During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, there was a big family named Lin Dongqing in Lin Family Manor in Lin Wang County. He had been dealing in cloth and medicinal herbs since his ancestors. His family was wealthy and he was also a well-known big family in Ningyun Prefecture. In addition to reading all day, his son Lin Wei plays chess with his family. Last year, with the help of a matchmaker, he married Wang Yuan, the daughter of another big family in the county, Wang Fenglan. Wang Yuan is beautiful and beautiful, and everyone loves him.

They chose a good and auspicious day to get married for their son. Lin Dongqing's family was busy and busy, and it was very lively. When the willows rose on the moon, the guests dispersed, the bride and groom entered the bridal chamber, and Lin Dongqing and his wife, who had been busy for a day, rested. The next day, the two waited in the living room for the younger generation to come and see and greet. But until noon approached, there was still no movement. Lin Dongqing and the old couple didn't care much, so they called their names softly outside the door first, but there was no reply. As soon as they pushed the door, the door opened directly.

When they entered the room, they couldn't help but be shocked. They saw the bride Wang Yuan collapsed on the bed, and she had died. Mrs. Lin checked her body, but there were no scars. She hurriedly looked for her son, but the window was closed, and the son disappeared.

Lin Dongqing's preliminary judgment was that the son had killed his daughter-in-law and fled, but this was also unreasonable. Although the marriage was arranged by the parents, the two young people did not express any reluctance from the beginning to the end. Since the son could not kill, why did he run away instead of being at home?... For a time, everyone was terrified and talking a lot. At this time, a family member came over to confess to him that when he came to open the door this morning, he found that the door was half closed. Lin Dongqing was about to get angry and scold the family, but the wife reminded him to tell the in-laws quickly. Only then did Lin Dongqing calm down and quickly send someone to report the funeral to the in-laws.

Hearing the bad news, Wang Fenglan was stunned, and the wife fainted from crying. Unexpectedly, the happy event turned into a funeral in just one day. Wang Fenglan led everyone to Lin Dongqing's house, saw the body of her daughter with her own eyes, sobbing with pain, and then became furious and asked Lin Dongqing: "How did my daughter die? Let your son come to see me!" Lin Dongqing then murmured: "Lin Wei, he is also missing, I have sent someone to find him..." Wang Fenglan was even more furious when she heard it: "Your son must have murdered my daughter and fled, what are you still doing, hurry up and report to the official!" So before Lin Dongqing could react, he personally brought his people to the county office and beat the drum for revenge.

Here, the Lin family bought a coffin and buried Wang Yuan. As the case was not investigated, they had to temporarily store the coffin in a cave not far from home.

Li Donglin, the county official, received the complaint and sent someone to Lin Dongqing's house in a menacing manner. He could not help but take Lin Dongqing to the yamen. Above the court, Li Donglin slapped the stunned tree hard and shouted, "Daring to make things worse for the people, quickly tell me how you conspired with your son to kill Wang Yuan? If not, you will be punished!"

Lin Dongqing said tremblingly, "Master, how dare Xiaomin harm others? It was Xiaomin who opened the door this morning and found that his daughter-in-law was dead and his son was missing… Please tell me."

Li Donglin sneered and angrily reprimanded, "Nonsense. Wait until the county exhumes the coffin and finds out the truth before punishing you!"

Another change

Li Donglin led Yu Zuo and the yamen to the place where Wang Yuan's coffin was stored, but when the coffin was opened, everyone couldn't help but be amazed. It turned out that Wang Yuan's body was not inside, but the body of a man who was smashed with stones and covered in scars. It was still stained with stone chips, and his eyes were angry and miserable. It was really a wave of unresolved waves, and the case suddenly became complicated. The servants of the Lin family have always confirmed that Wang Yuan's body was indeed put in, how did it become such a person? Everyone felt incredible. Li Donglin was even more surprised and hurriedly asked, "Can you know this young man?" After looking at the body carefully, everyone shook their heads and said they didn't know. Wang Fenglan and the old couple saw that their daughter was dead and could not live in peace, and they cried to death, insisting that after the Lin family killed their daughter, they were afraid of exposing the truth, so they secretly replaced the body. Li Donglin felt very tricky, and he scratched his head while asking this and that. In fact, his county official was bought by his business brother, and he had no idea and his ability was mediocre. Of course, he still wanted to solve this case as soon as possible, so that he could show it to the newly appointed governor of Ningyun Prefecture and keep his position for a few more years. But what should he do now?

