Chapter 164

Chapter 164

Li Cheng’s lips moved soundlessly, and his confidence faltered even more.

A year ago, not long after he had taken office, a case had occurred in Tu Family Village: a pregnant woman had hanged herself.

The deceased was named Zeng Xiao, a woman who had married into Tu Family Village from Yunxia Town.

She had not been married long, and she was three or four months pregnant, yet for no apparent reason, she had hanged herself at home.

When Li Cheng learned of the case, it gave him quite a headache.

But as the town official, he naturally had to make the trip in person and understand the cause and course of events.

When he arrived at Tu Family Village, he saw only a crowd gathered outside the deceased woman’s door, pointing and whispering.

Only then did he learn that the deceased had an extremely poor reputation.

Clearly, men and women, old and young, throughout the village all disliked her intensely.

When Li Cheng rushed over, the body was still hanging from the ceiling beam, while the deceased woman’s husband and in-laws were cursing at the corpse.

They blamed her for marrying into the family for over a year and only just conceiving a child, only to abandon them and die.

When the deceased woman’s parents arrived, they too cursed her as a “money-losing wretch.”

The two families even got into a fierce argument over the bride price paid a year earlier.

Seeing the two sides quarrel endlessly, Li Cheng ordered the bailiffs to take the deceased woman’s body down from the beam. After understanding her motive for suicide, he mediated the dispute between the two families.

As it turned out, this Madam Zeng had a fierce temper. Ever since marrying into her husband’s family, she had been at odds with her in-laws and husband. Not only did they often quarrel, she had even made a scene about wanting a divorce.

Before she hanged herself this time, she had also quarreled with her husband’s family. In a fit of anger, she had actually used the child in her belly as a threat.

Her husband’s family thought she was merely speaking out of anger and ignored her.

Who could have expected that not long after Madam Zeng returned to her room, she truly hanged herself there?

Li Cheng then confirmed the matter with the neighbors on both sides. Finding no suspicious points, he determined that Madam Zeng had died by suicide.

According to Great Qi laws, because Madam Zeng had been married into the Tu Family for a full year, had left behind no heir, and had died by hanging herself, the Zeng family was required to return half of the original bride price.

However, early the next morning after the case ruling was issued, a woman who looked extremely similar to Madam Zeng came to the town yamen, claiming to be Madam Zeng’s younger sister, named Zeng Qiao.

Upon seeing Li Cheng, she immediately knelt on the ground. “My lord, my sister did not die by hanging herself. She was murdered by her husband and his family. I beg you to investigate this thoroughly!”

This hanging case was the first case Li Cheng had handled after becoming town official.

He believed he had done a very good job, because neither family had any objections.

So the words of this woman who had suddenly appeared were practically a slap to his face.

Displeased, Li Cheng naturally looked doubtful. “You claim it was murder. Do you have any solid evidence?”

Zeng Qiao lifted her haggard face and stared at him with a pair of reddened eyes. “My sister came to me in a dream. She said she had been wronged. She was killed by someone.”

“Came to you in a dream?”

Li Cheng had never heard such absurd nonsense before. Furious, he immediately flung his sleeve and snapped, “What this official wants is solid evidence. If you cannot produce any, then you must not speak nonsense here.”

After hearing those words, Zeng Qiao remained silent for a long time. In the end, she turned and left.

Recalling these details, Li Cheng did not feel he had done anything wrong. In fact, he gained a little more confidence.

“That case was already settled beyond doubt. The deceased woman’s husband, her in-laws, her parents, and even the neighbors on both sides could all testify to it.

“Since it had already been confirmed that she died by hanging herself, why take the unnecessary step of going to the county yamen and requesting a coroner to come examine the body?

“Yunxia Town is vast. Every day, people are born, grow old, fall ill, and die. Are we supposed to examine every single corpse?”
He spoke with perfect confidence, then added, “As for that younger sister of hers, I found her suspicious too. She merely claimed her elder sister had appeared in a dream to say she had been wronged, and on that basis demanded the case be retried. It was utterly absurd.”

“I remember that at the time, she was indeed given a chance to produce evidence and overturn the verdict.”

“Unfortunately, up until the day her sister was buried, she failed to produce any evidence. Surely… that can hardly be blamed on me, can it?”

Hearing this, Ren Fengjue immediately frowned and said, “Since there were doubts about the case, as the town official, you should have reported it to the county yamen at once instead of making your own decision.”

Speaking in front of this high-ranking official from the Ministry of Justice, Li Cheng naturally lowered his voice a little.

Even so, he remained firmly convinced that he had made no oversight whatsoever.

“Based on my understanding of those people, Zeng Qiao must have wanted to use her sister’s death to squeeze another bit of profit out of the Tu Family. It was only for a handful of petty gains that she claimed there were doubts about the case.”

Before Ren Fengjue could question him further, Xia Ximo said coldly, “If there truly had been no doubts, what happened today would never have occurred.”

“…”

Her words left everyone present utterly stunned.

Ge Chuan’s heart began pounding like a drum as well.

Could it be that the case from two years ago was the reason every villager in Tu Family Village had died?

“What… what do you mean by that?”

Li Cheng had no desire to become the target of everyone’s anger. His lips trembled as he tried to continue defending himself, but for a moment, he could find nothing to say.

Xia Ximo cast him a cold sidelong glance, then pointed toward a cave not far away and said, “If you want to know why, go into that cave. Someone inside will give you the answer.”

As she spoke, she was the first to walk into the cave.

Seeing this, Ren Fengjue followed closely behind her, and after him came Ge Chuan.

Though Li Cheng did not want to enter, he no longer had any choice.

Only the yamen runners exchanged glances and, with tacit understanding, remained posted at the cave entrance.

The cave was not deep, but it was colder and damper than outside.

Xia Ximo had only taken a couple of steps when Ren Fengjue caught up, apparently still uneasy about letting her walk in front.

So he silently moved past her, lit a fire striker, and led the way for her.

Strangely, after they had walked for some distance, there was still no sign of Corpse Worms inside the cave. Instead, waves of putrid stench began to drift through the air.

Because Ren Fengjue had once heard Yan Zhengchu mention what had happened at the money house, he had some idea of what to expect.

But behind him, when Ge Chuan and Li Cheng smelled the stench, they immediately thought of the horrific scene at the entrance of Tu Family Village that day, and their scalps prickled with fear.

Once they entered the cave, the light from the fire striker cast the silhouette of a woman onto the cave wall.

Ren Fengjue immediately stopped in his tracks and looked closely, only to be startled.

A woman was sitting alone on the ground with her back to them, and beside her lay the body of a woman that had almost completely rotted away.

He immediately raised his voice and asked, “Are you Miss Qiao from Yunxia Town?”

At the sound of his voice, Zeng Qiao slowly turned her head.

In the dim light, her entire face had already begun to fester. Only her eyes still barely retained a trace of humanity.

She smiled faintly, her gaze sweeping over everyone before lingering on Li Cheng alone for a brief moment.

Li Cheng felt his skin crawl under her stare and involuntarily took a step back, only to hear her say with cold mockery, “So the authorities are finally willing to come out and investigate the truth?”

Seeing her looking neither human nor ghost, and then thinking of the Corpse Worms outside, Ge Chuan could not help asking, “Were you the one who killed everyone in Tu Family Village?”