Chapter 11: The Terrified County Magistrate of Yanggu

In the Yanggu County yamen, County Magistrate Wen Bin sat upright on the central official chair, wearing a green robe denoting his seventh-rank status.

He wore a fu tou (a soft headcloth commonly worn by Song officials,

often appearing dark blue-black, hence known as “wusha,” the origin of the term “wushamao”),

a leather belt cinched at his waist.

His eyes were half-lidded, his expression unreadable, revealing no trace of joy, anger, sorrow, or pleasure.

To his lower right and left stood the County Assistant and the County Constable, the second- and third-ranking officials of Yanggu County.

On either side of the yamen, two rows of yamen runners held water-and-fire staves.

In the open space at the center of the yamen lay the bodies of Ximen Qing and Dai’an, covered in white cloth.

“Madam Ximen, do you know who killed Master Ximen?”

Wen Bin asked, his face expressionless, addressing Wu Yueniang, who knelt beside Ximen Qing’s corpse.

Wu Yueniang was Ximen Qing’s principal wife; though a second wife,

she was the undisputed mistress of the Ximen household, making her the most suitable person to speak.

And as County Magistrate, Wen Bin naturally did not fear Ximen Qing’s wealth and power the way commoners did,

nor did he dare address him respectfully as “Master Ximen the Great.”

But Ximen Qing was dead, and in life he had connections with the eunuchs Liu and Xue,

so after careful consideration, Wen Bin referred to him as “Master Ximen.”

“Your Honor, this humble servant only learned of Master Ximen’s death through a report from our household servant.

I beg Your Honor, like a bright mirror hanging high, to bring the killer to justice

so that my master may rest in peace with a smile beneath the earth!”

Wu Yueniang bowed gracefully, tears streaming down her face like pear blossoms in the rain, wiping them with a silk handkerchief.

“Master Ximen was a renowned virtuous gentleman of this county. Madam Ximen, rest assured—

I shall surely bring the killer to justice and punish him publicly.”

Wen Bin’s first words were a grand, righteous pronouncement.

“Thank you, Your Honor.”

Only now, after learning of Ximen Qing’s death, did Wu Yueniang feel a sliver of reassurance.

“Bring in the Ximen household servant!”

After calming Wu Yueniang, Wen Bin ordered the first servant to discover Ximen Qing’s body to be brought in for questioning.

“Yes!”

One of the yamen runners immediately stepped forward to carry out the order.

Soon, the servant was led into the yamen.

All eyes—of the magistrate, the assistant, the constable, and the two rows of runners—fixed on the servant.

The servant was merely a lowly menial in the Ximen household,

never having faced such a scene; he trembled violently, barely able to stand.

“Your humble subject bows before the upright magistrate! Your humble subject bows before the upright magistrate!”

The servant banged his head against the floor like a pounding pestle before Wen Bin on the main seat.

“I ask you: did you see the killer of Master Ximen?”

Wen Bin did not stop the servant from kneeling; he asked directly.

“Your Honor, when I entered the side room, Master Ximen was already without breath.

I saw no one who killed him.”

The servant nervously recounted everything he knew.

“So, no one in the entire Ximen household saw the killer?”

Wen Bin frowned.

Though he had spent the past decade obsessed with the imperial examinations and little with human affairs,

his years in office had given him some insight.

Seeing the servant’s terrified, trembling demeanor, he knew the man was not lying.

Not knowing the killer’s height, build, or even gender—this case would be extremely difficult to solve.

“Coroner, can you determine the killer’s method?”

The next moment, Wen Bin’s gaze shifted to He Jiushu, the coroner standing beside the corpses of Ximen Qing and Dai’an.

He Jiushu was the same coroner from Water Margin who, after Ximen Qing and Pan Jinlian poisoned Wu Dalang,

detected signs of poison during the autopsy, feigned unconsciousness,

secretly took Wu Dalang’s bones and preserved them with the silver Ximen Qing had given him,

providing crucial evidence for Wu Song’s later investigation.

He was a veteran coroner who had served in Yanggu County for decades, with immense experience.

In Wen Bin’s view, if anyone in Yanggu County could determine Ximen Qing’s exact cause of death, it was He Jiushu.

As for the Chief Constable of Yanggu County responsible for investigations?

Sorry—Yanggu County currently had no Chief Constable.

