Nine Chapters of Strange Cases

Chapter 178 The Wu Family Father and Son
"Since Min is not here, and Wu has become a person involved in the case, I would like to trouble Lord Jing to make a record of this case."

Upon entering the Court of Justice, Zhou Zhao calmed down completely.

It was as if the football fanatic who had previously dominated the field was not her at all.

Jing Yi pursed his lips and didn't speak, only nodding slightly. He was an official under Li Huaishan of the Court of Justice, and he was responsible for taking notes during the Court of Justice's daily case discussions, which was not a difficult task for him.

Zhou Zhao saw him sitting at the table to the side, picking up a pen, thinking for a moment, and then speaking.

"The entire scalp of the deceased was cut off without any defects or stitches. This is an extremely difficult task that no ordinary person could do. Furthermore, the bamboo strips inserted into the human skin still perfectly reflect the deceased's appearance, which is also something that no ordinary person could accomplish."

The deceased had been dead for several years, and the skin had been soaked in a special medicinal solution, giving it a herbal scent.

For more detailed information, it needs to be examined by a coroner.

After Zhou Zhao finished speaking, seeing that Jing Yi had already memorized it, he sat down and looked at the dazed Wu Qingshan in front of him.

"Wu Qingshan, what do you know? Why did Wu Jiandao say your mother was the murderer?"

Wu Qingshan's eyes reddened, and he raised his eyes, reaching out to wipe them, trying hard not to let the tears fall.

He opened his mouth, his voice a little hoarse, "I prayed to all the gods and Buddhas in the heavens, begging for his safety, but it was no use."

Zhou Zhao was taken aback, recalling the few things the Court of Justice had about Wu Qingshan.

He did indeed go to pray to gods and Buddhas whenever he had free time, and the local people all knew about this.

She used to think it was just his personal quirk, never imagining that it was for his father.

“My father’s name was Wu Heng. He was just an ordinary scholar, with no great wealth or literary talent. His only good quality was his open-mindedness, and he was especially good at Cuju (ancient Chinese football). There used to be a Cuju team in Chang’an called Shenxiao, and my father was their sharpshooter.”

Zhou Zhao was taken aback; she had heard of the name Shenxiao.

Legend has it that Shenxiao is invincible in Chang'an because he has twelve god-like players. No wonder Wu Qingshan and Wu Jiandao both like Cuju (ancient Chinese football), it turns out they are following in their fathers' footsteps.

"When he was young, his family arranged for him to marry his cousin, Wang. Wang was Wu Jiandao's mother."

As Wu Qingshan spoke, his hand under the table clenched into a fist, his voice unusually dry. "My mother's name is Ju Niang. My maternal grandfather's family has a tradition of making funerary objects. They can make wood carvings, pottery carvings, bamboo figurines, and leather figures... for burial. My mother is his only daughter and inherited all his skills."

Zhou Zhao and Li Youdao, who were sitting in the corner of the room, exchanged a glance, both feeling a bad premonition.

This is clearly why Wu Jiandao believes that Wu Qingshan's mother is the murderer who killed Wu Heng.

Wu Qingshan took a deep breath and said without reservation, "Moreover, my maternal grandfather's family also knows how to prepare medicines to prevent corpses from decomposing."

As he spoke, he looked up at Zhou Zhao, "I know that saying all this will make my mother the most likely murderer. But Zhou Zhao, believe me, my mother could never be the murderer! I believe you can find out who killed my father!"

As Wu Qingshan spoke, her palms clenched until they bled. "After my maternal grandfather passed away, my mother was left to fend for herself. Those who needed funerary objects, seeing that she was a young girl, were hesitant to let her handle the funeral arrangements. To earn money, she took on any job imaginable..."

Perhaps it was fate that her name contained such a destiny; she had carved stone lions for the gate and made bamboo baskets for fish, but ultimately she made her way in the world of ball making. It was precisely because of her fame that my father came to visit.

As Wu Qingshan spoke, he lowered his eyes, not daring to look at Zhou Zhao.

He never mentioned his family affairs at the Court of Justice, nor did he mention that he had an elder brother named Wu Jiandao, who worked in the Imperial Household Department.

“I am a concubine’s son. When my mother first met my father, he was wearing a blue robe, so my mother named me Wu Qingshan. They were in love with each other, and my mother originally did not intend to enter the mansion to become my father’s concubine. She thought that by giving birth to me, I could inherit my maternal grandfather’s mantle.”

As Wu Qingshan pondered, he recalled his childhood.

At that time, he didn't understand anything, only that he had the best parents in the world. His parents were both cheerful people, and the three of them often played Cuju (ancient Chinese football) with the people of Shenxiao. When he scored his first goal, his parents happily made him do somersaults on the Cuju field.

The three of them would drink and eat meat together at the roasted mutton shop, and his father would prick him with his beard and tickle his armpits.

Every image he remembered of his father showed him smiling.

"When I grew older, I met an excellent teacher by chance. The teacher said that I had some talent and that if I had a clean background and someone recommended me, I could become an official in the court in the future. For the sake of my future, my mother proposed for the first time that I should be recognized as a member of the family."

His mother was a lowly craftsman; if he followed in her footsteps, he would become a craftsman in the future.

Perhaps on some ordinary afternoon, after completing the last funerary figurine, he would be forever locked in the tomb, disappearing without a trace like his maternal grandfather.

"That was the first time I saw my stepmother, Madam Wang, with Wu Jiandao. The bluestone slabs in the courtyard were covered with small stones, which hurt my knees. My mother made me kneel in the courtyard. The Wu family poured boiling mugwort water over us, and the smell of black dog blood was nauseating..."

“They looked at my mother and me as if we were some kind of unlucky, dirty things. Not a single person in the Wu family welcomed us…”

Seeing that Wu Qingshan was lost in her memories and unable to continue, Zhou Zhao looked back at her seriously and asked, "When did your father have the accident?"

Wu Qingshan quickly came to his senses. "Three years ago. That day we suffered all kinds of humiliation. I wanted to leave with my mother, but she held me back and endured it. My father insisted on his own way, so I returned to the family and became the second son of the Wu family. My mother also moved into the Wu family mansion."

But after that, many things happened to the Wu family. My grandparents passed away one after another, my father fell off his horse and broke his leg. Although it didn't affect his walking, he could no longer play Cuju (an ancient Chinese football game). The Shenxiao Clan was also disbanded... Everyone in the clan thought that my mother and I were unlucky people..."

Wu Qingshan didn't want to recall the time when Wu Jiandao bullied her.

“My clansmen wanted to drive my mother and me out, and it was at that time that I got an opportunity to enter the Shaofu.”

It's an opportunity to enter the Imperial Household Department, not the Court of Justice.

Zhou Zhao's eyes flickered. The person in the Shaofu was Wu Jiandao, not Wu Qingshan. Something special must have happened.

"Just as you think, the matter of entering the Shaofu (a government office) somehow ended up falling on Wu Jiandao's shoulders. My mother left the mansion in anger, and my father chased after her, but he never came back."