The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty, Chapter 23: the Wife killer

The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty. 《成化十四年》Chengnian Shisi Nian
The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty, Chapter 23: The Wife killer?

A hanged body does not look the same as a strangled body, for the latter has crossed strangulation marks on the back of the neck, and a strangled person would have struggled violently before death, and even if the neck is not scratched by fingernails, there must be other bruises from the struggle. This is clearly stated in the Northern Song Dynasty's collection of the Book of Wrongful Death.


It is not difficult the Coroner to tell whether the case is someone committing suicide or strangulation, just that he needs to look at the injury.

Tang Fan is not surprised by this result, because in his opinion, the Li Family Mrs. Zhang-shi is a kind person, harmless in nature, this kind of character is generally patient and obedient, taking worldly manners as normal, and subconsciously observing them. Li Man had already had two concubines before he brought the beautiful woman back, and Tang Fan had not seen what bad Zhang-shi had done to them, so even if she was angry and sad, she would not have hanged herself over a new concubine.

Even if she was angry and sad, she couldn't have hanged herself because of it. If she was more extreme, it was possible, or like Zheng Sun-shi, to kill her husband directly.

Therefore, Zhang-shi's suicide is not very likely.

If it wasn't a suicide, the Li Family would have to find the killer, and it would not be up to the Li Family to decide if they want to.

Tang Fan lived next door to the Li Family, and it made sense to go there and have a look.

But this time he didn't go there alone as in the morning, but ordered the bailiff, Lao Wang, and Inspector Du Jiang, to go with him.

Zhang-shi's body was in the middle of the Li Family Hall, where the Wanping County's County commissioner and the chief clerk were, and next to them was the Coroner of the County.

The Wanping County is under to the Shuntian Prefecture, they also knew Tang Fan, and when Tang Fan came over, and they all greeted him.

Tang Fan asked, "You don’t have to be so polite, how are things going?"

The Wanping County Deputy said: “The Li Family all said that they did not see any suspicious persons entering their madam's room that night, only the two maidens were on watch outside, now we have arrested them, Da-ren do you want to ask them?"

Tang Fan said, "Where are they?"

The Wanping County Deputy asked someone to bring the two people here, A-Chun and A-Xia were both weak women, who were being watched behind them and did not need to be tied up, but they looked even worse than they did in the morning.

The Wanping County Deputy gave a brief account of his own interrogation, but Tang Fan had already asked the same question, and there was nothing new about it.

Li Man watched for half a while, but finally he couldn't resist and said, “Tang Da-ren, you know, you're so proud of the fact that you've made a mess of my family. If you can't find out anything, why don't allow us to arrange the funeral service for my wife first, so that she can be buried in peace soon!"

The Wanping County Deputy scolded him: "You are being rude, now that the murder has occurred, it is no longer your business, and Zhang-shi's body should be taken over by the county until the truth comes out!"

Li Man laughed coldly, “My wife died horribly. I am saddened by the death of my wife, but what's the matter with things if you don't allow the funeral? Da-ren, this is a bullying of the Li Family, I think my grandfather was also a Third Rank squire, and there are still a couple of old friends in the family who will help me, if I sue them for this, Da-ren you will be in trouble!"

The Wanping County deputy and the chief clerk were both upset that a merchant had dared to threaten them, but they were not sure whether Li Man's words were true or not, so they all looked at Tang Fan, after all, Tang Fan was the highest ranking official among the three, and naturally he was the only one who had to take the lead.

Tang Fan laughed: "I don't know who you are talking about, Da-ren, let's hear about them old timers, maybe I know him too!




Li Man paused, then softly begged: “Da-ren, I didn't mean to cause trouble, it's just that the weather is hot and it's not easy to store the body, my wife has been taking care of the household for me for decades, without merit, there's still suffering. The investigation is Da-ren's business. Nothing to do with me. I just hope she gets to the ground soon. Lest she is refused in the Nine Springs of the underworld [1] Hell because of this grievance. This is the righteousness of it. I'm sure Da-rens can understand."

Before Tang Fan answered, he said, "I have an inside information, please Tang Da-ren may we speak for a moment?”

Li Man looked at Tang Fan expectantly, the latter nodded: "Yes, lead the way."

Li Man took Tang Fan to the inner room next door and kneeled down without saying a word!

"About the death of my wife, there's something else, here's the paper, please Da-ren read it!"

He presented the folded paper with his hands.

Tang Fan took it, but his hands were heavy, so he opened it again, and between the layers of white paper, there were a dozen or so silver bills for the bank numbers, some 100 taels, some 50 taels, and the total amount was at least 2,000 taels.

