I am a temporary worker in Jinyiwei, how did I become a powerful official?

Chapter 20: The Murder at Bangchui Niangniang Temple
There are many gods, immortals, Buddhas and temples in the capital.

Bangchui Niangniang belongs neither to Taoism nor Buddhism, but is a miscellaneous immortal.

The Qianmen people have a scam called the God and Immortal Money Bureau. To put it simply, it is to fabricate a non-existent god and spread rumors about how powerful he is. Then build a small temple and defraud money from incense for a long time.

Bangchui Niangniang is a typical example of a thousand-door scam.

Qianmen people made up a rumor that there was a fairy in the Western Hills who turned into a clothes-beating mallet by the river and appeared in front of widows who were washing clothes by the river.

The widow took the mallet home and used it for herself. Within three days, God gave her a strong man as her lover.

In a word, Lady Bangchui specializes in saving widows from long droughts.

In the two years after the Bangchui Niangniang Temple was built, it attracted many widows to donate incense and money.

Even many married women come to the temple to pray for their husbands to become stronger.

But lies are lies after all. Bangchui Niangniang was no longer effective, so the temple was abandoned.

Lin Shisan and his group of four came to the Niangniang Temple. There were weeds growing in front of the temple gate.

Chen Ju was about to move forward, but Master Hong stopped him and said, "Don't be reckless."

Lin Shisan explained, "In order to prevent the owner of the lost dog from seeking revenge, the dog owner would set up many vicious traps near the place where he stayed overnight to protect himself."

After saying that, Lin Shisan broke off a long straight stick from a dead tree. He used the stick to probe the trap in front of him and slowly moved forward.

"Snap!" Suddenly, the tree stick was cut in half. A trap made of fine iron appeared in front of him.

Chen Ju was shocked: "Isn't this too vicious? Such a big clamp with serrations. If someone steps on it, they will be crippled for the rest of their lives."

Lin Shisan said: "Dog riding is one of the four most unethical professions among the 360 professions. Unethical people will do anything to save their lives."

After saying this, he returned to the dead tree, broke off a few more tree roots, and moved forward while exploring the way. Chen Ju and others followed behind.

After walking a dozen steps forward, I found another trap. Unlike the previous one, this one was closed and stained with blood.

Lin Shisan pinched the blood with his hands: "The blood is not dry yet."

After saying that, he sniffed his fingers again: "It's human blood, not animal blood."

Chen Ju cursed: "If a passerby steps on the trap, it will be a disaster! The man sitting on the dog is really wicked!"

Lin Shisan said: "This place has been abandoned for a long time, and there are dead grass all around. Passersby will take the main road in front and will not enter the dead grass."

Chen Ju asked: "Is that a trap for revenge?"

Lin Shisan said, "Well, it's probably true. Not good! If someone seeks revenge, the Dog Man will notice it. The Dog Man will definitely change his place of residence for the night."

Everyone moved carefully towards the temple gate. After two minutes of effort, they finally arrived in front of the temple gate.

The temple gate is in disrepair and covered with cobwebs.

Lin Shisan pushed open the door, and the four of them looked into the temple and were all stunned.

Sun Yue screamed in panic: "Oh my god! Kill, kill, kill people!"

In front of the statue of Bangchui Niangniang lay a man, who was the old dog-riding man Wang Laochuan that everyone had seen in the Xiangxi alley.

Wang Laochuan's hands and feet were trapped. He lay on the ground bent over like a big shrimp. A huge rock was pressing on his waist, and there was a pool of blood around his mouth.

The Jinyiwei's job is to frame and kill people. The Tiqi of the Zhenfusi are used to seeing dead people.

Lin Shisan and Sun Yue, the two captains of the elephant training center, deal with pets all day long. They have seen many dead dogs, dead cats and dead birds, but have they ever seen a dead person?
Mr. Hong had been a secret detective in Shuntian Prefecture for decades and had seen many murders. He walked quickly to the man sitting on the dog and felt his breath with his hand: "This old man is dead."

