Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 47 Bingzhou Di Renjie

Bingzhou, Difu.

Yang sat alone in the room, staring blankly at the food on the table that was gradually getting cold.

This was a table of food that she had worked hard for two hours to prepare. She had wanted to spend the New Year's Day with her husband, but she ended up like a widow, alone in an empty house.

At this time, a young servant who was less than 20 years old ran in and said to her with a smile: "Madam, I have asked, and Alang will be back soon. Please wait a little longer."

Yang said sadly, "Di Shun, tell me honestly, what is this case that has caused him not to come home even on New Year's Day? Does he no longer want this family?"

The servant Di Shun said with a bitter face: "My lady, please don't be angry. As a military officer, I have to go when such a strange murder happens!"

Yang said, "When have I ever stopped him from handling cases? But what day is it today? Even the sage of Chang'an City is feasting with his ministers, and yet he's still busy. Is it true that without him, everyone in Bingzhou City can't get by?"

Di Shun said hurriedly, "If it were any other case, Alang would definitely come back to accompany you, but this case is too strange. If it is not solved, I am afraid there will be no peace in the city."

Yang snorted, "Don't scare me. It's just a death."

Di Shun said: "I dare not lie to you. I heard that this case is a murder case by a demon!"

Yang's face turned pale as she scolded him, "You little boy, do you think I won't blame you just because you've exaggerated your words?"

Di Shun said, "Listen to me, the one who died this time was the wife of the wealthy Sha family in the city. Her death was very strange. The doors and windows were locked. She was sitting on a chair facing the main door, with twelve bright lamps lit around her. The servant who found the body was almost scared crazy!"

Yang snorted, "I've been with my husband for several years now, and I've heard of cases like this before. They must have used some kind of mechanism, or hidden a secret passage or something."

Di Shun said, "Ah Lang checked, and there's no trap or secret passage. Even A Lang is stumped. They say there's a bloodstain on the ground leading from the body to the next room. What do you think is in that room?"

Yang asked, "What?"

Di Shun didn't know what he was thinking about. He shuddered all over and said grimly, "There's a portrait of a demon in the room. There's blood in front of the portrait. The demon in the portrait is holding a sickle, and the sickle is oozing with blood!"

Yang stood up in fear and said anxiously, "This must be the murderer's trick, right? My husband will definitely be able to see through it, right?"

Di Shun said, "I don't know. Ah Lang was afraid you'd worry, so he asked me to go home and explain things to you. Alas, I don't know what's going on over there right now."

Just then, there was a knock on the door outside.

They were both startled. Di Shun shouted, "Could it really be a demon? It killed A Lang and is now chasing us home?"

Yang cursed, "Pah, pah, pah, you little devil, what nonsense are you talking about? If you were really a demon, would you knock on the door?"

Di Shun smiled and said, "That's right." He walked quickly over and opened the door.

I saw a large group of people standing outside the dark door. The leader had a square face and a big mustache. He was the governor of Bingzhou, Ren Yaxiang.

Di Shun had only seen Ren Yaxiang once from afar and never thought that the highest official of Bingzhou would come to Di Mansion!
"I, your humble servant, greet the governor!" He bowed hurriedly.

Ren Yaxiang smiled and said, "Get up. Is General Di in the mansion?"

Di Shun hurriedly said, "A murder occurred in Sha Mansion, and Alang went to investigate."

Ren Yaxiang was stunned for a moment and sighed, "He's still working on a case during the day. No wonder the saint values ​​Di Renjie so much. I admire him, I admire him!"

Di Shun was stunned and said, "General Ren, what did you say? What happened to the saint?"

Ren Yaxiang waved his hand and said, "It's nothing. It's really presumptuous to disturb you so late at night. Please apologize to your wife for me."

After saying that, he turned around and left with a large group of people.

As the top leader of Bingzhou, Ren Yaxiang was originally rushing to Beijing to attend the grand court meeting, but unexpectedly he received an imperial edict from the court halfway.

His subordinate, Di Renjie, a military officer under the Ministry of Justice, appeared in the sage's dream and presented him with a miraculous medicine. The sage was very pleased and promoted him ten levels and transferred him to Chang'an to serve as the Shaoqing of the Dali Temple.

This is simply soaring!
After weighing the pros and cons, Ren Yaxiang decided to send his deputy to attend the grand court meeting on his behalf.

Anyway, even if he participated, with so many governors and provincial governors, he would have no chance to say a word to the saint. It would be better for him to do Di Renjie a favor.

If Di Renjie becomes successful in the future, he might be able to say a few words for the sage, which would be much more useful than attending a grand court meeting.

Soon, he led his men to the Sha Mansion and, under the guidance of the yamen runners, they went all the way to the backyard, which was the house where the murder took place. As soon as Ren Yaxiang reached the door, he heard a clear voice.

