Chapter 6

A thunderclap exploded, and it turned out someone had been struck dead by lightning!

It was Li Cailiang who was struck dead by lightning while returning home via the riverbank!

At the time, many villagers were returning home after finishing their farm work.

They all witnessed the scene where Li Cailiang was struck dead by lightning.

A thunderous boom echoed, soil and rocks flew, willow trees were snapped, and a large, charred pit was blasted in the ground. Li Cailiang, who happened to be walking along the riverbank, fell directly into the icy February river, leaving no trace of his body.

When Li Cailiang's body was finally retrieved from downstream using a fishing net and brought back to the Li family's doorstep in Shangpan Village by a cart, his condition was too gruesome to bear. His limbs were shattered.

The broken limbs, still dripping with fresh blood, stained the cart red.

The body was not even covered with a mat, and it was exposed all the way as it was pulled back to Shangpan Village by the cart.

Seeing her husband, who had been fine just a moment ago and had promised to return home for dinner after finishing his work, now reduced to a mutilated corpse, Li's wife was devastated. Her son, in her arms, was also terrified and cried out for his father.

Alas, the scene... it made even the listeners weep.

While Li Cailiang's body was still warm, rumors began to spread in the village. The villagers said that Li Cailiang must have done something utterly wicked to deserve such a punishment from the heavens. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been struck dead by lightning and left without a complete body.

Li's wife, already in tears, was even more heartbroken when she heard the villagers' gossip. She said that her husband, Li, had always been honest and hardworking, and why should he be defamed and slandered even after his death?

But the villagers' words were like a flood, and what could a woman like Li do? The villagers asked why, among so many households in Shangpan Village, only Li Cailiang was struck dead by lightning?

The old men and women in the village said that this was the heavens' justice, that the heavens only strike the wicked, not the good. They accused Li's wife of not respecting the heavens, saying that this would bring divine retribution. They predicted that Shangpan Village would suffer drought and famine, and they demanded that the Li family be driven out to prevent their evil from affecting the innocent villagers.

Poor Li Cailiang, whose body was still warm, was now being bullied by his neighbors, leaving his widow and son to suffer.

Just as everyone thought the matter was settled and that Li Cailiang had indeed been struck dead by lightning, with no objections from the village head or the village guards, a young man stepped forward from the crowd.

Tsk, tsk, what a remarkable young man! He was eight feet tall and broad-shouldered, with a strong and well-built physique. His skin was smooth and tender, and he had a short, monk-like haircut. He introduced himself as Jin An, and he was accompanied by a scholar and a coachman. They were the three outsiders who had just spent the night in Shangpan Village.

This young man named Jin An said that lightning striking a person would only leave a charred mark on the ground, not cause soil and rocks to fly, willow trees to snap, and leave a large pit. This was clearly a premeditated act where someone had buried gunpowder by the river, lured Li Cailiang to the prearranged location, and then staged his death as a lightning strike. The river was used to wash away the body and the gunpowder residue, leaving no trace.

Because only gunpowder could have such a violent and destructive effect.

The village head, upon hearing this, knew that this matter, once involving gunpowder, was serious and beyond his jurisdiction. He decided to report the case to the county authorities, who would investigate who had recently purchased large amounts of gunpowder, sulfur, and saltpeter. They would also look into who might have met Li Cailiang by the river or who was with him at the time, and who would benefit the most from his death. This person would be the murderer.

Gunpowder?

The villagers were shocked. The Kangding government strictly controlled the use of gunpowder, which was a military-controlled substance. It was strictly forbidden for civilians to possess gunpowder or even know its formula.

The villagers did not believe that Li Cailiang was killed by gunpowder.

Because no one in the village could have access to gunpowder.

The villagers were enraged and demanded that the outsiders and the Li family be driven out of Shangpan Village for their disrespect to the heavens.

Fortunately, the village head had some education and was more knowledgeable than the illiterate villagers. He knew that this matter, once involving gunpowder, was serious and could not be handled by him alone. He decided to report it to the county authorities without delay. He sent the fastest village guards to the Chang County government to report the incident.

Upon hearing that a small village in Chang County had a case involving gunpowder, the county magistrate, Zhang, did not delay. He immediately gathered all the bailiffs, along with their assistants and fast horses, and divided them into several groups to investigate based on the clues provided by Jin An. They quickly caught the real culprit!

As the saying goes, "If you do something wrong, you will be found out."

"An honest man has nothing to fear, even if the authorities come knocking at midnight."

The murderer of Li Cailiang was his cousin, Li Dashan, a gambling addict. He had borrowed money from Li Cailiang and his wife in the past, promising to stop gambling. Li Cailiang and his wife, feeling sorry for him, lent him their savings and helped him pay off his gambling debts.

However, Li Dashan did not reform. After his relatives paid off his debts, he continued to gamble and owed Li Cailiang and his wife a large sum of money. He even asked for more loans, but Li Cailiang, knowing his gambling nature, refused to lend him any more money.

Seeing that the Li family had savings but refused to help him, and knowing that he could never pay back his debts, Li Dashan hatched a wicked plan. He decided to kill Li Cailiang and then, with the remaining weak and vulnerable Li's wife and daughter, he could avoid paying back the debt. He even planned to incite the ignorant villagers to drive the Li family away and then take over their house and land.

As the saying goes, "Help in emergencies, not in poverty."

"A small favor is appreciated, but a large one is resented."

"People fear ghosts, but ghosts fear human wickedness."

What was initially a "lightning strike case" turned into a "case of clearing an injustice," and then it led to another "case of illegal possession of gunpowder," with twists and turns.

Due to his contribution in solving the gunpowder case, the young man named Jin An was recognized by the county authorities and the magistrate. A banquet was held in his honor, and the magistrate, Zhang, who was fair and just, had the local merchants and gentry contribute 300 taels of silver, which was presented to Jin An in person. This was to thank him for saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in Chang County and preventing them from being implicated. The list of contributors was made into a plaque and hung on the archway in Chang County.

The end of the book.