonsense, Yue Qing, why do you say that I killed your sweetheart?" Zhou Zaiqian was not afraid at all and looked towards Qing Niang.
"Ha," Qing Niang stared at him coldly, but suddenly laughed, "Do you think I have no evidence?"
Ignoring Zhou Zaiqian's sneers and taunts, Qing Niang took out a cloth bag from her lapel and carefully spread it on the ground.
Inside was a thick stack of banknotes.
But every banknote was stained with blood.
"This is the money Zhou Zaiqian gave me back then. I didn't spend any of it. It's all here."
"Master Yang, is this evidence enough?"
The old man suddenly stood up from his chair and was about to go down to look at the stack of banknotes. Jiang Zhu had no choice but to quickly wrap the banknotes on the floor in cloth and put them on the table for him.
"Ahem," the old man rolled up his sleeves and carefully identified the blood stains one by one. After a moment, he said loudly, "Enough, enough! Someone is here..."
Jiang Zhu:...
"Master Yang, that's not what the evidence says."
"Then what do you think?" The old man got angry and slapped the table again.
Jiang Zhu had no choice but to point to him: "Here, these banknotes have the marks of the gambling houses, which shows that Zhou Zaiqian really won the money from the gambling houses, proving that Qing Niang was indeed forced by him to do the transaction. But It's not enough to prove that Peng Chuan was killed by him."
Ye Annian knew what Jiang Zhu said made sense, but he still couldn't help but sigh. Here, there are no modern advanced instruments that can conduct blood tests, detect fingerprints, etc. It is really difficult to solve such an old case.
"What Dr. Jiang said is true. I did give this bank note to Yue Qing. However, this doesn't prove that I killed Peng Chuan, right?"
Zhou Zaiqian on the side couldn't help laughing: "Don't waste your efforts. I, Zhou, have been hanging around in Tianshui Town for so many years, and I didn't hang around in vain."
"Sir, if the evidence is not enough, I still have it here."
Qing Niang suddenly stood up from the ground. She looked intently at the old man sitting above her. She raised her hand and unbuttoned the white coat she was wearing.
The onlookers were startled by her sudden movement, but they saw that the yellow and old loose clothes she wore underneath were covered with blood that had dried to dark brown.
"What...what is this?" some people onlookers asked.
"It looks like dried blood?"
"What does this prove? Is it Pengchuan's?"
"These are my last words, I guess." Ye Annian said coldly, staring at the blood stains on her sleeves.
"It's written: Zhou Zaiqian...kill me."
"That's right." Qing Niang clenched her fists and stared intently at the position above her head, "These are the clothes Peng Chuan was wearing when he was killed. The words on them were written by him before he died."
She walked up to Zhou Zaiqian and stood in front of him, looking at him condescendingly: "I have been wearing it for so many years, just to send you in with Granny Qian one day."