The lotus ring

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Fulin Temple was a famous temple in Ba County (now part of Chongqing).

　　One night, two groundskeepers saw Zhu Lei, a woodcutter, running out of the back door of the temple in a panic, so they called Zhu Lei to stop and used a lantern to find that Zhu Lei's clothes and hands had blood stains, so they took Zhu Lei into the temple to check.

　　The ground Paul found the temple servant Wang Shan dead on the floor, and Wang Shan's bed was turned over in a mess, it is believed that Zhu Lei money to kill, immediately Zhu Lei tied up and sent to the county magistrate.

　　He said that Wang Shan had a gambling game in the temple and he wanted to win some money, but after entering the temple, he did not see anyone, so he went to Wang Shan's house to look for him, but he accidentally tripped and fell in the hall, he bent down and touched a man lying on the ground, hit the fire sickle and saw that it was Wang Shan, who was covered in blood and had died. He was so scared that he got up and ran outside the temple, just in time to meet the two groundskeepers, and was tied up.

　　Geng County let Zhu Lei sign the confession, and then first put him in the classroom.

　　Then, Geng County led the magistrates and coroners to the Fulin Temple site investigation, he noticed a large bloody handprint on the mattress, and ordered his attendants to bring the mattress back to the Yamen. Geng asked Master Huide of the temple about Wang Shan and learned that Wang Shan was a lay servant employed by the temple. Two nights ago, Huide felt discomfort in his eyes and went to the kitchen in the backyard to find water to rinse them, but found many people gambling in Wang Shan's house.

　　The next day, Huide asked Wang Shan about the gambling party and admonished him. He said that he had no choice but to get married and that he had no money left because he had made two gold-plated rings with lotus flowers to give to his wife as a bride price, so he wanted to set up a gambling game to make some money.

　　Geng county back to the magistrate's office, extracted Zhu Lei's handprints, with the mattress on the bloody handprints a comparison, the size is not right, and think of Zhu Lei no Huide said the ring, it is known Zhu Lei is not the real killer, so Zhu Lei will be summoned to the public court to admonish and released.

　　Then, Geng County will instruct two constables disguised as vendors in the local search for the real killer. When they turned to a pork store, they saw a sultry woman sitting in the store talking with a big man.

　　It suddenly occurred to them that the big man was named Li Gang, who had settled here six months ago and also frequented the Fulin Temple to gamble, and the two walked into the meat store together. When they pretended to ask about the price of pork, they saw the woman wearing a gold-plated ring embedded with lotus flowers on her hand and asked her where she got the ring, and the woman said it was from Li Gang. The two then took Li Gang and the woman back to the court.

The murder was only due to the lotus ring

　　Geng took a closer look at the ring and found that it had the word "Tianchang" chiseled inside, so he asked the clerk if there was a local Tianchang jewelry store. The clerk said yes.

　　Geng asked Li Gang what the store number of the ring was called, and Li Gang said he couldn't remember. Geng asked how much the ring cost, and Li also said he couldn't remember. Geng asked the magistrate to invite the boss of Tianchang Jewelry House.

　　Not long after, Tianchang boss came to the court, Geng asked whether the pair of rings played in Tianchang.

　　After looking at them carefully, the owner said, "This pair of rings was indeed made by me. The person who beat the ring is the temple servant of the West Pass Fulin Temple Wang Shan ......"

　　Geng Zhixian listened to turn to Li Gang asked: "You have heard?"

　　Li Gang slyly said, "The same thing in heaven and earth a lot of things."

　　Geng County and ignore him, let take down Li Gang's handprint, the hall and the blood handprint on the mattress against, no difference.

　　Li Gang took a look, his face suddenly changed, forehead oozing a lot of cold sweat, had to tell the truth: "I was lured to go to Wang Shan gambling. The first few times I won a lot of money, and then I lost more than I won, and finally I lost all my capital in the store. That day I borrowed money to gamble again. Wang Shan said that the abbot already knew about it and asked everyone not to come back. After two days, I heard people say that it is Wang Shan set up a scam, the first let you eat a sweet, and then will let you lose more and more. The more I thought about it, the angrier I got, I went to Wang Shan at night and asked him to return my money, he not only did not return it, but also said a lot of sarcastic words, I was so angry that I killed him and took the five taels of silver under his mattress along with a pair of rings home."

　　At this point, the truth is clear, Geng County let Li Gang on the confession to affirm, and then put in the jail, waiting for the execution.