Nine Chapters of Strange Cases

Chapter 39 Corpse Hidden in the House
The man in black was terrified. He was about to back away when he felt a chill behind him, and goosebumps immediately broke out all over his body.

Ignoring Zhou Zhao's flying kick, he rolled to the side, avoiding Liu Huang's heavy golden ringed saber behind him, and rolled directly to the door before bursting out, disappearing without a trace in an instant.

"Ah Zhao, are you alright?"

Zhou Zhao wiped the blood from his face and shook his head.

She moved her foot, and beneath it lay a blue jade pendant with the character "成" (cheng) written on it in small seal script.

Zhou Zhao's eyes flickered as he looked at Liu Huang. "You've come at the right time. Let's go find the debtor and collect the debt."

As she spoke, she jumped off the bed. Because they were on guard against a night attack, she and Liu Huang slept fully clothed, so it was convenient for them to go out now.

The courtyard was still quiet, except for Xie Laosi's door, which was slightly ajar.

Zhou Zhao pushed open the door and walked in without any ceremony. The room was empty, with nothing but a bed, like a snow cave.

Xie Laosi squatted on the ground, burning paper money and lighting incense in an earthenware pot. When he heard Zhou Zhao push open the door, he turned around to look at her with a complicated expression.

Zhou Zhao grinned and waved at Xie Laosi, "Hey, burn some paper money for me! But I didn't die, so I can't receive it. How about you just give me money?"

Upon hearing this, Xie Laosi's mind went blank.

How could there be such shameless people in the world!
"I have no money, but I'll take your life! Just because you're alive today doesn't mean you won't die tomorrow, and just because you're alive tomorrow doesn't mean you won't die the day after. How can a young lady like you just come to a strange man's room in the middle of the night? It will damage your reputation if word gets out."

Zhou Zhao clicked her tongue twice, glanced at Liu Huang, and Liu Huang decisively closed the door.

He wore a straw hat, leaned against the door, and looked as at ease as a door god pasted on the wall.

Xie Laosi's expression immediately turned hostile. He glared fiercely at Zhou Zhao, "What do you mean by this?"

Zhou Zhao squatted down by the brazier, picked up a stack of paper money and threw it into the brazier. "Although I can't receive it, those people who were killed by Cheng Ming because of you can receive the money you sent to buy their lives. They're probably crying by the Bridge of Helplessness right now. The one who killed me was a rare kind person in Tianying City."

Xie Laosi's pupils suddenly contracted, and his hand reached for his waist.

But he found nothing! He was horrified and looked at Zhou Zhao, only to see that his judge's pen had somehow fallen into the little girl's hands, and she was using it as a fire poker, poking around in the earthenware pot.

As Zhou Zhao tended the fire, he carefully observed the bluestone bricks paving the room. Each brick was neat and orderly, and the floor was also very clean.

Suddenly, Zhou Zhao's gaze paused, lingering on one of the spots for a moment before shifting away.

"Don't talk nonsense without evidence! Cheng Ming is not someone to be trifled with!"

Zhou Zhao looked up at Xie Laosi, who felt a chill run down his spine. She shook her head. "He's not someone to mess with. You've already messed with him. Don't pretend to be fierce. If you want to cry, just cry! There are only two of us here. My brother doesn't like to laugh, so I'll be the only one laughing at you."

Seeing Xie Laosi's surprised and uncertain expression, he involuntarily clenched his fist.

"The wounds on your body were all inflicted by Chief Cheng with a branding iron, weren't they? There are old wounds and new ones, which shows how much she hates you. In that case, I guess she forcibly brought you to Tianying City back then. Why? Hmm..."

Zhou Zhao paused for a moment, and sure enough, he saw Xie Laosi staring wide-eyed in disbelief, as if struck by lightning. "Hmm, such deep hatred must stem from Chief Cheng's child who died young."

No one knows how to hurt someone better than their enemy.

Today, the people of Tianxu Village angered the people of Tiandou Village. What did they mention? They mentioned "Clan Chief Cheng's hairy dead child," and also said that the child had been stolen.

"You stole the body of Chief Cheng's child, didn't you? She tortured you, so you have a new brand and blisters on your waist. Since you refused to reveal anything, she had Cheng Ming threaten you with the lives of innocent people. To the rest of Tianying City, this is nothing."

"But for someone like you who used to be a local official, this is something that could drive you crazy."

"With your abilities, you couldn't have accomplished this on your own, so you must have had an accomplice. That accomplice is Sun Youshan, who is even more dissatisfied with the man surnamed Cheng."

“And that corpse,” Zhou Zhao said, walking to the bluestone slab where he had noticed something amiss earlier, and burning it with the red-hot judge's pen, “should be right here!”

Xie Laosi felt that if eye sockets could grow infinitely larger, his eyeballs would have rolled off the ground by now.

He reached out and touched his forehead, which was now covered in cold sweat.

His lips trembled slightly as he looked at Zhou Zhao as if he were looking at a ghost. "Who exactly are you? You clearly entered Tianying City just today. This morning, I saw Granny Zhang trick you into coming here."

"How could you... How could you..."

Zhou Zhao raised an eyebrow. "How could I possibly know so much? Of course, it's just my deduction. You care about a woman's reputation, so when I said the assassin was Cheng Ming, your first thought was to find evidence."

"Apart from officials who insist on needing evidence to solve cases, criminals in Tianying City are content to just retaliate when they're attacked; what need is there for evidence?"

Of course, what she didn't say was that Xie Laosi, who was standing in front of her, was among the list of people in Tianying City that Qianmian had given her today. He had once been a local official.

"Old Fourth Brother Xie, I don't need to say anything more, do I? Once I pry open this bluestone slab, I'll be able to find the child's body hidden inside."

Xie Laosi opened his mouth, his expression shifting between surprise and dejection, until finally his eyes reddened.

He couldn't deny that the child's body was hidden underground.

“People are indeed different. My father used to say that I was dull-witted and rigid, and that I was easily misled when investigating cases, which could lead to wrongful convictions.”

"I have always stayed true to myself and been very cautious, but I still ended up in a hopeless situation because of my lack of ability."

As he spoke, he shook his head, a hint of doubt flashing in his eyes.

“I’m very curious, how did you know the child’s body was hidden here? They’ve secretly searched several times but haven’t found it. And how did you guess that Sun Youshan was working with me?”

As Xie Laosi spoke, he became somewhat agitated, but he hadn't lost his composure and knew to keep his voice low.

"I don't even understand how anyone could come up with such an illogical thing as using the death of an innocent person to force me to submit!"

"And I..." Xie Laosi's voice was a little dry, "So many years have passed, and I still haven't found any evidence to convince Chief Cheng that my previous judgment was correct, that her husband Li Zhan was the real culprit who killed her son."