The son-in-law left home for more than a month, and the son-in-law left home.

Gao Ming worked in the Ministry of Punishment for many years and was elected as the chief judge of a certain government in Anhui Province by virtue of his qualifications.

When I first came, I visited the governor. The warden talked with him carefully for a while and asked, "Are you here to sentence the general?"

Gao Ming didn't understand what the governor suddenly said, so he could only promise vaguely.

"What does the governor mean? Do you have any prejudice against me? " From the governor's yamen, Gao Ming wondered all the way if there was any deep meaning in the governor's words, but he was always puzzled.

If there is prejudice, the official will not be so easy to be. It is better to get to know it. Gao Ming thought twice and asked the magistrate to help him ask if he had done something wrong and offended him.

The magistrate took the opportunity of reporting to the governor to find out what the governor thought of Gao Ming and asked whether Gao Ming should be appointed as a judge as soon as possible.

The governor said, "I don't think he is cut out to be a deputy." He is not suitable to go to the local area to manage money and grain taxes. Let him stay in the province and listen. "

Not long after, Gao Ming was appointed as the judicial bureau (official signing, important litigation cases that provincial, state and county officials could not handle in the late Qing Dynasty were tried by the governor and alternate officials appointed by the governor, which was an informal judicial organ).

Don't say that this talented man has worked in the punishments department for many years. After he took office, he was able to find out the truth from the nuances of suspicious cases and unjust cases reported by counties and rehabilitate the people, which became a day in the mouth of the people for a time.

In the spring of Guangxu one year, a husband murder case occurred in Huoqiu County, which was reported to the court after being concluded by the magistrate. After the high review, it is found that there may be grievances.

Here's the case. In a village in Dongxiang, Huoqiu County, there was an old lady who had no children and only one daughter, and she was pampered, so she recruited a door-to-door son-in-law for her.

It is said that it is not easy to be a son-in-law, and you should learn to swallow it. But this son-in-law has a heart of stone, and she can't stand being angry at home.

The old lady's daughter has been spoiled since childhood and has a hot temper. The two often quarrel and even abuse each other.

Mrs. Chen loves her daughter dearly, and naturally she doesn't like her son-in-law, let alone trust her to give her this home. For the future, the old lady chose another child from the same family as her son.

It's the Spring Festival again, and the son-in-law and daughter are very unhappy for a little thing. The stepson said that it is not bad to persuade her to take her son-in-law to the neighboring village to see the lights.

In the neighboring village, the people watching the lights were crowded with people, and the son-in-law and stepson were quickly dispersed by the crowd.

The stepson looked at the light and couldn't find his son-in-law. He thinks he's too old to lose. Maybe he has gone home, so he went home alone.

When I got home, I found that my brother-in-law hadn't come back yet, and my stepson and family didn't think much. I think he may be in a bad mood.

But the next morning, I found that my son-in-law had not come back, and the whole family looked everywhere, but a few days passed and there was still no news.

Neighbors know that his daughter and son-in-law are at odds and often quarrel, suspecting that the family may have murdered her son-in-law. Although I dare not say it in person, in private, gossip has already spread for dozens of miles.

The father of the door-to-door son-in-law heard that his son had been missing for a few days and soon went to the door to find someone. He heard the ears of his neighbors and went to the county government to complain that his in-laws had been in contact with his stepson. He was afraid that his son-in-law would find out and conspired to kill him.

At that time, the magistrate of a county just went to the provincial capital to send new year's goods to bosses at all levels, and XianCheng temporarily represented the affairs of the county.

Xiancheng took the complaint, listened to the neighbors' comments, thought it was true, and took Mrs. Chen, her daughter and her stepson to see the official.

Xiancheng went to court to ask about the case, but all three denied killing, and Xiancheng ordered all the leaders to serve him strictly.

The old lady and her daughter are too weak to stand the torture. They quickly got a confession, but only the stepson refused to admit it no matter how tortured.

The old lady cried and said to her stepson, "These are all wrongs in previous lives. Even if you don't admit it, you will be killed by them. Why do you have to suffer from this flesh? "

The stepson heard this and admitted it.

Not long after, the magistrate of a county came back and interrogated himself. The old lady, daughter and stepson are afraid of being tortured again and dare not tell the difference. The magistrate of a county asked the whereabouts of his son-in-law's body, but all three could not tell.

The magistrate of a county thought that the three men were treacherous and refused to confess truthfully, and ordered severe punishment. However, the confessions of the three people are contradictory, and the whereabouts of the bodies and heads cannot be asked. The case dragged on for a long time.

The old lady, stepson and daughter were tortured to death. The three men discussed in prison, but they couldn't hand over the body. Let's say they fed the bodies to pigs and dogs, so that they wouldn't be tortured again.

When extorting a confession by torture again, the three confessed that they all killed their son-in-law and fed the bodies to the pigs and dogs raised at home. The magistrate of a county closed the case with this confession and reported it.