The total amount was at least two thousand taels. One silver tael could buy two stone of rice, two thousand taels was equivalent to four thousand pounds of rice, and the Regular Second Rank officials, like the Sixth Division workers, were only given 61 pounds of rice a month.

But where there are poor people, there are rich people. For a successful businessman like Li Man, 2,000 taels was not an unaffordable amount. Before Feng Qingzi wanted to redeem herself, she had to ask for 5,000 taels, the Madam of the Brothel was not a lion's share. For the really rich. Five thousand taels is a small amount of money.

But compared to the low salaries of the court officials, these two thousand taels were a huge amount of money.

Tang Fan took the silver note and smiled: "What, are you trying to bribe me?"

"How dare I?!" Li Man was busy arching his hand, "I heard Lao Li say that the Li Family has been taken care of by Tang Da-ren for many years, I am thankful to Tang Da-ren, I don't think I can repay him for all the help, so I am just giving a small token of respect, I hope Da-ren will smile and accept it."

Tang Fan pawed at the silver note: "Are you hoping this case won't go any further?"

Li Man laughed bitterly and said, "I am also heartbroken by the death of my wife, and I would not dare to stop Da-ren from investigating the case, I just hope that our family can live in peace for a few days. If it's a few Da-rens who intrude to the door twice a day. It's not just the funeral. I'm afraid the servants are also on edge and will have no mind to do anything!"

Tang Fan nodded, taking the silver note into his arms: "What you mean, I understand."

Li Man was the first to walk out.

When Li Man saw that he had taken the money, he was glad to know that it was done, so he followed him up.

The Wanping County deputy and the chief clerk both greeted him and asked his opinion: “Da-ren, is this case to be investigated or not?"

Tang Fan asked, "Why don't you investigate? Is there a reason you're going to let the real killer go unpunished?"

Both the Wanping County deputy and the chief clerk were shocked: "Where is the real killer?"

Tang Fan pointed at Li Man and said, "Isn't this the real killer?"

Without waiting for Li Man to speak, he shouted again: "Men, tie him up!"

He himself brought someone from the Shuntian Prefecture, not bothering the Wanping County deputy with their hands, Lao Wang and the other men heard Tang Fan's order and immediately promised, stepped forward, yanked Li Man's hands back, and tied the rope around him firmly.

"You! How dare you wrongfully accuse a good man? You're a stupid man, I'll sue you! I'm going to sue you!" Li Man didn't expect Tang Fan's words to turn his face away, and he struggled to get up.

Tang Fan raised his eyebrows: "You are a good man? I don't think so. You can't call yourself a good man if you can even do injustice to your wife. If you are a good man, there's no harm in going against it, so don't be impatient, and let me join you."

He turned his head and asked A-Chun, "Do you still have the jade earrings that I gave you that day?"

A-Chun said: "Yes, I put it back in the lady's dressing case."

Tang Fan: "You go get it."

A-Chun should be, and rose to bring the whole dressing case: “Tang Da-ren, it is in the last compartment."

Tang Fan opened the last compartment and found the lotus jade earrings inside.




He gestured A-Chun to put down the box and took out an identical ear pendant from his arms.

A-Chun exclaimed: “Da-ren has found another one?"

Tang Fan nodded, holding the jade earrings high: “This other pendant, was found under the bed in your mistress's room."

Tang Fan asked: "In your mistress's house, do you ever go there to chase and play?"

A-Chun said, "Of course not, Madam, though she is kind-hearted, there is a difference between a mistress and a servant, and the rules are there. It's impossible for me to be reckless."

Tang Fan asked again: "So, does your wife have a habit of dancing on her hands and feet when she sleeps or getting up for a night out?”

A-Chun replied, “That's even less so, for a wife can sleep very calm, sometimes all night long without even turning over."

Tang Fan said: "Let me ask you again, earlier on, you said that in the middle of the night, you had gone into the house to close the window, did you or did you not?"

A-Chun said: "Yes."

Tang Fan asked, "Were you in the back room at the time?"

A-Chun said, "No, I only closed the window outside, the inner room was checked by A-Xia."

Tang Fan asked A-Xia again: "Did you see anything strange when you went inside?"

A-Xia said: "No, no, at that time the wife was facing me with her back to me, covered with a quilt, and seemed to be sleeping very heavily, so I did not go near to see for fear of waking her."

Tang Fan asked, "Have you ever looked under the bed?"

