Over the past 30 years, Lu Zengxiang, a native of Taicang, Jiangsu, won the top spot in high school and was appointed as the prefect of Longyan, Fujian.

One winter day before Lu Zengxiang's arrival, the gongs and drums in Dongshan Village, Changting County, Longyan were noisy, and the suona was ringing in unison. A family of mountain people was holding a wedding. The groom Song Maoen married Zhu Yueying, a girl from Nanzhuang. Song Maoen only married a wife in his thirties, so although his family was poor, he also managed to do a beautiful and decent thing.

Song Maoen's new house is located at the northern end of the foothills, and it is difficult to see sunlight all year round. Usually, there are no sparrows at the door, but since Zhu Yueying came to the door, some big girls and little daughters-in-law in the village often came to visit her to chat. One morning, after three days, the little daughter-in-law, Hui Gu, came to Zhu Yueying again. As soon as she arrived at the Song family, she saw that the door was closed, and Hui Gu smiled in her heart. The two newlyweds have been entangled and haven't gotten up yet. After thinking about it, she just knocked on the door, but no one answered for a long time. Hui Gu felt strange, licking her tongue and fingers through the window paper and looking inside. There seemed to be two people in the bed tent. At the moment, she felt bad and hurriedly called Song Maoen's parents who lived elsewhere. Several people kicked the door into the bedroom and found that Song Maoen was blue all over, with no breath or heartbeat, while Zhu Yueying seemed to be sleeping soundly. The two old men suddenly beat their chests and cried, while Hui Gu pushed Zhu Yueying hard. After a long time, Zhu Yueying woke up and was stunned to find that her husband had died suddenly. The two old men grabbed Zhu Yueying and cried, "You evil woman, murdered your husband!

Hearing the news, the county magistrate of Changting quickly rushed to the scene and found no clues after a long investigation. At this time, the local security guard quietly said to the county magistrate: "My lord, the villain and the villagers all suspect that Zhu Yingyue poisoned her husband!" The county magistrate asked: "What do you mean?" The local security guard said: "Zhu Yueying was exchanged by a fat pig from the Song family. At that time, she refused to marry and threatened to kill Song Maoen if she was forced to marry. You said it was good, no one in the house has ever come in, who else can do it?" As soon as the local security guard's voice fell, the villagers echoed, especially Song Maoen's parents, who pointed out that Zhu Yueling was the murderer.

The county magistrate then interrogated Zhu Yueying, and Zhu Yueying confessed to it and was willing to die. The case was so easily settled, only to be approved by the imperial court, and then beheaded after autumn.

Soon, Lu Zengxiang went to work in Longyan, and one day he read the case file and found the murder of his husband. To his surprise, the criminal drew three circles under the word "ten" on the confession sheet. He was deeply puzzled and puzzled. Finally, Lu Zengxiang decided to review the case in person. At this time, the master whispered: "The former governor has reported the case to the Criminal Department, and the lord still doesn't need to intervene in this matter!" Lu Zengxiang said: "Human life is at stake, how can we not ask?" The master said: "My lord, the former governor has been promoted to the court. If you insist on the review, you will definitely offend the court, or it is better not to try it!" Lu Zengxiang said seriously, for the benefit of the official, he insisted on reviewing the case. The master secretly thought in his heart that this champion was really a book beetle, and he had to play with a stone mortar, so he had no choice but to order a review.

A day later, the county magistrate of Changting brought Zhu Yueying to stand trial.

During the interrogation, Lu Zengxiang asked her if she had any grievances. Hearing this, Zhu Yueying's heart suddenly trembled. Since the incident, only those who accused her of committing the crime had never asked her if she had any grievances. She dared to look at Lu Zengxiang and felt that the prefect was upright and immediately lost control, crying out for injustice.

Zhu Yueying's crying made Lu Zengxiang understand that although Zhu Yueying was reluctant to marry Song Maoen before marriage, she married the chicken and the dog and the dog. After the wedding, the young couple sang and followed the woman, but they were also in love. The night of Song Maoen's sudden death, Zhu Yueying was in a coma. She really didn't know what happened at night, but everyone insisted that there were only two of them in the room, and the doors and windows were closed, and there was no third person entering. She must have poisoned her husband. She had a hard time arguing, and felt that even though she was alive and a widow for a lifetime, it was meaningless. It was better to confess and die. As for why she drew three circles under the cross, it was because she was facing her husband's family, neighbors, and the local security guard.

