Chapter 310: Chapter 126: Wanyue Gets Married (2)
Just then, Chen Song pushed the door open and strode inside. "Wife, pack my bags," he called out. "I have to go to the Prefecture tomorrow."
Xu Su Ying came out the door. "The Lord County Magistrate has already gone to the Prefecture. He told you to stay and watch the government office. Why are you going to the Prefecture now?"
"The Wo Laicai murder case—you remember it, don’t you?"
Chen Song went into the kitchen, grabbed the ladle from the water cistern, and started gulping water straight from it.
Both Xu Su Ying and Chen Wanqing rushed to stop him, but it was too late. Furious, one shouted, "Chen Song!" while the other cried out in protest, "Dad!"
Chen Song, however, paid them no mind. GULP, GULP. He downed half the ladle, then let out a long, satisfied sigh. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he plopped down onto a stool.
"God, it’s hot. I’ve been running around outside all day. My clothes are soaked."
"Soaked by the rain, you mean?"
"No, no, it’s from sweat, really. By the way, you remember Wo Laicai, don’t you?"
"Who could forget?"
Wo Laicai had two brothers who were Scholars, and they held some prestige in the county. But Wo Laicai himself, blinded by greed, had brutally murdered a traveling merchant and bricked the body up in his cellar.
That had happened last October. It was she who had given her father the crucial hint, sparking the insight that allowed Chen Song to crack the case and bring Wo Laicai to justice.
Once the case was tried, Wo Laicai was sentenced to death, with the execution stayed pending review. He was transferred to the Prefecture’s Criminal Justice Department before the new year, awaiting his beheading after the autumn assizes.
’That was ages ago. Why bring it up now?’
Chen Song wiped another bead of sweat from his head. "Wo Laicai might have killed more than one person," he said. "Today, they found more bones beneath the latrine pit in his courtyard. The preliminary conclusion is that he killed this person too."
"What?"
"What?"
Chen Wanqing and Xu Su Ying stared in shock, their eyes wide. Their knees felt weak.
’Those were living, breathing people, gone just like that?’
"And speaking of which, this also has something to do with Wanyue."
At the mention of Chen Wanyue, Chen Song’s tone became incredibly complex.
Wanyue had gone on a rampage in their home, smashing things and smearing filth everywhere, which had forced Chen Song to sever all ties with the third branch of his family.
But even though they no longer had contact, Chen Song knew. Just a few days after De’an and Jing left for the Prefecture, his troublesome niece, dressed in red, had married into the Shi Family—the coffin makers of the county seat.
And what kind of people were the Shi Family?
They weren’t decent folk, that’s for sure.
Qingshui County used to have three families in the coffin business. Now, look around—only the Shi Family remains.
Rumor had it the Shi Family had used underhanded tactics to drive the other two out of business.
First, the head of the Shi Family arranged a honey trap scheme that destroyed the Wang Family, who had made the best coffins back then. Their family was torn apart, and soon after, they vanished from Qingshui County entirely.
Next, he set up a rigged gambling match, tricking the other competitor into racking up a massive debt. That family’s unfilial son used their house and land deeds to pay it off. And so, the Ding Family also quickly vanished from public view.
With both competitors gone, the Shi Family monopolized the business.
Ask anyone in the county. Whenever there was a death, who didn’t have to buy a coffin from them?
Because they had a monopoly, their prices were astronomical. Naturally, the amount of silver they raked in was obscene.
Making money makes people envious enough, but making a fortune through such ill-gotten gains? That naturally earned them even more scorn.
But the head of the Shi Family was black-hearted to the core. Not only did he not perform good deeds to accumulate merit, but he also burned incense three times a day to worship King Yan.
That’s right. While others worshiped Bodhisattvas, his family worshiped the soul-reaping King Yan. It was said that even Oxhead and Horseface had a place of honor in their ancestral hall.
Whenever he burned incense, the head of the Shi Family would mutter, "Oh, mighty Lord King Yan, display your divine power! Let the people of Qingshui County die in droves, die every day! Where one is meant to die, let a pair die! Where a pair is meant to die, let five pairs die!"
When word of this got out, the Shi Family was so thoroughly cursed, people said they stank of shit.
Some townsfolk got so angry they even threw dung into their shop right in front of them. "A fitting name, Shi! You’re nothing but a pile of stinking dog shit! Go on and stink along with this animal filth!"
They were a family reviled by all.
Perhaps it was karmic retribution for their many sins, but the price was paid by their descendants.
The head of the Shi Family had five sons, and all five died in infancy. Finally, at the age of thirty, he had a sixth son. He protected the boy like the apple of his eye, but as the child grew, it became clear that he was a fool.
And Chen Wanyue married this fool!
So, how were the skeletal remains discovered this time?
It was all because Chen Wanyue wanted some pocket money and couldn’t get any. Of course, she had her dowry—she had brought all of it with her when she married—but she had no intention of spending it.
