Chapter 513 Check
Should we investigate this case thoroughly?
After temporarily focusing his suspicion on the Wei family, Sun Shaozong became troubled.
As the saying goes, if you pull out a radish, you will also bring out the mud. If the Wei family really killed that old woman Wang to cover up the truth, once I step forward to investigate the case thoroughly, the fact that the three of them conspired to save the child would probably be exposed.
You know, this is a crime of deceiving the emperor!
Just as I was struggling with this, I saw several people hurriedly approaching in the rain. The one leading them hurried a few steps to the corridor and bowed, saying, "Master Zhizhong, Wang's husband Liu Changsheng, eldest son Liu Fugui, and daughter Liu Huilan have been brought here."
It turned out that Wang Po's family had arrived.
Sun Shaozong glanced behind him and saw a middle-aged man with a simple and honest face, leading a pair of children. They were curled up in straw hats and raincoats. They occasionally raised their heads with panic and expectation in their eyes.
Originally, Sun Shaozong had been inclined to give up the case, but when he met those six frightened yet hopeful eyes, his heart softened immediately.
never mind.
It is better to ask about the specific situation first.
"Bring it inside."
After giving instructions, Sun Shaozong carefully walked into the living room and sat down behind the desk in the middle. After waiting for about half a quarter of an hour, he saw the Wang family members, who had taken off their rain gear, walk in under the leadership of Lin Delu.
"I haven't met Lord Zhizhong yet."
Lin Delu gave a reminder, and the father and his two sons immediately knelt on the ground, kowtowed like crazy, and kept calling them "honest Lord".
Sun Shaozong threw the file on the table and asked calmly, "Liu Changsheng, according to your confession, you told the officer that there was nothing unusual before your wife Wang disappeared. Is that true?"
Liu Changsheng lowered his body and said excitedly, "In reply to your words, my wife was fine before. She even said she would bring back half a pound of dog meat for my son to gain weight for the autumn. But she was gone for several days and no one has ever seen her alive or dead!"
As he spoke, Liu Changsheng's voice began to sob, and the two children behind him heard it and also started sobbing.
Seeing that the three of them were about to burst into tears, Sun Shaozong hurriedly said, "This officer wants to find out where Wang is, so I want to ask you some details. You and your son don't have to panic, just talk slowly."
As he said this, he glanced at Lin Delu, who immediately said angrily, "Liu Changsheng, Lord Sun has personally inquired about the case, why are you still crying? If you want to see your wife, answer honestly!"
One plays the good cop and the other plays the bad cop. How can Liu Changsheng, a mere commoner, endure this?
He wiped away his tears with his sleeves and kowtowed, saying, "I know my crime, I know my crime is permissible. Please ask me, sir, and I will tell you everything I know!"
"Well, let me ask you, in the past two months, has your wife ever been to a wealthy family to deliver a baby?"
"No!"
Liu Changsheng shook his head without thinking and said, "In the past two months, it was the neighbors who asked her to deliver babies. She has never been to any wealthy families."
Hearing this, Sun Shaozong immediately became suspicious. Although they were husband and wife, this involved Wang's behavior in the past two months. Logically, Liu Changsheng should have recalled it first and then answered his question, but now he blurted it out without any hesitation.
Either he knew everything about Wang's affairs; or he had already prepared the answer in his mind!
Sun Shaozong still asked calmly: "You are so sure, I guess you remember exactly which family Wang went to deliver a baby?"
“No, no, no!”
But Liu Changsheng shook his head and said, "I seldom ask about such things. My wife told me all these things herself. She said that ever since she delivered that monster, all the wealthy families around here have been taboo about her. They would rather invite other midwives from far away than ask her to deliver their babies!"
"That's why I said she hasn't taken on any business from big families recently."
Sun Shaozong originally wanted to ask a few questions first and then gradually transition to the main topic, but who would have thought that it was Liu Changsheng who took the initiative to mention the matter.
Therefore, Sun Shaozong also took the opportunity to ask: "Why? Wang once told you about the incident of delivering a demon on the day when the heavenly dog swallowed the sun?"
"I have said it several times..."
"Then repeat to me what she said."
Sun Shaozong said, and then raised his voice: "Lin Delu, take these two young men outside first."
Lin Delu knew that he was worried that the Liu father and son would collude in their testimony. Although he didn't understand what the point of asking the Liu father and son was about something that Sun Shaozong had already experienced personally, he still obediently took Liu Fugui and Liu Huilan out.