Back at the yamen, a yamen with the surname Wang quietly handed a trinket to Li Donglin. He took it over and took a closer look, only to see the word "loyalty" engraved on the back of the trinket. He was shocked, then calmed down, took the jade pendant in his arms, and told the yamen not to tell the outside world. He asked someone to take Lin Dongqing out of the cell, slapped Jingtang Mu, and asked Lin Dongqing to confess quickly, but Lin Dongqing kept shouting. Li Donglin's face was livid, and he let the yamen beat him violently. After a while, Lin Dongqing was beaten to pieces and foamed at the mouth. Li Donglin shouted sharply: "To recruit or not to recruit?" Lin Dongqing looked at the burly men and was ready to confess, thinking about making up a story about how to kill Wang Yuan to excuse her son. Behind the scenes, Li Donglin sneered and sent a police officer to arrest Lin Wei.

But before the arrest could leave, a yamen came to report that there was an offspring outside who came to complain. Li Donglin asked someone to bring the offspring in, and when he asked for his name, he found that it was Lin Wei. Li Donglin laughed and said, "Okay, I just happened to be looking for you, quickly tell the truth how you partnered with your father to kill Wang Yuan! How did you take over Wang Yuan's body and replace it with another person!" Lin Wei said, "I didn't kill Wang Yuan, and I didn't take over anything. She is my new wife, and I have no reason to harm her." Then he stated the scene of that night.

That night, when the guests were gone, Lin Wei and his bride, Wang Yuan, entered the bridal chamber. The bride's face was like peach blossoms, looking like an immortal, and she was so beautiful that he couldn't help but feel her blood boiling. He quickly took off his clothes and wanted to share the bed. Wang Yuan gently pushed him and said shyly, "We haven't eaten Tongxin noodles yet." Only then did Lin Wei see a big white steamed bun in the shape of a doll on the table. There were two red dots on it. He knew that according to the custom, newlyweds should eat a happy steamed bun together before they share the same room. So he took the steamed bun and let Wang Yuan take a bite first. Just as he was about to open his mouth to eat, he heard someone calling his name outside the window. He was shocked, and soon realized that it was just a friend who was having trouble. He didn't want to pay attention. But the voice sounded again: "I am Liu Xiaolou, my mother is seriously ill, please help me hand out two taels of silver to relieve my urgent needs!" Liu Xiaolou is his classmate and friend, how can he not help if he is in trouble now? So he took two taels of silver from his pocket and said to the bride, "I will come when I go." But he opened the door of the house and saw that there was no one outside. Just when he was confused, he felt a gust of cold wind hit him, and then a sap hit him hard on the head. He didn't know anything until the next day, but he was already in the wilderness. He tried to remember what had happened during this time and came home quickly, only to be told that so much had happened. " Lord, there is one more thing, that is, the ancestral jade pendant I have been wearing around my neck disappeared last night, "Lin Wei added. Li Donglin smiled and said," You almost lost your life, so what do you care about the jade pendant or not? "Lin Wei said," Lord doesn't know, this jade pendant is handed down from my ancestors and is priceless. Xiaomin obeys his father's orders and wears it all the time... "Li Donglin shook his hand impatiently to interrupt him.

Li Donglin looked at Lin Wei's head, and there was a really big bag with blood scabs. He asked someone to call Liu Xiaolou. Unexpectedly, Liu Xiaolou denied calling Lin Wei on Lin Wei's wedding night, and said, "My mother has been in good health and has not been seriously ill." Li Donglin asked the yamen to go to Liu Xiaolou's house to check, and he really saw that Liu's mother was strong and showed no signs of illness. Li Donglin sneered, "You made it up well, it's a good one, see how I can make you tell the truth. Come on, hit me!" So the fierce yamen came up and beat me. Poor Lin Wei has never been wronged, and how can he withstand such pain? In just a short while, she was already dead, and finally cried helplessly: "I... I admit that I killed Wang Yuan, I don't want to marry her at all, but it has nothing to do with my father..."

Li Donglin was relieved and gave instructions to his subordinates. He announced that the case was solved and sent Lin Wei to death row. After reporting it, he asked for execution, and Lin Dongqing was acquitted.

Unexpected meeting

When they got home, Lin Dongqing and her wife wept all day, but the more they thought about it, the more useless they felt, and the more strange things became. He knew his son and would never commit murder. He thought things must not end this, and there must be a reason. At this time, he heard that the new prefect was an honest official who was considerate of the people, so he decided to go to Ningyun Prefecture to complain.