Lin Shisan stepped forward bravely and said, "Wang Laochuan's death was very much like a stupid dog being sat on. Could it be that the person who lost the dog took the opportunity to vent his anger by privately punishing him?" Master Hong said, "Nine out of ten times. He is not the first person in Beijing to die violently because of a dog being sat on. If there is a murder case, I must hurry back to Shuntian Prefecture to report to the Magistrate."

Lin Shisan said: "Okay."

Mr. Hong complained, "Alas, I am so unlucky. I took six taels of silver from you, but I encountered a murder case."

The most annoying thing for the secret police in Shuntian Prefecture was a murder case. Since ancient times, human life has been of paramount importance. Theft, robbery, rape, and fraud cases can be handled slowly, or even "put on hold". Only murder cases are handled by the prosecutor, the prefect, and the prefectural governor.

The detectives below have to run around to investigate the case. If they fail to solve the case within the deadline, they will be punished.

Master Hong left the Niangniang Temple.

The three young men who had never seen a dead body stood there in a daze.

Sun Yue said: "The family who lost the dog are too cruel! They could have just broken the legs of the man sitting on the dog or handed him over to the authorities. But they actually killed him."

Lin Shisan said something very true: "In the eyes of those powerful people in our capital, human life has never been as valuable as the cats and dogs they raise. Whoever steals their cats and dogs will be killed by them."

Lin Shisan was telling the truth.

Sometimes cats and dogs were stolen from the homes of the rich and powerful, and Lin Shisan would catch the thieves and retrieve the cats and dogs. He would never tell the rich and powerful that the cats and dogs were stolen, but would only lie that the cats and dogs had lost themselves.

Because he knew that once these cat and dog thieves were handed over to the powerful, they would at least have a leg broken, and some would even lose their lives.

Lin Shisan loves to keep pets. But he always feels that no matter how valuable a pet's life is, it is not as valuable as a human life.

All things are created by nature, and human beings are the leaders of all things.

The three men stared at the dead body and felt frightened.

Suddenly, a child cried out from behind the clay statue of the goddess in the center of the temple: “Woo, woo, woo!”

This cry of life gave the three of them a startle.

The 200-pound Sun Yue took a quick step and hid behind his master Lin Shisan: "Master, is there a ghost?"

Lin Shisan cursed, "Evil disciple! Stop talking nonsense. Where are the ghosts and gods in this world? If there are ghosts, they are disguised as humans. If there are gods, they are also dressed as humans!"

He was both scolding his apprentice and giving himself courage.

Lin Shisan plucked up his courage and walked towards the clay statue of Bangchui Niangniang tremblingly.

When the Qianmen people built the temple, they spent a lot of money, and the clay statues were as tall as two people.

Lin Shisan followed the sound of the crying child and came to the back of the clay statue. There was a secret door on the back of the clay statue.

The secret door was not locked. He opened it and saw a shivering little girl hiding inside. She looked about five or six years old.

Lin Shisan coaxed the child: "Don't cry, baby. Come to me."

The little girl cried even louder when she saw Lin Shisan, a stranger: “Wuwuwu!”

Lin Shisan had no choice but to bend down, half of his body inserted into the secret door of the clay statue, and carried the girl out.

In this kind of temple where thousands of people cheat people out of money, there is usually a secret door behind the statue. The thousands of people will hide in it in advance, and when the believers come to worship, they will speak and pretend to be gods.

Lin Shisan carried the little girl out of the secret door. The little girl saw the dead body of Wang Laochuan, the dog rider, and cried out in agony: "Grandfather! Grandfather! Wuuwuwu."

It seems that the little girl is Wang Laochuan's granddaughter.

Lin Shisan covered the little girl's eyes with his hands and lied to her: "Your grandfather was injured and fainted. I will give him two doses of medicine and he will be fine in a while."

(End of this chapter)