Because it was raining heavily outside, there was no need for them to hide far away. They just had to wait in the corridor.
When Lin Delu returned to the hall, Liu Changsheng was recalling and repeating his wife's words under the guidance of Sun Shaozong.
Lin Delu listened for a long time, and apart from the fact that the child was described as having a green face and fangs, and the monks all had Buddha's light protecting them, there was nothing new or strange about it.
However, Sun Shaozong was very serious and repeatedly asked about many details, such as Wang's tone of voice at the time, or whether there were any pauses or stutters.
Only when Lin Delu had almost memorized the whole speech did Sun Shaozong let Liu Changsheng go. He then called in Liu Fugui and his sister and asked them to repeat Wang's remarks in the same way.
These two siblings are far less courageous than their father. They speak haltingly and it takes them more time to say one sentence than Liu Changsheng does three times!
All I could hear was that Lin Delu wished he could pull out their tongues and straighten them with an iron.
Sun Shaozong was extremely patient. After listening, he asked the brother and sister the same questions he had just asked Liu Changsheng. By the time the two had finished answering the questions, the heavy rain outside had stopped.
Seeing a red sun breaking through the clouds, the gloom in Sun Shaozong's heart also disappeared for the most part.
Although it cannot be completely confirmed at the moment, according to the confessions of the father and his two sons, Wang Po's disappearance should have nothing to do with the Wei family.
The contents retold by the father and son were roughly the same, and some details that were difficult to fabricate also matched. Therefore, it can be basically concluded that these words did come from Wang's mouth.
These words are coherent and there doesn't sound like there are any missing parts.
The three of them all said that when Wang was narrating these things, he was always eloquent and vivid, without any hiccups in the middle.
If it was said that Wang could hide the secret in front of her family, Sun Shaozong would barely be able to believe it. But to say that she could narrate what happened that day fluently without making a single mistake in her words was really unbelievable.
Besides, if she really had such intention, she wouldn't have ended up disappearing without a trace!
But if she wasn't murdered to silence her, then why did she disappear?
"Lin Delu."
"I am here."
"Pass on my instructions. This case will be investigated by Zhao Wuwei himself. Don't miss any possible clues!"
This case has actually been reported for five or six days, but there has been little progress before that.
This was mainly because the people in charge of investigating the case were only two ordinary yamen runners and a few unemployed runners - after all, although this missing case also involved human life, it was not taken as seriously as a homicide case.
There is a shortage of manpower, and the attitude towards handling cases is not correct. It is impossible to find any clues!
Now, at Sun Shaozong's command, the mansion's human resources immediately tilted towards him - Zhao Wuwei, with dozens of his men, almost trampled the road from Wang's house to the vegetable market.
Residents and merchants on both sides of the road, whether suspicious or not, were interrogated at least twice. Under this carpet-style search, some relevant information soon surfaced.
The first one was Zhao Mazi, the candy-blower. He said he had seen two people wearing bamboo hats following behind Wang from a distance.
Then Xu Erniu, who was buying plain noodles, said that she had also seen two men in bamboo hats, but she didn't know they were following Wang.
Then it was the nine-year-old son of Qian Laonian's family in Xixiang. He said that when he was playing with his local dog Ah Huang on the street, Ah Huang suddenly chased two people wearing straw hats and started barking. One of the people stopped and cursed a few words, and it didn't sound like the local accent.
In addition, according to Qian Laonian's confession, his dog was very human-like and had always been raised outside, never causing any trouble to neighbors. This was the first time it chased someone and barked.
"A foreigner wearing a bamboo hat?"
After hearing these reports, Lin Delu sucked his teeth and said in embarrassment: "Sir, this sounds like a group of human traffickers. If that old woman Wang was really taken away by them, she would have been sent out of the city in the past few days."
"Human traffickers?"
Sun Shaozong rolled his eyes at him and said, "If you were a human trafficker, would you choose Wang as your target?"
Without waiting for Lin Delu to reply, he raised his hand and said, "Go, send someone to bring Qian Laonian's son and his dog here ."
Lin Delu had already gotten used to Sun Shaozong's strange behavior when solving cases, so he didn't ask any more questions and prepared to go out to convey the order.
"return!"