It was not too late, so he found someone to write a complaint, left the village first, and then came to a ferry dozens of miles away from the village, ready to hire a boat to cross the river, only to see that the river was filled with fog, and the flowers and trees on the bank were covered with a rising mist. Only a boatman wearing a bamboo hat stood anxiously on a large rock on the bank. Lin Dongqing went forward and asked to cross the river, and the boatman looked embarrassed and said, "It's not that I don't want to, and it's not that the fog can stop me, but, it's just..." Lin Dongqing heard it and quickly asked, "What's the trouble with my brother, can you tell me?" The boatman said that there was a patient on the other side of the river, and he came here to ask if there was a man nearby. " Lin Dongqing pondered for a while and replied, "This place is very far from the village, and there is no Langzhong in this area." After stopping, he continued, "Brother, my family has been involved in the medicinal herbs business for generations, and I have a little knowledge of seeing a doctor. If you trust me, you can go see the patient." The boatman was overjoyed and immediately rocked the boat to ferry.

After crossing the river, the boatman led him to a stone house, and saw a young woman with a shaggy hair sitting in the corner, her face pale. Lin Dongqing took her pulse and said to the boatman, "She's fine, she's just scared and cold." As he spoke, he took out a small bottle from his bag, poured out a few pills, took the girl, fed her some water, and took out a thicker dress to help her put it on. The boatman then explained to him that the woman had been rescued from the river early this morning. As she spoke, the girl had already woken up and looked at them with a little fear. Lin Dongqing saw that the woman looked familiar. In confusion, the woman said, "Excuse me, are you from the Lin Family Village?Lin Dongqing was startled and said, "Yes, yes, how does the girl know me?" The woman replied weakly, "Father, you don't know me anymore? I'm your daughter-in-law, Wang, Wang Yuan..." Lin Dongqing was so frightened that she turned her head and wanted to run away. The daughter-in-law died a few days ago, why is she alive now? The woman knelt down on the ground with a "plop" and said sadly, "Daddy, the daughter-in-law is not dead at all..." Then you, the bridal chamber flower candle night, how are you pretending to be dead and scaring us? For you, our family is fighting a lawsuit, and Wei'er is still locked up in death row. " At this point, he was already in tears, and Wang Yuan's eyes were full of tears, sobbing. The boatman said, "Since you are a family, I am relieved. I have to find my son. He went out to sell things and had not been home for two days." He was about to leave. "Your son?" Wang Yuan exclaimed, "Excuse me, uncle, what does your son look like?" The boatman turned his head and looked at Wang Yuan puzzled. Wang Yuan already knew that something was wrong, and repeatedly asked the boatman to describe his son's appearance. The boatman said it briefly, repeatedly emphasizing that his son had a scar on his forehead, and said that his son started a small business. He said yesterday that he would go home, but he hadn't seen anyone yet. Wang Yuan cried even more sadly, and then said intermittently: "You, your son was killed..." The boatman almost fainted when he heard it. After a long time, he asked Wang Yuan to tell the ins and outs.

ins and outs

It turned out that just as Wang Yuan had eaten a mouthful of steamed bread that day, Lin Wei was called out. She suddenly felt dizzy and then didn't know anything. When she woke up, she found the surroundings pitch black, and knocked with her hand to find that she had been put into a coffin. She didn't understand what was going on and felt desperate. At this moment, she heard someone prying the coffin outside, and she was overjoyed and felt that she was saved. But when the lid of the coffin was lifted, she saw a man holding a bright machete in his hand. When the man saw that Wang Yuan had woken up, he shouted happily: "Oh, let my brother kiss!" Wang Yuan was of course no match for this man, and the clothes on it were ripped off in a while. She knew that it was useless to fight hard, so she pretended to agree and said, "It's not convenient to be in there, if you want to, go to your house." When the man heard that, he was very happy and pulled Wang Yuan out. Unexpectedly, Wang Yuan shouted for help as soon as he came out, but there was no one else in the wilderness, so she ran and shouted, and the man chased after him. After running for about a mile, a young man with a bag on his back came from the road, grabbed the man behind him and asked what happened. The man behind him rolled his eyes and said that his sister was running away from marriage. Wang Yuan had the courage to say that this was not the case at all, he was a bad person. The young man stopped the man and scolded, "Did you treat your sister with a pig-killing knife like this?" The man couldn't hide it at first sight, and showed his ferocity. When the young man was distracted, he waved the knife in his hand and chopped it down. The poor young man fell into a pool of blood at once, and the man chopped a few more times, and then shouted at Wang Yuan to help put the body into the coffin. Wang Yuan didn't dare to obey, but when he put the body in the coffin and nailed the lid of the coffin, she ran away. The man didn't allow her to escape? He shouted and chased, and finally ran to the river. Seeing the man chasing after him with a machete, Wang Yuan was unwilling to be humiliated, so he "plopped" into the river to defend his innocence with death.