After retiring from the hall, Lu Zengxiang first summoned Nanzhuang's land security and Zhu's neighbors. Everyone said that Zhu Yueying had always been honest and well-behaved before marriage, and had neither good friends nor enemies. Song Maoen died suddenly, and Zhu Yueying confessed. Although everyone had doubts, they did not dare to say anything nonsense. Then Lu Zengxiang asked the post-mortem, who reported that Song Maoen was neither poisoned by food nor lethal by poisonous needles. The body was blue all over, and the lungs were poisoned the most. He suspected he smelled a poisonous gas that he could not explain. Lu Zengxiang was silent after listening, paced back and forth, lowered his head in thought, and suddenly stopped and asked, "Is Song Maoen's new house behind Yinshan?"

Lu Zengxiang's brows loosened when he heard this, and he immediately took Yanzuo and others to Dongshan Village. The new house was a stone house, with mud-painted walls, dark and damp. Entering the room, he saw that the bed was close to the stone wall, and that there was a chamber pot under the bed turning on its side, as if it had been knocked over by someone. He ordered Yanzuo to use a silver needle to stab the mud around the chamber pot.

Seeing this, everyone hurriedly asked Lu Zengxiang for advice. Lu Zengxiang said, "When I was young, I once heard an old man say that there is a kind of poisonous snake called a cobra, which can release poisonous gas and can kill people. This thing likes to live in a dark and damp place, but when Song Maoen died, his whole body turned blue, his lungs were poisoned the most, and he died from drug use, so he suspected that this thing hurt people. Now the stab test results are indeed true, and Zhu Yueying's physical fitness is relatively strong, so he is only in a coma."

The case was immediately clear. But the venomous snake was still lurking here, and if it was not eliminated, it would endanger the surrounding people. Lu Zengxiang ordered people to gather all the snake herders in Changting County to catch snakes around the stone house.

The truth came out. When Lu Zengxiang was rewarding the snake herd, he suddenly heard an old man inside say, "I've been catching snakes for decades, but I've never seen this kind of snake in the local area. It's really strange!" After Lu Zengxiang heard this, he felt wrong and asked, "Is this snake not produced in the local area?" The old man shook his head, and the other snake herds said they had never seen it.

Did someone put snakes to harm people? Thinking of this, Lu Zengxiang rushed to Changting County Yamen and took Zhu Yueying to court again.

Lu Zengxiang asked Zhu Yueying, "Do you and Song Maoen have enemies?"

Zhu Yueying replied, "The deceased husband is honest and never blushed with anyone before his death. Since she got married, she has been reclusive. She never contacts outsiders except for chatting with the daughter-in-law of the girl who came to visit the village."

"Who often visits?"

"Auntie Hui, she is my youngest child, and her family is also in Nanzhuang, so she comes to my house every three days."

"Oh, does Hui Gu have any enemies?"

"Not before. Only a few days before her dead husband's accident, she was molested by a snake guru at my door. After her husband found out, he beat the snake guru."

Hearing this, Lu Zengxiang was suddenly shocked. Since the local area did not produce cobras, and Hui Gu and the snake shepherd had a dispute, could this be work of the snake shepherd? After reading this, he immediately ordered all the snake shepherds in Changting County to be summoned to the county yamen again, and Hui Gu identified them one by one. But Hui Gu looked from beginning to end, and then from end to head, she just shook her head blindly.

Could it be that this snake herd is not from Changting County? Lu Zengxiang frowned and asked, "Have all the snake herds from Changting County arrived?"

A snake waiter replied, "Master, everyone had arrived except Li Datou from Gezhuang." Just as this person finished speaking, another snake waiter immediately corrected, "Li Datou died suddenly a year ago!" Another sudden death! Lu Zengxiang was so excited that he could almost prove that his guess was correct, and immediately ordered, "Bring Li Datou's family quickly!"

Soon, Li Datou's son was taken to the county yamen's office. It turned out that one day a year ago, Li Datou suddenly returned home with a bruise and a swollen face, and went out of town after saying hello. A few days later, one night, he hurried back. The next day, his family found out that he had died, and his symptoms were like Song Maoen when he died. At that time, he was only poisoned by snakes and did not report to the official. Lu Zengxiang checked the date again and found that Li Datou and Song Maoen actually died on the same day.

So far, the case is clear at a glance. Li Datou went out to catch snakes, and happened to meet Hui Gu who was visiting Song Maoen's house. Seeing his beauty, he spoke lightly, and the two quarreled. Hui Gu's husband arrived at the news and beat Li Datou violently. After Li Datou was beaten, he held a grudge and saw that the environment of the stone house was more suitable for taking off the cobra and settling down. At that time, he mistakenly thought that this house was Hui Gu's house, so he went out of town to catch a cobra and discarded it near the house, and Song Maoen died of poisoning. Li Datou himself died of poisoning due to carelessness.