In the ninth year of Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty, Zhou Mengjian was transferred to the prefect of Dengzhou.

Zhou Mengjian took her family and staff to wait and set out on the road to work. Everyone rushed slowly, and at noon they arrived at Yunwu Ridge in the capital of Dengzhou. Zhou Mengjian ordered us to rest and leave after dinner. Everyone was busy making a fire and cooking. Zhou Mengjian had a seven- or eight-year-old son named Baoer, who ran to catch grasshoppers alone when he had nothing to do.

Zhou Mengjian was sitting under a tree with her eyes closed to rest when Baoer suddenly ran over. Her face turned pale and she said tremblingly, "Father, there's... there's a jumping skeleton, jumping and chasing me!"

Zhou Mengjian followed her son to a pine tree not far away. Sure enough, she saw a skull jumping there, but it didn't jump high or far.

Zhou Mengjian didn't believe it, so she grabbed the skull in her hand, and when she took a closer look, she couldn't help but laugh dumbly. It turned out that a big toad somehow got into the skeleton and couldn't get out for a while, so she had to jump with the skeleton. Zhou Mengjian was about to throw away the skeleton, but her eyes inadvertently glanced over the skull's heart, but he saw that there was a big iron nail nailed to the skull's heart! He couldn't help but move in his heart, put the skull away, and checked the Cloud Mist Ridge up and down, left and right several times.

That night, Zhou Mengjian entered the Dengzhou capital to handle the handover, and sat under the lamp to study the skull. After careful inspection, the deceased was a male in his thirties. Judging from the degree of rust on the iron nails, the man had been dead for more than two years, but not more than three years. Zhou Mengjian knew that in order to solve this case, he must first understand who the deceased was, because from the iron nails in the heart of the deceased's head, the perpetrators usually did not find the family of the deceased, as long as they found out who the deceased was, the case would be easy to solve.

The next day, Zhou Mengjian instructed Liu Baotou to go to the surrounding area of Yunwu Ridge to find a prime man who suddenly died two or three years ago. The deceased's home may have encountered some changes this year, or it may have moved out of the local area.

When he was holding the lights at night, Catcher Liu came back excitedly. When he saw Zhou Mengjian, he said happily, "Sir, sir, you are really predictable! Zhou Mengjian waved his hand: "Speak slowly."

Catcher Liu said, "There is a Zhaojiazhuang on Wuli Road in the south of Yunwu Ridge, and there is a Zhao squire in Zhaojiazhuang, who is a famous rich man near and far. But nearly three years ago, this young and strong squire suddenly died of a sudden illness. When he died, he was only thirty-five years old, leaving behind a fourteen or fifteen-year-old son named Zhao Wenbo. After Zhao Squire died, the family gradually fell into decline, leaving only his wife Xu shi and his son. This spring, the mother and son moved to Dengzhou City, in an alley next to the county school. I just went to see it. Zhao Wenbo studied in the county school, and Xu shi lived by sewing and mending. Alas, I didn't expect that with the death of this squire Zhao, the family would be so defeated."

Zhou Mengjian said, "Come with me to his house tomorrow."

Catcher Liu asked Zhou Mengjian, "My lord, you are amazing! How did you know that Xu Clan and Zhao Wenbo moved?"

Zhou Mengjian smiled and said, "There's nothing mysterious about this. When I was at Yunwu Ridge, I found that there was only a grave halfway up the mountain. Because the rain had washed away this year, the skeleton must have come out of this grave.

The next morning, Zhou Mengjian took Liu Catcher and the two of them out of the mansion, and soon arrived at the place where Xu shi lived. The house was already dilapidated, but the porch and yard were clean. It was Xu shi who opened the door, with a haggard face, looking like an old woman.

Seeing the two of them, Xu shi was stunned and asked, "Who are the two gentlemen looking for?Catcher Liu hurriedly explained, "This is the new prefect, Lord Zhou, looking for you to find out something. Xu Shi was stunned again, and then his expression returned to calm, saying, "Then sit in the house!"

The furnishings in the room are very simple, and it can be seen that the life of the mother and son is difficult, but there is half a house of books on one side of the room, which is very eye-catching. Seeing the puzzled eyes of the two, Xu Shi hurriedly said, "This is the book my son read! Wenbo likes books very much. He went to county school and is not at home. Please sit down for a while, I will make tea."

Xu shi entered the back room and took a long time holding two cups of tea. Zhou Mengjian noticed that Xu Shi's eyes were red and there were tears flashing. She said thoughtfully, "You two want to know how my husband died, right?"

Zhou Mengjian was just about to speak, but Xu Shi calmly said, "I can tell you that I killed my husband! I nailed that nail while he was asleep." Zhou Mengjian and Catcher Liu were stunned.

Catcher Liu said, "Then come with us to the mansion!"

Zhou Mengjian waved his hand, stopped Liu Baotou, and asked Xu Shi kindly, "Can you tell me why you killed your husband?"

Xu Shi stared blankly at the white clouds in the sky outside the window, and said after a while, "Even if adults don't ask, I will tell you, otherwise this will become an eternal secret in the future. I wonder if the two adults know about the bandits that happened here three years ago?"

Zhou Mengjian knew a little about the bandits back then. At that time, many big families here were robbed and killed, with heavy losses. Zhou Mengjian and Liu Catou nodded at the same time.

Xu shi said: "The two adults must not know that this bandit has something to do with my husband, right?" "It has something to do with your husband?" For a time, Zhou Mengjian and Liu Catou were stunned.

Xu Shi nodded and continued, "Yes. My husband has amassed a lot of wealth through these gangsters. I often privately advised him not to do such a hurtful thing, otherwise he would lose his children and grandchildren, but he has long been obsessed and will not listen. I don't want him to hurt those innocent people again, and I don't want our son Wenbo to be implicated by his father in the future. The only way is to let him die quietly. So one night, while my husband was sleeping, I nailed an iron nail to his head. The family property is the ill-gotten wealth accumulated by my husband, no matter how hard it is, I can't spend that money. In less than two years, I have given all my family property to the families around me who are in trouble. I moved here with my son, and I don't want to stay in that sad place anymore. Wenbo is good at reading, so I bought him those books. I want him to understand the truth of life from books, and no longer be like his father. "

Zhou Mengjian didn't expect the truth of the matter to be like this, and he couldn't help but respect the profound and righteous Xu Shi. Xu shi continued: "Now that Wenbo is seventeen years old, he has grown up and can take care of himself. I can finally tell the truth and get relief." At this point, Xu shi's body softened and slowly collapsed to the ground, the corners of his mouth oozing blood. Zhou Mengjian hurriedly went to help her up and asked, "What's the matter?"

Xu shi smiled sadly and said, "For more than two years, whenever I closed my eyes, I would see my husband standing in front of me with blood all over his face. Although my husband deserved it, I killed him. I should have gone underground to be his company, but I couldn't worry about my son. When I went into the inner room to make tea just now, I took poison. Lord Zhou, I want to ask you one thing, don't tell the truth, and don't tell my son, I want him to be an upright person." After saying this, Xu Shi closed his eyes and died.

Zhou Mengjian looked at Xu shi's peaceful face, and an indescribable taste suddenly surged in her heart, feeling heavy. Maybe it's better to keep the truth of this case unknown?