The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty, Chapter 21: The Family Madam’s Suicide

The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty. 《成化十四年》Chengnian Shisi Nian
The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty, Chapter 21: The Family Madam’s Suicide

After a while, A-Xia came out, she was holding a plate of food in her hand and she handed it to A-Dong.


A-Dong took over the plate and walked sharply in the direction of the cookhouse.

A-Chun had just finished her meal, came out of the cookhouse, saw A-Dong come over, said: "How come you also came over, dishes can be put aside first, the Madam has no one around, in case she has something needing our doing, what are we to do?"

A-Dong smiled, "Sister A-Chun don't worry, Sister A-Xia is already back, she's keeping watch at the Madam's!"

A-Chun frowned, "A-Xia? Didn’t she say that she wasn't feeling well, and I even sent her to the doctor to get medicine these two days."

A-Dong said, “That's right, Sister A-Xia said her little moon days are here, and it seems to me that she does have a hard time walking!"

A-Chun was surprised: "She's had a little day? How come I didn't see her riding cloth [1] menstruation pad, could it be that she just started today...."

Just after she finished speaking, he seemed to realize that her words were inappropriate for a young girl of eight or nine years old, and she stopped talking.

"Alright A-Dong, you go and rest, I'll just be there with A-Xia on Madam's side."

When A-Chun returned to Zhang-shi’s courtyard, she saw A-Xia coming out of the courtyard, and after a moment's careful examination, she found A-Xia's face was indeed a bit pale, so she went up: "A-Xia, did you go to the doctor today?

A-Xia smiled, "I went, but the doctor's side is too crowded, and I'm afraid the madam here has something needing to be done, you can't cover everything alone, can't wait there so I had to come back first."

A-Chun blurted, "Don't you worry about my work, I let you go to rest, and then I came out to work. I will look after the Madam.”

A-Xia gestured to her in silence, "Madam just rested."

A-Chun nodded with a worried look on his face, "Is the madam still in a bad mood?"

A-Xia sighed, "Yeah, I persuaded her a few times to get some early rest, she said she was feeling a bit of a headache and told us not to bother her tonight."

A-Chun: "The Madam is sleeping in the inner room and I'm will be resting in the outer room, why don't you leave it at that?"

A-Xia: ''There is only one door separating the inner room from the outer room, and Madam asked us out, presumably because she didn't want us to wake her up in the middle of the night when we turned over in the outer room. You also know that Madam is a shallow sleeper when she has a headache."

A-Chun: “That's right, I'll stay out there for the night."

A-Xia: "I'll accompany you."

A-Chun gave her a push: "No need, go and rest, you look like you've got a bad look on your face."




A-Xia said: "I should have been on duty today, how can I leave you and go to rest, I will accompany you."

A-Chun: "A-Dong said that your little days had come?"

A-Xia: "Yeah, just came in today, but I’m better now, it's not hard just to sit."

The two of them sat down at the stone table in the courtyard, but it was the height of summer and the weather was so hot even if the stars were in the sky.

The two talked in unison, and by the second hour of the night they were both a little sleepy, with their arms propping up their chins and dozing off.

A-Chun yawned and stood up, "I'll go in and see how the Madam is sleeping and whether the doors and windows are closed tightly so she does not catch a cold."

A-Xia also stood up after her: "I'll go!"

A-Chun: "Okay, no, it's okay. You don’t need two people to close the window, just sit down!"

Just at this time, a muffled sound came from inside the house.

A-Chun and A-Xia glanced at each other, and the two walked up, A-Chun knocking on the door of the room and inquiring softly, "Madam?"

Seeing no answer from inside, A-Chun pushed open the door and walked in.

The door to the inner room was still closed, but behind the outer screen was a shadow, as if something was moving.

With a heart thumping, A-Chun slowly walked over to him while asking inquisitively, "Ma'am?"

She waited until she reached the back of the screen, only to find that it was the windows outside that were not closed tightly, and the branches outside were whirling and dancing in the breeze, and the shadows of the trees reflected on the screen, together with the clothes hanging on the hangers behind the screen, could easily give people the wrong impression.