When the case arrived in Futai, Gao and the magistrate of a county were ordered to try it together, and he hid himself.

After the case was reviewed, there was no objection to everyone's confession. I asked them, "Are there any problems in this case?"

The magistrate of a county said that the supply of three people is consistent, and there is really nothing suspicious.

The strange wife looked at Gao Ming, and when she saw him sitting beside him saying nothing, she felt something was wrong, so she told the others to step down and ask Gao Ming's advice alone.

Gao Ming replied: "There are some discrepancies in this case, and it is not easy to finalize it."

When Gao Ming was asked to elaborate, Gao Ming replied: "The three confessions are consistent and seemingly credible, but this one is the most suspicious."

The girl asked Gao Ming to continue. Gao said, "According to the confession, the stepson and son-in-law went to the neighboring village to watch the lights at night, and then conspired with Chen's daughter to kill people. It's only a few miles from home to the neighboring village, and it takes a lot of time to see the lights in the neighboring village, so it should be the third night at the earliest.

Kill the body, cook it first, then feed it to pigs and dogs. How can it be done in one night? Besides, pigs and dogs are not tigers and wolves. A mature man weighs hundreds of pounds. How many pigs and dogs can he keep at home? How can he eat them all overnight without leaving any residue? I'm afraid this is not true. "

Gao Ming went on to say, "All three people are just ordinary villagers. Even if they kill people out of a temporary resentment, they will be afraid and panic when they kill people. We can see that the details of the three people are clearly remembered, and there is no difference. Is that really the case?

These are all questionable. If you can't be meticulous, in case your son-in-law shows up one day, I'm afraid you will be implicated. "

The wife felt that the wonderful words were justified and gave him the case for retrial.

Gao Ming interrogated the old lady separately from her daughter and stepson, and the confession was still the same as before. Only when asked whether the body was fed to pigs and dogs, and whether the head was cut off or thrown elsewhere, the confessions of the three people were different.

Gao immediately reported to his wife: "The case is not true, I am afraid it was beaten into a confession."

The wife reported the matter to the governor, who also thought it should be cautious, so he put the three men in prison temporarily and offered a large sum of money to find out the whereabouts of his son-in-law.

Huoqiu County borders on Henan. There is a vendor in Huoqiu County. When he saw the reward, he didn't pay special attention at first.

When selling goods in Henan, vendors sit on the side of the road to rest. When chatting with several local people, he remembered the reward and joked, "It is not difficult to be a rich man. I saw a reward for finding a rural farmer in Huoqiu County the other day. If I know his whereabouts, I can get a large reward immediately. "

Everyone curiously asked the vendor who he was looking for, and the vendor explained his age, appearance and native place in detail.

Everyone says they haven't seen it, so it seems that they won't get the reward.

At this moment, someone suddenly said, "This spring, a person in our village worked as a helper at Li Xiucai's house. He claims to be from Huoqiu county, and his age and appearance are exactly the same as what you said, but he can't remember his name. I don't know if it's him? "

Hearing this, the peddler immediately became interested, chatted with the man and went to find a helper together.

The helper saw the vendor, listened to his details, and found that it was clearly himself who was looking for rewards in the yamen. He quickly quit his job and returned to Huoqiu County with the vendor, and rushed to the county government to surrender himself.

The county government did not dare to hide, and immediately rushed to the provincial capital.

On the day of the trial in Tang Sheng, the old lady, stepson and daughter couldn't believe that her son-in-law suddenly appeared alive.

The old lady shouted in panic, "Are you a man or a ghost?"

When the stepson saw it, he giggled and cried after a while: "I didn't expect to see my brother-in-law."

The daughter is crying. The son-in-law saw his wife being tortured and cried in her arms.

Gao Ming asked his son-in-law why he ran away from home. The son-in-law cried and replied, "At home, he is always looked down upon by his wife and often laughed at by his neighbors. He was going to make some money to stop those who laughed at me, so he left home that day and went to Henan as a helper without telling his family, but we made his wife and family suffer such injustice. "

The truth came out, Huoqiu County was in a coma, which led to the well-intentioned people being wronged and sent to Liaoyang. Gao Ming was recommended to be promoted to Suzhou magistrate.

On this New Year's Day, Anhui officials at all levels came to the provincial capital to pay New Year greetings to the governor. In the past, the governor did not receive them, but this year, the governor specially arranged guests for the banquet.

After three rounds of wine, everyone is happy. The governor shouted to everyone with great wisdom, "If Mr. Gao is not there, I am afraid I will be sent to a bitter and cold place over there. Where can I have fun drinking with you here? " Thank you, Miss Gao. "

Only then did everyone know that today the governor specially gave a banquet to thank him. The governor knew that people were conscientious and dodged a bullet.

Magistrates and magistrates only know how to use punishment blindly. If they were not smart, experienced and observant, there would be three more murders in the world.

The story comes from Qing Chao Po, in which Gaoming's name is chosen at will for the convenience of narration.

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