Sun Shaozong stopped him again and ordered: "Go and inform Zhou Da and ask him to pick a few prisoners from the prison..."
The book does not elaborate.
But about two quarters of an hour later, Qian Laonian's son and the yellow dog were taken to the Criminal Law Department, along with the anxious Qian Laonian and his wife.
As soon as they saw Sun Shaozong's light red official robe, the couple fell to their knees. However, the child, whose nickname was Abao, was chubby and had no fear. He was pressed to the ground by his father, but he raised his head to look at Sun Shaozong.
Sun Shaozong showed him a warm smile, pointed at the yellow dog wagging its tail and said, "Is this Ah Huang who chased the bad guys all the way? He is indeed a good dog!"
Hearing Sun Shaozong praising his pet and saying that Ah Huang was chasing two bad guys, Ah Bao immediately became proud and said with his chest puffed out, "I have been chasing them too. The way they cursed was scary, but Ah Huang and I were not afraid at all!"
"So you are also a brave and good boy."
Sun Shaozong reached out and pulled Abao up from the ground, rubbed his prickly hair, and said with a smile: "When uncle asks you and Ahuang for help later, you must not be stage-frightened."
Ah Bao raised his head and said with joy, "Master, do you want me and Ah Huang to help you catch the bad guys?!"
Although the child was fearless, he already had a concept of hierarchy, so he did not just go along with it and call Sun Shaozong "uncle".
"Haha, the little hero really got it right."
Sun Shaozong laughed, and seeing that Qian Laonian and his wife were frightened and wanted to say something but stopped, he comforted them, "Don't worry, I'm here, there won't be any danger."
As he said this, he made a gesture to Lin Delu.
Lin Delu immediately waved his hand towards the east wing and called out, "Someone, come here, tell those guys to come over one by one!"
Then there was the sound of iron chains rattling behind the moon gate. Soon a prisoner in prison uniform and a bamboo hat came out slowly. He had a look of resentment on his face, but when he saw Sun Shaozong was there, he immediately slumped and walked towards him step by step with a hunched body.
When he was not far from the Qian family, he suddenly stopped, turned around and cursed a few words, not knowing whether out of anger or fear, then lowered his head and walked forward.
He walked all the way to the foot of the west wall before a bailiff came forward to stop him.
"How about it?"
Sun Shaozong squatted beside A Bao and asked, "Does this man's curse sound like the bad guy wearing a bamboo hat that day?"
"No, not at all!"
Abao immediately shook his head like a rattle.
At this time, the second prisoner walked out from behind the moon gate. As soon as this prisoner came out, his face was full of gloom, because someone had poured a lot of leftovers on him, and he was dripping all the way as he walked. He looked extremely embarrassed.
This time, before he could get close, the local dog Ah Huang came up to him with its tail in its mouth, barked happily twice, then lowered its head to lick the food on his trouser leg.
The prisoner was a little nervous at first, but when he saw that Ah Huang had no intention of hurting anyone, he gritted his teeth and continued to move forward.
Sun Shaozong asked again: "Did Ah Huang chase me like this that day?"
“No, no!”
Ah Bao shook his head like a rattle again: "Ah Huang's scream that day was much louder than this!"
At this time, the prisoner also came closer, stopped, turned around, and cursed a few words weakly.
“This accent…”
"No, no, even less than the one just now!"
After the prisoners, who had left a mess on the ground, walked to the west wall, the third prisoner did not rush out. Instead, he snatched out several yamen runners from behind the door.
After the bailiffs had cleaned up all the traces on the ground, it was the third prisoner's turn to appear.
There was nothing special about the man, except that he looked very nervous. He kept staring at Ah Huang. When he got closer, he saw that Ah Huang didn't react, so he breathed a sigh of relief, turned around and cursed at him a few times.
"almost!"
Without waiting for Sun Shaozong to ask again, A Bao jumped up and said, "He and those two bad guys in bamboo hats seem to have cursed in the same way!"
But then, the child asked in confusion: "But why doesn't Huang chase him?"
Sun Shaozong smiled and didn't explain anything.
When the third prisoner walked to the west wall, the fourth prisoner came out right after him. This prisoner seemed to be more cautious than the previous one.
But this time Ah Huang reacted. He first sniffed with his nose raised, then lowered his body and barked wildly. When the prisoner turned around and cursed a few words and continued to walk towards the west wall, Ah Huang followed him and barked all the way.
