Tang Dynasty Prison Administration

069: The Lianhua Case in Qingzhou

Not long after, on their way to An Temple, Su Wen and his constables encountered a young monk who was rushing toward the county government and happened to run into Su Wen's group.

Upon seeing that they were officials, the young monk immediately bowed and said, "May I ask if you gentlemen are officials from the county government?"

Upon hearing this, Su Wen nodded: "Young master, you seem to be in such a hurry, has something serious happened?"

The young monk responded, tears welling in his eyes, and said, "Shangguan, my master has been murdered!"

Upon hearing this, Su Wen felt a chill run down his spine, and then tentatively asked, "Is it Wen Ci?"

The little monk nodded.

Su Wen said, "Take me there quickly!"

After taking two steps, Su Wen suddenly stopped and looked sharply at Cheng Nianci, exclaiming, "Oh no, young master!"

Upon hearing this, Cheng Nianci immediately sensed something was wrong. Without hesitation, she turned and ran to the side. Su Wen pointed to several constables and said, "You guys go and follow her!"

The constables responded and split into two groups. One group followed Cheng Nianci, while Su Wen led the other group to An Temple.

When Su Wen and the others arrived at Wen Ci's room, the pungent, nauseating smell of blood was almost unbearable for Su Wen.

There was a huge pattern on the floor of the room, a lotus flower, and Wen Ci was lying in the center of the lotus.

Su Wen stepped forward to examine the body. The deceased's eyes had been gouged out, his tongue cut off, and a gash had been cut open from his abdomen to his chest cavity. All the internal organs had been removed and placed in a basin, next to which was a bucket of water.

It seems the killer originally intended to remove all the organs and clean them thoroughly, but for some reason, he didn't.

Seeing this scene, Su Wen was somewhat puzzled, because the manner of death was too gruesome, and many of the constables couldn't help but go outside and vomit.

Su Wen carefully examined the room. The room was very clean, and there were no signs of movement or fighting on the tables and chairs. It seemed to be very quiet, or even waiting for his death!

Su Wen noticed that Wen Ci also had a wound on her neck, similar to those of the dozen or so women. It was clearly a typical case of severing the throat with a knife to kill her quickly, and then the murderer began to lay the body, because there were drag marks on the heels of Wen Ci's shoes.

Although the drag marks on the floor had been cleaned up, Su Wen still walked slowly to the bedside and, after careful examination, discovered a drop of blood.

It seems that Wen Ci was killed by someone near the bed and then moved there.

Su Wen carefully examined Wen Ci's fingers again. When a person's throat is suddenly slit, they will subconsciously cover their throat with their hand. As long as they cover it, blood will seep into the gaps between their fingernails. This blood is very difficult to clean. Even if you rinse it with water, it will take time and a lot of flowing water.

However, judging from the room, there couldn't possibly be a lot of water here. After all, the deceased was killed around 5 a.m., when some young monks had already come out of the temple and started cleaning it!

With so much water, the young monks would surely realize that the murderer couldn't possibly be that stupid.

Su Wen had discovered this when he examined the other dead bodies, and now, seeing Wen Ci's death, the thought of disbelief that Su Wen didn't want to believe resurfaced!

Su Wen slowly stood up and looked at the constables to the side, saying, "Several of you go and question the families of those who died earlier. Ask them if they frequented any places or met any people before they died."

Upon hearing this, the young monk who had followed immediately spoke up: "Shangguan, I remember that Master has been frequently visiting a flower shop called Peony Flower Pavilion in the past month or two. Master even chatted quite happily with the shop owner!"

Su Wen looked at the constables and said, "Let's go to the Peony Flower Pavilion. Leave two men to take the body back to the county office!"

Before long, Su Wen arrived at the Peony Flower Pavilion that the little monk had mentioned.

Upon entering the Peony Flower Pavilion, the attendant beside me immediately said, "Where is your owner? Tell her to come out!"

A servant stepped forward and bowed to the crowd, saying, "The shopkeeper is unwell today and has remained in his room without leaving."

Upon hearing this, Su Wen frowned and asked, "Where is her room?"

The servant was startled by Su Wen's expression and quickly said, "I'll take you all there right away!"

A moment later, they arrived at the door of a room. A servant knocked and said, "Master, officials are looking for you. Would you be able to receive them?"

The room was completely silent, and no one answered for a long time. Su Wen sensed something was wrong. He glanced at a constable, who pulled the servant aside and kicked the door open with all his might.

The constable had just stepped into the room when he came back out and looked at Su Wen, saying, "Su Shaoqing, she's dead!"

Su Wen hurriedly entered the room and saw a woman in her twenties lying on the ground. There was a lotus flower on the ground, and the woman was lying in the lotus flower.

Her death was completely different from Wen Ci's. She was simply blindfolded, dressed in a pink dress, with makeup on her face, a smile on her lips, and her hands placed on her abdomen, looking very peaceful.

There was a knife mark on the throat, indicating that, like the other victims, the victim died from a single stab wound to the throat. The wound had been treated, but judging from the wound, the victim likely died at the hour of Mao (5-7 AM).

Two people died in one day, and the two places were more than 45 minutes apart. It was clear that they could not have been killed by the same person. In other words, there were multiple murderers!

Suddenly, Su Wen seemed to have discovered a blind spot!

When the bodies were examined earlier, apart from the four who were raped and then murdered, all the other bodies had died at the hour of Mao (5-7 AM).

The hour of Mao (5-7 AM) represents sunrise and dawn, the beginning of sunlight dispelling the darkness!

Su Wen immediately thought of something: Empress Wu Zetian, the first female emperor, also known as the "Initial Emperor"!

The beginning of womanhood is the dawn of womanhood!

So all the victims were women, it seems the killer's target really was Wu Zetian, who had been dead for many years!

Thinking of this, Su Wen frowned and hurriedly walked out of the room.

Su Wen turned to a servant beside him and asked, "Has your master recently joined any religious sect?"

After pondering for a while, the servant said, "This humble servant truly does not know. After all, I am merely my master's servant, responsible only for cleaning these flowers and plants. I dare not inquire about or concern myself with my master's affairs!"

"Take the body back to the county government first!"

Su Wen already had a rough idea of ​​what was going on. Next, he would have to see if Xu Ge and the others who went to question the deceased's family knew anything.

With so many people and so many family members, it's impossible that not a single one of them knew which cult these deceased had joined.

Su Wen was very clear at this moment that these dead people were most likely not chosen to be killed by the murderer, but rather they voluntarily accepted their deaths!

In Buddhism, death is also a new life. This corresponds to the fact that the deceased died at the hour of Mao (5-7 AM), which is the time of sunrise and the beginning of a new day. The new day can also correspond to new life.

It now seems highly likely that these victims were brainwashed by some cult!