Since the previous Chief Constable left office, County Magistrate Wen Bin, the County Assistant, and the County Constable had all wanted to install their own man.

But the three top officials remained deadlocked,

each time one recommended a candidate, the other two joined forces to reject him,

leaving the position of Chief Constable vacant for a long time.

Fortunately, Yanggu County had not seen any major or critical cases in recent years, so life had simply drifted on in confusion.

Why, then, didn’t Wen Bin, who nominally held absolute power, simply force a Chief Constable into place?

The Great Cóng Dynasty had laws forbidding officials from serving in their home regions to prevent them from growing too powerful.

Wen Bin, as County Magistrate, was merely a rotating official who would be transferred within a few years,

while the County Assistant and County Constable were local tyrants from families entrenched in the region for over a century.

Even Ximen Qing, without any official post, had managed to gain Wen Bin’s caution by befriending Eunuch Liu and Eunuch Xue,

sending servants to deliver gifts to Minister Cai Jing in Bianliang.

How much more so the County Assistant and County Constable?

Behind these two men might stand this official, that official, this marquis, that marquis.

Though Wen Bin wielded great authority in Yanggu County, he could not cover the sky with one hand.

He Jiushu, called upon by Wen Bin, bowed slightly:

“Your Honor, this case is very strange.”

“Oh? How so?”

Wen Bin’s interest stirred; he pressed for details.

“Your Honor, observe: Master Ximen’s arms are both broken.

We all know the femur and humerus are extremely resilient.

Judging by the severity of the fractures on Master Ximen’s arms,

only a man of immense strength wielding a heavy weapon—such as an axe or hammer—could have caused them.

But strangely, I found no axe or hammer marks; instead, I discovered a palm print,

as if Master Ximen’s arms had been shattered by a single palm strike.”

He Jiushu lifted the white cloth, revealing the wounds on Ximen Qing’s arms to Wen Bin and the others.

“Eh—”

Though Wen Bin had heard from his runners that Ximen Qing’s death was gruesome, he had not imagined it to be this horrific.

Ximen Qing’s arms were nearly severed, white bone exposed through the wounds,

blood oozing from his seven orifices turned black, the entire corpse resembling a demon escaped from hell!

Most striking of all, though he had been dead for hours,

Ximen Qing’s eyes remained wide open, refusing to close!

“He died with eyes unshut!”

“Who could have committed such cruelty?”

“What hatred, what vengeance must this have been?”

The yamen runners, too, could no longer remain silent; they began whispering among themselves.

Even the County Assistant and County Constable, who had stood silently beside them, turned their heads in surprise.

“Silence!”

Wen Bin, a veteran of imperial examinations and years in office,

possessed extraordinary composure; he instantly suppressed his inner shock,

slammed his gavel, and silenced the murmuring runners.

“You say there was a palm print—where?”

At this moment, the County Assistant, standing below, spoke.

In truth, he could not see any palm print on Ximen Qing’s shattered arms.

Wen Bin, seated on the high-backed chair, cast a approving glance at the County Assistant:

In truth, he hadn’t seen any palm prints either, but as county magistrate, he held his dignity and couldn’t ask directly.

The other yamen runners, Ximen’s servants, and Wu Yueniang and others all cast questioning glances at He Jiushu.

Facing the stares of the crowd, He Jiushu spoke calmly: “Your Excellencies, please look—

Are these five depressions on Master Ximen’s arm similar to the five fingers of a human hand?”

As he spoke, he pointed out each of the five indentations in turn.

“Ssshh~”

Wen Bin involuntarily clenched his fist and sucked in a sharp breath.

These five depressions, when combined, were unmistakably the five fingers of a clapped hand!

“Ssshh~”

The assistant magistrate, the county commandant, and the yamen runners all drew in synchronized breaths,

making their own contribution to global warming.

The chilled air choked: No, please stop breathing like that~

The assistant magistrate and several yamen runners were already drenched in cold sweat:

They thought of how they had once pursued such a monstrous killer,

and felt as if they had just walked past the gates of hell.

Isn’t this like an old man drinking arsenic—why wait for the King of Hell to call you when you’re eager to die?

“These two wounds won’t kill Ximen Qing anytime soon—

Have you found his direct cause of death?”

Frightened, Wen Bin no longer called Ximen Qing “Master,” but addressed him by name.