A-Chun sighed in relief and looked out again with a special probe.

Outside was a small garden, and the moon was up, shining a clear light on the grass and trees, the branches swaying and rubbing gently, and a faint cat cry or two coming from the bushes.

A-Chun shook her head and closed the door and window.

When A-Chun came around the end of the screen, she saw A-Xia walking lightly out of the inner room.

"Is the Madam still asleep?" She asked A-Xia quietly.

A-Xia nodded, "Seemed to be sleeping heavily and didn't know what the sound was just now, but it didn't wake her up."

A-Chun: “Then we'd better go out. The Madam has been sleeping better these days, don't wake her up."

The two men exited the house, and A-Xia asked, "What was that noise?"

A-Chun: "Perhaps the feral cat was naughty and hit the window when it ran upwards, as it had done before."

The two of them were so energized by the noise that they sat there chatting until the dawn of day, A-Chun said: "Usually at this time the Madam should get up, you go fetch water first, I'll go see if the Madam is awake.

A-Xia answered, and A-Chun went to Zhang-shi’s rooms.

There was no novelty to be portrayed, and A-Chun entered the house and knocked on the door of the inner room: "Madam, it's dawn, may I rise you?"

There was silence inside, no one to answer.

Zhang-shi was originally a person who was lightly sleepy. A little movement outside would wake her up. Even if she slept well last night, it would never be possible for her to yell like this without movement, and would she be sick?

A-Chun was surprised and couldn't wait for Zhang-shi’s response and pushed open the door directly.

But this push brought her to the most terrifying sight of her life!

A loop of rope was dangling from the beam, and Zhang-shi was hanging on top of it, her body swaying, and when looked up from A-Chun's angle, she could see Zhang-shi's eyes were wide open and staring at her.

"Ah----!!!!!!!!!"

Something like this happening to the Li Family, it's really no different than the sky falling.

Just because the Li Family Master has been doing business abroad for a long time, this capital ancestral house is left for her to look after. As the head of the family, she had to take care of the family's household chores and take care of the family's old and small ones, because Zhang-shi could not look after everything as she got older. Li Man married two concubines, including the mother of Li Lin, the only son of the Li Family.




Li Man has a middle-aged son, and he is very fond of Li Lin, he was the first son of the first concubine and the child who has been in the same position as her own son, and he had grown up around Zhang-shi legs since he was young and he has great respect for her, Zhang-shi not only did not hide his origin, but also care for his mother too, Li Man's two concubines are also honest people, not ones to make a big storm, so although the Master is not at home, but the Li Family was steady and peaceful because of Zhang-shi in the years.

At this time, after the death of Zhang-shi, the Li Family had lost their main backbone, and Li Man had not yet returned, the whole family was in complete chaos.

Zhang-shi was so upset by the news that Li Man was going to bring back his concubine that it seemed reasonable that she could commit suicide for a while, but who made the Li Family rent the next door courtyard to Tang Fan?

According to reason, Tang Fan should not be involved in this matter, because Shuntian Prefecture has jurisdiction over several counties, the Li Family House is precisely under the jurisdiction of the Wanping County to control, out of this kind of thing, if the Li Family people suspect that the Madam of the Family was killed rather than suicide, they will want to sue, and the first thing will be to go to Wanping County, if Tang Fan gets involved, that is called overstepping their authority, is a big taboo, Wanping County will certainly be very upset.

So Tang Fan was surprised, but also only consoled Lao Li, promised to go with him first to the Li Family to see, if it is suicide, then there is no need to alarm the government offices, if it is suspected that she was killed, then he will help them go to Wanping County to sue.

When Tang Fan followed Lao Li back to the Li Family, he saw a strange man sitting gloomily in the hall with a beautiful woman standing next to him, while Li Lin stood there weeping and crying, and A-Chun and A-Xia were kneeling in the hall.

Lao Li gave a cry of great joy and hurriedly went forward: "Master, Master, you are back!"

