Tang Dynasty Prison Administration

053: Steamed Bun Shop

Su Wen was not arrogant at all. Instead, he bowed and said, "Magistrate Liao's actions were in accordance with the laws of our Great Tang Dynasty. What wrong have I done? It's just that I failed to fully inform you of this matter. Please forgive me, Magistrate Liao. My disciple is young and doesn't understand much, so he offended and talked back. Please forgive me, Magistrate Liao!"

Upon hearing this, Magistrate Liao quickly bowed and said, "It's alright, it's alright. Young Master Xu is young and unafraid of authority; he is truly a blessing to our Great Tang!"

After speaking, Magistrate Liao glanced at Song Huai, who was being held down on the ground, and said, "Chief Su, to be honest, I am quite ignorant about the matter of adjudicating cases, because this is usually handled by the county constable. However, in recent months, the county has been short-handed, and the river management is also busy, so the county constable has been unable to come. I..."

Su Wen nodded: "I understand, I understand. To be honest, I'm not really confident about taking office as the county magistrate. After all, all I know is investigating and judging cases. I really don't know what kind of joke I'll make!"

Upon hearing this, Magistrate Liao hurriedly replied respectfully, "Since this case was discovered and noticed by Chief Inspector Su, I humbly request that Chief Inspector Su refrain from further instruction and proceed with the investigation of this case, so that I may learn something from it!"

"I dare not presume to offer my guidance; then I thank Magistrate Liao in advance!" Su Wen continued, "Since this case falls within Magistrate Liao's jurisdiction, there is no need to write my name on it. It shall be handled by Magistrate Liao, and I will assist him!"

Upon hearing this, Magistrate Liao replied, "Then I thank Director Su in advance. I still need to supervise the reinforcement of the river channel, so I will take my leave now. Thank you for your trouble, Director Su!"

Su Wen said, "Please!"

Magistrate Liao replied, "Please!"

After saying this, Magistrate Liao turned and left the courtroom. Once Magistrate Liao was gone, Su Wen turned to Song Huai, who was kneeling on the ground, and said, "Bold Song Huai, why don't you confess the truth? Do you want me to use torture on you?"

Having been frightened by Magistrate Liao's earlier words, Song Huai immediately said with a hint of a sob in his voice, "I confess, I confess!"

Su Wen looked at the person in charge of recording and said, "Write it down!"

Song Huai said, "I picked up that meat in the alleyway near the Lin family's house at 5:15 AM this morning!"

"Found them?" Su Wen asked, frowning. "How many did you find?"

Song Huai said, "I picked up a large piece, about four or five pounds. It looked quite clean, so I took it home, washed it, chopped it up, and made it into filling for steamed buns!"

Su Wen asked, "When you found it, was it all meat and no bones?"

Song Huai shook his head repeatedly, saying, "I didn't see any bones. Even if I had seen human bones, I wouldn't dare pick up the meat to make filling for steamed buns!"

Su Wen snorted coldly: "Where are the elders of this county?"

At this moment, a man stepped forward from among the servants and bowed, saying, "This humble servant, Chen Xian, is a respected elder of Fei County. Greetings, Grand Master!"

"Post a notice: If anyone sees meat at 5:15 AM, bring it back to the county office immediately; a reward of fifty to one hundred yuan will be given!"

"Yes, Chief Director!" Chen Xian turned and walked out of the county office.

Su Wen then looked at Song Huai and said, "Song Huai, the laws of the Tang Dynasty clearly stipulate that as a shop owner, you should buy meat from designated places and are not allowed to conduct private underground transactions. Even if the meat is not human flesh, you are not allowed to take it home, make it into buns, and sell it. If the meat is poisoned or has an epidemic, wouldn't you be killing the entire county?"

At this moment, whether he was frightened into tears or suddenly realized his mistake, Song Huai cried and slapped himself hard across the face.

Su Wen said, "Song Huai, if anyone dies from eating your human flesh buns, you will be sentenced to hanging. If nothing happens, according to the Tang Dynasty law, you will be sentenced to one to three years in prison. Do you have any objections?"

Song Huai was too frightened to speak. Su Wen said, "Make him sign and put his fingerprint on it, then put him in jail. We'll make a decision after the case is investigated!"

"yes!"

Su Wen looked at Xu Ge, then glanced at the constable beside him and said, "Come on, take me to Lin Family Alley to check it out!"

Before long, Su Wen, Xu Ge, and several members of the Bad Guys arrived at the alley known as Lin Family Alley.

The alley is lined with the side walls of houses on both sides, all high walls with no windows.

Su Wen asked, "Are there many people walking around in this alley on weekdays?"

One of the thugs replied, "Not many people walk through this alley on weekdays because only people who get up early to buy fresh vegetables at the market pass by. But the street across the street is a market, and this street is full of shops; not many business owners get up early to buy there!"

As the group walked along the alley, the dog poop on the ground and the dog urine by the wall made Su Wen unable to resist squatting down to check.

Both the Bad Guys and Xu Ge were somewhat confused.

At this moment, Su Wen spoke up: "Are dogs often seen in this alley?"

One of the thugs pondered for a moment and said, "Well... normally not many people would pay attention to this, but before Magistrate Liao took office, there were many thieves in our county, so for a time almost every household kept a dog. However, since Magistrate Liao took office, he has been cracking down on thieves on a large scale in the past few years, and those caught are severely punished. Gradually, there are not many thieves left, so some families have sold their dogs to dog meat shops, and some people can't bear to kill them, so they simply abandon their dogs!"

Su Wen responded, and Xu Ge, who was standing nearby, leaned forward and asked, "Master, do you suspect that this meat was originally thrown here because stray dogs often roam this alley, so you threw it here for them to eat?"

Su Wen looked at Xu Ge with a slight smile and said, "Continue!"

Xu Ge smiled and analyzed, "Master, look, there's a lot of dog poop and pee in this alley, which means there are usually a lot of stray dogs in this alley. The killer wanted to dispose of the meat, so he threw it in the alley. As long as the stray dogs saw it, they would definitely fight over it. It's just that there was a light rain last night, so the stray dogs haven't come out yet today. Song Huai went to buy groceries at 1:15 am and found this piece of meat, so he picked it up!"

Upon hearing this, Su Wen nodded repeatedly: "Your analysis is correct. So now the question is, do you think those dogs will stop coming to this alley just because of a light rain?"

Xu Ge frowned and pondered, but couldn't answer for a long time.

Su Wen smiled and said, "Why would a dog that roams the streets stop looking for food just because of a little rain?"

At this moment, one of the thugs suddenly raised his hand and replied, "If it's human flesh, and the perpetrator intends to remove the bones and cut the person into small pieces, then there will inevitably be places with a lot of blood. Song Huai is timid; if he sees fresh blood, he certainly won't dare to pick up the meat. Therefore, the murderer must have washed the meat clean, which will inevitably leave a lot of blood and human bones where the meat was washed. The smell of blood will attract a large number of wild dogs, and the leftover human bones will also be there. Thus, the place where a large number of wild dogs gather will inevitably be the place where the murderer committed the crime!"

Su Wen looked at the thug and said, "Smart, now you should know what to do!"

One of the thugs replied, "We should immediately search the area with the highest concentration of stray dogs!"

Su Wen looked at Xu Ge, then nodded and said, "Hurry up and go. After you find it, I'll have someone give you five hundred coins as a reward for drinks!"

Upon hearing this, the thugs cheered and then left the alley.