Speaking of this, the old boatman said with tears in his eyes, "When I came to the ferry this morning, I saw someone washed to the shore by the water. I touched her hand and snorted, and rescued her."

Then the three of them came to the cave to check the coffin. Originally, the boatman was still a little lucky, but when he opened the lid of the coffin, he suddenly recognized that it was his son lying inside, and he couldn't help but be very sad and angry. So they agreed to go to Ningyun Prefecture to complain to the prefect.

Midway Adventure

They walked up the river, and because they were too tired, they stopped at a ferry to rest. As soon as they sat down at a small inn, an old man dressed as a man came in, followed by a child. Since the inn was full, the two looked at it and walked straight to the small dining table where Lin Dongqing and the three of them were sitting. The old man politely asked if he could squeeze in. Lin Dongqing and the old man were usually kind-hearted people, so they naturally agreed. So a small dining table crowded five people. Lin Dongqing got up and poured a cup of tea for the old man and the child. Seeing that the three looked melancholy and full of tears, the old man asked, "I don't know what misfortune the three have encountered? As the saying goes, you rely on your parents at home. You rely on your friends outside, can you tell me to wait?" After the old man asked this question, Lin Dongqing was full of anguish and anger, so she told the ins and outs of the matter. Speaking of the grief, she couldn't help but shed tears, and the old boatman and Wang Yuan also cried non-stop.

The old man said: "You do have grievances, but you don't have to go to Ningyun Prefecture anymore, even if you go, you have to be empty. I heard that the new prefect, Dong Yuanzhe, will go to Linwang County to try some old cases the day after tomorrow. So you can go directly to beat the drum to express your grievances."

"This..." Lin Dongqing looked at the old man suspiciously, "Why does sir know?" The old man smiled slightly and said, "I have a cousin who is on duty in the state capital, so he naturally knows about this." Hearing this, the old boatman quickly knelt down and shouted, "Since you have a cousin in the government, please help to say good things and make decisions for us!" The old man quickly helped the boatman and said, "That's natural, but I have a few questions, you have to tell me truthfully." The three of them hurriedly nodded.

"Let me ask you, girl, you said that you fainted after only eating a mouthful of steamed bread. You brought this steamed bread from your mother's house. Who has come into contact with this steamed bread?" Wang Yuan thought for a moment and replied:

"There are not many people who have come into contact with steamed buns, they are all the closest people. My mother's family will definitely not harm me, but my neighbor Widow Zhang was very active during those days. Because of her bad reputation and being a widow, we didn't want her to help, but she took the gift money early and pulled a few feet of silk cloth.

"Wait, why is this Widow Zhang's reputation bad? Could it be..." The old man interrupted Wang Yuan and asked. Wang Yuan nodded and said, "I don't know much about the specific situation, but I often hear people talking about her having relationships with several men, and some people say that her man was murdered by her. It's just a rumor, and no one knows the truth. The old man nodded and asked Lin Dongqing if the steamed bread was still there. Lin Dongqing pondered and replied, "It should still be at my house, my wife put it away."

After dinner, the old man and the boy were in a hurry, so they took the first step. Lin Dongqing and the others also returned to King Lin County. But when they got home, Lin Dongqing heard that his wife had taken away the steamed buns, so he was so anxious that he beat his chest.

Get to the bottom of it

On the third day, Lin Dongqing, Wang Yuan, and the boatman went to the Lin Wang County Yamen to beat the drum to express their injustice. But when they arrived at the hall, they were shocked. They saw that the old man they met the day before yesterday was sitting in the lobby, while Li Donglin of Zhixian County sat on the side uneasily. Lin Dongqing didn't understand what was going on, and didn't know whether today brought him a blessing or a curse. At this time, his son Lin Wei was also brought to the hall, lost a lot of weight, and was beaten to the ground. The father and son hugged their heads and cried, and Wang Yuan was also distressed.

