Nine Chapters of Strange Cases

Chapter 40 The Arson Case
Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhao looked at Xie Laosi with a complicated expression.

She could tell that Xie Laosi was a good person.

Even in this quagmire, he still cared about the woman's reputation, believing that one should act based on evidence and that he couldn't bear to see innocent people die tragically. Even Chief Cheng, who hated her to the core, felt that the situation of "I didn't kill Bo Ren, but Bo Ren died because of me" would be the last straw that broke Xie Laosi's back.

But she never expected that he would still be so stubbornly searching for the truth.

He lived in hell, covered in wounds.

Xie Laosi was clearly lost in his memories. "I was originally from Wu. The Cheng family, where Cheng Yuyuan lived, were both prominent families in Guzhang."

"To be honest, Cheng Yuyuan and I were once engaged. Just a year before we were to get married, Cheng Yuyuan's brother suddenly had an accident, and their family suddenly lost its pillar."

“The people in the clan are eyeing her covetously, wanting to wipe out her family line. Cheng Yuyuan is more stubborn than a man. She did two things: first, she came to my door to break off the engagement; second, she took Li Zhan as her son-in-law.”

When Xie Laosi said these things, his eyes were filled with many complex emotions that he himself could not explain.

“I admire her for leading her troops and supporting the main branch of the family. My father often sighed at home that I, a dullard, had missed a good match. However, a gentleman has things he will do and things he will not do, so I did not pursue her too much. We lived in peace for a few years, and then I was granted the position of magistrate of Liangping County under the jurisdiction of Guzhang Prefecture by the blessing of my ancestors.”

"Until one day, a house in Liangping City suddenly caught fire, and a total of eight people died in the fire. Among them were Li Zhan's parents, elder brother and sister-in-law, two nieces, Cheng Yuyuan and Li Zhan's only son Cheng Nan, and Cheng Nan's wet nurse."

"The fire broke out in the middle of the night. Because Li Zhan's nephew, Li Yuan, was seriously ill, Cheng Yuyuan and her husband took him to see a doctor, and fortunately they escaped the disaster."

As Xie Laosi recounted the story, Zhou Zhao could almost feel the despair Cheng Yuyuan must have felt upon returning to find a sea of ​​fire.

"The fire was not extinguished until dawn. At that time, in addition to the discovery of eight charred corpses, a maid was found unconscious in the courtyard due to smoke inhalation. The maid had oil stains on her palms, and not only that, the hem of her clothes was also stained with tung oil. Moreover, she had a tinderbox hidden on her body."

“There were signs of arson at the scene, and everything pointed to the maid as the arsonist. Cheng Yuyuan also found out that the maid was a spy planted by her uncle. Originally, this case should have been closed like this. However, when I was examining the body with the coroner, I discovered something different.”

“Of the eight charred corpses, not all of their faces were destroyed. Li Zhan’s brother was holding his sister-in-law in his arms, and her face was still clearly recognizable. Li Zhan’s little niece also had half of her face intact. In addition, Cheng Yuyuan’s son, Cheng Nan, also had a face that was not completely destroyed.”

Hearing this, Zhou Zhao frowned. "You believe Cheng Nan was already dead before the fire started?"

"Li Zhan's sister-in-law and niece had rosy cheeks and a hibiscus-like complexion, but Cheng Nan's face did not have this feature."

Xie Laosi looked at Zhou Zhao in shock, and after a while, he nodded with a wry smile, "Who exactly are you? Are you some kind of divination master?"

In front of Zhou Zhao, he felt that he was not only not talented, but simply as stupid as a pig.

"Yes, I had my suspicions and wanted the coroner to examine the child's body. But Cheng Yuyuan, grieving the loss of her son, was like a madwoman, and she tried to stop me. In the end, she asked me, 'If we cut the child open, will we know if he was burned to death?'"

Xie Laosi's eyes dimmed as he said this. "I don't know how to answer. The coroner in Liangping County isn't a real coroner; he's just a resident doctor. He doesn't know how to examine the body either."