"Why invite a monk here? Buddha is the god of the Rongdi people. The Hu monks are full of tricks and will only confuse the people. What good will they do?"

Ren Yaxiang looked into the room and saw that the person who was speaking was a handsome and dignified man. It was none other than his subordinate, Di Renjie, a military officer under his command.

Someone said, "General Di, the devil is killing people. We have no way to deal with it. If we don't invite monks, then we can only invite Taoist priests."

Di Renjie said, "Who said it was a demon who killed people? It was just someone pretending to be a demon."

At this moment, someone noticed Ren Yaxiang and exclaimed, "General Ren!"

Everyone in the room, including Di Renjie, came over to pay their respects.

Ren Yaxiang helped Di Renjie up and said with a smile, "No need to be so polite, General Di. You just said someone was playing tricks. What exactly is going on?"

Di Renjie first told him the details of the case, then said, "General Ren, this case may seem like a murder by a demon, but it's actually human error. The murderer is him!"

Pointing to a short and fat middle-aged man, it was none other than the owner of the Sha Mansion, Mr. Sha.

Mr. Sha shouted, "You are talking nonsense. She is my wife. Why would I kill her?"

Di Renjie smiled and said, "I've sent people to investigate. You had a mistress outside, and your wife found out. She had a few arguments with you, and you got so angry that you killed her."

Mr. Sha said anxiously, "Even if I wanted to kill her, the doors and windows of the house are locked. I'm not a ghost, so how can I get through the door to kill her and then get out again?"

Di Renjie said, "Because she was not injured in this house, but was attacked by you in the room next door where the demon statue is hung."

"General Di, if that's the case, why did Madam Sha come back into this room and lock the doors and windows herself?" asked Ren Yaxiang.

Di Renjie said, "Because Madam Sha is a Buddhist, Mr. Sha deliberately pretended to be a ghost to scare Madam Sha. He found a statue of the devil and secretly placed it in Madam Sha's room."

"When Madam Sha discovered this, she was terrified and went to the temple to ask the monk about it. The monk she found had received money from Mr. Sha in advance and lied to her, saying that she would have a bloody disaster and would be killed by the demon in the portrait within seven days."

Mr. Sha's face turned pale as he pointed at Di Renjie and said, "You, you..."

Di Renjie continued, "Mrs. Sha believed it and asked the monk how to save her. The monk told her to hang the portrait in the room next to her bedroom and worship it every day to drive away the demon."

"The monk then said that if the demon couldn't be driven away, another preparation would be necessary. He sold Madam Sha twelve resurrection lamps. If the demon attacked her, she should return to her room, close the doors and windows, sit facing the door, and light the twelve resurrection lamps. This would save her life."

Ren Yaxiang suddenly realized, "So Madam Sha was injured in the next room, returned to her room, closed the doors and windows, sat under the twelve lamps, and died from excessive blood loss?"

Di Renjie said, "That's right."

Mr. Sha pointed at Di Renjie and shouted, "This is all speculation, there is no evidence!"

Di Renjie said calmly, "Master Zhang, bring the monk in."

A yamen runner came in with a bald monk and explained to the crowd:
"Our General Di knew from the beginning that it wasn't the demon who killed people, but he kept it a secret so that I could secretly investigate whether Mr. Sha had any dealings with monks or Taoist priests. Sure enough, we found this bald donkey, and he confessed everything!"

Di Renjie asked someone to bring another mask that was exactly the same as the devil's, and presented it to Mr. Sha again.

"You deliberately wore this mask and stabbed your wife, making her think you were a demon. Then you used your blood to stick to the demon's portrait, pretending to be a ghost. Do you think you can fool Di?"

Mr. Sha fell to his knees and sobbed, "I, I am helpless. She quarrels and makes trouble every day. I can't live like this anymore. I have no choice but to kill her."

Ren Yaxiang snorted, "What a shameless person! You had a mistress first, and you still blame her for making trouble with you? You're such an unrepentant person! Come on, take him to jail and wait for Sima's punishment!"

Di Renjie was slightly surprised and said, "General Ren, this matter should be the responsibility of this official."

Ren Yaxiang grabbed his hand and said with a smile, "You don't have to worry about it anymore. Let's go to my house for a drink first. I'll practice for you."

Di Renjie was stunned and asked, "Practice?"

Ren Yaxiang laughed heartily and said, "You have been visited by the Saint in your dreams, don't you know it? The Saint has issued an edict to summon you to the capital and appoint you as the Junior Minister of the Dali Temple!"

Di Renjie himself was stunned when he heard this. Had he ever sent a message to the saint in his dream?

(End of this chapter)