In fact, Lin Dongqing didn't know that the old man was Dong Yuanzhe, the prefect who came to visit the prefect in disguise. Before he came to Ningyun Prefecture, he heard that the official style here was not right, so he decided to rectify a few corrupt prefects first. Some time ago, he heard that such a bizarre case had happened in Linwang County, and he was going to use it as a breakthrough to see how the prefect handled the case. Unexpectedly, he happened to meet Lin Dongqing and the three of them halfway. After learning about the situation, he took a dense forest trail with his little boy and went to Linwang County first. He went to the Lin family to pick up a steamed bun, broke it open, and fed it to a dog. The dog fainted in a while, and it took a few hours to wake up. He went to Wang Yuan's parents' house again and asked who had come into contact with Xi steamed buns that day. As expected, the last part of the steamed buns, which was to pick up the steamed buns from the cage, was handled by Zhang Xiuyu, the widow of Zhang. He further learned about Widow Zhang from his neighbors and learned that she was unscrupulous and had something to do with three men.

Dong Yuanzhe saw that everyone had arrived, so he shouted loudly and ordered the yamen: "Bring Zhang Xiuyu up quickly!" Not long after, he saw Zhang Xiuyu being brought to the hall. Dong Yuanzhe was afraid of being shocked and shouted: "Who ordered you to be bold and unscrupulous, to collude with others, to lend the Wang family the opportunity to help, to mix the drunk medicine into the happy steamed buns, quickly and truthfully?"

Zhang Xiuyu shouted loudly, saying that he was innocent. Dong Yuanzhe said again: "It seems that you don't shed tears when you see the coffin, come and bring up the men who have an affair with this wicked woman!"

This trick really worked. Zhang Xiuyu almost collapsed on the ground when she heard it, hurriedly stopped it, and then told all about how to harm Wang Yuan shivering.

He knew that it would be futile to rely on himself to find a matchmaker, so he wanted to seize it first, so he used money to lure Zhang Xiuyu to give gifts to the Wang family. After getting a good impression, he took the opportunity to help, covered the prepared medicinal noodles on the steamed buns, let Wang Yuan feign death, and after putting it in the coffin, he secretly opened the coffin, poured antidote into it, made it sober, and finally captured it for himself.

Hearing this, everyone looked at each other, but they didn't expect that these people were really snake and scorpion hearts. Li Donglin, the prefect sitting by the side, was sweating profusely and panicked. Only Dong Yuanzhe shouted, "Tell me, who is this man?"

Zhang Xiuyu replied in a low voice, "Li Zhong." As soon as he finished speaking, Li Donglin rolled to the ground. Dong Yuanzhe pretended not to see it. It turned out that Li Zhong was his brother's son and the only seedling of their Li family. This rich son relied on his father to have money, and his uncle was the prefect of the county, so he did evil things on weekdays, eating, drinking, and gambling, looking for flowers and willows. Li Donglin deliberately protected this nephew. That day, he went to the cave to open the coffin and came back for an autopsy. From the ornament handed to him by the yamen, he already knew that his nephew had done the case, so he quietly hid it. I thought that after the prefect reviewed it, Lin Wei could be executed, and the case was closed. Unexpectedly, the prefect actually visited this place and tried the case himself.

Not long after, the police officer brought Li Zhong to the hall. He first looked at Zhang Xiuyu, who was kneeling on the ground, and wanted to deny it, but when he saw his uncle sitting by the side, who was trembling all over, he had lost much confidence. Although he usually acts like a bully in front of the people, but the first time he came to such a solemn occasion, he was already scared to death. Lord Dong slapped him in shock, and he was paralyzed. Dong Yuanzhe went straight to the point. Asked, "Daring to make a fool of the people, why did you pretend to be Liu Xiaolou and deceive Lin Wei that night?"

Li Zhong had no choice but to answer truthfully: "First, I want to make the tiger leave the mountain, and second, because I have a crush on the valuable jade pendant on his neck." Dong Yuanzhe shouted again: "What else is there to hide from this official, truthfully admit it, and avoid the pain of flesh and blood!Li Zhong told him how he had committed adultery with Zhang Xiuyu last year, and later partnered to poison Zhang Xiuyu's man to death.

Finally, Dong Yuanzhe sentenced the murderer Li Zhong to death row and was executed after autumn; Zhang Xiuyu conspired with others to kill men and harm others, and was executed together; Li Donglin, as the prefect of the county, not only did not call the shots for the people, but also took care of people's lives. He also condoned his relatives to do evil, first cut his official position, and then went to prison; Lin Wei was acquitted and reunited with his new wife; the son of the boatman risked his death to help others and received the government's sympathy.

After the sentencing, Lin Dongqing, her son, daughter-in-law, and the old man could not kneel down and expressed their gratitude again and again. Dong Yuanzhe helped them and told them to live a good life. Lin Wang County has been peaceful since then.