A-Xia shook her head, “The bed is covered with sheets, usually only lifted to clean the bottom of the bed when we're cleaning."

Tang Fan said, "If a woman is sleeping in her own bedroom and she looks very calm, how can she accidentally leave her earrings by her pillow and drop them below the bed for no reason at all? There are only two explanations. Your wife did not accidentally leave the earrings, but she was strangled and struggled so violently that her earrings fell out of her ears and onto the floor, and were accidentally kicked to the bottom of the bed by the killer!”

A-Chun turned pale: "Was the murderer, then, under the bed?"

Tang Fan: "No, when you went in to close the window, the murderer jumped out of the window, and if I'm not mistaken, you were looking out the window at a distance and forgot to look at the bushes under the window?"

A-Chun said: "Yes, yes, at that time I took a look in the garden, and when I heard the cat barking, I thought it was because I had forgotten to close the window earlier, and the wild cat had come in..."

Li Man cried out: "I have been married to my wife for decades, my love for her is deep, she is virtuous, so why would I want to kill her? You vulgar official, on the basis of these false speculations, you casually conclude that I am the murderer, I must report to the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple to seek redress, you must not deceive my Li Family and no one!"

Tang Fan said lightly, "Although you were married to Zhang-shi for decades, your love for her was indeed deep, but as the times changed, you began to regret that you had given up all your family's money for her, abandoned your career in the imperial examinations, and married a wife who couldn't give you children and so you wanted to divorce her and marry anew wife, but because the Zhang-shi Family had an government official related to the family, and you were afraid that if you were to divorce her, you made enemies with the Zhang Family, and so an evil intention of killing her emerged first.”

Li Man laughed coldly, "No! Of course not! You're spitting false blood! When Zhang-shi died, I was out of town and came back today, how can I kill someone if I'm not here?"

Tang Fan looked at him coldly: "If you have the guts to do it, don't be afraid to admit it, don't you know that it was the sole of your right foot that has exposed you."

This made everyone look at Li Man's shoes, even he himself could not help but look down at them.

Lao Wang bent down, took off Li Man's right shoe and handed it to Tang Fan.

Tang Fan turned the shoe over: "You are right, you did come back from out of town, only you didn't come back today, you should have come back a few days earlier to make an alibi to avoid the suspicion of killing your wife, but these shoes betrayed you."




Without waiting for Li Man to speak, he added, "You deliberately wiped your shoes clean for fear of leaving marks or footprints when you sneaked home to kill someone, but it was all wrong! You've travelled a long way, and your shoes should have been dirty from the journey, so why did you clean them? You've been traveling for days, but you were in a no hurry to get home with a concubine in tow, and you still managed to go looking for a place to wipe your shoes first!"

Tang Fan said: "Also, when you jumped out of the window, you accidentally made a noise, and you were afraid that A-Chun would be found when she went in to check, so you jumped out of the window in a hurry, and the heel of your shoe rubbed hard on the wall of the window sill, I have already seen the mark, and it is exactly the same as the abrasion on your shoe!

He threw his shoes on the floor, sat back in his chair and pointed at Zhang-shi's coffin: "Say it! Tell me why you did this, in front of your dead wife. She's been married to you for decades, and even if she can't raise a child, she's done the best she can, not only to run the household for you, but to keep you a concubine and safeguard the children, and even treated your son as if he were her own, and while there are many restrictions on women, there are very few in the world who can do what your wife did!



Tang Fan's face sank as he snapped, "What is it that you are not satisfied with, to the point of killing your wife? Are you still human?"

After a long time, Li Man finally spoke: "Do you think I wanted to? When she married me, she was eighteen, and I was twenty, and we were of the same nature, and we raised the same eyebrows, and we were the envy of no one for this was a good marriage."

"At the age of thirty, her mother's family was in distress and needed a large sum of money, but none of her brothers and sisters could afford it, and at that time I was still studying hard. I gritted my teeth and sold the family property. Give her the money. I myself had to give up the imperial examination for that. Use the remaining savings as principal money to do business. That's what made the family finances gradually get better."

"At this point, I have been married for ten years and still have no children. It was only at my request that Zhang-shi agreed to take a concubine. Zhang-shi is too illiterate to follow me out of the house in business. She seems to be a virtuous woman, but the two concubines she has given me are either unsalted or as illiterate as she is, only my current concubine, Chen-shi, is gentle and virtuous, and is a good dancer with long sleeves. While I was busy doing business. It was her who also helped me to socialize with businesswomen. There have been a few big deals recently. It's all thanks to her."







- The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty -



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