"Because there were doubts, I refused to close the case as arson and investigated everywhere. Finally, I discovered some clues. The next day, I found a round bruise on Li Zhan's fist. You've seen the jade pendant on Cheng Ming, haven't you? Everyone in the Cheng family has one." "The servants' are square green jade pendants with the character 'Cheng' engraved on them; while the master's are square green jade pendants with a raised circle in the middle, and his name is engraved on the circle. I was once engaged to Cheng Yuyuan, and the token sent by the Cheng family at that time was a jade pendant engraved with the character 'Yuan'."

“I immediately suspected Li Zhan. The adults wore the jade pendant on their waists, while the children wore it around their necks. Could it be that Li Zhan first punched Cheng Nan to death and then set fire to destroy the evidence? Later, I found out that Cheng Yuyuan was injured when she gave birth to Cheng Nan and could no longer have children.”

"After the arson incident, Cheng Yuyuan was devastated and felt extremely guilty towards the Li family, believing that the infighting within the Cheng family had caused young Li Yuan to become an orphan."

Zhou Zhao's fingers twitched slightly. "So you think that whether Li Zhan killed someone accidentally and then made amends, or did it intentionally, he had a motive to take advantage of the family's ruin."

Xie Laosi nodded. "That's right! And there's always a way out. It was right of me not to close the case and submit the files too easily. The maid who set the fire has woken up. Under interrogation, she identified Li Zhan, saying that Li Zhan killed Cheng Nan and then instructed her to set the fire."

"With witnesses, I immediately arrested Li Zhan."

Xie Laosi sighed deeply, and Zhou Zhao instantly understood his helplessness. "Cheng Yuyuan doesn't believe you. Li Zhan used sweet words to deceive her, making her believe that you harbored resentment towards the couple because of the broken engagement back then, which is why you instructed the maid to give a false testimony."

Xie Laosi was no longer surprised by Zhou Zhao's "divine calculation" skills. He had come to understand that the difference between people in this world was even greater than the difference between earth dragons and dragons.

He nodded. "That's right! But I still compared the round bruise on his hand with the jade pendant on Cheng Nan's body. The rope was burned, but the jade pendant was on his chest. The size and shape match perfectly. It was Li Zhan who did it."

“I interrogated Li Zhan overnight. He didn’t use torture and admitted that he had killed Cheng Nan with one punch.”

Zhou Zhao was not surprised. Not only in the local areas, but also in the Court of Justice, torture was often used in trials. Otherwise, Chang Zuoping would not have been known as a "cruel official".

"Not only Li Zhan, but even I didn't expect things to turn out this way," Xie Laosi said, looking somewhat dazed. Even now, he still couldn't understand how that night that changed their lives had happened.

What exactly is Cheng Yuyuan thinking?
"That night, Cheng Yuyuan arranged the family affairs, letting her younger sister inherit the Cheng family, and then led the Cheng brothers to storm into the prison. They took me hostage, rescued Li Zhan, and also took Cheng Nan's body."

"Cheng Yuyuan dragged us onto the boat, entered the sea from Guangling, then entered Yan and landed at Guangyang, heading straight for Tianying City."

"After joining Tianying, Cheng Yuyuan went mad and refused to bury Cheng Nan. She didn't trust me and distanced herself from Li Zhan, but she still demanded that we live under her watchful eye. She herself had no martial arts skills, but the Cheng brothers were extremely loyal to her."

"Through her own methods and the martial arts of these two, Cheng Yuyuan fought her way up to become the leader of Tiandou Village."

“When she was in a good mood, she would ask me what solid evidence I had to prove that Li Zhan was the one who did it; when she was in a bad mood, she would burn me with a hot iron and make me admit that I had colluded with people from the Cheng family’s collateral branches, instructed the maid to give false testimony to slander Li Zhan, and deliberately made Cheng Nan die a miserable death, so that I would be trapped in it for the rest of my life and would never be able to take charge of the Cheng family again.”

Before Zhou Zhao could ask any questions, Xie Laosi shook his head to himself, "A true man must die, so how can I make up lies out of thin air? Although I can't answer, I'm not wrong. Cheng Nan was killed by Li Zhan."

Looking at Xie Laosi, who was stiff-necked, Zhou Zhao felt a mix of emotions.

“I can find evidence that, as you say, Cheng Nan’s face was pale when he died, then he was indeed dead before he was burned.”