He cursed Ximen Qing bitterly in his heart: how dare he attract such a killer to Yanggu County—

a killer even the Western Army or Bianliang didn’t know existed?

This didn’t just roast Wen Bin on a fire—it threatened his very life as county magistrate!

If this killer came to the yamen, who could possibly stop him?

The fat, bloated commandant and his band of old, weak, sickly soldiers?

He’d rather trust his own eighty-year-old servant, whose teeth were nearly all gone!

“Your Excellency, based on my observation, Master Ximen and his personal servant Dai’an

both died from a single palm strike to the head.”

He Jiushu, unaware of Wen Bin’s turbulent thoughts, continued plainly with his conclusion.

“Show me your evidence.”

Wen Bin forced down his fear and managed a calm expression.

“Your Excellencies, please look—this is the evidence I found.”

He Jiushu lifted the white cloth covering Dai’an’s corpse,

pointing to the dark bluish-black scalp, freshly shaved hours ago,

still streaked with stubble.

Wen Bin and the others stared: a black palm print was stamped on Dai’an’s scalp.

Clearly, this print had killed Dai’an.

Of course, Zhang Jie would never leave his own palm print at the scene.

If anyone compared this print to his hand,

they’d find it was a full palm-width larger, with fingers much thicker.

“Is there one on Ximen Qing’s head too?”

The anxious commandant spoke up.

“This—”

After a pause, He Jiushu smiled bitterly: “I don’t know—

Madam Ximen forbade me from damaging Master Ximen’s body.”

He glanced at Wu Yueniang standing nearby.

“Shave it! Immediately!”

The commandant’s eyes glinted with malice—he cared nothing for Ximen Qing’s dignity, or Dongmen Qing’s.

The thought of having nearly met the King of Hell at dawn filled him with dread—and rage.

“This is for the sake of solving the case swiftly and bringing the killer of Master Ximen to justice.”

Still, the commandant, as Yanggu County’s third-ranking official, had some cunning:

He quickly devised a reason Wu Yueniang couldn’t refute.

Faced with such a noble justification, Wu Yueniang could only nod.

Seeing Wu Yueniang subdued, He Jiushu immediately shifted into professional mode.

He pulled a leather case from his sleeve, containing small tools:

a knife, scissors, ear pick, nail clippers—all present.

He withdrew a small razor, identical in shape to a barber’s, only smaller,

stepped before Ximen Qing’s corpse, said, “Forgive me,”

and swiftly shaved off all the hair.

“Ssshh~”

Everyone stared: a palm print, identical in size and shape to Dai’an’s, appeared on Ximen Qing’s scalp.

“Incredible! Such precise control!”

Wen Bin and the others were horrified.

This palm strike had turned the brains of Ximen Qing and Dai’an into real brain matter,

yet not a single hair on their scalps was disturbed—what terrifying control!

Wen Bin, the commandant, and the assistant magistrate exchanged glances,

each seeing unmistakable terror in the others’ eyes:

If this killer quietly struck them like this, wouldn’t they die without knowing why?

Confirmed: this was someone they couldn’t touch.

Wen Bin and the two others simultaneously decided to close the case quickly and ignore the matter.

Wen Bin and the other two simultaneously prepared to swiftly close the case and overlook this matter.

Wen Bin cleared his throat softly and said to He Jiushu:

“He the coroner, quickly sketch a rough portrait of the killer based on the palm print.

I will issue a warrant for his arrest throughout the county.”

This county will issue a notice to apprehend this person throughout the entire county.

He Jiushu bowed in assent.

Old coroners like him could estimate a person’s height and weight from footprints or palm prints.

For example, height ≈ 2 chi (about 60 cm) plus six times the length of the palm print.

“Still, Ximen Qing’s death isn’t without benefits for me!”

Thinking of Ximen Qing’s vast fortune, Wen Bin’s heart burned with greed.

As the saying goes: three years as a prefect brings a hundred thousand taels of silver.

He wasn’t a prefect, but as county magistrate for three years,

he’d surely pocket at least ten or twenty thousand taels!

After all, he’d spent years studying in cold lodges—was it really to serve the Zhao family in the imperial palace?

He lacked the courage to chase this killer,

but the courage to exploit the hunt for the killer to enrich himself? That he had—greatly.

He lacked the nerve to apprehend this murderer,

but he had plenty of nerve to extort money under the guise of catching bandits!