"Lao Li, where have you been?!" Li Man was full of grief, tears flashing, although he took a concubine, but he still has feelings for the Madam belonging to that of first love after all, his eyes fell on the Tang Fan next to Lao Li. “This one is?"

Lao Li was busy saying, "Master, this is Tang Da-ren from the Shuntian Prefecture, because of these sudden changes in the family, and you were no longer here, so I took the initiative to ask Tang Da-ren to come and help us!"

Li Man stood up to greet him, ''So it's Tang Da-ren, I'm sorry! I wonder how Tang Da-ren and my family...?"

When Tang Fan rented the courtyard next door, Li Man was already out in business and had never seen Tang Fan at all, so it was no wonder that there was such suspicion.

Lao Li explained, “The courtyard next door is rented by Tang Da-ren, and he has helped the Li Family a few times, and has been kind to us, Master you were not around, and I am in a state of disorientation, when something like this happens, the first one I remember was to go to Tang Da-ren!"

Li Man nodded and arched his hand, "I see, I'll thank Tang Da-ren first on behalf of the Li Family!"

Tang Fan said, "You're welcome, but why would Mr. Li’s wife hang herself if she was so nice?"

Once these words came out, not only Lao Li, but even A-Chun and others were silent, and the atmosphere was somewhat frozen for a moment.

After a while, Li Man said, "Lao Li, Tang Da-ren is asking for your words, why don't you answer?"

Lao Li sighed, "Replying to the master's words, this matter, I have always been in the outer courtyard, yesterday I did not see the Madam, it is not good to talk nonsense, I better let A-Chun say it!"

Li Man then said, "A-Chun, A-Xia, you guys talk!"




A-Chun's face was full of shock, she was the first one to find Zhang-shi’s body, the impact of finding a body hanging from the beam was so great that she hadn't looked back until now.

Li Man had to let A-Xia speak, A-Xia took one look at Li Man and the woman beside him and said timidly, "A few days ago, the Madam heard that the master was coming back from outside with someone else, and since he hadn't been out for many years, she was a bit depressed, and we were persuaded. Later, last night, the Madam said that she would rest and not let us in. I and A-Chun and stayed outside until the day was about to dawn. Who knows that A-Chun went in to wake the Madam, she saw the Madam... "

Li Man said, and lamented, "I've been married to her, I've been in love with her, I've never complained about her! How could she think I will abandon her!"

The beautiful woman lamented, "I came back with the master to see his wife, so why did she suspect me of being here would usurp her and she didn’t even let me see her!”

Tang Fan shook his head, this kind of private matter in the house is really not a woman's mind, and it is not convenient for him to intervene, but in the spirit of neighborliness, he still said, "If it is convenient, why not take me to see your wife, or make sure that she really committed suicide."

Li Man arched his hand and said, “Thank you Tang Da-ren for your kindness, but after all, I am a man and I am not a family man, not to mention the fact that the deceased is an old woman, it would be unseemly to examine her again, now that I am facing a big change at home, it is really not convenient to entertain Tang Da-ren request, why don't you wait for me to finish taking care of my wife’s funeral first and then come to my door to see me Tang Da-ren?"

Tang Fan gave him a deep look, "What if I must see it?"

Li Man was stunned: "Tang Da-ren as a court official, how can he ignore the law of the court and the wishes of the family? The deceased is a respected woman, and I don't want to see her being disturbed and not being able to live in peace after death.

Tang Fan said, “That's fine, but since it's possible that Mr. Li’s wife committed suicide and it's also possible that someone killed her, I naturally have the right to inspect the body as well."

Li Man had a heavy look in his face: "As far as I know, even if the government is investigating, Wanping County should send someone to investigate, Tang Da-ren is under the Shuntian Prefecture, but it's wrong after all, it's not lawful?"

His ancestors were officials, and Li Man used to be a scholar, but now he's a businessman and has a wide range of contacts. Naturally, he is not as fooling as ordinary people. Moreover, he is right.

Tang Fan had no choice but to say, "Well, can I just walk around in your wife's room without examining her?"





- The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty -



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